Canons of the New Church · God

3. I.

GOD.

SUMMARY.

[I. There Is One God.

II. This One God Is the Esse Itself, Which Is Jehovah.

III. This God Himself Is from Eternity; and therefore Is Eternity itself.

IV. God, Because He Is Esse Itself, and Is from Eternity, Is the Creator of the Universe.

V. This Only God Is Love Itself, and Wisdom Itself; thus Life Itself.

VI. He Created the Universe from the Divine Love through the Divine Wisdom, or Which Is the Same, from the Divine Good through the Divine Truth.

VII. The Creation of the Universe with Him Had for an End an Angelic Heaven from the Human Race:

VIII. Consequently the Communication and Conjunction of His Love and His Wisdom with Men and Angels, and from It Their Blessedness and Felicity to Eternity.

IX. This End Was in God the Creator from Eternity and Is to Eternity, and thence the Preservation of the Created Universe Is from Him.

X. God through His Divine Proceeding Is Omnipotence, Omnipresence, and Omniscience.-(Apoc. Rev., n. 31.)] *

* [ANNOTATIONS FROM THE MARGIN.]

Theological subjects occupy the highest region of the human mind. These are Innumerable.

God is in the midst of them. There is Influx from Hire below into each and every thing as from a sun.

Hence speech, like knowledge of Him, pervades and fills all those things.

Conjunction with Him makes man His image.

Conjunction is effected through love and wisdom.

4. CHAPTER I

THE UNITY OF GOD; OR, THERE IS ONE GOD.

1. The highest and inmost of all the doctrinals of the church, and hence the universal of them all, is the knowledge and acknowledgment that God is one.

2. Unless there were one God, the universe could not have been created and preserved.

3. In the man who does not acknowledge God there is no church, and thus no heaven.

4. In the man who does not acknowledge one God, but several, nothing of the church coheres together.

5. There is a universal influx from God, and out of the angelic heaven, into the soul of man, that there is a God, and that He is one.

6. Human reason, if it will, can perceive from many things in the world that there is a God, and also that He is one.

7. Hence it is, that in the whole world, there is no nation, which has religion and sound reason, that does not acknowledge and confess one God.

8. The Sacred Scripture, and hence the doctrines of the churches in the Christian world, teach that there is one God.

9. But as to the quality of that one God, peoples and nations have differed, and still differ.

10. They have differed, and still differ, concerning God and His unity, arises from many causes.

5. CHAPTER II.

THAT ONE GOD IS ESSE ITSELF, WHICH IS JEHOVAH; OR, OF THE ESSENCE AND EXISTENCE OF GOD IN HIMSELF.

1. That one God is called “Jehovah” from Esse, thus from this circumstance, that it is He “Who is, was, and is to come;” or, what is the same thing, that He is “the First and the Last, the Beginning and the Ending, the Alpha and the Omega” (Rev. i. 8, 11; xxii. 13; Isa. xliv. 6).

2. Consequently, the one and only God is Essence, Substance, and Form; and men and angels are spiritual essences, substances, and forms, or images and likenesses, as far as they derive [this] from that only Divine.

3. This Divine Esse is Esse in itself.

4. The Divine Esse in itself is, at the same time, the Divine Existere in itself.

5. The Divine Esse and Existere in itself, cannot produce another Divine which is Esse and Existere in itself.

6. Consequently, another God of the same Essence with the one God is not possible.

7. A plurality of gods in ancient times, and partly also in modern times, has derived its origin from no other source than that of not understanding the Divine Essence.

6. CHAPTER III.

THE INFINITY OF GOD.

1. God, since He was before the world, and thus before there were spaces and times, is infinite.

2. God, since He is and exists in Himself, and all things in the world are and exist from Him, is infinite.

3. Since God, after the world was made, is in space without space, and in time without time, is infinite.

4. Since God is the all in all things of the world, and, in particular, the all in all things of heaven and the church, is infinite.

5. The infinity of God, by way of correspondence with spaces, is called Immensity; and that His infinity, by way of correspondence with times, is called Eternity.

6. Although the Immensity of God is by way of correspondence with spaces, and His Eternity by way of correspondence with times, still there is nothing of space in His Immensity, and nothing of time in His Eternity.

7. By the Immensity of God is meant His Divinity as to Esse; and by the Eternity of God His Divinity as to Existere; both in itself, or in Himself.

8. Every created thing is finite; and the infinite is in finite things as in its receptacles.

9. Angels and men, because they are created and hence finite, cannot comprehend the Infinity of God, neither His Immensity and Eternity, such as they are in themselves.

10. Nevertheless, when enlightened by God, they can see, as through lattice-work, that God is Infinite.

11. An image of the infinite is also impressed on varieties and propagations in the world; on varieties, in that there is not one thing precisely like another; and on propagations, both animate and inanimate, in that the multiplication of one seed is to infinity, and prolification to eternity; besides many other things.*

(3) There are certain forms-as the squaring of the circle, the hyperbola, series of numbers which tend to the infinite; the diversities of the human countenance, also of minds; also the angelic heaven of light can be infinitely increased; from the starry heaven, etc.

12. In the degree, and according to the manner, in which man and angel acknowledge the Unity and Infinity of God; in the same degree, and in the same manner, if he lives well, he becomes a receptacle and image of God.

13. It is vain to think what was before the world, also what is outside the world; since before the world there was no time, and outside the world there is no space.**

14. A man from thought concerning these things may fall into delirium, unless he is to a certain extent withdrawn by God from the idea of space and time, which inheres in each and all things of human thought, and adheres to angelic thought.

* [ANNOTATIONS FROM THE MARGIN.]

OF THE ESSENCE AND EXISTENCE OF GOD; OF THE IMMENSITY AND ETERNITY OF GOD, or chiefly such things as shall illustrate them.

** (“Mundus”) “world” is here used in the broad sense of the Latin term, meaning “the order of the universe, the heavens and the heavenly bodies.”-Tr.

7. CHAPTER IV.

THE CREATION OF THE UNIVERSE BY THE ONE AND INFINITE GOD.*

1. No one can conceive in idea, and perceive that God created the universe, unless he knows first something concerning the spiritual world and its sun, and also concerning the correspondence, and thence the conjunction, of spiritual things with natural.

2. There are two worlds; a spiritual world where spirits and angels are; and a natural world where men are.

3. There is a sun in the spiritual world, and another in the natural world; and the spiritual world has existed and subsists from its sun, and the natural world from its sun.

4. The sun of the spiritual world is pure love, from Jehovah God, who is in the midst of it, and the sun of the natural world is pure fire.

5. All that proceeds from the sun of the spiritual world is alive; and all that proceeds from the sun of the natural world is dead.

6. Hence everything which proceeds from the sun of the spiritual world is spiritual; and everything which proceeds from the sun of the natural world is natural.

7. Jehovah God, through the sun, in the midst of which He is, created the spiritual world; and mediately through this, He created the natural world.

8. Spiritual things are substantial, and natural things are material; and the latter have existed and subsist from the former, like posterior from prior, or exterior from interior.

9. Hence all things which are in the spiritual world are also in the natural world, and vice versa, with a difference of perfection.

10. The natural, since it originates from the spiritual, as the material from the substantial is everywhere together [with the spiritual]; and thus the spiritual exercises its activities and performs its functions through the natural.

11. In the spiritual world an idea of creation perpetually exists; since all things which there exist and are made are created in a moment by Jehovah God.

12. Around every angel in heaven there is an idea of creation.**

13. There is a correspondence between those things which are of the spiritual world and those which are of the natural world, and by correspondence conjunction of both.

14. From these things it is evident, that the creation of the universe by the one and infinite God can in no wise be conceived without a previous knowledge of the spiritual world and its sun, and of correspondence; and therefore hypotheses have been put forth concerning the creation of the universe, founded upon naturalism, which are foolish.

* See above concerning Jehovah, or concerning the Esse of God; also n. 1; what is here lacking may be taken therefrom.

** [ANNOTATION FROM THE MARGIN.]

In the spiritual world creation can be seen by the eye. In that world everything is created by the Lord instantaneously; houses and domestic utensils, foods and garments are created; fields, gardens, and plains are created, flocks and herds are created. These and innumerable other things are created according to the affections and perceptions of the angels thence arising, and appear around them and continue as long as they are in those affections, and are removed as soon as those affections cease. In the hells also noxious serpents, wild beasts, and birds are created; not that they are created by the Lord, but that goods are there turned into evils. Hence it is evident that all things in the world are created by the Lord and are fixed by means of natural things which encompass them.

8. CHAPTER V.

THE DIVINE LOVE AND THE DIVINE WISDOM IN GOD.

1. Love and Wisdom are the two essentials and universals of life; Love, the Esse of life, and Wisdom, the Existere of life from that Esse.

2. God is Love itself and Wisdom itself because He is Esse itself and Existere itself in Himself.

3. Unless God were Love itself and Wisdom itself, there would be nothing of love and nothing of wisdom with the angels in heaven, and with men in the world.

4. So far as angels and men are united to God by love and wisdom, so far they are in true love and true wisdom.

5. Two things, namely, heat and light, proceed from Jehovah God through the sun in the midst of which He is; and the heat thence proceeding is love, and the light wisdom.

6. The light thence proceeding is the splendor of love, which in the Word is meant by “glory.”

7. That light is life itself.

8. Angels and men are so far alive as they are in wisdom from love from God.

9. It is the same whether it be said, that God is Good itself and Truth itself, or Love itself and Wisdom itself; since all good is of love and all truth is of wisdom.

10. Love and wisdom are inseparable and indivisible; likewise good and truth; wherefore such as the love is with angels and men, such is the wisdom with them; or, what is the same, such as the good is, such is the truth, but not contrariwise.

9. CHAPTER VI.

THE CREATION OF THE UNIVERSE BY THE ONE AND INFINITE GOD, FROM THE DIVINE LOVE THROUGH THE DIVINE WISDOM.

1. Enlightened reason may see, that the first origin of all things of the world is Love, and that the world is created out of it through Wisdom. Hence it is, and from no other cause, that the world, from its firsts to its ultimates, is a work cohering to eternity.

2. The world is created out of Love through Wisdom, thus through the sun, which is pure Love, in the midst of which is Jehovah God, can be seen from the correspondence of love with heat, and of wisdom with light. By these two, namely, heat and light, the world subsists, and every year all things are created upon its surface; and if these two were withdrawn, the world would fall into chaos, and thus into nothing.

3. There are three things which follow in order, and which proceed in inseparable consort, namely, love, wisdom, and use.

4. Love through wisdom exists and subsists in use.

5. These three are in God, and these three proceed from God.

6. The created universe consists of infinite receptacles of these three.

7. Because love and wisdom exist and subsist in use; the created universe is a receptacle of uses, which, from their origin, are infinite.

8. Since all good is from God, and good and use are one, and since the created universe is the fulness of uses in forms, it follows that the created universe is the fulness of God.

9. Creation was effected from the Divine Love through the Divine Wisdom, is meant by these words in John:-

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word. All things were made by Him-and the world was made by Him (i. 1, 3, 10).

By “God” is there meant the Divine Good of Love; and by the Word, which also was God, the Divine Truth of Wisdom.

10. Evils, or evil uses, did not exist until after creation.

10. CHAPTER VII.

THE END ITSELF OF CREATION; IT IS AN ANGELIC HEAVEN FROM THE HUMAN RACE.

1. In the created world there are perpetual progressions of ends; from first ends, through mediate ends, to ultimate ends.

2. The first ends are of love, or relations to love; mediate ends are of wisdom, or relations to wisdom; ultimate ends are of use, or relations to use. These things are so, because all things which are infinite in God and from God are of love, wisdom, and use.

3. These progressions of ends proceed from firsts to ultimates, and return from ultimates to firsts, and they proceed and return by periods which are called the circles of things.

4. These progressions of ends are more or less universal, and they are the aggregate of particular ends.

5. The most universal end, which is the end of ends, is in God; and it proceeds from God, from the firsts of the spiritual world to the ultimates of the natural world; and from these ultimates it returns to those firsts, and thus to God.

6. This most universal end, or that end of ends from God, is an angelic heaven from the human race.

7. That most universal end is the complex of all ends, and of their progressions in both worlds, the spiritual and the natural.

8.* That most universal end is the inmost, and, as it were, the life and soul, the force and endeavor, in all and each created thing.

9. Thence there is a continued connection of all things in the created universe, from firsts to ultimates, and from ultimates to firsts.

10. From this end implanted in created things, in general and in particular, is the preservation of the universe.

* In the Autograph, the three paragraphs now following were deleted by the author by a line drawn through them. So Nordenskold says. See following article. n. 11.-Ed.

11. On the Other Hand.

1. Love is spiritual conjunction.

2. True love cannot be quiescent in itself, and be restrained within its own limits, but it wills to go forth and embrace others with love.

3. True love wills to be conjoined to others, and to communicate with them, and to give of its own.

4. True love wills to dwell in others, and in itself from others.

5. The Divine Love, which is Love itself, and God Himself, wills that it may be in a subject which is His image and likeness; consequently He wills to be in man, and man to be in Him.

6. In order that this may be effected, it follows from the very essence of Love, which is in God, and hence from an urgent cause, that the universe must needs be created by God, in which are earths, and upon them men, and in the men minds and souls, with which the Divine Love can be conjoined.

7. Therefore all things which are created regard man as the end.

8. Since the angelic heaven is formed from men, from their spirits and souls, all things which are created regard the angelic heaven as the end.

9. The angelic heaven is the habitation itself of God with men, and of men with God.

10. Eternal beatitudes, felicities, and delights together, are the ends of creation, because they are of love.

11. This end is the inmost; thus as it were, the life and soul, and as force and endeavor in each and all created things.

12. That end is God in them.

13. This end implanted in created things, in general and in particular, causes the universe to be preserved in the created state, in so far as the ends of an opposite love do not obstruct and destroy.

14. God from His Divine Omnipotence, Omnipresence, and Omniscience, continually provides lest opposite ends from opposite loves should prevail, and the work of creation be ruined even to destruction.

15. Preservation is perpetual creation, as subsistence is perpetual existence.

12. CHAPTER VIII.

THE OMNIPOTENCE, OMNISCIENCE, AND OMNIPRESENCE OF GOD.

1. The Omnipotence, Omniscience, and Omnipresence of God do not fall within the human understanding; because the Omnipotence of God is Infinite Power, the Omniscience of God is Infinite Wisdom, and the Omnipresence of God is Infinite Presence, in all things which have proceeded, and which do proceed, from Him; and the Divine Infinite does not fall within the finite understanding.*

2. That God is Omnipotent, Omniscient, and Omnipresent, is acknowledged without a rational investigation; since this flows in from God into the higher region of the human mind and thence into an acknowledgment with all who have religion and sound reason. That it also flows in with those who have no religion; but with them there is no reception, and hence no acknowledgment.

3. That God is Omnipotent, Omniscient, and Omnipresent, man can confirm from innumerable things which are of reason, and at the same time of religion, as from the following:-

4. First.-God alone is and exists in Himself; and every other being and every other thing exists from Him.

5. Second.-God alone loves, is wise, and lives and acts from Himself; and every other being and every other thing does so from Him.

6. Third.-God alone has power from Himself; and every other being and every other thing has power from Him.

7. Consequently, God is the Soul of the whole; from whom all beings and all things are, live, and move.

8. Unless each and all things in the world and in heaven, relate to the One who is, lives, and has power from Himself, the universe would be dissipated in a moment.

9. Hence the universe created by God is the fulness of God; wherefore He Himself said that:-

He Is the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End, the Alpha and the Omega, who was, is, and will be, the Omnipotent (Apoc. 1. 8, 11).

10. The preservation of the universe, which is perpetual creation, is a full testimony that God is Omnipotent, Omniscient, and Omnipresent.

11. Opposites, which are evils, are not removed because God is Omnipotent, Omniscient, and Omnipresent; since evils are outside of subjects, and outside created things, and do not penetrate to the Divine things which are within.

12. Evils, by the Divine Providence, which also is universal in the most particular things, are more and more removed from the interiors, and are cast out to the exteriors, and thus alienated and separated, lest they should inflict any injury on things internal, which are from the Divine.**

* [ANNOTATION FROM THE MARGIN.]

All things proceed according to order. God is order.

** [ANNOTATIONS FROM THE MARGIN.]

The Divine Omnipotence is [exercised] by means of His Human. This is “to sit at the right hand,” and to be “The First and the Last” as is said of the Son of man in the Apocalypse, and there [it is said] that He is “Omnipotent.” The reason is because God acts from firsts through ultimates and thus embraces all things. The Lord acts from firsts through ultimates with men; not through anything belonging to the man but through His own in the man. With the Jews He acted through the Word, thus through His own; through the Word also He performed miracles through Elijah and Elisha; but because the Jews perverted the Word, God Himself came and made Himself the “Last.” Then He performed miracles from Himself. Order was first created according to which God acts, wherefore God made Himself order.