Divine Providence (Dick and Pulsford) n. 293

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293. To this I will add the opinion of angels regarding will and intelligence in man. It is this: There cannot be in any man a grain of will and prudence that is his own. They say that if there were such a grain in any man neither heaven nor hell would continue to exist, and the whole human race would perish. The reason, they say, is that myriads of myriads of men, as many as have been born since the creation of the world, constitute heaven and hell, which are arranged in such an order, the one under the other, that on either side they make a one, heaven forming one beautiful man, and hell one monstrous man. If any individual had a grain of will and intelligence of his own that "one" could not possibly exist, but would be rent asunder; and with it would perish that Divine Form which can only manifest itself and continue in being when the Lord is the All in all men and they* are absolutely nothing. Another reason, they say, is that to think and to will from self is the essential Divine principle, while to think and to will from God is the essential human principle; and what is essentially Divine cannot be appropriated to any man, for in that case man would be God. Keep this in mind; and if you wish, you will have it confirmed by angels when after death you enter into the spiritual world. * The translation regards "omnibus" as masculine, as the following pronoun "illi" is masculine. Ager's English version (1899) translates both as neuter. The text is "Dominus est omne in omnibus et illi. . ."


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