1. SUMMARIA EXPOSITIO DOCTRINAE NOVAE ECCLESIAE, QUAE PER NOVAM HIEROSOLYMAM IN APOCALYPSI INTELLIGITUR.

Postquam aliqua Opera et Opuscula de NOVA HIEROSOLYMA, per quam intelligitur NOVA Ecclesia a Domino instauranda, intra aliquot annos a me promulgata sunt, et postquam Apocalypsis revelata est, in animum induxi Doctrinam illius Ecclesiae in sua plenitudine, ita integram, in lucem edere: sed quia hoc aliquot annorum opus est, consultum duxi aliquam Sciagraphiam ejus emittere, propter causam, ut communis idea de illa Ecclesia et ejus Doctrina primum concipiatur; quoniam dum communia praecedunt, postea omnia et singula in sua latitudine exstantia in luce apparent, haec enim in communia intrant, sicut homogenea in sua receptacula. Attamen Breviarium hoc non subjicitur judiciis ventilandum, sed modo communicatur ad notitiam, quia hujus Contenta in ipso Opere plene demonstrabuntur. Sed praemittenda sunt Doctrinalia hodierna de Justificatione, propter sequentia de Discordantiis dogmatum Ecclesiae hodiernae et Ecclesiae novae.

2618. 'And Jehovah did to Sarah' means a state when the two existed united together - the Lord's Divine spiritual within His Divine celestial. This is clear from the meaning of 'doing', when it has reference to the Lord's Divine, as the entire realization of the effect and consequently of the state; and from the meaning of 'Jehovah', and also of 'Sarah', dealt with just above in 2616. As regards the state when the two existed united together - the Lord's Divine spiritual within His Divine celestial - this is the marriage itself of good and truth, which is the origin of the heavenly marriage. The heavenly marriage is the Lord's kingdom in heaven and on earth, and that is why so many times in the Word the Lord's kingdom is called a marriage, and is compared to a marriage. The reason, which is an arcanum, is that the marriage of Divine Good and Truth, and of Divine Truth and Good, within the Lord is the source of all conjugial love, and through that love the source of all celestial and spiritual love. What further arcana are embodied in these words - 'Jehovah visited Sarah as He had said, and Jehovah did to Sarah as He had spoken' - cannot be made known as they lie beyond description. For these words comprehend the state itself when the Lord's Divine exists united to His Human. Appearances of this state are presented by the Lord to the eyes of the angels by means of heavenly lights, and are illustrated also by means of indescribable representations. But those appearances cannot be presented to men because they would have to be presented by means of objects such as belong to the light of the world, which objects cannot serve to express them. Indeed a description that relies on such things makes them all the more obscure.