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"Now if the Soul, which is but an Image of God, at an Infinite distance, can communicate it self to several Members, without breach of its Unity; why should it be Impossible for the Eternal and Infinite Mind to communicate it self to several Persons, without breach of its Unity; I will be bold to say, you will not find so near a Parallel in Nature whereby to conceive of God's Eternity, or his Infinity, as this, and a great many more, whereby we may conceive of His Trinity and Unity, by what we feel in our selves, and see in a thousand things that are before us."

— Leslie, Charles (1650-1722)

Author

Leslie, Charles (1650-1722)

Work Title

Five Discourses by the Author of the Snake in the Grass: viz. On water-baptism; Episcopacy; Primitive heresie of the Quakers; Reflections on the Quakers; A brief account ofthe Socinian trinity.

Place of Publication

London

Publisher

Printed for C. Brome, W. Keblewhite, and G. Strahan.

Date

1700

Metaphor

"Now if the Soul, which is but an Image of God, at an Infinite distance, can communicate it self to several Members, without breach of its Unity; why should it be Impossible for the Eternal and Infinite Mind to communicate it self to several Persons, without breach of its Unity; I will be bold to say, you will not find so near a Parallel in Nature whereby to conceive of God's Eternity, or his Infinity, as this, and a great many more, whereby we may conceive of His Trinity and Unity, by what we feel in our selves, and see in a thousand things that are before us."

Metaphor in Context

We acknowledge a Great and Sublime Mystery in the Holy Trinity of GOD: That is a Mystery to us, which exceeds our Understanding. And many such Mysteries there are, to us, in the Nature of God which we all acknowledge; A First Cause without a Beginning! A Being which neither made it self, nor was made by any other! Infinite without Extension! In every place, yet circumscribed in no place! Eternal and Perpetually Existing, without any Succession! a Present, without Past, or Future! and many other such un-explainable, un-intelligible, Incomprehensible Mysteries; which yet hinder not our Belief of a God. And therefore not being able fully and clearly to explain the Trinity, which is the most hidden and secret Attribute of the Nature of God, can be no Reason for us to reject such Revelation which God has given us of Himself. Yet do we not want several Shadows and Resemblances of one Nature communicating it self to many Individuals, without either a Multiplication or Division of the Nature. We say that the Soul is all in all, and all in every part of the Body: yet that the Soul is neither Multiplied nor Divided among the several Members of the Body. It is impossible for us either to Explain this, or to Deny it; for we feel it to be so, though it is wholly unconceivable to us how it can be. Now if the Soul, which is but an Image of God, at an Infinite distance, can communicate it self to several Members, without breach of its Unity; why should it be Impossible for the Eternal and Infinite Mind to communicate it self to several Persons, without breach of its Unity; I will be bold to say, you will not find so near a Parallel in Nature whereby to conceive of God's Eternity, or his Infinity, as this, and a great many more, whereby we may conceive of His Trinity and Unity, by what we feel in our selves, and see in a thousand things that are before us. We see Extension not Divided but Distinguished into its three Dimensions; and Communicating its whole Nature to each of the Three, for Each is Extension; and yet there is but one Extension in all the Three.

The Soul is not Divided betwixt its several Faculties; they remain perfectly distinguished though not divided from one another: To understand what is present, is a quite different thing from Remembring what is Past; and to Love or Hate, is different from both of these; yet these Three Faculties, the Understanding, the Memory, and the Will, partake all equally of the same Soul.

Light and Heat are so different, that some are capable of the One, who are not of the Other; and yet they are not Divided in the Sun; but flow equally and naturally from it without any Division of its Nature.
(p. 322-4)