iii. 414) to which Niemeyer subscribes, that there were standing at Athens several very ancient altars, which had originally no inscription, and which were afterwards not destroyed, for fear of provoking the anger of the gods to whom they had been dedicated, although it was no longer known who these gods were. He supposes, there fore, that the inscription flypcbrrn,o to an [some] unknown God, was placed upon them ; and that one of these altars was seen by the apostle, who, not knowing that there were others, spoke accord ingly. To this we may add the notion of Kuinoel (Comm. in Act. xvii. 23), who considers it proved that there were several altars at Athens on which the inscription was written in the plural number ; and believes that there was also one altar with the inscription in the singular, although the fact has been recorded by no other writer. For no argu ment can be drawn from this silence, to the dis credit of a writer, like St. Paul, of unimpeached integrity. The altar in question, he thinks, had probably been dedicated ic-pclurcp 0643, on account of some remarkable benefit received, which seemed attributable to some God, although it was uncertain to whom.
Some have held that the Athenians, under the appellation of the unknown God, really worshipped the true one, having received some dim notion of him from the Jews (Wolf, Curer in loc.) Others
have sought to connect this inscription with that on the temple of Isis at Sais, 'Eycl) eigt TIAN TO -yeyep6s, sect ov, cal etroktemor cal roe et.tbv irtirXov cads cirexciXofrev—` I am ALL that has been, and is, and shall be ; and my veil no mortal hath yet uncovered,' and to refer both to that remote `unknowable' Wisoom, far beyond all known causes, whom the heathen dimly guessed at under obscure metaphors and recondite phrases; but whom the Hebrews knew under the name of Jehovah (Olearius, cited by Wolf ; Hales' Chrono logy, iii. 519-531) ; but these are mere conjectures without any true support. The conclusion to which the soundest inquirers have come is that expressed by Robinson (Add. in Am. Edit. of Calmet): So much at least is certain, that altars to an unknown god or gods existed at Athens. But the attempt to ascertain definitely whom the Athenians worshipped under this appellation must ever remain fruitless for want of sufficient data. The inscription afforded to Paul a happy occasion of proclaiming the Gospel ; and those who em braced it found indeed that the being whom they had thus ignorantly worshipped,' was the one only living and true God.'—J. K.