Silently as a flock of sheep The bergs stirred in the sun, Shepherded gently down the Deep By that immortal one. For as he raised his snow-white hand, Or paused and stood, as fair flocks stand Far, far away into the north They stretch'd in legions white, Trembling and changing, creeping forth Out of a crimson light. And all the colours of the Bow Down their bright sides were shed; That berg whereon the Brethren stood II. FROM DEATH TO LIFE. BRIGHT Balder at his brother's feet Lay looking on the Sea, And sea-birds hover'd white and sweet Around him, silently. And white bears crawl'd out of the Deep To see him, and were blest; And black seals with their young did creep Upon the berg to rest. Brighter and fairer all around. The kindling waters shone, While softly, swiftly, with no sound, The white flocks glided on. And far away on every side The glittering ice-blink grew, Millions of bergs like ships that ride "O Balder, Balder, wherefore hide "O Balder, Balder," the white Christ said, "Look up and answer me." Bright Balder raised his golden head, 66 Like sunrise on the sea. "O Brother, I was weeping then For those whom Death o'erthrew. Shall I, whose eyes have mourn'd for men, Not mourn my brethren too?" The white Christ answer'd back, and cried, Shining under the sky, "All that is beautiful shall abide, All that is base shall die. "And if among thy sleeping kin That soul shall walk the world, and win "Death shall not touch one holy hair, Death shall not mar what Love made fair ; His smile was bright as noonday light Turning his face unto the north, He utter'd up a prayer, He saw the great Bridge stretching forth, But never a god walk'd there. He pray'd for those great gods o'erthrown, He named the goddesses each one, And lo! from bright'ning far-off lands And singing in a dream; And far away where earth and air Mingled their gentle lights, There stood one marble form most fair Against the calm and stainless blue It stood divinely dim, And lo, his mother's form he knew, And felt her eyes on him! Silent she paused, and round her there And cataracts flash'd their lights in air, Softly he sail'd beyond her sight And once again with hands snow-white And brighter, brighter, as he blest, Id all the icebergs rock'd at rest And on the melting shores of Earth An emerald radiance ran, And woods and hills grew bright, and mirth Then glory grew on Earth and Heaven, Full glory of full day! Then the bright Bridge's colours seven On every iceberg lay! In Balder's hand Christ placed his own, And countless voices far and wide ROBERT BUCHANAN. THE CONTEST OF HEATHENISM WITH CHRISTIANITY, AS REFLECTED IN GREEK AND ROMAN LITERATURE. HE great preacher of Christianity to the heathen, the Apostle Paul, calls his preaching of "Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling-block, and unto the Greeks foolishness; "* and thereby gives a concise and striking definition of the point of view from which the opposition of the two sections of the non-Christian world, whom he had gone forth to gain, chiefly proceeded. To the Jew, Christianity, even when hostile to him, was to a certain extent intelligible, for it was rooted in monotheism and in the Messianic hopes of his nation. But the heathen, or, as Paul calls them, the Greeks, were absolutely without the assumptions with which it found points of contact in the Jewish world. Its monotheism placed it in undisguised enmity to the polytheistic national religion; and on the other hand, to those who might have been. disposed to adopt monotheism as such, the doctrines which had grown out of the Jewish belief in the Messiah must have been all the more unintelligible. The worship of a Jew who had suffered the disgraceful death of a malefactor; the belief that he still lived in heaven; faith in his divine origin and nature; the expectation that he would come again with the hosts of heaven. to put an end to the existing state of things and the kingdoms of this world; the hope of a future resurrection of the body;-how could this faith and these expectations appear to any cultivated Greek, at first sight, as anything but extreme folly, the offspring of fanatical phantasy, or as downright imposture? Add to this the peculiarities of Christian life and manners; the way in which the party held together, which to an outsider conveyed the impression of a secret society, a conspiracy against the established order. The anxious care with which all contact with the heathen world was avoided, which could but lead to entire withdrawal from all non-Christian society; the aversion to military service and public offices; the principle that Christians should settle their disagreements among themselves, and not go to law before heathen courts; the refusal to take part in public festivals and rejoicings, and in the sacrifices for the empire and Emperor; add to this the contempt which an educated Greek or distinguished Roman was sure to feel for a society which was for a long time mainly recruited from the people, in which artisans, slaves, and freedmen associated on a footing of equality and fraternity with the few of the upper classes who entered it, in which, to say the least, no value was placed on the artistic adornments of life, scientific, æsthetic, or social culture, the deeds of the warrior, or the fame of the sarant;-when we realize all this, we cannot wonder that the friends of Hellenic art, the pupils of the Attic philosophy, the sons and heroes of imperious Rome, could not take to a religion which presented itself in a form so repugnant and incomprehensible. In reality, this religion was not without numerous and profound relations to the mental tendencies, the modes of thought, and the needs of the age. Indeed Christianity was a product of the age, a result of the spiritual forces by which it was actuated. Neither did the conditions of its rise and progress lie exclusively in Judaism. It was not until Judaism had come into wide and permanent contact with Hellenic culture, and had been fertilized by it in many ways, that Christianity could be developed from it. As the world-wide empires of Alexander and the Romans prepared the way for the religion of the world by an entire revolution in political circumstances, so was its most essential inward condition contained in that doctrine which, chiefly through the influence of the Stoic philosophers, had for centuries attained wide circulation the doctrine that all men form one great commonwealth, that they have equal rights and duties, that they are only separated from each other by their moral conduct, that they are all subject to the same natural and moral laws. The high moral demands of Christianity were in unison with what had been taught by the most eminent of the sages of old. As Paul placed value on faith alone, so did the Stoics on moral sentiments, virtue, and wisdom; if the former could not paint in colours too glaring the universal depravity of mankind, we find similar descriptions among his Roman contemporaries, and especially by the Stoic Seneca; if the Christians divide all mankind into the regenerate and unregenerate, the Stoics class them |