The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-03-20
PAUL AND oRIENTALlSM
THE RELATIONS OF THE TWO DE.
FINED BY DIR. LYMAN ABBOTT.
why the Faith of Christ is to he pre-
ferred TO the Teaching of the
AIex"ndrian Philosophers.
BROOKLYN Eag gle.

Brooklyn Eagle.
Christianity and Orientalism" was the
special topic Of the lecture delivered nv the
Rev. DR.. Lyman Abbott in Plymouth Church
Sunday night. The lecture was a continue
ton Of the course on the life and writings
Of st. Paul. DR.. Abbott said:
AT the time of Christ's birth there ex-
isted in Alexandria a great library and a
great university. and this united institution
for 1t was practically one-was the center
of great intellectual hfe Indeed. intel
lectual supremacy had passed in a measure
from Greece to Egypt. and there remained
for some centuries. Alexandria was situated
at the confluence of three streams of intel
lectual and spiritual life-the Orient, Juda-
ism and Greece aome at this time hardly
Influenced it at all, and from it as yet infiu
ences had not passed out by migration into
Rome. The Oriental dreams The Greek de-
fines. The Jew or Hebrew acts. These
three sentences may serve as characteri-
cation Of the distinction between these
classes Of influence that met and strangely
mingled in Alexandria. For they did min
gle, ard out of their confluence there grew
up a scheme of combined dreaming, think
ing and practical ethics which constitute
what is known in history as the Alexandrian
school
Those of you who have made some study
of the subject will have to exercise some in
diligence toward ME in the endeavor to de-
fine in very brief compass what it is not
easy to define in plenty of time for indeed
It is very difficult matter to translate
Oriental dreaming into Occidental thought,
and to translate a composite school which
was inconsistent with itself and which
worked out, as we shall see, with strange
incongruities, and to translate that into
thought which a common-sense American
can understand without having himself
studied these schools of philosophy is not an
easy task. This school of philosophy con-
cerned itself with God, with man, with the
relation between the two, with the problem
of evil. with, in short, all the questions
with which religious philosophy has in all
ages OF the world concerned itself
THE ORIENTAL IDEA OF GOD. 3.
1.-THE Oriental regarded then and regards
now God as the absolute and the uncondi-
tioned-such was the argument then, such
Is the argument nowhere can be nothing
outside of Him; for if there is anything out
side of Him then He is limited. Therefore,
God is the all and the all is God But He
braism had centered it's faith in a personal
God who created the world and ruled it.
This unconditional and this absolute could
not create, because then what He had made
would be apart from himself and He would
be limited by the very result of His crea-
ton. But the very essence of Hebraism
was that God had created and was apart
from His world and ruled over it. And you
would say that those two systems We're di-
recuy ant1podal one to the other and could
not be recOnciled which shows that Won
do not know what theologianS can do when
they undertake anything.
Because they devised this scheme there
had proceeded from this unconditioned and
this absolute certain secondary causes and
secondary delties. They were called chiefs.
cons. All these words We're applied to them.
And these secondary causes or secondary
deitieS-l hardly know which appellation to
give them-were themselves among the Gre
ators of the world. The infinite and the
eternal and the absolute had not met but
from Him had proceeded these secondary
beings, and these secondary beings had met
and thus world was made imperfect by
Imperfect gods who had proceeded from "a
perfect God Thus the Hebrew found a
God whom he could believe in as a person,
and the Oriental God whom he could rec
ognize as the absolute and the uncondi-
toned They shook, hands.
BUT this Infinite and this unconditional
M2s the unknown and the unknowable.
Those phrases, or at all events. that idea
does not date from the time of Herbert
Spencer at all. nor even from the date of
me Alexandria, school. 1t is to be found
very essence of Hebraism was that man
should know God; he must become ac-
Qualnted with Him. he must obey. Him; he
must recognize Him; he must revere Him.
And here again you had two antagonists
God that could not be known and God
that must be known, or, at all events, a
God whom man must ever strive to know.
And these secondary deitieS served another
purpose, therefore The infinite and the I'M
conditioned and the absolute could not be
Known, bat the principalitieS, and the pow
ers. and the dominions. and the cons, they
could be known. There was room, on the
one hand for the Hebraic acquaintance;
on the other hand, for the Oriental nom
acquaintance. There is evil in this world,
pam, SUFFERING moral evil; but IT God is
perfect He cannot produce pain. suffering,
moral evil. And yet God is the all. How, II
God is the all and is in the all, and yet there
Is pain, and suffering, and moral evil, how
VIII you reconcile these two ideas? The
AteXandrian school is somewhat after this
fashion: The absolute and the unconditional
IS the fullness that filleth all things with
Mmself. and there is a perfect spiritual life,
pain, there is no suffering. there is no dis
called moral evil But there is matter
some said it was eternal Some said 1t was
not real at ali, but only shadow which eX-
lSted in the imagination or men, but
whether it was n shadow or eternal, it was
or it was thought to be- And this fuilness
that filled all the spiritual life. and thls lie
was that filled by the fullness THAI filled al
spiritual life, because the evil was in the
shadow not in the reality. not in the spir-
ltual life. There really was ne evil
TWO SCHOOLS OF THOUGHT.
or rather. out of this there sprung two
schools of thought again which were singu-
larry contradictory, and, SO far as know,
did not attempt a reconciliation. Both
schools started with this: Matter is undi-
vine: and one school said, since matter is
undivine, stree in matter resides evil, there
fore we must get rid of it we must cut 1t
OFF, We must do everything we can to es-
cape it. And of this there grew school
Of Orientalism. And the other school said
since matter is undivine, it has no real ex-
istenco. we may utterly disregard it; we
may do as we please: there is no SIM
Righteousness of the body is not a reality
II is only pretense; drunkenness is not
reality. it is only shadow; there is no harm
IN the shadow. Therefore, be drunken II you
like and be licentious if you choose. There
Is no disease according to this school, and
- In, Il.alio or