Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1871-03-18
Christ and Socrates.

ChrlSt ana socrates.
acknowledge to you tina, the majesty
of the Scriptures astcni,hcs me. aud the
sanc,ity of the gospel fills me with rapture.
Look into the writings of the philosophers,
with all their porr and parade how
trivial they appear when compared to this
sacred volume. Is it possible that work
so simple and yet so sublime should he
the work Of man? Is it possible that lie
whose history it contains should himself
be a mere man! Is the style that Of an
enthusiast or sectary inflated with ambi-
ton? What sweetness. what purity in
His morals. What force, what persuasion
in His instructions! His maxims how
sublime. His discourscs how wise and
profound Such presence Of mind, such
beauty and precision in His answers
Such empire over His passions
Where is the man or the philosopher that
knows how to act, to suffer, and to die,
without weakness or ostentation Plato,
in his picture of the imaginary just man,
covered with all the opprobousness Of
guilt, and worthy of every reward Of vir-
tue, gives us an exact representation Of
Christ; so striking is the resemblance that
all the fathers saw it, and indeed there is
no possibility of installing it. What pref
udice, what blindness, to compare the off.
spring of Sophronisca to the son Of Mary !
How immense the difference between the
two. Socrates, dying without pain, and
without ignominy, found it easy to sup.
port his character to the very last, and if
his life had not been honorcd with so gen.
tie death, we might have doubted wheth-
er Socrates with all his understanding was
anything more than sophist. You will
say he invented system of moral philos-
ophy. Others had practced it before his
time; he only related what they had per-
formed, and drew lectures from their ex-
amples. Aristides had been just, before
Socrates told us what justice was; Leoni.
das had sacrificed his life for his country,
before Socrates had made the love of our
country duty: Sparata was sober before
Socrates commended sobriety; before he
had given definition of virtue, Greece
abounded in virtuous men. But Of whom
did Christ borrow that sublime and pure
morality which He, and He only, taught
by both word and example? From the
center of the most extravagant fanaticism
the highest wisdom made itself heard, and
the vilest of nations was honored with the
simplicity of the most heroic virtues. The
death of Socrates philosophizing coolly
with his friends, is the easiest that can be
desired that of Christ expiring in the
| ,,,:J,A &c %nr &c ohuco1 coorpod do
tested by whole people, is the most
dreadful that can be apprehended. Socra.
ties taking the poisonous draught, returns
thanks to the person, who with tears in
his eyes presents it to him. Christ, in the
most exquisite torture, prays for his bloody
executioners. Yes, if Socrates lived and
died like philosopher, Christ lived and
died like God.
Shall we say that the evangelical history
was invented at pleasure My friends
inventions are not made after that manner
and Socrates history, of which nobody en-.
tertains any doubt, is not SO we'll attested
as that of Christ. Upon the whole, it is
removing the difficulty further back, with
out solving it; for it would be much hard
cr to conceive that number Of men should
have Joined together to fabricate this book,
than single person should furnish the
subject to its authors. Jewish writer's
would never have fallen into that style, or
that system of morality; and the gospel
has such strong and such inimitable marks
Of truth, that the inventor would be more
surprising than the hero.-Rousseau.