you to adhere to your belief in Three Divine Persons, you have to make your election, either to discard your belief of Three Divine Minds, by denying a mind to each of the Persons; or to discard your originally and strongly expressed belief, that there can be but ONE Divine Mind. If you choose the latter alternative, what becomes of your objection to the ancient mythologies (and I may add, also, to the modern idolatrous systems) on the score of their admitted absurdity? And if you choose the former,-if you deny the possession of a distinct mind to each of the Three Divine Persons (for such you believe the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost to be), you have then to show how, since God is made up of Three Divine Persons, ONE Divine Mind can be the complex of three confessedly mindless Divine Persons! But supposing you should say that the One Divine Mind is the same as what you mean by the Divine Essence, common to, and equally possessed by each, without being divided, you will then have to shew the consistency of believing in the covenant of salvation stated to have been entered into by the three contracting or covenanting Divine Persons, while you, nevertheless, believe, that neither of the Persons covenanting had a disposing, or covenanting mind, from which his share in the alleged covenant could originate,—for who can conceive that a person void of an individual mind as capable of covenanting? You believe that there are three Divine Persons, and that each possesses the power of disposing of what is called his peculiar and personal offices, and of acting personally by and of Himself; but how can this be believed without also believing that each Person has a disposing and covenanting mind? There is, then, no other course but to choose between the belief of One Divine Mind and three Divine Minds, since both cannot co-exist; if the former be adhered to, and certain it is that Moses and the Prophets had no idea of more than ONE Divine Mind, then the doctrine of three Divine Persons must be dismissed as an erroneous deduction from what is said in the New Testament concerning the Father, Son, and Spirit, inasmuch as that doctrine cannot be held without admitting the existence of Three Divine Minds, and therefore, of necessity, without denying the existence of ONLY ONE Divine Mind, as set forth, by divine inspiration, in the Old Testament Records. But if the three Divine Persons be still believed in, because it is concluded that the Bible so teaches, the existence of three Divine Minds must be asserted, and it must be shewn, how the idea of three Divine Minds differs from the idea of three Gods; and it must be also shewn, that the denial of the existence of ONE Divine Mind is not the same thing as the denial of the existence of ONLY ONE GOD. It will also be a fair question for determination, whether it is not better, before concluding that the Bible contains a doctrine pregnant with such alarming consequences, to examine whether the interpreters of the Bible who have taught that doctrine, may not have been mistaken; and whether it is not, as I believe it is, the real fact, that the Bible teaches the existence of ONLY ONE GOD, and, indeed, of ONLY ONE DIVINE PERSON, and therefore, as an unavoidable consequence, of ONLY ONE Divine Mind; and that THIS Divine Mind is seen in its image, the human mind, which, it is declared, was made in the image and likeness of God, or of the Divine Mind. Believing this great fact -a fact of man's mind being created in the likeness of God's mind;certainly the most deeply interesting to man that can possibly be imagined ;—we have only first to look at the construction of the human mind, in order to understand, by the help of a divinely authorised comparison, the nature of its Divine Original and Great Exemplar. Accordingly, we find that the mind of man is three-fold, or is constituted of three essential constituents, called the will or love (in Scripture the heart), the understanding or wisdom, and the proceeding energy, active powers, or operation. Thus it is immediately suggested to us, by our legitimate comparison, that the Divine Mind, as well as its image the human mind, is ONE, and yet THREE-FOLD; for who can deny that the human mind is one, and yet three-fold? also it is suggested to us by this comparison as a reasonable conclusion, that by the appellation Father is meant the Divine Will or Love, the first Essential of the Divine Mind ("GOD is LOVE"); and by the Son is meant the Divine Understanding or Wisdom, thence originating (love being the parent of thought) the second essential of the Divine Mind (“GOD is LIGHT"); and that by the Holy Spirit is meant the Divine Omnipotent Operation, proceeding from the Divine Love and Wisdom, which is the third essential of the Divine Mind. In which case we perceive, that the terms Father, Son, and Spirit, do not signify real Persons, but merely figurative Personifications of the three essentials of the One Divine Mind, or the Divine Mental Trinity, of which the human mental trinity is an image, because it was created to be so. This view I consider to be justified by John xvi. 25, to which you can refer at your leisure; and surely no one can help seeing, that if it can be rationally and Scripturally sustained and carried out, it will obviate all the harassing difficulties which our conversation has shewn to lie in the way of establishing the doctrine, that there exists One God, or One Divine Mind, and yet, and also, that there exist Three Divine Persons, or Three Divine Individual Minds. But I am sure you will candidly and seriously think upon these propositions, and therefore I leave them with you. T. Assuming your explanation to be Scriptural, I can understand its applicability to God before the coming of Christ; I mean that I perceive the mode of your conceiving of a Trinity of mental essentials constituting the Divine Mind; but it does not enable me to form a clear conception of the Person of Christ as born into the world, and ascended into heaven. N. C. I understand from the Scripture statements, that the whole Divine Mind, or the whole of its three essential principles, descended and embodied Itself in the Person of Jesus, in order to become the Redeemer and Saviour of mankind. If this were not the case, how could it be true, that "in Jesus Christ dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily"? or, that "it pleased the Father that in Him should all fulness dwell"? In respect to its being said that "the Word (or the Divine Understanding or Wisdom) was made flesh," this, I conceive, was intended to teach us that God, or the Divine Mind, descended in its character of Wisdom, which is its veiled character, as the most suitable to effect the designs of the Divine Love; and not in the character of the Divine Love unveiled, which is and can be manifested only to "the spirits of the just made perfect," who are in correspondence with its intense ardours. It seems not unreasonable to assume, that had God descended in his unveiled glory as the Divine Love, the most direful calamity would have ensued, for that, in consequence of the state of deadly opposition, through sin, which prevailed in the world, God's presence therein, immediately and unveiled, would have been felt only as "a consuming fire." To accommodate Himself to the low and lost state of mankind, therefore, Jehovah the Father came not openly as the Father, but the Father veiled;-the Father veiled by the Son; so that only those could know the Son to be really the Father, to whom the Son revealed the Father, as when Jesus said to his disciples, “He that seeth me seeth the Father." You will remember that the testimony of the Son, born of God as a Father, was uniformly, that the Father dwelt in Him, and did his works; meaning by the Father the Divine Love, which is the very Divine Essence Itself, and which was the sole spring of all the activities of the Son. The Son, especially in his now glorified state, I regard as the personal manifestation of the Father; and in like manner as we come to a man's soul only through his body, I approach the Father in the Son, the Divinity in the Humanity, imploring the help of that proceeding Holy Spirit, which proceeds from the Father and the Son, because it proceeds from the Divine Humanity or the Son, in which dwells the fulness of the Godhead, or the whole Divine Essence, called the Father. T. These things deserve deep consideration! L FINIS. EVERY MAN IS ATTENDED BY SPIRITS AND ANGELS. In the writings of Swedenborg the attendance of spirits and angels upon man is frequently stated, and shewn as an important truth, which, although amply revealed in Scripture, (Psalm xxxiv. 7.) does not exercise a proper influence on the human mind. Truths are only influential as they are believed, and made objects of interest to the affections and thoughts. Could we but realize that, by the exercise of faith and love, and by the practice of good, we are brought by the Lord into consociation with angels, and that, by the contrary life and practice, we are associated with unclean and infernal spirits, we should set a more vigilant watch over the motives of our conduct, and the affections and thoughts which actuate our minds. We should feel a more instinctive dread of evil, and be more inclined to seek for refuge and safety in the Lord. We should, on the one hand, ascribe all good and merit to its proper source, and on the other, should reject to hell whatsoever evils might seek, through the suggestion of infernal spirits, to gain admittance and residence in our souls. Swedenborg says, that in ancient times, and in the Primitive Christian Church, it was known and believed that man is closely associated with spirits and angels. Socrates had his attendant genius, or angel, to whom he ascribed all the wise counsels his mind entertained.* In the Primitive Christian Church this was well known, and believed, as is evident from the following extract. This extract is from the "Shepherd of St. Hermas," who is supposed, by the best authorities, to be the Hermas of whom Paul speaks in Rom. xvi. 4., and who was one of the most exemplary members of the Primitive Church. His writings, consisting of three books, are considered, amongst the productions of the apostolic age, as exceedingly valuable, and, for several centuries, they were read amongst Christians, as possessing almost canonical authority. In the following extract, taken from Archbishop Wake's translation of this ancient Father, our readers will see what was generally believed in the Primitive Christian Church, respecting spirits and angels attendant upon every man. * See this Periodical for March, 1844, "On the Philosophy of Socrates." †These books are entitled respectively Visions, Commands, and Similitudes. The Shepherd who conversed with Hermas is supposed to be a supernatural being, who instructed him in the great duties of the Christian life. + See Archbishop Wake's Preliminary Discourse on the Shepherd of St. Hermas. "That every man has two angels; and of the suggestions of both. "I. "I commanded thee,' said the Shepherd, 'in my first commandment, that thou shouldst keep faith, and fear, and repentance.' 'Yes, Sir,' said I.' He continued, 'But now I will shew thee the virtues of these commands, that thou mayst know their effects; how they are prescribed alike to the just and unjust. Do thou, therefore, believe the righteous, but give no credit to the unrighteous. For righteousness keepeth the right way, but unrighteousness the wicked way. Do thou, therefore, keep the right way, and leave that which is evil. For the evil way has not a good end, but hath many stumbling-blocks; it is rugged and full of thorns, and leads to destruction, and is hurtful to all such as walk in it. But they who go in the right way walk with evenness, and without offence, because it is not rough nor thorny. Thou seest therefore how it is best to walk in this way. Thou shalt, therefore, go,' says he, 'and all others as many as believe in God with all their heart, shall go through it.' When, "II. And now,' says he, 'understand, first of all, what belongs to faith. There are two angels with man; one of righteousness, the other of iniquity.' And I said unto him, 'Sir, how shall I know that there are two such angels with man?' Hear,' says he, and understand. The angel of righteousness is mild, and modest, and gentle, and quiet. When, therefore, he gets into thy heart, immediately he talks with thee of righteousness, of modesty, of chastity, of bountifulness, of forgiveness, of charity, and piety. When all these things come into thy heart, know then that the angel of righteousness is with thee. Wherefore hearken to this angel, and to his works. Learn also the works of the angel of iniquity. He is, first of all, bitter, and angry, and foolish; and his works are pernicious, and overthrow the servants of God. therefore, these things come into thy heart, thou shalt know, by his works, that this is the angel of iniquity.' And I said unto him, 'Sir, how shall I understand these things?' Hear,' says he, and understand. When anger overtakes thee, or bitterness, know that he is in thee; as also when the desire of many things, and of the best meats, and of drunkenness; when the love of what belongs to others, pride, and much speaking, and ambition, and the like things come upon thee. When, therefore, these things arise in thy heart, know that the angel of iniquity is with thee. Seeing, therefore, thou knowest his works, depart from them all, and give no credit to him; because his works are evil, and become not the servants of God. Here, therefore, thou hast the works of both these angels. Understand now, and believe the angel of righteousness, because his instruction is good. For let a man be never so happy, yet if the thoughts of the other angel rise in his heart, that man or woman must needs sin. But let a man or woman be never so wicked, if the works of the angel of righteousness come into his heart, that man or woman must needs do some good. Thou seest, therefore, how it is good to follow the angel of righteousness. If therefore thou shalt follow him, and submit to his works, thou shalt live unto God. And as many as shall submit to his works, shall live also unto God."" |