248 The Spiritual Life.
ThisstageoftheChrist-life,theBuddha-life,
isenteredbythefirstofthe greatInitiations,in
which the Initiate is "the little child,"some-
times the "babe," sometimes the"little child,threeyearsold." The man must"regain the
child-statehehath lost"; he must"becomea
little child"in order to"enter the kingdom."
Passingthroughthatportal,heis bornintotheChrist-life, and, treading the "way of the
Cross,"he passesonwards throughthesucces-
sive gatewayson the Path; atthe end, he is
definitely liberated from the life of limitations,
ofbondage,hediesto timeto liveineternity,
and he becomes conscious of himself as life
ratherthanasform.
There is nodoubt thatinearlyChristianity
thisstageof evolutionwas definitelyrecoghised
as before every individual Christian. The
anxietyexpressed byS. PaulthatChrist might
beborninhisconvertsbearssufficienttestimony
to this fact, leaving aside other passages that
mightbequoted; evenifthisversestoodalone
it would suffice to showthat in the Christian
idealtheChrist-stagewasregarded asan inner
condition,the finalperiodofevolutionforevery