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the Holy Scriptures this proposition"There are three who witness in Heaven, "the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit." From which, as well as from many other passages in the Scripture, I know that there is a distinction made in the Divinity, under the three names of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; and I find these terms sufficiently proper to express what we know of this mystery. I cannot find in the Scripture any information respecting the nature of this distinction, except that the Son is begotten, and that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and Son. I conclude that there must be something more than a mere nominal distinction, since we are baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, whence we may understand something more than if the given in these terms:

command had been "Go and baptize all nations in the name of Jehova, Elohim, and Adonai." And if nothing more was intended than that the Apostles were to baptize in the name of God, this would have been merely a vain tautology. I conclude, moreover, that there are not three

distinct spirits, or there would be three Gods, contrary to what we are taught both by reason and the Holy Scriptures; from all which I infer, that there is in the Divinity something more than a nominal distinction, and something less than a distinction of three separate spirits, and finding throughout each person singly, or all conjointly named God, and adored as God, I say with St. Athanasius, "I adore the Trinity in "Unity."

Although it is impossible to bring this subject absolutely within the reach of the human understanding, the following illustration may afford some satisfaction. The Sun engenders rays; and from the sun and the rays proceed light and heat. Thus God the Father begets the Son; and from the Father and the Son proceeds the Spirit of light and grace. But as the sun is not before the rays, nor the rays before the light and heat, but they are all simultaneous; thus neither is the Father before the Son, nor the Father and the Son before the Holy Spirit; except as to their order or relation to one another, in which respect only the

the Father is the first person of the Trinity. Among a thousand passages of Scripture which confirm the above arguments, see. Genesis, Chap. 1, v. 1. 26; Chap. 11, v. 7. -St. Matthew, Chap. 3, v. 16, 17; Chap. 9, v. 4, 6.-St. John, the whole of the first Chapter; Chap. 2, v. 24; Chap. 14, v. 8, and following; Chap. 9, v. 30, and following; Chap. 16. v. 13, 14, 15; Chap. 20, v. 28.-St. Paul to the Romans, Chap. 9, v. 5; to the Philippians, Chap. 2, v. 5, 6; to the Colossians, Chap. 2, v. 9; to Timothy I., Chap. 3, v. 16.-First St. John, Chap. 5, v. 7, 20.

138. UNION OF THE SOUL AND BODY.

We see the process of a piece of work in the hands of the weaver; the threads are: so regularly arranged, and the colours so. disposed, that there results a marvellous production, representing animals, flowers, &c. May it not be in like manner, that the images of things, perceived by the soul, are formed in the brain? The different vibrations of fibres, combined in a manner almost infinite, may suffice to represent all

objects, and the same vibrations, more faintly repeated, may perhaps serve to recal them. We may thus compare the soul to a centinel on a high tower, whence he descries an immense prospect; whatever the eye can perceive in the extent of this prospect, the soul may see perhaps concentrated in a very small space, by means unknown to us If a man, born deaf, and having, consequently, not even an idea of the organ of hearing, should observe that a person gave orders to others at a distance from him; if he saw them move in consequence of the influence of these orders, he would not comprehend (having no idea of the nature of speech) by what means this single person could move all the rest. It is thus we cannot comprehend the influence of the soul on the body; and it may be by means analogous to the instance just mentioned.

139. QUALITIES.

It is an error to suppose that there are in objects the qualities that affect us through them. We imagine that colour is in a body, although there is merely in it a configura

tion of parts proper to reflect to our eyes such rays of light as give us the idea of a certain colour. Not seeing the particles of heat which burn us, we conclude the heat is in the fire, but erroneously; the heat is no more in the fire than the pain is in the point of a needle which pricks us.

140. VITAL PRINCIPLE LOST BY MOTION.

Put part of a grain of corn, which has been kept for ten, twelve, or fifteen years, into a drop of water, and you will see millions of little animals moving, not like other animals, with a spontaneous motion, but as it were a mere vibration. You will see them, in the space of a quarter of an hour, change their forms, die, and be succeeded by another generation, and that followed by another. It is the lowest degree of the vital principle. Considering therefore, all the degrees of vitality, from that of spontaneity to that of oscillation, may we not say that, by a natural gradation, vitality loses itself imperceptibly into motion?

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