THE LORD

     There is One God, who is the Creator of the universe, and the Preserver of the universe; who, consequently, is the God of heaven and the God of the earth.

    There are two things that constitute the life of heaven with man, the good of love and the truth of faith. This life man derives from God, and nothing whatever of that life he derives from man.  The chief thing of the Church therefore is, to acknowledge God, to believe in God, and to love Him.

    Those who are born within the Church ought to acknowledge the Lord, His Divine and His Human; and they ought to believe in Him, and to love Him; for all salvation is from the Lord.  This the Lord teaches in John (3: 36), He that believeth on the Son hath eternal life; but he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth with him.  Again, This is the will of Him that sent Me, that every one that seeth the Son, and believeth on Him, may have eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day (John 6: 40).  And again, Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection and the life.  He that believeth in Me, though he should die, yet shall he live; but every one that liveth and believeth in Me shall not die to eternity (John 11: 25, 26).

    Those, therefore, who within the Church do not acknowledge the Lord and His Divine, cannot be conjoined with God, and thus they cannot have any lot in common with the angels in heaven for no one can be conjoined with God except from the Lord, and in the Lord.  That no one can be conjoined with God except from the Lord, the Lord teaches in John (1: 18), No man hath ever seen God; the only begotten Son, Who is in the bosom of the Father, He hath manifested Him.  Again, Ye have neither heard the voice of the Father at any time, nor seen His shape (John 5: 37).  Again, in Matthew (11: 27), No man knoweth the Father, save the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal Him.  And again, in John (14: 6), I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life: no man cometh unto the Father but by Me.  The reason why no one can be conjoined to God except in the Lord, is that the Father is in Him, and they are One; as He teaches, in John (14: 7-11), If ye had known Me, ye should have known my Father also.  He that seeth Me, seeth the Father.  Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me?   And again, The Father and I are One.  That ye may know and believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me (John 10: 30, 38).

    Since the Father is in the Lord, and the Lord and the Father are one; and since the Lord must be believed in, and he who believes in Him has eternal life; it is plain that the LORD is God.  That the Lord is God, the Word also teaches; as in John (1: 1, 3, 14), In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God; and God was the Word.  All things were made through the same; and without the same there was not anything made that was made.  And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us; and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the Only Begotten of the Father.  And in Isaiah (9: 6), Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; and the government shall be upon His shoulder; and His name shall be called GOD, Hero, FATHER OF ETERNITY, Prince of Peace.  Again, Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear, and His name shall be called God with us (Isa. 7: 14; Matt. 1: 23).  And in Jeremiah (23: 5, 6; 33: 15, 16), Behold, the days come, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper; and this is His name whereby they shall call Him JEHOVAH OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.

    All who are of the Church, and who are in light from heaven, see the Divine in the Lord; but those who are not in light from heaven see nothing but the Human in the Lord; when yet the Divine and the Human have become so united in Him, that they are one; as the Lord also taught elsewhere, in John (17: 10), Father, all Mine are Thine, and all Thine are Mine.

    It is known in the Church that the Lord was conceived from Jehovah the Father, and that thus from conception He was God; also, that He rose again with the whole body, for He left nothing behind in the sepulchre; on this subject also He afterwards confirmed His disciples, saying, Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I Myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath, not flesh and bones, as ye see Me have (Luke 24: 39); and although He was a man in respect to flesh and bones, He still entered through closed doors; and after He had manifested Himself, He became invisible (John 20: 19, 26; Luke 24: 31) - different altogether from what is the case with every man; for he rises again solely as to his spirit, and not as to his body.  In saying therefore, that He was not like a spirit, the Lord said that He was not like another man.  From this it is evident that the Human in the Lord is also Divine.

    Every man has from his father his Esse of life, which is called his soul; from this is the Existere of life, which is called the body.  The body, therefore, is the effigy of its soul; for through it the soul acts its own life at its good pleasure.  Hence it is that human beings are born into the likeness of their parents, and that families are discriminated from each other.  From this it appears what kind of a body, that is, what kind of a Human the Lord had; namely, that it was like the Divine Itself, which was the Esse of His life, or the soul from the Father; wherefore He said, He that seeth Me seeth the Father (John 14: 9).

    That the Lord's Divine and Human are one Person, is in accordance with the creed received throughout the whole of the Christian world; which is as follows: Although Christ is God and Man, still He is not two, but one Christ; one altogether, by unity of person.  For as the body and soul are one man, so also God and Man are one Christ.  These words are taken from the Athanasian Creed.

    Those who hold concerning the Deity the idea of three persons, cannot have the idea of one God; if with the lips they say one, they still think of three.  But those who in respect to the Deity have the idea of three in one Person, may have the idea of one God, and may also think of one God.

    The idea of three in one Person is held, when the Father is thought of as being in the Lord, and the Holy Spirit as proceeding from Him.  The trinity is then in the Lord; namely, the Divine Itself which is called the Father, the Divine Human which is called the Son, and the Divine Proceeding which is called the Holy Spirit.

    Since the whole Divinity is in the Lord, therefore to Him belongs all power in the heavens and on earth.  This also He declares in John (3: 25), The Father hath given all things into the hand of the Son.  Again, The, Father hath given to the Son power over all flesh (John 17: 2).  And in Matthew (11: 27), All things have been delivered unto Me of the Father.  Again, All power has been given unto Me in heaven and on earth (Matt. 28: 18).  This power is the Divine.

    Those who make the Lord's Human similar to that of another man, do not think of His conception from the very Divine; nor do they consider that the body of every one is the effigy of his soul.  Neither do they think of His resurrection with the whole body; nor how He appeared when He was transfigured, that His face shone as the sun.  Nor do they think of those things which the Lord said concerning faith in Him, concerning His being one with the Father, concerning His glorification, and His power over heaven and earth; namely, that these things are Divine, and that they were spoken of His Human.  Neither do they remember that the Lord is omnipresent even as to His Human (Matt. 28: 20); which, nevertheless, has given rise to the belief of His omnipresence in the Holy Supper; but omnipresence is Divine.  Nay, perhaps they do not think that the Divine which is called the Holy Spirit, proceeds from the Lord's Human; when, nevertheless, it does proceed from His Glorified Human; for it is said, The Holy Spirit was not yet, because Jesus was not yet glorified (John 7: 39).

    The Lord came into the world that He might save the human race, which otherwise would have perished in eternal death; and this salvation He wrought by subjugating the hells, which infested every man coming into the world, and departing out of the world; and at the same time, by glorifying His Human; for thus He can keep the hells in subjection to eternity.  The subjugation of the hells, and the glorification at the same time of His Human, were effected through temptations admitted into the Human which He had from the mother, and by continual victories in them.  His passion on the cross was the last temptation and, complete victory.

    That the Lord subjugated the hells, He Himself teaches in John; when the passion of the cross was at hand, He said, Now is the judgment of this world; NOW SHALL THE PRINCE OF THIS HIS WORLD BE CAST OUT (12: 31).  Again, Be of good cheer; I have overcome the world (16: 33).  And in Isaiah (63: 1-19; 59: 16-21), Who is this that cometh from Edom?  travelling in the multitude of His strength; mighty to save.  Mine own arm brought salvation unto Me.  So He became their Saviour.  That the Lord glorified His Human, and that the passion of the cross was the last temptation, and complete victory, through which He became glorified, He likewise teaches in John (13: 31, 32):  When Judas was gone out, Jesus said, Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God will glorify Him, in Himself, and will straightway glorify Him.  Again, Father the hour is come; glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son also may glorify Thee (John 17: 1, 5).  And, again, Now is My soul troubled.  Father, glorify Thy name.  Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again (John 12: 27, 28).  And in Luke (24: 26), Ought not Christ to have suffered this, and to enter into His glory?  These words were spoken of the Lord's passion.  To glorify means to make Divine.  From this it appears, that unless the Lord had come into the world, and become a man, and unless by this means He had delivered from hell all who believe in Him and love Him, no mortal could have been saved; thus it is to be understood, that without the Lord there is no salvation.

    When the Lord fully glorified His Human, He put off the Human from the mother, and put on a Human from the Father, which is the Divine Human; wherefore, He was then no longer the son of Mary.

    The first and foremost thing of the Church is to know and acknowledge one God; for apart from that knowledge, and acknowledgment there is no conjunction; such is the case in the Church which is without the acknowledgment of the Lord.  This the Lord teaches in John (3: 36), He that believeth on the Son hath eternal life: but he that believeth not on the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.  And in another place, Unless ye believe that I am, ye will die in your sins (John 8: 36).

    That there Is a trinity in the Lord, namely, the Divine Itself, the Divine Human, and the Divine which proceeds, is an arcanum from heaven, and is revealed for those who will be in the Holy Jerusalem.