FAILURE TO VISIT LAODICEA.

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ings of ancient times have disappeared, their foundations being buried deep in the earth, and their materials broken up and worked into the modern houses. Every well that is dug, every stream or rain-torrent from the mountain that displaces the soil of Asia Minor, uncovers ancient walls, pavements, or marbles, and sometimes disturbs the long-lost and totally forgotten abodes of the dead.

From the introduction of Christianity to the present time, Philadelphia has been believed to be under the peculiar protection of God. The Turks reverence it, and call it Allah Sher, or City of God; and the wealthy and religious oftentimes bring their dead from a distance, even from Constantinople, to lay them in its vast cemetery. When the traveller departs from Philadelphia, his predominant feeling is, that God, who has so wonderfully preserved his Church there, designs to make the city the centre from which Lydia again shall receive the light and the glory of the Gospel of the Son of God.

I was very anxious to visit Laodicea, which is situ ated upon the head-waters of the Meander, nearly two days' travel southeast of Philadelphia; but the heavy rains had swollen the rivers, and, besides, it was extremely doubtful whether we could reach the next boat at the Dardanelles if we ascended the Meander from Ephesus to Laodicea, and thence crossed Mount Messogis to Philadelphia. I therefore reluctantly abandoned my former design, and must request the reader to be satisfied with the following notice, collected from authentic sources.

Laodicea, once the queen of Phrygia, is called by the Turks Eski-Hissar, or the Old Castle. It was situated on several hills of volcanic origin, the principal of which is described by travellers as covered from its summit

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HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN LAODIUEA.

to its base with ruined arches, broken pillars, and remnants of magnificent buildings. The only living creatures that occupy the melancholy spot are wolves, jackals, and foxes. Beneath the hills and the plain are the smouldering remains of the ancient volcanoes that so often desolated the district and destroyed the city, and which yet render the air lukewarm. Alluding to this remarkable fact, Chandler says, " To a country such as this, how awfully appropriate is the message of Jesus, by his servant John, to the angel of the Church of Laodicea: I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot. So, then, because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth.""

Often as the city was overthrown by earthquakes, or ravaged by war, it always rose again, and became "rich, and increased in goods," until, in the eleventh century, the Turk set his iron foot upon it. From that time it became the scene of war, and was successively possessed by the Moslems, the Greek emperors, and the Crusaders on their way to Palestine. Finally, the withering dominion of the Mohammedans settled upon the city, and, lo! she has disappeared, and with her the Church which Paul had planted, and for which he repeatedly expressed deep concern, as if he had a presentiment that she would become vain, and say, “I am rich, and increased in goods, and have need of nothing;" and blind also, so as not to know that she was "wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked." All that is known of her subsequent history attests that she heeded not the "counsel" of Jesus, who said to her, "Buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eye-salve, that thou mayest