Page:The New Church - What, How, Why .djvu/28

24 heaven is not up in the sky, but up in life. "The kingdom of heaven is within."

Now since the Lord ascended by closing the inner vision, He will come again in the same way—by opening the inner vision; by rolling back the clouds that obscure the knowledge of Him.

Further, that the Infinite might reveal Himself to the finite in verbal declarations, it was necessary that He should speak in terms of a language known to man. He was obliged to use words and ideas with which the finite is familiar. So in forming the Word that perpetually reveals Him, He had to take human words and ideas. Often He spoke not according to reality, but as things appeared to man. Otherwise there would have been no approach to man and no conjunction with him. The letter of the Word is therefore formed of words, language, and ideas taken from human minds. These words, language, and ideas constitute the letter of the Word, and form a covering of the thought and