Humans are human because they are capable of reflective thought. Among the animal kingdom humans alone have yet been able to demonstrate that they can cognitively consider their own existence, their own ending, their own limitations, and their own strengths. Every one will readily allow, that there is a considerable difference between the perceptions of the mind, when a human feels the pain of excessive heat, or the pleasure of moderate warmth, and when afterwards recalls to one’s memory this sensation, or anticipates it by one’s imagination. These faculties may mimic or copy the perceptions of the senses; but they never can entirely reach the force and vivacity of the original sentiment. The utmost we say of them, even when they operate with greatest vigour, is, that they represent their object in so lively a manner, that we could almost say we feel or see it: However, expect the mind be disordered by disease or madness, they never can arrive at such a pitch of vivacity, as to render these perceptions altogether undistinguishable. All the colours of poetry, however splendid, can never paint natural objects in which a manner as to make the description be taken for real landskip. The most lively thought is still inferior to the dullest sensation. #RandolphHarris 1 of 22

We may observe a like distinction to run though all the other perceptions of the mind. A person in a fit of anger, is actuated in a very different manner from one who only thinks of that emotion. If you tell me, that any person is in love, I easily understand your meaning, and from a just conception of one’s situation; but never can mistake that conception for the real disorders and agitations of the passion. When we reflect on our past sentiments and affections, our thought is a faithful mirror, and copies its objects truly; but the colours which it employs are faint and dull, in comparisons of those in which our original perceptions were clothed. It requires no nice discernment or metaphysical head to mark the distinction between them. Here therefore we may divide all the perceptions of the mind by their different degrees of force and vivacity. The less forcible and lively are commonly denominated THOUGHTS or IDEAS. The other species want a name in our language, and in most others; I suppose, because it was not requisite for any, but philosophical purposes, to rank them under a general term or appellation. Let us, therefore, use a little freedom, and call them IMPRESSIONS; employing that word in a sense somewhat different from the usual. #RandolphHarris 2 of 22

Impression is commonly employed to refer to a copy or effect produced on the senses or mind by external causes or objects. By the term impression, then, I mean all our more lively perceptions, when we hear, or see, or feel, or love, or hate, or desire, or will. And impressions are distinguished from ideas, which are the less lively perceptions, of which we are conscious, when we reflect on any of those sensations or movements above mentioned. Nothing, at first view, may seem more unbounded than the thought of human, which not only escapes all human power and authority, but is not even restrained within the limits of nature and reality. To form monsters, and join incongruous shapes and appearances, costs the imagination no more trouble than to conceive to one planet, along which it creeps with pain and difficulty; the thought can in an instant transport us into the most distant regions of the Universe; or even beyond the Universe, into the unbounded chaos, where nature is supposed to lie in total confusion. What never was seen, or heard of, may yet be conceived; nor is anything beyond the power of thought, expect what implies an absolute contradiction. #RandolphHarris 3 of 22

However, though out thought seems to possess thus unbounded liberty, we shall find, upon a nearer examination, that it is really confined within very narrow limits, and that all this creative power of the mind amounts to no more than the faculty or compounding, transposing, augmenting, or diminishing the materials afforded us by the senses and experience. When we think of a golden mountain, we only join two consistent ideas, gold, and mountain, with which we were formerly acquainted. A virtuous horse we can conceive; because, from our own feeling, we can conceive virtue; and this we may unite to the figure and shape of a horse, which is an animal familiar to us. In short, all the materials of thinking are derived either from our outward or inward sentiment: The mixture and composition of these belongs alone to the mind and will. Or, to express myself in philosophical language, all our ideas or more feeble perceptions are copies of our impressions or more lively ones. To prove this, the two following arguments will, I hope, be sufficient. First, when we analyze our thoughts or ideas, however compounded or sublime, we always find, that they resolve themselves into such simple ideas as were copied from a precedent feeling or sentiment. #RandolphHarris 4 of 22

Even those idea, which, at first view, seem the most wide of this origin, are found, upon a nearer scrutiny, to be derived from it. The idea of God, as a meaning an infinitely intelligent, wise, and good Being, arises from reflecting on the operations of our own mind, and augmenting, without limit, those qualities of goodness and wisdom. We may prosecute this enquiry to what length we please; where we shall always find, that every idea which we examine is copied from a similar impression. Those who would assert, that this position is not universally true nr without exception, have only one, and that an easy method of refuting it; by producing that idea, which, in their opinion, is not derived from this source. It will then be incumbent on us, if we would maintain our doctrine, to produce the impression or lively perception, which corresponds to it. Secondly. If it happen, from a defect of the organ, that a human is not susceptible of any species of sensation, we always find, that one is as little susceptible of the correspondent ideas. A blind man can form no notion of colours; a deaf man of sounds. Restore either of them that sense, in which one is deficient; by opening this new inlet for one’s sensations, you also open an inlet for the ideas; and one find no difficulty in conceiving these objects. #RandolphHarris 5 of 22

The case is the same, if the object, proper for exciting any sensation, has never been applied to the organ. In most cases, the less affluent has no notion of the relish of Meritage Icewine. And though there are few or no instances of a like deficiency in the mind, where a person has never felt or is wholly incapable of a sentiment or passion, that belongs to one’s species; yet we find the same observation to take place in a less degree. A person of mild manners can for no idea of inveterate revenge or cruelty; nor can a selfish heart easily conceive the heights of friendship and generosity. It is readily allowed, that other beings may possess many senses of which we can have no conception; because the ideas of them have never been introduced to us, in the only manner, by which an idea can have access to the mind, to wit, by the actual feeling and sensation. There is, however, one contradictory phenomenon, which may prove, that it is not absolutely impossible for ideas to arise, independent of their correspondent impressions. I believe it will readily be allowed, that several distinct ideas of colour, which enter the eye, or those of sound, which are conveyed by the ear, are really different from each other; though, at the same time, resembling. Now if this be true of different colours, it must be no less so of the different shades of the same colour; and each shade produces a distinct idea, independent of the rest. #RandolphHarris 6 of 22

For if this should be denied, it is possible, by the continual gradation of shades, to run a colour insensibly into what is most remote from it; and if you will not allow any of the means to be different, you cannot, without absurdity, deny the extremes to be the same. Suppose, therefore, a person to have enjoyed one’s sight for thirty years, and to have become perfectly acquainted with colours of all kinds, expect one particular shade of blue, for instance, which it never has been one’s fortune to meet with. Let all the different shades of that colour, expect that single one, be placed before one, descending gradually from the deepest to the lightest; it is plain, that one will perceive a blank, where that shade is wanting, and will be sensible, that there is a greater distance in that place between the contiguous colours than in any other. Now I ask, whether it be possible for one, from one’s own imagination, to supply this deficiency, and raise up to oneself the idea of that particular shade, though it had never been conveyed to one by one’s senses? I believe there are few but will be of opinion that one can: And this may serve as prof, that the simple ideas are not always, in every instance, derived from the correspondent impression; though this instance is so singular, that it is scarcely worth our observing, and does not merit, that for it alone we should alter or maxim. #RandolphHarris 7 of 22

Here, therefore, is a proposition, which not only seems, in itself, simple, and intelligible; but, it a proper use were made of it, might render every dispute equally intelligible, and banish all that jargon, which has so long taken possession of metaphysical reasonings, and drawn disgrace upon them. All ideas, especially abstract ones, are naturally faint and obscure: The mind has but a slender hold of them: They are apt to imagine it has a determinate idea, annexed to it. On the contrary, all impressions, that is, all sensations, either outward or inward, are strong and vivid; The limits between them are more exactly determined: Nor is it easy to fall into any error or mistake with regard to them. When we entertain, therefore, any suspicion, that a philosophical term is employed without any meaning or idea (as is but too frequent), we need but enquire, from what impression is that supposed idea derived? And if it be impossible to assign any, this will serve to confirm our suspicion. By bringing ideas into so clear a light, we may reasonably hope to remove all dispute, which may arise, concerning their nature and reality. It is probable that no more was meant by those, who denied innate ideas, than that all ideas were copies of our impressions; though it must be confessed, that the terms, which they employed, were not chosen with such caution, nor so exactly defined, as to prevent all mistakes about their doctrine. #RandolphHarris 8 of 22

For what is meant by innate? If innate be so equivalent to natural, in whatever sense we take the latter word, whether in opposition to what is uncommon, artificial, or miraculous. If by innate be meant, contemporary to our birth, the dispute seems to be frivolous; nor is it worthy while to enquire at what time thinking beings, whether before, at, or after our birth. Again, the word idea, sees to be commonly taken in a very loose sense as standing for any of our perceptions, our sensations and passions, as well as thoughts. Now in this sense, I should desire to know, what can be meant by asserting, that self-love, or resentment of injuries, or the passion between genders is not innate? However, admitting these terms, impressions and ideas, in the sense above explained, and understanding by innate, what is original or copied from no precedent perception, then may we assert, that all our impressions are innate, and our ideas not innate. It is evident, that there is a principle of connexion between the different thoughts or ideas of the mine, and that, in their appearance to the memory or imagination, they introduce each other with a certain degree of method and regularity. In our more serious thinking or discourse, this is so observable, that any particular thought, which breaks in upon the regular tract or chain of ideas, is immediately remarked and rejected. #RandolphHarris 9 of 22

And even in our wildest and most wandering reveries, nay in our very dream, we shall find, if we reflect, that the imagination ran not altogether at adventures, but that there was still a connexion upheld among the different ideas, which succeeded each other. We are the loosest and freest conversation to be transcribed, there would immediately be observed something, which connected in all its transitions. Or where this is wanting, the person, who broke the thread of discourse, might still inform you, that there has secretly revolved in one’s mind a succession of thought, which had gradually led one from the subject of conversation. Among different languages, even where we cannot suspect the least connexion or communication, it is found, that the words, expressive of idea, the most compounded, do yet nearly correspond to each other: A certain proof, that the simple ideas, comprehended in the compound ones, were bound together by some universal principle, which had an equal influence on all human. Though it be too obvious to escape observation, that different ideas are connected together; I do not find, that any philosopher has attempted to enumerate or class all these principles of association; a subject, however, that seems worthy of curiosity. To me, there appear to be only three principles of connexion among ideas, namely, Resemblance, Contiguity in time or place, and Cause or Effect. #RandolphHarris 10 of 22

That these principles serve to connect ideas will not, I believe, be much doubted. A picture naturally leads our thoughts to the original: Resemblance. The mention of one apartment in a building naturally introduces an enquiry or discourse concerning the others: Contiguity. And if we think of a wound, we can scarcely forbear reflecting on the pain which follows it—Cause and Effect. However, that this enumeration is complete, and that there are no other principles of association, except these may be difficult to prove to the satisfaction of the reader, or even to a human’s own satisfaction. All we can do, in such cases, is to run over several instances, and examine carefully the principle, which binds the different thoughts to each other, never stopping till we render the principle as general as possible. The more instances we examine, and the more care we employ, the more assurance shall we acquire, that enumeration, which we form from the whole, is complete and entire. The creative functions of the imagination are evident in two ways. First, the imagination could interpret and illustrate the work of reason and judgment. If Reason said, “This will be good for you,” Imagination could say, “Your friends will applaud this.” #RandolphHarris 11 of 22

Second, imagination could create its own products. It could do what other faculties could not do. It could make the image, the valley of tears, and the cow jumped over the moon. In linking imagination with things present, or as if they were present, we have in mind the creative function we give to imagination in poetry and literature, and in rhetorical discourse. We may also be thinking of the role of imagination in divine relation. If we interpret and illuminate experience for human’s instruction and pleasure, in doing it we bring things past to the present. Rhetoric illustrates human’s reasonings when one is thinking about one’s future, when one deliberates about what one ought to believe or do, and in so acting it brings things future into the present. That these arts can do these things is due to the special nature of the imagination. The imagination is not simply the servant and messenger of the other faculties. It is either invested with or usurps no small authority in itself, besides the simple duty of the message. In poetry its creativity is seen as a play wit or fancy and results in the images that are beyond the limits of ordinary credibility. In rhetoric its creativity involved a partnership with reason, for the duty and office of Rhetoric, if it be deeply looked into, is no other than to apply and recommend the dictates of reason to imagination, in order to excite the appetite and the will. #RandolphHarris 12 of 22

In such ways, imagination enjoyed considerable freedom; yet this Janus of imagination, wanton as it might be, is never completely free. Part of its being is anchored in experience. For of the things that have been in no part objects of the sense, there can be no imagination, not even a dream. The mind has over the body that commandment which the lord has over a bondman; but…reason has over the imagination that commandment which a magistrate has over a free citizen who may come to rule in one’s turn. Reason has over the imagination that commandment which a magistrate has over a free citizen who may come to rule in one’s turn. Reason divides and composes the items of experience in orderly ways. However, left to its own inclinations imagination often does not abet reason; quite the contrary, it combines the material of sense, memory, and intellect as it wished: the several individuals [of sense that pass into the memory whole] have something in common one with another, and again something different and manifold. Now this composition and division is either according to the pleasure of the mind, or according to the nature of things as it exists in fact. If it be according to the pleasure of the mind, and these parts are arbitrarily [ id est, by art] transposed into the likeness of some individual, it is the work of imagination; which not being bound by any law and necessity of nature or matter, may join things which are never found together in nature and separate things which are never found apart. #RandolphHarris 13 of 22

The symbol that point to the New Being as manifested in the personal life of Jesus may be misunderstood. They actually have been, whenever human’s hunger for spiritual security has led one to distort the nature of the New Being. It is especially the Christian temptation to picture the New Creation as the introduction into the New World of a new institution. Shelter-like, the Church offers protection against the disintegrating forces of the Word. She staves off false philosophies and leads the good fight for the law and the rights of God. She has assembled a whole arsenal of protective devices with powerful psychological impact. This is her tragedy. The mechanizing of her hierarchical apparatus was to be expected, for she overlooked an important aspect of Christology, which it would be the vocation of Protestantism to restore. It has been traditional in Lutheranism to present Luther’s theology as a theologia crucis, as distinguished from the theologia gloriae of Catholicism. Christianity is a theology of the Cross. The Christ did indeed appear in glory; but nowhere was his glory seen more directly than on the Cross. The proclamation of the Cross forms the essence of the Protestant principle. #RandolphHarris 14 of 22

Protestantism must proclaim the judgment that brings assurance by depriving us of all security; the judgment that declares us whole in the disintegration and cleavage of soul and community; the judgment that affirms our having truth in the very absence of truth (even of religious truth); the judgment that reveals the meaning of our life in the situation in which all the meaning of life has disappeared. The New Being that is perceived in Jesus as the Christ and of which we catch an obscure glimpse whenever, in the ecstasy of a revelatory situation, we are infinitely concerned, is new because it is old. It is old as being-itself, transcending time and space, having been before anything concrete was. It is the second principle of the Trinitarian life of God. However, it is known nowhere by humans expect in the estranged situation which is the stuff of existence; it is perceived only in the radical experience of the boundary-situation. In the story of Christ, this insight is expressed in the symbol of the Cross: the Christ, who dominates existence, yet slaves under its harsh conditions. The first relation of the Christ to existence is his subjection to it. The subjection to existence is expressed in the symbol of the Cross of the Christ. It is not complete and final, being correlated to the conquest of existence and its symbol, the Resurrection. It is nevertheless central. #RandolphHarris 15 of 22

A Christology which would not see that the manifestation of the New Being takes place nowhere but in a boundary-situation would miss the main point of Christianity. The interdependence of the Cross and the Resurrection, of defeat and victory, gives the universal relevance to the story. The Cross of the Christ is the Cross of the one who has conquered death of existential estrangement. Otherwise it would only be one more tragic event (which is also is) in the long history of the tragedy of humans. It also constitutes the unique contribution of Christianity to a philosophy of religion. In general religions have worshipped God as Lord and Father; they have adored him as Creator and Judge. Hence they have organized priestly castes for meditation, and hence they have provoked prophetic protests: The Lord who is only Lord and the Father who is only Father cannot be human’s ultimate concern. For besides reverence and sentimental love, such religions also inspire revolt and contempt. Christianity alone has conceived of the manifestation of the Lord and Father as Son and Brother under the conditions of existence. The conditions of existence mean tragedy. They make failure inseparable from effort, stumbling necessary in the search for an ideal. One who is the Christ was domed. One had to meet one’s fate on the Cross. #RandolphHarris 16 of 22

Christianity centers on the Cross, with its universal symbolic significance. The story of the Cross, is the myth of the bearer of the new eon who suffers the death of a convict and slave under the powers of that old eon which one is to conquer. The faith of Christianity expresses the meaning of this symbol: the surrender of one who is called the Christ to the ultimate consequence of existence, namely, death under the conditions of estrangement. The symbolic meaning of the Cross has many aspects. In terms of life, the Cross points to the insight that the new life cannot be superadded to the old. If it did not come from the complete end of the old life, the new life would not really be new life.  Otherwise it would have to be buried again. However, if the new life has come out of the grace, then the Messiah himself has appeared. Christian theology is not a supra-naturalism whereby something is added to nature as a result of an heteronomous decision. Rather, it is self-transcending through self-sacrifice. It teaches the redemption of nature through the negation of nature. In this way the Cross becomes the pattern for faith and theology. The symbol of the Cross the Christ stands the double test of finality: uninterrupted unity with the ground of one’s being and the continuous sacrifice of himself as the Christ. #RandolphHarris 17 of 22

In terms of Godmandhood, the Cross is a symbol of the divine paradox of the appearance of the eternal God-man unity withing existential estrangement. Nowhere else should we look for the power and the glory, not in the birth of Jesus, not in the transfiguration, not in the miracles, not in the preaching of the beatitudes, not in the Resurrection—unless these are seen as leading to, or flowing from, the paradox of the Cross, that God is present in an actual human body and that it is just in suffering that his majesty is revealed. The Cross is by no means the only symbol of the manifestation of the ground of being. Yet it is the central one, the criterion of all other manifestations of God’s participation in the suffering of the World. In terms of Protestantism, the Cross is the ultimate symbol of the Protestant principle: what takes place at the Cross is the same as what happens wherever true Protestantism is to be found: In the power of the New Being, the boundary-situation is preached, its No and Yes are proclaimed. This is the acted event of justification by faith. The Christ dying is also resurrecting, thus revealing his unity with the New Being. No longer is the Universe subjected to the law of life out of birth. It is subjected to a higher law, to the law of life out of death by the death of one who represented eternal life. The Protestant principle of the justification of one who is unjust is a Yes and a No: No to oneself and Yes to oneself. #RandolphHarris 18 of 22

No alone would entail despair, and Yes alone would breed arrogance. In Christians both Yes and No are true, because when they say “Amen through Christ,” they express their ultimate certitude: There is no ultimate certitude expect the life which has conquered its death and the truth which had conquered its error, the Yes which is beyond Yes and No. The message of the Cross is that Jesus as the Christ is the only reality where there is not Yes and No, but only Yes. Isaiah speaks messianically—the Messiah’s humiliation and sufferings are set forth—He makes His soul an offering for sin and makes intercession for transgressors. About 148 Before Christ. “Yea, even doth not Isaiah say: Who hath believed our report, and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? For one shall group up before one as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground; one hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see one there is no beauty that we should desire one. One is despised and rejected of humans; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and we his as it were out faces from one; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs, and carried out sorrows; yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. However, one was wounded for our transgression, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. #RandolphHarris 19 of 22

“All we, like sheep, have gone astray; we have turned every one to one’s own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquities of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb so he opened not is mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment; and who shall declare his generation? For he was cut off of the land of the living; for the transgressions of my people was he stricken. And he made his grace with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no evil, neither was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief; when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. He shall see the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied; by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his souls unto death; and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bore the sins of many, and made intercession for the transgressors,” reports Mosiah 14.1-12. #RandolphHarris 20 of 22

My Master God, I am desired to preach today, but go weak and needy to my task; yet I long that people might be edified with divine truth, that an honest testimony might be borne for Thee; please give me assistance in preaching and prayer, with heart uplifted for grace and unction. Present to my view things pertinent to my subject, with fullness of matter and clarity of thought, proper expression, fluency, fervency, a feeling sense of things I preach, and grace to apply them to men’s consciences. Please keep me conscious all the while of my defeats, and please let me not gloat in pride over my performance. Please help me to offer a testimony for Thyself, and to leave sinners inexcusable in neglecting Thy mercy. Please give me freedom to open the sorrows of Thy people, and to set before them comforting consideration. Attend with power the truth preached, and awaken the attention of my slothful audience. May Thy people be refreshed, melted, convicted, comforted, and please help me to use the strongest arguments drawn from Christ’s incarnation and sufferings, that humans might be made holy. I myself need Thy support, comfort, strength, holiness, that I might be a pure channel of Thy grace, and be able to do something for Thee. #RandolphHarris 21 of 22

 Please give me then refreshment among Thy people, and help me not to treat excellent matter in a defective way, or bear a broken testimony to so worthy a redeemer, or be harsh in treating of Christ’s death, its design and end, from lack of warmth and fervency. And please keep me in tune with Thee as I do this work. O God of all sanctification, Almighty Sovereign, Whose goodness is felt to be infinite; O God, Who art present throughout all things at once, in heaven and Earth, keeping Thy mercy for Thy people who walk before the presence of Thy glory; please hear the prayers of Thy servants, that Thine eyes may be open upon this house day and night; graciously dedicated this church, (set apart by holy rites in honour of your children) mercifully illumine and brighten it with Thine own glory. Favourably accept every one who comes to worship in this place; graciously be pleased to loo down, and for the sake of Thy great Name, and strong hand, and high arm, readily protect, hear, and everlastingly keep and defend, those who make their prayer in this habitation; that they being always happy, and always rejoicing in Thy true religion, may constantly persevere in Christian Faith of the Holy Trinity; through Jesus Christ our Lord. #RandolphHarris 22 of 22

CRESLEIGH MEADOWS AT PLUMAS RANCH

Plumas Lake, CA | from the mid $300’s

Now Selling!

Cresleigh Meadows is now selling! Found just north of Feather River Boulevard, Cresleigh Meadows is home of the largest neighborhood in Plumas Ranch as well as the popular Bear River Park. With four floor plans available, ranging from approximately 2,000 – 3,500 square feet offering, three to five bedrooms, we are certain you will find the home that fits your needs and lifestyle.

Popular design elements include open floor plans, large kitchen islands, and flex spaces are staples in Cresleigh homes. Multi-generational living options also available in select homes.

Homeowners will love the convenient commuter access to nearly Sacramento and Yuba City.

Best of all, each Cresleigh home comes fully equipped with an All Ready connected home! This smart home package comes included with your home and features great tools including: video door bell and digital deadbolt for the front door, connect home hub so you can set scenes and routines to make life just a little easier. Two smart switches and USB outlets are also included, plus we’ll gift you a Google Home Hub and Go: https://cresleigh.com/cresleigh-meadows-at-plumas-ranch/

We beseech Thee, O Almighty God, that in this place, which we, though unworthy, dedicate to Thy Name, Thou wouldest incline Thy gracious ears to all who seek Thee: through Jesus Christ our Lord.  #CresleighHomes