Page:Arcana Coelestia (Potts) vol 1.djvu/59

 fingers of Jehovah;" as in Isaiah, speaking of the regenerate man:—

Hence it is evident that the new creation, or regeneration, is the work of the Lord alone. The expressions to "create," to "form," and to "make," are employed quite distinctively, both in the above passage—"creating the heavens, forming the earth, and making it" and in other places in the same Prophet, as:—

and also in both the preceding and this chapter of Genesis; as in the passage before us: "He rested from all His work which God in making created." In the internal sense this usage always conveys a distinct idea; and the case is the same where the Lord is called "Creator," "Former," or "Maker."

. Verse 4. These are the nativities of the heavens and of the earth, when He created them, in the day in which Jehovah God made the earth and the heavens. The "nativities of the heavens and of the earth," are the formations of the celestial man. That his formation is here treated of is very evident from all the particulars which follow, as that no herb was as yet growing; that there was no man to till the ground, as well as that Jehovah God formed man, and afterwards, that He made every beast and bird of the heavens, notwithstanding that the formation of these had been treated of in the foregoing chapter; from all which it is manifest that another man is here treated of. This however is still more evident from the fact, that now for the first time the Lord is called "Jehovah God," whereas in the preceding passages, which treat of the spiritual man, He is called simply "God;" and, further, that now "ground" and "field" are mentioned, while in the