CHAP. II.

PART FIRST. OF THE THEOLOGY OF SOCRATES; OF THE NATURE OF GOD.

7. The way in which Socrates came to the knowledge of the true God.

When Socrates perceived how little the study of nature, after the manner of the philosophers of his age, availed for the knowledge of the true cause of the universe, he put away their unprofitable investigation of causes, and subtile and empty questionings concerning the intimate nature and elements of things; and from the observation of the facts of nature, and from the contemplation of the wonderful wisdom and constant order every where conspicuous in the universe, combined with a most accurate study of the minds of men, he sought to know the Author of all things, his nature and perfections. This way, which alone could lead the weak intellect of man to truth, he followed to most happy issues. How skilfully he followed it and what knowledge of his objects he attained, we are now to show.

$ 8. That God is an intelligent Being.

And first, Socrates firmly believed, and eloquently taught, that God is an intelligent being, rational and wise, a most excellent intelligence, the governor of the world, and the parent of the human race. This faith and doctrine, we learn, were established on reasonings such as these. I perceive, he says, in myself an intelligent nature, which we call mind and soul. I perceive, when I do any thing in reference to a certain end, that I do it for no necessity, or chance, but from a certain intimate energy of my mind, which in its thought has foreseen this end, and controls and directs the actions by which I endeavor to attain it. Hence when I perceive other men resembling myself in form, and manner of living and acting, I understand that their actions also which have respect to some end, in like manner proceed from an intelligent nature, which dwells in their bodies and governs them. When therefore I see an excellent

* Plato in Phaedone, p. 220 seqq. Tom. I. Ed. Bip. Xen. Mem. I. 1. 11 seqq. + Mem. I. 4. 8 seqq.

poem, or a picture, or a statue, or any other work of art, skilfully wrought, I affirm that they are not the work of chance; nay, I cannot but believe that they are the workmanship of some artist, whose intelligence, manifesting itself in this, his work, I wonder at and admire. And the more eminent the skill of which any work bears the marks, the more apt the consent of all the parts to some excellent design, so much the greater I hold to be the intelligence of the artist. If, therefore, in the contemplation of the world and its parts, there is found a conspiring and convergence of an infinite number of things, of the most diverse kinds, to the accomplishment of most noble results, a plan and ordering of events and circumstances, so many, that should the wisest of mortals wish to ascertain them, an endless series of ages could find no limit to his inquiries; does not right reason compel us to acknowledge that the world also sprung* from the power and will and wisdom of some mind, and that too a most eminent and excellent mind, and that these immense bodies, arranged throughout the universe, move and maintain their order,† under the guidance of a most wise governor. The mere consideration of the nature of man makes it evident that there are ends aimed at in the constitution of things, and that all things are most carefully adapted to the attainment of them. In some particulars, at least, the observation of every one may suffice. How admirable is the structure and disposition of those organs, through which we gain a knowledge of surrounding things! How remarkably all the parts of every organ coöperate to effect that which we see to be effected by them! Thus, the eye is made most fit for seeing, the ear for hearing, the tongue for discerning the savors of substances introduced into the mouth. Who would not acknowledge it to be the result of intelligence, that the eyes, on account of their weakness, are furnished with lids, like doors, which are opened when there is need of seeing, and closed in sleep? Still further, when we see that lashes are provided for them, that they be not injured by the winds, and brows placed above, that the sweat flowing from the forehead may do no harm; when we consider the structure of the ears which are open to every sound, yet are never filled; the formation of the teeth, some of which are suited to cutting and others to chewing the food; the position of the mouth, through which the food is received, in † I 4. 8.

* 1. 4. 2 seqq.

VOL. XII. No. 31.

the neighborhood of the nostrils and the eyes; when we regard the natural desire of offspring, the innate love of parents for their children, the strong desire for their prolonged life, and the great horror and aversion they entertain for the loss of them; can we doubt that some being endued with intelligence and wisdom, has made man?* Reason forbids; and the very nature of things compels us to confess that all this universe exists by the power of some intelligence. The consideration of our own being, may also in another way, persuade us, that besides our own mind, there is, far higher than man, another mind, which ought to be judged the fountain, as it were, of human souls. For as those particles of earth, of fire, of water, the harmonious combination of which is our body, are separated from that vast mass of matter that lies without and around us in nature; so we ought not to imagine that the soul only, by some chance, we know not how, became united with the body, no other soul existing but that of man, but rather to believe,from the analogy, that there is likewise besides our own, some infinite mind, from which, as from a fountain, the minds which inhabit these bodies are separated and derived. †

$9. God is omnipotent.

If, from a work, the power of the workman is proportionably known, the contemplation of this world most clearly shows, that we ought to ascribe, not power only to God, but the highest, even infinite power. For how vast and numberless the bodies scattered over the boundless universe! They ever move onward in wonderful order, and with a swiftness which works no harm, and yet exceeds our thought. They serve perpetual uses, yet suffer no loss and no injury. They know nothing of disease or of corruption, they never wear out or decay. All is good, supremely good!‡

§ 10. The goodness, wisdom, and providence of God. From the whole structure of the world and the distribution of its parts, it is apparent that in the creative plan of the Deity, he regarded, as an end, the safety, convenience, and happiness

* I. 4. 4. Add what is said just below of the wisdom and providence of God.

of animated beings, and chiefly of rational man; and that he has attained this end by the wisest and fittest means. We are constrained, therefore, to regard God as a good and wise being. Never has he deserted the work which he has projected and begun, but by increasing power he preserves the course of nature unchanged, and never for a moment ceases to embrace the whole circle of his creation in his wise, benignant, and careful providence. Especially does he exercise a notable and continued care over all beings endued with life and sense, and most of all over man, for whose use chiefly, has he prepared all things, that nothing may be lacking, which might minister to his necessities or satisfaction. He has provided light, without which, although we had eyes, we should be blind. He has given us night to meet our necessity of rest, and fitted it for our comfortable repose. The sun by his light discloses to us the aspect of all things, and by his unvarying course, measures for us, the hours of the day. The uncertain darkness of night is sufficiently relieved by the stars. Further, since the life of man cannot be sustained without food, numberless varieties of fruits spring from the earth, in different seasons, and not those only which we need for the support of life, but those which delight the sense. Ample and abundant witnesses of a forecasting wisdom, are the abundance of water, the use of fire, the well ordered changes of the stars, and chiefly of the sun, which when it has finished its southward course, returns again to us, that some products of the earth may be ripened, and that others, whose season has passed, may be dried up and withered by its nearer heat; and these changes are regularly so arranged, that this beneficent planet never can approach so near as to burn us by its intense ardor, nor recede so far as to freeze us by the cold of its distance, while at the same time, they fill the earth with the richest blessings for its inhabitants. This also is most wisely ordained, that neither winter's frost nor midsummer's heat comes upon us suddenly and at once, but so that we experience a gradual increase of each for a long time before their greatest severity.*

11. The goodness of God to all men.

The conveniences thus far considered, are mostly, common to man with the other animals. But man excels the brutes in

* IV. 3. 3 seqq.

most particulars. He tames and domesticates them, feeds upon their milk and flesh, subjects those much stronger than himself, and compels them in many ways to serve his convenience. While, moreover, God has made other animals prone to the earth, that they may eat, he has given man an upright form and gait, a wider and upward vision, and freer and more certain motion. On other animals thus prone, feet only have been bestowed to serve their needful change of place; man has also hands, ready and swift ministers to his necessity and safety.* All animals have tongues, man only can form articulate sounds, by means of which we disclose to each other the feelings of our hearts, and communicate whatever of good we have found, enact laws, and administer commonwealths. The gift of speech is the source of our social life.†

Nay further, continues Socrates, God has not only cared for our body, but has given us a most excellent mind, god-like, and a partaker of his nature. For what soul of any other animated being, has the perception of the gods, who have so wondrously fashioned all things beautiful and great? What other worships the gods? What other has such power as man, to anticipate and provide for hunger and thirst, to ward off cold and heat, to cure disease, to acquire knowledge, and retain in memory things seen and heard? Who does not see that men are as gods, among other animals, far excelling them in nature, in body and soul? For, we have a form of body well suited to our peculiar soul. What could human reason, shut up in the body of a bull? or what would be the use of hands without reason?

In what height of dignity Socrates placed the human soul, which, he affirmed, has a certain fellowship with God, may be clearly seen from what we have already said. Hence the burning zeal, with which he urged his friends to obey the inscription on the temple at Delphi, and attain the knowledge of themselves, their own nature, their own excellencies and defects, studiously to practise and perfect their powers of mind, || to love virtue, and avoid every meanness and base desire which waste and defile the soul: ¶

* IV. 3. 10. 1. 4. 11.

I. 4. 8. IV. 3. 14.

+ IV. 3. 11 seqq. I. 4. 14.

§ III. 7. 9. IV. 2. 24.

III. 6. 16 seqq. III. 9. 1 seqq. IV. 1. 2 seqq.

¶ 1. 3. 6 seqq. I. 5. II. 1 et alibi,