264 REV. H. J. CLARKE. 
limited aspect. In it the conception of a universe conditioned 
by time and space is converted into an objectively real idea, 
and then credited with a certain ministerial and subordinate 
power of expressing itself in pre-existent material. Its 
farthest confine is a limit beyond which nothing can be 
known, except that something exists which admits of no in- 
tellectual representation. Excluding from the conception of 
the Deity everything but being, Philo affirms that God, 
namely, That which is, considered as being, is not to be 
reckoned among the things which have relation to something,* 
and even goes so far as expressly to deny that He has any 
quality.t Thus, as in that conception of matter which he had 
adopted from earlier speculations, he shows himself unaware 
that the separation of substance and attribute can only have 
place in the way of logical distinction; and, indeed, he lays 
himself open to the charge of inconsistency in characterising 
the Almighty as good, wise, and so forth. This error, how- 
ever, determined his conception of the Logos, whom, accord- 
ingly, he regards as an inferior being, qualified by limitations 
and conditions to hold relations with the finite and changeable ; 
in some sense God, it is true, yet not essentially one with the 
Father, but a second God.{ In short, his philosophy betrays, 
—although it thereby shows a sort of hesitating feebleness 
in its inevitable collision with his religious ethos,—a tendency 
to Agnosticism. 
But while philosophers still found absorbing occupation in 
the task of intellectual world-production, and for the needful 
agencies and material went on drawing ad libitum from the 
copiously supplied store of intellectual abstractions, a few 
unlettered men, predestined to take the lead in introducing a 
novel culture of the highest kind for both head and heart, 
were, as the event has proved, more profitably employed. 
One among them Who, by His words and deeds, had acquired 
dominion over their spirits, and Whom they followed as 
disciples in wondering awe, was directing their aspirations to 
eternal life and glory by teaching them to humble and deny 
themselves. His bearing was that of a King of men; but, as 
a subject, He ministered and served. At length His patient 
endurance of an excruciating death, followed by an astonish- 
ing revival, and not long afterwards by a marvellous disap- 
pearance of unmistakable significance, having completely 
* De Mutat. Nom., 4: “70 ydp oy 9 dy gory obi THY mpde TH.” 
+ Leg. Alleg., i. 13 and 15. 
£ Quest. in Gen., ii. 62. 
