Chapter VII: Part II: Conceptions of God (3)

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. * * * * *