Between Heathenism and Christianity - College of Stoic Philosophers

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Seneca: His Character and Environment
When we come to speak of the relation of Seneca
to Christianity, but especially of his conversion by
St. Paul, a thesis laboriously defended by more than
one modern writer, we cannot do better than to
transcribe a passage from Men vale setting forth
clearly the courses that led men into a very natural
error. After calling attention to the fact that both
Seneca and Paul were moral reformers, he proceeds:
There is so much in their principles, so much even
in their language, which agrees together, so that one
has been thought, though
it must be allowed without
adequate reason, to have borrowed directly
from the
other. But the philosopher, be it remembered, dis
coursed to a large and not inattentive audience, and
surely the soil was not all unfruitful on which this
seed was scattered, when he proclaimed that God
dwells not in temples of wood or stone, nor wants
the ministration of human hands; that He has no
delight in the blood of victims; that He is near to all
His creatures; that His spirit resides in men s
that all men are truly His offspring; that
hearts;
we are members of one body, which is God or nature;
that men must believe in God before they can ap
proach Him-, that the true service of God is to be
like unto Him; that all men have sinned, and none
performed all the works of the law; that God is no
respecter of nations, ranks, or conditions, but all,
barbarian and Roman, bond and free, are alike un
der His all-seeing providence. St. Paul enjoined
submission and obedience even to the tyranny of
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