atoning Lamb of God, was indeed, as the immediate forerunner of the New Testament economy,
and the personal friend of the heavenly Bridegroom, the greatest of them that were born of woman;
yet in his official character as the representative of the ancient preparatory economy he stands lower
than the least in that kingdom of Christ, which is infinitely more glorious than all its types and
shadows in the past.
This is the Jewish religion, as it flowed from the fountain of divine revelation and lived in
the true Israel, the spiritual children of Abraham, in John the Baptist, his parents and disciples, in
the mother of Jesus, her kindred and friends, in the venerable Simeon, and the prophetess Anna, in
Lazarus and his pious sisters, in the apostles and the first disciples, who embraced Jesus of Nazareth
as the fulfiller of the law and the prophets, the Son of God and the Saviour of the world, and who
were the first fruits of the Christian Church.§ 11. Heathenism.
Literature.
I. Sources.
The works of the Greek and Roman Classics from Homer to Virgil and the age of the Antonines.
The monuments of Antiquity.
The writings of the early Christian Apologists, especially Justin Martyr: Apologia I. and II.;
Tertullian: Apologeticus;Minucius Felix: Octavius;Eusebius: Praeparatio Evangelica; and
Augustine (d. 430): De Civitate Dei (the first ten books).
II. Later Works.
Is. Vossius: De theologia gentili et physiolog. Christ. Frcf. 1675, 2 vols.
Creuzer (d. 1858): Symbolik und Mythologie der alien Völker. Leipz. 3d ed, 1837 sqq. 3 vols.
Tholuck (d. 1877): Das Wesen und der sittliche Einfluss des Heidenthums, besonders unter den
Griechen und Römern, mit Hinsicht auf das Christenthum. Berlin, 1823. In Neander’s
Denkwürdigkeiten, vol. i. of the 1st ed. Afterwards separately printed. English translation by
Emerson in, "Am. Bibl. Repository" for 1832.
Tzschirner (d. 1828): Der Fall des Heidenthums, ed. by Niedner. Leip, 1829, 1st vol.
O. Müller (d. 1840): Prolegomena zu einer wissenschaftl. Mythologie. Gött. 1825. Transl. into
English by J. Leitch. Lond. 1844.
Hegel (d. 1831): Philosphie der Religion. Berl. 1837, 2 vols.
Stuhr: Allgem. Gesch. der Religionsformen der heidnischen Völker. Berl. 1836, 1837, 2 vols. (vol.
2d on the Hellenic Religion).
Hartung: Die Religion der Römer. Erl. 1836, 2 vols.
C. F. Nägelsbach: Homerische Theologie. Nürnb. 1840; 2d ed. 1861. The same: Die nach-homerische
Theologie des Griechischen Volksglaubens bis auf Alexander. Nürnb. 1857.
Sepp (R. C.): Das Heidenthum und dessen Bedeutung für das Christenthum. Regensb. 1853, 3 vols.
Wuttke: Geschichte des Heidenthums in Beziehung auf Religion, Wissen, Kunst, Sittlichkeit und
Staatsleben. Bresl. 1852 sqq. 2 vols.
Schelling (d. 1854): Einleitung in die Philosophie der Mythologie. Stuttg. 1856; and Philosophie
der Mythologie. Stuttg. 1857.A.D. 1-100.