[2] Continuation concerning the Athanasian Creed and concerning a the Lord.- The reason why all power belongs to God, and none whatever to men or angels, is, that God alone is life, and men and angels are only recipients of life, and that it is life which acts, the recipient of life being acted upon. Every one may see, that a recipient of life cannot at all act from itself, but that its action is from the life which is God; nevertheless, it can act as if from itself, for this can be given to it; that it also has been given, was said above. If man does not live from himself, it follows that he does not think and will from himself, neither does he speak and act from himself, but from God, who alone is life. That this is the case, seems like a paradox, because a man has no other feeling than that these powers are in himself, and thus are exercised by himself; but still he acknowledges, when he speaks from faith, that all good and truth are from God, and all evil and falsity from the devil; and yet, whatever a man thinks, wills, speaks, and acts, has reference to good and truth, or to evil and falsity. For this reason a man says within himself, or the priest says to him when he does good, that he was led of God, and when he does evil, that be was led of the devil. Preachers also pray that their thought, their discourse, and their tongues, may be led by the spirit of God, and sometimes also they say after preaching, that they have spoken from the spirit. Other men also have the same perception in themselves.

I can also, myself, testify before the world, that all things of my thought and will have entered by influx, goods and truths through heaven from the Lord, and evils and falsities from hell; I have been permitted to perceive this for a long time.

[3] The angels of the higher heavens have manifestly perceived the influx, and the wisest of them not being even willing to think and will as from themselves. But, on the other hand, infernal genii and spirits altogether deny it, and are angry when it is spoken of. But, nevertheless, it has been proved to many of them to demonstration, that such is the case, but they were afterwards indignant. But because this appears as a paradox to many, it is important that from some idea of the understanding it should be seen how the influx takes place, in order that it may be acknowledged that it does take place. The facts are as follows. From the Divine Love of the Lord, which appears in the angelic heaven as a sun, proceed light and heat. Light is the life of His Divine Wisdom, and heat is the life of His Divine Love. This spiritual heat which is love, and spiritual light which is wisdom, enter by influx into the subjects recipient of life, just as natural heat and natural light from the sun of the world enter into subjects not recipient of life. And because light merely modifies the substances into which it enters, and heat merely changes their state, it follows, that if those subjects were animated, they would perceive those changes in themselves, and would suppose them to be from themselves, when, nevertheless, they both recede and return with the sun. Now, since the life of the Divine Wisdom of the Lord is light, therefore the Lord in many passages of the Word is called light, and it is said, in John,

"The Word was with God, and the Word was God; in Him was life, and the life was the light of men" (i. 1, 2, 3).

From these things it is now evident, that God has infinite power, because He is the all with all men (omnis apud omnes). But how an evil man can think, will, speak, and do evil, although God alone is life, will be shown in what follows.