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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Basis of Early Christian Theism, by 
+Lawrence Thomas Cole
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Basis of Early Christian Theism
+
+Author: Lawrence Thomas Cole
+
+Release Date: January 16, 2008 [EBook #24328]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EARLY CHRISTIAN THEISM ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Fritz Ohrenschall, Colin Bell and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+[Transcriber's Notes: Many printing errors, particularly in the French
+and Greek, have been corrected. The inconsistent hyphenation of the
+word stand-point has been retained.]
+
+                 THE BASIS OF EARLY CHRISTIAN THEISM
+
+                                   BY
+
+                LAWRENCE THOMAS COLE, A. M., S. T. B.,
+
+   _Post-graduate Scholar of the Church University Board of Regents_
+
+
+          SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS
+             FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN THE
+                         FACULTY OF PHILOSOPHY
+                          COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY
+
+
+                               NEW YORK
+                               May, 1898
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+  CHAPTER I:   Introduction                                           9
+
+  CHAPTER II:  Greek and Roman Theistic Arguments                    14
+
+  CHAPTER III: The Patristic Point of View                           26
+
+  CHAPTER IV:  Patristic Use of the Theistic Arguments               38
+
+  CHAPTER V:   Eclectic Theism                                       55
+
+
+     "Les preuves de Dieu métaphysiques sont si éloignées du
+     raisonnement des hommes, et si impliquées, qu'elles frappent peu;
+     et quand cela serviroit à quelques-uns, ce ne seroit que pendant
+     l'instant qu'ils voient cette démonstration; mais, une heure après,
+     ils craignent de s'être trompés. _Quod curiositate cognoverint,
+     superbiâ amiserunt._"
+                                      --_Pensées de Pascal_, II, xv. 2.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+INTRODUCTION
+
+
+A question which every author ought to ask of himself before he sends
+forth his work, and one which must occur to every thoughtful reader, is
+the inquiry, _Cui bono?_--what justification has one for treating the
+subject at all, and why in the particular way which he has chosen? To
+the pertinency of this question to the present treatise the author has
+been deeply sensible, and therefore cannot forbear a few prefatory words
+of explanation of his object and method.
+
+In accounts of the theistic argument, as in the history of philosophy in
+general, it has been customary to pass over a space of well-nigh ten
+centuries of the Christian era in silence, or with such scanty and
+unsympathetic notice as to make silence the better alternative. Largely
+through the influence of such treatment as this, we moderns have almost
+forgotten at times that during this period there lived men inferior to
+none in history in endowments of mind and influence on succeeding
+generations, and that there then took place some of the most significant
+and far-reaching intellectual conflicts in the history of thought. "With
+Cicero," says Professor Stirling, "we reached in our course a most
+important and critical halting-place.... We have still ... to wait those
+thousand years yet before Anselm shall arrive with what is to be named
+the new proof, the proof ontological, and during the entire interval it
+is the Fathers of the Church and their immediate followers who, in
+repetition of the old, or suggestion of the new, connect thinker with
+thinker, philosopher with philosopher, pagan with Christian."[1] To
+attempt to account for even one of the details of thought during this
+period cannot be without its advantages.
+
+For Christianity gave a new and unique turn to thought. It brought with
+it a new set of data, and a new subject-matter. The Christian doctrine
+of God, the distinctions in the Trinity, the great doctrines centering
+around the person of Jesus Christ, though, perhaps, faintly foreshadowed
+in some of the earlier speculations, are, in their fulness and
+completeness, first given to the world by the Founder of Christianity.
+The claims made for these doctrines, too, gave them a unique character.
+In contrast with the half-hearted, faltering conclusions of the
+prevalent philosophical schools, Christianity asserted that its
+teachings were absolute truth; it claimed to be nothing less than a
+revelation from the Creator of the world. It will be readily seen that
+the introduction of such a system as this into the Greek world would be
+attended with important results, not only in its effects upon the
+intellectual life of the times, but also in the influence of the current
+philosophical conceptions on the statement of its doctrine. The
+significance of this early period lies in the fact that, in the
+positive, definite system of Christianity, systematic thought, which was
+fast becoming disorganized and sceptical, found a center about which it
+might rally and focus itself, and the scattered fragments of philosophy
+were all collected together, by either friends or foes, about the new
+religion. The new point of view and the new relations would be most
+significant, too, in that department of thought with which the contact
+of this new central system had most to do, and thus the treatment of the
+theistic problem exhibits in a special degree the alteration in the
+standpoint and method of philosophy. It threw into bold relief the old
+basis of belief in the divine, and aroused a comparison and discussion
+of the validity of the various arguments hitherto used by speculative
+thought, and set them over in sharp contrast to the claims of the new
+revelation. In the early period when this contrast was most clearly
+felt, and time had not yet permitted a complete fusion and blending of
+the two points of view, we find a simplicity of situation which will aid
+analysis and facilitate the study of the relation of the old arguments
+for the existence of a God to the Christian doctrine, and which will
+help in determining the elements due to each and in interpreting the
+reasons for the direction of thought on this subject, which
+characterized the whole of the Mediæval period.
+
+In the representations of early Christian thought, however, we find
+great differences in the emphasis laid upon the speculative side of the
+theistic problem. Christian philosophy is no exception to the rule that
+the thought of the race develops through the needs, temperaments and
+tendencies with which it comes into contact, and unfolds itself
+naturally in response to internal or external stimuli--the doubts,
+intellectual needs and growing consciousness and experience of the
+believer, and the cavils, objections and attacks of his opponent. The
+first Christian teachers had to meet simple problems, and the mission of
+the Apostolic and sub-Apostolic Church was to "the people." Its first
+task, determined by the conditions in which the Christians found
+themselves, as well as by the command of their Master, was to convert
+the Jews, who, by their long training as a "peculiar people," were
+especially adapted for receiving this new revelation, based, as it was,
+on that monotheistic idea to the preservation of which their national
+life had been devoted. Upon them the primitive Christians, most of whom,
+like St. Paul, were "Hebrews of the Hebrews," brought to bear the
+instrument most adapted to their conversion, namely, the argument
+deduced from the sacred Scriptures of their race.
+
+And when the Church finally turned towards the Gentile world, it was
+still the popular religion, the religion of the poets, rather than the
+philosophy of the schools, with which its apologists first came into
+contact, and it is very evident from such writings as the recently
+recovered _Apology_ of Aristides, "philosopher of Athens," and many
+other works extending over the whole Ante-Nicene period, that much of
+the energy of the early exponents of Christianity was directed towards
+the conversion of the populace who still adhered, at least formally, to
+the religion of their own poets.
+
+The function of the primitive Christians, so far as the content of their
+belief was concerned, was to preserve and transmit to their successors
+an _implicit_ faith. The value of this faith they attempted to show
+chiefly by practical, ethical demonstration. Thus they preached chiefly
+by example, and it is on the ground of _life_ rather than that of
+_thought_ that they made their plea to the Gentiles. In their struggle
+for existence, threatened on every side by official persecution and
+popular fury, they had no opportunity for speculation on
+fundamentals--they pleaded merely to be allowed to live the life to
+which they were pledged. With the Eastern training, which most of them
+had had, so foreign to the ideals of Greek philosophy, and so tenacious
+of the idea of God, and with the person of Christ so near to them as to
+blind their eyes to the possibility of any other standard of truth than
+His words, they naturally afford us no material for the question under
+discussion.
+
+Thus we must wait for the rise of Christian philosophy, and take as our
+_terminus a quo_ the middle of the second century, when first there
+appears that literature which bears evidence to the conversion of
+philosophers to the Christian Church, and affords us examples of their
+attempts to present the new doctrines to the schools which they had
+abandoned.
+
+Our _terminus ad quem_ will be the Council of Nicea. The reason for this
+is in part the demands of time and space, and in part the fact that it
+will avoid needless and tedious repetition. The use of the theistic
+argument for some time after the Nicene period is fairly homogeneous,
+and presents no important new considerations. The apologetic work of the
+patristic writers was chiefly done in the ante-Nicene age; after that
+discussion turned more upon questions within the scope of the Christian
+Faith. The function of the age of the Councils was the formulation and
+definition of Christian dogma upon the admitted basis of the revelation
+of Jesus Christ.
+
+This inquiry, therefore, will have to do with that interesting period
+when the doctrines of the Christian Church were finding their connection
+with and relation to the speculations of Greek philosophy, and when the
+Christian philosophers and apologists were determining the attitude
+which, for many centuries, revealed religion assumed toward the
+demonstrations of natural theology.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] _Philosophy and Theology_, p. 176.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+GREEK AND ROMAN THEISTIC ARGUMENTS
+
+
+The first question that confronts us as we enter upon the discussion is
+the preliminary inquiry: What had been done already in the way of
+theistic argument, and in what condition did the Christian Church find
+this argument when it first began to develop a system of apologetics?
+And from the conditions of ancient thought, or, at least, from what we
+know of it, this resolves itself into the question: How far had the
+Greek philosophers advanced by means of speculative thought toward a
+conscious theism, and by what means did the various individuals and
+schools among them seek to prove the existence of the Divine? The answer
+to this inquiry will involve a brief examination of the contributions of
+the pre-Socratic philosophers (especially Anaxagoras), Socrates, Plato,
+Aristotle, the Stoics, the Epicureans, Cicero, and the Hellenizing Jews
+of Alexandria.
+
+The thought of Greece before the time of Socrates, from the very nature
+of its problem, and the material at its disposal, yields us but little
+that can, without doing violence to the facts, be construed as bearing
+on the theistic argument. The search of these early philosophers was,
+indeed, for an Ἀρχή, but their interest in the inquiry, as a perusal of
+the extant fragments of their writings will prove, was pre-eminently
+cosmological. They strove to discover the eternal ground of all things,
+but it was a principle to account for the phenomena of _physical_ nature
+that they sought, and they had not attained to a realization of even a
+rude form of the theistic problem. All they sought for was a primary
+substance which should satisfy the needs of a rudimentary physical
+science, which would enable them to co-ordinate the scanty data which
+they had accumulated from their contact with the world in which they
+lived, and to whose secrets they seem at times, in spite of their
+limited knowledge, to have come very close. And even granting that the
+problem involved in their search for the Ἀρχή was at bottom identical
+with that of theism, they attempt to give no proof or argument for their
+conclusions with regard to it. They are as yet merely _seers_, who
+report the vision that comes to them as they gaze upon the stress and
+strain and ever-changing spectacle of earth's phenomena. Even the
+teleology of Anaxagoras (often mentioned as the germ of the theistic
+argument) gives us nothing more than a poet's dream, expressed, as
+Diogenes Laertius informs us, in a "lofty and agreeable style."[2]
+"Nous," Anaxagoras tells us, "is infinite and self-ruled, and is mixed
+with nothing, but is alone, itself by itself.... It has all knowledge
+about everything, and the greatest strength; and Nous has power over all
+things, both greater and smaller, that have life. And Nous had power
+over the whole revolution, so that it began to revolve in the
+beginning.... And Nous set in order all things that were to be and that
+were, and all things that are not now, and that are, and this revolution
+in which now revolve the stars and the sun and the moon and the air and
+the æther that are separated off."[3] This, however, amounts to no
+argument, and it is extremely doubtful whether Anaxagoras ever meant
+anything more by his Nous than Empedocles did by his Love and Strife, of
+which it was the historical successor, and we may safely, I think,
+endorse the judgment of Aristotle when he says that "Anaxagoras, also,
+employs mind as a machine" (_i.e._, as the Laurentian MS. indicates, as
+a theatrical _deus ex machina_) "for the production of the cosmos; and
+when he finds himself in a perplexity as to the cause of its being
+necessarily so, he then drags it in by force to his assistance; but, in
+the other instances, he assigns as a cause of the things that are being
+produced, everything else in preference to mind (Nous)."[4] This
+criticism will, I am confident, apply fully as well to any apparent
+theism in the other pre-Socratic writers,[5] so that we shall be
+justified in assigning to them as their part in the development of the
+theistic argument, the mere undefined feeling and growing conviction of
+a permanent behind the changing, a "one" behind the "many."
+
+We find the natural deep and practical piety of Socrates reinforcing
+itself with a very full and complete statement of a teleological
+argument, based upon final cause, or adaptation of means to ends. It is
+in the _Memorabilia_[6] that we get the clear statement of this, and,
+therefore, it is a Socratic teaching which can, fortunately, be
+definitely distinguished from the Platonic treatment of the subject.
+"But which," he asks, "seemed to you most worthy of admiration,
+Aristodemus--the artist who forms images void of motion and
+intelligence, or one who has the skill to produce animals that are
+endued not only with activity, but understanding?" Then as Aristodemus
+answers, "The latter," Socrates proceeds to a detailed description of
+the adaptations of the eye, ear, teeth, mouth and nose to their several
+uses, and concludes with the question: "And canst thou still doubt,
+Aristodemus, whether a disposition of parts like this should be a work
+of chance, or of wisdom and contrivance?" He also argues in like manner
+from the existence of intelligence in man, the soul, and the general
+adaptability of man's powers and conditions to the furthering of his
+life. This argument to design has appropriately been called "peculiarly
+the Socratic proof,"[7] and to his treatment of it, so in keeping with
+the practical, sturdy common-sense of the man, nothing essential or
+important, except in multiplication of applications and details, has
+been added since his time. In the opinion of the writer, however,
+Socrates, so far as one can judge from his recorded utterances,
+developed merely the form of the Argument to Design, but it cannot be
+positively asserted that he used it as a _theistic_ argument. In the
+_Memorabilia_ it is always "the gods" to which the argument leads, and
+the worship of them that he urges. He may have had a more theistic
+conception, but the context warrants no further meaning of θεός than the
+generic one of an object of worship--in this case the national gods. In
+the _Apology_ "ὁ θεός" is used almost invariably of the local divinity
+of the oracle at Delphi, and of the "daemon" which, at the instigation
+of the Delphian divinity, as he was convinced, guided his actions. The
+present writer is strongly of the opinion that much violence has been
+done the words of Socrates by translators and interpreters, and that
+this fact will account for much of the alleged theistic teaching which
+is, without warrant, ascribed to the Athenian sage.
+
+The contribution of Plato to the theistic argument was,
+characteristically, the form of the "Ontological proof" which has been
+called "Idealogical." This process is a very natural development for
+Plato's Dialectic.[8] Once divide the universe, as he did, into the two
+classes of permanent existence and transient phenomena, and identify the
+former with the ideas (which are nothing else than universals, each of
+which expresses the essence of many phenomena), and it is a very easy
+process to conceive of these ideas themselves being united in another
+more inclusive idea, and so, by a process of generalization, to reach at
+length the "Idea of Ideas"--the absolute Idea, in which lies the essence
+of all in the universe. Thus from any one fact of beauty, harmony, etc.,
+the human mind may rise to the notion of a common quality in all objects
+of beauty, etc.: "from a single beautiful body to two, from two to all
+others; from beautiful bodies to beautiful sentiments, from beautiful
+sentiments to beautiful thoughts, until, from thought to thought, we
+arrive at the highest thought, which has no other object than the
+perfect, absolute, Divine Beauty."[9] The "ideas," too, and especially
+the "Good" or "absolute Idea," have in them a teleological element,
+"since the Idea not only states as what, but also for what a thing
+exists."[10] The absolute Idea is not only the first principle of the
+universe, but also its final purpose, and thus we have indicated in
+various places a teleological argument. Traces of other forms of the
+theistic argument have been detected in Plato's writings, but none of
+them are at all explicitly developed, and one cannot but feel that some
+writers on the subject have claimed altogether too much for Plato's
+theology.[11] The poetical and allegorical form into which he so
+constantly throws his discussion makes it extremely difficult to
+determine his exact position, especially on such a subject as his
+theology, in which he is constantly adapting his metaphysical doctrines
+to the prevailing polytheistic religious ideas; and at the same time
+this method of expression gives a good opportunity for the collection of
+isolated quotations which may support almost any theory.
+
+The religious character of Plato's philosophy is, as Zeller says, to be
+found much more on the moral than on the scientific side, and hence he
+was content to leave the more exact formulation of such arguments as
+these to his successors. As to the results to which this method led him,
+the statement of Zeller, in view of the many conflicting opinions, seems
+satisfactory: "In everything that he states concerning the Divinity the
+leading point of view is the idea of the Good, the highest metaphysical
+and ethical perfection. As this highest Idea stands over all ideas as
+the cause of all being and knowing, so over all gods, alike hard to find
+and to describe, stands the one, eternal, invisible god, the Framer and
+Father of all things."[12] Of the personality of God Plato had no
+conception,[13] and it would be a very difficult undertaking to prove
+from his extant works that he was, in any real sense of the word, a
+theist.
+
+Of the three divisions of the speculative sciences--physical,
+mathematical and theological--Aristotle makes the last the "most
+excellent,"[14] "for it is conversant about that one amongst entities
+which is more entitled to respect than the rest."[15] It is to the
+discussion of this subject in Book XI. that the greater part of the
+_Metaphysics_ leads up. He has established in the previous portions of
+the work the two substances which he calls "natural or
+physical"--namely, matter and form--and now he proceeds to justify the
+hints he has given of a third substance which is "immovable."[16] It has
+been customary to divide this discussion of Aristotle into several
+formal theistic arguments,[17] but in the opinion of the writer the text
+of the _Metaphysics_ does not lend itself readily to any such cut and
+dried arrangement of its argument. Aristotle does, indeed, to avoid the
+absurdity of an endless regress, argue from the κινούμενα and the
+κινοῦντα of the physical World to a πρῶτον κινοῦν which is a pure
+ἐνέργεια, ἀκίνητον, ἄνευ ὕλης, and hence foreign to all the passivity
+and contingency of matter;[18] concludes from motion in the world that
+there must be a First Mover;[19] and asserts the actuality of the
+eternal as opposed to potentiality; but these arguments are so blended
+together, and take each one so much from the others, that I cannot be
+convinced that Aristotle had ever clearly differentiated them.
+
+But it is clear enough that the crown of Aristotle's whole system is
+this "prime mover," "unmoved" and "apart from matter," and that this
+conception, up to which his thought leads from every side, as the
+necessary implication from the motion everywhere seen in the world, is
+his chief contribution to the argument for the existence of the Divine.
+Aristotle's chief interest lay in the cosmological problem, and his form
+of proof and the result which he reached by it were moulded by this
+fact. His argument did not lead him to a Creator of the world, for the
+universe, no less than the prime mover, was eternal, and the latter is
+nothing more than a principle of reason immanent in the world--pervading
+it, not distinguished from it--and the author of motion only in a
+passive way, after all, as a sort of magnetic object of desire.[20] In
+other places Aristotle makes passing references to different forms of
+the argument to prove the existence of the gods,[21] but it is evident
+that his own interest centered around this unmoved final cause, and it
+is in his proof of its existence from cosmological considerations that
+his significance for us lies.
+
+In the post-Aristotelian schools we have an entire change of the point
+of view, and instead of a philosophy of nature, such as occupied the
+attention of the pre-Socratic thinkers, or a philosophy of mind, such as
+Socrates, Plato, and to a large extent, Aristotle attempted to
+construct, we find the interest of men in speculative questions centered
+in a philosophy of life, of morals. Corresponding to this change in the
+point of view, we may easily detect an alteration in the manner of
+dealing with the arguments for the existence of the gods.
+
+There was, in the first place, an increased emphasis laid upon this line
+of thought, in common with religious subjects in general, and the
+reasons for the belief in the existence of the gods (for the Greek
+schools never transcended polytheism--when they speak of θεός they mean
+simply the abstract divinity of the many separate divinities) seems, so
+far as we may judge from the comparatively scanty remains that have come
+down to us, to have been discussed at great length; critically and
+negatively by the Sceptics, positively and apparently with full
+conviction by the Stoics, and with a curious mixture of both of these
+attitudes by the Epicureans. These latter, if the reported doctrine of
+Epicurus himself be trustworthy, denied the popular gods, and, in order
+to insure freedom, rejected the Stoic doctrine of providence; but, on
+the other hand, asserted a belief in gods whose essential
+characteristics are immortality and perfect happiness (to insure which
+they must care nothing for the world or for men), and whose existence
+was held to be proven on the basis of the common consent of all men
+("_Argumentum e Consensu Gentium_"). This argument is the result of a
+"natural idea" or "pre-notion," which Epicurus called πρόληψις;--"that
+is, an antecedent conception of the fact in the mind, without which
+nothing can be understood, inquired after, or discoursed on."[22]
+
+The Stoics, on the other hand, with their strong conviction of
+providence working in the world, were rather inclined to deny the
+validity of this argument from common consent, and rested their belief
+in the gods, as Cicero makes his Stoic do in _De Natura Deorum_,[23] on
+the evidence of design and purpose in the universe, but by this process
+succeeded only in proving to their own satisfaction that the world is
+divine--a fatalistic pantheism which roused the ire of the Epicurean and
+Sceptic alike, and which even Cicero seemed hardly to be able to accept.
+
+From this necessarily brief review of the development of the argument
+for the existence of a Divinity in Greek and Roman thought, it will be
+seen that, at one time or another, in a more or less fully developed
+form, each one of the principal types of the theistic argument received
+the chief emphasis and had its method enunciated. The pre-Socratic
+natural philosophers, on the basis of the maxim as old as philosophy
+itself--Ἀδύνατον γίνεσθαι τι ἐκ μηδενὸς προυπάρχοντος--pointed to an
+Ἀρχή--a real behind phenomena, a permanent behind the change--and thus
+pointed to the so-called Aetiological argument founded on the principle
+of causality. Socrates, with his pre-eminently practical disposition and
+ethical point of view, saw above all things intention in nature, and so
+from the consideration of this choice and adaptation of means to their
+end, and the resultant Final Cause he constructs a very complete
+Teleological argument for the existence of some intelligence behind the
+visible world. Plato's Ideas, as we have seen, determine the method by
+which he arrives at his abstract divinity, namely, by the "Idealogical"
+form of argument based upon a process of generalization. Aristotle,
+struck by the phenomena of motion in the universe, lays most stress on
+the course of reasoning which would lead back to the Prime Mover. The
+Epicureans, subordinating their theology to their ethical theory, and
+unwilling to allow their deity to interfere with the world or with men's
+affairs, developed and placed their dependence on the argument from
+common consent. The Stoics, laying great stress upon the order,
+proportion and harmony in the world, argued to mind as the reason for
+this condition of things. But none of these philosophers, in the opinion
+of the writer, attained to a conception of God which could in any real
+or accepted sense of the word be called theistic, or which would satisfy
+a mind accustomed to the idea of the Christian doctrine of God.
+
+For the Greek writers never make any accurate distinction between ὁ
+θεός, οἱ θεόι, τὸ θεῖον and τὰ θεῖα. They never conceive of their θεός
+as anything more than a rather larger and more majestic member of the
+innumerable family of the divinities of which the poets had sung--more
+spiritual only in so far as it was more vague and indefinite, a sort of
+mysterious, mythical being to which is sometimes attributed the same
+kind of personality possessed by the inferior gods, and sometimes
+regarded as simply the abstract divinity which characterized all of the
+gods. But that to which the arguments that we have been discussing
+generally lead is not even so near to the theistic conception as this
+modified polytheism, for they usually conduct us, as we have already
+indicated, to nothing more than a (sometimes) personified force of
+nature, principle of order, or abstract conception--not a God. Take away
+the inaccurate and misleading terms by which the original Greek is
+rendered in most of the English versions, in which the enthusiasm of the
+student of comparative religions has taken the place of the careful and
+accurate translator, and, aside from frequent apostrophes, such as are
+continually addressed by the poets to the many gods of the popular
+religion, the end of the arguments we have been considering will be
+found to be as depicted above. In a word: Greek philosophy, independent
+of Semitic influences, developed the _form_ of the chief types of the
+theistic argument, but it failed utterly to deduce from them a theism,
+being throughout in its theology either polytheistic or pantheistic.
+
+While considering this branch of our subject it would be impossible to
+ignore another school of thought, which, while neither Greek nor Roman
+in its nationality, yet derives so much of its philosophical stand-point
+from the former of these races as to be often classed under the same
+head. This is the school of Hellenizing Jews, in which there is built up
+on the foundation of the traditional faith of the Hebrew race, to the
+truth and authority of which they always held, a superstructure of
+philosophical speculation which follows closely the models afforded them
+by Greek thought. To effect a reconciliation between these two elements
+it was necessary for them to resort to the allegorical interpretation of
+the ancient inspired history of the race, and hence to the Oriental mind
+that wished to engage in speculative thought it was naturally Platonic
+and Pythagorean, rather than Aristotelian, methods that were most
+attractive.
+
+The chief and probably the earliest developed example of this
+combination of Oriental and Occidental thought is found in the writings
+of Philo Judaeus.[24] To him the powers of man seemed to be wholly
+unreliable and delusive, and only the special grace of God enables one
+to perceive any truth--"Αὐτος θεός ἀρχή καὶ πηγὴ τεχνῶν καὶ ἐπιστημῶν
+ἀνωμολόγηται." To approach God one must flee from one's self--"εἰ γὰρ
+ζητῆις θεὸν ἐξελθοῦσα απὸ σαυτῆς ἀναζήτει." Neither reason nor any other
+function of the soul can conduct us to God, nor can we attain to a
+conception of Him as the supreme cause of all by regarding the manifold
+perfections and powers of nature, for such a process can give us only
+shadows. It is only by a "superior faculty" which is a grace of God that
+one can attain some idea of the divine, but even by this means we arrive
+at only negative knowledge--we can know only what God is not.[25] Yet in
+spite of all this Philo uses quite an elaborate teleological argument
+drawn from the order in the world.[26] This inconsistency, which, as
+Erdmann remarks,[27] may be explained by the fact that Philo makes God
+only the orderer of the world, and, furthermore, interposes an
+intermediate being, the famous Philonian Logos, we have thought it worth
+while to mention in this place, as it forms a connecting link between
+the Greek philosophers and the Alexandrian Fathers, and foreshadows, in
+some degree, the direction in which their thought was to be led.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[2] D. L., I, 16; II, 6.
+
+[3] Ritter and Preller, 123. Translated by Burnet; _Early Greek
+Philosophy_, p. 283, 4.
+
+[4] _Metaphysics_, I, 4.
+
+[5] The "one god, the greatest among gods and men" of Xenophanes has led
+men to call him the first monotheist, but an examination of the
+fragments attributed to him will, I am sure, confirm the verdict of
+Burnet (_ut supra_, p. 123) that "what Xenophanes proclaimed as the
+'greatest god' was nothing more nor less than what we call the material
+world."
+
+[6] Xenophon: _Memorabilia_, I, 4.
+
+[7] Cocker: _Christianity and Greek Philosophy_, p. 491.
+
+[8] "La dialectique et le système des idées conduisaient directement
+Platon à la démonstration de l'existence de Dieu; et son Dieu porte en
+quelque façon l'empreinte de cette origine, puisqu'il est à la fois
+l'unité absolue et l'intelligence parfaite." Jules Simon: _Etudes sur la
+Théodicée de Platon et d'Aristote_, p. 29.
+
+[9] _Banquet_, § 34.
+
+[10] Erdmann: _History of Philosophy_, § 77, 4.
+
+[11] E.g. Cocker: _Christianity and Greek Philosophy_, pp. 377, ff.
+
+[12] Zeller: _Philosophie der Griechen_, II, i, s. 926.
+
+[13] Plato "never raised the question of the personality of God."
+(Zeller; _Greek Philosophy_ (briefer edition) § 49.) "Sie" ("die Idee
+der Ideen") "ist natürlich keine gottliche Persönlichkeit." (Kahnis:
+_Verhältniss der Alten Philosophie zum Christenthum_, p. 54.)
+
+[14] _Metaphysics_, V, 1.
+
+[15] _Ibid._: x, 7.
+
+[16] _Metaphysics_, xi, 6.
+
+[17] E.g., Schwegler: _History of Philosophy_; Cocker; _ut supra_, p.
+412, ff.
+
+[18] xi, 6.
+
+[19] xi, 7.
+
+[20] Jules Simon: _Etudes sur la Théodicée de Platon et d'Aristote_, p.
+88, _et al._; Davidson: _Theism and Human Nature_, p. 45.
+
+[21] Aristotle makes good use of the argument to design in a striking
+passage from a lost work quoted by Cicero in _De Natura Deorum_, II, 37,
+and in _Physica auscultatio_, II, 8, says: "The appearance of ends and
+means is a proof of design."
+
+[22] Cicero; _De Natura Deorum_, I, 16, 17, and frequently. See also
+Seneca; _Epist._, cxvii, whose Syncretism allows him to borrow from
+Stoic and Epicurean alike. See also Zeller; _Stoics, Epicureans and
+Sceptics_, p. 465.
+
+[23] E.g., I, 36; II, 2, 5, ff.
+
+[24] Vacherot: _Histoire Critique de l'Ecole d'Alexandrie_, Vol. I, p.
+142.
+
+[25] _Ibid._: Vol. I, p. 143, 144.
+
+[26] See e.g., the quotation in Stirling; _Philosophy and Theology_, p.
+173.
+
+[27] _History of Philosophy_, Vol. I, § 114, 3.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+THE PATRISTIC POINT OF VIEW
+
+
+The philosophy of the Greeks during the first century of our era
+presents a great contrast to that of the age of Socrates, Plato and
+Aristotle. No longer do we find men engaged in the processes of
+positive, constructive thought, but we have presented to our view an age
+of retrospection, of literary criticism, and, to a great extent, of
+intellectual exhaustion. Men live amid the ruins of the systems
+constructed by their ancestors, and each one attempts to form for
+himself, out of the scattered fragments, a combination which may serve
+him as a sufficiently coherent rule of thought, and, especially, of
+life. Stoicism, Epicureanism, Scepticism, the "Orientalizing Hellenes,"
+and the "Hellenizing Orientals," all by their restless, nervous,
+frequently erratic and aimless activity, bear witness to the fact that
+the mind of man has had revealed to it its own limitations, and is well
+on the way towards despair of ever arriving at truth. The Greek mind no
+longer exhibits that elasticity and spontaneity and enthusiasm in the
+search for truth, or that confidence in its results, which characterized
+the representatives of the best period of the thought of the race. The
+political fortunes of Greece do but typify the process which was going
+on in the Greek mind itself, and the period which we are considering is
+an age of intellectual as well as political decadence. This is
+manifested by the further fact that the thought of the age was largely
+turned backward and dwelt in the past. The day of original thought had
+passed by, and men were now content to deal with ideas at second
+hand--to be commentators rather than creators. This literary character
+which Greek philosophy now first began to exhibit was often seen and
+protested against. Thus Epictetus says: "If I study philosophy with a
+view only to its literature, I am not a philosopher, but a littérateur;
+the only difference is that I interpret Chrysippus instead of
+Homer."[28] But protest as they might, the inexorable signs of old age
+crept over the nation as irresistibly as they do over the individual,
+and, like the venerable man, preserved beyond his generation, Hellas
+lived largely in the memories of the past.
+
+The influence of this condition of things is seen in the education of
+the times. The Greek world of this period, as we know it, was
+pre-eminently educated, but in a special, literary sense of the term.
+The foundation of their education was Grammar--the "Belles Lettres" of
+modern times. Sextus Empiricus says, "We are all given over to Grammar
+from childhood, and almost from our baby-clothes."[29] After Grammar
+came Rhetoric, "the study of literature by the study of literary
+expression and quasi-forensic argument,"[30] and Rhetoric was followed
+by Philosophy, which, however, like the other branches of study, so
+partook of the characteristics of the age that we find Marcus Aurelius
+congratulating himself in this manner: "I owe it to Rusticus that I
+found the idea of the need of moral reformation, and that I was not
+diverted to literary ambition, or to write treatises on philosophical
+subjects, or to make rhetorical exhortations."[31]
+
+This saying of the imperial Stoic suggests another characteristic of the
+thought of the age--its ethical cast. From the time of Aristotle men had
+been content to have, to a large extent, the abstract problems of
+Ontology, Epistemology, and the others, and to lay emphasis on questions
+of life and manners. Stoicism, Epicureanism, Scepticism, and all the
+minor schools of the age, are pre-eminently ethical in their character.
+To be sure it was ethical theory rather than practice with which they
+were busied, but this fact makes the characteristic none the less
+important for the student of the history of philosophy.
+
+This disorganized condition of thought which we have been attempting to
+depict has been well described by Dr. Stirling: "The fall of the old
+world, which was at once political, religious and philosophical, was
+characterized by a universal atomism. Politically, the individual, as an
+atom, found himself alone, without a country, hardly with a home.
+Religiously, the individual, as an atom, has lost his God; he looks up
+into an empty heaven; his heart is broken, and he is hopeless, helpless,
+hapless, in despair. Philosophically, all is contradiction; there is no
+longer any knowledge he can trust. What the world is he knows not at
+all. He knows not at all what he himself is. Of what he is here for, of
+what it is all about, he is in the profoundest doubt, despondency and
+darkness. Politically, religiously and philosophically thus empty and
+alone, it is only of himself that the individual can think; it is only
+for himself that the individual must care. There is not a single need
+left him now--he has not a single thought in his heart--but εὖ πράττειν,
+his own welfare."[32]
+
+It was in the midst of this lump of Eclecticism, Syncretism and
+Scepticism that the leaven of Christianity was deposited, and the result
+of the fusion which took place after the first antagonism had passed
+away, makes this period a turning-point in the history of philosophy,
+and of the utmost importance as regards its effects on subsequent
+thought.
+
+And of this antagonism and subsequent reconciliation, the early
+Christian Apologists were concrete examples. They had most of them,
+before they became Christians, been adherents of one or the other of the
+different philosophical sects, and several of them had tried all in
+turn.[33] They exemplified well the prevailing restless distrust of the
+results and methods of the older schools, but in Christianity--the
+belief in a Person, who was for them "the Way, the Truth and the
+Life"--they finally found the certainty for which they had so long
+sought in vain. The effect of this process, and of this result upon the
+attitude of the early Christian philosophers, could be none other than
+an increased distrust of the arguments for the existence of God, and an
+inclination to ignore them completely. These already suspected processes
+of reasoning by which the Greeks had been able to attain only to an
+abstract principle, or force, or mechanical cause, or arranger of the
+world, must be of very small importance to these men, upon whose sight
+had burst all at once, in the height of their despair, the vision of the
+Christian doctrine of God, certified to by one whom they believed to be
+the veritable Son of God, "of one substance with the Father," and whose
+testimony to the truth of any fact brought a certainty which was
+infinitely superior to that which could be attained by any rational
+argument on other grounds. The transcendent authority of the teaching of
+Jesus Christ for these men, suddenly rescued by a belief in His claims
+from an absolute scepticism which was rapidly overflowing their minds,
+needs to be thoroughly appreciated before one can understand the
+position which they assumed, especially with reference to such a
+question as the one under discussion.
+
+But though this basis of belief was sufficient for them, yet, as the
+primary mission of the Christian was to "go, disciple all nations," they
+were soon brought, in their endeavors to fulfil this command, into
+contact with those who not only denied the authority of their Teacher,
+but who were sceptical about the very fundamentals of religious belief.
+For the sake of these, then, and occasionally for the further
+confirmation of the faith of believers, and for purposes of
+illustration, the patristic writers return again to the discussion of
+those elements of belief for which they themselves felt no need, and
+hence we have in their works a rather frequent reference to the various
+forms of the theistic argument; but one which is evidently only
+incidental to their main course of thought, and which is brought in
+merely in accommodation to the needs of their readers. The ordinary
+arguments to prove the existence of God were not at all an essential, or
+even prominent, feature of early Christian Theology. And because of this
+secondary and incidental position of these arguments, they were never,
+as we shall see, given definite, conventional shape in the patristic use
+of them, nor were the various forms of the argument differentiated; but
+they were used in what we may call a mixed form, a combination of two or
+more different forms being put forth as one composite whole.
+
+Besides these general influences which shaped the patristic treatment of
+the theistic arguments, we should notice certain fundamental and
+characteristic principles assumed by the Fathers, or by most of them,
+which have their bearing on our subject.
+
+In the first place it is held by most of the early Christian authors,
+and explicitly stated by many of them, that the idea of the existence of
+God is innate in man as a "natural opinion." We have already noticed the
+doctrine of πρόληψις advanced by Epicurus, and the somewhat similar
+position assumed by Philo, and we are not surprised to find that this
+idea took a strong hold on the devout minds of the early Christians.
+Thus St. Justin Martyr states that "the appellation 'God' is not a name,
+but _an opinion_ (προσαγόρευμα) _planted in the nature of man_ of a
+thing that can hardly be explained,"[34] and makes one of his
+discussions conclude that souls "can perceive (νοεῖν) that God
+exists."[35] St. Clement of Alexandria goes even further and affirms
+that "the Father, then, and Maker of all things is apprehended by all
+things, agreeably to all, _by innate power and without teaching_."[36]
+Tertullian thinks that "the soul was before prophecy. From the beginning
+the knowledge of God is the dowry (_dos_) of the soul,"[37] and among
+the "things known even by nature" is "the knowledge of our God" which is
+"possessed by all,"[38] so that he could write a treatise, _De
+Testimonio Animæ_, and exclaim, "O noble testimony of the soul by nature
+Christian."[39] Origen speaks of "the uncorrupted idea of Him which is
+implanted in the human mind,"[40] and St. Cyprian makes this knowledge
+so plain that "this is the very height of sinfulness to refuse to
+acknowledge Him whom you cannot but know."[41] Arnobius, too, in a
+passage in which much allowance must be made for rhetorical fervor,
+exclaims, "Is there any human being who has not entered on the first day
+of his life with an idea of that Great Head? In whom has it not been
+implanted by nature, on whom has it not been impressed, aye, stamped
+almost in his mother's womb even, in whom is there not a native
+instinct, that He is King and Lord, the ruler of all things that be? In
+fine, if the dumb animals even could stammer forth their thoughts, if
+they were able to use our languages; nay, if trees, if the clods of the
+earth, if stones dominated by vital perceptions were able to produce
+vocal sounds, and to utter articulate speech, would they not in that
+case, with nature as their guide and teacher, in the faith of
+uncorrupted innocence, both feel that there is a God, and proclaim that
+He alone is Lord of all?"[42] Such language as this last example is, of
+course, the exclamation of the orator rather than the deliberate
+judgment of the philosopher, but taken in connection with the other
+passages cited it will indicate how strong a hold this conviction had on
+the Fathers, and will anticipate, to some extent, what we shall have to
+say later as to the use of the _Argumentum e Consensu Gentium_.
+
+In direct connection and sharp contrast with this opinion of the
+Fathers, there stands the seemingly contradictory statement, as
+frequently encountered in their writings, that the soul of itself cannot
+see God nor attain to true religion. In the very same sentence in which
+St. Justin Martyr asserts that souls "can perceive (νοεῖν) that God
+exists," he states that they do not see (ἰδεῖν) God,[43] and insists in
+more than one place that "neither by nature nor by human conception is
+it possible for men to know things so great and divine."[44] Frequently
+the patristic writers have occasion to emphasize the inability of man to
+attain by any of his natural powers to religious truth, and to point to
+the impotent longings and aspirations of Greek philosophy as an example
+of this. St. Clement of Alexandria, for example, asserts that "the
+chiefs of philosophy only guessed at" religious truth,[45] and lays
+down the general principle that "God, then, being not a subject for
+demonstration, cannot be the object of science."[46] Origen, too, states
+that "for ourselves, we maintain that human nature is in no way able to
+seek after God, or to attain a clear knowledge of Him without the help
+of Him whom it seeks."[47]
+
+The inconsistency between these two fundamental positions of the
+Fathers, of which much is often made, is, I think, more apparent than
+real. For they make a clear distinction in their thought, though the
+mere language which they use is sometimes confusing, between knowledge
+of the existence of God--the undefined feeling or belief that there is a
+God--which is the "innate opinion," for which they give every man
+credit; and the knowledge of God, _i.e._, of His attributes, etc., the
+subject-matter of dogmatic theology. The existence of the former of
+these, it is true, as of the latter, may be obscured and nearly
+obliterated by sin and the consequent disorganization; for in the
+teaching of the Fathers, as in that of their Master, it is the pure in
+heart that see God,[48] and it is only the man whose nature is kept in
+due balance by a life of moral rectitude--the "righteous man" of the
+Scriptures--who can be expected to exhibit clearly this "natural
+opinion" or to attain to a full knowledge and appreciation of the
+Christian doctrine of God. At the very best, the knowledge of the Deity
+attained apart from revelation seemed to the Fathers to be, in
+comparison with their own certainty, miserably vague and conjectural,
+and they are constantly contrasting, in the most striking and graphic
+way, the contradictory and uncertain results to which the philosophers
+attained with the definiteness and consistency of the already
+well-defined doctrine of the Christian church. To them certainty in
+regard to knowledge of God can only come by means of the testimony of
+one who had seen and known,[49] and this testimony they are satisfied
+that they find in two places chiefly--first, in the testimony of the
+Prophets of the Old Testament, and, second, but in fact primarily, in
+the life and words of Jesus Christ, "the Word."
+
+Of the antiquity and reliability of this first source--the
+Prophets--they were never tired of talking, and they were so confident
+of the necessity of resorting to it that they developed their famous
+theory of the indebtedness of Plato and Aristotle to those Hebrew seers
+for their theology. "From every point of view, therefore," concludes St.
+Justin Martyr, "it must be seen that in no other way than only from the
+prophets, who teach us by divine inspiration, is it at all possible to
+learn anything concerning God and the true religion."[50]
+
+But the chief source from which the Fathers drew that certainty which
+they could not find in the demonstrations of philosophy was in the
+teaching of the Word, Jesus Christ. God, indeed, as we have seen, is not
+an object of science, "but the Son is wisdom and knowledge and truth,
+and all else that has affinity thereto. _He is also susceptible of
+demonstration and of description._"[51] It is in the incarnate Word of
+God that the patristic writers find expressed all that man is able to
+comprehend, and all that he needs to know in this present world, of the
+Divine Nature, and it is His words that confirm their confidence in that
+"innate opinion" of the existence of God, of the presence of which in
+every man they were so sure.
+
+The subject of the "demonstration" of the existence of God is spoken of
+at some length in several places by St. Clement of Alexandria, and with
+his position most of the Fathers agree in the main. He regards the
+subject largely from an Aristotelian point of view. All knowledge is
+derived from Sensation and Understanding. "Intellectual apprehension is
+first in the order of nature; but in our case, and in relation to
+ourselves, Sensation is first, and of Sensation and Understanding the
+essence of knowledge is formed, and evidence is common to Understanding
+and Sensation."[52] But "should any one say that knowledge is founded on
+demonstration" (which "depends on primary and better known
+principles,"[53] being "discourse agreeable to reason, producing belief
+in points disputed, from points admitted"[54]) "_by a process of
+reasoning_, let him hear that first principles are incapable of
+demonstration, for they are neither by art" (τέχνη), which is "practical
+solely, and not theoretical," "nor by sagacity" (φρόνησις = practical
+wisdom), which is "conversant about objects which are susceptible of
+change,"[55] but are "primary," "self-evident," and
+"indemonstrable."[56] Thus this "demonstration by a process of
+reasoning," apart from Sensation _and_ Understanding, is only "to
+syllogize;" "for to draw the proper conclusion from the premisses is
+merely to syllogize. But to have also each of the premisses true is not
+merely to have syllogized, but also to have demonstrated," "so that if
+there is demonstration at all, there is an absolute necessity that there
+be something that is self-evident, which is called primary and
+indemonstrable."[57] On the basis of this theory of knowledge, it is
+evident that the usual arguments for the existence of God would have but
+little weight. For they either attempt to attain their end by formal
+thought alone, and thus result in mere "syllogizing;" or, starting from
+valid enough premises, they try to extend the conclusion beyond the
+limits imposed by the laws of "demonstration." For St. Clement, then,
+God is not "apprehended by the science of demonstration." If the Deity
+is to be known, there must be some place in which a union of the
+material and formal elements of "demonstration" of His existence is to
+be found. This he places in the life and teaching of Jesus Christ, who,
+as God incarnate, furnishes the "evidence" which "is common to
+Understanding and Sensation," and thus translates the "Infinite" and
+"Ineffable" into terms of the finite and comprehensible. In this paradox
+Christian theology has ever since been content to rest as one of the
+fundamental mysteries of the Faith.
+
+But even with all the aids of revelation, the Fathers would not claim
+that man can advance to a full or adequate knowledge of God--we can
+simply know so much _about_ God as is necessary for _practical_
+purposes--for ascertaining our proper end and duties. God is, from the
+very limitations of the human mind, "ineffable," "incomprehensible,"
+"the unknown;"[58] and St. Clement of Alexandria expressly states even
+the best knowledge of God that man can by any means attain is only
+negative.[59]
+
+These general positions, which in their broad lines are common to
+practically all of the Ante-Nicene Fathers, serve to confirm the
+historical interpretation of the place occupied by early Christian
+theistic thought, and will pave the way to an appreciation of their use
+of the arguments for the existence of God.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[28] _Enchiridion_, 49.
+
+[29] _Adversus Grammaticos_, I, 44.
+
+[30] Hatch: _Hibbert Lectures_, 1888, Lect. II, where a full account is
+given of the education of the time, and what it signified.
+
+[31] I, 7.
+
+[32] _Philosophy and Theology_, p. 164.
+
+[33] See e.g., St. Justin Martyr: _Dialogue with Trypho_, II.
+
+[34] _Second Apology_, VI.
+
+[35] _Dialogue with Trypho_, IV (end).
+
+[36] _Stromata_, V, 14.
+
+[37] _Against Marcion_, I, 10.
+
+[38] _Resurrection of the Flesh_, III.
+
+[39] _Apology_, XVII.
+
+[40] _Against Celsus_, II, 40.
+
+[41] _Treatise_ VI, § 9. See, also, Tertullian: _Apology_, XVII; "And
+this is the crowning guilt of men that they will not recognize One of
+whom they cannot possibly be ignorant."
+
+[42] _Against the Heathen_, I. 33.
+
+[43] _Dialogue with Trypho_, IV, "Even Homer distinguishes simple seeing
+(ἰδεῖν) from νοεῖν, which implies perception by the mind as consequent
+upon sight."
+
+[44] _Hortatory Address to the Greeks_, V.
+
+[45] _Exhortation to the Heathen_, XI.
+
+[46] _Stromata_, IV, 25. In V, 12, he explains what he means by
+"demonstration": "Nor any more is He apprehended by the science of
+demonstration, for it depends on primary and better known principles.
+But there is nothing antecedent to the Unbegotten."
+
+[47] _Against Celsus_, VII, 20. See also VII, 44, and Clem. Alex.:
+_Stromata_, II, ii, 4, and often.
+
+[48] E.g., Theophilus (I, 1, 2) replies to the demand: "Show me thy
+God," by the counter-demand: "Show me _yourself_, and I will show you my
+God."
+
+[49] E.g., St. Justin: _Hortatory Address_, V.
+
+[50] _Ibid._, XXXVIII. See also V, VIII, and Athenagoras: _Embassy_,
+VII; Clem. Alex.: _Exhortion to Heathen_, VI, XI; _Stromata_, I, 13; II,
+2, 11; V, 14; Tertullian: _Apology_, XVIII; Methodius: _Miscellaneous
+Fragments_, 1.
+
+[51] St. Clem. Alex.: _Stromata_, IV, 25. For a few among many
+references, see: St. Irenaeus: _Against Heresies_, V, i, 1; St. Clem.
+Alex.: _Exhortation to Heathen_, XI; _Instructor_, I, 12; _Stromata_, I,
+5, 19; II, 2; V, 1, 6, 11-13; VII, 1; VI, 5; Tertullian: _Against
+Marcion_, V, 16; _Against Praxeas_, XIV; Origen: _De Principiis_ I, iii,
+1; _Against Celsus_, VII, 42, 44; Novatian: _De Trinitate_, VIII;
+Arnobius: _Against the Heathen_, I, 38.
+
+[52] _Stromata_, II, 4: "ἐκ δὲ αἰσθήσεως καὶ τοῦ νοῦ ἡ τῆς ἐπιστήμης
+συνίσταται οὐσία κοινὸν δὲ νοῦ τε καὶ αἰσθήσεως τὸ ἐναργές." The student
+of Kant's _Kritik der Reinen Vernunft_ will find a number of familiar
+passages in St. Clement.
+
+[53] _Ibid._, V, 12.
+
+[54] _Ibid._, VIII, 3.
+
+[55] _Ibid._, II, 4.
+
+[56] _Ibid._, VIII, 3.
+
+[57] _Stromata_, VIII, 3.
+
+[58] E.g., Theophilus: _To Autolycus_, I, 3; St. Clem. Alex.:
+_Stromata_, V, 12.
+
+[59] _Stromata_, V, 12: "If, then, abstracting all that belongs to
+bodies and things called incorporeal, we cast ourselves into the
+greatness of Christ, and then advance into immensity by holiness, we may
+reach somehow to the conception of the Almighty, _knowing not what He
+is, but what He is not_."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+PATRISTIC USE OF THE THEISTIC ARGUMENTS
+
+
+From this account of the general attitude of the ante-Nicene writers
+toward a possible knowledge of God, it will readily be anticipated that
+the forms of the theistic argument used by Plato and by Aristotle will
+find no place in their system. St. Clement of Alexandria, in a passage
+already referred to,[60] shows that any Ontological or Idealogical
+argument can only lead us to an "Unknown," which may be "understood" and
+given meaning "by the Word alone that proceeds from Him;" and he and
+others of the early Christian writers seem to hint at that distinction
+between Epistemology and Ontology which has always been the chief enemy
+of any purely rational theistic argument. The Aetiological argument,
+too, is not explicitly stated by them; and, though Lactantius does, in
+opposing atheistic atomism, ask the question, "Whence are those minute
+seeds?" yet the casual character of the inquiry shows the small emphasis
+he placed on it, and the silence of the other writers, even when there
+was every opportunity for calling attention to such an argument, gives
+evidence to their estimate of its usefulness.
+
+It is the more "practical" and "common-sense" forms of the theistic
+argument--the Cosmological, the Teleological, the argument from common
+consent, and mixtures of these types--that the early Christian writers
+use most frequently, and in this they do but conform to the general
+tendency of their age, as well as to the practical spirit of
+Christianity. As we have seen, the more artificial and abstract
+arguments of Plato and Aristotle did not take much hold upon others than
+their originators or formulators, and the distinct tendency of the
+theology of the later Greek and Latin schools of philosophy was toward
+the more concrete forms of the theistic argument. And this inclination
+would be emphasized in the early Christian writers, so far as they make
+use of the argument at all, by the eminently simple and common-sense
+attitude of Christianity toward all such problems, and also by the
+peculiar work which the primitive Church had to do in the conversion of
+the "common people," to whom an abstract argument would have been a
+waste of words.
+
+But we should expect that to men, upon whom a close perusal and study of
+the Old Testament Scriptures had impressed the idea of God as the
+Creator, Law-Giver and Governor of the universe, the Cosmological
+argument would appeal strongly. Moreover, the strong Stoic influence
+which is seen in their works, particularly in their treatment of
+questions of morals, and in their ethical terminology, would naturally,
+one would think, pre-dispose them to regard with favor this argument, so
+in vogue among the philosophers of the Porch. It is, therefore, all the
+more remarkable that, among the important works of the Ante-Nicene
+Fathers, not more than a dozen instances, at most, of this argument can
+be found; and of these more than half are merely passing references to
+the patent fact of order in the world. Thus Tertullian asserts (quite
+incidentally, in the course of an argument on an ethical question), that
+"Nature herself is the teacher" of the fact "that God is the Maker of
+the universe,"[61] but even here it is doubtful whether he means to
+appeal to order or design in the world. In another place he makes the
+mere statement that the fact of God's existence is tested by His works;
+His character by the beneficence of them;[62] in another that the
+"Creator ought to be known even by nature;"[63] and in still another
+that nature teaches all men the existence and character of God.[64]
+Origen in a passage sometimes quoted, appeals to the order and harmony
+of the world,[65] but it is to prove the unity of God rather than His
+existence. Perhaps the best and most elaborate example of the use of the
+Cosmological argument by the Ante-Nicene authors, is that made of it by
+"Athenagoras the Athenian; Philosopher and Christian," as he styled
+himself.[66] He is concerned with making a distinction between God and
+matter, in opposition to the popular idolatry, and declares that
+Christians see the "Framer" behind the orderly world--whose relation one
+to the other he likens to that between the artist and the materials of
+his art. "But as clay cannot become vessels of itself without art, so
+neither did matter, which is capable of taking all forms, receive apart
+from God the Framer, distinction and shape and order."
+
+And these few incidental and scattered instances represent practically
+the explicit use of the Cosmological argument in the writings with which
+we are occupied. When we consider how constantly they must have met with
+the statements of it which are prevalent in the writings of the Stoics,
+by whom they were, we know, profoundly influenced in both the form and
+the terminology of their thought, we must surely consider this omission
+a significant fact, for which it is worth while trying to account.
+
+Nor does the "Socratic proof," the argument to design, meet with any
+more cordial reception at the hands of early Christian writers. Although
+the cases in which it is used are generally more explicit and fully
+developed, yet the appeals to design in nature are fewer even than those
+to order. The earliest, and one of the best examples of the use of this
+argument is that made by Theophilus, Bishop of Antioch, in his work
+addressed to the idolater Autolycus.[67] He seeks to prove that the
+invisible God is perceived through His works. As the soul is unseen, yet
+perceived through the motion of the body; as the pilot is inferred from
+the motion of the ship; as the king, though not present in person, is
+believed to exist from his "laws, ordinances and authorities;" so the
+unseen God is "beheld and perceived through his providence and works."
+"Consider, O man, His works," he exclaims; and proceeds to enumerate the
+evidences of design in the universe--"the timely rotation of the
+seasons," "the regular march of the stars," the various beauty of seeds
+and plants and fruits, and many others. It is a passage of considerable
+beauty, and evidences no mean rhetorical skill.
+
+It is in this same connection--in the refutation of idolatry--that St.
+Clement of Alexandria uses this argument, contrasting the living
+organism of man with the heathen idols.[68] "None of these (artists)
+ever made a breathing image, or out of earth moulded soft flesh. Who
+liquefied the marrow? or who solidified the bones? who stretched the
+nerves? who distended the veins? who poured the blood into them? or who
+spread the skin? who ever could have made eyes capable of seeing? who
+breathed spirit into the lifeless form? who bestowed righteousness? who
+promised immortality? The Maker of the universe alone; the great Artist
+and Father has formed us, such a living image as man is. But your
+Olympian Jove, the image of an image, greatly out of harmony with truth,
+is the senseless work of Attic hands." This, it will be readily seen,
+is more an attempt to show the insufficiency of idolatry to account for
+man's nature, than a deliberate attempt at theistic proof.
+
+The other examples of the use of this form of the argument for the
+existence of God are found in Lactantius, "the Christian Cicero." In
+speaking of Socrates he introduces[69] with approval an epitome of the
+Athenian sage's argument, which we have already considered,[70] and, in
+combatting the atomistic theory of the origin of the world, he
+asserts[71] that neither atoms nor the "Nature" of Lucretius can account
+for the adaptations in the actual world; and the phenomena of mind,
+especially, proclaim an intelligent Providence. His treatise "On the
+Workmanship of God, or the Formation of Man," is almost entirely an
+argument to design from the phenomena of man's physical and mental
+nature. From the standpoint of the physiology and psychology of his
+time, he discusses in detail the function and working of the different
+parts of man's nature, and from the adaptation of means to ends, of
+organs to their functions, which, even with the scanty data of the
+science of that day, is a striking consideration, he concludes that
+man's being can only be accounted for on the supposition of an Arranger
+or Planner, whose purposes are carried out in exercise of the various
+functions.
+
+The argument _e Consensu Gentium_ has often been accredited with being
+peculiarly the patristic argument for the existence of God,[72] and for
+this conclusion the use of it in Epicurean theology, and the doctrine of
+the natural, innate idea of God already considered, would fully prepare
+us; but the fact is that, apart from frequent passing references to the
+"natural opinion" mentioned in the preceding chapter, the instances in
+which the argument is explicitly made use of are not much more numerous
+than in the case of the other forms. They constantly appeal to the
+common consent, but it is generally against polytheism, as indicating a
+consciousness of _the unity_ of God. St. Justin Martyr, in the passage
+to which we have already alluded, asserts[73] this common consent, but
+only as preparatory to the certainty which he finds in revelation. St.
+Clement of Alexandria, after asserting that "the Father and Maker of all
+things is apprehended by all things, agreeably to all, by innate power,
+and without teaching," goes on to confirm his statement in this
+manner:[74] "But no race anywhere, of tillers of the soil, or nomads,
+and not even of dwellers in cities, can live without being imbued with
+the faith of a superior being. Wherefore, every eastern nation, and
+every nation touching the western shore; or the north, and each one
+toward the south--all have one and the same preconception respecting
+Him, who hath appointed government; since the most universal of His
+operations equally pervade all." It is with the principles and end of
+this argument in view that Tertullian appeals[75] to the witness of the
+soul, "not as when fashioned in schools, trained in libraries, fed in
+Attic academies and porticoes," but "rude, uncultured and untaught, such
+as they have thee who have thee only; that very thing of the road, the
+street, the workshop wholly;" and from his examination of this ordinary
+soul he concludes that "the knowledge of our God is possessed by
+all."[76] Minucius Felix appeals to this same common instinct and
+exclaims:[77] "What! is it not true that I have in this matter the
+consent of all men?" and Origen, in his reply to the attack of Celsus,
+points to "the ineradicable idea of Him."[78] Novatian asserts[79] that
+"the whole mind of man is conscious" of Him, "even if does not express
+itself," and Lactantius thinks that for Cicero "it was no difficult
+task, indeed, to refute the falsehoods of a few men who entertained
+perverse sentiments by the testimony of communities and tribes, who on
+this one point had no disagreement."[80]
+
+Besides these instances in which the different types of the theistic
+argument are used in an undeveloped, but yet in a pure form, there are
+several places where a mixed form appears, the different conventional
+processes being used in combination without being clearly
+differentiated. Thus the argument from common consent and the argument
+based on order or design are used in conjunction, the necessity of the
+universal knowledge of God's existence being seen from the witness to
+Him found in nature.[81] So, too, the arguments from order and from
+design in nature are often used in conjunction, and in many passages it
+is difficult to decide to which one of these two the author intends to
+appeal primarily.[82] These undifferentiated or mixed arguments are
+quite frequently to be seen in the patristic writings, and serve to
+illustrate the eclectic character of their thoughts, often presenting in
+one passage the forms of the theistic arguments peculiar to two opposed
+schools in Greek philosophy; and they also indicate how incidentally and
+naïvely the Fathers used such weapons, not taking the trouble to
+differentiate one form from the other, though they could not have been
+ignorant of such distinctions.
+
+The first thing that strikes one's attention in this examination of the
+use of the theistic argument in the early Christian writers is, as has
+been indicated, the paucity of examples. When we consider the emphasis
+laid upon this subject in the contemporaneous philosophical schools; the
+constant appeal to one form or another of the argument by Stoic and
+Epicurean alike; the various combinations and adaptations made by
+Eclectics and Syncretists; the use of such material in the exercises of
+the rhetorical instruction then so prominent in education; it would seem
+that a weapon so ready to their hand must have been seized upon by the
+Fathers, and made full use of for the advancement of the cause in which
+they were enlisted. And this silence on their part cannot be due to
+ignorance of what had been written on the subject, or of what was going
+on in the world about them. The patristic writings show the keenest
+interest in, and fullest knowledge of what men were thinking about in
+the outside world as well as within the Church. Many of the Fathers, as
+we have had occasion to notice, had been trained in the philosophical
+schools,[83] and show themselves fully conversant not only with such
+subjects, but with poetry and general literature as well.[84] In the
+course of their education, as well as in their reading, they must have
+become fully acquainted with all the forms of the theistic argument. And
+this knowledge they had every opportunity to use. Many of their works
+that have come down to us are either apologies or else answers to
+critics of Christianity, who attacked its doctrines from the stand-point
+of either polytheism or atheism. In maintaining the Christian doctrine
+of God against these opponents, the theistic argument would seem to be a
+most natural weapon for one who was confident of its validity. But the
+fact is, that in most of these apologies no such reasoning is employed,
+and even when it is to be found in their pages, is only incidental and
+by way of illustration, to explain the rational character of the
+Christian doctrine of God by a sort of _argumentum ad hominem_.
+
+One reason for this neglect of the theistic argument may be readily
+found in the subject-matter of the treatises themselves. Almost
+exclusively with the earlier Fathers, as we have seen, and very largely
+with their successors, the emphasis was laid on life, rather than on
+thought, and the appeal was to authority rather than to reason. Men were
+asked to judge of Christianity by its fruits, and to receive the faith
+which it professed, not because of its rational demonstration, but
+because of the authority of Him who promulgated it. The persons to whom
+the arguments were addressed, too, explain much of the silence of the
+Fathers. To the Jew or religious Gentile it would be superfluous to
+address elaborate arguments to prove the existence of God, and it was to
+these classes that many of the works under discussion were addressed. To
+them the argument, such as we frequently find, from the Old Testament
+types and prophecies, or from the superior beauty and morality of the
+Christian doctrine and life, taking for granted the existence of God,
+was what the case required. And when, as is very frequently the case,
+they address the popular idolaters, it is a negative argument to show
+the unworthiness of idol-worship, and the superiority of their own
+doctrine, of which they naturally make use, and not a theistic argument
+which would have no significance to those who were already "too
+religious."
+
+Many of the apologies of the early Church were called forth by the
+attacks which were made on the Christians by the adherents of the
+popular religions. The charges usually brought against them were those
+of atheism, because of their rejection of the gods of Greece and Rome;
+of immorality, because of the secrecy and mystery of their meetings, and
+cannibalism, because of their doctrine of the partaking of the Body and
+Blood of Christ in the Eucharist. In refuting these charges, especially
+the first, no place was afforded for the use of a theistic argument, but
+they naturally exhibit their belief in God as superior to that of their
+accusers, and appeal to their lives as justifying their belief.
+
+But aside from these cases in which the theistic argument would have
+been superfluous, there are many places in which it is conspicuous for
+its absence. That they had other arguments besides those from scripture
+and authority, and that they believed in using them when necessary, we
+have, as we have seen, many proofs in their writings. Their position is
+well indicated by Lactantius, who blamed St. Cyprian for using a
+Scripture argument to an unbeliever,[85] and we shall be obliged to look
+deeper than mere ignorance or lack of occasion to account for the
+paucity of cases in which they use the argument for the existence of
+God.
+
+The fact is that the history of Greek thought had shown conclusively the
+absolute futility of any efforts to arrive at a certain proof of the
+existence of God by purely rational methods. The attempts of each school
+to attain such certainty were repudiated by their successors, and even
+by their contemporaries; and the later trials--which the religious
+instincts and aspirations of men would not permit them to forego, even
+when they were sceptical of obtaining any valid and positive
+results--frequently became, instead of a sincere seeking after God, mere
+practice in the art of Rhetoric. And not only was it true that no one of
+the forms of the theistic argument brought conviction to any other mind
+than that of the man who regarded it with the partial enthusiasm of an
+originator or formulator, but even such an one was led to only the most
+vague and indefinite results. We have already seen how even the best
+theology of the Greeks led to nothing but a sort of organized or unified
+polytheism. A vague, fanciful first cause of physical phenomena, a
+general idea, abstracted out of all content, so as to leave no meaning
+for the human mind--whatever the imagination might make of it--a
+mechanical, magnetic force, to which all motion might conveniently be
+referred; a deified principle of order--and these held in conjunction
+with the popular polytheism, and impregnated with the national
+pantheistic conceptions--was all that Greek philosophy could offer to
+the higher religious aspirations of the educated man. The opinion of the
+Greek mind itself as to the character of the knowledge of God, to which
+the thought of their race had led them at the beginning of the Christian
+era was fitly expressed by those Athenians, who erected near the
+Areopagus the "altar on which was written, 'To the Unknown God.'"[86]
+The opinion (for in most cases it did not amount to a conviction) that
+there was an Unknown (or even, as many thought, an Unknowable) Divinity
+of some sort, which might account for the phenomena of the world, and
+which might be the truth behind the vagaries of the anthropomorphic
+polytheism, was as far as Greek thought had led men at the period with
+which we have to do. Their θεός was really nothing more than Mr. Herbert
+Spencer's "Unknowable,"--a mysterious "force," to which everything was
+referred which could not be accounted for on the basis of scientific
+principles.
+
+Now if this was the case with the adherents of the heathen philosophical
+schools, how must the realization of the poverty of this result, and the
+distrust of the means which led to it, have been emphasized by the
+conversion of individuals from them to Christianity. It is a graphic
+picture which some of the Fathers paint for us of their eager search, in
+the different schools in turn, for some religious truth which would
+bring with it conviction; of their disappointment and consequent despair
+and scepticism, and then of the satisfaction which they had found for
+their aspirations in the teaching of Jesus Christ, who, they were
+convinced, was the very Word of God. Viewed merely from the historical
+point of view, this process is full of interest as illustrating that
+which was going on in many minds that stopped at the sceptical stage,
+and, for one reason or another, never found refuge in the Christian
+Church. But for those who did take this step, their former distrust of
+the theistic argument, as a basis for religious conviction, must have
+been greatly emphasized. The contrast between their former scepticism as
+to man's ability to attain to any knowledge of things beyond the
+phenomenal world, and their present faith and conviction which their
+belief in the Person of Christ gave them, must have made the part of any
+such means of arriving at truth as the already discredited theistic
+argument most insignificant. They, themselves, had no need for it. All
+it had been able to do for them, as for those to whom they wrote, was to
+raise an aspiration which "would not down"--to bring them to the
+hypothesis (substituted for polytheism, now outgrown) of an "Unknown
+God," and they felt that their message to their contemporaries was, like
+that of St. Paul to the Athenians on Areopagus: "Whom, therefore, ye
+ignorantly worship, Him declare I unto you."
+
+It is with this attitude in mind, I am convinced, that we must interpret
+the doctrine, so often enunciated by the early Christian writers, but
+especially by St. Justin Martyr and St. Clement of Alexandria, of the
+"partial," "fragmentary" character of the theological truth arrived at
+by Greek philosophy. They have sometimes been charged with
+inconsistency in thus characterizing the work of men from whom they
+borrowed so much, but they seem, in fact, to have been remarkably
+appreciative of their old masters when we consider the position in which
+they stood. In fact, they seem to grant to Greek philosophy all that its
+adherents would claim for it, namely, that, by means of the arguments
+adduced by its different schools, the Greeks had attained to the opinion
+that there was something behind the phenomena of nature, but this might
+as well be a transcendent force or a pantheistic world-soul as an
+immanent God. With the Apostle on Mars' Hill they would say that the
+best theology of the Greeks simply put them in a position "that they
+should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after Him and find Him."
+
+And each of the Greek schools, they would say, by resting their case on
+some one of the various arguments, and emphasizing some one of the
+attributes of the Deity at the expense of the others, had attained only
+a partial and inadequate view, though true so far as it went. "Since,
+therefore," says St. Clement of Alexandria,[87] "truth is one (for
+falsehood has ten thousand by-paths); just as the Bacchantes tore
+asunder the limbs of Pentheus, so the sects both of barbarian and
+Hellenic philosophy have done with truth, and each vaunts as the whole
+truth the portion which has fallen to its lot. But all, in my opinion,
+are illuminated by the dawn of Light." These men were deeply
+appreciative of the work of Greek philosophy so far as it went--even
+assigning to it a place analogous to the Hebrew Scriptures[88]--but they
+always attribute to it a distinctly propædeutic office, and are careful
+to emphasize its failure to lead to any firm and positive conviction of
+the existence of God. That this was the position of the early Christian
+philosophers might be shown by many passages, but we will content
+ourselves with one example from the pages of St. Clement of Alexandria,
+who assigned to Greek philosophy a higher place than any of the
+patristic writers--so much so that his orthodoxy has frequently been
+questioned because of it. He is fond of designating the knowledge of God
+to which the Greeks had attained by the term "περίφρασις." Thus he
+concludes[89] an argument from common consent, already quoted, in these
+words: "Much more did the philosophers among the Greeks, devoted to
+investigation, starting from the Barbarian philosophy, attribute
+providence to the 'invisible, and sole and most powerful, and most
+skilful and supreme cause of all things, most beautiful;'--not knowing
+the influences from these truths, unless instructed by us, and not even
+how God is to be known naturally, but only, as we have already often
+said, by a true periphrasis." "The men of highest repute among the
+Greeks knew God, not by positive knowledge, but by indirect expression
+(περίφρασις)."[90] The indefinite and merely "probable" character of the
+results which the Fathers think were reached by the theistic argument in
+Greek thought explains to us the few examples of these proofs which we
+find in their writings, and the certainty which they thought they had
+found, and their consequent attitude toward all arguments of this
+nature, which we have tried to depict, is the key to the explanation of
+a new phase in the history of thought which was to last for several
+centuries.
+
+In our examination of these examples of the theistic argument in the
+Fathers, it cannot escape our notice that they occur much more
+frequently, and in more developed and conventional form in the West than
+in the East--under the influence of Rome than under that of Alexandria
+and the Orient. The reason for this is not far to seek, and is one that
+throws light also on the motive with which the patristic writers made
+use of these arguments.
+
+In Alexandria and the East there was no incentive for the Christians to
+try to prove the existence of God, for the philosophy of that portion of
+the world was essentially religious in its character, and based its
+speculation on the existence of God as a fundamental postulate of
+revelation and of reason as well. In the combination of Judaism and
+Hellenic philosophy made by the "Hellenizing Jews" and by the "Judaizing
+Hellenes," the existence of God was admitted quite as freely, and
+maintained quite as zealously, as by the Christians themselves, and even
+the incipient Neo-Platonists made no quarrel with them on this ground.
+So we find that the reference in the Alexandrian and other Eastern
+Fathers are mainly of the character of examples and illustrations as to
+principles that are well understood and admitted, and are employed
+chiefly for the purpose of refuting idolatry by a distinction between
+God and matter, or of proving the unity of God in opposition to the
+still latent polytheism.
+
+Under the influence of Rome, however, other tendencies came in to give a
+rather different significance to the theistic argument. For Rome had
+become the chief center of the later schools of Greek philosophy, and
+under the shadow of the seven hills rather than in the Athenian groves
+and porticoes were found the disciples of Pyrrho, of Zeno and of
+Epicurus. Thus, very naturally, wherever Roman civilization was dominant
+the teacher of Christian doctrine was obliged to present his subject
+with reference to the forces already at work in the minds of those whom
+he addressed. In accordance with this, we find, first, a _negative_
+influence in the hostile attitude assumed by the Sceptics and members
+of other schools who tended toward their position, toward any religious
+knowledge. That this influence is not an imaginary one may be seen
+especially in the instance already quoted from Lactantius, whose use of
+the theistic argument is called forth by the cavils of Sceptics and
+atheistic atomists.
+
+But there was also a _positive_ influence at work to facilitate the use
+of the theistic argument by the Western Fathers in the prevalence at
+Rome of Stoic and Epicurean doctrine. From the former of these schools
+would result a familiarity, and, in many cases, an agreement with the
+forms of the argument drawn from order and design; from the latter, for
+the demonstration from common consent. Both of these influences, no
+doubt, had some influence on the shape in which Tertullian of Carthage,
+Minucius Felix, Novatian and Lactantius presented their doctrine, and,
+together with the more material and less religious character of the
+West, accounts in large degree for the comparative frequency of their
+appeal to the theistic argument.
+
+But when we consider the frequency with which we meet with the theistic
+argument, and with reference to its use in other writers, in the pages
+of Cicero, for example, these scanty instances afforded us by the
+writings of the ante-Nicene Fathers, whose works occupy, say, 4,500
+large, closely-printed pages in the translation, and who were, let us
+remember, dealing exclusively with religious thought, indicate plainly a
+fundamental change in position, the influence of which was operative for
+centuries in this department of thought, and which, even to-day, governs
+the attitude of the greater part of the Western world. The absolute
+failure of the Greeks to arrive at any certainty of God's existence by
+demonstration, the introduction of the Christian doctrine of God, before
+which the deductions of Greek philosophy seem empty and unsatisfactory,
+even to many who cannot accept that doctrine as truth, and the
+substitution of faith in a Person for purely rational proof, render it
+impossible, so long as that faith continues, that any one should think
+it worth while to devote more than a passing notice to any such
+argument, unless for the purposes of an _argumentum ad hominem_. And so
+it is not until faith begins to grow cold and men become mere
+speculators and debaters about religion, rather than believers in
+Christ, that the revival of these arguments under the title of "proofs"
+is possible. Even the famous Ontological Argument of St. Anselm was, I
+am convinced, no serious attempt to formulate an _a priori_ proof of the
+existence of God, but was addressed to a particular case[91]--the "fool"
+who "said in his heart, 'There is no God,'" and who _also_ maintained
+that God was "that than which no greater can be thought."
+
+From this survey it will be seen that, in the view of the Ante-Nicene
+Christian authors, the theistic argument was valuable merely as a
+propædeutic to Christianity, but was superfluous for the believer in
+Jesus Christ; the use of it cannot, as it had not in Greek thought,
+bring proof, but only probability; even this uncertain result is only
+vague and fragmentary in character, and was never unified and made
+significant by the Greeks; its office in Christian evidences was merely
+of an _ad hominem_ sort, and this only in its simpler and more practical
+forms, in which the senses as well as reason had their testimony to
+bear; and, lastly, the argument was used much more frequently by the
+Western than by the Alexandrian and other Eastern Fathers.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[60] _Stromata_, V, 12.
+
+[61] _De Spectaculis_, II.
+
+[62] _Against Marcion_, I, 17.
+
+[63] _Ibid._, V, 16. This is to justify his doctrine of the punishment
+of the heathen.
+
+[64] _Scapula_, II.
+
+[65] _Against Celsus_, I, 23.
+
+[66] _Plea for the Christians_, XV, XVI.
+
+[67] I, 5 and 6.
+
+[68] _Exhortation to the Heathen_, X.
+
+[69] _Divine Institutes_, III, 20.
+
+[70] Chap. II.
+
+[71] _Treatise on the Anger of God_, X.
+
+[72] E.g., Stirling: _Philosophy and Theology_, p. 179.
+
+[73] _Trypho_, III, IV.
+
+[74] _Stromata_, V, 14.
+
+[75] _The Soul's Testimony_, I.
+
+[76] _Of the Resurrection of the Flesh_, III.
+
+[77] _Octavius_, XVIII.
+
+[78] _Against Celsus_, II, 40.
+
+[79] _De Trinitate_, VIII.
+
+[80] _Divine Institutes_, I, 2.
+
+[81] E.g., Irenaeus: _Against Heresy_, II, 9, 1; Tertullian: _Against
+Marcion_, I, 10; Origen: _De Principiis_, I, 3, 1; Tertullian:
+_Apology_, XVII; Lactantius: _Divine Institutes_, I, 2.
+
+[82] E.g., Minucius Felix: _Octavius_, XVII, XVIII; Novatian: _De
+Trinitate_ VIII; Dionysius the Great: _Fragments_, II, 1.
+
+[83] E.g., "Justin, in Philosopher's garb, preached the word of God."
+Eusebius, IV, 11.
+
+[84] The mere list of Greek authors _quoted_ by St. Clement of
+Alexandria occupies over fourteen quarto pages in Fabricius'
+_Bibliotheka Graeca_.
+
+[85] _Divine Institutes_, V. 4.
+
+[86] _Acts_, XVII, 23.
+
+[87] _Stromata_, I, 13.
+
+[88] E.g., _Stromata_, VI, 5: "The one and only God was known by the
+Greeks in a Gentile way, by the Jews Judaically, and in a new and
+spiritual way by us." In I, 5, he says: "For this (philosophy) was a
+schoolmaster to bring "the Hellenic mind," as the law the Hebrews, to
+Christ."
+
+[89] _Stromata_, V, 14.
+
+[90] _Ibid._, VI, 5. See also, e.g., I, 19; V, 13.
+
+[91] See Stirling: _Philosophy and Theology_, p. 35.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+ECLECTIC THEISM
+
+
+The early Christian writers, so far as they assumed any philosophical
+position, were invariably Eclectics. In this, as we have seen, they were
+the true children of their age, whose most striking characteristic was
+that it had deserted the older systems, while attempting to preserve out
+of their ruins the particular truth for which each of the schools had
+contended. But with the Christian philosophers it was not merely the
+negative influence of scepticism which drove them to Eclecticism. Their
+conviction of a sure knowledge of things divine--the final question for
+all philosophy--exerted a positive influence as well, which led them to
+formulate more or less explicitly a view of the function of philosophy
+as an organon of the truth, not merely with reference to the past
+history of Greek thought, as their contemporaries outside of the
+Christian Church were accustomed to do, but with a view to all possible
+speculation on the Deity. For this deposit of revealed truth, to which
+they gave assent as the most certain of all knowledge, they regarded as
+the _whole_ truth, of which the various speculations of philosophy on
+the existence and attributes of God, were but "portions" and
+"fragments"--true and trustworthy so far as they went, and from their
+own particular standpoint, but, nevertheless, essentially and
+necessarily partial, and hence productive, not of certainty, but of mere
+opinion.
+
+And this estimate of the function of philosophy with respect to
+theological truth, which the Fathers worked out on the basis of the
+concrete example of the course of Greek thought, though with a view to a
+much wider application, has its justification in the very nature and
+conditions of thought itself. For philosophy is essentially a
+_process_--its very life depends on its being in motion, in process of
+change and development. Each system is evolved out of its predecessors,
+and contains within itself the germs of its successors--it is the link
+which connects the past with the future. It expresses the
+"common-sense," the unconscious convictions and instinctive tendencies
+of the time, and the man who first gives voice to this unspoken message
+is the philosopher. He utters the truth which the times demand--that
+which satisfies the conditions. Thus with Professor Erdmann[92] the
+patristic writers would say that each statement of philosophical truth
+is "the final truth only for that time." It is the phase or aspect or
+particular statement of the truth which the times demand, which the
+situation calls forth, and which appeals most strongly to the minds that
+make up part of that situation. Changed conditions demand a different
+statement of the truth to satisfy them, and furnish the data upon which
+such a statement is based. Philosophy, like science, "does not really
+accumulate, but is entirely transformed by each fresh hypothesis. It is
+only the data that accumulate; and when we say that a new hypothesis is
+'truer' than that which preceded it, we mean merely that it enables us
+to co-ordinate a larger number of these data."[93] And this
+transformation takes place, in reality, not only by addition, but by
+subtraction of data. For it is a phenomenon common to the thought of all
+ages, that each school not only calls attention to new data, ignored by
+its predecessor, but also shuts its eyes to more or less of the valid
+data set forth by the earlier system. In no period of the history of
+thought were men more commonly led into abstractions by being dazzled by
+the brilliancy and novelty of the latest idea than in the pioneer age
+represented by Greek philosophy, when men had not yet attained to a
+clear perspective, and the foot-hills often hid the lofty mountain peak.
+
+It is this trait, so evident in the naïve thought of the Greeks, that
+makes it possible for the early Christian thinkers to take the attitude,
+at once appreciative and critical with regard to the Hellenic theology.
+They borrowed much, not only from the form, but also from the results of
+the speculations of the philosophers, but always with a deep sense of
+the limitations which the conditions imposed upon them. Socrates, Plato,
+Aristotle and the rest had spoken the truth, but each only from one
+point of view, and on the basis of only one method of approach. The
+conclusions of each were the result of a process of more or less
+complete abstraction, and in abstractions the Fathers, true to the
+genius of Christian thought, could never rest content, but could only
+accord to them the appreciation which belongs to a temporary and
+preliminary stage in the search for the final unity.
+
+To this partial, temporary, "relatively final," and constantly changing
+content, the revealed doctrine of God, manifested in due relations,
+unity and completeness by the Incarnate Word, stands with the Fathers as
+the principle to the particular rule or application--as the whole to the
+part. As the revelation of God it came to them, not as the result of
+man's investigation and speculation, colored by every change of time,
+place and environment, a mere momentary phase of a process; but as
+eternal verity, viewed, so far as man's powers would allow, in its
+entirety and unity. Dorner expresses their position well when he says
+that in Christianity "as the organism of the truth, the elements of
+truth, elsewhere here and there to be met with in a scattered form or a
+disfigured guise, come together in unity--a unity which, as it
+personally appeared in the God-Man, so in the course of history ever
+more and more rises upon the consciousness of mankind." The Fathers
+think that in the Christian doctrine of God they find all the true
+elements contributed by previous thought, and besides these an infinite
+depth of truth unthought of by the Greeks, all unified and harmonized in
+a way that makes it a sharp contrast to the fragmentary and abstract
+character of the Hellenic theology. Christian doctrine represents to
+them the stable, absolute truth, so far as it was revealed by the
+Incarnate Word, the eternal verities in their completeness and unity, so
+far as man is able to comprehend them. Philosophy represents the phase
+or aspect of the truth which the conditions of thought at the time
+demands and emphasizes, which will co-ordinate the data at present in
+the foreground of consciousness. Thus they conceive of the facts of
+Christian Theology as the goal towards which philosophy is (often
+unconsciously) striving, but at which it can never arrive without the
+"leap of faith." Once this leap is taken, however, these theological
+verities become the major factors in the data to be co-ordinated, and
+philosophy and theology come into that union and harmony which, in the
+eyes of the Christian philosophers, is their normal relation.
+
+This Eclectic attitude of the Fathers, and their deprecation of any
+abstraction or partial statement usurping the place of the truth,
+explains to some extent their treatment of the theistic argument.
+
+In the first place it led them to distrust and reject any argument for
+the existence of God which proceeded on the basis of reason alone, apart
+from any content furnished by sensibility. While the Fathers do not make
+any explicit and scientific distinction between Epistemology and
+Ontology, such as has in modern times been the bane of any attempted
+natural theology, yet they seem to have made a pretty constant
+_practical_ separation between the two. St. Clement of Alexandria, as we
+have seen, holds that by a method of abstraction of specific
+characteristics we can arrive only at an "Unknown," to which meaning can
+be given only by combining with this rational process some content
+furnished directly by the senses or, indirectly, by testimony, and he
+further states that God is not a subject for demonstration--_i.e._, the
+science that depends on primary and better known principles--for "first
+principles are incapable of demonstration."[94] This position seems to
+be tacitly assumed by the patristic writers throughout, and even where
+they speak of Plato with gratitude and admiration they never seem to be
+at all inclined to make any use of his "Idealogical" argument or
+anything related thereto. They seem to take a common-sense stand for the
+testimony of the whole man, as well as for the whole truth, and to
+instinctively distrust any rational concept in the formation of which
+sensuous content had been ignored.
+
+The Eclectic character of the patristic thought is seen also in the
+frequency with which they use the different forms of the theistic
+argument in conjunction, or present it in mixed forms. The Greek
+philosophers, as we have seen, each selected some one of the forms of
+the argument, and by means of it, attempted to establish the sort of an
+Ἀρχή, to which such a course of reasoning would lead, ignoring, or
+attacking the forms in use by their rival school. Thus early, however,
+as in modern times, Christian theology, in contrast with the attempts of
+rational theology, began to emphasize the interdependence of these
+different forms of the theistic argument, and the cumulative character
+of their evidence. Each one of itself could bring no conviction, nor
+even high degree of probability, and furthermore, even if all its claims
+be admitted, would lead to a result far short of theism--a mere
+indefinite first cause, an Architect of the universe, etc. Each one,
+however, adds its quota to a great _cumulative_ argument, which, taken
+in its entirety, raises an exceedingly high presumption, which amounts
+to "_moral_" though possibly not intellectual proof. And, after all,
+"probability is the guide of _life_."
+
+And this is all that the Fathers, or Christian apologists, generally,
+would claim for the theistic argument. It is a _practical_, not a
+theoretical proof, and it is in this way that the early Christian
+writers seem to regard it. They resort to it most frequently to show
+that the Christian doctrine of God is not contrary to reason nor
+inconsistent with the nature of things, and to demonstrate that such a
+conception is demanded by man's very nature. In a word, their use of the
+argument is confirmatory and explanatory rather than by way of absolute
+proof and demonstration.
+
+This attitude towards and use of the theistic argument, so radically
+different from that of the Greek philosophers, perpetuated itself in the
+post-Nicene literature of the Christian Church, and, in its main
+features, remained unaltered, until the time when men who had abandoned
+the faith in the Word which had been the main stay of the ante-Nicene
+writers, and who yet were unwilling to abandon the great theistic idea
+for which the world was indebted to Christianity alone, sought to
+justify this idea on the basis of reason. It took the scepticism of a
+Hume and the criticism of a Kant, and the re-adjustment of all their
+followers to bring us back at the close of this nineteenth century into
+substantial agreement with the common-sense estimate placed upon the
+theistic argument by the ante-Nicene Fathers.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[92] _History of Philosophy_, Vol. I, § 4.
+
+[93] Burnet: _Early Greek Philosophy_, p. 25.
+
+[94] _Stromata_, II, iv.
+
+
+
+
+VITA.
+
+
+The writer was born April 24, 1869, in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He attended
+the Ann Arbor Public Schools and the Ann Arbor High School. In 1892 he
+received the degree of A. B. from the University of Michigan. In 1895 he
+graduated from the General Theological Seminary, New York, and was
+awarded the degree of B. D., which was formally conferred in accordance
+with the rules of the Seminary one year later. In 1896, he received the
+degree of A. M. from the University of Michigan. He pursued studies in
+Philosophy at Harvard University during the first term of the year
+1896-7, and at Columbia University from February, 1897, to February,
+1898. He has been the post-graduate scholar of the Church University
+Board of Regents from July, 1895, to the present time.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Basis of Early Christian Theism, by 
+Lawrence Thomas Cole
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Basis of Early Christian Theism, by 
+Lawrence Thomas Cole
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Basis of Early Christian Theism
+
+Author: Lawrence Thomas Cole
+
+Release Date: January 16, 2008 [EBook #24328]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EARLY CHRISTIAN THEISM ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Fritz Ohrenschall, Colin Bell and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+[Transcriber's Notes: Many printing errors, particularly in the French
+and Greek, have been corrected. The inconsistent hyphenation of the
+word stand-point has been retained. Greek has been transliterated and
+placed inside {}.]
+
+                 THE BASIS OF EARLY CHRISTIAN THEISM
+
+                                   BY
+
+                LAWRENCE THOMAS COLE, A. M., S. T. B.,
+
+   _Post-graduate Scholar of the Church University Board of Regents_
+
+
+          SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS
+             FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN THE
+                         FACULTY OF PHILOSOPHY
+                          COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY
+
+
+                               NEW YORK
+                               May, 1898
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+  CHAPTER I:   Introduction                                           9
+
+  CHAPTER II:  Greek and Roman Theistic Arguments                    14
+
+  CHAPTER III: The Patristic Point of View                           26
+
+  CHAPTER IV:  Patristic Use of the Theistic Arguments               38
+
+  CHAPTER V:   Eclectic Theism                                       55
+
+
+     "Les preuves de Dieu m�taphysiques sont si �loign�es du
+     raisonnement des hommes, et si impliqu�es, qu'elles frappent peu;
+     et quand cela serviroit � quelques-uns, ce ne seroit que pendant
+     l'instant qu'ils voient cette d�monstration; mais, une heure apr�s,
+     ils craignent de s'�tre tromp�s. _Quod curiositate cognoverint,
+     superbi� amiserunt._"
+                                      --_Pens�es de Pascal_, II, xv. 2.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+INTRODUCTION
+
+
+A question which every author ought to ask of himself before he sends
+forth his work, and one which must occur to every thoughtful reader, is
+the inquiry, _Cui bono?_--what justification has one for treating the
+subject at all, and why in the particular way which he has chosen? To
+the pertinency of this question to the present treatise the author has
+been deeply sensible, and therefore cannot forbear a few prefatory words
+of explanation of his object and method.
+
+In accounts of the theistic argument, as in the history of philosophy in
+general, it has been customary to pass over a space of well-nigh ten
+centuries of the Christian era in silence, or with such scanty and
+unsympathetic notice as to make silence the better alternative. Largely
+through the influence of such treatment as this, we moderns have almost
+forgotten at times that during this period there lived men inferior to
+none in history in endowments of mind and influence on succeeding
+generations, and that there then took place some of the most significant
+and far-reaching intellectual conflicts in the history of thought. "With
+Cicero," says Professor Stirling, "we reached in our course a most
+important and critical halting-place.... We have still ... to wait those
+thousand years yet before Anselm shall arrive with what is to be named
+the new proof, the proof ontological, and during the entire interval it
+is the Fathers of the Church and their immediate followers who, in
+repetition of the old, or suggestion of the new, connect thinker with
+thinker, philosopher with philosopher, pagan with Christian."[1] To
+attempt to account for even one of the details of thought during this
+period cannot be without its advantages.
+
+For Christianity gave a new and unique turn to thought. It brought with
+it a new set of data, and a new subject-matter. The Christian doctrine
+of God, the distinctions in the Trinity, the great doctrines centering
+around the person of Jesus Christ, though, perhaps, faintly foreshadowed
+in some of the earlier speculations, are, in their fulness and
+completeness, first given to the world by the Founder of Christianity.
+The claims made for these doctrines, too, gave them a unique character.
+In contrast with the half-hearted, faltering conclusions of the
+prevalent philosophical schools, Christianity asserted that its
+teachings were absolute truth; it claimed to be nothing less than a
+revelation from the Creator of the world. It will be readily seen that
+the introduction of such a system as this into the Greek world would be
+attended with important results, not only in its effects upon the
+intellectual life of the times, but also in the influence of the current
+philosophical conceptions on the statement of its doctrine. The
+significance of this early period lies in the fact that, in the
+positive, definite system of Christianity, systematic thought, which was
+fast becoming disorganized and sceptical, found a center about which it
+might rally and focus itself, and the scattered fragments of philosophy
+were all collected together, by either friends or foes, about the new
+religion. The new point of view and the new relations would be most
+significant, too, in that department of thought with which the contact
+of this new central system had most to do, and thus the treatment of the
+theistic problem exhibits in a special degree the alteration in the
+standpoint and method of philosophy. It threw into bold relief the old
+basis of belief in the divine, and aroused a comparison and discussion
+of the validity of the various arguments hitherto used by speculative
+thought, and set them over in sharp contrast to the claims of the new
+revelation. In the early period when this contrast was most clearly
+felt, and time had not yet permitted a complete fusion and blending of
+the two points of view, we find a simplicity of situation which will aid
+analysis and facilitate the study of the relation of the old arguments
+for the existence of a God to the Christian doctrine, and which will
+help in determining the elements due to each and in interpreting the
+reasons for the direction of thought on this subject, which
+characterized the whole of the Medi�val period.
+
+In the representations of early Christian thought, however, we find
+great differences in the emphasis laid upon the speculative side of the
+theistic problem. Christian philosophy is no exception to the rule that
+the thought of the race develops through the needs, temperaments and
+tendencies with which it comes into contact, and unfolds itself
+naturally in response to internal or external stimuli--the doubts,
+intellectual needs and growing consciousness and experience of the
+believer, and the cavils, objections and attacks of his opponent. The
+first Christian teachers had to meet simple problems, and the mission of
+the Apostolic and sub-Apostolic Church was to "the people." Its first
+task, determined by the conditions in which the Christians found
+themselves, as well as by the command of their Master, was to convert
+the Jews, who, by their long training as a "peculiar people," were
+especially adapted for receiving this new revelation, based, as it was,
+on that monotheistic idea to the preservation of which their national
+life had been devoted. Upon them the primitive Christians, most of whom,
+like St. Paul, were "Hebrews of the Hebrews," brought to bear the
+instrument most adapted to their conversion, namely, the argument
+deduced from the sacred Scriptures of their race.
+
+And when the Church finally turned towards the Gentile world, it was
+still the popular religion, the religion of the poets, rather than the
+philosophy of the schools, with which its apologists first came into
+contact, and it is very evident from such writings as the recently
+recovered _Apology_ of Aristides, "philosopher of Athens," and many
+other works extending over the whole Ante-Nicene period, that much of
+the energy of the early exponents of Christianity was directed towards
+the conversion of the populace who still adhered, at least formally, to
+the religion of their own poets.
+
+The function of the primitive Christians, so far as the content of their
+belief was concerned, was to preserve and transmit to their successors
+an _implicit_ faith. The value of this faith they attempted to show
+chiefly by practical, ethical demonstration. Thus they preached chiefly
+by example, and it is on the ground of _life_ rather than that of
+_thought_ that they made their plea to the Gentiles. In their struggle
+for existence, threatened on every side by official persecution and
+popular fury, they had no opportunity for speculation on
+fundamentals--they pleaded merely to be allowed to live the life to
+which they were pledged. With the Eastern training, which most of them
+had had, so foreign to the ideals of Greek philosophy, and so tenacious
+of the idea of God, and with the person of Christ so near to them as to
+blind their eyes to the possibility of any other standard of truth than
+His words, they naturally afford us no material for the question under
+discussion.
+
+Thus we must wait for the rise of Christian philosophy, and take as our
+_terminus a quo_ the middle of the second century, when first there
+appears that literature which bears evidence to the conversion of
+philosophers to the Christian Church, and affords us examples of their
+attempts to present the new doctrines to the schools which they had
+abandoned.
+
+Our _terminus ad quem_ will be the Council of Nicea. The reason for this
+is in part the demands of time and space, and in part the fact that it
+will avoid needless and tedious repetition. The use of the theistic
+argument for some time after the Nicene period is fairly homogeneous,
+and presents no important new considerations. The apologetic work of the
+patristic writers was chiefly done in the ante-Nicene age; after that
+discussion turned more upon questions within the scope of the Christian
+Faith. The function of the age of the Councils was the formulation and
+definition of Christian dogma upon the admitted basis of the revelation
+of Jesus Christ.
+
+This inquiry, therefore, will have to do with that interesting period
+when the doctrines of the Christian Church were finding their connection
+with and relation to the speculations of Greek philosophy, and when the
+Christian philosophers and apologists were determining the attitude
+which, for many centuries, revealed religion assumed toward the
+demonstrations of natural theology.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] _Philosophy and Theology_, p. 176.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+GREEK AND ROMAN THEISTIC ARGUMENTS
+
+
+The first question that confronts us as we enter upon the discussion is
+the preliminary inquiry: What had been done already in the way of
+theistic argument, and in what condition did the Christian Church find
+this argument when it first began to develop a system of apologetics?
+And from the conditions of ancient thought, or, at least, from what we
+know of it, this resolves itself into the question: How far had the
+Greek philosophers advanced by means of speculative thought toward a
+conscious theism, and by what means did the various individuals and
+schools among them seek to prove the existence of the Divine? The answer
+to this inquiry will involve a brief examination of the contributions of
+the pre-Socratic philosophers (especially Anaxagoras), Socrates, Plato,
+Aristotle, the Stoics, the Epicureans, Cicero, and the Hellenizing Jews
+of Alexandria.
+
+The thought of Greece before the time of Socrates, from the very nature
+of its problem, and the material at its disposal, yields us but little
+that can, without doing violence to the facts, be construed as bearing
+on the theistic argument. The search of these early philosophers was,
+indeed, for an {Arch�}, but their interest in the inquiry, as a perusal of
+the extant fragments of their writings will prove, was pre-eminently
+cosmological. They strove to discover the eternal ground of all things,
+but it was a principle to account for the phenomena of _physical_ nature
+that they sought, and they had not attained to a realization of even a
+rude form of the theistic problem. All they sought for was a primary
+substance which should satisfy the needs of a rudimentary physical
+science, which would enable them to co-ordinate the scanty data which
+they had accumulated from their contact with the world in which they
+lived, and to whose secrets they seem at times, in spite of their
+limited knowledge, to have come very close. And even granting that the
+problem involved in their search for the {Arch�} was at bottom identical
+with that of theism, they attempt to give no proof or argument for their
+conclusions with regard to it. They are as yet merely _seers_, who
+report the vision that comes to them as they gaze upon the stress and
+strain and ever-changing spectacle of earth's phenomena. Even the
+teleology of Anaxagoras (often mentioned as the germ of the theistic
+argument) gives us nothing more than a poet's dream, expressed, as
+Diogenes Laertius informs us, in a "lofty and agreeable style."[2]
+"Nous," Anaxagoras tells us, "is infinite and self-ruled, and is mixed
+with nothing, but is alone, itself by itself.... It has all knowledge
+about everything, and the greatest strength; and Nous has power over all
+things, both greater and smaller, that have life. And Nous had power
+over the whole revolution, so that it began to revolve in the
+beginning.... And Nous set in order all things that were to be and that
+were, and all things that are not now, and that are, and this revolution
+in which now revolve the stars and the sun and the moon and the air and
+the �ther that are separated off."[3] This, however, amounts to no
+argument, and it is extremely doubtful whether Anaxagoras ever meant
+anything more by his Nous than Empedocles did by his Love and Strife, of
+which it was the historical successor, and we may safely, I think,
+endorse the judgment of Aristotle when he says that "Anaxagoras, also,
+employs mind as a machine" (_i.e._, as the Laurentian MS. indicates, as
+a theatrical _deus ex machina_) "for the production of the cosmos; and
+when he finds himself in a perplexity as to the cause of its being
+necessarily so, he then drags it in by force to his assistance; but, in
+the other instances, he assigns as a cause of the things that are being
+produced, everything else in preference to mind (Nous)."[4] This
+criticism will, I am confident, apply fully as well to any apparent
+theism in the other pre-Socratic writers,[5] so that we shall be
+justified in assigning to them as their part in the development of the
+theistic argument, the mere undefined feeling and growing conviction of
+a permanent behind the changing, a "one" behind the "many."
+
+We find the natural deep and practical piety of Socrates reinforcing
+itself with a very full and complete statement of a teleological
+argument, based upon final cause, or adaptation of means to ends. It is
+in the _Memorabilia_[6] that we get the clear statement of this, and,
+therefore, it is a Socratic teaching which can, fortunately, be
+definitely distinguished from the Platonic treatment of the subject.
+"But which," he asks, "seemed to you most worthy of admiration,
+Aristodemus--the artist who forms images void of motion and
+intelligence, or one who has the skill to produce animals that are
+endued not only with activity, but understanding?" Then as Aristodemus
+answers, "The latter," Socrates proceeds to a detailed description of
+the adaptations of the eye, ear, teeth, mouth and nose to their several
+uses, and concludes with the question: "And canst thou still doubt,
+Aristodemus, whether a disposition of parts like this should be a work
+of chance, or of wisdom and contrivance?" He also argues in like manner
+from the existence of intelligence in man, the soul, and the general
+adaptability of man's powers and conditions to the furthering of his
+life. This argument to design has appropriately been called "peculiarly
+the Socratic proof,"[7] and to his treatment of it, so in keeping with
+the practical, sturdy common-sense of the man, nothing essential or
+important, except in multiplication of applications and details, has
+been added since his time. In the opinion of the writer, however,
+Socrates, so far as one can judge from his recorded utterances,
+developed merely the form of the Argument to Design, but it cannot be
+positively asserted that he used it as a _theistic_ argument. In the
+_Memorabilia_ it is always "the gods" to which the argument leads, and
+the worship of them that he urges. He may have had a more theistic
+conception, but the context warrants no further meaning of {theos} than the
+generic one of an object of worship--in this case the national gods. In
+the _Apology_ "{ho theos}" is used almost invariably of the local divinity
+of the oracle at Delphi, and of the "daemon" which, at the instigation
+of the Delphian divinity, as he was convinced, guided his actions. The
+present writer is strongly of the opinion that much violence has been
+done the words of Socrates by translators and interpreters, and that
+this fact will account for much of the alleged theistic teaching which
+is, without warrant, ascribed to the Athenian sage.
+
+The contribution of Plato to the theistic argument was,
+characteristically, the form of the "Ontological proof" which has been
+called "Idealogical." This process is a very natural development for
+Plato's Dialectic.[8] Once divide the universe, as he did, into the two
+classes of permanent existence and transient phenomena, and identify the
+former with the ideas (which are nothing else than universals, each of
+which expresses the essence of many phenomena), and it is a very easy
+process to conceive of these ideas themselves being united in another
+more inclusive idea, and so, by a process of generalization, to reach at
+length the "Idea of Ideas"--the absolute Idea, in which lies the essence
+of all in the universe. Thus from any one fact of beauty, harmony, etc.,
+the human mind may rise to the notion of a common quality in all objects
+of beauty, etc.: "from a single beautiful body to two, from two to all
+others; from beautiful bodies to beautiful sentiments, from beautiful
+sentiments to beautiful thoughts, until, from thought to thought, we
+arrive at the highest thought, which has no other object than the
+perfect, absolute, Divine Beauty."[9] The "ideas," too, and especially
+the "Good" or "absolute Idea," have in them a teleological element,
+"since the Idea not only states as what, but also for what a thing
+exists."[10] The absolute Idea is not only the first principle of the
+universe, but also its final purpose, and thus we have indicated in
+various places a teleological argument. Traces of other forms of the
+theistic argument have been detected in Plato's writings, but none of
+them are at all explicitly developed, and one cannot but feel that some
+writers on the subject have claimed altogether too much for Plato's
+theology.[11] The poetical and allegorical form into which he so
+constantly throws his discussion makes it extremely difficult to
+determine his exact position, especially on such a subject as his
+theology, in which he is constantly adapting his metaphysical doctrines
+to the prevailing polytheistic religious ideas; and at the same time
+this method of expression gives a good opportunity for the collection of
+isolated quotations which may support almost any theory.
+
+The religious character of Plato's philosophy is, as Zeller says, to be
+found much more on the moral than on the scientific side, and hence he
+was content to leave the more exact formulation of such arguments as
+these to his successors. As to the results to which this method led him,
+the statement of Zeller, in view of the many conflicting opinions, seems
+satisfactory: "In everything that he states concerning the Divinity the
+leading point of view is the idea of the Good, the highest metaphysical
+and ethical perfection. As this highest Idea stands over all ideas as
+the cause of all being and knowing, so over all gods, alike hard to find
+and to describe, stands the one, eternal, invisible god, the Framer and
+Father of all things."[12] Of the personality of God Plato had no
+conception,[13] and it would be a very difficult undertaking to prove
+from his extant works that he was, in any real sense of the word, a
+theist.
+
+Of the three divisions of the speculative sciences--physical,
+mathematical and theological--Aristotle makes the last the "most
+excellent,"[14] "for it is conversant about that one amongst entities
+which is more entitled to respect than the rest."[15] It is to the
+discussion of this subject in Book XI. that the greater part of the
+_Metaphysics_ leads up. He has established in the previous portions of
+the work the two substances which he calls "natural or
+physical"--namely, matter and form--and now he proceeds to justify the
+hints he has given of a third substance which is "immovable."[16] It has
+been customary to divide this discussion of Aristotle into several
+formal theistic arguments,[17] but in the opinion of the writer the text
+of the _Metaphysics_ does not lend itself readily to any such cut and
+dried arrangement of its argument. Aristotle does, indeed, to avoid the
+absurdity of an endless regress, argue from the {kinoumena} and the
+{kinounta} of the physical World to a {pr�ton kinoun} which is a pure
+{energeia, akin�ton, aneu hyl�s}, and hence foreign to all the passivity
+and contingency of matter;[18] concludes from motion in the world that
+there must be a First Mover;[19] and asserts the actuality of the
+eternal as opposed to potentiality; but these arguments are so blended
+together, and take each one so much from the others, that I cannot be
+convinced that Aristotle had ever clearly differentiated them.
+
+But it is clear enough that the crown of Aristotle's whole system is
+this "prime mover," "unmoved" and "apart from matter," and that this
+conception, up to which his thought leads from every side, as the
+necessary implication from the motion everywhere seen in the world, is
+his chief contribution to the argument for the existence of the Divine.
+Aristotle's chief interest lay in the cosmological problem, and his form
+of proof and the result which he reached by it were moulded by this
+fact. His argument did not lead him to a Creator of the world, for the
+universe, no less than the prime mover, was eternal, and the latter is
+nothing more than a principle of reason immanent in the world--pervading
+it, not distinguished from it--and the author of motion only in a
+passive way, after all, as a sort of magnetic object of desire.[20] In
+other places Aristotle makes passing references to different forms of
+the argument to prove the existence of the gods,[21] but it is evident
+that his own interest centered around this unmoved final cause, and it
+is in his proof of its existence from cosmological considerations that
+his significance for us lies.
+
+In the post-Aristotelian schools we have an entire change of the point
+of view, and instead of a philosophy of nature, such as occupied the
+attention of the pre-Socratic thinkers, or a philosophy of mind, such as
+Socrates, Plato, and to a large extent, Aristotle attempted to
+construct, we find the interest of men in speculative questions centered
+in a philosophy of life, of morals. Corresponding to this change in the
+point of view, we may easily detect an alteration in the manner of
+dealing with the arguments for the existence of the gods.
+
+There was, in the first place, an increased emphasis laid upon this line
+of thought, in common with religious subjects in general, and the
+reasons for the belief in the existence of the gods (for the Greek
+schools never transcended polytheism--when they speak of {theos} they mean
+simply the abstract divinity of the many separate divinities) seems, so
+far as we may judge from the comparatively scanty remains that have come
+down to us, to have been discussed at great length; critically and
+negatively by the Sceptics, positively and apparently with full
+conviction by the Stoics, and with a curious mixture of both of these
+attitudes by the Epicureans. These latter, if the reported doctrine of
+Epicurus himself be trustworthy, denied the popular gods, and, in order
+to insure freedom, rejected the Stoic doctrine of providence; but, on
+the other hand, asserted a belief in gods whose essential
+characteristics are immortality and perfect happiness (to insure which
+they must care nothing for the world or for men), and whose existence
+was held to be proven on the basis of the common consent of all men
+("_Argumentum e Consensu Gentium_"). This argument is the result of a
+"natural idea" or "pre-notion," which Epicurus called {prolepsis};--"that
+is, an antecedent conception of the fact in the mind, without which
+nothing can be understood, inquired after, or discoursed on."[22]
+
+The Stoics, on the other hand, with their strong conviction of
+providence working in the world, were rather inclined to deny the
+validity of this argument from common consent, and rested their belief
+in the gods, as Cicero makes his Stoic do in _De Natura Deorum_,[23] on
+the evidence of design and purpose in the universe, but by this process
+succeeded only in proving to their own satisfaction that the world is
+divine--a fatalistic pantheism which roused the ire of the Epicurean and
+Sceptic alike, and which even Cicero seemed hardly to be able to accept.
+
+From this necessarily brief review of the development of the argument
+for the existence of a Divinity in Greek and Roman thought, it will be
+seen that, at one time or another, in a more or less fully developed
+form, each one of the principal types of the theistic argument received
+the chief emphasis and had its method enunciated. The pre-Socratic
+natural philosophers, on the basis of the maxim as old as philosophy
+itself--{Adynaton ginesthai ti ek m�denos prouparchontos}--pointed to an
+{Arch�}--a real behind phenomena, a permanent behind the change--and thus
+pointed to the so-called Aetiological argument founded on the principle
+of causality. Socrates, with his pre-eminently practical disposition and
+ethical point of view, saw above all things intention in nature, and so
+from the consideration of this choice and adaptation of means to their
+end, and the resultant Final Cause he constructs a very complete
+Teleological argument for the existence of some intelligence behind the
+visible world. Plato's Ideas, as we have seen, determine the method by
+which he arrives at his abstract divinity, namely, by the "Idealogical"
+form of argument based upon a process of generalization. Aristotle,
+struck by the phenomena of motion in the universe, lays most stress on
+the course of reasoning which would lead back to the Prime Mover. The
+Epicureans, subordinating their theology to their ethical theory, and
+unwilling to allow their deity to interfere with the world or with men's
+affairs, developed and placed their dependence on the argument from
+common consent. The Stoics, laying great stress upon the order,
+proportion and harmony in the world, argued to mind as the reason for
+this condition of things. But none of these philosophers, in the opinion
+of the writer, attained to a conception of God which could in any real
+or accepted sense of the word be called theistic, or which would satisfy
+a mind accustomed to the idea of the Christian doctrine of God.
+
+For the Greek writers never make any accurate distinction between {ho
+theos, hoi theoi, to theion} and {ta theia}. They never conceive of
+their {theos} as anything more than a rather larger and more majestic
+member of the innumerable family of the divinities of which the poets
+had sung--more spiritual only in so far as it was more vague and
+indefinite, a sort of mysterious, mythical being to which is sometimes
+attributed the same kind of personality possessed by the inferior gods,
+and sometimes regarded as simply the abstract divinity which
+characterized all of the gods. But that to which the arguments that we
+have been discussing generally lead is not even so near to the theistic
+conception as this modified polytheism, for they usually conduct us, as
+we have already indicated, to nothing more than a (sometimes)
+personified force of nature, principle of order, or abstract
+conception--not a God. Take away the inaccurate and misleading terms by
+which the original Greek is rendered in most of the English versions, in
+which the enthusiasm of the student of comparative religions has taken
+the place of the careful and accurate translator, and, aside from
+frequent apostrophes, such as are continually addressed by the poets to
+the many gods of the popular religion, the end of the arguments we have
+been considering will be found to be as depicted above. In a word: Greek
+philosophy, independent of Semitic influences, developed the _form_ of
+the chief types of the theistic argument, but it failed utterly to
+deduce from them a theism, being throughout in its theology either
+polytheistic or pantheistic.
+
+While considering this branch of our subject it would be impossible to
+ignore another school of thought, which, while neither Greek nor Roman
+in its nationality, yet derives so much of its philosophical stand-point
+from the former of these races as to be often classed under the same
+head. This is the school of Hellenizing Jews, in which there is built up
+on the foundation of the traditional faith of the Hebrew race, to the
+truth and authority of which they always held, a superstructure of
+philosophical speculation which follows closely the models afforded them
+by Greek thought. To effect a reconciliation between these two elements
+it was necessary for them to resort to the allegorical interpretation of
+the ancient inspired history of the race, and hence to the Oriental mind
+that wished to engage in speculative thought it was naturally Platonic
+and Pythagorean, rather than Aristotelian, methods that were most
+attractive.
+
+The chief and probably the earliest developed example of this
+combination of Oriental and Occidental thought is found in the writings
+of Philo Judaeus.[24] To him the powers of man seemed to be wholly
+unreliable and delusive, and only the special grace of God enables one
+to perceive any truth--"{Autos theos arch� kai p�g� techn�n kai epist�m�n
+an�molog�tai}." To approach God one must flee from one's self--"{ei gar
+z�t�is theon exelthousa apo saut�s anaz�tei}." Neither reason nor any other
+function of the soul can conduct us to God, nor can we attain to a
+conception of Him as the supreme cause of all by regarding the manifold
+perfections and powers of nature, for such a process can give us only
+shadows. It is only by a "superior faculty" which is a grace of God that
+one can attain some idea of the divine, but even by this means we arrive
+at only negative knowledge--we can know only what God is not.[25] Yet in
+spite of all this Philo uses quite an elaborate teleological argument
+drawn from the order in the world.[26] This inconsistency, which, as
+Erdmann remarks,[27] may be explained by the fact that Philo makes God
+only the orderer of the world, and, furthermore, interposes an
+intermediate being, the famous Philonian Logos, we have thought it worth
+while to mention in this place, as it forms a connecting link between
+the Greek philosophers and the Alexandrian Fathers, and foreshadows, in
+some degree, the direction in which their thought was to be led.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[2] D. L., I, 16; II, 6.
+
+[3] Ritter and Preller, 123. Translated by Burnet; _Early Greek
+Philosophy_, p. 283, 4.
+
+[4] _Metaphysics_, I, 4.
+
+[5] The "one god, the greatest among gods and men" of Xenophanes has led
+men to call him the first monotheist, but an examination of the
+fragments attributed to him will, I am sure, confirm the verdict of
+Burnet (_ut supra_, p. 123) that "what Xenophanes proclaimed as the
+'greatest god' was nothing more nor less than what we call the material
+world."
+
+[6] Xenophon: _Memorabilia_, I, 4.
+
+[7] Cocker: _Christianity and Greek Philosophy_, p. 491.
+
+[8] "La dialectique et le syst�me des id�es conduisaient directement
+Platon � la d�monstration de l'existence de Dieu; et son Dieu porte en
+quelque fa�on l'empreinte de cette origine, puisqu'il est � la fois
+l'unit� absolue et l'intelligence parfaite." Jules Simon: _Etudes sur la
+Th�odic�e de Platon et d'Aristote_, p. 29.
+
+[9] _Banquet_, � 34.
+
+[10] Erdmann: _History of Philosophy_, � 77, 4.
+
+[11] E.g. Cocker: _Christianity and Greek Philosophy_, pp. 377, ff.
+
+[12] Zeller: _Philosophie der Griechen_, II, i, s. 926.
+
+[13] Plato "never raised the question of the personality of God."
+(Zeller; _Greek Philosophy_ (briefer edition) � 49.) "Sie" ("die Idee
+der Ideen") "ist nat�rlich keine gottliche Pers�nlichkeit." (Kahnis:
+_Verh�ltniss der Alten Philosophie zum Christenthum_, p. 54.)
+
+[14] _Metaphysics_, V, 1.
+
+[15] _Ibid._: x, 7.
+
+[16] _Metaphysics_, xi, 6.
+
+[17] E.g., Schwegler: _History of Philosophy_; Cocker; _ut supra_, p.
+412, ff.
+
+[18] xi, 6.
+
+[19] xi, 7.
+
+[20] Jules Simon: _Etudes sur la Th�odic�e de Platon et d'Aristote_, p.
+88, _et al._; Davidson: _Theism and Human Nature_, p. 45.
+
+[21] Aristotle makes good use of the argument to design in a striking
+passage from a lost work quoted by Cicero in _De Natura Deorum_, II, 37,
+and in _Physica auscultatio_, II, 8, says: "The appearance of ends and
+means is a proof of design."
+
+[22] Cicero; _De Natura Deorum_, I, 16, 17, and frequently. See also
+Seneca; _Epist._, cxvii, whose Syncretism allows him to borrow from
+Stoic and Epicurean alike. See also Zeller; _Stoics, Epicureans and
+Sceptics_, p. 465.
+
+[23] E.g., I, 36; II, 2, 5, ff.
+
+[24] Vacherot: _Histoire Critique de l'Ecole d'Alexandrie_, Vol. I, p.
+142.
+
+[25] _Ibid._: Vol. I, p. 143, 144.
+
+[26] See e.g., the quotation in Stirling; _Philosophy and Theology_, p.
+173.
+
+[27] _History of Philosophy_, Vol. I, � 114, 3.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+THE PATRISTIC POINT OF VIEW
+
+
+The philosophy of the Greeks during the first century of our era
+presents a great contrast to that of the age of Socrates, Plato and
+Aristotle. No longer do we find men engaged in the processes of
+positive, constructive thought, but we have presented to our view an age
+of retrospection, of literary criticism, and, to a great extent, of
+intellectual exhaustion. Men live amid the ruins of the systems
+constructed by their ancestors, and each one attempts to form for
+himself, out of the scattered fragments, a combination which may serve
+him as a sufficiently coherent rule of thought, and, especially, of
+life. Stoicism, Epicureanism, Scepticism, the "Orientalizing Hellenes,"
+and the "Hellenizing Orientals," all by their restless, nervous,
+frequently erratic and aimless activity, bear witness to the fact that
+the mind of man has had revealed to it its own limitations, and is well
+on the way towards despair of ever arriving at truth. The Greek mind no
+longer exhibits that elasticity and spontaneity and enthusiasm in the
+search for truth, or that confidence in its results, which characterized
+the representatives of the best period of the thought of the race. The
+political fortunes of Greece do but typify the process which was going
+on in the Greek mind itself, and the period which we are considering is
+an age of intellectual as well as political decadence. This is
+manifested by the further fact that the thought of the age was largely
+turned backward and dwelt in the past. The day of original thought had
+passed by, and men were now content to deal with ideas at second
+hand--to be commentators rather than creators. This literary character
+which Greek philosophy now first began to exhibit was often seen and
+protested against. Thus Epictetus says: "If I study philosophy with a
+view only to its literature, I am not a philosopher, but a litt�rateur;
+the only difference is that I interpret Chrysippus instead of
+Homer."[28] But protest as they might, the inexorable signs of old age
+crept over the nation as irresistibly as they do over the individual,
+and, like the venerable man, preserved beyond his generation, Hellas
+lived largely in the memories of the past.
+
+The influence of this condition of things is seen in the education of
+the times. The Greek world of this period, as we know it, was
+pre-eminently educated, but in a special, literary sense of the term.
+The foundation of their education was Grammar--the "Belles Lettres" of
+modern times. Sextus Empiricus says, "We are all given over to Grammar
+from childhood, and almost from our baby-clothes."[29] After Grammar
+came Rhetoric, "the study of literature by the study of literary
+expression and quasi-forensic argument,"[30] and Rhetoric was followed
+by Philosophy, which, however, like the other branches of study, so
+partook of the characteristics of the age that we find Marcus Aurelius
+congratulating himself in this manner: "I owe it to Rusticus that I
+found the idea of the need of moral reformation, and that I was not
+diverted to literary ambition, or to write treatises on philosophical
+subjects, or to make rhetorical exhortations."[31]
+
+This saying of the imperial Stoic suggests another characteristic of the
+thought of the age--its ethical cast. From the time of Aristotle men had
+been content to have, to a large extent, the abstract problems of
+Ontology, Epistemology, and the others, and to lay emphasis on questions
+of life and manners. Stoicism, Epicureanism, Scepticism, and all the
+minor schools of the age, are pre-eminently ethical in their character.
+To be sure it was ethical theory rather than practice with which they
+were busied, but this fact makes the characteristic none the less
+important for the student of the history of philosophy.
+
+This disorganized condition of thought which we have been attempting to
+depict has been well described by Dr. Stirling: "The fall of the old
+world, which was at once political, religious and philosophical, was
+characterized by a universal atomism. Politically, the individual, as an
+atom, found himself alone, without a country, hardly with a home.
+Religiously, the individual, as an atom, has lost his God; he looks up
+into an empty heaven; his heart is broken, and he is hopeless, helpless,
+hapless, in despair. Philosophically, all is contradiction; there is no
+longer any knowledge he can trust. What the world is he knows not at
+all. He knows not at all what he himself is. Of what he is here for, of
+what it is all about, he is in the profoundest doubt, despondency and
+darkness. Politically, religiously and philosophically thus empty and
+alone, it is only of himself that the individual can think; it is only
+for himself that the individual must care. There is not a single need
+left him now--he has not a single thought in his heart--but {eu prattein},
+his own welfare."[32]
+
+It was in the midst of this lump of Eclecticism, Syncretism and
+Scepticism that the leaven of Christianity was deposited, and the result
+of the fusion which took place after the first antagonism had passed
+away, makes this period a turning-point in the history of philosophy,
+and of the utmost importance as regards its effects on subsequent
+thought.
+
+And of this antagonism and subsequent reconciliation, the early
+Christian Apologists were concrete examples. They had most of them,
+before they became Christians, been adherents of one or the other of the
+different philosophical sects, and several of them had tried all in
+turn.[33] They exemplified well the prevailing restless distrust of the
+results and methods of the older schools, but in Christianity--the
+belief in a Person, who was for them "the Way, the Truth and the
+Life"--they finally found the certainty for which they had so long
+sought in vain. The effect of this process, and of this result upon the
+attitude of the early Christian philosophers, could be none other than
+an increased distrust of the arguments for the existence of God, and an
+inclination to ignore them completely. These already suspected processes
+of reasoning by which the Greeks had been able to attain only to an
+abstract principle, or force, or mechanical cause, or arranger of the
+world, must be of very small importance to these men, upon whose sight
+had burst all at once, in the height of their despair, the vision of the
+Christian doctrine of God, certified to by one whom they believed to be
+the veritable Son of God, "of one substance with the Father," and whose
+testimony to the truth of any fact brought a certainty which was
+infinitely superior to that which could be attained by any rational
+argument on other grounds. The transcendent authority of the teaching of
+Jesus Christ for these men, suddenly rescued by a belief in His claims
+from an absolute scepticism which was rapidly overflowing their minds,
+needs to be thoroughly appreciated before one can understand the
+position which they assumed, especially with reference to such a
+question as the one under discussion.
+
+But though this basis of belief was sufficient for them, yet, as the
+primary mission of the Christian was to "go, disciple all nations," they
+were soon brought, in their endeavors to fulfil this command, into
+contact with those who not only denied the authority of their Teacher,
+but who were sceptical about the very fundamentals of religious belief.
+For the sake of these, then, and occasionally for the further
+confirmation of the faith of believers, and for purposes of
+illustration, the patristic writers return again to the discussion of
+those elements of belief for which they themselves felt no need, and
+hence we have in their works a rather frequent reference to the various
+forms of the theistic argument; but one which is evidently only
+incidental to their main course of thought, and which is brought in
+merely in accommodation to the needs of their readers. The ordinary
+arguments to prove the existence of God were not at all an essential, or
+even prominent, feature of early Christian Theology. And because of this
+secondary and incidental position of these arguments, they were never,
+as we shall see, given definite, conventional shape in the patristic use
+of them, nor were the various forms of the argument differentiated; but
+they were used in what we may call a mixed form, a combination of two or
+more different forms being put forth as one composite whole.
+
+Besides these general influences which shaped the patristic treatment of
+the theistic arguments, we should notice certain fundamental and
+characteristic principles assumed by the Fathers, or by most of them,
+which have their bearing on our subject.
+
+In the first place it is held by most of the early Christian authors,
+and explicitly stated by many of them, that the idea of the existence of
+God is innate in man as a "natural opinion." We have already noticed the
+doctrine of {prolepsis} advanced by Epicurus, and the somewhat similar
+position assumed by Philo, and we are not surprised to find that this
+idea took a strong hold on the devout minds of the early Christians.
+Thus St. Justin Martyr states that "the appellation 'God' is not a name,
+but _an opinion_ ({prosagoreuma}) _planted in the nature of man_ of a
+thing that can hardly be explained,"[34] and makes one of his
+discussions conclude that souls "can perceive ({noein}) that God
+exists."[35] St. Clement of Alexandria goes even further and affirms
+that "the Father, then, and Maker of all things is apprehended by all
+things, agreeably to all, _by innate power and without teaching_."[36]
+Tertullian thinks that "the soul was before prophecy. From the beginning
+the knowledge of God is the dowry (_dos_) of the soul,"[37] and among
+the "things known even by nature" is "the knowledge of our God" which is
+"possessed by all,"[38] so that he could write a treatise, _De
+Testimonio Anim�_, and exclaim, "O noble testimony of the soul by nature
+Christian."[39] Origen speaks of "the uncorrupted idea of Him which is
+implanted in the human mind,"[40] and St. Cyprian makes this knowledge
+so plain that "this is the very height of sinfulness to refuse to
+acknowledge Him whom you cannot but know."[41] Arnobius, too, in a
+passage in which much allowance must be made for rhetorical fervor,
+exclaims, "Is there any human being who has not entered on the first day
+of his life with an idea of that Great Head? In whom has it not been
+implanted by nature, on whom has it not been impressed, aye, stamped
+almost in his mother's womb even, in whom is there not a native
+instinct, that He is King and Lord, the ruler of all things that be? In
+fine, if the dumb animals even could stammer forth their thoughts, if
+they were able to use our languages; nay, if trees, if the clods of the
+earth, if stones dominated by vital perceptions were able to produce
+vocal sounds, and to utter articulate speech, would they not in that
+case, with nature as their guide and teacher, in the faith of
+uncorrupted innocence, both feel that there is a God, and proclaim that
+He alone is Lord of all?"[42] Such language as this last example is, of
+course, the exclamation of the orator rather than the deliberate
+judgment of the philosopher, but taken in connection with the other
+passages cited it will indicate how strong a hold this conviction had on
+the Fathers, and will anticipate, to some extent, what we shall have to
+say later as to the use of the _Argumentum e Consensu Gentium_.
+
+In direct connection and sharp contrast with this opinion of the
+Fathers, there stands the seemingly contradictory statement, as
+frequently encountered in their writings, that the soul of itself cannot
+see God nor attain to true religion. In the very same sentence in which
+St. Justin Martyr asserts that souls "can perceive ({noein}) that God
+exists," he states that they do not see ({idein}) God,[43] and insists in
+more than one place that "neither by nature nor by human conception is
+it possible for men to know things so great and divine."[44] Frequently
+the patristic writers have occasion to emphasize the inability of man to
+attain by any of his natural powers to religious truth, and to point to
+the impotent longings and aspirations of Greek philosophy as an example
+of this. St. Clement of Alexandria, for example, asserts that "the
+chiefs of philosophy only guessed at" religious truth,[45] and lays
+down the general principle that "God, then, being not a subject for
+demonstration, cannot be the object of science."[46] Origen, too, states
+that "for ourselves, we maintain that human nature is in no way able to
+seek after God, or to attain a clear knowledge of Him without the help
+of Him whom it seeks."[47]
+
+The inconsistency between these two fundamental positions of the
+Fathers, of which much is often made, is, I think, more apparent than
+real. For they make a clear distinction in their thought, though the
+mere language which they use is sometimes confusing, between knowledge
+of the existence of God--the undefined feeling or belief that there is a
+God--which is the "innate opinion," for which they give every man
+credit; and the knowledge of God, _i.e._, of His attributes, etc., the
+subject-matter of dogmatic theology. The existence of the former of
+these, it is true, as of the latter, may be obscured and nearly
+obliterated by sin and the consequent disorganization; for in the
+teaching of the Fathers, as in that of their Master, it is the pure in
+heart that see God,[48] and it is only the man whose nature is kept in
+due balance by a life of moral rectitude--the "righteous man" of the
+Scriptures--who can be expected to exhibit clearly this "natural
+opinion" or to attain to a full knowledge and appreciation of the
+Christian doctrine of God. At the very best, the knowledge of the Deity
+attained apart from revelation seemed to the Fathers to be, in
+comparison with their own certainty, miserably vague and conjectural,
+and they are constantly contrasting, in the most striking and graphic
+way, the contradictory and uncertain results to which the philosophers
+attained with the definiteness and consistency of the already
+well-defined doctrine of the Christian church. To them certainty in
+regard to knowledge of God can only come by means of the testimony of
+one who had seen and known,[49] and this testimony they are satisfied
+that they find in two places chiefly--first, in the testimony of the
+Prophets of the Old Testament, and, second, but in fact primarily, in
+the life and words of Jesus Christ, "the Word."
+
+Of the antiquity and reliability of this first source--the
+Prophets--they were never tired of talking, and they were so confident
+of the necessity of resorting to it that they developed their famous
+theory of the indebtedness of Plato and Aristotle to those Hebrew seers
+for their theology. "From every point of view, therefore," concludes St.
+Justin Martyr, "it must be seen that in no other way than only from the
+prophets, who teach us by divine inspiration, is it at all possible to
+learn anything concerning God and the true religion."[50]
+
+But the chief source from which the Fathers drew that certainty which
+they could not find in the demonstrations of philosophy was in the
+teaching of the Word, Jesus Christ. God, indeed, as we have seen, is not
+an object of science, "but the Son is wisdom and knowledge and truth,
+and all else that has affinity thereto. _He is also susceptible of
+demonstration and of description._"[51] It is in the incarnate Word of
+God that the patristic writers find expressed all that man is able to
+comprehend, and all that he needs to know in this present world, of the
+Divine Nature, and it is His words that confirm their confidence in that
+"innate opinion" of the existence of God, of the presence of which in
+every man they were so sure.
+
+The subject of the "demonstration" of the existence of God is spoken of
+at some length in several places by St. Clement of Alexandria, and with
+his position most of the Fathers agree in the main. He regards the
+subject largely from an Aristotelian point of view. All knowledge is
+derived from Sensation and Understanding. "Intellectual apprehension is
+first in the order of nature; but in our case, and in relation to
+ourselves, Sensation is first, and of Sensation and Understanding the
+essence of knowledge is formed, and evidence is common to Understanding
+and Sensation."[52] But "should any one say that knowledge is founded on
+demonstration" (which "depends on primary and better known
+principles,"[53] being "discourse agreeable to reason, producing belief
+in points disputed, from points admitted"[54]) "_by a process of
+reasoning_, let him hear that first principles are incapable of
+demonstration, for they are neither by art" ({techn�}), which is "practical
+solely, and not theoretical," "nor by sagacity" ({phron�sis} = practical
+wisdom), which is "conversant about objects which are susceptible of
+change,"[55] but are "primary," "self-evident," and
+"indemonstrable."[56] Thus this "demonstration by a process of
+reasoning," apart from Sensation _and_ Understanding, is only "to
+syllogize;" "for to draw the proper conclusion from the premisses is
+merely to syllogize. But to have also each of the premisses true is not
+merely to have syllogized, but also to have demonstrated," "so that if
+there is demonstration at all, there is an absolute necessity that there
+be something that is self-evident, which is called primary and
+indemonstrable."[57] On the basis of this theory of knowledge, it is
+evident that the usual arguments for the existence of God would have but
+little weight. For they either attempt to attain their end by formal
+thought alone, and thus result in mere "syllogizing;" or, starting from
+valid enough premises, they try to extend the conclusion beyond the
+limits imposed by the laws of "demonstration." For St. Clement, then,
+God is not "apprehended by the science of demonstration." If the Deity
+is to be known, there must be some place in which a union of the
+material and formal elements of "demonstration" of His existence is to
+be found. This he places in the life and teaching of Jesus Christ, who,
+as God incarnate, furnishes the "evidence" which "is common to
+Understanding and Sensation," and thus translates the "Infinite" and
+"Ineffable" into terms of the finite and comprehensible. In this paradox
+Christian theology has ever since been content to rest as one of the
+fundamental mysteries of the Faith.
+
+But even with all the aids of revelation, the Fathers would not claim
+that man can advance to a full or adequate knowledge of God--we can
+simply know so much _about_ God as is necessary for _practical_
+purposes--for ascertaining our proper end and duties. God is, from the
+very limitations of the human mind, "ineffable," "incomprehensible,"
+"the unknown;"[58] and St. Clement of Alexandria expressly states even
+the best knowledge of God that man can by any means attain is only
+negative.[59]
+
+These general positions, which in their broad lines are common to
+practically all of the Ante-Nicene Fathers, serve to confirm the
+historical interpretation of the place occupied by early Christian
+theistic thought, and will pave the way to an appreciation of their use
+of the arguments for the existence of God.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[28] _Enchiridion_, 49.
+
+[29] _Adversus Grammaticos_, I, 44.
+
+[30] Hatch: _Hibbert Lectures_, 1888, Lect. II, where a full account is
+given of the education of the time, and what it signified.
+
+[31] I, 7.
+
+[32] _Philosophy and Theology_, p. 164.
+
+[33] See e.g., St. Justin Martyr: _Dialogue with Trypho_, II.
+
+[34] _Second Apology_, VI.
+
+[35] _Dialogue with Trypho_, IV (end).
+
+[36] _Stromata_, V, 14.
+
+[37] _Against Marcion_, I, 10.
+
+[38] _Resurrection of the Flesh_, III.
+
+[39] _Apology_, XVII.
+
+[40] _Against Celsus_, II, 40.
+
+[41] _Treatise_ VI, � 9. See, also, Tertullian: _Apology_, XVII; "And
+this is the crowning guilt of men that they will not recognize One of
+whom they cannot possibly be ignorant."
+
+[42] _Against the Heathen_, I. 33.
+
+[43] _Dialogue with Trypho_, IV, "Even Homer distinguishes simple seeing
+({idein}) from {noein}, which implies perception by the mind as consequent
+upon sight."
+
+[44] _Hortatory Address to the Greeks_, V.
+
+[45] _Exhortation to the Heathen_, XI.
+
+[46] _Stromata_, IV, 25. In V, 12, he explains what he means by
+"demonstration": "Nor any more is He apprehended by the science of
+demonstration, for it depends on primary and better known principles.
+But there is nothing antecedent to the Unbegotten."
+
+[47] _Against Celsus_, VII, 20. See also VII, 44, and Clem. Alex.:
+_Stromata_, II, ii, 4, and often.
+
+[48] E.g., Theophilus (I, 1, 2) replies to the demand: "Show me thy
+God," by the counter-demand: "Show me _yourself_, and I will show you my
+God."
+
+[49] E.g., St. Justin: _Hortatory Address_, V.
+
+[50] _Ibid._, XXXVIII. See also V, VIII, and Athenagoras: _Embassy_,
+VII; Clem. Alex.: _Exhortion to Heathen_, VI, XI; _Stromata_, I, 13; II,
+2, 11; V, 14; Tertullian: _Apology_, XVIII; Methodius: _Miscellaneous
+Fragments_, 1.
+
+[51] St. Clem. Alex.: _Stromata_, IV, 25. For a few among many
+references, see: St. Irenaeus: _Against Heresies_, V, i, 1; St. Clem.
+Alex.: _Exhortation to Heathen_, XI; _Instructor_, I, 12; _Stromata_, I,
+5, 19; II, 2; V, 1, 6, 11-13; VII, 1; VI, 5; Tertullian: _Against
+Marcion_, V, 16; _Against Praxeas_, XIV; Origen: _De Principiis_ I, iii,
+1; _Against Celsus_, VII, 42, 44; Novatian: _De Trinitate_, VIII;
+Arnobius: _Against the Heathen_, I, 38.
+
+[52] _Stromata_, II, 4: "{ek de aisth�se�s kai tou nou h� t�s epist�m�s
+synistatai ousia koinon de nou te kai aisth�se�s to enarges}." The student
+of Kant's _Kritik der Reinen Vernunft_ will find a number of familiar
+passages in St. Clement.
+
+[53] _Ibid._, V, 12.
+
+[54] _Ibid._, VIII, 3.
+
+[55] _Ibid._, II, 4.
+
+[56] _Ibid._, VIII, 3.
+
+[57] _Stromata_, VIII, 3.
+
+[58] E.g., Theophilus: _To Autolycus_, I, 3; St. Clem. Alex.:
+_Stromata_, V, 12.
+
+[59] _Stromata_, V, 12: "If, then, abstracting all that belongs to
+bodies and things called incorporeal, we cast ourselves into the
+greatness of Christ, and then advance into immensity by holiness, we may
+reach somehow to the conception of the Almighty, _knowing not what He
+is, but what He is not_."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+PATRISTIC USE OF THE THEISTIC ARGUMENTS
+
+
+From this account of the general attitude of the ante-Nicene writers
+toward a possible knowledge of God, it will readily be anticipated that
+the forms of the theistic argument used by Plato and by Aristotle will
+find no place in their system. St. Clement of Alexandria, in a passage
+already referred to,[60] shows that any Ontological or Idealogical
+argument can only lead us to an "Unknown," which may be "understood" and
+given meaning "by the Word alone that proceeds from Him;" and he and
+others of the early Christian writers seem to hint at that distinction
+between Epistemology and Ontology which has always been the chief enemy
+of any purely rational theistic argument. The Aetiological argument,
+too, is not explicitly stated by them; and, though Lactantius does, in
+opposing atheistic atomism, ask the question, "Whence are those minute
+seeds?" yet the casual character of the inquiry shows the small emphasis
+he placed on it, and the silence of the other writers, even when there
+was every opportunity for calling attention to such an argument, gives
+evidence to their estimate of its usefulness.
+
+It is the more "practical" and "common-sense" forms of the theistic
+argument--the Cosmological, the Teleological, the argument from common
+consent, and mixtures of these types--that the early Christian writers
+use most frequently, and in this they do but conform to the general
+tendency of their age, as well as to the practical spirit of
+Christianity. As we have seen, the more artificial and abstract
+arguments of Plato and Aristotle did not take much hold upon others than
+their originators or formulators, and the distinct tendency of the
+theology of the later Greek and Latin schools of philosophy was toward
+the more concrete forms of the theistic argument. And this inclination
+would be emphasized in the early Christian writers, so far as they make
+use of the argument at all, by the eminently simple and common-sense
+attitude of Christianity toward all such problems, and also by the
+peculiar work which the primitive Church had to do in the conversion of
+the "common people," to whom an abstract argument would have been a
+waste of words.
+
+But we should expect that to men, upon whom a close perusal and study of
+the Old Testament Scriptures had impressed the idea of God as the
+Creator, Law-Giver and Governor of the universe, the Cosmological
+argument would appeal strongly. Moreover, the strong Stoic influence
+which is seen in their works, particularly in their treatment of
+questions of morals, and in their ethical terminology, would naturally,
+one would think, pre-dispose them to regard with favor this argument, so
+in vogue among the philosophers of the Porch. It is, therefore, all the
+more remarkable that, among the important works of the Ante-Nicene
+Fathers, not more than a dozen instances, at most, of this argument can
+be found; and of these more than half are merely passing references to
+the patent fact of order in the world. Thus Tertullian asserts (quite
+incidentally, in the course of an argument on an ethical question), that
+"Nature herself is the teacher" of the fact "that God is the Maker of
+the universe,"[61] but even here it is doubtful whether he means to
+appeal to order or design in the world. In another place he makes the
+mere statement that the fact of God's existence is tested by His works;
+His character by the beneficence of them;[62] in another that the
+"Creator ought to be known even by nature;"[63] and in still another
+that nature teaches all men the existence and character of God.[64]
+Origen in a passage sometimes quoted, appeals to the order and harmony
+of the world,[65] but it is to prove the unity of God rather than His
+existence. Perhaps the best and most elaborate example of the use of the
+Cosmological argument by the Ante-Nicene authors, is that made of it by
+"Athenagoras the Athenian; Philosopher and Christian," as he styled
+himself.[66] He is concerned with making a distinction between God and
+matter, in opposition to the popular idolatry, and declares that
+Christians see the "Framer" behind the orderly world--whose relation one
+to the other he likens to that between the artist and the materials of
+his art. "But as clay cannot become vessels of itself without art, so
+neither did matter, which is capable of taking all forms, receive apart
+from God the Framer, distinction and shape and order."
+
+And these few incidental and scattered instances represent practically
+the explicit use of the Cosmological argument in the writings with which
+we are occupied. When we consider how constantly they must have met with
+the statements of it which are prevalent in the writings of the Stoics,
+by whom they were, we know, profoundly influenced in both the form and
+the terminology of their thought, we must surely consider this omission
+a significant fact, for which it is worth while trying to account.
+
+Nor does the "Socratic proof," the argument to design, meet with any
+more cordial reception at the hands of early Christian writers. Although
+the cases in which it is used are generally more explicit and fully
+developed, yet the appeals to design in nature are fewer even than those
+to order. The earliest, and one of the best examples of the use of this
+argument is that made by Theophilus, Bishop of Antioch, in his work
+addressed to the idolater Autolycus.[67] He seeks to prove that the
+invisible God is perceived through His works. As the soul is unseen, yet
+perceived through the motion of the body; as the pilot is inferred from
+the motion of the ship; as the king, though not present in person, is
+believed to exist from his "laws, ordinances and authorities;" so the
+unseen God is "beheld and perceived through his providence and works."
+"Consider, O man, His works," he exclaims; and proceeds to enumerate the
+evidences of design in the universe--"the timely rotation of the
+seasons," "the regular march of the stars," the various beauty of seeds
+and plants and fruits, and many others. It is a passage of considerable
+beauty, and evidences no mean rhetorical skill.
+
+It is in this same connection--in the refutation of idolatry--that St.
+Clement of Alexandria uses this argument, contrasting the living
+organism of man with the heathen idols.[68] "None of these (artists)
+ever made a breathing image, or out of earth moulded soft flesh. Who
+liquefied the marrow? or who solidified the bones? who stretched the
+nerves? who distended the veins? who poured the blood into them? or who
+spread the skin? who ever could have made eyes capable of seeing? who
+breathed spirit into the lifeless form? who bestowed righteousness? who
+promised immortality? The Maker of the universe alone; the great Artist
+and Father has formed us, such a living image as man is. But your
+Olympian Jove, the image of an image, greatly out of harmony with truth,
+is the senseless work of Attic hands." This, it will be readily seen,
+is more an attempt to show the insufficiency of idolatry to account for
+man's nature, than a deliberate attempt at theistic proof.
+
+The other examples of the use of this form of the argument for the
+existence of God are found in Lactantius, "the Christian Cicero." In
+speaking of Socrates he introduces[69] with approval an epitome of the
+Athenian sage's argument, which we have already considered,[70] and, in
+combatting the atomistic theory of the origin of the world, he
+asserts[71] that neither atoms nor the "Nature" of Lucretius can account
+for the adaptations in the actual world; and the phenomena of mind,
+especially, proclaim an intelligent Providence. His treatise "On the
+Workmanship of God, or the Formation of Man," is almost entirely an
+argument to design from the phenomena of man's physical and mental
+nature. From the standpoint of the physiology and psychology of his
+time, he discusses in detail the function and working of the different
+parts of man's nature, and from the adaptation of means to ends, of
+organs to their functions, which, even with the scanty data of the
+science of that day, is a striking consideration, he concludes that
+man's being can only be accounted for on the supposition of an Arranger
+or Planner, whose purposes are carried out in exercise of the various
+functions.
+
+The argument _e Consensu Gentium_ has often been accredited with being
+peculiarly the patristic argument for the existence of God,[72] and for
+this conclusion the use of it in Epicurean theology, and the doctrine of
+the natural, innate idea of God already considered, would fully prepare
+us; but the fact is that, apart from frequent passing references to the
+"natural opinion" mentioned in the preceding chapter, the instances in
+which the argument is explicitly made use of are not much more numerous
+than in the case of the other forms. They constantly appeal to the
+common consent, but it is generally against polytheism, as indicating a
+consciousness of _the unity_ of God. St. Justin Martyr, in the passage
+to which we have already alluded, asserts[73] this common consent, but
+only as preparatory to the certainty which he finds in revelation. St.
+Clement of Alexandria, after asserting that "the Father and Maker of all
+things is apprehended by all things, agreeably to all, by innate power,
+and without teaching," goes on to confirm his statement in this
+manner:[74] "But no race anywhere, of tillers of the soil, or nomads,
+and not even of dwellers in cities, can live without being imbued with
+the faith of a superior being. Wherefore, every eastern nation, and
+every nation touching the western shore; or the north, and each one
+toward the south--all have one and the same preconception respecting
+Him, who hath appointed government; since the most universal of His
+operations equally pervade all." It is with the principles and end of
+this argument in view that Tertullian appeals[75] to the witness of the
+soul, "not as when fashioned in schools, trained in libraries, fed in
+Attic academies and porticoes," but "rude, uncultured and untaught, such
+as they have thee who have thee only; that very thing of the road, the
+street, the workshop wholly;" and from his examination of this ordinary
+soul he concludes that "the knowledge of our God is possessed by
+all."[76] Minucius Felix appeals to this same common instinct and
+exclaims:[77] "What! is it not true that I have in this matter the
+consent of all men?" and Origen, in his reply to the attack of Celsus,
+points to "the ineradicable idea of Him."[78] Novatian asserts[79] that
+"the whole mind of man is conscious" of Him, "even if does not express
+itself," and Lactantius thinks that for Cicero "it was no difficult
+task, indeed, to refute the falsehoods of a few men who entertained
+perverse sentiments by the testimony of communities and tribes, who on
+this one point had no disagreement."[80]
+
+Besides these instances in which the different types of the theistic
+argument are used in an undeveloped, but yet in a pure form, there are
+several places where a mixed form appears, the different conventional
+processes being used in combination without being clearly
+differentiated. Thus the argument from common consent and the argument
+based on order or design are used in conjunction, the necessity of the
+universal knowledge of God's existence being seen from the witness to
+Him found in nature.[81] So, too, the arguments from order and from
+design in nature are often used in conjunction, and in many passages it
+is difficult to decide to which one of these two the author intends to
+appeal primarily.[82] These undifferentiated or mixed arguments are
+quite frequently to be seen in the patristic writings, and serve to
+illustrate the eclectic character of their thoughts, often presenting in
+one passage the forms of the theistic arguments peculiar to two opposed
+schools in Greek philosophy; and they also indicate how incidentally and
+na�vely the Fathers used such weapons, not taking the trouble to
+differentiate one form from the other, though they could not have been
+ignorant of such distinctions.
+
+The first thing that strikes one's attention in this examination of the
+use of the theistic argument in the early Christian writers is, as has
+been indicated, the paucity of examples. When we consider the emphasis
+laid upon this subject in the contemporaneous philosophical schools; the
+constant appeal to one form or another of the argument by Stoic and
+Epicurean alike; the various combinations and adaptations made by
+Eclectics and Syncretists; the use of such material in the exercises of
+the rhetorical instruction then so prominent in education; it would seem
+that a weapon so ready to their hand must have been seized upon by the
+Fathers, and made full use of for the advancement of the cause in which
+they were enlisted. And this silence on their part cannot be due to
+ignorance of what had been written on the subject, or of what was going
+on in the world about them. The patristic writings show the keenest
+interest in, and fullest knowledge of what men were thinking about in
+the outside world as well as within the Church. Many of the Fathers, as
+we have had occasion to notice, had been trained in the philosophical
+schools,[83] and show themselves fully conversant not only with such
+subjects, but with poetry and general literature as well.[84] In the
+course of their education, as well as in their reading, they must have
+become fully acquainted with all the forms of the theistic argument. And
+this knowledge they had every opportunity to use. Many of their works
+that have come down to us are either apologies or else answers to
+critics of Christianity, who attacked its doctrines from the stand-point
+of either polytheism or atheism. In maintaining the Christian doctrine
+of God against these opponents, the theistic argument would seem to be a
+most natural weapon for one who was confident of its validity. But the
+fact is, that in most of these apologies no such reasoning is employed,
+and even when it is to be found in their pages, is only incidental and
+by way of illustration, to explain the rational character of the
+Christian doctrine of God by a sort of _argumentum ad hominem_.
+
+One reason for this neglect of the theistic argument may be readily
+found in the subject-matter of the treatises themselves. Almost
+exclusively with the earlier Fathers, as we have seen, and very largely
+with their successors, the emphasis was laid on life, rather than on
+thought, and the appeal was to authority rather than to reason. Men were
+asked to judge of Christianity by its fruits, and to receive the faith
+which it professed, not because of its rational demonstration, but
+because of the authority of Him who promulgated it. The persons to whom
+the arguments were addressed, too, explain much of the silence of the
+Fathers. To the Jew or religious Gentile it would be superfluous to
+address elaborate arguments to prove the existence of God, and it was to
+these classes that many of the works under discussion were addressed. To
+them the argument, such as we frequently find, from the Old Testament
+types and prophecies, or from the superior beauty and morality of the
+Christian doctrine and life, taking for granted the existence of God,
+was what the case required. And when, as is very frequently the case,
+they address the popular idolaters, it is a negative argument to show
+the unworthiness of idol-worship, and the superiority of their own
+doctrine, of which they naturally make use, and not a theistic argument
+which would have no significance to those who were already "too
+religious."
+
+Many of the apologies of the early Church were called forth by the
+attacks which were made on the Christians by the adherents of the
+popular religions. The charges usually brought against them were those
+of atheism, because of their rejection of the gods of Greece and Rome;
+of immorality, because of the secrecy and mystery of their meetings, and
+cannibalism, because of their doctrine of the partaking of the Body and
+Blood of Christ in the Eucharist. In refuting these charges, especially
+the first, no place was afforded for the use of a theistic argument, but
+they naturally exhibit their belief in God as superior to that of their
+accusers, and appeal to their lives as justifying their belief.
+
+But aside from these cases in which the theistic argument would have
+been superfluous, there are many places in which it is conspicuous for
+its absence. That they had other arguments besides those from scripture
+and authority, and that they believed in using them when necessary, we
+have, as we have seen, many proofs in their writings. Their position is
+well indicated by Lactantius, who blamed St. Cyprian for using a
+Scripture argument to an unbeliever,[85] and we shall be obliged to look
+deeper than mere ignorance or lack of occasion to account for the
+paucity of cases in which they use the argument for the existence of
+God.
+
+The fact is that the history of Greek thought had shown conclusively the
+absolute futility of any efforts to arrive at a certain proof of the
+existence of God by purely rational methods. The attempts of each school
+to attain such certainty were repudiated by their successors, and even
+by their contemporaries; and the later trials--which the religious
+instincts and aspirations of men would not permit them to forego, even
+when they were sceptical of obtaining any valid and positive
+results--frequently became, instead of a sincere seeking after God, mere
+practice in the art of Rhetoric. And not only was it true that no one of
+the forms of the theistic argument brought conviction to any other mind
+than that of the man who regarded it with the partial enthusiasm of an
+originator or formulator, but even such an one was led to only the most
+vague and indefinite results. We have already seen how even the best
+theology of the Greeks led to nothing but a sort of organized or unified
+polytheism. A vague, fanciful first cause of physical phenomena, a
+general idea, abstracted out of all content, so as to leave no meaning
+for the human mind--whatever the imagination might make of it--a
+mechanical, magnetic force, to which all motion might conveniently be
+referred; a deified principle of order--and these held in conjunction
+with the popular polytheism, and impregnated with the national
+pantheistic conceptions--was all that Greek philosophy could offer to
+the higher religious aspirations of the educated man. The opinion of the
+Greek mind itself as to the character of the knowledge of God, to which
+the thought of their race had led them at the beginning of the Christian
+era was fitly expressed by those Athenians, who erected near the
+Areopagus the "altar on which was written, 'To the Unknown God.'"[86]
+The opinion (for in most cases it did not amount to a conviction) that
+there was an Unknown (or even, as many thought, an Unknowable) Divinity
+of some sort, which might account for the phenomena of the world, and
+which might be the truth behind the vagaries of the anthropomorphic
+polytheism, was as far as Greek thought had led men at the period with
+which we have to do. Their {theos} was really nothing more than Mr. Herbert
+Spencer's "Unknowable,"--a mysterious "force," to which everything was
+referred which could not be accounted for on the basis of scientific
+principles.
+
+Now if this was the case with the adherents of the heathen philosophical
+schools, how must the realization of the poverty of this result, and the
+distrust of the means which led to it, have been emphasized by the
+conversion of individuals from them to Christianity. It is a graphic
+picture which some of the Fathers paint for us of their eager search, in
+the different schools in turn, for some religious truth which would
+bring with it conviction; of their disappointment and consequent despair
+and scepticism, and then of the satisfaction which they had found for
+their aspirations in the teaching of Jesus Christ, who, they were
+convinced, was the very Word of God. Viewed merely from the historical
+point of view, this process is full of interest as illustrating that
+which was going on in many minds that stopped at the sceptical stage,
+and, for one reason or another, never found refuge in the Christian
+Church. But for those who did take this step, their former distrust of
+the theistic argument, as a basis for religious conviction, must have
+been greatly emphasized. The contrast between their former scepticism as
+to man's ability to attain to any knowledge of things beyond the
+phenomenal world, and their present faith and conviction which their
+belief in the Person of Christ gave them, must have made the part of any
+such means of arriving at truth as the already discredited theistic
+argument most insignificant. They, themselves, had no need for it. All
+it had been able to do for them, as for those to whom they wrote, was to
+raise an aspiration which "would not down"--to bring them to the
+hypothesis (substituted for polytheism, now outgrown) of an "Unknown
+God," and they felt that their message to their contemporaries was, like
+that of St. Paul to the Athenians on Areopagus: "Whom, therefore, ye
+ignorantly worship, Him declare I unto you."
+
+It is with this attitude in mind, I am convinced, that we must interpret
+the doctrine, so often enunciated by the early Christian writers, but
+especially by St. Justin Martyr and St. Clement of Alexandria, of the
+"partial," "fragmentary" character of the theological truth arrived at
+by Greek philosophy. They have sometimes been charged with
+inconsistency in thus characterizing the work of men from whom they
+borrowed so much, but they seem, in fact, to have been remarkably
+appreciative of their old masters when we consider the position in which
+they stood. In fact, they seem to grant to Greek philosophy all that its
+adherents would claim for it, namely, that, by means of the arguments
+adduced by its different schools, the Greeks had attained to the opinion
+that there was something behind the phenomena of nature, but this might
+as well be a transcendent force or a pantheistic world-soul as an
+immanent God. With the Apostle on Mars' Hill they would say that the
+best theology of the Greeks simply put them in a position "that they
+should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after Him and find Him."
+
+And each of the Greek schools, they would say, by resting their case on
+some one of the various arguments, and emphasizing some one of the
+attributes of the Deity at the expense of the others, had attained only
+a partial and inadequate view, though true so far as it went. "Since,
+therefore," says St. Clement of Alexandria,[87] "truth is one (for
+falsehood has ten thousand by-paths); just as the Bacchantes tore
+asunder the limbs of Pentheus, so the sects both of barbarian and
+Hellenic philosophy have done with truth, and each vaunts as the whole
+truth the portion which has fallen to its lot. But all, in my opinion,
+are illuminated by the dawn of Light." These men were deeply
+appreciative of the work of Greek philosophy so far as it went--even
+assigning to it a place analogous to the Hebrew Scriptures[88]--but they
+always attribute to it a distinctly prop�deutic office, and are careful
+to emphasize its failure to lead to any firm and positive conviction of
+the existence of God. That this was the position of the early Christian
+philosophers might be shown by many passages, but we will content
+ourselves with one example from the pages of St. Clement of Alexandria,
+who assigned to Greek philosophy a higher place than any of the
+patristic writers--so much so that his orthodoxy has frequently been
+questioned because of it. He is fond of designating the knowledge of God
+to which the Greeks had attained by the term "{periphrasis}." Thus he
+concludes[89] an argument from common consent, already quoted, in these
+words: "Much more did the philosophers among the Greeks, devoted to
+investigation, starting from the Barbarian philosophy, attribute
+providence to the 'invisible, and sole and most powerful, and most
+skilful and supreme cause of all things, most beautiful;'--not knowing
+the influences from these truths, unless instructed by us, and not even
+how God is to be known naturally, but only, as we have already often
+said, by a true periphrasis." "The men of highest repute among the
+Greeks knew God, not by positive knowledge, but by indirect expression
+({periphrasis})."[90] The indefinite and merely "probable" character of the
+results which the Fathers think were reached by the theistic argument in
+Greek thought explains to us the few examples of these proofs which we
+find in their writings, and the certainty which they thought they had
+found, and their consequent attitude toward all arguments of this
+nature, which we have tried to depict, is the key to the explanation of
+a new phase in the history of thought which was to last for several
+centuries.
+
+In our examination of these examples of the theistic argument in the
+Fathers, it cannot escape our notice that they occur much more
+frequently, and in more developed and conventional form in the West than
+in the East--under the influence of Rome than under that of Alexandria
+and the Orient. The reason for this is not far to seek, and is one that
+throws light also on the motive with which the patristic writers made
+use of these arguments.
+
+In Alexandria and the East there was no incentive for the Christians to
+try to prove the existence of God, for the philosophy of that portion of
+the world was essentially religious in its character, and based its
+speculation on the existence of God as a fundamental postulate of
+revelation and of reason as well. In the combination of Judaism and
+Hellenic philosophy made by the "Hellenizing Jews" and by the "Judaizing
+Hellenes," the existence of God was admitted quite as freely, and
+maintained quite as zealously, as by the Christians themselves, and even
+the incipient Neo-Platonists made no quarrel with them on this ground.
+So we find that the reference in the Alexandrian and other Eastern
+Fathers are mainly of the character of examples and illustrations as to
+principles that are well understood and admitted, and are employed
+chiefly for the purpose of refuting idolatry by a distinction between
+God and matter, or of proving the unity of God in opposition to the
+still latent polytheism.
+
+Under the influence of Rome, however, other tendencies came in to give a
+rather different significance to the theistic argument. For Rome had
+become the chief center of the later schools of Greek philosophy, and
+under the shadow of the seven hills rather than in the Athenian groves
+and porticoes were found the disciples of Pyrrho, of Zeno and of
+Epicurus. Thus, very naturally, wherever Roman civilization was dominant
+the teacher of Christian doctrine was obliged to present his subject
+with reference to the forces already at work in the minds of those whom
+he addressed. In accordance with this, we find, first, a _negative_
+influence in the hostile attitude assumed by the Sceptics and members
+of other schools who tended toward their position, toward any religious
+knowledge. That this influence is not an imaginary one may be seen
+especially in the instance already quoted from Lactantius, whose use of
+the theistic argument is called forth by the cavils of Sceptics and
+atheistic atomists.
+
+But there was also a _positive_ influence at work to facilitate the use
+of the theistic argument by the Western Fathers in the prevalence at
+Rome of Stoic and Epicurean doctrine. From the former of these schools
+would result a familiarity, and, in many cases, an agreement with the
+forms of the argument drawn from order and design; from the latter, for
+the demonstration from common consent. Both of these influences, no
+doubt, had some influence on the shape in which Tertullian of Carthage,
+Minucius Felix, Novatian and Lactantius presented their doctrine, and,
+together with the more material and less religious character of the
+West, accounts in large degree for the comparative frequency of their
+appeal to the theistic argument.
+
+But when we consider the frequency with which we meet with the theistic
+argument, and with reference to its use in other writers, in the pages
+of Cicero, for example, these scanty instances afforded us by the
+writings of the ante-Nicene Fathers, whose works occupy, say, 4,500
+large, closely-printed pages in the translation, and who were, let us
+remember, dealing exclusively with religious thought, indicate plainly a
+fundamental change in position, the influence of which was operative for
+centuries in this department of thought, and which, even to-day, governs
+the attitude of the greater part of the Western world. The absolute
+failure of the Greeks to arrive at any certainty of God's existence by
+demonstration, the introduction of the Christian doctrine of God, before
+which the deductions of Greek philosophy seem empty and unsatisfactory,
+even to many who cannot accept that doctrine as truth, and the
+substitution of faith in a Person for purely rational proof, render it
+impossible, so long as that faith continues, that any one should think
+it worth while to devote more than a passing notice to any such
+argument, unless for the purposes of an _argumentum ad hominem_. And so
+it is not until faith begins to grow cold and men become mere
+speculators and debaters about religion, rather than believers in
+Christ, that the revival of these arguments under the title of "proofs"
+is possible. Even the famous Ontological Argument of St. Anselm was, I
+am convinced, no serious attempt to formulate an _a priori_ proof of the
+existence of God, but was addressed to a particular case[91]--the "fool"
+who "said in his heart, 'There is no God,'" and who _also_ maintained
+that God was "that than which no greater can be thought."
+
+From this survey it will be seen that, in the view of the Ante-Nicene
+Christian authors, the theistic argument was valuable merely as a
+prop�deutic to Christianity, but was superfluous for the believer in
+Jesus Christ; the use of it cannot, as it had not in Greek thought,
+bring proof, but only probability; even this uncertain result is only
+vague and fragmentary in character, and was never unified and made
+significant by the Greeks; its office in Christian evidences was merely
+of an _ad hominem_ sort, and this only in its simpler and more practical
+forms, in which the senses as well as reason had their testimony to
+bear; and, lastly, the argument was used much more frequently by the
+Western than by the Alexandrian and other Eastern Fathers.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[60] _Stromata_, V, 12.
+
+[61] _De Spectaculis_, II.
+
+[62] _Against Marcion_, I, 17.
+
+[63] _Ibid._, V, 16. This is to justify his doctrine of the punishment
+of the heathen.
+
+[64] _Scapula_, II.
+
+[65] _Against Celsus_, I, 23.
+
+[66] _Plea for the Christians_, XV, XVI.
+
+[67] I, 5 and 6.
+
+[68] _Exhortation to the Heathen_, X.
+
+[69] _Divine Institutes_, III, 20.
+
+[70] Chap. II.
+
+[71] _Treatise on the Anger of God_, X.
+
+[72] E.g., Stirling: _Philosophy and Theology_, p. 179.
+
+[73] _Trypho_, III, IV.
+
+[74] _Stromata_, V, 14.
+
+[75] _The Soul's Testimony_, I.
+
+[76] _Of the Resurrection of the Flesh_, III.
+
+[77] _Octavius_, XVIII.
+
+[78] _Against Celsus_, II, 40.
+
+[79] _De Trinitate_, VIII.
+
+[80] _Divine Institutes_, I, 2.
+
+[81] E.g., Irenaeus: _Against Heresy_, II, 9, 1; Tertullian: _Against
+Marcion_, I, 10; Origen: _De Principiis_, I, 3, 1; Tertullian:
+_Apology_, XVII; Lactantius: _Divine Institutes_, I, 2.
+
+[82] E.g., Minucius Felix: _Octavius_, XVII, XVIII; Novatian: _De
+Trinitate_ VIII; Dionysius the Great: _Fragments_, II, 1.
+
+[83] E.g., "Justin, in Philosopher's garb, preached the word of God."
+Eusebius, IV, 11.
+
+[84] The mere list of Greek authors _quoted_ by St. Clement of
+Alexandria occupies over fourteen quarto pages in Fabricius'
+_Bibliotheka Graeca_.
+
+[85] _Divine Institutes_, V. 4.
+
+[86] _Acts_, XVII, 23.
+
+[87] _Stromata_, I, 13.
+
+[88] E.g., _Stromata_, VI, 5: "The one and only God was known by the
+Greeks in a Gentile way, by the Jews Judaically, and in a new and
+spiritual way by us." In I, 5, he says: "For this (philosophy) was a
+schoolmaster to bring "the Hellenic mind," as the law the Hebrews, to
+Christ."
+
+[89] _Stromata_, V, 14.
+
+[90] _Ibid._, VI, 5. See also, e.g., I, 19; V, 13.
+
+[91] See Stirling: _Philosophy and Theology_, p. 35.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+ECLECTIC THEISM
+
+
+The early Christian writers, so far as they assumed any philosophical
+position, were invariably Eclectics. In this, as we have seen, they were
+the true children of their age, whose most striking characteristic was
+that it had deserted the older systems, while attempting to preserve out
+of their ruins the particular truth for which each of the schools had
+contended. But with the Christian philosophers it was not merely the
+negative influence of scepticism which drove them to Eclecticism. Their
+conviction of a sure knowledge of things divine--the final question for
+all philosophy--exerted a positive influence as well, which led them to
+formulate more or less explicitly a view of the function of philosophy
+as an organon of the truth, not merely with reference to the past
+history of Greek thought, as their contemporaries outside of the
+Christian Church were accustomed to do, but with a view to all possible
+speculation on the Deity. For this deposit of revealed truth, to which
+they gave assent as the most certain of all knowledge, they regarded as
+the _whole_ truth, of which the various speculations of philosophy on
+the existence and attributes of God, were but "portions" and
+"fragments"--true and trustworthy so far as they went, and from their
+own particular standpoint, but, nevertheless, essentially and
+necessarily partial, and hence productive, not of certainty, but of mere
+opinion.
+
+And this estimate of the function of philosophy with respect to
+theological truth, which the Fathers worked out on the basis of the
+concrete example of the course of Greek thought, though with a view to a
+much wider application, has its justification in the very nature and
+conditions of thought itself. For philosophy is essentially a
+_process_--its very life depends on its being in motion, in process of
+change and development. Each system is evolved out of its predecessors,
+and contains within itself the germs of its successors--it is the link
+which connects the past with the future. It expresses the
+"common-sense," the unconscious convictions and instinctive tendencies
+of the time, and the man who first gives voice to this unspoken message
+is the philosopher. He utters the truth which the times demand--that
+which satisfies the conditions. Thus with Professor Erdmann[92] the
+patristic writers would say that each statement of philosophical truth
+is "the final truth only for that time." It is the phase or aspect or
+particular statement of the truth which the times demand, which the
+situation calls forth, and which appeals most strongly to the minds that
+make up part of that situation. Changed conditions demand a different
+statement of the truth to satisfy them, and furnish the data upon which
+such a statement is based. Philosophy, like science, "does not really
+accumulate, but is entirely transformed by each fresh hypothesis. It is
+only the data that accumulate; and when we say that a new hypothesis is
+'truer' than that which preceded it, we mean merely that it enables us
+to co-ordinate a larger number of these data."[93] And this
+transformation takes place, in reality, not only by addition, but by
+subtraction of data. For it is a phenomenon common to the thought of all
+ages, that each school not only calls attention to new data, ignored by
+its predecessor, but also shuts its eyes to more or less of the valid
+data set forth by the earlier system. In no period of the history of
+thought were men more commonly led into abstractions by being dazzled by
+the brilliancy and novelty of the latest idea than in the pioneer age
+represented by Greek philosophy, when men had not yet attained to a
+clear perspective, and the foot-hills often hid the lofty mountain peak.
+
+It is this trait, so evident in the na�ve thought of the Greeks, that
+makes it possible for the early Christian thinkers to take the attitude,
+at once appreciative and critical with regard to the Hellenic theology.
+They borrowed much, not only from the form, but also from the results of
+the speculations of the philosophers, but always with a deep sense of
+the limitations which the conditions imposed upon them. Socrates, Plato,
+Aristotle and the rest had spoken the truth, but each only from one
+point of view, and on the basis of only one method of approach. The
+conclusions of each were the result of a process of more or less
+complete abstraction, and in abstractions the Fathers, true to the
+genius of Christian thought, could never rest content, but could only
+accord to them the appreciation which belongs to a temporary and
+preliminary stage in the search for the final unity.
+
+To this partial, temporary, "relatively final," and constantly changing
+content, the revealed doctrine of God, manifested in due relations,
+unity and completeness by the Incarnate Word, stands with the Fathers as
+the principle to the particular rule or application--as the whole to the
+part. As the revelation of God it came to them, not as the result of
+man's investigation and speculation, colored by every change of time,
+place and environment, a mere momentary phase of a process; but as
+eternal verity, viewed, so far as man's powers would allow, in its
+entirety and unity. Dorner expresses their position well when he says
+that in Christianity "as the organism of the truth, the elements of
+truth, elsewhere here and there to be met with in a scattered form or a
+disfigured guise, come together in unity--a unity which, as it
+personally appeared in the God-Man, so in the course of history ever
+more and more rises upon the consciousness of mankind." The Fathers
+think that in the Christian doctrine of God they find all the true
+elements contributed by previous thought, and besides these an infinite
+depth of truth unthought of by the Greeks, all unified and harmonized in
+a way that makes it a sharp contrast to the fragmentary and abstract
+character of the Hellenic theology. Christian doctrine represents to
+them the stable, absolute truth, so far as it was revealed by the
+Incarnate Word, the eternal verities in their completeness and unity, so
+far as man is able to comprehend them. Philosophy represents the phase
+or aspect of the truth which the conditions of thought at the time
+demands and emphasizes, which will co-ordinate the data at present in
+the foreground of consciousness. Thus they conceive of the facts of
+Christian Theology as the goal towards which philosophy is (often
+unconsciously) striving, but at which it can never arrive without the
+"leap of faith." Once this leap is taken, however, these theological
+verities become the major factors in the data to be co-ordinated, and
+philosophy and theology come into that union and harmony which, in the
+eyes of the Christian philosophers, is their normal relation.
+
+This Eclectic attitude of the Fathers, and their deprecation of any
+abstraction or partial statement usurping the place of the truth,
+explains to some extent their treatment of the theistic argument.
+
+In the first place it led them to distrust and reject any argument for
+the existence of God which proceeded on the basis of reason alone, apart
+from any content furnished by sensibility. While the Fathers do not make
+any explicit and scientific distinction between Epistemology and
+Ontology, such as has in modern times been the bane of any attempted
+natural theology, yet they seem to have made a pretty constant
+_practical_ separation between the two. St. Clement of Alexandria, as we
+have seen, holds that by a method of abstraction of specific
+characteristics we can arrive only at an "Unknown," to which meaning can
+be given only by combining with this rational process some content
+furnished directly by the senses or, indirectly, by testimony, and he
+further states that God is not a subject for demonstration--_i.e._, the
+science that depends on primary and better known principles--for "first
+principles are incapable of demonstration."[94] This position seems to
+be tacitly assumed by the patristic writers throughout, and even where
+they speak of Plato with gratitude and admiration they never seem to be
+at all inclined to make any use of his "Idealogical" argument or
+anything related thereto. They seem to take a common-sense stand for the
+testimony of the whole man, as well as for the whole truth, and to
+instinctively distrust any rational concept in the formation of which
+sensuous content had been ignored.
+
+The Eclectic character of the patristic thought is seen also in the
+frequency with which they use the different forms of the theistic
+argument in conjunction, or present it in mixed forms. The Greek
+philosophers, as we have seen, each selected some one of the forms of
+the argument, and by means of it, attempted to establish the sort of an
+{Arch�}, to which such a course of reasoning would lead, ignoring, or
+attacking the forms in use by their rival school. Thus early, however,
+as in modern times, Christian theology, in contrast with the attempts of
+rational theology, began to emphasize the interdependence of these
+different forms of the theistic argument, and the cumulative character
+of their evidence. Each one of itself could bring no conviction, nor
+even high degree of probability, and furthermore, even if all its claims
+be admitted, would lead to a result far short of theism--a mere
+indefinite first cause, an Architect of the universe, etc. Each one,
+however, adds its quota to a great _cumulative_ argument, which, taken
+in its entirety, raises an exceedingly high presumption, which amounts
+to "_moral_" though possibly not intellectual proof. And, after all,
+"probability is the guide of _life_."
+
+And this is all that the Fathers, or Christian apologists, generally,
+would claim for the theistic argument. It is a _practical_, not a
+theoretical proof, and it is in this way that the early Christian
+writers seem to regard it. They resort to it most frequently to show
+that the Christian doctrine of God is not contrary to reason nor
+inconsistent with the nature of things, and to demonstrate that such a
+conception is demanded by man's very nature. In a word, their use of the
+argument is confirmatory and explanatory rather than by way of absolute
+proof and demonstration.
+
+This attitude towards and use of the theistic argument, so radically
+different from that of the Greek philosophers, perpetuated itself in the
+post-Nicene literature of the Christian Church, and, in its main
+features, remained unaltered, until the time when men who had abandoned
+the faith in the Word which had been the main stay of the ante-Nicene
+writers, and who yet were unwilling to abandon the great theistic idea
+for which the world was indebted to Christianity alone, sought to
+justify this idea on the basis of reason. It took the scepticism of a
+Hume and the criticism of a Kant, and the re-adjustment of all their
+followers to bring us back at the close of this nineteenth century into
+substantial agreement with the common-sense estimate placed upon the
+theistic argument by the ante-Nicene Fathers.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[92] _History of Philosophy_, Vol. I, � 4.
+
+[93] Burnet: _Early Greek Philosophy_, p. 25.
+
+[94] _Stromata_, II, iv.
+
+
+
+
+VITA.
+
+
+The writer was born April 24, 1869, in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He attended
+the Ann Arbor Public Schools and the Ann Arbor High School. In 1892 he
+received the degree of A. B. from the University of Michigan. In 1895 he
+graduated from the General Theological Seminary, New York, and was
+awarded the degree of B. D., which was formally conferred in accordance
+with the rules of the Seminary one year later. In 1896, he received the
+degree of A. M. from the University of Michigan. He pursued studies in
+Philosophy at Harvard University during the first term of the year
+1896-7, and at Columbia University from February, 1897, to February,
+1898. He has been the post-graduate scholar of the Church University
+Board of Regents from July, 1895, to the present time.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Basis of Early Christian Theism, by 
+Lawrence Thomas Cole
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Basis of Early Christian Theism, by 
+Lawrence Thomas Cole
+
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+Title: The Basis of Early Christian Theism
+
+Author: Lawrence Thomas Cole
+
+Release Date: January 16, 2008 [EBook #24328]
+
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+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EARLY CHRISTIAN THEISM ***
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+</pre>
+
+
+<h1>THE BASIS OF EARLY CHRISTIAN THEISM</h1>
+
+<h2><span style="font-size: smaller;">BY</span><br />
+LAWRENCE THOMAS COLE, A. M., S. T. B.,</h2>
+
+<div class='center'><br /><br />
+<i>Post-graduate Scholar of the Church University Board of Regents</i>
+<br /><br />
+
+SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS<br/>
+FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN THE<br />
+<span class="smcap">Faculty of Philosophy<br />
+Columbia University</span>
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+NEW YORK<br />
+May, 1898
+</div>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<h2><a name="CONTENTS"></a>CONTENTS</h2><p style="font-size: smaller; text-align: right;"></p>
+
+<ul class="TOC">
+<li>CHAPTER I<span class="TOCchapterTitle">Introduction</span><span class="TOCralign"><a
+href="#Page_9">9</a></span></li>
+
+<li>CHAPTER I<span class="TOCchapterTitle">Greek and Roman Theistic Arguments</span><span class="TOCralign"><a
+href="#Page_14">14</a></span></li>
+<li>CHAPTER III<span class="TOCchapterTitle">The Patristic Point of View</span><span class="TOCralign"><a
+href="#Page_26">26</a></span></li>
+<li>CHAPTER IV<span class="TOCchapterTitle">Patristic Use of the Theistic Arguments</span><span class="TOCralign"><a
+href="#Page_38">38</a></span></li>
+<li>CHAPTER V<span class="TOCchapterTitle">Eclectic Theism</span><span class="TOCralign"><a
+href="#Page_55">55</a></span></li>
+</ul>
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"Les preuves de Dieu m&eacute;taphysiques sont si &eacute;loign&eacute;es du
+raisonnement des hommes, et si impliqu&eacute;es, qu'elles frappent peu;
+et quand cela serviroit &agrave; quelques-uns, ce ne seroit que pendant
+l'instant qu'ils voient cette d&eacute;monstration; mais, une heure apr&egrave;s,
+ils craignent de s'&ecirc;tre tromp&eacute;s. <i>Quod curiositate cognoverint,
+superbi&acirc; amiserunt.</i>"</p>
+
+<p>
+&mdash;<i>Pens&eacute;es de Pascal</i>, II, xv. 2.</p></div>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I<br/><span style='font-size: small;'>INTRODUCTION</span></h2>
+
+
+
+<p>A question which every author ought to ask of himself before he sends
+forth his work, and one which must occur to every thoughtful reader, is
+the inquiry, <i>Cui bono?</i>&mdash;what justification has one for treating the
+subject at all, and why in the particular way which he has chosen? To
+the pertinency of this question to the present treatise the author has
+been deeply sensible, and therefore cannot forbear a few prefatory words
+of explanation of his object and method.</p>
+
+<p>In accounts of the theistic argument, as in the history of philosophy in
+general, it has been customary to pass over a space of well-nigh ten
+centuries of the Christian era in silence, or with such scanty and
+unsympathetic notice as to make silence the better alternative. Largely
+through the influence of such treatment as this, we moderns have almost
+forgotten at times that during this period there lived men inferior to
+none in history in endowments of mind and influence on succeeding
+generations, and that there then took place some of the most significant
+and far-reaching intellectual conflicts in the history of thought. "With
+Cicero," says Professor Stirling, "we reached in our course a most
+important and critical halting-place.... We have still ... to wait those
+thousand years yet before Anselm shall arrive with what is to be named
+the new proof, the proof ontological, and during the entire interval it
+is the Fathers of the Church and their immediate followers who, in
+repetition of the old, or suggestion of the new, connect thinker<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span> with
+thinker, philosopher with philosopher, pagan with Christian."<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> To
+attempt to account for even one of the details of thought during this
+period cannot be without its advantages.</p>
+
+<p>For Christianity gave a new and unique turn to thought. It brought with
+it a new set of data, and a new subject-matter. The Christian doctrine
+of God, the distinctions in the Trinity, the great doctrines centering
+around the person of Jesus Christ, though, perhaps, faintly foreshadowed
+in some of the earlier speculations, are, in their fulness and
+completeness, first given to the world by the Founder of Christianity.
+The claims made for these doctrines, too, gave them a unique character.
+In contrast with the half-hearted, faltering conclusions of the
+prevalent philosophical schools, Christianity asserted that its
+teachings were absolute truth; it claimed to be nothing less than a
+revelation from the Creator of the world. It will be readily seen that
+the introduction of such a system as this into the Greek world would be
+attended with important results, not only in its effects upon the
+intellectual life of the times, but also in the influence of the current
+philosophical conceptions on the statement of its doctrine. The
+significance of this early period lies in the fact that, in the
+positive, definite system of Christianity, systematic thought, which was
+fast becoming disorganized and sceptical, found a center about which it
+might rally and focus itself, and the scattered fragments of philosophy
+were all collected together, by either friends or foes, about the new
+religion. The new point of view and the new relations would be most
+significant, too, in that department of thought with which the contact
+of this new central system had most to do, and thus the treatment of the
+theistic problem exhibits in a special degree the alteration in the
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span>standpoint and method of philosophy. It threw into bold relief the old
+basis of belief in the divine, and aroused a comparison and discussion
+of the validity of the various arguments hitherto used by speculative
+thought, and set them over in sharp contrast to the claims of the new
+revelation. In the early period when this contrast was most clearly
+felt, and time had not yet permitted a complete fusion and blending of
+the two points of view, we find a simplicity of situation which will aid
+analysis and facilitate the study of the relation of the old arguments
+for the existence of a God to the Christian doctrine, and which will
+help in determining the elements due to each and in interpreting the
+reasons for the direction of thought on this subject, which
+characterized the whole of the Medi&aelig;val period.</p>
+
+<p>In the representations of early Christian thought, however, we find
+great differences in the emphasis laid upon the speculative side of the
+theistic problem. Christian philosophy is no exception to the rule that
+the thought of the race develops through the needs, temperaments and
+tendencies with which it comes into contact, and unfolds itself
+naturally in response to internal or external stimuli&mdash;the doubts,
+intellectual needs and growing consciousness and experience of the
+believer, and the cavils, objections and attacks of his opponent. The
+first Christian teachers had to meet simple problems, and the mission of
+the Apostolic and sub-Apostolic Church was to "the people." Its first
+task, determined by the conditions in which the Christians found
+themselves, as well as by the command of their Master, was to convert
+the Jews, who, by their long training as a "peculiar people," were
+especially adapted for receiving this new revelation, based, as it was,
+on that monotheistic idea to the preservation of which their national
+life had been devoted. Upon them the primitive Christians, most of whom,
+like St. Paul, were "Hebrews of the Hebrews," brought to bear the
+instrument most<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> adapted to their conversion, namely, the argument
+deduced from the sacred Scriptures of their race.</p>
+
+<p>And when the Church finally turned towards the Gentile world, it was
+still the popular religion, the religion of the poets, rather than the
+philosophy of the schools, with which its apologists first came into
+contact, and it is very evident from such writings as the recently
+recovered <i>Apology</i> of Aristides, "philosopher of Athens," and many
+other works extending over the whole Ante-Nicene period, that much of
+the energy of the early exponents of Christianity was directed towards
+the conversion of the populace who still adhered, at least formally, to
+the religion of their own poets.</p>
+
+<p>The function of the primitive Christians, so far as the content of their
+belief was concerned, was to preserve and transmit to their successors
+an <i>implicit</i> faith. The value of this faith they attempted to show
+chiefly by practical, ethical demonstration. Thus they preached chiefly
+by example, and it is on the ground of <i>life</i> rather than that of
+<i>thought</i> that they made their plea to the Gentiles. In their struggle
+for existence, threatened on every side by official persecution and
+popular fury, they had no opportunity for speculation on
+fundamentals&mdash;they pleaded merely to be allowed to live the life to
+which they were pledged. With the Eastern training, which most of them
+had had, so foreign to the ideals of Greek philosophy, and so tenacious
+of the idea of God, and with the person of Christ so near to them as to
+blind their eyes to the possibility of any other standard of truth than
+His words, they naturally afford us no material for the question under
+discussion.</p>
+
+<p>Thus we must wait for the rise of Christian philosophy, and take as our
+<i>terminus a quo</i> the middle of the second century, when first there
+appears that literature which bears evidence to the conversion of
+philosophers to the Christian Church, and affords us examples of their
+attempts to present the new doctrines to the schools which they had
+abandoned.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Our <i>terminus ad quem</i> will be the Council of Nicea. The reason for this
+is in part the demands of time and space, and in part the fact that it
+will avoid needless and tedious repetition. The use of the theistic
+argument for some time after the Nicene period is fairly homogeneous,
+and presents no important new considerations. The apologetic work of the
+patristic writers was chiefly done in the ante-Nicene age; after that
+discussion turned more upon questions within the scope of the Christian
+Faith. The function of the age of the Councils was the formulation and
+definition of Christian dogma upon the admitted basis of the revelation
+of Jesus Christ.</p>
+
+<p>This inquiry, therefore, will have to do with that interesting period
+when the doctrines of the Christian Church were finding their connection
+with and relation to the speculations of Greek philosophy, and when the
+Christian philosophers and apologists were determining the attitude
+which, for many centuries, revealed religion assumed toward the
+demonstrations of natural theology.</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> <i>Philosophy and Theology</i>, p. 176.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II<br/>
+<span style='font-size: small;'>GREEK AND ROMAN THEISTIC ARGUMENTS</span></h2>
+
+
+<p>The first question that confronts us as we enter upon the discussion is
+the preliminary inquiry: What had been done already in the way of
+theistic argument, and in what condition did the Christian Church find
+this argument when it first began to develop a system of apologetics?
+And from the conditions of ancient thought, or, at least, from what we
+know of it, this resolves itself into the question: How far had the
+Greek philosophers advanced by means of speculative thought toward a
+conscious theism, and by what means did the various individuals and
+schools among them seek to prove the existence of the Divine? The answer
+to this inquiry will involve a brief examination of the contributions of
+the pre-Socratic philosophers (especially Anaxagoras), Socrates, Plato,
+Aristotle, the Stoics, the Epicureans, Cicero, and the Hellenizing Jews
+of Alexandria.</p>
+
+<p>The thought of Greece before the time of Socrates, from the very nature
+of its problem, and the material at its disposal, yields us but little
+that can, without doing violence to the facts, be construed as bearing
+on the theistic argument. The search of these early philosophers was,
+indeed, for an &#7936;&#961;&#967;&#8053;, but their interest in the inquiry, as a perusal of
+the extant fragments of their writings will prove, was pre-eminently
+cosmological. They strove to discover the eternal ground of all things,
+but it was a principle to account for the phenomena of <i>physical</i> nature
+that they sought, and they had not attained to a realization of even a
+rude form of the theistic<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span> problem. All they sought for was a primary
+substance which should satisfy the needs of a rudimentary physical
+science, which would enable them to co-ordinate the scanty data which
+they had accumulated from their contact with the world in which they
+lived, and to whose secrets they seem at times, in spite of their
+limited knowledge, to have come very close. And even granting that the
+problem involved in their search for the &#7936;&#961;&#967;&#8053; was at bottom identical
+with that of theism, they attempt to give no proof or argument for their
+conclusions with regard to it. They are as yet merely <i>seers</i>, who
+report the vision that comes to them as they gaze upon the stress and
+strain and ever-changing spectacle of earth's phenomena. Even the
+teleology of Anaxagoras (often mentioned as the germ of the theistic
+argument) gives us nothing more than a poet's dream, expressed, as
+Diogenes Laertius informs us, in a "lofty and agreeable style."<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a>
+"Nous," Anaxagoras tells us, "is infinite and self-ruled, and is mixed
+with nothing, but is alone, itself by itself.... It has all knowledge
+about everything, and the greatest strength; and Nous has power over all
+things, both greater and smaller, that have life. And Nous had power
+over the whole revolution, so that it began to revolve in the
+beginning.... And Nous set in order all things that were to be and that
+were, and all things that are not now, and that are, and this revolution
+in which now revolve the stars and the sun and the moon and the air and
+the &aelig;ther that are separated off."<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> This, however, amounts to no
+argument, and it is extremely doubtful whether Anaxagoras ever meant
+anything more by his Nous than Empedocles did by his Love and Strife, of
+which it was the historical successor, and we may safely, I think,
+endorse the judgment of Aristotle when <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span>he says that "Anaxagoras, also,
+employs mind as a machine" (<i>i.e.</i>, as the Laurentian MS. indicates, as
+a theatrical <i>deus ex machina</i>) "for the production of the cosmos; and
+when he finds himself in a perplexity as to the cause of its being
+necessarily so, he then drags it in by force to his assistance; but, in
+the other instances, he assigns as a cause of the things that are being
+produced, everything else in preference to mind (Nous)."<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> This
+criticism will, I am confident, apply fully as well to any apparent
+theism in the other pre-Socratic writers,<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> so that we shall be
+justified in assigning to them as their part in the development of the
+theistic argument, the mere undefined feeling and growing conviction of
+a permanent behind the changing, a "one" behind the "many."</p>
+
+<p>We find the natural deep and practical piety of Socrates reinforcing
+itself with a very full and complete statement of a teleological
+argument, based upon final cause, or adaptation of means to ends. It is
+in the <i>Memorabilia</i><a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> that we get the clear statement of this, and,
+therefore, it is a Socratic teaching which can, fortunately, be
+definitely distinguished from the Platonic treatment of the subject.
+"But which," he asks, "seemed to you most worthy of admiration,
+Aristodemus&mdash;the artist who forms images void of motion and
+intelligence, or one who has the skill to produce animals that are
+endued not only with activity, but understanding?" Then as Aristodemus
+answers, "The latter," Socrates proceeds to a detailed description of
+the adaptations of the eye, ear, teeth, mouth and nose to their several
+uses, and concludes with the question: "And canst thou still doubt,</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span></p><p>Aristodemus, whether a disposition of parts like this should be a work
+of chance, or of wisdom and contrivance?" He also argues in like manner
+from the existence of intelligence in man, the soul, and the general
+adaptability of man's powers and conditions to the furthering of his
+life. This argument to design has appropriately been called "peculiarly
+the Socratic proof,"<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> and to his treatment of it, so in keeping with
+the practical, sturdy common-sense of the man, nothing essential or
+important, except in multiplication of applications and details, has
+been added since his time. In the opinion of the writer, however,
+Socrates, so far as one can judge from his recorded utterances,
+developed merely the form of the Argument to Design, but it cannot be
+positively asserted that he used it as a <i>theistic</i> argument. In the
+<i>Memorabilia</i> it is always "the gods" to which the argument leads, and
+the worship of them that he urges. He may have had a more theistic
+conception, but the context warrants no further meaning of &#952;&#949;&#8057;&#962; than the
+generic one of an object of worship&mdash;in this case the national gods. In
+the <i>Apology</i> "&#8001; &#952;&#949;&#8057;&#962;" is used almost invariably of the local divinity
+of the oracle at Delphi, and of the "daemon" which, at the instigation
+of the Delphian divinity, as he was convinced, guided his actions. The
+present writer is strongly of the opinion that much violence has been
+done the words of Socrates by translators and interpreters, and that
+this fact will account for much of the alleged theistic teaching which
+is, without warrant, ascribed to the Athenian sage.</p>
+
+<p>The contribution of Plato to the theistic argument was,
+characteristically, the form of the "Ontological proof" which has been
+called "Idealogical." This process is a very natural development for
+Plato's Dialectic.<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> Once divide the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span>universe, as he did, into the two
+classes of permanent existence and transient phenomena, and identify the
+former with the ideas (which are nothing else than universals, each of
+which expresses the essence of many phenomena), and it is a very easy
+process to conceive of these ideas themselves being united in another
+more inclusive idea, and so, by a process of generalization, to reach at
+length the "Idea of Ideas"&mdash;the absolute Idea, in which lies the essence
+of all in the universe. Thus from any one fact of beauty, harmony, etc.,
+the human mind may rise to the notion of a common quality in all objects
+of beauty, etc.: "from a single beautiful body to two, from two to all
+others; from beautiful bodies to beautiful sentiments, from beautiful
+sentiments to beautiful thoughts, until, from thought to thought, we
+arrive at the highest thought, which has no other object than the
+perfect, absolute, Divine Beauty."<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> The "ideas," too, and especially
+the "Good" or "absolute Idea," have in them a teleological element,
+"since the Idea not only states as what, but also for what a thing
+exists."<a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> The absolute Idea is not only the first principle of the
+universe, but also its final purpose, and thus we have indicated in
+various places a teleological argument. Traces of other forms of the
+theistic argument have been detected in Plato's writings, but none of
+them are at all explicitly developed, and one cannot but feel that some
+writers on the subject have claimed altogether too much for Plato's
+theology.<a name="FNanchor_11_11" id="FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> The poetical and allegorical form into which he so
+constantly throws his discussion makes it extremely difficult to
+determine his exact position, especially on such a subject as his
+theology, in which he is <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span>constantly adapting his metaphysical doctrines
+to the prevailing polytheistic religious ideas; and at the same time
+this method of expression gives a good opportunity for the collection of
+isolated quotations which may support almost any theory.</p>
+
+<p>The religious character of Plato's philosophy is, as Zeller says, to be
+found much more on the moral than on the scientific side, and hence he
+was content to leave the more exact formulation of such arguments as
+these to his successors. As to the results to which this method led him,
+the statement of Zeller, in view of the many conflicting opinions, seems
+satisfactory: "In everything that he states concerning the Divinity the
+leading point of view is the idea of the Good, the highest metaphysical
+and ethical perfection. As this highest Idea stands over all ideas as
+the cause of all being and knowing, so over all gods, alike hard to find
+and to describe, stands the one, eternal, invisible god, the Framer and
+Father of all things."<a name="FNanchor_12_12" id="FNanchor_12_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> Of the personality of God Plato had no
+conception,<a name="FNanchor_13_13" id="FNanchor_13_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> and it would be a very difficult undertaking to prove
+from his extant works that he was, in any real sense of the word, a
+theist.</p>
+
+<p>Of the three divisions of the speculative sciences&mdash;physical,
+mathematical and theological&mdash;Aristotle makes the last the "most
+excellent,"<a name="FNanchor_14_14" id="FNanchor_14_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a> "for it is conversant about that one amongst entities
+which is more entitled to respect than the rest."<a name="FNanchor_15_15" id="FNanchor_15_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> It is to the
+discussion of this subject in Book XI. that the greater part of the
+<i>Metaphysics</i> leads up. He <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span>has established in the previous portions of
+the work the two substances which he calls "natural or
+physical"&mdash;namely, matter and form&mdash;and now he proceeds to justify the
+hints he has given of a third substance which is "immovable."<a name="FNanchor_16_16" id="FNanchor_16_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a> It has
+been customary to divide this discussion of Aristotle into several
+formal theistic arguments,<a name="FNanchor_17_17" id="FNanchor_17_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a> but in the opinion of the writer the text
+of the <i>Metaphysics</i> does not lend itself readily to any such cut and
+dried arrangement of its argument. Aristotle does, indeed, to avoid the
+absurdity of an endless regress, argue from the &#954;&#953;&#957;&#959;&#8059;&#956;&#949;&#957;&#945; and the
+&#954;&#953;&#957;&#959;&#8166;&#957;&#964;&#945; of the physical World to a &#960;&#961;&#8182;&#964;&#959;&#957; &#954;&#953;&#957;&#959;&#8166;&#957; which is a pure
+&#7952;&#957;&#8051;&#961;&#947;&#949;&#953;&#945;, &#7936;&#954;&#8055;&#957;&#951;&#964;&#959;&#957;, &#7940;&#957;&#949;&#965; &#8021;&#955;&#951;&#962;, and hence foreign to all the passivity
+and contingency of matter;<a name="FNanchor_18_18" id="FNanchor_18_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a> concludes from motion in the world that
+there must be a First Mover;<a name="FNanchor_19_19" id="FNanchor_19_19"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a> and asserts the actuality of the
+eternal as opposed to potentiality; but these arguments are so blended
+together, and take each one so much from the others, that I cannot be
+convinced that Aristotle had ever clearly differentiated them.</p>
+
+<p>But it is clear enough that the crown of Aristotle's whole system is
+this "prime mover," "unmoved" and "apart from matter," and that this
+conception, up to which his thought leads from every side, as the
+necessary implication from the motion everywhere seen in the world, is
+his chief contribution to the argument for the existence of the Divine.
+Aristotle's chief interest lay in the cosmological problem, and his form
+of proof and the result which he reached by it were moulded by this
+fact. His argument did not lead him to a Creator of the world, for the
+universe, no less than the prime mover, was eternal, and the latter is
+nothing more than a principle of reason immanent in the world&mdash;pervading
+it, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span>not distinguished from it&mdash;and the author of motion only in a
+passive way, after all, as a sort of magnetic object of desire.<a name="FNanchor_20_20" id="FNanchor_20_20"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a> In
+other places Aristotle makes passing references to different forms of
+the argument to prove the existence of the gods,<a name="FNanchor_21_21" id="FNanchor_21_21"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a> but it is evident
+that his own interest centered around this unmoved final cause, and it
+is in his proof of its existence from cosmological considerations that
+his significance for us lies.</p>
+
+<p>In the post-Aristotelian schools we have an entire change of the point
+of view, and instead of a philosophy of nature, such as occupied the
+attention of the pre-Socratic thinkers, or a philosophy of mind, such as
+Socrates, Plato, and to a large extent, Aristotle attempted to
+construct, we find the interest of men in speculative questions centered
+in a philosophy of life, of morals. Corresponding to this change in the
+point of view, we may easily detect an alteration in the manner of
+dealing with the arguments for the existence of the gods.</p>
+
+<p>There was, in the first place, an increased emphasis laid upon this line
+of thought, in common with religious subjects in general, and the
+reasons for the belief in the existence of the gods (for the Greek
+schools never transcended polytheism&mdash;when they speak of &#952;&#949;&#8057;&#962; they mean
+simply the abstract divinity of the many separate divinities) seems, so
+far as we may judge from the comparatively scanty remains that have come
+down to us, to have been discussed at great length; critically and
+negatively by the Sceptics, positively and apparently with full
+conviction by the Stoics, and with a curious mixture of both of these
+attitudes by the Epicureans. These latter, if <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span>the reported doctrine of
+Epicurus himself be trustworthy, denied the popular gods, and, in order
+to insure freedom, rejected the Stoic doctrine of providence; but, on
+the other hand, asserted a belief in gods whose essential
+characteristics are immortality and perfect happiness (to insure which
+they must care nothing for the world or for men), and whose existence
+was held to be proven on the basis of the common consent of all men
+("<i>Argumentum e Consensu Gentium</i>"). This argument is the result of a
+"natural idea" or "pre-notion," which Epicurus called &#960;&#961;&#8057;&#955;&#951;&#968;&#953;&#962;;&mdash;"that
+is, an antecedent conception of the fact in the mind, without which
+nothing can be understood, inquired after, or discoursed on."<a name="FNanchor_22_22" id="FNanchor_22_22"></a><a href="#Footnote_22_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a></p>
+
+<p>The Stoics, on the other hand, with their strong conviction of
+providence working in the world, were rather inclined to deny the
+validity of this argument from common consent, and rested their belief
+in the gods, as Cicero makes his Stoic do in <i>De Natura Deorum</i>,<a name="FNanchor_23_23" id="FNanchor_23_23"></a><a href="#Footnote_23_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a> on
+the evidence of design and purpose in the universe, but by this process
+succeeded only in proving to their own satisfaction that the world is
+divine&mdash;a fatalistic pantheism which roused the ire of the Epicurean and
+Sceptic alike, and which even Cicero seemed hardly to be able to accept.</p>
+
+<p>From this necessarily brief review of the development of the argument
+for the existence of a Divinity in Greek and Roman thought, it will be
+seen that, at one time or another, in a more or less fully developed
+form, each one of the principal types of the theistic argument received
+the chief emphasis and had its method enunciated. The pre-Socratic
+natural philosophers, on the basis of the maxim as old as philosophy
+itself&mdash;&#7944;&#948;&#8059;&#957;&#945;&#964;&#959;&#957; &#947;&#8055;&#957;&#949;&#963;&#952;&#945;&#953; &#964;&#953; &#7952;&#954; &#956;&#951;&#948;&#949;&#957;&#8056;&#962; &#960;&#961;&#959;&#965;&#960;&#8049;&#961;&#967;&#959;&#957;&#964;&#959;&#962;&mdash; <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span>pointed to an
+&#7944;&#961;&#967;&#8053;&mdash;a real behind phenomena, a permanent behind the change&mdash;and thus
+pointed to the so-called Aetiological argument founded on the principle
+of causality. Socrates, with his pre-eminently practical disposition and
+ethical point of view, saw above all things intention in nature, and so
+from the consideration of this choice and adaptation of means to their
+end, and the resultant Final Cause he constructs a very complete
+Teleological argument for the existence of some intelligence behind the
+visible world. Plato's Ideas, as we have seen, determine the method by
+which he arrives at his abstract divinity, namely, by the "Idealogical"
+form of argument based upon a process of generalization. Aristotle,
+struck by the phenomena of motion in the universe, lays most stress on
+the course of reasoning which would lead back to the Prime Mover. The
+Epicureans, subordinating their theology to their ethical theory, and
+unwilling to allow their deity to interfere with the world or with men's
+affairs, developed and placed their dependence on the argument from
+common consent. The Stoics, laying great stress upon the order,
+proportion and harmony in the world, argued to mind as the reason for
+this condition of things. But none of these philosophers, in the opinion
+of the writer, attained to a conception of God which could in any real
+or accepted sense of the word be called theistic, or which would satisfy
+a mind accustomed to the idea of the Christian doctrine of God.</p>
+
+<p>For the Greek writers never make any accurate distinction between &#8001;
+&#952;&#949;&#8057;&#962;, &#959;&#7985; &#952;&#949;&#8057;&#953;, &#964;&#8056; &#952;&#949;&#8150;&#959;&#957; and &#964;&#8048; &#952;&#949;&#8150;&#945;. They never conceive of their &#952;&#949;&#8057;&#962;
+as anything more than a rather larger and more majestic member of the
+innumerable family of the divinities of which the poets had sung&mdash;more
+spiritual only in so far as it was more vague and indefinite, a sort of
+mysterious, mythical being to which is sometimes attributed the same
+kind of personality possessed by the inferior gods, and sometimes
+regarded as simply the abstract divinity which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span> characterized all of the
+gods. But that to which the arguments that we have been discussing
+generally lead is not even so near to the theistic conception as this
+modified polytheism, for they usually conduct us, as we have already
+indicated, to nothing more than a (sometimes) personified force of
+nature, principle of order, or abstract conception&mdash;not a God. Take away
+the inaccurate and misleading terms by which the original Greek is
+rendered in most of the English versions, in which the enthusiasm of the
+student of comparative religions has taken the place of the careful and
+accurate translator, and, aside from frequent apostrophes, such as are
+continually addressed by the poets to the many gods of the popular
+religion, the end of the arguments we have been considering will be
+found to be as depicted above. In a word: Greek philosophy, independent
+of Semitic influences, developed the <i>form</i> of the chief types of the
+theistic argument, but it failed utterly to deduce from them a theism,
+being throughout in its theology either polytheistic or pantheistic.</p>
+
+<p>While considering this branch of our subject it would be impossible to
+ignore another school of thought, which, while neither Greek nor Roman
+in its nationality, yet derives so much of its philosophical stand-point
+from the former of these races as to be often classed under the same
+head. This is the school of Hellenizing Jews, in which there is built up
+on the foundation of the traditional faith of the Hebrew race, to the
+truth and authority of which they always held, a superstructure of
+philosophical speculation which follows closely the models afforded them
+by Greek thought. To effect a reconciliation between these two elements
+it was necessary for them to resort to the allegorical interpretation of
+the ancient inspired history of the race, and hence to the Oriental mind
+that wished to engage in speculative thought it was naturally Platonic
+and Pythagorean, rather than Aristotelian, methods that were most
+attractive.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The chief and probably the earliest developed example of this
+combination of Oriental and Occidental thought is found in the writings
+of Philo Judaeus.<a name="FNanchor_24_24" id="FNanchor_24_24"></a><a href="#Footnote_24_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a> To him the powers of man seemed to be wholly
+unreliable and delusive, and only the special grace of God enables one
+to perceive any truth&mdash;"&#913;&#8016;&#964;&#959;&#962; &#952;&#949;&#8057;&#962; &#7936;&#961;&#967;&#8053; &#954;&#945;&#8054; &#960;&#951;&#947;&#8052; &#964;&#949;&#967;&#957;&#8182;&#957; &#954;&#945;&#8054; &#7952;&#960;&#953;&#963;&#964;&#951;&#956;&#8182;&#957;
+&#7936;&#957;&#969;&#956;&#959;&#955;&#8057;&#947;&#951;&#964;&#945;&#953;." To approach God one must flee from one's
+self&mdash;"&#949;&#7984; &#947;&#8048;&#961;
+&#950;&#951;&#964;&#8134;&#953;&#962; &#952;&#949;&#8056;&#957; &#7952;&#958;&#949;&#955;&#952;&#959;&#8166;&#963;&#945; &#945;&#960;&#8056; &#963;&#945;&#965;&#964;&#8134;&#962; &#7936;&#957;&#945;&#950;&#8053;&#964;&#949;&#953;." Neither reason nor any other
+function of the soul can conduct us to God, nor can we attain to a
+conception of Him as the supreme cause of all by regarding the manifold
+perfections and powers of nature, for such a process can give us only
+shadows. It is only by a "superior faculty" which is a grace of God that
+one can attain some idea of the divine, but even by this means we arrive
+at only negative knowledge&mdash;we can know only what God is not.<a name="FNanchor_25_25" id="FNanchor_25_25"></a><a href="#Footnote_25_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a> Yet in
+spite of all this Philo uses quite an elaborate teleological argument
+drawn from the order in the world.<a name="FNanchor_26_26" id="FNanchor_26_26"></a><a href="#Footnote_26_26" class="fnanchor">[26]</a> This inconsistency, which, as
+Erdmann remarks,<a name="FNanchor_27_27" id="FNanchor_27_27"></a><a href="#Footnote_27_27" class="fnanchor">[27]</a> may be explained by the fact that Philo makes God
+only the orderer of the world, and, furthermore, interposes an
+intermediate being, the famous Philonian Logos, we have thought it worth
+while to mention in this place, as it forms a connecting link between
+the Greek philosophers and the Alexandrian Fathers, and foreshadows, in
+some degree, the direction in which their thought was to be led.</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> D. L., I, 16; II, 6.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> Ritter and Preller, 123. Translated by Burnet; <i>Early Greek
+Philosophy</i>, p. 283, 4.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> <i>Metaphysics</i>, I, 4.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> The "one god, the greatest among gods and men" of
+Xenophanes has led men to call him the first monotheist, but an
+examination of the fragments attributed to him will, I am sure, confirm
+the verdict of Burnet (<i>ut supra</i>, p. 123) that "what Xenophanes
+proclaimed as the 'greatest god' was nothing more nor less than what we
+call the material world."</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> Xenophon: <i>Memorabilia</i>, I, 4.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> Cocker: <i>Christianity and Greek Philosophy</i>, p. 491.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> La dialectique et le syst&egrave;me des id&eacute;es conduisaient
+directement Platon &agrave; la d&eacute;monstration de l'existence de Dieu; et son
+Dieu porte en quelque fa&ccedil;on l'empreinte de cette origine, puisqu'il est
+&agrave; la fois l'unit&eacute; absolue et l'intelligence parfaite." Jules Simon:
+<i>Etudes sur la Th&eacute;odic&eacute;e de Platon et d'Aristote</i>, p. 29.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> <i>Banquet</i>, &sect; 34.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> Erdmann: <i>History of Philosophy</i>, &sect; 77, 4.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_11" id="Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> E.g. Cocker: <i>Christianity and Greek Philosophy</i>, pp. 377,
+ff.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_12" id="Footnote_12_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> Zeller: <i>Philosophie der Griechen</i>, II, i, s. 926.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13_13" id="Footnote_13_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> Plato "never raised the question of the personality of
+God." (Zeller; <i>Greek Philosophy</i> (briefer edition) &sect; 49.) "Sie" ("die
+Idee der Ideen") "ist nat&uuml;rlich keine gottliche Pers&ouml;nlichkeit."
+(Kahnis: <i>Verh&auml;ltniss der Alten Philosophie zum Christenthum</i>, p. 54.)</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_14_14" id="Footnote_14_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> <i>Metaphysics</i>, V, 1.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_15_15" id="Footnote_15_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>: x, 7.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_16_16" id="Footnote_16_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> <i>Metaphysics</i>, xi, 6.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_17_17" id="Footnote_17_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_17"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> E.g., Schwegler: <i>History of Philosophy</i>; Cocker; <i>ut
+supra</i>, p. 412, ff.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_18_18" id="Footnote_18_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_18"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> xi, 6.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_19_19" id="Footnote_19_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_19"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> xi, 7.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_20_20" id="Footnote_20_20"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_20"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> Jules Simon: <i>Etudes sur la Th&eacute;odic&eacute;e de Platon et
+d'Aristote</i>, p. 88, <i>et al.</i>; Davidson: <i>Theism and Human Nature</i>, p.
+45.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_21_21" id="Footnote_21_21"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_21"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> Aristotle makes good use of the argument to design in a
+striking passage from a lost work quoted by Cicero in <i>De Natura
+Deorum</i>, II, 37, and in <i>Physica auscultatio</i>, II, 8, says: "The
+appearance of ends and means is a proof of design."</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_22_22" id="Footnote_22_22"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22_22"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> Cicero; <i>De Natura Deorum</i>, I, 16, 17, and frequently. See
+also Seneca; <i>Epist.</i>, cxvii, whose Syncretism allows him to borrow from
+Stoic and Epicurean alike. See also Zeller; <i>Stoics, Epicureans and
+Sceptics</i>, p. 465.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_23_23" id="Footnote_23_23"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23_23"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> E.g., I, 36; II, 2, 5, ff.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_24_24" id="Footnote_24_24"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24_24"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> Vacherot: <i>Histoire Critique de l'Ecole d'Alexandrie</i>,
+Vol. I, p. 142.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_25_25" id="Footnote_25_25"></a><a href="#FNanchor_25_25"><span class="label">[25]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>: Vol. I, p. 143, 144.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_26_26" id="Footnote_26_26"></a><a href="#FNanchor_26_26"><span class="label">[26]</span></a> See e.g., the quotation in Stirling; <i>Philosophy and
+Theology</i>, p. 173.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_27_27" id="Footnote_27_27"></a><a href="#FNanchor_27_27"><span class="label">[27]</span></a> <i>History of Philosophy</i>, Vol. I, &sect; 114, 3.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III<br/>
+<span style='font-size: small;'>THE PATRISTIC POINT OF VIEW</span></h2>
+
+<p>The philosophy of the Greeks during the first century of our era
+presents a great contrast to that of the age of Socrates, Plato and
+Aristotle. No longer do we find men engaged in the processes of
+positive, constructive thought, but we have presented to our view an age
+of retrospection, of literary criticism, and, to a great extent, of
+intellectual exhaustion. Men live amid the ruins of the systems
+constructed by their ancestors, and each one attempts to form for
+himself, out of the scattered fragments, a combination which may serve
+him as a sufficiently coherent rule of thought, and, especially, of
+life. Stoicism, Epicureanism, Scepticism, the "Orientalizing Hellenes,"
+and the "Hellenizing Orientals," all by their restless, nervous,
+frequently erratic and aimless activity, bear witness to the fact that
+the mind of man has had revealed to it its own limitations, and is well
+on the way towards despair of ever arriving at truth. The Greek mind no
+longer exhibits that elasticity and spontaneity and enthusiasm in the
+search for truth, or that confidence in its results, which characterized
+the representatives of the best period of the thought of the race. The
+political fortunes of Greece do but typify the process which was going
+on in the Greek mind itself, and the period which we are considering is
+an age of intellectual as well as political decadence. This is
+manifested by the further fact that the thought of the age was largely
+turned backward and dwelt in the past. The day of original thought had
+passed by, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span> men were now content to deal with ideas at second
+hand&mdash;to be commentators rather than creators. This literary character
+which Greek philosophy now first began to exhibit was often seen and
+protested against. Thus Epictetus says: "If I study philosophy with a
+view only to its literature, I am not a philosopher, but a litt&eacute;rateur;
+the only difference is that I interpret Chrysippus instead of
+Homer."<a name="FNanchor_28_28" id="FNanchor_28_28"></a><a href="#Footnote_28_28" class="fnanchor">[28]</a> But protest as they might, the inexorable signs of old age
+crept over the nation as irresistibly as they do over the individual,
+and, like the venerable man, preserved beyond his generation, Hellas
+lived largely in the memories of the past.</p>
+
+<p>The influence of this condition of things is seen in the education of
+the times. The Greek world of this period, as we know it, was
+pre-eminently educated, but in a special, literary sense of the term.
+The foundation of their education was Grammar&mdash;the "Belles Lettres" of
+modern times. Sextus Empiricus says, "We are all given over to Grammar
+from childhood, and almost from our baby-clothes."<a name="FNanchor_29_29" id="FNanchor_29_29"></a><a href="#Footnote_29_29" class="fnanchor">[29]</a> After Grammar
+came Rhetoric, "the study of literature by the study of literary
+expression and quasi-forensic argument,"<a name="FNanchor_30_30" id="FNanchor_30_30"></a><a href="#Footnote_30_30" class="fnanchor">[30]</a> and Rhetoric was followed
+by Philosophy, which, however, like the other branches of study, so
+partook of the characteristics of the age that we find Marcus Aurelius
+congratulating himself in this manner: "I owe it to Rusticus that I
+found the idea of the need of moral reformation, and that I was not
+diverted to literary ambition, or to write treatises on philosophical
+subjects, or to make rhetorical exhortations."<a name="FNanchor_31_31" id="FNanchor_31_31"></a><a href="#Footnote_31_31" class="fnanchor">[31]</a></p>
+
+<p>This saying of the imperial Stoic suggests another characteristic of the
+thought of the age&mdash;its ethical cast. From the time of Aristotle men had
+been content to have, to a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span>large extent, the abstract problems of
+Ontology, Epistemology, and the others, and to lay emphasis on questions
+of life and manners. Stoicism, Epicureanism, Scepticism, and all the
+minor schools of the age, are pre-eminently ethical in their character.
+To be sure it was ethical theory rather than practice with which they
+were busied, but this fact makes the characteristic none the less
+important for the student of the history of philosophy.</p>
+
+<p>This disorganized condition of thought which we have been attempting to
+depict has been well described by Dr. Stirling: "The fall of the old
+world, which was at once political, religious and philosophical, was
+characterized by a universal atomism. Politically, the individual, as an
+atom, found himself alone, without a country, hardly with a home.
+Religiously, the individual, as an atom, has lost his God; he looks up
+into an empty heaven; his heart is broken, and he is hopeless, helpless,
+hapless, in despair. Philosophically, all is contradiction; there is no
+longer any knowledge he can trust. What the world is he knows not at
+all. He knows not at all what he himself is. Of what he is here for, of
+what it is all about, he is in the profoundest doubt, despondency and
+darkness. Politically, religiously and philosophically thus empty and
+alone, it is only of himself that the individual can think; it is only
+for himself that the individual must care. There is not a single need
+left him now&mdash;he has not a single thought in his heart&mdash;but &#949;&#8022; &#960;&#961;&#8049;&#964;&#964;&#949;&#953;&#957;,
+his own welfare."<a name="FNanchor_32_32" id="FNanchor_32_32"></a><a href="#Footnote_32_32" class="fnanchor">[32]</a></p>
+
+<p>It was in the midst of this lump of Eclecticism, Syncretism and
+Scepticism that the leaven of Christianity was deposited, and the result
+of the fusion which took place after the first antagonism had passed
+away, makes this period a turning-point in the history of philosophy,
+and of the utmost importance as regards its effects on subsequent
+thought.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>And of this antagonism and subsequent reconciliation, the early
+Christian Apologists were concrete examples. They had most of them,
+before they became Christians, been adherents of one or the other of the
+different philosophical sects, and several of them had tried all in
+turn.<a name="FNanchor_33_33" id="FNanchor_33_33"></a><a href="#Footnote_33_33" class="fnanchor">[33]</a> They exemplified well the prevailing restless distrust of the
+results and methods of the older schools, but in Christianity&mdash;the
+belief in a Person, who was for them "the Way, the Truth and the
+Life"&mdash;they finally found the certainty for which they had so long
+sought in vain. The effect of this process, and of this result upon the
+attitude of the early Christian philosophers, could be none other than
+an increased distrust of the arguments for the existence of God, and an
+inclination to ignore them completely. These already suspected processes
+of reasoning by which the Greeks had been able to attain only to an
+abstract principle, or force, or mechanical cause, or arranger of the
+world, must be of very small importance to these men, upon whose sight
+had burst all at once, in the height of their despair, the vision of the
+Christian doctrine of God, certified to by one whom they believed to be
+the veritable Son of God, "of one substance with the Father," and whose
+testimony to the truth of any fact brought a certainty which was
+infinitely superior to that which could be attained by any rational
+argument on other grounds. The transcendent authority of the teaching of
+Jesus Christ for these men, suddenly rescued by a belief in His claims
+from an absolute scepticism which was rapidly overflowing their minds,
+needs to be thoroughly appreciated before one can understand the
+position which they assumed, especially with reference to such a
+question as the one under discussion.</p>
+
+<p>But though this basis of belief was sufficient for them, yet, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span>as the
+primary mission of the Christian was to "go, disciple all nations," they
+were soon brought, in their endeavors to fulfil this command, into
+contact with those who not only denied the authority of their Teacher,
+but who were sceptical about the very fundamentals of religious belief.
+For the sake of these, then, and occasionally for the further
+confirmation of the faith of believers, and for purposes of
+illustration, the patristic writers return again to the discussion of
+those elements of belief for which they themselves felt no need, and
+hence we have in their works a rather frequent reference to the various
+forms of the theistic argument; but one which is evidently only
+incidental to their main course of thought, and which is brought in
+merely in accommodation to the needs of their readers. The ordinary
+arguments to prove the existence of God were not at all an essential, or
+even prominent, feature of early Christian Theology. And because of this
+secondary and incidental position of these arguments, they were never,
+as we shall see, given definite, conventional shape in the patristic use
+of them, nor were the various forms of the argument differentiated; but
+they were used in what we may call a mixed form, a combination of two or
+more different forms being put forth as one composite whole.</p>
+
+<p>Besides these general influences which shaped the patristic treatment of
+the theistic arguments, we should notice certain fundamental and
+characteristic principles assumed by the Fathers, or by most of them,
+which have their bearing on our subject.</p>
+
+<p>In the first place it is held by most of the early Christian authors,
+and explicitly stated by many of them, that the idea of the existence of
+God is innate in man as a "natural opinion." We have already noticed the
+doctrine of &#960;&#961;&#8057;&#955;&#951;&#968;&#953;&#962; advanced by Epicurus, and the somewhat similar
+position assumed by Philo, and we are not surprised to find that this<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span>
+idea took a strong hold on the devout minds of the early Christians.
+Thus St. Justin Martyr states that "the appellation 'God' is not a name,
+but <i>an opinion</i> (&#960;&#961;&#959;&#963;&#945;&#947;&#8057;&#961;&#949;&#965;&#956;&#945;) <i>planted in the nature of man</i> of a
+thing that can hardly be explained,"<a name="FNanchor_34_34" id="FNanchor_34_34"></a><a href="#Footnote_34_34" class="fnanchor">[34]</a> and makes one of his
+discussions conclude that souls "can perceive (&#957;&#959;&#949;&#8150;&#957;) that God
+exists."<a name="FNanchor_35_35" id="FNanchor_35_35"></a><a href="#Footnote_35_35" class="fnanchor">[35]</a> St. Clement of Alexandria goes even further and affirms
+that "the Father, then, and Maker of all things is apprehended by all
+things, agreeably to all, <i>by innate power and without teaching</i>."<a name="FNanchor_36_36" id="FNanchor_36_36"></a><a href="#Footnote_36_36" class="fnanchor">[36]</a>
+Tertullian thinks that "the soul was before prophecy. From the beginning
+the knowledge of God is the dowry (<i>dos</i>) of the soul,"<a name="FNanchor_37_37" id="FNanchor_37_37"></a><a href="#Footnote_37_37" class="fnanchor">[37]</a> and among
+the "things known even by nature" is "the knowledge of our God" which is
+"possessed by all,"<a name="FNanchor_38_38" id="FNanchor_38_38"></a><a href="#Footnote_38_38" class="fnanchor">[38]</a> so that he could write a treatise, <i>De
+Testimonio Anim&aelig;</i>, and exclaim, "O noble testimony of the soul by nature
+Christian."<a name="FNanchor_39_39" id="FNanchor_39_39"></a><a href="#Footnote_39_39" class="fnanchor">[39]</a> Origen speaks of "the uncorrupted idea of Him which is
+implanted in the human mind,"<a name="FNanchor_40_40" id="FNanchor_40_40"></a><a href="#Footnote_40_40" class="fnanchor">[40]</a> and St. Cyprian makes this knowledge
+so plain that "this is the very height of sinfulness to refuse to
+acknowledge Him whom you cannot but know."<a name="FNanchor_41_41" id="FNanchor_41_41"></a><a href="#Footnote_41_41" class="fnanchor">[41]</a> Arnobius, too, in a
+passage in which much allowance must be made for rhetorical fervor,
+exclaims, "Is there any human being who has not entered on the first day
+of his life with an idea of that Great Head? In whom has it not been
+implanted by nature, on whom has it not been impressed, aye, stamped
+almost in his mother's womb even, in whom is there not a native
+instinct, that He is King and Lord, the ruler of all things that be? In
+fine, if <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span>the dumb animals even could stammer forth their thoughts, if
+they were able to use our languages; nay, if trees, if the clods of the
+earth, if stones dominated by vital perceptions were able to produce
+vocal sounds, and to utter articulate speech, would they not in that
+case, with nature as their guide and teacher, in the faith of
+uncorrupted innocence, both feel that there is a God, and proclaim that
+He alone is Lord of all?"<a name="FNanchor_42_42" id="FNanchor_42_42"></a><a href="#Footnote_42_42" class="fnanchor">[42]</a> Such language as this last example is, of
+course, the exclamation of the orator rather than the deliberate
+judgment of the philosopher, but taken in connection with the other
+passages cited it will indicate how strong a hold this conviction had on
+the Fathers, and will anticipate, to some extent, what we shall have to
+say later as to the use of the <i>Argumentum e Consensu Gentium</i>.</p>
+
+<p>In direct connection and sharp contrast with this opinion of the
+Fathers, there stands the seemingly contradictory statement, as
+frequently encountered in their writings, that the soul of itself cannot
+see God nor attain to true religion. In the very same sentence in which
+St. Justin Martyr asserts that souls "can perceive (&#957;&#959;&#949;&#8150;&#957;) that God
+exists," he states that they do not see (&#7984;&#948;&#949;&#8150;&#957;) God,<a name="FNanchor_43_43" id="FNanchor_43_43"></a><a href="#Footnote_43_43" class="fnanchor">[43]</a> and insists in
+more than one place that "neither by nature nor by human conception is
+it possible for men to know things so great and divine."<a name="FNanchor_44_44" id="FNanchor_44_44"></a><a href="#Footnote_44_44" class="fnanchor">[44]</a> Frequently
+the patristic writers have occasion to emphasize the inability of man to
+attain by any of his natural powers to religious truth, and to point to
+the impotent longings and aspirations of Greek philosophy as an example
+of this. St. Clement of Alexandria, for example, asserts that "the
+chiefs of philosophy only guessed at" religious truth,<a name="FNanchor_45_45" id="FNanchor_45_45"></a><a href="#Footnote_45_45" class="fnanchor">[45]</a> and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span>lays
+down the general principle that "God, then, being not a subject for
+demonstration, cannot be the object of science."<a name="FNanchor_46_46" id="FNanchor_46_46"></a><a href="#Footnote_46_46" class="fnanchor">[46]</a> Origen, too, states
+that "for ourselves, we maintain that human nature is in no way able to
+seek after God, or to attain a clear knowledge of Him without the help
+of Him whom it seeks."<a name="FNanchor_47_47" id="FNanchor_47_47"></a><a href="#Footnote_47_47" class="fnanchor">[47]</a></p>
+
+<p>The inconsistency between these two fundamental positions of the
+Fathers, of which much is often made, is, I think, more apparent than
+real. For they make a clear distinction in their thought, though the
+mere language which they use is sometimes confusing, between knowledge
+of the existence of God&mdash;the undefined feeling or belief that there is a
+God&mdash;which is the "innate opinion," for which they give every man
+credit; and the knowledge of God, <i>i.e.</i>, of His attributes, etc., the
+subject-matter of dogmatic theology. The existence of the former of
+these, it is true, as of the latter, may be obscured and nearly
+obliterated by sin and the consequent disorganization; for in the
+teaching of the Fathers, as in that of their Master, it is the pure in
+heart that see God,<a name="FNanchor_48_48" id="FNanchor_48_48"></a><a href="#Footnote_48_48" class="fnanchor">[48]</a> and it is only the man whose nature is kept in
+due balance by a life of moral rectitude&mdash;the "righteous man" of the
+Scriptures&mdash;who can be expected to exhibit clearly this "natural
+opinion" or to attain to a full knowledge and appreciation of the
+Christian doctrine of God. At the very best, the knowledge of the Deity
+attained apart from revelation seemed to the Fathers to be, in
+comparison with their own certainty, miserably vague and conjectural,
+and they are <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span>constantly contrasting, in the most striking and graphic
+way, the contradictory and uncertain results to which the philosophers
+attained with the definiteness and consistency of the already
+well-defined doctrine of the Christian church. To them certainty in
+regard to knowledge of God can only come by means of the testimony of
+one who had seen and known,<a name="FNanchor_49_49" id="FNanchor_49_49"></a><a href="#Footnote_49_49" class="fnanchor">[49]</a> and this testimony they are satisfied
+that they find in two places chiefly&mdash;first, in the testimony of the
+Prophets of the Old Testament, and, second, but in fact primarily, in
+the life and words of Jesus Christ, "the Word."</p>
+
+<p>Of the antiquity and reliability of this first source&mdash;the
+Prophets&mdash;they were never tired of talking, and they were so confident
+of the necessity of resorting to it that they developed their famous
+theory of the indebtedness of Plato and Aristotle to those Hebrew seers
+for their theology. "From every point of view, therefore," concludes St.
+Justin Martyr, "it must be seen that in no other way than only from the
+prophets, who teach us by divine inspiration, is it at all possible to
+learn anything concerning God and the true religion."<a name="FNanchor_50_50" id="FNanchor_50_50"></a><a href="#Footnote_50_50" class="fnanchor">[50]</a></p>
+
+<p>But the chief source from which the Fathers drew that certainty which
+they could not find in the demonstrations of philosophy was in the
+teaching of the Word, Jesus Christ. God, indeed, as we have seen, is not
+an object of science, "but the Son is wisdom and knowledge and truth,
+and all else that has affinity thereto. <i>He is also susceptible of
+demonstration and of description.</i>"<a name="FNanchor_51_51" id="FNanchor_51_51"></a><a href="#Footnote_51_51" class="fnanchor">[51]</a> It is in the incarnate <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span>Word of
+God that the patristic writers find expressed all that man is able to
+comprehend, and all that he needs to know in this present world, of the
+Divine Nature, and it is His words that confirm their confidence in that
+"innate opinion" of the existence of God, of the presence of which in
+every man they were so sure.</p>
+
+<p>The subject of the "demonstration" of the existence of God is spoken of
+at some length in several places by St. Clement of Alexandria, and with
+his position most of the Fathers agree in the main. He regards the
+subject largely from an Aristotelian point of view. All knowledge is
+derived from Sensation and Understanding. "Intellectual apprehension is
+first in the order of nature; but in our case, and in relation to
+ourselves, Sensation is first, and of Sensation and Understanding the
+essence of knowledge is formed, and evidence is common to Understanding
+and Sensation."<a name="FNanchor_52_52" id="FNanchor_52_52"></a><a href="#Footnote_52_52" class="fnanchor">[52]</a> But "should any one say that knowledge is founded on
+demonstration" (which "depends on primary and better known
+principles,"<a name="FNanchor_53_53" id="FNanchor_53_53"></a><a href="#Footnote_53_53" class="fnanchor">[53]</a> being "discourse agreeable to reason, producing belief
+in points disputed, from points admitted"<a name="FNanchor_54_54" id="FNanchor_54_54"></a><a href="#Footnote_54_54" class="fnanchor">[54]</a>) "<i>by a process of
+reasoning</i>, let him hear that first principles are incapable of
+demonstration, for they are neither by art" (&#964;&#8051;&#967;&#957;&#951;), which is "practical
+solely, and not theoretical," "nor by sagacity" (&#966;&#961;&#8057;&#957;&#951;&#963;&#953;&#962; = practical
+wisdom), which is "conversant about objects which are susceptible of
+change,"<a name="FNanchor_55_55" id="FNanchor_55_55"></a><a href="#Footnote_55_55" class="fnanchor">[55]</a> but are "primary," "self-evident," and
+"indemonstrable."<a name="FNanchor_56_56" id="FNanchor_56_56"></a><a href="#Footnote_56_56" class="fnanchor">[56]</a> Thus this "demonstration by a process of
+reasoning," apart <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span>from Sensation <i>and</i> Understanding, is only "to
+syllogize;" "for to draw the proper conclusion from the premisses is
+merely to syllogize. But to have also each of the premisses true is not
+merely to have syllogized, but also to have demonstrated," "so that if
+there is demonstration at all, there is an absolute necessity that there
+be something that is self-evident, which is called primary and
+indemonstrable."<a name="FNanchor_57_57" id="FNanchor_57_57"></a><a href="#Footnote_57_57" class="fnanchor">[57]</a> On the basis of this theory of knowledge, it is
+evident that the usual arguments for the existence of God would have but
+little weight. For they either attempt to attain their end by formal
+thought alone, and thus result in mere "syllogizing;" or, starting from
+valid enough premises, they try to extend the conclusion beyond the
+limits imposed by the laws of "demonstration." For St. Clement, then,
+God is not "apprehended by the science of demonstration." If the Deity
+is to be known, there must be some place in which a union of the
+material and formal elements of "demonstration" of His existence is to
+be found. This he places in the life and teaching of Jesus Christ, who,
+as God incarnate, furnishes the "evidence" which "is common to
+Understanding and Sensation," and thus translates the "Infinite" and
+"Ineffable" into terms of the finite and comprehensible. In this paradox
+Christian theology has ever since been content to rest as one of the
+fundamental mysteries of the Faith.</p>
+
+<p>But even with all the aids of revelation, the Fathers would not claim
+that man can advance to a full or adequate knowledge of God&mdash;we can
+simply know so much <i>about</i> God as is necessary for <i>practical</i>
+purposes&mdash;for ascertaining our proper end and duties. God is, from the
+very limitations of the human mind, "ineffable," "incomprehensible,"
+"the unknown;"<a name="FNanchor_58_58" id="FNanchor_58_58"></a><a href="#Footnote_58_58" class="fnanchor">[58]</a> and St. Clement of Alexandria expressly states <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span>even
+the best knowledge of God that man can by any means attain is only
+negative.<a name="FNanchor_59_59" id="FNanchor_59_59"></a><a href="#Footnote_59_59" class="fnanchor">[59]</a></p>
+
+<p>These general positions, which in their broad lines are common to
+practically all of the Ante-Nicene Fathers, serve to confirm the
+historical interpretation of the place occupied by early Christian
+theistic thought, and will pave the way to an appreciation of their use
+of the arguments for the existence of God.</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_28_28" id="Footnote_28_28"></a><a href="#FNanchor_28_28"><span class="label">[28]</span></a> <i>Enchiridion</i>, 49.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_29_29" id="Footnote_29_29"></a><a href="#FNanchor_29_29"><span class="label">[29]</span></a> <i>Adversus Grammaticos</i>, I, 44.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_30_30" id="Footnote_30_30"></a><a href="#FNanchor_30_30"><span class="label">[30]</span></a> Hatch: <i>Hibbert Lectures</i>, 1888, Lect. II, where a full
+account is given of the education of the time, and what it signified.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_31_31" id="Footnote_31_31"></a><a href="#FNanchor_31_31"><span class="label">[31]</span></a> I, 7.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_32_32" id="Footnote_32_32"></a><a href="#FNanchor_32_32"><span class="label">[32]</span></a> <i>Philosophy and Theology</i>, p. 164.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_33_33" id="Footnote_33_33"></a><a href="#FNanchor_33_33"><span class="label">[33]</span></a> See e.g., St. Justin Martyr: <i>Dialogue with Trypho</i>, II.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_34_34" id="Footnote_34_34"></a><a href="#FNanchor_34_34"><span class="label">[34]</span></a> <i>Second Apology</i>, VI.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_35_35" id="Footnote_35_35"></a><a href="#FNanchor_35_35"><span class="label">[35]</span></a> <i>Dialogue with Trypho</i>, IV (end).</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_36_36" id="Footnote_36_36"></a><a href="#FNanchor_36_36"><span class="label">[36]</span></a> <i>Stromata</i>, V, 14.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_37_37" id="Footnote_37_37"></a><a href="#FNanchor_37_37"><span class="label">[37]</span></a> <i>Against Marcion</i>, I, 10.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_38_38" id="Footnote_38_38"></a><a href="#FNanchor_38_38"><span class="label">[38]</span></a> <i>Resurrection of the Flesh</i>, III.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_39_39" id="Footnote_39_39"></a><a href="#FNanchor_39_39"><span class="label">[39]</span></a> <i>Apology</i>, XVII.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_40_40" id="Footnote_40_40"></a><a href="#FNanchor_40_40"><span class="label">[40]</span></a> <i>Against Celsus</i>, II, 40.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_41_41" id="Footnote_41_41"></a><a href="#FNanchor_41_41"><span class="label">[41]</span></a> <i>Treatise</i> VI, &sect; 9. See, also, Tertullian: <i>Apology</i>,
+XVII; "And this is the crowning guilt of men that they will not
+recognize One of whom they cannot possibly be ignorant."</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_42_42" id="Footnote_42_42"></a><a href="#FNanchor_42_42"><span class="label">[42]</span></a> <i>Against the Heathen</i>, I. 33.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_43_43" id="Footnote_43_43"></a><a href="#FNanchor_43_43"><span class="label">[43]</span></a> <i>Dialogue with Trypho</i>, IV, "Even Homer distinguishes
+simple seeing (&#7984;&#948;&#949;&#8150;&#957;) from &#957;&#959;&#949;&#8150;&#957;, which implies perception by the mind
+as consequent upon sight."</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_44_44" id="Footnote_44_44"></a><a href="#FNanchor_44_44"><span class="label">[44]</span></a> <i>Hortatory Address to the Greeks</i>, V.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_45_45" id="Footnote_45_45"></a><a href="#FNanchor_45_45"><span class="label">[45]</span></a> <i>Exhortation to the Heathen</i>, XI.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_46_46" id="Footnote_46_46"></a><a href="#FNanchor_46_46"><span class="label">[46]</span></a> <i>Stromata</i>, IV, 25. In V, 12, he explains what he means by
+"demonstration": "Nor any more is He apprehended by the science of
+demonstration, for it depends on primary and better known principles.
+But there is nothing antecedent to the Unbegotten."</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_47_47" id="Footnote_47_47"></a><a href="#FNanchor_47_47"><span class="label">[47]</span></a> "<i>Against Celsus</i>, VII, 20. See also VII, 44, and Clem.
+Alex.: <i>Stromata</i>, II, ii, 4, and often.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_48_48" id="Footnote_48_48"></a><a href="#FNanchor_48_48"><span class="label">[48]</span></a> E.g., Theophilus (I, 1, 2) replies to the demand: "Show me
+thy God," by the counter-demand: "Show me <i>yourself</i>, and I will show
+you my God."</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_49_49" id="Footnote_49_49"></a><a href="#FNanchor_49_49"><span class="label">[49]</span></a> E.g., St. Justin: <i>Hortatory Address</i>, V.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_50_50" id="Footnote_50_50"></a><a href="#FNanchor_50_50"><span class="label">[50]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, XXXVIII. See also V, VIII, and Athenagoras:
+<i>Embassy</i>, VII; Clem. Alex.: <i>Exhortion to Heathen</i>, VI, XI; <i>Stromata</i>,
+I, 13; II, 2, 11; V, 14; Tertullian: <i>Apology</i>, XVIII; Methodius:
+<i>Miscellaneous Fragments</i>, 1.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_51_51" id="Footnote_51_51"></a><a href="#FNanchor_51_51"><span class="label">[51]</span></a> St. Clem. Alex.: <i>Stromata</i>, IV, 25. For a few among many
+references, see: St. Irenaeus: <i>Against Heresies</i>, V, i, 1; St. Clem.
+Alex.: <i>Exhortation to Heathen</i>, XI; <i>Instructor</i>, I, 12; <i>Stromata</i>, I,
+5, 19; II, 2; V, 1, 6, 11-13; VII, 1; VI, 5; Tertullian: <i>Against
+Marcion</i>, V, 16; <i>Against Praxeas</i>, XIV; Origen: <i>De Principiis</i> I, iii,
+1; <i>Against Celsus</i>, VII, 42, 44; Novatian: <i>De Trinitate</i>, VIII;
+Arnobius: <i>Against the Heathen</i>, I, 38.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_52_52" id="Footnote_52_52"></a><a href="#FNanchor_52_52"><span class="label">[52]</span></a> <i>Stromata</i>, II, 4: "&#7952;&#954; &#948;&#8050; &#945;&#7984;&#963;&#952;&#8053;&#963;&#949;&#969;&#962; &#954;&#945;&#8054; &#964;&#959;&#8166; &#957;&#959;&#8166; &#7969; &#964;&#8134;&#962;
+&#7952;&#960;&#953;&#963;&#964;&#8053;&#956;&#951;&#962; &#963;&#965;&#957;&#8055;&#963;&#964;&#945;&#964;&#945;&#953; &#959;&#8016;&#963;&#8055;&#945; &#954;&#959;&#953;&#957;&#8056;&#957; &#948;&#8050; &#957;&#959;&#8166; &#964;&#949; &#954;&#945;&#8054; &#945;&#7984;&#963;&#952;&#8053;&#963;&#949;&#969;&#962; &#964;&#8056; &#7952;&#957;&#945;&#961;&#947;&#8051;&#962;."
+The student of Kant's <i>Kritik der Reinen Vernunft</i> will find a number of
+familiar passages in St. Clement.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_53_53" id="Footnote_53_53"></a><a href="#FNanchor_53_53"><span class="label">[53]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, V, 12.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_54_54" id="Footnote_54_54"></a><a href="#FNanchor_54_54"><span class="label">[54]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, VIII, 3.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_55_55" id="Footnote_55_55"></a><a href="#FNanchor_55_55"><span class="label">[55]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, II, 4.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_56_56" id="Footnote_56_56"></a><a href="#FNanchor_56_56"><span class="label">[56]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, VIII, 3.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_57_57" id="Footnote_57_57"></a><a href="#FNanchor_57_57"><span class="label">[57]</span></a> <i>Stromata</i>, VIII, 3.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_58_58" id="Footnote_58_58"></a><a href="#FNanchor_58_58"><span class="label">[58]</span></a> E.g., Theophilus: <i>To Autolycus</i>, I, 3; St. Clem. Alex.:
+<i>Stromata</i>, V, 12.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_59_59" id="Footnote_59_59"></a><a href="#FNanchor_59_59"><span class="label">[59]</span></a> <i>Stromata</i>, V, 12: "If, then, abstracting all that belongs
+to bodies and things called incorporeal, we cast ourselves into the
+greatness of Christ, and then advance into immensity by holiness, we may
+reach somehow to the conception of the Almighty, <i>knowing not what He
+is, but what He is not</i>."</p></div>
+</div>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV<br/>
+<span style='font-size: small;'>PATRISTIC USE OF THE THEISTIC ARGUMENTS</span></h2>
+
+<p>From this account of the general attitude of the ante-Nicene writers
+toward a possible knowledge of God, it will readily be anticipated that
+the forms of the theistic argument used by Plato and by Aristotle will
+find no place in their system. St. Clement of Alexandria, in a passage
+already referred to,<a name="FNanchor_60_60" id="FNanchor_60_60"></a><a href="#Footnote_60_60" class="fnanchor">[60]</a> shows that any Ontological or Idealogical
+argument can only lead us to an "Unknown," which may be "understood" and
+given meaning "by the Word alone that proceeds from Him;" and he and
+others of the early Christian writers seem to hint at that distinction
+between Epistemology and Ontology which has always been the chief enemy
+of any purely rational theistic argument. The Aetiological argument,
+too, is not explicitly stated by them; and, though Lactantius does, in
+opposing atheistic atomism, ask the question, "Whence are those minute
+seeds?" yet the casual character of the inquiry shows the small emphasis
+he placed on it, and the silence of the other writers, even when there
+was every opportunity for calling attention to such an argument, gives
+evidence to their estimate of its usefulness.</p>
+
+<p>It is the more "practical" and "common-sense" forms of the theistic
+argument&mdash;the Cosmological, the Teleological, the argument from common
+consent, and mixtures of these types&mdash;that the early Christian writers
+use most frequently, and in this they do but conform to the general
+tendency of their age, as well as to the practical spirit of
+Christianity. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span>As we have seen, the more artificial and abstract
+arguments of Plato and Aristotle did not take much hold upon others than
+their originators or formulators, and the distinct tendency of the
+theology of the later Greek and Latin schools of philosophy was toward
+the more concrete forms of the theistic argument. And this inclination
+would be emphasized in the early Christian writers, so far as they make
+use of the argument at all, by the eminently simple and common-sense
+attitude of Christianity toward all such problems, and also by the
+peculiar work which the primitive Church had to do in the conversion of
+the "common people," to whom an abstract argument would have been a
+waste of words.</p>
+
+<p>But we should expect that to men, upon whom a close perusal and study of
+the Old Testament Scriptures had impressed the idea of God as the
+Creator, Law-Giver and Governor of the universe, the Cosmological
+argument would appeal strongly. Moreover, the strong Stoic influence
+which is seen in their works, particularly in their treatment of
+questions of morals, and in their ethical terminology, would naturally,
+one would think, pre-dispose them to regard with favor this argument, so
+in vogue among the philosophers of the Porch. It is, therefore, all the
+more remarkable that, among the important works of the Ante-Nicene
+Fathers, not more than a dozen instances, at most, of this argument can
+be found; and of these more than half are merely passing references to
+the patent fact of order in the world. Thus Tertullian asserts (quite
+incidentally, in the course of an argument on an ethical question), that
+"Nature herself is the teacher" of the fact "that God is the Maker of
+the universe,"<a name="FNanchor_61_61" id="FNanchor_61_61"></a><a href="#Footnote_61_61" class="fnanchor">[61]</a> but even here it is doubtful whether he means to
+appeal to order or design in the world. In another place he makes the
+mere statement that the fact of God's existence is tested by His works;
+His <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span>character by the beneficence of them;<a name="FNanchor_62_62" id="FNanchor_62_62"></a><a href="#Footnote_62_62" class="fnanchor">[62]</a> in another that the
+"Creator ought to be known even by nature;"<a name="FNanchor_63_63" id="FNanchor_63_63"></a><a href="#Footnote_63_63" class="fnanchor">[63]</a> and in still another
+that nature teaches all men the existence and character of God.<a name="FNanchor_64_64" id="FNanchor_64_64"></a><a href="#Footnote_64_64" class="fnanchor">[64]</a>
+Origen in a passage sometimes quoted, appeals to the order and harmony
+of the world,<a name="FNanchor_65_65" id="FNanchor_65_65"></a><a href="#Footnote_65_65" class="fnanchor">[65]</a> but it is to prove the unity of God rather than His
+existence. Perhaps the best and most elaborate example of the use of the
+Cosmological argument by the Ante-Nicene authors, is that made of it by
+"Athenagoras the Athenian; Philosopher and Christian," as he styled
+himself.<a name="FNanchor_66_66" id="FNanchor_66_66"></a><a href="#Footnote_66_66" class="fnanchor">[66]</a> He is concerned with making a distinction between God and
+matter, in opposition to the popular idolatry, and declares that
+Christians see the "Framer" behind the orderly world&mdash;whose relation one
+to the other he likens to that between the artist and the materials of
+his art. "But as clay cannot become vessels of itself without art, so
+neither did matter, which is capable of taking all forms, receive apart
+from God the Framer, distinction and shape and order."</p>
+
+<p>And these few incidental and scattered instances represent practically
+the explicit use of the Cosmological argument in the writings with which
+we are occupied. When we consider how constantly they must have met with
+the statements of it which are prevalent in the writings of the Stoics,
+by whom they were, we know, profoundly influenced in both the form and
+the terminology of their thought, we must surely consider this omission
+a significant fact, for which it is worth while trying to account.</p>
+
+<p>Nor does the "Socratic proof," the argument to design, meet with any
+more cordial reception at the hands of early Christian writers. Although
+the cases in which it is used <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span>are generally more explicit and fully
+developed, yet the appeals to design in nature are fewer even than those
+to order. The earliest, and one of the best examples of the use of this
+argument is that made by Theophilus, Bishop of Antioch, in his work
+addressed to the idolater Autolycus.<a name="FNanchor_67_67" id="FNanchor_67_67"></a><a href="#Footnote_67_67" class="fnanchor">[67]</a> He seeks to prove that the
+invisible God is perceived through His works. As the soul is unseen, yet
+perceived through the motion of the body; as the pilot is inferred from
+the motion of the ship; as the king, though not present in person, is
+believed to exist from his "laws, ordinances and authorities;" so the
+unseen God is "beheld and perceived through his providence and works."
+"Consider, O man, His works," he exclaims; and proceeds to enumerate the
+evidences of design in the universe&mdash;"the timely rotation of the
+seasons," "the regular march of the stars," the various beauty of seeds
+and plants and fruits, and many others. It is a passage of considerable
+beauty, and evidences no mean rhetorical skill.</p>
+
+<p>It is in this same connection&mdash;in the refutation of idolatry&mdash;that St.
+Clement of Alexandria uses this argument, contrasting the living
+organism of man with the heathen idols.<a name="FNanchor_68_68" id="FNanchor_68_68"></a><a href="#Footnote_68_68" class="fnanchor">[68]</a> "None of these (artists)
+ever made a breathing image, or out of earth moulded soft flesh. Who
+liquefied the marrow? or who solidified the bones? who stretched the
+nerves? who distended the veins? who poured the blood into them? or who
+spread the skin? who ever could have made eyes capable of seeing? who
+breathed spirit into the lifeless form? who bestowed righteousness? who
+promised immortality? The Maker of the universe alone; the great Artist
+and Father has formed us, such a living image as man is. But your
+Olympian Jove, the image of an image, greatly out of harmony with truth,
+is the senseless work of Attic hands." <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span>This, it will be readily seen,
+is more an attempt to show the insufficiency of idolatry to account for
+man's nature, than a deliberate attempt at theistic proof.</p>
+
+<p>The other examples of the use of this form of the argument for the
+existence of God are found in Lactantius, "the Christian Cicero." In
+speaking of Socrates he introduces<a name="FNanchor_69_69" id="FNanchor_69_69"></a><a href="#Footnote_69_69" class="fnanchor">[69]</a> with approval an epitome of the
+Athenian sage's argument, which we have already considered,<a name="FNanchor_70_70" id="FNanchor_70_70"></a><a href="#Footnote_70_70" class="fnanchor">[70]</a> and, in
+combatting the atomistic theory of the origin of the world, he
+asserts<a name="FNanchor_71_71" id="FNanchor_71_71"></a><a href="#Footnote_71_71" class="fnanchor">[71]</a> that neither atoms nor the "Nature" of Lucretius can account
+for the adaptations in the actual world; and the phenomena of mind,
+especially, proclaim an intelligent Providence. His treatise "On the
+Workmanship of God, or the Formation of Man," is almost entirely an
+argument to design from the phenomena of man's physical and mental
+nature. From the standpoint of the physiology and psychology of his
+time, he discusses in detail the function and working of the different
+parts of man's nature, and from the adaptation of means to ends, of
+organs to their functions, which, even with the scanty data of the
+science of that day, is a striking consideration, he concludes that
+man's being can only be accounted for on the supposition of an Arranger
+or Planner, whose purposes are carried out in exercise of the various
+functions.</p>
+
+<p>The argument <i>e Consensu Gentium</i> has often been accredited with being
+peculiarly the patristic argument for the existence of God,<a name="FNanchor_72_72" id="FNanchor_72_72"></a><a href="#Footnote_72_72" class="fnanchor">[72]</a> and for
+this conclusion the use of it in Epicurean theology, and the doctrine of
+the natural, innate idea of God already considered, would fully prepare
+us; but the fact is that, apart from frequent passing references to the
+"natural opinion" mentioned in the preceding chapter, the instances in
+which the argument is explicitly <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span>made use of are not much more numerous
+than in the case of the other forms. They constantly appeal to the
+common consent, but it is generally against polytheism, as indicating a
+consciousness of <i>the unity</i> of God. St. Justin Martyr, in the passage
+to which we have already alluded, asserts<a name="FNanchor_73_73" id="FNanchor_73_73"></a><a href="#Footnote_73_73" class="fnanchor">[73]</a> this common consent, but
+only as preparatory to the certainty which he finds in revelation. St.
+Clement of Alexandria, after asserting that "the Father and Maker of all
+things is apprehended by all things, agreeably to all, by innate power,
+and without teaching," goes on to confirm his statement in this
+manner:<a name="FNanchor_74_74" id="FNanchor_74_74"></a><a href="#Footnote_74_74" class="fnanchor">[74]</a> "But no race anywhere, of tillers of the soil, or nomads,
+and not even of dwellers in cities, can live without being imbued with
+the faith of a superior being. Wherefore, every eastern nation, and
+every nation touching the western shore; or the north, and each one
+toward the south&mdash;all have one and the same preconception respecting
+Him, who hath appointed government; since the most universal of His
+operations equally pervade all." It is with the principles and end of
+this argument in view that Tertullian appeals<a name="FNanchor_75_75" id="FNanchor_75_75"></a><a href="#Footnote_75_75" class="fnanchor">[75]</a> to the witness of the
+soul, "not as when fashioned in schools, trained in libraries, fed in
+Attic academies and porticoes," but "rude, uncultured and untaught, such
+as they have thee who have thee only; that very thing of the road, the
+street, the workshop wholly;" and from his examination of this ordinary
+soul he concludes that "the knowledge of our God is possessed by
+all."<a name="FNanchor_76_76" id="FNanchor_76_76"></a><a href="#Footnote_76_76" class="fnanchor">[76]</a> Minucius Felix appeals to this same common instinct and
+exclaims:<a name="FNanchor_77_77" id="FNanchor_77_77"></a><a href="#Footnote_77_77" class="fnanchor">[77]</a> "What! is it not true that I have in this matter the
+consent of all men?" and Origen, in his reply to the attack of Celsus,
+points to "the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span>ineradicable idea of Him."<a name="FNanchor_78_78" id="FNanchor_78_78"></a><a href="#Footnote_78_78" class="fnanchor">[78]</a> Novatian asserts<a name="FNanchor_79_79" id="FNanchor_79_79"></a><a href="#Footnote_79_79" class="fnanchor">[79]</a> that
+"the whole mind of man is conscious" of Him, "even if does not express
+itself," and Lactantius thinks that for Cicero "it was no difficult
+task, indeed, to refute the falsehoods of a few men who entertained
+perverse sentiments by the testimony of communities and tribes, who on
+this one point had no disagreement."<a name="FNanchor_80_80" id="FNanchor_80_80"></a><a href="#Footnote_80_80" class="fnanchor">[80]</a></p>
+
+<p>Besides these instances in which the different types of the theistic
+argument are used in an undeveloped, but yet in a pure form, there are
+several places where a mixed form appears, the different conventional
+processes being used in combination without being clearly
+differentiated. Thus the argument from common consent and the argument
+based on order or design are used in conjunction, the necessity of the
+universal knowledge of God's existence being seen from the witness to
+Him found in nature.<a name="FNanchor_81_81" id="FNanchor_81_81"></a><a href="#Footnote_81_81" class="fnanchor">[81]</a> So, too, the arguments from order and from
+design in nature are often used in conjunction, and in many passages it
+is difficult to decide to which one of these two the author intends to
+appeal primarily.<a name="FNanchor_82_82" id="FNanchor_82_82"></a><a href="#Footnote_82_82" class="fnanchor">[82]</a> These undifferentiated or mixed arguments are
+quite frequently to be seen in the patristic writings, and serve to
+illustrate the eclectic character of their thoughts, often presenting in
+one passage the forms of the theistic arguments peculiar to two opposed
+schools in Greek philosophy; and they also indicate how incidentally and
+na&iuml;vely the Fathers used such weapons, not taking the trouble to
+differentiate one form from the other, though they could not have been
+ignorant of such distinctions.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span></p><p>The first thing that strikes one's attention in this examination of the
+use of the theistic argument in the early Christian writers is, as has
+been indicated, the paucity of examples. When we consider the emphasis
+laid upon this subject in the contemporaneous philosophical schools; the
+constant appeal to one form or another of the argument by Stoic and
+Epicurean alike; the various combinations and adaptations made by
+Eclectics and Syncretists; the use of such material in the exercises of
+the rhetorical instruction then so prominent in education; it would seem
+that a weapon so ready to their hand must have been seized upon by the
+Fathers, and made full use of for the advancement of the cause in which
+they were enlisted. And this silence on their part cannot be due to
+ignorance of what had been written on the subject, or of what was going
+on in the world about them. The patristic writings show the keenest
+interest in, and fullest knowledge of what men were thinking about in
+the outside world as well as within the Church. Many of the Fathers, as
+we have had occasion to notice, had been trained in the philosophical
+schools,<a name="FNanchor_83_83" id="FNanchor_83_83"></a><a href="#Footnote_83_83" class="fnanchor">[83]</a> and show themselves fully conversant not only with such
+subjects, but with poetry and general literature as well.<a name="FNanchor_84_84" id="FNanchor_84_84"></a><a href="#Footnote_84_84" class="fnanchor">[84]</a> In the
+course of their education, as well as in their reading, they must have
+become fully acquainted with all the forms of the theistic argument. And
+this knowledge they had every opportunity to use. Many of their works
+that have come down to us are either apologies or else answers to
+critics of Christianity, who attacked its doctrines from the stand-point
+of either polytheism or atheism. In maintaining the Christian doctrine
+of God against these opponents, the theistic argument would seem to be a
+most <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span>natural weapon for one who was confident of its validity. But the
+fact is, that in most of these apologies no such reasoning is employed,
+and even when it is to be found in their pages, is only incidental and
+by way of illustration, to explain the rational character of the
+Christian doctrine of God by a sort of <i>argumentum ad hominem</i>.</p>
+
+<p>One reason for this neglect of the theistic argument may be readily
+found in the subject-matter of the treatises themselves. Almost
+exclusively with the earlier Fathers, as we have seen, and very largely
+with their successors, the emphasis was laid on life, rather than on
+thought, and the appeal was to authority rather than to reason. Men were
+asked to judge of Christianity by its fruits, and to receive the faith
+which it professed, not because of its rational demonstration, but
+because of the authority of Him who promulgated it. The persons to whom
+the arguments were addressed, too, explain much of the silence of the
+Fathers. To the Jew or religious Gentile it would be superfluous to
+address elaborate arguments to prove the existence of God, and it was to
+these classes that many of the works under discussion were addressed. To
+them the argument, such as we frequently find, from the Old Testament
+types and prophecies, or from the superior beauty and morality of the
+Christian doctrine and life, taking for granted the existence of God,
+was what the case required. And when, as is very frequently the case,
+they address the popular idolaters, it is a negative argument to show
+the unworthiness of idol-worship, and the superiority of their own
+doctrine, of which they naturally make use, and not a theistic argument
+which would have no significance to those who were already "too
+religious."</p>
+
+<p>Many of the apologies of the early Church were called forth by the
+attacks which were made on the Christians by the adherents of the
+popular religions. The charges usually brought against them were those
+of atheism, because of their<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span> rejection of the gods of Greece and Rome;
+of immorality, because of the secrecy and mystery of their meetings, and
+cannibalism, because of their doctrine of the partaking of the Body and
+Blood of Christ in the Eucharist. In refuting these charges, especially
+the first, no place was afforded for the use of a theistic argument, but
+they naturally exhibit their belief in God as superior to that of their
+accusers, and appeal to their lives as justifying their belief.</p>
+
+<p>But aside from these cases in which the theistic argument would have
+been superfluous, there are many places in which it is conspicuous for
+its absence. That they had other arguments besides those from scripture
+and authority, and that they believed in using them when necessary, we
+have, as we have seen, many proofs in their writings. Their position is
+well indicated by Lactantius, who blamed St. Cyprian for using a
+Scripture argument to an unbeliever,<a name="FNanchor_85_85" id="FNanchor_85_85"></a><a href="#Footnote_85_85" class="fnanchor">[85]</a> and we shall be obliged to look
+deeper than mere ignorance or lack of occasion to account for the
+paucity of cases in which they use the argument for the existence of
+God.</p>
+
+<p>The fact is that the history of Greek thought had shown conclusively the
+absolute futility of any efforts to arrive at a certain proof of the
+existence of God by purely rational methods. The attempts of each school
+to attain such certainty were repudiated by their successors, and even
+by their contemporaries; and the later trials&mdash;which the religious
+instincts and aspirations of men would not permit them to forego, even
+when they were sceptical of obtaining any valid and positive
+results&mdash;frequently became, instead of a sincere seeking after God, mere
+practice in the art of Rhetoric. And not only was it true that no one of
+the forms of the theistic argument brought conviction to any other mind
+than that of the man who regarded it with the partial enthusiasm of an
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span>originator or formulator, but even such an one was led to only the most
+vague and indefinite results. We have already seen how even the best
+theology of the Greeks led to nothing but a sort of organized or unified
+polytheism. A vague, fanciful first cause of physical phenomena, a
+general idea, abstracted out of all content, so as to leave no meaning
+for the human mind&mdash;whatever the imagination might make of it&mdash;a
+mechanical, magnetic force, to which all motion might conveniently be
+referred; a deified principle of order&mdash;and these held in conjunction
+with the popular polytheism, and impregnated with the national
+pantheistic conceptions&mdash;was all that Greek philosophy could offer to
+the higher religious aspirations of the educated man. The opinion of the
+Greek mind itself as to the character of the knowledge of God, to which
+the thought of their race had led them at the beginning of the Christian
+era was fitly expressed by those Athenians, who erected near the
+Areopagus the "altar on which was written, 'To the Unknown God.'"<a name="FNanchor_86_86" id="FNanchor_86_86"></a><a href="#Footnote_86_86" class="fnanchor">[86]</a>
+The opinion (for in most cases it did not amount to a conviction) that
+there was an Unknown (or even, as many thought, an Unknowable) Divinity
+of some sort, which might account for the phenomena of the world, and
+which might be the truth behind the vagaries of the anthropomorphic
+polytheism, was as far as Greek thought had led men at the period with
+which we have to do. Their &#952;&#949;&#8057;&#962; was really nothing more than Mr. Herbert
+Spencer's "Unknowable,"&mdash;a mysterious "force," to which everything was
+referred which could not be accounted for on the basis of scientific
+principles.</p>
+
+<p>Now if this was the case with the adherents of the heathen philosophical
+schools, how must the realization of the poverty of this result, and the
+distrust of the means which led to it, have been emphasized by the
+conversion of individuals <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span>from them to Christianity. It is a graphic
+picture which some of the Fathers paint for us of their eager search, in
+the different schools in turn, for some religious truth which would
+bring with it conviction; of their disappointment and consequent despair
+and scepticism, and then of the satisfaction which they had found for
+their aspirations in the teaching of Jesus Christ, who, they were
+convinced, was the very Word of God. Viewed merely from the historical
+point of view, this process is full of interest as illustrating that
+which was going on in many minds that stopped at the sceptical stage,
+and, for one reason or another, never found refuge in the Christian
+Church. But for those who did take this step, their former distrust of
+the theistic argument, as a basis for religious conviction, must have
+been greatly emphasized. The contrast between their former scepticism as
+to man's ability to attain to any knowledge of things beyond the
+phenomenal world, and their present faith and conviction which their
+belief in the Person of Christ gave them, must have made the part of any
+such means of arriving at truth as the already discredited theistic
+argument most insignificant. They, themselves, had no need for it. All
+it had been able to do for them, as for those to whom they wrote, was to
+raise an aspiration which "would not down"&mdash;to bring them to the
+hypothesis (substituted for polytheism, now outgrown) of an "Unknown
+God," and they felt that their message to their contemporaries was, like
+that of St. Paul to the Athenians on Areopagus: "Whom, therefore, ye
+ignorantly worship, Him declare I unto you."</p>
+
+<p>It is with this attitude in mind, I am convinced, that we must interpret
+the doctrine, so often enunciated by the early Christian writers, but
+especially by St. Justin Martyr and St. Clement of Alexandria, of the
+"partial," "fragmentary" character of the theological truth arrived at
+by Greek philosophy. They have sometimes been charged with
+incon<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span>sistency in thus characterizing the work of men from whom they
+borrowed so much, but they seem, in fact, to have been remarkably
+appreciative of their old masters when we consider the position in which
+they stood. In fact, they seem to grant to Greek philosophy all that its
+adherents would claim for it, namely, that, by means of the arguments
+adduced by its different schools, the Greeks had attained to the opinion
+that there was something behind the phenomena of nature, but this might
+as well be a transcendent force or a pantheistic world-soul as an
+immanent God. With the Apostle on Mars' Hill they would say that the
+best theology of the Greeks simply put them in a position "that they
+should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after Him and find Him."</p>
+
+<p>And each of the Greek schools, they would say, by resting their case on
+some one of the various arguments, and emphasizing some one of the
+attributes of the Deity at the expense of the others, had attained only
+a partial and inadequate view, though true so far as it went. "Since,
+therefore," says St. Clement of Alexandria,<a name="FNanchor_87_87" id="FNanchor_87_87"></a><a href="#Footnote_87_87" class="fnanchor">[87]</a> "truth is one (for
+falsehood has ten thousand by-paths); just as the Bacchantes tore
+asunder the limbs of Pentheus, so the sects both of barbarian and
+Hellenic philosophy have done with truth, and each vaunts as the whole
+truth the portion which has fallen to its lot. But all, in my opinion,
+are illuminated by the dawn of Light." These men were deeply
+appreciative of the work of Greek philosophy so far as it went&mdash;even
+assigning to it a place analogous to the Hebrew Scriptures<a name="FNanchor_88_88" id="FNanchor_88_88"></a><a href="#Footnote_88_88" class="fnanchor">[88]</a>&mdash;but they
+always attribute to it a distinctly prop&aelig;deutic office, and are careful
+to emphasize its failure to lead to any firm and positive conviction of
+the existence of God. That this was the position of the early Christian
+philosophers might be <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span>shown by many passages, but we will content
+ourselves with one example from the pages of St. Clement of Alexandria,
+who assigned to Greek philosophy a higher place than any of the
+patristic writers&mdash;so much so that his orthodoxy has frequently been
+questioned because of it. He is fond of designating the knowledge of God
+to which the Greeks had attained by the term "&#960;&#949;&#961;&#8055;&#966;&#961;&#945;&#963;&#953;&#962;." Thus he
+concludes<a name="FNanchor_89_89" id="FNanchor_89_89"></a><a href="#Footnote_89_89" class="fnanchor">[89]</a> an argument from common consent, already quoted, in these
+words: "Much more did the philosophers among the Greeks, devoted to
+investigation, starting from the Barbarian philosophy, attribute
+providence to the 'invisible, and sole and most powerful, and most
+skilful and supreme cause of all things, most beautiful;'&mdash;not knowing
+the influences from these truths, unless instructed by us, and not even
+how God is to be known naturally, but only, as we have already often
+said, by a true periphrasis." "The men of highest repute among the
+Greeks knew God, not by positive knowledge, but by indirect expression
+(&#960;&#949;&#961;&#8055;&#966;&#961;&#945;&#963;&#953;&#962;)."<a name="FNanchor_90_90" id="FNanchor_90_90"></a><a href="#Footnote_90_90" class="fnanchor">[90]</a> The indefinite and merely "probable" character of the
+results which the Fathers think were reached by the theistic argument in
+Greek thought explains to us the few examples of these proofs which we
+find in their writings, and the certainty which they thought they had
+found, and their consequent attitude toward all arguments of this
+nature, which we have tried to depict, is the key to the explanation of
+a new phase in the history of thought which was to last for several
+centuries.</p>
+
+<p>In our examination of these examples of the theistic argument in the
+Fathers, it cannot escape our notice that they <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span>occur much more
+frequently, and in more developed and conventional form in the West than
+in the East&mdash;under the influence of Rome than under that of Alexandria
+and the Orient. The reason for this is not far to seek, and is one that
+throws light also on the motive with which the patristic writers made
+use of these arguments.</p>
+
+<p>In Alexandria and the East there was no incentive for the Christians to
+try to prove the existence of God, for the philosophy of that portion of
+the world was essentially religious in its character, and based its
+speculation on the existence of God as a fundamental postulate of
+revelation and of reason as well. In the combination of Judaism and
+Hellenic philosophy made by the "Hellenizing Jews" and by the "Judaizing
+Hellenes," the existence of God was admitted quite as freely, and
+maintained quite as zealously, as by the Christians themselves, and even
+the incipient Neo-Platonists made no quarrel with them on this ground.
+So we find that the reference in the Alexandrian and other Eastern
+Fathers are mainly of the character of examples and illustrations as to
+principles that are well understood and admitted, and are employed
+chiefly for the purpose of refuting idolatry by a distinction between
+God and matter, or of proving the unity of God in opposition to the
+still latent polytheism.</p>
+
+<p>Under the influence of Rome, however, other tendencies came in to give a
+rather different significance to the theistic argument. For Rome had
+become the chief center of the later schools of Greek philosophy, and
+under the shadow of the seven hills rather than in the Athenian groves
+and porticoes were found the disciples of Pyrrho, of Zeno and of
+Epicurus. Thus, very naturally, wherever Roman civilization was dominant
+the teacher of Christian doctrine was obliged to present his subject
+with reference to the forces already at work in the minds of those whom
+he addressed. In accordance with this, we find, first, a <i>negative</i>
+influence in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span> the hostile attitude assumed by the Sceptics and members
+of other schools who tended toward their position, toward any religious
+knowledge. That this influence is not an imaginary one may be seen
+especially in the instance already quoted from Lactantius, whose use of
+the theistic argument is called forth by the cavils of Sceptics and
+atheistic atomists.</p>
+
+<p>But there was also a <i>positive</i> influence at work to facilitate the use
+of the theistic argument by the Western Fathers in the prevalence at
+Rome of Stoic and Epicurean doctrine. From the former of these schools
+would result a familiarity, and, in many cases, an agreement with the
+forms of the argument drawn from order and design; from the latter, for
+the demonstration from common consent. Both of these influences, no
+doubt, had some influence on the shape in which Tertullian of Carthage,
+Minucius Felix, Novatian and Lactantius presented their doctrine, and,
+together with the more material and less religious character of the
+West, accounts in large degree for the comparative frequency of their
+appeal to the theistic argument.</p>
+
+<p>But when we consider the frequency with which we meet with the theistic
+argument, and with reference to its use in other writers, in the pages
+of Cicero, for example, these scanty instances afforded us by the
+writings of the ante-Nicene Fathers, whose works occupy, say, 4,500
+large, closely-printed pages in the translation, and who were, let us
+remember, dealing exclusively with religious thought, indicate plainly a
+fundamental change in position, the influence of which was operative for
+centuries in this department of thought, and which, even to-day, governs
+the attitude of the greater part of the Western world. The absolute
+failure of the Greeks to arrive at any certainty of God's existence by
+demonstration, the introduction of the Christian doctrine of God, before
+which the deductions of Greek philosophy seem empty and unsatisfactory,
+even to many who cannot accept<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span> that doctrine as truth, and the
+substitution of faith in a Person for purely rational proof, render it
+impossible, so long as that faith continues, that any one should think
+it worth while to devote more than a passing notice to any such
+argument, unless for the purposes of an <i>argumentum ad hominem</i>. And so
+it is not until faith begins to grow cold and men become mere
+speculators and debaters about religion, rather than believers in
+Christ, that the revival of these arguments under the title of "proofs"
+is possible. Even the famous Ontological Argument of St. Anselm was, I
+am convinced, no serious attempt to formulate an <i>a priori</i> proof of the
+existence of God, but was addressed to a particular case<a name="FNanchor_91_91" id="FNanchor_91_91"></a><a href="#Footnote_91_91" class="fnanchor">[91]</a>&mdash;the "fool"
+who "said in his heart, 'There is no God,'" and who <i>also</i> maintained
+that God was "that than which no greater can be thought."</p>
+
+<p>From this survey it will be seen that, in the view of the Ante-Nicene
+Christian authors, the theistic argument was valuable merely as a
+prop&aelig;deutic to Christianity, but was superfluous for the believer in
+Jesus Christ; the use of it cannot, as it had not in Greek thought,
+bring proof, but only probability; even this uncertain result is only
+vague and fragmentary in character, and was never unified and made
+significant by the Greeks; its office in Christian evidences was merely
+of an <i>ad hominem</i> sort, and this only in its simpler and more practical
+forms, in which the senses as well as reason had their testimony to
+bear; and, lastly, the argument was used much more frequently by the
+Western than by the Alexandrian and other Eastern Fathers.
+</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_60_60" id="Footnote_60_60"></a><a href="#FNanchor_60_60"><span class="label">[60]</span></a> <i>Stromata</i>, V, 12.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_61_61" id="Footnote_61_61"></a><a href="#FNanchor_61_61"><span class="label">[61]</span></a> <i>De Spectaculis</i>, II.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_62_62" id="Footnote_62_62"></a><a href="#FNanchor_62_62"><span class="label">[62]</span></a> <i>Against Marcion</i>, I, 17.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_63_63" id="Footnote_63_63"></a><a href="#FNanchor_63_63"><span class="label">[63]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, V, 16. This is to justify his doctrine of the
+punishment of the heathen.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_64_64" id="Footnote_64_64"></a><a href="#FNanchor_64_64"><span class="label">[64]</span></a> <i>Scapula</i>, II.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_65_65" id="Footnote_65_65"></a><a href="#FNanchor_65_65"><span class="label">[65]</span></a> <i>Against Celsus</i>, I, 23.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_66_66" id="Footnote_66_66"></a><a href="#FNanchor_66_66"><span class="label">[66]</span></a> <i>Plea for the Christians</i>, XV, XVI.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_67_67" id="Footnote_67_67"></a><a href="#FNanchor_67_67"><span class="label">[67]</span></a> I, 5 and 6.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_68_68" id="Footnote_68_68"></a><a href="#FNanchor_68_68"><span class="label">[68]</span></a> <i>Exhortation to the Heathen</i>, X.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_69_69" id="Footnote_69_69"></a><a href="#FNanchor_69_69"><span class="label">[69]</span></a> <i>Divine Institutes</i>, III, 20.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_70_70" id="Footnote_70_70"></a><a href="#FNanchor_70_70"><span class="label">[70]</span></a> Chap. II.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_71_71" id="Footnote_71_71"></a><a href="#FNanchor_71_71"><span class="label">[71]</span></a> <i>Treatise on the Anger of God</i>, X.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_72_72" id="Footnote_72_72"></a><a href="#FNanchor_72_72"><span class="label">[72]</span></a> E.g., Stirling: <i>Philosophy and Theology</i>, p. 179.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_73_73" id="Footnote_73_73"></a><a href="#FNanchor_73_73"><span class="label">[73]</span></a> <i>Trypho</i>, III, IV.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_74_74" id="Footnote_74_74"></a><a href="#FNanchor_74_74"><span class="label">[74]</span></a> <i>Stromata</i>, V, 14.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_75_75" id="Footnote_75_75"></a><a href="#FNanchor_75_75"><span class="label">[75]</span></a> <i>The Soul's Testimony</i>, I.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_76_76" id="Footnote_76_76"></a><a href="#FNanchor_76_76"><span class="label">[76]</span></a> <i>Of the Resurrection of the Flesh</i>, III.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_77_77" id="Footnote_77_77"></a><a href="#FNanchor_77_77"><span class="label">[77]</span></a> <i>Octavius</i>, XVIII.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_78_78" id="Footnote_78_78"></a><a href="#FNanchor_78_78"><span class="label">[78]</span></a> <i>Against Celsus</i>, II, 40.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_79_79" id="Footnote_79_79"></a><a href="#FNanchor_79_79"><span class="label">[79]</span></a> <i>De Trinitate</i>, VIII.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_80_80" id="Footnote_80_80"></a><a href="#FNanchor_80_80"><span class="label">[80]</span></a> <i>Divine Institutes</i>, I, 2.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_81_81" id="Footnote_81_81"></a><a href="#FNanchor_81_81"><span class="label">[81]</span></a> E.g., Irenaeus: <i>Against Heresy</i>, II, 9, 1; Tertullian:
+<i>Against Marcion</i>, I, 10; Origen: <i>De Principiis</i>, I, 3, 1; Tertullian:
+<i>Apology</i>, XVII; Lactantius: <i>Divine Institutes</i>, I, 2.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_82_82" id="Footnote_82_82"></a><a href="#FNanchor_82_82"><span class="label">[82]</span></a> E.g., Minucius Felix: <i>Octavius</i>, XVII, XVIII; Novatian:
+<i>De Trinitate</i> VIII; Dionysius the Great: <i>Fragments</i>, II, 1.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_83_83" id="Footnote_83_83"></a><a href="#FNanchor_83_83"><span class="label">[83]</span></a> E.g., "Justin, in Philosopher's garb, preached the word of
+God." Eusebius, IV, 11.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_84_84" id="Footnote_84_84"></a><a href="#FNanchor_84_84"><span class="label">[84]</span></a> The mere list of Greek authors <i>quoted</i> by St. Clement of
+Alexandria occupies over fourteen quarto pages in Fabricius'
+<i>Bibliotheka Graeca</i>.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_85_85" id="Footnote_85_85"></a><a href="#FNanchor_85_85"><span class="label">[85]</span></a> <i>Divine Institutes</i>, V. 4.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_86_86" id="Footnote_86_86"></a><a href="#FNanchor_86_86"><span class="label">[86]</span></a> <i>Acts</i>, XVII, 23.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_87_87" id="Footnote_87_87"></a><a href="#FNanchor_87_87"><span class="label">[87]</span></a> <i>Stromata</i>, I, 13.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_88_88" id="Footnote_88_88"></a><a href="#FNanchor_88_88"><span class="label">[88]</span></a> E.g., <i>Stromata</i>, VI, 5: "The one and only God was known
+by the Greeks in a Gentile way, by the Jews Judaically, and in a new and
+spiritual way by us." In I, 5, he says: "For this (philosophy) was a
+schoolmaster to bring "the Hellenic mind," as the law the Hebrews, to
+Christ."</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_89_89" id="Footnote_89_89"></a><a href="#FNanchor_89_89"><span class="label">[89]</span></a> <i>Stromata</i>, V, 14.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_90_90" id="Footnote_90_90"></a><a href="#FNanchor_90_90"><span class="label">[90]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, VI, 5. See also, e.g., I, 19; V, 13.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_91_91" id="Footnote_91_91"></a><a href="#FNanchor_91_91"><span class="label">[91]</span></a> See Stirling: <i>Philosophy and Theology</i>, p. 35.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V<br/>
+<span style='font-size: small;'>ECLECTIC THEISM</span></h2>
+
+<p>The early Christian writers, so far as they assumed any philosophical
+position, were invariably Eclectics. In this, as we have seen, they were
+the true children of their age, whose most striking characteristic was
+that it had deserted the older systems, while attempting to preserve out
+of their ruins the particular truth for which each of the schools had
+contended. But with the Christian philosophers it was not merely the
+negative influence of scepticism which drove them to Eclecticism. Their
+conviction of a sure knowledge of things divine&mdash;the final question for
+all philosophy&mdash;exerted a positive influence as well, which led them to
+formulate more or less explicitly a view of the function of philosophy
+as an organon of the truth, not merely with reference to the past
+history of Greek thought, as their contemporaries outside of the
+Christian Church were accustomed to do, but with a view to all possible
+speculation on the Deity. For this deposit of revealed truth, to which
+they gave assent as the most certain of all knowledge, they regarded as
+the <i>whole</i> truth, of which the various speculations of philosophy on
+the existence and attributes of God, were but "portions" and
+"fragments"&mdash;true and trustworthy so far as they went, and from their
+own particular standpoint, but, nevertheless, essentially and
+necessarily partial, and hence productive, not of certainty, but of mere
+opinion.</p>
+
+<p>And this estimate of the function of philosophy with respect to
+theological truth, which the Fathers worked out on the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span> basis of the
+concrete example of the course of Greek thought, though with a view to a
+much wider application, has its justification in the very nature and
+conditions of thought itself. For philosophy is essentially a
+<i>process</i>&mdash;its very life depends on its being in motion, in process of
+change and development. Each system is evolved out of its predecessors,
+and contains within itself the germs of its successors&mdash;it is the link
+which connects the past with the future. It expresses the
+"common-sense," the unconscious convictions and instinctive tendencies
+of the time, and the man who first gives voice to this unspoken message
+is the philosopher. He utters the truth which the times demand&mdash;that
+which satisfies the conditions. Thus with Professor Erdmann<a name="FNanchor_92_92" id="FNanchor_92_92"></a><a href="#Footnote_92_92" class="fnanchor">[92]</a> the
+patristic writers would say that each statement of philosophical truth
+is "the final truth only for that time." It is the phase or aspect or
+particular statement of the truth which the times demand, which the
+situation calls forth, and which appeals most strongly to the minds that
+make up part of that situation. Changed conditions demand a different
+statement of the truth to satisfy them, and furnish the data upon which
+such a statement is based. Philosophy, like science, "does not really
+accumulate, but is entirely transformed by each fresh hypothesis. It is
+only the data that accumulate; and when we say that a new hypothesis is
+'truer' than that which preceded it, we mean merely that it enables us
+to co-ordinate a larger number of these data."<a name="FNanchor_93_93" id="FNanchor_93_93"></a><a href="#Footnote_93_93" class="fnanchor">[93]</a> And this
+transformation takes place, in reality, not only by addition, but by
+subtraction of data. For it is a phenomenon common to the thought of all
+ages, that each school not only calls attention to new data, ignored by
+its predecessor, but also shuts its eyes to more or less of the valid
+data set <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span>forth by the earlier system. In no period of the history of
+thought were men more commonly led into abstractions by being dazzled by
+the brilliancy and novelty of the latest idea than in the pioneer age
+represented by Greek philosophy, when men had not yet attained to a
+clear perspective, and the foot-hills often hid the lofty mountain peak.</p>
+
+<p>It is this trait, so evident in the na&iuml;ve thought of the Greeks, that
+makes it possible for the early Christian thinkers to take the attitude,
+at once appreciative and critical with regard to the Hellenic theology.
+They borrowed much, not only from the form, but also from the results of
+the speculations of the philosophers, but always with a deep sense of
+the limitations which the conditions imposed upon them. Socrates, Plato,
+Aristotle and the rest had spoken the truth, but each only from one
+point of view, and on the basis of only one method of approach. The
+conclusions of each were the result of a process of more or less
+complete abstraction, and in abstractions the Fathers, true to the
+genius of Christian thought, could never rest content, but could only
+accord to them the appreciation which belongs to a temporary and
+preliminary stage in the search for the final unity.</p>
+
+<p>To this partial, temporary, "relatively final," and constantly changing
+content, the revealed doctrine of God, manifested in due relations,
+unity and completeness by the Incarnate Word, stands with the Fathers as
+the principle to the particular rule or application&mdash;as the whole to the
+part. As the revelation of God it came to them, not as the result of
+man's investigation and speculation, colored by every change of time,
+place and environment, a mere momentary phase of a process; but as
+eternal verity, viewed, so far as man's powers would allow, in its
+entirety and unity. Dorner expresses their position well when he says
+that in Christianity "as the organism of the truth, the elements of
+truth,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span> elsewhere here and there to be met with in a scattered form or a
+disfigured guise, come together in unity&mdash;a unity which, as it
+personally appeared in the God-Man, so in the course of history ever
+more and more rises upon the consciousness of mankind." The Fathers
+think that in the Christian doctrine of God they find all the true
+elements contributed by previous thought, and besides these an infinite
+depth of truth unthought of by the Greeks, all unified and harmonized in
+a way that makes it a sharp contrast to the fragmentary and abstract
+character of the Hellenic theology. Christian doctrine represents to
+them the stable, absolute truth, so far as it was revealed by the
+Incarnate Word, the eternal verities in their completeness and unity, so
+far as man is able to comprehend them. Philosophy represents the phase
+or aspect of the truth which the conditions of thought at the time
+demands and emphasizes, which will co-ordinate the data at present in
+the foreground of consciousness. Thus they conceive of the facts of
+Christian Theology as the goal towards which philosophy is (often
+unconsciously) striving, but at which it can never arrive without the
+"leap of faith." Once this leap is taken, however, these theological
+verities become the major factors in the data to be co-ordinated, and
+philosophy and theology come into that union and harmony which, in the
+eyes of the Christian philosophers, is their normal relation.</p>
+
+<p>This Eclectic attitude of the Fathers, and their deprecation of any
+abstraction or partial statement usurping the place of the truth,
+explains to some extent their treatment of the theistic argument.</p>
+
+<p>In the first place it led them to distrust and reject any argument for
+the existence of God which proceeded on the basis of reason alone, apart
+from any content furnished by sensibility. While the Fathers do not make
+any explicit and scientific distinction between Epistemology and
+On<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span>tology, such as has in modern times been the bane of any attempted
+natural theology, yet they seem to have made a pretty constant
+<i>practical</i> separation between the two. St. Clement of Alexandria, as we
+have seen, holds that by a method of abstraction of specific
+characteristics we can arrive only at an "Unknown," to which meaning can
+be given only by combining with this rational process some content
+furnished directly by the senses or, indirectly, by testimony, and he
+further states that God is not a subject for demonstration&mdash;<i>i.e.</i>, the
+science that depends on primary and better known principles&mdash;for "first
+principles are incapable of demonstration."<a name="FNanchor_94_94" id="FNanchor_94_94"></a><a href="#Footnote_94_94" class="fnanchor">[94]</a> This position seems to
+be tacitly assumed by the patristic writers throughout, and even where
+they speak of Plato with gratitude and admiration they never seem to be
+at all inclined to make any use of his "Idealogical" argument or
+anything related thereto. They seem to take a common-sense stand for the
+testimony of the whole man, as well as for the whole truth, and to
+instinctively distrust any rational concept in the formation of which
+sensuous content had been ignored.</p>
+
+<p>The Eclectic character of the patristic thought is seen also in the
+frequency with which they use the different forms of the theistic
+argument in conjunction, or present it in mixed forms. The Greek
+philosophers, as we have seen, each selected some one of the forms of
+the argument, and by means of it, attempted to establish the sort of an
+&#7944;&#961;&#967;&#8053;, to which such a course of reasoning would lead, ignoring, or
+attacking the forms in use by their rival school. Thus early, however,
+as in modern times, Christian theology, in contrast with the attempts of
+rational theology, began to emphasize the interdependence of these
+different forms of the theistic argument, and the cumulative character
+of their evidence. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span>Each one of itself could bring no conviction, nor
+even high degree of probability, and furthermore, even if all its claims
+be admitted, would lead to a result far short of theism&mdash;a mere
+indefinite first cause, an Architect of the universe, etc. Each one,
+however, adds its quota to a great <i>cumulative</i> argument, which, taken
+in its entirety, raises an exceedingly high presumption, which amounts
+to "<i>moral</i>" though possibly not intellectual proof. And, after all,
+"probability is the guide of <i>life</i>."</p>
+
+<p>And this is all that the Fathers, or Christian apologists, generally,
+would claim for the theistic argument. It is a <i>practical</i>, not a
+theoretical proof, and it is in this way that the early Christian
+writers seem to regard it. They resort to it most frequently to show
+that the Christian doctrine of God is not contrary to reason nor
+inconsistent with the nature of things, and to demonstrate that such a
+conception is demanded by man's very nature. In a word, their use of the
+argument is confirmatory and explanatory rather than by way of absolute
+proof and demonstration.</p>
+
+<p>This attitude towards and use of the theistic argument, so radically
+different from that of the Greek philosophers, perpetuated itself in the
+post-Nicene literature of the Christian Church, and, in its main
+features, remained unaltered, until the time when men who had abandoned
+the faith in the Word which had been the main stay of the ante-Nicene
+writers, and who yet were unwilling to abandon the great theistic idea
+for which the world was indebted to Christianity alone, sought to
+justify this idea on the basis of reason. It took the scepticism of a
+Hume and the criticism of a Kant, and the re-adjustment of all their
+followers to bring us back at the close of this nineteenth century into
+substantial agreement with the common-sense estimate placed upon the
+theistic argument by the ante-Nicene Fathers.</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_92_92" id="Footnote_92_92"></a><a href="#FNanchor_92_92"><span class="label">[92]</span></a> <i>History of Philosophy</i>, Vol. I, &sect; 4.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_93_93" id="Footnote_93_93"></a><a href="#FNanchor_93_93"><span class="label">[93]</span></a> Burnet: <i>Early Greek Philosophy</i>, p. 25.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_94_94" id="Footnote_94_94"></a><a href="#FNanchor_94_94"><span class="label">[94]</span></a> <i>Stromata</i>, II, iv.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="VITA" id="VITA"></a>VITA.</h2>
+
+
+<p>The writer was born April 24, 1869, in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He attended
+the Ann Arbor Public Schools and the Ann Arbor High School. In 1892 he
+received the degree of A. B. from the University of Michigan. In 1895 he
+graduated from the General Theological Seminary, New York, and was
+awarded the degree of B. D., which was formally conferred in accordance
+with the rules of the Seminary one year later. In 1896, he received the
+degree of A. M. from the University of Michigan. He pursued studies in
+Philosophy at Harvard University during the first term of the year
+1896-7, and at Columbia University from February, 1897, to February,
+1898. He has been the post-graduate scholar of the Church University
+Board of Regents from July, 1895, to the present time.</p>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Basis of Early Christian Theism, by 
+Lawrence Thomas Cole
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+</pre>
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Basis of Early Christian Theism, by
+Lawrence Thomas Cole
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Basis of Early Christian Theism
+
+Author: Lawrence Thomas Cole
+
+Release Date: January 16, 2008 [EBook #24328]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EARLY CHRISTIAN THEISM ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Fritz Ohrenschall, Colin Bell and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+[Transcriber's Notes: Many printing errors, particularly in the French
+and Greek, have been corrected. The inconsistent hyphenation of the
+word stand-point has been retained. Greek has been transliterated and
+placed inside {}.]
+
+                 THE BASIS OF EARLY CHRISTIAN THEISM
+
+                                   BY
+
+                LAWRENCE THOMAS COLE, A. M., S. T. B.,
+
+   _Post-graduate Scholar of the Church University Board of Regents_
+
+
+          SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS
+             FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN THE
+                         FACULTY OF PHILOSOPHY
+                          COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY
+
+
+                               NEW YORK
+                               May, 1898
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+  CHAPTER I:   Introduction                                           9
+
+  CHAPTER II:  Greek and Roman Theistic Arguments                    14
+
+  CHAPTER III: The Patristic Point of View                           26
+
+  CHAPTER IV:  Patristic Use of the Theistic Arguments               38
+
+  CHAPTER V:   Eclectic Theism                                       55
+
+
+     "Les preuves de Dieu metaphysiques sont si eloignees du
+     raisonnement des hommes, et si impliquees, qu'elles frappent peu;
+     et quand cela serviroit a quelques-uns, ce ne seroit que pendant
+     l'instant qu'ils voient cette demonstration; mais, une heure apres,
+     ils craignent de s'etre trompes. _Quod curiositate cognoverint,
+     superbia amiserunt._"
+                                      --_Pensees de Pascal_, II, xv. 2.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+INTRODUCTION
+
+
+A question which every author ought to ask of himself before he sends
+forth his work, and one which must occur to every thoughtful reader, is
+the inquiry, _Cui bono?_--what justification has one for treating the
+subject at all, and why in the particular way which he has chosen? To
+the pertinency of this question to the present treatise the author has
+been deeply sensible, and therefore cannot forbear a few prefatory words
+of explanation of his object and method.
+
+In accounts of the theistic argument, as in the history of philosophy in
+general, it has been customary to pass over a space of well-nigh ten
+centuries of the Christian era in silence, or with such scanty and
+unsympathetic notice as to make silence the better alternative. Largely
+through the influence of such treatment as this, we moderns have almost
+forgotten at times that during this period there lived men inferior to
+none in history in endowments of mind and influence on succeeding
+generations, and that there then took place some of the most significant
+and far-reaching intellectual conflicts in the history of thought. "With
+Cicero," says Professor Stirling, "we reached in our course a most
+important and critical halting-place.... We have still ... to wait those
+thousand years yet before Anselm shall arrive with what is to be named
+the new proof, the proof ontological, and during the entire interval it
+is the Fathers of the Church and their immediate followers who, in
+repetition of the old, or suggestion of the new, connect thinker with
+thinker, philosopher with philosopher, pagan with Christian."[1] To
+attempt to account for even one of the details of thought during this
+period cannot be without its advantages.
+
+For Christianity gave a new and unique turn to thought. It brought with
+it a new set of data, and a new subject-matter. The Christian doctrine
+of God, the distinctions in the Trinity, the great doctrines centering
+around the person of Jesus Christ, though, perhaps, faintly foreshadowed
+in some of the earlier speculations, are, in their fulness and
+completeness, first given to the world by the Founder of Christianity.
+The claims made for these doctrines, too, gave them a unique character.
+In contrast with the half-hearted, faltering conclusions of the
+prevalent philosophical schools, Christianity asserted that its
+teachings were absolute truth; it claimed to be nothing less than a
+revelation from the Creator of the world. It will be readily seen that
+the introduction of such a system as this into the Greek world would be
+attended with important results, not only in its effects upon the
+intellectual life of the times, but also in the influence of the current
+philosophical conceptions on the statement of its doctrine. The
+significance of this early period lies in the fact that, in the
+positive, definite system of Christianity, systematic thought, which was
+fast becoming disorganized and sceptical, found a center about which it
+might rally and focus itself, and the scattered fragments of philosophy
+were all collected together, by either friends or foes, about the new
+religion. The new point of view and the new relations would be most
+significant, too, in that department of thought with which the contact
+of this new central system had most to do, and thus the treatment of the
+theistic problem exhibits in a special degree the alteration in the
+standpoint and method of philosophy. It threw into bold relief the old
+basis of belief in the divine, and aroused a comparison and discussion
+of the validity of the various arguments hitherto used by speculative
+thought, and set them over in sharp contrast to the claims of the new
+revelation. In the early period when this contrast was most clearly
+felt, and time had not yet permitted a complete fusion and blending of
+the two points of view, we find a simplicity of situation which will aid
+analysis and facilitate the study of the relation of the old arguments
+for the existence of a God to the Christian doctrine, and which will
+help in determining the elements due to each and in interpreting the
+reasons for the direction of thought on this subject, which
+characterized the whole of the Mediaeval period.
+
+In the representations of early Christian thought, however, we find
+great differences in the emphasis laid upon the speculative side of the
+theistic problem. Christian philosophy is no exception to the rule that
+the thought of the race develops through the needs, temperaments and
+tendencies with which it comes into contact, and unfolds itself
+naturally in response to internal or external stimuli--the doubts,
+intellectual needs and growing consciousness and experience of the
+believer, and the cavils, objections and attacks of his opponent. The
+first Christian teachers had to meet simple problems, and the mission of
+the Apostolic and sub-Apostolic Church was to "the people." Its first
+task, determined by the conditions in which the Christians found
+themselves, as well as by the command of their Master, was to convert
+the Jews, who, by their long training as a "peculiar people," were
+especially adapted for receiving this new revelation, based, as it was,
+on that monotheistic idea to the preservation of which their national
+life had been devoted. Upon them the primitive Christians, most of whom,
+like St. Paul, were "Hebrews of the Hebrews," brought to bear the
+instrument most adapted to their conversion, namely, the argument
+deduced from the sacred Scriptures of their race.
+
+And when the Church finally turned towards the Gentile world, it was
+still the popular religion, the religion of the poets, rather than the
+philosophy of the schools, with which its apologists first came into
+contact, and it is very evident from such writings as the recently
+recovered _Apology_ of Aristides, "philosopher of Athens," and many
+other works extending over the whole Ante-Nicene period, that much of
+the energy of the early exponents of Christianity was directed towards
+the conversion of the populace who still adhered, at least formally, to
+the religion of their own poets.
+
+The function of the primitive Christians, so far as the content of their
+belief was concerned, was to preserve and transmit to their successors
+an _implicit_ faith. The value of this faith they attempted to show
+chiefly by practical, ethical demonstration. Thus they preached chiefly
+by example, and it is on the ground of _life_ rather than that of
+_thought_ that they made their plea to the Gentiles. In their struggle
+for existence, threatened on every side by official persecution and
+popular fury, they had no opportunity for speculation on
+fundamentals--they pleaded merely to be allowed to live the life to
+which they were pledged. With the Eastern training, which most of them
+had had, so foreign to the ideals of Greek philosophy, and so tenacious
+of the idea of God, and with the person of Christ so near to them as to
+blind their eyes to the possibility of any other standard of truth than
+His words, they naturally afford us no material for the question under
+discussion.
+
+Thus we must wait for the rise of Christian philosophy, and take as our
+_terminus a quo_ the middle of the second century, when first there
+appears that literature which bears evidence to the conversion of
+philosophers to the Christian Church, and affords us examples of their
+attempts to present the new doctrines to the schools which they had
+abandoned.
+
+Our _terminus ad quem_ will be the Council of Nicea. The reason for this
+is in part the demands of time and space, and in part the fact that it
+will avoid needless and tedious repetition. The use of the theistic
+argument for some time after the Nicene period is fairly homogeneous,
+and presents no important new considerations. The apologetic work of the
+patristic writers was chiefly done in the ante-Nicene age; after that
+discussion turned more upon questions within the scope of the Christian
+Faith. The function of the age of the Councils was the formulation and
+definition of Christian dogma upon the admitted basis of the revelation
+of Jesus Christ.
+
+This inquiry, therefore, will have to do with that interesting period
+when the doctrines of the Christian Church were finding their connection
+with and relation to the speculations of Greek philosophy, and when the
+Christian philosophers and apologists were determining the attitude
+which, for many centuries, revealed religion assumed toward the
+demonstrations of natural theology.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] _Philosophy and Theology_, p. 176.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+GREEK AND ROMAN THEISTIC ARGUMENTS
+
+
+The first question that confronts us as we enter upon the discussion is
+the preliminary inquiry: What had been done already in the way of
+theistic argument, and in what condition did the Christian Church find
+this argument when it first began to develop a system of apologetics?
+And from the conditions of ancient thought, or, at least, from what we
+know of it, this resolves itself into the question: How far had the
+Greek philosophers advanced by means of speculative thought toward a
+conscious theism, and by what means did the various individuals and
+schools among them seek to prove the existence of the Divine? The answer
+to this inquiry will involve a brief examination of the contributions of
+the pre-Socratic philosophers (especially Anaxagoras), Socrates, Plato,
+Aristotle, the Stoics, the Epicureans, Cicero, and the Hellenizing Jews
+of Alexandria.
+
+The thought of Greece before the time of Socrates, from the very nature
+of its problem, and the material at its disposal, yields us but little
+that can, without doing violence to the facts, be construed as bearing
+on the theistic argument. The search of these early philosophers was,
+indeed, for an {Arche}, but their interest in the inquiry, as a perusal of
+the extant fragments of their writings will prove, was pre-eminently
+cosmological. They strove to discover the eternal ground of all things,
+but it was a principle to account for the phenomena of _physical_ nature
+that they sought, and they had not attained to a realization of even a
+rude form of the theistic problem. All they sought for was a primary
+substance which should satisfy the needs of a rudimentary physical
+science, which would enable them to co-ordinate the scanty data which
+they had accumulated from their contact with the world in which they
+lived, and to whose secrets they seem at times, in spite of their
+limited knowledge, to have come very close. And even granting that the
+problem involved in their search for the {Arche} was at bottom identical
+with that of theism, they attempt to give no proof or argument for their
+conclusions with regard to it. They are as yet merely _seers_, who
+report the vision that comes to them as they gaze upon the stress and
+strain and ever-changing spectacle of earth's phenomena. Even the
+teleology of Anaxagoras (often mentioned as the germ of the theistic
+argument) gives us nothing more than a poet's dream, expressed, as
+Diogenes Laertius informs us, in a "lofty and agreeable style."[2]
+"Nous," Anaxagoras tells us, "is infinite and self-ruled, and is mixed
+with nothing, but is alone, itself by itself.... It has all knowledge
+about everything, and the greatest strength; and Nous has power over all
+things, both greater and smaller, that have life. And Nous had power
+over the whole revolution, so that it began to revolve in the
+beginning.... And Nous set in order all things that were to be and that
+were, and all things that are not now, and that are, and this revolution
+in which now revolve the stars and the sun and the moon and the air and
+the aether that are separated off."[3] This, however, amounts to no
+argument, and it is extremely doubtful whether Anaxagoras ever meant
+anything more by his Nous than Empedocles did by his Love and Strife, of
+which it was the historical successor, and we may safely, I think,
+endorse the judgment of Aristotle when he says that "Anaxagoras, also,
+employs mind as a machine" (_i.e._, as the Laurentian MS. indicates, as
+a theatrical _deus ex machina_) "for the production of the cosmos; and
+when he finds himself in a perplexity as to the cause of its being
+necessarily so, he then drags it in by force to his assistance; but, in
+the other instances, he assigns as a cause of the things that are being
+produced, everything else in preference to mind (Nous)."[4] This
+criticism will, I am confident, apply fully as well to any apparent
+theism in the other pre-Socratic writers,[5] so that we shall be
+justified in assigning to them as their part in the development of the
+theistic argument, the mere undefined feeling and growing conviction of
+a permanent behind the changing, a "one" behind the "many."
+
+We find the natural deep and practical piety of Socrates reinforcing
+itself with a very full and complete statement of a teleological
+argument, based upon final cause, or adaptation of means to ends. It is
+in the _Memorabilia_[6] that we get the clear statement of this, and,
+therefore, it is a Socratic teaching which can, fortunately, be
+definitely distinguished from the Platonic treatment of the subject.
+"But which," he asks, "seemed to you most worthy of admiration,
+Aristodemus--the artist who forms images void of motion and
+intelligence, or one who has the skill to produce animals that are
+endued not only with activity, but understanding?" Then as Aristodemus
+answers, "The latter," Socrates proceeds to a detailed description of
+the adaptations of the eye, ear, teeth, mouth and nose to their several
+uses, and concludes with the question: "And canst thou still doubt,
+Aristodemus, whether a disposition of parts like this should be a work
+of chance, or of wisdom and contrivance?" He also argues in like manner
+from the existence of intelligence in man, the soul, and the general
+adaptability of man's powers and conditions to the furthering of his
+life. This argument to design has appropriately been called "peculiarly
+the Socratic proof,"[7] and to his treatment of it, so in keeping with
+the practical, sturdy common-sense of the man, nothing essential or
+important, except in multiplication of applications and details, has
+been added since his time. In the opinion of the writer, however,
+Socrates, so far as one can judge from his recorded utterances,
+developed merely the form of the Argument to Design, but it cannot be
+positively asserted that he used it as a _theistic_ argument. In the
+_Memorabilia_ it is always "the gods" to which the argument leads, and
+the worship of them that he urges. He may have had a more theistic
+conception, but the context warrants no further meaning of {theos} than the
+generic one of an object of worship--in this case the national gods. In
+the _Apology_ "{ho theos}" is used almost invariably of the local divinity
+of the oracle at Delphi, and of the "daemon" which, at the instigation
+of the Delphian divinity, as he was convinced, guided his actions. The
+present writer is strongly of the opinion that much violence has been
+done the words of Socrates by translators and interpreters, and that
+this fact will account for much of the alleged theistic teaching which
+is, without warrant, ascribed to the Athenian sage.
+
+The contribution of Plato to the theistic argument was,
+characteristically, the form of the "Ontological proof" which has been
+called "Idealogical." This process is a very natural development for
+Plato's Dialectic.[8] Once divide the universe, as he did, into the two
+classes of permanent existence and transient phenomena, and identify the
+former with the ideas (which are nothing else than universals, each of
+which expresses the essence of many phenomena), and it is a very easy
+process to conceive of these ideas themselves being united in another
+more inclusive idea, and so, by a process of generalization, to reach at
+length the "Idea of Ideas"--the absolute Idea, in which lies the essence
+of all in the universe. Thus from any one fact of beauty, harmony, etc.,
+the human mind may rise to the notion of a common quality in all objects
+of beauty, etc.: "from a single beautiful body to two, from two to all
+others; from beautiful bodies to beautiful sentiments, from beautiful
+sentiments to beautiful thoughts, until, from thought to thought, we
+arrive at the highest thought, which has no other object than the
+perfect, absolute, Divine Beauty."[9] The "ideas," too, and especially
+the "Good" or "absolute Idea," have in them a teleological element,
+"since the Idea not only states as what, but also for what a thing
+exists."[10] The absolute Idea is not only the first principle of the
+universe, but also its final purpose, and thus we have indicated in
+various places a teleological argument. Traces of other forms of the
+theistic argument have been detected in Plato's writings, but none of
+them are at all explicitly developed, and one cannot but feel that some
+writers on the subject have claimed altogether too much for Plato's
+theology.[11] The poetical and allegorical form into which he so
+constantly throws his discussion makes it extremely difficult to
+determine his exact position, especially on such a subject as his
+theology, in which he is constantly adapting his metaphysical doctrines
+to the prevailing polytheistic religious ideas; and at the same time
+this method of expression gives a good opportunity for the collection of
+isolated quotations which may support almost any theory.
+
+The religious character of Plato's philosophy is, as Zeller says, to be
+found much more on the moral than on the scientific side, and hence he
+was content to leave the more exact formulation of such arguments as
+these to his successors. As to the results to which this method led him,
+the statement of Zeller, in view of the many conflicting opinions, seems
+satisfactory: "In everything that he states concerning the Divinity the
+leading point of view is the idea of the Good, the highest metaphysical
+and ethical perfection. As this highest Idea stands over all ideas as
+the cause of all being and knowing, so over all gods, alike hard to find
+and to describe, stands the one, eternal, invisible god, the Framer and
+Father of all things."[12] Of the personality of God Plato had no
+conception,[13] and it would be a very difficult undertaking to prove
+from his extant works that he was, in any real sense of the word, a
+theist.
+
+Of the three divisions of the speculative sciences--physical,
+mathematical and theological--Aristotle makes the last the "most
+excellent,"[14] "for it is conversant about that one amongst entities
+which is more entitled to respect than the rest."[15] It is to the
+discussion of this subject in Book XI. that the greater part of the
+_Metaphysics_ leads up. He has established in the previous portions of
+the work the two substances which he calls "natural or
+physical"--namely, matter and form--and now he proceeds to justify the
+hints he has given of a third substance which is "immovable."[16] It has
+been customary to divide this discussion of Aristotle into several
+formal theistic arguments,[17] but in the opinion of the writer the text
+of the _Metaphysics_ does not lend itself readily to any such cut and
+dried arrangement of its argument. Aristotle does, indeed, to avoid the
+absurdity of an endless regress, argue from the {kinoumena} and the
+{kinounta} of the physical World to a {proton kinoun} which is a pure
+{energeia, akineton, aneu hyles}, and hence foreign to all the passivity
+and contingency of matter;[18] concludes from motion in the world that
+there must be a First Mover;[19] and asserts the actuality of the
+eternal as opposed to potentiality; but these arguments are so blended
+together, and take each one so much from the others, that I cannot be
+convinced that Aristotle had ever clearly differentiated them.
+
+But it is clear enough that the crown of Aristotle's whole system is
+this "prime mover," "unmoved" and "apart from matter," and that this
+conception, up to which his thought leads from every side, as the
+necessary implication from the motion everywhere seen in the world, is
+his chief contribution to the argument for the existence of the Divine.
+Aristotle's chief interest lay in the cosmological problem, and his form
+of proof and the result which he reached by it were moulded by this
+fact. His argument did not lead him to a Creator of the world, for the
+universe, no less than the prime mover, was eternal, and the latter is
+nothing more than a principle of reason immanent in the world--pervading
+it, not distinguished from it--and the author of motion only in a
+passive way, after all, as a sort of magnetic object of desire.[20] In
+other places Aristotle makes passing references to different forms of
+the argument to prove the existence of the gods,[21] but it is evident
+that his own interest centered around this unmoved final cause, and it
+is in his proof of its existence from cosmological considerations that
+his significance for us lies.
+
+In the post-Aristotelian schools we have an entire change of the point
+of view, and instead of a philosophy of nature, such as occupied the
+attention of the pre-Socratic thinkers, or a philosophy of mind, such as
+Socrates, Plato, and to a large extent, Aristotle attempted to
+construct, we find the interest of men in speculative questions centered
+in a philosophy of life, of morals. Corresponding to this change in the
+point of view, we may easily detect an alteration in the manner of
+dealing with the arguments for the existence of the gods.
+
+There was, in the first place, an increased emphasis laid upon this line
+of thought, in common with religious subjects in general, and the
+reasons for the belief in the existence of the gods (for the Greek
+schools never transcended polytheism--when they speak of {theos} they mean
+simply the abstract divinity of the many separate divinities) seems, so
+far as we may judge from the comparatively scanty remains that have come
+down to us, to have been discussed at great length; critically and
+negatively by the Sceptics, positively and apparently with full
+conviction by the Stoics, and with a curious mixture of both of these
+attitudes by the Epicureans. These latter, if the reported doctrine of
+Epicurus himself be trustworthy, denied the popular gods, and, in order
+to insure freedom, rejected the Stoic doctrine of providence; but, on
+the other hand, asserted a belief in gods whose essential
+characteristics are immortality and perfect happiness (to insure which
+they must care nothing for the world or for men), and whose existence
+was held to be proven on the basis of the common consent of all men
+("_Argumentum e Consensu Gentium_"). This argument is the result of a
+"natural idea" or "pre-notion," which Epicurus called {prolepsis};--"that
+is, an antecedent conception of the fact in the mind, without which
+nothing can be understood, inquired after, or discoursed on."[22]
+
+The Stoics, on the other hand, with their strong conviction of
+providence working in the world, were rather inclined to deny the
+validity of this argument from common consent, and rested their belief
+in the gods, as Cicero makes his Stoic do in _De Natura Deorum_,[23] on
+the evidence of design and purpose in the universe, but by this process
+succeeded only in proving to their own satisfaction that the world is
+divine--a fatalistic pantheism which roused the ire of the Epicurean and
+Sceptic alike, and which even Cicero seemed hardly to be able to accept.
+
+From this necessarily brief review of the development of the argument
+for the existence of a Divinity in Greek and Roman thought, it will be
+seen that, at one time or another, in a more or less fully developed
+form, each one of the principal types of the theistic argument received
+the chief emphasis and had its method enunciated. The pre-Socratic
+natural philosophers, on the basis of the maxim as old as philosophy
+itself--{Adynaton ginesthai ti ek medenos prouparchontos}--pointed to an
+{Arche}--a real behind phenomena, a permanent behind the change--and thus
+pointed to the so-called Aetiological argument founded on the principle
+of causality. Socrates, with his pre-eminently practical disposition and
+ethical point of view, saw above all things intention in nature, and so
+from the consideration of this choice and adaptation of means to their
+end, and the resultant Final Cause he constructs a very complete
+Teleological argument for the existence of some intelligence behind the
+visible world. Plato's Ideas, as we have seen, determine the method by
+which he arrives at his abstract divinity, namely, by the "Idealogical"
+form of argument based upon a process of generalization. Aristotle,
+struck by the phenomena of motion in the universe, lays most stress on
+the course of reasoning which would lead back to the Prime Mover. The
+Epicureans, subordinating their theology to their ethical theory, and
+unwilling to allow their deity to interfere with the world or with men's
+affairs, developed and placed their dependence on the argument from
+common consent. The Stoics, laying great stress upon the order,
+proportion and harmony in the world, argued to mind as the reason for
+this condition of things. But none of these philosophers, in the opinion
+of the writer, attained to a conception of God which could in any real
+or accepted sense of the word be called theistic, or which would satisfy
+a mind accustomed to the idea of the Christian doctrine of God.
+
+For the Greek writers never make any accurate distinction between {ho
+theos, hoi theoi, to theion} and {ta theia}. They never conceive of
+their {theos} as anything more than a rather larger and more majestic
+member of the innumerable family of the divinities of which the poets
+had sung--more spiritual only in so far as it was more vague and
+indefinite, a sort of mysterious, mythical being to which is sometimes
+attributed the same kind of personality possessed by the inferior gods,
+and sometimes regarded as simply the abstract divinity which
+characterized all of the gods. But that to which the arguments that we
+have been discussing generally lead is not even so near to the theistic
+conception as this modified polytheism, for they usually conduct us, as
+we have already indicated, to nothing more than a (sometimes)
+personified force of nature, principle of order, or abstract
+conception--not a God. Take away the inaccurate and misleading terms by
+which the original Greek is rendered in most of the English versions, in
+which the enthusiasm of the student of comparative religions has taken
+the place of the careful and accurate translator, and, aside from
+frequent apostrophes, such as are continually addressed by the poets to
+the many gods of the popular religion, the end of the arguments we have
+been considering will be found to be as depicted above. In a word: Greek
+philosophy, independent of Semitic influences, developed the _form_ of
+the chief types of the theistic argument, but it failed utterly to
+deduce from them a theism, being throughout in its theology either
+polytheistic or pantheistic.
+
+While considering this branch of our subject it would be impossible to
+ignore another school of thought, which, while neither Greek nor Roman
+in its nationality, yet derives so much of its philosophical stand-point
+from the former of these races as to be often classed under the same
+head. This is the school of Hellenizing Jews, in which there is built up
+on the foundation of the traditional faith of the Hebrew race, to the
+truth and authority of which they always held, a superstructure of
+philosophical speculation which follows closely the models afforded them
+by Greek thought. To effect a reconciliation between these two elements
+it was necessary for them to resort to the allegorical interpretation of
+the ancient inspired history of the race, and hence to the Oriental mind
+that wished to engage in speculative thought it was naturally Platonic
+and Pythagorean, rather than Aristotelian, methods that were most
+attractive.
+
+The chief and probably the earliest developed example of this
+combination of Oriental and Occidental thought is found in the writings
+of Philo Judaeus.[24] To him the powers of man seemed to be wholly
+unreliable and delusive, and only the special grace of God enables one
+to perceive any truth--"{Autos theos arche kai pege technon kai epistemon
+anomologetai}." To approach God one must flee from one's self--"{ei gar
+zeteis theon exelthousa apo sautes anazetei}." Neither reason nor any other
+function of the soul can conduct us to God, nor can we attain to a
+conception of Him as the supreme cause of all by regarding the manifold
+perfections and powers of nature, for such a process can give us only
+shadows. It is only by a "superior faculty" which is a grace of God that
+one can attain some idea of the divine, but even by this means we arrive
+at only negative knowledge--we can know only what God is not.[25] Yet in
+spite of all this Philo uses quite an elaborate teleological argument
+drawn from the order in the world.[26] This inconsistency, which, as
+Erdmann remarks,[27] may be explained by the fact that Philo makes God
+only the orderer of the world, and, furthermore, interposes an
+intermediate being, the famous Philonian Logos, we have thought it worth
+while to mention in this place, as it forms a connecting link between
+the Greek philosophers and the Alexandrian Fathers, and foreshadows, in
+some degree, the direction in which their thought was to be led.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[2] D. L., I, 16; II, 6.
+
+[3] Ritter and Preller, 123. Translated by Burnet; _Early Greek
+Philosophy_, p. 283, 4.
+
+[4] _Metaphysics_, I, 4.
+
+[5] The "one god, the greatest among gods and men" of Xenophanes has led
+men to call him the first monotheist, but an examination of the
+fragments attributed to him will, I am sure, confirm the verdict of
+Burnet (_ut supra_, p. 123) that "what Xenophanes proclaimed as the
+'greatest god' was nothing more nor less than what we call the material
+world."
+
+[6] Xenophon: _Memorabilia_, I, 4.
+
+[7] Cocker: _Christianity and Greek Philosophy_, p. 491.
+
+[8] "La dialectique et le systeme des idees conduisaient directement
+Platon a la demonstration de l'existence de Dieu; et son Dieu porte en
+quelque facon l'empreinte de cette origine, puisqu'il est a la fois
+l'unite absolue et l'intelligence parfaite." Jules Simon: _Etudes sur la
+Theodicee de Platon et d'Aristote_, p. 29.
+
+[9] _Banquet_, Sec. 34.
+
+[10] Erdmann: _History of Philosophy_, Sec. 77, 4.
+
+[11] E.g. Cocker: _Christianity and Greek Philosophy_, pp. 377, ff.
+
+[12] Zeller: _Philosophie der Griechen_, II, i, s. 926.
+
+[13] Plato "never raised the question of the personality of God."
+(Zeller; _Greek Philosophy_ (briefer edition) Sec. 49.) "Sie" ("die Idee
+der Ideen") "ist natuerlich keine gottliche Persoenlichkeit." (Kahnis:
+_Verhaeltniss der Alten Philosophie zum Christenthum_, p. 54.)
+
+[14] _Metaphysics_, V, 1.
+
+[15] _Ibid._: x, 7.
+
+[16] _Metaphysics_, xi, 6.
+
+[17] E.g., Schwegler: _History of Philosophy_; Cocker; _ut supra_, p.
+412, ff.
+
+[18] xi, 6.
+
+[19] xi, 7.
+
+[20] Jules Simon: _Etudes sur la Theodicee de Platon et d'Aristote_, p.
+88, _et al._; Davidson: _Theism and Human Nature_, p. 45.
+
+[21] Aristotle makes good use of the argument to design in a striking
+passage from a lost work quoted by Cicero in _De Natura Deorum_, II, 37,
+and in _Physica auscultatio_, II, 8, says: "The appearance of ends and
+means is a proof of design."
+
+[22] Cicero; _De Natura Deorum_, I, 16, 17, and frequently. See also
+Seneca; _Epist._, cxvii, whose Syncretism allows him to borrow from
+Stoic and Epicurean alike. See also Zeller; _Stoics, Epicureans and
+Sceptics_, p. 465.
+
+[23] E.g., I, 36; II, 2, 5, ff.
+
+[24] Vacherot: _Histoire Critique de l'Ecole d'Alexandrie_, Vol. I, p.
+142.
+
+[25] _Ibid._: Vol. I, p. 143, 144.
+
+[26] See e.g., the quotation in Stirling; _Philosophy and Theology_, p.
+173.
+
+[27] _History of Philosophy_, Vol. I, Sec. 114, 3.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+THE PATRISTIC POINT OF VIEW
+
+
+The philosophy of the Greeks during the first century of our era
+presents a great contrast to that of the age of Socrates, Plato and
+Aristotle. No longer do we find men engaged in the processes of
+positive, constructive thought, but we have presented to our view an age
+of retrospection, of literary criticism, and, to a great extent, of
+intellectual exhaustion. Men live amid the ruins of the systems
+constructed by their ancestors, and each one attempts to form for
+himself, out of the scattered fragments, a combination which may serve
+him as a sufficiently coherent rule of thought, and, especially, of
+life. Stoicism, Epicureanism, Scepticism, the "Orientalizing Hellenes,"
+and the "Hellenizing Orientals," all by their restless, nervous,
+frequently erratic and aimless activity, bear witness to the fact that
+the mind of man has had revealed to it its own limitations, and is well
+on the way towards despair of ever arriving at truth. The Greek mind no
+longer exhibits that elasticity and spontaneity and enthusiasm in the
+search for truth, or that confidence in its results, which characterized
+the representatives of the best period of the thought of the race. The
+political fortunes of Greece do but typify the process which was going
+on in the Greek mind itself, and the period which we are considering is
+an age of intellectual as well as political decadence. This is
+manifested by the further fact that the thought of the age was largely
+turned backward and dwelt in the past. The day of original thought had
+passed by, and men were now content to deal with ideas at second
+hand--to be commentators rather than creators. This literary character
+which Greek philosophy now first began to exhibit was often seen and
+protested against. Thus Epictetus says: "If I study philosophy with a
+view only to its literature, I am not a philosopher, but a litterateur;
+the only difference is that I interpret Chrysippus instead of
+Homer."[28] But protest as they might, the inexorable signs of old age
+crept over the nation as irresistibly as they do over the individual,
+and, like the venerable man, preserved beyond his generation, Hellas
+lived largely in the memories of the past.
+
+The influence of this condition of things is seen in the education of
+the times. The Greek world of this period, as we know it, was
+pre-eminently educated, but in a special, literary sense of the term.
+The foundation of their education was Grammar--the "Belles Lettres" of
+modern times. Sextus Empiricus says, "We are all given over to Grammar
+from childhood, and almost from our baby-clothes."[29] After Grammar
+came Rhetoric, "the study of literature by the study of literary
+expression and quasi-forensic argument,"[30] and Rhetoric was followed
+by Philosophy, which, however, like the other branches of study, so
+partook of the characteristics of the age that we find Marcus Aurelius
+congratulating himself in this manner: "I owe it to Rusticus that I
+found the idea of the need of moral reformation, and that I was not
+diverted to literary ambition, or to write treatises on philosophical
+subjects, or to make rhetorical exhortations."[31]
+
+This saying of the imperial Stoic suggests another characteristic of the
+thought of the age--its ethical cast. From the time of Aristotle men had
+been content to have, to a large extent, the abstract problems of
+Ontology, Epistemology, and the others, and to lay emphasis on questions
+of life and manners. Stoicism, Epicureanism, Scepticism, and all the
+minor schools of the age, are pre-eminently ethical in their character.
+To be sure it was ethical theory rather than practice with which they
+were busied, but this fact makes the characteristic none the less
+important for the student of the history of philosophy.
+
+This disorganized condition of thought which we have been attempting to
+depict has been well described by Dr. Stirling: "The fall of the old
+world, which was at once political, religious and philosophical, was
+characterized by a universal atomism. Politically, the individual, as an
+atom, found himself alone, without a country, hardly with a home.
+Religiously, the individual, as an atom, has lost his God; he looks up
+into an empty heaven; his heart is broken, and he is hopeless, helpless,
+hapless, in despair. Philosophically, all is contradiction; there is no
+longer any knowledge he can trust. What the world is he knows not at
+all. He knows not at all what he himself is. Of what he is here for, of
+what it is all about, he is in the profoundest doubt, despondency and
+darkness. Politically, religiously and philosophically thus empty and
+alone, it is only of himself that the individual can think; it is only
+for himself that the individual must care. There is not a single need
+left him now--he has not a single thought in his heart--but {eu prattein},
+his own welfare."[32]
+
+It was in the midst of this lump of Eclecticism, Syncretism and
+Scepticism that the leaven of Christianity was deposited, and the result
+of the fusion which took place after the first antagonism had passed
+away, makes this period a turning-point in the history of philosophy,
+and of the utmost importance as regards its effects on subsequent
+thought.
+
+And of this antagonism and subsequent reconciliation, the early
+Christian Apologists were concrete examples. They had most of them,
+before they became Christians, been adherents of one or the other of the
+different philosophical sects, and several of them had tried all in
+turn.[33] They exemplified well the prevailing restless distrust of the
+results and methods of the older schools, but in Christianity--the
+belief in a Person, who was for them "the Way, the Truth and the
+Life"--they finally found the certainty for which they had so long
+sought in vain. The effect of this process, and of this result upon the
+attitude of the early Christian philosophers, could be none other than
+an increased distrust of the arguments for the existence of God, and an
+inclination to ignore them completely. These already suspected processes
+of reasoning by which the Greeks had been able to attain only to an
+abstract principle, or force, or mechanical cause, or arranger of the
+world, must be of very small importance to these men, upon whose sight
+had burst all at once, in the height of their despair, the vision of the
+Christian doctrine of God, certified to by one whom they believed to be
+the veritable Son of God, "of one substance with the Father," and whose
+testimony to the truth of any fact brought a certainty which was
+infinitely superior to that which could be attained by any rational
+argument on other grounds. The transcendent authority of the teaching of
+Jesus Christ for these men, suddenly rescued by a belief in His claims
+from an absolute scepticism which was rapidly overflowing their minds,
+needs to be thoroughly appreciated before one can understand the
+position which they assumed, especially with reference to such a
+question as the one under discussion.
+
+But though this basis of belief was sufficient for them, yet, as the
+primary mission of the Christian was to "go, disciple all nations," they
+were soon brought, in their endeavors to fulfil this command, into
+contact with those who not only denied the authority of their Teacher,
+but who were sceptical about the very fundamentals of religious belief.
+For the sake of these, then, and occasionally for the further
+confirmation of the faith of believers, and for purposes of
+illustration, the patristic writers return again to the discussion of
+those elements of belief for which they themselves felt no need, and
+hence we have in their works a rather frequent reference to the various
+forms of the theistic argument; but one which is evidently only
+incidental to their main course of thought, and which is brought in
+merely in accommodation to the needs of their readers. The ordinary
+arguments to prove the existence of God were not at all an essential, or
+even prominent, feature of early Christian Theology. And because of this
+secondary and incidental position of these arguments, they were never,
+as we shall see, given definite, conventional shape in the patristic use
+of them, nor were the various forms of the argument differentiated; but
+they were used in what we may call a mixed form, a combination of two or
+more different forms being put forth as one composite whole.
+
+Besides these general influences which shaped the patristic treatment of
+the theistic arguments, we should notice certain fundamental and
+characteristic principles assumed by the Fathers, or by most of them,
+which have their bearing on our subject.
+
+In the first place it is held by most of the early Christian authors,
+and explicitly stated by many of them, that the idea of the existence of
+God is innate in man as a "natural opinion." We have already noticed the
+doctrine of {prolepsis} advanced by Epicurus, and the somewhat similar
+position assumed by Philo, and we are not surprised to find that this
+idea took a strong hold on the devout minds of the early Christians.
+Thus St. Justin Martyr states that "the appellation 'God' is not a name,
+but _an opinion_ ({prosagoreuma}) _planted in the nature of man_ of a
+thing that can hardly be explained,"[34] and makes one of his
+discussions conclude that souls "can perceive ({noein}) that God
+exists."[35] St. Clement of Alexandria goes even further and affirms
+that "the Father, then, and Maker of all things is apprehended by all
+things, agreeably to all, _by innate power and without teaching_."[36]
+Tertullian thinks that "the soul was before prophecy. From the beginning
+the knowledge of God is the dowry (_dos_) of the soul,"[37] and among
+the "things known even by nature" is "the knowledge of our God" which is
+"possessed by all,"[38] so that he could write a treatise, _De
+Testimonio Animae_, and exclaim, "O noble testimony of the soul by nature
+Christian."[39] Origen speaks of "the uncorrupted idea of Him which is
+implanted in the human mind,"[40] and St. Cyprian makes this knowledge
+so plain that "this is the very height of sinfulness to refuse to
+acknowledge Him whom you cannot but know."[41] Arnobius, too, in a
+passage in which much allowance must be made for rhetorical fervor,
+exclaims, "Is there any human being who has not entered on the first day
+of his life with an idea of that Great Head? In whom has it not been
+implanted by nature, on whom has it not been impressed, aye, stamped
+almost in his mother's womb even, in whom is there not a native
+instinct, that He is King and Lord, the ruler of all things that be? In
+fine, if the dumb animals even could stammer forth their thoughts, if
+they were able to use our languages; nay, if trees, if the clods of the
+earth, if stones dominated by vital perceptions were able to produce
+vocal sounds, and to utter articulate speech, would they not in that
+case, with nature as their guide and teacher, in the faith of
+uncorrupted innocence, both feel that there is a God, and proclaim that
+He alone is Lord of all?"[42] Such language as this last example is, of
+course, the exclamation of the orator rather than the deliberate
+judgment of the philosopher, but taken in connection with the other
+passages cited it will indicate how strong a hold this conviction had on
+the Fathers, and will anticipate, to some extent, what we shall have to
+say later as to the use of the _Argumentum e Consensu Gentium_.
+
+In direct connection and sharp contrast with this opinion of the
+Fathers, there stands the seemingly contradictory statement, as
+frequently encountered in their writings, that the soul of itself cannot
+see God nor attain to true religion. In the very same sentence in which
+St. Justin Martyr asserts that souls "can perceive ({noein}) that God
+exists," he states that they do not see ({idein}) God,[43] and insists in
+more than one place that "neither by nature nor by human conception is
+it possible for men to know things so great and divine."[44] Frequently
+the patristic writers have occasion to emphasize the inability of man to
+attain by any of his natural powers to religious truth, and to point to
+the impotent longings and aspirations of Greek philosophy as an example
+of this. St. Clement of Alexandria, for example, asserts that "the
+chiefs of philosophy only guessed at" religious truth,[45] and lays
+down the general principle that "God, then, being not a subject for
+demonstration, cannot be the object of science."[46] Origen, too, states
+that "for ourselves, we maintain that human nature is in no way able to
+seek after God, or to attain a clear knowledge of Him without the help
+of Him whom it seeks."[47]
+
+The inconsistency between these two fundamental positions of the
+Fathers, of which much is often made, is, I think, more apparent than
+real. For they make a clear distinction in their thought, though the
+mere language which they use is sometimes confusing, between knowledge
+of the existence of God--the undefined feeling or belief that there is a
+God--which is the "innate opinion," for which they give every man
+credit; and the knowledge of God, _i.e._, of His attributes, etc., the
+subject-matter of dogmatic theology. The existence of the former of
+these, it is true, as of the latter, may be obscured and nearly
+obliterated by sin and the consequent disorganization; for in the
+teaching of the Fathers, as in that of their Master, it is the pure in
+heart that see God,[48] and it is only the man whose nature is kept in
+due balance by a life of moral rectitude--the "righteous man" of the
+Scriptures--who can be expected to exhibit clearly this "natural
+opinion" or to attain to a full knowledge and appreciation of the
+Christian doctrine of God. At the very best, the knowledge of the Deity
+attained apart from revelation seemed to the Fathers to be, in
+comparison with their own certainty, miserably vague and conjectural,
+and they are constantly contrasting, in the most striking and graphic
+way, the contradictory and uncertain results to which the philosophers
+attained with the definiteness and consistency of the already
+well-defined doctrine of the Christian church. To them certainty in
+regard to knowledge of God can only come by means of the testimony of
+one who had seen and known,[49] and this testimony they are satisfied
+that they find in two places chiefly--first, in the testimony of the
+Prophets of the Old Testament, and, second, but in fact primarily, in
+the life and words of Jesus Christ, "the Word."
+
+Of the antiquity and reliability of this first source--the
+Prophets--they were never tired of talking, and they were so confident
+of the necessity of resorting to it that they developed their famous
+theory of the indebtedness of Plato and Aristotle to those Hebrew seers
+for their theology. "From every point of view, therefore," concludes St.
+Justin Martyr, "it must be seen that in no other way than only from the
+prophets, who teach us by divine inspiration, is it at all possible to
+learn anything concerning God and the true religion."[50]
+
+But the chief source from which the Fathers drew that certainty which
+they could not find in the demonstrations of philosophy was in the
+teaching of the Word, Jesus Christ. God, indeed, as we have seen, is not
+an object of science, "but the Son is wisdom and knowledge and truth,
+and all else that has affinity thereto. _He is also susceptible of
+demonstration and of description._"[51] It is in the incarnate Word of
+God that the patristic writers find expressed all that man is able to
+comprehend, and all that he needs to know in this present world, of the
+Divine Nature, and it is His words that confirm their confidence in that
+"innate opinion" of the existence of God, of the presence of which in
+every man they were so sure.
+
+The subject of the "demonstration" of the existence of God is spoken of
+at some length in several places by St. Clement of Alexandria, and with
+his position most of the Fathers agree in the main. He regards the
+subject largely from an Aristotelian point of view. All knowledge is
+derived from Sensation and Understanding. "Intellectual apprehension is
+first in the order of nature; but in our case, and in relation to
+ourselves, Sensation is first, and of Sensation and Understanding the
+essence of knowledge is formed, and evidence is common to Understanding
+and Sensation."[52] But "should any one say that knowledge is founded on
+demonstration" (which "depends on primary and better known
+principles,"[53] being "discourse agreeable to reason, producing belief
+in points disputed, from points admitted"[54]) "_by a process of
+reasoning_, let him hear that first principles are incapable of
+demonstration, for they are neither by art" ({techne}), which is "practical
+solely, and not theoretical," "nor by sagacity" ({phronesis} = practical
+wisdom), which is "conversant about objects which are susceptible of
+change,"[55] but are "primary," "self-evident," and
+"indemonstrable."[56] Thus this "demonstration by a process of
+reasoning," apart from Sensation _and_ Understanding, is only "to
+syllogize;" "for to draw the proper conclusion from the premisses is
+merely to syllogize. But to have also each of the premisses true is not
+merely to have syllogized, but also to have demonstrated," "so that if
+there is demonstration at all, there is an absolute necessity that there
+be something that is self-evident, which is called primary and
+indemonstrable."[57] On the basis of this theory of knowledge, it is
+evident that the usual arguments for the existence of God would have but
+little weight. For they either attempt to attain their end by formal
+thought alone, and thus result in mere "syllogizing;" or, starting from
+valid enough premises, they try to extend the conclusion beyond the
+limits imposed by the laws of "demonstration." For St. Clement, then,
+God is not "apprehended by the science of demonstration." If the Deity
+is to be known, there must be some place in which a union of the
+material and formal elements of "demonstration" of His existence is to
+be found. This he places in the life and teaching of Jesus Christ, who,
+as God incarnate, furnishes the "evidence" which "is common to
+Understanding and Sensation," and thus translates the "Infinite" and
+"Ineffable" into terms of the finite and comprehensible. In this paradox
+Christian theology has ever since been content to rest as one of the
+fundamental mysteries of the Faith.
+
+But even with all the aids of revelation, the Fathers would not claim
+that man can advance to a full or adequate knowledge of God--we can
+simply know so much _about_ God as is necessary for _practical_
+purposes--for ascertaining our proper end and duties. God is, from the
+very limitations of the human mind, "ineffable," "incomprehensible,"
+"the unknown;"[58] and St. Clement of Alexandria expressly states even
+the best knowledge of God that man can by any means attain is only
+negative.[59]
+
+These general positions, which in their broad lines are common to
+practically all of the Ante-Nicene Fathers, serve to confirm the
+historical interpretation of the place occupied by early Christian
+theistic thought, and will pave the way to an appreciation of their use
+of the arguments for the existence of God.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[28] _Enchiridion_, 49.
+
+[29] _Adversus Grammaticos_, I, 44.
+
+[30] Hatch: _Hibbert Lectures_, 1888, Lect. II, where a full account is
+given of the education of the time, and what it signified.
+
+[31] I, 7.
+
+[32] _Philosophy and Theology_, p. 164.
+
+[33] See e.g., St. Justin Martyr: _Dialogue with Trypho_, II.
+
+[34] _Second Apology_, VI.
+
+[35] _Dialogue with Trypho_, IV (end).
+
+[36] _Stromata_, V, 14.
+
+[37] _Against Marcion_, I, 10.
+
+[38] _Resurrection of the Flesh_, III.
+
+[39] _Apology_, XVII.
+
+[40] _Against Celsus_, II, 40.
+
+[41] _Treatise_ VI, Sec. 9. See, also, Tertullian: _Apology_, XVII; "And
+this is the crowning guilt of men that they will not recognize One of
+whom they cannot possibly be ignorant."
+
+[42] _Against the Heathen_, I. 33.
+
+[43] _Dialogue with Trypho_, IV, "Even Homer distinguishes simple seeing
+({idein}) from {noein}, which implies perception by the mind as consequent
+upon sight."
+
+[44] _Hortatory Address to the Greeks_, V.
+
+[45] _Exhortation to the Heathen_, XI.
+
+[46] _Stromata_, IV, 25. In V, 12, he explains what he means by
+"demonstration": "Nor any more is He apprehended by the science of
+demonstration, for it depends on primary and better known principles.
+But there is nothing antecedent to the Unbegotten."
+
+[47] _Against Celsus_, VII, 20. See also VII, 44, and Clem. Alex.:
+_Stromata_, II, ii, 4, and often.
+
+[48] E.g., Theophilus (I, 1, 2) replies to the demand: "Show me thy
+God," by the counter-demand: "Show me _yourself_, and I will show you my
+God."
+
+[49] E.g., St. Justin: _Hortatory Address_, V.
+
+[50] _Ibid._, XXXVIII. See also V, VIII, and Athenagoras: _Embassy_,
+VII; Clem. Alex.: _Exhortion to Heathen_, VI, XI; _Stromata_, I, 13; II,
+2, 11; V, 14; Tertullian: _Apology_, XVIII; Methodius: _Miscellaneous
+Fragments_, 1.
+
+[51] St. Clem. Alex.: _Stromata_, IV, 25. For a few among many
+references, see: St. Irenaeus: _Against Heresies_, V, i, 1; St. Clem.
+Alex.: _Exhortation to Heathen_, XI; _Instructor_, I, 12; _Stromata_, I,
+5, 19; II, 2; V, 1, 6, 11-13; VII, 1; VI, 5; Tertullian: _Against
+Marcion_, V, 16; _Against Praxeas_, XIV; Origen: _De Principiis_ I, iii,
+1; _Against Celsus_, VII, 42, 44; Novatian: _De Trinitate_, VIII;
+Arnobius: _Against the Heathen_, I, 38.
+
+[52] _Stromata_, II, 4: "{ek de aistheseos kai tou nou he tes epistemes
+synistatai ousia koinon de nou te kai aistheseos to enarges}." The student
+of Kant's _Kritik der Reinen Vernunft_ will find a number of familiar
+passages in St. Clement.
+
+[53] _Ibid._, V, 12.
+
+[54] _Ibid._, VIII, 3.
+
+[55] _Ibid._, II, 4.
+
+[56] _Ibid._, VIII, 3.
+
+[57] _Stromata_, VIII, 3.
+
+[58] E.g., Theophilus: _To Autolycus_, I, 3; St. Clem. Alex.:
+_Stromata_, V, 12.
+
+[59] _Stromata_, V, 12: "If, then, abstracting all that belongs to
+bodies and things called incorporeal, we cast ourselves into the
+greatness of Christ, and then advance into immensity by holiness, we may
+reach somehow to the conception of the Almighty, _knowing not what He
+is, but what He is not_."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+PATRISTIC USE OF THE THEISTIC ARGUMENTS
+
+
+From this account of the general attitude of the ante-Nicene writers
+toward a possible knowledge of God, it will readily be anticipated that
+the forms of the theistic argument used by Plato and by Aristotle will
+find no place in their system. St. Clement of Alexandria, in a passage
+already referred to,[60] shows that any Ontological or Idealogical
+argument can only lead us to an "Unknown," which may be "understood" and
+given meaning "by the Word alone that proceeds from Him;" and he and
+others of the early Christian writers seem to hint at that distinction
+between Epistemology and Ontology which has always been the chief enemy
+of any purely rational theistic argument. The Aetiological argument,
+too, is not explicitly stated by them; and, though Lactantius does, in
+opposing atheistic atomism, ask the question, "Whence are those minute
+seeds?" yet the casual character of the inquiry shows the small emphasis
+he placed on it, and the silence of the other writers, even when there
+was every opportunity for calling attention to such an argument, gives
+evidence to their estimate of its usefulness.
+
+It is the more "practical" and "common-sense" forms of the theistic
+argument--the Cosmological, the Teleological, the argument from common
+consent, and mixtures of these types--that the early Christian writers
+use most frequently, and in this they do but conform to the general
+tendency of their age, as well as to the practical spirit of
+Christianity. As we have seen, the more artificial and abstract
+arguments of Plato and Aristotle did not take much hold upon others than
+their originators or formulators, and the distinct tendency of the
+theology of the later Greek and Latin schools of philosophy was toward
+the more concrete forms of the theistic argument. And this inclination
+would be emphasized in the early Christian writers, so far as they make
+use of the argument at all, by the eminently simple and common-sense
+attitude of Christianity toward all such problems, and also by the
+peculiar work which the primitive Church had to do in the conversion of
+the "common people," to whom an abstract argument would have been a
+waste of words.
+
+But we should expect that to men, upon whom a close perusal and study of
+the Old Testament Scriptures had impressed the idea of God as the
+Creator, Law-Giver and Governor of the universe, the Cosmological
+argument would appeal strongly. Moreover, the strong Stoic influence
+which is seen in their works, particularly in their treatment of
+questions of morals, and in their ethical terminology, would naturally,
+one would think, pre-dispose them to regard with favor this argument, so
+in vogue among the philosophers of the Porch. It is, therefore, all the
+more remarkable that, among the important works of the Ante-Nicene
+Fathers, not more than a dozen instances, at most, of this argument can
+be found; and of these more than half are merely passing references to
+the patent fact of order in the world. Thus Tertullian asserts (quite
+incidentally, in the course of an argument on an ethical question), that
+"Nature herself is the teacher" of the fact "that God is the Maker of
+the universe,"[61] but even here it is doubtful whether he means to
+appeal to order or design in the world. In another place he makes the
+mere statement that the fact of God's existence is tested by His works;
+His character by the beneficence of them;[62] in another that the
+"Creator ought to be known even by nature;"[63] and in still another
+that nature teaches all men the existence and character of God.[64]
+Origen in a passage sometimes quoted, appeals to the order and harmony
+of the world,[65] but it is to prove the unity of God rather than His
+existence. Perhaps the best and most elaborate example of the use of the
+Cosmological argument by the Ante-Nicene authors, is that made of it by
+"Athenagoras the Athenian; Philosopher and Christian," as he styled
+himself.[66] He is concerned with making a distinction between God and
+matter, in opposition to the popular idolatry, and declares that
+Christians see the "Framer" behind the orderly world--whose relation one
+to the other he likens to that between the artist and the materials of
+his art. "But as clay cannot become vessels of itself without art, so
+neither did matter, which is capable of taking all forms, receive apart
+from God the Framer, distinction and shape and order."
+
+And these few incidental and scattered instances represent practically
+the explicit use of the Cosmological argument in the writings with which
+we are occupied. When we consider how constantly they must have met with
+the statements of it which are prevalent in the writings of the Stoics,
+by whom they were, we know, profoundly influenced in both the form and
+the terminology of their thought, we must surely consider this omission
+a significant fact, for which it is worth while trying to account.
+
+Nor does the "Socratic proof," the argument to design, meet with any
+more cordial reception at the hands of early Christian writers. Although
+the cases in which it is used are generally more explicit and fully
+developed, yet the appeals to design in nature are fewer even than those
+to order. The earliest, and one of the best examples of the use of this
+argument is that made by Theophilus, Bishop of Antioch, in his work
+addressed to the idolater Autolycus.[67] He seeks to prove that the
+invisible God is perceived through His works. As the soul is unseen, yet
+perceived through the motion of the body; as the pilot is inferred from
+the motion of the ship; as the king, though not present in person, is
+believed to exist from his "laws, ordinances and authorities;" so the
+unseen God is "beheld and perceived through his providence and works."
+"Consider, O man, His works," he exclaims; and proceeds to enumerate the
+evidences of design in the universe--"the timely rotation of the
+seasons," "the regular march of the stars," the various beauty of seeds
+and plants and fruits, and many others. It is a passage of considerable
+beauty, and evidences no mean rhetorical skill.
+
+It is in this same connection--in the refutation of idolatry--that St.
+Clement of Alexandria uses this argument, contrasting the living
+organism of man with the heathen idols.[68] "None of these (artists)
+ever made a breathing image, or out of earth moulded soft flesh. Who
+liquefied the marrow? or who solidified the bones? who stretched the
+nerves? who distended the veins? who poured the blood into them? or who
+spread the skin? who ever could have made eyes capable of seeing? who
+breathed spirit into the lifeless form? who bestowed righteousness? who
+promised immortality? The Maker of the universe alone; the great Artist
+and Father has formed us, such a living image as man is. But your
+Olympian Jove, the image of an image, greatly out of harmony with truth,
+is the senseless work of Attic hands." This, it will be readily seen,
+is more an attempt to show the insufficiency of idolatry to account for
+man's nature, than a deliberate attempt at theistic proof.
+
+The other examples of the use of this form of the argument for the
+existence of God are found in Lactantius, "the Christian Cicero." In
+speaking of Socrates he introduces[69] with approval an epitome of the
+Athenian sage's argument, which we have already considered,[70] and, in
+combatting the atomistic theory of the origin of the world, he
+asserts[71] that neither atoms nor the "Nature" of Lucretius can account
+for the adaptations in the actual world; and the phenomena of mind,
+especially, proclaim an intelligent Providence. His treatise "On the
+Workmanship of God, or the Formation of Man," is almost entirely an
+argument to design from the phenomena of man's physical and mental
+nature. From the standpoint of the physiology and psychology of his
+time, he discusses in detail the function and working of the different
+parts of man's nature, and from the adaptation of means to ends, of
+organs to their functions, which, even with the scanty data of the
+science of that day, is a striking consideration, he concludes that
+man's being can only be accounted for on the supposition of an Arranger
+or Planner, whose purposes are carried out in exercise of the various
+functions.
+
+The argument _e Consensu Gentium_ has often been accredited with being
+peculiarly the patristic argument for the existence of God,[72] and for
+this conclusion the use of it in Epicurean theology, and the doctrine of
+the natural, innate idea of God already considered, would fully prepare
+us; but the fact is that, apart from frequent passing references to the
+"natural opinion" mentioned in the preceding chapter, the instances in
+which the argument is explicitly made use of are not much more numerous
+than in the case of the other forms. They constantly appeal to the
+common consent, but it is generally against polytheism, as indicating a
+consciousness of _the unity_ of God. St. Justin Martyr, in the passage
+to which we have already alluded, asserts[73] this common consent, but
+only as preparatory to the certainty which he finds in revelation. St.
+Clement of Alexandria, after asserting that "the Father and Maker of all
+things is apprehended by all things, agreeably to all, by innate power,
+and without teaching," goes on to confirm his statement in this
+manner:[74] "But no race anywhere, of tillers of the soil, or nomads,
+and not even of dwellers in cities, can live without being imbued with
+the faith of a superior being. Wherefore, every eastern nation, and
+every nation touching the western shore; or the north, and each one
+toward the south--all have one and the same preconception respecting
+Him, who hath appointed government; since the most universal of His
+operations equally pervade all." It is with the principles and end of
+this argument in view that Tertullian appeals[75] to the witness of the
+soul, "not as when fashioned in schools, trained in libraries, fed in
+Attic academies and porticoes," but "rude, uncultured and untaught, such
+as they have thee who have thee only; that very thing of the road, the
+street, the workshop wholly;" and from his examination of this ordinary
+soul he concludes that "the knowledge of our God is possessed by
+all."[76] Minucius Felix appeals to this same common instinct and
+exclaims:[77] "What! is it not true that I have in this matter the
+consent of all men?" and Origen, in his reply to the attack of Celsus,
+points to "the ineradicable idea of Him."[78] Novatian asserts[79] that
+"the whole mind of man is conscious" of Him, "even if does not express
+itself," and Lactantius thinks that for Cicero "it was no difficult
+task, indeed, to refute the falsehoods of a few men who entertained
+perverse sentiments by the testimony of communities and tribes, who on
+this one point had no disagreement."[80]
+
+Besides these instances in which the different types of the theistic
+argument are used in an undeveloped, but yet in a pure form, there are
+several places where a mixed form appears, the different conventional
+processes being used in combination without being clearly
+differentiated. Thus the argument from common consent and the argument
+based on order or design are used in conjunction, the necessity of the
+universal knowledge of God's existence being seen from the witness to
+Him found in nature.[81] So, too, the arguments from order and from
+design in nature are often used in conjunction, and in many passages it
+is difficult to decide to which one of these two the author intends to
+appeal primarily.[82] These undifferentiated or mixed arguments are
+quite frequently to be seen in the patristic writings, and serve to
+illustrate the eclectic character of their thoughts, often presenting in
+one passage the forms of the theistic arguments peculiar to two opposed
+schools in Greek philosophy; and they also indicate how incidentally and
+naively the Fathers used such weapons, not taking the trouble to
+differentiate one form from the other, though they could not have been
+ignorant of such distinctions.
+
+The first thing that strikes one's attention in this examination of the
+use of the theistic argument in the early Christian writers is, as has
+been indicated, the paucity of examples. When we consider the emphasis
+laid upon this subject in the contemporaneous philosophical schools; the
+constant appeal to one form or another of the argument by Stoic and
+Epicurean alike; the various combinations and adaptations made by
+Eclectics and Syncretists; the use of such material in the exercises of
+the rhetorical instruction then so prominent in education; it would seem
+that a weapon so ready to their hand must have been seized upon by the
+Fathers, and made full use of for the advancement of the cause in which
+they were enlisted. And this silence on their part cannot be due to
+ignorance of what had been written on the subject, or of what was going
+on in the world about them. The patristic writings show the keenest
+interest in, and fullest knowledge of what men were thinking about in
+the outside world as well as within the Church. Many of the Fathers, as
+we have had occasion to notice, had been trained in the philosophical
+schools,[83] and show themselves fully conversant not only with such
+subjects, but with poetry and general literature as well.[84] In the
+course of their education, as well as in their reading, they must have
+become fully acquainted with all the forms of the theistic argument. And
+this knowledge they had every opportunity to use. Many of their works
+that have come down to us are either apologies or else answers to
+critics of Christianity, who attacked its doctrines from the stand-point
+of either polytheism or atheism. In maintaining the Christian doctrine
+of God against these opponents, the theistic argument would seem to be a
+most natural weapon for one who was confident of its validity. But the
+fact is, that in most of these apologies no such reasoning is employed,
+and even when it is to be found in their pages, is only incidental and
+by way of illustration, to explain the rational character of the
+Christian doctrine of God by a sort of _argumentum ad hominem_.
+
+One reason for this neglect of the theistic argument may be readily
+found in the subject-matter of the treatises themselves. Almost
+exclusively with the earlier Fathers, as we have seen, and very largely
+with their successors, the emphasis was laid on life, rather than on
+thought, and the appeal was to authority rather than to reason. Men were
+asked to judge of Christianity by its fruits, and to receive the faith
+which it professed, not because of its rational demonstration, but
+because of the authority of Him who promulgated it. The persons to whom
+the arguments were addressed, too, explain much of the silence of the
+Fathers. To the Jew or religious Gentile it would be superfluous to
+address elaborate arguments to prove the existence of God, and it was to
+these classes that many of the works under discussion were addressed. To
+them the argument, such as we frequently find, from the Old Testament
+types and prophecies, or from the superior beauty and morality of the
+Christian doctrine and life, taking for granted the existence of God,
+was what the case required. And when, as is very frequently the case,
+they address the popular idolaters, it is a negative argument to show
+the unworthiness of idol-worship, and the superiority of their own
+doctrine, of which they naturally make use, and not a theistic argument
+which would have no significance to those who were already "too
+religious."
+
+Many of the apologies of the early Church were called forth by the
+attacks which were made on the Christians by the adherents of the
+popular religions. The charges usually brought against them were those
+of atheism, because of their rejection of the gods of Greece and Rome;
+of immorality, because of the secrecy and mystery of their meetings, and
+cannibalism, because of their doctrine of the partaking of the Body and
+Blood of Christ in the Eucharist. In refuting these charges, especially
+the first, no place was afforded for the use of a theistic argument, but
+they naturally exhibit their belief in God as superior to that of their
+accusers, and appeal to their lives as justifying their belief.
+
+But aside from these cases in which the theistic argument would have
+been superfluous, there are many places in which it is conspicuous for
+its absence. That they had other arguments besides those from scripture
+and authority, and that they believed in using them when necessary, we
+have, as we have seen, many proofs in their writings. Their position is
+well indicated by Lactantius, who blamed St. Cyprian for using a
+Scripture argument to an unbeliever,[85] and we shall be obliged to look
+deeper than mere ignorance or lack of occasion to account for the
+paucity of cases in which they use the argument for the existence of
+God.
+
+The fact is that the history of Greek thought had shown conclusively the
+absolute futility of any efforts to arrive at a certain proof of the
+existence of God by purely rational methods. The attempts of each school
+to attain such certainty were repudiated by their successors, and even
+by their contemporaries; and the later trials--which the religious
+instincts and aspirations of men would not permit them to forego, even
+when they were sceptical of obtaining any valid and positive
+results--frequently became, instead of a sincere seeking after God, mere
+practice in the art of Rhetoric. And not only was it true that no one of
+the forms of the theistic argument brought conviction to any other mind
+than that of the man who regarded it with the partial enthusiasm of an
+originator or formulator, but even such an one was led to only the most
+vague and indefinite results. We have already seen how even the best
+theology of the Greeks led to nothing but a sort of organized or unified
+polytheism. A vague, fanciful first cause of physical phenomena, a
+general idea, abstracted out of all content, so as to leave no meaning
+for the human mind--whatever the imagination might make of it--a
+mechanical, magnetic force, to which all motion might conveniently be
+referred; a deified principle of order--and these held in conjunction
+with the popular polytheism, and impregnated with the national
+pantheistic conceptions--was all that Greek philosophy could offer to
+the higher religious aspirations of the educated man. The opinion of the
+Greek mind itself as to the character of the knowledge of God, to which
+the thought of their race had led them at the beginning of the Christian
+era was fitly expressed by those Athenians, who erected near the
+Areopagus the "altar on which was written, 'To the Unknown God.'"[86]
+The opinion (for in most cases it did not amount to a conviction) that
+there was an Unknown (or even, as many thought, an Unknowable) Divinity
+of some sort, which might account for the phenomena of the world, and
+which might be the truth behind the vagaries of the anthropomorphic
+polytheism, was as far as Greek thought had led men at the period with
+which we have to do. Their {theos} was really nothing more than Mr. Herbert
+Spencer's "Unknowable,"--a mysterious "force," to which everything was
+referred which could not be accounted for on the basis of scientific
+principles.
+
+Now if this was the case with the adherents of the heathen philosophical
+schools, how must the realization of the poverty of this result, and the
+distrust of the means which led to it, have been emphasized by the
+conversion of individuals from them to Christianity. It is a graphic
+picture which some of the Fathers paint for us of their eager search, in
+the different schools in turn, for some religious truth which would
+bring with it conviction; of their disappointment and consequent despair
+and scepticism, and then of the satisfaction which they had found for
+their aspirations in the teaching of Jesus Christ, who, they were
+convinced, was the very Word of God. Viewed merely from the historical
+point of view, this process is full of interest as illustrating that
+which was going on in many minds that stopped at the sceptical stage,
+and, for one reason or another, never found refuge in the Christian
+Church. But for those who did take this step, their former distrust of
+the theistic argument, as a basis for religious conviction, must have
+been greatly emphasized. The contrast between their former scepticism as
+to man's ability to attain to any knowledge of things beyond the
+phenomenal world, and their present faith and conviction which their
+belief in the Person of Christ gave them, must have made the part of any
+such means of arriving at truth as the already discredited theistic
+argument most insignificant. They, themselves, had no need for it. All
+it had been able to do for them, as for those to whom they wrote, was to
+raise an aspiration which "would not down"--to bring them to the
+hypothesis (substituted for polytheism, now outgrown) of an "Unknown
+God," and they felt that their message to their contemporaries was, like
+that of St. Paul to the Athenians on Areopagus: "Whom, therefore, ye
+ignorantly worship, Him declare I unto you."
+
+It is with this attitude in mind, I am convinced, that we must interpret
+the doctrine, so often enunciated by the early Christian writers, but
+especially by St. Justin Martyr and St. Clement of Alexandria, of the
+"partial," "fragmentary" character of the theological truth arrived at
+by Greek philosophy. They have sometimes been charged with
+inconsistency in thus characterizing the work of men from whom they
+borrowed so much, but they seem, in fact, to have been remarkably
+appreciative of their old masters when we consider the position in which
+they stood. In fact, they seem to grant to Greek philosophy all that its
+adherents would claim for it, namely, that, by means of the arguments
+adduced by its different schools, the Greeks had attained to the opinion
+that there was something behind the phenomena of nature, but this might
+as well be a transcendent force or a pantheistic world-soul as an
+immanent God. With the Apostle on Mars' Hill they would say that the
+best theology of the Greeks simply put them in a position "that they
+should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after Him and find Him."
+
+And each of the Greek schools, they would say, by resting their case on
+some one of the various arguments, and emphasizing some one of the
+attributes of the Deity at the expense of the others, had attained only
+a partial and inadequate view, though true so far as it went. "Since,
+therefore," says St. Clement of Alexandria,[87] "truth is one (for
+falsehood has ten thousand by-paths); just as the Bacchantes tore
+asunder the limbs of Pentheus, so the sects both of barbarian and
+Hellenic philosophy have done with truth, and each vaunts as the whole
+truth the portion which has fallen to its lot. But all, in my opinion,
+are illuminated by the dawn of Light." These men were deeply
+appreciative of the work of Greek philosophy so far as it went--even
+assigning to it a place analogous to the Hebrew Scriptures[88]--but they
+always attribute to it a distinctly propaedeutic office, and are careful
+to emphasize its failure to lead to any firm and positive conviction of
+the existence of God. That this was the position of the early Christian
+philosophers might be shown by many passages, but we will content
+ourselves with one example from the pages of St. Clement of Alexandria,
+who assigned to Greek philosophy a higher place than any of the
+patristic writers--so much so that his orthodoxy has frequently been
+questioned because of it. He is fond of designating the knowledge of God
+to which the Greeks had attained by the term "{periphrasis}." Thus he
+concludes[89] an argument from common consent, already quoted, in these
+words: "Much more did the philosophers among the Greeks, devoted to
+investigation, starting from the Barbarian philosophy, attribute
+providence to the 'invisible, and sole and most powerful, and most
+skilful and supreme cause of all things, most beautiful;'--not knowing
+the influences from these truths, unless instructed by us, and not even
+how God is to be known naturally, but only, as we have already often
+said, by a true periphrasis." "The men of highest repute among the
+Greeks knew God, not by positive knowledge, but by indirect expression
+({periphrasis})."[90] The indefinite and merely "probable" character of the
+results which the Fathers think were reached by the theistic argument in
+Greek thought explains to us the few examples of these proofs which we
+find in their writings, and the certainty which they thought they had
+found, and their consequent attitude toward all arguments of this
+nature, which we have tried to depict, is the key to the explanation of
+a new phase in the history of thought which was to last for several
+centuries.
+
+In our examination of these examples of the theistic argument in the
+Fathers, it cannot escape our notice that they occur much more
+frequently, and in more developed and conventional form in the West than
+in the East--under the influence of Rome than under that of Alexandria
+and the Orient. The reason for this is not far to seek, and is one that
+throws light also on the motive with which the patristic writers made
+use of these arguments.
+
+In Alexandria and the East there was no incentive for the Christians to
+try to prove the existence of God, for the philosophy of that portion of
+the world was essentially religious in its character, and based its
+speculation on the existence of God as a fundamental postulate of
+revelation and of reason as well. In the combination of Judaism and
+Hellenic philosophy made by the "Hellenizing Jews" and by the "Judaizing
+Hellenes," the existence of God was admitted quite as freely, and
+maintained quite as zealously, as by the Christians themselves, and even
+the incipient Neo-Platonists made no quarrel with them on this ground.
+So we find that the reference in the Alexandrian and other Eastern
+Fathers are mainly of the character of examples and illustrations as to
+principles that are well understood and admitted, and are employed
+chiefly for the purpose of refuting idolatry by a distinction between
+God and matter, or of proving the unity of God in opposition to the
+still latent polytheism.
+
+Under the influence of Rome, however, other tendencies came in to give a
+rather different significance to the theistic argument. For Rome had
+become the chief center of the later schools of Greek philosophy, and
+under the shadow of the seven hills rather than in the Athenian groves
+and porticoes were found the disciples of Pyrrho, of Zeno and of
+Epicurus. Thus, very naturally, wherever Roman civilization was dominant
+the teacher of Christian doctrine was obliged to present his subject
+with reference to the forces already at work in the minds of those whom
+he addressed. In accordance with this, we find, first, a _negative_
+influence in the hostile attitude assumed by the Sceptics and members
+of other schools who tended toward their position, toward any religious
+knowledge. That this influence is not an imaginary one may be seen
+especially in the instance already quoted from Lactantius, whose use of
+the theistic argument is called forth by the cavils of Sceptics and
+atheistic atomists.
+
+But there was also a _positive_ influence at work to facilitate the use
+of the theistic argument by the Western Fathers in the prevalence at
+Rome of Stoic and Epicurean doctrine. From the former of these schools
+would result a familiarity, and, in many cases, an agreement with the
+forms of the argument drawn from order and design; from the latter, for
+the demonstration from common consent. Both of these influences, no
+doubt, had some influence on the shape in which Tertullian of Carthage,
+Minucius Felix, Novatian and Lactantius presented their doctrine, and,
+together with the more material and less religious character of the
+West, accounts in large degree for the comparative frequency of their
+appeal to the theistic argument.
+
+But when we consider the frequency with which we meet with the theistic
+argument, and with reference to its use in other writers, in the pages
+of Cicero, for example, these scanty instances afforded us by the
+writings of the ante-Nicene Fathers, whose works occupy, say, 4,500
+large, closely-printed pages in the translation, and who were, let us
+remember, dealing exclusively with religious thought, indicate plainly a
+fundamental change in position, the influence of which was operative for
+centuries in this department of thought, and which, even to-day, governs
+the attitude of the greater part of the Western world. The absolute
+failure of the Greeks to arrive at any certainty of God's existence by
+demonstration, the introduction of the Christian doctrine of God, before
+which the deductions of Greek philosophy seem empty and unsatisfactory,
+even to many who cannot accept that doctrine as truth, and the
+substitution of faith in a Person for purely rational proof, render it
+impossible, so long as that faith continues, that any one should think
+it worth while to devote more than a passing notice to any such
+argument, unless for the purposes of an _argumentum ad hominem_. And so
+it is not until faith begins to grow cold and men become mere
+speculators and debaters about religion, rather than believers in
+Christ, that the revival of these arguments under the title of "proofs"
+is possible. Even the famous Ontological Argument of St. Anselm was, I
+am convinced, no serious attempt to formulate an _a priori_ proof of the
+existence of God, but was addressed to a particular case[91]--the "fool"
+who "said in his heart, 'There is no God,'" and who _also_ maintained
+that God was "that than which no greater can be thought."
+
+From this survey it will be seen that, in the view of the Ante-Nicene
+Christian authors, the theistic argument was valuable merely as a
+propaedeutic to Christianity, but was superfluous for the believer in
+Jesus Christ; the use of it cannot, as it had not in Greek thought,
+bring proof, but only probability; even this uncertain result is only
+vague and fragmentary in character, and was never unified and made
+significant by the Greeks; its office in Christian evidences was merely
+of an _ad hominem_ sort, and this only in its simpler and more practical
+forms, in which the senses as well as reason had their testimony to
+bear; and, lastly, the argument was used much more frequently by the
+Western than by the Alexandrian and other Eastern Fathers.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[60] _Stromata_, V, 12.
+
+[61] _De Spectaculis_, II.
+
+[62] _Against Marcion_, I, 17.
+
+[63] _Ibid._, V, 16. This is to justify his doctrine of the punishment
+of the heathen.
+
+[64] _Scapula_, II.
+
+[65] _Against Celsus_, I, 23.
+
+[66] _Plea for the Christians_, XV, XVI.
+
+[67] I, 5 and 6.
+
+[68] _Exhortation to the Heathen_, X.
+
+[69] _Divine Institutes_, III, 20.
+
+[70] Chap. II.
+
+[71] _Treatise on the Anger of God_, X.
+
+[72] E.g., Stirling: _Philosophy and Theology_, p. 179.
+
+[73] _Trypho_, III, IV.
+
+[74] _Stromata_, V, 14.
+
+[75] _The Soul's Testimony_, I.
+
+[76] _Of the Resurrection of the Flesh_, III.
+
+[77] _Octavius_, XVIII.
+
+[78] _Against Celsus_, II, 40.
+
+[79] _De Trinitate_, VIII.
+
+[80] _Divine Institutes_, I, 2.
+
+[81] E.g., Irenaeus: _Against Heresy_, II, 9, 1; Tertullian: _Against
+Marcion_, I, 10; Origen: _De Principiis_, I, 3, 1; Tertullian:
+_Apology_, XVII; Lactantius: _Divine Institutes_, I, 2.
+
+[82] E.g., Minucius Felix: _Octavius_, XVII, XVIII; Novatian: _De
+Trinitate_ VIII; Dionysius the Great: _Fragments_, II, 1.
+
+[83] E.g., "Justin, in Philosopher's garb, preached the word of God."
+Eusebius, IV, 11.
+
+[84] The mere list of Greek authors _quoted_ by St. Clement of
+Alexandria occupies over fourteen quarto pages in Fabricius'
+_Bibliotheka Graeca_.
+
+[85] _Divine Institutes_, V. 4.
+
+[86] _Acts_, XVII, 23.
+
+[87] _Stromata_, I, 13.
+
+[88] E.g., _Stromata_, VI, 5: "The one and only God was known by the
+Greeks in a Gentile way, by the Jews Judaically, and in a new and
+spiritual way by us." In I, 5, he says: "For this (philosophy) was a
+schoolmaster to bring "the Hellenic mind," as the law the Hebrews, to
+Christ."
+
+[89] _Stromata_, V, 14.
+
+[90] _Ibid._, VI, 5. See also, e.g., I, 19; V, 13.
+
+[91] See Stirling: _Philosophy and Theology_, p. 35.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+ECLECTIC THEISM
+
+
+The early Christian writers, so far as they assumed any philosophical
+position, were invariably Eclectics. In this, as we have seen, they were
+the true children of their age, whose most striking characteristic was
+that it had deserted the older systems, while attempting to preserve out
+of their ruins the particular truth for which each of the schools had
+contended. But with the Christian philosophers it was not merely the
+negative influence of scepticism which drove them to Eclecticism. Their
+conviction of a sure knowledge of things divine--the final question for
+all philosophy--exerted a positive influence as well, which led them to
+formulate more or less explicitly a view of the function of philosophy
+as an organon of the truth, not merely with reference to the past
+history of Greek thought, as their contemporaries outside of the
+Christian Church were accustomed to do, but with a view to all possible
+speculation on the Deity. For this deposit of revealed truth, to which
+they gave assent as the most certain of all knowledge, they regarded as
+the _whole_ truth, of which the various speculations of philosophy on
+the existence and attributes of God, were but "portions" and
+"fragments"--true and trustworthy so far as they went, and from their
+own particular standpoint, but, nevertheless, essentially and
+necessarily partial, and hence productive, not of certainty, but of mere
+opinion.
+
+And this estimate of the function of philosophy with respect to
+theological truth, which the Fathers worked out on the basis of the
+concrete example of the course of Greek thought, though with a view to a
+much wider application, has its justification in the very nature and
+conditions of thought itself. For philosophy is essentially a
+_process_--its very life depends on its being in motion, in process of
+change and development. Each system is evolved out of its predecessors,
+and contains within itself the germs of its successors--it is the link
+which connects the past with the future. It expresses the
+"common-sense," the unconscious convictions and instinctive tendencies
+of the time, and the man who first gives voice to this unspoken message
+is the philosopher. He utters the truth which the times demand--that
+which satisfies the conditions. Thus with Professor Erdmann[92] the
+patristic writers would say that each statement of philosophical truth
+is "the final truth only for that time." It is the phase or aspect or
+particular statement of the truth which the times demand, which the
+situation calls forth, and which appeals most strongly to the minds that
+make up part of that situation. Changed conditions demand a different
+statement of the truth to satisfy them, and furnish the data upon which
+such a statement is based. Philosophy, like science, "does not really
+accumulate, but is entirely transformed by each fresh hypothesis. It is
+only the data that accumulate; and when we say that a new hypothesis is
+'truer' than that which preceded it, we mean merely that it enables us
+to co-ordinate a larger number of these data."[93] And this
+transformation takes place, in reality, not only by addition, but by
+subtraction of data. For it is a phenomenon common to the thought of all
+ages, that each school not only calls attention to new data, ignored by
+its predecessor, but also shuts its eyes to more or less of the valid
+data set forth by the earlier system. In no period of the history of
+thought were men more commonly led into abstractions by being dazzled by
+the brilliancy and novelty of the latest idea than in the pioneer age
+represented by Greek philosophy, when men had not yet attained to a
+clear perspective, and the foot-hills often hid the lofty mountain peak.
+
+It is this trait, so evident in the naive thought of the Greeks, that
+makes it possible for the early Christian thinkers to take the attitude,
+at once appreciative and critical with regard to the Hellenic theology.
+They borrowed much, not only from the form, but also from the results of
+the speculations of the philosophers, but always with a deep sense of
+the limitations which the conditions imposed upon them. Socrates, Plato,
+Aristotle and the rest had spoken the truth, but each only from one
+point of view, and on the basis of only one method of approach. The
+conclusions of each were the result of a process of more or less
+complete abstraction, and in abstractions the Fathers, true to the
+genius of Christian thought, could never rest content, but could only
+accord to them the appreciation which belongs to a temporary and
+preliminary stage in the search for the final unity.
+
+To this partial, temporary, "relatively final," and constantly changing
+content, the revealed doctrine of God, manifested in due relations,
+unity and completeness by the Incarnate Word, stands with the Fathers as
+the principle to the particular rule or application--as the whole to the
+part. As the revelation of God it came to them, not as the result of
+man's investigation and speculation, colored by every change of time,
+place and environment, a mere momentary phase of a process; but as
+eternal verity, viewed, so far as man's powers would allow, in its
+entirety and unity. Dorner expresses their position well when he says
+that in Christianity "as the organism of the truth, the elements of
+truth, elsewhere here and there to be met with in a scattered form or a
+disfigured guise, come together in unity--a unity which, as it
+personally appeared in the God-Man, so in the course of history ever
+more and more rises upon the consciousness of mankind." The Fathers
+think that in the Christian doctrine of God they find all the true
+elements contributed by previous thought, and besides these an infinite
+depth of truth unthought of by the Greeks, all unified and harmonized in
+a way that makes it a sharp contrast to the fragmentary and abstract
+character of the Hellenic theology. Christian doctrine represents to
+them the stable, absolute truth, so far as it was revealed by the
+Incarnate Word, the eternal verities in their completeness and unity, so
+far as man is able to comprehend them. Philosophy represents the phase
+or aspect of the truth which the conditions of thought at the time
+demands and emphasizes, which will co-ordinate the data at present in
+the foreground of consciousness. Thus they conceive of the facts of
+Christian Theology as the goal towards which philosophy is (often
+unconsciously) striving, but at which it can never arrive without the
+"leap of faith." Once this leap is taken, however, these theological
+verities become the major factors in the data to be co-ordinated, and
+philosophy and theology come into that union and harmony which, in the
+eyes of the Christian philosophers, is their normal relation.
+
+This Eclectic attitude of the Fathers, and their deprecation of any
+abstraction or partial statement usurping the place of the truth,
+explains to some extent their treatment of the theistic argument.
+
+In the first place it led them to distrust and reject any argument for
+the existence of God which proceeded on the basis of reason alone, apart
+from any content furnished by sensibility. While the Fathers do not make
+any explicit and scientific distinction between Epistemology and
+Ontology, such as has in modern times been the bane of any attempted
+natural theology, yet they seem to have made a pretty constant
+_practical_ separation between the two. St. Clement of Alexandria, as we
+have seen, holds that by a method of abstraction of specific
+characteristics we can arrive only at an "Unknown," to which meaning can
+be given only by combining with this rational process some content
+furnished directly by the senses or, indirectly, by testimony, and he
+further states that God is not a subject for demonstration--_i.e._, the
+science that depends on primary and better known principles--for "first
+principles are incapable of demonstration."[94] This position seems to
+be tacitly assumed by the patristic writers throughout, and even where
+they speak of Plato with gratitude and admiration they never seem to be
+at all inclined to make any use of his "Idealogical" argument or
+anything related thereto. They seem to take a common-sense stand for the
+testimony of the whole man, as well as for the whole truth, and to
+instinctively distrust any rational concept in the formation of which
+sensuous content had been ignored.
+
+The Eclectic character of the patristic thought is seen also in the
+frequency with which they use the different forms of the theistic
+argument in conjunction, or present it in mixed forms. The Greek
+philosophers, as we have seen, each selected some one of the forms of
+the argument, and by means of it, attempted to establish the sort of an
+{Arche}, to which such a course of reasoning would lead, ignoring, or
+attacking the forms in use by their rival school. Thus early, however,
+as in modern times, Christian theology, in contrast with the attempts of
+rational theology, began to emphasize the interdependence of these
+different forms of the theistic argument, and the cumulative character
+of their evidence. Each one of itself could bring no conviction, nor
+even high degree of probability, and furthermore, even if all its claims
+be admitted, would lead to a result far short of theism--a mere
+indefinite first cause, an Architect of the universe, etc. Each one,
+however, adds its quota to a great _cumulative_ argument, which, taken
+in its entirety, raises an exceedingly high presumption, which amounts
+to "_moral_" though possibly not intellectual proof. And, after all,
+"probability is the guide of _life_."
+
+And this is all that the Fathers, or Christian apologists, generally,
+would claim for the theistic argument. It is a _practical_, not a
+theoretical proof, and it is in this way that the early Christian
+writers seem to regard it. They resort to it most frequently to show
+that the Christian doctrine of God is not contrary to reason nor
+inconsistent with the nature of things, and to demonstrate that such a
+conception is demanded by man's very nature. In a word, their use of the
+argument is confirmatory and explanatory rather than by way of absolute
+proof and demonstration.
+
+This attitude towards and use of the theistic argument, so radically
+different from that of the Greek philosophers, perpetuated itself in the
+post-Nicene literature of the Christian Church, and, in its main
+features, remained unaltered, until the time when men who had abandoned
+the faith in the Word which had been the main stay of the ante-Nicene
+writers, and who yet were unwilling to abandon the great theistic idea
+for which the world was indebted to Christianity alone, sought to
+justify this idea on the basis of reason. It took the scepticism of a
+Hume and the criticism of a Kant, and the re-adjustment of all their
+followers to bring us back at the close of this nineteenth century into
+substantial agreement with the common-sense estimate placed upon the
+theistic argument by the ante-Nicene Fathers.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[92] _History of Philosophy_, Vol. I, Sec. 4.
+
+[93] Burnet: _Early Greek Philosophy_, p. 25.
+
+[94] _Stromata_, II, iv.
+
+
+
+
+VITA.
+
+
+The writer was born April 24, 1869, in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He attended
+the Ann Arbor Public Schools and the Ann Arbor High School. In 1892 he
+received the degree of A. B. from the University of Michigan. In 1895 he
+graduated from the General Theological Seminary, New York, and was
+awarded the degree of B. D., which was formally conferred in accordance
+with the rules of the Seminary one year later. In 1896, he received the
+degree of A. M. from the University of Michigan. He pursued studies in
+Philosophy at Harvard University during the first term of the year
+1896-7, and at Columbia University from February, 1897, to February,
+1898. He has been the post-graduate scholar of the Church University
+Board of Regents from July, 1895, to the present time.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Basis of Early Christian Theism, by
+Lawrence Thomas Cole
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