The thoughts and feelings in the mind of the Christian Apostle, who came to Athens about the middle of that interval of time which separates the visit of Pausanias from that of Cicero, were very different from those of criticism or admiration. Paul burned with zeal for that God whom, "as he went through the city," he saw dishonored on every side. He was melted with pity for those who, notwithstanding their intellectual greatness, were "wholly given to idolatry." His eye was not blinded to the reality of things, by the appearances either of art or philosophy. Forms of earthly beauty and words of human wisdom were valueless in his judgement, and far worse than valueless, if they deified vice and made falsehood attractive.
How beautifully stated, and how true. So often today we err as we continue to deify vice and make falsehood attractive.
Read the record of Paul's visit to Athens in the book of Acts, chapter 17.
