140 HIS MARTYRDOM. before the high altar, elaborately carved in oak, representing all the various scenes in the New Testament, connected with the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Christ,-the work of many years of diligent labor, all cut by the hands of one who was deaf and dumb. Then we mounted to the old Genoese castle upon the hill, which commands a view of the city, harbor, mountains, and country round. Here, underneath a tall cypress tree, stands the tomb of the good Bishop Polycarp, and near by is the amphitheatre where he suffered martyrdom for the witness of Jesus and the Word of God. How inspiring it is to the Christian faith to visit such a spot sealed by the blood of one who bore such testimony to the truth as it is in Jesus. When called upon by the slaves of the Roman Emperor to curse Christ and do sacrifice, he replied, 'Eighty and six years I have served him, and he has done me nothing but good; how can I curse my Lord and Saviour?' Then he freely gave himself up to his persecutors to kindle the flames around him. Mussulmen now come up to this place every year to offer their sacrifice of sheep at the great festival of. Bairam. Within the bounds of the amphitheatre we saw the caverns whence the wild beasts were let loose upon the Christians in the arena, to tear them limb from limb, and we could distinctly trace the outline of the seats where the Pagan THE SEVEN CHURCHES. 141 multitude assembled to witness this bloody spectacle. "From a ruined tower of the Castle we enjoyed a lovely panoramic view of the villages, valleys, and surrounding country of Asia Minor. Here is the site of ancient Smyrna, the Crown of the East, and near by the River Mylis flows to the sea, on whose banks the ancients claimed that Homer was born; beyond lie the valley and River Hermes, celebrated in classic song, and the broad Mediterranean stretches far in the distance -all spread out like a picture before us. From this point, too, we could trace distinctly the location of the seven churches of Asia, in the precise order in which they are mentioned in the Revelations: Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea, whose ruined. sites still remain to attest the truth of Scripture, and the terrible fulfilment of the prophecy of 'Him that liveth and was dead, and is alive for evermore.' Descending thence we visited a large Armenian church in the centre of the city. It was newly built, and contained a painting of the Trinity, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and the single Eye of Omniscience over all, to guard the purity of his house and worship, much fitted to impress the ignorant and bigoted multitude. "On the following day we embarked again on board our steamer for Alexandria, and in the evening passed the celebrated Island of Scio, another reputed birth-place of the great poet, Homer. "Seven cities claimed the birth of Homer dead, Through which the living Homer begged his bread.' "Then come Nikaros and Samos, just beyond, and now we sail among "The Isles of Greece, the Isles of Greece, And all except their sun is set.' Here is Tinos and Delos, Coos, Naxos and Paros, all famed in classic history and poetry. The morning sun rises over the isle of Patmos in the distance, and in two hours more we are passing just beside it. With a good glass I could discern the houses in the village, and the convent that marks the place where the beloved disciple received the sublime revelations of the Apocalypse. It indeed filled the mind with sacred emotions to feel that we were gazing upon the precise spot where angels and the Saviour himself descended to reveal 'the things which must shortly come to pass.' Here also a door was REACHES ALEXANDRIA. 143 opened in heaven, and the future glories of the spiritual world, the golden streets of the New Jerusalem, the City of our God, the great white throne and Him that sat upon it, whose face was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone, and cherubim and seraphim, and a multitude that no man can number, out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation, with palms in their hands, clothed in white robes, washed and made pure in the blood of the Lamb, were all made to pass in heavenly vision before the mind of the inspired prophet. I took my Bible, and read again and again these divine scenes, and realized as never before their full and glorious truth and power. "At evening we enjoyed a gorgeous sunset in the sea, such as one rarely sees, even in the orient, as if to give effect to the impressions of the day, ever changing ever new, such as no artist can pencil. Rising just above the horizon yonder, Patmos seems floating in the distance, like an island of the blest. Two days more of sailing in the open sea brought us safely to our destined. port, Alexandria. "At Alexandria I called upon the Rev. Mr. Brown, missionary of the Free Church of Scotland, and conferred with him in reference to the interests of the Bible Cause. He informed me that there was no Bible dépôt established in the 144 CONVERTED GREEKS. city, and until recently very little had been accomplished in circulating the Scriptures. Within the last three months, however, a zealous young man from Beyrout, Mr. Spillman, had labored with much success as Bible colporteur, selling the Scriptures in the streets, from house to house, and among the shipping of all nations in the harbor. Mr. Spillman gave me the following list of Scriptures he has thus sold in twelve different languages: 27 Arabic, 39 Italian, 25 Greek, 8 French, 6 Hebrew, 4 Turkish, 6 English, 2 Swedish, 2 Coptic, 2 Armenian, 2 German, 1 Danish; making together 124 copies, for 960 piastres. He has also the encouragement that his labors are attended with immediate good results. He related to me, among others, the following interesting incident: A Greek of Damascus, living at Alexandria, became convinced, by reading the Bible, of the errors of his church and the truth of the Protestant faith. immediately began to instruct others, and through his influence six were persuaded to renounce the Greek religion. They suffered much persecution from the bigoted Greeks, and one night, while at their devotions, they were attacked by a party of forty or fifty, armed with knives and sticks, but were delivered from their hands by the Turkish police. He has since sold eight Bibles in that very room; one of the first persecutors has himself become a devout believer, and now a goodly He |