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SOCRATES AND JESUS
COMPARED.
By JOSEPH PRIESTLEY, L. L. D. F. R. S.
Amicus Plato, Amicus Socrates, sed magis arnica Veritas (christiana.)
PHILADELPHIA :
PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR,
AND SOLD BY P. BYRNE.
1803.
B
3)7
LIBRAki s
751769
U! !TY OF TORO
THE DEDICATION.
To JOSHUA TOULMIN, D.D.
Dear Sir,
MY having had for many years the happiness of your acquaintance and friendship, and particular, ly my having lately turned my thoughts to the sub- ject of one of your valuable dissertations ■, have led me to take the liberty to address to you the follow- ing Essay, chiefly as a testimonial, and one of the last that I shall be able to give, of my esteem for your general principles and character.
Having here much leisure, and having been led to look back to some writings of the antients with which I was formely much better acquainted than I am now, and among others the Memorabilia of Xenophon, and Plato's account of Socrates, it oc- curred to me to draw out an exhibition of his prin- ciples and conduct from the words of those two ori- ginal writers; and this suggested the idea of drawing a comparison between him and Jesus. Knowing that you had published an excellent dissertation on the same subject, I forbore to look into it till mine
DEDICATION.
was transcribed for the press. By this means I was not biassed, as I naturally should have been, in favour of your opinion ; and I have seldom more than a very indistinct recollection of any work that I have not very recently read. On this second peru- sal of your Dissertation I was as much pleased with it as I remember I was at the first, though I found that in some particulars I differ from you. I hope that neither of us, inattentive as most persons now are to subjects of this kind, will have wholly written in vain.
I take this opportunity of publicly thanking you for your many excellent publications in defence of rational Christianity. Having given so many specimens of your ability and zeal in the cause, it is to you, and your excellent coadjutors, Mr. Belsham, Mr. Kentish, and a few others, that the friends to the same cause will naturally look, whenever particular occasions, occurring on your side of the water, will appear to call for a cham- pion. My labours in this or any other field of exertion are nearly over; but it gives me much satisfaction to reflect on what I have done in defence of what appeared to me important christian truth. As we have laboured, I hope we shall hereafter re- joice, together. But we must hold oat to the end, without being weary of well doing, indulging no remission of labour while we are capable of any. Even a dying hand has sometimes done execution. According to the apostle Paul, the whole life of every christian is a warfare. Our enemies are mice and error, and with them we must make
DEDICATION.
neither peace nor truce. Their advocates will not make either peace or truce with us.
I know I shall not offend you by acknowledg- ing, as I now do, that I had a particular view to you
in my late tract in favour of infant baptism
Whatever you may think of the performance itself, you will not, I am confident, think uncandidly of the intention with which it was written. While we really think for ourselves, it is impossible, in this state at least, but that we must often see things in different lights, and consequently form dif- ferent opinions concerning them. But with the ingenious minds which become christians this will only be an occasion of exercising that candour which is one of the most prominent christian vir- tues, in which I am persuaded you will never be de- fective.
With a very high degree of esteem,
lam,
Dear sir,
yours sincerely.
J. PRIESTLEY.
Northumberland, January, 1803.
ADVERTISEMENT.
All the quotations in this work are either from
Xenophon's Memorabilia and Apology, by B.
Simpson, Oxford, A. D. 1749 ; or from Plato dc
Rebus divinis, Ed. 2d, printed at Cambridge, A. D. 1683. In the quotations from Xenophon
the pages only are mentioned. To those from
Plato P is prefixed.
INDEX.
PAGE.
THE Introduction, 1
Sec. 1. Of the Polytheism and Idolatry of
Socrates, 3
2. The Sentiments of Socrates concern-
ing the Gods and their Providence, 6
3. Of the excellent moral character of
Socrates, 10
4. The Imperfection of Socrates's ideas
concerning Piety and Virtue in general, 14
5. Of Socrates's Belief in a future State, 20
6. Of the Daemon of Socrates, 27
7. Of the Character and teaching of So-
crates compared with those of Jesus, 33
8. Of the different Objects of the Instruc-
tions of Socrates and of Jesus, ... 44
9. Inferences to be drawn from the Com-
parison of Socrates and Jesus, ... 48
SOCRATES AND JESUS
COMPARED.
THE INTRODUCTION.
THE history of Socrates is so singular a phe- nomenon in the heathen world, and his general beha- viour, and the manner of life to which he devoted himself, have in them so much that: resemble those of the ancient prophets, and even of our Saviour, that they have always drawn the particular attention of the friends of divine revelation, though these have formed very different opinions on the subject.
If we look into any account of the Grecian phi- losophers who preceded Socrates, or who followed him (and some of the most eminent of the latter were his professed disciples) we shall find none of them to resemble him, even in the general features of his conduct, though his education as a philoso- pher was in all respects the same with theirs ; and they all fell far short of him with respect to purity of moral character.
If we may depend upon what is transmitted to us concerning him by Xenophon and Plato, who were his cotemporaries and disciples, both men of great eminence, (and there were no writers in the heathen
2 SOCRATES AND
world whose characters stand higher than theirs) he was a very extraordinary man with respect both to wisdom and virtue. And as Socrates had enemies as well as friends, and his accusers must have had their friends too, had the accounts of Xenophon or Plato not been in the main agreeable to truth, it would have been in our power, (as the age abounded with writers) to perceive some trace of their objec- tions. But nothing of this kind appears.
From both these accounts we must conclude that Socrates was a man who, from early life, not only abstained from vice himself, and practised every thing that he thought to be a virtue, but one who devoted himself to the promoting of virtue in others ; continually throwing himself in the way of every person whom he thought he could benefit by his exhortations or instructions ; that by this means a considerable number of young men, espe- cially those of the best families, of much considera- tion and wealth, in the city of Athens, were strong- ly attached to him ; and yet, that though he was poor, and many of them were rich, he never accept- ed of any reward ibr his instructions.
In his conduct as a citizen he was most uncor- rupt and fearless, risking his popularity, and even his life, rather than consent to any thing that appear- ed to him to be unjust. When he was falsely ac- cused he behaved with the greatest magnanimity at his trial, and when sentence of death was passed up- on him he yielded to it with the greatest calmness. He refused to solicit for any abatement of the sen- tence as a favour, and declined all the offers of his
JESUS COMPARED. 3
friends to assist him in an escape from prison. When the fatal cup was brought to him, he drank it with the greatest readiness and composure, and died with much apparent satisfaction.
The sentiments and principles of such a man as this, who lived in the most polished city of Greece, at a period the most distinguished for every thing that can contribute to fame, in arts, science, or po- licy, and yet the most addicted to idolatry of any city in Greece, certainly deserves to be investiga- ted, and his conduct to be scrutinized ; and this I shall endeavour to do in the best manner that the materials we are furnished with will enable me.
Section I. Of the Polytheism and Idolatry of Socrates.
That Socrates was an idolater, or a worshipper of a multiplicity of Gods, and such as were acknow- ledged by his countrymen, and that he conformed in all respects to the popular modes of worship, cannot be denied. " He sacrificed, says Xenophon, p. 2, " both on the public altars of the city, and often at " his own house; and he also practised divination " in the most public manner." On his trial he said, p. 377, " he had never sacrificed to, or acknowledg- " ed, or sworn by, or even made mention of, any " gods but Jupiter, Juno, and others that were re- " ceived by his fellow citizens. Do not I believe," says he, p. 3, " that the sun, and the moon, are gods " as well as others ?" " Do we not suppose de-
4 SOCRATES AND
" mons"(and one of these he acknowledged to have given particular attention to him) "to be either " gods, or the sons of gods," p. 21. And in his last moments, after he had drank the poison, recollect- ing a vow that he had made to sacrifice a cock to iEsculapius, he desired Crito, a pupil and particular friend of his, to discharge it for him, and begged that he would not neglect to do it, p. 186. Though on one occasion he speaks of one God that construct- ed and preserves the world, p. 318, he does not say that he was the only God.
All heathens and idolaters, civilized or uncivili- zed, were addicted to divination ; imagining that by this means they could piy into futurity, and find out what their gods signified by certain signs, as the flight of birds, the form of the livers of the animals they sacrificed, and many other things which are generally considered as accidents. Socrates was so far from seeing the folly of these observances, that he was to an immoderate degree assiduous in his at- tention to them. Being of opinion, p. 8, that " the " gods signified their will by divination to those "whom they were disposed to favour," When- ever he was in doubt about any thing of importance, he sent some of his friends to consult the oracle p. 5, and he advised his friends, if they had occasion for the knowledge of any thing that they could not at- tain to themselves, to apply to the gods in the modes of divination, p. 352 ; Saying, that " they who " would regulate either their own affairs, or those " of the state, stood in need of these practices." p. 5
JESUS COMPARED. 5
Besides having recourse to the usual modes of divination, Socrates believed that, upon every occa- sion of importance, the will of the gods was signi- fied to himself in particular; but in what manner he does not clearly say. He sometimes calls it a 'voice {(pun) p. 28. At his trial he said he had often been heard to say that a divine voice was frequently present with him.
Notwithstanding all this evidence of the polythe- istic sentiments, and corresponding practice, of So- crates, Rollin and others suppose him to have been a believer in the dhine unity, and to have been sen- sible of the absurdity and folly of all the popular su- perstitions, and of the popular worship of his coun- try. But I am far from seeing any sufficient evidence of this. If he had had the weakness, which however is never ascribed to him, to conceal this before his judges, he might have avowed it before his death, bearing a dying and most honourable testimony to important truth ; whereas, on both these occasions, his language and conduct were the very reverse of what, on the supposition of this superior knowledge, they ought to have been. Indeed I much question whether any person educated as Socrates was, among polytheists and idolaters, could possibly, by the mere light of nature, have attained to a firm be- lief of divine unity, though he might in some de- gree have been sensible of the folly and absurdity of the prevailing superstitions.
SOCRATES AND
Section II.
The Sentiments of Socrates concerning the Gods, and their Providence.
A polytheist and idolater as Socrates was, he had just and honourable sentiments concerning the di- vine power and providence, and of the obedience that men owe to the gods. And though his ideas on these subjects are far short of what we find in the Psalms of David, and the writings of the Hebrew prophets, they are much more rational and sublime than the opinions of the heathens in general, or those of the philosophers that followed him.
We have seen that Socrates ascribed to a god the formation and government of the world, whereas, according to Hesiod (whose tbeogo?iy was, no doubt, that which was generally received by the Greeks) the world had been from eternity, and the origin of the gods was subsequent to it. Socrates points out in particular the wisdom and goodness of provi- dence in the disposition of the different senses and the several parts of the human body, as that of the eyes, the eye-lashes, and eye-lids ; and in the struc- ture of the teeth, which in the different animals are shaped and situated in the most convenient manner, the best adapted to their respective uses, p. 62. He had, no doubt, the same opinion of the wisdom and goodness displayed in the structure and dispo- sition of every thing else in nature.
JESUS COMPARED. 7
He, moreover, believed that the gods know every- thing that is not only said or done, but that is even thought and intended, though ever so privately ; being present in all places ; so that, whenever they think proper they can give intimations to man of every thing relating to them, p. 14. ** The deity" (to&<ov) he says, p. 65, " sees and hears all things, " is every where present, and takes care of "all things." And he makes this obvious and practical use of the doctrine, viz. that " if men be- " lieved it, they would abstain from all base ac- " tions even in private, persuaded that nothing that " they did was unknown to the gods." p. 70.
The gods, he also thought, know every thing that is future, though they conceal the knowledge of those things from men in general ; so that, " though " a man built a house, he could not be certain that " he should inhabit it, nor could a general be sure " whether it would be proper for him to march his " army, &c." p. 6. Agreeably to this, it was his custom, in his prayer to the gods, to request that they would grant him what was good, without spe- cifying what he wished for ; since they best knew what was so. p. 45. Like the heathens in general, he considered lightning as coming more immediate- ly from the gods, as one mode of giving intimations to men. p. 312.
According to Socrates, it is the gods that have made the distinction between men and the inferior animals, having given them rational souls, so that they only know that there are gods, and can worship them. " There is no such principle and excellent
8 SOCRATES AND
" quality," he said " in the brutes; and in conse- " quence of this superiority, men are like gods with " respect to other animals," p. 66.
Speaking of the goodness of the gods to man, he says, p. 306, "they supply us not only with ne- " cessaries, but with things that are adapted to give " us pleasure." He mentions particularly as their gifts, water and fire, the grateful and useful change of the seasons, and our various senses, adapted to peculiar species of good. " This," he says, p. 310, " shews their concern for us."
Socrates considered all unwritten laws, obligatory on man in society, the origin of which cannot be tra- ced, as having the gods for their authors. Among these he mentions the universal maxim, that the gods ought to be worshipped, p. 327, that grati- tude is due to benefactors, that parents ought not to have sexual commerce with their children, and all other universally acknowledged principles of mo- rality.
In answer to the objection from our not seeing the gods, he mentions several things in nature, the existence and powers of which cannot be denied, and which are invisible or inscrutable by us, as lightning, the wind, and the intellectual powers of man, " Thus," says he, p. 313, " when we see " the powers of the gods, we must reverence them " though we do not see them."
Nothing can exceed the respect that Socrates en- tertained for the authority and will of the gods, whenever, and in whatever manner, it was made known. " If," says he, p. 51, " the gods signify
JESUS COMPARED.
their will, we must no more depart from it, and take other counsel, than we should prefer the con- duct of a blind man, who did not know the road, " to that of one who saw it and knew it ; always " prefering the direction of the gods, to that of
<< it
" men."
Agreeably to this, when he was addressing his judges, he said, p. 40, that " if they would acquit * ' him on condition that he would discontinue his in- " structions to young persons, which he believed " the gods had enjoined him, or suffer death, he " would answer that he must obey god rather than " man ; and that if they should banish him to any " other country, he should think it his duty, to do " there what he had done at Athens." p. 40. " Whatever be the situation in which a man is pla- " ced, there, he said, he should remain at any risk, " even of life, (p. 23) dreading baseness more " than any thing else. So the gods having, as, I " believe, placed me where I have been, and ordered " me to remain philosophizing, and scrutinizing " myself and others, I must not desert that station, " for fear of death, or any thing else."
When Aristodemus, with whom he was discours- ing on this subject, said that he did not deny that there were gods, but he thought they were too great to stand in need of his worship. Socrates replied, p. 64, that the greater they were, the more they were to be honoured.
As to the manner in which the gods were to be honoured, he, like other heathens, thought it Mas to be determined by the laws of every particular coun-
c
10 SOCRATES AND
try. But he justly thought that the satisfaction the gods received from these marks of respect did not depend upon the costliness of the sacrifice. " The " offering of a poor man," he said, p. 49, " is as " acceptable to the gods, as the more expensive ones " of the rich."
Section III.
Of the excellent Moral Character of Socrates.
These, it cannot be denied, are excellent senti- ments, and much to be admired, considering the lit- tle light that Socrates had, viz. that of nature only, uninstructed by any revelation. And with him these sentiments were not merely speculative. His whole life seems to have been strictly conformable to them, being eminently virtuous, and wholly de- voted to the service of his fellow citizens.
Xenophon, who knew him well (though, having
been his pupil, we may suppose him to have been
prejudiced in his favour) gives the following general
account of his character and conduct, p. 359. " He
" was so religious that he did nothing without the
" advice of the gods. He was so just, that he ne- " ver injured any person in the smallest matter, but
" rendered every service in his power to those with
" whom he had any connection. He was so tempe-
" rate that he never preferred what was grateful to
" what was useful. He was so prudent, that he ne-
" ver mistook the worse for the better ; nor did he
JESUS COMPARED. 11
" want the advice of others, but always judged for " himself. In his conversation, he excelled in de- " fining what was right; and in shewing it to " others, reproving the vicious, and exhorting to " the practice of virtue."
Though the circumstances of Socrates were the reverse of affluent, he would never receive any gra- tuity for the lessons that he gave, as all other philoso- phers and public teachers did ; and by this means, as he said, p. 74, he preserved his freedom and inde- pendence. When upon his trial he was urged by his friends to supplicate the judges, as was the universal custom, in order to move their compassion, he refu- sed to ask any favour even of them ; being of opini- on that this was contrary to the laws, according to which, and not according to favour, judges ought to decide, p. 317.
In all the changes in the political state of the tur- bulent city of Athens, which were many in the time of Socrates, he adhered inflexibly to what he thought to be just, without being influenced by hope or fear. This was particularly conspicuous on two occasions. The first was when, being one of the judges in the case of the ten generals who were tried for their lives on account of their not collecting and burying the dead after a naval engagement, and all the rest (influenced, no doubt, by the popular cla- mour against them) condemned them to die, he alone refused to concur in the sentence. Soon after the citizens in general, convinced of the injustice of the sentence, though after it had been carried into exe- cution, approved of his conduct. The other was
12 SOCRATES AND
during the government of the thirty tyrants, when, though in manifest danger of his life, lie refused to approve of their measures ; and he escaped by no- thing but their overthrow, and the city recovering its liberty.
That Socrates at the close of life expressed his satisfaction in his own conduct cannot be thought extraordinary. It was, he observed, p. 366, in con- currence with the general opinion of his country- men, and with a declaration of the oracle at Delphi in his favour. For when it was consulted by Chse- rephon, one of his disciples, the answer was, that there was no person more honourable (£*£yS£f<mpov) more just, or more wise * than he. p. 371.
He put, however, a very modest construction on this oracle ; which was that, though he knew no more than other men, he did not, like them, pretend to know more, p. 9, 12, so that he only knew him- self, and his own ignorance, better than other men. His reputation in consequence of it, and of his conduct in general, had no other than the happiest influence upon him. For, addressing his judges (p. 34,) he observed, that " it being a generally " received opinion, that he was wiser than other " men," he said that " whether that opinion was " well founded or not, he thought he ought not to " demean himself by any unworthy action."
Notwithstanding Socrates's consciousness of in- tegrity, and general merit, and the good opinion of
* In Xenophon the response of the oracle is expressed by o-vtpponsTtp©-, but Plato always uses the word ao(pultp@^. Cicero in referring to it uses the word sapientissimus.
JESUS COMPARED. 13
the wise and virtuous, he was so sensible of the ma- lice of his enemies, that when he was brought before his judges he had no expectation of being acquitted, and therefore he expressed his surprize when he found that he was condemned by a majority of no more than three votes p. 36, out of 500.*
It being customary at Athens, when any person was found guilty of the charge brought against him, to require him to say what, in his own opinion, his punishment should be ; and this question being proposed to Socrates, conscious as he was of no de- merit, but on the contrary of his valuable services to his country ; he said that, since he had made no gain by his profession of public instructor, had never held any lucrative office in the state, and he was poor, he was, like other persons in a similar situ- ation, and with similar claims, entitled to a main- tenance at the public expense in the Prytaneum, p. 37. If they destroyed him, he farther said, they would not soon find another like him, p. 27. This has the appearance of vanity and ostentation. But if the praising a man's self be at all justifiable, it is on such an occasion as this, when he is unjustly censured and condemned by others.
* This, exclusive of the president, Rollin supposes to have been the number of the judges.
14 SOCRATES AND
Section IV.
The Imperfection of Socrates' 's Ideas concerning Piety, and Virtue in general.
Just and sublime as were the sentiments that Socrates professed concerning the power and provi- dence of the gods, and of the obligation that men are under to reverence and worship them, his ideas of the manner in which this was to be done were by no means such as might have been expected in consequence of them. According to him, all the duties that properly rank under the head of piety are the observance of the religious rites of the coun- tries in which men live. " The gods, he says, " p. 338, are not to be honoured by every man as he " pleases, but as the laws direct." This was agree- able to the answer received from Delphi, when in- quiry was made concerning the manner in which men should please the gods ; for the answer return- ed was, " by complying with the institutions of our " country," p. 313. After mentioning this, Soc- rates added, that " all states had decreed that the " gods are to be placated by sacrifices, according to " the faculties of each of them." p. 314.
Now, what the rites of the heathen religions were, those of Athens by no means excepted, is well known. Little did they accord with any just sen- timents of what we now deem to be piety, i. e. a reverence for the perfections and providence of God, gratitude for his favours, submission to his wrill, in a strict obedience to the moral precepts he has en-
JESUS COMPARED. 15
joined, and confidence in his protection and favour in consequence of it. With these sentiments sacrifi- ces, and the other rites of the heathen religions, had no connection whatever. Rather, they were the occasion, and provocatives, of licentiousness, and lewdness, as must have been well known to Socrates himself.
The moral maxims of Socrates, independent of those relating to religion, are admirable, especially his saying, p. 83, that " there is no better way to " true glory than to endeavor to be good rather than " seem to be so." But his general rule concern- ing the nature of justice, in which he probably in- cluded virtue in general, was that, " whatever is " lawful,'''' or agreeable to the laws, " is just," p. 321, 326 ; whereas, nothing can be more variable than the laws of particular states, or more discordant with one another.
With respect to the subjects of religion and mo- rals in general, Socrates always professed a greater regard to the laws than reason or good sense will justify, though he might be induced to say more on this subject in consequence of his being accused of being no friend to the popular religion, and of corrupting youth by attaching them to himself, to the neglect of their parents and others. And it is very possible that, in some of his instructions he had inculcated duties of a purer and higher kind than the institutions of his country would encourage or authorize. Such, however, might be expected from the sentiments he generally expressed.
16 SOCRATES AND
Considering the wretched philosophy of the So- phists, whose ostentation, and absurdities, Socrates exposed, we shall not wonder at the advice he gave his hearers with respect to the principal object of their pretended science. He recommended to them the study of Geography, Astronomy, and the scien- ces in general, only so far as they were of practical use in life, p. 350 ; but he particularly dissuaded them from the study of the structure of the uni- verse, because, he said, " it was not designed to be " discovered by man, nor could it be agreeable to " the gods to have that inquired into which they " did not make known to man." For nothing could be more presumptuous than the manner in which those Sophists, and the philosophers of those times in general, decided concerning this great subject ; and with them it led to nothing of any real value with respect to men's conduct, but puffed them up with conceit, without any foundation of real knowledge. On this account he is said by Seneca to have reduced all philosophy to morals. Totam philosoph'iam rcvocamt ad mores, Ep'ist. 71.
But could Socrates have seen the progress that a truer philosophy than any that existed in his time has now made, and how directly it leads to the most profound admiration of the works and providence of God, unfolding the wisdom, power, and good- ness of the great creator ; and had he seen the con- nection which this reverence for God, and conse- quently for his laws, has (on the system of revela- tion) with moral virtue, he would have been the
JESUS COMPARED. 17
first to lay stress upon it, and to inculcate it upon his pupils.
As the laws of his country, which with Socrates were too much the standard of right, with respect both to religion and morals, were very imperfect on many subjects, we do not wonder that he did not ex- press a sufficient indignation (such as those do who are acquainted with the purer and more severe pre- cepts of revealed religion relating to them) at some particular vices, especially sodomy, which the laws of God by Moses justly punished with death.
When Critias, then, his pupil, was in love with Euthydemus, and avowedly, as it should seem, for the vilest purpose, he dissuaded him from pursuing his object ; but only as a thing that was illiberal, un- becoming a man of honour and delicacy. " It was" he said " begging of the object of his passion like " a pauper, and for a thing that would do him no " good," p. 29. The gratification of this passion he said, resembled a hog rubbing himself against a stone, p. 30. This, no doubt, shews a contempt for this vice, but no sufficient abhorrence of it, as . such a degradation of human nature ought to excite. When another of his pupils gave a kiss to a son of Alcibiades, who was very beautiful, he only asked whether it did not require great bold- ness to do it, meaning that, after this, it would not be easy to refrain from endeavouring to take greater liberties with him. There is too much of plea- santry, and too little of seriousness, in this method of considering the subject.
D
18 SOCRATES AND
A similar remark may be made on the interview that Socrates had with a celebrated courtesan of the name of Theodota, whom he had the curiosity to visit on account of what he had heard of her ex- traordinary beauty and elegant form, so that statu- aries applied to her to take models from her ; and to whom the historian says she exhibited her per- son as much as decency would permit. In this si- tuation Socrates and his pupils found her ; but in the conversation that he had with her he discovered no just sense of the impropriety of her life and profes- sion. She spake to him of her galants as her friends, who contributed to her support without labour, and hoped that by his recommendation she should pro- cure more ; adding, " How shall I persuade you to " this." He replies, " This you must find out " yourself, and consider in what way it may be in " my power to be of use to you." And when she desired him to come often to see her, he only jes- tingly said, that he was not sufficiently at leisure from other engagements, p. 251. Ready as Socra- tes was to give good advice to young men, he said nothing to her to recommend a more virtuous and reputable course of life than that which he knew she led.
It was not in this manner that Jesus and his apostles would have conversed with such a person. He did not decline all intercourse with women of her character, but it was not at their houses ; and what he said was intended to instruct and reclaim them. He considered them as the' sick, and him- self as the physician.
JESUS COMPARED. 19
Women of the profession of this Theodota, if they had been well educated, were resorted to in the most open manner by men of the first character at Athens, as Aspasia by Socrates himself, and by Pericles, who afterwards married her. Nor was fornication in general, with women of that profession, at all disreputable, either in Greece, or at Rome.
How much more pure are the morals of Christia- nity in this respect. So great, however, was the prevalence of this vice, and so little had it been con- sidered as one, in the heathen world, that the apostle Paul, writing to the christian churches in Greece, and especially at Corinth, the richest and most voluptuous city in that part of the world, is urgent to dissuade his converts from it. See particularly 1 Cor. vi. 9 &c. where among those who would be excluded from the kingdom of heaven, he men- tions fornicators in the first place. Know ye not, that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God. Be not deceived ; neither fornicators, nor idola- ters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themsehes with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners,, shall inherit the kingdom of GocL
20 SOCRATES AND
Section V. Of Socrates^s Belief in a future State.
Though Socrates had more just ideas concerning the nature and character of deity, and also of the nature and obligations of virtue, than the generality of his countrymen, and even of the philosophers, he does not appear to have had any more knowledge than others concerning the great sanction of virtue, in the doctrine of a future state. In none of his conversations recorded by Xenophon on the subject of virtue with young men and others, is there the least mention of it, or allusion to it ; which was cer- tainly unavoidable if he had been really acquainted with it, and believed it.
Speaking of the happiness of his virtuous pu- pils, he mentions the pleasure they would have in this life, and the respect that would be paid to them ; and says that, " when they died they would not be " without honour, consigned to oblivion, but would " be for ever celebrated, p. 111." Having said this, could he have forborne to add their happier condition after death, if he had had any belief of it :
All his dissuasives from vice are grounded on some natural and necessary inconvenience to which men expose themselves by it in this life, but none of them have any respect to another. Thus he re- presents intemperate persons as slaves to their ap- petites, p. 322 ; and treating of what he considered as being the laws of nature, and therefore as those of
JESUS COMPARE!?. 21
the gods, as the prohibition of marriage between parents and their children, p. 828, he only says that " the offspring of such a mixture is bad, one of the " parties being too old to produce healthy chil- " dren ;" and this reason does not apply to the case of brothers and sisters. Another law of nature, he says, is to do good in return for good received ; but the penalty of not doing it he makes to be nothing more than being deserted by a man's friends when he will have the most want of them, and to be forc- ed to apply to those who have no friendship for him. p. 329.
It is particularly remarkable that nothing that Xenophon says as coming from Socrates, not only in his conversations with his pupils, but even at his trial, and the scenes before his death, implies a belief of a future state. All that we have of this kind is from Plato ; and though he was present at the trial, and therefore what he says is no doubt, intitled to a considerable degree of credit, it wants the attestation of another witness; and the want of that of Xenophon is something more than nega- tive; especially as it is well known that Plato did not scruple to put into the mouth of Socrates lan- guage and sentiments that never fell from him ; as it is said Socrates himself observed, when he was shewn the dialogue intitled Lysis, in which he is the principal speaker, as he is in many others.
In Plato's celebrated dialogue intitled Phcedo, in which he makes Socrates advance arguments in proof of a future state, we want the evidence of some person who was present ; for Plato himself was at
22 SOCRATES AND
that time confined by sickness, (P. p. 74) so that it is very possible, as nothing is said of it by Xenophon, that he might not have held any discourse on the subject at all.
Besides, all that Socrates is represented by Plato to have said on this subject is far from amounting to any thing like certain knowledge, and real belief, with respect to it, such as appears in the discourses of Jesus, and the writings of the apostles. Socrates, according to Plato, generally speaks of a future state, and the condition of men in it, as the popular belief, which might be true or false. " If" says he (p. 46) " what is said be true, we shall in another " state die no more. In death " he says to his judg- " es" (p. 44 "we either lose all sense of things, " or, as it is said, go into some other place ; and " if so, it will be much better ; as we shall be out " of the power of partial judges, and come before " those that are impartial. Minos, Rhadamanthus, " ./Eacus, Triptolemus, and others, who were de- " migods." Taking his leave of them, he says, " I must now depart to die, while you continue in " life ; but which of these is the better, the gods " only can tell ; for in my opinion no man can know " this."
This certainly implies no faith on which to ground real practice, from which a man could, with the apostle, live as seeing things invisible, being governed by a regard to them more than to things present, the one as certain as the other, and infinit- ly superior in value, the things that are seen be-
JESUS COMPARED. 23
ing temporary ', while those that are unseen are eternal. 2. Cor. iv, 10.
Notwithstanding this uncertainty of Socrates with respect to a future state, he died with great compo- sure and dignity ; considering his death at that time as, on the whole, better for him than to live any lon- ger in the circumstances in which, at his time of life (being seventy years old) he must have lived ; especially as a coward, discovering an unmanly dread of death, in exile and disgrace ; dying also without torture, surrounded by his friends, and ad- mirers, who would ensure his fame to the latest posterity.
That such arguments in proof of a future state as Plato puts into the mouth of Socrates should really have been advanced, and have had any stress laid upon them, by him, in so serious a time as just before his death, is exceedingly improbable, from the ex- treme- futility of them. They are more like the mere play of imagination, than the deductions of reason.
His first argument is, that as every thing else in nature has its contrarv, death must have it also, and if so, it must be followed by life, as day follows night, and a state of vigilance always follows sleep. p. 56. But might it not be said that, for