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NEW JERUSALEM AND ITS HEAVENLY DOCTRINE
from What Has Been Heard
from Heaven to Which is Prefixed
Something concerning
the New Heaven And the New Earth
Emanuel Swedenborg
1758
www.cosmic-people.com
www.angels-heaven.org
CONTENTS
(*)
The new heaven and the new earth, and what is meant by the new Jerusalem (sections 1-7)
(**)
Introduction to the doctrine (8-10)
(1)
Good and truth (11-27)
(2)
The will and the understanding (28-35)
(3)
The internal and the external man (36-53)
(4)
Love in general (54-64)
(5)
The loves of self and of the world (65-83)
(6)
Love toward the neighbor or charity (84-107)
(7)
Faith (108-122)
(8)
Piety (123-129)
(9)
Conscience (130-140)
(10)
Freedom (141-149)
(11)
Merit (150-158)
(12)
Repentance and the remission of sins (159-172)
(13)
Regeneration (173-186)
(14)
Temptation (187-201)
(15)
Baptism (202-209)
(16)
The holy supper (210-222)
(17)
The resurrection (223-229)
(18)
Heaven and hell (230-240)
(19)
The church (241-248)
(20)
Sacred Scripture, or the Word (249-266)
(21)
Providence (267-279)
(22)
The Lord (280-310)
(23)
Ecclesiastical and civil government (311-325)
NEW JERUSALEM AND ITS HEAVENLY DOCTRINE
(*)
The new heaven and the new earth, and what is meant by the new Jerusalem
1. It is written in Revelation:
I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride before her husband. The city had a wall, great and high, which had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, in which were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. The city itself lieth foursquare, and the length is as great as the breadth. And he measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand stadia; the length and the breadth and the height of it were equal. And he measured the wall thereof, a hundred forty-four cubits, the measure of a man, which is, of an angel. And the wall of it was of jasper; and the city itself was pure gold, like unto pure glass; and the foundations of the wall of the city were of every precious stone. The twelve gates were twelve pearls. And the street of the city was pure gold, as it were pellucid glass. The glory of God did lighten it, and the lamp of it was the Lamb. The nations which were saved shall walk in the light of it; and the Kings of the earth shall bring their glory and honor into it. (21:1, 2, 12-24.)
The man who reads these things, understands them only according to the sense of the letter; namely, that the visible heaven and earth will perish, and a new heaven will exist, and that the holy city Jerusalem, answering to the measures above described, will descend upon the new earth; but the angels understand these things altogether differently; namely, what man understands naturally, they understand spiritually; and as the angels understand, so they signify; and this is the internal or spiritual sense of the Word. In the internal or spiritual sense, “a new heaven and a new earth” means a new church, both in the heavens and on the earth, which will be more particularly spoken of hereafter. “The city Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven” signifies its heavenly doctrine; “the length,” “the breadth,” and “the height,” which are equal, signify all the goods and truths of that doctrine in the aggregate. By “the wall” of it is meant the truths which protect it; “the measure of the wall,” which is “a hundred forty-four cubits, which is the measure of a man, that is, of an angel,” signifies all those protecting truths in the aggregate, and their quality. “The twelve gates” of pearl mean introductory truths; “the twelve angels at the gates” signify the same.
“The foundations of the wall” which are “of every precious stone,” mean the knowledges on which that doctrine is founded. “The twelve tribes of Israel,” and “the twelve apostles,” mean all things of the church in general and in particular. The city and its streets being of “gold like unto pure glass,” signifies the good of love from which the doctrine and its truths are pellucid. “The nations” who are saved, and “the kings of the earth” who bring glory and honor into it, mean all of the church who are in goods and truths. “God” and “the Lamb” mean the Lord as to the Divine itself and the Divine human. Such is the spiritual sense of the Word, to which the natural sense, which is that of the letter, serves as a basis; but still these two senses, the spiritual and the natural, form a one by correspondences. It is not the design of the present work to show that there is such a spiritual meaning in the aforementioned passages, but the proof of it may be seen in Arcana Coelestia, in the following places: In the Word by “land” [earth] the church is signified, particularly when it is applied to the land of Canaan (n. 662, 1066, 1067, 1262, 1413, 1607, 2928, 3355, 4447, 4535, 5577, 8011, 9325, 9643). Because by “land” in the spiritual sense is meant the nation dwelling therein, and its worship (n. 1262), “the people of the land” signify those who are of the spiritual church (n. 2928). “A new heaven and a new earth” signify something new in the heavens and on earth, as to goods and truths, thus as to those things that relate to the church in each (n. 1733, 1850, 2117, 2118, 3355, 4535, 10373). What is meant by “the first heaven and the first earth” which passed away, may be seen in Last Judgment and Babylon Destroyed, from beginning to end, but particularly n. 65 to 72.
“Jerusalem” signifies the church as to doctrine (n. 402, 3654, 9166). “Cities” signify doctrines which are of the church and religion (n. 402, 2449, 2712, 2943, 3216, 4492, 4493). “The wall of a city” signifies the truth of doctrine defending (n. 6419). “The gates of a city” signify truths introducing to doctrine, and through doctrine to the church (n. 2943, 4477, 4492, 4493). “The twelve tribes of Israel” represented, and thence signified, all the truths and goods of the church in general and in particular, thus all things of faith and love (n. 3858, 3926, 4060, 6335). The same is signified by “the Lord’s twelve apostles” (n. 2129, 3272, 3354, 3488, 3858, 6397). When it is said of the apostles, that “they shall sit upon twelve thrones, and judge the twelve tribes of Israel,” it signifies that all are to be judged according to the goods and truths of the church, thus by the Lord from whom they are (n. 2129, 6397). “Twelve” signifies all things in the aggregate (n. 577, 2089, 2129, 2130, 3272, 3858, 3913). Also “a hundred forty-four” signifies the same because that number is the product of twelve multiplied by twelve (n. 7973); “twelve thousand” has also the same signification (n. 7973).
All numbers in the Word signify things (n. 482, 487, 647, 648, 755, 813, 1963, 1988, 2075, 2252, 3252, 4264, 6175, 9488, 9659, 10217, 10253). Numbers multiplied into each other have the same signification as the simple numbers from which they arise by multiplication (n. 5291, 5335, 5708, 7973). “Measure” signifies the quality of a thing as to truth and good (n. 3104, 9603, 10262). “The foundations of a wall” signify the knowledges of truth on which doctrinals are founded (n. 9643). “Quadrangular” or “square” signifies what is perfect (n. 9717, 9861). “Length” signifies good and its extension, and “breadth” truth and its extension (n. 1613, 9487). “Precious stones” signify truths from good (n. 114, 9863, 9865). What “the precious stones” in the Urim and Thummim signify, both in general and in particular (n. 3862, 9864, 9866, 9891, 9895, 9905). What the “jasper” of which the wall was built signifies (n. 9872). “The street of the city” signifies the truth of doctrine from good (n. 2336). “Gold” signifies the good of love (n. 113, 1551, 1552, 5658, 6914, 6917, 9510, 9874, 9881). “Glory” signifies the Divine truth, such as it is in heaven, and the intelligence and wisdom thence (n. 4809, 5068, 5922, 8267, 8427, 9429, 10574). “Nations” signify those in the church who are in good, and, in the abstract sense, the good of the church (n. 1059, 1159, 1258, 1261, 1285, 1416, 1849, 4574, 7830, 9255, 9256). “Kings” signify those in the church who are in truths, and thence abstractly the truth of the church (n. 1672, 2015, 2069, 4575, 5044). The rites at the coronation of kings, involve such things as are of the Divine truth, but the knowledge of these things is at this day lost (n. 4581, 4966).
2. Before the new Jerusalem and its doctrine are treated of, something shall be said of the new heaven and the new earth. What is meant by “the first heaven and the first earth,” which passed away, is shown in the small work Last Judgment and Babylon Destroyed. Immediately after that event, that is, after the Last Judgment was completed, a new heaven was created or formed by the Lord. This heaven was formed of all those who, from the coming of the Lord to the present time, had lived the life of faith and charity, since these alone were forms of heaven. For the form of heaven, according to which all consociations and communications therein are effected, is the form of the Divine truth from the Divine good proceeding from the Lord; and this form man as to his spirit acquires by a life according to the Divine truth. That the form of heaven is thence may be seen in Heaven and Hell (n. 200-212), and that all the angels are forms of heaven (n. 51-58, and 73-77).
From these things it may be known, who they are of whom the new heaven consists; and thereby what its quality is, namely, that it is altogether unanimous. For he who lives the life of faith and charity, loves another as himself, and by love conjoins him to himself, and thus reciprocally and mutually; for in the spiritual world, love is conjunction. Wherefore, when all act thus, then from many, yea from innumerable individuals consociated according to the form of heaven, unanimity exists, and they become as one; for then nothing separates and divides, but everything conjoins and unites.
3. Since this heaven was formed of all those who had been such from the coming of the Lord until the present time, it follows that it is composed both of Christians and of Gentiles; but chiefly of all infants from the whole world, who have died since the Lord’s coming; for all these were received by the Lord, and educated in heaven, and instructed by the angels, and reserved, that they, together with the others, might constitute the new heaven; whence it may be concluded how great that heaven is. That all who die in infancy are educated in heaven, and become angels, may be seen in Heaven and Hell (n. 329-345). And that heaven is formed of Gentiles as well as of Christians (n. 318-328).
4. Moreover, with respect to this new heaven, it is to be known, that it is distinct from the ancient heavens which were formed before the coming of the Lord; but still they together with this are so arranged that they form one heaven. The reason why this new heaven is distinct from the ancient heavens, is that in the ancient churches there was no other doctrine than the doctrine of love and charity; and then they did not know of any doctrine of faith separated from love and charity. Hence also it is that the ancient heavens constitute higher expanses, while the new heaven constitutes an expanse beneath them; for the heavens are expanses one above another. In the highest expanse those dwell who are called celestial angels, many of whom were of the most ancient church; they who are there are called celestial angels from celestial love, which is love to the Lord. In the expanse beneath them are those who are called spiritual angels, most of whom were of the ancient church; they are called spiritual angels from spiritual love, which is charity toward the neighbor. Below these are the angels who are in the good of faith; these are they who have lived the life of faith. To live the life of faith, is to live according to the doctrine of their church; and to live is to will and to do. All these heavens, however, form a one, by mediate and immediate influx from the Lord. But a more full idea of these heavens may be obtained from what is said of them in Heaven and Hell, and particularly in the article which treats of the two kingdoms into which the heavens in general are distinguished (n. 20-28); and in the article concerning the three heavens (n. 29-40); concerning mediate and immediate influx, in the extracts from Arcana Coelestia (after n. 603); and concerning the most ancient and ancient churches in the small work Last Judgment and Babylon Destroyed (n. 46).
5. These things are concerning the new heaven; something shall now be said concerning “the new earth.” By “the new earth” is meant the new church on the earth; for when a former church ceases to exist, then a new one is established by the Lord. For it is provided by the Lord that there should always be a church on earth, since by means of the church there is a conjunction of the Lord with the human race, and of heaven with the world; for there the Lord is known, and there are the Divine truths by which man is conjoined to him. That a new church is at this time being established, may be seen in the small work Last Judgment (n. 74). The reason why a new church is signified by “the new earth” arises from the spiritual sense of the Word; for in that sense, by the “earth” no particular country is meant, but the nation dwelling there, and its Divine worship; this, in the spiritual sense, being what answers to earth in the natural sense.
Moreover, by “earth” in the Word, when there is no name of any particular country affixed to the term, is signified the land of Canaan; and in the land of Canaan a church had existed from the most ancient times; in consequence of which, all the places therein, and in the adjacent countries, with the mountains and rivers, which are mentioned in the Word, became representative and significative of the things which are the internals of the church, and which are called its spiritual things. Hence it is, as was said, that “earth” in the Word, because it means the land of Canaan, signifies the church; in like manner here by “the new earth”; from this comes the custom in the church to speak of the heavenly Canaan, by which is meant heaven.
That “the land of Canaan,” in the spiritual sense of the Word, signifies the church, is shown in Arcana Coelestia, in various places, of which the following are here adduced:
The most ancient church, which was before the flood, and the ancient church, which was after the flood, were in the land of Canaan (n. 567, 3686, 4447, 4454, 4516, 4517, 5136, 6516, 9325). Then all places in that land became representative of such things as are in the kingdom of the Lord, and in the church (n. 1585, 3686, 4447, 5136). Therefore Abraham was commanded to go thither, since with his posterity from Jacob, a representative church might be established, and that the Word might be written, the ultimate of which should consist of representatives and significatives which are there (n. 3686, 4447, 5136, 6516). Hence it is that “earth” and “the land of Canaan,” when they are mentioned in the Word, signify the church (n. 3038, 3481, 3705, 4447, 4517, 5757, 10568).
6. What is meant by “Jerusalem” in the spiritual sense of the Word, shall also be briefly stated. “Jerusalem” means the church itself as to doctrine, because there in the land of Canaan, and in no other place, were the temple, the altar, the sacrifices, and thus Divine worship itself. On this account, also, three festivals were celebrated there every year, to which every male throughout the whole land was commanded to go.
This, then, is the reason why “Jerusalem,” in the spiritual sense, signifies the church as to worship, or, what is the same, as to doctrine; for worship is prescribed in doctrine, and is performed according to it. The reason why it is said, “The holy city, new Jerusalem, descending from God out of heaven,” is that, in the spiritual sense of the Word, “a city” [civitas] and “a town” [urbs], signify doctrine, and “the holy city” the doctrine of Divine truth, since Divine truth is what is called “holy” in the Word. It is called “the new Jerusalem” for the same reason that “the earth” is called “new”; because, as was observed above, “the earth” signifies the church, and “Jerusalem,” the church as to doctrine; which is said “to descend from God out of heaven,” because all Divine truth, whence doctrine is derived, descends out of heaven from the Lord. That “Jerusalem” does not mean a city, although it was seen as a city, manifestly appears from its being said that:
Its height was, as its length and breadth, twelve thousand stadia (Rev. 21:16).
And that the measure of its wall, which was a hundred forty-four cubits, was the measure of a man, that is, of the angel (Rev. 21:17).
Also from its being said that:
It was prepared as a bride adorned for her husband (verse 2).
And afterwards the angel said:
Come, I will show thee the bride, the Lamb’s wife; and he showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem (verses 9, 10).
The church is called in the Word “the bride” and “the wife” of the lord; she is called “the bride” before conjunction, and “the wife” after conjunction, as may be seen in Arcana Coelestia (n. 3103, 3105, 3164, 3165, 3207, 7022, 9182).
7. To add a few words respecting the doctrine which is delivered in the following pages. This, also, is from heaven, because it is from the spiritual sense of the Word, and the spiritual sense of the Word is the same with the doctrine that is in heaven; for there is a church in heaven as well as on earth. In heaven there are the Word and doctrine from the Word, there are temples there, and preaching in them; there are also both ecclesiastical and civil governments there; in a word, the only difference between the things which are in heaven, and those which are on earth, is, that in heaven all things exist in a state of greater perfection, since those who are there are spiritual, and spiritual things immensely exceed in perfection those that are natural. That such things exist in heaven may be seen in Heaven and Hell throughout, particularly in the article concerning governments in heaven (n. 213-220); and also in the article on divine worship in heaven (n. 221-227).
From these things it may be evident what is meant by “the holy city, new Jerusalem, was seen to descend from God out of heaven.” But I proceed to the doctrine itself, which is for the new church, and which is called heavenly doctrine because it was revealed to me out of heaven; to deliver this doctrine is the design of the present book.
(**)
Introduction to the doctrine
8. The end of the church is when there is no faith because there is no charity. This is shown in the small work Last Judgment and Babylon Destroyed (n. 33-39 seq.). Because the churches in the Christian world have separated themselves from each other solely by such things as are of faith, when yet there is no faith where there is no charity, I will, by way of introduction to the doctrine which follows, make some observations concerning the doctrine of charity with the ancients.
It is said “the churches in the Christian world,” and by them is meant the churches with the Reformed or Evangelical and not the Papists, since the Christian church is not there; for where the church exists the Lord is adored and the Word is read; whereas, with the Papists, they adore themselves instead of the Lord; they forbid the Word to be read by the people, and affirm the Pope’s decree to be equal, yea, even above it.
9. The doctrine of charity, which is the doctrine of life, was the doctrine itself in the ancient churches. Concerning these churches see in Arcana Coelestia (n. 1238, 2385). And that doctrine conjoined all churches, and thereby formed one church out of many. For they acknowledged all those as men of the church who lived in the good of charity, and called them brethren, however they might differ respecting truths, which at this day are called matters of faith. In these they instructed one another, which was among their works of charity; nor were they indignant if one did not accede to the opinion of another, knowing that everyone receives truth so far as he is in good. Because the ancient churches were such, therefore they were interior men; and because they were interior men they excelled in wisdom. For they who are in the good of love and charity, as to the internal man, are in heaven, and as to that are in an angelic society which is in similar good. Hence they enjoy an elevation of mind toward interior things, and, consequently, they are in wisdom; for wisdom can come from no other source than from heaven, that is, through heaven from the Lord; and in heaven there is wisdom, because there they are in good. Wisdom consists in seeing truth from the light of truth; and the light of truth is the light which is in heaven. But in process of time that ancient wisdom decreased; for as mankind removed themselves from the good of love to the Lord, and of love toward the neighbor, which love is called charity, they removed themselves in the same proportion from wisdom because, in the same proportion, they removed themselves from heaven. Hence it was that man, from being internal, became external, and this successively; and when he became external, he became also worldly and corporeal. When such is his quality, he cares but little for the things of heaven; for the delights of earthly loves, and the evils which, from those loves, are delightful to him, then possess him entirely. And then the things which he hears concerning the life after death, concerning heaven and hell, in a word, concerning spiritual things, are as it were out of him, and not within him, as nevertheless they ought to be.
Hence also it is, that the doctrine of charity, which with the ancients was held in such high estimation, is at this day among the things that are lost. For who, at this day, knows what charity is, in the genuine sense of the term, and what, in the same sense, is meant by our neighbor? Whereas, that doctrine not only teaches this, but innumerable things besides, of which not a thousandth part is known at this day. The whole Sacred Scripture is nothing else than the doctrine of love and charity, which the Lord also teaches, when he says:
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind; this is the first and great commandment; the second is like unto it, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself; on these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets (Matt. 22:37-39).
“The law and the prophets” in each and all things are the Word.
10. In the following doctrine we will annex to each section extracts from Arcana Coelestia, because in these the same things are more fully explained.
Good and truth
11. All things in the universe, which are according to Divine order, have relation to good and truth. There is nothing in heaven, and nothing in the world, which has not relation to these two; the reason is that both good and truth proceed from the Divine from Whom all things are.
12. Hence it appears that there is nothing more necessary for man to know than what good and truth are; how the one has respect to the other; and how one is conjoined to the other. But such knowledge is especially necessary for the man of the church; for as all things of heaven have relation to good and truth, so also have all things of the church, because the good and truth of heaven are also the good and truth of the church. It is on this account that a beginning is made from good and truth.
13. It is according to Divine order that good and truth should be conjoined, and not separated; thus, that they should be one, and not two; for they proceed in conjunction from the Divine, and are conjoined in heaven, and therefore they should be conjoined in the church. The conjunction of good and truth is called, in heaven, the heavenly marriage, for all there are in this marriage. Hence it is that in the Word heaven is compared to a marriage, and that the Lord is called the bridegroom and husband, but heaven, and also the church, are called the bride and wife. That heaven and the church are so called, is that they who are therein receive Divine good in truths.
14. All the intelligence and wisdom which the angels have is from that marriage, and not any of it from good separate from truth, nor from truth separate from good. It is the same with the men of the church.
15. Because the conjunction of good and truth is an image of marriage, it is plain that good loves truth, and truth, in its turn, loves good, and that one desires to be conjoined with the other. The man of the church, who has not such love and such desire, is not in the heavenly marriage, consequently the church as yet is not in him; for the conjunction of good and truth constitutes the church.
16. Goods are manifold; in general there is spiritual good and natural good, and both are conjoined in genuine moral good. As goods are manifold, so also are truths, because truths are of good, and are the forms of good.
17. As it is with good and truth, so it is in the opposite with evil and falsity; namely, as all things in the universe, which are according to Divine order, have relation to good and truth, so all things which are contrary to Divine order have relation to evil and falsity. Again, as good loves to be conjoined to truth, and vice versa, so evil loves to be conjoined to falsity, and vice versa. And again, as all intelligence and wisdom are born from the conjunction of good and truth, so all insanity and folly are born from the conjunction of evil and falsity. The conjunction of evil and falsity is called the infernal marriage.
18. Since evil and falsity are opposite to good and truth, it is plain that truth cannot be conjoined to evil, nor good to the falsity of evil; if truth be adjoined to evil, it is truth no longer, but falsity, because it is falsified; and if good be adjoined to the falsity of evil, it is good no longer, but evil, because it is adulterated. But falsity which is not of evil may be conjoined to good.
19. No one who is in evil, and thence in falsity from confirmation and life, can know what good and truth is, for he believes his own evil to be good, and thence he believes his falsity to be truth; but everyone who is in good and thence in truth from confirmation and life may know what evil and falsity are. The reason of this is that all good and its truth is, in its essence, heavenly, and what is not heavenly in its essence is still from a heavenly origin; but all evil and its falsity is in its essence infernal, and what is not infernal in its essence has nevertheless its origin from thence; and all that is heavenly is in light, but all that is infernal is in darkness.
From Arcana Coelestia:
20. Each and all things in the universe have relation to good and truth, and to evil and falsity; those things which are and are done according to Divine order, to good and truth; but those which are opposite to Divine order, to evil and falsity (n. 2452, 3166, 4390, 4409, 5232, 7256, 10122).
Consequently everything in man has reference to the understanding and will, since the understanding is the recipient of truth, or of falsity; and the will the recipient of good, or of evil (n. 10122). At this day it is little known what truth in its genuine essence is, because it is little known what good is, when nevertheless all truth is from good, and all good is by truths (n. 2507, 3603, 4136, 9186, 9995).
There are four kinds of men:
1. Those who are in falsities from evil; and those who are in falsities not from evil.
2. Those who are in truths without good.
3. Those who are in truths, and by them look and tend to good.
4. Those who are in truths from good.
But each of these shall be spoken of in particular.
21. (1) Of those who are in falsities from evil, and of those who are in falsities not from evil; thus of falsities from evil, and of falsities not from evil. There are innumerable kinds of falsities, namely, as many as there are evils; and the origins of evils, and thence of falsities, are many (n. 1188, 1212, 4729, 4822, 7574). There is falsity from evil, or falsity of evil; and there is evil from falsity, or evil of falsity, and again falsity thence, thus derivative (n. 1679, 2243). From one falsity, especially if it is in the place of a principle, there flow falsities in a continual series (n. 1510, 1511, 4717, 4721). There is falsity from the cupidities of the love of self and of the world; and there is falsity from the fallacies of the senses (n. 1295, 4729). There are falsities of religion, and there are falsities of ignorance (n. 4729, 8318, 9258). There is falsity in which there is good, and falsity in which there is not good (n. 2863, 9304, 10109, 10302). There is what is falsified (n. 7318, 7319, 10648). All evil has falsity with it (n. 7577, 8094). Falsity from the cupidities of the love of self is the very falsity of evil; and the worst kinds of falsities are thence (n. 4729).
Evil is heavy, and has in itself a tendency to fall into hell, but not so falsity, unless derived from evil (n. 8279, 8298). Good is turned into evil, and truth into falsity, when it descends from heaven into hell, because as it were into a gross and impure atmosphere (n. 3607). Falsities from evil appear as mists and foul waters over the hells (n. 8137, 8138, 8146). They who are in the hells speak falsities from evil (n. 1695, 7351, 7352, 7357, 7392, 7699). They who are in evil cannot but think falsities, when they think from themselves (n. 7437). More is said concerning evil of falsity (n. 2408, 4818, 7272, 8265, 8279); and concerning falsities of evil (n. 6359, 7272, 9304, 10302).
Every falsity may be confirmed, and when confirmed appears as truth (n. 5033, 6865, 8521, 8780). Therefore everything should be examined to see whether it is true before it is confirmed (n. 4741, 7012, 7680, 7950, 8521). Care should be taken that the falsities of religion be not confirmed, because the persuasion of falsity arises thence, which adheres to man after death (n. 845, 8780). How hurtful the persuasion of falsity is (n. 794, 806, 5096, 7686).
Good cannot flow into truths so long as man is in evil (n. 2434). Goods and truths are so far removed from man as he is in evil, and thereby in falsities (n. 3402). The greatest care is taken by the Lord lest truth be conjoined to evil, and the falsity of evil to good (n. 3110, 3116, 4416, 5217). Profanation arises from such mixture (n. 6348). Truths exterminate falsities, and falsities truths (n. 5207). Truths cannot be deeply received so long as incredulity reigns (n. 3399).
How truths may be falsified, from examples (n. 7318). The evil are permitted to falsify truths, the reason (n. 7332). Truths are falsified by the evil, by being applied and thus turned aside to evil (n. 8094, 8149). Truth is said to be falsified when it is applied to evil, which is done especially by fallacies and appearances in externals (n. 7334, 8062). The evil are allowed to assault truth, but not good, because they can falsify truth by various interpretations and applications (n. 6677). Truth falsified from evil is contrary to truth and good (n. 8062). Truth falsified from evil has a grievous stench in the other life (n. 7319). More is said concerning the falsification of truth (n. 7318, 7319, 10648).
There are falsities of religion which agree with good, and others which disagree (n. 9258, 9259). Falsities of religion, if they do not disagree with good, do not produce evil, except with those who are in evil (n. 8318). Falsities of religion are not imputed to those who are in good, but to those who are in evil (n. 8051, 8149). Truths not genuine, and also falsities, may be consociated with genuine truths with those who are in good, but not with those who are in evil (n. 3470, 3471, 4551, 4552, 7344, 8149, 9298). Falsities and truths are consociated by appearances from the sense of the letter of the Word (n. 7344). Falsities are made true by good, and grow soft when they are applied and turned to good, and evil is removed (n. 8149). Falsities of religion with those who are in good, are received by the Lord as truths (n. 4736, 8149). Good whose quality is from the falsity of religion, is accepted by the Lord, if there is ignorance, and therein innocence, and a good end (n. 7887). Truths with man are appearances of truth and good imbued with fallacies; but nevertheless the Lord adapts them to genuine truths with the man who lives in good (n. 2053). Falsities in which is good are given with those who are out of the church, and thence in ignorance of truth; also with those who are within the church where are falsities of doctrine (n. 2589-2604, 2861, 2863, 3263, 3778, 4189, 4190, 4197, 6700, 9256). Falsities in which there is not good are more grievous with those who are within the church, than with those who are out of the church (n. 7688). Truths and goods are taken away from the evil in the other life, and given to the good, according to the words of the Lord:
To him that hath shall be given that he may abound; and from him who hath not shall be taken away that which he hath (Matt. 25:29, n. 7770).
22. (2) Of those who are in truths, and not in good; consequently of truths without good. Truths without good are not in themselves truths because they have no life, for all the life of truths is from good (n. 3603). Thus they are as a body without a soul (n. 8530, 9154). The knowledges of truth and good which are only in the memory and not in the life, are believed by them to be truths (n. 5276). The truths are not appropriated to man, nor become his own, which he only knows and acknowledges from causes which proceed from the love of self and the world (n. 3402, 3834). But those are appropriated, which he acknowledges for the sake of truth itself and good (n. 3849). Truths without good are not accepted by the Lord (n. 4368); neither do they save (n. 2261). They who are in truths without good, are not of the church (n. 3963). Neither can they be regenerated (n. 10367). The Lord does not flow into truths except through good (n. 10367).
Of the separation of truth from good (n. 5008, 5009, 5022, 5028). The quality of truth without good, and its quality from good (n. 1949, 1950, 1964, 5951); from comparisons (n. 5830).
Truth without good is morose (n. 1949-1951, 1964). In the spiritual world it appears hard (n. 6359, 7068); and pointed (n. 2799). Truth without good is as the light of winter, in which all things of the earth are torpid, and nothing is produced; but truth from good is as the light of spring and summer, in which all things flourish and are produced (n. 2231, 3146, 3412, 3413). Such a wintry light is turned into dense darkness when light flows in from heaven; and that then they who are in those truths come into blindness and stupidity (n. 3412, 3413).
They who separate truths from good are in darkness, and in ignorance of truth and in falsities (n. 9186). From falsities they cast themselves into evils (n. 3325, 8094). The errors and falsities into which they cast themselves (n. 4721, 4730, 4776, 4783, 4925, 7779, 8313, 8765, 9222). The Word is shut to them (n. 3773, 4783, 8780). They do not see and attend to all those things which the Lord spoke concerning love and charity, thus concerning good (n. 2051, 3416). They know not what good is, nor what heavenly love and charity are (n. 2471, 3603, 4136, 9995). They who know the truths of faith, and live in evil, in the other life abuse truths to domineer thereby; concerning their quality and lot there (n. 4802).
Divine truth condemns to hell, but Divine good elevates to heaven (n. 2258). Divine truth terrifies, not so Divine good (n. 4180). What it is to be judged from truth, and to be judged from good (n. 2335).
23. (3) Of those who are in truths, and by them look and tend to good; thus of truths by which there is good. What man loves, this he wills, and what man loves or wills this he thinks, and confirms in various ways: what man loves or wills, this he calls good, and what man thence thinks and confirms in various ways, this he calls truth (n. 4070). Hence it is, that truth becomes good, when it becomes of the love or will, or when man loves and wills it (n. 5526, 7835, 10367). And because the love or the will is the very life of man, truth does not live with man when he only knows it, and thinks it, but when he loves and wills it, and from love and will does it (n. 5595, 9282). Thence truths receive life, consequently from good (n. 2434, 3111, 3607, 6077). Thence the life of truths is from good, and they have no life without good (n. 1589, 1947, 1997, 3180, 3579, 4070, 4096, 4097, 4736, 4757, 4884, 5147, 5928, 9154, 9667, 9841, 10729); illustrated (n. 9154). When truths may be said to have acquired life (n. 1928). Truth when it is conjoined to good, is appropriated to man because it becomes of his life (n. 3108, 3161). That truth may be conjoined to good, there must be consent from the understanding and will; when the will also consents, then there is conjunction (n. 3157, 3158, 3161).
When man is regenerated, truths enter with the delight of affection, because he loves to do them, and they are reproduced with the same affection because the two cohere (n. 2474, 2487, 3040, 3066, 3074, 3336, 4018, 5893, 7967). The affection which is of love always adjoins itself to truths according to the uses of life, and that affection is reproduced with the truths, and the truths are reproduced with the affection (n. 3336, 3824, 3849, 4205, 5893, 7967). Good acknowledges nothing else for truth than what agrees with the affection which is of the love (n. 3161). Truths are introduced by delights and pleasantnesses that agree therewith (n. 3502, 3512). All genuine affection of truth is from good, and according to it (n. 4373, 8349, 8356). Thus there is an insinuation and an influx of good into truths, and conjunction (n. 4301). And thus truths have life (n. 7917, 7967).
Because the affection which is of love always adjoins itself to truths according to the uses of life, good acknowledges its own truth, and truth its own good (n. 2429, 3101, 3102, 3161, 3179, 3180, 4358, 5407, 5835, 9637). Thence is the conjunction of truth and good, concerning which (n. 3834, 4096, 4097, 4301, 4345, 4353, 4364, 4368, 5365, 7623-7627, 7752-7762, 8530, 9258, 10555). Truths also acknowledge each other, and are mutually consociated (n. 9079). This is from the influx of heaven (n. 9079).
Good is the esse of life, and truth the existere of life thence; and thus good has its existere of life in truth, and truth its esse of life in good (n. 3049, 3180, 4574, 5002, 9154). Hence every good has its own truth, and every truth its own good, because good without truth does not exist, and truth without good is not (n. 9637). Good has also its form and quality from truths, and that truth is the form and quality of good (n. 3049, 4574, 6916, 9154). And thus truth and good ought to be conjoined that they may be something (n. 10555). Hence good is in the perpetual endeavor and desire of conjoining truths to itself (n. 9206, 9495); illustrated (n. 9207). And truths in like manner with good (n. 9206). The conjunction is reciprocal, of good with truth, and of truth with good (n. 5365, 8516). Good acts, and truth reacts, but from good (n. 3155, 4380, 4757, 5928, 10729). Truths regard their own good, as the beginning and end (n. 4353).
The conjunction of truth with good is as the progression of man’s life from infancy, as he first imbibes truths scientifically, then rationally, and at length makes them of his life (n. 3203, 3665, 3690). It is also as with offspring that is conceived, is in the womb, is born, grows up, and becomes wise (n. 3298, 3299, 3308, 3665, 3690). It is also like seeds and soil (n. 3671). And as with water and bread (n. 4976). The first affection of truth is not genuine, but as man is perfected it is purified (n. 3040, 3089). Nevertheless goods and truths, not genuine, serve for introducing goods and truths that are genuine, and afterwards the former are left behind (n. 3665, 3690, 3974, 3982, 3986, 4145).
Moreover man is led to good by truths, and not without truths (n. 10124, 10367). If man does not learn or receive truths, good cannot flow in, thus man cannot become spiritual (n. 3387). The conjunction of good and truth takes place according to the increase of knowledge (n. 3141). Truths are received by everyone according to his capacity (n. 3385).
The truths of the natural man are memory-knowledges (n. 3293, 3309, 3310). Memory-knowledges and knowledges are as vessels (n. 6004, 6023, 6052, 6071, 6077). Truths are vessels of good, because they are recipients (n. 1496, 1900, 2063, 2261, 2269, 3318, 3365, 3368).
Good flows into man by an internal way, or that of the soul, but truths by an external way, or that of hearing and sight; and they are conjoined in his interiors by the Lord (n. 3030, 3098). Truths are elevated out of the natural man, and implanted in good in the spiritual man; and thus truths become spiritual (n. 3085, 3086). And afterwards they flow thence into the natural man, spiritual good flowing immediately into the good of the natural, but mediately into the truth of the natural (n. 3314, 3573, 4563); illustrated (n. 3314, 3576, 3616, 3969, 3995). In a word, truths are conjoined to good with man, so far and in such manner as man is in good as to life (n. 3834, 3843). Conjunction is effected in one manner with the celestial, and in another with the spiritual (n. 10124). More concerning the conjunction of good and truth, and how it is effected (n. 3090, 3203, 3308, 4096, 4097, 4345, 4353, 5365, 7623-7627). And how spiritual good is formed by truths (n. 3470, 3570).
24. (4) Of those who are in truths from good, consequently of truths from good. Of the difference between truth that leads to good, and truth which proceeds from good (n. 2063). Truth is not essentially truth, any further than as it proceeds from good (n. 4736, 10619); because truth has its esse from good (n. 3049, 3180, 4574, 5002, 9144); and its life (n. 2434, 3111, 6077); and because truth is the form or quality of good (n. 3049, 4574, 5951, 9154). Truth is altogether as good with man, in the same ratio and degree (n. 2429). In order that truth may be truth, it must derive its essence from the good of charity and innocence (n. 3111, 6013). The truths which are from good are spiritual truths (n. 5951).
Truth makes one with good when it proceeds from good, even so that both together are one good (n. 4301, 4337, 7835, 10252, 10266). The understanding and will make one mind and one life, when the understanding proceeds from the will, because the understanding is the recipient of truth, and the will, of good, but not when man thinks and speaks otherwise than he wills (n. 3623). Truth from good is truth in will and act (n. 4337, 4353, 4385, 4390). When truth proceeds from good, good has its image in truth (n. 3180).
In the whole heaven and world, and in the single things thereof, there is an image of marriage (n. 54, 718, 747, 917, 1432, 2173, 2516, 5194). Particularly between truth and good (n. 1904, 2173, 2508). Because all things in the universe have relation to truth and good, in order that they may be anything, and to their conjunction, in order that anything may be produced (n. 2452, 3166, 4390, 4409, 5232, 7256, 10122, 10555). The ancients also instituted a marriage between truth and good (n. 1904). The law of marriage is that two be one, according to the words of the Lord (n. 10130, 10168, 10169). Love truly conjugial descends and exists from heaven, from the marriage of truth and good (n. 2728, 2729).
Man is so far wise, as he is in good and thence in truths, but not so far as he knows truths and is not in good (n. 3182, 3190, 4884). The man who is in truths from good, is actually elevated from the light of the world into the light of heaven, consequently from what is obscure into what is clear; but on the other hand, he is in the light of the world, and what is obscure, so long as he knows truths and is not in good (n. 3190, 3192). Man does not know what good is, before he is in it, and knows from it (n. 3325, 3330, 3336). Truths increase immensely when they proceed from good (n. 2846, 2847, 5345). Of which increase (n. 5355).
This increase is as fructification from a tree, and multiplication from seeds from which whole gardens are produced (n. 1873, 2846, 2847). Wisdom increases in a like degree, and this to eternity (n. 3200, 3314, 4220, 4221, 5527, 5859, 10303). The man also who is in truths from good is in a like degree enlightened, and he is so far in enlightenment when he reads the Word (n. 9382, 10548-10550, 10691, 10694). The good of love is as fire, and truth thence as light from that fire (n. 3195, 3222, 5400, 8644, 9399, 9548, 9684). In heaven truths from good shine (n. 5219).
Truths from good, by which is wisdom, increase according to the quality and quantity of the love of good; and on the other hand, falsities from evil, according to the quality and quantity of the love of evil (n. 4099). The man who is in truths from good comes into angelic intelligence and wisdom, and they lie hid in his interiors so long as he lives in the world, but they are opened in the other life (n. 2494). The man, who is in truths from good, becomes an angel after death (n. 8747).
Truths from good are like generations (n. 9079). They are disposed in series (n. 5339, 5343, 5530, 7408, 10303, 10308). The arrangement of truths from good compared with the fibers and blood-vessels in the body; and thence with their textures and forms, according to the uses of life (n. 3470, 3570, 3579, 9154). Truths from good form as it were a city, and this from the influx of heaven (n. 3584). The truths which are of the principal love are in the midst; and the rest are more or less remote from thence according to their degrees of disagreement (n. 3993, 4551, 4552, 5530, 6028). Conversely with the evil (n. 4551, 4552).
Truths when they proceed from good are arranged in the form of heaven (n. 4302, 4904, 5339, 5343, 5704, 6028, 10303). And this according to the order in which are the angelic societies (n. 10303). All truths when they proceed from good are conjoined to one another by a certain affinity, and they are as derivations of families from one father (n. 2863). All truth has a sphere of extension into heaven, according to the quality and quantity of the good from which it is (n. 8063).
The marriage of good and truth is the church and heaven with man (n. 2731, 7752, 7753, 9224, 9995, 10122). Of the delight and happiness of those with whom good is in truths (n. 1470). Truths from good, in conjunction, present an image of man (n. 8370). Man is nothing but his own good, and truth thence derived; or evil, and falsity thence derived (n. 10298).
A summary: Faith is by truths (n. 4353, 4997, 7178, 10367). Charity toward the neighbor is by truths (n. 4368, 7623, 7624, 8034). Love to the Lord is by truths (n. 10143, 10153, 10310, 10578, 10645). Conscience is by truths (n. 1077, 2053, 9113). Innocence is by truths (n. 3183, 3494, 6013). Purification from evils is by truths (n. 2799, 5954, 7044, 7918, 9088, 10229, 10237). Regeneration is by truths (n. 1555, 1904, 2046, 2189, 9088, 9959, 10028). Intelligence and wisdom are by truths (n. 3182, 3190, 3387, 10064). The beauty of angels, and also of men, as to the interiors which are their spirits, is by truths (n. 553, 3080, 4985, 5199). Power against evils and falsities is by truths (n. 3091, 4015, 10488). Order, such as it is in heaven, is by truths (n. 3316, 3417, 3570, 4104, 5339, 5343, 6028, 10303). The church is by truths (n. 1798, 1799, 3963, 4468, 4672). Heaven is with man by truths (n. 3690, 9832, 9931, 10303). Man becomes man by truths (n. 3175, 3387, 8370, 10298). Nevertheless all these things are by truths from good, and not by truths without good; and good is from the Lord (n. 2434, 4070, 4736, 5147). All good is from the Lord (n. 1614, 2016, 2904, 4151, 9981).
25. All good and truth is from the Lord. The Lord is good itself and truth itself (n. 2011, 4151, 10336, 10619).
The Lord, as to both the Divine and the human, is the Divine good of the Divine love; and from him proceeds Divine truth (n. 3704, 3712, 4180, 4577). The Divine truth proceeds from the Divine good of the Lord, comparatively as light from the sun (n. 3704, 3712, 4180, 4577). The Divine truth proceeding from the Lord appears in the heavens as light, and forms all the light of heaven (n. 3195, 3223, 5400, 8694, 9399, 9548, 9684). The light of heaven, which is the Divine truth united to the Divine good, enlightens both the sight and the understanding of angels and spirits (n. 2776, 3138). Heaven is in light and heat, because it is in truth and good, for the Divine truth is light there, and the Divine good is heat there (n. 3643, 9399, 9400); and in Heaven and Hell (n. 126-140). The Divine truth proceeding from the Divine good of the Lord, forms the angelic heaven and arranges it in order (n. 3038, 9408, 9613, 10716, 10717). The Divine good united to the Divine truth, which is in the heavens, is called the Divine truth (n. 10196).
The Divine truth proceeding from the Lord is the only reality (n. 6880, 7004, 8200). By Divine truth all things were made and created (n. 2803, 2894, 5272, 7678). All power belongs to the Divine truth (n. 8200).
Man from himself can do nothing of good, and think nothing of truth (n. 874-876). The rational of man cannot perceive Divine truth from itself (n. 2196, 2203, 2209). Truths which are not from the Lord, are from the proprium of man, and they are not truths, but only appear as truths (n. 8868).
All good and truth is from the Lord, and nothing from man (n. 1614, 2016, 2904, 4151, 9981). Goods and truths are so far goods and truths, as they have the Lord in them (n. 2904, 3061, 8480). Of the Divine truth proceeding immediately from the Lord, and of the Divine truth proceeding mediately through the angels, and of their influx with man (n. 7055, 7056, 7058). The Lord flows into good with man, and by good into truths (n. 10153). He flows in by good into truths of every kind, and particularly into genuine truths (n. 2531, 2554). The Lord does not flow into truths separate from good, and no parallelism exists between the Lord and man, with respect to them, but with respect to good (n. 1831, 1832, 3514, 3564).
To do good and truth for the sake of good and truth is to love the Lord, and to love the neighbor (n. 10336). They who are in the internal of the Word, of the church, and of worship, love to do good and truth for the sake of good and truth; but they who are in the external of these, without the internal, love to do good and truth for the sake of themselves and the world (n. 10683). What it is to do good and truth for the sake of good and truth, illustrated by examples (n. 10683).
26. Of the various kinds of goods and truths. There is an infinite variety, and one thing is never exactly the same as another (n. 7236, 9002). There is also an infinite variety in the heavens (n. 684, 690, 3744, 5598, 7236). Varieties in the heavens are varieties of good, and thence is the distinction of all therein (n. 3519, 3744, 3804, 3986, 4005, 4067, 4149, 4263, 7236, 7833, 7836, 9002). These varieties are from truths, which are manifold, by which everyone has good (n. 3470, 3519, 3804, 4149, 6917, 7236). Thence all the angelic societies in the heavens, and every angel in a society are distinguished from each other (n. 690, 3241, 3519, 3804, 3986, 4067, 4149, 4263, 7236, 7833, 7836). But they all act in unity by love from the Lord, and thereby regard one end (n. 457, 3986).
In general, goods and truths are distinguished according to degrees, into natural, spiritual, and celestial (n. 2069, 3240). In general, there are three degrees of good, and consequently of truth, according to the three heavens (n. 4154, 9873, 10270). The goods and thence the truths in the internal man are of a threefold kind, and so also in the external (n. 4154). There is natural good, civil good, and moral good (n. 3768). Natural good, into which some are born, is not good in the other life, unless made spiritual good (n. 2463, 2464, 2468, 3408, 3469, 3470, 3508, 3518, 7761). Of natural spiritual good, and of that which is not spiritual (n. 4988, 4992, 5032). There is intellectual truth, and scientific truth (n. 1904, 1911, 2503).
27. Wisdom is from good by truths. In what manner the rational is conceived and born with man (n. 2094, 2524, 2557, 3030, 5126). This is effected by an influx of the Lord through heaven into the inward and outward knowledges which are with man, and thence is elevation (n. 1895, 1899-1901).
Elevation is according to uses, and the love of them (n. 3074, 3085, 3086). The rational is born through truths, hence such as they are, such is the rational (n. 2094, 2524, 2557). The rational is opened and formed by truths from good; and it is shut and destroyed by falsities from evil (n. 3108, 5126). Man is not rational by this that he can reason on any subject, but that he can see and perceive whether a thing be true or not (n. 1944). Man is not born into any truth, because not born into good; but he is to learn and imbibe both (n. 3175). It is with difficulty that man can receive genuine truths, and thence become wise, on account of the fallacies of the senses, the persuasions of falsity, and the reasonings and doubts thence (n. 3175). Man first begins to be wise when he begins to be averse to reasonings against truths, and to reject doubts (n. 3175). The unenlightened human rational laughs at interior truths, from examples (n. 2654). Truths with man are called interior when they are implanted in his life, and not in consequence of his knowing them, although they may be truths which are called interior (n. 10199).
In good there is the faculty of becoming wise, whence those who have lived in good in the world come into angelic wisdom after their departure out of the world (n. 5527, 5859, 8321). There are innumerable things in every good (n. 4005). Innumerable things may be known from good (n. 3612). Concerning the multiplication of truth from good (n. 5345, 5355, 5912). The good of infancy by truths, and by a life according to them, becomes the good of wisdom (n. 3504).
There is the affection of truth and the affection of good (n. 1904, 1997). What is the quality of those who are in the affection of truth, and what is the quality of those who are in the affection of good (n. 2422, 2429). Who are able to come into the affection of truth, and who are not able (n. 2689). All truths are arranged in order under a general affection (n. 9094). The affection of truth and the affection of good in the natural man are as brother and sister; but in the spiritual man, as husband and wife (n. 3160). Pure truths are not given with man, nor even with an angel, but only with the Lord (n. 3207, 7902). Truths with man are appearances of truth (n. 2053, 2519). The first truths with man are appearances of truth from the fallacies of the senses, which nevertheless are successively put off, as he is perfected as to wisdom (n. 3131). Appearances of truth with the man who is in good are received by the Lord for truths (n. 2053, 3207). What, and of what quality the appearances of truth are (n. 3207, 3357-3362, 3368, 3404, 3405, 3417). The sense of the letter of the Word in many places is according to appearances (n. 1838). The same truths with one man are more true, with another less so, and with another false, because falsified (n. 2439). Truths are also truths according to the correspondence between the natural and the spiritual man (n. 3128, 3138). Truths differ according to the various ideas and perceptions concerning them (n. 3470, 3804, 6917).
Truth when it is conjoined to good, vanishes out of the memory because it then becomes of the life (n. 3108). Truths cannot be conjoined to good except in a free state (n. 3158). Truths are conjoined to good by temptations (n. 3318, 4572, 7122). There is in good a continual endeavor of arranging truths in order, and of restoring its state thereby (n. 3610).
Truths appear undelightful when the communication with good is intercepted (n. 8352). Man can scarcely distinguish between truth and good, because he can scarcely distinguish between thinking and willing (n. 9995). Good is called in the Word the “brother” of truth (n. 4267). Also in a certain respect good is called “lord,” and truth, “servant” (n. 3409, 4267).
The will and the understanding
28. Man has two faculties which make his life; one is called the will, and the other the understanding. These faculties are distinct from each other, but are so created that they may be one; and when they are one they are called the mind. Of these, then, the human mind consists; and the whole life of man is there.
29. As all things in the universe, which are according to Divine order, have relation to good and truth, so all things with man have relation to the will and the understanding; for good with man is of his will, and truth with him is of his understanding; for these two faculties, or these two lives of man, are their receptacles and subjects. The will is the receptacle and subject of all things of good, and the understanding the receptacle and subject of all things of truth. Goods and truths with man are nowhere else; and because goods and truths with man are nowhere else, so neither are love and faith elsewhere; for love is of good, and good is of love; and faith is of truth, and truth is of faith.
30. Since, then, all things in the universe have relation to good and truth, and all things of the church to the good of love and the truth of faith; and since man is man from those two faculties, therefore they also are treated of in this doctrine; otherwise man could have no distinct idea of them, on which to found his thought.
31. The will and the understanding also constitute the spirit of man; for his wisdom and intelligence, and his life in general, reside in them; the body is only obedience.
32. Nothing is more important to know than how the will and the understanding make one mind. They make one mind as good and truth make one; for there is a similar marriage between the will and the understanding as there is between good and truth. What is the quality of that marriage may fully appear from what has been quoted above concerning good and truth, namely, as good is the very esse of a thing, and truth the existere of a thing thence derived, so the will with man is the very esse of his life, and the understanding the existere of life thence; for good, which is of the will, forms and renders itself visible in the understanding.
33. They who are in good and truth have will and understanding, but they who are in evil and in falsity have not will and understanding; but instead of will they have cupidity, and instead of understanding they have knowledge. For the truly human will is the receptacle of good, and the understanding is the receptacle of truth; for which reason will cannot be predicated of evil, nor can understanding be predicated of falsity, because they are opposites, and opposites destroy each other. Hence it is, that the man who is in evil and thence in falsity, cannot be called rational, wise, and intelligent. With the evil, also, the interiors of the mind, in which the will and the understanding principally reside, are closed. It is believed that the evil also have will and understanding, because they say that they will, and that they understand; but their willing is only cupidity, and their understanding is only knowing.
From Arcana Coelestia:
34. Spiritual truths cannot be comprehended, unless the following universals are known:
1. All things in the universe have relation to good and truth, and to the conjunction of both, in order that they may be anything; consequently to love and faith, and their conjunction.
2. With man there is will and understanding, and the will is the receptacle of good, and the understanding the receptacle of truth, and all things with man have relation to those two, and to their conjunction, as all things relate to good and truth, and their conjunction.
3. There is an internal man and an external, and they are distinct one from the other like heaven and the world, and nevertheless they ought to make one, in order that man may be truly man.
4. The light of heaven is that in which the internal man is, and the light of the world that in which the external is; and the light of heaven is the Divine truth itself, from which is all intelligence.
5. There is a correspondence between the things which are in the internal, and those which are in the external man; and consequently they appear in each under a different form, so that they can only be discerned by the knowledge of correspondences.
Unless these and many other things are known, it is impossible to form any ideas concerning spiritual and celestial things, but such as are incongruous; and thus the memory-knowledges and knowledges, which are of the external man, without these universals, can be of little service to the rational man for understanding and growth. Hence it appears how necessary memory-knowledges are. Concerning those universals, much is said in Arcana Coelestia.
35. Man has two faculties, one which is called the will, and the other the understanding (n. 35, 641, 3539, 3623, 5969, 10122). Those two faculties constitute the very man (n. 10076, 10109, 10110, 10264, 10284). The quality of man is according to those two faculties with him (n. 7342, 8885, 9282, 10264, 10284). By them also man is distinguished from beasts, by reason that the understanding of man may be elevated by the Lord, and see Divine truths, and in like manner his will may be elevated and perceive Divine goods; and thus man may be conjoined to the Lord by those two faculties, which make him; but that the case is otherwise with beasts (n. 4525, 5114, 5302, 6323, 9231). And since man may thus be conjoined to the Lord, he cannot die as to his interiors, which are his spirit, but he lives forever (n. 5302). Man is not man from his form, but from good and truth, which are of his will and understanding (n. 4051, 5302).
As all things in the universe relate to good and truth, so do all things in man to the will and the understanding (n. 803, 10122). For the will is the receptacle of good, and the understanding is the receptacle of truth (n. 3332, 3623, 5835, 6065, 6125, 7503, 9300, 9930). It amounts to the same, whether you say truth or faith, for faith is of truth, and truth is of faith; and it amounts to the same whether you say good or love, for love is of good, and good is of love; for what a man believes, that he calls true; and what he loves, that he calls good (n. 4353, 4997, 7178, 10122, 10367). Hence it follows that the understanding is the recipient of faith, and the will the recipient of love; and that faith and love are in man, when they are in his understanding and will, for the life of man is nowhere else (n. 7179, 10122, 10367). And since the understanding of man is capable of receiving faith in the Lord, and the will of receiving love to the Lord, that by faith and love he may be conjoined to the Lord, and whoever is capable of conjunction with the Lord by faith and love, cannot die to eternity (n. 4525, 6323, 9231). Love is conjunction in the spiritual world (n. 1594, 2057, 3939, 4018, 5807, 6195, 6196, 7081, 7086, 7501, 10130).
The will of man is the very esse of his life, because it is the receptacle of good, and the understanding is the existere of life thence derived, because it is the receptacle of truth (n. 3619, 5002, 9282). Thus the life of the will is the principal life of man, and the life of the understanding proceeds therefrom (n. 585, 590, 3619, 7342, 8885, 9282, 10076, 10109, 10110); comparatively as light proceeds from fire or flame (n. 6032, 6314). Whatever things enter into the understanding, and at the same time into the will, are appropriated to man, but not those which are received in the understanding alone (n. 9009, 9069, 9071, 9133, 9182, 9386, 9393, 10076, 10109, 10110).
Those things become of the life of man, which are received in the will, and thence in the understanding (n. 8911, 9069, 9071, 10076, 10109, 10110). Every man also is loved and esteemed by others according to the good of his will and thence of his understanding; for he who wills well and understands well is loved and esteemed, and he who understands well and does not will well is rejected and is held in low estimation (n. 8911, 10076).
Man also after death remains such as his will and the understanding are (n. 9069, 9071, 9386, 10153) and those things which are of the understanding, and not at the same time of the will, then vanish, because they are not in man’s spirit (n. 9282). Or, what amounts to the same, man after death remains as his love and its faith are, or as his good and its truth are; and the things which are of the faith and not at the same time of the love, or the things which are of truth and not at the same time of good, vanish, because they are not in the man, thus not man’s (n. 553, 2363, 10153). Man is capable of comprehending with the understanding what he does not do from the will, or he may understand what he does not will, because it is against his love (n. 3539).
The will and the understanding constitute one mind (n. 35, 3623, 5835, 10122). Those two faculties of life ought to act as one, that man may be man (n. 3623, 5835, 5969, 9300). How perverted a state they are in, whose understanding and will do not act as one (n. 9075). Such is the state of hypocrites, the deceitful, flatterers, and simulators (n. 2426, 3573, 4799, 8250). The will and the understanding are reduced to one in another life, and there it is not allowable to have a divided mind (n. 8250).
Every doctrinal of the church has its own ideas by which its quality is perceived (n. 3310). The understanding of the doctrinal is according to those ideas, and without an intellectual idea, man would only have an idea of words, and none of things (n. 3825). The ideas of the understanding extend themselves widely into the societies of spirits and angels round about (n. 6599, 6600-6605, 6609, 6613). The ideas of man’s understanding are opened in another life, and appear to the life as to their quality (n. 1869, 3310, 5510). Of what quality the ideas of some appear (n. 6200, 8885).
All the will of good and the understanding of truth is from the Lord, but not so the understanding of truth separate from the will of good (n. 1831, 3514, 5482, 5649, 6027, 8685, 8701, 10153). It is the understanding which is enlightened by the Lord (n. 6222, 6608, 10659). The Lord grants to those who are enlightened, to see and understand truth (n. 9382, 10659). The enlightening of the understanding is various, according to the states of man’s life (n. 5221, 7012, 7233). The understanding is enlightened as far as man receives truth in the will, that is, as far as he wills to act according thereto (n. 3619). They have their understanding enlightened who read the Word from the love of truth and from the love of the uses of life; but not they who read it from the love of fame, honor, and gain (n. 9382, 10548, 10549, 10551). Enlightenment is an actual elevation of the mind into the light of heaven (n. 10330); from experience (n. 1526, 6608).
Light from heaven is the enlightenment of the understanding, as light from the world is to the sight (n. 1524, 5114, 6608, 9128). The light of heaven is the Divine truth, from which is all wisdom and intelligence (n. 3195, 3222, 5400, 8644, 9399, 9548, 9684). It is the understanding of man which is enlightened by that light (n. 1524, 3138, 3167, 4408, 6608, 8707, 9128, 9399, 10569).
The understanding is such as are the truths from good, of which it is formed (n. 10064). The understanding is that which is formed by truths from good, but not what is formed by falsities from evil (n. 10675). The understanding consists in seeing truths, the causes of things, their connections, and consequences in regular order, from those things which are of experience and knowledge (n. 6125). The understanding consists in seeing and perceiving whether a thing be true, before it is confirmed, but not in being able to confirm everything (n. 4741, 7012, 7680, 7950, 8521, 8780).
The light of confirmation without a previous perception of truth, is natural light, and may be possessed even by those who are not wise (n. 8780). To see and perceive whether a thing be true before it is confirmed, is only given with those who are affected with truth for the sake of truth, consequently who are in spiritual light (n. 8780). Every dogma, even what is false, may be confirmed, even so as to appear true (n. 2243, 2385, 4677, 4741, 5033, 6865, 7950).
How the rational is conceived and born with man (n. 2094, 2524, 2557, 3030, 5126). It is from the influx of the light of heaven from the Lord through the internal man into the internal and external knowledges, and an elevation thence (n. 1895, 1899, 1902). The rational is born by truths, and not by falsities; consequently according to the quality of the truths, such is the rational (n. 2094, 2524, 2557). The rational is opened and formed by truths from good, and it is shut and destroyed by falsities from evil (n. 3108, 5126). A man is not rational who is in falsities from evil; and consequently a man is not rational from being able to reason upon every subject (n. 1944).
Man scarcely knows how to distinguish between the understanding and the will, because he scarcely knows how to distinguish between thinking and willing (n. 9995).
Many more things concerning the will and the understanding may be known and concluded from what has been just adduced concerning good and truth, provided the will be perceived instead of good, and the understanding instead of truth, for the will is of good, and the understanding is of truth.
The internal and the external man
36. Man is so created as to be in the spiritual world and in the natural world at the same time. The spiritual world is where the angels are, and the natural world where men are. As man is so created, there has been given to him an internal and an external; an internal by which he is in the spiritual world, and an external by which he is in the natural world. His internal is what is called the internal man, and his external is what is called the external man.
37. Every man has an internal and an external; but they differ with the good and the evil. With the good, the internal is in heaven, and in its light, and the external is in the world, and in its light, which light with them is illumined by the light of heaven, so that the internal and the external act as one, like the efficient cause and the effect, or like what is prior and what is posterior. But with the evil, the internal is in the world, and in its light; as is also the external; for which reason they see nothing from the light of heaven, but only from the light of the world, which they call the light of nature. Hence it is that to them the things of heaven are in thick darkness, whilst the things of the world are in light. From this it is manifest that the good have both an internal and an external man, but that the evil have not an internal man, but only an external.
38. The internal man is called the spiritual man, because it is in the light of heaven, which light is spiritual; and the external man is called the natural man, because it is in the light of the world, which light is natural. The man whose internal is in the light of heaven, and whose external is in the light of the world, is a spiritual man as to both; but the man whose internal is not in the light of heaven, but only in the light of the world, in which is his external also, is a natural man as to both. The spiritual man is called in the Word “living,” but the natural man is called “dead.”
39. The man whose internal is in the light of heaven, and his external in the light of the world, thinks both spiritually and naturally; but then his spiritual thought flows into his natural thought, and is there perceived. But the man whose internal and external are in the light of the world does not think spiritually, but materially; for he thinks from such things as are in the nature of the world, all which are material. To think spiritually is to think of things themselves as they are in themselves, to see truths in the light of truth, and to perceive goods from the love of good; also, to see the qualities of things, and to perceive their affections, abstractly from matter. But to think materially is to think, see, and perceive them together with matter, and in matter, thus in a gross and obscure manner respectively.
40. The internal spiritual man, regarded in himself, is an angel of heaven; and, also, during his life in the body, is in society with angels, although he does not then know it; and after his separation from the body, he comes among the angels. But the merely natural internal man, regarded in himself, is a spirit, and not an angel; and, also, during his life in the body, is in society with spirits, but with those who are in hell, among whom he also comes after his separation from the body.
41. The interiors, with those who are spiritual men, are also actually elevated toward heaven, for that is what they primarily regard; but the interiors which are of the mind with those who are merely natural, are actually turned to the world, because that is what they primarily regard. The interiors, which are of the mind [mens], are turned with everyone to that which he loves above all things; and the exteriors which are of the mind [animus], are turned the same way as the interiors.
42. They who have only a general idea concerning the internal and the external man, believe that it is the internal man which thinks and wills, and the external which speaks and acts; because to think and to will is internal, and to speak and to act thence is external. But it is to be known that when man thinks intelligently and wills wisely, he then thinks and wills from a spiritual internal; but when man does not think intelligently, and will wisely, he thinks and wills from a natural internal.
Consequently, when a man thinks well concerning the Lord, and those things which are of the Lord, and well concerning the neighbor, and those things which are of the neighbor, and wills well to them, he then thinks and wills from a spiritual internal, because he then thinks from the faith of truth and from the love of good, thus from heaven. But when man thinks and wills wickedly concerning them, he then thinks and wills from a natural internal, because he thinks and wills from the faith of falsity and from the love of evil, thus from hell. In a word, so far as man is in love to the Lord, and in love toward the neighbor, so far he is in a spiritual internal, from which he thinks and wills, and from which also he speaks and acts; but so far as man is in the love of self, and in the love of the world, so far he is in a natural internal, from which he thinks and wills, and from which also he speaks and acts.
43. It is so provided and ordered by the Lord, that so far as man thinks and wills from heaven, so far the internal spiritual man is opened and formed. It is opened into heaven even to the Lord, and the formation is according to those things which are of heaven. But, on the contrary, so far as man does not think and will from heaven, but from the world, so far the internal spiritual man is closed, and the external is opened. The opening is into the world, and the formation is to those things which are of the world.
44. They with whom the internal spiritual man is opened into heaven to the Lord, are in the light of heaven, and in enlightenment from the Lord, and thence in intelligence and wisdom; these see truth because it is truth, and perceive good because it is good. But they with whom the internal spiritual man is closed, do not know that there is an internal man, and much less what the internal man is; neither do they believe that there is the Divine, nor that there is a life after death; consequently they do not believe the things which are of heaven and of the church. And because they are only in the light of the world and in the enlightenment thence, they believe in nature as the Divine, they see falsity as truth, and they perceive evil as good.
45. He whose internal is so far external, that he believes nothing but what he can see with his eyes and touch with his hands, is called a sensual man; this is the lowest natural man, and is in fallacies concerning all the things which are of the faith of the church.
46. The internal and the external, which have been treated of, are the internal and the external of the spirit of man; his body is only a superadded external, within which they exist; for the body does nothing from itself, but from its spirit which is in it. It is to be known that the spirit of man, after its separation from the body, thinks and wills, speaks and acts, the same as before; to think and to will is its internal, and to speak and to act is its external; concerning which, see in Heaven and Hell (n. 234-245, 265-275, 432-444, 453-484).
From Arcana Coelestia:
47. Of the internal and the external with man. It is known in the Christian world that man has an internal and an external, or an internal man and an external man; but it is little known what is the quality of the one and of the other (n. 1889, 1940). The internal man is spiritual, and the external is natural (n. 978, 1015, 4459, 6309, 9701-9709). How the internal man which is spiritual is formed to the image of heaven; and the external which is natural to the image of the world; and man was therefore called by the ancients a microcosm (n. 3628, 4523, 4524, 6057, 6314, 9706, 10156, 10472). Thus in man the spiritual world and natural world are conjoined (n. 6057, 10472). Thence man is such that he can look up toward heaven, and down toward the world (n. 7601, 7604, 7607). When he looks upwards, he is in the light of heaven and sees thence; but when he looks downwards, he is in the light of the world and sees thence (n. 3167, 10134). There is given with man a descent from the spiritual world into the natural (n. 3702, 4042).
The internal man which is spiritual, and the external man which is natural, are altogether distinct (n. 1999, 2018, 3691, 4459). The distinction is such as exists between cause and effect, and between prior and posterior, and there is no continuity (n. 3691, 4154, 5145, 5146, 5711, 6275, 6284, 6299, 6326, 6465, 8603, 10076, 10099, 10181). Consequently that the distinction is like that between heaven and the world, or between the spiritual and the natural (n. 4292, 5032, 5620, 5639). The interiors and exteriors of man are not continuous, but distinct according to degrees, and each degree is terminated (n. 3691, 4145, 5114, 6326, 6465, 8603, 10099). He who does not perceive the distinctions of the interiors and the exteriors of man according to degrees, and does not understand the quality of those degrees, cannot comprehend the internal and the external of man (n. 5146, 6465, 10099, 10181). The things of a higher degree are more perfect than those of a lower degree (n. 3405). There are three degrees in man answering to the three heavens (n. 4154).
The exteriors are more remote from the Divine with man, and therefore they are respectively obscure, and of a general nature (n. 6451). And they are also respectively not in order (n. 996, 3855). The interiors are more perfect, because nearer to the Divine (n. 5146, 5147). In the internal there are thousands and thousands of things, which in the external appear as one general thing (n. 5707). Thence thought and perception is clearer in proportion as it is interior (n. 5920). Hence it follows that man ought to be in internals (n. 1175, 4464).
The interiors of the mind, with the man who is in love and charity, are actually elevated by the Lord, and otherwise they would look downwards (n. 6952, 6954, 10330). Influx and enlightenment from heaven with man, is an actual elevation of the interiors by the Lord (n. 7816, 10330). Man is elevated when he advances to spiritual things (n. 9922). As far as man is elevated from externals toward interiors, so far he comes into light, consequently into intelligence; and this is what is meant by being withdrawn from sensual things, according to the saying of the ancients (n. 6183, 6313). Elevation from the external to the interiors, is like that from mist into light (n. 4598).
Influx from the Lord is through the internal man into the external (n. 1940, 5119). Interiors can flow into exteriors, but not the contrary; consequently that influx is spiritual and not physical, namely, from the spiritual man into the natural, and not from the natural man into the spiritual (n. 3219, 5119, 5259, 5427, 5428, 5477, 6322, 9109, 9110). The Lord from the internal, where there is peace, governs the external, where there is turbulence (n. 5396).
The internal can see all things in the external, but not the reverse (n. 1914, 1953, 5427, 5428, 5477). When man lives in the world, he thinks from the internal in the external, consequently his spiritual thought flows into his natural, and there presents itself naturally (n. 3679). When man thinks well, it is from the internal or spiritual in the external or natural (n. 9704, 9705, 9707). The external man thinks and wills according to conjunction with the internal (n. 9702, 9703). There is an interior and an exterior thought; the quality of the one and the other (n. 2515, 2552, 5127, 5141, 5168, 6007). The thought and affection in the internal is not perceived by man during his life in the world, but only that which is in the external therefrom (n. 10236, 10240). But in the other life externals are taken away, and man is then let into his own internals (n. 8870). It then becomes manifest what is the quality of his internals (n. 1806, 1807).
The internal produces the external (n. 994, 995). And the internal then invests itself with such things as enable it to produce its effects in the external (n. 6275, 6284, 6299); and by which it may live in the external (n. 1175, 6275). The Lord conjoins the internal or spiritual man to the external or natural man, when he regenerates him (n. 1577, 1594, 1904, 1999). The external or natural man is then reduced into order through the internal or spiritual man, and is subordinated (n. 9708).
The external must be subordinate and subject to the internal (n. 5077, 5125, 5128, 5786, 5947, 10272). The external is so created, that it may serve the internal (n. 5947). The internal must be lord, and the external its minister, and in a certain respect its servant (n. 10471).
The external ought to be in correspondence with the internal, that there may be conjunction (n. 5427, 5428, 5477). What the quality of the external is when it corresponds with the internal, and what when it does not correspond (n. 3493, 5422, 5423, 5427, 5428, 5477, 5511). In the external man there are things which correspond and agree with the internal, and there are things which do not correspond and agree (n. 1563, 1568).
The external has its quality from the internal (n. 9912, 9921, 9922). How great the beauty of the external man is, when it is conjoined with the internal (n. 1590). And how great its foulness when not conjoined (n. 1598). Love to the Lord and charity toward the neighbor conjoin the external man with the internal (n. 1594). Unless the internal man be conjoined with the external, there is no fructification (n. 3987).
The interiors successively flow into the exteriors, even into the extreme or ultimate, and they there exist and subsist together (n. 634, 6239, 9215, 9216). They not only flow in successively, but also form in the ultimate what is simultaneous, in what order (n. 5897, 6451, 8603, 10099). All the interiors are held in connection from the first, through the ultimate (n. 9828). Thence also in the ultimates are strength and power (n. 9836). And therefore responses and revelations were made from the ultimates (n. 9905, 10548). Thence also the ultimate is more holy than the interiors (n. 9824). Hence also in the Word, “first and last” signify all and every particular, thus the whole (n. 10044, 10329, 10335).
The internal man is open to him who is in Divine order, but shut to him who is not in Divine order (n. 8513). There is no conjunction of heaven with the external man without the internal (n. 9380). Evils and the falsities of evil shut the internal man, and cause man to be only in externals (n. 1587, 10492). Especially evils from the love of self (n. 1594). The interiors are shut even to the sensual, which is the ultimate, if the Divine is denied (n. 6564). With the intelligent and learned of the world, who from knowledges confirm themselves against the things of heaven and the church, the internal is shut more than with the simple (n. 10492).
Because the internal man is in the light of heaven, and the external in the light of the world, therefore they who are in the external without the internal, that is, they with whom the internal is shut, do not care for the internal things of heaven and the church (n. 4464, 4946). In the other life they cannot at all endure internal things (n. 10694, 10701, 10707). They believe nothing (n. 10396, 10400, 10411, 10429). They love themselves and the world above all things (n. 10407, 10412, 10420). Their interiors, or the things which are of their thought and affection, are vile, filthy, and profane, howsoever they may appear in externals (n. 1182, 7046, 9705, 9707). The ideas of their thought are material, and not at all spiritual (n. 10582). The quality further described of those whose internal that looks heavenward is shut (n. 4459, 9709, 10284, 10286, 10429, 10472, 10492, 10602, 10683).
So far as the internal, which is spiritual, is opened, so far truths and goods are multiplied; and so far as the internal, which is spiritual, is shut, so far truths and goods vanish (n. 4099). The church is in the internal spiritual man, because that is in heaven, and not in the external without it (n. 10698). Hence the external church with man is nothing without the internal (n. 1795).
External worship without internal worship is no worship (n. 1094, 1175). Concerning those who are in the internal of the church, of worship, and of the Word; of those who are in the external in which is the internal; and of those who are in the external without the internal (n. 10683). The external without the internal is hard (n. 10683).
The merely natural man is in hell, unless he be made spiritual by regeneration (n. 10156). All who are in the external without the internal, or with whom the spiritual internal is shut, are in hell (n. 9128, 10483, 10489).
The interiors of man are actually turned according to his loves (n. 10702). In each and all things there must be an internal and an external that they may subsist (n. 9473).
“Above” and “high” in the Word signify the internal (n. 1725, 2148, 4210, 4599). Thence in the Word higher is interior, and lower is exterior (n. 3084).
48. Of the natural and the spiritual. How perverse it is that the world at this day attributes so much to nature, and so little to the Divine (n. 3483). Why it is so (n. 5116). When nevertheless each and every particular in nature not only exists, but likewise continually subsists from the Divine, and through the spiritual world (n. 775, 8211). Divine, celestial, and spiritual things terminate in nature (n. 4240, 4939). Nature is the ultimate plane whereon they stand (n. 4240, 5651, 6275, 6284, 6299, 9216). Celestial, spiritual, and natural things follow and succeed each other in order; so do Divine things with them, because they are from the Divine (n. 880, 4938, 4939, 9992, 10005, 10017, 10068). Celestial things are the head, spiritual things the body, and natural things the feet (n. 4938, 4939). They also inflow in an order similar to that wherein they follow and succeed each other (n. 4938, 4939).
The good of the inmost or third heaven is called celestial, the good of the middle or second heaven is called spiritual, and the good of the ultimate or first heaven is called spiritual natural, whence it may be known what is the celestial, spiritual, and natural (n. 4279, 4286, 4938, 4939, 9992, 10005, 10017, 10068); and in Heaven and Hell (n. 20-40).
All things of the natural world are from the Divine through the spiritual world (n. 5013). Consequently the spiritual is in every natural thing, just as the efficient cause is in the effect (n. 3562, 5711); or as effort is in motion (n. 5173), and as the internal is in the external (n. 3562, 5326, 5711). And since the cause is the very essential in the effect, as effort is in motion, and the internal in the external; hence it follows, that the spiritual, and consequently the Divine, is the very essential in the natural (n. 2987-3002, 9701-9709).
Spiritual things are presented to view in the natural, and the things manifested are representatives and correspondences (n. 1632, 2987-3002). Hence all nature is a theater representative of the spiritual world, that is, of heaven (n. 2758, 2999, 3000, 4939, 8848, 9280). All things in nature are disposed in order and series according to ends (n. 4104). This is from the spiritual world, that is, from heaven, because ends, which are uses, reign there (n. 454, 696, 1103, 3645, 4054, 7038). Man is so created that Divine things descending according to order into nature, may be perceived in him (n. 3702).
With every man, who is in Divine order, there is an internal and an external; his internal is called the spiritual, or the spiritual man, and his external is called the natural, or the natural man (n. 978, 1015, 4459, 6309, 9701-9709). The spiritual man is in the light of heaven, and the natural man in the light of the world (n. 5965). The natural man can discern nothing from himself, but from the spiritual (n. 5286). The natural is like a face in which the interiors see themselves, and thus man thinks (n. 5165). The spiritual man thinks in the natural, consequently naturally, so far as it comes to the sensual perception of the natural (n. 3679, 5165, 6284, 6299). The natural is the plane, in which the spiritual terminates (n. 5651, 6275, 6284, 6299, 9216).
The spiritual sees nothing, unless the natural be in correspondence (n. 3493, 3620, 3623). The spiritual or internal man can see what is being done in the natural or external, but not the contrary, because the spiritual flows into the natural, and not the natural into the spiritual (n. 3219, 4667, 5119, 5259, 5427, 5428, 5477, 6322, 9109, 9110). The natural man from his own light, which is called the light [lumen] of nature, knows nothing concerning God, nor concerning heaven, nor concerning the life after death; neither does he believe, if he hears of such things, unless spiritual light, which is light from heaven, flows into that natural light [lumen] (n. 8944).
The natural man of himself, by birth, is opposite to the spiritual man (n. 3913, 3928). Therefore as long as they are opposite to each other, man feels it grievous to think of spiritual and celestial things, but delightful to think of natural and corporeal things (n. 4096). He despises the things of heaven, and even the bare mention of anything spiritual, from experience (n. 5006, 9109). Merely natural men regard spiritual good and truth as a servant (n. 5013, 5025). When nevertheless the natural man ought to be subordinate to the spiritual man, and serve him (n. 3019, 5168). The spiritual man is said to serve the natural, when the latter from the intellectual principle seeks confirmations of the objects of his concupiscence, particularly from the Word (n. 3019, 5013, 5025, 5168). How merely natural men appear in another life, and what is the quality of their state and lot there (n. 4630, 4633, 4940-4952, 5032, 5571).
The truths, which are in the natural man, are called memory-knowledges and knowledges (n. 3293). The imagination of the natural man, when viewed in itself, is material, and his affections are like those of beasts (n. 3020). But there is a genuine thinking and imaginative principle from the internal or spiritual man when the natural man sees, acts, and lives therefrom (n. 3493, 5422, 5423, 5427, 5428, 5477, 5510).
The things which are in the natural man, respectively to those which are in the spiritual man, are general (n. 3513, 5707); and consequently obscure (n. 6686).
There is an interior and an exterior natural with man (n. 3293, 3294, 3793, 5118, 5126, 5497, 5649). There is also a medium between them (n. 4570, 9216). The discharges of the spiritual man are made into the natural, and by it (n. 9572).
They who do good merely from a natural disposition, and not from religion, are not received in heaven (n. 8002, 8772).
49. Of the light of heaven in which the spiritual man is. There is great light in the heavens (n. 1117, 1521, 1533, 1619-1632). The light in the heavens exceeds the meridian light on earth by many degrees (n. 1117, 1521, 4527, 5400, 8644). That light has been often seen by me (n. 1522, 4527, 7174). The light which the angels of the inmost or third heaven have is as the light from the sun, but the light which the angels of the second heaven have is as the light from the moon (n. 1529, 1530). The light in the inmost heaven is flamy, but in the second heaven it is bright white (n. 9570).
All light in the heavens is from the Lord as a sun there (n. 1053, 1521, 3195, 3341, 3636, 3643, 4415, 9548, 9684, 10809). The Lord is the sun of the angelic heaven, and his Divine love is that sun (n. 1521, 1529, 1530, 1531, 1837, 4321, 4696, 7078, 7083, 7173). The Divine truth proceeding from the Lord in the heavens appears as light, and constitutes all the light of heaven; and consequently that light is spiritual light (n. 3195, 3322, 5400, 8644, 9399, 9548, 9684). Therefore the Lord in the Word is called light (n. 3195). Because that light is the Divine truth, there is in it Divine wisdom and intelligence (n. 3195, 3485, 3636, 3643, 3993, 4302, 4413, 4415, 9548, 9684). How light from the Lord flows into the heavens, illustrated by the circles of rays round the sun (n. 9407). That the Lord is a sun to the heavens, and from him is all the light there may be seen in Heaven and Hell (n. 116-125). And the light from that sun is Divine truth, and the heat from it Divine good of Divine love (n. 126-140).
The light of heaven enlightens both the sight and the understanding of angels and spirits (n. 2776, 3138). They have light there according to their understanding and wisdom (n. 1524, 3339). Testified from the Word (n. 1529, 1530). There are as many differences of light in the heavens as there are angelic societies (n. 4414); since there are perpetual varieties in the heavens as to good and truth, thus as to wisdom and intelligence (n. 684, 690, 3241, 3744, 3745, 5598, 7236, 7833, 7836). Heaven’s being in light and heat signifies its being in wisdom and in love (n. 3643, 9399, 9400).
The light of heaven enlightens the understanding of man (n. 1524, 3138, 3167, 4408, 6608, 8707, 9128, 9399, 10569). Man, when he is elevated from the sensual, comes into a milder light [lumen], and at length into celestial light [lux] (n. 6313, 6315, 9407). There is elevation into the light of heaven when man comes into intelligence (n. 3190). What great light was perceived, when I have been withdrawn from worldly ideas (n. 1526, 6608). The sight of the internal man is in the light of heaven, and therefore man is able to think analytically and rationally (n. 1532). The light of heaven from the Lord is always present with man, but it flows in only so far as he is in truths from good (n. 4060, 4214). That light is according to truth from good (n. 3094). Truths shine in the spiritual world (n. 5219). Spiritual heat and spiritual light make the true life of man (n. 6032).
The light of the world is for the external man, and the light of heaven for the internal (n. 3223, 3324, 3337). The light of heaven flows into natural light [lumen] and the natural man is so far wise as he receives that light (n. 4302, 4408). There is a correspondence between those lights (n. 3225). The things which are in the light of heaven cannot be seen from the light of the world with man, which is called his natural light; but the things in the light of the world may be seen from the light of heaven (n. 9577).
Whence it follows, that they who are only in the light of the world, which is called natural light, do not perceive those things which are of the light of heaven (n. 3108). To those who are in falsities from evil, the light of heaven is thick darkness (n. 1783, 3337, 3413, 4060, 6907, 8197). The light of the world with the evil is glowing, and so far as it glows, so far the things which are of the light of heaven are dark to them (n. 6907). The light of the world does not appear to the angels (n. 1521, 1783, 1880).
In the heavens all light is from the Lord, and all shade from the ignorance and proprium of the angels and spirits; hence the modifications and variegations of light and shade, which are colors there (n. 3341). Concerning the variegations of light by the Urim and Thummim (n. 3862).
The light of those who are in faith separate from charity is snowy, and like the light of winter (n. 3412, 3413). That light is turned into mere darkness on the influx of light from heaven (n. 3412). Of the light of those who are in a persuasive faith, and in a life of evil (n. 4416). Of what quality the light appears with those who are in intelligence from the proprium, and what with those who are in intelligence from the Lord (n. 4419).
There is light [lumen] in the hells, but fatuous (n. 1528, 3340, 4214, 4418, 4531). This light is as light from a coal fire (n. 1528, 4418, 4531). They who are in the hells appear to themselves in their own light as men, but in the light of heaven as devils and monsters (n. 4532, 4533, 4674, 5057, 5058, 6605, 6626). All things in the light of heaven appear according to their true quality (n. 4674). The hells are said to be in thick darkness and darkness, because they are in falsities from evils (n. 3340, 4418, 4531).
“Darkness” signifies falsities, and “thick darkness” the falsity of evil (n. 1839, 1860, 7688, 7711).
50. Of the sensual man, who is the lowest degree natural (spoken of in the doctrine above, n. 45). The sensual is the ultimate of the life of man, adhering to and inhering in his corporeal (n. 5077, 5767, 9212, 9216, 9331, 9730). He who judges and concludes concerning everything from the bodily senses, and who believes nothing but what he can see with his eyes and touch with his hands, saying that these are something, and rejecting all things else, is a sensual man (n. 5094, 7693). Such a man thinks in outmosts, and not interiorly in himself (n. 5089, 5094, 6564, 7693). His interiors are shut, so that he sees nothing of truth therein (n. 6564, 6844, 6845). In a word, he is in gross natural light, and thus perceives nothing which is from the light of heaven (n. 6201, 6310, 6564, 6598, 6612, 6614, 6622, 6624, 6844, 6845). Consequently he is interiorly against the things which are of heaven and the church (n. 6201, 6316, 6844, 6845, 6948, 6949). The learned, who have confirmed themselves against the truths of the church, are sensual (n. 6316).
Sensual men reason sharply and shrewdly, because their thought is so near their speech as to be almost in it, and because they place all intelligence in discourse from the memory alone (n. 195, 196, 5700, 10236). But they reason from the fallacies of the senses, with which the common people are captivated (n. 5084, 6948, 6949, 7693).
Sensual men are more crafty and malicious than others (n. 7693, 10236). The avaricious, adulterers, the voluptuous, and the deceitful especially are sensual (n. 6310). Their interiors are foul and filthy (n. 6201). By means thereof they communicate with the hells (n. 6311). They who are in the hells are sensual in proportion to their depth (n. 4623, 6311). The sphere of infernal spirits conjoins itself with man’s sensual from behind (n. 6312). They who reasoned from the sensual, and thereby against the truths of faith, were called by the ancients serpents of the tree of knowledge (n. 195-197, 6398, 6949, 10313).
The sensual of man, and the sensual man himself, is further described (n. 10236). And the extension of the sensual with man (n. 9731).
Sensual things ought to be in the last place, not in the first, and with a wise and intelligent man they are in the last place and subject to the interiors; but with an unwise man they are in the first place, and have dominion; these are they who are properly called sensual (n. 5077, 5125, 5128, 7645). If sensual things are in the last place, and are subject to the interiors, a way is opened through them to the understanding, and truths are refined by a kind of extraction (n. 5580).
The sensual things of man stand nearest to the world, and admit things that flow from the world, and as it were sift them (n. 9726). The external or natural man communicates with the world by means of those sensuals, and with heaven by means of rationals (n. 4009). Thus sensual things administer those things which are serviceable to the interiors of man (n. 5077, 5081). There are sensual things ministering to the intellectual part, and likewise to the will part (n. 5077).
Unless the thought is elevated from sensual things, man possesses but little wisdom (n. 5089). A wise man thinks above the sensual (n. 5089, 5094). Man, when his thought is elevated above sensual things, comes into a clearer light [lumen], and at length into heavenly light [lux] (n. 6183, 6313, 6315, 9407, 9730, 9922). Elevation above sensual things, and withdrawal from them, was known to the ancients (n. 6313). Man with his spirit may see the things which are in the spiritual world, if he can be withdrawn from the sensual things of the body, and elevated by the Lord into the light of heaven (n. 4622). The reason is that the body does not feel, but the spirit in the body; and so far as the spirit perceives in the body, so far is the perception gross and obscure, consequently in darkness; but so far as not in the body, so far is the perception clear and in the light (n. 4622, 6614, 6622).
The ultimate of the understanding is the sensual scientific, and the ultimate of the will the sensual delight, concerning which see n. 9996. What is the difference between the sensual things that are common with beasts, and those that are not common with them (n. 10236). There are sensual men who are not evil, inasmuch as their interiors are not so much closed; concerning whose state in another life (see n. 6311).
51. Of external and internal knowledges, by which the internal spiritual man is opened. Those things are called memory-knowledges, which are in the external or natural man, and its memory, but not those which are in the internal or spiritual man (n. 3019, 3020, 3293, 3309, 4967, 9918, 9922). Memory- knowledges, as belonging to the external or natural man, are respectively instruments of service, inasmuch as the external or natural man is made to serve the internal or spiritual man, just as the world is made to serve heaven (n. 5077, 5125, 5128, 5786, 5947, 10272, 10471). The external man is respectively the world, because the laws of Divine order existing in the world are inscribed therein; and the internal man is respectively heaven, because the laws of Divine order existing in heaven are inscribed therein (n. 4523, 4524, 5368, 6013, 6057, 9278, 9279, 9283, 9709, 10156, 10472); and in Heaven and Hell (n. 51-58).
There are memory-knowledges which concern natural things, memory-knowledges which relate to the civil state and life, memory-knowledges which relate to the moral state and life, and memory-knowledges which relate to the spiritual state and life (n. 5774, 5934). But for distinction’s sake, those which relate to the spiritual state and life are called knowledges, consisting principally of doctrinals (n. 9945).
Man ought to be imbued with external and internal knowledges, since by these he learns to think, then to understand what is true and good (n. 129, 1450, 1451, 1453, 1548, 1802). Memory-knowledges and knowledges are the first things, on which is built and founded the civil, moral, and spiritual life of man; but they are to be learned for the sake of the use of life as their end (n. 1489, 3310). Knowledges open the way to the internal man, and then conjoin it with the external according to uses (n. 1563, 1616). The rational is born by external and internal knowledges (n. 1895, 1900, 3086). Yet not by external and internal knowledges themselves, but by the affection of uses from them, and according to such affection (n. 1895). The internal man is opened and successively perfected by external and internal knowledges, provided man has some good use for an end, particularly a use that regards eternal life (n. 3086). Then the memory-knowledges and knowledges which are in the natural man meet the spiritual things from the celestial and spiritual man and adopt those which agree (n. 1495). Uses of heavenly life are then extracted, refined, and elevated by the Lord, through the internal man, from the memory-knowledges and knowledges which are in the natural man (n. 1895, 1896, 1900-1902, 5871, 5874, 5901). And the memory- knowledges which are incongruous and adverse are rejected to the sides and exterminated (n. 5871, 5886, 5889).
The sight of the internal man calls nothing forth from the memory-knowledges and knowledges of the external man, but such as are of its love (n. 9394). Memory-knowledges and knowledges are disposed in bundles, and conjoined according to the loves which introduced them (n. 5881). Then in the sight of the internal man, those which are of the love are in the middle and in clearness, but those which are not of the love are at the sides and in obscurity (n. 6068, 6084). Memory-knowledges and knowledges with man are successively implanted in his loves, and dwell in them (n. 6325). Man would be born into every knowledge, and thereby into intelligence, if he were born into love to the Lord and love toward the neighbor; but because he is born into the love of self and the world, he is born in total ignorance (n. 6323, 6325). Knowledge, intelligence, and wisdom are the sons of love to the Lord and of love toward the neighbor (n. 1226, 2049, 2116).
Memory-knowledges and knowledges, because they are of the external or natural man, are in the light of the world; but truths, which are become truths of love and faith, and have thus obtained life, are in the light of heaven (n. 5212). Nevertheless the truths, which have thus obtained life, are comprehended by man through natural ideas (n. 5510). Spiritual influx is through the internal man into the memory-knowledges and knowledges which are in the external (n. 1940, 8005). Memory-knowledges and knowledges are the receptacles and as it were the vessels of the truth and good of the internal man (n. 1469, 1496, 3068, 5489, 6004, 6023, 6052, 6071, 6077, 7770, 9922). Therefore by “vessels” in the Word, in the spiritual sense, are signified memory-knowledges and knowledges (n. 3068, 3069, 3079, 9394, 9544, 9723, 9724). Memory-knowledges are as it were mirrors, in which the truths and goods of the internal man appear, and are perceived as in an image (n. 5201). And there they are together as in their ultimate (n. 5373, 5874, 5886, 5901, 6004, 6023, 6052, 6071, 6077). Memory-knowledges, because they are in the light of the world, are involved and obscure respectively to those things which are in the light of heaven; thus the things which are in the external man respectively to those in the internal (n. 2831). For which reason also by “involved” in the Word is signified what is scientific (n. 2831). So also by “the obscurity of a cloud” (n. 8443, 10551).
Every principle is to be drawn from the truths of doctrine from the Word, which are first to be acknowledged, and then it is allowable to consult memory-knowledges in order to confirm those truths, and thus they are corroborated (n. 6047). Thus it is allowable for those who are in the affirmative concerning the truths of faith, intellectually to confirm them by memory-knowledges; but not for those who are in the negative, because a preceding affirmative draws all to favor its side, and a preceding negative draws all to its side (n. 2568, 2588, 3913, 4760, 6047). There is a doubting affirmative, and a doubting negative, the former with some who are good, and the latter with the evil (n. 2568). To enter from the truths of faith into memory-knowledges is according to order; but on the other hand to enter from memory-knowledges into the truths of faith is contrary to order (n. 10236), since influx is spiritual, and not physical or natural, thus from the truths of faith (because these are spiritual) into memory-knowledges, because these are natural (n. 3219, 5119, 5259, 5427, 5428, 5478, 6322, 9109, 9110).
Whoever is in a doubting negative state, which in itself is a negative, and says that he will not believe until he is persuaded by memory-knowledges, will never believe (n. 2094, 2832). They who do so become insane as to those things which are of the church and heaven (n. 128-130). They fall into the falsities of evil (n. 232, 233, 6047). And in the other life, when they think about spiritual things, they are as it were drunken (n. 1072). A further description of them (n. 196). Examples to illustrate that spiritual things cannot be comprehended, if the order of entering into them be inverted (n. 233, 2094, 2196, 2203, 2209). Many of the learned are more insane in spiritual things, than the simple, because they are in the negative, and have abundance of memory-knowledges, by which they confirm the negative (n. 4760). An example of a learned man, who could understand nothing concerning spiritual life (n. 8629).
They who reason from memory-knowledges against the truths of faith, reason sharply, inasmuch as they do it from the fallacies of the senses, which captivate and persuade, for it is with difficulty these can be shaken off (n. 5700). They who understand nothing of truth, and they also who are in evil, can reason concerning the truths and goods of faith, and yet be in no enlightenment (n. 4214). Only to confirm a dogma, is not the part of an intelligent man, because falsity can be as easily confirmed as the truth (n. 1017, 2482, 2490, 4741, 5033, 6865, 7012, 7680, 7950, 8521, 8780). They who reason concerning the truths of the church, whether a thing be so or not, are evidently in obscurity respecting truths, and not yet in spiritual light (n. 215, 1385, 3033, 3428).
There are memory-knowledges which admit Divine truths, and others which do not (n. 5213). Vain memory-knowledges ought to be destroyed (n. 1489, 1492, 1499, 1500). Those are vain memory-knowledges which regard for their end and confirm the loves of self and the world, and which withdraw from love to the Lord and love toward the neighbor because such memory-knowledges shut up the internal man, so that he is not then capable of receiving anything from heaven (n. 1563, 1600). Memory-knowledges are the means of becoming wise, and the means of becoming insane; and by them the internal man is either opened or shut; and thus the rational is either cultivated or destroyed (n. 4156, 8628, 9922).
External knowledges after death are of no account, but only those things which man has imbibed in his understanding and life by means of these knowledges (n. 2480). Nevertheless all memory-knowledges remain after death, but they are quiescent (n. 2476-2479, 2481-2486).
The same memory-knowledges which with the evil are falsities because applied to evils, with the good are truths, because applied to goods (n. 6917). Scientific truths with the evil are not truths, however they may appear as truths when spoken, because within them there is evil, and consequently they are falsified; and the knowledge of those men by no means deserves to be called knowledge, inasmuch as it is destitute of life (n. 10331).
It is one thing to be wise, another to understand, another to know, and another to do; but still, with those who are in spiritual life, they follow in order, and correspond, and are together in doing or in deeds (n. 10331). It is also one thing to know, another to acknowledge, and another to have faith (n. 896).
What is the quality of the desire of knowing which spirits have is shown by an example (n. 1973). Angels have an immense desire of knowing and of becoming wise, inasmuch is knowledge, intelligence and wisdom, are spiritual food (n. 3114, 4459, 4792, 4976, 5147, 5293, 5340, 5342, 5410, 5426, 5576, 5582, 5588, 5655, 6277, 8562, 9003).
The chief knowledge with the ancients was the knowledge of correspondences, but at this day it is lost (n. 3021, 3419, 4280, 4844, 4964, 4966, 6004, 7729, 10252). The knowledge of correspondences flourished with the orientals, and in Egypt (n. 5702, 6692, 7097, 7779, 9391, 10407). Thence came their hieroglyphics (n. 6692, 7097). The ancients by the knowledge of correspondences introduced themselves into the knowledges of spiritual things (n. 4749, 4844, 4966). The Word is written by mere correspondences, whence its internal or spiritual sense, the existence of which cannot be known without the knowledge of correspondences, nor can the quality of the Word (n. 3131, 3472-3485, 8615, 10687). How much the knowledge of correspondences excels other knowledges (n. 4280).
52. Of the natural memory, which is of the external man, and of the spiritual memory, which is of the internal man. Man has two memories, an exterior and an interior memory, or a natural and a spiritual memory (n. 2469-2494). Man does not know that he has an interior memory (n. 2470, 2471). How much the interior memory excels the exterior memory (n. 2473). The things in the exterior memory are in natural light, but the things in the interior memory, in spiritual light (n. 5212). It is from the interior memory that man is able to think and speak intellectually and rationally (n. 9394).
All and every particular which man has thought, spoken, and done, and all that he has heard and seen, are inscribed on his interior memory (n. 2474, 7398). That memory is man’s book of life (n. 2474, 9386, 9841, 10505). In the interior memory are the truths which are become of faith, and the goods which are become of love (n. 5212, 8067). The things which are rendered habitual, and have become of the life, are in the interior memory (n. 9394, 9723, 9841). Memory-knowledges and knowledges are of the exterior memory (n. 5212, 9922). They are very obscure and involved, respectively to those things which are of the interior memory (n. 2831). The languages which man speaks in the world are from the exterior memory (n. 2472, 2476). Spirits and angels speak from the interior memory, and consequently their language is universal, being such that all can converse together, of whatever land they may be (n. 2472, 2476, 2490, 2493); concerning which language, see Heaven and Hell (n. 234-245); and concerning the wonders of the interior memory, which remains with man after death, see n. 463 of the same work.
53. Of the fallacies of the senses, in which merely natural and sensual men are, mentioned above in this doctrine (n. 45). Merely natural and sensual men think and reason from the fallacies of the senses (n. 5084, 5700, 6948, 6949, 7693). Of what quality the fallacies of the senses are (n. 5084, 5094, 6400, 6948). To which the following particulars shall be added. There are fallacies of the senses in things natural, civil, moral, and spiritual, and many in each of them; but here I design to recite some of the fallacies in spiritual things. He who thinks from the fallacies of the senses, cannot understand:
(1) That man after death can appear as a man; nor that he can enjoy his senses as before; nor consequently that angels have such a capacity. (2) They think that the soul is only a vital something, purely etherial, of which no idea can be formed. (3) That it is the body alone which feels, sees, and hears. (4) That man is like a beast, with this difference only, that he can speak from thought. (5) That nature is all, and the first source from which all things proceed. (6) That man imbues and learns to think by an influx of interior nature and its order. (7) That there is no spiritual, and if it is, that it is a purer natural. (8) That man cannot enjoy any blessedness, if deprived of the delights of the love of glory, honor, or gain. (9) That conscience is only a disease of the mind, proceeding from the infirmity of the body and from not having success. (10) That the Divine love of the Lord is the love of glory. (11) That there is no providence, but that all things come to pass from one’s own prudence and intelligence. (12) That honors and riches are real blessings which are given by God. Not to mention many other things of a similar nature. Such are the fallacies of the senses in spiritual things. Hence it may appear, that heavenly things cannot be comprehended by those who are merely natural and sensual. Those are merely natural and sensual whose internal spiritual man is shut, and whose natural only is open.
Love in general
54. The very life of man is his love, and such as the love is, such is the life, yea, such is the whole man. But it is the governing or ruling love which constitutes the man. That love has many loves subordinate to it, which are derivations. These appear under another form, but still they are all in the ruling love, and constitute, with it, one kingdom. The ruling love is as their king and head; it directs them, and, through them, as mediate ends, it regards and intends its own end, which is the primary and ultimate end of them all; and this it does both directly and indirectly. That which is of the ruling love is what is loved above all things.
55. That which man loves above all things is continually present in his thought, and also in his will, and constitutes his most essential life. As for example, he who loves riches above all things, whether money or possessions, continually revolves in his mind how he may obtain them. He inmostly rejoices when he acquires them, he grieves inmostly when he loses them; his heart is in them. He who loves himself above all things regards himself in each thing: he thinks of himself, he speaks of himself, he acts for the sake of himself, for his life is the life of self.
56. Man has for an end that which he loves above all things; he regards it in each and all things. It is in his will like the latent current of a river, which draws and bears him away, even when he is doing something else; for it is this which animates him. It is such that one man explores and also sees it in another, and either leads him according to it, or acts with him.
57. Man is altogether of such a quality as the ruling principle of his life is; by this he is distinguished from others; according to this is his heaven if he is good, and his hell if he is evil. It is his will itself, his proprium, and his nature, for it is the very esse of his life: this cannot be changed after death, because it is the man himself.
58. All the delight, pleasure, and happiness which anyone has, are derived from his ruling love, and are according to it; for that which man loves, he calls delightful, because he feels it to be so; he may, indeed, also call that delightful which he thinks but does not love; but this is not the delight of his life. The delight of love is what he esteems good; and that which is undelightful is to him evil.
59. There are two loves, from which, as from their very fountains, all goods and truths exist; and there are two loves, from which all evils and falsities exist. The two loves, from which are all goods and truths, are love to the Lord and love toward the neighbor; and the two loves from which are all evils and falsities, are the love of self and the love of the world. The two latter loves are in direct opposition to the two former loves.
60. The two loves from which are all goods and truths, and which, as has just been stated, are love to the Lord and love toward the neighbor, constitute heaven with man, and therefore they reign in heaven; and since they constitute heaven with man, they also constitute the church with him. The two loves, whence are all evils and falsities, and which, as has just been said, are the love of self and the love of the world, constitute hell with man; wherefore also they reign in hell.
61. The two loves whence are all goods and truths, and which, as already observed, are the loves of heaven, open and form the internal spiritual man, because they reside there. But the two loves whence are all evils and falsities, when they rule, shut and destroy the internal spiritual man, and render man natural and sensual, in proportion to the extent and quality of their dominion.
From Arcana Coelestia:
62. Love is the esse of man’s life (n. 5002). Man, spirit, and angel, are altogether as their love is (n. 6872, 10177, 10284). Man has for an end what he loves (n. 3796). What man loves and has for an end reigns universally with him, that is, in each and all things (n. 3796, 5130, 5949). Love is spiritual heat, and the very vital principle of man (n. 1589, 2146, 3338, 4906, 7081-7086, 9954, 10740). All the interiors with man, which are of his understanding and will, are disposed in a form according to his ruling love (n. 2023, 3189, 6690). Love is spiritual conjunction (n. 1594, 2057, 3939, 4018, 5807, 6195, 6196, 7081-7086, 7501, 10130). Hence all in the spiritual world are consociated according to their loves (ibid.).
Affection is continuation of love (n. 3938). All delight, pleasure, happiness, and joy of heart, are of love; and their quality is according to the quality of the love (n. 994, 995, 2204). There are as many genera and species of delights and pleasures as there are of the affections which are of the love (n. 994, 995, 2204). The delight of the love is more vile in proportion as it is more external (n. 996). Man after death has such a life as is the quality of his love (n. 2363).
63. Further particulars respecting love and its essence and quality may be known from what has been said and shown above, concerning good and truth; also from what has been said and quoted concerning the will and the understanding; and also from what has been said and quoted concerning the internal and the external man; because all things which are of the love refer themselves either to goods or to evils; and so also all things which are of the will; since the two loves of heaven open and form the internal spiritual man, but the two loves of hell close and destroy it. Hence applications may be made and conclusions drawn respecting the quality of love in general and particular.
64. Love is also treated of in Heaven and Hell; namely, that the Divine of the Lord in the heavens is love to him and love toward the neighbor (n. 13-19). All who are in the hells are in evils, and thence in falsities from the loves of self and of the world (n. 551-565). The delights of every love in the other life are turned into corresponding things (n. 485-490). Spiritual heat in its essence is love (n. 133-140).
The loves of self and the world
65. The love of self consists in willing well to ourselves alone, and not to others except for the sake of ourselves, not even to the church, to our country, to any human society, or to a fellow citizen; and also in doing good to them only for the sake of our own fame, honor, and glory; for unless it sees these in the goods which it does to others, it says in its heart, What matters it? why should I do this? and what advantage will it be to me? and so omits them. Whence it is plain that he who is in the love of self does not love the church, nor his country, nor society, nor his fellow citizens, nor anything good, but himself alone.
66. Man is in the love of self, when, in those things which he thinks and does, he has no regard for the neighbor, nor for the public, much less for the Lord, but only for himself and his own; consequently when everything which he does is for the sake of himself and his own, and when, if he does anything for the public and his neighbor it is only for the sake of appearance.
67. It is said for the sake of himself and his own, because he who loves himself also loves his own, who are, in particular, his children and relations, and in general, all who make one with him, and whom he calls his own. To love these is also to love himself, for he regards them as it were in himself, and himself in them. Among those whom he calls his own, are also all they who praise, honor, and pay their court to him.
68. That man is in the love of self, who despises the neighbor in comparison with himself, who esteems him his enemy if he does not favor him, and if he does not respect and pay his court to him; he is still more in the love of self who for such reasons hates the neighbor and persecutes him; and he is still more so who for such reasons burns with revenge against him, and desires his destruction; such persons at length delight in cruelty.
69. What the nature of the love of self is, may be evident from a comparison with heavenly love. Heavenly love is to love uses for the sake of uses, or goods for the sake of goods, which the man performs to the church, to his country, to human society, and to a fellow citizen. But he who loves them for the sake of himself, does not love them otherwise than as his servants, because they are of service to him. It follows from this that he who is in the love of self wills that the church, his country, human societies, and his fellow citizens serve him, and not he them. He puts himself above them, and them below him.
70. Moreover, as far as anyone is in heavenly love, which is to love uses and goods, and to be affected with delight of heart when he performs them, so far he is led by the Lord, because that love is what He is in, and what is from him. But as far as anyone is in the love of self, so far he is led by himself; and as far as he is led by himself, he is so far led by his proprium; and man’s proprium is nothing but evil; for evil is his heredity, which is to love himself above God, and the world above heaven.
71. The love of self is also such, that as far as the reins are relaxed, that is, as far as external bonds are removed, which are the fear of the law and its penalties, and the fear of the loss of reputation, honor, gain, office, and life, so far he rushes on, until he not only wishes to bear sway over the whole world, but even over heaven, and over the Divine itself. To him there is no bound or end. This lies hidden in everyone who is in the love of self, though it is not manifest before the world, where such reins and bonds hold him back; and every such man where met by impossibility, waits there until it becomes possible.
From these things, the man who is in such love does not know that such insane and unbounded desire lies hidden within him. That it is nevertheless so, everyone can see in potentates and kings, for whom there are not such checks, bonds, and impossibilities, and who rush on and subjugate provinces and kingdoms as far as success attends them, and aspire to power and glory without limit; and still more in those who extend their dominion into heaven, and transfer all the Divine power of the Lord to themselves, and continually desire more.
72. There are two kinds of dominion, one that of love toward the neighbor, the other that of the love of self. These two kinds of dominion are in their essence altogether opposite to each other. He who rules from love toward the neighbor, wills good to all, and loves nothing more than to perform uses, thus to be of service to others. To serve others is to do good to them from good will, and to perform uses. This is his love, and this is the delight of his heart. He too, as far as he is elevated to dignities, is likewise glad; not, however, for the sake of the dignities, but for the sake of the uses which he is then able to perform in more abundance and in a greater degree. Such is the dominion in the heavens. But he who rules from the love of self wishes good to no one, but only to himself and his own. The uses which he performs are for the sake of his own honor and glory, which to him are the only uses. Serving others is to him for the end that he may be served, honored, and that he may rule. He seeks dignities, not for the sake of the goods he may perform, but to be in eminence and glory, and thence in the delight of his heart.
73. The love of dominion also remains with everyone after his life in the world, but to those who have ruled from love toward the neighbor, rule is also entrusted in the heavens. But then they do not rule, but the uses and the goods which they love; and when uses and goods rule, the Lord rules. They, on the other hand, who in the world have ruled from the love of self, after their life in the world are in hell, and are in vile slavery there.
74. From these things it is now known who are in the love of self. But it matters not how they appear in outward form, whether elated or humble; for such things are in the interior man; and by most the interior man is concealed, and the exterior is instructed to feign the things which belong to love for the public and the neighbor, thus the opposite. And this is also done for the sake of self: for they know that the love of the public and the neighbor interiorly affect all, and that so far they will be loved and esteemed. The reason why that love affects all, is that heaven flows into it.
75. The evils which belong to those who are in the love of self, are, in general, contempt of others, envy, enmity against those who do not favor them, hostility on that account, hatreds of various kinds, revenge, cunning, deceit, unmercifulness, and cruelty; and where such evils exist, there is also contempt of the Divine, and of Divine things, which are the truths and goods of the church. If they honor these, it is only with the mouth, and not with the heart. And because such evils are thence, so there are similar falsities, for falsities are from evils.
76. But the love of the world consists in wishing to draw the wealth of others to ourselves by any artifice, in placing the heart in riches, and in suffering the world to draw us back, and lead us away from spiritual love, which is love toward the neighbor, consequently, from heaven. They are in the love of the world who desire to draw the goods of others to themselves by various artifices, especially they who do so by means of cunning and deceit, making no account of the good of the neighbor. They who are in that love covet the goods of others, and so far as they do not fear the laws and the loss of reputation for the sake of gain, they deprive others of their goods, yea commit depredations.
77. But the love of the world is not opposite to heavenly love in the same degree that the love of self is, inasmuch as such great evils are not concealed in it. This love is manifold: there is the love of riches as the means of obtaining honors; there is the love of honors and dignities as the means of obtaining riches; there is the love of riches for the sake of various uses with which they are delighted in the world; there is the love of riches for the sake of riches alone, which is avarice, and so on. The end for the sake of which riches are desired, is called their use, and it is the end or use from which the love derives its quality; for the quality of the love is the same as that at the end which it has in view, to which other things serve as means.
78. In a word, the love of self and the love of the world are altogether opposite to love to the Lord and love toward the neighbor; wherefore the love of self and the love of the world are infernal loves, for they also reign in hell, and also constitute hell with man; but love to the Lord and love toward the neighbor are heavenly loves. They also reign in heaven, and also constitute heaven with man.
79. From what has now been said, it may be seen that all evils are in and from those two loves; for the evils which were enumerated (n. 75) are common; the others, which were not enumerated, because they are specific, are derived and flow from them. Hence it may appear, that man, because he is born into these two loves, is born into evils of every kind.
80. In order that man may know evils, he ought to know their origins, and unless he knows evils, he cannot know goods, thus he cannot know of what quality he himself is; this is the reason that these two origins of evils are treated of here.
From Arcana Coelestia:
81. The loves of self and of the world. As love to the Lord and love toward the neighbor, or charity, constitute heaven, so the love of self and the love of the world, where they reign constitute hell; and therefore these loves are opposites (n. 2041, 3610, 4225, 4776, 6210, 7366, 7369, 7489, 7490, 8232, 8678, 10455, 10741-10743, 10745). All evils proceed from the loves of self and of the world (n. 1307, 1308, 1321, 1594, 1691, 3413, 7255, 7376, 7488, 7489, 8318, 9335, 9348, 10038, 10742). From the loves of self and of the world proceed contempt of others, enmity, hatred, revenge, cruelty, and deceit, consequently all evil and all wickedness (n. 6667, 7372-7374, 9348, 10038, 10742). These loves rush on in proportion as the reins are given them, and the love of self aspires to the throne of God (n. 7375, 8678). The love of self and the love of the world are destructive of human society and of heavenly order (n. 2045, 2057). The human race on account of those loves has formed governments, and has subjected itself to their rule for the sake of protection (n. 7364, 10160, 10814). Where those loves reign, the good of love and the good of faith are either rejected, suffocated, or perverted (n. 2041, 7491, 7492, 7643, 8487, 10455, 10743). In these loves there is not life, but spiritual death (n. 7494, 10731, 10741). The quality of these loves described (n. 1505, 2219, 2363, 2364, 2444, 4221, 4227, 4948, 4949, 5721, 7366-7377, 8678). All cupidity and lust proceed from the loves of self and of the world (n. 1668, 8910).
The loves of self and of the world may serve as means, but not at all for an end (n. 7377, 7819, 7820). When man is reformed, those loves are inverted, and serve as means, and not as ends, thus that they are as the soles of the feet, and not as the head (n. 8995, 9210). With those who are in the loves of self and of the world, there is no internal, but an external without an internal; because the internal is shut toward heaven, but the external is open toward the world (n. 10396, 10400, 10409, 10411, 10422, 10429). They who are in the loves of self and of the world do not know what charity, conscience, and the life of heaven are (n. 7490). So far as a man is in the loves of self and of the world, so far he does not receive the good and truth of faith which continually flows in with man from the Lord (n. 7491).
They who are in the loves of self and the world are not bound by internal, but by external restraints; and on the removal thereof they rush into every wickedness (n. 10744-10746). All in the spiritual world turn themselves according to their loves; they who are in love to the Lord and in love toward the neighbor, to the Lord; but those who are in the love of self and in the love of the world, turn their backs on the Lord (n. 10130, 10189, 10420, 10742). The quality of the worship in which the love of self prevails (n. 1304, 1306-1308, 1321, 1322). The Lord rules the world by means of the evil, in leading them by their own loves, which have relation to the loves of self and the world (n. 6481, 6495). The evil as well as the good can discharge the duties of offices, and perform uses and goods, because they regard honors and gain as their rewards, for the sake of which they act in an external form like the good (n. 6481, 6495).
All who are in the hells are in evils and thence in falsities, and are in the loves of self and the world; see Heaven and Hell (n. 551-565).
82. Of the proprium of man, spoken of above (n. 70), that it is the love of self and of the world. The proprium of man is nothing but dense evil (n. 210, 215, 731, 874-876, 987, 1047, 2307, 2308, 3518, 3701, 3812, 8480, 8550, 10283, 10284, 10286, 10731). The proprium of man is his will (n. 4328). The proprium of man consists in loving himself more than God, and the world more than heaven, and in making his neighbor of no account respectively to himself, thus it is the love of self and of the world (n. 694, 731, 4317, 5660). Not only every evil, but also every falsity, springs from the proprium of man, and this falsity is the falsity of evil (n. 1047, 10283, 10284, 10286). The proprium of man is hell with him (n. 694, 8480). Therefore he who is led by his proprium cannot be saved (n. 10731). The good which man does from the proprium is not good, but in itself is evil, because done for the sake of self and the world (n. 8478).
The proprium of man must be separated, in order that the Lord may be present with him (n. 1023, 1044). And it is actually separated when man is reformed (n. 9334-9336, 9452-9454, 9938). This is done by the Lord alone (n. 9445). Man by regeneration receives a heavenly proprium (n. 1937, 1947, 2881, 2883, 2891). This appears to man as his own proprium, but it is not his, but the Lord’s with him (n. 8497). They who are in this proprium are in liberty itself, because liberty consists in being led by the Lord, and by his proprium (n. 892, 905, 2872, 2886, 2890-2892, 4096, 9586, 9587, 9589-9591). All liberty is from the proprium, and its quality according thereto (n. 2880). What is the quality of the heavenly proprium (n. 164, 5660, 8480). How the heavenly proprium is implanted (n. 1712, 1937, 1947).
83. Of the heredity of man, spoken of above (n. 70-79), it is the love of self and of the world. All men are born into evils of every kind, insomuch that their proprium is nothing but evil (n. 210, 215, 731, 874-876, 987, 1047, 2307, 2308, 3701, 3812, 8480, 8550, 10283, 10284, 10286, 10731). Therefore man is to be born again, that is, regenerated, in order that he may receive a new life from the Lord (n. 3701).
Hereditary evils are derived, increased, and accumulated from parents and ancestors in a long backward series, and not as is believed, from the first man’s eating of the tree of knowledge (n. 313, 494, 2910, 3469, 3701, 4317, 8550). Therefore hereditary evils are at this day more malignant than formerly (n. 2122). Infants who die such, and are educated in heaven, are from heredity nothing but evils (n. 2307, 2308, 4563). Hence they are of various dispositions and inclinations (n. 2300). Every man’s interior evils are from the father, and the exterior from the mother (n. 1815, 3701).
Man superadds of himself new evils to such as are hereditary, which are called actual evils (n. 8551). No one suffers punishment in the other life for hereditary evils, but for actual evils, which return (n. 966, 2308). The more malignant hells are kept separate lest they should operate on the hereditary evils with men and spirits (n. 1667, 8806).
Hereditary evils are those of the loves of self and the world, which consist in man’s loving himself more than God, and the world more than heaven, and in making his neighbor of no account (n. 694, 4317, 5660). And because these evils are contrary to the goods of heaven and to Divine order, man cannot but be born in mere ignorance (n. 1050, 1902, 1992, 3175). Natural good is connate with some, but nevertheless it is not good, because prone to all evils and falsities; and that good is not accepted in heaven unless it be made spiritual good (n. 2463, 2464, 2468, 3304, 3408, 3469, 3470, 3508, 3519, 7761).
Love toward the neighbor or charity
84. It shall first be shown what the neighbor is, for it is the neighbor who is to be loved, and toward whom charity is to be exercised. For unless it be known what the neighbor is, charity may be exercised in a similar manner, without distinction, toward the evil as well as toward the good, whence charity ceases to be charity; for the evil, from benefactions, do evil to the neighbor, but the good do good.
85. It is a common opinion at this day, that every man is equally the neighbor, and that benefits are to be conferred on everyone who needs assistance; but it is in the interest of Christian prudence to examine well the quality of a man’s life, and to exercise charity to him accordingly. The man of the internal church exercises his charity with discrimination, consequently with intelligence; but the man of the external church, because he is not able thus to discern things, does it indiscriminately.
86. The distinctions of neighbor, which the man of the church ought altogether to know, are according to the good which is with everyone; and because all good proceeds from the Lord, therefore the Lord is the neighbor in the highest sense and in a supereminent degree, and the origin is from him. Hence it follows that so far as anyone has the Lord with himself, so far he is the neighbor; and because no one receives the Lord, that is, good from him, in the same manner as another, therefore no one is the neighbor in the same manner as another. For all who are in the heavens, and all the good who are on the earths, differ in good; no two ever received a good that is altogether one and the same; it must be various, that each may subsist by itself. But all these varieties, thus all the distinctions of the neighbor, which are according to the reception of the Lord, that is, according to the reception of good from him, can never be known by any man, nor indeed by any angel, except in general, thus their genera and species; neither does the Lord require any more of the man of the church, than to live according to what he knows.
87. Because good varies with everyone, it therefore follows, that the quality of good determines in what degree and in what proportion anyone is the neighbor. That this is the case is plain from the Lord’s parable concerning him that fell among robbers, whom, when half dead, the priest passed by, and also the Levite; but the Samaritan, after he had bound up his wounds, and poured in oil and wine, took him up on his own beast, and led him to an inn, and ordered that care should be taken of him; because he exercised the good of charity, he is called the neighbor (Luke 10:29-37). Hence it may be known that they are the neighbor who are in good; “the oil and wine,” which the Samaritan poured into the wounds, also signify good and its truth.
88. It is plain from what has now been said, that in the universal sense, good is the neighbor, because man is the neighbor according to the quality of the good that is with him from the Lord. And because good is the neighbor, so is love, for all good is of love; thus every man is the neighbor according to the quality of the love which he receives from the Lord.
89. That love is what causes anyone to be the neighbor, and that everyone is the neighbor according to the quality of his love, appears manifestly from those who are in the love of self. These acknowledge for their neighbor those who love them most, that is, so far as they belong to themselves; these they embrace, they kiss them, they confer benefits on them and call them brothers; yea, because they are evil, they say, that these are the neighbor more than others; they esteem others as the neighbor in proportion as they love them, thus according to the quality and quantity of their love. Such persons derive the origin of neighbor from self, by reason that love constitutes and determines it. But they who do not love themselves more than others, as is the case with all who belong to the kingdom of the Lord, will derive the origin of neighbor from him whom they ought to love above all things, consequently, from the Lord; and they will esteem everyone as the neighbor according to the quality of his love to him and from him.
From these things it appears from whence the origin of neighbor is to be drawn by the man of the church; and that everyone is the neighbor according to the good which he possesses from the Lord, thus good itself is the neighbor.
90. That this is the case, the Lord also teaches in Matthew:
For he said to those who were in good that they had given him to eat, that they had given him to drink, that they had gathered him, had clothed him, had visited him, and had come to him in prison; and afterwards that, so far as they had done it to one of the least of their brethren, they had done it unto him (25:34-40).
In these six kinds of good, understood in the spiritual sense, are comprehended all the genera of the neighbor. Hence, likewise, it is evident, that when good is loved the Lord is loved, for it is the Lord from whom good is, who is in good, and who is good itself.
91. But the neighbor is not only man singly, but also man collectively, as a less or greater society, our country, the church, the Lord’s kingdom, and, above all, the Lord himself; these are the neighbor to whom good is to be done from love. These are also the ascending degrees of neighbor, for a society of many is neighbor in a higher degree than a single man is; in a still higher degree is our country; in a still higher degree is the church; and in a still higher degree is the Lord’s kingdom; but in the highest degree is the Lord. These ascending degrees are like the steps of a ladder, at the top of which is the Lord.
92. A society is the neighbor more than a single man, because it consists of many. Charity is to be exercised toward it in a like manner as toward a man singly, namely, according to the quality of the good that is with it; thus in a manner totally different toward a society of the upright, than toward a society of those not upright. The society is loved when its good is regarded from the love of good.
93. Our country is the neighbor more than a society, because it is like a parent; for a man is born therein, and it nourishes and protects him from injuries. Good is to be done to our country from love according to its necessities, which principally regard its sustenance, and the civil and spiritual life of those therein. He who loves his country, and does good to it from good will, in the other life loves the Lord’s kingdom, for there the Lord’s kingdom is his country, and he who loves the Lord’s kingdom loves the Lord, because the Lord is the all in all things of his kingdom.
94. The church is the neighbor more than our country, for he who has regard for the church, has regard for the souls and eternal life of the men who are in his country; wherefore he who provides for the church from love, loves the neighbor in a higher degree, for he wishes and wills heaven and happiness of life to eternity to others.
95. The Lord’s kingdom is the neighbor in a still higher degree, for the Lord’s kingdom consists of all who are in good, both those on the earths, and those in the heavens; thus the Lord’s kingdom is good with all its quality in the complex; when this is loved, the individuals are loved who are in good.
96. These are the degrees of neighbor, and love ascends, with those who are in love toward their neighbor, according to these degrees. But these degrees are degrees in successive order, in which what is prior or superior is to be preferred to what is posterior or inferior; and because the Lord is in the highest degree, and he is to be regarded in each degree as the end to which it tends, consequently he is to be loved above all persons and things. From these things it may now appear, how love to the Lord conjoins itself with love toward the neighbor.
97. It is a common saying, that everyone is his own neighbor; that is, that everyone should first consider himself; but the doctrine of charity teaches how this is to be understood. Everyone should provide for himself the necessaries of life, such as food, raiment, habitation, and many other things which the state of civil life, in which he is, necessarily requires, and this not only for himself, but also for his own, and not only for the present time, but also for the future; for unless a man procures for himself the necessaries of life, he cannot be in a state to exercise charity, for he is in want of all things.
98. But how everyone ought to be his own neighbor may appear from this comparison. Everyone ought to provide food and raiment for his body; this must be the first object, but it should be done to the end that he may have a sound mind in a sound body. And everyone ought to provide food for his mind, namely, such things as are of intelligence and wisdom; to the end that it may thence be in a state to serve his fellow citizens, human society, his country, and the church, thus the Lord. He who does this provides for his own good to eternity. Hence it is evident that the first is where the end is on account of which we should act, for all other things look to this. The case is like that of a man who builds a house: he first lays the foundation; but the foundation is for the house, and the house is for habitation. He who believes that he is his own neighbor in the first place, is like him who regards the foundation as the end, not the house and habitation; when yet the habitation is the very first and ultimate end, and the house with the foundation is only a means to the end.
99. The end declares how everyone should be his own neighbor, and provide for himself first. If the end be to grow richer than others only for the sake of riches, or for the sake of pleasure, or for the sake of eminence, and the like, it is an evil end, and that man does not love the neighbor, but himself; but if the end be to procure himself riches, that he may be in a state of providing for his fellow citizens, human society, his country, and the church, in like manner if he procures for himself offices for the same end, he loves the neighbor. The end itself, for the sake of which he acts, constitutes the man; for the end is his love, for everyone has for a first and ultimate end, that which he loves above all things.
What has hitherto been said is concerning the neighbor. Love toward him, or charity, shall now be treated of.
100. It is believed by many, that love toward the neighbor consists in giving to the poor, in assisting the indigent, and in doing good to everyone; but charity consists in acting prudently, and to the end that good may result. He who assists a poor or indigent evildoer does evil to the neighbor through him, for through the assistance which he renders, he confirms him in evil, and supplies him with the means of doing evil to others. It is otherwise with him who gives support to the good.
101. But charity extends itself much more widely than to the poor and indigent; for charity consists in doing what is right in every work, and our duty in every office. If a judge does justice for the sake of justice, he exercises charity; if he punishes the guilty and absolves the innocent, he exercises charity, for thus he consults the welfare of his fellow citizens and of his country. The priest who teaches the truth, and leads to good, for the sake of truth and good, exercises charity. But he who does such things for the sake of self and the world, does not exercise charity, because he does not love the neighbor, but himself.
102. The case is the same in all other instances, whether a man be in any office or not; as with children toward parents, and with parents toward children; with servants toward masters, and with masters toward servants; with subjects toward the king, and with a king toward subjects; whoever of these does his duty from a principle of duty, and what is just from a principle of justice, exercises charity.
103. The reason why such things belong to love toward the neighbor, or charity, is that, as was said above, every man is the neighbor, but in a different manner. A less and greater society is more the neighbor; our country is still more the neighbor; the Lord’s kingdom still more; and the Lord above all; and in a universal sense, good, which proceeds from the Lord, is the neighbor; consequently also sincerity and justice. Wherefore he who does any good for the sake of good, and he who acts sincerely and justly for the sake of sincerity and justice, loves the neighbor and exercises charity; for he does so from the love of what is good, sincere, and just, and consequently from the love of those in whom good, sincerity, and justice are.
104. Charity therefore is an internal affection, from which man wills to do good, and this without remuneration; the delight of his life consists in doing it. With them who do good from internal affection, there is charity in each thing which they think and speak, and which they will and do; it may be said that a man and an angel, as to his interiors, is charity, when good is his neighbor. So widely does charity extend itself.
105. They who have the love of self and of the world for an end, cannot in any wise be in charity; they do not even know what charity is; and they cannot at all comprehend that to will and do good to the neighbor without reward as an end, is heaven in man, and that there is in that affection a happiness as great as that of the angels of heaven, which is ineffable; for they believe, if they are deprived of the joy from the glory of honors and riches, that nothing of joy can be given them any longer; when yet it is then that heavenly joy first begins, which infinitely transcends the other.
From Arcana Coelestia:
106. Heaven is distinguished into two kingdoms, one of which is called the celestial kingdom, and the other the spiritual kingdom; the love in the celestial kingdom is love to the Lord, and is called celestial love; and the love in the spiritual kingdom is love toward the neighbor, or charity, and is called spiritual love (n. 3325, 3653, 7257, 9002, 9835, 9961). Heaven is distinguished into two kingdoms; see Heaven and Hell (n. 20-28); and the Divine of the Lord in the heavens is love to him, and charity toward the neighbor (n. 13-19, in the same).
It cannot be known what good is and what truth is, unless it be known what love to the Lord and love toward the neighbor are, because all good is of love, and all truth is of good (n. 7255, 7366). To know truths, to will truths, and to be affected with them for the sake of truths, that is, because they are truths, is charity (n. 3876, 3877). Charity consists in an internal affection of doing truth, and not in an external affection without an internal one (n. 2429, 2442, 3776, 4899, 4956, 8033). Thus charity consists in performing uses for the sake of uses (n. 7038, 8253). Charity is the spiritual life of man (n. 7081). The whole Word is the doctrine of love and charity (n. 6632, 7262). It is not known at this day what charity is (n. 2417, 3398, 4776, 6632). Nevertheless man may know from the light of his own reason, that love and charity make the man (n. 3957, 6273). Also that good and truth agree together, and that one is of the other, and so also love and faith (n. 7627).
The Lord is the neighbor in the highest sense, because he is to be loved above all things; and hence all is the neighbor which is from him, and in which he is, thus good and truth (n. 2425, 3419, 6706, 6819, 6823, 8124). The distinction of neighbor is according to the quality of good, thus according to the presence of the Lord (n. 6707-6710). Every man and every society, also our country and the church, and, in the universal sense, the kingdom of the Lord, are the neighbor, and to do good to them according to the quality of their state from the love of good, is to love the neighbor; thus the neighbor is their good, which is to be consulted (n. 6818-6824, 8123).
Civil good, which is justice, and moral good, which is the good of life in society, and is called sincerity, are also the neighbor (n. 2915, 4730, 8120-8122). To love the neighbor does not consist in loving his person, but in loving that with him from which he is, consequently good and truth (n. 5028, 10336). They who love the person, and not that which is with him from which he is, love evil as well as good (n. 3820). And they do good to the evil as well as to the good, when nevertheless doing good to the evil is doing evil to the good, which is not loving the neighbor (n. 3820, 6703, 8120). The judge who punishes the evil that they may be amended, and that the good may not be contaminated by them, loves the neighbor (n. 3820, 8120, 8121).
To love the neighbor is to do what is good, just, and right, in every work and in every office (n. 8120-8122). Hence charity toward the neighbor extends itself to each and every thing which man thinks, wills, and does (n. 8124). To do what is good and true is to love the neighbor (n. 10310, 10336). They who do this love the Lord, who in the highest sense is the neighbor (n. 9210). The life of charity is a life according to the commandments of the Lord; and to live according to Divine truths is to love the Lord (n. 10143, 10153, 10310, 10578, 10645).
Genuine charity is not meritorious (n. 2027, 2343, 2400, 3887, 6388-6393). Because it is from internal affection, consequently from the delight of the life of doing good (n. 2373, 2400, 3887, 6388-6393). They who separate faith from charity, in another life hold faith and the good works which they have done in the external form as meritorious (n. 2373). They who are in evils from the love of self or the love of the world, do not know what it is to do good without remuneration, thus what that charity is which is not meritorious (n. 8037).
The doctrine of the ancient church was the doctrine of life, which is the doctrine of charity (n. 2385, 2417, 3419, 3420, 4844, 6628). Thence they had intelligence and wisdom (n. 2417, 6629, 7259-7262). Intelligence and wisdom increase immensely in the other life with those who have lived a life of charity in the world (n. 1941, 5859). The Lord flows in with Divine truth into charity, because into the essential life of man (n. 2063). The man with whom charity and faith are conjoined is like a garden; but like a desert with whom they are not conjoined (n. 7626). Man recedes from wisdom in proportion as he recedes from charity; and they who are not in charity, are in ignorance concerning Divine truths, however wise they think themselves (n. 2417, 2435). The angelic life consists in performing the goods of charity, which are uses (n. 454). The spiritual angels, who are they that are in the good of charity, are forms of charity (n. 553, 3804, 4735).
All spiritual truths regard charity as their beginning and end (n. 4353). The doctrinals of the church effect nothing unless they regard charity as their end (n. 2049, 2116).
The presence of the Lord with men and angels is according to their state of love and charity (n. 549, 904). Charity is the image of God (n. 1013). Love to the Lord, consequently the Lord, is within charity, although man does not know it (n. 2227, 5066, 5067). They who live a life of charity are accepted as citizens both in the world and in heaven (n. 1121). The good of charity is not to be violated (n. 2359).
They who are not in charity cannot acknowledge and worship the Lord except from hypocrisy (n. 2132, 4424, 9833). The forms of hatred and of charity cannot exist together (n. 1860).
107. To the above shall be added some particulars concerning the doctrine of love to the Lord, and the doctrine of charity, as it was held by the ancients with whom the church was, in order that the former quality of that doctrine, which at this day exists no longer, may be known. The particulars are extracted from Arcana Coelestia (n. 7257-7263).
The good which is of love to the Lord, is called celestial good; and the good which is of love toward the neighbor, or charity, is called spiritual good. The angels who are in the inmost or third heaven, are in the good of love to the Lord, being called celestial angels; but the angels of the middle or second heaven, are in the good of love toward the neighbor, being called spiritual angels.
The doctrine of celestial good, which is that of love to the Lord, is of most wide extent, and at the same time most full of arcana; being the doctrine of the angels of the inmost or third heaven, which is such, that if it were delivered from their mouths, scarcely a thousandth part of it would be understood: the things also which it contains are ineffable. This doctrine is contained in the inmost sense of the Word; but the doctrine of spiritual love, in the internal sense.
The doctrine of spiritual good, which is that of love toward the neighbor, is also of wide extent and full of arcana, but much less so than the doctrine of celestial good, which is that of love to the Lord. That the doctrine of love toward the neighbor, or charity, is of wide extent, may appear from the fact, that it reaches to all the things which man thinks and wills, consequently to all which he speaks and does, even to the most minute particulars; and also from the fact that charity does not exist alike with two different persons, and that no two persons are alike the neighbor.
As the doctrine of charity was so extensive, therefore the ancients, with whom it was the very doctrine of the church, distinguished charity toward the neighbor into several classes, which they again subdivided, and gave names to each class, and taught how charity was to be exercised toward those who are in one class, and toward those who are in another; and thus they reduced the doctrine and the exercises of charity into order, that they might fall distinctly into the understanding.
The names which they gave to those toward whom they were to exercise charity were many; some they called “the blind,” some “the lame,” some “the maimed,” some “the poor,” some “the miserable,” and “afflicted,” some “the fatherless,” some “widows,” but in general they called them “the hungry,” to whom they should give to eat; “the thirsty,” to whom they should give to drink; “strangers,” whom they should take in; “the naked,” whom they should clothe; “the sick,” whom they should visit, and “the bound in prison,” to whom they should come.
Who they were whom they meant by these particulars, has been made known already in Arcana Coelestia, as whom they meant by “the blind” (n. 2383, 6990); by “the lame” (n. 4302); “the poor” (n. 2129, 4459, 4958, 9209, 9253, 10227); “the miserable” (n. 2129); “the afflicted” (n. 6663, 6851, 9196); “the fatherless” (n. 4844, 9198-9200) and “widows” (n. 4844, 9198, 9200); “the hungry” (n. 4958, 10227); “the thirsty” (n. 4958, 8568); “the strangers” (n. 4444, 7908, 8007, 8013, 9196, 9200); “the naked” (n. 1073, 5433, 9960); “the sick” (n. 4958, 6221, 8364, 9031); “the bound in prison” (n. 5037, 5038, 5086, 5096). It may be seen that the whole doctrine of charity is comprehended in the offices toward those who are called by the Lord “the hungry,” “the thirsty,” “strangers,” “the naked,” “the sick,” and “the bound in prison”—Matt. 25:34-36 and the verses following (n. 4954-4959).
These names were given from heaven to the ancients who were of the church, and by those who were so named they understood those who were spiritually such. Their doctrine of charity not only taught who these were, but also the quality of the charity to be exercised toward each. Hence it is, that the same names are in the Word, and signify those who are such in the spiritual sense. The Word in itself is nothing but the doctrine of love to the Lord, and of charity toward the neighbor, as the Lord also teaches:
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind; this is the first and great commandment. The second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets (Matt. 22:37-40).
“The law and the prophets” are the whole Word (n. 2606, 3382, 6752, 7643).
The reason why those same names are in the Word, is that the Word, which is in itself spiritual, might in its ultimate be natural; and because they who are in external worship are to exercise charity toward such as are so named, and they who are in internal worship toward such spiritually understood; thus that the simple might understand and do the Word in simplicity, and the wise, in wisdom; also, that the simple, by the externals of charity, might be initiated into its internals.
Faith
108. No one can know what faith is in its essence, unless he knows what charity is, because where there is no charity there is no faith, for charity makes one with faith as good does with truth. For what man loves or holds dear, this to him is good, and what man believes, this to him is truth; whence it is plain that there is a like union of charity and faith, as there is of good and truth; the quality of which union may appear from what has been said above concerning Good and Truth.
109. The union of charity and faith is also like that of the will and the understanding with man; for these are the two faculties which receive good and truth, the will receiving good and the understanding truth; thus, also, these two faculties receive charity and faith, since good is of charity and truth is of faith. Everyone knows that charity and faith are with man, and in him, and because they are with man, and in him, they must be in his will and understanding, for all the life of man is therein, and from thence. Man has also memory, but this is only the outer court, where those things are collected together which are to enter into the understanding and the will. Thence it is evident that there is a like union of charity and faith, as there is of the will and the understanding; the quality of which union may appear from what has been said above concerning the Will and the Understanding.
110. Charity conjoins itself with faith with man, when man wills that which he knows and perceives; to will is of charity, and to know and perceive is of faith. Faith enters into man, and becomes his, when he wills and loves that which he knows and perceives; meanwhile it is without him.
111. Faith does not become faith with man, unless it becomes spiritual, and it does not become spiritual, unless it becomes of the love; and it then becomes of the love, when man loves to live truth and good, that is, to live according to those things which are commanded in the Word.
112. Faith is the affection of truth from willing truth because it is truth; and to will truth because it is truth is the spiritual itself of man; for it is abstracted from the natural, which is to will truth not for the sake of truth, but for the sake of one’s own glory, reputation, or gain. Truth withdrawn from such things is spiritual, because it is from the Divine. That which proceeds from the Divine is spiritual, and this is conjoined to man by love, for love is spiritual conjunction.
113. Man may know, think, and understand much, but when he is left to himself alone, and meditates, he rejects from himself those things which do not agree with his love; and therefore he also rejects them after the life of the body when he is in the spirit, for that only remains in the spirit of man which has entered into his love; other things after death are regarded as foreign, and because they are not of his love he casts them out. It is said in the spirit of man, because man lives a spirit after death.
114. An idea concerning the good which is of charity, and concerning the truth which is of faith, may be formed from the light and heat of the sun. When the light which proceeds from the sun is conjoined to heat, as is the case in the time of spring and summer, then all things of the earth germinate and flourish; but when there is no heat in the light, as in the time of winter, then all things of the earth become torpid and die; also spiritual light is the truth of faith, and spiritual heat is love. From these things an idea may be formed concerning the man of the church, what his quality is when faith with him is conjoined to charity, namely, that he is like a garden and paradise; and what his quality is when faith with him is not conjoined to charity, that he is like a desert and earth covered with snow.
115. The confidence or trust, which is said to be of faith, and is called saving faith itself, is not spiritual confidence or trust, but natural, when it is of faith alone. Spiritual confidence or trust has its essence and life from the good of love, but not from the truth of faith separate. The confidence of faith separate is dead; wherefore true confidence cannot be given with those who lead an evil life. The confidence also that salvation is on account of the Lord’s merit with the Father, whatever a man’s life may have been, is not from truth. All those who are in spiritual faith have confidence that they are saved by the Lord, for they believe that the Lord came into the world to give eternal life to those who believe and live according to the precepts which he taught, and that he regenerates them, and renders them fit for heaven, and that he alone does this from pure mercy without the aid of man.
116. To believe those things which the Word teaches, or which the doctrine of the church teaches, and not to live according to them, appears as if it were faith, and some also assert that they are saved by it; but by this alone no one is saved, for it is persuasive faith, the quality of which shall now be stated.
117. Faith is persuasive, when the Word and the doctrine of the church are believed and loved, not for the sake of truth and of a life according to it, but for the sake of gain, honor, and the fame of erudition, as ends; wherefore they who are in that faith, do not look to the Lord and to heaven, but to themselves and the world. They who in the world aspire after great things, and covet many things, are in a stronger persuasion that what the doctrine of the church teaches is true than they who do not aspire after great things and covet many things; the reason is that the doctrine of the church is to the former only a means to their own ends, and so far as the ends are coveted, so far the means are loved, and are also believed. But the case in itself is this: so far as they are in the fire of the loves of self and of the world, and from that fire speak, preach, and act, so far they are in that persuasion, and then they know no other than that it is so; but when they are not in the fire of those loves, then they believe little, and many not at all. Thence it is evident, that persuasive faith is a faith of the mouth and not of the heart, thus that in itself it is not faith.
118. They who are in persuasive faith do not know, from any internal enlightenment, whether the things which they teach be true or false; yea, neither do they care, provided they be believed by the common people; for they are in no affection of truth for the sake of truth. Wherefore they recede from faith, if they are deprived of honors and gains, provided their reputation be not endangered.
For persuasive faith is not inwardly with man, but stands without, in the memory only, out of which it is taken when it is taught. Wherefore also that faith with its truths vanishes after death; for then there remains only that faith which is inwardly in man, that is, which is rooted in good, thus which has become of the life.
119. They who are in persuasive faith are meant by these in Matthew:
Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied by thy name, and by thy name cast out demons, and in thy name done many virtues? But then I will confess to them, I have not known you, ye workers of iniquity (7:22, 23).
Also in Luke:
Then will ye begin to say, We have eaten before thee, and have drunk, and thou hast taught in our streets; but he will say, I say to you, I have not known you whence you are; depart from me all ye workers of iniquity (13:26, 27).
They are meant also by the five foolish virgins who had no oil in their lamps, in Matthew:
At length came those virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us; but he answering will say, Verily I say unto you, I have not known you (Matt. 25: 11, 12).
“The oil in the lamps” is the good of love in faith. From Arcana Coelestia:
120. They who do not know that all things in the universe have relation to truth and good, and to the conjunction of both, that anything may be produced, do not know that all things of the church have relation to faith and love, and to the conjunction of both, that the church may be with man (n. 7752-7762, 9186, 9224). All things in the universe which are according to Divine order have relation to good and truth, and to their conjunction (n. 2452, 3166, 4390, 4409, 5232, 7256, 10122, 10555). Truths are of faith and goods are of love (n. 4352, 4997, 7178, 10367). This is the reason that good and truth have been treated of in this doctrine; wherefore from what has been adduced, it may be concluded respecting faith and love; and it may be known what their quality is when they are conjoined, and what it is when they are not conjoined, by putting love in the place of good, and faith in the place of truth, and making applications accordingly.
They who do not know that each and all things in man have relation to the understanding and will, and to the conjunction of both, in order that man may be man, do not know clearly that all things of the church have relation to faith and love, and to the conjunction of both, in order that the church may be with man (n. 2231, 7752-7754, 9224, 9995, 10122). Man has two faculties, one of which is called the understanding and the other the will (n. 641, 803, 3623, 3539). The understanding is designed for receiving truths, thus the things of faith; and the will for receiving goods, thus the things of love (n. 9300, 9930, 10064). This is the reason why the will and the understanding have been also treated of in this doctrine; for from what has been adduced, conclusions may be drawn respecting faith and love, and it may be known what their quality is when they are conjoined, and what it is when they are not conjoined, by thinking of love in the will, and faith in the understanding.
They who do not know that man has an internal and an external, or an internal and an external man, and that all things of heaven have relation to the internal man, and all things of the world to the external, and that their conjunction is like the conjunction of the spiritual world and the natural world, do not know what spiritual faith and spiritual love are (n. 4392, 5132, 8610). There is an internal and an external man, and the internal is the spiritual man, and the external the natural (n. 978, 1015, 4459, 6309, 9701-9709). Faith is so far spiritual, thus so far faith, as it is in the internal man; and love likewise (n. 1594, 3987, 8443). And so far as the truths which are of faith are loved, so far they become spiritual (n. 1594, 3987). This is the reason why the internal and the external man have been treated of, for from what has been adduced, conclusions may be drawn respecting faith and love, what their quality is when they are spiritual, and what when they are not spiritual; consequently how far they are of the church, and how far they are not of the church.
121. Faith separate from love or charity is like the light of winter, in which all things on earth are torpid, and no harvests, fruits, or flowers, are produced; but faith with love or charity is like the light of spring and summer, in which all things flourish and are produced (n. 2231, 3146, 3412, 3413). The wintry light of faith separate from charity is changed into dense darkness when light from heaven flows in; and they who are in that faith then come into blindness and stupidity (n. 3412, 3413).
They who separate faith from charity, in doctrine and life, are in darkness, thus in ignorance of truth, and in falsities, for these are darkness (n. 9186). They cast themselves into falsities, and into evils thence (n. 3325, 8094). The errors and falsities into which they cast themselves (n. 4721, 4730, 4776, 4783, 4925, 7779, 8313, 8765, 9224). The Word is shut to them (n. 3773, 4783, 8780). They do not see or attend to all those things which the Lord so often spoke concerning love and charity, and concerning their fruits, or goods in act, concerning which (n. 1017, 3416). Neither do they know what good is, nor thus what celestial love is, nor what charity is (n. 2517, 3603, 4136, 9995).
Faith separate from charity is no faith (n. 654, 724, 1162, 1176, 2049, 2116, 2343, 2349, 2417, 3849, 3868, 6348, 7039, 7342, 9783). Such a faith perishes in the other life (n. 2228, 5820). When faith alone is assumed as a principle, truths are contaminated by the falsity of the principle (n. 2335). Such persons do not suffer themselves to be persuaded, because it is against their principle (n. 2385). Doctrinals concerning faith alone destroy charity (n. 6353, 8094). They who separate faith from charity were represented by Cain, by Ham, by Reuben, by the firstborn of the Egyptians, and by the Philistines (n. 3325, 7097, 7317, 8093).
They who make faith alone saving, excuse a life of evil, and they who are in a life of evil have no faith, because they have no charity (n. 3865, 7766, 7778, 7790, 7950, 8094). They are inwardly in the falsities of their own evil, although they do not know it (n. 7790, 7950). Therefore good cannot be conjoined with them (n. 8981, 8983). In the other life they are against good, and against those who are in good (n. 7097, 7127, 7317, 7502, 7545, 8096, 8313). Those who are simple in heart and yet wise, know what the good of life is, thus what charity is, but not what faith separate is (n. 4741, 4754).
All things of the church have relation to good and truth, consequently to charity and faith (n. 7752-7754). The church is not with man before truths are implanted in his life, and thus become the good of charity (n. 3310). Charity constitutes the church, and not faith separate from charity (n. 809, 916, 1798, 1799, 1834, 1844). The internal of the church is charity (n. 1799, 7755). Hence there is no church where there is no charity (n. 4766, 5826). The church would be one if all were regarded from charity, although men might differ as to the doctrinals of faith and the rituals of worship (n. 1285, 1316, 1798, 1799, 1834, 1844, 2385, 2982, 3267, 3451). How much of good would be in the church if charity were regarded in the first place, and faith in the second (n. 6269, 6272). Every church begins from charity, but in process of time turns aside to faith, and at length to faith alone (n. 1834, 1835, 2231, 4683, 8094). There is no faith at the last time of the church, because there is no charity (n. 1843). The worship of the Lord consists in a life of charity (n. 8254, 8256) The quality of the worship is according to the quality of the charity (n. 2190).
The men of the external church have an internal if they are in charity (n. 1100, 1102, 1151, 1153). The doctrine of the ancient churches was the doctrine of life, which is the doctrine of charity, and not the doctrine of faith separate (n. 2385, 2417, 3419, 3420, 4844, 6628, 7259-7262).
The Lord inseminates and implants truth in the good of charity when he regenerates man (n. 2063, 2189, 3310). Otherwise the seed, which is the truth of faith, cannot take root (n. 880). Then goods and truths increase, according to the quality and quantity of the charity received (n. 1016). The light of a regenerate person is not from faith, but from charity by faith (n. 854). The truths of faith, when man is regenerated, enter with the delight of affection, because he loves to do them, and they are reproduced with the same affection, because they cohere (n. 2484, 2487, 3040, 3066, 3074, 3336, 4018, 5893).
They who live in love to the Lord, and in charity toward the neighbor, lose nothing to eternity, because they are conjoined to the Lord; but it is otherwise with those who are in separate faith (n. 7506, 7507). Man remains such as is his life of charity, not such as his faith separate (n. 8256). All the states of delight of those who have lived in charity, return in the other life, and are increased immensely (n. 823). Heavenly blessedness flows from the Lord into charity, because into the very life of man; but not into faith without charity (n. 2363). In heaven all are regarded from charity, and none from faith separate (n. 1258, 1394). All are associated in the heavens according to their loves (n. 7085). No one is admitted into heaven by thinking, but by willing good (n. 2401, 3459). Unless doing good is conjoined with willing good and with thinking good, there is no salvation, neither any conjunction of the internal man with the external (n. 3987). The Lord, and faith in him, are received by no others in the other life, than those who are in charity (n. 2343).
Good is in the perpetual desire and consequent endeavor of conjoining itself with truths, and charity with faith (n. 9206, 9207, 9495). The good of charity acknowledges its own truth of faith, and the truth of faith its own good of charity (n. 2429, 3101, 3102, 3161, 3179, 3180, 4358, 5807, 5835, 9637). Hence there is a conjunction of the truth of faith and the good of charity, concerning which (n. 3834, 4096, 4097, 4301, 4345, 4353, 4364, 4368, 5365, 7623-7627, 7752-7762, 8530, 9258, 10555). Their conjunction is like a marriage (n. 1904, 2173, 2508). The law of marriage is that two be one, according to the Word of the Lord (n. 10130, 10168, 10169). So also faith and charity (n. 1094, 2173, 2503). Therefore faith which is faith, is, as to its essence, charity (n. 2228, 2839, 3180, 9783). As good is the esse of a thing, and truth the existere thence, so also is charity the esse of the church, and faith the existere thence (n. 3409, 3180, 4574, 5002, 9145). The truth of faith lives from the good of charity, thus a life according to the truths of faith is charity (n. 1589, 1947, 2571, 4070, 4096, 4097, 4736, 4757, 4884, 5147, 5928, 9154, 9667, 9841, 10729). Faith cannot be given but in charity, and if not in charity, there is not good in faith (n. 2261, 4368). Faith does not live with man when he only knows and thinks the things of faith, but when he wills them, and from will does them (n. 9224).
There is no salvation by faith, but by a life according to the truths of faith, which life is charity (n. 379, 389, 2228, 4663, 4721). They are saved who think from the doctrine of the church that faith alone saves, if they do what is just for the sake of justice, and good for the sake of good, for thus they are still in charity (n. 2442, 3242, 3459, 3463, 7506, 7507). If a mere cogitative faith could save, all would be saved (n. 2361, 10659).
Charity constitutes heaven with man, and not faith without it (n. 3513, 3584, 3815, 9832, 10714, 10715, 10721, 10724). In heaven all are regarded from charity, and not from faith (n. 1258, 1394, 2361, 4802). The conjunction of the Lord with man is not by faith, but by a life according to the truths of faith (n. 9380, 10143, 10153, 10310, 10578, 10645, 10648). The Lord is the tree of life, the goods of charity the fruits, and faith the leaves (n. 3427, 9337). Faith is the “lesser luminary,” and good the “larger luminary” (n. 30-38).
The angels of the Lord’s celestial kingdom do not know what faith is, so that they do not even name it, but the angels of the Lord’s spiritual kingdom speak of faith, because they reason concerning truths (n. 202, 203, 337, 2715, 3246, 4448, 9166, 10786). The angels of the Lord’s celestial kingdom say only yea, yea or nay, nay, but the angels of the Lord’s spiritual kingdom reason whether it be so or not so, when there is discourse concerning spiritual truths, which are of faith (n. 2715, 3246, 4448, 9166, 10786), where the Lord’s words are explained:
Let your discourse be yea, yea, nay, nay; what is beyond these is from evil (Matt. 5:37).
The reason why the celestial angels are such is that they admit the truths of faith immediately into their lives, and do not deposit them first in the memory, as the spiritual angels do; and hence the celestial angels are in the perception of all things of faith (n. 202, 585, 597, 607, 784, 1121, 1387, 1398, 1442, 1919, 5113, 5897, 6367, 7680, 7877, 8521, 8780, 9936, 9995, 10124).
Trust or confidence, which in an eminent sense is called saving faith, is given with those only who are in good as to life, consequently with those who are in charity (n. 2982, 4352, 4683, 4689, 7762, 8240, 9239-9245). Few know what that confidence is (n. 3868, 4352).
What difference there is between believing those things which are from God, and believing in God (n. 9239, 9243). It is one thing to know, another to acknowledge, and another to have faith (n. 896, 4319, 5664). There are memory-knowledges of faith, rationals of faith and spirituals of faith (n. 2504, 8078). The first thing is the acknowledgment of the Lord (n. 10083). All that flows in with man from the Lord is good (n. 1614, 2016, 2751, 2882, 2883, 2891, 2892, 2904, 6193, 7643, 9128).
There is a persuasive faith, which nevertheless is not faith (n. 2343, 2682, 2689, 3427, 3865, 8148).
It appears from various reasonings as though faith were prior to charity, but this is a fallacy (n. 3324). It may be known from the light of reason, that good, consequently charity, is in the first place, and truth, consequently faith, in the second (n. 6273). Good, or charity, is actually in the first place, or is the first of the church, and truth, or faith, is in the second place, or is the second of the church, although it appears otherwise (n. 3324, 3325, 3330, 3336, 3494, 3539, 3548, 3556, 3570, 3576, 3603, 3701, 3995, 4337, 4601, 4925, 4926, 4928, 4930, 5351, 6256, 6269, 6272, 6273, 8042, 8080, 10110). The ancients disputed concerning the first or primogeniture of the church, whether it be faith or whether it be charity (n. 367, 2435, 3324).
122. The twelve disciples of the Lord represented the church as to all things of faith and charity in the complex, as did also the twelve tribes of Israel (n. 2129, 3354, 3488, 3858, 6397). Peter, James, and John represented faith, charity, and the goods of charity in their order (n. 3750). Peter represented faith (n. 4738, 6000, 6073, 6344, 10087, 10580). And John represented the goods of charity; see the preface to the eighteenth and twenty-second chapters of Genesis.
That there would be no faith in the Lord, because no charity, in the last time of the church, was represented by Peter’s thrice denying the Lord before the cock crew the third time; for Peter there, in a representative sense, is faith (n. 6000, 6073). “Cock crowing,” as well as “twilight,” signifies in the Word the last time of the church (n. 10134). And “three” or “thrice,” signifies what is complete to the end (n. 2788, 4495, 5159, 9198, 10127). The like is signified by the Lord’s saying to Peter, when Peter saw John follow the Lord:
What is it to thee, Peter? follow thou me; for Peter had said of John, What about him? (John 21:21, 22; n. 10087).
John lay on the breast of the Lord, because he represented the good of charity (n. 3934, 10081). That the good of charity constitutes the church is also signified by the words of the Lord from the cross to John:
Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple whom he loved, who stood by, and he said to his mother, Woman, behold thy son; and he said to that disciple, Behold thy mother; and from that hour that disciple took her to himself (John 19:26, 27).
“John” signifies the good of charity, and “woman” and “mother,” the church; and the whole passage signifies that the church will be where the good of charity is; that “woman” in the Word means the church (n. 252, 253, 749, 770, 3160, 6014, 7337, 8994). And likewise “mother” (n. 289, 2691, 2717, 3703, 4257, 5580, 8897, 10490). All the names of persons and places in the Word signify things abstractly from them (n. 768, 1888, 4310, 4442, 10329).
Piety
123. It is believed by many that spiritual life, or the life which leads to heaven, consists in piety, in external sanctity, and in the renunciation of the world; but piety without charity, and external sanctity without internal sanctity, and a renunciation of the world without a life in the world, do not constitute spiritual life; but piety from charity, external sanctity from internal sanctity, and a renunciation of the world with a life in the world, constitute it.
124. Piety consists in thinking and speaking piously, in devoting much time to prayers, in behaving humbly at that time, in frequenting temples and harkening devoutly to the preaching there, in frequently every year receiving the sacrament of the supper, and in performing the other parts of worship according to the ordinances of the church. But the life of charity consists in willing well and doing well to the neighbor, in acting in every work from justice and equity, from good and truth, and in like manner in every office; in a word, the life of charity consists in performing uses. Divine worship primarily consists in this life, but secondarily in the former; wherefore he who separates one from the other, that is, who lives the life of piety, and not at the same time the life of charity, does not worship God. He thinks indeed of God, but not from God but from himself, for he thinks continually of himself, and nothing of the neighbor; and if he thinks of the neighbor, he holds him in low estimation, if he be not also such as himself. And likewise he thinks of heaven as a reward, thence in his mind there is merit, and also the love of self, as also contempt or neglect of uses, and thus of the neighbor, and at the same time he cherishes a belief that he is blameless. Hence it may appear that the life of piety, separate from the life of charity, is not the spiritual life which should be in Divine worship. (Compare Matt. 6:7, 8.)
125. External sanctity is like such piety, and especially consists in this, that man places all Divine worship in sanctity when he is in temples; but this is not holy with man unless his internal be holy; for such as man is as to his internal, such he also is as to his external, for this proceeds from the former as action does from its spirit; wherefore external sanctity without internal sanctity is natural and not spiritual.
Hence it is that external sanctity is given with the evil as well as with the good; and they who place the whole of worship therein are for the most part empty, that is, without the knowledges of good and truth. And yet goods and truths are the real sanctities which are to be known, believed and loved, because they are from the Divine, and thus the Divine is in them. Internal sanctity, therefore, consists in loving good and truth for the sake of good and truth, and justice and sincerity for the sake of justice and sincerity. So far also as man thus loves them, so far he is spiritual, and also his worship, for so far also he is willing to know them and to do them; but so far as man does not thus love them, so far he is natural, and his worship also, and so far also he is not willing to know them and do them. External worship without internal may be compared with the life of the respiration without the life of the heart; but external worship from internal may be compared with the life of the respiration conjoined to the life of the heart.
126. But as to what relates to the renunciation of the world: it is believed by many, that to renounce the world, and to live in the spirit and not in the flesh, is to reject worldly things, which are chiefly riches and honors; to be continually engaged in pious meditation concerning God, concerning salvation, and concerning eternal life; to lead a life in prayers, in the reading of the Word and pious books; and also to afflict oneself: but this is not renouncing the world; but to renounce the world is to love God and to love the neighbor; and God is loved when man lives according to his commandments, and the neighbor is loved when man performs uses.
Therefore in order that man may receive the light of heaven, it is altogether necessary that he should live in the world, and in offices and business there. A life abstracted from worldly things is a life of thought and faith separate from the life of love and charity, in which life the will of good and the doing of good to the neighbor perishes. And when this perishes, spiritual life is as a house without a foundation, which either sinks down successively, or becomes full of chinks and cracks, or totters till it falls.
127. That to do good is to worship the Lord, appears from the Lord’s words:
Everyone who heareth my words and doeth them, I will liken to a prudent man who built a house upon a rock; but he who heareth my words and doeth them not, I will liken to a foolish man who built a house upon the sand, or upon the ground without a foundation (Matt. 7:24-27; Luke 6:47-49).
128. Hence now it is manifest, that a life of piety so far avails, and is accepted by the Lord, as a life of charity is conjoined to it; for this is the primary, and such as this is, such is that. Also, that external sanctity so far avails, and is accepted by the Lord, as it proceeds from internal sanctity; for such as this is, such is that. And also, that the renunciation of the world so far avails, and is accepted by the Lord, as it is practiced in the world; for they renounce the world who remove the love of self and the world, and act justly and sincerely in every office, in every business, and in every work, from an interior, thus from a heavenly origin; which origin is in that life when man acts well, sincerely, and justly, because it is according to the Divine laws.
From Arcana Coelestia:
129. A life of piety without a life of charity, is of no avail, but when united therewith aids (n. 8252 seq.). External sanctity without internal sanctity is not holy (n. 2190, 10177). Of the quality of those in another life, who have lived in external sanctity, and not from internal (n. 951, 952).
There is an internal and external of the church (n. 1098). There is internal worship and external worship, and the quality of each (n. 1083, 1098, 1100, 1151, 1153). Internals are what make worship (n. 1175). External worship without internal is no worship (n. 1094, 7724). There is an internal in worship, if man’s life is a life of charity (n. 1100, 1151, 1153). Man is in true worship when he is in love and charity, that is, when he is in good as to life (n. 1618, 7724, 10242). The quality of worship is according to good (n. 2190). Worship itself consists in a life according to the precepts of the church from the Word (n. 7884, 9921, 10143, 10153, 10196, 10645).
True worship is from the Lord with man, not from man himself (n. 10203, 10299). The Lord desires worship from man for the sake of man’s salvation, and not for the sake of his own glory (n. 4593, 8263, 10646). Man believes that the Lord desires worship for the sake of glory; but they who thus believe know not what Divine glory is, nor that it consists in the salvation of the human race, which man has when he attributes nothing to himself, and when he removes his proprium by humiliation; because the Divine is then first able to flow in (n. 4347, 4593, 5957, 7550, 8263, 10646).
Humiliation of heart with man exists from an acknowledgment of himself, which is, that he is nothing but evil, and that he can do nothing from himself; and from a consequent acknowledgment of the Lord, which is, that nothing but good is from the Lord, and that the Lord can do all things (n. 2327, 3994, 7478). The Divine cannot flow in except into a humble heart, since so far as man is in humiliation, so far he is absent from his proprium, and thus from the love of self (n. 3994, 4347, 5957). Hence the Lord does not desire humiliation for his own sake, but for man’s sake, that man may be in a state for receiving the Divine (n. 4347, 5957).
Worship is not worship without humiliation (n. 2327, 2423, 8873). The quality of external humiliation without internal (n. 5420, 9377). The quality of humiliation of heart, which is internal (n. 7478). There is no humiliation of heart with the evil (n. 7640).
They who have not charity and faith are in external worship without internal worship (n. 1200). If the love of self and of the world reigns interiorly with man, his worship is external without internal, however it may appear in the external form (n. 1182, 10307-10309). External worship in which the love of self reigns inwardly, as is the case with those who are of Babylon, is profane (n. 1304, 1306-1308, 1321, 1322, 1326). To imitate heavenly affections in worship, when man is in evils from the love of self, is infernal (n. 10309).
What the quality of external worship is when it proceeds from internal, and when it does not, may be seen and concluded from what has been said and adduced above concerning the internal and the external man.
Concerning those who renounce the world and those who do not renounce it, their quality, and their lot in the other life, may be seen in Heaven and Hell, under the following heads: the rich and poor in heaven (n. 357-365); and the life that leads to heaven (n. 528-535).
Conscience
130. Conscience is formed with man from the religious principle in which he is, according to its reception inwardly in himself.
131. Conscience, with the man of the church, is formed by the truths of faith from the Word, or from doctrine out of the Word, according to their reception in the heart; for when man knows the truths of faith, and comprehends them in his own manner, and then wills them and does them, he then acquires conscience. Reception in the heart is reception in the will, for the will of man is what is called the heart. Hence it is that they who have conscience, speak from the heart the things which they speak, and do from the heart the things which they do. They have also an undivided mind, for they act according to that which they understand and believe to be true and good.
132. A more perfect conscience can be given with those who are enlightened in the truths of faith more than others, and who are in a clear perception above others, than with those who are less enlightened, and are in obscure perception.
133. In a true conscience is man’s spiritual life itself, for there his faith is conjoined to charity. On which account to act from conscience is to them to act from their spiritual life; and to act against conscience is to them to act contrary to that life of theirs. Hence it is that they are in the tranquility of peace, and in internal happiness, when they act according to conscience, and in intranquility and pain, when they act against it. This pain is what is called remorse of conscience.
134. Man has a conscience of what is good, and a conscience of what is just. The conscience of what is good is the conscience of the internal man, and the conscience of what is just is the conscience of the external man. The conscience of what is good consists in acting according to the precepts of faith from internal affection; but the conscience of what is just consists in acting according to civil and moral laws from external affection. They who have the conscience of what is good, have also the conscience of what is just; but they who have only the conscience of what is just, are in a faculty of receiving the conscience of what is good; and they also do receive it when they are instructed.
135. Conscience, with those who are in charity toward the neighbor, is the conscience of truth, because it is formed by the faith of truth; but with those who are in love to the Lord, it is the conscience of good, because it is formed by the love of truth. The conscience of these is a superior conscience, and is called the perception of truth from good. They who have the conscience of truth, are of the Lord’s spiritual kingdom; but they who have the superior conscience, which is called perception, are of the Lord’s celestial kingdom.
136. But let examples illustrate what conscience is. He who has possession of another man’s goods, whilst the other is ignorant of it, and thus can retain them without fear of the law, or of the loss of honor and reputation, and he still restores them to the other, because they are not his own, he has conscience, for he does what is good for the sake of what is good, and what is just for the sake of what is just. Again, if anyone can obtain an office, but knows that another, who also desires it, would be more useful to his country, and gives way to the other for the sake of the good of his country, he has a good conscience. So in other cases.
137. From these instances it may be concluded what quality they are of who have not conscience; they are known from the opposite. Thus they who for the sake of any gain make what is unjust appear as just, and what is evil appear as good, and vice versa, have not conscience. Neither do they know what conscience is, and if they are instructed what it is, they do not believe; and some are not willing to know. Such are those who do all things for the sake of themselves and the world.
138. They who have not received conscience in the world, cannot receive it in the other life; thus they cannot be saved. The reason is that they have no plane into which heaven, that is, the Lord through heaven, may flow in, and by which he may operate, and lead them to himself. For conscience is the plane and receptacle of the influx of heaven.
From Arcana Coelestia:
139. Of conscience. They who have no conscience, do not know what conscience is (n. 7490, 9121). There are some who laugh at conscience, when they hear what it is (n. 721). Some believe that conscience is nothing; some that it is a sad, doleful, natural something, arising from bodily or worldly causes; and some that it is an effect of religion on the minds of the common people (n. 950). Some know not that they have conscience, when yet they have it (n. 2380).
The good have conscience, but not the evil (n. 831, 965, 7490). They who are in love to God and in love toward the neighbor have conscience (n. 2380). Conscience is especially with those who are regenerated by the Lord (n. 977). They who are in truths alone, and not in a life according to them, have no conscience (n. 1076, 1077, 1919). They who do good from natural good, and not from religion, have no conscience (n. 6208). Man’s conscience is from the doctrine of his church, or from some religious principle, and is according thereto (n. 9112). Conscience is formed with man from those things which are of his religion, and which he believes to be truths (n. 1077, 2053, 9113). Conscience is an internal bond, by which man is held to thinking, speaking, and doing good; and by which he is withheld from thinking, speaking, and doing evil; and this is not for the sake of self and the world, but for the sake of good, truth, justice, and uprightness (n. 1919, 9120). Conscience is an internal dictate, that one ought to do so or not so (n. 1919, 1935). Conscience is in its essence a conscience of what is true and right (n. 986, 8081). The new will with the spiritual regenerate man is conscience (n. 927, 1023, 1043, 1044, 4299, 4328, 4493, 9115, 9596). The spiritual life of man is from conscience (n. 9117).
There is a true conscience, a spurious conscience, and a false conscience, concerning which (n. 1033). Conscience is more true, in proportion as it is formed from more genuine truths (n. 2053, 2063, 9114). In general, conscience is two-fold, interior and exterior, and interior conscience is of spiritual good, which in its essence is truth, and exterior conscience is of moral and civil good, which in its essence is sincerity and justice, in general, uprightness (n. 5140, 6207, 10296).
Pain of conscience is anxiety of mind on account of injustice, insincerity, and any evil, which a man believes to be against God, and against the good of the neighbor (n. 7217). If anxiety is felt when a man thinks evil, it is from conscience (n. 5470). Pain of conscience is an anguish felt on account of the evil which man does, and also on account of the privation of good and truth (n. 7217). Since temptation is a combat of truth and falsity in the interiors of man, and since in temptations there is pain and anxiety, therefore no others are admitted into spiritual temptations, but those who have conscience (n. 847).
They who have conscience speak and act from the heart (n. 7935, 9114). They who have conscience do not swear in vain (n. 2842). They who have conscience are in interior blessedness when they do what is good and just according to conscience (n. 9118). They who have conscience in the world, have conscience in the other life, and are there amongst the happy (n. 965). The influx of heaven flows into conscience with man (n. 6207, 6213, 9122). The Lord rules the spiritual man by conscience, which is an internal bond (n. 1835, 1862). They who have conscience, have interior thought; but they who have no conscience, have only exterior thought (n. 1919, 1935). They who have conscience, think from the spiritual, but they who have no conscience, think only from the natural (n. 1820). They who have no conscience, are only external men (n. 4459).
The Lord rules those who have no conscience by external bonds, which are all those things which are of the love of self and of the world, and which thence relate to the fear of the loss of reputation, honor, office, gain, wealth, and the fear of the law, and of the loss of life (n. 1077, 1080, 1835). They who have no conscience, and yet suffer themselves to be ruled by these external bonds, are capable of discharging the duties of high offices in the world, and of doing good, as well as those who have conscience; but the former do it in an external form, and from external bonds, whereas the latter do it in an internal form, and from internal bonds (n. 6207).
They who have no conscience would destroy conscience with those who have it (n. 1820). They who have no conscience in the world, have no conscience in the other life (n. 965, 9122). Hence those who are in hell have no torment of conscience for their evils in the world (n. 965, 9122).
Who and of what quality, and how troublesome, the scrupulously conscientious are, and what they correspond to in the spiritual world (n. 5386, 5724).
They who are in the Lord’s spiritual kingdom have conscience, and it is formed in their intellectual part (n. 863, 865, 875, 895, 927, 1043, 1044, 1555, 2256, 4328, 4493, 5113, 6367, 8521, 9596, 9915, 9995, 10124). It is otherwise with those who are in the Lord’s celestial kingdom (n. 927, 2256, 5113, 6367, 8521, 9915, 9995, 10124).
140. Of perception. Perception consists in seeing what is true and good by influx from the Lord (n. 202, 895, 7680, 9128). Perception is given only with those who are in the good of love from the Lord to the Lord (n. 202, 371, 1442, 5228). Perception is given with those in heaven who, whilst they lived in the world, brought the doctrinals of the church which are from the Word immediately into the life, and who did not first commit them to memory; thus the interiors of their minds were formed to the reception of the Divine influx; and thence their understanding is in heaven in continual enlightenment (n. 104, 495, 503, 521, 536, 1616, 1791, 5145). They know innumerable things, and are wise beyond measure (n. 2718, 9543).
They who are in perception, do not reason concerning the truths of faith, and if they reasoned their perception would perish (n. 586, 1398, 5897). They who believe that they know and are wise from themselves, cannot have perception (n. 1386). The learned do not comprehend what this perception is, from experience (n. 1387).
They who are in the Lord’s celestial kingdom, have perception; but they who are in the spiritual kingdom, have no perception, but conscience in its place (n. 805, 2144, 2145, 8081). They who are in the Lord’s celestial kingdom do not think from faith, like those in the Lord’s spiritual kingdom, because they who are in the celestial kingdom are in perception from the Lord of all things of faith (n. 202, 597, 607, 784, 1121, 1387, 1398, 1442, 1919, 7680, 7877, 8780). Wherefore the celestial angels say concerning the truths of faith only, Yea, yea, or Nay, nay, because they perceive them and see them; but the spiritual angels reason concerning the truths of faith, whether a thing be so or not (n. 2715, 3246, 4448, 9166, 10786); where the words of the Lord are explained:
Let your discourse be Yea, yea, Nay, nay; what is beyond these is from evil (Matt. 5:37).
The celestial angels, because they know the truths of faith from perception, are not even willing to name faith (n. 202, 337). The distinction between the celestial angels and the spiritual angels (n. 2088, 2669, 2708-2715, 3235, 3240, 4788, 7068, 8521, 9277, 10295). Of the perception of those who were of the most ancient church, which was a celestial church (n. 125, 597, 607, 784, 895, 1121, 5121).
There is interior and exterior perception (n. 2145, 2171, 2831, 5920). There is in the world a perception of what is just and equitable, but rarely a perception of spiritual truth and good (n. 2831, 5937, 7977). The light of perception is altogether different from the light of confirmation; and it is not like it, although it may appear so to some persons (n. 8521, 8780).
Freedom
141. All freedom is of love, for what man loves, this he does freely; hence also all freedom is of the will, for what man loves, this he also wills; and because love and the will make the life of man, so also does freedom. From these things it may appear what freedom is, namely, it is that which is of the love and the will, and thence of the life of man. Hence it is, that what a man does from freedom appears to him as if from his own proprium.
142. To do evil from freedom appears as freedom, but it is slavery, because that freedom is from the love of self and from the love of the world, and these loves are from hell. Such freedom is actually turned into slavery after death, for the man who has been in such freedom then becomes a vile servant in hell. But to do good from freedom is freedom itself, because it is from love to the Lord and from love toward the neighbor, and these loves are from heaven. This freedom also remains after death, and then becomes freedom indeed, for the man who has been in such freedom becomes in heaven like a son of the house. This the Lord thus teaches:
Everyone that doeth sin is the servant of sin; the servant abideth not in the house forever; the son abideth forever; if the son shall have made you free, you shall be truly free (John 8:34-36).
Now, because all good is from the Lord, and all evil from hell, it follows that freedom consists in being led by the Lord, and slavery is being led by hell.
143. That man has the freedom of thinking evil and falsity, and also of doing it, so far as the laws do not withhold him, is in order that he may be capable of being reformed; for goods and truths are to be implanted in his love and will, so that they may become of his life, and this cannot be done unless he have the freedom of thinking evil and falsity as well as good and truth. This freedom is given to every man by the Lord, and so far as he does not love evil and falsity, so far, when he thinks what is good and true, the Lord implants them in his love and will, consequently in his life, and thus reforms him. What is inseminated in freedom, this also remains, but what is inseminated in a state of compulsion, this does not remain, because what is from compulsion is not from the will of the man, but from the will of him who compels. Hence also it is, that worship from freedom is pleasing to the Lord, but not worship from compulsion; for worship from freedom is worship from love, but worship from compulsion is not so.
144. The freedom of doing good, and the freedom of doing evil, though they appear alike in the external form, are as different and distant from each other as heaven and hell are; the freedom of doing good also is from heaven, and is called heavenly freedom; but the freedom of doing evil is from hell, and is called infernal freedom; so far, also, as man is in the one, so far he is not in the other, for no one can serve two lords (Matt. 6:24); which also appears from hence, that they who are in infernal freedom believe that it is slavery and compulsion not to be allowed to will evil and think falsity at their pleasure, but they who are in heavenly freedom abhor willing evil and thinking falsity, and would be tormented if they were compelled to do so.
145. Because acting from freedom appears to man as if from his own proprium, therefore heavenly freedom may also be called the heavenly proprium, and infernal freedom may be called the infernal proprium. The infernal proprium is that into which man is born, and this is evil; but the heavenly proprium is that into which man is reformed, and this is good.
146. From this it may appear what free will is; namely, that it consists in doing good from choice or will, and that they are in that freedom who are led by the Lord; and they are led by the Lord who love good and truth for the sake of good and truth.
147. Man may know what is the quality of the freedom in which he is, from the delight which he feels when he thinks, speaks, acts, hears, and sees; for all delight is of love.
From Arcana Coelestia:
148. All freedom is of love or affection, for what a man loves, he does freely (n. 2870, 3158, 8987, 8990, 9585, 9591). As freedom is of love, it is the life of everyone (n. 2873). There is heavenly freedom and infernal freedom (n. 2870, 2873, 2874, 9589, 9590). Heavenly freedom is of the love of good and truth (n. 1947, 2870, 2872). And because the love of good and truth is from the Lord, that being led by the Lord is true freedom (n. 892, 905, 2872, 2886, 2890-2892, 9096, 9586, 9587-9591). Man by regeneration is introduced into heavenly freedom by the Lord (n. 2874, 2875, 2882, 2892). Man ought to be in freedom, that he may be regenerated (n. 1937, 1947, 2876, 2881, 3145, 3158, 4031, 8700). Otherwise the love of good and truth cannot be implanted in and appropriated to man, so as to appear his own (n. 2877, 2879, 2880, 2888). Nothing is conjoined to man which is done in compulsion (n. 2875, 8700). If man could be reformed by compulsion, all would be saved (n. 2881). Compulsion is hurtful in reformation (n. 4031)
Worship from freedom is worship, but not worship from compulsion (n. 1947, 2880, 7349, 10097). Repentance should take place in a free state, and what is done in a forced state is of no avail (n. 8392). What forced states are (n. 8392).
Man is allowed to act from the freedom of reason, in order that good may be provided for him, and therefore man is in the freedom of thinking and willing, and even of doing evil, so far as the laws do not forbid (n. 10777). Man is kept by the Lord between heaven and hell, and thus in equilibrium, that he may be in freedom for the sake of reformation (n. 5982, 6477, 8209, 8987). What is inseminated in freedom remains, but not what is inseminated in compulsion (n. 9588, 10777). Therefore freedom is never taken away from anyone (n. 2876, 2881). No one is compelled by the Lord (n. 1937, 1947). How the Lord leads man by means of freedom into good; by means of freedom he turns him from evil, and bends him to good, so gently and tacitly that the man knows no other than that all proceeds from himself (n. 9587).
To compel himself is from liberty, but not to be compelled (n. 1937, 1947). Man ought to compel himself to resist evil (n. 1937, 1947, 7914). And also to do good as from himself, but still to acknowledge that it is from the Lord (n. 2883, 2891, 2892, 7914). Man has a stronger freedom in the combats of temptations in which he conquers, since he then interiorly compels himself to resist evils, although it appears otherwise (n. 1937, 1947, 2881). There is freedom in every temptation, but this freedom is interiorly with man from the Lord; and he therefore combats and wills to conquer, and not to be overcome, which he would not do without freedom (n. 1937, 1947, 2881). The Lord does this by means of an affection of truth and good impressed on the internal man, the man himself not knowing (n. 5044).
Infernal freedom consists in being led by the loves of self and of the world, and their lusts (n. 2870, 2873). They who are in hell do not know any other freedom (n. 2871). Heavenly freedom is as far from infernal freedom as heaven is from hell (n. 2873, 2874). Infernal freedom in itself regarded is slavery (n. 2884, 2890).
Because it is slavery to be led by hell (n. 9586, 9589-9591).
All freedom is as the proprium, and according to it (n. 2880). Man receives a heavenly proprium from the Lord by regeneration (n. 1937, 1947, 2882, 2883, 2891). The nature of the heavenly proprium (n. 164, 5660, 8480). This proprium appears to man as his own, but it is not his, but the Lord’s with him (n. 8497). They who are in this proprium are in true liberty, because true liberty consists in being led by the Lord and his proprium (n. 892, 905, 2872, 2886, 2890-2892, 4096, 9586, 9587, 9589-9591).
149. Freedom originates from the equilibrium between heaven and hell, and man, without freedom, cannot be reformed. This is shown in Heaven and Hell in the articles concerning that equilibrium (n. 589-596), and concerning freedom (n. 597 to the end); but for the sake of instruction respecting what freedom is, and to show that man is reformed by means of it, I will here quote the following extracts from that work.
It has been shown, that the equilibrium between heaven and hell is an equilibrium between the good which is from heaven and the evil which is from hell; and thus it is a spiritual equilibrium, which in its essence is freedom. The reason that spiritual equilibrium is, in its essence, freedom, is that it is an equilibrium between good and evil, and between truth and falsity, which are spiritual things; wherefore, the power of willing either good or evil, and of thinking either truth or falsity, and of choosing the one in preference to the other, is freedom.
This freedom is given to everyone by the Lord, nor is it ever taken away from him. In its origin, indeed, it does not belong to man, but to the Lord, because it is from the Lord; but, nevertheless, it is given to man, together with life, as his own; and it is given him to this end, that he may be reformed and saved; for without freedom there can be no reformation and salvation. Everyone who takes any rational view of things may see that man has freedom to think either ill or well, sincerely or insincerely, justly or unjustly; and also, that he is at liberty to speak and to act well, sincerely, and justly, but is withheld from speaking and acting ill, insincerely, and unjustly, by spiritual, moral, and civil laws, by which his external is kept in bonds.
From these things it is evident that the spirit of man, which is that which thinks and wills, is in freedom. Not so the external of man, which speaks and acts, except in conformity with the above-mentioned laws. The reason that man cannot be reformed, unless he is in freedom, is that he is born into evils of all kinds. These must be removed, in order that he may be saved; and they cannot be removed, unless he sees them in himself, and acknowledges them; and afterwards ceases to will them, and at length holds them in aversion. It is then that they are first removed. This could not be done, unless man possessed in him good as well as evil; for he is capable, from good, of seeing evils, but not, from evil, of seeing goods. The spiritual goods which man can think he learns from infancy by reading the Word and hearing sermons; and he learns moral and civil goods from life in the world. This is the first reason why man ought to be in freedom. Another is, that nothing is appropriated to man, but what he does from an affection that is of his love; other things may indeed enter his mind, but no further than into his thought; and not into his will; and what does not enter into the will does not become his own, for the thought draws its ideas from the memory, but the will from the life itself. Nothing that man ever does or thinks is free, but what proceeds from this will, or, what is the same thing, from an affection belonging to his love. Whatever a man wills or loves, he does freely; in consequence of which, a man’s freedom, and the affection which is that of his love or of his will, are one; on which account, therefore, man must have freedom, in order that he may be affected by truth and good, or love them, and that they may become as it were his own. In a word, whatever does not enter man in freedom, does not remain, because it is not of his love or will; and whatever is not of a man’s love or will is not of his spirit: for the esse of the spirit of man is his love or will.
That man may be in freedom, as necessary to his being reformed, he is conjoined, as to his spirit, with heaven and with hell; for spirits from hell, and angels from heaven, are with every man. By the spirits from hell, man is held in his evil; but by the angels from heaven, he is held in good by the Lord. Thus he is in spiritual equilibrium, that is, in freedom. That angels from heaven, and spirits from hell, are adjoined to every man, may be seen in the section on the conjunction of heaven with the human race (n. 291-302).
Merit
150. They who do good that they may merit, do not do good from the love of good, but from the love of reward, for he who wills to merit, wills to be rewarded; they who do so, regard and place their delight in the reward, and not in good; wherefore they are not spiritual, but natural.
151. To do good, which is good, must be from the love of good, thus for the sake of good. They who are in that love are not willing to hear of merit, for they love to do, and perceive satisfaction therein, and, on the other hand, they are sorrowful if it be believed that what they do is for the sake of anything of themselves. This is almost like those who do good to their friends for the sake of friendship; to a brother for the sake of brotherhood, to wife and children for the sake of wife and children, to the country for the sake of the country, thus from friendship and love. They who think well, also say and insist, that they do not do good for the sake of themselves, but for the sake of others.
152. They who do good for the sake of reward, do not do good from the Lord, but from themselves, for they regard themselves in the first place, because they regard their own good; and the good of the neighbor, which is the good of fellow citizens, of human society, of the country, and of the church, they regard no otherwise than as a means to an end. Hence it is, that the good of the love of self and of the world lies concealed in the good of merit, and that good is from man and not from the Lord, and all good which is from man is not good; yea, so far as self and the world lies concealed in it, it is evil.
153. Genuine charity and genuine faith is without any [thought of] merit, for good itself is the delight of charity, and truth itself is the delight of faith; wherefore they who are in that charity and faith know what good not meritorious is, but not they who are not in charity and faith.
154. That good is not to be done for the sake of reward, the Lord himself teaches in Luke:
If ye love those who love you, what grace have you? For sinners do the same; rather love your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing; then shall your reward be great, and ye shall be the sons of the Most High (6:32-35).
That man cannot do good that is good from himself, the Lord also teaches in John:
A man cannot take anything unless it be given him from heaven (3:27).
Jesus said, I am the vine, ye are the branches; as the branch cannot bear fruit from itself, unless it shall abide in the vine, so neither can ye unless ye shall abide in me. He who abideth in me and I in him, he beareth much fruit, for except from me ye cannot do anything (15:4-8).
155. Because all good and truth are from the Lord, and nothing of them from man, and because good from man is not good, it follows that merit belongs to no man, but to the Lord alone. The merit of the Lord consists in this, that from his own power he has saved the human race, and also, that he saves those who do good from him. Hence it is that in the Word, he is called “just” to whom the merit and justice of the Lord are ascribed, and he is called “unjust” to whom are ascribed his own justice and the merit of self.
156. The delight itself, which is in the love of doing good without an end to reward, is a reward which remains to eternity, for heaven and eternal happiness are insinuated into that good by the Lord.
157. To think and believe that they who do good will come into heaven, and also that good is to be done in order that they may come into heaven, is not to regard reward as an end, thus neither is it to place merit in works; for even they who do good from the Lord think and believe so, but they who thus think, believe and do, and are not in the love of good for the sake of good, have regard to reward as an end, and place merit in works.
From Arcana Coelestia:
158. Merit and justice belong to the Lord alone (n. 9715, 9979). The merit and justice of the Lord consist in his having saved the human race by his own power (n. 1813, 2025, 2026, 2027, 9715, 9809, 10019). The good of the Lord’s justice and merit is the good which reigns in heaven, and is the good of his Divine love from which he saved the human race (n. 9486, 9979). No man can of himself become justice, nor claim it by any right (n. 1813). The quality of those in the other life who claim justice to themselves (n. 942, 2027). In the Word, the man to whom the justice and merit of the Lord are ascribed, is called “just”; and the man to whom his own justice and merit are ascribed, “unjust” (n. 5069, 9263). Whoever is once just from the Lord, will be continually just from him; for justice never becomes man’s own, but is continually the Lord’s (n. 3686). They who believe in the justification taught in the church know little of regeneration (n. 5398).
Man is so far wise as he ascribes all goods and truths to the Lord, and not to himself (n. 10227). As all good and truth which are good and truth are from the Lord, and nothing is from man, and as good from man is not good, it follows that merit belongs to no man, but to the Lord alone (n. 9975, 9981, 9988). They who enter heaven put off all merit of their own (n. 4007). And they do not think of reward for the good they have done (n. 6478, 9174). They who think from merit so far do not acknowledge all things to be of mercy (n. 6478, 9174). They who think from merit, think of reward and remuneration, and therefore to will to merit is to will to be remunerated (n. 5660, 6392, 9975). Such persons cannot receive heaven in themselves (n. 1835, 8478, 9977).
Heavenly happiness consists in the affection of doing good, without an end of remuneration (n. 6388, 6478, 9174, 9984). In the other life so far as anyone does good without an end of remuneration, so far happiness inflows with increase from the Lord; and it is immediately dissipated when remuneration is thought of (n. 6478, 9174).
Good is to be done without an end of remuneration (n. 6392, 6478); illustrated (n. 9981). Genuine charity is without anything meritorious (n. 2343, 2371, 2400, 3887, 6388-6393). Because it is from love, thus from the delight of doing good (n. 3816, 3887, 6388, 6478, 9174, 9984). “Reward” in the Word means the delight and happiness in doing good to others without an end of reward, and this delight and happiness is felt and perceived by those who are in genuine charity (n. 3816, 3956, 6388).
They who do good for the sake of reward, love themselves and not the neighbor (n. 8002, 9210). “Mercenaries,” in the spiritual sense of the Word, mean those who do good for the sake of reward (n. 8002). They who do good for the sake of remuneration, in the other life desire to be served, and are never contented (n. 6393).
They despise the neighbor, and are angry at the Lord himself, because they do not receive a reward, saying that they have merited it (n. 9976). They who have separated faith from charity, in the other life make their faith, and also the good works which they have done in an external form, thus for the sake of themselves, meritorious (n. 2371). Further particulars respecting the quality of those in the other life who have placed merit in works (n. 942, 1774, 1877, 2027). They are there in the lower earth, and appear to themselves to cut wood (n. 1110, 4943, 8740). Because wood, especially acacia wood, signifies the good of merit in particular (n. 2784, 2812, 9472, 9486, 9715, 10178).
They who have done good for the sake of remuneration, are servants in the Lord’s kingdom (n. 6389, 6390). They who place merit in works, fall in temptations (n. 2273, 9978). They who are in the loves of self and of the world, do not know what it is to do good without a view to remuneration (n. 6392).
Repentance and the remission of sins
159. He who would be saved must confess his sins, and do the work of repentance.
160. To confess sins, is to know evils, to see them in oneself, to acknowledge them, to make oneself guilty, and to condemn oneself on account of them. When this is done before God, it is the confession of sins.
161. To do the work of repentance, is to desist from sins after he has thus confessed them, and from a humble heart has made supplication for remission, and to live a new life according to the precepts of charity and faith.
162. He who only acknowledges universally that he is a sinner, and makes himself guilty of all evils, and yet does not explore himself, that is, see his own sins, makes confession, but not the confession of repentance; he, because he does not know his own evils, lives afterwards as he did before.
163. He who lives the life of charity and faith does the work of repentance daily; he reflects upon the evils which are with him, he acknowledges them, he guards against them, he supplicates the Lord for help. For man of himself continually lapses, but he is continually raised by the Lord, and led to good. Such is the state of those who are in good. But they who are in evil lapse continually, and are also continually elevated by the Lord, but are only withdrawn from falling into the most grievous evils, to which of themselves they tend with all their endeavor.
164. The man who explores himself that he may do the work of repentance, must explore his thoughts and the intentions of his will, and must there explore what he would do if it were permitted him, that is, if he were not afraid of the laws, and of the loss of reputation, honor, and gain. There the evils of man reside, and the evils which he does in the body are all from thence. They who do not explore the evils of their thought and will, cannot do the work of repentance, for they think and will afterwards as they did before, and yet to will evils is to do them. This is to explore oneself.
165. Repentance of the mouth and not of the life is not repentance. Sins are not remitted by repentance of the mouth, but by repentance of the life. Sins are continually remitted to man by the Lord, for he is mercy itself, but sins adhere to man, however he may suppose that they are remitted; nor are they removed from him but by a life according to the precepts of true faith. So far as he lives according to them, so far sins are removed; and so far as they are removed, so far they are remitted.
166. It is believed that sins are washed away, or are washed off, as filth is by water, when they are remitted; but sins are not washed away, but they are removed; that is, man is withheld from them when he is kept in good by the Lord; and when he is kept in good, it appears as if he were without them, thus as if they were washed away; and so far as man is reformed, so far he is capable of being kept in good. How man is reformed will be shown in the following doctrinal concerning regeneration. He who believes that sins are in any other manner remitted, is much deceived.
167. The signs that sins are remitted, that is, removed, are these which follow. They whose sins are remitted perceive a delight in worshiping God for the sake of God, and in serving their neighbor for the sake of their neighbor, thus in doing good for the sake of good, and in speaking truth for the sake of truth; they are unwilling to claim merit by anything of charity and faith; they shun and are averse to evils, as enmities, hatreds, revenges, adulteries, and the very thoughts of such things with intention. But the signs that sins are not remitted, that is, removed, are these which follow. They whose sins are not remitted, worship God not for the sake of God, and serve the neighbor not for the sake of the neighbor, thus they do not do good and speak truth for the sake of good and truth, but for the sake of themselves and the world; they wish to claim merit by their deeds; they perceive nothing undelightful in evils, as in enmity, in hatred, in revenge, in adulteries; and they think of them and concerning them in all license.
168. The repentance which takes place in a free state is of avail, but that which takes place in a state of compulsion is of no avail. States of compulsion are states of sickness, states of dejection of mind from misfortune, states of imminent death, as also every state of fear which takes away the use of reason. He who is evil, and in a state of compulsion promises repentance and also does good, returns to his former life of evil when he comes into a free state; it is otherwise with the good.
169. After a man has explored himself, and acknowledged his sins, and has done the work of repentance, he must remain constant in good even to the end of life. For if he afterwards relapses into his former life of evil and embraces it, he then profanes, for he then conjoins evil with good; whence his latter state becomes worse than his former, according to the words of the Lord:
When the unclean spirit goes out from a man, he walks through dry places, seeking rest, but doth not find; then he saith, I will return into my house whence I went out; and when he cometh and findeth it empty, and swept, and adorned for him, then he goeth away, and adjoineth to himself seven other spirits worse than himself, and, entering in, they dwell there, and the latter things of the man become worse than the first (Matt. 12:43-45).
From Arcana Coelestia:
170. Of sin or evil. There are innumerable kinds of evil and falsity (n. 1188, 1212, 4818, 4822, 7574). There is evil from falsity, there is falsity from evil, and evil and falsity again from thence (n. 1679, 2243, 4818). The nature and quality of the evil of falsity (n. 2408, 4818, 7272, 8265, 8279). The nature and quality of the falsity of evil (n. 6359, 7272, 9304, 10302). Of blamable evils, and of those which are not so blamable (n. 4171, 4172). Of evils from the understanding and of evils from the will (n. 9009). The difference between transgression, iniquity and sin (n. 6563, 9156).
All evils adhere to man (n. 2116). Evils cannot be taken away from man, but man can only be withheld from them, and kept in good (n. 865, 868, 887, 894, 1581, 4564, 8206, 8393, 8988, 9014, 9333, 9446-9448, 9451, 10057, 10059). To be withheld from evil and kept in good, is effected by the Lord alone (n. 929, 2406, 8206, 10060). Thus evils and sins are only removed, and this is effected successively (n. 9334-9336). This is done by the Lord by means of regeneration (n. 9445, 9452-9454, 9938). Evils shut out the Lord (n. 5696). Man ought to abstain from evils, that he may receive good from the Lord (n. 10109). Good and truth inflow in proportion as man is withheld from evils (n. 2388, 2411, 10675). To be withheld from evil and kept in good, constitutes remission of sins (n. 8391, 8393, 9014, 9444-9450). The signs whether sins are remitted or not (n. 9449, 9450). It is a consequence of the remission of sins to look at things from good and not from evil (n. 7697).
Evil and sin are a separation and turning away from the Lord; and this is signified by “evil” and “sin” in the Word (n. 4997, 5229, 5474, 5746, 5841, 9346); they are and signify separation and aversion from good and truth (n. 7589). They are and signify what is contrary to Divine order (n. 4839, 5076). Evil is damnation and hell (n. 3513, 6279, 7155). It is not known what hell is, unless it be known what evil is (n. 7181). Evils are as it were heavy, and fall of themselves into hell; and so also falsities that are from evil (n. 8279, 8298). It is not known what evil is unless it be known what the love of self and the love of the world are (n. 4997, 7178, 8318). All evils are from those loves (n. 1307, 1308, 1321, 1594, 1691, 3413, 7255, 7376, 7488, 7489, 8318, 9335, 9348, 10038, 10742).
All men whatever are born into evils of every kind, even so that their proprium is nothing but evil (n. 210, 215, 731, 874-876, 987, 1047, 2307, 2308, 3518, 3701, 3812, 8480, 8550, 10283, 10284, 10731). Man must therefore be born again or regenerated, in order to receive a life of good (n. 3701).
Man casts himself into hell when he does evil from consent, afterwards from purpose, and at last from delight (n. 6203). They who are in evil of life, are in the falsities of their own evil, whether they know it or not (n. 7577, 8094). Evil would not be appropriated to man, if he believed, as is really the case, that all evil is from hell, and all good from the Lord (n. 4151, 6206, 6324, 6325). In the other life evils are removed from the good and goods from the evil (n. 2256). All in the other life are let into their interiors, thus the evil into their evils (n. 8870).
In the other life evil contains its own punishment, and good its own reward (n. 696, 967, 1857, 6559, 8214, 8223, 8226, 9048). Man is not punished in the other life for hereditary evils, as he is not to blame for these, but for his actual evils (n. 966, 2308). The interiors of evil are foul and filthy, however they may appear otherwise in an external form (n. 7046).
Evil is attributed in the Word to the Lord, and yet nothing but good proceeds from him (n. 2447, 6071, 6991, 6997, 7533, 7632, 7677, 7926, 8227, 8228, 8632, 9306). So also anger (n. 5798, 6997, 8284, 8483, 9306, 10431). Why it is so said in the Word (n. 6071, 6991, 6997, 7632, 7643, 7679, 7710, 7926, 8282, 9010, 9128). What is signified by “bearing iniquity,” where it is predicated of the Lord (n. 9937, 9965). The Lord turns evil into good with the good who are infested and tempted (n. 8631).
To leave man from his own liberty to do evil, is permission (n. 1778). Evils and falsities are governed by the laws of permission by the Lord; and they are permitted for the sake of order (n. 7877, 8700, 10778). The permission of evil by the Lord is not as of one who wills, but as of one who does not will, but who cannot bring aid on account of the end (n. 7877).
171. Of falsity. There are innumerable kinds of falsity, namely, as many as there are evils, and evils and falsities are according to their origins, which are many (n. 1188, 1212, 4729, 4822, 7574). There is falsity from evil, or the falsity of evil; and there is evil from the falsity, or the evil of falsity; and falsity again from thence (n. 1679, 2243). From one falsity that is assumed as a principle, falsities flow in a long series (n. 1510, 1511, 4717, 4721). There is falsity from the lusts of the love of self and of the world; and there is falsity from the fallacies of the senses (n. 1295, 4729). There are falsities of religion; and there are falsities of ignorance (n. 4729, 8318, 9258). There is falsity which contains good, and falsity which does not contain good (n. 2863, 9304, 10109, 10302). There is what is falsified (n. 7318, 7319, 10648).
The quality of the falsity of evil (n. 6359, 7272, 9304, 10302). The quality of the evil of falsity (n. 2408, 4818, 7272, 8265, 8279). The falsities from evil appear like mists, and impure waters over the hells (n. 8138, 8146, 8210). Such waters signify falsities (n. 739, 790, 7307). They who are in hell speak falsities from evil (n. 1695, 7351, 7352, 7357, 7392, 7699). They who are in evil cannot do otherwise than think what is false when they think from themselves (n. 7437).
There are falsities of religion which agree with good, and falsities which disagree (n. 9258). Falsities of religion, if they do not disagree with good, do not produce evil but with those who are in evil of life (n. 8318). Falsities of religion are not imputed to those who are in good, but to those who are in evil (n. 8051, 8149). Every falsity may be confirmed, and then it appears like truth (n. 5033, 6865, 8521, 8780). Care should be taken lest falsities of religion be confirmed, since the persuasion of falsity principally arises from thence (n. 845, 8780). How hurtful the persuasion of falsity is (n. 794, 806, 5096, 7686). A persuasion of falsity is perpetually exciting such things as confirm falsities (n. 1510, 1511, 2477). They who are in the persuasion of falsity are interiorly bound (n. 5096). In the other life, they who are in a strong persuasion of falsity, when they approach others, close up their rational, and as it were suffocate it (n. 3895, 5128).
Truths which are not genuine, and also falsities, may be consociated with genuine truths; but falsities which contain good, and not falsities in which is evil (n. 3470, 3471, 4551, 4552, 7344, 8149, 9298). Falsities which contain good are received by the Lord as truths (n. 4736, 8149). The good which has its quality from falsity is accepted by the Lord, if there is ignorance, and therein is innocence and a good end (n. 7887).
Evil falsifies truth, because it draws aside and applies truth to evil (n. 8094, 8149). Truth is said to be falsified, when it is applied to evil by confirmations (n. 8602). Falsified truth is contrary to truth and good (n. 8602). For further particulars respecting the falsification of truth (see n. 7318, 7319, 10648).
172. Of the profane and profanation, spoken of above at n. 169. Profanation is a commixture of good and evil, as also of truth and falsity in man (n. 6348). None can profane goods and truths, or the holy things of the church and the Word, except those who first acknowledge, believe, and still more live according to them, and afterwards recede from and do not believe, and who live to themselves and the world (n. 593, 1008, 1010, 1059, 3398, 3399, 3898, 4289, 4601, 8394, 10287). He who believes truths in his childhood, and afterwards does not believe them, profanes lightly; but he who confirms truths in himself and after that denies them, profanes grievously (n. 6959, 6963, 6971). They who believe truths, and live evilly, commit profanation; as also they who do not believe truths and live holily (n. 8882). If man, after repentance of heart, relapses to his former evils, he profanes, and then his latter state is worse than his former (n. 8394). Those in the Christian world who defile the holy things of the Word by unclean thoughts and discourses, profane (n. 4050, 5390). There are various kinds of profanation (n. 10287).
They who do not acknowledge holy things cannot profane them, still less they who do not know them (n. 1008, 1010, 1059, 9188, 10287). They who are within the church can profane holy things, but not they who are out of it (n. 2051). The Gentiles, because out of the church, and who do not have the Word, cannot profane (n. 1327, 1328, 2051, 9021). Neither can the Jews profane the holy interior things of the Word and the church, because they do not acknowledge them (n. 6963). Therefore interior truths were not revealed to the Jews, for if they had been revealed and acknowledged, they would have profaned them (n. 3398, 3479, 6963). Profanation is meant by the words of the Lord above quoted at n. 169:
When the unclean spirit goes out of a man, he walks through dry places, seeking rest, but finding none; then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I went out; and when he comes and finds it empty, and swept, and garnished, then he goes away, and takes to himself seven other spirits worse than himself, and entering in they dwell there, and the latter things of the man become worse than the first (Matt. 12:43-45).
“The unclean spirit going out of a man,” signifies the repentance of him who is in evil; his “walking through dry places and not finding rest” signifies that to such a person, a life of good is of that quality; “the house” into which he returned, and which he found empty, swept, and garnished, signifies the man himself, and his will, as being without good. “The seven spirits” which he took to himself and with whom he returned, signify evil conjoined to good; “his state then being worse than his former,” signifies profanation. This is the internal sense of these words, for the Lord spoke by correspondences. The same thing is meant by the words of the Lord to the man whom he healed in the Pool of Bethesda:
Behold, thou art made whole; sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee (John 5:14).
Also by these words of the Lord:
He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them (John 12:40).
“To be converted and healed,” signifies to profane, which takes place when truth and good are acknowledged, and afterwards rejected, which would have been the case if the Jews had been converted and healed.
The lot of profaners in the other life is the worst of all, because the good and truth which they have acknowledged remain, and also the evil and falsity; and because they cohere, a tearing asunder of the life takes place (n. 571, 582, 6348). The greatest care is therefore taken by the Lord, to prevent profanation (n. 2426, 10287). Therefore man is withheld from acknowledgment and faith, if he cannot remain therein to the end of life (n. 3398, 3402). On this account also man is rather kept in ignorance, and in external worship (n. 301-303, 1327, 1328). The Lord also stores up the goods and truths which man has received by acknowledgment, in his interiors (n. 6595).
Lest interior truths should be profaned, they are not revealed before the church is at its end (n. 3398, 3399). Wherefore the Lord came into the world, and opened interior truths, when the church was wholly vastated (n. 3398). See what is adduced on this subject in Last Judgment and Babylon Destroyed (n. 73, 74).
In the Word “Babel” signifies the profanation of good, and “Chaldea,” the profanation of truth (n. 1182, 1283, 1295, 1304, 1306-1308, 1321, 1322, 1326). These profanations correspond to the prohibited degrees, or foul adulteries, spoken of in the Word (n. 6348). Profanation was represented in the Israelitish and Jewish church by eating blood, wherefore this was so severely prohibited (n. 1003).
Regeneration
173. He who does not receive spiritual life, that is, who is not begotten anew by the Lord, cannot come into heaven; which the Lord teaches in John:
Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except anyone be begotten again, he cannot see the kingdom of God (3:3).
174. Man is not born of his parents into spiritual life, but into natural life. Spiritual life consists in loving God above all things, and in loving his neighbor as himself, and this according to the precepts of faith, which the Lord has taught in the Word. But natural life consists in loving ourselves and the world more than the neighbor, yea, more than God himself.
175. Every man is born of his parents into the evils of the love of self and of the world. Every evil, which by habit has acquired as it were a nature, is derived into the offspring; thus it descends successively from parents, from grandfathers, and from great-grandfathers, in a long series backwards; whence the derivation of evil at length becomes so great, that the whole of man’s own life is nothing else but evil. This continual derivation of evil is not broken and altered, except by the life of faith and charity from the Lord.
176. Man continually inclines to, and lapses into, what he derives from heredity; hence he confirms with himself that evil, and also superadds more from himself. These evils are altogether contrary to spiritual life; they destroy it; wherefore, unless man receives new life, which is spiritual life, from the Lord, thus unless he is conceived anew, is born anew, is educated anew, that is, is created anew, he is damned; for he wills nothing else, and thence thinks nothing else, but what is of self and the world, in like manner as they do in hell.
177. No man can be regenerated unless he knows such things as are of the new life, that is, of spiritual life. The things which are of the new life, or which are of the spiritual life, are truths which are to be believed and goods which are to be done; the former are of faith, the latter of charity. These things no one can know from himself, for man apprehends only those things which are obvious to the senses, from which he procures to himself a light which is called natural light, from which he sees nothing else than what relates to the world and to self, but not the things which relate to heaven and to God. These he must learn from revelation: that the Lord, who is God from eternity, came into the world to save the human race; that he has all power in heaven and in earth; that the all of faith and the all of charity, thus all truth and good, is from him; that there is a heaven, and a hell; and that man is to live to eternity, in heaven if he has done well, in hell if he has done evil.
178. These and many other things belong to faith, which the man who is regenerating ought to know; for he who knows them, may think them, afterwards will them, and lastly do them, and so have new life. Whilst he who does not know that the Lord is the Savior of the human race, cannot have faith in him, love him, and thus do good for the sake of him. He who does not know that all good is from him, cannot think that his own salvation is from him, still less can he will it to be so, thus he cannot live from him. He who does not know that there is a hell and a heaven, nor that there is eternal life, cannot even think about the life of heaven, nor apply himself to receive it, and so in other cases.
179. Everyone has an internal man and an external man; the internal is what is called the spiritual man, and the external is what is called the natural man, and each is to be regenerated, that the man may be regenerated. With the man who is not regenerated, the external or natural man rules, and the internal serves; but with the man who is regenerated, the internal or spiritual man rules, and the external serves. Whence it is manifest that the order of life is inverted with man from his birth, namely, that serves which ought to rule, and that rules which ought to serve. In order that man may be saved, this order must be inverted; and this inversion can by no means exist, but by regeneration from the Lord.
180. What it is for the internal man to rule and the external to serve, and vice versa, may be illustrated by this: If a man places all his good in pleasure, in gain, and in pride, and has delight in hatred and revenge, and inwardly in himself seeks for reasons which confirm them, then the external man rules and the internal serves. But when a man perceives good and delight in thinking and willing well, sincerely, and justly, and in outwardly speaking and doing in like manner, then the internal man rules and the external serves.
181. The internal man is first regenerated by the Lord, and afterwards the external, and the latter by means of the former. For the internal man is regenerated by thinking those things which are of faith and charity, but the external by a life according to them. This is meant by the words of the Lord:
Unless anyone be begotten of water and the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God (John 3:5).
“Water,” in the spiritual sense, is the truth of faith, and “the spirit” is a life according to it.
182. The man who is regenerated is, as to his internal man, in heaven, and is an angel there with the angels, among whom he also comes after death; he is then able to live the life of heaven, to love the Lord, to love the neighbor, to understand truth, to relish good, and to perceive the happiness thence derived.
From Arcana Coelestia:
183. What regeneration is, and why it is effected. At this day little is known concerning regeneration; the reason (n. 3761, 4136, 5398). Man is born into evils of every kind, and thence as to his proprium by birth, he is nothing but evil (n. 210, 215, 731, 874-876, 987, 1047, 2307, 2308, 3518, 3701, 3812, 8480, 8549, 8550, 8552, 10283, 10284, 10286, 10731). Man’s hereditary nature is nothing but evil, see the extracts above in this doctrine (n. 83). Man’s proprium is nothing but evil, see the same (n. 82). Man of himself, so far as he is under the influence of his hereditary nature and the proprium, is worse than the brute animals (n. 637, 3175). Therefore of himself he continually looks to hell (n. 694, 8480). Therefore, if man should be led by his own proprium, he could not possibly be saved (n. 10731).
Man’s natural life is contrary to spiritual life (n. 3913, 3928). The good which he does from himself or from proprium, is not good, because he does it for the sake of self, and the world (n. 8480). Man’s proprium must be removed so that the Lord and heaven may be able to be present (n. 1023, 1044). It is actually removed when he is regenerated by the Lord (n. 9334-9336, 9452, 9454, 9938). Therefore he must be created anew, that is, regenerated (n. 8548, 8549, 9452, 9937). “Creating” man, in the Word, signifies to regenerate him (n. 16, 88, 10634).
Man is conjoined to the Lord by regeneration (n. 2004, 9338). And consociated with angels in heaven (n. 2474). He does not come into heaven, until he is in a state to be led by the Lord by means of good, which is the case when he is regenerated (n. 8516, 8539, 8722, 9139, 9832, 10367).
The external or natural man rules, and the internal man serves, in the man who is not regenerated (n. 3167, 8743). Thus the state of man’s life is inverted from his birth, and must be entirely inverted again in order that he may be saved (n. 6507, 8552, 8553, 9258). The end of regeneration is, that the internal or spiritual man may rule, and the external or natural man serve (n. 911, 913). This is actually effected after man is regenerated (n. 5128, 5651, 8743). For after regeneration the love of self and the world no longer reigns, but love to the Lord and toward the neighbor, thus the Lord and not man (n. 8856, 8857). Hence it is plain that man cannot be saved unless he is regenerated (n. 5280, 8548, 8772, 10156).
Regeneration is a plane to perfect the life of man to eternity (n. 9334). The regenerate man is perfected to eternity (n. 6648, 10048). The quality of the regenerate and the unregenerate man described (n. 977, 986, 10156).
184. Who is regenerated. Man cannot be regenerated unless he is instructed in the truths of faith and the goods of charity (n. 677, 679, 711, 8635, 8638-8640, 10729). They who are only in truths and not in good, cannot be regenerated (n. 6567, 8725). No one is regenerated unless he is in charity (n. 989). None can be regenerated but such as have conscience (n. 2689, 5470). Everyone is regenerated according to his faculty of receiving the good of love to the Lord, and of charity toward the neighbor, by the truths of faith from the doctrine of the church, which is from the Word (n. 2967, 2975). Who can be regenerated, and who cannot (n. 2689). They who live the life of faith and charity, and who are not regenerated in the world, are regenerated in the other life (n. 989, 2490).
185. Regeneration is from the Lord alone. The Lord alone regenerates man, and neither man nor angel contributes thereto (n. 10067). Man’s regeneration is an image of the Lord’s glorification, that is, as the Lord made his human Divine, so he makes spiritual the man whom he regenerates (n. 3043, 3138, 3212, 3296, 3490, 4402, 5688, 10057, 10076). The Lord wills to have the whole man whom he regenerates, and not part of him (n. 6138).
186. Further particulars concerning regeneration. Man is regenerated by the truths of faith, and by a life according to them (n. 1904, 2046, 9088, 9959, 10028). This is meant by the words of the Lord:
Unless a man be born of water and of the spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God (John 3:5).
“Water” signifies the truth of faith, and “spirit” a life according thereto (n. 10240). “Water” in the Word signifies the truth of faith (n. 2702, 3058, 5668, 8568, 10238). Spiritual purification, which is from evils and falsities, is effected by the truths of faith (n. 2799, 5954, 7044, 7918, 9088, 10229, 10237). When man is regenerated, truths are inseminated and implanted in good, that they may become of the life (n. 880, 2189, 2574, 2697). What the quality of truths must be that they may be implanted in good (n. 8725). In regeneration truth is initiated and conjoined to good, and good reciprocally to truth (n. 5365, 8516). How this reciprocal initiation and conjunction is effected (n. 3155, 10067). Truth is implanted in good when it becomes of the will, since it then becomes of the love (n. 10367).
There are two states of the man who is regenerated; first, when he is led by truth to good; second, when he acts from good, and from good sees truth (n. 7992, 7993, 8505, 8506, 8510, 8512, 8516, 8643, 8648, 8658, 8685, 8690, 8701, 8772, 9227, 9230, 9274, 9736, 10048, 10057, 10060, 10076). The quality of man’s state when truth is in the first place, and good in the second (n. 3610). Hence it appears that when man is regenerating, he looks to good from truth; but when regenerated, he regards truth from good (n. 6247). Thus a turning over as it were takes place, in that the state of man is inverted (n. 6507).
But it is to be known, that when man is regenerating, truth is not actually in the first place and good in the second, but only apparently; but when man is regenerated, good is in the first place and truth in the second, actually and perceptibly (n. 3324, 3325, 3330, 3336, 3494, 3539, 3548, 3556, 3563, 3570, 3576, 3603, 3701, 4243, 4245, 4247, 4337, 4925, 4926, 4928, 4930, 4977, 5351, 6256, 6269, 6273, 8516, 10110). Thus good is the first and last of regeneration (n. 9337). Since truth appears to be in the first place and good in the second, when man is regenerating, or, which is the same thing, when man becomes a church, on account of this appearance it was a matter of controversy among the ancients, whether the truth of faith or the good of charity is the first-born of the church (n. 367, 2435).
The good of charity is actually the first-born of the church, but the truth of faith only apparently (n. 3325, 3494, 4925, 4926, 4928, 4930, 8042, 8080). “First-born” in the Word signifies the first of the church, to which priority and superiority belong (n. 3325). The Lord is called the first-born, because in him and from him is all the good of love, of charity, and of faith (n. 3325).
Man ought not to return from the latter state wherein truth is regarded from good, to the former state, wherein good is regarded from truth, and why (n. 2454, 3650-3655, 5895, 5897, 7857, 7923, 8505, 8506, 8510, 8512, 8516, 9274, 10184). Where these words of the Lord are explained:
Let not him who is in the field return back to take his garments (Matt. 24:18);
Whosoever shall then be in the field, let him not return to those things which are behind him. Remember Lot’s wife (Luke 17:31, 32);
for this is signified by those words.
The process of the regeneration of man described, and how it is effected (n. 1555, 2343, 2490, 2657, 2979, 3057, 3286, 3310, 3316, 3332, 3470, 3701, 4353, 5113, 5126, 5270, 5280, 5342, 6717, 8772, 8773, 9043, 9103, 10021, 10057, 10367). The arcana of regeneration are innumerable, since regeneration continues during the whole life of man (n. 2679, 3179, 3584, 3665, 3690, 3701, 4377, 4551, 4552, 5122, 5126, 5398, 5912, 6751, 9103, 9258, 9296, 9297, 9334). Scarcely any of these arcana come to the knowledge and perception of man (n. 3179, 9336). This is what is meant by the words of the Lord:
The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but knowest not whence it cometh and whither it goeth; so is everyone that is born of the Spirit (John 3:8).
Concerning the process of the regeneration of the man of the spiritual church (n. 2675, 2678, 2679, 2682). And concerning the process of regeneration of the man of the celestial church, with the difference (n. 5113, 10124).
The case of the regenerate man is similar to that of an infant, who first learns to speak, then to think, afterwards to live well, until all those things flow from him spontaneously, as from himself (n. 3203, 9296, 9297). Thus he who is regenerated is first led by the Lord as an infant, then as a boy, and afterwards as an adult (n. 3665, 3690, 4377-4379, 6751). When man is regenerated by the Lord, he is first in a state of external innocence, which is his state of infancy, and is afterwards successively led into a state of internal innocence, which is his state of wisdom (n. 9334, 9335, 10021, 10210). The nature and quality of the innocence of infancy, and of the innocence of wisdom (n. 1616, 2305, 2306, 3494, 4563, 4797, 5608, 9301, 10021). A comparison between the regeneration of man, and the conception and formation of an embryo in the womb (n. 3570, 4931, 9258). Therefore “generations and nativities” in the Word signify spiritual generations and nativities, which belong to regeneration (n. 613, 1145, 1255, 2020, 2584, 3860, 3868, 4070, 4668, 6239, 10204). The regeneration of man illustrated by the germinations in the vegetable kingdom (n. 5115, 5116). The regeneration of man represented in the rainbow (n. 1042, 1043, 1053).
The internal or spiritual man, and the external or natural man, must each of them be regenerated, and the one by means of the other (n. 3868, 3870, 3872, 3876, 3877, 3882). The internal man must be regenerated before the external, since the internal man is in the light of heaven, and the external man in the light of the world (n. 3321, 3325, 3469, 3493, 4353, 8746, 9325). The external or natural man is regenerated by means of the internal or spiritual (n. 3286, 3288, 3321). Man is not regenerate before the external or natural man is regenerated (n. 8742-8747, 9043, 9046, 9061, 9325, 9334). The spiritual man is shut unless the natural man is regenerated (n. 6299). And it is as it were blind as to the truths and goods of faith and love (n. 3493, 3969, 4353, 4588). When the natural man is regenerated the whole man is regenerated (n. 7442, 7443). This is signified by “the washing of the disciples’ feet,” and by these words of the Lord:
He that is washed hath no need to be washed except as to his feet, and the whole is clean (John 13:9, 10; n. 10243).
“Washing” in the Word signifies spiritual washing, which is purification from evils and falsities (n. 3147, 10237, 10241). And “feet” signify those things that are of the natural man (n. 2162, 3761, 3986, 4280, 4938-4952). Therefore “to wash the feet,” is to purify the natural man (n. 3147, 10241).
How the natural man is regenerated (n. 3502, 3508, 3509, 3518, 3573, 3576, 3579, 3616, 3762, 3786, 5373, 5647, 5650, 5651, 5660). The quality of the natural man when it is regenerated, and when it is not regenerated (n. 8744, 8745). So far as the natural man does not combat with the spiritual man, so far the man is regenerated (n. 3286). When a man is regenerated, the natural man perceives spiritual things by influx (n. 5651).
The sensual, which is the ultimate of the natural man, is not regenerated at this day, but man is elevated above it (n. 7442). All who are regenerated are actually elevated from the sensual into the light of heaven (n. 6183, 6454). The nature and quality of the sensual man may be seen in the extracts above (n. 50).
Man is regenerated by influx into the knowledges of good and truth which he has (n. 4096, 4097, 4364). When man is regenerated, he is introduced through mediate goods and truths into genuine goods and truths, and afterwards the mediate goods and truths are left, and the genuine succeed in their place (n. 3665, 3686, 3690, 3974, 4063, 4067, 4145, 6384, 9382). Then another order is induced amongst truths and goods (n. 4250, 4251, 9931, 10303). They are disposed according to ends (n. 4104). Thus according to the uses of spiritual life (n. 9297). They who are regenerated undergo many states, and are continually brought more interiorly into heaven, thus nearer to the Lord (n. 6645). The regenerate man is in the order of heaven (n. 8512). His internal is open into heaven (n. 8512, 8513). Man by regeneration comes into angelic intelligence, which, however, lies concealed in his interiors so long as he remains in the world, but is opened in the other life, and his wisdom is then like that of the angels (n. 2494, 8747).
The states as to enlightenment of those who are regenerated described (n. 2697, 2701, 2704). By regeneration man receives a new understanding (n. 2657). How the case is with respect to the fructification of good, and the multiplication of truth, with those who are regenerated (n. 984). With a regenerate person truths from good form as it were a constellation by successive derivations, and continually multiply themselves round about (n. 5912). With a regenerate person, truths from good are disposed into such order, that the genuine truths of good, from which, as their parents, the rest proceed, are in the middle, whilst the rest succeed in order according to their relationship and affinities, even to the ultimates, where there is obscurity (n. 4129, 4551, 4552, 5134, 5270).
With a regenerate person truths from good are arranged in the form of heaven (n. 3316, 3470, 3584, 4302, 5704, 5709, 6028, 6690, 9931, 10303); and in Heaven and Hell, under the article concerning the form of heaven, according to which are the consociations and communications there (n. 200-212); and concerning the wisdom of the angels of heaven (n. 265-275).
With a regenerate person, there is a correspondence between spiritual things and natural things (n. 2850). His order of life is altogether inverted (n. 3332, 5159, 8995). He is altogether a new man as to his spirit (n. 3212). He appears like the unregenerate man as to externals, but not as to internals (n. 5159). Spiritual good, which is to will and to do good from the affection of the love of good, can only be given to man by means of regeneration (n. 4538). Truths, which enter with affection, are reproduced (n. 5893). Truths, so far as they are deprived of life from the proprium of man, are so far conjoined to good, and receive spiritual life (n. 3607, 3610). So far as evils from the love of self and the love of the world are removed, so far there is life in truths (n. 3610).
The first affection of truth with the man who is regenerated is not pure, but is purified successively (n. 3089, 8413). Evils and falsities with the man who is regenerated are removed slowly, and not quickly (n. 9334, 9335). The evils and falsities of the proprium of man still remain, and are only removed by regeneration (n. 865, 868, 887, 929, 1581, 2406, 4564, 8206, 8393, 8988, 9014, 9333-9336, 9445, 9447, 9448, 9451-9454, 9938, 10057, 10060). Man can never be so far regenerated as to be called perfect (n. 894, 5122, 6648). Evil spirits dare not assault the regenerate (n. 1695). They who believe the justification taught in the church, know little of regeneration (n. 5398).
Man must have freedom, to be capable of being regenerated (n. 1937, 1947, 2876, 2881, 3145, 3146, 3158, 4031, 8700). Man is introduced into heavenly freedom by regeneration (n. 2874, 2875, 2882, 2892). There is no conjunction of good and truth by compulsion, and thus no regeneration (n. 2875, 2881, 4031, 8700). Other particulars respecting freedom as it regards regeneration, may be seen in the doctrine above, where it treats of freedom.
He who is regenerated, must necessarily undergo temptations (n. 3696, 8403). Because temptations take place for the sake of the conjunction of good and truth, and also on account of the conjunction of the internal and the external man (n. 4248, 4272, 5773).
Temptation
187. Those only who are being regenerated, undergo spiritual temptations; for spiritual temptations are pains of mind induced by evil spirits, with those who are in goods and truths. While those spirits excite the evils which are with them, there arises the anxiety of temptation. Man does not know whence this anxiety comes, because he does not know his origin.
188. For there are both evil and good spirits with every man; the evil spirits are in his evils, and the good spirits in his goods.
When the evil spirits approach they draw forth his evils, while the good spirits, on the contrary, draw forth his goods; whence arise collision and combat, from which the man has interior anxiety, which is temptation. Hence it is plain that temptations are not induced by heaven, but by hell; which is also the faith of the church, which teaches that God tempts no one.
189. Interior anxieties are also experienced by those who are not in goods and truths; but they are natural, not spiritual anxieties; the two are distinguished by this, that natural anxieties have worldly things for their objects, but spiritual anxieties, heavenly things.
190. In temptations, the dominion of good over evil, or of evil over good, is contended for. Evil which wills to have dominion, is in the natural or external man, and good is in the spiritual or internal man. If evil conquers, the natural man has dominion; if good conquers, the spiritual has dominion.
191. These combats are carried on by the truths of faith which are from the Word. From these man must combat against evils and falsities; for if he combats from any other principles, he cannot conquer, because in these alone the Lord is present. Because this combat is carried on by the truths of faith, therefore man is not admitted into it until he is in the knowledges of good and truth, and has thence obtained some spiritual life; therefore such combats do not take place till man has arrived at years of maturity.
192. If man succumbs in temptation, his state after it becomes worse than before, because evil has acquired power over good, and falsity over truth.
193. Since at this day faith is rare because there is no charity, for the church is at its end, therefore few at this day are admitted into any spiritual temptations; hence it is scarcely known what they are, and to what they are conducive.
194. Temptations conduce to acquire for good dominion over evil, and for truth dominion over falsity; also to confirm truths, and conjoin them to goods, and at the same time to disperse evils and the falsities thence derived. They serve also to open the internal spiritual man, and to subject the natural man to it; as also to break the loves of self and the world, and to subdue the lusts which proceed from them. When these things are effected, man acquires enlightenment and perception as to what are truth and good, and what falsity and evil are; whence man obtains intelligence and wisdom, which afterwards increase continually.
195. The Lord alone combats for man in temptations. If man does not believe that the Lord alone combats and conquers for him, he undergoes only external temptation; which is not serviceable to him.
From Arcana Coelestia:
196. Before a summary is given of what is written in Arcana Coelestia, respecting temptations, something shall first be said concerning them, in order that it may be known still more clearly from whence they proceed. It is called spiritual temptation when the truths of faith which a man believes in his heart, and according to which he loves to live, are assaulted within him, especially when the good of love, in which he places his spiritual life, is assaulted. Those assaults take place in various ways; as by influx of scandals against truths and goods into the thoughts and the will; also by a continual drawing forth, and bringing to remembrance, of the evils which one has committed, and of the falsities which he has thought, thus by inundation of such things; and at the same time by an apparent shutting up of the interiors of the mind, and, consequently, of communication with heaven, by which the capacity of thinking from his own faith, and of willing from his own love, are intercepted. These things are effected by the evil spirits who are present with man; and when they take place, they appear under the form of interior anxieties and pains of conscience; for they affect and torment man’s spiritual life, because he supposes that they proceed, not from evil spirits, but from his own interiors.
Man does not know that such assaults are from evil spirits because he does not know that spirits are present with him, evil spirits in his evils, and good spirits in his goods; and that they are in his thoughts and affections. These temptations are most grievous when they are accompanied with bodily pains; and still more so, when those pains are of long continuance, and no deliverance is granted, even although the Divine mercy is implored; hence results despair, which is the end.
Some particulars shall first be adduced from Arcana Coelestia concerning the spirits that are with man, because temptations proceed from them.
Spirits and angels are with every man (n. 697, 5846-5866). They are in his thoughts and affections (n. 2888, 5846, 5848). If spirits and angels were taken away, man could not live (n. 2887, 5849, 5854, 5993, 6321). Because by spirits and angels man has communication and conjunction with the spiritual world, without which he would have no life (n. 697, 2796, 2886, 2887, 4047, 4048, 5846-5866, 5976-5993). The spirits with man are changed according to the affections of his love (n. 5851). Spirits from hell are in the loves of man’s proprium (n. 5852, 5979-5993). Spirits enter into all things of man’s memory (n. 5853, 5857, 5859, 5860, 6192, 6193, 6198, 6199). Angels are in the ends from which and for the sake of which man thinks, wills, and acts thus and not otherwise (n. 1317, 1645, 5844). Man does not appear to spirits, nor spirits to man (n. 5885). Thence spirits cannot see what is in our solar world through man (n. 1880). Although spirits and angels are with man, in his thoughts and affections, yet still he is in freedom of thinking, willing, and acting (n. 5982, 6477, 8209, 8307, 10777); and in Heaven and Hell, where the conjunction of heaven with the human race is treated of (n. 291-302).
197. Whence and of what quality temptations are. Temptations exist from the evil spirits who are with man, who inject scandals against the goods and truths which a man loves and believes, and likewise they also excite the evils which he has done and the falsities which he has thought (n. 741, 751, 761, 3927, 4307, 4572, 5036, 6657, 8960). Then evil spirits use all sorts of cunning and malice (n. 6666). The man who is in temptations is near to hell (n. 8131). There are two forces which act in temptations, a force from the interior from the Lord, and a force from the exterior from hell (n. 8168).
The ruling love of man is assaulted in temptations (n. 847, 4274). Evil spirits attack those things only which are of man’s faith and love, thus those things which relate to his spiritual life; wherefore at such times it is about his eternal life (n. 1820). A state of temptations compared with the state of a man among robbers (n. 5246). In temptations angels from the Lord keep man in the truths and goods which are with him, but evil spirits keep him in the falsities and evils which are with him, whence arises a conflict and combat (n. 4249).
Temptation is a combat between the internal or spiritual man, and the external or natural man (n. 2183, 4256). Thus between the delights of the internal and external man, which are then opposite to each other (n. 3928, 8351). It takes place on account of the disagreement between those delights (n. 3928). Thus it is concerning the dominion of one over the other (n. 3928, 8961).
No one can be tempted unless he is in the acknowledgment, and likewise in the affection of truth and good, because there is otherwise no combat, for there is nothing spiritual to act against what is natural, thus there is no contest for dominion (n. 3928, 4299). Whoever has acquired any spiritual life undergoes temptations (n. 8963). Temptations exist with those who have conscience, that is, with those who are in spiritual love; but more grievous ones with those who have perception, that is, with those who are in celestial love (n. 1668, 8963). Dead men, that is they who are not in faith and love to God, and in love toward the neighbor, are not admitted into temptations, because they would fall (n. 270, 4274, 4299, 8964, 8968). Therefore very few at this day are admitted into spiritual temptations (n. 8965). But they have anxieties on account of various causes in the world, past, present, or future, which are generally attended with infirmity of mind and weakness of body, which anxieties are not the anxieties of temptations (n. 762, 8164).
Spiritual temptations are sometimes attended with bodily pains, and sometimes not (n. 8164). A state of temptation is an unclean and filthy state, inasmuch as evils and falsities are injected, and also doubts concerning goods and truths (n. 5246). Also, because in temptations there are indignations, pains of the mind, and many affections that are not good (n. 1917, 6829). There is also obscurity and doubt concerning the end (n. 1820, 6829). And likewise concerning the Divine Providence and hearing, because prayers are not heard in temptations as they are out of them (n. 8179). And because man when he is in temptation, seems to himself to be in a state of damnation (n. 6097). Because man perceives clearly what is doing in his external man, consequently the things which evil spirits inject and call forth, according to which he thinks of his state; but he does not perceive what is doing in his internal man, consequently the things which flow in by means of angels from the Lord, and therefore he cannot judge of his state therefrom (n. 10236, 10240).
Temptations are generally carried to desperation, which is their ultimate (n. 1787, 2694, 5279, 5280, 6144, 7147, 7155, 7166, 8165, 8567). The reasons (n. 2694). In the temptation itself there are also despairings, but that they terminate in a general one (n. 8567). In a state of despair a man speaks bitter things, but the Lord does not attend to them (n. 8165). When the temptation is finished, there is at first a fluctuation between the truth and falsity (n. 848, 857). But afterwards truth shines, and becomes serene and joyful (n. 3696, 4572, 6829, 8367, 8370).
They who are regenerated undergo temptations not once only, but many times, because many evils and falsities are to be removed (n. 8403). If they who have acquired some spiritual life do not undergo temptations in the world, they undergo them in the other life (n. 7122). How temptations take place in the other life, and where (n. 537-539, 699, 1106-1113, 1122, 2694, 4728, 4940-4951, 6119, 6928, 7090, 7122, 7127, 7186, 7317, 7474, 7502, 7541, 7542, 7545, 7768, 7990, 9331, 9763). Concerning the state of enlightenment of those who come out of temptation, and are raised into heaven, and their reception there (n. 2699, 2701, 2704).
The quality of the temptation from lack of truth, and the desire thereof at the same time (n. 2682, 8352). The temptation of infants in the other life, whereby they learn to resist evils, their quality (n. 2294). The difference between temptations, infestations, and vastations (n. 7474).
198. How and when temptations take place. Spiritual combats chiefly take place by the truths of faith (n. 8962). Truth is the first of combat (n. 1685). The men of the spiritual church are tempted as to the truths of faith, wherefore with them the combat is by truths; but the men of the celestial church are tempted as to the goods of love, wherefore with them the combat is by goods (n. 1668, 8963). Those who are of the spiritual church, for the most part, do not combat from genuine truths, but from such as they believe to be true from the doctrinals of their church; which doctrinals however ought to be such, as to be capable of being conjoined with good (n. 6765).
Whoever is regenerated must undergo temptations, and he cannot be regenerated without them (n. 5036, 8403); and temptations therefore are necessary (n. 7090). The man who is regenerating comes into temptations, when evil endeavors to gain dominion over good, and the natural man over the spiritual man (n. 6657, 8961). And he comes into them when good ought to have the precedence (n. 4248, 4249, 4256, 8962, 8963). They who are regenerated, are first let into a state of tranquillity, then into temptations, and afterwards return into a state of tranquillity of peace, which is the end (n. 3696).
199. What good is effected by temptations. The effect of temptations, a summary (n. 1692, 1717, 1740, 6144, 8958-8969). By temptations the spiritual or internal man acquires dominion over the natural or external man; consequently good over evil, and truth over falsity; because good resides in the spiritual man, which cannot exist without it, and evil resides in the natural man (n. 8961). Since temptation is a combat between them, it follows that dominion is the object of the contest, that is, whether the spiritual man shall have dominion over the natural man, thus whether good shall have dominion over evil, or vice versa; consequently, whether the Lord or hell shall have dominion over man (n. 1923, 3928).
The external or natural man, by means of temptations, receives truths corresponding to the affection thereof in the internal or spiritual man (n. 3321, 3928). The internal spiritual man is opened and conjoined with the external by means of temptations, in order that man as to each may be elevated, and look to the Lord (n. 10685). The internal spiritual man is opened and conjoined with the external by means of temptations, because the Lord acts from the interior, and flows in thence into the external, and removes and subjugates the evils therein, and at the same time subjects and renders it subordinate to the internal (n. 10685).
Temptations take place for the sake of the conjunction of good and truth, and the dispersion of the falsities which adhere to truths and goods (n. 4572). Consequently that good is conjoined to truths by temptations (n. 2272). The vessels recipient of truth are softened by temptations, and put on a state receptive of good (n. 3318). Truths and goods, thus the things which belong to faith and charity, are confirmed and implanted by temptations (n. 8351, 8924, 8966, 8967). And evils and falsities are removed, and room made for the reception of goods and truths (n. 7122). By temptations the loves of self and the world, from whence proceed all evils and falsities, are broken (n. 5356). And thus man is humbled (n. 8966, 8967). Evils and falsities are subdued, separated, and removed, but not abolished, by temptations (n. 868). By temptations corporeal things with their lusts are subdued (n. 357, 868). Man by temptations learns what good and truth are, even from their relation to their opposites, which are evils and falsities (n. 5356). He also learns that of himself he is nothing but evil, and that all the good with him is from the Lord, and from his mercy (n. 2334).
By the temptations in which man conquers, evil spirits are deprived of the power of rising up against him any further (n. 1695, 1717). The hells dare not rise up against those who have suffered temptations and have conquered (n. 2183, 8273).
After temptations in which man has conquered, there is joy arising from the conjunction of good and truth, although the man does not know that the joy is thence (n. 4572, 6829). There is then the enlightenment of the truth which is of faith, and the perception of the good which is of love (n. 8367, 8370). Thence he has intelligence and wisdom (n. 8966, 8967). Truths after temptations increase immensely (n. 6663). And good has the precedence, or is in the first place, and truth in the second (n. 5773). And man, as to his internal spiritual man, is admitted into the angelic societies, thus into heaven (n. 6611).
Before a man undergoes temptations, the truths and goods which are with him are arranged in order by the Lord, that he may be able to resist the evils and falsities which are with him, and are excited from hell (n. 8131). In temptations the Lord provides good where the evil spirits intend evil (n. 6574). After temptations the Lord reduces truths with goods into a new order, and arranges them in a heavenly form (n. 10685). The interiors of the spiritual man are arranged into a heavenly form; see Heaven and Hell, in the chapter on the form of heaven, according to which are the consociations there (n. 200, 212).
They who fall in temptations, come into damnation, because evils and falsities conquer, and the natural man prevails over the spiritual man, and afterwards has the dominion; and then the latter state becomes worse than the former (n. 8165, 8169, 8961).
200. The Lord combats for man in temptations. The Lord alone combats for man in temptations, and man does not combat at all from himself (n. 1692, 8172, 8175, 8176, 8273). Man cannot by any means combat against evils and falsities from himself, because that would be to fight against all the hells, which the Lord alone can subdue and conquer (n. 1692). The hells fight against man, and the Lord for him (n. 8159). Man combats from truths and goods, thus from the knowledges and affections thereof which are with him; but it is not man who combats, but the Lord by them (n. 1661). Man thinks that the Lord is absent in temptations, because his prayers are not heard as they are when out of them, but nevertheless the Lord is then more present with him (n. 840). In temptations man ought to combat as from himself, and not to hang down his hands and expect immediate help; but nevertheless he ought to believe that it is from the Lord (n. 1712, 8179, 8969). Man cannot otherwise receive a heavenly proprium (n. 1937, 1947, 2882, 2883, 2891). The quality of that proprium, that it is not man’s, but the Lord’s with him (n. 1917, 1937, 2882, 2883, 2891, 8497).
Temptation is of no avail, and productive of no good, unless a man believes, at least after the temptations, that the Lord has fought and conquered for him (n. 8969). They who place merit in works, cannot combat against evils, because they combat from their own proprium, and do not permit the Lord to combat for them (n. 9978). They who believe they have merited heaven by their temptations, are with much difficulty saved (n. 2273).
The Lord does not tempt, but liberates, and leads to good (n. 2768). Temptations appear to be from the Divine, when yet they are not (n. 4299). In what sense the petition in the Lord’s prayer, “Lead us not into temptations,” is to be understood, from experience (n. 1875). The Lord does not concur in temptations by permitting them, according to the idea which man has of permission (n. 2768).
In every temptation there is freedom, although it does not appear so, but the freedom is interiorly with man from the Lord, and he therefore combats and is willing to conquer, and not to be conquered, which he would not do without freedom (n. 1937, 1947, 2881). The Lord effects this by means of the affection of truth and good impressed on the internal man, although the man does not know it (n. 5044). For all freedom is of affection or love, and according to its quality (n. 2870, 3158, 8987, 8990, 9585, 9591).
201. Of the Lord’s temptations. The Lord endured the most grievous and dreadful temptations, which are but little described in the sense of the letter of the Word, but much in the internal sense (n. 1663, 1668, 1787, 2776, 2786, 2795, 2814, 9528). The Lord fought from the Divine love toward the whole human race (n. 1690, 1691, 1812, 1813, 1820). The love of the Lord was the salvation of the human race (n. 1820). The Lord fought from his own power (n. 1692, 1813, 9937). The Lord alone was made justice and merit by the temptations and victories which he gained therein from his own power (n. 1813, 2025-2027, 9715, 9809, 10019). By temptations the Lord united the Divine itself, which was in him from conception, to his human, and made this Divine, as he makes man spiritual by temptations (n. 1725, 1729, 1733, 1737, 3318, 3381, 3382, 4286). The temptations of the Lord were attended with despair at the end (n. 1787). The Lord, by the temptations admitted into himself, subjugated the hells, and reduced to order all things in them, and in heaven, and at the same time glorified his human (n. 1737, 4287, 9315, 9528, 9937). The Lord alone fought against all the hells (n. 8273). He admitted temptations into himself from thence (n. 2816, 4295).
The Lord could not be tempted as to the Divine, because the hells cannot assault the Divine, wherefore he assumed a human from the mother, such as could be tempted (n. 1414, 1444, 1573, 5041, 5157, 7193, 9315). By temptations and victories he expelled all the hereditary from the mother, and put off the human from her, until at length he was no longer her son (n. 2159, 2574, 2649, 3036, 10830). Jehovah, who was in him from conception, appeared in his temptations as if absent (n. 1815). This was his state of humiliation (n. 1785, 1999, 2159, 6866). His last temptation and victory, by which he fully subjugated the hells, and made his human Divine, was in Gethsemane and on the cross (n. 2776, 2803, 2813, 2814, 10655, 10659, 10828).
”To eat no bread and drink no water for forty days” signifies an entire state of temptations (n. 10686). “Forty years,” “months,” or “days,” signify a plenary state of temptations from beginning to end; and such a state is meant by the duration of the flood, “forty days”; by Moses abiding “forty days” upon Mount Sinai; by the sojourning of the sons of Israel “forty years” in the desert; and by the Lord’s temptation in the desert “forty days” (n. 730, 862, 2272, 2273, 8098).
Baptism
202. Baptism was instituted to be a sign that a man is of the church, and as a memorial that he is to be regenerated; for the washing of baptism is nothing else than spiritual washing, which is regeneration.
203. All regeneration is effected by the Lord, through the truths of faith, and a life according to them. Baptism therefore testifies that the man is of the church, and that he can be regenerated; for in the church the Lord is acknowledged, who alone regenerates, and there also is the Word, which contains the truths of faith, by which regeneration is effected.
204. This the Lord teaches in John:
Except a man be begotten of water and of the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God (3:5).
“Water” in the spiritual sense is the truth of faith from the Word; “the spirit” is a life according to that truth; and “to be begotten” is to be regenerated thereby.
205. Since everyone who is regenerated also undergoes temptations, which are spiritual combats against evils and falsities, therefore by the water of baptism these also are signified.
206. As baptism is for a sign and memorial of these things therefore man may be baptized as an infant, and if not then, he may be baptized as an adult.
207. Let those therefore who are baptized know, that baptism itself does not give faith nor salvation, but it testifies that they may receive faith and be saved, if they are regenerated.
208. Hence may be seen what is meant by the Lord’s words in Mark:
He that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be condemned (16:16).
“He who believeth” is he who acknowledges the Lord, and receives Divine truths from him through the Word; “he who is baptized” is he who is regenerated by the Lord by means of those truths.
From Arcana Coelestia:
209. Baptism signifies regeneration by the Lord through the truths of faith from the Word (n. 4255, 5120, 9088, 10239, 10386-10388, 10392). Baptism is for a sign that man is of the church, where the Lord is acknowledged, from whom is regeneration, and which has the Word, from which are the truths of faith, by which regeneration is effected (n. 10386-10388).
Baptism gives neither faith nor salvation, but testifies that faith and salvation will be received by those who are regenerated (n. 10391).
The washings in the ancient churches, and in the Israelitish church, represented and thence signified purifications from evils and falsities (n. 3147, 9088, 10237, 10239). “The washings of garments” signified the purification of the understanding from falsities (n. 5954). “The washing of the feet” signified the purification of the natural man (n. 3147, 10241). What is signified by “the washing of the disciples’ feet” by the Lord, is explained (n. 10243).
“Waters” signify the truths of faith (n. 28, 2702, 3058, 5668, 8568, 10238). “A fountain” and “a well of living waters” signifies the truths of faith from the Lord, thus the Word (n. 3424). “Bread and water” signify all the goods of love and truths of faith (n. 4976, 9323). “Spirit” signifies the life of truth, or the life of faith (n. 5222, 9281, 9818). What “the spirit” and “the flesh” signify, that “the spirit” signifies life from the Lord, and “flesh,” life from man (n. 10283). Hence it is evident what is signified by these words of the Lord:
Except a man be begotten of water and the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God (John 3:5).
Namely, that unless man is regenerated by the truths of faith, and by a life according to them, he cannot be saved (n. 10240). All regeneration is effected by the truths of faith, and by a life according to them (n. 1904, 2046, 9088, 9959, 10028).
The total washing, which was effected by immersion in the waters of the Jordan, signified regeneration itself, in the same manner as baptism (n. 9088, 10239). What “the waters of Jordan,” and “Jordan” signified (n. 1585, 4255).
“A flood” and “inundation of waters” signify temptations (n. 660, 705, 639, 756, 790, 5725, 6853). “Baptism” signifies the same (n. 5120, 10389). In what manner baptism was represented from heaven (n. 2299).
The holy supper
210. The holy supper was instituted by the Lord, that by it there may be conjunction of the church with heaven, thus with the Lord; therefore it is the most holy thing of worship.
211. But how conjunction is effected by it is not understood by those who do not know the internal or spiritual sense of the Word, since they do not think beyond the external sense, which is the sense of the letter. It is known from the internal or spiritual sense of the Word, what is signified by the “body” and “blood,” and by the “bread” and “wine”; and also what is signified by “eating.”
212. In the spiritual sense, the Lord’s “body” or “flesh,” and the “bread,” signifies the good of love; and the Lord’s “blood” and the “wine,” the good of faith; and “eating” is appropriation and conjunction. The angels who are with the man who goes to the sacrament of the supper, understand those things in no other way, for they perceive all things spiritually. Hence it is, that the holiness of love and the holiness of faith then flow into man from the angels, thus through heaven from the Lord, and hence conjunction is effected.
213. From these things it is evident, that when man partakes of the bread, which is the body, he is conjoined to the Lord by the good of love to him from him; and when he partakes of the wine, which is the blood, he is conjoined to the Lord by the good of faith in him from him. But it is to be known that the conjunction with the Lord by the sacrament of the supper is effected with those alone who are in the good of love and faith in the Lord from the Lord. With these there is conjunction by the holy supper; with others there is presence, but not conjunction.
214. Besides, the holy supper includes and comprehends the whole of the Divine worship instituted in the Israelitish church; for the burnt offerings and sacrifices, in which the worship of that church principally consisted, in one expression were called “bread”; hence also the holy supper is its completion.
From Arcana Coelestia:
Since what is involved in the holy supper cannot be known unless it is known what its particulars signify, for they correspond to spiritual things, therefore some passages shall be quoted respecting what is signified by “body” and “flesh,” by “bread” and “wine,” and by “eating” and “drinking”; as also concerning the sacrifices, wherein the worship of the Israelitish church principally consisted, showing that they were called “bread.”
215. Of suppers. “Dinners” and “suppers” signified consociation by love (n. 3596, 3832, 4745, 5161, 7996). The “paschal supper” signified consociation in heaven (n. 7836, 7997, 8001). “The feast of unleavened bread,” or of “the passover,” signified deliverance from damnation, by the Lord (n. 7093, 7867, 9286-9292, 10655); in the inmost sense, the remembrance of the glorification of the Lord’s human, because deliverance comes therefrom (n. 10655).
216. Of body and flesh. The Lord’s “flesh” signifies the Divine good of his Divine love, that is, of his Divine human (n. 3813, 7850, 9127, 10283). His “body” has a like signification (n. 2343, 3735, 6135). “Flesh” in general signifies the will or proprium of man, which regarded in itself is evil; but which when vivified by the Lord, signifies good (n. 148, 149, 780, 999, 3813, 8409, 10283). Hence “flesh” in the Word is the whole man, and every man (n. 574, 1050, 10283).
It is said here and in what follows, that these things signify, because they correspond; for whatever corresponds, signifies (see n. 2896, 2979, 2987, 2989, 3002, 3225). The Word is written by mere correspondences, and hence its internal or spiritual sense, the nature of which cannot be known, and scarcely its existence, without a knowledge of correspondences (n. 3131, 3472-3485, 8615, 10687). Therefore there is a conjunction of heaven with the man of the church by the Word (n. 10687). For further particulars on this head see in Heaven and Hell (n. 303-310), where it treats of the conjunction of heaven with the man of the church by means of the Word.
217. Of blood. The Lord’s “blood” signifies the Divine truth proceeding from the Divine good of his Divine love (n. 4735, 6978, 7317, 7326, 7846, 7850, 7877, 9127, 9393, 10026, 10033, 10152, 10210). The “blood” sprinkled upon the altar round about, and at its foundation, signified the unition of Divine truth and the Divine good in the Lord (n. 10047). “The blood of grapes” signifies the truth of faith from the good of charity (n. 6378). “A grape” and “a cluster” signify spiritual good, which is the good of charity (n. 5117). “To shed blood” is to offer violence to the Divine truth (n. 374, 1005, 4735, 5476, 9127). What is signified by “blood and water” going out of the Lord’s side (n. 9127). What by the Lord’s redeeming men by “his blood” (n. 10152).
218. Of bread. “Bread,” when mentioned in relation to the Lord, signifies the Divine good of the Lord’s Divine love, and the reciprocal of the man who eats it (n. 2165, 2177, 3478, 3735, 3813, 4211, 4217, 4735, 4976, 9323, 9545). “Bread” involves and signifies all food in general (n. 2165, 6118). “Food” signifies everything that nourishes the spiritual life of man (n. 4976, 5147, 5915, 6277, 8418). Thus “bread” signifies all celestial and spiritual food (n. 276, 680, 2165, 2177, 3478, 6118, 8410). Consequently, “everything which proceeds out of the mouth of God,” according to the Lord’s words (Matt. 4:4; n. 681). “Bread” in general signifies the good of love (n. 2165, 2177, 10686). The same is signified by “wheat,” of which bread is made (n. 3941, 7605).
“Bread and water,” when mentioned in the Word, signify the good of love and the truth of faith (n. 9323). Breaking of bread was a representative of mutual love in the ancient churches (n. 5405). Spiritual food is knowledge, intelligence, and wisdom, thus good and truth, because the former are derived from the latter (n. 3114, 4459, 4792, 5147, 5293, 5340, 5342, 5410, 5426, 5576, 5582, 5588, 5655, 8562, 9003). And because they nourish the mind (n. 4459, 5293, 5576, 6277, 8418). Sustenance by food signifies spiritual nourishment, and the influx of good and truth from the Lord (n. 4976, 5915, 6277).
The “bread” on the table in the tabernacle, signified the Divine good of the Lord’s Divine love (n. 3478, 9545). The “meal-offerings” of cakes and wafers in the sacrifices, signified worship from the good of love (n. 4581, 10079, 10137). What the various meal-offerings signified in particular (n. 7978, 9992-9994, 10079).
The ancients, when they mentioned bread, meant all food in general (see Gen. 43:16, 31; Exod. 18:12; Judges 13:15, 16; 1 Sam. 14:28, 29; 20:24, 27; 2 Sam. 9:7, 10; 1 Kings 4:22, 23; 2 Kings 25:29).
219. Of wine. “Wine,” when mentioned concerning the Lord, signifies the Divine truth proceeding from his Divine good, in the same manner as “blood” (n. 1071, 1798, 6377). “Wine” in general signifies the good of charity (n. 6377). “Must” signifies truth from good in the natural man (n. 3580). Wine is called “the blood of grapes” (n. 6378). “A vineyard” signifies the church as to truth (n. 3220, 9139). The “drink-offering” in the sacrifices, which was wine, signified spiritual good, which is holy truth (n. 1072). The Lord alone is holy, and hence all holiness is from him (n. 9229, 9680, 10359, 10360). The Divine truth proceeding from the Lord is what is called “holy” in the Word (n. 6788, 8302, 9229, 9820, 10361).
220. Of eating and drinking. “To eat” signifies to be appropriated and conjoined by love and charity (n. 2187, 2343, 3168, 3513, 5643). Hence it signifies to be consociated (n. 8001). “To eat” is predicated of the appropriation and conjunction of good, and “to drink,” of the appropriation and conjunction of truth (n. 3168, 3513, 3832, 9412). What “eating and drinking in the Lord’s kingdom” signifies (n. 3832). Hence it is, that “to be famished” and “hungry,” in the Word, signifies to desire good and truth from affection (n. 4958, 10227).
The angels understand the things here spoken of according to their internal or spiritual sense alone, because the angels are in the spiritual world (n. 10521). Hence holiness from heaven flows in with the men of the church, when they receive the sacrament of the supper with sanctity (n. 6789). And thence is conjunction with the Lord (n. 3464, 3735, 5915, 10519, 10521, 10522).
221. Of sacrifices. “Burnt offerings” and “sacrifices” signified all things of worship from the good of love, and from the truths of faith (n. 923, 6905, 8680, 8936, 10042). “Burnt offerings” and “sacrifices” also signified Divine celestial things, which are the internal things of the church, from which worship is derived (n. 2180, 2805, 2807, 2830, 3519). With a variation and difference according to the varieties of worship (n. 2805, 6905, 8936).
Therefore there were many kinds of sacrifices, and various processes to be observed in them, and various beasts from which they were (n. 2830, 9391, 9990). The various things which they signified in general, may appear from unfolding the particulars by the internal sense (n. 10042). What “the beasts” which were sacrificed signified in particular (n. 10042).
Arcana of heaven are contained in the rituals and processes of the sacrifices (n. 10057). In general they contained the arcana of the glorification of the Lord’s human; and in a respective sense, the arcana of the regeneration and purification of man from evils and falsities; wherefore they were prescribed for various sins, crimes, and purifications (n. 9990, 10022, 10042, 10053, 10057). What is signified by “the imposition of hands” on the beasts which were sacrificed (n. 10023). What by “the inferior parts of the slain beasts being put under their superior parts” in the burnt offerings (n. 10051). What by “the meal offerings” that were offered at the same time (n. 10079). What by “the drink offering” (n. 4581, 10137). What by “the salt” which was used (n. 10300). What by “the altar” and all the particulars of it (n. 921, 2777, 2784, 2811, 2812, 4489, 4541, 8935, 8940, 9388, 9389, 9714, 9726, 9963, 9964, 10028, 10123, 10151, 10242, 10245, 10344). What by “the fire of the altar” (n. 934, 6314, 6832). What by “eating together of the things sacrificed” (n. 2187, 8682). Sacrifices were not commanded, but charity and faith, thus that they were only permitted, shown from the Word (n. 922, 2180). Why they were permitted (n. 2180, 2818).
That the burnt offerings and sacrifices, which consisted of lambs, she-goats, sheep, kids, he-goats, and bullocks, were in one word called “bread,” is evident from the following passages:
And the priest shall burn it upon the altar; it is the bread of the offering made by fire unto Jehovah (Lev. 3:11, 16).
The sons of Aaron shall be holy unto their God, neither shall they profane the name of their God; for the offerings of Jehovah made by fire, the bread of their God, they do offer. Thou shalt sanctify him, for he offered the bread of thy God. A man of the seed of Aaron, in whom there shall be a blemish, let him not approach to offer the bread of his God (Lev. 21:6, 8, 17, 21).
Command the sons of Israel, and say unto them, my offering, my bread, for my sacrifices made by fire for an odor of rest, ye shall observe, to offer unto me in its stated time (Num. 28:2).
He who shall have touched an unclean thing shall not eat of the holy things, but he shall wash his flesh in water; and shall afterwards eat of the holy things, because it is his bread (Lev. 22:6, 7).
They who offer polluted bread upon my altar (Mal. 1:7).
Hence now, as has been said above (n. 214), the holy supper includes and comprehends all of the Divine worship instituted in the Israelitish Church; for the burnt offerings and sacrifices in which the worship of that church principally consisted were called by the one word “bread.” Hence, also, the holy supper is its fulfilling.
From what has been observed, it may now be seen what is meant by bread in John:
Jesus said to them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave them not that bread from heaven, but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven, for the bread of God is he who came down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world. They said unto him, Lord, evermore give us this bread. Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life; he that cometh to me shall never hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. He that believeth on me hath eternal life. I am the bread of life. This is the bread which cometh down from heaven; that anyone may eat thereof, and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if anyone shall eat of this bread, he shall live forever (John 6:31-35, 47-51).
From these passages, and from what has been said above, it appears that “bread” is all the good which proceeds from the Lord, for the Lord himself is in his own good; and thus that “bread and wine” in the holy supper are all the worship of the Lord from the good of love and faith.
222. To the above shall be added some particulars from Arcana Coelestia (n. 9127): He who knows nothing of the internal or spiritual sense of the Word, knows no other than that “flesh and blood,” when they are mentioned in the Word, mean flesh and blood. But in the internal or spiritual sense, it does not treat of the life of the body, but of the life of man’s soul, that is, of his spiritual life, which he is to live to eternity. This life is described in the literal sense of the Word, by things which belong to the life of the body, that is, by “flesh and blood”; and as the spiritual life of man subsists by the good of love and the truth of faith, therefore in the internal sense of the Word the good of love is meant by “flesh,” and the truth of faith by “blood.” These are understood by “flesh and blood,” and by “bread and wine,” in heaven; for “bread” means altogether the same there as “flesh,” and “wine” as “blood.” They who are not spiritual men do not apprehend this; let such abide therefore in their own faith, only believing that in the holy supper, and in the Word, there is holiness, because they are from the Lord, although they may not know where that holiness resides. On the other hand, let those who are endowed with interior perception, consider whether “flesh” means flesh, and “blood,” blood, in the following passages. In Revelation:
I saw an angel standing in the sun, and he cried with a great voice, saying unto all the birds that fly in the midst of heaven, come and gather yourselves together to the supper of the great God; that ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of commanders of thousands, and the flesh of the mighty, and the flesh of horses and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all, free and bond, small and great (Rev. 19:17, 18).
Who can understand these words, unless he knows what “flesh,” “kings,” “commanders of thousands,” “the mighty,” “horses,” “them that sit on them,” and “freemen” and “bondmen,” signify in the internal sense? And in Ezekiel:
Thus saith the Lord Jehovih, Say to every bird of heaven, and to every beast of the field, Gather yourselves together and come; gather yourselves together from every side to my sacrifice that I sacrifice for you, a great sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel, that ye may eat flesh and drink blood; ye shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of the princes of the earth; and ye shall eat fat to satiety, and drink blood even to drunkenness, of my sacrifice which I have sacrificed for you; thus shall ye be satisfied at my table, with horse and chariot, with the mighty, and with every man of war; thus will I give my glory among the nations (39:17-21).
This passage treats of the calling together of all to the kingdom of the Lord, and in particular of the establishment of the church with the Gentiles; and “eating flesh and drinking blood,” signifies to appropriate to themselves Divine good and Divine truth, thus the holiness which proceeds from the Lord’s Divine human. Who cannot see that “flesh” does not here mean flesh, nor “blood,” blood; as when it is said, that “they should eat the flesh of the mighty,” and “drink the blood of the princes of the earth”; and that “they should drink blood even to drunkenness”; also that “they should be satisfied with horses, with chariots, with mighty men, and with all men of war”? What “the birds of heaven” and “the beasts of the field” signify in the spiritual sense, may be seen in Heaven and Hell (n. 110 and the notes). Let us now consider what the Lord said concerning his flesh and his blood, in John:
The bread which I will give is my flesh. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day; for my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. This is the bread which came down from heaven (John 6:50-58).
“The flesh” of the Lord is Divine good, and his “blood,” Divine truth, each from him. This is evident, because these nourish the spiritual life of man; hence it is said, “my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed,” and as man is conjoined to the Lord by the Divine good and truth, it is also said, “Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life”; and, “He dwelleth in me and I in him”; and in the former part of the chapter:
Labor not for the food which perisheth, but for that food which endureth to eternal life (John 6:27).
“To abide in the Lord” is to be in love to him, the Lord himself teaches in John (15:2-12).
The resurrection
223. Man is so created that as to his internal he cannot die; for he can believe in and also love God, and thus be conjoined to God by faith and love; and to be conjoined to God is to live to eternity.
224. This internal is with every man who is born; his external is that by which he brings into effect the things which are of his faith and love. The internal is called the spirit, and the external is called the body. The external, which is called the body, is accommodated to the uses in the natural world; this is rejected when man dies; but the internal, which is called the spirit, is accommodated to the uses in the spiritual world; this does not die. This internal is then a good spirit and an angel, if the man had been good in the world; but an evil spirit if man had been evil in the world.
225. The spirit of man after the death of the body, appears in the spiritual world in a human form, in every respect as in the world. He enjoys the faculty of seeing, of hearing, of speaking, and of feeling, as in the world; and he is endowed with every faculty of thinking, of willing, and of acting, as in the world; in a word, he is a man as to each and every thing, except that he is not encompassed with the gross body which he had in the world. This he leaves when he dies, nor does he ever resume it.
226. This continuation of life is meant by the resurrection. The reason why men believe that they will not rise again before the Last Judgment, when the whole visible world will perish, is that they have not understood the Word, and because sensual men place all their life in the body, and believe that unless this shall live again, it will be all over with the man.
227. The life of man after death is the life of his love and the life of his faith; hence such as his love and faith had been, when he lived in the world, such his life will remain to eternity. With those who loved themselves and the world above all things, it is the life of hell; and with those who had loved God above all things, and the neighbor as themselves, it is the life of heaven. The latter are they who have faith; but the former are they who have no faith. The life of heaven is called eternal life; and the life of hell is called spiritual death.
228. That man lives after death, the Word teaches; as that:
God is not the God of the dead, but of the living (Matt. 22:31).
Lazarus after death was carried into heaven, but the rich man was cast into hell (Luke 16:22, 23 seq.).
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are there (Matt. 8:11; 22:31, 32; Luke 20: 37, 38).
Jesus said to the robber, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise (Luke 23:43).
From Heaven and Hell:
229. It is unnecessary here to adduce anything from the Arcana Coelestia, since the things concerning the resurrection and the life of man after death have been fully treated in Heaven and Hell, where they may be seen under the following articles:
1. Every man is a spirit as to his interiors (n. 432-444).
2. Of man’s resuscitation from the dead, and his entrance into eternal life (n. 445-452).
3. After death man is in a perfect human form (n. 453-460).
4. After death man has every sense, and all the memory, thought, and affection, which he had in the world; and that he leaves nothing but his terrestrial body (n. 461-469).
5. Man after death is such as his life had been in the world (n. 470-484).
6. The delights of everyone’s life are turned into corresponding things (n. 485-490).
7. Of man’s first state after death (n. 491-498).
8. Of man’s second state after death (n. 499-511).
9. Of man’s third state after death, which is a state of instruction for those that come into heaven (n. 512-520).
10. That heaven and hell are from the human race (n.311-317).
Concerning the last judgment, spoken of above at n. 226, see Last Judgment and Babylon Destroyed, from the beginning to the end, where it is shown that the last judgment will not be attended with the destruction of the world.
Heaven and hell
230. There are two things which constitute the life of man’s spirit, namely, love and faith; love constituting the life of his will, and faith the life of his understanding. The love of good and the faith of truth thence derived, constitute the life of heaven; and the love of evil, and the faith of falsity thence derived, constitute the life of hell.
231. Love to the Lord and love toward the neighbor constitute heaven; and also faith, so far as it has life from those loves. And because both the love and the faith thence derived are from the Lord, it is evident that the Lord himself constitutes heaven.
232. Heaven is with every man according to his reception of love and faith from the Lord; and they who receive heaven from the Lord while they live in the world, come into heaven after death.
233. They who receive heaven from the Lord are they who have heaven in themselves, for heaven is in man, as the Lord also teaches:
Neither shall they say, The kingdom of God, lo it is here, or lo there, for the Kingdom of God is in you (Luke 17:21).
234. Heaven is with man in his internal, thus in his willing and thinking from love and faith, and thence in his external, which is in acting and speaking from love and faith. But heaven is not in man’s external without the internal; for all hypocrites can act and speak well, but they cannot will and think well.
235. When man comes into the other life, which takes place immediately after death, it is evident whether heaven is in him or not; but not while he lives in the world. For in the world the external appears, and not the internal, but in the other life the internal is made manifest, because man then lives as to his spirit.
236. Eternal happiness, which is also called heavenly joy, is imparted to those who are in love and faith in the Lord, from the Lord; for this love and faith have that joy in them; into it the man comes after death who has heaven in him; in the meantime it lies hidden in his internal man. In the heavens there is a communion of all goods; there the peace, the intelligence, the wisdom, and the happiness of all are communicated to each; yet to everyone according to his reception of love and faith from the Lord. Hence it may appear how great is the peace, intelligence, wisdom and happiness in heaven.
237. As love to the Lord and love toward the neighbor constitute the life of heaven with man, so the love of self and the love of the world, when they reign, constitute the life of hell with him; for these loves are opposite to those. Therefore they with whom the loves of self and of the world reign, can receive nothing from heaven, but what they receive is from hell; for whatever a man loves, and whatever he believes, is either from heaven or from hell.
238. Those with whom the love of self and the love of the world reign, do not know what heaven and heavenly happiness are; and it appears incredible to them that happiness is given in any other loves than in them. Nevertheless, the happiness of heaven enters so far as the loves of self and the world, regarded as ends, are removed; and the happiness which succeeds on their removal is so great as to exceed all human comprehension.
239. The life of man cannot be changed after death. It then remains such as it had been. For the quality of man’s spirit is in every respect the same as that of his love, and infernal love can never be transcribed into heavenly love, because they are opposite. This is meant by the words of Abraham to the rich man in hell:
Between us and you there is a great gulf; so that they which would pass to you cannot; neither can they pass to us from thence (Luke 16:26).
Hence it is evident that all who come into hell remain there to eternity; and they who come into heaven remain there to eternity.
240. Since the subject of heaven and hell has been treated of in a separate work, wherein is also adduced what is contained in Arcana Coelestia concerning it, it is therefore unnecessary here to add anything further.
The church
241. That which constitutes heaven with man, also constitutes the church; for as love and faith constitute heaven, so they also constitute the church; thus, from what has been already said concerning heaven, it is evident what the church is.
242. The church is said to be where the Lord is acknowledged and where the Word is, for the essentials of the church are love and faith in the Lord from the Lord; and the Word teaches how man must live that he may receive love and faith from the Lord.
243. That there may be a church, there must be doctrine from the Word, since without doctrine the Word is not understood. Doctrine alone, however, does not constitute the church with man, but a life according to it. Hence it follows that faith alone does not constitute the church with man, but the life of faith, which is charity. Genuine doctrine is the doctrine of charity and faith together, and not the doctrine of faith separate from charity; for the doctrine of charity and faith together is the doctrine of life; but not the doctrine of faith without the doctrine of charity.
244. They who are out of the church and acknowledge one God, and live according to their religious principle, and in some charity toward the neighbor, are in communion with those who are of the church; for no man who believes in God and lives well, is condemned. Hence it is evident, that the church of the Lord is in the whole world, although specifically, where the Lord is acknowledged, and where the Word is.
245. Everyone with whom the church exists, is saved; but everyone in whom it is not, is condemned.
From Arcana Coelestia:
246. The church exists specifically where the Word is, and where the Lord is thereby known, and thus where Divine truths are revealed (n. 3857, 10761). Still they who are born where the Word is, and where the Lord is thereby known, are not of the church, but they who are regenerated by the Lord by the truths of the Word, that is, they who live the life of charity (n. 6637, 10143, 10153, 10578, 10645, 10829). They who are of the church, or in whom the church is, are in the affection of truth for the sake of truth, that is, they love truth because it is truth; and they examine from the Word whether the doctrinals of the church in which they were born are true (n. 5432, 6047). Otherwise the truth possessed by everyone would be derived from another, and from his native soil (n. 6047).
The church of the Lord is with all in the whole world who live in good according to their religious principles (n. 3263, 6637, 10765). All who live in good wherever they are, and acknowledge one God, are accepted by the Lord and come into heaven; since all who are in good acknowledge the Lord, because good is from the Lord, and the Lord is in good (n. 2589-2604, 2861, 2863, 3263, 4190, 4197, 6700, 9256). The universal church on earth before the Lord is as one man (n. 7396, 9276). As heaven is, because the church is heaven or the kingdom of the Lord on earth (n. 2853, 2996, 2998, 3624-3629, 3636-3643, 3741-3745, 4625). But the church, where the Lord is known and where the Word is, is like the heart and lungs in man in respect to the other parts of the body, which live from the heart and lungs as from the fountains of their life (n. 637, 931, 2054, 2853). Hence it is, that unless there were a church where the Word is, and where the Lord is thereby known, the human race could not be saved (n. 468, 637, 931, 4545, 10452). The church is the foundation of heaven (n. 4060).
The church is internal and external (n. 1242, 6587, 9375, 9680, 10762). The internal of the church is love to the Lord and charity toward the neighbor. Thence they who are in the affection of good and truth from love to the Lord and from charity toward the neighbor, constitute the internal church; and they who are in external worship from obedience and faith, constitute the external church (n. 1083, 1098, 4288, 6380, 6587, 7840, 8762). To know truth and good, and to act from thence, is the external of the church, but to will and love truth and good, and to act from thence, is the internal of the church (n. 4899, 6775). The internal of the church is in the worship of those who are of the external church, although in obscurity (n. 6775). The internal and external church make one church (n. 409, 10762).
Man has an internal and an external, an internal after the image of heaven, and an external after the image of the world; and therefore, in order that the man may be a church, his external must act in unity with his internal (n. 3628, 4523, 4524, 6057, 6314, 9706, 10472). The church is in the internal of man and at the same time in the external, but not in the external without the internal (n. 1795, 6580, 10691). The internal of the church is according to truths and their quality, and according to their implantation in good by life (n. 1238).
The church like heaven is in man, and thus the church in general consists of the men in whom the church is (n. 3884). In order that a church may exist, there must be the doctrine of life, that is, the doctrine of charity (n. 3445, 10763, 10764). Charity makes the church, and not faith separated from charity (n. 916). Consequently, not the doctrine of faith separated from charity, but the doctrine of faith conjoined therewith, and a life conformable to it (n. 809, 1798, 1799, 1834, 1844, 4468, 4672, 4689, 4766, 5826, 6637). The church is not with man, unless the truths of doctrine are implanted in the good of charity with him, thus in the life (n. 3310, 3963, 5826). There is no church with man, if he is only in the truths, which are called the truths of faith (n. 5826). How much good would be in the church, if charity were in the first place and faith in the second (n. 6269). And how much evil, if faith is in the first place (n. 6272). In the ancient churches charity was the principal and essential of the church (n. 4680). The church would be like heaven, if all had charity (n. 2385, 2853). If good were the characteristic of the church, and not truth without good, thus if charity were its characteristic, and not faith separate, the church would be one, and differences with respect to the doctrinals of faith, and external worship, would be accounted as nothing (n. 1285, 1316, 2982, 3267, 3445, 3451).
Every church begins from charity, but declines therefrom in process of time (n. 494, 501, 1327, 3773, 4689). Thus to falsities from evil, and at length to evils (n. 1834, 1835, 2910, 4683, 4689). A comparison of the church at its beginning and decline with the infancy and old age of man (n. 10134). And also with the rising and the setting of the sun (n. 1837). Concerning the successive states of the Christian church even to its last state; wherein are explained the particulars which the Lord foretold concerning “the consummation of the age,” and his “coming,” in Matt. chap. 24 from the beginning to the end (n. 3353-3356, 3486-3489, 3650-3655, 3571-3757, 3897-3901, 4057-4060, 4229-4335, 4422-4424, 4635-4638, 4807-4810, 4954-4959, 5063-5071). The Christian church is at this day in its last states, there being no faith therein because there is no charity (n. 3489, 4689). The last judgment is the last time of the church (n. 2118, 3353, 4057, 4333, 4535). Of the vastation of the church (n. 407-411). The consummation of the age and the coming of the Lord is the last time of the old church and the beginning of the new (n. 2243, 4535, 10622). When the old church is vastated, interior truths are revealed for the service of the new church which is then established (n. 3398, 3786). Concerning the establishment of the church with the Gentiles (n. 1366, 2986, 4747, 9256).
247. Of the ancient churches. The first and most ancient church on this earth, which is described in the first chapters of Genesis, was a celestial church, and the chief of all the rest (n. 607, 895, 920, 1121-1124, 2896, 4493, 8891, 9942, 10545). Of the quality of those in heaven who belonged to it (n. 1114-1125). They are in the highest degree of light (n. 1116, 1117). There were various churches after the flood, called in one word, the ancient church, concerning which (n. 1125-1127, 1327, 10355). Through how many kingdoms of Asia the ancient church was extended (n. 1238, 2385). The quality of the men of the ancient church (n. 609, 895). The ancient church was a representative church, and its representatives were collected into one by certain men of the most ancient church (n. 519, 521, 2896). The ancient church had a Word, but it was lost (n. 2897). The quality of the ancient church when it began to decline (n. 1128). The difference between the most ancient and the ancient churches (n. 597, 607, 640, 641, 765, 784, 895, 4493). The most ancient church and the ancient were also in the land of Canaan, and hence came the representatives of the places therein (n. 3686, 4447, 4454). Of the church that began from Eber, which was called the Hebrew church (n. 1238, 1241, 1343, 4516, 4517). The difference between the ancient and the Hebrew churches (n. 1343, 4874). Eber instituted sacrifices which were wholly unknown in the ancient churches (n. 1343). The ancient churches agreed with the Christian church as to internals, but not as to externals (n. 3478, 4489, 4772, 4904, 10149). In the most ancient church there was immediate revelation; in the ancient church, revelation by correspondences; in the Jewish church, by a living voice; and in the Christian church, by the Word (n. 10355).
The Lord was the God of the most ancient church, and was called Jehovah (n. 1343, 6846). The Lord is heaven, and he is the church (n. 4766, 10125, 10151, 10157). The Divine of the Lord makes heaven, see Heaven and Hell (n. 7-12 and 78-86); and thus also the church, since what constitutes heaven with man, constitutes also the church, as was shown in the doctrine above.
248. Of the Jewish church and of the Jews. The statutes, judgments, and laws, which were commanded in the Jewish church, were in part like those in the ancient church (n. 4449, 4835). In what respect the representative rites of the Jewish church differed from those of the ancient church (n. 4288, 10149). A representative church was instituted with that nation, but there was no church in that nation itself (n. 4899, 4912, 6304). Therefore as to that nation itself, it was the representative of a church, but not a church (n. 4281, 4288, 4311, 4500, 6304, 7048, 9320, 10396, 10526, 10535, 10698).
The Israelitish and Jewish nation was not elected, but only received, in order that it might represent a church, on account of the obstinacy with which their fathers and Moses insisted (n. 4290, 4293, 7051, 7439, 10430, 10535, 10632). Their worship was merely external, without any internal worship (n. 1200, 3147, 3479, 8871). They were entirely unacquainted with the internals of worship, and were not willing to know them (n. 301-303, 3479, 4429, 4433, 4680, 4844, 4847, 10396, 10401, 10407, 10694, 10701, 10707). In what manner they consider the internals of worship, of the church, and the Word (n. 4865). Their interiors were filthy, full of the loves of self and of the world, and of avarice (n. 3480, 9962, 10454-10457, 10462- 10466, 10575). On this account the internals of the church were not disclosed to them, because they would have profaned them (n. 2520, 3398, 3480, 4289).
The Word is wholly shut to them (n. 3769). They see the Word from without and not from within (n. 10549-10551). Therefore their internal, when in worship, was shut (n. 8788, 8806, 9320, 9377, 9380, 9962, 10396, 10401, 10407, 10492, 10498, 10500, 10575, 10629, 10694). That nation was of such a quality, that they could be in a holy external, when the internal was shut, more than others (n. 4293, 4311, 4903, 9373, 9377, 9380). Their state at that time (n. 4311). They are therefore preserved to this day (n. 3479). Their holy external was miraculously elevated by the Lord into heaven, and the interior things of worship, of the church, and the Word perceived there (n. 3480, 4307, 4311, 6304, 8588, 10492, 10500, 10602). For this purpose they were forced by external means strictly to observe their rites in their external form (n. 3147, 4281, 10149). Because they could be in a holy external without an internal, they could represent the holy things of the church and heaven (n. 3479, 3881, 4208, 6306, 8588, 9377, 10430, 10500, 10570). Still those holy things did not affect them (n. 3479). The quality of the person who represents is of no importance, because the representation regards the thing represented, and not the person (n. 665, 1097, 1361, 3147, 3881, 4208, 4281, 4288, 4292, 4307, 4444, 4500, 6304, 7048, 7439, 8588, 8788, 8806).
That nation was worse than other nations; their quality also described from the Word of both testaments (n. 4314, 4316, 4317, 4444, 4503, 4750, 4751, 4815, 4820, 4832, 5057, 5998, 7248, 8819, 9320, 10454-10547, 10462-10466). The tribe of Judah departed into worse things than the other tribes (n. 4815). How cruelly they treated the Gentiles, from delight (n. 5057, 7248, 9320). That nation was idolatrous in heart; and more than other nations worshiped other gods (n. 3732, 4208, 4444, 4825, 5998, 6877, 7401, 8301, 8871, 8882). Even their worship was idolatrous when considered as to that nation itself, because it was external without internal (n. 4281, 4825, 8871, 8882). They worshiped Jehovah only in name (n. 6877, 10559-10561, 10566). And only on account of miracles (n. 4299).
They who believe that the Jews will be converted at the end of the church, and brought again into the land of Canaan, think erroneously (n. 4847, 7051, 8301). Many passages adduced from the Word concerning this matter, but which are to be understood according to the internal sense, and differently from the sense of the letter (n. 7051). The Word was changed on account of that nation, as to its external sense, but not as to its internal sense (n. 10453, 10461, 10603, 10604). Jehovah appeared to them on Mount Sinai, according to their quality, in a consuming fire, a thick cloud, and smoke as of a furnace (n. 1861, 6832, 8814, 8819, 9434). The Lord appears to everyone according to his quality, as a vivifying and recreating fire to those who are in good, and as a consuming fire to those who are in evil (n. 934, 1861, 6832, 8814, 8819, 9434, 10551). One origin of that nation was from a Canaanitess and the two others from whoredom with a daughter-in-law (n. 1167, 4818, 4820, 4874, 4899, 4913). These origins signify the nature of their conjunction with the church, as being like conjunction with the Canaanitess, and whoredom with a daughter-in-law (n. 4868, 4874, 4899, 4911, 4913). Of the state of the Jews in the other life (n. 939, 940, 5057).
Since this nation, although of such a quality, represented the church; and since the Word was written among them and concerning them; therefore Divine celestial things were signified by their names, as by “Reuben,” “Simeon,” “Levi,” “Judah,” “Ephraim,” “Joseph,” and the rest. That “Judah,” in the internal sense, signifies the Lord as to celestial love, and his celestial kingdom (n. 3654, 3881, 5583, 5603, 5782, 6363). The prophecy of Israel concerning Judah, in which the Lord is treated of, explained, Gen. 49:8-12 (n. 6362-6381). “The tribe of Judah” and “Judea” signify the celestial church (n. 3654, 6364). The twelve tribes represented, and thence signified all things of love and faith in the complex (n. 3858, 3926, 4060, 6335); thus also heaven and the church (n. 6337, 6637, 7836, 7891). They signify according to the order in which they are named (n. 3862, 3926, 3939, 4603 seq., 6337, 6640). The twelve tribes were divided into two kingdoms, in order that the Jews might represent the celestial kingdom, and the Israelites the spiritual kingdom (n. 8770, 9320). “The seed of Abraham,” of “Isaac,” and of “Jacob,” signifies the goods and truths of the church (n. 3373, 10445).
The Sacred Scripture, or the Word
249. Without a revelation from the divine, man cannot know anything concerning eternal life, nor even anything concerning God, and still less concerning love to, and faith in him; for man is born into mere ignorance, and must therefore learn everything from worldly things, from which he must form his understanding. He is also born hereditarily into every evil which is from the love of self and of the world; the delights from thence reign continually, and suggest such things as are diametrically contrary to the Divine. Hence it is that man knows nothing concerning eternal life; wherefore there must necessarily be a revelation from which he may know.
250. That the evils of the love of self and of the world induce such ignorance concerning those things which are of eternal life, appears manifestly from those within the church; who, although they know from revelation that there is a God, that there is a heaven and a hell, that there is eternal life, and that eternal life is to be acquired by the good of love and faith, still lapse into denial concerning those things, both the learned and the unlearned. Hence it is further evident how great ignorance there would be, if there were no revelation.
251. Since therefore man lives after death, and then lives to eternity, and a life awaits him according to his love and faith, it follows that the Divine, out of love toward the human race, has revealed such things as may lead to that life, and conduce to man’s salvation. What the Divine has revealed, is with us the Word.
252. The Word, because it is a revelation from the Divine, is Divine in each and all things; for what is from the Divine cannot be otherwise. What is from the Divine descends through the heavens even to man; wherefore in the heavens it is accommodated to the wisdom of the angels who are there, and on earth it is accommodated to the apprehension of the men who are there. Wherefore in the Word there is an internal sense, which is spiritual, for the angels, and an external sense, which is natural, for men. Hence it is that the conjunction of heaven with man is effected through the Word.
253. No others understand the genuine sense of the Word but they who are enlightened; and they only are enlightened who are in love to, and have faith in, the Lord; for their interiors are elevated by the Lord into the light of heaven.
254. The Word in the letter cannot be understood, but by doctrine from the Word drawn by one who is enlightened. The sense of its letter is accommodated to the apprehension even of simple men, wherefore doctrine from the Word must serve them for a lamp.
From Arcana Coelestia:
255. Of the necessity and excellence of the Word. From the light of nature, nothing is known concerning the Lord, concerning heaven and hell, concerning the life of man after death, and concerning the Divine truths by which man has spiritual and eternal life (n. 8944, 10318-10320). This may be manifest from this, that many, and among them the learned, do not believe them, although they were born where the Word is, and are thereby instructed concerning them (n. 10319). It was therefore necessary that there should be some revelation from heaven, because man was born for heaven (n. 1775). Therefore in all time there has been a revelation (n. 2895). Concerning the various kinds of revelation which have been successively made on this earth (n. 10355, 10632).
The most ancient people who lived before the flood, and whose age was called the golden age, had immediate revelation, and hence Divine truth was inscribed on their hearts (n. 2896). In the ancient churches which were after the flood, there was a Word, both historical and prophetical (n. 2686, 2897); concerning which churches see above (n. 247). Its historical parts were called the Wars of Jehovah, and its prophetical parts, Enunciations (n. 2897). That Word was like our Word as to inspiration (n. 2897). It is mentioned by Moses (n. 2686, 2897). But that Word is lost (n. 2897). There were also prophetic revelations with others, as appears from the prophecies of Balaam (n. 2898).
The Word is Divine in each and every particular (n. 639, 680, 10321, 10637). The Word is Divine and holy as to every jot and tittle, from experience (n. 9349). How it is explained at this day, that the Word is inspired as to every jot (n. 1886).
The church exists specifically where the Word is, and where the Lord is thereby known and Divine truths are revealed (n. 3857, 10761). But it does not follow from hence, that they are of the church who are born where the Word is, and where the Lord is thereby known, but they who by means of truths from the Word are regenerated by the Lord, that is, who live according to the truths therein, thus who lead a life of love and of faith (n. 6637, 10143, 10153, 10578, 10645, 10829).
256. The Word is not understood except by those who are enlightened. The human rational cannot apprehend Divine things, nor even spiritual things, unless it is enlightened by the Lord (n. 2196, 2203, 2209, 2654). Thus only they who are enlightened apprehend the Word (n. 10323). The Lord enables those who are enlightened to understand truth, and to see how to reconcile those things in the Word which may appear to contradict each other (n. 9382, 10659). The Word in the sense of the letter is not consistent with itself, and sometimes it appears contradictory (n. 9025). And therefore it may be explained and strained by those who are not enlightened, to confirm any opinion or heresy whatever, and to patronize any worldly and corporeal love (n. 4783, 10399, 10400).
They who read the Word from the love of truth and good, are enlightened from it, but not they who read it from the love of fame, gain, or honor, thus from the love of self (n. 9382, 10548-10550). They who are in the good of life, and thereby in the affection of truth, are enlightened (n. 8694). They whose internal is open, and who thus as to their internal man are capable of being elevated into the light of heaven, are enlightened (n. 10400, 10402, 10691, 10694). Enlightenment is an actual opening of the interiors of the mind, and elevation of them into the light of heaven (n. 10330). Holiness from the internal, that is, through the internal from the Lord, inflows with those who esteem the Word to be holy, though they themselves do not know it (n. 6789). They who are led by the Lord are enlightened, and see truths in the Word, but not they who are led by self (n. 10638). They who love truth because it is truth, that is, who love to live according to Divine truths, are led by the Lord (n. 10578, 10645, 10829). The Word is vivified with man, according to his life of love and faith (n. 1776). Those things which are from one’s own intelligence have no life in them, since nothing good proceeds from man’s proprium (n. 8491, 8944). They who have much confirmed themselves in false doctrine cannot be enlightened (n. 10640).
It is the understanding that is enlightened (n. 6608, 9300). Because the understanding is recipient of truth (n. 6222, 6608, 10659). There are ideas concerning every doctrinal of the church, according to which is the understanding of the subject (n. 3310, 3825). A man’s ideas, so long as he lives in the world, are natural, because he then thinks in the natural, but nevertheless spiritual ideas lie concealed therein with those who are in the affection of truth for the sake of truth (n. 10237, 10240, 10551). There is no perception of any subject without ideas (n. 3825). The ideas concerning the things of faith are opened in the other life, and their quality is then seen by the angels (n. 1869, 3310, 5510, 6200, 8885). Therefore the Word is not understood except by a rational man; for to believe anything without having an idea of the subject, and without a rational view of it, is only to retain words in the memory, destitute of all the life of perception and affection, which is not believing (n. 2553). The literal sense of the Word is what is enlightened (n. 34, 36, 9824, 9905, 10548).
257. The Word cannot be understood except by means of doctrine from the Word. The doctrine of the church must be from the Word (n. 3464, 5402, 6832, 10763, 10765). The Word without doctrine is not understood (n. 9025, 9409, 9424, 9430, 10324, 10431, 10582). True doctrine is a lamp to those who read the Word (n. 10400). Genuine doctrine must be formed by those who are in enlightenment from the Lord (n. 2510, 2516, 2519, 9424, 10105). The Word is understood by means of doctrine formed by one who is enlightened (n. 10324). They who are in enlightenment form doctrine for themselves from the Word (n. 9382, 10659). The difference between those who teach and learn from the doctrine of the church, and those who teach and learn only from the sense of the letter, their quality (n. 9025). They who are in the sense of the letter without doctrine, come into no understanding of Divine truths (n. 9409, 9410, 10582). They fall into many errors (n. 10431). They who are in the affection of truth for the sake of truth, when they arrive at adult age, and can see from their own understanding, do not simply abide in the doctrinals of their own church, but examine from the Word whether they are truths (n. 5402, 5432, 6047). Otherwise every man’s truth would be derived from others, and from his native soil, whether he was born a Jew or a Greek (n. 6047). For that which has been made part of anyone’s faith from the literal sense of the Word, even if it is not true, ought not to be rejected except after taking a full view (n. 9039).
The true doctrine of the church is the doctrine of charity and faith (n. 2417, 4766, 10763, 10764). The doctrine of faith does not make the church, but the life of faith, which is charity (n. 809, 1798, 1799, 1834, 4468, 4672, 4766, 5826, 6637). Doctrinals are nothing unless one lives according to them (n. 1515, 2049, 2116). In the churches at this day the doctrine of faith is taught, and not the doctrine of charity, the latter being degraded into a knowledge which is called moral theology (n. 2417). The church would be one, if men were acknowledged as members of the church from life, thus from charity (n. 1285, 1316, 2982, 3267, 3445, 3451, 3452). How much superior the doctrine of charity is to that of faith separate from charity (n. 4844). They who do not know anything concerning charity, are in ignorance concerning heavenly things (n. 2435). Into how many errors they fall who only hold the doctrine of faith, and not that of charity at the same time (n. 2338, 2417, 3146, 3325, 3412, 3413, 3416, 3773, 4672, 4730, 4783, 4925, 5351, 7623-7627, 7752-7762, 7790, 8094, 8313, 8530, 8765, 9186, 9224, 10555). They who are only in the doctrine of faith, and not in the life of faith, which is charity, were formerly called uncircumcised, or Philistines (n. 3412, 3413, 8093). The ancients held the doctrine of love to the Lord, and of charity toward the neighbor, and made the doctrine of faith subservient thereto (n. 2417, 3419, 4844, 4955).
Doctrine made by one enlightened may be afterwards confirmed by means of rational things, and thus it is more fully understood, and is corroborated (n. 2553, 2719, 2720, 3052, 3310, 6047). See more on this subject (at n. 51 above). They who are in faith separate from charity would have the doctrinals of the church implicitly believed without any rational intuition (n. 3394).
It is not the part of a wise man to confirm a dogma, but to see whether it is true before he confirms it, as is the case with those who are in enlightenment (n. 1017, 4741, 7012, 7680, 7950). The light of confirmation is natural light, and not spiritual, and may exist even with the evil (n. 8780). All things, even falsities, can be confirmed so as to appear like truths (n. 2480, 2490, 5033, 6865, 8521).
258. In the Word there is a spiritual sense, which is called the internal sense. No one can know what the internal sense of the Word is, unless he knows what correspondence is (n. 2895, 4322).
The whole and every part, even to the most minute, of the natural world, corresponds to spiritual things, and thence is significative of them (n. 1886-1889, 2987-3003, 3213-3227). The spiritual things to which natural things correspond assume another appearance in the natural, so that they are not distinguished (n. 1887, 2395, 8920). Scarcely anyone knows at this day where, or in what part is the Divine of the Word, when nevertheless it is in its internal or spiritual sense, which at this day is not known (n. 2899, 4989). The mystic things of the Word are nothing else than what its internal or spiritual sense contains, which treats of the Lord, of his kingdom, and of the church, and not of the natural things which are in the world (n. 4923). The prophetic parts of the Word are in many places unintelligible, and therefore of no use without the internal sense; illustrated by examples (n. 2608, 8020, 8398). As what is signified by “the white horse,” mentioned in Revelation (n. 2760 seq.). By “the keys of the kingdom of the heavens” that were given to Peter, see the preface to the 22nd chapter of Genesis (n. 9410). By “the flesh,” “blood,” “bread,” and “wine,” in the holy supper, and thus why it was instituted by the Lord (n. 8682). By the prophecies of Jacob concerning his sons in the 49th chapter of Genesis (n. 6306, 6333-6465). By many prophecies concerning Judah and Israel, which by no means tally with that people, nor in the literal sense have any coincidence with their history (n. 6333, 6361, 6415, 6438, 6444). Besides innumerable other instances (n. 2608).
Of the spiritual or internal sense of the Word in a summary (n. 1767-1777, 1869-1879). There is an internal sense in the whole and in every particular part of the Word (n. 1143, 1984, 2135, 2333, 2395, 2495, 2619). Such things do not appear in the sense of the letter, but nevertheless they are contained within it (n. 4442).
259. The internal sense of the Word is principally for the use of angels, and it is also for the use of men. In order that it may be known what the internal sense is, of what quality it is, and whence it is, it may here be observed in general, that they speak and think in heaven differently from the way they do in the world; in heaven spiritually, but in the world naturally; therefore when man reads the Word, the angels who are with him perceive it spiritually, whilst he perceives it naturally; consequently, the angels are in the internal sense, whilst men are in the external sense; nevertheless these two senses make one by correspondence.
The Word is understood differently by the angels in the heavens and by men on earth, the angels perceiving the internal or spiritual sense, but men the external or natural sense (n. 1887, 2395). The angels perceive the Word in its internal sense, and not in its external sense, proved from the experience of those who spoke with me from heaven, whilst I was reading the Word (n. 1769-1772). The ideas and speech of the angels are spiritual, but the ideas and speech of men are natural; therefore there is an internal sense, which is spiritual, for the use of the angels, illustrated by experience (n. 2333). Nevertheless the sense of the letter of the Word serves the spiritual ideas of the angels as a means of conveyance, just as the words of speech serve men to convey the sense of the subject (n. 2143). The things relating to the internal sense of the Word fall into such things as belong to the light of heaven, thus into the perception of angels (n. 2618, 2619, 2629, 3086). The things which the angels perceive from the Word are on this account precious to them (n. 2540, 2541, 2545, 2551). The angels do not understand a single syllable of the sense of the letter of the Word (n. 64, 65, 1434, 1929). They do not know the names of persons and places mentioned in the Word (n. 1434, 1888, 4442, 4480). Names cannot enter heaven, nor be pronounced there (n. 1876, 1888).
All names mentioned in the Word signify things, and in heaven are changed into the ideas of the thing (n. 768, 1888, 4310, 4442, 5225, 5287, 10329). The angels think abstractly from persons (n. 6613, 8343, 8985, 9007). How elegant the internal sense of the Word is, even where nothing but mere names occur, shown by examples from the Word (n. 1224, 1888, 2395). Many names in a series express one thing in the internal sense (n. 5095). All numbers in the Word signify things (n. 482, 487, 647, 648, 755, 813, 1963, 1988, 2075, 2252, 3252, 4264, 6175, 9488, 9659, 10217, 10253).
Spirits also perceive the Word in its internal sense, so far as their interiors are open into heaven (n. 1771).
The sense of the letter of the Word, which is natural, is changed instantly with the angels into the spiritual sense, because there is a correspondence (n. 5648). And this is effected without their hearing or knowing what is contained in the literal or external sense (n. 10215). Thus the literal or external sense is only with man, and proceeds no further (n. 2015).
There is an internal sense of the Word, and likewise an inmost or supreme sense, concerning which see (n. 9407, 10604, 10614, 10627). The spiritual angels, that is, those who belong to the spiritual kingdom of the Lord, perceive the Word in its internal sense, and the celestial angels, that is, those who belong to the celestial kingdom of the Lord, perceive the Word in its inmost sense (n. 2157, 2275).
The Word is for men, and also for angels, being accommodated to each (n. 7381, 8862, 10322). The Word is the means of uniting heaven and earth (n. 2310, 2495, 9212, 9216, 9357). The conjunction of heaven with man is effected by means of the Word (n. 9396, 9400, 9401, 10452). Therefore the Word is called “a covenant” (n. 9396). Because “covenant” signifies conjunction (n. 665, 666, 1023, 1038, 1864, 1996, 2003, 2021, 6804, 8767, 8778, 9396, 10632).
There is an internal sense in the Word, because the Word has descended from the Lord through the three heavens to man (n. 2310, 6597). And thereby it is accommodated to the angels of the three heavens, and also to men (n. 7381, 8862). Hence it is that the Word is Divine (n. 2989, 4989); and is holy (n. 10276); and is spiritual (n. 4480); and is divinely inspired (n. 9094). This is the meaning of inspiration (n. 9094).
The regenerate man also, is actually in the internal sense of the Word, although he knows it not, since his internal man, which is endowed with spiritual perception, is open (n. 10400). But in this case the spiritual of the Word flows into natural ideas, and thus is presented naturally, because, while man lives in the world, he thinks in the natural (n. 5614). Hence the light of truth, with the enlightened, is from their internal, that is, through their internal from the Lord (n. 10691, 10694). By the same way holiness flows in with those who esteem the Word holy (n. 6789). As the regenerate man is actually in the internal sense of the Word, and in the sanctity of that sense, although he does not know it, therefore after death he comes into it, and is no longer in the sense of the letter (n. 3226, 3342, 3343).
260. The internal or spiritual sense of the Word contains innumerable arcana. The Word in its internal sense contains innumerable things, which exceed human comprehension (n. 3085, 3086). It also contains inexplicable things (n. 1965). Which are represented only to angels, and understood by them (n. 167). The internal sense of the Word contains arcana of heaven, which relate to the Lord and his kingdom in the heavens and on earth (n. 1-4, 937). Those arcana do not appear in the sense of the letter (n. 937, 1502, 2161). Many things in the prophets appear to be disconnected, when yet in their internal sense they cohere in a regular and beautiful series (n. 7153, 9022). Not a single word, nor even a single iota can be omitted in the sense of the letter of the Word, without an interruption in the internal sense, and therefore, by the Divine Providence of the Lord, the Word has been preserved so entire as to every word and every point (n. 7933). Innumerable things are contained in every particular of the Word (n. 6617, 6620, 8920); and in every expression (n. 1689). There are innumerable things contained in the Lord’s prayer, and in every part thereof (n. 6619). And in the precepts of the Decalogue; in the external sense of which, notwithstanding, some things are such as are known to every nation without revelation (n. 8867, 8900).
In the Word, and particularly in the prophetical parts of it, two expressions are used that seem to signify the same thing, but one expression has relation to good, and the other to truth; thus one relates to what is spiritual, the other to what is celestial (n. 683, 707, 2516, 8339). Goods and truths are conjoined in a wonderful manner in the Word, and that conjunction is apparent only to him who knows the internal sense (n. 10554). And thus there is a Divine marriage and a heavenly marriage in the Word, and in every part thereof (n. 683, 793, 801, 2173, 2516, 2712, 5138, 7022). The Divine marriage is the marriage of Divine good and Divine truth, thus it is the Lord, in whom alone that marriage exists (n. 3004, 3005, 3009, 5138, 5194, 5502, 6343, 7945, 8339, 9263, 9314). “Jesus” signifies the Divine good, and “Christ” the Divine truth; and both the Divine marriage in heaven, which is the marriage of the Divine good and the Divine truth (n. 3004, 3005, 3009). This marriage is in every part of the Word, in its internal sense; thus the Lord, as to the Divine good and the Divine truth, is in every part of the Word (n. 5502). The marriage of good and truth from the Lord in heaven and the church, is called the heavenly marriage (n. 2508, 2618, 2803, 3004, 3211, 3952, 6179). Therefore in this respect the Word is a kind of heaven (n. 2173, 10126). Heaven is compared in the Word to a marriage, on account of the marriage of good and truth therein (n. 2758, 3132, 4434, 4835).
The internal sense is the very doctrine of the church (n. 9025, 9430, 10400). They who understand the Word according to the internal sense, know the essential true doctrine of the church, inasmuch as the internal sense contains it (n. 9025; 9430, 10400). The internal of the Word is also the internal of the church, and likewise the internal of worship (n. 10460). The Word is the doctrine of love to the Lord, and of charity toward the neighbor (n. 3419, 3420).
The Word in the letter is as a cloud, and in the internal sense it is glory, see the preface to the 18th chapter of Genesis (n. 5922, 6343), where the words, “The Lord shall come in the clouds of heaven with glory,” are explained. “A cloud” in the Word signifies the Word in the sense of the letter, and “glory” signifies the Word in the internal sense, see the preface to the 18th chapter of Genesis (n. 4060, 4391, 5922, 6343, 6752, 8106, 8781, 9430, 10551, 10574). Those things which are in the sense of the letter, respectively to those which are in the internal sense, are like rude projections round a polished optical cylinder, by which nevertheless is exhibited in the cylinder a beautiful image of a man (n. 1871).
In the other life, they who only allow and acknowledge the sense of the letter of the Word, are represented by a deformed old woman; but they who allow and acknowledge the internal sense, together with the literal sense, are represented by a virgin beautifully clothed (n. 1774). The Word in its whole complex is an image of heaven, since the Word is the Divine truth, and the Divine truth makes heaven; and as heaven relates to one man, therefore the Word is in that respect as an image of man (n. 1871). That heaven in one complex relates to one man, may be seen in Heaven and Hell (n. 59-67). And the Divine truth proceeding from the Lord makes heaven (n. 126-140, 200-212). The Word is beautifully and agreeably exhibited before the angels (n. 1767, 1768). The sense of the letter is as the body, and the internal sense, as the soul of that body (n. 8943). Thence the life of the Word is from its internal sense (n. 1405, 4857). The Word is pure in the internal sense, and does not appear so in the literal sense (n. 2362, 2395). The things which are in the sense of the letter of the Word are holy from the internal (n. 10126, 10728).
In the historical parts of the Word there is also an internal sense, but within them (n. 4989). Thus the historical as well as the prophetic parts of the Word contain arcana of heaven (n. 755, 1659, 1709, 2310, 2333). The angels do not perceive those historical things, but spiritually (n. 6884). The reason why the interior arcana which are in the historicals, are less evident to man than those that are in the propheticals (n. 2176, 6597).
The quality of the internal sense of the Word further shown (n. 1756, 1984, 2004, 2663, 3035, 7089, 10604, 10614). And illustrated by comparisons (n. 1873).
261. The Word is written by correspondences, and thus by representatives. The Word, as to its literal sense, is written by mere correspondences, thus by such things as represent and signify spiritual things which relate to heaven and the church (n. 1404, 1408, 1409, 1540, 1619, 1659, 1709, 1783, 2179, 2763, 2899). This was done for the sake of the internal sense, which is contained in every part (n. 2899). For the sake of heaven, since those who are in heaven do not understand the Word according to the sense of the letter, which is natural, but according to its internal sense, which is spiritual (n. 2899). The Lord spoke by correspondences, representatives, and significatives, because he spoke from the Divine (n. 9048, 9063, 9086, 10126, 10728). Thus the Lord spoke at the same time before the world and before heaven (n. 2533, 4807, 9048, 9063, 9086). The things which the Lord spoke filled the entire heaven (n. 4637). The historicals of the Word are representative, and the words significative (n. 1540, 1659, 1709, 1783, 2686). The Word could not be written in any other style, that by it there might be a communication and conjunction with the heavens (n. 2899, 6943, 9481). They who despise the Word on account of the apparent simplicity and rudeness of its style, and who fancy that they would receive the Word, if it were written in a different style, are in a great error (n. 8783). The mode and style of writing, which prevailed amongst the most ancient people, was by representatives and significatives (n. 605, 1756, 9942). The ancient wise men were delighted with the Word, because of the representatives and significatives therein, from experience (n. 2592, 2593). If a man of the most ancient church had read the Word, he would have seen the things which are in the internal sense clearly, and those which are in the external sense obscurely (n. 4493).
The sons of Jacob were brought into the land of Canaan, because all the places in that land, from the most ancient times, were made representative (n. 1585, 3686, 4447, 5136, 6516). And thus that the Word might there be written, in which Word those places were to be mentioned for the sake of the internal sense (n. 3686, 4447, 5136, 6516). But nevertheless the Word was changed, for the sake of that nation, as to the external sense, but not as to the internal sense (n. 10453, 10461, 10603, 10604). In order that it may be known what the correspondences and representatives in the Word are, and what is their quality, something shall also be said concerning them.
All things which correspond are likewise representative, and thereby significative, thus that correspondences and representatives are one (n. 2896, 2897, 2973, 2987, 2989, 2990, 3002, 3225). What correspondences and representations are, from experience and examples (n. 2763, 2987-3002, 3213-3226, 3337-3352, 3472-3485, 4218-4228, 9280). The knowledge of correspondences and representations was the chief knowledge amongst the ancients (n. 3021, 3419, 4280, 4748, 4844, 4964, 4966, 6004, 7729, 10252). Especially with the Orientals (n. 5702, 6692, 7097, 7779, 9391, 10252, 10407); and in Egypt more than in other countries (n. 5702, 6692, 7097, 7779, 9391, 10407). Also among the Gentiles, as in Greece and other places (n. 2762, 7729). But at this day it is among the knowledges which are lost, particularly in Europe (n. 2894, 2895, 2994, 3630, 3632, 3747-3749, 4581, 4966, 10252).
Nevertheless this knowledge is more excellent than all other knowledges, since without it the Word is not understood, nor the signification of the rites of the Jewish church, which are recorded in the Word; neither is it known what heaven is, nor what the spiritual is, nor in what manner spiritual influx takes place into what is natural, with many other things (n. 4280, and in the places above cited). All the things which appear before angels and spirits are representatives, according to correspondences of such things as relate to love and faith (n. 1971, 3213-3226, 3449, 3475, 3485, 9481, 9574, 9576, 9577). The heavens are full of representatives (n. 1521, 1532, 1619). Representatives are more beautiful, and more perfect, in proportion as they are more interiorly in the heavens (n. 3475). Representatives there are real appearances, being derived from the light of heaven, which is Divine truth, and which is the very essential of the existence of all things (n. 3485).
The reason why each and all things in the spiritual world are represented in the natural world is that what is internal assumes a suitable clothing in what is external, whereby it makes itself visible and apparent (n. 6275, 6284, 6299). Thus the end assumes a suitable clothing, that it may exist as the cause in a lower sphere, and afterwards that it may exist as the effect in a sphere lower still; and when the end, by means of the cause, becomes the effect, it then becomes visible, or appears before the eyes (n. 5711). This may be illustrated by the influx of the soul into the body, whereby the soul assumes a clothing of such things in the body as enable all the things which it thinks and wills to appear and become visible; wherefore the thought, when it flows down into the body, is represented by gestures and actions which correspond thereto (n. 2988). The affections, which are of the mind, are manifestly represented in the face, by the variations of the countenance, so that they may be seen therein (n. 4791-4805, 5695). Hence it is evident, that each and all things in nature have in them a latent cause and end from the spiritual world (n. 3562, 5711). Since the things in nature are ultimate effects, which contain prior things (n. 4240, 4939, 5051, 6275, 6284, 6299, 9216). Internal things are represented, and external things represent (n. 4292).
Since all things in nature are representative of spiritual and celestial things, therefore, in ancient times, there were churches, wherein all the externals, which are rituals, were representative; wherefore those churches were called representative churches (n. 519, 521, 2896). The church founded with the sons of Israel was a representative church (n. 1003, 2179, 10149). All its rituals were external things, which represented the internal things of heaven and the church (n. 4288, 4874). Representatives of the church and of worship ceased when the Lord came into the world, because the Lord opened the internal things of the church, and because all the externals of the church in the highest sense regarded him (n. 4832).
262. Of the literal or external sense of the Word. The sense of the letter of the Word is according to appearances in the world (n. 589, 926, 1408, 2719, 2720, 1832, 1874, 2242, 2520, 2533). And is adapted to the capacity of the simple (n. 2533, 9048, 9063, 9086). The Word in its literal sense is natural (n. 8783). Because what is natural is the ultimate wherein spiritual and celestial things terminate, and upon which they rest like a house upon its foundation; and otherwise the internal sense of the Word without the external would be like a house without a foundation (n. 9360, 9430, 9433, 9824, 10044, 10436). The Word is the container of a spiritual and celestial sense, because it is of such a quality (n. 9407). And that it is holy and Divine in the sense of the letter as to each and all things therein, even to every iota, because it is of such a quality (n. 639, 680, 1869, 1870, 9198, 10321, 10637). The laws enacted for the sons of Israel are yet the Holy Word, notwithstanding their abrogation, on account of the internal sense which they contain (n. 9211, 9259, 9349). Of the laws, judgments, and statutes, for the Israelitish and Jewish church, which was a representative church, there are some which are still in force, both in their external and internal sense; some which ought to be strictly observed in their external sense; some which may be of use, if people are disposed to observe them, and some which are altogether abrogated (n. 9349). The Word is Divine, even as to those which are abrogated (n. 10637).
The quality of the Word as to the sense of the letter, if not understood at the same time as to the internal sense, or what is the same thing, according to true doctrine from the Word (n. 10402). Innumerable heresies arise from the sense of the letter without the internal sense, or without true doctrine from the Word (n. 10400). They who are in an external without an internal cannot endure the interior things of the Word (n. 10694). The Jews were of such a quality, and they are also such at this day (n. 301-303, 3479, 4429, 4433, 4680, 4844, 4847, 10396, 10401, 10407, 10694, 10701, 10707).
263. The Lord is the Word. The Word in its inmost sense treats only of the Lord, and describes all the states of the glorification of his human, that is, of its union with the Divine itself; and likewise all the states of the subjugation of the hells, and of the ordination of all things therein and in the heavens (n. 2249, 7014). Thus the Lord’s whole life in the world is described in that sense, and thereby the Lord is continually present with the angels (n. 2523). Consequently the Lord alone is in the inmost of the Word, and the Divinity and sanctity of the Word is from thence (n. 1873, 9357). The Lord’s saying that all the Scripture concerning him was fulfilled, signifies that all things which are contained in the inmost sense were fulfilled (n. 7933).
The Word signifies the Divine truth (n. 4692, 5075, 9987). The Lord is the Word because he is the Divine truth (n. 2533). The Lord is the Word also because the Word is from him, and treats of him (n. 2859). And because it treats of the Lord alone in its inmost sense, thus because the Lord himself is therein (n. 1873, 9357). And because in each and all things of the Word there is a marriage of Divine good and Divine truth (n. 3004, 5502). “Jesus” is the Divine good, and “Christ” the Divine truth (n. 3004, 3005, 3009). The Divine truth is alone real, and that in which Divine truth is, which is from the Divine, is alone substantial (n. 5272, 6880, 7004, 8200). And as the Divine truth proceeding from the Lord is light in heaven, and the Divine good is heat in heaven; and as all things in heaven derive their existence from the Divine good and the Divine truth; and as the natural world has its existence through heaven, or the spiritual world; it is plain that all things which were created, were created from the Divine truth, or from the Word, according to these words in John:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word, and by it were all things made which were made; and the Word was made flesh (John 1:1, 3, 14; n. 2803, 2894, 5272, 6880).
Further particulars concerning the creation of all things by the Divine truth, consequently by the Lord, may be seen in Heaven and Hell (n. 137). And more fully in the two articles therein (n. 116-125, and n. 126-140). The conjunction of the Lord with man is effected through the Word by means of the internal sense (n. 10375). Conjunction is effected by each and all things of the Word, and the Word is therefore more wonderful than all other writings (n. 10632-10634). Since the Word has been written, the Lord thereby speaks with men (n. 10290).
264. Of those who are against the Word. Of those who despise, mock at, blaspheme, and profane the Word (n. 1878). Their quality in the other life (n. 1761, 9322). They may be compared to the viscous parts of the blood (n. 5719). The danger of profaning the Word (n. 571-582). How hurtful it is if principles of falsity, particularly those which favor the loves of self and of the world, are confirmed by the Word (n. 589). They who are in no affection of truth for the sake of truth, utterly reject the internal sense of the Word, and despise it, from experience (n. 5702). Some in the other life who have rejected the interior things of the Word are deprived of rationality (n. 1879).
265. Further particulars concerning the Word. The term “Word” in the Hebrew tongue signifies various things, as speech, thought of the mind, everything that has a real existence, and also anything (n. 9987). “Word” signifies the Divine truth and the Lord (n. 4692, 5075, 9987). “Words” signify truths (n. 4692, 5075). They signify doctrinals (n. 1288). The “ten words” signify all Divine truths (n. 10688). They signify things which really exist (n. 1785, 5075, 5272).
In the Word, particularly in the propheticals, there are two expressions to signify one thing, and the one has relation to good and the other to truth, which are thus conjoined (n. 683, 707, 2516, 8339). It cannot be known what expression has relation to good, and what to truth, but from the internal sense of the Word; for there are appropriate words by which the things relating to good are expressed, and appropriate words by which the things relating to truth are expressed (n. 793, 801). And this so that it may be known merely from the words predicated, whether the subject treated of is good, or whether it is truth (n. 2722).
Frequently one expression implies a general, and the other expression implies a certain specific particular of that general (n. 2212). There is a species of reciprocation in the Word, concerning which see n. 2240. Most things in the Word have also an opposite sense (n. 4816). The internal sense proceeds regularly according to the subject predicated (n. 4502).
They who have been delighted with the Word, in the other life receive the heat of heaven, wherein is celestial love, according to the quality and quantity of their delight from love (n. 1773).
266. What are the books of the Word. The books of the Word are all those which have the internal sense; but those books which have not the internal sense, are not the Word. The books of the Word, in the Old Testament, are the five books of Moses, the book of Joshua, the book of Judges, the two books of Samuel, the two books of Kings, the Psalms of David, the prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi; and in the New Testament, the four evangelists, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John; and Revelation. The rest do not have an internal sense (n. 10325).
Providence
267. The government of the Lord in the heavens and in the earths is called providence; and because all the good of love and all the truth of faith, from which is salvation, are from him, and nothing at all from man, it is evident therefrom that the divine providence of the Lord is in each and all the things which conduce to the salvation of the human race. This the Lord thus teaches in John:
I am the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6);
As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it shall abide in the vine, so neither can ye, unless ye shall abide in me; without me ye cannot do anything (John 15:4, 5).
268. The divine providence of the Lord extends to the most minute things of a man’s life; for there is only one fountain of life, which is the Lord, from whom we are, we live, and we act.
269. They who think from worldly things concerning divine providence, conclude from them that it is only universal, and that the particulars appertain to man. But they do not know the arcana of heaven, for they form their conclusions only from the loves of self and of the world, and their pleasures; wherefore, when they see the evil exalted to honors, and acquire wealth more than the good, and also succeed in evils according to their arts, they say in their heart, that it would not be so if divine providence were in each and all things; but they do not consider that divine providence does not regard that which soon passes away, and ends with the life of man in the world, but that it regards that which remains to eternity, thus which has no end. What has no end, that is; but what has an end, that respectively is not. Let him who can, think whether a hundred thousand years are anything compared to eternity, and he will perceive that they are not; what then are some years of life in the world?
270. Everyone who rightly considers may know that eminence and opulence in the world are not real divine blessings, notwithstanding man, from his pleasure in them, calls them so; for they pass away, and also seduce many, and turn them away from heaven; but that eternal life, and its happiness, are real blessings, which are from the Divine; this the Lord also teaches in Luke:
Make to yourselves a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where the thief approacheth not, neither the moth corrupteth; for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also (Luke 12:33, 34).
271. The reason why the evil succeed in evils according to their arts is that it is according to Divine order that everyone should act what he acts from reason, and also from freedom; wherefore, unless man were left to act from freedom according to his reason, and thus unless the arts which are thence derived were to succeed, man could by no means be disposed to receive eternal life, for this is insinuated when man is in freedom, and his reason is enlightened. For no one can be compelled to good because nothing that is compelled inheres with him, for it is not his own; that becomes a man’s own, which is done from freedom according to his reason, and that is done from freedom which is done from the will or love, and the will or love is the man himself.
If a man were compelled to that which he does not will, his mind would continually incline to that which he wills; and besides, everyone strives after what is forbidden, and this from a latent cause, because he strives for freedom. Whence it is evident that unless man were kept in freedom, good could not be provided for him.
272. To leave man from his own freedom also to think, to will, and, so far as the laws do not restrain him, to do evil, is called permitting.
273. To be led to felicities in the world by arts, appears to man as if it were from his own prudence, but still the Divine providence continually accompanies by permitting and continually leading away from evil. But to be led to felicities in heaven is known and perceived to be not from man’s own prudence, because it is from the Lord, and is effected of his Divine providence by disposing and continually leading to good.
274. That this is so, man cannot comprehend from the light of nature, for from that light he does not know the laws of Divine order.
275. It is to be known that there is providence, and there is foresight; good is what is provided by the Lord, but evil is what is foreseen by the Lord. The one must accompany the other, for what comes from man is nothing but evil, but what comes from the Lord is nothing but good.
From Arcana Coelestia:
Since all the good which is provided for man by the Lord flows in, we will therefore adduce from Arcana Coelestia the particulars there concerning influx; and since the Lord provides all things according to Divine order, we will also adduce from that work the particulars concerning order.
276. Of providence. Providence is the government of the Lord in the heavens and on the earth (n. 10773). The Lord, from providence, rules all things according to order, and thus providence is government according to order (n. 1755, 2447). And he rules all things either from will or from leave, or from permission; thus in various respects according to man’s quality (n. 1755, 2447, 3704, 9940). Providence acts invisibly (n. 5508). Most things which are done from providence appeal to man as contingencies (n. 5508). Providence acts invisibly, in order that man may not be compelled to believe from visible things, and thus that his free will may not be injured; for unless man has freedom he cannot be reformed, thus he cannot be saved (n. 1937, 1947, 2876, 2881, 3854, 5508, 5982, 6477, 8209, 8987, 9588, 10409, 10777). The Divine providence does not regard temporary things which soon pass away, but eternal things (n. 5264, 8717, 10776; illustrated n. 6491).
They who do not comprehend this, believe that opulence and eminence in the world are the only things to be provided, and call such things blessings from the Divine, when nevertheless they are not regarded as blessings by the Lord, but only as means conducive to the life of man in the world; but that those things are regarded by the Lord which conduce to man’s eternal happiness (n. 10409, 10776). They who are in the Divine providence of the Lord, are led in each and all things to eternal happiness (n. 8478, 8480). They who ascribe all things to nature and man’s own prudence, and nothing to the Divine, do not think or comprehend this (n. 6481, 10409, 10775).
The divine providence of the Lord is not, as believed in the world, universal only, and the particulars and single thing dependent on man’s prudence (n. 8717, 10775). No universal exists but from and with single things, because single things taken together are called a universal, as particulars taken together are called a general (n. 1919, 6159, 6338, 6482-6484). Every universal is such as the single things of which it is formed, and with which it is (n. 917, 1040, 6483, 8857). The providence of the Lord is universal, because existing in the most single things (n. 1919, 2694, 4329, 5122, 5904, 6058, 6481-6486, 6490, 7004, 7007, 8717, 10774); confirmed from heaven (n. 6486). Unless the Divine providence of the Lord were universal, from and in the most single things, nothing could subsist (n. 6338). All things are disposed by it into order, and kept in order both in general and in particular (n. 6338). How the case herein is comparatively with that of a king on earth (n. 6482, 10800). Man’s own proper prudence is like a small speck of dirt in the universe, whilst the Divine providence is respectively as the universe itself (n. 6485). This can hardly be comprehended by men in the world (n. 8717, 10775, 10780). Because many fallacies assail them, and induce blindness (n. 6481). Of a certain person in the other life, who believed from confirmation in the world that all things were dependent on man’s own prudence, and nothing on the Divine providence; the things belonging to him appeared infernal (n. 6484).
The quality of the Lord’s providence with respect to evils (n. 6481, 6495, 6574, 10777, 10779). Evils are ruled by the Lord by the laws of permission, and they are permitted for the sake of order (n. 8700, 10778). The permission of evil by the Lord is not that of one who wills, but of one who does not will, but who cannot bring aid on account of the urgency of the end, which is salvation (n. 7887). To leave man from his own freedom to think and will evil, and so far as the laws do not forbid, to do evil, is to permit (n. 10778). That without freedom, thus without this permission, man could not be reformed, thus could not be saved, may be seen above in the doctrine of freedom (n. 141-149).
The Lord has providence and foresight, and the one does not exist without the other (n. 5195, 6489). Good is provided by the Lord, and evil foreseen (n. 5155, 5195, 6489, 10781).
There is no such thing as predestination or fate (n. 6487). All are predestined to heaven, and none to hell (n. 6488). Man is under no absolute necessity from providence but has full liberty, illustrated by comparison (n. 6487). The “elect” in the Word are they who are in the life of good, and thence of truth (n. 3755, 3900, 5057, 5058). How it is to be understood that “God would deliver one man into another’s hand” (Exod. 21:13) (n. 9010).
Fortune, which appears in the world wonderful in many circumstances, is an operation of the Divine providence in the ultimate of order, according to the quality of man’s state; and this may afford proof, that the Divine providence is in the most single of all things (n. 5049, 5179, 6493, 6494). This operation and its variations are from the spiritual world, proved from experience (n. 5179, 6493, 6494).
277. Of Influx. Of the influx of heaven into the world, and of the influx of the soul into all things of the body, from experience (n. 6053-6058, 6189-6215, 6307-6327, 6466-6495, 6598-6626). Nothing exists of or from itself, but from what is prior to itself, thus all things from the first (n. 4523, 4524, 6040, 6056). As all things existed, they also subsist, because subsistence is perpetual existence (n. 2886, 2888, 3627, 3628, 3648, 4523, 4524, 6040, 6056). Influx takes place according to that order (n. 7270). Hence it is plain that all things subsist perpetually from the first esse, because they exist from it (n. 4523, 4524, 6040, 6056). The all of life flows in from the first, because it is thence derived, thus from the Lord (n. 3001, 3318, 3337, 3338, 3344, 3484, 3628, 3629, 3741-3743, 4318-4320, 4417, 4524, 4882, 5847, 5986, 6325, 6468-6470, 6479, 9279, 10196). Every existere is from an esse, and nothing can exist unless its esse is in it (n. 4523, 4524, 6040, 6056).
All things which a man thinks and wills flow into him, from experience (n. 904, 2886-2888, 4151, 4319, 4320, 5846, 5848, 6189, 6191, 6194, 6197-6199, 6213, 7147, 10219). Man’s ability of examining things, and of thinking and forming analytic conclusions, is from influx (n. 2888, 4319, 4320). Man could not live a moment if the influx from the spiritual world were taken away from him; but still man is in freedom, from experience (n. 2887, 5849, 5854, 6321). The life which flows in from the Lord is varied according to man’s state and according to reception (n. 2069, 5986, 6472, 7343). With the evil, the good which flows from the Lord is turned into evil, and the truth into falsity, from experience (n. 3643, 4632). The good and truth, which continually flow from the Lord, are so far received, as evil and falsity do not oppose their reception (n. 2411, 3142, 3147, 5828).
All good flows in from the Lord, and all evil from hell (n. 904, 4151). At this day man believes all things to be in himself and from himself, when nevertheless they inflow, as he might know from the doctrinal of the church, that all good is from heaven, and all evil from hell (n. 4249, 6193, 6206). But if he would believe as the thing is, he would not appropriate evil to himself, but cast it back from himself into hell; neither would he make good his own, and thus would not claim any merit from it (n. 6206, 6324, 6325). How happy the state of man would then be, as he would view both good and evil from within, from the Lord (n. 6325). They who deny heaven, or know nothing about it, do not know there is any influx thence (n. 4322, 5649, 6193, 6479). What influx is, illustrated by comparisons (n. 6128, 6190, 9407).
Influx is spiritual, and not physical, thus it is from the spiritual world into the natural, and not from the natural world into the spiritual (n. 3219, 5119, 5259, 5427, 5428, 5477, 6322, 9109, 9110). Influx is through the internal man, into the external, and not contrariwise (n. 1702, 1707, 1940, 1954, 5119, 5259, 5779, 6322, 9380). Because the internal man is in the spiritual world, and the external in the natural world (n. 978, 1015, 3628, 4459, 4523, 4524, 6057, 6309, 9701-9709, 10156, 10472). It appears as if influx is from externals into internals; this is a fallacy (n. 3721). Influx is into man’s rational and through this into things scientific, and not contrariwise (n. 1495, 1707, 1940). The order of influx (n. 775, 880, 1096, 1495, 7270).
There is immediate influx from the Lord, and also mediate influx through the spiritual world or heaven (n. 6063, 6307, 6472, 9682, 9683). The immediate influx from the Lord enters into the most single of all things (n. 6058, 6474-6478, 8717, 8728). Of the mediate influx of the Lord through heaven (n. 4067, 6982, 6985, 6996). It is effected through the spirits and angels who are adjoined to man (n. 697, 5846-5866). The Lord, by means of angels, flows into the ends from which, and for the sake of which, a man so thinks, wills, and acts (n. 1317, 1645, 5846, 5854). And thus into those things which are of conscience with man (n. 6207, 6213). But by means of spirits into the thoughts, and thence into the things of the memory (n. 4186, 5854, 5858, 6192, 6193, 6198, 6199, 6319). This can with difficulty be believed by man (n. 6214). How the Lord inflows into firsts and at the same time into ultimates, or into inmosts and at the same time into outmosts (n. 5147, 5150, 6473, 7004, 7007, 7270). The influx of the Lord is into good with man, and through good into truth, and not contrariwise (n. 5482, 5649, 6027, 8685, 8701, 10153). Good gives the faculty of receiving influx from the Lord, but not truth without good (n. 8321). It is not what enters the thought, but what enters the will, that is hurtful, because this is appropriated to the man (n. 6308). The Divine in the highest is tacit and pacific, but as it descends toward lower things in man, it becomes unpacific and tumultuous, on account of the things therein being in disorder (n. 8823). The quality of the Lord’s influx with the prophets (n. 6212).
There is a general influx, its quality (n. 5850). It is a continual effort of acting according to order (n. 6211). This influx takes place into the lives of animals (n. 5850). And also into the subjects of the vegetable kingdom (n. 3648). That thought is formed into speech and will into gestures with man, according to this general influx (n. 5862, 5990, 6192, 6211).
278. Of the influx of life with man in particular. There is only one fountain of life, from which all live both in heaven and in the world (n. 1954, 2021, 2536, 2658, 2886-2889, 3001, 3484, 3742, 5847, 6467). This life is from the Lord alone, illustrated by various things (n. 2886-2889, 3344, 3484, 4319, 4320, 4524, 4882, 5986, 6325, 6468-6470, 9276, 10196). That the Lord is life itself, may be seen (John 1:1, 4; 5:26; 14:6). Life from the Lord flows in with angels, spirits, and men, in a wonderful manner (n. 2886-2889, 3337, 3338, 3484, 3742). The Lord flows in from his Divine love, which is such that it wills that what is its own should be another’s (n. 3742, 4320). All love is such; thus the Divine love is infinitely more so (n. 1820, 1865, 2253, 6872). Hence life appears as if it were in man, and not as inflowing (n. 3742, 4320). Life appears as if it were in man, because the principal cause, which is life from the Lord, and the instrumental cause, which is the recipient form, act as one cause, which is felt in the instrumental (n. 6325). The chief of the wisdom and intelligence of the angels consists in perceiving and knowing that the all of life is from the Lord (n. 4318). Concerning the joy of angels perceived and shown by their discourse to me, from this that they do not live from themselves, but from the Lord (n. 6469). The evil are not willing to be convinced that life inflows (n. 3743). Doubts concerning the influx of life from the Lord cannot be removed, so long as fallacies, ignorance, and the negative reign (n. 6479).
All in the church know that all good and truth is from heaven, that is, through heaven from the Lord, and that all evil and falsity is from hell; and yet the all of life has relation to good and truth, and to evil and falsity, there being nothing of life without them (n. 2893, 4151). The doctrinal of the church derived from the Word teaches the same thing (n. 4249). Nevertheless man does not believe that life inflows (n. 4249). If communication and connection with spirits and angels were taken away, man would instantly die (n. 2887). It is evident from hence, that the all of life flows in from the first esse of life, because nothing exists from itself, but from things prior to itself, thus each and all things exist from the first; and because everything must subsist from the same source from which it first existed, since subsistence is perpetual existence (n. 4523, 4524). Angels, spirits, and men were created to receive life, thus they are only forms recipient of life (n. 2021, 3001, 3318, 3344, 3484, 3742, 4151, 5114, 5986). Their forms are such as the quality of their reception (n. 2888, 3001, 3484, 5847, 5986, 6467, 6472). Men, spirits, and angels are therefore such as are their forms recipient of life from the Lord (n. 2888, 5847, 5986, 6467, 6472). Man is so created, that in his inmost, and hence in those which follow in order, he can receive the Divine, and be elevated to the Divine, and be conjoined with the Divine by the good of love and the truths of faith, and on this account he lives to eternity, otherwise than beasts (n. 5114).
Life from the Lord flows in also with the evil, thus also with those who are in hell (n. 2706, 3743, 4417, 10196). But they turn good into evil and truth into falsity, and thus life into spiritual death, for such as the man is, such is his reception of life (n. 4319, 4320, 4417). Goods and truths from the Lord also continually inflow with them, but they either reject, suffocate, or pervert them (n. 3743). They who are in evils, and thence in falsities, have no real life; the quality of their life (n. 726, 4623, 4747, 10284, 10286).
279. Of Order. The Divine truth proceeding from the Lord is the source of order, and the Divine good is the essential of order (n. 1728, 2258, 8700, 8988). The Lord is order, since the Divine good and the Divine truth are from the Lord, yea, are the Lord, in the heavens and on earth (n. 1919, 2011, 5110, 5703, 10336, 10619). Divine truths are the laws of order (n. 2447, 7995). Where order is, the Lord is present, but where order is not, the Lord is not present (n. 5703). As the Divine truth is order, and the Divine good the essential of order, therefore each and all things in the universe have relation to good and truth, that they may be anything, because they have relation to order (n. 2452, 3166, 4390, 4409, 5232, 7256, 10122, 10555). Good, because it is the essential of order, disposes truths into order, and not vice versa (n. 3316, 3470, 4302, 5704, 5709, 6028, 6690). The entire heaven, as to all the angelic societies, is arranged by the Lord according to his Divine order, because the Divine of the Lord with the angels makes heaven (n. 3038, 7211, 9128, 9338, 10125, 10151, 10157). Hence the form of heaven is a form according to Divine order (n. 4040-4043, 6607, 9877).
So far as man lives according to order, thus so far as he lives in good according to Divine truths, which are the laws of order, so far is he a man (n. 4839). Yea, as far as a man thus lives, so far he appears in the other life as a perfect and beautiful man, but so far as he does not thus live, so far he appears as a monster (n. 4839, 6605, 6626). Hence it appears that all things of Divine order are collected together in man, and that from creation he is Divine order in form (n. 4219, 4220, 4223, 4523, 4524, 5114, 5368, 6013, 6057, 6605, 6626, 9706, 10156, 10742). Every angel is in the human form because he is a recipient of Divine order from the Lord, perfect and beautiful according to reception (n. 322, 1880, 1881, 3633, 3804, 4622, 4735, 4797, 4985, 5199, 5530, 6054, 9879, 10177, 10594). The angelic heaven also in its whole complex is in the human form, because the whole heaven as to all its angelic societies is disposed by the Lord according to Divine order (n. 2996, 2998, 3624-3629, 3636-3643, 3741-3745, 4625). Hence it is evident that the Divine human is the source from which all these things are derived (n. 2996-2998, 3624-3649, 3741-3745). Hence also it follows that the Lord is the only man, and that they are men who receive the Divine from him (n. 1894). So far as they receive it, so far they are images of the Lord (n. 8547).
Man is not born into good and truth, but into evil and falsity, thus not into Divine order, but into what is contrary to order, and on this account into mere ignorance, and he ought therefore necessarily to be born anew, that is regenerated, which is done by Divine truths from the Lord, and by a life according to them, to the intent that he may be inaugurated into order, and thus become a man (n. 1047, 2307, 2308, 3518, 3812, 8480, 8550, 10283, 10284, 10286, 10731). When the Lord regenerates man, he disposes all things with him according to order, that is, according to the form of heaven (n. 5700, 6690, 9931, 10303). The man who is led by the Lord, is led according to Divine order (n. 8512). The interiors which are of the mind are open into heaven, even to the Lord, with the man who is in Divine order, but shut with him who is not in Divine order (n. 8513). So far as man lives according to order, so far he has intelligence and wisdom (n. 2592).
The Lord rules the firsts and the ultimates of order, and the firsts from the ultimates and the ultimates from the firsts; and thus keeps all things in connection and order (n. 3702, 3739, 6040, 6056, 9828). Of successive order, and of the ultimate of order, in which things successive are together in their order (n. 634, 3691, 4145, 5114, 5897, 6239, 6326, 6465, 8603, 9215, 9216, 9828, 9836, 10044, 10099, 10329, 10335).
Evils and falsities are contrary to order, and still they are ruled by the Lord, not according to order, but from order (n. 4839, 7877, 10778). Evils and falsities are ruled by the laws of permission, and this is for the sake of order (n. 7877, 8700, 10778). What is contrary to Divine order is impossible, as that a man who lives in evil can be saved from mercy alone, as likewise that the evil can be consociated with the good in the other life, and many other things (n. 8700).
The Lord
280. There is one God, who is the creator and conservator of the universe; thus who is the God of heaven and the God of the earth.
281. There are two things which make the life of heaven with man, the good of love and the truth of faith. Man has this life from God, and nothing at all of it is from man. Therefore the primary principle of the church is to acknowledge God, to believe in God, and to love him.
282. They who are born within the church ought to acknowledge the Lord, his Divine and his human, and to believe in him and love him; for all salvation is from the Lord. This the Lord teaches in John:
He that believeth on the son hath eternal life; and he that believeth not the son shall not see life; but the anger of God abideth on him (3:36).
This is the will of him that sent me, that everyone which seeth the son, and believeth on him, may have eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day (6:40).
Jesus said, I am the resurrection and the life; he that believeth in me though he die, shall live; but whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall not die to eternity (11:25, 26).
283. Therefore, they within the church who do not acknowledge the Lord and his Divine, cannot be conjoined to God, and thus cannot have any lot with the angels in heaven; for no one can be conjoined to God but from the Lord, and in the Lord. That no one can be conjoined to God but from the Lord, the Lord teaches in John:
No one hath seen God at any time; the only-begotten son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath manifested him (1:20).
Ye have never head the voice of the Father, nor seen his shape (5:37).
In Matthew:
No one knoweth the Father but the son, and he to whom the son will reveal him (11:27).
And in John:
I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one cometh to the Father but by me (14:6).
The reason why no one can be conjoined to God but in the Lord is that the Father is in him, and they are one, as he also teaches in John:
If ye know me, ye know my Father also; he who seeth me seeth the Father; Philip, believest thou not that I am in the Father and the Father in me? Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father in me (14:7-11).
The Father and I are One; that ye may know and believe that I am in the Father and the Father in me (10:30, 38).
284. Because the Father is in the Lord, and the Father and the Lord are one; and because we must believe in him, and he that believes in him has eternal life, it is evident that the Lord is God. That the Lord is God, the Word teaches, as in John:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word; all things were made by him, and without him was not anything made which was made; and the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw his glory, the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father (1:1, 3, 14).
In Isaiah:
A boy is born to us, a son is given to us, on whose shoulder is the government, and his name shall be called God, Hero, the Father of Eternity, the Prince of Peace (9:6).
A virgin shall conceive and bring forth, and his name shall be called God with us (7:14; Matt. 1:23).
And in Jeremiah:
Behold the days shall come when I will raise up to David a just Branch, who shall reign King, and shall prosper; and this is his name which they shall call him, Jehovah our Justice (23:5, 6; 33:15, 16).
285. All they who are of the church, and in light from heaven, see the Divine in the Lord; but they who are not in light from heaven, see nothing but the human in the Lord; when yet the Divine and the human are in him so united, that they are one; as the Lord also taught in another place in John:
Father, all mine are thine, and all thine mine (17:10).
286. That the Lord was conceived from Jehovah the Father, and thus was God from conception, is known in the church; and also that he rose again with the whole body, for he left nothing in the sepulcher; of which he also afterwards confirmed the disciples, saying:
See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself; feel me and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see me have (Luke 24:39).
And although he was man as to flesh and bones, still he entered through the closed doors, and, after he had manifested himself, became invisible (John 20:19, 26; Luke 24:31). The case is otherwise with every man, for man only rises again, as to the spirit, and not as to the body, wherefore when he said, that he is not as a spirit, he said that he is not as another man. Hence it is evident that the human in the Lord is also Divine.
287. Every man has his esse of life, which is called his soul, from the father; the existere of life thence derived is what is called the body; hence the body is the effigy of its soul, for the soul, by means of the body, exercises its life at will. Hence it is that men are born into the likeness of their parents, and that families are distinguished from each other. From this it is evident what was the quality of the body or human of the Lord, namely, that it was as the Divine itself, which was the esse of his life, or the soul from the Father, wherefore he said:
He that seeth me, seeth the Father (John 14:9).
288. That the Divine and human of the Lord is one Person, is from the faith received in the whole Christian world, which is to this effect:
Although Christ is God and man, still he is not two, but one Christ; yea, he is altogether one and a single Person; because as the body and the soul are one man, so also God and man are one Christ.
This is from the Athanasian creed.
289. They who, concerning the divinity, have the idea of three persons, cannot have the idea of one God; if with the mouth they say one, still they think three; but they who, concerning the divinity, have the idea of three in one person, can have the idea of one God, and can say one God, and also think one God.
290. The idea of three in one person derives from the thought that the Father is in the Lord, and that the Holy Spirit proceeds from him; the trinity is then in the Lord, the Divine itself which is called the Father, and the Divine human which is called the son, and the Divine proceeding which is called the Holy Spirit.
291. Because all the Divine is in the Lord, therefore he has all power in the heavens and in the earths; which he also says in John:
The Father hath given all things into the hand of the son (3:35). The Father hath given to the son power over all flesh (17:2).
In Matthew:
All things are delivered to me by the Father (11:27).
All power is given to me in heaven and in earth (28:18).
Such power is Divine.
292. They who make the human of the Lord like the human of another man, do not think of his conception from the Divine itself, nor do they consider that the body of everyone is an effigy of his soul. Neither do they think of his resurrection with the whole body; nor of his appearance when he was transformed, that his face shone as the sun. Neither do they think, respecting those things which the Lord said concerning faith in him, concerning his unity with the Father, concerning his glorification, and concerning his power over heaven and earth, that these are Divine, and were said of his human. Neither do they remember that the Lord is omnipresent also as to his human (Matt. 28:20); when yet the faith of his omnipresence in the holy supper is thence derived; omnipresence is Divine. Yea, perhaps they do not think that the Divine, which is called the Holy Spirit, proceeds from his human; when yet it proceeds from his glorified human, for it is said:
The Holy Spirit was not yet, because Jesus was not yet glorified (John 7:39).
293. The Lord came into the world that he might save the human race, which otherwise would have perished in eternal death; and he saved them by this, that he subjugated the hells, which infested every man coming into the world and going out of the world; and at the same time by this, that he glorified his human; for thus he can keep the hells in subjugation to eternity. The subjugation of the hells, and the glorification of his human at the same time, were effected by means of temptations admitted into the human which he had from the mother, and by continual victories therein. His passion on the cross was the last temptation and full victory.
294. That the Lord subjugated the hells, he himself teaches in John; when the passion of the cross was at hand, then Jesus said:
Now is the judgment of this world; now the prince of this world shall be cast out (12:27, 28, 31).
Have confidence, I have overcome the world (16:33).
And in Isaiah:
Who is this that cometh from Edom, going on in the multitude of his strength, great to save? My own arm brought salvation to me; so he became to them for a Savior (63:1-19; 59:16-21).
That he glorified his human, and that the passion of the cross was the last temptation and full victory, by which he glorified it, he teaches also in John:
After Judas went out, Jesus said, Now is the son of man glorified, and God will glorify him in himself, and will immediately glorify him (13:31, 32).
Father, the hour has come; glorify thy son, that thy son also may glorify thee (17:1, 5).
Now is my soul troubled; Father, glorify thy name; and a voice came out from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again (12:27, 28).
And in Luke:
Ought not Christ to suffer this, and to enter into his glory? (24:26).
These words were said in relation to his passion; “to glorify” is to make Divine. Hence, now, it is manifest, that, unless the Lord had come into the world, and been made man, and in this manner had liberated from hell all those who believe in him and love him, no mortal could be saved; this is understood by the saying that without the Lord there is no salvation.
295. When the Lord fully glorified his human, he then put off the human from the mother, and put on the human from the Father, which is the Divine human, wherefore he was then no longer the son of Mary.
296. The first and primary principle of the church is to know and acknowledge its God; for without that knowledge and acknowledgment there is no conjunction; thus, in the church, without the acknowledgment of the Lord. This the Lord teaches in John:
He who believeth in the son hath eternal life, but he who believeth not the son shall not see life, but the anger of God abideth with him (3:36).
Except ye believe that I am, ye shall die in your sins (8:24).
297. That there is a trine in the Lord, namely, the Divine itself, the Divine human, and the Divine proceeding, is an arcanum from heaven, and is for those who will be in the holy Jerusalem.
From Arcana Coelestia:
298. The Divine was in the Lord from his very conception. The Lord had the Divine from the Father (n. 4641, 4963, 5041, 5157, 6716, 10125). The Lord alone had Divine seed (n. 1438). His soul was Jehovah (n. 1999, 2004, 2005, 2018, 2025). Thus the inmost of the Lord was the Divine itself, the covering was from the mother (n. 5041). The Divine itself was the Lord’s esse of life from which the human afterwards went forth, and became an existere from that esse (n. 3194, 3210, 10270, 10372).
299. The Divine of the Lord is to be acknowledged. Within the church where the Word is, and where the Lord is thereby known, the Divine of the Lord ought not to be denied, nor the holy proceeding from him (n. 2359). They within the church who do not acknowledge the Lord have no conjunction with the Divine, which is not the case with those who are out of the church (n. 10205).
It is an essential of the church to acknowledge the Divine of the Lord, and his unition with the Father (n. 10083, 10112, 10370, 10730, 10738, 10816-10818, 10820).
300. The Lord glorified his human in the world. The glorification of the Lord is treated of in many places in the Word (n. 10828); and everywhere in the internal sense (n. 2249, 2523, 3245). The Lord glorified his human, but not his Divine, as this was glorified in itself (n. 10057). The Lord came into the world to glorify his human (n. 3637, 4287, 9315). The Lord glorified his human by the Divine which was in him from conception (n. 4727). The idea of the regeneration of man may give an idea of the glorification of the Lord’s human, since the Lord regenerates man in the same manner as he glorified his human (n. 3043, 3138, 3212, 3296, 3490, 4402, 5688). Some of the arcana respecting the glorification of the Lord’s human (n. 10057). The Lord saved the human race by glorifying his human (n. 1676, 4180). Concerning the Lord’s state of glorification and humiliation (n. 1785, 1999, 2159, 6866). Glorification, when predicated of the Lord, is the unition of his human with the Divine, and to glorify is to make Divine (n. 1603, 10053, 10828).
301. The Lord from his human subjugated the hells when he was in the world. The Lord, when he was in the world, subjugated all the hells, and he then reduced all things to order both in the heavens and in the hells (n. 4075, 4287, 9937). The Lord then delivered the spiritual world from the antediluvians (n. 1266). What quality they were of (n. 310, 311, 560, 562, 563, 570, 581, 607, 660, 805, 808, 1034, 1120, 1265-1272). By the subjugation of the hells, and the glorification of his human at the same time, the Lord saved mankind (n. 4180, 10019, 10152, 10655, 10659, 10828).
302. The glorification of the Lord’s human, and the subjugation of the hells, were effected by temptations. The Lord more than all endured the most grievous temptations (n. 1663, 1668, 1787, 2776, 2786, 2795, 2816, 4295, 9528). The Lord fought from his Divine love toward the human race (n. 1690, 1691, 1812, 1813, 1820). The Lord’s love was the salvation of the human race (n. 1820). The hells fought against the Lord’s love (n. 1820). The Lord alone, from his own proper power, fought against the hells and overcame them (n. 1692, 1813, 2816, 4295, 8273, 9937). Thence the Lord alone became justice and merit (n. 1813, 2025-2027, 9715, 9809, 10019). The last temptation of the Lord was in Gethsemane and on the cross, at which time he gained a full victory, by which he subjugated the hells, and at the same time glorified his human (n. 2776, 2803, 2813, 2814, 10655, 10659, 10828). The Lord could not be tempted as to the Divine itself (n. 2795, 2803, 2813, 2814). Therefore he assumed an infirm human from the mother, into which he admitted temptations (n. 1414, 1444, 1573, 5041, 5157, 7193, 9315). By means of temptations and victories he expelled all that was hereditary from the mother, and put off the human which he had from her, till at length he was no longer her son (n. 2159, 2574, 2649, 3036, 10830). Jehovah, who was in him, appeared in temptations as if absent, and this so far as he was in the human from the mother (n. 1815). This state was the Lord’s state of humiliation (n. 1785, 1999, 2159, 6866). The Lord by temptations and victories arranged all things in the heavens into order (n. 4287, 4295, 9528, 9937). By the same means he also united his human with his Divine, that is, he glorified his human (n. 1725, 1729, 1733, 1737, 3318, 3381, 3382, 4286, 4287, 4295, 9528, 9937).
303. The Lord’s human, when he was in the world, was Divine truth. The Lord, when he was in the world, made his human Divine truth from the Divine good which was in him (n. 2803, 3194, 3195, 3210, 6716, 6864, 7014, 7499, 8127, 8724, 9199). The Lord then arranged all things in himself into a heavenly form, which is according to the Divine truth (n. 1928, 3633).
Consequently, that heaven was then in the Lord, and the Lord was as heaven (n. 911, 1900, 1928, 3624-3631, 3634, 3884, 4041, 4279, 4523-4525, 6013, 6057, 6690, 9279, 9632, 9931, 10303). The Lord spoke from the Divine truth itself (n. 8127). Therefore the Lord spoke in the Word by correspondences (n. 3131, 3472-3485, 8615, 10687). Hence the Lord is the Word, and is called the Word, which is the Divine truth (n. 2533, 2813, 2859, 2894, 3393, 3712). In the Word “the son of man” signifies the Divine truth, and “the Father” the Divine good (n. 2803, 3704, 7499, 8724, 9194). Because the Lord was the Divine truth, he was the Divine wisdom (n. 2500, 2572). The Lord alone had perception and thought from himself, above all angelic perception and thought (n. 1904, 1914, 1919). The Divine truth could be tempted, but not the Divine good (n. 2814).
304. The Lord united the Divine truth to the Divine good, thus his human to the Divine itself. The Lord was instructed as another man (n. 1457, 1461, 2523, 3030). The Lord successively advanced to union with the Father (n. 1864, 2033, 2632, 3141, 4585, 7014, 10076). So far as the Lord was united with the Father, so far he spoke as with himself; but at other times as with another (n. 1745, 1999, 7058). The Lord united his human with the Divine from his own power (n. 1616, 1749, 1752, 1813, 1921, 2025, 2026, 2523, 3141, 5005, 5045, 6716). The Lord united the Divine truth, which was himself, with the Divine good which was in himself (n. 10047, 10052, 10076). The unition was reciprocal (n. 2004, 10067). The Lord, when he went out of the world, made his human the Divine good (n. 3194, 3210, 6864, 7499, 8724, 9199, 10076). Thus he came forth from the Father, and returned to the Father (n. 3194, 3210). Thus he became one with the Father (n. 2751, 3704, 4766). The Lord, in his unition with the Divine itself which was in him, regarded the conjunction of himself with the human race (n. 2034). After the unition, the Divine truth proceeds from the Lord (n. 3704, 3712, 3969, 4577, 5704, 7499, 8127, 8241, 9199, 9398). How the Divine truth proceeds, illustrated (n. 7270, 9407).
Unless the Divine had been in the Lord’s human from conception, the human could not have been united with the Divine itself, on account of the ardor of the infinite love in which the Divine itself is (n. 6849). Therefore no angel can ever be united with the Divine itself except at a distance, and by means of a veiling; for otherwise he would be consumed (n. 6849). The Divine love is of such a quality (n. 8644). Hence it may appear that the human of the Lord was not like the human of another man (n. 10125, 10826). His union with the Father, from whom was his soul, was not like a union between two, but like that between soul and body (n. 3737, 10824). Union is said of the Lord’s human and the Divine, but conjunction between man and the Divine (n. 2021).
305. Thus the Lord made his human Divine. The human of the Lord is Divine, because it was from the esse of the Father, which was his soul, illustrated by the likeness of a father and children (n. 10269, 10372, 10823). And because it was from the Divine love which was in him (n. 6872). Every man is such as his love is, and he is his own love (n. 6872, 10177, 10284). The Lord was the Divine love (n. 2077, 2253). The Lord made all his human, both the internal and the external, Divine (n. 1603, 1815, 1902, 1926, 2093, 2803). Therefore he rose again as to the whole body, differently from any man (n. 1729, 2083, 5078, 10825). That the Lord’s human is Divine, is acknowledged from the omnipresence of his human in the holy supper (n. 2343, 2359). And it is evident from his transfiguration before the three disciples (n. 3212). And likewise from the Word (n. 10154). And he was there called Jehovah (n. 1603, 1736, 1815, 1902, 2921, 3035, 5110, 6281, 6303, 8864, 9194, 9315). In the sense of the letter there is a distinction made between the Father and the son, or Jehovah and the Lord, but not in the internal sense, in which the angels are (n. 3035). The Christian world does not acknowledge the human of the Lord to be Divine, in consequence of a decree passed by a council in favor of the Pope, that he might be acknowledged as the Lord’s vicar; from conversation with them in another life (n. 4738).
The Divine human from eternity was the Divine truth in heaven, thus the Divine existere, which was afterwards made in the Lord the Divine esse, from which is the Divine existere in heaven (n. 3061, 6280, 6880, 10579). The previous state of heaven described (n. 6371-6373). The Divine was not perceptible, and therefore not capable of being received, until it passed through heaven (n. 6982, 6996, 7004). The Lord from eternity was the Divine truth in heaven (n. 2803, 3195, 3704). This is the son of God born from eternity (n. 2628, 2798).
In heaven no other Divine is perceived but the Divine human (n. 6475, 9303, 9356, 9571, 10067). The most ancient people could not adore the infinite esse, but the infinite existere, which is the Divine human (n. 4687, 5321). The ancients acknowledged the Divine, because it appeared in a human form, and this was the Divine human (n. 5110, 5663, 6846, 10737). The inhabitants of all the earths adore the Divine under a human form, and they rejoice when they hear that God actually became man (n. 6700, 8541-8547, 9361, 10736-10738). See also Earths in Our Solar System, and in the Starry Heaven. God cannot be thought of, but in a human form, and that which is incomprehensible cannot fall into any idea (n. 9359, 9972). Man can worship what he has some idea of, but not what he has no idea of (n. 4733, 5110, 5663, 7211, 9356, 10067). Therefore the Divine is worshiped under a human form by most in the whole globe, and this is through an influx from heaven (n. 10159). All who are in good as to life, when they think of the Lord, think of a Divine human, but not of the human separated from the Divine (n. 2326, 4724, 4731, 4766, 8878, 9193, 9198). They in the church at this day who are in evil as to life, and they who are in faith separate from charity, think of the human of the Lord without the Divine, and do not comprehend what the Divine human is, the causes thereof (n. 3212, 3241, 4689, 4692, 4724, 4731, 5321, 6371, 8878, 9193, 9198).
306. The trinity is in the Lord. Christians were examined in the other life concerning the idea they had of one God, and it was found that they had an idea of three Gods (n. 2329, 5256, 10736-10738, 10821). The Divine trinity may be conceived of in one person, and thus as one God, but not in three persons (n. 10738, 10821, 10822). The trinity in one person, thus in the Lord, is the Divine itself, which is called the Father; the Divine human, which is called the son; and the Divine proceeding, which is called the Holy Spirit; thus the trinity is one (n. 2149, 2156, 2288, 2321, 2329, 2447, 3704, 6993, 7182, 10738, 10822, 10823). The Divine Trinity in the Lord is acknowledged in heaven (n. 14, 15, 1729, 2005, 5256, 9303).
The Lord is one with the Father, thus he is the Divine itself, and the Divine human (n. 1729, 2004, 2005, 2018, 2025, 2751, 3704, 3736, 4766). His Divine proceeding is also his Divine in heaven, which is called the Holy Spirit (n. 3969, 4673, 6788, 6993, 7499, 8127, 8302, 9199, 9228, 9229, 9278, 9407, 9818, 9820, 10330). Thus the Lord is the one and only God (n. 1607, 2149, 2156, 2329, 2447, 2751, 3194, 3704, 3712, 3938, 4577, 4687, 5321, 6280, 6371, 6849, 6993, 7014, 7091, 7182, 7209, 8241, 8724, 8760, 8864, 8865, 9194, 9303).
307. Of the Lord in heaven. The Lord appears in heaven both as a sun and a moon; as a sun to those who are in the celestial kingdom, and as a moon to those who are in the spiritual kingdom (n. 1053, 1521, 1529-1531, 3636, 3641, 4321, 5097, 7078, 7083, 7173, 7270, 8812, 10809). The light which proceeds from the Lord as a sun is the Divine truth, from which the angels derive all their wisdom and intelligence (n. 1053, 1521-1533, 2776, 3138, 3195, 3222, 3223, 3225, 3339, 3341, 3636, 3643, 3993, 4180, 4302, 4415, 5400, 9399, 9407, 9548, 9571, 9684). And the heat which proceeds from the Lord as a sun is the Divine good, from which the angels derive their love (n. 3338, 3636, 3643, 5215).
The Lord’s Divine itself is far above his Divine in heaven (n. 7270, 8760). The Divine truth is not in the Lord, but proceeds from the Lord, as light is not in the sun, but proceeds from the sun (n. 3969). Esse is in the Lord, and existere from the Lord (n. 3938). The Lord is the common center to which all the angels in heaven turn (n. 3633, 9828, 10130, 10189). Nevertheless the angels do not turn themselves to the Lord, but the Lord turns them to himself (n. 10189); because the angels are not present with the Lord, but the Lord is present with the angels (n. 9415). The Lord’s presence with the angels is according to their reception of the good of love and charity from him (n. 904, 4198, 4206, 4211, 4320, 6280, 6832, 7042, 8819, 9680, 9682, 9683, 10106, 10810). The Lord is present with all in heaven, and also in hell (n. 2776, 3642, 3644). The Lord from his Divine love wishes to draw all men to himself into heaven (n. 6645). The Lord is in a continual endeavor of conjunction with man, but the influx and conjunction are impeded by the loves of man’s proprium (n. 2041, 2053, 2411, 5696).
The Divine human of the Lord flows into heaven, and makes heaven, and there is no conjunction with the Divine itself in heaven, but with the Divine human (n. 3038, 4211, 4724, 5663). And the Divine human flows in with men out of heaven and through heaven (n. 1925). The Lord is the all of heaven, and the life of heaven (n. 7211, 9128). The Lord dwells with the angels in what is his own (n. 9338, 10125, 10151, 10157). Hence they who are in heaven are in the Lord (n. 3637, 3638). Heaven corresponds to the Divine human of the Lord, and man as to each and all things, corresponds to heaven, whence heaven in general is as one man, and is therefore called the greatest man (n. 2988, 2996, 3624-3629, 3636-3643, 3741-3745, 4625). The Lord is the only man, and they only are men who receive the Divine from him (n. 1894). So far as they receive, so far they become images of the Lord (n. 8547). The angels are forms of love and charity in a human form, and this is from the Lord (n. 3804, 3735, 4797, 4985, 5199, 5530, 9879, 10177).
308. All good and truth are from the Lord. The Lord is good itself and truth itself (n. 2011, 5110, 10336, 10619). All good and truth, consequently all peace, innocence, love, charity, and faith, are from the Lord (n. 1614, 2016, 2751, 2882, 2883, 2891, 2892, 2904). And all wisdom and intelligence are from him (n. 109, 112, 121, 124). Nothing but good comes from the Lord, but the evil turn the good which is from the Lord into evil (n. 7643, 7679, 7710, 8632). The angels know that all good and truth are from the Lord, but the evil are not willing to know this (n. 6193, 9128). The angels at the presence of the Lord are more in good, but the infernals at the presence of the Lord are more in evils (n. 7989). The evil cast themselves into hell at the mere presence of the Lord (n. 8137, 8265). The Lord judges all from good (n. 2335). The Lord regards all from mercy (n. 223). The Lord is never angry with anyone, nor does evil to anyone, and does not send anyone to hell (n. 245, 1683, 2335, 8632). In what sense those parts of the Word are to be understood, where it is said that Jehovah or the Lord is angry, that he kills, that he casts into hell, and other things of the like nature (n. 592, 696, 1093, 1874, 1875, 2395, 2447, 3605, 3607, 3614, 6071, 6997).
309. The Lord has all power in the heavens and on earth. The entire heaven is the Lord’s (n. 2751, 7086). And he has all power in the heavens and on earth (n. 1607, 10089, 10827). As the Lord rules the whole heaven, he also rules all things which depend thereon, thus all things in the world (n. 2026, 2027, 4523, 4524). He also rules the hells (n. 3642). The Lord rules all things from the Divine, by the Divine human (n. 8864, 8865). The Lord rules all things according to Divine order, and the Divine order has relation to those things which are of his will, to those things which are done from leave, and to those things which are done from permission (n. 1755, 2447, 6574, 9940); concerning order, see above (n. 279). The Lord rules ultimates from firsts, and firsts from ultimates, and this is the reason why he is called “the first and the last” (n. 3702, 6040, 6056). The Lord alone has the power of removing the hells, of withholding from evils, and of keeping in good, thus of saving (n. 10019). Judgment belongs to the Lord (n. 2319-2321, 10810, 10811). What the Lord’s priesthood is, and what his royalty is (n. 1728, 2015).
310. In what manner some expressions in the Word, which relate to the Lord, are to be understood. What is meant by “the seed of the woman,” in the prophecy concerning the Lord (n. 256). What “the son of man” and “the son of God” signify in the Word (n. 2159, 2813). What the two names “Jesus Christ” signify (n. 3004-3011). What is signified by the Lord’s being said to be “sent by the Father” (n. 2397, 6831, 10561). How it is to be understood that the Lord bore the iniquities of all (n. 9937). How it is to be understood that the Lord redeemed man by his blood (n. 10152). How it is to be understood that the Lord fulfilled all things of the law (n. 10239). How it is to be understood that the Lord intercedes for man (n. 2250, 8573, 8705). How it is to be understood, that without the Lord there is no salvation (n. 10828). Salvation is not effected by looking to the Father, or by praying to him to have mercy for the sake of his son; for the Lord says, “I am the way, the truth, and life; no one cometh to the Father but by me” (John 14:6; n. 2854). The contradictions which are involved in the received faith, that the Lord reconciled the human race to the Father, by the passion of the cross (n. 10659).
The coming of the Lord is his presence in the Word (n. 3900, 4060). The Lord does not desire glory from man for the sake of himself, but of man’s salvation (n. 5957, 10646). Wherever the name “Lord” occurs in the Word, it signifies the Divine good (n. 4973, 9167, 9194). Where the name “Christ” occurs, it signifies the Divine truth (n. 3004-3009).
The true acknowledgment and true worship of the Lord is to do his commandments, shown from the Word (n. 10143, 10153, 10578, 10645, 10829).
Ecclesiastical and civil government
311. There are two things which ought to be in order with men, namely, the things which are of heaven, and the things which are of the world. The things which are of heaven are called ecclesiastical, and those which are of the world are called civil.
312. Order cannot be maintained in the world without governors, who are to observe all things which are done according to order, and which are done contrary to order; and who are to reward those who live according to order, and punish those who live contrary to order. If this be not done, the human race will perish; for the will to command others, and to possess the goods of others, from heredity is connate with everyone, whence proceed enmities, envyings, hatreds, revenges, deceits, cruelties, and many other evils. Wherefore, unless they were kept under restraint by the laws, and by rewards suited to their loves, which are honors and gains for those who do goods; and by punishments contrary to those loves, which are the loss of honors, of possessions, and of life, for those who do evils; the human race would perish.
313. There must therefore be governors to keep the assemblages of men in order, who should be skilled in the law, wise, and who fear God. There must also be order among the governors, lest anyone, from caprice or ignorance, should permit evils which are contrary to order, and thereby destroy it. This is guarded against when there are superior and inferior governors, among whom there is subordination.
314. Governors over those things with men which relate to heaven, or over ecclesiastical affairs, are called priests, and their office is called the priesthood. But governors over those things with men which relate to the world, or over civil affairs, are called magistrates, and their chief, where such a form of government prevails, is called king.
315. With respect to the priests, they ought to teach men the way to heaven, and also to lead them; they ought to teach them according to the doctrine of their church from the Word, and to lead them to live according to it. Priests who teach truths, and thereby lead to the good of life, and so to the Lord, are good shepherds of the sheep; but they who teach and do not lead to the good of life, and so to the Lord, are evil shepherds.
316. Priests ought not to claim to themselves any power over the souls of men, because they do not know in what state the interiors of a man are; still less ought they to claim the power of opening and shutting heaven, since that power belongs to the Lord alone.
317. Dignity and honor ought to be paid to priests on account of the holy things which they administer; but they who are wise give the honor to the Lord, from whom the holy things are, and not to themselves; but they who are not wise attribute the honor to themselves; these take it away from the Lord. They who attribute honor to themselves, on account of the holy things which they administer, prefer honor and gain to the salvation of souls, which they ought to provide for; but they who give the honor to the Lord, and not to themselves, prefer the salvation of souls to honor and gain. The honor of any employment is not in the person, but is adjoined to him according to the dignity of the thing which he administers; and what is adjoined does not belong to the person himself, and is also separated from him with the employment. All personal honor is the honor of wisdom and the fear of the Lord.
318. Priests ought to teach the people, and to lead them by truths to the good of life, but still they ought to compel no one, since no one can be compelled to believe contrary to what he thinks from his heart to be true. He who believes otherwise than the priest, and makes no disturbance, ought to be left in peace; but he who makes disturbance, ought to be separated; for this also is of order, for the sake of which the priesthood is established.
319. As priests are appointed to administer those things which relate to the Divine law and worship, so kings and magistrates are appointed to administer those things which relate to civil law and judgment.
320. Because the king alone cannot administer all things, therefore there are governors under him, to each of whom a province is given to administer, which the king cannot and is not able to administer alone. These governors, taken together, constitute the royalty, but the king himself is the chief.
321. Royalty itself is not in the person, but is adjoined to the person. The king who believes that royalty is in his own person, and the governor who believes that the dignity of the government is in his own person, is not wise.
322. Royalty consists in administering according to the laws of the realm and in judging according to them from justice. The king who regards the laws as above himself is wise, but he who regards himself as above the laws is not wise. The king who regards the laws as above himself places the royalty in the law, and the law has dominion over him, for he knows that the law is justice, and that all justice which is justice is Divine. But he who regards himself as above the laws places the royalty in himself, and either believes himself to be the law, or the law, which is justice, to be from himself; hence he arrogates to himself that which is Divine, under which nevertheless he ought to be.
323. The law which is justice ought to be enacted in the realm by persons skilled in the law, wise, and who fear God; then both the king and his subjects ought to live according to it. The king who lives according to the enacted law, and in this precedes his subjects by his example, is truly a king.
324. A king who has absolute power, who believes that his subjects are such slaves that he has a right to their possessions and lives, and if he exercises it, is not a king, but a tyrant.
325. There ought to be obedience to the king according to the laws of the realm, nor should he be injured by any means either by deeds or words; for on this the public security depends.
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