The reason why the dogmas of the present Church, which are based upon the idea of three Gods, derived from the doctrine of a Trinity of Persons, literally understood, are seen to be erroneous after the idea of one God in Whom is the Divine Trinity has been received instead, is because it is not possible to see what is erroneous before this has been done. For it is like one who in the night, by the light of a few stars, sees various objects, especially statues, and believes them to be living men; or, like one who in the twilight before sunrise, as he lies in bed, beholds, as it were, spectres in the air, and believes them to be angels or, again, like one who sees many things in the foolish light of phantasy, and believes them to be real. Such things, as is well known, do not appear for what they really are, and are not perceived as such, until the man comes into the light of day; that is, until his understanding is wide awake. It is similar with the spiritual things of the Church, which have been erroneously and falsely perceived and confirmed, when genuine truths are presented to view in their own light, which is the light of heaven. Who cannot understand that all dogmas founded on the idea of three Gods are erroneous and false. from within? I say, from within, because the idea of God enters into all things of the Church, of religion and of worship; also because theological matters reside higher than all others in the human mind, and among these the idea of God is supreme. Wherefore, if this is false, all things that follow from this initial falsity from which they flow are false or are falsified. For what 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 comes upon truths, it even infects them with its own blemish and error. The idea of three Gods in theology may be compared to a disorder seated in the heart or in the lungs, when yet the invalid fancies himself to be in health, because his physician, not knowing his disease, persuades him that he is so. But if the physician knows of the disease, and still persuades the patient that he is healthy, he deserves to be charged with excessive malignity.