Ceredo advance. [volume] (Ceredo, W. Va.) 1885-1939, 1903-01-28
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
Lesson In the international Series
for February 1, I0O3-Paui
nt Atheaa.
THE LESSON TENT


THE LESSON TENT.
IA4s l1:2s-3D
= Then Paul stood in the midst of MARI
MIL anc said. Ne men of Athens / perceive
that In all things ye are too supersti tsous
=. For as passed by ar,. behel6 Nu,,r de-
sotions. / found an altar with this inscrip-
ZION. TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom
therefore ye ignorantly worship. Him &C.
clare unto YOU.
- God that made the world and all
things therein. seeing that lie is the LORD
OF Heaven and earth. dwelleth not in tenn
Piles made with hands;
-. Ne.ther i He woSshiped with mems
hancS. "a though He needed any thing.
seeing lie giveih to al iife. anGi breath. and
! a.. things:
q And hath ma6e OF one blood all ma
lions OF men for TO dwell on ali erace OF
The earth. and hath determined the times
before appointed. and the bounds of their
haoitation;
=. That they should. seek the Lord, IL
| naply they might feel after him. and md
Him though lie be not far from every one
| OF US:
~ For IN Him We live. ana move. and
| have our being: as certain also of your own
poets have said. For We are also HIS on
| spring.
| -. Forasmuch then We are the on
| spring OF God. We ought not TO think that
the bodnead IL like unto gold. or silver, or
| stone, craven by art and man : 6eVlce.
| 80 And the times o. this ignorance God
~inked at; but now commandeth all men
| aNerywhers TO repent:
| u. Because He has appointed a day. in
| the which He will judge the world in right
eousness 10y that man whom He hath or
| iained; whereof He hath given assurance
ltrom the dead.
| -. And when they heard OF the resurrec-
Hon OF the dead some Knocked: and others
| said, we VIII hear thee again OF this mat
/ ter
| -. So Paul departed from among Them.
| "a. Howheit certain uren clave unto him.
| ana believed; among the which was Do
| nysius the Areopagite. an6 "A woma named
| Damaris, and others with them
| GOLDEN TENr.-Hc preached unto
| them Jesus. and the resurrection.-
| Acts I5.IS.
ANALYSIS OF SCRIPTURE SECTION
| heas onlng every day ..........Acts l1:l6-I
| Telling Q. the true God........Acts Il FPS.
| Inc need OF repentance.........ACts IL :9S-3l.
Emect OF the sermon .........-.Acts l7:32-SL
| TlME.--A. ID e.
| PLACE.-Athens.
| NOTES AND COMMENTS
An ldolatrous City.-Athens was an
intellectual city. priding itself upon it's
culture and refinement. Here So
crates, and after him his pupils, Plato
and Aristotle, held their illustrious
schools. IL WAS the home of art. In
lis sculptures and paintings il stood
unrivaled. Especially il far surpa ssed
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
mis- sionary work in Athens. the uni
versity city of the ancient world. he
could not keep still, and prea ched in
the synagogue on she Jewish Sabbath
/ t,,I az a =. \
every day.
| This went ON for some days or weeks,
we do not know how long-till il was
decided io have Paul before the Are
| Opapus court, and see what that body
thought of his teaching. and whether
Iit was advisable to authorize him 10
continue a one Of the recognized lee
| turers. Paul was not on trial before
the Are opagus, but only his teaching.
| For The conSide Grafton OF such cases as
this. The court did not meet at that
solemn and awful spot a the top Of the
| Hi OF Mars C\reopagus). 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,
unsImpathetic most OF them. and eX-
pecting from the stranger little but
Ian hours diversion. and perhaps bit
| Of fun-Paul seized the opportunity
| 10 preach the Gospel of Jesus with con-
summate skill and power. Very Re
! IigiOus': Paul was too much OF "a
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 who
had gathered around them i'm the
market place. The statues and affairs
were not objects Of worship to the
| scholars, one Of whose prominent
teachings vas that belief i'm the old
gods was pure superstition and only
for the ignorant. TO an Unknown
Cod; This altar was ~cf up 10 make
sure that no god was omitted.
The Stoics were pantheists and did
not believe that there were any per-
sUnal Pods The Epicureans held that
here were. bat that they had nothing
| to do with the world. A. YOU read
the speech. think how each sentence
would STRIKE O.. Stole. (2) an Epicur-
can. % one Of the superstitious
| crowd.
Paul's philosophy. unlike that Of the
Nthenians. ended in duty lie preached
repentance and Judgment. That ex-
hOrtation was not welcome but when
he brought forward a. proof that he
was right the fact that The Chosen OF
God was certain man who had died
and come 60 life again. the crowd
broke mp with ieers and groans Of de-
rision. The learned Athenians thought
that a man who would teach such fairy
stories OF which the Greek mythology
- 81 L...A u H. IL -