The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1891-11-25
THE ACROPOLIs.
Rev. DR.. Talmage Describes It as
"the Monarch of All Ruins"
A Rock Three Hundred Feet High Upon
which We're Grand Temples and
Statues Mars Hill Whore
Paul Spoke to the Wise
Np4~ Men OF Greece.


was on the Acropolis. His text was
taken from Acts xvii. 10: "While Paul
waited at Athens his spirit was stirred
In him when he saw the city wholly
given to idolatry." Following is the
sermon: tith
1t seemed as II morning would never
come. We had arrived after dark in
Athens Greece, and the night was
sleepless with expectation, and my
watch slowly announced TO me and Q
and and o'clock, and at the first ray
Of dawn called our party to look out
Of the window upon that city to which
Paul said he was debtor, and TO which
the whole earth is debtor for Greek
architecture, Greek sculpture, Greek
poetry, Greek eloquence, Greek Prov
ess, and Greek history That morning
in Athens we sauntered forth armed
with most generous and lovely letters
from the president Of the United States,
and his secretary Of state, and during
all our stay in that city those letters
caused every door and every gate and
every temple and every palace to swing
open before rs. The mightiest geo.
graphical name on earth to-day is
America. The signature Of an Ameri-
can president and secretary OF state
will take man where an army could
not Those names brought US into the
presence OF most gracious and beauti-
full sovereign the Queen Of Greece, and
her cordiality was more like that of a
sister than the occupant OF a throne
room. No formal bow as when mon
archs are approached, but cordial
shake OF the hand, and earnest ques-
tions about our personal welfare and
our beloved country far away But
this morning we pass through where
stood the Agora, the ancient market
place. the locality where philosophers
used SO meet their disciples, walking
while they talked, and where Paul, the
& Christian logician, flung many a proud
Stole, and got the laugh on many an
impertinent Epicurean. The market
place was the center OF social and po-
litical life, and IL was the place where
people went to tell and hear the news
Booths and bazars were set up for mer-
chandise OF all kinds, except meat, but
everything must be sold for cash, and
there must be no lying about the COM
7 modities, and the Agoranomi who ruled
the place could infiict severe punish
ment upon offenders The different
/ schools Of thinkers had distinct places
set apart for convocation. The Platn-
ans must meet at the cheese market,
the Decliaus at the barber shop, the
sellers Of perfumes at the frankinc nsc
headquarters The market-place was
space three hundred and fifty yards
long and two hundred and fifty wide,
and Il was given up to gossip and mer-
chandise, and lounging and philoso-
phizing. All this you need 10 know in
order TO understand the Bible when II
says Of Paul: Therefore disputed he
: in the market daily with them that met
him" You see 1t was the best place to
get an audience, and II man feels him
self called TO preach he wants people to
preach to- But before we make our
chief visits of to-day we must take n
turn at the Stadium II Is a little way
out, but go we must The Stadium was
the place where the foot-races occurred.
Paul had been out there, no doubt,
for he frequently uses the scenes Of
that place as figures when he tells us:
"Let us run the race that is set before
us," and again, "They do it TO obtain a
corruptible garland, but we an incor-
ruptible." The marble and the gliding
have been removed, but the high
mounds against which the seats were
piled are still there. The Stadium is
six hundred and eighty feet long, one
hundred and thirty feet wide, and held
forty thousand spectators There Is
to-day the very tunnel through which
the defeated racer departed from the
Stadium and from the Kisses Of the peo-
pie. and there are the stairs up which
the victor went TO the top Of the hill TO
be crowned with the laurel In this
place contests with wild beasts some
times took place, and while Hadrian.
the emperor, sat on yonder height, one
thousand beasts were slain In one cele-
bration. But IL was chiefly for foot
racing. and so proposed TO my friend
that day while we were in the Stadium
that we try which Of us could run the
sooner from end TO end OF this histori-
cal ground, and SO at the word given by
the lookers-on we started side by side,
but before / got through found out
what Paul meant when he compares
the spiritual race with the race In this
very Stadium, as he says: Lay aside
every weight" My heavy overcoat and
my friends freedom from such encum-
brance showed the advantage in any
kind Of a race OF 'laying aside every
weight"
We come now 10 the Acropolis IL is
rock about two miles In circumference
at the base, and thousand feet in cir
conference at the top, and three hun
dred feet high. On II has been crowded
more elaborate architecture and sculp-
ture than in any other place under the
whole heavens. Originally a fortress,
afterward q congregation of temples
and statues and pillars their ruins an
enchantment from which no observer
ever breaks away. No wonder that Ar
istides thought IL the center Of all things
Greece. the center OF the world; At
tica, the center OF Greece; Athens the
center Of Attica; and the Acropolis the
center Of Athens. Earthquakes have
shaken II; Yerrcs plundered H. Lord
Elgin, the English ambassador at Con-