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PAUL PREACHING AT ATHENS.

ONE of the most imposing of the many striking scenes which are presented to the mind by the beautiful narratives of Gospel History, is that in which we see the fervent Apostle of the Gentiles standing on Mars' hill, and declaring to his Athenian listeners that unknown God whom they ignorantly worshipped. There is scarcely an imaginable feature of the lovely in nature, of the beautiful in art, and of the refined and polished in the world of mind, which does not lend its aid to the perfection of this truly sublime scene. Raphael has left us, in one of his celebrated Cartoons, the intense impression wrought upon his imagination by the simple narrative of Scripture. Let us look around,-mark the characteristic details of the picture, and enquire who are the listeners that cluster around the Hebrew stranger, that eloquent "setterforth of strange gods."

Above the group spreads the clear sky of that delicious climate, (for the Court of the Areopagus sat in the open air) and around the living forms, the marble statues, and the long lines of columned porticos, circulates an atmosphere fragrant with the breathings of myrtle and citron-groves, and vibrating with the melody of distant song. But the earnest voice of the stranger rises, strong and bold, above the dreamy echoes from the halls of music, and rivets the attention of those curious listeners:-" Ye men

of Athens! I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious,"—and this he fearlessly declares in the face of that court, whose duty it is to take cognizance of all insult to the gods, and of every contemptuous slight of the holy mysteries. A smile of secret assent gleams for a moment on the faces of some of that knot of philosophers, who imagine they have listened to the teaching of the bare, ultimate truth, when they have heard in their hearts the whispered insinuations of Atheism. They look at the stranger,-but, No! he is no brother of theirs! Blended with his stedfast intrepidity is a solemn, reverential awe, testifying that what he says, he believes, and where he believes, he adores.

On his worn countenance and wasted form, are registered the painful tests of his sincerity-he is a man "of labours abundant, of stripes above measure, in prisons frequent, in deaths oft:"-but he is a man too, in whom "weariness and painfulness, watchings and fastings, cold and hunger," have so wrought as to feed his love until it is stronger than death.-And now he proceeds to make known that God, "who, seeing He is Lord of Heaven and Earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands"-And how do the bearers receive his words?-Mark that aged Cynic, whose mean dress, neglected person, and distorted countenance record, at the same time his contempt of the opinion of the world and his gloomy hatred of his fellows. He hears that "God hath made of one blood all nations of men"-" that they should seek the Lord who is not far from every one of them ;"and the earnest pleader appeals to certain of their own Poets who had said, "For we are also his offspring." Then all men must be brethren,—children

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of a common Parent:-The Cynic recoils, and regards with a sneer of contemptuous satire this enthusiast of Love who knows not the luxury of Hate.That man of commanding figure beside him, who, though in a crowd, stands solitary and separate, in the completeness of his self-derived dignity, is a disciple of the Portico. Wrapped in the broad folds of his simple mantle, the Stoic directs upon the character and the doctrines of the Hebrew, a look of stern, searching, unimpassioned enquiry. He sees much to admire in the man,-much to respect in his creed :In the one he traces a signal victory over the allurements of sense and the sufferings of humanity ;-in the other he perceives a system of the most exalted morality-But he detects therein an overthrow to the self-sufliciency of man,-and the doctrine of Jesus is to that proud Greek, foolishness.-In all the indolent ease and dreamy grace of the Garden, stands a young follower of Epicurus:-but the Truth has still less chance of winning its way through the encumbered avenues of his poetic, but enervated mind. He enquires with smiling curiosity, "What will this babbler say"?— but he listens unwillingly when he hears that “Godhath appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness," and he "mocks," when he is told of "The resurrection of the dead."-There is one face of calm and sculptured beauty amidst the group, which arrests the eye by its amiability and its intelligence. The young disciple of Plato has left the studious shades of Academus, to weigh in the philosophic balances of his reason the merits and probabilities of this new creed. He is charmed with the eloquence of the Hebrew, is moved by his earnestness, and sympathises with his character and MAY, 1843.

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feelings. But whence came that learning which enabled him to reveal things which Socrates had never known, and which Plato had never taught? And he returned musingly to the grove, saying, “We will hear thee again of this matter."-But there are other faces whose changing expression marks the working of far deeper emotions, of far stronger convictions. It is "no cunningly devised fable” which has found entrance into the heart of Dionysius the Areopagite. He looks around, above, and within-and he feels, he confesses, that we ought not to think that "the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device;" and henceforth his heart is consecrate to the worship of Him who "dwelleth not in temples made with hands."-That inner shrine of worship is not the only one which in that hour received its new dedication. See how that graceful woman drinks in the new doctrine with the eagerness of a thirsting spirit ;-eye, ear, soul, all open unreservedly to receive the "glad tidings." She will no longer weave garlands for the festivals of Minerva, nor compass her temple in the mystic dance and she will never again, with torch reversed and severed locks, mourn beside the ashes of her dead, because she has received into her soul the faith of Jesus, who is evermore "the Resurrection and the Life."

"After these things Paul departed from Athens;" but he left amidst her marble temples, and her myrtle bowers, souls who "clave unto him and believed."

T. F.

THOUGHTS

FOR PARENTS AND INSTRUCTORS.

ON SELF-CONTROUL.

THERE is nothing more indispensably requisite in those to whom, whether as parents or instructors, the guardianship of youth is intrusted, than the possession of a virtue which is of no easy attainment; a rigid and an habitual self-controul; the maintenance of an entire self-possession on every occasion. No provocation must tempt us to irritability of tone or manner, no case of youthful delinquency, however it may grieve our heart, must affect our temper, and cause us to use the language of irritation and anger. Do we say it is impossible thus to govern our feelings so as to be always temperate and calm? Then may we as well know at first, for we shall certainly discover at last, that we are totally unfit for the work of educating the young. Those who rule others should beyond all doubt first learn to command themselves"Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry," is a proverb which we may well insist upon as peculiarly and absolutely necessary to be attended to by those who have undertaken the solemn responsibilities, the momentous duties of an instructor of youth; for unless we gain such a mastery over our passions as shall produce a calm and collected manner, we shall never command the respect and obedience of the young. We sometimes expect too much; we are not content to wait with gentleness the gradual deve

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