Thrice-Greatest Hermes, Vol. I — G. R. S. Mead (1906)
The text is shown on its own: no facing layer is held for this issue.
5 A loose quotation of Lev. xxvi. 12, as already cited above.
the draught, but is himself unmingled delight, and sweetness, f orthpouring, good-cheer, the immortal philtre of all joy and of contentment, — if we may use the words of poetry.
" But the City of God the Hebrews call Jerusalem, which by interpretation signifies the ' Sight of Peace.' Wherefore seek not the City of That-which-is in regions of the earth — for 'tis not made of stocks and stones ; but [seek it] in the soul that doth not war, but offers unto them of the keen sight a life of contemplation and of peace." l
This, then, is how Philo understands the New Jerusalem (or Ogdoad), so familiar to us from the writings of the " Gnostic " schools, beyond which was the Pleroma or Treasure of Light. For elsewhere he writes :
" He will offer a fair and fitting prayer, as Moses did, that God may open for us His Treasure, yea [His] Reason (Logos) sublime, and pregnant with lights divine, which he [' Moses '] has called Heaven." 2
These "lights" are "reasons" (logoi), for a little further on he says :
"Thou seest that the soul is not nourished with things earthly and contemptible, but by the reasons God rains down from His sublime and pure nature, which he [' Moses '] calls Heaven." 3
THE LOGOS is AS MANNA AND CORIANDER SEED
And a little further on, referring to the allegorical " manna," or heavenly food, " the bread which the Lord hath given you to eat " (Ex. xvi. 13), he writes :
1 De Som., ii. §§ 37-39 ; M. i. 690-692, P. 1141, 1142 (Ei. iii.
312-315).
2 Leg. Alleg., iii. § 34 ; M. i. 108, P. 80 (Ki. i. 155).
3 Ibid., § 56 ; M. i. 119, P. 90 (Hi. i. 170).
" Dost thou not see the food of the soul, what it is ? It is the Continuing Eeason (Logos) of God, like unto dew, encircling the whole of it [the soul] on all sides, and suffering no part of it to be without its share of it [the Logos].
"But this Eeason is not apparent everywhere, but [only] in the man who is destitute of passions and vices ; yea, subtle is it for the mind to distinguish, or to be distinguished by the mind, exceedingly translucent and pure for sight to see.
"It is, moreover, as it were, a coriander seed.1 For agriculturalists declare that the seed of the coriander can be divided and dissected infinitely, and that every single part and section [thereof], when sown, comes up just as the whole seed. Such also is the Eeason (Logos) of God, profitable in its entirety and in every part, however small it be." 2
And he adds a little further on :
" This is the teaching of the hierophant and prophet, Moses, who will say : ' This is the bread, the food which God hath given to the soul,'3 that He hath given [us] for meat and drink, His own Word,4 His own Eeason,5 for this [Eeason] is the bread which He hath given us to eat ; this is the Word." 6
THE LOGOS is THE PUPIL OF GOD'S EYE
Philo also likens the Divine Eeason to the pupil of the eye — a figure that will meet us later in considering the meaning of the Koptj KoV/xof ("Virgin of the World") treatise — for he writes:
1 The grain of mustard seed of the Gospels and of the " Gnostics."
2 Ibid., § 59 ; M. i. 121, 122, P. 92 (Ri. i. 172, 173).
3 A gloss on Ex. xiv. 15.
4 two. 5 \6yos.
6 Leg. Alleg., iii., § 0 ; M. i. 121, P. 92 (Ri. i. 173).
" May not [this Eeason] be also likened to the pupil of the eye? For just as the eye's pupil, though the smallest part [of it], does yet behold all of the zones of things existing — the boundless sea, and vastness of the air, and all of the whole heaven which the sun doth bound from east to west, — so is the sight of the Divine Eeason the keenest sight of all, so that it can behold all things ; by which [men] shall behold things worthy to be seen beyond white [light] l itself.
" For what could be more bright or more far-seeing than Eeason Divine, by shining in which the other [lights] drive out all mist and darkness, striving to blend themselves with the soul's light." 2
"MAN SHALL NOT LIVE BY BREAD ALONE"
And again, in a passage of intense interest we read :
"For He nourisheth us with His Eeason (Logos) — the most general [of all things]. . . . And the Eeason of God is above the whole cosmos; it is the most ancient and most general of all the things that are.
" This Eeason the ' fathers ' 3 knew not, — not [our] true [eternal] fathers, but those hoary in time, who say : ' Let us take a leader, and let us return unto ' — the passions of — ' Egypt.' 4