The Pickens sentinel. [volume] (Pickens, S.C.) 1871-1903, 1891-12-03
DIR. TALMAGE IN ATHENS.
!. WONDERS OF THE ACROPOLlS AND
ITS SUGGESTIONS.

st. Paul on Mars Hill---A City Wholly
Given to Idolatry.
BROOKLYN, Nov. 22.-Thc conyrega-
ton at the Tabernacle, led by cornet
and organ, sang this morning with great
power the hymn of Isaac Watts, btgin-
ming:
Our God, our help III ages past,
~ Our hope for years to come.
The sermon, which was on the Aero
polls, is the sixth OF The series DR.. Tai
mage is preaching on the subjects suy-
gested by his tour in Bible .au(s. His
text was taken from Acts xvi, lG,
"Whle Paul waited for them at Athens
his spirit was stirred in hIm, when he
saw the city wh> lily given to idolatry."
It seemed as II morning would ncycr
come. We had arrived after dark in
Athens, Greece, and The night was sleep
less with expectation, and my watch
and three a. d four O'Clock: and at the
inst ray OF dawn called "r party TO
look out of the window upon IL It city
TO which Paul said he was debtor, and
TO which the whole earth is debtor 10 .
Greek archi ccturc, & eel; sculplr e,
Greek poetry. Greek cIoqucn &c, Greek
prowess and Greek hst' y.
That mo eng III Athens we saUntcrcd
forth armed with most generous and
lovely letters from TIE pres !rnt Of ,hc
United States and his secl eta o' state,
and during all our stay IL ''rat city those
letters caused every door and every ga e
and every tempe and every palace TO
swing open before us. The mi"h,icst
geographical nalhe on earth today is
America.
But this morning VIC pass through
where ST d the A,o:a, the ancient
market place. Tho locality where philo-
sophers used to m"c their disciplc&.
walking wi 10 The lal ed, and where
Paul, the Christian l. ;icl /, lluu1 marv
proud Ste { an. COT ,rc lau"h Oh many
an lnpcrtinclt Ep'surean. The market
place was the center OF soclal and polii-
cal lite, and it was the p ,cc where peo-
pie went to tell and hear the news.
The market place was q spa c three
hundred and fifty yards long and two
hundred and fifty wide, and il was given
up to gossip and merchandise, and
lounging and pl!ilosophiZ!n . All this
YOU need to know in order 10 undC !Htaud
the Bible when it says tpaul. "'rncrc-
tore disputed ne III the market da ly with
them that net Ii :" You sec 1t WAS
the best place to set an 'dicn. e. and if
q man feels himself C led TO prcac!, he
wants people to preach to. But before
we make our ch' ef visi y Of ,odav we
must take turn at Tie Stadium. 1t is
a little way 0uL, but } We mus. The
Stadium was the place where tie foot
races occurred.
Paul had been out there 10 doubt. iOr
he frequently u.Gs the scenes ol that
place as figures W hen he tells us, "I.rt
US run the lace that Is set before II. -
and again. "ThCy do il TO obtain a CO..
ruptible garland, but we an inrorrup.i.
ble." The marble and the gliding have
been removed, Dat the high "mOunds
against WI Oh the seats were piled are
still there. The Stadium is six hundred
and eighty feet long, one hundred aud
thirty feet wide, and held f.. y thousand
spectators. There is today the very
tunnel through wi 'ch the defeated racer
departed from Jhe Stadium and from the
Kisses Of the people, and there are The
stairs up which the victor went to the
top OF the hill to be crowned with the
laurel.
In this plpce contests with wild beasts
sometimes took place, and while uaG-
rlan, the emperor, sat on yondcr heigh ..
one thousand beasts where slain in one
celebration. But it was chiefly for foot
racing, and SO / proposed to my friend
that day while Wc were in the Stadium
that we try which Of us could run the
sooner from end to end OF this historical
ground, and so at the VOID given by the
lockers on we started side by SIDE huL
before I got thr' '3h / found 0, what
Paul meant when he comra IS The
spiritual race with the race ia this very
Stadium, as he says, Lay aside every
weight" My heavy crcoat and my
friends freedom from such mcumbrancc
showed the 2 Vantage in any I'd of
race of ''laying aside every Y 1igh :"
We come now 10 the Acropol r. III
is rock about two miles in crcumfcr-
ence at the base and thousand icct in
circumference at the top and three hun.
dred feet high. On IL has been crOwrcd
more elaborate architcc .ure and S ''p-
SEr,e than in any other place under the
Whole heavens. Originality q fortress.
afterward a congregation Of ortemplcs aud
statues and pillars, their runs an ell
chantment iroiI which no observer ever
breaks away. No.won@cr that Arslidrs
thought it The Genie Of all tIiu9> -
Greece, the center of the world, Altira,
the center Of Greece; Athens, the ucnlcr
of Attica, and the Acropo'is, tic center
OF Athens. Earthquakes have shaNcu
1t, Verres plundcrcd il.
Lord Elgin, The English ambassador
at Constantinoplc, got permission Of the
sultan to remove from Il ACrODUlis fal-
len pieces OF The building, but he took
from the building to England the finest
statues, removing them at an expense of
eight hundred thousand dollars. A storm
over threw many of the statues of the
Acropolis. MOroslni, the general, at
telLpted to remove from pCdimcnt the
sculptured car and horses of Victory,
but the clumsy machinery dropped it
and all was lost.
But the OVershadowing wonder OF all
|diVinities; centaurs in battle; weapOnry
trt n Marathon; chariot Of night; charoJ
}of the morning.; h orscs Of the sun, the
Hnfna tho fnripo. O nr Ir,Niio,, a H.