Page:A Compendium of the Theological Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg.djvu/154

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THE DOCTRINE OF THE LORD.

Lord was in the human which He received hereditarily from the mother, He appeared distinct from Jehovah, and adored Jehovah as one different from Himself; but in proportion as He put off this human the Lord was not distinct from Jehovah, but one with Him. The former state, as has been said, was the Lord's state of humiliation, but this was His state of glorification. (A. C. n. 1999.)

The Lord's Glorification is imaged in Man's Regeneration.

The state of the Lord's glorification may in some manner be apprehended from the state of the regeneration of man; for the regeneration of man is an image of the Lord's glorification. When man is regenerated he is made new, and becomes entirely another man. Therefore when he is regenerated he is said also to be born again, and created anew. Then, although he has a similar face and similar speech yet his mind is not similar. When he is regenerated his mind is open towards heaven, and therein dwell love to the Lord and charity towards the neighbour, with faith. It is the mind which makes him another and a new man. Change of state cannot be apperceived in the body of man, but in his spirit. The body is only the covering of his spirit; and when it is put off his spirit appears, and this in quite another form when he is regenerated. For then it has the form of love and charity, in inexpressible beauty, instead of its previous form, which was that of hatred and cruelty, with a deformity also inexpressible. From this then it may appear what the regenerate man is, or one who is born again or created anew,—that he is in truth quite another and a new man. From this image it may in some measure be conceived what the glorification of the Lord was. He was not as man is regenerated, but was made Divine; and this from the veriest Divine love, for He became Divine Love itself. What His form then was He made visible to Peter, James, and John, when it was given them to see Him, not with the eyes of the body but with the eyes of the spirit; namely, that "His face did shine as the sun" (Matt. xvii. 2). And that this was His Divine Human is clear from the voice which then came out of the cloud, saying, "This is My beloved Son" (ver. 5). (A. C. n. 3212.)

The Resurrection.

Since the Human of the Lord was glorified, that is was made Divine, therefore after death He rose again on the third day with His whole body; which does not take place with any man, for