1.   ["Lord":  ruler; master; overcomer; governor: love, Good]

"THE Lord" (Dominus):  Lord of lords;  the glorified Christ.  Jesus the Christ.  The Saviour of the world. The Divine Human.  Adam Kadmon.

"The Lord" was the God of the Earliest Church and of the Early Church.  He was called Jehovah.

While He was here in the world, The Lord brought everything in the heavens and the hells back into order.  He then freed the spiritual world from the people who had lived before the flood.  Through His temptations and victories, The Lord defeated the hells and brought everything back into order, glorifying His human nature at the same time.  The Lord did this on His own, with His own strength.  The Lord alone did the fighting.  The Lord alone, therefore, became justice and worth.  That is how The Lord united His human nature with His Divine nature.

The suffering on the cross was the last temptation, the full victory by which He glorified Himself (made His human nature Divine) and defeated the hells.  In His Divine nature, The Lord could not be tempted.  That is why He took on a human nature from a mother, a nature open to temptation.  He drove out everything He had inherited from His mother and laid aside the
humanity He had received from her to the point that He was no longer her son, and put on a Divine human nature.

By defeating the hells and glorifying His human nature, The Lord saved humanity.  He effected a balance between Heaven and hell and on our having freedom because of the balance between Heaven and hell.  It is necessary to have freedom for reformation.
 

"The six days [of creation], or periods, which are so many successive states of the regeneration of man, are in general as follows:

"The first state [the first day] is that which precedes, including both the state from infancy, and that immediately before regeneration.  This is called a "void", "emptiness", and "thick darkness".  And the first motion, which is the Lord's mercy, is "the Spirit of God moving upon the faces of the waters".

"The second state [the second day] is when a distinction is made between those things which are of the Lord, and those which are proper to man.  The things which are of the Lord are called in the Word "remains", and here are especially knowledges of faith, which have been learned from infancy, and which are stored up [in the memory], and are not manifested until the man comes into this state.  At the present day this state seldom exists without temptation, misfortune, or sorrow, by which the things of the body and the world, that is, such as are proper to man, are brought into quiescence, and, as it were, die.  Thus the things which belong to the external man are separated from those which belong to the internal man.  In the internal man are the "remains", stored up by the Lord unto this time, and for this use.

"The third state [the third day] is that kind of repentance in which the man, from his internal man, speaks piously and devoutly, and brings forth goods, like works of charity, but which nevertheless are inanimate, because he thinks they are from himself.  These goods are called the "tender grass" and also the "herb yielding seed", and afterwards the "tree bearing fruit".

"The fourth state [the fourth day] is when the man becomes affected with love, and illuminated by faith.  He indeed previously discoursed piously, and brought forth goods, but he did so in consequence of the temptation and straitness under which he labored, and not from faith and charity; wherefore faith and charity are now enkindled in his internal man, and are called "two luminaries" [lights].

"The fifth state [the fifth day] is when the man discourses from faith, and thereby confirms himself in truth and good:  the things then produced by him are animate, and are called the "fish of the sea" and the "birds of the heavens".

"The sixth state [the sixth day] is when, from faith, and thence from love, he speaks what is true, and does what is good:  the things which he then brings forth are called the "living soul" and the "beast".  And as he then begins to act at once and together from both faith and love, he becomes a spiritual man, who is called an "image".  His spiritual life is delighted and sustained by such things as belong to the knowledges of faith, and to works of charity, which are called his "food"; and his natural life is delighted and sustained by those which belong to the body and the senses; whence a combat arises, until love gains the dominion, and he becomes a celestial man, the seventh state [the seventh day, THE LORD'S DAY].

"Those who are regenerated do not all arrive at this state.  The greatest part, at this day, attain only the first state; some only the second; others the third, fourth, or the fifth; few the sixth; and scarcely any one the seventh."

 2.  a. "Creating":  in the first chapters of Genesis - "creating of heaven and earth" - is describing, in the inner meaning, the establishment of a new church - in this instance, a heavenly one since it is the earliest one (the new church is either an individual - a person - or a group or the universal one).

      b.  forming anew or reforming and regenerating [a group or an individual].
 
 3. "Heaven":  is where the Lord is; the Lord's Divine Human; and the home of angels and spirits.  Taken as a whole, the entirety of Heaven is in the image of a single Person;  This is because of the Lord's Divine Human nature.  The aspects of Heaven correspond with the aspects of the human being.  And all the aspects of Heaven correspond with all aspects of the earth.  Each community is a "heaven" in small form.  Each individual community in Heaven is in the image of a single Person.

There is structure in Heaven that governs societal patterns and communications there.  Heaven is also within us .  People who have lived lives of thoughtful love have an angelic wisdom within them.
 
 4. "Earth":  the Church [collectively] or an individual believer.
 
 5. "Light":  true doctrine based upon that which is Good and True.  True doctrine is a lamp to people who read the Word.
 
 6. "Darkness":  doctrine based upon that which is evil and false.  False doctrine is ignorance and a stumblingblock to people who follow it.
 
 7. "spirits":  people after their death who have not completed their choice between Heaven and hell.
 
 8.  a.  "angels":  people who have decisively chosen Heaven.  The person who accepts the good essence of love and faith from The Lord is called an angel.

      b.  Divine truths from The Lord ultimately, because what angels epitomize and utter is not on their own authority, but from The Lord.

     c.  Each angel is a "heaven" in smallest form.
  
 9. "evil spirits" or "devils":  people who have decisively chosen hell.
 
10. "church" (ecclesia):  the whole religious life of an individual.  The early church was a symbolic church.  Each successive church meant a decline in things spiritual.
 
11 .  a.  "on earth":  the Lord's kingdom and the church.

       b.  the people who live there and their worship.

       c.  referring to various aspects of the church

       d.  members of the spiritual church.

12.  a."Canaan":  'heavenly' Canaan is a symbol for Heaven.

      b.  "Canaan" is where the church was in earlier times.  The earliest church, before the flood, and the one after the flood, were in Canaan.  Then all the locations there became symbolic of elements of the Lord's kingdom and the church as a whole.  That is why Abraham was sent there - so that his descendants could form a symbolic church where the Bible could be written with a literal meaning that was symbolic throughout.  This is why "the earth" and "the land of Canaan" mean the church.
 
13. "Life":  what is Good and True.
 
14. "Death":  what is evil and false.  In Heaven, talk of the death of good people is understood to refer to their awakening and ongoing life, since death is when we rise again, pick up our lives, and enter eternity.  When the death of the evil is mentioned in Scripture, angels understand damnation or spiritual death is meant.  Mortals rise again after death in respect to their spirits.

The soul that lives after death is our spirit, which is the real person with us and is as well in a complete human form as in the other life.  We do awaken immediately after death and find ourselves human in every detail.
 
15. "Alive":  involved in what is Divine, Good and True.  The Lord, being everything that is Divine and Good and True in Heaven, is The Word.  All doctrine for the church must come from The Word.  Without doctrine, The Word cannot be understood.  Genuine doctrine has to come from people enlightened by The Lord.
 
16. "Dead":  involved in what is evil and false.
 
17. "Clouds": refer to the literal Bible or its literal meaning [which hides the spiritual meaning].

That which hides or obscures from view.
 
18. "Glory":  means what is Divine and True as it exists in Heaven and in the spiritual meaning of the Bible.
 
19. "Trumpets":  mean Divine truths in Heaven and revealed from Heaven.
 
20.  a.  "Last":  means the most remote, the farthest away from.

       b.  the "most remote" or "ultimate" things are the most external.  A "last judgment",  therefore, is not last in a chronological sense only, but in the sense of completeness as well.  This would not be a minor adjustment in the spirit realm, but a complete reorganization, from top to bottom.

       c.  "Final stage" may be translated as "ultimate stage".
 
21. "First":  means the opposite of "last".  It, therefore, means the closest to.  It itself would mean "complete" or completed.  The first church on this planet, the Earliest Church, is the one described in the opening chapters of Genesis.  It was a heavenly church, the most perfect of all.
 
22. "Bundles":  means arrangements of our true and false things in sequences, so it also means the arrangement of the people in whom these true and false things exist.
 
23. "Kingdoms":  refers to the churches, with particular reference to their true and false principles.
 
24. "Peoples":  refers to those in the church who are devoted to good concerns and those who are devoted to evil concerns.
 
25. "Compassion":  is human spiritual life.  It is knowing, intending, and being moved by things true for their own sake - simply because they are true.  It consists of an inner affection for doing what is true, and not just of some empty outward affection.  Compassion thus consists of acts of service done for their own sake, and the quality of compassion depends on the quality of
the service.

Compassion toward the neighbor, therefore, reaches out to everything we think, intend, and do.   A life of compassion is a life lived by The Lord's precepts.

The whole Bible is a doctrine of love and compassion.  Few know what compassion is these days.  Yet, enlightenment could bring the knowledge that love and compassion make us human.
 
26. "Neighbor":  is every individual; every community; the nation and the church; and, most inclusively, The Lord's kingdom.  In the highest sense, The Lord is the neighbor, since He is supremely worthy of love.  Consequently, "the neighbor" is whatever comes from Him and embodies Him - whatever is good and true.

The neighbor is also civic welfare or justice and moral welfare or living well in community.
 
27. "Loving the neighbor":  is supporting them, from a love of the good, in accord with their quality.  The neighbor is their welfare which should be the focus of attention.    Doing what is good and true for their own sake is loving the neighbor.  People who do this love The Lord, who is the neighbor in the highest sense.

"Loving the neighbor" is not loving the roles people play, but the inner source of the person - the good and the true.  People who love the role and not the inner source love the evil and the good alike.  They support evil and good people alike, even when supporting evil people harms good ones, which is not "loving the neighbor".  A judge who punishes the evil so that they will not harm the good is "loving the neighbor".

"Loving the neighbor" is doing what is good, fair, and honest in every job.
 
28. "Loving The Lord":   living by Divine truths is "loving The Lord" [obedience].
 
29.  "Sons"  are affections for the truths that come from what is good.  So "the king's sons" are people who are involved in affections for the truths that come from what is good.
 
30. "The son of man":  The Lord in respect to what is Divine and True.
 
31. "Sons of the evil one":  are people who are involved in affections for the falsities that come from what is evil.
 
32. "Good seed":  means the truths that come from what is good.
 
33. "The seed of the field" are the good and true gifts that come to us from The Lord. It is also the food for the mind provided us through Divine truth from the Word.
 
34. "To sow": is to teach.
 
35. "Tares":  means the bad seeds because "tares" means the falsities that come from what is evil.
 
36. "Wars":  in the Word refers to spiritual struggles.  As a result, all "weapons of war" refer to some aspect of spiritual struggle - for example, "the bow", "the sword", "the shield".
 
37. "Plagues":  refers to the eradication and the ending of anything that is good and true.
 
38. "Famines":  refers to a lack of insights into what is good and true.
 
39. "Earthquakes":  refers to major changes, [upheaval], in the state of the church.
 
40. "Consummation of the age":  is the last time of the [present] church.
 
41. a.  "Hell":  absence, separation from Good; willful independence from The Lord.

      b.  "hells":  taken as a single whole - or hellish people taken as a whole - are called the Devil
or Satan.  People who were devils in this world become devils after death.
 
42. "New Heaven":  does not mean the visible sky overhead; it means the real Heaven, where the human race is gathered.  The Bible uses "Heaven" in its spiritual meaning, as the home of angels and spirits.
 
43. "The first Heaven":  was a Heaven from the whole human race, a Heaven The Lord started assembling at the beginning of the Christian church.  The people there were not angels, though; they were spirits from all different religions.  This is the one that was going to pass away.
 
44.  "The new earth":  means a new church on earth.  Literally, of course, earth is Earth. But spiritually speaking, it is the church.  This is because when people are spiritually aware, like angels, they don't think about the landscape when the earth is mentioned in the Bible; they think about the people who live there and about their reverence for the Divine.
 
45.  "The new creation":  refers to personal reformation:  a new person comes into being, one who has progressed from being physical to being spiritual.
 
46.  "The new creature":  is that reformed person.
 
47.  "natural man":  The reason why the "the green of the herb" only are here (Gen.1:30) described as food for the natural man, is this.  In the course of regeneration, when man is being made spiritual, he is continually engaged in combat, on which account the church of the Lord is called "militant"; for before regeneration, cupidities (lusts) have the dominion, because the whole
man is composed of mere cupidities and the falsities thence derived.

During regeneration, these cupidities and falsities cannot be  instantaneously abolished, for this would be to destroy the whole man, such being the only life which he has acquired; and therefore, evil spirits are suffered to continue with him for a long time, that they excite his cupidities, and that these may thus be loosened, in innumerable ways, even to such a degree that they can be
inclined by the Lord to good, and the man thus be reformed.  In the time of combat, the evil spirits, who bear the utmost hatred against all that is good and true, that is, against whatever is of love and faith toward the Lord - which things alone are good and true, because they have eternal life in them - leave the man nothing else for food but what is compared to the vegetable and the
green of the herb; nevertheless the Lord gives him also a food which is compared to the herb bearing seed, and to the tree in which is fruit, which are states of tranquility and peace, with their joys and delights; and this food the Lord gives the man at intervals.

Unless the Lord defended man every moment, yea, even the smallest part of every moment, he would instantly perish, in consequence of the indescribably intense and mortal hatred which prevails in the world of spirits against the things relating to love and faith toward the Lord.  The combat must needs be endured by those being regenerated, in order to attain the happiness of eternal life.

All things relating to the knowledges of faith are called spiritual, and all that are of love to the Lord and our neighbor are called celestial; the former belong to man's understanding and the latter to his will.

The times and states of man's regeneration in general and in particular are divided into six, and are called the days of his creation; for, by degrees, from being not a man at all, he becomes at first something of one, and so by little and little attains to the sixth day, in which he becomes an image of God.

Meanwhile, the Lord continually fights for him against evils and falsities, and by combats confirms him in truth and good.  The time of combat is the time of the Lord's working; and there in the Prophets, the regenerate man is called the work of the fingers of God.  Nor does He rest until love acts as principal; then the combat ceases.  When the work has so far advanced that faith
is conjoined with love, it is called "very good". because the Lord then actuates him, as His likeness.  At the end of the sixth day, the evil spirits depart, and good spirits take their place, and the man is introduced into heaven, or into the celestial paradise.
 
48.  "Image":  the spiritual man, preparatory to becoming a celestial man; is not a likeness, but is according to the likeness;  it is therefore said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness".  The spiritual man is an "image", and the celestial man a "likeness" or "similitude".  In Genesis,  chapter 1, the spiritual man is treated of; in chapter 2 the celestial man.  The spiritual man, who is an "image", is called by the Lord a "son of light" (John 12:35, 36).  He is also called a "friend" (John 15:14, 15).  But the celestial man, who is a "likeness", is called a "son of God" (John 1:12, 13).

So long as man is spiritual, his dominion proceeds from his external to the internal, as is here said, "Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the heavens, and over the beast, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth."  But when he becomes celestial, and does good from love, then his dominion proceeds from his internal man to the external, as the Lord describes Himself, and thereby celestial man, who is in  His likeness:  "Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of Thy hands; Thou hast put all things under his feet, the flock and all cattle, and also the beasts of the fields, the fowl of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas (Psa. 8: 6-8).

Here therefore "beasts" are first mentioned, and then "fowl", and afterwards the "fish of the sea", because the celestial man proceeds from love, which belongs to the will, differing from the spiritual man, in describing whom "fishes" and "fowl" are first named, which belong to the understanding, and this to faith; and afterwards mention is made of "beasts".

The spiritual man, who is external man, is called "earth"  while he remains spiritual, but "ground" and also "field" when he becomes celestial.

A "grain of mustard-seed" is man's good before he becomes spiritual, which is "the least of all seeds", because he things that he does good of himself, and what is of himself is nothing but evil.  But as he is in a state of regeneration, then is something of good in him, but it is the least of all.

The life of faith without love is like the light of the sun without heat, as in the time of winter, when nothing grows, but all things are torpid and dead; whereas faith proceeding from love is like the light of the sun in the time of spring, when all things grow and flourish in consequence of the sun's fructifying heat.  It is precisely similar in regard to spiritual and heavenly things, which are usually represented in the Word by such as exist in the world and on the face of the earth.  No faith, and faith without love, are also compared by the Lord to "winter" where He foretells the consummation of the age, in Mark 13: 18, 19).  In that verse,  "flight" means the last time, and also that of every man when he dies.  "Winter" is a life destitute of love; and the "day of
affliction" is its miserable state in the other life.

They who have separated faith from love do not even know what faith is.  When thinking of faith, some imagine it to be mere thought, some that it is thought directed toward the Lord, few that it is the doctrine of faith.  But faith is not only a knowledge and acknowledgment of all things that the doctrine of faith comprises, but especially is it an obedience to all things that the doctrine of faith teaches.  The primary point it teaches, and that which men should obey, is love to the Lord, and love toward the neighbor, for ia man is not in this, he is not in faith [the first and second Great Commandments, Mark 12:29-31] and says that "on these commandments hang all the law and the Prophets (Matt.  22:37-41).

At length, as faith is joined with love it grows larger and becomes an "herb" and lastly, when conjunction is completed, it ecomes a "tree" and then "the birds of the heavens - denoting truths or things intellectual and "build their nests in its branches" which is memory-knowledge .  When man is spiritual, as well as during the time of his becoming spiritual, he is in a state of combat, and therefore it is said "subdue the earth and have dominion".

The Most Ancient Church, the first church, understood by the "image of the Lord" more than can be expressed.  Man is altogether ignorant that he is governed of the Lord through angels and spirits, and that with every one there are at least two angels and two spirits.  By spirits man has communication with the world of spirits, and by angels, with heaven.  Without communication by means of spirits with the world of spirits and by means of angels with heaven, and thus through
heaven, with the Lord, man could not live at all; his life entirely depends on this conjunction, so that if the spirits and angels were to withdraw, he would instantly perish.

While man is unregenerate, he is governed quite otherwise than when regenerated.  While unregenerate, there are evil spirits with him who so domineer over him that the angels, though present, are scarcely able to do anything more than merely guide him so that he may not plunge into the lowest evil, and bend him to some good - in fact, bend him to good by means of his own
cupidities (lusts, etc.) and to truth by means of the fallacies of the senses.  He then has communication with the world of spirits through the spirits who are with him, but not so much with heaven, because evil spirits rule, and the angels only avert their rule.

But when the man is regenerate, the angels rule, and inspire him with all goods and truths, and with fear and horror of evils and falsities.  The angels indeed lead, but only as ministers, for it is the Lord alone who governs man through angels and spirits.  And as this is done through the ministry of angels, it is here first said, in the plural number, "Let us make man in our image": and
yet because the Lord alone governs and disposes, it is said in the next verse, in the singular number, "God created him in His own image".  The angels moreover confess that there is no power in them, but they they act from the Lord alone.
 
49. "Likeness":  is the celestial (inmost, interior) man who is formed out of the spiritual man who is formed out of a dead man.  A dead man acknowledges nothing to be true and good but what belongs to the body and the world, and this he adores.  A spiritual man acknowledges spiritual and celestial truth and good; but he does so from a principle of faith, which is likewise the ground of his actions, and not so much from love.  The celestial man believes and perceives spiritual and celestial truth and good, acknowledging no other faith than that which is from love, from which also he acts.

The ends [outcome, goal of a thing] which influence a dead man regard only worldly and fleshly life, nor does he know what eternal life is, or what the Lord is; or should he know, he does not believe.  The ends which influence a spiritual man regard eternal life and thereby the Lord.  The ends which influence a celestial man regard the Lord, and thereby His kingdom and eternal life.

A dead man, when in combat almost always yields, and when not in combat, evils and falsities have dominion over him, and he is a slave.  His bonds are external, such as the fear of the law, of the loss of life, of wealth, of gain, and of the reputation which he values for their sake.  The spiritual man is in combat, but is always victorious; the bonds by which he is restrained are
internal, and are called the bonds of conscience.  The celestial man is not in combat, and when assaulted by evils and falsities, he despises them, and is therefore called a conqueror.  He is apparently restrained by no bonds, but is free.  His bonds, which are not apparent, are perceptions of good and truth.

The "heavens and the earth and all the army [hosts] of them" are said to be "finished" when man has become the "sixth days", for then faith and love make a one.  When they do this, love, and not faith, or in other words the celestial principle, and not the spiritual, begins to be the principal, and this is to be a celestial man.

The celestial man is the "seventh day".  This is arcana which has not hitherto been discovered.  For none have been acquainted with the nature of the celestial man, and few with that of the spiritual man, whom in consequence of this ignorance they have made to be the same as the celestial man, notwithstanding the great difference that exists between them.  "The Son of man is
Lord also of the Sabbath" (Mark 2:27) implies that the Lord is Man himself, and the Sabbath itself.  His kingdom is called, from Him, a Sabbath, or eternal peace and rest.  The Most Ancient Church was the Sabbath of the Lord above all that succeeded it.  Every subsequent inmost church of the Lord is also a Sabbath; and so is every regenerate person when he becomes celestial, because he is a likeness of the Lord.  The six days of combat or labor precede.

Such is the quality of the celestial man that he acts not according to his own desire, but according to the good pleasure of the Lord, which is his "desire".  Thus he enjoys internal peace and happiness - here expressed by "being uplifted over the lofty things of the earth" - and at the same time external tranquility and delight.  When the spiritual man begins to be celestial, it is the "eve of the Sabbath.  The celestial man is the "morning".

Another reason why the celestial man is the "Sabbath" or "rest", is that combat ceases when he becomes celestial.  The evil spirits retire, and good ones approach, as well as celestial angels; and when these are present, evil spirits cannot possibly remain, but flee far away.  And, since it was not the man himself who carried on the combat, but the Lord alone for the man, it is said the Lord "rested".  The spiritual man who becomes celestial is called the "work of God" because the Lord
alone has fought for him and has created, formed, and made him.

The nature of the tranquility of peace of the external man, on the cessation of combat, or of the unrest caused by cupidities and falsities, can be known only to those who are acquainted with a state of peace.  This state is so delightful that it surpasses every idea of delight:  it is not only a cessation of combat, but is life proceeding from interior peace, and affecting the external man in
such a manner as cannot be described; the truths of faith, and the goods of love, which derive their life from the delight of peace, are then born.

The state of the celestial man, thus gifted with the tranquility of peace - refreshed by the rain - and delivered from the slavery of what is evil and false, is thus described by the Lord in Ezekiel 34:25-27, 31).  The life, or order of life, of the celestial man, is such that the Lord flows in through love and the faith of love into the things of his understanding, reason, and memory, and as there is no combat between the internal and the external man, he perceives that this is really so.  The order is restored with the celestial man, and this order, or man, is called a "garden in Eden in the east".  In the supreme sense, the "garden planted by Jehovah God in Eden is the east" is the Lord Himself.  In the inmost sense, which is also the universal sense, it is the Lord's kingdom and the heaven in which man is placed when he has become celestial.  His state then is such that he is with
the angels in heaven, and is as it were one among them; for man has been so created that while living in this world, he may at the same time be in heaven.  In this state all his thoughts and ideas of thoughts, and even his words and actions, are open, even from the Lord, and contain within them what is celestial and spiritual; for each one of these has the Lord's life within it, which
enables him to have perception.

A "likeness" is a real replica, for a celestial man is entirely governed by the Lord, as His "likeness".  Since the subject in Genesis is the birth or propagation of the Most Ancient Church - The First Church - this is first described as coming from a spiritual to a celestial state, for the propagations follow from this.

50.  "Man, Woman":  The first three chapters of Genesis treat in general of the Most Ancient Church which is called "Man" (homo), from its first period to its last when it perished:  the first part of chapter two treats of its most flourishing state - when it was a celestial man.  Beginning in verse 18, it now treats of those who inclined to their Own - a desire to investigate the mysteries of faith by means of the things of the senses and of the memory which caused the fall of their posterity as treated of in the third chapter of Genesis.  It is also the cause of the fall of every church.

The posterity of this Most Ancient Church, of whom it is said "it is not good for man to be alone" signifies that he (they, the posterity) were not content to be led by the Lord alone, but desired to be led by self and the world.

By "a deep sleep" is meant a state into which he (The Most Ancient Church) is let because they were not disposed to "dwell alone", that is, be a celestial man, but desired to be among the nations - other gods.  "Deep sleep" is meant the state in which he might seem to himself to live, think, speak and act from himself, not knowing that his Own is itself dead and that no one has
any life from himself.

"Helpmeet" means his Own, which is subsequently called a "rib built into a woman".  It requires but little attention in any one to discern that woman was not formed out of the rib of man, and that deeper arcana are here implied. By the "woman" is signified man's Own, may be known from the fact that it was the woman who was deceived; for nothing ever deceives man but his Own, or what is the same, the love of self and of the world.  "Built up" is to raise that which has fallen; and, in this sense, it is used in the Word, where to "build" is predicated of evils; where to "raise up" is predicated of falsities; and to "renew" is of both.

Nothing evil and false is ever possible which is not man's Own, and from man's Own,  for the Own of man is evil itself, and consequently, man is nothing but evil and falsity.  But truly the things of man's Own that have been revived by the Lord are beautiful and lovely, with variety according to the life to which the celestial of the Lord can be applied; and indeed those who have been endowed with charity have a perception of happiness from the very inmost.

It is the heavenly marriage that these things regard, not from the letter of the Word but from its inmost contents.  The heavenly marriage is of such a nature that it exists in the Own, which, when revived by the Lord, is called the "bride and wife" of the Lord.  When man's Own is thus revived, it has a perception of all the good of love and truth of faith, and consequently possesses all wisdom and intelligence conjoined with inexpressible happiness.  "Jehovah hath created a new thing in the earth, a woman shall compass a man" (Jeremiah 31:22) means this.  It is the heavenly marriage that is signified in this passage where by a "woman" is meant the Own revived by the Lord, of which woman the expression "to compass" is predicated, because this Own is such that it encompasses, as a rib made flesh encompasses the heart.

She was "taken out of Man" signifies that this Man is the internal man, the celestial.  "Now bone of my bone, etc." signify the external man and now the Own, which before was called Woman is now called "wife".  "Now" signifies that it was thus effected at this time because the state was changed.  Thus, a new posterity - no longer celestial.  In the celestial man the internal man is
distinct from the external, indeed so distinct that the celestial man perceives what belongs to the internal man and what to the external, and how the external man is governed through the internal by the Lord.  But the state of the posterity of this celestial man, in consequence of desiring their Own, which belongs to the external man, was so changed that they no longer perceived the internal man to be distinct from the external, but imagined the internal to be one with the external, for such a perception takes place when man inclines to his Own.  NO MORE KNOWLEDGE OF THE HOLY.

 In ancient times, those of whom it was said "dwelt alone" signified they were under the Lord's guidance as celestial men, because such were no longer infested by evils or evil spirits. With the corporeal - worldly, fleshly, carnal - man, his Own is his all; he knows of nothing else than his Own and imagines that if he were to lose this Own, he would perish.  With the spiritual man also his Own has a similar appearance (a rib:  a bone of the chest - though not in reality - which among the most ancient people signified charity); and bones signified the viler things, because they possess a minimum of vitality; therefore, because "rib" signifies charity or love and it is now separated from the celestial, there developed a love for self and the things of the self. Being "asleep", he (they) did not know these had no life but were dead, "lifeless".

The Own of man, when viewed from heaven, appears like something that is wholly bony, inanimate and very ugly, consequently as being in itself dead, but when vivified (made alive) by the Lord it looks like flesh which, to the most ancient church, meant something alive and having vitality, unlike bone.  Man's Own is a mere dead thing, although to him it appears as something,
indeed as everything.  Whatever lives in him is from the Lord's life, and if this were withdrawn he would fall down as dead as a stone; for man is only an organ of life, and such as is the organ, such is the life's affection.  The Lord alone has what is His Own; by this Own He redeemed man, and by this Own He saves him.  The Lord's Own is Life, and from His Own, man's Own - which in itself is dead - is made alive.
  

The inmost or the third heaven is "celestial"; the middle or second heaven is "spiritual".  The Lord flows through the celestial heaven, which is in the good of love to Him, into the spiritual  heaven, which is in the truth of faith to Him.  Heaven is distinguished into two kingdoms, namely,  the celestial kingdom and the spiritual kingdom.  They who are in the celestial kingdom are in the  inmost or third heaven (through love to Him) and they who are in the spiritual kingdom are in the middle or second heaven (through charity toward the neighbor, and through charity are with the  Lord).  The Most Ancient Church, known at that time as Adam, was celestial in the beginning - in  the good of love.
 

The spiritual is from a covenant not as conjugial. What these things involve cannot possibly be perceived unless it is known what man's state is while from being spiritual he is becoming celestial, for they are deeply hidden.  While he is spiritual, the
external man is not yet willing to yield obedience to and serve the internal, and therefore there is a  combat; but when he becomes celestial, then the external man begins to obey and serve the  internal, and therefore the combat ceases, and tranquility ensues.  This tranquility is called "rain" and "mist", for it is like a vapor with which the external man is watered and bedewed from the internal; and it is this tranquility, the offspring of peace, which produces what are called the "shrub of the field" and the "herb of the field", which, specifically, are things of the rational mind and of the memory from a celestial-spiritual origin.

The nature of the tranquility of peace of the external man, on the cessation of combat, or of the unrest caused by cupidities and falsities, can be known only to those who are acquainted with a state of peace.  This state is so delightful that it surpasses every idea of delight:  it is not only a cessation of combat, but is life proceeding from interior peace, and affecting the external man in
such a manner as cannot be described;  the truths of faith and the goods of love, which derive their life from the delight of peace, are then born.

The state of the celestial man is thus:  he is gifted with the tranquility of peace - refreshed by the rain - and delivered from the slavery of what is evil and false.  And this state is compared to "the growth of the field as in Ezekiel 16:7 and is compared to "a shoot of the Lord's planting", and "a work of the hands of Jehovah God" as in Isaiah 60:21.

To "form man from the dust of the ground" is to form his external man, which before was not man:  for it is said in verse 5 that there was "no man to till the ground".  To "breathe into his nostrils the breath of lives" is to give him the life of faith and love; and by "man became a living soul" is signified that his external man also was made alive.

The life of the external man is here treated of --the life of his faith or understanding, and the life of his love or will.  Hitherto the external man has been unwilling to yield and to serve the internal, being engaged in a continual combat with him, and therefore the external man was not then "man".  Now, however, being made celestial, the external man begins to obey and serve the
internal, and it also becomes "man", being so rendered by the life of faith and the life of love.  The life of faith prepares him, but it is the life of love which causes him to be "man".

As to its being said that "Jehovah God breathed into his nostrils", the case is this:  In ancient times, and in the Word, by nostrils was understood whatever was grateful in consequence of it odor, which signified perception.  And as the things relating to love and faith are most grateful to Him, it is said that "He breathed through his nostrils the breath of lives".  Hence, the anointed of
Jehovah, that is, of the Lord, is called the "breath of the nostrils" (Lam. 4:20)  And the Lord Himself signified the same  by "breathing on His disciples" as is written in John 20:22, "He breathed on them and said, Receive ye the Holy Spirit".

The reason why life is described by breathing" and by "breath" is also that the men of the Most Ancient Church perceived states of love and of faith by states of respiration, which were successively changed in their posterity.  Of this nothing can as yet be said because at this day such things are altogether unknown.  The most ancient people were well acquainted with it, and so are
those who are in the other life but no longer any one on this earth, and this was the reason why they likened spirit or life to "wind".

"Garden" signifies intelligence;  "Eden" signifies love;  "East" signifies the Lord; consequently by the "garden of Eden eastward" is signified the intelligence of the celestial man, which flows in from the Lord through love.

Life, or the order of life, with the spiritual man, is such that although the Lord flows in through faith into the things of his understanding, reason and memory, yet, as his external man fights against his internal man, it appears as if intelligence did not flow in from the Lord, but from the man himself, through the things of memory or reason.  But the life, or the order of life, of the celestial man, is such that the Lord flows in through love and the faith of love into the things of his understanding, reason, and memory and, as there is no combat between the internal and external man, he perceives that this is really so.  Thus the order which up to this point had been inverted with the spiritual man, is now described as restored with the celestial man, and this order, or man, is called a "garden in Eden in the east".

In the supreme sense, the "garden planted by Jehovah God in Eden in the east" is the Lord Himself.  In the inmost sense, which is also the universal sense, it is the Lord's kingdom, and the heaven in which man is placed when he has become celestial.  His state then is such that he is with the angels in heaven, and is as it were one among them; for man has been so created that while
living in this world he may at the same time be in heaven.  In this state all his thoughts and ideas of thoughts, and even his words and actions, are open, even from the Lord, and contain within them what is celestial and spiritual; for each one of these has the Lord's life within it, which enables him to have perception.

It was in consequence of the Lord's being the "east" that a holy custom prevailed in the representative Jewish Church, before the building of the temple, of turning their faces toward the east when they prayed.

A "tree" signifies perception; a "tree desirable to behold", the perception of truth; a "tree good for food", the perception of good; the "tree of lives", love and faith thence derive; the "tree of knowledge of good and evil", faith derived from what is sensuous, that is, from mere memory-knowledge.

The reason why "trees" here signify perceptions is that the celestial man is treated of, but it is otherwise when the subject is the spiritual man, for on the nature of the subject depends that of the predicate.

At this day, it is unknown what Perception is.  It is a certain internal sensation from the Lord alone as to whether a thing is true or good; and it was very well known to the Most Ancient Church.  Thus perception is so perfect with the angels, that by it they are aware and have knowledge of what is true and good; of what is from the Lord, and what from themselves; and also

of the quality of any one who comes to them, merely from his approach, and from a single one of his ideas.  The spiritual man has no perception, but has conscience.  A dead man has not even conscience; and very many do not know what conscience is, and still less what perception is.

The "tree of lives" is love and the faith thence derived; "in the midst of the garden" is in the will of the internal man.  The will, which in the Word is called the "heart", is the primary possession of the Lord with man and angel. But as no one can do good of himself, the will or heart is not man's, although it is predicated of man; cupidity, which he calls will, is man's.  Since then the will is the "midst of the garden" where the tree of lives is placed, and man has no will, but there cupidity, the "tree of lives" is the mercy of the Lord from whom come all love and faith, consequently all life.

A "river out of Eden" signifies wisdom from love, for "Eden" is love; "to water the garden" is to bestow intelligence; to be "thence parted into four heads" is a description of intelligence by means of the four rivers.  The most ancient people, when comparing man to a "garden" also compared wisdom, and the things relating to wisdom, to "rivers"; not did they merely compare them, but actually so called them, for such was their way of speaking.  It was the same afterward in the
Prophets as in Isaiah 58:10, 11:  "Thy light shall arise in darkness, and thy thick darkness shall be as the light of day; and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like an outlet of waters, whose water is not."

In Ezekiel 31: 4, 7-9, the regenerate are not compared to a garden and a tree, but are so called:  "The waters made her to grow, the deep of waters uplifted her, the river ran round about her plant, and sent out its channels to all the trees of the field; she was made beautiful in her greatness, in the length of her branches, for her root was by many waters.  The cedars in the
garden of God did not hide her; the fir-trees were not like her boughs, and the plane-trees were not like her branches, nor was any tree in the garden of God equal to her in her beauty; I have made her beautiful by multitude of her branches, and all the trees of Eden that were in the garden of God envied her."

From these passages, it is evident that when the most ancient people compared man, or the things in man, to be a "garden", they added the "waters" and "rivers" by which he might be watered, and by those waters and rivers meant such things would cause his growth.

"Pishon" signifies the intelligence of the faith that is from love; "the land of Havilah" signifies the mind; "gold" signifies good; "bdellium and the onyx stone" signifies truth.  "Gold" is mentioned twice because it signifies the good of love and the good of faith from love; and "bdellium and the onyx stone" are mentioned because the one signifies the truth of love and the other truth of faith from love.  Such is the celestial man.

It is a very difficult matter to describe these things as they are in the internal sense and at the present day no one knows what is meant by faith from love and what by the wisdom and intelligence then derived.  For external man scarcely knows of anything but memory-knowledge which they call intelligence and wisdom and faith.  They do not even know what love is, and many
do not know what the will and the understanding are, and that they constitute one mind.  And yet each of these things is distinct, yea, most distinct, and the universal heaven is ordinated by the Lord in the most distinct manner according to the differences of love and faith, which are innumerable.

Nothing is more common in the Word than for the good of wisdom or of love to be signified and represented by "gold".  All the gold in the ark, in the temple, in the golden table, in the candlestick, in the vessels, and upon the garments of Aaron, signified and represented the good of wisdom or of love.  The signification of precious stones, when speaking of a man possessed of
heavenly riches, are wisdom and intelligence - which are all from the Lord.

"The wise men from the east, who came to Jesus when He was born, fell down and worshiped Him; and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto Him gifts, gold, and frankincense, and myrrh (Matthew 2:1, 11).  Here also "gold" signifies good; "frankincense and myrrh", things that are grateful because from love and faith, and which are therefore called "the praises of Jehovah".

The truth of faith is signified and represented in the Word by precious "stones" as by those in the breast-plate of judgment, and on the shoulders of Aaron's ephod.  In the breast-plate "gold, blue, bright crimson, scarlet double-dyed, and the fine-twined linen" represented such things as are of love, and the precious "stones" such as are of faith from love; as did likewise the two "stones of memorial" on the shoulders of the ephod, which were onyx stones, set in ouches of gold.  This signification of precious stones is also plain from Ezekiel, where, speaking of a man possessed of heavenly riches, which are wisdom and intelligence, it is said:  "Full of wisdom and perfect in beauty, thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious
stone was thy covering, the ruby, the topaz, the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper; the sapphire, the chrysoprase, the emerald, and gold; the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was in thee; in the day that thou wast created they were prepared; thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created (28:13, 15).  It must be evident to every one these do not signify stones, but the celestial and spiritual things of faith; yes, each stone represented some essential of faith.

"Gihon" signifies the knowledge of all things that belong to the good and the true or to love and faith and "the land of Cush" signifies the mind or faculty.  The mind is constituted of the will and the understanding; and what is said of "Pishon" has reference to the will, and to the understanding to which belong the knowledges of good and of truth.  The "land of Cush"
moreover abounded in gold, precious stones, and spices, which signify good and truth and the things thence derived which are grateful, such as are those of the knowledges of love and faith.

"Egypt" means memory-knowledges; the river "Hiddekel" is reason, or the clearsightedness of reason; "Asshur" is the rational mind or the rational of man.  The rational is called a "cedar in Lebanon".  The "river which goeth eastward toward Asshur" signifies that - in the celestial man - the path of clearsightedness of reason comes from the Lord through the internal man into the rational man, which is of the external man.  As by Egypt so also by "Euphrates" is memory-knowledge which is the ultimate or boundary, and also the sensuous things from which these knowledges come.

The nature of celestial order, or how the things of life proceed, is evident from these rivers, namely, from the Lord, who is the "East", and that from Him proceeds wisdom, through wisdom intelligence, through intelligence reason.  By means of reason the knowledges of the memory are vivified (revived, made alive).  This is the order of life, and such are celestial men; and, therefore, since the elders of Israel represented celestial men, they were called "wise, intelligent, and knowing" (Deut. 1:13, 15).

The "Garden of Eden" signified all the things of the celestial man and it was permitted him to enjoy all these things ("God took the man, and put him in the garden of Eden, to till it and take care of it"), but not to possess them as his own, because they are the Lord's.  The celestial man acknowledges, because he perceives, that all things both in general and in particular are the
Lord's.  The spiritual man does indeed acknowledge the same, but with the mouth, because he has learned it from the Word.  The worldly and corporeal man neither acknowledges nor admits it; but whatever he has he calls his own, and images that were he to lose it, he would altogether perish.

That wisdom, intelligence, reason, and knowledge are not of man, but of the Lord, is very evident from all that the Lord taught, as in Matthew 21:33, where the Lord compared Himself to a householder, who planted a vineyard and hedged it round and let it out to husbandmen; and also in John 16:13, 14, "The Spirit of Truth shall guide you into all truth; for He shall not speak of
Himself, but what things soever He shall hear, He shall speak; He shall glorify Me, for He shall receive of Mine, and shall declare it unto you."  And in another place:  "A man can receive nothing except it be given him from heaven" (3:27).

"To eat of every tree" is to know from perception what is good and true; for, as before observed, a "tree" signifies perception.  The man of the Most Ancient Church had the knowledges of true faith by means of revelations, for they conversed with the Lord and with angels, and were also instructed by visions and dreams which were most delightful and paradasial to them.  They had from the Lord continued perception, so that when they reflected on what was treasured up in the memory, they instantly perceived whether it was true and good, insomuch that when anything false presented itself, they not only avoided it but even regarded it with horror; such also is the state of the angels.  In place of this perception of the Most Ancient Church, however, there afterwards succeeded the knowledge of what is true and good from what had been previously revealed, and afterwards from what was revealed in the Word.

"But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it" signifies that it is allowable to become acquainted with what is true and good by means of every perception derived from the Lord, but not from self and the world; that is, we are not to inquire into the mysteries of faith by means of the things of sense and of the memory, for in this case, the celestial of faith is destroyed.

A desire to investigate the mysteries of faith by means of the things of sense and of the memory, was not only the cause of the fall of the posterity of the Most Ancient Church, but it is also the cause of the fall of every church; for hence come not only falsities, but also evils of life.

Man is governed by the principles he assumes, be they ever so false, and his knowledge and reasoning favor his principles; for innumerable considerations tending to support them present themselves to his mind, and thus he is confirmed in what is false.  He therefore who assumes as a principle that nothing is to be believed until it is seen and understood, can never believe, because celestial and spiritual things cannot be seen with the eyes or conceived by the mind, imagination. But the true order is for man to be wise from the Lord, that is, from His Word, and then all things follow, and he is enlightened even in matters of reason and of memory-knowledge.  For it is by no means forbidden to learn the sciences, since they are useful to life and delightful; nor is he who is in faith prohibited from thinking and speaking as do the learned of the world; but it must be from
this principle - to believe the Word of the Lord, and, so far as is possible, confirm spiritual and celestial truths by natural truths.  Thus his starting point must be the Lord, and not himself.  For the former is Life, but the latter is death.

He who desires to be wise from the world, has for his "garden" the things of sense and of memory-knowledge; the love of self and the love of the world are his "Eden"; his "east" is the west, or himself; his "river Euphrates" is all his memory-knowledge, which is condemned; his "second river", Assyria, is infatuated reasoning productive of falsities; his "third river" where is
"Ethiopia", is the principles of evil and falsity then derived, which are the knowledges of his faith; his "fourth river" is the wisdom thence derived, which in the Word is called "magic".  And therefore "Egypt" - which signifies memory-knowledge - after the knowledge becomes magical, signifies such a man, because, as may be seen from the Word, he desires to be wise from self and the "trees of Eden" which denote knowledges from the Word, they thus profane by reasonings.

It is not granted to anyone in the other life to be raised higher into heaven than to the degree of good in which he is; for if he is raised higher, his defilements, that is, the evils of his loves and the falsities therefrom, are made manifest.  For the more interior, the more pure and holy it is in heaven.  They who are in a more impure state are kept in a lower sphere, where their impurities
are not perceived and do not appear, because they are in a grosser good, and a more obscure truth.  In order that the falsities which are of the thought, and the evils which are of the will, should not appear, but be hidden, they are kept in lower parts, where they are in a comparatively obscure light.

Be it known that in the other life heaven is denied by the Lord to no one, and that as many as desire can be admitted. (Heaven consists of societies of angels who are in the good of love toward the neighbor and of love to the Lord; and when any are admitted into heaven, they are let into such societies.)  But when the sphere of their life, that is, when the life of their love, is not in agreement, then conflict arises, from which they have anguish and downcasting.  In this way they are instructed about the life of heaven, and the state of their own life in comparison, also about the fact that no one has heaven merely by being received or admitted (as is the common opinion in the world) and that by his life in the world a man may become of such a character that he can be with those who are in heaven - even while in the earth.  These are the things which are signified by the statute, "Thou shalt not go up on steps unto Mine altar, that thy nakedness be not uncovered upon it."  Elevation to interior things appears in the world of spirits where celestial and spiritual things are presented in forms, as an ascent with steps.

51.  "Male, Female"(Genesis 5:2): "Male and female created he them, and blessed them, and called their name Man, in the day when they were created".  By "male" and "female" is signified the marriage between faith and love; by "calling their name Man" is signified that it is the church, which, in an especial sense, is called "Man (homo)".

The "male", or man, signifies the understanding and whatever belongs to it, consequentlyeverything of faith; and the "female", or woman, signifies the will, or things pertaining to the will,consequently whatever has relation to love; wherefore she was called "Eve", a name signifying life, which is of love alone.  By the female therefore is also signified the church. And by the male is
signified of the church.  The subject here (Genesis 5) is the state of the church when it was spiritual, and which was afterwards made celestial.  The expression "to create" also has reference to the spiritual man; but afterwards, when the marriage between faith and love has been effected, that is when the church has been made celestial.  It is not now said "male and female" but "man"; who, by reason of their marriage - faith and love - signifies both; wherefore it presently follows "and He called their name Man" by which is signified the church.

In the supreme sense, the Lord Himself alone is Man.  From this the celestial church is called Man, as being a likeness, and from this the spiritual afterwards so called because it is an image. But, in a general sense, every one is called a man who has human understanding, for man is man by virtue of understanding, and according thereto one person is more a man than another, although the distinction of one man from another ought to be made according to his faith as grounded in love to the Lord.  That is the Most Ancient Church, and every true church, and those who are of the church, or who live from love to the Lord and from faith in Him.  They are especially called "man".
 
What is meant by "male" and "female" was well known to the Most Ancient Church, but when the interior sense of the Word was lost among their posterity, this arcanum also perished.  Being internal men, they were delighted only with internal things.  External things they merely saw with the eyes, but thought of what was represented.  So that outward things were nothing to them, save as these could in some measure be the means of causing them to turn their thoughts to internal things, and from these to celestial things, and so to the Lord who was their all, and consequently to the heavenly marriage, from which they perceived the happiness of their marriages to come.

The understanding in the spiritual man they therefore called "male", and the will, "female" and when these acted as one, they called it a marriage.  From that church came the form of speech which became customary, whereby the church itself, from its affection of good, was called "daughter" and "virgin" - as the "virgin (daughter) of Zion" and also "wife".

As the most ancient people called the conjunction of the understanding and the will or of faith and love, a marriage, everything of good produced from that marriage they called "fructifications (fruitful)" and "multiplications", as in Ezekiel 34:11, 12:  "I will multiply upon you man and beast, and they shall multiply and be fruitful, and I will cause you to dwell as in your ancient
times, and will do better unto you than at your beginnings, and ye shall know that I am Jehovah, yea, I will cause man to walk upon you, even My people Israel."

By "man" is here meant the spiritual man who is called Israel; by "ancient times" the Most Ancient Church; by "beginnings" the Ancient Church after the flood.  The reason why "multiplication" - which is of truth - is mentioned first and "fructification" - which is of good - is mentioned afterwards is that the passage treats of one who is to become regenerated, and not of
one who is already regenerated.  When the understanding is united with the will, or faith with love, the man is called by the Lord "a married land" as in Isaiah 62:4:  "Thy land shall be no more termed waste, but thou shalt be called Hephizibah ("My delight is in her") and thy land Beulah ("Married"), for Jehovah delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married."

The Hebrew word "Adam" signifies "man"; but that he is never properly called "Adam" by name, but "Man" is that he is not spoken of in the singular number, but in the plural, and also from the fact that the term is predicated of both the man and the woman, both together being called "Man".  That it is predicated of both, every one may see from the words, for it is said, "He called their name Man, in the day that they were created"; and in like manner in the first chapter:  "Let us make man in our image, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea."  Hence also it may appear that the subject treated of is not the creation of some one man who was the first of mankind, but the Most Ancient Church.

By "calling a name" or "calling by name" is signified in the Word the quality of a thing, and, in the present case, it has relation to the quality of the Most Ancient Church, denoting that man was taken from the ground, or regenerated by the Lord, for the word "Adam" means "ground"; and that afterwards, when he was made celestial, he became most eminently "Man", by virtue of faith originating in love to the Lord.

That they were called "Man" in the day that they were created, appears also from the first chapter, verses 26, 27, that is, at the end of the sixth day, which answers to the evening of the Sabbath or when the Sabbath or seventh day began; for the seventh day, or Sabbath, is the celestial man.

"And Man lived a hundred and thirty years and begat into his likeness, after his image, and called his name Seth."  By a "hundred and thirty years" is signified the time before the rise of a new church, which, being not very unlike the Most Ancient, is said to be born "into it likeness, after its image"; but the term "likeness" has relation to faith, and "image" to love.  This church was called "Seth".

Those who believe in the literal sense suppose these to be secular years, whereas from this to the twelfth chapter there is nothing historical according to its appearance in the literal sense, but all things in general and every single thing in particular contains other matters.  And this is not only the case with names but also with the numbers.  In the Word frequent mention is made of the number three, and also of the number seven and wheresoever they occur they signify something holy or most sacred in regard to the states which the times or other things involve or represent; and they have the same signification in the least intervals of time as in the greatest, for as the parts belong to the whole, so the least things belong to the greatest, for there must be a likeness in order that the whole may properly come forth from the parts, or the greatest come forth from the least.

The various names, such as "Seth", "Enosh", "Kenan", "Enoch", "Methuselah", "Lamech", "Noah", signify so many churches, of which the first and principal one was called "Man".  The chief characteristic of these churches was perception, wherefore the differences of the churches of that time were chiefly differences of perception.  In the universal heaven, there reigns nothing but
a perception of good and truth, which is such as cannot be described with innumerable differences, so that no two societies enjoy similar perception.  Since the world at this time knows so little concerning celestial and spiritual things, and if they were told they do not believe that any such thing exists, they do not even know what perception is; and so with other things also.  The Most Ancient Church represented the celestial kingdom of the Lord, even as to the generic and specific differences of perception. And the conceptions and births of the church are called "sons and daughters", "sons" signifying truths and "daughters" signifying "goods".

"And all the days that Man lived were nine hundred and thirty years, and he died".  By "days" and "years" are here signified times and states; and by "Man's dying" is signified that such celestial perception no longer existed, which is that a thing ceases to be such as it has been.

The case with the church is that it decreases and degenerates, and loses its pristine integrity, chiefly by reason of the increase of hereditary evil, for every succeeding parent (church) out of the first adds new evil to that which he has inherited.  Quite false is the opinion of those who think that there is no hereditary evil except that which they allege to have been implanted in us from Adam.

The truth is that every one makes hereditary evil by his own actual sins, and adds it to the evils that he has inherited, and in this way it accumulates, and remains in all descendants; nor is it abated except in those who have been regenerated by the Lord.  In every church this is the principal cause of degeneration, and it was so in the Most Ancient Church.

How the Most Ancient Church decreased cannot be understood unless it is known what perception is, for it was a perceptive church, such as at this day does not exist.  The perception of a church consists in this, that its members perceive from the Lord what is good and true, like the angels; not so much what the good and truth of civic society is, but the good and truth of love to the Lord and of faith in Him.  From a confession of faith that is confirmed by the life (the living) can be seen what perception is, and whether it has any existence.

"Seth" is a second church, less celestial than the Most Ancient Church, its parent,  yet one of the most ancient churches; that he "begat Enosh" signifies that there descended from "Seth" another church.  The case with churches is that by degrees, and in the process of time, they decrease as to essentials.  Therefore, "Enosh" is a third church and is still less celestial than the "Seth" church.

These three churches, "Man", "Seth" and "Enosh", constitute the Most Ancient Church, but still with a difference of perfection as to perceptions:  the perceptive faculty of the first church gradually diminished in the succeeding churches, and became more general.  Perfection consists in the faculty of perceiving distinctly, which faculty is diminished when the perception is less distinct
and more general; an obscurer perception, then, succeeds in the place of that which was clearer, and thus it begins to vanish away.

The perceptive faculty of the Most Ancient Church consisted not only in the perception of what is good and true, but also in the happiness and delight arising from well-doing;  without such happiness and delight in doing what is good, the perceptive faculty has no life, but by virtue of such happiness and delight it receives life.  The life of love, and of the derivative faith, such as the
Most Ancient Church enjoyed, is life while in the performance of use - that is, in the good and truth of use:  from use, by use and according to use, is life given by the Lord; there can be no life in what is useless, for whatever is useless is cast away.  In this respect, the most ancient people were likenesses of the Lord, and, therefore, in perceptive powers they became images of Him.  The perceptive powers consist in knowing what is good and true, consequently what is of faith:  he who is in love is not delighted in knowing (only), but (his delight is also) in doing what is good and true - that is, being useful.

These three are what constituted the Most Ancient Church, which, relative to the succeeding ones, was as the kernel or seeds of fruit, whereas the succeeding churches are relatively as the membraneous part of the fruit.  As the perceptive faculty decreased and from being more particular or distinct, became more general or obscure, so also did the life of love of uses; for as in the life of love or of uses, so is the perceptive faculty.  To know truth from good - love - is celestial.  Succeeding churches began to prefer the delight of truths to the delight from uses.

There were some who framed doctrines from the things that had been matters of perception in the most ancient church and succeeding churches, in order that such doctrines might serve as rules to know what was good and true; and such persons were called "Enoch".  This is what signified the words "And Enoch walked with God", for so they called that doctrine.  That is evident from the signification of the expression to "walk" and from the fact that he is said to have "walked with God", not "with Jehovah".  To "walk with God ('elohiym)" is to teach and live according to the doctrine of faith, but to "walk with Jehovah" is to live the life of love.  To "walk":  to live according to the doctrine of the law.  There is a manifest distinction between the things of love and the things of faith:  the things of love are expressed by "loving" and "serving"; and those of faith by "walking" and "seeking".  To "walk with Jehovah" or "before Jehovah" signifies, in the Word, to live the life of love.

As to the words "he was no more, for God took him", signifying the preservation of that doctrine for the use of posterity, the case with Enoch, as already said, is that he reduced to doctrine what in the Most Ancient Church had been a matter of perception, and which in the time of that church was not allowable.  They who are in perception have no need to learn by formulated doctrine that which they know already. For example:  he who knows how to think well, has no occasion to be
taught to think by any rules of art, for in this way, his faculty of thinking well would be impaired.

To those who learn by perception, the Lord grants to know what is good and true by an inward way; but to those who learn from doctrine, knowledge is given by an external way, or that of the senses; and the difference between the two is like that between light and darkness.  Consider also that the perceptions of the celestial man are such as to admit of no description, for they enter into the most minute and particular things, with all variety according to states and circumstances.  But as it was foreseen that the perceptive faculty of the Most Ancient Church would perish, and that afterwards mankind would learn by doctrines what is true and good, or by darkness would come to light, it is here said that "God took him", that is, preserved the doctrine for the use of posterity.

By "Noah" is signified the Ancient Church, or the parent of the three churches after the flood or, what is the same, the doctrine that remained from the Most Ancient Church.  With churches or doctrines, it has already been stated that they decline, until there no longer remains anything of the goods and truths of faith, and then the church is said in the Word to be vastated (as in the flood).  But still remains are always preserved, or some with whom the good and truth of faith remain, although they are few, or else there would be no conjunction of heaven with mankind.  If there are no remains in a man individually, he would not be a man but would be much viler than a brute.  The less remains there are, the less he is a man, and the more remains there are, the more is he a man.  Remains are like some heavenly star, which, the smaller it is the less light it gives, and
the larger it is, the more light.

But what are "remains"?  They are not only the goods and truths that a man has learned from the Lord's Word from infancy, and has thus impressed on his memory, but they are also all the states thence derived, such as states of innocence from infancy; states of love toward parents, brothers, teachers, friends; states of charity toward the neighbor, and also of pity for the poor and needy; in a word, all states of good and truth.  All these states are so preserved in man by the Lord that not the least of them is lost, so that all from his infancy to extreme old age, not only remains in the other life, but also returns, exactly as they were while he lived in this world - innocence, charity, evils, falsities.  And when the states of evil and falsity recur, then these states are tempered by the Lord by means of the good states.  If not, man would be in eternal damnation.

It is my prayer - the deepest desire of my heart - that the concerted effort of each one will be to unceasingly labour to humble themselves before Him to enter into His rest, that one be truly "ready" when He gives forth the shout to "COME UP HIGHER"!  Known only to Him, there is a Standard to be met.  Oh, truly, i bow...before the Lord of all Who alone is HOLY.