The life and work of St. Paul

PAUL AT BPHESTTS. 369
and Achaia, which he had founded in his second journey, and of sailing from
Corinth to pay a fifth visit to Jerusalem, after which he hoped to see Home,
the great capital of the civilisation of the world. 1 In furtherance of this
purpose he had already despatched two of his little hand of fellow-workers,
Timothy and Erastus, to Macedonia with orders that they were to rejoin him
at Corinth. Erastus a
if this be the chamberlain of the city was a person
of influence, and would have been well suited both to provide for the Apostle's
reception and to superintend the management of the weekly offertory, about
which St. Paul was at present greatly interested. The visit to Jerusalem was
rendered necessary by the contribution for the distressed Christians of that
city, which he had been collecting from the Gentile churches, and which he
naturally desired to present in person, as the best possible token of forgiveness
and brotherhood, to the pillars of the unfriendly community. This had not
been his original plan. 3 He had originally intended, and indeed had announced
4
his intention, in a letter no longer extant, to sail straight from Ephesus to
sail back
Corinth, make his way thence by kind to the churches of Macedonia,
from thence to Corinth, and so sail once more from Corinth to Jerusalem.
Weighty reasons, which we shall see hereafter, had compelled the abandonment
of this design. The ill news respecting the condition of the Corinthian
churches which he had received from the slaves of Chloe compelled him to
write his first extant letter to the Corinthians, in which ho tacitly abandons his
original intention, but sends Titus, and with him " the brother," to regulate
to the best of their power the gross disorders that had arisen.6 Probably at
the same time he sent a message to Timothy uncertain, however, whether it
would reach him in time not to go to Corinth, but either to return to him or
to wait for him in Macedonia. The first Epistle to the Corinthians was written
about the time of the Passover in April, and probably in the very next month
an event occurred which, at the hist moment, endangered his stay and precipi-
tated his departure.
It was now the month of May, and nothing seemed likely to interfere with
the peaceful close of a troubled ministry. But this month was specially
dedicated to the goddess of Ephesus, and was called from her the Artemisian. 6
During the mouth was held the great fair called Ephcsia which attracted
an immense concourse of people from all parts of Asia, aiid was kept with all
possible splendour and revelry. The proceedings resembled the Christmas
iestivities of the middle ages, with their boy bishops and abbots of misrule.
The gods were personated by chosen representatives, who received throughout
the month a sort of mock adoration. There was an Alytarch, who represented
Zeus j a Grammateus, who played the part of Apollo; an Amphithales, who per-
l Cf. Eom. L 15 ; xv. 2328 ; Acts xix. 21.
i Eom. xvi. 23 ; 2 Tim. iv. 20, but there is no certainty in the matter. The name
was common.
3 2 Cor. i. 1C 23. V. infra, p. 3S3.
5 1 Cor. xvi. 57.
6 The decree dedicating the entire month to Artemis has been found by Chandler on
a slab of white marble near the aqueduct, and is given by Boeck, Corp. J?wcr. 2954. It
is nearly contemporary with the time of St. Paul,
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