"whole of intellectual existences; advancing "from thought, (that mysterious thing!) in its "lowest form, through all the gradations of sen"tient and rational beings, till it arrives at a "Bacon, a Newton, and then, when unincum"bered by matter, extending its illimitable sway "through Seraph and Archangel, till we are lost "in the GREAT INFINITE! "Is it not deserving of notice, as an especial subject of meditation, that our limbs, in all they do, or can accomplish, implicitly obey the dic"tation of the mind? that this operating power, "whatever its name, under certain limitations, "exercises a sovereign dominion, not only over 66 our limbs, but over all our intellectual pur"suits? The mind of every man is evidently "the moving force, which alike regulates all "his limbs and actions; and in which exam 66 ple, we find a strong illustration of the sub"ordinate nature of mere matter. That alone "which gives direction to the organic parts of "our nature, is wholly mind; and one mind, "if placed over a thousand limbs, could, with "undiminished ease, control and regulate the "whole. 66 This idea is advanced on the supposition, "that one mind could command an unlimited di"rection over any given number of limbs, pro"vided they were all connected by joint and "sinew. But suppose, through some occult and 66 66 66 66 "inconceivable means, these limbs were dis-associated, as to all material connexion; suppose, "for instance, one mind, with unlimited authority, governed the operations of two separate persons, would not this, substantially, be only one person, seeing the directing principle was "one? If the truth, here contended for, be admitted, that two persons, governed by one mind, "is incontestably one person; the same conclu"sion would be arrived at, and the proposition equally be justified, which affirmed that, three, or, otherwise, four persons, owning also necessary and essential subjection to one mind, would only be so many diversities, or modifications "of that one mind, and therefore the component parts, virtually collapsing into one whole, the person would be one. Let any man ask him 66 66 66 66 66 66 66 66 66 self, whose understanding can both reason, and "become the depository of truth, whether, if one "mind thus regulated, with absolute authority, three, or, otherwise, four persons, with all their congeries of material parts, would not these parts, inert in themselves, when subjected to "one predominant mind, be, in the most logical sense, one person? Are ligament and exterior combination indispensable pre-requisites to the sovereign influence of mind over mind? or 66 mind over matter? 66 66 66 * In his later days, Mr. Coleridge would have renounced the opinions and the incorrect reasoning of this letter. "But perhaps it may be said, we have no in"stance of one mind governing more than one body. This may be, but the argument remains "the same. With a proud spirit, that forgets its 66 66 6.6 66 own contracted range of thought, and circum"scribed knowledge, who is to limit the sway of Omnipotence? or, presumptuously to deny the possibility of that Being, who called light out of "darkness, so to exalt the dominion of one mind, "as to give it absolute sway over other depen"dent minds, or (indifferently) over detached, or "combined portions of organized matter? But "if this superinduced quality be conferable on any order of created beings, it is blasphemy to "limit the power of God, and to deny his capa 66 66 city to transfuse his own Spirit, when, and to "whom he will. "This reasoning may now be applied in illus"tration of the Trinity. We are too much in "the habit of viewing our Saviour Jesus Christ, through the medium of his body. A body 66 was prepared for him,' but this body was mere "matter; as insensible in itself, as every human “frame when deserted by the soul. If therefore "the Spirit that was in Christ, was the Spirit of "the Father: if no thought, no vibration, no spi"ritual communication, or miraculous display, "existed in, or proceeded from Christ, not im"mediately and consubstantially identified with "JEHOVAH, the Great First cause; if all these 66 operating principles were thus derived, in consistency alone with the conjoint divine attri"butes; if this Spirit of the Father ruled and reigned in Christ as his own manifestation, "then, in the strictest sense, Christ exhibited "the God-head bodily,' and was undeniably "one with the Father;' confirmatory of the Sa"viour's words; 'Of myself,' (my body) 'I can "do nothing, the Father that dwelleth in me, he "doeth the works." "But though I speak of the body, as inert in "itself, and necessarily allied to matter, yet this "declaration must not be understood as militat 66 ing against the Christian doctrine of the resur"rection of the body. In its grosser form, the 66 thought is not to be admitted, for, flesh and "blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God,' but, "that the body, without losing its consciousness, “and individuality, may be subjected, by the "illimitable power of Omnipotence, to a subli"mating process, so as to be rendered compatible "with spiritual association, is not opposed to reason, in its severe abstract exercises, while in "attestation of this exhilarating belief, there are many remote analogies in nature exemplifying "the same truth, while it is in the strictest ac"cordance with that final dispensation, which "must, as Christians, regulate all our specula"tions. I proceed now to say, that 66 66 "If the postulate be thus admitted, that one “mind influencing two bodies, would only in"volve a diversity of operations, but in reality "be one in essence; or otherwise, (as an hypo"thetical argument, illustrative of truth) if one 66 preeminent mind, or spiritual subsistence, un"connected with matter, possessed an undivided "and sovereign dominion over two or more dis"embodied minds, so as to become the exclusive 66 source of all their subtlest volitions and exer"cises, the unity, however complex the modus of "its manifestation, would be fully established ; "and this principle extends to DEITY itself, and "shows the true sense, as I conceive, in which "Christ and the Father are one. "In continuation of this reasoning, if God who "is light, the Sun of the Moral World, should in "his union of Infinite Wisdom, Power, and Good“ness, and from all Eternity, have ordained that "an emanation from himself (for aught we know, 66 an essential emanation, as light is inseparable "from the luminary of day) should not only have "existed in his Son, in the fulness of time "to be united to a mortal body, but that a like "emanation from himself (also perhaps essential) "should have constituted the Holy Spirit, who, "without losing his ubiquity, was more especially "sent to this lower earth, by the Son, at the im"pulse of the Father, then, in the most compre"hensive sense, God, and his Son, Jesus Christ, " and the Holy Ghost, are ONE. 'Three Persons |
