The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1909-07-20

1d1f1llldT sentence OIL III. lAu1AC. y
all the Athenians and the strangers
;sojourning there spend their time
in nothing else but either to tell or
to hear some new thing Ihat is
p~resent-day society. Tha is our
modern city life. That is the genius
of the village woman's club. That
is the twentieth century newspaper
Our times are madiy Dent uD)n dis
covering the latest sensation in earth
or heaven or in Mars. or in the mys-
terious ether that cnveiop5 us.
Let it be frankly confessed that /
large part Of the world to-day IS n
gagged in a desperate endeavOr to ward
off inevitable jadedness. Our search
for novelty is but an attempt to es-
cape from ourselves. D1lettantelSm
is a hallmark Of our age. Elthus-
iasm is accounted bad form. Con-
viction does not compare with culture.
A self satisfied sitting apart and a
cynical survey of the passing show is
the favorite attitude of the modern
man and Oma
II Ancient Center of Culture.
All this was even more true of
Athens than it is to-day, when Paul
found himself in this one of the three
great me~trOpOliseS of the world. Ath-
ems had glory and pride. 1t was still
q great city and had been greater.
In all it's prime it sent forth more
great men in one hundred years than
all the rest Of the world could show
in five hundred" There were Socrates.
Plato. Aristotle, Demosthenes, Aesch-
Slus, SophOcles, Aristides. ThemiS-
tocles, Phidias, Keno. Epicurus. Thur
cydides, NenophOn and Pericles.C ul-
tured Paul. the university man, must
have felt his nerves Jingle as he
moved amid the sculptures and arch
itecure so closely associated with
these great names.
His present problem was how to ar
rest and arouse this cffervescing life
of Athens upon a greater theme than
ever before had come to his atten-
ton. He saw this visit to Athens as
one of the graf opportunities of his
life. He proved himself worthy to
stand with the best of the Athen tea
cheers by his eloquent speech. He was
not merely a missionary of the new
faith; he was q great cosmopolitan
md philosopher. His address was
adroit. adaptable and skillful-an ap-
plication of his own principle of be
ing all things to all men that he
might by all menas save some For
to Paul there must have come the
vision of an Athens converted to
Christ. with all it's art and Skill suf-
fused by a new vitality and new pur-
pose. He dreamed Of the tremend-
Gus abilities of this queen city placed
at the service of his Master. Small
wonder that he coveted this jewel for
his King.
A Great Souls Indignation.
A people that consistently gives it
self to pleasure-seekinG as its chief
aim is bound to atrOphy it's capacity
for all intense emotions The pleas
ure-seeker gradually becomes able to
lOOk unmOved upon the most terrible
spectacles. Moral degeneration inevi-
tably follows in the wake of putting
pleasure first.
Into every such community a great
soul enters, as Paul entered Athens.
and finds himself deeply stirred with
Indignation. 1t is no credit to a
Christian that he cannot get angry.
Christ was tremendously moved by the
Ubiquitous sp~ectacles which he beheld,
and his greatest apostle had a SINH
lar capacity for adherence. He
found Athens-beautiful, cultured,
graceful. artistic Athens ovid
full of idols. A roman poet had de-
clared that it was easier to find gods
than men in Athens.
These shrines and figures Of divin-
tiles which lined all the highways
represented not merely error, but,
what was worse, they stood for indif-
ference. When a people have many
gods they cannot be loyal to any one
God. This multitude of deities spoke
eloquently of the observation-disclosures
of the Athenians. Tey, like some
modern successors, were not partic-
ula as to what men believed. Tehy
could say, as is often said to-day,
"One religion is az good as another
Such a statement reveals vitiated pow,
er OF thought. The so-called tolerance
which possesses no conviction, IS
merely a state OF mental deblitatfon.
Every great man believes something
tremendously. A fair Indictment Of
much modern education is that it
only goes far enough to cut the nerve
of conviction.
In contrast with the Athenian way,
we a hear Paul as he preached in
the synagogue. How his elOQuence
must have blistered the Jews who had
be come Injured TO the sights OF Ath-
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