1207. And they adored God who sitteth upon the throne.- That this signifies adoration of the Lord, who has all power in the heavens and on earth, is evident from the signification of adoring, as here denoting adoration from humiliation of heart; and from the signification of Him who sitteth upon the throne, as denoting Him who has all power in the heavens and on earth; for by a throne, when the Lord is spoken of, is meant the whole heaven, and also all power there. The reason why all power on earth is also meant, is, that power in the heavens cannot he separated from power on earth. For the spiritual world, in which are the heavens and hells, cannot be separated from the natural world; thus angels and spirits cannot be separated from men, being associated and conjoined with them. For every man, as to the thoughts of his understanding and the affections of his will, is in the spiritual world in the societies there, thus with angels of heaven on the one hand, and spirits of hell on the other, man being as to his thoughts and affections a spirit, therefore also after death, when he becomes a spirit, he enters into the societies in which he was when in the world. It is therefore evident, that since the Lord has power in the heavens, He has also power on earth, and that the one power cannot be separated from the other. The reason why God, here and elsewhere in the Word, means the Lord, is, that He has all power in the heavens and on earth, as He Himself teaches in the Word; for He is the only God.
[2] Continuation [concerning the Vegetable Kingdom]. - 2. Nature in itself is dead, having been created in order that the Spiritual may be clothed by it with forms to serve for use, and thus be terminated.
Nature and life are two distinct things; nature deriving its beginning from the sun of the world, and life its beginning from the Sun of heaven. The sun of the world is pure fire, and the Sun of heaven pure love; that which proceeds from the former is called nature, but that which proceeds from the latter is called life. That which proceeds from pure fire is dead, but that which proceeds from pure love is living; therefore it is evident that nature in itself is dead. That nature serves as a covering for the Spiritual, is evident from the souls of beasts, for these are spiritual affections, clothed with materials in the world; it is well known that their bodies are material; and also the bodies of men.
[3] The reason why the Spiritual can be clothed by the material is, that all the objects which exist in nature, whether they belong to the atmosphere, to water, or to the earth are, as to every one of them, effects produced from the Spiritual as a cause. The effects again act as one with the cause, and are in complete agreement with it, according to the axiom, that nothing exists in the effect that is not in the cause. But the difference is, that the cause is a living force, because it is spiritual, while the effect derived from it is a dead force, because it is natural. From this it arises that there are in the natural world such objects as are in complete agreement with those which exist in the spiritual world, and that the former can be suitably conjoined with the latter. For this reason it is said that nature was created that the Spiritual might be clothed by it with forms to serve for use.
[4] That nature was created that the Spiritual might be terminated in it follows from what has been already said, that the objects in the spiritual world are causes, while those in the natural world are effects, and effects are limits. Where there is a first principle there will in all cases be an ultimate, and because in the ultimate everything intermediate co-exists from the first, the work of creation in ultimates is perfect. For this end the sun of the world was created, and by the sun, nature, and lastly the terraqueous globe, in order that there might be the ultimate materials in which all that is spiritual might terminate, and creation rest. Other ends were, that the work of creation might there be fixed and lasting - a result which is attained by the successive generations of men and animals, and the continual germinations of plants; and that all things should from them return to their First Source - a result brought about by means of man. That intermediates co-exist in ultimates is evident from the axiom, that there is nothing in the effect that is not in the cause, thus from the continuity of causes and effects from the First to the ultimate.
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