"The lively imagination of the Greeks, and the out-door life of their

primitive state, produced a number of tales and legends about the gods.

Some of these were based on the tales with which their forefathers were

familiar in their early home in Asia. The people lived in separate

villages. Wandering minstrels and merchants carried these tales of

gods and heroes from village to village. Poets then caught them up and

adorned them with the touches of a livelier fancy. Thus, soon, a rich

and luxuriant system of legendary lore was in possession of the whole

people.

"Just as is the case with other nations, the beings called gods by

the Greeks are but the personifications of the powers and objects of

nature, and the legends but represent the courses of nature and its

operations. To these primitive notions imagination afterwards added,

and poetry clothed the whole with a warm glow. Thus was formed the

popular Greek faith" (The World's Worship--Dobbins--pp. 150-157).

2. _Religion of the Romans: General View:_ "Long before Rome was

founded, Italy was peopled with an industrious class of farmers. But we

have scarcely any records of those early times. Some of their gigantic

buildings, lakes and canals remain, but these are almost all that is

left. The religious ideas of these early settlers entered into and,

to a great extent, moulded the religion of the Romans. The people of

Italy did not have the same vivid imaginations and lively fancies

as the people of Greece. Their early worship seems to have been of

a more serious character than that of the Greeks. Their gods were

freer from moral taint, and virtue rather than vice was required in

followers of the Roman religions. The poetic art was little cultivated

among them, or for that matter, in Rome of a later day. But Rome soon

began to borrow from Greece, and to appropriate her gods, heroes and

myths. There are no Italian-myths corresponding to those of Greece. In

Virgil and Ovid, a few adventures of the Italian gods are related, but

these are plainly limitations, or slight modifications, of the Greek

stories." (The World's Worship, pp. 173-4).

3. _Zeno:_ "Zeno, founder of the celebrated school of the Stoics,

lived in the third century before our era (about 340--265 B. C.).

He taught at Athens in a public porch (Stoa in Greek), from which

circumstance comes the name applied to his disciples. The Stoics

inculcated virtue for its own sake. They believed--and it would be

difficult to frame a better creed--that 'man's chief business here

is to do his duty.' They schooled themselves to bear with composure

any lot that destiny might appoint. Any sign of emotion on account of

calamity was considered unmanly. Thus a certain Stoic, when told of

the sudden death of his son, is said merely to have remarked, 'Well, I

never imagined that I had given life to an immortal.'

"Stoicism became a favorite system of thought with certain classes of

the Romans, and under its teachings and doctrines were nourished some

of the purest and loftiest characters produced by the pagan world."

(Myers' General History, pp. 185-6).

4. _Epicurus:_ "Epicurus (341--270 B. C.) taught, in opposition to

the Stoics, that pleasure is the highest good. He recommended virtue,

indeed, but only as a means for the attainment of pleasure; whereas the

Stoics made virtue an end in itself. In other words, Epicurus said,

"Be virtuous, because virtue will bring you the greatest amount of

happiness;" Zeno said, "Be virtuous, because you ought to be."

"Epicurus had many followers in Greece, and his doctrines were eagerly

embraced by many among the Romans during the later corrupt period of

the Empire. Many of these disciples carried the doctrines of their

master to an excess that he himself would have been the first to

condemn. Allowing full indulgence to every appetite, their whole

philosophy was expressed in the proverb, 'Let us eat and drink, for

tomorrow we die.'" (Myers' General History, p. 186).

5. _The Stoics:_ The Stoics believed, (1) that there were gods;

(2) they undertook to define their character and nature; (3) they held

that the universe is governed by them, and (4) that they exercise a

superintendency over human affairs.

The evidence for the existence of the gods they saw primarily in the

universe itself. "What can be so plain and evident," they argued, "when

we behold the heavens, and contemplate the celestial bodies, as the

existence of some supreme, divine intelligence by which these things

are governed?" "Were it otherwise," they said, "Ennius would not with

universal approbation have said,

'Look up to the refulgent heavens above

Which all men call unanimously Jove--

* * * Of gods and men the sire.'"

Of the nature of the Deity, they held two things: First of all, that he

is an animated though impersonal being; secondly, that there is nothing

in all nature superior to him. "I do not see," says one well versed

in their doctrines, "what can be more consistent with this idea and

preconception, than to attribute a mind and divinity to the world, the

most excellent of all beings."

That is to say, the Stoics held the universe to be a deity; and Cicero

represents Zeno as reasoning in the matter in this wise: "That which

reasons is superior to that which does not; nothing is superior to

the world; the world, therefore, reasons." By the same rule the world

may be proved to be wise, happy, and eternal; for the possession of

all these qualities is superior to the want of them; and nothing is

superior to the world; the inevitable consequence of which argument

is, that the world is a deity. He goes on: "No part of anything void

of sense is capable of perception; some parts of the world have

perception; the world, therefore, has sense." He proceeds, and pursues

the argument closely--"Nothing that is destitute itself of life and

reason can generate a being possessed of life and reason; but the world

does generate beings possessed of life and reason; the world therefore,

is not itself destitute of life and reason."

He concludes his argument in his usual manner with a simile: "If

well-tuned pipes should spring out of the olive, would you have the

slightest doubt that there was in the olive-tree itself some kind of

skill and knowledge? Or if the plane-tree could produce harmonious

flutes, surely you would infer, on the same principle, that music was

contained in the plane-tree. Why, then, should we not believe the world

is a living and wise being, since it produces living and wise beings

out of itself?"

Again, reverting to this subject, Cicero in representing the doctrines

of the Stoics, says: "Now, we see that there is nothing in being that

is not a part of the universe; and as there are sense and reasons in

the parts of it, there must therefore be these qualities, and these

too, in a more, energetic and powerful degree, in that part in which

the predominant quality of the world is found. The world, therefore,

must necessarily be possessed of wisdom; and that element, which

embraces all things, must excel in perfection of reason. The world,

therefore, is a God, and the whole power of the world is contained in

that divine element."

"Besides these (i. e., the universe and the stars, as part of that

universe of course), there are many other natures," Cicero goes on to

say, "which have, with reason, been deified by the wisest Grecians, and

by our ancestors, in consideration of the benefits derived from them;

for they were persuaded that whatever was of great utility to human

kind must proceed from divine goodness, and the name of the Deity was

applied to that which the Deity produced, as when we call corn Ceres,

and wine Bacchus; whence that saying of Terence,

'Without Ceres and Bacchus, Venus starves.'

And any quality, also, in which there was any singular virtue was

nominated a Deity, such as Faith and Wisdom, which are placed among

the divinities in the Capitol; the last by Aemilius Scaurus, but Faith

was consecrated before by Atilius Caltatinus. You see the temple of

Virtue and that of Honor repaired by M. Marcellus, erected formerly,

in the Ligurian war, by Q. Maximus. Need I mention those dedicated to

Help, Safety, Concord, Liberty, and Victory, which have been called

Deities, because their efficacy has been so great that it could not

have proceeded from any but from some divine power? In like manner

are the names of Cupid, Voluptas, and of Lubentine Venus consecrated,

though they were things vicious and not natural. * * * * Everything,

then, from which any great utility proceeded was deified; and, indeed,

the names I have just now mentioned are declaratory of the particular

virtue of each Diety."

The God of the Stoics is further described as a corporeal being,

united to matter by a necessary connection; and, moreover, as subject

to fate, so that he can bestow neither rewards nor punishments. That

this sect held to the extinction of the soul at death, is allowed by

all the learned. The Stoics drew their philosophy mainly from Socrates

and Aristotle. Their cosmology was pantheistic, matter and force being

the two ultimate principles, and God being the working force of the

universe, giving it unity, beauty and adaptation.

6. _The Epicureans:_ The Epicureans held that there were Gods in

existence. They accepted the fact of their existence from the constant

and universal opinion of mankind, independent of education, custom or

law. "It must necessarily follow," they said, "that this knowledge

is implanted in our minds, or, rather, innate in us." Their doctrine

was: "That opinion respecting which there is a general agreement in

universal nature must infallibly be true; therefore it must be allowed

that there are Gods."

"Of the form of the Gods, they held that because the human body is

more excellent than that of other animals, both in beauty and for

convenience, therefore the Gods are in human form. All men are told by

nature that none but the human form can be ascribed to the Gods; for

under what other image did it ever appear to anyone either sleeping or

waking?" Yet these forms of the Gods were not "body," but "something

like body," "nor do they contain blood, but something like blood." "Nor

are they to be considered as bodies of any solidity, or reducible to

number." "Nor is the nature or power of the Gods to be discerned by

the senses but by the mind." They held, moreover, that the universe

arose from chance; that the Gods neither did nor could extend their

providential care to human affairs.

The duty of worshipping the Gods was based upon the fact of their

superiority to man. "The superior and excellent nature of the Gods

requires a pious adoration from men, because it is possessed of

immortality, and the most exalted felicity; for whatever excels has a

right to veneration." Yet "all fear of the power and anger of the Gods

should be banished; for we must understand that anger and affection

are inconsistent with the nature of a happy and immortal being. These

apprehensions being removed, no dread of the superior power remains."

On the same principles that the existence of the Gods was allowed, that

is, on the pre-notion and universal belief of their existence, it was

held that the Gods were happy and immortal, to which the Epicureans

added this doctrine: "That which is eternally happy cannot be burdened

with any labor itself, nor can it impose any labor on another; nor

can it be influenced by resentment or favor; because things which are

liable to such feelings must be weak and frail."

It was generally held by the opponents of Epicurus that, as a matter of

fact he did not believe in the existence of the Gods at all; but dared

not deny their existence for fear of the Athenian law against impiety,

and because such denial would render him unpopular. But after becoming

acquainted with his views as to the nature of the Gods, one is prepared

to accept the criticism of his doctrines which Cicero puts in the mouth

of Cotta, in his Tusculan Disputations, viz., "Epicurus has allowed a

deity in words but destroyed him in fact."

7. _The Sensualism of Epicureanism:_ Whatever apologists may say,

it is very clear that the "pleasure" of the Epicurean philosophy,

hailed as "the supreme good and chief end in life," was to arise from

agreeable sensations, or whatever gratified the senses, and hence

was, in the last analysis of it--in its roots and branches--in its

theory and in its practice--"sensualism." It was to result in physical

ease and comfort, and mental inactivity--other than a conscious,

self-complacence--being regarded as "The supreme good and chief end of

life." I judge this to be the net result of this philosophy since these

are the very conditions in which Epicurus describe even the gods to

exist; and surely men could not hope for more "pleasure," or greater

happiness than that possessed by their gods. Cicero even charges

that the sensualism of Epicurus was so gross that he represents him

as blaming his brother, Timocrates, "because he would not allow that

everything which had any reference to a happy life was to be measured

by the belly; nor has he," continues Cicero, "said this once only, but

often."

In Cicero's description of the Epicurean conception of the gods,

he says: "That which is truly happy cannot be burdened with any

labor itself, nor can it impose any labor on another, nor can it be

influenced by resentment or favor, because things which are liable to

such failings must be weak and frail. * * * Their life [i. e., of the

gods] is most happy and the most abounding with all kinds of blessings

which can be conceived. They do nothing. They are embarrassed with no

business; nor do they perform any work. They rejoice in the possession

of their own wisdom and virtue. They are satisfied that they shall ever

enjoy the fulness of eternal pleasure. * * Nothing can be happy that

is not at ease." (Tusculan Disputations, The Nature of the Gods, pp.

266-268).

8. _The Academicians:_ The Academicians can scarcely be regarded

as a school of philosophy, though they refer their origin to Plato

(Smith's Student's History of Greece, p. 596.). Their name stands for

a method of thought rather than for a system of truth. They had no

philosophy, but rather speculated about philosophy. They advocated

nothing; they were the agnostics of their time--that is, they were

people who did not know, and like our modern agnostics, had a strong

suspicion that nobody else knew. They represented merely the negative

attitude of mind in their times. Still, they numbered in their

following some of the most considerable men of Rome, Cicero being

among the number. The academy is said to have exactly corresponded to

the moral and political wants of Rome in the days of Cicero. "With no

genius for speculation, the better Romans of that day were content to

embrace a system which, though resting on no philosophical basis, and

compounded of heterogeneous dogmas, offered notwithstanding, a secure

retreat from religious scepticism and political troubles." "My words,"

says Cicero, speaking as a true Academician, "do not proclaim the

truth, like a Pythian priestess; but I conjecture what is probable,

like a plain man." And again: "The characteristic of the Academy is

never to interpose one's judgment to approve what seems most probable,

to compare together different opinions, to see what may be advanced

on either side, and to leave one's listeners free to judge without

pretending to dogmatize." (Ency. Brit. Art. Academy.) I believe this

description warrants what was said at the beginning of this note, viz;

that the name Academician stood for a method of thought rather than for

a school of philosophy.

LESSON XIX.

(Scripture Reading Exercise.)

_ANCIENT CONCEPTIONS OF GOD.--(Continued.)_

_ANALYSIS._ _REFERENCES._

_XV. Religions of Northern Europe--_ Draper's "Intellectual

Development of Europe,"

1. The Scythians; Ch. viii, pp. 240 et seq.

"The World's Worship,"

2. The Scandinavians; (Dobbins), Ch. x.

Burder's "History of

3. The Druids; All Religions," Part VI,

Sec. vii, p. 524 et seq.

"Mormon Doctrine of

Deity," Ch. iv.

Crabb's "Mythology of

All Nations," Chs. lxii,

lxiii, lxiv, lxv.

_SPECIAL TEXT: "I will sanctify My great name, which was profaned among

the heathen; which ye [Israel] have profaned in the midst of them;

and the heathen shall know that I am the Lord God, when I shall be

sanctified in you before their eyes." Ezekiel xxvi:23._

_NOTES._

1. _The Scythians:_ "The Scythians inhabited a large tract of

country to the north of Europe and Asia. In early times their religion

was very simple; it taught the belief of a Supreme God, to whom were

attributed infinite power, knowledge, and wisdom; it forbade any

representation of this being under a corporeal form, and enjoined the

celebration of his worship in consecrated woods. Under him, a number

of inferior divinities were supposed to govern the world, and preside

over the celestial bodies. The doctrine of a future state formed an

important part of the mythology of these people; and their fundamental

maxims were, to serve the Deity with sacrifice and prayer, to do no

wrong to others, and to be brave and intrepid. But in the course of

time, the religion of the Scythians degenerated, a multitude of other

divinities were introduced amongst them, and as they were a warlike

people, they made the god of battles their favorite deity; to him they

consecrated groves of oak, which were held so sacred that whoever

injured them was punished with death. A Scimitar raised upon the summit

of an immense wooden altar was the emblem of this God, to whom they

sacrificed horses, and every hundredth man taken in battle; the first

fruits of the earth, and a portion of the spoils gained in war, were

the offerings made to the other divinities. The principal Scythian

deities were: Tabite, the Vesta of later times; Papius, the Jupiter;

Apia, or the Earth, the consort of Papius; Stripassa, the Venus;

Oestasynes, the Apollo; Thamimasides, the Neptune.

"The Scythians venerated fire, as the principle of all things; and the

wind and the sword, as the cause of life and death; a being called

Zamolxis, was supposed to have the charge of conducting departed

spirits to their respective abodes; and sacrifices were made to him by

the friends of deceased persons on their behalf." (Burder's History of

All Religions, pp. 524-5).

2. _The Scandinavian Mythology:_ "The Gothic Mythology is so called

from the Getae; or Goths, a tribe of Scythians, who, at an early period

passed over into Scandinavia, whence they over-spread all Sweden,

Denmark the islands of the Baltic, and the neighboring parts. Their

mythological scheme is explained in a work called the 'Edda,' which was

compiled by Snorro Sturleson, in the thirteenth century, from the poems

of the Scalds or bards particularly one bearing the same name, and a

still older one, called the 'Voluspa.' The Goths, like the Indians

[American] believed in a supreme being, to whom they ascribed many of

the divine attributes, but offered him no worship, which they paid only

to the subordinate deities. This being they designated by the name of

'Alfader,' that is 'Father of all.' They believed that giants existed

before the gods, the chief of whom, named Odin, was the offspring of

one of them. After this, according to their fables, which agree with

that of the Greeks, a war ensued between the gods and the giants, which

terminated in the destruction of the latter. The gods then proceeded to

the work of creation, and fashioned the globe out of the body of one

of the giants, named Ymir. Before all this, however, we find from the

Voluspa, that in accordance with the Mosaic account, 'In the beginning,

there was neither shore nor sea; the earth was not to be found below,

nor the heavens above.' Besides Odin, before mentioned, who was the

god of war, and is supposed to be the Buddha, or Bood, of the Hindoos,

the gods of the Gothic mythology were Frigga, the wife of Odin, and

Thor, their son, who, from the legends told of them, correspond to the

Osiris, Isis, and Orus, of the Egyptians. Among the other children

of Odin, were Balder, a powerful god; Boder, the blind; Vidar, the

god of silence, who walked on the waters and in the air; Vali, the

archer; Uller, who presided over trial by the duel; Forsette, the

arbiter between gods and men; Iduna, the queen of truth, who presided

over witnesses and oaths; Lofen, the guardian of friendship; Synia

and Snootra, who presided over wisdom and discretion. To these may be

added, Heimdall, the son of nine virgins, and sentinel of the gods;

Braga, the god of poetry; Niord, the god of winds and the sea; Tyr,

the god of might; Eica, the goddess of medicine; Freya, the wife of

Holder, and goddess of love; Gna, the messenger of Frigga; Tylia, the

goddess of beauty, secrecy, and chastity; Siona and Soona, presiding

over marriage; and the Valkyries, virgins, who always attended Odin

in battle. Among their evil spirits was Loke, the spirit of evil and

contradiction who was always opposing the gods. Besides the giants and

gods, the Goths, like the Greeks and Romans, had their Genii; like

the Arabians, their fairies; and, like the Indians, their dwarfs or

pigmies. The genii presided over the destinies of man, of whom there

were three principal--Urda, Verdandi and Skulda, answering to the

Parcae. [I. e., the Fates of Roman Mythology.] They had their evil as

well as good genii, of whom Surtur was the prince.

"That they worshipped the sun and moon may be inferred from two days

in the week being sacred to them, namely, Sonndag and Mondag, that is,

Sunday and Monday. The heaven of the Goths was in the highest regions

of the earth, and consisted of two abodes, namely, the Valhalla, or

hall of Odin, where warriors only were admitted; and a higher abode,

called Gimle, where the good and virtuous, in general, were to be

admitted. They had also two abodes for the wicked, namely, Nifleheim,

or Evil home, and Nastrond, or the shore of the Dead. Nifleheim

consisted of nine regions, over whom Hela, or Death, held absolute

sway. Mention is also made of two gods of this hell, instead of the

single Cerberus among the Greeks and Romans.

"The Goths also held that Valhalla and Nifleheim were both perishable

abodes; and that at the last day, the respective inhabitants of these

two places were to be consigned by Alfader, either to Gimle or to

Nastrond, both of which would be eternal; a fable evidently borrowed

from the Scripture account of the day of judgment. They denominated

this the Twilight of the Gods." (Crabb's Mythology, pp. 165-167).

3. _Religion of the Old Europeans:_ "The religion of the barbarian

Europeans was in many respects like that of the American Indians. They

recognized a 'Great Spirit'--omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent. In

the earliest times they made no representation of him under the human

form, nor had they temples; but they propitiated him by sacrifices,

offering animals, as the horse, and even men, upon rude altars. Though

it was believed that this 'Great Spirit' might sometimes be heard in

the sounds of the Forests at night, yet, for the most part, he was

too far removed from human supplication, and hence arose, from the

mere sorcerous ideas of a terrified fancy, as has been the case in so

many other countries, star worship--the second stage of comparative

theology. The gloom and shade of dense forests, a solitude that

offers an air of sanctity, and seems a fitting resort for mysterious

spirits, suggested the establishment of sacred groves and holy trees.

Throughout Europe there was a confused idea that the soul exists after

the death of the body; as to its particular state there was a diversity

of belief. As among other people, also, the offices of religion were

not only directed to the present benefit of individuals, but also to

the discovery of future events by various processes of divination and

augury practiced among the priests." (Intellectual Development of

Europe, Draper, p. 240).

4. _Chief Divinities of the Scandinavians:_ "The Scandinavians

sacrificed human victims, and sometimes offered up even their kings, to

appease the gods in times of public calamity. Their chief divinities

were Odin or Wodin, Frea or Friga, and Thor. Odin or Wodin is generally

supposed to have been a deified war-like prince; he was the god and

father of war, and was thought to adopt as his children all who died in

battle; he was also worshipped as the god of arts and sciences, from

his having in some degree civilized the countries which he subdued. The

fourth day of the week was consecrated to him, and was called 'Odin's

day,' which now is corrupted into our 'Wednesday.'

"Frea or Friga, the consort of Odin, was the most amiable of all

the Scandinavian goddesses. She was also called Vanadis, or the

goddess of Hope; and under the name of Hertha she was considered as a

personification of earth. Virgins of high birth devoted themselves to

her service; and Friday, the sixth day of the week, was named after her.

"Thor, the eldest and bravest of the sons of Odin and Frea, was the

god of the aerial regions; prayers were addressed to him for favorable

winds and refreshing showers; and Thursday, the fifth day of the week,

was dedicated to him.

"In the earliest times, the Scandinavians performed their rites in

groves; but they afterwards raised temples to their gods, the most

magnificent of which were at Upsal and Drontheim.

"The inferior deities of the Scandinavians were: Niorder, who presided

over the seas, navigation, hunting and fishing; Isminsul, or the column

of the universe; Surtar, prince of the genii of fire; Balder, son of

Odin; Tur, the dispenser of victory; Heimdal, the guardian of the

heavens; Norder, the blind, a son of Odin; Vidar, the god of silence,

a son of Odin; Braga, the god of poetry; Vati, the formidable archer;

Uller, presiding over trials by duel; Hela, the dreadful goddess of

death; Torset, decided the differences of gods and men; the Valkyries

were goddesses of slaughter; Iduna, the queen of youth; Saga, the

goddess of waterfalls; Vara, the witness of oaths; Lofen, the guardian

of friendship; Synia, the avenger of broken faith." (Burder's History

of All Religions, pp. 525-6).

5. _Scandinavian Notions of Hell:_ "The notions the Scandinavians

entertained of hell were very remarkable; it was called Niflheim, and

consisted of nine vast regions of ice, situated under the North Pole,

the entrance to which was guarded by the dog of darkness, similar to

the Grecian Cerberus. Loke, the evil genius, who was the cruel enemy

of gods and men, with his daughter Hela, the goddess of death; the

giantess Angherbode, the messenger of evil; the wolf Femis, a monster,

dreaded by the gods, as destined to be their destruction, and the

equally formidable serpent, resided in this gloomy abode; which has

been described by Gray, in his 'Descent of Odin.'

"The Scandinavians believed that what formed their highest enjoyments

in this world, would likewise constitute their happiness in the next.

They imagined that the souls of heroes who had fallen in battle would

pass their days in hunting shadowy forms of wild beasts, or in combats

with warriors; and at night would assemble in the hall of Odin, to

feast, and drink mead or ale out of the skulls of their enemies whom

they had slain in their mortal life. This view of happiness in a future

state of existence has prevailed amongst all nations." (Burder's

History of All Religions, pp. 525-6).

6. _The Druids:_ "We have reason to believe that the Britons

inhabited England not long after the days of Noah. We might therefore

expect to find resemblances between their religion and the religion of

other ancient peoples; and we are not disappointed. There is a striking

correspondence between the system of the ancient Britons and those

of the Hebrew patriarchs, the Brahmins of India, the Magi of Persia,

and the Greek priests. It was one system that was finally conveyed

to these different parts of the globe. Take, as a single instance of

the many points of comparison, their idea of God. Among their names

for the supreme God which they had in use before the introduction of

Christianity, were terms which have been literally translated, "God,"

"Distributor," "Governor," the "Mysterious One," the "Eternal," "He

that pervadeth all things," "the Author of Existence," "the Ancient

of Days." These expressive appellations sufficiently indicate their

views of the moral character and attributes of God." (The World's

Worship--Dobbins--p. 188).

7. _Druid Priesthood:_ "The Celtic priests were called Druids.

All the Celtic nations, like the early Scythians, performed their

religious ceremonies in sacred groves; and they regarded the oak, and

the mistletoe growing upon it, with peculiar reverence. Their principal

deities were: Teulates, the god of war; Dis, the god of the infernal

regions, and the Pluto of after times; and Andate, the goddess of

victory. The god of war was the divinity of the greatest importance;

upon his altars human victims were sacrificed; and though criminals

were deemed the most acceptable offerings, innocent persons were

frequently immolated.

"Druid is derived from the word deru, which in the Celtic language

signified an oak; because their usual abode was in woods. These priests

were most highly reversed; they were referred to in all civil, as well

as religious matters; and so great was their influence in the state,

that even kings could not ascend the throne without their approbation.

They were divided into four classes,--druids, bards, sarronides, and

vates or eubages; the first were the supreme chiefs, and so highly

reverenced, that the inferior orders could not remain in their presence

without permission to do so. The bards, whose Celtic name signifies a

singer, celebrated the actions of heroes in verse which they sang, and

accompanied on the harp. The sarronides had the charge of instructing

youth whom they were enjoined to inspire with virtuous sentiments;

and the vates or eubages had the care of the sacrifices, and applied

themselves particularly to the study of nature. The Druids enjoyed

great privileges; they were exempted from serving in war and paying

taxes.

"Numbers aspired to gain admission into this order of society, for

it was open to all ranks; but this was rather difficult, as the

candidates were obliged to learn the verses which contained the maxims

of their religion and political government. It was unlawful to commit

the Druidical doctrine to writing; and therefore they were taught,

and transmitted from generation to generation, entirely by the poems

recited by the Druids, who required a period of fifteen, or even twenty

years, to acquire an adequate knowledge on that subject. The Druids

considered the mistletoe as a special gift from the divinity to the

oak, and the gathering of this plant was the most sacred of their

ceremonies." (Burder's History of All Religions, pp. 526-7).

8. _Druid Worship:_ "They worshipped in the open air; it being a

maxim with them, that it was unlawful to build temples to the gods, or

to worship them within walls and under roofs. Their favorite place was

a grove of oaks, or the shelter of a majestic tree of this kind. Here

they would erect stone pillars in one or two circular rows; and in some

of their principal temples, as particularly that of Stonehenge, they

laid stones of prodigious weight on the tops of these perpendicular

pillars, which formed a kind of circle aloft in the air. Near to these

temples they constructed their sacred mounts, their cromlechs or stone

tables for their sacrifices, and every other necessary provision for

their worship. These sacred places were generally situated in the

center of some thick grove or wood, watered by a consecrated river or

fountain, and surrounded by a ditch or mound, to prevent intrusion."

(The World's Worship, p. 190).

LESSON XX.

(Scripture Reading Exercise.)

_ANCIENT CONCEPTIONS OF GOD.--(Continued.)_

_ANALYSIS._ _REFERENCES._

_XVI. Beliefs of India:_ Chips from a German

Workshop (Max Muller),

1. The Vedas. 2 Vols. Science of

Religions (Max Muller),

2. Doctrines of the Vedas. 1 vol. Chiefly deals with

Buddhism.

3. Chief Gods of Hinduism.

Article in Encyclopaedia

Britannica--"Buddhism."

"Vedanta Philosophy"

(1899), by Swami Vivekananda.

Dobbins' "World's

Worship," Chs. xi-xiii.

Draper's "Intellectual

Development of Europe,"

Vol. I, Ch. iii, and

Notes of this lesson.

_SPECIAL TEXT: "Their idols are silver and gold; the work of men's

hands. They have mouths, but they speak not; eyes have they, but they

see not; they have ears, but they hear not; . . . . they that make them

are like unto them; so is every one that trusteth in them." Ps. cxv._

_NOTES._

1. _The Vedas:_ "Vedas means, originally, knowing or knowledge,

and this name is given by the Brahmans not to one work, but to the

whole body of their most ancient sacred literature. Veda is the same

word which appears in the Greek, 'I know,' and in the English, 'wise,'

'wisdom.' The name of Veda is commonly given to four collections

of hymns, which are respectively known by the names of 'Rig-veda,'

'Yagur-veda,' 'Sama-veda,' and 'Atharva-veda;' but for our own

purposes, namely, for tracing the earliest growth of religious ideas

in India, the only important, the only real Veda, is the Rig-veda. The

other so-called Vedas, which deserve the name of Veda no more than the

Talmud deserves the name of Bible, contain chiefly extracts from the

Rig-veda, together with sacrificial formulas, charms, and incantations,

many of them, no doubt, extremely curious, but never likely to interest

any one except the Sanscrit scholar by profession." ("Chips from a

German Workshop" (Muller), Vol. I, p. 8).

2. _Doctrine of the Vedas:_ "The Vedas, which are the Hindo

Scriptures, and of which there are four, the Rig, Yagust, Saman and

Atharvan, are asserted to have been revealed by Brahma. The fourth

is, however, rejected by some authorities and bears internal evidence

of a later composition, at a time when hierarchical power had become

greatly consolidated. These works are written in an obsolete Sanscrit,

the parent of the more recent idiom. They constitute the basis of an

extensive literature.

"The Vedas are based upon an acknowledgement of a universal Spirit

pervading all things. Of this God they therefore necessarily

acknowledge the unity; 'There is in truth, but one Deity, the Supreme

Spirit; the Lord of the universe, whose work is the universe.' 'The

God above all gods, who created the earth, the heavens, the waters.'

The world, thus considered as an emanation of God, is therefore a

part of him; it is kept in a visible state by his energy, and would

instantly disappear if that energy were for a moment withdrawn. Even

as it is, it is undergoing unceasing transformations, everything being

in a transitory condition. The moment a given phase is reached, it is

departed from, or ceases. In these perpetual movements the present can

scarcely be said to have any existence, for as the Past is ending, the

Future has begun.

"In such a never-ceasing career, all material things are urged,

their forms continually changing, and returning, as it were, through

revolving cycles to similar states. For this reason it is that we may

regard our earth, and the various celestial bodies, as having had

a moment of birth, as having a time of continuance, in which they

are passing onward to an inevitable destruction, and that after the

lapse of countless ages similar progresses will be made, and similar

series of events will occur again and again." (Draper, Intellectual

Development of Europe, Vol. I, pp. 58-60).

3. _The Hindu Pantheism:_ "But in this doctrine of universal

transformation there is something more than appears at first. The

theology of India is underlaid with Pantheism. "God is one because he

is All." The Vedas, in speaking of the relation of nature to God, make

use of the expression that he is the 'Material as well as the Cause

of the universe,' 'the Clay as well as the Potter.' They convey the

idea that while there is a prevading spirit existing everywhere of the

same nature as the soul of man, though differing from it infinitely

in degree, visible nature is essentially and inseparably connected

therewith; that as in man the body is perpetually undergoing changes,

perpetually decaying and being renewed, or, as in the case of the whole

human species, nations come into existence and pass away, yet still

there continues to exist what may be termed the universal human mind,

so forever associated and forever connected are the material and the

spiritual. And under this aspect we must contemplate the Supreme Being,

not merely as a presiding intellect, but as illustrated by the parallel

case of man, whose mental principle shows no tokens except through

its connection with the body; so matter, or nature, or the visible

universe, is to be looked upon as the corporeal manifestation of God."

(Draper, Intellectual Development of Europe, Vol. I, pp. 58-60).

4. _The Two Aspects of Pantheism:_ "Pantheism, speaking in a

general way, is of two kinds: First, the Pantheism that sinks all

nature into one substance, one essence, and then concludes that that

one substance or essence is God. Such Pantheism as this is the purest

Monism--that is, the one-substance theory of existence; and is spoken

of by some of our philosophers as the purest Theism--that is, faith

in one God. Indeed, Pantheism, in this aspect of it, is looked upon

as a sort of exaggerated Theism; for it regards "God" as the only

substance, of which the material universe and man are but ever-changing

manifestations. It is the form of Pantheism which identifies mind and

matter, the finite and infinite, making them but manifestations of one

universal being; but in effect it denies the personality, by which I

mean the individuality, of God. This was, and, for matter of that, is

now, the general belief of many millions in India.

"Second, the Pantheism which expands the one substance into all the

variety of objects that we see in nature, and regards those various

parts as God, or God expanded into nature, is the second kind of

Pantheism referred to a moment since. This leads to the grossest kind

of idolatry, as it did in Egypt, at the time of which I am speaking.

Under this form of Pantheism, men worshipped various objects in

nature; the sun, moon, stars; in fact, anything and everything that

bodies forth to their minds some quality, or power, or attribute of

the Deity. This was the Pantheism of Egypt; and led to the abominable

and disgusting idolatry of that land." (From "Mormon Doctrine of

Deity,"--Roberts--pp. 173-4).

5. _Chief God--The Hindoo Trinity:_ "The three idols sculptured on

the walls of Elephanta Cave are found all over India, and constitute

the chief gods which are worshipped by the Hindus. All the human race

is said to have come from the highlands of Central Asia, and the

worship of these, our Aryan forefathers, was at first exceedingly

simple. Their manner of life brought them into close contact with

nature, and we learn from the hymns then written, many of which are

still preserved in the Vedas (the sacred book of the Hindus), that

they regarded the powers of nature as manifestations of gods. In the

storms, they supposed these rival gods were quarreling. In the Vedic

hymns, frequent mention is made of the chief god, called Dyaus, the

'Heavenly Father.' Also Aditi, the 'Infinite Expanse,' is called the

mother of all gods. Next comes Varuna, the 'Sky in its Brightness,'

then Indra, the God of the 'Atmosphere;' so running through the whole

list. After a time, the names of the gods are somewhat altered, and a

sort of trinity is formed. Agni, god of fire, becomes Brahma; Surya,

the sun-god, becomes Vishnu, and Indra, the atmosphere-god, becomes

Siva. These constitute what is called the Tri-murti, and are generally

said to represent one god as Creator, Preserver or Destroyer. Hindus

often write in their honor verses like the following:

'In those three persons the one God was shown--

Each first in place, each last--not one alone;

Of Siva, Vishnu, Brahma, each may be

First, second, third, among the Blessed Three.'

"As to which of the three gods is to be called the Supreme Being,

opinions differ." (Dobbins' "The World's Worship," pp. 215-216).

LESSON XXI.

(Scripture Reading Exercise.)

_ANCIENT CONCEPTIONS OF GOD.--(Continued.)_

_ANALYSIS._ _REFERENCES._

_XVI. Beliefs of India--(Continued):_ Chips from a German

Workshop (Max Muller),

1. Brahaminism--General View. 2 vols. Science of

Religions (Max Muller),

2. Buddha--Gautama. 1 Vol. Chiefly deals with

Buddhism.

3. Buddhism.

Article in Encyclopaedia

Britannica--"Buddhism."

Dobbins' "World's

Worship," Chs. xi-xiii.

Burder's "History of

All Religions," pp. 634-672.

Vendanta Philosophy

(1899), by Swami Vivekananda.

Draper's "Intellectual

Development of Europe,"

Vol. I, Ch. iii; and

notes of this lesson.

_SPECIAL TEXT: "All the gods of the nations are idols; but the Lord

made the heavens. Honor and majesty are before Him; strength and beauty

are in His sanctuary." Ps. xcvi:5._

_NOTES._

1. _Brahminism: General View:_ "Brahminism grew out of what is

called the Vedic religion. Before Abraham's day, the people living

in Central Asia, being a simple race, addressed their prayers to the

powers of nature, as, for example, to the storms, the clouds and the

sun, seeing the Deity in each of these. Hymns were written to these

gods, and this forms the earliest of all sacred books, only excepting

those from which Moses wrote his account of the early history of the

world in Genesis. This people moved south into India. The priesthood

arose, and the other Vedic books of ceremonies, sacrifices and

liturgical forms were prepared. Great commentaries were written on

these books, and all were declared to be inspired.

"The priests quarreled with the civil chiefs, but their sacred

character was increased by the conflict, and caste is the result. The

priests are the highest caste (or class); next come the warriors, then

the merchant, the farmer, etc; last of all the tanners, buriers of

the dead, etc. These classes never intermarry or intermingle in any

way; it is contaminating to sit together even. About this time idols

appear, and Gods multiply until they reach the number of 330,000,000.

Men groaned under this stupendous system of oppressive idolatry.

Buddha tried in the seventh century before Christ, to reform it, but

he failed, though he succeeded in establishing a new faith which has

numbered its converts by the hundreds of millions. But Brahminism

continues to be the religion of India, even until today. Starting from

the Veda, Hinduism has ended in embracing something from all religions,

and in presenting phases suited to all minds. It is all-tolerant,

all-compliant, all-comprehensive, all-absorbing. It has its spiritual

and its material aspect, its esoteric and exoteric, its subjective and

objective, its rational and irrational, its pure and impure. It has one

side for the practical, another for the severely moral, another for

the devotional and imaginative, another for the sensuous and sensual,

and another for the philosophical and speculative. Those who rest in

ceremonial observances find it all-sufficient; those who deny the

efficacy of works and make faith the one requisite, need not wander

from its pale; those who are addicted to sensuality may have their

tastes fully gratified; those whose delight is in meditating upon the

nature of God and of man, or the relations of matter and of spirit,

the mystery of separate existence, or upon the origin of evil, may

here indulge their love of speculation. And this capacity for almost

limitless expansion causes almost numberless sectarian divisions even

among the followers of any given particular line of doctrine. Yet there

remains much of the old nature-worship, or more correctly speaking,

of the old devil-worship, among the Hindus even at this late day."

(Dobbins' "World's Worship," pp. 211-213).

2. _Buddha:_ "The Enlightened," the title of Siddhartha, or

Gautama, the founder of Buddhism. "He was born between 562 and 552

B. C. The Buddhist narratives of his life are overgrown with legend

and myth. Senart seeks to trace in them the history of the sun-hero.

Oldenberg finds in the most ancient traditions--those of Ceylon--at

least definite historical outlines. Siddhartha, as Buddha was called

before entering upon his great mission, was born in the country and

tribe of Sakhyas, at the foot of the Nepalese Himalayas. His father,

Suddhodana, was rather a great and wealthy land owner than a king. He

passed his youth in opulence at Kapilavastu, the Sakhya capital. He

was married and had a son Rahula, who became a member of his order.

At the age of twenty-nine he left parents, wife, and only son, for

the spiritual struggle of a recluse. After seven years he believed

himself possessed of perfect truth, and assumed the title of Buddha,

'the enlightened.' He is represented as having received a sudden

illumination as he sat under the Botree, or 'tree of knowledge,' at

Bodhgaya or Buddha-Gaya. For twenty-eight or, as later narratives

give it, forty-nine days, he was variously tempted by Mara. One of

his doubts was whether to keep for himself the knowledge won, or

to share it. Love triumphed, and he began to preach, at first at

Benares. For forty-four years he preached in the region of Benares and

Behar. Primitive Buddhism is only to be gathered by inference from

the literature of a later time. Buddha did not array himself against

the old religion. The doctrines were rather the outgrowth of those

of certain Brahmanical schools. His especial concern was salvation

from sorrow, and so from existence. There are 'four noble truths':

(1) existence is suffering; (2) the cause of pain is desire; (3)

cessation of pain is possible through the suppression of desire; (4)

the way to this is the knowledge and observance of the 'good law' of

Buddha. The end is Nirvana, the cessation of existence. Buddhism was

preached in the vulgar tongue, and had a popular literature and an

elaborately organized monastic and missionary system. It made its way

into Afghanistan, Bactriana, Tibet, and China. It passed away in India

not from Brahman persecution, but rather from internal causes, such as

its too abstract nature, too morbid view of life, relaxed discipline,

and overgrowth of monasticism, and also because Shivaism and Vishnuism

employed many of its own weapons more effectively. The system has been

variously modified in dogma and rites in the many countries to which it

has spread. It is supposed to number about 350,000,000 of adherents,

who are principally in Ceylon, Tibet, China, and Japan." (Century

Dictionary, Art. Buddha).

3. _The Original Elements in Buddhism:_ "What was original and new

in Buddha was his changing a philosophical system into a practical

doctrine; his taking the wisdom of the few, and coining as much of it

as he thought genuine for the benefit of the many; his breaking with

the traditional formalities of the past, and proclaiming for the first

time, in spite of caste and creeds, the equality of the rich and the

poor, the foolish and the wise, the 'twice-born' and the outcast.

Buddhism, as a religion and as a political fact, was a reaction against

Brahmanism, though it retained much of that more primitive form of

faith and worship. Buddhism, in its historical growth, presupposes

Brahmanism, and, however hostile the mutual relation of these two

religions may have been at different periods of Indian history, it can

be shown, without much difficulty, that the latter was but a natural

consequence of the former." "Chips from a German Workshop" (Muller),

Vol. I, p. 234.

4. _Absence of God in Buddhism:_ "Buddhism has no God; it has not

even the confused and vague notion of a Universal Spirit in which the

human soul, according to the orthodox doctrine of Brahmanism, and the

Sankhya philosophy, may be absorbed. Nor does it admit nature, in

the proper sense of the word, and it ignores that profound division

between spirit and matter which forms the system and glory of Kapila.

It confounds man with all that surrounds him, all the while preaching

to him the laws of virtue. Buddhism, therefore cannot unite the human

soul, which it does not even mention, with a God, whom it ignores; nor

with nature, which it does not know better. Nothing remained but to

annihilate the soul; and in order to be quite sure that the soul may

not reappear under some new form in this world, which has been cursed

as the abode of illusion and misery, Buddhism destroys its elements,

and never gets tired of glorying in this achievement. What more is

wanted? If this is not the absolute nothing, what is Nirvana?

"Such religion, we should say, was made for a madhouse. But Buddhism

was an advance, if compared with Brahmanism; it has stood its ground

for centuries, and if truth could be decided by majorities, the show

of hands, even at the present day, would be in favor of Buddha. The

metaphysics of Buddhism, like the metaphysics of most religions, not

excluding our own Gnosticism and Mysticism, were beyond the reach of

all except a few hardened philosophers or ecstatic dreamers. Human

nature could not be changed. Out of the very 'nothing' it made a new

paradise; and he who had left no place in the whole universe for a

Divine Being, was deified himself by the multitudes who wanted a

person whom they could worship, a king whose help they might invoke,

a friend before whom they could pour out their most secret griefs.

And there remained the code of a pure morality, proclaimed by Buddha.

There remained the spirit of charity, kindness, and universal pity with

which he had inspired his disciples. There remained the simplicity of

the ceremonial he had taught, the equality of all men which he had

declared, the religious toleration which he had preached from the

beginning. There remained much, therefore, to account for the rapid

strides which his doctrine made from the mountain peaks of Ceylon to

the Tundras of the Samoyedes." (Ibid, pp. 250-1).

LESSON XXII.

(Scripture Reading Exercise.)

_ANCIENT CONCEPTIONS OF GOD.--(Continued.)_

_ANALYSIS._ _REFERENCES._

_XVII. Beliefs of China:_ Myers' "General History,"

Ch. ix.

1. The Empire.

Dobbins' "World's

2. Religious Teachers and Literature. Worship," Ch. xxxiii.

3. General Character of Chinese Burder's "History of

Religious Faiths. All Religions," Part VI,

Sec. viii.

4. Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism.

Science of Religion

(Muller).

Chips from a German

Workshop, Vol. I,

Chs. x-xiii.

_SPECIAL TEXT: "Do not to another what you would not have him do unto

you. Thou needest this law alone. It is the foundation of all the

rest." Confucius.[1]_

_NOTES._

1. _China:_ "China was the cradle of a very old civilization, older

perhaps than that of any other lands save Egypt and Babylonia; yet

Chinese affairs have not until recently exercised any direct influence

upon the general current of history. All through the later ancient and

mediaeval times the country lay, vague and mysterious, in the haze

of the world's horizon. During the Middle Ages the land was known to

Europe under the name of Cathay.

"The government of China from a remote period has been a parental

monarchy. The emperor is the father of his people. But though an

absolute prince, he dare not rule tyrannically; he must rule justly and

in accordance with the ancient customs." (Myers' General History, p.

67.)

2. _The Teachers Confucius and Mencius:_ "The great teacher of

the Chinese was Confucius (551-478 B. C.). He was not a prophet or

revealer; he laid no claims to a supernatural knowledge of God or of

the hereafter; he said nothing of an Infinite Spirit, and but little

of a future life. His cardinal precepts were obedience to parents

and superiors, and reverence for the ancients and imitation of their

virtues. He himself walked in the old paths, and thus added the force

of example to that of precept. He gave the Chinese the Golden Rule,

stated negatively: "What you do not want done to yourself, do not do to

others." The influence of Confucius has been greater than that of any

other teacher excepting Christ, and perhaps Buddha.

"Another great teacher of the Chinese was Mencius (372-288 B. C.). He

was a disciple of Confucius and a scarcely less revered philosopher and

moral teacher." (Myers' General History, p. 68).

3. _Chinese Literature:_ "The most highly-prized portion of Chinese

literature is embraced in what is known as the Five Classics and the

Four Books, called collectively the Nine Classics. A considerable

part of the material of the Five Classics was collected and edited by

Confucius. The Four Books, though not written by Confucius, yet bear

the impress of his mind and thought, just as the Gospels teach the mind

of Christ. The cardinal virtue inculcated by all the sacred writings is

filial piety.

"It would be difficult to exaggerate the influence which the Nine

Classics have had upon the Chinese nation. For more than two

thousand years these writings have been the Chinese Bible. But their

influence has not been wholly good. The Chinese, in strictly obeying

the injunction to walk in the old ways, to conform to the customs

of the ancients, have failed to mark out any new footpaths for

themselves; hence one cause of the unprogressive character of Chinese

civilization." (Myers' General History, p. 69).

4. _The Religion of China:_ Turn your attention now northward from

India, and take into account those great masses of our race inhabiting

China; and you will find there, according to the statement of Max

Muller:

"A colorless and unpoetical religion; a religion we might almost

venture to call monosyllabic, consisting of the worship of a host of

single spirits, representing the sky, the sun, storms and lightning,

mountains and rivers; one standing by the side of the other without any

mutual attraction, without any higher principle to hold them together.

In addition to this, we likewise meet in China with the worship of

ancestral spirits, the spirits of the departed, who are supposed to

retain some cognizance of human affairs, and to possess peculiar powers

which they exercise for good or evil. This double worship of human and

natural spirits constitutes the old and popular religion of China, and

it has lived on to the present day, at least in the lower ranks of

society, though there towers above it a more elevated range of half

religious and half philosophical faith, a belief in two higher Powers,

which, in the language of philosophy, may mean Form and Matter, in the

language of ethics, Good and Evil, but which in the original language

of religion and mythology are represented as Heaven and Earth.

"It is true that we know the ancient popular religion of China from

the works of Confucius only, or from even more modern sources. But

Confucius, though he is called the founder of a new religion, was

really but the new preacher of an old religion. He was emphatically a

transmitter, not a maker. He says himself: 'I only hand on; I cannot

create new things. I believe in the ancients, and therefore I love

them.'" (Science of Religion--Muller--pp. 61-62).

Such was the ancient religion of China; and such, to a very large

extent, is the religion of China to this day. It must be remembered

that the great Chinese philosopher Confucius did not disturb this

ancient religious belief. He did not, in fact, profess to be a teacher

of religion at all, but was content if he could but influence men to

properly observe human relations. On one occasion he was asked how the

"spirits could be served," to which he made answer, "If we are not able

to serve men, how can we serve the spirits?" On another occasion he

said to his followers, "Respect the gods, and keep them at a distance."

5. _Buddhism in China:_ "Buddhism spread in the south to Ceylon; in

the north to Kashmir, the Himalayan countries, Thibet, and China. One

Buddhist missionary is mentioned in the Chinese annals as early as 217

B. C.; and about the year 120 B. C. a Chinese general, after defeating

the barbarous tribes north of the Desert of Gobi, brought back as a

trophy a golden statute, the statute of Buddha. It was not, however,

till the year 66 A. D. that Buddhism was officially recognized by the

Emperor Ming-ti as a third state religion in China. Ever since, it has

shared equal honors with the doctrines of Confucius and Lao-tse, in the

celestial empire." (Chips from a German Workshop--Muller--Vol. I, pp.

253-4).

6. _The Three Chinese National Religions:_ "A Chinaman may at the

same time be an adherent of all three of the national religions. The

mass of the Chinese people accept the three, and see no inconsistency

in so doing. It is somewhat as if we Americans were at the same time

Protestant, Romanist and skeptic. The Chinese support the priests of

all religions, worship in all their temples, and believe in the gods of

each and all. These three religions differ from each other, however,

Dr. Edkins has so well defined this difference that we give his words:

'_Confucianism_ speaks to the moral nature. It discourses on

virtue and vice, and the duty of compliance with the law and the

dictates of conscience. Its worship rests on this basis. The religious

veneration paid to ancestors--for that is the worship of this

system--is founded on the duty of filial piety. The moral sense of the

Chinese is offended if they are called on to resign this custom.

'_Taoism_ is materialistic. Its notion of the soul is of something

physical, a purer form of matter. The soul it supposes to gain

immortality by a physical discipline, a sort of chemical process, which

transmutes it into a more ethereal essence, and prepares it for being

transferred to the regions of immortality. The gods of Taoism are also

very much what might be expected in a system which has such notions

as these of the soul. It looks upon the stars as divine. It deifies

hermits and physicians, magicians and seekers after the philosopher's

stone and the plant of immortality.

'_Buddhism_ is different from both. It is metaphysical. It appeals

to the imagination, and deals in subtle argument. It says that the

world of the senses is altogether unreal, and upholds this proposition

by the most elaborate proofs. Its gods are personified ideas. It

denies matter entirely, and concerns itself only with ideas. Most of

the personages adored by the Buddhists are known to be nothing but

fictitious impersonations of some of these ideas. The Buddhist worship

is not reverence paid to beings believed to be actually existing; it

is a homage rendered to ideas, and it is only supposed to be reflex in

its effects. Their worship is useful as a discipline, but not effectual

as prayer. The Buddhist, if he can obtain abstraction of mind from the

world in any other mode, need not pray or worship at all.'

"These three systems, occupying the three corners of a triangle--the

moral, the metaphysical and the material--are supplemental to each

other, and are able to co-exist without being mutually destructive.

They rest each on a basis of its own, and address themselves each to

different parts of man's nature. It was because Confucianism 'knew

God, but did not honor Him as God,' that the way was left open for a

polytheism like that of the Buddhists. In the old books of China, God

is spoken of as the 'Supreme Ruler.' He is represented as exercising

over mankind an infinitely just and beneficent providence. But the

duty of prayer is not enjoined. No worship of God by the people is

permitted. It was only by the emperor acting vicariously for the people

that the Deity was adored in that country. The system of Confucius,

wanting this, was more a morality than a religion.

"Buddhism came to fill this vacancy. Individual faith in God, with

a rational mode of worship to accompany it, could not be a result

of the religious teaching which preceded it in China, nor were they

inculcated by it. In Buddhism, the Chinese found objects to adore of

mysterious grandeur, and richly endowed with the attributes of wisdom

and benevolence. The appeal thus made to their religious faith was

strengthened by a pompous form of worship. Processions and the ringing

of bells, fumes of sweet-smelling incense, prayers, chanting and

musical instruments were their aids to devotion. No wonder that these

additions should prove welcome to the religious susceptibilities of a

nation which had hitherto been restricted within the bounds of a system

almost exclusively moral, and which discouraged the worship of God by

the mass of the people." (Dobbins' World's Worship, pp. 419-421).

Footnotes

1. Cf. Matt. vii;12. also II Nephi, xxix;11-14; and Alma xxix; 8.

LESSON XXIII.

(Scripture Reading Exercise.)

_ANCIENT CONCEPTIONS OF GOD.--(CONTINUED.)

_ANALYSIS._ _REFERENCES._

_XVIII. Belief of Mohammedans._ The Koran[1] of Mohammed

(Sales's Translation),

1. Arabia and Its People. Preliminary Discourse,

pp. 1-132, and

2. Mohammed--Birth; Appearance; Koran, Chs. iii and xxx.

Character; Mission.

Gibbon's "Decline and

3. Mohammedanism-The Creed. Fall of Rome," Vol. VI,

Ch. 50.

Draper's "Intellectual

Development of Europe,"

Vol. I, Ch. xi.

Hero and Hero Worship

(Carlyle), Lecture II.

Dobbins' "World's

Worship," Ch. xxxv,

xxxvi and the notes of

this lesson.

_SPECIAL TEXT: "O Lord our Lord, how Excellent is Thy Name, in all the

earth!" Ps. viii_.

_NOTES._

1. _Arabia--The Land:_ "The Arabs, and the country they inhabit,

which themselves call Jexirat al Arab, or the Peninsula of the

Arabians, but we Arabia, were so named from Araba, a small territory in

the province of Tehama; to which Yarab the son of Kahtan, the father

of the ancient Arabs, gave his name, and where, some ages after, dwelt

Ishmael the son of Abraham by Hagar. The Christian writers for several

centuries speak of them under the appellation of Saxons; the most

certain derivation of which word is from 'shark,' the east, where the

descendants of Joctan, the Kahtan of the Arabs, are placed by Moses,

and in which quarter they dwelt in respect to the Jews.

"The name of Arabia (used in a more extensive sense) sometimes

comprehends all that large tract of land bounded by the river

Euphrates, the Persian Gulf, the Sindian, Indian, and Red Seas, and

part of the Mediterranean; above two-thirds of which country, that

is, Arabia properly so-called, the Arabs have possessed almost from

the flood; and have made themselves masters of the rest, either by

settlements, or continual incursions; for which reason the Turks and

Persians at this day call the whole Arabistan, or the country of the

Arabs.

"But the limits of Arabia, in its more usual and proper sense, are much

narrower, as reaching no farther northward than the Isthmus, which

runs from Aila to the head of the Persian Gulf, and the borders of the

territory of Cufa; which tract of land the Greeks nearly comprehended

under the name of Arabia the Happy. The eastern geographers make Arabia

Petraea to belong partly to Egypt, and partly to Sham or Syria, and the

Desert Arabia they call the deserts of Syria. * * * *

"This country has been famous from all antiquity for the happiness of

its climate, its fertility and riches, which induced Alexander the

Great, after his return from his Indian expedition, to form a design

of conquering it, and fixing there his royal seat; but his death,

which happened soon after, prevented the execution of this project."

(Koran--Sales--Preliminary Discourse, pp. 1, 2).

2. _The Arabians:_ "The Arabians, the inhabitants of this spacious

country, which they have possessed from the most remote antiquity, are

distinguished by their own writers into two classes, viz., the old lost

Arabians, and the present.

"The former were very numerous, and divided into several tribes, which

are now all destroyed, or else lost and swallowed up among the other

tribes, nor are any certain memoirs or records extant concerning them;

though the memory of some very remarkable events and the catastrophe

of some tribes have been preserved by tradition, and since confirmed by

the authority of the Koran. * * * * * * * * * * * *

"The present Arabians, according to their own historians, are sprung

from two stocks, Kahtan, the same with Joctan the son of Eber, and

Adnan descended in a direct line from Ishmael, the son of Abraham and

Hagar; the posterity of the former they call al Arab al Ariba, i.

e. naturalized or insititious Arabs, though some reckon the ancient

lost tribes to have been the only pure Arabians, and therefore call

the posterity of Kahtan also Motanreba, which word likewise signifies

insititious Arabs, though in a nearer degree than Mostareba; the

descendants of Ishmael being the more distant graft. * * * * *

"The posterity of Ishmael have no claim to be admitted as pure Arabs;

their ancestor being by origin and language an Hebrew, but having

made alliance with the Jorhamites, by marrying a daughter of Modad,

and accustomed himself to their manner of living and language, his

descendants became blended with them into one nation. The uncertainty

of the descents between Ismael and Adnan, is the reason why they seldom

trace their genealogies higher than the latter, whom they acknowledge

as father of their tribes; the descents from him downwards being pretty

certain and uncontroverted." (Ibid, pp. 4, 6, 7).

3. _Mohammed, Birth and Ancestry:_ "Mahomet, or more properly

Mohammed, the only son of Abdallah and Amina, was born at Mecca, four

years after the death of Justinian, and two months after the defeat of

the Abyssinians, (A. D. 569) whose victory would have introduced into

the Caaba the religion of the Christians. In his early infancy he was

deprived of his father, his mother, and his grandfather; his uncles

were strong and numerous; and, in the division of the inheritance,

the orphan's share was reduced to five camels and an Ethiopian

maid-servant. At home and abroad, in peace and war, Abu Taleb, the most

respectable of his uncles, was the guide and guardian of his youth; in

his twenty-fifth year he entered into the service of Cadijah, a rich

and noble widow of Mecca, who soon rewarded his fidelity with the gift

of her hand and fortune. The marriage contract, in the simple style of

antiquity, recites the mutual love of Mahomet and Cadijah; describes

him as the most accomplished of the tribe of Koeish; and stipulates a

dowry of twelve ounces of gold and twenty camels, which was supplied by

the liberality of his uncle. By this alliance the son of Abdallah was

restored to the station of his ancestors; and the judicious matron was

content with his domestic virtues, till, in the fortieth year of his

age, he assumed the title of prophet, and proclaimed the religion of

the Koran." (Gibbon's "Decline and Fall," Vol. VI, pp. 218-219.)

4. _Mohammed's Personal Appearance:_ "According to the tradition

of his companions, Mohammed was distinguished by the beauty of his

person, an outward gift which is seldom despised, except by those to

whom it has been refused. Before he spoke, the orator engaged on his

side the affections of a public or private audience. They applauded

his commanding presence, his majestic aspect, his piercing eye, his

gracious smile, his flowing beard, his countenance that painted every

sensation of the soul, and his gestures that enforced each expression

of the tongue. In the familiar offices of life he scrupulously

adhered to the grave and ceremonious politeness of his country; his

respectful attention to the rich and powerful was dignified by his

condescension and affability to the poorest citizens of Mecca; the

frankness of his manner concealed the artifice of his views; and the

habits of courtesy were imputed to personal friendship or universal

benevolence. His memory was capacious and retentive; his wit easy

and social; his imagination sublime; his judgment clear, rapid, and

decisive. He possessed the courage both of thought and action; and,

although his designs might gradually expand with his success, the

first idea which he entertained of his divine mission bears the stamp

of an original and superior genius. The son of Abdallah was educated

in the bosom of the noblest race, in the use of the purest dialect of

Arabia, and the fluency of his speech was corrected and enhanced by

the practice of discreet and seasonable silence. With these powers

of eloquence, Mahomet was an illiterate barbarian; his youth had

never been instructed in the arts of reading and writing; the common

ignorance exempted him from shame or reproach, but he was reduced to

a narrow circle of existence, and deprived of those faithful mirrors

which reflect to our mind the minds of sages and heroes. Yet the book

of nature and of man was open to his view; and some fancy has been

indulged in the political and philosophical observations which are

ascribed to the Arabian traveler. He compares the nations and the

religions of the earth; discovers the weakness of the Persian and Roman

monarchies; beholds with pity and indignation the degeneracy of the

times; and resolves to unite under one God and one king the invincible

spirit and primitive virtues of the Arabs." (Ibid, pp. 219-221.)

5. _The Character of Mohammed:_ "Mohammed possessed that

combination of qualities which more than once has decided the fate of

empires. A preaching soldier, he was eloquent in the pulpit, valiant

in the field. His theology was simple: "There is but one God." The

effeminate Syrian, lost in Monothelite and Monophysite mysteries; the

Athanasian and Arian, destined to disappear before his breath, might

readily anticipate what he meant. Asserting that everlasting truth, he

did not engage in vain metaphysics, but applied himself to improving

the social condition of his people by regulations respecting personal

cleanliness, sobriety, fasting, prayer. Above all other works he

esteemed almsgiving and charity. With a liberality to which the world

had of late become a stranger, he admitted the salvation of men of any

form of faith provided they were virtuous. To the declaration that

there is but one God, he added, "and Mohammed is his Prophet." Whoever

desires to know whether the event of things answered to the boldness

of such an announcement, will do well to examine a map of the world

in our own times. He will find the marks of something more than an

imposture. To be the religious head of many empires, to guide the daily

life of one-third of the human race, may perhaps justify the title of

a messenger of God." (Draper: "Intellectual Development," Vol. I, pp.

330.)

6. _Mohammed and Supernatural Appearances:_ "Like many of the

Christian monks, Mohammed retired to the solitude of the desert, and,

devoting himself to meditation, fasting, and prayer, became the victim

of cerebral disorder. He was visited by supernatural appearances,

mysterious voices accosting him as the Prophet of God; even the stones

and trees joined in the whispering. He himself suspected the true

nature of his malady, and to his wife Cadijah he expressed a dread that

he was becoming insane. It is related that as they sat alone, a shadow

entered the room. "Dost thou see aught?" said Cadijah, who, after the

manner of Arabian matrons, wore her veil. "I do," said the prophet.

Whereupon she uncovered her face and said: "Dost thou see it now?" "I

do not." "Glad tidings to thee, O Mohammed!" exclaimed Cadijah; "it is

an angel, for he has respected my unveiled face; an evil spirit would

not." As his disease advanced, these spectral illusions became more

frequent; from one of them he received the divine commission. "I," said

his wife, "will be thy first believer"; and they knelt down in prayer

together. Since that day nine thousand millions of human beings have

acknowledged him to be a prophet of God." (Ibid, pp. 330-1.)

7. _Mohammedan Creed:_ "There is no God but God, the living, the

self subsisting; he hath sent down unto thee the book of the Koran

with truth, confirming that which was revealed before it; for he had

formerly sent down the law, and the gospel, a direction unto men;

and he had also sent down the distinction between good and evil.

Verily those who believe not the signs of God shall suffer a grievous

punishment; for God is mighty, able to revenge. Surely nothing is

hidden from God, of that which is on earth, or in heaven; it is He who

formeth you in the wombs, as he pleaseth; there is no God but he, the

mighty, the wise. * * * * * * * * * * It is God who hath created you,

and hath provided food for you; hereafter will he cause you to die;

and after that will he raise you again to life. Is there any of your

false gods, who is able to do the least of these things? * * * * * *

It is God who sendeth the winds, and raiseth the clouds, and spreadeth

the same in the heaven, as he pleaseth; and afterwards disperseth the

same; and thou mayest see the rain issuing from the midst thereof; and

when he poureth the same down on such of his servants as he pleaseth,

behold, they are filled with joy. * * * * * *

"It is God who created you in weakness, and after weakness hath given

you strength; and after strength, he will again reduce you to weakness

and grey hairs; he createth that which he pleaseth; and he is the wise,

the powerful." (Al Koran, Chs. iii and xxx.)

8. _Comment on the Creed of Mohammed:_ "The faith which under the

name of Islam, he preached to his family and nation, is compounded of

an eternal truth and necessary fiction. That there is only one God,

and that Mahomet is the Apostle of God. It is the boast of the Jewish

apologists, that, while the learned nations of antiquity were deluded

by the fables of polytheism, their simple ancestors of Palestine

preserved the knowledge and worship of the true God. The moral

attributes of Jehovah may not easily be reconciled with the standard of

human virtue; his metaphysical qualities are darkly expressed; but each

page of the Pentateuch and the Prophets is an evidence of his power;

the unity of his name is inscribed on the first table of the law; and

his sanctuary was never defiled by any visible image of the invisible

essence. After the ruin of the temple, the faith of the Hebrew exiles

was purified, fixed and enlightened by the spiritual devotion of the

synagogue; and the authority of Mahomet will not justify his perpetual

reproach that the Jews of Mecca or Mediana adored Ezra as the son

of God. But the children of Israel had ceased to be a people; and

the religions of the world were guilty, at least in the eyes of the

prophet, of giving sons, or daughters or companions to the Supreme God.

* * * * * * * *

"The creed of Mahomet is free from suspicion or ambiguity; and the

Koran is a glorious testimony to the unity of God. The prophet of Mecca

rejected the worship of idols and men, of stars and planets, on the

rational principle that whatever rises must set, that whatever is born

must die, that whatever is corruptible must decay and perish. In the

author of the universe his rational enthusiasm confessed and adored

an infinite and Eternal Being, without form or place, without issue

or similitude, present to our most secret thoughts, existing by the

necessity of his own nature, and deriving from himself all moral and

intellectual perfection. These sublime truths, thus announced in the

language of the prophet, are firmly held by his disciples, and defined

with metaphysical precision by the interpreters of the Koran." (Gibbon:

"Decline and Fall," Vol. VI, pp. 222-3).

"A philosophic theist might subscribe the popular creed of the

Mahometans; a creed too sublime perhaps for our present faculties. What

object remains for the fancy, or even the understanding, when we have

abstracted from the unknown substance all ideas of time and space, of

motion and matter, of sensation and reflection? The first principle

of reason and revelation was confirmed by the voice of Mahomet; his

proselytes, from India to Morocco, are distinguished by the name of

Unitarians; and the danger of idolatry has been prevented by the

interdiction of images. The doctrine of eternal decrees and absolute

predestination is strictly embraced by the Mahometans; and they

struggle with the common difficulties how to reconcile the prescience

of God with the freedom and responsibility of man; how to explain the

permission of evil under the reign of infinite power and infinite

goodness.

"The God of nature has written his existence on all of his works, and

his law in the heart of man. To restore the knowledge of the one,

and the practice of the other, has been the real or pretended aim

of the prophets of every age; the liberality of Mahomet allowed to

his predecessors the same credit which he claimed for himself; and

the chain of inspiration was prolonged from the fall of Adam to the

promulgation of the Koran. During that period some rays of prophetic

light had been imparted to one hundred and twenty-four thousand of the

elect, discriminated by their respective measure of virtue and grace;

three hundred and thirteen apostles were sent with a special commission

to recall their country from idolatry and vice; one hundred and four

volumes have been dictated by the Holy Spirit; and six legislators of

transcendent brightness have announced to mankind the six successive

revelations of various rites, but of one immutable religion. The

authority and station of Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Christ, and

Mahomet, rise in just gradation above each other; but whosoever hates

or rejects any one of the prophets is numbered with the infidels. The

writings of the patriarchs were extant only in the apocryphal copies

of the Greeks and Syrians; the conduct of Adam had not entitled him to

the gratitude or respect of his children; the seven precepts of Noah

were observed by an inferior and imperfect class of the proselytes of

the synagogue; and the memory of Abraham was obscurely revered by the

Sabians in his native land of Chaldea; of the myriads of prophets,

Moses and Christ alone lived and reigned; and the remnant of the

inspired writings was comprised in the books of the Old and the New

Testament. The miraculous story of Moses is consecrated and embellished

in the Koran, and the captive Jews enjoy the secret revenge of imposing

their own belief on the nations whose recent creeds they deride. For

the author of Christianity, the Mahometans are taught by the prophet

to entertain a high and mysterious reverence. "Verily, Christ Jesus,

the son of Mary, is the apostle of God, and his word, which he conveyed

unto Mary, and a spirit proceeding from him; honorable in this world,

and in the world to come; and one of those who approached near to the

presence of God."[2] (Gibbon: "Decline and Fall," Vol. I, VI, pp.

223-226.)

9. _Islam:_ "Mahomet had been wont to retire yearly, during the

month of Ramadhan, into solitude and silence; as indeed was the Arab

custom, a praiseworthy custom, which such a man, above all, would find

natural and useful. Communing with his own heart, in the silence of the

mountains; himself silent; open to the 'small still voices'; it was a

right natural custom! Mahomet was in his fortieth year, when having

withdrawn to a cavern in Mount Hara, near Mecca, during his Ramadhan,

to pass the month in prayer and meditation on those great questions,

he one day told his wife Kadijah, who with his household was with him

or near him this year, that by the unspeakable special favor of Heaven

he had now found it all out; was in doubt and darkness no longer, but

saw it all. That all these Idols and Formulas were nothing, miserable

bits of wood; that there was one God in and over all; and we must

leave all idols, and look to Him. That God is great; and that there is

nothing else great! He is the Reality. Wooden idols are not real; He is

real. He made us at first, sustains us yet; we and all things are but

the shadow of Him; a transitory garment veiling the Eternal Splendor.

'Allah Akbar, God is Great;' and then also 'Islam,' that we must submit

to God. That our whole strength lies in resigned submission to Him,

whatsoever He do to us. For this world, and for the other! The thing He

sends to us, were it death and worse than death, shall be good, shall

be best; we resign ourselves to God." (Hero Worship, Lecture II).

Footnotes

1. "The syllable 'Al' in the word 'Alkoran' (sometimes also written

'Alcoran') is only the Arabic article signifying _'the'_;

and therefore ought to be omitted when the English article is

prefixed."--Sale, Alkoran, p. 40.

2. Koran, Ch. iii.

LESSON XXIV.

(Scripture Reading Exercise.)

SPECIAL LESSON.

_THE CALLING OF ISRAEL AS A WITNESS OF THE TRUE GOD--WAS ISRAEL TRUE

TO HIS MISSION?_

(AN ARGUMENTATIVE DISCOURSE.)

_NOTES._

1. _Judaism and Ancient Conceptions of God:_ It may be thought

strange that I have not devoted one lesson at least to Judaism among

the lessons on the "Ancient Conceptions of God." My reason for omitting

consideration of it here, where it would so fittingly take rank among

the ancient faiths, is that when the ancient and modern conceptions

of God shall have been considered, we then take up "True Conceptions

of Deity," and in doing so it is desirable that the whole range of

revelation to sustain the true doctrine and argument--including the

revelation which God gave of himself first to Abraham, and afterwards

to his descendants, Israel--both for the existence and the nature of

God, be available under one heading. To introduce the doctrine of

Deity as made known to ancient Israel would be to deal now with "True

Conceptions of God," and thus precipitate before its time the main

question of our treatise. And so we give Judaism place at this point

only by inviting the student's attention to it through this special

lesson.

2. _An Argumentative Discourse:_ I have suggested in the title

of this lesson that it be considered as an argumentative discourse;

and in the main this is inevitable; but it can be made to combine

both expository and argumentative discourse. The first part of the

title--"The Special Calling of Israel as a Witness of the True God,"

necessarily calls for exposition--the fact must be established that

Israel received such a mission. The second part of the title makes

necessary the argumentative form of treatment. An explanation of

Expository discourse will be found in Lesson X, Note 1 of this Year

Book. Argumentative discourse is treated in Seventy's Year Book No. II,

pp. 68-72. For treatise on "thought gathering," see Year Book No. I,

pp. 147-150; on "Constructing a plan," etc. See Year Book No. II, pp.

113-115, also pp. 149-151.

3. _Sources of Information:_ Trace the subject through the Bible

by means of a concordance, beginning with Deuteronomy XXVI, especially

verses 16-19. Also Deuteronomy XXVIII and XXIX, and trace out the

prophecies to their fulfillment. See on these chapters the Commentary

of Jamieson, Fausset and Brown. Also "The Gospel" p. 85, footnote

(third Ed.). Josephus of course; and where it can be had Leslie's

"Short and Easy Method with the Jews," sub-division XI. It is published

in "Christian Evidences" (1853). Edersheim's Life and Times of Messiah,

Vol. I, Chs. i-iv inclusive. Conybeare & Howson's Life of St. Paul, Ch.

I. Moral and Metaphysical Philosophy, Vol. I, Ch. i. Mormon Doctrine

of Deity, pp. 179-185. Also History of Christianity in the First Three

Centuries (Mosheim) Vol. I, pp. 52-55.

4. _Suggestions to the Speaker:_ In the last Special Lesson (Lesson

XV), under the title of this note we said the last word on the "First

Moments of Speech," we brought the speaker upon his feet facing his

audience. It now remains to carry him through the speech beginning with

the _Introduction_; and I shall follow the same master who has

before instructed us, Mr. Pittenger; and here let me say that we may

keep in mind the old formula of a well conducted speech: Introduction,

Discussion and Conclusion.

_The Introduction:_ "A good introduction is exceedingly

valuable, and is to be sought for with great solicitude, if it does

not spontaneously present itself. Some kind of an introduction is

inevitable, for there will always be a first moment when silence is

broken, and our thoughts introduced. The subsiding murmur of the

audience tells the speaker that the time of his trial has come. If he

is very sensitive, or if he has seldom, if ever, spoken before, his

pulse beats fast, his face flushes, and an indescribable feeling of

faintness and fear thrills every nerve. He may wish himself anywhere

else, but there is now no help for him. He must arise, and for the time

stand as the mark for all eyes and the subject of all thoughts.

"There is a vast difference between reciting and extemporizing in these

opening moments, and the advantage seems to be altogether on the side

of recitation. Every word is in its proper place and the speaker may be

perfectly calm and self-collected. He is sure that his memory will not

fail him in the opening, and encouraged by that assurance, will usually

throw his whole power into his first sentences, causing his voice to

ring clear and loud over the house.

"The extemporizer is in a far more difficult position. He is sure of

nothing. The weight of the whole speech rests heavily upon his mind.

He is glancing ahead, striving to forecast the coming sentences, as

well as carrying forward those gliding over the tongue, and, distracted

by this double labor, his first expressions may be feeble and

ungraceful. Yet this modesty and timidity is no real loss; it goes far

to conciliate an audience and secure their good-will. We can scarcely

fail to distinguish memorized from extemporized discourses by the

introduction alone.

"To avoid the pain and hesitancy of an unelaborated beginning, some

speakers write and memorize the opening passage. This may accomplish

the immediate object, but it is apt to be at the expense of all the

remainder of the discourse. The mind cannot pass easily from reciting

to spontaneous origination; and the voice, being too freely used at

first, loses its power. The hearers, having listened to highly polished

language, are less disposed to relish the plain words that follow, and

the whole speech, which, like the Alpine condor, may have pitched from

the loftiest summits, falls fast and far, until the lowest level is

reached. A written introduction may be modest and unpretending, but

unless it very closely imitates unstudied speech, painful contrasts and

disappointments are inevitable. * * * * * * *

"It is only the substance and not the words of the introduction that

should be prepared. A single sentence may be mentally forecast, but

much beyond would be harmful; and even this sentence should be simple

and easily understood. Anything that needs explanation is very much

out of place. Neither should the introduction be so striking as to be

the part of the discourse longest remembered. Rather than permit the

attention to be distracted in that manner, it would be better to have

no introduction."

_As to Apologies:_ "A speaker gains much if he can at the outset

arrest the attention and win the sympathy of his hearers and then carry

these over to his proper subject. But it may be assumed as certain,

that no kind of an apology will accomplish this object--unless, indeed,

the speaker is such a favorite that everything in regard to his health

or position is an object of deep solicitude to his audience. A popular

speaker who happens to be late and apologizes for it by explaining

that he had just escaped from a terrible railroad accident would make

a good introduction. A loved pastor, in his first sermon after serious

illness, might properly begin by talking of his amendment and his joy

at addressing his flock again. But these are rare exceptions. The

speaker about to make any kind of an apology or personal reference as

an introduction, may well heed Punch's advice to persons about to be

married: _'Don't!'"_ * * * * * *

_The Mortification of Inattention:_ "Some inattention may be

expected and patiently borne with [by the speaker] at first. Part of

the opening words may be lost by an additional reason for not making

them of capital importance to the address. It is useless to try by

loud tones and violent manner to dispel indifference. If the speaker's

words have real weight, and if his manner indicates confidence, one by

one the audience will listen, until that electric thrill of sympathy,

impossible to describe, but which is as evident to the practiced

speaker as an accord in music, tells him that every ear is open to his

words, and that his thoughts are occupying every mind." * * * *

_Subjects for Introductions:_ "There are two or three general

subjects available for introduction which every speaker would do well

to study carefully, and which will do much to furnish him with the

means of properly approaching his theme. We will mention the most

useful of these, premising that no one mode should be depended upon to

the exclusion of others.

"A good mode of introduction consists in a compliment to an audience.

When a truthful and manly compliment can be given it is a most

agreeable step toward the good-will of those we address; but if used

on all occasions indiscriminately, it is meaningless; if transparently

false, it is repulsive and disgusting; but when true, there is no

reason why it should not be employed." * * * * * * (For example of such

introductions see Acts, Ch. xxiv and xxvi).

"Effective introductions can also be constructed from those topics of

the day which may be supposed to fill all minds. A few words on such

subjects, falling in with the general current of thought, may easily

lead up to the speaker's special topic. The newspapers may thus furnish

us, especially while some striking event is yet recent, with the means

of arresting the attention of newspaper readers at our first words.

"Another good mode of introduction is that of locality. The people

of any town may be presumed familiar with the objects or events

of interest for which their own place is celebrated;" and a happy

reference to one or more of these can scarcely fail to be of interest.

"Another mode of introduction which may be very useful under proper

restrictions is that of citing some relevant remark made by an author

whose name carries great weight, or so pointed in itself as to at once

arrest attention. A great picture, some feature of a landscape, a great

historical event, may be cited in the same way. This method of citation

is capable of very wide application. If the sentiment or impression

made by the citation is directly opposite to that which the speaker

wishes to produce this will increase rather than diminish interest, as

the enjoyment of contrast and controversy is very keen; but the speaker

should feel confident of his ability to overcome the influence of the

citation when thus hostile." * * * * * *

_Calamity From a Bad Introduction:_ "A great calamity may come to a

speaker from a bad introduction. Speakers who are great in everything

else often fail at this point. Some make their introductions too

complicated, and thus defeat their own end, as surely as the engineer

who gives his railroad such steep grades that no train can pass over

it. Others deliver a string of mere platitudes and weary their audience

from the beginning.

"When from these or other causes an address is mis-begun, the

consequences may be serious. The thought settles upon the speaker

with icy weight that he is failing. This conviction paralyzes all his

faculties. He talks on, but grows more and more embarrassed. Incoherent

sentences are stammered out which require painful explanation to

prevent them from degenerating into perfect nonsense. The outline of

his plan dissolves into mist. The points he intended to make which

seemed strong and important now look trivial. With little hope ahead

he blunders on. The room grows dark before him, and in the excess of

his misery he longs for the time when he can close without absolute

disgrace. But alas! the end seems far off, and he searches in vain

for some avenue of escape. There is none. His throat becomes dry and

parched, and command of voice is lost. The audience grow restive, for

they are tortured as well as the speaker, and if he were malicious and

had time to think about it, he might find some alleviation in that.

No one can help him. At length, in sheer desperation, he does what he

ought to have done long before--simply stops and sits down--perhaps

hurling some swelling morsel of common-place, as a parting volley,

at the audience--bathed in sweat, and feeling that he is disgraced

forever! If he is very weak or foolish, he resolves never to speak

again without having every word written out before him; if wiser, he

only resolves, not only to understand his speech, but how to begin it."

("Extempore Speech"--Pittenger--Ch. vii).

This treatise upon the Introduction to a speech has trespassed somewhat

upon the space of this lesson, but one can see no suggestion here set

down that could well be eliminated, so instructive is it. Especially

could not the concluding topic "Calamity from a Bad Introduction," be

sacrificed. But the wisdom underlying the elaborate discussion of this

topic by Mr. Pittenger was forcefully and tersely expressed in one of

the early revelations to the Ministry of the Church--1831--when the

Lord in reference to preaching, said that the Elders should teach as

directed by the Spirit; "and the Spirit shall be given unto you by

the prayer of faith, _and if ye receive not the Spirit ye shall not

teach!"_ (Doc. & Cov. Sec. 42; 12-14).

5. _Strength:_ Still another word on strength of expression. We

have already noted two means of promoting strength of expression--(1)

by the rejection of superfluous words (Lesson X); and (2) a careful use

of words of connection. And now Quackenbos:

"A third means of promoting the Strength of a sentence is to dispose

of the important word or words in that place where they will make the

greatest impression. What this place is, depends on the nature and

length of the sentence. Sometimes, it is at the commencement, as in

the following from Addison: '_The pleasures of the imagination_,

taken in their full extent, are not so gross as those of sense, nor

so refined as those of the understanding.' In other cases, it will

be found of advantage to suspend the sense for a time, and bring

the important term at the close of the period. 'On whatever side,'

says Pope, 'we contemplate Homer, what principally strikes us is his

_wonderful invention_.' No rule can be given on this subject; a

comparison of different arrangements is the only means of ascertaining,

in any particular case, which is the best." (Rhetoric, Art. "Strength.")

The following suggestion is given by Lockwood:

"The mind naturally dwells upon the last part of a sentence. Care

should, therefore, be taken to have the last word a forcible one.

Avoid closing a sentence with an insignificant word or phrase, as, for

example, an adverb or a preposition or such a phrase as _to it, by

it_, etc."

"Example: 'That is a danger which young children are exposed to.' The

sentence should read, That is a danger to which young children are

exposed.

"Example: 'None but capital letters were used _formerly_.'

"The idea is more forcibly presented if we say, Formerly, none but

capital letters were used."

LESSON XXV.

(Scripture Reading Exercise.)

_PATRISTIC[1] DOCTRINES OF GOD._

_ANALYSIS._ _REFERENCES._

_I. The Patristic Period._ "Library of the Christian

Fathers Anterior to

_II. The Prevailing Philosophers._ the Division of the East

and West," Oxford Edition

_III. The Christian Doctrine of Deity--The (42 Vols.).

Trinity._

Early Christian Literature

_IV. Patristic Arguments for the Divine Primers, Edited

Existence and the Trinity._ by Geo. P. Fisher;

Apostolic Fathers; Fathers

_V. The Apostles' Creed._ of the Third Century;

Post-Nicene Latin

Fathers; Post-Nicene

Greek Fathers.

Mosheim's and Neander's

Church Histories;

also Smith's Student's

Ecclesiastical History,

Vol. I.

History of Christian

Doctrine (Shedd), 2 Vols.

"Intellectual Development

of Europe" (Draper),

Vol. I, chapter

on Greek Age of

Faith.

Gibbon's "Decline and

Fall," Vol. III, Ch. xxi.

Mormon Doctrine of

Deity (Roberts), Chs. ii

and iii, and Notes of

this Lesson.

_SPECIAL TEXT: "O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust,

avoiding profane and vain babblings, and opposition of science falsely

so called." I Tim. vi,20_.

_NOTES._

1. _The Patristic Period:_ The patristic period is usually

recognized as extending from the close of the Apostolic period and

ending with the death of the last of the Apostles, supposed to have

occurred about 95 or 96 A. D.--to A. D. 750. The Patristic period of

the Church is followed by what is called the Mediaeval period. "The

line between these two Christian ages," says George A. Jackson in his

Introduction to "The Apostolic Fathers," "cannot be sharply drawn;

but, speaking in a general way, the epoch of the Fathers was, in the

Western Church, the first six centuries. In the Eastern Church, the

patristic age may be extended to embrace John of Damascus (A. D. 750).

The writers may be arranged, not unnaturally, in four groups. 1. (A.

D. 95--180). The Apostolic Fathers and the Apologists, or writers

contemporary with the formation of the New Testament canon. These all

wrote in Greek. 2. (A. D. 180--325). The Fathers of the third century;

or writers from Irenaeus to the Nicene Council; partly Greek, partly

Latin. 3. (A. D. 325--590). The Post-Nicene Latin Fathers. 4. (A. D.

325-750). The Post-Nicene Greek Fathers." (Apostolic Fathers, Jackson,

p. 11).

Our notice of the conceptions of the Fathers respecting God, can

only be very brief, and consequently it will be imperfect. Only such

passages from them will be quoted as are most largely representative;

and from such Fathers as most influenced the thought of their times.

2. _Philosophy Which Most Affected Christian Doctrine:_ The secular

philosophies which exerted most influence upon Christian doctrine,

were Platonism and Aristotelianism. It is said of them that "they have

exerted more influence upon the intellectual methods of men, taking in

the whole time since their appearance, than all other systems combined"

(History Christian Doctrine--Shedd--Vol. I, p. 52); and further, that

they contain more of truth than all other systems that do not draw

from them, or are opposed to them" (Ibid, p. 53). It is conceded that

neither of these philosophers is free from error; but it is claimed by

Christian writers that the "Greek theism as represented in these two

systems, notwithstanding its defects, affirmed the existence of God,

and of one supreme God, and taught a spiritual theory of man and human

life." (Ibid, p. 55-56). It is also held that upon this point of the

Divine Existence, or "Being," however much the two philosophers differ

in their methods of thought and explanation, there is really no great

difference between them (Ibid, pp. 56-58; and foot notes where a number

of authorities are quoted to the same effect with Shedd). It should

be remembered, that for myself, I limit the practical concurrence of

the two simply to the existence of the Supreme Being; and in this

conclusion I find the support of Maurice, who, in describing the

efforts of Pico (15th century) to reconcile the Metaphysics of Plato

and Aristotle, says:

"Those who professed themselves Platonists pure and simple, insisted

that Unity [Oneness] had been distinguished from Being by Plato, and

had been exalted above Being; that on the contrary Being, according

to Aristotle, is identical with Unity. This was the point on which

the philosophers were supposed to disagree. . . . . . Dealing only

with the ontological, or as we call them, the metaphysical treatise,

of the great master [Aristotle], he [Pico] has little difficulty in

showing that he was no disparager of Unity, any more than Plato was a

disparager of Being . . . . . . . . . . He is able to maintain with

great plausibility and force, that Aristotle, no less than Plato,

regarded Being and Unity as meeting in God, and as vital objects

for human search because they meet in him." (Moral and Metaphysical

Philosophy--Maurice--Vol. II, pp. 80-81).

3. _The Christian Doctrine of God:_ In order to understand the

Patristic conceptions of God, I find it necessary to state, even if

ever so briefly, the doctrine of God as taught by the Messiah and the

Apostles; and for this purpose I use a statement of that doctrine from

Year Book II; Lesson XXXVI.

"The existence of God both Jesus and the Apostles accepted as a fact.

In all the teachings of the former He nowhere seeks to prove God's

existence. He assumes that, and proceeds from that basis with His

doctrine. He declares the fact that God was His Father, and frequently

calls Himself the Son of God.[2] After His resurrection and departure

into heaven, the Apostles taught that He, the Son of God, was with

God the Father in the beginning; that He, as well as the Father, was

God; that under the direction of the Father He was the Creator of the

world; that without Him was not anything made that was made.[3] That

in Him dwelt all the fulness of the Godhead bodily;[4] and that He was

the express image of the Father's person.[5] Jesus Himself taught that

He and the Father were one;[6] that whosoever had seen Him had seen

the Father also;[7] that it was part of His mission to reveal God, the

Father, through His own personality; for as was the Son, so too was the

Father.[8] Hence Jesus was God manifested in flesh--a revelation of God

to the world.[9] That is, a revelation not only of the being of God,

but of the kind of being God is.

"Jesus also taught (and in doing so showed in what the 'oneness' of

Himself and His Father consisted) that the disciples might be one

with Him, and also one with each other, as He and the Father were

one.[10] Not one in person--not all merged into one individual, and

all distinctions of personality lost; but one in mind, in knowledge,

in love, in will--one by reason of the indwelling in all of the one

spirit, even as the mind and will of God the Father was also in Jesus

Christ.[11]

"The Holy Ghost, too, was upheld by the Christian religion to be

God.[12] Jesus ascribed to Him a distinct personality; as proceeding

from the Father; as sent forth in the name of the Son, as weeling love;

experiencing grief; as forbidding; as abiding; as teaching; as bearing

witness; as appointing to work; and as interceding for men. All of

which clearly establishes for Him a personality." (Mormon Doctrine of

Deity--Roberts--Ch. iv.).

4. _The Trinity of the Christian Doctrine:_ "The distinct

personality of these three individual Gods (united however into one

Godhead or Divine Council), was made apparent at the baptism of Jesus;

for as He, God the Son, came up out of the water from His baptism at

the hands of John, a manifestation of the presence of the Holy Ghost

was given in the sign of the dove which rested upon Jesus, while out

of the glory of heaven the voice of God the Father was heard saying,

'This,' referring to Jesus, 'is my beloved Son, in whom I am well

pleased.' The distinctness of the personality of each member of the

Godhead is also shown by the commandment to baptize those who believe

in the Gospel equally in the name of each person of the Holy Trinity.

That is, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy

Ghost. (Matt. xxviii, 19-20.) And again, also in the Apostolic

benediction, viz., 'The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of

God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all.' (II Cor.

xiii, 14.)

"These three Personages constitute the Christian Godhead, the Holy

Trinity. In early Christian theology they were regarded as the Supreme

Governing and Creating Power in heaven and in earth. Of which Trinity

the Father was worshipped in the name of the Son, while the Holy Ghost

bore record of both the Father and the Son. And though the Holy Trinity

was made up of three distinct persons, yet did they constitute but one

Godhead, or Supreme Governing Power.

"The foregoing doctrine of God, taught to the Christians in Apostolic

times, awakened their pious reverence without exciting their curiosity.

They dealt with no metaphysical abstractions, but were contented to

accept the teachings of the Apostles in humble faith, and believed that

Jesus Christ was the complete manifestation of Deity, and the express

image of God His Father; and hence a revelation to them of God; while

the Holy Ghost they accepted as God's witness and messenger to them."

(Ibid, Ch. iv.).

5. _Patristic Arguments for the Divine Existence:_ The main

argument of the Christian Fathers for the Divine Existence, as already

stated (Lesson 3, note 11), rested upon the innate consciousness of the

human mind. "But," says Shedd, in his History of Christian Doctrine

(Vol. I, p. 230):

"But whenever a formal demonstration was attempted in the Patristic

period, the _a posteriori_[13] was the method employed. The

physico-theological argument, derived from the harmony visible in the

works of creation, was used by Irenaeus to prove the doctrine of the

unity and simplicity of the Divine Nature, in opposition to Polytheism

and Gnosticism--the former of which held to a multitude of Gods, and

the latter to a multitude of aeons. The teleological argument, derived

from the universal presence of a design in creation, was likewise

employed in the Patristic theology." (Shedd's History of Christian

Doctrine, Vol. I, p. 267).

6. _The Trinity of the Apostolic Fathers:_ "The Apostolic Fathers

lived before the rise of the two principal Anti-Trinitarian theories

described in a previous section, and hence attempted no speculative

construction of the doctrine of the trinity. They merely repeat the

Biblical phraseology, without endeavoring to collect and combine the

data of revelation into a systematic form. They invariably speak of

Christ as divine; and make no distinction in their modes of thought

and expression, between the deity of the Son and that of the Father.

These immediate pupils of the Apostles enter into no speculative

investigation of the doctrine of the Logos, and content themselves

with the simplest and most common expressions respecting the trinity.

In these expressions, however, the germs of the future so-called

scientific statement may be discovered; and it is the remark of

Meier, one of the fairest of those who have written the history of

Trinitarianism, that the beings of an immanent trinity can be seen

in the writings of the practical and totally unspeculative Apostolic

Fathers."[14] (Shedd, Vol. I, 261-265.)

7. _The Patristic View of the Divinity of the Christ:_ "The

following extracts from their writings are sufficient to indicate the

freedom with which the Apostolic Fathers apply the term 'God' to the

second Person, who is most commonly conceived of as the God-man, and

called Jesus Christ by them.

"'Brethren' says Clement of Rome (Ep. II, Ch. 1), 'we ought to conceive

of Jesus Christ as of God, as of the judge of the living and the

dead.' Ignatius addresses, in his greeting, the church at Ephesus, as

'united and elected by a true passion, according to the will of the

Father, and of Jesus Christ our God.' Writing to the church at Rome,

he describes them, in his greeting, as 'illuminated by the will of Him

who willeth all things that are according to the love of Jesus Christ

our _God_'; and desires for them 'abundant and uncontaminated

salvation in Jesus Christ our God.' He also urges them (Ch. 3), to mind

invisible rather than earthly things, for 'the things that are seen

are temporal, but the things that are not seen are eternal. For even

our God, Jesus Christ being in the Father, (i. e., having ascended

again to the Father) is more glorified' (in the invisible world than

when upon earth). He enjoins it upon the Trallian[15] Church (Ch. 7),

to 'continue inseparable from God, even Jesus Christ'; and says to the

Smyrnaean Church, 'glorify Jesus Christ, even God, who has given you

such wisdom." (Shedd, Vol. I, pp. 265-6).

8. _Patristic Allusion to the Trinity:_ "The following allusions

to the trinity occur in the Apostolic Fathers: Clement of Rome, in his

first epistles to the Corinthians (Ch. 46), asks, 'Have we not one God,

and one Christ? Is there not one Spirit of Grace, who is poured out

upon us, and one calling in Christ?' Polycarp, according to the Letter

of the Smyrna Church (Ch. 14), closed his prayer at the stake with the

glowing ascription:

"For this, and for all things, I praise Thee, I bless Thee, I glorify

Thee, together with the eternal and heavenly Jesus, Thy beloved Son;

with whom to Thee, and the Holy Ghost, be glory, both now, and to all

succeeding ages. Amen." Ignatius, in his epistle to the Magnesians

(Ch. 13), places the Son first in the enumeration of the three persons

in the trinity; 'Study, that whatsoever ye do, ye may prosper both in

body and spirit, in faith and charity, in the Son, and in the Father,

and in the Holy Spirit,' * * * following in this particular St. Paul

in 2 Cor. 12:12. Barnabas (Epist. Ch. 5) finds the trinity in the Old

Testament. 'For this cause, the Lord endured to suffer for our souls,

although He was Lord of the whole earth, to whom He (the Father) said

before the making of the world: 'Let us make man after Our own image

and likeness." (Shedd, Vol. I, p. 267).

9. _Origin of Christian Creeds:_ It is quite possible that the

origin of creeds expressing the doctrine of Deity, grew out of certain

declarations made by the Apostles, and the felt need of fixing upon

some definite conception of God as a ground of Christian faith and

membership in the Church. Perhaps the now famous confession of St.

Peter was the first step in this direction. "Whom do ye say that I am?"

inquired Jesus of the Apostles. "And Simon Peter answered and said:

"Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." Whereupon the Master

declared that the Father had revealed this truth to the Apostle, and

that upon it He (the Christ) would build His Church. (Matt. xvi, 13-21).

As an instance of the felt need of a confession warranting entrance to

the Church, take the case of the officer of the court of Queen Candace.

After being instructed of Philip, he inquired--"What doth hinder me to

be baptized?" "If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest."

And the officer answered--"I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son

of God." The chariot was halted straight way, and the baptism was

performed. (Acts. viii).

10. _"The Apostles' Creed:"_ It is doubtful if the creed bearing

the Apostolic title was formulated by the Apostles. Dr Mosheim doubts

of the Apostles formulating it, in the following language. "There is

indeed extant, a brief summary of Christian doctrines which is called

the 'Apostles Creed'; and which from the fourth century onward, was

attributed to Christ's Ambassadors themselves. But at this day, all who

have any knowledge of antiquity, confess unanimously that this opinion

is a mistake and has no foundation." (Institutes Cent. I, Part 2, ch.

3). To this, also, substantially agrees Dr. Neander (Gen'l. History of

the Christian Religion and Church, Vol. I, pp. 306-307).

But while the simple formula may be of doubtful origin, it

unquestionably belongs to the Patristic period, and doubtless to the

period of the Apostolic Fathers, and would not be altogether unworthy

of the Apostles themselves. The Creed follows:

"I believe in God, the Father Almighty, and in Jesus Christ, His only

begotten Son, our Lord, who was born of the Virgin Mary by the Holy

Ghost, was crucified under Pontius Pilate, buried, arose from the dead

on the third day, ascended to the heavens, and sits at the right hand

of the Father; whence he will come, to judge the living and the dead;

and in the Holy Spirit; the holy church; the remission of sins; and the

resurrection of the body."

11. _Comment on the Apostles' Creed:_ As already observed, the

statement of the Christian faith as formulated in the Apostles'

Creed, so far as its doctrine of the Godhead is concerned, might well

be accredited to the Apostles, so unexceptional is it in the plain

statement of truth respecting the doctrine of God, as that doctrine

may be gathered from the scriptures. But the matter in the Patristic

period did not stop here, and perhaps it could not stop with the

statement of this first formula of a creed. Not only had the existence

of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit to be affirmed, but the nature of

that existence had to be declared, and the relationship of the persons

of the Trinity also had to be stated. Moreover, the relationship of

this Christian doctrine to the Greek and Oriental philosophies had to

be explained. If in harmony with these preceding philosophies which

dealt with God--for knowledge of God, or the "Supreme Being," is always

the object of philosophy--then it must be stated in what the harmony

consists; if in antagonism to them, the points of antagonism must be

stated and justified, and the superiority of the Christian doctrine

vindicated. It may be all very well for safe and formal men to state

a truth within the lines of common-place facts, and say "We will be

content with this and beyond it we will not go;" but a creed or book

once formulated and published to the world, remains no longer the

possession of those who published it. It belongs to the world, and

the world will have its way with it. If there are defects in it, from

any cause whatsoever, the world will find them out, let the defects

be what they may--under-statement of the truth, over-statement of the

truth, misstatement of the truth, or exact statement of the truth--all

will come out, and Time, the arbitrator for truth, will pronounce his

judgment, resulting in condemnation or justification.

So it proved to be with this first formulated Christian Creed. It was

all very well to say, "I believe in God, the Father Almighty, and in

Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son," and so following. But the adult

question came, and it was inevitable that it should come--"What is the

nature of this 'Father Almighty,' and of this 'Son,' and what their

relationship?" (For greater detail of consideration of this line of

questioning, see Year Book II, Lesson 37, note 2). Seeking an answer to

these questions, brought the Christian Fathers of our period in contact

with both Oriental and Greek philosophy; and soon the tendency to

harmonize the facts of Christian doctrine with Pagan philosophies set

in, resulting eventually in the paganization of the Christian doctrine.

(For further discussion on this head see Year Book II, Lesson 37).

Footnotes

1. "Patristic: Of or pertaining to the fathers of the Christian Church:

a patristic theology; patristic writings." (Cent. Dictionary.)

2. John x; Matt. xxvii; Mark xiv: 61, 62.

3. For all of which see John i: 1-4, 14; Heb. i: 1-3.

4. Col. i: 15-19, and ii: 9.

5. John xiv: 9, II Cor. iv: 4: and Heb. i: 3. Col. i: 17.

6. John x: 30, xvii: 11-22.

7. John, xiv: 9.

8. John xiv: 10, 11, 19, 20; also John xvii.

9. Tim. iii: 16.

10. John xvii.

11. Eph. iii: 14-19.

12. Acts v: 1-14. To lie to the Holy Ghost is to lie to God, because

the Holy Ghost is God.

13. From a consequent to its antecedent, from effects to causes.

14. Clement of Rome; Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch; Polycarp, Bishop of

Smyrna; Barnabas (not Paul's companion), see Mosheim Inst., Vol. I, p.

77; Hermas, and Papias, Bishop of Hieropolis.

15. In ancient geography, Tralles was a city of Asia Minor, situated

near the Menander, 228 miles east--southeast of Ephesus.

LESSON XXVI.

(Scripture Reading Exercise.)

_PATRISTIC DOCTRINES OF GOD--(Continued)._

_ANALYSIS._ _REFERENCES._