I once saw in the spiritual world an ignis fatuus in the air with a glow about it, falling toward the earth.  It was a meteor, such as the common people call a dragon.  I noted the place where it fell; but it disappeared in the twilight before sunrise, as every ignis fatuus does.

After dawn I went to the place where I had seen it fall in the night, and behold, the ground there was a mixture of sulphur, iron chips, and clay; and suddenly there appeared two tents, one directly over the place, and the other at one side towards the south; and looking upwards I saw a spirit fall like lightning from heaven, and he struck within the tent that stood directly over the place where the meteor fell; I myself being in the other that was near it towards the south, and as I stood in the door I saw the spirit standing in the entrance of the other tent.

Therefore I asked him why he had so fallen from heaven; and he answered that he had been cast down as an angel of the dragon by the angels of Michael, because he had said something about the faith in which he had confirmed himself while in the world; among other things, that God the Father and God the Son are not one but two; for at this day in the heavens all believe that these are one, like soul and body; and whatever contradicts this is like a pungent odor in their nostrils, or like an awl boring through their ears, which causes disturbance and pain; therefore anyone so contradicting is ordered to leave; and if he refuses is cast out.

[2] Hearing this I said to him, “Why did you not believe as they do?”

He replied that after leaving the world no one is able to believe anything different from what he had before impressed upon himself by confirmation; this remains fixed in him, and can not be removed, especially that which he has confirmed in himself respecting God, since in the heavens everyone has his place according to his idea of God.

I asked him further, by what means he had confirmed the notion that the Father and Son are two.

He said, “By the statements in the Word, that the Son prayed to the Father, both before and during the passion of the cross; also that He humiliated Himself before His Father: how then can they be one, as soul and body are one in man? Who prays as if to another and humiliates himself as if before another, when that other is in fact himself? No one does so, much less the Son of God.  Moreover, in my time the entire Christian church divided the Godhead into persons; and each person is one by Himself, and is defined as being what is self-subsistent.”

[3] Hearing this I replied, “From what you say I perceive that you do not know at all how God the Father and the Son are one; and not knowing this you have confirmed yourself in the falsities respecting God which the church still holds to. Do you not know that when the Lord was in the world He had a soul like every other man?  Whence had He that soul, unless from God the Father?  The truth of this is abundantly evident from the word of the Gospels.  What then is that which is called the Son but a Human that was conceived from the Divine of the Father and born of the virgin Mary?  The mother cannot conceive the soul.  This would be totally opposed to the order in accordance with which every man is born. Neither could God the Father impart from Himself a soul and then withdraw from it, as is done by every father in the world, because God is His own Divine essence, and this is one and indivisible; and being indivisible, it is Himself.  This is why the Lord declares that the Father and He are one, and that the Father is in Him and He in the Father, and other like things. The framers of the Athanasian creed saw this remotely, and therefore, after dividing God into three persons, they still maintained that in Christ, God and Man, that is, the Divine and the Human, are not two, but are one, like soul and body in man.

[4] The Lord‘s praying to the Father as to another when He was in the world, and His humiliating Himself before the Father as before another, was in accordance with the order established at creation.  That order is immutable, and in accordance therewith must be everyone’s progress towards conjunction with God.  That order is, that so far as man conjoins himself to God by a life in accordance with the laws of order, which are God‘s commandments, does God conjoin Himself to man, and change man from natural to spiritual. It was in this way that the Lord made Himself one with His Father, and God the Father made Himself one with Him. When the Lord was an infant, was He not like any other infant, and when a boy like any other boy? Do we not read that He increased in wisdom and favor, and that afterwards He asked the Father to glorify His name, that is, His Human?  To glorify is to make Divine by oneness with Himself.  This makes clear why the Lord prayed to His Father whilst in His state of exinanition, which was the state of His progress towards union.

[5] This same order is inscribed upon every man by his creation.  In the precise degree in which man prepares his understanding by means of truths from the Word does he adapt his understanding to receive faith from God, and precisely as he prepares his will by means of works of charity does he fit his will for the reception of love from God, as when a workman cuts a diamond he fits it to receive and emit the glow of light; and so on.  One prepares himself to receive God and to be conjoined with Him by living in accordance with the Divine order; and the laws of order are all the commandments of God.  These the Lord fulfilled to every tittle, and so made Himself a receptacle of Divinity in all fulness.  Therefore Paul says:--

That in Jesus Christ dwells all the fulness of Divinity bodily (Col. 2:9).

And the Lord Himself says:--

That all things that the Father hath are His (John 16:15).

[6] ”Furthermore, it must be borne in mind that in man the Lord alone is active and man of himself is merely passive; and that it is by means of the influx of life from God that man is also active.  It is because this influx from God is unceasing that it seems to man as if he were active from himself; and it is because of this appearance that man has free-will; and this is given him that he may prepare himself for receiving the Lord, and thus for conjunction with Him, which would not be possible unless the action were reciprocal; and it becomes reciprocal when man acts from his freedom, and yet from faith ascribes all his activity to the Lord.“

[7] After this I asked him whether he, like the others his companions, confessed that God is one.  He replied that he did.  Then I said, ”But I am afraid that the confession of your heart is that there is no God. Does not every word uttered by the mouth go forth from the thought of the mind?  Must not, then, the lip-confession of God’s oneness banish from the mind the thought that there are three; and on the other hand, must not this thought of the mind banish from the lips the confession that He is one; and what else can result from this than that there is no God?  Is not the whole interval, from the thought to the lips, and back again from the lips to the thought, thus made a vacuum?  And what conclusion can the mind then form about God than that nature is God; and about the Lord than that His soul was either from the mother or from Joseph?  From these two ideas all the angels of heaven turn away as from things horrible and abominable.“

All this having been said, that spirit was sent away into the abyss, spoken of in

 (Apoc. 9:2)

and following verses, where the angels of the dragon discuss the mysteries of their faith.

[8] The next day, when I looked towards the same place, I saw instead of the tents two statues in the likeness of human beings, made of the dust of the earth that was a mixture of sulphur, iron, and clay.  One statue seemed to have a scepter in its left hand, a crown on its head, a book in its right hand, and a stomacher with an oblique band tied across, set with precious stones, and behind a robe that spread towards the other statue.  But these decorations of the statue were induced upon it by fantasy.  A voice from some draconic spirit was then heard proceeding from it, saying, ”This statue represents our faith as a queen, and the one behind it represents charity as her maidservant.  This latter was made of a similar mixture of dust, and was placed at the extremity of the robe that spread out behind the queen, and it held in its hand a paper, on which was written, “Be careful not to come so near as to touch the robe.”  Then a sudden shower fell from heaven and penetrated both statues, which being made of a mixture of sulphur, iron, and clay, began to effervesce, as a mixture of those ingredients does when water is poured upon it; and so burning as it were with inward fire they melted into heaps, which afterwards stood out above the ground there like sepulchral mounds.

Second Memorable Relation:-

In the natural world man‘s speech is twofold, because his thought is twofold, external and internal; for he can speak simultaneously from internal thought and from external thought; and he can speak from external thought and not from internal thought, and even contrary to internal thought; and this is the source of pretenses, flattery, and hypocrisy.  But this twofold speech man does not have in the spiritual world; his speech there is single; he speaks as he thinks; or if not, the tone of his voice is grating and hurts the ear.  Nevertheless, he can be silent and not divulge the thoughts of his mind.  So when a hypocrite gets among wise men he either leaves or betakes himself to a corner of the room and avoids notice and keeps silent.

[2] At one time a large number had assembled in the world of spirits, and were talking together about this matter, saying that to be able to speak only as one thinks is a hardship to such as have not thought rightly about God and the Lord whenever they come into association with the good.  In the midst of the assembly were the Reformed and some of their clergy, and next to them the Papists with their monks.  The clergy and the monks spoke first, saying, “This is not a hardship; what need is there for anyone to speak otherwise than as he thinks?  If perchance he does not think rightly, can he not close his lips and keep silent?  And a clergyman said, ”Who does not think rightly about God and about the Lord?

But some of the assembly said, ”Let us try them.“ And they asked those who had confirmed themselves in a trinity of persons in the Godhead to say from their thought one God; and they could not. They twisted and folded their lips in various ways, but were unable to articulate a sound into any words except such as were harmonious with the ideas of their thought, which were of three persons, and consequently of three Gods.

[3] Again, those who had confirmed themselves in faith apart from charity were asked to utter the name Jesus; but they could not; although they could all say Christ, and also God the Father.

They wondered at this, and inquired the cause; and they found it to be that they had prayed to God the Father for the sake of the Son, but had not prayed to the Saviour Himself; and Jesus signifies Saviour.

[4] Again, from their thought of the Lord’s Human they were asked to say Divine Human; but not one of the clergy there present could do so, though some of the laity could; and therefore this fact was made a subject of serious discussion.

First, the following passages from the Gospels were read to them:--

The Father hath given all things into the hand of the Son (John 3:35);

The Father hath given to the Son power over all flesh (John 17:2);

All things are delivered unto Me by the Father (Matt. 11:27);

All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth (Matt. 28:18);

and they were asked to keep in their thought from these passages that Christ, both as to His Divine and as to His Human, is the God of heaven and earth, and then to pronounce the words Divine Human; but still they could not.  They said that although from these passages they retained from the understanding some thought about the matter, they still had no acknowledgment of it, and therefore they could not bring it into speech.

[5] (ii.) Afterwards there was read to them from (Luke 1:32, 34, 35) that the Lord as to His Human was the Son of Jehovah God, and is there called ”the God of the Most High,“ and in many other places, ”the Son of God“ and also ”the only begotten;“ and they were asked to retain this in their thought, as also that the only-begotten Son of God born in the world could not but be God, as the Father is God, and then to utter the words Divine Human. But they said, ”We cannot, because our spiritual thought, that is, our more internal thought, does not admit into the thought which lies nearest to speech any other ideas except those that are in harmony with the internal thought; and from this we perceive that we are not now permitted, as we were in the natural world, to divide our thoughts.

[6] (iii.) Therefore, the Lord‘s words to Philip were read to them:--

Philip said, Lord, show us the Father.  And the Lord said, He that seeth Me seeth the Father.  Believest thou not that I am in the Father and the Father in Me? (John 14:8-11);

and also other passages, as:--

That the Father and He are one (John 10:30);

and they were asked to retain this in thought and then to say, Divine Human; but because that thought was not rooted in the acknowledgment that the Lord is God even in respect to the Human, they twisted their lips into folds till they grew angry, desiring to force their mouths to speak the words: but they did not succeed; and for the reason that with those who are in the spiritual world the ideas of thought which flow from acknowledgment make one with the words of speech; and where these ideas do not exist words cannot be had; for in speaking, ideas become words.

[7] (iv.) Still again, there was read to them the following from the doctrine accepted throughout the Christian world: The Divine and Human in the Lord are not two, but one, even one person, united like soul and body in man. This is from the Athanasian Creed, and has been recognized by the councils; and it was said to them, “From this certainly you can gain an idea grounded in acknowledgment that the Human of the Lord is Divine, since His soul is Divine; for this statement is from the doctrine of your church which you accepted while in the world; moreover, the soul is the very essence of the man, and the body is the form of this essence; and essence and form make one like esse and existere, or like the effecting cause of the effect and the effect itself.” This idea they retained, and from it wished to utter the words Divine Human; but they could not; for their more internal idea of the Human of the Lord banished and erased this new adscititious idea, as they called it.

[8] (v.) Once again, this passage from John was read to them:--

The Word was with God, and God was the Word, and the Word became flesh (John 1:1, 14).

Also this:--

Jesus Christ is the true God and eternal life (1 John 5:20).

Also from Paul:--

In Jesus Christ dwelleth all the fullness of the Divinity bodily (Col. 2:9);

and they were requested to think accordingly, namely, that God who was the Word became Man, that He was the true God, and that in Him dwelt all the fullness of Divinity bodily. This they did, but only in external thought; and therefore, because of the resistance of internal thought, they were unable to pronounce the words Divine Human; and they said frankly, “We can form no idea of a Divine Human, because God is God, and man is man, and God is a Spirit, and we have always thought of spirit as being wind or ether.”

[9] (vi.) Finally, it was said to them, You know that the Lord said:--

Abide in Me, and I in you.  He that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same beareth much fruit; for without Me ye can do nothing (John 15:4, 5).

And as there were some of the English clergy present, the following from one of their exhortations at the Holy Communion was read to them: “For when we spiritually eat the flesh and drink the blood of Christ, then we dwell in Christ, and Christ in us.” And it was said, “If your thought now is that this is not possible unless the Lord’s Human is Divine, pronounce the words Divine Human from acknowledgment in thought.” But still they could not, so deeply impressed upon them was the idea that the Divine could not be Human, nor the Human be Divine, and that the Lord‘s Divine was from the Divine of a Son born from eternity, and His Human like that of any other man. They were asked, “How can you think thus?  Can a rational mind ever conceive of a Son born of God from eternity?”

[10] (vii) Then the inquirers turned to the Evangelicals, saying that the Augsburg Confession and Luther taught that the Son of God and the Son of man in Christ is one Person; and that He, even as to His Human nature, is omnipotent and omnipresent, and as to that nature sits at the right hand of God the Father, governs all things in heaven and on earth, fills all things, is present with us, and dwells and operates in us; also that there is no difference of adoration, because the Divinity that is not discerned is worshiped through the nature that is discerned; and that in Christ God is Man, and Man is God. Hearing this they said, “Can this be so?” And they looked around and said presently, “We did not know this before; therefore we are unable to say Divine Human.” And first one and then another said, “We have read this, and we have written it; and yet when we thought about it in our minds it was mere words, of which we had no interior idea.”

[11] (viii.) Finally they turned to the Papists and said, “Perhaps you can say Divine Human, since you believe that Christ is wholly present in the bread and wine of your Eucharist, and in every part of them; and you also worship Him as God most holy when you exhibit and carry about the host; also because you call Mary `Deipara,’ that is,  ‘Mother of God;’ consequently you acknowledge that she gave birth to God, that is, to the Divine Human.” Then they wished to pronounce it, but they could not, because a material idea of Christ‘s body and blood then suggested itself, and also a belief that His Human is separable from the Divine, and with the pope is actually so separated, since to him the human power only, and not the Divine, was transferred.  Then one of the monks arose and said that he could conceive of a Divine Human with reference to the most holy virgin Mary, and also with reference to the saint of his monastery. And another monk came forward and said, “From an idea of my thought which I now entertain I am able to say Divine Human, but with reference to his holiness the pope rather than in reference to Christ.” But some of the Papists pulled him back, saying, “For shame!”

[12] After this heaven was seen open, and tongues like little flames were seen descending and alighting upon some; and they then celebrated the Divine Human of the Lord, saying, “Have done with the idea of three Gods, and believe that in the Lord dwells all the fullness of Divinity bodily, that the Father and He are one, as soul and body are one, and that God is not wind or ether, but a Man, then you will be conjoined with heaven, and from the Lord you will be able to speak the name Jesus, and to say Divine Human.”

Third Memorable Relation:-

  Awaking once soon after daybreak, I went out into the garden in front of my house, and saw the sun rising in his glory, and round about him a halo, at first faint, but afterwards more distinct, and beaming like gold, and beneath its border was a rising cloud, which from the sun’s rays glowed like a carbuncle.  It set me thinking about the fables of the most ancient people which depicted Aurora with wings of silver and countenance of gold.

With my mind immersed in the delights of these meditations, I came into the spirit; and I heard certain spirits conversing, who said, “O that we might be permitted to talk with the innovator who has thrown among the leaders of the church that apple of discord after which so many of the laity have been running, and which they have picked up and held up for us to look at.” By that apple they meant the little work, entitled, A Brief Exposition of the Doctrine of the New Church. And they said, “It is certainly a schismatical writing, such as no man ever before conceived of.” And then I heard one of them exclaim, “Schismatical? It is heretical!” But some of those beside him said, “Hush! Hold your tongue! It is not heretical; he gives an abundance of quotations from the Word; and to these our neophytes, by whom we mean the laity, give heed and assent.”

[2] Hearing this I came forward, being in the spirit, and said, “Here I am; what is the matter?”

At once one of them, a German, as I afterwards heard, a native of Saxony, said in an authoritative tone, “How dare you turn upside down the worship established in the Christian world for so many centuries, which teaches that God the Father should be invoked as the Creator of the universe, His Son as the Mediator, and the Holy Spirit as the Operator? Moreover, you divest the first and the last God of the personality we ascribe to them, although the Lord Himself says, `When ye pray, pray thus, Our Father who art in the heavens; hallowed be Thy Name; Thy Kingdom come.‘ Therefore are we not commanded to invoke God the Father?”

After this there was silence, and all who favored the speaker stood like brave seamen on their warships when they sight the enemy, and stand by to shout, “Now, have at them; victory is sure.”

[3] Then I rose to speak; and said, “Who among you is not aware that God came down from heaven and became Man? For we read, `The Word was with God, and God was the Word, and the Word became flesh.’” Then, looking towards the Evangelicals, among whom was that dictator who had just addressed me, I said, “Who among you does not know that in Christ, who was born of Mary the Virgin, God is Man and Man is God?” But at this the assembly made a great noise; therefore I said, “Do you not know this?  It is according to the doctrine of your confession which is called the Formula Concordiae, where this is affirmed and fully corroborated.”

Then the dictator turned to the assembly and asked if they were aware of this; and they answered, “As to the person of Christ we have given the book very little study, but we have worked hard at the part on Justification by Faith Alone; if, however, it is so written in that book, we acquiesce.” Then one of them remembering, said, “That is the way it reads; and it says furthermore that the Human nature of Christ has been exalted to Divine majesty and all its attributes; also that in that nature Christ sits at the right hand of the Father.”

[4] Hearing this they were silent; and as it was undisputed I spoke again, and said, “This being so, what then is the Father but the Son, and what is the Son but the Father also?” Yet as this again offended their ears, I continued, “Hear the very words of the Lord and attend to them now, if you never have before; for He said, `I and My Father are one;‘ `I am in the Father and the Father in Me;’ `Father, all Mine are Thine and Thine are Mine;‘ `He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father.’ What do these things mean, but that the Father is in the Son and the Son in the Father, and that they are one as the soul and body in man are one, and thus that they are one person? And must not this be your belief, if you believe in the Athanasian creed, where nearly the same things are said? But from the passages quoted take this one saying of the Lord, `Father, all Mine are Thine, and all Thine are Mine.‘ What else does this mean than that the Divine of the Father belongs to the Human of the Son, and the Human of the Son to the Divine of the Father, consequently that, in Christ, God is Man and Man is God, and thus that they are one as soul and body are one?

[5] Every man may say the same of his own soul and body, namely, `All mine are thine, and all thine are mine; thou art in me and I in thee; he that seeth me, seeth thee; we are one in person and in life.’ This is because the soul is in the man, both in the whole and in every part of him, for the life of the soul is the life of the body, and between the two there is a mutuality. All this makes clear that the Divine of the Father is the soul of the Son, and the Human of the Son the body of the Father. From where does the soul of an offspring come unless from its father, and its body unless from its mother? The expression is the Divine of the Father; but the Father Himself is what is meant, since He and His Divine are the same; and this Divine is one and indivisible. That this is true is evident also from the words of the angel Gabriel to Mary, `The power of the Most High shall overshadow thee, and the Holy Spirit shall come upon thee; and the Holy Thing that shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.‘ And just above He is called `the Son of the Most High,’ and elsewhere `the only-begotten Son.‘ But you, who call Him merely the Son of Mary, destroy the idea of His Divinity; yet it is only the learned among the clergy and the scholars among the laity who destroy this idea, for these, when they raise their thoughts above the sensual things pertaining to their bodies, regard the glory of their reputation; and this not only obscures but extinguishes the light whereby the glory of God enters.

[6] But let us return to the Lord’s Prayer, where it says, `Our Father who art in the heavens; hallowed be Thy Name; Thy kingdom come.‘ By these words you who are present understand the Father in His Divine alone; but I understand the Father in His Human.  Moreover, this Human is the name of the Father; for the Lord said, `Father, glorify Thy name,’ that is, Thy Human; and when this is done the kingdom of God comes.  And the reason why this Prayer was commanded for the present time is evident, namely, that through His Human an approach may be had to God the Father.  The Lord also said, `No man cometh unto the Father but by Me;‘ and in the Prophet, `Unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given, and His name is God, Mighty, Father of Eternity;’ and elsewhere, `Thou, Jehovah, art our Father, our Redeemer, from everlasting is Thy name;‘ besides many other places where the Lord our Saviour is called Jehovah.  This is the true explanation of the words of that Prayer.”

[7] When I had said all this, I looked at them and noted the changes in their countenances according to changes in the states of their minds, some favoring me and looking toward me, and some not favoring and turning themselves away. And then on the right I saw a cloud of opal color, and on the left a dusky cloud, and under each the appearance of a shower. That under the dusky cloud was like a rain at the close of autumn, and that under the opal cloud was like the fall of dew in early spring.

Then suddenly I came out of the spirit into the body, and thus returned from the spiritual world into the natural world.

Fourth Memorable Relation:-

I looked into the world of spirits and saw an army mounted on red and black horses.  The riders looked like apes, with face and breast turned toward the horse’s tail, and the hinder part of the head and the back toward the horse‘s neck and head, and the bridle-rein thrown over the rider’s neck; and they were shouting at other riders mounted on white horses, and were jerking the reins with both hands, thus pulling back their horses from the battle; and this they did continuously.

Then two angels descended from heaven, and approaching me said, “What do you see?”

I told about the ludicrous company of horsemen that I saw, and asked what it meant and who they were.

The angels answered, “They are from the place called Armageddon (Apoc. 16:16), where they have assembled to the number of several thousands, to fight against those who belong to the Lord‘s New Church, which is called the New Jerusalem.  They were talking there about the church and about religion; and yet there was nothing of the church among them, because they had nothing of spiritual truth, and nothing of religion, because they had no spiritual good. About both of these they were talking with their mouths and lips; but their aim was to acquire dominion by means of them.

[2] In their youth they had learned to confirm the doctrine of faith alone, and something about God; and when they had been advanced to higher offices in the church, they held on to these teachings for a time, but having ceased to think any longer about God and heaven, but only about themselves and the world, thus not about eternal blessedness and happiness, but only about temporal eminence and wealth, the doctrinal principles which in youth they had drawn from the interiors of the rational mind, which communicate with heaven and therefore are in the light of heaven, were cast out into the exteriors of the rational mind, which communicate with the world and are therefore in the light of the world; and finally these principles were thrust down into the region of the natural senses; and as a consequence the doctrines of the church became with them a mere matter of words, and no longer of thought from reason, much less of affection from love. And having made themselves such, they grant no admittance to that Divine truth which constitutes the church, nor to that genuine good that constitutes religion. The interiors of their minds have become like bottles filled with a mixture of iron chips and sulphur, upon which, if water is poured, there is first produced heat and then a flame, whereby the bottles are burst.  So when they hear anything about the living water, which is the genuine truth of the Word, and it finds entrance through their ears, they become violently heated and inflamed, and reject it as a thing that would burst their heads.

[3] These are they that appeared to you like apes riding horses red and black, and facing toward the tail, and the bridle-rein around the rider’s neck.  Men that do not love the truth and good of the church derived from the Word never wish to look toward the forward parts of a horse, but only toward his hinder parts. For a horse signifies understanding of the Word-a red horse that understanding when destroyed in respect to good, and a black horse when destroyed in respect to truth.  They were shouting for battle against the riders on the white horses, because a white horse signifies understanding of the Word in respect to truth and good. They seemed to pull their horses backward by the neck, because they dreaded the battle, and feared that the truth of the Word might be reaching many and might thus come to light.  This is the interpretation.”

[4] The angels further said, “We are from a society of heaven which is called Michael, and we were commanded by the Lord to descend to the place Armageddon, from which the horsemen that you saw broke forth.  With us in heaven Armageddon signifies a state of mind and a disposition (arising from a love of ruling and being eminent over all others) to fight from truths falsified; and as we perceive in you a desire to learn about this kind of contest, we will relate to you a certain matter. On descending from heaven we came to that place called Armageddon, and there saw several thousands assembled. We did not enter this crowd; but on the southern side of the place there stood several houses where there were lads with their teachers; we entered these, and were kindly received.  We were delighted with their company. From the life in their eyes and the eagerness displayed in their talk their faces were beautiful. The life in their eyes came from perceiving what is true, and the eagerness in their talk from the affection for what is good.  Because of this we presented them with caps, the borders of which were ornamented with bands of gold lace in which pearls were interwoven, also with garments of white and blue commingled.

”We asked them if they had ever looked in upon the so-called Armageddon, near by. They said that they had, through a window under the roof, and had seen an assembly there, but the shapes of the people were changeable; sometimes they looked like men of lofty stature, and sometimes like statues and carved idols, with a crowd on bended knees around them. To ourselves as well they appeared under various forms; some like men, others like leopards, and others again like goats, the latter with horns projecting downward, with which they tore up the ground. We interpreted these transformations, and showed what classes they represented, and what things they signified.

[5] “But to return:--When those assembled there heard of our having entered the houses they said to one another, `What are they doing among those lads? Let us send some of us thither and put them out.‘ They did send a number, and when these came they said, `What took you into these houses? Where do you come from?  By authority we order you to leave.’

”But we answered, `You cannot give that order by authority.  In your own eyes, indeed, you seem like Anakim, and we here like dwarfs; yet here you have no power or authority except by cunning, and that will not prevail.  Go, then, and tell your comrades that we are sent here from heaven to find out if you have religion or if you have none; and if none, you will be cast out of this place. Go, then, and put to them this question, which contains the veriest essential of the church and of religion: In the Lord‘s Prayer what mean the words `Our Father who art in the heavens; hallowed be Thy Name; Thy kingdom come?’

  “Hearing this, they said at first, `What is all that?‘ And then they consented and went away and told their companions what had been said, who replied, `What sort of a proposal is that?’  But they guessed what was behind the question, namely, that we wished to know if they thought that these words confirmed what their faith taught about the way to approach God the Father.  Therefore they said, `The words are clear that we ought to pray to God the Father; and as Christ is our Mediator, that we ought to pray to God the Father for the sake of the Son.‘

”And at once in their indignation they resolved to come to us and say this to our faces, and they added that they would pull our ears.  So they left that place, and went into a grove near the houses where the lads and their teachers were.  In the center of this was an elevated spot like a place for games; and joining hands they came there. We were there also, and were waiting for them.  The ground was thrown up into little green mounds, as it were, upon which they reclined, saying to one another, `We will not stand in their presence; we will sit.’

“Then one of them who could make himself appear like an angel of light, and who had been deputed by the others to speak with us, said, `You have proposed that we open our minds as to our understanding of the first words of the Lord‘s Prayer.  Therefore I say to you that this is our understanding of them, that we ought to pray to the Father; and as Christ is our Mediator, and as it is through His merit that we are saved, that we ought to pray to God the Father from faith in Christ’s merit.‘

[6] ”But then we said to them, `We are from the heavenly society called Michael, and have been sent to see you and inquire whether you who were assembled yonder have any religion or not; for the idea of God enters into everything of religion, and by means of it man is conjoined with God, and by means of conjunction is saved. We in heaven say that Prayer daily in the same way as men do on earth, and in doing so we are not thinking of God the Father, for He is invisible; but we think of Him in His Divine Human, because in that He is visible, and in that He is by you called Christ, but by us is called the Lord; in this way it is that to us the Lord is the Father in the heavens.  Moreover, the Lord has taught that He and the Father are one; that the Father is in Him and He in the Father; and that whosoever sees Him sees the Father; and again, that no one comes to the Father except through Him; also that it is the will of the Father that men should believe in the Son, and that whosoever believes not in the Son shall not see life; and even that the wrath of God abides upon him. All this makes it clear that approach to the Father is through the Son and in the Son.  And because this is so He has also taught that to Him all power has been given in heaven and on earth.  In that Prayer it is said, `Hallowed be Thy Name, Thy kingdom come;’ and we have shown from the Word that the Father‘s name is the Divine Human of the Lord, and that the kingdom of the Father comes when the Lord is approached directly, and comes not at all when God the Father is approached directly.  For this reason, too, the Lord commanded His disciples to preach the kingdom of God; and the kingdom of God is this very thing.’

[7] “Having heard this, our antagonists said, ‘You quote many passages from the Word; and such perhaps we may have read there-we do not remember; therefore open the Word here before us, and read them from it; especially the statement that the Father’s kingdom comes when the Lord‘s kingdom comes.’  And they said to the lads, ”Bring the Word.“  And the lads brought it, and we read from it as follows:--

John preached the gospel of the kingdom, and said, The time is fulfilled, the kingdom of God is at hand (Mark 1:14, 15; Matt. 3:2).

Jesus Himself preached the gospel of the kingdom, and that the kingdom of God was at hand (Matt. 4:17, 23; 9:35).

Jesus commanded His disciples to preach and declare the gospel of the kingdom of God (Mark 16:15; Luke 8:1; 9:60);

as also the seventy whom He sent forth (Luke 10:9, 11; Matt. 11:5; 16:27, 28; Mark 8:35; 9:1, 47; 10:29, 30; 11:10; Luke 1:19; 2:10, 11; 4:43; 7:22; 17:20, 21; 21:31; 22:18). The kingdom of God, of which the good tidings were preached, was the kingdom of the Lord, and thus the kingdom of the Father. This is evident from the following statements:--

The Father gave all things into the hand of the Son (John 3:35).

The Father gave the Son power over all flesh (John 17:2).

All things have been delivered unto Me of My Father (Matt.  11:27).

All power is given unto Me in heaven and on earth (Matt.  28:18).

Also from the following:--

Jehovah of Hosts is His name, and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; the God of the whole earth shall He be called (Isa. 54:5).

I saw, and behold one like unto the Son of man; and there was given Him dominion and glory and a kingdom, and all people and nations shall worship Him; His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away, and His kingdom that which shall not be destroyed (Dan. 7:13, 14).

When the seventh angel sounded there came great voices in the heavens, saying, The kingdoms of the world are become our Lord‘s and His Christ’s, and He shall reign unto the ages of the ages (Apoc. 11:15; 12:10).

[8] ”We showed them still further from the Word that the Lord came into the world not only in order that angels and men might be redeemed, but also that through Him and in Him they might be made one with God the Father; for He taught:--

That those who believe in Him are in Him, and He in them (John 6:56; 14:20; 15:4, 5).

“Having heard these things they asked, ‘How then can your Lord be called the Father?’ We replied, `Because of what we have just read, and also the following passages:--

Unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and His name is God, Mighty, Father of Eternity (Isa. 9:6).

Thou art our Father; Abraham knoweth us not, and Israel doth not acknowledge us; Thou Jehovah art our Father, our Redeemer, from everlasting is Thy name (Isa. 63:16).

Did He not say to Philip, who wished to see the Father:--

Hast thou not known Me, Philip? He that seeth Me seeth the Father (John 14:9; 12:45).

What other Father then is there than He whom Philip‘s eyes were seeing?’

”To this we added, `It is said in the Christian world that those who are of the church constitute the body of Christ and are in His body; how then can the man of the church approach to God the Father except through Christ, in whose body he resides?  Otherwise he must pass entirely out of that body in order to approach the Father.‘ In concluding we informed them that at this day the Lord is establishing a New Church, which is meant by the New Jerusalem in the Apocalypse, in which there will be, as in heaven, the worship of the Lord alone, and that thus everything which is contained in the Lord’s Prayer from beginning to end will be fulfilled.

“All this we confirmed so copiously from the Word, in the Gospels and Prophets and in the Apocalypse, where from the beginning to the end that church is treated of, that they grew tired of listening.

[9] ”The Armageddons heard all this with indignation, and wished constantly to interrupt our speaking; and at last they did break in, exclaiming, `You have spoken contrary to the doctrine of our church, which teaches that men must approach God the Father directly and must believe in Him; thus have you made yourselves guilty of a violation of our faith.  Get you gone, therefore; if not, you will be put out by force.‘ And their passions being aroused, from threats they proceeded to the attempt; but by power given us we smote them with blindness, and not seeing us they rushed away and ran about wandering in all directions.  Some fell into the abyss spoken of in the (Apocalypse 9:2), which is now in the southern quarter toward the east, and is occupied by those who confirm the doctrine of justification by faith alone.  Those there who confirm that doctrine by the Word are banished to a desert, where they are driven to the boundary of the Christian realm, and are mingled with the heathen.“

True Christian Religion - Containing the Universal Theology of the New Heaven and New Church #110-113
- E. Swedenborg 1688-1772

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