n_." A lofty ideal of moral excellence had
been attained by Plato--the conception of a high and inflexible
morality, which contrasted most vividly with the depravity which
prevailed in Athenian society. The education "of the public assemblies,
the courts, the theatres, or wherever the multitude gathered" was
unfavorable to virtue. And the inadequacy of all mere human teaching to
resist this current of evil, and save the young men of the age from
ruin, is touchingly and mournfully confessed by Plato. "There is not,
there never was, there never will be a moral education possible that can
countervail the education of which these are the dispensers; that is,
_human_ education: I except, with the proverb, that which is Divine.
And, truly, any soul that in such governments escapes the common wreck,
can only escape _by the special favor of heaven."_[924] He affirms again
and again that man can not by himself rise to purity and goodness.
"Virtue is not natural to man, neither is it to be learned, but it comes
to us by a divine influence. Virtue is the gift of God in those who
possess it."[925] That "gift of God" was about to be bestowed, in all
its fullness of power and blessing, "_through Jesus Christ our Lord_."

[Footnote 923: Seneca lived in the second century; Epictetus, in the
latter part of the first century.]

[Footnote 924: "Republic," bk. vi. ch. vi., vii.]

[Footnote 925: "Meno;" see conclusion.]

In the department of _religious feeling_ and _sentiment_, the
propaedeutic office of Greek philosophy is seen, in general, in the
revealing of the immediate spiritual wants of the soul, and the distinct
presentation of the problem which Christianity alone can solve.

I. _It awakened in man the sense of distance and estrangement from God,
and the need of a Mediator--"a daysman betwixt us, that might lay his
hand upon us both_"[926]

[Footnote 926: Job ix. 33.]

During the period of unconscious and unreflective theism, the sentiment
of the Divine was one of objective nearness and personal intimacy. The
gods interposed directly in the affairs of men, and held frequent and
familiar intercourse with our race. They descend to the battle-field of
Troy, and mingle in the bloody strife. They grace the wedding-feast by
their presence, and heighten the gladness with celestial music. They
visit the poor and the stranger, and sometimes clothe the old and
shrivelled beggar with celestial beauty. They inspire their favorites
with