Page:A Compendium of the Theological Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg.djvu/189

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
THE DIVINE TRINITY.
93

this subject a light shone upon them from heaven, by which they saw that the Holy Divine which is meant by the Holy Spirit does not proceed out of the Father through the Lord, but out of the Lord from the Father; comparatively, as in man his activity does not proceed from the soul through the body, but out of the body from the soul. The angel standing near the table confirmed this by the following passages from the Word: "He whom the Father hath sent speaketh the words of God: He hath given unto Him the Spirit not hy measure. The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into His hand" (John iii. 34, 35). "A Rod shall go forth out of the stem of Jesse, . . . and the Spirit of Jehovah shall rest upon Him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might" (Isaiah xi. 1, 2). That the Spirit of Jehovah was bestowed upon Him, and that it was in Him, xlii. 1; lix. 19, 20; Ixi. 1; Luke iv. 18. "When the Holy Spirit shall come, which I will send unto you from the Father" (John xv. 26). "He shall glorify Me, because He shall receive of Mine, and make known unto you; all things whatsoever the Father hath are Mine; therefore said I that He shall receive of Mine and make known unto you" (xvi. 14, 15). "If I go away I will send the Comforter unto you" (xvi. 7). That the Comforter is the Holy Spirit, xiv. 26. "The Holy Spirit was not yet, because Jesus was not yet glorified" (vii. 39). But after the glorification, "Jesus breathed upon and said unto the disciples. Receive ye the Holy Spirit" (xx. 22). And in the Apocalypse, "Who shall not . . . glorify Thy name, Lord? for Thou alone art Holy" (xv. 4). Since the Lord's Divine operation from His Divine omnipresence is meant by the Holy Spirit, therefore when He spoke to the disciples of the Holy Spirit, which He was about to send from the Father, He also said, "I will not leave you orphans; . . . I go away and come unto you; . . . and in that day ye shall know that I am in My Father, and ye in Me, and I in you" (xiv. 18, 20, 28). And just before He departed out of the world He said, "Lo, I am with you all the days, even unto the consumation of the age" (Matt, xxviii. 20). Having read these passages to them the angel said, "From these and many other passages from the Word, it is plain that the Divine which is called the Holy Spirit proceeds out of the Lord from the Father." To this those who sat upon the seats said, "This is Divine Truth"

Finally, this decree was made:—That from the deliberations in this council we have clearly seen, and therefore acknowledge as holy truth, that the Divine Trinity is in the Lord God the Saviour Jesus Christ; consisting of the Divine from whom [all things are], which is called the Father; the Divine Human, which is called the Son; and the proceeding Divine, which is called the