Page:The Doctrines of the New Church Briefly Explained.djvu/129

Rh the Divine Being must ever appear the opposite of what He really is. The appearance is a true appearance, resulting from the opposite state in and from which He is viewed.

We have in the realm of nature many such appearances of truth, which are very different from the real truth. Yet we continue to speak according to the appearance, even after it is known that the language we employ does not express the real but only the apparent truth. For example, we say that the sun rises in the morning and goes down in the evening. Yet we know that this is a fallacy, and that such language, literally interpreted, conveys an idea quite foreign to the real truth. Our reason, along with our knowledge of the solar system, enables us to correct this sensuous appearance, and to see that this apparent upward and downward movement of the sun, is caused by our own and not by the sun's motion—that is, by the diurnal revolution of the earth on its axis.

And the universe is full of such fallacious appearances, which are gradually dissipated as the knowledge of its laws increases. But this can be effected only through the faithful exercise of the reason that God has given us. And why should there not be the same fallacious appearances in the Word as in the works of God?—appearances that can only be dissipated by an increase of spiritual