The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1903-01-30

Lenses u the Ineesaa1teoes s8s
Cor Fssrsasy 4. ls0S-Pasi
~ Athe -.


THE LESSON TEXT.
lAsas IL 21-st)
q Then Paul stood In the midst OF III
nil snd said. " men OF Athsns, perceive
that In ali things ye are too superstit'ous.
q For as pa ses by and behel6 your Dc.
votsons 1 found an altar with thss 'nssrsp
ton. TO THE UNKNOWN GoD. -
the refore We .gnorantly WORSHIP HIN ~
"a. Gcd that made the world and all
| things therein, seeing that lie 10 the Lore
Of Heaven and earth. dwelleth not In tenn
/ PIES made with hands.
81 Neither 3 He worshiped with mems
hands as though He needed any thing:
seeing He giveth to AL life. and BREATH ana
! al things:
| tons OF men fer TO dwell on all the race OF
| the earth and nath determined the times
before appointed. and the bounds Of tnet
hab!tation: !,
happy they might feel after him. and nno
Him though He be not far from every one
of us: -.
IS For in Him we live. and move. ana
have our being: as certain also OF your o~"
poets have said. For we are also His on
spring. -
- Forasmuch then as we are the on.
spring of God we ought not to think that
the Godhead Is like unto gold. or sllver' :"
stone. craven by art and mans device,
% And the times OF this ignorahce ooo
winked at: but now commanoeth aAA ms"
everywhere TO repent: A.,
81. Because He has appointed q Gay. IN
IN. wh.ch He viii Judge the world in right
, | eousness BY that man whom lie hath Or
dained; whereof He hath given assurances
irom the dead
7 20 And when they heard OF the resurrec.
tion Of the dead, some Knocked: aho o.ne.s
| said We will hear thee again OF THIS maj
al So Pau, departed from among them
"a Howbeit certain men clave unto nims
ana believed: among the which was Do
nysius the Areopagite. and a woman nameo
Damaris and others with tnem
GOLDEN TExT.-He preached uase
then Jesus, and the ressrrecs'@
ANALYSIS OF SCRIPTURE SECTION
Reasoning every day ..........Acts Il :le s "a
Teiiing OF the true God........Acts !. "a.
The need of repentance.........AcH ~ .S- g.
Effect of the sermon ...........Aco ~ $500
TIME.-A. ID. s..
PLACE.-Athens.
NOTES AND COMMENTS.
l An Idolatrous City.-Athens was an
7 intellectual city, priding itself upon IL
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 tno
I gods. Paul was now to ascertain wnas
reception the city would give to the
: true and only God.
Though Paul had not meant TO begin
missionary work in Athens, the uni
. versity CITY of the ancient world, ne
:, could not keep still. and preached IN
the synagogue on the. Jewish Sabbath
and discoursed in the market place
every day.
z This went on for some days or weeks
= we do not know how long-tili II was
decided to have, Paul before the Are
oparus court, ard see what that BODY
thought Of his teaching. and whetneS
" n was advisable to authorize him 70
o continue as one of the recognized lee
,urers. Paul was not on trial before
the Areopacus. but only his teaching
For the liberation of such cases al
BAL. this. the court did not meet at thai
of solemn and awful spot 1T the top OF I'M
ted Hill of Mars (Areopagus), but IN TN
ity. market place, the center OF eouca
'oai tional Athens.
ear Thus called upon by the Learned
UGH court. and surrounded by great crow
lty. 81 the students and Others who ire
'ore ouented the market place-curiou'
sup nnsvmpathetic most of them. and eS
sts' Meeting from the stranger little bu
an hours diversion. and perhaps bi
any OF fun-Paul seized the opportunit
lout 70 preach the Gospel of Jesus with cor
ion. summate skill and power. Very IL
VIII liyiou.-: Paul was too much OF
will gentleman to begin before that bod
sus- Of learned men by saying, "You are 70
YER superstitious." "Objects Of your wo
zing shin: Notice that there are two ell
me: ments in the audience-the scholar
ress and the crowd Of common people WI
rats had gathered around them in II
for market place. The statues and alta
next were not objects Of worship to Il
scholars, one of whose prominel
1T teachings was that belief in the o
GODS was pure superstition and on
,r for the ignorant ITO an Unknov
> os- Cod: This altar was set up TO mai
nm sure that no god was omitted
,iure The Stoics were panthests and d
ion. NOT believe that there were any pc
rail- sonal gods. The Epicureans held tn
alive there were, but that they had nothil
rpor- 10 do with the world. As you re-
racts the speech. think how each senten
N Of would strike (1) Stole. (2) an Epic'
pora- can. (3) one Of the superstitio
tar;n crowd.
or SO Paul's philosophy. unlike that OF
,hase Athenians. ended in duty. ne Pr~ach
ufac- repentance and judgment. That
TX. il hortation was not welcome put WI
soon Re brought forward as proof that
at a was right the fact that tne Nnosen
ruin God was certain man who mad q
must and come TO life again. the Gro
inter- broke up with jeers and groans OF
ms TO rision. The learned Athenians tnout
rench that q man whe would teach sucn IA
pecial stories Of which the Greek mythoie
nands was full. but which they had outgro
IS will long ago. need not be taken serious
e.-N. The speech. and with 1t Paurs put
work in Athens was over, but not NJ