Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1891-12-03

| 6booA III a NtONhta ihibbtuAtt anu " nCh
he was asked to give up the advocacy Of
the Christian religion and save himself
from martyrdom, the proconsu saying,
'-Swearand release thee; reproach Christ, =
replied, Eighty and six years have
served him, and he never did me wrong;
how then can revile my King and Say
iour?"
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 unmoyed
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
bending over his grave is the only monu.
ment to Bishop Polycarp.
on THE WAY TO EPHEsUs
But we are on the way 10 the city of
Ephesus, about fifty miles from Smyrna.
We are advised not TO go to Ephesus The
bandits in that region have had an ugly
practice of cutting off the ears Of travellers
and sending these specimens OF ears down
to Smyrna, demanding a ransom. The
bandits suggest TO the friends of the per
sons from whom the ears have been sub
tracted that il they would like to have the
rest of the body they will please send an
appropriate sum of money. If the money
is not sent the mutilated prisoners will be
assassinated. One traveller was carried off
to the robbers den, and s., 800 was paid for
his rescue The bandits were caught and
beheaded, aud pictures of these ghastly
heads are on sale in the shops of Smyrna
for any persons who may desire to have
something to look at on their way to Ephe-
sus.
There have been cases where ten and
twenty and thirty and forty thousand dol
lars have been demanded by these brigands.
We did not feel like putting our friends to
such expense, and IL was suggested that
we had better omit Ephesus But that
would have been 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 Mt the city of Ephe-
sus, which was called 'The Great Metrop-
oils of Asia,n and zone of the Eyes OF
Asia" and "The Empress OF Ionia." the
capital of all learning and magnihcence
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
ecumenical council OF two thousand min
isters of religion was held.
Mark the fulfillment of the prophesy.
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 occurred just as the
Bible said it would occur Drive on and
you come to the theater, which was G60
feet from wall to wall, capable of holding
SO, 700 spectators. Here and there the walls
arise almost unoroken, 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 spec
tacular 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, gal
lery upon gallery, and piled up into the
bleak skies of that winter day, and thought
tndt cAtt1 manu- thttt o0unS a blOnCi On
those walls, and every foot that trod those
stairs. and every eye that gazed on that
and every voice 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 Paul's condemnation, because |
what he preached colided with the idola-
try of their national goddess. Paul tried |
10 get into that theater and address the ex-
cited 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
-iotact among the people who had shrieked |
or two mortal hours till their threats were
sore and they were black in the face,
Great is Diana of the Ephesians."
THE STADIUM
Now we step into the Stadium. Enough /
If its walls and appointments are left to
how what a stupendous place it must
nave been when used for foot races and for
lights with wild beasts. 1t was building
80 feet long by 200 feet wide Paul refers
o what transpired there in the way of
pectace when he says, eve have been
made a spectacle" Yes" Paul says, 81
lave fought with beasts at Ephesus,' an
IMPRESSION usually taken as figurative, but
suppose it was literally true, for one of
he amusements in that Stadium was to
tut a disliked man in the arena with a
hungry lion or tiger or panther, and let the
Ight 20 on until either the man or the
'east or both were slain.
1t must have been great fun for these
aters of Christianity to hear that on the
morrow in the Stadium in Ephesus the
Missionary Paul would, in the presence Of
he crowded galleries, fight hungry lion.
,ha r.n..rnla urare early there To Get the best