THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Dec 18, 1901

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 27, No. 51.

THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD.

JESUS says: “I am the light of the world; he that followeth Me ‘shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” John 8:12. When Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, the world was full of philosophy and science falsely so-called.

The Grecian and Roman Philosophers.

Pythagoras, the first man who called himself a philosopher, and gave currency to that name, flourished about 500 years B.C. He spent twenty-five years in Egypt in quest of knowledge among the priests of that country. Then, in Croton, Italy, he opened a school which was well attended by Grecian and Roman youth. He taught his pupils to practise all the austerities of the Egyptian priests, to put all their property in one common stock and so have all things in common; he first called the earth “kosmos,” from its order and beauty; he became famous for his skill in geometry, astronomy, and arithmetic. In theology he taught—

that all mankind lived in some pre-existent state, and that for the sins committed by them in that state; some of their souls were sent into human bodies, and others into brutes, to be punished for and purged from their former sins. In order thus to purge themselves in this life, his disciples were to practise long fastings subdue their appetites, and subordinate all desires to the soul.

Such was Pythagorean philosophy; in it we see the seed of penance and self-mortification of the Catholic Church.

Socrates flourished 400 years B.C. He left nothing in writing behind him. He is said to have taught—

that the soul is immortal because immaterial; that there is but one supreme God: that there are demons that superintend the affairs of this world; that men ought not to pursue riches nor worldly honor, but to cultivate their minds and practise virtue.

Plato, a pupil of Socrates, flourished 348 years B.C. He modified the principles of Socrates. He taught—

that the universe was governed by a Being of glorious power and wisdom, possessed of perfect liberty and independence; that there was a certain invincible malignity and corruption in matter insuperable by the power of God; that the human soul is an emanation from God, so necessarily immortal, that evil must necessarily exist from the union of matter and mind in the human being: that demons were an order of beings inferior to the Deity, but superior to men, and that they governed the world, consequently, that they should be worshiped because of their agency in human affairs; that it is neither easy to find the Parent of the universe, nor safe to discover him to the vulgar when found; consequently, in matters of worship his disciples should conform to the laws of their country.

Such was the Platonic philosophy, many principles of which are popular at the present day. Aristotle, a disciple of Plato, flourished 332 years B.C. He taught—

that matter was eternal; that the world, by powers natural to matter has continued from all eternity as we see it; that there exists nothing in the universe distinct from matter: that the present course of things, consisting of the motions of the heavens, and the successive generations and corruptions of animals and vegetables, can neither be interrupted nor destroyed by anything extraneous, but must continue forever. As for the Deity if there were any, it is a nature happy in the contemplation of itself and entirely regardless of human affairs.

Epicurus, the founder of the Epicurean philosophy, flourished 370 years B.C. He taught—

that the world arose from chance; that the gods neither did nor could extend their providential care to human affairs; that the soul was mortal, that pleasure was to be regarded as the ultimate end of man, and that virtue was worthy, neither of esteem nor choice, but with a view to the attainment of pleasure.

Zeno, the founder of the Stoics, flourished 264 years B.C.

The God of the Stoics was a corporeal being, united to matter by a necessary connection, and subject to the determination of an immutable fate. They taught that the soul’s existence was confined to a certain period of time. They looked with contempt upon effeminate vices; simplicity and moderation were carried to the extreme of austerity, and external good and evil were viewed with haughty contempt.

The Cynic philosophy was first taught by Antisthenes, 356 B.C. It was similar in moral discipline to that of the Stoics.

The Academics, who, with the Epicureans, were the most numerous of the Grecian philosophers at the Christian era, despaired of finding truth in such a variety of opinions. They, therefore, taught—

that it was uncertain whether the gods existed or not; whether the soul was mortal or immortal, whether virtue was preferable to vice or vice to virtue.

The Eclectics supposed that many things were unreasonable and absurd in all the systems of philosophy, and therefore formed a new system comprising the most reasonable tenets and doctrines of all sects. The Eclectic philosophy was taught with great success in Alexandria in Egypt when Jesus Christ was born. The Eclectics held Plato in the highest esteem, yet they did not scruple to join with his doctrines whatever they thought conformable to reason in the tenets and opinions of other philosophers.

Oriental Philosophy.

While the Grecians and Romans were much divided about the first principles of science, all philosophers of the Oriental nations deduced their tenets from one fundamental principle. Their “science” supposed—

that the origin of evil, with which the universe abounds, was to be found, not in God—whom they viewed as essentially good and benevolent—but as there was nothing beyond or without the Deity but matter; therefore: matter is the source of all evil, of all vice; that matter was eternal and derived its present form, not from the will of the supreme God, but from the creating power of some inferior intelligence, to whom the world and its inhabitants owed their existence.

(To be continued.)