The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1909-07-22

preston upon his
mind 1t was city of temples and
statues. Art and learning here had
their home Around him were the |
sculptured forms of Minerva and /
jupiter, Apollo and Mercury the
Muses. and other representatives of /
heather mythology. 1t was said by !
an ancient satirist that 1t was easier |
TO find a god at Athens than a man, !
for thirty thousand divinties were in
cluded in the Greek and Roman pan
theon. They were heroic fantastic
or impure, but the city was full of
them. There were streets so crowded
with sellers of articles connected with
ldolatry as to be almost impossible.
Wonderful Opportunity.
It was in such a presence that the
apostle now stood, and God gave him
one single opportunity to declare his
message. How did he do it?
A committee of distinguished Athen-
ians waited upon the famous preach
er. and invited him to address them
on Mars Hill 1t was the opportunity
Of lifetime and smaller man would
have made miserable failure. To
preach in church behind a pulpit, to
devout and sympathetic people, who
will accept whatever the preacher
says simply because he says 1t, is
one thing, to face such a company as
the Athenian audience is quite an
other. Those people were critical,
logical hard-headed, accustomed to
look into things, and accept nothing
on the mere ipse dixit of speaker.
They prided themselves on their in
tellectuality and piety, and had no
idea that a mere peripatetic Jew
would be able to instruct them in
either morality or religion. Yet they
we're desirous of hearing all the new
things, and they politely invited Paul
10 deliver his message on that popu-
Jar rostrum of discussion, Mars Hill.
Wonderful Tact.
The apostles first word shows that
he is not only cultured Christian
gentleman himself, but is master OF
the art of winsome speech. He dis
arms criticism with his first sentence.
Instead of railing at idolatry as the
old version implies, he courteously
declares that his observation has led
aim to the conclusion that the Athen-
tans are every religious" Il passed
by and beheld your devotions,' he
says. "and as did so, | saw an altar
with this inscription, To the Unknown
God. That is, you worship all those
you know, and for fear that you should
be guilty of impiety ignorantly, you
nut up another altar to the unknown
God Now | have a message to deliv-
er to you in regard to that unknown
God" And then the preacher pro-
eeeded to talk to them OF the God
that made the world, and all the peo-
pie in it. And in the most logical.
sensible, courteous, and Christian
way struck blow at idolatry that Is
absolutely unanswerable from that
day to this. Wonderful exhibition OF
tact! II you are going to win any
one, you can never do 1t with an &C.
elesiastical blackjack. If you want to
convince Catholic, you had better
steer clear of attacking the Virgin
Mary. If you want to win Jew, bet
ter keep your hands off from Moses.
You will never gain Baptist py
splashing over him the waters OF i'm
merson. To go at heather by de-
nouncing idoltry as of tke devil, Will
only strengthen him in his views,
To tell a man he is a fool because
he doesn't believe as you do, puts II
out of your power ever to influence
aim to believe as you do. You CAM
split peoples heads open with the
battle axe of controversy and intro
duce orthodoxy through the cash. The
trouble with most modern controver
eialists is, they have no patience witt
anybody who cannot see exactly a:
they can no matter what their Dlrth
surroundings, education and training
has been. Paul caught the attention
Of his audience and held 1t to the
close. first by the wonderful tact o
his approach, and second by his quo
tatons from their own poets, which h,
cited in support of his doctrine.
The tactful person always seeks u
find some common ground on whicl
to stand, instead of some bomb proc
fort from which to lombard tn
world. Paul argued that the yer
fact of an altar to the unknown CO.
proved the religious instinct In tn
coul, and he caught at that blind fee
lcg after God and sought to direct
Alright. Whatever the outcome OF ina
sermon, certainly the people of Athen
would have no hesitation in declarlh
that those who listened to Paul tina
day received lesson in sacred ei'
luence that compared favorably VIII
my grafton that had ever been DELI