Page:Lives of the apostles of Jesus Christ (1836).djvu/340

 those refinements of feeling and thought on which the new faith could best fasten its spiritual and inspiring influences; they therefore soon became but hopeless objects of missionary exertion, when compared with the active and enterprising inhabitants of the still improving regions of the west. "Westward" then, "the star" of Christianity as "of empire, took its way;" and the last of the apostles was but following, not leading, the march of his Lord's advancing dominion, when he shook off the dust of the darkening eastern lands from his feet, forever; turning his aged face towards the setting sun, to find in his latter days, a new home and a foreign grave among the children of his brethren; and to rejoice his old eyes with the glorious sight of what God had done for the churches, among the flourishing cities of the west, that were still advancing under Grecian art and Roman sway.

Ephesus.—On the importance of this place, as an apostolic station, the Magdeburg Centuriators are eloquent; and such is the classic elegance of the Latin in which these moderns have expressed themselves, that the passage is worth giving entire, for the sake of those who can enjoy the beauty of the original. "Considera mirabile Dei consilium. Joannes in Ephesum ad littus maris Aegei collocatus est: ut inde, quasi e specula, retro suam Asiam videret, suaque fragrantia repleret: ante se vero Graeciam, totamque Europam haberet; ut inde, tanquam tuba Domini sonora, etiam ultra-marinos populos suis concionibus ac scriptis inclamaret et invitaret ad Christum; presertim, cum ibi fuerit admodum commodus portus, plurimique mercatores ac homines peregrini ea loca adierint." The beauty of such a sentence is altogether beyond the force of English, and the elegant paronomasia which repeatedly occurs in it, increasing the power of the original expression to charm the ear and mind, is totally lost in a translation, but the meanings of the sentences may be given for the benefit of those readers to whom the Latin is not familiar.—"Regard the wonderful providence of God. John was stationed at Ephesus, on the shore of the Aegean sea; so that there, as in a mirror, he might behold his peculiar province, Asia, behind him, and might fill it with the incense of his prayers: before him too, he had Greece and all Europe; so that there, as with the far-sounding trumpet of the Lord, he might summon and invite to Christ, by his sermons and writings, even the nations beyond the sea, by the circumstance that there, was a most spacious haven, and that vast numbers of traders and travelers thronged to the place."

Chrysostom speaks also of the importance of Ephesus as an apostolic station, alluding to it as a strong hold of heathen philosophy; but there is no reason to think that John ever distinguished himself by any assaults upon systems with which he was not, and could never have been sufficiently acquainted to enable him to attack them; for in order to meet an evil, it is necessary to understand it thoroughly. There is no hint of an acquaintance with philosophy in any part of his writings, nor does any historian speak of his making converts among them. Chrysostom's words are,—"He fixed himself also in Asia, where anciently all the sects of Grecian philosophy cultivated their sciences. There he flashed out in the midst of the foe, clearing away their darkness, and storming the very citadel of demons. And with this design he went to this place, so well suited to one who would work such wonders." (Hom. 1, in John.)

The idea of John's visit to Ephesus, where Timothy was already settled over the church as bishop, has made a great deal of trouble to those who stupidly confound the office of an apostle with that of a bishop, and are always degrading an apostle into a mere church-officer. Such blunderers of course, are put to a vast deal of pains to make out how Timothy could manage to keep possession of his bishopric, with the Apostle John in the same town with him; for they seem to think that a bishop, like the flag-officer on a naval station, can hold the command of the post not a moment after a senior officer appears in sight; but that then down comes the broad blue pen