processions the goddess was represented as borne about in a car, representing her own temple. One of these, named Demetrius, finding that his trade declined, in consequence of the rapid progress of Christianity, excited a fearful tumult, to which the Jews lent their assistance, and dragged the Christian teachers before the assembly in the theater. Alexander, one of the Christians, having in vain attempted to address the assemby in defense of the gospel they preached, was overpowered by shouts of "Great is Diana of the Ephesians." The magistrates thereupon appeased the tumult, by telling them that the Christians, not being robbers of churches nor blasphemers of their goddess, had been wrongfully brought before them, and therefore dismissed the assembly.

The theater, among the Greeks and states of Greek origin, was not only appropriated to public games, but also to every kind of public business, it was the town-hall, the senate, the forum,-harangues to the people were there delivered. The situation of the theater at Ephesus would not a little promote and increase the tumult, as it was immediately within view of the Temple of Diana.

In reference to incantations performed at Ephesus, that are noticed by the apostle, we think it is clear that even the very heathen must have had some knowledge of the name of the eternal-the infinite -the incomprehensible Being the Creator of all things, for we have an oath in the golden verses of Pythagoras,-"By him who has the four letters;" and on the front of a temple at Delphi, we are told by Eusebius, was inscribed, "Thou art." The Egyptians inscribed on one of their temples, "I am." The

heathen had names of their gods which they did not dare to pronounce; for Cicero and Lucan tell us, that the earth would have trembled had any one pronounced them.

Some writers, whose opinions are deserving of regard, are inclined to the idea that it was by the power of the ineffable and mysterious name of the omnipotent and omniscient Creator of the universe, JEHOVAH-pronounced in a way peculiar to themselves that these miracles were to be performed. Basnage, in his "History of the Jews," has some remarkable notices of Hebrew reverence and dread of the name. "I appeared," says the Almighty, "to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, by the name of Al Shaddai, but by my name Jehovah was I not known to them." Shaddai signifies self-sufficient; Jehovah, the self-existent, he who gives being and existence to others. The modern Hebrews affirm that Moses, by virtue of the word Jehovah engraved upon his rod, performed all his miracles, and that we might all be able to do as much as he did, if we could attain the perfect pronunciation of this name. They flatter themselves that the Messiah will teach them this mighty secret. It is called by Josephus the four-lettered name the sacred letters-the shuddering name of God.

We also learn from ancient Jewish writers, that the Jon in Jehovah is one of those things which the eye hath not seen, but which has been concealed from all mankind. Its essence and nature are incomprehensible; but it is not lawful so much as to meditate upon it. Man may lawfully revolve his thoughts from one end of the heavens to the other; but he cannot approach that ineffable light-that

primitive existence-contained in the letter JOD. And, indeed, the masters call the letter Thought, or Idea, and prescribe no bounds to its efficacy. It was this letter which, flowing from the primitive light, gave being to emanations; it wearied itself by the way, but assumed new vigor by the assistance of the letter H, which makes the second letter of the ineffable name. The other letters have also their mysteries. The last H discovers the unity of a God and a Creator; and upon this letter that grand truth is built; but four streams issue from this unity, -the four majesties of God, which the Jews call Shekinal. The whole name JEHOVAH includes in it all things in general, and therefore he that pronounces it puts the whole world into his mouth, and all the creatures that compose it. The man that pronounces the name of the Lord moves the heaven and the earth in proportion as he moves his lips and tongue. The angels feel the motion of the universe, and are astonished, and ask one another, "Whence comes this concussion of the world?" It is answered: "The impious N has moved his lips in pronouncing the ineffable name."

What would have been the astonishment and grief of the Apostle Paul and his disciple, Timothy, if they could have foreseen that a time would come when there would be in Ephesus neither Church nor city, when the great metropolis would become "heaps, a desolation, a dry land, and a wilderness; a land wherein no man dwelleth, neither doth any son of man pass thereby!" Once it had an idolatrous temple, celebrated throughout the world for its magnificence, and the mountains of Corissus and Prion reëchoed the shouts of ten thousand voices, "Great

is Diana of the Ephesians!" Once it had Christian temples, almost rivaling the pagan in splendor; wherein the image that descended from Jupiter lay prostrate before the cross, and as many tongues, moved by the Holy Spirit, made public avowal that "Great is the Lord Jesus!" Once it had a bishop, "the angel of the Church," Timothy, the disciple of Paul and St. John; and tradition reports that it was honored with the last days of St. John, and of Timothy, and of the mother of our Lord.

Here we see the fulfillment of the prophecy: "the candlestick" is indeed "removed out of his place," and the interest we must all feel in tracing the footsteps, the acts, and teaching of our Lord and his disciples, is immeasurably increased in reviewing, in the dread prediction of eighteen centuries ago, the very picture and present desolation of this one of the primitive Churches of our faith,-one of the first to echo the glad tidings of salvation.

Mr. Stephens, who visited Ephesus in 1835, in his "Incidents of Travel" furnishes so much interesting information, and his impressions upon beholding the ruins of this once great city, that we give it entire :

“Go with me where, by comparison, the foot of civilized man seldom treads; go with me into the deserts and solitary places; go with me among the cities of the seven Churches of Asia; and, first, to the ruins of Ephesus. I have been several days expecting a companion to make this tour with me, but, being disappointed, was obliged to set out alone. I was not exactly alone, for I had with me a Turk as guide, and a Greek as cicerone and inter

preter, both well mounted, and armed to the teeth. We started at two o'clock in the morning, under the light of thousands of stars; and the day broke upon us in a country wild and desolate, as if it were removed thousands of miles from the habitations of men. There was little variety and little incident in our ride. During the whole day it lay through a country decidedly handsome, the soil rich and fertile, but showing with appalling force the fatal effects of misgovernment,-wholly uncultivated, and almost wholly uninhabited. Indeed, the only habitations were the little Turkish coffee-houses and the black tents of the Turcomans. These are a wandering tribe who come out from the desert, and approach comparatively near the abodes of civilization. They are a pastoral people; their riches are their flocks and herds; they lead a wandering life, free as the air they breathe; they have no local attachments; to-day they pitch their tents on the hill-side, to-morrow on the plain; and wherever they set themselves down, all that they have on earth, wife, children, and friends, are immediately around them. There is something primitive, almost patriarchal, in their appearance; indeed, it carries one back to a simple, and perhaps a purer age, and you can almost realize that state of society when the patriarch sat in the door of his tent, and called in and fed the passing traveler.

"The general character of the road is such as to prepare one for the scene that awaits him at Ephesus; enormous burying-grounds, with thousands of head-stones shaded by the mourning cypress, in the midst of a desolate country, where not a vestige of a human habitation is to be seen. They stand on