Rensselaer Republican, Volume 24, Number 12, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 November 1891 — SIGHT SEEING. [ARTICLE]

SIGHT SEEING.

Talmage and His Great Holy Land Journey. 1 By Special Train to Ephesng and Into One of the Eyes of Asia—Dr. Talmage’s Sermon. 4 ' ' ' - - - ■' Rev. Dr. Talmage preached at Brooklyn, last Sunday. Text, Acts xix, 14. He said: We have landed this morning at Smyrna, a city of Asiatic Turkey. One of the seven churches of Asia once stood here. You read in Reveletion, “To the church in Smyrna, write.” It is a city that has often been shaken by earthquake, swept by conflagration, plagues and butchered by war, and here Bishop Polycarp stood in a crowded amphitheater,and when he was asked to give up the advocacy of the Christian religion and save himself from martyrdom, the pro. consul saying: “Swear and I release thee; reproach Christ.” replied: “Eighty and six years have I served Him, and He never did me wrong; how then can I revile my .King and Savior?” When he was brought to the fires into which he was about to be thrust, and the officials were about to fasten him to the stake, he said: “Let me remain as I am, for He who givetli me strength to sustain the fire will enable me also without your securing me with nails to remain unmoved in the fire.” History says the fires refused to consume hjm, and under the winds the fires bent outward so that they did not touch his person, and, therefore, he was stain 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 -Ephesus, about fitty~ miles from Smyrna. We are advised not to go to Ephesus; the bandits in that regiou have had an ugly practice of cutting off the ears of travelers, and sending these specimens of ears down to Smyrna, demanding a ransom. The bandits suggest to the friends of the persons 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. If the money is not sent, the mutilated prisoners will be assassinated. We did not feel like putting our Vieuds to such expense, and it was suggested, that we had better omit Ephesus. But that would have been a disappointment from which we would never recover. We must see Ephesus—associated with the most wonderful aoostoliescenes. We hire a special railway train, and in about an hour and a half we arrive at the city of Ephesus, which was called ‘the great metropolis of Asia,” and “one of the eyes of Asia,” and “Empress of lonia,” the capital of all .earning and magnificence. Here, as I said, was one of the seven churches of Asia, and first of ail we visit the ruins of that church where once an ecumenical council of <I,OOO ministers of religion was held. Mark the fulfillment of the prophi*cy. Of the seven churches of Asia, 'our were commended in the Book of Revelation, and three were doomed. The cities having the four commend-' Ad. churches still stand; the cities having the three, doomed churches are wiped out. It occurred jest as the Bible said it would occur. Drive in and you come to the theater, 360 feet from wall to wall, capable of holding 56,700 spectators. Here and ihere the walls arise almost unbroken, but for the most part the building is down. Just enough of*it is lert to help the imagiuation build It jp 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 in that building once assembled a riotous throng for Paul’s condemuition, because what he preached collided with the idolatry of their national goddess. Paul tried to get into that theater and address the excited multitude, but his friends held him back lest he be torn to 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 j their throats were sore 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 a stupendous j place it must have, been when used for foot races and for fights with wild beasts. It was a building 680 feet long by 200 feet wide. Paul refers to what transpired there in the way of a spectacle when he says, “VVe have been made a spectacle. Yes, Paul says, “I have fought with beasts at Ephesus,” an expression usually taken as figurative, but I suppose it was literally true, for oue of the amusements at that Stadium was to put a disliked man into the arena with a hungry lion or tiger or panther and let tlie fight go on until either the man or beast or both were slain. It must have been great fun for these haters of* Christianity tp hear that on the morrows in the Stadium in Ephesus, the missionary Paul would, in the presence 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 neveT assembled. They took their dinners with them. And was there ever a more unequal combat proposed? Paul, according to tradition, smal crooked-backed and weak-eyed, but the grandest man in sixty centuries, Is led to the center as the people shout: 1 ‘There he comes, the preach- #

er who has nearly rained oui' religion. The lion will make but & brief mouthful of him.” It is plain that all the sympathies of that crowd are with the lion. In one of the underground rooms I hear the growl of the wild beasts. They have been kept for several days without food or water in order that they may be especially ravenous and bloodthirsty. What chance is there for Paul? But you can not tell by a man’s size or looks how stout a blow he can strike, or how keen a blade he can thrust. Witness, heaven and earth and hell, this struggle of Paul with a wild beast. The coolest man in the Stadium is Paul. What has he to fear? He has defied all the powers, earthly and infernal, and if his body tumble under the foot and tooth of the wild beast, his soul will only the sooner find disenthrallment, But it is his duty, as far as possible, to preserve his life. Now, I hear the bolt of the wild beast’s door shove back, and the whole audience rise to their feet as the fierce brute springs for the arena and toward its small occupant, I think the first plunge that was made by the wild beast at the apostle was made on the point of a sharp blade, and the snarling monster with a howl of pain and reeking with gore turns back.

But now the little missionary has his turn of making attack, and with a few well-directed thrusts the monster lies deacT in the dust of the arena, and the Apostle puts his right fetofc on the liou and shakes him, and then puts his left foot on him and shakes him —a scene which Paul afterward' Uses for an illustration when he wants to show how Christ will triumph over death: “He must reign till he hath put all enemies under his feet.” Yes, under his feet. Paul told the literal truth when he said: “I have fought with beasts at Ephesus,” and as the plural is used I think he had more than one such fight, or several beasts were let loose upon him at one time. As we stood that day in the middle of the stadium and looked around at the great structure the whole scene came back upon us. But we pass ont of the stadium, for we are in haste for other places of interest in Ephesus. I have now to unveil the chief wonder of this chiefest of cities. In 1863 under the patronage of the English Government, Mr. Wood, the explorer, began at Ephesus to feel along under the ground at great depths for roads, for walls, for towers, and here it is—that for which Ephesus was more celebrated than all else beside —the temple of the goddess Diana, called the sixth wonder of the world, and in 1881) we stood amid the ruins of that temple, measuring its pillars, transfixed by its sculpture and confounded at what was the greatest temple of idolatry in all time. As I sat on a piece of one of its fallen columns I said. “What earthquake rocked it down, or what hurricane pushed it to the earth, or under what strong wine of centuries did the' giant stagger and fall?” There have been seven temples of Diana, the ruins of each contributing something for the spleudor of all its architectural successors. Two hundred and twenty years was this last temple in construction. Twice ds dong as the United State have stood was that temple in building. It was nearly twice as large as St. Paul Cathedral, London. Lest it should be disturbed by earthquakes, which have always of making those regions their play-ground, the temple was built on a marsh, which was made firm by layers of charcoal covered by fleeces of wool. The stone came from the quarry near by. To put the immense block of marble in its place over the doorway of one of these temples was so vast and difficult an undertaking that the architect at one time gave it up and in his chagrin intended to suicide. but one night in his sleep he dreamt that the stone had settled to the right place, and the next day he found that the great block of marble had by its own weight settled to the right place. The temple of Diana was 425 feet long by 220 feet wide. All Asia was taxed to pay for it. Its 127 pillars, each sixty feet high, and each the gift of a king and inscribed with the name of the donor. In addition to these pillars that I climbed over while amid the ruins of Diana’s Temple I saw afterward eight of those pillars at Constantinople, to which city they had been removed, and are now part of the Mosque of St. Sopliia'. - . Thoseoeight columns are all green jasper, but some of those which stood in Diana’s Temple at Ephesus were fairly drenched with brilliant colors. Costly metals stood up in various parts of the temple where they could catch the fullest flush of the sun. A flight pf stairs was carVtd out pf one grape vine. Doors of cypress wood, which had been kept in glue for years and bordered with bronze in bas-relief, swung against pillars of brass and resounded with echo on echo, caught up, sent on, and hurled back through the corridors. In that building stood an image of Diana the goddess. The impression was abroad as the Bible records, that that image had dropped plumb out of heaven into that temple, and the sculptors who really made the statue or image were put to death, so that they could not testify to its human manufacture and so deny its celestial origin. It was thought by intelligent people that the material from which this idol was formed [flight have dropped out of heaven as an aerolite. We heveseen in the British Museum and in universities in our own West, blocks of stone hurled from other worlds. These aerolites were seen to fall, and witnesses have.gone to the landing places, and scientists have pronounced them to be the product of ether worlds. But the ma-'

terial out of which the image of Diana was fashioned contradicts that notion. ■- The image was carved out of ebony, and punctured here and there with openings kept full of spikenard so as to prevent the image from decrying and make it aromatic, but this ebony was covered with bronze and alabaster. A necklace of acorns coiled around her. There were four lions on each arm, typical on Strength, Her head was cproneted. Around the figure stood statues wonderful invention shed tears. The air, by strange machinery, was damp with descending perfumes. The walls multiplied the scene by concave mirrors. Fountains tossed in sheaves of light, and fell in showers of diamonds. Praxiteles, the sculptor, and Apelles, the painter, filled the place with their triumphs, Croesus, the wealthiest of the ancients, put here and there in the Temple golden heifers. The paintings were so vivid and life like that Alexander, who was moved at nothing of terror, shuddered at one battle scene on these walls, and so true to life was a painting of a horse that when Alexander’s horse was led up to it he began to neigh, as one horse is accustom d to greet another. One painting in that temple cost $193,750.

The treasures of all nations and the_ spoils of kingdoms were kept here for 6afe deposit. Criminals from all lands fled to the shelter of this temple and the. law could not touch them. It seemed almost strange that this mountain of architectural snow outside did not melt with the fires of color within. The temple was surrounded with groves in which roamed for the temptation of the hunters stags and hares and wild boars, and all styles of game, whether winged or four-footed’ There was a cave with a statue so intensely brilliant that it extinguished the eyes of those who looked upon it, unless, at the command of the priest, the hand of the spetator somewhat shaded the eyes.* No wonder that even Anthony and Alexander and Darius cried out in the words of my text, “Great is Diana of the Ephesians. One whole month of each year, the month of May was devoted to her worship. Processions in garbs of purple and violet and scarlet moved through it, and there were torches, and anthems, and choirs in white, and timbrels and triangles in music, sacrifices and dances. Here young men and maidens were betrothed with imposing ceremony. Nations voted large amounts to ifieet the expense of the worship. Fisheries of vast resources were devoted to the support of this resplendence. Horace and Virgil and Homer went into rhapsodies while describing the worship. All artists, all archaeologists, all centuries agreed in sayiug: 4 ‘Great is Diana oT the Ephesians.” In this city the mother of Jesus . was said to have been buried, Here dwelt Aquilla and Priscilla of Bible mention, who were professors in an extemporized theological seminary, and they taught "the eloquent Appollos how to be eloquent for Christ. Here John preached, and from here because of bis fidelity he was exiled to Patinos. Here Paul warred against the magical arts for which Ephesus was famous.

— l But here is a lesson which has never yet been drawn out. Do you notrsee in that Temple of BtaSifaK expression of what the world needs? It wants a God who can provide food Diana was a huntress. In pictures on many of the coins she held a stag by the horn with one hand and a bundle of arrows in the other. Oh. this is a hungry world! Diana could not give one pound of meat, or one mouthful of food to the millions of Tier wor sh ippcrg: Stie divinity, an imaginary God, and so J in idolatrous lands the majority of people never have enough to eat. It is ouly in the countries where tl)e God of heaven and earth is worshipped that the vast majority have enough to eat. Let Diana have her arrows and her hounds; our God has the sunshine and the showers and the harvests, and in proportion as lie is worshipped does plenty reign. So also in the Temple of Diana the world expressed its need of a refuge. I To it from all parts of the land came debtors who could not pay their debts, and the offenders of law that they might escape incarceration. But she sheltered them only a little while, and, while she could keep them from arrest, she could not change their hearts, and the guilty I remained guilty. But our God in I Jesus Christ is a refuge into which i we may fly from all our sins and all ! our pursuers, and not Only be safe for time, but for eternity, and the guilt is pardoned, and the nature is transformed. What Diana could not do for her worshippers our Christ accomplishes for us. Rock of Akcb, cleft for me, Let me hide myself In thee. London for magnitude, Berlin for universities, Paris for fashions, Rome for cathedrals, Athens for classics, Thebes for hieroglyphics, Memphis for tombs, Babylon for gardens, Ephesus for idolatry, but what shall be the characteristics of our Ameri- , can cities when they shall have attained, their full stature? Would that “Holiness to the Lord” might be inscribed upon all our municipalities. One thing is certain, and that is that idolatry must come down. When the greatest goddess of the earth, Diana, enshrined in the greatest temple that ever stood, was prostrated at Ephesus it was a proohecy of the overthrow of all the idolatries that ha< e cursed the earth, and anything, we love more than God is an idol, and there is as much idolatry in the nineteenth century as 'in the first and in America as in Asia.