The Portland daily press., 1884-12-31
THE RELIGION OF GREECE.
Rcv. Mr.. BIamchard's lecture Last Eve
ming.

The Rev. Henry Blanchard delivered the
sixth lecture in his course on "The Great Re-
ligions of the World" last evening in the
vestry of the Congress square church, to a
large audience, the subject being 1.-THE Re-
ligion of Greece"
Mr.. Blanchard began by saying that the
series of lectures already delivered clearly
showed the fact that all religions were largely,
perhaps chiefly, the result of the profound i'm
preston made by outward nature upon the in
ward mind of man. There ia, indeed, another
great factor the influence of God upon great
leaders. But this influence lies largely in the
realm OF mystery. IL is not easily measured.
The influence of Nature on man is clearly
manifested. In the religion of India we saw
man subjugated by Nature. In the religion of
Greece, we shall see man exhiarated by Ma
ture. We soon see that the religion is without
the feeling of awe-that We may say its gods
are made in the image OF men.
Here then in this bright land of Greece we
have the spectacle of joyous religion endur-
during for centuries and, at last, collapsing in
scepticism and gloom.
Look at one of its festivals to sec its ioy-
business; then listen to the words of Euripides
and Plato as they sneer at or condemn the re-
ligion of their land. Then hear Epicurus in
his Atheism. The lecturer here described the
festival OF the goddess Minerva at Athens and
then quoted 'FRONT.' Plato.
The periods clearly marked in the religion
of Greece are the time anterior to Homer
the centuries succeeding till the rise of the
drama and philcsophy-the days of decadence
as dramatist and philosopher treated with COR
tempt the myths of Homer. In the first period
we seq simple, Joyou nature worship. To
understand it we need only to study the con-
fguration and climate of Greece. By study
ing our maps we can see how great is the sea
coast of Greece. Its peninsular form, its many
bays, give it a sea line of very great extent 10
comparison with its square miles of inland ter
ritory. Now the sea always brightens the wits
OF men. Then the climate was delightful and
favored bodily perfection. The Olympiap
games aided this. The Greeks became mag
ni6cent race of physically developed men.
They exulted in their Astounding vitality
They felt themselves SO thoroughly
alive that it was easy for them to
feel that all nature was also alive,
Hence their faith in gods and goddesses of
woods and streams and ssa. 1t is impossible TO
enter into details of this early kperiod. In
the second, the religion is practically the reli-
gion OF the gods of Olympus. For now we
SEQ the Influence OF the two great poets-Hom-
or and Hesiod, and especially OF Homer
Greece had no priestly caste-it had no sacred
books. Homer's poems served Greece as Bibles
have served other lands. But he merely made
use of long accepted stories Of the gods. Grad
ually, without doabt,the nature worship under
went a change, SO that the gods became sepa-
rate from nature-personalities of themselves
instead ospowers or life of woods or streams or
sea. Homer accepted these, and made them
still more real by his Iliad and Odyssey. Very
human indeed, were these gods. Their WoI-
shippers did not stand in awe of them They
uuar NIT toFr hr1t dali rkf A xI.
Greeks in Athens or Sparta thought of these
gods of Olympus, the soeleved That the gods
Toasted, talked, made love, made war, deceived
one another, became angry and were reconcil-
ed. There was story that Jupiter hung his
wife up in mid-heaven with anvils tied to her
heels-that Vulcan united them, and, there
fore was pitched from Olympus down into the
island of Lemnoa and SO was made lame. There
was no guidance from such god. They al
lowed the worshippers to think what they
would, and to do what they chose. No won
der Heraclitus said "Men are mortal gods and
the gods are immortal men,"
The third period is of decadence because the
great dramatists Sophocles and Hsschylus and
great Socrates and Plato teach that men are to
be virtuous, that Power above the gods of
Olympus brings punishment to sin. We can
easily see how such a religion must decline
the moment the teachings of materalist, for
Homer was this, one criticised by believers in
God who loves righteousness. Socrates and
Plato, Sophocles and Eschylus were apostles
OF righteousness. The masses opposed the
teachers and the teachings, but the religion
was doomed The lesson OF that doom is clear.
No religion can endure which has not awe for
its gods and righteousness for its end The
student sees the deficiencies OF the religion of
Greece in these particulars-frst, it had no
fitting idea of God; secondly, il had no in-
spring hope OF immortality; thirdly, it chad no
satisfying answer to the problems of life
fourthly, it could not reconcile itselfwith the
progress OF philosophy.
However much, therefore, we may rejoice in
the splendid physical development Of the
Greeks, in their love of beauty, In their Gull
ture and intellectual greatness; however much
we may feel the worlds immense indebted
ness to her architecture and art and literature,
and declare most earnestly that these are
simply incompatible, still the teaching of its
history is clear and awful-religion died out
of Greece because it lacked awe of the Power
that made the universe, because it made its
gods in the image of sinful, selfish men, be-
cause its aim was enjoyment and not
righteousness.
The poet can never be the prophet unless
he is filled with reverence for God. Homer
cannot save from sin. Sophoces failed, al
though prophet, because Homer had so de-
based the people. Pythagoras located both
Hesiod and Homer in hell, SO detestabl e
seemed their doctrines. Plato uttered male
dictions on Homer's stories of the gods. The
great artists made their magnificent statues of
Jupiter and Apollo and Minerva, but Art
could not save Religion. The drama slowly
undermined the goes of Olympus. Philosophy
dill her magnificent work and the "fSir hui
maniIes" went down. We see now that no
religion against which Science and Philoso-
ply utter protest, Can long endure. MIR. Blan-
chard dwelt at length upon each of these
points Of deficiency, GREECE ooqld not gay,
"The high and holy One who judges the ma!
ton in righteousness as did Israel. 1t wished
to live on earth and not descend to Hades, for
tbs earth was SO bright that it did not dream
of any alluring Heaven. 1t taught no con-
defamation of sin; it presented no Christ who
could inspire to noble living and thus become
q Saviour. It could give no explanation of
the evils OF the world. 1t could not chey tho
prophet dramstst or the prophet philosopher
when he came. Its cosmos therefore, became
chaos. Health. strength, beauty could not
save. Lovely Greece was doomed because its
religion could not look above Nature and Hu.
mainly.
In conclusion, Mr.. Blanchard made an
earnest plea for the retention OF the study of
Greece, in its literature, art, religion, as an
important part of the Curriculum OF the col
lege. In his Judgment, the efforts of those
educators who would displace Greek with Ger
man land French are unwise, Better ways
of studying Greek history and literature may
be found, but there can be no fulnsss of edu-
cation without a knowledge of the origin,
growth and decline of the religion of Greece.