To Philo the Jew, as to the Gnostics, the Supreme Being was the Primitive Light, or Archetypr of LightSource whence the rays emanate that illuminate Souls. He is the Soul of the World, and as such acts everywhere. He himself fills and bounds his whole existence, and his forces fill and penetrate everything. His image is the Word (Logos), a form more brilliant than fire, which is not pure light. This Word dwells in God; for it is within His Intelliegence that the Supreme Being frames for Himself the Types of Ideas of all that is to assume reality in the Universe. The Word is the Vehicle by which God acts on the Universe; the World of Ideas by means whereof God has created visible things; the more Ancient God, as compared with the Material World; Chief and General Representative of all Intelligences; the Arch-angel, type and representative of all spirits, even those of Mortals; the type of Man; the primitive man himself. These ideas are borrowed from Plato. And this Word is not only the Creator, but acts in the place of God; and through him act all the Powers and Attributes of God. And also, as first representative of the human race, he is the protector of Men and their Shepherd, the "Ben H'Adam," or Son of Man.
The actual condition of Man is not his primitive condition, that in which he was the image of the Word. His unruly passions have caused him to fall from his original lofty estate. But he may rise again, by following the teachings of Heavenly Wisdom, and the Angels whom God commissions to aid him in escaping from the entanglements of the body; and by fighting bravely against Evil, the existence of which God has allowed soley to furnish him with the means of exercising his free will.
The Supreme Being of the Egyptians was Amun, a secret and concealed God, the Unknown Father of the Gnostics, the Source of Devine Life, and of all force, the Plenitude of all, comprehending all things in Himself, the original Llight. He creates nothing; but everything emanates from Him; and all other Gods are but his manisfestations. From Him, by the utterance of a Word, emanated Neith, the Divine Mother of all things, the Primitive Thought, the Force that puts everything in movement, the Spirit everywhere extended, the Deity of Light and Mother of the Sun.
Of this Supreme Being, Osiris was the image, Source of all Good in the moral and physical world, and constant foe of Typhon, the Genius of Evil, the Satan of Gnosticism, brute matter, deemed to be always at feud with the spirit that flowed from the Deity; and over whom Har-Oeri, the Redeemer, Son of Isis and Osiris, is finally to prevail.
