The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-01-09


made little difference to min whether he
knew anything about it or of: he mad skill
in intellectual fence; and thu rs enough:
lie would discuss, therefore, manner of
questions, political, moral, n4iosophicai,
abstract, concrete, religious. secular, ter
rrestrial; celestial; pres .l.y fGIure Long be
casm, characterized these achers Of Soph-
ISM with whom Pau was to come in con-
zation Of them any So sophist 'S he ' says yse' 4
am not. indeed, quoting his exact words,
but gathering them from one of his dial
ogues)-'a Sophist is one skilled in a contra
diction, assembling, unintelligent, indefi-
mite, fanatic, iuggling-with words-art of
imposition; That is Greeks definition
of Greek Sophism.
MORAL ELEMENT IN STOICISM.
"There was, however, a moral element in
Greece, and it was strenuous and muscular.
1t was known as stiocism. 1t does not come
within the province of this evenings lee
ture to trace the rise and growth of stoi-
cism, nor to enter into any very considera-
BILE analysis of it; it is enough to say that
it was real and genuine protest against
the immortality OF life and against the SUI
perficialism of philosophy. But it was, in
the first place, materialism pure and sim
pie. The stole was what we call in modern
times Monist. He thought there was only
one thing in the world, namely, matter and
IOrc6 Wnlcn is simply a subtle form OF mat
ter, and God and the soul were themselves
forms of matter and of force In them he
did not recognize what we should call God
at all. But he did recognize law. There
was an inherent, an open and an indestruc-
tible law, and men should obey this law,
not because they had to, as though they
were machines. but because 1t was reason
able. The Pharisee rested the duty of obli-
cation to law upon conscience; the stole
protest against the immortality of the time
because 1t was irrational; a protest against
the superficial philosophy of the time, be-
cause it was irrational. And this was the
height of moral life of Greece at the time
of which l am speaking. OF the faith
which perceives the invisible, of the hope
ward here or hereafter, peace now or peace
in eternity, and of the love which feels
a sympathy Tor men and desire TO serve
them with unrewarded activity, there is
scarce any trace to be found in the writings
of the stoics. who were the moralists OF the
first century There is very little of it to
of a later age, already pervaded in some
measure by the spirit of Christianity.
spirit, with its immoral life, with it's super
fetal philosophy, with it's morality, far
as it had any morality, resting upon pure
came Paul. disheartened, discouraged. His
mission up to. this time had been, it
had si'' started out with high hopes from Ara
bia. He had come back to Damascus to
say I was mistaken and to tell the Jews
Jesus of Nazareth was the Messiah, and
they drove him from the city. He went up
to Jerusalem. Surely he said, they will
hear me; they know me- they know how
earnest 1 was in prosecuting the Christians,
and now that have got the light can
give it to them. He tried to give it to
them, and they treated him, or would have
treated him if they could. as they had treat
ed his Master. He had to flee from Jerusa-
handed TO carry tits message into Greece
The Christian church behind him had very
ttle fath IN his mission miss dhe ~ Gld not
gans. And he had gone out with very lit
tie blessing, except that of the prayer meet
ing at Antioch, and nothing had come of
it. He had gone to city after city to syna-
gogue after synagogue, and every syna-
gogue had treated him as they had treated
when he turned from the synagogue to
the pagans he found himself at once con-
fronted with the charge OF endeavoring to
ate animosity to the Roman empire and the
Roman emperor. of endeavoring to initiate
a new kingdom. He was silenced before the
Greek and Roman courts by the Roman au-
thoritieS. In no single place had he been
able to stay more than a few days, few
Corinth. disheartened and discouraged. Il
was with YOU he says, in fear and in
eakness and in much trembling.
HE looked upon the past, and re saw
that his message of a second coming of
Christ within the present generation to rev.
olutionize the world had done nothing. He
looked out upon this Corinth, and he saw
that the hope of another glory was a poor
weapon with which to attack a present SEN
suous glory; that future Kingdom OF
heaven that coming kingdom of glory
would have no power in ii to stir the heart
of q people given over to commercial and
luxurious splendor in their own time They
might we'll have answered, had they
worth two in the bush and their answer
would not have been unreasonable.
PAIYI,S EXPERIENCES IN CORINTH.
Moreover, he had been following the
Christ. and he had got little by little. the
Christ spirit. He had come to see what at
FIRST he did not see, the glory of humiliation.
the riches of poverty, the exultation of
abasement. the splendor of isolation. the ra-
d;ancv of self-sacrifce. He began, as he
had in other cities, at first apparently do
insr nothing; but when companions came.
he took heart of courage and went into the
synagogue and preached. And he met with
the same experience he had met with be-
fore The people would not hear. they
turned him out. But he did not meet it
as he had met ci it Of He cas- ~ a neeo
hnSfore the Judges the gauntlet of
defance He took refuge in a house adj
foininr the synagogue, took with him one
Who lad been converted TO Christianity. the
r,,ie, of the syna gogue and set up what
might be called rival synagogue along
SIDE. And there he began his real ministry
in Corinth. -
tire thew had tried before successfully at
PhiIippi and Thessalonica and in other
cries They made an assault; they brought
him in before the Roman governor q brother
az tie famous Seneca. But now they had
~ 20 charge which they could bring against
bfy, They could not now charge him with
nreachipg a new king and a new kingdom.