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True Christian Religion, by Emanuel Swedenborg, [1771], tr. by John C. Ager [1906] at sacred-texts.com

True Christian Religion

(7) Thus God became Man and Man became God in one Person. That Jehovah God became Man, and Man became God in one Person, follows as a conclusion from all the preceding propositions of this chapter, especially from these two: that Jehovah the Creator of the universe descended and assumed a Human that He might redeem and save men (see above, n. 82-84), and that the Lord by the acts of redemption united Himself to the Father, and the Father united Himself to Him, thus reciprocally and mutually (n. 97-100). From that reciprocal union it is very evident that God became Man and Man became God in one Person; and from the union of the two as being a union like that of soul and body, the same conclusion follows. That this is in accordance with the faith of the church at this day, as derived from the Athanasian Creed, may be seen above (n. 98); that it is also in accordance with the faith of the Evangelical churches may be seen in that chief of their orthodox books, called the Formula Concordi where it is firmly established, both from Sacred Scripture and from the Fathers, as also by rational arguments, that the human nature of Christ was exalted to Divine majesty, omnipotence and omnipresence, and that in Christ Man is God, and God is Man (see pp. 607, 765). Moreover, it has been shown in this present chapter that Jehovah God as to His Human is called in the Word "Jehovah," "Jehovah God," "Jehovah of Hosts," and "the God of Israel." Therefore Paul says: That in Jesus Christ dwelleth all the fullness of Divinity bodily (Col. 2:9); and John: That Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is the true God and eternal life (1 John 5:20). That "the Son of God" means strictly His Human may be seen above (n. 92 and the following numbers). Furthermore, Jehovah God calls both Himself and Him Lord; for we read: The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at My right hand (Ps. 110:1); and in Isaiah: For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; whose name is God, the Father of Eternity (9:6). The Lord as to His Human is also meant by "the Son" in David: I will declare the decree, Jehovah said unto me, Thou art My Son, this day I have begotten Thee. Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and ye perish in the way (Ps. 2:7, 12). Here no Son from eternity is meant, but the Son born in the world; for this is a prophecy about the Lord who was to come; consequently it is called a "decree" which Jehovah declared to David; and in the same Psalm it is said previously: I have anointed my King upon Zion (verse 6); and further on: I will give to Him the nations for an inheritance (verse 8). Therefore "this day" does not mean from eternity, but in time; for with Jehovah the future is present.

It is believed that the Lord as to His Human not only was, but still is, the son of Mary; but in this the Christian world is under a delusion. It is true that He was the son of Mary, but not true that He still is; for by the acts of redemption He put off the human from the mother and put on a Human from the Father; and this is why the Human of the Lord is Divine, and in Him God is Man, and Man is God. That He put off the human from the mother and put on a Human from the Father, which is the Divine Human, is shown by the fact that He Himself never called Mary His mother, as can be seen from the following passages: The mother of Jesus said to Him, They have no wine. Jesus said unto her, Woman, what to Me and to thee? Mine hour is not yet come (John 2:3, 4); and again: When Jesus saw [from the cross] His mother, and the disciple standing by whom He loved, He saith unto His mother, Woman, behold thy son. Then saith He to the disciple, Behold thy mother (John 19:26, 27); and on one occasion He did not acknowledge her: It was told Jesus by some who said, Thy mother and Thy brethren stand without, desiring to see Thee. Jesus answering said, My mother and My brethren are these who hear the Word of God and do it (Luke 8:20, 21; Matt. 12:46-50; Mark 3:31-35). Thus the Lord did not call her mother but "woman," and gave her to John as a mother. In other places she is called His mother, but not by His own lips. [2] This is further confirmed by the fact that He did not acknowledge Himself to be the son of David; for we read in the Gospels: Jesus asked the Pharisees, saying, How does it seem to you about the Christ? Whose son is He? They say unto Him, David's. He said unto them, How then doth David in spirit call Him his Lord, saying, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I place Thine enemies as the footstool of Thy feet? If then David calls Him Lord, how is He his son? And no man was able to answer Him a word (Matt. 12:41-46; Mark 12:35-37; Luke 20:41-44; Ps. 110:1). [3] To the above I will add this, which is new: Once it was granted me to speak with Mary the mother. On a certain occasion she passed by and appeared in heaven above my head in white raiment like silk; and then pausing a little she said that she had been the mother of the Lord, who was born of her; but that He, having become God, had put off everything human that He had derived from her, and that she therefore worshiped Him as her God, and was unwilling that anyone should acknowledge Him as her son, because in Him all is Divine. From all this there now shines forth this truth, that thus Jehovah is Man as in things first so also in things last according to these passages: I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, He who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty (Rev. 1:8, 11). When John saw the Son of Man in the midst of the seven lamp stands he fell at His feet as dead; but He laid His right hand upon him saying, I am the First and the Last (Apoc. 1:13, 17; 21:6). Behold I come quickly, to give every man according to his word I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last (Apoc. 22:12, 13). and in Isaiah: Thus said Jehovah, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, Jehovah of Hosts, I am the First and the Last (44:6; 48:12).

To this I will add the following arcanum: The soul, which is from the father, is the man himself; while the body, which is from the mother, is not the man in himself, but is from the man; it is simply the soul's clothing, woven of such things as are from the natural world; while the soul is woven of such things as exist in the spiritual world. After death every man lays aside the natural which he took from the mother, and retains the spiritual which is from the father, together with a kind of border from the purest things of nature about it. With those who enter heaven this border is beneath, and the spiritual above; but with those who enter hell the border is above and the spiritual beneath. In consequence of this an angel-man speaks from heaven, that is, what is good and true; while a devil-man when he speaks from his heart speaks from hell, but when he speaks from his lips he speaks as if from heaven; the latter he does abroad, but the former at home. [2] Since the soul of man is the man himself, and is spiritual in its origin, it is evident why the mind, disposition, nature, inclination, and affection of the father's love dwell in offspring after offspring, and return and display themselves from generation to generation. Because of this many families and even nations are recognized from their first father. There is a common likeness which shows itself in the face of each descendant; and it is only by means of the spiritual things of the church that this likeness is changed. A common likeness of Jacob and Judah still remains in their posterity, whereby they are distinguished from others, and for the reason that they have adhered firmly to their religion even until now. For in the semen from which every man is conceived there exists a graft or offshoot of the father's soul in its fullness, within a sort of envelope formed of elements from nature; and by means of this his body is formed in the mother's womb, which body may become a likeness either of the father or of the mother, the image of the father still remaining within it and constantly striving to put itself forth; consequently if it cannot accomplish this in the first offspring it does in those that follow. [3] A likeness of the father in its fullness exists in the semen for the reason, as has been said, that the soul from its origin is spiritual; and the spiritual has nothing in common with space, and is therefore like itself in little compass as in great. With respect to the Lord: While He was in the world He put off by the acts of redemption everything of the human from the mother, and put on a Human from the Father, which is the Divine Human; and this is why in Him Man is God, and God is Man.

(8) The progress towards union was His state of Exinanition [emptying Himself], and the union itself is His state of Glorification. It is acknowledged in the church that when the Lord was in the world He was in two states, called the state of exinanition and the state of glorification. The prior state, which was the state of exinanition, is described in the Word in many places, especially in the Psalm of David and also in the Prophets, and particularly in Isaiah (chapter 53) where it is said: That He emptied His soul even unto death (Isa. 53:12). This same state was His state of humiliation before the Father; for in it He prayed to the Father; and He says that He does the Father's will, and ascribes to the Father all that He did and said. That He prayed to the Father is evident from these places: Matt. 26:39, 44; Mark 1:35; 6:46; 14:32-39; Luke 5:16; 6:12; 22:41-44; John 17:9, 15, 20. That He did the Father's will: John 4:34; 5:30. That He ascribed to the Father all that He did and said: John 8:26-28; 12:49, 50; 14:10. He even cried out upon the cross: My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me? (Matt. 27:46; Mark 15:34.) Moreover, except for this state He could not have been crucified. But the state of glorification is also the state of union. He was in that state when He was transfigured before His three disciples, and also when He wrought miracles, and whenever He said that the Father and He are one, that the Father is in Him and He in the Father, and that all things of the Father are His; and, when the union was complete, that He had "power over all flesh" (John 17:2), and "all power in heaven and on earth" (Matt. 28:18); besides other things.

These two states, of exinanition and of glorification, belonged to the Lord because there is no other possible way of attaining to union, this being in accordance with Divine order, which is immutable. The Divine order is that man should set himself in order for the reception of God and prepare himself to be a receptacle and abode into which God may enter and in which, as in His temple, God may dwell. From himself man must do this, and yet must acknowledge that it is from God. This he must acknowledge because he does not feel the presence and operation of God, although God in closest presence operates all the good of love and all the truth of faith in man. Every man progresses and must progress in accordance with this order, if from being natural he is to become spiritual. In like manner it was necessary for the Lord to progress, in order to make Divine His natural human. This is why He prayed to the Father, did the Father's will, ascribed to Him all that He did and said, and why He exclaimed upon the cross, "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" For in this state God seems to be absent; but after this state comes another, which is the state of conjunction with God; in which state man acts as before, but now from God; but he does not now need, as before, to ascribe to God every good that he wills and does, and every truth that he thinks and speaks, because this is written upon his heart, and thus is inwardly in all his actions and words. In like manner did the Lord unite Himself to His Father, and the Father to Himself. In a word, He glorified His Human, that is, made it Divine, in the same manner in which He regenerates man, that is, makes him spiritual. That every man who from being natural becomes spiritual passes through two states, entering through the first into the second, and thus from the world into heaven, will be fully shown in the chapters on Free Will, on Charity and Faith, and on Reformation and Regeneration. Here let it be noticed only that in the first state, which is called the state of reformation, man has complete freedom to act according to the rationality of his understanding: and in the second, which is the state of regeneration, he has the same freedom; but he now wills and acts, and thinks and speaks, from a new love and a new intelligence, which are from the Lord. For in the first state the understanding takes the chief part and the will the second; while in the following state the will takes the chief part, and the understanding the second; nevertheless, the understanding now acts from the will, and not the will through the understanding. The conjunction of good and truth, of charity and faith, and of the internal and external, is effected in the same way.

These two states are represented by various things in the universe, and for the reason that they are in accordance with Divine order, and the Divine order fills all things and each thing in the universe, even to the utmost particular. In every man the first state is represented by his state of infancy and childhood until the time of puberty, youth, and early manhood, and this is a state of humiliation before his parents, of obedience, and also of instruction by masters and tutors; while the second state is represented in the state of the same person when he becomes his own master and chooser, or freely exercises his own will and understanding, and has control in his own home. So the first state is represented by that of a prince or king's son or duke's son, before he has become a king or a duke; likewise by the state of any citizen before he has assumed the office of magistrate; of any subject before he enters upon the functions of any office; of any student who is being prepared for the ministry, before he becomes a priest; and of the priest before he becomes a pastor; and of the pastor before he becomes a primate; also of any virgin before she becomes a wife, and of any maidservant before she becomes a mistress; and in general, of any clerk before he becomes a merchant, of any soldier before he becomes an officer, and of any servant before he becomes a master. The first is a state of servitude, the second is the exercise of one's own will and from this of one's own understanding. Again, these two states are represented by various things in the animal kingdom-the first by beasts and birds while they continue with their parents, following them constantly, and being nourished and guided by them; and the second when they leave the old ones and take care of themselves; likewise by worms-the first state while they crawl and feed upon leaves, and the second when they cast off their coverings and become butterflies. Still again, these two states are represented by the subjects of the vegetable kingdom-the first while the plant is springing up from the seed and is adorned with boughs, twigs, and leaves, the second when it bears fruit and produces new seed. This, too, may be likened to the conjunction of truth and good, since all things belonging to a tree correspond to truths, while the fruits correspond to the various kinds of good. But the man who remains in the first state and does not enter the second, is like a tree that produces leaves only and not fruit, of which it is said in the Word: That it must be rooted up and cast into the fire (Matt. 7:19; 21:19; Luke 3:9; 13:6-9; John 15:5, 6); and he is like a servant that did not wish to be free, concerning whom it was commanded: That he should be brought to the door or to the doorpost, and his ear be pierced with an awl (Exod. 21:6). Servants are those who are not conjoined to the Lord; while the free are those who are conjoined to Him; for the Lord says: If the Son maketh you free, ye shall be free indeed (John 8:36).

(9) Hereafter no one from among Christians enters heaven unless he believes in the Lord God the Savior, and approaches Him alone. We read in Isaiah: Behold I create a new heaven and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered nor come into mind; and behold, I will create Jerusalem a rejoicing and her people a joy (Isa. 65:17, 18); and in Revelation: I saw a new heaven and a new earth: and I saw the holy Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven, made ready as a bride for her husband. And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold I make all things new (Rev. 21:1, 2, 5) and in other places: That no others should enter heaven than those who were written in the Lamb's book of Life (Rev. 13:8; 17:8, 12; 20:12, 15; 21:27). By the "heaven" here mentioned the heaven visible to our eyes is not meant, but the angelic heaven; by "Jerusalem" no city coming down out of the sky is meant, but a church that is to descend from the Lord out of the angelic heaven, and "the Lamb's book of Life" means not a book written in heaven, which is to be opened, but the Word, which is from the Lord and which treats of the Lord. In the preceding sections of this chapter it has been proved, authenticated, and established that Jehovah God, who is called the creator and the Father, descended and assumed a Human in order that He might be approached by man and be conjoined to man. For does anyone get near to a man by approaching his soul? Can that be done? It is the man himself who is approached, who is seen face to face, and who is talked with mouth to mouth. It is the same with God the Father and the Son; since God the Father is in the Son as a soul is in its body. [2] That the Lord God the savior is he in whom men ought to believe is evident from the following passages in the Word: For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him may not perish, but may have eternal life (John 3:15, 16). He that believeth in the Son is not judged; but he that believeth not hath been judged already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God (John 3:18). He that believeth in the son hath eternal life; but he that believeth not the son shall not see life, but the anger of God abideth on him (John 3:36). The bread of God is He that cometh down out of heaven, and giveth life unto the world. He that cometh to Me shall not hunger; and he that believeth in Me shall never thirst (John 6:33, 35). This is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who beholdeth the Son and believeth in Him may have eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day (John 6:40). They said to Jesus, What must we do that we may work the works of God? Jesus answered, This is the work of God, that ye believe in Him whom He hath sent (John 6:28, 29). Verily, I say unto you, he that believeth in Me hath everlasting life (John 6:47). Jesus cried saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink. He that believeth in Me out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water (John 7:37, 38). Unless ye believe that I am, ye shall die in your sins (John 8:24). Jesus said, I am the resurrection and the life; he that believeth in Me, though he die, shall live and whosoever liveth and believeth in Me shall never die (John 11:25, 26). Jesus said, I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth in Me may not abide in darkness (John 12:46; 8:12). While ye have the light, believe in the light, that ye may be sons of the light (John 12:36). The Lord also said that the disciples should abide in Him, and He in them (John 14:20; 15:1-5; 17:23); which is done by faith: Paul testified both to the Jews and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 20:21). I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; no man cometh unto the Father but by Me (John 14:6). [3] That whosoever believes in the son believes in the Father, since, as said above the Father is in him as the soul in the body, is evident from the following passages: If ye had known Me ye would have known My Father also (John 8:19; 14:7). He that seeth Me, seeth Him that sent Me (John 12:45). He that receiveth Me, receiveth Him that sent Me (John 13:20). This is because no one can see the Father and live (Exod. 33:20). Therefore the Lord says: No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father He hath manifested him (John 1:18). Not that any man hath seen the Father save He that is with the Father, He hath seen the Father (John 6:46). Ye have neither heard the voice of the Father at any time, nor seen His form (John 5:37). But those who know nothing about the Lord, like most of those in the two divisions of the globe called Asia and Africa, including those in the Indies, provided they believe in one God and live according to the precepts of their religion, are saved by their faith and life; for imputation has reference to those who know, not to those who do not know; as when the blind stumble it is not imputed to them; for the Lord says: If ye were blind ye would not have sin; but now ye say that ye see therefore your sin remaineth (John 9:41).

To confirm this further I will relate what I know, because I have seen it and can therefore testify to it, namely, that the Lord is at this day forming a new angelic heaven, and that it is formed of those who believe in the Lord God the Savior, and who approach Him directly, and that all others are rejected. So hereafter, when anyone from Christendom goes into the spiritual world (as every man does at death) and does not believe in the Lord and approach Him alone, and is then unable to receive this faith, because he has lived wickedly or has confirmed himself in falsities, at his first approach toward heaven he is repelled, and turns his face away from heaven and towards the lower earth, whither he goes, and joins those who are there, who are meant, in Revelation, by "the dragon" and the "false prophet." Moreover, no man henceforth in Christian lands is listened to unless he believes in the Lord; his prayers become in heaven like ill-scented odors, and like eructations from ulcerated lungs; and even if his appeal is thought to be like the fumes of incense, it ascends towards the angelic heaven only like the smoke of a conflagration which is blown back into his eyes by a downward gust of wind, or it is like the incense from a censer hidden under a monk's cloak. Such is the case hereafter with all piety that is directed to a divided trinity, not to a united trinity. To show that the Divine trinity is united in the Lord is the chief object of this work. To this I will add the following new information. Some months ago the twelve apostles were called together by the Lord, and were sent forth through the whole spiritual world, as they formerly were through the whole natural world, with the command to preach this gospel; and to each apostle was assigned a particular province; and this command they are executing with great zeal and industry. But on these subjects more will be said in the last chapter of this book, where the Consummation of the Age, the Lord's Coming and the New Church, are specially treated of.

A COROLLARY. All the churches that existed before the Lord's coming were representative churches; and only in shadow could Divine truths be seen by them. But after the Lord's coming into the world a church was established by Him which saw, or rather was able to see, Divine truths in light. The difference is like that between evening and morning; likewise in the Word the state of the church before the Lord's coming is called evening, and the state after His coming is called morning. Before the Lord came into the world He was present with men of the church, but only mediately, through angels who represented Him; but since His coming He is present with men of the church immediately; and this for the reason that in the world He put on also a Divine Natural in which He is present with men. The glorification of the Lord is the glorification of His Human, which He assumed in the world; and the Lord's glorified Human is the Divine Natural. The truth of this is evident from the fact that the Lord rose from the tomb with the whole of the body that He had in the world, leaving nothing in the tomb, and therefore took with Him from the tomb the Natural Human itself from the firsts to the lasts of it. So after the resurrection when His disciples thought that what they saw was a ghost, He said to them: See My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself; handle Me and see; for a ghost hath not flesh and bones as ye see Me have (Luke 24:37, 39). This makes it clear that by means of His glorification His natural body was made Divine. Therefore Paul says: That in Christ dwelleth all the fullness of Divinity bodily (Col. 2:9); and John: That Jesus Christ the Son of God is the true God (1 John 5:20). From all this the angels are aware that in the whole spiritual world the Lord alone is complete Man. [2] In the church it is well known that with the Israelitish and Jewish nation all worship was merely external, and shadowed forth an internal worship which the Lord opened up; thus before the Lord's coming worship consisted in types and figures which represented true worship in its faithful imagery. The Lord Himself was indeed seen by the ancients; for He said to the Jews: Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day; and he saw and was glad. I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am (John 8:56, 58). But as the Lord in those times was merely represented (which was done by means of angels), so all things of the church with them were made representative; but after the Lord had come into the world those representations vanished. The interior reason of this was that in the world the Lord put on also a Divine Natural, and from this not only is the internal spiritual man enlightened, but also the external natural; and unless these two are simultaneously enlightened, man is, as it were, in shadow; but when both are enlightened, he is, as it were, in the light of day. For when the internal man alone is enlightened, and not the external also, or when the external man alone is enlightened and not the internal also, it is as when one sleeps and dreams, and as soon as he wakes remembers his dream, and from it draws various conclusions, but all imaginary. Or he is like one walking in his sleep, and fancying that the objects he sees are seen by daylight. [3] Again, the difference between the state of the church before the Lord's coming, and after it, is like the difference between reading at night by the light of the moon and stars, and reading by the light of the sun. Evidently, in the former light, which is a purely white light, the eye sees amiss, while in the latter, which is also flame-like, it does not. So we read respecting the Lord: The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spoke to Me, He shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun riseth, a morning without clouds (2 Sam. 23:3, 4); "the God of Israel" and "the Rock of Israel" meaning the Lord. And again: The light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day when Jehovah shall bind up the breach of His people (Isa. 30:26). All this is said of the state of the church after the Lord's coming. In a word, the state of the church before the Lord's coming may be compared to an old woman whose face has been painted and who because of the glow of the paint seems to herself to be beautiful; while the state of the church after the Lord's coming may be likened to a maiden who is beautiful from the native glow of her complexion. Again, the state of the church before the Lord's coming may be likened to the skin of any fruit (as an orange, an apple, a pear, or a grape) and the taste of the skin; while its state after His coming may be likened to the insides of these fruits and their taste; with other like things; and this for the reason that the Lord having now put on also the Divine natural, enlightens both the internal spiritual man and the external natural man; for when only the internal man is enlightened, and not the external as well, there is shadow; and the same is true when the external man is enlightened and not the internal.

Let these Memorable Relations be added. First: I once saw in the spiritual world an ignis fatuus in the air with a glow about it, falling toward the earth. It was a meteor, such as the common people call a dragon. I noted the place where it fell; but it disappeared in the twilight before sunrise, as every ignis fatuus does. After dawn I went to the place where I had seen it fall in the night, and behold, the ground there was a mixture of sulfur, iron chips, and clay; and suddenly there appeared two tents, one directly over the place, and the other at one side towards the south; and looking upwards I saw a spirit fall like lightning from heaven, and he struck within the tent that stood directly over the place where the meteor fell; I myself being in the other that was near it towards the south, and as I stood in the door I saw the spirit standing in the entrance of the other tent. Therefore I asked him why he had so fallen from heaven; and he answered that he had been cast down as an angel of the dragon by the angels of Michael, because he had said something about the faith in which he had confirmed himself while in the world; among other things, that God the Father and God the Son are not one but two; for at this day in the heavens all believe that these are one, like soul and body; and whatever contradicts this is like a pungent odor in their nostrils, or like an awl boring through their ears, which causes disturbance and pain; therefore anyone so contradicting is ordered to leave; and if he refuses is cast out. [2] Hearing this I said to him, "Why did you not believe as they do?" He replied that after leaving the world no one is able to believe anything different from what he had before impressed upon himself by confirmation; this remains fixed in him, and can not be removed, especially that which he has confirmed in himself respecting God, since in the heavens everyone has his place according to his idea of God. I asked him further, by what means he had confirmed the notion that the Father and Son are two. He said, "By the statements in the Word, that the Son prayed to the Father, both before and during the passion of the cross; also that He humiliated Himself before His Father: how then can they be one, as soul and body are one in man? Who prays as if to another and humiliates himself as if before another, when that other is in fact himself? No one does so, much less the Son of God. Moreover, in my time the entire Christian church divided the Godhead into persons; and each person is one by Himself, and is defined as being what is self-subsistent." [3] Hearing this I replied, "From what you say I perceive that you do not know at all how God the Father and the Son are one; and not knowing this you have confirmed yourself in the falsities respecting God which the church still holds to. Do you not know that when the Lord was in the world He had a soul like every other man? Whence had He that soul, unless from God the Father? The truth of this is abundantly evident from the word of the Gospels. What then is that which is called the Son but a Human that was conceived from the Divine of the Father and born of the virgin Mary? The mother cannot conceive the soul. This would be totally opposed to the order in accordance with which every man is born. Neither could God the Father impart from Himself a soul and then withdraw from it, as is done by every father in the world, because God is His own Divine essence, and this is one and indivisible; and being indivisible, it is Himself. This is why the Lord declares that the Father and He are one, and that the Father is in Him and He in the Father, and other like things. The framers of the Athanasian creed saw this remotely, and therefore, after dividing God into three persons, they still maintained that in Christ, God and Man, that is, the Divine and the Human, are not two, but are one, like soul and body in man. [4] The Lord's praying to the Father as to another when He was in the world, and His humiliating Himself before the Father as before another, was in accordance with the order established at creation. That order is immutable, and in accordance therewith must be everyone's progress towards conjunction with God. That order is, that so far as man conjoins himself to God by a life in accordance with the laws of order, which are God's commandments, does God conjoin Himself to man, and change man from natural to spiritual. It was in this way that the Lord made Himself one with His Father, and God the Father made Himself one with Him. When the Lord was an infant was He not like any other infant, and when a boy like any other boy? Do we not read that He increased in wisdom and favor, and that afterwards He asked the Father to glorify His name, that is, His Human? To glorify is to make Divine by oneness with Himself. This makes clear why the Lord prayed to His Father whilst in His state of exinanition, which was the state of His progress towards union. [5] This same order is inscribed upon every man by his creation. In the precise degree in which man prepares his understanding by means of truths from the Word does he adapt his understanding to receive faith from God, and precisely as he prepares his will by means of works of charity does he fit his will for the reception of love from God, as when a workman cuts a diamond he fits it to receive and emit the glow of light; and so on. One prepares himself to receive God and to be conjoined with Him by living in accordance with the Divine order; and the laws of order are all the commandments of God. These the Lord fulfilled to every tittle, and so made Himself a receptacle of Divinity in all fullness. Therefore Paul says: That in Jesus Christ dwells all the fullness of Divinity bodily (Col. 2:9). And the Lord Himself says: That all things that the Father hath are His (John 16:15). [6] "Furthermore, it must be borne in mind that in man the Lord alone is active and man of himself is merely passive; and that it is by means of the influx of life from God that man is also active. It is because this influx from God is unceasing that it seems to man as if he were active from himself; and it is because of this appearance that man has free-will; and this is given him that he may prepare himself for receiving the Lord, and thus for conjunction with Him, which would not be possible unless the action were reciprocal; and it becomes reciprocal when man acts from his freedom, and yet from faith ascribes all his activity to the Lord." [7] After this I asked him whether he, like the others his companions, confessed that God is one. He replied that he did. Then I said, "But I am afraid that the confession of your heart is that there is no God. Does not every word uttered by the mouth go forth from the thought of the mind? Must not, then, the lip-confession of God's oneness banish from the mind the thought that there are three; and on the other hand, must not this thought of the mind banish from the lips the confession that He is one; and what else can result from this than that there is no God? Is not the whole interval, from the thought to the lips, and back again from the lips to the thought, thus made a vacuum? And what conclusion can the mind then form about God than that nature is God; and about the Lord than that His soul was either from the mother or from Joseph? From these two ideas all the angels of heaven turn away as from things horrible and abominable." All this having been said, that spirit was sent away into the abyss (spoken of in Rev. 9:2 and following verses), where the angels of the dragon discuss the mysteries of their faith. [8] The next day, when I looked towards the same place, I saw instead of the tents two statues in the likeness of human beings, made of the dust of the earth that was a mixture of sulfur, iron, and clay. One statue seemed to have a scepter in its left hand, a crown on its head, a book in its right hand, and a stomacher with an oblique band tied across, set with precious stones, and behind a robe that spread towards the other statue. But these decorations of the statue were induced upon it by fantasy. A voice from some draconic spirit was then heard proceeding from it, saying, "This statue represents our faith as a queen, and the one behind it represents charity as her maidservant. This latter was made of a similar mixture of dust, and was placed at the extremity of the robe that spread out behind the queen, and it held in its hand a paper, on which was written, "Be careful not to come so near as to touch the robe." Then a sudden shower fell from heaven and penetrated both statues, which being made of a mixture of sulfur, iron, and clay, began to effervesce, as a mixture of those ingredients does when water is poured upon it; and so burning as it were with inward fire they melted into heaps, which afterwards stood out above the ground there like sepulchral mounds.

Second Memorable Relation: In the natural world man's speech is twofold, because his thought is twofold, external and internal; for he can speak simultaneously from internal thought and from external thought; and he can speak from external thought and not from internal thought, and even contrary to internal thought; and this is the source of pretenses, flattery, and hypocrisy. But this twofold speech man does not have in the spiritual world; his speech there is single; he speaks as he thinks; or if not, the tone of his voice is grating and hurts the ear. Nevertheless, he can be silent and not divulge the thoughts of his mind. So when a hypocrite gets among wise men he either leaves or betakes himself to a corner of the room and avoids notice and keeps silent. [2] At one time a large number had assembled in the world of spirits, and were talking together about this matter, saying that to be able to speak only as one thinks is a hardship to such as have not thought rightly about God and the Lord whenever they come into association with the good. In the midst of the assembly were the Reformed and some of their clergy, and next to them the Papists with their monks. The clergy and the monks spoke first, saying, "This is not a hardship; what need is there for anyone to speak otherwise than as he thinks? If perchance he does not think rightly, can he not close his lips and keep silent?" And a clergyman said, "Who does not think rightly about God and about the Lord?" But some of the assembly said, "Let us try them." And they asked those who had confirmed themselves in a trinity of persons in the Godhead to say from their thought one God; and they could not. They twisted and folded their lips in various ways, but were unable to articulate a sound into any words except such as were harmonious with the ideas of their thought, which were of three persons, and consequently of three Gods. [3] Again, those who had confirmed themselves in faith apart from charity were asked to utter the name Jesus; but they could not; although they could all say Christ, and also God the Father. They wondered at this, and inquired the cause; and they found it to be that they had prayed to God the Father for the sake of the Son, but had not prayed to the Savior Himself; and Jesus signifies Savior. [4] Again, from their thought of the Lord's Human they were asked to say Divine Human; but not one of the clergy there present could do so, though some of the laity could; and therefore this fact was made a subject of serious discussion. First, the following passages from the Gospels were read to them: The Father hath given all things into the hand of the Son (John 3:35); The Father hath given to the Son power over all flesh (John 17:2); All things are delivered unto Me by the Father (Matt. 11:27); All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth (Matt. 28:18); and they were asked to keep in their thought from these passages that Christ, both as to His Divine and as to His Human, is the God of heaven and earth, and then to pronounce the words Divine Human; but still they could not. They said that although from these passages they retained from the understanding some thought about the matter, they still had no acknowledgment of it, and therefore they could not bring it into speech. [5] (ii.) Afterwards there was read to them from Luke (1:32, 34, 35) that the Lord as to His Human was the Son of Jehovah God, and is there called "the God of the Most High," and in many other places, "the Son of God" and also "the Only begotten;" and they were asked to retain this in their thought, as also that the only-begotten Son of God born in the world could not but be God, as the Father is God, and then to utter the words Divine Human. But they said, "We cannot, because our spiritual thought, that is, our more internal thought, does not admit into the thought which lies nearest to speech any other ideas except those that are in harmony with the internal thought; and from this we perceive that we are not now permitted, as we were in the natural world, to divide our thoughts. [6] (iii.) Therefore, the Lord's words to Philip were read to them: Philip said, Lord, show us the Father. And the Lord said, He that seeth Me seeth the Father. Believest thou not that I am in the Father and the Father in Me? (John 14:8-11) and also other passages, as: That the Father and He are one (John 10:30) and they were asked to retain this in thought and then to say, Divine Human; but because that thought was not rooted in the acknowledgment that the Lord is God even in respect to the Human, they twisted their lips into folds till they grew angry, desiring to force their mouths to speak the words but they did not succeed; and for the reason that with those who are in the spiritual world the ideas of thought which flow from acknowledgment make one with the words of speech; and where these ideas do not exist words cannot be had; for in speaking, ideas become words. [7] (iv.) Still again, there was read to them the following from the doctrine accepted throughout the Christian world: The Divine and Human in the Lord are not two, but one, even one person, united like soul and body in man. This is from the Athanasian Creed, and has been recognized by the councils; and it was said to them, "From this certainly you can gain an idea grounded in acknowledgment that the Human of the Lord is Divine, since His soul is Divine; for this statement is from the doctrine of your church which you accepted while in the world; moreover, the soul is the very essence of the man, and the body is the form of this essence; and essence and form make one like esse and existere, or like the effecting cause of the effect and the effect itself." This idea they retained, and from it wished to utter the words Divine Human; but they could not; for their more internal idea of the Human of the Lord banished and erased this new adscititious idea, as they called it. [8] (v.) Once again, this passage from John was read to them: The Word was with God, and God was the Word, and the Word became flesh (1:1, 14). Also this: Jesus Christ is the true God and eternal life (1 John 5:20). Also from Paul: In Jesus Christ dwelleth all the fullness of the Divinity bodily (Col. 2:9); and they were requested to think accordingly, namely, that God who was the Word became Man, that He was the true God, and that in Him dwelt all the fullness of Divinity bodily. This they did, but only in external thought; and therefore, because of the resistance of internal thought, they were unable to pronounce the words Divine Human; and they said frankly, "We can form no idea of a Divine Human, because God is God, and man is man, and God is a Spirit, and we have always thought of spirit as being wind or ether." [9] (vi.) Finally, it was said to them, You know that the Lord said: Abide in Me, and I in you. He that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same beareth much fruit; for without Me ye can do nothing (John 15:4, 5). And as there were some of the English clergy present, the following from one of their exhortations at the Holy Communion was read to them: "For when we spiritually eat the flesh and drink the blood of Christ, then we dwell in Christ, and Christ in us." And it was said, "If your thought now is that this is not possible unless the Lord's Human is Divine, pronounce the words Divine Human from acknowledgment in thought." But still they could not, so deeply impressed upon them was the idea that the Divine could not be Human, nor the Human be Divine, and that the Lord's Divine was from the Divine of a Son born from eternity, and His Human like that of any other man. They were asked, "How can you think thus? Can a rational mind ever conceive of a Son born of God from eternity?" [10] (vii.) Then the inquirers turned to the Evangelicals, saying that the Augsburg Confession and Luther taught that the Son of God and the Son of man in Christ is one Person; and that He, even as to His Human nature, is omnipotent and omnipresent, and as to that nature sits at the right hand of God the Father, governs all things in heaven and on earth, fills all things, is present with us, and dwells and operates in us; also that there is no difference of adoration, because the Divinity that is not discerned is worshiped through the nature that is discerned; and that in Christ God is Man, and Man is God. Hearing this they said, "Can this be so?" And they looked around and said presently, "We did not know this before; therefore we are unable to say Divine Human." And first one and then another said, "We have read this, and we have written it; and yet when we thought about it in our minds it was mere words, of which we had no interior idea." [11] (viii.) Finally they turned to the Papists and said, "Perhaps you can say Divine Human, since you believe that Christ is wholly present in the bread and wine of your Eucharist, and in every part of them; and you also worship Him as God most holy when you exhibit and carry about the host; also because you call Mary 'Deipara,' that is, 'Mother of God;' consequently you acknowledge that she gave birth to God, that is, to the Divine Human." Then they wished to pronounce it, but they could not, because a material idea of Christ's body and blood then suggested itself, and also a belief that His Human is separable from the Divine, and with the pope is actually so separated, since to him the human power only, and not the Divine, was transferred. Then one of the monks arose and said that he could conceive of a Divine Human with reference to the most holy virgin Mary, and also with reference to the saint of his monastery. And another monk came forward and said, "From an idea of my thought which I now entertain I am able to say Divine Human, but with reference to his holiness the pope rather than in reference to Christ." But some of the Papists pulled him back, saying, "For shame." [12] After this heaven was seen open, and tongues like little flames were seen descending and alighting upon some; and they then celebrated the Divine Human of the Lord, saying, "Have done with the idea of three Gods, and believe that in the Lord dwells all the fullness of Divinity bodily, that the Father and He are one, as soul and body are one, and that God is not wind or ether, but a Man, then you will be conjoined with heaven, and from the Lord you will be able to speak the name Jesus, and to say Divine Human."

Third Memorable Relation: Awaking once soon after daybreak, I went out into the garden in front of my house, and saw the sun rising in his glory, and round about him a halo, at first faint, but afterwards more distinct, and beaming like gold, and beneath its border was a rising cloud, which from the sun's rays glowed like a carbuncle. It set me thinking about the fables of the most ancient people which depicted Aurora with wings of silver and countenance of gold. With my mind immersed in the delights of these meditations, I came into the spirit; and I heard certain spirits conversing, who said, "O that we might be permitted to talk with the innovator who has thrown among the leaders of the church that apple of discord after which so many of the laity have been running, and which they have picked up and held up for us to look at." By that apple they meant the little work, entitled, A Brief Exposition of the Doctrine of the New Church. And they said, "It is certainly a schismatical writing, such as no man ever before conceived of." And then I heard one of them exclaim, "Schismatical? It is heretical!" But some of those beside him said, "Hush! Hold your tongue! It is not heretical; he gives an abundance of quotations from the Word; and to these our neophytes, by whom we mean the laity, give heed and assent." [2] Hearing this I came forward, being in the spirit, and said, "Here I am; what is the matter?" At once one of them, a German, as I afterwards heard, a native of Saxony, said in an authoritative tone, "How dare you turn upside down the worship established in the Christian world for so many centuries, which teaches that God the Father should be invoked as the Creator of the universe, His Son as the Mediator, and the Holy Spirit as the Operator? Moreover, you divest the first and the last God of the personality we ascribe to them, although the Lord Himself says, 'When ye pray, pray thus, Our Father who art in the heavens; hallowed be Thy Name; Thy Kingdom come.' Therefore are we not commanded to invoke God the Father?" After this there was silence, and all who favored the speaker stood like brave seamen on their warships when they sight the enemy, and stand by to shout, "Now, have at them; victory is sure." [3] Then I rose to speak; and said, "Who among you is not aware that God came down from heaven and became Man? For we read, 'The Word was with God, and God was the Word, and the Word became flesh.'" Then, looking towards the Evangelicals, among whom was that dictator who had just addressed me, I said, "Who among you does not know that in Christ, who was born of Mary the Virgin, God is Man and Man is God?" But at this the assembly made a great noise; therefore I said, "Do you not know this? It is according to the doctrine of your confession which is called the Formula Concordioe, where this is affirmed and fully corroborated." Then the dictator turned to the assembly and asked if they were aware of this; and they answered, "As to the person of Christ we have given the book very little study, but we have worked hard at the part on Justification by Faith Alone; if, however, it is so written in that book, we acquiesce." Then one of them remembering, said, "That is the way it reads; and it says furthermore that the Human nature of Christ has been exalted to Divine majesty and all its attributes; also that in that nature Christ sits at the right hand of the Father." [4] Hearing this they were silent; and as it was undisputed I spoke again, and said, "This being so, what then is the Father but the Son, and what is the Son but the Father also?" Yet as this again offended their ears, I continued, "Hear the very words of the Lord and attend to them now, if you never have before; for He said, 'I and My Father are one;' 'I am in the Father and the Father in Me;' 'Father, all Mine are Thine and Thine are Mine;' 'He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father.' What do these things mean, but that the Father is in the Son and the Son in the Father, and that they are one as the soul and body in man are one, and thus that they are one person? And must not this be your belief, if you believe in the Athanasian creed, where nearly the same things are said? But from the passages quoted take this one saying of the Lord, 'Father, all Mine are Thine, and all Thine are Mine.' What else does this mean than that the Divine of the Father belongs to the Human of the Son, and the Human of the Son to the Divine of the Father, consequently that, in Christ, God is Man and Man is God, and thus that they are one as soul and body are one? [5] Every man may say the same of his own soul and body, namely, 'All mine are thine, and all thine are mine; thou art in me and I in thee; he that seeth me, seeth thee; we are one in person and in life.' This is because the soul is in the man, both in the whole and in every part of him, for the life of the soul is the life of the body, and between the two there is a mutuality. All this makes clear that the Divine of the Father is the soul of the Son, and the Human of the Son the body of the Father. From where does the soul of an offspring come unless from its father, and its body unless from its mother? The expression is the Divine of the Father; but the Father Himself is what is meant, since He and His Divine are the same; and this Divine is one and indivisible. That this is true is evident also from the words of the angel Gabriel to Mary, 'The power of the Most High shall overshadow thee, and the Holy Spirit shall come upon thee; and the Holy Thing that shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.' And just above He is called 'the Son of the Most High,' and elsewhere 'the only-begotten Son.' But you, who call Him merely the Son of Mary, destroy the idea of His Divinity; yet it is only the learned among the clergy and the scholars among the laity who destroy this idea, for these, when they raise their thoughts above the sensual things pertaining to their bodies, regard the glory of their reputation; and this not only obscures but extinguishes the light whereby the glory of God enters. [6] But let us return to the Lord's Prayer, where it says, 'Our Father who art in the heavens; hallowed be Thy Name; Thy kingdom come.' By these words you who are present understand the Father in His Divine alone but I understand the Father in His Human. Moreover, this Human is the name of the Father; for the Lord said, 'Father, glorify Thy name,' that is, Thy Human; and when this is done the kingdom of God comes. And the reason why this Prayer was commanded for the present time is evident, namely, that through His Human an approach may be had to God the Father. The Lord also said, 'No man cometh unto the Father but by Me;' and in the Prophet, 'Unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given, and His name is God, Mighty, Father of Eternity;' and elsewhere, 'Thou, Jehovah, art our Father, our Redeemer, from everlasting is Thy name;' besides many other places where the Lord our Savior is called Jehovah. This is the true explanation of the words of that Prayer." [7] When I had said all this, I looked at them and noted the changes in their countenances according to changes in the states of their minds, some favoring me and looking toward me, and some not favoring and turning themselves away. And then on the right I saw a cloud of opal color, and on the left a dusky cloud, and under each the appearance of a shower. That under the dusky cloud was like a rain at the close of autumn, and that under the opal cloud was like the fall of dew in early spring. Then suddenly I came out of the spirit into the body, and thus returned from the spiritual world into the natural world.

Fourth Memorable Relation: I looked into the world of spirits and saw an army mounted on red and black horses. The riders looked like apes, with face and breast turned toward the horse's tail, and the hinder part of the head and the back toward the horse's neck and head, and the bridle-rein thrown over the rider's neck; and they were shouting at other riders mounted on white horses, and were jerking the reins with both hands, thus pulling back their horses from the battle; and this they did continuously. Then two angels descended from heaven, and approaching me said, "What do you see?" I told about the ludicrous company of horsemen that I saw, and asked what it meant and who they were. The angels answered, "They are from the place called Armageddon (Rev. 16:16), where they have assembled to the number of several thousands, to fight against those who belong to the Lord's New Church, which is called the New Jerusalem. They were talking there about the church and about religion; and yet there was nothing of the church among them, because they had nothing of spiritual truth, and nothing of religion, because they had no spiritual good. About both of these they were talking with their mouths and lips; but their aim was to acquire dominion by means of them. [2] In their youth they had learned to confirm the doctrine of faith alone, and something about God; and when they had been advanced to higher offices in the church, they held on to these teachings for a time, but having ceased to think any longer about God and heaven, but only about themselves and the world, thus not about eternal blessedness and happiness, but only about temporal eminence and wealth, the doctrinal principles which in youth they had drawn from the interiors of the rational mind, which communicate with heaven and therefore are in the light of heaven, were cast out into the exteriors of the rational mind, which communicate with the world and are therefore in the light of the world; and finally these principles were thrust down into the region of the natural senses; and as a consequence the doctrines of the church became with them a mere matter of words, and no longer of thought from reason, much less of affection from love. And having made themselves such, they grant no admittance to that Divine truth which constitutes the church, nor to that genuine good that constitutes religion. The interiors of their minds have become like bottles filled with a mixture of iron chips and sulfur, upon which, if water is poured, there is first produced heat and then a flame, whereby the bottles are burst. So when they hear anything about the living water, which is the genuine truth of the Word, and it finds entrance through their ears, they become violently heated and inflamed, and reject it as a thing that would burst their heads. [3] These are they that appeared to you like apes riding horses red and black, and facing toward the tail, and the bridle-rein around the rider's neck. Men that do not love the truth and good of the church derived from the Word never wish to look toward the forward parts of a horse, but only toward his hinder parts. For a horse signifies understanding of the Word-a red horse that understanding when destroyed in respect to good, and a black horse when destroyed in respect to truth. They were shouting for battle against the riders on the white horses, because a white horse signifies understanding of the Word in respect to truth and good. They seemed to pull their horses backward by the neck, because they dreaded the battle, and feared that the truth of the Word might be reaching many and might thus come to light. This is the interpretation." [4] The angels further said, "We are from a society of heaven which is called Michael, and we were commanded by the Lord to descend to the place Armageddon, from which the horsemen that you saw broke forth. With us in heaven Armageddon signifies a state of mind and a disposition (arising from a love of ruling and being eminent over all others) to fight from truths falsified; and as we perceive in you a desire to learn about this kind of contest, we will relate to you a certain matter. On descending from heaven we came to that place called Armageddon, and there saw several thousands assembled. We did not enter this crowd; but on the southern side of the place there stood several houses where there were lads with their teachers; we entered these, and were kindly received. We were delighted with their company. From the life in their eyes and the eagerness displayed in their talk their faces were beautiful. The life in their eyes came from perceiving what is true, and the eagerness in their talk from the affection for what is good. Because of this we presented them with caps, the borders of which were ornamented with bands of gold lace in which pearls were interwoven, also with garments of white and blue commingled. "We asked them if they had ever looked in upon the so called Armageddon, near by. They said that they had, through a window under the roof, and had seen an assembly there, but the shapes of the people were changeable; sometimes they looked like men of lofty stature, and sometimes like statues and carved idols, with a crowd on bended knees around them. To ourselves as well they appeared under various forms; some like men, others like leopards, and others again like goats, the latter with horns projecting downward, with which they tore up the ground. We interpreted these transformations, and showed what classes they represented, and what things they signified. [5] "But to return:When those assembled there heard of our having entered the houses they said to one another, 'What are they doing among those lads? Let us send some of us thither and put them out.' They did send a number, and when these came they said, 'What took you into these houses? Where do you come from? By authority we order you to leave.' "But we answered, 'You cannot give that order by authority. In your own eyes, indeed, you seem like Anakim, and we here like dwarfs; yet here you have no power or authority except by cunning, and that will not prevail. Go, then, and tell your comrades that we are sent here from heaven to find out if you have religion or if you have none; and if none, you will be cast out of this place. Go, then, and put to them this question, which contains the veriest essential of the church and of religion: In the Lord's Prayer what mean the words 'Our Father who art in the heavens; hallowed be Thy Name; Thy kingdom come?' "Hearing this, they said at first, 'What is all that?' And then they consented and went away and told their companions what had been said, who replied, 'What sort of a proposal is that?' But they guessed what was behind the question, namely, that we wished to know if they thought that these words confirmed what their faith taught about the way to approach God the Father. Therefore they said, 'The words are clear that we ought to pray to God the Father; and as Christ is our Mediator, that we ought to pray to God the Father for the sake of the Son. ' "And at once in their indignation they resolved to come to us and say this to our faces, and they added that they would pull our ears. So they left that place, and went into a grove near the houses where the lads and their teachers were. In the center of this was an elevated spot like a place for games; and joining hands they came there. We were there also, and were waiting for them. The ground was thrown up into little green mounds, as it were, upon which they reclined, saying to one another, 'We will not stand in their presence; we will sit.' "Then one of them who could make himself appear like an angel of light, and who had been deputed by the others to speak with us, said, 'You have proposed that we open our minds as to our understanding of the first words of the Lord's Prayer. Therefore I say to you that this is our understanding of them, that we ought to pray to the Father; and as Christ is our Mediator, and as it is through His merit that we are saved, that we ought to pray to God the Father from faith in Christ's merit.' [6] "But then we said to them, 'We are from the heavenly society called Michael, and have been sent to see you and inquire whether you who were assembled yonder have any religion or not; for the idea of God enters into everything of religion, and by means of it man is conjoined with God, and by means of conjunction is saved. We in heaven say that Prayer daily in the same way as men do on earth, and in doing so we are not thinking of God the Father, for He is invisible; but we think of Him in His Divine Human, because in that He is visible, and in that He is by you called Christ, but by us is called the Lord; in this way it is that to us the Lord is the Father in the heavens. Moreover, the Lord has taught that He and the Father are one; that the Father is in Him and He in the Father; and that whosoever sees Him sees the Father; and again, that no one comes to the Father except through Him; also that it is the will of the Father that men should believe in the Son, and that whosoever believes not in the Son shall not see life; and even that the wrath of God abides upon him. All this makes it clear that approach to the Father is through the Son and in the Son. And because this is so He has also taught that to Him all power has been given in heaven and on earth. In that Prayer it is said, 'Hallowed be Thy Name, Thy kingdom come;' and we have shown from the Word that the Father's name is the Divine Human of the Lord, and that the kingdom of the Father comes when the Lord is approached directly, and comes not at all when God the Father is approached directly. For this reason, too, the Lord commanded His disciples to preach the kingdom of God; and the kingdom of God is this very thing.' [7] "Having heard this, our antagonists said, 'You quote many passages from the Word; and such perhaps we may have read there-we do not remember; therefore open the Word here before us, and read them from it; especially the statement that the Father's kingdom comes when the Lord's kingdom comes.' And they said to the lads, 'Bring the Word. ' And the lads brought it, and we read from it as follows: John preached the gospel of the kingdom, and said, The time is fulfilled, the kingdom of God is at hand (Mark 1:14, 15; Matt. 3:2). Jesus Himself preached the gospel of the kingdom, and that the kingdom of God was at hand (Matt. 4:17, 23; 9:35). Jesus commanded His disciples to preach and declare the gospel of the kingdom of God (Mark 16:15; Luke 8:1; 9:60); as also the seventy whom He sent forth (Luke 10:9, 11). The kingdom of God, of which the good tidings were preached, was the kingdom of the Lord, and thus the kingdom of the Father. This is evident from the following statements: The Father gave all things into the hand of the Son (John 3:35). The Father gave the Son power over all flesh (John 17:2). All things have been delivered unto Me of My Father (Matt. 11:27). All power is given unto Me in heaven and on earth (Matt. 28:18). Also from the following: Jehovah of Hosts is His name, and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; the God of the whole earth shall He be called (Isa. 54:6). I saw, and behold one like unto the Son of man; and there was given Him dominion and glory and a kingdom, and all people and nations shall worship Him; His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away, and His kingdom that which shall not be destroyed (Dan. 7:13, 14). When the seventh angel sounded there came great voices in the heavens, saying, The kingdoms of the world are become our Lord's and His Christ's, and He shall reign unto the ages of the ages (Apoc. 11:15; 12:10). [8] "We showed them still further from the Word that the Lord came into the world not only in order that angels and men might be redeemed, but also that through Him and in Him they might be made one with God the Father; for He taught: That those who believe in Him are in Him, and He in them (John 6:56; 14:20; 15:4, 5). "Having heard these things they asked, How then can your Lord be called the Father?' We replied, 'Because of what we have just read, and also the following passages: Unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and His name is God, Mighty, Father of Eternity (Isa. 9:6). Thou art our Father; Abraham knoweth us not, and Israel doth not acknowledge us Thou Jehovah art our Father, our Redeemer, from everlasting is Thy name (Isa. 63:16). Did He not say to Philip, who wished to see the Father: Hast thou not known Me, Phillip? He that seeth Me seeth the Father (John 14:9; 12:45). What other Father then is there than He whom Philip's eyes were seeing?' "To this we added, 'It is said in the Christian world that those who are of the church constitute the body of Christ and are in His body; how then can the man of the church approach to God the Father except through Christ, in whose body he resides? Otherwise he must pass entirely out of that body in order to approach the Father.' In concluding we informed them that at this day the Lord is establishing a New Church, which is meant by the New Jerusalem in the Apocalypse, in which there will be, as in heaven, the worship of the Lord alone, and that thus everything which is contained in the Lord's Prayer from beginning to end will be fulfilled. "All this we confirmed so copiously from the Word, in the Gospels and Prophets and in the Apocalypse, where from the beginning to the end that church is treated of, that they grew tired of listening. [9] "The Armageddons heard all this with indignation, and wished constantly to interrupt our speaking; and at last they did break in, exclaiming, 'You have spoken contrary to the doctrine of our church, which teaches that men must approach God the Father directly and must believe in Him; thus have you made yourselves guilty of a violation of our faith. Get you gone, therefore; if not, you will be put out by force.' And their passions being aroused, from threats they proceeded to the attempt; but by power given us we smote them with blindness, and not seeing us they rushed away and ran about wandering in all directions. Some fell into the abyss spoken of in Revelation (9:2), which is now in the southern quarter toward the east, and is occupied by those who confirm the doctrine of justification by faith alone. Those there who confirm that doctrine by the Word are banished to a desert, where they are driven to the boundary of the Christian realm, and are mingled with the heathen."

REDEMPTION It is known in the church that there are two offices belonging to the Lord, that of priest and that of king; but as few know in what each office consists this shall be explained. From His priestly office the Lord is called Jesus, and from his kingly office, Christ; also from His priestly office He is called in the Word, Jehovah and Lord, and from His kingly office He is called God and the Holy One of Israel, as well as King. These two offices are distinguished from each other, like love and wisdom, or what is the same, like good and truth; consequently whatever the Lord did and effected from Divine love or Divine good was done and effected from His priestly office; but whatever He did and effected from Divine wisdom or Divine truth was done and effected from His kingly office. Moreover, in the Word priest and priesthood signify the Divine good; while king and royalty signify the Divine truth, and these two were represented by priests and kings in the Israelitish church. Redemption pertains to both offices; and what part of it to one and what to the other will be disclosed in what follows. And that the particulars of the subject may be clearly seen, the explanation shall be divided into the following heads or sections: (1) Redemption itself was a subjugation of the hells, a restoration of order in the heavens, and by means of these a preparation for a new spiritual church. (2) Without that redemption no man could have been saved, nor could the angels have continued in a state of integrity. (3) In this wise not only men but the angels also were redeemed by the Lord. (4) Redemption was a work purely Divine. (5) This redemption itself could not have been accomplished except by God incarnated. (6) The passion of the cross was the last temptation which the Lord, as the greatest Prophet, endured; also it was a means of glorifying His Human, that is, of uniting it with the Divine of the Father; but it was not redemption. (7) The belief that the passion of the cross was redemption itself is the fundamental error of the church; and this error, together with the error respecting three Divine Persons from eternity, has perverted the whole church to such an extent that nothing spiritual is left in it. These statements shall now be unfolded one by one.

(1) Redemption itself was a subjugation of the hells, a restoration of order in the heavens, and by means of these a preparation for a new spiritual church. That these three things are redemption I can affirm with all certainty, since at this day also the Lord is effecting a redemption, which began in 1757, together with a final judgment which was then accomplished. This redemption has been going on up to the present time, and for the reason that at this day is the second coming of the Lord, and a new church is now to be established; and this could not be done without a previous subjugation of the hells and a restoration of order in the heavens. And as it has been granted to me to see all this, I am able to describe how the hells were subjugated, and the new heaven established and arranged: but this would require a whole volume. But how the final judgment was accomplished I have made known in a little work published at London in 1758. Redemption was a subjugation of the hells, a restoration of order in the heavens, and the establishment of a new church, because without these no one could have been saved. Moreover, they follow in order; for the hells must be subjugated before a new angelic heaven can be formed; and this must be formed before a new church can be established on earth; because men in the world are so closely connected with angels of heaven and spirits of hell as on both sides to be one with them in the interiors of their minds. But this subject will be explained in the last chapter of this work, where the Consummation of the Age, the Coming of the Lord, and the New Church, will be treated of in detail.

That when the Lord was in the world He fought against the hells, and conquered and subdued them, and so reduced them to obedience, is evident from many passages in the Word, from which I will present the few which follow. In Isaiah: Who is this that cometh from Edom, His garments sprinkled from Bozrah? this that is glorious in His apparel, walking in the multitude of His strength? I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save. Wherefore art thou red in Thine apparel, and Thy garments like his that treadeth in the wine-vat? I have trodden the wine-press alone; and of the people not a man was with Me therefore have I trodden them in Mine anger, and trampled them in My wrath; therefore their victory is sprinkled upon My garments. For the day of vengeance is in My heart, and the year of My redeemed hath come. Mine arm brought salvation to Me; I have made their victory to go down into the earth. He said, Surely they are My people, children; so He became a Savior for thee Because of His love and His pity He redeemed them (63:1-9). This refers to the Lord's combat against the hells. The "apparel" in which He was glorious, and which was red, means the Word, to which the Jewish people had done violence; His combat against the hells and His victory over them are described by His "treading the people in His anger, and trampling them in His wrath;" that He fought alone from His own power is described by the words, "of the people not a man was with Me; Mine arm brought salvation to Me; I have made their victory to go down to the earth;" that thereby He wrought salvation and redemption is declared in the words, "So He became a Savior for them; because of His love and His pity He redeemed them." That this was the reason of His coming is meant by the words, "the day of vengeance is in My heart, and the year of My redeemed hath come." [2] Again in Isaiah: He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor; therefore His arm brought salvation unto Him, and his righteousness sustained Him. For He put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation upon His head; and He put on the garments of vengeance, and clothed Himself with zeal as with a robe. Then the Redeemer came to Zion (59:16, 17, 20). In Jeremiah: They were dismayed, their mighty ones were beaten down, they fled apace and looked not back. For this is the day of the Lord Jehovih of Hosts, a day of vengeance that He may avenge Him of His adversaries; and the sword shall devour and it shall be satiate (46:5, 10). Both of these passages refer to the Lord's combat against the hells and His victory over them. In David: Gird the sword upon the thigh, O mighty One. 'Thine arrows are sharp; the people shall fall under Thee, enemies of the king from the heart; Thy throne is for the age and for eternity; Thou hast loved righteousness, therefore God hath anointed Thee (Ps. 45:3-7); also in many other places. [3] Because the Lord conquered the hells alone, with no help from any angel, He is called: Mighty and a man of war (Isa. 42:13; 9:6) The King of glory, Jehovah the Mighty, Mighty in battle (Ps. 24:8, 10) The Mighty One of Jacob (Ps. 132:2); and in many places "Jehovah of Hosts," that I, Jehovah of armies; and His coming is called the day of Jehovah, terrible, cruel, the day of indignation, of wrath, of anger, of vengeance, of destruction, of war, of a trumpet, of a noise, of a tumult, and so on. And we read in the Gospels: Now is the judgment of this world; now shall the prince of this world be cast out (John 12:31). The prince of this world hath been judged (John 16:11). Be of good cheer; I have overcome the world (John 16:33). I beheld Satan as lightning falling from heaven (Luke 10:18). "The world," "the prince of this world," "satan," and "the devil," mean hell. [4] Moreover, in the Apocalypse from beginning to end the present character of the Christian church is set forth, also that the Lord is to come again, and is to subjugate the hells, and form a new angelic heaven, and at last establish a new church on earth. All these things are there predicted, but have not been disclosed until now. This is because the Apocalypse, like all the prophetical parts of the Word, was written in pure correspondences; and unless these had been disclosed by the Lord scarcely anyone would be able to understand rightly a single verse in that book; but now, on account of a new church, all its contents have been laid open in the Apocalypse Revealed (Amsterdam, 1766); and will be seen by those who believe the Word of the Lord in Matt. 24, about the present state of the church, and His coming. But this is as yet only a vacillating belief with those who have impressed on their hearts, so deeply that it cannot be rooted out, the faith of the church at this day in three Divine persons from eternity, and in Christ's passion as being redemption itself. But such (as has been said in the Memorable Relation above, n. 113) are like bottles filled with iron chips and pulverized sulfur, in which, if water be added, first heat is produced, and then flame, which bursts the bottles. So when these hear anything about the living water, which is genuine truth from the Word, and that truth enters their minds through the eyes or ears, they become violently excited and inflamed, and reject the truth as something that might split their heads.

The subjugation of the hells, the restoration of order in the heavens, and the institution afterwards of a church, is a work that may be illustrated by various similitudes. It may be illustrated by comparison with an army of robbers or rebels who invade a kingdom or a city, and set fire to its dwellings, plunder its inhabitants, divide the spoil among themselves, and then rejoice and exult; while redemption itself may be compared to the lawful king who advances against these rebels with his army, puts some to the sword, and some in prison, recovers the booty, and restores it to his subjects, thereafter establishing order in his kingdom, and rendering it secure against like assaults. It may also be illustrated by comparison with a troop of wild beasts issuing from a forest, attacking flocks and herds and even human beings, so that nobody dares to go outside of the walls of his city to till the ground, and therefore the fields become deserts, and the townsmen are threatened with starvation; while redemption may be compared to the slaughtering and scattering of these wild beasts, and the protection of the fields from any such irruption thereafter. It may be likened also to locusts consuming every green thing of the ground, and to the means to prevent their further progress; and again, to worms in early summer, which strip the trees of their foliage and thus of their fruit, so that they stand bare as in midwinter, and to the extermination of the worms, and the consequent restoration of the garden to its state of bloom and fruitfulness. Thus would it be with the church, if the Lord had not by redemption separated the good from the evil, casting the evil into hell and raising the good to heaven. What would become of an empire or kingdom if by the exercise of justice and judgment the evil were not separated from the good, and the good protected from violence, so that everyone might dwell safely in his own home, or, as is said in the Word, sit in peace under his own vine and fig tree?

(2) Without that redemption no man could have been saved, nor could the angels have continued in a state of integrity. It shall be told first what redemption is. To redeem means to liberate from damnation, to deliver from eternal death, to rescue from hell, and to release from the hand of the devil the captive and the bound. This the Lord did by subjugating the hells and establishing a new heaven. Man could have been saved in no other way, for the reason that the spiritual world and the natural are so closely connected that they cannot by any means be separated. This connection is especially in the interiors of men, which are called their souls and minds, the interiors of the good being connected with the souls and minds of angels, and of the wicked with the souls and minds of infernal spirits. This union is such that if angels and spirits were taken away from man he would drop dead as a log. In like manner angels and spirits could not continue to exist if men were taken away from under them. This makes clear why redemption was effected in the spiritual world, and why it was necessary that heaven and hell should be reduced to order before a church could be established on earth. That this is so is very evident from the Apocalypse, where it is said that after the new heaven had been formed, the New Jerusalem, which is the New Church, descended from it (Rev. 21:1-2).

Unless the Lord had wrought redemption the angels could not have continued to exist in a state of integrity, for the reason that the whole angelic heaven together with the church on earth is in the Lord's sight like one man, the angelic heaven constituting his internal, and the church his external; or more particularly, the highest heaven constituting his head, the second and lowest heaven his breast and the middle region of his body, and the church on earth his loins and feet, while the Lord Himself is the soul and life of the whole man. Therefore if the Lord had not wrought redemption the whole man would have been destroyed; his feet and loins by the decline of the church on earth, the abdominal region by the decline of the lowest heaven, the thoracic by the decline of the second heaven, and then the head, having no correspondence with the body, would have fallen into a swoon. [2] But this shall be illustrated by similitudes. It may be compared to mortification attacking the feet and gradually ascending, infecting first the loins, the abdominal viscera, and finally the parts near the heart, when, as is well known, the man dies. It may also be compared to diseases of the abdominal viscera; for when these are weakened the heart begins to palpitate and the lungs to gasp heavily, and finally the action of both heart and lungs ceases. It may also be illustrated by comparison with the internal and external man; in that the internal man is well so long as the external obediently discharges its functions; but if the external fails to obey and resists, and still more if it attacks the internal, the latter is at length weakened, and at last is so far carried away by the delights of the external as to favor it and yield to it. Again, it may be illustrated by comparison with a man standing on lofty ground, who sees the country below him flooded and the waters gradually rising; and when they reach his height, he, too, will be engulfed unless saved by some boat washed to him by the waves. Or it is like one's seeing from a mountain a dense fog rising higher and higher above the earth and hiding the fields and houses and towns; and at last, when the fog gets up to him, he can see nothing, not even where he is. [3] So is it with the angels when the church on earth perishes; for then the lower heavens also pass away; and for the reason that the heavens consist of men from the earth; and when there is no longer any good in the heart or truth from the Word left among men, the heavens are inundated by the rising flood of evils, and are drowned as it were in Stygian waters. Those who are there, however, are somewhere hidden away and preserved by the Lord until the day of final judgment, and are then raised up into a new heaven. Such are meant by those spoken of in the Apocalypse: I saw under the altar the souls of those slain because of the Word of God, and because of the testimony that they held. And they were crying out with a great voice, saying, How long, O Lord, who art holy and true, dost Thou not judge and avenge our blood on those that dwell on the earth? And there was given unto each one of them white robes; and it was said unto them that they should rest yet a little time, until their fellow-servants and their brethren, who were to be killed as they were, should be fulfilled (Rev. 6:9-11).

There are several reasons why without redemption by the Lord iniquity and wickedness would have pervaded all Christendom, both in the natural world and in the spiritual world, one of which is, that every man goes after death into the world of spirits, and there he is wholly the same man as before. On entering that world, no one can be prevented from talking with departed parents, brothers, relatives, and friends. Then every husband first seeks his wife, and every wife her husband, and by these they are introduced into the various companies of those who externally are lamb-like, but internally are like wolves; and by such even those who have lived pious lives are led astray. As a result of this and of nefarious arts unknown in the natural world, that world becomes as full of malicious persons as a green pond is with the spawn of frogs. [2] That such is the result of association with the evil there is made evident by the fact that if one lives for a time with robbers and pirates he finally becomes like them; or if one lives with adulterers and harlots he soon thinks nothing of adultery; or if he mingles with outlaws he soon thinks nothing of doing violence to anyone. For all evils are contagious, and may be compared to a pestilence, which is communicated merely by the breath or the effluvia of the body; also to cancer or gangrene, which spreads and infects first the nearer and then the remoter parts, until the whole body is destroyed. The delights of evil into which every man is born, are the cause. [3] From all this it can be seen that without redemption by the Lord no man could be saved, nor could the angels be continued in a state of integrity. The only refuge from destruction for anyone is the Lord, who says: Abide in Me, and I in you; as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself except it abide in the vine, so neither can ye except ye abide in Me. I am the vine, ye are the branches; he that abideth in Me and I in him, the same beareth much fruit; for apart from Me ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in Me he is cast forth and is withered, and cast into the fire and burned (John 15:4-6).

(3) In this wise not only men, but the angels also, were redeemed by the Lord. This follows from what has been said in the preceding section, that without redemption by the Lord the angels could not have continued to exist. To the reasons above mentioned these may be added: (1) At the time of the Lord's first coming the hells had increased to such a height as to fill the whole world of spirits, which is intermediate between heaven and hell, and thus had not only thrown into disorder the heaven that is called the lowest, but also had attacked the middle heaven, which they infested in a thousand ways, and which would have gone to destruction if it had not been upheld by the Lord. Such an uprising of the hells is meant by the tower built in the land of Shinar, the head of which was to reach to heaven. But the attempt of its builders was frustrated by the confusion of tongues; and they were dispersed, and the city was called Babel (Gen. 11:1-9). What is there meant by the tower and by the confusion of tongues is explained in the Arcana Coelestia published at London. [2] The hells had increased to such a height because at the time when the Lord came into the world the whole earth had completely alienated itself from God by idolatries and magic; and the church which had existed among the children of Israel and afterwards with the Jews, had been utterly destroyed by the falsification and adulteration of the Word. All these, both Jews and Gentiles, had after death streamed into the world of spirits, where at length their number was so increased and multiplied that they could be driven out only by a descent of God Himself and then only by the strength of His Divine arm. How this was done has been described in the little work on the Last Judgment (London, 1758). This task was accomplished by the Lord when He was in the world. A like work has been done by the Lord at the present time, because, as has been said before, this is the time of His second coming which is foretold through the Apocalypse, and in Matthew (24:3, 30), Mark (13:26), Luke (21:27), Acts (1:11), and elsewhere. The difference is, that at the Lord's first coming this increase of the hells was the work of idolaters, magicians, and falsifiers of the Word; while at His second coming it was the work of so called Christians, both those who had imbibed naturalism, and those who had falsified the Word by confirmations of their fabulous faith in three Divine persons from eternity, and in the passion of the Lord as itself constituting redemption; for it is these who are meant by "the dragon and his two beasts" (Apoc. 12 and 13). [3] (2) The second reason why the Lord also redeemed angels is, that not only every man but also every angel is withheld from evil and held in good by the Lord; for no one, angel or man, is in good from himself, but all good is from the Lord. Therefore when the footstool of the angels, which they have in the world of spirits, is plucked away, they become like one seated upon a throne when its pedestals are removed. That in God's sight the angels are not pure is evident from the prophecies and also from Job; and again from the fact that there can be no angel who has not previously been a man. This confirms what has been stated in the Faith of the New Heaven and the New Church in its universal and in its particular form, at the beginning of this work, namely, "The Lord came into the world to remove Hell from man, and He did remove it by means of combats with it and victories over it, thereby subduing it and reducing it to obedience to Himself." And further, "Jehovah God came down and took upon Him the Human for the purpose of reducing to order all things in heaven and all things in the church; because at that time the power of the devil, that is, of hell, prevailed over the power of heaven, and upon earth the power of evil over that of good and in consequence a total damnation stood threatening at the door. This impending damnation Jehovah God removed by means of His Human, thus redeeming angels and men. From this it is clear that without the Lord's coming no one could have been saved. It is the same today; and therefore without the Lord's coming again into the world no one can be saved" (see above, n. 2, 3).

That the Lord has delivered the spiritual world, and through it will deliver the church from universal damnation, may be illustrated by comparison with a king who by victories over his enemy liberates his sons the princes, whom the enemy had captured and imprisoned and bound in fetters, and restores them to his court; also by comparison with a shepherd, who like Samson and David rescues his sheep from the jaws of a lion or bear; or who drives back those beasts when they break forth from the woods into the fields, hunts them back to the farthest boundaries, and at last drives them into swamps or into deserts; and then returns to his sheep, pastures them in safety, and waters them at limpid fountains. It may also be illustrated by comparison with one who sees a serpent coiled up lying in the road and ready to strike the heel of a traveller, and who seizes it by the head, and although it twists about his hand, carries it home, cuts off its head, and throws the body into the fire; also by a bridegroom or husband, who seeing an adulterer attempting violence to his bride or wife, attacks him, and either wounds him in the hand with a sword, or belabors him with blows on legs and loins, or has his servants throw him into the street and pursue him with cudgels to his home; while the rescued one he carries into his own chamber. In the Word, "bride" and "wife" mean the Lord's church, and "adulterers" those who violate the church, who are such as adulterate His Word. This the Jews did; and this is why the Lord called them "an adulterous generation."

(4) Redemption was a work purely Divine. He who knows what hell is, and to what a height it had risen and how it had overflowed the whole world of spirits at the time of the Lord's coming, and with what might the Lord cast it down and scattered it, and afterwards brought into order both hell and heaven, cannot but wonder and declare that all this must have been a purely Divine work. First, as to the nature of hell. It consists of myriads of myriads, since it consists of all those who from the creation of the world have alienated themselves from God by evils of life and falsities of belief. Secondly, as to the height to which hell had risen, and how it had overflowed the entire world of spirits at the time of the Lord's coming, some explanation has been given in the preceding sections. To what extent this was the case at the time of the Lord's first coming no one knows, because it was not revealed in the sense of the letter of the Word; but the extent of it at the time of His second coming I have been permitted to see with my own eyes; and from this (which has already been described in a little work on The Last Judgment, published at London in 1758) conclusions may be drawn respecting the former period, as also with what power hell was then cast down and dispersed by the Lord. But there is no need to transcribe here what I witnessed as set forth in that book, because the work is extant, and numerous copies of it are still at the printer's in London. Anyone reading that book can see clearly this must have been a work of the omnipotent God. [2] Fourthly, How the Lord afterwards reduced all things to order, both in heaven and in hell, I have not yet described, because the restoration of order in the heavens and in the hells has continued since the time of the last judgment until now, and still continues; but after this book has been published, if it seems desirable, this information shall be given to the public. For my own part, with reference to this matter, I have seen daily and still see in it the Lord's Divine omnipotence as it were face to face. This latter work is properly the work of redemption, while the former is properly that of the last judgment. When these two are viewed separately, many things respecting them, which are concealed under figures and yet described in the prophecies of the Word, can be seen, as soon as by an explanation of the correspondences these things are brought forth into the light of the understanding. [3] Neither of these two Divine operations can be made clear except by comparisons; and then but faintly. This latter work may be compared to a battle against an army composed of all the nations in the whole world, armed with spears, shields, swords, muskets, and cannon, led by skilful and shrewd generals and other officers. This is said because very many in hell excel in arts unknown in our world, and practice them among themselves, studying how to advance against, to ensnare, to besiege, and to assault those who are in heaven. [4] The Lord's combat against hell may also be compared, though imperfectly, to a conflict with all the wild beasts on the earth and their slaughter and subjugation, until not one of them dares comes forth to attack any man who is in the Lord; so that if the man but shows a threatening countenance his enemy instantly shrinks back as if he felt a vulture on his breast striving to pierce him to the very heart. Moreover, infernal spirits are compared in the Word to wild beasts; and such are meant by the wild beasts with which the Lord was for forty days (Mark 1:13). [5] It may also be compared to resistance against the whole ocean, breaking in with its waves over demolished barriers upon countries and towns; and the Lord's subjugation of hell is meant by His calming the sea by saying: Peace, be still (Mark 4:38, 39; Matt. 8:26; Luke 8:23, 24) for here, as in many other places, the "sea" signifies hell. [6] By a like Divine power the Lord fights at this day against hell in every man who is being regenerated; for hell attacks all such with diabolical fury, and unless the Lord resisted and tamed that fury man could not but succumb. For hell is like one monstrous man, or like a huge lion, with which indeed it is compared in the Word; therefore unless the Lord kept that lion or monster manacled and fettered, a man from himself must needs, when rescued from one evil, fall into another, and again into others continually.

(5) This redemption itself could not have been accomplished except by God incarnated. It has been shown in the preceding article that redemption was a work purely Divine, consequently that it could have been effected only by the omnipotent God. It could have been effected only by God incarnated, that is, made Man, because Jehovah God, as He is in His infinite essence, cannot come near to hell, much less enter into it; for He is in things purest and first. Therefore if Jehovah as He is in Himself were but to breathe upon those who are in hell He would instantly destroy them; for He said to Moses, when Moses wished to see Him: Thou canst not see My face; for there shall no man see Me and live (Ex. 33:20). As Moses, then, could not see Him, still less could those who are in hell, where all are in things last and grossest, and thus most remote, for they are the lowest natural. For this reason, if Jehovah God had not assumed a Human, and thus clothed Himself with a body that belongs to things lowest, He would have undertaken in vain any redemption. For who can attack an enemy without approaching him, or without being armed for the battle? Or who can disperse and destroy the dragons, hydras, and basilisks in a desert, unless he covers his body with armor and his head with a helmet, and takes a spear in his hand? Or who can capture whales in the sea without a boat and implements adapted to the work? The combat of God Almighty against the hells, upon which He could not have entered unless He had first assumed a Human, may be illustrated by these and like things, though they afford no adequate comparison. [2] But it must be understood that the Lord's combat against the hells was not an oral combat, like one between reasoners and disputants; such a combat would have no effect whatever there. It was a spiritual combat, which is that of Divine truth from Divine good. This truth was the Lord's very life, the influx of which through the medium of sight no one in the hells can resist. There is in it such power that the infernal genii flee away at the mere perception of it, cast themselves into the abyss, and creep into caves to hide themselves. This is what is described in Isaiah: They shall enter into the caves of the rocks and into the clefts of the dust for fear of Jehovah when He shall arise to terrify the earth (Isa. 2:19). And in the Apocalypse: All hid themselves in caves and in the rocks of the mountains; and they said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him that sitteth upon the throne, and from the anger of the Lamb (6:15-17). [3] The kind of power which the Lord possessed from Divine good when He executed the last judgment, in 1757, may be seen from the things described in the little work on that judgment; as that He tore up from their places the hills and mountains which the infernals occupied in the world of spirits, dispersed them, and caused some of them to sink. He also deluged their towns and houses and fields with a flood, rooted up their lands from their foundations, and hurled them with their inhabitants into whirlpools, swamps, and marshes; and much more; and all this was done by the Lord alone, by the power of Divine truth from Divine good.

That Jehovah God could have entered upon and have accomplished such a work only by means of His Human may be illustrated by various comparisons; as, that one who is invisible cannot shake hands or converse with another until he becomes visible; thus an angel or spirit could have no interaction with a man, even if standing close to his body and before his face. Neither can anyone's soul converse with another or act with another except by means of his body. The sun with its light and heat can enter into man, beast, or tree only by first entering the air and operating through it; or can enter into a fish only by means of the water, since it must act through that element in which the subject resides. No one can scale a fish without a knife, or pluck a crow without fingers; or descend to the bottom of a lake without a diving-bell; in a word, anyone thing must be adapted to another before it can communicate with it or operate with it or against it.

(6) The passion of the cross was the last temptation which the Lord, as the greatest Prophet, endured, and was the means whereby His Human was glorified, that is, whereby it was united with the Divine of the Father; but it was not redemption. There are two things for which the Lord came into the world, and by means of which He saved men and angels, namely, redemption and the glorification of His Human. These two are distinct from each other; and yet in reference to salvation they make one. It has been shown in the preceding sections what the work of redemption was, namely, that it was a combat against the hells, a subjugation of the hells, and a restoration of order in the heavens. But glorification is the uniting of the Lord's Human with the Divine of His Father. This was effected gradually, and was completed through the passion of the cross. For every man on his part ought to draw near to God; and as far as man does draw near, God on His part enters into him. It is the same as with a temple, which first must be built, and this is done by the hands of men; afterwards it must be dedicated; and finally prayer must be made for God to be present and there unite Himself with the church. The union itself was made complete through the passion of the cross, because that was the last temptation endured by the Lord in the world; and it is by means of temptations that conjunction is effected. For in temptations apparently man is left to himself alone, although he is not; for God is then most nearly present in man's inmosts and sustains him; therefore when man conquers in temptation he is inmostly conjoined with God, as in temptation the Lord was inmostly united to God His Father. That in the passion of the cross the Lord was left to Himself is evident from His exclamation upon the cross: O God, why hast Thou forsaken Me? (Matt. 27:46); as also from these words of the Lord: No man taketh My life from Me, but I lay it down of Myself I had power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment received I from My Father (John 10:18). From all this it can now be seen that it was not in respect to His Divine but in respect to His Human that the Lord suffered; and that thereby an inmost and thus a complete union was effected. This may also be illustrated by the fact that when a man suffers in body his soul does not suffer, but only grieves; and after the victory God takes away this grief and wipes it away as one wipes away tears from the eyes.

These two things, redemption and the passion of the cross, must be seen to be distinct; otherwise the human mind, like a vessel, strikes upon sand-banks or rocks and is lost, with pilot, captain, and crew together; that is, it errs in all things pertaining to salvation by the Lord. For without an idea of these two things as distinct, man is as if in a dream, and sees imaginary things, and from these draws conclusions, supposing them to be real when yet they are fantastic; or he is like one walking in the dark, who takes hold of the leaves of some tree and thinks them to be the hair of a man, and going nearer entangles his own hair in the branches. But although redemption and the passion of the cross are two distinct things, yet in reference to salvation they make one; since it was by union with His Father, which was completed through the passion of the cross, that the Lord became the Redeemer to eternity.

In respect to glorification, which means the uniting of the Lord's Divine Human with the Divine of the Father, which union was fully completed through the passion of the cross, the Lord Himself thus speaks in the Gospels: When Judas was gone out Jesus said, Now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in Him. If God be glorified in Him God shall also glorify Him in Himself, and shall straightway glorify Him (John 13:31, 32). Here glorification is predicated both of God the Father and of the Son; for it is said, "God is glorified in Him," and "shall glorify Him in Himself." Evidently this means being united: Father, the hour is come; glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son also may glorify Thee (John 17:1, 5). This is so said because the uniting was reciprocal, as it was also said that the Father was in Him and He in the Father: Now is My soul troubled. And He said, Father, glorify Thy Name. Then there came a voice out of heaven, I have hath glorified it and will glorify it again (John 12:27, 28). This was said because the uniting was effected gradually: Behooved it not the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory? (Luke 24:26). In the Word, when "glory" is predicated of the Lord it signifies Divine truth united to Divine good. From all this it is clearly evident that the Lord's Human is Divine.

The Lord was willing to be tempted even to the passion of the cross, because He was the essential Prophet; and the prophets formerly signified the doctrine of the church from the Word, and therefore the state of the church was represented by them in various ways, some of which were unjust, grievous, and abominable, and these representations were enjoined upon them by God. But because the Lord was the Word itself, He, as the essential Prophet, represented in the passion of the cross the Jewish church in its ways of profaning the Word. To this reason another may be added, namely, that thereby He might be acknowledged in the heavens as the Savior of both worlds; for all things pertaining to His passion signified things pertaining to the profanation of the Word; and while men of the church understand these naturally the angels understand them spiritually. That the Lord was the essential Prophet is evident from the following passages: The Lord said, A prophet is not without honor save in his own country and in his own house (Matt 13:57; Mark 6:4; Luke 4:24). Jesus said, It is not meet that a prophet perish out of Jerusalem (Luke 13:33). Fear took hold on all, praising God, and saying that a great prophet is risen up among us (Luke 7:16). They said of Jesus, This is the prophet of Nazareth (Matt. 21:11; John 7:40, 41). That a prophet was to be raised up from the midst of the brethren to whose words they should hearken (Deut. 18:15-16).

That the prophets represented the state of their church respect to doctrine from the Word and life according to it, is evident from the following passages. The prophet Isaiah was commanded, To loose the sackcloth from off his loins, and to put off the shoe from his foot, and to go naked and barefoot three years, for a sign and a wonder (Isa. 20:2-3). The prophet Ezekiel was commanded to represent the state of the church, By preparing stuff for a journey, and by removing to another place in the sight of the children of Israel; and by bringing forth the stuff by day, and going forth at even through a hole in the wall; and by covering his face that he might not see the ground; that he might be for a sign unto the house of Israel, and say, Behold, I am your sign; like as I have done so shall it be done unto you (Ezek. 12:3-7, 11). The prophet Hosea was commanded to represent the state of the church, By taking to himself a harlot for a wife, and he did so, and she bore to him three children, one of whom was called Jezreel, another, Loruhamah (not to be pitied), and the third Lo-ammi (not my people). And again he was commanded to go and love a woman beloved of a friend, and an adulteress, whom he also took to himself (Hos. 1:2-9; 3:2, 3). One prophet was even commanded, To put ashes upon his eyes, and to permit himself to be struck and wounded (1 Kings 20:35, 38). The prophet Ezekiel was commanded to represent the state of the church, By taking a tile and portraying upon it Jerusalem by laying siege and casting a rampart and mound against it; by setting an iron pan between him and the city by lying upon his left side, and upon his right side. Also by taking wheat, barley, beans, miliet, and fitches, and making bread of them; also by making barley cakes to be baked with human excrement (but because he prayed that this might not be he was permitted to use cow's dung instead). It was said to him, Lie thou also upon thy left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it according to the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon it thou shalt bear their iniquity. For I will give thee the years of their iniquity according to the number of their days, three hundred and ninety days so shalt thou bear the iniquity of the house of Israel. And when thou hast accomplished them thou shalt lie again on thy right side, that thou mayest bear the iniquity of the house of Judah (Ezek. 4:1-15). [2] That the prophet by these means bore the iniquities of the house of Israel and the house of Judah, but did not take them away and thus expiate them, but only represented and pointed them out, is evident from the following: Thus saith Jehovah, The sons of Israel shall eat their bread unclean behold, I will break the staff of bread, that they may want bread and water and be made desolate, a man with his brother, and pine away for their iniquity (Ezek. 4:13, 16, 17). The same is meant in respect to the Lord where it is said: Surely He hath born our griefs and carried our sorrows Jehovah hath laid on Him the iniquities of us all by His knowledge He hath justified many, in that He hath borne their iniquities (Isa. 53:4, 6, 11). This whole chapter treats of the Lord's passion. [3] That the Lord as the essential Prophet represented the state of the Jewish church with regard to the Word is evident from the particulars of His passion; as that He was betrayed by Judas: was seized and condemned by the chief priests and elders; that they buffeted Him; smote Him on the head with a reed; put a crown of thorns on His head, divided His garments, and cast lots for His vesture; crucified Him; gave Him vinegar to drink and pierced His side; that He was buried; and that He rose again the third day. His betrayal by Judas signified that He was betrayed by the Jewish nation, which then possessed the Word (for Judas represented that nation); His seizure and condemnation by the chief priests and elders signified that this was done by the whole Jewish church; their buffeting Him, spitting in His face, scourging Him, and smiting Him on the head with a reed, signified that they did like things to the Word in respect to its Divine truths; their putting a crown of thorns upon His head signified that they falsified and adulterated those truths; their dividing His garments and casting lots upon His vesture signified that they dispersed all the truths of the Word, but not its spiritual sense, the Lord's vesture signifying that sense; their crucifying Him signified that they destroyed and profaned the whole Word; their offering Him vinegar to drink signified that the truths they had were wholly falsified, and therefore He did not drink the vinegar; their piercing His side signified that they wholly extinguished everything true and good in the Word; His burial signified the rejection of everything that was left in Him from the mother; His resurrection on the third day signified His glorification, or the union of His Human with the Divine of the Father. Evidently, then, "bearing iniquities" does not mean taking them away, but it means representing the profanation of the truths of the Word.

This, too, may be illustrated by comparisons; and this shall be done for the sake of the simple-minded, who see better by comparisons than by analytically formed deductions from the Word and from reason. Every citizen or subject is united to his king by obeying his commands and precepts; and more so if he endures hardships for him; and still more if he suffers death for him, as men do in war. In the same way friend is united to friend, son to father, and servant to master, by acting according to their wishes; still more by defending them against enemies; and more yet by fighting for their honor. Is not one united to the maiden whom he is wooing when he fights with those who defame her, and contends even to wounds with his rival? It is according to an inherent law of nature that they are united by such means. The Lord says: I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd layeth down his life for the sheep. Therefore doth My Father love Me (John 10:11- 17).

(7) The belief that the passion of the cross was redemption itself is the fundamental error of the church; and this error, together with the error respecting three Divine persons from eternity, has perverted the whole church to such an extent that there is nothing spiritual left in it. What at the present day more fills and crams the books of the orthodox, or what is more zealously taught and inculcated in the schools, or what is more frequently preached and proclaimed from the pulpit, than that God the Father, being angry with the human race, not only put it away from Himself, but also included it under a universal damnation, and thus excommunicated it; but being gracious, He persuaded or inspired His Son to descend and take upon Himself this determined damnation, and thus appease the anger of His Father; and that under no other conditions could the Father look with favor upon mankind? And further, that this was actually done by the Son; in that by taking upon Himself the damnation of the human race He suffered Himself to be scourged, to be spit upon, and finally crucified by the Jews as one "accursed of God" (Deut. 21:23); and after this had been done the Father was propitiated, and from love for His Son canceled the damnation, but only on behalf of those for whom the Son might intercede, and that the Son thus became a Mediator perpetually before His Father. [2] The churches of the present day resound with these and like ideas; they are reverberated from the walls like echoes from the forests, and fill the ears of all there. But cannot everyone whose reason has been enlightened and made sane by the Word see that God is mercy itself and pity itself, because He is love itself and good itself, and that these are His essence? It is therefore a contradiction to say that essential mercy or good can look upon man with anger and determine upon his damnation, and continue to be its own Divine Essence. Such things can hardly be ascribed to a good man, but only to a bad man, nor can they be ascribed to an angel of heaven, but only to a spirit of hell. It is therefore horrible to ascribe them to God. [3] But if it is asked why this has been done the answer is, that the passion of the cross has been taken for redemption itself; and from this these ideas have flowed forth, as from one falsity falsities flow forth in a continuous series, or as from a cask of vinegar nothing but vinegar can flow, or from an insane mind nothing but insanity can flow. For from a single conclusion kindred principles flow; these lie hidden in the conclusion, and grow out of it one after another; and from the doctrine that the passion of the cross was redemption there may proceed or be drawn many other things that are scandalous and dishonoring to God, until the saying in Isaiah comes to pass: The priest and the prophet err through strong drink; they stumble in judgment; for all tables are full of the vomit of filthiness (Isa. 28:7-8).

From this idea of God and redemption all theology from being spiritual has become in the lowest degree natural, and this because merely natural properties have been attributed to God; and yet on the idea of God and the idea of redemption, which makes one with salvation, everything pertaining to the church depends. For this idea is like the head from which all parts of the body proceed; therefore when this is a spiritual idea everything pertaining to the church becomes spiritual, and when it is a natural idea everything pertaining to the church becomes natural; consequently, as the idea of God and redemption has become purely natural, that is, sensual and corporeal, so all things that have been taught and are taught by the heads and members of the church in their dogmatic theology are purely natural. And nothing but falsities can be hatched from this theology, for the reason that the natural man acts constantly against the spiritual, and therefore regards what is spiritual as something spectral, or as an airy phantasm. And in consequence it may be said that owing to this sensual idea of redemption, and thus of God, the ways to heaven, which are the ways to the Lord God the Savior, are beset by thieves and robbers (John 10:1, 8-9); and that the doors of the churches are thrown down, giving entrance to dragons, owls, and the wild beasts of the deserts and the islands, which sing together there in horrible discord. It is known that this idea of redemption and of God pervades the faith of the present day, which is, that men should beseech God the Father to pardon their offenses for the sake of the cross and blood of His Son, and beseech God the Son to pray and intercede for them, and God the Holy Spirit to justify and sanctify them. What is this but praying to three Gods in their order? And wherein does this conception of the Divine government differ from that of an aristocracy or a hierarchy, or such a triumvirate as once existed at Rome, except that instead of a triumvirate it may be called a tripersonate? And then what is easier than for the devil to "divide and rule," as the saying is, that is, to distract men's minds, and to excite rebellious movements, now against one God and now against another, as has been done from the time of Arius until now; which is equivalent to hurling from His throne the Lord God the Savior, who has all power in heaven and on earth (Matt. 28:18), and seating upon that throne some of the devil's own minions and offering worship to him; or because worship is taken from him, taking it away also from the Lord Himself?

To this shall be added these Memorable Relations. First: I once entered a temple in the world of spirits where many were assembled. Before the sermon began they were discussing with each other the subject of Redemption. The temple was square, with no windows in the walls; but in the center of the roof there was a large opening, through which light from heaven entered, making it lighter than if there had been windows at the sides. And behold, in the midst of their talk about redemption a black cloud floating from the north suddenly covered the opening, causing such darkness that they could not see each other, and could scarcely see their own hands. While they were standing amazed at this, behold, the black cloud parted in the middle, and through the parting angels sent down from heaven appeared, who dispelled the cloud to both sides, and again the temple was filled with light. The angels then sent down one of their number into the temple, who in their name asked the congregation what they were contending about to cause so dense a cloud to overshadow them, take away the light, and bring on darkness. They answered that it was about redemption, as having been wrought by the Son of God through the passion of the cross, whereby He made expiation, and delivered the human race from damnation and eternal death. To this the angel who had been sent down said, "Why through the passion of the cross? Explain why through that." [2] Then a priest came forward and said, "I will explain in order what we know and believe, which is, That God the Father, being angry with the human race, condemned it, shut it out from His clemency, and declared all men doomed and accursed, and consigned them to hell; and that He wished His Son to take upon Himself that condemnation, and the Son consented, and for that purpose came down and assumed the human, suffered Himself to be crucified, and thus transferred to Himself the condemnation of the human race; for we read, 'Cursed is everyone that hangeth on the wood of a cross.' Thus did the Son by interceding and mediating propitiate the Father; and then the Father, moved by love for His Son, and by witnessing His anguish upon the wood of the cross, determined to forgive men; 'but only those to whom I impute Thy righteousness; these I will change from children of wrath and malediction to children of grace and benediction, and will justify and save them; the rest, as before determined, may remain children of wrath.' This is our faith, and these things are our righteousness, which God the Father implants in our faith, which alone justifies and saves." [3] When the angel had heard this he was silent for some time, for he was motionless with amazement; but afterwards he broke silence and said, "Can the Christian world be so insane, and wander away from sound reason into such madnesses, and from such paradoxes draw conclusions about the fundamental dogma of salvation? Who does not see that these things are diametrically opposed to the very Divine essence, that is, to God's Divine love and Divine wisdom, and at the same time to His omnipotence and omnipresence? No good master could so deal with his manservants and maidservants, nor even a wild beast or a bird of prey with its young. It is horrible. Is it not contrary to God's Divine essence to annul that call which has been made to the whole human race and to each individual? Is it not contrary to the Divine essence to change the order established from eternity, which is, that every man is to be judged by his life? Is it not contrary to the Divine essence to withdraw its love and mercy from any man, still more from the whole human race? Is it not contrary to the Divine essence that it should be brought back to mercy, and as mercy is the very essence of God, that it should be brought back to its own essence, by witnessing the anguish of the Son? Is it not abominable to imagine that He ever departed from that essence, since that essence is Himself from eternity to eternity? [4] Furthermore, is it not impossible to introduce into such a thing as your faith is, the righteousness of redemption (which in itself belongs to the Divine omnipotence), and to impute and ascribe it to man, and without any further means to declare him righteous, pure, and holy? Is it not impossible to remit sins to anyone, and to renew, regenerate, and save him, by mere imputation, whereby unrighteousness is turned into righteousness, and a curse into a blessing? Would it not be possible in this way to change hell into heaven and heaven into hell, or the dragon into Michael and Michael into the dragon, and so end the war between them? Is anything needed but to withdraw the imputation of your faith from one and bestow it upon the other? Thus would you compel us who are in heaven to live for ever in constant fear. Neither is it in accordance with justice and judgment for one person to take upon himself the guilt of another, and for the guilty thus to be made innocent and have his guilt washed away. Is not this opposed to both Divine and human justice? The Christian world does not yet know that there is an order, still less what that order is, which God introduced into the world simultaneously with the creation of it; and that God cannot act contrary to that order, since He would then be acting contrary to Himself; for God is order itself." [5] The priest understood what was said by the angel, because the angels who were above let in light from heaven; and presently he sighed and said, "What is to be done? At this day all men so preach and pray and believe. It is in every mouth, 'Good Father, have mercy upon us; forgive us our sins for the sake of Thy Son's blood, which He poured out for us upon the cross.' And to Christ they pray, 'Lord, intercede for us.' And to this we priests add, 'Send us the Holy Spirit.'" The angel then said, "I have observed that from the Word not interiorly understood the priests prepare an eyesalve which they apply to the eyes that are blinded by their faith; or they make from it a sort of plaster which they spread upon the wounds inflicted by their dogmas; and yet they fail to heal those wounds, because they are chronic sores. Therefore go to him who stands yonder,' pointing his finger towards me, "and he will teach you from the Lord that the passion of the cross was not redemption, but the uniting of the Lord's Human with the Divine of the Father; while redemption was the subjugation of the hells and the restoration of order in the heavens; and unless this had been done by the Lord when He was in the world there would be no salvation for anyone on the earth or in heaven. He will also teach you the order established from creation, to live according to which is to be saved, those who live according to it being numbered among the redeemed, and called the elect." When all this had been said, windows were formed in the walls of the temple through which there flowed in an illumination from the four quarters of that world, and cherubs appeared flying in the brightness of the light; and the angel was taken up to his companions above the opening; and we went away delighted.

Second Memorable Relation: One morning as I awoke from sleep, the sun of the spiritual world appeared to me in its glory; and as far below it as our earth is from its sun I saw the heavens; and presently there were heard from the heavens words ineffable, the sum of which found utterance in this declaration, "There is one God, who is Man; and His abode is in that sun." This utterance passed down through the middle heavens to the lowest, and from that into the world of spirits where I was; and I perceived that the angels' idea of the one God, in its descent by degrees, was changed into the idea of three Gods. Observing this I went forward to speak with those whose thought was of three Gods, saying, "What a monstrous idea! Where did you get it?" They replied, "We think of three from our way of conceiving of the Triune God; nevertheless this idea does not fall into our utterance. When we speak we always declare emphatically that God is one. If there is a different idea in our minds, let it be, provided it does not come forth and sever the idea of the unity of God in our speech. Still it does come forth from time to time, because it is within; and if at such times we should speak plainly we should declare that there are three Gods. But we guard against this, lest we should be laughed at by those hearing us." [2] Then they spoke openly from their thought, saying, "Are there not three Gods, since there are three Divine persons, each of whom is God? We cannot think otherwise when a leader of our church, speaking from his collection of holy dogmas, ascribes to one creation, to another redemption, and to the third sanctification; and when furthermore he ascribes to them certain attributes, to each one His own, which he asserts are incommunicable; and these include not only creation, redemption, and sanctification, but also imputation, mediation, and operation. Is there not, then, one who creates us, and He also imputes; and is there not another who redeems us, and He also mediates; and a third who effects the mediated imputation, and He also sanctifies? Who does not know that the Son of God was sent into the world by God the Father to redeem the human race, and thus become the Expiator, Mediator, Propitiator, and Intercessor? And as He was one with the Son of God from eternity, are not the Father and Son two distinct persons? And as these two are in heaven, one sitting at the right hand of the other, must there not be a third person to carry out in the world what is decreed in heaven?" [3] Hearing this I was silent, and thought to myself, O what folly! They have no idea of what is meant in the Word by mediation. And presently, at the Lord's command, three angels descended from heaven and were associated with me, in order that I might speak from interior perception with those who were in the idea of three Gods, particularly in respect to mediation, intercession, propitiation, and expiation, which they attribute to the second person, that is, the Son, but not until after He had become Man; and He became Man many centuries after creation, and during this time these four means of salvation did not exist, and thus God the Father was not propitiated, no expiation was made for the human race, and no one was sent from heaven to intercede and mediate. [4] Then from an inspiration that came upon me I spoke with them, saying, "Draw near, as many of you as can, and hear what is meant in the Word by mediation, intercession, expiation, and propitiation. These are the four predicates of the grace of the one God in His Human. God the Father can in no way be approached, nor can He approach any man, because He is the Infinite, and is in His own Esse which is Jehovah; and if from His Esse He were to approach man He would consume him as fire consumes wood and reduces it to ashes. This is evident from what He said to Moses when Moses wished to see God: That no man could see Him and live (Ex. 33:20). And the Lord says: That no man hath seen God at any time, except the Son who is in the bosom of the Father (John 1:18; Matt. 11:27). Again: That no one hath either heard the Father's voice or seen His shape (John 5:37). We read, indeed, that Moses saw Jehovah face to face, and spoke with Him mouth to mouth; but this was done through an angel, as was the case also with Abraham and Gideon. Such, then, being the nature of God the Father in Himself, it pleased Him to assume a Human, and in that to become accessible to men, and thus hear them and speak with them; and that Human is what is called the Son of God; and it is that which mediates, intercedes, propitiates, and expiates. I will therefore explain the signification of these four things which are predicated of the Human of God the Father. [5] Mediation means that this Human is the medium through which man is enabled to approach God the Father, and God the Father to approach man, and to so teach and lead man that he may be saved. Therefore the Son of God, by which is meant the Human of God the Father, is called the Savior, and in the world, Jesus, that is, Salvation. Intercession means unceasing mediation; for love itself, which is the source of mercy, clemency, and grace, unceasingly intercedes, that is, mediates in behalf of those who keep His commandments, whom He loves. Expiation means the removal of the sins into which man would rush if Jehovah unclothed should be approached. Propitiation means the operation of clemency and grace to prevent man's bringing himself by sin into condemnation; also protection, to prevent him from profaning holiness. This was the signification of the mercy-seat over the ark in the tabernacle. [6] It is known that in the Word God has spoken according to appearances, as that He becomes angry, takes revenge, tempts, punishes, casts into hell, damns, and even does what is evil; when in fact He is angry with no one, neither does He take revenge, tempt, punish, cast into hell, or damn. All these things are as far from God as hell is from heaven, and infinitely farther; consequently they are forms of speech to express the appearance. Expiation, propitiation, intercession, and mediation, are also forms of speech to express the appearance in another sense, since these are to be understood as predications of approach to God and of receiving grace from God through His Human. But these terms not having been understood, men have divided God into three, and upon these three have based the entire doctrine of the church, and have thus falsified the Word. From this has come 'the abomination of desolation' foretold by the Lord in Daniel, and again in Matthew 24." When I had said this the crowd of spirits withdrew from about me, and I noticed that those whose thought was actually of three Gods looked towards hell; while those whose thought was of one God, in whom is a Divine trinity, and that this trinity is in the Lord God the Savior, looked towards heaven; and these beheld the sun of heaven, in which Jehovah in His Human dwells.

Third Memorable Relation: I saw at a distance five gymnasia, each one surrounded by a light from heaven. A purple light, such as there is in the clouds in the morning before sunrise on earth, surrounded the first; a yellowish light, like that in the east after sunrise, surrounded the second; a bright light, like that of noonday in the world, surrounded the third; and a moderate light, like daylight when it begins to be tempered by the shades of evening, surrounded the fourth. The fifth stood in the actual shade of evening. Gymnasia in the spiritual world are halls where the learned assemble and discuss various arcana that are serviceable to their knowledge, intelligence, and wisdom. Seeing these gymnasia I felt a strong desire to visit one of them, and went in spirit to the one that was surrounded by the moderate light; and entering I saw an assembly of the learned; who were discussing with one another what is involved in the statement that the Lord was taken up to heaven and sits at the right hand of God (Mark 16:19). [2] The greater part of the assembly said that this should be understood in accordance with the very words, that the Son does so sit beside the Father; and it was asked why He did so. Some said that the Son had been placed by the Father at His right hand on account of the redemption He had accomplished; others said that it was from love that He sat there; others that it was in order that He might be the Father's counselor; and being such, that He might be honored by the angels; others that it was because it had been granted Him by the Father to rule in His stead, for it is written that all power was given to Him in heaven and on earth. But the greater number said that it was in order that He might hear, from the right hand, those for whom He intercedes; for in the church at the present day all approach God the Father, and pray to Him to be merciful for the Son's sake; and this causes the Father Himself to turn to the Son, that He may receive the Son's mediation. Some, however, said that it is only the Son of God from eternity who sits at the right hand of the Father, that He may impart His Divinity to the Son of man born in the world. [3] Hearing this, I was greatly astonished that learned men, who had already been living for some time in the spiritual world, should be so ignorant of heavenly things; but I perceived why it was so, namely, that from confidence in their own intelligence they had not suffered themselves to be taught by the wise. But that they might no longer remain ignorant of the meaning of the Son's sitting at the Father's right hand I raised my hand, asking them to give ear to a few words that I wished to say on that subject; and as they assented I said, "Do you not know from the Word that the Father and the Son are one, that the Father is in the Son, and the Son in the Father? This the Lord plainly says (in John 10:30, and 14:10, 11). If you do not believe this you divide God into two; and when this is done you are unable to think about God otherwise than naturally, sensually, and even materially; and this has been done in the world since the time of the Council of Nice, which introduced the doctrine of three Divine persons from eternity, and thereby turned the church into a theater furnished with painted hangings, wherein the actors were representing new plays. Who does not know and acknowledge that God is one? If you acknowledge this in heart and spirit, all that you have just said is of itself dissipated, or rebounds into the air like nonsense from the ear of a wise man." [4] At these remarks many were incensed, and burned to pull my ears and order me to be silent. But the president of the congregation said with indignation," This discussion is not about the unity and plurality of God, for we believe in both, but about what is involved in the statement that the Son sits at His Father's right hand; if you know anything about this, speak." I replied, "I will speak, but I pray you to suppress the noise." And I said, "'To sit at the right hand' does not mean to sit at the right hand, but it means God's omnipotence through the Human that He assumed in the world. By means of this He is in things last as well as in things first; by means of this He entered and overthrew and subjugated the hells; by means of this He restored order in the heavens; and thus by means of this He redeemed both men and angels, and will continue to redeem for ever. If you consult the Word, and are capable of enlightenment, you will perceive that 'right hand' means here omnipotence, as it does in Isaiah: My hand hath founded the earth, and My right hand hath spanned the heavens (47:13). Jehovah hath sworn by His right hand and by the arm of His strength (62:8). Thy right hand doth hold Me up (Ps. 18:35). Look to the Son that Thou madest strong for Thyself; let Thy hand be for the man of the right hand, for the Son of man whom Thou madest strong for Thyself (Ps. 80:15, 17). From this it is plain how the following is to be understood: The saying of Jehovah to my Lord, Sit Thou at My right hand until I make Thine enemies a footstool for Thy feet. Jehovah shall send the staff of Thy strength out of Zion; rule Thou in the midst of Thine enemies (Ps. 110:1, 2). This whole Psalm treats of the Lord's combat against the hells, and His subjugation of them. As 'the right hand of God' signifies omnipotence: The Lord says that He is to sit at the right of power (Matt. 26:63, 64) And at the right hand of the power of God" (Luke 22:69). [5] But at this the assembly became tumultuous, and I said, "Take heed; for a hand may appear from heaven, and when it appears (as it had appeared to me), it strikes the beholder with an incredible terror of its power; and this has been to me a proof that 'the right hand of God' signifies omnipotence." Scarcely had I spoken when beneath heaven an outstretched hand was seen, at the appearance of which such terror seized them that they rushed in crowds toward the doors, and some to the windows to throw themselves out, and some fell down unable to breathe. But I remained unterrified, and went out calmly after them; and when some distance away I turned and saw the building enveloped in a dense cloud, and was told from heaven that this was done because they had spoken from a belief in three Gods, and that the former light would return when those who were more sane should meet there.

Fourth Memorable Relation: I heard that a synod had been convoked of those celebrated for their writings and learning in respect to the faith of the present day and the justification of the elect thereby. This was in the world of spirits; and it was granted me to be present in spirit; and I saw an assembly of the clergy, both those of like belief and those of differing beliefs. On the right stood those who were called in the world the Apostolic Fathers, who had lived in the centuries preceding the Nicene Council; on the left stood men renowned in the succeeding centuries for their printed or manuscript works. Many of these latter had no beards, and wore curled wigs made of women's hair; and some of them wore ruffled collars with points; while the former had beards and wore their natural hair. In front of them all stood a man (a judge and a critic of the writings of the present century), with a staff in his hand. He struck the floor and caused silence. He then ascended the upper step of the pulpit and breathed out a sigh, and wished to follow it up by a loud exclamation; but the sighing breath kept back the sound in his throat. [2] At length he spoke and said, "O what an age, my brethren! There has risen up from the herd of the laity one having neither gown, tiara, nor laurel, who has plucked our faith from heaven and hurled it into the Styx. O horrible! And yet that faith alone is our star, shining like Orion in the night, and like Lucifer in the morning. That man, though advanced in years, is wholly blind to the mysteries of our faith, because he has not investigated it and seen in it the righteousness of the Lord our Savior and His mediation and propitiation; and as he has not seen these neither has he seen the wonders of its justification, which are the remission of sins, regeneration, sanctification, and salvation. This man, in place of our faith-which, being a faith in three Divine persons and therefore in the whole Deity, is saving to the utmost has transferred faith to the second person; yet not even to Him, but to His Human which we call Divine because of the incarnation of the Son from eternity; but is there anyone who thinks of it as any thing more than merely human? From this what else can result but a faith from which naturalism flows as from a fountain? And such a faith, not being spiritual, differs but little from faith in a pope or in a saint. You know what Calvin said in his time about worship from that kind of faith. And pray tell me, anyone of you, whence comes faith. Must it not be directly from God to thus have in it all things of salvation?" [3] At this his companions on the left, who had shaven faces, curly wigs, and collars about their necks, clapped their hands and shouted, "You have spoken most wisely. We know that we can take nothing that is not given us from heaven. If this is not faith, let that prophet tell us where faith comes from, and what it is. It cannot be any thing else or from any other source. To set forth any faith that is a faith, other than this, is as impossible as for one to ride on horseback to some constellation in heaven, and to take a star from it and hide it in his pocket and bring it down." This they said to make their companions laugh at any new belief. [4] Hearing this, the men on the right, who had bearded chins and wore their natural hair, were indignant. And one of them rose up (an old man, although he afterwards looked like a young man, for he was an angel from heaven, where those of all ages become youthful); and he spoke and said, "I have heard what your faith is, which the man in the pulpit has so magnified; but what is such a faith but our Lord's sepulchre after the resurrection, when it had been closed again by Pilate's soldiers? I have explored it and have seen nothing in it but the juggler's rods with which the magicians in Egypt wrought miracles. Indeed, externally your faith in your eyes is like a shrine of molten gold set with precious stones, but when opened it is found empty, except, perhaps, for a little dust in the corners from Papal relics, since that church has the same faith; only with them at the present day it is overlaid with external sanctities. Your faith, if I may indulge in further comparisons, is like a vestal virgin among the ancients who has been buried alive for letting the sacred fire go out. And I can assure you that in my eyes it is like the golden calf around which the children of Israel danced when Moses had gone away, and had ascended Mount Sinai to Jehovah. [5] Be not surprised that I use such comparisons in speaking of your faith; for so we speak of it in heaven. Our faith on the other hand is, was, and for ever will be, a faith in the Lord God the Savior, whose Human is Divine and whose Divine is Human; thus it is adapted to reception, and by it the Divine spiritual is united to the natural of man, and a spiritual faith is formed in the natural, and from the spiritual light in which our faith is the natural becomes as it were transparent. The truths of which our faith consists are as many as the verses in the sacred Volume; thee truths are all like stars, which by their light make the faith manifest and give it form. Man acquires this faith from the Word by means of his natural light, in which light it is knowledge, thought, and persuasion; but the Lord causes it, in those who believe in Him, to become conviction, trust, and confidence; thus faith becomes spiritual-natural, and by means of charity becomes living. With us this faith is like a queen adorned with precious stones, as numerous as those in the wall of the holy Jerusalem (Apoc. 21:17-20). [6] But lest you may look upon what I have said as mere boasting, and worthy of little regard, I will read to you some passages from the Holy Word, from which it will be evident that our faith is not faith in a man, as you suppose, but in the true God, in whom is the entire Divine. John says that: Jesus Christ is the true God, and eternal life (1 John 5:20). Paul says that: In Christ dwelleth all the fullness of the Divinity bodily (Col. 2:9); and in the Acts of the Apostles: That he preached both to Jews and to Greeks repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ (20:21). And the Lord Himself says: That there was given to Him all power in heaven and in earth (Matt. 28:18). These are but a few of such passages." [7] After this the angel looked at me and said, "You know what those who are called Evangelical believe, or are expected to believe, about the Lord the Savior. Recite some of these things, that we may see whether they are so foolish as to believe that His Human is merely human, or whether they attribute to Him something of the Divine, and how." And then, in the presence of those assembled, I read the following passages from their standard work called the Formula Concordioe, published at Leipsic in 1756: In Christ the Divine and the Human Natures are so united as to make one person (pp. 606, 762). Christ is truly God and Man in one undivided person, and so remains for ever (pp. 609, 673, 762). In Christ God is Man, and Man is God (pp. 607, 765). Christ's Human Nature is exalted to all Divine Majesty; this also from many of the Fathers (pp. 844-852, 860-865, 869-878). As to His Human nature Christ is omnipresent, and fills all things (pp. 768, 783-785). In Christ, as to His Human nature, resides all power in heaven and on earth (pp. 775, 776, 780). As to His Human nature Christ sits at the right hand of the Father (pp. 608, 764). Christ, as to His Human nature, is to be invoked; there proved by quotations from the Scriptures (p. 226). The Augustan Confession especially endorses this doctrine (p. 19). [8] When I had read these passages I turned to the president and said, "I know that all here present are associated with their like in the natural world; tell me, I pray, do you know with whom you are associated?" He answered in a grave tone, "I do; I am associated with a celebrated man, a leader of a host in the army of illustrious men in the church." As he answered in so grave a tone I said, "Pardon me if I ask whether you know where that celebrated leader lives." He answered, "I do; he lives not far from the tomb of Luther." At this I smiled and said, "Why do you mention the tomb? Do you not know that Luther has risen, and has now renounced his erroneous ideas of justification by faith in three Divine persons from eternity, and therefore has been placed among the blessed in the new heaven, and sees and laughs at those who run mad after him?" He replied, "I know, but what is that to me?" I then addressed him in a grave tone like his own, saying, "Inspire your celebrated man with whom you are associated with this, Whether there is not reason to fear that in writing as he did against the worship of our Lord and Savior, he at the same time robbed the Lord of His Divinity, contrary to the orthodoxy of his church, or allowed his pen to plough a furrow in which he thoughtlessly sowed naturalism." To this he replied, "That I cannot do, because he and I in that matter are almost of one mind; but what I say he does not understand, while all that he says I understand clearly." This is because the spiritual world enters into the natural and perceives the thoughts of men there, but not the reverse; such is the condition of association of spirits and men. [9] As I had begun to talk with the president I continued, "If I may be permitted I will throw in still another query, Whether you are aware that the orthodoxy of the Evangelicals, in the manual of their church called the Formula Concordioe, teaches that in Christ God is Man, and Man is God, and that His Divine and Human are and will for ever remain one undivided Person? How then could he and how can you defile the worship of the Lord with naturalism?" To this he replied, "I know that, and yet I do not know it." I therefore continued, "Let me ask him, or you in his place, since he is absent, from whom did the Lord our Savior derive His soul? If you say from the mother, you are irrational; if from Joseph, you profane the Word; if from the Holy Spirit, you say truly, provided that by the Holy Spirit you mean the proceeding and operating Divine, thus that He is the Son of Jehovah God. [10] Again, I ask, What is the hypostatic union? If you reply that it is a union as between two persons, a superior and an inferior, you are irrational; for thus you might make God the Savior two persons, as you make God three; but if you say that it is a personal union like that of soul and body, you say rightly: and this is in harmony with your doctrine, also with that of the Fathers. Consult the Formula Concordioe (pp. 765-768), also the Athanasian creed, where this is said, 'The correct faith is that we believe and confess that our Lord Jesus Christ is God and Man; who although He be God and Man, yet is not two, but is one Christ, one altogether, not by confusion of substance but by unity of Person; for as the reasonable soul and flesh are one man, so God and Man is one Christ. ' [11] I ask still further, What else was the damnable heresy of Arius, on account of whom the Nicene Council was convened by the Emperor Constantine the Great, than his denial of the Divinity of the Lord's Human? Tell me, moreover, whom you understand by these words in Jeremiah: Behold, the days come that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and He shall reign as King, and this is His name, Jehovah our Righteousness (23:5, 6; 33:15, 16). If you say a Son born from eternity, you are irrational; that was not the Redeemer; but if you say the Son born in time, who was the only-begotten Son of God (John 1:18; 3:16), you say rightly; He through redemption became the righteousness upon which you build your faith. Read also Isaiah 9:6, besides other passages in which it is foretold that Jehovah Himself would come into the world." At this the president was silent, and turned away. [12] When all this had occurred the president wished to dismiss the synod with a prayer; but just then a man started up from the company on the left, with a turban on his head and a cap over the turban; and he touched his cap with his finger, and said, "I also am associated with a man in your world, who there occupies a position of great honor; this I know because I speak from him as from myself." I asked where that eminent man lived. He answered, "At Gottenburg; and from him I at one time thought that your new doctrines favored of Mohammedanism." I saw that on hearing this all those on the right, where the Apostolic Fathers stood, were thunderstruck, and their countenances changed, and I heard such exclamations as these issuing from their minds through their mouths, "O horrible!" "O what an age!" But to calm their just indignation I stretched forth my hand begged a hearing; which being granted I said, "I know that a man of that eminence wrote something of the kind in a letter which was afterwards printed; but if he had then known what blasphemy it was he would certainly have torn the letter to pieces and thrown it into the fire. A slander like that is meant by the Lord's words to the Jews, when they said that Christ wrought miracles by other than Divine power (Matt. 12:22-32); and in addition to this the Lord there says: He that is not with Me is against Me, and be that gathereth not with Me scattereth abroad" (verse 30). At these words the countenance of the associate spirit fell; but presently he looked up and said, "I have now heard worse things from you than ever." But I continued, "There are two items in this charge-naturalism and Mohammedanism-Which are wicked lies and crafty inventions; and two deadly stigmas, designed to turn aside the wills of men and to deter them from the holy worship of the Lord." And I turned to the latter associate spirit and said, "Tell the man at Gottenburg, if you can, to read what is said by the Lord in Apoc. 3:18, and also in 2:16." [13] At these remarks a tumult arose; but it was quieted by light sent down from heaven, in consequence of which many of those on the left passed over to those on the right, those only remaining who thought superficially, and therefore depended on the word of some master, also those who thought of the Word as merely human. From both of these classes the light went down from heaven appeared to be thrown back, but to fall upon those who had passed over from the left to the right.

CHAPTER 3 THE HOLY SPIRIT AND THE DIVINE OPERATION All those of the clerical order who have cherished any right idea of the Lord our Savior, when they enter the spiritual world (which generally takes place on the third day after death), receive instruction at first about the Divine trinity, and particularly about the Holy Spirit, that it is not a God by itself, but that the Divine operation proceeding from the one and omnipresent God is what is meant in the Word by the Holy Spirit. They are thus particularly instructed about this, because very many enthusiasts after death fall into the insane phantasy that they themselves are the Holy Spirit; also because many belonging to the church who had believed while in the world that the Holy Spirit spoke through them, terrify others with the words of the Lord in Matthew (12:31, 32), claiming that to speak against what the Holy Spirit has inspired into them is the unpardonable sin. Those who after instruction relinquish the belief that the Holy Spirit is a God by itself are then taught that the unity of God is not divided into three persons, each one of whom is singly God and Lord, according to the Athanasian creed; but that the Divine trinity is in the Lord the Savior, like the soul, the body, and the proceeding energy in every man. After this they are prepared for receiving the faith of the new heaven; and when so prepared a way is opened for them to a society in heaven where a like faith prevails, and an abode is given them among brethren, with whom they are to live in blessedness to eternity. As God the Creator and the Lord the Redeemer have already been treated of, it is now necessary to treat also of the Holy Spirit; and this subject, like the others, shall be considered under appropriate heads, as follows: (1) The Holy Spirit is the Divine Truth and also the Divine Energy and Operation proceeding from the one God in whom is the Divine Trinity, that is, from the Lord God the Savior. (2) The Divine Energy and Operation, which are meant by the Holy Spirit, are, in general, reformation and regeneration; and in accordance with these, renovation, vivification, sanctification, and justification; and in accordance with these latter, purification from evils and forgiveness of sins, and finally salvation. (3) The Divine Energy and Operation which are meant by the "sending of the Holy Spirit," are, with the clergy especially, enlightenment and instruction. (4) The Lord makes these energies operative in those who believe in Him. (5) The Lord operates of Himself from the Father, and not the reverse. (6) The spirit of man is his mind and whatever proceeds from it.

(1) The Holy Spirit is the Divine Truth and also the Divine Energy and Operation proceeding from the one God in whom is the Divine Trinity, that is, from the Lord God the Savior. The Holy Spirit signifies strictly the Divine truth, thus also the Word; and in this sense the Lord Himself is the Holy Spirit. But since in the church at this day the Divine operation, which is actually justification, is what is meant by the Holy Spirit, this is here taken to be the Holy Spirit, and is what is chiefly treated of. This is done for the further reason that the Divine operation is effected by means of the Divine truth which goes forth from the Lord; and that which goes forth is of one and the same essence with Him from whom it goes forth, as the three things, soul, body, and what goes forth from them, together constitute one essence, which in man is purely human, but in the Lord is Divine and Human at the same time; and these after glorification are united as what is prior is with its posterior, or as essence is with its form. Thus the three essentials, called Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, are one in the Lord. [2] That the Lord is the Divine truth itself, or the Divine verity, has been shown above. That the Holy Spirit is the same is manifest from the following passages: There shall go forth a Shoot out of the stock of Jesse; the spirit of Jehovah shall rest upon Him, the spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the spirit of counsel and might; and He shall smite the land with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips shall He slay the wicked; and righteousness shall be the girdle of His loins, and truth the girdle of His thighs (Isa. 11:1, 2, 4, 5). He shall come like a narrow flood; the Spirit of Jehovah shall lift up a standard against him; then a Redeemer shall come to Zion (Isa. 59:19, 20). The spirit of the Lord Jehovih is upon Me; therefore Jehovah hath anointed Me, He hath sent Me to preach good tidings unto the poor (Isa. 61:1; Luke 4:18). This is My covenant; My spirit that is upon thee, and My words shall not depart out of thy mouth from henceforth and for ever (Isa. 59:21). [3] As the Lord is truth itself, all that goes forth from Him is truth, and this is what is meant by the Comforter, who is also called the Spirit of truth and the Holy Spirit. This is evident from the following passages: I tell you the truth: It is expedient for you that I go away; for if I go not away the Comforter will not come unto you, but if I go away I will send Him unto you (John 16:7). When He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth for He will not speak from Himself, but whatsoever things He shall hear shall He speak (John 16:13). He shall glorify Me; for He shall take of Mine and shall declare it unto you. All things whatsoever the Father hath are Mine therefore said I that He shall take of Mine and shall declare it unto you (John 16:14, 15). I will ask the Father to give you another Comforter, the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him; but ye know Him, for He abideth with you and shall be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I come to you: and ye shall see Me (John 14:16-19). When the Comforter is come whom I will send unto you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, He shall bear witness of Me (John 15:26). He is called the Holy Spirit (John 14:26). [4] That by "the Comforter" or "the Holy Spirit" the Lord meant Himself, is evident from His words, that the world had not yet known Him: But ye know Him; I will not leave you orphans; I come to you; ye shall see Me (John 14:17-19); and in another passage: Lo I am with you always, even unto the consummation of the age (Matthew 27:20); also from these words, "He shall not speak from Himself," but "He shall take of Mine."

Since, then, by the Holy Spirit the Divine truth is meant, and the Divine truth was in the Lord and was the Lord Himself (John 14:6), and since the Holy Spirit could therefore proceed from no other source, it is said: The Holy Spirit was not yet, because Jesus was not yet glorified (John 7:39), and after the glorification: He breathed upon His disciples and said, Receive ye the Holy Spirit (John 20:22). The Lord breathed upon His disciples and said this because "breathing upon, (aspiratio)" was an outward symbol representative of the Divine breathing-into (inspiratio). Breathing-into effects insertion into angelic societies. From all this the understanding can comprehend what was said by the angel Gabriel respecting the conception of the Lord: The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee therefore that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God (Luke 1:35). And again: The angel of the Lord said to Joseph, in a dream, Fear not to take unto thee Mary thy bride; for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And Joseph touched her not until she had brought forth her firstborn Son (Matt. 1:20, 25). Here the "Holy Spirit" means the Divine truth going forth from Jehovah the Father; and this going forth is the power of the Most High which then overshadowed the mother. This, therefore, agrees with what is said in John: The Word was with God, and God was the Word. And the Word became flesh (1:1, 14). That by "the Word" here the Divine truth is meant may be seen above (n. 3) on The Faith of the New Church.

That the Divine trinity is in the Lord has been shown above, and will be shown more fully hereafter when that subject is treated of in detail. Here only some inconsistencies resulting from a division of the trinity into persons will be pointed out. Such a trinity would be like one minister of a church teaching from the pulpit what must be believed and what must be done, with another minister standing by him, whispering in his ear, "You say truly, add something more;" and these saying to a third, standing on the steps of the pulpit, "Go down into the church, open the ears of the people, and pour these things into their hearts, and cause them to be pure, holy, and pledges of righteousness." Again, a Divine trinity divided into persons, each one of whom singly is God and Lord, is like three suns in a single solar system, one near to another on high, and below these a third, which pours forth its rays upon angels and men, conveying the heat and light of the other two with all power to their minds, hearts, and bodies; enkindling, clarifying, and refining them, as fire does with substances in a retort. Who cannot see that if this were done men would be burned to a cinder? Again, the rule of three Divine persons in heaven would be like the rule of three kings in one kingdom; or of three commanders having equal authority over one army; or rather like the Roman government before the times of the Caesars, which was composed of a consulate, a senate, and a tribunate of the commons, among whom the power was distributed, but with the supreme authority residing in all together. Who does not see the absurdity, folly, and madness of introducing such a form of government into heaven? But this is done when an authority like that of the higher consulate is ascribed to God the Father, an authority like that of the senate to the Son, and an authority like that of the tribunate of the commons to the Holy Spirit. This is done when a function peculiar to Himself is attributed to each; and especially when, in addition to this, their attributes are not communicable.

(2) The Divine Energy and Operation, which are meant by the Holy Spirit, are, in general, reformation and regeneration; and in accordance with these, renovation, vivification, sanctification and justification; and in accordance with these latter, purification from evils, forgiveness of sins, and finally salvation. These in their order are the energies made operative by the Lord in those who believe in Him, and who adjust and dispose themselves for His reception and indwelling; and this is done by means of Divine truth, and with Christians by means of the Word; for the Word is the sole medium through which man draws near to the Lord, and into which the Lord enters. For, as said above, the Lord is Divine truth itself, and whatever goes forth from Him is Divine truth. But Divine truth from good must be understood, which is the same as faith from charity, since faith is nothing but truth, and charity is nothing but goodness. It is by means of Divine truth from good, that is, by means of faith from charity, that man is reformed and regenerated, and also renewed, vivified, sanctified, justified, and according to the progress and growth of these is purified from evils; and purification from evils is remission of sins. But these operations of the Lord cannot now be all explained one by one, because each one calls for its own analysis, confirmed by the Word and rationally illustrated, for which this not the place; therefore the reader is referred to the chapters following in order in this work, which treat of Charity, Faith, Free Will, Repentance, and Reformation and Regeneration. It must be understood that these saving graces are continually made operative by the Lord in every man; since they are the steps to heaven, and the Lord desires the salvation of all. Thus the salvation of all is His end; and he who wills an end wills also the means. The Lord's coming, redemption, and the passion of the cross were for the sake of man's salvation (Matt 18:11; Luke 19:10). And as man's salvation was and eternally is the Lord's end, it follows that the above mentioned operations are mediate ends, and salvation the final end.

The operation of these energies is the Holy Spirit, which the Lord sends to those who believe in Him and who prepare themselves to receive Him. This is what is meant by the "spirit" in the following passages: I will give you a new heart and a new spirit; and I will put My spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes (Ezek. 36:26, 27; 11:19). Create in us a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation, and let a willing spirit uphold me (Ps. 51:10, 12). Jehovah formeth the spirit of man within him (Zech. 12:1). With my soul have I waited for Thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me have I waited for Thee in the morning (Isa. 26:9). Make you a new heart and a new spirit; why will ye die, O house of Israel? (Ezek. 18:31); and elsewhere. In these passages "a new heart" means a will of good and "a new spirit" an understanding of truth. That the Lord operates these in such as do good and believe the truth, that is, in those who are in the faith of charity, is clearly evident from what is said above-that God gives a soul to those who walk in His statutes; also from the words, "a willing spirit." And that man must operate on his part is evident from the words, "Make you a new heart and a new spirit; why will ye die O house of Israel?"

We read: That when Jesus was baptized the heavens were opened, and John saw the Holy Spirit descending like a dove (Matt. 3:16; Mark 1:10; Luke 3:21, 22; John 1:32, 33). This took place because baptism signifies regeneration and purification; and a dove has the same signification. Who cannot see that the dove was not the Holy Spirit; and that the Holy Spirit was not the dove? Doves often appear in heaven; and whenever they appear the angels know that they are correspondences of the affections and the consequent thoughts concerning regeneration and purification of some who are near by; therefore as soon as these are approached and are spoken to about some other subject than was in their thoughts when that appearance took place the doves instantly vanish. This is like many things seen by the prophets; as that John saw a lamb standing upon Mount Zion (Apoc. 14:1); and elsewhere. Who does not know that the Lord was not that lamb, and was not in the lamb, but the lamb was a representation of His innocence? This shows clearly the error of those who deduce a trinity of three persons from the dove seen descending upon the Lord when He was baptized, and from the voice heard out of heaven saying, "This is My beloved Son." That the Lord regenerates man by means of faith and charity is meant by what John the Baptist said: I baptize you with water unto repentance; but He that cometh after me shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire (Matt. 3:11; Mark 1:8; Luke 3:16). "To baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire" means to regenerate by the Divine truth that belongs to faith and the Divine good that belongs to charity. The same is meant by these words of the Lord: Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God (John 3:5). "Water," here as elsewhere in the Word, signifies truth in the natural or external man; and "spirit" signifies truth from good in the spiritual or internal man.

Since, then, the Lord is Divine truth itself from Divine good, and this is His very essence, and since it is from one's essence that he does what he does, it is obvious that the Lord wills unceasingly (nor can He will otherwise) to implant truth and good, or faith and charity, in every man. This may be illustrated by many things in the world; as that every man's volition and thought, and as far as it is allowable his speech and acts, are from his own essence; for example, a faithful man has faithful thoughts and intentions; an honest, upright, pious, and religious man has honest, upright, pious, and religious thoughts and intentions; and conversely, a proud, cunning, wily, and avaricious man has thoughts and intentions that make one with his essence; a fortune-teller desires only to tell fortunes; a fool has no wish but to babble against the things of wisdom; in a word, an angel meditates and strives after nothing but heavenly things, and a devil nothing but infernal things. It is the same with every subject of lower rank in the animal kingdom, as bird, beast, fish, worm, or insect-each is known by its essence or nature; and its instinct is from that nature and in accord therewith. Likewise in the vegetable kingdom, every tree, shrub, and plant is known by its fruit and its seed, in which its essence is innate; nor can anything be produced from it except what is like it and what is its own; yea, every kind of soil and marl, every stone both precious and common, and every mineral and metal, is judged according to its essence.

(3) The Divine Energy and Operation, which are meant by the "sending of the Holy Spirit" are, with the clergy especially, enlightenment and instruction. The operations of the Lord enumerated in the preceding proposition, namely, reformation, regeneration, renewal, vivification, sanctification, justification, purification, the forgiveness of sins, and finally salvation, flow in from the Lord both with the clergy and the laity, and are received by those who are in the Lord, and in whom the Lord is (John 6:56; 14:20; 15:4, 5). But enlightenment and instruction are communicated especially to the clergy, because these belong to their office, and inauguration into the ministry carries these along with it. Moreover, when preaching from zeal they believe themselves to be inspired, like the Lord's disciples upon whom He breathed, saying: Receive ye the Holy Spirit (John 20:22; see also Mark 13:11). Some affirm even that they have felt the influx. But they should be very careful not to persuade themselves that the zeal by which many are carried away while preaching is the Divine operation in their hearts; for a like and even warmer zeal prevails with enthusiasts, as also with those who are in the utmost falsities of doctrine; and even with those who despise the Word and worship nature instead of God, and fling faith and charity, as it were, into a bag on the back; but when preaching or teaching they hang it before them like a sort of ruminatory stomach, from which they draw out and disgorge such things as they know will serve as food for their hearers. For zeal, in itself considered, is a glow of the natural man. If it has within it a love of truth it is like the sacred fire that descended upon the apostles, as described in the Acts: There appeared unto them tongues parting asunder, like as of fire; and it sat upon each of them; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:3-4). But if within that zeal or glow a love of falsity is concealed, it is like a fire imprisoned in wood, which bursts forth and consumes the house. You who deny the holiness of the Word and the Divinity of the Lord, take, I pray, the bag from your back and open it, as you freely do in your privacy, and you will see. I know that those who are meant by "Lucifer" in Isaiah, who are such as belong to Babylon, when they enter a church, and still more when they ascend the pulpit (especially those who call themselves members of the Society of Jesus), are swept away by a zeal which with many springs from infernal love, and from it declaim more vehemently, and from their breasts draw deeper sighs, than those who are zealous from heavenly love. With the clergy there are two other spiritual operations (as may be seen below, n. 155).

It is as yet scarcely known in the church that in all of man's will and thought and his consequent action and speech, there is an internal and an external, and that from infancy man is carefully taught to speak from the external, however the internal may dissent; and that this is the origin of simulation, flattery, and hypocrisy; and thus man becomes double-minded. But he alone is single-minded whose external thinks and speaks and wills and acts from the internal; and such are meant by the "simple [single]" in the Word (as in Luke 8:15; 11:34; and elsewhere). Nevertheless these are wiser than those who are double-minded. The doubleness and tripleness in every created thing is evident in the parts of the human body. Every nerve therein consists of fibers, and every fiber of fibrils; every muscle consists of bundles of fibers, and these of motor fibers; every artery of coats in a triple series. It is the same in the human mind, whose spiritual organization is of like character, because, as said already, it is divided into three distinct regions; of which the highest, which is also the inmost, is called the celestial, the middle is called the spiritual, and the lowest the natural. It is in this lower region that the minds of all men who deny the holiness of the Word and the Divinity of the Lord carry on thought. But because such have learned also from infancy the spiritual things pertaining to the church, and accept these, but place them beneath natural things (that is, scientific, political, and civil-moral matters of various kinds), also because these spiritual things occupy the lowest part of the mind, which is nearest to speech, it comes to pass that when such persons speak in churches and public assemblies they speak from these; and what is wonderful, they are quite unaware at the time that they are not speaking and teaching from a belief in them. But when they are in freedom, as they are in privacy, the door that has closed the internal of their mind is opened, and then at times they laugh at what they had before preached publicly, saying in their hearts that theology is a specious snare for catching doves.

The internal and external of such men may be likened to poisons coated with sugar; also to those wild gourds which the sons of the prophets collected and put into pottage and ate them, and then cried out, "There is death in the pot" (2 Kings 4:38-41). They may also be compared to the beast coming up out of the sea, which had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon (Rev. 13:11); and afterwards that beast is called "the false prophet." They are also like robbers in a city where they dwell as citizens, acting morally and talking rationally; but when they return to the forests they are wild beasts. Or they are like pirates, who on the shore are human beings, but at sea are very crocodiles. These when on land or in a city go about like panthers clothed in sheep-fleeces, or like apes in men's clothing and wearing a mask like the face of a man. They may also be likened to a harlot, who anoints herself with balsam, paints her face with rouge, and clothes herself in white silk interwoven with flowers, but when she returns home denudes herself before her visitors, and infects them with her diseases. That such is the character of those who in heart detract from the holiness of the Word and the Divinity of the Lord it has been granted me to know by years of experience in the spiritual world; for there all at first are kept in their externals, but afterwards their externals are taken away and they are introduced into their internals; and then their comedy is turned into a tragedy.

(4) The Lord makes these energies operative in those who believe in Him. That these energies, which are meant by the sending of the Holy Spirit, are made operative by the Lord in those who believe in Him, that is, that such are reformed, regenerated, renewed, vivified, sanctified, justified, purified from evils, and at length are saved by the Lord, is evident from all those passages in the Word quoted above (n. 107) which prove that those who believe in the Lord have salvation and eternal life; also especially from this: Jesus said, He that believeth on Me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. But this spoke He of the Spirit which they that believed in Him were to receive (John 7:38, 39). And from this: The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy (Apoc. 19:10). "The spirit of prophecy" means truth of doctrine from the Word, "prophecy" signifying doctrine, while "to prophesy" signifies to teach doctrine; and "the testimony of Jesus" means confession from faith in Him. "His testimony" has a similar meaning in the following passage: The angels of Michael overcame the dragon through the blood of the Lamb and through the word of their testimony. And the dragon went away to make war with the rest of her seed who kept the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ (Apoc. 12:11 17).

Those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ will receive these spiritual energies for the reason that He Himself is salvation and eternal life. He is salvation since He is the Savior; and this is the meaning of His name Jesus; He is eternal life since those in whom He is and who are in Him have eternal life therefore He is called "eternal life" (1 John 5:20). Since, then, He is salvation and eternal life, it follows that He is also all that whereby salvation and eternal life are obtained, consequently He is the all of reformation, regeneration, renewal, vivification, sanctification, justification, purification from evils, and finally salvation. These are made operative by the Lord in every man, that is, the Lord strives to impart them; and He does impart them when man adapts and disposes himself for reception. The essential active force by which adaptation and disposition are effected is from the Lord; but unless man receives these operations with a free spirit the Lord cannot go beyond the effort, which, however, unceasingly continues.