Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1909-07-22

ulative They desired. to titillate tht
i weary nerve of interest. They wer,
j early members of the tribe of churc]
| FOUNDERS who weary of the preachin.
and worship and work of any single
congregation, and spend their time
in going from church to church L
taste the style of different preachers
1 On Mars Hill.
/ Paul was succeeding in his purpose
! He wanted to awaken the interest o
the city in himself, that he nigh
transfer that interest to the Chris
whom he preached. Then, as now
the problem of awaking whole city,
interest was no small one No one
has written the heart-break of the
preacher of the gospel who comes u
great modern city burdened WITH
the message of God to the people, and
then is compelled to watch the city
go on its idle way past his church
door, untouched and uncaring.
Paul had cleverly planned to get q
hearing for himself from the wholc
city. He was porne to Mars Fill be-
fore the court of the Areopagus, the
center of philosophic debate. He
| full statement of his principles. that
the whole crowd would resort thithel
and Athens would be set to hummins
with discussion of the Crucified
We may easily imagine how Paul pre-
| pared for that speech. His every
thought was an inarticulate prayer for
divine guidance. Near and far he
sought for phrases and metaphors and
| Illustrations. If he failed to be inter
esting he'would fail altogether. And
IL he failed to be tolerant he would
get no hearing. He would have to rea
son from what was known to them
up into the realm of what they had
yet to learn. How well he succeeded
we know from SO much of the speech
as has been preserved to us.
A Classic Speech.
| "And Paul stood in the midst of the
Aeropagus, and said
"Ye men of Athens in all things
perceive that We are very religious
For as l passed along, and observed
the objects Of your worship, I found
also an altar with this inscription
To an Unknown God What there
fore We worship in ignorance, this
set forth unto you. The God that
made the world and all things there.
in, he, being Lord Of heaven and earth
dwelleth not in temples made with
hands; neither is he served by mems
hands, as though he needed anything
seeing he himself giveth to all life
and breath, and all things; and he
made of one every nation Of men 10
dwell on all the face of the earth
having determined their appointed
seasons and the bounds of their habi
tation: that they should seek God, if
happily they might feel after him and
find him, though he is not far from
each one Of us; for in him we live
and move, and have our being; as Ger.
tain even of your own poets have
said,
For we are also his offspring.
Being then the offspring of Col
we ought not to think that the God
head is like unto gold, or silver, ol
stone, craven by art and device o
man. The times of ignorance there
| fore God overlooked; but now he com
mandeth men that they should al
everywhere repent; inasmuch as Le
hath appointed day in which he will
judge the world in Righteousness By
the man whom he hath ordained;
whereof he hath given assurance unto
all men, in that he hath raised him
from the dead"
A Great Efforts Small Effect.
When the speaker began to bea,
home upon the convictions of his hear
ers the crowd grew FESTIVE. Some
jeered at his teachirG of the resurrec
ton. They did 80 anything sc
crude and unre1i,e IS, with tbs
immemorial pr0c y Of the
cowardly, promised 4 more at {
later season. The general Impression
made by this masterpiece of oratory
was comparatively slight The hard
est kind Of soil for gospel sowing is
among semi-cultured people who fee
themselves confident to sit in judg
ment upon all things above and below
Possessed of a shallow education
which comes short of intense convic
ton, they feel themselves beyond the
moving power of teacher or preacher
Better is it to preach to compan.
of prisoners or of rank pagans than K
attempt to quicken to action and t.
newness of character the averags
congregation of dilettantes and doc
| trinaires.
| There We're a few converts from the
Mars Hill speech 1t was not a failure
| The time later came when the Parthe
non on Mars Hill was a Christian
| church. Even one of the members o
the court of Areopagus, Dionysius, an,
a noted woman named Demaris, wer
among the converts. The speech NJ
doubt established the religion of Jesu
| in that community as worthy of re
| spectful attention and consideration
Into the midst of the multitude o
| PHILOSOPHERS was projected this ney
one, challenging attention and holdin
forth its sublime claims to supremac.
and allegiance.
AN OLD NATION A NEW PROBLEM
| Terca Coy,,poen+e upop the Chris+ia,