Christianity and Greek Philosophy Part 50

[Footnote 911: Homer, Hesiod, etc.]

[Footnote 912: "Memorabilia," bk. i. ch. i. p. 16.]

[Footnote 913: Lewes's "Biographical History of Philosophy," p. 122.]

[Footnote 914: Watson's "Inst.i.tutes of Theology," vol. i. p. 374.]

[Footnote 915: Pressense, "Religions before Christ," pp. 109-111.]

Socrates laid the foundation for conscious morality by placing the ground of right and wrong in an eternal and unchangeable reason which illuminates the reason and conscience of every man. He often a.s.serted that morality is a science which can not be taught. It depends mainly upon principles which are discovered by an inward light. Accordingly he regarded it as the main business of education to "draw out" into the light of consciousness the principles of right and justice which are infolded within the conscience of man--to deliver the mind of the secret truth which was striving towards the light of day. Therefore he called his method the "maieutic" or "obstetric" art. He felt there was something divine in all men (answering to his _t? da??????_ or _da?????? t?_--a divine and supernatural something--a warning "voice"--a gnomic "sign"--a "law of G.o.d written on the heart"), which by a system of skillful interrogations he sought to elicit, so that each might hear for himself the voice of G.o.d, and, hearing, might obey. Thus was he the "great prophet of the human conscience," and a messenger of G.o.d to the heathen world, to prepare the way of the Lord.

The morality of conscience was carried to its highest point by Plato.

From the moment he became the disciple of Socrates he sympathized deeply with the spirit and the method of his master. He had the same deep seriousness of spirit, that same earnestness of purpose, that same inward reverence for justice, and purity, and goodness, which dwelt in the heart of Socrates. A naturally n.o.ble nature, he loved truth with all the glow and fervor of his young heart. He felt that if any thing gave meaning and value to life, it must be the contemplation of absolute truth, absolute beauty, and absolute Good. This absolute Good is G.o.d, who is the first principle of all ideas, the fountain of all the order and proportion and beauty of the universe, the source of all the good which exists in nature and in man. To practise goodness--to conform the character to the eternal models of order, proportion, and excellence, is to resemble G.o.d. To aspire after perfection of moral being, to secure a.s.similation to G.o.d ([Greek: ????s?? ?e?]) is the n.o.ble aspiration of Plato's soul.

When we read the "Gorgias," the "Philebus," and especially the "Republic," with what n.o.ble joy are we filled on hearing the voice of conscience, like a harp swept by a seraph's hand, uttering such deep-toned melodies! How does he drown the clamors of pa.s.sion, the calculations of mere expediency, the sophism of mere personal interest and utility. If he calls us to witness the triumph of the wicked in the first part of the "Republic," it is in order that we may at the end of the book see the deceitfulness of their triumph. "As to the wicked," he says, "I maintain that even if they succeed at first in concealing what they are, most of them betray themselves at the end of their career.

They are covered with opprobrium, and present evils are nothing compared with those that _await them in the other life_. As to the just man, whether in sickness or in poverty, these imaginary evils will turn to his advantage in this life, _and after his death_; because the providence of the G.o.ds is necessarily attentive to the interests of him who labors to become just, and to attain, by the practice of virtue, to the most perfect resemblance to G.o.d which is possible to man."[916] He rises above all "greatest happiness principles," and a.s.serts distinctly in the "Gorgias" that it is better to suffer wrong than to do wrong.[917] "I maintain," says he, "that what is most shameful is not to be struck unjustly on the cheek, or to be wounded in the body; but that to strike and wound me unjustly, to rob me, or reduce me to slavery--to commit, in a word, any kind of injustice towards me, or what is mine--is a thing far worse and more odious for him who commits the injustice, than for me who suffer it."[918] It is a great combat, he says, greater than we think, that wherein the issue is whether we shall be virtuous or wicked. Neither glory, nor riches, nor dignities, nor poetry, deserves that we should neglect justice for them. The moral idea in Plato has such intense truth and force, that it has at times a striking a.n.a.logy with the language of the Holy Scriptures.[919]

[Footnote 916: "Republic," bk. x. ch. xii.]

[Footnote 917: "Gorgias," ---- 59-80.]

[Footnote 918: Ibid., -- 137.]

[Footnote 919: Pressense, "Religions before Christ," p. 129.]

The obligation of moral rect.i.tude is, by Plato, derived from the authoritative utterances of conscience as the voice of G.o.d. We must do right because reason and conscience say it is right. In the "Euthyphron"

he maintains that the moral quality of actions is not dependent on the arbitrary will of a Supreme Governor;--"an act is not holy because the G.o.ds love it, but the G.o.ds love it because it is holy." The eternal law of right dwells in the Eternal Reason of G.o.d, the idea of right in all human minds is a ray of that Eternal Reason; and the requirement of the divine law that we shall do right is, and must be, in harmony with both.

The present life is regarded by Plato as a state of probation and discipline, the future life as one of reward and punishment.[920]

[Footnote 920: "Republic," bk. x. ch. xv., xvi.; "Laws," bk. x. ch.

xiii.]

Plato was thus to the heathen world "the great apostle of the moral idea;" he followed up and completed the work of Socrates. "The voice of G.o.d, that still found a profound echo in man's heart, possessed in him an organ to which all Greece gave ear; and the austere revelation of conscience this time embodied in language too harmonious not to entice by the beauty of form, a nation of artists, they received it. The tables of the eternal law, carved in purest marble and marvellously sculptured, were read by them."

In Plato both the theistic conception and the moral idea seem to have touched the zenith. The philosophy of Aristotle, considered as a whole, appears on one side to have pa.s.sed the line of the great h.e.l.lenic period. If it did not inaugurate, it at least prepared the way for the decline. It perfected logic, as the instrument of ratiocination, and gave it exactness and precision, Yet taken all in all, it was greatly inferior to its predecessor. From the moral point of view it is a decided retrogression. The G.o.d of Aristotle is indifferent to virtue. He is pure thought rather than moral perfection. He takes no cognizance of man. Morality has no eternal basis, no divine type, and no future reward. Therefore Aristotle's philosophy had little power over the conscience and heart.

During the grand Platonic period human reason made its loftiest flight, it rose aloft and soared towards heaven, but alas! its wings, like those of Icarus, melted in the sun and it fell to earth again. Instead of wax it needed the strong "eagle pinions of faith" which revelation only can supply. The decadence is strongly marked both in the Epicurean and Stoic schools. They both express the feeling of exhaustion, disappointment, and despair. The popular theology had lost its hold upon the public mind. The G.o.ds no longer visited the earth. "The mysterious voice which, according to the poetic legend related by Plutarch, was heard out at sea--'Great Pan is dead'--rose up from every heart; the voice of an incredulous age proclaimed the coming end of paganism. The oracles were dumb." There was no vision in the land. All faith in a beneficent overruling Providence was lost, and the hope of immortality was well-nigh gone. The doctrines of a resurrection and a judgment to come, were objects of derisive mockery.[921] Philosophy directed her attention solely to the problem of individual well-being on earth; it became simply a philosophy of life, and not, as with Plato, "a preparation for death." The grosser minds sought refuge in the doctrines of Epicurus.

They said, "Pleasure is the chief good, the end of life is to enjoy yourself;" to this end "dismiss the fear of G.o.ds, and, above all, the fear of death." The n.o.bler souls found an asylum with the Stoics. They said, "Fata nos duc.u.n.t--The Fates lead us! Live conformable to reason.

Endure and abstain!" Notwithstanding numerous and serious errors, the ethical system of the Stoics was wonderfully pure. This must be confessed by any one who reads the "Enchiridion" of Epictetus, and the "Meditations" of Aurelius. "The highest end of life is to contemplate truth and to obey the Eternal Reason. G.o.d is to be reverenced above all things, and universally submitted to. The n.o.blest office of reason is to subjugate pa.s.sion and conduct to virtue. Virtue is the supreme good, which is to be pursued for its own sake, and not from fear or hope. That is sufficient for happiness which is seated only in the mind, and therefore independent of external things. The consciousness of well-doing is reward enough without the applause of others. And no fear of loss, or pain, or even death, must be suffered to turn us aside from truth and virtue."[922]

[Footnote 921: Acts xvii. 32.]

[Footnote 922: Marcus Aurelius.]

The preparatory office of Christianity in the field of ethics is further seen,

II. _In the fact that, by an experiment conducted on the largest scale, it demonstrated the insufficiency of reason to elaborate a perfect ideal of moral excellence, and develop the moral forces necessary to secure its realization_.

We have seen that the moral idea in Socrates, Plato, Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius, and Seneca rose to a sublime height, and that, under its influence, they developed a n.o.ble and heroic character. At the same time it must be conceded that their ethical system was marked by signal blemishes and radical defects. After all its excellence, it did not give roundness, completeness, and symmetry to moral life. The elements which really purify and enn.o.ble man, and lend grace and beauty to life, were utterly wanting. Their systems were rather a discipline of the reason than a culture of the heart. The reason held in check the lower pa.s.sions and propensities of the nature but it did not evoke the softer, gentler, purer emotions of the soul. The cardinal virtues of the ancient ethical systems are Prudence, Justice, Temperance, and Courage, all which are in the last a.n.a.lysis reduced to Wisdom. Humility, Meekness, Forgiveness of injuries, Love of even enemies, Universal Benevolence, Real Philanthropy, the graces which give beauty to character and bless society, are scarcely known. It is true that in Epictetus and Seneca we have some counsels to humility, to forbearance, and forgiveness; but it must be borne in mind that Christianity was now in the air, exerting an indirect influence beyond the limits of the labors of the indefatigable missionaries of the Cross.[923] By their predecessors, these qualities were disparaged rather than upheld. Resentment of injuries was applauded as a virtue, and meekness was proclaimed a defect and a weakness. They knew nothing of a forgiving spirit, and were strangers to the charity "which endureth all things, hopeth all things, and never fails." The enlarged philanthrophy which overleaps the bounds of kindred and nationality, and embraces a common humanity in its compa.s.sionate regards and benevolent efforts, was unknown. Socrates, the n.o.blest of all the Grecians, was in no sense cosmopolitan in his feeling. His whole nature and character wore a Greek impress. He could scarce be tempted to go beyond the gates of Athens, and his care was all for the Athenian people. He could not conceive an universal philanthropy. Plato, in his solicitude to reduce his ideal state to a harmonious whole, answering to his idea of Justice, sacrificed the individual. He superseded private property, broke up the sacred relations of family and home, degraded woman, and tolerated slavery. Selfishness was to be overcome, and political order maintained, by a rigid communism. To harmonize individual rights and national interests, was the wisdom reserved for the fishermen of Galilee. The whole method of Plato's "Politeia,"

breathes the spirit of legalism in all its severity, untempered by the spirit of Love. This was the living force which was wanting to give energy to the ideals of the reason and conscience, to furnish high motive to virtue, to prompt to deeds of heroic sacrifice and suffering for the good of others; and this could not be inspired by philosophy, nor constrained by legislation. This love must descend from above. "The Platonic love" was a mere intellectual appreciation of beauty, and order, and proportion, and excellence. It was not the love of man as the offspring and image of G.o.d, as the partaker of a common nature, and the heir of a common immortality. Such love was first revealed on earth by the incarnate Son of G.o.d, and can only be attained by human hearts under the inspiration of his teaching and life, and the renewing influence of the Holy Spirit. "Love is of G.o.d, and every one that loveth is born of G.o.d and knoweth G.o.d." To "love our neighbor as ourself" is the golden precept of the Son of G.o.d, who is incarnate Love. The equality of all men as "the offspring of G.o.d" had been nominally recognized by the Stoic philosophers; its realization had been rendered possible to the popular thought by Roman conquest, law, and jurisprudence; these had prepared the way for its fullest announcement and practical recognition by the world. At this providential juncture St. Paul appears on Mars' Hill, and in the presence of the a.s.sembled philosophers proclaims, "_G.o.d hath made of one blood all nations of men_." A lofty ideal of moral excellence had been attained by Plato--the conception of a high and inflexible morality, which contrasted most vividly with the depravity which prevailed in Athenian society. The education "of the public a.s.semblies, the courts, the theatres, or wherever the mult.i.tude gathered" was unfavorable to virtue. And the inadequacy of all mere human teaching to resist this current of evil, and save the young men of the age from ruin, is touchingly and mournfully confessed by Plato. "There is not, there never was, there never will be a moral education possible that can countervail the education of which these are the dispensers; that is, _human_ education: I except, with the proverb, that which is Divine.

And, truly, any soul that in such governments escapes the common wreck, can only escape _by the special favor of heaven."_[924] He affirms again and again that man can not by himself rise to purity and goodness.

"Virtue is not natural to man, neither is it to be learned, but it comes to us by a divine influence. Virtue is the gift of G.o.d in those who possess it."[925] That "gift of G.o.d" was about to be bestowed, in all its fullness of power and blessing, "_through Jesus Christ our Lord_."

[Footnote 923: Seneca lived in the second century; Epictetus, in the latter part of the first century.]

[Footnote 924: "Republic," bk. vi. ch. vi., vii.]

[Footnote 925: "Meno;" see conclusion.]

In the department of _religious feeling_ and _sentiment_, the propaedeutic office of Greek philosophy is seen, in general, in the revealing of the immediate spiritual wants of the soul, and the distinct presentation of the problem which Christianity alone can solve.

I. _It awakened in man the sense of distance and estrangement from G.o.d, and the need of a Mediator--"a daysman betwixt us, that might lay his hand upon us both_"[926]

[Footnote 926: Job ix. 33.]

During the period of unconscious and unreflective theism, the sentiment of the Divine was one of objective nearness and personal intimacy. The G.o.ds interposed directly in the affairs of men, and held frequent and familiar intercourse with our race. They descend to the battle-field of Troy, and mingle in the b.l.o.o.d.y strife. They grace the wedding-feast by their presence, and heighten the gladness with celestial music. They visit the poor and the stranger, and sometimes clothe the old and shrivelled beggar with celestial beauty. They inspire their favorites with strength and courage, and fill their mouths with wisdom and eloquence. They manifest their presence by signs and wonders, by visions and dreams, by auguries and prophetic voices. But more frequently than all, they are seen in the ordinary phenomena of nature, the sunshine and storm, the winds and tempests, the hail and rain. The natural is, in fact, the supernatural, and all the changes of nature are the movement and action of the Divine. The feeling of dependence is immediate and universal, and worship is the natural and spontaneous act of man.

But the period of reflection is inevitable. Man turns his inquiring gaze towards nature and desires, by an imperfect effort of physical induction, to reach "the first principle and cause of things." Soon he discovers the prevalence of uniformity in nature, the actions of physical properties and agencies, and he catches some glimpses of the reign of universal law. The natural tendency of this discovery is obvious in the weakening of his sense of dependence on the immediate agency of G.o.d. The Egyptians told Herodotus that, as their fields were regularly irrigated by the waters of the Nile, they were less dependent on G.o.d than the Greeks, whose lands were watered by rains, and who must perish if Jupiter did not send them showers.[927] As man advances in the field of mere physical inquiry, G.o.d recedes; from the region of explained phenomena, he retires into the region of unexplained phenomena--the border-land of mystery. The G.o.ds are driven from the woods and streams, the winds and waves. Neptune does not absolutely control the seas, nor aeolus the winds. The Divine becomes, no more a physical ????--a nature-power, but a Supreme Mind, an ineffable Spirit, an invisible G.o.d, the Supreme Essence of Essences, the Supreme Idea of Ideas (e?d?? a?t? ?a?? a?t?) apprehended by human reason alone, but having an independent, eternal, substantial, personal being. Through the instrumentality of Platonism, the idea of G.o.d becomes clearer and purer.

Man had learned that communion with the Divinity was something more than an apotheosis of humanity, or a pantheistic absorption. He caught glimpses of a higher and holier union. He had surrendered the ideal of a national communion with G.o.d, and of personal protection through a federal religion, and now was thrown back upon himself to find some channel of personal approach to G.o.d. But alas! he could not find it. A G.o.d so vastly elevated beyond human comprehension, who could only be apprehended by the most painful effort of abstract thought; a G.o.d so infinitely removed from man by the purity and rect.i.tude of his character; a G.o.d who was all pure reason, seemed alien to all the yearnings and sympathies of the human heart; and such a G.o.d, dwelling in pure light, seemed inapproachable and inacessible to man.[928] The purifying of the religious idea had evoked a new ideal, and this ideal was painfully remote. By the energy of abstract thought man had striven to pierce the veil, and press into "the Holy of Holies," to come into the presence of G.o.d, and he had failed. And he had sought by moral discipline, by self-mortification, by inward purification, to raise himself to that lofty plane of purity, where he might catch some glimpses of the vision of a holy G.o.d, and still he failed. Nay, more, he had tried the power of prayer. Socrates, and Plato, and Cleanthes had bowed the knee and moved the lips in prayer. The emperor Aurelius, and the slave Epictetus had prayed, and prayer, no doubt, intensified their longing, and sharpened and agonized their desire, but it did not raise them to a satisfying and holy _koinonia_ in the divine life. "It seems to me"--said Plato--as Homer says of Minerva, that she removed the mist from before the eyes of Diomede,

'That he might clearly see 'twixt G.o.ds and men.'

so must he, in the first place, remove from your soul the mist that now dwells there, and then apply those things through which you will be able to know[929] and rightly pray to G.o.d.

[Footnote 927: Herodotus, vol. ii. bk. ii. ch. xiii. p. 14 (Rawlinson's edition).]

[Footnote 928: "To discover the Maker and Father of the universe is a hard task;.... to make him known to all is impossible."--"Timaeus," ch.

ix.]

[Footnote 929: "Second Alcibiades," -- 23.]

To develop this innate desire and "feeling after G.o.d" was the grand design of providence in "fixing the times" of the Greek nation, and "the boundaries of their habitation."[930] Man was brought, through a period of discipline, to feel his need of a personal relation to G.o.d. He was made to long for a realizing sense of his presence--to desire above all things a Father, a Counsellor, and a Friend--a living ear into which he might groan his anguish, or hymn his joy; and a living heart that could beat towards him in compa.s.sion, and prompt immediate succor and aid. The idea of a pure Spiritual Essence without form, and without emotion, pervading all, and transcending all, is too vague and abstract to yield us comfort, and to exert over us any persuasive power. "Our moral weakness shrinks from it in trembling awe. The heart can not feed on sublimities. We can not make a home of cold magnificence; we can not take immensity by the hand."[931] Hence the need and the desire that G.o.d shall condescendingly approach to man, and by some manifestation of himself in human form, and through the sensibilities of the human heart, commend himself to the heart of man--in other words, the need of an _Incarnation_. Thus did the education of our race, by the dispensation of philosophy, prepare the way for him who was consciously or unconsciously "_the Desire of Nations_," and the deepening earnestness and spiritual solicitude of the heathen world heralded the near approach of Him who was not only "the Hope of Israel" but "the Saviour of the world."

[Footnote 930: Acts xvii. 26, 27.]

[Footnote 931: Caird.]

The idea of an _Incarnation_ was not unfamiliar to human thought, it was no new or strange idea to the heathen mind. The numberless metamorphoses of Grecian mythology, the incarnations of Brahm, the avatars of Vishnu, and the human form of Krishna had naturalized the thought.[932] So that when the people of Lystra saw the apostles Paul and Barnabas exercising supernatural powers of healing, they said, "The G.o.ds have come down to us in the likeness of men!" and they called Barnabas Jupiter, and Paul, Mercurius. The idea in its more definite form may have been, and indeed was, communicated to the world through the agency of the dispersed Jews.

So that Virgil, the Roman poet, who was contemporary with Christ, seems to re-echo the prophecy of Isaiah--

The last age decreed by the Fates is come, And a new frame of all things does begin; A holy progeny from heaven descends Auspicious in his birth, which puts an end To the iron age, and from which shall arise A golden age, most glorious to behold.

[Footnote 932: Young's "Christ of History," p. 248.]

II. _Finally, Greek philosophy prepared the way for Christianity by awakening and deepening the consciousness of guilt, and the desire for Redemption_.

The consciousness of sin, and the consequent need of expiation for sin, were gradually unfolded in the Greek mind. The idea of sin was at first revealed in a confused and indefinite feeling of some external, supernatural, and bewildering influence which man can not successfully resist; but yet so in harmony with the sinner's inclination, that he can not divest himself of all responsibility. "Homer has no word answering in comprehensiveness or depth of meaning to the word _sin_, as it is used in the Bible..... The noun _?a?t?a_ which is appropriated to express this idea in the Greek of the New Testament, does not occur in the Homeric poems..... The word which is most frequently employed to express wrong-doing of every kind is _?t?_, with its corresponding verb..... The radical signification of the word seems to be a befooling--a depriving one of his senses and his reason, as by unseasonable sleep, and excess of wine, joined with the influence of evil companions, and the power of destiny, or the deity. Hence, the Greek imagination, which impersonated every great power, very naturally conceived of ?t? as a person, a sort of omnipresent and universal cause of folly and sin, of mischief and misery, who, though the daughter of Jupiter, yet once fooled or misled Jupiter himself, and thenceforth, cast down from heaven to earth, walks with light feet over the heads of men, and makes all things go wrong. Hence, too, when men come to their senses, and see what folly and wrong they have perpetrated, they cast the blame on ?t?, and so, ultimately, on Jupiter and the G.o.ds."[933]