The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1891-12-09

4 DV DIOuOuuCllR "SAe 1ohI
Cataski Liz Tetra1 Damnameneus Al
| SION"
But, all the glory of Ephesus I have de,
scribed has q now. At some seasons of
The wear awful malarias sweep over the
| Mace and put IDOL mattress or in graves
q large portion of the population. In the
| approximate marshes scorpions, centlpedeS
| and all forms of reptlian life crawl and
hiss and sting, while hyenas and jackals at
| night stink in and out OF the ruins OF build
| n which once startled the nations with
| their almost supernatural grandeur.
But here is a lesson which has never yet
| peen drawn out. Do you not see in tnat
| temple Of Diana al expression OF b the
would needs. Il wants God who can pro-
vide food. Diana was q huntress. In
| pictures on many Of the coins she held q stag
| nv the horn with one hand and a bundle OF
arrows in the other. Oh, this Is a hungry.
world! Diana could not give one pound OF
meat or one mouthful OF FOOD TO the
millions Of her worshipers. She was q dead
| divinity, an imaginary god, and so In
idoIatro,s lands the vast majority Of people
] never nave enough to eat. 1t Is only In the
I Countries where the God Of heaven and earth
Ia worshiped that the vast majority have
snonph to eat. Let Diana have her arrows
and her hounds. Our God has the sunshine
and the showers and the harvssts, and In
proportion as BE is worshiped does plenty
reign.
expressed its need Of a refuge. II it from
si parts Of the Land came DEBTORS VINO eouto
| not nav their debts and the offenders OF the
law that they might escape incar-
] ,eration. But she sheltered them only a
1 iittie while. and while she kept them from
.rrest she could not change their hearts, and
| Ehe guilty remained guilty. But, u God
In Jesus Christ Is o refuge into which we
NAV Ay from all our sins and all our pur-
mars. and not only be safe for time, but safe
Tor eternity. and the guilt is pardoned and
khe nature is transformed. What Diana
| could not do for her worshipers, our Christ
ac~complishes for Us.
Rock Of ages cleft for me.
Let me hide myself In thee.
|. Then. in that temple were deposited
treasures from all the earth for safe keeping.
| Chrysostom says 1t was the treasure house
of nations: they brought gold and silver and
nrecious stones and coronets e-om across the
ssea. and put them under the care Of Diana OF
the Ephesisns But again and again were
those treasures ransacked, captured or de-
stroyed. Nero robbed them, the Scythians
scattered them, the Cloths burned them.
| Diana failed those who trusted her with
treasures. but our God, to whom we may In
rr1lst all our treasures for this world and the
next. and fail any one who puts confidence
In Him BE never will. After the last jasper
| column has fallen, and the last temple on
earth has gone into ruins, and the world
itself has suffered demolition, the Lord Will
keep for us our best treasures.
But notice what killed Ephesus and what
has killed most Of the cities that lie bur1edin
the cemetery Of nations. LUXURY Inc
costly baths, which had been the means OF
| health to the city became its ruin. Instead
~ the cold baths that had been the ~invigora-
zion of the people, the hot baths, which are
only intended for the inirm or the invalid,
we're substituted. In these hot baths many
law most of the time. Authors wrote books
while in these baths. Business wasneglected
and a hot bath taken four or five times a
day. When the keeper Of the baths was rep
rimanded for not having them warm enough
one of the rulers said, "You blame him for
making the bath warm enough; l blame you
because YOU have it warm at all"
But that warm bath which ~enervated
Ephesus, andwhich Is always enervatlnge 1-
cept when followed by cold baths mo refer
ence, of course, to delicate CONSTITUTIONS,
wa only a type Of what went on In all de-
partments Of Ephesian life, In LUXURIOUS
indulgence Ephesus fell and the last triangle
of music was tinkled in Diana's temple, and
the last wrestler disappeared from her gym,
nasiums, and the last racer took his garland
in the Stadium, and the last plea was heard
In her Forum, and even tha sea, as II 70
| withdraw the last commercial opportunity
from that metropolis, retreated down the
beach, leaving her without the harbor In
which had hoated q thousand ships. Brook.
lyn, New York, London and all modern cit
| les, cisatlantic and transatlantic, take warn
ingi What luxury unguarded did for Ephe
sus, luxury unguarded may 10 for all. Opu
pie, to all the cities, to all the land, but al
the same time, may He grant the righteous
use Of them.
Gymnasiums2 Yes, but see that the vigol
gained in them be consecrated to God. Mag
| nifcent temples Of worship? Yes, but see tina
in them instead Of conventionallties and colo
pomp of service there be warmth OF devotion
and the pure Gospel preached. 1mposinf
court houses? Yes. but in them let justlct
and mercy rule. Palaces Of journalism! Yes
but let all the printing presses be marshalet
for happiness and truth. Great postofic'
buildings? Yes, but through them day by
day. may correspondence helpful, ~elevatine
| and moral pass. Ornate dwelling houses
| Yes, but in them let there be affairs of de
votion, and conjugal, flial. paternal anc
Christian fidelity rule. London for magni
tude, Berlin for universities, Paris To-
fashions, Rome for cathedrals, Athens TO
| classics, Thebes for hierozlyphics Memphis
for tombs, Babylon for gardens, Ephesus for
| idolatry, but what shall be the Characters.
tics Of our American cities when they shall
hs.ve attained their full statures Would
that 'tholiness to the Lord" might be In.
scribed upon all our municipalities. One
thing is certain, and that is that all idolatry
must come down. When the greatest god
dess of the earth, Diana, enshrined In the
greatest temple that ever stood, was pros
trated at Ephesus, it was a prophecy ofthe
overthrow Of all the idolatries that have
cursed the earth, and anything we love more
than God is an idol, and there is as much
idolatryi in the Nineteenth century as In the
First, and in America as in Asia.
As our train pulled out from the station
at Ephesus, the cars surrounded by the
worst looking group OF villains l ever gazed
on, all of them seeming in a wrangie with
each other and trying to get into q wrangle
with us, and we moved along the columns OF
ancient aqueducts, each coluSo crowned
with storks, having built their tests there.
and we rolled on down toward Smyrna, and
that night In a sailors bethel as we SPOKE
OF the Christ whom the world must know OF
perish, we felt that between cradle ano
grave there could not be anything mucf
more enthralling for body, mind and sou
than our visit to Ephesus.
THOSE who believe In the existenc
of such a disease as hydrophobia vii
be interested in the minute direction
Of it's treatment which are given Il