The Pickens sentinel. (Pickens, S.C.) 1911-2016, 1916-07-13
LESSON FOR JULY IS
PAUL AT ATHENS.

| LESSON TEXT-Acts 17:16-34
GOLDEN TExT-In him we live, and
move and have our being.-Acts 1928.
Athens! What q name to conjure
with. Athens has always epitomized
the acme Of tntellectualism, culture,
art, and esthetic accomplishment.
Driven from Berea and alone, Paul fled
to the coast and taking ship crossed
| over to the Thessalonian peninsula.
entering the city-he beholds it's stat.
uary, meets It's philosophers and views
Its moral degradation and It's myriad
manifestations Of hcathenism. Out
wardly cultured, molding the thought
Of the world, yet it passed from it's
pinnacle of power because it knew not
God. Paul saw the pantheism of the
! cultured Stoics and the Epicureans,
who because Of their distant and but
little concerned gods, enjoyed the
pleasure Of wealth and ease.
]. Paul Brought to Trial wv. 1G-21).
Such sights stirred the spirit of Paul.
TIE marvel If how indifferent we nav
become in the presence ot the great
spiritual poverty Of our time. His
spirit stirred within him, when he saw
the city crowded with idols. AS Paul
followed his custom and began his
preaching in the synagogue he also
took advantage of the opportunity to
do open-air work in the market place
Here small group and there another
This he did daily until the teachers
". 18) began to take knowledge Of
his presence in their city. Some in
contempt called him "babbler," while
others concluded that he represented
some new religion, though he set be-
lore them the same message Of saliva.
tfon In Jesus Christ which had caused
such remarkable results elsewhere.
That they might hear him more fully
and without the interruption Of the
mart Of trade, Paul is taken to the
Areopagus, or Mars Hill, where from
time immemorial the greatest Grim.
fnals had been sentenced and the most
solemn questions Of religion set
tied.
II. The Unknown Made Known, wv.
22-29. Such idle speculation ". 21)
was OF no value to the Athenians. This
Paul knew, yet he began his address
in most concsliatory manner ". %
r. W. He would win their favorable
attention before he called them to re-
pentance KeeIly observant, Paul had
seen among the many inscriptions one
to tho unknown God," and this one
whom in ignorance thoy wcrshiped, he
would set forth. Many today are in
blindness, seeking to know GOD when
he has already been made manifest (to
| Il TDI
1879; II Cor. 1863 1t Is mans own
fault If he does not know God (Rom.
1:2O-22, 2S; II Cor. 4:4), and no knowl.
edge Is more important (Jchn 1879,
Paul's opening words in verse "a were
but to seize a well-known object Of
their street decoration and discussions
and with it to lead on to the great
truth he yearned to have them compre.
4 hend. This caught the philosophers
ns we'll as the idle curious. God is not
O. philosophic conception Of tho mind
He cannot be confined to temples
! made with hands nor does he need the
services Of our hands, seeing he Gre
ated all things and giveth to all things
life. Pauls next point was that "He
hath made Of one every nation of
E-cA.' AS yet how little men really
believe that truth---witness the Euro.
pcan conflict and tho economic, racial
and social differences of this land.
| Negro segregation and Asiatic cxclu.
sion are but illustrations of our sepa-
ration from the teaching of the broth.
erhood Of man. But this brotherhood
is not alone for altruistic service but
that they should seek God" This
! was his great and glorious purpose in
creating the nations Of the earth, in
setting the seasons in motion, to min.
lister to their needs, and in appointing
the bounds of their habitations; yet
how far man has departed from that
IDEAL (Rorn. 1929. 1t is Of the high.
! est Importance that men should seek
! God and he is not difficult to find for
those who seek him Ger. 20: l3).
III. What the Athenlans Lacked
! (vv. 30-34). Thus far Paul's auditors
must have followed him keenly, and
1t was the goal toward which he
had been driving 80 relentlessly. Such
! sublime conceptions, keen logic and
quotations from their writer's won
their attention He then delivered
keen thrust at this, the psychological
moment" by calling upon them to re
pent." The Athenians lacked realiz.
Ing sense Of tho personality CT God
that man could have personal and in.
innate relations with God or that
man could or had risen from the
dead.
Subway Development.
The first "subways" were cuts for
| MI nd IrIrnc lnn =