h we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of
the Word of life ... declare we unto you." In the same way it might be
said in the spirit of Neo-Platonism, "That which was from the
beginning, which cannot be heard and seen, must be spiritually
experienced as the Word of life."

And so the old conception of the universe is developed and splits into
two leading ideas. It leads in Neo-Platonism and similar systems to an
idea of Christ which is purely spiritual; on the other hand, it leads
to a fusion of the idea of Christ with a historical manifestation, the
personality of Jesus. The writer of the Gospel of St. John may be said
to unite these two conceptions. "In the beginning was the Word." He
shares this conviction with the Neo-Platonists. The Word becomes
spirit within the soul, thus do the Neo-Platonists conclude. The Word
was made flesh in Jesus, thus does St. John conclude, and with him
the whole Christian community. The inner meaning of the manner in
which the Word was made flesh was given in all the ancient
cosmogonies. Plato says of the macrocosm: "God has extended the body
of the world on the soul of the world in the form of a cross." The
soul of the world is the Logos. If the Logos is to be made flesh, he
must recapitulate the cosmic process in fleshly existence. He must be
nailed to the cross, and rise again. In spiritual form this most
momentous thought of Christianity had long before been prefigured in
the old cosmogonies. The Mystic went through it as a personal
experience in initiation. The Logos become man had to go through it in
a way that made this fact one that is true for or valid to the whole
of humanity. Something which was present under the old dispensation as
an incident in the Mysteries becomes a historical fact through
Christianity. Hence Christianity was the fulfilment not only of what
the Jewish prophets had predicted, but also of the truth which had
been prefigured in the Mysteries.

The Cross of Golgotha gathers together in one fact the whole cult of
the Mysteries of antiquity. We find the cross first in the ancient
cosmogonies. At the starting-point of Christianity it confronts us in
an unique event which has supreme value for the whole of mankind. It
is from this point of view that it is possible for the reason to
apprehend the mystical element in Christianity. Christianity as a
mystical fact is a milestone in the process of human evolution; and
the incidents in the Mysteries, with