477. That "Man" is the Most Ancient Church has been often said and shown above; for in the supreme sense the Lord Himself alone is Man. From this the celestial church is called Man, as being a likeness, and from this the spiritual church is afterwards so called because it was an image. But in a general sense everyone is called a man who has human understanding; for man is man by virtue of understanding, and according thereto one person is more a man than another, although the distinction of one man from another ought to be made according to his faith as grounded in love to the Lord.
[2] That the Most Ancient Church, and every true church, and hence those who are of the church, or who live from love to the Lord and from faith in Him, are especially called "man" is evident from the Word, as in Ezekiel:
I will cause man to multiply upon you, all the house of Israel, all of it; I will cause to multiply upon you man and beast, that they may be multiplied and bear fruit; and I will cause you to dwell according to your antiquities and I will do better unto you than at your beginnings and I will cause man to walk upon you, My people Israel (Ezek. 36:10, 11, 12),
where by "antiquities" is signified the Most Ancient Church; by "beginnings" the Ancient Churches; by the "house of Israel" and "people Israel" the primitive church, or Church of the Gentiles; all which churches are called "man."
[3] So in Moses:
Remember the days of eternity, understand ye the years of generation and generation; when the Most High would give the nations an inheritance, when He would set apart the sons of man, He set the bounds of the peoples according to the number of the sons of Israel (Deut. 32:7, 8),
where by the "days of eternity" is meant the Most Ancient Church; by "generation and generation" the Ancient Churches; the "sons of man" are those who were in faith toward the Lord, which faith is the "number of the sons of Israel." That a regenerate person is called "man" appears from Jeremiah:
I beheld the earth, and lo it was empty and void; and the heavens, and they had no light; I beheld, and lo, no man, and all the birds of the heavens were fled (Jer. 4:23, 25),
where "earth" signifies the external man; "heaven' the internal; "man" the love of good; the "birds of the heavens" the understanding of truth.
[4] Again:
Behold the days come that I will sow the house of Israel, and the house of Judah, with the seed of man, and with the seen of beast (31:27),
where "man" signifies the internal man, "beast" the external. In Isaiah:
Cease ye from man in whose nostrils is breath, for wherein is he to be accounted of (Isa. 2:22),
where by "man" is signified a man of the church. Again:
Jehovah shall remove man far away, and many things shall be left in the midst of the land (Isa. 6:12),
speaking of the vastation of man, in that there should no longer exist either good or truth. Again:
The inhabitants of the earth shall be burned, and man shall be left very little (Isa. 24:6),
where "man" signifies those who have faith. Again:
The paths have been desolated, the farer on the path hath ceased, he hath made vain the covenant, he hath despised the cities, he hath not regarded man, the earth mourneth and languisheth (Isa. 33:8-9),
denoting the man who in the Hebrew tongue is "Enosh." Again:
I will make a man more precious than fine gold, and a man than the gold of Ophir; therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall be moved out of her place (Isa. 13:12-13),where the word for man in the first place is "Enosh" and in the second is "Adam."
