THE EMPEROR-WORSHIP

Eclogue, clearly voices this hope: "The last age prophesied by the sibyl has come and the great series of ages begins anew. Justice now returns, Saturn reigns once more, and a new progeny is sent down from high heaven. O chaste Lucina, be thou propitious to the infant boy under whom first the iron age shall cease and the golden age over all the world arise. . . O child, as soon as thou shalt be able to read the praises of heroes and the achievements of thy sire and to know what virtue is, the fields shall by degrees grow yellow with ripening corn, blushing grapes shall hang on a rude bramble, and hard oaks shall drip with dewy honey.. Dear offspring of the

gods, mighty seed of Jove, enter thy great heritage, for the time is now at hand. See how the world's massive dome bows before theeearth and oceans and the vault of heaven!" Roman and Jew believed that the coming deliverer, whom they, like Vergil, thought would speedily appear, was to be divinely gifted and that his advent was to be attended by marvellous portents. These miracles meant more to the Orientals than to the Greeks or Romans. The latter preferred to worship a man who manifested heroic qualities rather than a God merely let down from heaven. Both Greek and Oriental believed, however, that the uniqueness of those whom they deified came through birth. "Son of God" was a common term among the Greeks and Romans and was interpreted by them in a very literal sense. Augustus bore the title Divi filius, and many were the traditions current regarding his divine parentage and miraculous birth (e. g., Suetonius, Aug., 94). Therefore the early Christian missionaries found the GræcoRoman world in an expectant attitude. Their claim seemed as natural as that of the scientists do to the men of the twentieth century. Their only task was to prove their facts. It was also inevitable that missionaries like Paul, who were Roman citizens, speaking to their Gentile audiences, should interpret Jesus in the terms not only of the Jewish messianic hope but of the larger Roman world to which they appealed. Thus it was that the emperor-worship proved an active force in opening their eyes to the fact that Jesus was not a mere Jewish Messiah but the universal Saviour of mankind. This potent influence also carried many of the early Christian theologians still further and led them to proclaim him the Creator and Ruler of the universe, as well as the Friend and Saviour of sinful men.

VII. The Mystery-Religions. The emperor-cult, which was simply the worship of power and success, and the Greek philosophies,

with their cold appeal to reason, never fully met the deeper spiritual needs of the people. What they desired was something that would satisfy their emotions as well as their reason and would give them the consciousness of fellowship with the Deity and the assurance of personal salvation. This craving for individual protection and salvation is as old as the race. As soon as man recognized the presence of hostile forces in the world, he sought means whereby he might ally himself with some higher power or powers that would deliver him. First he felt the need of deliverance from natural forces, from wild beasts and human foes. Larger experience opened his eyes to the malignant effects of sin. Therefore he went in quest of a saviour or of a way that would deliver him from this insidious evil. Many were the ways that were devised. Scientific knowledge in time provided a partial way of deliverance from his old foes-hostile man and beast and the forces of nature. Moral laws also pointed out ways in which he might in part anticipate the malign effects of sin; but he never ceased to feel the need of the help of some power outside himself. Judaism and Stoicism put the greater emphasis on man's activity as the way of deliverance. The so-called mystery-religions put the chief stress on the help from without. They greatly attracted the masses because they claimed to make clear the way in which man might put himself into touch with this power from without and be assured of salvation. There were many types of mystery-religions in the Roman Empire, each with its exponents and its devotees. From Egypt came the mysteries of Isis; from Persia and India the Mithra cults. From Asia Minor came the Cybele-Attis mysteries. In Greece the Eleusinian mysteries, which were associated with the worship of Demeter, and the more riotous Orphic cults had long flourished. Each of these had its representatives in Rome and in many of the larger cities in the empire. Each had attracted to its shrine Romans, Greeks, and Orientals, for each had ceased to be merely a national religion or local cult. The rites differed widely. As a rule, the Oriental types were more frenzied and appealed largely to the emotions and sometimes to the passions, but they all had certain characteristics in common. They all claimed to bring their initiates into personal communion with the Deity by means of their mystic rites. They demanded of their followers, as a preliminary, ceremonial and, to a certain degree, moral purity. Thus the requirement of the candidate in the Eleusinian mysteries was that he should be able to speak the Greek language in

THE MYSTERY-RELIGIONS

telligently and "be pure of hand." To this was later added the requirement that he should "be pure of soul." Most of the mysteryreligions also promised to give to their initiates the consciousness of deliverance from sin and of reconciliation with the Deity. To this they added the assurance of personal immortality and of dwelling happily with the gods. As a result of their primitive origin, the popular mystery-religions were a strange, almost incomprehensible combination of sensuality and idealism, often passing over into asceticism, of survivals of pagan sorcery and ritualism, combined with the loftiest conceptions of Greek philosophy, of crude beliefs, coming from barbarous ages, and divine ideals of fellowship with God and man. Notwithstanding their traditional limitations, they were not only tolerated by the emperors but received the indorsement of prominent Romans. Cicero declares (in De Leg., 314): "In the mysteries we perceive the principles of real life and learn not only to live happily but we die with a fairer hope." By virtue of their democracy and their appeal to universal human needs the mystery-religions proved Christianity's strongest competitor in the first century. At the same time, like Judaism and the Greek philosophies and even the emperor-worship, they did much to prepare the minds of men for the reception of Christianity. As was inevitable, when competition was so close and constant and when there was so much in them that was essentially good, they exerted a powerful influence upon Christianity, as is shown, for example, not only in the language but also in the thought of Paul and in the rites which were ultimately adopted by the Christian church.

VIII. The Religious and Social Needs of the Masses in the Roman Empire. Christianity in the first century spoke to a needy world. Rome had done much to promote the welfare of the masses, but it could not satisfy the deeper cravings of the individual. Men crave companionship. The many guilds and fraternities which flourished throughout the empire revealed this need. They also longed for a way of personal as well as social salvation. Amidst the wreckage of the old mythologies they longed for a worthy object of personal belief and devotion. The crimes and their consequences, which deluged and blackened society and the life of the individual, had made vividly clear the need of a faith that would unite religion and morals. The disastrous distinctions between slave and freedmen and irresponsible noble had sent the thinkers of the world in quest of a unifying faith that would bind all men and classes together. Even in imperial

Rome the great crying need was for democracy and fellowship in religion, for a faith that would make all men brothers and happy and hopeful in the common service of a common Lord and Master. In that ancient world, with its hundreds of rival cults, Christianity emerged triumphant because it met these universal needs.