Apocalypse Explained (Whitehead) n. 944

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944. For Thou only art holy, signifies because He is good itself and truth itself, consequently all good and truth are from Him. This is evident from the signification of "holy," as being the Divine that proceeds from the Lord, for this alone is holy, and is called the Divine good united to the Divine truth. And as this proceeds from the Lord it is Himself; for that which proceeds is from that which is in Him, and therefore it is Himself. This is why the Lord is the Divine good itself and the Divine truth itself. [2] It is the same as with the heat and light that proceed from the sun in the world, or from a flame of fire. The heat and light are from the sun, for they are from what is in the sun; in the sun is pure fire; this fire outside the sun is heat decreasing as the distance from the sun increases; and light is its modification or interior action in substances that are outside the sun, but are also from its fire. These substances in which these exist and take place are called atmospheres. From an analogous correspondence a conclusion may be formed respecting the heat and light that proceed from the Lord as a sun in heaven. The Lord there as a sun is the Divine love; and the heat proceeding therefrom is the Divine good; and the light proceeding therefrom is the Divine truth. The heat that proceeds, which is the Divine good, is the Divine love in its extension; and the light that proceeds, which is the Divine truth, is a modification or interior action of this in substances that are outside of Him. These substances, in which this modification takes place, are the spiritual atmospheres, from which the angels breathe and live. [3] As like things in the world are analogous correspondences, so "fire" signifies in the Word love, "heat" the Divine good, and "light" the Divine truth. The difference is that as the heat and light of heaven vivify spiritual essences, so the heat and light of the world vivify natural essences. And yet the heat and light of the world do not vivify from themselves, but from the heat and light of heaven, thus from the Lord. All this has been said to make known that the Lord is the Divine good itself and the Divine truth itself; thus He only is holy.

(Continuation)

[4] Into this state the man comes who shuns evils because they are sins, and looks to the Lord; and so far as he comes into this state he turns away from and detests evils as sins, and acknowledges in heart and worships the Lord only, and His Divine in the Human. This is a summary.


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