THAT THE PHILOSOPHERS HAVE ATTAINED TO SOME PORTION OF TRUTH.
Since, then, the Greeks are testified to have laid down some true
opinions, we may from this point take a glance at the testimonies.
Paul, in the Acts of the Apostles, is recorded to have said to the
Areopagites, “I perceive that ye are more than ordinarily religious.
For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with
the inscription, To The Unknown God. Whom therefore ye ignorantly
worship, Him declare I unto you. God, that made the world and all
things therein, seeing that He is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth
not in temples made with hands; neither is worshipped with men’s
hands, as though He needed anything, seeing He giveth to all life, and
breath, and all things; and hath made of one blood all nations of men
to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times
before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; that they should
seek God, if haply they might feel after Him, and find Him; though He
be not far from every one of us: for in Him we live, and move, and
have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we
also are His offspring.”[970] Whence it is evident that the apostle,
by availing himself of poetical examples from the _Phenomena_
of Aratus, approves of what had been well spoken by the Greeks; and
intimates that, by the unknown God, God the Creator was in a roundabout
way worshipped by the Greeks; but that it was necessary by positive
knowledge to apprehend and learn Him by the Son. “Wherefore, then, I
send thee to the Gentiles,” it is said, “to open their eyes, and to
turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God;
that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them
that are sanctified by faith which is in me.”[971] Such, then, are
the eyes of the blind which are opened. The knowledge of the Father
by the Son is the comprehension of the “Greek circumlocution;”[972]
and to turn from the power of Satan is to change from sin, through
which bondage was produced. We do not, indeed, receive absolutely all
philosophy, but that of which Socrates speaks in Plato. “For there
are (as they say) in the mysteries many bearers of the thyrsus, but
few bacchanals;” meaning, “that many are called, but few chosen.” He
accordingly plainly adds: “These, in my opinion, are none else than
those who have philosophized right; to belong to whose number, I
myself have left nothing undone in life, as far as I could, but have
endeavoured in every way. Whether we have endeavoured rightly and
achieved aught, we shall know when we have gone there, if God will, a
little afterwards.” Does he not then seem to declare from the Hebrew
Scriptures the righteous man’s hope, through faith, after death? And
in _Demodocus_[973] (if that is really the work of Plato): “And
do not imagine that I call it philosophizing to spend life pottering
about the arts, or learning many things, but something different; since
I, at least, would consider this a disgrace.” For he knew, I reckon,
“that the knowledge of many things does not educate the mind,”[974]
according to Heraclitus. And in the fifth book of the _Republic_,
he says, “‘Shall we then call all these, and the others which study
such things, and those who apply themselves to the meaner arts,
philosophers?’ ‘By no means,’ I said, ‘but like philosophers.’ ‘And
whom,’ said he, ‘do you call true?’ ‘Those,’ said I, ‘who delight in
the contemplation of truth. For philosophy is not in geometry, with
its postulates and hypotheses; nor in music, which is conjectural; nor
in astronomy, crammed full of physical, fluid, and probable causes.
But the knowledge of the good and truth itself are requisite,--what
is good being one thing, and the ways to the good another.’”[975]
So that he does not allow that the curriculum of training suffices
for the good, but co-operates in rousing and training the soul to
intellectual objects. Whether, then, they say that the Greeks gave
forth some utterances of the true philosophy by accident, it is the
accident of a divine administration (for no one will, for the sake of
the present argument with us, deify chance); or by good fortune, good
fortune is not unforeseen. Or were one, on the other hand, to say that
the Greeks possessed a natural conception of these things, we know the
one Creator of nature; just as we also call righteousness natural; or
that they had a common intellect, let us reflect who is its father,
and what righteousness is in the mental economy. For were one to name
“prediction,”[976] and assign as its cause “combined utterance,”[977]
he specifies forms of prophecy. Further, others will have it that some
truths were uttered by the philosophers, in appearance.
The divine apostle writes accordingly respecting us: “For now we see
as through a glass;”[978] knowing ourselves in it by reflection,
and simultaneously contemplating, as we can, the efficient cause,
from that, which, in us, is divine. For it is said, “Having seen thy
brother, thou hast seen thy God:” methinks that now the Saviour God
is declared to us. But after the laying aside of the flesh, “face to
face,”--then definitely and comprehensively, when the heart becomes
pure. And by reflection and direct vision, those among the Greeks who
have philosophized accurately, see God. For such, through our weakness,
are our true views, as images are seen in the water, and as we see
things through pellucid and transparent bodies. Excellently therefore
Solomon says: “He who soweth righteousness, worketh faith.”[979] “And
there are those who, sowing their own, make increase.”[980] And again:
“Take care of the verdure on the plain, and thou shalt cut grass and
gather ripe hay, that thou mayest have sheep for clothing.”[981] You
see how care must be taken for external clothing and for keeping. “And
thou shalt intelligently know the souls of thy flock.”[982] “For when
the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained
in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves;
uncircumcision observing the precepts of the law,”[983] according to
the apostle, both before the law and before the advent. As if making
comparison of those addicted to philosophy with those called heretics,
the Word most clearly says: “Better is a friend that is near, than a
brother that dwelleth afar off.”[984] “And he who relies on falsehoods,
feeds on the winds, and pursues winged birds.”[985] I do not think
that philosophy directly declares the Word, although in many instances
philosophy attempts and persuasively teaches us probable arguments;
but it assails the sects. Accordingly it is added: “For he hath
forsaken the ways of his own vineyard, and wandered in the tracks of
his own husbandry.” Such are the sects which deserted the primitive
church. Now he who has fallen into heresy passes through an arid
wilderness, abandoning the only true God, destitute of God, seeking
waterless water, reaching an uninhabited and thirsty land, collecting
sterility with his hands. And those destitute of prudence, that is,
those involved in heresies, “I enjoin,” remarks Wisdom, saying, “Touch
sweetly stolen bread and the sweet water of theft;”[986] the Scripture
manifestly applying the terms bread and water to nothing else but to
those heresies, which employ bread and water in the oblation, not
according to the rule of the church. For there are those who celebrate
the Eucharist with mere water. “But begone, stay not in her place.” It
is the synagogue, not the church, that is called by the equivocal name,
place. Then He subjoins: “For so shalt thou pass through the water of
another;” reckoning heretical baptism not proper and true water. “And
thou shalt pass over another’s river,” that rushes along and sweeps
down to the sea; into which he is cast who, having diverged from the
stability which is according to truth, rushes back into the heathenish
and tumultuous waves of life.