of Praxiteles and Phidias and Scopas and Polycletus. Paint- ings by the greatest of Greek artists, of which one—the like- ness of Alexander the Great by Apelles—had been bought for a sum equal in value to £5,000 of modern money, adorned the inner walls. The roof of the temple itself was of cedar-wood, supported by columns of jasper on bases of Parian marble. On these pillars hung gifts of priceless value, the votive offerings of grateful superstition. At the end of it stood the great altar adorned by the bas-relief of Praxiteles, behind which fell the vast folds of a purple curtain. Behind this curtain was the dark and awful shrine in which stood the most sacred idol of classic heathendom ; and again, behind the shrine, was the room which, inviolable under divine protection, was regarded as the wealth- iest and securest bank in the ancient world” (“ Life and Work of St. Paul,” ii, 12).
Next to Rome, Ephesus was the principal seat of Paul’s labors. He devoted three years to that city. The commonly received tradition represents John as closing his apostolic career there. Nothing in early Church history is better attested than his residence and work in Ephesus, the centre of the circle of churches established by Paul in Ionia and Phrygia.
Who walketh (6 mepiratév). More than standeth. The word expresses Christ’s activity on behalf of His Church.
2. Thy works (ra épya cod). See on John iv. 47.
Labor (xéov). Originally suffering, weariness ; hence ex- hausting labor. The kindred verb xomidw is often used of apostolic and ministerial labor (Rom. xvi. 12; 1 Cormxvan0; Gal. iv. 11).
Patience (i7ropory). See on 2 Pet.i. 6; Jas. v. 7. Compare Paul’s exhortation to Timothy in Ephesus, 2 Tim. ii. 25, 26.
Bear (Sacrdcm). See on John x. 31; xii. 6. Compare Gal. vi. 2, where the word is used of Christians bearing each others’ burdens.