METHODS OF RELIGIOUS TEACHING 305 



beings of exaggerated proportions and powers, endowed with 

 immortality, but cursed also with human lusts and weak- 

 nesses. Its doctrines, therefore, can have had no very 

 elevating influence on its adherents. Nevertheless in con- 

 junction with it arose, in quite a short time, civilizations 

 memorable for the splendour of their achievements in almost 

 every branch of human endeavour, for a lofty and unselfish 

 patriotism, a noble literature, a profound philosophy, a wonder- 

 ful practical genius and enterprise ; memorable for ever also 

 for multitudes of great men who were rewarded with a quick 

 and generous appreciation, so that even in early manhood 

 they obtained influence and were able to devote their powers 

 when at the best to the service of the State. 



483. Now the splendour of the Greek and Roman civiliza- 

 tions cannot have been due to innate racial qualities, for 

 both the rise and decline of the classic races was much too 

 rapid to permit of this explanation. Besides, we are able to 

 think of no process of Natural Selection which could have 

 differentiated the Greeks and Romans of the classic period 

 from their predecessors, contemporaries, and successors. It 

 cannot have been due to the doctrines of the Pagan religion, 

 for, as we see, there was nothing especially stimulating about 

 them. The doctrines, indeed, resulted from the spirit, the 

 " genius," the acquired mental traits of the people. It can 

 have been due, therefore, only to the fact that, by a fortunate 

 accident, the Pagan religion permitted a magnificent system 

 of mental training to its adherents. With the limited 

 knowledge of the environment possessed by the ancients the 

 explanation of natural phenomena offered by their religion 

 was as good as any other, and for that reason, since there 

 was no rejection of verifiable evidence, it did no great 

 intellectual harm. No doubt, as in the conspicuous case of 

 Socrates, its doctrines were sometimes employed as weapons 

 against the full exercise of the human understanding, but, 

 as compared to most other religious systems, to a minimal 

 extent. 1 The decline of the Greeks and Romans was no 



1 " Among the ancients, although the methods of inquiry were often 

 very faulty and generalizations very hasty, the respect for the honest 

 search after truth was widely diffused. There were, as we have already 

 seen, instances in which certain religious practices which were regarded 

 as attestations of loyalty, or as necessary to propitiate the gods in favour 

 of the State, were enforced by law ; there were even a few instances of 

 philosophies, which were believed to lead directly to immoral results or 

 social convulsions, being suppressed ; but, as a general rule, speculation 

 was untrammelled, the notion of there being any necessary guilt in 

 erroneous opinions was unknown, and the boldest inquirers were 



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