The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1891-12-09


and here stands man without anr
ecclesiastical title, neither D. D. ros
even reverend, declaring that the
world was made by the Lord Of Heaven
and earth, and hence the inferencer
that all splendid covering Of the Aero
polls, SO near that the people standing
on the steps Of the Parthenon could
hearit was 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 severest
shock these men had ever felt.
The Persians had bombarded
the Acropolis from the heighta
Of, Mars HILL but this Pauline bonn.
bardment was greater and more ter.
rife. what" said his hearers, shave
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 up
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 moment and give
these startled and overwhelmed aud
itors time to catch their breath! Make
q rhetorical pause! Take look
around you at the interesting land
scape, and give your hearers time to
recover. No, he does not make even .
period, or SO much as a colon or semi
colon, but launches the second thun.
derbolt right after the first, and in the
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
UNI, 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 morev
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 thunderb bolt, 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. u
Oh, Paul, you forget you are speaking
to the proudest and most exclusive
audience in the world. Do not say ''oi
one blood" You can not mean that
Had Socrates, and Plato, and Demos
themes, and Scion, and Lycurgus
and Brace, and Sophocles, ant
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? "Yes," says Paul
"of one blood, all nations"
Surely that must be the closing par
agraph of the sermon. His auditor
must be let down from the nervous
strain. Paul has smashed the Acropo
lis and smashed the national pride o
the Greeks, and what more can he say
Those Grecian orators, standing on tina
place, always closed their addresse
with something sublime and climacteric
peroration, and Paul is going to Civ
them peroration which will eclipse il
power and majesty all that he has ye
said. Heretofore he has hurled on
thunderbolt at a time; now he viii
close by hurting two at once. The lii
tie, old man. under the power Of hi
speech, has Strengthened himself up
and the stoop has gone out of his shoul
ders, and he looks about three fee
taller than when he began, and hi
eyes, which were quiet, became tw
flames Of fire, and his face, which wa
calm in the introduction, now depicts
whirlwind of emotion as he ties tn
two thunderbolts together with a cor
of inconsumable courage and hurl
r them at the crowd now standing or si
> ting aghast-the two thunderbolts {
I resurrection and last judgment. Hi
closing words were: Because He hat
1 appointed day in which He will judg
e the world in righteousness by that ma
: whom He hath ordained; whereof II
Q hath given assurance unto all men
3 that he Hath raised Him from tn
7 dead"
n Remember those thoughts were
d them novel and provocative; ths
;, Christ. the despised Nazarene, woul
s come to be their Judge, and they shoul
Q have to get up out of their cemeteries
n stand before Him and take their etern'
t doom. Mightiest burst of elecutionar
t power ever heard. The ancestors
S some of those Greeks had heard D
d mosthenes in his Grafton c
Il the Crown. had heard Esethin'
d in his speeches against Timarch,
d and Ctesipho, had heard Plato
e his great argument for Immortality
Q the soul, had heard Socrates on h
d death-bed, suicidal cup of Hemlock
y hand, leave his hearers in emotion Il
n great to bear, had in the theater
y Dionysius at the foot of the Acropol
IS (the ruins of it's piled-up amphitheat
e and the marble floor of its orchestl
D still there) seen enacted the tragedi'
" of Eschylus and Sophocles, b
II neither had the ancestors of the
lr Grecians on Mars Hill. or themselve
le ever heard or witnessed such tornado
n of moral power as that with whit
* Paul now whelmed his hearers.
IS those two thoughts of resurrection az