The Bossier banner., 1892-01-28

theater, the granite SeaJS OF WHICH ORC
still visible, but the other people
swarmed Oh all sides of the hill and at
the base of it to hear this man, whom
some called fanatic, and others called
a mad-cap, and others a blasphemer,
and others styled contemptuously this
fellow" Paul arrived in answer to the
writ or invitation and confronted them
and gave them the biggest dose that
mortals ever took. He was SO built that
nothing could scare him, and as for Jupl-
ter and Athena, the god and the god
dess, whose images were in full sight on
the adjoining hill. he had not so much
regard for them as he had for the ant
that was crawling in the sand under
his feet. In that audience were the first
orators of the world, and they had
voices like flutes when they were pas
sive and like trhmpets when they were
aroused, and l think they laughed in
the sleeves of their gowns as this insig-
niticant-looking man rose to speak. In
that audience were socialists, who knew
everything, or thought they did, and
from the end of the longest hair on the
nail on the longest toe, they were
stuffed with hypercriticism, and they
leaned back with supercilious look to
listen. AS in 1889, stood on that rock
where Paul stood, and a slab of which
| brought from Athens by consent of
the queen, through Mr.. Tricoupis, the
prime minister, and had placed in yon-
der memorial wall, l read the whole
story. Bible in hand.
What l have so far said in this dis
| course was necessary in order that you
may understand the boldness, the de-
! fiance, the holy recklessness, the mag
nificence of Paurs speech. The first
| thunderbolt he launched at the oppo-
| site hill-the Acropolis-that moment
all a-glitter with idols and temples.
He cried out. ''Gud who made the
world" Why, they though that Pro-
methers made it, that Mercury made it,
that Apollo made it, that Poseidon
made it, that Eros made it, that Pam
drocus made it, that Boreas made it,
that it took all the gods of the Par
thenon, yea, all the gods and goddesses
of the Acropolis to make it, and here
stands man without any ecclesiastical
title. neither D. D.. nor even a
reverend, declaring that the world was
made by the Lord of Heaven and earth.
and hence the inference that all the
splendid covering of the Acropolis, SO
near that the people standing on the
steps of the Parthenon could hear it,
was deceit, falsehood, sham, BIAS
phemy. Look at the faces of his audi
tors; 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 bonn
barded the Acropolis from the heights
of Mars Hill, but this Pauline lombard
ment was greater and more terrific.
"What," SAID his hearers, "have we
been hauling with many yol<es of oxen
for centuries these blocks from the
qusrries of Mount Pentelicum, and have
we had our architects putting up these
structures of unparalleled splendor. and
have we had the greatest of all sculp-
tors, Phidias, with his men, chiseling
away at those wondrous pediments and
cutting away at these freizes, and have
we taxed the nations resources
to the utmost, now to be told
that those statues see nothing, heal
nothing, know nothing" Oh, Paul,
stop for moment and give these
startled and overwhelmed auditors
time to catch their breath! Make a
rhetorical pause! Take look around
you at the interesting landscape, and
give your hearers time to recover! No
he does not make even period, or sc
much as a colon or semi-colon; bu'
launches the second thunderbolt right
after the first, and in the same breath
goes on to say: God 'dwelleth not in
temples made with hands" o, Paul
Is not deity more in the Parthenon, Oh
more in the Theseum, or more in the
: Erechtheium, 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 Mount Hymet!us
out yonder, from which the bees get
their honey. mo more!" responds
Paul. "He dwelleth not in temples
made with hands,
AS that night In Athens i put my
tired head on my pillow, and the excit
ing scenes of the day passed through
my mind, thought on the same sub
ject on which as a boy l made my com
mencement speech in Niblo's theatel
on graduating day from the New YORK
university, viz: THE Moral Effects Of
Sculpture and Architecture, but
further than 1 could have thought
in boyhood l thought in Athens
: that night the moral effects Of
architecture and sculpture depend or
what you do in great buildings after
they are put up and upon the charac
ter of the men whose forms you cut ir
marble-yea! thought that night what
struggles the martyrs went through ir
order that in our time the Gospe
might have full swing; and
thought that night what a brainy
religion it must be that coulc
absorb a hero like him whom we
have considered to-day, a man the SUI
perior of the whole human race, the in
fdels but pigmies or hoEnunculi com
pared with him; and thought what 3