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22. Returning now to Europe, let us consider what was the 
teaching of the two great nations of antiquitj^ — the Greeks and 
Latins — on the subject of Cosmogony ; or rather, as the former 
were the sole founders of the philosophical speculations on this 
subject, it will be sufficient if we direct our attention almost 
exclusively to the cosmological notions put forward by the 
Greeks, though these are so varied that it is difficult to com- 
press within a reasonable space the various extraordinary and, 
I must add, extravagant theories propounded by these emi- 
nent philosophers of antiquity. Two Christian writers, both 
belonging to the second century, have alike called attention to 
the remarkable differences existing amongst them ; and I think 
it may be well to give a brief sketch of what they have adduced 
as an argument against receiving the theories propounded by 
men who, though doubtless what would nowadays be called 
“ very learned,” can scarcely be said to know their own mind 
on this important point. 
23. Justin Martyr, in his Hortatory Address to the Greeks, 
says that Thales of Miletus, who took the lead in the study of 
natural philosophy, declared that water was the first principle 
of all things ; Anaximander, the Infinite ; Anaximenes, the air ; 
Heraclitus and Hippasus, fire ; Anaxagoras, the homogeneous 
parts of nature ; Archelaus, an Athenian, that the infinite air, 
with its density and rarity, is the first principle of all things.* 
“All these,” says Justin, “forming a succession from Thales, 
followed the philosophy called by themselves physical 
24. Then, in regular succession from another starting-point, 
* Although Buddhism has been described by an acknowledged authority 
as “ Monastic asceticism in morals, and philosophical scepticism in religion,” 
there is no doubt that the Buddhists recognized a supreme deity in Vajra 
Satwa, whom they termed “ The Self-Existent.” There is a curious account 
amongst the Buddhist traditions concerning Cosmogony, not unlike that of 
the Grecian philosophers. Thus the Swabhavika doctrine is expressed as 
follows : — “ All things come from Swabhava in this order with their vija 
mantras : From the vija of the letter Y, air ; from that of the letter R, fire ; 
from that of the letter Y or B, water ; from that of the letter L, earth ; 
and from that of the letter S, Mount Sumeru. On the top of Sumera 
is a lotus of precious stones, and above the lotus a moon-crescent, upon 
which sits, supremely exalted, Yajra Satwa. And as all things, together 
with Vajra Satwa, proceed from Swabhava, he is therefore called the 
Self-Existent.” (See Hodgson’s Quotations in proof of his sketch of 
Buddhism , p. 296.) Possibly some modern advocates of Buddhism may 
attempt to explain that all these things are poetic vagaries, as Empedocles 
endeavoured to do with reference to the gods of the Greeks, asserting that 
“Zeus is fire, Hera the earth , Aidoneus air, Nestis water ; and that these are 
only elements— none of them are to be considered gods ; for their consti- 
tution and origin are separated into parts from matter by God.” (See 
Athenagoras’s Plea for the Christians, c. xxii.) 
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