DAMASCUS.

White Ribbon, Volume 24, Issue 280, 18 October 1918, Page 1

DAMASCUS.

FROM CRESCF.NT TO ( ROSS. How wc have been thrilled b\ the cable news of the last week or two! With what breathless interest have we watched the progress of General Allenby and his victorious arms ! I low we have waited with bated breath for news of the gre.it conflict now proceeding twixt Cross and Crescent ; news of the rolling back of the tide of Moslem invasion which swept across our Holy Places over 12 centuries ago. And, a>. we watch the progress of the flag, we pray that the light which shines from the C ross may lighten the dark and rayless night which followed in the wake of the Crescent, and settled like a pall over all th“ lands beneath its sway. Jerusalem, so beautiful for situation, is once more beneath the* rule of a Chiistian Power, and northward from it moved our army, with Constantinople as a possible objective. Just now we love to pic ture th“ boys from these far-ofl isles of the sea, from this newest of lands, encamped around Damascus, the most ancient city pn record, enjoying the beauty of that Pearl of the Orient, that Eye of the East, which tradition asserts Mahomet refused to enter because “There is only one Paradise allotted to man, and I prefer to reserve min«’ for the future.”

Perchance they bathe their wearied limbs in the clear, crystal vaters of those streams which flow from snowcrowned Lebanon, and about which Naaman asked, “Are not Abano and Pharpar rivers of Damascus better than all the waters of Israel?” and of which a devotee sang:

“Abana, the light of Damascus! Thy flowing is music to me, My offering of bright, golden roses, Ere morning its beauty discloses, I bring, () fair river, to thee." Truly, with its clear, blue, smokeless skies, its bright sunshine, its purling streams, and its verdure-clad plain, a paradise in which to rest and recreate for the fuilhcr struggle which lies ahead. How varied the history of this old city! Its origin is lost in the mists of antiquity. Josephus tells us it was founded by Uz, the grandson of Shorn, in the glimmering dawn of history. How its fortunes were interwoven with those of God’s Chosen People! It is first mentioned in connection with Abraham’s struggle with the kings for the release of Lot. Captured by David, it was then afterwards the capital of the kingdom of Benadad, the determined enemy of Israel. It passed successively into the hands of Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome. Conquered by Pompey, B.C. 64, it became part of the great Roman Empire. The wheel of fortune turns up many strange changes. This city, which was old “When the British warrior queen, Bleeding from the Roman rods, Sought with an indignant mien, Counsel of her country’s gods.” which indeed had passed its first youth ere ‘ Romulus and Remus had had suck,” fell under the sway of Rome. But the prophetic eye of the old Druid saw the downfall of that mighty Power, and assured Queen Boadicea that

“Regions Caesar never kn wv Thy i*»sterity shall sway, W here hi». eagles never flew, None invincible as they.” Now that prophecy is fulfilled, and the “progeny that sprang from the forest of her has come from the sunny islands of the Suit hern Seas, and, fighting as allies of the descendants of those ancient Romans, has halted around Damascus, that most Oriental of eities, on whose battlements the C r oss has replaced the Cresccnt. To this city was led Saul of Tarsus, smitten with blindness on “the road to Damascus,” and deprived of his power to injure, was taken to a street called Straight, and there visited by Ananias. From its walls, let down in a basket, escaped Paul, the mighty apostle of the Gentiles. In the 7th century the Saracens captured Damascus after a iege of days, and tor seven centuries it was ruled by them. Then Tamerlane swept like a devouring flame across Asia. He captured Damascus, and reduced it to ashes. tie took away as prisoners the artisans, who made the far-famed Damascene blades, and with them the secret of their manufacture was lost to Damascus. Again the city was retaken by the Turks, and ruled by them until in this \ear of our l ord, iqiS, the city, which was the metropolis of the Mahommedan world, through whose gates annually passed 50,000 pilgrims on their wav to Mecca, once more displays from its walls the flag of the Cross. The Cross! Still like Constantine of old we see it flaming in the skv, still \\e hear the voice saving, “Bv

this conquer." Still, like Paul, we can sing: ‘in the cross of Christ 1 glory Towering o’er the wrecks of time, All the light of sacred story (lathers round its head sublime.’' For all time the Cross stands as the symbol of sacrifice to the utmost. It is the most perfect expression of the divinest love. The Divine Master voluntarily took up the cross. “No man taketh My life from Me; I lay it down of Myself; 1 have power to lay it down, and 1 have jiower to take it up." And as we are animat ed by the Spirit of the Cross, so shall we conquer, and our conquest be for the good of humanity. On that fateful day in August, i<>i 4, when the die was cast, knowing well the nature of the task and the odds against us, we entered upon this struggle, not for self, but for others. And because the Spirt of the Cross, the spirit of sacrifice animated us in those dark days, a modern miracle was wrought, and “French’s contemptible army" held at bay the llunnish hordes, expecting an easy victory. The thin, alas! too thin, r ed line barred the way to Calais and Paris, and in spite of overwhelming odds, held the trenches and taught the Kaiser at Mons and the Marne the lesson learnt by Napoleon at Waterloo—“that God is not always upon the side of Fes gros bataillons." May not only the flag of the Cross accompany our armies, but may the Spirit of the Cross follow them, and may we exhibit this Spirit in our dealings with weaker nations till they shall say, “Their God shall be my God." “No! we fought with a definite object, And it’s this—and we want it made plain— That it’s God, and not any devil, That’s to rule in the world again.”