The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1915-07-26
UNKNOWN COD
WAS THE TEXT
SUNDAY NIGHT
KNOWLEDGE OF EXISTENCE OF A
SUPREME BEING is AS OLD AS
ETERNITY. SERMON BY REV }.
w. BURNS, CHRISTIAN CHURCH

day evening, Rev. j. W. Burns, the
pastor. took for his subject: THE Tn.
known God" using as his text Acts
1928, For as | passed by, and be.
held your deVotions, | found an altar
with this inscription, TO the Unknown
God He said in part, as follows:
Some truths are as old as time and
as lasting as eternity. One Of the fore
most among such is the existence OF
supreme being, the creator of all
things Much speculation has been
INDUCED in as to where the idea Origi-
mates since the doctrine is prevalent
among the most debased of human
kind as well as the most enlightened
1t has never been settled by scholars,
whether the idea is intuitional tradi-
tional, rational, or is purely a matter
of revelation. However, there is a ques-
tion of greater importance. What is
God and what are MS attributes?
What is his character and how does
he deal with man? How can his love
be won and if he is our foe, how can
his wrath be appeased?'
"The text implies two things: First,
knowledge that an altar was erected
in Athens. dedicated to God. Second,
that through ignorance it was erected
to an Unknown God The inhabitants
of that wicked city We're possessed
with the idea of a God Notwithstand-
ing their many gods, whom they bow
ed to. there was still another, unknown
to them"
at is said that in an eastern mu-
scum there is a collection of paint
ings of the Christ. Artists from all
parts of the world have put their idea
of him on the canvas to portray to
the world what the great divine looked
like 1t is said, also, that there is no.
| where a greater diversity of repre-
sentatlon of thing than is found in
those various pictures. The Jew made
the Christ to resemble himself The
facial expression, the features, the
hair, the pose and all are those of a
full blooded Jew. The Saviour paint
ed by the Italian resembles the native
of Italy. In that gallery is Dutch
Christ, a Greek Christ, a French
Christ and an American Saviour. The
most noticeable thing of all is that
while in the main the ideas of the
Lord are depicted, still each one bears
the impress of the native hand that
traced the lines History is proof that
the man who attempts to draw an
ideal God the character Of that God
resembles the character of the man
by whom it is drawn. He is always
ready to fall down and worship such
God. The ancient Scandinayians
ideal god was Thor, the god of bat
ties and OF plunder. The Scandinavian
warrior worshipped Thor with a purse
in one hand and a spear in the other.
/ The Thugs of India, worshipped Door
ga. the goddess of vagabonds, thieves
and murderers, and considered them
selves acting under her immediate in
huence They bowed at her shrine
and then went forth into the high
ways to waylay the traveller-Wheth-
er saint or sinner Hindoo or Moham-
medan-demanded his purse, and on
refusal, took his life
SO it was with the Greeks. In the
Grecian Olympus there were gods and
goddesses, representing every human
passion-envy, jealousy, war and re-
venge. Even the baser passions Of
| human nature were embodied in some
| form of god or goddess. Mars was the
god of war and blood, Mercury the
| god of thieves. Bacchus the god Of
drunkards. Once a year the ancient
! Athenians met in an all night reyel-
nv and carried on the most degraded
practices between men and women, in
the name of gods and goddesses. The
weakness of mankind, through all the
ages. my friends, has been the crea-
tion of gods resembling the individual
man. The same is true with men
today. The human heart is desper-
ately wicked 1t can not be trusted
in its irst-born form. Men are wor-
shipping themselves, their belongings.
their works. their critical notions, and
the world and are erecting altars, from
which can easily be discerned the in
scription TO the Unknown God Also,
in every instance, the idol bears the
mirrored reflection of its architect"
paul landed in Athens in the year
"a. 1t was then the splendid city of
the world, but was given over to idol
airy Paul met the arguments of its
philosophers. He was charged with
setting forth strange gods and was
brought before the Areopagus. the