![]() This least degree is in the natural mind of man, the external mind which sees things in the light of the natural senses. And the North, opposite the South, represents the least degree of spiritual intelligence. ![]() The South, in which is the greatest light, represents the greatest light of intelligence in Divine Truth. The West, opposite the East, represents the least degree of love to the Lord. The East, where the sun appears to rise, represents the Lord's love or, in us, our love for our Lord. The Lord is "the Sun of Righteousness," And the spiritual quarter in which any angel dwells, depends upon his mental attitude towards the Lord, as the spiritual Sun. In the spiritual world, the quarters are not matters of locality, but of mental states. "The waters issued out from under the threshold of the house." This water represents the practical truth from the Lord, for use in man's life. We recognize this practical use of introductory truths, in the passage in the Revelation 22:14 referring to the holy city of the New Jerusalem: "Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in, through the gates, into the city." The door, or gate, of the Lord's house, represents the introductory truth, which informs a man's mind about the Lord and His church, and which thus serves to introduce him into the church not merely the church as an external institution, but rather the principles of the church, which form an interior church in the mind, by introducing the mind into practical goodness in the daily life. In the highest sense, the house, or temple, is the Divine Humanity of the Lord, in which the Divine life comes to men, and dwells with them, and they with Him, in His "house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." There is no mere locality which would be heaven in any spiritual sense, without the presence of regenerate men, who are angels, and in whom the Lord spiritually dwells. But these two meanings make one, in their application to human life, because, in the higher sense, both the church and heaven are, spiritually, in the human mind i.e., in the hearts and intellects of regenerate men, in this world, and in the next world. In a more general sense, the house, or temple, represents heaven, which is also the Lord's dwelling-place with men. ![]() ![]() The house of the Lord, or temple, in one sense, represents the church, which is the Lord's dwelling-place with men. And, impersonally, he represents the regenerating man's perception of the truth, developed by the Lord, and being the Lord's presence in the man. But, in the supreme aspect, He is the Lord, in His Divine Providence, leading and enlightening the regenerating man. Naturally, he would appear to be an angel, sent upon this special mission. The man with a measuring line may be viewed in several aspects. The Divine Truth seems to increase in volume, and to rise to greater heights, the more the man attains greater perception and understanding of the truth. This prophetic vision representatively pictures some phases of the progress of regeneration, in the human mind and life. The Divine Truth flows out from the Lord, with the Divine Love, to angels of the different heavens, and to men on the earths, to each according to the quality and degree of his mind and life.
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