Million Book Collection - The Fishers of Men Ministries

THE STANDING-GROUND OF PHILOSOPHY133fife red Yet this is what we see from the beginningf 's reign, and that standing-ground thus takenp is never again relinquished I t to bthe basis of operation on which the heathen defendersof Olympus stand, until the termination of the conflictwith the Christian Church.Whatever appears in common in three such teachersas Epictetus, Plutarch, and Dio Cbrysostomus may besecurely predicated of the whole Greek mind whichthey represent. Now such is the notion of God andProvidence which is of perpetual recurrence in them.The universe is most wisely governed according tothem by one maker, that is composer and arranger,and for the good of man, who is distinguished fromall other animals by the possession of reason, whichhe has in common with this God. When speaking ofGod and Providence in this general relation they arerigid monotheists, but then, whenever it suits theirturn, they are as completely polytheists, using thegods, like men, as parts of the divine intelligence.By this sort of legerdemain two results are accomplished.On the one hand, for the philosophic mindthey approve the unity, wisdom, and power of theuniverse; on the other hand, for the popular mindthey defend and justify all the existing worship of allthe established deities. Moreover, the God whomthey so exalt as the maker and maintainer of theuniverse is called by the name of the national god ofthe Roman Empire, Zeus or Jupiter. As they thusexalt him, every other power seems to sink into insignificancebefore him, so that passages may be takenfrom them which seem to convey almost a Christianconception of God. Then immediately other passagesmay be cited in which the deities are mentioned