vainly has
it been made since. No one has yet given a satisfactory answer.

When, at the dawn of science in Greece, the ancient religion was
disappearing like a mist at sunrise, the pious and thoughtful men of
that country were thrown into a condition of intellectual despair.
Anaxagoras plaintively exclaims, "Nothing can be known, nothing can be
learned, nothing can be certain, sense is limited, intellect is weak,
life is short." Xenophanes tells us that it is impossible for us to be
certain even when we utter the truth. Parmenides declares that the
very constitution of man prevents him from ascertaining absolute truth.
Empedocles affirms that all philosophical and religious systems must
be unreliable, because we have no criterion by which to test them.
Democritus asserts that even things that are true cannot impart
certainty to us; that the final result of human inquiry is the discovery
that man is incapable of absolute knowledge; that, even if the truth be
in his possession, he cannot be certain of it. Pyrrho bids us reflect
on the necessity of suspending our judgment of things, since we have no
criterion of truth; so deep a distrust did he impart to his followers,
that they were in the habit of saying, "We assert nothing; no, not even
that we assert nothing." Epicurus taught his disciples that truth can
never be determined by reason. Arcesilaus, denying both intellectual and
sensuous knowledge, publicly avowed that he knew nothing, not even his
own ignorance! The general conclusion to which Greek philosophy came was
this--that, in view of the contradiction of the evidence of the
senses, we cannot distinguish the true from the false; and such is the
imperfection of reason, that we cannot affirm the correctness of any
philosophical deduction.

It might be supposed that a revelation from God to man would come with
such force and clearness as to settle all uncertainties and overwhelm
all opposition. A Greek philosopher, less despairing than others, had
ventured to affirm that the coexistence of two forms of faith, both
claiming to be revealed by the omnipotent God, proves that neither of
them is true. But let us remember that it is difficult for men to come
to the same conclusion as regards even material and visible things,
unless they stand at the same point of view. If discord and distrust
were the condition of philosophy three hundred years before the birth
of Christ, discord and distrust were the condition of relig