Then those who sat on the seats began to investigate and explain the arcana proposed to them, and delivered their sentiments in order; first those who sat on the north, next those on the west, afterwards those on the south, and lastly those on the east. They began with the first subject of inquiry, WHAT IS THE IMAGE OF GOD, AND WHAT THE LIKENESS OF GOD, INTO WHICH MAN WAS CREATED? But before they proceeded, these words were read in the presence of them all out of the book of creation, "_God said, Let us make man into OUR IMAGE, according to OUR LIKENESS: and God created man into HIS IMAGE; into the IMAGE OF GOD created he him_," Gen. i. 26, 27. "_In the day that God created man, into the LIKENESS OF GOD made he him_," Gen. v. 1. Those who sat on the north spoke first, saying, "The image of God and the likeness of God are the two lives breathed into man by God, which are the life of the understanding; for it is written, '_Jehovah God breathed into Adam's nostril the soul of LIVES; and man became a living soul_,' Gen. ii. 7; into the nostrils denotes into the perception, that the will of good and the understanding of truth, and thereby the soul of lives, was in him; and since life from God was breathed into him, the image and likeness of God signify integrity derived from wisdom and love, and from justice and judgment in him." These sentiments were favored by those who sat to the west; only they added, that the state of integrity then breathed in from God is continually breathed into every man since; but that it is a man as in a receptacle; and a man, as he is a receptacle, is an image and likeness of God. After this, the third in order, who were those who were seated on the south, delivered their sentiments as follows: "An image of God and a likeness of God are two distinct things; but in man they are united from creation; and we see, as from an interior light, that the image of God maybe destroyed by man, but not the likeness of God. This appears as clear as the day from this consideration, that Adam retained the likeness of God after that he had lost the image of God; for it is written after the curse, '_Behold the man is as one of us, knowing good and evil_,' Gen. iii. 22; and afterwards he is called a likeness of God, and not an image of God, Gen. v. 1. But we will leave to our associates who sit on the east, and are thence in superior light, to say what is properly meant by an image of God, and what by a likeness of God." And then, after silence was obtained, those who sat on the east arose from their seats, and looked up to the Lord, and afterwards sat down again, and thus began: "An image of God is a receptacle of God; and since God is love itself and wisdom itself, an image of God is a receptacle of love and wisdom from God in it; but a likeness of God is a perfect likeness and full appearance, as if love and wisdom are in a man, and thence altogether as his; for a man has no other sensation than that he