The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1897-04-02

A LkSA MHHside, like Paul. who
sA1A''A''S'1 71/IHW wrote the text, is
REV. TALMAGE. debtor to Greeks
The present crisis is emphasized by the
guns of the allied powers of Europe,
ready to be unlimbered against the
Hellenes, and | am asked to speak out
Paul, with master intellect of the
ages, sat in brilliant COrinth, the great
Acro-Corinthus fortress frowning from
the height of 1856 feet. and in the house
of Gaius where he was a guest, big
pile of money near him, which he was
taking to Jerusalem for the poor. In
this letter to the Romans. which
Chrysostom admired so much that he
had it read to him twice a week. Paul
practically says: Il. the apostle, am
bankrupt. | owe what | cannot pay,
but | will pay as large a percentage as
can. 1t is an obligation for what Greek
literature and Greek sculpture and
Greek architecture and Greek prowess
have done for me. will pay all can
in installments of evangelism. l am
insolvent to the Greeks" Hellas, as
the inhabitants call it, or Greece. as
we call it, is insignificant in size. about
a third as large as the state of New
York, but what it lacks in breadth it
makes up in height. with its noun
tains Cvlene. and Eta. and Taygetus,
and Tymphrestus. each over 1000 feet
in elevation. and its 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 40 miles from the
sea. has made its impress upon the
world, as no other nation. and it to-day
holds first mortgage of obligation up
on all civilized people While we must
leave to craftsmanship and diplomacy
the settlement of the intricate questions
which now involve all Europe. and in
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,
81 am debtor to the Greeks"
In the first place. we owe to their
language our New Testament. All of
it was written in Greek. except the
book of Matthew. and that. written in
the Aramean language, was soon put
into Greek by out Saviour'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 Golgotha and
Olivet and Jordan banks and Galilean
beaches and Pauline embarkation
and Pentecostal tongues and seven
trumpets that sounded over Patmos,
nave come to the world in liquid SYM
metric, picturesque, philOsophie, I'M
-ivaled Greek, instead of the gibberish
language in which many of the nations
If the earth at that time jabbered. |
Who can forget it and who can exag- |
rerate its thrilling Importance, that |
Jhrist and Heaven were introduced to |
Is in the language of the Greeks? the
language in which Homer had sung |
md SophOcles dramatized and Plato |
lialogued and Socrates discOursed and
Iycurgus legislated and Demosthenes
numbered his Grafton on THE Crown"
thanks to God that the
waters of life were not handed to
he world in the unwashed cup of
orrupt languages from which ma
ions had been drinking. but in the
lean, bright, golden-lipped, emerald
andlei chalice of the Hellenes.
earned Curtius wrote a whole volume
bout the Greek verb. PhilOlogists
entury after century have been meas
ring the symmetry of that language,
alden with elegy and philippe, drama
nd comedy, Odyssey and Iliad; but
he grandest thing that Greek Ian
uage ever accomplished was to give
o the world the benediction. the COM
ort, the irraditation. the salvation of
he Gospel of the Son of God. For
hat we are debtors to the Greeks.
And while speaking of our philolO-
zeal obligation, let me call your at
entiOn to the fact that many OF the in
ellectual and moral and theological
.aders of the ages got much of their
and effectiveness from Greek
terature. 1t is popular to scott at the
cad languages, but 50 per cent of the
orld's intellectually would have {
cen taken off if, through learned in
itutions, our young men had not, I'M
er competent professors, been drilled
Greek masterpieces. HesiOd's
Weeks and Days" or the eulogium by
Imonides of the slain in war, or Pin
lr's ''Odes of Victory" or The Recol-
ctions of Socrates or THE Art of /
'ords," by Corax, or XenophOn's {
From the Greeks the world learned I
DIV to make history. Had there been I
D Herodotus and no Thucydides, there c
ould have been no Macaulay or Ban
oft Had there been no SOphocles in I
agedy, there would have been no
Had there been no
omer, there would have been no Mil G
n The modern wits. who are now ! v