0.
ANGELIC WISDOM REGARDING
DIVINE PROVIDENCE
ANGELIC WISDOM REGARDING
DIVINE PROVIDENCE
By
Emanuel Swedenborg
(First published 1764)
General Church of the New Jerusalem
Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania
2003
Angelic Wisdom Regarding Divine Providence. Published by the General Church of the New Jerusalem, 1100 Cathedral Road, Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania 19009, U.S.A. Copyright �2003 by the General Church of the New Jerusalem. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Swedenborg, Emanuel, 1688-1772.
[Sapientia angelica de divina providentia. English]
Angelic wisdom regarding divine providence / by Emanuel Swedenborg
p. cm.
Translated by N. Bruce Rogers.
Includes indexes.
ISBN 0-945003-27-7
1. God – Wisdom. I. Rogers, N. Bruce, 1940- II. Title.
BX8712.D6 2003b
231′.5 – dc21
2003049004
Translated from the Original Latin by
N. Bruce Rogers
Additional Numbering
[ ] indicates the subsection of a number according to the plan devised by the Rev. John Faulkner Potts for The Swedenborg Concordance (Swedenborg Society, London, 1888-1900).
To understand what Divine Providence is – that it is the government of the Lord’s Divine love and wisdom – one ought to know what we said and showed previously concerning Divine love and wisdom in a treatise on that subject, namely the following:
That in the Lord Divine love is a property of Divine wisdom, and Divine wisdom a property of Divine love, nos. 34-39.
That Divine love and wisdom cannot but be and have expression in others it creates, nos. 47-51.
That everything in the universe has been created by Divine love and wisdom, nos. 52, 53, 151-156.
That everything in the universe is a recipient of Divine love and wisdom, nos. 55-60.
That the Lord appears to angels as the sun, and that the heat emanating from that sun is love, and the light emanating from it is wisdom, nos. 83-88, 89-92, 93-98, 296-301.
That the Divine love and wisdom which emanate from the Lord are united, nos. 99-102.
That the Lord from eternity, who is Jehovah, created the universe and everything in it from Himself and not from nothing, nos. 282-284, 290-295.
Discussions of these points may be found in our treatise titled Angelic Wisdom Regarding Divine Love and Divine Wisdom.
In this chapter, however, we will discuss the preservation of the union of Divine love and Divine wisdom, or of Divine good and Divine truth, in subjects that have been created, and this in accordance with the following outline:
(1) The universe with each and all of its constituents was created out of Divine love by means of Divine wisdom.
(2) Divine love and Divine wisdom emanate from the Lord as one.
(3) Some image of this union exists in every created thing.
(4) It is a goal of Divine providence that everything created be such a unity, as a whole and in every part; and if it is not, that it become so.
(5) The goodness of love is good only to the extent that it is united with the truth of wisdom; and the truth of wisdom is true only to the extent that it is united with the goodness of love.
(6) Any goodness of love not united with the truth of wisdom is not good in itself, but only seemingly good, and any truth of wisdom not united with the goodness of love is not true in itself, but only seemingly true.
(7) The Lord does not allow anything to be divided. Consequently either something must be impelled by good and at the same time by truth, or it must be impelled by evil and at the same time by falsity.
(8) Whatever is impelled by good and at the same time by truth is real, and whatever is impelled by evil and at the same time by falsity is not real.
(9) The Lord’s Divine providence causes evil and its accompanying falsity to be of service in providing an equilibrium, contrast, and means of purification, and thus in promoting the union of goodness and truth in others.
In the aforesaid treatise we demonstrated as well that love cannot do anything apart from wisdom, nor wisdom anything apart from love. For love apart from wisdom, or the will apart from the intellect, is incapable of any thought, indeed is incapable of any sight or sensation, or of any speech. Consequently love cannot do anything apart from wisdom, or the will anything apart from the intellect. By the same token, wisdom apart from love, or the intellect apart from the will, is incapable of any thought, is incapable of any sight or sensation, or indeed of any speech. Consequently wisdom cannot do anything apart from love, or the intellect anything apart from the will. For if love is eliminated from these processes, there is no longer any willing, thus no longer any action.
This being so in the case of a person whenever he does something, still more was it so in the case of God – who is love itself and wisdom itself – when He created and fashioned the universe and everything in it.
[2] The assertion that the universe with each and all of its constituents was created out of Divine love by means of Divine wisdom can be confirmed from all visible objects in the world. Simply take any particular object and examine it with some wisdom, and you will be convinced. Take a tree, or its seed, or its fruit, or one of its flowers or leaves, and summoning up the wisdom in you, examine it with a good microscope. You will see marvels. And the marvels within, those that you do not see, are still more marvelous.
Observe in its development the progression by which a tree grows from a seed even to the production of new seed, and consider whether the progression does not have in it throughout a continual effort to propagate itself further. For the ultimate end to which it advances is its seed, in which its propagative power exists anew. Moreover, if you are willing then to think spiritually (as you can do if you are willing), will you not see wisdom in that seed? And still more, if you are willing to think spiritually to such a point, will you not see that that wisdom does not originate from the seed, nor from the world’s sun, which is nothing but fire, but that it originates in the seed from God the Creator, who possesses infinite wisdom? And this not only at the time it was created, but also continually afterward? For continued sustenance is a continual creation, as continued existence is a continual coming into existence.
The case here is the same as if you should take away the will from an action; if you do, the operation ceases. Or if you should take away the thought from speech; if you do, the speaking ceases. Or if you should take away endeavor from motion; if you do, the motion ceases. In a word, if you take away the cause from its effect, the effect perishes. And so on.
[3] Everything so created is indeed endowed with some power, but the power does not do anything of itself, but from that which imparted the power.
Observe as well any other object on the earth, such as a silkworm, bee, or other little creature, and examine it first in natural terms, and afterward rationally, and finally spiritually. If you are able then to think deeply, you will be astonished at it all. And if you permit wisdom to speak in you, you will say in amazement, “Who does not see in these things the Divine? They are all reflections of Divine wisdom.”
Still more will this be the case if you observe the uses of all created things, seeing how they progress in their succession to mankind, and from mankind to the Creator from whom they originated; and seeing that on the conjunction of the Creator with mankind depends the connection of all things, and, if you are willing to acknowledge it, the preservation of all things.
In subsequent discussions it will be seen that Divine love created all things, but nothing apart from Divine wisdom.
That being and expression in the Lord are, in a distinct combination, one, nos. 14-16.
That the infinite elements in the Lord are, in a distinct combination, one, nos. 17-22.
That Divine love is a property of Divine wisdom, and Divine wisdom a property of Divine love, nos. 34-39.
That love cannot do anything without a marriage with wisdom, nos. 401-403.
That love does nothing except in conjunction with wisdom, nos. 409, 410.
That spiritual heat and spiritual light as they emanate from the Lord as the sun are united, as Divine love and wisdom in the Lord are one, nos. 99-102.
From what we demonstrated in those places, the truth of the present assertion is apparent.
However, because people do not know how two things distinct from each other can operate as a unit, I would like to show here that a unit is impossible without a form, and that it is its very form that makes it a unit; and afterward, that the form makes something the more perfectly a unit as the constituents which enter into the form are distinctly different and yet united.
[2] That a unit is impossible without a form, the very form being that which makes it a unit: Everyone who focuses his mind’s thinking on it can clearly see that a unit is impossible without a form, and that if it exists, it has a form. For whatever has existence takes from its form that which we call its character, and also what we call its attributes, and what we call its changes of state, as also what we call its relativeness, and other like things. Whatever does not have a form is consequently incapable of affecting anything, and what is incapable of affecting anything has no reality. Its very form is what gives it all these qualities.
Moreover, because all the constituents that exist in a form are – if the form is complete – interconnected, like the links in a chain, it follows therefore that it is the very form that makes them a unit, and so a subject of which can be predicated quality, state, and the power to affect, thus reality, according to the perfection of the form.
[3] Such a unit is everything that we see with our eyes in the world, and such a unit is everything also that we do not see with our eyes, whether within the inner world of nature or in the spiritual world. Such a unit is the human being, and such a unit is human society. Such a unit, too, is the church, and in the Lord’s sight the entire angelic heaven. In short, such a unit is the created universe, not only in general, but also in every particular.
For each and all things to have forms, it is necessary that He who created all things be the essential form, and that it be from that essential form that all created things exist in forms. This is something we demonstrated therefore in our treatise Divine Love and Wisdom, as for instance:
That Divine love and wisdom are both substance and form, nos. 40-43.
That Divine love and wisdom are form in themselves, thus the one and only absolute, nos. 44-46.
That Divine love and wisdom in the Lord are one, nos. 14-17, 18-22.
And that they emanate from the Lord as one, nos. 99-102 and elsewhere.
[4] That the form makes something the more perfectly a unit as the constituents which enter into the form are distinctly different and yet united: Unless the intellect is elevated, this falls with difficulty within its scope, since it is an appearance that the form makes a unit only in consequence of the similarities and uniformity of the constituents which make up the form.
I have often spoken with angels about this, and they have said that it is a secret which the wise among them perceive clearly, but the less wise dimly. Still it is a truth, they have said, that a form is the more perfect as the constituents which compose it are distinctly different, but yet united in a unique way.
This they have confirmed by the example of societies in heaven, which taken together constitute the form of heaven, and by the example of the angels in each society, saying that the more distinctly each is his own person, thus free, and so loves his fellow angels as though of himself and out of his own affection, the more perfect the form of the society is. They have illustrated it also by the marriage of goodness and truth, saying that the more these are distinctly two, the more perfectly they can be united. Likewise in the case of love and wisdom. And they said that a lack of distinction means confusion, from which springs every imperfection of form.
[5] Moreover, how elements perfectly distinct are united and so constitute a unit, angels have illustrated as well by further examples – especially by the components found in the human body, which has in it countless constituents so distinct and yet united – kept distinct by integuments and united by ligaments.
The like is the case, too, they have said, with love and all of its constituents, and with wisdom and all of its constituents, constituents which are apprehended only as a unit.
More on this subject may be seen in our treatise Divine Love and Wisdom, nos. 14-22, and in the book Heaven and Hell, nos. 56 and 405.
We have cited this because it is a matter of angelic wisdom.
[2] Now because in the Lord are Divine love and wisdom, and in the sun originating from Him Divine fire and resplendence, and radiating from the sun spiritual heat and light, and because these two are united, it follows that some image of this union exists in every created thing.
So it is that everything in the universe has some relation to goodness and truth, indeed to a union of them; or to say the same thing, everything in the universe has some relation to love and wisdom and to a union of them. For goodness is connected with love, and truth with wisdom, as love calls everything pertaining to it good, and wisdom calls everything pertaining to it truth.
In subsequent discussions we will see that a union of these exists in every created thing.
This is the case because the first substance arises from the spiritual sun, which, as we said, originates from the Lord and within which is the Lord. Thus that sun is itself the one and only substance, and because it does not exist in space, it is the all in all things, and exists in the greatest and least elements of the created universe.
[2] Since that sun is the first and only substance from which all else springs, it follows that it has in it infinitely more elements than can appear in the substances arising from it – substances which are called derivative and finally material. Those elements cannot appear in these substances because they descend from that sun through degrees of two kinds, in accordance with which all perfections decrease. So it is that, as we said above, the more interiorly something is viewed, the more marvelous, perfect and beautiful are the elements seen.
We have said this much to establish the fact that some image of the Divine exists in every created thing, but that this becomes less and less apparent with its descent through degrees, and still less when a lower degree by its closure becomes separated from a higher degree and is clogged with earthy matters.
This, however, cannot but seem obscure unless one has read and understood what we demonstrated in our treatise Divine Love and Wisdom regarding the spiritual sun, nos. 83-172, regarding degrees, nos. 173-281, and regarding the creation of the universe, nos. 282-357.
Since goodness is connected with love, and truth with wisdom, as we said in no. 5 above, therefore we shall often hereafter say good and truth instead of love and wisdom, and the marriage of good and truth instead of the union of love and wisdom.
1. This marriage exists in the Lord Himself. For as we said, Divine love and wisdom in Him are united.
2. This marriage originates from the Lord. For present in everything that emanates from Him are love and wisdom totally united. These two emanate from the Lord as a sun – Divine love as heat, and Divine wisdom as light.
3. These are received by angels, indeed, as two distinct entities, but they are united in them by the Lord. The same is the case with people of the church.
4. It is owing to the influx of love and wisdom from the Lord as one in angels in heaven and in people of the church, and to their reception by angels and people, that the Lord is called in the Word a bridegroom and husband, and heaven and the church a bride and wife.
5. Consequently to the extent that heaven and the church as a whole, and an angel in heaven and a person of the church individually, are governed by that union or by a marriage of goodness and truth, to the same extent they are an image and likeness of the Lord, since these two are united in the Lord, and indeed are the Lord.
6. Love and wisdom are united in heaven and in the church as a whole, and in an angel in heaven and in a person of the church, when the will and intellect, thus when goodness and truth, are united, or to say the same thing, when charity and faith are united. Or to say the same thing again, when doctrine from the Word and one’s life in accordance with it are united.
7. How these two are united in a person and in all of his constituents we have shown in our treatise Divine Love and Wisdom, Part 5, where we discussed the creation of mankind, and especially the correspondence of the will and intellect with the heart and lungs, nos. 358-432.
First, that in the universe and in each and all of its constituents that the Lord created, there was a marriage of good and truth.
Second, that following creation this marriage was sundered in mankind.
Third, that it is a goal of Divine providence that what has been separated become united, and thus that a marriage of good and truth be restored.
We have provided many confirmations of these three points in our treatise Divine Love and Wisdom, and therefore we have no need to provide further confirmation. Moreover, everyone can see in accord with reason that, given that a marriage of good and truth existed from creation in every created thing, and given that this marriage was afterward sundered, the Lord continually works to restore it, consequently that its restoration and by it a conjunction of the created universe with the Lord through mankind is a goal of Divine providence.
People know that all good and all truth come from the Lord. So, then, because good exists in union with truth, and truth with good, it follows that for good to be good in itself, and for truth to be true in itself, they must be united in their recipient, namely, in an angel in heaven or in a person on earth.
Similarly, what is good without reference to anything? Can it be called good? For it is incapable of affecting anything or of being perceived. [2] That which in union with good has the power to affect and which allows it to be perceived and felt relates to truth, because it relates to what exists in the intellect. Say to someone simply “good,” and not that this or that is good. Has “good” then any meaning? But from this or that which is perceived as one with good, it has meaning. That which is perceived as one with good is united with good nowhere else than in the intellect, and everything in the intellect relates to truth.
It is the same with willing. To will without knowing, perceiving and thinking what one wills is not something real. But in union with these it becomes something real. All willing is connected with love and relates to goodness, while all knowing, perceiving and thinking is a function of the intellect and relates to truth. It is apparent, therefore, that simply to will is without meaning, but that to will this or that has meaning.
[3] It is the same with all useful endeavor, because useful endeavor is good. Unless useful endeavor is directed to some application with which to unite itself, it is not useful and so is not real. Useful endeavor takes its application from the intellect, and that which is joined or attached to the endeavor from the intellect relates to truth. That is what gives useful endeavor its character.
[4] From these few considerations it can be seen that good is not real apart from truth, thus that neither is truth real apart from good.
We say that good united with truth, and truth united with good, are real. It follows from this that evil in union with falsity, and falsity in union with evil, are not something real, for the latter are the opposite of the former, and opposition means destruction – in this case the destruction of the latter’s reality. But more on this subject hereafter.
This marriage enters into the effect and produces it, but in producing the effect the two components appear to be distinct, because the marriage from being concurrent then produces something sequential.
So, for example, when a person wishes and plans to provide himself with food, clothing or shelter, to undertake some business or task, or to engage in some interaction, he then first wills and thinks about it, or forms his conclusions and intentions regarding it, simultaneously. Then, when he has directed these into effects, the one follows after the other, even though in his will and thought the two are continually united. The useful ends in those effects are matters of the love or good. The means to the ends are matters of the intellect or truth.
Everyone can confirm these general observations with specific examples, provided he perceives distinctly what relates to the goodness of love and what relates to the truth of wisdom, and distinctly how it relates in the cause and how it relates in the effect.
Now because truth exists from good, as wisdom exists from love, therefore we call the two taken together love or good; for love in its expression is wisdom, and good in its expression is truth. It is from its expression and nothing else that it has all its character.
It can now be seen from this that goodness is good only to the extent that it is united with its truth, and that truth is true only to the extent that it is united with its goodness.
Such truths appear as if genuine, however, in those who utter them, but they may be of quite another character in people who hear and assent to them and do not know this. For outward expressions affect everyone in accordance with his own inner character, and a truth, from whatever mouth it is uttered, enters another’s hearing and is received by the mind in accordance with its state and character.
In people who are impelled by natural good and not by any spiritual good because of their heredity, the case is almost the same. For the internal essence of every good and every truth is spiritual, and this dispels falsities and evils, while the natural self left to itself favors them; and to favor evils and falsities does not accord with doing good.
But on this subject, see in our treatise Divine Love and Wisdom the following:
That the origin of evil comes from abuse of the faculties which are peculiar to mankind and are called rationality and freedom, nos. 264-270.
That these two faculties are found in evil people as well as in good ones, no. 425.
That love cannot do anything without a marriage with wisdom, or good without a marriage with truth, no. 401.
That love does nothing except in conjunction with wisdom or the intellect, no. 409.
That love joins itself to wisdom or the intellect, and causes wisdom or the intellect to be joined to it in return, nos. 410-412.
That by a power imparted to it by love, wisdom or the intellect can be elevated so as to perceive from heaven such matters as are matters of light and admit them, no. 413.
That love can be similarly elevated and admit from heaven such matters as are matters of warmth if it loves its partner wisdom in the same degree, nos. 414, 415.
That otherwise love draws wisdom or the intellect back from its elevated state into union with itself, nos. 416-418.
That if they are elevated together, love is purified in the intellect, but that if they are not elevated together, love is defiled in the intellect, nos. 419-421.
That love purified by wisdom in the intellect becomes spiritual and celestial, but that love defiled in the intellect becomes sensual and carnal, nos. 422-424.
That the case is the same with charity and faith and their conjunction as with love and wisdom and their conjunction, nos. 427-430.
What charity is in heaven, no. 431.
However, as long as a person lives in the world, it is possible for him to be impelled by good and at the same time by falsity, or to be impelled by evil and at the same time by truth. Indeed, it is possible for him to be impelled by evil and at the same time by good, so as to be, so to speak, two people, and this division into two destroys the image of the Lord and thus the person’s humanity. Because of this, the Lord’s Divine providence therefore has as its objective in each and everything it does that this division not exist.
Moreover, because it is better for a person to be impelled by evil and at the same time by falsity than to be impelled by good and at the same time by evil, therefore the Lord permits this, not as one who wills it, but as one powerless to prevent it, owing to the end, which is salvation.
A person may be impelled by evil and at the same time by truth, and the Lord is powerless to prevent this owing to the end, which is salvation, because a person’s intellect can be elevated into the light of wisdom and see truths, or acknowledge them when he hears them, while his love remains below. For a person may thus be with his intellect in heaven, but with his love in hell; and to be in such a state cannot be denied a person, because he cannot have taken from him the two faculties which make him human and distinguish him from animals, and which are the only means by which he can be regenerated and thus saved, namely, rationality and freedom. For owing to these a person can act in accordance with wisdom, and also act in accordance with a love devoid of wisdom, and can from the wisdom above look upon the love below, and so see his thoughts, intentions, and affections, and thus the evils and falsities and goods and truths of his life and doctrine, without a knowledge and acknowledgement of which in himself he cannot be reformed.
We have mentioned these two faculties before, and we are going to say more about them in subsequent discussions.
This then is the reason that a person may be impelled by good and at the same time by truth, or by evil and at the same time by falsity, and also by alternations of these.
This is what is meant by these words of the Lord:
Take the talent from him, and give it to him who has ten talents. For to everyone who has, more will be given, (that he may) have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away… (Matthew 25:28, 29. Cf. Matthew 13:12; Mark 4:25; Luke 8:18, 19:24-26.)
People who are impelled by evil and at the same time by good are meant in the book of Revelation by these words of the Lord to the church of the Laodiceans:
I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I would you were cold or hot. (But) because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth. (Revelation 3:15, 16)
Also by these words of the Lord:
No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and disregard the other. (Matthew 6:24)
By something’s not being real we mean something without any power and without any spiritual life.
Spirits impelled by evil and at the same time by falsity – all of whom are in hell – do indeed have power among themselves, for an evil spirit can do evil, and also does do evil in a thousand ways. However, he can do evil to the evil only because of their evil, but cannot in the least do evil to the good. If in fact he does do evil to the good, as sometimes happens, it is by conjoining himself with their evil. [2] This is what occasions temptations or trials, which are infestations by evil spirits present in oneself, and the resulting combats by which good people can be freed from their evils.
Since evil spirits do not have any power, therefore the whole of hell in the Lord’s sight is not only as something of no consequence, but it is something totally of no consequence as regards its power. I have seen the reality of this confirmed by a good deal of experience.
Astonishing, however, is the fact that evil spirits believe themselves to be powerful, while good spirits believe themselves to be without power. The reason for this is that the evil attribute everything to their own power, and thus to their cleverness and malice, and nothing to the Lord, whereas the good attribute nothing to their own prudence, but everything to the Lord, who has all power.
Whatever is evil and at the same time false is not something real also for the reason that it is without any spiritual life. It is because of this that the life of spirits in hell is called not life but death. Consequently, since everything real is assignable to life, nothing real can be assigned to death.
Eagles also symbolize predatory people who possess an intellectual sight, and wings symbolize spiritual truths.
We have said that such is the character of people who have not looked at all to God in their life. To look to God in one’s life means simply to think that this or that evil is a sin against God, and for that reason not to do it.
It is because of that union that heaven is called a marriage, and so, too, the church. Consequently the kingdom of God is likened in the Word to a marriage.1
It is because of that union that the Sabbath was the holiest day of worship in the Israelite Church, for it symbolized that union.
So it is, too, that the Word, and each and every one of its constituents, has in it a marriage of goodness and truth – on which subject see The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Sacred Scripture, nos. 80-90. The marriage of goodness and truth originates from the marriage of the Lord with the church, and this from the marriage of love and wisdom in the Lord. For goodness is an attribute of love, and truth an attribute of wisdom.
It can be seen from this that it is the constant objective of Divine providence to unite good to truth and truth to good in a person, for thus is a person united to the Lord.
1 See Matthew 9:15; 22:2-4; 22:8-12; 25:1-10. Mark 2:19-20. Luke 5:34, 35. John 3:29. Revelation 19:7; 19:9; 21:2; 21:9-11; 22:17. Also Romans 7:4; 2 Cor. 11:2.
Variety inevitably exists in everything from the greatest to the least of it; and when the variety exists also in its opposite from the least to the greatest of it, and there is between them an equilibrium, then a contrast exists between the two by degrees, in accordance with which the perception and sensation of a thing either increases or diminishes.
It must be known, however, that an opposite may either take away or heighten perceptions and sensations. It takes them away when it commingles itself, and it heightens them when it does not commingle itself. Therefore the Lord carefully separates the good and evil in a person to keep them from commingling, even as He separates heaven and hell.
Spiritual temptations or trials are simply combats against the exhalations of evil and falsity emanating from hell and affecting a person. By these combats a person is purified of evils and falsities, and good is united to truth and truth to good in him.
Spiritual fermentations occur in many ways, both in heaven and on earth, but people in the world do not know what they are or how they take place. For there are evils together with falsities which, on being introduced into societies, have a similar action to ferments introduced into dough or new wine, by which heterogeneous elements are separated and homogeneous elements combined so as to produce purity and clarity.
Such fermentations are those meant by these words of the Lord:
The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till all of it was leavened. (Matthew 13:33; cf. Luke 13:21.)
Heaven does not consist of any angels created such from the beginning, and hell does not originate from some devil who was created an angel of light and cast down from heaven. Rather, both heaven and hell arise from the human race – heaven from people who are motivated by a love of good and a consequent understanding of truth, and hell from people who are caught up in a love of evil and a consequent understanding of falsity. I have learned this and had it attested by long association with angels and spirits. (On which subject see as well what we presented in the book Heaven and Hell, nos. 311-317; also in the short work The Last Judgment, nos. 14-27; and in A Continuation Concerning the Last Judgment and the Spiritual World from beginning to end.)
[2] Now because heaven arises from the human race, and heaven is a dwelling with the Lord to eternity, it follows that the Lord had this as the end in creation; and because it was the end in creation, it is the end in His Divine providence.
The Lord did not create the universe for His own sake, but for the sake of those with whom He would be in heaven. For spiritual love is such that it wishes to give what it has to another, and to the extent this is possible it is in the enjoyment of its being, its peace, and its bliss. Spiritual love derives this characteristic from the Lord’s Divine love, which is infinitely of such character.
It follows from this that Divine love, and consequently Divine providence, has as its end a heaven consisting of people who have become or who are becoming angels, to whom it is possible for the Lord to impart all the blessings and felicities connected with love and wisdom, and to impart these from Himself in them. Nor can it be otherwise, because from creation people have in them His image and likeness – His image in them being wisdom, and His likeness in them being love. And the Lord in them is love united to wisdom and wisdom united to love, or to say the same thing, it is goodness united to truth and truth united to goodness – the union we discussed in the preceding chapter.
[3] However, people do not know what heaven is in general or among many, and what heaven is in particular or in an individual, or what heaven is in the spiritual world and what heaven is in the natural world. And yet because it is important for them to know this, as heaven is the end in Divine providence, I wish to shed some light on the subject in accordance with the following outline:
(1)Heaven is conjunction with the Lord.
(2)Human beings have been so formed from creation that they can be conjoined more and more closely with the Lord.
(3)The more closely a person is conjoined with the Lord, the wiser he becomes.
(4)The more closely a person is conjoined with the Lord, the happier he becomes.
(5)The more closely a person is conjoined with the Lord, the more distinctly does he appear to himself to be his own person, and the more clearly does he recognize that he is the Lord’s.
Moreover, because love and wisdom are the Lord’s and are the Lord in heaven, and love and wisdom form the angels’ life, it is apparent also that their life is the Lord’s, indeed is the Lord. The angels themselves confess that they have their life from the Lord. It can be seen from this that heaven is conjunction with the Lord.
But because conjunction with the Lord varies, and heaven is therefore not the same for one as for another, it follows also that heaven is heaven according to one’s conjunction with the Lord. We will see in the following discussion that the conjunction may be more and more close, or more and more remote.
[2] Here we will say something about that conjunction – how it is formed, and the nature of it. It is a conjunction of the Lord with the angels, and of the angels with the Lord, thus a reciprocal one. The Lord flows into the life’s love of angels, and the angels receive the Lord in their wisdom and thereby conjoin themselves in turn with the Lord.
It should be rightly known, however, that although it appears to angels as though they conjoin themselves with the Lord through their wisdom, still it is the Lord who conjoins them to Him through their wisdom. For their wisdom comes also from the Lord.
It is the same if we say that the Lord conjoins Himself with angels through their goodness, and that angels conjoin themselves in turn with the Lord through their truth. For all goodness is connected with love, and all truth with wisdom.
[3] But because this reciprocal conjunction is a mystery which few can understand without its being explained, I wish to unravel it as far as is possible in terms on a level with people’s comprehension.
We showed in our treatise Divine Love and Wisdom, nos. 404, 405, how love conjoins itself with wisdom, namely that it does so through an affection for knowing, from which springs an affection for truth; through an affection for understanding, from which springs a perception of truth; and through an affection for seeing what it knows and understands, from which springs thought.
The Lord flows into all these affections, as they are derivations of everyone’s life’s love, and angels receive that influx in a perception of truth and in thought, since in these the influx becomes apparent to them, but not in the affections.
[4] Now because their perceptions and thoughts appear to angels as being their own, even though they spring from affections that they have from the Lord, therefore the appearance is that angels reciprocally conjoin themselves with the Lord, when in fact it is the Lord who conjoins them with Him. For it is the affection which produces the perceptions and thoughts, it being the affection springing from love that is their soul. No one, indeed, is capable of any perception or thought apart from affection, and everyone perceives and thinks in accordance with his affection.
It is apparent from this that the reciprocal conjunction of angels with the Lord is occasioned not by them, but as though by them.
Such also is the conjunction of the Lord with the church, and of the church with the Lord, which we call the celestial and spiritual marriage.
This phenomenon is peculiar to the spiritual world. The reason is that all there are spiritual beings. It is different in the natural world, in which all are material beings. The like does occur with people in the natural world in the affections and thoughts of their spirit; but because in the natural world there are intervals of space, while in the spiritual world intervals of space are only appearances, therefore that which takes place in the thought of everyone’s spirit, in the spiritual world takes place actually.
[2] We have said this much to make it known how conjunction of the Lord with angels is brought about, and the apparently reciprocal conjunction of angels with the Lord. For angels all turn their faces to the Lord, and the Lord gazes upon their foreheads, while the angels behold the Lord with their eyes. The reason is that the forehead corresponds to love and its affections, while the eyes correspond to wisdom and its perceptions.
But still, angels do not of themselves turn their faces to the Lord, but the Lord turns them to Him. And He turns them by flowing into their life’s love, and through that entering into their perceptions and thoughts, so as to turn the angels to Him.
[3] Such a cycle of love, from love to thoughts and from thoughts to love, exists in all processes of the human mind – a cycle which may be called the cycle of life.
On this subject see also some discussions in our treatise Divine Love and Wisdom. As for instance:
That angels turn their faces continually to the Lord as the sun, nos. 129-134.
That all the interior elements of both mind and body in angels are likewise turned to the Lord as the sun, nos. 135-139.
That every spirit of every kind turns in like manner to his dominant love, nos. 140-145.
That love joins itself to wisdom, and causes wisdom to be joined to it in return, nos. 410-412.
That angels are in the Lord and have the Lord in them; and that because angels are recipient vessels, the Lord alone is heaven, nos. 113-118.
This reciprocal conjunction with the Lord which constitutes heaven in a person was revealed by the Lord in these words in John:
Abide in Me, and I in you?. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing… (John 15:4, 5, 7)
This being the case, let no one cherish the erroneous idea – which for many enters their first thought – that the Lord dwells among the angels in heaven, or that He exists among them as a king does in his kingdom. He is to their sight above them in the sun there, but in them as regards their life of love and wisdom.
That there are three discrete degrees or degrees of height in people from creation, nos. 230-235.
That these three degrees exist in every person from birth, and that as they are opened, the person is in the Lord and the Lord in him, nos. 236-241.
And that all perfections increase and ascend concomitantly with degrees and in accordance with them, nos. 199-204.
It is apparent from this that human beings have been so formed from creation that they can be conjoined by degrees more and more closely with the Lord.
[2] It should altogether be known, however, what degrees are, that they are of two kinds – discrete, or degrees of height, and continuous, or degrees of breadth – and what the difference between them is. It should also be known that from creation and so from birth every person has in him three discrete degrees or degrees of height; that a person comes into the first degree, called the natural degree, when he is born; that this degree can grow in him through a continuous progression until he becomes rational; that he comes into the second degree, called the spiritual degree, if he lives according to spiritual laws of order, which are Divine truths; and that he can also come into the third degree, called the celestial degree, if he lives according to celestial laws of order, which are Divine goods.
[3] These degrees are opened actually in a person by the Lord according to his life in the world, but not perceptibly or sensibly until after his departure from the world; and as they are opened and then perfected, the person is commensurately conjoined more and more closely with the Lord.
This conjunction can grow in its closeness to eternity, and also does so grow to eternity in angels. But still, no angel can arrive at the first degree of the Lord’s love and wisdom or attain to it, because the Lord is infinite and an angel finite, and between the infinite and the finite there is no proportional relation.
Since without a knowledge of these degrees no one can understand the human condition and the manner of a person’s elevation and approach to the Lord, therefore we took up these degrees in some detail in our treatise Divine Love and Wisdom, nos. 173-281 (which see).
How a person is more and more closely conjoined with the Lord: This is accomplished not by knowledge alone, nor by intelligence alone, nor even by wisdom alone, but by a life in conjunction with these. A person’s life is his love, and love is multifarious. In general it is a love of evil or a love of good. Love of evil includes a love of committing adultery, of taking vengeance, of defrauding, of blaspheming, and of depriving others of their goods. A love of evil experiences its pleasure and delight in contemplating and doing such things. The derivations of such a love, or its affections, are as many as the evils to which it has directed itself; and the perceptions and thoughts of such a love are as many as the falsities which support those evils and justify them. Such falsities unite with the evils, as the intellect does with the will. They are not separated from each other, because one is bound up with the other.
[2] Now because the Lord flows, as we said above, into everyone’s life’s love and through its affections into his perceptions and thoughts, and not the reverse, it follows that the Lord can conjoin Himself more closely only as a love of evil has been removed, together with its affections, which are lusts. And because these lusts reside in the natural self, and a person feels as though whatever he does from his natural self he does of himself, therefore a person ought to remove the evils of that love as though of himself; and to the extent then that he does remove them, the Lord draws nearer and conjoins Himself with him.
Everyone can see in accord with reason that lusts with their delights obstruct and close the doors to the Lord, and that the Lord cannot cast these lusts out as long as the person himself keeps the doors closed and pushes and shoves against them from outside to keep them from being opened.
That a person himself has to do the opening is apparent from the Lord’s words in the book of Revelation:
Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. (Revelation 3:20)
[3] It is apparent therefore that to the extent anyone abstains from evils as diabolical and as obstacles to the Lord’s entrance, the more and more closely he is conjoined with the Lord, and most closely someone who abominates them as being so many dark and fiery devils; for evil and the devil are one, as the falsity of evil and Satan are one. Since the Lord flows into a love of good and its affections, and through these into a person’s perceptions and thoughts, all of which derive the character of being truths from the good which impels the person, so the devil, which is to say, hell, flows into a love of evil and its affections, which are lusts, and through these into a person’s perceptions and thoughts, all of which derive the character of being falsities from the evil which impels the person.
[4] How this closer and closer conjunction appears: The more removed evils are in the natural self by abstinence from and aversion to them, the more closely a person is conjoined with the Lord. And because the love and wisdom which are the Lord Himself do not exist in space, inasmuch as the affection connected with love and the thought connected with wisdom have nothing in common with space, therefore the Lord appears closer in the measure of the conjunction with Him through love and wisdom, and conversely more remote in the measure of a person’s rejection of love and wisdom.
Space does not exist in the spiritual world, but distances and proximities there are appearances in accordance with similarities and dissimilarities of affections. For, as we have said, the affections connected with love, and the thoughts connected with wisdom, which in themselves are spiritual, do not exist in space – on which subject see what we have presented in the treatise Divine Love and Wisdom, nos. 7-10, nos. 69-72, and elsewhere.
[5] The Lord’s conjunction with a person in whom evils have been removed is meant by these words of the Lord:
�the pure in heart�shall see God. (Matthew 5:8)
Also by these words:
He who has My commandments and does them�(I) will make (My) abode with him. (John 14:21, 23)
To have the Lord’s commandments is to know Him, and to do His commandments is to love Him, for we are told in the same passage as well:
He who (does) My commandments�, it is he who loves Me.*
* John 14:21.
The reason degrees of wisdom are perceived is that love enters through its affections into one’s perceptions and thoughts, and these display themselves to the mind’s inner sight, which corresponds to the body’s outward sight. So it is that wisdom is seen, and not so much the love’s affection which produces it.
The case here is the same as with all the other things that a person actively does. He is aware of how the body accomplishes them, but not how the soul accomplishes them. Thus a person perceives also how he deliberates, perceives and thinks, but not how the soul of these activities – which is his affection for goodness and truth – produces them.
[2]There are, however, three degrees of wisdom – natural, spiritual and celestial. A person is in the enjoyment of the natural degree of wisdom as long as he lives in the world. This degree can be perfected in him then to its highest point; and yet he cannot enter the spiritual degree, because the spiritual degree is not continuous with the natural degree by a continuous connection, but is conjoined with it by correspondences.
After death a person is in the enjoyment of the spiritual degree of wisdom, and this degree, too, is such that it can be perfected to its highest point; but still he cannot enter the celestial degree of wisdom, because the celestial degree is not continuous with the spiritual degree by a continuous connection, but is conjoined with it by correspondences.
It can be seen from this that wisdom can be elevated in a threefold way, and that in each degree it can be perfected in a single way to its highest point.
[3] One who comprehends the elevations and perfectings of these degrees can to some extent perceive what is said of angelic wisdom, that it is inexpressible.* It is, moreover, so inexpressible that a thousand ideas in the thought of angels springing from their wisdom can produce but a single idea in the thought of people springing from their wisdom. The other nine hundred and ninety-nine ideas in the thought of angels cannot gain admittance, being supranatural. The reality of this is something I have many times been granted to know through personal experience.
Still, as we said before, no one can come into this inexpressible wisdom of angels except by conjunction with the Lord and in the measure of that conjunction. For the Lord alone opens the spiritual and celestial degrees, but only in people who are wise from Him. And those are wise from the Lord who cast out the devil, which is to say, evil, from themselves.
* 2 Corinthians 12:4.
A person has a love of wisdom to the extent that he shuns the devil’s crew, which are the lusts of evil and falsity.
I have sometimes spoken with angels about wisdom, and the angels have said that wisdom is conjunction with the Lord, because the Lord is wisdom itself, and that one who casts out hell from himself comes into that conjunction, and comes into it to the extent that he casts hell out.
The angels said that they represent wisdom to themselves as a magnificent and very ornate palace, into which one ascends by twelve steps. No one, they said, arrives at the first step except as a result of the Lord by conjunction with Him; that everyone ascends in the measure of the conjunction; and that as he ascends, he perceives that no one is wise of himself, but from the Lord. Moreover, they said that those things which he is wise about, in comparison to those things which he is not wise about, are as a few drops of water to a great lake.
The twelve steps to the palace of wisdom symbolize goods conjoined with truths and truths conjoined with goods.
The fact is that every love has its own delights, even a love of evil in people caught up in its lusts, such as a love of committing adultery, of taking vengeance, of defrauding, of stealing, of behaving savagely – indeed, in the worst of people, of blaspheming the sanctities of the church and prattling venomously against God. The fount of these delights is a love of ruling springing from a love of self.
These delights arise from lusts which beset the interiors of the mind, lusts which flow down from those interiors into the body and there excite impure stimuli that titillate its fibers. From a delight of the mind arises in accordance with its lusts therefore a delighting of the body. [2] Everyone is granted to know in the spiritual world after death the character and nature of the impure stimuli that titillate the body’s fibers in such people. They are in general those associated with dead bodies, excrement, dung, stenches, and urine, for these people’s hells abound in such unclean things. That the unclean things are correspondent forms may be seen to some extent in our treatise Divine Love and Wisdom, nos. 339-343. After these people have entered hell, however, their foul delights are turned into dreadful ones.
This much we have said to make possible an understanding of the character and nature of the happiness of heaven, a discussion of which now follows. For everything is known from its opposite.
[2] Still, these sensations of happiness enter as a person dismisses the lusts of a love of evil and falsity, doing so as though of himself, but yet from the Lord. For these sensations of happiness are the sensations of affections for goodness and truth, and they are opposed to the lusts of a love of evil and falsity. The happy sensations of the affections of a love for goodness and truth originate from the Lord, thus from one’s inmost being, and spread from there into one’s lower regions, even to the lowest. And they thus fill an angel, and cause his whole being to be as though consumed with delight.
Such sensations of happiness with its infinite varieties are present in every affection for goodness and truth – especially in an affection for wisdom.
That happiness, however, rarely manifests itself in the world, because a person is then in a natural state, and the natural realm communicates with the spiritual one not by a continuous connection, but by correspondences; and this communication is not felt except by a certain ease and peace of mind, which occurs especially after combats against evils.
But when a person puts off the natural state and enters the spiritual state, which happens after his departure from the world, the happiness described above then gradually becomes manifest.
* See Acts 15:1-11; Galations 4:21-5:1.
Whatever a person thinks, wills, speaks and does in freedom, he perceives as attributable to him, for to everyone all freedom accords with his love. Consequently people caught up in a love of evil perceive no otherwise than that hellish freedom is real freedom, whereas people impelled by a love of good perceive that heavenly freedom is real freedom, so that each regards the opposite as enslavement.
Nevertheless, no one can deny that either the one or the other is freedom, for two conditions of freedom in themselves opposite to each other cannot both be really free. Moreover, no one can deny that to be led by good is freedom, while to be led by evil is enslavement; for to be led by good is to be led by the Lord, whereas to be led by evil is to be led by the devil.*
Now because everything that a person does in freedom appears to him to be attributable to him – for it accords with his love, and to act from one’s love is, as we said above, to act in freedom – it follows that conjunction with the Lord causes a person to appear to himself free and so to be his own person, and the closer the conjunction with the Lord, the freer, and so the more his own person.
He appears to himself more and more distinctly to be as though his own person because Divine love is such that it wills what it has to be another’s, thus to be a person’s or angel’s. That is the nature of all spiritual love, especially of Divine love. And besides, the Lord never compels anyone, because everything to which someone is compelled does not appear to him as attributable to him, and whatever does not appear to him as attributable to him cannot be made a matter of his love and so be assigned to him as belonging to him. Therefore a person is continually led by the Lord in freedom, and is also reformed and regenerated in freedom.
But we will say more on this subject in subsequent discussions. See also some observations in no. 4 above.
* Cf. John 8:34-36. See also Proverbs 5:22; Romans 6:5, 6, 12, 16, 19, 20; 2 Peter 2:19.
Angels of the third heaven, being the wisest of the angels, also perceive this, and moreover call it freedom itself. On the other hand, they call it enslavement to be led by oneself. They give the reason, too, that the Lord does not flow directly into the matters of wisdom which constitute their perception and thought, but into the affections of their love of good, and through these into those matters. They say that they perceive the influx in the affection from which they have their wisdom, and that then everything they think in accord with wisdom appears to be as though from them, thus to be as though their own. And the result, they say, is a reciprocal conjunction.
All of these are objectives of the Lord’s Divine providence, because they all constitute heaven, which it has as its end.
People in the Christian world know that God is infinite and eternal, for the doctrine of the Trinity named after Athanasius* says that God the Father is infinite, eternal, and omnipotent, and so, too, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, and yet that there are not three infinite, eternal and omnipotent beings, but one. It follows from this that, because God is infinite and eternal, nothing else can be predicated of God except what is infinite and eternal.
What infinity and eternity are, however, cannot be comprehended by the finite mind, and at the same time can be. What they are cannot be comprehended because the finite cannot encompass the infinite; and it can be comprehended, because abstract ideas are possible which enable one to see the existence of things, even if not their nature. Such ideas are possible of the infinite; as for instance, that God, being infinite, or that the Divine, being infinite, is being itself, is existence and substance itself, is love itself and wisdom itself, or good itself and truth itself, thus the absolute – indeed, the supremely human. So, too, if we speak of the infinite as being omni- or all-, as that infinite wisdom is omniscience or all-knowing, or that infinite power is omnipotence or all-powerful.
[2] But even so, these ideas fall into a haziness of thought, and from incomprehensibility perhaps into denial, unless people remove from the idea those concepts which their thinking derives from nature, especially those concepts derived from the two properties of nature which are space and time, for these cannot but limit ideas and cause abstract ideas to have seemingly no reality.
On the other hand, if these concepts can be removed in a person, as they are in an angel, then the infinite can be comprehended by means of those ideas just listed above. And it can consequently be comprehended, too, that human beings have real existence because they were created by an infinite God who is omni- or all- ; moreover, that the human being is a finite substance because he was created by an infinite God who is substance itself; and further, that the human being is a form of wisdom because he was created by an infinite God who is wisdom itself; and so on. For unless the infinite God were omni- or all- , being substance itself, and wisdom itself, human beings would not have real existence, and so would be either non-existent, or existent only in idea, according to those dreamers called idealists.
[3] Points we demonstrated in our treatise Divine Love and Wisdom make apparent the following:
That the Divine essence is love and wisdom, nos. 28-39.
That Divine love and wisdom are substance itself and form itself, and the one and only absolute, nos. 40-46.
That God created the universe and everything in it from Himself and not from nothing, nos. 282-284.
It follows from this that every created thing, and above all the human being and the love and wisdom in him, have real existence, and do not exist only in idea. For unless God were infinite, there would be nothing finite. So, too, unless the infinite were omni- or all- , there would be nothing real. And unless God created all things from Himself, there would be nothing at all.
In a word: We are because God is.**
* A Christian cleric, c. 296 – 373, from Alexandria, Egypt, and later canonized, who at the first Council of Nicea in 325 A.D. participated in the debate against Arianism, a theological view based on the teachings of Arius (c. 250-336), who taught that Christ the Son was a created being, not consubstantial with God the Father, and thus not fully Divine. As Bishop of Alexandria (328 – 373) Athanasius continued to speak and write against the Arian heresy, becoming its greatest and most consistent theological opponent, and because of it he was removed from his see and forced to flee five times between 335 and 365. A profession of faith beginning with the words “Quicunque vult” and widely used in western Christianity was attributed to him, and became known also as the Athanasian Creed; but modern scholarship no longer ascribes it to him but to some other, unknown western writer.
** Cf. Acts 17:28; also Colossians 1:16, 17.
(1) The infinite in itself and the eternal in itself is the same as the Divine.
(2) The infinite and eternal in itself cannot but regard something infinite and eternal from itself in finite things.
(3) In everything that it does, Divine providence regards something infinite and eternal from itself, especially in saving humankind.
(4) An image of the infinite and eternal is evident in the angelic heaven formed from a saved humankind.
(5) To regard infinity and eternity in forming the angelic heaven, that it may be in the Lord’s sight as though a single person that is an image of Him, is the inmost object of Divine providence.
The statement that the infinite in itself and the eternal in itself are the Divine accords with the idea of angels. Angels understand the infinite to be nothing other than the Divine being, and the eternal the Divine expression.
On the other hand, that the infinite in itself and the eternal in itself are the Divine is something people can see and cannot see. It can be seen by people who think of the infinite not in terms of space and of the eternal not in terms of time. But it cannot be seen by people who think of the infinite and eternal in terms of space and time. Thus it can be seen by people who think on a more elevated level, that is, who think more interiorly in their rational faculty, and cannot be seen by people who think on a lower level, that is, who think more externally.
[2] People who can see it think that an infinity of space is not possible, and so neither an infinity of time which is eternal in its origin, because infinity has no beginning or end, or no limits.
They also think that an infinite from itself is not possible, either, because “from itself” supposes a starting point and beginning, or something prior from which it springs. Consequently it is pointless to speak of an infinite or eternal from itself, because it would be tantamount to speaking of being’s being from itself, which is contradictory; for an infinite from itself would be an infinite from an infinite, and being’s being from itself would be being from being, and in that case either the infinite or being would be the same as the infinite, or it would be finite.
From these and similar considerations which can be seen interiorly in one’s rational faculty, it is apparent that there is an infinite in itself and an eternal in itself, and that both the one and the other are the Divine from which springs all else.
But think more interiorly and consider whether love or any of its affections, or wisdom or any of its perceptions – indeed whether thought – exists in space or in time, and you will discover that they do not. Since, then, the Divine is love itself and wisdom itself, it follows that the Divine cannot be conceived of as existing in space or in time, and so not the infinite either.
For a clearer perception of this, consider whether thought exists in time and space. Suppose it to continue for a period of ten or twelve hours. May this length of time not seem like an hour or two, and may it not also seem like a day or two? It seems to last as long as it does according to the state of the affection from which the thought springs. If the affection is one of enjoyment, during which no consideration is given to the time, thought for ten or twelve hours seems to last hardly one or two. On the other hand, if the affection is one of distress, during which attention is paid to the time, the contrary is the case.
From this it is apparent that time is only an appearance according to the state of the affection from which one’s thought springs. It is similar with the length of the distance traveled in thought, whether you are walking or on a journey.
[2] So it is that every person has present with him spirits who are impelled by an affection like his own – evil spirits with one who is impelled by a like affection for evil, and good spirits with one who is impelled by a like affection for good. Moreover, they are as present with him as anyone included in his social circle. Space and time have nothing to do with their presence, because affection and its resulting thought do not exist in space and time, and spirits and angels are forms of affections and of the thoughts arising from them.
[3] The reality of this is something I have been given to know from many years’ personal experience, including as well my having spoken with many people after their death, both with people who lived in Europe and in its various kingdoms and with people who lived in Asia and Africa and in their various kingdoms, and they were all in close proximity to me. If space and time existed for them, a journey and time to make the journey would then have intervened.
[4] Every person indeed knows this from some instinct in him or in his mind, as I have had attested for me by the fact that no one has given any thought to any distance in space when I have reported my having spoken with someone who died in Asia, Africa, or Europe, as for example, with Calvin, Luther, or Melanchthon, or with some king, leader, or priest in a distant region; and it has not even occurred to them to wonder how I could speak with those who lived there, or how they could come to me and be present with me even though lands and seas lay between. The same thing has also become apparent to me from the fact that no one thinks in terms of space and time when he thinks of those who are in the spiritual world.
Nevertheless, that for those in the spiritual world there is an appearance of space and time may be seen in the book Heaven and Hell, nos. 162-169, 191-199.
Thought abstracted from time and space enables one to comprehend Divine omnipresence and Divine omnipotence, as also the Divine from eternity, but not at all thought to which an idea of space and time clings.
It is apparent from this that it is possible to think of God from eternity, but never of nature from eternity; consequently that it is possible to think of the creation of the universe by God, and not at all of its creation from nature. For the properties of nature are space and time, whereas the Divine is independent of these.
That the Divine is independent of space and time may be seen in our treatise Divine Love and Wisdom, nos. 7-10, 69-72, 73-76, and elsewhere.
The existence of such an image of the Divine is something we showed several times in the treatise Divine Love and Wisdom, especially where we demonstrated that the created universe has in it an image of the human being, and that the image is an image of the infinite and eternal, nos. 317, 318, thus an image of God the Creator, which is to say, of the Lord from eternity.
One must know, however, that the Divine in itself exists in the Lord, while the Divine from itself is the Divinity present from the Lord in created things.
The Divine cannot regard anything other than the Divine, and it cannot regard this anywhere else than in things created by it. The reality of this is plain from the fact that no one can regard another except from the standpoint of some quality that he has in himself. One who loves another regards him from the standpoint of the love that he has in himself. One who is wise regards another from the standpoint of the wisdom that he has in himself. He may indeed see that the other either does or does not love him, or that the other either is or is not wise, but this he sees from the love and wisdom in himself. Consequently he conjoins himself to the other in the measure that the other loves him as he loves the other, or in the measure that the other is wise as he himself is wise, for this is what unites them.
[2] It is the same with the Divine in itself, for the Divine in itself cannot regard itself from the standpoint of another, as from the standpoint of a person, spirit, or angel. For these have in them nothing of the Divine in itself from which all else springs; and to regard the Divine from the standpoint of another who has in him nothing of the Divine would be to regard the Divine from an absence of the Divine, which is not possible.
It is because of this that the Lord is so conjoined with a person, spirit, and angel that everything relating to the Divine comes not from them but from the Lord. For people know that every good and every truth that a person possesses originates not from him but from the Lord – indeed, that one cannot even name the Lord, or speak His names “Jesus” and “Christ,” without doing so from Him.
[3] It follows now from this that the infinite and eternal, which is the same as the Divine, regards all things infinitely in things finite, and that it conjoins itself with them to the degree of their reception of love and wisdom.
In short, it is possible for the Lord to have an abode and dwell in a person or angel only in something His own, and not in something native to them; for their native character is evil, and even if it were good, still it would be finite, which in and of itself cannot encompass the infinite.
It is apparent from this that it is never possible for someone finite to regard the infinite, but that it is possible for the infinite being to regard something infinite from itself in finite beings.
But more on this subject in the discussions that now follow.
[2] An image of the infinite and eternal in the variety of all things is apparent in the fact that no one thing is the same as another, and cannot be, either, to eternity.
This is apparent to the eye in the case of people’s facial features from the beginning of creation. It is consequently apparent as well from their temperaments, which are reflected in their faces, and also from their affections, perceptions and thoughts, for these produce their temperaments.
So it is that throughout the whole of heaven no two angels or no two spirits are ever the same, and indeed cannot be, either, to eternity.
It is the same in the case of every visible object in both the natural world and the spiritual world.
From this it can be seen that variety is infinite and eternal.
[3] An image of the infinite and eternal in the propagation and multiplication of all things is evident from the power inherent in seeds in the plant kingdom, and in the production of offspring in the animal kingdom, especially in the case of the progeny of fish, which, if they were to propagate and multiply in accordance with their ability to do so, would within a century fill every bit of space in the whole world, indeed in the universe.
It is apparent from this that innate in that power is an effort to reproduce to infinity. And because propagations and multiplications have not ceased from the beginning of creation, and will not cease, either, to eternity, it follows that present in that power is also an endeavor to reproduce to eternity.
This capacity for propagation and multiplication without end, or to infinity and eternity, exists in natural things in the case of people, in spiritual things in the case of spiritual angels, and in celestial things in the case of celestial angels.
Such is the case not only with affections, perceptions and knowledge in general, but also with every single element of them in particular, even the least. The case is such because they spring from the infinite and eternal in itself through the infinite and eternal from itself. However, because anything finite has nothing of the Divine in it, therefore nothing Divine, not even the least, is present in a person or angel as something his own; for a person or angel is finite and merely a recipient vessel that is in itself lifeless. Anything living in him comes from the emanating Divinity conjoined with him by a discontinuous connection, which appears to him as something his own.
The reality of this will be seen in subsequent discussions.
Since to regenerate a person is to unite goodness and truth or love and wisdom in him, as they are united in the Divinity emanating from the Lord, therefore Divine providence regards this especially in saving humankind. An image of the infinite and eternal is present in a person only in a marriage of goodness and truth.
That the emanating Divine brings about this marriage in humankind is known from those who have been filled with the emanating Divine, called the Holy Spirit, and prophesied, as reported in the Word;* and from those who have been enlightened to see Divine truths in the light of heaven – especially in the case of angels, who sensibly perceive the presence, influx, and conjunction. Yet these also recognize that the conjunction really is only what may be called an adjunction.
* Numbers 11:25-27. 1 Samuel 10:5, 6, 10; 19:20, 21, 23, 24. Ezekiel 11:5. Luke 1:67. See also Luke 1:41, 42; Joel 2:28, 29; Acts 2:17, 18; 19:6.
Still, people who think in terms of time and space perceive this with difficulty, not only because they love temporal things, but also because they think from the viewpoint of one present in the world, and not from the viewpoint of one present in heaven. Heaven to them is as far away as the end of the earth.
On the other hand, people who are in the Divine, because they think from the Lord, think also in terms of eternity when they think from the viewpoint of the present, saying to themselves, “What is something that is not eternal? Is not something temporal relatively as nothing, and does it not become nothing when it comes to an end? Not so something eternal. That alone is real, because its being does not come to an end.”
To think in this way is to think at the same time in terms of eternity when thinking from the viewpoint of one’s present circumstance. And when a person does so think and at the same time so lives, the emanating Divinity in him or Divine providence regards throughout its progression the state of his eternal life in heaven and guides him to it.
We will see in subsequent discussions that the Divine regards what is eternal in everyone, in an evil person as well as in a good one.
The spiritual world also has in it actual paths which lead to every society of heaven and to every society of hell; and everyone sees his own path as though of himself. He sees it because there are paths there for every love, and love reveals the path and leads a person to his fellows. No one sees any other paths than those of his own love.
It is apparent from this that angels are simply embodiments of heavenly loves, for otherwise they would not have seen the paths leading to heaven. But this can be better seen from a description of heaven.
Now because all spirits and angels are embodiments of affections, it is apparent that the entire angelic heaven is simply the embodiment of love encompassing all affections for good and of a resulting wisdom encompassing all perceptions of truth. Moreover, because every good and truth comes from the Lord, and the Lord is love itself and wisdom itself, it follows that the angelic heaven is an image of Him. So, too, because Divine love and wisdom are, in their form, human, it also follows that the angelic heaven cannot but be in a like form. But we will say more on this subject in the following discussion.
It is clearly apparent from this that an image of the infinite and eternal is evident in the angelic heaven.
No one else can unite all these affections into this form but one who is love itself and at the same time wisdom itself, and also infinite and eternal. For infinity and eternity are present in every element of the form – infinity in its unity, and eternity in its perpetuity. If infinity and eternity were to be eliminated from it, the form would in an instant fall apart.
Who else can unite affections into a single form? Indeed, who else can unite a single element of it? For a single element of the form cannot be united into the whole except from an overall idea of all the elements, and the totality of them all cannot be united except from a particular idea of each one.
There are millions of people who compose that form, and there are millions who enter it yearly and who will enter it to eternity. All little children enter it, and so do as many adults as there are affections belonging to a love of good.
One can see again from this an image of the infinite and eternal in the angelic heaven.
That the whole of heaven is as though a single person is not something I have seen, because the whole of heaven cannot be seen by anyone but the Lord alone. But that an entire society of heaven, greater or smaller, has appeared as a single person is something I have seen, several times, and I have then been told that the grandest society, which is heaven in its whole complex, appears similarly, but to the Lord, and that this is the reason every angel is in complete form human.
Now because the Lord is supremely human, and heaven is an image of Him, therefore people say that to be in heaven is to be in the Lord. (That the Lord is supremely human may be seen in our treatise Divine Love and Wisdom, nos. 11-13, 285-289.)
An affection for truth that emanates from the Lord appears in an angel or person as a perception and consequent thought of truth, because attention is paid to the perception and thought, and little to the affection from which they spring, even though they emanate together with the affection for truth as a single entity from the Lord.
This, therefore, is the continual object of Divine providence. But its inmost object is that a person may be in this or that place in heaven, or in this or that place in the Divine human in heaven, for thus is he in the Lord.
This end is achieved, however, with those whom the Lord is able to lead to heaven. And because the Lord foresees it, He also continually provides for a person’s becoming such as to allow it. For everyone who allows himself to be led to heaven is thus prepared for his place in heaven.
This is the inmost object of Divine providence as regards heaven.
This is the inmost object of Divine providence as regards hell.
People know of the existence of Divine providence, but they do not know the nature of it.
The reason people do not know the nature of Divine providence is that its laws are secret, heretofore concealed in the wisdom possessed by angels, but now to be revealed, that people may ascribe to the Lord what is the Lord’s doing, and not ascribe to any person what is not the person’s doing. For most people in the world attribute everything to themselves and to their own prudence, and what they cannot attribute to these they call fortuitous and accidental, not knowing that human prudence is of no consequence, and that the words “fortuitous” and “accidental” are idle terms.
[2] We say that the laws of Divine providence are secret, heretofore concealed in the wisdom possessed by angels. That is because in the Christian world religion has closed the intellect in respect to Divine matters, and the intellect has consequently become so obtuse and resistant in regard to them that people have been unable because they have been unwilling – or unwilling because they have been unable – to understand anything of Divine providence other than the mere fact that it exists, and to reason whether it exists or not, and whether it is a universal providence only, or a particular one as well. Having been closed by religion in respect to Divine matters, the intellect has been unable to go any further.
[3] Nevertheless, because it has been acknowledged in the church that a person cannot of himself do good that is good in itself, or of himself think truth that is true in itself, and these go hand in hand with Divine providence, so that belief in the one depends on a belief in the other – lest therefore the one be affirmed and the other denied, and as a result both perish – it must altogether be revealed what Divine providence is.
This cannot be revealed, however, unless the laws by which the Lord oversees and directs the volitional and intellectual components of a person are disclosed. For the laws enable one to know the nature of Divine providence, and only one who knows the nature of it can acknowledge it, for it is then that he sees it.
This is the reason that the laws of Divine providence, heretofore concealed in the wisdom possessed by angels, are now revealed.
People know that a person has the freedom to think and will as he pleases, but not the freedom to say whatever he thinks, nor the freedom to do whatever he wishes. Consequently by freedom here we mean spiritual freedom and not natural freedom, except when the two are in accord. For thinking and willing are spiritual, while speaking and acting are natural. They are also clearly distinguished in a person, as a person can think what he does not express, and can will what he does not do. It is apparent, therefore, that the spiritual and natural components in a person have been made distinct, so that a person cannot slip from the one into the other except as the result of a conscious decision. This decision may be likened to a door which must first be unlatched and opened. However, the door stands open, so to speak, in people who think and will rationally in conformity with the civil laws of the kingdom and the moral laws of society, for they say what they think and do as they will. But the door stands closed, so to speak, in people who think and will in opposition to those laws.
One who pays attention to his wishes and consequent actions will observe that such a conscious decision intervenes, and sometimes more than once in a single conversation or in a single course of action.
We have premised this much in order to have it known that by acting in freedom in accordance with one’s reason we mean thinking and willing freely, and then speaking and doing freely that which is in accord with one’s reason.
(1)A human being has reason and freedom, or rationality and liberty, and these two faculties are present in a person from the Lord.
(2)Whatever a person does in freedom, whether it accords with reason or not, provided it accords with his reason, appears to him as his own doing.
(3)Whatever a person does in freedom in accordance with his thought becomes attached to him as his and remains.
(4)It is by means of these two faculties that a person is reformed and regenerated by the Lord, and he cannot be reformed and regenerated apart from them.
(5)A person can be reformed and regenerated by means of these two faculties to the extent that he can be led by means of them to acknowledge that every good and truth that he thinks and does originates from the Lord and not from himself.
(6)The conjunction of the Lord with a person and the reciprocal conjunction of a person with the Lord are effected by means of these two faculties.
(7)Throughout the whole progress of His Divine providence, the Lord preserves these two faculties in a person intact and as sacred.
(8)Therefore it is a goal of Divine providence that a person act in freedom in accordance with his reason.
Still, because a number of questions regarding each of these two faculties may occur when one thinks about them, I wish at this point to say something simply about the freedom found in the human being to act in accordance with his reason.
[2] First, however, it must be known that freedom is wholly a matter of love, so that love and freedom are united. Moreover, because love is a person’s life, freedom is also a matter of his life. For every delight that a person experiences springs from his love. Only from that origin is any delight possible, and to be moved to act by a delight of one’s love is to act in freedom, since delight draws a person as a river does an object which is borne along of itself in the direction of its current.
Now because loves are of many kinds, some concordant and some discordant, it follows that there are likewise many kinds of freedom. In general, however, there are three kinds: natural freedom, rational freedom, and spiritual freedom.
[3] Natural freedom everyone has hereditarily. From his heredity a person loves only himself and the world. His initial life is nothing else. And because all evils spring from these two loves, and evils consequently become matters of one’s love, it follows that to think and will evils is a person’s natural freedom, and that when he has confirmed them in himself by reasonings, he does them in freedom in accordance with his reason. His doing so is owing to his faculty called freedom; and his confirming them is owing to his faculty called rationality.
[4] So, for example, it is because of the love into which a person is born that he wills to commit adultery, to defraud, to blaspheme, and to take revenge; and when he confirms these evils in himself and thereby makes them allowable, then because of his love’s delight in them he thinks and wills them freely as though in accordance with reason, and to the extent that he is not restrained by civil laws, speaks and does them.
It is of the Lord’s Divine providence that a person is permitted to do so, because he has freedom or liberty.
A person has this kind of freedom by nature, because of his heredity. And those are in the enjoyment of this freedom who, from the delight of a love of self and the world, have by reasonings confirmed it in themselves.
[5] Rational freedom results from a love of one’s reputation for the sake of honor or material gain. The delight of this love is to appear in outward demeanor like a moral person. And because he loves such a reputation, the person does not defraud, commit adultery, take revenge, or blaspheme. Moreover, because he makes this behavior a matter of his reason, he also acts in freedom in accordance with his reason in an honest, just, chaste, and friendly manner. Indeed, he may speak well in accord with reason in support of such conduct.
If, however, his rational conduct is natural only, and not at the same time spiritual, this freedom is merely external freedom, and not internal freedom; for despite his conduct the person does not love these good actions inwardly, but only outwardly, for the sake of his reputation, as we said. Consequently the good things that he does are not good in themselves. He may even say that such things are to be done for the sake of the public good, but he says it not out of a love for the public good, but out of a love for his own honor or gain. His freedom, therefore, draws none of its quality from a love for the public good, and neither does his reason, because it yields to his love. Consequently this kind of rational freedom is a more interior natural freedom.
The Lord’s Divine providence allows everyone this freedom, too.
[6] Spiritual freedom results from a love of eternal life. No one else comes into that love and its delight but one who thinks that evils are sins and for that reason does not will them, and who at the same time looks to the Lord. As soon as a person does this, he is in that state of freedom. For no one can resist willing evils because they are sins and for that reason not do them except by the exercise of an interior or higher freedom which results from an interior or higher love that he has.
This kind of freedom does not appear at first to be freedom, even though it is. But afterward it does appear to be so, and a person then acts in real freedom in accordance with real reason, thinking, willing, speaking and doing what is good and true.
This state of freedom grows as the exercise of natural freedom decreases and becomes its servant, and as it unites itself with rational freedom and purifies it.
[7] Anyone can come into this freedom provided he is willing to believe that life is eternal, and that any delight and blessedness of life in time, for a time, is but as a fleeting shadow compared to the delight and blessedness of life in eternity, to eternity. Moreover, a person can believe this, if he is willing to, because he has rationality and freedom, and because the Lord from whom he has these two faculties continually gives him the ability.
[2] Every affection has its own partner as a mate. An affection of a natural love has knowledge, an affection of a spiritual love intelligence, and an affection of a celestial love wisdom. For without its partner as a mate, affection has no reality, but is like being without expression, or like substance without form, of which nothing can be predicated. It is because of this that every created thing has present in it something assignable to a marriage of goodness and truth, as we have shown in many places above. In animals it is a marriage of affection and knowledge. The affection there is an affection for natural good, and the knowledge a knowlege of natural truth.
[3] Now because affection and knowledge in animals are wholly united, and their affection cannot be elevated above their knowledge, nor their knowledge above their affection, and if they are elevated the two are elevated together, and because animals do not have any spiritual mind into which, or into whose light and warmth, they can be elevated, therefore they do not have a faculty for understanding or rationality, or a faculty for freely willing or freedom, but instead have a merely natural affection with its accompanying knowledge. The natural affection that they have is an affection for providing themselves with nourishment and shelter, for reproducing, and for escaping or avoiding harm and injury, accompanied by all the requisite knowledge for these. Such being the state of their life, they cannot think, “I will this and do not will that,” or “I know this and do not know that,” still less, “I understand this” or “I love this.” Rather they are borne along by their affection in accordance with their knowledge without rationality or freedom.
That they are so borne along is due not to the natural world but to the spiritual world. For there is nothing in the natural world disconnected from the spiritual world. Every cause producing an effect emanates from there.
Some observations on this subject may be seen also in no. 96 below.
[2] By means of these two faculties a person is able to think within him about those things which with the senses of his body he perceives around him, and to think on a higher level about those things which he is thinking below. For everyone can say, “This is what I have thought, and this is what I now think,” or, “This is what I have willed and this is what I now will,” likewise, “I understand this to be so,” “I love this because it is as it is,” and so on. It is apparent, therefore, that the human being thinks also on a level above his thought and sees it as though below him. He has this ability from rationality and freedom – from rationality the ability to think on a higher level, from freedom his willing with affection thus to think; for if he did not have the freedom thus to think, he would not have the will to, and so neither the thought.
[3] Because of this, people who have no wish to understand anything other than what pertains to the world and its nature, and not what is morally and spiritually good and true, cannot be elevated from knowledge into intelligence, and still less into wisdom. For they have closed off these faculties, so as to make themselves no longer human beyond the fact that, because of their inherent rationality and freedom, they have the ability to understand if they will, and also the ability to so will.
It is owing to these two faculties that a person has the ability to think, and from thinking to speak. In all other respects people are not human but animals, and some, by an abuse of these faculties, worse than animals.
[2] It can be clearly seen from this that even though everything flows in that a person perceives and so thinks and knows, and in consequence of his perception wills and does, still it is of the Lord’s Divine providence that it appear to be the person’s. For, as we said, a person otherwise would receive nothing, thus could not be endowed with any intelligence or wisdom.
People know that every good and truth is not man’s but the Lord’s, and yet that it appears to a person as his. And because every good and truth so appears, so also do all the constituents of the church and heaven, accordingly all the constituents of love and wisdom, and of charity and faith; and yet no element of these is man’s. No one can receive these from the Lord unless it appears to him that he perceives them as though of himself.
From this can be seen the truth of the matter, that whatever a person does in freedom, whether it accords with reason or not, provided it accords with his reason, appears to him as his own doing.
Who, therefore, cannot make these matters matters of his reason, provided he is willing to? He has the rationality, and he has the freedom. To the extent that he therefore refrains from these evils in him, his rationality and freedom also are unveiled, emerge, take control, and give him the perception and ability; and to the extent that he does this, to the same extent he regards those goods as a friend does his friends.
[2] From these considerations a person can, by virtue of his faculty called rationality, draw conclusions regarding the goods which are useful to society in the spiritual world, and regarding the evils which are harmful there, if only for evils he substitutes sins, and for goods, works of charity. This, too, a person can make a matter of his reason, provided he is willing to, since he has the rationality and freedom to do so. Moreover, his rationality and freedom are unveiled, emerge, take control, and give him the perception and ability to the extent that he refrains from these evils as sins; and to the extent that he does this, to the same extent he regards the goods of charity as a neighbor does the neighbor out of a love for each other.
[3] Now because, for the sake of reception and conjunction, the Lord wills that whatever a person does freely in accordance with his reason appear to him as his own doing, and this accords with reason itself, it follows that a person can by virtue of his reason will something because it means his eternal happiness, and by imploring the Lord’s Divine power, do it.
We say that what a person does in freedom he does in accordance with his thought, and that is because what is part of someone’s life or love, this he also thinks about and justifies in thought, and when he has justified it, he then does it in freedom in accordance with his thought. For whatever a person does he does from the will by means of the intellect, and freedom is connected with the will, and thought with the intellect.
[2] A person can also act in freedom contrary to his reason, or in accordance with his reason without being in freedom. But what he does then does not attach itself to the person, being the product only of his mouth and body and not of his spirit or heart. Products of his spirit and heart, however, when they become ones also of his mouth and body – these do attach themselves to the person. The reality of this can be illustrated by many examples, but this is not the place for it.
[3] By something’s attaching itself to a person we mean its entering into his life and becoming part of his life, so as to become his own. In subsequent discussions, however, we will see that nothing is a person’s own, but that it only appears to him as if it were. Here we will say only that every good that a person does in freedom in accordance with his reason becomes attached to him as his, because in his thinking, willing, speaking and acting it appears to him as attributable to him. Nevertheless, the good is not the person’s but the Lord’s in the person, as may be seen in no. 76 above.
As for evil, how it becomes attached to a person will be seen in its own discussion.
[2] So, for example, if a person in his childhood and youth attached to himself some evil by doing it out of a delight of his love – if, for instance, he defrauded, blasphemed, took revenge, or behaved licentiously – then because he did these things in freedom in accordance with his thought, he also attached them to him. But if he afterward repents, refrains from them, and views them as sins to be shunned, and so in freedom in accordance with his reason desists from them, then he has attached to him the goods of which those evils were the opposite. These goods then form the center, and they move the evils toward the peripheries, moving them further and further according to the person’s aversion to and rejection of them. But still they cannot be so cast out as to be said to be eradicated. Nevertheless, by their being moved aside they can appear as though eradicated. This is achieved by the person’s being withheld from evils by the Lord and kept engaged in goods. Such is the case with all hereditary evil and likewise with all a person’s actual evil.
[3] I have also seen this attested by my experience with some people in heaven who, because they were kept by the Lord in a state of good, thought themselves to be without any evils. But to prevent them from believing that the state of good in which they were was their own, they were sent down from heaven and conveyed back into their evils, until they acknowledged that they were of themselves impelled by evils, but by the Lord were impelled by goods. And after that acknowledgment they were taken back into heaven.
[4] Be it known, therefore, that these goods become attached to a person only in such a way as to be constantly the Lord’s in the person, and that to the extent a person acknowledges this, the Lord grants that the good appear to the person to be his, that is to say, that it appear to the person that he loves his neighbor or has charity as though of himself, that he believes or has faith as though of himself, and that he does good and understands truth, thus is wise, as though of himself. An enlightened person can see from this the nature and force of the appearance in which the Lord wills a person to be. And the Lord wills it for the sake of the person’s salvation, as no one can be saved without this appearance.
On this subject see also what we showed in nos. 42-45 above.
That is what is meant by these words of the Lord:
It is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but it is what comes out of (the heart through) the mouth that defiles a person. (Matthew 15:11, 17-19)
By the mouth in the spiritual sense is meant thought, since thought speaks through the mouth; and by the heart in that sense is meant the affection belonging to love. If a person thinks and speaks from this, he then defiles himself.
By the heart is symbolically meant the affection belonging to love or the will, and by the mouth the thought belonging to the intellect, in Luke 6:45 also.*
* A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks. (Luke 6:45)
But on this subject, see in The Doctrine of Life for the New Jerusalem nos. 108-113.
For it to be known, however, how a person is regenerated, we must consider the following three stages: the nature of a person’s first state, which is a state of damnation; the nature of his second state, which is a state of reformation; and the nature of his third state, which is the state of regeneration.
[2] A person’s first state, which is a state of damnation, every person has owing to his heredity from his parents. For in consequence of it a person is born into a love of self and a love of the world, and from these as fountainheads into evils of every kind. The delights of these loves are the ones by which he is led, and the delights cause him not to know that he is caught up in evils, as no delight of any love is ever felt as anything other than good. Unless a person is regenerated, therefore, he knows no otherwise than that to love himself and the world above all else is goodness itself, and that to dominate over all others and to possess the wealth of all others is the highest good.
It is from this, too, that every evil springs, for the person looks upon no one else with love, but only himself, and if he does look upon another with love, it is as a devil regards a devil or as a thief regards a thief when the two are acting in concert.
[3] People who, from a delight in them, justify these loves to themselves and the evils flowing from them, remain natural and become carnally sensual; and in their personal thinking, which is that of their spirit, they are irrational. Still, however, as long as they are in the world they are able to speak and act rationally and wisely, for they are human beings and so have rationality and freedom. But this, too, they do out of their love of self and the world.
After death, when they become spirits, they are incapable of any other delight than that which they entertained in their spirit in the world; and that delight is the delight of a hellish love, which turns into something undelightful, painful, and dreadful, which is meant in the Word by torment* and hell fire.**
It is apparent from this that a person’s first state is a state of damnation, and that those people are in that state who do not allow themselves to be regenerated.
[4] A person’s second state, which is a state of reformation, occurs when he begins to think about heaven in terms of the joy there, and so about God, from whom the joy of heaven is possible for him. At first, however, he is moved to think about this by the delight of his self-love, the joy of heaven being to him that delight. But as long as the delight of that love reigns, together with the delights of the evils flowing from it, he is incapable of any other understanding than that the way to heaven is to pour out prayers, listen to sermons, participate in the Holy Supper, give to the poor, aid the needy, contribute money to churches, make donations to shelters, and other like things. A person in this state does not know any different than that simply to think about the things that religion teaches is saving, whether that is what is called faith, or is what is called faith and charity.
The person is incapable of any understanding other than that to think about these things is saving because he gives no thought to the evils by whose delights he is impelled, and as long as the delights of those evils remain, the evils, too, remain. The delights of those evils spring from a lust for them, which continually insinuates them, and also produces them when not restrained by some fear.
[5] As long as evils remain in the lusts and consequent delights of a love for them, there is no faith, charity, piety or worship except in merely outward expressions, which to the world seem real, and yet are not. They may be likened to waters issuing from a contaminated spring, which cannot be drunk.
As long as a person’s character is such that he thinks about heaven and God in accordance with religion, and does not think of evils as being sins, he is still in the first state. But he comes into the second state or state of reformation when he begins to think that there is such a thing as sin, and still more when he thinks that this or that evil is a sin, and when he examines it somewhat in himself and does not will it.
[6] A person’s third state, which is the state of regeneration, picks up and continues on from the prior state. It begins when a person desists from evils as being sins, progresses as he refrains from them, and is perfected as he fights against them; and as with the Lord’s help he overcomes them, he is then regenerated.
In a person who is being regenerated, the order of his life is changed. From being natural he becomes spiritual. For when separated from the spiritual component, the natural one is contrary to order, while the spiritual one is in order. Consequently the regenerate person acts out of charity, and makes everything connected with his charity a part of his faith.
But still, he becomes spiritual only to the extent that he is governed by truths. For everyone is regenerated by means of truths and by a life in accordance with them. It is through truths, indeed, that he knows about that life, and through that life that he puts them into practice. Thus he joins together good and truth, which is the spiritual marriage governing heaven.
* See Luke 16:23-25; Rev. 14:10, 11, 20:10. Cf. Job 19:2; Isaiah 50:11; Matthew 8:29, 25:46; Mark 5:7; Luke 8:28; Rev. 9:5.
** See Matthew 5:22, 18:9; Mark 9:47. Cf. Matthew 3:12, 13:42, 50, 25:41; Mark 9:43, 45; Revelation 14:10, 20:10, 14, 15.
A person then acts for the first time from the delight of a love of good and truth when the delight of a love of evil and falsity has been removed. For two delights of love opposed to each other are not possible at the same time. To be moved to act by the delight of one’s love is to act in freedom, and because one’s reason is inclined to go along with the love, it is also to act in accordance with one’s reason.
* The number 84 in the sequence was accidentally omitted.
This is the reason that evils do not condemn a regenerate person, and goods do not save an unregenerate one.
From rationality a person has the ability to understand, and from freedom the ability to will, each as though of himself. Yet the ability to will good in freedom, and consequently to do it in accordance with one’s reason, is not possible unless the person is regenerate. An evil person can in freedom will only evil, and do it in accordance with his way of thinking, which he has made by justifications to be as though a matter of reason. For one can justify evil just as well as good, even though evil is justified by fallacies and appearances which, when affirmed, become falsities; and when evil has been justified, it appears to be as though a matter of reason.
Every ability must have a capability given it and so a determination from something more interior or higher than itself. The eye is not capable of seeing on its own, nor the ear of hearing on its own, nor the mouth of speaking on its own, or the hands of acting on their own. The capability and consequent determination must come from the mind. Nor is the mind capable of thinking and willing this or that on its own except there be something more interior or higher which determines the mind to it. It is the same with the ability to understand and the ability to will. These can come only from Him who is able in Himself to will and able in Himself to understand.
[2] It is apparent from this that these two faculties called rationality and freedom originate from the Lord, and not from man. Moreover, because they originate from the Lord, it follows that a person wills and understands nothing whatever of himself, but only as though of himself.
The reality of this can be confirmed in his own case by anyone who knows and believes that all willing of good and all understanding of truth originate from the Lord and not from man.
That a person can receive nothing of himself and do nothing of himself is what the Word teaches in John 3:27, 15:5.
Everyone acts in accordance with his reason because freedom, like love, cannot be separated from will. However, a person has in him an inner will and an outer will, and he can act in accordance with the outer will and not at the same time in accordance with the inner will. This is what a hypocrite or sycophant does. And yet the outer will is in freedom, because it springs from a love of appearing different from what one is, or from a love of some evil that one intends from a love belonging to the inner will. But as we said above, an evil person can in freedom in accordance with his reason do only evil, and is unable in freedom in accordance with his reason to do good. He may indeed do it, but not in an inner state of freedom, which is his real freedom, and this causes his outer freedom not to be good.
But thinking in this way does not come from the Lord, and so neither does it issue from an interior sight of the intellect, that is to say, from any state of enlightenment. Therefore we must say briefly here what the acknowledgment accomplishes.
[2] In the spiritual world, where intervals of space are merely appearances, wisdom brings about presence and love brings about conjunction; and vice versa.
Possible is an acknowledgment of the Lord occasioned by wisdom, and an acknowledgment of the Lord occasioned by love. An acknowledgment of the Lord occasioned by wisdom, which regarded in itself is simply a recognition, occurs as a result of doctrine, and an acknowledgment of the Lord occasioned by love occurs as a result of a life in accordance with that doctrine. The first brings about the Lord’s presence, but the latter conjunction.
It is because of this that people who reject any doctrine regarding the Lord remove themselves from His presence; and because they also reject an accordant life, they separate themselves from Him. On the other hand, those who do not reject the doctrine, but only an accordant life, are in His presence, but still separated. They are like friends who converse together, but do not love each other. Or they are like two people, one of whom speaks with the other as a friend, but hates him as an enemy.
[3] The reality of this is also something people know from the common recognition that one who teaches rightly and lives rightly is saved, but not one who teaches rightly and lives evilly; and that one who does not acknowledge God cannot be saved.
It is apparent from this what kind of religion it is to think about the Lord in conformity with faith, as it is termed, and not to do anything out of charity. Therefore the Lord says:
Why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do the things which I say? Whoever comes to Me, and hears My sayings and does them . . . is like a man building a house, who. . . laid the foundation on the rock. . . But he who hears and does not do is like a man who built a house on the earth without a foundation. . . (Luke 6:46-49)
The possibility of a conjunction of the Lord with a person and a reciprocal one of the person with the Lord is something the Lord Himself teaches in John:
Abide in Me, and I in you. . . He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit. (John 15:4, 5)
At that day you will know that. . . you are in Me, and I in you. (John 14:20)
[2] Everyone can see from reason alone that no conjunction of hearts exists unless it is reciprocal, and that the reciprocity is what conjoins. If someone loves another and is not loved in return, then as the one approaches, the other draws away. But if he is loved in return, then as the one approaches, so also does the other, and conjunction takes place. Love, moreover, wishes to be loved. This wish is inherent in it, and to the extent that it is loved in return it is fulfilled and in the enjoyment of its delight.
It is apparent from this that if it is only the Lord who loves a person, and the person were not to love the Lord in return, the Lord would approach and the person draw away. Thus the Lord would be continually wishing to meet the person and enter into him, while the person would be turning his back and going away. Such is the case with people who are in hell, but with people who are in heaven there is a mutual conjunction.
[3] Since the Lord wills to be conjoined with a person, for the sake of his salvation, He also provides that a person have in him something reciprocal. The reciprocal condition in a person consists in this, that the good that he wills and does in freedom, and the truth that he thinks and speaks in consequence of that will in accordance with his reason, appear to issue from him; and that this good in his will, and this truth in his intellect, appear to be his. Indeed, they appear to the person to issue from him and be his altogether as though they were his, without any difference. Observe whether anyone perceives with any of his senses anything else. Concerning this appearance to a person that he does what he does as though of himself, see nos. 74-77 above; and concerning its attachment to him as his, nos. 78-81.
The only difference is that a person ought to acknowledge that he does good and thinks truth not of himself but from the Lord; and therefore that the good that he does and the truth that he thinks are not his. To think in this way, impelled by some love of the will, because it is the truth, occasions conjunction. For a person then turns his face to the Lord, and the Lord turns His face to the person.
Those who believe that good originates from the Lord turn their faces to Him and receive the delight and blessedness of good. But those who believe that good originates from themselves look to themselves and inwardly think to themselves that they deserve the credit. Moreover, because they look to themselves, they cannot but take delight in their own goodness, which is not a delight in good but a delight in evil. For a person’s native character is evil, and a delight in evil perceived as good is what constitutes hell.
People who have done good and believed that it originated from them, if after death they do not accept the truth that all good originates from the Lord, fall in with infernal genii and at length join them.
By contrast, those who accept this truth are reformed. But the only people who accept it are those who have looked to God in their lives. To look to God in one’s life is nothing else than to refrain from evils as sins.
To love the neighbor as oneself consists simply in not dealing dishonestly or unjustly with him, not hating him or burning with vengeance against him, not cursing or defaming him, not committing adultery with his wife, and not doing other like things to him. Who cannot see that people who do such things do not love the neighbor as themselves?
On the other hand, people who do not do such things because they are evils injurious to the neighbor, and because they are at the same time sins against the Lord – these deal honestly, justly, amicably, and faithfully with the neighbor; and because the Lord does likewise, a reciprocal conjunction is formed. Moreover, when a reciprocal conjunction has been formed, then whatever a person does for the neighbor is done from the Lord, and whatever a person does from the Lord is good. To him the neighbor then is not the person but the good in the person.
To love the Lord above all consists simply in not doing evil to the Word, because the Lord is present in the Word; in not doing evil to the sanctities of the church, because the Lord is present in the sanctities of the church; and in not doing evil to anyone’s soul, because everyone’s soul is in the Lord’s hand. People who refrain from evils as being egregious sins – these love the Lord above all. But only those are capable of this who love the neighbor as themselves, for the two loves go hand in hand.
But when a person rejects acts of murder, adultery, theft, and false witness as hellish, then he can love the Lord, for he then turns his face away from the devil to the Lord, and when he turns his face to the Lord, he is granted love and wisdom. These enter a person through the face, and not through the back of his head.
Because conjunction with the Lord is formed in this way and no other, therefore the two tables of the Law are called a covenant; and a covenant is made between two parties.
From a concept of what these two faculties, freedom and rationality, are, a concept presented in the preceding discussions, the reality of this can indeed be seen, but not clearly unless they are visibly presented as conclusions. Therefore they must be elucidated.
[2] That without these two faculties a person would not have will or understanding, and so would not be human: That is because a person has will solely for the reason that he is able to will freely as though of himself, and his ability to will freely as though of himself is due to the faculty continually given to him by the Lord called freedom. So, too, a person has understanding solely for the reason that he is able to understand as though of himself whether something accords with reason or not, and his ability to understand whether something accords with reason or not is due to the second faculty continually given to him by the Lord called rationality.
These faculties operate conjointly in a person like the will and intellect. That is to say, because a person has the ability to will, he has also an ability to understand, for willing is not possible without understanding. Understanding is its consort or mate, without which it cannot exist. Consequently the faculty called freedom is accompanied by the faculty called rationality. [3] Moreover, if you take away willing from understanding, you understand nothing; and you can understand as much as you are willing to understand, provided the auxiliary supports called concepts are present or at the same time laid open, for these are like tools to a workman.
We say that you can understand as much as you are willing to understand, that is, as much as you have a love to understand, for will and love go together. This may appear indeed to be questionable, but it appears so only to people who have no love and so no will to understand; and people who have no will to, say that they cannot. But just who cannot, and who can only with difficulty, will be told in the next discussion.
[4] It is apparent without confirmation that if a person did not have will from the faculty called freedom, and understanding from the faculty called rationality, he would not be human.
Animals do not have these faculties. It appears as though animals, too, can will and understand, but they cannot. It is only a natural affection, which in itself is desire, with its accompanying knowledge, that leads and moves them to do what they do. There are, indeed, civil and moral elements in their knowledge, but these do not extend beyond that knowledge, because they lack a spiritual component to enable them to perceive what is moral and so to think analytically about it. Granted, they can be taught to do something, but it is only something natural, which is incorporated into their knowledge and at the same time into their affection, and duplicated as a result of some visual or auditory stimulus, but which never becomes in them a matter of thought, and still less a matter of reason.
Some observations on this subject may be seen in no. 74 above.
[5] That without these two faculties a person could not be conjoined with the Lord, and so could not be reformed and regenerated: This we have already shown above. For the Lord resides in people, both good and evil, in these two faculties, and by means of them conjoins Himself with every person. It is because of this that an evil person as well as good one can understand, and so has the potential of a will for good and an understanding of truth. That they are not actual is due to his abuse of these faculties.
The Lord resides in every person in these faculties because of an influx of the Lord’s will – His will being to be received by the person, to have His abode in him, and to impart to him the felicities of eternal life. These are objects of the Lord’s will because they are the objects of His Divine love.
It is this, the Lord’s will, which creates in a person the appearance that what he thinks, speaks, wills and does is his own.
[6] The fact that it is an influx of the Lord’s will that accomplishes this can be confirmed by many proofs from the spiritual world. For the Lord sometimes fills an angel with His Divinity, so that the angel does not know but that he is the Lord. He thus filled the angels who appeared to Abraham, Hagar, and Gideon, and who therefore called themselves Jehovah, as recorded in the Word. So, too, one spirit can be filled by another to the point that he does not know but that he is the other. This I have seen quite often. Moreover, people in heaven know that the Lord accomplishes everything by willing it, and that what He wills comes to pass.
It is apparent from this that it is by means of these two faculties that the Lord conjoins Himself with a person and causes the person to be reciprocally conjoined with Him. But how a person is reciprocally conjoined with Him by means of these faculties, and consequently how he is reformed and regenerated by means of them, has been explained above, and more will be said about it below.
[7] That without these two faculties a person would not have immortality and eternal life: This follows from what we have already said, that by means of these faculties conjunction with the Lord is effected, and so also reformation and regeneration. By that conjunction a person has immortality, and by reformation and regeneration he has eternal life. Moreover, because by means of these faculties a conjunction of the Lord with every person is effected, with an evil person as well as with a good one, as we have said, therefore every person has immortality. But only that person has eternal life, that is to say, the life of heaven, who has in him a reciprocal conjunction from his innermost constituents to his outermost.
From this one can see the reasons why, throughout the whole progress of His Divine providence, the Lord preserves these two faculties in a person intact and as sacred.
But still, each is of Divine providence. For if the freedom to will evil and by justifications to make it seemingly a matter of reason were to be taken from the natural person, his freedom and rationality would perish, and with them his will and understanding; and he could not be led away from evils and be reformed, and so be conjoined with the Lord and live to eternity. Therefore the Lord guards the freedom in a person as a person does the pupil of his eye.
Nevertheless, through the exercise of his freedom the Lord continually leads a person away from evils, and to the extent that the person can through the exercise of his freedom be led away, to the same extent the Lord uses the exercise of his freedom to implant goods. Thus He gradually replaces infernal freedom with heavenly freedom.
Still, unless he is born foolish or extremely stupid, every person can attain to genuine reason and through it to genuine freedom. If he does not, it is for various reasons that we will disclose in subsequent discussions. Here we will mention only those who cannot be given genuine freedom or liberty and with it genuine reason or rationality, and those who can be given them only with difficulty.
[2] Genuine freedom and rationality cannot be given to people foolish from birth, nor to people who have become foolish later, as long as they remain foolish.
Genuine freedom and rationality cannot be given to people born stupid and dense, nor to some who have become so owing to the torpor of idleness, or to illness which has deranged or entirely closed up the interiors of the mind, or to a love for an animal-like life.
[3] Genuine freedom and rationality are impossible in the case of people in the Christian world who deny altogether the Lord’s Divinity and the holiness of the Word, and who have retained that denial and defended it in themselves to the very end of their life. For it is this that is meant by the sin against the Holy Spirit, which is not forgiven in this age or in the age to come (Matthew 12:31, 32).
[4] Genuine freedom and rationality are impossible in the case of people who attribute everything to nature and nothing to the Divine, and who by reasonings based on observable phenomena have made the attribution an article of their faith. For these, indeed, are atheists.
[5] Genuine freedom and rationality are possible only with difficulty in the case of people who have in great part confirmed themselves in falsities of religion, since a maintainer of falsity is a denier of truth. But they can be given to those who have not so confirmed themselves, in whatever religion they may be – on which subject, see what we reported in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Sacred Scripture, nos. 91-97.
[6] Little children and preadolescents cannot come into genuine freedom and rationality until they reach a more mature age, since the interiors of the mind in the human being are opened only gradually. In the meantime these interiors are like seeds in unripe fruit, which cannot yet sprout in the soil.
I have quite often heard of such astonishing occurrences in the spiritual world, and I have been fully convinced by them that every person has freedom and rationality, and that everyone can come into genuine freedom and rationality if he abstains from evils as being sins.
It is never possible, however, for an adult who has not come into genuine freedom and rationality in the world to come into them after death. For the state of his life then remains to eternity such as it had been in the world.
Away Evils in His Internal Self and at the Same Time in His External One
Everyone can see from reason alone that the Lord, who is good itself and truth itself, cannot enter into a person unless the evils and falsities in him are put away. For evil is opposed to good, and falsity to truth, and two opposites can never be commingled. Rather, when one approaches the other, a combat ensues, which lasts until one gives way to the other, and the one that gives way, goes away, and the other takes its place.
In such an opposition are heaven and hell, or the Lord and the devil. Can anyone reasonably suppose that the Lord can enter where the devil reigns? Or that heaven and hell can exist together? Who does not see from the rationality granted to every sane person that for the Lord to enter, the devil must be cast out? Or that for heaven to enter, hell must be removed?
[2] This opposition is meant by Abraham’s words from heaven to the rich man in hell:
Between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that those who want to pass over from here to you cannot, nor can those who are there pass over to us. (Luke 16:26)
Evil is itself hell, and good is itself heaven, or to say the same thing, evil is itself the devil, and good is itself the Lord; and a person in whom evil reigns is a hell in miniature form, while a person in whom good reigns is a heaven in miniature form.
This being the case, how can heaven enter hell when between them there is so great a gulf fixed that no one can pass over from one to the other?
It follows from this that hell must be altogether removed for the Lord to be able to enter with heaven.
It may be seen in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding Faith, nos. 61-68, that these people are the ones that the Lord meant by goats in Matthew 25:32,33,41-46, of whom He says in verse 41:
Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels. (Matthew 25:41)
[2] That is because people who give no thought to the evils in themselves, that is, who do not examine themselves and afterward desist from those evils, cannot help but be ignorant of what evil is and love it then because of their delight in it. For one who is unaware of the evil in him loves it, and one who fails to think about it continues to be caught up in it. He is like a blind man who does not see, because it is thought that sees good and evil, as the eye sees beauty and ugliness. Such a one is also caught up in evil – both one who thinks and wills evil and one who believes that evil does not appear before God, or that it is forgiven if it does appear – for he thinks then that he is without evil. If such people abstain from doing evils, they do not abstain because they are sins against God, but because they fear the laws or the loss of reputation. But they continue to do them in spirit, for it is a person’s spirit that thinks and wills. Consequently what a person thinks in spirit in the world, he does after his departure from the world when he becomes a spirit.
[3] In the spiritual world, the world every person comes into after death, no one asks what your faith was or what your doctrine was, but what your life was like, whether it was of this character or that. The reason is that people there know that the character of a person’s life determines the character of his faith, indeed the character of his doctrine. For it is the life that forms for itself its doctrine, and that forms for itself its faith.
However, because people do not know that a person has to put away evils as if of himself in his external self, and that if a person does not do this as if of himself, the Lord cannot put away the evils in him in his internal self, therefore we will present it to the sight of reason in its own light in accordance with the following outline:
(1) Every person has an external and an internal level of thought.
(2) A person’s external level of thought is in itself of the same character as his internal one.
(3) The internal level cannot be purified of its lusts for evil as long as evils in the external self have not been put away, because they stand in the way.
(4) Evils in the external self can be put away by the Lord only through the agency of the person.
(5) Therefore a person has to put away evils from his external self as if of himself.
(6) The Lord then purifies the person of the lusts for evil in his internal self and of the evils themselves in his external self.
(7) It is the continual endeavor of the Lord’s Divine providence to conjoin a person with Himself and Himself with the person, in order to be able to impart to him the felicities of eternal life – which is possible only to the extent that evils with their lusts have been put away.
Now, because it is not a person’s body but his spirit that wills and understands and so thinks, it follows that these external and internal levels are the external and internal levels of a person’s spirit. That it is the body that acts, whether in speaking or doing, is simply the effect of the internal and external levels of his spirit, for the body is merely a compliant form.
[2] Most people, too, when they hear others speaking, consider to themselves whether the speakers are thinking inwardly in themselves the thought they are expressing in their speech, whether they are to be believed or not, and what their intention is.
People know that flatterers and hypocrites possess a double thought. For they can contain themselves and take care not to reveal their interior thought, and some can hide it more and more deeply and bar the door, so to speak, to keep it from appearing.
That it is possible for a person to have an exterior and interior thought is clearly apparent from the fact that one can, from his interior thought, see his exterior thought, and moreover reflect on it and make judgments about it as to whether it is evil or not.
That this is the nature of the human mind is attributable to the two faculties that a person has from the Lord, called freedom and rationality. If a person did not have from these faculties an external and internal level of thought, he could not perceive and see any evil in him and be reformed. Indeed, he could not speak either, but could only make sounds, like an animal.
From early childhood until he reaches adolescence a person’s external level of thought springs from an affection for knowing, which during that time forms its internal component. Some element of lust and its propensity also issues from the life’s love inborn in him from his parents. But afterward the way he lives becomes his life’s love, and its affections and consequent perceptions form his internal level of thought. From his life’s love is then produced a love of the means, and its delights and consequent knowledge stirred up from the memory form his external level of thought.
There are many kinds of loves, but two of them are like lords or kings, namely, heavenly love and hellish love. Heavenly love is love toward the Lord and love for the neighbor, while hellish love is love of self and love of the world. These two kinds of loves are as opposed to each other as heaven and hell; for one who is impelled by a love of self and the world does not wish anyone well but himself, whereas one who is impelled by love toward the Lord and love for the neighbor wishes all well.
These two loves constitute people’s life’s loves, but with much variety. Heavenly love is the life’s love of those who are led by the Lord, while hellish love is the life’s love of those who are led by the devil.
[2] No one’s life’s love, however, can exist without its derivatives called affections. The derivatives of hellish love are affections for evil and falsities, properly called lusts; and the derivatives of heavenly love are affections for good and truth, properly called affections.
There are as many affections belonging to hellish love, which are properly lusts, as there are evils, and there are as many affections belonging to heavenly love, which are properly affections, as there are goods.
Love dwells in its affections like a lord in his manor or like a king in his kingdom. Their dominion or reign is over the constituents of the mind, that is, over the constituents of a person’s will and intellect, and so over the constituents of the body.
Through its affections and consequent perceptions, and through its delights and consequent thoughts, a person’s life’s love governs the entire person – the internal level of his mind by its affections and consequent perceptions, and the external level of his mind by the delights of its affections and consequent thoughts.
Heavenly love with its affections for good and truth and consequent perceptions, together with the delights of those affections and their consequent thoughts, may be likened to a tree adorned with branches, leaves and fruits. The life’s love is the tree itself. The branches with their leaves are affections for good and truth with their accompanying perceptions; and the fruits are the delights of the affections with their accompanying thoughts.
In contrast, hellish love with its affections for evil and falsity, which are lusts, together with the delights of those lusts and their accompanying thoughts, may be likened to a spider and its surrounding web. The love itself is the spider. Its lusts for evil and falsity with their interior cunning and guile are the threads of the web immediately surrounding the spider’s abode, and the delights of those lusts with their crafty schemes are the threads further out, where flies flitting about are caught, wrapped up, and devoured.
We find everywhere three concurrent elements in union, called end, cause and effect. One’s life’s love in this case is the end, its affections with their accompanying perceptions are the cause, and the delights of its affections with their accompanying thoughts are the effect. For just as the end comes through the cause into the effect, so also does love come through its affections to its delights, and through its perceptions to its thoughts.
The effects themselves lie in the mind’s delights and their accompanying thoughts when the delights are those of the will and the thoughts are those of the consequent understanding, thus when there is a complete agreement between the two. The effects are then those of the person’s spirit, which, even if they do not descend into physical act, still exist as though in act when there is that agreement. They are also at the same time present in the body then and dwell with the person’s life’s love there, moving him to act, which he does when nothing stands in the way.
Of the same character are lusts for evil and the evils themselves in the case of people who in their spirit make evils allowable.
[2] Now, as the end unites itself with the cause and through the cause with the effect, so does the life’s love unite itself with the internal level of thought and through this with the external level. It is apparent, therefore, that a person’s external level of thought in itself is of the same character as his internal one, for the end imparts its whole character to the cause and through the cause to the effect. Indeed, the only essential element in the effect is that which exists in the cause and through the cause in the end; and as the end is the essential element that enters into the cause and the effect, therefore the cause and effect are called the intermediate end and last end.
Of such a character are all hypocrites. Of such a character, too, are priests who at heart have no regard for the neighbor and do not fear God, and yet preach love of the neighbor and love of God. Of such a character are judges whose judgment depends on bribes or their partialities when they pretend a zeal for justice or speak in accord with reason of judgment. Of such a character are businessmen at heart dishonest and deceitful when they deal honestly for the sake of material gain. Of such a character also are adulterers when by virtue of the rationality everyone has they speak of the chastity of marriage. And so on.
[2] But if these people strip the love of the means, their life’s love’s deputy, of the purple and linen garments with which they have arrayed it and dress it in the gown worn at home, they then think the complete opposite, and in accordance with their thinking sometimes say so in the company of their closest friends who have a similar life’s love.
People may believe, when they have spoken thus justly, honestly and piously from their love of the means, that the character of their internal level of thought was not present in their external level of thought; but still it was. It is the hypocrisy in them, the love of self and the world in them, whose cunning it is to gain respectability, even to the utmost appearance of it, for the sake of acclaim or material gain.
This character of their internal level of thought is present in the external level when they so speak and act.
Their life’s love also has a love of the means as its deputy, which it instructs and directs to act with prudence, and it clothes it with the garments of a zeal both for the truths of doctrine and for goods of life.
[2] Now because lusts together with their cunning and guile form the internal level of thought in evil people, while the delights of those lusts together with their schemes form the external level of thought in them, and the two levels are joined into one, it follows that the internal level cannot be purified of its lusts as long as evils in the external self have not been put away.
It should be known that it is a person’s internal will that is caught up in lusts, that it is his internal intellect that is caught up in cunning and guile, and that it is his external will that is caught up in the delights of the lusts, and his external intellect that is caught up in the schemes springing from the cunning and guile.
Everyone can see that lusts and their delights go hand in hand, that cunning and guile and their schemes go hand in hand, and that the four exist in one sequence and together form, so to speak, a single package. And from this it is again apparent that the internal level, which consists of lusts, cannot be cast out except by the removal of the external level, which consists of evils.
Lusts produce evils through their delights; but when the evils are believed allowable, which happens because of an agreement of the will and intellect, then the delights and the evils become one. People know that consent is tantamount to the deed; and this is also what the Lord says:
. . . if anyone looks at another’s woman so as to lust for her, he has already committed adultery with her in his heart. (Matthew 5:28)
It is the same with all other evils.
Lusts enter the body through the external level of thought. Consequently, when consent is given in the external level of thought, those lusts are immediately present in the body. The delight felt is experienced there.
In our treatise Divine Love and Wisdom, nos. 362-370, it may be seen that the character of the mind is what determines the character of the body, thus the whole person.
This may be illustrated by comparisons and also by examples.
[2] By comparisons: Lusts with their delights may be likened to fire, which blazes the more, the more it is fed, and which spreads the more widely, the freer the course it has, even so that in a city it consumes its houses, and in a forest its trees. In the Word, too, lusts for evil are likened to fire, and the resulting evils to the burning of fire. Lusts for evil with their delights also appear as fires in the spiritual world. That is what hell fire is.
Lusts may also be likened to floods and inundations of water when dikes or dams are removed.
They may be likened as well to cases of gangrene and abscesses, which induce in the body a creeping death as they run their course or are not cured.
[3] By examples: These make it clearly apparent that if evils are not put away in one’s external self, lusts with their delights grow and proliferate. The more a thief steals, the greater his lust to steal, until at last he cannot desist. So likewise with a swindler, the more he swindles. It is the same with hatred and vengeance, with prodigality and intemperance, with licentiousness and blasphemy. People know that a love of ruling stemming from a love of self grows to the extent it is given free rein. So, too, a love of accumulating possessions stemming from a love of the world. It seems as though these have no limit or end.
It is apparent from this that to the extent evils are not put away in one’s external self, one’s lusts for them proliferate, and that to the degree evils are given free rein, the lusts grow.
To the extent that he makes these allowable, he enlarges the court of his reigning love, which is his life’s love. His lusts form its court, for they are, so to speak, its ministers and attendants, by which it governs the outer elements which constitute its kingdom.
But as the character of the king is, such is the character of the ministers and attendants, and such is the character of the kingdom. If the devil is king, his ministers and attendants are irrational thoughts and ideas, and the populace of his kingdom are falsities of every kind, falsities which, by reasonings based on fallacies and by delusions, the ministers – whom they call wise, even though they are insane – make to appear as true and to be acknowledged as true.
Can the state of a person like this be changed in any other way than by putting away the evils in his external self? By this the lusts connected with the evils are also put away. Otherwise the lusts have no exit open to them, for they are shut in, like a city besieged, or like an ulcer covered over.
Even though the English are caught up in the doctrine of faith alone, still in their prayer at Holy Communion they openly teach self-examination, acknowledgment and confession of sins, repentance, and amendment of life, and they threaten those who do not do these things with these words, that otherwise the devil will enter into them as he did into Judas, and fill them with all iniquities, and destroy both body and soul.*
Germans, Swedes, and Danes, who are also caught up in the doctrine of faith alone, teach the like in their prayer at Holy Communion, threatening, too, that otherwise the people will make themselves subject to punishments in hell and eternal damnation for their commingling of the sacred and the profane. The priest reads this aloud before those who are about to come to the Holy Supper, and the people listen to it with full acknowledgment of its being so.
[2] Nevertheless, when on the same day they hear the preaching of faith alone – that the law does not then condemn them because the Lord fulfilled it for them, that they cannot do any good that is not merit-seeking, and thus that their works have not a whit of salvation in them, but that faith alone does – these same people return home with their earlier confession completely forgotten, and rejecting it to the extent that they think in conformity with the preaching of faith alone.
Which, then, is true – the first or the second? Two propositions contrary to each other cannot both be true. So in the present instance. It must be true either that without self-examination and a recognition, acknowledgment, confession and rejection of sins, thus without repentance, forgiveness of them is not possible, and so neither salvation, but eternal damnation; or that these things contribute nothing to salvation, because the Lord through the suffering of the cross made complete satisfaction for all the sins of mankind for those who have faith, that those who have faith simply, trusting it to be so, and having confidence in the imputation of the Lord’s merit, are without sins, and that they appear before God as people washed with shining faces.
[3] It is apparent from this that it is the common religion of all the churches in the Christian world that a person must examine himself, see and acknowledge his sins, and afterward desist from them, and that otherwise no salvation is possible, but only damnation.
That this also is the veriest Divine truth is apparent from passages in the Word where it is commanded that a person must repent, as from the following:
(Jesus** said,) “Bear fruits worthy of repentance. . . Even now the ax is lying at the root of the (tree). Every tree. . . which does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.” (Luke 3:8, 9)
(Jesus said,) “. . . unless you repent, you will all. . . perish.” (Luke 13:3, 5)
. . . Jesus (preached) the gospel of the kingdom of God?, “. . . Repent, and believe in the gospel.” (Mark 1:14, 15)
(Jesus sent out the disciples, who) went out and preached that people should repent.” (Mark 6:12)
(Jesus said to the apostles that they should preach) repentance and remission of sins. . . among all nations. . . (Luke 24:47)
(John preached) a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. (Mark 1:4; Luke 3:3)
Think about this also with some understanding, and if you have any religion, you will see that repentance from sins is the way to heaven, that faith apart from repentance is not faith, and that people who lack faith for want of repentance are on the road to hell.
* The English text of the prayer is quoted in The Doctrine of Life, no. 5, as follows: “The way and means to be received as worthy partakers of that Holy Table is First, to examine your lives and Conversations by the rule of God’s commandments, and wherein soever ye shall perceive yourselves to have offended either by will, word or deed, there to bewail your own sinfulness, and to confess yourselves to Almighty God, with full purpose of amendment of life; and if ye shall perceive your offences to be such, as are not only against God, but also against your neighbors, then ye shall reconcile yourselves unto them, being ready to make restitution and satisfaction according to the utmost of your power, for all injuries and wrongs done by you to any other, and being likewise ready to forgive others that have offended you, as ye would have forgiveness of your offences of God’s hand, for otherwise the receiving of the Holy Communion doth nothing else but increase your damnation. Therefore if any of you be a blasphemer of God, or hinderer or slanderer of His word, or adulterer, or be in malice or envy, or in any other grievous crime, repent you of your sins, or else come not to the Holy Table; lest after the taking of that Holy Sacrament the Devil enter into you, as he entered into Judas, and fill you with all iniquities, and bring you to destruction both of body and soul.”
** Both Matthew 3:8, 10 and Luke 3:8,9 attribute this statement to John the Baptist.
Do we then make void the law through faith? Far from it. Rather we establish the law. (Romans 3:31)
People who have confirmed themselves in faith alone because of the earlier saying and their gazing at that passage as though at the sun, do not see where Paul enumerates the laws of faith as being in fact works of charity. What, then, is faith without its laws? Nor do such people see where Paul enumerates evil deeds, saying that those who do them cannot enter into heaven.
It is apparent from this what blindness has been introduced by this one passage wrongly understood.
Let anyone who will, consult his own reason as to whether the case appears any otherwise than that a person thinks about good and truth – spiritual good and truth as well as moral and civil good and truth – of himself; and accept then this doctrine, that every good and truth originates from the Lord, and none from man. Will you not acknowledge as a consequence that a person must do good and think truth as though of himself, and yet recognize that he does so from the Lord? And will you not then acknowledge that a person must put away evils as though of himself, but yet recognize that he does this from the Lord?
[2] Many people are of such a character, who have confirmed themselves in faith apart from charity, and who, because they believe that the law does not condemn, do not even take any notice of their sins. Some even doubt whether those sins exist, or if they do, whether they exist in the sight of God, because He has pardoned them.
Of such a character, too, are natural moralists, who believe that civil and moral life with its prudence occasions everything, and Divine providence nothing.
Of such a character as well are people who strive zealously to gain a reputation and name for being honorable and honest for the sake of acclaim and material gain.
But people who are of such a character, and who at the same time have spurned religion, become after death lustful spirits who appear to themselves as though they were quite human, but to others at a distance as sileni.* Moreover, they see in the dark and not at all in the light, like owls.
* In Classical mythology, woodland spirits or demigods, lecherous followers – like satyrs – of the dissolute Dionysus, having the ears, tails and hoofs of horses. Literally, priapi.
(5) Therefore a person has to put away evils from his external self as if of himself. This may also be seen explained under three headings in The Doctrine of Life for the New Jerusalem:
Under one heading: No one can refrain from evils as sins so as to be inwardly averse to them except by combats against them (nos. 92-100).
Under a second heading: A person has to refrain from evils as sins and fight against them as though of himself (nos. 101-107).
Under a third heading: If anyone refrains from evils for any other reason than that they are sins, he does not refrain from them, but only prevents them from appearing before the world (nos. 108-113).
Another reason, too, is that the Lord acts upon a person’s inmost element, and from the inmost element upon subsequent ones even to the last of them, and in the last ones the person is present as well. Consequently, as long as the person keeps these closed, no purification is possible, but only an operation by the Lord in his interior elements like that of the Lord in hell, of which that person is a form who is caught up in lusts and their accompanying evils; and that operation is solely an organization to keep one thing from destroying another and to keep goodness and truth from being violated.
That the Lord continually urges and presses a person to open the door to Him is apparent from the Lord’s words in the book of Revelation:
Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. (Revelation 3:20)
Now, as a person knows nothing by any sensation of the way his mind or soul operates on all the constituents of his body, all together and individually, so neither does any person know how the Lord operates on all the constituents of his mind or soul, that is to say, on all the constituents of his spirit. The operation is unceasing. The person plays no part in it. And yet the Lord cannot purify a person of any lust for evil in his spirit or internal self as long as the person keeps his external self closed. The devices by which a person keeps his external self closed are evils, every one of which appears to him as a single unit, when in fact countless elements are present in each. When a person puts away such a seemingly single evil, then the Lord puts away the infinite elements present in it.
This is what we mean by the statement that the Lord then purifies the person of the lusts for evil in his internal self and of the evils themselves in his external self.
None of these, however, purifies a person at all unless he examines himself, sees his sins, acknowledges them, condemns himself on account of them, and repents by desisting from them. Moreover, all of this he must do as though of himself, and yet with an acknowledgment at heart that he does so from the Lord.
[2] Before a person does this, the aforementioned undertakings are of no help, being either merit-seeking or hypocritical, and the people who do them appear to angels in heaven either as beautiful harlots smelling bad because of their pulmonary consumption or as ugly women made up with rouge to look pretty. Or they appear as clowns and mimics entertaining on theater stages. Or as apes in human clothing.
But when people’s evils have been put away, then the aforementioned undertakings become ones of their love, and they appear to angels in heaven as handsome human beings, and as the angels’ partners and comrades.
In order that everyone ready to repent might look to the Lord alone, the Lord instituted the Holy Supper, which confirms the remission of sins in people who repent. It confirms this, because in that Supper or Communion everyone is kept looking to the Lord alone.
Who does not see that conjunction with God is eternal life and salvation? Everyone sees this who believes that people from creation are images and likenesses of God (Genesis 1:26,27), and who knows what an image and likeness of God is.
[
2] What person possessing sound reason, when he thinks in accordance with his rationality and is willing so to think in accordance with his freedom, can believe that there are three Gods, equal in essence, and that the Divine being or Divine essence can be so divided?
The existence of a trinity in one God – this can be conceived of and comprehended, as one comprehends the soul and body in an angel or person, and the issuing of life from these. And because this trinity in one exists solely in the Lord, it follows that the conjunction must be with Him.
Use your rationality and at the same time your freedom of thought and you will see the truth of this in its own light. Only first grant the existence of God and heaven, and of eternal life.
[3] Now because God is one, and the human being from creation was made an image and likeness of Him, and because as a consequence of hellish love and its lusts and their delights mankind has come into a love for all evils and so has destroyed the image and likeness of God in it, it follows that it is the continual endeavor of the Lord’s Divine providence to conjoin a person with Himself and Himself with the person, and so make him to be an image of Himself. It follows as well that the object of this is to enable the Lord to impart to the person the felicities of eternal life, for such is the nature of Divine love.
[4] However, the Lord cannot impart these felicities, nor make the person an image of Himself, unless the person puts away sins as though of himself in his external self, because the Lord is not only Divine love but also Divine wisdom, and Divine love acts only out of its Divine wisdom and in accordance with it. It is in accordance with the Lord’s Divine wisdom that a person cannot be conjoined with Him and so be reformed, regenerated and saved unless the person is permitted to act in freedom in accordance with his reason, for it is this that makes a person human; and whatever accords with the Lord’s Divine wisdom is also a provision of His Divine providence.
That the Lord never acts upon any one constituent in a person individually without acting at the same time on all his constituents: That is because all a person’s constituents exist in such a connection, and through that connection in such a form, that they function not as separate entities but as one.
People know that a person exhibits such a connection and through that connection such a form as regards his body. In a like form, too, resulting from a connection of all its constituents, is the human mind, for the human mind is the spiritual person and also the person actually. It is because of this that a person’s spirit, which in the body is his mind, is in every respect of its form human. Consequently a person after death is just as much a person as in the world, the only difference being that he has cast off the coverings which formed his body in the world.
[2] Now, because the human form is of such a nature that its constituents all form a common whole which functions as a unit, it follows that one constituent cannot be shifted from its position and its state changed except in harmony with the rest. For if one constituent were to be shifted from its position and its state changed, the form, which has to function as a unit, would suffer.
It is apparent from this that the Lord never acts upon any one constituent without acting at the same time on all. Thus does the Lord act upon the entire angelic heaven, since the entire angelic heaven is, in the Lord’s sight, as a single person. Thus does the Lord act also upon each angel, because each angel is a heaven in miniature form. Thus does He also act upon every person, directly upon all the constituents of the person’s mind, and through these on all the constituents of his body. For a person’s mind is his spirit, and in the measure of its conjunction with the Lord, an angel, with the body its obedient servant.
[3] It should be rightly observed, however, that the Lord also acts upon every single constituent of a person individually, indeed most particularly so, while acting at the same time through all the constituents of his form. But still He does not alter the state of any part or of any single constituent in particular except in conformity with the whole form.
But on this subject we will say more in subsequent discussions, where we will demonstrate that the Lord’s Divine providence is universal because it operates in specifics, and that is it specific because it is universal.
[4] That the Lord acts from inmost elements and from outmost elements simultaneously: That is because each and all things are thus and not otherwise held in connection; for intermediate elements descend in sequence from inmost ones to outmost ones, and they are present in the outmost ones concurrently. Indeed, we showed in Part Three of our treatise Divine Love and Wisdom that present in the outmost or last element is a concurrence of all its elements from the first.
It is because of this, too, that the Lord from eternity, or Jehovah, came into the world and there put on or assumed a humanity in things last, in order to make it possible for Him to be present in first elements and at the same time in last ones, and thus to govern the entire world from first elements through last elements so as to save people, whom He is able to save in accordance with the laws of His Divine providence, which are also laws of His Divine wisdom.
This is also something that is known in the Christian world – that no mortal could have been saved if the Lord had not come into the world – on which subject see The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding Faith, no. 35.
That is why the Lord is called the First and the Last.*
* See Isaiah 44:6, 48:12; Revelation 1:11, 17, 2:8, 22:13.
A person’s inmost element is his life’s love. His outmost elements are the things that exist in the outward component of his thought. The intermediate elements are the things that exist in the inward component of his thought. And the character of these in an evil person we have already shown in the preceding discussions.
From this it is apparent again that the Lord cannot act from anyone’s inmost elements and outmost elements simultaneously without doing so in concert with the person, for the person is present together with the Lord in his outmost elements. Consequently, as the person acts in his outmost elements, which are under his control, being within the scope of his freedom, so the Lord acts from the person’s inmost elements and in his subsequent elements to the outmost ones.
The things that are in a person’s inmost elements and in the subsequent ones extending from the inmost to the outmost are completely unknown to the person, and therefore he is not at all aware of how the Lord is operating there or what He is accomplishing there. But because those inner elements cohere as one with the outmost ones, therefore it is not necessary for the person to know anything more than to refrain from evils as sins and look to the Lord.
Only thus can a person’s life’s love, which from birth is hellish, be put away by the Lord, and a heavenly life’s love be implanted in its stead.
The kinds of goods that follow in place of evils may be seen in The Doctrine of Life for the New Jerusalem, nos. 67-73, 74-79, 80-86, 87-91. Also that to the extent a person refrains from and is averse to evils as sins, to the same extent he loves truths of wisdom, nos. 32-41; and that to the same extent he has faith and is spiritual, nos. 42-52.
(The Lord) will come to judge the living and the dead, at whose coming. . . those who have done good will enter into eternal life, and those who have done evil into eternal fire.***
* No. 114.
** See note at passage number 46.
*** The Athanasian Creed was a profession of faith widely used in Western Christianity, and one still in use today. The authorship and date of the formula is disputed. Scholars generally agree in no longer attributing its composition to Athanasius. The original is unknown. It has come down through the centuries in several variant Latin versions, which differ for the most part only in minor points. For the writer’s rendering of the full text of the Creed, see The Apocalypse Explained, no. 1091:2.
To show that the Lord teaches this everywhere in His Word, let the following few passages serve as testimony:
Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them. (Matthew 7:19, 20)
Many will say to Me in that day, “Lord. . . , have we not prophesied in Your name?, and in Your name done many mighty deeds?” But then I will confess to them, “I (do not know) you; depart from Me, you workers of iniquity!” (Matthew 7:22, 23)
Everyone who hears. . . My words and does them, I will liken. . . to a prudent man who built his house on rock. . . But everyone who hears. . . My words and does not do them will be likened to a foolish man who built his house on (soil without a foundation). (Matthew 7:24, 26; cf. Luke 6:47-49)
[2] . . . the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father?, and then He will reward each according to his deeds. (Matthew 16:27)
. . . the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it. (Matthew 21:43)
. . . (Jesus) said?, “My mother and My brothers are these who hear the word of God and do it.” (Luke 8:21)
n. . . (then) you (will) begin to stand. . . and knock at the door, saying, “Lord. . . , open to us,” but answering He (will) say to you, “I do not know you, where you are from. . . Depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity.” (Luke 13:25, 27)
. . . those who have done good (shall come forth) to the resurrection of life, but those who have done evil, to the resurrection of judgment. (John 5:29)
[3] . . . we know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone (worships God) and does His will, He hears him. (John 9:31)
If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them. (John 13:17)
If you love Me, keep My commandments. . . He who has My commandments and does them, it is he who loves Me. . . , and I will love him. . . , and (I) will come to him and make (My) home with him. (John 14:15, 21, 23)
You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. . . I chose you. . . that you should. . . bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain?. (John 15:14, 16)
[4] (The Lord said to John:) “To the angel of the church of Ephesus write, ‘. . . I know your works. . . I have this against you, that you have left your earlier charity. . . repent and do the earlier works, otherwise I will. . . remove your lampstand from its place. . .'” (Rev. 2:1, 2, 4, 5)
“. . . to the angel of the church of the Smyrneans write, ‘. . . I know your works. . . .’ ” (Rev. 2:8, 9)
“. . . to the angel of the church in Pergamum write, ‘. . . I know your works. . . Repent. . . .'” (Rev. 2:12, 13, 16)
“. . . to the angel of the church in Thyatira write, ‘. . . I know your works and charity?; and your works, . . . the last to be more than the first.'” (Rev. 2:18,19)
“. . . to the angel of the church in Sardis write, ‘. . . I know your works, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead. . . I have not found your works perfect before God. . . repent.'” (Rev. 3:1-3)
“. . . to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write, ‘. . . I know your works. . .'” (Rev. 3:7,8)
“?to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write, ‘. . . I know your works?. ?repent.’ ” (Rev. 3:14,15,19)
. . . I heard a voice from heaven saying?, “Write: ‘Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.’ ” “. . . their works follow them.” (Rev. 14:13)
. . . (a) book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged. . . , all according to their works. (Rev. 20:12, 13)
. . . behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work. (Rev. 22:12)
[5] These passages are found in the New Testament. Still more may be found in the Old Testament, from which I will cite only this one:
Stand in the gate. . . of Jehovah, and proclaim there this word?: “Thus says Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘Amend your ways and your works. . . Do not trust in lying words, saying, “‘The temple of Jehovah, the temple of Jehovah, the temple of Jehovah are these.” . . . Stealing, murdering, committing adultery, and swearing falsely. . . will you (then) come and stand before Me in this house upon which My name is named, and say, “We have been delivered,” (when you) do. . . these abominations? Has this house. . . become a den of thieves. . . Behold, I, even I, have seen,'” says Jehovah. (Jeremiah 7:2-4, 9-11)
This law of Divine providence follows from the two preceding ones, namely, that a person act in freedom in accordance with his reason (as discussed in nos. 71-99), and that he do this of himself, even though doing so from the Lord, thus doing so as if of himself (as discussed in nos. 100-128). So, because to be compelled is not to act in freedom in accordance with one’s reason, and is not to act of oneself, but is to act without freedom and in subjection to another, therefore this law of Divine providence follows in turn from the first two.
Everyone knows, moreover, that no one can be compelled to think what he is not willing to think, or to will what he decides not to will, thus to believe what he does not believe, and absolutely what he is not willing to believe, or to love what he does not love, and absolutely what he is not willing to love. For a person’s spirit or mind has complete freedom in thinking, willing, believing and loving. It has this freedom owing to influx from the spiritual world, which does not compel (for a person’s spirit or mind is in that world), and not to influx from the natural world, which is not admitted unless the two are in harmony.
[2] A person may be forced to say that he thinks and wills this or that, or that he believes and loves this or that; but if these are not or do not become matters of his affection and so of his reason, he still does not think, will, believe or love them. A person may also be compelled to speak in favor of religion, and to behave in accordance with it, but he cannot be compelled to think in favor of it out of any faith in it, or to will in favor of it out of any love for it.
In countries where justice and judgment are preserved, moreover, everyone is compelled not to speak in opposition to religion or to behave in opposition to it, but still no one can be compelled to think and will in favor of it. For it lies within everyone’s freedom to think in concert with hell and to will in support of it, and likewise to think on the side of heaven and to will in support of it. Reason, however, teaches what kind of person the first is and what kind of person the second, and the kind of lot that awaits the one and the kind of lot that awaits the other, and reason provides the will with the option and choice.
[3] It can be seen from this that something external cannot compel something internal. Nevertheless it sometimes happens, but that it is harmful is something we will demonstrate under the following series of headings:
(1) No one is reformed by miracles and signs, because they compel.
(2) No one is reformed by visions or by communications with the dead, because they compel.
(3) No one is reformed by threats and punishments, because they compel.
(4) No one is reformed in states devoid of rationality and freedom.
(5) It is not contrary to rationality and freedom to compel oneself.
(6) The outer self must be reformed by the inner self, and not the reverse.
The reality of this can be rationally seen as follows. No one can deny that miracles induce belief and strongly persuade that what ever the miracle-worker says and teaches is true, and that at the outset this so occupies the external level of a person’s thought as to virtually bind and enthrall it. But this deprives a person of his two faculties called rationality and freedom, thus of his ability to act in freedom in accordance with his reason, and the Lord cannot then flow in through the internal level of his thought into the external one, except to leave to the person the ability to confirm with his rationality that which has become a matter of his faith as a result of the miracle.
[2] The circumstance of a person’s thought is such that from the internal level of his thought he views the subject in the external level of his thought as in a kind of mirror; for, as we said above, a person can see his thought, which would not be possible without the existence of a more interior thought. And when viewing the matter as in a kind of mirror, he can also turn it this way and that, and shape it, to the point that it appears to him attractive.
If the subject is a truth, it may be likened to a maiden or youth comely and alive. But if the person is unable to turn the matter this way and that, and shape it, but can believe it only because of a persuasion induced by some miracle, then, if it is a truth, it may be likened to a maiden or youth sculpted out of stone or wood, which is without any life. It may also be likened to an object that remains continually before the eyes, which is the only thing seen and which hides everything on either side of it and behind it. It may be likened as well to a constant sound in the ear, which takes away any perception of the harmony arising from a number of sounds. Such is the blindness and deafness induced on the human mind by miracles.
It is the same with everything affirmed that is not examined with any rationality before it is affirmed.
When it is miracle alone that leads a person to acknowledgment, worship, and a pious life, he acts with his natural self and not with his spiritual self, for a miracle infuses faith by an external path and not by an internal path, thus from the world and not from heaven. And the only path by which the Lord enters in a person is an internal path, which is through the Word, doctrine from the Word, and preaching and teaching from it. For that reason, because miracles close this path, therefore no miracles are done today.
The same can be seen as well from the miracles done after that in the land of Canaan, and the fact that the people nevertheless so often lapsed from their prescribed worship. And it can be seen, too, from the miracles that the Lord performed before them when He was in the world, and the fact that they nevertheless crucified Him.
[2] Miracles were done among the Jews and Israelites because they were completely external people, and they were led into the land of Canaan simply to represent a church and its internal elements by their external acts of worship, an evil person being able to represent as well as a good one. For external acts are rituals, and among those people these all symbolized spiritual and celestial things. In fact, even though Aaron made the golden calf and commanded the people to worship it (Exodus 32:2-5,35), still he could represent the Lord and His work of salvation. Moreover, because the people could not be brought by internal qualities of worship to represent those things, therefore they were brought to it – indeed, forced and compelled to it – by miracles.
[3] The reason they could not be brought to it by internal qualities of worship was that they did not acknowledge the Lord, even though the whole Word that they had among them treats of Him alone; and one who does not acknowledge the Lord is incapable of receiving any internal quality of worship. However, after the Lord manifested Himself and was received and acknowledged in the churches as the eternal God, miracles ceased.
It is otherwise, however, with evil people. They can indeed be forced and compelled to belief by miracles, even to worship and piety, but only for a short time. For their evils are shut in, and the lusts and consequent delights of those evils continually work upon their external show of worship and piety. In order that these may emerge from their prison and break out of it then, they think about the miracle and eventually call it either a fake or trick, or a phenomenon of nature, and so go back to their evils. One who goes back to his evils after worshiping profanes the truths and goods of worship, and the lot of profaners after death is the worst of all. These are the people meant by the Lord’s words in Matthew 12:43-45,* whose last state is worse than the first.
Besides, if miracles were to be done among people who do not believe as a result of the miracles in the Word, they would be done constantly and visibly among all people like that.
It can be seen from this why it is that miracles are not done today.
* “When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest, and finds none. Then he says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when he comes, he finds it empty, swept, and put in order. Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first.”
Divine visions – those produced, as we said, by representative appearances in heaven – are the kind the prophets had, who, when having them, were not conscious in the body but in the spirit. For visions cannot appear to any person in his body’s conscious state. Consequently when the prophets saw visions, they also said that they were then in the spirit, as is apparent from the following instances. Ezekiel says:
The Spirit lifted me up. . . and brought me back into Chaldea, to the captives, in a vision (of God), by the Spirit of God. (Thus) went up from me the vision that I had seen. (Ezekiel 11:1, 24)
So, too, he says that the Spirit lifted him up between earth and heaven, and brought him in visions of God to Jerusalem (Ezekiel 8:3f.). He was likewise in a vision of God or in the spirit when he saw the four living creatures, which were cherubim (Ezek. 1, 10), as also when he saw a new temple and a new earth, and an angel measuring them (Ezek. 40-48). That he was then in the visions of God, he himself says (Ezek. 40:2), and that he was in the spirit (Ezek. 43:5).
[2] Zechariah was in a like state when he saw a man riding a horse among the myrtle trees (Zechariah 1:8ff.); when he saw the four horns, and a man with a measuring line in his hand (Zech. 1:18, 2:1ff.); when he saw the lampstand and two olive trees (Zech. 4:1ff.); when he saw the flying scroll and the ephah (Zech. 5:1,6); when he saw the four chariots coming from between two mountains, and the horses (Zech. 6:1ff.).
In a like state was Daniel when he saw the four beasts coming up from the sea (Daniel 7:1ff.), and when he saw the combat between the ram and the male goat (Dan. 8:1ff.). We are told that he saw these things in the vision of his spirit (Dan. 7:1,2,7,13, 8:2, 10:1,7,8), and that the angel Gabriel appeared to him in a vision (Dan. 9:21).
[3] John, too, was in the vision of the spirit when he saw the things that he described in the book of Revelation. For example, when he saw the seven lampstands and in the midst of them the Son of Man (Revelation 1:12-16); when he saw the throne in heaven, and one sitting upon the throne, and around it the four living creatures, which were cherubim (Rev. 4); when he saw the book of life taken by the Lamb (Rev. 5); when he saw the horses going out from the book (Rev. 6); when he saw the seven angels with trumpets (Rev. 8); when he saw the pit of the abyss opened, and the locusts coming out of it (Rev. 9); when he saw the dragon and its battle with Michael (Rev. 12); when he saw the two beasts rising up, one from the sea, the other from the earth (Rev. 13); when he saw the woman sitting on the scarlet beast (Rev. 17), and Babylon destroyed (Rev. 18); when he saw the white horse, and the one sitting on it (Rev. 19); when he saw the new heaven and the new earth, and the holy Jerusalem coming down out of heaven (Rev. 21); and when he saw the river of the water of life (Rev. 22). We are told that he saw these things in the vision of the spirit (Rev. 1:10, 4:2, 9:17, 17:3, 21:10).
[4] Of such a nature were the visions that appeared from heaven, to the sight of their spirit, and not to their bodily sight. Visions of this kind do not occur today, for if they were to occur they would not be understood, because they are produced by representative appearances, every one of which symbolizes internal things connected with the church and secrets pertaining to heaven. Daniel also foretold that visions would cease when the Lord came into the world (Daniel 9:24).
On the other hand, diabolic visions do sometimes occur, induced by fanatic and visionary spirits, who, owing to the madness that grips them, call themselves the Holy Spirit. But these spirits have now been gathered by the Lord and cast down into a hell set apart from the hells of others.
It is apparent from this that no one can be reformed by any visions other than those in the Word.
There are also hallucinatory visions, but they are are simply the delusions of a distraught mind.
134 [repeated]. As for the statement that no one is reformed by communications with the dead, either, this follows from the Lord’s words regarding the rich man in hell and Lazarus in Abraham’s bosom. For the rich man said:
“I beg you. . . , father (Abraham), that you would send (Lazarus) to my father’s house, for I have five brothers, that he may testify to them, lest they also come to this place of torment.” Abraham said to him, “They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.” But he said, “No, father Abraham; but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.” But he (replied) to him, “If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded if one should rise from the dead.” (Luke 16:27-31)
Communication with the dead would produce the same effect as miracles, as discussed just above, namely that a person would be persuaded and forced into worship for a short time. But because this divests a person of his rationality, and at the same time shuts in his evils, as we said above, the internal spell or bond is broken, and the imprisoned evils burst forth, accompanied by blasphemy and profanation. But this occurs only when spirits inject some dogma of religion, which is never done by any good spirit, still less by any angel of heaven.
The reality of this is something I have been given to know from personal experience. I have had communication with spirits and angels for a number of years now, and no spirit has dared, nor has any angel wished to say anything to me, still less instruct me, about anything in the Word or about any point of doctrine from the Word. Rather I have been instructed by the Lord alone, who revealed Himself to me, and who afterward appeared and continues to appear constantly before my eyes as the sun in which He is, as He does to angels, and so has enlightened me.
Even though these points are known, however, still they must all be illustrated; for there are many concepts which, as soon as they are heard, are perceived as being so, because they are true, and so are affirmed, but which, if not at the same time confirmed by explanations, may be contravened by reasonings based on fallacies and at last denied. Consequently we must take up again the points we have just stated as known and rationally confirm them.
[2] FIRST, that the external self cannot compel the internal self, but that the internal can compel the external: Who can be forced to believe or to love? No one can be forced to believe this or that any more than he can be forced to think that something is so when he does not think it is; and no one can be forced to love this or that any more than he can be forced to will something that he does not will. Belief, too, is a matter of the thought, and love a matter of the will.
Still, the internal self can be compelled by the external not to speak ill against the laws of the country, the moralities of life, or the sanctities of the church. The internal self can be compelled to this by threats and punishments, and also is so compelled and must be so compelled. But this internal is not the internal self that is peculiarly human, but the internal which the human being has in common with animals, which can be similarly compelled. The human internal resides above this animal internal. By the internal self we mean here the human internal, which cannot be compelled.
[3] SECOND, that the internal self so refuses to be compelled by the external that it turns away: The reason is that the internal self wishes to be in freedom and loves freedom, for freedom is bound up with a person’s love or life, as we have shown above. Consequently, when that freedom feels itself to be compelled, it withdraws into itself, so to speak, and turns away, and regards the compulsion as its enemy. Indeed, the love which constitutes the person’s life is provoked, and causes the person to think that he is then not his own person, consequently that he has no life of his own.
A person’s internal self is of such a character owing to the law of the Lord’s Divine providence that a person act in freedom in accordance with his reason.
[4] It is apparent from this that it is harmful to coerce people into Divine worship by threats and punishments. However, some people allow themselves to be coerced into religion, and some do not. People who allow themselves to be coerced into religion include many of the papal population, but this is the case with those for whom there is nothing internal in their worship, but everything external.
People who do not allow themselves to be coerced include many of the English nation. There is as a result something internal in their worship, and what exists in external expression comes from something internal.
The interior qualities of the latter in respect to religion appear in spiritual light as white clouds. By contrast, the interior qualities of the former in respect to religion appear in the light of heaven as dark clouds. It is possible to see both in the spiritual world, and whoever wishes will see them when he comes into that world after death.
Compelled worship, furthermore, shuts in evils, which then lie hidden, like fires in pieces of wood under the ash, which continue to smolder and spread until they burst into flame.
Worship not compelled but voluntary, on the other hand, does not shut in evils. Consequently they are like fires which blaze up right away and are gone.
It is apparent from this that the internal self so refuses to be compelled that it turns away.
The fact that the internal self can compel the external is because the internal self is, so to speak, the master, and the external self its servant.
[5] THIRD, that external delights entice the internal self to a state of consent and also of love: Delights are of two kinds: delights of the intellect and delights of the will. Delights of the intellect are also delights of wisdom, and delights of the will are also delights of love, for wisdom is connected with the intellect, and love with the will.
Now, since delights of the body and its senses, which are external delights, operate in concert with internal delights, which are those of the intellect and will, it follows that as the internal self refuses to be compelled by the external to the point that it turns away, so the internal self looks with favor on delight in the external self to the point that it turns to it. The result is consent on the part of the intellect, and love on the part of the will.
[6] All little children in the spiritual world are introduced by the Lord into angelic wisdom and by that into heavenly love through delights and gratifications – first through pretty things in their homes and pleasant attractions in gardens, then through representations of spiritual qualities which affect the interiors of their minds with pleasure, and finally through truths of wisdom and so goods of love. Thus they are steadily introduced into that wisdom and love through a successive series of delights, first through the delights of a love of the intellect and its wisdom, and finally through the delights of a love of the will. This then becomes their life’s love, and everything else that has entered through the experience of delights is kept under it in subordination to it.
[7] This is the case because every constituent of the intellect and will must be formed by something external before it is formed by something internal. For every constituent of the intellect and will is formed first by such things as enter by way of the physical senses, especially through the sight and hearing. But when the first intellect and first will have been formed, then the internal level of thought regards them as external to its thought, and either conjoins itself with them or divorces itself from them. It conjoins itself with them if they are delightful to it, and divorces itself from them if they are not.
[8] It should be rightly known, however, that the internal level of the intellect does not conjoin itself with the internal level of the will, but that the internal level of the will conjoins itself with the internal level of the intellect, and causes the conjunction to be reciprocal. But this is accomplished by the internal level of the will, and not at all by the internal level of the intellect.
It is because of this that a person can be reformed, not by faith only, but by a love of the will which forms for itself its faith.
[9] FOURTH, that it is possible for one to have a coerced internal self and a free internal self: A coerced internal self is found in people who engage in external worship only and not in any internal worship; for their internal self consists in thinking and willing that to which their external self is compelled. They are people who are caught up in the worship of people, living and dead, and so in the worship of idols, and in a faith based on miracles. In their case the only internal self they have is one that is at the same time external.
However, in people who possess an internal worship a coerced internal self is possible – one produced by fear, and one produced by love. A coerced internal produced by fear is found in people who engage in worship because they fear the torment of hell and its fire. But this internal is not the internal level of thought we discussed before, but an external level of thought, which we here call internal because it is one of thought. The internal level of thought that we discussed before cannot be coerced by any fear. Yet it can be compelled by love and by a fear of losing it. Fear of God in its true sense is just that. To be compelled by love and by a fear of losing it is to compel oneself. We will see below that to compel oneself is not contrary to one’s freedom and rationality.
On the other hand, worship not coerced, when genuine, is spiritual worship, alive, lucid, and joyful. It is spiritual because it has in it a spirit from the Lord; alive because it has in it life from the Lord; lucid because it has in it wisdom from the Lord; and joyful because it has in it heaven from the Lord.
Now because the Lord wills a person’s reformation and regeneration in order that the person may attain eternal life or the life of heaven, and because no one can be reformed and regenerated unless good attaches itself to his will so as to be seemingly his, and truth to his intellect so as to be seemingly his as well, and because it is impossible that anything become attached to anyone other than what he does in the freedom of his will in accordance with the reason of his intellect, it follows that no one is reformed in states devoid of freedom and rationality.
States devoid of freedom and rationality are of many kinds, but they may be assigned in general to the following: states of fear, of misfortune, of mental illness, of physical illness, of ignorance, and of intellectual blindness. However, we will say something in particular about each of these states.
[2] We showed above that a person has an internal level of thought and an external level of thought. It is never possible for fear to invade the internal level of thought. This remains always in a state of freedom, because it is impelled by its life’s love. However, fear can invade the external level of thought, and when it does, the internal level of thought closes, and if this is closed the person can no longer act in freedom in accordance with his reason, thus cannot be reformed.
[3] The fear that invades the external level of thought and closes the internal one is chiefly the fear of losing honor or material gain. Fear of civil penalties or of external ecclesiatical penalties does not close anything, because these laws prescribe penalties only for people who speak or behave in opposition to the civil requirements of the country or to the spiritual requirements of the church, but not for those who think in opposition to them.
[4] A fear of punishments in hell does indeed invade the external level of thought, but only for some moments, hours, or days. Presently, however, it is restored to the freedom it has from the internal level of thought, which is properly that of the person’s spirit and life’s love and is called the thought of his heart.
[5] A fear of losing honor or material gain, on the other hand, invades the external level of a person’s thought, and when it does, it then closes the internal level of thought above to influx from heaven and renders the person incapable of being reformed. That is because every person’s life’s love from birth is a love of self and the world, and the love of self is inseparably bound up with a love of honor, and love of the world with a love of material gain. Consequently, when a person possesses honor or material gain, for fear of losing them he justifies to himself the means which serve him for achieving honor or material gain, means which are, whether civil or ecclesiastical, means of power. One who has not yet achieved honor or material gain, if he aspires to them, does the same, but for fear of losing reputation in seeking them.
[6] We say that this fear invades the external level of a person’s thought and closes the internal level of thought above to influx from heaven. We say that the internal level is closed when it conforms totally with the external, for it exists then not in itself but in the external.
[7] However, because the loves of self and the world are hellish loves and the wellsprings of all evils, it is apparent what the internal level of thought is like in itself in people for whom these loves are the life’s loves or governing ones, namely that it is filled with lusts for evils of every kind.
[8] People who are strongly persuaded of the religion in which they are for fear of losing status and wealth are unaware of this, especially if their religion involves their being worshiped like deities and at the same time like so many wealthy Plutos* in Hades. These may seem to blaze with zeal for the salvation of souls, and yet do so with an infernal fire.
Because this fear especially takes away genuine rationality and freedom, which from their origin are heavenly, it is apparent that it stands in the way of a person’s capability to be reformed.
* The Roman deity Pluto, god of the underworld, was in later times often confused with the minor Greek deity Plutus (Plou’to”), god of abundance and wealth, a confusion reflected also here and elsewhere in the writer’s works.
By fearing God we mean fearing to offend Him – offending Him being to sin – and this is an effect not of fear but of love. Does not one who loves another fear to harm him? And the more he loves him, the greater his fear? Without that fear love is shallow and superficial, of the thought only and not at all of the will.
By states of misfortune we mean states of despair in times of peril, as in battles, duels, shipwrecks, falls, fires, impending or unforeseen loss of wealth, or of office and therefore honor, and other, like situations. To think of God only at these times originates not from God but from self. For the mind is then imprisoned in the body, so to speak, being thus not in a state of freedom and so neither in a state of rationality, without which reformation is impossible.
Such illnesses are ones of melancholy, of spurious and false conscience, of various types of delusion, of grief of heart arising from misfortunes, of distress and mental anguish owing to some physical disorder – conditions which are sometimes regarded as temptations, but are not. For genuine temptations have spiritual matters as their subjects, and in those the mind is wise. But these illnesses have natural matters as their subjects, and in them the mind is irrational.
[2] The case is the same with people who renounce the world and all commerce there and devote themselves only to thoughts of God, heaven, and salvation. But more on this subject elsewhere.
Consequently, if these people were not reformed before their illness, but die after contracting it, they become of the character they were before the illness. It is vain, therefore, to think that it is possible for some people to repent or to receive a measure of faith during their illnesses, for no action is involved in that repentance, and no charity in that faith. Thus in either instance everything is an expression of the mouth and nothing an expression of the heart.
The intellect is blinded not only by ignorance but also by a religion that teaches a blind faith. So, too, by the teaching of falsity. For as truths open the intellect, so falsities close it. They close it above but open it below, and an intellect opened only below is not capable of seeing truths, but only of affirming whatever it wishes, especially falsity.
The intellect is also blinded by lusts for evil. As long as the will is caught up in these, it impels the intellect to justify them; and to the extent lusts for evil are justified, the will cannot be moved by affections for good and be impelled by them to see truths and so be reformed.
[2] So, for example, one who is caught up in a lust for adultery – his will, which is moved by the delight of that love, impels its intellect to justify it, saying, “What is adultery? Is there any evil in it? Is there not the same relation between a husband and his wife? Cannot offspring be born just as well from adultery? Cannot a woman admit more than one lover without harm? What connection does any spiritual concern have with this?”
Thus does the intellect think, which is then the will’s whore, and made so stupid by its debauchery with the will that it cannot see that married love* is the fundamental spiritual, heavenly love, being an image of the love between the Lord and the church, the love from which it originates, and therefore that it is in itself sacred, the essence of chastity, purity and innocence. It cannot see, moreover, that married love turns people into embodiments of love, for it is possible for married partners to love each other from their inmost beings, and so to form themselves into embodiments of love. It cannot see that adultery destroys that form, and with it any image of the Lord. And what is shocking, it does not see that an adulterer mixes his life with the life of the husband in his wife, a man’s life being in his seed.
[3] So, too, because this is profane, hell is therefore called an adultery, and heaven conversely a marriage. Moreover, a love of adultery communicates with the lowest hell, but true married love with the inmost heaven. The reproductive organs of both sexes also correspond to societies of the inmost heaven.
We have presented these observations to make known how blinded the intellect is when the will is caught up in a lust for evil, and to show that in a state of intellectual blindness no one can be reformed.
* Or, conjugial love
[2] Now because the internal and external levels of the mind are so distinct, it is possible also for the internal level to battle with the external and by battling force it to consent.
A battle ensues when a person thinks that evils are sins and therefore resolves to desist from them; for when he desists, a door is opened, and after it is opened the Lord casts out the lusts for evil which occupied the internal level of thought and in their stead implants affections for good. This He does in the internal level of thought. But because the delights of the lusts for evil, which occupy the external level of thought, cannot be cast out at the same time, a battle therefore ensues between the internal and external levels of thought. The internal level wishes to cast out those delights because they are delights in evil and are incompatible with the affections for good that the internal level possesses now, and in place of the delights in evil it wishes to introduce delights in good that are compatible. Delights in good are what we call goods of charity.
From this discordance a battle commences, which, if it becomes severe, is called a temptation or trial.
[3] Now because a person is human owing to the internal level of his thought – for this is the person’s very spirit – it follows that a person compels himself when he compels the external level of his thought to consent to or to admit the delights of its affections, which are goods of charity.
It is apparent that this is not contrary to rationality and freedom, but in accord with them, for it is rationality that initiates the battle and freedom that prosecutes it. Freedom itself also resides with rationality in the internal self, and from that in the external self.
[4] When the internal self conquers, therefore, which happens when the internal self has reduced the external self to a state of consent and compliance, the Lord then gives the person real freedom and real rationality. For the Lord then delivers the person from hellish freedom, which in itself is enslavement, and introduces him into heavenly freedom, which in itself is real freedom, and grants him affiliation with angels.
That people caught up in sins are slaves, and that the Lord makes those free who through the Word receive truth from Him, the Lord Himself teaches in John 8:31-36.
The same is the case with all other sins, as with adulterous and licentious affairs, with acts of vengeance and hatred, with blasphemies and lies.
The most difficult battle of all, however, is with the love of ruling from a love of self. One who overcomes this love, easily overcomes all other evil loves, because it is their head.
We have previously shown that a person has a natural mind, a spiritual mind, and a celestial mind. We have shown, too, that a person exists in his natural mind alone as long as he is caught up in lusts for evil and their delights, and that meanwhile the spiritual mind is closed. However, as soon as a person after investigation acknowledges evils to be sins against God, because they are contrary to Divine laws, and resolves therefore to desist from them, the Lord then opens his spiritual mind and enters into his natural mind through affections for truth and good. He also enters into the person’s rational faculty and from it disposes into order those elements which below it in the natural mind are contrary to order.
This is what appears to a person as combat, and in people who have indulged much in delights of evil, as temptation or trial. For a person experiences grief of heart when the pattern of his thoughts is being turned around.
Now, because the battle is waged against things that are in the person himself and that the person feels as his own, and because no one can do battle against himself unless he does so from an interior self and in a state of freedom there, it follows that it is the internal self that then does battle against the external self, that it does so in a state of freedom, and that it compels the external self to a state of compliance. This, then, is what it is to compel oneself. It is apparent that it is not contrary to freedom and rationality, but in accord with them.
We have added this to confirm the fact that to compel oneself is not contrary to rationality and freedom.
Another reason is that the religion of the Christian world has closed the intellect, and faith alone sealed it shut; for both bodies have placed around them, like an iron wall, this dogma, that theological matters are transcendent, and that they are not to be approached therefore with any rationality, but are for the blind and not for the seeing. By this they have hidden away any truths that might teach what spiritual freedom is.
The third reason is that few people examine themselves and see their sins; and one who does not see them and desist from them feels free to do them, which is hellish freedom, in itself slavery. Moreover, to view heavenly freedom, which is real freedom, from this state is like peering at daylight while in pitch darkness, or like seeing the sunshine above from beneath a black cloud.
So it is that no one knows what heavenly freedom is, and that the difference between it and hellish freedom is like the difference between being alive and being dead.
People in the learned world know that there is an influx of the spiritual self into the natural self, and not the reverse. And in the church people know that the inner self must be purified and renewed first, and by it then the outer one. This is known because the Lord teaches it and reason declares it. The Lord teaches it in these words:
Woe to you?, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of predation and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be made clean also. (Matthew 23:25, 26)
[2] That reason declares this is something we showed many times in our treatise Divine Love and Wisdom. For what the Lord teaches He grants to a person to perceive with his reason, and this in two ways. One is the person’s seeing in himself that something is so as soon as he hears it. The other is his understanding it as a result of rational arguments. To see a thing in oneself is to see it in one’s inner self, while to understand it as a result of rational arguments is to see it in one’s outer self.
Who does not see it in himself on hearing that the inner self must be purified first and by it the outer self? But someone who does not accept by influx from heaven the common view regarding this point may be deluded when he takes the counsel of the external level of his thought. From the latter alone no one sees other than that outward works, works of charity and piety, are saving apart from inward ones. So, too, in regard to other things, as for example, that sight and hearing flow into the thought, and smell and taste into the perception, thus the external into the internal, when in fact the contrary is the case. The appearance that objects of sight and hearing flow into the thought is a fallacious one, for it is the intellect that sees in the eye and hears in the ear, and not the reverse. So likewise in regard to the rest of the senses.
The inner self is not reformed simply by knowing, understanding, and becoming wise, consequently not by thinking only, but by willing what its knowledge, understanding and wisdom teach. When a person knows, understands and perceives that there is a heaven and a hell, and that all evil originates from hell, and all good from heaven – if he then does not will evil because it originates from hell, but wills good because it originates from heaven, he is then in the first stage of his reformation and at the threshold of going from hell to heaven.
When the person progresses further and resolves to desist from evils, he is in the second stage of his reformation, and is then out of hell, but not yet in heaven. Heaven is something he sees above him.
This must be his inner character for a person to be reformed. However, unless his outer self as well as his inner self is reformed, the person has not been reformed. His outer self is reformed by the inner self when the outer self desists from the evils which the inner self does not will because they are hellish, and even more when he refrains from them and fights against them. Thus the internal component is the willing, and the external component the doing; for unless one does what he wills, it is something that he does not will inwardly, and eventually becomes something he does not will at all.
[2] From these few observations it can be seen how the outer self is reformed by the inner self. This, too, is the meaning of the Lord’s words to Peter:
Jesus (said), “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.” . . .Peter said to Him, “Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head!” Jesus said to him, “He who is bathed needs only to have his feet washed, and is completely clean. . .” (John 13:8-10)
By washing is meant a spiritual washing, which is a purification from evils. To wash the head and hands means to purify the internal self, and to wash the feet means to purify the external self. The fact that once the internal self has been purified, the external self needs to be purified, is meant by the statement, “He who is bathed needs only to have his feet washed.” That all purification from evils is the Lord’s doing is meant by the statement, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.”
That washing among the Jews represented a purification from evils, that this is symbolically meant in the Word by washing, and that washing the feet symbolically means the purification of the natural or outer self, is something we have shown in many places in Arcana Coelestia (The Secrets of Heaven)
The fact that to think with intention is equivalent to willing and doing is apparent from the Lord’s words:
?whoever has looked at (another’s) woman so as to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. (Matthew 5:28)
Such is the nature of an examination of the inner self, by which the outer self is examined in its essence.
Indeed everyone in the Christian world knows this from the prayers recited before those who attend the Holy Supper, for it is openly declared in these; and yet when people are asked whether they are aware of it, they reply that they are not and have not been. The reason is that they have not thought about it, and most say that they have thought only of faith and of salvation by it alone.
I have also marveled as well that faith alone has so closed their eyes that when people who have confirmed themselves in that faith read the Word, they see nothing that is said there about love, charity and works. It is as though they have painted their faith over all the contents of the Word, like one who paints a manuscript with tempera, so that nothing that lies underneath appears, or if something does appear, it is swallowed up by their faith and said to be faith.
The appearance is that a person leads and teaches himself, but in reality a person is led and taught by the Lord alone. People who affirm in themselves the appearance and not at the same time the reality, are unable to put away evils from themselves as sins. By contrast, those who affirm in themselves the appearance and at the same time the reality are able to do so, for evils are put away as sins apparently by the person, but in reality by the Lord. The latter people can be reformed, but not the former.
[2] People who affirm in themselves the appearance and not at the same time the reality are interiorly idolaters, for they are worshipers of themselves and the world. If they do not have any religion, they become worshipers of nature and thus atheists. If, on the other hand, they do have some religion, they become worshipers of people and at the same time of images. Such are the people now meant in the first commandment of the Decalogue by those who worship other gods. In contrast, people who affirm in themselves the appearance and at the same time the reality become worshipers of the Lord; for the Lord elevates them from their native character, which is caught up in the appearance, and conveys them into a light which contains the truth and which is the truth, and He grants them to perceive interiorly that they are not led and taught by themselves but by the Lord.
[3] The rational faculty of the one kind of people and that of the other may appear to many as being alike, but they differ. The rational faculty of those who affirm the appearance and at the same time the reality is a spiritual rationality, while the rational faculty of those who affirm the appearance and not at the same time the reality is a natural rationality. But the latter rationality may be likened to a garden as it is in wintry light, whereas a spiritual rationality may be likened to a garden as it is in the light of spring.
More on this subject, however, in the discussions that follow, under the following series of headings:
(1) A person is led and taught by the Lord alone.
(2) A person is led and taught by the Lord alone through the angelic heaven and from it.
(3) The Lord leads a person by influx and teaches him by enlightenment.
(4) The Lord teaches a person through the Word and through doctrine and preaching from the Word, thus directly from Himself alone.
(5) A person is led and taught by the Lord in outward respects to all appearance as though of himself.
Now because as long as he lives in the world a person cannot be given a conscious perception that he lives from the Lord alone – since the appearance that he lives of himself is not taken from him, for without it a person would not be human – therefore we have to establish it by rational considerations, which must then be confirmed by empirical observation, and finally by the Word.
There is one single essence, one single substance, and one single form from which spring all other essences, substances and forms that have been created.
That one single essence, substance and form is the Divine love and Divine wisdom, from which springs everything relating to love and wisdom in the human being.
It is also the absolute good and absolute truth to which everything else bears some relation.
These also are the life from which springs the life of everything else and all the constituents of life.
So, too, the one and only absolute is omnipresent, omniscient and omnipotent.
And this one and only absolute is the Lord from eternity, or Jehovah.
[2] FIRST, that there is one single essence, one single substance, and one single form from which spring all other essences, substances and forms that have been created: This we showed in our treatise Divine Love and Wisdom, nos. 44-46. We also showed, in Part Two there, that the sun of the angelic heaven, which is from the Lord and in which is the Lord, is that one single substance and form, from which originates everything else that has been created, and that nothing exists or can exist that does not originate from it. And in Part Three there we demonstrated that all things originate from it by derivations in accordance with degrees.
[3] Who does not perceive and acknowledge in accord with reason that there is one single essence from which springs every other essence, or one single being from which springs every other being? What can exist without being, and what is the being from which springs every other being but absolute being? And that which is absolute being is also the one and only being, and being in itself.
Since this is the case, and since everyone perceives and acknowledges it in accord with reason, and whoever does not is capable of so perceiving and acknowledging it, what else then follows than that this being, which is the Divine itself or Jehovah, is the all in all things that have being and exist?
[4] The case is the same if one says that there is one single substance from which springs everything else. And because substance has no reality apart from form, it follows, too, that there is one single form from which springs everything else.
The fact that the sun of the angelic heaven is that one single substance and form, and the way that essence, substance and form is varied in created things, are points we demonstrated in the aforementioned treatise.
[5] SECOND, that that one single essence, substance and form is the Divine love and Divine wisdom, from which springs everything relating to love and wisdom in the human being: This, too, we showed in full in the treatise Divine Love and Wisdom. Whatever appears to have life in a person has some relation to the will and intellect in him, and everyone perceives and acknowledges in accord with reason that these two constitute his life. What else is there besides “This I will” or “This I understand,” or “This I love” or “This is what I think”? And because a person wills what he loves, and thinks what he understands, therefore all the constituents of the will have some relation to love, and all the constituents of the intellect to wisdom. Moreover, because the latter two cannot exist in anyone of themselves except from Him who is love itself and wisdom itself, it follows that their existence is from the Lord from eternity or Jehovah. If their existence were not from Him, the person would be love itself and wisdom itself, thus God from eternity, an idea at which human reason itself shudders with horror.
Can anything exist except from something prior to itself? And can this prior something exist except from something still more prior than itself, and so finally from a first which exists in itself?
[6] THIRD, that it is likewise the absolute good and absolute truth to which everything else bears some relation: Everyone in possession of his reason accepts and acknowledges that God is goodness itself and truth itself, and that all good and truth come from Him. It is accordingly accepted and acknowledged also that everything good and true can come only from absolute good and truth. These points are ones every rational person acknowledges as soon as he hears them. When he is then told that in a person who is led by the Lord every constituent of his will and intellect, or every element of his love and wisdom, or every bit of his affection and thought, bears some relation to good and truth, it follows that everything such a person wills and understands, or that he loves and perceives, or that he is affected by and thinks, is from the Lord.
So it is that everyone in the church knows that any good or any truth issuing from mankind is in itself not good or true, but only that which comes from the Lord.
Since this is the reality, it follows that everything such a person wills and thinks is from the Lord.
We will see in subsequent discussions that every evil person, too, is able to will and think only from this origin.
[7] FOURTH, that these are the life from which springs the life of everything else and all the constituents of life: This we showed in many places in our treatise Divine Love and Wisdom. Human reason also accepts and acknowledges on first hearing it that a person’s life is wholly that of his will and intellect, for if his will and intellect were taken away, he would cease to live. Or to say the same thing, human reason accepts and acknowledges that a person’s life is wholly that of his love and thought, for if his love and thought were taken away, he would cease to live.
Now because every constituent of the will and intellect in a person, or every element of his love and thought, is from the Lord, as just said above, it follows that every bit of his life is from the Lord.
[8] FIFTH, that this one and only absolute is omnipresent, omniscient and omnipotent: This, too, every Christian acknowledges in conformity with his doctrine, and every gentile in conformity with his religion. Everyone also thinks, therefore, wherever he is, that God is there with him, and he prays to God as to someone present. So, since everyone thinks and prays in this way, it follows that people cannot but think that God is everywhere, thus omnipresent. Likewise that He is omniscient and omnipotent. Consequently everyone who prays to God from his heart beseeches Him to lead him, because He has the power to. Thus at those times everyone acknowledges the Divine omnipresence, omniscience and omnipotence. He does so because he then turns his face to the Lord, and the truth of it then flows in from the Lord.
[9] SIXTH, that this one and only absolute is the Lord from eternity, or Jehovah: In The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Lord we showed that God is one in essence and person, and that that God is the Lord; that the Divine itself called Jehovah the Father is the Lord from eternity; that the Divine Human is the Son conceived by the Divine from eternity in Him and born in the world; and that the Divinity emanating from Him is the Holy Spirit.
We call Him the one and only absolute because we previously said that the Lord from eternity or Jehovah is life itself, inasmuch as He is love itself and wisdom itself or the absolute good and absolute truth from which springs everything else.
That the Lord created everything from Himself and not from nothing may be seen in our treatise Divine Love and Wisdom, nos. 282-284, 349-357.
These observations serve to confirm by rational considerations the truth that a person is led and taught by the Lord alone.
It has also been granted me now for a number of years to have a similar perception and the accompanying appearance, by which I have been completely convinced that I will and think nothing of myself, although it appears to be from me. And I have been granted as well to will and love it.
The same reality may be confirmed by many other observations from the spiritual world, but these two are sufficient for the present.
“I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he die, shall live.” (John 11:25)
“I am the way, the truth, and the life.” (John 14:6)
. . . the Word was God. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. (John 1:1, 4)
The Word there is the Lord.
“. . . as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself?.” (John 5:26)
That a person is led and taught by the Lord alone is apparent from these passages:
“. . . without Me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5)
“A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven.” (John 3:27)
“. . . (a person) cannot make one hair white or black. (Matthew 5:36)
A hair in the Word symbolizes the least amount of anything.
The case is the same with the influx of spiritual warmth, which in itself is love, and of spiritual light, which in itself is wisdom, from the sun of the spiritual world. The forms into which these flow occasion their diversity, not the warmth which in itself is love, or the light which in itself is wisdom. The forms into which they flow are human minds.
It is apparent now from this that a person is led and taught by the Lord alone.
It appears that a person is led through the angelic heaven because the Lord appears above that heaven as the sun. In reality he is led from that heaven, because the Lord is present in that heaven like the soul in a person. For the Lord is omnipresent, and does not exist in space, as we have shown before. Consequently any distance from Him is an appearance according to one’s conjunction with Him, and any conjunction accords with one’s reception of love and wisdom from Him.
So, because no one can be conjoined with the Lord as He is in Himself, therefore He appears to angels at a distance as the sun. But still He is present throughout the entire angelic heaven like the soul in a person, as He is also in every single society in heaven and in every single angel there. For a person’s soul is not only the soul of the whole, but also the soul in every part.
[2] However, because it appears that the Lord governs the whole of heaven, and through it the world, from the sun which originates from Him and in which He is (regarding which sun, see our treatise Divine Love and Wisdom, Part Two), and because it is granted everyone to speak in accordance with the appearance, nor can it be otherwise, therefore to everyone lacking real wisdom it is also granted to think that the Lord governs each and every thing from His sun, and also that He governs the world through the angelic heaven. It is in accordance with this appearance, too, that angels of the lower heavens think. But though angels of the higher heavens speak, indeed, in accordance with the appearance, they think in accordance with the reality, which is that the Lord governs the universe from the angelic heaven, which is from Him.
[3] The simple and the wise speak alike, but they do not think alike, and we can illustrate this by reference to the world’s sun. All speak of it in accordance with the appearance, saying, for example, that it rises and sets. But although the wise speak in the same way, still they think that the sun stands still. This, too, is the reality, and the other the appearance.
The same point may be illustrated by appearances in the spiritual world; for intervals of space and distance there appear as they do in the natural world, but still are appearances that accord with the inhabitants’ dissimilarity of affections and consequent thoughts.
It is the same with the appearance of the Lord in His sun.
It can be seen from this that the Lord governs the entire angelic heaven as though it were a single person; that that heaven, being in itself human, is the very image and very likeness of the Lord; and that the Lord Himself governs that heaven as the soul governs its body.
So, because the entire human race is governed by the Lord, it can be seen that it is governed by the Lord not through heaven, but from heaven, consequently from Himself, because He is heaven, as we have said.
1. All people, both mortals and angels, are in the Lord and have the Lord in them to the extent of their conjunction with Him, or in other words, to the extent of their reception of love and wisdom from Him.
[2] 2. Each of these is allotted a place in the Lord, thus in heaven, according to the nature of the conjunction or of his reception of the Lord.
[3] 3. Each has, in his place, his own state, distinct from the state of others; and he draws his sustenance from the whole in accordance with his situation, his function, and his need, just as each part does in the human body.
[4] 4. Every person is introduced into his place by the Lord in accordance with his life.
[5] 5. Every person from early childhood is introduced into that Divine Man whose soul and life is the Lord, and he is led and taught in Him, and not apart from Him, by the Lord’s Divine love in accordance with His Divine wisdom. Nevertheless, because a person’s freedom is never taken away, he can be led and taught only to the extent of his reception as though of himself.
[6] 6. People who are receptive are conveyed to their places by endless roundabout ways, as though by meandering journeys, almost as chyle is conveyed through the mesentery and the lacteal vessels there into the cisterna chyli, and from this through the thoracic duct into the blood, and so to its home.
[7] 7. People who are not receptive are separated from those in the Divine Man who are, as excrement and urine are separated and discharged from a person.
These are secrets of angelic wisdom which a person can to some extent comprehend, but there are many others which he cannot.
People know that every person is led of himself by his love, and by other people in accordance with it, and not by his intellect. He is led by his intellect and in accordance with it only when his love or will forms it; and when this is the case, it can be said also of the intellect that it is led, though even then it is not the intellect that is led, but the will from which it springs.
We use the term influx, because it is an accepted practice to say that the soul flows into the body, and that the influx is spiritual and not physical; and a person’s soul or life is his love or will, as we have previously shown. Moreover, the influx is comparatively like the influx of blood into the heart, and from the heart into the lungs. There exists a correspondence of the heart with the will, and of the lungs with the intellect, and the conjunction of the will with the intellect is like the influx of blood from the heart into the lungs, as we have shown in our treatise Divine Love and Wisdom, nos. 371-432.
As regards spiritual light and natural light, in external appearance the two are alike, but viewed internally they are different. For natural light comes from the sun of the natural world and so in itself is lifeless, while spiritual light comes from the sun of the spiritual world and so in itself is alive. It is this latter light that enlightens the human intellect, and not natural light.
Natural and rational sight is the result not of natural light but of spiritual light. We call it natural and rational sight, because it is spiritually natural. [2] For the spiritual world has in it three degrees of light: celestial light, spiritual light, and spiritually natural light. Celestial light is a glowing flamy light. It is the light possessed by angels who are in the third heaven. Spiritual light is a brilliant white light. It is the light possessed by those who are in the middle heaven. And spiritually natural light is like daylight in our world. It is the light possessed by those who are in the lowest heaven, and also by those who are in the world of spirits, which is midway between heaven and hell. Among good spirits in that latter world, however, this light is like the light of summer on earth, while among evil ones it is like the light of winter.
[3] It should be known, however, that no light in the spiritual world has anything in common with the light of the natural world. The two differ as something alive and something lifeless.
From this it is apparent that it is not natural light, such as exists before our eyes, that enlightens the intellect, but spiritual light. This no mortal knows, because no one previously has known anything about spiritual light.
The fact that spiritual light in its origin is Divine wisdom or Divine truth is something we showed in the book Heaven and Hell, nos. 126-140.
These levels of light are not natural but spiritual, for all natural light is lifeless and snuffs out the intellect, and yet people in hell have the faculty for understanding called rationality, as we have previously shown. Indeed, rationality itself originates from spiritual light, and not a whit from natural light. Yet the spiritual light that those in hell have by virtue of their rationality is turned into hellish light, as the light of day is into the darkness of night.
[2] But still, all those who are in the spiritual world, both those in the heavens and those in the hells, see as clearly in their light as people do by day in theirs. The reason is that everyone’s eyesight is formed to receive the light that surrounds it. Thus the eyesight of angels in heaven is formed to receive the light that surrounds it, and the eyesight of spirits in hell to receive the light that surrounds it. The case is comparatively like that with owls and bats, which see objects at night and in the evening as clearly as other birds see them by day. For their eyes have been formed to receive their light.
[3] The difference between these levels of light is clearly apparent, however, to people who look from one level of light into another. When an angel in heaven looks into hell, for example, he sees nothing but pitch darkness there, and when a spirit in hell looks into heaven, he sees only pitch darkness there. The reason is that heavenly wisdom is like pitch darkness to people in hell, and conversely, the insanity in hell is like pitch darkness to people in heaven.
It can be seen from this that the character of a person’s intellect determines the kind of light he possesses, and that everyone comes into his own light after death, as he is sightless in any other. And in the spiritual world, where all are spiritual even as regards their bodies, the eyes of all are formed to see in their own light. Everyone’s life’s love forms the intellect, and so also its light, to suit itself. For love is like the fire of life, from which issues the light of life.
An interior and an exterior enlightenment by the Lord is possible, and also is an interior and an exterior enlightenment by man. It is an interior enlightenment by the Lord that enables a person to perceive at first hearing whether a statement is true or not. An exterior enlightenment is the result of this in his consequent thought. An interior enlightenment by man is the result of mere justification. And an exterior enlightenment by man comes from the simple possession of knowledge. But we will say something about each of these.
[2] An interior enlightenment by the Lord enables a rational person to perceive immediately, as soon as he hears them, a variety of things as being true or not true. Take, for example, this statement, that love is the life of faith, or that faith has its life from love. An interior enlightenment enables the person to perceive as well the following, that whatever a person loves he wills, and what he wills he does, and therefore that to love is to do. So, too, the following, that whatever a person is moved by love to believe he also wills and does, and therefore that to have faith is also to do. And further, that as an impious person cannot love God, so neither can he have faith in God.
A rational person is also enabled by an interior enlightenment to immediately perceive, when he hears them, the following: that God is one; that He is omnipresent; that all good comes from Him; that all things, moreover, have some relation to goodness and truth; and that all good comes from goodness itself, and all truth from truth itself.
These and other like statements are things that the person interiorly perceives in himself when he hears them. He perceives them because he has rationality, and this in the light of heaven by which it is enlightened.
[3] An exterior enlightenment by the Lord is an enlightenment of the thought resulting from that interior enlightenment; and the thought continues in that enlightenment as long as it retains the perception that it has from the interior enlightenment, and to the extent that it possesses at the same time concepts of truth and good. For it takes from these concepts rational considerations by which it forms confirmations.
Thought from this exterior enlightenment sees a thing from two sides. On one side it sees reasons that confirm it. On the other it sees appearances that dispute it. The latter it dispels. The former it gathers.
[4] An interior enlightenment by man, on the other hand, is quite different. A person possessing this state of enlightenment sees a thing from one side and not from the other; and when he has affirmed it, he sees it in a light seemingly like the light described above, but it is a wintry light.
Consider for example the following: A judge who judges unjustly in return for gifts or for material gain, after he has defended his decision by the laws and by arguments, does not see anything but justice in his decision. Some do see the injustice; but because they do not wish to see it, they blur it and blind themselves to it, so that they do not see it.
It is the same with a judge who renders his decisions out of partiality, or to gain favor, or to be allied with his relatives.
[5] For people like that it is the same with everything that they take from the mouth of a man of authority or from the mouth of a celebrity, or hatch from their own intelligence. They are rationally blind, for their sight comes from the falsities they defend, and falsity closes up the sight, as truth opens it.
Such people do not see any truth by the light of truth, nor any justice from a love of justice, but see by the light of justification, which is an illusory light. In the spiritual world they appear as faces without a head, or as human-like faces with wooden heads behind; and they are called rational cattle, because they have the potential of rationality.
An exterior enlightenment by man, however, exists in people who think and speak solely in accordance with knowledge impressed on their memory. Of themselves they are scarcely able to verify anything.
I have seen some returning from that experience and have heard them confessing that they had not a particle of faith, even though they had believed in the world that they had a good deal of faith and more faith than others. The same, too, as regards their intelligence and wisdom. These were people caught up in faith alone who lacked any charity and were taken up with their own intelligence.
1. The Lord is the Word because the Word is from Him and about Him.
2. And because it is the Divine truth belonging to Divine good.
3. Thus to be taught by the Word is to be taught by Him.
4. That this is accomplished indirectly through preaching, moreover, does not take away its directness.
[2] FIRST, that the Lord is the Word because it is from Him and about Him: No one in the church denies that the Word is from the Lord. No one indeed denies that the Word is about the Lord alone, either, but neither is it known. We have, however, shown it in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Lord, nos. 1-7 and 37-44, and in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Sacred Scripture, nos. 62-69, 80-90, 98-100.
Now, because the Word is from the Lord alone and about the Lord alone, it follows that when a person is taught by the Word, he is taught by the Lord. For the Word is Divine. Who can communicate something Divine and implant it in people’s hearts but the Divine itself from whom it comes and of whom it treats? Therefore when speaking of His conjunction with His disciples, the Lord says that they should abide in Him, and His words in them (John 15:7); that His words are spirit and life (John 6:63); and that He has His abode in those who keep His words (John 14:20-24). Consequently to think from the Lord is to think from the Word, as though through the Word.
In The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Sacred Scripture we showed from beginning to end that the constituents of the Word all have communication with heaven; and because the Lord is heaven, it means that the constituents of the Word all have communication with the Lord Himself. There is, indeed, a communication with the angels in heaven, but this, too, is from the Lord.
[3] SECOND, that the Lord is the Word because it is the Divine truth belonging to Divine good: The Lord teaches that He is the Word with these words in John:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God?. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us?. (John 1:1,14)
Because this statement has been interpreted previously to mean only that God teaches mankind through the Word, it has therefore been explained as a hyperbolic expression, with the implication that the Lord is not really the Word. That is because people have not known that by the Word is meant the Divine truth accompanying Divine good, or to say the same thing, the Divine wisdom accompanying Divine love. That these are the Lord Himself we showed in Part One of our treatise Divine Love and Wisdom, and that they are the Word, in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Sacred Scripture, nos. 1-26.
[4] We will briefly explain here as well how the Lord is the Divine truth accompanying Divine good. Every human being is human not because of his face and anatomy, but because of the goodness of his love and the truths of his wisdom. And as a human being is human because of these, every person is also his own truth and own good, or his own love and own wisdom. Without these he is not human. The Lord, however, is goodness itself and truth itself, or to say the same thing, love itself and wisdom itself. And these are the Word which was in the beginning with God, and which was God, and which became flesh.
[5] THIRD, thus that to be taught by the Word is to be taught by the Lord Himself: That is because it is to be taught by good itself and truth itself, or by love itself and wisdom itself, which are the Word, as we have said. But everyone is taught in accordance with the comprehension of his love. Anything beyond this does not remain.
All people who are taught by the Lord in the Word are instructed in a few truths while in the world, but in many truths when they become angels. For the interior contents of the Word, which are Divinely spiritual and Divinely celestial, are implanted at the same time, but are not opened in a person until after his death, when he is in heaven and in possession of angelic wisdom, which in comparison to human wisdom, thus in comparison to his prior wisdom, is indescribable.
(The fact that the Divinely spiritual and Divinely celestial components that form angelic wisdom are present in each and all constituents of the Word may be seen in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Sacred Scripture, nos. 5-26.)
[6] FOURTH, that this is accomplished indirectly through preaching does not take away its directness: The Word has to be taught through the agency of parents, teachers, preachers, books, and especially by hearing it read. But still it is not taught by these intermediaries, but by the Lord through them. This, too, is one of the things preachers know, who say that they speak not of themselves but by the spirit of God, and that every truth, like every good, comes from God. They can, indeed, speak the Word, and convey it to the understanding of many; but they cannot introduce it into anyone’s heart, and what is not in the heart perishes in the intellect. (By the heart we mean a person’s love.)
It can be seen from this that a person is led and taught by the Lord alone, and this by Him directly when he is led and taught by the Word. This is a supreme secret of angelic wisdom.
Moreover, because a person has light through the Word, and because of that light understanding, and this in the case of evil people as well as good, it follows that from that light in its origin comes light in its derivations, which are people’s perceptions and thoughts about any matter. The Lord says that without Him they can do nothing (John 15:5); that a person can obtain nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven (John 3:27); and that their Father in heaven makes His sun rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust (Matthew 5:45). Here, as elsewhere in the Word, by the sun is meant in its spiritual sense the Divine goodness of Divine love, and by rain the Divine truth of Divine wisdom. These are granted to the evil and the good and to the just and the unjust, for if they were not, no one would have any perception or thought.
There is only one life from which all others have life, as we have shown above, and perception and thought are properties of life. Consequently from the same source from which life originates spring also perception and thought.
The fact that the light that forms the intellect all comes from the sun of the spiritual world, which is the Lord, is something we have demonstrated many times before.
The Lord’s operations in these interior elements are not apparent to a person. However, their effects, of which there are many, are apparent, and so are some of the causes of the effects. These effects are outward manifestations in which the person is present together with the Lord. And because the outward manifestations are inseparable from the internal operations, inasmuch as they are connected in a single successive series, therefore an operation in a person’s internal elements can be directed by the Lord only in accordance with one directed by the agency of the person in its outward manifestations.
[2] Everyone knows that a person thinks, wills, speaks and acts to all appearance as though of himself, and everyone can see that without that appearance a person would have no will and intellect, thus no affection and thought, and would be incapable of receiving any goodness and truth from the Lord. This being the case, it follows that without that appearance there would be no concept of God, no charity and faith, and so no reformation and regeneration, thus no salvation. It is apparent from this that the Lord has granted that appearance to mankind for the sake of all these useful ends, and especially to make possible a receptivity and reciprocity on mankind’s part, which enables the Lord to be conjoined with a person, and a person with the Lord, so that as a result of that conjunction the person may live to eternity.
This is the appearance that is meant here.
The natural person who does not believe in Divine providence thinks to himself, “What is Divine providence when evil people are raised to higher positions of honor and acquire more wealth than good people, and when those who do not believe in Divine providence meet with many more like successes than those who do believe? Indeed, when faithless and impious people are able to inflict injuries, losses and misfortunes, and sometimes death on faithful and pious people, and this by cunning and malicious arts?”
And so he thinks, “Do I not see from actual experience, as though in the clear light of day, that crafty schemes prevail over faithfulness and justice, if only one has the clever skill to be able to make them appear trustworthy and just? What are any other happenings but inevitabilities, consequences, and chance events, in which we see no evidence of Divine providence? Are not inevitabilities due to nature? Are not consequences due to a cause, flowing from it in accordance with natural or civil order? And are not chance events due either to causes unknown, or to no causes at all?”
Such are the thoughts entertained by the natural person who ascribes nothing to God but everything to nature. For one who attributes nothing to God attributes nothing to Divine providence either, as God and Divine providence are inseparably connected.
[2] That is not, on the other hand, what a spiritual person says and thinks to himself. Even though he does not in thought perceive Divine providence in its progress or see it with the sight of his eye, still he knows about it and acknowledges it.
Now, because the aforementioned appearances and resulting misconceptions have blinded the intellect, and because the intellect cannot recover any sight unless the misconceptions that induced the blindness and the falsities that induced the thick darkness are dispelled, and this can be done only through truths that have the power to dispel the falsities, therefore these truths must be disclosed, but for the sake of clarity, under the following series of headings:
(1) If a person were to perceive and sense the operation of Divine providence, he would not act in freedom in accordance with his reason, nor would anything appear to him to spring from him. So, too, if he were to foreknow events.
(2) If a person were to clearly see Divine providence, he would inject himself into the order and course of its progression, and upset and destroy it.
(3) If a person were to clearly see Divine providence, either he would deny God or he would make himself God.
(4) It is granted a person to see Divine providence from behind and not from in front, and in a spiritual state and not in a natural state.
[2] We must now show here that a person would have no freedom to act in accordance with his reason and no appearance of anything’s springing from him if he were to perceive or sense the operation of Divine providence, since if he were to perceive or sense it, he would also be led by it. For the Lord leads all by His Divine providence, and only in appearance does a person lead himself, as we have also shown above. Consequently, if a person were to be led by a noticeable perception and sensation, he would not be conscious of living, and would then be moved to make sounds and act scarcely otherwise than as a carved figure. If he were to be still conscious of living, he would then be led no otherwise than as one bound in manacles and fetters, or as a draft animal before the cart.
Who does not see that a person in that case would not have any freedom? And if no freedom, that neither would he have any power of reason? For everyone thinks by virtue of and in accordance with his freedom, and whatever he does not think by virtue of and in accordance with his freedom does not appear to him to spring from him, but from something else. Indeed, if you consider the matter more deeply, you will perceive that he would not have any thought either, still less any power of reason, and so would not be human.
This much is clearly apparent, that there would be two forces continually acting in opposition to each other – a force for evil on the person’s part, and a force for good on the Lord’s part. And when two opposites act against each other, then either one is victorious or both fail. In the present instance, however, both fail if one is victorious, for the evil that a person has does not accept good from the Lord in a moment, nor does good from the Lord cast out the evil from a person in a moment. If the one or the other were to happen in a moment, no life would be left to the person.
These and many other harmful consequences would eventuate if a person were to plainly perceive or sense the operation of Divine providence. However, this we will clearly demonstrate in subsequent discussions.
Reason’s essential delight is to envision from love the effect in thought – not at the time of the effect, but prior to it, or not at the present time, but in a time to come. It is this that gives a person what we call hope, which grows or dwindles in his reason as it envisions or anticipates the outcome. This delight is fulfilled in the outcome, but afterward erased, along with thought about it. The same would be the case with any outcome foreknown.
[2] A person’s mind is continually governed by these three elements called end, cause and effect. If one of them is missing the human mind is dispossessed of its life. The will’s affection is the initiating end, the intellect’s thought is the enabling cause, and the action of the body, speech of the mouth, or external sensation is the effect of the end operating through the thought.
The human mind is dispossessed of its life when it dwells only in an affection of the will and nothing else. So, too, when it exists only in an effect. This is apparent to everyone. Consequently the mind does not have its life from any one of these by itself, but from the three together. This life of the mind would be diminished or would withdraw in the face of an outcome foreknown.
A desire to know the future is innate in most people, but it is a desire that takes its origin from a love of evil. Consequently it is taken away from people who put their trust in Divine providence, and they have imparted to them a confidence that the Lord is directing their lot, so that they do not wish to know it beforehand lest in some way they inject themselves into Divine providence. This the Lord teaches in several ways in Luke 12:14-48.
[2] That this is a law of Divine providence may be confirmed by a number of observations from the spiritual world. When people come into that world after death, most wish to know their lot. However, they are told in reply that if they have lived well, they have their lot in heaven; if they have lived badly, in hell. Yet because all fear hell, even evil people, they ask what they must do and what they must believe in order to enter heaven. But they are told in reply to do and believe as they wish, only know that people do not do good or believe truth in hell, but in heaven.
“Find out what is good and what is true,” they are told, “and do the one and think the other if you can.”
Thus in the spiritual world as in the natural world, everyone is left to act in freedom in accordance with his reason. But as they have behaved in this world, so they behave in that one. For everyone’s life awaits him, and so his lot, because his lot is that of his life.
1. External matters have such a connection with internal ones that in every operation they act in concert.
2. A person is present together with the Lord only in some external matters, and if he were to be present at the same time in internal ones, he would upset and destroy the whole order and course of the progression of Divine providence.
But, as we said, let this be illustrated by examples.
[2] FIRST, that external matters have such a connection with internal ones that in every operation they act in concert: Let the illustration by examples be made here by considering some of the components that exist in the human body.
In the whole and in every part there are external and internal components. The external components there are called skins, membranes, and integuments. The internal ones are forms variously composed and woven of neural fibers and blood vessels. The surrounding integument enters by offshoots from itself into all the interior constituents, even to the inmost. Thus the external component, which is the integument, unites itself with all the internal components, which are the organic forms of fibers and vessels.
From this it follows that as the external component acts or is acted upon, so the internal ones also act or are acted upon. For all are forever bound up together.
[3] Simply take some common integument in the body, as for example the pleura, which is the common integument of the breast or of the heart and lungs, and examine it with an anatomist’s eye. Or if this is not one of your pursuits, consult anatomists and you will learn that this common integument, by various wrappings around and then by offshoots from itself, slenderer and slenderer, enters into the inmost constituents of the lungs, even into the smallest bronchial branches, and into the tiny sacs themselves which are the initial origins of the lungs – not to mention its progression afterward through the trachea into the larynx toward the tongue.
From this it is apparent that there is a constant connection of the outmost component with the inmost ones. Consequently as the outmost one acts or is acted upon, so the inner components stemming from the inmost ones also act or are acted upon.
It is because of this that when that outmost integument, namely the pleura, is either congested or inflamed, or filled with ulcers, the lungs labor from their inmost constituents; and if the ailment worsens, all action of the lungs may slacken and the person die.
[4] The case is everywhere else the same throughout the body, as with the peritoneum, the common integument of all the abdominal viscera; and also with the integuments surrounding each one of these, as in the case of the stomach, liver, pancreas, spleen, intestines, mesentery, and kidneys, and with the reproductive organs in both sexes. Take any one of these and examine it yourself and you will see, or else consult experts in that science and you will be told. Take, for instance, the liver, and you will discover that there is a connection of the peritoneum with the integument of that organ, and through the integument with its inmost constituents. For there are constant offshoots extending from the integument that penetrate toward the organ’s interior constituents and so continue to the inmost ones, and as a result they are all so bound up together that when the integument acts or is acted upon, the whole structure similarly acts or is acted upon.
It is the same with the rest of the organs. The reason is that in every structure the general and particular components, or the universal and individual ones, by a marvelous conjunction act in concert.
[5] In spiritual forms and in the changes and variations in their states, which relate to operations of the will and intellect, the same kind of thing happens as in the case of natural forms and their operations, which relate to motions and actions, as we will see below.
Now because a person is present together with the Lord in some external operations, and because the freedom to act in accordance with his reason is not taken from anyone, it follows that the Lord can act in a person’s internal components no otherwise than as He does in concert with the person in the person’s external components. Consequently, that if a person does not refrain from and become averse to evils as sins, the external component of his thought and will would be corrupted and subverted, and at the same time then their internal component, comparatively as the pleura is by its disease called pleurisy, from which the body dies.
[6] SECOND, that if a person were to be present at the same time in internal matters, he would upset and destroy the whole order and course of Divine providence: This, too, we will illustrate by examples taken from the human body.
If a person were to be conscious of all the operations of the cerebrum and cerebellum into fibers, of the fibers into the muscles, and of the muscles into actions, and if in consequence of that consciousness he were to direct them all as he does his actions, would he not upset those operations and destroy them all?
[7] If a person were to know how the stomach digests, how the surrounding viscera each take their portion, process the blood, and distribute it to meet all life’s needs, and if he were to be engaged in directing these operations as he is in directing his external activities, such as his eating and drinking, would he not upset and destroy them all? When he cannot direct the external activity, which seems so simple, without destroying it with prodigality and intemperance, what then would be the case if he were also to direct the internal operations, which are beyond number? For that reason, to keep a person from entering into these operations with any volition and subjecting them to his control, they have been totally removed from his will, except for the muscles, which form the covering, and he does not know even how these operate; only that they do.
[8] It is the same with the rest of the organs – as for example, if a person were to direct the inner workings of the eye to see, the inner workings of the ear to hear, the inner workings of the tongue to taste, the inner workings of the skin to feel, the inner workings of the heart to rhythmically beat, the inner workings of the lungs to breathe, the inner workings of the mesentery to distribute the chyle, the inner workings of the kidneys to secrete, the inner workings of the reproductive organs to procreate, the inner workings of the womb to perfect the fetus, and so on – would he not in numberless ways upset and destroy in these the order of Divine providence in its progression?
Everyone knows that a person is occupied with external operations, as in his seeing with the eye, hearing with the ear, tasting with the tongue, feeling with the skin, breathing with the lungs, impregnating his wife, and so on. Is it not enough for him to be conscious of these external operations and to direct them for the health of his body and mind? When he cannot do this, what would be the case if he were also to direct internal ones?
It can now be seen from this that if a person were to clearly see Divine providence, he would inject himself into the order and course of its progression, and upset and destroy it.
2] It is apparent from this that what we have said about the natural forms of the body must be said as well about the spiritual forms of the mind, and that what we have said about the natural operations of the body must be said as well about the spiritual operations of the mind – accordingly, that as a person directs external matters, the Lord directs the internal ones, thus in one way if the person directs the external matters on his own, and in another way if he directs the external matters from the Lord and at the same time as though on his own.
Moreover, a person’s mind throughout its form is human, for it is his spirit, which after death appears just as human as in the world; and therefore there are similar constituents in each.
So, then, it is apparent that what we have said about the conjunction of external components with internal ones in the body must also be understood to apply to the conjunction of external components with internal ones in the mind – the only difference being that the one is natural and the other spiritual.
“Cause me to see it, therefore, and I will believe it. Can anyone believe in it prior to that?”
[2] So speaks the merely natural person. But the spiritual person speaks otherwise. Because the spiritual person acknowledges God, he also acknowledges Divine providence, and moreover sees it. However, he cannot show it to anyone who thinks only within the realm of nature in terms of nature. For such a one cannot elevate his mind above nature and see in its appearances anything of Divine providence, or form conclusions about it from its laws, which also are laws of Divine wisdom. If he were to clearly see it, therefore, he would introduce nature into it and so not only envelop it in misconceptions but also profane it; and instead of acknowledging it, he would deny it. And one who at heart denies Divine providence, also denies God.
[3] One must judge either that God governs all things, or that nature does. One who judges that God governs all things thinks that they are governed by love itself and wisdom itself, thus by life itself, while one who judges that nature governs all things thinks that they are governed by natural heat and natural light, even though these are in themselves lifeless, being from a lifeless sun. Does not that which is itself alive govern that which is lifeless? Can something that is lifeless govern anything? If you suppose that something lifeless can endow itself with life, you are demented. Life must come from life.
Divine providence never acts in harmony with the will’s love in a person, but continually in opposition to it. For in consequence of his hereditary evil a person forever goes panting toward the lowest hell, whereas the Lord by His providence is constantly diverting him and drawing him back from there, first to a milder hell, then out of hell, and finally to Himself in heaven.
This operation of Divine providence is unceasing. Consequently if a person were to clearly see or feel this withdrawal or diverting, it would anger him, and he would regard God as an enemy, and from the evil of his native character deny Him. Therefore, lest a person become conscious of this, he is kept in a state of freedom, so that he does not know other than that he is guiding himself.
[2] But let examples serve to illustrate: Because of his heredity a person wishes to become great, and he also wishes to become rich; and to the extent that these loves are not kept in check, he wishes to become greater and richer, and eventually the greatest and the richest. Nor would he be content in such a case, but would wish to become greater than God Himself and to possess heaven itself. This lust is inmostly present in hereditary evil, and so in a person’s life and its character.
Divine providence does not take away this evil in a moment, for if it were to take it away in a moment, the person would cease to live. Rather it takes it away quietly and gradually, without the person’s being at all conscious of it. It accomplishes this by permitting the person to act in accordance with the thought which he makes the thought of his reason; and by various means then it turns him away, doing so both by rational means and also by civil and moral means. And so the person is turned away to the extent that he can be turned away in freedom.
Nor can evil be taken away from anyone, unless it becomes apparent, is seen, and is acknowledged. It is like a wound which does not heal unless it is laid open.
[3] So then, if a person were to be conscious of the fact and see that the Lord through His Divine providence thus works against his life’s love – the love which affords him the highest delight – he could not help but go in the opposite direction and become incensed, argue, rail, and at last, because of his evil, reject the operation of Divine providence by denying it, and thus denying God. Especially would this be the case if he were to see obstacles to his successes, himself reduced in status, and his wealth taken.
[4] It should be known, however, that the Lord never turns a person away from seeking honors or acquiring wealth, but that He turns him away from a lust to seek honors solely for his own advancement or for sake of himself, and also from acquiring wealth solely for his own wealthiness or for the sake of the wealth. At the same time, when the Lord turns a person away from these, He introduces him into a love of useful endeavors, so that the person looks for advancement not for the sake of himself but for the sake of being useful, so that it is an advancement of useful endeavors, and consequently of self, and not an advancement of self, and consequently of useful endeavors. So, likewise, with wealth.
That the Lord continually humbles the proud and exalts the humble He Himself teaches in many places in the Word,* and what He teaches there applies also to His Divine providence.
* E.g., Psalm 18:27, 147:6. Isaiah 2:12, 13:11. Matthew 23:12. Luke 1:51,52, 14:11, 18:14.
Without that freedom and at the same time Divine providence, those evils would be like poison shut in and not drawn out, which would soon spread and cause the whole to die. Or they would be like a disease of the heart itself, because of which the entire body shortly dies.
To prevent this from happening, the Lord does not clearly appear in His Divine providence, but draws a person along by it as silently as a hidden current or favorable stream does a ship. Consequently a person does not know but that he continually has his independence, for freedom and independence are bound up together. It is apparent from this that freedom incorporates into a person what Divine providence introduces, which would not be the case if Divine providence were to show itself. (To be incorporated is to become part of the life.)
People who receive influx from heaven and acknowledge Divine providence, and especially those who by reformation have become spiritual, when they see events unfold in some marvelous sequence, all from an interior acknowledgment see, as it were, that providence and confess it. Such people do not wish to see it from in front, that is, before it operates, for fear that their will might enter into something of its order and course.
[2] Not so people who do not allow in any influx from heaven but only from the world – especially those who, by inwardly affirming appearances, have become natural. These do not see anything of Divine providence from behind or afterward, but wish to see it from in front or before it operates. And because Divine providence operates by intervening means, and the means are furnished by mankind or the world, therefore whether they see that providence from in front or from behind, they attribute it either to people or to nature and so confirm themselves in a denial of it.
The reason they attribute it to these is that their intellect is closed above and opened only below, thus closed toward heaven and opened toward the world, and it is not granted anyone to see Divine providence from the perspective of the world, but from the perspective of heaven.
I have sometimes wondered to myself whether people of this sort would acknowledge Divine providence if their intellect were opened above and they saw as though in the clear light of day that nature in itself is lifeless and human intelligence in itself nothing, but that it is owing to influx that each appears as it does; and I have perceived that those who have confirmed themselves on the side of nature and human prudence would not acknowledge it, because the natural light flowing in from below would instantly extinguish the spiritual light flowing in from above.
These things and more, and the Divine providence in them, the person sees from spiritual light in natural light.
[2] The merely natural person, however, sees none of these things. He is like one who sees a magnificent temple and hears a preacher enlightened in Divine matters, and says at home that he saw only a stone building and heard only someone talking. Or he is like a nearsighted person who goes into a garden filled with fruits of every kind, and afterward goes home and reports that he saw only a wood and trees.
After death, too, when people like this, having become spirits, are raised into the angelic heaven where all things exist in forms representative of love and wisdom, they do not see any of them, not even that they exist – as I have observed to be the case with many who have denied the Lord’s Divine providence.
* The number 188 in the sequence was accidentally omitted.
These and many other constants exist from creation, having been provided to make possible the existence of endless variations. For variations can exist only in the context of constants, regularities, and certainties.
[2] But let examples serve to illustrate: Variations in plant growth would not occur if the rising and setting of the sun and the emanations of heat and light from it were not constant. Harmonies of sound are of infinite variety, but they would not be possible if the atmospheres were not constant in respect to their laws and the ear constant in respect to its form. Variations in objects of sight would not be possible if the ether were not constant in respect to its laws and the eye constant in respect to its form. So, too, variations in colors if light were not constant. The case is the same with thoughts, words and actions, which are also of infinite variety, which would not be possible either if the organic constituents of the body were not constant.
Must not a house be constant for a person to accomplish the variety of activities carried on in it? A temple likewise for the various services, sermons, classes, and pious meditations to take place in it? And so with everything else.
[3] As regards variations themselves, which occur in the context of constants, regularities, and certainties, they continue on to infinity and have no end, and yet in each and all constituents of the universe, never is one variation exactly the same as another, nor can there be among the succeeding variations to eternity.
Who directs these variations continuing on to infinity and eternity to keep them in order but the one who created the constants in order that variations might occur in their context? And who can direct the infinite variations of life in people but one who is life itself, that is, who is love itself and wisdom itself?
Without His Divine providence, which is like a continual creation, could people’s infinite affections and consequent thoughts, and thus the people themselves, be so directed as to form a single whole – their evil affections and consequent thoughts to form a single devil, namely hell, and their good affections and consequent thoughts to form a single Lord in heaven? We have already said and shown a number of times before that in the Lord’s sight the entire angelic heaven is like a single person who is an image and likeness of Him, and that the whole of hell is in contrast like a single human monster.
This much we have said because from the constants and regularities which are necessary for variations to exist in their context, some natural people in their madness seize on arguments on the side of nature and their own prudence.
The idea that one’s own prudence is not real is altogether contrary to the appearance and so contrary to many people’s belief. And because that is the case, no one who, owing to the appearance, holds the belief that human prudence accomplishes all things, can be convinced otherwise except by the arguments of a deeper investigation, which must be drawn from causes. The appearance is an effect, and causes disclose the reason for it.
In this introduction we will say something about the commonly held faith in connection with this subject. Contrary to the appearance is the teaching of the church that love and faith spring not from man but from God, likewise wisdom and intelligence, and so, too, prudence – in general all goodness and truth. When these tenets are accepted, accepted also must be the idea that one’s own prudence is not real, but only appears to be. Prudence is simply the product of intelligence and wisdom, and these two are produced simply by the intellect and its ensuing thought about truth and goodness.
This – what we have just stated – is accepted and believed by people who acknowledge Divine providence, but not by those who acknowledge only human prudence.
[2] Now either what the church teaches must be true, that all wisdom and prudence spring from God, or what the world teaches, that all wisdom and prudence spring from man.
Can these views be reconciled in any other way than to say that what the church teaches is the truth and that what the world teaches is the appearance? For the church affirms its teaching in the light of the Word, while the world affirms its in the light of human nature, and the Word originates from God, while human nature originates from man.
Since prudence springs from God and not from man, therefore when the Christian person is engaged in prayer, he prays that God may guide his thoughts, intentions and deeds, and also adds as the reason that he cannot do so of himself. Moreover, when he sees someone doing good, he says that God led him to do it, and many other like things.
Can anyone speak in this way unless at the time he inwardly believes it? And to inwardly believe it comes from heaven. But when he thinks to himself and assembles arguments on the side of human prudence, he may believe the opposite, and that comes from the world. Yet the internal belief prevails in those who at heart acknowledge God, while the external belief prevails in those who do not at heart acknowledge God, however much they may do so with their lips.
(1) A person’s thoughts all spring from the affections of his life’s love, and there are absolutely no thoughts, nor any possible, apart from these.
(2) The affections of a person’s life’s love are known to the Lord alone.
(3) The Lord by His Divine providence leads the affections of a person’s life’s love, and at the same time then the thoughts of which human prudence consists.
(4) By His Divine providence the Lord composes the affections of the whole human race into a single form, which is a human one.
(5) Thus heaven and hell, which originate from the human race, exist in such a form.
(6) People who have acknowledged only nature and only human prudence make up hell, while those who have acknowledged God and His Divine providence make up heaven.
(7) None of this would be possible if it did not appear to a person that he thinks on his own and manages things on his own.
[2] Previously in the present treatise and in the aforementioned Divine Love and Wisdom, we demonstrated that in the Lord are Divine love and Divine wisdom, and that these two are life itself; that from these two a person has will and intellect – a will from Divine love, and an intellect from Divine wisdom; and that to these two correspond the heart and lungs in the body. Moreover we showed that it can be seen from this that as the beating of the heart together with the respiration of the lungs directs the whole person in respect to his body, so the will together with the intellect directs the whole person in respect to his mind.
Thus we showed that there are in every person two beginnings of life, one natural and one spiritual, the natural beginning of life being the beating of the heart, and the spiritual beginning being the will of the mind; and that each attaches to itself a partner with which to dwell and with which to carry on its vital functions, the heart joining to itself the lungs, and the will joining to itself the intellect.
[3] Now because the soul of the will is love, and the soul of the intellect is wisdom – both of them from the Lord – it follows that love is every person’s life, and such a life as has been conjoined with wisdom. Or to say the same thing, the will is every person’s life, and such a life as has been conjoined with the intellect.
But more on this subject may be seen in the present treatise above, and especially in Angelic Wisdom Regarding Divine Love and Wisdom, Parts One and Five.
Moreover, we demonstrated, too, that these subordinate loves or affections attach to themselves partners – each one its own partner – interior affections taking as partners what are called perceptions, and exterior affections taking as partners what are called thoughts; and that each dwells with its own partner and so carries on the functions of its life. We showed as well that the conjunction of the two is like that of life’s being with life’s expression, which is such that one has no reality except in combination with the other. For what is the being of life unless it has expression? And what is the expression of life unless it springs from the being of life? Thus we showed that the conjunction of life is like that of sound and harmony, or of sound and speech – in general, like that of the beating of the heart and the respiration of the lungs – a conjunction which is such that one has no reality without the other, but becomes real by conjunction with the other.
[2] Conjunctions either must exist in these things or they are formed by them. Consider, for example, sound. Anyone who thinks that sound has any reality without its having in it something that gives it its quality is mistaken. Sound also corresponds to the affection in a person, and because it always has in it something that gives it its quality, therefore from the tone of someone speaking we recognize his love’s affection, and from his variations of sound, or speech, his thought.
Because of this, from just the tone of someone speaking, wiser angels perceive his life’s loves, along with some of the affections which are derivatives of it.
This much we have said to make it known that there is no affection without its accompanying thought, nor any thought without its affection. But more on this subject may be seen above in this treatise, and in Angelic Wisdom Regarding Divine Love and Wisdom.
What is life without delight and satisfaction? It is not something alive but something devoid of life. Diminish them and you will grow cold or become listless. Take them away and you will expire and die.
It is from the delights of one’s affections and from the satisfactions of one’s perceptions and thoughts that vital heat comes.
[2] Since every affection has its delight, and every thought its satisfaction, it can be seen what produces good and truth and what good and truth are in their essence.
Good, to everyone, is what his affection finds delight in, and truth what his thought consequently finds satisfaction in. For everyone calls good that which, owing to his will’s love, he feels as delightful, and he calls truth that which, owing to the wisdom of his intellect, he perceives therefore as giving satisfaction. Both of these flow from the life’s love like water from a spring or like blood from the heart. Both taken together are like a tide or atmosphere which envelops the whole human mind.
[3] These two – delight and satisfaction – in the mind are spiritual, but in the body natural. On both levels they form a person’s life.
It is apparent from this what it is in a person that he calls good, and what it is that he calls true. And so, too, what it is in a person that he calls evil, and what it is that he calls false – namely, that evil to him is what destroys his affection’s delight, and falsity that which destroys his thought’s consequent satisfaction. It is apparent further that evil, because of the delight it gives, and falsity, because of the satisfaction it gives, may be said to be, and believed to be, good and truth.
Goods and truths are, indeed, changes and variations of state in the forms of the mind, but they are perceived and experienced solely through their delights and satisfactions.
This much we have said to make known what affection and thought are in their life.
The impossibility of any thought apart from affection is clearly apparent from the circumstance of spirits and angels in the spiritual world, that all there think in accord with the affections of their life’s love, and that the delight of these affections surrounds each one as his atmosphere. Moreover, all are conjoined there in accordance with these atmospheres that emanate from their affections through their thoughts. The character of each is known, too, from the atmosphere of his life.
It can be seen from this that every thought springs from some affection, and that it is a form of that affection.
It is the same with will and intellect; so, too, with good and truth; and so, too, with charity and faith.
From this it is apparent that these two loves attribute everything to the person and his prudence, and if they are examined more deeply, nothing to God and His providence. Consequently, when people hear by chance that in fact human prudence is not real, but that Divine providence alone directs all things, if they are complete atheists they laugh at it. However, if they retain in memory something of their religion and are told that all wisdom comes from God, at first hearing they indeed affirm it, even though in their spirit they deny it.
Of such a character especially are priests who love themselves more than God, and the world more than heaven, or to say the same thing, who worship God for the sake of acclaim and material gain, and yet preach that charity and faith, all good and truth, and all wisdom, even prudence, come from God, and none of these from man.
[2] I once heard two priests in the spiritual world arguing with a certain government envoy about human prudence, as to whether it is from God or from man. The argument was heated. At heart the three believed alike, namely that human prudence accomplishes all things, and Divine providence nothing. But being then in a state of theological zeal, the priests kept saying that nothing of wisdom and prudence is from man; and when the government envoy would retort in reply that that would mean nothing of thought, either, the priests would agree that that was so.
Then, because some angels perceived that the three men shared a similar belief, they said to the government envoy, “Put on the apparel of a priest and suppose yourself to be a priest, and then speak.”
He did as he was bidden. And he loudly declared then that nothing of wisdom and prudence can ever exist in a person except it be from God, which he also demonstrated using the customary eloquent manner of speaking, full of rational arguments.
Then after that they said likewise to the two priests, “Put off your attire and put on the attire of ministers of state, and suppose that that is what you are.” So they did accordingly; and they at once then thought from their inner selves and spoke using arguments they had inwardly cherished previously in support of human prudence in opposition to Divine providence.
Afterward the three became warm friends, because they shared a similar belief; and together they entered on the path of their own prudence, which leads to hell.
So for example, when a licentious man sees a harlot, the light of his eye glows with a lascivious fire, and because of it he feels a physical delight. But he nevertheless does not feel the delight of the affection or lust in his thought, except as a kind of longing associated with the body. So, too, when a robber in a forest sees travelers. Or when a pirate at sea sees boats. So, too, in all other cases.
It is apparent that these delights direct a person’s thoughts, and that thoughts are impossible apart from them. Yet the person supposes that he has only the thoughts, even though thoughts are nothing but affections composed by the life’s love into forms, in order that they may appear to the sight. For all affection exists in a state of warmth, and thought in a state of light.
[2] The foregoing are external affections of the thought, which do indeed manifest themselves in physical sensation, but rarely in the mind’s thought. Internal affections of the thought, on the other hand, which give rise to the external ones, never manifest themselves to a person’s cognizance. A person is no more aware of these than someone sleeping in a carriage is of the road, or no more than he is sensible of the rotation of the earth.
Now, since a person is not at all aware of the activities that go on in the interior constituents of his mind, which are so interminable as to be beyond number, and yet those few external manifestations which come to the thought’s sight are produced by the interior constituents, and since the interior constituents are directed by the Lord alone through His Divine providence, while those few external manifestations are directed in conjunction with the person, how then can anyone say that his own prudence accomplishes all?
If you were to see just one idea of thought laid open, you would see many astounding things, more than the tongue can express.
[3] The fact that the activities in the interior constituents of a person’s mind are so interminable as to be beyond number is apparent from the interminable activities in the body. None of these comes to view or to the apprehension of the senses except movement only in a very simple way, and yet this requires the concurrence of thousands of motor or muscle fibers, thousands of nerve fibers, thousands of blood vessels, thousands of the constituents of the lungs, which must cooperate in every action, thousands of the constituents in the brain and in the spinal cord, and many more still in the spiritual self which constitutes the human mind, all of whose constituents are forms of affections and of the resulting perceptions and thoughts.
The soul which directs the interior elements – does it not also direct the actions springing from them? A person’s soul is nothing other than his will’s love and his consequent intellect’s love. Whatever the character of this love is, such is the character of the whole person. Moreover, he develops this character according to his ordering of things in his outward activities, in which the person acts in conjunction with the Lord. Consequently if he attributes everything to himself and to nature, a love of self becomes his soul, while if he attributes everything to the Lord, a love of the Lord becomes his soul. This latter love is a heavenly love, and the other a hellish love.
The fact that this appearance has been granted to a person in order that he may act in freedom in accordance with his reason, thus as though of himself, and not relax his hand and await influx, is something we stated and showed above.
It follows from this as already confirmed, what we were going to demonstrate in number (3), that the Lord by His Divine providence leads the affections of a person’s life’s love, and at the same time then the thoughts of which human prudence consists.
* John 3:27.
Those who ascribe everything to nature also ascribe everything to human prudence. For people who ascribe everything to nature, at heart deny God, and people who ascribe everything to human prudence, at heart deny Divine providence. One is inseparable from the other.
But still, for the sake of their reputation and good name, and for fear of losing it, both classes of people give lip service to the idea that Divine providence is universal, but say that its particulars lie with mankind, and that these particulars as a whole are what is meant by human prudence.
[2] Yet think to yourself what a universal providence would be divorced from particulars – whether it would be anything other than just an expression. For that is called universal which is formed at the same time of particulars, as a whole is the product of its parts. If you divorce the particulars, therefore, what then is the universal other than like something empty within, thus like a casing with nothing inside, or a whole that contains nothing in its compass?
If you should say that Divine providence is a universal government, with nothing being governed but only held together, and matters requiring government being directed by others, can it be called a universal government?
This is not the kind of government any king has. For if a king were to allow his subjects to govern everything in his kingdom, he would no longer be a king, but only someone called king, thus having simply the honor of the title, but no position of any importance. No government can be said to rest in such a king, much less a universal government.
[3] What is in God called providence is in man called prudence. Just as one cannot call it a universal prudence in the case of a king who reserves for himself no more than the title in order that his kingdom may be called a kingdom and so be held together, so one cannot call it a universal providence if people provide for everything out of their own prudence.
The case is the same with the terms universal providence and universal government when said of nature, when they are used to mean that God created the universe and gave nature the power to produce everything of itself. What then is universal providence but a metaphysical term, which beyond the term has no reality?
Of those people who attribute to nature everything that it produces, and to human prudence everything that it accomplishes, and yet with the lips say that God created nature, there are also many who think of Divine providence only as an empty term.
But the case in itself is this, that Divine providence is present in the least particulars of nature and in the least particulars of human prudence, and because of its presence in these it is universal.
That that is what a heaven consisting of people is like in the Lord’s sight, and that this was the end in creation, we showed in nos. 27-45. And that in everything that it does the Divine regards something infinite and eternal, in nos. 46-69.
The infinity and eternity that the Lord regards in forming His heaven out of people is its increase to infinity and to eternity, and thus His constant abode in the end in His creation.
This creating is infinite and eternal, which the Lord has provided by the creation of the universe, and He is constantly present in that creation by His Divine providence.
[2] When a person knows and believes from the doctrine of the church that God is infinite and eternal – for it is a teaching in the doctrine of all the churches in the Christian world that God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are infinite, eternal, uncreated, and omnipotent (see the Athanasian Creed*) – who can be so bereft of reason that he does not affirm when he hears it, that God could do no other than regard something infinite and eternal in the great work of His creation? What else can He do when He regards creation from His perspective? And moreover when he hears that He regards this in the human race, from which He forms His heaven?
What else, then, can Divine providence have as its end than the reformation of the human race and its salvation? Yet no one can be reformed of himself through his own prudence, but only by the Lord through His Divine providence. It follows, therefore, that unless a person is guided by the Lord every moment, even every least moment, he departs from the path of reformation and perishes.
[3] Every change or variation in the state of the human mind changes or varies something in the course of things at the time and so in the course of things that follow. How then not progressively to eternity? The case is like that of an arrow shot from a bow, which, if it should deviate in the slightest from the mark upon its being aimed, would at a distance of a thousand paces or more deviate immensely. So would it be if the Lord did not guide the states of human minds every least moment.
The Lord accomplishes this in accordance with the laws of His Divine providence. And it is in accordance with these laws also that it appear to a person that it is he who guides himself. But the Lord foresees how he is guiding himself and continually makes adjustments.
In subsequent discussions we will see that laws of permission are also laws of Divine providence, that every person can be reformed and regenerated, and that nothing is predestined.
* A profession of faith beginning with the words “Quicunque vult” and widely used in western Christianity. Attributed in earlier centuries to Athanasius (see note 1, number 46), it became known also as the Athanasian Creed; but modern scholarship no longer ascribes it to him but to some other, unknown, western writer.
[2] Consequently it is apparent that the Lord’s Divine providence is universal because it operates in the least particulars, and that this is an infinite and eternal creating, which the Lord has provided for Himself by the creation of the universe.
A person sees nothing of this universal providence, and if he were to see it, it could appear to his eyes only as do scattered heaps and assembled piles of materials to passers-by, the materials out of which a house is to be built. But to the Lord it appears as a magnificent palace constantly being built and enlarged.
We say that hell, too, is in the human form, but it is in a monstrous human form, like that of the devil, by which is meant hell in its entirety. It is in the human form because the people who are in hell were also born human beings, and they also have the two human faculties called freedom and rationality – even though they abuse their freedom so as to will and do evil, and their rationality so as to think and justify it.
People do not know that those who lead an evil life all inwardly acknowledge only nature and only human prudence, and this because of that collective covering, for this hides it from view. But that they nevertheless acknowledge these can be seen from the origin and cause of their acknowledgment, which to be disclosed requires us to state the origin and nature of a person’s own prudence, then the origin and nature of Divine providence; after that who the two kinds of people are and their character; and finally, that those who acknowledge Divine providence are in heaven, while those who acknowledge their own prudence are in hell.
It is the nature of a love of self to regard itself alone, and to view others as either inferior or of no account. If it regards some people as having some value, it does so only as long as it is honored and cultivated by them. Inmostly in that love – like the endeavor in a seed to produce fruit and reproduce itself – lies hidden the wish to become great, and if possible king, and if possible then God.
That is the character of a devil, because a devil is the love of self personified. He is by nature disposed to adore himself and to show no one any favor but one who adores him, too. He hates any other devil of a like character, because he wishes himself alone to be adored.
Since no love can exist without its partner, and the partner of the love or will in a person is called the intellect, therefore when a love of self inspires its love into its partner the intellect, it becomes there conceit, which is a pride in its own intelligence. This is the origin of a person’s own prudence.
[2] Now because a love of self wishes to be alone lord of the world, thus also God, therefore the lusts for evil which are its derivatives have the life in them from it, and so, too, the lusts’ perceptions, which are cunning and guile. So, too, also the lusts’ delights, which are evils, and their accompanying thoughts, which are falsities. These are all like servants and attendants of their lord, who do his every bidding, not knowing that they do not act but are acted upon, being impelled by the love of self through a conceit in their own intelligence. It is because of this that in every evil from its origin lies hidden one’s own prudence.
[3] Lying hidden in it as well is an acknowledgement only of nature, because the love has closed the window overhead through which heaven lies open, and also the windows to the sides, to keep it from seeing and hearing that the Lord alone governs all things, that nature in itself is lifeless, and that a person’s native character is hell, with the love in that character therefore being the devil. With the windows closed, then, the love is in darkness, and it makes for itself there a hearth, at which it sits with its partner, and they reason amicably in support of nature in opposition to God, and in support of their own prudence in opposition to Divine providence.
In contrast, those who acknowledge nature and their own prudence are like spirits in hell, who are averse to being led by the Lord and love to lead themselves. If they were powerful and influential people in the kingdom, they wish to rule over all things. So, too, if they were princes of the church. If they were judges, they deliver corrupt judgments and exercise dominion over the laws. If they were learned, they use their knowledge to defend a person’s native character and support nature. If they were businessmen, they act like robbers. If they were farmers, they act like thieves. They are all hostile to God and mockers of Divine providence.
This is the case with people in the spiritual world who are not as yet in hell and are of such a character. Apparent therefore is the error of those who think, “If I saw heaven and heard angels speaking with me, I would acknowledge.” However, if their intellect acknowledges, but not at the same time their will, they still do not acknowledge. For the will’s love inspires into the intellect whatever it will, and not the reverse. Indeed, it destroys everything in the intellect that does not spring from itself.
In the present treatise above, and in our treatise Divine Love and Wisdom, we have already demonstrated that without that appearance no one would be capable of any reception and reciprocation, and so neither of immortality.
[2] If you wish to be led by Divine providence, therefore, use prudence as a servant or assistant who faithfully manages the goods of his lord. This prudence is the mina given to each of the servants to do business with, of which they were to render an account, in Luke 19:12-25, cf. Matt. 25:14-30.
This prudence appears to a person to be his own, and he believes it to be his own as long as he keeps shut up in him the most implacable foe of God and Divine providence, namely, love of self. This love dwells in the interior qualities of every person from birth. If you do not recognize it (for it does not wish to be recognized), it dwells secure, and it guards the door to keep the person from opening it and thus the Lord from casting it out.
A person opens that door by refraining from evils as sins as though of himself, with the acknowledgment that he does so from the Lord.
It is this prudence with which Divine providence acts in concert.
I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; and it shall trample your head. . . . (Genesis 3:15)
The serpent is evil of every kind. Its head is love of self. The woman’s seed is the Lord. The enmity put between the two is the enmity between the love in a person’s native character and the Lord, thus also between a person’s own prudence and the Lord’s Divine providence. For a person’s own prudence is continually raising its head, and Divine providence is continually pressing it down.
[2] If a person were to be conscious of this, he would be angered and enraged at God and would perish. But as long as he is not conscious of it, he may become angry and enraged at people, or at himself, and at fortune, too, without perishing.
For this reason the Lord by His Divine providence continually leads a person in freedom, and freedom appears to a person no otherwise than as his own.
Moreover, to lead someone opposed to oneself in freedom is like raising a heavy and resistant weight from the ground by jackscrews, whose power causes the heaviness and resistance not to be felt. It is also like someone’s being in the hands of an enemy who intends to kill him, of which he is at the time unaware, and having a friend lead him away by secret passages and afterward disclose the enemy’s intent.
Lest luck be denied simply because the cause is unknown, however, take dice or playing cards and play, or talk to people who play. Do any of them deny the existence of luck? For they play with it wondrously, and it with them. Who can succeed against it if it is adverse? Does it not then laugh at prudence and wisdom? When you roll dice or turn over cards, does it not seem to know and direct the rolls or turnings of the wrists to favor for some reason one player more than another?
Can the cause be due to anything other than Divine providence in outmost effects, where through constants and variables it acts marvelously in harmony with human prudence and at the same time conceals itself?
[2] People know that pagans of old acknowledged Fortune and built a temple to her, as did also Italians at Rome.
Concerning this Fortune or luck – which, as we have said, is Divine providence in outmost effects – I have been granted to learn much that I am not permitted to divulge. From what I have learned it has become apparent to me that it is not an illusion of the mind or trick of nature, nor something without a cause (for this has no reality), but that it is visible testimony that Divine providence is present in the least particulars of a person’s thoughts and actions.
Since Divine providence is active in the least particulars of such unimportant and trivial affairs, how then not in the least particulars of affairs not unimportant or trivial – affairs that are matters of peace and war in the world, or of salvation and life in heaven?
People can more readily accept that there is but one life, which is God, and that people are all recipients of life from Him, as we have shown many times before. And yet this comes to the same thing, because prudence is a facet of life.
Who does not argue in support of human prudence and nature when doing so from his natural or external self? And on the other hand who does not argue in support of Divine providence and God when doing so from his spiritual or internal self?
But please, I say to the natural person, write two books and fill them with plausible, probable and likely arguments, arguments you judge to be solid – one book in support of a person’s own prudence, one in support of nature – and then put them into the hand of any angel; and I know that the angel will write at the end these few words: “They are all appearances and fallacies.”
The fact that Divine providence regards eternal ends, and not temporal ones except as they coincide with eternal ones – this we are going to demonstrate under the following series of headings:
(1) Temporal ends have to do with advancements and riches, thus with honors and material gains, in the world.
(2) Eternal ends have to do with spiritual honors and riches, which are those of love and wisdom, in heaven.
(3) Temporal and eternal ends are separated by mankind, but conjoined by the Lord.
(4) The conjoining of temporal and eternal ends is the Lord’s Divine providence.
Since, as we said, all temporal ends have to do with advancements and riches, it is important to know the following, namely, the nature and origin of advancements and riches; the nature of a love of these for their own sake, and the nature of a love of them for the sake of useful ends; the fact that these two loves are as distinct from each other as heaven and hell; and the fact that a person discerns the difference between these loves with difficulty. But regarding these several points individually:
[2] FIRST, the nature and origin of advancements and riches: Advancements and riches in most ancient times were altogether different from what they gradually became thereafter. Advancements in most ancient times were simply the kind that exist between parents and children – advancements of the children that were advancements in love, full of respect and veneration, not because of the children’s birth from the parents, but because of the instruction and wisdom gained from them, which was a second birth, in itself spiritual, because it was a birth of their spirit.
This was the only advancement in most ancient times, because tribes, clans and households dwelled separately then, and not under governments as today. It was the head of the family in relation to whom the advancement was made. People of old called those times golden ages.
[3] After those times, however, a love of ruling gradually entered owing simply to the delight of that love. And because there entered at the same time an enmity and hostility toward those who refused to submit, tribes, clans and households out of necessity banded together into confederations, and they set over themselves someone they called at first a judge, then a prince, and finally a king or emperor. And at the same time they also began to fortify themselves with towers, earthworks, and walls.
From the judge, prince, king or emperor – as from the head into the body – a lust to rule spread like a contagion to many others. Degrees of advancement arose as a result, and also honors in accordance with them, and with these a love of self and people’s pride in their own prudence.
[4] Something similar happened with a love of riches. In most ancient times, when tribes and clans lived apart from each other, the only love of riches was a desire to possess the necessities of life, which they acquired for themselves by their flocks and herds, and by their farmlands, fields, and gardens, which supplied them with food.
Among their necessities of life were also attractive houses, equipped with implements of every kind, and also garments. Engaged in pursuing and laboring for all these things were parents, children, menservants, and maidservants – those included in the household.
[5] But after a love of ruling entered and destroyed this state of affairs, a love of possessing means beyond the necessities entered also, and it grew to such a height that it wished to possess the means belonging to all others.
These two loves are like blood brothers, as someone who wishes to rule over all things also wishes to possess all things; for thus all others become their servants, and they alone lords.
This is clearly apparent from those in the Roman Catholic world, who have exalted their dominion even into heaven to the Lord’s throne, on which they have placed themselves – that they seek out the wealth of the whole world and enlarge their treasuries endlessly.
[6] SECOND, the nature of a love of advancements and riches for their own sake, and the nature of a love of them for the sake of useful ends: A love of advancements and honors for the sake of the advancements and honors is a love of self – properly speaking, a love of ruling from a love of self – and a love of riches and means for the sake of the riches and means is a love of the world – properly speaking, a love of possessing the goods of others by any device.
On the other hand, a love of advancements and riches for the sake of useful ends is a love of useful endeavors, which is the same as love of the neighbor; for the objective for which a person acts is the impelling end, and it is first or primary, while all else are means and are secondary.
[7] As regards a love of advancements and honors for their own sake, which is the same as a love of self – properly speaking, as a love of ruling from a love of self – it is a love of one’s native self, and a person’s native self is completely evil. That is why we hear it said that a person is born into every evil, and that his heredity is nothing but evil. A person’s heredity is his native self, by which he is impelled, and into which he comes by his love of self, and especially by a love of ruling from a love of self. For a person who is impelled by that love regards only himself, and so immerses his thoughts and affections in his native self.
It is owing to this that a love of self has present within it a love of doing evil. That is because the person does not love the neighbor, but himself only. And one who loves himself only views others as apart from him, either as inferior or of no account, regarding them with contempt in comparison with himself, and considering it of no moment to do evil to them.
[8] As a result, one who is impelled by a love of ruling from a love of self thinks nothing of cheating his neighbor, of committing adultery with his wife, of slandering him, of plotting vengeance against him to the point of murder, of behaving savagely to him, and other like things. A person derives this characteristic from the fact that the devil himself is nothing other than a love of ruling from a love of self, with which he is allied and by which he is led. And one who is led by the devil, which is to say, by hell, is led into all those evils; and he is led continually by the delights of those evils.
So it is that people in hell all wish to do evil to all, whereas those in heaven wish to do good to all.
That opposition produces between them an intermediate state, which is the state a person on earth is in, and he is held in it as though in an equilibrium, so that he can turn either in the direction of hell or in the direction of heaven. And to the extent he indulges the evils of his love of self, he turns in the direction of hell, while to the extent he rids himself of them, he turns in the direction of heaven.
[9] I have been given to feel the nature and extent of the delight of a love of ruling from a love of self. I was conveyed into it in order to experience it, and it was such as to exceed all other delights that exist in the world. It was a delight of the whole mind, from its inmost constituents to its outmost ones, while in the body it felt altogether as a pleasure and enjoyment swelling the breast. I was also given to sense as well that from that delight, as though from their fountainhead, gushed the delights of all other evils, such as those of adultery, taking vengeance, cheating, slandering – of doing evil in general.
A similar delight is present, too, in a love of possessing the means of others by any device, and in the lusts springing from it, which are its derivatives. But still, not in the same degree, except as conjoined with a love of self.
As regards advancements and riches not for their own sake, but for the sake of useful ends, this is not a love of advancements and riches but a love of useful endeavors, which advancements and riches serve as means. This love is a heavenly one. But more on this subject in subsequent discussions.
[10] THIRD, that these two loves are as distinct from each other as heaven and hell: This is apparent from what we have just said, to which I will add the following, that people impelled by a love of ruling from a love of self, whoever they may be, whether great or small, are all, in respect to their spirit, in hell; and that all people impelled by that love have a love for all evils. If they do not do them, still in spirit they believe them allowable, and so physically do them whenever their position and honor and fear of the law do not stand in the way.
Furthermore, a love of ruling from a love of self also harbors inmostly within it a hatred toward God, consequently toward the Divine elements connected with the church, and especially toward the Lord. If they acknowledge God, they do so with the lips only, and if they acknowledge the Divine elements of the church, they do it for fear of the loss of honor.
The reason this love inmostly harbors a hatred toward the Lord is that inmostly in the love is the wish to be God, for it worships and adores itself alone. Consequently, if someone honors it to the point of declaring it to possess Divine wisdom or to be the object of the world’s veneration, it loves that person from the heart.
[11] The case is different with a love of advancements and riches for the sake of useful ends. This love is a heavenly one, because, as we said, it is the same as love of the neighbor.
By useful ends we mean goods, and so by performing useful services we mean doing good deeds; and by performing useful services or doing good deeds we mean serving others and ministering to them.
Even if they have position and wealth, people who do this still regard their position and wealth only as means to performing useful services, thus to serving and ministering.
They are the people meant by these words of the Lord,
. . . whoever desires to become great among you must be your attendant. And whoever desires to be first. . . must be your servant. (Matthew 20:26, 27)
They are also the people to whom government in heaven is entrusted by the Lord, for to them government is a means of performing useful services or doing good, thus of serving, and when useful services or good deeds are the ends or loves, then it is not the people who govern but the Lord, for all good is from Him.
[12] FOURTH, that a person discerns the difference between these loves with difficulty: That is because most people who have position and wealth also perform useful services, but do not know whether they perform useful services for the sake of themselves or for the sake of the uses served. And still less do they know this because a love of self and the world has present in it more fire and ardor for performing useful services than people do who are not impelled by a love of self and the world. However, the former perform useful services for reputation or for material gain, thus for the sake of self, while those who perform useful services for the sake of the uses served, or do good deeds for the good deeds’ sake, do not do them of themselves but from the Lord.
[13] A person can recognize the difference between the two loves with difficulty because a person does not know whether he is led by the devil or by the Lord. One who is led by the devil performs useful services for the sake of himself and the world, whereas one who is led by the Lord performs useful services for the sake of the Lord and heaven. And all those perform useful services from the Lord who refrain from evils as being sins, whereas all those perform useful services from the devil who do not refrain from evils as sins. For evil is the devil, and useful service or good is the Lord.
By this and nothing else is the difference recognized. In outward form the two appear alike, but in their inward form they are totally unalike. One is like gold containing within it slag, while the other is like gold containing pure gold. Or one is like artificial fruit that looks in outward form like fruit from a tree, when in fact it is colored wax containing within it sawdust or resin, while the other is like superb fruit, pleasing in flavor and fragrance, containing within it seeds.
[2] But unless the natural person is enlightened by his spiritual self, that is, unless he is at the same time spiritual, he does not see that honors and riches may be blessings, and that they may also be curses, and that when they are blessings they are from God, and when they are curses, from the devil. People know that honors and riches may also be from the devil, for it is on that account that he is called the prince of the world.
Now because no one knows in what circumstances honors and riches are blessings, and in what circumstances they are curses, this must be stated, but under the following series of headings:
1. Honors and riches are blessings, and they are curses.
2. When honors and riches are blessings, they are spiritual and eternal, but when they are curses, they are temporary and transient.
3. In comparison to honors and riches that are blessings, honors and riches that are curses are as nothing compared to everything, or as that which in itself has no reality compared to that which in itself is real.
FIRST, that honors and riches are blessings, and that they are curses: Common experience attests that both the pious and the impious, or both the just and the unjust, that is to say, both good people and evil, enjoy advancements and riches. And yet no one can deny that the impious and unjust, that is to say, the evil, go to hell, while the pious and just, that is to say, the good, go to heaven.
Since this is a fact, it follows that advancements and riches, or honors and means, are either blessings or curses, being blessings in the case of good people, and curses in the case of evil people.
In the book Heaven and Hell (published in London, 1758), nos. 357-365, we showed that one finds both rich and poor and both great and small in heaven, and so, too, in hell. It is apparent therefore that in the case of those who are in heaven, advancements and riches were blessings in the world, and that in the case of those who are in hell, advancements and riches were curses in the world.
[2] Moreover, what makes them blessings, and what makes them curses – this anyone can know if he only gives some thought to the matter in accordance with reason: namely, that they are blessings in the case of people who do not place their heart in them, and that they are curses in the case of people who do place their heart in them. To place one’s heart in them is to love oneself in them, and not to place one’s heart in them is to love the uses, and not oneself, in them.
What the difference between these two loves is, and how they differ, we have stated above in no. 215. To this we need to add that advancements and riches lead some people astray, and not others. They lead people astray when they arouse the loves of a person’s native character, which is a love of self, and which we have also stated above to be the love in hell called the devil. But they do not lead people astray when they do not arouse that love.
[3] The reason evil people as well as good ones are raised to positions of honor and advanced to circumstances of wealth is that evil people perform useful services just as well as the good. But evil people do so for the sake of the honors and material gains accruing to their person, while good people do so for the sake of the honors and gains accruing to the work itself. The latter regard the honors and gains accruing to the work as the principal causes, and the honors and gains accruing to their person as instrumental causes. Evil people, in contrast, regard the honors and gains accruing to their person as the principal causes, and the honors and gains accruing to the work as instrumental causes.
Yet who does not see that the person in his function and position of honor exists to serve the matter that he has charge of, and not the reverse? Who does not see that the judge exists to serve justice, the magistrate the commonweal, and the king the kingdom, and not the reverse? Consequently everyone possesses, in accordance with the laws of his country, status and honor in keeping with the status of the work in which he is occupied. Who then does not see that the difference is like that between the principal and the instrumental?
In the spiritual world, someone who attributes the honor of a position to himself and his person appears, when this fact is represented, as a person upside-down, with his feet up and head down.
[4] SECOND, that when advancements and riches are blessings, they are spiritual and eternal, and when they are curses, they are temporary and transient: Advancements and riches in heaven are like those in the world, for governments exist there, and so positions of responsibility and functions, and also business dealings and so riches, since the inhabitants live in societies and groups.
The whole of heaven is divided into two kingdoms, one of which is called the celestial kingdom, the other the spiritual kingdom, and each kingdom is divided into innumerable societies, larger and smaller, all of which are arranged according to differences in their love and consequent wisdom, as are also all the inhabitants within them. Societies in the celestial kingdom are arranged according to differences in their celestial love, which is love toward the Lord, and societies in the spiritual kingdom according to differences in their spiritual love, which is love for the neighbor.
Because there are these societies, and because all who are in them were people in the world and so retain in them the loves that they had in the world – with the difference that they are then spiritual people and that their actual positions and riches are in the spiritual kingdom spiritual and in the celestial kingdom celestial – therefore those who possess more love and wisdom than others enjoy advancements and riches over others, and are people for whom advancements and riches were blessings in the world.
[5] It can be seen from this what spiritual advancements and riches are, that they are adjuncts of the work and not of the person. The person who enjoys high position there indeed lives in magnificence and glory, as kings do on earth; but still they do not regard the position itself as anything, but instead the useful services in whose administration and performance they are engaged. They accept honors indeed, each the honors attached to his position, but they themselves attribute these not to themselves but to the uses they serve. And because all useful endeavors spring from the Lord, they attribute them to the Lord from whom they spring.
Of such a character, then, are spiritual advancements and riches, which are eternal.
[6] But the case is otherwise with people for whom advancements and riches in the world were curses. Because they attributed these to their own doing and not to the uses they served, and because they did not wish to be governed by the useful services but wished themselves to govern the services, which they regarded as useful to the extent that the services served to promote their honor and glory, therefore they are in hell and are lowly indentured servants there, held in contempt and living in misery. Consequently, because these advancements and riches perish, we call them temporary and transient.
Of these two kinds of people the Lord teaches the following:
Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where rust and moth destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither rust nor moth destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, . . . your heart (is) also. (Matthew 6:19-21)
[7] THIRD, that in comparison to advancements and riches that are blessings, advancements and riches that are curses are as nothing compared to everything, or as that which in itself has no reality compared to that which in itself is real: Everything that perishes and comes to nothing is inwardly in itself nothing. Outwardly, indeed, it is something; in fact, it appears as a great deal, and to some people as everything, as long as it lasts. But not inwardly in itself. It is like a casing with nothing inside. Or it is like an actor on stage in royal vestment when the play is over.
On the other hand, what remains to eternity is in itself continually something, thus everything. And it also has being, because it does not cease to be.
The fact that these two can be conjoined only by the Lord’s infinite wisdom, and thus that they can be conjoined by the Lord and not by mankind, is something everyone can see.
For it to be known, however, that these two are separated by mankind and conjoined by the Lord, it must be demonstrated under the following series of headings:
1. What temporal things are and what eternal things are.
2. A person in himself is temporal, and the Lord in Himself eternal; and from a person therefore nothing can issue but what is temporal, and from the Lord nothing but what is eternal.
3. Temporal ends separate eternal ones from themselves, while eternal ends conjoin temporal ones with themselves.
4. The Lord conjoins a person with Himself through appearances.
5. And through correspondences.
219. But we need to illustrate and confirm these points individually in turn.
FIRST, what temporal things are and what eternal things are: Temporal things are all those that are proper to nature and proper, therefore, to mankind. The attributes proper to nature are chiefly ones of space and time, both of which have a limit or termination. The attributes proper to mankind arising from them are ones of his inherent will and inherent intellect, and so of his affection and thought, especially those of his prudence, and these, as people know, are finite and limited.
Eternal things in contrast are all those that are proper to the Lord, and that from Him are as though proper to mankind. The attributes proper to the Lord are all infinite and eternal, thus independent of time, and consequently without limit and without end. Those which are subsequently seemingly proper to mankind are likewise infinite and eternal. However, none of these are attributes proper to mankind, but are the Lord’s alone in mankind.
[2] SECOND, that a person in himself is temporal, and the Lord in Himself eternal; and that from a person therefore nothing can issue but what is temporal, and from the Lord nothing but what is eternal: We already said above that the human being in himself is temporal, and the Lord in Himself eternal. Since only what is in someone can emanate from him, it follows that only something temporal can emanate from a person, and only something eternal from the Lord. For it is impossible for something infinite to emanate from something finite. To think that it can is contradictory. And yet something infinite may emanate from something finite, only not from the finite but from the infinite through the finite. Conversely, moreover, it is impossible for something finite to emanate from something infinite. To think that it can is also contradictory. Yet something finite may be produced from something infinite, only this is not to emanate but to create (on which subject see Angelic Wisdom Regarding Divine Love and Wisdom from beginning to end).
If, then, something finite emanates from the Lord, as it does in many instances in the human being, it does not emanate from the Lord but from the person, and can be said to emanate from the Lord through the person, because that is the appearance.
[3] These words of the Lord may serve to illustrate this:
Your conversation shall be “Yes, yes,” “No, no.” Anything more than this springs from evil. (Matthew 5:37)
Such is the conversation of all in the third heaven. For they never reason about Divine matters as to whether something is so or not so, but they see in themselves from the Lord whether it is so or not. Consequently, reasoning about Divine matters as to whether they are so or not is occasioned by the reasoner’s not seeing them from the Lord but endeavoring to see them from self, and what a person sees from self is evil.
Still, however, the Lord wills not only that a person think and speak about Divine matters, but also that he reason about them in order to see that something is so or not so. And this thinking, speaking and reasoning, provided it has as its end to see the truth, may be said to be from the Lord in the person, though it is from the person until he sees the truth and acknowledges it. In the meantime it is only owing to the Lord that he can think, speak and reason; for he has this ability from the two faculties called freedom and rationality – faculties that a person has from the Lord alone.
[4] THIRD, that temporal ends separate eternal ones from themselves, while eternal ends conjoin temporal ones with themselves: By temporal ends separating eternal ones from themselves we mean that a person, being temporal, does so from the temporal ends in him. And by eternal ends conjoining temporal ones with themselves we mean that the Lord, being eternal, does so from the eternal ends in Him, as we said above.
In previous discussions we showed the possibility of a conjunction of the Lord with a person, and of a reciprocal one of the person with the Lord, but with the reciprocal one of a person with the Lord being brought about not by the person but by the Lord. We showed, too, that a person’s will goes contrary to the Lord’s will, or in other words, that a person’s own prudence goes contrary to the Lord’s Divine providence. It follows from this that because of his temporal ends a person separates the Lord’s eternal ones from himself, but that the Lord conjoins His eternal ends with the person’s temporal ones, which is to say that He conjoins Himself with the person and the person with Himself.
Because we have dealt with this subject many times in previous discussions, we need not support it with further arguments.
[5] FOURTH, that the Lord conjoins a person with Himself through appearances: It is the appearance, indeed, that a person loves the neighbor, does good, and speaks truth of himself. If these did not appear to a person to emanate from him, he would not love the neighbor, do good or speak the truth, thus would not be conjoined with the Lord. But because love, good and truth come from the Lord, it is apparent that the Lord conjoins a person with Himself through appearances. However, we have already discussed this appearance, and the conjunction of the Lord with a person, and by that appearance the reciprocal conjunction of a person with the Lord, in many places above.
[6] FIFTH, that the Lord conjoins a person with Himself through correspondences: This He does by means of the Word, whose literal sense consists solely of things that correspond. That by this sense there is a conjunction of the Lord with a person and a reciprocal one of a person with the Lord – this we have shown from beginning to end in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Sacred Scripture.
1. It is of Divine providence that a person by death puts off natural and temporal things and puts on spiritual and eternal ones.
2. Through His Divine providence the Lord conjoins Himself with natural things by means of spiritual ones, and with temporal things by means of eternal ones, in accordance with their applications.
3. The Lord conjoins Himself with their applications through correspondences, and so through appearances according to a person’s affirmations of those appearances.
4. This conjunction of temporal and eternal things is Divine providence.
But explanations will put these points into a clearer light.
[2] FIRST, that it is of Divine providence that a person by death puts off natural and temporal things and puts on spiritual and eternal ones: Natural and temporal things are the outmost and lowest ones into which a person first comes, as he does when he is born, in order to make it possible for him to be afterward introduced into interior and higher ones. For outmost and lowest things are containing vessels, and these exist in the natural world.
So it is that no angel or spirit was created directly, but that they were all born people first and in this way introduced into interior and higher things. This provides them with outmost and lowest constituents which in themselves are fixed and set, within which and by which their inner constituents can be held in connection.
[3] First, however, a person puts on the grosser elements of nature, his body being composed of them. But he puts these off by death, and retains the purer things of nature which are closest to spiritual things, and these then are his containing vessels.
Moreover, present in the outmost or lowest things are all the interior or higher things simultaneously, as we have previously shown in their own places. Consequently every operation of the Lord proceeds from first things and last things simultaneously, thus in fullness.
Still, because the outmost and lowest things of nature are incapable of receiving the spiritual and eternal things for which the human mind was formed as these are in themselves, and yet a person is born to become spiritual and live to eternity, therefore a person puts them off and retains only the interior natural things which conform and accord with spiritual and celestial ones and serve them as containing vessels. This is accomplished by a casting off of temporal and lowest natural things, which is the body’s death.
[4] SECOND, that through His Divine providence the Lord conjoins Himself with natural things by means of spiritual ones, and with temporal things by means of eternal ones, in accordance with their applications: Natural and temporal things are not only those which are properties of nature, but those as well which are properties of people in the natural world. A person puts off all of these by death and puts on the spiritual and eternal things corresponding to them. That he does this in accordance with their applications is something we have shown many times in previous considerations.
Natural things which are properties of nature have relation in general to intervals of time and space, and in particular to such things as are visible on the earth. These a person leaves behind by death, and in their stead acquires spiritual things, which in their outward aspect or appearance are similar, but not in their inward aspect or real essence. This is a subject we have also discussed above.
[5] The temporal things that are properties of people in the natural world have relation in general to advancements and riches, and in particular to things necessary to everyone, namely food, clothing, and shelter. These, too, are put off and left behind by death, and put on and acquired are such things as are similar in outward aspect or appearance, but not in their inward aspect or essence.
All of these take their inward aspect or essence from the uses served by temporal things in the world. Useful services are the goods called goods of charity.
It can be seen from this that through His Divine providence the Lord conjoins spiritual and eternal things with natural and temporal things in accordance with their applications.
[6] THIRD, that the Lord conjoins Himself with their applications through correspondences, and so through appearances according to a person’s affirmations of those appearances: As this cannot but seem obscure to people who do not yet have a clear idea of what we mean by correspondence and by appearance, we must therefore illustrate and so explain them by example.
All the constituents of the Word are nothing but things that correspond to spiritual and celestial things, and because they correspond they are also appearances. That is to say, all the constituents of the Word are Divine goods belonging to Divine love, and Divine truths belonging to Divine wisdom, which in themselves are naked goods and truths, but which in the literal sense of the Word are clothed. Consequently they appear as a person does when dressed in clothing that corresponds to the state of his love and wisdom. It is apparent therefore that if a person affirms the appearances, it is the same as his affirming that people’s clothes are the people. Thus do appearances become fallacies. The case is otherwise if a person searches for truths and sees them in the appearances.
[7] Now because all the useful services or truths and goods of charity that a person does for the neighbor may be done by him either in accordance with the appearances in the Word or in accordance with the real truths there, if he does them in accordance with appearances that he has affirmed in him he is caught up in fallacies, but if he does them in accordance with truths, he does them as he ought.
It can be seen from this what we mean in saying that the Lord conjoins Himself with applications through correspondences, and so through appearances according to a person’s affirmations of those appearances.
[8] FOURTH, that this conjunction of temporal and eternal things is Divine providence: To present this in some light to the sight of the intellect, we must illustrate it by two examples, one having to do with advancements and honors, the other having to do with wealth and riches. Both are in outward form natural and temporal, but in inward form spiritual and eternal.
Advancements with their accompanying honors are natural and temporal when a person regards himself personally in them, and not the public welfare and the useful opportunities in them; for in that case the person cannot help but think inwardly to himself that the public exists for him and not himself for the public. He is like a king who thinks that the kingdom and all the people in it exist for his sake, and not that he exists for the sake of the kingdom and its people.
[9] On the other hand, those same advancements with their accompanying honors are spiritual and eternal when a person regards himself personally as existing to serve the public and the useful opportunities in the advancements, and does not regard them as existing to serve him. If he does this, the person is in that case impelled by the truth and embraces the essential nature of his advancement and honor. But if he does the other, he is then caught up in the corresponding form and appearance, and if he affirms these in him, he is impelled by fallacies and has conjunction with the Lord only as those do who are caught up in falsities and their resulting evils. For fallacies are falsities with which evils conjoin themselves. Such people have indeed performed useful services and good deeds, but from themselves and not from the Lord. Thus they have substituted themselves for the Lord.
[10] It is the same with wealth and riches. These, too, are natural and temporal, and also spiritual and eternal. Wealth and riches are natural and temporal in the case of people who have regard only for them and for themselves in them, and in them find all their pleasure and delight. But the same wealth and riches are spiritual and eternal in the case of people who regard the good and useful opportunities in them, and find their interior pleasure and delight in those opportunities. In their case the outward pleasure and delight becomes also spiritual, and the temporal condition becomes eternal. Consequently, after death they are also in heaven and live in palaces there, the useful forms of which glisten with gold and precious stones. And yet they regard these only as the glistening and translucent outward forms of the inward ones which are useful ends, from which they derive their real pleasure and delight, a pleasure and delight that in themselves constitute the happiness and felicity of heaven.
The contrary is the lot for people who have regarded wealth and riches only for the sake of wealth and riches and for the sake of themselves, thus for external considerations and not at the same time for internal ones – in accordance with appearances therefore, and not in accordance with their essential purposes. When such people put off those appearances, as they do when they die, they take on the internal forms of these; and because the internal forms are not spiritual, they cannot but be hellish. For either the one or the other is present in them. Both cannot be present together. Consequently instead of wealth they experience poverty, and instead of riches, hard times.
[11] By useful ends we mean not only life’s necessities, which relate to food, clothing, and shelter for oneself and one’s dependents, but we mean also the good of the country, the good of society, and the good of one’s fellow citizen.
Such a good is the conduct of business, when the conduct of business is the overriding love, and money an intermediate, subservient love – provided the businessman refrains from and shuns fraudulent practices and evil schemes as being sins. The case is otherwise when money is the final love and the conduct of business the intermediate, subservient love. For this is avarice, which is the root of evils,* concerning which see Luke 12:15, and the parable regarding it, verses 16-21.
* 1 Timothy 6:10
In the Christian world people know that the Lord wills the salvation of all, and moreover that He is omnipotent. Many therefore conclude from this that the Lord can save everyone, and that He saves those who implore His mercy, especially those who implore it using the formula of the accepted faith, that God the Father may have mercy for the sake of the Son, particularly if they implore Him at the same time to grant them that faith.
But the case is quite different, as will be seen in the final chapter of this treatise, where we will explain that the Lord cannot act contrary to the laws of His Divine providence, because to act contrary to them would be to act against His Divine love and against His Divine wisdom, thus against Himself. We will see there that such mercy apart from means is not possible, because a person’s salvation is accomplished through means, and a person can be led in accordance with these means only by one who wills the salvation of all and who is at the same time omnipotent, thus the Lord.
The means by which a person is led by the Lord are what we call laws of Divine providence, and among them is this one, that a person is not admitted more interiorly into truths of wisdom and goods of love than the extent to which he can be maintained in them to the end of his life. But to make this apparent to reason, we need to explain it in accordance with the following outline:
(1) A person may be admitted into wisdom regarding spiritual matters and also into a love for them and yet not be reformed.
(2) If the person afterward turns away from these and goes off in the opposite direction, he profanes things that are sacred.
(3) There are many kinds of profanation, but this kind is the worst of all.
(4) Therefore the Lord admits a person no more interiorly into truths of wisdom and at the same time goods of love than the extent to which he can be maintained in them to the end of his life.
[2] It is apparent from this that a person may be admitted into wisdom regarding spiritual matters and also into a love for them and yet not be reformed, but in such a case he is admitted only into a natural love for them and not into a spiritual love for them. That is because a person can admit himself into a natural love, but only the Lord can admit him into a spiritual love, and people who are admitted into the latter are reformed, while those who are admitted only into the former are not reformed. For the last are mostly hypocrites, and many of them are Jesuits, who inwardly do not believe in anything Divine, but outwardly play with Divine matters like jesters.
After death, when he becomes a spirit, a person who was of such a character in the world is in most cases let into alternating states of wisdom and insanity, so as to view the latter from the perspective of the former. But even though such spirits see, from the perspective of wisdom, that they are insane, still, when given the choice – as everyone is – they convey themselves into the state of insanity, and love it, and then hate the state of wisdom. That is because their inner self was diabolical, and their outer self as though Divine.
These are the people we mean by devils who feign themselves angels of light, and who are meant by the man who was in the wedding hall not dressed in a wedding garment, and was cast into outer darkness (Matthew 22:11-13).
[2] When the inner self in its essence is hellish, therefore, and the outer self appears in its form to be spiritual – and yet the outer self takes its essence, as we have said, from the inner one – the question is where that essence lies in the outer self. It is not apparent in the demeanor, nor in the tone, speech, or facial expression, but still it lies inwardly concealed in all four. Its presence inwardly in these is clearly apparent from instances of them in the spiritual world. For when a person comes from the natural world into the spiritual world, as he does when he dies, he leaves behind his outer qualities with the body and retains his spiritual qualities which he had harbored in his spirit. And if his inner self was hellish, he appears then as a devil, such as he also was in regard to his spirit when he lived in the world.
Who does not acknowledge that everyone leaves his outer qualities behind with the body and enters into inner ones when he becomes a spirit?
[3] To this I add also the following, that in the spiritual world one finds a communication of affections and consequent thoughts, which makes it impossible for anyone to speak otherwise than as he thinks. Moreover everyone there changes his facial expression and it becomes like his affection, so that his character is apparent, too, from his face.
Hypocrites are sometimes given to speak otherwise than they think, but the tone of their speech sounds completely out of harmony with their inner thoughts, and by the discord they are discerned.
It can be seen from this that the inner self lies inwardly concealed in the tone, speech, facial expression, and demeanor of the outer self, and though this is not perceived by people in the natural world, is it clearly perceived by angels in the spiritual world.
In the case of merely natural people, it may even appear as though they love wisdom, but they love it only as an adulterer loves a lady of noble birth whom he uses as a harlot, with whom he speaks agreeably and to whom he gives beautiful garments, but of whom he thinks to himself at home that she is nothing but a common whore – “whom I will induce to believe that I love her, because she gratifies my lust. But if she did not gratify it, I would reject her.”
A person’s internal self is the adulterer, and his external self the noble lady.
226. (2) If the person afterward turns away from these and goes off in the opposite direction, he profanes things that are sacred. Of profanation of the sacred there is more than one kind, which we will take up in the following discussion, but this kind is the gravest of all, for profaners of this kind become after death no longer human. They have life, indeed, but are continually caught up in delirious hallucinations. They seem to themselves to be flying on high, and as long as they remain in that state they play with their hallucinations, which they see as being real entities. Moreover, because they are no longer human, they are not called he or she, but it. Indeed, when presented to view in the light of heaven, they look like skeletons – some of them bone-colored, some fiery, and some charred.
People in the world do not know that this is what becomes of profaners of this kind after death, and they do not know because the reason is unknown. The fundamental reason is that when a person first acknowledges Divine matters and believes in them and afterward turns away from them and denies them, he then mixes sacred things with profane ones, and when these are mixed together, they cannot be separated without destroying the whole.
For these points to be more clearly perceived, however, they must be disclosed in their proper order, as follows:
1. Whatever a person is impelled by his will to think, speak and do, whether good or evil, becomes attached to him and remains.
2. By His Divine providence the Lord nevertheless continually provides and disposes that evil may be by itself and good by itself, and thus that the two may be separated.
3. This cannot happen, however, if a person first acknowledges truths of faith and lives according to them, and afterward turns away and denies them.
4. In that case he mixes good and evil together, to the point that they cannot be separated.
5. And because good and evil must be separated in everyone, and in such a one they cannot be separated, therefore he is destroyed in regard to everything truly human in him.
FIRST, that whatever a person is impelled by his will to think, speak and do, whether good or evil, becomes attached to him and remains: This we showed above in nos. 78-81. For a person has an external or natural memory, and an internal or spiritual memory. Imprinted on the internal or spiritual memory are each and every thing whatever that a person was impelled by his will in the world to think, speak and do, and this so completely that nothing is lacking. This memory is his “book of life,” which is opened after death and according to which he is judged.* (As regards this memory, we have presented more about it, from actual experience, in the book Heaven and Hell nos. 461-465.)
[2] SECOND, that by His Divine providence the Lord nevertheless continually provides and disposes that evil may be by itself and good by itself, and thus that the two may be separated: Every person is impelled both by evil and by good, for he is of himself impelled by evil, and from the Lord by good. Moreover, a person’s life depends on his being impelled by both, for if he were to be impelled by himself alone and so only by evil, he would be without any life. And if he were to be impelled by the Lord alone and so only by good, he would still be without any life. For a person in the latter condition of life would be as one suffocated, continually gasping for breath, like one dying in agony; and in the first condition of life he would be bereft of life, inasmuch as evil without any good is, in itself, lifeless. Consequently everyone is impelled by both. But the difference is that whereas one person is inwardly in the Lord and outwardly as though in himself, another is inwardly in himself, though outwardly as though in the Lord, and the latter is in a state of evil, and the former in a state of good, even though each is impelled by both. An evil person, too, is impelled by both, because he is impelled by the goodness of a civil and moral life, and also outwardly by some good of a spiritual life. Furthermore, he is kept by the Lord in the enjoyment of rationality and freedom, that he may be capable of good. This is the good by which every person, even an evil one, is led by the Lord.
It can be seen from this that the Lord separates evil and good, in order that the one may be interior and the other exterior, and thus He provides against their being mixed together.
[3] THIRD, that this cannot happen, however, if a person first acknowledges truths of faith and lives according to them, and afterward turns away and denies them: This is apparent from what we have already said: first, that everything a person is impelled by his will to think, speak and do becomes attached to him and remains; and secondly, that by His Divine providence the Lord continually provides and disposes that good may be by itself and evil by itself, and the two be separated.
The two are, moreover, separated by the Lord after death. In the case of people who are inwardly evil and outwardly good, the good is taken away and they are consequently left to their evil. The converse occurs in the case of people who are inwardly good, but who outwardly have, like others, acquired wealth, sought advancement, taken delight in various worldly entertainments, and indulged some lusts. In their case good and evil have nevertheless not been mixed together, but have been kept separate as something internal and something external. Thus in outward appearance they have been in many ways like evil people, but not in their inner character.
In the converse case, evil people, too, who in their piety, worship, speech and deeds have seemed in outward appearance to be good and yet in their inner character have been evil – in their case as well evil has been kept separate from good.
However, in people who have first acknowledged truths of faith and lived according to them, and afterward have gone off into the opposite direction and rejected them, and especially if they have denied them, goods and evils are no longer separate, but have been mixed together. For a person in such a case has attached to himself good and also evil, and has thus combined and commingled the two.
[4] FOURTH, that in that case he mixes good and evil together, to the point that they cannot be separated: This follows from what we have already said. And if evil cannot be separated from good, and good from evil, the person cannot be in heaven or in hell. Yet everyone must be either in one or in the other. He cannot be in both. For in such a case he would be sometimes in heaven, sometimes in hell; and when in heaven he would act as an agent for hell, and when in hell as an agent for heaven. Thus he would destroy the life of all around him -heavenly life in the case of angels, and hellish life in the case of devils – and everyone’s life would perish as a result. For everyone has to have his own life. No one finds life in leading an alien life, still less a life opposed to his own.
So it is that in every person after death, when he becomes a spirit or spiritual person, the Lord separates good from evil, and evil from good – good from evil in people who are inwardly impelled by evil, and evil from good in people who are inwardly impelled by good. This accords with the Lord’s words:
…whoever has, to him more will be given, that he may have abundance; and whoever does not have, from him even what he has will be taken away. (Matthew 13:12, 25:29. See also Mark 4:25; Luke 8:18, 19:26)
[5] FIFTH, that because good and evil must be separated in everyone, and in such a one they cannot be separated, therefore he is destroyed in regard to everything truly human in him: The truly human element in everyone is his ability from rationality to see and know, if he will, what is true and good, and also his ability from freedom to will, think, speak and do it, as we have previously shown. But this freedom is destroyed along with their rationality in people who have commingled good and evil in themselves; for they cannot from the perspective of good see evil, nor from the perspective of evil recognize good, as the two are bound up together. Therefore they no longer have any rationality with its ability or power, and so neither any freedom. That is why they are seemingly delirious phantasms merely, as said above, and no longer look like human beings, but like bones covered with some skin; and when they are referred to, are consequently called not he or she, but it.
Such is the fate of those who mix sacred things with profane ones in this way. But there are other kinds of profanation which nevertheless are not of this character, which we will consider in the next discussion.
*
See Revelation 3:5, 13:8, 17:8, 20:12, 15, 21:27, 22:19. Cf. Philippians 4:3.
Neither do practicing Jews profane this holy concept, because from early childhood they refuse to accept and acknowledge it. It would be different if they were to accept and acknowledge it and afterward deny it. But this rarely happens. For many of them acknowledge it outwardly and deny it inwardly, and are akin to hypocrites.
Rather, the people who profane sacred things by commingling them with profane ones are those who first accept and acknowledge them and afterward turn away and deny them.
[2] It does not matter that people accept and acknowledge these things in early and later childhood. Every Christian does that. It does not matter because in that case they do not accept and acknowledge matters of faith and charity with any rationality and freedom, that is to say, in the intellect from the will, but do so simply by memorization and from trust in the teacher; and if they live according to them, it is out of blind obedience. But when a person comes into the use of his rationality and freedom, which comes about gradually as he grows into adolescence and youth, if he then acknowledges truths and lives according to them and later denies them, he commingles sacred things with profane ones, and from being human becomes such a monster as described above.
On the other hand, if a person is caught up in evil from the time he becomes capable of rationality and freedom, that is, of being his own master, throughout his youth, and later acknowledges truths of faith and lives according to them, provided he then remains governed by them to the end of his life, he does not commingle them. For the Lord then separates the evils of his former life from the goods of his later life. This is the case with all who repent.
But more on this subject in subsequent considerations.
However, we are not speaking of such persons here, but of people who profess a belief in God, assert the holiness of the Word, and acknowledge the spiritual concerns of the church – though most with the mouth only. These commit profanation because they have a sense of the sacred from the Word among them and in them, and it is this which they have in them, and which forms part of their intellect and will, that they profane. In contrast, the impious who deny the Divine and Divine matters do not have in them any sense of the sacred for them to possibly profane. They are indeed profaners, but still are not themselves profane.
Scarcely anyone in the Christian world knows what is meant by the name of God. That is because no one knows that people in the spiritual world do not have names as they do in the natural world, but that everyone is named according to the character of his love and wisdom. For as soon as someone enters into a society or into a companionship with others, he is immediately named in accordance with his character there.
The naming is made in spiritual language, which is such that it can provide a name for everything, because every letter in the alphabet there has a particular symbolic meaning, and several letters combined into a whole word, as to form a person’s name, encompass the whole state of a thing. This is one of the marvels found in the spiritual world.
[2] It is apparent from this that in the Word God is symbolically meant by the name of God, with every Divine attribute residing in Him and emanating from Him. Moreover, because the Word is the Divinity emanating, it is the name of God. And because all Divine matters that are called the spiritual concerns of the church come from the Word, they too are the name of God.
It can be seen from this what is meant in the second commandment of the Decalogue by the declaration, “You shall not profane the name of. . . God,” and in the Lord’s Prayer by the phrase, “Hallowed be Your name.”
Like things are symbolically meant by the name of God and of the Lord in many places in the Word of both Testaments, as in Matthew 7:22, 10:22, 18:5, 20, 19:29, 21:9, 24:9, John 1:12, 2:23, 3:17, 18, 12:13, 28, 14:13, 14, 15:16, 16:23, 24, 26, 17:6, 20:31. In other places as well, and frequently in the Old Testament.
[3] One who knows this symbolic meaning of the word “name” can know what is symbolically meant by these words of the Lord:
Whoever receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet’s reward. …Whoever receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man’s reward. And whoever gives one of these little ones to drink a drink of cold water only in the name of a disciple. . . shall not lose his reward. (Matthew 10:41, 42)
Anyone who interprets the name of a prophet, righteous man, or disciple to mean here only a prophet, righteous man, or disciple does not know any other level of meaning in the statement than simply the sense of the letter, and he does not know either what a prophet’s reward is, a righteous man’s reward, or the reward of a disciple for giving a drink of cold water. Yet in fact by the name and reward of a prophet are meant the state and happiness of people governed by Divine truths, by the name and reward of a righteous man the state and happiness of people governed by Divine goods, and by a disciple the state of people governed by some spiritual concerns of the church – a drink of cold water meaning some measure of truth.
[4] That the word “name” symbolically means the nature of a state of love and wisdom or of goodness and truth is shown also by these words of the Lord:
He who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. (John 10:2, 3)
To call the sheep by name is to teach and lead everyone impelled by the good of charity in accordance with the state of his love and wisdom. By the door is meant the Lord, as is apparent from verse 9 there:
I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved. (John 10:9)
From this it is apparent that the Lord Himself must be approached for one to be saved, and anyone who does approach Him is a shepherd of the sheep. But one who does not approach Him is a thief and a robber, as said in the first verse of that chapter.
Of their sort of profanation there are many kinds, some lighter, some more serious, but they may be assigned to the following seven:
THE FIRST KIND OF PROFANATION is committed by people who make jokes from or about the Word, or from or about the Divine things of the church. Some do this out of a deplorable habit, taking names and phrases from the Word and mixing them into remarks hardly becoming and sometimes filthy. This cannot help but be coupled with some contempt for the Word. And yet the Word in each and every one of its particulars is Divine and sacred. For every single word there conceals within it something Divine, and through it has a communication with heaven.
But this kind of profanation is lighter or more serious in the measure of the jokers’ acknowledgment of the sanctity of the Word and the unbecoming nature of the remark into which they introduce it.
[2] THE SECOND KIND OF PROFANATION is committed by people who understand and acknowledge Divine truths and yet live contrary to them. Those who merely understand them, however, profane more lightly, while those who also acknowledge them do so more seriously. For the intellect simply instructs, much as a preacher does, and does not of itself unite itself with the will. But acknowledgment does so unite itself, for no acknowledgment is possible without the consent of the will.
But still this union varies, and in accordance with the union so does the profanation when one lives contrary to the truths that one acknowledges. If, for example, one acknowledges that acts of vengeance and hatred, adulterous and licentious affairs, practices of fraud and deceit, and blasphemies and lies are sins against God, and yet commits them, he is engaging in the more serious form of this kind of profanation. For the Lord says, “The servant who knows his master’s will and does not. . . do his will shall be beaten with many blows.” (Luke 12:47) And in another place,
If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, “We see.” Therefore your sin remains. (John 9:41)
Still, it is one thing to acknowledge appearances of truth, and another to acknowledge genuine truths. People who acknowledge genuine truths and yet do not live in accordance with them appear in the spiritual world without any light or warmth of life in their tone and speech, as though they were mere forms lacking any energy.
[3] THE THIRD KIND OF PROFANATION is committed by people who employ the literal sense of the Word to defend evil loves and false premises. The reason is that a defense of falsity is a denial of truth, and a defense of evil is a rejection of good, and the Word at its core is nothing but Divine truth and Divine good. In the lowest sense, the sense of the letter, these do not appear in genuine truths, except where it teaches about the Lord and the true path of salvation, but they appear in truths clothed, called appearances of truth. As a consequence that sense can be misused to defend heresies of many kinds.
But one who defends evil loves does violence to Divine goods. One who defends false premises does violence to Divine truths. This latter violence is called a falsification of truth, the former an adulteration of good. Both are meant in the Word by mentions of blood. For a spiritual holiness, which is also the Spirit of truth emanating from the Lord, lies within each element of the Word’s literal sense. This holiness is injured when the Word is falsified or adulterated. Plainly this is profanation.
[4] THE FOURTH KIND OF PROFANATION is committed by people who utter pious and reverent sentiments with the mouth, and moreover feign in tone and gesture the affections of a love for them, and yet at heart do not believe or love them. Most of these people are hypocrites and pharisees, who after death have every truth and good taken from them, and who are then dispatched into outer darkness.
Those who by this kind of profanation have confirmed themselves against the Divine and against the Word, and so also against the spiritual contents of the Word, sit mutely in that darkness, incapable of speech, wishing to prattle pious and reverent sentiments as in the world, but unable to. For in the spiritual world everyone is compelled to speak as he thinks. But a hypocrite wishes to speak otherwise than as he thinks, so that a conflict arises in his mouth, on which account he can only mutter.
Instances of hypocrisy, however, may be lighter or more serious, depending on one’s persuasions against God and one’s contentions outwardly for God.
[5] THE FIFTH KIND OF PROFANATION is committed by people who attribute Divine powers to themselves. These are the kind of people meant by Lucifer in the 14th chapter of Isaiah. Babylon is meant by Lucifer there, as can be seen from verses 4 and 22 of that chapter, where the fate of such people is described as well. The same kind of people are also those meant and described by the harlot sitting upon a scarlet beast in the 17th chapter of the book of Revelation.
Babylon and Chaldea are mentioned in many places in the Word, and by Babylon there is meant a profanation of good, and by Chaldea a profanation of truth, both of which are found in people who attribute Divine powers to themselves.
[6] THE SIXTH KIND OF PROFANATION is committed by people who acknowledge the Word and yet deny the Lord’s Divinity. In the world these people are called Socinians,* and some Arians.** The fate of both is to call on the Father and not the Lord, and to continually pray to the Father – some, indeed, for the sake of the Son – to be admitted into heaven, but to no avail, until they lose any hope of salvation. And they are then conveyed down into hell among those who deny God.
These are the people meant by those who blaspheme the Holy Spirit, who will not be forgiven in this age or in the age to come (Matthew 12:32). That is because God is one in person and essence, in whom is the Trinity, and that God is the Lord. And because the Lord is also heaven, and those who are in heaven are consequently in the Lord, therefore those who deny the Lord’s Divinity cannot be admitted into heaven and be in the Lord. (That the Lord is heaven, and that people who are in heaven are in the Lord, is something we have already shown above.)
[7] THE SEVENTH KIND OF PROFANATION is committed by people who first acknowledge Divine truths and live according to them, and afterward turn away and deny them. This is the worst kind of profanation, because people who do this mix sacred things with profane ones, until the two cannot be separated. And yet they must be separated for people to be either in heaven or in hell. So, because this is impossible in their case, everything human pertaining to the intellect and to the will is eradicated, and they become, as we said before, no longer human.
Almost the same is the case with people who at heart acknowledge the Divine components of the Word and of the church and totally immerse them in their native character, which is a love of ruling over all things, a love we have said much about previously. For after death, when these people become spirits, they are utterly unwilling to be led by the Lord, but wish to direct themselves, and whenever their love is given free rein, they wish to rule not only over heaven but also over the Lord. And as they cannot do this, they deny the Lord and become devils.
It should be known that a person’s life’s love – which is also his reigning love – awaits everyone after death, and that it cannot be taken away.
[8] Profaners of this sort are meant by the lukewarm spoken of as follows in the book of Revelation:
I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. If only you were cold or hot! (But) because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth. (Revelation 3:15, 16)
This kind of profanation is described by the Lord in the following way in Matthew:
When an unclean spirit goes out of a person, he goes through dry places, seeking rest, but finds none. Then he says, “I will return to my house from which I came.” . . . When he comes and finds it empty (and) swept and set in order (for him), then he goes away and (attaches to) him seven other spirits more evil than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last states of the person become worse than the first. (Matthew 12:43-45)
A person’s conversion is there described by the unclean spirit’s going out of him. His reverting to his former evils, with truths and goods cast out, is described by the unclean spirit’s returning with seven others more evil than himself, into a house set in order for him. And the profaner’s profanation of the sacred is described by the person’s last states becoming worse than the first.
The like is meant by this report in John:
(Jesus said to the man healed at the pool of Bethesda,) “Sin no more, lest a worse thing happen to you.” (John 5:14)
[9] The Lord’s providing that a person not acknowledge truths inwardly and afterward turn away and become a profaner is meant by this statement:
He has blinded their eyes and stopped up their heart, that they not see with their eyes and understand with their heart and be converted, and I heal them. (John 12:40)
“That they not be converted and I heal them” symbolically means not to acknowledge truths and then turn away and so become profaners. The Lord spoke in parables for the same reason, as He himself says (Matthew 13:13).
That the Jews were prohibited from eating fat and blood (Leviticus 3:17, 7:23,25) symbolically meant that they were not to profane sacred things, for fat symbolized Divine good, and blood Divine truth.
That once converted a person is to remain in a state of goodness and truth to the end of life, the Lord teaches in Matthew:
(Jesus said,) “. . . whoever endures to the end will be saved.” (Matthew 10:22. So, too, Mark 13:13)
* Disciples of Laelius Socinus (born Lelio Francesco Maria Sozini), 1525-1562, and his nephew Faustus Socinus (Fausto Paolo Sozzini), 1539-1604, who rejected a number of traditional Christian doctrines, such as the Trinity, the Divinity of Christ, and original sin, and who held that Christ was miraculously begotten, and that salvation is granted to those who adopt Christ’s virtues.
** Adherents of Arianism, a theological view based on the teachings of Arius (c. 250-336), who taught that Christ the Son was a created being, not consubstantial with God the Father, and thus not Divine.
It is, indeed, important for human salvation, for as we said before, one who first acknowledges the Divine components of the Word and of the church and afterward turns away from them profanes sacred things most seriously.
To disclose, therefore, this secret of Divine providence even so that a rational person may see it in its own light, we must unfold it according to the following outline:
1. The interior constituents in a person cannot contain evil and good at the same time, thus neither the falsity of evil and the truth of good at the same time.
2. The Lord cannot introduce good and the truth of good into a person’s interior constituents except to the extent that evil and the falsity of evil have been removed there.
3. If good with its truth were to be introduced there sooner or to a greater extent than evil with its falsity has been removed, the person would turn away from the good and go back to his evil.
4. When a person is governed by evil, many truths may be introduced into his intellect, and these be stored in his memory, and yet not be profaned.
5. But the Lord through His Divine providence provides as much as possible that the will accept nothing from there sooner or to a greater extent than a person as though of himself removes evil in his outer self.
6. If it were to do so sooner or to a greater extent, the will would then adulterate the good, and the intellect falsify the truth, by mixing them with evils and with falsities.
7. Therefore the Lord admits a person no more interiorly into truths of wisdom and into goods of love than the extent to which the person can be maintained in them to the end of his life.
FIRST, that the interior constituents in a person cannot contain evil and good at the same time, and thus neither the falsity of evil and the truth of good at the same time: By a person’s interior constituents we mean the inner core of his thought, of which a person knows nothing before he comes into the spiritual world and its light, which he does after death. In the natural world it can be discerned only from the delight of his love in the outer realm of his thought, and from the underlying evils when he examines these in himself. For, as we have shown above, the internal level of thought in a person goes hand in hand with the external level of thought, in such a connection that the two cannot be separated. But more on this subject above.
We speak of good and the truth of good, and of evil and the falsity of evil, since good cannot exist without its truth, nor evil without its falsity. For they are bedfellows or married partners, inasmuch as good has life from its truth, and truth has life from its good. It is the same with evil and its falsity.
[2] A rational person can see without explanation that evil with its falsity cannot exist in a person’s interior constituents at the same time as good with its truth. For evil is opposed to good, and good is opposed to evil, and two opposites cannot exist together. Inherent also in every evil is a hatred of good, and inherent in every good is a love of protecting itself against evil and of removing it from itself. It follows from this that one cannot exist together with the other; and if they were to exist together, first a conflict and battle would arise and then destruction ensue. This the Lord also teaches in these words:
Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand. . . . Whoever is not with Me is against Me, and whoever does not gather with Me scatters abroad. (Matthew 12:25, 30)
And elsewhere:
No one can serve two masters (at the same time); for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be loyal to the one and disregard the other. (Matthew 6:24)
Two opposites cannot exist together in the same substance or form without its being pulled apart and perishing. If one should approach and draw near the other, they would surely separate, like two hostile forces, one of which would withdraw into its camp or fort, while the other remained outside.
Such is the case with evils and goods in a hypocrite. He possesses both, but his evil is within and good round about, so that the two are separate and not commingled.
It is apparent now from this that evil with its falsity and good with its truth cannot exist together.
[3] SECOND, that the Lord cannot introduce good and the truth of good into a person’s interior constituents except to the extent that evil and the falsity of evil have been removed there: This is the inevitable consequence of the preceding considerations. For as evil and good cannot exist together, good cannot be introduced before evil has been removed.
We say into a person’s interior constituents, and we mean by this the inner core of his thought. It is these constituents we are discussing, which must have in them either the Lord or the devil. The Lord is present there after the person’s reformation, and the devil is present there before that. To the extent that a person allows himself to be reformed, therefore, to the same extent the devil is cast out. But to the extent that he does not allow himself to be reformed, to the same extent the devil remains.
Who cannot see that the Lord cannot enter as long as the devil is present there? And the devil is present there as long as a person keeps the entryway closed, in which the person is together with the Lord. The Lord enters when that entryway is by a person’s effort opened, as the Lord teaches in the book of Revelation:
. . . I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. (Revelation 3:20)
The door is opened by a person’s removing evil, by refraining and turning away from it as hellish and diabolical. For whether one calls it evil or the devil, the meaning is the same. Conversely, too, whether one calls it good or the Lord, the meaning is the same. For the Lord is inwardly present in all good, and the devil inwardly in all evil.
This makes apparent the truth of this consideration.
[4] THIRD, that if good with its truth were to be introduced sooner or to a greater extent than evil with its falsity has been removed, the person would turn away from the good and go back to his evil: That is because the evil would be stronger, and that which is stronger wins out, if not right away, still later on. As long as evil still prevails, good cannot be introduced into the innermost chambers, but only into the outer courts, since, as we have said, evil and good cannot exist together; and what is present only in the outer courts is removed by its foe which resides in the inner chambers. The result is a turning away from good and a return to evil, which is the worst kind of profanation.
[5] Furthermore, it is the utmost delight of a person’s life to love himself and the world above all else. This delight cannot be removed in a moment, but only gradually. Yet the greater the measure of this delight remaining in a person, the more evil prevails in him. And this evil cannot be removed except as self-love becomes a love of useful endeavors, or as a love of ruling exists not for its own sake but for the sake of such endeavors. For then useful endeavors form the head, and self-love or a love of ruling forms first the body below the head, and later the feet on which to walk.
Who does not see that good must form the head, and that when it does, the Lord is present there? Goodness and usefulness are the same thing.
Who does not see that if evil forms the head, the devil is present there? And because civil and moral good still must be embraced, and in outward form also spiritual good, who does not see that this then forms the feet and soles of the feet and is trampled upon?
[6] So, then, since the state of a person’s life must be turned upside down in order that what is uppermost may be below, and since this inversion cannot take place in a moment – for life’s greatest delight, springing from a love of self and so of ruling, can only gradually be diminished and turned into a love of useful endeavors – therefore the Lord cannot introduce good sooner or to a greater extent than this evil is removed. And if it were to be introduced sooner or to a greater extent, the person would turn away from the good and go back to his evil.
[7] FOURTH, that when a person is governed by evil, many truths may be introduced into his intellect, and these be stored in his memory, and yet not be profaned: That is because the intellect does not flow into the will, but rather the will into the intellect. And because the intellect does not flow into the will, many truths may be received by the intellect, and these be stored in the memory, and yet not be commingled with evil in the will, so that sacred things are not profaned.
It is, moreover, incumbent on everyone to learn truths from the Word or from preaching and teaching, to commit them to memory, and to think about them. For the intellect must tell the will – that is, the person – what to do, using truths in the memory which come from there into the thought. This is therefore the principal means of reformation.
When truths exist solely in the intellect and so in the memory, they are not in the person but round about him.
[8] A person’s memory may be likened to the ruminal stomach of some animals, into which they deposit their food, food which is not assimilated into their body as long as it is there, but remains apart, yet which is incorporated into their life and nourishes the body as they regurgitate it from there and consume it.
Now the food in a person’s memory is not material but spiritual, such as is meant by truths, which in themselves are concepts. To the degree that a person by thinking regurgitates these from there, as though chewing them over, to that degree his spiritual mind is nourished. The will’s love is what hungers for them and has as though an appetite for them, causing them to be taken in so as to nourish it. If that love is evil, it hungers for and has as though an appetite for unclean food. But if the love is good, it hungers for and has as though an appetite for clean food, and things that are not suitable it separates, rejects, and expels, which it does in various ways.
[9] FIFTH, but that the Lord through His Divine providence provides as much as possible that the will accept nothing from there sooner or to a greater extent than a person as though of himself removes evil in his outer self: For whatever comes from the will enters into a person and is adopted by him so as to become part of his life. And at the core of that life, which a person has from the will, evil and good cannot exist together, for then he would perish. On the other hand, both may exist in the intellect, though not at the same time, being called there falsities of evil and truths of good. Otherwise the person could not from the perspective of good see evil, or from the perspective of evil recognize good. But the two are distinguished and separated in the intellect, like a house into its inner and outer structures. When an evil person thinks and talks about goods, he then thinks and speaks externally, but when he thinks and talks about evils, he does so internally. When he talks about goods, therefore, his speech comes as though from in front of a wall, and may be likened to fruit outwardly attractive that is wormy and rotten within, or else to a dragon’s egg still in its shell.
[10] SIXTH, that if it were to do so sooner or to a greater extent, the will would then adulterate the good, and the intellect falsify the truth, by mixing them with evils and the resulting falsities: When the will is caught up in evil, it then adulterates good in the intellect, and adulterated good in the intellect is, in the will, evil, for it persuades that evil is good, and vice versa. Evil deals thus with every good that is opposed to it.
Evil also falsifies truth, because the truth of good is opposed to the falsity of evil. This, too, the will does in the intellect, and not the intellect by itself.
Adulterations of good are described in the Word by cases of adultery, and falsifications of truth by instances of licentiousness there.
These adulterations and falsifications are brought about by reasonings arising from the natural self which is impelled by evil; and they are occasioned also by arguments drawn from appearances in the literal sense of the Word.
[11] Love of self, which is at the head of all evils, excels all other loves in its talent for adulterating goods and falsifying truths, and it accomplishes this by abusing the rationality that every person, both evil and good, has from the Lord. Indeed, through its justifications it can make evil appear altogether as good, and falsity as truth. What is to stop it when it can by a thousand arguments establish that nature created itself, and then created people, animals and plants of every kind; and further, that by an influx from within itself it causes people to live, to think analytically, and to understand wisely?
Love of self excels in its talent for affirming what it will, because its outward facade consists of a certain radiance of light variegated into an assortment of colors. This radiance is that love’s glory in being wise, and so also in excelling and ruling.
[12] However, when that love has affirmed the kind of things described, it then becomes so blind that it has no other sight than that the human being is an animal, and that his thinking is like that of an animal – indeed that if an animal also were to have the power of speech, it would be human in a different form.
If induced by some persuasion to believe that some part of the human being lives after death, that love is then so blind as to believe that an animal does too, and that the part that lives after death is only a subtle breath of life, like a vapor, which nevertheless descends again into its corpse, or that it is something living without sight, hearing or speech so as to be blind, deaf and dumb, flitting about and thinking – not to mention many other irrational notions with which nature itself, being in itself without life, inspires its fancy. It is a love of self that occasions this, which in itself is a love belonging to the native self. And as regards its affections, all of which are natural, the human being’s inherent nature is not unlike that of the life of an animal, and as regards its perceptions, being the product of those affections, not unlike that of an owl.
Consequently, one who continually immerses his thoughts in his native character cannot be raised from natural light into spiritual light so as to see something of God, heaven, and eternal life.
Because this love is as described, and yet excels in its talent for affirming whatever it pleases, it is able to use the same talent, therefore, to adulterate the goods of the Word and falsify its truths, when compelled by some necessity to confess them.
[13] SEVENTH, that the Lord therefore admits a person no more interiorly into truths of wisdom and into goods of love than the extent to which the person can be maintained in them to the end of his life: The Lord brings this about to keep a person from falling into the most serious kind of profanation of the sacred described in this chapter. It is because of this danger that the Lord also permits evils of life and many heretical forms of worship – the permitting of which will be seen discussed in the following chapters.
There are no laws of permission per se or apart from the laws of Divine providence. Rather they are the same laws. When we say, therefore, that God permits, we do not mean that He wills, but that for the sake of the goal, which is salvation, He cannot prevent.
Whatever happens for the sake of salvation as the goal, happens in accordance with the laws of Divine providence. For, as we have said before, Divine providence continually operates counter to and in conflict with a person’s will, continually intent on the goal. Consequently at every moment of its operation, or at every step of its progress, when it sees a person stray from the goal, it guides, bends, and directs the person in accordance with its laws, withdrawing him from evil, leading him to good. This cannot be done without the permitting of evil, as we shall see in the following discussions.
It is, moreover, not possible for something to be permitted apart from a cause, and the cause is found nowhere else than in some law of Divine providence, a law which explains why it is permitted.
People who have confirmed themselves on the side of human prudence to the point of denying Divine providence – these, in whatever they see, hear or read when engaged in that thought of theirs, see nothing else, nor indeed can they, because they take nothing from heaven, but everything from themselves alone. Moreover, because they draw their conclusions from appearances and misconceptions only and see nothing else, they can swear that such is the case. And if in addition they acknowledge only nature, they may become angry at people defending Divine providence, provided they are not priests, to whom they grant this as an obligation of their doctrine or function.
In these and many other instances in the Word, the person who acknowledges nature and human prudence sees nothing but evidence against Divine providence. He may use them, therefore, as arguments to deny it, if not in his outer thought which is closely connected with his speech, still in his inner thought which exists apart from speech.
Still more does he confirm himself against Divine providence when he sees that crafty schemes, cunning tactics and false pretenses succeed, even against people who are pious, just and honest, and that injustice triumphs over justice in the courts and in business dealings.
Especially does he so confirm himself when he sees impious people raised to positions of honor and becoming great men and prelates, abounding as well in riches and living in luxury and magnificence, while worshipers of God are by contrast held in contempt and live in poverty.
He confirms himself against Divine providence also when he considers that wars are permitted, and in them the slaughter of so many people and the plundering of so many cities, nations and families; moreover that victories occur on the side of prudence, and not always on the side of justice; and that it makes no difference whether the commanding officer is an upright person or not – besides many other like considerations, all of which are permissions in accord with laws of Divine providence.
Moreover, he confirms himself against Divine providence when he considers the Muslim religion – that it has been adopted by so many empires and kingdoms, whereas the Christian religion is found only in the smallest part of the habitable world called Europe, and there has split into sects; and that there are some in Christendom who claim Divine power for themselves and wish to be worshiped as gods, and who invoke people now deceased. Further, that there are some who place salvation in certain phrases that they are to think and say, and not at all in the good works they are to do; and that there are few who live their religion.
There are in addition the heresies, of which there have been many, and some, too, in existence today, such as those of the Quakers, Moravians, Anabaptists, and others. And the fact that Judaism still continues in existence.
One who denies Divine providence concludes from these considerations that religion in itself is meaningless, but that it is nevertheless necessary, because it serves as a restraint.
But inasmuch as this cannot be seen from those considerations unless they are each explained one by one, therefore we will briefly explain them in the order in which they were cited, beginning at no. 236.
It is apparent from this that the people of that church, who in the beginning were the wisest of people, and at the end, owing to their conceit in their own intelligence, the worst, were not seduced by any serpent, but by their love of self, which in the account is the serpent’s head that the seed of the woman – that is, the Lord – would trample.
[2] Who cannot see in accord with reason that something else is meant than what is related narratively there in the letter? For who can comprehend that the creation of the world could have been such as there described? That is why the learned toil to explain the contents of the first chapter, finally confessing that they do not understand them. Or who can comprehend the placement of the two trees in those people’s garden or paradise, a tree of life and a tree of knowledge, the latter as a stumbling block? Moreover, that just by eating of that tree they transgressed so greatly that not only they but the whole human race as well, their posterity, became liable to damnation? Further, that some serpent could have seduced them, and other considerations as well, as that the wife was created from her husband’s rib, that after the fall they realized they were naked and covered their nakedness with fig leaves, that they were given tunics of skin to cover their body, and that cherubim were placed with the flaming sword to guard the way to the tree of life?
[3] All of these particulars are representative, used to describe the establishment of the Most Ancient Church, its state and change of state, and final destruction.
The secrets involved in all these things, secrets which are contained in the spiritual meaning found in each of the particulars there, may be seen explained in Arcana Coelestia (The Secrets of Heaven), dealing with Genesis and Exodus, and published in London. It may be seen from those explanations also that by the tree of life there is meant the Lord as regards His Divine providence, and that by the tree of knowledge is meant mankind as regards their own prudence.
[2] The curse on Cain has to do with their spiritual state, the state into which those people come after death who separate faith from charity, or wisdom from love.
But still, to keep wisdom or faith from therefore perishing, a mark was placed on Cain to prevent his being killed. For love does not exist apart from wisdom, nor charity apart from faith.
Because almost the same thing is represented by this account as by eating of the tree of knowledge, it follows therefore in sequence after the description of Adam and his wife. People who are governed by a faith divorced from charity are governed by their own intelligence, while people who are governed by charity, and for that reason by faith, are governed by an intelligence from the Lord, thus by Divine providence.
The people were permitted this evil to keep them from all perishing. For the children of Israel were brought out of Egypt to represent the Lord’s church, and they could not represent this unless Egyptian idolatries were first eradicated from their hearts. This in turn could not be accomplished unless they were left to do according to what was in their heart, and so to put that away on being severely punished.
What was further symbolized by that worship, and by the threat of their being wholly rejected and a new nation raised up from Moses, may be seen in Arcana Coelestia (The Secrets of Heaven) in the treatment of Exodus 32 where these points are dealt with.
That David was not warned beforehand accords with the laws of Divine providence that we have established so far, especially with the two explained above in nos. 129-153 and nos. 154-174.
That the people were so grievously punished for the king’s transgression and seventy thousand stricken with pestilence was not the king’s fault but the people’s, for we read,
Again the anger of Jehovah was kindled against Israel; (therefore) He incited David against them, saying, “Go, number Israel and Judah.” (2 Samuel 24:1)
It can be seen from this why it was granted Solomon to build the Temple, which symbolized the Lord’s Divine humanity (John 2:19, 21),** and also the church. So, too, why it was permitted him to establish idolatrous forms of worship and marry so many wives.
(That by David in many places in the Word is meant the Lord who would come into the world, see The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Lord, nos. 43, 44.)
* “And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, ‘All power has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.'”
** “Jesus answered and said to them, ‘Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.’ . . . But He was speaking of the temple of His body.”
This was the cause, and whatever results from any cause takes place in consequence of Divine providence in accordance with some one of its laws.
(That the suffering of the cross was the last temptation or trial, or final combat, by which the Lord fully overcame the hells and fully glorified His humanity, may be seen in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Lord, nos. 12-14, and The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding Faith, nos. 34, 35.)
Every person can freely – indeed, quite freely – think as he pleases either in opposition to God or on the side of God, and one who thinks in opposition to God is rarely punished in the natural world, because he is always in a state to be reformed there. But he is punished in the spiritual world, which happens after death, because then he can no longer be reformed.
[2] That the reasons for permissions are found in the laws of Divine providence is apparent from its laws listed above if they are recalled and examined. They include:
That a person act in freedom in accordance with his reason (regarding which law, nos. 71-97).
That a person not be compelled by external means to think and will, thus to believe and love, matters having to do with religion, but that a person bring himself to do so and at times compel himself (regarding which law, nos. 129-153).
That one’s own prudence is not real and only appears to be, and also ought to so appear; but Divine providence, owing to its presence in the least particulars, is universal (nos. 191-213).
That Divine providence regards eternal ends, and not temporal ones except as they accord with eternal ones (nos. 214-220).
That a person is not admitted more interiorly into truths of faith and goods of charity than the extent to which he can be maintained in them to the end of his life (regarding which law, nos. 221-233).
[3] That the reasons for permissions are found in the laws of Divine providence will also be apparent from the laws that follow, as from this one, that evils are permitted for the sake of the end, which is salvation [nos. 275-284].
So, too, from this one, that Divine providence is unceasing with the evil just as well as with the good [nos. 285-307].
And, finally, from this one, that the Lord cannot go against the laws of His Divine providence, because to go against them would be to go against His Divine love and against His Divine wisdom, thus against Himself [nos. 331-340].
If these laws are considered in relation to each other, the reasons may be made plain why impieties are permitted by the Lord and are not punished as long as they exist in thought, and rarely punished even when they exist in intention and so also in the will, and not in deed.
But still, every evil brings its own punishment. It is as though its own punishment were engraved on the evil – a punishment that the impious person suffers after death.
[4] The explanations now presented explain as well the following consideration cited above in no. 237, namely:
That the worshiper of self and worshiper of nature confirms himself still more against Divine providence when he sees that crafty schemes, cunning tactics and false pretenses succeed, even against people who are pious, just and honest, and that injustice triumphs over justice in the courts and in business dealings: The laws of Divine providence are all necessary, and because in them are found the reasons why such practices are permitted, it is apparent that for a person to live as a human being, to be reformed and saved, the Lord can remove them from a person only indirectly through the Word, and in particular through the commandments of the Decalogue, in people who acknowledge as sins all forms of murder, adultery, theft and the bearing of false witness.
In the case of people who do not acknowledge these things as sins, however, the same is accomplished indirectly through civil laws and fear of their penalties; and also indirectly through moral laws and fear for the loss of one’s reputation and the loss of honor and material gain on that account.
The Lord leads evil people by the latter means, but only away from doing such things, not from thinking and willing them. But good people He leads by the prior means, not only from doing such things, but also from thinking and willing them.
He does the same if he should lose the advancement and wealth on which he has set his heart.
[2] What then are advancements and riches to the evil but stumbling blocks? Not, however, to the good, because they do not set their heart on them, but on the useful services or good endeavors, for the performance of which advancements and riches serve as means.
Consequently the advancement of impious people to positions of honor and wealth and their becoming great men and prelates can lead only someone who is a worshiper of self and worshiper of nature to confirm himself against Divine providence.
Furthermore, what is a greater or lesser position of advancement or greater or lesser wealth? Is it not in itself something that exists only in the mind? Is one person any more fortunate or happier than another? In the case of a great man, indeed in the case of a king or emperor, does he not regard his position after a year’s time only as something ordinary, which no longer exhilarates his heart with joy, and for which he in himself may even have little regard? Do they derive from their positions a greater degree of happiness than those do in a lesser position, indeed than those with very little status, such as farmers and also their servants? The latter may have a greater degree of happiness when things are going well for them and they are content with their lot.
What is more disquieted at heart, more often irate, and more deeply angered than love of self? This is the case as often as it is not honored in accordance with the exaltation of its heart, or as often as something does not go the way of its bidding or wish.
What, then, is advancement if it has no reality or use except in an idea of the mind? Can this idea be present in any other thought than thought of self and of the world, and in fact thought that in itself deems the world to be everything and eternity nothing?
[3] We will say something now about why Divine providence permits the impious at heart to be raised to positions of honor and to gain wealth. Impious or evil people can perform useful services just as well as pious or good ones, and indeed with greater fervor, for they regard themselves in the services, and the honors as the ends. Consequently the higher their love of self ascends, the more they are fired with a desire to perform useful services for the sake of their own glory.
The same fire is not found in pious or good people, unless it is kindled underneath by the honor they have.
The Lord therefore governs the impious at heart who are in positions of honor by the repute in which their name is held, and so spurs them to perform useful services for the commonwealth or country or the community or city in which they live, and also to the fellow citizen or neighbor with whom they are associated.
This is the Lord’s government that we call Divine providence with people of that character. For the Lord’s kingdom is a kingdom of useful endeavors, and where there are but few who are performing useful services for the sake of the useful services, He causes worshipers of self to be raised to higher positions of authority, in which each is spurred by his love to render good service.
[4] Imagine – even though one does not exist – a hellish kingdom in the world, where only loves of self reign, love of self being itself the devil. Would not everyone be impelled by the fire of self-love and the luster of his own glory to perform useful services more than in any other kingdom? Yet among them all the public welfare would be something served with the mouth, and their own welfare with the heart. And because everyone would look to his superior to make him greater, aspiring as he would to become the greatest, would it be possible for such a one to see that God exists? He would be surrounded as though by the smoke of a conflagration, through which no spiritual truth with its light could pass. I have seen such smoke surrounding the hells of people like this.
Light a lamp and investigate how many people there are in the kingdoms of today aspiring to positions of advancement who are not personifications of loves of self and the world. Will you find fifty in a thousand who are lovers of God, and among them other than a few who aspire to positions of advancement? So, since those who are lovers of God are so few in number, and the lovers of self and the world so many, and since lovers of the latter are spurred by their fires to perform more useful services than lovers of God by theirs, how then can anyone confirm himself against Divine providence in consequence of seeing more evil people than good having prestige and wealth?
[5] This, too, is corroborated by these words of the Lord:
The master commended the unjust steward because he had dealt shrewdly. For the sons of this age are more shrewd in their generation than the sons of light. So I say to you, make for yourselves friends of unrighteous mammon, that when you fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations. (Luke 16:8, 9)
The meaning of these words in the natural sense is apparent. In the spiritual sense, however, by unrighteous mammon are meant concepts of truth and good – concepts which the evil possess and which they use only to gain for themselves advancements and riches. It is these concepts which good people or the sons of light are to make friends of for themselves and which will receive them into everlasting habitations.
That many are lovers of self and the world, and few who are lovers of God, is something the Lord teaches, too, with these words:
. . . Wide is the gate and broad the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. But narrow. . . and confined is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it. (Matthew 7:13-14)
That advancements and riches are either curses or blessings, and for whom, may be seen above in no. 217.
It is on this account that evils cannot by any providence be prevented. For in that case they would remain shut in, and would, like the diseases called cancer and gangrene, spread and eat away every human spark of life. [2] For from birth a person is like a miniature hell, and between it and heaven there is perpetual dissension. No one can be withdrawn from his hell by the Lord unless the person sees that he is in it and wishes to be led out of it; and this cannot come about without permissions, the reasons for which are found in the laws of Divine providence.
That is why wars, lesser and greater, exist – lesser ones between owners of estates and their neighbors, and greater ones between rulers of kingdoms and their neighbors. It makes no difference whether the war is a lesser or greater one, except that a lesser one is kept within limits by national laws, and a greater one by international laws. And while both the lesser and the greater wish to transgress the laws that limit it, still the lesser one cannot, whereas the greater one can, though not beyond what is possible.
[3] As for why greater wars, in the case of kings and dukes, accompanied as they are by murders, lootings, acts of violence and savagery, are not prevented by the Lord either in the beginning or during their course, but at the end, when the power of one or the other has become so weak that he is faced with the impending peril of being destroyed – for this there are many reasons laid up in the treasure house of Divine wisdom, some of which have been revealed to me. Among them is this one, that all wars, though occurring on the civil plane, are representative of states of the church in heaven, and are corresponding parallels.
Such were all the wars described in the Word, and such also are all wars at the present day.
The wars described in the Word are those which the children of Israel waged against various nations, as against the Amorites, Ammonites, Moabites, Philistines, Syrians, Egyptians, Chaldeans, and Assyrians. And when the children of Israel, who represented the church, turned away from their precepts and statutes and fell into the evils which those nations symbolized – for each nation with whom the children of Israel waged war symbolized a particular kind of evil – then they were punished by that nation.
For instance, when they profaned the sanctities of the church by foul idolatries, they were punished by the Assyrians and Chaldeans; for Assyria and Chaldea symbolize profanation of the sacred.
What the wars with the Philistines symbolized may be seen in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding Faith, nos. 50-54.
[4] The like are represented by wars at the present day, wherever they occur. For everything that occurs in the natural world corresponds to something spiritual in the spiritual world, and everything spiritual has to do with the church.
People in this world do not know what kingdoms in Christendom relate to the Moabites and Ammonites, the Syrians and Philistines, and the Chaldeans and Assyrians, and to the rest of the nations with whom the children of Israel waged their wars, even though there are those that do. But the character of the church on earth, and the identity of the evils into which it falls and on whose account it is punished with wars, is not at all seen in the natural world, since in this world only external phenomena are apparent, which do not form the church. However, it is seen in the spiritual world, where the internal constituents in which the church itself resides are apparent. And in that world people are all associated in accordance with their various states. Their conflicts in the spiritual world correspond to wars, which are governed on each side in corresponding ways by the Lord in accordance with His Divine providence.
[5] That wars in the world are governed by the Lord’s Divine providence is something a spiritual person acknowledges, but not a natural person. A natural person does so only when a holiday is declared to celebrate a victory, that he may then thank God upon his knees for granting the victory, and with a few words, too, before going into battle. When he returns to his normal self, however, he then attributes the victory either to the shrewdness of the military commander or to some tactic or incident in the midst of the battle to which they had given no thought, but which nevertheless occasioned the victory.
6] It may be seen in no. 212 above that Divine providence, which people call luck, is active in the least particulars of things, even in trivial ones. If you acknowledge Divine providence in these, you must certainly acknowledge it in the circumstances of war. The successes and favorable outcomes of war are also called in common parlance the fortunes of war, and this is Divine providence, especially in the strategies and plans of the military commander, even though he atrributes all of this then and afterward to his own prudence.
But let him do so, if he likes, for he has complete freedom to think affirmatively of Divine providence or in opposition to it, indeed affirmatively of God or in opposition to Him. Only let him know that not a whit of any strategy or plan originates from him. Everything flows in either from heaven or from hell – from hell by permission, from heaven by providence.
[2] It makes no difference whether the commanding officer is an upright person or not for the same reason as established in no. 250 above, that evil people perform useful services just as well as good people, and owing to their fervor, more ardently than good people. Especially is this the case in war, because an evil person is craftier and more wily in contriving stratagems than a good one, and owing to his love of glory takes pleasure in killing and plundering those whom he knows or declares to be his enemies, whereas a good person is moved only by prudence and a zeal to protect, and rarely by the measure of prudence and zeal required to invade.
The case is the same as with spirits of hell and angels of heaven. Spirits of hell attack, and angels of heaven defend themselves.
From this issues the following conclusion, that everyone is allowed to defend his country and fellow citizens against invading enemies, even through the agency of evil commanders, but it is not allowable for someone to become himself a foe without cause. A cause found solely for the sake of glory is in itself diabolical, being the contrivance of a love of self.
But please listen. All people can be saved, however many are born and in whatever religion, provided they acknowledge God and live according to the commandments found in the Decalogue, namely not to murder, not to commit adultery, not to steal, and not to bear false witness, because to do these things is against religion, thus against God.
Such people have in them a fear of God and a love of the neighbor – a fear of God because they think that to do these things is against God, and a love of the neighbor because to murder, commit adultery, steal, bear false witness, and covet the neighbor’s house or wife is against the neighbor. Because they look to God in their life and do not do evil to the neighbor, they are led by the Lord, and those who are so led are also taught in accordance with their religion about God and the neighbor. For those who live thus love to be taught, whereas those who live otherwise do not. And because they love to be taught, they are also instructed by angels after death, when they become spirits, and they willingly accept such truths as are found in the Word.
Some observations relating to these matters may be seen in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Sacred Scripture, nos. 91-97 and 104-113.
For no one has any religion on his own, but receives it from someone else who knows from the Word, either independently or by transmission from others, that there is a God, a heaven and a hell, and life after death, and that God must be worshiped for a person to be among the blessed. [2] It may be seen in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Sacred Scripture, nos. 101-103, that religion was transmitted throughout the world from the Ancient Word and later from the Israelite Word, and in nos. 114-118 there, that without the Word no one would have had any knowledge of God, of heaven and hell, of life after death, and still less of the Lord.
Once religion has been implanted, that nation is led by the Lord in accordance with the precepts and tenets of its religion, and the Lord has provided that every religion contain precepts like those in the Decalogue, as that God is to be worshiped, that His name is not to be profaned, that a holy day is to be observed, that parents are to be honored, and that one is not to murder, commit adultery, steal, or bear false witness. The nation that makes these precepts Divine, and lives according to them in conformity with religion, is saved, as we said just above in no. 253.
Most nations far removed from the Christian world also regard these laws not as civil laws, but as Divine ones, and hold them sacred.
That a person is saved by living in accordance with these precepts may be seen from beginning to end in The Doctrine of Life for the New Jerusalem in Accordance with the Precepts of the Decalogue.
[3] Among the secrets of heaven is also this one, that the angelic heaven is, in the Lord’s sight, as though a single person, whose soul and life is the Lord. Moreover this Divine person is, in respect to its whole form, human, not only in respect to its external members and organs, but also in respect to its internal members and organs, of which there are many, and so, too, in respect to its integuments, membranes, cartilaginous tissues, and bones – though none of these in that person is material, but all spiritual. And the Lord has provided that it be possible also for those people to whom the Gospel could not be conveyed, but only some form of religion, to have a place in that Divine person as well, that is to say, in heaven, by their composing those constituents called integuments, membranes, cartilaginous tissues, and bones, and that they like others experience heavenly joy. For it does not matter whether their joy is like that of angels in the highest heaven or like that of angels in the lowest heaven, inasmuch as everyone who enters into heaven enters into his heart’s highest joy. He can bear no higher one, since he would be suffocated in it.
[4] The case is comparatively like that of a peasant and a king. The peasant may experience the highest joy when going about in a new garment of coarse wool or sitting at a table laden with a cut of pork, a bit of beef, cheese, beer, and mulled wine. He would be anxious at heart if he were to be dressed like a king in purple, silk, gold and silver, or if he had placed before him a table laden with many kinds of delicacies and sumptuous foods accompanied by vintage wine.
It is apparent from this that those who are last experience heavenly happiness as well as those who are first, each on his own level. So, too, do those who are outside the Christian world, provided they refrain from evils as sins against God, because they are contrary to religion.
[5] There are a few people who are entirely ignorant of God. If these have lived a moral life, they are, after death, instructed by angels and acquire a spiritual quality in their moral life, as may be seen in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Sacred Scripture, no. 116.
The same is the case with people who worship the sun and moon, believing God to be there. They know nothing else, and therefore it is not imputed to them as a sin. For the Lord says, “If you were blind” – which is to say, if you did not know – “you would have no sin” (John 9:41).
There are, however, many in the Christian world as well who worship idols and graven images. This is, indeed, idolatrous, but not in all cases. In some cases the carved figures serve as a means of prompting thought of God. For influx from heaven causes people who acknowledge God to wish to see Him, and because they cannot raise their mind above sensual concepts as those do who are inwardly spiritual, they use the carved figure or image to stimulate it. People who do this and do not worship the carved figure itself as God are saved if in addition they live the precepts of the Decalogue in conformity with their religion.
[6] It is apparent from this that because the Lord wills the salvation of all, He has also provided that it be possible for everyone to have some place in heaven if he has lived rightly.
(The fact that heaven in the Lord’s sight is as though a single person, that heaven therefore corresponds to each and all of the constituents in a person, and that there are those inhabitants who have relation to the integuments, membranes, cartilaginous tissues, and bones, may be seen in nos. 59-102 in the book Heaven and Hell, published in London in 1758, and in nos. 5552-5569 in Arcana Coelestia [The Secrets of Heaven]; and also in nos. 201-204 above.)
The Divine providence in the present instance lies in this, that the Muslim religion acknowledges the Lord as the Son of God, the wisest of men, and as a very great prophet, who came into the world to teach mankind. A large majority of its adherents make Him greater than Muhammad.
[2] To have it fully known that this religion was raised up of the Lord’s Divine providence to put an end to the idolatries of many nations, we need to consider it in some order. First, then, regarding the origin of idolatrous worship:
Before the Muslim religion arose, worship of idols commonly existed throughout the world. The reason for this was that the churches before the Lord’s Advent were all representational churches. The Israelite Church was even such a church. The tabernacle in it, the vestments of Aaron, the sacrifices, all the appointments of the Temple at Jerusalem, and moreover the statutes, were representative. Furthermore, among the ancients there was a knowledge of correspondences, which includes a knowledge of representations. It was the principal study of the wise, cultivated especially by the Egyptians, from which came their hieroglyphics.
From that study they knew what animals of every kind symbolized, also trees of every kind, likewise mountains, hills, rivers, springs, and so too the sun, moon and stars. And because all of their worship was representational, consisting of nothing but correspondent forms, therefore they held rites of worship on mountains and hills, and likewise in groves and gardens. Therefore they also consecrated springs, and in their venerations turned their faces to the rising eastern sun. Moreover they made carved images of horses, bulls, calves, lambs, indeed of birds, fishes, and serpents, and placed these in their houses and elsewhere, setting them in an order to reflect the spiritual things of the church to which they corresponded or which they represented.
They also placed objects like these in their temples, to recall to mind the sacred things which the objects symbolized.
[3] Sometime later, when a knowledge of correspondences became extinguished, their posterity began to worship the carved figures themselves as sacred in themselves, not knowing that their ancient forebears did not see any intrinsic sacredness in them, but only that they represented and so symbolized sacred things by virtue of their correspondences. In consequence of this idolatries arose, which filled the whole world, both the Asiatic world with its surrounding islands and the African and European worlds.
In order to eradicate all these idolatries, it came to pass of the Lord’s Divine providence that a new religion was introduced, accommodated to the native characters of eastern peoples, in which there would be something from each of the two Testaments of the Word – a religion which would teach that the Lord came into the world, and that He was a very great prophet, the wisest of all men, and the Son of God. This was accomplished through Muhammad, from whom this religion received the name Muhammadanism.
[4] This religion was raised up of the Lord’s Divine providence and accommodated, as said, to the native characters of eastern peoples, in order to put an end to the idolatries of so many nations, and to provide them with some awareness of the Lord before they came into the spiritual world. This religion would not have been adopted by so many countries, and would not have been able to eradicate their idolatries, unless it was conformable and adapted to the ideas of all their thoughts and life.
The reason it did not acknowledge the Lord as God of heaven and earth was that eastern peoples acknowledged God to be the Creator of the universe, and they could not comprehend how He could come into the world and assume a humanity – even as Christians do not comprehend it, who in their thinking therefore separate His Divinity from His humanity, and place His Divinity alongside the Father in heaven, and His humanity they know not where.
[5] It can be seen from this that the Muslim religion also arose of the Lord’s Divine providence, and that all the adherents of that religion come into heaven who acknowledge the Lord as the Son of God and who at the same time, by refraining from evils as sins, live according to the precepts of the Decalogue, which they, too, have.
They come into a heaven called the Muslim heaven. This heaven, too, has been divided into three heavens – a highest one, an intermediate one, and a lowest one. In the highest heaven are those who acknowledge the Lord as one with the Father, and thus as being Himself the only God. In the second heaven are those who renounce a plurality of wives and live with only one. And in the lowest heaven are those who are being initiated.
More about this religion may be seen in A Continuation Concerning the Last Judgment and the Spiritual World, nos. 68-72, where Muslims and Muhammad are discussed.
[2] Nor does it matter whether a smaller or larger part of the world has accepted the Christian religion as long as there are people who have the Word among them; for those who are not in the church and do not have the Word still have light from it, as we showed in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Sacred Scripture, nos. 104-113.
Moreover, wonderful to say, where the Word is read reverently and the Lord worshiped in the light of the Word, there the Lord is present with heaven. And the reason is that the Lord is the Word, and the Word is the Divine truth which produces heaven. Therefore the Lord says,
. . . where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them. (Matthew 18:20)
This can be brought about by Europeans with the Word in many parts of the habitable world, because they engage in commerce all over the world and everywhere either read the Word or teach from it.
This seems to be a fabrication, but yet it is the truth.
[3] The reason the Christian religion has split into sects is that it is founded on the Word, and the Word was written solely in terms of things that correspond; and things that correspond are in great part appearances of truth, though appearances in which genuine truths lie enclosed. So, because the church’s doctrine has to be drawn from the literal sense of the Word, which is of such a character, it was inevitable that disputes, controversies and dissents arise in the church, especially as regards the interpretation of the Word. But not in respect to the Word itself or in respect to the Lord’s essential Divinity. For Christians everywhere acknowledge that the Word is holy and that the Lord possesses a Divinity, and these are the two essential tenets of the church. Therefore people who deny the Lord’s Divinity – the kind of people called Socinians* – have also been excommunicated from the church; and those who deny the holiness of the Word are not regarded as Christian.
To this I will add a remarkable account concerning the Word, from which one may conclude that the Word is inwardly Divine truth itself, and inmostly the Lord. [4] Whenever any spirit opens the Word and rubs his face or clothing with it, his face or clothing – owing simply to the rubbing – then shines as brightly as the moon or a star, and this in the sight of all whom he meets. This phenomenon attests that there is nothing in the world more holy than the Word.
It may be seen in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Sacred Scripture, nos. 5-26, that the Word was written solely in terms of things that correspond. In nos. 50-61 there, that the church’s doctrine is to be drawn from the Word’s literal sense and verified by it. In nos. 91-97, that heresies may be seized on from the Word’s literal sense, but that it is harmful to affirm them. And in nos. 76-79, that the church is founded on the Word, and that its character is such as its understanding of the Word.
* Disciples of Laelius Socinus (born Lelio Francesco Maria Sozini), 1525-1562, and his nephew Faustus Socinus (Fausto Paolo Sozzini), 1539-1604, who rejected a number of traditional Christian doctrines, such as the Trinity, the Divinity of Christ, and original sin, and who held that Christ was miraculously begotten, and that salvation is granted to those who adopt Christ’s virtues.
2] Who does not see that to do as described is the Babylon depicted in the book of Revelation? And that it is the Babylon mentioned here and there in the Prophets? It is also Lucifer in Isaiah 14,* as is apparent from verses 4 and 22 in that chapter, where we find these words:
. . . you will take up this parable concerning the king of Babylon. . . (Isaiah 14:4)
Later,
. . . I will cut off from Babylon the name and remnant. . . (Isaiah 14:22)
It is clear from this that Babylon there is Lucifer, of whom it is said,
How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! . . . But you have said in your heart: “I will ascend to the heavens; I will exalt my throne above the stars of God, and I will sit on the mount of meeting, on the sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.” (Isaiah 14:12-14)
That they invoke people now deceased and pray to them for aid is common knowledge. We say that they invoke them, because invoking them was established by a papal bull confirming the decree of the Council of Trent, in which it is openly said that they are to be invoked.** Yet who does not know that God alone is to be invoked, and not any person deceased?
[3] But we shall now say why the Lord has permitted such a state of affairs. That He has permitted it for the sake of the end, which is salvation, no one can deny. For people know that apart from the Lord there is no salvation; and this being the case, it was necessary that the Lord be preached from the Word and that the Christian Church be thereby established. This could not have been achieved, however, except by leaders driven by zeal to accomplish it. Nor were any to be found but people who were caught up in a heat resembling zeal from the fire of self-love. This fire stirred them at first to preach the Lord and teach the Word. It is because of this initial state of theirs that Lucifer is called “son of the dawn” (Isaiah 14:12). Yet as they began to see that they could use the sanctities of the Word and the church to rule, their love of self, which had stirred them at first to preach the Lord, broke out from within, and eventually exalted itself to such a peak that they transferred all of the Lord’s Divine power to themselves, leaving nothing of it unclaimed.
[4] This the Lord’s Divine providence could not prevent, for if it had prevented it, they would have proclaimed the Lord not to be God, and the Word not to be holy, and they would have made themselves Socinians*** or Arians,**** and so would have destroyed the whole church. Yet whatever the character of its leaders, the church still remains with the people subject to them. For all people of that religion who go to the Lord and refrain from evils as sins are saved. Consequently there are many heavenly societies of them in the spiritual world. Moreover, it has been provided, too, that a nation exist among them which has not submitted to the yoke of such domination and which holds the Word sacred. The French nation is this noble nation.
[5] But what has happened? When the love of self elevated its rule even to the Lord’s throne, removed Him, and placed itself upon it, that love – which is Lucifer – could not but have profaned every thing having to do with the Word and the church. To keep this from happening, the Lord through His Divine providence took care that they turned away from worship of Him and began to invoke persons deceased, to pray to carved images of them, to kiss their bones and kneel at their tombs, to prohibit the Word’s being read, to place sacred worship in masses not understood by the common people,***** and to sell salvation for money, since, if they had not done these things, they would have profaned the sanctities of the Word and the church. For as we showed in the preceding chapter, sacred things are profaned only by people who are acquainted with them.
[6] To keep them from profaning the most holy Holy Supper, therefore, of the Lord’s Divine providence they were led to separate the elements, and to give the bread to the people while drinking the wine themselves. For the wine in the Holy Supper symbolizes holy truth, and the bread holy good; but when they are separated, the wine symbolizes truth profaned, and the bread good adulterated. Moreover, they were also led to make the Holy Supper physical and material, and to adopt it as the primary focus of religion.
Anyone who pays attention to each of these points and weighs them in a state of some mental enlightenment can see the wondrous workings of Divine providence to protect the sanctities of the church and to save all people whatsoever who can be saved, and in snatching from the fire, so to speak, those who wish to be snatched from it.
* Isaiah 14:12.
** The Council of Trent in Austria was convened over three separate periods of time from 1545 to 1563. The invocation of saints was a subject dealt with briefly during the last session in early December, 1563, which asked bishops to remind the faithful to call on the saints to obtain their aid in gaining the favor of God and Christ.
*** Disciples of Laelius Socinus (born Lelio Francesco Maria Sozini), 1525-1562, and his nephew Faustus Socinus (Fausto Paolo Sozzini), 1539-1604, who rejected a number of traditional Christian doctrines, such as the Trinity, the Divinity of Christ, and original sin, and who held that Christ was miraculously begotten, and that salvation is granted to those who adopt Christ’s virtues.
**** Adherents of Arianism, a theological view based on the teachings of Arius (c. 250-336), who taught that Christ the Son was a created being, not consubstantial with God the Father, and thus not Divine.
***** Latin became the official language of Roman Catholicism from the 6th century on and remain essentially unchanged even as in the common use it evolved into what we today call the Romance languages, or was displaced by Germanic tongues. The result was to make the Word and the Church’s masses unintelligible to the laity until the time of the Second Vatical Council (1962-65), which decreed that masses be said in the vernacular.
[2] That such a doctrine has also been permitted is of Divine providence, to keep the Lord’s Divinity and the holiness of the Word from being profaned. The Lord’s Divinity is not profaned when salvation is placed in uttering this phrase, “May God the Father be merciful for the sake of the Son who suffered the cross and made satisfaction for us.” For in so doing they have recourse not to the Lord’s Divinity but to His humanity, which they do not acknowledge as Divine. Nor is the Word profaned, because they do not pay any attention to those places where love, charity, doing, and works are mentioned. These they say are all included in the faith expressed in the aforesaid phrase. Moreover, those who maintain this say to themselves, “The law does not condemn me, and so neither does evil; and good does not save, because any good I do is not good.” Consequently they are similar in character to people who do not know any truth from the Word, and who therefore cannot profane it.
The faith expressed in the formula above, however, is defended only by people who from a love of self are caught up in a conceit in their own intelligence. These are not Christians at heart, but only wish to be seen as such.
[3] We shall now say how the Lord’s Divine providence continually operates to save those people in whom faith divorced from charity has been made an article of religion.
It is of the Lord’s Divine providence that even though that faith has been made an article of religion, still everyone knows that it is not that faith that saves, but a life of charity with which faith is united. For in all churches where that religion has been adopted, they teach that there is no salvation unless a person examines himself, sees his sins, acknowledges them, repents of them, desists from them, and embarks on a new life. This is read out with great zeal before all those approaching the Holy Supper, with the added admonition that unless they do this, they commingle the sacred with the profane and propel themselves into eternal damnation. In England, indeed, it is added that unless they do this, the devil will enter into them as it did into Judas, and will destroy them in soul and body.
It is apparent from this that in the churches in which faith alone has been adopted, everyone is still taught that evils are to be shunned as sins.
[4] Furthermore, everyone who is born a Christian also knows that evils are to be shunned as sins, because every boy and every girl has the Decalogue placed in his or her hands and they are taught it by parents and teachers. Moreover the citizens of the kingdom, in particular the common people, are all examined by a priest to see what they know of the Christian religion, by asking them simply to recite the Decalogue from memory, and he also admonishes them to keep the commandments found there. They are never told by any cleric then that they are not under the yoke of that law, or that they can not keep the commandments because they cannot do any good of themselves.
The Athanasian Creed* has been adopted, too, throughout the Christian world, and what is said there at the end is also acknowledged, that the Lord will come to judge the living and the dead, and that at that time those who have done good works will enter into eternal life, and those who have done evil works into eternal fire.
[5] In Sweden, where the religion of faith alone has been adopted, it is also plainly taught that a faith divorced from charity or without good works is not possible – this in a certain cautionary appendix inserted into all books of the Psalms, called Obotf�rdigas F�rhinder, “Hindrances or Obstacles to the Impenitent,”** which contains these words:
Those who are rich in good works demonstrate by this that they are rich in faith, since it is faith, when it is a saving faith, that accomplishes these through charity. For a justifying faith never exists alone and apart from good works, as a good tree does not apart from good fruits, as the sun does not apart from light and warmth, and as water does not apart from wetness.
[6] We have presented these few observations to make it known that even though a religion of faith alone has been adopted, still goods of charity, namely good works, are everywhere taught, and this owing to the Lord’s Divine providence, to keep the masses from being led astray by that faith.
I have spoken several times with Luther in the spiritual world, and I have heard him renounce faith alone and say that when he established it, he was warned by an angel of the Lord not to do it. But he thought to himself, he said, that if he did not reject good works, a separation from the Catholic religion would not be achieved. Therefore despite the warning he maintained that faith.
* A profession of faith beginning with the words “Quicunque vult” and widely used in western Christianity. Attributed in earlier centuries to Athanasius (see note 1, number 46), it became known also as the Athanasian Creed; but modern scholarship no longer ascribes it to him but to some other, unknown, western writer.
** A cautionary appendix inserted in all Swedish Lutheran psalmbooks prior to 1819, from which the writer took the following in The Apocalypse Explained, no. 885:5: “The holy will of God and His manifest command is for those who believe to perform good works. When these are done for just reasons and aim at a true end, which look especially to the glory of God and service of the neighbor, then they are acceptable to God for Christ’s sake. Indeed, out of pure mercy He rewards them, even so that man has recompense for every good that he does. For God bestows praise and honor, and eternal blessing, on those who patiently pursue eternal life through works. Therefore God also regards as closely the works of men as He showed in His declaration to the seven churches in Asia [Revelation 2, 3], and to all men where the Last Judgment is spoken of. So, too, the Apostle Paul, to exhort his listeners to good works, employed these admonitions, saying, ‘Let us not weary to do good, for in due time we shall reap it without ceasing’ [Galatians 6:8, 9, cf. 2 Thessalonians 3:13]. Consequently those who are rich in good works manifest by this that they are rich in faith, since it is faith, when it is a living faith, that accomplishes these through charity. Indeed, faith, which alone justifies, never exists alone and apart, but carries with it good works, as a good tree does good fruits, as the sun does light, as fire does heat, and as water does wetness.”
But use your reason, and think more deeply if you can. Is it possible for a person to be saved without first being reformed? For the human being is born into a love of self and love of the world, and as these loves do not carry in them any love toward God or any love for the neighbor except for the sake of self, he is born also into evils of every kind. What measure of love or mercy is found in these loves? Does either make it of any account to defraud another, to slander him, to hate him even to the point of desiring his death, to commit adultery with his wife, or to rage against him when consumed with vengeance, seeing that each is so disposed as to wish to be supreme over all people and to possess the goods of all others, thus to regard others as inferior and as insignificant in comparison to self?
For such a person to be saved, must he not first be withdrawn from those evils and so be reformed? This cannot be accomplished except in accordance with many laws, laws that are laws of Divine providence, as we have shown several times above. These laws are for the most part unknown, and yet they are ones of Divine wisdom and at the same time Divine love, which the Lord cannot act in opposition to, for to act in opposition to them would be to destroy a person and not save him. Go over the laws that we have presented, compare them, and you will see.
[2] So then, since it is also according to those laws that there be no direct influx from heaven, but an indirect one through the Word, doctrinal instruction, and preaching, and that the Word, to be Divine, had to be written solely in terms of things that correspond, it follows that disagreements and heresies are inevitable, and that the permittings of these take place also according to laws of Divine providence.
And furthermore there is this: When a church has itself taken as its essential tenets such beliefs as pertain to the intellect alone, consequently which are matters of doctrine and not of the will, thus not of a person’s life, and when concerns affecting a person’s life are not essential concerns of the church, then a person with his intellect is in nothing but darkness, and he wanders about like a blind man, everywhere stumbling and falling into pits. For the will must see in the intellect, and not the intellect in the will; or to say the same thing, one’s life and its love must lead the intellect to think, speak and act, and not the reverse. If the reverse were to occur, the intellect could be led by an evil love, even a diabolical one, to seize on whatever strikes it through the senses and direct the will to do it.
One can see from this the reasons for disagreements and heresies.
[3] But still it has been provided that no matter what heresy a person is caught up in as regards his intellect, everyone can still be reformed and saved provided he refrains from evils as sins and does not defend in himself the heresy’s falsities. For by refraining from evils as sins the will is reformed, and through the will the intellect, which comes for the first time then from darkness into light.
There are three essential components of the church: acknowledgment of the Lord’s Divinity; acknowledgment of the holiness of the Word; and living the life called charity. Everyone has faith according as he lives a life of charity; from the Word he has a concept of what that life must be; and from the Lord he gains reformation and salvation.
If these three had been regarded as the church’s essential components, intellectual disagreements would not have divided it, but only varied it, as light varies colors in beautiful objects, or as various jewels produce the beauty in a king’s crown.
But people who think in this way and so call Divine providence into question do not know that by Jews in the Word are meant all who are in the church and acknowledge the Lord, and that by the land of Canaan into which it says they were to be introduced is meant the Lord’s church.
[2] Moreover, they persist in their denial of the Lord because their character is such that if they were to accept and acknowledge the Lord’s Divinity and the sanctities of His church, they would profane them. Therefore the Lord says of them,
He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart lest they see with their eyes and understand with their heart and convert, and I heal them. (John 12:40; also Matt. 13:14, Mark 4:12, Luke 8:10, Isaiah 6:9, 10)
The text says, “Lest they convert, and I heal them,” because if they had converted and been healed, they would have committed profanation. Moreover, it accords with the law of Divine providence discussed above in nos. 221-233, that no one is admitted by the Lord more interiorly into truths of faith and goods of charity than the extent to which he can be maintained in them to the end of his life, and that if he were to be admitted, he would profane things that are sacred.
[3] That this nation has been preserved and dispersed over much of the earth is for the sake of the Word in its original language, which they, more than Christians, hold sacred, and in every particular of which the Lord’s Divinity is present. For the Word is Divine truth that emanates in union with Divine good from the Lord, and accordingly the Word is the means of the Lord’s conjunction with the church and of the presence of heaven, as we showed in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Sacred Scripture, nos. 62-69 – the presence of the Lord and heaven existing everywhere the Word is read reverently. This is the objective of Divine providence, for the sake of which the Jewish people have been preserved and dispersed over much of the earth.
What their lot is like after death may be seem in A Continuation Concerning the Last Judgment and the Spiritual World, nos. 79-82.
Athanasius* himself could not think otherwise, and therefore he says in the creed** named after him,
Although in accord with Christian verity we ought to acknowledge each person to be God and Lord, still we are not permitted by the Christian faith to say or name three Gods or three Lords.
Nothing else is meant by this but that we ought to acknowledge three Gods and Lords, but are not permitted to say or name three Gods or three Lords.
[2] Who can possibly conceive of one God without His being also one in person? If someone should say that he can if he thinks of the three as having one essence, who has or can have from this any other concept than that they are thus of one mind and agree, but still are three Gods?
Moreover, if one thinks more deeply, he says to himself, “How can the Divine essence, which is infinite, be divided? And how can that essence from eternity beget another, and produce still another to emanate from them both?”
If someone should say that it is something to be believed and not thought about, who does not think about that which he is told is to be believed? From what else comes the acknowledgment which is faith in its essence?
Is it not thinking of God as three persons that has given rise to Socinianism*** and Arianism,**** which reign in the hearts of more people than you suppose?
Belief in one God, and that that God is the Lord, forms the church, for in Him exists the Divine Trinity. The reality of this may be seen from beginning to end in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Lord.
[3] But what do people think regarding the Lord today? Do they not think that He is God and Man – God from the Father Jehovah from whom He was conceived, and Man from the Virgin Mary from whom He was born? Who thinks that the God and Man in Him, or His Divinity and humanity, are one person, and that they are one as the soul and body are one? Does anyone know this? Ask the theologians of the church and they will say they do not know it, even though it accords with the doctrine of the church accepted throughout the Christian world, such as the following statement:
Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is God and man. . . . And although He is God and man, yet they are not two but one Christ; being one. . . because the Divine took to Him manhood; being, indeed, one altogether, for. . . He is one person, since as the. . . soul and body constitute one man, so God and man is one Christ. (From the Athanasian Faith or Creed)
The theologians have not known it because, when they have read this, they have not thought of the Lord as God, but only as man.
[4] If you ask the same people whether they know from whom the Lord was conceived, from God the Father or from His own Divinity, they will reply, “From God the Father,” because this accords with Scripture. Are not the Father and He then one, as the soul and body are one?
Who can suppose that the Lord was conceived from two Divines? And if from His own Divinity, that this would be His father?
If you inquire further and ask, “What is your concept of the Lord’s Divinity, and of His humanity?” they will say that His Divinity is of the substance of the Father, and His humanity of the substance of the mother, and that His Divinity resides with the Father. If you then inquire again and ask where His humanity is, they will make no reply, for in their conception they separate His Divinity and humanity, and make His Divinity equal to the Divinity of the Father, and His humanity like the humanity of any other person, unaware that in doing so they also separate the soul and body. Nor do they see the logical inconsistency, that in that case He would have been born a rational being from the mother alone.
[5] From the idea impressed upon them regarding the Lord’s humanity, that it was like the humanity of any other person, it has come to pass that a Christian can hardly be led to entertain the thought of a Divine Humanity, even if he be told that the Lord’s soul or life from conception was and is Jehovah Himself.
Gather together the arguments now and consider whether there is any other God of the universe than the Lord alone, in whom is the Divine itself from which all else springs and which is called the Father, the Divine Humanity which is called the Son, and the emanating Divinity which is called the Holy Spirit, so that there is one God in person and essence, that God being the Lord.
[6] If you persist, saying that the Lord Himself named three in Matthew –
Go. . . and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father. . . , of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. . . . (Matthew 28:19) –
it is nevertheless apparent from the verse immediately preceding there and the one following next that He said this to make it known that having now been glorified, He had in Him a Divine trinity. In the verse immediately preceding He says that all power had been given to Him in heaven and on earth, and in the verse following next He says that He would be with them even to the end of the age, thus speaking of Himself alone, and not of three.
[7] Now as regards Divine providence and why it has permitted Christians to worship the one God in the form of three persons, or in other words, three Gods, and not to have known previously that God is one in person and essence, in whom is the Trinity, and that that God is the Lord, the reason lies not in the Lord but in mankind itself. The Lord has taught the real case clearly in His Word, as can be seen from all those passages cited in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Lord. And He has taught it also in the doctrine of all the churches, in which it is said that His Divinity and humanity are not two but one person, united as the soul and body.
[8] Yet Christians divided the Lord’s Divinity and humanity, making His Divinity on a par with the Divinity of the Father Jehovah, and His humanity on a par with the humanity of any other person, and the first reason for this was that after its rise the church degenerated into Babylon, which transferred the Lord’s Divine power to itself. But lest the power be termed Divine rather than human, they made the Lord’s humanity to be like the humanity of any other person. And later, when the church was reformed and faith alone was accepted as the sole means of salvation, which teaches that God the Father is moved to pity for the sake of the Son, the Lord’s humanity again could not be regarded any otherwise. It could not because no one can turn to the Lord and at heart acknowledge Him as God of heaven and earth unless he lives according to the Lord’s precepts. In the spiritual world, where everyone is constrained to speak as he thinks, no one can even utter the name Jesus unless he lived as a Christian in the world. This, too, is of the Lord’s Divine providence, to keep His name from being profaned.
* A Christian cleric, c. 296 – 373, from Alexandria, Egypt, and later canonized, who at the first Council of Nicea in 325 A.D. participated in the debate against Arianism, a theological view based on the teachings of Arius (c. 250-336), who taught that Christ the Son was a created being, not consubstantial with God the Father, and thus not fully Divine. As Bishop of Alexandria (328 – 373) Athanasius continued to speak and write against the Arian heresy, becoming its greatest and most consistent theological opponent, and because of it he was removed from his see and forced to flee five times between 335 and 365. A profession of faith beginning with the words “Quicunque vult” and widely used in western Christianity was attributed to him, and became known also as the Athanasian Creed; but modern scholarship no longer ascribes it to him but to some other, unknown western writer.
** A profession of faith beginning with the words “Quicunque vult” and widely used in western Christianity. Attributed in earlier centuries to Athanasius (see note 1, number 46), it became known also as the Athanasian Creed; but modern scholarship no longer ascribes it to him but to some other, unknown, western writer.
*** The theological position of Laelius Socinus (born Lelio Francesco Maria Sozini), 1525-1562, and his nephew Faustus Socinus (Fausto Paolo Sozzini), 1539-1604, who rejected a number of traditional Christian doctrines, as the Trinity, the Divinity of Christ, and original sin, and who held that Christ was miraculously begotten, and that salvation is granted to those who adopt Christ’s virtues. Socinianism found continuing expression in Unitarianism, lasting to the present day.
**** A theological view based on the teachings of Arius (c. 250-336), who taught that Christ the Son was a created being, not consubstantial with God the Father, and thus not Divine.
That God and man in the Lord are, according to the doctrine, not two but one person, and altogether one, as the soul and body are one, is clearly apparent from many things which He Himself said. As for example:
That the Father and He are one.*
That all things of the Father are His, and all His the Father’s.**
That He is in the Father, and the Father in Him.***
That all things have been given into His hand.****
That He has all power.*****
That He is the God of heaven and earth.******
That whoever believes in Him has eternal life.******* (And that he who does not believe in Him, the wrath of God abides on him.********)
And further, that both His Divinity and His humanity were taken up into heaven, and that He sits with both at the right hand of God, meaning that He is omnipotent.*********
See also the many other statements we have presented from the Word in abundance above concerning His Divine humanity – all of which attest that God is one in both person and essence, in whom is the Trinity, and that that God is the Lord.
[2] These observations about the Lord are now for the first time made public because it was foretold in the book of Revelation, chapters 21 and 22, that a new church would be established at the end of the former one, in which this would be the primary tenet.
It is this church that is there meant by the New Jerusalem, which no one can enter but one who acknowledges the Lord alone as God of heaven and earth, on which account that church is there called the Lamb’s wife.
I can, moreover, report the following, that the whole of heaven acknowledges the Lord alone, and that anyone who does not acknowledge Him is not admitted into heaven. For heaven is heaven owing to the Lord. That very acknowledgment, made out of love and faith, causes the inhabitants to be in the Lord and the Lord in them, as He teaches in John:
At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. (John 14:20)
Also in the same book:
Abide in Me, and I in you. . . . I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out. . . . (John 15:4-6. See also 17:22, 23)
[3] This has not been seen from the Word before because, even if it had been, it would not have been accepted. For the Last Judgment had not yet taken place, and prior to that the power of hell prevailed over the power of heaven, with mankind in the middle between heaven and hell. Consequently if this had been seen before, the devil, that is to say, hell, would have snatched it from their hearts and moreover profaned it.
This state as regards the power of hell was completely broken by the Last Judgment, which has now taken place.
Since then, thus at the present time, every person who wills to be enlightened and to become wise, can. . . .
* John 10:30.
** John 16:15, 17:10.
*** John 10:38, 14:10, 11.
**** Matthew 11:27; Luke 10:22; John 3:35, 13:3.
***** Matthew 28:18.
****** John 8:58, 14:6-9.
******* John 3:14, 15, 36. Cf. Matthew 19:29; John 6:54, 10:28.
******** John 3:36.
********* Mark 16:19; Acts 2:29-33; 1 Peter 3:21, 22.
Whether the person is a prelate or the servant of a prelate, however, is a matter of the Lord’s good pleasure. He knows the character of the one and of the other.
But the reason the spiritual meaning of the Word has not been revealed before is that:
1. If it had been, the church would have profaned it, and profaned thereby the very sanctity of the Word.
2. Nor did the Lord reveal the genuine truths of which the spiritual meaning of the Word consists until after the Last Judgment took place and He was about to establish the new church meant by the Holy Jerusalem.
But let us examine each of these reasons in turn.
[2] FIRST, that the spiritual meaning of the Word was not revealed before, because if it had been, the church would have profaned it, and profaned thereby the very sanctity of the Word: Not long after it was established, the church was turned into Babylon, and later into Philistia. And although Babylon indeed acknowledges the Word, still it disdains it, saying that the Holy Spirit inspires them equally in their supreme judgment as it did the prophets.
Roman Catholics acknowledge the Word because of the vicarship established by the Lord’s words to Peter, but still disdain it because it does not accord with their doctrine. Therefore they have also taken it from the people and hidden it away in monasteries, where few read it. Consequently, if the spiritual meaning of the Word had been disclosed, in which the Lord is present and at the same time all angelic wisdom, they would have profaned the Word, not only as happens now in respect to its outmost constituents, which are those contained in the literal sense, but also in respect to its inmost ones.
[3] Philistia, by which we mean faith divorced from charity, also would have profaned the spiritual meaning of the Word, because it places salvation in certain phrases that people are to think and say, and not in any goods that they are to do, as we have shown before. And thus it makes saving what is not saving, and furthermore takes the intellect away from things that should be believed. What then would it do with the light in which the spiritual meaning of the Word exists? Would it not turn that light into darkness? When it turns the natural meaning of the Word into darkness, what would it not do with the spiritual meaning?
Of those people who have confirmed themselves in faith divorced from charity and in justification by that faith alone, who among them wishes to know what goodness of life is, what love toward the Lord and love for the neighbor are, what charity and goods of charity are, and what good works and the doing of them are, indeed what faith is in its essence, and something of the genuine truth that forms it? They write volumes defending only what they call faith, and say that everything we have just listed is included in that faith of theirs.
It is apparent from this that if the spiritual meaning of the Word had been disclosed before, the result would have been according to the Lord’s words in Matthew:
If your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness! (Matthew 6:23)
In the Word’s spiritual sense, by the eye is meant the intellect.
[4] SECOND, that the Lord did not reveal the genuine truths of which the spiritual meaning of the Word consists until after the Last Judgment took place and He was about to establish the new church meant by the Holy Jerusalem: In the book of Revelation the Lord prophesied that after the Last Judgment took place, genuine truths would be disclosed, a new church established, and the spiritual meaning revealed.
That the Last Judgment has taken place we showed in a short work titled The Last Judgment, and afterward in a Continuation Concerning the Last Judgment, and that this is what is meant by the heaven and earth that would pass away (Revelation 21:1).
That genuine truths would then be disclosed was foretold in the book of Revelation by these words: “He who sat on the throne said, ‘Behold, I make all things new.'” (Revelation 21:5. See also 19:17, 18, 21:18-21, 22:1, 2)
That the spiritual meaning of the Word would then be revealed, see Revelation 19:11-16. This is what is meant by the white horse, whose rider was called the Word of God, and who was King of Kings and Lord of Lords (on which subject see my short work The White Horse).
That by the Holy Jerusalem is meant a new church that the Lord would establish then, see The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Lord, no. 62-65, where we demonstrated this.
[5] From this it is now apparent that the Word’s spiritual meaning was to be revealed for a new church that will acknowledge and worship the Lord alone, hold His Word sacred, love Divine truths, and reject faith divorced from charity.
But more on this meaning of the Word may be seen in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Sacred Scripture, nos. 5-26 and thereafter. One may see there, for example, the following:
What the spiritual meaning is, nos. 5-26.
That there is a spiritual meaning in each and every constituent of the Word, nos. 9-17.
That it is owing to the spiritual meaning that the Word is Divinely inspired and holy in every word, nos. 18, 19.
That the spiritual meaning has been previously unknown, and why it has not been revealed before, nos. 20-25.
That the spiritual meaning is granted hereafter only to someone who possesses genuine truths from the Lord, nos. 26.
[6] It can now be seen from this that it is of the Lord’s Divine providence that the spiritual meaning has lain hidden from the world until the present time, and that in the meantime it has been preserved in heaven among angels, who draw their wisdom from it.
That meaning was known and also cultivated among ancient peoples who lived before Moses. But because their descendants took the correspondent images of which alone their Word and so their religion consisted and turned them into various idolatries, and in Egypt into magical arts, it was of the Lord’s Divine providence closed up, first among the children of Israel, and afterward among Christians, for the reasons given above – a meaning now opened for the first time for the Lord’s new church.
We say that Christians have not known that to refrain from evils as sins is the essence of Christian religion, because nearly all do not know. And yet everyone does know (see no. 258 above). Still, nearly all do not know because faith alone has blotted it out, for it declares that faith alone saves, and not any good work or good of charity, and that people are no longer under the yoke of the law, but have been set free. People who have heard such pronouncements a number of times no longer pay attention to any evil of life, nor to any goodness of life. Moreover, owing to his inherent nature, every person is inclined to embrace this concept, and when he has once embraced it, he no longer thinks about the state of his life.
This is the reason people do not know that to refrain from evils as sins is the essence of Christian religion.
[2] The fact that they do not know has been disclosed to me in the spiritual world. I have asked more than a thousand newcomers from the world whether they know that to refrain from evils as sins is the essence of religion. They have said they did not, and that it is something new they had not heard before, but that they had been told that they could not do good of themselves and were not under the yoke of the law. When I asked whether they knew that a person should examine himself, see his sins, repent, and then begin a new life, and that otherwise his sins are not forgiven; that if their sins are not forgiven, they are not saved; and that this was something read aloud before them whenever they attended the Holy Supper, they replied that they took no notice of that but focused only on this, that through the Holy Supper they gained forgiveness for their sins, and that their faith did the rest without their knowing.
[3] I asked again, “Why did you teach your little children the Ten Commandments? Was it not that they might know what evils are sins to be shunned? Were the Commandments only things for them to know and believe, and not for them to obey? Why then do you say that this is something new?”
To this they could make no other answer than that they knew and yet did not know, and that they never thought about the sixth commandment when committing adultery, or about the seventh commandment when secretly stealing or swindling, and so on – still less that such acts are against Divine law, thus against God.
[4] When I cited a number of statements from the doctrines of the churches and from the Word confirming that to refrain from and turn away from evils as sins is the essence of Christian religion, and that everyone has faith according as he refrains and turns away, they fell silent. But they were convinced of its truth when they saw everyone being examined in respect to his life and judged in accordance with his deeds, and none in accordance with a faith divorced from life, since everyone has faith according to his life.
[5] The Christian world for the most part does not know this owing to the law of Divine providence that everyone be left to act in freedom in accordance with his reason, as discussed above in nos. 71-99, and in nos. 100-128; and to the law that no one be taught directly from heaven, but indirectly through the Word and through doctrine and preaching from the Word, as discussed in nos. 154-174.
It also accords with all the laws of permission, which also are laws of Divine providence.
More on this subject may be seen above in no. 258.
But still, implanted in everyone who has any religion is the concept that people go on living after death. The idea that they survive as souls and not as human beings exists only in those infatuated with their own intelligence, and not in others.
That everyone who has any religion has implanted in him the concept that a person goes on living after death can be seen from the following observations:
1. Who thinks otherwise when he is dying?
[2] 2. When lamenting over the deceased, what eulogizer does not raise them up into heaven and portray them as being among the angels, conversing with them and experiencing their joy? And in addition to this the canonization of some.
[3] 3. Who among the general public does not believe that, if he has lived well, when he dies he will come into a heavenly paradise clothed in a white garment, and enjoy eternal life?
[4] 4. What clergyman is there who does not say this and other like things to someone about to die? And when he says it, he himself also believes it, provided he does not think at the same time of the Last Judgment.
[5] 5. Who does not believe that his little children are in heaven, and that after death he will see his married partner whom he had loved? Who thinks that they are ghosts, still less that they are souls or minds flitting about in the universe?
[6] 6. Who denies it when something is said about the lot and state of those who have passed from a temporal existence into eternal life? I have told many people that the state and lot of this or that person is such and such, and I have still not heard anyone say that their fate is not possible yet, but awaits a future time of judgment.
[7] 7. Who, when he sees paintings or sculptures of angels, does not acknowledge them to be as depicted? Who thinks then that angels are incorporeal spirits – puffs of air or bits of mist – as some of the learned do?
[8] 8. Roman Catholics believe their saints to be people in heaven, and all others to be people somewhere else. Muslims believe their deceased to be people. So do Africans, more than others, and likewise many other nations. Why do Protestant Christians not believe, who know it from the Word?
[9] 9. It is owing to this concept implanted in everyone that some people also aspire to the immortality of fame, for the concept is turned in that direction in some, and causes them to be heroes and courageous in war.
[10] 10. Inquiry has been made in the spiritual world as to whether all people have this concept implanted in them, and it was found to be implanted in all, in the spiritual idea they had of such things in their internal thought, but not in the natural idea they had of them in their external thought.
It can be seen from this that no doubt ought to arise against Divine providence from supposing that it has only now for the first time been disclosed that a person lives as a person after death.
It is only the sensual level in a person that wishes to see and touch what is to be believed. Whoever does not think above that is in the darkness of night as regards the state of his life.
* The numbering here skips from 265 to 274. The intervening numbers are not found, and from the context almost certainly were never written.
If people were born with the love into which human beings were created, no one would have any evil. Indeed, no one would even know what evil is, for it is impossible for one who has not experienced any evil and so is not caught up in any evil to know what evil is. If he should be told that this or that is evil, he would not believe it possible. This state is the state of innocence in which Adam and his wife Eve were. The nakedness of which they were not ashamed symbolized that state.
A concept of evil after the Fall is meant by their eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
The love into which people were created is love of the neighbor – to wish as well to him as to oneself, and more, and to experience the delight of that love in benefiting him, much as a parent does in benefiting his children.
This love is a truly human one, for it has in it a spiritual component which distinguishes it from the natural love that unreasoning animals have. If a person were to be born with this love, he would not be born into the darkness of ignorance as every person now is, but into something of the light of knowledge and so of intelligence, attributes into which he would also shortly come. And although he would indeed crawl at first on all fours like an animal, yet he would do so with an inherent endeavor to raise himself up on his feet. For even when on all fours, still he would not hold his face downward to the ground, but forward toward heaven, and would raise himself up so as to be also able to turn his face upward.
When love of the neighbor was turned into love of self, people could no longer be born into the light of knowledge and intelligence, but into the darkness of ignorance, being born into the very lowest plane of life called the carnally sensual; and from that they could be introduced by education and instruction into more interior levels of the natural mind, always accompanied by the spiritual component.
The reason they are born into the lowest plane of life called the carnally sensual, and therefore into the darkness of ignorance, will be seen in subsequent discussions.
[2] Everyone can see that love of the neighbor and love of self are opposing loves. For love of the neighbor wishes well from self to everyone else, whereas love of self wishes well only to itself from everyone else. Love of the neighbor wishes to serve everyone else, while love of self wishes everyone else to serve self. Love of the neighbor regards everyone else as a brother and friend, whereas love of self regards everyone else as its servant, and if they do not serve, as its enemy. In a word, it has regard for itself alone, and for others scarcely as human beings, whom at heart it values less than it does its horses and dogs. Moreover, because it regards them as so inferior, it also makes it of no consequence to do evil to them. From it spring acts of hatred and revenge, of adultery and licentiousness, of theft and fraud, of lying and slander, of savagery and cruelty, and other like evils.
These are the evils to which a person is impelled from birth. That they are permitted for the sake of the end, which is salvation, we will demonstrate according to the following outline:
(1) Every person is impelled by evil, and must be led away from evil to be reformed.
(2) Evils cannot be removed unless they appear.
(3) Evils are forgiven to the extent that they are removed.
(4) Thus the permitting of evil occurs for the sake of the end, to make possible salvation.
People know that this hereditary evil is derived from parents. They say it comes from Adam and his wife, but this is an error. For everyone is born with it from his parents, and his parents from their parents, and their parents from their parents; and so it is transmitted from one generation to another in succession, being thus increased and growing as though into a mass and being passed on into offspring. So it is that a person has nothing sound in him, but is totally evil. Who feels that to love himself above others is evil? Who then knows that it is evil, even though it is at the head of all evils?
[2] The fact that one’s heredity is derived from parents, grandparents and great-grandparents is apparent from many attestations known in the world, as from the distinction between families, clans, even nations, visible from their features alone – faces being images of dispositions, and dispositions according with affections springing from love. Sometimes the visage of a grandfather reappears in a grandson or great-grandson. I recognize from just the facial features whether a person is Jewish or not, and also of what lineage some people are. Others doubtless do the same.
If affections springing from love are thus derived from parents and transmitted by them, it follows that evils are too, because evils are matters of the affections.
[3] But we will now explain the reason for that resemblance. Everyone’s soul comes from his father, and is only clothed with a body by the mother. The observation that the soul comes from the father follows not only from the phenomena mentioned just above, but also from many other indications, including the fact that the child of a black or Moorish father by a white or European woman is born black, and vice versa. It is especially the case that the sperm contains the soul, for that is what impregnates, and what is clothed with a body by the mother. The sperm is the first form of the love impelling the father. It is a form of his reigning love with its most immediate derivations, which are the inmost affections of that love.
[4] These affections in everyone are covered over with the honorable virtues connected with moral living, and with the good qualities connected partly with civil life, and partly with a spiritual life. These form the outward component of life, even in the case of evil people.
Every child is born into this outward component of life. That is what makes the child lovable. But as he grows into older childhood or adolescence, he comes from that outward component into more interior ones, and finally to the reigning love of his father. If that love was evil, and has not by various means been tempered or bent by his parents and teachers, his love becomes like that of his father.
In any case, however, evil is not eradicated, but only moved to the side, as described in subsequent discussions.
It can be seen from this that every person is impelled by evil.
277 [repeated]. That a person must be led away from evil to be reformed is apparent without explanation. For one who has been impelled by evil in the world is impelled by evil after his departure from the world. If evil is not removed in the world, therefore, it cannot be removed thereafter. Where the tree falls, there it lies.* So, too, with a person’s life. When he dies, it remains such as it was. Everyone is judged also in accordance with his deeds, not that they are enumerated, but because he goes back to them and behaves in the same way. For death is a continuation of life, with the difference, that a person cannot then be reformed.
All reformation takes place in fullness, that is to say, in first and last elements together, and the last elements are, in conformity with the first ones, reformed in the world, and cannot be thereafter, because the last elements of life that a person takes with him after death become quiescent, and harmonize with, that is, act in concert with, his interior elements.
* Ecclesiastes 11:3.
To enable a person to examine himself, he has been given an intellect, and this separate from his will, in order that he may know, understand and acknowledge what is good and what is evil, and may also see the character of his will, or what he loves and what he desires. For a person to see this, his intellect has been endowed with a higher and lower thought, or an inner and outer thought, that from the higher or inner thought he may see what his will is doing in the lower or outer thought. He sees this as someone sees his face in a mirror, and when he does, and knows what sin is, he can, if he implores the Lord’s aid, stop willing it, refrain from it, and subsequently behave contrary to it. If he cannot do this readily, still he can overcome it through struggle, and at last become averse to it and abhor it. Moreover, for the first time then he perceives and also feels that evil is evil and good good, and not before.
This, now, is what it is to examine oneself, to see one’s evils and acknowledge them, to confess them, and afterward to desist from them.
But as those people are few who know that this is the essence of Christian religion, because they alone have charity and faith, and they alone are led by the Lord and do good from Him, we will say something about people who do not do this and yet think that they possess religion. They are the following:
1. People who confess themselves guilty of all sins, and do not search out any in themselves.
2. People who as a matter of religion fail to search out any sin in themselves.
3. People who because of worldly involvements give no thought to sins and so are not aware of them.
4. People who are favorably disposed to them and are therefore prevented from being aware of them.
5. In all such cases sins are not apparent, and therefore cannot be removed.
6. Finally, we will make manifest the reason, previously unknown, why evils cannot be removed unless they are examined, seen, acknowledged, confessed, and struggled against.
278 [repeated]. But we will examine each of these points separately, because they are fundamental to a person’s part in Christian religion.
FIRST, concerning people who confess themselves guilty of all sins, and do not search out any in themselves: They confess themselves guilty of all sins, saying, “I am a sinner. I was born in sin. There is nothing sound in me from head to foot. I am nothing but evil. Good God, be gracious to me. Pardon me, purify me, save me. Cause me to walk in purity, and in the way of righteousness.” And other like things.
And yet they do not examine themselves and so are not aware of any evil, and no one can refrain from something he is not aware of, still less fight against it. Furthermore, after his confessions he also believes himself to be washed clean, even though he is unclean and unwashed from his head to the sole of his foot. For confession of all sins lulls into an unconsciousness of all, and eventually into a blindness to all. It is, then, like a universal entity without any specific constituent, which has no reality.
[2] SECOND, concerning people who as a matter of religion fail to search out any sin in themselves: These are primarily people who separate charity from faith. For they say to themselves, “Why should I inquire into whether something is evil or good? Why concern myself with evil, when it does not condemn me? Why concern myself with good, when it does not save me? It is faith alone, thought and voiced with trust and confidence, that justifies and purifies from every sin; and when I have been once justified, I am whole in the sight of God. I am still, indeed, caught up in evil, but as soon as I commit it God wipes it away, so that it is no longer seen.” And other like things.
Who does not see, however, if he opens his eyes, that these are empty words, having in them no reality, being devoid of any good? Who cannot think and speak in this way, even with trust and confidence, when he at the same time thinks about hell and eternal damnation? Is a person like that willing to know further whether anything is true or good? Of truth he says, “What is true except what supports that faith?” Of good he says, “What is good except what I have in me in consequence of that faith? But for it to be in me, I must not do it as though of myself, since that is merit-seeking, and merit-seeking good is not good.”
Thus he ignores all evils until he does not know what evil is. What will he then examine and see in himself? Does his state not then become one in which the pent-up fire of lusts for evil consumes the interiors of his mind and devastates them even to their portal? This he guards only to prevent the conflagration from appearing. But the portal is opened after death, and then the conflagration is apparent to all.
[3] THIRD, concerning people who because of worldly involvements do not think about sins and so are not aware of them: These are people who love the world above all things and do not accept any truth which would lead them away from some falsity of their religion, saying to themselves, “What is this to me? It’s not to my way of thinking.” Thus they reject it the instant they hear it, and if they do hear it, they snuff it out.
People of this kind do much the same when they hear sermons. They retain from them only some phrases and not any substance.
Because that is how they treat truths, they therefore do not know what is good, for the two are united, and from good that does not spring from truth one does not recognize evil, except to call it also good, which is accomplished by reasonings based on falsities.
These are the people meant by the seeds that fell among thorns, of which the Lord says the following:
Some (seeds) fell among thorns; and the thorns grew up and choked them?. These are people who hear the Word, but the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches. . . choke the Word, (so that) it becomes unfruitful.” (Matthew 13:7, 22; Mark 4:7, 18, 19; Luke 8:7, 14)
[4] FOURTH, concerning people who are favorably disposed to sins and are therefore prevented from being aware of them: These are people who acknowledge God and worship Him according to the customary rituals, and maintain in themselves that some evil that is a sin is really not a sin. For they color it with fallacies and appearances, and so hide its egregiousness. And when they have done this, they become favorably disposed to it, and make it their friend and close companion.
We say that people who acknowledge God do this, because others do not regard any evil as a sin, as every sin is a sin against God.
But let examples illustrate. A person eager for material gain, who makes allowable, with justifications, some types of fraud that he devises, regards the evil as not a sin. So, likewise, one who justifies to himself revenge against his enemies, and one who justifies the plundering and looting of people who are not his foes in war.
[5] FIFTH, that in such cases sins are not apparent, and therefore cannot be removed: Every evil that is not apparent feeds on itself. It is like fire in a piece of wood under the ash. And it is like pus in a wound which is not laid open. For every evil shut away increases, and does not stop until it has brought an end to the whole. Consequently, to prevent any evil from being shut away, it is permitted everyone to think either in affirmation of God or in opposition to God, and in affirmation of the sanctities of the church or in opposition to them, and not be punished for it in the world.
Regarding this the Lord says in Isaiah the following:
From the sole of the foot even to the head, there is no soundness. . . ; wounds and bruises and fresh blows have not been drained or bound up, or softened with oil. . . .
Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes. Cease to do evil; learn to do good. . . . (Then,) if your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; if they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool. . . .
. . .if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured by the sword?. (Isaiah 1:6, 16-18, 20)
To be devoured by the sword symbolically means to perish by the falsity of evil.
[6] SIXTH, the reason, previously hidden, why evils cannot be removed unless they are examined, seen, acknowledged, confessed, and struggled against: In previous discussions we have reported that the whole of heaven has been arranged into societies in accordance with the inhabitants’ affections for good, and the whole of hell into societies in accordance with the inhabitants’ lusts for evil in opposition to those affections for good.
Every person in respect to his spirit is in some society – in a society of heaven if he is impelled by an affection for good, but in a society of hell if impelled by a lust for evil. The person is not aware of this while living in the world, but yet he is, in respect to his spirit, in some one or other of them. Without this he could not live, and through it he is directed by the Lord.
If he is in a society of hell, the Lord can lead him out of it only in accordance with the laws of His Divine providence. Among them is one that requires a person to see that he is there and wish to get out, and to make the effort himself, of himself, to do so. This a person can do when in the world, but not after death, for he then remains to eternity in the society into which in the world he introduced himself.
This is the reason that a person must examine himself, see and acknowledge his sins, and repent, and then persevere in this to the end of his life.
The reality of this is something I could have attested by long experience to the point of complete belief, but this is not the place to cite the attestations of experience.
People who hold this belief and opinion do not know at all what evil and good are, and nothing at all about the state of a person’s life. Moreover, they are completely unaware that affections belonging to the will are simply changes and variations in the state of the purely organic substances of the mind, that thoughts belonging to the intellect are simply changes and variations in the forms of these substances, and that memory is the state of these changes and variations that remains permanent.
When all these things are known, it can be clearly seen from them that an evil can be removed only gradually, and that the forgiving of an evil does not mean its removal.
These observations, however, we have made in summary form, and unless they are demonstrated, they may indeed be acknowledged, but still not comprehended, and what is not comprehended is like the blur of a wheel spun by the hand. Therefore we must demonstrate the preceding observations one by one in the order in which they were presented.
[2] FIRST, that it is an error of the age to believe that when evils are forgiven, they are separated from a person, indeed cast out: I have been given to know from heaven that every evil into which a person is born and which he himself actually embraces is not separated from him, but is moved to the side so as not to appear. Before that I held the same belief as most people in the world, that when evils are forgiven they are cast off and are washed and wiped away, like dirt from the face with water. But the same is not the case with evils or sins. They all remain, and when, after repentance, they are forgiven, they are moved from the center to the sides. Then what is at the center, being directly in view, appears as though in the light of day, while that which is at the sides is in the shadows, and sometimes as though in the darkness of night.
Moreover, because evils are not separated but only set aside, or rather banished to the sides, and a person can be conveyed round about the center, it is also possible for him to go back to his evils that he had believed to be cast off. For a person is so constituted that he can go from one affection to another, and sometimes into the opposite, so as to pass from one focus to another. The person’s affection forms the focus when he is impelled by it, for he is then prompted by its delight and its light.
[3] There are some people who, after death, are raised by the Lord into heaven because they have lived rightly, but who still have carried with them the belief that they are cleansed and purified of sins and are therefore free of any guilt. They are dressed at first in white garments in accordance with their belief, as white garments symbolize a state purified of evils. But later they begin to think as they did in the world, that they have been washed clean, so to speak, of every evil, and they start to exult, therefore, that they are no longer sinners like others, an exultation which can only with difficulty be divorced from some haughtiness of attitude and from some contempt for others in comparison to oneself. Consequently, to purge their belief of its illusions, they are expelled from heaven and conveyed back into their evils which they had acquired in the world, and they are shown at the same time that they possess as well hereditary evils, of which they had been previously unaware.
Then, after they have been thus compelled to acknowledge that their evils have not been separated from them, but only set aside, consequently that of themselves they are impure, indeed nothing but evil, that they are withheld from evils and kept in good endeavors by the Lord, and this apparently to themselves as though of themselves, they are again raised by the Lord into heaven.
[4] SECOND, that it is an error of the age to believe that the state of a person’s life can be changed in an instant, that a person from being evil can thus be made good, and that he can in consequence be withdrawn from hell and transported at once into heaven, and this owing to the Lord’s mercy apart from means: People caught up in this error are those who separate charity from faith and place salvation in faith alone, for they think that thought alone and the utterance of phrases expressive of that faith justify and save, if done with trust and confidence. Many also suppose this justification to be instantaneous – if not before, then sometime in the last hour of a person’s life. These cannot help but believe that the state of a person’s life can be changed in an instant and the person be saved out of mercy apart from means.
The Lord’s mercy, however, does not operate apart from means. A person from being evil cannot be made good in an instant, and he cannot be withdrawn from hell and transported into heaven except by the unceasing operations of Divine providence, from the person’s infancy to the end of his life, as we will see in the last chapter of this treatise. We state it here only because the laws of Divine providence all have as their end a person’s reformation and so salvation, thus the inversion of his state, which at birth is hellish, into its opposite, which is heavenly; and this can be achieved only gradually, as the person turns away from evil and its delight and enters into good and its delight.
[5] THIRD, that people who hold this belief do not know at all what evil and good are: They do not know because they are unaware that evil is the delight of a lust to act and think contrary to Divine order, while good is the delight of an affection for acting and thinking in accordance with Divine order; that there are thousands of lusts which enter into and compose each evil, and thousands of affections which enter into and compose each good; and that these thousands of lusts exist in such an order and connection in a person’s interior constituents that not one can be changed unless they are all changed together.
People who do not know this may believe or suppose that evil, appearing as it does to the eye as a single entity, can easily be removed, and that good, appearing as it does also as a single entity, can be introduced in its place.
Because they do not know what evil and good are, they cannot help but suppose that instantaneous salvation and mercy apart from means are possible. But we will see in the last chapter of this treatise that they are not possible.
[6] FOURTH, that people who believe in instantaneous salvation and mercy apart from means are unaware that affections belonging to the will are simply changes and variations in the state of the purely organic substances of the mind, that thoughts belonging to the intellect are simply changes and variations in the forms of these substances, and that memory is the state of these changes and variations that remains permanent: Who does not acknowledge it when he hears it said that affections and thoughts exist only in substances and their forms as vessels, and that as these exist in the brain, which is full of substances and forms, the forms are called purely organic?
No one who thinks rationally can help but laugh at some people’s fancies that affections and thoughts do not exist in substantial vessels, but are exhalations modified by heat and light, like mirages appearing in the air and ether, when in fact thought can be no more divorced from a substantial form than sight from its vessel the eye, hearing from its vessel the ear, and taste from its vessel the tongue. Look at the brain, and you will see countless substances, and likewise fibers, and nothing there that is not organized. What need is there for any further confirmation beyond that of the eye?
[7] But the question is, what are affection and thought there? This we can conclude from each and all the organs in the body. Found in it are many viscera, each seated in its own fixed place and performing its functions by changes and variations in its state and form. It is a known fact that each is engaged in its own functions, the stomach in its, the intestines in theirs, the kidneys in theirs, the liver, pancreas and spleen in theirs, and the heart and lungs in theirs, all of these activities being actuated solely from within, and to be actuated from within is to be actuated by changes and variations in the state and form.
It can be seen from this that the operations of the purely organic substances of the mind are no different, excepting that the operations of the organic substances of the body are natural, while those of the mind are spiritual; and that the two are united by correspondences.
[8] One cannot demonstrate to the eye the nature of the changes and variations in the state and form of the organic substances of the mind, which affections and thoughts are, but still they can be seen as though in a mirror from the changes and variations in the state of the lungs in speaking and singing. There is also a correspondence. For the sound in speaking and singing, and also the articulations of the sound, which are what the words in speaking and the melodies in singing are, are produced by means of the lungs, and the sound corresponds to affection, and the words to thought. The sound and words are, moreover, the product of the affection and thought, and are produced through changes and variations in the state and form of the organic substances of the lungs, and from the lungs through the trachea or windpipe in the larynx and glottis, and after that in the tongue, and finally in the mouth and lips. The first changes and variations in the state and form of the sound occur in the lungs; the second in the trachea and larynx; the third in the glottis through varying openings of its orifice; the fourth in the tongue through varying applications of it to the palate and teeth; and the fifth in the mouth and lips through varying configurations of them.
It can be seen from this that mere changes and variations in the state of organic forms, successively continued, produce the sounds and their articulations which constitute speaking and singing.
Now because sound and speech are the product of nothing else than the mind’s affections and thoughts, for they spring from these and never occur apart from them, it is apparent that the affections of the will are changes and variations in the state of the purely organic substances of the mind, and that the thoughts of the intellect are changes and variations in the form of those substances, in like manner as in the substances of the lungs.
[9] Since affections and thoughts are simply changes in the state of the forms of the mind, it follows that memory is nothing else than a permanent state of these. For all changes and variations of state in organic substances are such that once assimilated, they remain. Thus the lungs are trained to produce various sounds in the trachea and to vary them in the glottis, articulate them in the tongue, and modify them in the mouth; and when those organic activities have once been assimilated, they remain in those organs and can be produced again.
The fact that these changes and variations are infinitely more perfect in the organic constituents of the mind than in the organic constituents of the body follows from what we said in our treatise Divine Love and Wisdom, nos. 199-204, where we showed that all perfections increase and ascend concomitantly with degrees and in accordance with them.
More on this subject may be seen below in no. 319.
Caught up in that error as well are people who believe themselves saved by faith alone. Those, too, who believe themselves saved by papal dispensations. They all believe in mercy apart from means and in instantaneous salvation.
However, when this proposition is turned around, it becomes the truth, namely that when sins have been put away, they are also forgiven. For repentance precedes forgiveness, and apart from repentance there is no forgiveness. Therefore the Lord commanded His disciples to preach repentance for the remission of sins (Luke 24:47). And John preached a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins (Luke 3:3).
The Lord forgives all people their sins. He does not accuse or impute. But He still cannot take those sins away except in accordance with the laws of His Divine providence. For when Peter asked Him how often he should forgive a brother sinning against him, whether he should do so up to seven times, the Lord said that he should forgive not only seven times, but up to seventy times seven (Matthew 18:21,22). That being the case, what will the Lord not do, who is mercy itself?
Someone who is not an atheist also has complete freedom to entertain many thoughts that are thoughts of evil – thoughts of fraud, for example, or lascivious, vengeful, and other irrational thoughts – which he also occasionally does.
Who can believe that if a person did not have complete freedom he not only could not be saved, but would even totally perish?
[2] But hear now the reason. Every person is from birth impelled by evils of many kinds. These evils are present in his will, and whatever is present in his will he loves. For what a person wills from within, that he loves, and what he loves, he wills. Moreover, the will’s love flows into the intellect and causes its delight to be felt there. It comes therefore into the person’s thoughts, and also into his intentions. Consequently, if a person were not permitted to think in accord with his will’s love which he has implanted in him by heredity, that love would remain shut in and never come to the person’s sight. And a love of evil unseen is like an enemy lying in ambush, like pus in a wound, like poison in the blood, and like putrefaction in the breast. If they are kept shut in, they lead to death.
But on the other hand, when a person is permitted to think about the evils of his life’s love even to the point of intending them, they are curable by spiritual remedies, as diseases are by natural remedies.
[3] We will now say what a person would be like if he were not permitted to think in accord with the delights of his life’s love. He would no longer be human. He would lose his two faculties called freedom and rationality in which his essential humanity consists. The delights of the aforesaid evils would occupy the interiors of his mind until they threw open the door, and then he could not help but speak and do those same evils, and so behave irrationally, not only in his own sight, but in the sight of the world. And finally he would not know enough to cover his private parts.
However, to keep him from becoming of such a character, he is permitted indeed to think and will the evils of his heredity, but not to speak and do them. Meanwhile he learns civil, moral and spiritual precepts, which also enter into his thoughts and displace those insanities, and he is healed by the Lord by means of them, but only to the extent that he knows to guard the door, unless he also acknowledges God and implores His aid to be able to resist those insanities. To the extent that he then does resist, to the same extent he does not allow them into his intentions, and eventually not even into his thoughts.
4] So then, since it lies within a person’s freedom to think as he pleases, in order that his life’s love may emerge from its hiding-places into the light of his intellect, and as he would otherwise not be at all aware of his evil and so would not know to expel it, it follows that it would increase in him, even to the point that no room for recovery would be left in him, and scarcely any in his children, if he should beget any, for the evil of a parent is carried over into his offspring. But the Lord provides against this happening.
If the intellect alone were to be healed, the person would be like an embalmed corpse, or a corpse covered with fragrant spices and roses, which would shortly take on such a foul odor from the body that no one could bear to have them near his nostrils. So it would be with heavenly truths in the intellect if an evil love of the will were to be sealed up.
But still, evils are not separated and cast out of a person, but are only displaced and banished to the sides; and when that is where they are, and good at the center, then the evils do not appear. For whatever is at the center is directly in view and is seen and perceived.
It should be known, however, that even if good is at the center, still the person is not therefore in a state of good unless the evils to the sides incline downward and outward. If they look upward or inward, they have not been set aside, for they continue to attempt to return to the center. Evils incline or look downward and outward when a person refrains from his evils as sins, and still more when he is averse to them, for then he condemns them and consigns them to hell and causes them to look in that direction.
Good and evil in the intellect, however, are kept apart as something internal and something external. Thus a person can be inwardly in a state of evil and outwardly in a state of good. But when the person is being reformed, the good and evil are brought into opposition, and a conflict and struggle arises then, which if severe is called a temptation or trial, but which if not severe is like the fermentation of wine or liquor. If good wins out then, evil with its falsity is moved to the sides, comparatively as sediment falls to the bottom of a vessel, and the good becomes like vintage wine after fermentation or clear liquor. But if evil wins out, then good with its truth is moved to the sides, and becomes turbid and repulsive like unfermented wine or unfermented liquor.
A comparison with fermentation is possible, because leaven in the Word symbolizes the falsity of evil, as in Hosea 7:4, Luke 12:1, and elsewhere.
Every person, good or evil, has in him two faculties, one of which forms the intellect, and the other the will. The faculty that forms the intellect is his ability to understand and think, called therefore rationality; and the faculty that forms the will is his ability to do this freely, namely to think and so also to speak and act, provided that it is not contrary to his reason or rationality. For to act freely is to act whenever one pleases and as one pleases
Since these two faculties are constant and are present continuously from the first to last elements in each and all things that a person thinks and does, and do not exist in the person of himself, but are in the person from the Lord, it follows that when the Lord is present in them He is present also in the particulars, indeed in the least particulars of a person’s intellect and thought and of his will and affection, and so in the least particulars of his speech and action. Remove these faculties from any least particular and you will not be able to think it or express it as a human being.
[2] We have shown with many demonstrations before that it is by virtue of these two faculties that a person is human, that he can think and speak, that he can perceive goods and understand truths, not only civil and moral goods and truths, but also spiritual ones, and can be reformed and regenerated – in a word, that he can be conjoined with the Lord and in consequence live to eternity. And we have shown as well that these two faculties are possessed not only by good people but also by evil ones.
Now because these faculties are in a person from the Lord and are not incorporated into the person as his – inasmuch as something Divine cannot be incorporated into a person as his, but can be attached to him and made to appear therefore as his – and because this Divine element in a person is present in his least particulars, it follows that the Lord governs the least particulars, both in an evil person and in a good person. And the Lord’s government is what we call Divine providence.
Some people say therefore, “What is truth? Can I not make to be true anything I wish? Is this not also what the whole world does?” And anyone who does this does so by reasonings.
Take the greatest falsity and tell a clever person to defend it and he will. Tell him, for instance, to establish that the human being is an animal. Or say that the soul is like a little spider in its web and governs the body as a spider does by means of threads. Or tell him that religion is simply nothing but a shackle. And he will argue each of these until it appears as the truth.
Nothing could be easier, because he does not know what an appearance is, nor what a false assumption is when taken as true out of a blind faith.
[2] It is because of this that people cannot see this truth, that Divine providence operates in the least particulars of the intellect and will, or to say the same thing, in the least particulars of the thoughts and affections in every person – in an evil person as well as in a good one.
People become confused especially by the thought that evils, too, would in that case originate from the Lord. But we will see in the discussions that follow now that nevertheless not the least bit of evil emanates from the Lord, but that it arises from mankind, by people’s affirming in themselves the appearance that they think, will, speak and act of themselves.
For this to be seen clearly, we must demonstrate it under the following series of headings:
(1) Divine providence operates universally in the least particulars, not only in the case of good people but also in the case of evil people, and yet is not present in their evils.
(2) Evil people continually steer themselves into evils, but the Lord continually turns them away from evils.
(3) Evil people cannot be altogether turned away from evil and led into good by the Lord as long as they believe their own intelligence to be everything and Divine providence nothing.
(4) The Lord governs hell through opposing forces, and He governs evil people in the world in respect to their interiors in hell, but not in respect to their exteriors.
I know, however, that this can hardly be comprehended, because we make a distinction between what flows in from heaven or from the Lord, and what flows in from hell or from a person’s native self, and yet say that Divine providence operates in the least particulars of a person’s thoughts and affections, even so much that a person cannot think or will anything of himself. But because we say that he can do so from hell and from his native self too, the statement appears as contradictory, even though it is not. We will see that it is not in subsequent discussions, after we have premised some observations that will shed light on the matter.
Empirical evidence will show, however, first, that every bit of thought and affection flows in from heaven, even in the case of spirits in hell, but that the good flowing in there is turned into evil, and the truth into falsity, thus everything into its opposite. This was demonstrated in the following way:
A certain truth from the Word was sent down from heaven, and this was received by people in the uppermost hell, who sent it down into lower hells until it reached the lowest, and on the way it was gradually turned into falsity, and finally into a falsity entirely opposite to the truth. And those in whom it was so transformed entertained the falsity as though of themselves, and did not know any differently, even though it was a truth flowing down from heaven that on the way to the lowest hell was thus falsified and distorted.
I have heard three or four times that this took place. The case is the same with good. Any good flowing down from heaven is gradually turned into an evil opposite to the good.
It was apparent from this that any truth or good emanating from the Lord is completely changed when received by people caught up in falsity and evil, and so transformed that the original form is no longer visible.
The like occurs in every evil person, for in respect to his spirit he is in hell.
Some spirits who believed that they thought and willed of themselves were sent into a society and detained there, with communication with neighboring societies, to which they usually also extended their thoughts, cut off. Moreover they were then told to think differently from the spirits of that society, and to compel themselves to think in an opposite way. But they confessed that it was impossible for them to do so.
[2] This happened with many, and with Leibnitz* as well, who also was convinced that no one thinks on his own but from others, that neither do those others think on their own, but that all do so by virtue of an influx from heaven, and heaven by virtue of an influx from the Lord.
Some spirits, having considered this state of affairs, said that it was astounding, and that scarcely anyone could be brought to believe it because it is entirely contrary to the appearance; but that still they could not deny it, because it had been fully demonstrated. Nevertheless, while still in a state of wonderment, they said that they were then not at fault for thinking evil; moreover that it seemed then that evil comes from the Lord; and furthermore that they did not comprehend how the Lord could by Himself cause all people to think so diversely.
But we will explain these three conundrums in subsequent discussions.
* Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibnitz (1646-1716), German philosopher and mathematician, inventor of the calculus concurrently with but independently of Sir Isaac Newton of England and founder of symbolic logic, but celebrated primarily for his monadology, a metaphysical theory of the nature of creation.
When I was granted by the Lord to speak with spirits and angels, the foregoing secret was immediately disclosed to me. For I was told from heaven that I believed as others that I think and will of myself, even though nothing springs from me, but that if it is good, it comes from the Lord, and that if it is evil, it comes from hell.
The reality of this was moreover personally demonstrated to me by my having various thoughts and affections induced in me, and it was gradually granted me to perceive and sensibly feel it. After that, therefore, as soon as some evil crept into my will, or some falsity into my thought, I inquired into its source and it was disclosed to me; and I was also granted to speak with its originators, to rebuke them and compel them to go away, and so to take back their evil and falsity and keep it to themselves, and not to infuse such a thing into my thought any longer.
I have done this a thousand times. I have, moreover, continued in this state now for many years, and continue still in it. And yet I seem to myself to think and will of myself, like others, without any difference. For it is of the Lord’s providence that it so appear to everyone, as we showed above in its own section.
Newly arrived spirits marvel at this state of mine, seeing nothing more than that I do not think and will anything of myself, and that I am therefore like a kind of empty vessel. But I have revealed this secret to them, and say further that I also think more interiorly, and perceive what flows into my outer thought, as to whether it comes from heaven or from hell, that I accept the first and reject the other, and yet seem to myself to think and will, like others, of myself.
The priest who believes that he preaches out of a holy zeal, prays, therefore, that the Holy Spirit may teach him and direct his thoughts and his speech, and some say that they have sensibly perceived themselves to be so energized; and when they are praised for their sermons, they piously reply that they have spoken not of themselves but from God.
Consequently, too, when they see someone speaking well or behaving well, they say that he has been led to it by God. And on the other hand, when they see someone speaking ill or doing ill, they say that he has been led to it by the devil. People know that that is the way people in the church speak. But who believes that it is the reality?
* John 3:27.
From the sun in that world emanate heat and light, and these two flow into all vessels and objects visible to the eye – not only into good vessels and beautiful objects, but also into evil vessels and ugly objects – and produce various effects in them. For they flow not only into trees bearing good fruit but also into trees bearing harmful fruit, as well as into the fruits themselves, and cause their growth. They flow likewise into good seeds and also into weeds. So, too, into bushes that serve a good purpose or are healthful, and also into bushes that serve an evil purpose or are toxic. And yet it is the same heat and the same light, in which no cause of any evil is to be found. Rather the cause lies in the recipient vessels and objects.
[2] The warmth that hatches eggs containing a screech owl, eagle owl, or asp operates the same as when it hatches eggs containing a dove, ornamental bird, or swan. Put both kinds of eggs under a hen, and her warmth, which in itself is harmless, will hatch both. What, then, does the warmth have in common with those harmful and noxious creatures?
The warmth flowing into marshy, feculent, rotten or decayed recipients operates the same as when it flows into wine-making, fragrant, growing and living ones. Who does not see that the cause lies not in the warmth but in the receiving vessel?
The same light, too, on one object presents pleasing colors, and on another disagreeable ones. Indeed it shines brightly on white objects and radiates, and grows dim on those nearly black and becomes dusky.
[3] It is the same in the spiritual world. Heat and light exist there, too, from its sun, which is the Lord, and they flow from that sun into their vessels and objects. The vessels and objects there are angels and spirits – in specific their volitional and intellectual constituents. The heat there is Divine love emanating, and the light there is Divine wisdom emanating. These are not the cause of their being received by one recipient differently from another. For the Lord says that “He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust” (Matthew 5:45). By the sun in the highest spiritual sense is meant Divine love, and by rain Divine wisdom.
Angels add this reason, too, that to think and will of oneself is in essence Divine, while to think and will from God is the essence of what it is to be human; and what is in essence Divine cannot be transferred to any person, for in that case the person would be God.
Hold on to this, and you will be convinced by angels, if you wish, when after death you enter into the spiritual world.
Now because these three notions cannot but flow into the thoughts in the case of people who think of effects solely from the perspective of the effects and not from the perspective of their causes, we need to take them up and explain them in terms of causes.
[2] FIRST, that people would then not be at fault for doing evil: If indeed everything a person thinks flows in from others, the fault does seem to lie with those from whom the thought originates. But still the fault itself lies with him who receives, for he accepts the thought as his own, nor does he know anything to the contrary, or want to know anything to the contrary.
The fact is that everyone wishes to be his own person and to be directed by himself, especially to think and will of himself. For this is the essence of the freedom which every person has, which appears as something his own. If he were to be aware, therefore, that whatever he thinks and wills flows in from another, he would seem to himself to be held bound and captive, no longer his own master, and thus would die all the delight of his life, and finally his essential humanity.
[3] The reality of this is something I have quite often seen confirmed. Some spirits were granted to perceive and sensibly feel that they were directed by others. The spirits then blazed with such anger as to almost lose their minds, and they said that they would rather be held bound in hell than not to be allowed to think as they will and to will as they think. Not to be allowed to do this they called being bound as to their very life, a condition worse and more intolerable than being bound physically. Not to be allowed to speak and act as they think and will – this they did not call being bound, because the enjoyment of a civil and moral life, which consists in speaking and doing, produces restraint and at the same time alleviates it.
[4] Now because a person does not wish to know that he is directed to think by others, but wishes to think on his own, and also believes that he does, it follows that he himself is at fault for doing evil; nor can he free himself from being at fault as long as he likes to think what he is thinking. On the other hand, if he does not like it, he frees himself from any connection with its sources. This he does when he knows that something is evil, and therefore wills to shun it and desist from it. He is also released then by the Lord from the society of spirits that is caught up in that evil and transferred to a society in which that evil does not exist. However, if he knows that something is evil and does not refrain from it, the fault is then imputed to him and he becomes guilty of that evil.
Whatever a person believes that he does on his own, therefore, is said to be done by the person, and not by the Lord.
[5] SECOND, that it seems then that evil comes from the Lord: This may be supposed as a conclusion from the observations presented in no. 288 above, namely, that in hell good flowing in from the Lord is turned into evil, and truth into falsity. Who cannot see, however, that evil and falsity do not arise from goodness and truth, thus from the Lord, but from the recipient vessel or object which is in a state of evil and falsity, and which perverts and inverts the good and truth flowing in, as we also fully showed in no. 292 above. In previous discussions, moreover, we have shown many times the origin of evil and falsity in people.
An experiment, too, was performed in the spiritual world with spirits who believed that the Lord could remove the evils in evil people and in their stead introduce goods, and so convey the whole of hell into heaven and save them all. But the impossibility of this will be seen toward the end of this treatise, where we are going to discuss instantaneous salvation and mercy apart from means.*
[6] Third, that they do not comprehend how the Lord could by Himself cause all people to think so diversely: The Lord’s Divine love is infinite, and His Divine wisdom is infinite, and infinite radiations of love and infinite radiations of wisdom emanate from the Lord. These in turn flow into all the inhabitants in heaven, and from there into all the inhabitants in hell, and from both heaven and hell into all people in the world. Consequently there can be no one without the ability to think and will, for infinite things are all things infinitely.
The infinite radiations which emanate from the Lord flow in not only universally but also most particularly, for the Divine is universal in consequence of its presence in the least particulars, and the most particular Divine elements constitute what we call universal, as we showed above. Moreover, the least particular Divine element is also infinite.
It can be seen from this that the Lord alone causes everyone to think and will according to his character, and in accordance with the laws of His Divine providence.
That all the elements present in the Lord and emanating from the Lord are infinite is something we showed in nos. 46-69 above, and also in our treatise Divine Love and Wisdom, nos. 17-22.
* See no. 338:7.
1. Every evil contains countless constituents.
2. An evil person of himself steers himself ever more deeply into his evils.
3. Divine providence with evil people is a continual permitting of evil in order to effect a continual turning away from it.
4. The turning away from evil is accomplished in a thousand ways by the Lord, even in very secret ways.
FIRST, that every evil contains countless constituents: Every evil appears to a person’s sight as a simple entity. That is how hatred and vengeance appear, theft and fraud, adultery and licentiousness, arrogance and haughtiness, and so on. But people do not know that every evil contains countless constituents – more than the number of fibers and vessels in a person’s body. For an evil person is a hell in miniature form, and hell consists of millions and millions of spirits, each one there having a seemingly human form, even though a monstrous one, with all the fibers and all the vessels in him inverted. Every spirit is himself an evil, appearing to himself as a single entity, but having in him countless constituents, as many as the lusts of that evil. For every person is his own evil or his own good, from his head to the sole of his foot.
Since that is the case with an evil person, it is apparent therefore that he is a single evil composed of various, countless constituents, which are evils individually and are called lusts for evil.
It follows from this that all of these constituents, in the order in which they exist, must be repaired and transformed by the Lord for a person to be reformed, and that this can be accomplished by the Lord’s Divine providence only gradually, from a person’s first age even until his last.
[2] When it is represented in hell, every lust for evil appears as some harmful animal, such as a dragon, a basilisk,* a viper, an eagle owl, a screech owl, and so on. The lusts for evil in an evil person appear likewise when he is viewed by angels. All of these forms of lusts must be transformed one by one. The person himself, who in respect to his spirit appears as a monstrous person or devil, must be transformed in order to be seen as a beautiful angel, and each lust for evil must be transformed so as to appear as a lamb, a sheep, a pigeon or dove, as angels’ affections for good appear in heaven when they are represented. Turning a dragon into a lamb, a basilisk into a sheep, or an owl into a dove can be accomplished only gradually, by eradicating evil from its seed on and implanting a good seed in its place.
This, however, can be done only as is comparatively the case in the grafting of trees, in which the roots remain with some portion of the trunk, but the engrafted branch nevertheless turns the sap drawn up through the old root into sap producing good fruit.
The branch to be engrafted can be obtained only from the Lord, who is the tree of life. This, too, accords with the Lord’s words in John 15:1-7.**
[3] SECOND, that an evil person of himself steers himself ever more deeply into his evils: We say he does it of himself, because every evil originates from the person; for he turns the good coming from the Lord into evil, as we said above.
As for the statement that an evil person steers himself more and more deeply into evil, the fundamental reason is that as he wills and does evil, he introduces himself more and more interiorly and also more and more deeply into societies in hell. As a consequence his delight in evil also grows, and this so occupies his thoughts that at last he feels nothing to be sweeter. Moreover, someone who introduces himself more interiorly and deeply into societies in hell becomes like one bound in chains. But as long as he lives in the world, he does not feel the chains. They are as though made of soft wool, or of delicate silk threads, which he loves because they titillate him. But after death those chains from being soft become hard, and from being titillating become biting.
[4] That the delight of evil grows by increments is something people know from experience with thefts, robberies, lootings, retaliation and revenge, exercises of tyranny, the pursuit of material gains, and other evils. Who does not feel the heightenings of delight in these in the measure of his successes in them and unrestrained practices of them? People know that a thief feels such delight in his thefts that he cannot desist, and, surprisingly, that he prizes one stolen coin more than ten coins received as a gift. (The same would be the case with adulterous affairs if it had not been provided that that evil decrease in potency in the measure of the abuse. But still there remains with many the delight of thinking and talking about such affairs, and if nothing more, still the lust to touch.)
[5] People do not know, however, that the reason for this is the fact that the person introduces himself more and more interiorly and more and more deeply into societies in hell as he commits evils willingly and at the same time by design. If he commits them only in thought, and not in the will, he is not yet with his evil in a society of hell, but enters it only when the evils are also in his will. If in that event he thinks as well that this or that evil is contrary to the commandments of the Decalogue, and regards those commandments as Divine, he then commits the evil on purpose, and so lowers himself to a depth from which he cannot be withdrawn except by actual repentance.
[6] It should be known that in respect to his spirit every person is in the spiritual world and in some society there – an evil person in a society of hell, and a good person in a society of heaven. The person also sometimes appears there when he is engaged in deep meditation.
It should be known, too, that as the sound accompanying speech spreads round about in the air in the natural world, so the affection accompanying thought spreads round about into societies in the spiritual world. The two also correspond, for affection corresponds to sound, and thought to speech.
[7] Third, that Divine providence with evil people is a continual permitting of evil in order to effect a continual turning away from it: We say that Divine providence in the case of evil people is a continual permitting because from their life can flow nothing but evil. For a person is either in a state of good or in a state of evil. He cannot be in both at the same time, nor in the two alternately unless he is “lukewarm”.*** Moreover the Lord does not introduce evil of life into the will and through that into the thought, but it is introduced by the person, and this is called permission.
[8] Now because everything that an evil person wills and thinks is by permission, the question then is what Divine providence does in that case, which is said to operate in the least particulars in every person, in an evil person as well as in a good one. It consists, however, in its continually permitting for the sake of its goal, and permitting only such things as are conducive to the goal, and in its continually examining, winnowing, and purging the evils which by permission ensue, and banishing and in imperceptible ways expelling those that are incongruous.
These processes take place principally in a person’s interior will, and from this in his interior thought.
Divine providence operates continually also in this respect, that it provides against banishable and expellable evils being given admission again by the will, since everything given admission by the will is incorporated into the person. On the other hand, evils that are admitted by the thought and not the will are kept separate and dismissed.
This is the continual operation of the Lord’s providence in the case of evil people, which, as we said, is a continual permitting in order to effect a continual turning away.
[9] A person knows scarcely anything of these processes, because he has no perception of them. The principal reason he does not perceive them is that the evils are those of the lusts belonging to his life’s love, and those evils are not felt as evils but as delights, to which no one pays any attention. Who pays attention to the delights of his love? His thought swims in them, like a boat that is carried along in the current of a river, and he perceives a kind of sweet-smelling atmosphere which he inhales with a deep breath.
A person is able to sense something of these evils in his outer thought only. But still he does not pay attention to them there, unless he knows well that they are evils.
But more on this subject in the discussion following next.
[10] FOURTH, that the turning away from evil is accomplished in a thousand ways by the Lord, even in very secret ways: Of these ways, only some have been disclosed to me, but no more than the most general, namely, that the delights of lusts, of which a person knows nothing, are emitted in groups and clusters into the interior thoughts belonging to a person’s spirit, and from there into his outer thoughts, where they appear in the form of some sensation of pleasure, gratification or longing, and are commingled there with his natural and sensory delights. The means of winnowing and purging are located there, as well as the ways of turning and expulsion.
The means are especially the delights of meditation, thought and reflection for the sake of particular ends that are useful; and ends that are useful are as many as the particular and individual objectives of any business or occupation. They are also as many as the delights of reflection in order that the person may appear as a civic and moral one, and also as a spiritual one, despite the undelightful obstacles that stand in the way. Because those delights are delights of his love in his outer self, they are means of winnowing, purging, expelling and turning away the delights of the lusts for evil in his internal self.
[11] Take, for example, an unjust judge, who regards material gain as his end or partiality as the purpose of his office. Inwardly he is continually intent on these, but outwardly means to behave as one learned in the law and just. Such a judge continually takes delight in meditating, thinking, reflecting, and planning in order to twist, turn, adjust and conform an adjudication so that it appears consonant with the laws and a semblance of justice. Nor does he know that his inner delight consists in cunning and guile, deception and pretense, trickery and craft, clandestine thefts, and many other evils, and that this delight, composed as it is of so many delights of lusts for evil, governs in each and every consideration of his outer thought, where his delights are those of appearing to be just and honest. His inner delights descend into these outer delights, and they are mixed together like foodstuffs in the stomach, and there they are winnowed, purged, and turned aside. But this is the case only with the delights of lusts for evil that are more serious.
[12] In the case of an evil person, indeed, only a winnowing, purging and turning away of his more serious evils from the less serious is possible. Possible in the case of a good person, however, is a winnowing, purging and turning away not only of his more serious evils but also of his less serious ones, and this is accomplished through the delights of his affections for goodness and truth and for justice and honesty, into which he comes to the extent that he regards evils as sins and therefore refrains from and is averse to them, and still more if he fights against them. These are the means by which the Lord purges all those people who are saved. He purges them also by external means, which have to do with his reputation and honor, and sometimes with material gain. But still the Lord implants in them the delights of affections for goodness and truth, by which they are directed and adjusted so as to become the delights of a love for the neighbor.
[13] If someone were to see the delights of lusts for evil all together in some form, or clearly perceive them with some sense, he would see and perceive them to be so numerous as to be beyond counting. For the whole of hell is nothing but the embodiment of all lusts for evil, and no lust for evil there is entirely like or the same as another, nor can one be entirely like or the same as another to eternity. Moreover, of these countless lusts a person knows almost nothing, still less how they are connected. And yet the Lord through His Divine providence continually allows them to manifest themselves in order that they may be turned away, which is the case in their every succession and series. An evil person is in miniature form a hell, as a good person is in miniature form a heaven.
[14] The fact that the turning away from evil is accomplished in a thousand ways by the Lord, even in very secret ways, can be no better seen and thus concluded than from the secret operations of the soul in the body. Those that a person knows about are as follows, that he inspects the food he is about to eat, discerns it by its smell, hungers for it, tastes it, chews it with his teeth, and swallows it with his tongue down his throat and so into his stomach. In contrast, however, are the operations of the soul of which a person knows nothing, because he has no sensation of them, which are as follows: that the stomach churns the foods received, with solvents opens and breaks them up or digests them, and submits suitable elements to little orifices opening there and veins which absorb them; that it sends off some of the nutriments into the blood, some into lymphatic vessels, some into the lacteal vessels of the mesentery, and some down into the intestine; that after being drawn up from its cisterna in the mesentery through the thoracic duct, the chyle is then discharged into the vena cava and so into the heart, and from the heart into the lungs, and from there through the left ventricle of the heart into the aorta, and from the aorta through its branches into the organs of the entire body, and also into the kidneys, in each of which is effected a separation, purging and removal of heterogeneous elements from the blood.
We pass by without mention how the heart sends its blood, purified in the lungs, up into the brain, which it does through arteries called the carotids, and how the brain returns the blood, vivified, into the vena cava, just above the place where the thoracic duct discharges the chyle, and so once again into the heart.
[15] These, in addition to countless others, are secret operations of the soul in the body. A person has no sensation of them, and anyone not versed in the science of anatomy has no knowledge of them. And yet similar processes take place in the interior components of a person’s mind, as nothing can occur in the body without being impelled by the mind. For a person’s mind is his spirit, and his spirit is equally human, the only difference being that the activities occurring in the body take place naturally, while those occurring in the mind take place spiritually. There is a complete similarity.
It is apparent from this that in every person Divine providence operates in a thousand ways, even in very secret ways; that it continually has as its end to purge him, because it has as an end to save him; and that nothing more is incumbent on the person than to put away evils in his external self. The Lord provides the rest, if entreated to.
* A legendary serpent or dragon, whose breath and glance were said to be lethal. Formerly identified in English translations of the Latin Vulgate with the cockatrice, and retained as such in the King James Bible.
** “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.”
*** See Revelation 3:16.
But these observations may be seen more fully according to the following outline:
1. When the will is caught up in evil, one’s own intelligence sees nothing but falsity, and is both unwilling and unable to see anything else.
2. If in that case one’s own intelligence does see truth, it turns its back on it or falsifies it.
3. Divine providence continually causes a person to see truth, and gives him moreover a disposition to perceive it and also to accept it.
4. By this means a person is turned away from evil, not of himself, but by the Lord.
FIRST, that when the will is caught up in evil, one’s own intelligence sees nothing but falsity, and is both unwilling and unable to see anything else: I have had this demonstrated quite often in the spiritual world. When a person becomes a spirit, which happens to everyone after death – for he then puts off his material body and puts on a spiritual one – he is conveyed alternately into the two states of his life, the outer one and the inner one. When he is in the outer state, he both speaks and behaves rationally and wisely, altogether as a rational and wise person in the world, and he can also teach others very many matters relating to a moral and civic life. Moreover, if he had been a preacher, he is able also to teach matters relating to a spiritual life. But when he is conveyed from this outer state into his inner one, and the outer one is made quiescent and the inner one awakened, then, if he is evil, the scene changes. From being rational he becomes sensual, and from being wise, insane. For his thinking is then governed by the evil of his will and its delight, thus by his own intelligence, and he sees nothing but falsity and does nothing but evil, believing that maliciousness is wisdom, and that cunning is prudence; and in the light of his own intelligence he believes himself a deity, and with his whole mind embraces nefarious schemes.
[2] I have seen such insanities quite often. I have also seen spirits conveyed into these alternating states two or three times within an hour, and it has been granted them then to see their insanities and moreover to acknowledge them. But still they did not wish to remain in a rational and moral state, but of their own accord returned into their inner sensual and insane state, as they preferred this to the other, because in it lay the delight of their life’s love.
Who can believe that behind his outward visage an evil person is of such a character, and that he undergoes such a metamorphosis when he withdraws within it?
From this empirical evidence alone one can see the nature of a person’s own intelligence when his thinking and behavior is governed by evil in his will.
The case is otherwise with good people. When they are conveyed from their outer state into the inner one, they become still wiser and still more moral.
[3] SECOND, that if in that case one’s own intelligence does see truth, either it turns its back on it or it falsifies it: Everyone has a volitional character and an intellectual character. The volitional character is evil, and the intellectual character is the resulting falsity. The first is meant by “the will of the flesh,” and the second by “the will of man” in John 1:13.*
The native character of the will is, in its essence, a love of self, and the native character of the intellect is a conceit arising from that love. The two loves are like two married partners, and we call their marriage the marriage of evil and falsity. Every evil spirit is brought into this marriage before he is sent into hell, and when he is there, he does not know then what is good, for he calls his evil good, as he experiences it as delightful. Moreover, he also then turns himself away from truth, nor is he willing to see it, because he looks upon any falsity that accords with his evil in the way that the eye looks upon beauty, and hears it as the ear hears harmony.
[4] THIRD, that Divine providence continually causes a person to see truth, and gives him moreover a disposition to perceive it and accept it: This is the case because Divine providence acts from within and flows through the interior component into the outer ones, or from the spiritual component into the components in the natural self, and with the light of heaven illumines the intellect, and with the warmth of heaven animates the will. The light of heaven in its essence is Divine wisdom, and the warmth of heaven in its essence is Divine love; and from Divine wisdom nothing can flow in but truth, and from Divine love nothing can flow in but good. It is in consequence of this that the Lord grants in the intellect a disposition to see truth, and also to perceive and accept it. This is what makes a person human, not only in respect to his outward appearance, but also in respect to his inward one.
Who does not wish to appear to be a rational and spiritual person? And who does not know that he wishes to appear as such in order that others may believe him to be truly human? Therefore, if he is only rational and spiritual in outward form, and not at the same time in his inward form, is he human? Is he anything other than a kind of actor upon a stage, or a kind of ape with an almost human face? Can he not know from this that only that person is human who inwardly is such as he wishes to be seen by others? He who acknowledges the one point must acknowledge the other.
One’s own intelligence can produce the human form only in his external constituents, but Divine providence can produce that form in his internal constituents and through them in his external ones; and when it has been produced, the person not only appears to be human, but is human.
[5] FOURTH, that by this means a person is turned away from evil, not of himself, but by the Lord: We say that when Divine providence grants a person to see truth and gives him at the same time an affection for it, a person can be turned away from evil; and the reason is that truth points the way and enjoins it, and when the will puts it into practice, it unites itself with the truth and within itself turns the truth into good. For it becomes then a matter of his love, and that which is a matter of love is good.
All reformation is effected by means of truth and not apart from it, for without truth the will is continually intent on its evil, and if it consults the intellect, it is not instructed, but the evil is justified by falsities.
[6] As regards intelligence, it appears to be one’s own and inherently so, both in the case of a good person and in the case of an evil one, and a good person is bound to act in accord with his intelligence as though it were his own just as much as an evil person. But someone who trusts in Divine providence is turned away from evil, while someone who does not trust in it is not turned away. Moreover, the person who trusts in it is someone who acknowledges evil to be a sin and wishes to be turned away from it, while someone who does not have that acknowledgment and wish does not trust in it.
The difference between these two types of intelligence is like the difference between something believed to exist in itself and something believed not to exist in itself, but yet to exist apparently in itself. And it is also like the difference between something external without a similar internal of the same character and something external with a similar internal. Thus it is like the difference between the words and actions of mimics and comic actors who play the parts of kings, princes and dukes, and the words and actions of actual kings, princes, and dukes. The latter are what they are both inwardly and outwardly, while the former are what they are only outwardly, and when the appearance is put off, are called comedians, performers, and entertainers.
* “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” (John 1:12, 13)
Now because I have been granted to know the nature of heaven and the nature of hell, and it is important to know the nature of a human being in respect to his mind or spirit, I wish to briefly describe each.
The reason is that people who are in hell make lusts for evil the head, and affections for good the feet, whereas people who are in heaven make affections for good the head, and lusts for evil the soles of the feet. Hence the mutual opposition.
We say that in heaven are found affections for good and the accompanying thoughts of truth, and in hell, lusts for evil and the accompanying suppositions of falsity, but we mean that there are spirits and angels who embody these, for each is the embodiment of his own affection or his own lust, an angel in heaven being the embodiment of his affection, and a spirit in hell the embodiment of his lust.
Spirits in hell, on the other hand, are lusts for evil and the accompanying suppositions of falsity because they are governed by self-love and their own intelligence, and all lusts for evil arise from self-love, and suppositions of falsity from one’s own intelligence.
The delight of his affection fills and surrounds each angel in heaven, and a common delight also fills and surrounds each society of heaven, as the delight of all together or a most general one does the whole of heaven. In similar fashion the delight of his lust fills and surrounds each spirit in hell, and a common delight each society of hell, and the delight of all or a most general one the whole of hell.
Since the affections of heaven and lusts of hell are, as we said before, diametrically opposite each other, it is apparent that any delight of heaven is so undelightful in hell as to be unbearable to the inhabitants there, and conversely, that any delight of hell is so undelightful in heaven as to be likewise unbearable to the inhabitants there. This is the reason for their antipathy for, aversion to and separation from each other.
I have, moreover, been granted to know how the delight of each affection for good in heaven feels, and the delight of the lust for evil in hell, but it would take too long to present it here.
But they received the reply that they could have known if they had wished that evil of life is repugnant to heaven and displeasing to God, but gratifying to hell and pleasing to the devil, and conversely, that goodness of life is gratifying to heaven and pleasing to God, but repugnant to hell and displeasing to the devil, and also therefore that evil in itself is malodorous and good in itself fragrant.
Moreover, they were asked, since they could have known this if they had wished, why did they not refrain from evils as hellish and diabolical, and why did they sanction them simply because they were delightful? Further, as they now know that the delights of evil are so foul-smelling, they could also know that being so overflowing with them, they could not enter heaven.
Upon receiving this reply the newcomers conveyed themselves to spirits who were taken up with the same delights, because there they could breathe, and nowhere else.
(The fact that a person is in miniature form either a heaven or a hell may be seen in the book Heaven and Hell, published in 1758 in London, nos. 51-102.)
FIRST, as regards the point that the Lord governs hell through forces that oppose: We showed above in nos. 288, 289 that angels in heaven do not have any love and wisdom of themselves, or any affection for good and the resulting thought of truth of themselves, but from the Lord; that good and truth flow from heaven into hell; and that goodness there is turned into evil, and truth into falsity, because the interior constituents of their minds are turned in a contrary direction.
Now because all the constituents of hell are opposed to all the constituents of heaven, it follows that the Lord governs hell through forces that oppose.
[2] SECOND, that the Lord governs in hell evil people who are in the world: The reason is that in respect to his spirit a person is in the spiritual world and in some society there – in a society of hell if he is evil, and in a society of heaven if he is good. For a person’s mind, being in itself spiritual, can only be among spiritual beings, into whose company he also comes after death. The reality of this is also something we have stated and demonstrated above.
The person is not present there as a spirit enrolled in the society, however, for a person is continually in a state to be reformed. Consequently, in accordance with his life and the changes in it, he is conveyed by the Lord, if he is evil, from one society of hell to another. And if he allows himself to be reformed, he is led out of hell and raised into heaven, and there, too, conveyed from one society to another, and this until his death. After that he no longer travels from society to society there, because he is then no longer in a state to be reformed, but remains in the state he had in accordance with his life. It is when a person dies, then, that he is enrolled in his place.
[3] THIRD, that in this way the Lord governs evil people in the world in respect to their interiors, and in another way in respect to their exteriors: The Lord governs the interiors of a person’s mind in the way just described, but its exteriors in the world of spirits, which is midway between heaven and hell. The reason is that a person is for the most part different in outward respects from what he is in inward respects. For in outward respects he can feign himself an angel of light, and yet inwardly be a spirit of darkness. Consequently his outer self is governed in one way, and his inner self in another way. His outer self is governed in the world of spirits, but his inner self in heaven or in hell, as long as he lives in the world. So also, when he dies, he comes first into the world of spirits, and there into his outer self. And this is then stripped away there, and when it has been stripped away the person is conveyed to his place in which he has been enrolled.
What the world of spirits is and its nature may be seen in the book Heaven and Hell, published in London in 1758, nos. 421-535.
Almost everyone believes that a person thinks and wills of himself and so speaks and acts of himself. Who thinking on his own can suppose anything else, when the appearance of its being so is so strong that it differs not at all from actually thinking, willing, speaking and acting of oneself, which nevertheless is impossible?
In Angelic Wisdom Regarding Divine Love and Wisdom we demonstrated that there is only one life and that people are recipients of life. Further, that a person’s will is the receptacle of love, and a person’s intellect the receptacle of wisdom, the two elements which constitute the one and only life.
We demonstrated as well that it is the case from creation and owing therefore continually to Divine providence that that life in a person appear in such a guise as to be seemingly his, thus seemingly his own possession, but that this is an appearance in order that the person may be a recipient vessel.
In nos. 288-294 above we have demonstrated further that no one thinks on his own but from others, and that neither do those others think on their own, but all do so from the Lord – an evil person as well as a good person. Moreover we have demonstrated that this is something known in the Christian world, especially among people who not only say but also believe that all goodness and truth originate from the Lord, and so, too, all wisdom, thus faith and charity; and at the same time that all evil and falsity come from the devil or from hell.
[2] From all this no other conclusion can follow than that everything a person thinks and wills flows in; and because all speech flows from thought, as an effect from its cause, and likewise all action from the will, that everything a person says and does flows in too, though secondarily or indirectly.
No one can deny that everything a person sees, hears, smells, tastes or feels flows in. Why not what a person thinks and wills? Can there be any other difference than this, that into the organs of the outer or physical senses flow such things as are found in the natural world, while into the organic substances of the inner or mental senses flow such things as are found in the spiritual world? Consequently, that as the organs of the outer or physical senses are the recipient vessels of natural objects, so the organic substances of the inner or mental senses are the recipient vessels of spiritual objects?
Since that is the condition of the human being, what then is his inherent character? His inherent character is not that he is this or that sort of recipient vessel, because that character is simply his nature in response to his reception. It is not, however, the inherent character of his life. For by someone’s inherent character no one means anything else than that he lives of himself and so thinks and wills of himself. But that this character does not exist in anyone, indeed that neither can it exist in anyone, follows from what we have said above.
I remarked that a person has no inherent character, unless you wish to call it his inherent character that he is this or that sort of vessel, or this or that kind of organic being, or this or that form. But that is not, I said, the inherent character I mean, for it is simply his nature. Rather, no person has any inherent character as inherent character is commonly understood.
Those people, who attributed everything to their own prudence, who may also be called self-made in their own image, became so incensed that flames shot from their nostrils, saying, “You are uttering absurdities and insanities! Would a person in that case not be an empty nothing, or a figment of the imagination, or a piece of sculpture or statue?”
[2] I could only answer, however, that it is an absurdity and insane to believe that a person is a form of life of himself, and that wisdom and prudence do not flow in from God, but originate in the person, and so likewise the goodness accompanying charity and the truth accompanying faith. To attribute these to oneself is termed by every wise person an insanity, and it is therefore also an absurdity. Moreover, people who do this are like people who inhabit another’s house and property, and while there persuade themselves that they own them. Or they are like stewards and managers who believe all their master’s property to be theirs. They are also like the servant overseers to whom their master gave talents and minas to do business with, who did not render an account of them but kept them as their own, and so behaved as thieves.*
[3] Of all these it can be said that they are insane, indeed that they are empty nothings, and also dreamers, because they do not have in them from the Lord the goodness that is the very essence of life, and so neither any truth. Therefore people of this character are called [in the Word] dead, and also nothing and empty (Isaiah 40:17, 23). And elsewhere, makers of an image,* and carved images and pillars.
But on this subject, more under the following headings, which we will consider in this order:
(1) What one’s own prudence is, and prudence not one’s own.
(2) A person’s own prudence leads him to persuade himself and affirm within him that all goodness and truth originate from him and in him, and likewise all evil and falsity.
(3) Every persuasion and conviction remains in a person as something his own.
(4) If a person were to believe, as is the truth, that all goodness and truth originate from the Lord, and all evil and falsity from hell, he would not assign goodness to himself and make it deserving of merit, nor assign evil to himself and make himself guilty of it.
* Matthew 25:14-29. Luke 19:12-26.
** Habakkuk 2:18.
Such people are also caught up in misconceptions, for every appearance affirmed as truth becomes a misconception. And to the extent that they employ misconceptions to confirm themselves, to the same extent they become naturalists and do not believe anything that they cannot at the same time apprehend with some bodily sense, primarily the sense of sight, because this especially is united with thought. They eventually become sensual; and if they confirm themselves on the side of nature in opposition to God, they close up the interiors of their minds and interpose a kind of veil, and afterward think below the veil and of nothing that exists above it.
In ancient times such sensual people were called serpents of the tree of knowledge. It is said of them in the spiritual world that as they confirm themselves, they in the same measure close the interiors of their mind, “at length even to the nose.” For the nose symbolizes the perception of truth, and this saying means that they do not have any.
[2] We will now describe their character. They are more cunning and guileful than others, and clever reasoners. They call cunning and guile intelligence and wisdom, nor do they know any different. They regard people who are not of such a character as simple and stupid, especially those who are worshipers of God and proponents of Divine providence. As for the interior principles of their minds, of which they themselves are little aware, they are like those people called Machiavellian, who regard murder, adultery, theft and false witness, viewed in themselves, as inconsequential. And if they argue against these, it is owing simply to their prudence, that they may not appear to be of that character.
[3] Of a person’s life in the world they think no otherwise than that it is like the life of an animal; and of a person’s life after death, that it is a kind of living vapor, which, rising from the corpse or tomb, sinks back again and so dies.
From this madness comes the notion that spirits and angels are puffs of air, and, among people who are enjoined to believe in eternal life, that people’s souls are of a like nature, and therefore that they do not see, hear or speak, being consequently blind, deaf and mute, and conscious only within their bit of air. They say, “How can the soul be anything else? Did not the outward senses die with the body? How can people recover them before the soul is reunited with the body?”
And because they could comprehend the state of the soul after death only sensually and not spiritually, they postulated this state. Otherwise they would have lost their belief in eternal life.
Especially do they confirm in themselves their love of self, calling it the fire of life and their inducement to various useful endeavors in the kingdom. Moreover, as that is their character, they make idols of themselves, and because their thoughts are misconceptions and the products of misconceptions, their thoughts are images of falsity. Further, because they indulge the delights of their lusts, they are satanic spirits and devils. Satanic spirits are what those are called who justify the lusts for evil in them, and devils those who live those lusts.
[4] The character of the most guileful sensual people is also something I have been granted to know. Their hell is deep down behind, and they wish to be inconspicuous. Therefore they appear there flying about like ghosts, which is how they fantasize themselves, and they are called genii.
Once some spirits were let out of that hell in order that I might learn what they are like. They immediately applied themselves to the back of my neck, beneath the occiput, and thus entered into my affections, not wanting to enter my thoughts, which they skillfully avoided; and they began to vary my affections, one after another, with the intention of bending them imperceptibly into their opposites, namely into lusts for evil. Moreover, because they did not disturb my thoughts at all, they would have bent them and turned them around without my knowledge, had the Lord not prevented it.
[5] People who become of such a character are those who in the world did not believe in anything of Divine providence, and who explore in others only the others’ lusts and desires and thus lead them along until they rule over them. And because they do this so secretly and so cunningly that the other person is unaware of it, and after death become such as they were, therefore as soon as they come into the spiritual world they are cast into that hell. When seen in the light of heaven they appear to have no nose; and what is surprising, although they are so clever, they are nevertheless more sensual than others.
Since people in ancient times called a sensual person a serpent, and since a person of that kind is more cunning and guileful than others and a cleverer reasoner, therefore it is said in Genesis that “the serpent became more cunning than any beast of the field” (Genesis 3:1). And the Lord says, “Be as shrewd as serpents and as guileless as doves” (Matthew 10:16). Moreover the dragon called also the serpent of old, the devil and satan, is described as having “seven heads and ten horns, and seven jewels* on his heads” (Revelation 12:3,9). By seven heads is symbolically meant guile. By ten horns is symbolically meant the power of persuading with fallacies. And by seven jewels are symbolically meant the sanctities of the Word and church profaned.
* The Latin word here, as also the Greek one in Revelation, is diademata, which normally has the meaning of “crowns,” but which the writer, from his usage of the term elsewhere, clearly took to mean jewels, gems, or precious stones.
[2] They are not, through any affirmations of appearances, caught up in misconceptions. As a result they know and perceive that murder, adultery, theft, and false witness are sins, and therefore refrain from them. Moreover they know and perceive that maliciousness is not wisdom, and that guile is not intelligence. When they hear clever arguments founded on misconceptions, they are surprised and laugh to themselves. The reason is that they do not have in them a veil between their inner and outer elements, or between the spiritual and natural components of the mind, as there is in sensual people. Consequently they receive an influx from heaven which enables them to see these things interiorly.
[3] They speak more straightforwardly and honestly than others, and place wisdom in life and not in speech. They are comparatively like lambs and sheep, while those caught up in their own prudence are like wolves and foxes. They are also like people living in a house who through the windows see the sky, whereas those caught up in their own prudence are like people living in the basement of the house, who through their windows see only objects under ground. Or they are like people standing on a mountain, who see those caught up in their own prudence as people wandering in the valleys in forests.
[4] It can be seen from this that prudence not one’s own is prudence from the Lord, having the same appearance in outward respects as one’s own prudence, but altogether different in inward respects. In inward respects prudence not one’s own appears in the spiritual world as a living person, whereas one’s own prudence appears as a mannequin, seemingly living only in the fact that people caught up in it still possess rationality and freedom, or the faculties of understanding and willing and so of speaking and acting. And by virtue of these faculties they can pretend to be living people, too.
They are these mannequins because evils and falsities have no life. Only goods and truths do, and because by virtue of their rationality these people know this – for if they did not they would not feign them – they possess some human vitality in their pretenses.
[5] Who cannot know that a person’s character is the character he has inwardly, consequently that someone who is inwardly such as he wishes to appear outwardly is a real person, and that someone who is a living person only outwardly and not inwardly is a mannequin.
Think in the same way that you speak in favor of God, religion, righteousness and honesty, and you will be a real person, and Divine providence will then be your prudence, and you will see in others that one’s own prudence is idiocy.
What are truth and goodness to the ear? Does it not hear as true that which we call harmonious, and hear as good that which we call pleasing? For it feels its pleasure in hearing harmonies.
Likewise in the case of the other senses. It is apparent therefore what natural truth and goodness are.
Consider now what spiritual truth and goodness are. Is spiritual truth anything other than the beauty and harmony of spiritual matters and objects? And is spiritual goodness anything other than the delight and pleasure in perceiving their beauty and harmony?
[2] Let us see now whether something can be said of the one and not of the other, or of that which is spiritual and not of that which is natural. Of that which is natural we say that beauty and delight in the eye flow in from objects, and that harmony and pleasure in the ear flow in from musical instruments. Is it any different in the case of the organic substances of the mind? We say of the latter that these attributes are contained in them, and of the former that they flow in. But if you ask why we say that they flow in, the only possible answer is that it is because of the interval of space seen, whereas if you ask why we say in the other case that they are contained there, the only possible answer is that it is because no interval of space is seen – consequently that it is the appearance of an interval of space or lack of it which causes us to believe one thing in regard to what a person thinks and perceives, and another in regard to what he sees and hears.
But this notion collapses when it is known that something spiritual does not exist in an interval of space as something natural does. Think of the sun or moon, or of Rome or Constantinople. Are they not present in your thought without an interval of space, provided that the thought is not connected with an experience of them formed by sight or hearing? Why do you persuade yourself therefore that because an interval of space is not apparent in your thought, goodness and truth – and likewise evil and falsity – are contained there and do not flow in?
[3] Let me add to this an experience which is a common one in the spiritual world. One spirit can infuse his thoughts and affections into another spirit without the latter knowing that they are not the product of his own thought and affection. This is called in that world thinking from another and thinking in another. I have witnessed it a thousand times and also done it a hundred times. And yet the appearance of an interval of space was considerable. However, as soon as the spirits realized that it was someone else who injected those thoughts and affections, they became angry and turned away, yet acknowledging that no interval of space is apparent to their internal sight or thought, as it is to their outer sight or eye, unless it is disclosed, and for that reason is believed to flow in.
[4] To this experience I will add my own daily one. Evil spirits have often injected evils and falsities into my thought, and these evils and falsities have appeared to me to be in me and to be produced by me, as though I myself were thinking them. But because I realized that they were evils and falsities, I looked to see what spirits had injected them, and having discovered them drove them away, and they were at a considerable distance from me.
It can be seen from this that every evil with its accompanying falsity flows in from hell, while every good with its accompanying truth flows in from the Lord, and that both appear to be contained in the person.
[
2] The Garden of Eden symbolizes the wisdom of the people of that church. The tree of life, the Lord in respect to His Divine providence, and the tree of knowledge, mankind in respect to his own prudence. The serpent, the sensual nature and inherent character of mankind, which in itself is self-love and a conceit in its own intelligence, thus the devil and satan. Eating of the tree of knowledge, the arrogation to self of goodness and truth as being not from the Lord and thus not the Lord’s, but the product of mankind and thus the property of mankind. And because goodness and truth are the fundamental Divine qualities in a person, as goodness means everything connected with love, and truth, everything connected with wisdom, therefore if a person claims them for himself as his own, he cannot but believe that he is like God. Therefore the serpent said,
In the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. (Genesis 3:5)
That, too, is what those do in hell who are caught up in self-love and a consequent conceit in their own intelligence.
[3] The curse on the serpent symbolizes the damnation of mankind’s own love and mankind’s own intelligence. The curse on Eve, the damnation of his volitional nature, and the curse on Adam, the damnation of his intellectual nature. The thorn and thistle which the earth would cause to sprout up for him symbolize sheer falsity and evil. Being expelled from the garden symbolizes the loss of wisdom. Guarding the way to the tree of life, the Lord’s protection to keep the sanctities of the Word and the church from being violated.
The fig leaves with which Adam and Eve covered their nakedness symbolize the moral truths with which those people veiled the inclinations of their love and conceit. And the tunics of skin with which they were afterward clothed symbolize appearances of truth, which were the only ones they had.
This is the spiritual meaning of these things. But let anyone who wishes remain in the literal sense. Only let him know that the foregoing is the meaning in heaven.
* Genesis 2:1-3:24.
Regarding influx, they think the wrong way around, as though the vision of the eye flowed into the internal sight of the mind, namely the intellect, and as though the hearing of the ear flowed into the internal hearing, again the intellect, not perceiving that the intellect flows from the will into the eye and ear and not only forms those senses, but also employs them as its instruments in the natural world.
But because this is contrary to the appearance, they do not perceive it. Only if it is said that something natural does not flow into something spiritual, but that the spiritual flows into the natural, do they perceive it. But still, even then they think, “What is something spiritual but a purer natural entity? Is it not also apparent that if the eye sees something beautiful, or if the ear hears something melodious, the mind, which is the intellect and will, is delighted?”
This they say, not knowing that the eye does not see of itself, or the tongue taste of itself, or the nose smell of itself or the skin feel of itself, but that it is a person’s mind or spirit which sensibly perceives the stimuli there and is affected by the sensation in accordance with its character. But even so, the person’s mind or spirit does not perceive these sensations of itself, but does so from the Lord. And to think otherwise is to think according to appearances, and if it affirms these, according to misconceptions.
[2] Regarding thought, they say that it is a kind of modification in the air, varied according to its objects, and amplified in the measure of its cultivation; thus, that the ideas of thoughts are images appearing in the air like atmospheric phenomena; and that memory is a tablet on which these images have been impressed. They say this not knowing that thoughts exist in purely organic substances just as sight and hearing do in theirs. Let them only inspect the brain and they will see that it is full of these substances. Injure them and you will suffer delirium. Destroy them and you will die.
What thought is, however, and memory, may be seen in no. 279 above toward the end.
[3] Regarding life, they know nothing else than that it is a kind of activity of nature which causes itself to be felt in different ways, as a live body does in its organic motions. If you say that in that case nature is alive, they deny it, saying rather that nature gives life. If you ask whether life is not then dissipated when the body dies, they answer that life remains in the bit of air called the soul. If you ask what God is then – “is He not life itself?” – at this they fall silent and refuse to say aloud what they think. If you say, “Will you grant that Divine love and wisdom are life itself,” they reply, “What are love and wisdom?” For in their misconceptions they do not see what these are, or what God is.
I have cited these examples to show how their own prudence makes people foolish, owing to the fact that they draw all their conclusions from appearances and so from misconceptions.
People who are led by the Lord’s Divine providence are raised above their inherent character, and they see then that all goodness and truth originate from the Lord. Indeed, they see also that whatever is in a person from the Lord is perpetually the Lord’s and never the person’s.
Anyone who believes otherwise is like someone who has his master’s goods placed in his care and claims them for himself or appropriates them as his own. Such a one is not a steward but a thief. And because a person’s inherent character is nothing but evil, therefore he also immerses those goods in his evil, by which they are consumed, like pearls cast into dung or vinegar.
* The number 315 in the sequence was accidentally omitted.
The reason is that in respect to his spirit, which is the component that thinks, every person is in the spiritual world and one of the inhabitants there, so that he is in spiritual light, which enlightens the inner regions of his intellect and, as it were, issues dictates. For spiritual light in its essence is the Divine truth of the Lord’s Divine wisdom.
It is because of this that a person can think analytically, draw conclusions about what is just and right in judicial matters, and see what is honorable in living morally and what is good in living spiritually. And he can see also many truths, which fall into darkness only as a result of confirmed falsities.
A person sees these truths almost in the way that he sees another’s disposition from the look of his face and perceives his affections from the tone of his voice, having no other knowledge than the knowledge instinctive in everyone. Why should a person not see to some extent from influx the interior constituents of his life, which are spiritual and moral, when there is no animal that does not know from influx the things necessary to it, which are natural? A bird knows how to make a nest, lay eggs, and hatch its young, and it knows its proper food – not to mention other marvels, which we call instincts.
1. There is nothing that cannot be defended, and falsity more easily than truth.
2. Truth is not seen by confirmed falsity, but confirmed truth causes falsity to be seen.
3. To be able to affirm whatever one pleases does not constitute intelligence, but only ingenuity, possible even in the worst of people.
4. It is possible to have an intellectual affirmation that is not at the same time an affirmation of the will, but every affirmation of the will is also an intellectual one.
5. An affirmation of evil by the will that is at the same time an intellectual one causes a person to believe that his own prudence is everything and Divine providence nothing, but an intellectual affirmation alone does not.
6. Everything affirmed by the will and intellect together remains to eternity, but not something affirmed only by the intellect.
[2] As regards the FIRST, that there is nothing that cannot be defended, and falsity more easily than truth: What cannot be defended, when atheists argue that God is not the creator of the universe, but that nature is the creator of it? That religion is simply a shackle, and one for the simple and the masses? That man is a species of animal, and dies the same death? When they argue that adulterous affairs are allowable, and so, too, secret thefts, fraudulent practices, and deceitful schemes; that guile constitutes intelligence, and maliciousness wisdom?
Who does not defend his own heresy? Are there not volumes full of arguments in defense of the two reigning heresies in the Christian world? Concoct ten heresies, even abstruse ones, and tell an ingenious person to defend them, and he will defend them all. If you were to then view them in the light of his arguments alone, would you not see falsities as truths?
Since every falsity shines in the natural self with its appearances and illusions, and truth only in the spiritual self, it is apparent that falsity can be defended more easily than truth.
[3] To see that every falsity and every evil can be defended to the point that falsity appears as truth, and evil as good, take for example the following. Argue that light is darkness, and darkness light. Can one not say, “What in itself is light? Is it not just something appearing in the eye, according to the eye’s condition? What is light to a closed eye? Do not bats and owls have such eyes? Do they not see light as darkness, and darkness as light? I have been told that some people see in this way, and that even though people in hell live in darkness, they still see each other. Do people not have light in their dreams in the middle of the night? Is darkness in that case not light, and light darkness?”
But someone may answer, “What is this? Light is light as truth is truth, and darkness is darkness as falsity is falsity.”
[4] Take this further example. Argue that a raven is white. Can one not say, “Its blackness is only an opaqueness to light, which is not its real color. Its feathers inside are white, and so, too, its body. These are the stuff of which it consists. Because a raven’s blackness is an opaqueness to light, therefore it turns white when it becomes old. We have seen them. What is blackness in itself but white? Grind a piece of black glass and you will see that the powder is white. Therefore when you call a raven black, you are speaking in accordance with the opaqueness, and not the reality.”
But someone may answer, “What is this? In that case you would say that all birds are white.”
Even though these arguments are contrary to sound reason, we have presented them to make it possible for people to see that a falsity may be defended that is quite opposite to the truth, and an evil that is quite opposite to good.
[5] SECOND, that truth is not seen by confirmed falsity, but confirmed truth causes falsity to be seen: Every falsity resides in darkness, and every truth in light; and in darkness nothing is seen, indeed neither is anything known, except by feeling. It is different in the light. Therefore in the Word falsities are called darkness, and accordingly those who are caught up in falsities are said to walk in darkness and in the shadow of death. And conversely, truths are called light there, and accordingly those who are guided by truths are said to walk in the light and are called the children of light.*
[6] The fact that truth is not seen by confirmed falsity, and that confirmed truth causes falsity to be seen, is apparent from many considerations. For instance, who would see any spiritual truth if the Word did not teach it? It would be nothing but thick darkness, which could not be dispelled except by the light possessed by the Word, and only in the case of someone willing to be enlightened.
What heretic can see his falsities without admitting the genuine truth of the church? Before that he does not see them. I have spoken with people who have confirmed themselves in faith apart from charity, and I have asked them whether they had seen the many statements in the Word regarding love and charity, regarding works and deeds, and about keeping the commandments, saying that the blessed or wise man is one who does them, and a foolish man one who does not. They have replied that when they read these things, they saw only that they constituted faith, and thus passed them by as though with eyes shut.
[7] People who have confirmed themselves in falsities are like people who see streaks on a wall, and in the dusk of evening see that streaking in their imagination as a horseman or person, a fanciful image which is dispelled by the dawning of the light of day.
Who can feel the spiritual uncleanness of adultery but one who possesses the spiritual cleanliness of chastity? Who can feel the cruelty of vengeance but one who is governed by good from a love of the neighbor? What adulterer and what person eager for revenge does not deride people who call their delights infernal, and the delights of married love and love of the neighbor on the other hand heavenly? And so on.
[8] THIRD, that to be able to affirm whatever one pleases does not constitute intelligence, but only ingenuity, possible even in the worst of people: There are some very skillful debaters who do not know any truth, and yet can defend either truth or falsity. Some of them even say, “What is truth? Is there such a thing? Is not that true which I make true?” And yet in the world these people are reckoned intelligent, even though they are merely plasterers plastering a wall. Only those people are intelligent who perceive truth to be true, and who confirm it by a continual perception of truths.
There is little discernible difference between the two kinds of people, because the difference between the light of affirmation and the light of a perception of truth is not discernible. Nor does it appear otherwise than that people who possess the light of affirmation possess also the light of a perception of truth, even though the difference is like that between an illusory light and a genuine one. And an illusory light in the spiritual world is such that it turns to darkness when genuine light flows in. Such an illusory light is the light for many people in hell, and when they are brought out into genuine light, they see nothing at all.
It is apparent from this that to be able to affirm whatever one pleases is only ingenuity, possible even in the worst of people.
[9] FOURTH, that it is possible to have an intellectual affirmation that is not at the same time an affirmation of the will, and that every affirmation of the will is also an intellectual one: Let examples serve to illustrate. People who affirm a faith apart from charity, and yet live a life of charity – in general, people who affirm a doctrinal falsity and yet do not live according to it – are people who possess an intellectual affirmation and not at the same time one of the will. On the other hand, people who affirm a doctrinal falsity and do live according to it are people who possess both an affirmation of the will and an intellectual one. That is because the intellect does not flow into the will, but the will into the intellect.
It is apparent from this what the falsity of evil is, and falsity not of evil. Falsity not of evil can be joined with good, but not the falsity of evil, and the reason is that falsity not of evil is falsity in the intellect and not in the will, while the falsity of evil is falsity in the intellect from evil in the will.
[10] FIFTH, that an affirmation of evil by the will that is at the same time an intellectual one causes a person to believe that his own prudence is everything and Divine providence nothing, but an intellectual affirmation alone does not: Many people affirm in themselves their own prudence owing to appearances in the world, but still do not deny Divine providence. They possess only an intellectual affirmation. But people who at the same time deny Divine providence possess also an affirmation of the will. This latter affirmation, however, with its accompanying persuasion, is found principally in people who are worshipers of nature and at the same time worshipers of themselves.
[11] SIXTH, that everything affirmed by the will and intellect together remains to eternity, but not something affirmed only by the intellect: For that which belongs to the intellect only does not exist in the person, but about him. It exists only in thought, and nothing enters into a person and is adopted by him but that which is taken up by the will, for this becomes part of his life’s love. That this remains to eternity is something we will explain in the following number.
* Luke 16:8, John 12:36. See also Ephesians 5:8, 1 Thessalonians 5:5.
Since a person is an expression of his love, he is also the embodiment of his love and may be called the instrument of his life’s love.
In no. 279 above we said that the affections of a person’s love and his consequent thoughts are changes and variations in the state and form of the organic substances of his mind. We must now explain what those changes and variations are, and their nature. From the heart and lungs an idea of them can be gained as being alternating expansions and compressions or dilations and contractions, which in the heart are called the systole and diastole, and in the lungs respirations, the latter being reciprocal distensions and retractions or enlargements and constrictions of the lungs’ lobes.
These are the changes and variations in the state of the heart and lungs. Similar ones occur in the rest of the body’s organs, and similar ones also in their parts, by which the blood and animating fluid are received and forwarded.
[2] Similar changes and variations take place in the organic forms of the mind, which, as we have shown above, are the vessels of a person’s affections and thoughts, but with the difference that their expansions and compressions or reciprocal motions occur in such comparatively higher perfection that they cannot be described in the words of natural language, but only in the words of spiritual language. These can be heard only as vortical spiralings in and out, in the manner of perpetually coiled helixes wonderfully combined into forms receptive of life.
[3] We will now describe the nature of these purely organic forms and substances in evil people and in good people. In good people they spiral forward, but in evil people backward. Moreover, those which spiral forward are turned to the Lord and receive influx from Him, while those which spiral backward are turned toward hell and receive influx from there.
It should be known that in the measure they are turned backward they are open behind and closed in front, and conversely, that in the measure they are turned forward they are open in front and closed behind.
4] It can be seen from this the kind of form or instrument an evil person is, and the kind of form or instrument a good person is, namely that they are turned in opposite directions. And because, once induced, the turning cannot be reversed, it is apparent that what a person is like when he dies, so he remains to eternity.
The love belonging to a person’s will is what causes this turning, or what turns him this way or that, for as we said above, every person is an expression of his love. For this reason everyone goes the way of his love after death, to heaven if he has been directed by a good love, and to hell if he has been directed by an evil love. Nor does he find rest except in the society where his is the reigning love. And what is surprising, everyone knows the way. It is as though his nostrils smelled it.
1. Someone who affirms in himself the appearance that wisdom and prudence originate from mankind, and that they are therefore in him as his, cannot but have it seem to him that he would otherwise not be human, but would be either an animal or a statue, when in fact the opposite is the case.
2. To believe and think, as is the truth, that all goodness and truth originate from the Lord, and all evil and falsity from hell, seems to be an impossibility, when in fact it is something truly human and thus angelic.
3. To believe and think in this way is impossible for people who do not acknowledge the Lord’s Divinity, and who do not acknowledge evils to be sins, whereas it is possible for people who do acknowledge these two things.
4. Insofar as they refrain from evils as sins and are averse to them, people who possess these two acknowledgments simply reflect on the evils in themselves and cast them away from themselves back to hell from where they came.
5. Thus Divine providence does not assign evil to anyone, nor good to anyone, but it is a person’s own prudence that assigns the one or the other to him.
FIRST, that someone who affirms in himself the appearance that wisdom and prudence originate from mankind, and that they are in him as his, cannot but have it seem to him that he would otherwise not be human, but would be either an animal or a statue, when in fact the opposite is the case: It is owing to a law of Divine providence that a person should think as though of himself, and act prudently as though of himself, but still should acknowledge that he does so from the Lord. It follows, therefore, that someone who does think and act prudently as though of himself, and at the same time acknowledges that he does so from the Lord, is human, but not someone who affirms in himself that everything he thinks and does originates from himself. And neither is someone human who, knowing that wisdom and prudence originate from God, still awaits influx. For the first becomes no different from an animal, and the latter no different from a statue.
It is apparent that someone who awaits influx is no different from a statue, for inevitably he must stand or sit motionless, his hands hanging down, his eyes either closed or open without blinking, not thinking or breathing. How much life does he have then?
[2] It is also apparent that someone who believes that everything he thinks and does originates from himself is no different from an animal, for he thinks only with his natural mind, which the human being has in common with animals, and not with his rational, spiritual mind, which is the truly human mind. For the rational, spiritual mind acknowledges that God alone thinks of Himself, and that people think from God. Consequently, the kind of person here described does not know of any difference between man and animal other than the fact that the human being has the power of speech while an animal makes sounds, and he believes that the two die alike.
[3] We will say something more about people who await influx. They do not receive any, except for a few who long for it from the heart. These sometimes receive some response through a consciously experienced perception in thought, or through a tacit verbal communication in the influx, and rarely by an evident one; and the response then is for them to think and act as they will and are able, that someone who acts wisely is wise, and that someone who acts foolishly is foolish; and they are never told what to believe or what to do. They are not told in order to keep their human rationality and freedom from perishing, which is to say, to keep each of them acting in freedom in accordance with their reason, to all appearance as though they did so of themselves.
People who are told by influx what to believe or what to do are not being instructed by the Lord, nor by any angel in heaven, but by some fanatic, Quaker or Moravian spirit, by whom they are led astray.
All influx from the Lord takes place in an enlightenment of the intellect, and through an affection for truth, and flows through the latter into the former.
[4] SECOND, that to believe and think, as is the truth, that all goodness and truth originate from the Lord, and all evil and falsity from hell, seems to be an impossibility, when in fact it is something truly human and thus angelic: To believe and think that all goodness and truth come from God seems to be possible provided one says nothing else. That is because it accords with theological belief, and one is not permitted to think contrary to it.
To believe and think that all evil and falsity come from hell, on the other hand, seems impossible, because in that case one would have to believe as well that a person could think nothing at all. But still a person thinks as though of himself, even if it is from hell, because the Lord grants to everyone the appearance that his thought – wherever it comes from – is in him as his. Otherwise the person would not live as a human being, nor could he be led out of hell and be introduced into heaven, which is to say, be reformed, as we have shown many times above.
[5] Therefore the Lord also grants a person to know and thus think that he is caught up in hell if he is caught up in evil, and that he is impelled in his thinking by hell if he is impelled by evil. The Lord also grants him to think how he can escape from hell and not be impelled in his thinking by hell, but enter into heaven and think there from the Lord. And He gives him, too, the freedom to choose.
It can be seen from this that a person can think evil and falsity as though of himself, and can also think that this or that is evil or false, and consequently can think that it is only an appearance that he does so of himself, without which a person would not be human.
The fundamental human and so angelic characteristic is to think in accordance with truth, and the truth is that a person does not think on his own, but is granted by the Lord to think, to all appearance as if of himself.
[6] THIRD, that to believe and think in this way is impossible for people who do not acknowledge the Lord’s Divinity, and who do not acknowledge evils to be sins, but is possible for people who do acknowledge these two things: It is impossible for people who do not acknowledge the Lord’s Divinity because it is the Lord alone who enables a person to think and will, and people who do not acknowledge the Lord’s Divinity, having separated themselves from Him, believe that they think on their own.
It is impossible, too, for people who do not acknowledge evils to be sins, because they think from hell, and everyone there supposes that he thinks on his own.
That it is possible, however, for people who do acknowledge these two things, can be seen from the abundance of proofs presented in nos. 288-294 above.
[7] FOURTH, that insofar as they refrain from evils as sins and are averse to them, people who possess these two acknowledgments simply reflect on the evils in themselves and cast them away back to hell from where they came: Who does not know, or who cannot know, that evil comes from hell and good from heaven? And who cannot know therefore that insofar as a person turns away from and is averse to evil, he turns away from and is averse to hell? Who, moreover, cannot know therefore that in proportion as anyone turns away from and is averse to evil, he wills and loves good? Consequently, that in the same proportion he is brought out by the Lord from hell and led to heaven?
Every rational person can see this, provided he knows of the existence of hell and heaven, and knows that evil springs from its origin, and good from its origin. If the person now reflects on the evils in himself – which is the same thing as examining himself – and refrains from those evils, he then frees himself from hell and puts it behind him, and introduces himself into heaven and beholds the Lord there before him. We say that the person does this, but he does it as though of himself, and in that case from the Lord.
When a person acknowledges this truth with a good heart and a devout faith, it then lies concealed within everything that he afterward thinks and does as though of himself, like the generative force in a seed, which accompanies it within even to the production of new seed, or like the pleasure in an appetite for food, once he has acknowledged it to be healthful for him. In a word, it is like the heart and soul in everything that he thinks or does.
[8] FIFTH, thus that Divine providence does not assign evil to anyone, nor good to anyone, but that it is a person’s own prudence that assigns the one or the other to him: This follows from everything we have now said. The end in Divine providence is goodness. It therefore intends this in its every operation. Consequently it does not assign good to anyone, for in that case it would be made deserving of merit. Nor does it assign evil to anyone, for in that case it would make him guilty of evil. Nevertheless a person does both owing to his inherent nature, because this is nothing but evil. The inherent nature of his will is a love of self, and the inherent nature of his intellect is a conceit in his own intelligence, and it is of the latter that his own prudence is born.
Sound reason declares that all people have been predestined for heaven and no one for hell. For all have been born human beings, and therefore they have the image of God in them. The image of God in them is their ability to understand truth and their ability to do good. The ability to understand truth originates from Divine wisdom, and the ability to do good from Divine love. This capacity is the image of God, which remains in a healthy person and is not eradicated.
It is because of this that a person can become civic-minded and moral, and someone who is civic-minded and moral can also become spiritual, for civic-mindedness and morality are the recipient vessel of a spiritual quality. He is called a civic-minded person who knows the laws of the kingdom of which he is a citizen and lives according to them; and he is called a moral person who makes those laws his mores and his virtues and lives them in conformity with reason.
[2] I must now say how a civil and moral life is the recipient vessel of a spiritual life. Live those laws not only as civil and moral laws, but also as Divine laws, and you will be a spiritual person.
There is scarcely any nation so barbarous as not to have enacted laws against killing, against licentiousness with another’s wife, against stealing, against bearing false witness, and against doing violence to something belonging to another. A civic-minded and moral person keeps these laws in order to be, or to appear to be, a good citizen. But if he does not make them also Divine laws, he is only a natural civic-minded and moral person, whereas if he makes them also Divine, he becomes a spiritual civic-minded and moral person. The difference is that the latter is not only a good citizen of the earthly kingdom, but also a good citizen of the kingdom of heaven, while the former is a good citizen of the earthly kingdom, but not of the kingdom of heaven. They are set apart by the good things that they do. The good things that natural civic-minded and moral people do are not good in themselves, for they have the person and the world in them. The good things that spiritual civic-minded and moral people do are good in themselves, because they have the Lord and heaven in them.
[3] It can be seen from this that because every person is born to be able to become a natural civic-minded and moral person, so he is also born to be able to become a spiritual civic-minded and moral one. He has only to acknowledge God and not commit evils because they are opposed to God, but do good things because they are on the side of God. By this a spirit enters into his civic and moral actions and they have life; but without it they do not have any spirit in them and so lack life. A natural person, therefore, however civic-mindedly and morally he behaves, is said to be dead, while a spiritual person is called alive.
[4] It is owing to the Lord’s Divine providence that every nation has some religion, and the primary tenet of every religion is to acknowledge the existence of God, for otherwise it is not called a religion. Moreover, every nation that lives its religion, namely that does not do evil because it is opposed to their God, receives some spiritual element in its natural existence.
Who, when he hears some gentile say that he refuses to do this or that evil because it is opposed to his God, does not say to himself, “Is this person not being saved? It appears as though he must be.” Sound reason declares this to him.
And on the other hand, when someone hears a Christian say, “I regard this or that evil to be of no consequence. What does it mean to say it is opposed to God?” who does not say to himself, “Is this person being saved? It appears as though he cannot be.” This, too, sound reason declares to him.
[5] If someone says, “I was born a Christian. I have been baptized. I know the Lord. I have read the Word. I have observed the sacrament of the Holy Supper” – do these things mean anything when he does not regard homicides or the vengeful passions that motivate them, or adulterous affairs, surreptitious thefts, false witness or lies, and various forms of violence, as sins? Does such a person think about God or give any thought to eternal life? Does he think they exist? Does not sound reason also declare that such a one cannot be saved?
We have said this in application to a Christian, because a gentile in his life thinks about God in accordance with religion more than a Christian.
We shall, however, say more on this subject in the following discussions, under this sequence of headings:
(1) The end in creation is a heaven from the human race.
(2) It is owing to Divine providence, therefore, that every person can be saved, and that those are saved who acknowledge God and live rightly.
(3) The person himself is at fault if he is not saved.
(4) Thus all are predestined for heaven, and no one for hell.
That this was the end in creation is something that we have, indeed, demonstrated in nos. 27-45 above, but it will be seen still more clearly from an explanation of the following points:
1. Every person has been created to live to eternity.
2. Every person has been created to live to eternity in a blessed state.
3. Every person has thus been created to enter into heaven.
4. Divine love cannot but will it, and Divine wisdom cannot but provide for it.
FIRST, that every person has been created to live to eternity: In our treatise Divine Love and Wisdom, Parts Three and Five, we showed that a person has in him three degrees of life, called natural, spiritual and celestial, and that these degrees exist actually in everyone, while animals have in them only one degree of life, which is like the lowest degree in mankind, called the natural.
It follows from this that by an elevation of his life to the Lord, a person in that state surpasses animals so as to be able to understand something having to do with Divine wisdom and to will something having to do with Divine love, and thus to receive something Divine. And someone who is able to receive something Divine, so as to see and perceive it in himself, cannot but be conjoined with the Lord, and as a result of that conjunction live to eternity.
[2] What connection would the Lord have with the whole creation of the universe if He had not also created images and likenesses of Himself to whom He could communicate His Divinity? What else would otherwise be the case than His causing something to exist or not exist, or something to occur or not occur, for no other reason than to be able to contemplate from afar mere happenings and continual developments as though on a kind of theatrical stage? What Divine element would be present in these if they did not exist in order to serve vessels that would receive the Divine more immediately and see and feel it?
Moreover, because the Divine is of inexhaustible glory, would He keep it just to Himself, and would He be able to? For love wills to communicate what it has to another, indeed to impart as much of what it has as it can. What would Divine love not do, which is infinite? Can it impart and take away again? Would this not be to impart something that will perish, which inwardly in itself is without reality, because when it perishes it becomes nothing, having in it no being? But the Divine imparts what has being, or something which does not cease to be, and this is eternal.
[3] In order for every person to live to eternity, that which is mortal in him is taken away. His mortal component is his material body, which is taken away by its death. His immortal component, namely his mind, is thus laid bare and He becomes then a spirit in human form. His mind is that spirit.
The fact that the human mind cannot die is something ancient sages or wise men saw. For they said, “How can the heart or mind die when it can become wise?” Few people today know the interior idea they had of this, but it was one that slipped into their common perception from heaven, that God is wisdom itself, of which man is a partaker. And God is immortal or eternal.
[4] Since I have been granted to speak with angels, I will say something also from my experience. I have spoken with people who lived many centuries ago – with people who lived before the Flood, with some who lived after the Flood, with people who lived at the time of the Lord’s advent, with one of His Apostles, and with many who lived after that – all appearing as people of a middling age, and they have said that they do not know what death is; only that it is damnation.
When people who have lived rightly come into heaven, they all come also into the youthful age they had in the world and remain in it to eternity, even those who were old and decrepit in the world. And even if they were crones and hags in the world, women return into the bloom of their youthful beauty.
5] That a person lives to eternity after death is apparent from the Word, where life in heaven is called eternal life (as in Matthew 19:29, 25:46; Mark 10:17; Luke 10:25, 18:30; John 3:15, 16, 36, 5:24, 25, 39, 6:27, 40, 68, 12:50), and also simply life (Matthew 18:8, 9; John 5:40, 20:31).
Moreover the Lord said to His disciples, “Because I live, you will live also” (John 14:19). And regarding the resurrection He said that God is God of the living and not God of the dead, and that they could not die anymore (Luke 20:36, 38).
[6] SECOND, that every person has been created to live to eternity in a blessed state: This logically follows. For anyone who wills that a person live to eternity also wills that he live in a blessed state. What would eternal life be without that? All love wills the good of another. Parental love wills the good of the children. A bridegroom’s or husband’s love wills the good of his bride or wife. And a friend’s love wills the good of his friends. What would Divine love not will?
Moreover, what else is good but delight, and what else is Divine good but eternal blessedness? Every good is called good because of the delight or blessedness accompanying it. Things that are given or owned are, indeed, called goods, but unless they are at the same time a source of delight, they are sterile goods which in themselves are not good.
It is apparent from this that eternal life is also eternal blessedness.
This state of a person is the end in creation. But the fact that only those people who enter heaven are in that state is not the Lord’s fault, but the person’s. That it is the person’s fault will be seen later.
[7] THIRD, that every person has thus been created to enter into heaven: This is the end in creation. But not all people enter into heaven, because they soak up hellish delights that are opposed to the blessedness of heaven, and people not in the state of the blessedness of heaven cannot enter heaven, as they cannot bear it.
No one who enters the spiritual world is kept from ascending into heaven. But if he is gripped by hellish delight, when he arrives there his heart pounds, his breathing becomes labored, his life begins to ebb away, he is anguished, tormented, and writhes like a snake placed near a fire. This is the case, because opposite acts against opposite.
[8] Still, however, because people are born human and born therefore into the faculty of thinking and willing, and so into the faculty of speaking and acting, they cannot die. But because they can live only with others who share their life’s delight, they are sent off to them; and consequently people caught up in the delights of evil are sent off to their like, and people impelled by the delights of good to their like.
Indeed, it is granted everyone to experience the delight of his evil, provided he does not molest people moved by a delight in good. Yet because evil cannot help but molest good, as evil has in it a hostility toward good, therefore to keep them from doing harm such people are removed and cast down into their places in hell, where their delight is turned into something undelightful.
[9] Nevertheless, this does not take away from the fact that from creation and thus by birth, a person is so formed as to be able to enter into heaven. For everyone who dies as a little child enters into heaven, is reared and educated there as a person is in the world, and through an affection for goodness and truth is infused with wisdom and becomes an angel. The same could be the case with a person reared and educated in the world, as he has in him the same capacity as a little child. (Regarding little children in the spiritual world, see the book Heaven and Hell, published in London in 1758, nos. 329-345.)
[10] Yet the same does not turn out to be the case with many in the world, because they love the first degree of their life, called the natural degree, and are unwilling to withdraw from it and become spiritual. Moreover, regarded in itself, the natural degree of life loves only self and the world, for it is bound up with the physical senses, which likewise exist for the world. On the other hand, regarded in itself, the spiritual degree of life loves the Lord and heaven – loving also self and the world, but God and heaven as the higher, principal and governing consideration, and self and the world as a lower, instrumental and subservient one.
[11] FOURTH, that Divine love cannot but will it, and Divine wisdom cannot but provide for it: We fully showed in our treatise Divine Love and Wisdom that the Divine essence is Divine love and wisdom. We also demonstrated there in nos. 358-370 that in every human fetus the Lord forms two recipient vessels, one receptive of His Divine love and the other of His Divine wisdom – the vessel receptive of Divine love for the person’s future will, and the vessel receptive of Divine wisdom for his future intellect. And we said, too, that the Lord has thus endowed every person with a faculty for willing good and with a faculty for understanding truth.
[12] Now because these two faculties that a person has from birth are bestowed by the Lord, and therefore the Lord is in them as in His own abodes in a person, it is apparent that His Divine love cannot but will that a person come into heaven and there enjoy eternal blessedness, and that His Divine wisdom also cannot but provide for it.
However, because it is of the Lord’s Divine love that a person feel the heavenly blessedness in him as his own, and this cannot be the case unless the person is kept totally caught up in the appearance that he thinks, wills, speaks and acts of himself, therefore the Lord can lead a person only in accord with the laws of His Divine providence.
Some people suppose that the Lord’s church exists only in the Christian world, because only there is the Lord known, and only there is the Word found. But at the same time there are many who believe that God’s church is universal, or extended and spread throughout the whole world, existing thus also among people who are ignorant of the Lord and do not have the Word. This they believe, saying that it is not the others’ fault, that the others possess an insuperable ignorance, and that it is contrary to God’s love and mercy that any should be born for hell, when in fact they are equally human beings.
[2] Now because Christians – if not all, still many – have the belief that the church is universal, calling it also a communion, it follows that there are universal elements of the church that enter into all religions and form that communion. These universal elements are an acknowledgment of God and goodness of life, as we will see under the following series of headings:
1. An acknowledgment of God produces a conjunction of God with a person and of the person with God, while a denial of God produces a disjunction.
2. Everyone acknowledges God and is conjoined with Him in accordance with the goodness of his life.
3. Goodness of life, or living rightly, means refraining from evils because they are contrary to religion, thus contrary to God.
4. These are the universal elements in all religions, by which everyone can be saved.
FIRST, that an acknowledgment of God produces a conjunction of God with a person and of the person with God, while a denial of God produces a separation: Some people may think that those who do not acknowledge God can be saved just as well as those who do acknowledge, provided they lead a moral life. “What does an acknowledgment accomplish?” they say. “Is it not simply thought? Can I not easily acknowledge once I know for certain that God exists? I have been told about Him, but I have not seen Him. Cause me to see Him and I will believe.”
That is how many who deny God speak when they are permitted to debate freely with someone who acknowledges God.
That acknowledgment of God conjoins, however, and denial of God separates, will be illustrated by some phenomena known to me in the spiritual world.
When someone in that world thinks about another and wishes to speak with him, the other becomes immediately present. This is a common occurrence there, and is never an illusion. The reason is that in the spiritual world there is no distance as in the natural world, but only the appearance of distance.
[2] The second phenomenon is this, that as thought of another from some acquaintance with him occasions his presence, so love arising from some affection for another occasions conjunction, causing them to go about together and to converse in a friendly manner, to dwell in the same house or same society, and to meet often and work together on mutual undertakings.
The opposite also occurs. Someone who does not like another, for instance, and still more if he hates the other, neither sees nor meets with him, and they are removed from each other to the degree of his dislike or hatred. Indeed, if the other is present and he then recalls his hatred, the other becomes invisible.
[3] From these few considerations it can be seen what occasions presence and what occasions conjunction in the spiritual world, namely that presence is occasioned by recollection of another with a desire to see him, and that conjunction is occasioned by an affection that is one of love.
The same is the case with all the constituents existing in the human mind. It has in it countless constituents, and these are individually connected and conjoined there in accordance with affections, or as one thing loves another.
[4] This conjunction is a spiritual conjunction, which is the same in general respects and in particular ones.
This spiritual conjunction takes its origin from the conjunction of the Lord with the spiritual world and with the natural world, in general and in particular.
It is apparent from this that to the extent that anyone is acquainted with the Lord and is moved by concepts of Him to think about Him, to the same extent the Lord is present; and to the extent that anyone is moved by an affection of love to acknowledge Him, to the same extent the Lord is conjoined with him. And conversely, it is apparent that to the extent that anyone is not acquainted with the Lord, to the same extent the Lord is absent, and to the extent that anyone denies Him, to the same extent he is separated from Him.
[5] Conjunction causes the Lord to turn the person’s face to Him, and to lead the person then. And separation causes hell to turn the person’s face to it, and it leads him. Consequently all angels in heaven turn their faces to the Lord as the sun, and all spirits in hell turn their faces away from the Lord.
It is apparent from this what an acknowledgment of God accomplishes, and what a denial of God does.
Moreover, people who deny God in the world, deny Him after death. They also become organically disposed as described in no. 319 above, and any organic disposition induced in the world remains to eternity.
[6] SECOND, that everyone acknowledges God and is conjoined with Him in accordance with the goodness of his life: A concept of God is possible to all who know something of Him from religion. It is possible for them also to speak from their knowledge or memory about God, and some even think about God with their intellect. But if a person does not live rightly, this accomplishes no more than God’s presence; for it is nevertheless possible for the person to turn away from God and turn instead to hell, which is what happens if he lives wrongly.
On the other hand, to acknowledge God with the heart is possible only to people who live rightly. These the Lord turns away from hell and toward Himself in accordance with the goodness of their life. That is because only they love God, for they love the Divine precepts that they have from Him, putting them into practice. The Divine precepts that they have from God are the commandments of His law. These are God, because He is His own Divine emanation, and to love them is to love God. Therefore the Lord says,
He who (does) My commandments. . . , it is he who loves Me?. (But) He who does not (do) My (commandments) does not love Me. (John 14:21-24)
[7] It is for this reason that there are two tables of the Decalogue, one for God and the other for mankind. God works unceasingly to induce a person to accept the precepts that are on His, God’s, table; but if the person does not put into practice the precepts that are on his, mankind’s, table, he does not accept with an acknowledgment of the heart the precepts that are on God’s table, and if he does not accept them, there is no conjunction.
Therefore the two tables were joined together to form a single whole, and were called the tables of the covenant,* a covenant symbolizing conjunction.
Everyone acknowledges God and is conjoined with Him in accordance with the goodness of his life for the reason that goodness of life is like the good which is in the Lord and so which is from the Lord. Consequently when a person possesses goodness of life, a conjunction is formed.
The contrary is the case with evil of life. This rejects the Lord.
[8] THIRD, that goodness of life, or living rightly, means refraining from evils because they are contrary to religion, thus contrary to God: That this is goodness of life or living rightly is something we showed fully from beginning to end in The Doctrine of Life for the New Jerusalem. To it we will add only this, that if you do good works in abundance – if, for example, you build churches, adorn them and fill them with offerings, contribute money to hospitals and shelters, give alms daily, aid widows and orphans, diligently observe the sanctities of worship, indeed think, speak and preach these from the heart – and yet do not refrain from evils as sins against God, then all those good works are not good. They are either hypocritical or merit-seeking, for evil is still inwardly present in them, inasmuch as everyone’s life is present in each and every thing that he does. Good works, on the other hand, become good only by the removal of evil from them.
It is apparent from this that to refrain from evils because they are contrary to religion, thus contrary to God, is to live rightly.
[9] FOURTH, that these are the universal elements in all religions, making it possible for everyone to be saved: Acknowledging God and not doing evil because it is contrary to God are the two ingredients which make a religion a religion. If one of these is lacking, it cannot be called a religion, inasmuch as to acknowledge God and do evil is a contradiction, and so is it to do good and not acknowledge God. For one is impossible without the other.
The Lord has provided that some religion exist almost everywhere, and that each have in it these two elements. Moreover, the Lord has also provided that there be a place in heaven for everyone who acknowledges God and does not do evil because it is contrary to God. For heaven in its totality resembles a single person, whose life or soul is the Lord. That heavenly person has in it all the constituents found in a natural person, with the kind of difference that exists between heavenly things and natural ones.
[10] People know that the human being has in him not only organized forms of blood vessels and nerve fibers called viscera, but also layers of skin, membranes, tendons, cartilage, bones, nails, and teeth. The latter possess a lesser degree of life than the organized forms themselves which they serve as ligaments, integuments, or supports. In order for that heavenly person, which heaven is, to have in it all the same constituents, it cannot be composed of people of only one religion, but must be composed of people of many religions. Therefore all people who make the aforesaid two universal elements of the church part of their life have a place in that heavenly person, that is to say, in heaven, and they enjoy their own degree of happiness. But more on this subject may be seen in no. 254 above.
[11] That these two elements are the primary ones in any religion can be seen from the fact that it is these two that the Decalogue teaches, and the Decalogue was the beginning of the Word, proclaimed by Jehovah from Mount Sinai in His own voice** and written on two tablets of stone with the finger of God.*** Moreover, having been placed in the Ark, it was then called Jehovah,**** and it sanctified the holy of holies in the Tabernacle, and the inner sanctuary in the Temple in Jerusalem; and everything there was sacred, owing to it alone. Still more on the Decalogue in the Ark may be seen from what we presented from the Word in The Doctrine of Life for the New Jerusalem, nos. 53-61, to which I will add the following:
We know from the Word that the Ark containing the two tablets on which the Decalogue was written was captured by the Philistines and placed in the temple of Dagon in Ashdod; that Dagon fell to the ground before it, and later his head was found lying on the threshold of the temple with the palms of his hands torn from his body; that the people of Ashdod and Ekron were stricken with hemorrhoids because of the Ark, affecting many thousands, and that their land was ravaged by mice; moreover, that on the advice of the leading men of their nation, the Philistines made five hemorrhoids and five mice of gold, and a new cart, on which they placed the Ark, with the hemorrhoids and mice of gold beside it, and sent it back by means of two cows, which lowed along the way before the cart, to the children of Israel, who sacrificed the cows and the cart (see 1 Samuel 5, 6).
[12] We shall now say what all these things meant symbolically.
The Philistines symbolized people caught up in faith separated from charity.
Dagon represented that religious persuasion.
The hemorrhoids with which they were stricken symbolized natural loves, which, when separated from spiritual love, are unclean. And the mice symbolized the devastation of the church by falsifications of truth.
The new cart on which they sent back the Ark symbolized a new doctrine, though a natural one, for a conveyance in the Word symbolizes doctrine founded on spiritual truths.
The cows symbolized good natural affections.
The hemorrhoids of gold symbolized natural loves purified and made good.
The mice of gold symbolized the devastation of the church removed by good, for gold in the Word symbolizes good.
The lowing of the cows along the way symbolized the difficult conversion of lusts for evil in the natural self into good affections.
The offering of the cows together with the cart as a burnt offering symbolized the Lord’s being thus propitiated.
[13] These are the things spiritually meant by those narrative details. Connect them into a single sense and form an application.
That the Philistines represented people caught up in faith separated from charity may be seen in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding Faith, nos. 49-54. And that the Ark was the holiest object of the church because of the Decalogue contained in it may be seen in The Doctrine of Life for the New Jerusalem, nos. 53-61.
* Deuteronomy 9:9, 11, 15. Hebrews 9:4.
** Exodus 20:1, 19. Deuteronomy 5:4, 22.
*** Exodus 31:18. Deuteronomy 9:10.
**** Numbers 10:35, 36.
When this truth is acknowledged, one acknowledges also that good can be turned into evil not by a good recipient but by an evil one, for every form turns anything flowing into it into something of its own nature (see no. 292 above).
Now because the Lord is good in its very essence, or good itself, it is apparent that evil cannot issue from the Lord or be produced by Him, but that good can be turned into evil by a recipient vessel whose form is one of evil.
Such a vessel is the human being as regards his native character. This receives good from the Lord continually, and continually turns it into something of the nature of its own form, which is one of evil. It follows, therefore, that a person is at fault if he is not saved.
Evil does, indeed, originate from hell, but because a person accepts it from there as his own and thereby incorporates it into himself, it is therefore the same thing whether one says that evil arises from mankind or whether it arises from hell.
The reason for the adoption of evil, however, to the point that religion finally perishes – this we shall state under the following series of headings:
1. Every religion in the course of time declines and comes to an end.
2. Every religion declines and comes to an end by an inversion of the image of God in mankind.
3. This results from continual increases in hereditary evil through the generations.
4. The Lord nevertheless provides that it be possible for everyone to be saved.
5. He also provides that a new church follow in place of the earlier, devastated one.
FIRST, that every religion in the course of time declines and comes to an end: There have been several churches on this earth, one after another, as the church exists wherever the human race exists. For heaven, the end in creation, is formed out of the human race, as we have demonstrated above, and no one can enter into heaven without possessing the two universal elements of the church, which are to acknowledge God and to live rightly, as we showed just above in no. 326. It follows, therefore, that churches have existed on this earth from the earliest time to the present day.
These churches are depicted in the Word, though not as history. Only the Israelite and Jewish Church has been. But before that there were several others, and these are depicted in the Word only by the names of nations and persons, and by some statements about them.
[2] The Most Ancient Church, which was the first church, is depicted by Adam and his wife Eve.
The next church, which we will call the Ancient Church, is depicted by Noah and his three sons, and by the people descended from them. This church was widespread and extended through a number of kingdoms in Asia, which included the land of Canaan on either side of the Jordan, Syria, Assyria and Chaldea, Mesopotamia, Egypt, Arabia, Tyre and Sidon. They had among them the Ancient Word, as we reported in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Sacred Scripture, nos. 101-103. The existence of this church in these kingdoms is clear from various particulars related concerning them in the prophetic portions of the Word.
This church, however, was transformed markedly by Eber, from whom arose the Hebrew Church. Worship by means of sacrifices was first instituted in the latter.
From the Hebrew Church was born the Israelite and Jewish Church, but one ceremonially established for the sake of the Word that was composed in it.
[3] These four churches are meant by the statue Nebuchnezzar saw in a dream, whose head was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, and its legs and feet of iron and clay (Daniel 2:32,33). Nor is anything else meant by the golden, silver, copper and iron ages mentioned by ancient writers.
That the Jewish Church was followed by the Christian Church is common knowledge.
It may also be seen from the Word that in the course of time all these churches declined until they reached their end, called their consummation.
[4] The consummation of the Most Ancient Church, caused by their eating of the tree of knowledge, which symbolically means a conceit in one’s own intelligence, is depicted by the Flood.
The consummation of the Ancient Church is depicted by various devastations of the nations, mentioned in the Word in both its historical and prophetic portions, especially by the expulsion of the nations from the land of Canaan by the children of Israel.
The consummation of the Israelite and Jewish Church is meant by the destruction of the temple at Jerusalem and by the carrying off of the Israelite people into permanent captivity and of the Jewish people into Babylonia, and finally by the second destruction of the temple and at the same time of Jerusalem and the dispersion of that nation – a consummation foretold in many places in the Prophets, and in Daniel 9:24-27.
Moreover, the gradual devastation of the Christian Church until it reaches its end is described by the Lord in Matthew 24, in Mark 13, and in Luke 21, but its actual consummation in the book of Revelation.
It can be seen from this that in the course of time a church declines and comes to an end, and so also religion.
[5] SECOND, that every religion declines and comes to an end by an inversion of the image of God in mankind: People know that man was created in the image of God, according to the likeness of God (Genesis 1:26). We must say, however, what the image and likeness of God are.
God alone is love and wisdom. Man was created to be a recipient vessel of both – his will to be the recipient vessel of Divine love, and his intellect to be the recipient vessel of Divine wisdom.
These two vessels are, as we showed above, in man from creation and are what make him human, and are also formed in everyone in the womb. The human being is therefore an image of God in his being a recipient of Divine wisdom, and a likeness of God in his being a recipient of Divine love. Consequently the recipient vessel called the intellect is an image of God, and the recipient vessel called the will a likeness of God. Because the human being was created and formed to be a recipient vessel, it follows then that he was so created and formed that his will might receive love from God and that his intellect might receive wisdom from God. And a person also receives these when he acknowledges God and lives according to His commandments, but in a lesser or greater degree according to the knowledge of God he has from religion and knowledge of His commandments, and according therefore to his knowledge of truths. For truths teach what God is and how He is to be acknowledged, and also what His commandments are and how one is to live according to them.
[6] The image of God and likeness of God are not lost in mankind, but only seemingly so. For they remain implanted in his two faculties called freedom and rationality, which we have discussed many times above. They became seemingly lost when mankind made the recipient vessel of Divine love, his will, a recipient vessel of self-love, and the recipient vessel of Divine wisdom, his intellect, a recipient vessel of his own intelligence. In so doing he inverted the image and likeness of God, for he turned these recipient vessels away from God and directed them toward himself.
It is because of this that these recipient vessels are closed above and open below, or are closed in front and open behind, even though from creation they were open in front and closed behind. And when their opening and closing are thus reversed, then the recipient vessel of love, or the will, receives influx from hell or from its own native self, and so, too, the recipient vessel of wisdom, or the intellect.
For this reason there arose in the churches a worship of people instead of a worship of God, and a worship founded on teachings of falsities instead of a worship founded on teachings of truth, the first owing to people’s self-love, and the latter to a conceit in their own intelligence.
It is apparent from this that religion in the course of time declines and comes to an end by an inversion of the image of God in mankind.
[7] THIRD, that this results from continual increases in hereditary evil through the generations: We have already said and shown above that hereditary evil does not come from Adam and his wife Eve as a result of their eating of the tree of knowledge, but that it is derived from parents and transmitted into their progeny successively, and so by continual increases grows worse from generation to generation.
When evil thus grows worse in many people, it then spreads the evil issuing from itself to many more. For every evil has in it a lust to lead astray, a lust ablaze in some with a wrath against goodness. This is the reason for the contagion of evil. When this infects the leaders, governors and prominent people in a church, the religion becomes corrupted, and the means of healing, namely truths, become perverted by falsifications.
This, now, is the reason for the successive devastation of good and desolation of truth in the church until it reaches its end.
[8] FOURTH, that the Lord nevertheless provides that it be possible for everyone to be saved: The Lord provides that there be everywhere some religion, and in every religion the two essentials of salvation, which are to acknowledge God and not to do evil because it is contrary to God. All else having to do with the intellect and its consequent thought called matters of faith are provided to everyone in accordance with his life, for they are subsidiary to life, and if they are received first, still they do not receive life before then.
The Lord also provides that all who have lived rightly and have acknowledged God be instructed after death by angels, and people who have possessed these two essentials of religion in the world then accept such truths of the church as are found in the Word and acknowledge the Lord as God of heaven and the church. Moreover they embrace the latter more easily than Christians who have brought with them from the world an idea of the Lord’s humanity as separate from His Divinity.
The Lord has provided, too, that all who die as little children be saved, wherever they were born.
[9] Furthermore, every person is afforded an opportunity after death to amend his life, if possible. They are all taught and led by the Lord through angels, and because they know then that they are living after death, and that heaven and hell exist, at first they accept truths. But those who have not acknowledged God and abstained from evils as sins in the world soon loathe the truths and turn away. And those who have acknowledged truths with the lips and not with the heart are like the foolish virgins who had lamps but no oil, who asked to be given oil by others, and who also went away and bought some, and yet were not admitted into the wedding.* The lamps symbolize truths of faith, and the oil symbolizes the goodness of charity.
It can be seen from this that it is Divine providence that everyone can be saved, and that the person himself is at fault if he is not saved.
[10] FIFTH, that the Lord also provides that a new church follow in place of the earlier, devastated one: This has been the case from earliest times, namely that an earlier, devastated church is followed by a new one. The Most Ancient Church was followed by the Ancient Church. The Ancient Church was followed by the Israelite or Jewish Church. That church was followed by the Christian Church. And it is foretold in the book of Revelation that it will be followed by a new church, meant there by the New Jerusalem descending from heaven.
The reason the Lord provides a new church to follow in place of an earlier, devastated one may be seen in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Sacred Scripture, nos. 104-113.
* Matthew 25:1-13.
The means of salvation have to do with these two elements, that one refrain from evils because they are contrary to the Divine laws in the Decalogue, and that one acknowledge the existence of God.
Everyone can do this, provided he does not love evils. For the Lord continually flows into the will with a power that enables him to refrain from evils, and into the intellect with a power that enables him to think that God exists. But even so, no one can do one without at the same time doing the other. The two are joined as the two tables of the Decalogue are joined, one of them being for the Lord, and the other for man. The Lord enlightens everyone from His table, and empowers him, but a person receives the power and enlightenment in the measure that he puts into practice the commandments contained in his table. Before that the two tables are as though lying one on top of the other and sealed shut. But as the person puts into practice the commandments contained in his table, the tables are unsealed and opened.
[2] What is the Decalogue today but a closed little book or manual, open only in the hands of little children and the young? Tell someone of a mature age not to do this or that because it is contrary to the Decalogue and who listens? But if you tell him not to do this or that because it is contrary to Divine laws – to this he may pay heed, even though the precepts of the Decalogue are the fundamental Divine laws.
In the spiritual world I performed an experiment with a number of people who, when I mentioned the Decalogue or catechism, rejected it with contempt. The reason is that in its second table, the table for man, the Decalogue teaches that one must refrain from evils, and anyone who does not refrain from these – whether out of impiety or in conformity with a religion teaching that works are of no avail but only faith – hears with some contempt any mention of the Decalogue or catechism, as though hearing mentioned some book of his childhood which is no longer of any use to him.
[3] I have said this much to make it known that no one is without a concept of the means by which he can be saved, or the power, if he wishes to be saved. It follows from this that all people are predestined for heaven and no one for hell.
But because a belief in predestination to something other than salvation, namely damnation, has prevailed in some, and because this belief is a harmful one and cannot be dispelled unless reason sees the insanity and cruelty in it, we must therefore discuss it under the following series of headings:
1. Any predestination other than a predestination to heaven is contrary to Divine love and its infinity.
2. Any predestination other than a predestination to heaven is contrary to Divine wisdom and its infinity.
3. The idea that only those people born in the church are saved is an insane heresy.
4. The idea that some members of the human race have been damned by predestination is a cruel heresy.
FIRST, that any predestination other than a predestination to heaven is contrary to Divine love, which is infinite: In our treatise Divine Love and Wisdom we demonstrated that Jehovah or the Lord is Divine love, that He is infinite, the being underlying all life, and that man was created into the image of God, according to the likeness of God.
Because, then, every person is formed in the womb by the Lord into that image, according to that likeness, as we demonstrated as well, it follows that the Lord is the heavenly Father of all people, and that people are His spiritual children. Jehovah or the Lord is also referred to as such in the Word, and people are referred to as such there. Therefore the Lord says,
Do not call your father on earth your father, for one is your Father, He who is in heaven. (Matthew 23:9)
This means that as regards our life, He alone is our Father, and that our father on earth is our father only as regards the clothing of our life, namely the body. Consequently in heaven only the Lord is called father.
It is apparent also from many places in the Word that people who do not invert that life are called the Lord’s children and are said to be born of Him.
[2] It can be seen from this that Divine love is present in every person, in an evil one as well as in a good one, and consequently that the Lord, being Divine love, cannot deal with them other than as a father on earth with his children, but infinitely more so, because Divine love is infinite. It can be seen, too, that it is not possible for the Lord to depart from anyone, because everyone’s life comes from Him. It appears as though he departs from evil people, but it is the evil people who depart, even though out of love He continues to guide them. Therefore the Lord says,
Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. . . . . . .what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone. . .? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him! (Matthew 7:7-11)
And elsewhere:
. . . He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. (Matthew 5:45)
People in the church know also that the Lord wills the salvation of all, and no one’s death.
It can be seen from this that any predestination other than a predestination to heaven is contrary to Divine love.
[3] SECOND, that any predestination other than a predestination to heaven is contrary to Divine wisdom, which is infinite: It is through Divine wisdom that Divine love provides the means which make it possible for every person to be saved. Consequently to say that there is some other predestination than a predestination to heaven is to say that Divine love cannot provide the means to make salvation possible, even though the means exist for all, as we showed above, and these means issue from Divine providence, which is infinite.
The reason some people are nevertheless not saved is that Divine love wills that a person feel the felicity and blessedness of heaven in himself, for heaven would otherwise not be heaven to him; and this cannot be the case unless it appears to the person that he thinks and wills of himself, for without that appearance nothing would be assignable to him, nor would he be human. This is the object of Divine providence, which is the providence of Divine wisdom from Divine love.
[4] Still, this does not take away the truth that all people are predestined for heaven and no one for hell. But if the means of salvation were to be lacking, it would take it away. However, as we demonstrated above, everyone is provided the means of salvation, and heaven is such that all people of every religion whatever who live rightly have a place there.
A person is like earth, which produces fruits of every kind, a capability that makes earth earth. The fact that it produces harmful fruits too does not take away its ability to produce also good ones. But it would take it away if it could produce only harmful ones.
Again, a person is like an object which variegates rays of light in it. If it produces only unpleasant colors, the light is not to blame. Rays of light can also be variegated into pleasing colors.
[5] THIRD, that the idea that only those people born in the church are saved is an insane heresy: People born outside the church are just as much human beings as those born in it, being from the same heavenly origin, with equally living and immortal souls. They have religion, too, on which account they acknowledge that there is a God and that they must live rightly; and as we showed above, anyone who acknowledges God and lives rightly becomes spiritual in his own degree and is saved.
People say that people born outside the church have not been baptized, but baptism saves only those who are washed spiritually, which is to say, regenerated, for it is of this that baptism serves as a sign and memorial.
[6] People say, too, that the Lord is not known to people born outside the church, and that without the Lord there is no salvation. But no one is saved because the Lord is known to him, but because he lives according to the Lord’s precepts. Moreover, the Lord is known to everyone who acknowledges God, for the Lord is God of heaven and earth, as He Himself teaches in Matthew 28:18* and elsewhere. In addition, people who are outside the church have an idea of God as human more than Christians, and people who have an idea of God as human and live rightly are accepted by the Lord. They also acknowledge God to be one in person and essence, unlike Christians. And furthermore, they think about God in their life, for they regard evils as sins against God, and people who do this think about God in their life.
[7] From the Word Christians have the precepts of religion, but few take from it any precepts for their life. Roman Catholics do not read it, and Protestants caught up in faith apart from charity pay no attention to matters in it which relate to life, but only to those relating to faith. And yet the whole Word is nothing but a doctrine for life.
Christianity exists only in Europe. Islam and heathendom are found in Asia, the Indies, Africa, and America, and the human race in those parts of the globe is ten times more numerous than the human race in the Christian part of the world. And few in that world place religion in life.
What, then, is more insane than to believe that only Christians are saved, and those others condemned? Or that a person gains heaven by virtue of his birth and not his life?
Therefore the Lord says,
I say to you that many will come from east and west, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the sons of the kingdom will be cast out. . . . (Matthew 8:11, 12)
[8] FOURTH, that the idea that some members of the human race have been damned by predestination is a cruel heresy: For it is cruel to believe that the Lord, who is love itself and mercy itself, would allow so great a multitude of people to be born for hell, or that so many millions are damned and cursed at birth, so as to be devils and satanic spirits from birth, and that the Lord does not provide with His Divine wisdom a way to keep people who live rightly and acknowledge God from being cast into everlasting fire and torment.
Yet the Lord is the Creator and Savior of all people, and He Himself alone leads them and wills no one’s death. It is cruel, therefore, to believe and think that so great a multitude of nations and peoples under his care and sight should, by predestination, be handed over to the devil as spoil.
* “And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, ‘All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.’ “
In Angelic Wisdom Regarding Divine Love and Wisdom we showed that the Lord is Divine love and Divine wisdom, and that these two are being itself and life itself, from which everything else has being and life. We also showed, too, that the same Divinity emanates from Him, and moreover that the Divine emanation is the Lord.
Of the things emanating from Him, Divine providence is the primary one, for this is continually intent on the end for which the universe was created. The operation and progress of the end through the means is what we call Divine providence.
[2] Now because the Divine emanation is the Lord, and Divine providence is the primary thing that emanates, it follows that to go against the laws of His Divine providence would be to go against Himself.
One can also say that the Lord is providence, as we say that God is order. For Divine providence is the Divine order primarily concerned with the salvation of humankind, and as order is impossible without laws, since laws constitute it, and since every law takes its origin from order, so that it also is order, therefore it follows that as God is order, so He is the law of His order. The same may be said of Divine providence, that as the Lord is His providence, He is also the law of His providence.
It is apparent from this that the Lord cannot go against the laws of His Divine providence, because to go against them would be to go against Himself.
[3] Furthermore, no operation is possible apart from the subject of the operation and the means that make it possible. An operation apart from its subject and the means to it is impossible. The subject of Divine providence is mankind. The means are Divine truths, by which a person gains wisdom, and Divine goods, by which he gains love. Divine providence operates through these means to accomplish its end, which is the salvation of mankind, for he who wills the end wills also the means. When someone willing an end works to accomplish it, therefore, he does so through means.
But this will become clearer after we examine it according to the following outline:
(1) The operation of Divine providence to save a person begins at the person’s birth and continues to the end of his life, and afterward to eternity.
(2) The operation of Divine providence takes place unceasingly, through means, out of pure mercy.
(3) Instantaneous salvation out of mercy apart from means is not possible.
(4) Instantaneous salvation out of mercy apart from means is the “fiery flying serpent”* in the church.
* Isaiah 14:29, 30:6.
[2] Simply consider a fruit tree. It is first born from a tiny seed as a tender sprout, is it not, and gradually grows after that into a sapling and spreads its branches, and these become covered with leaves, until it puts forth flowers and bears fruit, and in them places new seeds by which it provides for its perpetuation.
The same is the case with every bush and with every herb of the field. Do not each and all of the constituents in them proceed from first end to last end constantly and marvelously according to the laws of their order? Why not the primary end likewise, which is a heaven from the human race? Can there be anything in its progress which does not proceed constantly according to the laws of Divine providence?
[3] Since a person’s life has a correspondence with the growth of a tree, let us draw a parallel or comparison. A person’s early childhood is comparatively like the tender sprout of a tree shooting up from its seed out of the earth. A person’s later childhood and adolescence are like the same sprout growing into a sapling and its little branches. The natural truths with which every person is first equipped are like the leaves which cover the sapling’s branches (leaves have just this symbolic meaning in the Word). A person’s initial introductions into the marriage of goodness and truth, or spiritual marriage, are like the flowers which the tree produces in the spring. Spiritual truths are the petals of those flowers. The first stages of the spiritual marriage are like the beginnings of the fruit. Spiritual goods – the goods of charity – are like the fruits themselves (they are also symbolized by fruits in the Word). The propagations of wisdom from love are like the seeds, as a result of which propagations a person becomes like a garden or paradise. A person is also described by a tree in the Word, and his wisdom from love by a garden. Nothing else is symbolically meant by the Garden of Eden.
[4] A person is, indeed, owing to his seed a bad tree, but still possible is an engrafting or insertion of shoots taken from the tree of life, which turn the sap drawn from the old root into a sap producing good fruits.
We draw this comparison to make it known that, since the progress of Divine providence is so constant in the growth and rebirth of trees, it must be utterly constant in the reformation and rebirth or regeneration of people, who are of much more value than trees, in keeping with these words of the Lord,
Are not five sparrows sold for two small coins? And not one of them is forgotten before God. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than. . . sparrows. . . .
Moreover, which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? If you then are not able to do the least, why are you anxious for the rest? Consider the lilies, how they grow?. (That) if . . . God so clothes the grass in the field, which today is and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will He clothe you, O you people of little faith? (Luke 12:6, 7, 25-28)
This the Lord sees, and yet He leads them, and leads them in accordance with the laws of His Divine providence, which He cannot go against, as to go against them would be to go against His Divine love and against His Divine wisdom, thus against Himself.
[2] Now because the Lord foresees the states of all people after death, and also foresees the places in hell of those who do not wish to be saved, and the places in heaven of those who do, it follows that for evil people He provides their places by permitting and steering away, as we have said, and for good people their places by leading. It follows as well that if this were not continually the case from a person’s birth to the end of his life, heaven would not endure, and neither would hell. For without that foresight and at the same time providence, neither heaven nor hell would be anything but confusion. (That the Lord from foresight provides for everyone his own place may be seen in nos. 202, 203, above.)
[3] We can illustrate this by the following comparison. If a spearman or musketeer should aim at a target, and a straight line were to be drawn from the target to a point a mile on beyond it, then if the spearman or musketeer should be off in his aim by only a fingernail, on reaching the end of the mile the missile or ball would be far wide of the line drawn on beyond the target. So it would be if the Lord did not every moment, indeed every least moment, regard eternity in foreseeing and providing each person’s place after death. But this the Lord does, because the entire future is present to Him, and the entire present is to Him eternal. (That in everything that it does Divine providence regards something infinite and eternal, may be seen in nos. 46-69 and 214ff. above.)
This is what is meant by the “good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over” that will be put into the bosom of those who forgive and give to others (Luke 6:37, 38), that is, who are impelled by the goodness of charity.
The means by which a person becomes human and is perfected in intellect are in common parlance called truths, which in thought become ideas, and in the memory are called facts, and which in themselves are the concepts on which the various branches of knowledge are founded.
All of these means regarded in themselves are spiritual. But because they exist in natural embodiments, owing to their investiture or clothing they appear to be natural, and some of them material.
These means are infinite in number and infinite in their variety. They are more or less simple or composite, and they are more or less imperfect or perfect.
There are means for forming and perfecting a person’s natural, civil life, means for forming and perfecting his rational, moral life, and also means for forming and perfecting his heavenly, spiritual life.
[2] These means follow in succession, one kind after another, from early childhood to the final period of a person’s life, and after that to eternity. As they follow in succession in their progress, moreover, prior ones thus become the means to later ones, for they enter every development as the mediating causes, since every effect or every result stemming from them is an efficient one and so becomes itself a cause. Thus later effects or results become in succession means. And because this continues to eternity, there is no final, or last, concluding one. For as eternity is without an end, so wisdom that increases to eternity is without an end. If wisdom in a wise person were to reach an end, his delight in wisdom, which consists in a perpetual augmentation and proliferation of it, would die, and so with it his life’s delight, and in its stead would arise a delight in glory, which on its own contains no heavenly life. The wise person then becomes no longer youthful but as one advanced in age, and eventually decrepit.
[3] Even though the wisdom of a wise person in heaven increases to eternity, still it is not possible for angelic wisdom ever to so approach Divine wisdom as to be able to touch it. The case is comparatively like what is said of a straight line drawn on either side of a hyperbola, that it continually approaches it but never touches it. It is also like what is said about squaring a circle.
It can be seen from this what is meant by the means by which Divine providence operates in order for a person to be human and to be perfected in intellect, and that these means are in common parlance called truths.
There are just as many means, too, by which a person is formed and perfected in will, but these in common parlance are called goods. It is owing to these that a person possesses love, whereas it is owing to the former that he has wisdom. The conjunction of the two form the person, for a person’s character is such as the nature of the conjunction. This conjunction is what we call the marriage of good and truth.
That these methods are most secret is something we illustrated by the operations of the soul in the body, of which a person knows so little as to know scarcely anything – as for example, how the eye, ear, nose, tongue, and skin sense what they sense, or how the stomach digests, how the mesentery produces chyle, how the liver enriches the blood, how the pancreas and spleen purify it, how the kidneys separate it from impure humors, how the heart collects and distributes it, how the lungs purge it, and how the brain refines the blood and vivifies it anew, besides countless other operations, all of which go on in secret, into which scarcely any science can penetrate.
It is apparent from this that still less is it possible to penetrate into the secret operations of Divine providence. It is enough to know its laws.
This pure love is pure mercy for the following reasons:
1. Because it operates with all people throughout the whole world, who are so formed that they cannot do anything of themselves.
2. It operates with the evil and unjust as much as with the good and just.
3. It leads the evil and unjust in hell and rescues them from it.
4. It forever struggles with them there and battles for them against the devil, that is, against the evils of hell.
5. Therefore the Lord came into the world and underwent temptations or trials even to the last of them, which was His suffering of the cross.
6. He acts continually with the unclean to make them clean, and with the irrational to make them rational.
Thus He labors continually out of pure mercy.
However, because many people do not exercise their intellect to give any thought to matters connected with the church and religion, and so believe that they are saved out of mercy apart from means and that salvation is therefore instantaneous, and because this is nevertheless contrary to the truth and is in addition a harmful belief, it is important that we consider it under its own outline:
1. A belief in instantaneous salvation out of mercy apart from means has been formed from people’s natural state.
2. This belief springs from an ignorance of people’s spiritual state, which is totally different from their natural state.
3. When regarded interiorly, the doctrines of all the churches in the Christian world are in conflict with instantaneous salvation out of mercy apart from means; but external people in the church nevertheless maintain it.
[2] FIRST, that a belief in instantaneous salvation out of mercy apart from means has been formed from people’s natural state: From the perspective of his state a natural person knows no otherwise than that heavenly joy is like worldly joy, and that it flows in and is received in the same way. He believes, for example, that it is like a poor person’s becoming rich and so going from a sorrowful state of poverty into a happy state of wealth. Or like a lowborn person’s becoming honored and so going from a state of contempt into one of glory. Or like someone’s going from a house of mourning to the joy of a wedding.
Because these states can change in a day, and that is the idea people have of a person’s state after death, it is apparent why it is that people believe in instantaneous salvation out of mercy apart from means.
[3] In the world, moreover, many people can be in the same gathering or same civil society and have a happy time together, and yet all differ in dispositions. This is the case in their natural state. The reason is that the outward personality of one person can accommodate itself to the outward personality of another, however different their inner characters may be.
From this, their natural state, people conclude, too, that salvation is simply admittance into the company of angels in heaven, and that the admittance is owing to mercy apart from means. Consequently they also believe that heaven can be granted to the evil as well as to the good, and that their association is then like their association in the world, with the difference that it is now filled with joy.
[4] SECOND, but that this belief springs from an ignorance of people’s spiritual state, which is totally different from their natural state: We have discussed in many places above people’s spiritual state, the state of a person after death, and we have shown that everyone is the embodiment of his own love, that one can live only with people who possess a similar love, and that if someone enters the company of others than those, he cannot breathe the breath of his own life.
For this reason everyone comes after death into a society of his own people, who are people who possess a similar love, and he recognizes them as relatives and friends. Remarkably, moreover, when he meets and sees them, it is as though he had known them from early childhood. It is a spiritual relationship and friendship that occasions this.
In fact, what is more, no one in a society can dwell in any other house than his own. Everyone in a society has his own house, which he finds ready for him as soon as he enters the society. He can be in the company of others outside of his house, but still cannot stay anywhere else than in his own home.
Again, what is still more, in the parlor of another one can sit only in his own place. If he sits anywhere else, he becomes as though demented and is mute. Remarkably, moreover, everyone knows his own place as soon as he enters the parlor. The same is the case in churches, and also in any gatherings when people come together.
[5] It is apparent from this that people’s spiritual state is totally different from their natural state, and is such that one can be only where his reigning love is, for that is where he finds his life’s delight, and everyone wishes to be in the enjoyment of his life’s delight. Moreover, a person’s spirit cannot be elsewhere, because that enjoyment constitutes his life, even his very respiration, as well as the beating of his heart. Not so in the natural world. In this world a person’s outer self is taught from early childhood to feign in facial expression, speech and bearing other delights than those of his inner self. Consequently, from a person’s state in the natural world no conclusion can be drawn in regard to his state after death, inasmuch as everyone’s state after death is a spiritual one, and is such that he can be only where his love’s delight is, which he acquired for himself in the natural world by his life.
[6] It can be plainly seen from this that no one can be admitted into the delight of heaven, which in common parlance is called heavenly joy, if he is caught up in a delight of hell. Or to say the same thing, no one can be admitted into a delight in good if he is caught up in a delight in evil. This may be concluded still more clearly from the fact that no one after death is prevented from ascending into heaven. He is shown the way, given the opportunity, and allowed to enter. But when he comes into heaven and with his breathing draws in its delight, he begins to be pained in breast and tortured in heart, and to feel a loss of consciousness, in which he writhes like a snake held next to a fire, and facing away from heaven in the direction of hell, he flees headlong and does not rest until he is in a society of his own love.
It can be seen from this that it is granted no one to enter heaven out of mercy apart from means, accordingly that entrance into heaven is not simply to be let in, as many in the world suppose, and that neither is there is any instantaneous salvation, for this presumes a mercy apart from means.
[7] There were some people who in the world believed in instantaneous salvation out of mercy apart from means, and when they became spirits they wished to have their hellish delight or delight in evil transformed into a heavenly delight or delight in good by an exercise of Divine omnipotence and at the same time of Divine mercy. And because they so desired, it was also permitted that this be done by some angels, who then removed their hellish delight. But because this was the delight of their life’s love, thus their life, they then lay as though dead, without any sensation, and motionless, nor was it possible to breathe into them any other life than their own, because all the constituents of their mind and body, having been turned backward, could not be forced around again into the opposite direction. Consequently they were revived by an infusion of their life’s love’s delight.
Afterward they said that in that state they inwardly experienced something dreadful and horrifying, which they were unwilling to divulge.
It is a saying in heaven, therefore, that it is easier to turn an owl into a dove or a serpent into a lamb than some hellish spirit into an angel of heaven.
[8] THIRD, that when regarded interiorly, the doctrines of all the churches in the Christian world are in conflict with instantaneous salvation out of mercy apart from means; but external people in the church nevertheless maintain it: Interiorly regarded, the doctrines of all the churches teach a way of life. What church is there whose doctrine does not teach that a person should examine himself, see and acknowledge his sins, confess them, repent, and then live a new life? Who is admitted to Holy Communion without this admonition and precept? Inquire and you will be convinced.
What church’s doctrine is not founded on the commandments of the Decalogue? And the commandments of the Decalogue are commandments to be lived.
What member of the church, who has anything of the church in him, does not acknowledge when he hears it that anyone who lives rightly is saved, and anyone who lives evilly condemned? Therefore in the Athanasian Creed,* which is also the doctrine accepted throughout the Christian world, we find this said, that the Lord “will come to judge the living and the dead,” and then “those who have done good will enter into eternal life, and those who have done evil into eternal fire.”
[9] It is apparent from this that interiorly regarded, the doctrines of all the churches teach a way of life, and because they teach a way of life, they teach that salvation depends on the way one lives. Moreover, a person’s way of life is not instilled in a moment, but is formed gradually, and is reformed as a person refrains from evils as being sins, thus according as he knows what is sinful and recognizes and acknowledges it, and as he does not will it, and for that reason desists from it, and also as he knows, too, those means which relate to a concept of God.
By all of these means a person’s life is formed and reformed, and they cannot be introduced in a single moment. For hereditary evil must be removed, which in itself is hellish, and good implanted instead, which in itself will be heavenly. Because of his hereditary evil a person may be compared to an owl in respect to his intellect, and to a snake in respect to his will, while a person who has been reformed may be compared to a dove in respect to his intellect, and to a sheep in respect to his will. Therefore any instantaneous reformation and consequent salvation would be comparatively like changing an owl instantaneously into a dove, and a snake into a sheep. Who, if he knows anything about human life, does not see that this is not possible unless the owl and serpent nature is taken away and a dove and sheep nature implanted?
10] People know, furthermore, that every intelligent person can become more intelligent, and every wise person wiser; that intelligence and wisdom can grow in a person – and in some do grow – from early childhood to the end of his life; and that a person is thus continually being perfected. Why should this not be even more the case with spiritual intelligence and wisdom? These qualities ascend through two degrees above natural intelligence and wisdom, and as they ascend they become angelic, so as to be indescribable. In the case of angels they also grow to eternity, as we said above.
Who cannot comprehend if he will that it is impossible for anything being perfected to eternity to be perfect in an instant?
* A profession of faith beginning with the words “Quicunque vult” and widely used in western Christianity. Attributed in earlier centuries to Athanasius (see note 1, number 46), it became known also as the Athanasian Creed; but modern scholarship no longer ascribes it to him but to some other, unknown, western writer.
On the other hand, people who do not think of salvation in terms of life, suppose there to be an instantaneous change in salvation and an absence of means in mercy, as those do who separate faith from charity (charity being life) and attribute an instantaneous change to faith, if not before, during the last hour of death. And those, too, do the same who believe that the forgiveness of sins is, without repentance, an absolution from sins and thus salvation, and go to Holy Supper. Likewise those who trust in the indulgences of monks, and in their prayers for the deceased, and in their dispensations by virtue of the power they claim to have over people’s souls.
Do not rejoice, all Philistia, that the rod that struck you is broken; for out of the serpent’s root will come forth a basilisk,** whose fruit will be a fiery flying serpent. (Isaiah 14:29)
Such an evil flies about in the church when it believes in instantaneous salvation out of mercy apart from means. For it 1) abolishes religion, 2) induces a lack of concern, and 3) imputes damnation to the Lord.
[2] As regards the FIRST, that it abolishes religion: Religion has two essential and at the same time universal elements: acknowledgment of God and repentance. These two are pointless to people who believe they are saved out of mercy alone, no matter how they live; for what more do they need to do than cry, “Have mercy on me, O God!” As to everything else having to do with religion they are in a state of darkness. Indeed, they love the darkness.
With respect to the first essential element of the church, which is an acknowledgment of God, they think simply, “What is God? Who has seen Him?” If told that He exists and that He is one, they agree that He is one. If told that He is three, they agree with that, too, but say that the three must be called one. This is their acknowledgment of God.
[3] To the second essential element of the church, which is repentance, they give no thought. Consequently neither do they give thought to any sin, and at last they do not know that anything is a sin. They also then hear and take in with pleasure the idea that the law does not condemn, because a Christian is not under its yoke. They think, “If you simply cry, ‘Have mercy on me, O God, for the sake of the Son!’ you will be saved.” This is the repentance of life practiced by them.
Take away repentance, however, or what is the same thing, divorce life from religion, and what remains but the phrase, “Have mercy on me!”? As a consequence they cannot help but say that salvation is instantaneous upon the saying of these words, and if not before, still during the hour of death.
What then is the Word to them but a cryptic and enigmatic voice issuing from a tripod in a cave,*** or a seeming reply not understood**** from the oracle of an idol?
In a word, if you do away with repentance, which is to say, if you divorce life from religion, what then is a person but an embodiment of evil glowing with hellish fire, or a fiery flying serpent in the church? For without repentance a person is impelled by evil, and evil is hell.
[4] SECOND, that a belief in instantaneous salvation out of pure mercy alone induces a lack of concern over one’s life: A lack of concern over one’s life arises either from the belief of the impious person that there is no life after death or from the belief of one who separates life from salvation. Even if the latter were to believe in eternal life, still he thinks, “Whether I live rightly or evilly, I can be saved, since salvation comes of pure mercy, and God’s mercy is universal, as He does not wish anyone’s death.” And if perchance the thought occurs to him that mercy must be implored in the words of the accepted faith, he may think that he can do this, if not sooner, still before he dies.
Everyone who has this lack of concern makes adulterous affairs, swindles, injustices, deeds of violence, blasphemies, and acts of vengeance to be of no consequence, but gives rein to his flesh and his spirit in regard to them all. Nor does he know what spiritual evil is or a lust for it. If he hears something about it from the Word, it is to him comparatively like something that falls on ebony and rebounds, or like something that falls into a ditch and is swallowed up.
[5] THIRD, that such a belief imputes damnation to the Lord: If the Lord can save everyone out of pure mercy, who cannot conclude that not the person but the Lord is to blame if he is not saved?
If he is told that faith is the means of salvation, he replies, “But who is the person that cannot be given that faith? For it is simply thought, which can be infused in any state of the spirit withdrawn from worldly concerns, even with a feeling of confidence.”
Moreover, the same person may also say, “I cannot acquire that faith on my own.” If it is not imparted, then, and a person is damned, what else can the damned person think but that the Lord, who could have imparted it and failed to, is to blame. Would this not be to call Him merciless? And furthermore, in the wrath of his persuasion, may the person not say, “How can He look upon so many damned persons in hell, when He could save them all in an instant out of pure mercy?” And other like things, which can only be called heinous accusations against the Divine.
It can now be seen from this that a belief in instantaneous salvation out of pure mercy is the “fiery flying serpent” in the church.
————
[6] Pardon the addition of the following to fill the remainder of the sheet:
Some spirits by permission ascended from hell and said to me, “You have written much from the Lord. Write something from us as well.”
“What shall I write?” I replied.
“Write,” they said, “that every spirit, whether good or evil, is in the enjoyment of his delight – a good spirit in the enjoyment of the delight of his good, and an evil spirit in the enjoyment of the delight of his evil.”
“What delight do you have?” I asked.
They said that it was the delight of committing adultery, stealing, deceiving others, and lying.
Again, then, I asked, “What kind of delights are these?”
They replied that they were perceived by others as being like the foul odors of piles of excrement, like the putrid smells of corpses, and like the fetid stenches of stagnant pools of urine.
I said, “Do you find these things delightful?”
They said they found them most delightful.
“Then you are like unclean animals that live in such filth,” I said.
They replied, “If we are, we are; but to our nostrils these things are delightful.”
[7] “Shall I write anything further from you?” I asked.
They said, “This, that everyone is permitted to be in the enjoyment of his delight, even of one most unclean (as others term it), provided he does not molest good spirits and angels. But because we cannot help but molest them,” they said, “we were driven away and cast into hell, where we suffer terrible hardships.”
“Why,” I said, “did you molest good spirits?”
The spirits replied that they could not help it. It is as though a kind of madness invades them whenever they see some angel and feel the Divine atmosphere surrounding him.
At that I said, “Then you are also like wild animals.”
On hearing this, a madness came over them, which appeared as the fire of hatred, and to prevent them from doing any harm, they were drawn back into hell.
(Regarding delights perceived as odors and stenches in the spiritual world, see nos. 303-305 above.)
* Isaiah 14:29, 30:6.
** A legendary serpent or dragon, whose breath and glance were said to be lethal. Formerly identified in English translations of the Latin Vulgate with the cockatrice, and retained as such in the King James Bible.
*** A reference to the famous Greek oracle at ancient Delphi. The medium, Pythia, would descend into an underground cell of the Temple there and mount a sacred tripod to issue her response.
**** A reference to the often enigmatic nature of oracles in ancient Greek and Roman times, worded so that a prediction could be construed as correct whatever the actual outcome.
English
Russian
Greek
Albanian
Amharic
Arabic
Armenian
Azerbaijani
Basque
Belarusian
Bengali
Bosnian
Bulgarian
Catalan
Cebuano
Chichewa
Chinese (Simplified)
Chinese (Traditional)
Corsican
Croatian
Czech
Danish
Dutch
Esperanto
Estonian
Filipino
Finnish
French
Frisian
Galician
Georgian
German
Gujarati
Haitian Creole
Hausa
Afrikaans
Hawaiian
Hebrew
Hindi
Hmong
Hungarian
Icelandic
Igbo
Indonesian
Irish
Italian
Japanese
Javanese
Kannada
Kazakh
Khmer
Korean
Kurdish (Kurmanji)
Kyrgyz
Lao
Latin
Latvian
Lithuanian
Luxembourgish
Macedonian
Malagasy
Malay
Malayalam
Maltese
Maori
Marathi
Mongolian
Myanmar (Burmese)
Nepali
Norwegian
Pashto
Persian
Polish
Portuguese
Punjabi
Romanian
Samoan
Scottish Gaelic
Serbian
Sesotho
Shona
Sindhi
Sinhala
Slovak
Slovenian
Somali
Spanish
Sundanese
Swahili
Swedish
Tajik
Tamil
Telugu
Thai
Turkish
Ukrainian
Urdu
Uzbek
Vietnamese
Welsh
Xhosa
Yiddish
Yoruba
Zulu