AE 616 - The Little Book

  AE 616

And I went unto the angel, saying, Give me the little book,
(Revelation 10:9)

means the faculty to perceive from the Lord
of what quality the Word is.

This is evident from the meaning of
"going to the angel and saying, Give me the little book,"
as being in the nearest sense
to obey the command,
because he was told to go and take it;
but in a more remote sense,
which also is the interior sense,
these words mean the faculty to perceive from the Lord
of what quality the Word is.

It is granted by the Lord to every person to perceive this,
but yet no one does perceive it
unless he wishes as of himself to perceive it.
This ability to reciprocate,
a person must have
in order to receive the faculty to perceive the Word;
unless a person wishes and does this as of himself
no such faculty can be appropriated to him;
since, in order that appropriation may be effected,
there must be an active and a reactive;
the active is from the Lord,
so is the reactive,
but the latter appears to be from a person;
for the Lord Himself gives this reactive,
and so it is from the Lord and not from a person;
but as a person does not know otherwise
than that he lives from himself,
and consequently that he thinks and wills from himself,
so he must needs do this
as if it were from what is proper to his own life;
and when he so acts,
it is then first implanted in him,
and conjoined and appropriated to him.