1120. Because she saith in her heart, I sit a queen.- That this signifies pride and boasting because heaven and the church are under their dominion, is evident from the signification of saying in their heart, which denotes boasting from pride, for to say signifies boasting, and the heart signifies the love of self, thus also pride; and from the signification of sitting a queen, which denotes that heaven and the church are under their dominion. The reason why this is meant by sitting a queen, is, that when the Lord is called king, then by queen is meant heaven and the church; similarly when the Lord is called bridegroom and husband, then heaven and the church are meant by bride and wife. It is said heaven, but the church in heaven, or the church with the angels of heaven, which makes one with the church with men on earth, is understood; for there are governments in the heavens, as there are on earth, consequently there are also economical, civil, and ecclesiastical affairs as on earth, although in greater perfection. The church therefore in the heavens is what is meant by bride and wife, when therefore the Lord is understood as king, then the church, which is the wife of the king, is meant by a queen.
[2] The church is also meant by a queen in David:
"Kings' daughters among thy precious ones, at thy right hand doth stand the queen in best gold of Ophir" (Psalm xlv. 9).
The subject dealt with in that Psalm is the Lord and His kingdom; and by the kings' daughters among the precious ones are signified the affections for truth, and these are said to be among the precious ones because precious, in the Word, is said of truths. The queen standing at the right hand in gold of Ophir signifies the church from the reception of good from the Lord. For all those things in man which belong to his right side have reference to good from which is truth, and those which belong to the left side to truth from which is good; it is therefore said that the queen stands at the right hand. The gold of Ophir also signifies good. That those things in man which are on the right side have reference to good, and those things which are on the left have reference to truth, may be seen above (n. 600); and that gold signifies the good of love (n. 242). Woman also is born to be affection which is love, and man is born to be understanding; thus the woman is born to be good, for all good is of the affection which is of love, and man is born to be truth, for all truth is of the understanding. While therefore good has relation to the right side of man, and truth to the left, it follows that it is according to Divine order that the wife is on the right.
[3] Continuation concerning the Athanasian Creed, and concerning the Lord.- We have said that the Lord is the only Man, and that all are men according to the reception of Divine Good and Divine Truth from Him. The reason why the Lord is the only Man is, that He is life itself; but all others, because they are men from Him, are recipients of life. The difference between Man who is life, and a man who is a recipient of life, is like that between the uncreated and the created, and between the infinite and the finite, and this difference is such as to admit of no comparison. For there can be no comparison between the infinite and the finite, thus there can be none between God as Man and another being as a man, whether he be an angel, or a spirit, or a man in the world. That the Lord is life, He Himself teaches in John:
"The Word was with God, and the Word was God; in him was life, and the life was the light of men; and the Word was made flesh" (i. 1, 4, 14).
In the same:
"As the Father hath life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself" (v. 26).
Again:
"As the living Father hath sent me, and I also live by the Father" (vi. 57);
"I am the resurrection and the life" (xi. 25);
"I am the way, the truth, and the life" (xiv. 6).
Since the Lord is life, therefore, in other passages of the Word, He is called the Bread of life, the Light of life, and the Tree of life, also, the living God and the living. Because He is life, and every man is a recipient of life from Him, therefore, He also teaches, that He gives life and quickens; as in John:
"As the Father quickeneth, so also the Son quickeneth" (v. 21).
In the same:
"I am the bread of God which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life to the world" (vi. 33 [51]).
Again:
"Because I live, ye shall live also" (xiv. 19).
And in many passages it is said, that He giveth life to those who believe in Him; therefore God is also called "a Fountain of life's (Psalm xxxvi. 9); and in other places, Creator, Maker, Former; also the Potter, and we the clay, and the work of His hands. Since God is life, it follows that in Him we live, move, and are.
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