The Middleburgh post. [volume] (Middleburgh, Snyder Co., Pa.) 1883-1916, 1897-04-01
REV. 1ItMlGE'S SUNDAY SERMON.
A GOSPEL MESSAGE.
WORLDS DEBT TO GREECE
Hext-Romans liza. 81 Am Debtor Both to
the Greeks and to the Bavbarlaus."

~ ".Na kAok VI DOm
nations, Mohammedanism, after having
gorSed itself on the carcasses Of a hundred
Thousand Armenians, Is trying to put II paws
upon one OF the fairest OF all nations. that OF
the Greeks, l preach this sermon OF SYM
pathy and protest; for every intelligent per
son on this side OF the sea, as we'll as the
other side, Ike Paul who wrote the text, Is
debtor to the Greeks. Tn present crisis is
emphasized by the gun Of the allied powers
OF Europe, ready to be unlimbered against
the Heilenes. and l am asked to speak out.
Paul, with a master intellect Of the ages. sat
In brilliant Corinth, the great Acro-Corinthus
fortress frowning from the height OF I, 6s6
feet, and In the house OF Gaius, where he was
a guest, a big 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 1t read 10
him twice a week, Paul practically saws: ~.
the apostle, am bankrupt. 1 owe what |
cannot pay, but l will pay as large a per-
centage as l can. 1t Is an obligation for
what Greek literature and Greek sculpture
and Greek prowess have done for me. l
VIII pay all can in instalments Of evangel-
ism. l am insolvent to the Greeks."
While we must leave to stptesmanship and
diplomacy the settlement Of the intrlcate
questions which now involve all Europe. and
indirectly all nations, it Is time for all
Churches, all schools. all universities, all
arts. all literatures to sound out In the most
emphatic way the declaration, ~ an debtor
to the Greeks
In the first place We W to their language
our New Testament All OF 1t was written In
Greek, except the Book OF Mathew, and
that written in the Aramean language was
soon put into Greek by our Sayior's brother
James. To the Greek language we owe the
best sermon ever preached, the best letters
ever written, the best visions ever kindled.
All the PARALLELS In Greek. All the miracles
In Greek. The sermon on the mount In
Greek. The story Of Bethlehem and Col
gotha and Olivet and Jordan banks and
Galilean beaches and Pauline e%mbarkation
and Pentecostal tongues and seven trumpets
that sounded over Patmos, have come to
the world in liquid, symmetric, picturesaue.
.philosophic, unriyaled Greek, instead of the
sibberish language in which many OF the
nations of the earth at that time jabbered.
Who can forget 1t, and who can
Its thrilling importance, that Christ and
heaven were introduced TO us In the langu-
age Of the Greeks? the language in which
Homer had sung and Sophocies dramatized
and Plato dialogued and Socrates discours.
ed and Lycurgus legislated and Demosthenes
thundered his Grafton on "The Crown"
Everlasting thanks TO God that the waters
OF life We're not handed TO the world in the
unwashed cup Of corrupt languages from
which nations had been drinking. but in the
clean, bright, Golden-lipped, emerald-band-
led chalice OF the Helleness. Learned Curtivs'
wrote II whole volume about the Greek verb
PhiloioSists century after century have been
measuring the symmetry OF that language,
laden with elegy and philippe, drama and
comedy, Odyssey and Had; but the grand.
ess ihinI that Greek language ever accom-
piished was to give to tho world the benedic-
ton, the comfort, the irradiation, the saliva.
ton Of the gospel OF the Son of God, For that
we are debtors 10 the Greeks.
And, while speaking Of our pathological
oDiigatlon, let me call your attention to the
fact that many of tho intellectual and morn
ana theological leaders OF the ages got much
OF their discipline and effectiveness from
Greek iite.ature. II is popular to scott Ut
the dead languages. but so per cent of the
worlds intellectually would have been taken
on li,through learned institutions our young
men had not, under competent professejs,
been drilled In Greek masterpieces. HesrtAs
Weeks and DAYS" or the eulogium by STD
OXIDES OF the slain In war. or Pindar's 'sOdes
OF Victory" or 9Th Recollectlops OF
Socrates" or 1.-THE Art OF Words" by Corax,
or Xenophon's Anabasis.
From the Greeks the world learned how 10
make history. Had there heen no Herodo-
tus and Thucydides there would have been
Ho .u".aui"y Ut DhhcrOit. Hau there been
no Sophocles In tragedy there would have
been no Shakespeare. Had there been no
Homer there would have been no Milton.
modern wife, who are now or have BEEN
on the divine mission Of making the
world laugh at the right time, can be traced
back to Aristophanes, the Athenian. and
many OF the jocosities that are now taken AS
new had their suggestions 2, 300 years ago in
the "a comedies of that master Of merriment.
Grecian mythology has been the richest
mine from which orators and essayists have
drawn their Illustrations and painters the
themes Tor their canvas; and, although now
an exhausted mine, Grecian mythology has
done u work that nothing else could have
ACCOMPLISHING: Boreas. representing tho
north wind Sisyphus, rolling the stone up
hill, only to have the same thing to do over
again; lantalus, with fruits above him that
ne could not reach; Archilles, with his ar
rows; lcarus. with his waxen wings, flying
too near the sum-; tho Centaurs. half man
and half beast; Orpheus, with his Tyre, Atlas,
with the world on his back, all these and
more nave helped literature, from the gradu-
5 speech on commencement day to Rufus
Choate's euiogium on Daniel Webster at
Dartmouth. Tragedy and comedy were
in the festivals of Dionysius at Athens.
me lyric ana eleglac and epic poetry OF
ureece Soo years before Christ has its echoes
IN the iennysons, Longfellows and Bryants
Oh l,oOo ana l,9OO years after Christ. There