Mexico Missouri message. (Mexico, Audrain County, Mo.) 1899-1918, 1916-07-13

Athens! What a name to conjure
with. Athens has always epitomized
the acme of intellectualism, culture,
art, and esthetic accomplishment
Driven from Berea and alone, Paul fed
to the coast and taking ship crossed
over to the Thessalonian peninsula
Entering the city-he beholds its stat
uary, meets its philosophers and views
its moral degradation and its myriad
manifestations Of heathenism. Out
wardly cultured, molding the thought
Of the world, yet 1t passed from its
! 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. 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 hia
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
! ". 49, 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-
! 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 Get
tied.
u. The Unknown Made Known, wv.
22-29). Such idle speculation ". 21)
! was of no value to the Athenians. This
in most conciliatory manner ". %
r. W. He would win their favorable
attention before he called them to re-
pentance. Keenly observant, Paul had
seen among the many inscriptions one
! to the unknown God" and this one
whom in ignorance they worshiped, he
would set forth. Many today are in
blindness, seeking to know God when
he has already been made manifest Ito
be seem. John 1:1S; John $50; John
/ 1879; II Cor. 4:6.) 1t is mans own
/ fault II he does not know God from
| 1902, 2S; II Cor. 4:4), and no knowl-
! edge is more important John 1873,
/ Paul's opening words in verse "a were
I but to seize a wellknown object OF
: their street decoration and discussions
and with it TO lead on to the great
truth he yearned to have them compre-
bend. This caught the philosophers
as well as the idle curious. God is not
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. Paurs 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
pean 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 habitatons; yet
how far man has departed from that
/ ideal from. 1881. 1t is of the high
( est Importance that men should seek
God and he is not difficult to find for
those who seek him tier. 29:1S).
/ III. What the Athenians Lacked
! wv. 30-S4). Thus far Pauls auditors
must have followed him keenly, and
! it was the goal toward which he
( had been driving so relentlessly. Such
sublime conceptions, keen logic and
quotations from their writers won
their attention. He then delivered a
keen thrust at this, the psychological
/ moment" by calling upon them to re
pent." The Athenians lacked realiz-
ing sense Of the personality OF God
that man could have personal and In
innate relations with God or that q
man could or had risen from tho
| dead.
Any candid seeker after truth who
! will examine the evidence will be con-
WINGED of the truth that Jesus OF
Nazareth. cruciied upon a Roman
7 cross. rose from the dead.
/ These Athenians also lacked the
! ability to accept this fact and to yield
their lives In obedience to It, and GO
some tried to sneer away the truth.
bet that did not alter 1t.
Some were amused. and some evt-
deneed curious interest, saying, We