The language used by the Stoics in reference to the Deity at one time gives greater prominence to the material, at another to the spiritual side of their conception of God. As a rule, both are united in expressions which only cease to be startling when taken in connection with Stoic views in general. God is spoken of as being Fire, Ether, Air, most commonly as being πνεῦμα or Atmospheric-Current, pervading everything without exception, what is most base and ugly, as well as what is most beautiful. [307] He is further described [308] as the Soul, the Mind, or the Reason of the world; as a united Whole, containing in Himself the germs of all things; as the Connecting element in all things; as Universal Law, Nature, Destiny, Providence; as a perfect, happy, ever kind and all-knowing Being; nor was it hard to show that no conception could be formed of God without these attributes. [309] Both kinds of expression are combined in the assertion that God is the fiery Reason of the World, the Mind in Matter, the reasonable Air-Current, penetrating all things, and assuming various names according to the material in which He resides, the artistically moulding Fire, containing in Himself the germs of everything, and producing according to an unalterable law the world and all that is therein. [310] As used in the Stoic system, these expressions generally mean one and the same thing. It is an unimportant difference whether the original cause is described as an Air-Current or as Ether, or as Heat or as Fire. It is an Air-Current, for Air-Currents are, as we have already seen, the causes of the properties of things, giving them shape and connection. It is also Fire, for by fire is only meant the warm air, or the fiery fluid, which is sometimes called Ether, at other times Fire, at other times Heat, [311] and which is expressly distinguished from ordinary fire. [312] Moreover the terms, Soul of the world, Reason of the world, Nature, Universal Law, Providence, Destiny—all mean the same thing, the one primary force penetrating the whole world. Even the more abstract expressions, Law, Providence, Destiny, have with the Stoics an essentially gross meaning, implying not only the form according to which the world is arranged and governed, but also the essential substance of the world, as a power above everything particular and individual. [313] If Nature must be distinguished from Destiny, and both of these notions again from Zeus, [314] the distinction can only consist herein, that the three conceptions describe one original Being at different stages of His manifestation and growth. Viewed as the whole of the world it is called Zeus; viewed as the inner power in the world, Providence or Destiny; [315] and to prove this identity at the close of every period, so taught Chrysippus, Zeus goes back into Providence. [316]