633. It is well known in the Christian world that from that time on a faith in three Divine Persons has been accepted, supported and preached by all bishops, archbishops and princes of the church, and by the clergy, down to the present day. Since from this a false belief about three gods has invaded people's minds, it was impossible for any faith to be brought to light except one which is applied to the three persons in turn. This claims that God the Father is to be approached and begged to impute the righteousness of His Son, or to show mercy on account of the Son's suffering on the cross, and to send the Holy Spirit to bring about the means and final effects of salvation.

[2] This faith is the offspring born of those two Creeds. But as its swaddling clothes are unwrapped, what comes into view is not one but three, at first joined as if embracing, but later separated. For they lay down that essence joins them together, but they are separated by their individual functions - creating, redeeming and working; or imputation, imputed righteousness and realisation. This is the reason why, although they made one God out of the three functions, they still did not make one God out of the three Persons, to prevent the idea of three Gods being wiped out. For, as long as the belief persists that each Person singly is God, as the Creed says, then if the three Persons were as a result to become one, the whole edifice founded as it were on three columns would collapse into a pile of ruins.

[3] The reason why the Council introduced the idea of three Divine Persons from eternity was their failure to examine the Word properly, so that they could find from it no other refuge as a defence against the Arians. They then brought the three Persons, each of whom is by Himself God, together to make one God, through fear that every rational and pious person in the three continents would accuse them of believing in three Gods and slander them. They devised the doctrine of faith applied to all three in turn, because this is the inevitable consequence of that premise. A further reason was that if one of the three were overlooked, the third would not be sent, so that the whole working of Divine grace would be nullified.

290. And every created thing which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, I heard saying. (5:13) This symbolizes a confession and glorification of the Lord by angels of the lowest heavens.

That it is a confession and glorification of the Lord by angels of the lowest heavens is apparent from the series, because the preceding confessions and glorifications of the Lord were made by angels of the higher and lower heavens (nos. 275ff., 286ff.). For there are three heavens, and in each countless societies, every one of which is called a heaven.

It is apparent that angels are meant by every created thing which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and in the sea, for we are told, "I heard (them) saying," and they said "Blessing and honor and glory and strength be to Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, forever and ever!"

[2] Their being called created things accords with the style of the Word, in which all created things, both those of the animal kingdom and those of the plant kingdom, symbolize various constituents in a person - in general constituents having to do with his will or affection, and constituents having to do with his intellect or thought. They have symbolic meanings because they are correspondent forms. And because the Word was written solely in terms of things that correspond, similar things are therefore said in it about angels in heaven and people of the church. To confirm this we will cite just a few passages, as the following:

(Jesus) said (to the disciples,) "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature." (Mark 16:15)

But now ask the beasts, and they will teach you; and the birds of the air, and they will tell you; or... the vegetation of the earth, and they will teach you; and the fish of the sea will recount to you. Who among all these does not know that the hand of Jehovah has done this... (Job 12:7-9)

Let heaven and earth praise (Jehovah), the seas and everything that moves in them. For God will save Zion... (Psalms 69:34-35)

Praise Jehovah from the earth, you whales and all the depths. (Psalms 148:7)

I will utterly consume everything from the face of the earth...; I will consume man and beast; I will consume the birds of the heavens and the fish of the sea. (Zephaniah 1:2-3, Revelation 8:7-9)

The heavens will be glad, the earth will rejoice, the sea will pitch and roll, and all its fullness; the field will exult, and all that is in it. Then all the trees of the forest will sing before Jehovah. For He is coming, coming to judge the earth. (Psalms 96:11-13)

And so on in many other places.

[3] The text says, "every created thing," and the meaning is every reformed thing, or all reformed people. For to create means, symbolically, to reform and regenerate (no. 254).

To be shown the meaning of "in heaven," "on the earth," and "under the earth," see no. 260 above. And for the meaning of the sea, no. 238. It is apparent from this what is symbolically meant by "such as are in the sea, and all that are in them." Such things as are in the Word are meant by the fish of the sea, and these are sensual affections, which are the lowest affections of the natural self. For in the spiritual world people's affections look at a distance like fish, and as being in a sea, because the atmosphere in which they exist appears as though made of water, and thus as a sea, in the eyes of the inhabitants who dwell in the heavens and on the earth there, as may be seen in no. 238 above, and as regards fish, in no. 405.