The middle one, then, being attended by the others as by a bodyguard, presents to the contemplative mind a mental image or representation now of one and now of three; of one whenever the soul, being properly purified and perfectly initiated, rises to the idea which is unmingled and free from limitation, and requires nothing to complete it; but of three whenever it has not yet been initiated into the great mysteries, and still celebrates the lesser rites, unable to apprehend the Being in itself without modification, but apprehending it through its modes as either creating or ruling.  This is, as the proverb says, a second-best course, but yet it partakes of godlike opinion.  But the former does not partake of—­for it is itself—­the Godlike opinion, or rather it is truth, which is more precious than all opinion.

“Further, there are three classes of human character, to each of which one of the three conceptions of God has been assigned.  The best class goes with the first, the conception of the absolute Being; the next goes with the conception of Him as a Benefactor, in virtue of which He is called God; the third with the conception of Him as a Ruler, in virtue of which He is called Lord.  The noblest character serves Him who is in all the purity of His absolute Being; it is attracted by no other thing or aspect, but is solely and intently devoted to the honor of the one and only Being; the second is brought to the knowledge of the Father through His beneficent power; the third through His regal power.”

In the second passage, which occurs in the treatise on flight from the world,[228] Philo is allegorizing the law about founding six cities of refuge (Exodus xxxii).  These are but material symbols for the six stages of the ascent of the mind to the pure God-idea.  The chief city, the metropolis, is the Divine Logos, next come the two powers already considered, and then three secondary powers, the retributive, the law-giving, and the prohibitive.  “Very beautiful and well-fenced cities they are, worthy refuges of souls that merit salvation.”  Each of these cities is an aspect of the religious mind; when it settles in the first it obeys the law from fear of punishment and thinks of God as the Judge; in the second it observes the precepts in hope of reward and conceives God as the legislator of a fixed code; in the next it is repentant and throws itself on God’s grace, marking the first step of the spiritual life.  Then it ascends in order to the idea of God as the governor of the universe, and the emotion which the rabbis called [Hebrew:  yrat shmim], the fear of Heaven; and to the idea of God as the Creator and the universal Providence, which has as its emotional reflex the love of Heaven, [Hebrew:  ’hbt shmim].