The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1891-11-25

uopplhtu Nuzhrene, Wouiu cuiuo W W
their judge, and they should have TO
get up out Of their cemeteries to stand
before Him and take their eternal
doom. Mightiest burst Of Evolutionary
power ever heard The ancestors of
some Of those Greeks had heard
Demosthenes in his Grafton on the
crown, had heard Eschines In his
speeches against Timarchus and Ctesi-
phon, had heard Plato In his great
argument for Immortality Of the soul,
had heard Socrates on his death bed,
suicidal cup Of hemlock in hand, leave
his hearers in emotion too great to
bear, had In the theater Of Dionysius at
the foot Of the Acropolis (the ruins OF
its piled-up amphitheater and the mar
BILE floor Of its orchestra still there)
seen enacted the tragedies Of Eschylus
and Sophocles, but neither had the
ancestors Of these Grecians on Mars
Hill, or themselves, ever heard or wit
messed such tornadoes Of moral power
as that with which Paul now whelmed
his hearers. At those two thoughts OF
resurrection and Judgment, the audi
ence sprang TO their feet. Some moved
they adjourn to some other day to
hear more on the same theme, but
Others would have torn the sacred
orator to pieces. The record says:
"Some mocked." / suppose 1t means
that they mimiclSed the solemnity Of
his voice, that they took off his impas-
stoned gesticulation, and they cried out:
"Jew! Jewl Where did you study rhet-
oric? You ought to hear our orators
speak! You had better go back to your
business Of tent-making. Our Lycurgus
knew more in minute than you will
know in month. Say, where did you
get that crooked back, and those weak
eyes from? Ha! Hal You try to
teach us Grecians! What nonsense
you talk about when you speak
Of resurrection and judgment. Now,
little old man, climb down the side OF
Mars Hill and get out OF sight as soon as
possible" "Some mocked" But, that
scene adjourned to the day OF which the
sacred orator had spoken-the day Of
fCSurIcCIou anu JuuB mShe
As in Athens. that evening in 1889, We
climbed down the pile of slippery rocks,
where all this had occurred, on our way
back to our hotel, stood half way be
tween the Acropolis and Mars Hill in
the gathering shadows Of eventide,
seemed to hear those two hills In sub
lime and awful converse. 81 am
chiefly of the past, said the Acropolis.
~ am chiefly Of the future" re-
piled Mars Hill. The Acropolis said
''My orators are dead. My law givers
are dead. My poets are dead. My
architects are dead. My scholars are
dead am a monument OF the dead
past will never again hear a song sung.
Twill never again see column lifted. !
will never again behold goddess
crowned" Mars Hill responded: III,
too, have had a history. had on my
heights warriors who will never again
unsheath the sword, and judges
who will never again utter q
doom, and orators who will never
again make plea But my influence
is TO be more in the fntnre than II
ever was In the past The words
that missionary, Paul, uttered that ex-
citing day in the hearing of the wisest
men and the populace on my rocky
shoulders, have only begun their majes-
tic roll; the brotherhood OF man, and
the Christ OF God, add the peroration Of
resurrection and last Judgment with
which the Tarsian orator closed his ser
mon that day amid the moclfing crowd,
shall yet revolutionize the planet D,
Acropolisl have stood here long
enough 10 witness that your gods are
40 gods at all. Your Boreas could not
control the winds Your Neptune
could not manage the sea. Youi
Apollo never evoked musical
note. Your God Ceres never grew o
harvest Your goddess OF wisdom,
Minerva, never knew the Greek alpha
bet Your Jupiter could not handle the
.lightnings, but the God whom pro
claimed on the day when Paul preached
before the astounded assemblage on
my rough heights, is the God Of music
the God OF wisdom, the God Of power,
the God Of mercy, the God of love, the
God OF storms, the God OF sunshine, the
God Of land. and the God Of sea, the God
over all, blessed forever" Then the
Acropolis spalxe and said, as though In
self-defense: my Plato argued for the
immortality of the soul, and my Socra
tes praised virtue, and my Mil.
tiades at Marathon drove back
the Persian oppressors q. "Yes,"
said Mars Hill, ''your Plato Ia
boriously guessed at the immortality
of the soul, but my Paul, divinely in.
ssered, declared II as n fact straight
from God. Your Socrates practiced
virtue but expired as q suicide. Your
Miltiades was brave against earthly
fees, but died from wound ignomini
ously gotten In after defeat But my
Paul challenged all earth and all hell
with this battle shout: We wrestle not
against flesh and blood but against
principalities, against powers. agains,
the rulers Of the darkness Of this world,
against spiritual wickedness In high
places, and then on the Goth Of June, in
the year 90, on the road TO ostia, after
the sword of the headsman had given
one keen stroke, took the crown Of
martyrdom-
After a moments silence by both
hills, the Acropolis moaned out In the
darkness: "Alasl Alasl" and Mara Hill
responded: "Hosannahl HosannahF'