uestionably the god of
whom Paul declared: In him we live and move, and have our being, as
certain of your own poets have also said--

"'For we are his offspring.'"

Now whether this be a quotation from Aratus or Cleanthes, the language
of the poets is, "We are the offspring of Zeus;" consequently the Zeus
of the poets and the God of Christianity are the same God.

"The father of gods and men in Homer is, of course, the Universal Father
of the Scriptures."--Tyler, "Theology of Greek Poets," p. 171.]

"When Homer introduces Eumaios, the swineherd, speaking of this life and
the higher powers that rule it, he knows only of just gods 'who hate
cruel deeds, but honor justice and the righteous works of men' (Od. xiv.
83). His whole life is built up on a complete trust in the divine
government of the world without any artificial helps, as the Erinys, the
Nemesis, or Moira. 'Eat,' says the swineherd, 'and enjoy what is here,
for _God_[168] will grant one thing, but another he will refuse,
whatever he will in his mind, for he can do all things' (Od. xiv. 444;
x. 306). This surely is religion, and it is religion untainted by
mythology. Again, the prayer of the female slave, grinding corn in the
house of Ulysses is religious in the truest sense--'Father Zeus, thou
who rulest over gods and men, surely thou hast just thundered in the
starry sky, and there is no cloud anywhere. Thou showest this as a sign
to some one. Fulfill now, even to me, miserable wretch, the prayer which
I now offer'" (Od. xx. 141-150).[169]

[Footnote 168: No sound reason can be assigned for translating _Theos_
by "_a_ god" as some have proposed, rather than "_God_." But even if it
were translated "a god," this god must certainly be understood as Zeus.
Plato tells us that Zeus is the most appropriate name for God. "For in
reality the name Zeus is, as it were, a sentence; and persons dividing
it in two parts, some of us make use of one part, and some of another;
for some call him Zen, and some Dis. But these parts, collected together
into one, exhibit the nature of the God;... for there is no one who is
more the cause of living, both to us and everything else, than he who is
the ruler and king of all. It follows, therefore, that this god is
rightly named, through whom _life_ is present in all living
beings."--Cratylus, Sec. 28.

Theos was usually employed, says Cudworth, to designate _God_ by way of
pre-eminence, Theoi to designate inferior divinitie