work_id,theme,provenance,created_at,text,reviewed_on,id,comments,metaphor,dictionary,updated_at,context
3953,"",Ad Fontes: Digital Library of Classic Protestant Texts,2003-08-25 00:00:00 UTC,"We come now to Examine, what they set up against any Signs or Figures under the Gospel, from another Topic; and that is, That the Gospel is all Substance, and therefore that there must be no Sign or Figure at all in it.
Answ. By Substance here they mean that which is Inward, or Spiritual, that every thing in the Gospel is Spiritual.
But this will overthrow all Outward, or Bodily Worship. For that is distinguished from Spiritual, or Inward Worship.
And, in one sense, all Bodily Worship is a Sign or Figure of the Inward, or Spiritual; which is the Principal and Substantial Worship. Thus Bowing the Knee, or Uncovering the Head at Prayer, are Signs or Figures of the Inward Reverence and Devotion of the Heart.
And this the Quakers practise; therefore, by their own Argument, they have Signs and Figures as well as others; only they throw off those of Christ's Institution, and make new ones of their own.
It is impossible to be without Signs and Figures. For this whole World is a Figure of that which is to come. We our selves are Figures of God, being Images of him: And what is an Image but the Figure or Sign of a Thing? Christ is a Figure of God, being the Express Image of his Person, Heb. i. 3. And we now have the Knowledge of God in the Face of Jesus Christ. God is a Light inaccessible to Angels, as well as unto Men, without some Medium: His Essence cannot be seen or known Immediately, by any but Himself. All Creatures partake of him in Signs and Figures of him; each in their several Degrees; there are Higher and more Noble Figures; but all are Figures. And God has, in all Ages, through the World, Dispensed himself to Mankind in Signs and Figures; we could not otherwise apprehend Him. Christ is the most Noble and Lively Figure of God: Therefore his Dispensation is far beyond all others that went before him. Yet even now, We see through a Glass darkly, 1 Cor. xiii. 12. or, in a Riddle; as our Margent reads it, ?? ?????????, in a Figure.
What is the Bible that we read, what are Words but the Signatures, the Signs or Figures of Things? We can see the Essence of no one thing in the World, more than of God. And what are all those Accidents of Colour, Quantity and Quality, by which we distinguish Things, but so many Figures or Signs of them?
So very wild is that Notion, that there must be no Signs or Figures under the Gospel!
It would be much Truer, if they had said, That there are nothing else but Signs and Figures: There is nothing else without a Figure but God! For all Creatures are Figures of Him, Christ, the Highest.
(p. 95-6)",2009-03-23,10279,•Great bits on literal and figurative. INTEREST. REVISIT.,"""We our selves are Figures of God, being Images of him: And what is an Image but the Figure or Sign of a Thing?""","",2009-09-14 19:34:51 UTC,"On Quakers and figuration. Leslie continues and shows that the Quakers do indeed have ""figures"""
3953,Personal Identity,Ad Fontes: Digital Library of Classic Protestant Texts,2003-08-25 00:00:00 UTC,"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)",2009-03-23,10280,"•Leslie calls these ""parallels"": ""I say not that any of these Parallels do come up to the full explanation of the Communication of the Divine Nature to several Persons, without any Division or Multiplication of the Nature: But I am sure they take away the Contradiction alledged to be in it, while we see the same Difficulty in our own and other Natures, which we can as little Explain."" (p. 324).","""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.""","",2009-09-14 19:34:51 UTC,On the trinity: the Socinians are guilty of contradiction