"Nor," says Clement, "must we keep the Pythagoreans in the background, who say, 'God is one; and he is not, as some suppose, outside of this frame of things, but within it; in all the entireness of his being he pervades the whole circle of existence, surveying all nature, and blending in harmonious union the whole; the author of his own forces and works, the giver of light in heaven, and father of all; the mind and vital power of the whole world, the mover of all things.'" Clement quotes Aratus the poet:-- "That all may be secure Him ever they propitiate first and last. Hail, Father! great marvel, great gain to man." "Thus also," says Clement, "the Ascræan Hesiod dimly speaks of God:-- 'For he is the king of all, and monarch Of the immortals, and there is none that can vie with him in power.' "And Sophocles, the son of Sophilus, says:-- 'One, in truth, one is God, Who made both heaven and the far-stretching earth; And ocean's blue wave, and the mighty winds; But many of us mortals, deceived in heart, Have set up for ourselves, as a consolation in our afflictions, Images of the gods, of stone, or wood, or brass, Or gold, or ivory; And, appointing to these sacrifices and vain festivals, Are accustomed thus to practise religion.' "But the Thracian Orpheus, the son of Oeagrus, hierophant and poet, at once, after his exposition of the orgies and his theology of idols, introduces a palinode of truth with solemnity, though tardily singing the strain:-- 'I shall utter to whom it is lawful; but let the doors be closed, Nevertheless, against all the profane. But do thou hear, O Musæus, for I will declare what is true.' "He then proceeds:-- 'He is one, self-proceeding; and from him alone all things proceed, And in them he himself exerts his activity; no mortal Beholds him, but he beholds all.'" Professor Cocker, in his work on "Christianity and Greek Philosophy," has devoted much thought to show that philosophy was a preparation for Christianity, and that Greek civilization was an essential condition to the progress of the Gospel. He points out how Greek intelligence and culture, literature and art, trade and colonization, the universal spread of the Greek language, and especially the results of Greek philosophy, were "schoolmasters to bring men to Christ." He quotes a striking passage from Pressensé to this effect. Philosophy in Greece, says Pressensé, had its place in the divine plan. It dethroned the false gods. It purified the idea of divinity. Cocker sums up this work of preparation done by Greek philosophy, as seen,-- "1. In the release of the popular mind from polytheistic notions, and the purifying and spiritualizing of the theistic idea. "2. In the development of the theistic argument in a logical form. "3. In the awakening and enthronement of conscience as a law of duty, and in the elevation and purification of the moral idea.