IN WHAT RESPECT PHILOSOPHY CONTRIBUTES TO THE
COMPREHENSION OF DIVINE TRUTH.
As many men drawing down the ship, cannot be called many causes, but
one cause consisting of many;--for each individual by himself is
not the cause of the ship being drawn, but along with the rest;--so
also philosophy, being the search for truth, contributes to the
comprehension of truth; not as being the cause of comprehension, but
a cause along with other things, and co-operator; perhaps also a
joint cause. And as the several virtues are causes of the happiness
of one individual; and as both the sun, and the fire, and the bath,
and clothing are of one getting warm: so while truth is one, many
things contribute to its investigation. But its discovery is by the
Son. If then we consider, virtue is, in power, one. But it is the
case, that when exhibited in some things, it is called prudence, in
others temperance, and in others manliness or righteousness. By the
same analogy, while truth is one, in geometry there is the truth
of geometry; in music, that of music; and in the right philosophy,
there will be Hellenic truth. But that is the only authentic truth,
unassailable, in which we are instructed by the Son of God. In the
same way we say, that the drachma being one and the same, when given
to the shipmaster, is called the fare; to the tax-gatherer, tax; to
the landlord, rent; to the teacher, fees; to the seller, an earnest.
And each, whether it be virtue or truth, called by the same name, is
the cause of its own peculiar effect alone; and from the blending of
them arises a happy life. For we are not made happy by names alone,
when we say that a good life is happiness, and that the man who is
adorned in his soul with virtue is happy. But if philosophy contributes
remotely to the discovery of truth, by reaching, by diverse essays,
after the knowledge which touches close on the truth, the knowledge
possessed by us, it aids him who aims at grasping it, in accordance
with the Word, to apprehend knowledge. But the Hellenic truth is
distinct from that held by us (although it has got the same name),
both in respect of extent of knowledge, certainty of demonstration,
divine power, and the like. For we are taught of God, being instructed
in the truly “sacred letters”[987] by the Son of God. Whence those, to
whom we refer, influence souls not in the way we do, but by different
teaching. And if, for the sake of those who are fond of fault-finding,
we must draw a distinction, by saying that philosophy is a concurrent
and co-operating cause of true apprehension, being the search for
truth, then we shall avow it to be a preparatory training for the
enlightened man (τοῦ γνωστικοῦ); not assigning as the cause that which
is but the joint-cause; nor as the upholding cause, what is merely
co-operative; nor giving to philosophy the place of a _sine quâ
non_. Since almost all of us, without training in arts and sciences,
and the Hellenic philosophy, and some even without learning at all,
through the influence of a philosophy divine and barbarous, and by
power, have through faith received the word concerning God, trained
by self-operating wisdom. But that which acts in conjunction with
something else, being of itself incapable of operating by itself, we
describe as co-operating and concausing, and say that it becomes a
cause only in virtue of its being a joint-cause, and receives the name
of cause only in respect of its concurring with something else, but
that it cannot by itself produce the right effect.
Although at one time philosophy justified the Greeks, not conducting
them to that entire righteousness to which it is ascertained to
co-operate, as the first and second flight of steps help you in your
ascent to the upper room, and the grammarian helps the philosopher.
Not as if by its abstraction, the perfect Word would be rendered
incomplete, or truth perish; since also sight, and hearing, and the
voice contribute to truth, but it is the mind which is the appropriate
faculty for knowing it. But of those things which co-operate, some
contribute a greater amount of power; some, a less. Perspicuity
accordingly aids in the communication of truth, and logic in preventing
us from falling under the heresies by which we are assailed. But the
teaching, which is according to the Saviour, is complete in itself
and without defect, being “the power and wisdom of God;”[988] and the
Hellenic philosophy does not, by its approach, make the truth more
powerful; but rendering powerless the assault of sophistry against
it, and frustrating the treacherous plots laid against the truth, is
said to be the proper “fence and wall of the vineyard.” And the truth
which is according to faith is as necessary for life as bread; while
the preparatory discipline is like sauce and sweetmeats. “At the end
of the dinner, the dessert is pleasant,” according to the Theban
Pindar. And the Scripture has expressly said, “The innocent will become
wiser by understanding, and the wise will receive knowledge.”[989]
“And he that speaketh of himself,” saith the Lord, “seeketh his own
glory; but He that seeketh His glory that sent Him is true, and there
is no unrighteousness in Him.”[990] On the other hand, therefore, he
who appropriates what belongs to the barbarians, and vaunts it as
his own, does wrong, increasing his own glory, and falsifying the
truth. It is such an one that is by Scripture called a “thief.” It is
therefore said, “Son, be not a liar; for falsehood leads to theft.”
Nevertheless the thief possesses really, what he has possessed himself
of dishonestly, whether it be gold, or silver, or speech, or dogma.
The ideas, then, which they have stolen, and which are partially
true, they know by conjecture and necessary logical deduction: on
becoming disciples, therefore, they will know them with intelligent
apprehension.