©Ije InitrcrHttg of Cttljirago The Function Of Divine Manifestations In New Testament Times A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF ARTS AND LITERATURE IN CANDIDACY FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY DEPARTMENT OF NEW TESTAMENT AND EARLY. CHRISTIAN LITERATURE IN THE GRADUATE DIVLN1TY SCHOOL BY LEROY H. STAFFORD (Th* Ccllgjintf i$irraa GEORGE BANTA PUBLISHING COMPANY MENASHA. WISCONSIN 1919 YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY Q% Hmtreraitg of QUjurago The Function Of Divine Manifestations In New Testament Times A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF ARTS AND LITERATURE IN CANDIDACY FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY DEPARTMENT OF NEW TESTAMENT AND EARLY CHRISTIAN LITERATURE IN THE GRADUATE DIVLNITY SCHOOL BY LEROY H. STAFFORD 2H|e GloUcgttrtc Tpx&vt. GEORGE BANTA PUBLISHING COMPANY MENASHA, WISCONSIN 1919 TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter I. Chapter II. Chapter III. Chapter IV. Chapter V. Chapter VI. Chapter VII. Chapter VIII. Chapter IX. Chapter X. PAGE Introduction 1 Physical Manifestations 5 Manifestations Without Visible Agents 16 Apparitions 24 Divine Possession 34 The Prophet 56 Portents 71 Divination 81 The Inspired Book 88 Conclusion 105 CHAPTER I Introduction Acquaintance with the historical remains of the ancient world reveals a mass of material relating to a wide range of occurrences which may be designated as divine manifestations. The character of these occurrences may be indicated by a few typical examples. The god Dionysos dis played himself to the Thebans in the form of a man. Yahweh the god of the Hebrews permitted Moses and the seventy elders to obtain a glimpse of his person. The divine Logos incarnate in the historical Jesus passed a considerable period among the dwellers on earth. Zeus once drew off a flood of waters which swept over the earth, and Yahweh sent an inundation to destroy mankind. Demeter made the corn to grow, Zeus regulated the seasons and sent hail, snow, and rain, and Yahweh caused the earth to yield its increase. Deity in a vision informed the mother of Augustus that her son had been engendered by Apollo, and an angel in an apparition announced to Mary the mother of Jesus before her marriage that she should conceive under the influence of the Holy Ghost and bear a son who should be called the Son of God. The divine frenzy of the worshipper of Dionysos indicated to him that he had actually become god, and the Christian in a similar state felt that his exalted mental condition was proof that an immortal spirit dwelt within him. Calamity, famine, and pestilence were indications that Zeus was punishing wrongdoing. Yahweh smote the patriarch Reuben in the loins for seven months on account of sin. Because of deception Ananias and Sapphira were stricken dead by God. The pagan preacher or prophet who could say " Such is great Zeus ' word to me " (Liv. xxv. 12) was looked upon as a "messenger from Zeus to men, "a "pedagogue of the public "to lead men to God (Epict. Disc. ii. 22) and spoke with as much assurance of being the mouthpiece of deity as did the Hebrew or Christian prophet who could say "Thus saith the Lord." A star informed the world that Caesar had become a god; a similar phenomenon revealed to the magi that the infant Jesus was worthy of worship. Deity chose by lot the 2 DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS IN NEW TESTAMENT TIMES twenty-one priests required to fill up the ranks of the reorganized Roman sacerdotal college. Yahweh thus indicated his choice of Saul for king, and selected the priests who were to hold positions of trust and honor in connection with the temple-service. So also God chose Matthias instead of Barsabbas to take the place of Judas in the early Christian ecclesiastical organization. The Sibylline books told the Romans that Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva desired certain sacrifices before granting the state aid against the Carthaginians. From their sacred writings the Hebrews and the Jews discovered that Yahweh would not protect the nation if circum cision, or other requirements, were neglected. In a similar manner Christians discovered that God's will for them was holiness in living " because it is written, Ye shall be holy, for I am holy. " It is to phenomena such as these that the designation divine mani festation is applied in the following pages. Synonymous with the term as thus employed are various other expressions, such as supernatural manifestation, supernatural occurrence, superhuman manifestation, manifestation of deity, and supernatural phenomenon. To define divine manifestation as the term is here used is by no means easy. A working definition, however, may be set down at this point: the term supernatural manifestation, as it is used in the present dis cussion, is taken to mean any experience of an individual or of a group which those undergoing it, or those discussing or recording it, interpreted as due to the activity of personal powers other than human. In the world in which Christianity originated experiences of this nature were of frequent occurrence. They were not, however, limited to the period in which the new faith arose, nor were they confined to any particular race, geographical area, or social stratum. King and emperor, soldier and statesman, litterateur and peasant, Greek and Roman, Hebrew and Graeco-Roman, Jew and Christian, all alike experienced divine manifestations. In view of the universal character of supernatural manifestations, the purpose of the following pages is two-fold: first, a presentation of typical Jewish and Hellenistic examples of divine manifestations similar to those in the Christianity of the New Testament, and, second, a comparative study of the function of these phenomena in the fife of the Judaism, Hellenism, and Christianity of the New Testament period. In other words, the problem to be investigated is, What did divine manifestations do for the people of the Mediterranean world in the first century? Was DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS IN NEW TESTAMENT TIMES J the part which they played in the Christianity of the New Testament period similar to or entirely different from the part which they played in the life of the contemporary world? It cannot be too strongly insisted at this point that the interest of the following pages centers primarily in the question of function, and that the matter of genetic relationship based on identity of form is completely below the horizon. At no point in this discussion is it argued, either explicitly or by implication, that, because similar phenomena may be found in Hellenism, Judaism, and Christianity, the one must necessarily have copied from either or both of the others. How it came about that similarities of form exist is undoubtedly an interesting and important question, but it is one with which we are not here concerned. In passing, the author may state that it is his personal opinion that any solution which finds the answer in any scheme of copying or borrowing, whether carried out consciously or unconsciously, on the basis of individual forms, is entirely too formal and mechanical to fit into the vital needs of an actual social situation. Rather it ishis opinion that, viewing the problem in its entirety, we must conclude that similarities in form among Hellen ism, Judaism, and Christianity, when such are found, are due, not directly to borrowing but indirectly to the fact that the three had their roots deep in a common soil. This common soil was the entire social situation of the time — a soil made up of common human needs, desires, aspirations, and of a common world-view. An illustration may serve to clear up this point. Vespasian, Josephus, and Peter had visions which gave them divine help at crises in their lives, not because any one copied or imitated either or both of the others, but because it was a generally accepted tenet of the life of the time that the dream or vision was one of the ways in which divine help could be secured. This dissertation therefore does not argue the question of genetic relation ship based on identity of form, either in the matter of visions and dreams, or in the matter of any of the phenomena discussed in the following pages. It asks simply, What did visions, and all other divine manifesta tions, do for the people who experienced them? and it leaves out of account all reference to the problem whether Christianity copied from contemporary sources or whether contemporary sources copied from Christianity. The media through which experience of the superhuman came to the people of the time were various. A classification which may not be 4 DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS IN NEW TESTAMENT TIMES urged too rigidly is as follows: 1. Physical appearances. 2. Displays of power with no visible agent. 3. Apparitions. 4. Possession. 5. Portents. 6. The Prophet. 7. Divination. 8. The Inspired Book. The plan pursued in the subsequent pages is to set forth the Graeco- Roman, Jewish, and Christian materials under each of these heads, and to follow the whole by a concluding chapter on the question of function. It is needless to state that no effort is made to exhaust the Hellenistic and Jewish sources. Neither is it hoped that all pertinent matter in the New Testament itself is here treated. It is taken for granted that such readers as this treatise may find are in a position to judge of the repre sentative character of the materials selected. The writer is of the opinion that whatever has been omitted, be it Jewish, Graeco-Roman, or Christian, had it been included in the discussion, would only have extended the scope of the study and not materially altered the conclusions reached. Grateful acknowledgement is here made of the help received in various ways in the preparation of this dissertation from the professors in the Department of New Testament and Early Christian Literature of the University of Chicago, and especially to Professor S. J. Case, under whose direction and with the aid of whose advice and encouragement the dis sertation was prepared. For the views expressed, however, as well as for such errors and mistakes as may appear, the author is alone responsible. Prolonged hours of continuous service in a naval train ing station, far removed from library facilities, while the reading of the proofs was in progress, has, it is feared, greatly militated against accuracy; and this is perhaps especially true in the matter of the verification of references. CHAPTER II Physical Manifestations Material and physical manifestations of supernatural powers oc curred frequently among the Greeks and Romans in the ancient world. In many of the instances when deity so displayed himself he assumed human form. Anthropomorphized supernatural powers take part in the Trojan war,1 guide the shipwrecked Aeneas to Dido's palace,2 shed blood when wounded,3 have sexual relations with women,4 wear sandals " two cubits in length" when fertilizing Egyptian fields,6 fight side by side with soldiers in the ranks,6 and talk and run races with men.7 The belief that deity appeared in human form is clearly expressed in the Bacchae of Euripides where the god Dionysos says "I have assumed the likeness of a man to show the men of Thebes the deity whom Semele bore to Zeus. "8 How realistically the people of the age regarded such phenomena is illustrated by the readiness with which the Roman matron Paulina, her husband, and their friends, believed she had had sexual relations with the god Anubis,9 and the ease with which the natives of Lystra accepted Barnabas as Jupiter and Paul as Mercury. Not only did the Graeco-Roman of the first century thus feel that superior beings incarnated themselves in the flesh in their own proper bodies; they also held that certain individuals were manifestations of deity because they performed divine functions or displayed divine attri butes. The king is often designated " savior, "10 and was looked upon as the fulfiller of the gentile Messianic hope.11 The poet Homer was 1 JZ. xx. 1 ff. "Soph., Oed. Tyr., 47-51; cf. 22- 2^4e». i. 479 ff. 26. 3 II. v. 330 ff. nAen., vi. 788 ff.; Horace, Odes, ' Herod., i. 181, 182. i. 2. 41 ff.; iii. 5. Iff.; on Gentile s Id., ii. 91. Messianic Hope, see discussion, and B Dion. Halic, Roman Anlt., i. 13. citation of literature and sources, in 7 Herod., vi. 105. Case, Evolution oj Early Christianity, 842ff.; cf. 4 ff.,50 ff., 54 ff . pp. 218 ff. and Millennial Hope, pp. 0 Joseph., Antt., xviii. 3. 8 ff. 0 DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS IN NEW TESTAMENT TIMES worshipped together with the god Apollo,12 a cult of religious enthusiasts grew up about the person of the physician Aesculapius,13 the warrior Caius Marius was regarded by the Numidians as more than human, Miltaides was sacrificed to "as is usual to a founder,"15 the giant friend of Xerxes, Artachaees, who was buried at Acanthus, was sacrificed to and invoked by name,16 Philippus was honored with a shrine and pro pitiated with sacrifices "on account of his beauty,"17 the Cretans re garded Epimenides as "the wisest of men" and "sacrificed to him as to a god, "18 and in recognition of the superiority of their teaching and of their other excellencies rehgious communities were organized about the persons of Pythagoras and Apollonius of Tyana.19 Explanations of how such unusual personages were enabled to occupy positions distinguishing them from their fellows varied. Some held that the fact was due to selection or special appointment by deity. Horace, in describing him as "savior" of the state, sings the praises of Augustus " than whom no boon of nobler worth Fate or kind gods ere gave, or ere shall give."20 In his Code Hammurabi says "Bel called me ... to cause justice to prevail in the land . . . the governor named by Bel am I. . . ."21 Amenophis II says "my father Re . . . made me lord of the Hving ... he hath given me the whole world with all its domin ions, " and deity himself says to Rameses III, " I lend thee the earth and all that is upon it. "22 Others explained such individuals by making them of superhuman, rather than of human origin. Julius Caesar in an Ephesian inscription is designated "son of Ares and Aphrodite, and common savior of human life," while Augustus is elsewhere styled "savior" and "son of God."23 Some regarded Pythagoras as "son" of Mercury, some of Apollo, and some of Jupiter.24 Aesculapius was a son of Apollo,26 and Apollonius of 12 Aelian, Var. Hist., ix. 15. 20 Odes, iii. 5. Iff.; i. 2. 4 ff . 13 Paus., Descr. of Greece, vii. 23; 21 Harper, Code of Hammurabi, ii. 11; x. 43; vi. 26; vii. 32; ii. 26; Liv., Chicago, 1904, pp. 3 ff. Hist., x. 44; Valer. Max., i. 82. 22 Cited by Renouf, Hibbert Lec- 14 Sail., Jugur. War, 92. tures, 1879, pp. 162 ff. 16 Herod., vi. 38. 23 Cited by Case, Evolution of Early u Id., vii. 117. Christianity, p. 212; Suet., Aug. 94. "Id.,v. 47. MDiog. Laer., Pythag., 4; Iambi., 18 Diog. Laer., Epimen. 11. op. cit., 2; Philostr., op. cit., i. 1, 4. 19 Id., Pythag., 20, 21; Philostr., * Paus., op. cit., ii. 26. Life of Apollonius of Tyana, i. 1, 6, 13, 14; Iambi., Vit. Pythag., passim. DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS IN NEW TESTAMENT TIMES / Tyana, a son of Proteus god of Egypt.26 The origin of such personages was not only distinguished by divine paternity, but was sometimes unique in other respects. Plato, as son of Apollo, was born of a virgin, Peric- tione, wife of Ariston, who married her and, being warned in a dream, "abstained from approaching her until after her confinement. "27 Often the end of an important individual's life was as unusual as its beginning. Some thought that Romulus, who was a son of Mars and Rhea, had ascended to heaven without undergoing death, but others were of the opinion that he died and rose again ; and one Julius Proculus saw him after his resurrection "in a more majestic shape than he had when alive" and asserted that Romulus "commanded them to worship him as a deity."28 Another explanation of individuals functioning as deities was that they were incarnations of pre-existent supernatural powers. Pythagoras underwent as many as six incarnations, one of them as " Pyrrhus a fisher man of Delos, "29 and was held by his worshipers to be Apollo manifest in the flesh.30 The Stoics regarded every man as an incarnation of the pre-existent logos,31 while others held it to be embodied in Mercury.32 Plutarch identified the logos with Osiris,33 and in the Hermetic Literature the logos is manifested in Thoth.34 Amenophis II is the "victorious Horus, a god good like Re, the sacred emanation of Ammon. "35 Augustus is variously styled "god of gods," "god Augustus," "savior and god."36 Some of the Ptolemies were called "manifest gods" and the Seleucids bore such names as "god" and "manifest Dionysos."37 That persons thus serving the public stood especially high in the estimation of the heavenly powers was indicated by wonders and signs. In the case of an individual who owed his position to divine appointment, these attestations were produced by God himself. Swans were made to sport about the mother at the birth of Apollonius, and a thunderbolt, descending from the sky, rose aloft again in token of his future greatness; while later in life a man who attempted to induce him to incontinency died suddenly after three days.38 The birth of Augustus was foretold to 28 Philostr., op. cit., i. 4, 5. 32 Just. Mart., Apol., 22. "Diog. Laer., Plat. 1; cf. Plut., 33 Plut., Is. and Os., 39, 53 ff., 61. Symp., viii. i. 1. 34 Cited by Meade, Thrice Greatest 28 Florus, Epitome of Roman Hist., Hermes, I. p. 63. i. 1. 35 Cited by Renouf, op. cit., p. 162. 29 Diog. Laer., Pythag., 4. 36 Cited by Case, op. cit., p. 213. 30 Iambi., op. cit., 19. 37 Ibid., pp. 209-11. 31 Epict., Disc, i. 14. 2; ii. 8.2. 38 Philostr., op. cit., i. 4, 5, 9. 8 DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS IN NEW TESTAMENT TIMES his mother in a dream, miracles and portents both preceded and followed it, and at various stages of his later career wonders attested deity's approval of him.39 On one occasion the voice of Jupiter from heaven was heard directing the actions of Epimenides and manifesting the divine pleasure.40 Individuals whose uniqueness was due not so much to appointment or selection as to inherent personality delegated by deity were frequently able to perform miracles for themselves. Empedocles sent away "a dead woman raised to life, " healed the sick, and purified cities of plague; and Epimenides prophesied and was never seen to eat food.41 Vespasian healed a paralytic and restored sight to the blind.42 Pythagoras stilled storms and healed the sick.43 Apollonius cured various maladies and cast out demons.44 The twelve labors of Hercules may also be classed here. The Graeco-Romans thus anthropomorphized their gods and deified their men. The test of deification was wholly pragmatic. Cicero puts it all in a word when he says "it has been the immemorial custom that men who have done important service to the public be exalted to heaven. "45 Deification could occur after an individual's death, during his life, or before his birth. Ptolemy I and his wife Bernice were both made gods after their death, but their son Philadelphus was deified during his life; and Julius Caesar was officially deified by the senate after his death, but certain Greek inscriptions represent him during his life as "savior," "god manifest, " and " god and dictator and savior of the world. "46 Domitian during his life was addressed as "Our Lord and Our God. "47 Each man, according to the Stoic, was an incarnation during his life of a pre-existent logos, while Plutarch held that Osiris was the logos manifest on earth. Among the Hebrews also supernatural powers manifested themselves in physical form. While Satan appeared as a serpent in Eden, such mani festations usually occurred in the form of men. Yahweh walks and talks with Abraham, washes his hands and feet, partakes of a substantial meal 39 Dion Cass., Rom. Hist., xiv. 1. u Philostr., op. cit., iv. 24; vi. 20, 2; Suet., Aug., 94. 70. 40 Diog. Laer., Epimen. 11; cf. 45 Nat. of the Gods, ii. 24. idem, Emped. 11. 46 Evidence cited by Case, pp. 41 Idem, Epimen., 11. 209-13. 42 Tac, Hist. iv. 81. " Suet., Dom., 13; cf . Dion Cass., 43 Iambi., op. cit., 19. op. cit., lxvii. 13. DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS IN NEW TESTAMENT TIMES 9 and imparts exclusive information.48 He refuses Moses a sight of his face but allows him a glimpse of his back.49 "Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy elders . . . saw the God of Israel . . . beheld Yahweh and did eat and drink. "60 How realistically such appearances were regarded is illustrated by the belief that " the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair and they took them wives of all that they chose. "51 Josephus in relating the circumstance says "many angels of God companied with women."62 Jacob engaged in a physical en counter with such a being and sustained a severe bodily injury.63 Not only did the Hebrews and Jews thus anthropomorphize super natural powers, as did the Greeks and Romans; they also held, as did their non-Hebraic contemporaries, that certain individuals stood in a unique relation to deity. Prophets, poets, wise men, patriarchs, leaders, and warriors were especially so honored; but in the case of no important personage was this regard more marked perhaps than in that of the ruler. The Hebrews explained the divine functioning of their great men in ways similar to those adopted by Hellenistic peoples. Yahweh chose Noah, Abraham, Moses, and Joshua to play their respective roles; he raised up judges,64 saviors,65 priests,56 shepherds of the people,67 prophets,68 and kings.69 Samuel the priest anointed Saul king saying "Is it not that Yahweh hath anomted thee prince over his inheritance? "60 Yahweh sent David to Hebron to be anointed king, and Solomon was anointed king by Zadok the priest.61 It was supposed in many circles that God's care for his people was soon to culminate in the appointment of a Messiah who was to be, according to one view, a human being descended either from David62 or from Levi,63 an actual king,64 a priest,65 a prophet,66 with 48 Gen., 18;1. " / Kgs., 14:14; Jer., 23:5. 49 Ex., 33:23. "° I Sam., 10:1. "Ex., 24:9 ff.; cf. Gen., 3:8; Num. "II Sam., 2:1-4; / Kgs., 1:30. 12:5 ff. «*Isa., 9:7; IVA; Enoch, 90. "Gen., 6:2. t3 Test, of the XII Patriarchs: ™Antt.,\.i. £.6:7-12; L., 8:14; 18; Jud., 24:1-3; 63 Gen., 32:24. D. 5:10; Jos., 19:5-9. "Judg., 2:16; 3:9, 15. »4 Isa., 11:6, 7. aIbid.,3:l&. 6S Test, of the XII Patriarchs: L., "ISam., 2:35. 17:2,9. 37 Zech., 11:16. 65 im, 8:15. ™ Amos, 2:11; Jer., 29:15. 10 DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS IN NEW TESTAMENT TIMES an especial endowment of the spirit.67 Some expected that he would be sent in the guise of a suffering servant.68 Another explanation was that important individuals were "sons of God. " "The sons of Yahweh took unto themselves wives. " Josephus says these "sons" were "angels." The Book of Enoch names Uriel, Raphael, Raguel, Michael, Saraquel, and Gabriel as "sons of God," and Job places Satan among them.69 Philo carries on this conception by making the logos the "first born of God," and takes the final step when he insists that Isaac was "not the result of generation but the shaping of the unbegotten, " that Samuel was born of a human mother "who became pregnant after receiving divine seed, " that Tamar was "pregnant through divine seed, " and that Zipporah was "pregnant by no mortal. "70 Not only could such individuals be divinely generated, but various other peculiar features might attach themselves both to the beginning and the end of life. Melchizedek was "without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life. "71 Enoch did not die, but "God took him."72 God closed Elisha's career by taking him to heaven on a whirlwind in a chariot of fire. "73 Still another explanation was that such personages were incarnations of pre-existent supernatural powers. In many circles it was thought that the coming Messiah was to be of such an origin. He was to be a heavenly " son of man, "74 hidden and kept with God before his manifes tation to judge men and angels, and slay sinners.75 Expectation of the appearance of the Messiah, whatever his origin was supposed to be, was intense in New Testament times, as the query of John the Baptist76 shows, and from time to time he was recognized in the person of various individuals, as Simon the Maccabee,77 John Hyrcanus,78 John the Bap- 37 Isa., 11:2; Ps. of Sol., 15:23, 47; » Enoch, 48:2; 59:27; 62:6. 17:23-27,35,41,42,46; Test, of the XII 73 Ibid., 42:6; 48:2; 46:1, 2; 59:27; Patriarchs: Jud., 24:2. 62:2, 7; IV. Ez., 12:32; 13:24, 52; cf. 13 Isa., 52:13:53:1, 11; 61:1-3. Dan., 7:13, 14. 69 Job., 2:1. 7. MLi 11:3. Lkm< 7:i9.29. 70 Drummond, Philo Judaeus, II. 77/ Mace, 14:4 ff.; Ps. 110. pp. 185 ff.; for references to Philo, see ™ Test, of the XII Patriarchs: American Journal of Theology, 1905, L., 8:14, 15; 17:2 ff.; Jud., 24: 1-2; on vol. IX, pp. 493 ff . Maccabees as Messiahs of the House nHeb., 7:3; cf. Gen., 14:18; Ps., of Levi, see Charles, Religious Develop- H0- ment between the Old and New Tesla- nGen., 5:22; cf. Heb., 11:5. ments, pp. 78 ff . 73 II Kgs., 2:11, 12. DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS IN NEW TESTAMENT TIMES 1 1 tist,79 Theudas,80 Vespasian,81 Judas of Galilee,82 Simon,83 Athronges,84 John of Gischala,85 and Bar Cochba who was held by R. Akiba to be "King Messiah, "86 was called on his coins "Prince of Israel, "87 and was regarded as a worker of miracles.88 Deity frequently attested his appointees by wonders and signs done in behalf of or through them. Thus it was that the authority of Moses and Aaron was established before the Egyptians.89 Approval of Elijah was signified by the sending of ravens to carry him food,90 and it was through Elijah that God caused the jar of meal to waste not nor the cruse of oil to fail.91 So also through Joshua were the sun and moon stayed in their courses.92 Working by means of Moses Yahweh caused the waters of the Red Sea to go back, made bitter waters sweet, and brought a river of water from a rock.93 Luke tells us that in New Testa ment times a vision foretold to Zacharias that the son soon to be born to him was to enjoy the especial recognition of deity.94 While deity thus worked miracles on behalf of and through his repre sentatives, the view that such representatives were enabled to perform wonders in their own right was not well established. Hebrew thought in this respect had not developed as far as it had among the Graeco-Romans. In some circles, to be sure, the Messiah to come on the clouds was to be a wonder-worker, but even in the case of extreme apocalyptic Messian- ism, it was chiefly God himself from whom the displays of power were to emanate. This is only another way of saying that the deification of men had not gone as far among the Hebrews as it had among their Hellenistic contemporaries. While Christians of the New Testament period looked upon indivi duals prominent in the life of the community, such as Peter, John, Paul, as standing in special relation to deity and to the heavenly world, it was 79 Jn., 1:25. s"Jerus. Talmud: Tannith, IV. 80 Acts, 5 :36 f . 68 D. 81 Joseph., War, vi. 5. 4; cf. Tac, 87 Madden, Coins of the Jews, pp. Hist., v. 13; Suet., Vesp., 4. 239, 244. 82 Joseph., Antt., xvii. 10. 3; War, S8Jerome, adv. Rufin., iii. 21, ed. ii. 4. 1. Vallarsi, II. 559. 83 Id., Antt., xvii. 10. 6; War, ii. ** Ex., 4:1 ff., 21, 30, 31; 17:8 ff. 4.2. ">IKgs., 17:14-16. 84 Id., Antt., xvii. 10. 7; War, ii. 4. 91 Ibid. 3. 9*Josh., 10:12-14. 85 Id., War, ii. 21. 1-2; iv. 3. 9; 93 Ex., 14:21; 15:25; 17:5, 6. Life, 13. 9iLh., 1:11 ff., 22. 12 DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS IN NEW TESTAMENT TIMES in the person of Jesus that their experience of supernatural manifestations culminated. Certain groups of Christians saw in Jesus the appointed sovereign of the new heavenly Kingdom soon to be established. He is in the pre sent "both Lord and Christ." From his exalted place in heaven he is pouring out the Holy Spirit upon the earthly nucleus of the immanent celestial state for its comfort and guidance until such time as he shall come upon the clouds in glory with the holy angels to enter upon his reign. Thus in opposition to the Lord Caesar, whether deified at death or regarded as deity incarnate during life, and his temporal kingdom, stood the Lord Jesus, now at the right hand of God but soon to be mani fested, and his eternal kingdom; and just as the visit of the emperor to a community was a parousia?* so the expected return of Jesus in glory was a parousia.m Other Christians beheld in Jesus a divinely sent teacher of law, ethics, and religion; and, moreover, they experienced in him an actual embodi ment of his precepts. This phase of Jesus' personality is especially prominent in the non-Markan portions of Matthew and Luke. As Moses was the founder of the old ethics and religion, so Jesus is the pro mulgator of the new. "It was said to them of old time . . . but I say unto you ..." The discourses of Jesus are presented in a form re sembling, on the one hand, the ancient wisdom literature of the Jews, and, on the other, the morality-sermons of the contemporary Cynic-Stoic preachers.97 In his life he practices what he preaches, eschewing riches, helping the poor and outcast, etc. Yet other Christians regarded Jesus as the conqueror of Satan and his world of evil spirits.98 Satan and his angels dominate the present age,99 masquerade behind heathen idols,100 scheme for the destruction of Christians,101 and produce bodily affliction, sickness, and death.102 The final overthrow of Satan and his power by Christ shall put an end to these 95 See data, Deissmann, Licht nom 98 1 Jn. 3:8. Osten, pp. 268-73, Eng. tr. Light from "Gal., 1:4; I Cor., 2:6, 8; II the Ancient East, pp. 372-78. Cor., 4:4; 6:1-5. 98 Jesus as Sovereign and Lord: 10° I Cor., 10:19 ff.; cf. 6:15 ff. Acts, 2:33, 36; Mk., 8:38; 13:26; I "i / Cor., 7:5; II Cor., 2:11; 11:14; Thess., 4:15-17; cf. Acts, 3:21; I 12:7; I Thess., 2:18; 3:5. Thess., 1:10; I Cor., 1:17. ">2 M £.,9:17-29; II Cor., 12:7 ff.; / 97 See, for example, references to Cor., 11:29-32. Socrates in Epict., Disc, i. 4. 4; 9. 1, 5; ii. 6. 2; iii. 1.4; 12. 4; etc. DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS IN NEW TESTAMENT TIMES 13 afflictions.103 The struggle for supremacy began while Jesus was on earth. The demons, recognizing his superiority, attempt to win immuni ty by flattery or bravado.104 One of the main purposes for which the disciples are sent out is to exercise "authority over unclean spirits."105 Jesus is represented as initiating his campaign against Satan and his hosts by a formal encounter with the chief of evil spirits, in which the latter suffered preliminary defeat.106 The demons appear to recognize that their final overthrow is at hand. At any rate, Jesus seems to re gard "Satan fallen as lightning from heaven" as a token of their im pending doom.107 Other Christians, again, experienced in Jesus a Redeemer and Savior, who, having conquered hell, and having taken away the sting of death, brought life and immortality to light, and enabled men to pass from death unto life.108 The authority of Jesus to deliver from death was brought about in various ways: 1. By the propitiation of a vicarious death which reconciled man to God.109 2. By the cleansing power of his sacred blood which dehvered men from the demoniac pollution of sin and death.110 3. By the power of his own death and resurrection which deprived the Devil and his angels of their power over mankind.111 4. By inducing by his presence among men an intellectual reaction which resulted in " eternal life " and " life in his name."112 Christians, when they came to explain how Jesus was enabled to per form these various divine functions, adopted differing expedients. One view was that he had been appointed to his task either during his hfe113 or after his death.114 He was "a man approved of God unto you" and "made both Lord and Christ."115 Divine sanction was indicated by miracles performed through him116 or in his behalf.117 God had authenti cated him by voicing his approval from heaven, granting him the gift 103 1 Cor., 15:25 ff.; cf. Rev., 19: "° Heb., 9:11 ff.; 10:14, 22, 29. 11-20. lllHeb., 2:14; Col., 2:15; 1:13 f.; 104 Mk., 3:11; 5:7. Un.,3:S. 106 Mk., 6:7; 3:14, 15; cf. Mt., 10:1, 112 Jn., 20:31. 7, 8; Lk., 9:1, 2. 113 Acts, 2:22, 30; 6:1. 106 Mk., 1:13; Mt., 4:1-11; Lk., "4 Rom., 1:4; Phil., 2:5-11; Acts, 4:1-13. 2:36; 3:13-15, 26. 107 Lk., 10:17. ™Acts, 2:22, 36. 108 Acts, 2:24, 27; I Cor., 15:55 ff.; »« Acts, 2:22. II Jn., 5:24; I Jn., 3:14; Heb., 5:9; U7 Mt., 1:25; 2:12, 13, 16; Mk., 2:9,10,14,15. 1:10, 11; 15:33, 38; Lk., 1:28; 3:30 ff. 109 Rom., 3:24 f.; II Cor., 5:19 ff.; Gal., 1:4; 3:13; Heb., 7:27. 14 DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS IN NEW TESTAMENT TIMES of the Holy Spirit, foretelling his career in prophecy, giving him a fore runner, raising him from the dead, and transporting him to heaven.118 Another type of explanation was that Jesus was in some sense of divine, as over against human, origin. This phase of the early Chris tians' task of estimating the functional value of Jesus' personality ex pressed itself in several ways. Some held that he had been divinely generated. This view which sought to explain Jesus on the ground of metaphysical generation loaned itself readily to various refinements. It was held, for example, that his paternity was due to the agency of the Holy Spirit.119 Again, the agency of the Holy Spirit is lost sight of and Jesus is designated simply as 6 vlos rod 6eov.no Side by side with the notion of his metaphysical generation by a divine being we find the idea that he was bom of a virgin.121 Others, once more, failed entirely to raise the question of supernatural paternity, and contented themselves with simply postulating for him a divine, as over against a human, personality, without raising the question of how he came into possession of it.122 And still others held that he was a pre-existent heavenly being who in carnated himself temporarily in the flesh. Thus the Fourth Gospel identifies him with the logos, who, in his pre-incarnation state,123 existed where God is, was divine, and had been serving as agent both in creation and revelation,124 and who, at a point in time, became flesh.126 The heavenly beings described in Col. 1:15-17, Phil. 2:5-11, and Heb. 1:26 ff. present many similarities to the Johannine view of the logos. The term logos also appears as of a person in Rev. 19:13. Plutarch identified the logos with Osiris, the Hermetic Literature with Thoth, and certain Greeks with Mercury. If the author of the Fourth Gospel derived his logos doctrine from the Stoics, he 1) transplanted it from monistic to dualistic soil, and 2) particularized it by incarnating all the logos in one person; if from Philo, he 1) definitely personalized it, and 2) incarnated it. However this may be, as the logos incarnate in the flesh Jesus is here a pre-existent deity. 118 Mt., 1:10, 11, 22 ff.; Mk., 1:10, I2° Mt., 16:17. 11; 2:5 ff.; Acts, 2:25-27; 4:25-27; 8:32- 121 Mt., 1:18-23; Lk., 1:30-35. 35; / Cor., 15:3, 4; Mt., 3:1 ff.; Mk., 122 ML, 8:29; 27:54; Jn., 21:31; 1:1 ff.; Lk., 3:2 ff.; Jn., 1:6-8, 15, 20; Acts, 9:20; Rom., 1:4; Gal., 2:20; Eph., Acts, 2:22, 24; 3:15; Rom., 1:4; / Cor., 4:13; Heb., 4:14; I Jn., 4:15. 6:14; II Cor., 4:14; Eph., 1:20; Col., 2: 123 Jn., 1:1; cf. I Jn., 1:1,2. 12; I Thess., 1:10; Mk., 16:19; Lk., 124 /«., 1:1, 3, 4, 5, 9, 10. 24:51; Acts, 1:2. ™ Jn., 1:14; cf. I Jn., 1:2. 119 Mt., 1:18-20; Lk., 1:30-35. DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS IN NEW TESTAMENT TIMES 15 The upshot of all these variations of the general view that Jesus was of divine and not human origin is to endow him with an increment dis tinguishing him in kind from other individuals; and, as a consequence, he is able to work miracles in virtue of his own inherent nature. It is natural, therefore, that his resurrection should be looked upon, not as an act of God on his behalf, but as a display of his own peculiar power. God does not raise him; Jesus simply rises. m It is worthy of note that in the Fourth Gospel, where the divine origin and nature of Jesus are put with the greatest emphasis, the "signs" which are to beget faith are wrought, not by God, but by Jesus himself. Christians of the New Testament period thus saw in Jesus, on the one hand, an anthropomorphized deity, and, on the other, an individual standing in especially close relations to deity. Between these two ex tremes the deifying process worked itself out. While some held that as a man chosen for a special work he enjoyed unique distinction as a divine appointee, others held that his personality could be explained only on the view that his nature was divine rather than human. According to this view he was a supernatural, not a natural, being. That supernatural beings should make their appearance in bodily form among men was a behef widely current before, during, and after the advent of Christianity. In explaining just how it happened that Jesus was possessed of a divine nature Christians adopted varying expedients. Some held that he be came a deity after death, some that he became one during Hfe or that during Hfe he at least had been appointed to perform a divine task, others that he had been born one, and still others that he had been a deity be fore he came. 128 Mk., 8:31; 9:9 f.; 10:34; Mt. 23; 20:19; 27:63 f.; Lk., 9:22 says always uses passive, e.g., 16:21; 17:9, "raised" but "rise" in 18:33; 24:7. CHAPTER III Manifestations Without Visible Agents Many circumstances, situations, and events were regarded by the people of the ancient world as due to supernatural power operating with out the medium of a visible agency. The result of the activity of divine power was simply felt or perceived. Such effects may be considered in relation to nature, the social group, and the individual, in so far as these three may be distinguished. Among the HeUenistic peoples the view comes out with some promi nence. An indication that supernatural power had been at work was seen in the fact that the world exists. In an early Egyptian inscription, deity, presented as a khnum or potter, is "creator of heaven and earth, the lower world, water, mountains," and he it is "who formed the male and the female of fowl and fish, wild beasts, cattle, and creeping things. '" Plutarch represents deity as "Father of the world . . . and also maker of it, "2 and Hesiod tells us that Zeus is the creator of men.3 Not only had supernatural power thus operated in the past to bring the universe into being; it continues its activity in the present in the regu lation of creation. Zeus sends the seasons and provides rain.4 He Hghtens, pours forth hail and snow, sends the whirlwind, spreads out the tempest, and sets his rainbow in the clouds as a sign to mortal man.6 When once "a mighty water swept over the earth . . . the craft of Zeus . . . drew off the flood. "6 The increase of the fields is due to the power of the gods,7 who, as husbandmen, grow all things for our use.8 Demeter "sent up the grain from the rich glebe."9 When rain lacked, sacrifices were made to Zeus to persuade him to send it.10 The inscription on an altar on the imperial estate of Tembrion represents Apollo as one who can "make your fruits grow in their season. "u 1 Cited, Sayce, Religion of the 7 Sophocles, Oed. Tyr. 125 ff . Ancient Egyptians, pp. 136-7. » Lucian, Phalaris, ii. 8. 2 Platonic Questions, 2. ' Hymn to Demeter, 461-79, Lang's 3 Works and Days, 106-180. trans., in Homeric Hymns, p. 209. 4 Ibid., 563 ff.; 677 ff. io Pausanius, Descr. of Greece, ii. 25. 6 Homer, IL, x. 5-7; xii. 252; xvi. "Cited, Ramsay, Pauline and 365; xi. 27. other Studies, 2nd. ed., p. 120. 3 Pindar, Olymp. Odes, ix. 49-51. DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS IN NEW TESTAMENT TIMES 17 The operation of divine power was Hkewise noticeable in connection with the life of the state and the social group. The Romans beheld its effect in the salvation of the state in the Second Punic War. Hannibal was advancing upon Rome. The defeated and scattered Romans could offer no resistance. The city lay within the power of the Carthaginian. Suddenly, when but a short distance from the capitol, Hannibal and his army turned aside, and the state was saved — due, as the historian Florus teUs us, to " the influence of deities unfavorable to Carthage. "12 In the same passage the historian relates that swarms of bees and a severe earthquake which warned the Romans of impending diasaster were the result of the activity of the gods. The young Cyrus teUs his father that God wiU feed his army, and on another occasion, starting to the rehef of his uncle who is threatened by the Assyrians, he assures his soldiers that by God's help victory is to attend them on the field.13 After the diaster at Salamis, the defeated Persians, starving, suffering from thirst, and at the mercy of hostile natives, were perishing by scores in a deadly marsh from which which they could not escape, " but on that very night deity sent a frost out of season and froze the whole stream of the Strymon, " enabling them to extricate themselves, whereupon "those who never beHeved in the gods before, addressed them in prayers."14 Because deity produced large profits for the Samian merchants, they sent a thank-offering to the temple of Juno at Samos;16 and because ApoUo and Poseidon enabled the Corcyreans to make an especially large catch of fish, they gave one-tenth of the haul to the deities.16 In Tenedos the gods produced a prolific yield of celery, and in ApoUonia and Myrrhina exceUent crops of corn.17 ApoUo continually exercised his power in protecting the gold mines of the Siphnians from encroachments by the sea, and in making them productive, and for this reason the owners gave to the deity one-tenth of their gains.18 Rouse, in Greek Votive Offerings, especiaUy pages 56 foUowing, gives a list of more than a dozen calhngs- and professions in which groups experienced the continuous operation of divine power without the medium of any agency. The sphere of individual interests thus influenced was no less exten sive than that of the group or the state. Material blessings were due 12 Epitome, ii. 6. 18 Pausanius, ibid., x. 9. 3. 13Xenophon, Cyropaedia, i. 6. 18; 17 Plutarch, Pythian Responses, 12 5. 14. and 16. 14 Aeschylus, Persians, 497 ff . 18 Pausanius, ibid., x. ii. 2. 16 Herodotus, iv. 152. 18 DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS IN NEW TESTAMENT TIMES to the operation of divine power. The Maxims of Ptahhotep, dating from the time of the pyramids and contained in the Prisse Papyrus, speak of "the field which the great god hath given thee to till" and state that "thy treasure hath grown to thee through the gift of the god."19 The gods render the increase of a farmer's acres,20 and Zeus gives men riches, wealth, plenty, and also proverty.21 The courtesan Rhodopis, for the reason that Apollo had made her wealthy in the practice of her profession, made a gift to the god at Delphi.22 Inscriptions at various shrines, large numbers of which are cited by Rouse in the work just men tioned, show us that numerous individuals, such as fishermen, breeders, physicians, builders, potters, tanners, cooks, farmers, sailors, shipwrights, butchers, and washerwomen recognized the operation of supernatural power in their affairs. Valor, courage, and wisdom, as well as physical strength, were in this way granted by deity.23 Pallas Athene, for example, gave might and courage to Diomedes.24 Similarly "valor and wisdom" came to Hercu les, for "how else might the hand of Hercules have wielded his club against the trident when at Pylos Poseidon took his stand and pressed him hard . . . ? "25 In recognition of power coming from deity, Apollonius of Tyana prays: "O ye gods, give me that which I ought to have";26 so also prays Ion in Plato's Alcibeides: "O Jupiter, give us good things whether we ask them or no"; and Livy teUs us that Romulus prayed: "O father of gods and men, chase the enemies from hence, take away terror from the Romans. "27 The power of deity in the affairs of the in dividual was Hkewise noticeable in signs and portents which granted in formation of various sorts. Thus the dreams foretelling the future great ness of Augustus were due to deity's activity, and it was also the power of invisible deity which transported him, while yet a babe, from his cradle " in a low place " to the " top of a high tower. "28 Deity in a similar man ner produced the voice at the birth of Osiris, which announced from heav en that "the Lord of all things is now born."29 Thus also he sent the thunder and lightning which foretold that the first miHtary expedition of the youthful Cyrus was to be a success.30 19 Cited, Renouf, Hibbert Lectures, B Pindar, ibid. 1879, pp. 74, 100. 2« Philostratus, Life of Apollonius 20 Sophocles, ibid., 129 ff. of Tyana, 1.8. 21 Hesoid, ibid., 635 ff. 27 Livy, 1. 12. 22 Herodotus, ii. 135. 28 Suet., Aug., 94. 23 Pindar, ibid., 27-31. 2» Plutarch, I sis and Osiris, 12. 24 Homer, ibid., v. i. 3» Xenophon, ibid., i. 6. 1. DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS IN NEW TESTAMENT TIMES 19 Deity's power in the individual life was further observable in protec tion from harm. Pericles dedicated a statue to Athena Hygieia for saving the life of a workman who fell from a scaffold,31 a woman vowed her breast-band to deity for safe delivery in childbirth,32 and Bernice dedi cated her hair to the gods for her husband Ptolmey's safety in war.33 The power of deity was moreover to be seen in the moral government of the world and men. "Righteous judgments are best from Zeus" who protects those "who do not overstep aught of justice. " To such as these the supernatural powers do not "ordain troublous wars," nor do they allow "famine or ruin to company with men who judge the right." "In blessings they flourish. " "But they to whom evil, wrong, and hard deeds are a care, to them . . . Zeus . . . destines punishment . . . on them from heaven the son of Cronus is wont to bring great calamity, famine, and pestilence ... so the people waste away. Neither do women bear children; and houses come to naught, by the counsels of mighty Zeus ... he destroys their wide army, or lays low their walls, or in the deep punishes their ships . . . Heed justice . . . forget vio lence . . . this law hath the son of Cronus ordained for men: for fishes . . . beasts. . . fowls to eat each other; but to man he hath given jus tice . . . if a man choose . . . what is just, to him Zeus giveth felicity . . . Badness you may easily choose . . . level is the path; and right dwells near, " but " long and steep and rugged is the way to it. " Against the wicked "is Zeus wroth, and at the last, in requital for wrong deeds, lays on him a bitter penalty. "34 On one occasion, according to Apollo- dorus (111.98), Zeus came to earth in the likeness of a workingman to test the moral worth of Lycaon and his fifty sons who excelled all others in impiety. A man may not fight against the will of Zeus, though one be very strong, for he is stronger far; he will be no helper of liars, and he metes out punishment for all crimes.35 A concrete example of such punishment for sin is the case of Pheretima whose body the gods caused to be eaten with worms while she was yet alive, because of the wrongs she had committed.36 The Hebrews, like the Greeks, experienced the activity of invisible deity in various connections. God's power brought into being the heav- 31 Plutarch, Pericles, 13. 34 Hesoid, ibid., 34 ff.; 224 ff.; 32 Theocritus, xxvii. 54. 273 ff . ; 328 ff . 33 Catallus, Coma Bernices; Eudo- 36 Homer, 77., viii. 143; iv. 235; cia, No. 218. Ody.,i. 379; ii. 144. 38 Herodotus, iv. 205. 20 DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS IN NEW TESTAMENT TIMES ens and the earth. "Thou hast made all things, and over all things hast thou dominion."37 Not only was God's power apparent in the fact that the universe exists, but it was also evident in its various operations. God moves the planets, sends the seasons, water, clouds, dew, rain, fruit: "He that Hveth forever hath done all this . . . everything is done as God hath ordained. "38 God sent a flood of waters to destroy the earth, and set his bow in the clouds to be a sign unto men. He caused the thun der and lightning at Sinai, and sent down fire from heaven to consume Sodom and Gomorrah. In numerous experiences of the Hebrew group or state the effects of divine power were also perceived. He raised up Moses to deliver the nation and exercised a controlling influence upon it throughout its his tory.39 He sent the plagues upon the Egyptians, provided for the Israel ites quails and manna in the wilderness, opened the earth to swaUow Dathan and his company, and sent fire down from heaven to destroy the two hundred and fifty rebellious IsraeHtish princes.40 When the Kishon inundated the neighboring marshes and overwhelmed Sisera and his host, the circumstance was seen to be the result of the immediate action of deity.41 David, upon hearing " the sound of marching in the tops of the mulberry trees, " knew that Yahweh had gone out before him to over throw the Philistines, and, with the invisible assistance of his God, he "smote the Philistines from Geba until thou come to Gezer."42 Judas Maccabeus with a small army defeated his numerous Syrian enemies, be cause "with the God of heaven it is all one, to deliver with a great multi tude or a small company . . . strength cometh from heaven."43 The power of God smote Antiochus for persecuting the Jews and he died.44 But not always was God's power exercised to protect Israel. He may pour out upon the nation destruction, famine, pestilence.45 In the sphere of individual life the power of unseen supernatural forces was no less noticeable. To Solomon deity granted wisdom and strength,46 and to David he gave victory wherever he went.47 The Book of Tobit is 37 Enoch, i. 9; Gen., 1:1; Pss., 19:1; « Judges, 4:7; 5:19. 104; 24; 33:6; 90:2; Joseph., Antt. 42 II Sam., 5:22 ff. i. 1. i3 1 Mace, 3:11 S. 38 Enoch, i. 2-5; Ps., 104:27 ff. « Ibid., 6:13 ff. 39 Ps. 106:7 ff. "Ezek. 5:5-7:27. "Num. 16:31, 35; Deut., 11:6; « I Kings, 3:12; II Chron., 1:1. Pj., 106:17. 47 7/ Sam., 8:6, 14. DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS IN NEW TESTAMENT TIMES 21 an admirable illustration of the view that divine power produced effects in individual lives. Deity guided the young Tobias on his quest for treasure, gave him wisdom and cunning, and provided means for the preservation of his life. Punishment and judgment come upon the individual through the power of deity. "O Lord," prayed Tobias, ". . . thou art judge of all the earth . . . thou art righteous in all that cometh upon me . . . reward me not according to my sin and wickedness. "48 The patriarch Reuben says that for wrongdoing deity "smote me in the loins for seven months with a plague and would have destroyed me. "49 Sometimes the vengeance of supernatural powers was thought of as having a wider than an individual scope. One view was that deity in exercising judgment should limit his activity to the nation. Thus God says, " therefore wiU I judge you, O house of Israel."60 Another view was that it should extend to all nations. God shall judge the earth, scatter the wicked, strike through kings in his wrath, subdue the nations, and judge among them.61 Christians, in common with the Hebrews and the Graeco-Romans, experience in their affairs the operation of invisible divine power. In the creation of heaven and earth, and all that in them is, they beheld one of its effects.62 Another was noticeable in the government and control of the universe. Divine power caused the sun to rise and the rain to fall,63 and kept unruly angels and devils in bonds as a measure for insuring its stability and safety.64 In the world thus brought into being and controlled by the operation of his power, deity established the Christian group, having chosen it "from the beginning"66 out of the "poor as to the world,"66 to be "an elect race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own posses sion," the estabHshment of the community having been brought about in such fashion that even Jews suspect there may have been something supernatural in it.67 To the Christians themselves, various circum- '* Tobit, ch. 3. *3ML, 5:45. 49 Test, of Reuben, i. 7. " Jude, 6. 60 Ezek., 18:30 ff. " 77 Thess., 2:13. 61 Pss., 110:5, 6; 94:2; 92:9; 47:3; "Jas., 2:5. 72:11; Isa., 2:4. 377 Pet., 2:9; cf. Rev. 1:6; 5:10; ™Acts, 4:14; Mk., 13:19; cf. 20:6; Acts, 3:25; 5:39. Heb., 1:2; Jn., 1:13. 22 DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS IN NEW TESTAMENT TIMES stances in the life of the group demonstrated that divine power was operative. Deity "shall supply every need . . . according to his riches. "58 The effects were especiaUy apparent in the fact that God had sent his only begotten Son to be a Savior.69 Likewise it was held that deity had sent fire from heaven upon Sodom and Gomorrah as a punish ment for wrongdoing, and that his wrath was being manifested from heaven against all ungodHness and unrighteousness of men.60 Moreover, the signs and portents attending the end of the age were to be a result of divine activity.61 In the sphere of individual Christian life invisible divine power was no less operative. At any moment God could have sent more than twelve legions of angels to save Jesus, and at his crucifixion the divine dis pleasure was manifested by the covering of the earth with darkness, by the rending of the temple veil from top to bottom, and by the production of a severe earthquake. Supernatural power was again apparent in the raising of Jesus from the dead.62 In a similar manner deity opened the iron gate to allow Peter's escape from prison, and sent the earthquake which released Paul and Silas from the jail at Philippi.63 Thus also did divine power save the shipload of people of whom Paul was one.64 Wis dom and other blessings also came from deity.65 Sometimes, however, the power of deity affected the individual disastrously. Thus for wrongdoing he smote Ananias and Saphira, and sent worms to devour Herod's vitals while he was yet alive.66 He resisteth the proud and pours out miseries upon the rich.67 Extra — New Testament early Christian literature is likewise fiUed with examples of the operation of invisible superantural powers. One or two may be cited. In the Gospel of Peter we are told that " the stone which was put at the door (of Jesus' sepulchre) rolled of itself and made away" (ch. 9). The Martyrdom of Poly carp represents the aged saint as receiv ing heavenly strength to enable him "without being secured by nails to remain immovable in the fire" (ch. 3). The Acts of St. Eugenia tell us 38 Phil., 4:19. , 4:10; Rom., 1:4; 4:24; 7 Cor., 6:4; 69 Jn., 3:16; I Jn., 3:1. Eph., 1:20; I Thess., 1:10. eoJude,1;Rom., 1:18. ^ Acts, 12:10; 16:20. "Mk., 13:14-27; etc. M Ibid.,21 :21. 62 Mt., 26:53; Mk., 15:33, 38; Mt., 33 Jas., 1:5; 4:6, 10. 27:45, 51; Lk., 23:44; Acts, 2:24; 3:15; »9 Acts, 12:23; 7 Pel., 5:5. " Jas., 5:1. DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS IN NEW TESTAMENT TIMES 23 that, when this Christian worthy was unjustly charged with crime, "a sudden fire came down from heaven and consumed her accusers " (ch. 16), and that, on another occasion, when her heathen enemies attempted to compel her to sacrifice to Artemis, "forthwith the image of Artemis fell down and was broken into such fine fragments that the dust thereof was not apparent" (ch. 28; Conybeare's trans., pp. 178; 186). CHAPTER IV Apparitions A third method by which the people of the ancient world came into contact with supernatural powers was through the medium of apparitions. Under the term apparitions are here included such phenomena as dreams, visions, trances, and "appearances" in general. Apparitions, as a mode of divine manifestation, differ from physical appearances in that supernatural beings do not come upon the scene in the flesh, and from displays of the power of invisible deity in that, while superior forces are not present in person, agencies are nevertheless pro vided as their representatives. The belief that apparitions were the product of divine activity was firmly rooted in the Hellenistic world. The "dream too is from Zeus, " says Homer, and elsewhere he tells us of a lying one which the Father of Gods and Men sent to Agamemnon.1 Apollo, "the god of Delphi," on one occasion, "sent dreams to warn" Phalaris, the tyrant of Agrigentum, of a conspiracy against his life.2 The view that dreams, visions, and similar occurrences served as media for the transmission of information from gods to men was equaUy well estabHshed. While the iUustrations which foUow bear out the truth of this statement, it may be well, before proceeding, to cite one or two references in which the opinion is definitely expressed. In Plato's Republic Socrates is made to maintain that the dreams of a good man are prophetic, and in the Timaeus Plato himself ascribes to dreams a similar character.3 Aristotle, in the work called Prophecy in Dreams, holds that the view " that there is a divination concerning some things in dreams is not incredible. " Prophetic visions and dreams were experienced both by individuals and by groups of individuals. Diongenes Laertius relates of Socrates that "someone appeared to him in a dream and said: 'On the third day » IL, i. 63; ii. 5 ff. 3 Republic, 57 1 C ff .; Timaeus, 46, 2 Lucian, Phalaris, i. 4. 47. DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS IN NEW TESTAMENT TIMES 25 you'll come to lovely Phthia'; and so he (Socrates) said to Aeschines: 'In three days I shall die.' "4 The Egyptian Thothmes IV, having fallen asleep, while on the chase, at the foot of the Great Sphynx, heard the voice of deity in a dream, urging him to repair the god's temple which was threatened with ruin, and telling him that he would one day occupy the throne.6 In a similar manner the goddess Ishtar in a dream directed Assur-bani-pal to cross a certain river in the prosecution of one of his campaigns and informed him that he was to win a victory.6 While Vespasian was in the temple of Serapis he had a vision of Basilides "advancing behind him." Vespasian investigated, and discovered that Basilides at the moment was detained by illness "no less than four score miles distant." Upon this intelligence, "he concluded . . . that the gods had favored him with a preternatural vision ... in favor of his future reign. "7 At the birth of the emperor Augustus dreams and visions played an important part. Two of them were granted to his mother, Atia, one of which " signified that the infant had been engendered by ApoUo," while the other conveyed an indication of the extent of his future power, inasmuch as "she saw . . . her womb lifted up to heaven heaven and spreading out over aU the earth." Octavius, the babe's father, was equally favored. "On the same night Octavius . . . dreamed that the sun arose from her his wife's vagina. "8 More than one person sometimes saw the same apparition. Accord ing to Dion Cassius, the foUowing spectacle was beheld not only by individuals and isolated groups, but by the occupants of entire districts. "A spirit," says the historian, "declaring that he was the famous Alex ander of Macedon, wearing his apparel and all his apparatus, started from the regions near the Ister. ... It traveled through Thrace and Asia, reveling in company with four hundred male attendants, who were equipped with thyrsi and fawn skins, and did no harm. The fact was admitted by all those who lived in Thrace at the time that lodgings and all provisions for it were provided at public expense. And no one dared to oppose it, either by word or by deed — no governor, no soldier, no procurator, no heads of provinces — but it proceeded as if in a daylight pro- 4 Diogenes Laertius, ii. 16. 7 Tacitus, Hist., v. 82. 6 Leemans, Papyri Graeci, Leyden, 8 Dion Cassius, xliv. 1, 2; Sueton- 1838, p. 122. ius, Augustus, 94. 3 Reference cited, Hastings, Diet. of Rel. and Ethics, vol. V, article "Dreams and Sleep," p. 33. 26 DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS IN NEW TESTAMENT TIMES cession prescribed by proclamation, to the confines of Bithynia. Leaving that point, it approached the Chalcedonian land, and there, after per forming some sacred rite by night, and burying a wooden horse, it vanished. " It is clear, remarks Dion Cassius, that this vision foretold the accession to the throne of the Emperor Alexander, who succeeded Elaga- balus in the year 222 a.d.9 The narrative just quoted from Dion Cassius is a description, not only of an apparition simultaneously observed by groups of people in widely separated locahties, but also of the visible manifestation of an individual after his death. Such post-mortem appearances were by no means un usual. Herodotus relates that Aristeas, a poet of Proconnesus, appeared after death, wrote poetry, and was seen by various persons at different times during a period of years.10 Numerous Greeks and Romans likewise saw the arisen Aesculapius. Origen is an interesting witness to the resurrection appearances of both these individuals. In the work Contra Celsum, iii. 24-26, he occupies himself with refuting Celsus' objections to the resurrection of Jesus. Origen argues that since the Greeks and Romans hold that Aesculapius and Aristeas have arisen, Christians ought to have the similar privilege of believing in the resurrection of Jesus. In part the Christian writer says: "When it is said of Aesculapius that a great number of Greeks and barbarians acknowledge that they have fre quently seen, and still see, no mere phantom, but Aesculapius himself, heahng and doing good, and foretelling the future, Celsus requires us to beheve this, and finds no fault with the behevers of Jesus when we express our belief in such stories; but when we give our assent to the disciples," who were witnesses of Jesus' resurrection, "we are called a set of 'siUy' individuals. " Apparitions frequently mediated important information to individuals and to groups in time of stress and crisis. Thus Lucian informs us that "at the time of the great plague" at Athens, a vision of the Scythian Toxaris transmitted to "the wife of Architeles the Areopagite" the knowledge that " the plague would cease if they would sprinkle their back streets with wine. " "The Athenians, " continues Lucian, "attended to his instructions and . . . the plague troubled them no more. "u Caesar, while serving as quaestor in Spain, saw a statue of Alexander the Great, and "sighed deeply, as if weary of his sluggish life, for having performed no memorable actions at an age when Alexander had already conquered 9 Dion Cassius, lxxix. 18. « Herodotus, iv. 14, 15. » Lucian, Scythian, 2. DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS IN NEW TESTAMENT TIMES 27 the world. He . . . sued for his discharge, with the view of embracing the first opportunity ... in The City of entering upon a more exalted career. In the stillness of the night following he dreamed that he lay with his own mother . . . the interpreters expounded it as an omen that he should possess universal empire, for the mother . . . was the earth, the common parent of mankind. "12 Another illustration of the receipt of information when badly needed is given by Plutarch. "Marius, finding himself hard put to it in the Cimbrian war, had it revealed to him in a dream that he should overcome his enemies if he would but sacrifice his daughter. He did it, preferring the common safety before any private bond of nature, and got the victory. "13 Apparitions also played a part in the sphere of reHgion. "Ptolmaeus Soter saw in a dream the colossus of Pluto ... at Sinope, although he knew it not, nor had ever seen it, calling on him to convey it speedfly away to Alexandria. ... He . . . sent Soteles and Bacchus thither, who . . . not without the help of divine providence, stole it away and brought it to Alexandria. "14 Even such a trivial matter as directing an author to write a book was not overlooked by deity. It is reported that PHny the Elder for some time had debated whether or not to compose a history of the wars of the Romans in Germany, and that he was finally instructed in a dream to undertake the task.15 Apparitions among the Hebrews served in the main the same ends as they did among the Hellenistic peoples. Little distinction seems to have been made between dreams and visions as media for the transmission of knowledge. In Numbers 12:6 ff. the two are coupled together as channels by which deity reveals himself: "I Yahweh will make myself known to him in a vision, I will speak with him in a dream. " The two are also mentioned together in the following passage, which likewise calls attention to their office of conveying information: "God speaketh . . . in a dream, in a vision of the night . . he openeth the ears of men and sealeth their instruction. "16 Philo, while he might be classed as a representative of the Hellenistic point of view, is nevertheless at one with the Hebrews in making no distinction between dreams and visions. In his treatise On Dreams Being Sent from God he argues that "appearances" of various sorts are due to divine activity. He finds in phenomena of this kind three classes. 12 Suetonius, Julius Caesar, 7. 14 Id., Isis and Osiris, 28. 13 Plutarch, Parallels between Ro- 16 Pliny, Epistles, iii. 5. 4. mans and Greeks, 20. 16 Job, 33:14-16. 28 DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS IN NEW TESTAMENT TIMES The first class consists of such occurrences as the one described in Genesis 17:1, where "the Lord appeared unto Abraham and said unto him. ..." Such manifestations need no interpreter for the reason that the informa tion is directly given. Typical of PhUo's second class is Jacob's dream of the ladder in Genesis 28:12 ff. Experiences of this nature demand more interpretation than the preceding, and yet any man who is suf- sufficiently " acute " can arrive at the meaning. The third class is repre sented by Joseph's dreams of the sheaves and the planets in Genesis 37:73. These can be elucidated only by skilled interpretation.17 The Hebrew view that information was mediated by dreams and visions is clearly brought out in / Samuel 28:4-6. The Philistines were gathered together against Saul, "and when Saul saw the host of the •PhiHstines, he was afraid and his heart trembled greatly. And when he enquired of Yahweh, Yahweh answered him not, neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets. " Dreams sometimes inspired terror, and sometimes might bring lying information.18 Appearances of various sorts played prominent parts in the careers of many Old Testament individuals. Through an apparition Abimalech was informed that Sarah was Abraham's wife and not his sister, and a dream to Jacob near Padan-Aram told him that " the land whereon thou Hest, to thee will I give it and to thy seed. " A Httle later in his Hfe Jacob was directed in a similar manner to take a journey into his native country. Laban was likewise requested to refrain from speaking to Jacob. The youthful Joseph's future was forecast for him in two dreams. A vision of a barley-cake overturning a Midianite tent gave Gideon badly needed knowledge and encouragement at a crisis in his life. Important information came to Solomon in a dream. Zechariah's vision of the horses, and Ezekiel's vision of the dry bones were both prophetic in character. Appearances of different sorts convey varying items of in formation to Pharoah, to his butler and baker, to Nebuchadnezzar, to Daniel, and to Moses.19 Josephus relates that, while he was debating whether or not to espouse the cause of the Romans against his own countrymen, " a certain person " appeared to him in a dream, allayed his apprehensions, indicated which 17ii. 1; Younge's ed., vol. 2, pp. 24; 37:6-11; Judg., 7:13; 7 Kgs., 3:5 344"5- cf. 9:3; Zech., 1:7 ff.; Ezek., 37:1 ff. 18 Job, 7:14; 4:13; Zech., 10:2, Gen., 41:1-8; 40:5; Dan., 2:1; 4:10 ff. Deut., 13:1-5; Jer., 23:25 ff., 32. 2;19; 7:1; Ex., 3:2 ff. 19 Gen., 20:3 ff.; 28:8; 31:10 ff., DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS IN NEW TESTAMENT TIMES 29 course he should take, and guaranteed his future success and happiness. The same author also tells us that the high priest, on the occasion of the approach of Alexander the Great to Jerusalem, was instructed by God in a dream as to the manner in which the conqueror should be received; that a dream to Hyrcanus acquainted him with the success which was to attend his future career; and that Joseph, in interpreting the prophetic dream of Pharoah, manifested ability of no mean kind.20 In the Testaments of the XII Patriarchs visions or dreams conveying information are granted to Levi, Jacob, Judah, Naphtali, and Joseph.21 Chapters 83-90 of the Book of Enoch are almost entirely devoted by the author to Enoch's narration to his son Methuselah of "all my visions which I have seen, recounting them before thee. " The same apparition appears sometimes to have been experienced by more than one person. In the Wisdom of Solomon, 17:3-10, the persecu tors of Israel as a class are " sore troubled by spectral forms . . . sounds rushing down rang around them, and phantoms appeared, cheerless, with unsmiling faces. " Saul and two of his servants seem simultaneously to behold the prophet Samuel arisen from the dead.22 In New Testament times certain groups regarded Jesus during his lifetime as a dead person returned from the grave in visible form. Luke informs us that one group held him to be the recently beheaded John the Baptist, that others thought EHjah had reappeared in him, and that still others were of the opinions that one of the old prophets had arisen from the dead.23 According to Baruch, 55 :3, God had given to the angel Ramiel especial charge of prophetic dreams and visions. Christians of the New Testament period, in common with their Graeco-Roman and Jewish contemporaries, obtained supernatural in formation through apparitions and dreams. Such phenomena operated largely in revealing matters of importance in the fives of individuals. By means of a vision Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist, was informed that his wife should bear a son who was to "be great in the sight of the Lord," and who was to "be filled with the Holy Spirit. " It was further pointed out that his activity should result in the turning of "many of the children of Israel" to "the Lord 20Josephus, Life, ed. Whiston, dah, 3:10 ff.; Naphtali, 5:1 ff.; Joseph p. 21; War, iii. 8. 3; Antt., xi. 8. 4; xiii. 19:1 ff. 12; ii. 5.4. 2! 7 Sam., 28:6 ff. 21 Levi, 2:5 ff.; Jacob, 9:3 ff.; Ju- 23 Lk., 9:7-9. 30 DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS IN NEW TESTAMENT TIMES their God," for the purpose of making "ready for the Lord a people prepared for him." An angel who bore the name Gabriel played an important part in the mediation of the information, and stated that " from the presence of God" "I was sent to bring thee these good tidings."24 A dream likewise brought to Joseph the father of Jesus the knowledge that " that which is conceived in her (Mary) is of the Holy Spirit. And she shaU bring forth a son and thou shalt caU his name Jesus; for it is he that shall save his people from their sins. "25 Luke records a dream of similar import to the mother. As in the case of the vision to Zacharias, an angel named Gabriel acted as spokesman. Mary was told that she shall conceive, and bring forth a son whose name is to be Jesus. "He shall be great, and shall be called the son of the Most High: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: and he shaU reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end. " Respecting the paternity of the child, she was told that "The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shaU overshadow thee: wherefore also the holy thing which is begotten shaU becaUed the Son of God."26 Various other information bearing upon the life of Jesus was trans mitted in dreams. The advisability of fleeing into Egypt in behalf of the chUd's safety was thus urged upon Joseph. In the same way the father was informed that the time is ripe for the return of the family from Egypt to Palestine. Similarly Joseph was advised to avoid Judea and to take up his residence in Nazareth of Gahlee. Members of Jesus' immediate family were not alone in the receipt through dreams of information bearing upon his life. The magi were instructed in a dream not to return to Herod but to depart "into their own country another way, " and some time later Pilate's wife was told in a dream that Jesus was being wrongfully persecuted.27 Groups and companies of people, as well as individuals, sometimes beheld the same phenomenon. On one occasion "Peter and James and John" in "a high mountain apart by themselves" beheld Jesus "trans figured before them." "His garments became gfistering, exceeding white, so as no fuller on earth can whiten them. And there appeared unto them Elijah with Moses: and they were talking with Jesus . . . and there came a voice out of the cloud, This is my beloved Son: hear 24 Lk., 1:8-23. » Lk., 1:26-38. 28 ML, 1:20, 21. 27 Mt-i 2:12, 13, 19, 22; 27:19. DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS IN NEW TESTAMENT TIMES 31 ye him." With this account of the occurrence as related by Mark, Matthew substantially agrees; but to the items of information gained by the disciples at the time Luke adds the additional one of "the decease which he was about to accompHsh at Jerusalem. "28 There is little doubt that the three disciples gained as a result of this experience a knowledge of the exalted character of Jesus. Apparitions of the risen Jesus were seen simultaneously soon after his death by various individuals and groups in seemingly widely separated districts. In I Corinthians 15:5-8 Paul tells us that first "he appeared to Cephas; then to the twelve; then he appeared to above five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain; then he appeared to James; then to all the apostles; and last of all . . . he appeared to me also." Mark 16:9-14 records similar appearances to Mary Magdalen, to "two of them" "in another form," and to "the eleven themselves as they sat at meat"; but little clue is furnished as to their locations. Mat thew 28:7, 16-20 teUs of an appearance to the eleven "in Galilee," and Luke 24:15-30, 33, 34 relates that appearances occurred to Cleopas and one other, to Simon, and to a group in or near Jerusalem. The message conveyed to these Christians by the apparitions of the resurrected Jesus was not necessarily the assurance of their own resurrec tion from the dead; it may in fact be doubted whether they expected to die. What these appearances estabHshed was more probably the fact that Jesus, now exalted to heaven whence he exercises lordship over the new community, is in a position to come in power as Messiah and set up his Kingdom. Many Christians of the period expected to see the kingdom established during their lifetime and to become members of it when it came.29 In times of stress and difficulty apparitions frequently played an important part. It was by means of an "appearance" that a solution was mediated to Peter when he stood face to face with the problem whether, and if so on what basis, gentiles should be admitted into the Christian feUowship. Meditating upon the matter, Peter was "upon the housetop" awaiting his dinner, when he "fell into a trance" and beheld " the heaven opened, and a certain vessel descending . . . where in were aU manner of fourfooted beasts and creeping things of earth and birds of heaven. " "Rise, Peter, kill and eat, " said a voice to him, but 28 Mk., 9:2-13; ML, 17:1-13; Lk., 29 Acts, 2:24, 32, 33, 36; 3:20. 9:28,36. 32 DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS IN NEW TESTAMENT TIMES Peter demurred on the ground of ceremonial purity. "And a voice came unto him again a second time, What God hath cleansed, make thou not common." In the same crisis the centurion Cornelius was instructed in a vision to cooperate with Peter in working out the problem.30 Reference in Paul's own words has aheady been made to an experience in which he beheld the risen Jesus. There is some question whether the apostle here meant the circumstance on the Damascus Road, an account of which is given in Acts 9:3-9, or some other (cf. Gal. 1 :16, 17). However this may be, the vision which looms so largely in Paul's conversion was not the only apparition which he saw; and while it undoubtedly marked a turning-point in his career, the others rendered service equal in kind and in importance. One such occurrence is described in Acts 16:6-10. "A vision appeared to Paul in the night: There was a man of Macedonia standing, beseeching him, and saying, Come over into Macedonia and help us." At the time the vision appeared, Paul, according to the narrative, was debating in which direction his further activities should lead him. On another occasion, when Corinthian Jews "opposed them selves and blasphemed, " " the Lord said to Paul in the night by a vision, Be not afriad, but speak, and hold not thy peace: for I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to harm thee: for I have much people in this city."31 Again, on the voyage to Rome, when shipwreck threatened, there stood by Paul in the night "an angel . . . saying fear not, Paul; thou must stand before Caesar: and lo, God hath granted thee all them that sail with thee. "32 Paul himself has recorded for us several other vision experiences which he underwent. In Galatians 2:2 he relates that on one occasion he went up to Jersusalem "by revelation. " While there is doubt as to the inter pretation of the quoted phrase, it is not unreasonable to hold that the journey was urged upon him in a way similar to that by which he was persuaded to pass from Asia into Europe. Language which the apostle employs in II Corinthians 12:1-10 seems fairly to imply, not only that "appearances" and visions of revelation were frequent in his life, but that their number and character were such that there was danger of his being " exhalted overmuch " by them. The " thorn in the flesh, " he teUs us, was given him to minister to his humility. The passage in question appears to contain accounts of two of these experiences. In one, he was 33 Acts, 10:1 ff. ™Acts, 27:22-25. 31 4(^,18:5-11. DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS IN NEW TESTAMENT TIMES 33 "caught up to the third heaven," and in the other he was "caught up into Paradise, and heard unspeakable words which it is not lawful for a man to utter. " It is possible that the content of the gospel which Paul preached was granted to him in some such experience. "For I make known to you, brethren, as touching the gospel which was preached by me, that it is not after man; for neither did I receive it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came to me through revelation of Jesus Christ. "3a Before passing to another topic, mention should be made of the Apocalypse. In structure, the book consists of the narration of a series of vision experiences, calling to mind the form followed in the relation of the dreams and visions in the Book of Enoch and in the Testaments of the XII Patriarchs; while, in content, the volume professes to reveal for the benefit of Christians the course of the world to the end of the age. 33 Gal, 1:11, 12. CHAPTER V Divine Possession Highly wrought or unusual bodily and mental states were regarded by the peoples of the Mediterranean world as due to supernatural forces acting directly upon the individual. Sometimes these powers were thought of as remote and transcendent, and as influencing the individual in a more or less distant and detached manner, as has been pointed out in Chapter III. Sometimes, on the other hand, the relation between the individual and the agency operating upon him was of a much closer kind, and was held to be rather intimate and immanent in nature. When this latter state of affairs obtained, the propinquity between gods and men was of such a sort, and the gods operated so directly, that the subject could be said to be possessed by deity. But it must be borne in mind that the ancients made little distinction between mental and bodily conditions which were produced by remote powers and those which were brought about by forces nearer at hand. For the purposes of the classification and presentation of material, how ever, a line of demarcation must be drawn; and a convenient point of division appears to be where the transcendence of superior powers merges into their immanence. Yet much of the material to be dealt with could be classed properly on either side. The theme of the present chapter therefore is that phase of divine manifestations in which certain physical and psychic conditions proved the individual to be in such close relation with supernatural powers that it was possible to describe him as being possessed by them. The Greeks and Romans held that spiritual beings which could come into such relations with men occupied the regions of space between earth and heaven. Pythagoras claimed that "the upper air" contained nothing which was not "immortal and on that account divine . . . that the sun, and the moon, and the stars were all gods . . . that the whole air is full of souls . . . daemons, and heroes . . . "* Livy des cribes these beings as minores diis et majores hominibus? Plato regards 1 Diog. Laer., viii. 19. 2 Livy, viii. 20. divine manifestations in new TESTAMENT TIMES 35 them as intermediate agencies between gods and men. They are of airy substance. Their function is to serve as "reporters and carriers from men to gods and again from gods to men. " Every man has one attending him during Hfe and after death. To each demon is aUotted his own sphere of operation, and he watches over his charge like a shep herd over his flock.3 The same notion is expressed in the famous frag ment of Menander (550 K) : "By every man at birth a good demon takes his stand, to initiate him into the mysteries of life. " "There are many who have a craven soul, but a good demon," says Theognis, and Pindar states that " the mighty purpose of Zeus directs the demon of those whom he loves."4 A classic expression of the view is found in Hesiod. "De mons" are "kindly, earth-haunting, guardians of mortal men, who . . watch both decisions of justice and harsh deeds, going to and fro every where over the earth, having wrapped themselves in mist, givers of riches ... on the earth are thrice ten thousand immortals, Zeus' watchers over men, who . . . watch just judgments and daring acts, clad in misty darkness and haunting everywhere over the earth."6 Plutarch probably gives a summary of much of the thought of the first century respecting these spiritual agencies when he says: "Xenocrates . . . thinks there are in the air that environs us about certain great and mighty natures, but withal morose and tetrical ones . . . the beneficent ones Hesiod styles holy demons and guardians of mankind, and Plato caUs this sort the interpreting and ministering kind ... in a middle place between gods and men . . . carrying up prayers . . . and bring ing prophecies and . . . good things back. "6 Famifiarity with beings like these became so great that they were known by name. One caUed Ad/«a fed on men's flesh.7 'E^iaATTjs or 'ExtaXrrjs troubled persons with nightmares.8 Children who refused to obey their parents were punished by AXipiroi, Mop/zco, 'Akkco and Mop- HoXvueio, while still others in the same class were 'Ovoo-neXis, 'Ovonifkn, and 'OvokuXos.9 The character of 'AXaarop and his tribe was so well known that it was immediately recognized that a certain evil deed could have 3 Symp. 202 E; Statesm. 271 D, 8 Isis and Osiris, 26. 272 E; Rep. 617 D; Phaed. 107 E, 108 7 Aristoph., Pax, 758. B, 113 D. *I<1-, Vesp., 1037; Strat. 19. 4Theog. 161; Pind. Pyth. Od., v. "For refs. see Liddell and Scott, 122. Lex., under each. 8 Hesiod, Wks. and Days, 122 ff.; 251 ff. 36 DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS IN NEW TESTAMENT TIMES been committed by none others than they.10 "E^nrovaa was especially well known, and might come upon one in the most unexpected places. Sometimes she was identified with Hecate. On one occasion Apol lonius of Tyana met her in the Caucasus mountains, while he was on his way to India, and, realizing who she was, scared her away with a loud shout.11 Actual contact between individuals and the spirits hovering near them came about in two ways. Little distinction of course between the two was made by the thought of the time, for people were concerned not so much with method as with result; and yet, while the ancients were pri marily interested in the effects spirits produced in men, it must be re membered that they were thoroughly conscious of the fact that the state described as possession could be brought about in either one of two ways. The spirit could operate upon the man either from within or from with out. In both cases the results were the same. The condition was variously described. The possessed individual was sometimes said to be deofiav-qs, 8eo Ra„m 4S5_ 31 Arch., 8. 18. 37 Laws, iii. 14. 32 Quoted McClintock and Strong, ibid., "Demoniac," ii. p. 641. DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS IN NEW TESTAMENT TIMES 41 tion and correction of life."38 Nero, when at Athens, was afraid to attend the Eleusinian rites because heralds had warned wicked and im pious persons to stay away.39 Celsus regarded the pagan mysteries as better than the Christian ones, because the latter admitted sinners while the former permitted only the pure approach.40 In inscriptions con tained on three gold tablets discovered in Orphic tombs in lower Italy and dating from the third century B.C., the initiate contends that his soul is "pure," that it has made atonement for "works of iniquity," and that on this ground he has a right to claim eternal bliss.41 The influence of possession on the condition of the soul both during life and after death formed an important item in the mystery cults. When one is inspired by Isis, his " soul goes down to the nether world" where it sees the goddess "shining" and dweUs continually in the "Elysian fields," comforted by the smiles of deity.42 The Eleusinian mysteries furnish "the initial basis of hfe," claims Cicero. "And not only have we a theory of living with joyousness, " he continues, "but even of dying with a better hope. "43 In Aristophenes' Frogs, 454 ff., a chorus representing souls after death sings : " for to us alone sun and Hght are cheerful, to all of us who have been initiated and Hved in pious wise. " Isocrates, in Panegyricus, 28, claims Demeter gives many benefits to men, and that among them is "initiation the sharers in which cherish more pleasing hopes both as to the end of Hfe and aU eternity." "Blessed is that one of the men of earth," says the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, 480 ff., "who has gazed upon these things (emblems in Eleusinian mysteries). But he who is not initiated into the sacred rites, and he who has no share therein, never have they a similar aUotment, passed away though they be, under the dank and mouldy darkness. " A fragment of Sophocles (753) preserved by Plu tarch in De Audiendis Poetis, 4, is to the same effect: "Thrice blessed are those mortals, who, having gazed upon the mystic rites, go to the lower world: for they alone are there aUowed to have life, the others have nothing but evil there. " But it was not alone that men were assured of immortaHty after death; they might also become immortal during life. Plutarch, Isis and Osiris, 2, speaks of initiates who are "regularly ad vanced into the deified state," and a Mithras worshipper, in Dietrich's 38 Dis. iii. 21. 4 vols., Jno. Murray, London, 1901, 39 Suet., Nero, 24. vol. 1, p. 133; cf. p. 84. 40 Origen, c. Cels., iii. 59 ff. 42 Apuleius, Metam., ix. 6. 41 Cited, Gomperz, Greek Thinkers, 43 Laws, ii. 36. 42 DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS IN NEW TESTAMENT TIMES Mithrasliturgie, p. 3, exclaims: "if it . . . seems good to you to permit me, though now held down by my lower nature, to be reborn to immor- taHty . . . that I may become mentally reborn, that I may become initiated, that the Holy Spirit may breathe in me." The union between deity and man became so close and intimate that the behever actually "became Bacchus"; that is, he became God, and, therefore, immortal.44 The idea is clearly brought out in Hercules Fur ens, where, in fine 1119, votaries are named with the name of the god, a male initiate being caUed by the name in its masculine form, and a female in its feminine. The spirit came upon, or entered into, one in ways which are so num erous and so various as almost to defy classification. A person could become possessed against his wiU, as in the case of the maiden at Delphi, described by Lucan. Deissmann, in Light jrom the Ancient East, p. 307 quotes an inscription of the fourth century B.C., contained on a leaden tablet from Attica, in which a number of persons are turned over to an evil deity to be "bound down." A case of voluntary possession is that of the Cumaean Sibyl in the presence of Aeneas, a description of which is given by Virgil in the opening lines of the sixth book of the Aeneid. Sometimes a number of persons composing a group were seized simul taneously. On some occasions deity affected an individual directly; on others he operated through a medium. Another classification might foUow the line of distinguishing the purposes for which possession was secured, such as pohtical, military, or rehgious; and still another possibihty is to set forth the materials on the basis of whether the procedure was or was not formal and institutionalized. None of the above schemes takes full account of all the phases of the matter. In view of this difficulty, it is perhaps best to present a number of typical examples, and to permit the reader to pigeon-hole them as best suits his fancy. Plato tells us that the poet Homer, having received the spirit from deity, passed it on to his interpreter, Ion, and that the latter, in turn, transmitted it to his audiences.45 Two points should be noticed here: the spirit may be transferred by an individual possessing it to another or to a group, and listening to pubfic discourse is favorable to, or at least an occasion of, its reception. Lines 135 ff. of the Bacchae indicate that numbers of people frequently obtained the spirit simultaneously, to the accompaniment of processionals, song, music, dancing, shouting, and the clanging of symbols. Homer tells us in the opening of the thirteenth 44 Eurip., Frag., 475. « Plat0j Ion> 333.336. DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS IN NEW TESTAMENT TIMES 43 book of Iliad that Poseidon transfused divine potency into the leaders of the Greeks, " fiUed them with strength and courage, and their limbs, their feet, their hands with active vigor strung, " by the laying on of his scepter. The partaking of special food and drink also seems to have played a large part in attaining the possessed state. The question of ritual eating and drinking is too complicated fully to be discussed here, but the subject may be studied at length in various places.46 The theory underlying the practice appears to have been that in this way divine substance was taken into the system. The rite, as far as the matter can be determined, worked itself out in two forms. In the first, the votary ate the god, and, in the second, he ate the same kind of food the god ate. In either case the result, as far as the individual was concerned, was union with deity. When one ate the god, he actually took into his system an immortal increment, with the result that he himself became immortal; when he ate the same kind of food the god ate, he became immortal, too, for the reason that what produced divine hfe in deity also produced the same quality of hfe in himseh. Thus an Eleusinian initiate says: "I fasted, I drank the KVKecov, "47 and an Attis worshipper exclaims: "I have eaten out of the Tvniravov, I have drunk out of the KviifiaXov, I have become an initiate of Attis."48 In the Krates of Euripides a votary speaks of "Lengthening out a hfe of purity from the day that I became an initiate of Idean Zeus ... a celebrant of the meal of raw flesh," and the same author, in the reference to the Bacchae just mentioned, presents the meal of raw flesh as an important part of the Dionysos ritual. Arnobius sarcasticaUy speaks of the Bacchic custom as follows : " that I may exhibit you as full of the godhead, you mangle with bloodstained Hps the inward parts of bleeding goats. . . . "49 Drinking the blood of the victim at the conclusion of the partaking of its flesh formed a part of the ritual of 46 Deitrich, Eine Mithrasliturgie, passim. Kennedy, however, must be 2 ed., pp. 100 ff.; Heitmuller, Taufe read with the fact in mind that he is u. Abendmahl bei Paulus, pp. 40 ff.; attempting to prove that contempo- Frazer, Golden Bough, 2 ed. vol. ii, pp. rary influences upon early Christian 318 ff.; Farnell, Cults, vol. v, ch. 5; practices were slight. Harrison, Prolegommena, ch. 10. For 47 Clem. Alex. ed. Stahlin, i., p. 16, the relation between these customs, 18. including baptism or ritual washing, 48 Firmicus Matemus, ed. Ziegler, and the Christian Eucharist and bap- p. 43, 17 and also Clem. Alex, ibid., i, tism, see Lake, Earlier Epistles of St. p. 13, 10. Paul, pp. 384 ff., etc., and Kennedy, 49 Adv. Nat., 5. 19. St. Paul and the Mystery Religions, 44 DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS IN NEW TESTAMENT TIMES the Roman Fratres Arvales in honor of Dea Dia. The minutes of one of the meetings of the brotherhood, as quoted in Hastings, Dictionary of Religion and Ethics, vol. ii, p. 10b, tell how "they feasted upon the young sow which had been sacrificed for expiation, and afterward con sumed the blood." The other phase of ritual eating and drinking is brought out in Paris Papyri, i. 110; iii. 523. Here we have invitations sent out by the priests to sup at the " table of the Lord Serapis, " one meal to occur in the Serapeum, and the other in a private house at 3 o'clock in the afternoon. The god is presented as one of those to be present and to partake of the feasts. The idea of feasting with deity seems to have been common. In the case of Paulina, described by Josephus in the Antiquities, xviii. 18, both she and her husband and friends accepted as a matter of course the fact that she was to sup with Anubis in the temple. Hesiod, again, became possessed when he plucked a few leaves from Mount Hehcon, according to Lucian; but Hesiod him self claims that the spirit came upon him when the Muses handed him a rod of laurel and "a voice imbreathed divine that I might utter forth in song both the future and the past. "60 The imbreathing of a divine incre ment here mentioned by Hesiod appears to have been anything but uncommon among the Hellenistic peoples of the time. "Maddened Ares ewLirvel" an influence "polluting" or affecting the piety of a whole community,61 and Plato claims that the prophets of the Muses "breathed upon" Socrates the "gifts" of his Hterary and other abilities.62 Yet another method of securing possession consisted in the acquirement of the same knowledge as that which was the property of deity. The result was an inteUectual identification with the god. A man became one with deity when he knew the same thing deity knew. This method was emphasized in Gnosticism. Irenaeus preserves items of such esoteric information, which, he says, is supposed to enable its possessor to feel that his "inner man" has been "sent forward to the demiurge," and that he is therefore prepared to escape "from the powers."63 A figurative expression of this view is contained in the Hermetic tract, The Bowl or the Monad, iv. 4, where Hermes tells his son that the highest prize in reach of man is participation in the Supreme Mind (nous) sent down to earth by God in a mighty bowl, with the command to men, "Baptize thyself 30 Lucian, Orator's Guide, 59 ff.; 82 Phaedrus, 262 D. Theog.35ff. *3Ag. Heresies,!. 21.5. 31 Aeschylus, Theb., 330-5; cf. Soph., Ant., 136 ff. DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS IN NEW TESTAMENT TIMES 45 who canst in this bowl, believing that thou mayest ascend to him who sent down the bowl." Baptisms and ceremonial washings were also regarded as effective. A part of Lucian's initiation into the mysteries of Isis consisted of ablution and sprinkling.64 Livy mentions similar ceremonials in his description of the Bacchanalia.65 Paris Papyri, No. 47, reads: "we can not die: if you see that we are destined to be saved, then we may proceed to baptism, " and an inscription tells us that one who undergoes the baptism of the taurobolium is in aeternum renatus?* These examples show not only that the sphere in which possession operated included practically all the interests of Hfe, but also that when possession was deemed desirable means were present for securing that end. On the other hand, it was possible to prevent a person from coming thus into the control of supernatural agencies, or, if one were already in that state, to relieve him of his difficulty. General discussions of demon- ology may be found in the articles on exorcism, possession, demons, and kindred topics in the various dictionaries and encyclopaedias. The article "Magia" in Pauly's Real Encycl. d. class. Alt. iv., pp. 1377 ff. is especiaUy valuable. Conybeare touches phases of the matter at various places in Myth, Magic, and Morals, and in vols, viii and ix. of the Jewish Quarterly Review he presents a series of papers on "The Demonology of the New Testament. " T. R. Glover has a discussion on "The Daimon- Environment of the Primitive Christian," in the Hibbert Journal for 1912-13, vol. xi, pp. 153-167. Chapter v of Jane Ellen Harrison's Prolegommena is of great value here in pointing out that the notion of possession by evil spirits, and of guarding against them, is present in practically all stages of Greek thought from the eariiest times. Demos thenes in De Corona relates that the mother of Aeschines was an exorcist, and Diogenes Laertius, in book x. 3, states that Posidonius, Nicolaus, Sotion, and Dionysius Halicarnassus all claimed the same thing with regard to Epicurus, charging "that he used to accompany his mother when she went about the small cottages performing the purifications, and that he used to read the formula." HeaHngs and exorcisms, while both have to do with effects of possession, were perhaps regarded as two distinct fines of professional activity. Healings were frequently con summated by touching or anointing.67 It does not seem that formulae 84 Apuleius, Metam., xi. 20. widely the healing power of the hand se xxxix. 9. was believed in by Greeks and Romans. 88 Corp. Ins. LaL, vi. 510. See also Behm, Die Handauflegung in 87 Weinreich, Antike Heilungswun- Uhrchristentum, u.s.w., Leipzig, 1911. der, Geissen, 1909, shows how 46 DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS IN NEW TESTAMENT TIMES and sacred names were used to any great degree by healers, while, on the other hand, both were largely employed by exorcists. Celsus, in Origen's Contra Celsum, vifi. 58, says that the Egyptians "tell us that thirty-six (some say many more) demons or divinities of the air have allotted among themselves the human body, which is supposed to be divided into a corresponding number of parts, and that each has taken one of these parts under his own peculiar charge. And they know the names of the demons in their native tongue, such as Chnumen, Chachu- men, Knat, Sikat, Biu, Eru, Erebui, Ramanor, and Reinanoor, or what ever else they may be caUed. By invoking these they cure the ailments of the different members of the body." Here the name of a spiritual agency is employed for the purpose of exorcising a less powerful agency. In Milligan's Greek Papyri, No. 47, p. 113, an interesting formula is found. It begins: "A notable spell for driving out demons," and con tinues: "Hail Spirit of Abraham, hail Spirit of Isaac, hail Spirit of Jacob . . . drive forth this devil from this man, and the unclean demon of Satan shall flee before thee. ... I adjure thee, demon, whoever thou art, to come forth." Deissmann, in Light from the Ancient East, p. 132, quotes an inscription iUustrating the method of healing by anointing: "To Aper, a blind soldier, the god (Aesculapius) revealed that he should go and take blood of a white cock, together with honey, and rub them into an eyesalve, and anoint his eyes . . . and he received his sight and came and gave thanks publicly to the god." Thus it is apparent that when possession by spiritual agencies was deemed undesirable, means were at hand for rectifying the situation. Among the Hebrews the matter of divine possession presents the same general characteristic as those found in the HeUenistic world. The book of Genesis opens with the statement that the spirit of God moved upon the face of the deep. Spiritual agencies of various sorts and of varying degrees of importance meet us on nearly every page of the Old Testament. Nor is the extra-Old Testament Jewish Hterature an exception to this rule. Both the Book of Enoch, and the Book of Jubilees present to us organized hierarchies of such beings. In chapters 6-12 of the former, wicked spirits are fallen angels, and the righteous angels, having retained their original state, serve as agents in meting out punishment to them. In the latter, good and evil spirits afike regularly interfere with the course of human affairs, inciting men to good and evil deeds. DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS IN NEW TESTAMENT TIMES 47 According to Acts 23:8 the Sadducees seem to represent the only circle of Jewish thought which denied the existence of a multiplicity of spiritual agencies. The same source states that the Pharisees affirmed their reality, and in the War, ii. 8.7, Josephus informs us that Essene novices were made to swear "to preserve . . . the names of the angels. " Spiritual beings such as these came into immediate contact with men in two ways. In / Sam. 16:16 an evil spirit from God is "upon" (^n) Saul, and the same preposition is employed in Isa. 61:1 of the spirit with which the prophets are inspired. Possession occurring in this way is described by terms indicating suddenness and violence. The spirit "comes upon," "comes mightily upon," "falls upon," and "descends and rests on" people,68 enveloping them about, apparently as a more or less abiding possession. On the other hand, the spirit sometimes operated upon a man by act ing from within. In I Sam. 10:10 and 18:10 it "passed into" or "pro ceeded into" Qrpy) Saul- In Ju Acts, 2:14 ff.; 16:16; 7 Thess., Acts, 5:3; Eph., 6:11; cf. Acts, 26:18; 1:5; 7 Cor., 2:4 ff.; 12:8 ff. II Cor., 2:11. 80 7 Cor., 12:10. DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS IN NEW TESTAMENT TIMES 53 came into contact with an individual, the result was "life." "if Christ is in you," says Paul in Rom. 8:10, "the body is dead ... but the spirit is life ... if the Spirit dwelleth in you, he that raised up Christ Jesus from the dead shall give life also to your mortal bodies ..." In the Apocalypse, 11:11, we are told of bodies dead three days and a half which were raised to Hfe when a"spirit of life from God entered into them." In Jn. 6:63 the spirit "giveth Hfe"; in Galatians 2 :20 Christ "liveth" in Paul; and in I Cor. 12 :4 Christ is described as " a life-giving spirit. " The view is summed up in 77 Cor. 5:17: "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature." The "newness" consists in the effect produced by the ac quirement of a divine increment foreign to man by nature. Before possession occurred, man was simply man ; after it had taken place, man was man plus a supernatural insert which henceforth became a constituent part of his being. He was now a "new creature, " a Spirit-man, a Christ- man, a God-man, a compound of the divine and the human. Thus par taking of the nature of deity, it was inevitable that man's life should be in kind like deity's; that is, immortal. The effects of possession for the Christians of the New Testament period were thus felt in every sphere in which their interest centered, in the state of their bodily health, in their Hfe as individuals and as a com munity, and in the realm of their eternal destiny. Christians had at hand various methods of securing possession when desirable. In Jn. 14:16 the spirit is to be sent upon the community in response to Christ's prayer; in Lk. 11:13 it is stated that the Father will "give the holy spirit to them that ask him." In Jn. 20:22 Jesus "breathes (the spirit) into" his disciples, which term is regular classical Greek usage for the blowing of the breath into a flute. The formalized account of the occurrences on the day of Pentecost presented in Acts 2 :1 ff . seems to imply that the spirit was poured out upon the community while it was engaged in some form of worship, possibly prayer. It is possible that Paul associated his reception of it with his so-called con version.81 It took possession of others while they Ustened to Christian preaching,82 and still others underwent the experience at the laying on of hands.83 To hold a faith consisting of the items, Jesus is Lord, and God raised him from the dead, undoubtedly in the mind of Paul went a long 81 Acts, 9:1 ff.; Gal., 1:15, 16. 83 Acts, 8:14 ff.; 9:17; 12:12 ff. 32 Gal., 3:2; 7 Thess., 1:6; Acts, 10:44; 11:15. 54 DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS IN NEW TESTAMENT TIMES way in establishing the union between man and deity resulting in salva tion. According to Jn. 20:30 a faith of simUar content is productive of "life": "... these things are written that ye may beheve that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God; and that believing ye may have life in his name. " Baptism and the Lord's Supper also played an important part. The synoptic gospels relate that the spirit came upon Jesus while his baptism was in progress. In Acts 2:38, as well as in I Cor. 12:12 ff., its reception is closely associated with baptism. In the latter passage the rite is realistically described as an actual "drinking" of the spirit. Christians, all of whom are baptized "in one spirit," possess a common bond uniting each to the other and aU to deity, namely, the divine potency absorbed in undergoing the baptismal rite. The efficacy of the Lord's Supper was no less real. The view of the Pauline circle on this question is set forth in I Cor. 8 :1-13 and 10:16-28. While commentators on these passages are somewhat at variance, a fair interpretation is that Paul beheved that spiritual potency could be secured by partaking of food at the table of deity, just as his gentile and Hebrew contemporaries held. In fact, this assumption underfies the entire argument. Paul does not raise the question whether such agencies may thus be taken into the system; he takes this for granted and is of the opinion that his readers hold the same presuppositions. The matter uppermost in his mind is, when one partakes of spiritual potency in this way, what kind of a divine increment is he absorbing? Is the spiritual agency good or bad? Paul's answer is categorical: in the communion meals partaken of with idols evil spiritual agencies are introduced into the communicant, but in eating at the "table of the Lord" the potency secured is of a beneficial sort. The former produces sickness and death; the latter results in life. One could perhaps become possessed against his will. In I Cor. 5 :5 Paul speaks of "defivering" a person over to Satan "for the destruction of the flesh, " reminding one of the reference above quoted from Deissmann. In common with the Jews and the Graeco-Romans, Christians were able to rid themselves of spiritual agencies if their influence was regarded as detrimental. In the synoptic gospels Jesus became possessed at baptism of a spirit more powerful than all other spirits, and is thus in a position to employ a superior power against inferior ones. The demons recognize the situation and are in most cases tractable. The Jews accuse Jesus of using the spirit of Beelzebub in his exorcisms,84 but Mt. 12:28 3iMk., 3:29; ML, 12:3, 16; Lk., 12:10. DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS IN NEW TESTAMENT TIMES 55 makes Jesus say it is the spirit of God, while the parallel in Lk. 11:20 states that it is the finger of God. Many Christians found the name of Jesus exceedingly effective in this connection. In Acts 3:6 Peter em ployed it in exorcising a demon of lameness, and in 16:18 ff. Paul finds it effective in driving out a spirit of divination. When the name was used by those not authorized to employ it, the results were sometimes disas trous. Thus the strolling exorcists of Acts 19:13, when they attempted by it to eliminate a demon, found it, to say the least, ineffective in their hands. This circumstance convinced many at Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks, of the power resident in the name, with the result that " the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified." CHAPTER VI The Prophet The prophet constituted one of the principal channels through which supernatural manifestations came to the people of the Mediterranean world. In the social economy of the time the prophet fiUed an important and honored place. Strabo, xvi. 2.39, says that the ancients, as well as the people of his own day, entertained for them a feehng of respect, and that among the Hindus, Persians, Assyrians, Greeks, and Romans they were so highly regarded as to be thought worthy of thrones. Numerous references in Hterature from Homer downward look in the same direction; and with this generally complimentary attitude corresponds the estimate of Plato, in the Phaedrus, 245 A, to the effect that prophetic madness, instead of being evil, "is a divine gift and the source of the chief est blessings granted to mankind," and that, in particular, the prophetesses at Dodona and Delphi "have conferred great blessings on Hellas." The regard of the ancient world for its prophets was of course rooted in the notion of their value to -society. This value lay in the fact that the prophet was the medium by means of which deity transmitted to men information not otherwise obtainable. The prophet was the official spokesman or mouthpiece of deity. Owing to the existence of a special relation between him and the supernatural powers, he was in a position more readily than other men to secure this information. Two ways in which the prophet came into possession of exclusive knowledge may be distinguished: he was taught of God, or possessed by God. In the first instance, he entered into the presence of deity and by a species of personal communion obtained the information which the heavenly powers desired to give to men; in the second, deity either attached himself to the prophet externally or entered into him, the connection being such that the prophet speaking became deity speaking. It is not to be supposed that clear distinctions between these two ways in which the official spokesmen of deity secured their information can always be made, or that in the minds of the ancients such lines of demarca tion were in aU instances drawn. DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS IN NEW TESTAMENT TIMES 57 The prophet taught of god was exceedingly familiar both among the Graeco-Romans and among the Jews. "By the advice of the goddess Egeria" Numa "taught them (the Romans) sacred rites and ceremonies and the whole worship of the immortal gods . . . instituted the pon tiffs, augurs, Salii, and other sacerdotal offices . . . divided the year into twelve months, and the days into those for legal business and for vaca tion . . . appointed the sacred shields and the image of PaUas, as certain secret pledges of empire; and ordered the temple of double-faced Janus to be the symbol of peace and war . . . assigned the fire of Vesta to the care of virgins, that its flame might constantly burn, in imitation of the stars of heaven, as a guardian of the empire ... in process of time he brought that uncivifized people to such a condition that they managed with piety and justice a government which they had acquired by violence and oppression."1 The notion that information productive of all the arts of civifization thus came to men through divinely instructed media tors, was current in the Mediterranean world. Sometimes, however, the prophet taught of deity was not accredited with the handing down of knowledge as comprehensive in scope as this. In many instances bis work consisted in the transmission of some specific item of information. Typical of the prophet mediating a particular body of instruction is the figure of the ancient lawgiver. Moses received his legislation directly from the hand of Yahweh him self, and passed it on to the Hebrews. In an earHer age, Hammurabi transmitted to his people a body of laws which Shamesh the Sun God had dehvered to him, as the Babylonian ruler himself tells us in fines 95 ff . of the epilogue of his famous Code. Pictorial representations of Shamesh in the act of handing the completed roll of law to the king formed a favorite subject in Babylonian art. A reproduction of a Babylonian artist's conception of the transaction may be seen in the frontispiece of Harper, Code of Hammurabi. So also Zoroaster holds converse with Ahura Mazda and secures from him information beneficial to the ancient Persians, according to the Zend-Avesta, Yasht 13.1 and 20 ; 8.57 ; Vendidad, 19.11-26. On one occasion, recorded in Yasht 17. 17-22, the goddess Ashi Vanguhi met him, and Zoroaster, leaning against her chariot, was instructed at length on various subjects relating to the pubUc good. The people of the Graeco-Roman world, were Hkewise acquainted with the divinely instructed mediator of law. Strabo, writing probably 1 Florus, Epitome, i. 2. 58 DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS IN NEW TESTAMENT TIMES in the time of Augustus, states that more respect was entertained for divine than for human law, and that Delphi and Dodona were depended upon for legislation. He further informs us that Minos, entering into the presence of Zeus, received from him a body of law and passed it on to the Cretans.2 Herodotus, i.65 , relates a similar transaction in reference to Sparta. Lycurgus went to Delphi to consult Apollo. The god told him through the pythoness that he entertained strong suspicions that Lycurgus himself was divine and "dehvered to him the entire system of laws which are still observed by the Spartans." In like manner Apollo gave Solon laws for Athens, and Numa was divinely taught concerning his legislation for Rome.3 Christians of the New Testament period regarded Christianity as a "royal" or "regal" body of "law,"4 as a new covenant displacing the old.6 They likewise presented Jesus under the aspect of a new and divine ly instructed lawgiver, in contradistinction to the lawgivers of ancient times. Jesus was worthy of more honor than Moses,6 for the reason that, while Moses mediated the old law, Jesus transmitted a new covenant of "grace and truth."7 This contrast between Jesus and the ancients is made especially prominent in such places as Mt. 5:20, 22, 26, 28, 32, 34, 39, 44, where the regular formula, "it was said to them of old time, but I say unto you, " sets up the authority of Jesus in opposition to that his predecessors. It is also worthy of note in this connection that, just as the law of Moses was given in five books, so the new "law" of Jesus is in Matthew's gospel presented in five sections, each closing with the set phrase, "when he had finished these sayings" or "parables" or "teach ing" (7:28; 11:1; 13:53; 19:1; 26:1). The term Xoyos is frequently employed to designate the utterances of Jesus,8 and the same expression is used by classical Greek writers not only to denote a divine revelation, as in Plato, Phaedo, 78 D, but also in reference to responses made by the oracles, as in Pindar, Pythian Odes, iv. 105 (cf. Plato, Phaedrus, 275 B). In a similar manner emphasis is placed upon his Sidaxv- It is "new" and "amazing," is administered with "authority, "and is not his own but has been given him directly by God.9 2 Strabo, xvi. 2. 38, 39. » ML, 15:2; 19:11, 22; 28:15; 3 Plutarch, Solon, 14; Numa. 4; Mk., 7:29; 8:32; 9:10, 32; 10:22; Lk., F\orus,ibid.,i.2. 1:29; 2:17; 9:45; 18:34; Jn., 4:37, 42; 4 Jas-> 2:8- 6:60; 7:36, 40; 8:51; 15:20; 18:19; 19:8; 'Rom., 9 -A; Gal, 1:21. 21:23, etc. 6 Heb., 3:3. , m 1:22 27 j 7.15.17_ 7 Jn., 1:17. DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS IN NEW TESTAMENT TIMES 59 The prophet possessed by deity differs from the prophet taught of deity in that, while the latter's work often consisted in a single act, such as mediating once and for all a specific body of laws or the knowledge necessary to produce a civilization, the work of the former, theoretically at least, never ceased. Prophetic possession, inasmuch as it was of a more or less permanent nature, enabled the prophet to act as a continuous channel of divine communication. In the chapter on divine possession we considered the process by which such a prophet is made. In the present chapter our concern is with the possessed individual in his speaking function. The prophet speaking played two conspicuous parts in the life of the ancient world, both of which may be regarded as speciaHzed phases of his more general task of acting as the mouthpiece of deity in the transmission of exclusive information. The prophet exhorted and predicted. Looked upon as a predictor of the future, the prophet may be regarded not only as bringing revelation down to date but as actually carrying it forward into the future. It must not, however, be supposed that preaching and fore telling the future were functions limited to this second class of prophets. On Graeco-Roman soil the prophet speaking was met with on nearly every hand. The Iliad, i. 59 ff., relates that the Greeks, alarmed at the obstacles Apollo was heaping in their path, called upon Calchas the seer for an explanation of that "which with such deadly wrath Apollo fires." Calchas is described as "some prophet, or some priest, or some wise vision-seer ... the chief of seers, to whom were known the present and the future and the past," whose "mystic art" is "Apollo's gift." In making answer to Achilles' request, the prophet, speaking on behalf of the god, makes the Greeks promise to restrain all violence if the truth to be forthcoming should happen to be unpleasant. With this assurance granted, Calchas," the unerring prophet," with conviction points out that it is not for neglected ritual acts, such as sacrifice, that the deity is incensed, but that his wrath is wholly due to the fact that a maiden had been wrongfully abducted. "On this account," announces he, "the Far-destroyer sends this scourge and pestilence, and yet will send; nor shall we cease his heavy hand to feel, till to her sire we give the bright- eyed girl, unbought, unransomed. ..." The pronouncement of the prophet caused consternation, not to say the violent denunciation of him by Agamemnon, who desired to keep the girl. Yet it was decided to send her back to her father. A feature of the proceeding is the " thus 60 DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS IN NEW TESTAMENT TIMES saith ApoUo" spirit in which Calchas, conscious that his advice will cut across the grain of prevaifing opinion, nerves himself fearlessly to bear the storm of denunciation which his words call forth. In this instance the predictive and hortatory elements are blended; in some examples to follow prognostication predominates. Suetonius relates that two prophets fore told the future of the Emperor Augustus. " Upon the day he was born, the senate being engaged in a debate on Catihne's conspiracy, and Octavius (the future emperor's father), in consequence of his wife's being in child-birth, coming late into the house, it is a well-known fact that PubUus Nigidius, upon hearing of his coming so late, and of the hour of his wife's delivery, declared that the world had got a master. " Later in the emperor's Hfe, together with a friend, he visited Theogenes the astrologer in his gaUery on the roof, and Theogenes foretold his coming elevation to divine rank.10 Lucan, in the Pharsalia, vii. 192 ff., relates that at the very moment the battle between Caesar and Pompey was in progress at Pharsaha, an augur "sitting on the Euganean hill" near Patavium, now Padua, exclaimed: "The critical day has come, a com bat most monstrous is being waged, the impious arms of Pompey and Caesar are meeting." According to Sallust, Jugurthine War, 63, 64, 73, and 84, a prognosticator correctly foretold to Caius Marius the for tune which was to befall him. While he was at Utica, assisting Metellus against Jugurtha, the prophet stated "that great and wonderful things were presaged to him and that he might pursue whatever designs he had formed, trusting the gods for success; and that he might try fortune as often as he pleased, for that all his undertakings would prosper ... an ardent longing for the consulship possessed him," and, although lack of noble family was in the way, he persevered through all obstacles, left Africa, won his way in Rome, and finally "the consulship, after a lapse of many years" was given to him, and he was also made commander in the war against Jugurtha, Metellus being recalled. Philostratus, in chapter two of the first book of his Life of Apollonius of Tyana, relates that Socrates, in virtue of his demon, was looked upon by many as a foreteller of future events, and that Anaxagoras, while at Olympia, pro phesied on a clear day a shower which a little later occurred, foretold the falling down of a house some time before the event, and that, in "pre dicting that day would turn into night and that stones would fall down 10 Suet. Aug., 94. DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS IN NEW TESTAMENT TIMES 61 from heaven about the river Aegos, he told true. " Apollonius himself also was able to predict the future. In chapter sixteen of the same book Philostratus relates that, upon his arrival in Babylon with a companion, he immediately proclaimed that their stay in that place would be one year and eight months, and that the result was in accord with the prog nostication. Hesiod, who, as we have noticed elsewhere, claimed the Muses had endowed him with the prophetic gift, foretells, in lines 174 ff. of Works and Days, the future of the fifth race of men. Other poets, especially those of the Roman world just prior to the rise of Christianity, were deeply concerned in prophesying a coming defiverance from the evils of the day. Virgil, addressing Pollio, wrote in the fourth Ecologue: "While thou art consul, this glory of our age shall dawn." The poet looked for the coming of relief in the person of a divinely-sent ruler whom he calls " the mighty seed of Jove." Under his sway the "earth . . . shall pour forth everywhere without culture ... the goats of themselves shall convey homeward their udders distended with milk . . . the serpent shaU perish. " The new ruler shall " bring peace to the world, " and Virgil prays that soon he may enter his "great heritage, for the time is at hand. "ll Some years later, when Virgil wrote the Aeneid, he seemed to feel that his prediction was finding its fulfilment in the career of Augustus. In lines 788 ff . of the sixth book he says : " This, this is the man whom you have often heard promised to you, Augustus Caesar, offspring of a god, who shall establish a golden age in Latium, through those lands where Saturn reigned of old. " And then follows a prognostication of Augustus' career, which is far to overshadow that of Bacchus or Hercules. Prognostication in relation both to individuals and to society often played a more immediately effective part than in the instances just enumerated. Croesus, when he became apprehensive of the growing power of the Persians, consulted numerous prophetic shrines, among them Delphi, Dodona, and Ammon, as to how the menace could be averted, and " at the receipt of the oracular replies" he "was overjoyed, feeling sure that he would now destroy the empire of the Persians." The Lacedaemonians, on the advice of the Delphian prophetess, on one occasion sent an army to Athens to drive out the Pisistratidae, "albeit they were bound to them by the closest ties of friendship, for they es teemed the things of heaven more highly than the things of men."1 " cp. Tibullus, i. 3; cf. i. 11. 12 Herod, i. 46-54; v. 63. 62 DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS IN NEW TESTAMENT TIMES When Hannibal was threatening Rome and all Italy, the senate, according to Livy, xxiii. 11, obtained by messenger information from Delphi which would enable them to save the state. The same shrine often imparted valuable advice in matters of colonization. Callimachus, in fines 53 ff. of his Hymn to Apollo, mentions a fist of seven or eight cities founded at the direction of this deity. Lucan remarks that while the help of Apollo was highly regarded in the matters of stopping pestilence, giving protection in war, and making the earth to yield, the information granted to prospective emigrants was one of his main claims to recognition.13 Prophets also granted information which was valuable in the case of sickness. Plutarch relates that Telesilla, a resident of Argos, "had a sickly body; she sent to consult the oracle concerning her health; answer was made that she must become a servant of the Muses ... she obeyed . . . applying herself to poetry and music, and her distempers left her . . . " to such a degree that later she led an army of her fellow- citizens and "beat off Cleomones with the slaughter of many of his men."14 While the information derived from prophets thus frequently related to political matters and to those immediately affecting the life of the individual, direction from them was also regarded as valuable in the sphere of religion. As an illustration of this may be cited the installation of the Cybele-Attis cult at Rome, on the advice of the prophetess at Delphi.15 Prophetic women were by no means unusual. Several are mentioned, for example, in Pausanius, x.12.5, and another in Tacitus, History, iv.61; cf. Germ. 8. As was noticed above, in the case of Calchas the seer, prognostication can not at all points be separated from the second main function of the speaking prophet, namely, exhortation or preaching. In the first cen tury, however, this phase of prophetic activity was especially marked on Graeco-Roman soil. The philosophic missionary of the period is the classical exponent of this form of activity. His message was essentially a message of reform, sometimes of society as a whole, sometimes of the individual, and often of both together; but wherever the emphasis chanced to be placed, his concern was with the evils from which man suffered and with the means whereby release could be secured. In general, it may be said that the philosophic preacher pointed out to man 13 Pharsalia, v. 102 ff. " Livy, xxix, 10 ff . 14 The Virtues of Women, 4. DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS IN NEW TESTAMENT TIMES 63 God's will for him and for the world, drew a striking contrast between Hfe as man was living it and as God desired him to live it, and urged in hortatory discourse that the individual forsake his evil ways and live the ideal life. This philosophical gospel and its exponents form too large a subject to be discussed here. The student is directed for further information on the point to the chapter on "The Religious Significance of Philosophical Speculation" in Cases's The Evolution of Early Christianity, and to the first three chapters of book three of Dill's Roman Society from Nero to Marcus Aurelius, entitled respectively "The Philosophic Direc tor, " "The Philosophic Missionary, " and " The Philosophic Theologian. " Valuable material may also be found in Arnold's Roman Stoicism and in Zellar's volume on the Stoics and allied schools. Typical of all these philosophical preachers was the Cynic-Stoic exhorter. The true Cynic preacher is " a messenger sent from Zeus to men" to tell them that they have wandered far from the right way and are seeking happiness where it can not be found. He is " the pedagogue of the public" to lead men to God. True preaching lay not alone in exhortation by word of mouth but in example and precept also. The true Cynic could point to himself as without home or wife or children, without a city, without possessions, with nowhere to lay his head, having forsaken all to foUow an ideal. He may have no part in the government of an earthly state, because, as a "spy and herald" of God whose business it is to rebuke men, the concerns of temporal administration are of less importance than the moral fortunes of the whole commonwealth of man. He wiU love those who despitefuUy use him; he wiU be a brother to all; he will take pride in the strength of his physical body, which is the gift of temperance and of long days passed under the open sky. Above all, he will have a conscience clearer than the sun, so that, at peace with himself and having a confident assurance of the friendship of deity, he may speak with all boldness to a needy world.16 How widely this message was being preached at the beginning of our era a reading of the discussions cited above will show. Even a Lucian, who held a Cynic in contempt and sought to discredit him whenever occasion offered, furnishes testimony not only to the fact that multitudes rushed to hear these moral preachers but also that their influence was very great.17 Their courage in denouncing sin is almost startling. Once, 18 Epictetus, Diss., ii. 22; cf. Dill, 17 Lucian, Death of Peregrinus, 3, op. cit. pp. 259 ff. 4, 5, 6, 7, etc. 64 DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS IN NEW TESTAMENT TIMES when Titus was in the theatre, with the Jewess Bernice by his side, a Cynic preacher gave voice in a long and bitter denunciation to popular feehng against the shameful union. This Cynic John the Baptist got off with only a scourging,18 but a comrade named Heros repeated the experi ment and lost his head, while on another occasion Peregrinus for a similar attack on Antoninus Pius was quietly warned by the authorities to retire from Rome.19 While Philostratus' Life of Apollonius of Tyana may be a romance, there yet may be behind the narratives it contains a basis in fact to give it probability, and the preaching, at least, of ApoUonius seems to belong to the world of reality. He had a conception of a unique and mystic relation with God which undoubtedly accounts for the assurance with which he dehvered his message.20 He preached a higher morafity. From the steps of temples he criticized great audiences for their faults. In the parable of the sparrow who by its twitter called its fellows to a heap of split grain he taught the gospel of brotherly love to the Ephesians; to Smyrna, torn by factions, he preached a revival of public spirit; an Olym pian crowd, intent on racers, boxers, and athletes, he addressed on the subjects of wisdom, courage, and temperance; at Rome under the tyrrany of Nero, he moved from temple to temple, exciting a religious revival by his preaching. One of his texts, as DiU remarks, contains, perhaps, a truth for all time: "My prayer before the altars is, Grant me, ye Gods, what is my due."21 There are on record well-attested cases of conversion as the result of pagan preaching. Polemon, a rich and dissolute Athenian youth, while on his way from some revel, stumbled with his companions into the lecture room of Zenocrates, who was preaching on temperance. The tipsy youth Hstened for a while, and, when conviction struck him, flung away his garland and with it his evil ways. He became the head of the Acad emy.22 ApoUonius on one occasion was the agent through whom a similar change was wrought. A debauched young man of Corcyra came under his influence, and, as a result, was reclaimed to a better life. He is also reported to have accomplished a somewhat similar conversion in the case of his own brother.23 18 Dion Cass., lxvi. 15. 22 Diog. Laer., iv. 3. 1; Dill, ibid., 19 Cited, Dill, ibid., p. 363. pp. 347. 20 Philost., Apoll., Tyana, v. 25. ^ Philostr., Apoll. Tyana, iv. 20, »Ibid., iv. 3, 8, 31, 41; i. 11; iv. cf.i. 10 and 13. iO;Dil\,ibid., pp. 346, 7. DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS IN NEW TESTAMENT TIMES 65 Thus the pagan prophet, whether taught of God or inspired by him, revealed to men the will of deity. He was God's spokesman. Epictetus calls him " the herald and spy" of God, " the messenger of Zeus" to men. And it can not be doubted that the prophets and preachers themselves bore about with them the conviction that God actuaUy spoke in and through them. Just as the Hebrew prophet could say, "Thus saith the Lord," so the pagan in a similarly close relation to deity could exclaim: "Thus hath God ordained."24 On Semitic soil the prophet speaking played an equally important r61e. We are fortunate here in being able to refer to numerous works having to do with the Semitic and Hebrew prophets. Most of the encyclopaedias contain articles on the subject. The reader is referred especially to the one on "The Prophet and Prophecy" in Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible for a treatment of Old Testament prophecy. For a more compre hensive handling of the problem, both in breadth of view and in the amount of space devoted, attention is called to J. M. Powis Smith's The Prophet and His Problems. In this volume Professor Smith considers the Hebrew speaking-prophet in relation to his other Semitic contem- ries and predecessors in the same field, and calls attention to the influence exerted by his predictions and his exhortations in both pohtical and individual Hfe. Much valuable non-Biblical material illustrative of prophecy and prophets in Egypt, Byblos, Pergamus, and Babylonia is here made easily accessible to the English reader. The book is also valuable for its citation of much material contained in French and Ger man and not employed in the text itself for lack of space. A few typical Old Testament cases of predicting the future may be cited. A man of God tells EH his two sons will die on the same day, as they actually did. Samuel teUs Saul that the lost asses have been found. Micaiah ben Imlah predicts disaster for Ahab. Amos foretells the dis grace and slaughter of the family of Amaziah the priest and the exile of Amaziah himself. Isaiah predicts the downfall of Ephraim within sixty-five years, if the text be correctly preserved. It is said that Jere miah foretold the death of his opponent Hananiah within the ensuing year, and that Hananiah died within about two months. Ahijah the Shilonite foretold the exact moment of the death of Jereboam's son Abi- jah. Eiisha predicted the death of Benhadad and the Consequent acces- 24 Xenophon, Cyropaedia, ii. 3. 4. 66 DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS IN NEW TESTAMENT TIMES sion of Hazael his murderer.25 In addition to such predictions of specific events, the prophet frequently announced, often in a more or less vague and cloudy way, general destruction or deliverance. Amos, for example, to quote Professor Smith, "first threatens Israel with a certain fearful, fiery form of destruction" to be inflicted by Yahweh. Later "he seems to have decided on some invading army as Yahweh's agent of destruction. Apparently he expected the blow to fall almost immediately, but Samaria stood about forty years longer. Hosea reiterated the same message of destruction, seeming to vacillate between Assyria and Egypt as the execu tors of Yahweh's wrath. Jeremiah shared the same view in his early ministry, but later came to see that Babylonia was the chosen instrument of punishment in Yahweh's hands. "26 In a somewhat similar manner, according to the story of Josephus, War, vi.6, " one Jesus, the son of Ana- nus, a plebeian and a husbandman, " foretold the destruction of Jerusalem some years before it occurred in 70 a.d. This prophet, while the city was at peace and in the enjoyment of every prosperity, suddenly took up his cry of "Wo, wo to Jerusalem. " "This cry," says Josephus, "was loudest at the festivals, and he continued this ditty for seven years and five months, without growing hoarse, or being tired therewith, until he saw his presage fulfiUed in earnest in our siege. " As the Romans stormed the city, the prophet, still caUing his lament, was kiUed by a stone from one of the engines. In addition to foretelling the future, the prophet on occasion gave advice respecting matters of bodily health. It was thus that Naaman was directed, according to 77 Kgs. 5:17 ff., to bathe in the Jordan. Nor were female prophets wanting among the Hebrews any more than among the Greeks and Romans. Ex. 15 :20 places Miriam in this r61e. Others are mentioned in Judg. 4:4, II Kgs. 22:14; cf. II Chron. 34:22, and 7^.8:3. Luke 2:36 mentions Anna "the prophetess." An interesting reference to the work of the prophet is found in I Mace. 4 :46. When the desecrated altar in Jerusalem was replaced by a new one, the polluted stones fur nished a problem. They finaUy were temporarily disposed of by bury ing, until a prophet should arise who could tell what ought to be done with them. 23 7 Saw., 2:34; 4:11; 10:2; I Kgs., 28 Proph. and His Problems, pp. 22:28; Amos, 7:17; Is., 7:8; Jer., 28: 97 f. 16 f.; 7 Kgs., 14:12, 17; 77 Kgs., 8:10- 15; Smith, pp. 87 ff. DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS IN NEW TESTAMENT TIMES 67 As an exhorter and preacher the Hebrew prophet occupies a place of enviable distinction. Their work in this respect is too familar to require discussion here. Various aspects are illustrated in the famous and courageous "Thou art the man" of Nathan to the adulterous David, in the political activity exerted by EHjah, EUsha, Isaiah, Zephaniah, Eze kiel, Deutero-Isaiah, Haggai, Zechariah, and in the individuafism of Ezekiel, who, like the Cynic preachers of a later age, defined his mission as that of caring for the souls of individuals each of whom sustains his own independent relations to Yahweh.27 Strabo, as was related above, informs us that the people of his own and of preceding ages regarded the prophet so highly as to esteem him worthy of a throne. Christians of the New Testament period seem also to have entertained a similarly exhalted notion of his value. Paul, for example, placed him in the very forefront of important personages in the Christian community, ranking him second only to apostles; and while his direction that women keep silent in church undoubtedly indicates his desire to keep the community free from Christian Sibyls and Pythonesses, there is evi dence that other Christian circles entertained no such scruples.28 The number of prophets in the church must have been considerable. Acts 2:17, basing its conclusion on a passage from the prophecy of Joel, points out that aU Christians, both men and women, shall be prophets. Paul, however, seems to feel that if all Christians attempt to exercise the gift, the discipline of the church wiU suffer, and, accordingly, he urges the Corinthians to be mindful of other charismata as well.29 The "false" prophets mentioned in various places in the New Testament*0 furnish another indication that the desirability of the office invited numbers to assume the role. In addition, we meet with prophets, in quite an inciden tal way, as regular functionaries in some of the larger churches, as in those of Jerusalem and Antioch.31 The New Testament conception of the work of a prophet is brought out in several places. In Lk. 7:39 we are told that a Pharisee who wit nessed the anointing of Jesus' feet decided he was no prophet because he apparently did not know in some occult way " what manner of woman this 28 Eph., 4:11; 7 Cor., 14:34; Acts, "II Sam., 12:1-7; 7 Kgs., 19:16 77 Kgs., 9:1 ff; Is., 7:16; 14:28; 1:2-17 22:1-14; 7 :12-1S:6; Ezek., 3:16-21; 18:4 21:8, 9; .Res., 2:20. 29 7 Cor., 12:4-29. 5:20^ Smith, ' Proph. and His Problems, 3» ML, 7:15; 24:11; I Jn 4:1; pp. 137-208. 13:16; 7 Jn. 4: ; Rev 16:3; 19:20. «M, 11:27; 13:1. 68 DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS IN NEW TESTAMENT TIMES is that toucheth him. " In Jn. 4:19 the Samaritan woman calls Jesus a prophet because he reads the truth about her matrimonial ventures through her He, and in 9:17 the bfind man designates him a prophet because he had opened his eyes. Paul's view of the prophet's place in the community is not so much concerned with these phases of his activity as with his function as an edifier and an exhorter. Yet it may be said that Christians of the New Testament period lost sight neither of the pre dictive nor of the hortatory elements in prophetic activity. The foretelling function of Christian prophets is somewhat prominently brought forward. It is at least partially from this point of view that the writers of the four gospels look upon the work of John the Baptist. He foretells the coming of the Messiah.32 The discourse of Peter, as recorded in Acts 3:12 ff., presents Jesus in the guise of a prophet, and the synoptic gospels in several places put emphasis on predictions made by him. Certain predictive elements, for example, are found in the words of Jesus as recorded in Mt. 10:5-40; and in the eschatological discourse material common. to the three a prominent place is given to the forecasting of the future. Moreover, Jesus is represented as predicting his death by crucifixion in Jerusalem.33 In Jn. 4:50 Jesus' announcement to the nobleman that his son lives, contains, possibly not an element of predict- tion but at least a display of supernatural knowledge. The Magnificat and the Benedictus in the first chapter of Luke have a forward look. Acts 11:28 brings out clearly the fact that the prediction of a universal famine made by the Jerusalem prophet Agabus while on a visit to the church at Antioch actually "came to pass in the days of Claudius." Agabus also, according to Acts 21:11, foretells Paul's coming arrest. Paul also undertook on occasion to give his hearers glimpses into the future. In I Thess. 4:14 ff. he gives his readers a brief outline of what is to occur at the parousia. "This we say unto you," he remarks, "by the word of the Lord. " In II Thess. 2:1 ff. he enlightens his readers still further, presenting more details; and in I Cor. 15:50ff. is another pro phecy on the same general theme. There is Httle doubt that early Christians looked upon the written words of the prophet of the Apocalypse as an accurate description of future events. The prophet as an exhorter and preacher is accorded large place in the New Testament. In Paul's view, as expressed in I Cor. 14:1 ff., this phase 32 Mk., 1:1 ff.; ML, 3:1 ff.; Lk., 33 Mk., 10:32 ff.; ML, 20:17 ff.; 3:16; Jn., 1:26. Lk., 18:31 ff. DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS IN NEW TESTAMENT TIMES 69 of the prophet's work is given chief place among all the various activities of spiritually endowed persons in the church. The prominence accorded exhortation by Paul is due to the fact that he regards "exhortation" as "edifying "to the church. For this reason he would rather that the Cor inthians should prophesy than speak with tongues, for when a man speaks with tongues he speaks only to himself and God, unless he or someone else interpret, but if he exhort, no interpreter is needed, as the voice is not "uncertain," and the church is in consequence edified. In this passage Paul implies that he himself is given to exhortation. "I thank God, I speak with tongues more than you all; howbeit, in church I had rather speak five words with my understanding, that I might instruct others also, than ten thousand words in a tongue. " In various other connections we read of exhortation in connection with prophetic activity. Thus Judas and Silas, sent by the Jerusalem church to the one at Antioch with the de cision of the mother church on the question of the admission of gentiles, "being themselves also prophets, exhorted the brethren with many words " after they had dehvered the epistle.34 In many Christian circles the preaching and teaching activity of Jesus was regarded in this light. Mt. 13:2 ff. refers to an occasion on which Jesus from a boat spake many things in parables to a " great multitude" which " stood on the beach. " The Sermon on the Mount was undoubted ly regarded as a typical discourse of Jesus. Various parts of Paul's epist les are perhaps to be taken as epitomes of his utterances in public address, as for example I Cor. 15:1 ff., which contains a summary of the "gospel" preached to the Corinthians. The Acts is rich in what purports to be specimens of hortatory address delivered by prominent individuals in the early church. Such are Peter's sermon at Pentecost, his address from Sol omon's porch, Stephen's defence, Peter's remarks after his vision of the clean and the unclean, his justification of his conduct before the officials of the Jerusalem church, Paul's sermon in the synagogue at Antioch of Pis- idia, his oration in Athens, his address foUowing his rescue from the Jerusalem mob, and his defence before Agrippa.36 Acts 8:32 informs us that on one occasion Philip used Isa. 53 :7 ff . as a text for one of his exhor tations. It is possible that in the Epistle of James we have preserved a written record of some early Christian preacher's exhortation on ques- 34 Acts 15-34 35Acts> 2:14ff- 3:12fE"; 7:lff" ' 10:34ff.; ll:4ff.; 13:16ff.; 17:22ff.; 22:2 ff.; 26:2 ff. 70 DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS IN NEW TESTAMENT TIMES tions of practical ethical significance. One phase of John the Baptist's work was exhortation to repentance, according to the report of his career contained in the synoptic gospels. The work of the Christian prophet thus concerned itself with the same interests as did that of his contemporaries and predecessors on Hebrew and HeUenistic soil, namely, those of the individual and of the social group in the realms both of their material and spiritual or ethical welfare. CHAPTER VII Portents In a supernaturalistic view of the universe which conceives the relation between deity and the world in terms of providence, all phenomena in nature, from the growth of corn in a field to the movement of the planets, convey, as we have seen in Chapter II, the information that divine forces are at work in nature. In the present chapter we are to consider those events in the external world which, in addition to this general- meaning, have for the beholder a special message of their own. The an cients appfied to these particular occurrences such names as portents, prodigies, omens, and signs. There seems to have been no hard and fixed rule among the Mediter ranean people for determining what events were prodigies or portents and what were not. In so far as distinctions were made, they appear to have been based on the uniqueness of the occurrence: all events in nature were manifestations of supernatural powers, but unique events had a unique and special meaning. The uniqueness of a happening could lie in its own peculiar nature or character, or in the time or other circumstances attending its occurrence. At the same time, many natural phenomena which to moderns present no unusual aspects whatever, such as lightning, were invested with pecufiar significance. A statue which sweat blood would of course at aU times attract attention. Ordinarily such a phe nomenon as the bark of a dog would not demand investigation; but if it occurred as one were about to set out on a journey, or on the morning of the day one were to assume the duties of a new office, the probability was that the gods intended to convey some important information. Deity sent the sign; the only part man needed to play was to interpret it. In general, the people, of the ancient world recognized three more or less distinct classes of portents or signs. There were first those of a celestial character, in which are included astrological and planetary hap penings, and pecuHar aspects of the heavens. A second general group consisted of what may be called terrestrial portents or signs, made up largely of the ordinary phenomena of nature, such as thunder, Hghtning, the flight of birds, the actions of animals, the falling of rain, or the phases 72 DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS IN NEW TESTAMENT TIMES of the growth of plants and trees. Still another kind of omen may be specified, namely, the purely miraculous occurrence, such as shields or statues sweating blood, or the appearance of two moons simultaneously in the daytime. The Mediterranean peoples, of course, made no sharp distinctions, and fines are drawn here only for the purposes of conven ience in the arrangement of material. It wiU be observed in the examples given below that in various instances a given phenomenon could be in cluded in more than one of the above three groups. Celestial signs or portents were of extreme interest to the Greeks and the Romans. Cumont's work, Astrology and Religion Among the Greeks and Romans, certain parts of HalHday's Greek Divination, the chapter entitled "The World Around" in Granger's The Worship of the Romans, and the pertinent sections in Dill and Friedlander, may be cited as worthy of study in this connection. These works make clear the general thesis that the Hellenistic world of the first century, as well as of those preceding and foUowing, held that various phases of the moon, the situation and conjunction of the planets, eclipses, comets, aerolites, halos, etc., all mediated divine knowledge to man. A few typical examples may be given. Among other portents indi cating the Roman subjugation of Egypt about 30 b.c, such as statues frowning and the bellowing and shedding of tears by the bull Apis, " comet stars, " relates Dion Cassius, li. 17, " came frequently into view. " The same author in lxiv.8 tells us that during the time of VitelHus trouble was presaged for the state by the foUowing heavenly occurrences: "a comet star was seen, and the moon contrary to precedent had two echpses . . . people saw two suns at once, one in the west weak and pale, and one in the east brilfiant and powerful." About 79 a.d. "a comet star which was seen for a considerable period" indicated the approaching death of Vespasian; and shortly after the death of Caesar a similar phenomenon indicated to the Romans that he had been elevated to heavenly rank. "A certain star through all those days (those following Caesar's death) appeared in the north toward evening . . . the majority ascribed it to Caesar, interpreting it to mean that he had become a god. " Augustus was so far persuaded of the truth of the information conveyed that "he set up a bronze statue of him with a star above his head."1 But not only was Caesar's deification indicated by the heavenly bodies; before his death the orb of the sun had been pale throughout the whole 1 Dion Cass., lxvi. 17; xiv. 7. DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS IN NEW TESTAMENT TIMES 73 year, pointing to his approaching dissolution;2 and on the very day of his funeral the appearance of a new and strange star acquainted the world with the fact of the exit of one age and the dawn of another.3 Sylla the astrologer a few days before the assassination of Caligula declared that the stars showed "that death would unavoidably and speedily befall him."4 After the murder of Caesar, the elevation of Augustus to the imperial dignity was foretold by the appearance "on a sudden, in a clear and bright sky" of "a circle resembling a rainbow,"6 caUing to mind the statement of Homer, elsewhere quoted in this discussion, that the gods set the rainbow in the sky as a sign to mortal man. Tacitus, History, i.22; Annals, vi. 20, 21; Plutarch, Galba, 23; and various sections in Suetonius, Lives of the Caesars, are typical references indicating the popu larity and importance which the people of the age attached to messages mediated by means of celestial phenomena. Only a few iUustrations of terrestrial portents need be presented. According to Pliny, Natural History, ii.81, the Etruscan Scriptures taught that nine deities sent eleven kinds of Hghtning, of which three came from Jove. Cyrus of Persia, before starting to the relief of his uncle Cyaxeres, hard pressed by the Assyrians, "prayed to Hestia and Zeus and to all the gods of his father's house who had watched over his race . . . he set out for the war and his father went with him on the road. They were no sooner clear of the city . . . than they met with favorable omens of thunder and lightning, and after that they went foward without further divination, for they felt that no man could mistake the signs from the ruler of the gods. "6 To show that Augustus was about to become em peror, lightning struck the tomb of Julia, Caesar's daughter.7 Thunder foretold the death of Titus. As he was offering sacrifice, " loud thunder was heard whfie the atmosphere was serene"; and a little later he died.8 The terrible earthquake at Antioch about 1 14 a.d. , according to Dion Cas sius, lxvm.24, was preceded by violent thunder and "portentiousj winds, " but no one expected that as many evils would come from them. " Other portents were seen in the flight of birds, especiaUy eagles,9 the croak of a 2 Livy, xliv. 37; cf. Pliny, 11. iv. 7 Suet., Aug., 95. j: 9g Hdem., Titus, 10, 11. 3 Servius on Verg. Eel., iv. 46. 9 Plutarch, Alex, the Great, ii. 8; 4 Suet Calig 57. Parallels bet. Greeks and Romans, 35; iIb_ g5 ' Aesch., Persians, 205 ff.; Suet, Aug., 3 Xenophon, Cyropaedia, i. 6. 1. 94, 95. 74 DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS IN NEW TESTAMENT TIMES raven,10 the manner in which chickens eat their food,11 in putting the right shoe on the left foot or vice versa, in the falling of a drizzling rain at the commencement of a journey, at a tree growing out of an opening between stones, in a withered branch's turning green again,12 in the peculiar spattering of blood at a sacrifice,13 and in a dog's finding a man's hand.14 Omens of miraculous character were frequent. Before Caesar was stabbed, the doors of his house flew suddenly open.16 A similarly miracu lous occurrence indicated to Caesar that Augustus was to be his successor. Caesar one day cut down a palm tree. From the root there immediately put out a sucker, "which, in a few days, grew to such a height as not only to equal but overshadow" the original tree "and afford room for the nests of wild pigeons . . . Caesar was chiefly influenced by this prodigy to pre fer his sister's grandson before all others as his successor. "16 Of Caligula it is said: " His approaching fate was indicated by many prodigies. The statue of Jupiter Olympus suddenly burst out into a violent fit of laughter "17 The foUowing list of portents which occurred while Hannibal was ad vancing on Rome, is interesting, as much from the point of view of their miraculous nature as from that of showing the habit of the Hellenistic world of grouping prophetic occurrences. "In Sicily several of the sol diers' darts were covered with flames; in Sardinia the same thing happened to the staff in the hand of an officer going his rounds to inspect the senti nels on the waUs; the shores had been Ht up by numerous fires; a couple of shields had sweated blood; some soldiers had been struck by lightning; an ecfipse of the sun had been observed; at Praenesta there had been a shower of red-hot stones; at Apri shields had been seen in the sky and the sun ap peared to be fighting with the moon; at Capua two moons were visible in the daytime; at Caere the waters ran mingled with blood, and even the spring of Hercules had bubbled up drops of blood upon the water; at An trum the ears of corn which fell into the reapers' baskets were blood stained; at Falerii the sky seemed cleft asunder as with an enormous rift and all over the opening there was a blazing light; the oracular tablets had shrunk and shriveled without being touched, and one had fallen out with the inscription 'Mars is shaking his spear' ; and at the same time the statue 10 Livy, x. 40. « u., Vesp., 5. 11 Ib- IS Id., Caesar, 8. 12 Suet, Aug., 92. u id., Augustus, 94. 13 Id., Calig., 57 . n Id_t CaUgt 57_ DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS IN NEW TESTAMENT TIMES 75 of Mars on the Appian Way, and the images of the wolves, sweated blood; and finally at Capua the sight was seen of the sky on fire and the moon falhng in the midst of rain. "18 Other Graeco-Roman lists of portents, illustrating each of the general classes mentioned above, may be referred to. Livy, xxi. 62, contains an account of those which warned the Romans when Hannibal first descended the Alps to ravage Italy. Tacitus, His tory, v.13, groups the occurrences presaging the fall of Jerusalem in 70 a.d. Suetonius, Vespasian, 5;Caligula, 57, and Dion Cassius, xlv.l, 2, enumer ate those bearing upon several of the early Roman emperors. The writings of the Hebrews and the Jews refer frequently to the in fluence of signs upon the life of both individuals and groups. Yahweh manifests them " either in the depth or in the height. "19 One is given to Hezekiah, but it prevailed not with him, nor are we told what it was.20 Isa. 44:26 says that some "signs" are liars. Jesus criticizes the Jews of his day for seeking after "signs," and Paul reports that "Jews ask for signs. "21 Here also may be distinguished the same three general classes which we discovered among the Greeks and the Romans. According to Gen. 1:14 Yahweh set the "fights in the firmament of heaven" for "signs,"22 and Jer. 10:2 criticizes those who are "dismayed at the signs of heaven, for the nations are dismayed at them. " II Baruch 19:3 condemns transgressors who, in spite of the instruction of the Law and " the spheres which testify ", have gone astray. Isa. 13 :9-13 prefaces the dawning of "the day of Yahweh" with the following phenomena: "the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light, the sun shall be darkened ... and the moon shall not cause its fight to shine ... I will make the heavens to tremble. . . " Accord ing to Amos 8:9 ff., in the day of Israel's punishment the sun shall go down at noon and the earth be darkened in the clear day. In connection with the overthrow of Pharaoh Ezek. 32:7,8, says: " I will cover the heav ens and make the stars thereof dark; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not give its light. All the bright lights of heaven I will make dark over thee, and set darkness over thy land." According to Joel 2:30, 31 the deliverance of Israel is thus to be signalized: "I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood and fire and pillars of smoke; the sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, "Livy xxii i 2i^-> 12:39; 16:4; Mk-> 8:12; >9 Isa., 7:10. Lk., 11:29, 30. 20 77 Chron., 32:24. 22 See E>rlver> Genesis, p. 10, for discussion of this passage, and others. 76 DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS IN NEW TESTAMENT TIMES before the great and terrible day of Yahweh cometh. " Here also must be mentioned the account of the significance of the rainbow, as related in Gen. 9:13, to the effect that it is Yahweh's sign to men that the earth will not again be destroyed by a flood. In Antiquities xvii.6 Josephus relates that "on the very night" when disaster overcame a part of the Jewish seditionists " there was an eclipse of the moon. " A number of what we have termed terrestrial phenomena, or those having to do with more or less natural occurrences, may be instanced. If the destruction of Korah and the other rebellious priests recorded in Num. 16:31 ff. was due to an earthquake or volcanic eruption, it should be in cluded here; whatever may be thought regarding the incident, it is related in the above section as Yahweh's way of indicating his will as to the priest hood, and in Num. 26:10 ff. the whole circumstance is referred to as a "sign. " Josephus, in relating the circumstances in Antiquities iv.4, al though his narrative is at variance with that of Numbers at some points, seems to regard the occurrence thus. He says: "Thus did these men perish, and become a demonstration of the power of God. " Earthquakes, Hghtning, thunder, thick cloud, fire and smoke indicate to the as sembled Hebrews that Yahweh has come down into the Mount to deliver the Law to Moses.23 Among the more unusual or miraculous signs conveying information to the Hebrews may be mentioned the foUowing by way of illustration. Yahweh withers Jeroboam's hand and splits his altar as " signs" of his dis pleasure at the king's unlawful institutions. Ahaz is to know that his downfall is at hand when Yahweh gives him as a "sign" the knowledge that a virgin has conceived and shall bear a son.24 As a " sign " that Yah weh will heal him, Hezekiah's shadow was made to return backward ten steps.26 The habit of grouping signs and portents was current among the He brews and the Jews. II Mace. 5:1 ff. relates that at the time Antiochus prepared for his second excursion into Egypt, the foUowing portents of un certain meaning were seen in Jerusalem: "through all the city for the space of almost forty days there were seen horsemen running in the air, in cloth of gold, and armed with lances like a band of soldiers, and troops of horsemen in array, encountering and running one against the other, with shaking of shields, and multitude of pikes, and drawing of swords, 23 Ex., 19:16-18; 20:18-21. a H Kgs_t 20:8 ff. "Isa., 7:14. DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS IN NEW TESTAMENT TIMES 77 and casting of darts, and glittering of golden ornaments, and harness of all sorts. Wherefore every man prayed that the apparition might turn to the good. " Before the fall of Jerusalem in 70 a.d. certain tokens indi cated coming disaster. "There was a star resembling a sword which stood over the city, and a comet that continued a whole year ... at the feast of unleavened bread ... so great a light shone round about the altar and the holy house that it appeared to be bright daytime ... at the same festival a heifer, as she was led by the high priest to be sacrificed, brought forth a lamb in the midst of the temple . . . the eastern gate of the inner court of the temple, which is of brass and vastly heavy . . . opened of its own accord . . . on the one and twentieth day of the month called Artemysius or Jyar . . . before sunsetting, chariots and troops of soldiers in their armor were seen running about among the clouds and surrounding cities ... at Pentecost, as the priests were going into the temple by night . . . they felt a quaking, and heard a great voice, and afterward they hear a sound as of a great multitude saying, 'Let us re move hence.' "26 A favorite theme about which to assemble lists of por tents and signs was the expected end of the age. IV Ezra 5:1-13 deals with this subject. As tokens of the end there are to be, first, general panic and lack of faith, together with an increase of iniquity and a univer sal desolation of the Roman empire. "Then shall the sun suddenly shine forth by night and the moon by day; and blood shall trickle forth from wood and the stone utter its voice; the peoples shall be in commo tion; the outgoings of the stars shall change ... the birds shall take to general flight, and the sea cast forth its fish; and the earth o'er wide re gions shall open, and fire burst forth for a long period; the wild beasts shaU desert their haunts, and women bear monsters; one-year old children shall speak; pregnant women shall bring forth untimely births at three or four months and these shall live and dance . . . suddenly shall sown places appear unsown, and full storehouses empty; salt waters shall be found in sweet; friends shall attack each other. " In 6 :14 ff .the list is continued; and in chapters fifteen and sixteen, as the Ezra Hterature is printed in our ordinary editions of the Apocrypha, or in V Esdras, as it is presented in Charles, Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha, vol. II, pp. 542 ff., tokens of the coming destruction of Babylon are given, among which are included flying clouds, storm, falling stars, earthquakes, fire, sword, hail, many waters, plague, famine, pestilence, anguish, tribulation, and general destruction. 28 Joseph., Antt. vi. 5. 3. 78 ' DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS IN NEW TESTAMENT TIMES In the life revealed to us in the writings of the New Testament we dis cover playing their respective r61es the same three general classes of signs and portents which were operative among gentiles and Jews. Mt. 2:2,7, 9, 10 contains the evidence for the influence of celestial portents upon the thought of early Christians. Here a planetary phenomenon is presented in the light of a divinely sent mediator of information bearing upon the birth and career of Jesus. The magi appear first to have seen it " in the east," and to have recognized at once that it presaged the birth of a " King of the Jews " who was worthy of "worship. " Herod, upon learn ing of the heavenly messenger, was "troubled. " A feature of the account is that the "star" appears to have moved from east to west for the pur pose of guiding the magi to their goal. Finally " it came and stood over where the young child was. " Other early Christian circles beside the one represented by Matthew were influenced by the occurrence. Ignatius, in to the Ephesians, 19, relates the circumstance in somewhat heightened form. His view is that by means of the star Jesus was manifested to the world. "A star shone forth in heaven, above all the other stars, the light of which was inexpressible, while its novelty struck men with astonish ment. And all the rest of the stars, with the sun and the moon, formed a chorus to this star, and its light was exceedingly great above them all. And there was agitation felt as to whence this new spectacle came, so un like to anything else in the heavens. " It is thus apparent that celestial phenomena were playing the same part among early Christians as among their contemporaries and predecessors. Various natural occurrences of portentious meaning may be specified. Darkness and earthquake signified deity's disapproval of the crucifixion of Jesus.27 Luke says, "darkness came over the whole land . . . the sun failing, " which impresses one with its resemblance to the paleness of the sun preceding Caesar's death. Wars, earthquakes, famines, and pestUences are to mark the "beginning" of the "travail" preceding the end.28 Before the end also Christians are to be persecuted, forsaken by relatives, even put to death; Jerusalem is to be surrounded by armies; woes innumerable are to manifest themselves; and a profusion of false prophets and spurious Messiahs are to put in an appearance.29 "Mk., 15:33-28; ML, 27:45-53; 29 Mk., 13:9-23; ML, 24:5-28; Lk., Lk., 23:44, 45. 12-20. *3Mk., 13:8; ML, 24:7, 8; Lk., 21:4-11. DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS IN NEW TESTAMENT TIMES 79 Signs of a miraculous character are given a prominent place. There is of course a miraculous element present in the time of the occurrence of the earthquakes and other phenomena just referred to; but various events miraculous per se may be indicated. The rending of the temple veil from the top to the bottom,30 the parting asunder of the rocks, the opening of the tombs, and the resurrection and appearance among men of the buried saints,31 are all presented as circumstances indicating the attitude of deity to the crucifixion and death of Jesus. Portents of a miraculous nature are also to presage the end of the age. Lk. 21:11 describes them in general terms as " terrors and great signs from heaven. " Mk. 13:24-27, and the paraUels in Mt. 24:29-31 and Lk. 21:25-28, go somewhat into details, but with only indifferent agreement. "The sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall be falling from heaven, and the powers that are in the heavens shall be shaken." To this fist as given in the second gospel Matthew adds: "Then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven; and all the tribes of the earth shall mourn." Luke's account is: "And there shall be signs in sun and moon and stars; and upon earth distress of nations, in perplexity for the roaring of the sea and the billows; men fainting for fear . . . for the powers of the heavens shall be shaken. " Acts 2:14: Q. presents another group of signs which early Christians regarded as in dicative of the end. The list was appropriated from Joel 2 :28 ff. and re fers to such incidents as the pouring forth of the Spirit, general ability to prophesy, "wonders in the heavens above, and signs on the earth be neath, blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke, the turning of the sun "into darkness, and the moon into blood." In the view of Paul, and also doubtless among the Christians instructed by him, the end of the age was to be preceded by two significant events, namely, " the falling away, "and the manifestation "of the man of sin" who is perhaps to be identified with " the lawless one whom the Lord Jesus shall slay with the breath of his mouth. "32 , Christians thus, as did the Graeco-Romans and the Jews, read deity s purposes concerning themselves in various phenomena of celestial, terres trial, and miraculous character; and were given, moreover, as the groups of portents in the gospels, the Acts and Paul indicate, to the habit of com piling and employing lists of propfietic occurrences bearing upon their 38 Mk., 15:37; ML, 27:51; cf. Lk., 31 Afi., 27:51-53 23.M_ ™II Thess., 2:2 ff. 80 DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS IN NEW TESTAMENT TIMES community life. It is interesting to note in addition that a similarity ex ists not only in external form but also in inner meaning. The common message conveyed, especially in the compilations, whether pagan, Jewish, or Christian, was largely one of approaching doom. Interest seems gen erally to have centered on coming disaster. But of course such a dis tinction may not be pressed too far. Deity by means of portents con veyed both to Christians and to their contemporaries information on top ics other than destruction. In fact Christians proved themselves parti cularly skilful in turning to their own advantage even the most dire of omens; certain portents foretold the end of the age, but, according to early Christian interpretation, the very phenomena signafizing the destruction of the world, at the same time presaged the salvation of the Christian community. Portents prophetic of evil for the world at large were indi cative of good only for the Christian. This of course is a point of view different from that of the Roman who read in portents attendant upon Hannibal's invasion not only the destruction of the state but doubtless his own as well. CHAPTER VIII Divination In this chapter we are to consider the practice of securing divine infor mation by "enquiring" of deity. Defined in this sense, divination, as a mode of supernatural manifestation, differs from both the prophet and the portent in this: in revealing himself through prophets and portents, deity takes the initiative; in obtaining knowledge by divination, man makes the first move. The ground common to the three is this : all alike are channels whereby otherwise unobtainable indications of the divine will come to men. Divination is often defined to include certain aspects of prophetic activity and of the interpretation of portents. The reason is apparent. Many portents, although sent by deity for the enfightenment of man, de mand interpretation; thus Calchas, the prophet, interprets the omen of the serpent and the nest of swallows in the Odyssey, ii. 299 ff . Sometimes, also it is difficult to determine whether the omen is sent by deity or pro duced by man. The sacred chickens of the Romans are a case in point. In the present discussion portents from this source have been included un der the head of natural omens, on the ground that it is a perfectly or dinary thing for chickens to eat or not to eat. But with just as good rea son, and perhaps better, they might be classed as a method of divination, as here defined, on the ground that man used them as means for determin ing the divine will. Thus while certain phases of divination intrude upon the realm of the prophet and the portent, in the main the distinction above made holds good. In divination, defining the term strictly, man takes the initiative in securing from deity the information he wants. It may be necessary, in order to obtain it, that man coax, persuade, or even coerce the supernatural powers into action; but in any case man himself uses means to obtain the result. In the transmission of information through prophets and portents, deity sends the messages of his own will and man is concerned in the transaction in a secondary manner only. His task is simply to interpret what is given him. Methods by which deity was consulted were various. It is unneces sary here to attempt to deal with them in detail, especially as numerous 82 DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS IN NEW TESTAMENT TIMES standard works may be cited which treat the matter at length. An ex cellent discussion of the subject, from the point of view of an ethnic phenomenon, may be found in Hastings, Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics, vol. iv, pp. 775 ff., under the title " Divination. " Attention may be caUed particularly to the sections on " Greek, " " Roman, " " Hebrew, " and " Christian " Divination. Divination among the Romans is treated at length in Bouche-Leclercq, Histoire de la divination dans V antiquitie, vol. iv, "Divination italique. " Mommsen's Romische Staatsrecht, 2nd. ed. vol. i, pp. 73 ff., presents an excellent account of the Roman augur, his prac tices, function, etc. Divination among the Greeks is discussed by Halli- day, Greek Divination, and by Bouche-Leclercq, ibid. vols, i and ii. M. Gaster's article on "Hebrew" divination in Hastings, ibid., and the one on "Divination" in the Encyclopaedia Biblica, vol. i, cols. 1117-1121, deal with the Jewish side of the matter. How widespread the practice of " enquiring" of deity was in antiquity, and the methods employed, are of course indicated in the Hterature just referred to. Both points, however, may be touched on briefly in passing, The ancient Egyptians secured answers to their questions by asking the statue of a certain god,1 and Pliny refers to their practice of consulting the bull Apis for the same purpose.2 The Roman Fabius Maximus, before moving his camp from Tarentum to Metapontum, inspected the entrails of a sacrificial victim to learn whether the gods favored the change.3 Ac cording to Ezek. 23:19 ff., the art was practiced by the Babylonians. "The Babylonian king stood at the parting of the way ... to use di vination: he shook the arrows to and fro, he consulted the teraphim, he looked in the liver" in order to determine whether he sould advance upon Jerusalem. Hos. 4:12 ff. states that the Hebrews "ask counsel of their stocks, and their staffs declare it unto them, " and Herodotus informs us, in iv.67, that the Scythians obtained the same result by the use of willow wands. In the same passage reference is made to the use of the inner bark of the linden in foretelling the future. Among the Hebrews the tera phim seem to have been so employed. Zech. 10:2 states that they " speak. " Consultation of spirits of the departed was another method. I Sam. 28:7 ff. describes how, upon Saul's request, the witch of Endor re called the spirit of the dead Samuel, and specifies that among the items of information Saul received at the time was that of his coming death 1 Diodorus Siculus, iii. 5. 3 Livy, xxvii. 16. 15. 2iV.77. viii. 71. DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS IN NEW TESTAMENT TIMES 83 at the hands of the Philistines on the morrow. A similar scene is described by Lucan.4 In compliance with the request of Sextus, Pom- pey's son, a witch recalls the spirit into the body of a soldier slain in bat tle, and information similar to that vouchsafed Saul is forthcoming. Typical of all divination is the practice of consulting deity by lot. Among the Greeks and the Romans it was felt that the process of securing information in this manner was under the especial direction of the super natural powers. Thus when Ajax is selected by the Greeks to do single combat with Hector, the lots are placed in a helmet, and earnest prayer is made to Zeus that he wiU direct the result.6 One of the most popular lot oracles among the Romans was that of Praeneste. Tradition related that it had been established by one Numerius Sufficus at the direct in stigation of deity. So thoroughly was deity interested in the setting up of the oracle that even the oaken lots themselves had been divinely pro vided. A vision directed Numerius to cut open a large stone. Therein "he found certain lots, engraved in ancient characters on oak." The Romans religiously guarded the spot where the discovery took place, and employed the lots in obtaining divine information under the direction of the goddess Fortuna.6 The lot was made to do service in the Graeco-Roman world on various important occasions. A spy reported to Eteocles, King of Thebes, that the seven opposing chieftains, when he left them, "were drawing lots, that each of them, as his place was assigned him, might conduct his com pany up to the gates. "7 The Lesbian founders of Mesogaeum decided by this method which of their seven chief citizens should furnish a daughter to be sacrificed "in honor of Amphitrite and the sea nymphs . . .who it should be was decided by lot and the lot fell upon Smintheus' sister."8 Herodotus refers to the use of the lot in connection with the choosing of a Persian king.9 Cicero intimates that on various occasions the oracle at Dodona was thus consulted, and considerable evidence has been adduced to show that Apollo often thus revealed his will at Delphi.10 One of the most interesting cases of the use of lots for obtaining a divine manifesta tion is recorded by Tacitus, in Annals, i.54. In the time of Tiberius it « Pharsalia, vi. 414 ff. 8 Hut., Banquet of the Seven Wise 3 Iliad, vii. 175; cf. iii. 316; xxiii. Men, 20. ,-2 9 Herod, iii. 83. ' „. „. ¦ ,¦ -At "Cicero ibid., i. 32; Journal of 8 Cicero, Divination, i. 41. l-icuto, «» , > < Aeschylus, Seven Against Thebes, Classical Philology, The Lot Oracle 55-57; cf. 120,373,410. at Delphi," Feb. 1916. 84 DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS IN NEW TESTAMENT TIMES was decided that the rehgious rites of the Sabines, which were fast falling into oblivion, should be preserved. To this end it seemed desirable to combine them with the Roman state refigion. The move necessiated the appointment of twenty-one new priests, who, as representatives of the Sabine ceremonies, were to be incorporated with the members of the sacer dotal coUege. The selections were made by lot from among the most eminent citizens. Some obscurity surrounds the method by which the lots were operated. Cicero states that those of Praeneste in Fortuna's temple were shuffled and drawn out by the hand of a child.11 Horace refers to the custom of using a narrow-necked urn filled with water which allowed one lot at a time to make its appearance at the opening.12 Lucian, in Hermotimus, lines 960 ff., describes at length a somewhat different procedure. Lyci- nus, in his conversation with Hermotimus, asks how the competitors are matched against each other at the Olympic games. Thereupon Hermoti mus relates what he saw "the other day" when he "sat so close" as to "get a good view of everything that goes on. " " There was, " he explains, "a silver urn standing by, sacred to the god, and into this smaU marked lots were thrown, about the size of beans. They were marked in pairs: two with the letter A on each, two with B, two with C, and so on, accord ing to the number of competitors, but always two lots with the same mark. Then each of the contestants came up, and, after prayer to Zeus, put his hand into the urn and drew out one lot, and after him the rest, one after another . . . the Hellenodicae ... set those who had drawn the lot A to contend with each other in the wrestling match or the pancration, and so with the pair who had drawn B, and then all the others in the same way. " Among the Hebrews the apparatus for consulting Yahweh by lot was called urim and thummim. For discussions of the problems in connection with the nature and use of the device, together with citations of the literature bearing on the subject, the reader is referred to the Encyclo paedia Biblica, vol. iv, cols. 5235-37, and to Hastings, Dictionary of the Bible, vol. iv, pp. 838 ff. The Hebrews seem to have held that the in stitution was established by Moses at the command of Yahweh.13 Ac cording to various pasages, it was closely associated with the ephod,14 » Cicero, ibid., ii. 41. "> 7 Sam., 14:41 b; Ex., 28:30; "Odes, II., iii. 25. Lev., 8:8; Num. 27:21. 13 Ex., 28:30; cf. Kennedy, Hast. Diet, of Bib., iv., p. 839a. DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS IN NEW TESTAMENT TIMES 85 and, in the opinion of many modern scholars, when the use of the ephod in divination is referred to, or when the statement " to enquire of Yah weh " is employed, it is to be understood as meaning that recourse was had to urim and thummim.15 Thus we find that Israel with the help of Samuel the priest discovered by lot that Yahweh desired Saul to be king.16 By lot David learned of Yahweh that the men of Kiliah would deliver him up to Saul, that it was the divine pleasure that he should pursue the Amalekites, that the Philistines would be delivered into his hands if he went against them, that he should overthrow a group of his enemies by coming upon them from the rear, and that Yahweh wished him to go up to Hebron where he was later anointed king.17 Israel in the same manner learned that it was the divine will that they should go out and make war upon their brethren the Benjaminites. Light upon the method by which lots were operated is found in the Septuagint version of I Sam. 14:41, which, in the opinion of many schol ars, is the correct text.18 The Philistines are prevailing against Israel and the people enquire of Yahweh whose sin is responsible for the diaster. The parties upon whom suspicion rests are the people upon the one hand and Saul and his son Jonathan on the other. Before the lots were cast, Saul says: "If this sin be in me or in Jonathan my son, Yahweh, god of Israel, give urim ; but if it be in thy people Israel, give thummim. " A variation of the principle of urim and thummim appears to have been used on certain occasions, as in the case of the division of the land among the people, described in Num. 26:55 ff., and in that of the determination of the order in which the sons of Aaron were to render their priestly ser vices, an account of which is contained in I Chron. 24:3-19. The rota tion of the temple doorkeepers, according to I Chron. 26:12 ff., was also determined in the same way. The fundamental difference between the employment of the lot in these connections and the manner in which it was used in urim and thummim appears from the passages cited to He m this, that, whereas urim and thummim were made to serve in distinguish ing between two possible alternatives, in the matter of determining the order of priestly service and similar questions, the principle of the lot was given a wider application. We are told that it was the order of the twenty-four priestly courses which was determined by the lot. It may be ¦3 See Encyclopaedia articles re- 17/ Sam., 23:9; 30:7 ff.; 77 Sam., ferredto. 5:19; 5:23; 2:1 ff. "I Sam 1017 ff. 18 Smith, Samuel, Int. Crit. Com., pp. 121 ff. 86 DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS IN NEW TESTAMENT TIMES that the expression, "the lot is cast into the lap," found in Prov. 16:33, has a bearing upon the matter. But whatever the nature of the pro cedure, or its relation to urim and thummim, it is clear the the practice functioned among the Hebrews in the same way as in the selection of competitors at the Olympic games. The Mischna makes reference to the use of lots in a similar way while the temple was still standing. In Shekalim, v.l, there is mentioned, among other temple dignitaries, one " Mathia, son of Samuel, superintendent of the casting of lots, " and Tamid, i.2; fill; v.2, speaks of apportioning among the priests by means of the lot various desirable activities in connection with the pubhc wor ship of the sanctuary. It is thus clear that the practice of consulting Yahweh by the use of some form of the lot began early among the He brews and continued late. The Christian method of determining the will of deity by lot, as the practice is described for us in Acts 1:15-26, was similar in many respects to that in vogue among the gentiles and the Jews. The membership of the apostolic college is to be made complete. One individual is to be selected. Two candidates are chosen for the honor and deity is to deter mine between them by lot. The prayer used in connection with the transaction, "Thou, Lord, who knowest the hearts of all men, show of these two the one whom thou has chosen, " reveals the same assurance as that of the Graeco-Roman and the Jew that the procedure is under supernatural control. The actual method of manipulating the lots is obscure. A decision was to be made between two persons, reminding one of the use of urim and thummim in selecting one of two possible alter natives; yet it appears that the lots were "cast," a practice which seems to have had no part in the operation of urim and thummim. It is not clear from the text whether the lots were "cast to them, "or "at them," or " for them. " However this may be, the purpose served was identical with that served by similar practices among contemporary peoples. Deity manifested his preference. The whole transaction of thus selecting Matthias as over against his opponent to fiU up the ranks of a religious organization is strikingly like that described by Tacitus, in which twenty-one priests were selected by lot to complete the personnel of the reorganized sacerdotal college. How widely New Testament Christians employed the lot to deter mine the will of deity we have no means of knowing. It is apparent, however, that the lot as a channel for obtaining divine information, had DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS IN NEW TESTAMENT TIMES 87 numerous competitors in Christian circles. Communities possessing a speaking prophet in good and regular standing might be inclined to de pend largely upon him for their revelations. At the same time, it could be said that a community securing its information by the use of the lot, would have little need of a prophet. Yet the various different organs of divine manifestation appear to have existed side by side in the same communities. The early chapters of the Acts, for example, show us that the Christian group there depicted derived oracles from their scripture, from their prophets, and by means of lot. Paul, although on occasion he was able to prophesy, nevertheless depended to a large extent upon the Old Testament for information. We must therefore conclude that some communities emphasized one method and others another, while still others perhaps manifested no particular preference. However this may be, evidence is not wanting which indicates that the early Christian community employed the lot in other connections. The History of Mar Matthew and Mar Andrew19 contains a tradition that the apostles, "after the ascension of our Lord Jesus to heaven, " were overcome with a desire " to go forth and preach . . . and they began to cast lots, and distribute the countries among them . . . and it happened, when they had cast lots, it fell to Matthew the Apostle to go to the city of which the inhabi tants were cannibals. " 19 See Wright's trans, in Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles, 1871, vol. ii.,.p. 92. CHAPTER LX The Inspired Book One of the most important methods by which the ancients obtained manifestations of the divine will was through the agency of the sacred book. Inspired writings, or collections of inspired writings, appear to have been common. We have evidence indicating their possession by the Persians, Babylonians, Egyptians, Etrurians, Latins, Hebrews, Jews, Greeks, and Christians. Details regarding the origin of these sacred books are in many cases lacking, yet in a number of instances there is available evidence suf ficient to enable us with accuracy to determine the mode in which they were obtained. With respect to these instances, it may be said that the writings were regarded as of divine, not of human, origin, and that at least their contents passed from the possession of deity into the posses sion of man. This is the fundamental fact. Sometimes the gods willingly and without compulsion gave such a body of knowledge to man. On the other hand, deity was sometimes unwiUing that man should come into possession of such an advantage, and strategy was necessary to secure it. In other cases, the attitude of the gods seems to have been indifferent; man could, or could not, as he chose, gain for himself a written body of divine information. When deity desired man to come into possession of a sacred book, he sometimes took a heavenly volume and handed it over to man in its completed form. In this way Shamesh gave to Hammurabi his famous code. One Heb rew tradition had it that the whole written book of the Law was thus passed over to Moses; another, that the separate rolls were written in heaven and put into the hand of the Hebrew legislator one at a time. In the case of the inspired book of the Persians, the Zend-Avesta, deity transmitted the contents to Zoroaster, who, having been thus divinely instructed, committed them to writing. The contents of the books of the Hebrew prophets were obtained in the same way. An excellent illustration of wresting a sacred book from deity by trickery is found in DIVINE MANIFESTATIOS IN NEW TESTAMENT TIMES 89 the Egyptian tradition concerning the manner in which mankind came into possession of the famous Book of Thoth. The story is written in demotic on a papyrus found at Thebes in the grave of a Coptic monk. A translation may be seen in Petrie, Egyptian Tales, ii, pp. 89 ff., or in Murray, Ancient Egyptian Legends, pp. 29 ff. Nefer-ka-ptah, son of the king, having heard where the volume was hidden, decided to steal it. "Thoth wrote the book with his own hand, and in it is all the magic in the world. " If one simply read the first page, the knowledge obtained would give him absolute power over all nature, and make him equal in wisdom to the gods; if one also were to read the second page, "even though thou were dead . . . thou couldst come back to earth in the form thou once hadst. " The king's son secured the book, but sacrificed the lives of his wife and child, as well as his own, in the attempt. The volume, however, remained in the possession of mankind. When Thoth learned that his book had been stolen, he "raged like a panther of the South." The written collections of the utterances of various oracular shrines which were made by the Greeks are examples of how man on his own initiative came to be possessed of written divine revelations. Deity furnished the content, but seems to have manifested indifference as to whether or not man preserved it in written form. At Thebes, for example, the matter of collecting and recording such utterances was looked after by the state. Three Theban citizens, "picked men," Herodotus teUs us, were in attendance in the temple of Apollo Ptotis at Ptoum "to take down whatever answers the god might give."1 A case of the miraculous preservation of sacred books may be cited. Numa received from the goddess Egeria divine instruction as to the law and refigion of the Romans.2 In a later age, some farm laborers at work on the land of a public notary, came across two mammoth stone chests, each of which was inscribed both in Latin and Greek characters, one as containing the body of Numa, and the other as containing the books. When the notary examined them, the first was found to be empty, but the second contained two bundles of books, which were not only perfect, but also quite fresh in appearance, recentissima specie. Each bundle contained seven roUs. One set treated of pontifical law, the other of philosophy.3 1 Herod, viii. 135. 3 Livy, xl. 29. 2 Florus, Epit. of Rom. Hist., i. 2. 90 DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS IN NEW TESTAMENT TIMES Much attention was given by the Graeco-Romans to the matter of spurious and authentic sacred writings. Onomacritus of Athens, who had published an edition of the prophecies of Musaeus, was one day de tected by Lasus in foisting into the writings of Musaeus a spurious oracle. The forger was banished from Athens by Hipparchus.4 Typical perhaps of the care bestowed upon all sacred books was that manifested by the Romans for their Sibylline collection. Pausanius and Lactantius enum erate ten Sibyls.5 That they were regarded as actual mouthpieces of deity is indicated by the following words which Pausanius read on the tomb of one of them in the Troad: " Here hidden by stone sepulchre I lie, Apollo's fate-pronouncing Sibyl, I, a vocal maiden once, but now forever dumb. " The Sibylline books of the Romans were held to be the authen tic productions of these prophetesses, and especiaUy of the Cumaean Sibyl. Tradition represented Aeneas as promising the priestess of Cumae to found a college and a priesthood to be entrusted with her books.6 In the time of the later monarchy it was reported that her successor offered her collection in nine books to King Tarquinius Priscus for about fifteen hundred dollars. The king thought the price exorbitant. She burned three of the books and demanded the same amount. Again he refused to buy, and again she burned three of the books. The king thereupon became alarmed, and agreed to pay the full price for the re maining three. The three sacred books were entrusted at first to two guardians; the number was increased to ten in 367 b.c, and to fifteen in the time of Sulla. From this time on those in charge of the books were known as the quindecemviri. They held office for life and were exempt from all civil and military obligations. The books themselves were laid up in a crypt of the great Capitoline Temple.7 This coUection seems to have formed the first canon of the Sibylline books. In 83 B.C., during the war between Marius and Sulla, a conflagration destroyed the city and the volumes perished. A second canon was thereupon formed. "Diligent search," says Tacitus, "was made at Samos, at Ilium, at Erthrae, in Africa, Sicily, and all the Roman colonies, in order to collect the Sibylline verses, whether the production of a single prophetess or of a greater number. "8 Of the same procedure Dionysius HaHcarnassus says: "The oracles which are now extant have been brought together 4 Herod, vii. 6. 7 see Granger, Worship of the Ro- 8 Paus., x. 12; Lact., Div. Inst., i. mans, pp. 176 ff.; Anthon, Class. Diet., 6- 4th ed., "Sibyllae." 8 Vergil, Aeneid, vi. 331 ff » Annals, vi. 12. DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS IN NEW TESTAMENT TIMES 91 from various places, some from the cities of Italy, others from Erythrae in Asia, envoys being sent to transcribe them by order of the senate. Others again were written down by private individuals, among which are many spurious ones. These may be detected by their acrostic char acter."9 A new edition of this second canon was published in 18 B.C. In writing of various activities of Augustus, Dion Cassius says: "The Sibylline verses which had become indistinct through lapse of time, he ordered the priests to copy out with their own hands, in order that no one else should read them. "10 Duly attested additions were admitted to the canon from time to time. The basis of admission was authenticity of authorship. To determine this point the writings seeking admission were subjected to rigid criticism. Tacitus refers only in a general way to the critical process appHed when the second canon was formed. When the verses had been brought together, " the sacerdotal order had direc tions, as far as human sagacity could distinguish, to separate the fictitious from the genuine composition." He goes somewhat more into detail, however, in connection with a book which came up for admission in the year 32 a.d. "A report relating to a book of the Sibyls was presented to the senate by Quinctihanus, a tribune of the people. Caninius Gallus, who was of the coUege of the fifteen, considered this book as the undoubted composition of the Cumaean prophetess; and, as such, desired that, by decree of the senate, it might be enrolled in the proper archives. The question was put and carried without opposition. Tiberius by letter condemned the whole proceeding. The youth of Quinctihanus, he ad mitted, might be an apology for his ignorance of ancient customs; but he observed, and not without asperity, that it ill became a man like Gallus, versed in the science of laws and of religious ceremonies, to adopt the performance of an uncertain author, without having first obtained the sanction of the quindecemviral college, and without so much as reading it, as had been the practice, at a meeting of the pontiffs ... in conse quence of this letter, the book in question was referred to the college of the fifteen. "u It is apparent from this account that the orthodoxy of a book depended upon a pronouncement of the ecclesiastical organiza tion in its favor, and upon an action of the senate which gave it a legal place in the canon. 9 Dion. Halic, iv. 62. " Tacitus, Annals, vi. 12. 10 Dion Cass., iv. 123. 92 DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS IN NEW TESTAMENT TIMES In the case of the above book, we are not told whether it was declared authentic or not. There are on record, however, several instances in which heretical books were dealt with. When Numa's books on ponti fical law and philosophy were discovered, the city praetor made an exam- nation, and finding them dangerous to religion, he had them burnt be fore a public assembly by the hands of the assistants at the sacrifices.12 This was in the year 181 b.c A few years previously, in 213 B.C., Roman orthodoxy was compelled to rehabilitate itself against various forms of heresy. "The Roman ritual was growing into disuse not only in secret and in private houses; even in public places, in the forum and the capitol, crowds of women were to be seen who were offering neither sacrifices nor prayers in accordance with ancient usage. Unauthorized sacrificers and diviners had got possession of men's minds and the numbers of their dupes were swelled by the crowds of country people whom poverty or fear had driven into the city . . . respectable citizens protested . . . formal complaint was made to the senate. The aediles and commis sioners of police were severely reprimanded by the senate for not pre venting these abuses ... as the mischief appeared too much for the in ferior magistrates to deal with, M. Aemilius, city praetor, was entrusted with the task of delivering the people from their superstitions. He read the resolution of the senate before the assembly and gave notice that all those who had in their possession manuals of prophecy, or forms of prayer, or sacrificial ritual in writing were to bring all their books and writings to him before the first of April. "13 In the time of Augustus Roman or thodoxy was again compelled to take drastic measures against heretical books. As soon as the emperor became pontifex maximus, he "caused aU prophetical books, both in Latin and Greek, the authors of which were either unknown or of no great authority, to be brought in; and the whole collection, amounting to upwards of two thousand volumes, he com mitted to the flames, preserving only the Sibylline oracles. "14 It is also reported that L. Petillius for the same reason publicly burnt certain Greek books as endangering the refigion of Rome.16 The usages to which the books were put touched various departments of life. The assumption in their employment was that deity was ready and wiUing to help men and that from the books could be obtained the information necessary to make the help effective. It was thus that de- " Livy, xl. 29. " Suet. Aug. 31. >3 Idem, xxv. 1. is Valerius Maximus, i. 1. DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS IN NEW TESTAMENT TIMES 93 mons and disease were often dealt with. Lucian, in Philopseudes, es pecially 10, 11, and 31, criticizes current views holding that holy names, sacred formulae, and adjurations taken from Egyptian and other books were able to cure tumors and fevers, drive away reptiles, and expel de mons. Plutarch relates that the famous Ephesian ypa.np.aTa were used in exorcisms. The magi, he states, commanded the possessed person to repeat the formulae.16 Forecasts of the future were also obtained from the sacred books. Isocrates relates that Thrasyllus, using the books of the seer Ptolemaentus, became a proficient foreteller of future events.17 The maiden forced to prophesy at Delphi attempted to refuse on the ground that the Sibylline books contain the "secrets of the future," and that therefore it is unnecessary to enquire of the god.18 Cicero calls attention to a number of Sibylline prophecies which were fulfilled as the books foretold. Among these were a discoloration of the Tiber by blood, showers of stones, blood, mud, and milk, the destruction by lightning of temples at Tusculum and Rome, and the sack of the city by the Gauls.19 In like manner the prophetic books of Marcius, which the Romans laid up and guarded along with the Sibylline canon,20 prophesied the defeat of the Roman army at Cannae.21 The treason of Tydeus and Adiman- tus, and the resultant disaster for the Athenians at Aegospotamoi, were foretold in the writings of the Sibyl.22 A large part, moreover, was played by the sacred book in furnishing the information necessary to as sure the aid and protection of deity both in individual and pofitical af fairs. Here the assumption that the gods are ready and wiUing to aid men and states comes into especial prominence. The only condition im posed by deity was that men should do the divine wiU. What this wiU was could be learned from the sacred book. It was due to a suggestion of the Sibylline books that the Romans in 204 b.c imported the Cybele- Attis cult from Phrygia to Rome for the purpose of securing divine help against Hannibal.23 At the instigation of the book of the prophet Mar cius the Romans set up the worship of ApoUo in the capital as a provision for securing deity's assistance against foreign foes. In reporting the circumstance, Livy states that the Sibylline books, when consulted, were found not only to be in agreement but to contain minute directions con cerning the proper procedure to be foUowed, and takes occasion to call « Symposium, vii. 5, 4. 21 Livy, xxv. 12; Macrob., Sat., "xix. 5, 6. i- 17- 18 Lucan, Phars., v. 140 ff. n Paus. x. 9. >9 Divination, i. 43, 44. 23 Livy, xxix. 10-14. 20 Serv., ad. Virg. Aen., vi. 72. 94 DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS IN NEW TESTAMENT TIMES attention to the fact that the worship was established "for the cause of victory, and not, as is generaUy thought, in the interests of the public health. "24 The books of Numa prescribed the exact forms in which wor ship was to be paid to Jupiter EHcius in order to secure his assistance.25 Plutarch relates that the book called the Birthdays of Osiris laid down rules for sacrifices to the sun on the fourth of the month and set limits to the quantity of wine which a priest might consume.26 A concrete exam ple of securing divine help by observing the will of deity may be men tioned. The success of Rome's enemies during the Punic wars indicated that the national gods were not assisting the armies of the state. Indeed, portents of various sorts revealed the fact that they even contemplated sending disaster. Consultation of the Sibylline books showed that the gods were angry because certain feasts and sacrifices had been omitted, and because gifts had not been given to Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva. These matters were at once rectified, and "the people were ordered to make that day a festival and observe it as such forever. "27 The sacred book again played its part in guaranteeing for the soul blessedness both here and hereafter. Critodemus wrote a book entitled Visions, which furnished information for obtaining a safe harbor from the storms of this life and for securing immortality in the one to come.28 One of the most ancient volumes which guaranteed a blessed immortality was the Egyp tian Book of the Dead. According to Professor Breasted, the Egyptian had numerous books fulfilling this purpose, such as the Book of What Is in the Nether World, the Book of the Two Ways, and the Book of the Portals. The object of aU of these, according to Breasted, was to minister to man's religious necessity by assuring him a blissful future state.29 For example, the Egyptian peasant, compelled during life to hard labor in tilling the soil, did not desire a hereafter in which agriculture figured to any extent; consequently chapter 110 of the Book of the Dead gives him the informa tion necessary to win from deity the kind of existence he desires in the Elysian fields. In certain early Christian circles a high opinion was enter tained regarding the religious and theological teachings of the Sibylline books. Lactantius, for example, claims that they inculcated a pure monotheism. He finds, indeed, no difficulty in discovering five or six 24 Ibid., xxv. 12. 28 Vettius Valens, iii. 12; 'ix. 23 Ibid., i. 31. prooem. 28 Isis and Osiris, 6 and 52. 29 Hist, of Egypt, pp. 175, 249 ff.; 27 Livy, xxi. 62; xxii. 1. 571, etc. DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS IN NEW TESTAMENT TIMES 95 texts in the Sibylline writings on which he is able to base a discourse on monotheism. One which he quotes from the Sibyl may be here repro duced: "One God who alone is most mighty, uncreated." The others are of a similar tenor.30 Augustine was so impressed by the Sibylline writings that he declared their author undoubtedly belonged to the King dom of God.31 The people of the Graeco-Roman world thus secured from deity divine information by means of their sacred books. This information enabled them to forecast the future; it inculcated, in the opinions of certain Christians at least, the practice of a monotheistic religion. But most of all, it enabled them to secure from deity practical help in getting done the things they needed to have done. By means of information from the sacred book they could gain supernatural aid in the overthrow of other supernatural agencies which caused sickness and disease; by its use they were able to render to deity the kind of worship which caused him to pre serve and protect the state; and by it they secured for themselves a bliss ful status in the world to come. In a very real sense, the information derived from the sacred book enabled the Graeco-Roman effectively to lay hold on God. The Hebrews and the Jews were thoroughly conversant with the idea of the sacred book. The outstanding evidence here is of course found in the fact that we today are in possession of several collections of these writings. References in this literature to various volumes indicate that the use of such collections was very widespread indeed. II Mace. 2:13, 14 speaks of " writings and commentaries of Neemias, " and of how he in "founding a library gathered together the acts of the kings, and the prophets and of David, and the epistles of the kings concerning gifts. " "Sealed books" are often mentioned,32 likewise "Books of Remem brance,"33 "Heavenly Books,"34 and "Books of the Discipline of the Children of Men."35 It is related that Abraham learned the sacred Hebrew language from certain mysterious volumes.36 In addition, we read of sacred books in possession of the Essenes,37 of certain incantations and formulae left behind by Solomon,38 of the "Book of Hagu,"39 and of the "Book of Noah."40 30 Divine Institutes, i. 6. 38 Jubilees, 12:37. 31 City of God, xviii. 23. 37 Josephus, War, ii. 8, 7. 32 7 Enoch, 89:70, 71. 3S Josephus, Antt., viii. 2. 33 Zadok. Work., ix. 43. 39 Zadok. Work, 11:2; 15:5; 17:5. 34 Pirke Aboth, 2:1; 3:3. 40 Jubilees, 10:10-15. 38 Jubilees, 36:10. 96 DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS IN NEW TESTAMENT TIMES Views as to how mankind came into possession of volumes of this kind varied somewhat, but underneath all differences lay the notion that in some manner they passed from deity to men. We noticed above two views regarding the origin of the Mosaic law, one that the whole book was written by God and in its completed form given to Moses in the Mount, the other that one roll was delivered to him at a time.41 Another view was that Moses was instructed by God and that he wrote the law with his own hand under divine inspiration.42 The Midrasch Bereschith rabba, viii.2, relates that "R. Simon ben Lakisch says, 'The Law was in existence two thousand years before the creation of the world' ", and a Samaritan tradition has it that "The Tables were sundered from the divine essence. "43 A fair average of Hebrew opinion on this question is perhaps to be found in Hos. 8:12, where Yahweh says: "I wrote for him (Ephraim) the myriad precepts of my law. " The contents of the Book of Noah was revealed, to him by the angels, written down by him, and passed on to his son Shem. In the case of the information left behind by Solomon, Josephus reports that God taught Solomon wisdom, and that it was this divine wisdom which formed the substance of the king's be quest to posterity. Philo claims the Ten Commandments were audibly spoken to aU the assembly of the people, and that Moses later wrote them down.44 Our sources indicate that the uses made of the sacred book lay in various directions. The Book of Hagu is mentioned alongside the Book of the Law, and is supposed to have contained a body of secret precepts for the conduct of the priests.46 The "wisdom " left behind by Solomon con sisted of " incantations by which distempers are alleviated, " and of " the manner of using exorcisms." Josephus, in speaking of this "wisdom," iUustrates how effective it was against demons by relating the story of Eleazer, who, by making use of the information, was able to draw an evil spirit out of a man's nostrils. The spirit, in proof of its departure, overturned a basin of water near the door. The contents of the Book of Noah appear to have functioned in a similar way. The angels say of it: "All the means of healing diseases caused by demons we made known to Noah, together with their arts of seduction, and how they are cured 41 Gittin, 60 A. 43 w Gesenius, Carmina Samari- 42 Baba bathra, 15 A; Philo, Vita tana, iv. 18. Mos., iii. 39; Josephus, Antt., iv. 8, « Philo, Ten Commandments, 11. 48. ^Zadokite Work, 11:2; 15:5; 17:5; Charles, Apoc &* Pseud., in loc. DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS IN NEW TESTAMENT TIMES 97 by the plants of the earth; and Noah wrote all down we had taught him in a book, of every kind of means of healing." The sacred books of the Essenes, according to Josephus, were especially valuable for the purpose of foretelling the future. By means of them, he states, the Essenes rarely ever went astray in their predictions. Favorite themes of prophecy were the future of the state and the coming of Messiah. The book of Daniel was esteemed as especiaUy important in this respect. Josephus informs us that in his day Daniel was more popular than any other prophecy. "He not only unfolds, as other prophets do, but tells the exact time when things are to occur; and whilst other prophets foreteU misfortune, and on that account are hated by the people, Daniel was a messenger of peace, and was beloved on account of the glad prospects which he announced; and since the result corresponded with the predictions, he obtained from the people faith and reverence. "46 In the same chapter Josephus speci fies several prophecies in Daniel which had been fulfilled. He also states that the desolation of the temple by Antiochus during the Maccabean period "came to pass according to the prophecy of Daniel, which was given 408 years before, for he declared that the Macedonians would dis solve that worship. "4V Mk. 13:14 undoubtedly reflects a current Jewish expectation of seeing " the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet" before the end of the age should come. Mt. 11:10 in a simfiar manner reflects a Jewish interpretation of John the Baptist in terms of Mai. 3:1 ff. Such passages as II Sam. 7:12 ff., Ps. 89:3 ff., Isa. 11:1, Mic. 5:2, and Jer. 23:5 were regarded by the scribes of Jesus' day as foretelling tfie coming of a messianic king in the person of a son of David.48 Baruch 2:2, 3 explains the desolation of Israel as a fulfil ment of what was "written in the law of Moses, that a man should eat the flesh of his own son, and the flesh of his own daughter. " I Mace. 1:25-27 sees in the statement of Deut. 18:15, "a faithful prophet like unto me will the Lord raise up unto thee," a prophetic aUusion to the Messiah. Bar Cochba's advent, according to R. Akiba, had been fore told in Num. 24:17, where it is said, "There shall come a star out of Jacob, and a scepter shall arise out of Israel, and shall smite in pieces both sides of Moab."49 In a similar manner the rabbis interpreted 48 Antt. x. 11. "Jerusalem Tal., Taanith., iv. 47 Antt'., xii. 7. fol. 68 d, Cracow ed.; quoted Schiirer, 48 Mk.,' 12:35 ff.; Mt. 22:41 ff.; Hist, of Jew. People, 3rd. ed., I. i.298, Lk.. 20:41 ff.; Jn., 7:42. n. 83. 98 DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS IN NEW TESTAMENT TIMES Isa. 53 as pointing to the coming of a suffering Messiah.60 Other exam ples of prophecy may be cited, referring to the same general themes: Ecclesiasticus 47:11-22, Baruch 4:18-5:9, I Mace. 2:57, II Mace. 2:18, Wisdom of Solomon 2:12-5:10, Enoch 90:16-38, Psalms of Solomon 17:1-51, Assumption of Moses 10:1 ff., Jubilees passim, and the Jewish Sibyllines iii. 652-749.61 The sacred book was also used as a storehouse from which to derive the information necessary to cause God to protect and preserve the nation. This aspect of the matter came into prominence about the time of Ezra and Nehemiah. The task of pious Jews during the Captivity had been to explain how it happened that Yahweh had allowed his chosen people to come into such straits. The answer made was that disaster had overtak en the state because the ordinances of Yahweh had been neglected and transgressed.52 This forsaking of the law had been of old63 and had been often repeated.64 The present affliction was due to similar remissness and was richly deserved.65 Yet a full end had not been made of the na tion.56 The pious remnant which Yahweh's undeserved mercy had pre served now undertook not only to provide against similar repetitions of future calamity but also to assure themselves of deity's active participa tion in the welfare of the commonwealth. The plan pursued was to seal a covenant with Yahweh whereby he was irrevocably bound to fulfil his promises to the nation if the nation on its side did his will.67 What his will was could be learned from a sacred book. The character of this book is in dispute. It is referred to as " the book of the law of Moses, " "the words of the law, " " right ordinances and true laws, " " statutes and com mandments, " " thy law, " and "Yahweh's law which was given by Moses the servant of Yahweh. "68 On the question of its contents the reader is referred to the Encyclopaedia Biblica, article " Ezra, " vol. ii, cols. 1476-78, where the view is advanced that it consisted in all probabiUty of the Book of the Covenant?9 Deuteronomy, and the priestly law book which forms a large portion of the Hexateuch. However this problem may be 30 Sanhedrin, 98 b in Wunsche, 83 Neh., 9:13 ff., 26; Ez., 9:7 a. Die Leiden des Messias, p. 56 ff.; cf. M Neh. 9:27. Schurer, 3rd. ed., I. ii. 185 ff. 55 Neh., 9 -.33-37; Ez., 9:7 b. 81 On date and authorship, see 38 Neh., 9:31; Ex. 9:8 13-15. Schurer, 3rd ed. II, ii. 139 ff. 57 jv/c£, 9:38. 82 Bar., 3:5, 10; 4:6, 13; Ez., 9:10; 38 Neh.';&:l, 2, 9; 9:13, 29; 10:29. Neh., 9:13 ff.; 7 Esdras 8:86, 87; Jer., 69 Ex., chs 21-23 44:1-14. DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS IN NEW TESTAMENT TIMES 99 settled, the book or books in question prescribed numerous items of conduct, among which were sabbath observance, no marriage with for eigners, abandonment of trade with foreigners on the sabbath, no exac tion in matters of debt, the sabbatical year, taxes, tithes, and temple regu lations.60 Circumcision is not included in the list. The reason probably is that it was too deeply rooted in the practice of the people to need re instatement. The conception of the pious Jew as to what influence the observance of such requirements would have upon Yahweh is clearly brought out by the Book of Jubilees. The law is the ultimate and com plete, expression of the divine will, and as such precludes further revela tion.61 Observance of the law will bring Yahweh's preservation and bless ing upon the nation, and the nation will be his and he will be theirs hence forth forever;62 but if the nation fails in the observance, his wrath will be great, and the people will be moved out of the land: there is no pardon for such eternal error.63 The efficacy of strict legal observance in pro curing practical benefits went to the extent even of the winning of battles. Two interpretations, of course, may be applied to the circumstance re corded in II Mace. 8 :23 ff. Judas Maccabeus, before engaging Nicanor, divided his army among himself and three brothers, and, in the hearing of the assembled troops, "made Eleazer read aloud the holy book." Judas and his inferior army then went into battle against the Syrians, "and since the Almighty fought on their side they slew over 9,000 of the enemy." It is possible to say that the Jews held to such a mechanical connection between deity and his law that the mere reading of it would compel him to participate in the battle; and this interpretation is, it is true, borne out by the fact that in the Liber Josuae we read that the Samaritans held the simple reading of the law in the presence of a pos sessed person drove out demons and healed disease.64 A more plausible view is in all likelihood one which holds that the efficacy of the thing com pelling Yahweh to fight against the Syrians was not the reading of the law, but the fact that the pious in Israel had all along been doing it. According to the covenant sealed and signed between Yahweh and his people in the time of Ezra and Nehemiah,65 Yahweh had obligated him self to protect the nation on condition that the nation did certain things. 80 Neh 10-30 ff M Chronicon. Samarilanum: Liber "Jubilees, ' 15:25, 28. Josuae, 23, ed. Juynboll; cited Mont- 32 Ibid 15-32 gomery, Samaritans, p. 234, u. 132. 83 Ibid.', ISM. "Neh.,9:10;Ez., 10:3-5. 100 DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS IN NEW TESTAMENT TIMES Judas and his company undoubtedly represented that tendency in Israel which stood for the rigid observance of the requirements which Yahweh had laid down in the book. Therefore the reading of the book before the battle was intended to remind pious Jews of the fact that deity was obligated by their past conduct to fight with them, to call to their atten tion his promise to do so, and to send them with courage into battle. The arrangement was fully as mechanical as the one presupposed by the other interpretation, but the force which laid hold on deity is different. In later Judaism the keeping of the law seems to have become quite an automatic means of securing benefits. The keeping of the command ments and the ordinances wiU provide much reward now, says Makkoth iii. 16. One of the rewards was the establishment of the Kingdom. The scribal view was that if the Jew did his part, that is, if he scrupulously did the things Yahweh commanded in his law, Yahweh would be obliged to send it. "If all Israel together would make common repentance for one day, then would redemption come through Messiah." If Israel observed only two Sabbaths perfectly, yes, if she kept only one, she would be redeemed.66 Against this desire to win reward by legafistic observance the prophets of Israel had inveighed.67 For the precepts upon which the scribal view of conduct was based they desired to sub stitute others of a different kind; but it is an open question whether the so-caUed prophetic ethics, which these preachers desired Israel to foUow as a rule of precept and practice, were ethics for their own sake or for the sake of the influence they were held to exert on determining the conduct of Yahweh in his relation to the commonwealth. The sacred book thus benefitted the Hebrew in the same way that it benefitted the gentile. It enabled him to foreteU the future; it incul cated certain views on theology and on human conduct. But above aU, it gave to the Hebrew the information necessary to cause the spiritual powers to do what he wanted done. Formulae and incantations invoked one class of spirits to deal with others which caused sickness and disease. Minute directions for conduct under various circumstances obliged Yah weh to protect and preserve the state, or to establish a new one in which the pious Israelite expected to enjoy a future of happiness and bliss. Christians from the first appropriated the sacred books of the Jews. "These things . . . were written for our admonition," "for our sake it 88 Pesikta 163 b; Sabbath 118 b; 87 For example, Micah, 6:6-8. Schemoth rabba 25; quoted Weber, Jiid. Theol., 2 Aufl., SS. 348-9. DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS IN NEW TESTAMENT TIMES 101 was written," "it was . . . written ... for our sakes also," and "these things were written ... for our learning," are expressions in dicating Paul's view of the relation between the Jewish sacred books and the new religion.68 Just what Jewish books the Christians regarded as sacred is difficult to determine. Jude 14, for example, quotes Enoch 1 :9 as true prophecy. Quotations in the New Testament indicate that much importance was attached to most of those contained in our present Old Testament collection. On the question of the Jewish canon, its formation, contents, etc., the reader is referred to the Jewish Encyclo paedia, vol. iii, article "Bible Canon," pp. 145-7. On the relation be tween the canonical writings and other writings of the Jews, see Charles, Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha, vol. i, pp. viii, ix. Toy, Quotations in the New Testament, pp. x ff., discusses the various versions in which these books appeared. Toy's work is valuable for a study of what books the New Testament writers quoted, and how they quoted them. The estimate put by Christians upon these writings appropriated from Judaism was as high as that accorded them by their original possessors. Thus II Pet. 1:21 claims that "no prophecy ever came by man, but men spake from God as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." Other pas sages refer to them as "scripture" or "scriptures,"69 "prophecy of scrip ture, "70 "law, "71 "law and the prophets, "72 and "law of Moses. "73 The prophets "spake in the name of the Lord."74 When quotations are made, the formula \eyei. is frequently used, often without an expressed subject, the devout reader in these cases probably supplying in his mind the subject 6 deds.n Thus in reading these writings, the Christian felt that God was speaking to him. In the use made of the inspired book, the Christian had certain advan tages over the Jew. This is especiaUy apparent in the matter of dealing with demons and disease. The Jew, according to Josephus, went to the lore bequeathed by Solomon for information that would be effective against them. The Christian was not dependent for this purpose upon a book. In the name of Jesus he possessed a means of combatting such 88 7 Cor., 10:11; 9:10; Rom., n ML, 12:5; Rom., 2:18; Lk., 4:23, 24; 15:4; cf. 7 Cor., 10:6. 10:26; 24:44; Acts, 24:14; 7 Cor., 89 Mk., 12:10; 15:18; Lk., 4:21; 9:9; 14:21. Jn., 2:22; Acts, 1:16; 8:32, 35; Rom., ™ Acts, 13:15; 28:23. 4:3; 11:2; Gal., 4:30; 77 Tim., 3:15; 73 Acts, 13:39; 15:5. 77 7^., 3:16. 7i J as., 5:10. 70 II Pet. 1:20. re For example, Jas., 4:6. 102 DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS IN NEW TESTAMENT TIMES evils which was more powerful than any formula left behind by antiqui ty. 76 Other Christians found it unnecessary to employ the sacred book for this purpose because prayer and anointing with oil were sufficient.77 In the field of prophecy the sacred book was accorded a large place. While the Christians produced prophetical books of their own, such as the Apocalypse and the Shepherd of Hermas, they yet placed much depen dence for this purpose upon the books of the Jews. They discovered that the Old Testament writings had foretold the whole career of Jesus and the entire history of the Christian community. This comes out with great clearness, for example in Matthew. Here Jesus' birth from a virgin, his origin in Bethlehem, the flight into Egypt, the slaughter of the infants, the preliminary activity of John the Baptist, Jesus' withdraw al from Galilee to Capernaum, his refusal to announce publicly his Mes- siahship, his denial by the Jews, his teaching in parables, and his entry into Jerusalem, are all found to be definitely predicted in the Old Testa ment.78 Paul relates that his resurrection on the third day was according to the scriptures, but fails to specify the particular passage.79 Hebrews finds in the Old Testament many passages which predicted the nature of his person.80 According to the early chapters of the Acts, the out pouring of the Spirit at Pentecost had been foretold in Joel, and in the last chapter it is reported that the rejection of the gospel by the Jews had been indicated in Isaiah. The Spirit through the ancient prophets " testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glories that should foUow them";81 the persecution likewise of his followers had been forseen inPs.44:22.82 In employing the sacred book as a means of learning the will of deity in order to win reward by the performance of that will, Christians took the same attitude as the Romans and the Jews. In fact Christians simply took over into their own thought the Jewish notion of a covenant relation with deity, and substituted themselves for the party of the second part. In justification of this procedure they pointed out that long before it had been predicted that the Jews would refuse the gospel,83 and that they actually did so willingly.84 Rom. 9:25, 26 and Gal. 3:8 quote Old Testa ment passages to show that the acceptance of the Gentiles had been f ore- 78 Acts, 3:6; 4:12; 16:18; Eph., 1: 8° 1:5 ff.; 5:6, 7.; 7:17, 21 etc. 21; Phil., 2:9, 10. " I Pet., 1:11. 77 J as., 5:14 ff. ™ Rom., 10:35, 36. 73 ML, 1:23; 2:6, 15, 17; 3:3: 83 ML, 13:14. 4:14 ff.; 12:16; 13:35; 21:4 ff. 84 Jn., 7:13; 8:39; 10:19. 79 1 Cor., 15:1. DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS IN NEW TESTAMENT TIMES 103 told Rom. 10:19 proves from Deut. 32:21 and Isa. 65:1, 2 that Israel had been warned of the transition of its privileges to the Gentiles. So complete did some Christian circles regard this transition that they looked upon the Jews as " the synagogue of Satan, "86 and not of the Lord, the implication being that the Christians now formed the synagogue of the Lord. With this Christian synagogue of the Lord, this new chosen people, the elect nation, the people of God,86 God had established a cove nant87 in which the blessings of Abraham were to come upon them be cause the old promises were still in effect.88 The Christians assumed, as did the Romans and the Jews, that "God is for us."89 Deity was re garded as willing and anxious to confer reward upon his people. This reward was thought of in terms of a rich "entrance into the eternal king dom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. "90 But one condition at tached itself to the granting of this reward: Christians must do the will of God. What the will of God was Christians were able in large part to learn from the sacred book. Space will permit the enumeration of only a few items of God's will which Christians derived from the inspired writings. Acts 1:20 ff. states that the choosing by lot of Matthias to take the place of Judas in the apostolic circle was in accord with the Old Testament direction, " 'His office let another take.' " Certain members of the Jerusalem Church held that circumcision constituted a part of the will of God for Christians as revealed in the law of Moses.91 Other Jerusalem Christians were in clined to doubt the necessity of circumcision and to place more emphasis on abstinence "from things sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication. "92 Paul, while he was not willing that the law should be made "of none effect," was nevertheless of the view that its provision of circumcision was not binding on Gentiles.93 / Pet. 2 :6 finds in the words of Isa. 28 : 16, " he that believeth on him shall not be put to shame, " a direction to Christians to foster a faith in Jesus Christ as Savior. Many Old Testament passages were found to contain indications of God's will on matters of ethical and moral conduct. Holi ness in living is insisted upon "because it is written, Ye shall be holy; for 33 Rev., 2:9; 3:9. ** Gal., 3:11. 88 Gal., 6:16; 77 Cor., 6:16-18; 89 Rom., 8:31. 7 Pet., 2:9, 10; Heb. 4:9; 11:25; Rom., 90 77 Pet., 1:11. 8:33. "Acts, 15:1. 37 Heb., 8:13; 12:24; Rom., 9:4; 92 Acts, 15:28, 29. Gal., 1:21. m Rom., 3:30, 31; 4:9 ff. 104 DIVINE MANIFESTAT.ONS IN NEW TESTAMENT TIMES I am holy."94 Various virtues, such as compassion, love, tenderness, humifity, rendering good for evil, etc., are urged not only because they will bring "a blessing" but also because Ps. 34:12 ff. states that "he that would love life and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his Hps that they speak no guile." Mt. 5:19 lays stress upon the necessity of observing the ethical requirements of the Sermon on the Mount as a means of securing admission into the Kingdom. The idea of God as a spiritual being who dwells not in houses made with hands is reinforced by the words of Isa. 66:1 ff., "the heaven is my home . . . what manner of house will he build me? "96 The theory and practice of the use of inspired writings was thus the same among the Graeco-Romans, Jews, and Christians. They were of divine origin, and contained information of a heavenly character. This information was used in various ways, but chiefly for the purpose of obtaining reward. The assumption among Christians, Jews, and Ro mans was that deity was ready to grant blessings to men on condition that men did his will. What his will was the sacred book revealed. 947 Pet., 1:16; cf. Lev., 11:44 f.; 93 Acts, 7:19. 9:2; 20:7. CHAPTER X Conclusion A number of final matters may now be considered in the light of the foregoing investigation. The first question to which an answer should be sought is that of the part played by supernatural manifestations in the life of the people of the ancient world. It would be a superficial view indeed which inter preted the eagerness for discovering evidences of divine activity on every hand as of no significance in human experience. The custom was too deeply rooted, too universal, and too persistent; a practice does not manifest vitality generation after generation, and century after century, unless it functions in some way among the people who pursue it. It is to be assumed, therefore, that the zeal with which manifestations of the supernatural were sought and welcomed, is prima facie evidence that we need to inquire of what value they were in the society of the time. Our problem thus is, What did supernatural manifestations do for the people of the Mediterranean world? The simplest answer that can be given is that the various kinds of manifestations enumerated in the preceding pages furnished the channels through which man derived help and hindrance from another world. This presupposition was common to the Graeco-Roman, Jew, and Christian. And here we touch upon the question of world-view. The Christian and his contemporaries held a static-duafistic conception of the universe: it consisted of two compartments, a flat earth, or man's compartment, and an over-arching heaven, or deity's compartment. The Hebrew spoke of Yahweh's sitting "above the circle of the earth," the Graeco-Roman of "the floor of heaven," and the Christian of the "third heaven."1 Such a metaphysics furnishes a very fruitful soil for supernatural manifestations. It is of course true that individuals with a monistic view of the world sometimes see ghosts and spirits; this per haps is due to the fact that instinctive reactions are conditioned by a dualistic inheritance and early training. It requires a distinct exercise of the wiU to enable the subject of such an experience to bring into play an 1Isa., 40:20, 23; Apuleius, Florida, ch. 2; 77 Cor., 12:2-4. 106 DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS IN NEW TESTAMENT TIMES acquired monistic technique. But however this point may be decided, the fact remains that for the ancients supernatural manifestations served as pipe-lines for the transmission of both help and hindrance from deity's compartment of the universe to man's compartment. Hindrance from supernatural sources was of relatively less importance in the life of the time than the help thus derived. This was due to the fact that when supernatural powers in any way interfered with man, it was usually possible to offset their machinations by supernatural assist ance of one kind or another. If certain celestial beings fought against one in battle, there were other beings who might fight for one; if certain spiritual forces made one ill, or otherwise harrassed one, other agencies could be utuized to protect him against them; or it might be that deity opposed man only to reveal to him his remissness in some necessary observance, and to give him an opportunity to set things right. Thus we may say that for the people of the Mediterranean world so much help from supernatural sources was set over against so much hindrance, with a strong balance in favor of help. The help thus gained may be described in general as a re-inforcement of the natural powers of man or of his circle. Sometimes the re-inforce ment took the form of information and knowledge; sometimes it came in the garb of strength and power. The two can not always be sharply distinguished. The knowledge-form of help could be supplied by super natural powers operating externally to man, in the shape of specific items of information not otherwise obtainable; or the same result could be secured if deity operating from within transformed and strengthened the natural mental faculties. Apparitions, portents, divination, the prophet speaking, and the inspired book were pre-eminently means by which items of information were secured. When Vespasian beheld the vision of Basilides, "he concluded . . . that the gods had favored him with a preternatural vision ... in favor of his future reign, " and the passage implies that the after-course of Vespasian's fife was consciously. determined in the Hght of the information gained by means of the revela tion. The approaching fate of Caligula was pointed out by the fact that the statue of Jupiter Olympus suddenly burst into a fit of laughter. The lot indicated to the Romans who the priests were whom deity desired added to the ranks of the sacerdotal college. The information derived from a prophet that despite his handicaps of lack of friends and social position he would nevertheless attain to exalted political station led Caius Marius to persevere against all obstacles until he finally secured the DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS IN NEW TESTAMENT TIMES 107 consulship. The worship of Apollo was set up in the Roman capitol as the result of a direction contained in the book of the prophet Marcius. These examples all illustrate the granting of specific items of information by external means. On the other hand, divine possession frequently resulted in supple menting and transforming the natural powers of man's mind in such way as to render the transmission of such information unnecessary. This is especially evident in the case of the prophet speaking. For the people to whom he spoke, the prophet was a channel through which they derived information; for himself he was, at least on occasion, an individual with a deified mental apparatus enabling him to speak divine words. Thus, when deity worked from without, human knowledge was supplemented by divine knowledge; when deity worked from within, transmission of specific items of information was unnecessary, for man was in possession of an inspired mind which needed to depend on no external source of supply for its information. Yet in practice neither individuals nor groups with deified mental apparatus depended absolutely upon information derived from that source alone. Had they done so, there would have been Httle need for the other channels through which information came. As far as the knowledge-form of help is concerned, we may say that, in general, man had the advantage of the use of supernatural information in addition to his own, or that, by an interior transformation, he was furnished with a divine mental equipment which tended to make unneces sary, but did not do away with, the practice of obtaining items of knowl edge from an other-worldly source. But the knowledge, whether it came from without or from within, was in all cases divine, and not human, in origin. The strength-form of help was also supplied by supernatural powers acting from within or from without. If from without, deity supple mented the physical abilities of the individual by bringing his divine power to bear upon the same object that man was using his own strength to accomplish. Sometimes deity performed this function by appearing in person. In physical form the gods guide Aeneas to Dido's palace and fight side by side with the soldiers in the ranks of the Roman army. Sometimes deity permitted only the beneficent effect of his power to be come manifest, while he himself remained invisible. Thus it was that Zeus sent the rain and regulated the seasons, and poured out pestilence and calamity upon those who transgressed his will. Acting from within,^ deity transformed the physical abifities of the individual into divine abilities. 108 DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS IN NEW TESTAMENT TIMES This phase of the matter is discussed fully in the chapter on divine posses sion. A typical iUustration is that of the Greeks who, when possessed by Poseidon, were "fiUed with strength and courage . . . and with active vigor strung. " Another may be found in the case of the Dionysos wor shipper who, after undergoing the interior transformation, felt able to tear up trees by their roots and carry away Cithaeron's glen upon his shoulders. In principle this transformation from within of man's physi cal abilities is on a par with the interior transformation of man's mental machinery; and, while in theory it may have tended to do away with the necessity of the exercise of divine power from without on behalf of man, it never actually so resulted. There are cases on record in which man availed himseK both of his own inherent divine power and of an additional increment furnished him by deity from without. Thus King David, for example, who possessed the Spirit of God, yet depended on Yahweh's might against the Philistines. What has been said of divine assistance granted to individuals holds good also with respect to the group of which the individual is a part. Just as information and physical help came to individuals from without, so they came to companies of individuals, whether armies, states, cities or the Christian community; and just as from within an individual could be physically and mentally deified, so there could be an inspired commun ity, whether Eleusinian, Dionysiac, Isiac, Mithraic, or Christian. Thus from the point of view of the individual or of his circle, it may be said that what was lacking by reason of human Hmitations deity suppfied, either by doing specific things or by bringing about such a transformation of natural endowments as to enable humanity to serve itself. In either case, however, the result was due to deity. The means by which he worked were the various methods of manifestation heretofore described; through these channels came the power from the other world which was necessary for the supplementing and re-inforcement of the entire round of man's natural abihties. The assistance thus secured was applied by man to the whole range of his necessity. It satisfied, in the first place, the personal needs of the individual, whether these needs were food, the healing of bodily ailments, knowledge to ward off demons, or the demands of the soul both here and hereafter. In like manner it enabled the group to solve its problems, whether the group were Athens beset by plague, the Roman state threatened by Carthage, or the Christian community in need of an exalted Jesus to come upon the clouds as Lord and usher in the Kingdom. DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS IN NEW TESTAMENT TIMES 109 The needs which this supernatural assistance met may be looked at again from the point of view of the material and the spiritual. Deity discovered gold mines for people, helped them grow their celery, told them how to catch fish, and sent earthquakes to demolish prisons and set his favorites free. The whole of the later rehgious Hfe of Apuleius was directed by revelations from Isis; a divine revelation caused the Roman people to set up the worship of Cybele in the capitol; by revelation Paul received his gospel. Or again we may look at the needs from the point of view of present and future. When Josephus was in doubt what course to pursue, a revelation told him that if he cast his lot with the Romans his status would be secure. In a similar manner Paul was constrained to pass by Bithynia and proceed into Europe. The Egyptian, desirous of knowing how to escape the terrors of the world to come, went to an inspired book for the information; Christians, worshippers of Dionysus, and others, in need of the assurance of an immortal existence, read in ecstacy and exaltation of feefing the message that with deity within them they were aheady -divine. It is perfectly clear from the above that divine manifestations fre quently functioned in situations other than those of an ethical or rehgious character. Such a view is of course somewhat at variance with the position usually taken in the theologies and the creeds. Any candid examination of the sources will reveal the part played by divine mani festations in poHtics, literature, agriculture, war, brigandage, sanitation, and even lewdness. It is to be noticed further that manifestations of the supernatural did not produce the situations in which they occurred, but that, on the contrary, the manifestations grew out of the situations. Josephus, for example, was face to face with a life problem before a vision appeared to him which solved his difficulty. Rome was threatened by serious dangers before it was revealed to her that the worship of ApoUo should be established. Paul had reached the limit of Asia and had Europe before his eyes before he was told to pass over into Macedonia. In a similar manner the early Christian community was persuaded by a revelation of the risen and exalted Jesus that he was soon to return in glory on the clouds to establish a new world-order. Approaching thus the question of the relation between Christianity and her divine mani festations and revelations, we must conclude that they did not produce Christianity, but that Christianity furnished the situations by which 110 DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS IN NEW TESTAMENT TIMES they were conditioned. An exceedingly concrete illustration of this point is Peter's vision of the clean and unclean. By no possible interpretation can it be maintained that the vision raised the question whether and on what basis Gentiles were to be admitted into the church. The whole problem was up before the revelation occurred. What this particular manifestation did was to render help when it was needed, and of the kind that was desired. The point that divine manifestations furnished the kind of help that was required should not be passed without a special emphasis. When a man's interest centered in war, for example, he did not experience divine manifestations calculated to render him assistance in the field of literature. Divine manifestations furnished the kind of help necessary to meet the needs of a given situation, whether the situation were political, military, religious, or any other. Thus, as far as the question of function is concerned, divine mani festations play the same part in all these various situations. The Roman and the Hebrew wanted divine help in the maintenance of political kingdoms in which they could enjoy prosperity; the Christian wanted to see the establishment of an order in which he could enjoy the bfiss he desired. All felt that the supernatural powers were engaged in producing these results. It is not, therefore, a question of what end the help was expected to accomplish so much as whether it was accomplishing it. On the whole, however, the ends desired were much the same: salvation, or human betterment, or escape from present evil, whether the consumma tion were to be found here and now in an earthly kingdom or in the future in an other-worldly one; and the means by which man could avail him seK of the coming advantages were being furnished him by the super natural powers. So we have said that it was the function of divine manifestations to give man the kind of help he needed when he needed it. The fact that the early Christians, along with their Graeco-Roman and Jewish contemporaries, could thus tap the common reservoir of divine help from which the entire ancient world drew, and tap it in the same way, is an indisputable indication of the extent to which the new faith was rooted in the life of the time. The presupposition behind Christianity's divine manifestations was a presupposition common to all the world. We may call it a universal or ethnic idea : man can secure help from another world. The fact that the whole supernatural structure of early Christianity thus rests upon a notion common to the entire Mediterranean world, and by no means limited even in its specific aspects DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS IN NEW TESTAMENT TIMES 111 to any particular people, social stratum, or geographical area, at once throws grave doubts upon the validity of the efforts of those historical students who seek to discover a localized origin for both the form and the content of the new movement. As Christianity passed from Jewish to Hellenistic surroundings, the way became increasingly open for the entrance of Graeco-Roman in fluences, with the result that the view which finds its main root in Heb rew and Jewish life is at least subject to grave suspicion. A word may here be said regarding the inter-relations of the terms revelation and supernatural manifestations. At the beginning of the present discussion we defined supernatural manifestation as an experience of an individual or group interpreted as due to the activity of a super natural power or powers. Revelation, as the term is employed in the theologies and the creeds, is such an experience; but inasmuch as theology usually limits revelation to the result of a process, that is, to a body of divinely given information for the benefit of the Church,2 it is manifest that vast areas in which men experience supernatural activity are left out of account. If the term revelation is to be thought of as equivalent to such expressions as supernatural manifestation, divine manifestation, or manifestation of deity, the theological conception of it must be greatly enlarged. We must think of it, not as mainly concerned with a particular group, the Christian community; not as confined to a particular purpose, the religious well-being of this community; not as primarily appficable to a particular thing which is revealed, the information necessary for this well-being. On the other hand, we shaU be compelled to look upon the term as leaving more room for manifestations by deity to others than to Christians, of things other than information, and for purposes other than the benefit of Christians. The fact that New Testament Christianity was able, by its use of the various kinds of supernatural manifestations enumerated in the present discussion, to satisfy such a wide range of needs for which divine help was essential, is perhaps one of the principal causes of its rapid growth and spread. In the Graeco-Roman and Jewish worlds of the time, divine power was furnishing various satisfactions. If one wanted immortality, his need led him to a mystery cult; if he desired information to enable him to gain reward by doing the will of deity, his satisfaction was gained in 2 For example, see Hodge, Sys- 61-114; and Strong, Outlines of Syste- tematic Theology, vol. I, pp. 33-60; matic Theology, pp. 33-66. Shedd, Dogmatic Theology, vol. I, pp. 112 DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS IN NEW TESTAMENT TIMES another direction; if he desired the weU-being of his particular social group,he found it in stiU another place. But there was no single center, so to speak, which could satisfy all these various demands. Early Chris tianity tended to minister to this variety of needs. If a man wanted help against demons, or a code for moral conduct, or a divinely established and protected commonwealth, or the assurance of immortality, Christian ity was ready to furnish any or aU. All roads thus conveyed their pilgrims to a common center instead of carrying them by unrelated routes to separate shrines. 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