The Washington weekly post. (Washington, D.C.) 1878-1916, 1900-10-16

fTUTn li3f4l10E. CnATi0I OF nikhsz tAafiot
Of the morning; horses OF the sum- the
fates, the furies: statue of Jupiter hold
ing In his right hand the thunderboli: ST.
ver-footed chair. in which xerxes watched
| the battle OF Salamis only a few miles
away. Here f. the colossal statue Of Min
erva. I'm fun armor: eyes OF gTay-colored
stone. figure OF a sphinx on her head:
grifIons by her side (which sss Iiess With
eagles beskl. Spear IN one hand. statue
cf Liberty In the other. a shield carved
with battle scenes. and even the slippers
sculptured and tied on with thongs Of
gold.
Par out at sea the sailors saw this
statue OF Minerva rising high above All
the temples. glittering in the sun Here
are statues OF equestrisns, statue OF
liOness, and there are the Graees. and
yonder a horse in bronze. There Is a
statue said In the time Of Augustus 10
have % its own accord turned around
from east 10 west and spit blood. STATUES
made out OF shields conquered In battle:
staue % Apollo the expeiler of iocusts;
statue Of Anacreon. drunk and singing;
statue Of Oiympodorus. a Greek. memoir
able for the fact that he was cheerful
when others were cast down a trait
worthy OF sculpture. But walk on and
| around the AcroDolis. and yoader you see
| statue OF Hydeia. and the statue OF
Theseus fighting the Minotaur. and the
statue Of Hercules staying serpents. No
wonder that Petronius said II was easier
to ind god than a man in Athens.
Mondrous GrnudeHr nd EeaHfy
"Oh. the AeropolIsi The most Of fits
| temples and statues made from the mar
bic qusFries OF Mount pentelieum, a little
way from the city. have on my table
block of the Partnenon made out of this
marble. and on IL is the sculpture OF
| Phidias. i brought II from the AeropOlis.
| This specimen has on II the dust of ages
and the marks of explosion and battle.
1 but you can get from IL some idea of the
delicate luster OF the Acfepolis when it
was covered with mountain OF this mar
bic cut into all the exquisite shapes that
genius could contrive. and striped with
silver and afiame with gold. The Aero
polls in the morning light OF those an
clients must have shone as though 1t were
an aerolite cast off from the MONDAY sun.
The temples must have looked like petri-
| fed foam. The whole Acropolis must have
seemed like the white breakers of the
great ocean of time.
But We cannot stop longer here. for
| there is hill near by OF more interest,
though 1t has not one chip Of marble to
| suggest statue or temple. We hasten
down the Acropolis TO ascend the Areopa-
gus. or Mars Hill. as IL is called. 1t took
only about three minutes to walk the dis
lance. and the two hill tops are so near
that what ! said in religious discourse on
Mars Hill was heard distinctly by some
English gentlemen on the Acropolis. This
Mars Hill is rough pile of rock fifty feet
high. II was famous long before New
Testament times. The Persians easily
and terribly assaulted the Acropolis from
this hilltop.
Tried Criminals at Might.
Here assembled the court to try crtm-
!nals. 1t was held in the night time, so
that the faces of the judges could not be
seen, nor the faces of the lawyers who
made the plea, and so, instead of a trial
being one of emotion, ii must have been
one of cool justice. But there was one
occasion on this hill memorable above all
others. A little man. physically weak. and
his rhetoric described by his enemies as
contemplate had by his sermons rocked
Athens with commotion. and he was sum-
moned either by writ of law or hearty In
vitatiOn to come uDon that pulpit OF
rock and give a statement of his theology
All the wiseacres of Athens turned out
and went up TO hear him. The more ven
cradle of them sat in an amphitheater, the
granite seats Of which are still visible but
the other people swarmed on all sides OF
the hill and at the base of il TO hear this
man, whom some called a fanatic. and
others called a madcap and others a
blasphemer, and others styled contempt
ously this fellow In that audience were
the first orators of the world, and they
had voices like flutes when they were
passive and like trumpets when they were
aroused, and think they laughed in the
sleeves Of their gowns as this insignif-
cant-looking man rose to speak. In that
audience were scholiasts. who knew ev-
eTything. or thought they did, and from
the end of the longest hair on the top OF
their craniums 10 the end OF the nail on
the longest toe. they were stuffed with n.y.
percriticism, and they leaned back with
superciliOus look to listen.
Oa Rock Where Paul stood.
Standing there on that rock where Paul
stood l read the whole story, Bible In
hand. but that nth Chapter of Acts glow
ed with new meaning as ! read il on Mars
Hill, and so near the Acropolis What 1
have so far said in this discourse was
necessary in order that you may under
stand the boldn6Ss, the defiance the holy
recklessness, the magnificence of Paul's
speech. The first thunderbolt he launched
at the opposite hill-the Acropolis that
moment all aglitter with idols and tenn
pies. He cries out, God who made the
world Why, they thought that Prone
theus made il; that Mercury made it; that
Apollo made IL; that Poseidon made il;
that Eros made it; that Pandrocus made
IL; that BOreas made il; that il took all
the gods of the Parthenon, yea, all the
gods and goddesses of the Acropolis. %
make it-and here stands a man without
any ecclesiastical title, neither d. D. nor
even reverend, declaring that the world
was made by the Lord of heaven and
earth; and hence the inference that all
the splendid covering of the AcrOpolis. so
near thai the people standing on the steps
OF the ParJhenon could see it, was a de-
ceit, falsehoOd, sham, blasphemy
"Oh, Paul, stop for a moment and give
these startled and overwhelmed auditors
time 10 catch their BREATH Make a rhet-
Orical pause! Take look around you at
| the interesting landscape, and give your
hearers time TO recover! No, he does not
make even period, or so much as a
colon or semicolon, but launches the sec
Ond thunderbolt right after the first. ami
III the same breath goes on to say. God
dweleth not in temples made with
ndnds On, Gaui! Is not deity more in the
ParthenOn, or more in the Theseum. or
more in the Erechtheium or more in the
temple of Zeus Olympus. than in the open
AR, more than on the hill where we are
sitting. more than on Mount Hymettus
out yondeT, from which the bees gel their
| honey? No moreP responds Paul: He
dweileth not In temples made with hands
Auditors Were Not spared.
But surely the preacher on the pulpit
| of rock on Mars Hill will stop now. His
audience can endure no more. Two thun-
derbolts are enough. No, in the same
breath he launches the third thunderbolt.
which. 10 them, is more fiery. more terri
/ ole more demOlishing than the others as
/ he cries out: Hath made OF one blood all
nations Oh, Paul. you forget you are
speaking 10 the proudest and most exclu-
/ sive audience In the world Do not say Of