Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1907-04-13
'Ca(n1aSe
Sermon
By Rev.
Frank De Witt Talmage, ID. ID.

4
Los Angeles, Cal, April I'm this
sermon the preacher teaches the value
Of self denial and the importance OF
restraining ourselves from indulgences
which, whether harmful or not In
themselves. might make our example
stumbling block to others. The text Is
| Corinthians viii, 13, "If meat make
my brother to offend, l will eat no
flesh while the world standeth."
Corinth, beautiful Corlnth; Corinth
with thy legends of ancient times;
Cornth the great business ganglia, or
the nerve center of two continents, for
there the merchantmen Of Europe and
Asia exchanged their goods; Corlnth
with It's Aero Corinthus rising 1,SOO
feet high, crowned with a frowning
fortress aptly called "the Gibraltar OF
the east" Corinth with its great am
phitheaters, where men fought with
men and where the gladiators' blood
mingled with the blood Of the savage
beasts slain in demoniac struggles;
Corinth with its Posdonium, where the
famous isthmian games took place,
from which arena Paul feathered
many Of his gospel arrows to drive
home his divine message; Corlnth with
its most famous temple of the old
world looming above many heather
shrines-oh. Corinth, beautiful Corinth,
opulent Corinth, aesthetic Corinth, no
wonder Paul wanted to go and see
thee and preach Jesus Christ within
thy gatesl
The shrines and the IDOLS must have
been everywhere when Paul first went
to Corinth. They must have been as
multitudinous as are the idols today
in Benares, where temples line the
sacred Ganges for miles. These Cor
inthian idols must have been on every
hilltop and in every valley. They must
have been in every street and In every
home and by every fresde. Idols,
| idols, idols, everywhere. Idols must
have been crowding each other In old
Corinth for elbow room, even as they
did in Athens. Truly .Corinth was the
home of commerce and literature and
| art. but 1t was more than that. 1t was
one of the great ancient Meccas Of idol
worshipers.
Now, there was very strange Corin-
( THAN custom Of idol worship which
any man who has travelled in the far
east can readily grasp, because there
you have seen food placed upon the al
| tars as sacrifice to idols. The Corin-
THAN priests at stated times of the
week would kill cattle and sheep and
iay certain parts of the dead bodies Of
these animals upon the affairs of their
idols. There they were allowed to stay
for some four or five hours. OF course
that was not long enough time for the
meat to spoil. Then this meat was
taken off the affairs and sold to the
people. Because this meat was placed
upon the shrines of the idols 1T was
looked upon with prejudice by many
people and had to be sold in the Corin-
THAN markets at very reduced rate.
Now. Paul was man Of great I'M
common common sense. He said prac-
tically this: Here l have to support
myself by tentmaking. If l buy my
meat cheaper, can live cheaper, be-
cause II will take me less time to earn
Il living. and | will be able to have
more time to preach Jesus Christ
Then Paul again said: "Why should
not eat this meat ~hich once lay upon
The heatheu altars? 1t Is not tainted
neat. I can buy it for half the price
Of other meat. Yes, while stay here
IN the Corinthian capital will buy
this meat and eat this meat, because
It Is good and wholesome ana tne
cheapest Of all meats"
, Marrow Minded Christians.
But in that Corinthian capital there
were a lot of very narrow mindeo
Christians. Their minds were so mar
row and their souls were so blgoteo
that they were always ready to place
the magnifying glass to their eye ano
focus it upon a nonessential atom anc
make It loom up before them as hug'
mountain of error. These narrow
, minded bigots had genius for spit
ting hairs. They could argue for days
and weeks upon a simple trivial queS
tion. and they rose up In protes
against Paul buying and eating th'
meat from off the heather AFFAIRS
"Why." | can hear them say, "Paul
If Won eat that meat you are practical
" an idol worshiper. You are the sali'
ne one who bows in worship at tn'
shrine of the licentious Venus. 1o'
are lust as bad as any of these ldoia
irons nriests." "All right" says Paul
IF you look at it in that way VII
stop eating the sacrifcial meat. al
not going to stop because 1t IS wron
for me TO eat it, but am going TO sto
because some of you Christians DelleV
# to he wrong. ! will not be spirit
mai stumbling block to any man.
Then Paul writes these words OF ID
text: wherefore If meat make M
brother to offend | will eat no mes
while the world standeth, lest l max
my brother to oiend." Oh, did yo
ever know a man to take a wiser stan
fer Christ than did Paul in that sci
tence? Can we not be just as true an
as faithful in yielding in nonessenual
for Christs sake as was Paul when
q yielded to the scruples of the ancier
- Christians in old COrinth?
Now let us try to analyze some
the characteristics Of Paul's charact'
which this decision indicates. In II
first place, I would remind you th'
.. Paul was a gospel evangelist, WI
> made every thought, every act, evel
desire of his body, mind and soul, CO
varoe IN the one purpose Of preachi