into a commotion, and in the midst of it to assassinate
the objects of popular dislike. Besides, Jason had given
bail, probably to send away the so-called disturbers of
the peace, and it was therefore deemed advisable that
Paul and Silas should leave quietly and unobserved
by the infuriated rabble and their malignant instigators.
The missionaries travelled to Berea, fifty-seven miles
south-west, and commencing their evangelical labours,
found the Jews in that city more docile and less under
the influence of prejudice than those in Thessalonica.
They "received the word with all readiness;" and were
more nolle in candour and frankness ; more ingenuous,
for, instead of scorning the truth and reviling its preachers,
they did what really was their duty " they searched the
scriptures daily whether those things were so " whether
the statements made by Paul corresponded with the Hebrew
oracles. The inference then is, that he preached in the
Berean synagogue the same truths, and in much the same
form, as he had done in the previous cities which he had
visited. The result was, as indeed always happens when
M
178 PAUL AT ATHENS.
there is openness of mind and study of the Bible, that
" many believed," honourable women which were Greeks
proselytes of high rank and " of men not a few."
But Jewish rancour never slept. It had failed in its
object so far, but no thanks to it the apostle still lived.
Yet it pursued him with the staunchness of a blood-hound,
and go where he pleased, it soon tracked his steps and came
up with him. For we are told " But when the Jews of
Thessalonica had knowledge that the word of God was
preached of Paul at Berea, they came thither also and
stirred up the people." Paul must therefore take leave of
the noble Bereans, and still pursue his southward journey ;
this time without his colleagues. There was work before
him, and Jewish spite gave him no rest till he overtook it.
Though he had been invited across the ^Egean by a man
of Macedonia, he must now depart from that province.
They " immediately sent away Paul to go as it were to the
sea;" Silas and Timothy being left behind. The words
" as it were to the sea," do not mean as they seem to do
in English, that his journey sea-ward was a mere feint to
elude his enemies, though some have held this notion, but
merely that he travelled designedly toward the sea. Pro-
bably he might not intend to embark at once at least for
Athens but might wish to revisit Philippi and Thessa-
lonica. It is not formally stated, but the inference is, that
Paul went by sea to Athens. The journey by land would
have been one of two hundred arid fifty-one miles, and
there is no record of it or of any place visited on the way j
whereas the voyage, if he took shipping at the mouth of
the Haliacmon, might be accomplished in three days. The
GLORIES OF GREECE. 179
apostle, after sailing past shores, islands, mountains, head-
lands, and scenes of imperishable fame Olympus, Mara-
thon, Salamis, and Sunium landed at Phalerum, or rather
at the Piraeus, and wending his way between the long walls
built by Themistocles, but now partly in ruins, entered
the city "mother of arts and eloquence" the intellec-
tual metropolis of the world.
The splendour of Greece had waned, and it had passed
under Koman sway. But what had survived the ravages
of time and conquerors attested its ancient grandeur. In
that region of south-eastern Europe, genius had dwelt
incarnate. It had built the loftiest epics, recited the
happiest histories, argued in the stateliest dialogues, wept
in the saddest tragedies, laughed in the wittiest comedies,
harangued in the mightiest orations, discoursed in the
subtlest metaphysics, erected the noblest temples, carved
the truest statues, painted the divinest pictures, wrestled
in the greatest games, spoken the finest language, sung
the gayest songs, and fought the bravest battles that
the world ever saw. The studies of the apostle, not
at Jerusalem certainly, and least of all at the feet of
Gamaliel, but in his native Tarsus, renowned for its
cultivation of Grecian literature, must have made him
acquainted with these glories of Athens. He had enjoyed
the grace and euphony of Xenophon, and been charmed with
the simple dignity of Herodotus. He had thrilled under
JEschylus, and glowed with Demosthenes, whose intense
logic and barbed interrogations he sometimes reproduces.
He could be no stranger to the imagery and music of
Homer, the depth and beauty of Plato, the arms, oratory,
180 PAUL AT ATHENS.
and magnificence of Pericles, or the terse compacted style
of Thucydides which he occasionally resembles; and he
must have often pictured to himself the groves of the Ilissus,
the proportions of the Parthenon, and the keen discussions
of the Porch, the Academy, the Lyceum, and the Garden.
The city which he entered was " built nobly, pure the
air, and light the soil." The limestone rock on which
Athens stands, supplied the ordinary material for its
buildings, and also from many of its quarries the marble
for its nobler structures. The plain is bounded by ranges
of hills on the north-west by Mount Parnes, on the
south-east by Mount Hymettus, and on the north-east by
Mount Pentelicus, out of which rises the higher pinnacles
of Lycabettus, looking upon the city as Arthur's seat upon
Edinburgh. About a mile south-west from it, and in the
city, there rose the Acropolis, not unlike Stirling castle in the
upper valley of the Forth. West of it was a smaller rock,
the Areopagus or scene of judgment the council meeting
in the open air on its south-eastern summit, and sitting on
benches hewn out in the rock, which form three sides of a
quadrangle. To the south-west, and about a quarter of a
mile from it, there was another and lower eminence, the
Pnyx, the place of the great popular assemblies also held
in the open air under the deep blue of a Grecian sky
with its bema or stone block on which the orator stood
and addressed the crowd, which gathered in a semicircular
area of twelve thousand square yards before him, and
where Solon, Demosthenes, and Pericles often spoke to the
assembled " men of Athens."
The apostle is now in this city, not ignorant of its
IDOLATRY. 181
ancient renown, of its history and literature. And he was
alone, having sent word by those who conducted him to
Athens, to Timothy and Silas to rejoin him "with all
speed." Timothy soon came, but was soon sent off again
to Thessalonica, as we learn from 1 Thess. iii. 1, 2. In
fact, it would seem as if Paul had originally intended to
make Athens only a rendezvous, and not a scene of labour,
till he found from Timothy that Macedonia was still shut
against him. As he waited, he wandered through its
streets with inquisitive and sorrowing gaze, it was so
unlike Jerusalem, the city of God. His spirit was stirred
within him roused and excited to profound grief and
indignation, as he surveyed its glories, not with the eye of
an artist, but that of a Christian. The statues and temples
were not looked on by him as the creations of genius, but
the means and results of debasing superstitions. Intellect,
taste, and beauty were alike profaned, for the one God
was dethroned. Wherever the solitary stranger gazed,
he saw the manifestations of polytheism nature deified,
humanity depicted as superhuman, and virtues, nay, even
vices, exalted into divinities. It was an unwonted sight
which greeted him. The city was wholly given to idolatry
idol-full ; crammed, as one might say, with idols one
idolatrous mass. Its public buildings were consecrated as
temples, and its streets and forums thickly peopled with
statues of the gods. Never had he seen the second com-
mandment so wantonly and systematically violated ; never
had he beheld so much art and wealth lavished on a
wretched idolatry. There had never met his gaze such
artistic beauty of appearance with such spiritual deformity
182 PAUL AT ATHENS.
of purpose, such symmetry of form and structure with such
miserable misconception of the Divine unity and infinity.
The epithet " idol-full " given by Luke to Athens, is fully
verified by ancient writers both of satire and history. One
of the former affirms that it was easier to find a god than a
man in it ; and one of the latter, that it was one whole
altar, one entire sacrifice and offering to the gods. Another
tells us how a person could scarce find his way through its
streets for the troops of idol-mongers. In the crowds of gods
which, turn as you will, your eye gazed upon, were Minerva
and Neptune, Jupiter and Ceres, Apollo and Bacchus,
Hercules and Theseus, the Muses and the Furies, Venus
and the Graces, Diana and the Nymphs of the Dmos or
civic assembly. Altars or temples were erected to Fame,
Modesty ? Energy, Mercy, Persuasion, Victory, and Oblivion.
But the apostle was no vulgar iconoclast ; he did not lift
his arm, and in the name of the Lord of Hosts " break down
the carved work." He sought to reach the hearts of men,
and therefore he first spoke to his countrymen and to the
proselytes, and then turned to the Athenian population.
These last he met in the market-place forum which was
usually crowded with loungers. This market-place of
Athens, surrounded by stately porticoes and colonnades,
served not only the purpose of an exchange and news-
room, was not only a scene of pleasure as well as business,
but philosophers and poets traversed it, and the sharp wit
of the people was whetted by a perpetual war of words
and exchange of raillery. It was, in short, the heart of
Athens, sending forth its vital currents on all sides. Every
variety of population was there, and the apostle easily found
EPICUREANS AND STOICS. 183
numbers to listen to his preaching, to batter him with
question upon question, to turn his earnestness into ridicule,
and toss aside with satiric levity or gay invective the point
of his argument and appeals. A man of his experience
and practical wisdom could easily secure such admissions
and extort such assents from an opponent, as that he should
be led, step by step and unconsciously, to an untenable
conclusion or one in utter contrast to his original state-
ment, and thus the onlookers would be reminded of the
humour and shrewdness of the old Socratic dialogue.
Close upon the agora or forum was a porch or arcade,
painted with frescos from the battle of Marathon; there
Zeno had taught, and there the Stoics, his followers,
still congregated. The audacity of a Hebrew foreigner in
daring to ascribe ignorance to the sages of Athens, and in
affirming that he was the vehicle of a new and superior
philosophy, must have created a sensation which not only
surged through the populace, but reached the schools of
philosophy. The Epicureans and Stoics, therefore, assailed
him, and some of them set him down as a babbler one that
fluently retails meaningless scraps, and others as a preacher
of new divinities. The last conclusion was nearest the truth,
though the expression proved how grievously they misin-
terpreted the apostle's message. Other some said " He
seemeth to be a setter forth of strange gods." The plural
" gods " may be used for the singular, the reference being
to Jesus, and to the resurrection as proving his Godhead ;
but it is a very natural inference from the subjoined expla-
nation, because he preached unto them "Jesus and the
resurrection," that the Greek term anastasis resurrection,
184 PAUL AT ATHENS.
was taken for a female deity, a3 if Paul had brought to
Athens a new pair of divinities. His preaching opposed
the Epicurean theory of creation and the Stoical notion of
providence ; proclaimed a personal presiding God, who has
created all things, whose worship must be spiritual, and on
whom man depends for being and well-being ; who takes an
interest in every creature, and orders all things wisely and
well 5 who has perfect freedom of action, ruling as He wills ;
whose heart is as tender as His arm is powerful; whose
pure and righteous law commands obedience ; whose image
seeks conformity from man as his highest dignity and per-
fection, and whose presence and glory in another sphere are
the crown of that immortal blessedness which His genuine
worshippers are assured of possessing. Such novelties
excited both the philosophers and the volatile population,
whose passion for news was proverbial. Paul was, therefore,
brought out of the noise and bustle of the forum up those six-
teen steps cut in the rock to Mars-hill Areopagus not to
be tried, but to address the assembly on that convenient and
hallowed spot. He was not arraigned or put on his defence,
but was taken to Mars-hill, only to gratify the inquisitive
population, who said, with a tinge of polite irony "May
we," or can we, " know what this new doctrine whereof
thou speakest is?" The historian, to explain the cause of
this eager procedure, which the apostle met with nowhere
else, adds a trait of Athenian character " For all the
Athenians, and strangers which were there, spent their
time in nothing else, but either to tell or to hear some new
thing' 1 '' some newer thing than the last news they had
gathered. Demosthenes himself cries in his first Philippic
MARS-HILL. 1 85
" Do ye like walking about and asking one another, is
there any news ? Why, could there be greater news than
a man o Macedon conquering the Athenians and directing
the policy of Greece?"
/ On these stone benches had sat the judges so renowned
for equity in former times, and there many a solemn
appeal and stirring oration had been delivered for and
against the culprit. The associations connected with the
scene might indeed have overpowered him. There had
Socrates, at seventy years of age, been judged and con-
demned as "a setter forth of strange gods," and he was
about to declaim against the prevalent idolatry, standing
in the midst of its artistic and architectural glories. Well
might his heart be stilled for a moment when he remem-
bered his position where many a brave man had quailed,
and when he thought of the fastidious and prejudiced
audience before him, and of the solemn and unwelcome
truths he was about to announce to them. Yet he stands
unmoved, while mighty thoughts are stirring within him.
He rises to the occasion, and as his eye takes in the scene,
he begins as easily, quietly, and pointedly, as if he had
been wont to stand there before " Ye men of Athens, I
perceive that in every point of view ye carry your reverence
for the gods farther than most : for, as I was passing along
and inspecting the objects of your devotion, I found also
an altar on which had been inscribed " To an Unknown
God;" what, therefore, without knowing it, ye worship,
that I proclaim to you. The God who made the world
and all that is in it, as being Himself Lord of heaven and
earth, dwelleth not in hand-made temples, neither is He
186
PAUL AT ATHENS.
ministered to with men's hands as if He were in want of
anything, seeing Himself is giving to all life, breath, and
all things, and did make every nation of men sprung of
one blood to dwell on the whole face of the earth, having
appointed the times and the limits of their habitation,
so as that they should seek God, if by any chance they
might feel after and find Him. And, indeed, He is not
far from every one of us, for in Him we live, and move,
and have our being, as also some of your own poets have
said l For His offspring also are we.' Therefore, being the
offspring of God, we ought not to think that the divine
nature is like gold, or silver, or stone, the sculpture of
man's art and device. The past periods of this ignorance
God having indeed overlooked, does now command all men
in all places to repent ; because He has appointed a day in
which He will judge the world in righteousness by that
man whom He has ordained, having afforded assurance to
all men, in that He has raised Him from the dead." The
address, for the sake of illustration, may be divided into
three parts.
PAUL AT ATHENS. 187
fart t
The apostle thus commences "Ye men of Athens, I per-
ceive that in all things ye are too superstitious' 1 ' 1 or, rather,
"ye cany your reverence for the gods farther than most."
The phrase, " too superstitious," as implying blame, is an
unfortunate translation. The apostle appeals simply to the
fact, and not to its character. He only uttered a common-
place, for the Athenians were noted among the other
Grecian peoples for this propensity. They had pre-
eminence in the scrupulous and unlimited attention paid by
them to the national worship. The inspired orator alludes
simply to this notorious circumstance, but neither smiles
at it in compliment, nor frowns upon it in censure. The
implication is, that he came to guide and rectify this ten-
dency of the Athenian mind. It had outcropped in every
possible way, and given a multiform expression to itself in
sculpture and masonry ; but his mission was to turn it into
the true course, and lead it to the knowledge of the one,
pure, invisible, infinite, eternal, and loving Spirit.
Standing where the apostle did, he saw his words verified
all around him. Above him was a temple of Mars from
whom the hill took its name; and near him was the subter-
ranean sanctuary of the Eumenides or Furies, but usually
called by the first title, from the same feeling which led the
old Scottish people to name the fairies the " good folk,"
though they were a waspish and capricious race. The forum
he had left was studded with statues, the altar of the twelve
188
PAUL AT ATHENS.
gods being in its centre and the temple of Venus at its
eastern end, while on all sides of it were deified heroes of the
old mythology. Behind him was the Pnyx sacred to Jove,
and before him was the Acropolis, its sides and summit
covered with religious monuments, every available ledge
laden with its shrine or image, its platforms filled with
sculptured groups of gods in various forms and attitudes ;
on its northern extremity the Erectheum, with its inclosures
and its presiding deities ; the cave of Pan and Apollo with
its sacred fountain not far from its base, and adjoining it
the sanctuary of Aglaurus ; and the Parthenon crowning
the whole, the central glory of the scene ; while opposite
the magnificent Propylsea, and formed out of the trophies
of Marathon, was the gigantic bronze statue of the goddess
herself, with spear and shield the name-mother of the city,
and its great protector. In the north-west quarter was the
temple of Theseus, and in the opposite direction was that of
Jupiter Olympius. A temple of Ceres was close to the
Pompeium, in which were kept the robes and vases for the
religious processions ; and a temple of the divine Mother
was near to the great council-house in which also were
shrines and altars. There were shrines, too, at the prin-
cipal gates. The altar of Prometheus was within the
groves of the Academy; and the Lyceum, with its tall
plane-trees, was dedicated to Apollo. There were also the
Pythium and the Delphinium, characteristic names of
temples, with those of Euclea, of Castor and Pollux, and of
Serapis. Every street, in short, had some object or scene
of devotion; every view was bounded and fringed with
fanes and idols. Paul had now visited many towns, had
THE UNKNOWN GOD. 189
been at Antioch, Paphos, and Philippi, but he had seen
nothing to compare with Athens in its excessive idolatry.
The apostle then gives the plain reason why he con-
cluded that the Athenians were careful beyond others in
this worship " For as I passed by and beheld your devo-
tions " rather, "as I was passing along and surveying the
objects of your devotion, I found an altar with this inscrip-
tion l To the Unknown God' " more correctly, " to an
Unknown God." This is the apostle's proof of his previous
statement, and he bases it on his own personal observation.
He tells them that what he saw was evidence of their great
scrupulosity in matters of worship. Not only did they
worship gods whose titles and attributes they knew, but
they had built an altar to a foreign god, whose name even
they were not acquainted with, and offered homage to an
anonymous divinity. They were not contented with their
own gods, but they had introduced a nameless stranger,
and erected an altar to him. Were they not then, as he
had named them, lavish in their worship so sweepingly
attentive in their religion as to recognize in their
extravagant devotions the existence of an undiscovered
divinity? Ancient writers verify the apostle's statement.
Philostratus, in his life of Apollonius, that strange wan-
derer, says "It is safe to speak well of all the gods,
especially at Athens, where are erected also altars of
unknown gods." Pausanias, who visited Athens about a
hundred years after the apostle, and has left a full account
of the city, speaks of such an altar at Phalerum, one of the
ports of the city. How the custom originated, we know
not. It is said, that during a plague, when it was not
190 PAUL AT ATHENS.
ascertained which of the gods had sent it, an altar was
built to the appropriate divinity whoever he was and they
did not identify him for fear of mistake was built to him
who had sent it, and who could alone remove it, though his
name was unknown. But, in reality, this impulse was the
natural result of polytheism. Amidst the multiplicity of
gods, there was great anxiety lest any one should be for-
gotten, for the neglected deity might be affronted at such an
omission, and be provoked to punish it. The worshipper
therefore offered homage to all the gods he knew and to
all others, if any existed, though he did not know them.
He dreaded the vengeance of some power unrecognized by
him ; and to secure that every deity was invoked, he might
erect an altar to an unknown god. Miserable uncertainty !
when the devotee on the one hand feared the revenge of
some god, if he did homage to his rival, and, on the other
hand, incurred an awful retribution if, in his haste or
ignorance, any of the hosts of deities should be unackow-
ledged and slighted by him ! Amidst the crowds of known
and shrined divinities at Athens, there was one with an
altar, but without a name an unknown god. On the
./statement of this fact, so patent to his audience, and which
probably they accepted as a tribute to their catholic piety?
the apostle skilfully and suddenly founds his defence and
introduction. In the synagogue he had selected his theme
from Moses, but on the Areopagus he takes his text from
a heathen altar. To the children of Abraham he pro-
claimed the Christ, but to the citizens of Athens he
" preached Jesus." Nor did he declaim, like an excited
Jew, against pagan idolatry, but he penetrated to the
TRUE CHARACTER OF IDOLATRY. 191
feeling which lies beneath it to that inner necessity under
which man must worship ; and thus he adds
" Whom, therefore, ye ignorantly worship, Him declare
I unto you;" or " What, therefore, not knowing it, ye wor-
ship, that I proclaim unto you." The neuter form makes
the declaration more emphatic from its very vagueness.
The apostle admits that they worshipped, for a feeling of
instinctive devotion underlies polytheism. True, indeed,
he argues " What say I then ? that the idol is anything ?
or that which is offered in sacrifice to idols is anything ?
But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice,
they sacrifice to devils, and not to God : and I would not
that ye should have fellowship with devils." In this
passage, addressed to the neighbouring city of Corinth,
the apostle dwells on the result or actual character of
idolatry. Being such a violation of the divine law, it is
a sphere of the devil's operation so contrived that he
is adored. It is not Jupiter that is worshipped, since
there is no such being or power. Evil spirits lurk behind
the idolatrous framework, and make it subservient to their
purposes, prey upon man's worshipping instincts, and
really receive the homage. Yet there is worship offered
on the part of man ; his ignorant and fallen spirit knows
that there is something above it, something which can
and does shape its destiny, with which it is indissolubly
connected, and to which it, therefore, erects temples and
consecrates altars. It would be rash to affirm that the
apostle expressly identifies the " unknown God " with
the true God. The unknown God was some being over
and beyond their conventional divinities, and there is no
192 PAUL AT ATHENS.
proof that the mysterious God of the Jews was intended.
But such an altar was a confession that their catalogue did
not comprehend all the powers and essences of the universe,*