Samuel Weems The Virgin Birth Swedenborg Foundation 1966

DedicatioIL

This book is dedicated affectionately to aIl those who have done anything toward the production from the time the author

was born to the present.

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THE PURPOSE OF THIS REPRINT Merry Christma(i966)

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My dear reader: This book is especially written for you. 1 want you to know how Jehovah God became the Lord God, Saviour Jesus Christ nsen and glorified, the only God of Heaven and Earth, our Heavenly Father. 1 want you to know the truth about the first and greatest tlung on earth because nothing bULthe trüth can make you free. There are many millions in this world at this day who do not know who the God of Heaven and Earth is. There are those who believe in Jehovah God as the Father who is good and evil, wrathful and angry, and who is capable of bringing us into heaven or hel!. There are those who think of Jesus Christ as the Son of God, born of a Vir~in or as a good man. And there are sorne who believe in the 1:roly Spirit. There is no necessity for these millions to live in this state of confusion about the most important thing in their lives for "The earth is full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea." ThIs 1 know to be true after sorne seventy-fivL):'ear~ of li~ing. (f5è>~"'" '7,3') Since graduating from the New Church Theological School, 1 have spent more than fifty years teaching and reading the voluminous works of Swedenborg and comparing them with the religious writings published during that time. 1 had in­ tended to send you a book written in my own words, but this proved too much for my eyesiK.ht and was abandoned threc quarters finished. Rather than give up altogether this idea which 1 cherished so long and which 1 had promised the Lord 1 would do if He would give me the wisdom, 1 decided to make use orRev. Samuel ffirren's Compendium which was published sorne years ago. By the hand of Divine Providence ( you are getting a better book than 1 ~ould have possibly pro­ duced in my own words. Here you have the writings of Swedenborg on the incarl'§tion in his own words. You will find that he s h ~ t not only on this subject, but t also on l he seeming contradicti~ns,' inaccuracies, historical 1 erro~s, absurdities, obscenitles, etc., in the scripture.

ln order that you might know for yourself something of the great value of these writings, 1 have selected sixty-five pages from a compendium from which is .tl).~reprint. These writings can be had at most book stores, but it may interest you to know that they have been given away for more than one hun­ l dred years by the Swedenborg Foundation in New York City, to ministers and theologlcaJ students. It is nope triat through these writings every reader will become a fisher of m..!;n and a { keder of sheep.

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The theological writings of Emanuel Swedenborg have for more than two hundred years been telling us who the true God is, and how J ehovah -'\God through the
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If only the truth were known that God is Love 1tself and that He punishes no one or casts any into hell, nor is he wrathful, revengeful and unforgiving as he is pictured. He could never be such that he could not forgive Adam and Eve for their sins nor their posterity who must suffer eternal tor­ ment. Who would or cou Id worship such a God who is worse than the worst of men? The true nature of God is to love others outside of himself and to be loved by others. Therefore, he has only one desire and that is to have a heaven of men and wowe.n from the human race who are physically and spiritually perfecto ~ What the Bible really does is to invite us to take part in the making of men. "Let us make man ..." At first it is difficult to teU whether the subject is the making of man or the making of earth, but this is c1arified in the twenty-sixth verse (Gen. 1: 26) "Let us make man in our image after our lilœness ...", and in the twenty-seventh verse (Gen. 1: 27) "So God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He mm,;.. . . ." Tt is said in his image and likeness because God does everything. He furnishes life and pc weI' for a whole universe. l t is said in our image and likeness because man takes an active part in the making of aIl mankind. The word man is used in two ways, singularly and col­ lectively, and inc1udes male and female. Almost aIl people read it as singular and become confused at the very beginning. This is a most ancient allegory and the proof is in the fourth chapter of Genesis. Tt states that Cain after killing Abel went

out from the presence of the Lord and there he knew his wife. (Gen 4: 16, 17). According to its singular sense there were only four people in the world, Adam and Eve, and Cain and Abel, but there he knew his wife and there he found people to build a city. And in the fifth chapter of Genesis (Gen 5: 1, 2) we read, "These are the generations of the book of Adam in the day which God created them and called their name Adam." Here we are taught to think of mankind both ( singularly and collectively in the creation.

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We are also taught to think of God as loving and the most loveable being in the universe, and man as His most loving and most loveable masterpiece in creation. There is no creature in the universe that can love like man. H.is-.range is infinite like that of God's. This is why it is said man is created in the lmage and likeness of God and the highest love is love to God with aIl thy heart and with ail thy mind and ail thy strength and thy neighbor as thyself. (Matt. 22: 37-39). from the ~­ ginning man was endowed with this love which is why he occupies the highest position in the universe. In the eighth psalm it is written that he was created a little lower than God, not a little lower than the angels as sorne have thought. It is said also that he is crowned with glory and honor and made to have dominion over ail the works of thy hands. "Thou has put aIl things under his feet, ail sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, and all things that ~seth througb the sea." 0!h.... Lfhd, our Lord how excellent is th name in 11 t earth. is ?;lVeS us sorne i ea 0 the Lord's love for man. "A mother can forget her sucking child, but l can never forget. l have graven thee upon the palms of my hands and l have loved thee with an everlasting love." "If l ascend up into heaven, thou art there' if l make my bed in heU, behold, thou art there." (Ps. 139~8th verse)

Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is Heaven is perfect. Matt. 5: 48.

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It is He that hath made us and not we ourselves. We are His people and the sheep of His pasture 100th Ps. 3rd verse. As in Heaven so upon earth Matt. 6. We are in the habit of thinking of God creating single man (Adam) but we would do well to think of man singularly and collectively. Our early sacred records teach us of collective man. Our most ancient world, Canaan, Babylon, Egypt, India,

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China, Persia and Greece tell us of a Golden Age of speaking men who ate fruits and vegetables. So the peopie had become quickly accustomed to.looking in each other's faces and become acquainted with each other's IN infinity of faces - precious faces which only Divine love and YP Divine wisdom can create. Then ail joy and aIl delight were there. Then it was eternal spring. Then aH beauty, use and strength were there. Then nectar, milk and honey were fiowing. Friendly faces fresh from the hand of God often vied with each other, to see who could offer the Father-Creator each morning the prettiest face. So they ate for perfection, they bathed for perfection. They married, walked, talked and prayed for perfection, and they achieved perfection. Thjs is why the most ancjent people were the kindest an ost beautiful of aIl eo le. They were the acme of perfection. This is ow we come by our parental allegories: A Garden Eastward in Eden, the Hesperides or the Garden of Golden AppIés, and the Garden more beautiful than aIl the world besides. The Garden on the summit of the mountain Kounlon, near the Gate of Heaven, The Holy Meroo, a fair and stately mountain, a most exalted mass of glory; not to be encompassed by sinful man, blameless Ethiopia and many others. They were innocent men endowed with the love of God in their hearts, minds, souls and strengths, and they loved their neighbors as themselves and they gladly reaped the labor of their own hand. They were wont to live a life free from care out of the reach of ail ills. "Nor was wretched old age at aD impending, but, ever the same in hands and feet, did they delight themselves in festivals out of the reach of aIl ills;. "( Hesiod, Works and Days) THEY died or passed into the spiritual world as if oyercome bv sleep. Their Bible was nature. Ail nature was alive and full of information. The whole world spake ta them, birds, beasts, fish of the sei; fiowers, trees, vines, moutrtîlns, sunsets and nvers. Ail had messages of love and wisdom for them and

the y knew that this world came from the spiritual world and tn:attFilS world corresponded to the spiritual world. They knew that everything in the natural world was emblematic of the spiritual world. Therefore, everything had deep lessons of spiritual life of love and wisdom. They could read from the book of nature heavenly lessons from the Lord more freely than we can read our daily newspapers. Hence arose those beautiful parables, allegories, myths and fables, also hiero­ glyphics or nature writing and representative architecture. Such an age was the Golden Age or the first church of Adam. These people knew no evil as they were endowed with the highest type of love, and they enjoyed "Christmas" not one day but three hundred and sixty-five days of the year. They lived in their Father's house intuitively. For how many centuries this lasted no one knows. In our Bible it is called the Garden of Eden. We know that this beautiful age did not last. After a time it gradually dec1ined through a number of churches or communities over a period of time under the name of various representative leaders. (See Genesis: 5). Finally it was destroyed by a spiritual catac1ysm known as the flood, not of waters, but of inequity and sin. In this oldest allegory of Adam the Lord saw that "1t was not good that man should be alone." (Gen 2: 18) "To be alone means to be with God." Until this time peace and contentment had reigned in the hearts of men, but now the Lord discovered that man was discontented and wanted more freedom. He, therefore, helped by giving man a helpmate. So he caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam and took out of his side a rib and c10sed up the place with flesh. (Gen. 2:21) With this he made an allegoric1e wife for Adam. This was a spiritual con­ dition brought upon the first church on earth to pacify man. He was given a spiritual wife to make him happy while he sought independence. Though man was created to love God intuitively or voluntarily, he wanted to do it independently. He had reached the age of maturity. In this allegory the wife­ ly independence was not satisfactory because it gave both par­ ties an appetite for "truth as it appears." The serpent or "truth as it appears" is a bonified resident of the garden of Eden and is not a devil as sorne people misinterpret. He is the most subtle beast of the field which the Lord God had made. (Gen. 3: 1) The occupants might eat of the tree of life freely, that is to say, they may eat of the tree of genuine knowledge freely, but of the tree of truth of good and evil "as it ap­ pears" they must not eat at all. The woman, on the love side of the mind, was most easily deceived and the man, on the understanding side of the mind, was most easily led. The ser­

pent or the "appearance of truth" beguiled me and 1 did eat. This was the helpless cry of the mind, the beginning of evil. That genuine or actual truth, Divine Truth or the Lord's truth may be eaten freely. This was the Foundation of the Golden Age. The "appearance of truth" is the only deception that can destroy man. Man is deceived through ignorance. That there shaH be no confusion or misunderstanding con­ cerning the true Ruler of Heaven and earth, the Lord through a dream of a repentant King, Nebuchadnezzar and a stone cut out of the mountain without hand, showed to mankind who is the Absolute Ruler of Heaven and earth. This stone was capable of doing many things. 1t was capa­ ble of grinding to powder a mighty moulten image, whose head was gold, breast of silver, body or brass and legs of copper, feet mixed with iron and clay; it was capable of crushing and grinding to powder 5 ages of wicked desires, and fiHing the whole earth with good. But more than this it was capable of taking one's own king­ dom and of removing one's reason, of returning one to animal existence and of driving one from men. But most of al!, it showed that He alone was the one who set men up and set men down. Daniel 4: 35, And all the inhabitants of the earth are re­ puted as nothing; and He doeth according to His will in the Army of Heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto Him, What doest thou? The living stone is none other than the constant presence and irresistable love of the Lord .Jesus Christ. A few hundred years ago man thought the world was flat and lived in fear of coming to the end and faHing off. Today, man knows the earth to be globular. The horizon appears to meet the sky a few miles away. A storm seems to coyer the whole earth. A railroad track appears to be narrower at a distance, but we know it is just as broad there as it is where we stand. The sun appears to rise and set, but we know it neither rises nor sets. We seem to be at rest from any given point, but in reality we are being whirled through space at the rate of thousands of miles per second. These things help us to see that the anger and evil deeds

attributed to the Lord in the scriptures as weil as in the world of nature are only appearances or sense impressions which de­ ceive us, and make us think that both good and evil come from the Lord. The scripture passages which express the Lord's love, state the attual or genuine truth concerning the Lord's true nature. In reality the Lord never was, is, nor can be angry or evil in an) manner or degree. He never did, does, nor will punish His children. Ali the punishment that man endures is the boomerang result of his misconduct, or of others like himself. "For with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again." "For whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. (Gal. 6, 7). Although man's sufferings and punishments seem or appear to come from the Lord, the actual truth re­ mains that the rational mind cannot conceive of t\VO opposing natures existing in the Lord God the Perfect Creator. Nothing but perfect harmony can dwell within Him. If anger or evil could be expected of Him, it must be of an Infinite Nature. If both anger and love existed in the Lord, each in. an In­ finite degree, the opposing influences would counteract each other. His infinite evil wou Id counter3,ct His Infinite Good and His Infinite Good would counteract his infinite evil and would produce equilibrium or neutrality and the Lord could accomplish nothing. From this we must conclude that the Lord according to the Holy Scriptures is the Perfect Creator, the Fountain Source of Inexhaustible Love, wisdom, power and mercy. He is forever working to save mankind from wars, famines, pestilences and other consequential punishments which man ·brings upon himself through wilful disobedience to the Divine Love and Wisdom, which were ordained to thrill him with endless happiness here and hereafter. The Lord wants man to. live a life of en joying Christmas ~he year bu t man cannot do this unless he understands the Virgin Birth.

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The miraculous conception wom e v1rgm lS stn c r ws and analogies" of Nature~ Ali creation was produced by a series of virgin births, and every one of them confirmed by the full strength of Divine analogy of the declared birth of Jesus Christ. That is to say that none of the four kingdoms of Nature: minerai, vegetable, animal, human has been produced by a parentage like itself, because that parentage did not pre­ viously exist. None of the kingdoms had a natural parentage except on one side, which makes the case still more analogous to the birth of Christ.

The great truth is that the Father was the Divine Spirit of First Cause on the one hand, taking conceptive effect and form in sorne medium of nature as a womb or mother and on the other hand, producing the various kingdoms of Nature before our eyes in the world about us. 1t must be initially understood that al! things in creation exist first in their yet unmanifested and uncreated state and substance in the Father Creator of al! things, who exists in himself, not from another. Here is the orderly process of impregnation by which these various kingdoms of Nature came into existence. That degree of the Divine Life or Spirit, \\"hi,h may be callcd thc Divine yct unmanifested-\'italizing-mineral-essen,c cmanated from the Lord and took con,epti ve effeet and fon 11 in the previously existing subtil' gasses, clcetrical formations and magnetic vibra­ tions, These composee! the Illost subtIl' terlllinations and ulti­ mations of the Divine Emanations on the natural or 100\'est plane, This lowest and most lifeless plane then brought forth the first mineraI kingdolll. This may be illustrated by the fact that \\'ith heat enough the whole mineraI kingclom can be transformed back into the subtIl' gases, ele,tri,a! forces and magnetic vibrations which togcther makc up the natural parent­ age from \yhich the mineral kingdom was formed.

Tt is an undeniable fact that thcre is nothing of power, Spirit or influence in mineraI, \'egctablc, animal, or human nature, which alone was capable of producing the kingdom above it. Next, the Divine Life or Spirit, whieh may be called the Divine-yet-unmanifested-vitalizing Vegetable-Essence, took conceptive effective and form in the matrixes of the minerai kingdom, and the first vegetables came into existence. Again, after sufficient continuity and progress of the vegetable king­ dom, the same discrete operation was repeated. The next higher degree of Divine Life or Spirit, which may be cai'led the Divine-yet-unmanifested-vitalizing-Animal-Essence, came down or out to meet and to take conceptive effect and form in the prepared receptacles of the vegetable kingdom, with animal existence as the birth product and thus, with the Father Creator or First Cause on the one hand, and some receptacle in Nature as mother on the other hand, new and discrete creations came into being from parentage unlike them­ selves. Before we come to the ongm of man, we must invite your attention to another peculiarity of this creating process. The sexual process is everywhere manifested in the great discreted divisions, showing creation to be a sexual process throughout, a begetting by the Divinity, and an unfolding of the Divine

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Father Creator, Himself, glvmg Himself, and a bringing forth of Nature for the benefit and welfare of all His children. In aH these generative procedures of creation; philosophy and science are obliged to recognize a sexual operation in aH ani­ mate and inanimate Nature, though it cannot always easily be discerned. Now, if we consider the first human pair, we should find precisely a similar process. The truth of the general principle of the analogy remains. That degree of the Divine Life or Spirit, which may be caHed the yet unmanifested-vitalizing­ human-Essence of Nature, after sufficient advancement of the animaIfkingdoITl} took conceptive effect and form in the animal

kingdhm and broug -t- ort t e first human life on this planet.

The animal must have been the basis of ground for the next

degree existing above it, as in ail previous creations. Therc­

fore, the first human beings must have depended ~o~!~~_a~al

KingcIOiTlfor their Jv1aternity, but not their Paternity. Ail must

see t e truth with regard to God being the Father, and Nature

the mother, of these respective kingdoms of Nature.

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Now then, what more was ever daimed for Jesus Christ? It is written, He had no earthly father. If this be an objection, it lies equally against every kingdom of Nature. Although He had no human father, it is an interesting truth that b9_th male and female principles actually conculTed in His, production. The fact is, a mitfing Christ's birth as such, it is exceptional only in its individuality, not at aH in its principle. It is not :::ontrary to aH law~ ·...d analmôes of Nature.

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- rhe~asked ~f t~he ang-e-l; "How shaH this be, seeing that I have no 1'iUSband?" The angel answered and said unto her, "The Holy S irit shaH come upon thee, and the Power of the HIg est s a l over-shadow thee; therefore also that Holy Thing which shaH be born of thee shaH be caHed the Son of God." (Luke 1: 34-35) Here is in fact the next ascension ~!he-DivinLprinciple. (Naturally spea mg, it IS an ascen­ sion; spiritually speaking, it is a descension.) When conditions arose making it necessary for the Divine Itself, as yet un­ manifested in Nature except in man, to take conceptive effect and form in the human kingdom, an m t e ema e depart­ ment Olt, as in aIl prevlOUS creation, a~in God was the \ \ Father and Mary was the mother of the Divine Man, Cfïnst JJ \,\,Jesus. The SImple truth 1S, there fias been
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If any are still disposed ta view man ~s God's highest in­ carnation, we would remind them that this is ta acknowledge 1 !!9 fuUx-incarnated 1?i~Î!ty at aU, but only humanity. For ( man himself is not Divine, not even in his inmost, where Gad is resident or dweUswith him. Man's nature is human nature only, whereas God's natu~e_is bath hu_man and Divine. Ta speak of the Divinity of human Nature i5 thëfëforeanabsurd­ ity. Rather, Gad is resident in man; man himself is not a little Divinity. But the Lord Jesus Christ was Gad HiITIself humanized in Nature as He had been from etermty In Himse f. e who had always existed as Gad-Man in first princip les now became Gad-Man in last principle-s-.­

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The Bo]! SGriptures teach nothing_ conçerning _the_Virgin 13i th, the watest and most profouDe! of aIl miraç~, but wnat is simply supportee! by ail laws and analogies of Nature, and therefore the Ward of Gad and the vvorks of nature are seen fully ta harmonize. Here is the strongest proof, apart from the direct testimony of the Holy Scriptures, of the Divinity of Christ. "AU Thy vvorks shall praise Thee, 0 Lord." (Ps. 145) For as sure as the discrete degree of life above the mineral wodd is vegetable, and the next <Ïbove the vegetable wodd is the animal, and the next above the animal wodd is the human, and sa surely the next degree of Life above the human wodd is the Divine. F00here is nothing~bove the human but the J Divine,~ll anels bei!!g_ formed aL hu~aE ~ture and 'even r ( now but full re enerated and glorified men and women. The miraculous 0 12tion an --birffltn~en being grantea~he Di­ ~ vinity of Christ follows nèces~arily.- :rhus --;;:.esüS Christ· when risen and completely glorifiedcould say of Himself, "1 am Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and Ending, the First and the Last." (Rev. 1: 8, 18.)

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Do not the Holy Scriptures declare that "No man has seen Gad at any time?" "That no man can see his face and live?" Why then s eak of Him in the human for!D when the church catechism teaches that Oô - is an invisible Divine Being with­ out body, parts or passion? The Holy Scriptures in many places teach us that Gad is above ail human understanding. In Exodus, Moses was in­ forrriee! that no man cou Id behold the naked Divinity of the Lord. "Thou canst not see My Face, for there shall no man see Me and live." A similar declaration is made in John, "No man hath seen Gad at any time, nor seen his shape." These ~ and similar scriptures teach us about Gad as He exists in the ) Infinite depths Qf His Deity, Omnipotence, Ominscience and

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Omnipresence; thus the human mind can form no idea of Him. 1) The thought of limiting Gad ta the human form is highly ob­ jectionable ta persans who attempt ta conceive of Gad without form in terms of abstract Love, Wisdom, Power, Law, Order, etc., but honest thinking will show that these Divine attributes do not e.xist separately from a Divine Personality. The truth} of the matter is that the human mind is sa constructed that it cannat conceive of anything without form or shape. Try it! (This helps us ta see that the idea of an invisible Gad without 1body, parts or passion as the church catechism suggests, pre­ "sents nothing tangible ta the human mind, anel finall~' leads (ta a belief in no Gad at al!. That which possesses no form, possesses no substance nor quality, and does not fall within the cons('iousness of the human mind. Man is a finite being, who at his best ('an only acquire a finite ielea of the Lord. No matter how lofty, intellectual, rational or angelic his idea of Gael may be, it is still a finite, limited and imperfect idea of ') Gad. Only Gad a~He exiSJ in the Infinite. D~pths of His ) Inexhaustible Deity can possess an a equate dea -0 _Iiimself. Tt follows that the finite mind ('an never grasp the Infinite. The saille Hall' Scriptures also teach us that man can know

Gad only as He accommodates Himself ta the finite com­

prehension of man. Thus in ail ages Gad has revealed Himself

ta man in the human form. Ta men in Old Testament days,

He revealed and spiritualized Himself in the Personality of the

"Angel of the Lord" always in the hUlllan form; and ta men

in Gospel elays and in modern times, He revealed himself in

the Divine Personality of Jesus Christ in the flesh. Under

these varied accommodated forms, the Hall' Scriptures speak

of men and \vomen seeing "Gad face ta face" and talking with

Him. Anel throughout the Scriptures, His hands, His feet, His

eyes, His cars, His arms, His face, etc., are frequently men­

tioned in arder that our finite mincls might get a permanent

gras]) of His Divine Personality and live constantly under His

Divine Presence and influence.

There exists in the Lord an infinite capacity of self adapta­

tion, by which He accommodates Himself ta the reception of

every grade of human intelligence from the highest ta the low­

est. This quality in the Lord is His Divine Human Principle,

through vvhich He humanizes Himself, and makes Himself

known ta l'very thought, feeling and perception. It is in the

Divine Human form that l'very true believer thinks and prays

ta the Lord as the Father of Us in heaven. And this is the

on1)' form in \dlÏch we can have any definite or correct con­

ception of Him. The Lord cannat reveal the whole of Himself

ta man; the finite is forever incapable of grasping the Infinite.

Therefore He reveals as much of Himse1f as man can receive.

The Lord in His Infinity is wholly present at every manifesta­

tion, but the amount revealed depends upon each man's capa­ cities and pO\vers of reception. '

From the very beginning aIl creation has been involved in a continuai eff()Et to put forth the hurnan~m because the highest revelation we have tells us that od is in that form. This effort is manifested even in the fins of the fish, where the five fingers of man are rudimentally shadowed forth. In the higher animais, we see more distinctly the approaches to the hlllnan form. Finally man appears, and at last God has un­ folded Himself to the senses of man, or rather ultimates Him­ sdJ in Nature at the summit of aIl crcatcd existence, altho~~h the soul of the Man Jesus Christ \Vas the pure Divine Essence ) Itsl'lf. It is to be remembered, hO\\ien'r, that Jesus Christ had inllnited from his Judaen mother an infirm human nature, } and so vvas subject to temptation. This last unprecedented birth, "Emanuel, God \vith us," compkted the circ1e of crea­ tion. just as a seed stops not until it reproduces itself.

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1t is often asked, if God is a11 powcrful, and can do any­

thing-, why was it necessary for Him to come to earth to ac­

colilplish His purpose? It is true that the Lord is Ali Powerful

br'cause He is Love Itself, Wisdom l tself, and Order Itself in

t1H'ir uncreatefulness and perfection. Therefore His Infinite

L~c, Power and Order works only through and in comp ete

harmony and cooperation with His Infinite \Visdom, which

s('cs aIl things from beginning to enel so perrectTytnat l t can

male no mistake. This is why perfect orcier is rnanifested in

all His \vorks and activity. His WiscloTll never works contrary

to l ~ve nor His Love contrary to His \Visdom. Therefore

a11 things are possible to Him according to the order of His

1.O\c and Wisdom. This is why the Lord can do nothing dis­

Olr!l'r1y or evil. The fact that He chosc to make Himself visi­

ble to redeem degenerate mankind through the instrumentality

of ClIl infirm human nature born of a \'irgin, shows that there

\l'as no other way in which the work of redemption couId be

;)c(,olllplishecl with lasting success.

If Jesus is God, wh y is He spoken of as the Son of God?

The Scriptural term "Son of God" has led man y persons who

fOl'ln opinions and draw conc1usions so]ely from false sense im­

pressions to think of Jesus as an entirely distinct person from

Jchovah, as though He were the son of an earthly father.

Whcn we give the subject our most profound consideration, we

can see that Jehovah God, the Creator, who is infinitely above

the comprehension, could not possibly have a separate son in

the same manner as an earthly father. The Divine Essence and

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Nature of Jehovas the Father cannot be divided or imparted as in the case of an earthly father and son, for the vital reason that only one Divine Being can have existence.

Lift every voice and sing 'Till earth and heaven ring Ring \Vith the harmonies of liberty Let our rejoicing rise High as the listening skies Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

REV.

SAMUEL

(;.•. 1.

;/'iCf!

O.

1966

WEEMS,

Pastor Emeritus

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NORTH CAMBRIDGE COMMUNITY CHURCH

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Excerpts of

Emanuel Swedenborg

THE DOCTRINE OF THE LORD.l THE DIVINE HUMAN FROM ETERNITY.

IN~avetrftî:e

Huma~ ~he

Divine of Lor&:1§J all; the reason is, because no one there, not even an angel of the inmost or third heaven, can have any conception of the Divine itself; according ta the Lord's words in J ohu, "No man hath seen Gad at any tùne" Ci. 18). "Ye have neither heard the voice of the Pather at any time, nor seen His shape" Cv. 37). For the angels are finite, and what is finite can have no conception of the infinite. In heaven therefore, if they had not an idea of Gad in the l:!~n shape, th~y would have no idea, or an unbecoming one; and Unis they could not be conjoined with the Divine either by faith or love. This being sa, therefore in heaven they perceive the Divine in the human form. Hence it is tha -'in th'e hea:veDs\ ( tie Divine Human is the aU ln their intui-tions concerning the / ~ivine; and is thus the all in their faith and love; whence cames conjunction, and by conjunction sahation. CA. C. n. 7211.) That· J ehovah appearing means the appeal'ing of the Lord's Divine in His Human, is evident from this, that His Divine cannat appear fO any man, nor even ta any angel, except b)l: the D,i20-ne Human; and the Divine Human cannat appear butDY tne Dlvme Truth which proceeds from Him. Cib. n. 6945.) When J ehovah appeared before the coming of the Lord into the world He appeared in the form of an angel ; for when He passed through heaven He clothed HimseU _with that form, which was the human for!'p. For -tb8Universal eaven";-- by virtue of the Divine there,\js as one man, called the Greatest Man. Hence then is the D~Humani.. an as 8lfôvall ap- '\ peared in the human form as an angel, it is evident that it was ( __~till J ehovah himself; and that very form was also His, because it was I!is :qiviue in heaven. This was the Lord from eternity. Cib. n. 10,579.) When the Lord made His Human Divine He did this from l By the Lord, in the Writings of Swedenborg, the Lord Jesus Christ always meant, or Gad incarnate, afterwards glorified. (A. C. n. 14.)

i8

THE DOCTilINE OF THE LORD.

~ 1..

1 _

2-

in succeeding times to Abraham and the prophets, was mani­ fested to them as a man. Rence it mayappear that the Infini~e Es§.e never could have been manifested to man except by the Ruman E~ce, consequently by the Lord. (A. C. 1990.) What proceeds immediately from t~e very Divine, not even the angels in the inmost heaven can comprehen ~ The reason is, because it is infinite and thus transcends ail, even angelic eomprehension. ' But what proceeds from the LOJ,-d's Divine Ruman, this they can comprehend,' for it exhibits God as a Div~an, of whom sorne conception can be formed from the Ruman. (A. C. n. 5321.)

j

j

THE INCARNATION.

In the Christian churches at this day, it is believed that God, the Creator of the universe, begat l,t Son from eternity; and that this Son descended and assumed the Ruman, to redeem and save men. But this is erroneous, and faUs of itself to the ground, when it is considered that God is one, and that it is more than fabulous in the eye of reason, that the one God should have be­ gotten a Son from eternity, and also that Gad the Father, together with the Son and the Holy Ghost, each of whom singly is Gad, should be one God. This fabulons representation is entirely dissipated when it is shewn from t e Wor, at Je­ hovah God Rimself descended and became MAN, and became r also the Redeemer. As, regards the first- Th~ J ehovah God ) Himself descended and became Man, is evident from t ese passages:" eMld, a virgin shall conceive and bring forth a Son, l who shall be called God with us" (Isaiah vii. 14; Matt. i. 22, 23). l " Unto us a Ghild is born, unto us a Son is given, and the govern­ ment shall be upon His sMulder, and His name shall be called Wonderful, God, Hero, the Father of Eternity, the Prince of Peace" (Isaiah ix. 6). "It shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God, wMm we have waited for to deliver us; this is Jehovah, whom we have waited for: let us be glad and reJoice in His salvation" (xxv. 9). "The voice of one c'rying in the wilderness, Prepare a way for JeMvah; make smooth in the desert a way J01' our God; . . . and all flesh shall see together" (xl. 3, 5). "BeMld, the Lord JeMvah is coming in the mighty One, and His arm shall rule for Him; beMld, His reward is with Him, . . . and He shall feed His jlock like a shepherd" (xi 10, Il). CI Jehovah said, Sing and reJoice, 0 daughter of Zion" behold, I am coming to dwell in the midst of thee; then many nations shall cleave to JeMvah in that day" (Zech. ii. 10, Il). <, I JeMvah have called thee in righteousness, ' . . and I will give thee for a covenant of the

"

THE DOCTRINE OF' THE LORD.

people,. . . . l am Jehovah,. that ù lIfy name, and .My glory will l not give to another" (Isaiah xlii. 6, 8). "Behold, the days come, v)hen l will1'aise unto David a 1'ighteous bJ'anch, w7w shall 1'eign king, ... and execute judgment and justice in the earth,. and this is His name, . . . Jehovah OUT Righteousness" (Jerem. xxiii. 5, 6; xxxiii. 15, 16): besides other passages, where the coming of the Lord is called the day of J ehovah, as Isaiah xiii. 6,9,13,22; Ezek. xxxi. 15; Joel i. 15; ii. 1,2,11; iii. 2,4; iv. 1,4, 18; Amos v. 1;), 18,20; Zeph. i. 7-18; Zech. xiv. 1, 4-21; and other places. Th2-t J ehovah Rimself descended and assumed the Ruman, is very evident in Luke, where are lese words: « l'{P;2-y7ë?;, to the ----angël;-How s faU-(1i}Χ!je, 8i~_ l 0 wliom le anae replie, "The oly \ know not a' nwn? ') Spin shall COiiie ?tpon tlwe, and the poweT orthe l'irOii:7Iigh sli"alz- ovërshaëlow thee ;therifo?'e t ~at IIOly 'l7ting that is bOTn of t e, s a be called the Son of God" (i. 34, 35). And in Matthew: The angel said to Joseph, the briçlegroom of Mary, in a dream, "That which is conceived in he?' is of the Holy SpiTit,. . . . and Joseph knew her not, until she b?'ought forth a Son, and he called His name Jes~ts J, (i. 20, 25). That by the Roly Spirit is meant the Divine which proceeds from J ehovah, will be seen in the third chapter of this work. v\Tho does not know that the child has its soul and life from the father, and that the body is from the soul? \Vhat therefore is said more plainly, than that the Lord had his soul and life from J ehovah God? And since the Divine cannat be divided, that the Divine itself was Ris soul and life? Therefore the Lord so often called J ehovah Gad Ris Father, and J ehovah Gad called him His Son. Vlhat then can be heard more preposterous, tllan that the soul of our Lord was from the mother Mary, as bath the TIoman Catholics and the Reformed at this day dream, .Got having as yet been awaked by the "Ward. That a Son barn from eternity descended and assnmec1 the Ruman, evidently falls and is dissipated as an error, by the passages in the Ward in vl"hich J ehovah Rimself says that II-L is the Saviour a!1~ RedeerrLer; w llch are the fol­ lowing:" m not 1 Je7wvcdt? and the?'e is no Goel else besicles flle; a just Goel anel a Scwio7J.,r; t7wre is none bes'ides lIJe" (Isaiah xlv. 21, 22). " l am Jehovah, and besieles lIfe there is no Savi01tr" (xliii. 11). ',' l ant Jehomh thy God, and tltou shalt acknowledge no God b~d lIIe: the1-e is no Saviour besides }'Ie" (Hosea xiii. 4). « That aU flesh m{l.IJ kn010 that l Jehovah am thy Saviour and thy Reelemwr" (Isaü\'h xlix. 26; lx. 1G). "As for OU?' Redeemer, Jehovah of Hasts is His name" (xlvii. 4). " Their Redeemer is might,1j; Je7wvah of ~fIosts is His name" (Jerem. 1. 34). "0 Jehovah, my 1'ock:. ancl1Jl,1j Redce1ncJ'" (Psulm

THE DOCTRINE OF THE LORD.

xix. 1-:1:). "Thus saith Je7wvah, thy Redce7lwr, the IIoly One of Israel, l am Jehovah thy Gad" (Isaiah xlviii. 17; xliii. 14; xlix. 7). "Thus saith Jeho'IJah thy Recleemer, . . . l am Jehovah, that maketh all things . . . euen alone by JrIyseif" (xliv. 24). "Th1ls saith Jehovah the King of Israel, and His Redeeme1', JelW1XI,h of Hasts, l am the First and the Last, and beside Me theTe is no God" (xliv. 6). "Thou, 0 Jehovah, our Father, O'lM' Rerleem,e'/' fTom etenlity is Thy name" (Ixiii. 16). "With the 111e1'CY of eternity l will have merey, th1lS saith Jehovah thy RerlccrneT" (liv. 8). Thou hast redeemed Me, 0 Jehovah, God of tndh" (Psalm xxxi. 5). "Let Israel hope in Jehovah, beccmse in Jehovah is meny, and with Hi?n is plenteous Redemption, and He 1vill '/'edeem Israel f1'om all his iniquities" (cxxx. 7, 8). "Jehovah Gad, and thy Reeleeme1' the Holy One of Israel, the Gael of the whole earth shall He be called" (Isaiah liv. 5). From these passages and very many others, every man who has eyes and a mind opened by means of them, may r see that Q2d,. who is one, descended and becamEtJ')1an, for \ the purpose of accomp lS 1ing the work of redemption.. Who A~ 1 cannot see this as in the morning light, when he gives ') at.tention t·o these the very Divine declarations which have been (adduced ~ ut those who are in the shade of night, by being confirmed in favour of the birth of another God from eternity, ) a~d. of His des~ent and re?emption, close .their eyes at these 5- () DIvme declarahons; and III that state thmk how they may apply them to their falsitics, and pervert them. (1'. C. R n. 82,83.) -­ \. ~. '7'. ~G" 3 S'" -~ ~ JEHOVAH GOD DESCENDED ASro DIVINE TRUTH.,;/AND WAS SAID TO B~)ORN.

AlI truth is from good, for it is the form of it, and aIl good is the esse (or inmost being;) of truth. Good when it is formed, so as to appear to the mind, and through the mind, in speech, is caned truth. (A. E. n. 136.) Truth is the form of good; that is, when good is forIged SQ that it can e intel1e tually perceiv:ed, then it 1. c.alkd truth. { (A. C. n. 3049.) . 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 'Nord are meant also by Jehovah God; by Jehovah, the Divine Love or Divine Good, and by God, the Divine Wisdom or Divine Truth. Tbence it is that in the Word tlley are dis­ tinauished in various ways, and sometimes only J ehovan ls na::red, and sometimes only God. For where it treats of the

THE DOCTRINE OF THE LORD.

Divine Good, there it says Jehovah, and where of the Divine Truth, God, and where of both, Jehovah God.. That Jehovah Goel descended as the Divine Truth, which is the 'Vord, is evident in John, where are these words: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Ward was God. AU things were made by Him, and without Him 'Was not any thing 'made that was made. . . . And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us" (i. 1, 3, 14). (T. C. R. n. 85.) In the W ord the Lord is called J ehovah 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. n. 7499.) YET DID NOT SEPAHATE THE DIVINE GOOD.

Divine Good can in nowise be and exist without Divine Truth, nor Divine Truth without Divine Good, but one in the other, mutually and reciprocally. . . . The Divine Good is the Father, and the Divine Truth the Son. CA. C. n. 2803.) That God, although He descended as the Divine Truth, still did not separate the Divine Good, is evident from the conception, concerning which we read, that The virtue of the JrIost High over­ shadowed 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 Hè says, that the :Father is in Him, and He in the Father; that aU 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. CT. C. R. n. 88.) [NOTE.-To assist the reaùer to the rationality of the aboye conception, it may he briefly stated that, as the Divine Good and Truth from eternity were not sepa. rated, so in the Lord Jesus Christ; although He descended, or came ont from infinity and eternity as Divine Truth, yet this is spoken of in reference to mani· festation, as He is also called the Son of Goù in reference to His Divine Rumanity, which only can be seen. Good, when it is jormcd. or brought forth so that it can be intel1ectual1y perceived, is cal1ed Truth; for there is but one Divine Essence, which is J"ove or Good, of which Wisdom or Truth is the bodily form. But although the Lord was Divine Good, bemuse He v:as Jehovah Himself, yet that whole Good and Truth appear'ing, is called Divine Truth. Hence may be corn· prehellded the rationality of the explanation, that, although He descended as to the Divine Truth, yet he did not separate the Divine Good.-C'ompiler.] REASO~S FOR THE INCARNATION.

After ail the celestial in man, that is, ail love to God was lost, so that there remained no longer any will to what was good, the human race was separated from the Divine, for nothing conjoins

THE DOCTRINE OF THE LORD.

them but love, and when there was no love disjunction took place, the consequence of which is destruction and extirpation. A promise, therefure, was then made concerning the coming of the Lord into the world, who should unite the Ruman ta the Divine, and through this union should effect conjunction of the human race in Rimself, by a faith grounded in love and charity. From the time of the first promise (concerning which see Gen. iii. 25), faith grounded in love to the Lord who was to come was

effect.ive of conjunction; but when there was no longer any such

faith remaining throughout the earth, then the Lord came, and

united the Ruman Essence ta the Divine, sa that they became

\ entirely one, as Re Rimself expressly declares. Re at the sa_me

) ti..!!!,ê tauaht the way of truth, sho~.=ing that every_one who should

believe on Rim-that is, ~h9uld love Himand the things apper­

tainillg to Him, and who should-oe in His love, which is extended

} towards the whole human race-should be co_njoined \Vith Him, and be saved. hen the Human was made Divine, an the Divine Ruman, in the Lord, then e infiu:l0 of the Infinite or SU.Rreme Divine took place with man, w lC could never othêT­ wise have come to pass. Hene.e, a180, there was a dispersion of the direful :Qersuasio1l8 of fal~ity, and of the direful lusts of evil, \Vith which the world of spirits was filled and was-contlIïuaIly being fiHed, by souls continually fiowing in from the world; and they who were in those evils and falsities were cast into the f he118, and thus were separated. Unless such a dispQsion had '\ bee11 effected, mankind must have tQ.tally perished, for they are ( governed of the Lord by means of spirits. Nor was there any other method of effecting such dispersion; since there could be 5no oyeration of the Divi~e upon man's, intèrnal sensual [prin­ l cip~] throJ..!gh t~. ational, this be~ng-fàr15eneatllllie Supreme ( Divine not thus united with the Human. (A. C. n. 2034.) The reason why it pleased the Lord ta be born a m-an was, th~e might actua11y"'pnt on the JI uman, and might make this

'1 Divine, ta save the human race. Know, therefore, that the Lord

! is ehovah Himself or the Father in a human form. This also

the Lord Himself teaches in John. " I and the Pather are one"

(x. 30); again, "Jesus said, Henceforth ye have known and seen the Pather. . . . He that hath se~n Me hath seen the Pather. . . . Be­ lieve Me that I am in the Pather and the Pather in Me" (xiv. 7,9, 11); and again, "Al! ~!lfine are thine, and aU thine a·re Mine" (xvii. 10). This great mystery is described in John in these words: "In the beginning was the V;-ord, and the Ward was with Gad, and Gad was the Word; the same was in the beg'inning with Gad; al! things were made by Him, ([nd without Him was not any thin.c; rnade that was 1nade. ... And the Ward was made flesh, and dVJelt among us, and we beheld His gliJry, the glory as of the

1

THE DOCTRL..VE OF THE LORD.

only begotten of the FatheT. . . . No man hath SGen God at an/! time; the only begotten Son, 1-dw is in the bosom of the FatheT, He hath brought Him jOTth to 1-,iew" Ci. 1-3, 14, 18). The "Vord is the Divine truth which has been revealed to men; and because this could not he revealed except from J ehovah as Man, that is, except from J ehovah in the human form, thus from the Lord, therefore it is said, "In the beginning was the Wonl, and the WOTd was with God, and God was the WOTd." Tt is known in the church that by the W ord the Lord is meant. It is therefore open] y said, 1/ The W ord was made flesh, a1",d dwelt among 1-&S, and 'lOI', beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the FatheT." That the Divine truLh eould not be revealed to men except from J ehovah i.n the human form, is also clearly stated: "No one hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of . the Fatlter, He hath bronght Hirn fOTth to view." From this it is evident that the Lord from eternity was J ehovah or the Father in a llUman form, but not yet in the flesh; for an angel has not flesh. And as J ehovah, or the Father, willed to put on aIl the human, for the sake of the salvation of the human race, therefore He a,lso assumed flesh; wherefol'e it is said, " God WClS the Wonl, . . . and the Wo?'d 11'as made jlesh;" and in Luke, "Be7wld fi!.') !Lands and jlfy jeet, that it is l Myself; handle Me and sec, f01' ([ spirit hath not flesh and bones, as YI', sec fife h(xve" (xxiv. 39). By these words the Lord taught that He was no longer J ehovall nnder the form of an angel, but that He "vas J ehovah Man; which also is meant by these words of the Lord, " l came fOTth fTom the Fathe?', and am corne into the world; again l leave the world, and ,go to the FatheT " (John xvi. 28). CA. C. n. 9315.) ( Man is so natura'l and sensual that he is quite )~ca,,12abLe~y ) idea of thought concerning things abstract, unless he adjoins some­ thing natural which had entered from the world through the sensnals, for without such his thought perishes as in an abyss, and is dissipated. Therefore, lest the Divine should perish with ( man, entirely immersed in corporeal and earthly things, and in ) those with whom it remained should be c1efiled by an impure ic1ea, and "vith it everything celesti.al and spiritual from the Divine, it pleased J ehovah to present Himself actuaUy as He is, ) and as e app~rs in heaven,-nam.§ly, as a Divine Man. Fol' every part of heaven conspires to the human form; as may be seen from what has been shawn at the close of the chapters, con­ cerning the correspondence of aU things of man with the Greatest l\fan, which is heaven. This Divine, or this [presence] of Je­ JlOvah in heaven is the LOTd from eternity. The same also the Lord took upon Him when He glorified or made Divine the Imman Ï11 Himse1f; which aIso is verymanifest from the form in which He appeared before Peter, James, and John, when He ,vas

~J

THE DOOTRINE OF THE LORD.

transfigured (Matt. xvii. 1, 2) ; and in "'\vhich He aIso occasionaUy appeared ta the prophets. Hence it i8 that now every oneis able ta think of the very Divine as of a Man, and then of the Lord, in whom i8 aU the Divine, and the perfect Trine. :For in the Lord the very Divine is the :Father; that Divine in heaven is the Son; and the Divine thence proceeding is tlle Roly Spirit. And that they are one, as He Himself teaches, is therefore manifest. (A. C. n. 5110.) Inasmneh as the Lord operates aU things from the fil'st by means of the last, and in the last or the ultimates is in His power and in His fulness, therefore it pleased the Lord ta take upon Him the Human, and ta become Divine truth, that i8, the Ward; and thereby from Himself ta reduee ta arder aU things of heaveu, and all things of hell, that is, ta execute a last jndgment. This the Lord could accomplish from the Divine in Himself, which is in first [principlesJ, by means of His Human, which was in ultimates; and not from His presence or abode in the lllen of the Chnrch, as formerly; for these had entirely fallen away from the truths and goods of the Ward, in which before was the habitation of the Lord with men. This, and also that He might make His Human Divine, was the primary cause of the Lord's advent into the world; for thereby He put Him8elf in possession of the power ta keep all things of heaven and aU things of hell in arder ta eternity. (A. E. n. 1087.) Before the coming of the Lord into the world, there was with men and with spirits rinH~ of--.life from J ehovah or the Lord through the celestial king Q...m, that is, through the angels who werein that lüng am; llimce 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 that power; for the DiviIlli..trans-flux through that heaven had before been the Human Divine; it also was the Divine Man which was presented when J ehovah sa appeared. But this Human Divine eeased when the Lord Himself made the Human in Himself Divine. (A. O. n. 6371.) The very Divine in heaven, or in the Greatest Man, was the Divine Human, and was J ehovah Himself thus clothed with the Imman. But when mankind became such that the very Divine clothed as the Divine Human could no longer affect them,-that is, whenJehovah could no longer come ta man, because he had sa ·far removed himself,-then J ehovah, who is the Lord as ta the Divine Essence, descended and took upon Him a human by conception Divine, and by birth from a virgin like that of another man. But this He expelled, and by Divine means He made Divine the Human that was barn, from which all the Holy proceeds. Thus the Divine Human exists, an Essence l)y itself,

THE DOCTRINE OF THE LORD.

which fil1s the uuiversal heaven, and effeets that those should be saved who before couId not be saved. This now is the Lord, who, as to the Divine Ruman, alone is Man, and from whom man derives that he is man. (A. C. n. 3061.) Let it be weIl understood that aIl the correspondence there is with heaven is with the Divine H uman of the Lord; since heaven is from Rim and He is heaven. Fot' unless the Divine Ruman flowed into aIl things of heaven, and according to col'­ respondences into aIl things of the world, neither angel nor man would exist. From this again it is manifest why the Lord became Man, and clotJ1ed His Divine with the Ruman from first to last; that it "vas because the Divine Ruman from which heaven existed before the coming of the Lord, was no longer sufficient to sustain aIl things; because man, who is the basiE; of the heavens, subverted and destroyed order. (H. R. n. 101.) It has been toJd me from heaven, that in t.he Lord from cternity, who is J ehovah, before the assumption of the R uman in the world, there were the two prior degl'ees actuaIly, and the third degree in potency, as they are al~o with the angels; but that aftel' Ris assumption of the Ruman in the world Re put on also the third or natural degree, and thereby became Man, similar to a man in the world,-save that in Rim this degree,'like the two priur, is infil1ite and uncreate, while in angeIs and men these degl'ees are finite and created. For the Divine, which filled aIl space without space; penetrated also to the ultimates of nature. TIut before the assumption of the R uman, the Divine influx into the natural degree was mediate through the angelie heavel1s; but after the assumption it was immediate from HimseH. This is the reason why aIl the chmches in the world before His advent were representative of spiritual and celestial things, but after His eoming became spiritual and celestial­ natural, and representative worship was abolished; also why the sun of the angelic heaven-which is the proximate proceeding of Ris Divine love and Divine wisdom-after His assumption of the Human shone with more eminent effulgence and splendour than before the assumption. This is meant by the words of Isa{ah: "In that day, the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the li.qht of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of se'Ven clays" (xxx. 26); which is spoken of the state of beaven and the church, after the Lord's coming iuto the world. And in the Apocalypse: « The conntenance of the Son of Man was as the sun shineth in his stTength" (i. 16); and elsewhere, as in Isaiah lx. 20; 2 Sam. xxiii. 3,4; Matt. xvii. 1, 2. The mediate enlightenment of men through the angelic heaven, which there was before the Lord's coming, may be compared to the light of the rooon, w hich is the mediate light of the sun; and because

THE DOOTRINE OF THE LORD.

this was made imrnediate after His corning it is said in lsaiah, " That the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun;" and in David, " In His days shall the righteousflourish, and ab~tndance of pr;ace, until there is no longer any moon" (lxxii. 7). This also is spoken of the Lord. The Lord from eternity or J ehovah put on this third degree, by the assumption of the Human in the world, because He could not enter into this degree except by a nature similar to· the hurnan nature; therefore only EY conc~tion from _His Djtine, and b~ nativity from a virgiJl: . D~T. n. 33, 234.) It S ouIa be known tIiat theLord is present with men in His Divine natural; with the angels of His spiritual kingdom in His Divine spiritual; and with the angels of His celestial kingdom in His Divine celestial; yet He is not divided, but appears to every one according to his quality. (A. R.p. 466.) " Until Shiloh come." That this signifies the corning of the Lord, and the tranquillity of peace then, appears from the signi­ fication of Shiloh, which is the Lord,-·who is called Shiloh from the fact that He calmed and tranquillized ail things; for in the original tongue Shiloh is derived from a word which signifies tranquillity. Why the Lord is here called Shiloh is evident from what was said just above concerning the celestial kingdom and its power; for when the Divine was manifested through that kingdom there was intranquillity; because the things which are in heaven, and those which are in hell, could not be reduced by it to order-inasmuch as the Divine which flowed through that kingdom could not be pure, because heaven is not pure. That kingdom therefore was not so strong that by it aIl things might be kept in order; on which account infernal and dia­ bolical spirit::; even issued forth from the heils, and dornineered over the souIs which came from the world. From which it carne to pass that no others than the celestial could thus be saved; and at length scarcely they, jf the Lord had not assurned the human, and thereby made it in Himself Divine. By this the Lord reduced ail things to order; first the things which are in heaven, next those that are in the he11s. From this is the tranquiIlity of peace. (A. C. n. 6373.) AU the churches that existed before His advent were repre­ sentative churchos, which could not see Divine truth, save as it were in the shade; but after the advent of the Lord into the world a church was instituted by Him which saw Divine truth, or rather which could see it, in the light. The difference is as that between evening and morning. The state of the church before the Lord's advent is also caHed evening; and the state of the church after His advent is called rnorning. The Lord was indeed present with the men of the church before His

'2 1

THE DOCTRINE OF THE LORD.

coming into the worla, but mediately through angels who repre­ sented Him; but since His advent in the world, He is immedi­ ately present with the men of the chnrch. For in the world He put on also the Divine Natural, in which He is present with men. (T. C. R. n. 109.) It is frequently said in the \Vord concerning the Lord, that He was sent by the Father, as also it is saicl here (Gen. xix. 13), "Jelwvah hath sent us;" and everywhere, to be sent, signi­ fies in the internaI sense, to go forth; as in John: "They have received and have known, s'nrely, that l came forth from Thee, and have believecZ tltat Thou hast sent Me" (xvii. 8). So in other places; as in the same Evangelist: « God sent not His Son into the 11,'0rld, to i~ldge the wortel, b~d that the world thro~lgh Hi'fn 1n'ight be saverl" (iii. 17). Again: « Ile that honmlreth not the Son, honou,reth not the Father who sent Him" (v. 23); besides many other passages. In Eke manner it i:=; said of the Roly of the Spirit, that it is sent; that i8, that it goeth forth from the Divine of the Lord; as in John: « Jesus said, When the Comforte?' shall come, whom l will send ~tnto you from the Father, the SpiJ-it of Tndh, which goeth forth from the Father, He shall testify of Me" (xv. 26). Again: "If 1 go away l will send the CO?nforter unto you" (xvi. 7). Hence the Prophets were called the Sent, because the words which they spake went forth from the Holy of the Spirit of the Lord. And because aIl Divine Truth goes forth from Divine Good, the expression, to be sent, is properly predicated of Divine Tl'uth. And what it is to go forth is also evident, namely, that he who goes forth, or that which goes forth, is of him from whom it goes t'ortho (A. C. n. 2397.) WHY IT lB SAID TIIAT JESUB PROCEEDED FORTH AND CAM~; FROM GOD, AND WAS SENT.

In the spiritual sense to go forth or to proceed 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 predicated of the Lord in John: "Jesus said of Himselj, l proceeded fo'rth and came from Goel" (viii. 42). " The Pather loveth you, bccause ye have loved Me, and have believed that 1 came forth from God: l came forth from the Father, and am cO?ne into the worlel; again l leave the wOTld, and go to the Father. The disciples said, . . . We believe that thml CCl1nest forth f?'om Gorl" (xvi. 27, 28, 30). "They have known t?'uly that l Ca1JM forth f1'om Gad" (xvii. 8). To illustrate what is meant by going forth or proceeding, take the following examples :-It is said of truth, that it goes forth or proceeds from good when truth

THE DOCTRINE OF THE LORD.

""

"f

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 under­ standing 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 internaI sight. In like mannerof thought which is of the understanding, it may be said to go forth or pro­ ceed when it becomes speech; and of the will, when it becomes action. Thought clothes itself in another form when it becomes speech, but it is still the thought which so goes forth or proceeds, for the words and sounds which are put on are nothing but adjuncts, which by accommodation cause the thought 1,0 be apperceived. So the will assumes another form when it becomes action, but it is still the will which is presented in such form; the gestures and motions that are put on are nothing but adjul1cts, which by accommodation make the will appear and affect the external man. Also it may be said that it goes forth or proceeds from the internaI, yea, substantially, because the external man is nothing else than the inü'lrnal so formed that it mayact suitably in the wo1'ld wherein it is. From ail this it may be seen what, to go forth, or proceed, is in the spiritual sense; name]y, when predicated of the Lord, that it is the Divine formed as Man, thus accommodated to the perception of the believing; yet both are one. (A. C. n. 5237.) THE LORD'S HEllEDlTARY EVJL.

..

One may be surprised that it is said there was hereditary evil from the mother with the Lord; but as it is here (Gen. xiii. 7) sa manifestly declared, and the internaI sense is concerning the Lord, it cannot be doubted that it was so. It is quiLe impos­ sible for any man to be born of a human parent and not thence derive evil. But there is a difference between hereditary evil which is derived from the father, and that which is derivecl from the mother. Hereditary evil from the father is more interior, and remains to eternity, for it can never be eradicated. The Lord had no such evil, since He was born of J ehovah as His Father, and thus as to internaIs was Divine, or J ehovah. Dut hereditary evil from the mother pertains to the external man: this was with the Lord. Thus the Lord was born as another man, and had infirmities as another man. That He derived hereditary evil from the mother evidently appears from the fact that He suffered temptations; for it is impossible that any one should be tempted who has no evil, evil being that in man which tempts and by wlüch he js tempted. That the Lord was tempted. and that He suffered temptations a thousanè. times more gricvous

2'

THE DOOTRINE OF THE LORD.

than any man can ever sustain, and that He endmed them alone, and by His ùwn power overcame evil, or the devil and all bell, is also evident. . . ; An angel can never be tempted of the devil, because, being in the Lord, evil spirits cannot approach him even distantly. They would instantly be seized with terror and fright. Much less could hen approach to the Lord if He had been born Divine, tbat is, without an adberence of evil from the mother. That the Lord bore theiniquities and evils of mankind, is a form of speaking common with preachers; but for Him to take upon Himself iniquities and evils otherwise than in the hereditary way, was impossible. The Divine Nature is not susceptible of evil. Wherefore, that He rnight overcome evil by His own strength, which no man ever could or can do, and might thl1s alone becorne righteousness, He was willing to be born as another man. Otherwise tbere would have been no need that He should be born; for He might have assumed the H uman Essence with­ out nativity, as sometimes He had formerly done, when He appeared to those of the Most Ancient Churcb, and likewise to the prophets. But in order that He might also put on evil, to fight against and conquer it, and might thus at the same time join together in Himself the Divine Essence and the Human Essence, He came into the world. The Lord, however, had no actual evil, or evil that was His own, as He Himself declares in John: " Which of you convicteth Me of sin t' (viii. 46.) (A. C. n. 1573.) . THE LORD MADE HIS HUMAN DIVINE BY HIS OWN MIGHT.

It is known that the Lord was born as another man, that when an infant He learned to talk as another infant, and that then He grew in knowledge, and in intelligence, and in wisdom. It is, evident from this that His human was not Divine from uativity, but that He made it Divine by His own power. It was by His own power, because He was conceived of J ehovah; and hence the inmost of His life was J ehovah Himself. For the inmost of the life of every man, which is called the soul, is from the father; and what that inmost puts on, which is called the body, is from the mother. That the inmost of life, which is from the father, is continually fiowing in and operating upon the external which is from the mother, and endeavouring to make this like itself, even in the womb, can be seen from chilùren, in that they are born into the natural qualities of the fatber; and sometimes grandsons and great-grandsons into the natural qualities of the grandfatber and great-gral1dfather, because the soul, which is from the father, contil1ually wills to make the external, which is

z~

THE DOCTRIXE OF THE LORD.

U

tLe Divine, by transfiux through heaven. Not that heaven contributed anything of itself, Lut that the very Divine might fiow into the human it flowed in through heaven. This trans­ flux was the Divine Human before the coming of the Lord, and ,vas J ehovah Himself in the heavens, or the Lord. (ib. n. 6720.) THE LORD'S ApPEARANCE 0:-< EARTH BEFORE TrIE INCARNATION, AS AN A(\GEL.

The angel of Jehovah is often mentioned in the 'Yord, and everywhere, when in a good sense, he represents and signifies sorne essential appertaining to the Lord, and proceeding from Him. But what is particularly represented and signified may Le seen from the series of things treated of. There were angels who were sent to men, and also who spake by the prophets; lmt what they spake was not from the angels, but by them; for the state they were~ then in was such that tbey did not know but they were J ehovah, that is, the Lord. Yet when they had done speaking, they presently returned into their former state, and spake as from themselves. This was the case with the angels who spake the Lord's 'Vord; which it has been given me to know by llluch similar experience at this day, in the other life. This is the reason why the angels were sometimes called J ehovah, as is very evident from the angel who appeared to Moses in the bush, of .",hom it is thus written: " l'he angel of Jehovah appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the lI'ddst of the bush. . . . And when Jehova h saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush. . . . God said ~tnto Moses, I am that I am . . . . And God said moreove?' ~mto ~!r1oses, Thus shalt t7wu say ~tnto the child?'en of Israel: Jehovah God of YOU?' fathers, hath sent me unto you" (Exod. iii. 2, 4, 14, 15). From these words it is evident that it was an angel who appeared to Moses as a fiame in the bush; and that he spake as J ehovah because the Lord, or J ehovah, spake by him. For in order that man may be addressed by vocal expressions, which are articu­ late sounds in the ultimates of nature, the Lord uses the ministry of angels, by filling them with the Divine spirit or influence, and laying asleep what is of tbeir proprium, so that they do not know but that they are J ehovah. Thus the Divine spirit or influence of Jehovah, which is in the highest or inmost" descends into the lowest or outerrnost things of nature, in which man is as to sight and hearing. It was so with the angel who spake with Gideon, of whom it is, thus written in the book of ,J nclges: " The angel of Jehovah appeared unto him, and saiel unto him, Jehovah is 1J.Jith thee, thou 11Lighty man of valour. And Gideon saiel unt!) him, 0 my Lm'dl U'hy hath aU this beJalltn

THE DOCTRINE OF THE LORD.

us? And Jehovah looked at him and said, Go in this thy might And Jehovah said unto hùn, S1trely l will be with thee" (vi 12,13,16); and afterwards, "When Gideon perceived that he was an angel of Jehovah, Gideon said, Alas, 0 Lord Jehovih! for because l have seen an angel of Jehovah face to face. And Jehovah said unto him, Peace be unto thee; fear not" (ver. 22,23). Here, in like manner, it was an angel who appeared ta Gideon, but in such astate that he knew not but that he was J ehovah, or the Lord. So again in the book of J udges: "The angel of Jehovah came up from Gilgal to Bochim, and said, 1 made Vou to go up out of Egypt, and have brought Vou, into the land which l sware unto your fathers; and l said l will never break rny cove­ nant with you" (ii. 1); where, in like manner, the angel spake in the name of J ehovah, saying, that he had brought them up out of the land of Egypt; when yet the angel did not bring them up, but J ehovah, as it is frequently said in other places. From this it may be seen how the angels spake by the prophets, viz., that the Lord Himself spake, though by angels, and that the angels did not speak at aH from themselves. That the W ord is from the Lord appears from many passages; as from this in Matthew: "That it might be fulfilled which VJas spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Beholcl, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bTing forth a Son" (i. 22, 2:3); not ta mention other passages. It is because the Lord spake hy angels when He spake with man, that throughout the Ward He is called an angel; and in such cases, as observed above, sorne essential is signified appertaining ta the Lord, and proceeding from the Lord. (A. C. n. 1925.) The Israelitish church worshipped J ehovah, who in Himself is the invisible Gad, but under a human form, which Jehovah Gad put on by means of an angel; and in this form He was seen by Abraham, Sarah, Moses, Hagar, Gideon, J oshua, and some­ times by the prophets; which human form was representative of the Lord who was ta come. (T. C. R. n. 786.)

THE VERY INFINITE CANNOT BE MANIFESTED OTHERWISE THAN DY THE DIVINE HU.MAN.

The very Infinite, whi(;h is above aU the heavens and above the inmost things iu man, cannat be manifested except by the Divine Human, which exists with the Lord alone. The com­ munication of the Infinite with the finite is in no other way rossible; which is also the reason w hy J ehovah, w hen He appeared ta the men of the Most Ancient Church, and after­ wards ta those of the Anciint church after the Flood, and also

THE DOCTRINE OF' THE LORD.

from the mother, like itself. Since this is so with man, it is evi­ dent that it must have been especially the case with the Lord. His inmost was the very Divine, for it was J ehovah Himself; for He was His only begotten Son. And as the inmost was the very Divine, could not this, more than in the case of any man, make the external which was from the mother an image of itseU, that is, like to itself, thus make Divine the human which was external and from the mother? And this by His own power, because the Divine, which was inmost, from which He operated into the human, was His; as the soul of man, which is the inmost, is his. And as the Lord advanced accorcling to Divine order, His Human when He was in the worlcl He made Divine Truth, and afterwards when He was fully glorified He made it Divine Good, thus one with J ehovah. (A. C. Il.6716.)

THE GLORIFICATION.

The Lord successivelyand continually, even to the last of His life when He was glorified, separatec1 from Himself and put off what was merely human, namely, that which He derived from the mother; until at length He was no longer her Son, but the Son of Gad, as well in respect to nativityas conception, and w~s one with the Father, and was Himself J ehovah. (A. C. n. 2649.) The externa] man is nothing else than a something instru­ mental or organic, having no lit'e in itself, but receiving life from the internaI man; from which the external man appears to have life of itself. With the Lord, however, after He had expelled the hereditary evil, and thus had purified the organic substances or vessels of the human essence, these also received life; so that as the Lord was life with respect to the internaI man, He became life also as to the external man. This is what is signified by glorification in John: "Jes1f,S said, Now is the Son of Man glori­ fied, and God is glorified in Him. If God be glorified in Him, God shall also glorify Him if!: Himself, and shall stmightway glorify Him" (xiii. 31, 32). And again: "Father, the Mur is come; glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son also 1nay glorify Thee. . . . And now, 0 Father, glorify Thou Me with Thine own self, with the glory which I had with Thee be/ore the world was" (xvii. 1, 5). And again: Jesus said, "Father, glorify Thy name. Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I both have glorijied it, and will glorify it again" (xii. 28). (ib. n. 1603.) The Lord, by the most grievous temptation combats, reduced aU things in Himself into Divine order; insomuch that there remained nothing at aU of the human which He had derived from the mother. So that He was not made new as another

]0

THE DOOTRINE OF THE LORD.

) f

man, but altogether Divine. For the man who is made new by regeneration still retains within him an inclination to evil, yea, eyil itself, but is withheld from evil by an inftowing of the life of the Lord's love,-and this by exceedingly strong power; but the Lord entirely cast out every evil wllich was hereditary 1.0 Hirn from the mother, and made Himself Divine e\len as to the vessels, that is, as 1.0 truths. This is ",hat in the Word is called glorifi­ cation. (ib. n. 3318.) The union of the Lord'R Human Essence with His Divine was not effected at once, but successively through the whole course of His life, from infancy 1.0 the end of His life in the world. He thus ascended continuàlly 1.0 glorification, tllat is, to union. This is what is said in John; "Jesus said, Father, glorify Thy name. Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I both hœce glorificd it, and will glori/y it again" (xii. 28). (iù. n. 2033.)

THE GLOnIFICATIOK WAS FULLY CO:MPLETED BY THE PASSION OF

THE CROSS.

The reason why the union itseIf was fully effected by the pas­ .sion of the cross, is because that was the last temptation \vhich the Lord suffered in the world, and conJUIl ction is effected by temptations. For in temptations man, 1.0 appearance, is left 1.0 himself alone; and yet he is not left, for God is then most pre­ sent in His inmost parts, and supports him. \Vhen therefore any one conquers in temptation, he is in inmost conjunction with God; and the Lord was then in inmost union with God His }'ather. That in the passion of the cross the Lord was left 1.0 Himself, is evident from ihis His exclamation upon the cross; " 0 Gael, why hast ThO'Lt jonC/ken flIe?" and also from these words of the Lord: "No man taketh life jrorn Me, but I lay it down of JrIysclf; I have power to lay it clown, and I have power to take it again; this commandment have I receivcd jro?n My Father" (John x. 18). :From these passages, now, it is evident that the Loru ùid not suffer as to the Divine, but as 1.0 the Human; and that then an inmost and thus a complete union ,"vas cffected. (T. C. R. n. 12G.) Of the GLORIFICATION, Ly which is meant the unition of the Divine Human of the Lord ,"vith the Divine of the Father, \'v'hich was fully completed by the passion of the cross, the Lord thus speaks: "Ajter J~/'das went out, Jesus saùl, Now the Son of Man if; glor~fieel, and God is .qlor~ficd in Him,. if God be glorifierl in· Jhm, (Joel will also glorl/Y Hùn in Himselj, anel will stmightway gloTify Him" (Jolm xiii. 31,32). Here glorification is predicatecl ùoth of God the FatIler and of the Son; fol' it is said, " God is

THE DOCTRINE OF THE LORD.

glorified in Him, and God will glorify Him in Himself." That this is to be united is plain. " Father, the hour is come, glm'ify Thy Son, that Thy Son also may glorify Thee" (xvii. 1, 5). It is thus said because the unition was reciprocal; and so it is said, " The Father was in Him and He in the Father." "Now My soul is trmtbled; . . . and He said, Father, glorify Thy name; ami a voice came md of heaven, I both have glorified, and will glorify again" (xii. 27, 28). This was said because the unition "'as effected successively. "Ought not Christ to harve s1ljfered these ihings, and to enter into His glm'Y?" (Luke xxiv. 26.) Glory, in the W ord, when it is predicated of the Lord, signifies Divine Truth united to Divine Good. From these passages it is very manifest that tbe Ruman of the Lord is Divine. (ib. n. 128.) 'THE LORD, IN GLORIFICATION, DID :KOT TRANSMUTE OR CHANGE HIS HUMAN NATURE INTO DIVINE, BUT PUT OFF THE HUMAN AND PUT ON THE DIVINE.

That the Lord had a Divine and a Ruman, the Divine from .Jehovah as the Father, and the Ruman from the Virgin Mary, is known. Renee it is that He was God and Man, and so had the very Divine essence and a Ruman nature, the Divine essence from the Fatller, and the Ruman nature from the mother; 'and therefore Re "vas equal to the Fatber as to the Divine, and less than the Father as to the Ruman. But then Re did not transmute ihis Rurnan nature from the mother into the Divine essence, Ilor commix it therewith, as the doctrine of faith called the Athanasian Creed teaches; for the Ruman nature cannot be transmuted into the Divine essence, nor can it. be commixed with it. And yet it is from the same doctrine, that the Divine assumed the Ruman, that ig united itself to it as a soul to its body, so that they were not two but one person. From this it follows, that He put off the Ruman taken from the mother,-which in itself was like the hurnan of another man, and thus material,­ and put on a Ruman from the Father; which in itself was like Ris Divine, and. thus substantial, by which means the Ruman also was made Divine. (L. n. 35.) THE LORD DID NOT ACKNOWLEDGE ltfARY AS HIS MOTHER, BECAUSE HE PUT OFF THE Hm.IAN DERIVED FROM HER.

It is believed. that the Lord, as to the Ruman, not only was out also is the Son of Mary; but in this tbe Christian world is under a delusion. That He was the Son of Mary is true; but that Re is so still is not true; for by acts of redemption He put off tbe Ruman from the mother, and put on ~\Ruman from the

THE DOCTRINE OF THE LORD.

Father.~Hence it is that the Ruman of the Lord is Divine, and -uïatan--HiIJÎX}od is Man and Man God. That He put off the­ HUUl~m the mother, and put on a Ruman from the Father, which is, the Divine Ruman, may be seen .from the fact that Re­ never called Mary ,His mother, as appears from these passages: " The mother""DTJesus saith unto Him, They have no wine. Jes~(,8:' saith ~lnto her, Wyman, what have l to do with thee ? Mine hour is not yet corne" (John ii. 3, 4); and in another place: From the cross "Jesus saw His mother and the disciple standing by whom l He loved, and saith to His mother Woman behol h son 1 Then Jsaith He to the disci le, Behold thy mother 1" (xix. 26, 27): And from the fact that once Re l not ac nowledge her: "It was told Jesus by some, saying, Thy mother and Thy brethren are stand­ ing W'ithout, and desire to see Thee. Jesus ansU'ering, said, lIfy mother and My b?'ethren are these who hear the Word of God, and do it" (Luke viii. 20, 21; Matt. xii. 46-49; Mark iii. 31-35). Iftl Thus the Lord did not calI Œèf)" mother," but "woman," aml JIJij/ gave her as a mother to J Qhn:-in other places sh~lled Ris mother, but noTl5Y His own mouth. This also is confirmed by the fact that He did not acknowledge Himself to be the Son of David; for it is said in the Evangelists, "Jesus as7ced the Phari­ Stes, sayin.rJ, What thin7c ye of Chr'Ù,t? Whose Son is He? They' say unto IIim, Davùl's. He saith unto them, HoVJ then doth David, in spirit, call1Iirn his Lord, saying, The Lord saùl unto my Lord, Sit l'hml on l'rfY ri.r;ht hand, until l mal(e Thine enemies l'hy foot­ stool. If, thcn, Da'vid calleth Him Lm'd, how is .lIe his Son? And no man was aùle to answer .lJi?n a word" (Matt. xxii. 41-4G; Mark xii. 35-:~7; Luke xx. 41-44; l'salm ex. 1), To the above l shaH aùd this new thiTlg: Tt was Ollec granteù me to speak with Mary the mother. SIle passcù hy at one time, and appearecl. in heavcn allove rny heaù, in wl.itc miment, as of silk; and thflll, pausillg a litUc, sltc sai<1 that SlliL11U
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THE DOCTRINE OF THE LORD.

12, 13). And in Isaiah: " Thus said Jehovah, the King of Israel, and His Redeemer, Jehovah of Hasts, l a'ln the Fint and the Last t, (xliv. 6; xlviii. 12). (1'. C. R. n. 102.)

J'I

THE LORD'S WHOLE LI FE WAS A CONTINUAL TEMPTATION AND VICTORY.

That the life of the Lord, from His earliest childhood even to the last hoUT of His life in the world, was a continuaI tempta­ tion and continuaI victory, appears from many passages in the Word of the Old! Testament., And that it did not cease with the temptation in the wilderness is evident from these words in Luke, " When the Devil had encled aU the temptation, he departed J'l'om Him Jar a season" Civ. 13); also from the fact that He was tempted even tü the death of the cross, thus to the last hoUT of His life in the world. Henee it appears that the Lord's whole life in the world, from His earliest childhood, was a continuaI temptation and continuaI victory. The last was when on the cross He prayed for His enemies, thus for a11 on the face of.-t..he whole earth. In the Word of the life of the Lord by the Evan­ gelists, there is no mention of any but His temptation in the wilderness, except the last. Others were not disclosed to the disciples. Those which were disclosed appear, according to the literaI sense, so light as scarcely to he any temptation; for so to speak and so to answer is no ternptation. Ayd y~t iLw s ~ Il g4eyOUs than any human_min can ever CDJl.cei e or be ·eve. \ No one can know_what_temp~on is unless he has been in it. 1 The temptation whieh is related in Matt. iv. 1-11, Mark i. 12, 13, Luke iv. 1-13, contains the ternptations in a surnrnary; namely, that out of love towards the whole hurnan race, the Lord fought against the loves lf n -t -L, with r~hich the he11s were fi11ed. ---.A-11 temptation is agains he love ÛP which a man is; and 1he de ree of em ta lOn lS accor mg to ) that of too ove. If not against the love it is no temptation. 1'0 destro one's l e ' r i v rx life, ov i life. The Lor 's 'fe was love towards the whole human race; and it .-.. ( was so reat, and of such a nature, as to be nothina but ure love. -:Against this, IS l e, con mua emp a Ions were a ­ m"ltted, as was said, from His earliest childhood to His last hour in the worM. . . . In brief, from His earliest childhood ta the last hoUT of His life in the world the Lord was assa"Q-lted by ail the he11s, which were continua11y overcome, su ~uga e ,an con­ iS-.SQ1ely.: t loy..eJ:.a 'ams the human \ quered by Him; an race. And because this love was not human, but Divine, and temptatilllLis.-gr a i :pLQp---QI:.tioD..-as-.t.h.ùoY! is areat, it is evi­ dent how grievous were His combats, and how reat the ferocit

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THE DOCTRINE OF THE LORD.

art of the hells. That these things were sa 1 know of a cer ,am y. ( . . n. 1690.) That the Lord suffered and sustained the most grievous temp­ tations, or more grievous than all in the universe, is not so fully known from t e Ietter of the] Ward; where it is only mentioned that He was in the wilderness forty days, and was tempted of the De'Vil. The temptations themselves which He then had are not described except in a few words; yet these few involve all. As )\for exampIe it is mentioned in Mark (i. 12, 13), that He was with the ~,b which are siO'nified the worst of the infernal crew; and elsewhere it is related that He was led by the Devil upon a pinnacle of the Temple, and upon a high mountain, which are )\ nothing else than re resentatives of most O'rievous tem t tians which He suffi e.d.irL.tM wilderness. (ib. n. 1663.) THE LORD WAS TEMPTED EVEN BY ANGELS.

That the Lord at the last fought in temptations with the angels themselves, yea, with the whole angelic heaven, is an arcanum which has not until now been revealed. But the case is this:­ The angels are indeed in the highest wisdom and intelligence, but all their wisdom and intelligence is from the Lord's Divine. ortliemselves, or rom w a lS leu own, t ley lave nothing of wisdom and intelligence; sa far therefore as they are in truths and goods from the Lord's Divine they are wise and intelligent. The angels themselves ,Openly confess that they have nothing of wisdom and intelligence from themselves; yea, are even indig­ nant if one attributes ta tbem anytbing of wisdom and intel­ ligence. For they know and perceive that this would be ta deroO'ate from the Divine that which is Divine, and tu claim for themselves what is not their own, thus ta ineur the crime of SPiritual theft. The angels also say, that all their proprium is evil and false, bath from what is hereditary and from actual life in the world when they were men; and that what is evil and false is not separated or wiped away from them, and they thus justified, but that it aU remains with them; and that they are withheld from what is evil and false, and kept in good and truth by the Lord. These thiu 0 s all angels c.on~ess; nor is any one admitted into heaven unless he knows and believes them; for otherwise they cannat be in the light of wisdom and intelligence which is from the Lord, and therefore not in good and truth. Hence also it may be known how it is ta be understood, that heaven is not pure in the eyes of Gad, as in Job xv. (15.. Because it is sa, in arder that the Lord might r.estore. the ~ umversal heaven ta heavenl arder, He even admltted mta L ItIïûself temI?tations from th.e angels; who in sa far as t Oey

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THE DOOTRINE OF THE LORD.

were in what is their own were not in good and truth. These temptations are the inmost of all; for they act only upon çends, and with such subtlety as to escape ail observation. Jlldt , in ~ far as the~~s are not in what is their own they are jn ( good and trL!.th, and cannot tempt. Moreover the angels are contmually being perfected by the Lord, and yet can by no ( means, to eternity, be so far perfected that their wisdom and intelligence can be compared to the Divine wisdom and intelli­ gence of the Lord; for they are Lnite, and the Lord is infinite, and there is no comparison of the finite with the infinite. CA. C. n. 4295.) How

THE LORD BORE THE INIQUITŒS OF ALL.

Tt is known in the Church that it is said of the Lord that He carried sins for the human race, but it is yet unknown what is meant by carrying iniquities and sins. By sorne it is believed it means, that He took upon Hirnself the sins of the human race, and suffered Himself to be condemned even to the death of the cross; and that thus, because damnation for sins was cast upon Him, mortals were liberated from damnation; and also that damnation was taken away by the Lord through the ful­ filling of the law, since the law would have condemned every one who did not fulfil it. But these things are not meant by carrying iniquity, sinee every man's deeds remain with him after death, and he is then judged either to life or death accord­ ing to their quality; anal they therefore cannot be taken away by transfer to another who carries them. Rence it is evident that something else is meant by carrying iniquities. And what is meant may be seen from the calTying itself of iniquities or of sins by the Lord; for the Lord calTies them when He fights for man against the hells. For man of himself cannot fight against them; but this the Lord alone does, even continu­ ally for every man,-but with a difference according to the reception of Divine good and Divine truth. When the Lord was in the world Re fought against all the hells, and entirely subdued them. Renee Re was also made Justice. He thus redeemecl from damnation those who receive Divine good and truth from Rim. If this had not been done by the Lord no flesh could have been saved; for the hells are continually with man, and so far as the Lord does not remove them they have dominion over him; and He removes them in proportion as man desists from evils. He who once conquers the hells conquers them to eternity; and that this might be accomplished by the Lord He made Ris Human Divine. Re therefore who alone fights for man against the he11s,-or what is the same, against evils and

THE DOOTRINE OF THE LORD.

falsities, for these are from the he11s,-is said to carry sins, for He alone sustains that burdeu. By carrying sins is also signified the removal of evils and falsities from those who are in good; because this is a consequence. For so far as the he11s are removed from man evils and falsities are removed; for both, as was said, are from the he11s. Evjls and falsities are sins and iniquitjes. . . . That by carrying diseases, griefs, and iniquities, and' by being thrust through and bruised by them, a. state of temptation is signified is evident; for in temptation there are griefs of mind, straitness, and despair, which cause anguish. Such things are induced by the hells; for in temptations they assault the love itself of him against whom they fight. The love of every one is the inmost of his life. The Lord's love was the love of saving the human race; which love was the Being of Ris life, for the Divine in Himself was that love. It is so described too in Isajah, where the Lord's combats are spoken of in these words: "He said, Surely they are Ny pecple; . . . therefore He became a Saviour to them; in aU their aifliction He was aiflicted,o . . . in His love and His clernency He redeemed the?n, and took them, and carried them aU the days of eternity" (lxiii. 8, 9). That the Lord endured such temptations when He was in the world, is described in few places in the Evangelists, but in many places in the Prophets, and especially in the Psalms of David. In the Evangelists it is only said that He was led away into the wilderness, and afterwards was tempted of the Devil; and that He was there forty days, and was with the beasts (Mark i. 12,13; Matt. iv. 1). But that He was in tempta­ tions, that is in combats with the hells, from earliest child­ hood to the end of His life in the world, He did not reveal,­ according to these words in Isaiah: "He was oppressed, and He was aiflicted, yet He opened not His mouth; He is led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dum"fJ, so He opened not His mouth" (liü. 7). His last temptation was in Gethsemane (Matt. xxvi.; Mark xiv.), and afterwards the passion of the cross. That by this He fùlly subdued the hells He Him­ self teaches in John: "Father, deliverMe from this hour; but for this [cause] came I to this hour,o Father,glorify Thy name. There came a voice from heaven, [saying] I have both glorified and u,ill glorify [it]." Then Jesus said, " N ow is the j~tdgment of this world; now shaU the prince of this world be cast out" (xii. 27, 28, 31). The prince of this world is the Devil, thus aIl he11; to glorify is to make the Ruman Divine. The reason why only the temptation after forty days in the wilderness is mentioned is, that forty days signify and involve temptations to the full, thus of many years; the wilderness signifies he11; and the beasts with which Re fought there, the diabolical crew. (A C. il. 9937.)

THE DOOTRINE OF THE LORD.

THE USE OF THE LOIW'S TEMPTATI0KS.

.H'

Good cannot be conjoined \Vith truth in the Datural man without combats, or what is the same without temptatiolls. But that it may be known how the case is in respect to man, it must be brieily stated :-Man lS nothing but an organ, or vessel, which receives life from the Lord; for man does not live of him­ self. The life which flows in with man from the Lord is from His Divine love. This love, or the life thence, flows in and ap­ plies itself to the vessels ,,,hich are in man's rational [part], and w hich are in his natura1. These vessels in man are in a con­ trary position with respect to the influent life, in consequence of the hereditary evil into which man is born, ann of the actual -evil which he himself acquires. But as far as the influent life can dispose the vessels to receive it it does so dispose them. . . . Good itself, which has life from tbe Lord, or which is life, is what flows in and disposes. When therefore these vessels, which are variable as to forms, arc as was said in a contrary position and direction in respect to this life, it is evident that they must be reduced to a position in accordance with the life, or in compliance with it. This can in no wise be effected so long as man is in the state into which he is born and into which he has reduced himself; for the vessels do not yielel, because they are obstinately resistant and opposed to heavenly order, accord­ ing to which the life acts. :For the good that moves them, and to which they are corn pliant, is of the love of self and the worlel; which good, from the gross heat that is in it, makes them :mch. '1'herefore, be1'ore they can be rendered compliant, and be made nt to receive anything of the life of the Lord's love, they must be softened. This softening is effected by no other means than by temptations; for temptations remove those things which are of self-love, and contempt of others in comparison with one's self, consequently which are of self-glory, as weIl as of hatred and revenge on account of them. Vlhen therefore the vessels are somewhat tempered and subdued by temptations, they begin to become yielding to and comp1iant with the life of the Lord's love, which continually flows into man. Rence it is that good now begins to be conj oined to truths, first in the rational man, and afterwards in the natura1. . . . This is the reason why man is regenerated, that is made new, by temptations, or what is the same, by spiritual combats, and that he is afterwards gifted with another disposition, being made mild, humble, simple, and con­ trite iu heart. From these considerations it may now be seen what use temptations effect; namely, that good from the Lord can not only flow in, but also dispose the vessels to obedience, alld so conjoin itself with thern. . . . But as regards the Lord,

THE DOCTRINE OF THE LORD.

He, by the most grievous combats in temptation, reduced aU things in Himse1f ta Divine order, even until there remained nothing at aIl of the human which He had derived from the mother; so that He was made, not new as another man but alto­ gether Divine. For a man who is made new by regeneration still retains in himself an inclination to evil, yea, evil itself, but is withheld from the evil by an influx of the life of the Lord's love, and this by exceedingly strong power. But the Lord entirely cast out every evil which was hereditary to Him from the mother, and made Himself Divine even as to the vessels, that is as to truths. That is what in the Word is called glorification. (A. C. Il. 3318.) As the Lord from the beginning had a human from the mother,. and successively put this off, therefore during His ~bode in the world He passed through two states, one a state of humiliation, orexinanition, and the other a state of glorification, or union with the Divine, which is called the Father. The state of humiliation was at the time and in the degree that He was in the human nfrom. the mother; and the stat~ of glorification was at the time .M and III the degree that He was III the Human from the Father. In the state of humiliation He prayed unto the Father as to one different from Himself; but in the state of glorification He spake with the Father as with Himse1f. In this latter state He said that the Father was in Him, and He in the Father, and that the Father and He were one; but in the state of humiliation He endured temptations, and suffered the cross, and prayed to the Father that He would not forsake Hirn. For the Divine could not be tempted; much less could it suffer the cross. :From âIl tIiis, tlien, it appears that by temptations, and at t1ie sarne time continuaI victories, and by the passion of the cross which was the last of the temptations, He entirely conquered the halls and fully glorified the human, as was shown above. That the Lord put off the human from the mother, and put on~ Human frorn the very DiviI.!.e;'"which is called the Father, appears also from the fact that so often as the Lord spake by His ow t unto the mother, He did not caU her~ but 'woman." (L. n. 35.) It is' known from the W ord by the Evangelists, that the Lord adored and prayed to J ehovah His Father; and this as from Himself ta another, altbough J ehovah was in Him. But the state in which the Lord then was was His state of humiliation, the nature of which has been described; namely, that He was then in the infirm human derived from the mother. But in the degree that He put off that human and pûtOil the Divine He was in a different state, which is called His state of glorification. ln the former state He adored J ehovah as one diffel'ent from

l

jJJ ln

THE DOCTRINE OF THE LORD.

Himself, although He was in Him; for, as stated above, His in­ ternaI was J ehovah. But in the latter state, namely, the state of glorification, He spake with J ehovah as with Himself, for He was Himself Jehovah. But how these things are cannot be ap­ prehended unless it be known what the internaI is, and how the internaI acts upon the external; and, further, how the internal and external are distinct from each other, and yet conj oin~d. This however may be illustrated by its like, namely, by the in­ ternaI in man, and its influx into and operation upon his external The internaI of man is that by which man is man, and by which he is distinguished from the unreasoning animaIs. By means of this internaI he lives after death, and to eternity; and by this he is capable of being elevated by the Lord among the angels. It is the very nrst form by virtue of which he becomes and is a man. Through this internaI the Lord is united to man. The very heaven nearest to the Lord is ofthese human internaIs. This however is above the inmost angelic heaven, wherefore these belong to the Lord Himself. . . . These internaIs of men have not life in themselves, but are forms recipient of the life of the Lord. ln proportion then as the man is in evil, whether actual or hereditary, he is as it were separated from this internaI which is of the Lord and with the Lord, and therefore in that degree is separated from the Lord; for although this internaI is adjoined to man and is inseparable from him, yet, in so far as man recedes from the Lord he as it were separates himself from it. This separation however is not evulsion from it, for then man coulel no longer live after death; but it is disagreement and dissent from it of his faculties that are beneath it, that is of his rational and external man. In the degree that there is dissent and disagreement he is disjoined; and in the degree that there is not dissent and disagreement he is conjoined by the internaI to the Lord. This takes place in proportion as he is in love alld charity; for love and charity conjoin. Thus it is in respect to man. But the interna! of the Lord, since He was conceived of Jehovah, was Jehovah Himself, who cannot be divided and be­ come another's as in the case of a son conceived of a human father; for the Divine is not like the human divisible, but is and remains one and the same. With this internaI the Lord united the Human essence. And because the internaI of the Lord was J ehovah it was not a form recipient of life, like the internaI of man, but was life itself. His human essence also, by union, in like manner became life. Therefore the Lord so often says that He is life; as in J ohn,-" As the Fat7w1' hath life in Himselj, so hath He given to the Son to have life in HirMeif" Cv. 26); besides other passages in the same Evangelist, as i. 4; v. 21; vi. 33, 35,48; xi. 25. In proportion therefore as the

40

THE DOCTRINE OF THE LORD.

4-1 Lord was in the human which He received hereditarily from the mother, He appeared distinct from J ehovah, and adored J ehovah as one different from Himself; but in proportion as He put off this human the Lord was not distinct from J ehovah, but one with Him. The former state, as has been said, was the Lord's state of humiliation, but this was His state of glorification. (A. C. n. 1999.)

THE LORD'S GLORIFICATION IS IMAGED IN MAN's REGENERATION.

The state of the Lord's glorification may in sorne manner be apprehended from the state of the regeneration of man; for the regeneration of man is an image of the Lord's glorification. When man is regenerated he is made new, and becomes entirely another man. Therefore when he is regenerated he is said also ta be barn again, and created anew. Then, although he has a similar face and similar speech yet his mind is not similar. When he is regenerated his mind is open towards heaven, and therein dwelllove ta the Lord and charity towards the neighbour, with faith. It is the mind which makes him another and a new man. Change of state cannat be apperceived in the body of man, but in his spirit. The body is ollly the covering of bis spirit; and when it is put off his spirit appears, and this in quite another form when he is rp.generated. For then it has the form of love and charity, in inexpressible beauty, instead of its previous form, which was that of hatred and cruelty, with a deformity also in, expressible. From this then it may appear what the regenerate man is, or one who is barn agaill or created anew,-that he is in truth quite allother and a new man. From this image it may in sorne measure he conceived what the glorification of the Lord was. He was not as man is regenerated, but was made Divine; and this from the veriest Divine love, for He became Divine Love itself. What His form then wasHe made visible ta Peter, James, and John, when it was given them ta see Him, not with the eyes of the body but with the eyes of the spirit; namely, that " His face did shine as the sun" (Matt. xvii. 2). And that this was His Divine Human is clear from the voice which then came out of the cloud, saying, "This is My beloved Son" (ver. 5). (A. C. n.3:H2.) THE RESURRECTION.

Since the H uman of the Lord was glorified, that is was made Divine, therefore after death He rose again on the third day wIth His whole body; which does not take place witt any man, for

THE DOOTRINE OF THE LORD. ~!.

man rises again onlyas to the spirit, but not as to the body. That man might know, and no one should doubt, that the Lord rose again with His whole body, He not only said this by the angels who were in the sepulchre, but He even showed Himself in His human body to the disciples, saying to them, when they believed that they saw a spirit, " Behold My hands and My feet, that it is l Myself; handle Me, and see, for a spirit hath not ftesh and bones, as ye see Me have. And whcn He had said this, He showed them His hands and Hisfeet" (Luke xxiv. 39,40; John xx. 20). And further: cc Jesus said to Thomas, Bcach hither thy finger, and behold My hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thntst it into My side, and be notfaithless, but believing. Then said Thomas, My Lord and my God" (John xx. 27, 28). That the Lord might more fully prove to them that He was not a spirit, but a Man, He said to the disciples, ce Have ye here any meat? And they gave Hùn a piece of broiled fish and of an honeycomb, which He took and ate before them" (Luke xxiv. 41-43). Since His body now was Dot material, but substantial and Divine, therefore He came in to the disciples while the doors were shut (John xx. 19, 26). And after He had been seen "He beca1rw invisible" (Luke xxiv. . J31). Such now the Lord was taken up and sat at the right hand of God; for it is said in Luke, " It came to pass while Jesus was blessing the disciples, He departed fr0111, them, and was carried 'np into heaven" (xxiv. 51). And in Mark: "After He had spoken to them, He was received up into hcœven, and sat at the right hand of God" (xvi. 19). To sit at the right hand of God signifies Divine Omnipotence. (L. n. 35.) The Lord made the very corporeal in Himself Divine, both its sensuals and their recipients. He therefore rose again from the sepulchre even with His body, and also after the resurrection said to the disciples, " Behold J.lfy hands and My feet, that it is 1 1Jfyself; handle Me and see, for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see Me have" (Luke xxiv. 39). Very many at this day who are of the Church believe that every one will rise again at the last day, and then with the body. This opinion is sa universal that scarcely any one from doctrine believes otherwise. But the opinion has prevailed on account of the fact that the natural man supposes it is the body alone which lives; unless therefore he should believe that the body is to receive life again he would entirely deny the resurrection. But the case is this :-Man rises again immediately after death; and then appears to himself to be in the body, precisely as in the world, with such a face, with such members, arms, hands, feet, breast, beUy, loins; yea, when he sees and touches himself, he also says that he is a man, as in the wor1d. But it is not his external which he carried about in the wor1d that he sees and touches, but the internaI, which constitutes that

THE DOOTRINE OF THE LORD.

very human that lives, and which had about itself, or outside of the single things of itself, an external whereby it could be in the world, and fitly act and perform its funet.ions there. The earthly corporeal itself is no longer of any use to him. He is in l),nother world, where there are other functions and other capabilities and powers, to which such a body as he has there is adapted. This body he sees with his eyes; not with the eyes that he had in the world, but those which he has there, which are the eyes of his internaI man, and with which, through the eyes of the body, he had before seen worldly and terre::;trial things. He also feels it with the touch; not with the hands or sense of touch that he enjoyed in the world, but with the hands and sense of touch which he there enjoys,-which is that from which sprang his sense of touch in the world. Every sense there is also more exquisite and perfect, because it is the sense of man's internaI set loose from the external; for the internaI is in a more perfect state, inasmuch as it gives the power of sensation to the externaL But when it acts in the external, as it does in the world, the sen­ sation is dulled and obscured; besides, it is the iriternal which sensates the internaI, and the external which sensates the exter­ naI. Hence it is that men see each other after death, and are together in society, according to their interior [statesJ. That l might be certain of these things it has even been given me to touch spirits themselves, and frequently to talk with them on this subject. Men after death,-who are then caUed spirits, and those that have lived in good, angels,-are greatly surprised that the man of the Church should believe that he is not to see eter­ nallife until a last day when the world is to perish; and that then he will be clothed again with the dust that has been re­ jected,-when yet the man of the Church knows that he rises again after death. For when a man dies, who does not say after­ wards that his soul or spirit. is in heaven or in hell? And who does not say of his own infants who are dead, that theyare in heaven ? And who does not comfort the sick, or one condemned to death, by the assurance that he will shortly come into another life? And he who is in the agonyof deatb, and is prepared, believes no otherwise. Yea, from that belief also manY claim to themselves power to deliver from places of damnation, and to introduce into heaven, and to celebrate maRses for them. Who does not know what the Lord said to the thief-cc :l'o-day shalt thou be with Me in pa?"adise" (Luke xxiii. 43); and what He said concerning the rich man and Lazarus, that the former was car­ ried into heU, but the latter by angels into heaven ? (Luke xvi. 22, 23.) And who is not acquainted with what the Lord taught concerning theresurrection, that " He is not the God of the dead, but of the living?" (Luke xx. 38.) Man is acquainted with tbese

THE DOCTRINE OF THE LORD.

,~

tlrlings; and he so thinks and speaks too wlJen he thinks and: speaks from the spirit. But wh en he speaks from doctrinals he says quite the contrary; namely, that he is not to rise again till the last day,-when yet it is the last day "vith every one w hen he dies; and then also is his judgment, as many also say. These things are said in orner that it may 1e known that no ma.n rises again in the body with which he wa.s clothed in the worlel; but that the IJord so arose, and this because He glorified or made His body Divine while He was in tbe world. (A. C. n. 5078.)

THE REDEMPTION.

Redemption itself was the Sllbjugation of the He11s, and the establishment of Order in the Heavens, and preparation thereoy for a new spiritual church. CT. C. R. n. 115.) That the Lord while He was in the world fought against the he11s, and conquered and subjugatecl them, anù thus ol'ought them under obedience to Him, is evident from many passages in the "Word, of which 1 shan select these few :-ln Isaiah:

"rVho is this that corneth fTo17L Edom, ùespTinkled as to His (JaTrnents f?'om Bozrah? this [t7wt isJ honoumùlc in lBs apparel, travelling in the 17wltit~&de of His stren(Jth? I that spcak in ri(Jhteousness, mighty to save. rVherejore art Thou rcd in Thine o.pparel, and Thy garment as one that t'l'eadeth in the wine-pTess? I have t?"OClden the wine-press alone; and of the people [the?'e V/as] not a man with lIfe,o ther~fore I trod the?n in Jlline ange?', and tra1npled them in Jlly wrath; thence theiT victoT'!) is SJJ?'inUed upon flfV gaT­ ??Lents; , . fO?' the dC&7J- of vengeance is in lIfine heart, and the ycar of }'IV ?'edeemed is come: . . . Mine arm 07'O?-lght salvation to .~fe; .. , I made thei?' victory descend to the ea?,th. . , . He said, Be­ hold lIly people, they are childTen; therefore Ife oecame to them a Scwiour; . . . in His love and in His pity lIe redeemed them"

(lxiii. 1-9). These things are said of the Lorcl's conflict against the be11s. Ey the garrnent in which He was honourable and which was red the "'\iVord is meant, to w hich violence was offered by the J ewish people. The conflict itself against the hells and the victory over them is descrlbed by the saying that He tJ'od them in His angeT, and t?'a?npled than in His wmth. That He fought alone and of His own power is described by the words: "Of the people [theTe VXlSJ not a 1nan 1.üith Me; ... J1fine aTm bTm~rJht

salvation to J1fe; I made thei?' 1iictoTV descend to the ea?"th,"

That thereby He saved and redeemed is meant by these : « There­ f01'e He oeca11'w to them a So.vioU?'; in His love and in lIis pitY He Tedeemed them." That this was the ca.u~e of His coming is meant by the words: "The day of vengeance is in Mine hea'!'t, and

THE DOOTRINE OF THE LORD.

the year of My redeemed is come." Again in lsaiah: "He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no inte1'cessor ; therefore His arm brought salvation unto Hi1n, and His righteous­ ness it sustained Him; and He put on righteousness as a breast­ plate, and the helrnet of salvation upon His head ; and He put on the garments of vengeance, and covered Himself with zeal as with (J, cloak. ... Then corneth the Redeemer to Zion" (lix. 16, 17, 20). In J eremiah: They were dismayed, . . . their rnigldy ones were beaten down,o they fled apace,o they looked not back; this day is to the L01'd Jehovah of Hosts a day of vengeance, that He may take vengeance on His enemies,o the swo-rd shall devour and be satiated" (xlvi. 5, 10). Both of these passages relate to the Lord's conflîct against the hells, and victory over them. In David: te Gird Thy sword upon Thy thigh, 0 Mighty,o . . . Thine arrows are sharp J' the people shall jall under Thee, jrom the heart of the King's enemies; Thy throne . . . is for ever and ever. . . . Thou hast loved rightem~sness, therefore God hath anointed Thee" (Psa. xlv. 3-7); also in many other places. Since the Lord alone con­ quered the hells, without help from any angel, therefore He is called a Hero and a Man of Wan (lsa. xliv. 15; ix. 6); The King of Glory, Jehovah the Mighty, the Hero of War (Psa. xiv. 8, 10); The Mighty One of Jacob Ccxxxii. 2) ; and in many places Jehovah Sabaoth, that is, Jehovah of Hosts. And also His advent is called the day of Jehovah, terrible, cruel, a day of indignation, of wrath, of anger, of vengeance, of ruin, of war, of a tru??tpet, of a loud noise, of tum~ût. In the Evangelists it is said: "Now is the judgment of this world: the prince of this world shall be cast out" (John xii. 31); "The prince of this world is jud.qed" (xvi. 11); "Be assu1'ed I have overcome the world" (xvi. 33); "I beheld Satan as lightning jallfrom heaven" (Luke x.18). By the world, the prince of the world, Satan, and the Devil, is meant hello (T. C. R. n. 116.) It is known in the Church that the Lord is the Saviour and Redeemer of the human race; but how this is to be understood is known by few. They who are in the externals of the Church believe that the Lord redeemed the world, that is the human race, by His blood, by which they understand the passion of the Cross. But those that are in the internaI [truths] of the Church know that no one is saved by the Lord's blood, but by a life according to the precepts of faith and charity from the Lord's Word. Those who are in the inmost [truths] of the Church, understand by the Lord's blood the Divine Truth proceeding from Him, and by the passion of the cross they understand the last of the Lord's temptation, by which He entirely subjugated the hells, and at the same time glorified His H uman} that is made it Divine; and that thereby He t(

THE DOOTRINE OF THE LORD.

redeemed and saved aH who suffer themselves ta be regenerated, by a life according ta the precepts of faith and charity from His "Vord. By the Lord's blood also in the internaI sense, accord­ ing ta which the angels in the heavens perceive the \V urd, Divine Truth -is meant proceeding from the Lord. But how man was saved and redeemed by the Divine, through the sub­ jugation of the hells and the glorification of His Human, no one can know unless He knows that with every man there are angeIs from heaven, and spirits from hell, and unless these are present with man continuaIly he cannat think anything, or will anything; and that thus as to his interiors man is either under the dominion of spirits who are from hell, or under the dominion of angels from heaven. When this is first known, then it may be known that nnless the Lord had entirely subdued the 11ells, and reduced aIl things bath there and in the heavens ta order, no man could have been saved. Sa, unless the Lordhaù made His Human Divine, and hac!. thereby acquired to Himself Divine power over the hells and over the heavens to et.ernity. For without Divine power neither the hells nor the heavens can be kept in arder; since the power by ,vhi<.:h anything existE; must be perpetual in arder that it may subsist, for subsistence is perpetuaI existence. The very Divine, whi(;h .is called the Ij'ather, \vithout the Divine Human, which is called the Son, could not effect this; inasmuch as the very Divine without the Divine Human cannat reach ta man, nor even to an angel, when the human race have altogether removed themselves from the Divinc,-as was the case in the end of times, when there was no longer any faith nor any charity. For this reason the Lord then came into the worlù and resto:r:ecl aU things, and thts by virtue of His Human, and thus saved and redeemed man through faith and love ta the Lord from the Lord. For those [that have this faith and love] the Lord can withhold from the hells and froln eternal damnation; but not those who reject faith and love from Him ta Him, for these reject salvation and redemptiun. CA. C. n. 10, 152.) Tfm

LORD THl'8 REDEEMED r;OT ONLY

MAN,

DUT THE ANGELS.

At the time of the first coming of the Lofil, the hells lJad increased ta such a beight that they fillecl aU the world of spirits, -which is intermediate between heaven and hell,-and thus not only disordered the heaven which is called the last or lowest, but also assaulted the middle heaven; which they infested in a thousand ways, and whi<.:h would bave gone ta destructiun if the T.JÛrd had not witllstooù them. Such an ülsurrection of the hells is meant by the tower built in the land of Shinar, the head of

4b'

THE DOCTRINE OF THE LORD.

which was ta reach even unto heaven; but the design of the builders was frustrated by the confusion of tongues, and they were dispersed, and tbe city was ca11ed Babel (Gen. xi. 1-9). What is there meant by the tower, and the confusion of tongues, is explàined in the Arcana Cœlestia, published in London. The reason why the he11s bad grown to such a height was, that at the time when tbe Lord came into the world the whole earth had completely alienated itself from Gad, by idolatry and magic; and the church which had existed among the children of Israel, and afterwards among the J ews, was utterly destroyed through the falsification and adulteration of the Word. And both the former and the latter after death flocked into the world of spirits, where at length they sa increased and multiplied, that they could not be expelled but by the descent of Gad Himself, and then by the strength of His Divine arm. How this was done is described in a little work on the Last Judgment, published at London in the year 1758. This was accomplished by the Lord when He was in the world. A similar judgment has also been accom­ plished by the Lord at this day, for, as was said above, now is His second coming, which is foretold everywhere in the Apoca­ lypse; and in Matt. xxiv. 3, 30; in Mark xiii. 26; in Luke xxi. 27; also in the Acts of the Apostles i. 11; and in other places. The difference is that at His first coming tbe he11s had so increased by idolater~, magicians, and falsifiers of the Word; but at this second coming by so-ca11ed Christians, both those who are steeped in naturalism, and also tbose who have falsified the W ord, by confirmations of their fabulous faith concerning three Divine Persons from eternity, and concerning the passion of the Lord, that it was redemption itself; forit is these who are meant by the dragon and his two beasts in the Revelation xii. and xüi. (T. C. R. n. 121.) The reason why the angels could not have subsisted in astate of integrity if redemption had not been wrought by the Lord, is that the whole angelic heaven, together with the church on earth, before the Lord is as one man, whose internaI constitutes the angelic heaven, and whose external constitutes the church; or more particularly, whose bead constituies the higbest heaven, whose breasts and middle region of the body constitute the second and the ultirnate heaven, and whose loins and feet constitute the church on earth; and the Lord Himself is the soul and life of tbis wbole man. If therefore the Lord had not wrought redemption this man would have been destroyed,-as to the feet and 10ins, by the defection of the church on earth; as ta the gastric region, by the defection of the lowest heaven; as to the breast, by the defec­ tion of the second heaven; and then the head, having no corr-e­ spondence with the body, would fall into a swoon. (T. C. R. n. 119.)

THE DOCTRINE OF THE LORD.

VVITHOUT REDEMPTION VVlCKEDNESS WOULD SPREAD THROUGHOUT ALL

CHRISTE~DOM IN BOTH VVORLDS.

There are many reasons "vhy without reJemption by the Lord iniquity and wickedness would spread through aIl Christendom, both in the natural and the spiritual worlds; one of which is this :-Every man after death cornes into the world of spirits, and then is precisely like himself,-of the same character as before; and upon entrance there no one can be rcstrained from conversation with departed parents, brotllers, relations, and friends; every husband then first seeks his wife, and every wife her husband; and they are introc1uced by each other into various companies of snch as appear like laIllbs outwarclly, but inwardly are as wolves; and even those who have strivcn after piety are corrupted by them. From this cause, and frOIll abominable arts llnknown in the natural world, the world of spirits is as full of the malicious as a green and stagnant pool, of the spawn of frogs. l'hat association with the wicked there proc1uces this result may Le rendered obvions by these illustrations :-lt is as if one should associate with robbers or pirates,-at length he becoIlles like them; or as if one should live with adulterers and harlots,-at length he thinks nothing of aclulteries; or as if one should Illingle with the rebellious,-at length he thinks nothing of doing violence to any one. For aIl evils are contagious, and Illay Le compared to a pestilence, which an infected person communi­ cates by the breath or by exhalation; or to a cancer or gan­ grene, which spreads and corrupts the nearer and ùy c1egrees the remoter parts, U.lltil the whole body perishes. The delights of evil into which every one is born are the cause. :From aU tllis then it is evident, that without redemption by the Lord no one could be saved; nor could the angels subsist in a state of integrity. The only refuge from destruction for any one is in the Lord; for He says, "Avide in 1tIe and l in you,. as the bmnch cannat bear jru,it of itself e:x;cept it avide in the vine, no 'more can ye except ye abide in JJIe. l am the vine, '!Je are the bmnches: he that abùleth in JJIc, and l in hi'in, the same bringcth forth rrwch fntit; for 'Withml.t jJ:fe ye can do nothing. If a 11wn avide not in JJle, he is cast forth and is 'Withercd, and is cast into the fire and bunwd" (John xv. 4-6). (1'. C. TI. n. 120.) REDEMPTION COULD KOT DE EFFECTED DUT DY GOD IxcARXATE.

The reason why redemption could not have been wrought 'but liy God incarnate, that is made :\Lm, is t1wt ,] c11O\"a11 Cod :~s He is in His infinite esseuce cannot aIlproach hell, llluch less enter

THE DOCTRINE OF THE LORD.

into it; for He is in purest and first [principles J. Wherefore if J ehovah God, such in Himself, should but breathe upon those who are in heIl, it would kill them instantly; for He saicl to Moses, when he wished to see Him, " Thou canst not see My face, there shall no man see Me and live" (Exod. xxxiii. 20). Since therefore Moses could not, still less could those who are in heIl, where ail are in the last ancl grossest [thingsJ, and thus in the most remote; for they are in the lowest degree natura!. Fol' this reason, if Jehovah God had not assumed the Human, and thus clothed Himself with a body which is in lowest [principlesJ, it would have been in vain for him to enter upon any work of redemption. . . . It shoulcl be known that the conflict of the Lord with the hells was not an oral confiict, as between reasoners and disputants. Such a conflict effects nothing at aIl in such a case. But it was a spiritual conflict, which is that of Divine truth from Divine good, which is the very vital of the Lord. The influx of this truth by means of sight no one in hen can resist. There is such power in it that the infernal genii fiee at the mere perception of it, cast themselves down into the deep, and creep into caves that they may hide themselves. This is what is described in Isaiah: " They shall go into the caves of the rocles, and into eZefts of the dust, for fear of Jehovah . . . when He shall arise to terrify the earth" (ii. 19); and in the Hevelation: "All hùl themselves in the dens of the rocks, and in the rocles of the 'tnO'tintains, and said to the mmmtains and to the rocles, Fall on 'liS, and hide us from the face of IIim that sitteth 'llpOn the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb" (vi. 15-17). (T. C. R. n. 124.) FALSE VIEWS OF THE ATONE~IENT.

It is believed in the church that the Lord was sent by the :Father to n1ake an atonement for the human race, and that this was done by the fulfilling of the law and the passion of the eross; and that thus He took away damnation, and made satis­ faction; and that without that atonement, satisfaction, and pro­ pitiation the human race would have perished in eternal cleath, .-and this from justice, which by some is also called vindictive. (L. n. 18.) What at this day more fills and crams the books of the ortho­ dox, or what is more zealously taught and inculcated in the schools, and more frequently preached and proclaimed from the pulpits, than that God the Father, being enraged against man­ kind, nut only separated them from Himself, but also sentenced them to universal damnation, and thus excommunicated them; but that because He is gracious, He persuaded or excited His

THE DOOTRINE OF THE LORD.

Son ta descend and take upon Himself the determined damna­ tion, and thns appeaSè the anger of His Father; and that thus, and not otherwise, He could look upon man with sorne favour? Then that this was even done by the Son; so that in taking upon Himself the damnation of the human race, He snffered Himself ta be sconrged by the J ews, ta be spit upon in the face, and afterwards ta be crucified as one accursed of Gad (Dent. xxi. 23); and that after this was done the :Father became propitions, and from love to\vards His Son cancelled the sentence of damna­ tion,-but only in respect to those for whom He should inter­ cede; and that He tlms became a Mediator in the presence of His :Father for ever. These and similar ideas at this day sound fnrth in temples and are reverberatecl from the walls as an echo from the \voods, and fill the ears of aIl there. But cannot any one vvllCise reason is enlightened and made sound by the "Vord see that God is Mercy and Pit.y itself, becanse He i8 Love itselt and Good itself, and that these are His essence; and therefore that it is a contradiction to say that J\fercy itself, or Good itself, can look UpOll man \vith angc'T, and c1ecree his damnation, and yet continue to be His o\\'n Divine essence? Snell tllings are scarcely ascribed to an upright man, but rather to one who is not upright; nor to an angel of heaven, but rather to a spirit of hello It is therefore shocking to attribnte them to God! But if one inquires into the cause, it is this :-That men have taken the passion of the cross for redemption itself. From this have these opinions flowed, as from one falsity falsities flow in a con­ ti.nued series. (T. C. R. n. 132.) TIIE TRUE lŒANl:NG OF MEDIATION, INTERCESSION, ATO~E~IENT, Mm

PROPITIATION.

There are four tenus expressive of the grace or' the Olle only God in His Humanity, God the Father can never be approached, nor can He come to any man; because He is infinite, and dwells in His own being, which is J ehovah; from which being if He should come to man He would consume or decompose him, as fire consumes wood when it reduces it to ashes. This is evident from what He said to Moses, who desired to see Him :-" No rnan shall see Me and live" (Exoc1. xxiii. 20). And the Lord says, " No man hath seen Goel at any tirne, save the Son VJhich is in the bosmn of the Fathe?'" (John i. 18; Matt. xi. 27); also that no one hath heard the voice of the Fathe?', nor seen His shape (.J ohn v. 27). It is indeecl. written that :1\1oses saw J ehovah face to face, and talked with Him, as one man with another; but this was through the medium of an angel, as was also the case with

1)0

THE DOCTRINE OF THE LORD.

r:;/ Abraham and Gideon. Now since such is God the Father in

Himself, therefore He was pleased to assume the Humanity, and

in this Humanity to admit mankind ta Himself, and so to hear

and to talk with them; and it is this Humanity which is caUed

the Son of God, and which mediates, intercedes,propitiates, and

atones. MEDIATION signifies that the Humanity is the medium

by which man may come to God tne Fâther, and God the Fatlfér

. to bim; and th~_s be his teacher a.1).JL.g!!id~_!!.QtQ salvation.

INTERCESSION signifies perpetuaI mediation; for love itself, the qualities of which are mercy, clemency, and grace, perpetuaUy interc~es, that is mediates, for those that do His command­ ments, and who are tlîus the objects of His love. ATONEMENT signifies the removal of sins,-into which a man would rush headlong if, in supplication, he were to approach the unveiled J ehovah. PROPITIATIOK signifies the operation of clemency and grace, to prevent. man from falling into damnation by sin, and at the same time to guard against the profanation of what is holy. This was signified by the propitiatory, or mercy-seat, over the ark in the tabernacle. It is acknowledged that God spake in His W ord according to appearances; as when it is said that He is angry, that He avenges, that He tempts, that He punishes, that He casts into he11, that He condemns, yea, that He does evil; while the trnth is that G0d il:; never angry with any one, that He never avenges, tempts, punishes, casts into he11, or condemns. Such things are as far from God, nay infinitely farther, than he11 is from heaven. They are forms of speech then, used only according to the appearances. So also, but in a different sense, are the terms atonement, propitiation, intercession, and ~ mediation; for these are forms of slbeech expre'ssive of the

~ aJ?proach which is opened -to God by eans of HIS Humanity.

These terms being misunaerswod men have dlvlded God mto three; and upon that division they have grounded a11 the doc­ trine of the church, and 130 have falsified the Worçl. Henee has arisen THE ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION, foretolà by the Lord in Daniel, and again in Matt. xxiv. CT. C. R. n. 135.) Mediation and intercession is of Divine truth, because this is nèXt to I2iYine good, which ia the Lord Himself. Thn.t Divine truth is next to Divine gQQ , which is the Lord, is because it Immediate! proceeds from Him. Since occasion i8 given, it sha11 here De s own ow e case is with the Lord's mediation and intercession. They that believe from the literaI sense of the Word, that there are three persons whu constitute the Divine, and together are called one God, have no other idea of mediation and intercession, than that the Lord sits at the right hand of His Father, and speaks with Him as man with man, brings the sup­ plications of men to the Father, and entreats that for His sake,

~j

1

THE DOCTRINE OF THE LORD.

because He endured the cross for the human race, He will pardon them and be merciful. Such is the idea of intercession and mediation which the simple derive from the literaI sense of the vVord. But it should be known that the literaI sense is adapted ta the apprehension of simple men, that they may be introduced into the interior truths themselves; for the simple cannat form an)" different idea of the heavenly kingdom than snch as they have of an earthly kingdom, nor any different idea of the Father than as of a king on earth, nor of the Lord, than as of the son of a king, who is heir of the kingdom. . . . But he who knows the interior [truthsJ of the "\iVord has an entirely different notion of the Lord's mediation, and of His intercessioll; namely, that He does not intercede as a son with a father king on earth, but as the Lord of the universe with Himself, and of HimseH aSGOër; for the Father and He are not two, but One, as He teachei:; in John xiv. 8-11. He is called the Mediator and Intercessor because the Son means Diyine truth, and the Father Divine good, and mediation is effected by Divine trnth, for by it access is given ta DIvine good. ]'01' Divine good cannat be approa~e4, ft beCaUSe it is as the fil' of. [' m; out Dlvme truth can be, lU becanse this is as the light from it wl1ich -gîves passage and ( approach to man's sight, which is from faith. It can be seen from thjs what is ta be understood by mediation and lllterces~. Further, it. should be stated why it is that the Lord Himself, who is the very Divine good and the very Sun of heaven, is called the Mediator and Intercessor with the Father. The Lord when He was in the world, before He was fully glorified, was Divine truth; for this reason there then was mediatioll, and He interceded with the Father, that is, with the very Divine gaod (John xiv. 16, 17; xvii. 9, 15, 17). And after He was glorified as ta the Human, He is called the Mediator and Inter-j cessaI' from the fact that no one can think of the very Divine un1e8s he setfLb..eioLe.. himse I-=.t1ïe iêIêa-ofaL>ivine l\Tan ;"stilliess can any one be conjoined by love ta the very Ivme except by means of snch an idea. . . . It is for this reason that the Lord ( as to the Di;ine Hu~an is called .the ~ediator and Interc:..ss~r; l but He medlates and mtercedes wIth Hlmself. CA. C. n. S/Oo.)

l

~

How

THE LORD FULFILLED THE WHOLE LAW.

It is- believed by mallY at this day that when it is said of the Lord that He fulfilled the law it is meant that He fulfilled ail the commandments of the Decalogue, and that thus He became righteousness, and also justified mankind through faith in this. This however is not what is meant, but that He fulfilled aIl things

THE DOOTRINE OF THE LORD.

which are written of Him in the Law and the Prophets, that is in the whole sacred Scripture; for this treats of Him alone. The reason why many have believed otherwise is, that they have not searched the Scriptures and seen what is there meant by the Law. By the Law there, in a strict sense, the Ten Command­ ments of the Decalogue are meant; in a wider sense, aIl that was written by Moses in his five books; and in the widest sense, aIl the Word. (L. n. 8.) That the Lord fulfilled ail things of the Law means that He fulfilled aIl things of the Word, is manifest from the passages where it is said tbat by Him the Scripture was fnlfilled, and that aIl things were finished. As from these: "Jesus went into the synagogue, . . . and stood up to read. There was delivered unto Him the book of the prophet lsaiah; and when He had opened the book, He fO~tnd the place where it was 'UYritten, The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He hath anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He hath sent Me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the bound, and sight to the blind; . . . to proclaim t~ acceptable year of the Lord. And He closed the book and said, This day is this Scripture fulfilled in your 'ea?'s" (Luke iv. 16-21). "Ye sea?'ch the Scriptures, and they testify of Me" (John v. 39). cc That the Scriptu're might be fulfilled, He that eateth hread with Me hath lifted up his heelupon Me" (John xiii. 18). "None. of them is lost but the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled" (John xvii. 12). "That the saying might be fulfilled which He spake, Of those whom thmt gavest Me I have not lost one" (John xviii. 9). cc Then said Jesus unto Peter, Put up thy sword into its place; . . . how then should the Scriptures be fuifilled, that thus it must be? . . . But all this was done, that the Scriptures of the Prophets might be fulfilled" (Matt. xxvi. 52, 54, 56). "The Son of Man indeed goethas it i.e; written of Him; ... that the Scriptures may be fulfilled" (Mark xiv. 21, 49). "Thus the Scrip­ ture was fulfilled which saith, He was n'llmbeud with the wicked" (Mark xv. 28; Luke xxii. 37). "That the Scripture might be fulfilled, They parted my raiment among them, and for my vesture they did cast lots" (John xix. 24). "After this, Jesus knmving that all things were now consummated, that the Scripture might be fulfilled" (John xix. 28). "1Vhen Jesus had received the vinegar, He said, It is finished, " that is, "it is fulfilled" (John xix. 30). "These things were done that the Scripture might be fulfilled, A bone of Him shall not be broken. And again another Scripture saith, They shall look on Him whom they pierced" (John xix. 36, 37). Besides these, in other places passages of the Prophets are adduced whel'e it is not at the same time said that the Law or the Scripture was fulfilled. That the whole VYOI:d was written concerning Him, and that He came into the world to fulfil it, He

THE DOCTRINE OF THE LORD.

S"~

also taught His disciples before He departed, in these words: " JeS'llS said to them, 0 fools and slow of Aeart to believe aU that the Prophets have spoken. Ought not Christ to have s'llffered this, and to enter into His glory? And beginning at Moses and aU the Pro­ phets, He eX1?ound~d to them in aU the Sc?'iptures the things con­ cerning Hùnseif" (Luke xxiv. 25-27). Afterwards, Jesus said ta His disciples, " These are the words '[vhich I spake ,[into Vou whilst I '[I)as yet with Vou, That aU things m'list be f'lllfilled which we?'e w?'itten in the Law of lI1"oses, and in the P?'ophets, and in the Psalms concerning Me" (Luke xxiv. 44). That the Lord in the world fulfilled aU things of the 'Vord, even ta its minutest particulars, is evident from these His words: " Verity I say unto yml, Till heaven and earth pass, one fot or one tittle shaU in no '[oise pass j1'om the Law till aU be fulfillcd" (Matt. v. 18). From these now one may clearly see that by the Lord's fulfilling aH things of the Law it is not meant that He fulfilled aU the commandments of the Decalogue, but al! things of the Ward. (L. n. 11.) ALL POWER IN THE HEAVENS AND ON EARTH GIVEN Ta THE LORD.

The Lord Himself says, " AU power is given unto Me, in heaven and on earth" (Matt. xxviii. 18). . . . In respect ta aU pmver being given ta the Son of Man, bath in the heavens and on earth, it sbould be lmown that the Lord had. power over aU things in the heavens anà on earth before He came into the world; for He was God from eternity, and ,J ehovah,-as He Himself plainly says in John: "And now, 0 Pather, glorify Thou Me with Thine own self, with the glo?'y which I had with Thee before the vJorld 11)aS" (xvii. 5); and again: " Verily, verily I say unto you, Before Abraham was I a11l/' (viii: 58). For He was Jehovah and Gad ta the Most Ancient church which was before the flood, and ap­ peared ta the men of that church; He was also J ehovah and Gad ta the Ancient church which was after the flood; and He it was whom aH the rites of the Jewish church represented, and whom the members of that church worshipped. And the reason why He says that an power was given unto Him in Heaven and on earth, as if it were then first given, is, that by the Son of Man His Human essence is meant, which when united ta the Divine \Vas also J ehovah, and at the same time power was given unto Him; which could not be done before He was glorified, that is, before His Human essence by unition with the Divine had life also in itself, and had thus in like manner become Divine, and J ehovab; as He Himself says in John: "As the Pather hath lije in Hùnselj, so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himselj" (v. 26). (A. C. n. 1607.)

THE DOCTRINE OF THE LORD.

THE LORD GOVERNS ALL THINGS FROM FIRST PRINCIPLES BY MEANS OF ULTIMATES.

Ulam the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End." This signifies that He governs an things from first [principles] by means of ultimates, and in this manner governs all things in heaven to eternity. This is evident from the signification of Alpha and Omega, which is the first and the last, or in first [principles] and in ultimates; and He who is in first [principles] and in ultimates alsù gfJverns things intermediate, and so aIl. These things are said of the Lord's Divine Human, for they are said of Jesus Christ, by which names His Divine Humanity is meant. By means of this the Lord is in first [principles] and in ultimates. But that He governs aIl things from first [principles] by ultimates is a mystery which until now has not been per­ ceived by man. For man knows nothing of the successive degrees into which the heavens are distinguished; and into which also the interiors of man are distinguished; and but little of the fact that RS to his flesh and bones man is in ultimates. NE}ither does he perceive how from first [principles] by ultimates intermediates are governed; and yet in order that He might thus govern aU things the Lord came into the world to assume the Ruman and glorify it, or make it Divine, even to the ultimates, that is even to the flesh and bones. That the Lord put on such a Ruman, and took it with Him into heaven, is known in the church from the fact that He left nothing of His body in the sepulchre; and also from what He said to His disciples: " Behold My hands and My feet that it is I Myselj " handle Me and see, f01' a spirit hath not fiesh and bones as ye see Me have" (Luke xxiv. 39). By this Human, therefore, the Lord is in ultimates; and by making even these ultimates Divine, He clothed Himself with Divine power to govern aU things from iirst [principles] by means of ultimates. If the Lord had not done this, the buman race on earth would have perished in eternal death. CA. E. n. 41.) MEANING OF TliE PHRASES SON OF GOD AND SON OF MAN.

He who knows what in the Lord the SOil of God signifies, ancl what in Him the Son of Man signifies, can see many secrets of the W ord; for the Lord caUs Himself sometimes the Son of God, and sometimes tbe Son of Man-always according to the subject treated of. When His Divinity is treated of, His unity with the Father, His Divine power, faith in Him, and life from Him, He caUs Himself the Son, and the Son of God,-as in John v. 17-26, and elsewhere; but where His passion, the judgment, His coming,

THE DOOTRINE OF THE LORD.

and in general, redemption, sa1-.'ation, reformation, and regenera­ tion are treated of, He caUs Himself the Son of Man. (L. n. 22.) V ARIOUS N AMES

OF THE LORD.

Since the Lord alone reforms and regenerates men, therefore He is called in the V/ord the Former from the womb, as in Isaiah: " Jehovah, thy Maleer and Former fr0171 the womb, helpeth thee" (xliv. 2, 24); again: "Jehovah hath called me froln the ~uomb, f1'om the bowels of my mother He hath re17M1nbered my nCi1ne. . . . Tkli8 saith Jehovah, my For1Ywr from the womb, for his servant, to bring bac7c Jacob ~lnto Himself; and Israel shall be gathend to Him" (xlix. 1, 5). In many parts of the .w ord the Lord is cancd the Creator, Maker, and Former from the womb, and also Recleemer; because He creates man anew, reforms, regenerates and redeems him. It may be supposed that the Lord is so callcd because He created man, and forms him in the womb; but it is a spiritual creation and formation which is there mcant; for the Word is not only natural, but also spiritual. (A. E. n. 710.) In the Würd of the Old Testament, where Jehovah, the Lord J ehovah, J ehovah Zebaoth, Lord, J ehovah God, God, in the plural and singular, the Gad of Israel, the Holy One of Israel, the King of Israel, Creator, Saviour, Redecmer, Schaddai, Roek, and so on, are mentioned, by an these names not many are meant, but one; for the Lord is thus variously named according to His Divine attributes (ib. n. 852). That the profoundest mysteries lie hidden in the internaI sense of the Word very manifestly appears from the internaI sense of the two names of our Lord, JESUS CHRIST. Few have any other idea, when these names are mentioned, than that they are proper names, and almost like the names of another man, but more holy.· The more learned indeed know that .T esus signifies Saviour, and Christ, the Anointed, and hence conceive a somewhat more interior idea. But yet these are not the things which the angels in heaven perceive from those names; they are still more Divine. By the name Jesus, when pronounced by man in read­ ing the vVord, they perceive the Divine good; and by the name Christ, the Divine truth; and by both, the Divine marriage of good and tluth, and of truth and good. (A. C. n. 3004.) PRACTICAL USE OF A CORRECT IDEA OF 'fHE LORD.

The first and chief thing of a church is to know and aclmow­ ledge its Güd; for without that knowledge and acknowledgment

THE DOCTRINE OF THE LORD.

there is no conjnnction; thus there is none in the church without the acknowledgment of the Lord. (H. D. n. 296.) The very essential of the church isthe aclmowledgment of the union of the very Divine in the Human of the Lord, and this must be in each and an things of worsbip. The reason why this is the essential of the church, and hence the èssential of worship, i8 because the saivation of the human race depends solely on that union. (A. C. n. 10370.) The chief tbing of the church is ta acknowledge the Lord, His DiviIl€ [nature] in the Human, and His omnipotence in saving the human race; for by this acknowledgment man is conjoined ta the Divine, since the Divine ls nowhere else. Even there is the Father, for the :Father is in Him and He is in the Father"as the Lord Himself teaches; they therefore who look ta another Divine [being] near Him, or at His side,-as is usuai with those who pray ta the Father ta have mercy on them for the sake of the Son,-turn aside from the way, and adore a Divine else­ where than in Him. And, moreover, they then think nothing about the Lord's Divine [nature], but only of His Human, which yet cannat be separated; for the Divine and H uman are not two but one only Persan, conjoined as the soul and the body,-ac­ cording ta the doctrine received by the churehes from the faith Of Athanasius. Therefore ta acknowledge the Divine in the Human [nature of the Lord, or the DiYine Ruman, lS the chief . thi? 0' of the c. ur~h, ..?y w3ic~conj~nc~ion i8 effe<j,ed; and as lt lS~chIef li lS als~_ the first tmng othe church. It was because thlS lS the first tlîmg a tEe c urch thatwe Lord whell He was in the world sa often asked those whom He healed whether they believed that He was able ta do this, and when they allswered that they believed, said, " According to your faith be itunto you.'~ This He sa often said, in arder that the:L miO'ht fi,rst believe that He had Divine om~nce from his Divine Ruman; for wlt out that fai~ec mrc could not have been begl1n; and without that faith~ey would not have been ÇQ!l­ } joined ta the Divine, but separated from it, and sa cQulcl recëiVe \ notfimg €)f good from Him. Afterwards the Lord taught them ,how they might be saved, namely, that they shonld receive ~Diville truth fr..Qm Him; and this is received when it is apphed, anulmpl.anted in the life by doing it. Henee the Lord so often said they should do His words. Tt is therefore manifest that these two, namely, believing in the Lord and doing His words, make one, and that they can by no means be separated; for he that does not the Lord's words does not believe in Him. And he who imagines that He believes in the Lord, and does not His words, does not believe in Him; for the Lord is in His words, that is in His truths, and from them the Lord gives faith ta

J j

t

THE DOOTRINE OF THE LORD.

man. From these few considerations it may be known that COll­ junction with the Divine is effected by the acknowledgment of the Lord, and by the reception of Divine tl'uth from Him. (A. E. n. 328.) The Lord is said to be rejected when He is not approached and worshipped; and also when He is approached and wor­ shipped only as ta His Human, and not at the sarne time as to His Divine. He is therefore at this day rejected within the church by those who do not àpproach and \Vorship Him, but pray to the Father that He will have compassion for the sake of the Son; while yet neither any man nor angel can ever approach the Fnther, and immediately worship Him; for He is the in­ visible Divine, with which no one can be conjoined in faith and love; for that which is invisible does not faU into the concep­ tion of thonght, and therefore not into the affection of the will. (A. E. n. 114.) In the whole heaven no other one is acknowledged as the God of heaven than the Lord alone. They say there, as He Himself taught, that He is one with the Father,o that the Father is in Him, and He in the Father,o and he that seeth Him seeth. the Father,o and that everything holy proceedeth fro?n Him (John x. 30, 38; xiv. 10, 11; xvi. 13-15). l have often talked \Vith angels on this subject, and they have constantly said that in heaven they can­ not distinguish the Divine inta three, since they Imow and per­ ceive that the Divine is one, and that it is one in the Lord. They said also that those who came from the world, out of the church, with whom there is an idea of thrce Divine [persons], cannot be admitted into heaven, since their thought wanders from one to another; and one may not there think three and say one, because in heaven every one speaks frorn the thought, for speech there is cogitative, or thought speaking. '\Vherefore those who in the world have distinguished the Divine into three, and have acquired a different conception of each, and have not concentrated and made it one in the Lord, cannot be received; for there is communication of aH thoughts in heaven. If there­ fore any one should come t1tither who thinks three and says one he "vould immediately be chseovered and rejected. But it should be known that aU who have not separated truth from good, or faith from love, when instructed in the other life, re­ ceive the heavenly idea ofthe Lord, that He is God of the universe. It is otherwise however with those who have separated faith from life, that is who have not lived according ta the l?recepts of true faith. (H. H. n. 2.) The Divine under the Human form is the Lord's Divine Human. Because this is the chief [truth] of the church, there­ fore it continually flows into man from heavcn. Henee it is

THE DOOTRINE OF THE LORD.

as it were irnpressed upon every one to tbink of the Divine [Being] under the human form, and thus inwardly ta see within themselves their Divine [Being]-except those who have ex­ tinguished tbis impression within them. (A. E. n. 151.) THE RECOGNITION OF THE LORD AS GOD SHEDS LWHT UPON EVERY PARTICULAR OF THE WORD.

If it be received as doctrine and acknuwledged that the Lord is one with the Father, and that His Human is Divine from the Divine in Him, light will be seen in the least particulars of the Word,-for what is received as doctrine, and acknowlec1ged from doctrine, is in the light wben the Word is read,-even the Lord, from whom is aH light and who has aH power, will illuminate them. But, on the other hand, if it be received and acknow­ ledged as doctrine that the Divine of the Father is another, separate from the Divine of the Lord, nothing in the Word will be seen in the light; since the man who is in that doctrine turns himself from one Divine [Being] to another, and from the Divine of the Lord, which he may see,-which is done in thought and faith,-to a Diviue which he cannot see; for the Lord says, " Ye hœve neither hea1'd the Father's 'voice at any time, nor seen His shape" (John v. 37, and also i. 18); and ta be­ lieve in and love a Divine [Being] which r.annot be thought -of under any form is impossible. (A. E. n. 200.) JEHOVAH Hn.ISELF, IN

HIS

DIVINE HU}IAN, IS THE ONLY SAVIOUR.

"Tkus saith Jehovah thy Oreat01', 0 Jacob, and thy Former, 0 Ismel,. . . . for l have redeemed thee. . . . l am Jehovah, thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour" (Isaiah xliii. 1, 3). "Surely God is in Thee, and there is no God else. Verily ThO'lt art a God that hidest Thyseif, 0 God of Israel, the Saviour" (xlv. 14, 15). . . . "Thus saith Jehovah, the King of Israel, and His Redeemer, Jehovah of.Hosts, . . . Beside Me there is no God" (xliv. 6). "1 am Jehovah, and beside Me there is no Saviour" (xliii. Il). " Am not l Jehovah, and there is no other besides Me,. . . . and a Saviour, there is none beside Me" (xlv. 21). "1 am Jehovah thy ­ God, . . . thou shalt know no God but Me, for there is no Saviour beside }rfe" (Hosea xiii. 4). " Look unto Me, that ye may be saved, aU ye ends of the earth; for l am God, and there is none else" (Isaiah xlv. 22). "Jehovah of Hosts is His name, and thy Re­ deemer, the Holy One of Israel, the God of the whole earth shall He be called" (liv. 5). From these passages jt may be seen that the Divine of the Lord,-which is caUeel the :Father, and here J ehovah,

THE DOCTRINE OF THE LORD.

and God,-and the Divine Human,-which is caUed the Son, and here the Redeemer, and Saviour, also the Former, that is the Reformer and Regenerator,-are not two, but one. For not only is it said Jehovah God and the Holy One of Israel is the He­ deemer and Saviour, but it is also said that J chovah is the Re­ deemer and Saviour; yea, it is even said, "1 J ehovah am thy Saviour, and there is none beside 1\1e." From ,vhich it is very clear that the Divine and Human in the Lord are one person, and that even the Human is Divine; for the Hedecmer and Saviour of the world is no other than the Lord as to the Divine Human, which iscalled the Son. Hedemption and salvation, in fact, are the peculiar attribute of His H uman which is callecl merit, and righteousness; for His Human suffered temptations and the passion of the cross, and therefore by the Human He l'edeemed and saved. (L. n. 34.) "VHY JEHOVAH IS NOWHERE NAMED IN THE VVORD OF THE NEW TESTAMENT, DUT THE LORD INSTEAD.

In the ,V" ord of the New Testament by the Evangelists, and in the Apocalypse, Jehovah is nowhere named, but for Jehovah it says Lord, and this for hidden reasons, of which presently. That the '\Tord of the New Testament says Lord instead of ,Je­ hovah is very evident in Mark: "Jesus saiel, The first of aU the commandments 'is, Hear, 0 Israel! the Lord ozur Gorl is one Lord,. thenfore thmu shalt love the Lord thy God with aU thy heart, and 1uith aU thy soul, and with aU thy mind, and with aU thy strenfJ,th " (xii. 29, 30), The same in Moses reads thus: "Hear, 0 Israel! Jehovah our Goel is one Jelwvah, and thou shalt love Jehova h thy God with aU thy heart, and with aU thy soul, and with all thy strength " (Deut. vi. 4, 5). Here it is plain that the name Lord is used for J ehovah. So in John: "I saw, ... and behold a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne,. . . . and rmmd about the tl"rone were four animaIs, full of eyes be/rrre and behinel; . . . each of them had six wings ?'ound abmut, and within f1ût of eyes,. . . . and they said, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Al­ mighty" (Apoc. iv. 2, 6, 8). This in Isaiah is thus expressed: " I saw the Lord sitting 1upon a throne high and lifted 1tp; . . . the seraphi?n standing above it; each one had six 1vin.c;S" . . . and one crieel unto another, Holy, holy, holy, Jehovah of Hosts" (vi. 1, 3, 5, 8). Here the Dame Lord is used for J ehovah, and Lord Gad Almighty for J ehovah of Hasts. That the four animaIs are seraphim or cherubim is plain from Ezekiel i. 5, 13-15, 19; x. 15. From many other passages also it appears that in the New T€stament the Lord is J ehovah; as in LuIŒ: "The angel of the Lord appeared to Zacha?'ias" (i. 11). The angel of the Lord stands

THE DOCTRINE OF THE LORD.

for the angel of J ehovah. In the same Evangelist the angel said to Zacharias concerning his son: "Many of the children of Israel slwll he turn to the Lord their God" (i. 16); to the Lord their God, for to J ehovah God. Again: the angel said to Mary con­ cerning Jesus: "He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest, and the Lord God shall give unto.Him the thTone of . . . David" (i. 32); the Lord God for J ehovah God. Again : " !Jrgy said, MJLsoul doth magnify the Lord) and m'l spirit hath rejoiŒ:LfJ~er God mu S vimt :-Çi..-4.6.,A7)..-ller~_~Iso the Lord j~llli-Uor ehovah. Again:" Zacharias . .. prophesied, saying, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel" (i. 67, 68). Here the Lord God, for J ehovah God. Again:" The angel of the Lord stood near the shepherds, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them " (ii. 9). The angel of the Lord, and the glory of the Lord, for the angel of J ehovah, and the glory of J ehavah. In Matthew: "Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord'" (xxi. 9 ; xxiii 39; Luke xiii. 35; J ohu xii. 13). In the name of the Lord, for in the name of J ehovah. There are also many other passages, as Luke i. 28; ii. 15, 22-24, 29, 38, 39; v. 17; Mark xii. 10, 11. Among the hidden reasons why they called J ehovah Lord were alsû-these: ecause lrit lad been aeClared at tIia1time thar-t e Lord was the J ehovah so ofiëÏi mentioned in-theOld Testament, It wou~~. no~ ~ŒVë been---rec~iv~<1 forJ.~ would nqt hâve been believed; and because the Lord was not ma e J ehovah n,even as to His Hurnan until He had entirely united th~ne ) JI EBsence to the Ruman, and the Human to the Divine. The plenary unition was effected after the last temptation, which was that of the cross; wherefore, after the resurrection, the disciples always caned Him Lord (John xx. 2,13, 15, 18, 20, 25; xxi. 7, 12, 15-17, 20; Mark xvi. 19, 20); and Thomas said, " My LO?'d and my God" (John xx. 28). And because the Lord was Jehovah, who is so often mentioned in the Old Testament, therefore also He said ta the disciples, "Ye call1lfe Master and Lord, and ye say well; for I arn" (John xiii. 13, 14, 16); by which words it is signified that He was J ehovah God. . . . That the Lord \-vas Jehovah is meant also by the words of the angel to the shepherds: " Unto you is born this day ... a SaViO'llr, who is Christ the Lord" (T,uke ii. 11); Ohrist i8 put for the Messiah, the An8inted, the King, and Lord for J ehovah. They who examine the Word with­ out much attention cannot know this, believing that our Savionr, like others, was caned Lord' merely from a common form of expressing reverence; but He was so caned because He was J ehovah. (A. O. n. 2921.) That J ehovah in the Old Testament is caned the Lord in the New appears from these passages: It is said in Moses, "IIear, 0 Israel! Jehovah our God is one Jehovah and thou shalt love

l

J'

"

THE DOCTRINE OF THE LORD.

Jehovah thy God ~Ui:t7~ aU thy heurt and ~vith aU t!Ly s01d" (Deut. vi. 4, 5); but in l\1ark: "The Lord mtr God is one Lord; and thou shalt love the Lord thy God 10ith aU thy heart and 'with aU thy sonl" (xii. 29,30). Then in Isaiah: "Prcpewe ve the waV fOl' Jehovah,o make straight in the dese?'t a path for our God" (xL :3); but in Luke: "Thou shalt go bifo1'e the face of the Lord, to pre­ pede the way f01' Hi?n" (i. 76); and elsewhere. And also the Lord commanded His disciples ta caH Him Lord; and thercfore He was sa caUed by the Apostles in their Epist1es; and after­ wards by the Apostolic Church, as appears from its creed, which is called the Apostles' Creed. Tho reason \Vas that the J ews did not dare to speak the name J ehovah, on account of its sanctity; and also that by Jehovah is meallt the Divine Esso, ",hieh was from eternity, and the Human which He assumed in time was not that Esse. (T. C. TI. n. 81.) THE REASON WHY THESE THINGS CONCERNING THE LORD ARE j';'OW FrrrST PUBLICLY MADE IOIOWN.

The reason why these tbings respecting the Lord are no'v for the first time divulged is, that it is foretold in the Itevelation (xxi. and xxii.) tJmt a new church would be institute<1 by the Lord at the end of the former one, in which this shoulcl be the primary truth. This church is there meant by the New J ernsalern; into ",hich none can enter but those who acknow­ ledge tho Lord alone as the Gael of heavon and earth. And this l am able ta proc1aim, that the universal heaven acknowledges the Lord alone; and that whoever does not acknowledge Him is not admittecl into heaven. For heaven is heaven from the Lord. This very ac1mowledgmont, from love and faith, causes aU tllere to be in the Lord and the Lord in them; as the Lord Himself teaches in John: "In that clay ye shull know, that l am in My Pather, and ye in .Afe, and I in Vou" (xiv. 20). And again: "Abide in Me, and l in YO'lt. . . . l con the 'vine, ye are the branches; he that abideth in Me, and lin hiJn, the same bringeth forth ?nueh fi'uit,o for VJithout .AIe ye Gan do nothing. If Cl ?nan abide not in .AIe, he is cast out" (xv. 4-6; xvii. 22, 23). This has not 1een seen before from the ,V ord, because if seen before it would not have 1een received. :For the last juc1gment hac1 not yet boen accomplished, and beforo that the power of heU pre­ vailed ovo1' the power of heaven, and man is in the midst be­ twccn heaven and he11; if therefore this doctrine haçl been seen before, the c1evil, that i5 hon, would lutve plucked it from :;he heftrts of men, nay more, ,vould have profaned it. This state of the power of heU was entiroly crushed by the last judg­ lllent \vhich has now been accomplished; since that event, that

"t.

THE DOCTRINE OF THE LORD.

is now, every man who will may become enlightened and wise. CL. 61.) WHY THE LORD WAS BORN ON THIS EARTH.

There are many reasons why it pleased the Lord ta be barn and ta a.ssume the H uman on our earth and not on another, con­ cerning which l have been informed from heaven. The principal rea80n was for the sake of the Ward, that this might be written in our earth, and being written might be pub­ lished throughout the whole earLh, and once published migbt be preserved ta aIl posterity; and that thus it might be made mani­ fest, even ta aIl in the other life, that Gad was made Man. That the principal reason was for the sake of the Ward, was because the Ward is the very Divine truth, which teaches man that there is a Gad, that there is a heaven, that there is a hell, that there is a life after death; and teaches moreover how he ought ta live and beli~ve that he may corne into beaven and thus be happy ta eternity. AlI these things without revelation, -thus on this earth without the Word,-would have been entirely unknown; and yet man is sa created that as ta his internaI man he cannat die. The Ward could be written on our earth, because from a very ancient time the art of writing has existeù here, first on tableis of wood, then on parchments,~fterwards ~ p~~r, and finaUy, [writing came] ~be_ publishe bX ty:p~s. This wa~.2rovided of the Lord for the sake of the Ward. -­ The Ward could then be published through an this earth, be­ cause here there is communication of ail nations by land and by water with aIl parts of the globe. Th Ward once written could therefore be conveyed from one nation ta another, and be everywhere taught. That there should be such communicatlOn w~s also_J2roviQ.ed of the Lord for the sake of the Ward. The Ward once wriUen could be preserved ta aIl posterity, even for thousands and thousands of years; and it is known that it has been sa preserved. It could thus be made known that Gad became Man; for this is the first and most essential thing for which t e Ward was given. For no one can belieye in a Gad, and love a Gad, whom he cannat have a conception of under some form; wherefore they who acknowledge what is incomprehensible glide 'p. thougbt)nio natur.e, ~nd so believe in no Gad. For this reason it pleased the or ta be barn here, and ta make this evident by the Ward; in arder not only that it might be made known on this globe, but a1so that thereby it might be made manifest ta aU in the uIDyerse who from any other earth whatsoever corne into heaven; for in lwaven t ere lS a communication of ail things.

'J

THE DOCTRINE OF THE LORD.

,~

Tt shoulà be known that the Word on our earth, given through

heaven by the Lord; is the union of heaven and _the world,-for

which end there Ïs a correspondence of ail things in the letter

of the "Vord with Divine things in heaven; and that theWord

in its highest and in~ost sense treats .of the Lord, of His king­

dom in the heavens and on the earths, and of love and faith from

Him and in Him, therefore of life from Him and in Him. Such

things are presented· to the angels in heaven, from whatsoever

earth they are, when the Word of our earth is read and preached.

In every other earth truth Divine is made known by word of

mouth, throngh spirits and angels, ... but this is done within

families. For in most of the earths mankind dweIl apart ac­

cording to families; and therefore the Divine truth, thus revealed

by spirits and angels, is not conveyed far beyond the families;

and unless a new revelation constantly succeeds it is either per­

verted or lost. Tt is otherwü~e on our earth, where truth Divine,

which is the Word, remains for ever in its integrity.

Tt should be known that the Lord acknowledges and receives

aIl, from whatsoever earth they are, who acknowledge and wor­

ship God under the Ruman form; since God under the Ruman

form is the Lord. And as the Lord appears to the inhabitants

of the earths in an angelie form, whieh is the human form, there­

fore \",hen spirits and angels from those earths bear from the

spirits and angels of our earth that God is aetually Man, they

receive that Word, acknowledge it, and rejoice that it is so.

To the reasons which have been alreadyaddueed it may be '( added, that the inhabitants,.Jhe...Ë irits and the angels of our

ear.th ~elate to the external and corI2oreal sense in the gr~atest

.Ma!!; and the ex~ernal and_ corpor~al sense is ~he ul~te, in

wnich the interiors of rife ena, and in whieh they l'est, as III their eommon [reeeptacle]. So_i truth Divine in its ultimatesJ in

( the letter which is çaIled the '\Vord; and 0-E- this acc~nt~o it

l was O'iven on this earth and not on another. And beeause the

Lord is the Word, and its first and last, that aIl things might exist according to order He w~'3 willing al~o to be 'l2.orn on this ~h, and to beeome the W ord,-ac~rding~to t lese words in John: "In the beginning U'a the Worel~ anclrJ..he Wo?]! was with Goel, and Goel was fnt,.. . TVoTfl. T e sa e 'Was in th~75ëginning with God: aU things were made by Him, a~ withmlt hi was not any­ thing macle that was made. . ~ An the W ~çl wa 1 made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld Eli$..!!!::.1'y, th~gl01'YI as of the only- J't. J ( begotten of the Father. ~ . . No man -li.,ath se~ Gà(l at any ti?ne;

the only-begotten Son, u'ho is in the bosom of th . J!lather, He hath

b1'm&q7~t Him .l.orth to 1jiew" (i. 1-3, 14, 18).. Cfi;e Vlordjhere is

Divine truth. But this is a mystery which ~VilrEë--intelligible

only to a few. (A. C. n. 9350-9360.)

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