The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-12-26
Man whom He hath ordained and He has
demonstrated this Judgment because this
Man has risen from the dead.


passed to Thessaionica- It was one of the
largest cities in ancient Greece. Salonica,
the same city under different name, is
said to be the largest city in European
Greece. next only to Constantinople. 1t is
one of the few cities which has survived
the ruin and the decay which has fallen
upon that unhappy empire of the olden
time. 1t had and still has a noble harbor
1t then was the capital Of the Roman
province of Macedonia. In this city there
were a great number of Jews, and there
are STILL 1t has been through its history
a Jewish center. Paul began, as was his
wont, preaching in the synagogue. tie
preached three Sabbaths; then his preach
ing in the synagogue came to an end. The
Jews would hear him no longer, and he
went out into the towns to preach 70 Such
as would hear him. Where and how he
found his preaching places we do not know,
how long he continued his preaching;
had given in Antioch, the message he had
given in different form in Athens-this
was his message: The Messiah has come;
He has been put to death; He has risen
from the dead; He is living; He will pres
emily return with power and great glory;
He will bring His angels with Him, and
He will judge the world; but He viii not
judge them by a race standard; he VIII
judge them by standards of absolute right
eousnesa. Then all those who love God and
look for His appearing will be gathered
into His kingdom, and all those who OPP
pose God and all those who desire not 10
have His appearing will be destroyed with
everlasting destruction from the presence
Of this coming Messiah Still he e,, thought ig
dom was the power of glory. he had not
yet learned what in our next lecture we
shall find he presently did learn-the secret
of that power was humiliation and weak
ness and love, suffering long and stu KIND.
What aroused the particular excitement
against him in the city do not know.
Envy, perhaps, by the Jews against TINS
man who opening the kingdom or COO
to the pagans; perhaps general general re eng irS
reference of his preaching with what men
are pleased to call vested rights. AT all
events, a mob was gathered together. In
the outskirts and around this city was a
suburban population of peasants. They
were superstitious; they were ignorant;
The word pagan means villager The word
heather means dweller The villagers
and the dwellers on the moors ana
a long time regulators and resisters or
Christianity. They were the pagans and
the heather Of the olden time. Some or
these had come into the city selling their
wares. These were first stirred up-theSe
marketmen. A mob was aroused; 1t gath
cred force and came to the house where
Paul was staying 1t seems there was IN
Thessalonica a kinSman Of PaulS, Jason by
name, who had taken him in and made nm
his guest They came to the mouse OF
Jason and demanded that Paul and Silas
and Timothy should be given up. Jason
would not give them up. lie concealed
them or he contrived their escape. Then
Jason himself was seized by the mob ana
brought before the rulers of the city. Then
occurred just what happened more tnan
once if my memory serves me right, IN Inc
anti-slavery riots of our own country. The
complaint was made against these men
Paul. SilaS and Timothy-that they were
preaching a new king that they were pro-
claiming a kingdom, that they were
declaring that someone else was coming 70
reign in the place of Caesar, that the ola
Roman imperialism would be swept away
and a new kingdom put in its place ana
the charge was not without some reason
That was the scope of the preaching. he
did declare a new kingdom, he did declare
the overthrow of the present base Roman
empire and the establishment on its ruins
Of a new kingdom of the Lord. How could
their preaching be stopped? The ruler or
the city said, We cannot have these dis
turbances here Now, it is generally easier,
or supposed to be easier, to stop one man
from speaking than it is to stop a mob
from opposing his speaking. In the anu
slavery time it was not Isaiah Rynders
and the mob which disturbed the peace or
New York; it was Wendell Phillips ana
William Lloyd Garrison and Henry Ward
Beecher; it was not the man who LED the
mob, 1t was the man who made the
speeches. and the cutlery everywhere was,
we must have peace. we cannot queiI l,d the
And this method which we have some or us
seen carried out in our own country before
we had learned the value of free speech,
one of the lessons of the anti-slavery con-
fict and the civil war taught US. ThlS
method was adopted in the cities of olden
time In ThesSalonica the city magistrate
took bond of Jason that there would be no
more rioting in the city and there was only
one way that Jason could keep rioting from
coming into the city; it was to put a stop
to the preaching by very ingenious device;
If Paul could have met the mob he would
have met it gladly. He who said of him.
SELF he had fought wild beasts at Ephesus
would have been willing to fight these WHO
beasts in Thessalonica. But if he should
continue in his ministry that would endan-
ger the man who had generously taken
him into his house and cared for him. This
was too much for the chivalry of Paul. that
he would not do.
PATHS RETREAT
80 he retreated from Thessalonia and
left the infant church just born. 1t ap-
peared to have in it the greatest promise
of any church which Paul had up to that
time visited. 1t included some Jews; it in
cluded a few Greeks; it included great
multitude of proselytes, and it included
some noble and wealthy women. | do not
think any mention is made of its including
any noble or wealthy men. Paul could
preach no longer, but he could write let
ters. A letter would not arouse mob as
{, speech would. And so getting to Corinth,
he takes the first opportunity which is ar
forded to him to send back letter TO the
Thessalcnians. This letter is full of warm
tender, earnest affection. 1t is mainly
friendly personal letter. There is very lit
tie theology in it. 1t is quite as remarkable
for what it onits as what 1t contains. 1t
says nothing about Christ crucihed, whom
Paul tells the Corinthians he should make
the subject of his ministry; nothing about
the crucifxion of Christ at all only an
He must have died in order to be raised
from the dead; nothing about His patient
endurance of evil; nothing about his life
and example; nothing about His teach
ings; none of these things 1t is quite as
remarkable for what it omitS as for what
it contains. Paul begins by recalling to
them their reception of him, their enthu-
siasm and his affection for them, and the
evidence he gave of that affection by the
service he rendered them, by the life he
lived with them, by his refusal to be at any
expense to them whatever for support, by
the work he did with his own hands. He
recalls to them how gladly they received
his gospel, how they put aside idols, and
as he says, did so in order to wait for the
coming of the Lord. He. reminds them
that from their church went forth fame
so that the cities of Macedonia round about
learned of this remarkable gathering in
which Jew and Pagan, poor and rich, were
united for the first time, perhaps, in Gre
clan history, certainly in the history of
that particular city. He urged upon them
the highest standards of Righteousness,
he urges this is that the Messiah is com
ing and coming soon. Some have already
died Will they lose this Messianic king
dom? Have they been banished to the
shadowy Hades in which the Greeks be-
lieved? And are they there TO remain, los
ing the glory of the coming of the Lord?
No. They will come first. and we who
still live will follow after This is what he
said-and 1 may perhaps well say here as
at any time, in all these readings of Paufs
extracts from Paul, except when l read
them from the Bible itself, l read para
phrases, because / think the paraphrases