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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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poWer , the cover of the ark itself , which is called the mercy-seat I and the «? re ** we and jrey «/ powers , the two winded cherubim p laced over it . - But the divine word , superior to all these , has not taken any visible form , as bearing a resemblance to no object of sense , being * the very image of God , the roost ancient of all objects of thought , placed nearest , there being no separating interval , to him who alone truly exists ; ( possesses an independent existence ;) for it is said ( he here quotes Exod . xxv . 22 ) , * I will speak to thee from above the mercy-seat between the two cherubim , ' so that the IVord should
be , as it were , a charioteer to the other powers , but he that uttereth the word , as the person riding in the chariot , who gives his command to the charioteer in all things for the right direction of the whole . He , then , who is not only free from voluntary guilt , but has not even involuntarily committed crime , having * God himself as his inheritance , will dwell in him alone ; but they who not intentionally but undesignedly have sinned , will have , as places of refuge , the cities which have been spoken of , abounding in good things and wealthy .
Of these cities of refuge three are beyond the river , far removed from our race ,. Which are these ? The Word of our Ruler and his creative and royal powers . For to them belong- the heaven and the whole world . But neighbouring * and contiguous to us , placed near to the mortal race of men , which alone is liable to sin , are the three on this side of the river , the merciful power , thai which commands what should be doney and that which forbids thing's not to be done . For these are close at hand to us . "—Philo de Profugis ( pp . 464 , 465 , ed . Turnebi et Hoescbelii , Paris , 1640 ) .
It is plain from this passage that Philo recognizes one Supreme and only true God , whom he placed above all those divine energies or attributes which he endowed with a sort of personality , much in the same manner as Proems ( Coram . in Timaeum , Plat . Lib . ii . ) contends that Plato himself considered the Supreme God as presiding over bis three principles . Again , we see here that Philo is led by no better reason than the desire of allegorizing the six ckies of refuge , to distinguish six divine principles instead of three , which he divides into two triads , one superior to the other , but both inferior to the Supreme God himself , whose qualities they all are . As to the nature
of the word * we perceive that Philo had no conception whatever of its possible incarnation or sensible appearance among men ; that he considered it as really nothing more than the utterance or expression of the will of the great Supreme ; and that in figuratively giving it a personal character , he made it , though in some respects superior to the Divine attributes , yet inferior and subject to God himself . The following passage affords very distinct proof of the sense in which alone Philo attributed persona ) characters to the Divine perfections . It is an allegorization of the beginning of Gen . xviii . : " For Abraham also coming with zeal , and haste , and great alacrity , orders Sarah , who represents virtue , to hasten and mix three measures of fine meal ,
and make hearth-cakes , when God , accompanied by his two principal powers , his royalty and bis goodness , He , in the midst of them , being- one , produced three images in the visual soul , " ( i . e . caused the visible appearance of three persons , though the whole was but a manifestation of himself alone , ) " each of which could by no means be measured , for God is incomprehensible , and his powers are incomprehensible ; but he measures all things , for his goodness is toe measure of good men , his power is the measure of obedient men , but
he himself , the Sovereign , is the measure of all corporeal ' and incorporeal things . Wherefore , these powers , obtaining' the nature of rules and precepts , are a means of . estimating chines inferior to them . These three measures , then , it is good to have mingled and worked together in the soul , that being persuaded that : God is supremely exalted , who ' rise * above his own powers , ana u either , perceived without them , or manifested in them , it may receive the impressions of his power and beneficence , and ,-being initiated into the most
Untitled Article
WBKk rjfcv ^ fc P * Smith ' s Scripture Testimony to the Median .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1831, page 464, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2599/page/32/
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