The Washington times., 1922-09-24

said: 81 have showed you all things,
how that so laboring ye ought to sup
port the weak, and to remember the
words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It
is more blessed to give than to receive"
The Epistle of St. Paul to the Ephes-
ians, sent after he had left them, and
their faith had become lukewarm, is now
generally considered to have been a gen.
eral letter sent to all of the churches, but
probably so named because some over
Jealous member of the church at Ephesus
inserted the words in the Greek "To the
Ephesians," that the letter might be the
more carefully considered and especially
applied by his own church. There is lit
tie reason for doubling the authenticity
of this Epistle and the Pauline author
ship.
The Apostle st. John lived and worked
in Ephesus and, according to Christian
traditions, lies buried there. His tomb
has been identified by the Mohammedans
and shown for a long time, but no one
has yet been allowed to explore that tomb
and ascertain whether it is actually the
last resting place of this great leader.
The actual tomb of St. Luke has been
identified here through inscriptions upon
it, so that we know from such stone evil
dence that the statements in the New
Testament about the important work done
by the Apostles in the great metropolis
did actually take place here.
The explorers who are at work in the
marshes of Ephesus are on ground rich
in the secrets of ancient history and cul-
ture. Here not only may the story of the
AmazonS and the worship of Diana be
brought to light, but also many archaeo-
logical or papyrus records bearing upon
primitive Christianity in its first great
struggle against Pagansm may be un-
folded so that the earliest years in the
history Of Christianity may be rewritten.
1t is we'll known that there was a large
colony of Jews in Ephesus, and if some
of the private libraries of these people
could be uncovered there might be dis
covered copies of parts of the Old Testa-
ment older than any now known to exist
1t is only a question of thorough
search of all possible sites when the world
will be enriched by far older manuscripts
than it now has of the sacred writings, for
what we have are all late copies and the
originals were certainly not destroyed.
Just as from the graves of old Egypt
have come some of the lost classics of
if the excavators reach the right places
they are likely to find inscriptions and
documents which will supplement what we
know of ancient times and provide US
with some of the older copies of the Cos
pels and other parts of the Old and New
Testament.
EpheSus holds wonderful promise of
the fulflment of these hopes. 1t was one
of the greatest ceatres of commerce and
learning Of that part of the world, and
after the explorers get down below the
surface of the newer structures and open
some of the older tombs and cellars of
ancient churches they are most likely to
bring forth astounding records of the
thought of the first Christian centu' and
the many centuries preceding I, at in
which Ephesus played so importan part
in making history
There is a tremendous wave or explora-
ton spreading all through the Near East,
from Egypt to Babylon, and out of these
united efforts we can not fail to enrich
the store of human knowledge. Ephesus
is certain to contribute her full share, so
the earliest reports of the work done
there are awaited most eagerly by those
who know that it is progressing.