PART II. derable stay. I shall therefore now speak of Asia, and then of Ephesus, and the rest of the seven churches in Asia, to which the seven Epistles are sent in the Revelation of St. John; after which I shall proceed with the travels and voyages of our Apostle.

2.

Of Asia.

SECTION I.

Of the Scripture-Asia, and the seven Churches therein, to which the seven Epistles in the Book of Revelation were sent.

ASIA in its largest acceptation denotes the whole Asiatic continent, being the eastern and greatest of the three parts of the old world. In this sense it is distinguished into two parts, Asia the Lesser, denoting so much as lies between the Euxine or Black Sea northward, and the Mediterranean southward; and Asia the Greater, denoting all the rest of the Asiatic continent.

Asia the Lesser contained the provinces of Bithynia, Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Cilicia, Pamphylia, Pisidia, Lycaonia, Phrygia, Mysia, Troas, (all mentioned in the New Testament,) as also Lydia, with Ionia and Æolis, (both included sometimes under Lydia,) Caria with Doris, (sometimes included under Caria,) and Lycia. Of these, Lydia and Caria taken in their larger acceptations, Mysia and Phrygia, (including Troas, otherwise called Phrygia Minor,) made up the Roman* proconsular Asia, which has been thought by some to be the same as the Scripture-Asia. But it is evident to any one, diligently reading the travels of St. Paul in the New Testament, that Mysia, Phrygia and Troas are by the sacred writer reckoned as

*See Cic. Orat. pro Flacco.

distinct provinces from the Asia so called in Scrip- CHAP. V. ture. Wherefore it is with great reason taken for SECT. I. granted by the most judicious, that by Asia in the New Testament is to be understood Lydia in its largest acceptation, or taken so as to include Ionia and Æolis; within which compass lay the seven cities, the churches whereof are styled by the sacred penman, the churches of Asia; which I shall now proceed to describe in their following order, and chiefly from Sir Paul Rycautt, as to their modern state and condition.

3.

I shall begin with the famous city Ephesus, not only because we left St. Pault arrived here, but Of Ephe also because it is set first in order by the holy pen. sus. man § St. John. As to its situation, it lies distant about forty-five English miles south south-east from Smyrna, and about five miles from the sea, accounted in ancient times for a maritime town, by reason of the river Cayster, which runs by the city, and near to the sea was capable of receiving the vessels of those days. Hence Strabo, speaking of it, saith, this city has both a port and shipping belonging to it; but the port is very shallow, by reason of the great quantity of mud, which the Cayster throws up; however the city daily increases, and is the principal mart of Asia on this side of the mount Taurus. It is seated on the side of an hill, having a prospect to the west toward a lovely plain, watered and embellished with the pleasant circles of the Cayster, which turns and winds so wantonly through this plain, and with such curious doublings, as has given occasion to travellers to mistake it for the Meander; which error may be the more confirmed by the name, which the Turks give it, of the Lesser Mendres. Some marshes there are not far distant, and yet so far as

The only exception hereto is Acts xxvii. 2. where the coasts of Asia may denote all the coast from Cæsarea to Sidon, and so along Cilicia, Pamphylia, and Lycia, &c.

+ Present State of the Greek Church, chap. ii. p. 41, &c. Acts xix. 1,

Rev. ii. 1.

PART II. that the vapours of them seem not to reach or corrupt the air of the city. The soil produces abundantly woods of tamarisk, which overrunning the plains, render them delightful to the eyes of the beholders.

As to the dignity of this city, it was the metropolis of the proconsular Asia, and also the seat of the primate of the Asian diocese.

As to its ornaments, it was most celebrated among Heathen writers for the temple of Diana, which for its largeness, furniture, and workmanship, was esteemed one of the seven wonders of the world. It is said to have been four hundred and twenty-five feet long, two hundred and twenty feet broad, and to have been supported with an hundred and twenty-seven pillars of marble, each seventy feet in height, and twenty-seven of them most curiously wrought, and all the rest polished. The model of it is said to have been contrived by one Ctesiphon, and that with so much art and curiosity of architecture, that it took up two hundred years before it was finished. After it was finished, it was fired seven times; one of which is said to be on the very day that Socrates was poisoned; and the last time, (when it was set on fire by one Erostratus, only to get himself a name,) on the same night that Alexander the Great was born, which gave occasion to that witty scoff, that Diana, who was accounted one of the goddesses of midwifery, could not attend the preservation of her temple, being then busied about the birth of so great a prince. However, as it is generally said to have been first built by the warlike race of females the Amazons; so it is said, after this last burning, to have been again rebuilt by the large and devout contributions of the same sex. But these not being able to raise enough to perfect the work, Alexander the Great proffered, as is said, to complete the work at his own expence, on condition that his name might be entitled to the whole fabrick. But this offer was handsomely refused by the compliment of a witty Ephesian, alleging,

That it was not seemly that one God should contri- CHAP. V. bute to the temple of another.

And as this city was famous in the times of Heathenism for the temple of Diana, so in the times of Christianity it was adorned with a beautiful and magnificent church, honoured with the name of St. John, who for a considerable time resided in this city, and governed the churches of Asia. This church is still standing, concerning which, and the present condition of the city, take the following account from Sir Paul Rycaut, p. 44, &c. of his fore-cited book.

But nothing appears more remarkable and stately to a stranger, in his near approach to this place, than the castle on the hill, and the lofty fabrick of St. John's church, now converted to a Turkish mosque; the biggest pillar in which is five Turkish pikes and a half in compass, which is upwards of four English yards. These lifting up their heads amongst other ruins and humble cottages of the present inhabitants, seem to promise that magnificent structure, which renowned and made famous this city in ancient history. But at the entrance a person stumbles at pillars of porphyry, and finds an uneasy passage over subverted temples and palaces: the memory of what they have been is not preserved by tradition; and few or no inscriptions remain to direct us. Some marks there are of a building more ample and stately than the rest, which seems to have been seated in the suburbs of the city without the walls, and therefore gives us cause to conjecture it to have been the temple of Diana, the metropolitan shrine of all others dedicated to that goddess, anciently adjoining to the Ortygian grove and Cenchrian stream, where she and Apollo were reported in fables to be born from Latona. This probably might have been the temple of that goddess, which all Asia and the world worshipped, and caused that riot and pother amongst the silversmiths of this place. Under the

*Acts xix. 27.

*

SECT. I.

PART II. ruins of this temple we descended about thirty stairs with lights in our hands, where we entered into divers narrow passages, with many turnings and windings, that it was necessary to make use of a clew of thread to guide us, which some therefore call a labyrinth: but to me it seemed no other than the foundation of the temple, which for fabricks of that weight and magnificence is convenient, as I conceive, according to the rules of the best architecture. The air below was moist, and of a suffocating heat, which nourished bats of a prodigious bigness, which ofttimes struck at our torches, as enemies unto light, and companions of those spirits which inhabit the Stygian darkness. Not far from hence was a stately lavatory of porphyry, called St. John's Font, the diameter of which was above seven Turkish pikes, wherein, it is reported, he baptized great multitudes of believers. Not far from hence was shewn us the cave of the seven Sleepers, the story of which, whether true or false, is yet current through the world, and believed so far by the Christians who anciently inhabited Ephesus, that they have erected a chapel in memory of them, part of which remains unto this day, and the painting as yet not wholly defaced.

*

The theatre is almost wholly destroyed, few seats being there remaining; and of other ruins no certain knowledge can be had; the inscriptions which I found being for the most part so disfigured and broken off from the portals of gates and triumphal arches, as that they can little satisfy any man's curiosity.

Over a gate, which appears to have been in the middle of the city, are divers figures engraven, still plain and not much defaced, which seem to represent the story of Hector's body drawn about the city of Troy by Achilles; but is without reason fancied by some to be a description of the first

*The inscriptions, such as they be, are given us in Sir Paul Ricant's Treatise.