Erastus (a new friend and companion: see Acts 19: 22 and Romans 16:23) had been sent on before into Macedonia. Paul remained behind for a few days before following them. It was then that the riot took place which so gravely endangered his life.

"A certain man named Demetrius, a silversmith who made shrines to Artemis, brought by this means considerable profit to his workmen. So he gathered them together, along with those who belonged to similar trades, and said: 'Men, you know we make our money by this trade. And you see and hear that not only here in Ephesus but almost all over Asia this fellow Paul has persuaded people into thinking that these are not gods which are made by hands. Now it is not only possible that our trade will fall off, but the temple of the great goddess Artemis will fall into contempt and the goddess be robbed of her glory, whom now not only Asia but the whole wide world adores.'

"At this, the men began to rage with anger and began shouting, 'Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!' Thus the city was filled with confusion. Then they rushed with one accord into the theater, having seized Gaius and Aristarchus, Macedonians who were traveling with Paul. (Paul himself was determined to go out among the people, but the disciples refused to let him go, and certain of the Asiarchs, who were his friends, sent word begging him not to enter the theater.) Some were crying one thing, some another; for the assembly was in confusion, and the majority had not the least idea why they were there.

"Just then the Jews undertook to present their case against Paul, and put forward a man named Alexander as their spokesman. Beckoning with his hand to command silence, he began an address to

the people. But when they saw that he was a Jew, they shouted all the louder, for two whole hours, 'Great is Artemis of the Ephesians! Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!'

"At last the city-clerk succeeded in calming the mob and said to them: 'Men of Ephesus, who in the world is there who doesn't know that the city of Ephesus is Temple-warden of the great Artemis, and of her statue that fell from heaven? No one questions this. Therefore you ought to remain calm and do nothing rash. Instead, you have brought into the assembly men who are neither robbers of temples nor guilty of blasphemy against our goddess. If Demetrius and his fellow craftsmen have any grievance against anyone, the courts are regularly convened, and, moreover, there are the proconsuls. Other charges are settled in the assembly of the citizens. And the truth is, we are ourselves in danger of being charged with riot on account of this meeting; and there seems to be no reason which can be given for the gathering.' With these words he dismissed the assembly."-Acts 19: 23-41.

Thus ended three years of patient, self-sacrificing toil. Usually, Paul was not permitted to stay in one place so long. Here his work was ended, for the new church had been well founded and could now continue its growth independently; Paul could go on his way. The importance of Ephesus as a Christian center in the next generation and the next century, in the next five centuries of the church's history, proves the soundness of the foundations laid by Paul.

·

His work finished, Paul went on with his plans just as if no riot had occurred. He was a great enough man to be able to leave in such circumstances as those described and yet show no sign of defeat. Calling the

disciples for a few words of counsel and farewell, he took his leave and set out for Macedonia.

STUDY TOPICS

1. Trace on the map the route of Paul from Antioch to Ephesus. What familiar cities did he pass through? Visualize the scene, and write down what was his probable purpose in visiting the churches of Galatia. 2. Recall from Chapter XVII Paul's friendship with Priscilla and Aquila. How did they come to be in Ephesus? What were some of the points on which they may have enlightened Apollos?

3. Look up "Ephesus" in the encyclopedia or in some volume describing its excavation to-day. Write a paragraph in description of the city.

4. Recall the appearance and preaching of John the Baptist from your study of the life of Christ. See Mark 1:2-8; Luke 3: 1-20. What would be the beliefs and ideas of his followers?

5. Look up the article "Magic" or "Divination" in the encyclopedia or Bible dictionary. Find some examples of the contents of the "books" which were burned at Ephesus-for example, in Robinson's Life of Paul, p. 157f.

6. It may have been difficult for a learned and successful man like Apollos to have his views criticized and corrected by a tentmaker and his wife; but he accepted the correction and thus discovered "the way of God more perfectly." Don't you admire him the more for his humility and open-mindedness? How should we cultivate this virtue? Give an example.

7. Early Christianity set men free from superstition. Are there any superstitions observed by persons you know? Have you any, yourself? Are they consistent with faith in God as revealed in Christ?

CHAPTER XIX

TWO IMPORTANT LETTERS

How often we wish it were possible to visit one of the early Christian assemblies! How we should like to listen to the sermon and join in the worship! We should need, of course, to understand Greek. And we might need to be told what was meant by certain customs and manners of the early Christians, some of which they shared with their non-Christian neighbors. But such an experience would make real, once and for all, what now we can only imagine and try to visualize by the help of patient, careful study.

There is one way in which the lives of great men and important affairs of the past can sometimes be made real-by means of letters. The best biographies of prominent men usually give their "Life and Letters." As we read their correspondence we seem to be in the very time and place of the one who wrote it, to see the situation as he saw it at the moment, and to understand his motives and purposes better. It is fortunate that in addition to Luke's book of Acts we have a number of letters-chiefly by Paul-to illustrate and make vivid the actual life of the early church, to show us what the first Christians believed and thought, hoped and endeavored to do, how they conducted themselves in church and out of church, and what their leaders and missionaries taught them.

FIRST AND SECOND CORINTHIANS

In this chapter, we shall make a special study of Paul's First and Second Epistles to the Corinthians, try

ing to find out from them something about the church in Corinth to which they were addressed.

The occasion for the letters.-Like Paul's earlier epistles to the Thessalonians and the Galatians, these letters were written because of trouble which had broken out after Paul left Corinth. It was a danger involved in Paul's practice of founding a church, preaching a short while longer, and then pushing on to new fields: often the little group of Christians must have felt deserted and alone, and when difficulties arose there was no one at hand to straighten them out. Paul's method was necessary, if he was to preach to "all the Gentiles" in the remaining years of his lifetime. But it was a dangerous method.

We recall that before Paul arrived at Ephesus, Apollos had crossed to Corinth, where he was well received by "the brethren." So well was he received, indeed, that it was not long before certain members of that church professed a preference for his preaching over that of Paul. Greeks were always partisans, and they were also seekers after "wisdom." The brilliant discourse and the Alexandrian-trained Bible knowledge of Apollos appealed most strongly to them.

Problems of the Corinthian church.-But this was only a part of the trouble. Even earlier, several problems had arisen. One was occasioned by the gross immorality of one of the leaders of the church. Paul wrote at once counseling the church to exclude the offender from their company until he should repent. Other problems arose in regard to the eating of meat which had been offered to idols (that is, meat of animals slain as heathen sacrifices in the temples, and then sold in the markets as food). Certain of the new believersespecially those born Jews-felt this to be a defiling