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greatly surpasses Pagan philosophy" in enforcing hu mility".

"See the commentators on Horace, Epist. i. xviii. 111.

Sed satis est orare Jovem, quæ ponit et aufert:

Det vitam, det opes: æquum mî animum ipse parabo.'

Better is the following observation of Cicero: Multos-et nostra civitas et Græcia tulit singulares viros; quorum neminem, nisi juvante Deo, talem fuisse credendum est,-Nemo igitur vir magnus sine aliquo afflatu divino unquam fuit.' De Nat. Deor. ii. 66. And of Maximus Tyrius, who supposes that virtuous minds have ξυναγωνιστὴν θεὸν sal ouλλýπropa, Diss. xxii. And of Seneca, who says, Bonus vir sine Deo nemo est. An potest aliquis supra fortunam, nisi ab illo adjutus, exsurgere? ille dat consilia magnifica et erecta. In unoquoque virorum bonorum, quis Deus incertum est, habitat Deus.' Epist. xli.

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The word humilitas' is used by Latin writers in a bad sense; but that this virtue was not quite unknown to them, and to other Gentiles, may be proved thus: they acknowledged that pride or self-conceit was a vice; they must therefore have perceived that there was a virtue contrary to it, and that it consisted in thinking soberly of ourselves, and as we ought to think, and in acting suitably to such thoughts; and as they sometimes use μέγα φρονεῖν, ὑψηλὰ φρονεῖν, in a bad sense, they must have allowed it to be commendable μέτρια καὶ ἀνθρώποις ἶσα φρονεῖν. They had also a name for this virtue: the Romans called it modestia, moderatio.' Barrow says, in one of his discourses, that the word candor' answers nearly to humility. If he had thought at that time of ' modestia,' he would have preferred it to 'candor.' The word 'demissus' is also found in Latin authors, to denote a good disposition; it answers to rareos, and means humble, modest, meek. Plato de Leg. iv. P. 715, 6. recommends humility towards God: ὁ μὲν δὴ Θεὸς, ἀρχήν τε καὶ τελευτὴν, καὶ μέσα τῶν ὄντων ἁπάντων ἔχων, εὐθεῖαν περαίνει κατὰ φύσιν περιπορευόμενος. τῷ δ ̓ ἀεὶ ξυνέπεται δίκη τῶν ἀπολειπομένων τοῦ θείου νόμου τιμωρὸς· ἦς ὁ μὲν εὐδαιμονήσειν μέλλων, ἐχόμενος, ξυνέπεται ΤΑΠΕΙΝΟΣ [καὶ] κεκοσμημένος. ὁ δέ τις ἐξαρθεὶς ὑπὸ μεγαλαυχίας.

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Deus, omnium rerum et principium et medium et finem in se habens, rectam viam peragit, explicans vim suam atque potentiam per hanc universi naturam, perque omnes illius partes circumquaque permanans. Hunc sequitur justitia, eorum qui a divinâ lege deficiunt ultrix atque vindex, cui quidem justitiæ is modesto et composito animo adhæret qui felix est futurus, ejusque ductum et auspicium constanter persequitur. Qui autem superbiâ elatus estIt is certain that ταπεινός has a good sense here. See also Origen contr. Cels. vi. p. 285. where this passage is cited; and Clem. Alex. Strom. ii. xxii. p. 499. and the

notes.

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As they are in an error who say that humility was absolutely unknown to the Pagans, so those learned men (and amongst them Huet. Aln. Quæst. iii. 8.) scem no less mistaken, who will needs have it that this virtue is very frequently mentioned by the philosophers. When you

The gospel has taught us more than we could else have discovered concerning our state hereafter *.

It is true that reason furnishes us with very probable arguments for the soul's immortality, and that many in all ages have believed it; nevertheless it is true also that the gospel has given us a clearer knowledge of our future condition.

For, (1.) the best arguments which reason suggests for the immortality of the soul, are founded upon right notions of God and of morality; but before the gospel was revealed, the common people amongst the Gentiles had low and imperfect notions of these important truths, and consequently they were not persuaded upon good grounds of their future existence.

(2.) Though the belief of a state after this, was much received amongst men, yet was it entertained by the vulgar rather as an antient and long-established opinion, than as a truth founded upon just reasoning. Their ancestors had believed a life to come, and they retained the notions which had been delivered down to them by tradition; but they could not trace this tradition up to its rise, nor fix it upon an authority which might be trusted.

expect proofs of their assertion, they give you passages which recommend patience under injuries and calamities, a contempt of honours and power, of glory and popular applause, of censure and reproach; and at the head of the humble and meek they place the ragged regiment of the cynics, many of whom were not less proud than poor.

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Stoic humility is very well described by Epictetus xlv. Enusia πpoκόπτοντος· οὐδένα ψέγει, οὐδένα ἐπαινεῖ, οὐδένα μέμφεται, οὐδενὶ ἐγκαλεῖ, οὐδὲν περὶ ἑαυτοῦ λέγει, ὡς ὄντος τινὸς, ἢ εἰδότος τί. — καν τις αὐτὸν ἐπαινῇ, καταγελᾷ τοῦ ἐπαινοῦντος αὐτὸς παρ' ἑαυτῷ· και ψέγη, οὐκ ἀπολογεῖται. ἂν ἠλίθιος, ἢ ἀμαθὴς δοκῇ, οὐ πεφρόντικεν. The signs of a proficient are these. He blames no one, he praises no one, he complains of no one, he accuses no one, he says nothing of himself as of being somebody, or knowing something. If any one praises him, he laughs at the praiser within himself; if any one blames him, he makes no defence. If he be thought a fool, or an ignorant, he cares

not.

* See Whitby on 2 Tim. i. 10. and Le Clerc, Proleg. Hist. Ecc. sect. i. and ii. 'Varro commemorare Deos cœpit-ostendens in omnibus, quod sit cujusque munus, et propter quid cuique debeat supplicari. In quâ universâ diligentiâ, nullos demonstravit vel denominavit Deos, a quibus vita æterna poscenda sit.' August. de Civ. Dei, vi. 9.

(3.) They who argued justly enough to conclude from the nature of God and of man, that it was reasonable to believe the immortality of the soul, and to hope that a future state of happiness should be the reward of a wellspent life, yet could not hence fairly draw any conclusions to their own full satisfaction; for they must have been sensible that they had not lived up to the laws of nature and the dictates of their own reason, and that they had offended the author of their being in many instances. It is true, they might have recourse to repentance and amendment; but how far this would avail they could not certainly know. What could they hope more than to be removed after death into some other world, some other state perhaps not much better than this?

(4.) Many who believed the immortality of souls, believed also a continual and successive removal of souls from one body to another, and no fixed state of permanent happiness. After death they were to dwell in some other body, and to continue thus changing their abodes, as they supposed that they had already done in ages past. And as in this life they had no memory of their former condition, so the memory of their present state was to be lost in the next. Thus their remembrance, at least, which seems to be no small part of one's self, was to perish by death 2.

(5.) Some, who in words acknowledged the immortality of the soul, seem in reality to have taken it away, by imagining that the soul was a part of the soul of the world, of the Deity, and that upon its separation from the body it was reunited to ita.

(6.) Some endeavoured to prove the soul's immortality by arguments which proved too much; which showed, if

y See Grotius on Ephes. xi. 12.

That consciousness is requisite in personal identity, was the opinion of Lucretius, iii. 859. and of Tertullian, De Resurr. Carnis. Neque mentem, neque memoriam, neque conscientiam hominis hodierni credibile est aboleri, &c.- -Si non meminerim me esse qui merui, quomodo gloriam Deo dicam ?' &c.

Justin Martyr, or the old man who instructs him, says much the same, Dial. p. 147.

a See Virgil, Georg. iv. 221.

they showed any thing, that the soul was from eternity; whence disagreeable consequences seem to flow.

(7.) Some supposed that the soul should outlive the body, and receive a reward of virtue; but they thought that it was material, and subject to dissolution, and that a time must come when it should perish.

(8.) Many had so far debased their understanding as to persuade themselves that death was a dissolution of the whole man, and that there was nothing to hope or fear beyond this life b.

Some we find entertaining faint hopes, mixed with many doubts; others fancying that they should be removed from one body to another, and be perpetual wan

b

'mortem cuncta mortalium mala dissolvere; ultra neque curæ, neque gaudio locum esse.' Cæsar apud Sallust. B. C. 50. ubi vide Wasse.

< Hence those common forms of speaking: Si tamen e nobis aliquid restat; Si quid habet sensûs umbra,' &c.

d Seneca on this subject is dλλorpóraλños, wavering and inconstant in his sentiments. What Homer says of one of his heroes might be applied to him:

Τυδείδην δ ̓ οὐκ ἂν γνοίης, ποτέροισι μετείη

Μὲ μετὰ Τρώεσσιν ὁμιλέοι, ἢ μετ' Αχαιοίς.

II. E. 85.

Juvabat de æternitate animarum quærere, imo mehercule credere. Credebam enim facilè opinionibus magnorum virorum, rem gratissimam promittentium magis quam probantium.' Epist. cii. p. 503.

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He says indeed, Dies iste, quem tanquam extremum reformidas, æterni natalis est.' Epist. cii. and elsewhere, Animus æternitatis suæ memor, in omne, quod fuit, futurumque est, omnibus sæculis vadit.' And, " 'Animus sacer et æternus est.' Consol. ad Helv. ii. And, Ipse quidem æternus, meliorisque nunc status est,' &c. Ad Marc. 24.

But most of these passages are taken from his Consolations, where it behoved him to speak magnificently of the future state of the soul, that he might assuage the grief of those whom he exhorted to bear patiently the death or the absence of their dearest friends. In other places he talks in another manner.

Non

Besides, the word æternus' in Seneca often means 'diuturnus.' Consol. ad Marc. Nos quoque felices animæ et æterna sortitæ, cum Deo visum erit ista moliri, labentibus cunctis, et ipsi parva ruinæ ingentis accessio, in antiqua elementa vertemur.' Nat. Quæst. vii. existimo cometen subitaneum ignem, sed inter æterna opera naturæ.' Nat. Quæst. ii. 10. he calls the stars æternos ignes. And again, Nat. Quæst. vii. 23. See also ch, 25. and 37. And in Thyestes,

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derers; others looking upon the grave as upon their eternal habitation, and sadly complaining that the sun and stars could set and rise again, but that man, when his day was set, must lie down in darkness, and sleep a perpetual sleep.

Non æternæ facis exortu

Dux astrorum secula ducens

Dabit æstatis brumæque notas.-
Ibit in unum congesta sinum
Turba Deorum.'

Whence it appears that Seneca calls 'eternal' whatsoever he thought would last usque ad xrúpwow,' till the stoic conflagration, and would not perish before the end of the world.

This is no very uncommon use of the word æternus,' which has also the comparative æternior.' See Faber's Thesaurus.

On the contrary, longævus' sometimes signifies immortal, as Servius thinks, on Virgil, Æn. vi. 764. and the Scholiast interprets paxçalar, Bávaros, in Sophocles, Antig. 999.

p.

e It is called DOMVS AETERNA in many inscriptions. Gruter,

dcclx. 5. dccxc. 5. dcccciii. 6. dccccxiii. 6. &c.

f Soles occidere et redire possunt ;

Nobis, quum semel occidit brevis lux,
Nox est perpetua una dormienda.

Catullus, v.

*Αι αι, ταὶ μαλάχαι μὲν ἐπὰν κατὰ κᾶπον ὄλωνται,
Ἢ τὰ χλωρὰ σέλινα, τό τ' εὐθαλὲς οὖλον ἄνηθον,
Ὕστερον αὖ ζώοντι, καὶ εἰς ἔτος αλλο φύοντι·
*Άμμες δ' οἱ μεγάλοι καὶ καρτεροὶ ἡ σοφοὶ ἄνδρες,
Οππότε πρῶτα πάνωμες, ἀνακοοὶ ἐν χθονὶ κόλα,
Εὔδομες εὖ μάλα μακρὸν ἀτέρμονα νήγρετον ὕπνον.
Alas! the tender herbs and flow'ry tribes,
Though crush'd by Winter's unrelenting hand,
Revive and rise when vernal Zephyrs call.
But we, the brave, the mighty, and the wise,
Bloom, flourish, fade and fall,-and then succeeds
A long, long, silent, dark, oblivious sleep;
A sleep, which no propitious Pow'r dispels,
Nor changing seasons, nor revolving years.'

Moschus, Epitaph. Bion.

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• Verum est ? an timidos fabula decipit

Umbras corporibus vivere conditis? &c.

Post mortem nihil est, ipsaque mors nihil,' &c.

Where the poet, to introduce this fashionable Epicurean doctrine, makes his Chorus speak inconsistently and out of character; inconsis tently, as may be seen vers. 158.

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