Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VI.djvu/689

 EPHAII EPHESUS 677 villas and large estates of much beauty, and the Marne, which is here crossed by a stone bridge of seven arches, is bordered by fine buildings and their grounds. Epernay is the leading entre- p6t of the trade in Champagne wine, and im- inense vaults in which this is stored in great quantities are quarried in the chalk which un- derlies the neighborhood. The place has also a considerable trade in other products, and manufactures of hosiery, fine pottery, woollen thread, &c. It is the seat of a court of first resort, and has a communal college, a public library of 18,000 volumes, a parish church built in the Italian style and finished in 1832, a thea- tre, and a city hall of excellent architecture. The town is very old, and during the reigns of the early Carlovingian monarchs was the prop- erty of the church of Rheims. It was burned by Francis L in 1544 to prevent its falling into the hands of Charles V., but the king afterward caused it to be rebuilt. It was a part of the dowry assigned to Mary Stuart, queen of Scots T and it was sold to pay her ransom in 1569. Henry of Navarre captured it in 1592, during the wars of the league ; Marshal Biron fell in the attack. In 1642 it became subject to the duke de Bouillon, who gave in exchange for it the county of Sedan. EPHAII, a measure in use among the Hebrews. As a liquid measure, it was the same as the bath or firkin, and contained about 7 gallons. As a dry or hollow measure, it was one tenth of the homer, and was equal to 10 omers or gomers. It held a little more than 1|- bushel of our measure. But there was a difference between the measures, weights, &c., of the Hebrews before and after the captivity. EPHEMERA (Gr. itfpepoc, that which lasts a day), the name given by Linnsous to a genus of insects of the order neuroptera, so named from their appearing in the winged state only for a day, though in the larva and nymph states they are said to live beneath the surface of the water for two or three years. Appearing above this, in the air, generally toward evening in fine summer weather, they provide for the contin- uation of tbeir race and die. The body is long, slender, and soft, the wings of very unequal size, and the abdomen with long articulated appendages. They are usually called May flies. Though but frail and delicate insects, they have been found in certain districts in France cover- ing the ground in such enormous numbers as to be collected by cart loads for manure. One species, the ephemera albi pennis, or white- winged, is sometimes seen in such quantities by the banks of rivers as to whiten the air and the ground like drifting snow. EPHESIANS, Epistle to the, one of the canonical books of the New Testament. It consists of two parts, the first (ch. i. to iii. 21) being chiefly doctrinal, the second hortatory and practical. The epistle purports to have been written by the apostle Paul during his cap- tivity. Its Pauline origin, generally recog- nized by the ancient church as well as by the early heretical sects, was for the first time called into question by Usteri (Entwicleelung des Paulinischen Lehrlegriffs, Zurich, 1824), Schleiermacher (Einleitung in das N. T 7 .), and DeWette (Einleitung in die Jcanonischen Sucker des N. T.~), chiefly an account of the style of the epistle, which in their opinion shows marked peculiarities. The Tubingen school, in par- ticular Baur (Paulm der Apostel, 1845) and Schwegler (Das nachapostolische Zeitalter, 1845), disputes its Pauline origin, on the ground that the epistle contains doctrines which are entirely foreign to the genuine Pauline epistles. According to Schwegler, it contains the principles of the Montanists, while Baur believes it to be pervaded by Gnostic views. The majority, however, even of the theologians of the liberal schools (among them Reuss, Ruckert, and Schenkel), defend its authenticity. According to the opening words, the epistle was addressed " to the saints that are in Ephesus," but the words " in Ephesus " are omitted in the most an- cient manuscripts extant (Vatican and Sinaitic codices), and appear to have been unknown to the earliest church writers. Hence some theologians, as Grotius and Paley, have adopt- ed the opinion of Marcion that it was ad- dressed to the church of Laodicea, and that it really is the epistle to the Laodiceans men- tioned in Coloss. iv. 16, and commonly sup- posed to be lost. Others, as Archbishop Usher, Bleek, and probably the majority of modern exegetical writers, maintain that it was a cir- cular letter for the use of several- churches. It was formerly the common belief that the epistle was written at Rome about A. D. 57 ; but the opinion, first advanced by David Schulz (Studien und Kritilcen, 1829), that Csesarea has better claims than Rome, has been adopted by a considerable number of prominent theologians, as Schneckenburger, Schott, Wiggers, Thiersch, Reuss, Meyer, and Schenkel, who generally assume that it was written about 60 or 61, simultaneously with the epistle to the Colossians and Philemon. Special commentaries on this epistle have been written by Matthies(1834) and Ruckert (1834). See also Bleek, Vorlesungen uber die Briefe an die Kolosser, den Philemon und die Ephe- sier (1865). EPHESUS, one of the twelve Ionian cities ot Asia Minor, on the S. side of the Cayster, near its mouth on the W. coast. It was said to have been founded by the Amazons, whose legend is connected with Artemis or Diana, the deity of Ephesus. Strabo say's that it was settled by the Carians and Leleges, who were driven out by the lonians. It was besieged by Crossus, and passed successively under the power of Persia. Macedon, and Rome. The Romans made it the capital of the proconsular province of western Asia, and the centre of a great commerce. Its rich territory, central situation, and the energy of its Greek popu- lation gave Ephesus great prosperity. It was