4775. I was soon led from there toward the right, where also I heard spirits speaking and waiting for revelations. The angels spoke with them and gave instruction about the Lord, telling them that they were going to receive the whole doctrine of the Church from heaven, and also that they were going to receive a Bible, but a new Bible from the Lord. I heard them saying that it could never be otherwise than that God, the creator of the universe, appeared before mankind in the world because He created them and loves them, and because there is life after death and He consequently wants to save them to eternity, and that this appearance in human form needed to be made even visibly to the naked eye. Then the spirits discussed this amongst themselves, namely, that those in Christendom today, especially the learned, have a totally different opinion: that the Lord, because He was born a person and appeared as a person, could not, as to His person, be the God of the universe, let alone the creator of everything; and that this is a sign that their nature is corrupt. For with those with whom there is something pure in the intellectual part, even more in the voluntary, it is innate that the God of the universe unquestionably ought to appear as human.
[2] This then is the reason why the ancients called God, when He appeared on earth, Ԋehovah, creator of the universe," as did Abraham and the others; and also why the wiser Gentiles at that time, in Greece and afterwards in Italy, made all of their gods human, such as Saturn, Jupiter, Neptune, Juno, Minerva, and many others. Also, gentiles everywhere worship idols for the reason that it is inborn in them to see and acknowledge their God in this fashion. This happens because the Divine Truth going forth from the Lord puts on a human form, not only in the whole of heaven, but in each angel there. The Divine Truth is human in its form, and there are correspondences of everything in heaven with a person, concerning which see no. [Arcana Coelestia 3264 ff.]
They were talking among themselves about such things, and they were amazed that in the areas where the Church is, few of the learned are willing to acknowledge the Lord as God simply because He was human and because these people do not at all comprehend what "to make what is human Divine" means. But I also heard them saying that it is from permission that some within the Church worship saints as gods lest they lose hold of something in their nature [that acknowledges] that the Divine is in a human form, that is, that the Divine going forth from the Lord is human in every form.
4775. I was next led from thence towards the right where I also heard people speaking and expecting revelations. With these, angels spoke, and instructed them concerning the Lord, and that they were about to receive the unblemished doctrine of the Church out of heaven, and also that they would receive a Bible, but a new Bible, from the Lord. I heard them saying that it could never be otherwise than that God, the Creator of the universe, has appeared in the world before men, because He created them and loves them, and because there is a life after death, and He wishes thus to save them to eternity; and that that appearance must have taken place, even to the sight of the eye, in human form. Then the spirits spoke together concerning the fact that those who are in the Christian world, at this day, especially the learned, are of quite another opinion, namely, that, inasmuch as the Lord was born a man, and appeared a man, He cannot be, as to the human, the God of the universe, still less the Creator of all things; and that this is a sign that their nature is perverted; for, in those with whom there is anything uncorrupted in the intellectual part, and still more in the voluntary, it is innate that the God of the universe must needs appear altogether as a man. Hence, the ancients called God, when He appeared in the earth, Jehovah, Creator of the universe - for instance, Abraham and the rest; and, likewise, the Gentiles of that time, who were wise above the rest, in Greece, and afterwards in Italy, made all their gods men, as Saturn, Jupiter, Neptune, Juno, Minerva, and many others; likewise the nations wherever they worship idols; because it is innate in them that they see their god, and thus acknowledge him. This arises from the reason that the Divine Truth proceeding from the Lord; puts on the human form, not only in the universal heaven, but also in every angel there; for Divine Truth is, in its form, a man. Hence the correspondences of all things in the heavens, with man, concerning which see nos. [3624-3649, Arcana Caelestia]. They spoke such things to each other; and they marveled that, in the tract where the Church is, few of the learned are willing to acknowledge the Lord as God, merely for the reason that He was a man; and that, what it is to make the human Divine, they do not at all apprehend. But I also heard some saying, that it is from permission that certain ones in the Church worship the saints as gods, to the end that the idea of a visible God may not perish; and that they [thus] retain some notion, from nature, that the Divine is in a human form, that is, that the Divine proceeding from the Lord is human in every form.
4775. Perducebar mox abinde versus dextrum, ubi etiam audiebam loquentes, et exspectantes revelationes, cum quibus angeli loquebantur, et instruebant de Domino, et quod accepturi essent integram doctrinam Ecclesiae e coelo, et quoque quod accepturi biblia, sed biblia nova a Domino: audiebam illos dicentes, quod nusquam aliter possit esse, quam quod Deus creator universi apparuerit in mundo coram hominibus, quia illos creavit, et illos amat, et quia vita post mortem et sic salvare vult in aeternum, et quod apparitio illa fieri debuerit usque ad visum ocularem in humana forma. Tunc loquebantur spiritus inter se de eo, quod qui in orbe Christiano hodie, prorsus alia opinione sint, praesertim eruditi, quod nempe Dominus quia natus homo et apparuit homo, non possit quoad humanum esse Deus universi, minus creator omnium; et quod hoc signum sit, quod natura eorum sit perversa, nam illis apud quos aliquid integrum est in parte intellectuali magis in voluntaria, innatum sit, quod Deus universi omnino apparere debeat ut homo; inde antiqui vocabant Deum cum apparuit in tellure Jehovam, creatorem universi, sicut Abrahamus et reliqui, et quoque gentiles eo tempore qui sapientes erant prae reliquis, in Graecia et postea in Italia, omnes suos deos faciebant homines, ut Saturnum, Jovem, Neptunum, Junonem, Minervam, et plures, etiam gentes ubivis idola colunt ex causa quia innatum est eis ut videant Deum suum, et sic agnoscunt; hoc venit ex causa quia Divinum Verum procedens a Domino, formam inducat humanam, non solum universo coelo, sed etiam cuivis angelo ibi, nam Divinum Verum in sua forma est homo, inde correspondentiae omnium in coelis cum homine, de quibus n.... 1
Talia loquebantur inter se, et mirabantur quod in tractu ubi Ecclesia, pauci ex eruditis velint agnoscere Dominum pro Deo, unice ob causam quia fuit homo, et quid humanum facere Divinum, hoc prorsus non capiunt. Sed audiebam etiam dicentes, quod ex permissione sit, quod quidam intra Ecclesiam colant sanctos sicut deos ex causa ne pereat id, quin aliquid retineant exnatura quod Divinum sit in forma humana, hoc est, quod Divinum procedens a Domino sit humanum in omni forma.
Footnotes:
1. cf. AC 3624ff.