Vermont telegraph. [volume] (Brandon [Vt.]) 1828-1843, 1838-09-05

any KIND coulQ nave lnterVened to pre-
vent the view around, either of the city
or the Acropohs. Up these steps the
apostle came from the Agora, where he
had been conversing, attended by curious
listeners, and rejoicing in his heart at the
opportunity given him by his beloved
Lord of testifying against the superstition
and idolatry Of the city.-Gathering up
his garments, he assembled 10 the hill with
the Epicureans aud Stoics who had en-.
countered him; relying upon divine grace
to acquit himself with honor to his Di-
vine Master, and remembering the words
OF our blessed Savior, When they bring
you before magistrates and councils, take
no thought how or what We shall speak,
for it shall be given you in that same hour
what ye shall say"
The altar to the Unknown God was a
slngularIy interesting exhibition of the
spirit of the Athenians, the extent to which
they had arrived in their investigations,
and the profound darkness by which they
were enveloped; and it furnished the
apostle with an admirable introduction to.
the very subject he desired to lay before
them. They we'll knew the altar to
which he referred, and the inscription, so
remarkable, which he quoted, and they
doubtless listened with unusual curiosity
to hear the result of so solemn and au-
thoritative a declaration, as if indeed
Gods ambassador were speaking, Whom
therefore, ye ignorantIy acorShip, Him
declare unto yOu.' The lofty annuncia-
ton was followed by strain of definite,
majestic, simple truth, in regard TO the
Supreme Deity, such as they had never
heard from the wisest, the most eloquent
Of their philosophers; such as could not
have been found in all the pages of Plato,
such as could not have been gathered, in
deed, from the concentrated wisdom of all
their teachers from the earliest ages and
compared with which their whole specu-
lations were but an abyss Of darkness.
"GOd that made the 1oortd !" The
Epicureans and Stoics were here refuted
in one word. That simple sentence. in
the midst of their philosophic speculations,
was like sun shot into chaos. Where
were now their atoms, their contingent
cies their floating forms of matter, their
elementary principles from eternity
God that made the arOrG and all that Is
therein, Lord of heacen and earth! What
sublime announcements! The world,
with some of its loveliest scenery of sky
and sea, mountain, valley, and plain, was
before the apostle like transparent pan
: Drama, and the blue heavens seemed to
echo the sentiment, and repeat it like a
vast intelligence. For the first time in
their lives, the Athenians heard it, and its
sublimity can be fully felt only by those
who have traced the wanderngs of unas,
sisted reason. and the wild chaos of hea.
then speculation concerning God and the
creation.-Then, too, the unity of God
in the fnce Of a system that numbered
thirty thousand deities in its catalogue!
God, that made the world, and all thai
; is therein, DwELLETH NOT IN TEMPLES
MADE WITH HANDS! The grandeur Of
l. the sentiment, if possible, increases, anC
here was another everlasting truth, peal
ed upon the apprehension of the Atheni
ans as from the bosom of eternity. Tc
= feel the power with which this simple
= spiritual assertion would come to thei1
minds in this situation, the reader of thu
chapter ought in truth to stand upon thu
T. summit Of Mars Hill, with the splendor
= OF the AcropoIis in fall sight before him
5 The superstitious Athenians, as they fol
5 lowed the glance of PauI's eye over thos'
splendors, might almost have looked fo
s. some visible sign or audible voice Of re
Z buke from the indwelIing deties, at 81
I daring an assertion. DmeLLeth not IN tenn
- pies made aoith hands! neither is wOrship
ped aoih mems hands, as though he need
ed anything! And yet there was tn
; Parthenon, and within it, and the temple
around it, were enshrined the forms o
= gods many and Lords many; the temple
and their inmates being equally the of
spring Of human depravity, the conceE
ton of human genius, and the executo
r, of human art. Temples were above hin
N before, around hin-temples of surpass
y ing beauty, fit for the abode of gods,
j. aught of human origin could be made 81
With what pregnancy of meaning an
power of emphasis would the words {
re the apostle be uttered in such position
r 1t was like vivid fash of lightnin
e. across the infidel serenity of the atmo
&c pierre a startling truth, revealing tn
n faIsehood of their systems and ada pte
r to rouse their minds from its deIuson-
it. its imaginative dream of mingled supe1
De sttion and poetry. How must they hav
of gazed one at another and at the temple
IS. of the gods while Paul went on in tn
in unheard of strain, declaring the SOW
n reignty, the spiritual perfection, and tt
p- universal providence of God, and brin!
ing their own poets to support his reason
% ing, with happiness Of allusion wit
ne which the listening Athenians must ha,
'e; been much delighted, as they were asto
lid ished at the holiness of the sentiments =.