The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1897-05-06
OUR DEBT TO GREECE.
Rev. DR.. Talmnge Discourses Upon
Timely Topic.
The Christian World Largely Indebted to
the Hellenic Race for Valuable Les.
sons in Philology, Architecture
and Other Sciences.

delivered by Rev. L. Dewitt Talmage
before his Washington congregation.
The text was:
l am debtor both to the Greeks and to the |
barbarans. Romans l., IA. |
At this time, when that behemoth of
denominations, Mohammedanism, after
having gorged itself on the carcasses of
100, 900 Armenians, is trying to put its
paws upon one of the fairest of all ma
tions, that of the Greeks, preach this
sermon of sympathy and protest, for
every intelligent person on this side OF
the sea. as well as the other side. like
Paul, who wrote the teXC, is debtor to
the Greeks. The present crisis is en-
phasized by the guns of the allied pow
ers of Europe, ready to be numbered
against the I1ellenes, and | am asked
to speak out. Paul, with master in
tellect of the ages, sat in brilliant Cor
inth, the great Aero -Corinthus fortress
frowning from the height of 1856 feet,
and in the house of Gaius, where he
was guest, a big pile of money near
him, which he was taking to Jeru-
salem for the poor. In this let
admired so much that he had it read to
him twice a week, Paul practically
says: Il, the aspostle, am bankrupt.
| owe what | can not pay, but will
| pay as large percentage as | can. 1t
is an obligation for what Greek itera-
| tcre and Greek sculpture and Greek
| architecture and Greek prowess have
| done for me. | will pay all | can in
lnstallments of evangelism. am in
| solvent 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 mountains Cy-
lene, and Eta, and Taygetus, and lynn
phrestus, each over 1000 feet in ele-
vation, 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 era
die the valley between two mountains.
That country, no part of which is more
than 40 miles from the sea, has made
it's impress upon the world, as no other
nation, and it to-day holds a first mort
gage of obligation upon all civilized
people. While we must leave to states
manship and diplomacy the settlement
of the intricate questions which now
involve all Europe, and indirectly al
! nations, it is time for all churches, al
. schools, all universities, all arts, al
literatures to sound out in the mos
emphatic way the declaration: 81 an
debtor to the Greeks"
t In the first place, we owe to theil
h language our New Testament. All o
, it was first written in Greek, eXcep
y the Book of Matthew, and that, writ
n ten in the Aramean language, wa
4 soon put into Greek by our Saviour
;. brother, James. To the Greek Ian
n guage we owe the best sermon eve
|, preached, the best letters ever written
!. the best visions ever kindled. All tn
h parallels in Greek. All the miracles il
: Greek. The sermon on the mount il
II Greek. The story of Bethlehem an
!. Golgotha and Olivet and Jordan bank
and Galilean beaches and Pauline EN-
barkation and Pentecostal tongues an
|
mos, have come to the world /
le liquid, symmetric, picturesque, philt
n. sophie. unrivaled Greek, instead of tn
d gibberish language in which many {
,e the nations of the earth at that tim
~ iabbered. Who can forget it and wh
ID can exaggerate its thrilling importanc
n, that Christ and Heaven were introduce
+. to us in the language of the Greeks
Al the language in which Homer had sun
r. and Sophocles dramatized and Pla
NJ dialogued and Socrates discoursed al
in Lvcurgus legislated and Demosth
,e nes hundred his oration on "Tl
n Crown?' Everlasting thanks to G'
q that the waters of life were n
,o handed to the world in the u
A. washed cup of corrupt languages fro
L which nations had been drinking, b
~ in the clean, bright, goldeu-lippe
-; lemerald-handled chalice of the HI
lenes. Learned Curtius wrote who
volume about the Greek verb. Phil
ogists century after century have be
as measuring the symmetry of tn
wv language, laden with eleg, and phil
pt pic, drama and comedy, odyssey a
So, Had; but the grandest thing tt
nd Greek language ever accomplished W
u to give to the world the benedictit
nv the comfort, the irraditation, the S
to vation of the Gospel of the Son of G
me- For that we are debtors to the Gree
to And while speaking of our philol
he ical obligation, let me call your att
ar, ton to the fact that many of the int
"a lectual and moral and theological lie
ers of the ages got much Of their di
pline and effectiveness from Greek
erature. 1t is popular to scotf at
are dead languages, but so per cent. OF
Va worlds intellectually would h
it'll been taken off if, through learned
ell stitutions, cur young mel had not,
the der competent professors, been dri
in Greek masterpieces. Hest
'Week's and Days." or the eulogiun
Simonides Of the slain in war, or
ar dars ''Odes of Victory" or the IRE
rc lections Of Socrates" or The AT
,ut Words" by Corax, or Aenoph
, 'Asabasis.'