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doctrine, and published the mysteries of Eleusis and of tho Cabiri, and chopped up the wooden statue of Hercules toboil his turnips, but openly declared that there Was no God atall. But to us, Who distinguish God from matter, and teachthat matter is one thing and God another, and that they are separated by a Wido intervat for that the Deiu is uncreatodand eternat, to bo beheld by the understanding and reason alone, While matter is created and perishable), is it not absurdio apply the name of atheism Τ Ιf our sentiments wero liliothose of Diagoras, While Ue haVe such incentives to piety-intho Ostablished order, the universat harmony, the magnitude, tho colour, tho forin, the arrangement of the world-withreason might our reputation for impie , as Weli as the cause of our bding thus harassed, be chamed on Ourselves. But, since our doctrine achnowledges one God, the Maher of this
inquiring concerning God. Euripides, speahing of thoso
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380 PLEA OF ATHENAGORAS Who, according to popular preconception, are ignorantly calledgod' avs Mubtingly:
But speining of Ηim Who is apprehended by the unde standing as matter of certain knowledge, he gives his opiniondocidedly, and with intelligonce; thus :
Thore is ons God, in truth thero is but one, Who made the heavens, and the broad earin benina. .
Euripides is speahinc of the nature of God, Which filis His
rhs With beauty, and inaching both Where God must be, and that He must be One. CHAP. VI.-OFinions of the philosophera as to the one God. Philolaus, too, When he mys that ali things ars included in God as in a stronoold, teaches that IIo is one, and that Hois superior to matter. Lysis and insimus' stus dofino God t
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the ono says that He is an ineffabie number, the oster that ΗΘ is the excess of the greatest number beyond that whicli comes nearest to it. So that since ten is the greatest numberaecording to the Pythagoreans, being the Tetractys,y and containing ali tho arithmetic and harmonic principies, and the Nine Mands nexi to it, God is a unit-that is, one. For thegreatest number exceeds the nexi least by one. men thereare Ρlato and Aristotie-not that I am about to go throughali that the philosophers have said about God, as is I Wishodio exhibit a completo summary of their opinions; for I knowthat, as Du excet ali men in intelligetico and in the poWer of
your rute, in the fame proportion do you surpass them ali in an accurate acquaintanee With ait Iearning, cultiVating as you doeach severat branch With more success than even those Whohave devoted themsolves exclusively to any oue. But, ina much as it is impossibio to demonstrate Mithout the citationos names that we are not alone in confining the notion ofGod to uni , I have Ventured on an enumeration os opinions.
Plato, then, says, To find out the Maher and Father of this universo is difficuli; and, When found, it is impossibis to
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382 PLEA OF AT NAGORAS motion os the bo , itself not subicct to motion, but hecoming the cause of motion to the other. The Stoics also, althoughby the appellations they employ to fuit the changes of matter, Whicli they say is permeated by the Spirit os God, they multiply the Deity in name, yet in reality they consider God tobe one. For, is God is an artistic fire advancing methodicialyto the production of the severat things in the worid, embracingin Himself ali the seminal principies by which each thingis produced in accordance With fate, and is Ηis Spirit pervades the whese Worid, then God is one according to them, being named Zeus in respect of the fervid part το νον) of matter, and Hera in respect of the air ὁ αὐ), and callod is
they came each to his oWn conclusion respecting GOd, and matter, and forms, and the worid. But me have sor mi nesses os the things me apprehend and belleve, propheis, menWho have pronounced concerning God and the things os God,
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the true God το oντως θεῖον), that it would be irrational forus to ceaso to bellove in tho Spirit from God, who moved thomouilis of the propheis line musical instruments, and to givehoed to mere human opinionS.
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384 PLEA OF ATHENAGORASabove the worid and tho fiditJ God In another Worid, or
CHAP. IX.-The testimonias of the propheis. It we satisfied oursolves With Qvaneing auch considerations M these, our doctrines might by some be looked Mon ashuman. But, since thct Volces of the propheis eonfirm oux
me thero is no God. In like manner: Besore me thero Was no other God, and after me there inest be none; I
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386 PLEA OF ATHENAGORAS inactive earth, tho grosser particles Ming mixed Min tholi ter. The prophetic Spirit also agrees With our stat ments. The Lord,' it sus, mado me, the beonning of His Ways to His Wotas. Tho Hob Spirit Himself also, Whicli
operates in the propheis, We assert to be an effusnce of God, floWing hom mm, and returning bach again liri a beam ofthe sun. Who, then, Would not be astonished to hear men who ea os God the Father, and of God the Son, and of the ΗοlySpirit, and who declare both their power in union and thoirdistinction in ordor, called atheisis Τ Nor is cur toaehing in What relates to the divine nature confined to these polats; but me recognise also a multitude os angels and ministers, Whom God ths Maher and Framor of the w id distributed and appo ted to their severat posts by Ηis Logos, is occupy them- serues about the elementi, and the hemens, and the worid, and tho things in it, and the goodly ordering of them all. CHAP. XX.-The morat Maehing of the Christiana repeti theeharge bro hi against them. Is I go minutoly into tho particulars of our doctrino, Iet it not surpesse Fou. It is stat Du may not be carried aWay by the popular and irrational opinion, but may have tho truthclearly before Fou. For presenting the opinions themselvesto Whicli me adhere, as boing not human, but ulterin and taught is God, We shali be able to persuade you not to thiis of us as atheisis. What, then, are thoes feachinga in Whichmo ars brought up I say unto Fou, Love Dur enemies ;blem them that curse you; pray for them that persecuto Du; that ye may bs tho sons of Dur Father Who is in heaven, Who causes His sun to Hse on tho erit and the good, and sendsrain on the just and tho uniust.' - Allom me here to list up my voico boldly in loud and audible outcrri pletaing as Ιdο foro philosophie princes. For Who of thoso that reduce syllogisms, and clear up ambiguities, and explain etymologies, or of those Who Dach homonyms and synonyms, and predic ments and axioms, and what is the subjeci and what tho predicate, and who promise stela discipies by theso and suta lita
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Should me, then, unless Wo belloved that a God presides
Mer the human race, thus purge o solves hom evit Τ mst certainly not. But, because me are persuaded that me shallgive an account of eve ining in the present lite to God, whomade us and the Worid, we adopi a temperate and benevolent
sester no such great evit here, even aliould our lives be taenhom us, compared With What me stati there receive for o
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accounted pio ; While men who rechon the present life of very smail Worth indeed, and who are conducted to the futurollio by this one thing alone, stat they know God and His Logos, What is tho oneness of the Son with tho Father, What the communion of the Fathor Mith the Son, What is tho Spirit, What is the uni of these three, the Spirit, the Son, tho Fathor, and their distinction in uni ; and who knoWinat tho liso for which wo look is far botter than can bedescribed in Words, provided me arrive at it pure hom all