The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1916-07-14

their time in nothing else, but either
to tell, or to hear some new thing)
Then Paul stood in the midst of
Mars hill, and said, Ye men of
Athens, 1 perceive that in all things
ye are very religious. For as passed
by, and beheld your devotions, found
an altar with this inscription, TO THE
UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore
ye ignorantly worship, Him declare
unto you. God that made the world
and all things therein, seeing that He
is Lord of heaven ard earth, dwelleth
not in temples ,nade with hands;
neither is worsnipped with mems
hands, as though He needed anything,
seeing He giVeth to all life. and breath,
and all things; and hath made of one
blood al nations of men for to dwell
on all the face of the earth and hath
determined the times before appoint
ed, and the bounds of their habitation;
that they should seek the Lord, if hap
ly they might feel after Him, and.
find Him, though He be not far from
every one of us: For in Him we live,
and move, and have our being; as GER
tain also of your own poets have said,
for we are also His offspring. Foras-
much then as we are the offspring of
God, we ought not to think that the
Godhead is like until gold, or silver,
or stone, craven by art and mans de-
vice. And the times of this ignorance
God winked at; but now commanded
all men everywhere to repent: Be
cause He hath appointed a day. in
which He will judge the world in
Righteousness by that man whom He
hath ordained; whereof He hath given
| assurance unto all men, in that He
| hath raised Him from the dead.
'And when they heard of the resur-
rectiCn of the dead, some Knocked:
and others said, We will hear thee
again of this matter. So Paul de-
parted from them. Howbeit certain
men clave unto him, and believed
among the which was Dfonysius the
maris, and others with them"
81 like to see Christianity travel
first-class," remarked a city man
apropros of a great banquet of lay
men. We are Outgrowing the fashion
of establishing religion in dingy
a day when religion and mediocrity
| were synonymous in the minds of
many. Now we are getting back 20
the wholesomeness of the Middle
ages, when the best buildings, the
finest books and the loveliest paint
ings were devoted to religion.
That is PauPs idea. He assumed
that Christianity was able to hold its
own with the greatest philosophers of
| the most philosophical age of the
worlds history. (By the way, the
preachers who are troubled by the
prevalence of new cults would dc
well to look them up in the old books
for they are but curious revampings
of outworn Grecian and oriental phi
losophies)
This man Paul. himself a scholar OF
the first class, dared carry the Gospe
of the Crucified to the proudest cen
ters of the arrogant world of his day
He challenged all the religious concep.
tons and convictions of Rome an6
Greece under the shadow of the
Acropolis of Athens, which to this da,
is one of the worlds fairest sights. HI
stood up in the Areopagus and ex
; pounded his message as the fulfillmen
of all that philosophy had brought IL
Greece. Nobody can find any warran
for merely defensive and APOLOGIZE,
Christianity in this valiant old soldier
scholar, Paul of Tarsus. He stand
the embodiment of concrete scholar
ship, an inspiration to the best trained
minds of the world
; Winning a Crowd
) A brilliant example of good salesman
ship was given by Paul on Mars hill
He found, first of all, congenial point
OF contact, and established a friendF
: working basis of conference. His com
phment We men of Athens, L perceiv
, that in all things we are very religious
would shock some straight-lace,
church folk today. We wonder VIII
he did not tell them they were moth
. ing but wicked heather and doorne,
TO concentration. The man who s
criticiSeS Paul knows nothing ahou
= the methods of modern missions
= PauFs way is the way of all good mis-
sionaries. First they Wilt find cornmoI
ground with those whom they seek t
} convert and then proceed, step b
l step, to the desired conclusion
1t is strange how the. great oil
tasks persist as the greatest ne,
; tasks. Religion has no more seriou
= problem today than that of inscrih
D ing the name of the one true God o
the nameless affairs of the world Sh
must take the worlds thinking upo
: all social and philosophical subject
r and read into it a new and Christia
.. content. We talk about '1nternatior
alfsm with only the vaguest under
r standing of its meaning; but here W
= have 1t stated fundamentally by TIL
ancient Christian philosopher TIL
basis of 1t all is that God has mad
= of one" all the nations of the cart
II Here is the lesson that ties TODAY
II Sunday school class closest to TODAY
II paper. Everybody who thinks is
y pursuit of the goal of better relation
among the nations of earth The pat
IT to it is clearly marked out by PA
in the present lesson.
The New Internationaiism.
= Are we big and brave enough
II hear this Christian cosmopo1i
through to his conclusion, and fat
the truth that we must create a ne
Is world order for human life? Pres
" dent Th1Uine said the o+ta,. d. ~
T. the greatest failure of our civilizatio
is the present lack of information
/ brotherhood. A reconstruction perit
lie is coming to the world ONLY II
re idaaIs of S,bris+i. st. 90 :. ~. - - = n
quate The thinking of the wor
must be lifted up to the level of Maj
Ie Hill. Except there be a new sense
l. Christian obligation to brother eve,
l. other man, we shall not escape fro
our present slough of misery ar
. hatred.
II AS yet the churches have no Gle
II program or leadership on this poiI
II The pulpit is silent. Great. ecclesia
II teal gatherings seem to have be