Page:A Compendium of the Theological Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg.djvu/139

Rh this was made immediate after His coming it is said in Isaiah, "That the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun;" and in David, "In His days shall the righteous flourish, and abundance of peace, until there is no longer any moon" (lxxii. 7). This also is spoken of the Lord.

The Lord from eternity or Jehovah put on this third degree, by the assumption of the Human in the world, because He could not enter into this degree except by a nature similar to the human nature; therefore only by conception from His Divine, and by nativity from a virgin. (D. L. W. n. 233, 234.)

It should be known that the Lord is present with men in His Divine natural; with the angels of His spiritual kingdom in His Divine spiritual; and with the angels of His celestial kingdom in His Divine celestial; yet He is not divided, but appears to every one according to his quality. (A. R n. 466.)

"Until Shiloh come." That this signifies the coming of the Lord, and the tranquillity of peace then, appears from the signification of Shiloh, which is the Lord,—who is called Shiloh from the fact that He calmed and tranquillized all things; for in the original tongue Shiloh is derived from a word which signifies tranquillity. Why the Lord is here called Shiloh is evident from what was said just above concerning the celestial kingdom and its power; for when the Divine was manifested through that kingdom there was intranquillity; because the things which are in heaven, and those which are in hell, could not be reduced by it to order—inasmuch as the Divine which flowed through that kingdom could not be pure, because heaven is not pure. That kingdom therefore was not so strong that by it all things might be kept in order; on which account infernal and diabolical spirits even issued forth from the hells, and domineered over the souls which came from the world. From which it came to pass that no others than the celestial could thus be saved; and at length scarcely they, if the Lord had not assumed the human, and thereby made it in Himself Divine. By this the Lord reduced all things to order; first the things which are in heaven, next those that are in the hells. From this is the tranquillity of peace. (A. C. n. 6373.)

All the churches that existed before His advent were representative churches, which could not see Divine truth, save as it were in the shade; but after the advent of the Lord into the world a church was instituted by Him which saw Divine truth, or rather which could see it, in the light. The difference is as that between evening and morning. The state of the church before the Lord's advent is also called evening and the state of the church after His advent is called morning. The Lord was indeed present with the men of the church before His