shave the head." In the Book of Numbers we have the following particulars. "He (the Nazarite) shall separate himself from wine and strong drink, and shall drink no vinegar of wine, or vinegar of strong drink, neither shall he drink any liquor of grapes, nor eat moist grapes, or dried. All the days of the vow of his separation there shall no razor come upon his head: until the days be fulfilled in the which he separateth himself unto the Lord he shall be holy, and shall let the locks of the hair of his head grow. All the days that he separateth himself unto the Lord he shall come at no dead body. And this is the law of the Nazarite, when the days of his separation are fulfilled: he shall be brought unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation: and he shall offer his offering unto the Lord, one he-lamb of the first year without blemish for a burnt-offering, and one ewe-lamb of the first year without blemish for a sincffering, and one ram without blemish for peace-offerings. And the Nazarite shall shave the head of his separation at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and shall take the hair of the head of his separation, and shall put it in the fire which is under the sacrifice of the peace-offerings.

CHAPTER XI.

ST. PAUL'S JOURNEY FROM EUROPE BY EPHESUS TO JERUSALEM, AND HIS PROSECUTIONS THERE, AND COMMITMENT AS A PRISONER TO CESAREA.

BUT now the Feast of the Tabernacles of the Jews was approaching, and Paul was expressly commanded by revelation to keep the festival at Jerusalem; he therefore bade adieu to the brethren at Corinth, to embark for Syria, at Cenchrea, the eastern port. Timothy and Sylvanus, Aquila and Priscilla, set sail with him. These seem to have been his companions for a part of the voyage, but Titus went up with him to Jerusalem itself, as we learn from the Epistle to the Galatians (ii. 1). Paul and his company sailed across the Egean Sea, among the islands of the Greek Archipelago, from Corinth, the capital of the flourishing province of Achaia, to that of a peaceful province of Western Asia, and the two great mercantile cities on the opposite sides of the sea. Cicero tells us that on this passage he spent about a fortnight, a day more or less. The writer of this crossed the Ægean Sea through among the islands of the Greek Archipelago, in about one-third of the time but this was with the aid of steam, a power totally unknown in the days of St. Paul and Cicero. The vessel being bound for Syria, only touched at the port of Ephesus. Aquila and Priscilla remained there, while Paul proceeded. But, even during the short interval of his stay, Paul visited his fellow-countrymen, and held a discussion with them in the synagogue. He was urged to remain, but being anxious to attend the approaching festival at

Jerusalem, he was obliged to proceed to Syria with the ship: but he promised to return, if God willed. "And he sailed from Ephesus. And when he had landed at Cæsarea, and gone up, and saluted the church, he went down to Antioch. And after he had spent some time there, he departed, and went over all the country of Galatia and Phrygia in order, strengthening all the disciples. And it came to pass, that, while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper coasts came to EPHESUS."

When Paul visited Ephesus, it was the capital not only of Ionia, but of the entire province of Asia, and bore the honourable title of the first and greatest metropolis of that country. It is said to have been founded by the Amazons, and in later ages it was inhabited by the Carians, and afterwards taken possession of by the Ionians under Androchus. It lay on the river Cayster, not far from the coast of the Icarian sea, between Smyrna and Miletus. In the level valley of this river Cayster, there is a meadow celebrated in the poems of Homer, in which there is found the earliest occurrence of the word "Asia." From this it began to be applied as a generic appellation to all the regions beyond it, and wider and wider, till it has comprehended in its grasp the whole Eastern quarter of the world. In this early cradle of the Asiatic name, Ephesus was built, on some hills near the sea. It was called one of the eyes of Asia, Smyrna being the other, both looking forth as if from the projecting forehead of the peninsula. The inhabitants of Ephesus were generally Greeks, with all their natural genius and fine taste. Ephesus thus held no contemptible position in letters. In sculpture it rivalled, and in painting it excelled Athens. At this time the Jews were found settled in the city in no inconsiderable number. The classic celebrity of this city is chiefly owing to its famous temple, and the goddess in whose honour it was built, namely, Diana of the Ephesians. It was one of the seven wonders of the world, and it took two hundred and

twenty years to complete it. Pliny says it was 425 feet in length, 220 broad, and supported by 127 columns, each of which had been contributed by some prince, and was 60 feet high, and richly carved. The temple was built of cedar, cypress, white marble, and even gold, with which it gleamed like a meteor to the gaze of the approaching mariner. The altar was the work of Praxiteles, the famous sculptor. Scopas chiselled one of the columns. Apelles contributed a splendid picture of Alexander the Great. Costly and magnificent offerings of various kinds were made to the goddess, and treasured in the temple. The fame of the temple, the goddess, and of the city itself, was spread not only through Asia but the world. This celebrity was enhanced and diffused the more readily, because sacred games were practised there, which called competitors and spectators from every country. The goddess herself is said to have fallen from heaven. She was very rude, and little more than a head with a shapeless trunk, supported by a staff on each side. It seems to have been more like a mummy than a statue. Xenophon says that it was of gold, others that it was of ebony, or of the wood of the vine, and that it was so old that it survived seven restorations of the temple. The magnificence of the interior of the temple was equal to that of the exterior. The roof was supported by columns of green jasper. Here and there were statues from the chisel of the most eminent sculptors, and some of these were of pure gold. Against the walls of the temple hung some of the finest paintings in the world; one of which, representing Alexander the Great grasping a thunderbolt, from the hand of Apelles, was purchased at the cost of twenty talents of gold, equal to seven thousand pounds. In front of the temple, along a broad paved street leading southward, was the forum, a square open area surrounded with columns. Here was the grand theatre, capable of containing fifty thousand spectators. Not far from it, in another broad paved street, leading to the

east, was the circus, in which the Ephesians witnessed the foot-races, and wrestling, and pugilistic combats, to which St. Paul often alludes. Here, too, the wild beasts, which were kept in the vaults beneath, fought for the amusement of the people, and into these condemned malefactors were thrown naked, to be torn to pieces, as a spectacle to the world. To this circumstance he also alludes metaphorically, when he says, "I have fought with beasts at Ephesus."

Such was Ephesus at the time of Paul's visit, the metropolis of Ionia, the great emporium of Asia Minor, and a splendid and opulent city of enormous extent and population. But what is it now? It still contains the mortal remains of St. John, the beloved disciple of Jesus, sleeping in the dust, in the blessed hope of a glorious resurrection. A grotto sunk in Mount Prion is still pointed out as the grave of the Seven Sleepers, and a watch-tower on the hills is still said to have been St. Paul's prison; and Ephesus still disputes with Jerusalem the honour of possessing the tomb even of the Virgin Mary. But now it is an utter desolation. So completely has the candlestick been removed out of its place that not a living soul resides within the walls. The beasts of the field and the birds of the air haunt the spot where living millions rent the skies with their acclamations, "Great is Diana of the Ephesians!"

It is with feelings of no common interest that the eye of the Christian voyager catches the first sight of the ruins of Ephesus. The city stood on the south of a plain about five miles long and three miles broad. The precipitous mountains of Gallesius on the north, of Pactyes on the east, and of Coressus on the south, hem in the plain, excepting where it is washed by the sea. On the south side of the plain, the circular hill of Prion, famous for its quarries of beautiful marble, is conspicuous, and also to the east a little mount on which the modern and miserable village of Ayasaluch stands. The Cayster flows across the plain from the northeast to the south-western corner. As seen or entered from