The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-07-14

ehofO ~ ono lNApl hAOnes u I'm Win hNms
Raise the stone and there thou shalt find
Me; cleevo the wood, and there I am"
It IL probable enough that this legion
also might with patient searching be
identified in some of the Patristic writ
ings lcvelled against Gnosticlsm. Tit
Gnostics, as we know, had an apoc-
ryphal literature comprising both Cos
pels and epistles Of their own, IN which,
with the help Of Nco-P latonism, was
reared an elaborate philosophy. They de-
MED that the traditional Interpretation OF
the Gospels was the true one, and main
tanned, on the contrary, that It was adapted
to those simple souls who formed, indeed,
the bulk Of h Church, but who, they
alleged, could DO made to feel only by means
of sensuous symbols, and be led only by
sensual satisfactions here or hereafter. To
got at the real truth hidden In the Old and In
what was afterward to be the New Tesla
ment, these works, said the Gnostics, had
to be interpreted allegorically, and even
enthusiastically. partly by means Of numbers,
and partly through a mystic and secret
process to which they alone had the
key. They further professed to be the
recipients of a secret and e~soteric tradition
which had descended to them by a
kin of freemnsonry through n long line of
initiates from JESUS himself, who, it was
affirmed, had communicated the precious
secrets to those Of His disciples who were
capable Of receiving them. and by whom
they had been passed on through a chosen
number of the illuminate to generation
after generation, until they had reached
the latter-day Gnostics, and by them had
been given to the world.
We need not say that the Gospel of st.
JOHN is, in its philosophical part, satu-
rated with Neo-Platonic ideas; yet here we
have only one Of many proofs Of the vast
influence exerted by Neo-Platonism upon
Christianity. Indeed, it was only by mas
tering and absorbing N~eo-Platonism that
Christianity succeeded in conquering
the Greek and Roman world. Entirely
Ineligible in the mouth of a Neo-
Platonist, who was at the same time
a Christian and believed JESUS to be
the Logos, or first emanation from the
Supreme Being, would be the newly
discovered saying: "Raise the stone and
there thou shalt find Me; cleave the wood,
and there I am." The Neo-Platonic theory
was that from the Eternal One proceeded,
as first emanation, Reason or the Logos I;
from this again, as second emanation, the
world-spirit or soul, which was the vital
principle Of all things. These three, on
the principle Of emanation, are, in truth,
one, in the same way that the rays Of light
in the sun and the rays Of light on the earth,
though different, are yet the same; or that
a mans mind, the thought of his mind, and
the expression of that thought, though un.
like, are yet the same. Though three. they
are yet one. Lastly, from this invisible
trinity in unity, we have, according to tho
Neo-Platonlst, as the final emanation Of
all, the world of sensible things, the
world of material existence as we know it
III see it around US. From this point Of
view JESUS, representing tho Logos, and re-
ferring to the world mistakenly supposed
to be inanimate, might very properly say :
Raise the stone and there thou shalt find
Me cleave the wood and there 1 am"
1t is to be hoped that Messrs. GRENFELL
and HUNT will be able from external cir
cumstances to determine with a close ap-
Proclamation to accuracy the date at which
the piece Of papyrus bearing these sayings
was deposited In the place where it was
found. If 1t be true that the indications
point to a date not later than 200 A.
d., this bit of papyrus Is interesting, as
being the oldest extant manuscript con-
tanning any part Of the Gospels. The
codices are all of considerably less antiquity.