The Bible

 

Genesis 2

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1 So the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the furniture of them.

2 And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made: and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had done.

3 And he blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.

4 These are the generations of the heaven and the earth, when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the heaven and the earth:

5 And every plant of the field before it spring up in the earth, and every herb of the ground before it grew: for the Lord God had not rained upon the earth; and there was not a man to till the earth.

6 But a spring rose out the earth, watering all the surface of the earth.

7 And the Lord God formed man of the slime of the earth: and breathed into his face the breath of life, and man became a living soul.

8 And the Lord God had planted a paradise of pleasure from the beginning: wherein he placed man whom he had formed.

9 And the Lord God brought forth of the ground all manner of trees, fair to behold, and pleasant to eat of: the tree of life also in the midst of paradise: and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

10 And a river went out the place of pleasure to water paradise, which from thence is divided into four heads.

11 The name of the one is Phison: that is it which compasseth all the land of Hevilath, where gold groweth.

12 And the gold of that land is very good: there is found bdellium, and the onyx stone.

13 And the name of the second river is Gehon: the same is it that compasseth all the land of Ethiopia

14 And the name of the third river is Tigris: the same passeth along by the Assyrians. And the fourth river is Euphrates.

15 And the Lord God took man, and put him into the paradise for pleasure, to dress it, and keep it.

16 And he commanded him, saying: Of every tree of paradise thou shalt eat:

17 But of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat. for in what day soever thou shalt eat of it, thou shalt die the death.

18 And the Lord God said: It is not good for man to be alone: let us make him a help like unto himself.

19 And the Lord God having formed out of the ground all the beasts of the earth, and all the fowls of the air, brought them to Adam to see what he would call them: for whatsoever Adam called any living creature the same is its name.

20 And Adam called all the beasts by their names, and all the fowls of the air, and all the cattle of the field: but for Adam there was not found a helper like himself.

21 Then the Lord God cast a deep sleep upon Adam: and when he was fast asleep, he took one of his ribs, and filled up flesh for it.

22 And the Lord God built the rib which he took from Adam into a woman: and brought her to Adam.

23 And Adam said: This now is bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man.

24 Wherefore a man shall leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they shall be two in one flesh.

25 And they were both naked: to wit, Adam and his wife: and were not ashamed.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Conjugial Love #413

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413. 21. The Lord provides there that the innocence of early childhood in them become an innocence of wisdom, and that the little children thus become angels. Many people may suppose that little children remain little children and become angels immediately after death. But it is intelligence and wisdom that make an angel. Consequently, as long as little children do not have that intelligence and wisdom, they are indeed among angels, but are not themselves angels. They become angels for the first time only when they have become intelligent and wise.

Little children are therefore led from the innocence of early childhood to the innocence of wisdom; that is, from an external innocence to an internal one. This latter innocence is the goal in all their instruction and advancement. Consequently, when they reach the innocence of wisdom, attached to it is the innocence of their early childhood, which in the meantime had served them as a foundation.

I once saw the nature of the innocence of early childhood represented by something woody, almost without life, but which becomes more alive as children acquire concepts of truth and affections for good. Then afterwards the nature of the innocence of wisdom was represented by a live and naked little child.

Angels of the third heaven are more than all others in a state of innocence from the Lord, and to the eyes of spirits who are below the heavens, they appear as naked little children. Being, moreover, wiser than the rest, they also are more alive. The reason is there is a correspondence between innocence and early childhood, and between innocence and nakedness. Therefore it is said of Adam and his wife, when they were in a state of innocence, that they were naked and not ashamed, but that after they lost their state of innocence, they were ashamed of their nakedness and hid themselves (Genesis 2:25, 3:7-8, 10-11). In short, the wiser angels are, the more innocent they are.

What the innocence of wisdom is like can be seen in some measure from the innocence of early childhood described above in no. 395, provided that the Lord is substituted for the parents there as the Father by whom such people are guided and to whom they attribute all that they receive.

  
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Many thanks to the General Church of the New Jerusalem, and to Rev. N.B. Rogers, translator, for the permission to use this translation.