Mansfield mirror. (Mansfield, Wright County, Mo.) 1908-1957, 1916-07-13
LESSON FOR JULY 1e
PAUL At ATHENS.

INV! - '-'SSs
LESSON TEXT-Acts 17:ls-3i.
GOLDEN TEXT-In him we live. and
move and rave our being.-Acts 17:28.
Athens! What a name TO conjure
with. Athens has always epitomized
the acme Of in~tellectualism, culture.
art, and esthetic accomplishment.
Driven from Berea and alone, Paul fed
to the coast and taking ship crossed
over to the Th~essalonian peninsula.
Entering the city--he beholds its stat
uary. meets its philosophers and views
its moral degradation and Its myriad
manifestations Of h%eathenism. Out
wardly cultured, molding the thought
Of the world. yet It passed from its
pinnacle of power because 1t 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. 1920.
Such sights stirred the spirit Of Paul.
The marvel is how Indifferent we may
become in the presence Of 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 a small group and there another.
This he did daily until the teachers
". lSI began to take knowledge of
his presence in their city. Some In
contempt called him a "babbler," while
others concluded that he represented
some new religion. though he set be-
fore them the same message Of saliva
ton 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"
inals had been sentenced and the most
solemn questions Of religion set"
tied.
u. The Unknown Made Known, wv
22-29). Such idle speculation ". 2l)
was of no value to the Athenians. This
Paul knew, yet he began his addrest
In a most 'conciliatory name ". %
R. W. He would win their favorable
attention before he called them to re
pentance. Keenly observant, Paul had
.sa. .r,a,~ %I,a r,orr ~, crrt Yttonc nnG,
TO the unknown God" and this one
whom in ignorance they w%orshiped. he
would set forth. Many today are In
blindness. seeking to know God when
he has already been made manifest Ito
be SEEM. John 1918: John $500: John
1879; II Cor. 4:6.) 1t is mans own
fault if he does not know God from.
1902 rs; II Cor. 4:4). and no knowl-
edge is more important John l7:3).
Paul's opening words in verse "a were
but to seize a well-known object of
their street decoration and discussions
and with 1t to lead on to the great
truth he yearned to have them compre-
bend. This caught the philosophers
as we'll as the idle curious. Goo is not
a philosophic conception of the 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. Paul's next point was that He
hath made of one every nation OF
men," As yet how little men really
believe that truth-witness the Euro.
mean conflict and the economic. racial
and social differences of this land.
Negro segregation and Asiatic exclu-
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 from. 1921. 1t Is OF the high.
est importance that men should see
God and he is not difficult to find for
those who SEX him Tier. 29:l3). The
souls of men are not satisfied without
him. Witness the mad rush after
pleasure and the restless desire to pos
sess the things Of time and sense and
which perish with the using. Paul
displays his university training by
quoting and approving the Greek poet
Aratus ". 2S.) However, while all
men are the offcpring of ~(created by
God, yet they are not all truly his chill
dren John S:44, At; I John $40; Math'
1898: Gal. -4:4.6; Heb. 1878; Eph.
2:3). Only such are children as have
received Jesus Christ (John l:12 R,
w. All those who are led by his
Spirit are the sons Of God" (Roia
S:14; Gal. 1926 R. w.
III. What the Athenians Lacked
wv. 3O.34). Thus far Paul's auditors
must have followed him keenly. and
Il was the goal toward which he
had been driving so relentlessly. Such
sublime conceptions. keen logic and
quotations from their writer's wor
their attention. He then delivered 9
keen thrust at this. the Psychologist
moment" by calling upon them to re
pent." The Athenians lacked a realiz
ing sense of the personality Of God
that man could have personal and in
innate relations with God or that
man could or had risen from the
dead.
"All men everywhere" are called Il
repentance and the time is NOW.
The reason for this call is because
"he hath appointed a day in which
he will Judge the Inhabited earth"
~, --~1 kk~k ha ,,,lli 20 l,lu.