bigoted multitude. "All this," says Dr. Mosheim, "appears to have been most singularly and wisely directed by the adorable band of an interposing Providence, to the end, that this people, which was the sole depository of the true religion, and of the knowledge of one supreme God, being spread abroad through the whole earth, might be everywhere, by their example, a reproach to superstition, contribute in some measure to check it, and thus prepare the way for that yet fuller discovery of divine truth, which was to shine upon the world from the ministry and gospel of the Son of God."

SECTION III.

AN ACCOUNT OF THE PHILOSOPHICAL SYSTEMS WHICH WERE IN VOGUE AT THE TIME OF CHRIST'S APPEARANCE.

Ar the important era of Christ's appearance in the world, two kinds of philosophy prevailed among the civilized nations. One was the philosophy of the Greeks, adopted also by the Romans; and the other, that of the Orientals, which had a great number of votaries in Persia, Syria, Chaldea, Egypt, and even among the Jews. The former was distinguished by the simple title of philosophy. The latter was honored by the more pompous appellation of science or knowledge; since those who adhered to the latter sect pretended to be the restorers of the knowledge of God, which was lost in the world. The followers of both these systems, in consequence of vehement disputes and dissensions about several points, subdivided themselves into a variety of sects. It is, however, to be observed, that all the sects of the Oriental philosophy deduced their various tenets from one fundamental principle, which they held in common; but the Greeks were much divided about the first principles of science.

Amongst the Grecian sects there were some who declaimed openly against religion, and denied the immortality of the soul; and others, who acknowledged a Deity, and a state of future rewards and punishments. Of the former kind were the Epieureans and Academics; of the latter, the Platonists and Stoics

manner:

The Epicureans derived their name from Epicurus, who was born in the hundred and ninth olympiad, 242 years before Christ. He accounted for the formation of the world in the following A finite number of that infinite multitude of atoms, which, with infinite space, constitutes the universe, falling fortaitously into the region of the world, were, in consequence of their innate motion, collected into one rude and indigested mass. All the various parts of nature were formed by those atoms, which were best fitted to produce them. The fiery particles formed themselves into air; and from those which subsided, the earth was produced. The mind or intellect was formed of particles most subtle in their nature, and capable of the most rapid motion. The world is preserved by the same mechanical causes by which it was framed; and from the same causes it will at last Le dissolved.

natures.

Epicurus admitted that there were in the universe divine But he asserted that these happy and divine beings did not encumber themselves with the government of the world: yet, on account of their excellent nature, they are proper objects of reverence and worship.

The science of physics was, in the judgment of Epicurus, subordinate to that of ethics; and his whole doctrine concerning nature was professedly adapted to rescue men from the dominion of troublesome passions, and lay the foundation of a tranquil and happy life. He taught, that man is to do everything for his own sake; that he is to make his own happiness his chief end, and do all in his power to secure and preserve it. He considered pleasure as the ultimate good of mankind; but asserts that he does not mean the pleasures of the luxurious, but principally the freedom of the body from pain, and of the mind from anguish and perturbation. The virtue he prescribes is resolved ultimately into our private advantage without regard to the excellence of its own nature, or of its being commanded by the Supreme Being.

The followers of Aristotle were another famous Grecian sect. That philosopher was born in the first year of the ninety-ninth olympiad, about 384 years before the birth of Christ.

Aristotle supposed the universe to have existed from eternity.

He admitted, however, the existence of a deity, whom he styled the first mover, and whose nature, as explained by him, is something like the principle which gives motion to a machine. It is

nature wholly separated from matter, immutable, and far superior to all other intelligent natures. The celestial sphere, which is the region of his residence, is also immutable; and residing in his first sphere, he possesses neither immensity nor omnipresence. Happy in the contemplation of himself, he is entirely regardless of human affairs. In producing motion, the deity acts not voluntarily, but necessarily; not for the sake of other beings, but for his own pleasure.

Nothing occurs in the writings of Aristotle which decisively determines whether he supposed the soul of man mortal or immortal.

Respecting ethics, he taught that happiness consisted in the virtuous exercise of the mind, and that virtue consists in preserving that mean in all things which reason and prudence describe. It is the middle path between two extremes, one of which is vicious through excess, the other through defect.

The Stoics were a sect of heathen philosophers, of which Zeno, who flourished about 350 years before Christ, was the original founder. They received their denomination from a place in which Zeno delivered his lectures, which was a portico at Athens. Their distinguishing tenets were as follows: That God is underived, incorruptible, and eternal; possessed of intelligence and goodness; the efficient cause of all the qualities and forms of things; and the constant preserver and governor of the world. That matter is also underived and eternal, and by the powerful energy of the Deity impressed with motion and form: That though God and matter subsisted from eternity, the present regular frame of nature had a beginning, and will have an end. That the element of fire will at last, by an universal conflagration, reduce the world to its pristine state. That at this period all material forms are lost in one chaotic mass, all animated nature is reunited to the Deity, and matter returns to its original form. That from this chaotic state, however, it again emerges, by the energy of the efficient principle; and gods and men, and all

forms of regulated nature, are renewed, to be dissolved and renewed in endless succession. That at the restoration of all things, the race of men will return to life. Some imagined that each individual would return to its former body; while others supposed that after the revolution of the great year, similar souls would be placed in similar bodies.

Those among the Stoics who maintained the existence of the soul after death, supposed it to be removed into the celestial regions of the gods, where it remains, till, at the general conflagration, all souls, both human and divine, shall be absorbed in the Deity. But many imagined, that before they were admitted among the divinities, they must purge away their inherent vices and imperfections by a temporary residence in the ærial regions between the earth and the moon, or in the moon itself. It was supposed that depraved and ignoble souls are agitated after death in the lower region of the air till the fiery parts are separated from the grosser, and rise, by their natural levity, to the orbit of the moon, where they are still further purified and refined.

According to the doctrine of the Stoics, all things are subject to an irresistible and irreversible fatality: and there is a necessary chain of causes and effects, arising from the action of a power, which is itself a part of the machine it regulates, and which, equally with the machine, is subject to the immutable laws of necessity.

The moral doctrine of the Stoics depends upon the preceding principles. They make virtue to consist in an acquiescence in the immutable laws of necessity, by which the world is governed. The resignation they prescribe appears to be part of their schere to raise mankind to that liberty and self-sufficiency which it is the great end of their philosophy to procure. They assert that virtue is its own proper reward, and vice its own punishment; that all external things are indifferent; and that a wise man may be happy in the midst of tortures. The ultimate design of their philosophy was to divest human nature of all passions and affections; and they make the highest attainments and perfection of virtue to consist in a total apathy and insensibility of human

evils.

The Platonic philosophy is denominated from Plato, who was born in the eighty-seventh olympiad, 426 years before the nativity of Jesus Christ. He founded the old academy on the opinions of Heraclitus, Pythagoras, and Socrates; and by adding the information he had acquired to their discoveries, he estab lished a sect of philosophers, who were esteemed more perfect than those who had before appeared in the world.

The outlines of Plato's philosophical system were as follows: That there is one God, an eternal, immutable, and immaterial being, perfect in wisdom and goodness, omniscient and omnipreent. That this all-wise and perfect Being formed the universe out of a mass of pre-existing matter, to which he gave form and arrangement. That there is in matter a necessary, but blind and refractory force, which refits the will of the Supreme Artificer, so that he cannot perfectly execute his designs; and this is the cause of the mixture of good and evil which is found in the material world. That the soul of man was derived by emanation from God; but that this emanation was not immediate, but through the intervention of the soul of the world, which was itself debased by some material admixture. That the relation which the human soul, in its original constitution, bears to matter, is the source of moral evil. That when God formed the universe, he separated from the soul of the world inferior souls, equal in number to the stars, and assigned to each its proper celestial abode. That these souls were sent down to earth to be imprisoned in mortal bodies; hence proceed the depravity and misery to which human nature is liable. That the soul is immortal; and by disengaging itself from all animal passions, and rising above sensible objects to the contemplation of the world of intelligence, it may be prepared to return to its original habitation. That matter never suffered annihilation, but that the world will remain forever; but that by the action of its animating principle, accomplishes certain periods, within which everything returns to its ancient placc and state. This periodical revolution of nature is called the Platonic or great year.

The Platonic system makes the perfection of morality to consist in living in conformity to the will of God, the only author