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 neighbour (see  the  holy  anger  of  Moses.  Old  Test.  XXXVII). “Blessed are they  that  mourn,  for  they  shall  be  comforted!”  At  this  moment there are  many  millions  of  heathens  who  do  not  know  God. Let us pray  for  their  conversion.

The causes  of  unbelief. Most  of  those  who  heard  St.  Paul’s  words at Athens  remained  in  their  unbelief. They had  neither  the  will  to believe,  nor  any  earnest  desire  to  know  the  truth. They invited  the apostle to  speak,  out  of  a mere  spirit  of  curiosity  (Acts  17,  21);  but as soon  as  he  entered  on  the  great  doctrines  of  the  Resurrection  and the Judgment,  they  refused  to  listen  to  him  any  more. Some of  them, instead of  examining  his  words,  simply  mocked  at  them,  while  the  rest put him  off  with  the  excuse  that  they  would  hear  him  some  other  time. Frivolity, superficiality  and  religious  indifference  were  then,  as  they  are now, the  principal  causes  of  unbelief.

''In his  discourse  to  the  Athenians  St. Paul'' taught  them  1. about God; 2. about men;  3. about Jesus  Christ.

1. “God”,  he  said,  “dwelleth  not  in  temples”,  in  the  sense  that He can  be  shut  in  a temple. He is  an  infinite,  immeasurable  Spirit, to whom  no  limits  of  space  can  be  allotted. He is  “the  Lord  of  heaven and earth” !

“He is  not  served  with  men’s  hands,  as  though  He  needed  anything.” He  is  infinitely  perfect  of  Himself,  so  that  He  needs  nothing and depends  on  nothing.

“He is  not  far  from  every  one  of  us”,  being  near  to  each  person, “for in  Him  we  live  and  move  and  be.”  He  is  in  us,  and  about  us, and everywhere  present.

He “hath  made  the  world  and  all  things  therein”. He “giveth  to all  life  and  breath  and  all  things”. Without Him  we  could  not  be,  nor live, nor  move;  for  our  being,  our  life,  and  our  movement  depend entirely on  Him,  who  is  the  First  Cause  of  all  things.

He is  indulgent  and  patient,  and  did  not  at  once  punish  the  errors of the  pagans,  but  invited  them  to  do  penance. He is,  however,  just, and will  one  day  “judge  the  world  in  equity”.

2. St. Paul proclaims  the  origin,  dignity,  and  end  of  man.

Man, he  says,  was  created  by  God,  and  in  such  a way  that  all men were  made  from  one,  that  is,  from  Adam,  and  that  all  men  are, therefore, brethren.

Man is  far  above  all  other  visible  creatures. He is,  so  to  speak, “the offspring  of  God”,  having  an  immortal  soul  made  to  the  image of God.

God is  the  end  of  man,  for  He  created  him  “that  he  should  seek Him”. Man, therefore,  is  made  to  know  God,  to  love  God,  and  to  be happy  for  ever  with  God  in  heaven.

3. Of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  St.  Paul  says  that  God  “raised  Him up from  the  dead”,  and  that  thereby  He  hath  “given  faith  to  all”.