Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1891-11-21

preston usually taken as llgurative but
I suppose it was literally true, for one
OF the amusements in that Stadium was
to put dislil1ed man il tile arena with
a hungry lion or tiger or panther. and
let the fight so OH until either the man
or the beast or botl were slain.
Unjust have been greatfun for these
llaters of Christianity to hear that on
tile norrowin tile Stadium in Ephesus
the missionary Paul would. in tile pres
encc of tile crowded galleries, fight n
hungry lion. Tile people were early
there to get the best seats, and q more
alert and enthusiastic, crowd never as
selnbled They took their: dinners
with them. And was there ever a
more unequal combatproposed. Paul,
according to tradition, small, crooked
backed and weak. eyed, but the. grand
est man in sixty centuries, is led to the
center as.the people shout There he
) comes, the preacher who has nearly
ruined bur giorl The lion will
make butla brief outllfnl Of him. re
PAUL's MAGNIFIcENT FIGHT.
1t is plain that all the synpatllies of
that crowd are with the lion. In one
of the underground rooms hear the
growl of the wild beasts They have
been kept for several days without food
or water in order that they may be
especially ravenous and bloodthirsty.
What chance is there for Paul2 But
you cannot tell by IL mans size or looks
how stout blow he can strike or how
keen blade lie. can thrust. Witness,
heaven and earth and hell, this strug
gle of Paul with wild beast. The
coolest man in the Stadium is Paul
What has lie to fear2 He has detied
all the powers. earthly and internal,
and if his body tumble under the foot
and tooth of the wild beast. his soul
will only the sooner lind disenthrall-
ment. But it is his duty, as far us pos
sible, to preserve his life.
Now l lear the bolt of the wild
beasts door shove back, and the whole
audience rise to their feet us the fierce
brute springs for the arena and toward
its small occupant. | think the first
plunge that was made by the wild beast
ut the apostle was made OH the point
of sharp blade, and the snarling
monster with Il howl OF pain and reek-
ing with gore turns back. But now
the little missionary has bis turn Of
making attack, and with q few we'll
directed TRUSTS the monster lies
dead in the dust of the arena
and the apostle puts his right foot
on the lion and shakes him, and
then puts his left foot on him and
shakes hirn-a scene which Paul after
ward uses for an illustration when lie
wants to show how Christ will triumph
over death-"he must reign tillhe hath
put all enemies under lis feet;" yes,
under his feet. Paul told the literal
truth when lie said, 81 have fought
with beasts at Ephesus," and as the
plural is used I think he had more than
one such fight, or several beasts were
let loose upon him at one time. As we.
Stadium and ooled around attic great
structure, the whole scene came back
upon us.
But we pass out of the Stadium, for
we are in haste for other places of in
terest in Ephcsus. To add to the ex-
element of the day one of our party
was missing No man is safe in that
region alone unless he be armed and
knows how to take sure aim and not
miss fire. Our companion, DR.. Louis
Klopsch, now the publisher of The
!, Christian Herald, had gone out on
some explorations of his own, and
through the gate where Paul had walk
ed again and again, yet where no man
unaccompanied should adventure now.
But after some time had passed, and
every minute seemed as long as an
hour, and we had time to imagine
everything horrible in the way of rob-
berry and assassination, the lost travel
er appeared, to receive from our entire
party volley of cxpostulation for the
arousal of so many anxieties.
In the midst of this city of Ephesus
once noated an artificial lake, brilliant
with painted boats, and through the
River Cayster it was connected with
the sea, and ships from all parts of the
known earth foated in and out carry
ing on a commerce which made Ephe-
sus the envy of the world. Great was
Ephesus It's gymnasia, its hippodrome,
its odeon, its athenDum, its forum, its
aqueducts (whose skeletons arc still
strcwn along the city, its towers its
Castle of Hadrian, it's monument of
Androclus, its quarries, which were the
granite cradle of cities; its temples,
built to Apollo, to Minerva, to Nep-
tune, to Mercury. to Bacchus, to Her
cules, to Caesar, to Fortune, to Jupiter
Olympus. What history and poetry
and chisel and canvas have not pre-
sented has come up at the call of ar
shaologists powder blast and crowbar.
THE EXPLORERS REVELATIONS.
But I have now to unveil the chief
wonder of this clliefest Of cities. In
1863, under the patronage of the Eng
lish government, Fir. Wood, the ex-
plorer, began at Ephesus to feel along
under the ground at great depths for
roads, for walls, for towers, and here it
is-that for which Ephesus was more
celebrated than oil else besides-the
Temple of the Goddess Diana, called
the sixth wonder of the world, and in
1889 we stood anid the ruins of that
temple, measuring its pillars, transf1ed
by its sculpture and confoundcd at