From this it is very evident that the Trinity is not, as commonly taught, a Trinity of persons, but of principles. In ourselves we see a finite image of this Divine and Infinite Trinity. The soul of man may be taken as the representative of Jehovah; his body represents the Divine Humanity, or Jesus Christ; and his action or influence on others corresponds to the Holy Spirit. Regarded in this light, that most mystical and incomprehensible dogma of three Persons, and yet one God, is annihilated, and we come into the enjoyment of a faith at once scriptural, intelligible, and rational. It is impossible for us here to go into the details of this doctrine, or give even an outline of its proofs. To an earnest seeker after truth we can conceive no pleasure exceeding an acquaintance with this treatise on the Lord. If, especially, he has vexed and worn himself in reading the profitless controversies and lucubrations of learned divines on the Trinity, his fretted and heated mind will experience a spiritual relief similar to the natural one which results when patience has become exhausted in vain endeavors to unfasten a lock, and a skilled mechanic draws near, takes the work out of our hands, and with dexterity and ease accomplishes the task in a moment. Swedenborg lays his hand on the tangled mass of mysticism and perverted Scripture, and straightway the Gordian knot is untied. The simplicity of explanation fills us with amazement, and we wonder that it was never done before. 2. The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem respecting the Sacred Scripture, next demands our attention. The primary truth of this treatise is, that the Sacred Scripture, or the Word, is Divine Truth itself, thus the Lord himself. Let us see how this can be. We are too apt to abstract books from their authors, and to regard them as matters impersonal,—as type and paper merely. Now this is a childish error, and a proof of the loose and external way in which we are accustomed to think. When I speak, or write, I manifest spiritual influences; and the force of these influences is proportionate to my earnestness, and their effect is proportionate to the state of reception of my hearers. Words are thus perceived to be the representatives of spiritual forces. The action of spirit on spirit is inappreciable by the senses; but could we look behind the veil of nature when a crowd or a congregation is swayed hither and thither by the speech of one man, we should see that the influence exerted was as real and actual as muscular force. From this we learn that words are not mere sounds, but are the sheaths or cases of spiritual life, and on this ground we at once see the force of the Lord’s declaration, “The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.” John vi. 63.