move, and thus endowed with fibres and vessels, with little hearts, pulmonary pipes, viscera, and brains, and that these are woven of the purest things in nature, and that their tissues correspond to something of life, by which their minutest parts are distinctly actuated. Since the sight of the eye is so gross, that many such, with innumerable things in each, appear as one little obscure thing, and yet those who are sensual think and judge from such sight, it is evident how gross their minds have become, and in what darkness they are concerning spiritual things.

353. Every one may confirm himself in favor of the Divine, if he will, from things visible in nature, and he that thinks of God from life, does also so confirm himself; as while he sees the fowls of heaven,—that each species of them knows its food and where it is, knows its companions by sound and sight, and among others, which are its friends, and which its enemies; that they join in connubial connection, know how to copulate, build nests with art, lay eggs there, sit upon them, know the time of incubation, on the completion of which they hatch their young, love them most tenderly, cherish them under their wings, provide food for them and feed them, until they can provide for themselves and do the like, and procreate a family to perpetuate their kind. Every one who will think of the divine influx through the spiritual world into the natural, may see it in these things; for he may say in his heart, if he will, such knowledge cannot flow into them from the sun by his rays of light, for the sun, from which nature derives its origin and essence, is pure fire, and therefore its rays of light are absolutely dead; and thus he may conclude that such things are from an influx of divine wisdom into the ultimates of nature.

354. Every one may confirm himself in favor of the Divine from things visible in nature, when he sees worms, which, from the delight of a certain desire, affect and aspire to a change of their earthly state into a kind of heavenly one, and for that purpose creep into particular places, and lay themselves as in the womb, to be born again, and there become chrysalises, aureliæ, caterpillars, nymphs, and butterflies; having undergone this metamorphosis, and been clothed with beautiful wings according to their kind, they fly into the air as their heaven, and there sport with delight, celebrate connubial rites, lay eggs, and provide themselves a posterity; and meanwhile nourish themselves with sweet and pleasant food from flowers. Who that confirms himself in favor of the Divine from things visible in nature, does not see some image of the earthly state of man in these creatures as worms, and of his heavenly state in them as butterflies? But those who confirm themselves in favor of nature, see them indeed, but, having rejected from the mind the heavenly state of man, they call them mere instincts of nature.

355. Every one may confirm himself in favor of the Divine from things visible in nature, while he attends to the things that are known of bees; as that they have the skill to collect wax and suck honey from herbs and flowers, and to build cells like small houses, and arrange them in the form of a city, with streets, by which they may come in and go out; that they smell from afar the flowers and herbs, from which they collect wax for their houses and honey for their food, and that, laden with them, they fly back in the right direction to the hive. Thus they provide themselves with food and dwelling for the winter, as if they foresaw and knew it. They also set over themselves a mistress or queen, from whom a new generation may be propagated; and build her a palace over them, with guards about it; and she, when the time of bringing forth is at hand, goes, attended by her guards, from cell to cell and lays her eggs, which her followers smear over lest they should be hurt by the air; thence they have a new offspring. Afterwards when this offspring is of mature age, and can do the like, they are expelled from home; and the swarm thus expelled first collects, and then in a body, to prevent dispersion, flies forth to seek a home. About autumn also the useless drones are led out and deprived of their wings, lest they should return, and consume food for which they have not labored: besides many other particulars. Whence it may appear, that on account of their use to the human race, they have, by influx from the spiritual world, a form of government, such as men have on earth, yea, such as the angels have in heaven. What man of sound mind does not see that such instincts in these animals are not from the natural world? What has the sun, from which nature is derived, in common with a government imitative of, and analogous to, that of heaven? From these, and other similar things in the brute creation, the confessor and worshiper of nature confirms himself for nature, whilst the confessor and worshiper of God confirms himself for the Divine: the spiritual man sees spiritual things in them, and the natural man sees natural things in them. As to myself, such things were proofs to me of an influx from spiritual into natural, that is, from the spiritual world into the natural world; consequently from the divine wisdom of the Lord. Consider only, can you think analytically of any form of government, any civil law, moral virtue, or spiritual truth, unless the Divine flow in with His wisdom through the spiritual world? As for me, I never could, nor can I now; for I have perceptibly and sensibly remarked that influx now for nineteen years continually; wherefore I say this from experience.

356. Can any thing natural have use for an end, and dispose uses into orders and forms? None but a wise (being) can do this; and none but God, who has infinite wisdom, can so

order and form the universe. Who, or what else, can foresee and provide all things that are for men's food and clothing,food from fruits of the earth and animals, and clothing from the same? It is one among many wonders, that a mean creature like the silk-worm should clothe with silk and magnificently adorn both men and women, from kings and queens to menservants and maid-servants; and that poor worms like bees should supply wax for lights, whereby churches and palaces are illuminated. These, and many other things, are evident proofs that the Lord produces all things that exist in nature from Himself, through the spiritual world.

357. Add to this, that in the spiritual world I have seen those who have confirmed themselves in favor of nature from things visible in the world, until they became atheists; and that, in spiritual light, their understandings appeared open below, but closed above, because in thought they looked downward to the earth, and not upward to heaven; above the sensual principle, which is the lowest of the understanding, there appeared as it were a veil, in some flashing with infernal fire, in some black like soot, in some livid like a dead body. Let every one then take heed how he confirms himself for nature let him confirm himself for the Divine; there is no want of materials for so doing.

PART V.

358. THAT TWO RECEPTACLES AND HABITATIONS FOR HIMSELF, CALLED THE WILL AND UNDERSTANDING, HAVE BEEN CREATED AND FORMED BY THE LORD IN MAN; THE WILL FOR HIS DIVINE LOVE, AND THE UNDERSTANDING FOR HIS DIVINE WISDOM. We have already treated of the divine love and divine wisdom of God the Creator, who is the Lord from eternity, and of the creation of the universe; we shall now speak of the creation of man. We read, that man was created in the image of God according to His likeness (Genesis i. 26): the image of God there means the divine wisdom, and the likeness of God the divine love; wisdom being no other than the image of love, for love makes itself to be seen and known in wisdom; consequently, wisdom is its image. Love is the esse of life, and wisdom is the existere of life therefrom. The likeness and image of God appear plainly in the angels: love shines forth from within in their faces, and wisdom in their beauty; and beauty is the form of their love: this I have seen and know.

359. A man cannot be an image of God according to His likeness, unless God be in him, and be his life from his inmost

part. That God is in man, and is his life from his inmost part, follows from what was shown above, n. 4 to 6, that God alone is life, and that men and angels are recipients of life from Him. It is also known from the Word, that God is in man, and makes His abode with him; and hence it is usual for preachers to exhort their hearers to prepare themselves to receive God, that He may enter into them, and be in their hearts, and that they may be His dwelling-place; the devout also express themselves in prayer in the same way, and some more openly so of the Holy Spirit, which they believe to be in them when they are in holy zeal, and think, speak, and preach from it. That the Holy Spirit is the Lord, and not any God who is a separate person, is shown in THE DOCTRINE OF THE NEW JERUSALEM CONCERNING THE LORD, n. 51, 52, 53; for the Lord "In says, that day ye shall know, that ye are in me, and I in you," John xiv. 20; so also in chap. xv. 4; chap. xvii. 23.

360. Now as the Lord is divine love and divine wisdom, and these two are essentially Himself, in order that He may dwell in man and give life to man, it is necessary that He should have created and formed in man receptacles and habitations for Himself, one for love and another for wisdom. The will and understanding are such receptacles and habitations; the will of love, and the understanding of wisdom. That these two are the Lord's in man, and that all a man's life comes thence, will be seen in what follows.

361. That every man has these two, will and understanding, and that they are distinct from each other, like love and wisdom, is known and not known in the world: it is known from common perception, and it is not known from thought, and still less from the latter in description. Who does not know from common perception, that the will and understanding are two distinct things in man? every one perceives this when he hears it, and moreover can say to others, "This person's will is good, but not his understanding; and that person's understanding is good, but not his will: I love him that has a good understanding and a good will, but not him that has a good understanding and a bad will." But when the same person thinks of the will and understanding, he does not make them two and distinguish them, but confounds them, because his thought communicates with the sight of his body: he comprehends still less that the will and understanding are two distinct things when he writes, because then his thought communicates with the sensual principle, which is his proprium. Hence some can think well, and speak well, but cannot write well; this is common with the female sex. It is the same with many other things. Who does not know, from common perception, that a man that leads a good life is saved, and that a man that leads a wicked one is condemned? also, that a man that leads a good life enters the

society of angels, and there sees, hears, and speaks like a man? also, that he that does what is just from justice, and what is upright from uprightness, has conscience? But if he departs from common perception, and submits these things to thought, then he does not know what conscience is; or that the soul can see, hear, and speak, like a man; or that good of life is any other than giving to the poor; and if from thought you write these things, you confirm them by appearances and fallacies, and by words of sound and no sense. Hence many of the learned who have thought much, and especially who have written much, have weakened and obscured their common perception, yea, have destroyed it; and hence the simple see more clearly what is good and true than those who think themselves wiser. This common perception comes by influx from heaven, and falls into thought and sight; but thought separate from common perception falls into imagination from sight and from proprium. That this is the case you may know by experience. Tell any one who is in common perception some truth, and he will see it; tell him that we are, live, and move, from God and in God, and he will see it; tell him that God dwells in love and wisdom in man, and he will see it; tell him moreover that the will is the receptacle of love, and the understanding of wisdom, and explain it a little, and he will see it; tell him that God is love itself and wisdom itself, and he will see it; ask him what conscience is, and he will tell you. But say the same things to one of the learned, who has not thought from common perception, but from principles or from ideas taken from the world by sight, and he will not see them. Consider afterwards which is

the wiser.

362. THAT THE WILL AND UNDERSTANDING, WHICH ARE THE RECEPTACLES OF LOVE AND WISDOM, ARE IN THE BRAINS, IN THE WHOLE AND IN EVERY PART THEREOF, AND THENCE IN THE BODY, IN THE WHOLE AND IN EVERY PART THEREOF. We shall prove these things in the following order. I. That love and wisdom, and hence the will and understanding, constitute man's very life. II. That man's life is in its principles in the brains, and in its principiates in the body. III. That as the life is in its principles, such is it in the whole and in every part. IV. That the life, by these principles, is from every part in the whole, and from the whole in every part. V. That such as the love is, such is the wisdom, and hence such is the man.

363. I. That love and wisdom, and hence the will and understanding, constitute man's very life. Scarcely any one knows what life is when a man thinks of it, it appears as something volatile, whereof he has no idea: this appears so because it is unknown that God alone is life, and that His life is divine love and divine wisdom. Hence it is evident that life in man is no other, and that in the degree in which he receives it, life is in