concerning the spiritual world, consequently nothing concerning the angelic heaven, and nothing concerning the prophetic sense, which contains treasured up in it's bosoin nothing but spiritual things; and the spiritual thing signified by earth is the church. The angeis also, as being spiritual, when they look down towards the earth, see nothing at all of it, but only the church in men.

15. The reason why the Lord Jehovih, when he founds a New Heaven and a New Church, introduces order that they may stand under his auspices, and under obedience to himself to eternity, is, because the angelic heaven and the church in the earths constitute together one body, whose soul and life is the Lord Jehovih, who is our Lord the Saviour. The universal angelic heaven together with the church appears also before the Lord as one man; and man stands under the auspices of, and under obedience to, his own soul; thus the whole heaven together with the church stands under the auspices of the Lord, and under obedience to him; for the Lord is in them, and they are in the Lord, John xiv. 20. Chap. xv. 4. Chap. xvii. 23, 26; consequently all are in all therein. But the order, which the Lord induceth in hell, is, that all who are there may be diametrically opposite to all who are in heaven: whence it is evident, that, inasmuch as the Lord governs heaven, he also governs hell, and the latter by the former.

16. Moreover there is the most perfect arrangement of all in the heavens and of all in the hells: for every hea ven, which is founded by the Lord after the consummation of any church, is arranged in threefold order, and consists of a supreme, a middle, and a lowest. Into the

supreme

supreme are elevated they who are in love to the Lord, and in wisdom thence derived; into the middle, they, who are in spiritual love towards the neighbour, and in intelligence thence derived; into the lowest, they who are in spiritual natural love towards the neighbour, which is called charity, and thence in faith as to truths concerning God, and in a life according to the precepts of the decalogue. These three heavens constitute three expanses, one above another, and communicate with each other by divine influx from the Lord out of the sun of the spiritual world. At a depth below those heavens are also three expanses, into which the hells are distinguished, and which in like manner communicate with each other by influx through the heavens from the Lord. By these communications there is effected a close and indissoluble conjunction of all in the heavens, and of all in the hells; but in the latter it is a conjunction of all the lusts of the love of evil, while in the heavens it is a conjunction of all the affections of the love of good. By virtue of that conjunction, heaven is like one Lord sitting upon a throne girt about with wreaths formed of precious stones of every kind; but hell is like one devil sitting upon a seat entwined with vipers, fiery serpents, and poisonous worns. From this orderly arrangement introduced both into heaven and hell, it follows, that each stands under the auspices of the Lord, and under obedience to him, to eternity.

17. It is well known, that, in order to give perfection to any thing, there must be a TRINE in just order, one under another, and communication between them, and that such a trine constitutes one thing; not unlike a

pillar,

pillar, over which is the chapiter, under this the lengthened shaft, and under this again the pedestal. Such a Trine is man, his supreme part being the head, his middle part the body, and his lowest part the feet and soles of the feet. Every kingdom in this respect emulates a man; in it there must be a king as the head, also magistrates and officers as the body, and yeomanry with servants as the feet and soles of the feet in like manner in the church, there must be a mitred prelate, parish priests, and curates under them. Nor does the world itself subsist, without three things following each other in order, namely, morning, noon, and evening; as also every year spring, summer, and autumn, the spring for sowing seeds, the summer for their growth, and the autumn for their bringing forth fruit: but night and winter do not contribute to the stability of the world. Now since every perfect thing must be a Trine, in order to be a One regularly coherent, therefore each world, as well the spiritual as the natural, consists of, and subsists from, three atmospheres or elements, of which the first proximately encompasses the sun, and is called Aura; the second is under that, and is called Ether; and the third is under them both, and is called Air. These three atmospheres in the natural world are natural, in themselves passive, because they proceed from a sun which is pure fire; but the three atmospheres corresponding to them in the spiritual world are spiritual, in themselves active, because they proceed from a sun which is pure love. The angels of the heavens dwell in the regions of these three atmospheres; the angels of the supreme heaven in the celestial aura, which proximately encom

passes

passes the sun, where the Lord is; the angels of the middle heaven in a spiritual ether, under them; and the angels of the lowest heaven in a spiritual natural air, under them both. Thus all the heavens are co-established, from the first to this last, which is building by the Lord at this day. From these considerations it may be perceived, whence it is that by Three in the Word is signified what is complete; see the APOCALYPSE REVEALED, n. 505, 875.

VI.

That the Lord Jehovih from this New Heaven derives and produces a New Church in the Earths, which is effected by a Revelation of Truths from his own Mouth, or from his Word, and by Inspiration.

18. WE read that John saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, descending from God out of heaven, prepared as à bride adorned for her husband, Apoc. xxi. 2: by the holy city, New Jerusalem, is meant the doctrine of a New Church, consequently the church as to doctrine; and by Jerusalem descending from God out of the new heaven, is meant that the true doctrine of the church is derived from no other origin. The reason why the doctrine descended is, because the church is a church from doctrine and according to it; without doctrine a church is no more a church, than man is a man without members, viscera, and organs, thus from the mere covering of skin, which only figures his external shape or form; nor any

more than a house is a house without bed-chambers, parlours, and useful furniture within, thus from the bare walls and arched roof. The case is similar with the

church without doctrine.

That Jerusalem signifies the

church with respect to doctrine, may be seen proved from the Word in the work itself, entitled TRUE CHRISFrom these considerations it TIAN RELIGION, n. 782. manifestly follows, that the church in the earths is derived and produced through the angelic heaven from the Lord.

19. I will relate paradoxes, which yet are not paradoxes in heaven; they are as follow: I. That the natural world could not exist, except from the spiritual world; consequently neither could it subsist, inasII. That much as subsistence is perpetual existence.

the church cannot exist in man, unless it's internal be spiritual, and it's external natural; there being no such thing as a church purely spiritual, nor a church merely natural. III. Consequently that not any church, nor any thing appertaining to a church, can be raised up in man, unless there be an angelic heaven, through which every thing spiritual is derived and descends from the Lord. IV. Since therefore the spiritual and the natural thus make one, it follows, that the one cannot exist and subsist without the other, the angelic heaven not without the church in man, nor the church in man without the angelic heaven; for unless the spiritual principle flow into and terminate in the natural, and rest therein, it is like a prior without a posterior, consequently like an efficient cause without an effect, and like an active with out a passive, which would be like a bird perpetually flying in the air, without any resting place on the earth.

It