a much celebrated city of Ionia, in Asia Minor, situated upon
the river Cayster, and on the side of a hill. It was the metropolis of
the Proconsular Asia, and formerly in great renown among Heathen authors
on account of its famous temple of Diana. This temple was seven times
set on fire: one of the principal conflagrations happened on the very
day that Socrates was poisoned, four hundred years before Christ; the
other, on the same night in which Alexander the Great was born, when a
person of the name of Erostratus set it on fire, according to his own
confession, to get himself a name! It was, however, rebuilt and
beautified by the Ephesians, toward which the female inhabitants of the
city contributed liberally. In the times of the Apostles it retained
much of its former grandeur; but, so addicted were the inhabitants of
the city to idolatry and the arts of magic, that the prince of darkness
would seem to have, at that time, fixed his throne in it. Ephesus is
supposed to have first invented those obscure mystical spells and charms
by means of which the people pretended to heal diseases and drive away
evil spirits; whence originated the Ἐφέσια γράμματα, or _Ephesian
letters_, so often mentioned by the ancients.
2. The Apostle Paul first visited this city, A. D. 54; but being then on
his way to Jerusalem, he abode there only a few weeks, Acts xviii,
19–21. During his short stay, he found a synagogue of the Jews, into
which he went, and reasoned with them upon the interesting topics of his
ministry, with which they were so pleased that they wished him to
prolong his visit. He however declined that, for he had determined, God
willing, to be at Jerusalem at an approaching festival; but he promised
to return, which he did a few months afterward, and continued there
three years, Acts xix, 10; xx, 31. While the Apostle abode in Ephesus
and its neighbourhood, he gathered a numerous Christian church, to
which, at a subsequent period, he wrote that epistle, which forms so
important a part of the Apostolic writings. He was then a prisoner at
Rome, and the year in which he wrote it must have been 60 or 61 of the
Christian æra. It appears to have been transmitted to them by the hands
of Tychicus, one of his companions in travel, Ephesians vi, 21. The
critics have remarked that the style of the Epistle to the Ephesians is
exceedingly elevated; and that it corresponds to the state of the
Apostle’s mind at the time of writing. Overjoyed with the account which
their messenger brought him of the steadfastness of their faith, and the
ardency of their love to all the saints, Eph. i, 15; and, transported
with the consideration of the unsearchable wisdom of God displayed in
the work of man’s redemption, and of his amazing love toward the
Gentiles, in introducing them, as fellow-heirs with the Jews, into the
kingdom of Christ, he soars into the most exalted contemplation of those
sublime topics, and gives utterance to his thoughts in language at once
rich and varied. The epistle, says Macknight, is written as it were in a
rapture. Grotius remarks that it expresses the sublime matters contained
in it in terms more sublime than are to be found in any human language;
to which Macknight subjoins this singular but striking observation, that
no real Christian can read the doctrinal part of the Epistle to the
Ephesians, without being impressed and roused by it, as by the sound of
a trumpet.
3. Ephesus was one of the seven churches to which special messages were
addressed in the book of Revelation. After a commendation of their first
works, to which they were commanded to return, they were accused of
having left their first love, and threatened with the removal of their
candlestick out of its place, except they should repent, Rev. ii, 5. The
contrast which its present state presents to its former glory, is a
striking fulfilment of this prophecy. Ephesus was the metropolis of
Lydia, a great and opulent city, and, according to Strabo, the greatest
emporium of Asia Minor. Its temple of Diana, “whom all Asia worshipped,”
was adorned with one hundred and twenty-seven columns of Parian marble,
each of a single shaft, and sixty feet high, and which formed one of the
seven wonders of the world. The remains of its magnificent theatre, in
which it is said that twenty thousand people could easily have been
seated, are yet to be seen. But a few heaps of stones, and some
miserable mud cottages, occasionally tenanted by Turks, without one
Christian residing there, are all the remains of ancient Ephesus. It is,
as described by different travellers, a solemn and most forlorn spot.
The Epistle to the Ephesians is read throughout the world; but there is
none in Ephesus to read it now. They left their first love, they
returned not to their first works. Their “candlestick has been removed
out of its place;” and the great city of Ephesus is no more. Dr.
Chandler says, “The inhabitants are a few Greek peasants, living in
extreme wretchedness, dependence, and insensibility; the representatives
of an illustrious people, and inhabiting the wreck of their greatness;
some, in the substructions of the glorious edifices which they raised;
some, beneath the vaults of the stadium, once the crowded scene of their
diversions; and some, by the abrupt precipice, in the sepulchres which
received their ashes. Its streets are obscured and overgrown. A herd of
goats was driven to it for shelter from the sun at noon; and a noisy
flight of crows from the quarries seemed to insult its silence. We heard
the partridge call in the area of the theatre and the stadium. The
glorious pomp of its Heathen worship is no longer remembered; and
Christianity, which was here nursed by Apostles, and fostered by general
councils, until it increased to fulness of stature, barely lingers on in
an existence hardly visible.” “I was at Ephesus,” says Mr. Arundell, “in
January, 1824; the desolation was then complete: a Turk, whose shed we
occupied, his Arab servant, and a single Greek, composed the entire
population; some Turcomans excepted, whose black tents were pitched
among the ruins. The Greek revolution, and the predatory excursions of
the Samiotes, in great measure accounted for this total desertion. There
is still, however, a village near, probably the same which Chishull and
Van Egmont mention, having four hundred Greek houses.”
St. John passed the latter part of his life in Asia Minor, and
principally at Ephesus, where he died.
the river Cayster, and on the side of a hill. It was the metropolis of
the Proconsular Asia, and formerly in great renown among Heathen authors
on account of its famous temple of Diana. This temple was seven times
set on fire: one of the principal conflagrations happened on the very
day that Socrates was poisoned, four hundred years before Christ; the
other, on the same night in which Alexander the Great was born, when a
person of the name of Erostratus set it on fire, according to his own
confession, to get himself a name! It was, however, rebuilt and
beautified by the Ephesians, toward which the female inhabitants of the
city contributed liberally. In the times of the Apostles it retained
much of its former grandeur; but, so addicted were the inhabitants of
the city to idolatry and the arts of magic, that the prince of darkness
would seem to have, at that time, fixed his throne in it. Ephesus is
supposed to have first invented those obscure mystical spells and charms
by means of which the people pretended to heal diseases and drive away
evil spirits; whence originated the Ἐφέσια γράμματα, or _Ephesian
letters_, so often mentioned by the ancients.
2. The Apostle Paul first visited this city, A. D. 54; but being then on
his way to Jerusalem, he abode there only a few weeks, Acts xviii,
19–21. During his short stay, he found a synagogue of the Jews, into
which he went, and reasoned with them upon the interesting topics of his
ministry, with which they were so pleased that they wished him to
prolong his visit. He however declined that, for he had determined, God
willing, to be at Jerusalem at an approaching festival; but he promised
to return, which he did a few months afterward, and continued there
three years, Acts xix, 10; xx, 31. While the Apostle abode in Ephesus
and its neighbourhood, he gathered a numerous Christian church, to
which, at a subsequent period, he wrote that epistle, which forms so
important a part of the Apostolic writings. He was then a prisoner at
Rome, and the year in which he wrote it must have been 60 or 61 of the
Christian æra. It appears to have been transmitted to them by the hands
of Tychicus, one of his companions in travel, Ephesians vi, 21. The
critics have remarked that the style of the Epistle to the Ephesians is
exceedingly elevated; and that it corresponds to the state of the
Apostle’s mind at the time of writing. Overjoyed with the account which
their messenger brought him of the steadfastness of their faith, and the
ardency of their love to all the saints, Eph. i, 15; and, transported
with the consideration of the unsearchable wisdom of God displayed in
the work of man’s redemption, and of his amazing love toward the
Gentiles, in introducing them, as fellow-heirs with the Jews, into the
kingdom of Christ, he soars into the most exalted contemplation of those
sublime topics, and gives utterance to his thoughts in language at once
rich and varied. The epistle, says Macknight, is written as it were in a
rapture. Grotius remarks that it expresses the sublime matters contained
in it in terms more sublime than are to be found in any human language;
to which Macknight subjoins this singular but striking observation, that
no real Christian can read the doctrinal part of the Epistle to the
Ephesians, without being impressed and roused by it, as by the sound of
a trumpet.
3. Ephesus was one of the seven churches to which special messages were
addressed in the book of Revelation. After a commendation of their first
works, to which they were commanded to return, they were accused of
having left their first love, and threatened with the removal of their
candlestick out of its place, except they should repent, Rev. ii, 5. The
contrast which its present state presents to its former glory, is a
striking fulfilment of this prophecy. Ephesus was the metropolis of
Lydia, a great and opulent city, and, according to Strabo, the greatest
emporium of Asia Minor. Its temple of Diana, “whom all Asia worshipped,”
was adorned with one hundred and twenty-seven columns of Parian marble,
each of a single shaft, and sixty feet high, and which formed one of the
seven wonders of the world. The remains of its magnificent theatre, in
which it is said that twenty thousand people could easily have been
seated, are yet to be seen. But a few heaps of stones, and some
miserable mud cottages, occasionally tenanted by Turks, without one
Christian residing there, are all the remains of ancient Ephesus. It is,
as described by different travellers, a solemn and most forlorn spot.
The Epistle to the Ephesians is read throughout the world; but there is
none in Ephesus to read it now. They left their first love, they
returned not to their first works. Their “candlestick has been removed
out of its place;” and the great city of Ephesus is no more. Dr.
Chandler says, “The inhabitants are a few Greek peasants, living in
extreme wretchedness, dependence, and insensibility; the representatives
of an illustrious people, and inhabiting the wreck of their greatness;
some, in the substructions of the glorious edifices which they raised;
some, beneath the vaults of the stadium, once the crowded scene of their
diversions; and some, by the abrupt precipice, in the sepulchres which
received their ashes. Its streets are obscured and overgrown. A herd of
goats was driven to it for shelter from the sun at noon; and a noisy
flight of crows from the quarries seemed to insult its silence. We heard
the partridge call in the area of the theatre and the stadium. The
glorious pomp of its Heathen worship is no longer remembered; and
Christianity, which was here nursed by Apostles, and fostered by general
councils, until it increased to fulness of stature, barely lingers on in
an existence hardly visible.” “I was at Ephesus,” says Mr. Arundell, “in
January, 1824; the desolation was then complete: a Turk, whose shed we
occupied, his Arab servant, and a single Greek, composed the entire
population; some Turcomans excepted, whose black tents were pitched
among the ruins. The Greek revolution, and the predatory excursions of
the Samiotes, in great measure accounted for this total desertion. There
is still, however, a village near, probably the same which Chishull and
Van Egmont mention, having four hundred Greek houses.”
St. John passed the latter part of his life in Asia Minor, and
principally at Ephesus, where he died.