But though--or because--he is innocent of the higher
criticism, and believes in the literal inspiration of the Torah, his
conception is none the less enlightened and spiritual. The law--the
Divine Logos--is not the enactment of an outside power, arbitrarily
imposed, and to be obeyed because of its miraculous origin; it is the
expression of the human soul within, when raised to its highest power
by the Divine inspiration. Every man may fit himself to receive the
Divine word, which is, in modern language, revelation.[130] Moses,
then, is distinguished above all other legislators, not because he
alone received it, but because he received it in its purest form, and
because he was the most noble interpreter of it. It is for this reason
that the law of Moses is of universal validity for conduct. The Divine
spirit possessed him so fully that his Logos, or revelation, is
eternally true, and by following it all men become fit to be blessed
with the Divine gift themselves. This is true of the other prophets of
the Bible to a smaller degree, and in a still minor degree Philo hoped
that it was true of himself.
It should be premised that the "law of nature" was at the time of
Philo an idea as widely accepted as "evolution" is to-day. Men
believed that by a study of the processes of the universe the
individual might discover the law of conduct that should bring his
action into harmony with the whole.
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