Million Book Collection - The Fishers of Men Ministries

WHEN CHRIST APPEARED.47embodied ; while the slavery in which the masseswere lying seemed to represent in human societythe chances of war which had all ended in theinion of Rome and the subjection of the wholpantheon of incongruous gods to the sovereigntyof the Capitoline Jupiter. These were generalconditions to that multifarious whole * of nationsand races. Then if Augustus sought to examinemore narrowly the society of Roman citizens spreadthrough his empire, he would find it divided veryunequally as to numbers into two classes. Thevast majority were those who take things as theyfind them, and who belonged with more or lessfidelity and heartiness to the idolatrous polytheism.The worship which came to them as partand parcel of the empire, of civilised and of nationallife, they accepted without thought. To all thesean indefinite number of immoral gods was thronedin possession of Olympus ; to all these the resultof such worship was, as we have seen described byS. Augustine, the utter perversion of morality, theconsecration of fables equalling in turpitude theutmost license of the theatres. But everywhereamong the educated * classes were to be found asmall number of sceptical minds : philosophersthey termed themselves : it was fashionable ito fol-low some philosophic system or sect, and these fellmainly into two. Now the Epicureans and theStoics, while they left the existing polytheism inpractical possession, as a matter of custom and