deal with
eternal subjects, are the most evanescent form of literature." The
dictum is true for the most part, but occasionally the sermon, by its
depth of thought, the universality of its message, and the beauty of
its expression, has become part of the world's heritage from the ages.
Moreover, at Alexandria philosophy was associated with preaching. And
the sermons of the Jewish-Hellenistic writer, in their style as well
as in their thought, represent an epoch. Philo spoke in the language
of the intellectual world of his day, and strove to associate the
intellectual precepts of Hellenism with the Hebraic passion for
righteousness. In his great moments, however, the Hebraic spirit
towers supreme. "He was," said Croiset, the historian of Greek
literature, "the first Greek prose writer who could speak to God and
of God to man with the ardent piety and reverence of the Jewish
prophets."[101]

It is a serious misconception to imagine that Philo's philosophical
allegories were meant for the general body of Alexandrian Jews. He
frequently[102] declares that he is speaking to a specially initiated
sect, and warns his hearers not to divulge his teaching. The
notion of an esoteric doctrine for the aristocracy of intellect had
become a fixed idea in the Greek schools for three centuries, ever
since the days of Aristotle; and whether through Greek influence or
otherwise it had been generally adopted by the Jewish teachers. The
rabbis of the Talmud derived from the first chapters of Genesis the
inner mystery of the law, which was cognizable only by the sage; and
the same idea is found in later Jewish tradition, which, expounding
Paradise ([Hebrew: prds]) as four stages of interpretation, each
marked by a letter of the word, Peshat, Remez, Derash, and Sod
([Hebrew: sod]),[103] regarded the last as the final reward of the
devoted seeker after God, as it is said in the Psalms, "The secret of
the Lord is for those who fear Him." Jewish religious philosophers
have in all ages designed their work for a select few. The Halakah, or
way of life, is the fit study of the many. So Maimonides wrote his
Moreh only for those who already were masters of the law. And Philo
likewise at Alexandria taught an esoteric doctrine to an esoteric
circle, which alone was fitted to receive the profoundest
theology.[104] The allegories of the law do not take the place of the
law itself, nor of its ethical ordinances. They are additional to the
other exegesi