The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1897-03-30
TALMAGE SP[AKSOUT
Sermonic Usterancs CT sym
patty For The Gre KS.
WORLDS oEsr TO rHE asLIENE

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WORLDS DEBV TO sTHE HELENE
What Cvii,x alton ana Christianity owes
to the People Who Are Boldly Con-
fronting the Cruel Mohammeda" and
the Great Powers Of Europe--Making
a Heroic Stand in the Cause Of lib
eritv and Right Battle Of Marathon
Recalled.
Washington, March @.-Rev. t. lie
Witt Talmage delivered an eloquent SER
mon at the First Presbyterian church 70
Tho usnal crowded auditorium Sunday
.corn;nr. on Greece's struggle against the
concerted nations Of Europe "sympa-
thv for the Greeks" was his subject, ana
the text. which is found in the fourteenth
~araa Of the first chapter Of Romans, Is
Al follows: 81 am debtor both to the
Greeks and to the barbarians.' 5Hsas
DIR. Talmage said:
"At this time. when that behemoth OF
denominations, Mohammedanism, after
having gorged itself on the carcasses or
City thousand Armenians, is trying to put
Ats paw upon one Of the fairest OF all ma
lions, that OF the Greeks, preach this
sermon of sympathy and protest. Tor
every intelligent person on this size OF
the sea, as we'll as the other side, like
Paul, who wrote the text, is debtor 10
the Greeks. The present crisis IL empna-
sized by the guns OF the allied powers
OF Europe, ready to be unllmoereo
against the Hellenes, and l am asked 10
speak out Paul, with master inteliec'
Of the ages, sat in brilliant Corinth, the
great Aero Corinthus fortress, frowmne
from the height Of 1,6S6 feet, and in the
house Of Gaus, where he was guest.
a pile Of money near him, which he was
taking to Jerusalem for the poor. In
this letter to the Romans, which Chrysos-
tom admired so much that he had it read
to him twice week, Paul practically
says: Il, the apostle, am bankrupt.
owe what cannot pay, but will pay as
large percentage as can. 1t is an OBJ
tigation for what Greek literature and
Greek sculpture and Greek architecture
and Greek prowess have done for me. l
will pay all can in installments OF
evangelism. I am insolvent ~ the
Greeks
A LAND OF MIGHTY MEN.
"Hellas, as the inhabitants call 1t, Or
Greece, as we call it, is Insignificant in
size. about a Thrill as large as the State
Of New York, but what it LACKS in
breadth it makes UP in neight. with lis
mountains Cylene and Fiat and Fayee-
Gus. and Tymphrcstus, each nvar !,W0
feet in elevation, anil IT'S Parnassus. over
5000. Just the country for mighty men
TO be born in, for in all lands the most
Of the intellectual and moral giants were
not born on the plain, but had for
cradle the valley between two mountains.
That country, no part Of which is more
than forty miles from the sea, has made
Ito impress upon the world as no other
nation, and it to-day holds first mort
gage of obligation upon all civilized peo-
ole. While we must leave to steamship
and diplomacy the settlement Of the in
tricate questions which now involve all
Europe, and indirectly all nations, 1t Is
fine for all churches. all schools, all uni
srersities, all arts, all literature to sound
out 10 the most emphatic way to the
declaration, 4 am debtor to the Greeks
SIN the first place, we owe to their Ian
guage our New Testament. All OF it was
frst written in Greek. except the Book OF
Matthew, and that, written in the Ara
mean language. was soon put into Grcrk
by our Saviour's brother, James. To the
Greek language we owe the best sermon
ever preached, the best letters ever writ
hen. the best visions ever kindled. All
The parallels In Greek. All the miracles
in Greek. The sermon OF the mount IN
Greek The story OF Bethlehem ana
Golgotha and Olivet AMI Jordan ranks
and GaHlean beaches and Pauline banks
barkation. and. Pentecostal tongues aud
seven trumpets that sounded over rat
mos. have come to the world IN hquid,
ummetric, picturesque, philosophlc, I'M
syaIed Greek, instead of the gibberlsh
languages in which many OF the nations
Of the earth at that time jabbered. VINO
ron forget if. and who can exsggerate its
thrilling importance, that Christ ana
heaven were introduced to us in the Ian
vuoye of the Greeks? the language in
which Homer had sung and Sophoclcs
dramatized and Plato dialogued and
Socrates discoursed and Lycurgus legis-
1ata5 and Demosthenes Numbered his
Grafton On THE CROWN Everlasting
thanks to God that the waters OF lie
we're not handed to the world in the un
washed cup Of corrupt languages from
which nations had been drinking, but in
the clean, bright golden-lipped. emerald
handled chalice OF the Hellenes. Learn
ed Curitus wrote a whole volume about
Greek verb Philologists century after
century have been measuring the SYM
metery of that language, laden with elegy
and phiippic, drama and comedy, Odys-
ey and Iliad; but the grandest thing
that Greek language ever accomplished
was to give to the world the benediction,
the comfort, the irradiation, the saliva
tion of the Gospel Of the Son of God.
For that we are debtors to the Greeks.
GREEK LITERATURE.
AAnd while speaking Of our phiiologi-
rol obligation, let me call your attention
TO the fact that many OF the intellectual
ne b<