appears the most pleasant prospect that ever my CHAP, V. eyes beheld, to which the Pactolus gives a wonder- SECT. I. ful embellishment, which turns and winds so delightfully through all the plains, watering all parts about in that manner, as to make that country exceeding fertile and rich, and from thence might give occasion of that saying, that the Pactolus ran with golden streams. 8. The church mentioned by St. John* in the sixth place is that of Philadelphia, honoured formerly Of Philawith the dignity of a metropolitan, as well as Sar- delphia. dis and Thyatira. The reason whereof (for otherwise it was contrary to the practice both of church and state, to have in one province more than one metropolis) is thought to have been the respect had to these several churches, in regard to their primitive antiquity and foundation by St. John the Apostle, as it was generally believed. This city lies about twenty-seven miles to the south-east from Sardis, as Sir Paul Rycaut+ informs us, who adds, that it is now inhabited by the Turks, and by them called Ala-shakir, or the Fair City, still retaining the form of a city, with something of trade to invite people to it, being the road of the Persian caravans; though the walls which encompass it are decayed in many places, and, according to the custom of the Turks, are wholly neglected. Besides which there is little of antiquity remaining, unless the ruins of a church dedicated to St. John, made a dunghill to receive the offals of dead beasts.However God has been pleased to preserve some in this place to make profession of the Christian faith; for it being inhabited by many Greeks, it is adorned with no less than twelve churches; of which St. Mary's and St. George's are the chief, which we visited. There the chief Papa's presented before us some manuscripts of the Gospel, pretending them to be very ancient; but we could hardly be persuaded to believe them so, because * Rev. iii. 7. + Present State, &c. p. 73, &c. PART II. the Gospel of St. John, as the prime Apostle of Asia, was prefixed in the first place, and because the chapters were not disposed in the due form and order, but according to the method observed in their missals. cea. 9. The situation of Philadelphia is on the rising of the mountain Tmolus, having a pleasant prospect on the plains beneath, well furnished with divers villages, and watered, as I take it, by the Pactolus. The only rarity, which the Turks shew in that place to travellers, is a wall of men's bones, which they report to have been erected by the prince which first took that city, who having slaughtered many of the besieged in a sally, for the terror of those which survived raised a wall of their bones, which is so well cemented, and the bones so entire, that I brought a piece thereof with me from thence. The last of the seven churches of Asia, menOf Laodi- tioned by St. John*, is that of Laodicea, which, Strabo tells us, being before but a small place, grew great and considerable in his own and the foregoing age. Sir Paul Rycaut + gives us this account of it. Laodicea is another of those cities, which is also forgotten in its name, and overwhelmed in its ruins; and yet we certainly discovered it about four days journey south-east from Tyria, a city about twenty-five miles from Ephesus, and commonly mistaken, by reason of the likeness of names, (as has been before observed,) for Thyatira. The first place, which we imagined might be Laodicea, was a city called by the Turks Dingizlee; being so esteemed by the Greeks who there inhabit, and are not above forty in number, where they have a little church. But little credit are we -to give unto them concerning the ancient condition of their nation; for they who are in those parts, and have lost their own language, and speak and understand no other tongue than the Turkish, are CHAP. V. not competent judges of the antiquities, which ex- SECT. I. tend themselves beyond the time of the Turks. Howsoever the situation of that place, which is exceedingly pleasant, and not far distant certainly from the true Laodicea, might yield us reason sufficient to enquire for it in that city, which is planted with all sorts of fruit-trees, watered with plentiful streams, and abounds with all provisions either necessary or convenient for livelihood, so that the Turks compare it with the air and fruitfulness of Damascus. The outward walls are ancient, but neglected, after the Turkish custom: the city within built low, after the modern fashion of that country, and is chiefly maintained by a trade of Bogasines. Some few churches there are, which appear to have been built by the Chriistans, now converted into mosques; so that nothing appeared in this case, which could induce us to concur in opinion with the Greeks, that this place was Laodicea. But being informed by the Turks of certain ruins about four miles distant from thence, called by them Eski-hisar, or the Old Castle, curiosity led us thither; where being entered, we found a city of a vast circumference, subverted and overthrown, situated on three or four small hills. What we had first sight of was an aqueduct, which guided us to the rest: beneath which was a river, which I call the Lycus, nourished with two other streams, which I call Asopus and Caper, that so the situation may agree with the description which Pliny gives of it. This certainly can have been no other than the ancient Laodicea, according to the description of geographers, anciently called Diospolis. Here within we found, besides a multitude of other ruins, three large amphitheatres, and a circus; the three were of a round form, consisting of about fifty seats, one above the other, the stones of which were not much displaced. The circus was long, and at the end thereof was a cave, where the wild beasts were kept, designed for the Roman sports, over the mouth of which was * PART II. an arch, with an inscription to the emperor Vespasian. Many other ruins there were of mighty fabrics, of which we could receive no knowledge, nor make conjectures, nor could we be guided by inscriptions for time and earthquakes had so strangely defaced all things, that, besides the theatre, there scarce remained one stone upon the other. It seems that this city suffered much by Mithridates Eupator: yet the excellency of the soil, and the riches of the citizens, quickly repaired the damages, and restored it again to its pristine happiness: for, as I said, the situation of it is elevated on two or three pleasant mounts rather than hills, which oversee the most rich and delightful plains of all Phrygia. It hath to the north the mountain Cadmus, being distant, as may be conjectured, about ten English miles, from whence the Lycus hath its source, and overflows those pastures round about; which in the time of Augustus Cæsar bred numerous flocks of black sheep, which, for the fineness of the fleece, far exceeded the Milesian wools. And thus the riches of their woollen manufacture being added to the donative of two thousand talents, which Hiero bequeathed to that people, might be a considerable revenue to the public, and serve to raise them out of the dust, when overthrown by earthquakes. For when Nero. was the fourth time consul, Laodicea, saith Tacitus, was then sorely shaken by an earthquake, (the fate of most of the great cities of Asia,) which notwithstanding was re-edified by the puissance of its own riches; but relapsing again into the same calamity, was deserted by its inhabitants, and became irrecoverably lost, not only as to its pristine condition of prosperity, but also to its very name, having now no other existence or being, than what wise and learned men have conserved in the histories thereof. * The inscription may be seen at large in my author, p. 61, CHAP. V. SECT. II. SECTION II. Of St. Paul's Voyages and Travels from his leaving 53, 54. HAVING thus given an account of the seven 1. Churches in Asia, to which the seven Epistles re- St. Paul decorded in the Revelation of St. John were sent by parts from Ephesus inGod's immediate appointment; I shall now pro- to Macedo ceed with the voyages and travels of Paul, whom nia. we left preaching at Ephesus; where having staid A. D. 52, two years * and upwards, after the uproar occasioned by Demetrius the silversmith was ceased, he called to him the disciples, and embracing them, took his leave of them, and so departed for to go A. 1). 55. into Macedonia, the several parts whereof he probably at this time went over, thereby preaching the Gospel round about from Jerusalem to Illyricum t. For Illyricum was a province lying to the north and north-west of Macedonia, along the eastern cum and coast of the Adriatic Gulf, or Gulf of Venice. It Dalmatia. was distinguished into two parts; Liburnia to the north, where now lies Croatia; and Dalmatia to the south, still retaining the same name, and being the country to which Titus went, as St. Paul informs Timothy, in his second Epistle to him, chap. iv. ver. 10. 2. Of Illyri 3. St. Paul comes into When St. Paul had gone over those parts, he came into Greece, a country renowned throughout the ancient world for learning and arts, insomuch Greece. that they divided wisdom among themselves, look- A.D. 55. ing upon it as if it belonged only to them, and hence styling all other nations barbarians. To this St. Paul alludes, when he saith, I am a debtor both to the Greek and to the barbarian, to the wise and to the unwise §. *Acts xix. 10. Rom. xv. 19. + Acts xx. i. |