THERE IS A LIKENESS AND ANALOGY BETWEEN THE FORMATION OF MAN IN THE WOMB AND HIS REFORMATION AND REGENERATION.

The reformation of man is altogether similar to his formation in the womb, with this difference only, that for a man to be reformed he must have will and understanding, while in the womb he has no will and understanding; but this difference does not exclude the likeness and analogy. For when the Lord reforms and regenerates a man He leads his will and understanding in like manner. But through the will given to man and through the understanding given to him there is an appearance that the man himself leads himself, that is, wills and acts from himself, and thinks and speaks from himself; and yet he knows from the Word and from doctrine from the Word that it is not himself but the Lord, consequently that all this is only an appearance. He may also know that this appearance is for the sake of reception and appropriation, since without it there is not given the reciprocal to love the Lord as the Lord loves him, or to love his neighbor as if from himself, or to believe in the Lord as if from himself. Without that reciprocal man would be like an automaton, in which the Lord could not be present; for the Lord wills to be loved, and consequently He gives to man the ability to will to love Him. From this it is clear that neither the will nor the understanding is man's, but in themselves both are as they were in man in the womb, that is, they are not his; but these two faculties were given to man that he might will and think and act and speak as if from himself, and yet know, understand, and believe that they are not from himself. By this man is reformed and regenerated, and receives love in his will and wisdom in his understanding, from which two he was formed in the womb. [[2]] By this also the two higher degrees of man's life are opened in him, and these, as has been said, were the dwelling-places of the Lord in his formation; also the lowest degree is reformed, which, as has also been said above, was inverted and reflected. From this analogy and likeness it is clear that the man who is being regenerated is as it were conceived, formed, born, and educated anew, and this to the end that as to love he may become a likeness of the Lord, and as to wisdom an image of the Lord, and, if you are willing to believe it, the man is thereby made a new man, not alone in having a new will and a new understanding given him, but even a new body for his spirit. The former things, indeed, are not effaced, but are so removed as not to appear, and through love and wisdom, which are the Lord, new things are formed in the regenerate man as in a womb; for such as the will and understanding of man are, such is the man in each and all things; since each and all things of man from head to heel are productions, as has been shown above.