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different from the reasoning ' , ( or meditation Xpyicr / wo ?} of the architect dttagaing- to build the city , conceived in his mind . "—( Philo de Mundi Opificio , pp . 3—5 , ed . Turn , et Hoesch . ) We add a short extract from another treatise : " God is the first light : and he is not only light , but the archetype of all other light ; rather is elder and more exalted than the archetype , having the word as his copy—for the copy , his most perfect word , is light , out he himself is like no created thing . "—( De Somniis , p . 5 / 6 , ed . T . et H . )
Again , " Moses says expressly that man was formed after the image of God , but if the part ( i . e . man , who is but a small part of the world ) is an image of the image 9 ( L e . of the word , which is an image or transcript of God himself , and which Philo roeaas to say that Moses referred to , when he affirmed that man was made in the image or God , ) without doubt the whole species , this whole sensible world is so too , which is a better resemblance than the human one
of the Divine image ; but it is evident that the archetypal image , ( image or reflection of God himself , giving form to all other things , ) which we call the intellectual ( or ideal ) world , must itself be the pattern of the forms of things , the idea of ideas , the Word of God . "—( De Mundi Opificio , p . 5 , ed . T . et H . )
Once moTe : " For nothing mortal can be formed after the image of the Supreme Being , the father of all , but after that of the second God , who is his word . —* Iiiber 1 . Questionum et Solutionum apud Eueebium , Praep . Evang , Lib . vii . Cap . xiii . Comparing this last with the preceding passage in which the logos is said to be the God in whose image man was made , at the very moment when this same logos is explained to be the ideal world conceived by God before his creation of the sensible world , and , therefore , having no existence but as a
distinct conception of the Divine mind , no deity but as identical with God himself , we obtain just notions as to the real meaning of this author ' s obscure and figurative mode of expression , and plainly perceive , that though this kind of language may have prepared the way for the corruption of Christianity , it is not used by Philo himself to express any thing analogous with the doctrines of reputed orthodoxy . We might confirm the view we have given of the figurative character of what he says of the logos by reference to several of his statements on kindred subjects , as his describing the
world as the only and beloved son of God and his wisdom , ( De Temulentia , p . 244 , ed . T . et H ., ) and his representing the thoughts and determinations of wise men as their spiritual children ( de Vita Contemplativa , p . 899 * ed . T . et H . ) , which surely afford a sufficient comment on his calling the word the son and the first-born son of God . It is observable , that although , in a passage just referred to , he calls the sensible world the son of God and his Wisdom , in another p laice he calls the logos * i . e . the ideal world , the pattern according to which the sensible one was formed , by the same name , which is enough to prove that the title is figuratively used * Many of Dr . S . ' 8 extracts from Fhilo , which indeed include most of those we have
produced , will be found strongly supporting the view we have given of his doctrine , and all of them , we think , when examined in their connexion , will harmonize with it . Dr . S . himself has fairly stated , that " The Word is represented as beimj the same to the Supreme Intellect tliot speech is to the human ; « nd as being the ^ conception , idea , or purpose of the Creator , existing * ia the Divine mind previously to the-actual formation
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Dr . J . P . Smith ' s Scripture Terthnony to the Mcsddh . 467
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1831, page 467, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2599/page/35/
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