[2] Who can possibly have a perception of one God unless He is also one in Person? If it is declared that it is possible to have such a perception provided one thinks of the three as having one essence, does one have any other perception, indeed, can he have, than that they are thus of one mind and purpose, and yet are three Gods? If one thinks more deeply he says to himself, How can the Divine Essence, which is infinite, be divided? Further, how can the Divine Essence from eternity beget some other, and produce still another, who proceeds from them both? It may be affirmed that this must be believed and not thought about; but who does not think about that which it is declared must be believed? How otherwise can there be any acknowledgment which in its essence is faith? Was it not from the conception of God as three Persons that Socinianism and Arianism arose, which prevail in the hearts of more persons than you suppose? Belief in one God, and that this God is the Lord, constitutes the Church; for in Him is the Divine Trinity. That this is true may be seen in THE DOCTRINE OF THE NEW JERUSALEM CONCERNING THE LORD, from beginning to end.
[3] But what is thought of the Lord at this day? Is it not thought that He is God and Man, God from Jehovah the Father of whom He was conceived, and Man from the Virgin Mary from whom He was born? Who thinks that God and Man in Him, or His Divine and His Human, are one Person, and that they are one as soul and body are one? Does anyone know this? Ask the Doctors of the Church, and they will say that they did not know it; and yet it is so stated in the doctrine of the Church received throughout the whole Christian world, which is as follows: Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is God and Man; and although He is God and Man yet there are not two, but there is one Christ. He is one because the Divine took to itself the Human; indeed He is altogether one, for He is one Person, since as soul and body make one man so God and Man is one Christ. This is from the Faith or Creed of Athanasius. The Doctors did not know, because when they read this they did not think of the Lord as God but only as a man.
[4] If the same are asked whether they know from whom He was conceived, whether from God the Father or from His own Divine, they will answer that He was conceived from God the Father, for this is according to Scripture. Are not then the Father and He one, as the soul and body are one? Who can think that He was conceived from two Divines (Divinis), and if from His own that this was His Father? If you ask them further, what their idea is of the Lord’s Divine and what of His Human, they will say that His Divine is from the Essence of the Father and His Human from the essence of His mother, and that His Divine is with the Father. If they are then asked where His Human is, they will make no reply; for in their thought they separate His Divine and His Human, and make His Divine equal to the Divine of the Father and His Human like the human of another man; not knowing that in so doing they also separate soul and body; nor do they see the absurdity involved, that thus there would have been born a rational man from a mother alone.
[5] In consequence of the idea impressed upon him concerning the Human of the Lord, that it was like the human of another man, it has come to pass that it is with difficulty that a Christian can be led to think of a "Divine Human", even although it should be affirmed that the Lord’s soul or life from conception was and is Jehovah Himself. Now gather up the reasons and consider whether there is any other God of the universe than the Lord alone, in whom is the originating (a quo) Divine itself which is called the Father, the Divine Human which is called the Son, and the Divine proceeding which is called the Holy Spirit; thus that God is one in Person and in Essence, and that this God is the Lord.
yet it is clear from the preceding and following verses that He said this to make known that in Himself now glorified there was the Divine Trinity. In the verse immediately preceding He says that to Him is given all power in heaven and on earth; and in the verse immediately following He says that He would be with them until the end (consummatio) of the age; thus He speaks of Himself alone, and not of three.
[7] Consider now why the Divine Providence has permitted Christians to worship one God under three Persons, that is, to worship three Gods, and why they have hitherto not known that God is one in Person and in Essence, in whom is a Trinity, and that this God is the Lord. The reason does not lie with the Lord, but with man himself. The Lord has clearly taught this in His Word, as may be evident from all the passages in THE DOCTRINE OF THE NEW JERUSALEM CONCERNING THE LORD, which have been quoted. He has also taught it in the doctrine of all the Churches, in which it is stated that His Divine and His Human are not two but one Person, united like soul and body.
[8] The first reason why they divided the Divine and the Human, and made the Divine equal to the Divine of Jehovah the Father and the Human equal to the human of another man, was that the Church after its rise fell away into the state of Babylon, which transferred to itself the Lord’s Divine power; but that it might not be called Divine power but human power, they made the Lord’s Human similar to that of another man. Afterwards when the Church was reformed, and faith alone was received as the sole means of salvation-the faith that God the Father has mercy for the sake of the Son-the Lord’s Human could be viewed in no other way. The reason why this is so is that no one can approach the Lord and in heart acknowledge Him as the God of heaven and earth if he does not live according to His precepts. In the spiritual world, where everyone is obliged to speak as he thinks, no one can even mention the name Jesus if he has not lived in the world as a Christian. This is of His Divine Providence, lest His name should be profaned.
DP 263
. In order that those things that have just been stated may appear more clearly, I will add what has been set forth towards the end of THE DOCTRINE OF THE NEW JERUSALEM CONCERNING THE LORD (L 60-61). This is as follows: "That God and Man in the Lord, according to the doctrine of the Creed, are not two but one Person, and altogether one as the soul and body are one, appears clearly from many things which He said, as: that the Father and He are one; that all thing of the Father are His, and all His are the Father’s; that He is in the Father, and the Father in Him; that all things are given into His Hand; that He has all power; that He is the God of heaven and earth; that He who believes on Him has eternal life; and that the wrath of God abides upon him who does not believe on Him; and further, that both the Divine and the Human were taken up into heaven, and that as to both He sits at the right hand of God, that is, that He is Almighty; besides many passages from the Word concerning His Divine Human which were copiously quoted above. All these testify that God is one both in Person and in Essence, in whom is a Trinity, and that this God is the Lord.
[2] "These things concerning the Lord are now published for the first time because it is foretold in the Revelation, chapters 21 and 22, that at the end of the former Church a new Church is to be established in which this will be the cardinal doctrine. It is this Church that is there meant by the New Jerusalem, into which no one can enter but he who acknowledges the Lord alone as the God of heaven and earth; and therefore this Church is there called the Lamb’s wife?. I am also enabled to declare that the universal heaven acknowledges the Lord alone, and that he who does not acknowledge Him is not admitted into heaven, for heaven is heaven from the Lord. This acknowledgment itself from love and faith causes men to be in the Lord, and the Lord in them, as He teaches in John:
At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you (John 14:20);
and again in the same Book:
Abide in me, and I in you. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth. (John 15:4-6; 17:22, 23).
[3] "This has not been understood from the Word before, because if it had been, it would not have been received. For the Last Judgment had not yet been accomplished; and prior to that event the power of hell prevailed over the power of heaven. Man is in the midst between heaven and hell; and therefore if this had been seen before, the devil, that is, hell, would have plucked it out of the hearts of men and would, moreover, have profaned it. This state of predominance on the part of hell was completely broken by the Last Judgment, which has now been accomplished. Since that Judgment, and thus to-day, everyone who desires it may obtain enlightenment and wisdom."
DP 264
. 2. A doubt may be raised against the Divine Providence from the fact that hitherto it has not been known that in every particular of the Word there is a spiritual sense from which it derives its holiness. It may be asked, as raising a doubt against the Divine Providence, why this is revealed now for the first time, and why it has been revealed through this or that person and not through some leader in the Church. But it is of the Lord’s good pleasure whether a leader or a leader’s servant is chosen; He knows the one as well as the other. However, that sense of the Word has not been revealed before because, (1) If it had been, the Church would have profaned it, and thereby would have profaned the very holiness itself of the Word; (2) The genuine truths, in which the spiritual sense of the Word resides, were not revealed by the Lord until the Last Judgment had been accomplished, and the new Church which is meant by the Holy Jerusalem was about to be established by the Lord. But let these reasons be examined separately.
[2] First: The spiritual sense of the Word was not revealed before because if it had been, the Church would have profaned it, and thereby would have profaned the very holiness itself of the Word. Not long after the establishment of the Church it was turned into the state of Babylon, and later into that of Philistia. Babylon, indeed, acknowledges the Word but still esteems it lightly, declaring that the Holy Spirit inspires them in their supreme judgment just as much as it inspired the prophets. They acknowledge the Word for the sake of the vicarship founded on the Lord’s words to Peter; but they esteem the Word lightly because it does not accord with their views. For this reason, too, it is taken from the people and hidden away in monasteries, where few read it. Therefore, if the spiritual sense of the Word had been revealed, in which the Lord together with all angelic wisdom is present, the Word would be profaned not only, as is now the case, in its ultimates, which are contained in the sense of the Letter, but in its inmosts also.
[3] Philistia, by which is meant faith separate from charity, would also have profaned the spiritual sense of the Word because, as has been shown before, it places salvation in certain phrases which are to be thought and said, and not in good works which are to be done. It thus makes that saving which is not saving, and also removes the understanding from things that are to be believed. What have such persons to do with the light in which is the spiritual sense of the Word? Would it not be turned into darkness? When the natural sense is so turned what would not be done with the spiritual sense? Does anyone of them, who has confirmed himself in faith separate from charity and in justification by that faith alone, desire to know what is the good of life, what is love to the Lord and love towards the neighbour, what is charity and what are the goods of charity, and what are good works and what is meant by doing them, or indeed what is faith in its essence and what is any genuine truth that constitutes it? They write volumes and confirm only what they call faith, and say that all the things just mentioned are included in that faith. Hence it is clear that if the spiritual sense of the Word had been revealed before, it would have come to pass according to the words of the Lord in Matthew:
If thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness (Matt. 6:23).
By the eye in the spiritual sense of the Word is meant the understanding.
[4] Second: The genuine truths, in which the spiritual sense of the Word resides, were not revealed by the Lord until the Last Judgment had been accomplished, and the new Church which is meant by the Holy Jerusalem was about to be established by the Lord. It was foretold by the Lord in the Revelation that after the Last Judgment had been accomplished genuine truths were to be revealed, a new Church was to be established, and the spiritual sense of the Word was to be disclosed. It was shown in the small work, THE LAST JUDGMENT, and later in the CONTINUATION of that work, that the Last Judgment has been accomplished; and that this is meant by the heaven and the earth which would pass away in (Revelation 21:1). That genuine truths are then to be revealed is foretold in these words in the Revelation:
And He that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. (Rev. 21:5; 19:17, 18; 21:18-21; 22:1, 2).
That the spiritual sense of the Word is then to be revealed is foretold in (Revelation 19:11-16); and this is meant by the white horse, upon which He who sat was called the Word of God, who was Lord of lords and King of kings. On this subject the small work, THE WHITE HORSE, may be consulted. That by the Holy Jerusalem is meant the New Church which was then to be established by the Lord may be seen in THE DOCTRINE OF THE NEW JERUSALEM CONCERNING THE LORD (L 62-65), where this is shown.
[5] It is now clear from these things that the spiritual sense of the Word was to be revealed for a new Church which will acknowledge and worship the Lord alone, and hold His Word sacred, and love Divine Truths and reject faith separated from charity. Concerning this sense of the Word more may be seen in THE DOCTRINE OF THE NEW JERUSALEM CONCERNING THE SACRED SCRIPTURE (Sacred 5-26); as, in this section, what the spiritual sense of the Word is (Sacred 5-26); that there is a spiritual sense in all things of the Word in general and in particular (Sacred 9-17); that it is by virtue of the spiritual sense that the Word is Divinely inspired, and holy in every expression (Sacred 18-19); that hitherto the spiritual sense has been unknown, and why it was not revealed before (Sacred 20-25); and that henceforth the spiritual sense will be possible only to one who is in genuine truths from the Lord (Sacred 26).
[6] From these considerations it may be evident that it is of the Lord’s Divine Providence that the spiritual sense has been concealed from the world until the present age, and has meanwhile been preserved in heaven with the angels, who derive their wisdom from it. This sense was known and also carefully studied among the ancients who lived before Moses; but as their posterity converted the correspondences, of which their Word and consequently their religion solely consisted, into idolatries of various forms, and the Egyptians converted them into magic, this (sense) was of the Divine Providence of the Lord, closed up, first with the Children of Israel and afterwards with Christians, for the reasons mentioned above; and it is now for the first time opened for the Lord’s New Church.
DP 265
. 3. A doubt may be raised against the Divine Providence from the fact that hitherto it has not been known that to shun evils as sins is the Christian religion itself. That this is the Christian religion itself is shown in THE DOCTRINE OF LIFE FOR THE NEW JERUSALEM, from beginning to end; and because faith separated from charity is the only obstacle to its being received, that also is treated of. It is stated that it has not been known that to shun evils as sins is the Christian religion itself; for it is unknown to almost everyone, and yet everyone does know it, as may be seen above (n. 258). Nevertheless, it is unknown to almost everyone, because faith so separated has obliterated it; for this faith affirms that faith alone saves and not any good work, that is, good of charity; also that they are no longer under the yoke of the law but are free. Those who have frequently heard such teaching no longer give any thought to any evil of life or to any good of life. Moreover, everyone by nature is inclined to embrace this idea; and once he has embraced it he gives no further thought to the state of his life. This is why it is not known (that to shun evils as sins is the Christian religion itself).
[2] That this is unknown was disclosed to me in the spiritual world. I have asked more than a thousand newcomers from this world whether they knew that to shun evils as sins is religion itself. Their answer was that they did not know it; and that this was a new idea they had not heard before, but that they had heard that they cannot do good of themselves, and that they are not under the yoke of the law. When I asked whether they knew that a man must examine himself see his sins, repent, and then enter upon a new life, and that otherwise sins are not remitted, and that if sins are not remitted men are not saved; and when I reminded them that this was read aloud to them each time they approached the Holy Supper, they replied that they paid no attention to these things, but only to this, that they have remission of sins by means of the Sacrament of the Supper, and that faith, without their knowledge, does the rest.
[3] Again I asked, Why did you teach your children the Decalogue? Was it not that they might know what evils are sins to be shunned? Or was it only that they might know these things and believe, and not act accordingly? Why then is it asserted that this is new? To this they could only reply that they know and yet do not know, declaring that they never think about the sixth commandment when committing adultery, or about the seventh commandment when committing theft or fraud by stealth, and so on; still less do they think that such things are contrary to Divine law, and thus offences against God.
[4] When I mentioned many things from the doctrines of the Churches and from the Word confirming the teaching that to shun and to turn away from evils as sins is the Christian religion itself and that everyone has faith only in proportion as he does so, they were silent. They were convinced, however, that this is true when they saw that all were examined as to their life, and were judged according to their deeds, and that no one was judged according to faith separated from life, because the faith of everyone is commensurate with his life.
[5] The circumstance that the Christian world for the most part did not know this is from the law of the Divine Providence that everyone is left to act from freedom according to reason, treated of above in (n. 71-91); and (n. 101-128); also from the law that no one is taught immediately from heaven, but mediately through the Word, and doctrine and preaching from the Word, treated of in (n. 154-174); and also from all the laws of permission, which are also laws of the Divine Providence. Concerning these more may be seen in (n. 258).
DP 274
. 4. A doubt may be raised against the Divine Providence from the fact that hitherto it has not been known that a man lives as a man after death, and that this has not been disclosed before. This has not been known before because in those who do not shun evils as sins there lies interiorly concealed a belief that man does not live after death; and therefore it is a matter of no moment to them whether it is said that man lives after death or whether it is said that he will rise again at the day of the Last Judgment. If there happens to occur to anyone a belief in the resurrection he says to himself, The case is no worse for me than for others; if I go to hell I shall have many to accompany me, and also if I go to heaven. Yet all who have any religion have a rational conception implanted in them that after death they live as men. The idea that they live as souls and not as men is held only by those who have been obsessed with their own intelligence, and by no others. It may be evident from the following considerations that in anyone who has any religion there is implanted a rational conception that he lives after death as a man:
1. Does anyone think otherwise when he is dying?
2. What panegyrist when lamenting the dead does not exalt them to heaven, and place them among the angels as conversing with them and partaking of their joy? Consider also the deification of some men.
3. Who among the common people does not believe that when he dies, if he has lived well, he will go to a heavenly paradise, be clothed in white raiment, and enjoy life everlasting?
4. What priest is there who does not say these or similar things to one about to die? And when he says so he believes it, provided he is not thinking at the same time of the Last Judgment.
5. Who does not believe that his little children are in heaven, and that after death he will see his wife, whom he has loved? Who thinks that they are ghosts, still less that they are souls or minds hovering about in the universe?
6. Who objects when anything is said about the lot or state of those who have passed from time into the life eternal? I have said to many that such and such is the state or lot of various persons, and I have never heard anyone affirm that the lot of these has not yet been decided but will be at the time of the Judgment.
7. When one sees angels in paintings or in sculpture does he not recognise them to be such? Who then thinks that they are spirits without a body, or air, or clouds, as certain of the learned do?
8. Roman Catholics believe that their saints are men in heaven, and that the rest are somewhere else; Mohammedans believe the same of their dead; Africans especially, and many other races, have a similar belief. Why then do not the Reformed Christians believe this, when they know it from the Word?
9. Moreover, it is from this conception implanted in everyone that some aspire to immortal fame; for it is directed by some to this aspiration and rouses in them heroism and bravery in war.
10. Inquiry was made in the spiritual world whether this conception is implanted in all; and it was learned that it is so implanted-in the spiritual idea, however, belonging to their internal thought, but not in the natural idea belonging to their external thought.
Hence it may be evident that doubt ought not to be raised against the Divine Providence because it is thought that now for the first time it has been revealed that man lives as a man after death. It is only the sensual mind of man that desires to see and touch what he is to believe; and he whose thought is not elevated above this is in the darkness of night regarding the state of his life.
