166. It had been permitted to say three persons, because indeed at the beginning it was only possible to think of Jehovah as God the Father, Creator of the Universe, and it could scarcely be thought on account of habit that the Lord was He. This seemed to them to be a thing that could not be received, that the Creator of the Universe descended and became man. Only the idea of Jehovah, filling all heaven and all the world from His presence and His providence, would impede that, wherefore in the sense of the letter of the Word, three are named for that reason, as if there were three persons into whose names they should baptize. Hence also it was permitted that similar things should be in the Athanasian Faith which was to be received for Christianity; and yet only so that the Trine of one Person, thus of the Lord, could be received by those who are in enlightenment, and also that in the end of the Church it should be received. The Athanasian Faith is such as to be incomprehensible and thence incredible and also contradictory. Let things therein be brought forward, showing that this truth is clear and that that faith does not stand in the way of anyone's receiving it, but also this may be seen by those who wish to understand what they believe, while those who do not wish to understand what they believe, may retain their own opinion. Let them know, however, that in the spiritual world no one receives anything which he does not see, that is, understand, for he says - perhaps it is not true.