a celebrated city of Greece, too well known to be here
described. St. Paul’s celebrated sermon, Acts xvii, was preached on the
Areopagus, or Hill of Mars, where a celebrated court was held which took
cognizance of matters of religion, blasphemies against the gods, the
building of temples, &c. (See _Areopagus_.) The inscription on the
altar, “to the unknown God,” which St. Paul so appropriately made the
text of his discourse, was adopted on the occasion of the city having
been relieved from a pestilence; and they erected altars to “the God
unknown,” either as not knowing to which of their divinities they were
indebted for the favour, or, which is more probable, because there was
something in the circumstances of this deliverance, which led them to
refer it to a higher power than their own gods, even to the supreme God,
who was not unfrequently styled, the “unknown,” by the wiser Heathens.
The existence of such altars is expressly mentioned by Lucian. On the
place where the great Apostle bore his noble testimony against idols,
and declared to them the God whom they ignorantly worshipped, Dr. E. D.
Clarke, the traveller, remarks, “It is not possible to conceive a
situation of greater peril, or one more calculated to prove the
sincerity of a preacher, than that in which the Apostle was here placed;
and the truth of this, perhaps, will never be better felt than by a
spectator, who from this eminence actually beholds the monuments of
Pagan pomp and superstition by which he, whom the Athenians considered
as the _setter forth of strange gods_, was then surrounded: representing
to the imagination the disciples of Socrates and of Plato, the dogmatist
of the porch, and the skeptic of the academy, addressed by a poor and
lowly man, who, ‘rude in speech,’ without the ‘enticing words of man’s
wisdom,’ enjoined precepts contrary to their taste, and very hostile to
their prejudices. One of the peculiar privileges of the Areopagitæ seems
to have been set at defiance by the zeal of St. Paul on this occasion;
namely, that of inflicting extreme and exemplary punishment upon any
person who should slight the celebration of the holy mysteries, or
blaspheme the gods of Greece. We ascended to the summit by means of
steps cut in the natural stone. The sublime scene here exhibited is so
striking, that a brief description of it may prove how truly it offers
to us a commentary upon the Apostle’s words, as they were delivered upon
the spot. He stood upon the top of the rock, and beneath the canopy of
heaven. Before him there was spread a glorious prospect of mountains,
islands, seas, and skies; behind him towered the lofty Acropolis,
crowned with all its marble temples. Thus every object, whether in the
face of nature, or among the works of art, conspired to elevate the
mind, and to fill it with reverence toward that Being who made and
governs the world, Acts xvii, 24, 28; who sitteth in that light which no
mortal eye can approach, and yet is nigh unto the meanest of his
creatures; in whom we live, and move, and have our being.”
described. St. Paul’s celebrated sermon, Acts xvii, was preached on the
Areopagus, or Hill of Mars, where a celebrated court was held which took
cognizance of matters of religion, blasphemies against the gods, the
building of temples, &c. (See _Areopagus_.) The inscription on the
altar, “to the unknown God,” which St. Paul so appropriately made the
text of his discourse, was adopted on the occasion of the city having
been relieved from a pestilence; and they erected altars to “the God
unknown,” either as not knowing to which of their divinities they were
indebted for the favour, or, which is more probable, because there was
something in the circumstances of this deliverance, which led them to
refer it to a higher power than their own gods, even to the supreme God,
who was not unfrequently styled, the “unknown,” by the wiser Heathens.
The existence of such altars is expressly mentioned by Lucian. On the
place where the great Apostle bore his noble testimony against idols,
and declared to them the God whom they ignorantly worshipped, Dr. E. D.
Clarke, the traveller, remarks, “It is not possible to conceive a
situation of greater peril, or one more calculated to prove the
sincerity of a preacher, than that in which the Apostle was here placed;
and the truth of this, perhaps, will never be better felt than by a
spectator, who from this eminence actually beholds the monuments of
Pagan pomp and superstition by which he, whom the Athenians considered
as the _setter forth of strange gods_, was then surrounded: representing
to the imagination the disciples of Socrates and of Plato, the dogmatist
of the porch, and the skeptic of the academy, addressed by a poor and
lowly man, who, ‘rude in speech,’ without the ‘enticing words of man’s
wisdom,’ enjoined precepts contrary to their taste, and very hostile to
their prejudices. One of the peculiar privileges of the Areopagitæ seems
to have been set at defiance by the zeal of St. Paul on this occasion;
namely, that of inflicting extreme and exemplary punishment upon any
person who should slight the celebration of the holy mysteries, or
blaspheme the gods of Greece. We ascended to the summit by means of
steps cut in the natural stone. The sublime scene here exhibited is so
striking, that a brief description of it may prove how truly it offers
to us a commentary upon the Apostle’s words, as they were delivered upon
the spot. He stood upon the top of the rock, and beneath the canopy of
heaven. Before him there was spread a glorious prospect of mountains,
islands, seas, and skies; behind him towered the lofty Acropolis,
crowned with all its marble temples. Thus every object, whether in the
face of nature, or among the works of art, conspired to elevate the
mind, and to fill it with reverence toward that Being who made and
governs the world, Acts xvii, 24, 28; who sitteth in that light which no
mortal eye can approach, and yet is nigh unto the meanest of his
creatures; in whom we live, and move, and have our being.”