Mark Twain, Bible Scholar (1869, Part 2)
Sundays with Mark Twain #74
1869 Part 2
1869.36.237) Quote, Reference, or Allusion: We climbed the stone steps St. Paul ascended, and stood in the square-cut place he stood in, and tried to recollect the Bible account of the matter—but for certain reasons, I could not recall the words. I have found them since:
“Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was stirred in him, when he saw the city wholly given up to idolatry. Therefore disputed he in the synagogue with the Jews, and with the devout persons, and in the market daily with them that met with him. * * * * * * * * *
“And they took him and brought him unto Areopagus, saying, May we know what this new doctrine whereof thou speakest is? * * * * * * * * *
“Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars hill, and said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious; For as I passed by and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription: To THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom, therefore, ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you.”
Scripture: Acts 17:16-23
Work; Date: The Innocents Abroad, chapter XXXII (32); 1869
Source: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/3176/3176-h/3176-h.htm
1869.37.238) Quote, Reference, or Allusion: ...drifting noiselessly about are squads of Turkish women, draped from chin to feet in flowing robes, and with snowy veils bound about their heads, that disclose only the eyes and a vague, shadowy notion of their features. Seen moving about, far away in the dim, arched aisles of the Great Bazaar, they look as the shrouded dead must have looked when they walked forth from their graves amid the storms and thunders and earthquakes that burst upon Calvary that awful night of the Crucifixion.
Scripture: And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent; And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many. Now when the centurion, and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God. -- Matthew 27:51-54
Work; Date: The Innocents Abroad, chapter XXXIII (33); 1869
Source: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/3176/3176-h/3176-h.htm
1869.38.239) Quote, Reference, or Allusion: Greek, Turkish and Armenian morals consist only in attending church regularly on the appointed Sabbaths, and in breaking the ten commandments all the balance of the week.
Scripture: Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:
Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;
...
Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.
Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:
...
Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.
Thou shalt not kill.
Thou shalt not commit adultery.
Thou shalt not steal.
Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour’s. -- Exodus 20:3-5, 7-10, 12-17
Work; Date: The Innocents Abroad, chapter XXXIII (33); 1869
Source: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/3176/3176-h/3176-h.htm
1869.39.240) Quote, Reference, or Allusion: That was the picture, just as I got it from incendiary books of travel. It was a poor, miserable imposture. The reality is no more like it than the Five Points are like the Garden of Eden.
Scripture: And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed. -- Genesis 2:8
Work; Date: The Innocents Abroad, chapter XXXIII (33); 1869
Source: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/3176/3176-h/3176-h.htm
1869.40.241) Quote, Reference, or Allusion: Richelieu ... when, years afterwards, he died in Sebastopol in poverty and neglect, they called a meeting, subscribed liberally, and immediately erected this tasteful monument to his memory, and named a great street after him. It reminds me of what Robert Burns’ mother said when they erected a stately monument to his memory: “Ah, Robbie, ye asked them for bread and they hae gi’en ye a stane.”
Scripture: Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? -- Matthew 7:9
Work; Date: The Innocents Abroad, chapter XXXVI (36); 1869
Source: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/3176/3176-h/3176-h.htm
1869.41.242) Quote, Reference, or Allusion: We had the United States Consul on board—the Odessa Consul. We assembled in the cabin and commanded him to tell us what we must do to be saved, and tell us quickly.
Scripture: And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? -- Acts 16:30
Work; Date: The Innocents Abroad, chapter XXXVII (37); 1869
Source: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/3176/3176-h/3176-h.htm
1869.42.243) Quote, Reference, or Allusion: I would as soon have thought of being cheerful in Abraham’s bosom as in the palace of an Emperor.
Scripture: And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; -- Luke 16:22
Work; Date: The Innocents Abroad, chapter XXXVII (37); 1869
Source: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/3176/3176-h/3176-h.htm
1869.43.244) Quote, Reference, or Allusion: Our poet has been rigidly suppressed, from the time we let go the anchor. When it was announced that we were going to visit the Emperor of Russia, the fountains of his great deep were broken up, and he rained ineffable bosh for four-and-twenty hours.
Scripture: In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. - Genesis 7:11
Work; Date: The Innocents Abroad, chapter XXXVII (37); 1869
Source: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/3176/3176-h/3176-h.htm
1869.44.245) Quote, Reference, or Allusion: ...as pleasant as the roasting odors of the fatted calf to the nostrils of the returning Prodigal.
Scripture: And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. – Luke 15:20
Work; Date: The Innocents Abroad, chapter XXXVIII (38); 1869
Source: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/3176/3176-h/3176-h.htm
1869.45.246) Quote, Reference, or Allusion: Smyrna is a very old city. Its name occurs several times in the Bible, one or two of the disciples of Christ visited it, and here was located one of the original seven apocalyptic churches spoken of in Revelations. These churches were symbolized in the Scriptures as candlesticks, and on certain conditions there was a sort of implied promise that Smyrna should be endowed with a “crown of life.” She was to “be faithful unto death”—those were the terms. She has not kept up her faith straight along, but the pilgrims that wander hither consider that she has come near enough to it to save her, and so they point to the fact that Smyrna to-day wears her crown of life, and is a great city, with a great commerce and full of energy, while the cities wherein were located the other six churches, and to which no crown of life was promised, have vanished from the earth. So Smyrna really still possesses her crown of life, in a business point of view. Her career, for eighteen centuries, has been a chequered one, and she has been under the rule of princes of many creeds, yet there has been no season during all that time, as far as we know, (and during such seasons as she was inhabited at all,) that she has been without her little community of Christians “faithful unto death.” Hers was the only church against which no threats were implied in the Revelations, and the only one which survived.
With Ephesus, forty miles from here, where was located another of the seven churches, the case was different. The “candlestick” has been removed from Ephesus. Her light has been put out. Pilgrims, always prone to find prophecies in the Bible, and often where none exist, speak cheerfully and complacently of poor, ruined Ephesus as the victim of prophecy. And yet there is no sentence that promises, without due qualification, the destruction of the city. The words are:
“Remember, therefore, from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.”
That is all; the other verses are singularly complimentary to Ephesus. The threat is qualified. There is no history to show that she did not repent. But the cruelest habit the modern prophecy-savans have, is that one of coolly and arbitrarily fitting the prophetic shirt on to the wrong man.
Scripture: Revelation 2:5
Work; Date: The Innocents Abroad, chapter XXXVIII (38); 1869
Source: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/3176/3176-h/3176-h.htm
1869.46.247) Quote, Reference, or Allusion: The fashion of delving out fulfillments of prophecy where that prophecy consists of mere “ifs,” trenches upon the absurd. Suppose, ... They would coolly skip over our age of the world, and say: “Smyrna was not faithful unto death, and so her crown of life was denied her; Ephesus repented, and lo! her candle-stick was not removed. Behold these evidences! How wonderful is prophecy!”
Scripture: Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write; These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks; I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars: And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name’s sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted. Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent. But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God. -- Revelation 2:1-7
Work; Date: The Innocents Abroad, chapter XXXVIII (38); 1869
Source: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/3176/3176-h/3176-h.htm
1869.47.248) Quote, Reference, or Allusion: ...the site of that one of the Seven Apocalyptic Churches of Asia which was located here in the first century of the Christian era;
Scripture: Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write;
...And unto the angel of the church in Smyrna write;
...And to the angel of the church in Pergamos write;
...And unto the angel of the church in Thyatira write;
...And unto the angel of the church in Sardis write;
...And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write;
...And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; -- Revelation 2:1,8,12,18; 3:1,7,14
Work; Date: The Innocents Abroad, chapter XXXIX (39); 1869
Source: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/3176/3176-h/3176-h.htm
1869.48.249) Quote, Reference, or Allusion: Several of us argued as well as we could that the “church” mentioned in the Bible meant a party of Christians, and not a building; that the Bible spoke of them as being very poor—so poor, I thought, and so subject to persecution (as per Polycarp’s martyrdom) that in the first place they probably could not have afforded a church edifice, and in the second would not have dared to build it in the open light of day if they could; and finally, that if they had had the privilege of building it, common judgment would have suggested that they build it somewhere near the town. But the elders of the ship’s family ruled us down and scouted our evidences. However, retribution came to them afterward. They found that they had been led astray and had gone to the wrong place; they discovered that the accepted site is in the city.
Scripture: And unto the angel of the church in Smyrna write; These things saith the first and the last, which was dead, and is alive; I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan. -- Revelation 2:8,9
Work; Date: The Innocents Abroad, chapter XXXIX (39); 1869
Source: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/3176/3176-h/3176-h.htm
1869.49.250) Quote, Reference, or Allusion: It is just possible that this hill is Mount Ararat, and that Noah’s Ark rested here, and he ate oysters and threw the shells overboard. But that will not do, either. There are the three layers again and the solid earth between—and, besides, there were only eight in Noah’s family, and they could not have eaten all these oysters in the two or three months they staid on top of that mountain.
Scripture: And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat. -- Genesis 8:4
Work; Date: The Innocents Abroad, chapter XXXIX (39); 1869
Source: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/3176/3176-h/3176-h.htm
1869.50.251) Quote, Reference, or Allusion: Ephesus—a town great in all ages of the world—a city familiar to readers of the Bible, and one which was as old as the very hills when the disciples of Christ preached in its streets.
Scripture: And it came to pass, that, while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper coasts came to Ephesus. -- Acts 19:1
Work; Date: The Innocents Abroad, chapter XXXIX (39); 1869
Source: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/3176/3176-h/3176-h.htm
1869.51.252) Quote, Reference, or Allusion: I wish to say a brief word of the aspect of Ephesus.
On a high, steep hill, toward the sea, is a gray ruin of ponderous blocks of marble, wherein, tradition says, St. Paul was imprisoned eighteen centuries ago.
Scripture: Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool) I am more; in labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft. -- 2 Corinthians 11:23
Work; Date: The Innocents Abroad, chapter XL (40); 1869
Source: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/3176/3176-h/3176-h.htm
1869.52.253) Quote, Reference, or Allusion: ...so remote are they from the early history of this city, Paul the Apostle preached the new religion here, and so did John, and here it is supposed the former was pitted against wild beasts, for in 1 Corinthians, xv. 32 he says: “If after the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus,” etc.,”
Scripture: If after the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantageth it me, if the dead rise not? let us eat and drink; for to morrow we die. -- 1 Corinthians 15:32
Work; Date: The Innocents Abroad, chapter XL (40); 1869
Source: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/3176/3176-h/3176-h.htm
1869.53.254) Quote, Reference, or Allusion: One may read the Scriptures and believe, but he can not go and stand yonder in the ruined theatre and in imagination people it again with the vanished multitudes who mobbed Paul’s comrades there and shouted, with one voice, “Great is Diana of the Ephesians!” The idea of a shout in such a solitude as this almost makes one shudder.
Scripture: And when they heard these sayings, they were full of wrath, and cried out, saying, Great is Diana of the Ephesians. -- Acts 19:28
Work; Date: The Innocents Abroad, chapter XL (40); 1869
Source: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/3176/3176-h/3176-h.htm
1869.54.255) Quote, Reference, or Allusion: At the appointed time our business committee reported, and said all things were in readdress—that we were to start to-day, with horses, pack animals, and tents, and go to Baalbec, Damascus, the Sea of Tiberias, and thence southward by the way of the scene of Jacob’s Dream and other notable Bible localities to Jerusalem.
Scripture: And Jacob went out from Beersheba, and went toward Haran. And he lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was set; and he took of the stones of that place, and put [them for] his pillows, and lay down in that place to sleep. And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it. -- Genesis 28:10-12
Work; Date: The Innocents Abroad, chapter XLI (41); 1869
Source: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/3176/3176-h/3176-h.htm
1869.55.256) Quote, Reference, or Allusion: At 6 o’clock P.M., we came to a halt here on the breezy summit of a shapely mountain overlooking the sea, and the handsome valley where dwelt some of those enterprising Phoenicians of ancient times we read so much about; all around us are what were once the dominions of Hiram, King of Tyre, who furnished timber from the cedars of these Lebanon hills to build portions of King Solomon’s Temple with.
Scripture: And Hiram king of Tyre sent messengers to David, and cedar trees, and carpenters, and masons: and they built David an house. -- 2 Samuel 5:11
Work; Date: The Innocents Abroad, chapter XLI (41); 1869
Source: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/3176/3176-h/3176-h.htm
1869.56.257) Quote, Reference, or Allusion: We can see the long, whale-backed ridge of Mount Hermon projecting above the eastern hills. The “dews of Hermon” are falling upon us now, and the tents are almost soaked with them.
Scripture: As the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion: for there the LORD commanded the blessing, even life for evermore. -- Psalms 133:3
Work; Date: The Innocents Abroad, chapter XLII (42); 1869
Source: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/3176/3176-h/3176-h.htm
1869.57.258) Quote, Reference, or Allusion: Over the way from us, and higher up the valley, we can discern, through the glasses, the faint outlines of the wonderful ruins of Baalbec, the supposed Baal-Gad of Scripture.
Scripture: Even from the mount Halak, that goeth up to Seir, even unto Baalgad in the valley of Lebanon under mount Hermon: and all their kings he took, and smote them, and slew them. -- Joshua 11:17
Work; Date: The Innocents Abroad, chapter XLII (42); 1869
Source: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/3176/3176-h/3176-h.htm
1869.58.259,260) Quote, Reference, or Allusion: Joshua, and another person, were the two spies who were sent into this land of Canaan by the children of Israel to report upon its character—I mean they were the spies who reported favorably. They took back with them some specimens of the grapes of this country, and in the children’s picture-books they are always represented as bearing one monstrous bunch swung to a pole between them, a respectable load for a pack-train.
Scripture: These are the names of the men which Moses sent to spy out the land. And Moses called Oshea the son of Nun Jehoshua. ... And they returned from searching of the land after forty days. And they went and came to Moses, and to Aaron, and to all the congregation of the children of Israel, unto the wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh; and brought back word unto them, and unto all the congregation, and shewed them the fruit of the land. And they told him, and said, We came unto the land whither thou sentest us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey; and this [is] the fruit of it. Nevertheless the people [be] strong that dwell in the land, and the cities [are] walled, [and] very great: and moreover we saw the children of Anak there. The Amalekites dwell in the land of the south: and the Hittites, and the Jebusites, and the Amorites, dwell in the mountains: and the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and by the coast of Jordan. And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it. But the men that went up with him said, We be not able to go up against the people; for they [are] stronger than we. And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, [is] a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it [are] men of a great stature. And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, [which come] of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight. -- Numbers 13:16,25-33
Scripture: And they came unto the brook of Eshcol, and cut down from thence a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they bare it between two upon a staff; and they brought of the pomegranates, and of the figs. -- Numbers 13:23
Work; Date: The Innocents Abroad, chapter XLII (42); 1869
Source: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/3176/3176-h/3176-h.htm
1869.59.261) Quote, Reference, or Allusion: Joshua reported favorably, and the children of Israel journeyed on, with Moses at the head of the general government, and Joshua in command of the army of six hundred thousand fighting men. Of women and children and civilians there was a countless swarm. Of all that mighty host, none but the two faithful spies ever lived to set their feet in the Promised Land.
Scripture: I the LORD have said, I will surely do it unto all this evil congregation, that are gathered together against me: in this wilderness they shall be consumed, and there they shall die. And the men, which Moses sent to search the land, who returned, and made all the congregation to murmur against him, by bringing up a slander upon the land, Even those men that did bring up the evil report upon the land, died by the plague before the LORD. But Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, [which were] of the men that went to search the land, lived [still]. -- Numbers 14:35-38
Work; Date: The Innocents Abroad, chapter XLII (42); 1869
Source: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/3176/3176-h/3176-h.htm
1869.60.262) Quote, Reference, or Allusion: Moses, the gifted warrior, poet, statesman and philosopher, went up into Pisgah and met his mysterious fate. Where he was buried no man knows.
Scripture: And Moses went up from the plains of Moab unto the mountain of Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, that [is] over against Jericho. And the LORD shewed him all the land of Gilead, unto Dan, And all Naphtali, and the land of Ephraim, and Manasseh, and all the land of Judah, unto the utmost sea, And the south, and the plain of the valley of Jericho, the city of palm trees, unto Zoar. And the LORD said unto him, This [is] the land which I sware unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, saying, I will give it unto thy seed: I have caused thee to see [it] with thine eyes, but thou shalt not go over thither. So Moses the servant of the LORD died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the LORD. And he buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, over against Bethpeor: but no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day. -- Deuteronomy 34:1-6
Work; Date: The Innocents Abroad, chapter XLII (42); 1869
Source: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/3176/3176-h/3176-h.htm
1869.61.263) Quote, Reference, or Allusion: Then Joshua began his terrible raid, and from Jericho clear to this Baal-Gad, he swept the land like the Genius of Destruction.
Scripture: And the LORD said unto Joshua, See, I have given into thine hand Jericho, and the king thereof, and the mighty men of valour. -- Joshua 6:2
Work; Date: The Innocents Abroad, chapter XLII (42); 1869
Source: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/3176/3176-h/3176-h.htm
1869.62.264) Quote, Reference, or Allusion: He wasted thirty-one kings also. One may call it that, though really it can hardly be called wasting them, because there were always plenty of kings in those days, and to spare. At any rate, he destroyed thirty-one kings, and divided up their realms among his Israelites.
Scripture: Now these are the kings of the land, which the children of Israel smote, and possessed their land on the other side Jordan toward the rising of the sun, from the river Arnon unto mount Hermon, and all the plain on the east: ... The king of Tirzah, one: all the kings thirty and one. -- Joshua 12:1,24
Work; Date: The Innocents Abroad, chapter XLII (42); 1869
Source: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/3176/3176-h/3176-h.htm
1869.63.265) Quote, Reference, or Allusion: Back yonder, an hour’s journey from here, we passed through an Arab village of stone dry-goods boxes (they look like that,) where Noah’s tomb lies under lock and key. [Noah built the ark.] Over these old hills and valleys the ark that contained all that was left of a vanished world once floated.
Scripture: And the flood was forty days upon the earth; and the waters increased, and bare up the ark, and it was lift up above the earth. And the waters prevailed, and were increased greatly upon the earth; and the ark went upon the face of the waters. -- Genesis 7:17,18
Work; Date: The Innocents Abroad, chapter XLII (42); 1869
Source: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/3176/3176-h/3176-h.htm
1869.64.266) Quote, Reference, or Allusion: We said the Saviour who pitied dumb beasts and taught that the ox must be rescued from the mire even on the Sabbath day, would not have counseled a forced march like this.
Scripture: And he said unto them, What man shall there be among you, that shall have one sheep, and if it fall into a pit on the sabbath day, will he not lay hold on it, and lift it out? How much then is a man better than a sheep? Wherefore it is lawful to do well on the sabbath days. -- Matthew 12:11,12
Work; Date: The Innocents Abroad, chapter XLIII (43); 1869
Source: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/3176/3176-h/3176-h.htm
1869.65.267) Quote, Reference, or Allusion: Not content with doubling the legitimate stages, they switched off the main road and went away out of the way to visit an absurd fountain called Figia, because Baalam’s ass had drank there once. So we journeyed on, through the terrible hills and deserts and the roasting sun, and then far into the night, seeking the honored pool of Baalam’s ass, the patron saint of all pilgrims like us.
Scripture: And Balaam rose up in the morning, and saddled his ass, and went with the princes of Moab. And God’s anger was kindled because he went: and the angel of the LORD stood in the way for an adversary against him. Now he was riding upon his ass, and his two servants were with him. And the ass saw the angel of the LORD standing in the way, and his sword drawn in his hand: and the ass turned aside out of the way, and went into the field: and Balaam smote the ass, to turn her into the way. -- Numbers 22:21-23
Work; Date: The Innocents Abroad, chapter XLIII (43); 1869
Source: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/3176/3176-h/3176-h.htm
1869.66.268) Quote, Reference, or Allusion: There is an honored old tradition that the immense garden which Damascus stands in was the Garden of Eden, and modern writers have gathered up many chapters of evidence tending to show that it really was the Garden of Eden, and that the rivers Pharpar and Abana are the “two rivers” that watered Adam’s Paradise. It may be so, but it is not paradise now, and one would be as happy outside of it as he would be likely to be within.
Scripture: And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads. The name of the first [is] Pison: that [is] it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where [there is] gold; And the gold of that land [is] good: there [is] bdellium and the onyx stone. And the name of the second river [is] Gihon: the same [is] it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia. -- Genesis 2:10-13
Work; Date: The Innocents Abroad, chapter XLIV (44); 1869
Source: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/3176/3176-h/3176-h.htm
1869.67.269) Quote, Reference, or Allusion: We rode half through the city and through the famous “street which is called Straight” without seeing any thing, hardly.
Scripture: And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the street which is called Straight, and enquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul, of Tarsus: for, behold, he prayeth, -- Acts 9:11
Work; Date: The Innocents Abroad, chapter XLIV (44); 1869
Source: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/3176/3176-h/3176-h.htm
1869.68.270) Quote, Reference, or Allusion: About eighteen or nineteen hundred years ago, Saul, a native of Tarsus, was particularly bitter against the new sect called Christians, and he left Jerusalem and started across the country on a furious crusade against them. He went forth “breathing threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord.”
“And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus, and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven:
“And he fell to the earth and heard a voice saying unto him, ‘Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?’
“And when he knew that it was Jesus that spoke to him he trembled, and was astonished, and said, ‘Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?’”
He was told to arise and go into the ancient city and one would tell him what to do. In the meantime his soldiers stood speechless and awe-stricken, for they heard the mysterious voice but saw no man. Saul rose up and found that that fierce supernatural light had destroyed his sight, and he was blind, so “they led him by the hand and brought him to Damascus.” He was converted.
Paul lay three days, blind, in the house of Judas, and during that time he neither ate nor drank.
There came a voice to a citizen of Damascus, named Ananias, saying, “Arise, and go into the street which is called Straight, and inquire at the house of Judas, for one called Saul, of Tarsus; for behold, he prayeth.”
Ananias did not wish to go at first, for he had heard of Saul before, and he had his doubts about that style of a “chosen vessel” to preach the gospel of peace. However, in obedience to orders, he went into the “street called Straight” (how he found his way into it, and after he did, how he ever found his way out of it again, are mysteries only to be accounted for by the fact that he was acting under Divine inspiration.) He found Paul and restored him, and ordained him a preacher; and from this old house we had hunted up in the street which is miscalled Straight, he had started out on that bold missionary career which he prosecuted till his death. It was not the house of the disciple who sold the Master for thirty pieces of silver. I make this explanation in justice to Judas, who was a far different sort of man from the person just referred to. A very different style of man, and lived in a very good house. It is a pity we do not know more about him.
I have given, in the above paragraphs, some more information for people who will not read Bible history until they are defrauded into it by some such method as this. I hope that no friend of progress and education will obstruct or interfere with my peculiar mission.
Scripture: And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest, And desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem. And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven: And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do. And the men which journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man. And Saul arose from the earth; and when his eyes were opened, he saw no man: but they led him by the hand, and brought him into Damascus. And he was three days without sight, and neither did eat nor drink. And there was a certain disciple at Damascus, named Ananias; and to him said the Lord in a vision, Ananias. And he said, Behold, I am here, Lord. And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the street which is called Straight, and inquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul, of Tarsus: for, behold, he prayeth, And hath seen in a vision a man named Ananias coming in, and putting his hand on him, that he might receive his sight. Then Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard by many of this man, how much evil he hath done to thy saints at Jerusalem: And here he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all that call on thy name. But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel: For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name’s sake. And Ananias went his way, and entered into the house; and putting his hands on him said, Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, hath sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost. -- Acts 9:1-17
Work; Date: The Innocents Abroad, chapter XLIV (44); 1869
Source: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/3176/3176-h/3176-h.htm
1869.69.271) Quote, Reference, or Allusion: The street called Straight is straighter than a corkscrew, but not as straight as a rainbow. St. Luke is careful not to commit himself; he does not say it is the street which is straight, but the “street which is called Straight.” It is a fine piece of irony; it is the only facetious remark in the Bible, I believe.
Scripture: And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the street which is called Straight, and enquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul, of Tarsus: for, behold, he prayeth, -- Acts 9:11
Work; Date: The Innocents Abroad, chapter XLIV (44); 1869
Source: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/3176/3176-h/3176-h.htm
You can get the entire book (MARK TWAIN, BIBLE SCHOLAR: 919 Bible Quotations, References, and Allusions from Mark Twain’s Writings) here.
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