LATIVE REASON to free man from the instinct of animals, by giving a far greater scope to the laws of nature than is assigned to the bees and the beavers; thus conferring on man the entire dominion over nature, which directly confirms the "Revelation" of Moses, who says: "Thou shalt have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth." The constituent principles of the Human Mind, which have been here introduced expressly for the purpose of proving the truth of our assertion that every thought, word, or deed, conceived, uttered, or executed, by man is bottomed upon the TRIUNE PRINCIPLE, have indeed been eminently successful in accomplishing their object. Not an atom of any one of these elements departs from this law; but, on the contrary, confirms it for ever. So that from the minutest conceivable particle of TIME to the most comprehensive and overwhelming idea capable of being formed by the Mind of man- the Triune DEITY himself -all confirms, corroborates, and substantiates, the everlasting truth of a TRINITY IN UNITY. The glorious result of this reasoning, particularly as regards the supremacy of the Soul over the Body, must awaken in the mind sentiments of the deepest interest. Of what avail are the transient gratifications of SENSE and their contracted span, in comparison with the immutable and everduring principles of REASON! So strong is the comparison between the corruptible and contingent, which occupy TIME, and the necessary and incorruptible, which reside in ETERNITY, that, were the whole material world and all that exists in TIME for ever swept away and totally annihilated, yet not one essence of all geometrical figures, nor of all spiritual existences which never can enter TIME, but reside for ever among the universal and the necessary - in ETERNITY-Could receive the slightest injury from the destruction of that impure matter which never could approach the sacred and holy abode of Spirits. What is all this world of vanities and its alluring pleasures? What their sum and substance here below? A dream forgotten, or a bubble burst. But what says the dying Jesus! 66 Believe in me, and ye shall never die." RESURRECTION!- that cheering word relieves my anxious Soul, and tells of joys yet to come, whose very duration can only be measured by ETERNITY. Eternity! pleasing yet awful thought! Here the secrets of all hearts are disclosed, every artifice laid bare. What comfort, then, in carrying an upright conscience to the awful presence, and relying on the mercy of HIM who has placed us in this world of trial, to prove our claim to brighter realms! With what joy shall I look up when I behold my salvation drawing near! Now, even now, my Soul clings to my Redeemer, who has interceded for all mankind, and promised forgiveness to the truly penitent, and assured us of the benign Grace of our Heavenly Father! Thus has this faculty, which God has made to declare his own glory, fully borne out our assertion that the Divine Author of the Human - Mind is not even conceivable by his own offspring under any other form than the TRIUNE PRINCIPLE. SENSE, the mere passive faculty of the Mind, declares this truth in the face of day, by showing that its two receivers, TIME and SPACE, must for ever stand in necessary connexion, or the Faculty is annihilated. Understanding, with its twelve Categories—this active power of uniting Sensations into intelligible objects — with its host of Triads, leaves us speechless at this matchless truth. Finally, REASON, with its infinite series of boundless Triads, consummates the whole, and puts to shame every attempt to impugn the TRIUNE PRINCIPLE. We have now performed our promise, by showing that the three original and primitive Faculties of the Mind-SENSE, UNDERSTANDING, REASONstand forth for ever in confirmation of this never-to-be controverted truth a TRINITY IN UNITY: and that it is absolutely impossible either to think, to talk, or to act, without involving this principle. Consequently, the thought of oneness is both contradictory and absurd, for it is a noneness, or a complete nonentity. We may now assuredly affirm that the whole dispute on this vital principle of the "Christian Religion" is merely a verbal controversy. The Faculties of the Mind, with all their triune elements, may be conveniently exhibited at one view thus: We cannot but be forcibly struck on beholding only three results as the primitive effects of the three original faculties of the Mind; and, the very instant the Mind begins to think at all, these results spring up, and are occupied in the process of thought, in the following manner. When SENSE is affected by something distinct from the mind, a Sensation is generated, which, being immediately arranged under the Categories of UNDERSTANDING, becomes an intelligible object. This procedure bears the name of INTUITION, While we are in the actual state of Sensation; but that of CONCEPTION when the object is withdrawn, and we refer only to its mental image. While we are viewing an object of a rose - it is an Intuition; the recollection of this flower is a Conception. Thus the combination of Intuition and Conception constitutes nature in its only two references of present or absent. nature Intuition+Conception + Connexion Nature. This procedure is entirely limited to TIME and SPACE; and objects, in order to be known, must not only exist within these limits but must also be finite. For the finite cannot grasp the infinite. Thus under the terms of Intuition and Conception we have entirely exhausted nature. |