The Penn's Grove record., 1891-11-27

ahu hcthh VI DiDlc mclbiDu, VINO Were
professors In an extemporizsd theological
seminary, and they taught the eloquent
Apollos how to he eloquent for Christ
Here John preached, aud IRON here because
OF his fidelity he was exiled to Patmos. Here
Paul warred against the magical arts for
which Ephesus was famous. The sorcerers
OF this city pretended that they could cure
diseases, and perform almost any miracle,
by ~pronouncing these senseless words, ASK
Cataski Liz Tetrax D-amnameneus AL
SION"
But, all the glory of Ephesus I have de
scribed has gone now. At SOM seasons o.
the year awful malarias sweep over tn.
place and put upon mattress or In grave,
a large portion of the population. In til,
approximate marshes scorpions, centipedes
and all forms OF reptilian life crawl and
hiss and sting, while hyenas and jackals at
night stink in aud out OF the ruins of build.
ings which once startled the nations with
their almost supernatural grandeur.
But here is a lesson which has never yet
been drawn out. Do you not see in tat
temple Of Diana an expression OF what the
world needs. 1t wants a. God who can pro-
vide food. Diana was a huntress. In
pictures o many of the coins she held a stag
bv the horn with one hand and a bundle Of
arrows In the other. Oh, this Is a hungry
worldi Diana could not give one pound of
meat or one mouthtul of food to the
millions of her worshipers. She was a dead
divinity, an imaginary god, and SO in
never have enough to eat. IL is only in tho
countries where the God Of heaven and earth
is worshiped that the vast majority nave
enough to eat. Let Diana nave her arrows
and her hounds. Our God has the sunshine
and the showers and the harvests, and in
proportion as He is worshiped does plenty
reign.
So also in the Temple of Diana the world
expressed its need of a refuge. To it from
all parts Of the lane came debtors who could
not pay their debts and the offenders of the
that they might ESCAPE incar-
ceration. But she sheltered them only a
little while, and while she kept them from
arrest she could not chanas their hearts. and
the guilty remained guilty. But. our God
In Jesus Christ is a refuge into which we
may hy from all our sins and all our pur-
suers, and not only be safe for time, but safe
for eternity, and the guilt Is pardoned and
the nature Is transform ed. What Diana
could not do for her worshipers, our Christ
a~ccomplishes 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 it was the treasure house
Of nations; they brought gold and silver and
precious stones and coronets from across the
sea, and put them under the care OF Diana of
the Ephesians. But again n again were
those treasures ransacked, captured or de-
stroyei. Nero robbed them, the Scythians
scattered them, the Goths burned them.
Diana failed those who trusted her with
treasures. but our God, to whom we may in
trust all our treasures for this world and the
next, and fail any one who puts confidence
in Him He never will. After the last Jasper
column haa fallen and tha last taunnla 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 buried in
the cemetery of nations. Luxury The
costly baths, which had been the means of
health to the city became its ruin. Instead
Of the cold baths that had been tine invigora-
ton of the people, the hot baths, which are
only intended for the infrm or the invalid,
were substituted. In these hot baths many
lay most OF the time. Authors wrote books
while in these baths. Business was neglected
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
making the bath warm enough; | blame you
because you nav 1t warm at ALL"
But that warm bath which enervated
Ephesus, and which is always ener waiting ex-
cept when followed by cold baths (no,refer-
of course, to delicate constitutions,
was only a type OF what went on in all de-
partments OF Ephesian life, and in luxurious
Indulgence Ephesus fell, aud 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, aud the last plea was heard
in her Forum, and even he sea, as II to
withdraw the last commercial opportunity
from that metropolis, retreated down the
beach, leaving her without the harbor In
which had ioated a 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 do for all. Opu-
lence and splendor God grant to all the peo-
pie, to all the cities, to all the land, but at
the same time, may He grant the righteous
use of them.
~Gymnasiumss Yes but see that the vigor
gained in them be consecrated to God. Mag
~nificent temples Of worship Yes. but see that
In them instead of conventionalities and cold
pomp of service there be warmth Of devotion
and the pure Gospel preached. Imposing
court housesf Yes, but in them let Justice
and mercy rule. Palaces Of Journalism? Yes,
but let all the printing presses be marshaled
for happiness and truth. Great ~postof1ce
buildings? Yes, but through them day by
day. may correspondence helpful, elevatSDs
and moral pass. Ornate dwelling housesf
Yes, but in them let there be affairs Of de-
~votion, and conjugal, filial, paterna, and
Christian fidelity rule. London for magni.
tude, Berlin for universities, Paris soi
fashions Rome for cathedrals, Athens for
classics, Thebes for hieroglyphics, Memphis
for tombs, Babylon for gardens, Ephesus for
idolatry, but what shall be the cnaracteris.
tics of our American cities when they shall
have attained their full staturer Would
that 'holiness to the Lord might be in
scribed upon all our municipalities. One
thing is certain, and that Is thai all idolatry
must come down. When the greatest god
doss OF the earth, Diana, enshrined in the
greatest temple that ever stood, was pros
trated at Ephesus, it was a prophecy Of the
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
idolatry In the Nineteenth century az In thu
First and inAmerica 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 wrangle with
each other and trying to get into a wrangle
with Us, and we moved along the columns OF
ancient aqueducts, each column crowned
with storks, having built their nests thera,
and we rolled On dot n toward Smyrna, and
that right in q sailors bethel as we SPOKE
of the Christ whom the world must know o.
perish, We felt that between cradle and
grave there could not be anything much
more eAthralling for body, mind n SOU
than our visit to Ephesus.