In this they were like our own forefathers the
Northmen, of whom you love to hear, who, though they were wild and
rough themselves, were humble, and glad to learn from every one.
Therefore God rewarded these Greeks, as He rewarded our
forefathers, and made them wiser than the people who taught them in
everything they learnt; for He loves to see men and children open-
hearted, and willing to be taught; and to him who uses what he has
got, He gives more and more day by day. So these Greeks grew wise
and powerful, and wrote poems which will live till the world's end,
which you must read for yourselves some day, in English at least,
if not in Greek. And they learnt to carve statues, and build
temples, which are still among the wonders of the world; and many
another wondrous thing God taught them, for which we are the wiser
this day.
For you must not fancy, children, that because these old Greeks
were heathens, therefore God did not care for them, and taught them
nothing.
The Bible tells us that it was not so, but that God's mercy is over
all His works, and that He understands the hearts of all people,
and fashions all their works. And St. Paul told these old Greeks
in after times, when they had grown wicked and fallen low, that
they ought to have known better, because they were God's offspring,
as their own poets had said; and that the good God had put them
where they were, to seek the Lord, and feel after Him, and find
Him, though He was not far from any one of them.
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