9336. By little and little I will drive him out from before thee. That this signifies a removal by degrees according to order, is evident from the signification of “by little and little,” as being by degrees, thus slowly; from the signification of “driving out,” when said of the falsities and evils which are signified by the nations of the land of Canaan, as being removal (of which just above, n. 9333). It is said “by degrees according to order,” because with the man who is being regenerated all things are disposed according to the order of heaven; for the regenerate man is a heaven in the least form, and therefore there is in him an order like that which is in heaven.

[2] When a man is born, in respect to hereditary evils he is a hell in the least form; and he also becomes a hell insofar as he takes the hereditary evils to himself, and adds to them things which are his own. Hence it is that both from birth and from actual life the order of his life is opposite to the order of heaven; for from his own a man loves himself more than the Lord, and the world more than heaven; when yet the life of heaven consists in loving the Lord above all things and the neighbor as oneself. From this it is evident that the former life, which is of hell, must be utterly destroyed (that is to say, the evils and falsities must be removed), in order that the new life, which is the life of heaven, may be implanted (see n. 4551, 4552, 4839, 6068). This cannot possibly be done hastily; for every evil that is rooted in with its falsities has a connection with all evils and their falsities; and such evils and falsities are innumerable, and their connection is so complex that it cannot be comprehended, not even by the angels, but only by the Lord. From this it is evident that the life of hell with a man cannot be destroyed suddenly; for if it were, he would straightway expire; and neither can the life of heaven be implanted suddenly, for if it were, he would also expire.

[3] There are thousands and thousands of arcana, of which scarcely a single one is known to man, whereby a man is led by the Lord out of the life of hell into the life of heaven. That this is so, has been given me to know from heaven, and it has likewise been confirmed by many things which have come to my notice. As man knows scarcely anything of these matters, many have fallen into errors about the liberation of man from evils and falsities (that is, the forgiveness of sins), believing that through mercy the life of hell in a man can be instantly turned into the life of heaven in him; when yet the whole act of regeneration is mercy, and none are regenerated except those who receive the mercy of the Lord in faith and life while in the world; according to the Lord’s words in John:

As many as received, to them gave He the power to be sons of God, even to them that believe in His name; who were born, not of bloods, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God (John 1:12-13);

what is meant by “bloods,” by “the will of the flesh,” and “the will of man,” also by being “born of God,” may be seen above (n. 5826).

[4] What is properly meant by removal from evils and falsities by degrees according to order, shall also be briefly stated. The Divine truth which proceeds from the Divine good of the Lord disposes all things into order in heaven; and therefore this Divine truth, in which there is good from the Lord, is order itself (n. 1728, 1919, 2258, 2447, 5703, 6338, 8700, 8988). According to this order all things in heaven come forth, and according to the same order they subsist; for to subsist is perpetually to come forth. In order therefore that heaven may come forth in a man it is necessary that he receive Divine truth in the good proceeding from the Lord. This can only be done by degrees according to an order similar to that by which the Lord sets heaven in order; for the case with a thing of the same nature is the same in what is small as in what is great. This successive setting in order is what is here meant by “order according to degrees.” From all this it is also evident that the case with the new creation of man-which is his regeneration-is the same as with the creation of heaven and earth. Wherefore also in the Word by “a new heaven and a new earth” is meant a new church (n. 1733, 1850, 2117, 2118, 3355, 4535); and also by the creation of heaven and earth in the first chapter of Genesis is meant the new creation of the celestial church, which is called “Man” (of which see in the explications there).

1919. Abram said unto Sarai. That this signifies perception, is evident from what was said above (n. 1898). The Lord’s perception was represented and is here signified by this which Abram said to Sarai; but His thought from the perception, by that which Sarai said to Abram. The thought was from the perception. They who are in perception think from nothing else; but still perception is one thing and thought another. To show that this is the case, take conscience as an illustration.

[2] Conscience is a kind of general dictate, and thus an obscure one, of the things that flow in through the heavens from the Lord. Those which flow in present themselves in the interior rational man and are there as in a cloud, which cloud is from appearances and fallacies concerning the truths and goods of faith. But thought is distinct from conscience, and yet it flows from conscience; for they who have conscience think and speak according to it, and the thought is little else than an unfolding of the things which are of conscience, and thereby the partition of them into ideas and then into words. Hence it is that they who have conscience are kept by the Lord in good thoughts respecting the neighbor, and are withheld from thinking evil; and therefore conscience can have no place except with those who love their neighbor as themselves, and think well concerning the truths of faith. From what has been advanced we may see what the difference is between conscience and thought; and from this we may know what the difference is between perception and thought.

[3] The Lord’s perception was immediately from Jehovah, and thus from the Divine good; but His thought was from intellectual truth and the affection of it, as before said (n. 1904, 1914). The Lord’s Divine perception cannot be apprehended by any idea, not even of angels, and therefore it cannot be described. The perception of the angels (spoken of n. 1354, etc., 1394, 1395) is scarcely anything in comparison with the perception which the Lord had. The Lord’s perception, being Divine, was a perception of all things in the heavens, and therefore also of all things on earth, for such is the order, connection, and influx, that he who is in the perception of the former is also in the perception of the latter.

[4] But after the Lord’s Human Essence had been united to His Divine Essence, and at the same time had become Jehovah, the Lord was then above that which is called perception, because He was above the order that is in the heavens and thence on the earth. It is Jehovah who is the source of order, and hence it may be said that Jehovah is Order itself, for He from Himself governs order; not as is supposed in the universal only, but also in the veriest singulars, for the universal comes from these. To speak of the universal, and to separate from it the singulars, would be nothing else than to speak of a whole in which there are no parts, and therefore to speak of a something in which there is nothing. So that to say that the Lord’s Providence is universal, and is not a Providence of the veriest singulars, is to say what is utterly false, and is what is called an ens rationis [that is, a figment of the imagination]. For to provide and govern in the universal, and not in the veriest singulars, is to provide and govern absolutely nothing. This is true philosophically, and yet wonderful to say, philosophers themselves, even those who soar the highest, apprehend the matter differently, and think differently.