296. Everyone sins against this first commandment if he acknowledges and worships any God other than the Lord, the Saviour, Jesus Christ, who is Jehovah God Himself in human form. In much the same way do those too who convince themselves of the actual existence from eternity of three Divine persons. The more these people convince themselves of that erroneous belief, the more do they become natural and immersed in the body, until they are unable to grasp inwardly any Divine truth, and even if they do hear one and accept it, they besmirch it and smother it in fallacies. They can, therefore, be compared to those who live on the bottom floor or in the basement of a building, and so cannot hear anything of the conversation of those who live on the second or third floors, since the ceilings overhead prevent the sound penetrating.

[2] The human mind resembles a building with three floors; the lowest is occupied by those who have convinced themselves of three Gods from eternity, the second and third floors by those who acknowledge and believe in one God in visible human form, and in Him as the Lord God the Saviour. The person who relies on the senses and is immersed in the body, being purely natural, is, regarded in himself, a mere animal, differing from other animals only in being able to talk and reason. So he is like someone living in a zoo containing wild animals of every sort, and there he sometimes acts the part of a lion, sometimes a bear, sometimes a tiger, leopard or wolf; indeed, he can even act the part of a sheep, but if he does so, he is at heart laughing.

[3] A purely natural person cannot form any concept of Divine truths except from worldly ideas, which are subject to the fallacies of the senses, since he cannot lift his mind above that level. His doctrine of faith then may be compared to a porridge made of bran, which he eats as if it were a delicacy. It is also like the command given to the prophet Ezekiel, to mix together wheat, barley, beans, lentils, and spelt with human or cow-dung, and to make himself bread and cakes, so as to represent the church as it was in the case of the Israelite nation (Ezekiel 4:9ff). So it is with the doctrine of a church which is founded and built upon a belief in three Divine persons from eternity, each of whom is separately God.

[4] Could anyone fail to see how monstrous this faith is, if it were presented to the eye in its true colours in a picture? If, for instance, the three persons stood in a row, the first dignified with a crown and sceptre, the second holding in his right hand a book (the Word), and in his left a blood-stained cross made of gold; and the third equipped with wings, and standing on one foot as if about to take off and go into action; and a label written over the picture 'These three persons or three gods are one God.' Any wise person seeing this picture would say to himself 'Oh dear, what a delusion!' But he would say something very different, if he saw a picture of one Divine person with rays of heavenly light around his head, with the label: 'This is our God, at once Creator, Redeemer and Regenerator, and so Saviour.' Would not a wise man kiss such a picture and take it home in his pocket, so that his own mind, and those of his wife, children and household, might take pleasure in looking at it?