Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 221, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 September 1913 — Defied Greatness of Rome. [ARTICLE]

Defied Greatness of Rome.

The Romans were a proud nation in Paul’s day. They considered it the highest honor to be a Roman citizen, and, in fact, Paul speaks of his own citizenship as a matter of no small importance. Rome had eclipsed Egypt, had absorbed Greece, while Palestine was only an obscure province In a corner of the empire. Rome also had Its great men—orators such as Cicero and Hortenslus; poets such as Virgil, Horace and Ovid; historians such as Tacitus and Livl; generals such as Caesar, Pompey and Tltua. Men from the provinces were overawed by the city’s greatness and glory, and felt that indeed all other places were inferior, and that here dwelt not only riches and pomp, but also culture and wisdom and power. Paul understood all this; and yet he would stand in the forum and say, “I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ; make the most of your city, of your institutions and laws, of your literature, and your world-power. There is greater power In Christianity, for It Is the power of God unto salvation.” When Nathaniel Hawthorne first went to England and contrasted the cathedrals and museums and mansions and literature of the mother country with our small beginnings, he did not feel ashamed of being an American. But he appealed to the future and said that America would give to the world men to match her boundless plains, men to match her great rivers, men to match her snow-clad peaks which rear their heads Into the sky. Even so Paul appealed to the future to prove that though Rome’s power was great, yet It was puny compared with the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ —“- Gospel Supreme Over All. Since that day nineteen centuries have eome and gone. The gospel has performed great exploits. Its empire has grown far beyond the borders of ancient Rome* and it is difficult to believe that there ever was a time when any strong man was ashamed of Christianity. backward we behold the atmosphere of history roseate with gWrious associations of the gospel. It has always been the power of God unto the salvation of mankind. It has never dwelt in thieves’ dens or brothels, it has never filled jails or poorhouses, or fostered schemes of vice or avarice. Evil men have often used Christianity as a cloak to cover their wickedness, and many crimes have been committed in the name of the gospel, but after all these centuries it remains pure and unsullied as it came from the life and the Ifps of Jesus of Nazareth. Yet are there not some today who call themselves Christians and yet go about the world apologetically, always ready to deny their allegiance, and would never stand up and say in the face of ridicule, "I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ” What poor specimens of humanity they are; neither flesh nor fish! There were some people like that in Laodicea of old, and to them the risen Lord said: *1 know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot; I would that thou wert cold or hot. So because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I win spew thee out of my mouth.”