as he beheld the city full of idols."
Being thus vexed, and having the gospel of Christ to preach, he reasoned
with the Jews and devout people in the synagogue and every day in the
marketplace with those he met there. He came in contact with
philosophers of both the Epicurean and Stoic schools, and it was these
philosophers who took him to the Areopagus, saying: "May we know what
this new teaching is which is spoken by thee?"

The Athenians of those days were a pleasure-loving set of idolaters who
gave themselves up to telling and hearing new things. Besides the many
idols in the city, there were numerous temples and places of amusement.
Within a few minutes' walk was the Stadium, capable of holding fifty
thousand persons, and still nearer were the theater of Bacchus and the
Odeon, capable of accommodating about thirty and six thousand people
respectively. On the Acropolis, probably within shouting distance, stood
some heathen temples, one of them anciently containing a colossal statue
of Athene Parthenos, said to have been not less than thirty-nine feet
high and covered with ivory and gold. In another direction and in plain
sight stood, and still stands, the Theseum, a heathen temple at that
time. Take all this into consideration, with the fact that Paul had
already been talking with the people on religious subjects, and his
great speech on Mars' Hill may be more impressive than ever before.

"Ye men of Athens, in all things I perceive that ye are very religious.
For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found
also an altar with this inscription, To an unknown God. What therefore
ye worship in ignorance, this I set forth unto you. The God that made
the world and all things therein, he being Lord of heaven and earth,
dwelleth not in temples made with hands; neither is he served by men's
hands as though he needed anything, seeing he himself giveth to all
life, and breath, and all things; and he made of one every nation of men
to dwell on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed
seasons, and the bounds of their habitation; that they should seek God,
if haply they might feel after him and find him, though he is not far
from each one of us; for in him we live, and move, and have our being;
as certain even of your own poets have said, For we are also his
offspring. Being then the offspring of God, we ought not to think the
Godhead is like unto gold, or silver or stone, graven by a