Million Book Collection - The Fishers of Men Ministries

220 THE FORMATION OF CHRISTENDOMhis own doctrine as a disciple of Pythagoras withtheirs, and if necessary to enlarge it, or at any rateto confirm it by conference with those who held it atits original source. Now he is said to remain fourmonths with the wise men, and to hold innumerableconversations with them, and to be initiated in all thesecrets of their science. The most important matterthat we learn from the thirty-five chapters in whichPhilostratus describes this intercourse, is the accountof the constitution of the world. Apollonius, beingbidden to ask any question, inquires how the worldwas composed. They reply, " Of five elements, the fifthbeing ether, whence the gods have their generation,)r whatever things breathe air are mortal, but whateverbreathe ether are immortal and divine." " Whichelement then existed first ?"" All together," replieslarchas, " for that which lives is not produced by parts."" Is then the world a living thing ?" " Yes, for it producesall things alive." " Is it then feminine, or bothmale and female ?"" It is both, for by an act of self-coalescence it performs the functions both of fatherand mother in the generation of that which lives, andis more ardently fond of itself than other things havinglife of each other. This love it is which harmonisesand unites it. And as in a living thing its movementand the mind which is in it, the source of itsimpulses, perform the work of hands and feet, so weconsider the parts of the world through its mind to becapable of providing what is needed for all its productions.And even the calamities arising fromdrought happen according to this mind, as punishmentsfor human depravity. And this living thingis ruled not by one hand but by hands which nonecan count or express, and in spite of its size is obe-