(page 116) - Chapter VI
The Athenian Philosophers

Page 116

comparable with the eternal repose in which He dwells. God is not concerned with the world.

IV. The doctrine of the origin of the world.

The world is eternal, because matter, motion and time are eternal.

V. The doctrine concerning Nature.

Nature is everything which has the principle of motion and rest. It is spontaneous and self determining from within. Nature does nothing in vain, but according to definite law. It is always striving for the best according to a plan of development, which is obstructed only by matter. The striving of nature is through the less perfect to the more perfect.

VI. The doctrine concerning the Universe.

The world is globe shaped, circular and most perfect in form. The heaven, which is composed of ether, stands in immediate contact with the First Cause. The stars, which are eternal come next in order, the earth-ball is in the middle, and is the furthest from the prime mover, and least participant of divinity.

(Eth. Wic 10, 8; 1178b, 20) (Op. cit. 10: 8, 9; 1179).

(Wm. Turner's History of Philosophy, p. 141-143; B D. Alexander, History of Phil. p. 102-103; Zeller's History of Philosophy, p. 221; Roger's History of Philosophy, p. 109).

(Aristotle's Physics II, I, 192b 14) (De Caelo, I, 4, 271a, 33).

(De Part. An. IV, 2, 677a 15)

(Aristotle's Physics II, 8, 199).

(B. D. Alexander's Hist. of Phil. p. 104).

(De Generatione Animalium, IV, 4, 7706, 9).

VII. The doctrine of the soul.

The soul is not merely a harmony of the body or the blending of opposites. It is neither the four elements nor their compound, for it transcends all material conditions.

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