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Article ON THE UNIVERSALITY OF THE GRAND MASONIC... ← Page 3 of 7 →
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On The Universality Of The Grand Masonic...
indignation against crime . It is by such feelings and passions that the Divine Being has incorporated in our natare a particle of the I ) wme Ityirti ^ The soul of man was called by the ancient philosophers Divince particula aurce , ^" a particle of the Divine breath or Spirit . " This
auraVivina corresponds literally to the " Ay xov Jive vjua ( Holy Spirit ) of the Old Testament . It would be a palpable mistake to imagine that the idea of " the Spirit of the Dord , '' " ^ Holy Spirit , " is one peculiarly Christian , and not perfectly familiar to the Jews . Indeed , the identical expression the " Holy Spirit "
( Ayiov Uvmfia ) occurs in the Septuagmt version of the " Wisdom of our great founder , King Solomon ( chap . ix . 17 ) . The sole and exclusive difference between Jews and Christians respecting these points relates , on the one hand , to the incarnation of the Ao ' yoe or Word j and , on the other , to the physical or visible manifestation of the TLvEVjia or Spirit . These controverted points I neither actually m eddied with in the article , nor had I the least thought of doing so .
That the three points of view just specified a , s those under which , collectively , the mind of every Theist , of whatever denomination , alone can form a full notion of the Divine nature , are so wholly distinct from each other as even not to be necessarily co-existent , is obvious from the fact that the imagination can readily conceive the existence of the Deity in each of these capacities , independently of the other
two . The triple distinction , or triunity , is therefore no vague , nonessential , gratuitous , or trifling one ; but a partition inseparably involved in , and therefore indispensable to the attainment of , a distinct conception of the Divine Being . He must be conceived , first , as absolutely existent in Himself—the great " I am ; " secondly , as holding intellectual—and thirdly , moral relation to the human
race . Thus it appears that the Deity is regarded in our contemplations under three several points of view ; or as performing three distinct functions- ^—assuming three distinct ch aracters or Persons . Sometimes we regard the Deity solely as the Creator . When we behold His majestic works , which inspire us with ideas of grandeur and sublimity , as indications of measureless power , we do not necessarily consider Him in His relation to man . In this point of view , we
regard Him merely as the Spirit who sways the tremendous powers of the Universe . We contemplate Him , in a word , only as the Almighty . He would exist the same Omnipotent if man and all his works were , by His inscrutable fiat , obliterated from the earth ; if chaos came again , and " a shoreless ocean tumbled round the globe . "
But when , again , we regard the infinite wisdom apparent m the creation , we are naturally led to contemplate the Divine Being as the source to man of all wisdom and of all truth . The sciences of which we obtain a limited knowledge by observation or meditation , objectively or subjectively , bring us into intellectual relation with
* Psalm xxiii . 3 . t Horace . Sat . B . ii . % 79
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On The Universality Of The Grand Masonic...
indignation against crime . It is by such feelings and passions that the Divine Being has incorporated in our natare a particle of the I ) wme Ityirti ^ The soul of man was called by the ancient philosophers Divince particula aurce , ^" a particle of the Divine breath or Spirit . " This
auraVivina corresponds literally to the " Ay xov Jive vjua ( Holy Spirit ) of the Old Testament . It would be a palpable mistake to imagine that the idea of " the Spirit of the Dord , '' " ^ Holy Spirit , " is one peculiarly Christian , and not perfectly familiar to the Jews . Indeed , the identical expression the " Holy Spirit "
( Ayiov Uvmfia ) occurs in the Septuagmt version of the " Wisdom of our great founder , King Solomon ( chap . ix . 17 ) . The sole and exclusive difference between Jews and Christians respecting these points relates , on the one hand , to the incarnation of the Ao ' yoe or Word j and , on the other , to the physical or visible manifestation of the TLvEVjia or Spirit . These controverted points I neither actually m eddied with in the article , nor had I the least thought of doing so .
That the three points of view just specified a , s those under which , collectively , the mind of every Theist , of whatever denomination , alone can form a full notion of the Divine nature , are so wholly distinct from each other as even not to be necessarily co-existent , is obvious from the fact that the imagination can readily conceive the existence of the Deity in each of these capacities , independently of the other
two . The triple distinction , or triunity , is therefore no vague , nonessential , gratuitous , or trifling one ; but a partition inseparably involved in , and therefore indispensable to the attainment of , a distinct conception of the Divine Being . He must be conceived , first , as absolutely existent in Himself—the great " I am ; " secondly , as holding intellectual—and thirdly , moral relation to the human
race . Thus it appears that the Deity is regarded in our contemplations under three several points of view ; or as performing three distinct functions- ^—assuming three distinct ch aracters or Persons . Sometimes we regard the Deity solely as the Creator . When we behold His majestic works , which inspire us with ideas of grandeur and sublimity , as indications of measureless power , we do not necessarily consider Him in His relation to man . In this point of view , we
regard Him merely as the Spirit who sways the tremendous powers of the Universe . We contemplate Him , in a word , only as the Almighty . He would exist the same Omnipotent if man and all his works were , by His inscrutable fiat , obliterated from the earth ; if chaos came again , and " a shoreless ocean tumbled round the globe . "
But when , again , we regard the infinite wisdom apparent m the creation , we are naturally led to contemplate the Divine Being as the source to man of all wisdom and of all truth . The sciences of which we obtain a limited knowledge by observation or meditation , objectively or subjectively , bring us into intellectual relation with
* Psalm xxiii . 3 . t Horace . Sat . B . ii . % 79