The spirit of rebellion against the gospel.
The tumult at Ephesus presents a picture of certain aspects of human nature and of the contest between good and evil in the world.
I. ITS CAUSES. Most radical of all was the instinct of self-seeking. This is the dark background out of which all manner of fiendish shapes arise to contend against the light. Then it was self-seeking under the guise of religious zeal. Demetrius is the type of all those who make great professions of interest for the "truth," the "honor of God," the "cause of religion," and the like, while their real motive is personal profit, honor, or notoriety. They appear to be aiming at the highest, are really driving at the lowest object. At the same time, consistency with self gives an appearance of truth, no matter how corrupt and base the self may be. Hence selfish men often earn a credit and reputation refused to the more conscientious. For the egoist always "knows his own mind," though it be a bad mind; the conscientious man has frequent self-doubts and conflicts, the signs of which cannot be suppressed.
II. ITS MEANS AND INSTRUMENTS. The imagination of the multitude must, as usual, be acted upon. For good or for evil, great movements among the masses, are due immediately to influences upon the imagination. The preacher's power lies here, and also that of the sophist and the demagogue. The ideas connected with profit and those connected with religion have immense governing newer over the mass. We remember the commotion a few years ago among the match-makers in the east of London when it was threatened to tax their industry. So with bread-riots, land riots, and the like All the instincts of self-preservation rise against those who appear to menace the very means of existence. Religious ideas are only a degree less powerful. Society rests upon religion. We can only faintly imagine how the Athenian felt about his guardian goddess Athene, or the Ephesian about great Artemis. The Greek city was to each native as one large house or home, the very hearth of which was the altar of the god, the very foundations of which rested on reverence for that god. Here, then, were two of the mightiest instincts of human nature roused up and armed against the gospel—the self-seeking and the religious or superstitious instinct.
III. THE VICTORY OF THE TRUTH.
1. The kingdom of sense and of nature is represented by the great gods of Greece. Christianity is the kingdom of the spirit. The worship of the Greek cities was that of the beautiful; art and science were supreme. Christianity makes the moral ideal supreme.
2. The true temple is the spirit of man. And no worthy temple can be built to God unless his Spirit purify the heart, and his strength be perfected in weakness. Without the internal cultus of the heart, the external, in buildings and ritual, is vain.
3. The spiritual kingdom alone is abiding. Ephesus and its temple have long been in ruins; but against the Church of Christ the gates of hell cannot prevail.
4. The security of the faithful amidst the storm. They are concealed in a safe place till the hour of danger be over past (Acts 19:30, Acts 19:31). Help is raised up in unexpected quarters (Acts 19:35, et seq.). The storms of angry passions are subdued (Acts 19:40). The ark of the Church is guided safely through the tempest.
5. Character brought to light in troublous scenes. The chancellor at Ephesus is an example of undaunted courage, of calm prudence, of impartial justice, and of human kindness.—J.
HOMILIES BY R.A. REDFORD