The Brookhaven leader. [volume] (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1883-1891, 1891-11-26
A DAY AT EPHESUS.
Rev. 7. Dewitt Talmage Describes
the Historic Ruins
The Amphitheater, the Stadium and the
Temple of DIana-why Ephesus Fell
Luxury the stepping-stons
to Her Ruin.


the Brooklyn tabernacle in continue
tion of his series: From the Pyramid;
to the Acropolis." His text was:
Great lie Diana Of the Ephcsians. Acts
xix, 81
We have landed this morning al
Smyrna, a city of Asiatic Turkey. One
Of the seven churches OF Asia once
stood here. You read in Revelation,
ITO the church in Smyrna write II
is city that has often been shaken by
earthquake, swept by confagration,
blasted by plaques and butchered by
war. and 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-consul
saying: Swear and release thee; re-
proach Christ" replied: Eighty and
six years have I served Him, and He
never did me wrong; how then can |
revile my King and Saviour" 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." History
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 was slain by
swords and spears. One cypress bend
ing over his grave is the only monu-
ment to Bishop Polycarp.
But we are on the way to the city OF
Ephesus. about fifty miles from Smyr-
ma. We are advised not to go to Ephe-
sus; the bandits in that region have had
an ugly practice of cutting off the ears
of travellers and sending these speci-
mems of ears down to Smyrna, demand
ing ransom. The bandits suggest to
the friends of the persons from whom
the ears have been subtracted that if
body they will please send an appropri-
ate sum of money. If the money is not
sent the mutilated prisoners will be as
sassinated. One traveller was carried
off to the robbers den and seven thou
sand five hundred dollars paid for his
rescue. The bandits were caught and
beheaded, and pictures of these ghastly
heads are on sale in the shops of
Smyrna for any person who may desire
to have something to look at on their
way to Ephesus. There have been
cases where ten and twenty and thirty
aEi forty thousand dollars have been
demanded by these brigands. We did
not feel like putting our friends to such
expense, and it was suggested that we
had better omit Ephesus. But that
would have been a disappointment from
which we would never recover. We
must see Ephesus-associated with the
most wonderful apostolic scenes We
hire a special railway train, and in
about an hour and a half we arrive at
the city of Ephesus, which was called
1.-THE Great Metropolis of Asia" and
Zone of the Eyes of ASIA" and THE
Empress of Ionia," the capital of all
learning and magnificence. Here, as
said, was one of the seven churches of
Asia, and first of all we visit the ruins
of that church where once an ecumen-
lcal cOuncil OI tWo lnouSdnu hinioooiS
of religion was held.
Mark the fulfillment of the prophecy!
OF the seven churches of Asia four were
commended in the book of Revelation,
and three were doomed. The Cities
having the four commended churches
still stand; the cities having the three
doomed churches are wiped out. 1t oc-
Cured just as the Bible said it would
occur. Drive on and you come to the
theater, which was six hundred and
sixty feet from wall to wall, capable of
holding fifty-six thousand seven hun
dred spectators. Here and there the
walls rise almost unbroken, but for
the most part the building is down.
Just enough of it is left to help the inn
agination build i. up as it was when
those audiences shouted and clapped
at some great spectacular. Their huz-
zas must have been enough to stun the
heavens As took NY place at the
center of this theater and looked
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 voice that greeted the combat
ants in that arena had gone out of
hearing and sight for ages on ages,
felt n thrill of interest that almost
prostrated me amid the ruins. stand
ING there. we could not forget that IN
that building once assembled a riotous
throng for st. Paul's condemnation, be-
cause 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, less he be torn
in pieces by the mob, and the recorder
of the city had to read the riot act
among the people 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 il must have been when used for
foot races and for fights with wild
beasts. 1t was q building six hundred
and eighty feet long by two hundred
feet wide. Paul refers to what trans
pired there in the way OF spec
taele when he says: "We have
been made q spectacle" Yes, Paul
saws: "I have fought wild beasts at
Ephesus," an expression usually taken
.s A,urat;ye. but / suppose it was liter