4376. WHY THE LORD WAS BORN ON THIS EARTH. It was perceived that the Lord willed to be born on this earth, because, if he had not done so, the earth would have perished; and as the human race inhabiting our earth corresponds for the most part to corporeal things, they could not be otherwise united with interiors than by the Lord's becoming man; especially after the correspondence had begun to perish, which continued as long as there was anything of a celestial church, that is, of love to the Lord. - 1749, August 25.