t finds its
immediate expression in a word, so did this one, which was then called the
outer Logos. The outer was not possible without the inner, even as a word
is impossible without mind and reason. But the inner Logos also first
realises itself in the outer, just as the reasonable thought can only be
made real in the word. This character of the Logos as thought and word, at
once capable of distinction and yet undifferentiated and inseparable, is
of the highest importance for Christian speculation; without an exact
comprehension of it, we shall see that the relation of the Son to the
Father as we find it explained by Clement and other fathers of the church,
remains dark and misty. We have no concept without a word, and philology
has shown us how every word, even the most concrete, is based on a
concept. We cannot think of "tree" without the word or a hieroglyphic of
some kind. We can even say that, as far as we are concerned, there is no
tree, except in language, for in the nature of things there are only oaks
or beeches, but not and never a tree. And what is true of tree is true of
all words, or to speak with Plato, of all ideas, or to speak with the
Stoics, of all _Logoi_. There are no doubt conjurers who pretend to be
able to think without words, and even take no little pride in being able
to perform this trick. They forget only too often that their inexpressible
thoughts are nothing but obscure feelings, in fact, they do not even
distinguish between presentation and idea, and forget that when we speak
of words, we do not understand by them mere mimicry of sound or
interjections, but only and exclusively intelligible words, that is, such
as are based on concepts and are derived from roots. The old Greek
philosophers, probably favoured by their language, appear never to have
forgotten the true relation between Logos and Logos, and their thought
finally resulted in a view of the world founded upon it. Although it is
now the custom to speak slightingly of the later Platonists, we should
always recognise that we owe to them the preservation of this, the most
precious jewel out of the rich storehouse of Greek philosophy, that the
world is the expression and realisation of divine thought, that it is the
divine word expressed.

We cannot here enter into the various phases in which Plato and his
followers presented these ideas. At times they are represented as
independent of the Creator, as models, as golden statues, to whic