Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1891-11-20
The Temnle of Diana

we nave iahded at Smyrna, city of
Asiatic Turkey. One of the seven
churches of Asia. once stood here. You
read in Revelation, "To the church in
smyrna write. 1t is city that has
Often oeen shaken by earthquake, swept
by conf1asration, blasted by plaques.
and butchered by war, and here Bishop
l'olycarp stood IN crowded amphithea-
ter, ana when he was asked to give up
the advocacy OF the Christian religion
ana save hlmself from martyrdom, the
procohsul saying, "Swear and l release
thee; reproach Christ" replied, eighty
and SIX years have lserved Him, and He
never did me wrong; how then can 7 rc-
vile my King and Saviour?''
When he was brought to the frcs into
which he was about to be thrust and
the officials We're about to fasten him to
the stake, he said, s.Let me remain as
am, Tor he who givcth me strength to
sustain the fire will enable me also with
ont your securing me with nails to re-
main unmovcd in the fire. History saws
the fires refused to consume him, and
under the winds the flames bent out
ward so that they did not touch his per-
son, ana therefore he was slain by swords
and spears. One 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 are advised not to 60 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 rem
som. The bandits suggest to the friends
OF the person from whom the ears have
been subtracted that if they would like
to have the rest of the body they will
please send an appropriate sum of money.
II tho money is not sent the mutilated
prisoners will be assassnatcd. One
traveller was carried off to the robbers
den and 81, 500 was paid for his rescue
The bandits were caught and beheaded,
and pictures OF these CHASTITY heads are
on sale in the shops of Smyrna for any
persons who may desire to have some
thing to look at on their way to Ephesns
There have been cases where ten aud
twenty and thirty and forty thousand
dollars have been demanded by these
brlgands. We do not feel like putting
our friends TO such expense, and it was
suggested that we had better omit Ephe-
sus. But that would have been a disap-
polntment from which we would never
recover. We must see Ephesus-asso-
GATED 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 ''Thc Great Metropolis of
Asia" and cone of the Eyes of Asia"
and s'The Empress of Ionia," the capital
of all learning and magniiccnce Here,
as l said, was one of the seven churches
of Asia, and first of all we visit the
ruins of that church where once an ecu
mcnical council of two thousand minis
tiers OF religion was held.
Mark the fullillment Of the prophecy
OF the seven churches of Asia; four were
commended in the Book OF Revelation
and three were doomed. The cities hav-
ing 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 660 feet from wall to wall, Ca
pablo of holding SO, 700 spectators. Here
and there the walls arise almost un-
broken, but for the most part the build
ing 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 spectacular.
Their huzzaS must have been enough to
stun the heavens
AS / took my place at the center of
this theater and looked around at It's
broken layers Of stone, gallery upon gal
lery, gallery upon gallery, piled up into
the bleak skies of that winter day, and
thought that every hand that swung a
trowel on those walls, and every foot
that trod those stairs, and every eye
that gazcd on that amphtheater, and
every voice that greeted the combatants
in that arena had gone out OF hearing
and sight for ages on ages, felt thrill
of interest that almost Frustrated me
amid the ruins.
Standing there we could not forget
that in that building once assembled a
riotous throng for Paul's condemnation
because what he preached collided will
the idolatry of their national goddess
Paul tried to get into that theater ano
address the excited multitude, but hi:
friends held him back lest he be torn tt
pieces by the mob, and the recorder O.
the city had to read the riot act amons
the people, who had shriekcd for two
mortal hours till their Threats were sore
and they were black in the face "Grea
is Diana OF the Ephesians!'
Now we step into the STADIUM
Enough of it's walls and appointment:
are left to show what a stupendous place
it must have been when used for foo
races and for fights with wild beasts
1t was building $50 feet long by 2o'
feet wide. Paul refers to what tran
spired there in the way OF spectacle
when he says, "We have been made
spectacle" Yes, Paul says, 81 nave
fought with beasts at Ephcsus,' an OK
preston usually taken as liguratlve' Du
l suppose it was literally true, Tor on
of the amusemcnts in that Stadium wa va,
to put dislikcd man III the arena "ltl
hungry lion OF tiger or panther ali'
let the fight go on until either inc n'1'
or the beast or both were slain.
1t must have been great fun 1or ines
haters of Christianity to hear thaI VI
the morrow in the Stadium in Epnesu
the missionary Paul would, in the pres
ence of the crowded galleries. ngnS
hungry lion. The people were eur
there to get the best seats, ana q mo ~
alert and enthusiastic crowd never "a. a.
sembled. They took their dinners wiz.
them. And was there ever more W.
equal combat proposed. Paul. ascoraln NJ