of destiny. Here vigorous intellects had struggled
to pierce the darkness which hangs alike over the beginning and the end
of human existence. Here profoundly earnest men had questioned nature,
reason, antiquity, oracles, in the hope they might learn something of
that invisible world of _real_ being which they instinctively felt must
lie beneath the world of fleeting forms and ever-changing appearances.
Here philosophy had directed her course towards every point in the
compass of thought, and touched every _accessible_ point. The sun of
human reason had reached its zenith, and illuminated every field that
lay within the reach of human ken. And this sublime era of Greek
philosophy is of inestimable value to us who live in Christian times,
because _it is an exhaustive effort of human reason to solve the problem
of being_, and in its history we have a record of the power and weakness
of the human mind, at once on the grandest scale and in the fairest
characters.[386]

[Footnote 386: See article "Philosophy," in Smith's "Dictionary of the
Bible."]

These preliminary considerations will have prepared the way for, and
awakened in our minds a profound interest in, the inquiry--1st. What
permanent _results_ has Greek philosophy bequeathed to the world? 2d. In
what manner did Greek philosophy fulfill for Christianity a
_propoedeutic_ office?

It will at once be obvious, even to those who are least conversant with
our theme, that it would be fruitless to attempt the answer to these
important questions before we have made a careful survey of the entire
history of philosophic thought in Greece. We must have a clear and
definite conception of the problems they sought to solve, and we must
comprehend their methods of inquiry, before we can hope to appreciate
the results they reached, or determine whether they did arrive at any
definite and valuable conclusions. It will, therefore, devolve upon us
to present a brief and yet comprehensive epitome of the history of
Grecian speculative thought.

"_Philosophy_," says Cousin, "_is reflection_, and nothing else than
reflection, in a vast form"--"Reflection elevated to the rank and
authority of a _method_." It is the mind looking back upon its own
sensations, perceptions, cognitions, ideas, and from thence to the
_causes_ of these sensations, cognitions, and ideas. It is thought
passing beyond the simple perceptions of things, beyond the mere
spontaneous operations of the mind in the co