Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1906-01-13
Caln1age
Sermon
BY Rev.
Frank De Witt Talmade, D. d.

E----
Los Angeles, Cal, Jan. 7.-Appro-
pirate for the new year as the season
for good resolutions and turning over
q new leaf" is this sermon, the text for
which is taken from Acts xvii, 80, And
the times of this ignorance God winked
at"
What a tremor Of excitement must
have stirred the minds and the hearts
Of bis men when HOratio Nelson, the
celebrated English admiral, gave the
order to clear the gun deck for action
at Trafalgarl All, yes, we can truly
say the one armed naval hero whose
body now sleeps in st. Pauls cathedral
by the side Of the Waterloo chieftain
was no novice in the art Of war. Way
back in the uprising Of the American
colonies he fought as young captain
OF twenty-one under Lord Howe. He
was in the midst Of the British strug-
giles of Cape Vincent in 1893. He was
the commander who destroyed the
French feet 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
bis previous engagements were mere
preparation for his great battle Of Traf-
algar Then he gripped Napoleon's
admiral-Villeneuve by name-and
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 fight 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 su-
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 a conflict for Christ.
he was a 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
Pauis life was witnessed at Mars hill.
mo moment in the annals Of the
church." wrote the historian, "has
larger significance than that In which
the gospel Of the living Christ came in
its first contact at Athens with the
worn faiths Of paganlsm, its philosophy
Paul not only had to grapple 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 oratlons 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
pies. 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
the historians, and Of Solon.
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 a beautiful poem in marble
called "The Temple of Wingless Vic
tory" Every column, every shrine, ev-
cry intricate covering OF that citadel
Of ancient Athens was chiseled by the
hand of a master. John Keats once
wrote:
Beauty is truth, truth beauty; that Is all
Ye know on earth and all ye need to know.
If that is true, then truth was every
where lntrenched on the heights over
topping Mars hill. For beauty in her
most exquisite proportions was there
In imperishable marble.
Not Preaching to savages.
When Paul ceased to look up and as
q 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 Helios
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
cients. And there before him was the
gigantic temple of Mars, the god OF
war. Paul was not preaching Christ
among a 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
ID he could see the beautiful statues
md shrines erected not only to scores
but to hundreds and thousands Of Gre
cian gods and goddesses. The city was
literally full Of beautiful idols Of all
sorts. at was easier to find there
god than 1t was a man." PetreniuS
once quantity said. Yet 1t was on
Mars hill that Paul dared to defy all
the faiths and the intellectualities Of
paganism.
How did he do it2 After presenting