The Palatka news and advertiser. [volume] (Palatka, Fla.) 1902-1905, 1903-02-06
COPYRIGHT, DAVIS W. CLARK.
PLEASANT FIELDS OF HOLY WRIT
The International sunday School

Save for my daily range
Among the pleasant fields of Holy Writ
might despair. -rennyson.

Inc lHteTndIlOHdl sunday oCHOOl
Lesson.
First Quarter. Lesson vi Acts
xviii, Ill. February 8, 1903.
THE CHURCH AT CORINTH
FOUNDED.
The natural situation of CorInth is
remarkable, beautiful, advantage
Gus. If we were permitted to stand
upon the Acro-Corinthus that rocky
table rising one-half mile in perpen-
dicular measure above the sea, there
would be unrolled at our feet love-
ly panorama. Yonder are the far
| famed Hgean Islands emeralds set
| in silver Here are the alternating
capes and bays of the ragged coast
| line of Greece, that narrow tongue
of land. The isthmus has given its
name to all similar formations
which divide seas and unite lands.
Up yonder gulf the merchantmen
can sail one hundred miles, land
locked, beyond the touch of storm,
and, reaching the isthmus, q marine
railway receives them and transports
them TO the waters beyond. From
wonder shore the first man-Of-War
was launched, and in yonder waters
the first naval battle was fought six
centuries before Christ. On yOnder
isthmus the famous isthmian games
were played once in five years. Mil
man calls Corinth the Venice Of the
Old World, for on that isthmus the
commerce of the East passed the
commerce of the West.
Right at ones feet on the bench of
the hill lies the city, with temples
and statues of gods, all respondent
with it's far-famed COrint tn ian
bronze. The hum of commerce and
mechanic arts seems to come up to
ones ears. One sees the philosO-
pliers, rhetoricians, and artist in
grove and porch. What a goodly
sight! No wonder Cicero lis this
city ''the eye of all Greece"
But under this fair exterior an aw-
full leprosy is lurking. We are 10 pk
ing at the most lascivious city of the
most cultured nation of antiquity.
In yonder temple of Venus there are
one thousand priestesses, whose
ritual is prostitution. The city's
morals are at one end of the beam,
her culture at the other. Her NOR
ais sink in the exact ratio that her
culture rises. Her philosophy is inn
potent. Some one has well said:
THAT the system of the philosopher
could not reform the people who
lived on the same street with him.
The Epicurean maxim rules the pop
ulace-"Eat, drink, be merry; to-
morrow we die" You may say Of
this city what Sam Jones once said
, of Cincinnati: "Its streets run on
down into hell, and no need to
change name or number"
But one day there came to COrith
-"this hotbed of wealth, excite
ment, and vice'-a stranger of small
stature and slender frame, weary
with his Journey of forty miles afoot
from Athens. The stranger stops
before shop, and, reading the sign,
"Aouila, Tentmaker," eXclaims ::
"Ah! here is one of my own craft.
Perhaps | can find lodging and work
with HIM" He finds him not only a
fellow-countryma but fellow-be-
lever. AS Paul lies down to rest
that night, Jesus and the angels
know that a new and mightier phil
osophy has entered Corinth-a phil
osophy which is the wisdom of God,
| anu UII6 JOWGl vi NApbs L nv NIL SSNObi
of heaven had come in unobserved.
1t was hid like the leaven in the
meal.
In the morning Paul dons his
apron, and takes his needle. 0 ye
Corinthians! this noble man will
have you know that he seeks not
yours but you! He tolls like local
preacher-wOrki ing for his own sup
II CtnnAinrr IN do
clare the unsearchable riches OF
Christ on the Sabbath. He reasoned
in the synagogue every Sabbath, and
persuaded the Jews and the Greeks,
THE TEACHERS LANTERN.
Soon Paul was joined by Silas and
Timothy. They came from Berea,
having failed to meet him in Athens
as he requested. He was cheered
and strengthened by their coming.
No Christian minister is beyond the
need of sympathetic companionship
There was a subtle connection be-
tween this coming of his comrades,
and the increase of his zeal. 1t is
written Paul was pressed in spirit.
1t is the same word our Savior used
when he cried: ~ have a baptism
to be baptized with: and how am ]
straitened that it may be accom-
pIished!" He must draw the case to
an issue. The minister of to-day
shares the strong, consuming emo
ton of the apostle as he urges his
hearers to immediate repentance.
There comes a point where the
Pauline principle of 'all things TO all
men" can be no longer followed
: without compromise of principle.
. When Paul's hearers in the syna-
gogue blasphemed the name of
Christ, he could no longer consort
with them. He must come out from
among them, no matter what bitter
strife might follow. With sIgnifi-
cant gesture he shook his raiment,
crying: Your blood be upon your
own heads. | am clean. From
henceforth | will go unto the Gen
tiles" and he suited the action to
J the word. If it was to be a conflict
with the unbeiieving and blasphe-
NOUS synagogue, he would set up his
standard at the nearest point posi-
BILE. He took the house of Justus
the convert, right next door to the
synagogue, and made it headquar-
ters of Christianity in Corinth.
That is what Jerry McAuley did in
New York-right next door to the
, Cremorne Garden, a veritable gate
of hell, he opened his gospel shop,
and even took the name of the gar
den, calling his the Cremorne Mis-
sion. 0 Tor courage to press the bat
tie to the gates of hell!
Such courage must win. Paul's
first convert was the most unlikely
of all. 1t was none other than Girls
pus himself, the ruler of the syna-
J gogue. And his conversion swept his
whole family into the kingdom.
The example of Crispus was conta-