Curiosities & wonders > Ruined cities of the East

RUINED CITIES OF THE EAST.
I-THE RUINS OF EPHESUS.
Though the human race undoubtedly sprang from one
parent pair, there have been various centres, at different
periods of man’s history, from which fresh influences
or new impulses proceeded, to quicken progress,—to
emancipate or to enslave,—to conquer and crush, or to
elevate and advance. One of these centres was that
section of Europe in which The Seven Churches of
Asia were placed. For centuries a bright light radiated
thence into the surrounding regions, and though that
light has long been extinguished, the friends of truth
still love to linger among the scenes where it shone;
to ponder on the moral darkness which now envelops
everything there; and to wonder when the fulness of
time shall come, when the truth which came from heaven
to illumine every land shall shine on those regions
again.
Somewhat in that spirit we are now to consider the
present condition of two of these ancient centres of
light, Ephesus and Sardis. Were we merely to describe
the events mentioned in Scripture regarding Ephesus,