mosts, where there is fulness; and further, that from the human race as a seed plot the inhabitants of the spiritual world, who are angels, may spring. This is the chief and the final end of creation. But a full idea of the creation or of the coming forth of all things in their order from the life which is the Lord is not possible, because of the mysteries, which indeed are known in heaven and have been communicated to me; but as the subject is full of these, which lie deeply hidden in all knowledge, it would require volumes to explain them; and even then they would be scarcely comprehensible. The following, however, is a summary of them. The sun of heaven, in which is the Lord, is the common centre of the universe; all things of the universe are circumferences beyond circumferences even to the last; these He rules from Himself alone as one continuous thing, but the intermediates He rules from the last; these He unceasingly animates and makes active, as easily as a man from His understanding and will animates and makes active his body; influx takes place into uses, and from uses into their forms.

[AUTHOR'S MEMORANDUM:-( Here follows the Angelic Idea,-which may be inserted, or it may be added as an Appendix, or in notes.)

THE ANGELIC IDEA OF THE CREATION OF THE UNIVERSE BY THE LORD.

The angelic idea of the universe created by the Lord is as follows. God is the centre, and He is a Man; and if God were not a Man creation would not have been possible; and the Lord from eternity is that God. Of creation: The Lord from eternity, that is, God, by His Divine that goes forth created the universe and all things in it; and as the Divine that goes forth is life itself, all things have been created from life and by means of life. The Divine that goes forth that is nearest to the Lord appears before the angels as a sun; this appears to their sight fiery and flaming; this is so because the Divine that goes forth is the Divine love and Divine wisdom, and these so appear at a distance. (The angels add that the Divine that goes forth is what the ancients represented by golden or shining and pure circles about the head of God, which modern painters still retain from the ancient idea.) They said that from that sun as a great centre proceed circles, one after another and one from another even to the last where they end, and this remains at rest. These circles, of which one is from another and one after another, appearing as spread out in breadth and length, are spiritual atmospheres, which are filled with the light and heat from their sun, and through these light and heat extend themselves to the outmost circle; and in this outmost circle by means of these atmospheres, and afterwards by means of the natural atmospheres from the sun of this world, the creation of the earth and all things on it which are for use was accomplished, and this creation is afterwards continued by generations from seeds in wombs or in eggs. The angels who knew that the universe so created was a continuous work from the Creator even to outmosts, and that being a continuous work it depends upon the Lord, who is its common centre, and is moved and governed by Him as a single continuous chain, said that the First which goes forth is continued even to outmosts through discrete degrees, just as an end is continued through causes into effects; or like a producing agent and its products in a continued series; also that the continuation is not only in but also around from the First, and so from every thing prior into

every thing posterior, even to the postreme; and thus that the First and the posterior from it exist together in their order in the postreme or outmost. From this continuity as a one they have their idea of the Lord, that He is the all in all things, that He is omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient, that He is infinite and eternal; and also their idea of the order according to which the Lord, through His Divine love and Divine wisdom, arranges, provides, and governs all things.

It was asked, "Whence, then, is hell?" They said, "From man's freedom, without which man would not be a man;" that man by that freedom ruptured the continuity in himself, and with this rupture a separation took place; and the continuity that was in man from creation became like a chain or a linked work which falls when the links above are broken or torn asunder, and it thenceforward hangs by slender threads. Separation or rupture was effected and is effected by denial of God.

[FRAGMENTS FROM THE LAST PAGE OF THE AUTHOR'S MANUSCRIPT.]

BY MEANS OF THAT HEAT AND THAT LIGHT ALL THINGS IN THE SPIRITUAL WORLD AND ALL THINGS IN THE NATURAL WORLD HAVE BEEN CREATED.

THERE ARE DEGREES OF THAT HEAT AND LIGHt.

THERE ARE THREE DEGREES OF THAT LIGHT AND HEAT TO THE OUTMOSTS OF THE SPIRITUAL WORLD, AND AFTERWARDS THREE DEGREES TO THE OUTMOSTS OF THE NATURAL World. GOD IS THE FOUNTAIN OF ALL USES, CELESTIAL, SPIRITUAL, AND NATURAL.

ALL USES ARE IN GOD IN THEIR VERY LIFE, THUS IN THEIR BEING (esse).

SINCE GOD IS LOVE ITSELF, USES ARE OF HIS DIVINE LOVE.

USE AND GOOD ARE ONE THING.

DIVINE LOVE IS DIVINE GOOD.

DIVINE LOVE IS A LOVE of uses.

DIVINE LOVE AND DIVINE WISDOM APPEAR IN THE SPIRITUAL WORLD AS A SUN.

FROM THE SUN WHICH IS THE LORD IN THE SPIRITUAL WORLD HEAT AND LIGHT GO FORTH.

THAT HEAT IS LOVE GOING FORTH, AND THAT LIGHT IS WISDOM GOING FORTH.