Million Book Collection - The Fishers of Men Ministries

148 THE FORMATION OF CHRISTENDOMGod, yet not creatures, inasmuch as the spirit whichis in them is a portion of the one divine spirit. Thesegods rule the destinies of men, yet not immediately,but by the demons under them, and in obedience tothe will of the Supreme God over them. And lastly,there are the souls of heroes and the souls of men.And as the heavenly gods participate in the dnature as spirits, so in an inferior degree do demons,heroes, and men, in their several order. And allhese intelliences are not mere forces the arepersonal beings. Herein lies the great contrast of thissystem with that of Stoicism. For the Stoics also hadreduced the universe to unity, and to a unity whichwas not without intelligence, for it was rigidly ruledby the " common reason "; but it was without will,the solid adamant of an eternal machine. NowPlutarch's conception of personality is not complete,just as his conception of God falls short of reachingthat which he yearned after, a being entirely superiorto nature and outside of the world. Still his God issufficiently personal to be very different from that ofthe Stoics, and to give quite another spirit to thesystem of which he stands at the head.Secondly, this philosophic system appears as thefriend and supporter of the polytheistic worship, whichat the same time it strives to purify and reduce toperfect order. Now Stoics and Epicureans both toleratedthat worship, and both adapted themselves to it,whilst the spirit which ruled them was adverse to allworship. Epicureans, who denied a divine providence,certainly could not really favour prayer and sacrifice.But the rigid fatalism of the Stoics also struck at theroot of these. Necessity knows not prayer or sacrifice.Stoicism had likewise attempted by its physical inter-