Evening capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1888-1893, 1891-11-23
GlvEN UP IL lD0LATkY.
DR.. TALMAoE breaches ABOUT
PAUL IN THE CITY OF ATHENS.

PAUL IN The CITY or a ! HENS.
Wonderful Oration Before the Greek
Wise Men which Told Them the
. Greatest Truths Their Ears Had Ever
Listened To.
BRooKLYN, Nov %. The congrega-
fion at the Tabernacle. led by cornet
and organ, sang this morning with
great power the hymn of Isaac Watts,
beginning:
Our God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come.
The sermon, which was on the Acrop-
oils, is the sixth of the series Dr. Tai
mage is preaching on the subjects sug-
gested by his tour in Bible lands. His
text was taken from Acts xvii, l6,
"While Paul waited for them at Athens
his spirit was stirred in him, when he
saw the city wholly given to idolatry.'
1t seemed as If 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 one
and two and three and four 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 prowess 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 us. The
mightiest geographical name on earth
today is America. The signature of an
American president and secretary of
state will take man where an army
could not
Those names brought us into the
presence of a most gracious and beauti
full sovereign, the queen of Greece, and
her cordiality was more like that of a
sister than the occupant of throne
room. No formal bow, as when mon
archs are approached, but q 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 to meet their disciples, walking
while they talked, and where Paul, the
Christian logician, flung many proud
Stole, and got the laugh on many an
impertinent Epicurean.
THE ATHENIAN MARKET PLACE.
The market place was the center of
social and political life and it was the
place where people went to tell and
hear the news. Booths and bazaars
were set up for merchandise of all
kinds, except meat; but everything
must be sold for cash, and there must
be no lying about the value of com
modities, and the Agoranomi who ruled
the place could intlict severe punish
ment upon offenders The different
schools of thinkers had distinct places
set apart for convocation. The Pla-
teans must meet at the cheese market,
the Decelians at the barber shop, the
sellers of perfumes at the frankincense
headquarters.
The market place was a space three
hundred and fifty yards long and two
hundred and fifty wide, and 1t was
given up to gossip and merchandise
and lounging and philosophizlng. All
this you need to know In order TO
understand the Bible when it says of
Paul, Therefore disputed he In the
market daily with them that met him."
You see it was the best place to get an
audience, and II man feels himself
called to preach no wants people TO
preach 10. But before we make our
chief visits of today we must take
turn at the Stadium. IL Is little way
out, but go we must. The Stadium
was the place where the foot races oc-
cured
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 1t TO obtain
corruptible garland, but we are an
incorruptible. 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 today the very tunnel
through which the defeated racer de-
parted from the Stadium and from the
Kisses Of the people, and there are the
stairs up which the victor went 10 the
top of the hill 10 be crowned with the
laurel. In this place contests with wild
beasts sometimes took place, and while
Hadrian, the emperor sat on yonder
height, one thousand beasts We're slain
la one celebration.
But II was chiefly for foot racing,
and so l proposed 10 my friend that
day while we were In the Stadium that
We try which OF us could run the sooner
from end 10 end OF this historical
ground, and so at the word given 10y
the lockers on we started side by side,
but before / got through found out
what Paul meant when he compares