The Middleburgh post. [volume] (Middleburgh, Snyder Co., Pa.) 1883-1916, 1903-01-29
TIE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
for February 4, 1003-rSui
at Athens.
THE LESSON TEXT.
- aeaR 80


(ASs l1:22-3i)
2. Then Paul stooe in the midst CT Mars
hill, anG said, Ye men OF Athens. perceive
that in all things ye are too superstitious.
%. For as passed by. and behelG your de-
votions. found an altar with this inscrip-
Ion, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. When
therefore ye ignorantly worship, Him de-
clare l unto you.
81. God that made the world and all
things therein. seeing that He is the LORD
Of Heaven and earth. dwelleth not in tenn
pies made with hands;
u. Neither Is He worshiped with mems
hands. as though He needed any thing,
seeing He giveth to all life, and breath, and
all things:
8 And hath made of one blood all ma
tons of men for to dwell on all the face of
the earth, and hath determined the times
before appointed, and the bounds OF their
habitation;
- That they should seek the Lord. If
haply they might feel after him, and find
Him, though He be not far from every one
Of US:
IS For in Him we live, and move and
have our being: as certain also of your own
poets have said, For We are also His or
sp.ing.
-. Forasmuch then as We are the on
spring of God, We ought not to think that
the Godhead is like unto gold. or silver, or
stone, craven by art and mans device.
81. And the times of this ignorance GOD
winked at; but now commandeth all men
everywhere to repent:
81. Because He has appointed a day, in
the which He will judge the world in right
eousness by that man whom lie hath or
da.ned; whereof He hath given assurance
from the dead
81. And when they heard of the resurrec-
tlon of the ceaG, some Knocked: and others
said We will hear thee again OF this mat
ter.
So. So Paul departed from among them.
81. Howbei certain men clave unto him,
and believed: among the which was Dio-
nysiuS the Areopagite, and woman namoG q
Damaris. and others with them.
GOLDEN TENr.-'Ie preached unto
them Jesus, and thr resurrcctiOn.-
/ Acts I7;iS.
ANALYSIS OF SCRIPTURE SECTION.
Reasoning every day ..........Acts lI:l6-l.
| Telling OF the true God........Acts !. iz2-.S.
/ The need OF repentance.........ACt IL :2g-3l.
| Effect OF the sermon ...........Acts l':o2-oi.
| TiME.-A. ID. 90.
| PLACE.-Athens
NOTES AND COMMENTS.
An ldolatrous City.-Athens was an
intellectual city, priding itself upon its
| culture and refinement. Here So
crates, and after him his pupils, Plato
and Aristotle, held their illustrious
| schools. 1t was the home of art In
its sculptures and paintings it stood
unrivaled. Especially it far surpassed
all other cities in its devotion to the
! gods. Paul was now to ascertain what
reception the city would give to the
! true and only God.
Though Paul had not meant to begin
missionary work in Athens, tie yli-
versity city of the ancient work. e
could not keep still, and preached II
the synagogue on the Jewish Sabbath
and discoursed in the market place
every day
This went on for some days or weeks,
we do not know how long-till it was
decided to have Paul before the Are
opagus court, and see what that booy
thought>of his teaching, and whether
it was advisable to authorize him to
continue as one of the recognized lec-
tHrers eli ffssSi " AZ AZ notion trial before
the Areopagus, but only his teaching
For the consideration of such cases as
this. the court did not meet at that
solemn and awful spot at the top Of the
Hill of Mars (Areopagus), but in the
market place, the center of educa-
tional Athens.
Thus called upon by the learned
court, and surrounded by great crowd
of the students and others who fire.
quented the market place-curious
unsympathetic most of them. and eX
pecting from the stranger little but
an hours diversion, and perhaps bit
of fun-Paul seized the opportunity
to preach the Gospel of Jesus with con-
summate skill and power. VERY Re
ligious": Paul was too much of 6
gentleman to begin before that body
Of learned men by saying, "You are too
superstitious." "Objects of your wor
ship: Notice that there are two ele
ments in the audience-the scholars
and the crowd of common people wh'
had gathered around them in th'
market place. The statues and altar'
were not objects of worship to th'
teachings was that belief in the ole
gods was pure superstition and onl.
for the ignorant. "To an Unknowl
God: This altar was set up to max,
sure that no god was omitted.
The Stoics were pantheists and dix
not believe that there were any per
sonal gods. The Epicureans held tha
there were, but that they had nothin!
, to do with the world. AS you rea'
the speech, think how each sentence
would strike CD Stole, (2) an Epicur
can, (3) one of the superstition
: crowd.
Paul's philosophy, unlike that OF tn
Athenians, ended in duty. He preached
, repentance and judgment. That ex
hortation was not welcome but whel
he brought forward as proof that n
was right the fact that the Chosen o
God was a certain man who had diet
and come to life again, the GROVE
broke IN with jeers and groans of dc