57. What has been said of heaven can be said of the Church, for the Church is the Lord's heaven on earth. There are also many Churches, and yet any one of them is called the Church and indeed is a Church, so far as the good of love and of faith rules there. There again, the Lord out of diversity makes a unity, thus, one Church out of many Churches. ¹ The same, too, can be said of the man of the Church in particular as is said of the Church in general, namely, that the Church is within a man and not outside him, and that every man in whom the Lord is present in the good of love and of faith is a Church. ² Again, the same can be said of a man in whom is the Church as of an angel in whom is heaven, namely, that he is a Church in least form as an angel is heaven in least form, and furthermore, that a man in whom is the Church, equally with an angel, is a heaven. For man has been created that he may come into heaven and become an angel. Consequently, he who has good from the Lord is an angel-man. ³ It may be mentioned what a man has in common with an angel and what he has in addition to what angels have. A man has this in common with an angel, that his interiors are equally conformed to the image of heaven and that he, too, in so far as he is in the good of love and faith, may become an image of heaven. In addition to what angels have, a man has these things, that his exteriors have been formed according to the image of the world, that so far as he is in good, the world with him is subordinated to heaven and serves heaven, ⁴ and that then the Lord is present with him in both worlds, just as if he were in his heaven. For the Lord is in His Divine order in both worlds, since God is order. ⁵

Footnotes:

911. ¹ As regards 'creeping thing that creeps' meaning corresponding things of a like nature residing with his external man, with a regenerate person external things correspond to internal, that is, they are conformable and subservient to them. External things are rendered subservient when a person is being regenerated, at which point he becomes an image of heaven. But before he has been regenerated external things have dominion over internal; and during that time he is an image of hell. Order entails celestial things governing spiritual things first, then natural things by means of spiritual, and lastly bodily things by means of natural. But when bodily and natural things have dominion over spiritual and celestial, order is destroyed. Once order is destroyed, man is an image of hell, and therefore through regeneration the Lord brings about the restoration of order; and once this has been restored a man becomes an image of heaven. In this way the Lord draws a person out of hell and bears him up to heaven.

[2] To make known the way in which the external man corresponds to the internal, let a brief explanation be given. Every regenerate person is a miniature heaven, that is, a replica or image of the whole of heaven, which also is why in the Word his internal man is called heaven. In heaven order is such that the Lord governs spiritual things by means of celestial, and natural things by means of spiritual. In this manner He governs the whole of heaven as one human being, and therefore heaven is called the Grand Man. Furthermore this same order exists with every individual in heaven. And when the same applies to man too, he likewise is a miniature heaven, or what amounts to the same, is the Lord's kingdom, for the Lord's kingdom is within him. In his case external things correspond to internal, that is to say, they are obedient to them, just as they are in heaven. For there are three heavens which are interrelated as one man - spirits constitute the external man, angelic spirits the interior, and angels the inmost, 459.

[3] It is quite the reverse with people who make life consist solely in bodily things, that is, in the desires, pleasures, appetites, and sensations of the body; with people, that is, who take no delight in anything other than that which accompanies self-love and love of the world, that is, which goes with hatred towards everyone who shows them no favour and does not serve them. Because with these people bodily and natural things have dominion over spiritual and celestial, not only is there no correspondence or obedience on the part of external things, but the total reverse exists, so that order is completely destroyed. And because order is thus destroyed they cannot be anything other than images of hell.

Footnotes:

1285. That 'the whole earth was one lip' means that people everywhere held to the same doctrine in its general aspects is clear from the meaning in the Word of 'a lip', dealt with in the next paragraph. This verse, in these few words, describes the state of the Ancient Church as it had been, that is to say, it held to the same general doctrine. The next verse however describes how it began to be falsified and adulterated, and after that down to verse 9 how it became so utterly perverted that no internal worship existed any longer. Immediately after that the subject is the second Ancient Church begun by Eber, and at last the third Church which was the start of the Jewish Church. For after the Flood there were three consecutive Churches.

[2] In regard to what has been said of the first Ancient Church - that though so wide-spread throughout the world, its lip was nevertheless one and its words one, that is, it shared one doctrine in its general aspects and in its particular details; but for all that, the forms of worship, internal as well as external, were everywhere divergent, as shown in the previous chapter where each nation that is mentioned meant a divergent form of doctrine and of ritual - the situation is as follows: Heaven consists of countless communities. They all vary, and yet all are one, for all are led as one by the Lord; see what has appeared already in 457, 551, 684, 685, 690. A parallel exists in man, in that although internally his body has so many parts, which, like his other organs and limbs, have so many inner parts, each functioning differently from any other, yet all of them, every single one, are nevertheless controlled as one by one soul. A parallel also exists with the human body, which has different ways of exerting its strength and of moving. Nevertheless all are controlled by one motion of the heart and one of the lungs, and together make one. The reason they are able to function as one in this way is that in heaven there is one single influx which is received by everyone according to his own disposition. This influx is an influx of affections from the Lord, from His mercy and life. And although there is one influx only, everything nevertheless conforms and follows as one. And this comes about through the mutual love shared by those in heaven.

[3] Such was the situation with the first Ancient Church that although there were so many forms of internal and external worship, at the general level as many as there were nations, at the specific level as many as there were families making up nations, and at the particular level as many as there were people in the Church, they all nevertheless had 'one lip' and 'their words were one'; that is, they all shared one doctrine in general and in particular. Doctrine is one when all possess mutual love, or charity. Mutual love or charity causes things, though varied, to be one, for it makes one out of varied things. If all, no matter how many - even ten thousand times ten thousand - are governed by charity or mutual love, they have but one end in view, namely the common good, the Lord's kingdom, and the Lord Himself. Variations in matters of doctrine and in forms of worship are like the variations that exist with the physical senses and with the inner parts of man's body, which, as stated, all contribute to the perfection of the whole. Indeed the Lord flows in and works by way of charity though in different ways according to the disposition of each individual. And in so doing He arranges every single person into a proper order, on earth as in heaven. In this way the Lord's will is done, as He Himself teaches, 'on earth as it is in heaven'.