Evening star., 1921-10-08
- PAUL AT EPHESUS.
.. " Acts 19.1-41. .-.-.....7.
Golden Tex.-Thou shalt wor-
ship the Lord thy God, and
Him only shalt thou serve
Matthew 40.
BY REV. HUGH. T. STEVENSON.

There Is no more soul-stirring rec
ord in the history OF primitive Chris
tianity than that Of the establishment
of the Ephesian church. Amid OBJ
stacles and antagonisms of the most
relentless character a Christian con-
gregation was organised under the
very shadow ofNheathenism. Ephesus,
the rich port, which ranked with
alexandria and Antioch as the three
great cities Of the empire, was prob
ably the most dissolute city of the
world at that time. 1t was the seat
of the worship of Diana, which idola-
trous faith antedated Christianity by
many centuries. Eleven hundred years
before the advent of the Lord Jesus
faith and made her tutelar diety
Astarte of the Asians. identified with
Artemis Of the Greeks and Diana of
the Romans. Five centuries before
the birth Of Christ Jesus there was
erected in Ephesus temple to Diana
with it's hundred columns 55 feet
high, its marvellous inner sanctuary,
adorned with statues by the worlds
greatest artists" that ranked as "one
of the seven wonders Of the world
When Christianity commenced its
city were at their height. Not only
were the vast courts Of her temple
thronged with willing votaries. but a
vast traffic was carried on by the
silversmiths, who manufactured min
iatures of the shrine and idols that
were purchased by faithful Worship
ers. Their worship was the COM
pleteness of animalism, fearful and
unmentionable in wickedness. Paul
alludes to their degradation when he
says that 1T is shame even to
done Of them in secret" He rightly
calls them "the unfruitful works Of
darkness"
Howson suggests that "the first
seeds of Christian truth were sown
at Ephesus Immediately after Pente-
cost" While this is possible. yet
there is no evidence that Paul found
any disciples, much less an organ
lied Christian church, when he passed
through Ephesus on his way to An
tioch at the close of his second mis-
sionary journey. Paul left Priscilla
and Aquila there to follow up the evil
dent profound impression that he had
made by his address in the syna-
gogue upon the minds Of the Jews,
who secured from him promise to
return to Ephesus after he attended
over, possibly Pentecosu at Jerusa-
lem. During his second visit of two
years length. which is the longest
Of which we have record. Paul by his
personal work and persuasive preach
ing succeeded in establishing a
other apostolic churches in influence
and numbers.
There is very little told us con-
cerning the early days Of Paul's work
of evangelization, enlistment and edu-
cation. The Ephesians were evident
ly ready to listen. for they had
thirst to know God. This caused them
to give a hearing to Apollos. the elo-
Quent Alexandrian Jew. whose knowl-
edge OF Jesus was supplemented by
personal instruction impaired unto
him by Priscilla and Aquila: They
convinced him that He was the Mes
siah. Paul just missed meeting him
at Ephesus. but he found a small
group Of disciples. who may have
been won by Apollos, since they knew
was one of repentance, without the
Illuminating touch Of faith; Of ethics.
without the Transforming power of
grace. We can well imagine the
peace. joy and light that flooded the
souls of the twelve disciples of
known to them to rejoice in the Lord
when they received the gift of the
Holy Spirit. These defective dis
ciples had an open mind, so that they
willingly accepted the further light
and made public confession of their
!dItii' ueue Oap.iAeo III lie haiHe VI
Jesus. Then followed the, laying on
Of hands. speaking with tongues. and
prophecy, common experiences of
members of the early Christians.
This nucleus gave Paul. with the
aid Of Priscilla and Aquila. a good
start for his work in the city. His
efforts in the synagogue met with
the usual opposition of the Jews This
resulted In his opening work in the
school Of Tyrannus. The new disci
pies were filled with the missionary
spirit that dominated the life Of