Did, lie. i, 31, U.)
In place of the God of the Hebrew Scriptures, who. even in his most hidden and mysterious nature, is never r- yarded as other than a person, Philo is led to substi- tute the I Ireek abstraction of an ideal good or absolute unity, as the first principle of a system in which philos- ophy and theology are to be reconciled and united: and though he is unable entirely to abandon the lan- guage of personality which the Scriptures at every
page force u] heir readers, he is at the same time
unable, consistently with his philosophical assumptions, to admit an immediate personal relation between the Supreme Being and the creature. (See De Mut. Sum. c.-l.p. 582; Gfrorer, i, 144; Dahne, ii. 154. The vari- ous passages inconsistent with this, in which Philo sec ins to speak of a direct action of God in the world. may perhaps be explained by supposing this action to be exerted through the medium of the Logos. Comp. Quod />< us sit imtnut. c. 12. p. 2*1 ; Cfrbrer, i. IH'.i. 2!»;j. i The medium of reconciliation is sought in a develop- ment of the scriptural manifestation of the Wisdom and the Word of God, which take the place of the soul of the world as it appears in the Timaus, being represent- ed as a second God — the connecting link between the first principle and the world: in whom are concentrated those personal attributes which are indispensable to religious belief, and which are so conspicuously present in the Scripture theology (Fragm. p. <i2">, ex Euseb. Prop. Eoang. vii. 13: Aid ri wc rctpi tripov Qiov (pi)o-i -o iv eikovi Btov iiroiriat tov dvSrpiorov, «,\,V owyi ry eavrov ; UayKaXuig Kai <ro0wc tovt'i Kt^prjcfialSij- t,ii. Ovtjtov yap oiSiv diriucovioSrjvai 7rp<Jc tov dvurarw K<ti Tlarspa rwi» o\wv idvvaro, d\\d irpiic, tov Stvrepov Qebv oc. iariv mtivov Aoyoc;). The fol- lowing short summary of Philo's system will serve to exhibit those of its features which are most nearly re- lated to our present inquiry (in this summary use has l»en made chiefly of that ol Hegel Gesch.derPhilos-.ia his Werke, \\. 18 23, and of that of Zeller. Philos. der Griechen, I he highest aim of philosophy,
and the most perfect happiness, according to Philo, is the knowledge of God in his absolute nature (Z>< Vita Contempl. c. 2, p. 17::. Comp. />, Conf. Ling. c. 20, p. U9; De Vict.Offerent.fi. 16, p. 264; Di Monarch, i, 3, 4, p. 216), in which he is exalted above all affinity to finite things, without qualities, and not to be i spressed in speech (Legis Alleg. i, c 13, p. 50: diroioc a &tt • , Ibid. c. l.i. p. 53: 6ii yap rjyiloSai Kai airoiov avruv that, Kai &<p$aprov Kai drpnrrov. !>■ Sornn, i. 89, p.
TtlpVKl V, ./Weir UOVOV thin To
<")•. Comp. /'. Vit. Cont. c 1, p. 172; Quod Deus im-
mut.c. 11, p. 28] ). Such l wledge, though not fully
attainable b\ any man, is nevertheless to be earnestly
sought after, that ii may be attained at least in that second degree in which we apprehend dirccth lie ex-
istence of God, though falling short of a comprehension of his essence (De Pram. <t Pan. c. 7. p. Ho. Comp. Gfrorer, i. 135, 199. By this hypothesis of a primary and secondary knowledge, Gfrorer reconciles those pas- sages in which the knowledge of God is spoken of as unattainable with others apparently of an opposite im- port : e. g. //. Post. ',,;„;. c. 18, p. 258; />■ Monarch. i. 6, p. 218). Even this amount, however, of direct knowledge is net to be gained by any effort of human thought, but only by Cod's revelation of himself; ami such a revelation is only possible in tie' form oi an ec- static intuition, in which the seer, himself pa-si-.,-. i, elevated by divine inspiration above the conditions of finite consciousness, and becomes one with the God
whom he contemplates i De Poster. Cam. c 5, p. 229; Legis Alleg. iii, 83, p. 107; A A br. c. 24, p. 19; 1>> Migr. A br. c 31, p. 163; Fragm.Ta.6M; Quis rer.div. har. c. 13, 1 1. p. 182; comp. Neander, < '/.. Hist. i. 79, ed.
Bohn. This ecstatic intuition is insisted upon also by PlotinilS and the later l'lalonists. as in modern times by ScheUing). But this ecstatic vision is possible only to a chosen few: for the many, who are incapable of it, there remains only that inferior and improper appre- hension of God which can be gained through the means of derived and created existences, especially of his Word or Wisdom, w ho is the medium bj which Cod is re- lated to the world, the God of imperfect men. as the Supreme Heine is the Cod of the wise and perfect (Le- gis Ml*;/, iii. 32, p. 107; iii. 7;;. p. 128; l>< M,,-. ,-. 21. p. I'.': /'■ 3r%r.4&r.c31,p.463; l>< Conf. Ling. c. 28, p. 127). This Word, or Logos, is described in various ways, some more naturally denoting an impersonal, oth- ers a persona] being. (Whether the Logos of Philo is to be regarded as a distinct person or not is main r of controversy. The negative is maintained by Burton [ Bampton Lectures, note 93] and by Dorner ( Person <■/ Christ, i, 27. EngL transL and note A ], against Gfrorer, Dahne. Liicke, and the majority of recent critics. An intermediate view is taken by Zeller, iii. 626, and to some extent by Prof. Jowett, Epistles ofSt.Paul, i. 484, 2d ed.) He is the intelligible world, the archetypal pattern, the idea of ideas yh, Mundi <>/■{/'. c. 6, p. •'>; elsewhere the Aoyoc is distinguished from the Ttapd-