294. To the above I will add this Relation. In the natural world the speech of man is twofold, because his thought is twofold, exterior and interior; for a man can speak from interior thought and at the same time from exterior thought, and he can speak from exterior thought and not from interior, yea, contrary to interior thought, whence come dissimulations, flatteries, and hypocrisies. But in the spiritual world man's speech is not twofold, but single. He there speaks as he thinks, otherwise the sound is harsh and offends the ear; but yet he may be silent, and so not publish the thoughts of his mind. Therefore, a hypocrite, when he comes among the wise, either goes away, or retires to a corner of the room and withdraws himself from observation, and sits silent. [2] On one occasion there were many gathered together in the world of spirits, who were discoursing on this subject, and saying, that not to be able to speak except as one thinks, must be a hard thing for those who might be in company with the good, but yet who have not thought justly concerning God and the Lord. In the midst of the assembly were those of the Reformed, and many of the clergy, and next to them were papists and monks; and they all at first said it was not a hard thing. "What need is there to speak otherwise than one thinks, and if one should happen not to think justly, can he not close his lips and keep silence?" And one of the clergy said, "Who does not think justly of God and the Lord?" But some of the company said, "Let us, however, try." And to those who had confirmed themselves in the idea of a Trinity of Persons in God, especially from these words in the Athanasian doctrine, "There is one Person of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Spirit, and as the Father is God, so the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God," it was said that they should say, "one God"; but they could not; they distorted and folded their lips in many ways, but could not articulate a sound in any other words than such as were consonant with the ideas of their thought, which were ideas of three Persons, and thence of three gods. [3] They who had confirmed themselves in faith separate from charity, were then asked to name "Jesus"; but they could not; yet they could all say Christ, and also God the Father. This they wondered at, and inquired into the cause, which they found to be this, that they had prayed to God the Father for the Son's sake, and had not prayed to the Savior Himself; for "Jesus" signifies Savior. [4] They were then requested that from thinking of the Lord's Divine Human, they should say, "Divine Human"; but none of the clergy that were present could do so, though some of the laity could, wherefore the matter was taken into serious discussion; and then:
1. The following passages from the Evangelists were read to them:
The Father hath given all things into the Son's hand (John 3:35). The Father hath given 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 directed to keep in the thought, that Christ, both as to His Divine and as to His Human, is the God of heaven and earth, and thus to pronounce "Divine Human." But still they could not; and they said that they indeed retained from those passages something of the thought of it from their understanding concerning it, but not acknowledgment, and that on its account they were not able. [5] 2. Afterwards was read to them out of Luke (1:32, 34, 35), that the Lord as to the Human was the Son of Jehovah God, and that everywhere in the Word He is called, as to the Human, "the Son of God," and also "the Only-begotten," and they were asked to hold this in the thought; and likewise that the Only-begotten Son of God born in the world cannot but be God, as the Father is God, and to utter the words, "Divine Human." But they said, "We cannot, by reason that our spiritual thought, which is interior, does not admit into the thought which is next to the speech any other than similar ideas;" and that thence they could perceive, that it is not permitted them to divide their thoughts, as it was in the natural world. [6] 3. Then were read to them these words of the Lord to Philip:
Philip said, Lord, show us the Father, and the Lord said, he who seeth Me seeth the Father; believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? (John 14:8-11). And in another place:
The Father and He are one (John 10:30, and elsewhere). And it was enjoined them to hold this in the thought and say, "Divine Human." But as their thought was not rooted in the acknowledgment that the Lord was God as to His Human also, therefore they could not; they twisted and folded their lips even to indignation, and would have forced their mouth to utter and force it out, but they were not able. The reason was, because the ideas of thought, which flow from acknowledgment, make one with words uttered by the tongue, with those who are in the spiritual world; and where such ideas do not exist, there are no words, for the ideas become words in speaking. [7] 4. Moreover there was read to them from the doctrine of the church received throughout the whole world, the following passage, taken from the Athanasian Creed: "That the Divine and Human in the Lord are not two but one, yea, one Person, united altogether like soul and body;" and it was said to them, "From this you may possibly have an idea from the acknowledgment that the Lord's Human is Divine, because His soul is Divine, for it is from the doctrine of your church, acknowledged by you when in the world. Moreover the soul is the essence itself, and the body is its form, and the essence and form make one, like being and existing, and like the efficient cause of the effect, and the effect itself." They retained that idea, and wished to utter "Divine Human"; but they could not; for their interior idea concerning the Lord's Human exterminated and expunged this new supplemental idea, as they called it. [8] 5. Again there was read to them this passage from John:
The Word was with God, and God was the Word; and the Word became flesh (John. 1:1, 14). And the following from Paul:
In Jesus Christ dwelleth all the fullness of the Divinity bodily (Col. 2:9). And they were told to think firmly that God, who was the Word, was made flesh, and that all the Divine dwells in Him bodily, and perhaps then they might be able to pronounce "Divine Human." But still they could not, saying openly that they could not have the idea of the Divine Human, because God is God, and man is man, and God is spirit, and of a spirit we have never thought any otherwise than as of wind or ether. [9] 6. At length it was said to them: you know that the Lord said:
Abide in me, and I in you, he who 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 some of the English clergy were present, there was read to them this passage out of one of their exhortations before the holy communion, "For when we spiritually eat the flesh of Christ, and drink the blood, then we dwell in Christ, and Christ in us." "If now you will but think that this cannot take place, except the Lord's Human be Divine, you may pronounce 'Divine Human,' from an acknowledgment in thought." But still they could not; so deeply was the idea impressed upon them that the Lord's Divine was one thing and His Human another, and that His Divine was like the Divine of the Father, and His Human like the human of another man. But it was said to them, "How can you think thus? Is it possible for a rational mind ever to think that God is three, and the Lord two?" [10] 7. Afterwards they turned to the Lutherans, saying that the Augustan confession and Luther taught that the Son of God and the Son of man in Christ are one Person, and that He even as to the Human nature, is the true, omnipotent, and eternal God, and that as to this nature also, being present at the right hand of God Almighty, He governs all things in the heavens and on earth, fills all things, is with us, and dwells and operates in us; and that there is no distinction of adoration, because by the nature which is seen, the Divinity which is not seen is adored, thus that in Christ God is Man and Man is God. On hearing this, they said, "Is it so?" And they looked round, and presently they said, "This is what we did not know before; therefore we are not able." But one and another said, "We have read it and written it, but yet when we thought of it in ourselves from ourselves, they were only words of which we had no interior idea." [11] 8. At length, turning to the papists, they said, "Possibly you can name the 'Divine Human,' because you believe that in your Eucharist, in the bread and wine and in every part, there is the whole of Christ, and also you adore Him as God, when you show and carry about the host; and likewise because you call Mary the bringer forth of God, consequently you acknowledge that she brought forth God, that is, the Divine Human." They then wished to pronounce it from those ideas, of the thought concerning the Lord, but could not, by reason of their entertaining a material idea of His body and blood; and by reason of the assertion that the Human and not the Divine power is transferred by Him to the Pope. Then a certain monk rose up and said that he could think of the Divine Human, concerning the most holy virgin Mary, the God-bearer, and also of the saint of his monastery. And another monk came, and said, "From my idea of thought, I could rather call his holiness, the Pope, the Divine Human, than Christ;" but then some other monks pulled him back, and said, "Shame on you." [12] After this heaven was seen open, and there were seen tongues, as little flames, descending and flowing in with some; and they then celebrated the Divine Human of the Lord, saying, "Remove the idea of three Gods, and believe that in the Lord dwells all the fullness of Divinity bodily, and that the Father and He are one, as the soul and body are one, and that God is not wind, or ether, but that He is Man, and then you will be conjoined with heaven, and thereby have power from the Lord to pronounce the name of 'Jesus,' and say 'Divine Human.'"
This page is part of 
© 2000-2001 The Academy of the New Church