Ceredo advance. [volume] (Ceredo, W. Va.) 1885-1939, 1891-12-02

prime minister, and he'd plnoo6 IA vor.
der memorial wall road the whol.
story, Bible In hand
What I have 50 far said IN this az.
course was necessary in order that Won
may understand the boldness, the def.
ance. the holy recklessness, the mac.
nifcence of Paul's speech The 6rsA
thunderbolt he launched at the hin
the Acropolis-the moment an arlites,
with idols and temples- He cried ont:
God. who made the world-~ Whv.
they thought that Prometheus made IL
that Mercury made It, that Apollo made
it. that Poscidon made it, that Eros
made it, that Pandrocus made it that
Boreas made it, that 1t took all the rods
OF the Partheon; yea, all the gods and
goddesses OF the Acropolis to make Il
and here stands man without any
ecclesiastical title, neither d. d. nor
even reverend. declaring that ths
world was made by the Lord of Heaven
and earth, and hence the inferences
that all splendid covering of the Aero.
polls, SO near that the people standing
on the steps of the Parthcnon could
hear it, was q deceit A falsehood. A
sham. A .blasphemy- Look at the
faces OF his auditors; they are turning
pale, and then red, and then wrathful
There had been several earthquakes in
that region, but that was the scveresf
shock these men had ever felt.
The Persians had bombarded
the Acropolis from the heights
of Mars HILL but this Pauline bonn
bardment was greater and moro ter
rife. What" said his hearers, have
we been hauling with many Jokes of
oxen for centuries these blocks from
the quarries of Mount Pentelicum. and
have we had our architects putting MP
these structures of unparalleled splen.
dor. and have we had the greatest Of all
sculptors, Phidias, with his men chisel.
ing away at those wondrous periments.
and cutting away at these friezes, and
have we taxed the nations resources
to the utmost, now to be told that those
statues see nothing. hear nothing,
know nothing"
Oh. Paul, stop for a moment and give
these startled and overwhelmed aud
itors time to catch their BREATH Make
rhetorical pausel Take look
around you at the interesting land
scape. and give your hearers time to
recover. No. he does not make even q
period, or so much as colon or semi
colon, but launches the second thun.
derbolt right after the first, and in tho
same breath goes on to say: God
dwelleth not in temples made with
hands" Oh, PAUL. Is not deity more
in the Parthenon or more in the These
um, or more in the Elechtheium, or
more in the temple of Zeus Olympus
than in the open air, more than on the
hill where we are sitting. more than on
Mt Hymettus out yonder. from which
the bees get their honey. mo morer'
responds Paul He dwelleth not in
temples made with hands"
But surely the preacher on the pulpit
of rock on Mars Hill will stop now. His
audience can endure no more. Two
thunderbolts are enough.
No, in the same breath he launches
the third thunderbolt, which to them Is
more fiery. more terrible, more demol-
ishing than the others. as he cries out:
Hath made of one blood all nations"
oh, Paul, you forget you are speaking
to the proudest and most exclusive
audience in the world. Do not say 'of
one blood" You can not mean that.
Had Socrates, and Plato, and Demos
themes, and Scion, and Lyaurgus.
and Brace, and Sophoclcs, and
Euripides and Eschylus, and Per-
icles, and Phidias, and Miltiades blood
just like the Persians, like the Turks,
like the Egyptians, like the common
herd of humanity? EYES," says Paul
''of one blood, all nations"
Surely that must be the closing par
agraph of the sermon. His auditors
must be let down from the nervous
strain. Paul has smashed the Acropo-
lis and smashed the national pride of
the Greeks, and what more can he say?
Those Grecian orators, standing on that
place, always closed their addresses
with something su blime and climacteric,
peroration, and Paul is going to give
them peroration which will eclipse In
power and majesty all that he has vet
said Heretofore he has hurled one
thunderbolt at n time; now he will
close by hurting two at once. The lit
tie, old man, under the power of his
speech, has Strengthened himself up
and the stoop has gone out of his Shout.
ders, and he looks about three feet
taller than when he began, and his
eyes, which were quiet, became two
flames of fire, and his face, which was
calm in the introduction, now depicts a
whirlwind of emotion as he ties the
two thunderbolts together with a cord
of inconsumable courage and hurls
them at the crowd now standing or sit
ting aghast--the two thunderbolts OF
resurrection and last Judgment. His
closing words were: Because He hath
appointed day in which He will Judge
the world in righteousness by that man
whom He hath ordained; whereof He
hath given assurance unto all men In
that he Hath raised Him from the
dead"
Remember those thoughts were TO
them novel and provocative; that
Christ, the despiscd Nazarene, would
come TO be their judge, and they should
hare TO get up out of their cemeteries 10
stanA before Him and take their eternal
doom. Mightiest burst of elecutionary
power ever heard The ancestors Of
some of thcse Greeks had heard De-
mosthenes "a his Grafton on
the Crown, had heard Hsethines
in his speeches against Timarchus
and Ctesipho. had heard Plato In
his great argument for Immortality OF
the soul, had heard Socrates on his
death bed, suicidal cup OF Henrlock in