| Show written for this paper IN THE HOLY LAND thinking a few lines linea from the holy land 22 relative to the future prospects of the turkish mission oo might he be of interest to the readers of the NEWS I 1 will endeavor to set forth some borne of my views on this question tion the work of the lord in this thia despen ration has baa as yet not bad its oom corn meno mone ement in asia minor notwithstanding a number of the elders have diligently labored in this part of the vineyard to establish branches branc bea and gather out precious souls to help roll on the great and glorious latter day work when I 1 say ay the work has not yet commenced I 1 mean of course comparatively speaking peaking for a number of souls have been found that were willing to bum ble themselves them Belvea before the lord and receive baptism for the remission of their sins bins and at aleppo and promising branches ot of the church have been established the in members embers of which while poor in this worlds goods are rich in spiritual blessings and gifts and though at the saints are persecuted by neigh born bore still they rejoice exceedingly in the testimonies they have received through faith and good works and are ever ready to defend the principles they have espoused elder F A huish of payson utah is at present at studying the turkish language and encouraging the saints to lives of usefulness and honor before gud gd he reports a splendid feeling existing among them and considering everything I 1 think the outlook at to is bright and full of promise the same be said bald of aleppo where euer elder Ve a native brother to is stationed and is diligently laboring for or the u up building of god gods goda a kingdom on earth A number of souls have been added to this branch recently and the spirit of god prevails among the saints two or three of the brethren are professional men as is also brother I 1 and their learning and influence a and nd knowledge of the language are a great help to the spreading ot of the glad tidings I 1 elder eider albert herman from bear lake county spent considerable lime in this martof part of the vineyard he to is now at damascus trying to make an opening there I 1 four fear with rather indifferent success though when I 1 was there a few weeks ago two of the natives asked to be baptized they were arabs and arabs are as a rule very hard to impress with the importance of the rites and ceremonies of the gospel their former education causes them hem to think that water baptism is too simple an ordinance to require any previous reflection or preparation they exhibit great interest to in the gospel when they first hear it and a nd accordingly ask to be baptized but when it comes to repenting of sins and humbly bowing before the will of our heavenly father and forsaking paths of evil they are not steadfast enough and in a very short time they cool off and then of course baptism is out of the question with the armenians Armen ians it is different for they investigate and strive for the holy spirit by fasting and prayer and this fact accounts for the he progress of the lords work in the north aleppo and where a great part ot of the inhabitants are armenians Armen ians while here in palestine and syria where the be great majority of the people are arabs the success of the elders has not been so encouraging another drawback in the syrian part of the mission is the language which extremely difficult of itself to is made still mure more so by the many other lan ian grages a missionary la is continually coming in contact with the length of time spent in this mission la is ly enough in which to master the language under existing circumstances sta noea and when an elder is released hele he is succeeded by some one totally inexperienced regarding the tongue and customs of this ancient and peculiar people I 1 understand a class has been started in utah in which future missionaries may gain at least a foundation of modern arabic I 1 would recommend that those who study arabic with the view of filling a mission dimion in this country acquire also a knowledge of german for this language is in indispensable to missionaries in palestine our elders elden have found a number of choice souls in the german colonies throughout this land and no doubt there are a few more waiting for the rays of the gospel light to burst in on them though my views concerning the eastern people have undergone some change since arriving here a year ago I 1 still believe there is a great work to be done in this land numbers of the house of israel will be fished out of the dark places and be made to rejoice in the gospel the elders will have to be patient and f ull full of faith and christian love lor for they will certainly meet with much opposition from those w who ho profess to be followers of the meek and lowly jesus as well as from the followers of mahomet the scribes and pharisees Pharis ees and the Herod lans though flying different colors are just fust as much a part of palestine today as when the captain of our salvation was made to suffer the death of a malefactor on calvary and though the spirit of the age prevent them from doing the same with god gods pe servants in this day they lift their hands bands as high in horror and pull I 1 just not as long faces at the mention of prophets apostles and blessings following the believer as did the self belt righteous bigots who cried his blood be on us and our children 20 eighteen hundred years ago our lord taught as aa one having authority and laid the axe at ane rot ro t of all the false religious systems of his day and his duly authorized and commissioned servants of all ages have done the same thing no wonder they were and are rejected and opposed by the great majority of the world the stone that was hewn out of the hill cumorah without hands continues to roll and gather moss and the kingdoms of this world are gradually becoming the kingdom Kinic dum of our ur god and his christ and I 1 see nothing but a bright future for the turkish mission DON G C W ausem P B S since writing the above I 1 have received a letter from brother herman fierman from which I 1 learn of the destruction by fire ol of the great mosque in damascus this magnificent building was at one time a heathen temple of either greek or roman architecture us its its massive stones and beautiful arches indicate after con conversion this heathenish temple was changed into a cathedral and was dedicated to john the baptist three centuries later when the city fell into the hands bands of the moslems the church was divided by treaty equally ly between the followers of mahomet and the followers of christ and for the next century these two churches wor shipped side by side on the accession of walid the sixth khalif of the says ferguson the whole church was demanded by the moslems the christians refused ref used and showed bowed that by the th terms term of their original treaty their rights were solemnly guaranteed to them but moo moslem policy then as crooked as it JS is still found an easy mode of evading inconvenient treaties and the poor christians were compelled to submit the khalif immediately entered the church with guards and ordered them to remove or destroy every vestige of christian worship standing on the great altar walid himself directed the work of spoliation seeing his position one of his hia followers more superstitious or more timid than the rest thus addressed bitu prince of the faithful I 1 tremble for your safety the power of that image against which you stand may be exerted against you tear fear not for me replied the proud moslem for ifor the first spot on which I 1 shall lay jay my battle axe will be that images head thus sayi nghe lifted his hia weapon and dashed the idol to pieces the christians Christ laus raised a cry of horror but their voices were drowned in the triumphant shout ulisha ak bar having thus obtained possession walid spared neither time nor expense in decorating the build ing he made it the moat magnificent mosque moneque in his wide dominions and even now neglected and shattered as am it Is is it bus low lew equals in the mohammedan empire the mosque was surrounded by business houses bazaars bu kaurs etc and I 1 understand one or two streets of bazaars were entirely burnt out brother herman says when the fire started the greatest confusion reigned great crowds of excited people gathered around stores and shops were gutted and their contents carried off by thieving arabs arab he was occupying a zoom room to in an old kahn very nearly adjoining the mosque and he says that he be just bet felt that it if he attempted to move everything he be had wouida be lenand to sto in suon a jam his own life would be very uncertain so he entered his room looked locked the door and shutters butters kneeled down and in prayer myer placed himself in the lords lorda rd handi th the kahn was saved raved the wind blowing from the east kept the hungry flames from licking up this tinderbox of a place much to the surprise of the hundreds and thousands of people on that street when I 1 recall how closely the mosque and kahn were connected and surrounded by very dry and inflammable structures I 1 marvel that the latter was spared while the former a large stone structure with a great areat many other totally destroyed es troyed D C W M |
