The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1893-07-19
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
International Lesson for July IS, 189S-
Paul Mt Corinth-Acts l8;I-lI.

US which are saved it is the power of Cod
Cor, lis
TIME-A D. 50, Immediately after the de.
parture from Athens Paul remained here
year and a half (ver H.
PLACE.-Corinth the political capital OF
Greece, the metropolis of commerce. 1t was sit.
uated on the isthmus which connects the two
portions of Greece.
EPIsTLEs To THE CoRINTHIANs.-Paul wrote
two epistles to the church he had founded. The
hrst epistle was written at Ephesus about
Aprh A. d. 81, four years after he left Corinth
The second epistle soon followed, late in 81 or
early in IS, when Paul was at Phnippi, after he
had been driven from Ephesus, in his third mis-
sionary journey
EPIsTLEs WRITTEN AT CoRINTH AT Cor
NTH during this stay, Paul wrote two letters to
the Thessalonian church, from which he had
been driven Dy persecution. See our last lesson
THE MIssIoNARIEs.-At Corinth Silas and
Timothy joined Paul over. 81, bringing with
them contribution for his aid from Philippi
where Luke remained comp Cor ll:9 with
Phil 4l5) Silas had remained at Berea. and
Timothy had been sent to Thessalonica from
Athens
CIRCUMSTANCES. - Paul's stay in Athens,
the subject of our last lesson was not over a
month Lewin), If so long. He did not remain
long after his address on Mars hill 1t is
probable that persecution was threatened
against him as the introducer of new gods, q
like otfense TO that for which Socrates had been
condemned and executed in the same city and
by the Same court; and that Paul hastily left
the city and proceeded to Corinth where his
coworkers joined him.
LESSON NOTES.
Corinth. The Place and the Need
~ The city. AS Athens was the seat
of culture, so Corinth was the seat of
| commerce in the south of Greece The
city, at this time the political capital
of Greece and the residence of the Ro-
man pro-consul, stood on the isthmus
which united the Peloponnesus to the
mainland, and through it all land traf-
fic between the peninsula and the rest
of Greece must pass, while its
the neck of land on which Cor
NTH stood, made it the resort of sea-
| faring traders both from east and
west. On vast rock, rising abruptly
about two thousand feet above the
| level of the sea, was the citadel, called
the Acrocorinthus. Magnificent tenn
Piles and public buildings adorned it,
especially the market place. The road
to the Acropolis, made long t.y wind
ings, led past temples, affairs AID stat
ues, and on the citadel stood the splen-
did temple of Venus, adorned with a
panoplied image of the goddess. In .
military point of view it was of great
Importance, as it commanded the en-
trance into the peninsula, and hence
was called by Xenophon ''the gate of
the Peloponnesus" Farrar speaks of
the city as having four hundred thou
sand inhabitants.
(2) Its business. Corinth was not
able in commerce and manufactures
and foremost in the fine arts. Corinth
gave birth to painting; the most elab-
crate order of architecture received
from her it's name, the finest bronze
was the "Corinthian brass" although
none of her sons is mentioned among
the illustrious writer's of Greece. Our
small fruit, the currant, derives its
name from Corinth.
81 Character of the inhabitants
With commerce had come luxury, and
vice, and the verb Corinthiazein, 50 tc
live as the Corinthians, had become
proverbial as early as the time of Arts.
tophanes, for course of prohigacy
1t was infamous for it's Righteousness
Venus, whose temple was on the Aero
corinthus, was favorite goddess Tc
the temple of Venus were attached
more than thousand courtesans, who
under the cover of religious rites, pan
dered to the passions of citizens and
foreigners. 1t was city of drunkards
it was city of extortioners and cheats
Corinth was the Vanity Fair of The
Roman empire, at once the London ant
the Paris of the first century aftel
|, Christ. Such was the Augean stable
which the Christian Hercules now ad
dressed himself to purify.
Il az AS field for missions. Not only
the great need of the Gospel here, from
the character of the people, but alsC
the cosmopolitan nature of its popula
/ ton made Corinth good field for mis-
sionary labor, and center from whicl
, the Gospel could be easily spread
through those who came to do business
/ there.
: Paurs object was ~ to supply hi
wants. There was no church to sup
port him, SO that he could give hi
whole time to Gospel work Il Cor
9:4-1D, This was especially needful oil
account of the famine which prevailed
in Greece at this time. (2) There wa
, probably something peculiar in his cir
cumstances here which led him to re
fuse aid. He would not let his enc
, mics think that he preached the Cos
pei for his personal gain. 81 The PEG
pie of Corinth were especially tempted
, to idleness and to dishonest ways O
gaining livelihood. Paul set them
true example. He showed them tn
, dignity of labor. He placed befor
them the Christian duty of diligence il
business, He proved that honest labo
, was an aid to Christian living. az B,
means of his daily labor he came int
contact with many whom he could in
. tiuence toward Christ. Business is on
= of the channels God has furnished u
by which we may come into Christial
contact with our fellow men.
q PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS.
q l. Yer. 1. In this wicked and corrup
T. city of Corinth were some of the riches
: triumphs of the Gospel In the wors
places God can create the best saints
2. Yer. 8. Christ and Paul, His apostle
honored and sanctifed honest. faithful
:, manual labor. Labor does not degrad