324 THE SCIENCE OF RELIGION. 



we have of the Greek philosopher Plato, who was born 429 years 

 before Christ. He lived 80 years a life of celibacy and of such 

 pure and exemplary conduct that his memory was held in saintly 

 regard. He received divine honors after his death, and there 

 was accorded to him the somewhat common ascription of hero- 

 worship, that of having been born of a virgin, (authority of 

 Plutarch and Hieronimus). His writings that have come down 

 to us are very numerous and almost altogether in Dialogue, so 

 that it is difficult to ascertain just what Plato believed ; but we 

 are not so much concerned with his belief as with the great 

 principles and ideas which he originated or first promulgated. 

 It is sufficient for us to know that in writings, the finish and 

 fascination of which have made them a cherished study in 

 all ages, he has set forth the clearest and grandest conceptions of 

 the one supreme and omniscient God that have ever been incor- 

 porated in any uninspired religion. 



According to Plato, " God is the Supreme Intelligence, incor- 

 poreal, without beginning, end or change, and capable of being 

 perceived only by the mind." But as a being of such exalted 

 state and majesty as he conceived the great First Cause to be, 

 could not consistently be himself a worker in the affairs of the 

 world and of men, Plato inculcated the belief in two other gods, 

 emanations from and parts of the great Supreme God, a Trinity, 

 three gods in one. The second person was the Divine Reason, 

 the acting principle which established the order of the world. 

 He called this the Logos, the word of God, the second person in 

 the Godhead. The third emanation was the soul of the universe, 

 a subordinate nature compounded of intelligence and matter. In 

 the language of Plato, "The universe being animated by a soul 

 that proceeds from God, is the Son of God." 



Plato was so unorthodox as to believe in the eternity of matter. 

 In common with all other ancient philosophers he held to the 

 axiom that from nothing nothing can proceed. Consequently he 

 could not do otherwise than regard matter as eternally existing. 

 But its primeval condition was " without form ; " and creation 

 consisted in bringing order out of this chaos. Matter he regarded 

 as resisting the will of the Supreme Being, so that lie cannot 



