Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1921-10-06
SABBATH SCHOOL LESSON
For October 9-Acts 1914
BY DIR. MARION NH. HULL

Golden Text: Thou shalt worship
| the Lord thy God, and Him only
shalt thou serve" Matt. 4:10.
After Paul had completes his Sec
ond missionary journey he stayed at
Antioch some little time, and then
the old fever began to burn again
| where Christ was not known. Ac~
| cordingly he bade farewell to the
home church from which he had orig
inally been sent him forth, and,
| incidentally, never saw them again.
He went northward to Tarsus, Wis
iting his old boyhood home for the
last time; then through Ga1atia and
| jhrygia visiting the churches that
had been formed as result Of his
! former labors, and finally followed
the great Roman road down the val
| ley of the Meander, until he came
| to the most important city in that
part of the world-Ephesus. He
had been hindered, on his way to
Jerusalem at the close of his Sec
ond journey he had stopped at Ephe-
sus for a time, between ships, and
| had promised the people there that
he would return if the Lord wileld
it, and now the Lord had willed it.
| Ephesus, Alexandria, and Rome
1 were the three principal cities of
the world, apd contained one of the
seven wonders of the world - the
temple of Diana. Ephesus was by
far the most important point he had
yet visited. It was more populous
than Athens, more hellenistic than
Antioch, more Oriental than Corinth,
more wealthy and refined than Thes
| salonica, and more superstitious
| than Ancyra of Galatfa.
| h,1i1f of hol ,,oo1,tI, Of %Io
Mander river, and possessed one of
the finest harbors in the world;
roads radiated from it northwad to
Troas and eastward through Asia to
the Far East. It became therefore
one of the greatest commercial Gen.
tiers Of the world, and like Corinth
was filled. with a motley population
of all nationa1ities. It's markets
gave John his picture of the great
apostate city, Babylon, Grew. 1872
13), as he remembered the traffic in
merchandise of gold and silver, and
precious slopes, and Of pearls and
fine linen and purple, and silk, and
scarlet, and all thyme wood and all
manner vessels of ivory, and all man.
ner vessels of precious wood, and
! of brass, and iron, and marble, and
cinnamon, and odourS, and ointments,
! and franklncenSe and wine and oil,
and fine flour and wheat, and beasts,
|
| and slaves and souls of men,"
The town was built in the meadow
on the side of two mountains; it's
| climate was delightful; but with all
its commerce, and culture, and CHI
mate, it was full of chime. So wick
ed was this city, Ephesus, that Her.
modorus was exiled from it because
! demnation of the lives of those about
| him. And one of the saddest and
| strangest things is that all of this
| sin was fostered by the religion of
which this city was the center; for
within it's walls was the great temple
| of Diana. This building had been
burned seven times, the last time on
| the very night that Alexander the
| Great was born. In order to furnish
| sufficient foundation for it skins had
| been rammed into the ground. 1t was
| an enormous structure surrounded
| by 120 pillars of Parian marble; the
! staircase was carved out of one cy-
| press vine; all of it's doors were Of
| the most exquisite carving imagin-
able; about it's walls were treasures
as votive offerings by worshipers
J from all parts of the world.
Within it's innermost sanctuary
was placed the image of Diana. which
tradition stated had fallen from
heaven. 1T was large, image
swathed like a mummy with mon
| strous breasts and resting on an
| inverted triangular pyramid, all pha1-
lie symbols of fertility productive
| power; and this had much to do with
the character of it's worship. All of
! it's priests were eunuchS and number
| less virgin-priestes led the wor-
| shippers in orgies and dances intend
ed to excite lust.
Furthermore, asylum was given to
| all within radius of an arrow shot
from it's height; consequently under
| the very shadow of the walls of Gas
temple crime of every kind went on
| unmolested.
The temple was more than a place
back of the sanctuary where the
image was placed, there were great
vaults in which were deposited the
| treasures of the province. 1t was to
Asia what the treasury department
is to the United States: - and nd, Bank OIL
These facts brought people. from
all parts of the world to Ephesus,
and made it not only popular city,
a sinful city, a cosmopolitan city,
b2e also a very strateglcal point Tor
the propagation of the gospel.
The large number Of visitors made
1.-THE manufacture of souvenirs in the
form of images of the goddess a most
profitable business. The superstitlous-
ness of the people, as shown In the
|
somewhat to Paul's problem. For ex-
ample, blindness was treated by re-
peating the following sentence
''shavrir1, vriri, riri, ri,' and sprains
were treated by operating, Ista, Pts o
and such a place that Paul came on
his third missionary tour.
Pauls Problems
Of course Paul's first step was to
find Aquila and Priscilla; fror
whom he learned the presence the
short time before of Apollos; a Jev
who had caught the spirit of til
Alexandrians. He was not only high,
ly educated, but very eloquent. Aqui!i
; and Priscilla had instructed him in
! the deeper things of spiritual life
and he had gone to Corinth. When
Paul arrived in Ephesus he was do
ing a marvellous work among tbs
Jews in convincing them that Jesus
was Christ.
Paul found at Ephesus certain dis
| ciples who had been won by Apollos
Much to his surprise he learned tha1
they were ignorant of Pentecost. Fe
his question, Did you not receive
the Holy Spirit when you believed?'
e they answered, eve have not heard
D that there was such person" One
!. ministry there was bringing to these
b twelve men the deeper truth of the
! filing of the Spirit of God; for wher
d he instructed them more fully they
were baptized with the Spirit, anc
had done on the day of Pentecost.
PauEstayeG a long time in Ephesu:
. three years, in fact-frSt speaking
: in the synagogues; then. when the
Gentiles and using the school of Iy