of which he is lord, not because he is the most subtile inhabitant, but because he is its head and heart.' Above all, as man is the image of God, wherever we travel, if we would not grope in blindness, we must remember the sublime maxim of Franz Von Baadar,- He who seeks in nature, nature only, and not reason; he who seeks in the latter, reason only, and not God; or he who seeks reason out of or apart from God, or God out of or apart from reason, will find neither nature, reason, nor God, but will assuredly lose them all three.'

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THE TRUE IDEA OF GOD THE FIRST PRINCIPLE OF ALL TRUE THEOLOGY AND PHILOSOPHY..

We know that the mind has its objects of thought as well as the eye its objects of vision. For what would the eye be without objects to behold but a mere useless organ? In like manner, what would the mind be without its objects and ideas of thought, which it can contemplate as within the horizon or sphere of its intellectual vision, but a mere empty nothing without form and void? All knowledge and intelligence depends upon the quality, number, and variety of our ideas; and of all ideas, the Idea of God is by far the most essential and important. A true idea of God is the "pearl of great price," because it is the universal receptacle and complex of all genuine knowledge, intelligence, and wisdom. An erroneous idea of God not only obscures the mind like a mist or dark cloud, but perverts every thing that comes from God; whereas a true idea of God is, as it were—especially if filled with love-a sun to the mind, which sheds its light and its glory in every direction. The Athanasian Creed is the doctrine from which, for ages past, the majority of Christians derive their idea of God; but this Creed teaches that the Godhead consists of three Persons, of which it is said," As we are obliged by the Christian verity to acknowledge every Person by himself to be God and Lord, yet are we forbidden by the Catholic religion to say there be three Gods or three Lords." From this statement it is evident, that in the minds of nearly all who worship according to this Creed, there is deeply impressed an idea of three Gods. But this idea is most false, and is consequently destructive of the true idea, which is that of One Person "in whom dwelleth the Fulness of the Godhead bodily;" (Col. ii. 9.) this also is abundantly confirmed by all those passages in which the Lord declares, that "He is one with the Father;" that "whoso seeth Him seeth the Father," &c. The true idea of God, therefore, is that of One Person, or that

of a Divine Man, such as the Lord presented Himself on the mount of transfiguration, "with His face shining as the sun. and His garments white as the light." This is the "glorious Body," (Phil. iii. 21.) or the Divine Form of God," (Phil. ii. 6.) or His Divine Humanity. Of this "glorious Body" or "divine Form of God” an idea can be formed, not indeed, as He is in Himself, for He is Infinite; but a finite idea can, both by angels and men, and even by children, be formed of Him, which is accepted by Him, and into which he can flow with His divine Love and Wisdom, and thus be conjoined with man. But the idea of three Persons can never serve as a medium of conjunction with God, and, consequently, not as a medium of salvation. Such a tripersonal idea must consequently be put away, either in this life or in the intermediate world of spirits, before a man can be elevated into heaven itself. Nor can the idea of God, as of a universally diffused spirit invisible to the thought, elevate us above nature into heaven, because such an idea coincides with the inmost principles of nature, and is the same as Pantheism. When it is said that "God is a Spirit," it is by no means meant that He is a universally diffused Spiritual Essence without a Personal Form, which is infinitely elevated above nature; but He is called a Spirit in order to teach us that He is elevated far above all the laws and conditions of materiality, space, and time, and that we must think of Him as not subject to these material conditions. It is in this way that we can arrive at a true idea of His omnipresence and of His other attributes, as that "He is an ever present help in times of trouble," and that "where two or three are gathered together in His name, there He is in the midst of them." We could not thus think of Him, if we were not to take our ideas from the mind or spirit of man and from its laws, rather than from the material body of man and its laws. Thus man, as to his really substantial nature; is a spirit; but it by no means follows that as a spirit separated from the body at death he is without a personal form, he is then in a "spiritual body," and is no longer subject to the laws of materiality, space, and time, and is not a material, but a substantial man.

The child, when he repeats the Lord's Prayer, is initiated into the true idea of God. It takes first from the earthly father the idea of the Heavenly Father: this idea in the child is, of course, very imperfect, marked by every thing that is gross, material, and finite, nevertheless it is accepted of the Lord as the first habitation into which he can come and take up his abode in the consciousness of the child. The true, or real spiritual idea dwells in this most external and material idea like a precious pearl, inclosed in its shell at the bottom of the ocean.

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time, as the child advances in intelligence and wisdom, or in the process of regeneration, this pearl is raised from its position, and is brought forth from its shell, or from its low material condition. and is the "pearl of great price" to the soul, and to all eternity, as the idea of God becomes expanded and elevated, is its chief ornament and glory. Every new truth that we learn, especially when accompanied by its proper affection, enters into the idea of God and expands and exalts it. How careful ought we to be to inculcate into the minds of our children the true idea of God, as being that derived from the "glorious Body" of Jesus, or from the transfiguration on the mount, when the Lord was seen as an infinitely glorious divine MAN, with His "face shining as the Sun," &c. How careful ought we, on the contrary, to be in keeping from them the pernicious idea of three Persons in the Godhead, which cannot but impress them with the idea of three Gods, an idea destructive of all heavenly intelligence and wisdom. When, therefore, we think of Him with a true idea, we, of course, shall not think of Him as being "such a one as a man himself is," (Psalm 1. 21.) for this would be a material and erroneous idea, excusable, indeed, in the child and in the poor Gentile who has not had the opportunity of being instructed in the pure truths of the Word of God; but the man of the church ought not to think of God with ideas adapted to his childhood, but with ideas suited to his rational manhood. Hence the Apostle says,-“When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man I put away childish notions." (1 Cor. xiii. 11.)

In the following extract Swedenborg shows us how important it is to have a true idea of God:

Some, in the Christian world, have formed to themselves an idea of God as of some universal principle; some, as of nature in her inmost principles; some, as of a cloud in some space of ether; some, as a bright ray of light, and some no idea at all, whilst few have formed an idea of God as a Man, when yet God is a Man. Several causes have operated to excite such an idea of God in Christians. The first is, because from their doctrine they believe in three divine Persons distinct from each other, in the Father as an invisible God, in the Lord also, but as to his Human (principle) not God. The second is, that they believe God to be a Spirit, and they conceive of a Spirit as of wind, or as of air or ether, when yet every Spirit is a Man. The third is, that Christians, in consequence of their faith alone without life, have been rendered worldly, and from self-love corporeal, and the worldly and corporeal man doth not see God except from space, thus as the inmost principle in the universe, consequently as extended, when yet God is not to be seen from space, for there is no space in the spiritual world, space in that world

being only an appearance grounded on what is like it. Every sensual man sees God in like manner, because he thinks little above his speech, and the thought of his speech says to itself, 'What the eye sees and the hand touches, this I know is,' and all other things it dissipates, as if they were only things to be talked of. These are the causes why in the Christian world there is no idea of God as a Man. That there is no such idea, yea, that there is a repugnance to it, you may know from examining yourself, and thinking of the Divine Human when yet the Human of the Lord is divine. Nevertheless, the above ideas of God do not appertain so much to the simple, as to the intelligent, for many of the latter are blinded by the conceit of their own intelligence, and are hence infatuated by science, according to the Lord's words, Matthew xi. 25., xiii. 13, 14, 15. But let them know, that all who see God as a Man, see him from the Lord, the rest from themselves; and they who see from themselves, do not see.

“But I will relate what must needs seem wonderful. Every man, in the idea of his spirit, sees God as a Man, even he who in the idea of his body sees him like a cloud, a mist, air or ether, even he who hath denied that God is a Man; man is in the idea of his spirit when he thinks abstractedly, and in the idea of his body when he thinks not abstractedly. That every man in the idea of his spirit sees God as a Man, hath been made evident to me from men after death, who are then in the ideas of their spirit; for men after death become spirits, in which case, it is impossible for them to think of God otherwise than as of a Man; the experiment was made whether they could think otherwise, and for this purpose they were let into the state in which they were in the world, and then they thought of God, some as of the universe, some as of nature in her inmost principles, some as of a cloud in the midst of ether, some as a bright ray of light, and some in other ways; but, instantly, when they came out of that state into a state of spirit, they thought of God as of a Man. But evil spirits, who in the world have denied God, deny him also after death, nevertheless, instead of God they worship some spirit, who, by diabolical arts, gains ascendency over the rest. It was said, that to think of God as a Man is implanted in every spirit; that this is effected by an influx of the Lord into the interior of their thoughts, is evident from this consideration: the angels of all the heavens acknowledge the Lord alone; they acknowledge his Divine (principle) which is called the Father, they see his Divine Human, and they are in the Divine Proceeding; for the universal angelic heaven is the Divine Proceeding of the Lord; an angel is not an angel from anything of his own, but from the Divine (principle) which he receives from the Lord; hence they are in the Lord, and, therefore, when they think of God, they cannot think of any other than of the Lord, in whom they are, and from whom they think. Add to this, that the universal angelic heaven in its complex, before the Lord, is as one man, which may be called the Grand Man, wherefore the angels in heaven are in that Man, who is the divine Proceeding of the Lord, as was said: and since their thoughts have a direction according to the form of heaven, therefore when they think of God, they cannot think otherwise than of the Lord. In a

word, all the angels of the three heavens think of God as of a Man, nor can they think otherwise, since if they were disposed to do so, thought would cease, and they would fall down from heaven. Hence now it is, that it is implanted in every spirit, and also in every man, when he is in the idea of his spirit, to think of God as a Man.

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It was in consequence of the above implanted principle, that the most ancient people, more than their posterity, worshipped God visible under a Human Form. That they also saw God as a Man, the Word testifies, as concerning Adam, that he heard the voice of Jehovah walking in the garden; concerning Moses, that he spake with Jehovah mouth to mouth; concerning Abraham, that he saw Jehovah in the midst of three angels; and that Lot spake with two of them: Jehovah was also seen as a Man by Hagar, by Gideon, by Joshua, by Daniel as the ancient of days, and as the Son of Man; in like manner he was seen by John, as the Son of Man in the midst of seven candlesticks, also by the other prophets. That it was the Lord who was seen by them, he himself teaches where he saith, That Abraham exulted to see his day, and that he saw and rejoiced,' (John viii. 56.) also, That he was before Abraham was.' (John xvii. 5, 24.) The reason why it was not the Father but the Son who was seen, is, because the divine Esse, which is the Father, cannot be seen except by the divine Existere, which is the Divine Human (principle). That the divine Esse, which is called the Father, was not seen, the Lord also teaches in John, 'The Father who hath sent me, he beareth witness of me; ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape.' (v. 37.) Again, 'Not that any one hath seen the Father, eexcept he who is with the Father, he hath seen the Father.' (v. 46.) And again, 'Not one hath seen God at any time, the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath brought him forth to view.' (i. 18.) From which passages it is evident that the divine Esse, which is the Father, was not seen by the ancients, neither could be seen but by the divine Existere, which is the Son. Inasmuch as Esse is in its Existere, as the soul is in its body, therefore he who seeth the divine Existere or Son, seeth also the divine Esse or Father, which the Lord confirms in these words, Philip said, Lord, shew us the Father; Jesus said unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and hast thou not known me, Philip? He who hath seen me hath seen the Father, how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father,' (John xiv. 8, 9.) by which words it is manifest that the Lord is the divine Existere, in which is the divine Esse; thus that he is the God-Man, who was seen by the ancients. From what hath been adduced it follows, that the Word is also to be understood according to the sense of the letter, that God hath a face, that he hath eyes and ears, also, that he hath hands and feet.

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Inasmuch as the idea of God, as a Man, is implanted in every one, therefore several people and nations have worshipped gods, who either were men, or were seen by them as men; as in Greece, Italy, and some kingdoms under their power, they worshipped Saturn, Jupiter, Neptune, Pluto, Apollo, Mercury, Juno, Minerva, Diana, Venus and her son, and others, and ascribed to them the empire of the universe. The reason