Arcana Coelestia # 39
39. Verse 20 And God said, Let the waters bring forth creeping things, living creatures; and let birds fly above the earth, upon the face 1 of the expanse of the heavens.
After the great lights have been kindled and lodged in the internal man, from which the external man receives its light, a person starts to live for the first time. Till then he can hardly be said to have lived, for he had imagined that the good he had done he had done from himself, and the truth he had uttered he had spoken from himself. And since man functioning from himself is dead - there being nothing in him that is not evil and false - therefore whatever he brings forth from himself is not living. So true is this that of himself he is incapable of doing any good deed that is in itself good. The fact that man cannot begin to think about good or to will it, and so cannot do good, unless the Lord is the source, is clear to everyone from the doctrine of faith, for the Lord says in Matthew,
He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. Matthew 13:37.
Nor can good come from anywhere else than the one fount itself of all good, as yet again He says,
Nobody is good but one, God. Luke 18:19.
[2] Nevertheless when the Lord is revitalizing a person, or regenerating him, He does allow him, to begin with, to imagine that good and truth originate in himself, for at that point a person cannot grasp anything else, or be led to believe and finally perceive, that all good and truth come from the Lord alone. As long as he held the former opinion his truths and goods were comparable to 'a tender plant', then 'a plant bearing seed', and after that 'a fruit tree', which are inanimate. But once he has been brought to life by love and faith and believes that the Lord is at work in every good deed he does and in every truth he utters, he is compared first to creeping things from the water and to birds which fly above the earth, and then to beasts, all of which are animate and are called 'living creatures'.
Poznámky pod čarou:
1. literally, the faces
2 Corinthians 6
1
We then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain.
2
(For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.)
3
Giving no offence in any thing, that the ministry be not blamed:
4
But in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses,
5
In stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labours, in watchings, in fastings;
6
By pureness, by knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned,
7
By the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the left,
8
By honour and dishonour, by evil report and good report: as deceivers, and yet true;
9
As unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and, behold, we live; as chastened, and not killed;
10
As sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.
11
O ye Corinthians, our mouth is open unto you, our heart is enlarged.
12
Ye are not straitened in us, but ye are straitened in your own bowels.
13
Now for a recompence in the same, (I speak as unto my children,) be ye also enlarged.
14
Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?
15
And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?
16
And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
17
Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,
18
And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.
