Page:The Classical Heritage of the Middle Ages.djvu/129

 VI] PHILOSOPHY AND DOGMA 111 Hebrews, preparing the way for those who are per- fected by Christ." ^ The one and only God was known by the Greeks in a Gentile way, by the Jews JudaisticaDy, but is known to us Christians in a new and spiritual way. The God who gave both covenants, gave Greek philosophy.* Likewise with Origen Chris- tianity is the sum of knowledge; his life's endeavor was to bring all knowledge into the scheme of salva- tion through Christ. "If we see some admirable work of human art, we are at once eager to investi- gate the nature, the manner, the end of its produc- tion ; and the contemplation of the works of God stirs us with an incomparably greater longing to learn the principles, the method, the purpose of creation. This desire, this passion, has without doubt been implanted in us by God. And as the eye seeks light, as our body craves food, so our mind is impressed with the characteristic and natural desire of knowing the truth of God and the causes of what we observe." ' Gregory Thaumaturgus, in his panegyric on his mas- ter, says that Origen, wishing to gain him and others as pupils, praised the lovers of philosophy, declaring that only those live a life worthy of reasonable crear tures who aim at living an upright life, and seek to know first themselves, and then what is good and what man ought to strive for, and what is evil and what man ought to flee. Thus he reproved ignorance. He asserted that there could be no genuine piety toward God in the man who despised the gift of 1 Stromata, I, 6. See the rest of this interettiiig « Slrom., VI. R.
 * Origen, De PrincipUs, II, 11, 4, Westcott'i traiuUUoa.