Thrice-Greatest Hermes, Vol. I — G. R. S. Mead (1906)
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" But the Divine Reason (Logos) above them did not take any visible shape, inasmuch as no sensible object answers to it, for it is the very Likeness of God, the Eldest of all beings, one and all, which are cognisable by mind alone, the nearest to the [One and] Only Onethat-is, without a space of any kind between, copied inerrantly.
" For it is said : ' I will speak to thee from above the Mercy-seat, from between the two Cherubim. ' l
" So that he who drives the Chariot 2 of the Powers is the Word (Logos), and He who is borne in the Chariot is He who speaks [the Word], giving commandment to the Driver for the right driving of the universe. " 3
THE TRUE SHEPHERD
Again, speaking of God as the True Shepherd of the universe and all things therein, the elements and all therein, the sun, moon, and planets, the stars and heavens, Philo writes :
"[He placed] at the head His own True Eeason (Logos), His First-born Son, who shall succeed unto the care of this sacred flock, as though he were the lieutenant of the Great King." 4
1 Ex. xxv. 22.
2 This plainly refers to the Mercabah or Chariot of the Vision of Ezechiel.
3 De Prof., § 19 ; M. i. 561, P. 465 (Ri. iii. 131).
4 De Agric.y § 12 ; M. i. 308, P. 195 (Ri. ii. 116).
The Divine Reason of things, moreover, is regarded as the Pleroma or Fullness of all powers, — ideal space, and ideal time, if such terms can be permitted. The Logos is the Mon or Eternity proper. And so Philo speaks of :
"The Divine Eeason (Logos) whom God Himself hath full-filled entirely and throughout with incorporeal powers." l
THE APOSTLES OF GOD
This Supreme Logos, then, is filled full of powers — words, logoi, in their turn, energies of God. As Philo writes :
" For God not disdaining to descend into the sensible world, sends forth as His apostles His own 'words' (logoi) to give succour to those who love virtue ; and they act as physicians and expel the diseases of the soul." 2
These " words " or " reasons " are men's angels ; they are the "light-sparks" or "rays" in the heart — of which we hear so much in " Gnostic " and allied literature— all from the Father-Sun, the Light of God, or Logos proper, which Philo calls " the Light of the invisible and supremest Deity that rays and shines transcendently on every side."
THE LADDER OF THE " WORDS"
" When this Light shineth into the mind, the secondary beams of the ' words ' (logoi) set [or are hidden]." 3
In treating of the allegorical Ladder set up from earth to heaven, Philo first gives what he considers to
1 De Som., i. § 11 ; M. i. 630, P. 574 (Ri. iii. 227).
a Ibid., § 12 ; M. i. 631, P. 575 (Ri. iii. 229).
3ilbid., § 13.
be its cosmic correspondences and then applies the figure to the little world of man :
" The ladder (/tAZ)xa£), then, symbolically spoken of, is in the cosmos somewhat of the nature I have suggested. But if we turn our attention to it in man, we shall find it is the soul ; the foot of which is as it were its earthly part — namely, sensation, while its head is as it were its heavenly part — the purest mind.
" Up and down through all of it the ' words ' (logoi) go incessantly ; whenever they ascend, drawing it up together with them, divorcing it from its mortal nature, and revealing the sight of those things which alone are worth the seeing; — not that when they descend they cast it down, for neither God nor yet God's Word (Logos) is cause of any loss.
"But they accompany them1 [in their descent] for love of man and pity of our race, to succour, and give help, that they, by breathing into them their saving breaths, may bring the soul to life, tossed as it is upon the body ['s waves] as on a river ['s bosom].
" It is the God and Governor of the universe alone who doth, transcending sound and sight, walk 'mid the minds of them who have been throughly purified. For them there is an oracle, which the sage prophesied, in which is said : ' I will walk amid you ; and I will be your God.' 2
"But in the minds of them who are still being washed, and have not yet had throughly cleansed the life that is befouled and stained with bodies' grossness, it is the angels, the ' words ' (logoi) divine, making them bright for Virtue's eyes." 3