1. That in Christ Jesus Man is God, and God Man, appears
evidently from the Lord's words to His Father:
All Thine are Mine,
and all Mine are Thine (John 17:10).
From the expression "all Mine are Thine," it is evident that the
Man is God; and from the expression, "all Thine are Mine," that God
is Man.
2.
During man's regeneration, the light of heaven is instilled into
natural light, and at the same time the heat of heaven; these two
constitute, as it were, the new soul, through which man is formed by
the Lord. This light and heat are instilled through the higher mind,
which is called the spiritual mind. By virtue of this instilling, or
insertion, man becomes a new creature, and becomes more enlightened
and more intelligent in matters of the church, and consequently in
the reading of the Word. This also is the new understanding and the
new will. Afterwards the man is led by the Lord through the above
light and through the above heat, and from natural becomes
spiritual.
3.
There is a still higher or more interior light and heat, which is
called celestial. This is inserted and instilled into the former
spiritual. The angels of the third heaven who are called celestial,
are in this light and heat.
4.
This insertion may be explained by a comparison; namely, by the
grafting and inoculation of trees; where the grafted slips receive
[the sap] interiorly in themselves, according to their form, etc.
5.
It is to be clearly shown that without the Lord's Advent, no man
could have been regenerated, and hence saved; and that this is meant
by "the Lamb taking away the sins of the world." This may be evident
from the state of the spiritual world before the Lord's Coming;
which was such that not a single truth of faith, nor any good of
charity, could pass from the Lord to man. (This is to be illustrated
by the influx of truth and good into evil spirits, into the back
part of their heads, etc.)
6.
Miracles close the internal man, and deprive man of all that free
will, through which and in which man is regenerated. Free will
really belongs to the internal man; and when this is closed up, the
man becomes external and natural; and such a man does not see any
spiritual truth. Miracles also are like veils and bars lest anything
might enter. This bar, or this obstruction, however, is gradually
broken, and [then] all truths become dispersed.
7.
It is said by the church at this day, following Paul, that faith
enters through the hearing of the Word; and some add to this,
through a certain meditation from the Word. This, however, is to be
understood thus, that truths ought to be drawn from the Word, and
that man ought to live according to them. In this case, the man
approaches the Lord, who is the Word, and the Truth, and receives
faith; for each and all truths are from the Word, which is spiritual
light. Thus faith is acquired; because faith belongs to truth, and
truth belongs to faith; and nothing ought to be believed except the
truth.
8.
That there are numberless evils interiorly in man; yea, that there
are numberless evils in every lust. Every lust of which man becomes
conscious, is a mass and a heap of many things. These things the man
does not see, but only the one mass. When, therefore, the man by
repentance removes this, the Lord, who sees the interior and inmost
things of man, removes them. Unless, therefore, a man approaches the
Lord, he labors in vain to render himself free from sin. The case
herein is as with those things which were written in a Relation
concerning turtles [see True Christian Religion 462].
9.
That a man who has altogether confirmed himself in the faith and
doctrine of the present church, makes no account of repentance, of
the law of the Decalogue, and of works and charity. For he can say,
"I cannot do goods from myself; they are contained in faith, whence
they come forth of their own accord; I can only know them," and so
forth. This is the source of the naturalism which prevails at the
present time.
10.
By the "fulness of time" is signified consummation and desolation;
because "time" signifies the state of the church (see Rev. 10:6, and
Ezek. 30:3). The same also is signified by "Time, times, and half a
time" (see Rev. 12:14; Dan. 7:25; 12:7). The times in the world are
spring, summer, autumn; the fullness of these times is winter. The
times as to light are morning, noon, evening; and their fullness is
the night, etc., etc. This is meant by the Lord's coming in "the
fullness of the time," or of "times"; that is, when there is no
longer any truth of faith, and good of charity left. (Concerning
"the fullness of the time," see Rom. 11:12, 25; Gal. 4:4; and
especially, Eph. 1:9, 10; Gen. 15:16.)
11.
That the Lord's love is present with those who are in faith in Him.
This may be clearly seen from this circumstance, that place cannot
be predicated of love, nor of faith; for both are spiritual. That
the Lord Himself is present appears from this consideration, that
spiritual love also is not confined to place. It was not in my own
case, whenever I was in the spiritual idea. In a word, presence in
the spiritual world is according to love. Wherefore, [the Lord] is
omnipresent; He does not move about; He is in place, but not through
place; He is thus in space and in what is extended, but not through
space, and through what is extended.
