James Henry Bryant

“ Doubtless, there is in man an innate appreciation of the beauty of virtue. Though the temple of the human soul has been laid in ruins by the touch of sin, yet does it still retain marks of its primeval glory. It was not created for anything but the abode of purity. Hence we perceive naturally the excellence of virtue. When I say naturally, I mean as man is at all times enabled to see by God’s help. We must remember that, by virtue of the Redeemer’s merits, all men are blessed with a certain degree of enlightenment. ”

“ But, if all were to adopt this system of living, what would become of human society? The earth would soon cease to be the scene of busy industry, commerce would die, and religion would be a bane instead of a blessing. If one man makes himself peculiarly the favourite of heaven by forswearing marriage, then of course all men might make themselves so by the same means. But if celibacy were universal, what would become of the human race? Yet it is the duty of every man to make himself as much like what God would approve as he can. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Philosophers had so quarrelled with one another’s dogmas, and proved one another wrong so often, that men began to doubt if there were any foundation on which to rest. God was educating the world for the reception of the great truths of revelation. He did this by showing men how helpless they were in divine things by their own unaided nature, how contradictory their speculations, how far short of the truth the highest attainments of human intellects, how uncertain it was which was truth of the various theories proposed, so that men doubted about all truth. ”

“ Then the enquiry naturally occurs, since virtue commends itself to us as both lovely and beneficial, shall we reject the loveliness as a motive, because our self-interest moves us also? On the other hand, shall we reject hope of benefit, because the innate loveliness of the object commends itself to us? May we not be moved by the double influence? Certainly the word of God seems to sanction such a double motive to religion and virtue.
Yet here we are brought to the humbling conviction of the weakness of man without Christianity. Men had this combined motive for ages. ”

“ The idea of the philosopher had been of a supreme power which was a principle rather than a person. Looking at himself, in connexion with the universe, he had not thought it impious to consider himself a very part of this divine essence, rather than a creature made by the divine power. Hence he had not a humbling sense of his nothingness in comparison with the Eternal. His philosophy rather gave him a feeling of pride, from the conviction of his individual worth and greatness, as an essential part of the great supreme. ”

“ To them the gospel of mercy has been preached, and they have been taught to have faith in a future life, in which the wrongs of this will be set right. Christianity has brought civilization in its train. The marvellous progress of men in these latter days may be traced to the exalting influence of this noble creed, which builds again the ruins of the human soul; and has nothing less for its object than man’s restoration to the image of God. No one that reflects on the wonders it has produced; on the efforts it has put forth for the regeneration of our race ”

“ 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 with God and 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. ”

“ They assumed the air of peculiar sanctity, clad themselves in coarse garments, slept on the hardest of couches, often on the ground, covered only by a sheepskin, or some similar coverlet, lived on the humblest fare, and many of them thought it a peculiar virtue to forego the joys of the marriage-life. When we look at this state of things with the eye of reason, we see that it has really no claim on the veneration of mankind. ”

“ The spiritual life of Greece was decaying, as was its national. Men wanted some refuge from the distractions of their minds. Their spiritual nature, their soul, began to exert its power, to speak in tones that would be heard. The mind had been trying to still its craving with the noble but unsatisfying theories of Plato, or the subtleties of Aristotle. But the soul, the inner life, had been uncared for. Now it claimed its share of attention and new schools arose to satisfy, as far as they could, the newly felt longings.
At such a time, Zeno founded his system. ”

“ Now Christianity goes on exactly the opposite principle to this. She teaches men that they must obtain the divine favour and aid, not by means of their innate superiority, but as the means of rising to holiness and virtue. We cannot take any steps at all in true moral excellence, till we are possessed of the love of God. This is the foundation of Christian truth. The divine life must have its beginning in repentance and renunciation of self, in deep humility and consequent trust in divine aid, given to all who ask it for Christ’s sake; because God is love. ”

“ At length he is free, at length he is safe, at length he is immortal. Now he enjoys an open and free heaven; he has ascended from a low and sunken place to that, whatever it be, which receives those souls that are released from their fetters into its happy bosom: and now he wanders freely, and beholds with highest delight all the treasures of the universe. ”

“ Religion became divorced, in thought at least, from the daily life, and began to be considered as a system apart; as if it inculcated the excellence of certain courses, which were impracticable to ordinary men. This divorce of Christianity from its duty of raising the world by permeating all classes, and imparting to all its life-giving influence, had a most disastrous result on the souls of men. ”

“ All this that you see, in which divine and human affairs are included, is comprised in one fact, as a foundation for our rule of action—we are members of one great body. Nature has made us all akin, since she begat us from the same originals and for the same destinies. ”

“ Now no lesson is more plainly taught in the Gospel of Christ, than the truth that penitence and humility are the necessary precursors of holiness and true glory. The Stoic would look on repentance as a confession that he had failed in his philosophy. It was no part of his scheme to lower himself in order to rise. Much less had he any idea of trusting in another’s merits, and in another’s self-sacrifice, in order to have any chance at all of becoming perfect for ever. But then, his idea of perfection was perfection as a philosopher in this life. ”

“ 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 of God. Not choosing our own path, or our own will, we are to resist the temptation to separation and spiritual pride which sometimes assails us. ”

“ We cannot deny, on the other hand, that men act from a feeling of self-interest. To obtain pleasure or escape pain is motive enough to make men pursue a certain course instinctively, without weighing accurately, or even caring at all for the motives which prompt them. When men see that virtue brings in its train present blessing and eternal hopes, shall we deny that this is a strong reason why they should pursue it? ”

“ Christianity is a religion eminently suited for the daily life of men. It teaches us to do our duty in the world. We are taught that the highest degree of piety is consistent with, and indeed implies, the performance of one’s proper part, as belonging to a great family, which has a right to the energy and service of each of its members. To do our duty amongst men, wisely and bravely, is taught us too by the example of the divine founder of our religion. A man’s interests and desires may often lie in the direction of his ordinary duties. ”

“ In the Stoic philosophy, the Supreme Being is rather an idea than a person; a part of the universe, just as the soul is part of man. In the Christian system, the Lord of all is represented as constantly exercising a wise and judicious superintendence over all creation, blessing His works, and with unerring foresight, arranging all things by His providence. In the Stoic system, all things in heaven and earth were the subjects of an unalterable fate. Christianity teaches men that moral excellence is to be attained only by divine aid, and this aid is given to those who are penitent and humble ”

“ Yet, though he remains without the personal knowledge of the power of Christ, what I have produced from his works serves to show that there was a work going on in the world, by means of the gospel, which extended further than the Church, and gave to the Stoic purer and holier views of the truth. He felt himself an erring being in need of divine aid. He felt that he was under the care of a loving Father, to whom he turned for aid. And he strongly brings before us the need all men have by self-abasement to seek the love of the supreme being, and to rise by his help to perfection. ”

“ Unwavering obedience, on the part of certain of its followers, does not necessarily imply the excellence of a system; it simply proves that some of its disciples are faithful. On the contrary, the excellence of a system is seen, when it does a great work and raises a fallen world, in spite of the apparent inadequacy of its means; in spite of the luke-warm attachment and want of consistency, often displayed by its followers. In this way, the more than human perfection of Christianity has been shown. ”

“ Christ is the source of true philosophy. He alone gives true strength of mind: He can render the believer omnipotent for good. “I can do all things,” says 37the Apostle; the power is from above, however. Without God, the strongest becomes a child. This fact, that God prepares the heart for virtue, and gives us strength to resist evil and do good, takes away all cause for boasting from even the most advanced in moral excellence. Whereas, the Stoic system, beginning and ending in self, with nothing else to trust to, caused man to become proud of his supposed advances. ”

“ We shall see, nevertheless, that the views of many Christians have been tinged with the Stoic belief, that by self-mortification, and even by trying to uproot natural affections and feelings, planted in man by God himself for wise ends, the human soul renders herself worthier of the friendship of heaven. We hear St Paul, however, setting before the Athenians this great duty, first of all, that they feel and acknowledge themselves in error, in order to amendment of life; and that they trust in the merits of another, in order to atone for their own demerits. ”

“ If, on the other hand, there be no gods, or if they do not concern themselves about human affairs, what good is it to me to live in a world without gods, and without a Providence? But there are gods, and they concern themselves about human affairs. ”

“ As long as it had an influence, Stoicism taught men rather to bear the evils of life with indifference, than to get rid of the evils that were in the world, by schemes for the social happiness and moral elevation of the people. So that superstition and grossest idolatry were rampant, and vices of the most lamentable kind were indulged in, almost without producing any shame. ”

“ If any one will embrace this truth as he ought, that we are especially the children of God, and that God is the Father, as well of men, as of the gods, I think he will allow no ignoble or low thoughts about himself.... On account of this relationship, those of us who fall away become, some like wolves, faithless, and cunning, and baneful; others, like lions, fierce, savage, and uncivilized; more of us still become foxes and whatever else among beasts are monstrous. For what else is an evil-tongued and depraved man than a wolf, or whatever besides is more wretched and debased? ”