hierarchy, especially the high priest, peculiar powers and privileges. The first of the emperors, the celebrated Julius Cæsar, led the way. He proclaimed a decree throughout the empire, in which, reciting the great services of the high priest Hyrcanus, he made the high priest arbiter of all questions of Jewish policy that might arise in any city or country. To this he subsequently added an order constituting the high priest patron of the whole Jewish race in all countries, by which he became the prosecutor in behalf of all Jews against any power that infringed their rights. Though in all other places synagogues could be built, in no other place than Jerusalem could sacrifices be offered. From every Jew a poll-tax of a didrachm, and voluntary offerings according to ability, were transmitted to the spiritual metropolis. Through all the Jewish dispersion the high priest judged of heresy, imprisoned, scourged, summoned to Jerusalem, and excommunicated-every thing but executed, unless by daring violence. Hence, the high priest was now a Jewish pope, with his Sanhedrin as his cardinals, with a sway as wide as the Roman empire. Hence, too, though Damascus was beyond the limits of Palestine, the ambitious and violent Saul had but to apply to these high dignitaries for authority that would be legally good against any lawful power in Damascus, and would bind and bring them to Jerusalem before the high priest. Luke omits, as of course, the obtaining of the letters, which the high priest would be but too glad to give this fiery adherent for the purpose of exerting and maintaining his own authority. Paul's own account (xxii. 5) describes the receiving to show with what high warrant he went armed. The Jews were numerous in Damascus, and doubtless had several synagogues, to each of which one of the letters would be addressed.

640.*-DAMASCUS.

Acts ix. 3.-" And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus." Descriptive.-Damascus should be approached only one way, and that is from the west. The traveller who comes from that quarter passes over the great chain of Anti-Libanus; he crosses the watershed and finds him. self following the course of a little stream flowing through a richly cultivated valley. The stream is the Barada. It flows on, and the cultivation which at its rise spreads far and wide along its banks, nourished by the rills which feed it, gradually is contracted within the limits of its single channel. The mountains rise round it absolutely bare. The peaks of Mount Sinai are not more sterile than these Syrian ranges. . . . But the river winds through them, visible everywhere by its mass of vegetation-willow poplars, hawthorn, walnut, hanging over a rushing volume of crystal water, the more striking from the contrast of the naked desert in which it is found.

One of the strongest impressions left by the East is the connectionobvious enough in itself, but little thought of in Europe-between verdure and running water. But never-not even in the close juxtaposition of the Nile valley and the sands of Africa-have I seen so wonderful a witness to this life-giving power as the view on which we are now entering. The further we advance, the contrast becomes more and more forcible, the mountains more bare, the green of the river bed more deep and rich. At last a cleft open in the rocky hills between two precipitous cliffs-up the side of one of these cliffs the road winds; on the summit of the cliff there stands a ruined chapel. Through the arches of that chapel, from the very edge of the mountain range, you look down on the plain of Damascus. It is here seen in its widest and fullest perfection, with the visible explanation of the whole secret of its great and enduring charm, that which it must have had when it was the solitary seat of civilization in Syria, and which it will have as long as the world lasts. The river with its green banks is seen at the bottom, rushing through the cleft; it bursts forth, and, as if in a moment, scatters over the plain, through a circle of thirty miles, the same verdure which had hitherto been confined to its single channel. It is like the bursting of a shell-the eruption of a volcano,-an eruption, not of death but of life. Far and wide in front extends the level plain, its horizon bare, its line of surrounding hills bare; all bare far away on the road to Palmyra and Bagdad. In the midst of this plain lies at your feet the vast lake or island of deep verdure, walnuts and apricots waving above, ccrn and grass below; and in the midst of this mass of foliage rises, striking out its white arms of streets hither and thither, and its white minarets above the trees which embosom them, the city of Damascus. On the right towers the snowy height of Hermon, overlooking the whole scene. Close behind are the sterile limestone mountains; so that one stands literally between the living and the dead. And the ruined arches of the ancient chapel, which serve as a centre and framework to the prospect and retrospect, still preserve the magnificent story which, whether truth or fiction, is well worthy of this sublime view. Here, hard by the sacred heights of Salihyeh, consecrated by the caverns and tombs of a thousand Mussulman saints, the Prophet is said to have stood, while yet a camel-driver from Mecca, and after gazing on the scene below, to have turned away without entering the city: "Man," he said, “ can have but one paradise, and my paradise is fixed above."

One other traditional view there is on the opposite side of Damascus, which though nearer at hand and only seen from the level ground, is, if correct, yet more memorable-the most memorable, indeed, which ever this world-old city has presented to mortal eyes. A quarter of an hour from the walls of the town on the eastern side, the Christian burial-ground, and a rude mass of conglomerate stone, mark the reputed scene of the

38

STREETS AND GATES OF DAMASCUS.

conversion of St. Paul. We were there at "noon." There was the cloudless blue sky overhead; close in front the city wall, in part still ancient ; around it the green mass' of groves and orchards; and beyond them, and deeply contrasting with them, on the south, the white top of Hermon, on the north the grey hills of Salihyeh. Such, according to the local belief, was St. Paul's view when the light became darkness before him, and he heard the voice which turned the fortunes of mankind.-STANLEY'S Sinai and Palestine. [For a similar, but fuller, account of Modern Damascus, see Tent Work in Palestine, by C. R. CONDER, R.E., vol. i., pp. 236-247.]

Damascus is one of the most ancient, and has at all times been one of the most important cities of Syria. It is situated in a plain of vast size and of extreme fertility, which lies east of the great chain of Anti-Libanus on the edge of the desert. This fertile plain, which is nearly circular and about thirty miles in diameter, is due to the river Barada, which is probably the "Abana" of Scripture. This stream, rising high up on the western flank of Anti-Libanus, forces its way through the chain, running for some time among the mountains, till suddenly it bursts through a narrow cleft upon the open country east of the hills, and diffuses fertility far and wide. Another writer (Addison) mentions, among the produce of the plain in question, "pomegranates, figs, plums, citrons, pears and apples." Olive trees are also a principal feature of the scene.

641.-STREETS AND GATES OF DAMASCUS.

Acts ix. 3.

Descriptive.-The streets of Damascus have a large barrier at each end, which is always closed at about sunset as a protection against thieves; but a very small bribe will open the barrier at any hour of the night, for there is always a gatekeeper at hand. It is not likely that these gates are of much use against solitary prowlers; their chief use is to check sudden insurrectionary movements.

The eastern gate, now walled up, is memorable as the place where the Apostle was let down by the wall in a basket. There is an arch in the burial-ground near where, it is pretended, St. Paul hid himself after his descent from the wall.

The other principal gates are—the Gate of the Camel, leading to the rendezvous of the Arabs; the Paradise Gate, a large one, with a gloomy archway, leading into a bustling bazaar, near the centre of the south

wall; and the greatest thoroughfare of all, the Bab Booma, or Gate of St. Thomas, so called probably in memory of this brave Christian champion who so nobly but fruitlessly withstood the Saracen besiegers.

642.-PRESENT CONDITION OF DAMASCUS.
Acts ix. 3.

Illustrative.-"The Jews here number five thousand persons. The terrible persecution, to which they were so wickedly subjected, in the matter of Father Tomaso, was very fatal to some of their best families; but through the energetic efforts made in their behalf, they are now no longer molested, although a bitter feeling towards them still exists amongst some of the Mohammedans. They are the principal bankers and merchants of Damascus.

"There are also several classes of Christians here, of whom the Greeks form by far the larger number. Of these, many have joined the Romish communion. There are three Latin monasteries in this city; to that of the Franciscans a school is attached. The whole population of Damascus is about 120,000.