ACTS xvii. 23. “To the unknown God.”

I. HEATHENDOM’S confession of the unknown God. What-
ever the human intellect could do for man had been done
in that proud city. On the most vital of all matters
the human intellect was dumb, helpless, despairing. How
sad this confession was. Could anything declare more
eloquently the awful wretchedness of heathen men.
II. The worshippers of the unknown God. To this altar
all classes of Athenians came; the Epicureans, the Stoics,
the Platonists, the Cynics, the Sceptics, all found them-
selves as distant from the true God as ever.
III. The revelation of the unknown God.
1. Paul revealed the hitherto unknown God as Creator.
2. Paul revealed the unknown God as the Father of
men.
3. Paul revealed the unknown God as the Saviour of
men.
4. Paul revealed the unknown God as Judge.
Notice how the revelation was received. There were
the undecided; there were the decided.
Alexander Maclaren, D.D. F.