an adjoining hill, separated from the first by a deep fosse or a narrow ravine, were similar fragments of walls, but we observed a few rows of large square stones just appearing above the surface of the ground. The view from these elevated situations was magnificent in the extreme; highly cultivated gardens and vineyards lay at the back and sides of the town, and before it one of the most extensive and richest plains in Asia. The Turkish name, 'Allah-Shehr,' 'the city of God,' reminded me of the psalmist, 'Beautiful for situation is mount Zion,' &c. There is an affecting resemblance in the present condition of both these once highly favoured 'cities of God:' the glory of the temple is departed from both; and though the candlestick has never been removed from Philadelphia, yet it emits but a glimmering light, for it has long ceased to be trimmed with the pure oil of the sanctuary. We returned through a different part of the town, and, though objects of much curiosity, were treated with civility; confirming Chandler's observation, that the Philadelphians are a 'civil people.' It was extremely pleasing to see a number of turtle-doves on the roofs of the houses; they were well associated with the name of Philadelphia. The storks retain possession still of the walls of the city, as well as of the roofs of many of the houses. We called upon the bishop at three o'clock, who received us with much kind attention. . . At five o'clock, we accompanied him to his church; it was Palm Sunday, and the service extremely long. I could not help shedding tears, at contrasting this unmeaning mummery with the pure worship of primitive times, which probably had been offered on the very site of the present church. A single pillar, evidently belonging to a much earlier structure, reminded me of the reward of victory promised to the faithful member of the Church of Philadelphia. Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out; and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God.'

"The bishop insisted on our remaining in his house for the night.... We learned from him that there were in Philadelphia about three hundred Greek houses, and nearly three thousand Turkish; that there were twentyfive churches, but that Divine service was chiefly confined to five only, in which it was regularly performed every week, but in the larger number only once a year. He pointed out to me... a part of a high stone wall, having the remains of a brick arch on the top, which he said was part of the church of the Apocalypse, and dedicated to St. John. It would have been useless to have attempted to convince him that such a structure would only have been erected after the empire became Christian, and that the early followers of a crucified Master had not where to lay their head, much less magnificent temples to worship in. At the same time, it is more than probable that the remains of the church of St. John are really those of the first Christian church in Philadelphia. We saw at Ephesus, and subsequently at Sardis, precisely the same kind of building; stone walls with brick arches, and which tradition said positively were remains of churches. This solitary fragment, in deepest shadow, was strongly contrasted with the light and lofty minarets of three adjoining mosques, blazing with innumerable lamps, as usual after sunset during the Ramazan . . .

"The following testimony (of an infidel)' to the truth of the prophecy, I will keep thee in the hour of temptation,' is as valuable as remarkable. At a distance from the sea, forgotten by the emperor, 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, in 1390. Among the Greek colonies and Churches of Asia, Philadelphia is still erect-a column in a scene of ruins."-ARUNDELL's Visit, &c.

1 Gibbon.

SCRIPTURE NOTICE.

"AND unto the angel of the Church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the beginning of the creation of God; I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot; I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked I counsel thee to 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 see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.

To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the Churches."-Rev. iii. 14-22. (See also Coloss. iv. 13, 16.)

"Laodicea," says Dr. Smith, " (called by the Turks Eski-hissar, or the old castle), a city of Lydia, according to the geography of the ancients, is situated upon six or seven hills, taking up a vast compass of ground... It is now utterly desolated, and without any inhabitant. except wolves, and jackals, and foxes; but the ruins show sufficiently what it has been formerly, the three theatres and the circus adding much to the stateliness of it, and arguing its greatness. That whose entrance is to the north-east is very large, and might contain between twenty and thirty thousand men, having about fifty steps, which are about a yard broad, and a foot and a quarter in height one from another, the plain at the bottom being about thirty yards over. The circus

has about two-and-twenty steps, which remain firm and entire, and is above three hundred and forty paces in length from one end to the other; the entrance to the east. At the opposite extremity is a cave that has a very handsome arch, upon which we found an inscription, purporting that the building occupied twelve years in the construction, was dedicated to Vespasian, and was completed during the consulate of Trajan, in the eightysecond year of the Christian era."

"What painful recollections are connected with this

period! Twelve years were employed in building this place of savage exhibition, and in the first of these years the temple of Jerusalem, which had been forty-eight years in building, was razed to its foundations, and of the Holy City, not one stone was left upon another, which was not thrown down! This abomination of desolation was accomplished by him to whom this amphitheatre was dedicated, and may have been in honour of his triumph over the once favoured people of God. Perhaps in this very amphitheatre the followers of a crucified Redeemer were a few years afterwards exposed to the fury of wild beasts, by the order of the same Trajan, of whose character the predominant lines were clemency and benevolence."

"The city Laodicea,' says Chandler,' was named from Laodice, the wife of its founder Antiochus. It was long an inconsiderable place, but increased towards the age of Augustus Cæsar... The fertility of the soil, and the good fortune of some of its citizens, raised it to greatness. ... Laodicea was often damaged by earthquakes, and restored by its own opulence, or by the munificence of the Roman emperors. These resources failed, and the city, it is probable, became early a scene of ruin'...

"The hill of Laodicea, it is probable, was originally an eruption... It is an old observation, that the country about the Mæander, the soil being light and friable, and full of salts generating inflammable matter, was undermined by fire and water. Hence it abounded in hot springs, which, after passing under ground from the reservoirs, appeared on the mountain, or were found bubbling up in the plain, or in the mud of the river; and hence it was subject to frequent earthquakes; the nitrous vapour compressed in the cavities... bursting its prison with loud explosions, agitating the atmosphere, and shaking the earth and waters with a violence as extensive as destructive; and hence, moreover, the pestilential grottoes, which had subterraneous communication with each other, derived their noisome effluvia; and