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 LORD'S LECTURES

 BEACON LIGHTS OF HISTORY.

 BY JOHN LORD, LL.D.,

 AUTHOR OF "THE OLD ROMAN WORLD," "MODERN EUROPE," ETC., ETC.
     
 

 VOLUME I.

 THE OLD PAGAN CIVILIZATIONS.

 To the Memory of

 MARY PORTER LORD,
 WHOSE FRIENDSHIP AND APPRECIATION
 AS A DEVOTED WIFE
 ENCOURAGED ME TO A LONG LIFE
 OF HISTORICAL LABORS,
 This Work
 IS GRATEFULLY AND AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED
 BY THE AUTHOR.
     
 

 PUBLISHERS' NOTE.

     In preparing a new edition of Dr. Lord's great work, the "Beacon Lights of History," it has been necessary to make some rearrangement of lectures and volumes. Dr. Lord began with his volume on classic "Antiquity," and not until he had completed five volumes did he return to the remoter times of "Old Pagan Civilizations" (reaching back to Assyria and Egypt) and the "Jewish Heroes and Prophets." These issued, he took up again the line of great men and movements, and brought it down to modern days.
     The "Old Pagan Civilizations," of course, stretch thousands of years before the Hebrews, and the volume so entitled would naturally be the first. Then follows the volume on "Jewish Heroes and Prophets," ending with St. Paul and the Christian Era. After this volume, which in any position, dealing with the unique race of the Jews, must stand by itself, we return to the brilliant picture of the Pagan centuries, in "Ancient Achievements" and "Imperial Antiquity," the latter coming down to the Fall of Rome in the fourth century A.D., which ends the era of "Antiquity" and begins the "Middle Ages."
     NEW YORK, September 15, 1902.
     
 

 AUTHOR'S PREFACE.

     It has been my object in these Lectures to give the substance of accepted knowledge pertaining to the leading events and characters of history; and in treating such a variety of subjects, extending over a period of more than six thousand years, each of which might fill a volume, I have sought to present what is true rather than what is new.
     Although most of these Lectures have been delivered, in some form, during the last forty years, in most of the cities and in many of the literary institutions of this country, I have carefully revised them within the last few years, in order to avail myself of the latest light shed on the topics and times of which they treat.
     The revived and wide-spread attention given to the study of the Bible, under the stimulus of recent Oriental travels and investigations, not only as a volume of religious guidance, but as an authentic record of most interesting and important events, has encouraged me to include a series of Lectures on some of the remarkable men identified with Jewish history.
     Of course I have not aimed at an exhaustive criticism in these Biblical studies, since the topics cannot be exhausted even by the most learned scholars; but I have sought to interest intelligent Christians by a continuous narrative, interweaving with it the latest accessible knowledge bearing on the main subjects. If I have persisted in adhering to the truths that have been generally accepted for nearly two thousand years, I have not disregarded the light which has been recently shed on important points by the great critics of the progressive schools.
     I have not aimed to be exhaustive, or to give minute criticism on comparatively unimportant points; but the passions and interests which have agitated nations, the ideas which great men have declared, and the institutions which have grown out of them, have not, I trust, been uncandidly described, nor deductions from them illogically made.
     Inasmuch as the interest in the development of those great ideas and movements which we call Civilization centres in no slight degree in the men who were identified with them, I have endeavored to give a faithful picture of their lives in connection with the eras and institutions which they represent, whether they were philosophers, ecclesiastics, or men of action.
     And that we may not lose sight of the precious boons which illustrious benefactors have been instrumental in bestowing upon mankind, it has been my chief object to present their services, whatever may have been their defects; since it is for services that most great men are ultimately judged, especially kings and rulers. These services, certainly, constitute the gist of history, and it is these which I have aspired to show.
     JOHN LORD.
     
 

 VOL. I.

 THE OLD PAGAN CIVILIZATIONS.

 CONTENTS.

     ANCIENT RELIGIONS:
     EGYPTIAN, ASSYRIAN, BABYLONIAN, AND PERSIAN.
     Ancient religions
 Christianity not progressive
 Jewish monotheism
 Religion of Egypt
 Its great antiquity
 Its essential features
 Complexity of Egyptian polytheism
 Egyptian deities
 The worship of the sun
 The priestly caste of Egypt
 Power of the priests
 Future rewards and punishments
 Morals of the Egyptians
 Functions of the priests
 Egyptian ritual of worship
 Transmigration of souls
 Animal worship
 Effect of Egyptian polytheism on the Jews
 Assyrian deities
 Phoenician deities
 Worship of the sun
 Oblations and sacrifices
 Idolatry the sequence of polytheism
 Religion of the Persians
 Character of the early Iranians
 Comparative purity of the Persian religion
 Zoroaster
 Magism
 Zend-Avesta
 Dualism
 Authorities
 

     RELIGIONS OF INDIA.
     BRAHMANISM AND BUDDHISM.
     Religions of India
 Antiquity of Brahmanism
 Sanskrit literature
 The Aryan races
 Original religion of the Aryans
 Aryan migrations
 The Vedas
 Ancient deities of India
 Laws of Menu
 Hindu pantheism
 Corruption of Brahmanism
 The Brahmanical caste
 Character of the Brahmans
 Rise of Buddhism
 Gautama
 Experiences of Gautama
 Travels of Buddha
 His religious system
 Spread of his doctrine
 Buddhism a reaction against Brahmanism
 Nirvana
 Gloominess of Buddhism
 Buddhism as a reform of morals
 Sayings of Siddârtha
 His rules
 Failure of Buddhism in India
 Authorities
 

     RELIGION OF THE GREEKS AND ROMANS.
     CLASSIC MYTHOLOGY.
     Religion of the Greeks and Romans
 Greek myths
 Greek priests
 Greek divinities
 Greek polytheism
 Greek mythology
 Adoption of Oriental fables
 Greek deities the creation of poets
 Peculiarities of the Greek gods
 The Olympian deities
 The minor deities
 The Greeks indifferent to a future state
 Augustine view of heathen deities
 Artists vie with poets in conceptions of divine
 Temple of Zeus in Olympia
 Greek festivals
 No sacred books among the Greeks
 A religion without deities
 Roman divinities
 Peculiarities of Roman worship
 Ritualism and hypocrisy
 Character of the Roman
 Authorities
 

     CONFUCIUS.
     SAGE AND MORALIST.
     Early condition of China
 Youth of Confucius
 His public life
 His reforms
 His fame
 His wanderings
 His old age
 His writings
 His philosophy
 His definition of a superior man
 His ethics
 His views of government
 His veneration for antiquity
 His beautiful character
 His encouragement of learning
 His character as statesman
 His exaltation of filial piety
 His exaltation of friendship
 The supremacy of the State
 Necessity of good men in office
 Peaceful policy of Confucius
 Veneration for his writings
 His posthumous influence
 Lao-tse
 Authorities
 

     ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY.
     SEEKING AFTER TRUTH.
     Intellectual superiority of the Greeks
 Early progress of philosophy
 The Greek philosophy
 The Ionian Sophoi
 Thales and his principles
 Anaximenes
 Diogenes of Apollonia
 Heraclitus of Ephesus
 Anaxagoras
 Anaximander
 Pythagoras and his school
 Xenophanes
 Zeno of Elea
 Empedocles and the Eleatics
 Loftiness of the Greek philosopher
 Progress of scepticism
 The Sophists
 Socrates
 His exposure of error
 Socrates as moralist
 The method of Socrates
 His services to philosophy
 His disciples
 Plato
 Ideas of Plato
 Archer Butler on Plato
 Aristotle
 His services
 The syllogism
 The Epicureans
 Sir James Mackintosh on Epicurus
 The Stoics
 Zeno
 Principles of the Stoical philosophy
 Philosophy among the Romans
 Cicero
 Epictetus
 Authorities