“Sirs, ye know that by this craft we have our wealth. Moreover, ye see and hear, that not alone at Ephesus, but almost throughout all Asia, this Paul hath persuaded andturned away much people, saying that they be no gods which are made with hands: so that not only this our craft is in danger to be set at nought, but also that the temple of the great goddess Diana should be despised,and her magnificence should be destroyed, whom all Asia and the world worshippeth.”[148]
These inflammatory words roused the workmen: they were repeated through all the shops in the city. A gathering mob began to surge through the streets with clamor and threatenings. The one continuous cry of the mob was, “Great is Diana of the Ephesians!” The infuriated populace coming across two of Paul’s companions and friends, Gaius and Aristarchus, seized them, and dragged them into the theatre, an immense enclosure, without a roof, where tiers of stone seats rose one above another, affording room for an immense assembly.
As soon as the news reached Paul, the intrepid man wished immediately to rush into the theatre, in the endeavor to rescue his friends; but even the officers of the city entreated him not thus to peril his life. With difficulty they dissuaded him from the rash and hopeless movement.
The tumult in the theatre was fearful. “Some cried one thing, and some another: for the assembly was confused; and the more part knew not wherefore they were come together.” At length the mayor of the city, an officer next in dignity and authority to the governor, entered the city, and endeavored to allay the tumult. Having succeeded in obtaining silence, he addressed the mob as follows:—
“Ye men of Ephesus, what man is there that knoweth not that the city of the Ephesians is a worshipper of the great goddess Diana, and of the image which fell down from Jupiter?[149] Seeing, then, that these things cannot be spoken against, ye ought to be quiet, and to do nothing rashly. For ye have brought hither these men, who are neither robbers of churches, nor yet blasphemers of your goddess. Whereforeif Demetrius, and the craftsmen which are with him, have a matter against any man, the law is open, and there are deputies: let them implead one another.But, if ye inquire any thing concerning other matters,[150] it shall be determined in a lawful assembly. For we are in danger to be called in question for this day’s uproar,there being no cause whereby we may give an account of this concourse.”[151]
Soon after this Paul assembled the disciples, and took leave of them, in preparation for his journey into Greece. From Ephesus he had written his First Epistle to the Corinthians; and he was greatly distressed by some disorders which had crept into the church there. We have no record of the events which occurred during this journey. Sailing across the Ægean Sea, he landed first in Macedonia. “And when he had gone over those parts, and given them much exhortation, he came into Greece, and there abode three months.” He tarried some time in Philippi, waiting the arrival of Titus: upon his arrival, he wrote his Second Epistle to the Corinthians.
Accompanied by Titus, Paul went to Corinth, where he spent some time endeavoring to correct the abuses to which we have referred. While at Corinth, he wrote his Epistle to the Romans,—unquestionably the most important document which ever proceeded from a human mind.
But the malignant Jews in those regions still thirsted for his blood. As they lay in wait for him to kill him as he should embark for Syria, he changed his route, and returned through Macedonia to Philippi, where he took ship for Troas, on the Asiatic coast; which port he reached after a sail of five days. There he remained a week.The first day of the week, as commemorating the resurrection of Jesus, had become, instead of the seventh, the customary day for the assembling of Christians.[152]
Paul, as he was the next day to leave the brethren at Troas, probably never in this world to meet them again, continuedthe parting service until midnight. A young man named Eutychus, overcome by sleep, fell from a third-story window to the ground, and was taken up dead. Paul restored him to life. He then continued the social and religious services until the dawning of the day. The ship in which he was to embark sailed first for Assos, a small seaport about nine miles from Troas by land, and more than twice that distance by water.
Paul went on foot to Assos. There he took ship, and, sailing by Chios, Mitylene, and Samos, passed by Ephesus, and landed at Miletus, an important commercial city, about thirty miles beyond Ephesus. He sent for the elders of the church at Ephesus, and there took leave of them in the following affecting address:—