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THE CORONATION 397
teenth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles concerning
the temple of Diana, which saint Luke relates, that a re
nowned artificer of Ephesus, called Demetrius, who man
ufactured silver images of the goddess Diana, conspired
with others, who were interested in his art or trade,
against saint Paul for the ; Apostle preached all through
Asia, that those were no gods, which were manufactured
by the hands of men. On account of this new doctrine
Demetrius persuaded his associates, that saint Paul was
not only ruining their trade, but causing the tempk of
Diana, so greatly venerated in Asia and the whole world,
to be despised. This conspiracy roused the artisans, and
they, the whole city, so that the cry went :
up
"Great is
the Diana of the Ephesians," bringing on what saint Luke
relates in that chapter. In order to make intelligible what
I have said above, I will add, that this temple, of which
saint Luke speaks, was another, less costly and more or
dinary temple, which the Ephesians began to build after
the most blessed Virgin had returned to Jerusalem. When
saint Paul came to preach in Ephesus this temple had
already been completed. From what saint Luke says,
we can gather how deeply ingrown idolatry and the cult
of Diana was in the Ephesians and in the whole of Asia.
This was natural not only on account of the length of
the time in which this error had held sway, but also
because that city had made itself illustrious and famous
throughout the world by the worship of Diana and by
its great temple. The inhabitants of Ephesus having been
delivered from this deceit and vanity by the Blessed
Virgin, and their city being the seat and source of this
worldwide superstition, imagined that they could not
live without their goddess or without their building tem
ples in her honor. So ingrained was the ignorance of the
true God among the heathens, that many Apostles and
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