Ancient society, in the time of its greatness, shows of what human nature is capable through its inherent force. It represented humanity with its natural qualities, energetic vices and incomplete virtues. It gave us immortal examples in literature and art; it produced heroes and thinkers worthy of eternal admiration. But it had neither protection nor encouragement for the weak; it had no comfort for the sorrowful, no real restraint for the wicked. This civilization was the first step on the ladder of progress ascended by humanity, under the eye of God through ceaselessly renewed sorrows: the period of its greatest glory marks the highest point which can be reached by men without the sense of Gods guidance and without knowledge of His law. Society, having attained this, is compelled to stop; it has no force to carry it farther. Whatever just admiration we may have for antiquity studied in all its bearings, we COULD NOT say with a celebrated historian that the ancient Republics produced men whose moral greatness has never been surpassed on earth; for this greatness of the ancients was cold and proud. Love, forgiveness, humility, were not its essential elements. It lacked what is deepest and most spiritual in principle, religious principle. In the time of the decadence no one in pagan society attained even to the greatness of the early ages. This greatness had belonged only to the citizen, and there remained but debased subjects under despotic emperors. Patriotism had vanished beneath the freezing breath of the lowest and most egoistic interest. Men hated or despised each other. They ridiculed their gods. They were occupied with the base or barbarous pleasures. Society was united only by external bonds, and these bonds were so loosened that they would break with the least strain. Where can the remedy for all these evils be found? Must we seek it in the institutions and social principles of the ancient world? These institutions were worn out, and these principles were themselves the cause of the universal decadence. A society founded upon an unjust fact--that is, contempt for the human personality--can be saved only by a new fact. A tyrant, a contemporary of Christ, after having spoken of the powerlessness of the laws to arrest corruption, of which he was himself a shameful instance, uttered these memorable words: We must seek the remedy in the recesses of the soul itself. Truly it was through the soul that the cure of the human race must come; the individual conscience must be regenerated before society could be raised. For this the world required a new leader, as the Roman augurs had predicted, though with another meaning, in the time of Nero. (The Social Results of Early Christianity, pg. 130-132)
Posted on: Thu, 22 Jan 2015 03:40:15 +0000
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