recorded in Acts 20, where Paul gave his memorable charge to the elders of Ephesus, bade them remember the words of the Lord Jesus: "It is more blessed to give than to receive,” and kneeling down prayed with Surely, though in ruins, Ephesus is holy

them all. ground!

CHAPTER XI

BEIRUT, DAMASCUS AND BAALBEC

B

"I THOUGHT in Syria life was more than death;

A tomb there was forsaken of its dead;

But death filled not the place; here with bowed head
Worships the world forever at the tread

Of one who lived, who liveth, and shall live-
Whose grave is but a footstep on the sod;

Men kiss the ground where living feet have trod.
Here not to Death, but Life, they worship give.
August is death, but this one tomb is rife
With a more mighty presence-it is Life."

-RICHARD WATSON GILDER.

EIRUT occupies a considerable part of the south side of St. George's Bay, on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean. It is the chief commercial town of Syria, the chief city of the vilayet of the same name, the residence of the Vali, the seat of a Latin Archbishop, a Greek Orthodox Bishop, a Maronite Bishop, and the United Greek Patriarch of the East, who lives in rotation at Beirut, Damascus, and Alexandria. The town is beautifully situated on the slopes of Ras Beirut and St. Dimitri, facing the sea. The plain is covered with luxuriant gardens. Beyond them the mountains rise rapidly, overtopped by the snow-clad summits of the Sunnîn and Keneîseh and furrowed by several deep ravines, but cultivated to a

considerable height. The rosy tints of the mountains contrasting with the deep blue of the sea present a most picturesque scene as the sun, falling into the sea, casts its last beam upon the Lebanon range.

The inhabitants of Beirut are Mohammedans, Orthodox Greeks, Maronites, Greek Catholics, Jews, Latins, Protestants, Syrian Catholics, Armenians, Armenian Catholics, Druses, Europeans, and Americans. The Mohammedan element is gradually being displaced by the Christians, who are industrious and seem to share the commercial enterprise of the ancient Phoenicians. Many of the firms have branches in France, England, and America. The bazaar is not especially attractive to one who has been in Constantinople or Cairo, European influence having deprived it of many of its Oriental characteristics. Near the bazaar is the chief mosque of the city, which was originally a church of St. John, of the Crusaders' period; the walls have been adorned by the Mohammedans with rude arabesques. The roads in the suburbs and environs of the city are broad and airy, with many pretty villas, affording charming views, with the foliage of orange and lemon trees, sycamores, and palms adding beauty to the picture.

One of the drives leads out to Dog River, past the ruins of a chapel of St. George, over the spot where the honored saint is said to have fought with the dragon. Dog River received its name from a gigantic stone dog, on a cliff in the sea, which it was believed

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barked on the approach of an enemy. An inscription in Latin relates that the mountain pass was hewn out of the rock by order of the Roman Emperor, Marcus Antonius, the conqueror of Germany. Another inscription in Arabic says that a bridge at the mouth of the river was built there by the Sultan Selim I, the conqueror of Syria. Other inscriptions in Egyptian, Assyrian, and Latin record invasions and expeditions, some of them running back to the pre-Christian era.

To those especially interested in education or missions, Beirut and Tripoli and Sidon and Zahleh, in the Lebanon, offer fruitful fields for observation and study. Missionaries of the American Board started work in Palestine in 1820. Owing to the state of the land and interruptions from wars, pestilence, and massacres, growth was slow at first, and the main work was confined to Syria. In 1870 the Mission was transferred to the care of the Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church. The story of the efforts of the missionaries to acquire a difficult language, win the confidence of the people, produce an acceptable literature, make and distribute a new translation of the Bible, to secure religious liberty and plant churches and schools, and at the same time train an efficient consecrated band of native workers, is told in many volumes.

The methods of work are four: Evangelistic, educational, publication and medical. Outdoor preaching is restricted by law and the customs of the land, but

in churches, schools and private houses, or about the tents of missionaries when touring, good audiences can be secured. The people are usually friendly, and there is more indifference than hostility. There are thirtyfour churches and ninety-seven preaching-places maintained by the Mission, with 2,800 church members, averaging Sabbath congregations of more than six thousand persons, and eighty-six Sabbath Schools with 5,800 pupils. More than $60,000 a year is given by the Syrians out of their poverty toward maintaining their own churches and educating their children. There are at this time in the Syrian Mission thirteen American clergymen, one physician and one layman, twenty-six women missionaries, fourteen Syrian preachers and 197 teachers and assistants, and 2,718 communicants.

Educational work is done by the missionaries in their day schools and training schools. The Syrian Protestant College while independent in government is distinctively a missionary college. Theological instruction is given by members of the Beirut station to students prepared to enter the ministry who are sent from the various stations.

The Syrian Mission, through its press founded in Malta in 1822 and moved to Beirut in 1834, has served all the neighboring missions, for it has supplied Bibles, educational text-books, religious reading, scientific works and a standard literature in pure Arabic to all using that language from Morocco to