The Knowledge of God 91' a Divine birth and a sinful alienation. Hence the universal spirit of unrest so pathetically expressed by Augustine: ‘‘We came forth from God, and we shall be homesick until we re- turn to Him.’’ No doubt there have been some who, with no light but that which shines along the pathway of Intuition, have made the acquaintance of God; but the vast multitude have simply arrived at idolatry. They have made unto themselves gods “after the similitude of a man” ; gods, like the Brocken of the Harz mountains, projected on the skies. An idol is a man- made god. It may be carved out of wood or conjured out of the gray matter of the brain; but all gods, whencesoever they come, are idols, except the one true God. The second pathway of the God-seekers is Reason. Here we come upon the philosophers and those who travel with them. This also leads to disappointment; as it is writ- ten, “The world by wisdom knew not God”. The golden age of philosophy in Greece followed close on the decay of the Pantheon. It was when the people had lost confidence in their idols and the cry was heard, “Great Pan is dead!” that the Groves and Gardens and Painted Porches arose on the banks of the Ilyssus. The thoughtful men who assumed the name philosophoi, that is, “lovers of wisdom”, were all seekers after God. The Stoics, Epicureans, Cynics arid Peripatetics all hoped to discover Him by the light of reason. How vain the quest! When Simonides was asked for a definition of God, he required some weeks for meditation and then answered, “The more I think of Him, the more He is unknown!” The iri- numerable gods and altars of Athens had been laughed out of court; and the results of philosophic inquiry were recorded on that other altar which succeeded them, “To the Unknown God”. The stock in trade of the philosophers of Athens was precisely that of the philosophers of our time. I t consisted
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