St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1876-04-14
Notes from Turkey.
The Seven Churches of Asia. III.
SMYRNA

'h'' tht anger OF tne lnllfcn IN
Smyrna write: These things saith the
first and the last, which WAS dead and is
alive; know thy works. and trbulatien,
and poverty, (but thou art rich,) y and
know the basphemy of them which say
they are Jews and are not, but aIe of
the synagogue of Satan"
OF the establishment of the church in
Smyrna we know but little, but it was
without doubt one of the results of the
missionary labors of the Apostle Paul.
At that time Smyrna was il large and
tlourishing city. People from all parts
OF the world had collected there fer the
purposes of trade, and, no doubt, then.
as now, thele were il great many Jews
among them. 1t is probable that the
little church there gathered WAS COM
posed mainly of the poorer and more
humble CLASSES of society. In Christ's
time, we read: "The common people
heard him gladly" The missionaries
i'll the East to-day find the same thing
is tue, and this fact will account for the
''tribulation and poverty" of the church
in Smyrna, which had reached the
notice of Him that WAS dead and is
alive" But they We're rich,-rich in
faith, rich III works, and the words of
the Spirit ale words of encouragement,
not words of warning. But their faith
was to be tried, severely tried. and
history bears witness how well they
bore the test.
The prosecutions To which the fanati
cal Roman Emperors subjected the
early Christians, fell with full rigor on
the church in Smyrna. OF the martyrs
who there bore witness with their lives
to the truth of the gospel, the name of
Polycarp Is the most familiar to us.
This holy Bishop, who had talked with
those who had seen our Lord, who had
partaken of the Lords Supper with the
Apostle John, WAS burned at the stake
in the year III, during the reign of the
Emperor AureliuS. AS we stood ut the
place of his martyrdom, the ancient
Stadium of Smyrna. all the other events
which had ever transpred there sank
INTO insigniticance as we thought of this
scene ut which angels must have wept
Tradition says that as the holy man
entered the Stadium. voice from
heaven said to him, BE strong and
show thySelf Il man, o PolycaIp" And
which the Holy Spirit had sent to the
church i'll Smyrna seventy years before.
were that day continually ringing in
his ears
When brought to the stake. he was
told to swear by Caesar and say.
''Away with the Atheists" :" Look
filled the stadium, he said with Il groan,
Away with the Atheists Now"
said the Proconsul. "swear by Caesar
and will set thee at liberty. Reproach
Christ" Then said Polycarp. "Eighy
and sir years hare / Serred Christ. and
he nerer dd me an injury. Ho~ can
l then biaspheme my Hmg and my
SdriOW -
When the sentence of death was read
the infatuated populace shouted, This
is the teacher of Atheism, the father of
the Christians, the enemy of our gods.
10y whom so many have been turned
from the worship of the gods and from
sacrifice" Then the flames were light
ed, aud, as they wrapped the limbs of
the venerable man, he prayed and
thanked God that he was found worthy
to die Il witness for him. He Obeyed
the divine injunction. He was, indeed,
faithful unto death, and shall receive
the crown of life"
\ place is still shown Oh the side of
Mt. Pagus, under IL low cypress tree,
and not far from the stadium, which is
called the grave of Polyearp, and is
revered by MosIems and Christians
alike. The place is not however well
authenticated. The words. aye shall
have tribulation ten days" refer NO
doubt to the bitter prosecutions which
lasted for ten years in the reign of
Diocletian, at the beginning of the
fourth century.
A little mosque is standing upon Mt.
Pagus, the acropolis of Smyrna, which
is said to have been the church in which
Polycarp preached, and the place is
pointed out in the city where, tradition
says, stood the church in which assem-
bled the little band of worshippers at
the time of the Apocalypse.
The Christian name has always been
preserved in Smyrna. About half of
been estimated at 100000, are Greeks,
and more than half are nOminally Chris
tians. But, as is true all through the
East, the true spirit of Christianity is
buried beneath the cumbersome formal
tiles of Il dead church, and the mag
niticent houses of worship are little
alteration of pictures and the memorials
of saints.
The missionaries of the American
Board as well as of other societies. have
long labOred in Smyrna, but with little
success The work among the Greeks
has always been especially discourage
ing. There is now no American mis-
sionary there, and the little church