Page:The Divine Order of the Universe as Interpreted by Emanuel Swedenborg.djvu/50

34 Space, Time, Number, etc. are regarded as Divine Ideas or Archetypal and Creative Thoughts; which, however, so entirely fail to inform us as to how the Universe material and moral is the work of the Deity, that, as the same author observes : —

" The origin of Light must be at least as far removed from us as the origin of the Solar system.'

No doubt any true explanation of the origin of Light would furnish us also with a true explanation of the origin of the Solar system ; but if Science, when it enters upon the domain of Theology, is unable to account for the origin of either of these, let us invert the order, and ascer- tain how far Theology may account for both, when it penetrates the domain of Science ; for Science is only the circumference of which Theology is the centre.

Now, as we have observed that right ideas of the Creator are essential to right ideas of creation, it may be well to premise, that while we speak of the Creator as a Personal Being, and as having a Divine Humanity, both these expressions, according to some, involve a contradic- tion; inasmuch as both Personality and Humanity are said to involve the idea of limitation ; that hence to speak of a Personal God is the same as to speak of a finite infinite ; and to speak of a Divine Humanity, the same as to speak of an infinite finite. Since, however, we have already explained, that by man we understand that which constitutes man, viz. finite love, wisdom, and power as an image and likeness of Infinite Love, Wisdom, and Power or the Divine and Archetypal Man: it remains for those who object to this view, to shew that a man is not a person.

In the next place we observe, that, with regard to the