XI. THE Doctrine of THE ATHANASIAN CREED AGREES WITH THE TRUTH, PROVIDED THAT BY THE TRINITY OF PERSONS PAGE DOCTRINE OF THE NEW JERUSALEM CONCERNING THE LORD. I. THE WHOLE SACRED SCRIPTURE IS CONCERNING THE LORD, AND THE LORD IS THE WORD. 1. WE read in John, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him; and without Him was not any thing made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; but the darkness comprehended it not. Also, The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us; and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the Only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth (i. 1–5, 14). In the same: Light is come into the world; but men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil (iii. 19). And again in the same: While ye have the light, believe in the light, that ye may be children of light. I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth in Me may not abide in darkness (xii. 36, 46). From these words, it is evident that the Lord is, from eternity, God; and that He is the Lord Who was born in the world: for it is said, The Word was with God, and the Word was God; also, Without Him was not any thing made that was made; and afterwards, that the Word became flesh, and they saw Him. Why the Lord is called the Word, is little understood in the Church; but He is called the Word because the Word signifies Divine Truth, or Divine Wisdom; and the Lord is Divine Truth itself, or Divine Wisdom itself: wherefore also He is called the Light, concerning which also it is said, that it came into the world. Because the Divine Wisdom and the Divine Love make one, and in the Lord had been one from eternity, it is also said, In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. Life is the Divine Love, and light is the Divine Wisdom. This ONE is what is meant by, In the beginning the Word was with God, and the Word was God. With God is in God; for wisdom is in love, and love in wisdom. Likewise in another place in John: O Father, glorify Thou Me with Thyself, with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was (xvii. 5). With Thyself is in Thyself. Wherefore, also, it is said that the Word was God; and elsewhere, that the Lord is in the Father, and the Father in Him; as also, that the Father and He are Now, because the Word is the Divine Wisdom of the Divine Love, it follows that it is Jehovah Himself, thus the Lord, by Whom all things were made that are made; for all things were created from the Divine Love by the Divine Wisdom. one. 2. That it is the same Word that was manifested through Moses and the Prophets, and through the Evangelists, which is here specifically meant, may be clearly evident from this, that that is the Divine Truth itself, from which is all the wisdom of angels, and all the spiritual intelligence of men: for this same Word which is with men in the world, is also with the angels in the heavens; yet in the world with men it is natural; but in the heavens it is spiritual. And because it is the Divine Truth, it also is the proceeding Divine; and this is not only from the Lord, but is also the Lord Himself. Because it is the Lord Himself, the whole and every part of the Word is written concerning Him alone: from Isaiah even to Malachi, there is not any thing which is not con cerning the Lord, or, in the opposite sense, contrary to the Lord. That it is so, no one till now had seen; but still every one can see it, provided he knows it, and thinks of it when he is reading; and knows, moreover, that in the Word there is not only a natural sense, but also a spiritual sense; and that in this sense, by the names of persons and places is signified something of the Lord, and thence something of heaven and the church from Him, or something opposite. Since the whole and every part of the Word is concerning the Lord, and the Word is the Lord because it is the Divine Truth, it is evident why it is said, And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory; also why it is said, While ye have the light, believe in the light, that ye may be children of light. I have come a light into the world: he that believeth in Me doth not abide in darkness. The Light is the Divine Truth, thus the Word. And therefore every one, even at this day, who approaches the Lord alone when he reads the Word, and prays to Him, is enlightened in it. 3. It shall also be told here, in few words, what is treated of in general and in particular in relation to the Lord, in all the Prophets of the Old Testament, from ISAIAH even to MALACHI. I. That the Lord came into the world in the fulness of time, which was when He was no longer known by the Jews, and when therefore nothing of the Church remained; and unless the Lord had then come into the world, and revealed Himself, man would have perished in eternal death. He says in John, If ye believe not that I am, ye shall die in your sins (viii. 24). II. That the Lord came into the world to perform a last judgment, and thereby subjugate the hells then ruling; which was done by combats, or by temptations admitted into His human from the mother, and by continual victories then; and, unless they had been subjugated, no man could have been saved. III. That the Lord came into the world to glorify His Human; that is, unite it to the Divine which was in Him |