was representative of the Lord who was to come. T. C. R. 786. The Infinite itself cannot otherwise be manifest than by the Divine Human. 74. The Infinite itself, which is above all the heavens, and above the inmosts with man, cannot be manifested except by the Divine Human, which exists with the Lord alone. The communication of the Infinite with the finite is not possible in any other way; which is also the reason that when Jehovah appeared to the men of the Most Ancient Church, and afterwards to those of the Ancient Church, after the Flood, and also in succeeding times to Abraham and the prophets, he was manifested to them as a man. Hence it may appear that the Infinite Esse never could have been manifested to man except by the Human Essence, consequently by the Lord.-A. C. 1990. 75. What proceeds immediately from the Divine itself, not even the angels in the inmost heaven can comprehend. The reason is, because it is infinite, and thus transcends all comprehension, even the angelical. But what proceeds from the Lord's Divine Human, this they can comprehend, for it treats of God as a Divine Man, concerning whom some idea can be formed from the Human. -A. C. 5321. The Incarnation. eousness," Jerem. xxiii. 5, 6, xxxiii. 15, 16: besides in many passages, where the coming of the Lord is called the day of Jehovah, as Isaiah xiii. 6, 9, 13, 22; Ezek. xxxi. 25; Joel i. 15, ii. 1, 2, 11, iii. 24, iv. 1, 4, 18; Amos v. 13, 18, 20. Zeph. i. 7-18; Zech. xiv. 1, 4-21; and in other places. That Jehovah himself descended and assumed the human, is very evident in Luke, where shall this be done, since I know not a man? To are these words: "Mary said to the angel, How whom the angel replied, The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the virtue of the Most High that is born of thee, shall be called the Son of shall overshadow thee; whence the Holy Thing God, i. 34, 35. And in Matthew: "The angel said to Joseph, the bridegroom of Mary, in a dream, That which is born in her is of the Holy Spirit; and Joseph knew her not, until she brought That by the Holy Spirit is meant the Divine which forth a Son, and called his name Jesus," i. 20, 25. proceeds from Jehovah, will be seen in the third the child has the soul and life from the father, and chapter of this work. Who does not know, that that the body is from the soul? What, therefore, is said more plainly, than that the Lord had his soul and life from Jehovah God? and, because the Divine cannot be divided, that the Divine itself was his soul and life? Wherefore the Lord so often called Jehovah God his Father, and Jehovah God called him his Son. What, then, can be heard more ludicrous, than that the soul of our Lord was from the mother Mary, as both the Roman Catholics and the Reformed at this day dream, not having as yet been awaked by the Word. 76. In the Christian churches at this day, it is believed that God, the Creator of the universe, begat a Son from eternity, and that this Son descended and assumed the Human, to redeem and save men; but this is erroneous, and falls of itself to the ground, while it is considered that God is 77. That a Son, born from eternity, descended one, and that it is more than fabulous in the eye and assumed the Human, evidently appears as erof reason, that the one God should have begotten roneous, and is dissipated, from the passages in the 2. Son from eternity, and also that God the Father, Word, in which Jehovah himself says, that He ogether with the Son and the Holy Ghost, each Himself is the Savior and the Redeemer, which of whom singly is God, should be one God. This are the following: "Am not I Jehovah? and there fabulous representation is entirely dissipated, while is no God else besides me; a just God and a Sait is demonstrated from the Word, that Jehovah vior there is not besides me," Isaiah xlv 21, 22. God himself descended, and became MAN, and “I am Jehovah, and besides me there is no Saalso Redeemer. As it regards the first- "That vior," xliii. 11. “I am Jehovah thy God, and thou Jehovah God himself descended and became Man," shalt not acknowledge a God besides me: there is evident from these passages: "Behold, a virgin is no Savior besides me," Hosea, xiii. 4. "That shall conceive and bring forth a Son, who shall be all flesh may know that I Jehovah am thy Savior called God with us," Isaiah vii. 14. Matt. i. 22, 23. and thy Redeemer," Isaiah xlix. 26, lx. 16. "As "A Child is born to us, a Son is given to us, upon for our Redeemer, Jehovah of hosts is his name," whose shoulder shall be the government, and his xlvii. 4. "Their Redeemer is mighty; Jehovah name shall be called Wonderful, God, Hero, Fa- of hosts is his name," Jerem. 1. 34. "Jehovah, ther of Eternity, the Prince of Peace," Isaiah ix. 6. my Rock and my Redeemer," Psalm xix. 15. "It shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God, "Thus said Jehovah, thy Redeemer, the Holy One whom we have expected to deliver us; this is Je- of Israel, I am Jehovah thy God," Isaiah xlviii. 17, hovah, whom we have expected: let us exult and xliii. 24, xlix. 7. "Thus said Jehovah thy Rerejoice in his salvation," xxv. 9. "The voice of one deemer, I am Jehovah, that maketh all things, crying in the wilderness, Prepare a way for Jeho- even alone by Myself," xliv. 24. "Thus said Jevah; make smooth in the desert a path for our hovah, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, JeGod; and all flesh shall see together," xl. 3, 5. hovah of hosts, I am the First and the Last, and "Behold, the Lord Jehovah is coming in the besides me there is no God," xliv. 6. "Thou, Jemighty one, and his arm shall rule for him; be- hovah, art our Father, our Redeemer from eternity hold, his reward is with him, and he shall feed his is thy name," lxiii. 16. "With the mercy of eterflock like a shepherd," xl. 10, 11. "Jehovah said, nity I will have mercy, thus said Jehovah thy ReSing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion; behold, I deemer,” liv. 8. "Thou hast redeemed me, Jehoam coming to dwell in the midst of thee; then vah, God of truth, Psalm xxxi. 6. Let Israel hope many nations shall cleave to Jehovah in that day," in Jehovah, because in Jehovah is mercy, and with Zech. ii. 14, 15. "I Jehovah have called thee in Him is plenteous Redemption, and He will redeem! righteousness, and I will give thee for a covenant Israel from all his iniquities," cxxx. 7, 8. "Jehovalı of the people; I am Jehovah; this is my name, God, and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel, and my glory I will not give to another," Isaiah the God of the whole earth shall he be called," xii. 6-8. "Behold, the days are coming, when Isaiah liv. 5. From these passages and very many I will raise up unto David a righteous branch, who others, every man who has eyes, and a mind shall reign king, and do judgment and justice in opened by means of them, may see that God, who is the earth; and this is his name, Jehovah our Right-one, descended and became Man, for the purpose of accomplishing the work of redemption. Who cannot see this, as in the morning light, while he attends to those very divine declarations, which have been adduced? But those who are in the shade of night, from confirmation in favor of the birth of another God from eternity, and concerning his descent and redemption, close their eyelids at those divine declarations, and in that state think how they may apply them to their falses, and pervert them.-T. C. R., 82, 83. 78. I am aware it will be thought, How can Jehovah the Father, who is the Creator of the Universe, come down and assume Humanity? But let them think also, How can the Son from eternity, who is equal to the Father, and also the Creator of the Universe, do this? Does it not amount to the same thing? It is said the Father and the Son from eternity, but there is no Son from eternity; it is the Divine Humanity, called the Son, that was sent into the world.-A. R. 743. In human Generation, the Soul is from the Father, and the Body from the Mother, which is analogous to the Incarnation of the Lord. of the Divine Good, there it is said Jehovalı, All 81. The Lord in the Word is called Jehovah as to Divine Good, for Divine Good is the very Divine; and the Lord is called the Son of God as to Divine Truth, for Divine Truth proceeds from Divine Good, as a son from a father, and also is said to be born.-A. C. 7499. Yet did not separate the Divine Good. 82. That God, although He descended as the Divine Truth, still did not separate the Divine Good, is evident from the conception, concerning which it is read, that The virtue of the Most High overshadowed Mary, (Luke i. 35;) and by the virtue of the Most High is meant the Divine Good. The same is evident from the passages where He says, that the Father is in Him, and He in the Father; that all things of the Father are his; and that the Father and He are one; besides many other things. By the Father is meant the Divine Good.-T. C. Ř. 88. [NOTE. To assist the reader to the rationality of the above conception, it may be briefly stated that, as the Divine Good and Truth from eternity, which were the Father and the Son, were not separated, so in the Lord Jesus Christ; although He descend the Son of God in reference to his Divine Humanity, which only 79. To the above I shall add this arcanum, that the soul, which is from the father, is the very man, and that the body, which is from the mother, is not man in itself, but from the soul; the body is only a covering of the soul, composed of such things as are of the natural world. Since the soul of man is the very man, and is spiritual from its origin, it is manifest whence it is that the mind, soul, disposition, inclination, and affection of the love of the father dwells in his offspring, and returns and renders itself conspicuous from generation to gen-ed, or came out from infinity and eternity, as Divine Truth, yet eration. Thence it is, that many families, yea, nations, are known from their first father; there is a general image in the face of each descendant, which manifests itself; and this image is not changed, except by the spiritual things of the church. The reason that a general image of Jacob and Judah still remains in their posterity, by which they may be distinguished from others, is, because they have hitherto adhered firmly to their religious principles; for there is in the seed of every one from which he is conceived, a graft or off-away, they foresaw that that infinite existing could set of the father's soul, in its fulness, within a certain covering from the elements of nature, by which the body is formed in the womb of the mother; which may be made according to the likeness of the father, or according to the likeness of the mother, the image of the father still remaining within it, which continually endeavors to bring itself forth, and if it cannot do it in the first generation, it effects it in the following. The reason that the image of the father is in its fulness in the seed, is because, as was said, the soul is spiritual from its origin, and what is spiritual has nothing in common with space; wherefore it is similar to itself in a small, as well as in a large compass. T. C. R. 103. Jehovah God descended as to Divine Truth, and was also said to be born. 80. There are two things which make the essence of God, the Divine Love and the Divine Wisdom; or, what is the same, the Divine Good and the Divine Truth. These two in the Word are meant also by Jehovah God; by Jehovah, the Divine Love or the Divine Good, and by God, the Divine Wisdom or the Divine Truth. Thence it is that, in the Word, they are distinguished in various ways, and sometimes only Jehovah is named, and sometimes only God; for where it is treated Reasons for the Incarnation. 83. When the celestial church began to fall not any longer have influx into the minds of men, and that so the human race would perish; therefore they had revelation, that one should be born who should make the human in Himself Divine, and thus should become the very infinite existing such as had been before, and at length should become one with the infinite esse as also had been before; hence their prophetical concerning the Lord, Gen. iii. 15. This is thus described in John: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word. This was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him, and without Him was not any thing made which was made. In Him was the life; and the life was the light of men. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt in us, (and we saw his glory, as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth," i. 1--4, 14. The Word is divine truth, which in its essence is the infinite existing from the infinite esse, and is the Lord Himself as to his Human. This Itself it is from which truth divine now proceeds and flows into heaven, and through heaven into human minds, consequently which rules and governs the universe, as It has ruled and governed from eternity; for It is the same and one with the infinite esse, for It conjoined the Human to the Divine, which was effected by this, that It made the Human in Itself also Divine. Hence now it may appear that the supreme of truth divine is the Lord's Divine Human, and hence that it is a supreme [tenet] among the doctrinals of the church, that his Human is Divine.-A. C. 4687. 84. When men had so far removed themselves from the Divine Human Essence, that Jehovah was not able to inflow into man with that Divine Essence, He assumed humanity, and made that a Divine Essence; and in this way was able, by an influx into heaven thus produced, to reach those of the human race who should receive the goodness of charity and the truth of faith from the Divine Human Essence, which so became visible. -A. C. 6280. 85. Before the coming of the Lord into the world, there was influx of life with men and with spirits, from Jehovah or the Lord, through the celestial kingdom, that is, through the angels who were in that kingdom; hence they then had power; but when the Lord came into the world, and thereby made the human in Himself Divine, He put on that itself, which was with the angels of the celestial kingdom, thus He put on that power: for the Divine transflux through that heaven had been heretofore the Human Divine; it was also the Divine Man which was presented when Jehovah so appeared; but this Human Divine ceased when the Lord Himself made the Human in Himself Divine.-A. C. 6371. with men. The glorification of the Lord is the glorification of his humanity, which He took in the world; and the humanity of the Lord glorified is the Divine Natural.-S. S. 99. 88. It is to be fully known that all the correspondence that there is with heaven is with the Divine Human of the Lord, since heaven is from Him and He is heaven, as has been shown in the foregoing articles; for unless the Divine Human flowed into all things of heaven, and according to correspondences into all things of the world, neither angel nor man would exist. Thence again it is manifest why the Lord became Man, and clothed his Divine with the Human, from first to last; that it was because the Divine Human, from which heaven existed before the coming of the Lord, was no longer sufficient to sustain all things, because man, who is the basis of the heavens, subverted and destroyed order.-H. H. 101. 89. Man is so natural and sensual that he is utterly incapable of having an idea of thought concerning abstract [principles], unless he adjoins something natural which had entered from the world through sensuals, for without such a [natural something] his thought perishes as in an abyss, and is dissipated; therefore lest the Divine should perish with man altogether immersed in corporeal and earthly things, and in cases where it remained, should be defiled by an unclean idea, and together with it every thing celestial and spiritual from the 86. "Until Shiloh come." That it signifies the Divine should suffer in like manner, it pleased coming of the Lord, and the tranquillity of peace Jehovah to present Himself actually such as He is, then, appears from the signification of Shiloh, as and such as He appears in heaven, namely, as a being the Lord, who is called Shiloh from this, divine Man; for all of heaven conspires to the that He pacified and made all things tranquil; for human form, as may be manifest from what has in the original tongue Shiloh is derived from an been shown at the close of the chapters concernexpression which signifies tranquillity. Why the ing the correspondence of all things of man with Lord is here called Shiloh, is evident from what the grand man, which is heaven. This Divine, or was said just above, concerning the celestial king- this of Jehovah in heaven, is the Lord from eterdom and its power; for when the Divine was pre-nity; the same also the Lord took upon Him when sented through that kingdom, then there was in- He glorified or made the human in Himself Divine; tranquillity; for those things which are in heaven, which is also manifest from the form in which he and those which are in hell, could not thereby be appeared before Peter, James, and John, when he reduced into order, inasmuch as the Divine which was transformed, Matt. xvii. 1, 2; and also in flowed through that kingdom could not be pure, which he occasionally appeared to the prophets. because heaven is not pure; thus neither is that Hence now it is, that every one is able to think of kingdom so strong that by it all things might be the Divine Itself as of a Man, and then of the Lord, kept in order; wherefore also then infernal and in whom is all the Divine, and a perfect trine; for in diabolical spirits issued forth from the hells, and the Lord the Divine Itself is the Father, that divine gained dominion over the souls which came from in heaven is the Son, and the divine thence proceedthe world; whence it came to pass that no others ing is the Holy Spirit; and that these are one, as He then could be saved than the celestial, and at himself teaches, is hence manifest. - A. C. 5110. length scarcely they, unless the Lord had assumed the human, and made it in Himself Divine. By this the Lord reduced all things into order, first the things which are in heaven, next those which are in the hells; hence the tranquillity of peace. Ꭿ. C. 6:373. 90. Inasmuch as the Lord operates all things from first principles by ultimates, and in ultimates is in His power and in His fulness, therefore it pleased the Lord to take upon Him the Human [principle], and to be made divine truth, that is, the Word, and thereby from Himself to reduce 87. All the churches which were before his into order all things of heaven, and all things of advent were representative churches, which could hell, that is, to execute a last judgment: this the not see divine truth but as it were in the shade; Lord could accomplish from the Divine [principle] but after the advent of the Lord into the world, a in Himself, which is in first [principles], by His church was instituted by Him which saw divine Human, which was in ultimates, and not from his truth in the light. The difference between the presence or abode in the men of the church, as churches is similar to evening and morning. The formerly, for these had altogether fallen away from state of the church previous to the Lord's coming the truths and goods of the Word, in which the is also called evening, and the state of the church Lord had before His habitation with man. This after his coming is called morning. The Lord, was the primary cause of the Lord's advent into previous to his coming into the world, was indeed the world, and also that He might make His present with the men of the church, but it was mediately through heaven; but since his advent in the world, He is immediately present with the men of the church. For in the world He put on also the Divine Natural, in which He is present Human [principle] Divine; for thereby he put himself into the power of keeping all things of heaven, and all things of hell, forever in order. A. E. 1087. 91. It must be observed, that the Lord is present with men in his divine natural principle; but with | words taught, that he was no longer Jehovah under the angels of his spiritual kingdom, in his divine spiritual principle; and with the angels of his celestial kingdom, in his divine celestial principle; still he is not divided, but appears to every one according to his quality.-A. R. 466. the form of an angel, but that He was Jehovah Man; which also is meant by these words of the Lord, “I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world; again I leave the world, and go to the Father." John xvi. 28.-A. C. 9315. 94. It has been told me from heaven, that in the Lord, from eternity, who is Jehovah, before the assumption of the Human in the world, there were the two prior degrees actually, and the third degree in potency, such as they are with the angels; but that after His assumption of the Human in the world, He put on also the third or natural degree, and thereby became a man, like a man in the world, except that in Him, this degree, like the prior, is infinite and uncreate, while in angels and men, these degrees are finite and created. For the Divine, which filled all space without space, penetrated also to the ultimates of nature; but before the assumption of the Human, the divine influx into the natural degree, was mediate through the angelic heavens; but after the assumption, imme diate, from Himself: which is the reason, why all the churches in the world, before His coming. were representative of spiritual and celestial things, but after His coming, became spiritual and celes tial-natural, and representative worship was abolished: also why the sun of the angelic heaven, which, as was said above, is the proximate proceeding of His divine love and divine wisdom, after His assumption of the Human, shone with more eminent effulgence and splendor than before the assumption. This is meant by the words of Isaiah: "In that day, 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," xxx. 26; which is spoken of the state of heaven and the church, after the Lord's coming into the world. And in the Apocalypse: "The countenance of the Son of Man was as the sun shineth in his strength," i. 16; and elsewhere, as in Isaiah lx. 20; 2 Sam. xxiii. 3, 4; Matt. xvii. 1,2. The mediate illustration of men, through the angelic heaven, which existed before the Lord's coming, may be compared to the 92. The Divine itself in heaven, or in the greatest Man, was the Divine Human, and was Jehovah Himself, thus clothed with the human. But when mankind became such, that the Divine itself, clothed as the divine human, could no longer affect them, that is, when Jehovah could no longer come to man, because he had so far removed himself, then Jehovah, who is the Lord as to the Divine Essence, descended and took upon him the human, by conception divine, and by birth from a virgin like another man; but this he expelled, and by divine means made divine the human that was born, from which proceeds all the Holy; thus the divine human existed an Essence by itself, which fills the universal heaven, and effects that those should be saved who before could not be saved; this now is the Lord, who as to the divine human alone is man, and from whom man has that he is man. — A. C. 3061. 93. The reason why it pleased the Lord to be born a man was, that He might actually put on the human, and might make this Divine, to save the human race. Know therefore, that the Lord is Jehovah himself or the Father in a human form; which also the Lord Himself teaches in John, "I and the Father are one," x. 30: again, "Jesus said, Henceforth ye have known and seen the Father: He who hath seen Me hath seen the Father: Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me," xiv. 7, 9, 11: and again, "All mine are thine, and all thine mine," xvii. 10. This great mystery is described in John in these words: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word; the same was in the beginning with God: all things were made by Him, and without Him was not any thing made which was made. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt amongst us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father. No one hath seen God at any time; the only be-light of the moon, which is the mediate light of the gotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He hath brought him forth to view," i. 1-3, 14, 18. The Word is the divine truth, which has been revealed to men, and since this could not be revealed except from Jehovah as a Man, that is, except from Jehovah in the human form, thus from the Lord, therefore it is said, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word:" it is known in the church, that by the Word is meant the Lord; wherefore this is openly said, "The Word was made flesh, and dwelt amongst us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father." That the divine truth could not be revealed to men, except from Jehovah in the human form, is also clearly said: "No one hath seen God at any time; the only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He hath brought him forth to view." From this it is evident, that the Lord from eternity was Jehovah or the Father in a human form, but not yet in the flesh, for an angel has not flesh and whereas Jehovah or the Father willed to put on all the human, for the sake of the salvation of the human race, therefore also He assumed flesh; wherefore it is said, "God was the Word, and the Word was made flesh:" and in Luke, "See ye my hands and my feet, that it is I Myself; handle Me and see, for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see Me have," xxiv. 39. The Lord by these : sun; and as this was made immediate, after His coming, it is said in Isaiah, "That the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun;" and in the Psalms, "In His days shall the righteous flourish, and abundance of peace, until there is no longer any moon," lxxii. 7; this also is spoken of the Lord. 95. The Lord from eternity, or Jehovah, put on this third degree, by the assumption of the Human in the world, because he could not enter into this degree, but by a nature similar to the human nature; therefore only by conception, from His Divine, and by nativity from a virgin.-D. L. W. 233, 234. Why it is said that Jesus proceeded forth and came from God, and was sent. 96. That to go forth is to be of it, or its own, is evident from what goes before and from what follows, and also from the spiritual sense of that expression, for to go forth or to proceed, in that sense, is to present one's self before another in a form accommodated to him, thus to present one's self the same only in another form; in this sense, going forth is said of the Lord in John: "Jesus said of Himself, I proceeded forth and came from God," viii. 42. "The Father loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came forth from God: I came forth from the Father, and came into the world; again I leave the world, and go to the Father. The disciples said, We believe that thou camest forth from God," xvi. 27, 28, 30. | Lord's coming into the world, is an arcanum "They have known truly that I came forth from respecting which many are inquisitive in their own God," xxvii. 8. For illustrating what is meant by minds, and because they do not comprehend it, going forth or proceeding, the following cases may serve. It is said of truth, that it goes forth or proceeds from good, when truth is the form of good, or when truth is good in a form which the understanding can apprehend. It may also be said of the understanding, that it goes forth or proceeds from the will, when the understanding is the will formed, or when it is the will in a form apperceivable to the internal sight. In like manner concerning the thought which is of the understanding, it may be said to go forth or proceed when it becomes speech, and concerning the will when it becomes action. Thought clothes itself in another form when it becomes speech, but still it is the thought which so goes forth or proceeds, for the words and sounds, which are put on, are nothing but adjuncts, which make the thought to be accommodately apperceived: in like manner the will becomes another form when it becomes action, but still it is the will which is presented in such a form; the gestures and motions, which are put on, are nothing but adjuncts, which make the will to appear and affect accommodately. It may also be said of the external man, that it goes forth or proceeds from the internal, yea, substantially, because the external man is nothing else than the internal so formed, that it may act suitably in the world wherein it is. From these things it may be manifest, what going forth or proceeding is in the spiritual sense, namely, that when it is predicated of the Lord, it is the Divine formed as a man, thus accommodated to the perception of the believing; nevertheless each is they do not believe it; and as they do not believe it, by reason of their not comprehending it, it becomes a stumbling block to them. That this is the case has been given me to know by much experience concerning those who come into the other life. There are very many, including almost the greatest part of those who passed for men of ingenuity in this world, who, when they think that the Lord was made Man, and was as another man in his external form, and that He suffered, and that, notwithstanding, He governs the universe, instantly filled the sphere with scandals, by reason that this was a scandal, or stumbling block, to them in their life of the body, although they then kept their thoughts secret, and adored Him with external sanctity. For, in the other life, the interiors are laid open, and are manifested by the sphere that is thence diffused: hence it is manifestly perceived what had been their faith, and what they had thought concerning the Lord. This being the case, it may be expedient briefly to explain how the matter really is. After all the celestial principle in man was lost, that is, all love to God, so that there remained no longer any will to what was good, the human race was separated from the Divinity, since nothing joins them together but love, and when there was no love, disjunction took place, the consequence of which is destruction and extirpation. A promise was therefore then made concerning the Lord's coming into the world, who should unite the Humanity to the Divinity, and, through this union, should effect conjunction of the human race in himself by a faith grounded in love and charity. From the time 97. It is frequently said in the Word concerning of the first promise, (concerning which see Gen. the Lord, that he was sent by the Father, as also iii. 25,) faith, grounded in love to the Lord who it is said here. "Jehovah hath sent us;" but by was to come, was effective of conjunction: but being sent is every where signified in an internal when there was no longer any such faith remainsense to go forth, as in John: "They have received ing throughout the earth, then the Lord came, and and have known truly, that I went forth from Thee, united the Human Essence to the Divine, so that and have believed that Thou hast sent Me," xvii. 8. they became altogether a one, as he himself exIn like manner in other places, as in the same Evan- pressly declares. He at the same time taught the gelist: "God sent not his Son into the world, to way of truth, showing that every one who should judge the world, but that the world may be saved believe on him, that is, should love him and the by Him," iii. 17. Again: "He who honoreth not things appertaining to him, and who should be the Son, honoreth not the Father, who sent Him," principled in his love, which is extended towards v. 23; besides many other passages. In like man- the whole human race, should be conjoined with ner it is said of the holy of the spirit, that it was him, and be saved. When the Humanity was sent, that is, that it goeth forth from the Divine made Divine, and the Divinity Human, in the of the Lord, as in John: "Jesus said, When the Lord, then the influx of the Infinite or Supreme Comforter shall come, whom I am about to send Divinity had place with man, which could never to you from the Father, the Spirit of Truth, which otherwise have existed. Hence, also, there was a goeth forth from the Father, He shall testify of dispersion of the direful persuasions of falsity, and Me," xv. 26. Again: "If I go away, I will send of the direful lusts of evil, with which the world of the Comforter to you," xvi. 5, 7. Hence the Proph-spirits was overcharged, and was continually overets were called the sent, because the words which charging more and more, in consequence of the they spake went forth from the holy of the spirit of the Lord. And whereas all divine Truth goes forth from Divine Good, the expression to be sent is properly predicated of Divine Truth. Hence also it is evident what it is to go forth, viz., that he who goes forth, or that which goes forth, is of him from whom it goes forth.-A. C. 2397. one. A. C. 5337. souls that were continually collecting in it from this world; and they who were in those evils and falsities were cast into the hells, and thus were separated. Unless such a dispersion had been effected, mankind must have totally perished, they being governed by spirits from the Lord; nor was there any other method of effecting such dispersion, as no operation of the Divinity upon man's internal sensual principles was practicable through the rational principle, this principle being far beneath the Supreme Divinity not united with the Humanity. Not to mention other arcana of a still deeper nature, which cannot possibly be explained to the apprehension of any man. — A. C. 2034. |