aroundworldortra00peebiala-1

366 AROUND THE WORLD.
I could not help recalling the prophetic warning of John, in
the Book of Revelation, " I will come unto thee quickly, and
will remove thy candlestick out of its place, except thou
repent" (Rev. ii. 5).
It is generally admitted that the Apostle John lived to
one hundred and four years of age ; and all we know of his
later days is linked with Ephesus, — accurately described
by Herodotus, Pausanius, Pliny, and others, — outside the
records of the Church fathers. It is not known how long
St. John resided in this portion of Asia : suffice it, that his
memory still lingers here, enshrined even in the Turkish
name of the squalid village about two miles from the ruins
of the old Ephesian city, '•'• Ayasolouke^'" which is a corruption
of the Greek " Agios Theologos,^^ the holy theologian, the
name universally given to this Apostle in the Oriental
Church.
The mosque here, which is magnificent, even though in
partial ruin, was undoubtedly an ancient Christian church,
probably the identical one which the Emperor Justinian
built on the site of an older and smaller one, dedicated in
honor of St. John, who at Ephesus trained the disciples
Polycarp, Ignatius, and Papius to preserve and disseminate
apostolic doctrines in Smyrna and other cities of Asia. In
the erection of this church edifice by Justinian, upon the
spot where the venerable apostle preached in his declining
years, were employed the marbles of Diana's temple. Visiting
these scenes, Asian cities, and churchal ruins,
strengthens my belief in the
existence of Jesus, the general
authenticity of the Gospels, and the profound love-riches of
John's Epistles. It is the land of inspiration, of prophecy,
and of spiritual gifts. Even the skeptical Gibbon, writing
of the " seven churches in Asia," virtually admits the fulfillment
of the apocalyptic visions. (Gibbon's " Decline and
Fall," chap. Ixiv.)
Eusebius and others tell us of the profound reverence
that all the early believers in the doctrines of Jesus had