4438. CONCERNING THE INFLUX OF THE LORD INTO THE CHURCH, [HOW] IT IS FROM ALL, [AND] THAT IT IS LIKE A HEART. It was said that the church of the Lord is like the heart and lungs, and that thence there is an influx into others [who are not of the church]. It was perceived how the case is, namely, that it is as in man; that as the other viscera, which are of inferior use, are from the heart and lungs, so is it with the kingdom of the Lord in any particular earth. That there is an influx from many, [nay] from innumerable multitudes into everyone, is manifest from experience in my own case, nay, that there is an influx into every idea from many [even] from the universal heaven according to affinities, as in the human body; or, as by means of many muscles disconnected with each other and by means of still more motive fibers, one action results, The same might be manifest from experience, in that one beautiful [appearance] may arise from many lascivious women together. In this manner the Lord forms a one out of innumerable [particulars], according to His good pleasure. This is the case also with the church of the Lord in the earths; angels dwell with those who are in love to the Lord and in love to the neighbor; these are, as it were, the heart and lungs; and the case is similar with man on the earth; where there is no church, the angels are removed, so that an influx through very many societies of angels is no longer possible, and from them into those situated remotely from them; for there is no proximate conjunction from which there may be a derivation to others, and so on.