Note 38 — Part V. LATER TRACES OF THE SPRINKLED BAPTISMS.

That this altar was the expression of a blind though real groping after the true God, is distinctly attested by Paul.—“Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, Him declare I unto you.”—Acts xvii, 23. To suppose as do some that the altar was erected by one who was uncertain which of the tutelary deities he should propitiate, implies Paul to have resorted to a weak pretense, founded on the mere jingle of words, which, so far from constituting an appropriate and impressive basis for his argument and appeal, would have invited the derision and contempt of his skeptical audience. He adopted no such artifice; but appealed to a recognized and affecting fact.