thing, in the spiritual sense, is denoted that which is not from the Lord, but from the proprium [or selfhood] of man: that which is from the intellectual proprium is signified by a graven thing, and that which is from the will proprium is signified by a molten thing: to account either the former or the latter a god, or to adore it, means to love above all things that which proceeds from self. Those who do this, do not at all believe that anything of intelligence and wisdom flows in from the Divine, but attribute all things to themselves; and such things as befall them they ascribe to fortune or chance, absolutely denying any Divine providence in such things. They suppose that if there is anything of Deity present at all, it is in the order of nature, to which they ascribe all things. They profess indeed, with their lips, to believe in a God, the Creator, who has impressed such powers on nature, but in heart they deny the existence of any God above nature. Such are those who from the heart attribute all things to their own prudence and intelligence, and nothing to the Divine. These are the makers of graven things, and the graven things themselves are what they hatch from their own proprium, and are willing should be adored as Divine."[1]
How many breakers of this Commandment, in the sense thus given, exist in our day! The world is full of them—the literary world, the scientific world, the world even of common life. There are writers, eminent and admired, who, it is to be feared, are thus framers of graven images, which they themselves
- ↑ A.C., 8869.
