Page:Heaven Revealed.djvu/354

 scientific basis; in other words, to inquire whether his alleged disclosure on this point is true.

Since the Lord alone is Life, and the only source of life to angels and men, therefore He is the all-in-all of heaven. But in Him there exists a trinal distinction—a trinity of divine essentials. These are, Divine Love, Divine Wisdom, and Divine Operation; called by Swedenborg the Essential Divine, the Divine Human, and the Divine Proceeding; and referred to in the New Testament by the terms Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We have a good illustration of this Divine Trinity in the natural sun, the three essentials of which are heat, light, and their proceeding operation. These three are united in the sun, and are its essentials; for neither of them can exist apart from the other two. This illustration is perfect; for the sun's heat corresponds to the Divine Love, its light to the Divine Wisdom, and their joint operation to the sphere of the Divine Activity, or the proceeding influence of the Lord's love and wisdom.

And as man was created in the Divine image and likeness, therefore there must be in him a trinal distinction imaging, in some degree at least, the trinity in God. There being a manifest trine of essentials in the Divine Being from whom is all our life, there must of necessity be three discrete degrees of life in the soul which is the real man. And as the kingdom of heaven is within, it follows that there must be in general three heavens separated by discrete degrees. These are, we are told—and this is precisely as it should be—related like end, cause, and effect, or like Love, Wisdom, and Operation (or Use) in the Lord. And every man after death enters