123. VII. IT IS THE CONTINUAL ENDEAVOUR OF THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE OF THE LORD TO UNITE MAN TO HIMSELF AND HIMSELF TO MAN IN ORDER THAT HE MAY BE ABLE TO BESTOW UPON MAN THE FELICITIES OF ETERNAL LIFE; AND THIS CAN BE DONE ONLY SO FAR AS EVILS WITH THEIR LUSTS ARE REMOVED. It has been shown above (n. 27-45), that it is the continual endeavour of the Divine Providence of the Lord to unite man to Himself and Himself to man, and that this union is what is called reformation and regeneration, and that man has salvation from it. Who does not see that conjunction with God is life eternal and salvation? Everyone sees it who believes that men are from creation images and likenesses of God (Gen. 1:26-27), and who knows what an image and likeness of God is.

[2] Can anyone of sound reason, when he thinks from his own rationality, and is willing to think from his own liberty, believe that there are three Gods, equal in essence, and that the Divine Being (Esse) or Divine Essence can be divided? That there is a Trine in the one God can be thought and comprehended, just as one can comprehend that there is a soul, a body and an out-going life from these in an angel and in a man; and as this Trine in One is in the Lord alone, it follows that conjunction must be with Him. If you make use of your rationality and at the same time of your liberty of thought you will see this truth in its own light; but you must first grant that there is a God and a heaven and that there is eternal life.

[3] Now since God is One, and man from creation was made an image and likeness of Him, and since through infernal love and its lusts and their delights he has come into the love of all evils; and has thereby destroyed in himself the image and likeness of God, it follows that it is the continual endeavour of the Divine Providence of the Lord to unite man to Himself and Himself to man, and thus make man to be His image. It also follows that this is to the end that the Lord may be able to bestow upon man the felicities of eternal life, for such is the nature of Divine Love.

[4] However, the Lord cannot bestow these upon man, nor make him an image of Himself unless man as of himself removes sins in the external man; because the Lord is not only Divine Love but also Divine Wisdom, and Divine Love does nothing but from its own Divine Wisdom and according to it. Moreover, it is according to His Divine Wisdom that man cannot be united to the Lord and thus reformed, regenerated and saved unless he is permitted to act from freedom according to reason, for by this man is man; and whatever is according to the Divine Wisdom of the Lord pertains also to His Divine Providence.

28. I. HEAVEN IS CONJUNCTION WITH THE LORD. Heaven is not heaven from the angels but from the Lord; for the love and wisdom in which the angels are and which constitute heaven, are not from the angels but from the Lord, and are, in fact, the Lord in them. And since love and wisdom are the Lord's and are the Lord in heaven, and since love and wisdom constitute the life of the angels, it is clear that their life is the Lord's, and in fact is the Lord. The angels themselves confess that they live from the Lord; hence it may be evident that heaven is conjunction with the Lord. Since, however, conjunction with the Lord varies in degree, and heaven accordingly is not the same to one as to another, it also follows that heaven is according to the conjunction with the Lord. It will be seen in the following article that there is conjunction which is closer and closer, and also conjunction which is more and more remote.

[2] Something will here be said about this conjunction, how it is effected and what is its nature. It is a conjunction of the Lord with the angels, and of the angels with the Lord, and is therefore reciprocal. The Lord flows into the life's love of the angels, and the angels receive Him in wisdom, and thereby they in turn conjoin themselves to the Lord. It should be clearly understood, however, that while to the angels the appearance is that they conjoin themselves to the Lord by means of wisdom, it is in fact the Lord who conjoins them to Himself by wisdom; for their wisdom is also from the Lord. It is the same if it is said that the Lord conjoins Himself to the angels by means of good, and that the angels in their turn conjoin themselves to the Lord by means of truth; for all good pertains to love, and all truth to wisdom.

[3] As this reciprocal conjunction, however, is an arcanum that few can understand without explanation, I will unfold it, as far as possible, by means of such things as are adapted to the comprehension. In the treatise THE DIVINE LOVE AND WISDOM (n. 404-405), it is shown how love conjoins itself to wisdom, namely, through an affection for knowing, from which comes an affection for truth, and through an affection for understanding, from which comes a perception of truth, and through an affection for seeing what is known and understood, from which comes thought. The Lord flows into all these affections, for they spring from the life's love of everyone; and this influx is received by the angels in the perception of truth and in thought; for in these the influx becomes apparent to them, but not in the affections.

[4] Now since perceptions and thoughts appear to the angels as if they were their own, although they are from affections which are from the Lord, therefore there is this appearance that the angels conjoin themselves reciprocally to the Lord, although it is the Lord who conjoins them to Himself; for affection itself produces the perceptions and thoughts, as affection, which pertains to love, is their soul. For no one can perceive and think anything without affection, and everyone perceives and thinks according to affection. From this it is clear that the reciprocal conjunction of angels with the Lord is not from the angels, but only seems to be from them. Such also is the conjunction of the Lord with the Church and of the Church with the Lord, which is called the celestial and spiritual marriage.