The Stoic Creed - College of Stoic Philosophers

THEOLOGY AND RELIGION 221
erroneous conception of the Absolute and on a mistaken
apprehension of the relativity of knowledge, and which
makes the Deity absolutely transcendent, and, there
fore, unknowable. 1 He is, to the Stoic, the universal
reason, immanent in the world, pervading it, and so in
necessary contact with that which shares pre-eminently
in itself namely, the reason of man. "The philoso
phers say that we ought first to learn this, that there is
a God and that He provides for all things, and that it
is not possible to hide from Him, not only our acts, but
even our intentions and our thoughts.
Next, we should
learn what is the nature of the Gods ;
for such as they
are found to be, he who would please and obey them
must needs try with all his
might to become like them.
If the Divine is faithful, he too must be faithful ;
if free,
he too must be free ;
if beneficent, he too must be
beneficent ;
if
magnanimous, he too must be magnani
mous ;
as being, then, a follower (^Xamji/) of God, he
must both do and say everything consistently with
this"
(Epictetus, Diss. ii. 14).
Yet, there is
a wholesome, modified agnosticism in
the Stoic theology, especially in its later Roman form,
the positive conception of God being qualified by con
sideration of the fact that man is limited or finite in his
knowledge. Right well, for instance, does Seneca
realize that it is not possible for us to comprehend fully
the power that made all things, although we may dis
cover him in part on every hand. On two points, only,
is he perfectly assured namely, that there is a God,
and that we are to ascribe to Him all
majesty and
goodness.
1 Cf. my Theism as grounded in Human Nature , pp. 160-172.