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The disciples of the Logos. The river of the Divine Reason. Jerusalem above
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THE DISCIPLES OF THE LOGOS
And a little later on Philo proceeds to speak of those who are disciples or pupils of the Holy Word or Divine Reason.
“These are they who are truly men, lovers of temperance, and orderliness, and modesty, ”—whose life he proceeds further to describe in similar terms to those he uses of the Therapeuts.
Such a life, he concludes, “is adapted not for those who are called men, but for those who are truly so. ” 2
For those, then, who consciously set their feet upon the ladder of true manhood, there is a Way up even to Deity Itself, for Philo writes:
“Stability, and sure foundation, and eternally abiding in the same, changeless and immovable, is, in the first place, a characteristic of That-which-is; and, in the second, [a characteristic] of the Reason (Logos) of That-which-is—which Reason He hath called his Covenant; in the third, of the wise man; and in the fourth, of him who goeth forward [towards wisdom]. ” 3
How, then, continues Philo, can the wicked mind think that it can stand alone—“when it is swept hither and thither by the eddies of passion, which carry the body forth to burial as a corpse? ”
And a little later on he proceeds to tell us that Eden must be taken to stand for the Wisdom of God.
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“And the Divine Reason (Logos) floweth down like a river, from Wisdom, as from a source, that it may irrigate and water the heavenly shoots and plants of Virtue-lovers, that grow upon the sacred Mountain of the Gods, 1 as though it were a paradise.
THE RIVER OF THE DIVINE REASON
“And this Holy Reason is divided into four sources—I mean it is separated into four virtues—each of which is a queen. For its being divided into sources 2 does not bear any resemblance to division of space, but rather to a sovereignty, 3 in order that, having pointed to the virtues, as its boundaries, he [‘Moses’] may immediately display the wise man, who makes use of these virtues, as king, elected to kingship, not by the show of men’s hands, but by choice of that Nature [namely, Virtue] which alone is truly free, and genuine, and above all bribes. . . .
“Accordingly, one of the companions of Moses, likening this Word (Logos) to a river, says in the Hymns: ‘The river of God was filled with water. ’ 4
“Now it is absurd that any of the rivers flowing on earth should be so called; but, as it seems, he [the psalmist] clearly signifies the Divine Reason (Logos), full of the flood of Wisdom, having no part of itself bereft or empty [thereof], but rather, as has been said, being entirely diffused throughout the universe, and [again] raised up to the height [thereof], by reason of
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the perpetual and continuous [circling] course of that eternally flowing fountain.
“There is also the following song-verse: ‘The rapid flow of the river maketh glad the city of God. ’ 1
JERUSALEM ABOVE
“What kind of city? For what is now the holy city, 2 in which is the holy temple, was founded at a distance from sea and rivers; so that it is clear that [the writer] intends to represent by means of an under-meaning something different from the surface-sense.
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“For indeed the stream of the Divine Reason (Logos) continually flowing on with rapidity and regularity, diffuses all things through all and maketh them glad.
“And in one sense he calls cosmos the City of God, inasmuch as, receiving the whole cup 3 of the Divine draught it. . ., 4 and, being made joyous, it shouteth with a joy that can never be taken away or quenched for the eternity.
“But in another sense [he uses it of] the soul of the wise man, in which God is said to walk as in a city, for ‘I will walk in you and I will be your God. ’ 5
“And for the happy soul that stretches forth its own reasoning 6 as a most holy drinking vessel 7—who is it that poureth forth the sacred measures of true joy, if not the cup-bearer of God, the [Divine] Reason (Logos), who is master of the feast? —he who differs not from
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the draught, but is himself unmingled delight, and sweetness, forthpouring, 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. ” 1
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 Plē rō ma 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
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