123. 7. Het is het voortdurende van de Goddelijke Voorzienigheid van de Heer dat Hij de mens met zich verbindt en Zich met hem, opdat Hij hem de gelukzalige dingen van het eeuwige leven kan geven.

Dit kan niet geschieden tenzij voor zoveel als de boze dingen met de begeerten ervan verwijderd zijn. Dat het voortdurende van de Goddelijke Voorzienigheid van de Heer is de mens te verbinden met Zich en Zich met hem, en dat het die verbinding is die de hervorming en de wederverwekking wordt genoemd en dat de mens daaruit de zaliging heeft, is boven in de n. 27-45 getoond. Wie ziet niet dat de verbinding met God het eeuwige leven en de zaliging is; dit ziet toch eenieder die gelooft dat de mensen uit de schepping beelden en gelijkenissen van God zijn, (Genesis 1:26, 27) en die weet wat het beeld en de gelijkenis van God is. Wie, die gezonde rede heeft, kan, als hij vanuit zijn redelijkheid denkt en vanuit zijn vrijheid wil denken, geloven dat er drie goden zijn, gelijkwaardig van wezen en dat het Goddelijk Zijn of het Goddelijk Wezen verdeeld kan worden. Dat het drievuldige in één God is, kan gedacht en begrepen worden, zoals de ziel en het lichaam in de engel en in de mens begrepen wordt en het daaruit voortgaande van het leven. Omdat dit drievuldige in één er alleen is in de Heer, volgt dat de verbinding zal zijn met Hem. Gebruik uw redelijkheid en tegelijk de vrijheid van denken en u zult deze waarheid in haar licht zien; maar neem eerst aan dat God is en dat de hemel is en dat het eeuwige leven is. Omdat nu God één is en de mens vanuit de schepping Zijn beeld en gelijkenis gemaakt is en omdat hij door de helse liefde en door de begeerten ervan en de verkwikkelijke dingen daarvan, in de liefde van alle boze dingen is gekomen, en hij vandaar het beeld en de gelijkenis van God bij zich verwoest heeft, volgt dat het het aanhoudende van de Goddelijke Voorzienigheid van de Heer is dat Hij de mens met Zich zal verbinden en Zich met de mens en zo te maken dat hij Zijn beeld zal worden. Dit is ook te dien einde dat de Heer de mens de gelukzalige dingen van het eeuwige leven kan geven, dit volgt hieruit, want de Goddelijke Liefde is zodanig. Dat Hij deze echter niet kan geven, noch hem Zijn beeld maken, tenzij de mens zoals uit zich de zonden in de uitwendige mens verwijdert, is omdat de Heer niet slechts de Goddelijke Liefde maar ook de Goddelijke Wijsheid is, en de Goddelijke Liefde niets doet tenzij vanuit haar Goddelijke Wijsheid en volgens die. Dat de mens niet met Hem verbonden en zo hervormd, wederverwekt en gezaligd kan worden, tenzij het hem is geoorloofd vanuit het vrije volgens de rede te handelen, hierdoor is de mens immers werkelijk mens, is volgens Zijn Goddelijke Wijsheid, en al wat is volgens de Goddelijke Wijsheid van de Heer is ook van Zijn Goddelijke Voorzienigheid.

1093. Having great authority, signifies which has omnipotence, as in the heavens so upon the earth. This is evident from the signification of "great authority," as being, in reference to the Lord, omnipotence. "Great authority" here signifies omnipotence because according to the idea that man has of angels, great authority can be predicated of an angel, but not omnipotence; but when the Lord as to His Divine proceeding is meant by an angel, then "great authority" means omnipotence. Moreover, omnipotence belongs to the Lord because He is the God of heaven and the God of the earth, and by the Divine that proceeds from Him as a sun heaven and earth were created, and by it heaven with the earth is held together and subsists. The Divine proceeding is what is called in John, "the Word that was with God and that was God, by which all things were made that have been made, and by which also the world was made" (John 1:1, 2, 10). The Lord's omnipotence as in the heavens so upon the earth, is what is meant by "the great authority of the angel," because it is added, that "the earth was lightened by his glory;" for when the Last Judgment upon those who are meant by "the harlot or Babylon" was accomplished, the darkness that was interposed between heaven and earth was removed. But more upon this below.

(Continuation respecting the Athanasian Faith)

[2] From what has been said it is clear that the thoughts of man are extensions into societies either heavenly or infernal, and that if there were no extensions there would be no thoughts. For man's thought is like the sight of his eyes; if sight had no extension out of itself, either there would be no sight or there would be blindness. But it is a man's love that determines his thoughts into societies, good love determining them into heavenly societies, and evil love into infernal societies; for the entire heaven is arranged into societies, generally, particularly, and most particularly, according to all the varieties of affections belonging to the love; while on the other hand, hell is arranged into societies according to the cupidities of the love of evil, which are opposite to the affections of the love of good.

[3] Man's love is comparatively like fire, and his thoughts are like rays of light therefrom. If the love is good, the thoughts, which are like rays, are truths. If the love is evil, the thoughts, which are like rays, are falsities. Thoughts from a good love, which are truths, tend towards heaven; while thoughts from an evil love, which are falsities, tend towards hell and conjoin themselves with homogeneous societies, that is, with societies of like love, and adapt themselves to them, and ingraft themselves into them, and so intimately that the man is wholly one with them.

[4] Through love to the Lord man is an image of the Lord. The Lord is the Divine love; and in heaven before the angels He appears as a sun. From that sun light and heat proceed; the light is the Divine truth and the heat is the Divine good. From these two is the whole heaven, and from them are all the societies of heaven. The Lord's love in a man who is an image of Him is like the fire from that sun, from which fire also light and heat proceed; the light is the truth of faith and the heat is the good of love; both of these are from the Lord, and both are implanted in the societies with which the man's love acts as one. That man from creation is an image and likeness of God is evident from Genesis (Genesis 1:26); and he is an image and likeness of the Lord by means of love, because by means of love he is in the Lord and the Lord is in him (John 14:20, 21). In a word, not the least thought can exist unless it finds reception in some society, not in the individuals or angels of the society, but in the affection of love from which and in which that society is; and for this reason the angels are not aware of the influx at all, and such influx in no way disturbs the society.

[5] From all this the truth is clear that while man is living in the world he is in conjunction with heaven and also in consociation with angels, although both men and angels are unconscious of it. They are unconscious of it because man's thought is natural and an angel's thought is spiritual, and these make one only by correspondence. Because man is inaugurated into societies either of heaven or hell by means of the thoughts of his love, so when he comes into the spiritual world, as he does immediately after death, his character is known merely by the extensions of his thoughts into societies; and thus everyone is explored; and he is reformed by the admissions of his thoughts into the societies of heaven, and is condemned by the immersions of his thoughts in the societies of hell.