One might ignore this marvellous complacency were it not for the fact that it still expresses the opinion of a considerable majority. To refute the presumption that Christianity alone is capable of abstract thought, or of conceiving God as good, one need only turn to any primitive philosophy. It is, however, needless to look further afield than pagan Albion. Strabo alludes to the Druidic teaching as "moral science," and no phrase better defines the pith and dignity of certain British Triads. It was daringly maintained that God cannot be matter, therefore everything not matter was God: that:-- In every person there is a soul, In every soul there is intelligence: In every intelligence there is thought, In every thought there is either good or evil: In every evil there is death: In every good there is life, In every life there is God.[188] The Bards of Britain, who claimed to maintain the "sciences" of piety, wisdom, and courtesy, taught that--the three principal properties of the Hidden God were "Power, knowledge, and love": that the three purposes of God in his works were "to consume the evil; to enliven the dead; and to cause joy from doing good": that the three ways in which God worked were "experience, wisdom, and mercy". It will be observed that all these axioms are in three clauses, and it was claimed by the Welsh Bards of the twelfth, thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries that they possessed many similar Triads or threefold precepts which had been handed down by memory and tradition from immemorial times.[189] It is generally accepted by competent scholars that the Welsh Triads, particularly the poems attributed to "Taliesin," undoubtedly contain a great deal of pagan and pre-Christian doctrine, but to what extent this material has been garbled and alloyed is, of course, a matter of uncertainty and dispute. In some instances external and internal evidence testify alike to their authenticity. For example, Diogenes Laertius, who died in A.D. 222, stated: "The Druids philosophise sententiously and obscurely--to worship the Gods, to do no evil, to exercise courage". This precise and comprehensive summary of the whole duty of man is to be found among the Bardic Triads, where it has been translated to read: "The three First Principles of Wisdom: obedience to the laws of God, concern for the good of mankind, and bravery in sustaining all the accidents of life". In _Celtic Heathendom_ Sir John Rhys prints the following noble and majestic prayer, of which four MSS. variants are in existence:--