123. 7. It is the unceasing effort of the Lord's divine providence to unite us to himself and himself to us in order to give us the joys of eternal life; and this can happen only to the extent that our evils and their compulsions are banished. I explained in 27-45 that it is the constant effort of the Lord's divine providence to unite us to himself and himself to us, and that this union is what we call reformation and regeneration. I explained also that this is the source of our salvation. Can anyone fail to see that union with the Lord is eternal life and salvation? Everyone can see this who believes that we were originally created in the image and likeness of God (see Genesis 1:26-27) and who knows what the image and likeness of God are.

[2] If we are truly rational and use our rationality when we think and use our freedom when we try to think, can any of us believe that there are three gods equal in essence and that the divine Being or divine Essence can be divided? As for a threefold nature in one God, that is something we can conceive and understand, just as we understand the soul and the body of an angel or a person and the life that they bring forth. Further, since this threefold nature in a single Being exists only in the Lord, it follows that any union must be a union with him.

Use your rationality and think freely, and you will see this truth in its own light. First, though, admit that the Lord, heaven, and eternal life are real.

[3] Now, since God is one and since by creation we have been made in his image and likeness, and since we have come into a love for all our evils through our hellish love, its compulsions, and their pleasures, thereby destroying the image and likeness of God within us, it follows that it is the constant effort of the Lord's divine providence to unite us with himself and himself with us and thereby to make us his images. It also follows that the Lord is doing this so that he may give us the bliss of eternal life, since this is the nature of divine love.

[4] The reason he cannot make this gift, cannot make us images of himself, unless we banish sins from our outer self in apparent autonomy is that the Lord is not just divine love but divine wisdom as well; and divine love does nothing unless it stems from divine wisdom and is in accord with it. It is in accord with divine wisdom that we cannot be united to the Lord and thus reformed, regenerated, and saved unless we are allowed to act freely and rationally. This is what makes us human. Anything that is in accord with the Lord's divine wisdom is also in accord with his divine providence.

1016. 'Swarm over the earth and multiply in it' means increases in good and truth in the external man, which man is 'the earth' - 'swarming' having reference to goods, and 'multiplying' to truths. This is clear from what has just been stated, and also from the meaning of 'the earth' as the external man. For these matters, see what has been stated and shown at verse 1 of this chapter, in 983.

[2] The expressions 'swarm over the earth' and so 'multiply in it' are used for the following reason: With a regenerate person nothing multiplies in his external man, that is, no good or truth at all is ever increased, unless it is the product of charity. Charity is like the warmth in springtime or summer that causes grass, plants, and trees to grow. Without charity, or spiritual warmth, nothing grows, and this is why the first expression used here is 'swarm over the earth' which has reference to goods that flow from charity, by means of which good and truth are multiplied. Anyone may grasp how this is so; nothing with a person grows and multiplies unless some affection is there. The delight that is part of the affection not only causes something to take root, but also causes it to grow. Everything depends on the influence of the affection.

[3] That which a person loves he freely takes in, retains, and treasures - and so everything that supports some affection. Those which do not support it he has no interest in, regards as worthless, in fact rejects. But the character of the affection determines that of the multiplication. With somebody who is regenerate it is an affection for good and truth deriving from charity given by the Lord. Consequently whatever supports an affection deriving from charity he takes in, retains, and treasures, and so strengthens himself in goods and truths. This is what is meant by 'swarm over the earth and multiply'.