tline of the prominent
features of the Christian revelation, as might have convinced any candid
and intelligent auditor of its incomparable superiority, as well to the
doctrines of the philosophers, as to the fables of heathenism. In the
very commencement of his observations he displays no little address. "Ye
men of Athens," said he, "I perceive that, in every point of view, ye
are carrying your religious reverence very far; for, as I passed by, and
observed the objects of your worship, I found an altar with this
inscription--To the unknown God--whom, therefore, ye worship, though ye
know him not, him declare I unto you." [104:1] The existence in this
city of inscriptions, such as that here given, is attested by several
other ancient witnesses [104:2] as well as Paul, and the altars thus
distinguished appear to have been erected when the place was afflicted
by certain strange and unprecedented calamities which the deities,
already recognised, were supposed to be unable to remove. The auditors
of the apostle could not well be dissatisfied with the statement that
they carried their "religious reverence very far;" and yet, perhaps,
they were scarcely prepared for the reference to this altar by which the
observation was illustrated; for the inscription which he quoted
contained a most humiliating confession of their ignorance, and
furnished him with an excellent apology for proposing to act as their
theological instructor.

His discourse, which treats of the Being and Attributes of God, must
have been heard with no ordinary interest by the polite and intelligent
Athenians. Its reasoning is plain, pertinent, and powerful; and whilst
adopting a didactic tone, and avoiding the language and spirit of
controversy, the apostle, in every sentence, comes into direct
collision, either with the errors of polytheism, or the dogmas of the
Grecian philosophy. The Stoics were Pantheists, and held the doctrine of
the eternity of matter; [105:1] whilst the Epicureans maintained that
the universe arose out of a fortuitous concurrence of atoms; [105:2] and
therefore Paul announced his opposition to both these sects when he
declared that "God made the world and all things therein." [105:3] The
Athenians boasted that they were of nobler descent than the rest of
their countrymen; [105:4] and the heathen generally believed that each
nation belonged to a distinct stock and was under the guardianship of
its own peculiar deities; but the apostle af