True Christian Religion (Chadwick) n. 718

Previous Number Next Number Next Translation See Latin 

718. Every sane person has the capability of receiving wisdom from the Lord, that is, of increasing for ever the number of truths of which wisdom is composed. He has also the capability of receiving love, that is, of making the various kinds of good, of which love is composed, bear fruit, likewise for ever. This perpetual fruiting of good and so of love, and this perpetual increase of truth and so of wisdom is granted to the angels, and also to people who become angels. Because the Lord is love itself and wisdom itself, it follows that man has the capability of linking himself to the Lord, and of having the Lord linked to him, perpetually. Yet because man is finite, the Lord's actual Divine cannot be linked to him, but only attached. To use an illustration, the light of the sun cannot be linked to the eye, nor can the sound carried by the air be linked to the ear, but it can only be attached, so as to make them capable of seeing and hearing. For man is not life in himself, as the Lord is, even as regards the Human (John 5:26), but is a receiver of life; and the Lord is life itself, which cannot be linked, but only attached. These remarks have been added to enable it to be understood how the Lord and His redemption are wholly present in the Holy Supper.


This page is part of the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg

© 2000-2001 The Academy of the New Church