hemselves felt no need, and
hence we have in their works a rather frequent reference to the various
forms of the theistic argument; but one which is evidently only
incidental to their main course of thought, and which is brought in
merely in accommodation to the needs of their readers. The ordinary
arguments to prove the existence of God were not at all an essential, or
even prominent, feature of early Christian Theology. And because of this
secondary and incidental position of these arguments, they were never,
as we shall see, given definite, conventional shape in the patristic use
of them, nor were the various forms of the argument differentiated; but
they were used in what we may call a mixed form, a combination of two or
more different forms being put forth as one composite whole.

Besides these general influences which shaped the patristic treatment of
the theistic arguments, we should notice certain fundamental and
characteristic principles assumed by the Fathers, or by most of them,
which have their bearing on our subject.

In the first place it is held by most of the early Christian authors,
and explicitly stated by many of them, that the idea of the existence of
God is innate in man as a "natural opinion." We have already noticed the
doctrine of {prolepsis} advanced by Epicurus, and the somewhat similar
position assumed by Philo, and we are not surprised to find that this
idea took a strong hold on the devout minds of the early Christians.
Thus St. Justin Martyr states that "the appellation 'God' is not a name,
but _an opinion_ ({prosagoreuma}) _planted in the nature of man_ of a
thing that can hardly be explained,"[34] and makes one of his
discussions conclude that souls "can perceive ({noein}) that God
exists."[35] St. Clement of Alexandria goes even further and affirms
that "the Father, then, and Maker of all things is apprehended by all
things, agreeably to all, _by innate power and without teaching_."[36]
Tertullian thinks that "the soul was before prophecy. From the beginning
the knowledge of God is the dowry (_dos_) of the soul,"[37] and among
the "things known even by nature" is "the knowledge of our God" which is
"possessed by all,"[38] so that he could write a treatise, _De
Testimonio Animae_, and exclaim, "O noble testimony of the soul by nature
Christian."[39] Origen speaks of "the uncorrupted idea of Him which is
implanted in the human mind,"[40] and St. Cyprian makes this knowledge
so plain that