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are from the Divine, it is evident that there are infinite things in Very Man, who is God.

20. The same conclusion may be formed from the created universe, when it is regarded with a view to uses and their correspondences: but before this can be understood, some things must be premised by way of illustration.

21. Since in God-Man there are infinite things, which appear in the heavens, in angels, and in men, as in a mirror, and since GodMan is not in space, as was shown above, n. 7, 8, 9, 10, it may in some degree be seen and comprehended, how God may be omnipresent, omniscient, and all-provident; and how as a Man He could create all things, and can as a man preserve the things created from Himself in their order to eternity.

22. That infinite things are distinctly one in God-Man, may also appear evident in man as in a mirror. In man there are many and innumerable things, as was said above, but still a man perceives them as one: he does not from sense know any thing of his brain, his heart and lungs, his liver, spleen, and pancreas; nor of the innumerable things in his eyes, ears, tongue, stomach, organs of generation, and the rest; and as he does not know these things from sense, he is to himself as a one. The reason is, because all

those things are in such a form, that no one of them can be wanting; for he is a form recipient of life from God-Man, as was shown above, n. 4, 5, 6. The order and connection of all in such a form produces a sense, and an idea, as if they were not many and innumerable things, but a one. Hence it may be concluded, that the many and innumerable things, which constitute in man as it were a one, in Very Man, who is God, are distinctly, yea, most distinctly one.

23. THAT THERE IS ONE GOD-MAN, FROM WHOM ALL THINGS ARE. All the principles of human reason agree, and as it were concentre in this, that there is one God, the Creator of the universe; wherefore a reasonable man, by virtue of the common principle of understanding, thinks no otherwise, and can think no otherwise. Tell any man of sound reason, that there are two creators of the universe, and you will find in yourself a repugnance thence arising, and possibly from the bare sound of the words in your ear: whence it is evident that all the principles of human reason join and concentre in this, that GOD IS ONE. There are two causes why this is

Firstly, the faculty of thinking rationally, viewed in itself, is not man's but God's in man: on this faculty depends human reason in its common [ground], and this common [ground] causes it to see as from itself that God is one. Secondly, a man, by means of that faculty, either is in the light of heaven, or derives the common [ground] of his thought therefrom; and it is a universal of the light of heaven that God is one. The case is otherwise if a man, by that faculty, has perverted the lower parts of his understand

ing: such a one indeed possesses the faculty, but by the intorsion of the lower parts he turns it another way, and his reason becomes unsound.

24. Every man, although he is ignorant of it, thinks of a collective body of men as of a single man; wherefore also he immediately perceives what is meant when it is said, that a king is the head, and his subjects the body; also when it is said, that this or that person is such and such in the common body, that is, in the kingdom. The case is the same with the spiritual body as with the civil body: the spiritual body is the church; its head is God-Man. Hence it is evident how in this perception the church would appear as a man, if one God, the Creator and Sustainer of the universe, were not thought of, but instead of one, several. It would appear in that perception like one body with several heads, consequently not like a man, but like a monster. If it should be said, that those heads have one essence, and that thereby they all together make one head, no other idea can thence result, but the idea either of one head with several faces, or of several heads with one face; consequently the church in such perception would be presented as deformed; when nevertheless one God is the head, and the church is the body, which acts from the control of the head, and not from itself, as is also the case in man. Hence also it is, that there is only one king in a kingdom: for more than one would distract it, whereas one may preserve it in unity.

25. The case would be similar in the church dispersed over the whole world, which is called a communion, because like one body it is under one head. It is well known, that the head governs and controls the body under it; for the understanding and the will reside in the head, and the body is acted on from the understanding and the will, insomuch that the body is nothing but obedience. The body cannot act at all but from the understanding and will in the head; nor can the man of the church act at all but from God. It appears as if the body acted from itself, as if the hands and feet in acting moved of themselves, and as if the mouth and tongue in speaking vibrated of themselves, when nevertheless they do not in the least do so of themselves, but from the affection of the will and the consequent thought of the understanding in the head. Think then if one body had several heads, and each head were at liberty to determine itself from its own understanding and its own will, whether the body could subsist: unanimity, such as has place under one head, is in this case impossible. As it is in the church, so it is in the heavens, which consist of myriads of myriads of angels: unless all and every one of them had respect to one God, they would fall away from one another, and heaven would be dissolved: wherefore, if an angel of heaven only thinks of a plurality of Gods, he is immediately separated; for he is cast to the uttermost boundary of heaven, and falls down.

26. Since the universal heaven, and all things therein, have

relation to one God, therefore the speech of the angels is such, that by a certain agreeing harmony flowing from the agreeing harmony of heaven, it terminates in one: an indication that it is impossible for them to think of more than one God; for their speech proceeds from their thought.

27. What person of sound reason does not perceive, that the Divine is not divisible; also, that a plurality of Infinites, Uncreates, Omnipotents, and Gods, is not possible? If another, who has no reason, should say that several Infinites, Uncreates, Omnipotents, and Gods are possible, provided they have the same essence, and that thereby there is one infinite, uncreate, omnipotent Godis not one and the same essence one and the same identity? and one and the same identity is not communicable to many. If it should be said that one is from the other, then he that is from the other is not God in Himself; and nevertheless God in Himself is the God from whom all things are. See above, n. 16.

28. THAT THE DIVINE ESSENCE ITSELF IS LOVE AND WISDOM. If you collect together all the things that you know, and place them under the intuition of your mind, and inquire in some elevation of spirit what is the universal of them all, you cannot conclude otherwise than that it is love and wisdom; for these two principles are the essentials of all things of the life of man: all things civil, moral, and spiritual, belonging to him, depend upon these two, and without these two they are nothing. Similar is the case with all things of the life of man in his compound state, which is, as was before said, a greater or less society, a kingdom or empire, the church, and also the angelic heaven. Take away from them love and wisdom, and think whether they are any thing, and you will discover that without these, as grounds of their existence, they are nothing.

29. That in God there is love, and at the same time wisdom, in their very essence, cannot be denied by any one; for He loves all from love in Himself, and leads all from wisdom in Himself. The created universe also, viewed from a principle of order, is so full of wisdom grounded in love, that it may be said that all things in the complex are wisdom itself: for indefinite things are in such order, successively and simultaneously, that taken together they make one: it is on this account, and no other, that they are capable of being held together and preserved perpetually.

30. In consequence of the Divine Essence Itself being love and wisdom, man has two faculties of life, from one of which he has his understanding, and from the other his will. The faculty from which he has his understanding, derives all it has from the influx of wisdom from God; and the faculty from which he has his will, derives all it has from the influx of love from God. Man's not being justly wise, and not exercising his love justly, does not take away the faculties, but only closes them up inwardly and so long

as it closes them up inwardly, the understanding is indeed called understanding, and the will is called will, but yet essentially they are not so: wherefore if those faculties were taken away, all that is human would perish, which consists in thinking and in speaking from thought, and in willing and in acting from will. Hence it is evident, that the Divine resides with man in those two faculties, which are the faculty of being wise, and the faculty of loving; that is, in the ability. That in man there is a power of loving, although he is not wise and does not love as he might, has been made known to me by much experience, which you may see abundantly elsewhere.

31. In consequence of the Divine Essence Itself being love and wisdom, all things in the universe have relation to good and truth; for all that proceeds from love is called good, and all that proceeds from wisdom is called truth: but of these more hereafter.

32. In consequence of the Divine Essence being love and wisdom, the universe and all things in it, as well those which are living as those which are not, subsist from heat and light; for heat corresponds to love, and light corresponds to wisdom; wherefore also spiritual heat is love, and spiritual light is wisdom: but of these also more hereafter.

33. From the Divine Love and the Divine Wisdom, which constitute the very Essence which is God, proceed all the affections and thoughts in man, the affections from the Divine Love, and the thoughts from the Divine Wisdom: and all and singular the things appertaining to man are nothing but affection and thought, these two principles being as it were the fountains of all things of his life. All the delights and pleasantnesses of his life are derived from them; the delights from the affection of his love, and the pleasantnesses from the thought therein grounded. Now, since a man was created to be a recipient, and is a recipient so far as he loves God, and from the love of God has wisdom, that is, so far as he is affected by those things which are from God, and so far as he thinks from that affection, it follows that the divine essence, from which all things were created, is divine love and divine wisdom.

34. THAT THE DIVINE LOVE IS OF THE DIVINE WISDOM, AND THE DIVINE WISDOM OF THE DIVINE LOVE. That the divine esse and the divine existere in God-Man are distinctly one, may be seen above, n. 14 to 16. And as the divine esse is divine love, and the divine existere is divine wisdom, therefore these in like manner are distinctly one. They are called distinctly one, because love and wisdom are two distinct things, but so united, that love is of wisdom and wisdom of love; for love is in wisdom, and wisdom exists in love and as wisdom derives its existere from love, as was said above, n. 14, hence also the divine wisdom is an esse; whence it follows, that love and wisdom taken together are the divine esse, but taken distinctly, love is called the divine esse, and wisdom the

divine existere. Such is the idea of the angels concerning the divine love and the divine wisdom.

35. Since there is such a union of love and wisdom, and of wisdom and love, in God-Man, the divine essence is a one; for the divine essence is divine love because it is of divine wisdom, and divine wisdom because it is of divine love; and since there is such a union of these principles, therefore also the divine life is Life is the divine essence. The divine love and the divine wisdom are a one, because their union is reciprocal, and reciprocal union makes unity. But of reciprocal union more will be said elsewhere.

one.

36. There is also a union of love and wisdom in every divine work, by virtue whereof it has perpetuity, yea, eternity. If there were more of the divine love than of the divine wisdom, or more of the divine wisdom than of the divine love, in any created work, it could not subsist, except so far as their influence was equal; whatever exceeds such equality passes off.

37. The Divine Providence in reforming, regenerating, and saving men, participates equally of the divine love and the divine wisdom: from more of the divine love than of the divine wisdom, or from more of the divine wisdom than of the divine love, man cannot be reformed, regenerated, and saved. Divine love wills to save all; yet it cannot save them but by the divine wisdom; and all the laws whereby salvation is effected are of the divine wisdom, and love cannot transcend those laws, because the divine love and the divine wisdom are a one, and act in union.

38. The divine love and the divine wisdom are understood in the Word by justice and judgment, the divine love by justice, and the divine wisdom by judgment; wherefore in the Word justice and judgment are predicated of God; as in the Psalms: "Justice and judgment are the support of Thy throne," Psalm xcvii. 2. "The Lord shall bring forth thy justice as the light, and thy judgment as the noon-day," Psalm xxxvii. 6. In Hosea: "I will betroth thee unto Me for ever in justice and judgment," ii. 19. In Jeremiah: "I will raise unto David a just branch, and he shall reign a king, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth," xxiii. 5. In Isaiah: "He shall sit upon the throne of David and upon his kingdom, to establish it in judgment and in justice," ix. 6. In the same: "Jehovah shall be exalted, for He hath filled the earth with judgment and justice," xxxiii. 5. In the Psalms: "When I shall have learned the judgments of Thy justice;" "Seven times in the day do I praise Thee, because of the judgments of Thy justice," Psalm cxix. 7, 164. The same is understood by life and light in John: "In Him was life, and the life was the light of men," i. 4. Life in this passage means the divine love of the Lord, and light, His divine wisdom. The same is also meant by life and spirit in John: "Jesus said, the words which I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life," vi. 63.

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