The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1891-11-25
THE TABERNACLE PULPIT
DR.. TAiMAGE breaches ABOUT THE
TEMPLE OF DIANA.

DR.. TAlMAGE breaches ABOUT THE
TEMPLE OF DIANA.
Continuation of the brooklyn Divine''
Series of Discour.es on His Travels IL
tho Esst-His Visit to the City OF Ephe
sss Described in Detail.
BRooKLYN, Nov. l5.-Dr. Talmase
continued this morning his series Of ser
mons entitled, From the Pyramids tc
the Acropolis." His text was Acts
XIX, 81, ''Great IS Diana of the Ephe'
sians.''
We have landed this morning at
Smyrna, q 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 been shaken by earth:
quake, swept bS-ooeaesrees
by plaques and butchered by war, anc
here Bishop Polycarp> stood in crowded
anphitheater aud when he was asked to
give up the advocacy ofthe Christian re-
lislon and save himself from martyrdom.
the proconsul saying, Swear and re-
lease thee; reproach Christ" replied,
Eighty and six years have I served
hin, and be never DID me wrong; ho"
then can I revile my King and Saviour"
When hs was brought to the fires into
which he vas about to be thrust, ano
sSbes ess&:afs were about to fssten him tc
the stake, ne said: "Let me remain as
a.n, for he who g;veth me strength &c
sustain the fire will enable me alsc with
out your securing me with nails TO re-
main unnoved 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 o5er his grave Is the only monument
to Bishop Polycarp.
But We are on the way to the city 0!
Ephesus, about fifty miles from Smyrna
We arc advised not to 60 to Ephesus,
The bandits in that region have had an
ugly practice Of cutting off the ears o!
travellers and sending these specimens
of ears down to Smyrna, demanding 8
ransom. The bandits suggest to the
friends of the persons from whom tbs
ears have been sabtracted that if they
would like to have the rest Of the body
they will please send an appropriate
sum Of money. If the money is moi
sent the mutllatsd prisoners will be as
sassinated.
There have been cases where ten ano
twenty and forty thousand dollars have
been demanded BY these brigapds. We
did not feel like putting our friends tc
such expense, and it was suggested thai
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 special railway train. and IN about
an hour and half we arrive at the city
of Ephesus, which was called ''The
as GEsat Ans AstHo9aa1ss t. o9ss, Of All Es a EmSsesE
of Ionia," the capital Of sill learning and
nasnlhcence. Here, as said, was one
Of the seven churches of Asia, and first
Of all we visit the rains of that church
where once an ecumenical council Of
two thousand ministers Of religion was
held.
Mark the fulfillment Of the prophesy.
Of the seven churches OF Asls 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. It oc.
cured just as the Bible said it would
occur. Drive on and you come to the
threaten, which was $50 feet from wall
to wall, capable of holding 56, 700 specta-
tors. Here and there there walls arise
almost unbroken, but for the nost part
the building is 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.
Their huzzas must have been enough to
stun the heavens.
Standing there We could not forget
that il that building once assembled a
riotous throng for Paul's condemnation,
because what he preached collded with
the idolatry of their national goddess.
Paul tried to get into that theatsr 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 people who had shrieked for two
mortal hours till their throats were sere
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 q astupendous place
1t must have been when used for foot
races and for fights with wild beasts. 1t
was building $50 feet long by 200 feet
wide. Paul refers to what transpired
there in the way of spectacle when he
says, "We have been made spectacle" "
''Yes," Paul says, ~ have fought with
beasts ct Ephesus," an expression usu-
ally taken as hgurative, but suppose it
was literally true, for one Of the amase-
ments in that Stadium was TO put dis
liked nan in the arena with a hungry
lion or tiger or panther, and let the dght
60 on until eithsr the man OF the beast
or both were slain.
It must have been great fun for these
haters of Christianity to hear that on
the morrow in the Stadium In Ephesus
the missionary Paul woull, in the pres
ence of the crowded galleries, fight a
hungry lion. The people were early
there to get the best seats, and a more
alert and enthusiastic crowd never
assembled. They took their dinners
with them. And was there ever more
unequal combat proposed? Paul, &C
cording to tradition, small, crooked
backed and weak eyed, but the grandest
man in sixty centuries, is led to the CEN
ter as the people shout: ''There he