Lewiston teller. [volume] (Lewiston, North Idaho) 1878-1900, 1891-12-10
TABERNACLE PULPIT.
rALMACE'S VISIT TO SMYRNA
AND EPHESUS.
flow Prophecies Of the hioie HA"Sc
Keen EmIiilled seven snf1s.
liam Churches OF DiauO-AA An"
struclive sermon

We have landed this morning at
SMYRNA, a city OF Asiatic turkey. ohe
of the seven churches of Asia once
stood here. You read IN hevelation,
ITO the church in -myrna write. IL
is a city that has often been shaken ny
earthquake, swept by confa@ratlon,
blasted by plagacs and butchered by
war, and here Bishop Polycarp stood
in a crowded amphitheater and when
he was asked to give up the advocacy
of the Christian religion and save him.
self from martyrdom. the pro-consui
saving: Swear and release thee re.
proach Christ" replied; Eighty and
Six years have | served Him. and lie
never did me wrong, how then can
revile my King and Savior"
When he was brought to the fires into
which he was about to be thrust, ana
the officials were about to fasten him
to the stake, he said: Let me remain
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. HIS
tory saws the fires refused to consume
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
smyrna. We hire Il special railway
train, and in about an hour and half
we arrive at the city of Ephesus,
which was called The Great Metrop.
oils of Asia and Zone of the Eyes of
Asia" and The Empress of lon;a,
the capital of all learning and mag
niticence Here, as SAID. was one of
the seven churches. and first OF all we
visit the ruins of that church, where
once an .Ecumenical council of two
thousand ministers of religion was
held.
Mark the fultillment OF the prophecy!
OF the seven churches of Asia, four
were commended in the book of Rev
citation. and three were doomed. The
cities having the four commended
churches still stand: the cities having
the three doomed churches are wiped
out. 1t occurred just as the bible said
it would occur. Drive on and you
come to the theater, which was $50
feet from wall to wall, capable of
holding Sc, 700 spectators Here and
there the walls arise almost unbroken.
but for the most part the building is
down. Just enough Of it is left to help
the Imagination build it up as it was
when those audiences shouted and
clapped at some great spectacular.
Their huzZas must have been enough
hGa /
place at the center of this theater and
looked around at its broken layers Of
stone, gallery upon gallery, and piled
up into the bleak skies of that winter
day, and thought that every hand
and every foot that trod those stairs,
and every eye that gazed on that
amp hitheater, and every eye that
greeted the conbatants in that arena
had gone out of hearing and sight for
ages on ages, felt a thrill of
interest that almost Frustrated me
amid the ruins. Standing there, we
could not forget that in that building
once assembled a riotous threng for
Pauls condemnation, because what he
preached collided with the idolatry of
their national goddess. Paul tried to
get INTO that theater and address the
excited multitude. but his friends held
him back, lest he be torn in pieces by
The mob, and the recorder of the city
had to read the riot act among the peo
pie who had shrieked for two mortal
hours till their threats were sore and
they were black in the face: Great
is Diana of the Epl esians."
Now, we step into the Stadium.
Enough of its walls and appointments
are left to show what stupendous
place it must have been when used for
foot races and tor fights with wild
beasts. 1t was a building $50 feet long
by eco feet wide. Paul refers to what
transpired there in the way of specta-
Gle when he says. I'VE have
been made spectacle. '.Yes,"
Paul says. II have fought
with beasts at Ephesus. ;" an expression
usually taken us fgurativc, but / sup
pose it was literally true, for one of
the amusements in that Stadium
was to put disIiked man in
the arena with a hungry lion or tiger
or pan her, and let the fight go on un.
I'll either the man or the beast or both
were slain. 1t must have been great
fun for these haters of Christianity to
hear that on the morrow in the stad-
ium in Ephesus the missionary Pail
would, in the presence of the crowded
galleries, tightA hungry lion. The
people were carly there to get the best
seats, and more aert and enthusi-
ostic crowd never assembled. They
took their dinners with them. And
was there ever more unequal combat
proposed? Paul, according +,
tradition, small. crooked. backed
and weak-eyed, but the grandest man
in sixty centur, es, is led to the center
as the people shout: There he comes
the preacher who has nearly ruined
our religion. The lion will make but n
brief mouthful of him" 1t Is nlain
that all the sympathles of that crowd
are with the lion In one of the under.
ground rooms ] hear the growl of the
wild beasts. They have been kent for
several days without food or water in
order that they may be especially
ravenous and bloodthirsty. What
chance is there for Paul? INT
you can not tell by man size or
looks how stout blow he can strike ar
how keen blade he can thrust. Wit.
ness, heaven and earth and hell. this
struggle OF Paul with a wild beast
The coolest man in the Stadium is
hot