Divine, there would be as many gods, as there are men. Man's soul or mind is simply a created spiritual organism, so formed as to be in correspondence with the Divine nature or life: that is, so as to be capable of receiving and perceiving and enjoying that life, as it flows in every moment from God; just as the eye is a created material organism, so formed as to be in correspondence with the light of the sun, which it every moment receives afresh from that sun, and, when in health, enjoys.
Goodness, then, with its accompanying happiness, we see, is not an attribute properly of man's own soul or mind, but is an effect of that mind's being in an orderly state; an effect of its being in such an order as to correspond to the Divine life, and thus to receive and enjoy it, as it continually flows in from God. This explains philosophically (so to speak) the meaning of the passage, "there is none good but one, that is, God."[1] The goodness belongs to God, not to man; for the goodness which appears in man, is but the effect of the continual action of God upon the soul; or to speak still more exactly, the goodness or love is the life itself from God continually flowing into man's soul when in an orderly state, and which man is allowed to feel and enjoy as his own, though, it is really God's in him. To make it evident that the goodness is God's and not man's,—suppose that life or Divine love were to cease for an instant to flow in, man's soul or spiritual organism would become cold and lifeless, it would enjoy nothing, perceive nothing, feel nothing. The created thing might still be there, but it would have no enjoyment or consciousness at
- ↑ Matthew xix. 17.
