Page:Life and voyages of the Apostle Paul.pdf/19

Rh church since his departure. He refutes certain Judaical opinions that had corrupted them; vindicates the immediate receiving his commission from Christ; and, in the conclusion, instructs them in the rules and duties of a holy life.

During St. Paul’s stay at Ephesus, an event occurred which was attended with great danger. In this city was the celebrated temple of Diana, a structure so magnificent for beauty, riches, and magnitude, that it was reckoned one of the seven wonders of the world. The image of the goddess being held in great veneration, the making of silver shrines or figures of the temple, proved the source of considerable business to the silversmiths of the city, of whom one Demetrius was chief. This man having called all the artists together, represented to them that the ruin of their gainful employment was inevitable, if Paul was suffered to bring their temple and goddess into contempt, by persuading the people that they were no gods which were made with hands. This speech fired the assembly with such zeal, that they cried out with one voice, Great is Diana of the Ephesians! The tumult quickly spread throughout the city, and as the multitude could not discover Paul, they seized two Macedonians of his company, and a converted Jew, with a design to throw them to the wild beasts. In the midst of this confusion, the town clerk of Ephesus, who endeavoured to quell the disturbance, addressed the crowd, telling them that the courts were open if Demetrius and his fraternity had any accusation against Paul and his companions, and that there was no necessity whatever for their publishing to the world at that time, that the Ephesians paid devotion to the great goddess Diana. The multitude being by this discourse convinced of the impropriety of their conduct, repaired peaceably to their respective habitations, and Paul’s friends were set at liberty.

About this time Paul was informed of some disturbances in the church at Corinth, hatched and fomented by a company of false teachers crept in among them, who endeavoured to draw them into parties and factions, by persuading one company to be for Peter, another for Paul, and a third for Apollos. To cure these dissensions, St. Paul wrote his first epistle to the Corinthians, wherein he reproves them for their schisms and parties, conjures them to peace and unity, corrects those gross corruptions that had been introduced among them, and particularly resolves those controversies wherein they had requested his advice and counsel. Soon after, Apollos determining to go to Crete, together with Zanos, St. Paul sent by them his Epistle to Titus, whom he had made bishop of that island, and had left there for