Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1906-01-12
Calmaaoe
sermon
By Rev.
Frank De Witt Talrnase. d. d.

Los Angeles, CAL. Jan. 7.-Appro-
pirate for the new year as the season
for good resolutions and turning over
a new leaf is this sermon, the text for
which is taken from Acts xvii, so. "And
the times OF this ignorance God winked
at"
What tremor of excitement must
have stirred the minds and the hearts
of his men when Horatio Nelson, the
celebrated English admiral, gave the
order to clear the gun deck for action
at Trafalgar! All. yes, we can truly
say the one armed naval hero whose
body now sleeps in ST. PauPs cathedral
by the side of the Waterloo chieftafn
was no novice in the art of war. Way
back in the uprising of the American
colonies he fought as a young captain
OF twenty-one under Lord Howe. he
was in the midst OF the British strua-
giles or Cape Vincent In 17oS. He was
the commander who DESTROYED the
French fleet In the harbor of Aboukir
when Napoleon was making HIS Egyp-
ton conquests. He was part OF the
naval history OF England from ITO up
to the time of his tragic death, but all
his previous engagements were mere
preparation for his great battle of Traf-
algar. Then he gripped Napoleon's
admiral-Villeneuve by name-aud
grimly said, Thou shalt not make it
possible for the conquerors Of Prussia
and Spain and Austria and Italy and
Holland and Westphalia to cross the
channel and fght~under the shadow OF
Westminster abbey and Windsor cas-
tie" Truly that Trafalgar order, Eng
land expects every man to do his duty"
must have aroused the heroic in every
British heart for Trafalgar was the SUI
preme battle of Horatio Nelson's life.
What the quarter deck OF the British
line OF battle ship Victory was to Mel
son at Trafalgar Mars hill was to the
great gospel warrior Paul. Like Mel
son, Paul was no novice. He had
Fought In many conflict for Christ.
He was n Scared veteran of many
gospel campaigns. In Damascus, at
Jerusalem, over in Corinth, in Ephesus.
we can follow his martial footsteps.
But though he had fought many bat
ties for Christ the supreme battle of
Paurs life was witnessed at Mars hill.
No moment in the annals OF the
wrote the historian. shas
larger significance than that in which
the gospel Of the living Christ came in
Its first contact at-Athens with the
worn faiths of paganism, its philosophy
and its science" Here it was that
Paul not only had to graphic with
Plato's philosophy and with the teach
ings OF the Stoics and the Epicureans,
but here also he had to preach Christ
In the home of the drama and preach
Jesus from the rostrum made memora-
bic by the orations of the greatest ora
tors of the past, whose silver tongues
had created armies and made laws and
started forth Greece on its conquest of
the world.
When Paul looked up and waved his
hand above him he saw the famous
Acropolis crowned with its many tenn
Piles. There IS the Parthenon with its
beautiful statue of Pallas, the guard
Ian goddess OF Athens, which city was
the home OF Demosthenes and Lysias
and Lycurgus and Aeschines, the ora
tors, and OF Aeschylus and Sophocles,
the dramatists. and OF Thucydides and
Nenophon, the historians, and of Scion.
the lawyer, and of Socrates, the teach
er, and OF Pericles. the poet, and of
Phidias, the Michael Angelo of the
Greeks. To the right of this famous
temple was the marvellous colossal
statue OF Athanae Promachus. And
there is n beautiful poem in marble
called 1.-The Temple OF wingiess Vic
tory" Every column, every shrine. ev-
cry intricate covering OF that citadel
OF ancient Athens was chiseled by the
hand OF master. John Keats once
wrote:
Beauty IS truth, truth beauty; that is oil
fe know on earth and all We need TO know.
II that is true, then truth was every
where intrenched on the heights over
topping Mars hill. For beauty in her
most exquisite proportions was there
In imperishable marble.
Not Preaching 60 savares.
When Paul ceased to look up and as
a student OF the beautiful looked down
his eyes in amazement wandered over
the massive proportions of the great
temple OF Jupiter Olympus, which was
one Of the seven wonders of the world.
The few huge columns of this mighty
temple still standing inspire more awe
in the minds OF the modern students
than do even the gigantic stones OF the
pyramids or the ruined foundations OF
the ancient statue of the god HeIios
once bestriding the harbor OF Rhodes.
There was also the beautiful temple OF
the Theseium, perhaps the most per-
fectly preserved temple of all the an
clients. And there before him was the
gigantic temple of Mars, the god of
war. Paul was not preaching Christ
among set OF ignorant savages. He
was preaching Christ to the greatest
students OF architecture, Of sculpture,
of poetry and OF oratory the world has
ever seen. Wherever Paul's eyes turn
ed he could see the beautiful statues
and shrines erected not only TO scores
but to hundreds and thousands OF Gre
clan gods and goddesses. The city was
literally full OF beautiful idols of all |
sorts. "It was easier to find there a
god than It was a man." Petronius
once quantity said Yet ii was on |
Mars hill that Paul dared to defy all |
the faiths and the intellectualitins of |
paganism.
How did he 90 It? After presenting
Christ as only Paul could preach Jesus |
he lifted up his hands and waved them |
toward the countless shrInes and wick |
ed deities Of Athens. Then he uttered |
the memorable words of my text, And |
the times OF this ignorance God winked |
at, but now commander all men
everywhere to repent" As God bore |
with the ignorance OF the Greeks of |
old God has been bearing with our ig- |
but now our-eyes are opened |