25. THE FIRST STATE OF THIS MOST ANCIENT CHURCH, OR ITS RISE AND MORNING, is described in the first chapter of Genesis by these words:

God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and God created man in His own image; in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them (Gen. 1:26-27);

and also by these in the second chapter:

Jehovah God formed man dust of the earth, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of lives; and man became a living soul (Gen. 2:7).

That its rise, or morning, is described by his being made, or created, "in the image of God," is because every man, when he is first born, and while an infant, is an "image of God" interiorly; for the faculty of receiving and of applying to himself those things which proceed from God, is implanted in him; and since he is also formed "dust of the earth" exteriorly, and there is thence in him an inclination to lick that dust like the serpent (Gen. 3:14), therefore, if he remains an external or natural man, and does not become at the same time internal, or spiritual, he destroys the "image of God," and puts on the image of the serpent which seduced Adam. But, on the other hand, the man who strives and labours to become an "image of God," subdues the external man in himself, and interiorly in the natural becomes spiritual, thus spiritual-natural; and this is effected by a new creation, that is, regeneration by the Lord. Such a man is an "image of God," because he wills and believes that he lives from God and not from himself: on the contrary, man is an image of the serpent as long as he wills and believes that he lives from himself and not from God. What is man but an "image of God" when he wills and believes that he is in the Lord and the Lord in him (John 6:56; 14:20; 15:4-5, 7; 17:26), and that he can do nothing of himself (John 3:27; 15:5)? What is a man but an "image of God" when, by a new birth, he becomes a "son of God" (John 1:12-13)? Who does not know that the image of the father is in the son? The rise, or morning, of this Church is described by Jehovah God's "breathing into his nostrils the breath of lives," and by his thus "becoming a living soul," because by "lives," in the plural, are meant love and wisdom, which two are essentially God; for, in proportion as a man receives and applies to himself those two essentials of life, which proceed continually from God, and continually flow into the souls of men, in the same proportion he becomes "a living soul"; for "lives" are the same as love and wisdom. Hence it is evident, that the rise and morning of the life of the men of the Most Ancient Church, who taken collectively are represented by Adam, is described by those two shrines of life.

6191. Experience enabling me to know that the Lord governs a person by means of angels and spirits has been so conclusive that I have been left with not the slightest shadow of doubt. For many years now all my thoughts and all my affections, down to the last detail, have flowed in by means of spirits and angels. This I have been allowed to perceive so plainly that nothing could be plainer; for I have perceived, seen, and heard who exactly the spirits or angels were, what they were like, and where they came from. And whenever anything inimical has come into my thought or will I have spoken to and rebuked those who were responsible. I have also noticed that their power to introduce any such thing was curbed by the angels, observed how this was done, and also seen that they were often driven away by the angels. When they had been driven away, I noticed that in their place new spirits were present, from whom influx again took place. I was also allowed to discern where those spirits were from, that is, of which communities they were emissaries.

[2] Besides this I have often been given the opportunity to talk to those actual communities. Although every one of my thoughts and affections, down to the last detail, was flowing in through spirits or angels, my thinking was nevertheless as it had been before, and my desires as they had been before. I mixed with other people as I had done before, without anyone noticing any difference in my life from what it had been before. I realize that scarcely anyone will believe what I am saying; but all the same it is the absolute truth.