(Scripture Reading Exercise.)

ANCIENT CONCEPTIONS OF GOD.—(Continued.)

SPECIAL TEXT: "Behold, the Lord doth grant unto all nations, of their own nation and tongue, to teach His word; yea, in wisdom, all that He seeth fit that they should have; therefore we see that the Lord doth counsel in wisdom, according to that which is just and true." (Book of Alma, Ch. xxix:8.)

NOTES.

1. Religion of the Greeks: General View: "The religious system of the Greeks is the embodiment of beauty. No other worship that has ever existed so encouraged the taste for art as this. Its literature, its mythological stories, its idols and its temples still control and, to a great extent, shape the art ideas of the world. Its devotees have, above all other people, possessed a perception of beauty of form and a fondness of representing it.

"The people of Greece appear to have originally come from the northwestern part of Asia Minor. They were called the Hellenes. The worship which they brought from Asia was the worship of the 'Heaven-Father,' the unseen one who dwells in ether, whose temple is the sky, and whose altar is properly placed upon the mountain top. The Hindus called the same being Dyaus-pitar; the Romans, Diovis-pater or Jupiter; the Greeks, Zeus-pater. One can readily see the resemblance between these names, and the evidence they bear to the fact that these nations all came originally from one common stock. As the primal Greek race separated into various parts of Greece, different forms began to arise. As sailors from other lands arrived on their shores, they brought their own gods with them, and thus many new gods were introduced into Greece.

"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.