Total submission T. Pitcairn [continuation of the paper “The proprium”]
At the ministers meetings in February 1933 I delivered a paper entitled “The Proprium”, which treated concerning the reception and appropriation of the good and true of the Lord. The following are certain quotations from this article:
”We read: ’That the celestial which is the Lord’s proprium, which alone is celestial and holy was not to be commingled with man’s proprium, which is profane.’ ‘As man’s proprium is wholly evil and false, it cannot receive anything of good and truth; therefore, if man is to be saved, he must receive a new proprium from the Lord which can reciprocate the inflowing love and wisdom, and it is this that is called the celestial proprium.
“ ‘As the celestial proprium is the uniting medium between the Lord and man, it is the Lord’s own with man, is in no wise man’s own, although it appears to manias if it were.’ This teaching is also given in innumerable other places in the Latin word, from which the following are quoted: ‘As regard flesh, in the supreme sense, it signifies the proprium of the Lord Divine Human, which is the Divine Good. This proprium is what is called the celestial proprium, which in itself is the Lord’s alone appropriated to those who are in good, and thence in truth.’ (AC 3813)”
“‘It is celestial love which the” Lord then insinuates, and through which He creates his Proprium; and therefore the Lord wants it to appear his, although it is not his. .The Lord must be in the Divine, and not in the proprium of any one.’ (A.C. 9336 (6).).” “ ‘Their proprium is nothing but what is evil and damned; but the Lord’s proprium which they receive is good.’ (A.C. 7784). ‘As man, as to his proprium is nothing but evil and falsity, therefore of the Divine Mercy, he can be removed from his proprium. These means are given in the Word;, and. when man operates by these means, that is, thinks, speaks, wills and acts from the Divine Word, he is then kept by the Lord in Divine things, and when this lasts, as it were a new proprium is formed, both voluntary and intellectual…which is completely separated from the proprium of man.’’ (A.C. 585) .”
“That nothing of the reception of good and truth, and nothing of the reciprocal is man’s, but is only as it were man’s, is clearly taught as follows: ‘The receptacle of the good of love with man is the will, and the receptacle of the truth of faith with Him is the understanding; and to will good does not belong to man, nor to believe truth. These are the two faculties in which is the whole life of man…. Man is kept in the freedom of choosing, that is, of receiving good and truth… Neither is this freedom itself in the man.’ (A.E. 349).”‘
Read the full paper Total Submission by T. Pitcairn
