"WHITED SEPULCHRES."

Otago Witness, Issue 2894, 1 September 1909, Page 81

"WHITED SEPULCHRES."

•- „ . "■ .m- .. — "-•— ) ' t . . , Bia Baniex. * The* 3*4** ci ty to. which the . eyes of fta civilised" world are *t the" present" time sm anxiously dirte^ed^GonstairUnople— is— froi a distance— perhaps the most beautiful city to be found anywhere upon the face of ihe earth. Approached from the sea, especially at sunset, it is indeed a fascinating aati attractive spectacle. The slender, tapering minarets and rounded domes >f innumerable mosquee — there are , several hundreds of them— towering upward*" "to the sky are lighted up -with a- roseate glow, some of the latter^ apparently covered with burnished' 1 brass, which glitters strangely in the hor - stontal rays of the setting sun; while the windows' of the extensive mansions and lofty buildings on each side of the roadstead glister-' and sparkle with a' vivid fiery gloxvr; the fine hospital above- the graveyard oi Scutari, where lie - the remains of so many brave British soldrete who died- of wound* and disease in the Crimean «w*r, appearing as if a crimson fire were -raging within it* walls* In the Golden Horn and in the Bosphorus — that lovely channel bordered kon each .aide Jbj .gardens and forests, and | ornate villas yritb grounds sloping down to the water — fleets ,of feluccas and other craft i lie at anchor., adding to the interest of the scene. ■ - • | But upon landing* what a transformation! Instead of beacty. and gnace, squalor, mire, ! and garbage.' rh» narrow streets reeking in malodours ; some nearly ankle-deep in, fetid mud; unclean mongrel dogs — the , scavengers of- the pity — trooping about in droves »nd raking our. and devouring the putrid offal; dilapidated, mud-bespattered t houses with broken window* and decaying woodwork— thoug,b it is fair to admit thai » few oi "the streets iri the better portion of th© city are kept in somewhat bettei order — while crowds of human beings, nearly all men, slouch along, some of them clothed— if * such *' term can be usad— in patchwork and rags. Even in the squares facing some of the mosques — and some of these are certainly mpst ornate and handsome erections, 'the- internal decorations of -the mosque of St. Sophia especially being » magnificent — pools of stagnant water are allowed to fester iv the sun, and to provide a congenial breeding ground for mosquitoes; while road-making ia apparently scorned with disdain. And ever there have been of ourselves those who are "like white*? eepulchres, beautiful outwardlj. but full of all uncleanness." But there is c fountain opened for sin and for uncleanness, even the * blood crhec* upon the cross ,by the Saviour ol the world ; and, ' uv the Words-. -61 , the- old- 'Hymn, " Sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty itains." ; For by that Atonement all who wiU but accept the benefits offered ax* *" Justified from all things." C*