Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1891-11-20

We have landed this morning at
Smyrna, a city of Asiatic Turkey. One
of the seven churches of Asia once
stood here. You read in Revelation,
40 the church in smyrna write" 1t
is city that has often been shaken by
earthquake, swept by coniagration,
blasted by plaques and butchered 10y
war. aud 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 martyrdom, the pro-consui
sayings "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
i revile my King and Savior"
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 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 says 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
I
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 a 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 lonia,"
the capital of all learning and mag
nificence. Here. rs | said, was one OF
the seven churches. and first of all we
visit the ruins of that church, where
once an |tcumenical council of two
thousand ministers of religion was
held.
Mark the fulfillment 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
is would occur. Drive on and you
come TO the theater, which was $50
! feet from wall TO wall capable of
holding $1,000 spectators Here and
there the walls arise almost un broken.
! down. Just enough of il is left to help
the Imagination build it up as it was
when those audiences shouted and
clapped at some great spectacular.
4 Their huZZas must have been enough
! to stun the heavens AS / took my
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
that swung trowel on those walls
and every foot that trod those stairs,
and every eye that gazed on that
amphitheater, and every eye that
greeted the combatants 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 riotous throng for
/ Pauls condemnation, becau use 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 throats were sore and
they were black in the face: Great
is Diana of the Ephesians.
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 building $50 feet long
by 200 feet wide. Paul refers to what
transpired there in the way of specta.
Gle when he says. I'VE have
been made spectacle" Eyes"
! Paul saws, Il have fought
with beasts at Ephesus, an expression
usually taken as figurative, but sup
pose 1T was literally true, for one of
the amusements in that Stadium
was TO put disliSed man in
the arena with a hungry lion or tiger
or pan her, and let the fight go on un-
til 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 Paul
would, in the presence Of the crowded
galleries, fight hungry lion. The
people were early there to get the best
seats, and more alert and enthusi-
ostic crowd never assembled. They
took their dinners with them. And
was there ever more unequal com bat
proposed2 Paul, according to
tradition, small, crooked backed
and weak-eyed, but the grandest man
in sixty centuries, 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 a
brief mouthful of him" 1t is plain
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 kept for
several days without food or water in
order that they may be especially
ravenous and bloodthirsty. What
chance is there for Paul? But
you can not tell Sy n man s size or
looks how stout blow he can strike or
how keen a blade he can thrust Wit
ness, heaven and earth and hell, this
struggle of Paul with wild beast
The coolest man in the Stadium is
Paul. What has he to fear? He has
deIed all the mowers earthly and in