and again:--

Life in Himself is God. They added to this, that he who is in any spiritual light, can perceive that the Divine Esse, which is also the Divine Essence, because it is One, the Same, the Itself, and thence Indivisible, cannot be given in many; and that if it were said to be given, manifest contradictions would follow. After hearing these things, the angels perceived in my thought the common ideas of the Christian Church concerning a Trinity of Persons in Unity and their Unity in Trinity, respecting God, as also concerning the birth of a Son of God from eternity: and they then said, "What are you thinking of? Are you not thinking those things from natural light, with which our spiritual light does not agree? Wherefore, unless you remove the ideas of that thought, we close heaven to you, and go away." But I then said to them, "Enter, I pray, more deeply into my thought and perhaps you will see agreement." And they did so, and saw that by three persons I understand three proceeding Divine Attributes, which are Creation, Salvation, and Reformation; and that these Attributes are of the one God: and that by the birth of a Son of God from eternity I understood His birth foreseen from eternity and provided in time. And I then related that my natural thought concerning a Trinity and Unity of Persons, and concerning the birth of a Son of God from eternity, I received from the doctrine of faith of the church, which has its name from Athanasius; and that that doctrine is just and right, provided that instead of a Trinity of Persons there be there understood a Trinity of Person, which is given only in the Lord Jesus Christ; and instead of the birth of a Son of God there be understood His birth foreseen from eternity and provided in time; because as to the Human, which He took to Himself in time, He is called openly the Son of God. The angels then said, "Well;" and they requested that I would say from their mouth, that if anyone does not go to the God of heaven and earth Himself, he cannot come into heaven; because heaven is heaven from that Only God; and that that God is the Lord Jesus Christ, who is Jehovah the Lord, Creator or from eternity, Saviour in time, and Reformer to eternity; thus who is at the same time the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. After this the heavenly light before seen above the opening returned, and gradually descended, and filled the interiors of my mind, and enlightened my natural ideas of the Unity and Trinity of God: and then the ideas received about them in the beginning, which were merely natural, I saw separated, as the chaff is separated from the wheat by the motion of a fan, and carried away as by a wind into the north of heaven, and dispersed.

As also what is in (Matt. 1:20-25); and what is in (Matt 1:25) there he read emphatically. Besides these, he read many things from the Evangelists, where the Lord as to His Human is called "the Son of God," and where He from His Human calls Jehovah His "Father," as also from the Prophets, where it is foretold that Jehovah Himself would come into the world; among which also these two, in Isaiah:--

And the angel said, "Since Jehovah Himself came into the world, and assumed the Human, and thereby saved and redeemed men, He is therefore called `the Saviour’ and `the Redeemer‘ in the Prophets." And then he read before them these passages following:--

Being confirmed from all these passages, those that sat upon the seats said unanimously that Jehovah Himself assumed the Human to save and redeem men. But there was then heard a voice from the Roman Catholics, who had hid themselves in a corner of the temple, saying, "How can Jehovah the Father become Man? is He not the Creator of the universe?" And one of them that sat upon the seats of the second row turned himself, and said, "Who then?" And he from the corner answered, "The Son from eternity." But he received for answer, "Is not the Son from eternity, according to your confession, the Creator of the universe also? And what is a Son or a God born from eternity? And how can the Divine Essence, which is one and indivisible, be separated, and some of it descend and take on the Human, and not the whole?" The second discussion concerning the Lord was, whether God the Father and He thus are one, as the soul and the body are one? They said that this is a consequence, because the soul is from the Father. And then one of those who sat upon the seats in the third row, read from the Creed which is called Athanasian these words: "Although our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is God and Man, still they are not two, but one Christ; yea, He is altogether one, He is one Person; since as the soul and the body make one man, so God and Man are one Christ." The reader said that this faith is received in the whole Christian world, even by the Roman Catholics. And they then said, "What need is there of more? God the Father and He are one, as the soul and the body are one." And they said, "As it is so, we see that the Lord’s Human is Divine, because it is the Human of Jehovah; then that the Lord as to the Divine Human is to be approached; and that thus and not otherwise can the Divine which is called the Father be approached." This conclusion of theirs the angel confirmed by many more passages from the Word, among which were these in Isaiah:--

In the same:--

And in John:--

And lastly this:--

On hearing these, they all said with one voice and heart, that the Lord‘s Human is Divine, and that this is to be approached that the Father may be approached; since Jehovah God, who is the Lord from eternity, through it sent Himself into the world, and made Himself visible to the eyes of men, and thus accessible. Likewise He made Himself visible and thus accessible in the human form to the ancients, but then through an angel. After this followed the deliberation concerning the Holy Spirit. And first was disclosed the idea of many respecting God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, which was as if God the Father was sitting on high, and the Son at His right hand, and they were sending forth the Holy Spirit from them, to enlighten and teach men. But a voice was then heard from heaven, saying, "We cannot endure that idea of thought. Who does not know that Jehovah God is omnipresent? He who knows and acknowledges this, will also acknowledge that He Himself enlightens and teaches; and that there is not an intermediate God, distinct from Him, and still less from two, as one person from another. Therefore let the former idea, which is vain, be removed; and let this, which is just, be received, and you will see this clearly. But a voice was then heard again from the Roman Catholics, who had hid themselves in the corner of the temple, saying, "What then is the Holy Spirit, who is named in the Word in the Evangelists and in Paul, by whom so many of the learned men from the clergy, especially from ours, say that they are led? Who in the Christian world at this day denies the Holy Spirit and its operation?" At this one of those who were sitting upon the second row of seats, turned himself and said, "The Holy Spirit is the Divine proceeding from Jehovah the Lord. You say that the Holy Spirit is a Person by Himself and a God by Himself. But what is a Person going forth and proceeding from a Person, but operation going forth and proceeding? One person cannot go forth and proceed from another through a third, but operation can. Or what is a God going forth and proceeding from a God, but the Divine going forth and proceeding? One God cannot go forth and proceed from another through a third, but the Divine can. Is not the Divine Essence one and indivisible? And as the Divine Essence or the Divine Esse is God, is not God one and indivisible?" On hearing these things, they who sat upon the seats concluded unanimously that the Holy Spirit is not a Person by itself, nor a God by itself; but that it is the Holy Divine going forth and proceeding from the Only Omnipresent God, who is the Lord. At this the angels that stood by the golden table upon which was the Word, said, "It is well. We do not anywhere read in the Old Testament, that the prophets spoke the Word from the Holy Spirit, but from Jehovah the Lord; and where `the Holy Spirit’ is mentioned in the New Testament, the proceeding Divine is meant, which is the Divine enlightening, teaching, vivifying, reforming, and regenerating." After this there followed another discussion concerning the Holy Spirit, which was, From whom does the Divine which is called the Holy Spirit proceed? is it from the Divine which is called the Father, or from the Divine Human which is called the Son? And when they were discussing this, the light shone on them from heaven, from which they saw that the Holy Divine, which is meant by the Holy Spirit, proceeds from the Divine in the Lord through His glorified Human, which is the Divine Human, comparatively as all activity proceeds from the soul through the body with man This the angel standing at the table confirmed from the Word by these passages:--

Since the Lord‘s Divine operation from His Divine omnipresence is meant by the Holy Spirit, therefore when He spoke to the disciples concerning the Holy Spirit which He would send from God the Father, He also said:--

And just before His departure out of the world, He said:--

Having read these words before them, the angel said, "From these and many other passages in the Word, it is manifest that the Divine which is called the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Divine in the Lord through His Divine Human." To this they that sat upon the seats said, "This is the Divine Truth." At length this decision was made, "That from the deliberations in this Council we have clearly seen, and thence acknowledge as the holy truth, that in our Lord Jesus Christ there is a Divine Trinity, which is, the Divine from Which, that is called the Father; the Divine Human, which is the Son; and the proceeding Divine, which is the Holy Spirit. Thus there is One God in the Church." After these things were concluded in that magnificent Council, they rose up: and the angel keeper of the wardrobe, came and brought to each of those who sat upon the seats, splendid garments interwoven here and there with threads of gold, and said, "Receive these wedding garments." And they were conducted in glory into the New Christian Heaven, with which the Lord’s Church on earth, which is the New Jerusalem, will be conjoined.

Apoc. xxii. 21