THE DIVINE HUMAN
ORGANIC AND VISIBLE

By Bishop Nathaniel Dandridge Pendleton

Paper read before the Seventh General Assembly of the General Church of the New Jerusalem, Bryn Athyn, Pa. , June 18, 1910.

To know God, and by such knowledge to become conjoined with Him in a life of love and faith, is the essence of religion and the purpose of revelation.  Wherefore it is said that the primary intent in giving the Word was to make God manifest as man. (A. C. 9356)  Since only by such manifestation can the Divine become an object of human love, and faith be made permanent.  For God as man is capable of being approached and seen in thought. And faith in such a God “remains" because it has a "terminus from which to which." (T. C. R. 339)

Even the angels were instructed as to the necessity of rendering the Infinite perceptible—of making the hidden God visible—by means of finite intellectual ideas.  (A. C. 4075)

And it is postulated as vain for any one to endeavor to grasp the nature of the Infinite Esse—that both men and angels must be content to acknowledge the Divine from finite created things.  (T. C. R. 28)  It is further said that every appearance of Him in the heavens is by, and through, finite forms, and this for the simple and adequate reason that He could not otherwise be seen and known, or loved and worshiped.  (A. C. 3404)

Man is strictly finite as to all his parts and powers, and naught but a finite idea can come within the range of his mental vision. This human limitation, in ancient times, caused the Divine to be presented under representative types and images. Men raised these images before their eyes in order that they might see Him "as in a glass darkly." But after the assumption and glorification these images gave place, and the Divine Human stood forth as the visible God. In consequence men were granted new and improved powers of apperception, and the ability of a direct approach; but there was no change in their original limitations.  As before, all the ideas of their thought were finite. The difference was that the Divine had now finited Itself in order that it might become visible, whereas before, men had as it were finited the Divine by their images and representations of Him.

To say that the Infinite Divine finited Itself, or, what is the same, enclosed Itself within limits, has an impossible sound to natural modes of thought.  Yet that it did so is not only the central doctrine of Christianity, but also the primary truth of creation.

The Divine finited Itself in the beginning in order to bring forth the created universe, and the process has been in continual operation ever since for the sake of maintenance and renewal.  Again, in the fullness of time, the Divine finited itself in an individual man, only in this case it is called an assumption of the flesh.  This latter mode of finiting differed from the first, or creative process, in that a full return was given.  The Human assumed was Glorified. The finite form of the man became Divine and one with the Infinite.  This second finition, with its consequence, may be regarded as the crowning act of the original work of creation, in that by it an ultimate Divine bond was instituted whereby creation was held bound to the Lord from without, even as it was always held from within.  The inner bond was sufficient for a time, but not for all time.  It was not sufficient after the "base of heaven had fallen away" owing to the accumulated drag of evil.  (Η. H. 101)  In establishing this outer bond as a lasting support to the heavens it was required that the Divine should come into the world of nature by the assumption of a Human there.  This Human thus assumed was finite—a miniature creation.  It was made Divine and one with the Infinite by Glorification, and as so made it is called in the Word of the final revelation the Divine Human.

Two things are predicated concerning the Human made Divine.  First, that it is Divine and therefore Infinite as to all and every part.  Second, that it is visible to the eyes of angels and to the spiritual eyes of men.  (A. C. 9310; T. C. R. 777)  But let us observe that it is not the Divine Human as Infinite that is visible, but as finite.  The moment Infinity is predicated of anything that thing is at once raised above the mental horizon.  (A. C. 5110)

The marvel of the Human assumed and Glorified is that it put on Infinity, and yet retained the finite form and appearance of man; retained the power of finiting, or of accommodating Itself within finite limits in order that it might be visible.  It may be said that aforetime the Divine was accommodated, but that now it accommodates and this by virtue of having taken to Itself the natural degree of life in the ultimate human of a man in the world.

The Divine was always man in firsts but not in lasts.  The Divine in firsts filled the heavens from the beginning, and took thence the form of an angelic man, or, as said, "a man was thereby reproduced (retulit hominem)." (A. C. 6280) This was the Divine in the angels, called the Divine Human from eternity.  It was this Divine Angelic Man, which, passing through the heavens, by transflux, took upon Itself a Human in the world, glorified that Human and "superinduced" it upon Itself.  (D. L. W. 221)  That which was thus superinduced was of necessity a more ultimate Divine.  And it, together with the former Divine in the heavens, now fills not only the Grand Man of heaven, but also the Grand Man of the universe, natural as well as spiritual.  Thus the Divine Natural, begotten in the world, presented Itself, not only as the basic prop and support of the heavens, but also as the ultimate Body and Sustainer of the Divine from eternity.  (A. R. 468)

This is the Lord Jesus Christ, the Man God and God Man, having from conception a Divine Soul, and by Glorification a Divine Body, produced and brought forth from the Soul, and which, by degrees, replaced the first maternal human assumed.

Such being the origin and nature of the Divine Body, it is not material, as was the first human, but Divine Substantial. (D. L. 35)  When therefore the process of Glorification was completed the Human, made Divine, passed from the sight of men. Being Divine Substantial it penetrated to the inmosts.  (A. C. 6849)  As a body not material it does not fill all or any part of space—that is, it does not fill space by displacement, as is the case with material bodies.  (D. Love 111)  It, therefore, has no fixed location either in the center of the universe or elsewhere.  It is of no stature great or small.  (D. L. W. 285)  Not even are we to think of it as commensurate with the universe.  (H. H.  85)  For such thought, though vastly extended, is sensual and falls into nature.  Under this view the Human Glorified is to be seen as an omnipresent essence, and may be likened to fire—that first Divine Fire which is everywhere and which, from within, lights and sustains all the suns that burn in the heavens. And yet even this thought is forbidden unless it is recognized that this essential fire is but a manifestation of the Divine Love and Wisdom, which alone is the Essence of God.  (A. Ε. 11242)

When thinking of the Divine and the Divine Human as an omnipresent essential fire, it may be asked, what becomes of the idea of Man, and of God as Man?

Surely, if that fire be thought of as a manifestation of the Divine Love and Wisdom, the idea of man is interiorly preserved. For while Love and Wisdom are an essence—a fiery essence—still their "subject is man."  (A. R. 224)  And it is not possible to think of an essence as existing apart from its subject.  All true thought of any subject is thought of from its essence.  Even as we are taught to think of a man from his characteristic love and wisdom rather than from his outward form and bodily presence.  Love and wisdom become nothing if entirely dissociated from a subject body, which is man, and, on the other hand, when such a body is separated from its essence it dies.

As there pertain to all things both a body and an essence, so also there are two modes of thought each necessary to the other.  There is thought from the essence of a thing;—this is called abstract, or spiritual.  And there is thought from the body or subject; this is called concrete, or natural.  These two modes are not only allowable but, as said, necessary, even in our thought concerning the Divine.  For thought purely abstract lacks determination; it vanishes into nothing.  While thought merely concrete, is as something still born.  It is dead, and falls into the lowest things of nature.  Wherefore all abstract spiritual thought must be determined to some subject.  It must have some concrete basis, or, as the Writings say, to it "something natural" must always be added.  It is a human necessity, or, what is the same, it is according to order that even the Divine should be thus thought of—both spiritually and naturally.  Abstract spiritual thought perceives the Divine as an Essence, which is Love and Wisdom.  Concrete natural thought can only see the Divine as a man, not differing from other men as to form and appearance, but only as to essence.  (A. E. 1124²)

Neither men nor angels can escape this necessity—this dual mode of thought—and it is dangerous to try. The only safe way is to heed the admonition given in the Writings and think of Him from the Word.  And as we have seen, the Word was primarily given to make God manifest as Man.  We are to think of Him from every word concerning Him, for in every such word a Divine feature is revealed.  To think of Him from the Word is to think of Him both concretely and essentially. Concrete images of the Divine are presented in the letter of the Word throughout, while abstract spiritual truths concerning Him as He is in His Divine Essence are given in the Writings.  In the Old Testament there is a revelation, concretely given, of the God Man in the heavens—the Angel of Jehovah.  In the New Testament the God Man in the world, Jesus Christ, is revealed.  In the Writings the Divine Human, as it is in its Essence, comes to view.  All these revelations are necessary to bring the Divine as Man fully present to human apperception.  Nor does the one discountenance the other.  Nothing is detracted from the old revelation by the giving of the New.  Even as the subject is not obscured because the Essence is seen. Quite the contrary.  By virtue of the Essence coming to light, the subject is all the more clearly revealed.  The old images of the Angel of Jehovah will forever stand.  We shall always see our Lord as He walked by the shores of Galilee, as He sat upon the mountain preaching to the multitude.  But more than this is given even in the concrete images of Scripture.  For there also is found the record of His transfiguration, when, as said, "His face did shine as the Sun, and His raiment was white as the Light. " (Matt.  17: 2) Thus the Disciples saw Him, their eyes being opened.  We are told that they then saw Him in His Divine. (A. E. 401³)  That is, with the radiant Light of the Spiritual Sun emanating from His Person.  And they knew Him. Though transfigured He was the same—their Lord.

This is the most exalted and intimate vision of Him given in Scripture.  It was given to the Disciples, their eyes being opened, and they saw Him as He really was, but as He could only be seen with the eyes of the spirit—and this because the radiance of the spiritual sun cannot fall into, and be reflected, by the eyes of the body—those organs being sensitive only to the light of the natural sun.  Yet this vision comes to us in the concrete form, as a natural image, so clear and evident that a child can see it.  And if a child—or any one—should ask how we are to think of Him, how imagine him? let the answer be, "According to the vision of the transfiguration."  It was given for this purpose.  And those of us who are older may also see Him thus—even as the child sees—and seeing believe.  For He appears to no one save through the lens of innocence and trust.

Herein then—in the concrete images of Him given in Scripture—may our thought rest with confidence, as upon a Divinely prepared ultimate, which also serves as that "natural something" of which the Writings speak as necessary to all thought, even concerning the Divine.

But this alone is not sufficient.  Concrete images of the Divine become idolatrous, and in the end are rejected, unless there be some elevation of thought, some abstract perception of the essence, from which the subject, or Person, may be regarded. The imparting of this perception of the Divine Essence, by means of which the Person of Jesus Christ can be seen as truly Divine, is the unique purpose of the Writings, or, what is the same, of the Second Advent of the Lord, which is a coming, not, as formerly, in Person, but by a revelation of the internal sense of the Word, which exposes to view the Divine Essence, and thereby reveals the full nature of the Lord's Divinity.

But, lest in the contemplation of this essence—this omnipresent Love and Wisdom, manifesting itself as the first fire of creation—the mind should remove itself too far from the ultimate and fundamental idea of man, and of God, as Man in ultimates, the Writings constantly demonstrate the fact that the Essence is Human, in that it consists of Love and Wisdom, and, moreover, that this Essence is the Love and Wisdom of the Personal God who is very Man.  And in order that the term "person” might not lose something of its exact meaning and distinct value, the Divine is described as a man in ultimates as to every form and feature, as to every part and portion, as in that remarkable number in the Divine Love and Wisdom, where it is said that "God is a Man.  .  .  .  He has a body and everything belonging to it; thus he has a face, a breast and abdomen, loins and feet, for without these He would not be a man.  .  .  .  He also has eyes and ears, nostrils, a mouth and tongue, and also the organs that are within man, as the heart and lungs and their dependencies; all which, taken together, are what make a man to be a man.  In created man those things are many and their contextures innumerable, but in God Man they are Infinite, there being nothing wanting." (D.L.W.  18)

Thus the Writings, while dealing primarily with the Divine, and the Divine Human, as an Essence—as Love and Wisdom—enforce the view of it as organic.  And if, as we may truly say, the Body of our Lord, by Glorification, became an invisible Divine Essence, penetrating to the inmosts of all things of creation, infilling, surrounding and sustaining them, we must also add that that same Divine Body remained organic.

While an essence must always be distinguished from its subject organism, and while it must always have such an organic base, yet, if rightly viewed, it will be seen that every essence is essentially organic.  For organisms are of many grades, and that which is a pure essence on one plane is as to its individual units an organic base for a more universal essence.  This is plainly indicated by several statements in the Writings, as that not only the body with its membranes, but also the contained blood and spirit, are organic, the latter relatively active.  (S. D. 1741)

If the blood and spirit in the body are to be regarded as organic, the same may be said of those more universal bloods of creation, the active atmospheres; especially the first, Which, by its primal determinations, produces human souls.  And, as we know, the soul of man, which is the same as the internal man, is characterized as the organ of the Lord's Life in man.  (A. C. 5947)  The same is true on a lower plane of the human mind, which is intermediate between the soul and the body.  This mind is said to be a form of Divine Truth and Good, spiritually and naturally, organized.  (T. C. R.  224) That the body is an organism requires no demonstration, as it stands to our natural thought as the ultimate and accepted type of what is meant by the term.  The important thing to see in this connection is, that there are more interior organisms than those which come to view as in, and as parts, of the animal body.

Note the teaching in A. C. 4224:

“Organic forms are not only those which appear to the eye and are discoverable by the microscope.  .  .  .  There are organic forms purer still .  .  .  as the interior forms of the internal sight, and in the last analysis, of the understanding. These are inscrutable, still they are forms—i. e. , substances.  Without a substance as a subject there can be no modification, or quality, which manifests itself."

The entire man, then, is organic from his inmost soul to his outmost cuticle.  The same is true of creation as a whole, and of all the parts in their relation to the whole.  In fact Creation stands as one organic whole produced by the Lord as an ultimate vessel for the reception of His inflowing Life.  The Spiritual Diary (3419) says that the whole Grand Man is organic, a "membranous something" to which correspond the membranes of the body, which are actuated by the Life of the Lord—that the Lord alone is Life, and vivifies and actuates these things; therefore He is "represented by the animal spirits, or bloods, in the ultimate nature of the body."

The study of the doctrine of organics reveals the fact that it is the same as the doctrine of forms, for every living form is most truly an organism, and when the subject is drawn to its last conclusion, it is discovered that truth—the Divine Truth—is the prime, the unique, and, as well, the universal organicum.  It is the organic of the Divine Good, because it is the living form thereof.  It must be so, for the doctrine is that "In order that each and all things may be forms, it is necessary that He, who has created all things, shall be Form itself." (D. P. 4)

That such is the nature of truth—and all truth is in itself Divine Truth—appears from many statements, as that truths are to be compared to fibres that compose an organ.  That truths, with one who is in good, produce a certain form.  (A. C. 4149) That there is a nexus of spiritual truths like that of all the members, viscera and organs of the body.  (A. R. 916)  That good is like the blood in the arteries, or juice in the fibers; it leads and applies truths into forms.

It might appear that this organic quality of truth is predicable of it only when humanized—when brought within the ranges of creation and presented to human apperception.  But that it is an original characteristic is clear from the statement in T. C. R. 20, that "the One God is substance itself and form itself.  He is the only, the very, and the first Substance and Form; and this is the human Form itself."  In the same work it is also said, that "God is order .  .  .  because He is Substance and Form. Substance because all things come forth from Him.  Form because all the qualities of substances originate from Him."

In this connection remember that form and organism are the same.

That truth is the form of good and therefore also the organic of good; that it exists from and in good, and that good is as a universal medium in which it is immersed appears from Α. C. 9154, where it is said that "So far as truths have good in them, and also around them, so far they live. " And then follows a comparison of the truth thus circumstanced, with a fibre in a living animal, which can only live in case there is blood and spirit both within and around it.

This view of truth as the organic of good, and of good as a medium in which the truth lies immersed, throws light on the essential mode of their mutual and reciprocal conjunction.  And it also defines more clearly that process of Glorification, which is said to have taken place in the degree that Truth with the Lord was implanted in Good.  Good with Him was Divine, and the Truth was made Divine by such implantation.  The same is true concerning the Human Organic, i. e. , that it was made Divine by being implanted in the Divine Good, and this even to the ultimate body.  (A. C. 2574)

Thus the Human was glorified, and became the Divine Human organic—in very truth an organ with reference to the Infinite Soul.

But this same Divine Human, which is characterized as organic with reference to the Infinite as a Soul, is also an Essence with reference to the heavens, and to men with whom it inflows.  For the Doctrine is clear that the Divine Human inflows as an Essence.  But as we have seen, an Essence is not the less organic because it is an Essence.

A given substance is an Essence with reference to those lower forms which are composed from it, and which live by it, while the same substance as to its individual units is an organic base of some more universal Essence.

It is thus with the Glorified Body—the Divine Human.  That Body is the receiving vessel, the Divine organic and ultimate fulcrum of the Infinite Soul.  Yet it came forth as an essence, and as an essence per se.   Not as another, and coequal with the former Divine Essence, but as a more ultimate and containing Divine.

This Divine Human, then comes to view as both Body and Essence, both organic and fluent.  And it can be seen by angels and men just in the degree that they can see Truth.  Revealed truth is nothing more or less than a manifestation of it—a bringing to view of the Divine Body, and imparting a perception of the Divine Essence.

This is the ground of the giving of the Writings and of the Second Advent of the Lord, which is said to take place by an opening of the internal sense, or an exposition of the very truth of the Word, which Truth is from God, and is God.

This view, which, in reality, is a perception of the Divine Essence, is far more intimate and knowing and therefore greatly excels in perfection any concrete image of Him of which the natural mind is able to conceive; and though such image is a necessary base of thought for the preservation of the fundamental human idea, yet as before indicated every such image, even though drawn from the Scriptures, will fail unless the Essence also be perceived—the Divine Essence which can only come to human apperception through, and as, revealed truth, and especially the Truth as revealed in the Writings of the Second Advent.

Men cannot see the Divine Human Organic, the Body of God Man, as an Infinite One co-acting with the Infinite Soul. This is altogether beyond the range of human vision, even as the Infinite Itself is not, nor can it ever be, visible. The descending and inflowing essence is perceivable as Truth, visible as Light, yet this is not the whole story. Even the angels must have “something natural" added to their thought—i. e. , they require a concrete presentation of the God Man before their eyes, and it is so granted.  Wherefore, while we say that the Infinite is invisible, and while the Divine Human is Infinite, yet it would be a grievous error to hold that the Divine Human as actual man is invisible.  Some have so thought, even some within the Church.  But the visibility of the Divine Human, the ability to see God, and to see Him, not only as essential truth, but as actual man, is the foundation fact of the church and of heaven.

Recall the statement made concerning the angels.  It is said of them that they acknowledge the Divine Itself, see the Divine Human, and are in the Divine Proceeding.  (A. E. 1115)  But if, as is most certain, the Divine Human is visible, not only as an essence appearing as truth, but also as organic man, it must, owing to a human necessity, render itself visible by means of finite forms, or at least by means of the Divine appearing as finite.  The mode by which this is accomplished is of surpassing interest.

Note the significant statement made in the Spiritual Diary, 4845: "The Divine Love formed the (His) body after its likeness, thus to reception, even to such a degree as that all (the organs) should be forms of the Divine Love.  And since the Body was made Divine, they (the organs) are the Divine Love.  Nothing there (in that Body) is closed, as in finites, but all are formed according to the idea of an infinite heaven."

His Body Glorified is distinguished by this, that nothing in it is "closed" as in finites.  When, therefore, it appears—when it is seen—it must, of necessity, appear and be seen as finite.  Yet it is not finite, for nothing in it is “closed," though (here are certain apparent outer limits set thereto for the sake of visibility.

A true finite is not only bounded from without, it is also "closed" from within.  A true finite is closed from within by being composed of lesser forms, which fix it interiorly within limits.  Such were the very first finites which came forth at the original making of creation.  But before these finites came into being, there stood forth on the verge, certain creative primes of limited configuration, having apparent circumferences, whereby they were enabled to enter into, and thus form, sequent finites.  These primes to the outer view, appear like finite, but in truth they are not such, because not composed of lesser concrete forms—not closed from within.  They are substantially Divine, being composed altogether of the Divine Substance, with, as is said, a single outer-imposed limit.  They may be regarded as the Divine standing forth and entering created forms, or the Divine Existere.  The Divine in its primal accommodation.  The nexus between the Infinite and the finite, which nexus is also Divine.

The point involved is that this first outer-imposed limit which the Divine takes to Itself for the sake of entering into, and composing, created forms, does not infringe upon the substantial Divine in a way to remove its Divinity, as might be supposed, though it must be admitted that this outer limitation, or boundary, is in itself a finite characteristic, and the beginning of all finition.

Observe that it may be said of these creative primes, even as it is said of the Body of the Lord, that they are not "closed." And it may be said of the Body of the Lord even as it is said of them, that it, while substantially Divine, and in Itself infinite—yet that Body comes to view as if finite. This, by virtue of the Assumption and Glorification of a finite Human form.

These things can be said of the creative primes, and as well of the Body of the Lord, or the Divine Human, because they are potentially the same, with, however, this difference that the creative primes constitute the Divine Human from Eternity, as a first Divine Essence, while the Body of the Lord is that same Divine born in time, as a Second Divine Essence, and this in the person of Jesus Christ.

As long as men were capable of dwelling in abstract thought—of confiding in internal perception, they could see this Divine Human from eternity—see that it was Divine and Human.  But when abstract or spiritual thought no longer sufficed for faith, concrete images were demanded.  Then the Divine Human from eternity assumed a Human in the world, to meet with this demand.  Then an actual Divine Man in ultimates stood forth—who in His Person rectified all the failures of creation, and in so doing entered into full union with the Divine from eternity.  This Man became Divine—and Infinite, and this, as said, without the loss of the power of making a, as it were, finite presentation of Himself before the eyes of the angels.  This presentation, be it understood, is not accomplished by means of a representative image, nor yet is it made—as sometimes happens—by means of an angel who is filled with the Divine Presence.  It is an actual presentation of Himself in His own Divine Person.

Swedenborg relates that on a certain occasion the Sun of heaven appeared to the spirits of Mercury.  They said that it was not the Lord because they did not see a face.  Again the Sun appeared to them, and in the midst of it the Lord encompassed with a solar circle.  On seeing this, the spirits of Mercury humbled themselves profoundly.  Then also the Lord appeared from that Sun to the spirits of this earth who, when they were men, saw Him in the world; and they all, one after another .  .  . confessed that it was the Lord Himself.  .  .  .  At the same instant the Lord appeared out of the Sun to the spirits of the planet Jupiter who declared with open voice that it was He Himself whom they had seen on their earth when the God of the universe appeared to them." (E. U. 40)

These spirits, on this occasion, did not see the Infinite Divine, nor yet the Divine Human as Infinite, but they saw, as it were, a finite presentation of Him in His own Divine Person in the midst of His Sun.  Yet they actually saw the Lord Himself, and this not by any mental hallucination, nor yet by any mere representative of Him, not even by that aspect sight, by means of which He often presents Himself as present in the heavens, by means of an angel or some angelic society.  It was an appearing of Himself, where alone He can be seen, in Person, i. e. , in the midst of His Sun.

The doctrine is, that the Lord does not appear in Person in heaven, but that in Person He is constantly encompassed with the Sun, and that He appears as present in heaven only by aspect view, or internal sight.  (H.H. 121)  The spirits from the fifth earth asked Swedenborg how the Lord appeared to the angels from our earth.  He replied that He appears in the Sun, as a man, encompassed with the solar fire.  (A. C. 10809)

This, then, is the plane of the Lord's personal appearing, and we note that it is identical with the plane of the creative primes spoken of above, i. e. , that plane in which all is Divine, but which, none the less, presents the firsts of finition and the beginning of all accommodation.

Now even, as with the intellect, we can understand that these creative primes—called in the True Christian Religion the simples of the Spiritual Sun—are substantially Divine, and yet as it were finite in form and appearance, so may we comprehend, as by a certain mode, how the Lord is enabled to present Himself in His Divine Human in the Sun, as in a finite form accommodated to the limited vision of the angels—and also the fact that this is an actual presentation of the Lord Himself.  Let us say then that the Lord can present Himself on that plane actually as a man, and this primarily because the creative primes or simples, are of such a nature as to lend themselves to such a finite appearing—that they, while substantially Divine, are as finite in form and outer appearing.  It may further be said of them that while Divine they are also essentially Human,—Divinely Human and Humanly Divine.

It is by virtue of them that the Infinite was enabled to stand forth in the beginning—and produce from Itself the created universe as an outer garment.  It was by virtue of them that the Infinite was enabled to descend through all the successive planes of creation, and in the fullness of time take to Itself an individual Human in the ultimate world. By them that Human was Glorified and lifted through, and above, creation into the original plane from whence the descent was taken, i. e. , the plane of the Spiritual Sun.  And it is, primarily, by virtue of them, that the Human made Divine can present Itself as visible in, and from, that plane.  Even visible to the inner sight of all loving and innocent worshippers.

These creative primes are, in themselves, Divine.  They pertain to that third Divine Degree called the Divine Natural, which is said to have existed only in potency prior to the Glorification, but in actuality thereafter.  Being Divine Natural they were, from the beginning, the very Divine Organic and they operated as the seeds of creation.  But now they are more—even the Divine Human Organic.  The very Divine Truth as the organ of the Divine Good.  The ultimate Body of God the Lord.

A question arises in this connection of more than usual interest.  What, if any, change occurred in the creative primes by virtue of the assumption and Glorification of the Human? They were from the beginning, inasmuch as they constituted the Spiritual Sun.  They were even that Logos of which John spoke, which in the beginning was with God and was God and by which all things were made.

That there was a change in them of the greatest possible significance is indicated by the Doctrines throughout—a change, moreover, confirmed by the word of literal Scripture, and this in the direction of increased power and efficiency.  The Scriptures testify to a sevenfold increase in the power of the Sun, and the Writings demonstrate this as being an actual increase in the power of the Divine as operating through the Spiritual Sun, and this by virtue of a more ultimate Divine Essence—the Human Glorified—which was superinduced upon the former Divine.  This more ultimate Divine Essence being now actively and centrally operative within the sphere of that Sun imparting to it a sevenfold power.

It appears then that the creative primes of the Spiritual Sun underwent a change by "Superinduction” by means of which they were ultimated to a lower and fuller degree of life and power.

But may we have any idea of this change by superinduction save the fact?

Certainly this, as every other Divine Mystery, is, in itself, above human apperception.  Yet Creation is so made as a whole and as to all its parts that the Divine Mysteries are reflected therein.  And men are so gifted by the Lord that they may perceive these reflections and even interpret the meaning thereof.  This, however, only when aided by the truth of Revelation.

That there was a change, and this by superinduction, is involved in such general statements in the Writings as that the Divine Human became the Divine Light, i. e. , the Spiritual Sun.  The same is said of the Human Essence.

It follows from the teaching that influx into heaven is now direct from the Divine Human and not, as formerly, from the Divine from Eternity save as that former Divine is now involved in the Second Essence, or the Human born in time and Glorified.  Besides, the statement is made, in so many words, that the Human born and Glorified was "superinduced” upon the former Divine in the heavens.  And it is also said that when the Lord ascended He returned to the Divine Itself in which He was from Eternity together with and in the Human made Divine, from both of which—the one within the other—is the Holy which fills the universal heaven.  (A.C. 2288)  In this connection recall also that sweeping statement in the Divine Love and Wisdom, 233: "It was told me from heaven that in the Lord from eternity .  .  .  before the Assumption of the Human, there were the two prior degrees, actually (i. e. , the celestial and spiritual degrees of the Divine) and the third degree in potency (i. e. , the Natural), but that after His Assumption of the Human in the world He put on the third, or natural, degree."

To this add that other conclusive statement that the "Divine Human came forth as an Essence per se," or as a "Second Divine Essence" distinct from, and yet including, the first:

The Infinite stood forth as an Essence in the beginning by means of the creative primes.  This was the first Divine Essence.  By the Glorification a Second Essence, as a more ultimate formation, containing the first, was by all the analogies of the case born.

This gives an idea of the nature of the change which the creative primes underwent.  The Second or Divine Human Essence was born, and this from the first Essence.

To this view of the nature of the change all revealed truth leads.  However, Spiritual Diary, 4847, points directly thereto, as follows: "The First Essence was man in conatus, or in course of becoming, whence it was, as it were, man, thus man reflexively.  And the Second Essence is Man born, and essentially from the first."

Conceive the difference between man in conatus and man born—man in the seed and man born into the world with all his after development of life on a more ultimate plane, and some idea—some basis for an idea—may be had of the nature of the change which the first Essence—the Creative primes—underwent; and this actually when in the fullness of time and by the directive will of God, those primes entered by conception into the chosen ovum, and a man child was born.

This, however, was but the opening stage.  The process of glorification which followed was a continual birth by an ever-constant devolution and descent of the creative primes, as soul substance, into and through the several organic planes of the Human Assumed, down to the very ultimates of the body.  Thus it came to pass that the Divine Human was born from the Divine Soul—that the Divine Man in conatus or seed, became the Divine Man in ultimate organic body, or, what is the same, the first Divine Essence clothed itself with a second and more ultimate Essence by superinduction.

The change in the creative primes was then a change by birth—a process involving a development from a seed to an ultimate body.  A process which, as is well known, is nature's universal mode, whether as applied to plants, animals or to solar systems.  And this is the same as to say that it is the Divine mode of creation, and therefore also the mode by which the Divine clothed Itself with an individual form in creation, and subsequently glorified that form.  All things come from a seed development.  Even thus the Lord came.

No other idea of the meaning of Superinduction is satisfying; no other can contain and rightly reflect the Divine Mystery involved, or give an adequate interpretation of the fact of the Assumption and Glorification as being according to Divine order.

The maternal Human was a vestment imparted to the Divine seed in the ovum.

This vestment was afterwards cast off by degrees as the seed primes as Soul substance descended more and more fully from the inmost.  And in descending they not only displaced the maternal and world-derived vestment, but in so doing they organized themselves on all the planes of the Human, and this until that Human became an organic product in ultimates, purely and altogether Divine, even as they were themselves Divine.  And this by successive births, or organic formations.

Such was the nature of the Glorification.  So that while we may say that while the fact of the change is indubitable, the nature of the change is no less certain.

This also is clear, that the Spiritual Sun, which once consisted of these primes, as in a free state—as creative seed—is now a radiant sphere emanating from the Divine Human Organic, or ultimate Body of God—wherefore that sun now shines with increased splendor, and operates with greater efficiency than formerly.  This also is the reason why the Lord in -His Human may appear in the midst of the sun as a man.  For He is there in Person, and He can there be seen whenever the rays of its brightness are rightly tempered to the eyes of the angels.  He can there be seen as a Man, in, as it were, a finite form, and this by virtue of an inherent power of finition which lies primarily and essentially in the creative primes, and derivatively and more determinately in the organic Human Itself.

Wherefore it is now possible to see God and live.  And the sight of Him, thus of mercy granted, is the supreme blessing of human and angelic life.

It makes possible—even renders certain—a future racial development—a power of thought and strength of love—which could not otherwise be imparted.

Thought is to see; and love is to become conjoined with the thing seen.  The two make life.  The supreme of thought is to see God, and it opens the way to become conjoined with Him, which is the height of love, and thus it leads to Life Itself.

To see God, then, involves the inner purpose of man's being, and it is granted—granted to the celestials whenever their hearts desire it, and sometimes also to angels and spirits of lower spheres when their states of reception are sufficiently prepared.  To men also it is granted to see Him in thought or with the eyes of the spirit, when by a right instruction in revealed truth they are inwardly prompted thereto.  For this purpose truths are revealed, and if the Lord is not seen by and in them they fail of their purpose.  They bring Him to view, indeed, but more or less clearly according to the degree of the instruction and the disposition of the affections.

Yet all may see Him, and in seeing know Him, if only they will open their minds to the truth revealed, and lovingly meditate thereon.  For He is in His truth, and He is His Truth.  To see Him there is to see Him in light—even the light of the sun of heaven.  To see Him there is to be granted a perception of the Divine Human Essence.  It is also an inward beholding of the Divine Organic Body.  And His Body is Light—even the Light which enlighteneth every man.

This, then, is the blessed vision of which the Ancients dreamed, and their prophets told, but which now comes to man's awakened sight.  For the great day of the Lord is at hand—the day of His appearing in glory.  The long night is over.  The dream is finished.  The prophecy fulfilled.  For the Lord is here and near before us.