flows the spiritual energy which, in manifold forms and ways, redeems
the world from evil and draws it home to God."[223]

When the Logos comes forth from "the bosom of the Father" in that "Day"
when He is said to be "begotten,"[224] the dawn of the Day of Creation,
of Manifestation, when by Him God "made the worlds,"[225] He by His own
will limits Himself, making as it were a sphere enclosing the Divine
Life, coming forth as a radiant orb of Deity, the Divine Substance,
Spirit within and limitation, or Matter, without. This is the veil of
matter which makes possible the birth of the Logos, Mary, the
World-Mother, necessary for the manifestation in time of the Eternal,
that Deity may manifest for the building of the worlds.

That circumscription, that self-limitation, is the act of sacrifice, a
voluntary action done for love's sake, that other lives may be born from
Him. Such a manifestation has been regarded as a death, for, in
comparison with the unimaginable life of God in Himself, such
circumscription in matter may truly be called death. It has been
regarded, as we have seen, as a crucifixion in matter, and has been thus
figured, the true origin of the symbol of the cross, whether in its
so-called Greek form, wherein the vivifying of matter by the Holy Ghost
is signified, or in its so-called Latin, whereby the Heavenly Man is
figured, the supernal Christ.[226]

"In tracing the symbolism of the Latin cross, or rather of the crucifix,
back into the night of time, the investigators had expected to find the
figure disappear, leaving behind what they supposed to be the earlier
cross-emblem. As a matter of fact exactly the reverse took place, and
they were startled to find that eventually the cross drops away, leaving
only the figure with uplifted arms. No longer is there any thought of
pain or sorrow connected with that figure, though still it tells of
sacrifice; rather is it now the symbol of the purest joy the world can
hold--the joy of freely giving--for it typifies the Divine Man standing
in space with arms upraised in blessing, casting abroad His gifts to all
humanity, pouring forth freely of Himself in all directions, descending
into that 'dense sea' of matter, to be cribbed, cabined, and confined
therein, in order that through that descent _we_ may come into
being."[227]

This sacrifice is perpetual, for in every form in this universe of
infinite diversity this life is enfolded, and is its very heart, the
"H