BE 40 - The Idea of God

BE 40

. . . the idea of God enters into
all things of the church, religion, and worship;
and theological matters have their residence
above all others in the human mind,
and the idea of God is in the supreme place there;
wherefore if this be false,
all beneath it,
in consequence of the principle from which they flow,
must likewise be false or falsified;
for that which is supreme, being also the inmost,
constitutes the very essence of all that is derived from it;
and the essence, like a soul,
forms them into a body,
after its own image;
and when in its descent it lights upon truths,
it even infects them with its own blemish and error.
The idea of three Gods in theology may be compared
to a disease seated in the heart or lungs,
in which the patient fancies himself to be in health,
because his physician, not knowing his disease,
persuades him that he is so;
but if the physician knows it, and still persuades,
he may justly be charged with deep malignity.