Page:A Compendium of the Theological Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg.djvu/241



six days or periods, which are so many successive states, of man's regeneration are in general as follows:—

The first state is that which precedes, both from infancy and immediately before regeneration, and is called a void, emptiness, and darkness. And the first motion, which is the Lord's mercy, is the Spirit of God moving over the faces of the waters.

The second state is when there is a division between those things which are the Lord's and those that are man's own. Those which are of the Lord are called in the Word remains (reliquœ), and are here especially cognitions of faith acquired from infancy. They are laid up and not manifested until he comes into this state; a state which rarely exists at this day without temptation, misfortune, and sorrow,—which cause the things that are of the body and the world to be quiescent, and as it were dead. The things that are of the external man are thus separated from those that belong to the internal man. In the internal are the remains laid up by the Lord to this time, and for this use.

The third is a state of repentance, in which from the internal man he talks piously and devoutly, and brings forth things good, as works of charity; but which are yet inanimate, because he believes them to be from himself. And they are called the tender herb; then, the herb yielding seed; and afterwards, the tree hearing fruit.

The fourth state is when he is affected by love, and enlightened by faith. Before indeed he talked piously, and brought forth things that were good, but from a state of temptation and distress, not from faith and charity. These are therefore now enkindled in the internal man, and are called two luminaries.

The fifth state is, that he talks from faith, and confirms himself thereby in truth and good. The things which he now