CONCLUSION.

We have now examined the several parts of the subject which claimed our consideration. In the course of our investigation we have seen that, while Christianity and Stoicism have many things in common, all that which is excellent in the Stoic system is contained in the Christian. There is in philosophy this irremediable defect, that though it may point out man’s duty, it does not give him power to fulfil it. It shows him a height of excellence which he cannot reach. Christianity also points man to noble and exalted paths. She gives him lessons of the highest wisdom, and furnishes him with an example of a perfect life. She does more. She furnishes him with the power to obtain what she pictures to him of excellence. Stoicism is like the dry bones which Ezekiel saw in his vision, the frames of men without the life. Christianity is like those bodies after they had been endowed with beauty, and strength, and vital energy, by His power, to whom alone it belongs to pronounce the decree, “Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live[73].”

Nothing is more marked in our holy religion than its reality. It enters into the every-day life of men, preparing them for their duty, and helping them to perform it. It would extend its blessed influence to all. Not likephilosophy, which separated a distinct class from their fellow-men, and considered the mass of mankind as far removed from any hope of their becoming wise; this divine system seeks the lost, and the lowly, and the foolish of this world, and raises them so that in their several spheres they may be holy and happy. We are warned in strong language against allowing our souls to be surfeited with the cares and pleasures of this world. We are to be spiritual, thoughtful, and earnest in our purely religious exercises. Yet we must guard against the mistake that religion is merely an abstract thing. It does not end when our ordinary duties begin: but follows us from the mercy-seat, when we have finished our communions withGodand go about those duties which his Providence has laid upon us. It does not deny us innocent pleasure, though we are forbidden to waste time in pursuit of even harmless amusement. The sentiment which would divorce religion from the burdens and joys of ordinary men, is more of Stoic, than of Christian birth. If we read the history of the Saviour, we see him presenting a marked contrast to John the Baptist, the ascetic and solitary. “The Son of man came eating and drinking,” and mingling as a man with men so freely as to scandalize the Pharisees, the Stoics of the Jewish Church. Our place also is in the world, doing the will ofGod. Not choosing our own path, or our own will, we are to resist the temptation to separation and spiritual pride which sometimes assails us.Godhas given us life, spiritual as well as bodily life, that it may be used in his service; not to serve our own selves. Yet many a man has served self and has followed a false light, that has deceived him and led him into bye-ways; while the deceived one thought he was doingGodservice, and practising self-denial. We want no special circumstancesmade for us, no extraordinary opportunities granted: for each man has by infinite wisdom been placed in his position, whatever it may be; and has, every day and all day long, opportunity for honouringGod, and helping on His designs in the world. ThisStPaul felt when, writing to the Corinthians, he says (2 Ep.v.14), “The love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: and that he died for all, that they who live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him who died for them, and rose again.” The great lesson to learn is real self-sacrifice. We shall not fail in learning this lesson if, depending on divine aid, we study to conform ourselves to His example, whose life was summed up in a few words by the Apostle Peter, when he described Him as “Jesus of Nazareth, who went about doing good.”

THE END.

CAMBRIDGE: PRINTED AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS.

Footnotes

1.By the new Regulations, the four Divinity Professors were appointed as additional Adjudicators.

2.Ἢ Φαρισαίων αἵρεσις παραπλήσιος ἐστὶ τῇ παρ’ Ἕλλησι Στωϊκῇ λεγομέvyῃ.—Jos.in vita suâ.

3.Acts xxiii. 8.

4.Τἠν μἐv εἱμαρμένην ἀναιροῦσιν, οὐδὲν εἶναι ταύτην ἀξιοῦντες, οὔτε κατ’ αὐτὴν τὰ ἀνθρώπινα τέλος λαμβάνειν, ἄπαντα δὲ ἐφ’ ἡμῖν αὐτοῖς τιθέντες.—Jos.Ant. Jud.XIII.5.

5.Whewell’sElements of Morality, Preface to the 4th Edition.

6.Chap.i.9.

7.Rom.ii.15.

8.Apol.1. 46.

9.See our Lord’s words,Matt.vii.9, 10.

10.There can be no doubt that δεισιδαιμονεστέρους = valde religiosos.

11.Actsxvii.22-31.

12.Diog. Laert. enumerates and quotes many of his writings.

13.“Le caractère commun de Stoïcisme et de l’Epicuréisme est de réduire presque entièrement la philosophie à la morale.”—V. Cousin.

14.Cleanthes said that it was τύπωσις ἐν ψυχῇ, an impression made on the soul, similar to that of a stamp on molten wax, τοῦ κηροῦ τύπωσιν: while Chrysippus said it was a ἑτερείωσις, or modification of the soul itself.

15.By Diog. Laert. Lib.VII.c.VII.§V.

16.I cannot refrain from quoting here the following excellent remarks on the origin of many Stoic philosophers who had great influence on the system, from the article, “The Ancient Stoics,” in theOxford Essaysof 1858, by Sir Alexander Grant, Bart.: “If we cast our eyes on a list of the early Stoics and their native places, we cannot avoid noticing how many of this school appear to have come of an Eastern and often of a Semitic stock. Zeno, their founder, was from Cittium, in Cyprus, by all accounts of a Phœnician family. Of his disciples Persæus came also from Cittium; Herillus was from Carthage; Athenodorus from Tarsus; Cleanthes from Assos, in the Troad. The chief disciples of Cleanthes were Iphœrus of the Bosphorus, and Chrysippus from Soli in Cilicia. Chrysippus was succeeded by Zeno of Sidon, and Diogenes of Babylon. The latter taught Antipater of Tarsus; who taught Panælius of Rhodus; who taught Posidonius of Apamea in Syria. There was another Athenodorus, from Cana, in Cilicia; and the early Stoic Archedemus is mentioned by Cicero as belonging to Tarsus. When we notice the frequent connexion of Cilicia with this list of names, we may well be reminded of one who was born at Tarsus, in Cilicia, a citizen of no mean city; and we may be led to ask, is there not something in the mental characteristics of the early Stoics analogous to his?”

17.Adversus Stoicos, 33.

18.Lib.XII.Cap. 26, collat. quoq. v. 10.

19.Plutarch,De Placitis Philosophorum,I.28.

20.De Providentia, Cap. 1.

21.“Hæc tibi scribo, is qui Annæum Serenum, carissimum mihi, tam immodice flevi, ut quod minime velim, inter exempla sim eorum quos dolor vicit: hodie tamen factum meum damno,” &c.—Ep.LXIII.12.

22.φασὶ δὲ καὶ ἀπαθῆ εἶναι τὸν σοφὸν, κ.τ.λ.—Diog. Laert.VI.1. 64.

23.2Cor.vi.8-10.

24.Phil.iv.11-13.

25.“Omnes mortales multo antecedes, non multo te dii antecedent.... Tantum sapienti sua, quantum Deo, omnis ætas patet. Est aliquid, quo sapiens antecedat Deum: ille naturæ beneficio non timet, suo sapiens.”—Ep.LIII.

26.1Cor.xv.19.

27.On this part the following words of Cousin are worthy of attention: “Le Stoïcisme est essentiellement solitaire: c’est le soin exclusif de son âme, sans regard à celles des autres; et comme la seule chose importante est la pureté de l’âme, quand cette pureté est trop en péril, quand on désespère d’être victorieux dans la lutte, on peut la terminer, comme l’a terminée Caton. Ainsi la philosophie n’est plus qu’un apprentissage de la mort, et non de la vie; elle tend à la mort par son image, l’apathie et l’ataraxie, et se résout définitivement en son egoïsme sublime.”

28.StMatt.xxv.40.

29.Lib.VII.c.1. §.XIII.

30.Lect.v.194.

31.Later Roman Commonwealth,II.398.

32.Ἄνευ τοῦ πράττειν, μέχρι τοῦ λέγειν. Quoted by Gataker from Gellius,Noct. Attic.17, 19.

33.“Non dicebant, quemadmodum ipsi viverent, sed quemadmodum vivendum esset.”—Seneca,de Vit. Beat.c.18.

34.The words of Gataker, in the Preface to hisMarc. Anton., are: “Veruntamen ex eis qui sectæ hujus in disciplinam serio seduloque sese dederunt, per singulas quasque fere ætates reperti sunt, qui fide dignorum scriptorum suffragiis consensu consono attestantibus, ita dogmata sua factis consentaneis consignata, decretaque vitæ instituto æquabili fere comprobata exhibuerint, ut nominis etiam Christiani professoribus plerisque pudorem incutere, ruborem suffundere merito queant.”

35.Præs. Hær.7.

36.Εἶτα ὑπὸ μανίας μὲν δύναταί τις οὕτω διατεθῆναι πρὸς ταῦτα καὶ ὑπὸ ἔθους οἱ Γαλιλαῖοι· ὑπὸ λόγου δὲ, κ.τ.λ.

37.Τὸ δὲ ἕτοιμον τοῦτο, ἵνα ἀπὸ ἰδικῆς κρίσεως ἔρχηται, μὴ κατὰ ψιλὴν παράταξιν, ὡς οἱ Χριστιανοὶ, ἀλλὰ λελογισμένως, κ.τ.λ.—Com.XI.3.

38.The remarks of Gataker with reference to Seneca are so apposite that I quote them here: “Certe quæcunque Dominus ipse Christus in concionibus collationibusque suis Historiæ Evangelicæ insertis, intextisque; de mali cogitatione etiam abstinenda; de affectibus vitiosis supprimendis; de sermone otioso non insuper habendo; de animo cumprimis excolendo, et ad imaginem divinam effingendo; de beneficentiâ simplicissime exhibendâ; de injuriis æquanimiter ferendis; de admonitione et increpatione cum moderatione cautioneque accuratâ exercendis; de rebus quibuslibet, adeoque vitâ ipsâ, ubi res ratioque poscit, nihili habendis; de aliis denique plerisque pietatis, caritatis, æquitatis, humanitatis officiis quam exquisitissime obeundis exequendisque, præcepta dedit; apud nostrum hunc eadem, perinde ac si illa lectitâsset ipse, in dissertationum commentationumque congerie inspersa passim, nec sine vehementia et vivacitate insigni, quæ in præcordia ipsa penitùs penetret, atque in animo infixos altius relinquat aculeos inculcata subinde, Lector quivis sedulus advertet, ingenuus agnoscet.”—Proel.Marc. Ant. Com.

39.“Deus ad homines venit, immo, quod proprius est, in homines venit,” &c.—Sen.Ep.73.I do not think it necessary to give the original of these passages, except in special cases.

39.“Deus ad homines venit, immo, quod proprius est, in homines venit,” &c.—Sen.Ep.73.

I do not think it necessary to give the original of these passages, except in special cases.

40.“Peccavimus omnes, alii graviora, alii leviora,” &c.

41.“Nec delinquimus tantum sed usque ad extremum ævi delinquemus.”

42.We find from Seneca’s observation respecting the Jews, whichStAugustin quotes, “victi victoribus leges dederunt,” how strongly he was impressed with the power the Jews exercised spiritually. The Satires of Juvenal and the complaints of Tacitus present us with similar views on their part. That Christianity was supposed to be a part of Judaism is seen from the words of Suetonius (Vit. Claud.): “Judæos, impulsore Chresto, assidue tumultuantes Româ expulit.”

43.“Accendere aliquem lucernam sabbathis prohibeamus,” &c.

44.Actsxvii.25.

45.Markxii.33.

46.Compare this with the passage in the Epistle to the Hebrews,xi.6: “He that cometh untoGodmust believe that He is.”

47.Sen.Ep.95.

48.Diss.III.23. Compare our Lord’s words,Matt.ix.12. “They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

49.Diss.II.16.

50.Diss.Β.III.c.4. Πότε καὶ ἐγὼ ἡμάρτανον· νῦν δ’ οὐκέτι, χάρις τῷ Θεῷ.

51.Gataker has the following apposite and judicious remark on this passage, “Et quæ sequuntur his gemina, homine Christiano quovis non indigna, Christum modo donatum nobis adjecisset.”—Præloq.M. Ant. Com.

52.Diss.B.II.c.16.

53.Diss.B.IV.c.12.

54.Diss.B.IV.c.4.

55.Diss.B.I.c.3.

56.Diss.B.IV.c.6.

57.Diss.B.III.c.13.

58.Eἴπερ ὁ θεὸς ἀρετὴν μὲν οὐ δίδωσιν ἀνθρώποις· ἀλλὰ τὸ καλὸν αὐθαίρετόν ἐστι· πλοῦτον δὲ καὶ ὑγίειαν χωρὶς ἀρετῆς δίδωσιν οὐκ ὠφελεῖ. Plut.de Stoic. cont.c.27.

59.“Idem fere, aliis verbis, Apostolus ad Thessal. Εp.I.c.5.v.23,” &c.—Gat.not. inM.Ant.B.II.c.2.

60.M.Aur.Com.x.1.

61.Rom.ii.11.

62.StJohn,xvii.15.

63.M.Aurelius uses the very word from which the anchorite took his name, Ἀναχωρήσεις αὐτοῖς ζητοῦσιν, κ.τ.λ.—B.IV.c.3.

64.Juvenal, in reference to this says,Sat.II.8:“Frontis nulla fides, quis enim non vicus abundatTristibus obscœnis?”SoSat.III.105, he has the following:“Audi facinus majoris abollæ.Stoïcus occidit Baream, delator amicum,Discipulumque senex.”Respecting this man (P.Egnatius), Tacitus says (Ann.XVI.32): “Cliens hic Sorani, et tunc emptus ad opprimendum amicum, auctoritatem Stoicæ sectæ præferebat, habitu et ore ad exprimendam imaginem honesti exercitus, ceterum animo perfidiosus, subdolus, avaritiam ac libidinem occultans.” He goes on to say we should be on our guard against those “specie bonarum artium falsos.”

64.Juvenal, in reference to this says,Sat.II.8:

“Frontis nulla fides, quis enim non vicus abundatTristibus obscœnis?”

“Frontis nulla fides, quis enim non vicus abundat

Tristibus obscœnis?”

SoSat.III.105, he has the following:

“Audi facinus majoris abollæ.Stoïcus occidit Baream, delator amicum,Discipulumque senex.”

“Audi facinus majoris abollæ.

Stoïcus occidit Baream, delator amicum,

Discipulumque senex.”

Respecting this man (P.Egnatius), Tacitus says (Ann.XVI.32): “Cliens hic Sorani, et tunc emptus ad opprimendum amicum, auctoritatem Stoicæ sectæ præferebat, habitu et ore ad exprimendam imaginem honesti exercitus, ceterum animo perfidiosus, subdolus, avaritiam ac libidinem occultans.” He goes on to say we should be on our guard against those “specie bonarum artium falsos.”

65.Chrysostomi,Opera, Tom.I.p.309. Ed. Ben. 8vo. Paris, 1834.

66.Ὠδῆς ἐπιτερποῦς, καὶ ὀρχήσεως καὶ παγκρατίου καταφρονήσεις, κ.τ.λ.M.Aurelii Ant.Com.XI.2.

67.Haud tibi inexpertum curvos deprendere moresQuæque docet sapiens braccatis illita MedisPorticus, insomnis quibus etdetonsajuventusInvigilat, &c.Sat.III.52-4.

67.

Haud tibi inexpertum curvos deprendere moresQuæque docet sapiens braccatis illita MedisPorticus, insomnis quibus etdetonsajuventusInvigilat, &c.

Haud tibi inexpertum curvos deprendere mores

Quæque docet sapiens braccatis illita Medis

Porticus, insomnis quibus etdetonsajuventus

Invigilat, &c.

Sat.III.52-4.

68.Proleg. adJ.Stearn,de Obstin.Sect. 41,p.147.

69.“Ex mente Pharisæorum.”

70.Calv.Inst.III.25. 1.

71.2 Peteriii.9.

72.Quem mala stultitia, et quæcunque inscitia veriCæcum agit, insanum Chrysippi porticus et grexAutumat. Hæc populos, hæc magnos formula reges,Excepto sapiente, tenet.Hor.Sat.II.3.

72.

Quem mala stultitia, et quæcunque inscitia veriCæcum agit, insanum Chrysippi porticus et grexAutumat. Hæc populos, hæc magnos formula reges,Excepto sapiente, tenet.Hor.Sat.II.3.

Quem mala stultitia, et quæcunque inscitia veriCæcum agit, insanum Chrysippi porticus et grexAutumat. Hæc populos, hæc magnos formula reges,Excepto sapiente, tenet.

Quem mala stultitia, et quæcunque inscitia veri

Cæcum agit, insanum Chrysippi porticus et grex

Autumat. Hæc populos, hæc magnos formula reges,

Excepto sapiente, tenet.

Hor.Sat.II.3.

73.Ezekielxxxvii.9.

Transcriber’s Notes:Footnotes have been collected at the end of the text, and are linked for ease of reference.

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