Page:Swedenborg, Harbinger of the New Age of the Christian Church.djvu/201



the Arcana of the Books of Moses, and collaterally in the other Books of the Old Testament, Swedenborg had found a constant foreshadowing of the eventual coming of the Lord to dwell with men their God. In other terms, he had seen the inner Word to be the revelation of the Divine purpose toward mankind, inducing always the Divine image and likeness, and in due time to be fully accomplished by this purpose, or the Word, becoming flesh and dwelling among men. This great event in the history of mankind we are wont to regard as wholly completed in the Gospel period, while our Lord remained visible in the flesh. But this was only the beginning, the introduction to the Lord's dwelling with men in their souls, their hearts, and even in their flesh. By coming down, or coming forth from within, into all the degrees of human life, even to the flesh, in the single form taken from woman, the Divine