Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1886-06-16
&eadiug fur the Sabbath,
BY
= ". RIO LATHAM.
THE CHURCH OF EPHESUS-REV. 2: IL.

tours. Near the close of his life, John, the
beloved disciple of Saviour, was, by Do
mitian, banished to a rocky, barren island
in the Egean Sea. While enduring pa
tiently the hardships and privations of ban
ishment, there was communicated to him
the book which We call the Book of Reveal
ton. One feature of the Book of REVEAL
ton is that it consists, in part, of seven pro-
phetic letters addressed, one to each of the
seven churches of Asia. The first letter is
addressed unto the angel of the Church of
Ephesus. BY angel of the Church OF Ephe-
sus, and by the angel Of each of the other
churches of Asia, we are to understand, not
one of those spiritual beings often spoken of
in the Scriptures, but the pastors or bishops
or presiding officers in each of those Church
es. The contents of the epistles are design
ed for the warning, admonition and encour-
agement of all the members Of the several
churches to the angels Of which the epistles
are addressed. There is evidently, whether
we can understand it or not, Il close and in
separable connection between the seven let
ters and the seals and trumpets afterwards
mentioned in the Book of Revelations. 1t
is supposed, and not without reason, that
each of these seven letters embraces seven
periods of the worlds history. The letter
to the Church of Ephesus contains, it is
thought, a prophetic history of the state of
the Christian Church, from the beginning
down to 1903, or to the beginning Of what is
known as the Diocletian persecution. The
state of the church during the Diocletian
persecution, or the Church from 1903 to 313 is
contained in the letter to the Church of
Smyrna. The third period of the Church's
history which extends from 3l3t to COG, when
Boniface III. became Pope, is prophetically
described in the letter to the Church of Per-
gamos. From COG to 1860, was a period of
great at1iction to the Church. These at1ic-
tions are supposed to be prophetically des-
cribed in the letter to the Church of Thya-
tira. The letter to the Church of Sardis is
supposed to cover the period in the history
of the Church from 1860 to 1911. The letter
to Philadelphia prophetically describes the
state of the Church from the beginning of
the Reformation in 1917 down to the Revo-
lutionary settlement in England, in 1858.
The seventh letter was addressed to the
Church of the Laodiceans and prophetically
sets forth the state of the Church from 1858
to the end of the world.
Without either calling in question or at
tempting to establish the truthfulness of
the above theory, in reference to time in
Guided in these confessedly prophetic letters,
it may be said that, since history constant
ly repeats itself, there is much in each and
all of these letters which describes the state
of the Church in all ages.
The first letter is addressed to the Church
of Ephesus. At one time Ephesus was a
city of considerable note. In it Paul preach
ed Christ for three years, and in it he wrote
several of his epistles. 1t was from Ephe-
sus that John was banished to Patmos, and
to it he returned after he wasdelivered from
Punishment, and here he died and was
buried.
The letter to the Church of Ephesus con-
sists of two parts. Everything that is good
about the Church of Ephesus is first stated,
and then its defects are mentioned. This is
suggestive. God takes no pleasures in pun
ishing guilty and rebellious sinners, much
less in chastising his people. The favorable
features of the Church of Ephesus consisted
in it's having patiently labored and not
tainted in its efforts to disseminate the truth
as it is in Jesus Christ. There were at the
time this letter was addressed to the Church
of Ephesus, and after that time even down
to the present period in the worlds history,
false apostles and false teachers. The object
of floco x,,oc fhop n,1 ;c noun, or6 axor will
be, to deceive. The Ephesian Christians
tried the teachings of these deceivers by the
word of God and finding that they were lies,
rejected them. This wa certainly COM
mendable and it did receive the u%nequiv-
ocal approval of the king and head of the
Church. There was another favorable fea-
ture in the Church of Ephesus. They hated
the deeds of the Nicolaitans which God
had hated then and always will hate. The
Nicolaitans were a class Of persons in the
Church who held a creed, in all its funda-
mental principles, very similar to that held
by the Mormons.
The creed of the Nicolaitans was based
upon bestial lust and their practice was in
conformity to their creed. Whether there
were any Nicolaitans in the Church ofEphe-
sus or not we do not know. Probably there
were some, but their influence over the mass
was not at that time felt.
Viewed from a human stand point the
Church of Ephesus was certainly in a
good condition. 1t labored patiently for
the truth as it in Jesus Christ and was
prompt in rejecting false teachers. This
is more than can be said of many cOngrega-
tions at the present time. No more can be
said of any congregation at present than
said of the Church of Ephesus. Not
withstanding all that was really good in
the Church of Ephesus he who walks in the
midst of seven golden candlesticks had
somewhat against it. This is suggestive.
A congregation may have an orthodox creed
and be on the constant lookout lest it be de-
ceived by those who claim to be apostles
but are liars. AS a congregation it may
theoretically hate the doctrine and the
deeds of the Nicolaitans, but still, as was
the case in the Church of Corinth, there
may be in it a species of fornication which
has scarcely an existence among the hea-
thens.
The defect in the Church of Ephesus was
that it had departed from its first love.
This may mean that it had departed from
or forsaken the object Of its first love, or that
its ardor for the object of its first love had
In fact the one includes the other.
1t had forsaken Jesus Christ, not entirely,
but to a reprehensible degree, and to that
extent had fixed its affections upon some