That the Lord Alone is Heaven

Adress by the Reverend Theodore Pitcairn
before the First Dutch Society, the Hague, Nineteenth of June 1933

The subject which is engaging the thought of the Church at this time is particularly the nature of the Lord’s proprium with man, and that it is the Lord’s Divine Proprium which makes Heaven and the Chuich and nothing of the proprium of Angel or man which is evil. We are taught in the Word that “the Lord is the all in all things of Heaven and of the Church”, and as He is the all in all things of Heaven and of the Church, He is the ‘all in all things of an Angel and of a man, in so far as an Angel is in the angelic and in so far as a man is of the Church. This subject is treated of in particular in THE ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING THE DIVINE LOVE AND CONCERNING THE DIVINE WISDOM, under the heading: That the Angels are in the Lord, and the Lord in them; and, because the Angels are recipients, that the Lord alone is Heaven, n. 113-118.

The number first treats of the apparent separation of the Lord and Heaven, for it states that: “The Lord is in the Sun above the Heavens, and through His presence in heat and light, He is in the Heavens”. But that this separation is an appearance is stated as follows: “Although the Lord is in Heaven in that manner, still He is there as He is in Himself. For, as was demonstrated just above, n. 108-112, the distance between the Sun and Heaven is not distance but an appearance of distance. And because the distance is only an appearance it follows that the Lord Himself is in Heaven, for He is in the love and wisdom of the Angels of Heaven”. Here we have a paradox. It is taught that an Angel could no more approach the Sun of Heaven without being consumed by its ardor, than a man could approach the sun of the world, and nevertheless that it is but an appearance that there is such a separation, for the Lord is omnipresent. If the mind be raised above the idea of space and its appearances, it can be seen that the apparent distance spoken of here does not refer essentially to the external appearance of distance in the spiritual world, but to the state of Heaven; namely that on the one hand the existence of Heaven and the as of itself life of Heaven, is due to the fact that they see the Lord infinitely above themselves and on the other hand that they acknowledge that the Lord is the all in all things of their love and wisdom, and consequently that their love and wisdom is not theirs but the Lord’s. In this connection it may be noted that as the Angels increase in wisdom, on the one hand they acknowledge more fully the Lord’s presence, and that all their love and wisdom is the Lord’s, while on the other they see more clearly the infinite distance between the Lord and themselves. This may be illustrated by the fact that it is only the learned who realize the great distance to the sun of the natural world, and apart from the science of astronomy no one could imagine that the sun is hundreds of times as far away as the moon, for such knowledge is contrary to the appearance.

This appearance and reality of the distance of the sun and moon represent the difference in state between those who are in the appearance that they can enter into the spiritual sense of the Word by direct cognizance, and those who see that the Lord as the internal sense is as it were infinitely above the appearances a man comes into by direct cognizance of the literal sense of the Latin Word. Note that the distance to the moon also cannot be realized apart from astronomy, which illustrates how unaware of spiritual distances are those who remain in the mere appearance of the letter of the Word including the Third Testament.

While the as of itself life and thus the reciprocal of Angels and men depends on the very real appearance of spiritual distance, nevertheless that this is an appearance is manifested from the Word and from Doctrine thence, for we read in n. 114: “That the Lord is not only in Heaven, but also that He is Heaven itself, is because love and wisdom make the Angel, and these two are the Lord’s with the Angels; hence it follows that the Lord is Heaven. For the Angels are not Angels from their proprium; their proprium is altogether like man’s proprium, which is evil. … The proprinm is only removed, and in so far as it is removed, in so far they receive love and wisdom, that is the Lord in themselves. Any one can see, if only he elevates his understanding somewhat, that the Lord cannot dwell with the Angels excepting in His Own, that is in His Proprium, which is Love and Wisdom; and not at all in the proprium of the Angels, which is evil. Hence it is that in so far as evil is removed in so far the Lord is in them, and in so far they are Angels. The angelic itself of Angels is the Divine Love and the Divine Wisdom. This Divine is called angelic while it is in the Angels. Hence again it is plain, that the Angels are Angels from the Lord, and not from themselves; consequently Heaven also”. From the above it is manifest that the love and wisdom of men a.nd Angels is pure, because it is Divine and is the Lord’s and consequently cannot be commingled with anything of their proprium, which is evil, for if there were commingling, profanation would ensue. At times what is of the Lord and what is of man may not be distinguished by man, but Providence continually leads towards making this distinction visible to Angels and men.

Although love and wisdom are the Lord’s, in order that there may be a reciprocal they must appear to be man’s; apart from this appearance no conjunction is possible. Thus we read in n. 115:’ “The Angel does not perceive otherwise than that he is in love and wisdom from himself, in like manner with man, and hence as if love and wisdom are his and his own. Unless he so perceived, there would not be any conjunction; thus the Lord would not be in him, nor he in the Lord. Nor can .it be possible for the Lord to be in any Angel and man, unless he in whom the Lord ‘is with love and wisdom, perceives these as his.” And in n. 116: “But how this is brought about, that an Angel perceives and feels as his own, and thus receives and retains, that which is not his own ? for as was said above an Angel is not an Angel from his own, but from those things which are with him from the Lord ? shall now be said. The case in itself is thus. With every Angel there is liberty and rationality; these two are with him to the end that he may be receptible of love and wisdom from the Lord. Yet both these, the liberty as well as the rationality are not his, but the Lord’s with him. But because these two are intimately conjoined to his life, so intimately that they may be said to be in joined upon his life, – they therefore appear as his propria”. The faculties of liberty and rationality being the Lord’s and not man’s, are Divine. The faculties of liberty and rationality are the faculties of receiving truth and good from the Lord; hence it follows that both the good and truth which inflow and also the faculties which receive are the Lord’s and not man’s, and hence that good and truth after reception are the Lord’s alone. The evil have the faculties in potentiality but not the use of the faculties; wherefore with them there is not good and truth, but only will, speech, and act, in a lower degree than liberty itself and rationality itself. These faculties which, as is said, are the Lord’s, are conjoined and injoined upon man’s life so closely that what belongs to the Lord appears as if man’s, yea as if they were his propria, that is as if they were properly his. This appearance causes the reciprocal between the Lord and man and hence conjunction; but it only causes conjunction in so far as it is acknowledged that good and truth and the faculties of receiving them, are the Lord’s, for we read: “And yet in so far as any Angel believes that love and wisdom are in him, and thus claims them to himself as his own, in so far the angelic is not in him, and therefore in so far there is no conjunction with the Lord”, n. 116. The good and truth here spoken of are not the inflowing good and truth before reception, but that good and truth which appear as his proprium, because belonging to the rationality and liberty which are the Lord’s with him.

The number continues: “For he is not in the truth: and because the truth makes one with the light of Heaven, in so far he cannot be in Heaven, for from this ground he denies that he lives from the Lord, and believes that he lives from himself, consequently that he has a Divine essence”. It has been thought that DE HEMELSCHE LEER implies that man has a Divine essence, but deeper reflection will manifest the truth that the reverse is the case, and that in so far as man denies that the good and truth which appear as his own are the Lord’s, so far he attributes to himself a Divine essence, even though he may deny it, and may even think that he does not do so. That this is so. may be seen from the following.

The quotations above make it evident that it is the same thing to believe that good and truth are one’s own or to believe that one lives from one’s self; for all genuine life is the life of good and truth. Good and truth flow in with everyone, both good and evil; it is the reception which causes them to be spiritual life in a man. If man could receive them from something properly his own. he would receive them from a life which was his own, for what is dead cannot receive good and truth; to have life which is one’s own is to have a Divine essence, as quoted above. To state the matter differently: If it is denied that good and truth after reception are Divine, thus making them man’s and not the Lord’s, a life of good and truth is attributed to man which is not the Lord’s. But, as stated in the above quotation, to attribute a life of good and truth to man, really would mean that man had a Divine essence. On the other hand in so far as it is acknowledged that all the good which one does and the truth which one thinks are the Lord’s alone and hence Divine, it results in an internal acknowledgment that the Lord alone has a Divine essence, and that hence all good and truth are His, and only as if it were man’s. This is involved in the continuation of the number which reads: “From these things it may appear that an Angel has a reciprocal for the sake of conjunction with the Lord; but that the reciprocal considered in its faculty is not his but the Lord’s. Hence it is, if he abuses that reciprocal from which he perceives and feels as his own what is the Lord’s, which is done by appropriating it to himself, that he falls down from the angelic”.

Note that no one can perceive and feel as his own “good and truth and their life before they are received, nor can he appropriate them to himself. Hence it is evident that the warning is as to the danger of appropriating the good and truth which have been received and which are felt as one’s own. This is done by denying their Divinity, for to deny their Divinity is to deny that they are the Lord’s and not man’s. That the Divine Love and Wisdom are the Divine love and wisdom in man, thus after reception, is clearly taught in number 114, quoted above, namely: “The angelic itself is the Divine Love and Wisdom. This Divine is called the angelic while it is in the Angels”; further: “They receive love and wisdom, that is the Lord, in themselves”, and further: “The Lord cannot dwell with Angels excepting in His own, that is in His Proprium, which is love and wisdom”. Hence it is manifest that the Word clearly teaches that love and wisdom in man after reception are wholly the Lord’s and not man’s, and are therefore Divine.