Page:The Doctrines of the New Church Briefly Explained.djvu/41

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The Central Doctrine.
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of the Divine Love; the truth in his understanding an image of the Divine Wisdom; and the sphere of his activities, an image of the sphere of the Divine Beneficence. Man, therefore, when he becomes through regeneration a living soul, is a perfect image of the Divine Trinity. Hence, we read that "God created man in his own image." If, then, a true man is an image of the true and living God, he must needs be an image of the trinity in God. And we can best learn the nature of the Divine Trinity, therefore, by contemplating its image in man.

This new doctrine is seen to be at once rational and intelligible; and it will be found, on careful examination, to be equally Scriptural. It enables us to see clearly what is meant when it is said that the Father and the Son are one. They are one as heat and light are one in the sun, or as the soul and body are one person. We see, too, that the Son brings the Father forth to view (John i. 18) as light is the visible manifestation of heat or as the body brings to view the otherwise invisible soul. And we can understand what is meant when it is said, and why it is said, that no one Cometh unto the Father but by the Son (John xiv. 6); for no man can approach or contemplate the absolute Divinity (the Father), except in or through the medium of something suited to his finite capacities—something accommodated to his