Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1867-07-28
SUNDAY READING.
RELIGIOUS BOCFRENE.
BY LAYMAN.


- words of the creed are plain; but sti
they give me no ineligible idea. Par
i only tells me that / must believe witt
out understanding. Cannot we be mad
? TO understand IL? How can one reall
= believe, without having something def
mite to believe?
= CA very pregnant question: Ho'
T can one believe, when the formula
o words to which her assent is required
does not constitute an ineligible prOpC
e sitiOn, and express q definite fact tbs
:. she can believe? When the ancier
Y HindOO books, or the older oral doetrin
said that Brahms, Vishnu and Siv
T were the Supreme Deity in three aspect
as Creator, ,Preseryer and Destroyer, !" ths
= could be understood. The Supreme De
Y ity remained one and single. The thre
Gods merely expressed three Of His al
s tributes or poteneies, three modes Of az
: ton Of His energy. Each was He, lin
tied, and acting in particular mode an
? direction.
< The first thing, almost, that phiIosoph,
tells us, is that we have no cognition b,
the senses, Of substance Itself, but only Q
/. its attributes or qualities, which are no
. itself, extension, hardness, colour, an,
l the like. The thing itself is sODleiChd
that is extended, hard, white, and to-
. like; but these are merely the qualitie
= Of the thing itself, which itself is no
known to Us. The ancients conceived
! that the very Substance Of Light, but Il
which, for want of any other word, they
could only give that name and call j
! the very Light, was a Somewhat inVisi
bic, and not cogniZable by the Senses
= from which light flowed. This Very
! Light, the Kabalists said, was the Deity
and in the Scriptures, old and new, He
, is continually pared 20 and said to be
Light This Light, made visible
manifesting itself investing itself with
. form, by self-limitstion, Is known TO us
only so far as il is manifested by means
Of or as the Sun, which is, therefore. the
very Deity, self-limited and manifested.
Do you comprehend this ancient idea
H.-Yes; 1 understand that.
C.-Take then, another step. Even
the Sun itself, they thought, is not that
visible light that flows from it, any more
than it is ths heat which we feel, or than
the Thought which nOWs from the Soul
is the Soul. The Soul is not L4eTe cpl
lection or aggregate of Thoughts, though
it is the source Of Thoughts, from which
they flow, like water from fountain.
The Sun is the source of Light and Heat,
the essential Substance of which Light
aud Hest are the oUt-howings or emana-
tions; ana the Light and Heat, before
they flow forth, exist, and G.Vgys did
exist, from the beginning, 10 the sub
stance, which Is the Sun, and in the very
Light, which is the Deity Itself.
Accordingly, the Phenicisn and Chal-
dPan Trinity, one of the earliest, was
said to be Light, Fire and Flame: Light,
I the very Substance or Essence, which is
/ the peity's self; Fire, the limited, separ-
/ ted, distinctly existent Very Substance,
which is the sun itself. and Flame,
which is the Fire and Light, outdOving
| OF manifested as splendour. The Light
/ was the origin or the Fdther; and Fire,
/ the Originated or the Son; the Flame,
! the Divine Spirit or Energy, manifested,
/ cognizable by the Senses, and producing
! Life In Nature. Each was in the be-
ginning lCith the Light and each " 1CGS
/ the Light but the Light limited, ia
vested with form, manifested. The idea
may perhaps be made more plain, if we
distinguish Getwesn Light and Heat; and
say that the Sun is the geTy substance Of
these, and that they are the mguifesl8-
tiUns, 20 two Of our senses, Of that Very
Substance, that Is, that Very Substance,
not in itself, but unaffected as Light
and as Heat. These are not merely its
qualities or attributes. They are them
selves actualities, entities; and yet only
outfiOwing or emeuatiOus from the
Source, of which itself We have no cog
milton, but only Of it in its manifesto
tions.
Its probable that the Sages always
intended to express, in this figurative
manner, the Intellectual action Of the
Divine Mind. That Mind, like the HUI
man Mind, when not limited, when re-
naming plOti0nless and at rest, is be-
yOnd the reach, net only Of coguitiOn,
but Of the Intellect; that IS 20 aag, the
human Intellect cannot conceive Of it, or
form any idea of it, except that it is
somewhat that Is. This was the idea
expressed by the Hebrews, whose highest
name of Deity meant existence.
P.-No: YOU are not entirely accurate.
The highest Name Of Deity expressed
limitation and duality, dctiUe existence,
the first manifestation Of the very Deity
by Self Limitation. They said that the
Very Deity, Ain5opb, had no name.
Nothing more could be predicated Of
Him than that He Was. The word
Thou could not be applied to Him.
C.-That is true; but not material for
the purposes Of the illustration / am at
tempting. This Mind only manifests
itself and gives cognitiOn Of itself, and
enables the Intellect to form any idea Of
it, by hrst separating frOm its substance, /
or producing within itself a Thought,
which is still rs un-eOguiz able as Itself,
though q distinct actuality, until il is
uttered as the Word. Now this Thought
was represented as the Eternal Wisdom,
the inteliectiOB or intellectual act Of
Deity, the Deity thinking, the unuttered
Word: So that it and the Word were
really the same, and both were in the I
beginning with the Deity and were the I.
Deity.
Now, VIC know no more about the ma
ture Of our Soul, as a substance or thing, /
than We know about one OF its Thoughts. [
A Thought may be termed an Entity, 1
a somewhat that Is, with as much pro- .
Friety as the Soul may. And accord /
ingly, the Ancients soon came to con- |
ceive Of the Reason or Wisdom, and the I
Word, by which they meant the Unut- /
tered expression OF that Wisdom, or the /
Reason taking form, to be uttered, as
actual persons in the Deity, or as gods.
MINERVA or ATHENE sprang, a woman
armed, from the brain Of ZEHE Or
MUD was the true manifestation and
energy Of ZEROUsUANE AKRENE The
Eternal Wisdom itself was but the Deity
in one aspect, the deity as Wisdom and
the LogOs, or word, was that Wisdom in
a single idea, that of Creation. You can
that there is more of
your Soul than its wisdom or Intel
lect, though it is yOUr whole Soul, for
that is OHe,) which thinks: and that the
idea which your intellect forms, Of a
certain thing which your hands are to
make, is your Intellect, not in itself, but
in that Idea. That idea, in the Divine
Mind, was the Creative L1gOs, or Word.
God, in the Hebrew writings, is repre-
sented as creating by His Word, De5dT
Yahovah.' And &lohavim said, LET
there be Light and Light became
The same idea obtained in all the other
oreeds. In that Of Persia, Creation was
effected by means Of the Omuific Word
Hanover. The HindoO creative word
was Aum or ON; and the Thought of
The Deity was represented as uttered in
worlds. All the ssges, as / said of the
&abalists, recognized it as true that the
human Intellect can know only the
Deity. The very Deity is
Infinite the Hidden, the Concealed, |
AiDsOph, even as they say sometimes, the
for US us The Visible is
he measure of the Invisible. What is
.bove equals what is below. You know
# my Soul only its Thoughts. You have
ognitiOn Of them only; and vet, as IL
we're, they open a window through which 5
'ou behold the Soul itself You know J
he Soul, in knowing the Thoughts-the
soul itself, but only the Soul as Thinker,
nd as lhe Thinker Of that one or the
many Thoughts. The Universe is the {
ItteraDce Of a Single Divine Thought. J
We have cOgnitiOn OF it, and Of the
Word Of which it is the symbol or mate !
isl uttsTance. In that single Thought I
We know the Deity, as the Thinker of I
hat single Thought. We know the Q
Divine Wisdom, as thus exerted and q
manifested. It is the Word, the Deity. !
he whole Deity as Wisdom, but only q
nown to US as manifested. 1t is one ray L
{ the infinite ocean of Divine Splen-
our, yet the very Divine splendour ray
ng forth. The Word, Logos, is this Ray, /
r the creative energy of God God, t
nd vet distinct from God, as the a
'hOught is distinct, when formed IN the '
Oul, from the Soul of which il is the {
tteTance, which speaks ia and by it. d
n other words, the Thought is the Soul /
and so becoming a thing dis i
met from itself, as the ray is made dis 5
met from the Light, Of which, before il
vas emitted it was an integral and un- T
isting uishable part. Do make il all Q
lain to you, what the ancient mind 2
to gain an idea Of by these O