EDINBURGH: WILLIAM OLIPHANT & CO. BLACKBURN: C. TIPLADY, CHURCH STREET 1868 Philadelphia. 'In the loss of Ephesus, the Christians deplored the fall of the first Angel, the extinction of the first candlestick, of the Revelations; the desolation is complete; and the Temple of Diana, or the Church of Mary, will equally elude the search of the curious traveller. The circus and three stately theatres of Laodicea, are now peopled with wolves and foxes; Sardis is reduced to a miserable village; the God of Mahomet, without a rival or a son, is installed in the mosques of Thyatira and Pergamus; and the populousness of Smyrna is supported by the foreign trade of the Franks and Armenians. Philadelphia alone has been saved, by prophecy or courage. At a distance from the sea, forgotten by the emperors, encompassed on all sides by the Turks, her valiant citizens defended their religion and freedom above fourscore years, and at length capitulated with the proudest of the Ottomans. Among the Greek colonies and Churches of Asia, Philadelphia is still erect-A COLUMN IN A SCENE OF RUINS-a pleasing example that the paths of honour and safety may sometimes be the same.'-GIBBON: Decline and Fall, clxiv. |