the Jews, relying upon the prophecy of Daniel ix. 24, concerning the seventy weeks of years (490), and perceiving the fulfillment of the prophecy of the Patriarch Jacob relative to the scepter of Juda,' impatiently awaited the coming of the Messiah.

2

The Roman empire was consequently not alone in the deplorable state of morality and religion which existed within her confines. Even Palestine, the Holy Land, the abode of the people of God, was not free from the prevailing moral corruption. But mankind, though without God, and estranged from Him, everywhere looked anxiously forward to the coming of the Desired of Nations, foretold by the prophets, a season annually commemorated by the Catholic Church in her service during Advent, when she sings again the anthem of the prophet, "Drop down dew, ye heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain the Just; let the earth be opened and bud forth a Savior." Then the Son of God quitted the eternal mansions of His Father, and "appeared," as St. Augustine says, “to men, to a world in the decline of old age and in the throes of death, that, while everything about them was rapidly going to decay, He might by His presence infuse into them new life and fresh vigor." "The fullness of time," according to the Apostle of the Gentiles, "was come, when God had decreed to send His Son, that we might be redeemed and again adopted as children." The time was most propitious for beginning the work of Christianity, whose action and "influence were to reach the farthest corners of the earth." Everything had been brought about that Paganism could possibly contribute, either directly or indirectly, toward introducing the new era and preparing the way for the kingdom of Christ, which, according to the design of God, was destined to embrace all mankind. "Judaism was the channel through which salvation was to come to man, and by which Paganism had been prepared to receive it."

"As a negative preparation for Christianity, the ancient

1 Gen. xlix. 10.

2 Ephes. ii. 1. 5. 12.

Isaias xlv. 8.

world was obliged to pass through all the various stages of human progress and development, that it might learn by a long and painful experience that these of themselves give neither quiet of mind nor peace of heart, and are utterly unable to save either the individual or the family, the state or society.

The helplessness of Paganism became most apparent in the sphere of religious truth. The lingering tradition of a primitive revelation had gradually died away; the belief in the One Personal God had yielded to a belief in a plurality of gods, thus bringing the Deity within the range of the natural and the sensuous, and, as a consequence, monotheism gave way to polytheism, and this led straight to pantheism and the most degrading materialism. Only a few very favored minds had any notion of an All-wise Providence, and the others were alternately swayed by despair and stolid resignation. Their religious practices and forms of worship contributed much to undermine the very foundation of morality and religion, while the uncertainty of a future life was not calculated to produce a favorable influence on morals. The whole system of belief and worship was neither supernatural nor moral in its aim, and, deteriorating from day to day, gradually caused man to forget the great end of his life, and ended by making him the victim of unspeakable misery.

Philosophy was altogether unequal to the task of staying the prevailing corruption; and its doctrines, however sublime, were but imperfectly understood, and did not permeate the masses of the poople. It ended in vague speculation and skepticism, thereby confessing its inability to ameliorate the condition of mankind, and, as if weary of the thankless labor, gave up the attempt and settled into a listless Epicureanism. The question addressed by Pilate to Jesus, "What is truth?" is the most emphatic acknowledgment of the utter insufficiency of the best efforts of men who, baffled in philosophy, turned their attention to literature and art, and having brought to the study of these the choicest gifts of human genius, were still unable to satisfy the ceaseless cravings of the soul. As a last resource, they turned with enthuVOL. I-9

siastic devotion to the all-absorbing idea of the State, hoping to find there a panacea for all the ills to which flesh is heir. As they said, no man is born to live for himself alone; his country should be the one great and all-sufficient aim of his life. But though the theory was very fine, the reality was far from corresponding to it. Freedom was the privilege of a favored few; one-half the people were wasting away their lives in servitude, and even woman had sunk to the deepest depth of degradation.

The dream of the Greek republics, though beautiful and fascinating, had long since vanished, and the colossal Roman empire, which came after them, was equally unable to offer a remedy for the terrible evils and sufferings by which society was menaced. The Roman world would, like Cato, have plunged the dagger into its very heart, had no prospect of future happiness been offered to it. "The Romans," says Döllinger, "who, like Tacitus, kept abreast of their age, were overwhelmed with a profound feeling of discouragement and dismay. They, perceiving that the struggle against the prevailing corruption was utterly hopeless, and that legislation was powerless for good, saw nowhere any sign of a great political regeneration which would change things for the better."

دو

It would, however, be a mistake to suppose that, in the relations of Paganism to Christianity, the "genius of antiquity' had exhausted every possible effort of which it was capable. As Sepp correctly observes, "It was not the only purpose of its institutions, forms, and mental productions to prove that these, while exhausting its best energies, were ineffectual for good. They were not merely negative in their relations to Christianity, since they in fact contained elements of the good, the true, and the beautiful. Paganism may appropriately be likened to a winter's shroud, under which a world of vegetation is slumbering, ready to come forth at the first approach of spring, and to burst out into leaf and blossom, and flower and fruit, under the warming rays of the genial sun.

وو

The methods of thought and forms of expression that grew up under the influence of classic antiquity, have greatly facilitated the operations of the mind, and for the purposes of investigation, throwing ideas into definite shape and conveying

them to the mind, have ever remained unsurpassed for precision and thoroughness, variety, and harmony. These have been found so convenient and efficient for accurately defining and logically defending the doctrines of revelation, that it is difficult not to recognize in their growth the providential hand of God.

Pagan art, which has claimed the admiration of all ages, as perfectly expressing the mental conceptions of things visible, had so fostered a love of the beautiful among men of education and refinement, that Christianity had at hand ample means for conveying to men's minds the fullest idea of its interior harmony and beauty. The stern sense of justice among the Romans afforded a basis on which to build the perfect system of Christian morality, and the practical genius of Rome, the mistress of the world, served as a model for the government of the infant Church. But apart from these methods for mental training, by which a host of the Church's most able and successful champions and defenders were formed, there was in the very essence of Pagan culture a positive and substantial preparation for Christianity. The popular mythological belief, though very various and replete with superstition and immorality, contained, nevertheless, elements of a real religion and relative truth, which found expression in mysterious rites, sacrifices, and lustrations, and might be turned to account in opening the way for the introduction of the great mysteries of the true religion. This assertion is true in a still higher sense of Hellenic philosophy, and particularly that of Plato, who, by his teachings, refuted a multitude of Pagan errors concerning psychology, cosmology, dialectics, and ethics, proved them to be absurdly unreasonable, and put forward in their stead a great number of natural truths concerning God, man, and the world. If Plato could not conceive these verities without tinge of error, or grasp them in all their bearings, he had, at least, a kind of presentiment of many of the supernatural truths of Christianity, which, as would seem from the spontaneous aspirations of the soul and its hope of aid from on high and salvation from God, were indirectly revealed to man. It is true he molded these ideas after his own fashion, as, for instance, when he

limits and accommodates to the natural wants of man1 the belief, which seemed instinctive with him, of a universal Church, into which all the nations of the earth should be gathered.

Michelis2 goes even so far as to affirm that all the essential doctrines of Christianity were implicitly contained in the teachings of Platonism, which he considers the key by which man is enabled to fully and thoroughly understand the wealth of blessings in the deposit of the Church.

This much, at any rate, seems quite certain, that Plato was, in the words of Clement of Alexandria, a παιδαγωγός εἰς Xororó, a teacher or instructor who prepared the way for Christ, having, among the Pagans, the same office that the law of Moses performed among the Jews.

These teachings of Socrates, fully developed by Plato and Aristotle, gave rise among the educated classes of Romans, about the time of Christ, to very diverse views, clearly set forth by such writers as Seneca and Marcus Aurelius, concerning the relations between man and man, his need of a Savior, his essential dependence on a Supreme Being, and his life in the world to come.

Neo-Platonism, the last stage in the progress of Greek philosophy, took for granted at starting these natural aspirations and yearnings after a knowledge of divine truth and communion with God, so that Christianity entered upon the work of a general development of the human race at the very time when men's minds were fully conscious of its momentous significance, and when the philosophers of Greece and Rome had taught the practical and important lesson that man is a a moral being, and as such has definite ethical obligations in this life. This idea of moral responsibility grew daily stronger and more emphatic, till, under the influence of Christianity, it became the essential element in forming the public conscience of the time.3

1 Conf. Becker, The Philos. System of Plato in its Relation to Christian Dogma. Freiburg, 1862.

2 The Philosophy of Plato in its Intrinsic Relation to Revealed Truth. Münster, 1859-61.

3 This graphic exposition, from p. 129-132, incl., of the relations of Paganism