conception of subordinate powers or demons advanced by
stoicism. Its interest was not, however, philosophical but rather
theosophical in character. The relation of the individual soul to the
world-powers and the way in which a future state of happiness could be
reached occupied its attention in the first instance; and the theology
which it developed represented the stage-setting for this personal
drama. I do not think it is saying too much when I state that there is
nothing in Gnosticism which modern science and philosophy can recognize
as having a valid foundation. We can understand why it developed, just
as we can understand why mythology arose, but it was a mistaken
movement because it followed the old mythological path of explanation.
If the direction taken by reflection is wrong, the most strenuous
endeavors cannot lead to truth.

Gnosticism possessed certain tenets which were very wide-spread in
ancient civilization. The flesh was looked upon as a thing of evil
which corrupted the soul. The physical world was in fact given over to
the powers of darkness while the spiritual world was ruled by the god
of light and purity. This dualism with its accompanying asceticism is
to be found in the Persian religion, in India, in later Jewish thought,
in the Orphic cults of Greece and even in Plato. It entered into
Christianity as naturally as science does into our outlook to-day. All
through the early years of the Christian era, and during the Middle
Ages, this contrast existed and controlled ethics. All of which goes
to show that Christianity was not the creation of a single man but the
flowering out of religious mythology.

{89}

According to the teaching of Gnosticism, the soul was in danger of
destruction or of dire calamities unless it possessed the proper
preparation for its journey after death. The best means of safety was
the participation in the life of some savior-god who had vanquished the
powers of darkness and evil. It is evident that the world-setting of
Gnosticism was not far different from that of Christianity. They were
products of the same age, outgrowths of a similar soil. The advantage
which Christianity had was its connection with a noble personality and
the ethical background which this gave it. Gnosticism was oriental far
more than it was Greek. Had it been connected with the ethical
teaching of the classic Greek tradition, had a myth of the resurrection
of some noble teacher like Pl