Ancient Churches Lexicon Entry:
Influx
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The people of the Most Ancient Church had an entirely different mental constitution from the people of the Ancient Church. The people of the Most Ancient Church possessed an uncorrupted will united with their understanding, and for this reason the Lord could flow into them through an internal way—into the good that was present in their will, and from this into the good that was present in their understanding. The result of this internal inflowing was a perception of truth from good (AC 4493, AC 4454). This perception allowed the people of the Most Ancient Church to perceive instantly whether something was good and true; this happened merely from the influx of the Lord into the rational parts of their minds (AC 2144). This influx also allowed the people of the Most Ancient Church to communicate directly with the angels of heaven (AC 10355).
However, the people of the Ancient Church did not receive the Lord’s influx in the same way as the people of the Most Ancient Church (AC 2144, AC 4493). This was because the will of these people had been destroyed by desires for evil and persuasions of falsity. When evil desires and persuasions destroy the soul, good and truth are separated from the soul so that influx is felt only from a distance (AC 4493, AC 1587). With the Most Ancient Church, the Lord had been able to flow into the will by means of an internal way. But with the people of the Ancient Church, since their will was corrupt, the Lord could only flow into their understanding by means of an external way (AC 4493). Instead of direct communication with angels, the people of the Ancient Church learned about heaven and eternal life by means of correspondences and representations (AC 10355).
See also:
Antediluvians, Communication with the Spiritual World,
Conscience, Correspondences,
Evil Desires, The Fall,
Perception, Persuasions,
Representatives, Will and Understanding
Passages relating to Influx and the Ancient Churches:
AC 1587; AC 2069; AC 2144; AC 4454; AC 4489; AC 4493; AC 10355; AE 617
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