ence of
God, that God to whom the events of history do not come as a surprise,
but who guides their course. As the whole history of the world and the
destiny of each individual are recorded on his tablets or books, so also
each thing is ever present before him. The decisive contrast is between
God and the creature. In designating the latter as "foreknown" by God,
the primary idea is not to ennoble the creature, but rather to bring to
light the wisdom and power of God. The ennobling of created things by
attributing to them a pre-existence is a secondary result (see below).

According to the Hellenic conception, which has become associated with
Platonism, the idea of pre-existence is independent of the idea of God;
it is based on the conception of the contrast between spirit and matter,
between the infinite and finite, found in the cosmos itself. In the case
of all spiritual beings, life in the body or flesh is at bottom an
inadequate and unsuitable condition, for the spirit is eternal, the
flesh perishable. But the pre-temporal existence, which was only a
doubtful assumption as regards ordinary spirits, was a matter of
certainty in the case of the higher and purer ones. They lived in an
upper world long before this earth was created, and they lived there as
spirits without the "polluted garment of the flesh." Now if they
resolved for some reason or other to appear in this finite world, they
cannot simply become visible, for they have no "visible form." They must
rather "assume flesh", whether they throw it about them as a covering,
or really make it their own by a process of transformation or mixture.
In all cases--and here the speculation gave rise to the most exciting
problems--the body is to them something inadequate which they cannot
appropriate without adopting certain measures of precaution, but this
process may indeed pass through all stages, from a mere seeming
appropriation to complete union. The characteristics of the Greek ideas
of pre-existence may consequently be thus expressed. First, the objects
in question to which pre-existence is ascribed are meant to be ennobled
by this attribute. Secondly, these ideas have no relation to God.
Thirdly, the material appearance is regarded as something inadequate.
Fourthly, speculations about _phantasma_, _assumptio naturae humanae_,
_transmutatio_, _mixtura_, _duae naturae_, etc., were necessarily
associated with these notions.

We see that these two conceptions are as