that in His Divine Humanity, which was then to be made manifest, is contained all the fulness of the divine good, or love, and of the divine truth, or wisdom, in complete and perfect union, and that from Him proceeds the divine operation of those eternal principles, which is always in close conjunction with the angelic heaven.
97. The interiors of the regenerate mind are formed from and by the Holy Word, which makes as it were a heavenly garden in the intellectual principle, in the midst of which garden is still to be seen the tree of life, agreeably to the description given in the book of Genesis, (chap. ii. 9,) whilst a river still goes out of Eden to water the garden, as it is described at verse 10.
98. It is the folly of a dangerous and defiled self-love, to lead its unhappy votaries to estimate themselves from themselves alone, without any regard to their connexion with other beings out of and above themselves; but it is the wisdom of a pure and heavenly love, to lead its blessed children to estimate themselves, not from themselves alone, but from their connexion with others—especially with the great Father of their being and all His angelic host. Whilst, therefore, the votaries of self-love, in setting limits to their talents, and faculties, and happiness, by confining them within the narrow boundaries of their own contracted intelligence, are envious of another’s excellences, and soon drain and exhaust the small store of their own attainments, their virtues, and their joys; the children of heavenly love, on the
