Angelic Wisdom Concerning the Divine Love and the Divine Wisdom | Page 7

is as one body under
one head. It is known that the head rules the body under it at will; for
understanding and will have their seat in the head; and in conformity to
the understanding and will the body is directed, even to the extent that
the body is nothing but obedience. As the body can do nothing except
from the understanding and will in the head, so the man of the church
can do nothing except from God. The body seems to act of itself, as if
the hands and feet in acting are moved of themselves; or the mouth and
tongue in speaking vibrate of themselves, when, in fact, they do not in
the slightest degree act of themselves, but only from an affection of the
will and the consequent thought of the understanding in the head.
Suppose, now, one body to have several heads and each head to be free
to act from its own understanding and its own will, could such a body
continue to exist? For among several heads singleness of purpose, such
as results from one head would be impossible. As in the church, so in
the heavens; heaven consists of myriads of myriads of angels, and
unless these all and each looked to one God, they would fall away from
one another and heaven would be broken up. Consequently, if an angel
of heaven but thinks of a plurality of gods he is at once separated; for

he is cast out into the outmost boundary of the heavens, and sinks
downward.
26. Because the whole heaven and all things of heaven have relation to
one God, angelic speech is such that by a certain unison flowing from
the unison of heaven it closes in a single cadence - a proof that it is
impossible for the angels to think otherwise than of one God; for
speech is from thought.
27. Who that has sound reason can help seeing that the Divine is not
divisible? also that a plurality of Infinites, of Uncreates, of
Omnipotents, and of Gods, is impossible? Suppose one destitute of
reason were to declare that a plurality of Infinites, of Uncreates, of
Omnipotents, and of Gods is possible, if only they have one identical
essence, and this would make of them one Infinite, Uncreate,
Omnipotent, and God, would not the one identical essence be one
identity? And one identity is not possible to several. If it should be said
that one is from the other, the one who is from the other is not God in
Himself; nevertheless, God in Himself is the God from whom all things
are (see above, n. 16).
28. THE DIVINE ESSENCE ITSELF IS LOVE AND WISDOM
Sum up all things you know and submit them to careful inspection, and
in some elevation of spirit search for the universal of all things, and you
cannot conclude otherwise than that it is Love and Wisdom. For these
are the two essentials of all things of man's life; everything of that life,
civil, moral, and spiritual, hinges upon these two, and apart from these
two is nothing. It is the same with all things of the life of the composite
Man, which is, as was said above, a society, larger or smaller, a
kingdom, an empire, a church, and also the angelic heaven. Take away
love and wisdom from these, and consider whether they be anything,
and you will find that apart from love and wisdom as their origin they
are nothing.
29. Love together with wisdom in its very essence is in God. This no
one can deny; for God loves every one from love in Himself, and leads
every one from wisdom in Himself. The created universe, too, viewed

in relation to its order, is so full of wisdom coming forth from love that
all things in the aggregate may be said to be wisdom itself. For things
limitless are in such order, successively and simultaneously, that taken
together they make a one. It is from this, and this alone, that they can
be held together and continually preserved.
30. It is because the Divine Essence itself is Love and Wisdom that
man has two capacities for life; from one of these he has understanding,
from the other will. The capacity from which he has understanding
derives everything it has from the influx of wisdom from God, and the
capacity from which he has will derives everything it has from the
influx of love from God. Man's not being truly wise and not loving
rightly does not take away these capacities, but merely closes them up;
and so long as they are closed up, although the understanding is still
called understanding and the will is called will, they are not such in
essence. If these two