Evening capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1888-1893, 1891-11-16
'TliE lEMPLl1 or DIANA.
Or. TALMAoE DRAWS LESSONS FROM
THAT STRUCTURE.


Bandits. Robbers and Piigrims--Pres
ent Appearance Of the Place wher
Paul Fought with Beasts.
BROOKLYN. Nov. 15 DR. Talmag
continued this morning his series Of ser
mons entitled, From the Pyramids t.
the Acropolis" This sermon, which /
the fifth of the series, is concerned witt
the doctors visit to Ephesus, of whicl
city, with its wonderful temple ant
other buildings, he gives a vivid descrip
tion, with characteristic exegetical com
ments on obscure passages of Scripture
His text was Acts xix, "a, Great i
Diana of the Ephesians.
We have landed this morning al
Smyrna, city of Asiatic Turkey. One
of the seven churches of Asia once
stood here. You read in Revelation,
ITO the church in Smyrna write" 1t
is a city that has often been shaken by
earthquake, swept by conilagration,
blasted by plaques, and butchered by
war, and here Bishop Polycarp stood
In crowded amphitheater, and when
he was asked to give up the advocacy
of the Christian religion and save him
self from martyrdoln, the proconsul
saying, "Swear and | release thee; re-
proach Christ" replied, Eighty and
six years have l served him, and he
never did me wrong; how then can
revile my King and SaviourW
When he was brought to the fires
into which he was about to be thrust,
and the officials were about to fasten
him to the stake, he said, Let me re-
main as | am, for he who giveth me
strength to sustain the fire will enable
me also without your securing me with
nails to remain unmoved In the fire. "
History says the fires refused to con-
sumo him, and under the winds the
flames bent outward so that they did
not touch his person, and therefore he
was slain by swords and spears. One
cypress bending over his grave is the
only monument to Bishop Polycarp.
But we are ON the way to the city of
Ephesus, about fifty miles from Smyr-
ma. We are advised not to go to Ephe-
sus; the bandits In that region have
had an ugly practice of cutting off the
ears of travellers and sending these
specimens of ears down to Smyrna, de-
manding ransom. The bandits sug-
gest to the friends of the persons from
whom the ears have been subtracted
that If they would like to have the rest
of the body they will please send an ap-
propriate sum of money. If the money
Is not sent the mutilated prisoners will
be assassinated. One traveller was car
ried off to the robbers den and 81, 500
was paid for his rescue. The bandits
were caught and beheaded, and pic
lures of these CHASTITY heads are on sale
in the shops of Smyrna for any persons
who may desire to have something to
look at on their way to Ephesus.
There have been cases where ten and
twenty and thirty and forty thousand
dollars have been demanded by these
brigands. We did not feel like putting
our friends to such expense, and 1t was
suggested that we had better omit
Ephesus. But that would have been a
disappointment from which we would
never recover. We must see Ephesus
associated with the most wonderful
apostolic scenes. We hire a special
railway train, and in about an hour
and half we arrive at the city of
Ephesus, which was called 1.-THE Great
Metropolis of ASIA" and zone of the
Eyes of ASIA" and 'The Empress of
Ionia," the capital of all learning and
magniflcence. Here, as said, was one
of the seven churches of Asia, and first
of all we visit the ruins of that church
where once an ecumenical council of
two thousand ministers of religion was
held.
THE SEVEN CHURCHES OF ASIA.
Mark the fulfillment of the prophecy
of the seven churches of Asia; four
were commended in the Book of Reve.
lation and three were doomed. The
cities having the four commended
churches still stand; the cities having
the three doomed churches are wiped
out. Ii occurred just as the Bible said
II would occur. Drive on and you
come TO the theater, which was G6C
feet from wall 10 wall, capable of hold
ing 56, 700 spectators, Here and there
the walls arise almost unbroken, but
for the most part the building is down,
Just enough of 1t Is left TO hell
the imagination build il up as 4
was when those audiences shouted
and clapped ut some great spectacular
Their huzzas must have been enough
TO stun the heavens.
AS l took my place at the center o
this theater and looked around at II
broken layers of stone, gallery upoI
gallery, gallery upon gallery, pile'
up into the bleak skies OF that winte
day, and thought that every hand tina
swung a trowel ON those walls, ant
every foot that trod those stairs, an'
every eye that gazed on that alnpln
theater, and every voice that greete'
the combatants In that arena had gon
out OF hearing and sight for ages OF
ages / felt thrill OF interest that al
most prostrated me amid tho ruins.
Standing there we could not forge
that In that building once assembled
riotous throng for Paul's condeinna
ton because what he preached col
lided with the idolatry of their nationa
goddess. Paul tried To get into tina
theater and address the excited multi
tude, but his friends held him bael