June 19, 1770

Selection from True Christian Religion ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
THIS NEW CHURCH IS THE CROWN OF ALL THE CHURCHES
THAT HAVE HITHERTO EXISTED ON THE EARTH

It has been shown ... that there have been, in general, from the beginning, four churches on this earth, one before the flood, the second after it, the third the Israelitish church, and the fourth that which is called the Christian church; and as all churches depend on a knowledge and acknowledgment of one God, with whom the man of the church can be conjoined, and as none of these four churches has possessed that truth, it follows that a church must follow these four which will know and acknowledge one God. The sole end of God's Divine love, when He created the world, was to conjoin man to Himself and Himself to man that He might thus dwell with man. This truth the former churches did not possess, the Most Ancient church, which preceded the flood, worshiping an invisible God with whom no conjunction is possible; the Ancient church which followed the flood, did likewise; the Israelitish church worshiped Jehovah, who in Himself is an invisible God (Exod. 33:18-23), but under a human form, which Jehovah God put on by means of an angel, in which He was seen by Moses, Abraham, Sarah, Hagar, Gideon, Joshua, and sometimes by the prophets. This human form was a representative of the Lord who was to come, and because this was representative so each thing and all things in their church were made representative. It is a well known fact that the sacrifices and everything else pertaining to their worship represented the Lord who was to come, and that when He came they were abrogated. The fourth, which is called the Christian church, did indeed with the lips acknowledge one God, but in three Persons, each One of whom was singly or by Himself God; thus it acknowledged a divided Trinity, but not a Trinity united in one Person; and from this an idea of three Gods adhered to their minds, although the expression "one God" was on their lips. Moreover, the teachers of the church from that doctrine of theirs which they concocted after the Nicene Council, teach that men ought to believe in God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, all of them invisible, because existent in a similar Divine essence before the world was (although, with an invisible God no conjunction is possible), for they still do not know that the one God who is invisible came into the world and assumed a Human, not only that He might redeem men, but also that He might become visible, that thereby conjunction with man might become possible. For we read:

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

And in Isaiah:

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

It is also frequently declared in the Prophets that Jehovah Himself would come into the world, and would be a Redeemer, which He also became in the Human which He assumed.

This New Church is the crown of all the churches that have hitherto existed on the earth, because it is to worship one visible God in whom is the invisible like the soul in the body. Thus, and not otherwise, is a conjunction of God with man possible because man is natural, and therefore thinks naturally, and conjunction must exist in his thought, and thus in his love's affection, and this is the case when he thinks of God as a Man.

Conjunction with an invisible God is like a conjunction of the eye's vision with the expanse of the universe, the limits of which are invisible; it is also like vision in mid-ocean, which reaches out into the air and upon the sea, and is lost.

Conjunction with a visible God, on the other hand, is like beholding a man in the air or on the sea spreading forth his hands and inviting to his arms.

For all conjunction of God with man must be also a reciprocal conjunction of man with God; and no such reciprocation is possible except with a visible God. That before the assumption of the Human, God was not visible, the Lord Himself also teaches in John:

Ye have neither heard the voice of the Father at any time, nor seen His form (5:37).

And in Moses:

That no one can see God and live (Ex. 33:20).

But that He is visible through His Humanity is stated in John:

No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He hath manifested Him (1:18).

And in the same:

Jesus said, I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; no one cometh unto the Father but by Me. He that knoweth Me, knoweth the Father, and he that seeth Me seeth the Father (14:6, 7, 9).

That there is a conjunction with the invisible God through the visible, that is, through the Lord, He teaches in the following passages:

Jesus said, Abide in Me, and I in you; he that abideth in Me and I in him, the same beareth much fruit (John 15:4, 5).

In that day ye shall know that I am in the Father, and ye in Me and I in you (John 14:20).

The glory which thou hast given Me I have given them, that they may be one, even as we are one; I in them and Thou in Me: that the love wherewith Thou hast loved Me may be in them, and I in them (John 17:21-23, 26; also 6:56).

It is also taught that He and the Father are one, and that in order to have eternal life man must believe in Him. That salvation depends on conjunction with God has been frequently shown above.

That this church is to follow those that have existed since the beginning of the world, and that it is to endure for ages of ages, and is thus to be the crown of all the churches that have preceded, was foretold by Daniel; first, when he narrated and explained to Nebuchadnezzar his dream of the four kingdoms (which mean the four churches that were represented by the statue that he saw), saying:

In the days of those kings the God of the heavens shall make a kingdom to arise which shall not perish for ages, and it shall consume all those kingdoms; but itself shall stand for ages (Dan. 2:44).

And this, he said, should be done,

By a stone becoming a great rock and filling all the earth (verse 35);

"rock" in the Word meaning the Lord in respect to Divine truth. The same prophet also says elsewhere:

I saw in the night visions, and behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven and there was given Him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom; and all peoples, nations, and languages shall worship Him; His dominion is the dominion of an age, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom that which shall not be destroyed (7:13, 14).

And this he said after he saw the four great beasts coming up out of the sea (verse 3), which beasts also represented the four prior churches. That all this was prophesied by Daniel respecting the present time, can be seen from his words in 12:4, as also, from the words of the Lord in Matt. 24:15, 30. Like things are said in the Apocalypse:

The seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, 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 (11:15).

Furthermore, the other prophets have made many predictions respecting this church, what its character would be, a few of which shall be cited: In Zechariah:

It shall be one day that shall be known to Jehovah, not day nor night, for about the time of evening it shall be light. In that day living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; and Jehovah shall be king over all the earth; in that day shall there be one Jehovah and His name one (14:7-9)

In Joel:

And it shall come to pass in that day that the mountains shall drop down new wine, and the hills shall flow with milk; and Jerusalem shall abide to generation and generation (3:17-21).

In Jeremiah:

At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of Jehovah; and all the nations shall be gathered unto it, because of the name of Jehovah at Jerusalem; neither shall they walk any more after the stubbornness of their evil heart (3:17; Apoc. 21:24, 26).

In Isaiah:

Thine eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation, a tabernacle that shall not be taken down; the stakes thereof shall never be removed, and the cords thereof shall not be broken (33:20).

In these passages "Jerusalem" means the new and holy Jerusalem described in the Apocalypse (chap. 21), by which the New Church is meant.

Again in Isaiah:

There shall go forth a Shoot out of the stem of Jesse and righteousness shall be the girdle of His loins, and truth the girdle of His thigh. Therefore the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard with the kid, and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the basilisk's den. They shall not do evil nor corrupt themselves in all the mountain of My holiness; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of Jehovah. In that day it shall come to pass that the nations shall seek the Root of Jesse which standeth for an ensign of the people; and His rest shall be glory (11:5-10).

That such things have not yet taken place in the churches, least of all in the last, is well known.

In Jeremiah:

Behold the days come, in which I will make a new covenant; and this shall be the covenant, I will put My law in their inward parts, and upon their hearts will I write it, and I will be their God, and they shall be My people; and they shall all know Me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them (Jer. 31:31-34; Rev. 21:3).

That this state of things has not existed in the churches heretofore is also known. This was because men did not approach the visible God whom all shall know, because He is the Word or law which He will put in their inward parts and write upon their hearts.

Again in Isaiah:

For Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth; and thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of Jehovah shall declare; and thou shalt be a crown of beauty and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God. Jehovah shall delight in thee, and thy land shall be married. Behold, thy salvation cometh; behold, his reward is with Him. And they shall call them, the people of holiness, the redeemed of Jehovah, and thou shalt be called, a city sought out and not forsaken (Isa. 62:1-4, 11-12).

What this church is to be is fully described in the Apocalypse, where the end of the former church and the beginning of the new are treated of. This New Church is described by the New Jerusalem, by its magnificence, and by its being the future bride and wife of the Lamb (19:7; 21:2, 9). Besides these I will cite only the following quotation from the Apocalypse: When the New Jerusalem was seen descending from heaven it was said:

Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He shall dwell with them, and they shall be His peoples, Himself shall be with them, their God. And the nations that are saved shall walk in the light of it; and there shall be no night there. I Jesus have sent Mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning Star. And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And he that heareth, let him say, Come. And he that is athirst, let them come. And he that wisheth, let him take the water of life freely. Even so, come, Lord Jesus. Amen (Rev. 21:3, 24-25; 22:16-17, 20).

NOTE. -

After this work [THE TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION — Containing THE UNIVERSAL THEOLOGY Of THE NEW CHURCH FORETOLD BY THE LORD IN DANIEL 7:13, 14; AND IN REVELATION 21:1, 2] was finished the Lord called together His twelve disciples who followed Him in the world; and the next day He sent them all forth throughout the whole spiritual world to preach the Gospel that THE LORD GOD JESUS CHRIST reigns, whose kingdom shall be for ages and ages, according to the prediction in Daniel (7:13, 14), and in Revelation (11:15).

Also that blessed are those that come to the marriage supper of the Lamb (Rev. 19:9).

This took place on the nineteenth day of June, 1770. This is what is meant by these words of the Lord:

He shall send His angels and they shall gather together His elect, from the end of the heavens to the end thereof (Matt. 24:31).

(True Christian Religion 786-791)

Why "Jerusalem" Signifies The Church

Selection from True Christian Religion ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

We read in the Apocalypse:

I saw a New Heaven and a New Earth; for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away. And I John saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband (Rev. 21:1-2).

Something like this is also written in Isaiah:

Behold, I create a new heaven and a new earth; be ye glad and rejoice forever; and behold, I will create Jerusalem a rejoicing and her people a joy (Isa. 65:17-18).

[T]he Lord is at this day forming a New Heaven from such Christians as acknowledged in the world, or after their departure from the world were able to acknowledge, that He is the God of heaven and earth, according to His words in Matthew (28:18).

By the New Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven (Rev. 21), a New Church is meant for the reason that Jerusalem was the metropolis in the land of Canaan, and the temple and altar were there, and the sacrifices were offered there, thus the Divine worship itself, to which every male of the whole land was commanded to go three times a year, was celebrated there; and also for the reason that the Lord was in Jerusalem, and taught in its temple, and afterward glorified His Human there. This is why "Jerusalem" signifies the church. That "Jerusalem" means the church can be clearly seen from the prophecies in the Old Testament respecting the new church to be established by the Lord, in that it is there called "Jerusalem."

Those passages only shall be here cited from which anyone endowed with interior reason can see that "Jerusalem" there means the church. These are the following:

Behold, I create a New Heaven and a New Earth, and the former shall not be remembered. Behold, I will create Jerusalem a rejoicing and her people a gladness; that I may rejoice over Jerusalem and be glad over My people. Then the wolf and the lamb shall feed together; they shall not do evil in the whole mountain of My holiness (Isa. 65:17-19, 25).

For Zion's sake will I not be silent, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and her salvation as a lamp burneth. Then the nations shall see thy righteousness, and all kings thy glory, and thou shalt be called by a new name which the mouth of Jehovah shall utter. And thou shalt also be a crown of beauty in the hand of Jehovah, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God. Jehovah delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married. Behold, thy salvation cometh; behold, His reward is with Him; and they shall call them the people of holiness, the redeemed of Jehovah; and thou shalt be called a city sought out, not forsaken (Isa. 62:1-4, 11-12).

Awake, awake; put on thy strength, O Zion; put on the garments of thy beauty, O Jerusalem, the holy city; for henceforth there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean. Shake thyself from the dust; arise, sit down, O Jerusalem. My people shall know My name in that day, for I am He that doth speak; behold, it is I. Jehovah hath comforted His people; He hath redeemed Jerusalem (Isa. 52:1, 2, 6, 9).

Sing for joy, O daughter of Zion; be glad with all the heart, O daughter of Jerusalem; the king of Israel is in the midst of thee; thou shall not fear evil any more; He will rejoice over thee with joy; He will rest in thy love; He will joy over thee with singing; I will make you a name and a praise among all people of the earth (Zeph. 3:14-17, 20).

Thus said Jehovah thy Redeemer, saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be inhabited (Isa. 44:24, 26).

Thus saith Jehovah: I will return unto Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem; whence Jerusalem shall be called a city of truth, and the mountain of Jehovah of Hosts the holy mountain (Zech. 8:3, 20-23).

Then shall ye know that I am Jehovah your God dwelling in Zion, the mountain of holiness, and Jerusalem shall be holiness; and it shall come to pass in that day, that the mountains shall drop down new wine, and the hills shall flow with milk. And Jerusalem shall abide to generation and generation (Joel 3:17-21).

In that day shall the shoot of Jehovah be for beauty and glory, and it shall come to pass, that he that is left in Zion and he that remaineth in Jerusalem, shall be called holy everyone that is written unto life in Jerusalem (Isa. 4:2, 3).

In the end of days it shall be that the mountain of the house of Jehovah shall be established as the head of the mountains; for out of Zion shall go forth doctrine, and the Word of Jehovah from Jerusalem (Micah 4:1, 2, 8).

At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of Jehovah and all nations shall be gathered unto it, because of the name of Jehovah at Jerusalem; neither shall they walk any more after the stubbornness of their evil heart (Jer. 3:17).

Look upon Zion, the city of our set feast; let thine eye see Jerusalem a quiet habitation, a tabernacle that shall not be taken down; the stakes thereof shall never be removed; and the cords thereof shall not be broken (Isa. 33:20).

(So also elsewhere, as in Isa. 24:23; 37:32; 66:10-14; Zech 12:3, 6-10; 14:8, 11, 12, 21; Mal. 3:4; Ps. 122:1-7; 137:4-6).

That "Jerusalem" means here a church about to be established by the Lord, and not the Jerusalem inhabited by the Jews, is evident from the particulars of its description in the passages quoted; as that Jehovah God was to create a New Heaven and a New Earth, and after that Jerusalem; and that she should be a crown of glory and a royal diadem; that she should be called holiness, a city of truth, the throne of Jehovah, a quiet habitation, a tabernacle that should not be taken down; that there the wolf and the lamb are to feed together; that the mountains there will drop down new wine, and the hills flow with milk, and Jerusalem shall abide to generation and generation, with many other things. It is also said of the people there that they are holy, that they are all written unto life, and shall be called the redeemed of Jehovah. All these passages, moreover, treat of the Lord's coming, especially of His Second Coming, when Jerusalem is to be such as is there described; for until then she was not married, that is, made the bride and wife of the Lamb, as the New Jerusalem is said to be in the Apocalypse.

The former church (that is, the existing church), is meant by "Jerusalem" in Daniel, and its beginning is there described as follows:

Know and perceive, that from the going forth of the Word, even to the restoration and building of Jerusalem, even to the Messiah the prince shall be seven weeks. After the threescore and two weeks it shall be restored and built with street and moat, but in straitness of times (Dan. 9:25).

But its end is there described by the following:

At last upon the bird of abominations shall be desolation; and even to the consummation and decision shall it drop upon the devastation (Dan. 9:27).

This last passage is referred to by the Lord's words in Matthew:

When ye shall see the abomination of desolation predicted by Daniel the prophet standing in the holy place let him that readeth note it well (Matt. 24:15).

That "Jerusalem" in the foregoing passages does not mean the Jerusalem inhabited by the Jews can be seen from those passages in the Word where the latter is said to be utterly lost, and destined to be destroyed (as in Jer. 5:1; 6:6, 7; 7:17-34; 8:6-22; 9:10-22; 13:9, 10, 14; 14:16; Lam. 1:8, 9, 17; Ezek. 4; 5:9-17; 12:8, 19; 15:6-8; 16; 23; Matt. 23:37, 38; Luke 19:41-44; 21:20- 22; 23:28-30; besides many other passages); as also from the passages where it is called "Sodom" (Isa. 3:9; Jer. 23:14; Ezek. 16:46, 48; and elsewhere).

That the church is the Lord's, and that from the spiritual marriage, which is that of good and truth, the Lord is called the Bridegroom and Husband, and the church the bride and wife, is well known to Christians from the Word, especially from the following.

John said of the Lord:

He that hath the bride is the bridegroom, but the friend of the bridegroom, who standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth because of the bridegroom's voice (John 3:29).

Jesus said, The children of the bridechamber cannot mourn so long as the bridegroom is with them (Matt. 9:15; Mark 2:19-20; Luke 5:34-35).

I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband (Rev. 21:2).

The angel said to John: Come, I will show thee the bride, the wife of the Lamb, and from a mountain he showed him the holy city Jerusalem (Rev. 21:9-10).

The time of the marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife hath made herself ready. Blessed are they that have been called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb (Rev. 19:7, 9).

I am the root and the offspring of David, the bright and morning Star. And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And he that is athirst, let him come, and he that willeth, let him take the water of life freely (Rev. 22:16-17).

It is in accordance with Divine order that a New Heaven should be formed before a New Church is established on earth, for the church is both internal and external, and the internal church makes one with the church in heaven, thus with heaven itself; and what is internal must be formed before its external, what is external being formed afterwards by means of its internal. This is well known in the world among the clergy. Just so far as this New Heaven, which constitutes the internal of the church with man, increases, does the New Jerusalem, that is, the New Church, descend from it; consequently this cannot take place in a moment, but it takes place to the extent that the falsities of the former church are set aside. For where falsities have already been implanted what is new cannot enter until the falsities have been rooted out, and this will take place with the clergy, and so with the laity; for the Lord said:

No one puts new wine into old wineskins, else the skins burst and the wine is spilled, but they put new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved (Matt. 9:17; Mark 2:22; Luke 5:37-38).

That these things take place only at the consummation of the age, by which is meant the end of the church, can be seen from these words of the Lord:

Jesus said, The kingdom of the heavens is like unto a man who sowed good seed in his field; but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went away; but when the blade sprang up, then appeared the tares also. The servants came and said, Wilt thou that we go and gather them up? But he said, Nay; lest haply while ye gather up the tares, ye root up the wheat with them; let both grow together until the harvest; and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Collect first the tares and bind them in bundles to burn; but gather the wheat into my barn. The harvest is the consummation of the age; as the tares are gathered and burned with fire, so shall it be in the consummation of the age (Matt. 13:24-30, 39-40).

"Wheat" means here the truths and goods of the New Church, and "tares" the falsities and evils of the former church. In the [previous articles it was shown] that "the consummation of the age" means the end of the church.

That there is in everything an internal and an external, and that the external depends on the internal as the body does on its soul, every single thing in the world shows when it is properly examined. In man this is manifest. As his entire body is from his mind, so in each thing that proceeds from man there is an internal and an external; in his every action there is the mind's will, and in his every word the mind's understanding, so also in his every sensation. In every bird and beast, and even in every insect and worm, there is an internal and an external; and again in every tree, plant, and germ, and even in every stone and every particle of soil.

A few facts relating to the silk-worm, the bee, and dust, will suffice to make this clear.

The internal of the silk-worm is that whereby its external is moved to weave its cocoon, and afterward to fly forth as a butterfly.

The internal of the bee is that whereby its external is moved to suck honey from flowers, and to build its cells in wonderful forms.

The internal of a particle of soil whereby its external is moved, is its endeavor to fecundate seed; it exhales from its little bosom something which introduces itself into the inmosts of the seed, and produces this effect; and this internal follows the growth of the seed even to new seed.

The same takes place in things of an opposite character, in which there is also an internal and an external; as in the spider, whose internal, whereby its external is moved, is the ability and consequent inclination to construct an ingenious web, at the center of which it lies in wait for the flies that fly into it, which it eats. It is the same with every noxious worm, every serpent, and every beast of the forest; as also with every impious, cunning, and treacherous man.

This is what is meant in the Apocalypse by "The New Heaven and The New Earth," and "The New Jerusalem" descending therefrom.

(True Christian Religion 781-785)

"How" The Second Coming

Selection from True Christian Religion ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

I foresee that many who read the things which follow, and the Memorable Relations at the end of the chapters, will think that they are inventions of the imagination; but I asseverate in truth that they are not inventions but are things actually done and seen; nor were they seen in any state of a mind asleep but in a state of full wakefulness. For it has pleased the Lord to manifest Himself to me and to send me to teach the things which shall be of the New Church, meant by the "New Jerusalem" in the Apocalypse. To this end, He has opened the interiors of my mind and spirit, whereby it has been granted me to be in the spiritual world with angels and at the same time in the natural world with men, and this now for twenty-five years.

(Conjugial Love 1; cf. True Christian Religion 851)

~~~

This Second Coming of the Lord is effected by means of a man to whom the Lord has manifested Himself in person, and whom He has filled with His spirit, that He may teach the doctrines of the New Church from the Lord by means of the Word.

Since the Lord cannot manifest Himself in Person, as shown [in previous articles], and nevertheless has foretold that He was to come and establish a New Church, which is the New Jerusalem, it follows that He will do this by means of a man, who is able not only to receive these doctrines in his understanding but also to publish them by the press. That the Lord manifested Himself before me, His servant, and sent me to this office, that He afterward opened the eyes of my spirit and thus introduced me into the spiritual world and granted me to see the heavens and the hells, and to talk with angels and spirits, and this now continuously for several years, I affirm in truth; as also that from the first day of that call I have not received anything whatever pertaining to the doctrines of that church from any angel, but from the Lord alone while I have read the Word.

In order that the Lord might be continuously present with me He has unfolded to me the spiritual sense of His Word, wherein is Divine truth in its very light, and it is in this light that He is continually present. For His presence in the Word is by means of the spiritual sense and in no other way; through the light of this sense He passes into the obscurity of the literal sense, which is like what takes place when the light of the sun in day-time is passing through an interposing cloud. That the sense of the letter of the Word is like a cloud, and the spiritual sense is the glory, the Lord Himself being the sun from which the light comes, and that thus the Lord is the Word.

That "the glory" in which He is to come (Matt. 24:30), signifies Divine truth in its light, in which light the spiritual sense of the Word is, can be clearly seen from the following passages:

The voice of one crying in the desert, prepare ye the way of Jehovah; the glory of Jehovah shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it (Isa. 40:3, 5).

Shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of Jehovah is risen upon thee (Isa. 40:1 to the end).

I will give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles, and My glory will I not give to another (Isa. 42:6, 8; 48:11).

Thy light shall break forth as the morning; the glory of Jehovah shall gather thee up (Isa. 48:8).

All the earth shall be filled with the glory of Jehovah (Num. 14:21; Isa. 6:1-3; 46:18).

In the beginning was the Word; in Him was life, and the life was the light of men. That was the true Light. And the Word was made flesh, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father (John 1:1, 4, 9, 14).

The heavens declare the glory of God (Ps. 19:1).

The glory of God will lighten the Holy Jerusalem, and the Lamb is the light thereof, and the nations that are saved shall walk in the light of it (Apoc. 21:23, 24).

Besides in many other places. "Glory" signifies Divine truth its fullness, because all that is magnificent in heaven is from the light that goes forth from the Lord, and the light going forth from Him as the sun there, is in its essence Divine truth.

(True Christian Religion 779-780)