II. Contemporary with the Alexandrian Gnostics

arose the philosophical school of the Neo-Platonists which gathered into one the doctrines of Pythagoras, Plato, and Buddhism,1 and constructed a theology which might make headway against Christianity by satisfying in a rational way the longings which the new religion addressed. They too disclosed the reality and near- ness of a spiritual world, a reconciliation with God, and the pathway for returning to Him. The distin- guishing principle of Neo-Platonism is emanation, which took the place of creation. From the eternal Intelligence proceeds the multiplicity of souls which comprise the intelligible world, and of which the world- soul is the highest and all-embracing source. They insisted upon the distinct individuality of each soul, and earnestly combated the charge of Pantheism. Souls who have descended into the delusion of matter did so from pride and a desire of false independence. They now forget their former estate and the Father whom they have deserted. The mission of men, in the dying words of Plotinus, is "to bring the divine within them into harmony with that which is divine in the universe." The Neo-Platonists fought Gnosti- cism as fiercely as Christianity. Plotinus, by far the best of their writers, as well as the oldest whose works are preserved, devotes a whole book of his Enneads to the refutation of the doctrines of Valentin us, the brightest of the Gnostics. Contrary to the latter's thought, that men are fallen into the miry pit of mat- ter which is wholly bad, Plotinus claims that the world of matter, although the least divine part of the universe because remotest from the One, is still good and the best place for man's development. From its former life he insists the soul has not fallen and can-
1 The close parallelism between Buddhism and Platonism peculiarly facilitated this.
IN EARLY CHRISTENDOM. 229
not, but has descended into the lower stage of exist- ence through innate weakness of intellect in order to be prepared for a higher exaltation.
The most important of this group of thinkers were Ammonius Saccas, Plotinus, and Porphyry in the third century, Jamblichus in the fourth, Hierocles and Proclus in the fifth, and Damascius in the sixth. It flourished with energy for over three hundred years, and as its ideas were largely appropriated by Chris- tian theologians and philosophers, beginning with Origen, it has never ceased to be felt through Chris- tendom. Giordano Bruno, the martyr of the Italian reformation, popularized it, and handed it over to later philosophers. The philosophy of Emerson is substantially a revival of Plotinus. Coleridge is also strongly influenced by him.
As Plotinus is in some respects the most interesting of all the older writers, and taught reincarnation in a form thoroughly rational and supremely helpful, meeting Western needs in this regard more directly than any other philosopher, we quote at some length from his scarce essay on " The Descent of the Soul."
" When any particular soul acts in discord from the One, flying from the whole and apostasizing from thence by a certain disagreement, no longer beholding an intelligible nature, from its partial blindness, in this case it becomes deserted and solitary, impotent and distracted with care ; for it now directs its men- tal eye to a part, and by a separation from that which is universal, attaches itself as a slave to one particular nature. It thus degenerates from the whole and gov- erns particulars with anxiety and fatigue, assiduously cultivating externals and becoming not only present with body, but profoundly entering into its dark
230 IN EARLY CHRISTENDOM.
abodes. Hence, too, by such conduct the wings of the soul are said to suffer a defluxion and she becomes fettered with the bonds of body, after deserting the safe and innoxious habit of governing a better nature which flourishes with universal soul. The soul, there- fore, falling from on high, suffers captivity, is loaded with fetters, and employs the energies of sense; be- cause in this case her intellectual longing is impeded from the first. She is reported also to be buried and to be concealed in a cave ; but when she converts her- self to intelligence she then breaks her fetters and as- cends on high, receiving first of all from reminiscence the ability of contemplating real beings ; at the same time possessing something supereminent and ever abiding in the intelligible world. Souls therefore are necessarily of an amphibious nature, and alternately experience a superior and inferior condition of being; such as are able to enjoy a more intimate converse with Intellect abiding for a longer period in the higher world, and such to whom the contrary happens, either through nature or fortune, continuing longer connected with these inferior concerns." ....
" Thus, the soul, though of divine origin, and pro- ceeding from the regions on high, becomes merged in the dark receptacle of the body, and being naturally a posterior god, it descends hither through a certain voluntary inclination, for the sake of power and of adorning inferior concerns. By this means it receives a knowledge of its latent powers, and exhibits a vari- ety of operations peculiar to its nature, which by per- petually abiding in an incorporeal habit, and never proceeding into energy, would have been bestowed in vain. Besides the soul would have been ignorant of what she possessed, her powers always remaining dor-
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mant and concealed : since energy everywhere exhibits capacity, which would otherwise be entirely occult and obscure, and without existence, because not endued with one substantial and true. But now indeed every one admires the intellectual powers of the soul, through the variety of her external effects." ....
" Through an abundance of desire the soul becomes profoundly merged into matter, and no longer totally abides with the universal soul. Yet our souls are able alternately to rise from hence carrying back with them an experience of what they have known and suf- fered in their fallen state; from whence they will learn how blessed it is to abide in the intelligible world, and by a comparison, as it were, of contraries, will more plainly perceive the excellence of a superior state. For the experience of evil produces a clearer knowledge of good. This is accomplished in our souls according to the circulations of time, in which a con- version takes place from subordinate to more exalted natures.
" Indeed, if it were proper to speak clearly what appears to me to be the truth, contrary to the opin- ions of others, the whole of our soul also does not en- ter into the body, but something belonging to it al- ways abides in the intelligible, and something different from this in the sensible world : and that which abides in the sensible world, if it conquers, or rather if it is vanquished and disturbed, does not permit us to per- ceive that which the supreme part of the soul contem- plates ; for that which is understood then arrives at our nature when it descends within the limits of sen- sible inspection. For every soul possesses something which inclines downwards to body, and something which tends upwards toward intellect ; and the soul,
232 IN EARLY CHRISTENDOM.
indeed, which is universal and of the universe, by its part which is inclined towards body, governs the whole without labor and fatigue, transcending that which it governs.
" But souls which are particular and of a part are too much occupied by sense, and by a perception of many things happening contrary to nature are sur- rounded by a multitude of foreign concerns. It is likewise subject to a variety of affections, and is en- snared by the allurements of pleasure. But the supe- rior part of the soul is never influenced by fraudulent delights, and lives a life always uniform and divine."