When I speak of Seneca as a Roman, I do not forget that he was born in Spain; but being a Roman in thought and feeling, as well as by residence and by birth-right, he is rightly reckoned among Roman philosophers. It is not my business, however, to give even a sketch of his life; nor shall I refer to his voluminous writings, except as they show the influence which Christianity seems to have exerted on the Stoic sect in his day. He lived at the same time that St Paul laboured for the truth, and there have been traditions of his having been taught the precepts of the Gospel by the great Apostle himself. These are probably without foundation, but their being so does not prove that Christianity had no influence on his speculations. Their very existence serves to show how apparent that influence was to various readers, so as at least to make the intercourse between the Apostle and the philosopher seem to them not an improbable thing. We must remember that Judaism was the pioneer of Christianity at Rome, as well as elsewhere. Possessed of much divine truth, it necessarily exerted considerable influence there on the world of thought; and so prepared the way for the fuller light which the gospel furnished. Christianity also had now a firm hold on many. Its influence, as we learn from different sources, was beginning to be felt in various ways, and even in the imperial court were found some who acknowledged its power. It is likely therefore that Seneca would study its teaching, or at least would be moved by its presence in the very centre of the world, to listen, even though without conscious sympathy, perhaps with contempt, to what was told him respecting its tenets. We see in his writings that he had many clearer views of truth than the Stoics who preceded him[38]. For instance, with reference to the Deity, his providential care avowed as being exercised over men not merely collectively but individually; his sovereignty, his power and glory, not as a mere part of universal nature, but as a being, fully set forth; his work in the human soul recognized as a truth and a necessity for man’s well-doing; these and various other enlarged views of the Lord of all show a vast advance on past Stoicism in the direction of Christian doctrine. Then again, with regard to man, we perceive how clearly he saw that necessary and primary truth, that man is by nature depraved and can only lead a holy life by divine aid. We notice also how he inculcates the duty of love to God and to man, of forgiveness of injuries and of the cultivation of other graces, which have a Christian likeness, if not a Christian parentage. It is doubtless true that these doctrines were the strong and approved opinions of one who was, as Gataker calls him, “home exterior, nec nomini Christiano favens:” but when we read, “cum nec mysterii nostri gnarus esset, nec fidei rationes assequeretur,” the words must be taken in a qualified sense. Experimentally, he was