e the existence of God, and it was to
these classes that many of the works under discussion were addressed. To
them the argument, such as we frequently find, from the Old Testament
types and prophecies, or from the superior beauty and morality of the
Christian doctrine and life, taking for granted the existence of God,
was what the case required. And when, as is very frequently the case,
they address the popular idolaters, it is a negative argument to show
the unworthiness of idol-worship, and the superiority of their own
doctrine, of which they naturally make use, and not a theistic argument
which would have no significance to those who were already "too
religious."

Many of the apologies of the early Church were called forth by the
attacks which were made on the Christians by the adherents of the
popular religions. The charges usually brought against them were those
of atheism, because of their rejection of the gods of Greece and Rome;
of immorality, because of the secrecy and mystery of their meetings, and
cannibalism, because of their doctrine of the partaking of the Body and
Blood of Christ in the Eucharist. In refuting these charges, especially
the first, no place was afforded for the use of a theistic argument, but
they naturally exhibit their belief in God as superior to that of their
accusers, and appeal to their lives as justifying their belief.

But aside from these cases in which the theistic argument would have
been superfluous, there are many places in which it is conspicuous for
its absence. That they had other arguments besides those from scripture
and authority, and that they believed in using them when necessary, we
have, as we have seen, many proofs in their writings. Their position is
well indicated by Lactantius, who blamed St. Cyprian for using a
Scripture argument to an unbeliever,[85] and we shall be obliged to look
deeper than mere ignorance or lack of occasion to account for the
paucity of cases in which they use the argument for the existence of
God.

The fact is that the history of Greek thought had shown conclusively the
absolute futility of any efforts to arrive at a certain proof of the
existence of God by purely rational methods. The attempts of each school
to attain such certainty were repudiated by their successors, and even
by their contemporaries; and the later trials--which the religious
instincts and aspirations of men would not permit them to forego, even
when they were sceptica