containing the complete theology of the New Church as foretold by the Lord in Daniel 7:13, 14 and in Revelation 21:2, 3
by EMANUEL SWEDENBORG SERVANT OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST
TRANSLATED FROM THE ORIGINAL LATIN BY JOHN CHADWICK
LONDON THE SWEDENBORG SOCIETY 1988
Daniel 7:13, 14
I was watching in the visions of the night, and I saw the Son of Man coming with the clouds of the heavens. And to him were given dominion and glory and the kingdom, and all peoples, nations and tongues will worship him. His dominion will be a dominion for ever, which will not pass away, and his kingdom one that will not perish.
Revelation 21:1, 2, 5, 9, 10
I, John, saw a new heaven and a new earth; and I saw the holy city, the New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared like a bride adorned for her husband. And the angel spoke with me, saying, Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb. And he carried me away in the spirit onto a great and high mountain, and showed me the great, holy city of Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. He that sat on the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said to me, Write, because these words are true and trustworthy.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
THE FAITH OF THE NEW HEAVEN AND THE NEW CHURCH IN BOTH UNIVERSAL AND PARTICULAR TERMS 1-3
CHAPTER ONE
GOD THE CREATOR
The oneness of God
(i) The whole of the Sacred Scripture and all the doctrines extracted from it by churches throughout Christendom teach that there is a God and that He is one. 5-7
(ii) There is a general feeling emanating from God and flowing into men’s souls that there is a God and He is one. 8
(iii) That is why there is no nation throughout the world possessed of religion and sound reason which does not acknowledge God and the fact that He is one. 9, 10
(iv) There are many reasons why nations and peoples have formed varying ideas of the nature of that one God, and continue to do so. 11
(v) There are many things in the world which can lead the human reason, if it wishes, to grasp and deduce that there is a God and He is one. 12
(vi) If there had not been one God, the universe could not have been created and kept in existence. 13
(vii) Any person who does not acknowledge God is excommunicated from the church and damned. 14
(viii) The church cannot hold together at all in the case of a person who acknowledges not one God, but several. 15
The Divine Being, which is Jehovah
(i) The one God is named Jehovah from His Being, that is, from the fact that He alone is, was and will be, and because He is the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End, Alpha and Omega. 19
(ii) The one God is substance itself and form itself, and angels and men are substances and forms derived from Him; to the extent that they are in Him and He is in them, so far are they images and likenesses of Him. 20
(iii) The Divine Being is Being in itself, and at the same time Coming-into-Being in itself. 21,22
(iv) The Divine Being and Coming-into-Being in itself cannot give rise to another Divine which is Being and Coming-into-Being in itself. Consequently another God of the same essence is impossible. 23
(v) The plurality of gods in ancient times, as well as to-day, was entirely the result of a failure to understand the Divine Being. 24
The infinity or the immensity and the eternity of God
(i) God is infinite, because He is and comes into being in Himself, and everything in the universe is and comes into being from Him. 28
(ii) God is infinite, because He existed before the world did, and thus before space and time came into existence. 29
(iii) Since the making of the world God is non-spatially in space and non-temporally in time. 30
(iv) The infinity of God as predicated of space is called immensity, and as predicated of time is called eternity. Despite these predications His immensity is totally devoid of space and His eternity is totally devoid of time. 31
(v) There is much in the world which can enable enlightened reason to see the infinity of God the Creator. 32
(vi) Every created object is finite, and the infinite is contained in finite objects as in receivers, and in human beings as images of it. 33, 34
The Essence of God, which is the Divine Love and the Divine Wisdom
(i) God is Love itself and Wisdom itself, these two making up His Essence. 37
(ii) God is Good itself and Truth itself, because Good refers to Love and Truth to Wisdom. 38
(iii) Since God is Love itself and Wisdom itself. He is Life itself or Life in itself. 39, 40
(iv) Love and Wisdom are one in God. 41, 42
(v) The essence of love is loving others than oneself, wishing to be one with them and devoting oneself to their happiness. 43-45
(vi) These properties of the Divine Love were the reason the universe was created, and are the reason it is preserved in existence. 46, 47
The omnipotence, omniscience and omnipresence of God
(i) Omnipotence, omniscience and omnipresence are properties of the Divine Wisdom resulting from the Divine Love. 50,51
(ii) The omnipotence, omniscience and omnipresence of God cannot be recognised except through a knowledge of order, and these facts about order: that God is order, and that He introduced order into the universe and all its parts simultaneously with its creation. 52-55
(iii) God’s omnipotence proceeds and works in the universe and all its parts in accordance with the laws of His order. 56-58
(iv) God is omniscient, that is, He perceives, sees and knows down to the tiniest detail everything that happens according to order; and from these things also what happens contrary to order. 59-62
(v) God is present everywhere from first to last in His order. 63, 64
(vi) Man was created to be a form for Divine Order. 65-67
(vii) Man has from Divine Omnipotence power against evil and falsity, and from Divine Omniscience wisdom about good and truth, and from Divine Omni-presence is in God, to the extent that he lives in accordance with the Divine order. 68-70
The creation of the universe
No one can form a correct idea of the creation of the universe, unless some universal ideas are first suggested to bring the understanding into a perceptive state. 75
The creation of the universe is described in five accounts of experiences. 76-80
CHAPTER TWO
THE LORD THE REDEEMER
(i) Jehovah God came down and took on Himself human form, in order to redeem and save mankind. 82-84
(ii) Jehovah God came down as the Divine Truth, which is the Word, yet He did not separate the Divine Good from it. 85-88
(iii) God took upon Himself human form in accordance with His Divine order. 89-91
(iv) The Human by which He brought Himself into the world is the Son of God. 92-94
(v) The Lord by acts of redemption made Himself righteousness. 95, 96
(vi) By the same acts the Lord united Himself with the Father, and the Father with Him. 97-100
(vii) Thus God became man, and man God, in one person. 101-103
(viii) His progress towards union was His state of exinanition, and the union itself is His state of glorification. 104-106
(ix) From this time on no one from Christian countries can come into heaven, unless he believes in the Lord God the Saviour. 107-108
(x) Additional note, on the state of the church before the Lord’s coming, and its state after this event. 109
Redemption
(i) The real redemption was the conquest of the hells and the ordering of the heavens, and preparation by this means for a new spiritual church. 115-117
(ii) But for that redemption no person could have been saved, nor could the angels have remained unharmed. 118-120
(iii) The Lord thus redeemed not only men, but also angels. 121, 122
(iv) Redemption was an entirely Divine deed. 123
(v) This redemption could only be effected by an incarnate God. 124, 125
(vi) The passion on the cross was the last temptation which the Lord underwent as the greatest Prophet; this was the means by which He glorified His Human, and was not the redemption. 126-131
(vii) It is a fundamental error on the part of the church to believe that the passion on the cross was the real act of redemption. That error, together with the erroneous belief in three Divine Persons existing from eternity, has so perverted the whole church that there is no remainder of spirituality left in it. 132, 133
CHAPTER THREE
THE HOLY SPIRIT AND THE WAY GOD WORKS
(i) The Holy Spirit is Divine truth, and also the Divine power and activity which proceeds from the one God, in whom is the Divine Trinity, and so from the Lord God the Saviour. 139-141
(ii) The Divine power and activity meant by the Holy Spirit are, generally speaking, reformation and regeneration, which lead to renewal, quickening, sanctification and justification; and these lead to purification from evils and the forgiveness of sins, and ultimately to salvation. 142-145
(iii) The Divine power and activity meant by the sending of the Holy Spirit, with the clergy takes the particular form of enlightenment and instruction. 146-148
(iv) The Lord confers these benefits on those who believe in Him. 149-151
(v) The Lord works of Himself from the Father, not the reverse. 153-155
(vi) A person’s spirit is his mind, and whatever comes from it. 156, 157
– Additional Note. 158
The Divine Trinity
(i) There is a Divine Trinity, consisting of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. 164,165
(ii) Those three, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, are the three essentials of a single God, which make one as soul, body and activity do with a person. 166-169
(iii) This Trinity did not exist before the creation of the world, but it was provided and made after the creation of the world, when God became incarnate, and then it was in the Lord God, the Redeemer and Saviour, Jesus Christ. 170, 171
(iv) A Trinity of Divine Persons from eternity, or existing before the creation of the world, implies thinking about a Trinity of Gods; and this thought cannot be banished by a verbal confession of belief in one God. 172, 173
(v) The Trinity of Persons was unknown to the Apostolic church, but was the invention of the Council of Nicaea, leading to its introduction into the Roman Catholic church, and thus to the churches which split from it. 174-176
(vi) The Trinity as defined by the Council of Nicaea and by Athanasius caused a faith to arise which has perverted the whole Christian church. 177, 178
(vii) This is the source of the abomination of desolation and the affliction such as has never been nor shall be, both of which the Lord predicted in Daniel, the Gospels and Revelation. 179-181
(viii) Further, unless a new heaven and a new church are founded by the Lord, no flesh can be saved. 182
(ix) From a Trinity of Persons, each of which is individually God, as asserted by the Athanasian Creed, many absurd ideas of various kinds have arisen about God, which are mere fancies and abortions. 183, 184
CHAPTER FOUR
THE SACRED SCRIPTURE OR THE WORD OF THE LORD
I The Sacred Scripture, that is, the Word, is Divine truth itself. 189-192
II The Word contains a spiritual sense unknown up to the present. 193
(i) What the spiritual sense is. 194
– From the Lord there proceed, one after the other, the celestial Divine, the spiritual Divine and the natural Divine. 195
(ii) The spiritual sense is present in every part and detail of the Word. 196-198
– The Lord, when He was in the world, spoke by means of correspondences; so He spoke spiritually as well as naturally. 199
(iii) It is the spiritual sense which makes the Word divinely inspired and holy in every word. 200
(iv) The spiritual sense of the Word has up to the present been unknown. 201-207
(v) The spiritual sense of the Word will in future only be granted to those who are in possession of genuine truths from the Lord. 208
(vi) Remarkable effects produced by the Word from its spiritual sense. 209
III The literal sense of the Word is the basis, container and support of its spiritual and celestial senses. 210-213
IV The Divine truth in the literal sense of the Word is in its fulness, holiness and power. 214-216
(i) The truths of the literal sense of the Word are meant by the precious stones forming the foundations of the New Jerusalem described in Revelation, and this is due to correspondence. 217
(ii) The forms of good and truth in the literal sense of the Word are meant by the Urim and Thummim on Aaron’s ephod. 218
(iii) The forms of truth and good at the outermost level, such as they are in the literal sense of the Word, are meant by the precious stones in the garden of Eden, in which the king of Tyre is said to have been. 219
(iv) The same things were represented by the curtains, veils and posts of the Tabernacle. 220
(v) Likewise, the external features of the Temple at Jerusalem. 221
(vi) The Word in its glory was represented in the Lord at His transfiguration. 222
(vii) The power of the Word at its outermost level was represented by the
Nazirites. 223
(viii) The Word’s power is beyond description. 224
V The doctrine of the church is to be drawn from the literal sense of the Word and supported by it. 225-230
(i) The Word is not to be understood without doctrine. 226-228
(ii) Doctrine is to be drawn from the literal sense of the Word, and proved by means of it. 229-230
(iii) The genuine truth in the literal sense of the Word, on which doctrine is based, is not visible to any but those who are enlightened by the Lord. 231-233
VI The literal sense of the Word produces a link with the Lord and association with the angels. 234-239
VII The Word is to be found in all the heavens and is the source of the angels’ wisdom. 240-242
VIII The church depends on the Word, and what the church is like in the case of each person depends upon how he understands the Word. 243-247
IX The details of the Word all contain a marriage of the Lord and the church, and so a marriage of good and truth. 248-253
X Heresies can be extracted from the literal sense of the Word, but confirming them leads to damnation. 254-260
– Many things in the Word are appearances of truth, in which genuine truths are hidden. 257
– Fallacies arise through the confirming of appearances of truth. 258
– The literal sense of the Word is a protection for the genuine truths hidden within it. 260
– The literal sense of the Word is represented and meant in the Word by cherubim. 260
XI The Lord when in the world fulfilled everything in the Word, and thus became the Word, that is, Divine truth, even in its outermost form. 261-263
XII Before the time of the Word which we have in the world to-day, there was another Word, now lost. 264-266
XIII The Word also serves to enlighten those who are outside the church and do not possess the Word. 267-272
XIV If the Word did not exist, no one would know of the existence of God, heaven and hell, and life after death, even less of the Lord. 273-276
CHAPTER FIVE
THE CATECHISM OR THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
EXPLAINED IN BOTH THE EXTERNAL AND INTERNAL SENSES
I The Ten Commandments were the height of holiness for the Israelite church; on the holiness of the Ark containing the Law. 283-286
II The literal sense of the Ten Commandments contains general instructions on belief and life; but their spiritual and celestial senses contain universal instructions. 287-290
III The First Commandment: There is not to be any other God before my face. 291-296
IV The Second Commandment: You are not to take the name of Jehovah your God in vain, for Jehovah will not hold anyone guiltless, who takes His name in vain. 297-300
V The Third Commandment: Remember to keep the Sabbath day holy; for six days you are to labour and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath for Jehovah your God. 301-304
VI The Fourth Commandment: Honour your father and your mother, so that your days may be long and you may prosper upon earth. 305-308
VII The Fifth Commandment: You are not to commit murder. 309-312
VIII The Sixth Commandment: You are not to commit adultery. 313-316
IX The Seventh Commandment: You are not to steal. 317-320
X The Eighth Commandment: You are not to bear false witness against your neighbour. 321-324
XI The Ninth and Tenth Commandments: You are not to covet your neighbour’s house, you are not to covet your neighbour’s wife, nor his man-servant nor his maid-servant, nor his ox nor his ass, nor anything that is your neighbour’s. 325-328
XII The Ten Commandments contain everything to do with love for God and everything to do with love towards the neighbour. 329-331
CHAPTER SIX
FAITH
Preface: faith is the first thing in time, but charity is the first thing in intention. 336
I Saving faith is in the Lord God the Saviour Jesus Christ. 337-339
– Since He is a visible God, in whom is the invisible God. 339
II Faith in brief is this, that a person who lives a good life and holds a proper belief is saved by the Lord. 340-342
– The leading point of faith in Him is the acknowledgment that He is the Son of God. 342
III A person acquires faith by approaching the Lord, learning truths from the Word, and living by them. 343-348
(i) The being of faith; the essence of faith; [the coming into being of faith;] the condition of faith; the form of faith. 344ff
(ii) Purely natural faith, as being a firm conviction which pretends to be faith. 345-348
IV The mass of truths, which cohere as it were in a bundle, raises the level of faith and brings it to perfection. 349-354
(i) The truths of faith are capable of being multiplied to infinity. 350
(ii) Their arrangement is into groupings, thus, so to speak, into bundles. 351
(iii) Faith is perfected in proportion to their volume and coherence. 352, 353
(iv) The truths of faith, however numerous they are and however varied they appear, are made one by the Lord 354
(v) The Lord is the Word, the God of heaven and earth, the God of all flesh, the God of the vineyard or the church, the God of faith, and light itself, truth and everlasting life; this is demonstrated from the Word. 354
V Faith without charity is no faith, and charity without faith is no charity, and both are lifeless unless the Lord gives them life. 355-361
(i) A person can acquire faith for himself. 356
(ii) A person can acquire charity for himself. 357
(iii) A person can also acquire or himself a life of faith and charity. 358
(iv) But still faith, charity or life in either of them is not in the least created by man, but only by the Lord. 359
(v) The distinction between natural faith and spiritual faith; spiritual faith is under the Lord’s guidance contained within natural faith. 360,361
VI The Lord, charity and faith make one, just as in a person, will and under-standing do; if they are separated, each of them is destroyed, like a pearl collapsing into dust. 362-367
(i) The Lord flows into every human being with all His Divine love, all His Divine wisdom, and so with all His Divine life. 364
(ii) The Lord flows into every human being likewise with the whole essence of faith and charity. 365
(iii) How what flows in from the Lord is received by the person depends upon his condition and form. 366
(iv) The person, however, who separates the Lord, charity and faith is not a form which can receive them, but rather one which destroys them. 367
VII The Lord is charity and faith in the person, and the person is charity and faith in the Lord. 368-372
(i) It is being linked with God, which affords a person salvation and everlasting life. 369
(ii) A link is impossible with God the Father, but it is possible with the Lord, and through Him with God the Father. 370
(iii) The link with the Lord is reciprocal, so that the Lord is in the person, and he is in the Lord. 371
(iv) This reciprocal link between the Lord and man is created by means of charity and faith. 372
VIII Charity and faith are present together in good deeds. 373-377
(i) Charity is having good will, and good deeds are doing good from a good will.
(ii) Charity and faith are merely unstable mental concepts unless, when possible, they are realised in deeds and come into existence together in them. 375, 376
(iii) Charity alone does not produce good deeds, much less does faith alone, but charity and faith together do. 377
IX There is true faith, spurious faith and hypocritical faith. 378-381
– From its cradle the Christian church began to be attacked and split by schisms and heresies; what these were. 378
(i) There is only one true faith, and this is in the Lord God the Saviour Jesus Christ, and is possessed by those who believe Him to be the Son of God, the God of heaven and earth, and one with the Father. 379
(ii) Spurious faith is any faith which departs from the true and only faith, and is possessed by those who climb up another way and look upon the Lord not as God, but merely as a human being. 380
(iii) Hypocritical faith is no faith at all. 381
X The wicked have no faith. 382-384
(i) The wicked have no faith because evil belongs to hell and faith to heaven. 383
(ii) All those in the Christian world have no faith who reject the Lord and the Word, although they lead moral lives, and talk, teach and write rationally, even about faith. 384
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHARITY, OR LOVE TOWARDS THE NEIGHBOUR, AND GOOD DEEDS
I There are three universal loves, the love of heaven, the love of the world, and self-love. 394-396
(i) The will and the understanding. 397
(ii) Good and truth. 398
(iii) Love in general. 399
(iv) Self-love and the love of the world in particular. 400
(v) The internal man and the external man. 401
(vi) The purely natural and sensual man. 402
II When the three loves are duly subordinated, they increase a person’s perfection; but when they are not, they corrupt and turn him upside down. 403-405
III Every person taken singly is the neighbour who is to be loved, but he should be loved according to the quality of his good. 406-411
IV Man collectively, which is one’s community, great or small, and as a group of communities, which is one’s country, is the neighbour who is to be loved. 412-414
V The neighbour who is to be loved in a higher degree is the church, and in the highest degree the Lord’s kingdom. 415, 416
VI The essence of loving the neighbour is not loving a person, but the good in him. 417-419
VII Charity and good deeds are two different things, as are wishing well and doing good. 420,421
VIII Real charity is dealing fairly and faithfully in whatever position, business or work one is engaged in, and with those with whom one comes into contact. 422-424
IX The kindnesses of charity are giving to the poor and helping the needy, but with prudence. 425-428
X Some charitable duties are public, some domestic and some private. 429-432
XI Charitable recreations are lunches, dinners and parties. 433,434
XII The first thing in charity is to banish evils, the second is to do good deeds which may be of use to the neighbour. 435-438
XIII In the exercise of charity a person avoids attributing merit to deeds, so long as he believes that all good is from the Lord. 439-442
XIV When a moral life is at the same time spiritual, this is charity. 443-445
XV A bosom friendship contracted with a person without regard to his spiritual character is harmful after death. 446-449
XVI Spurious charity, hypocritical charity and dead charity. 450-453
XVII Bosom friendship between the wicked is implacable hatred between them. 454, 455
XVIII The linking of love to God and love towards the neighbour. 456-458
CHAPTER EIGHT
FREE WILL
The rules and dogmas of the present-day church on free will. 463-465
I The fact that two trees, one of life and the other of the knowledge of good and evil, were put in the Garden of Eden, means that man was given free will in spiritual matters. 466-469
II Man is not life, but a receiver of life from God. 470-474
III So long as a person lives in the world, he is kept midway between heaven and hell, and he is there in spiritual equilibrium. This is free will. 475-478
IV The fact that evil is permitted, a state enjoyed by everyone’s internal man, makes it obvious that man has free will in spiritual matters. 479-482
V Without free will in spiritual matters the Word would not be of any use, nor in consequence would the church be. 483, 484
VI Without free will in spiritual matters man would have no means of establishing a mutual link with the Lord. The result would be not imputation, but complete predestination, which is a detestable doctrine. 485
Some detestable facts about predestination published. 486-488
VII But for free will in spiritual matters God would be responsible for evil, and thus there could be no imputation of charity and faith. 489-492
VIII Anything spiritual to do with the church which enters freely and is freely accepted lasts; anything that does not, does not last. 493-496
IX A person’s will and understanding enjoy this free will; but wrongdoing in both the spiritual and natural worlds is curbed by laws, since otherwise society in either world would cease to exist. 497-499
X If people did not have free will in spiritual matters, everyone throughout the world could in the course of a single day have been brought to believe in the Lord. But this would be impossible, because what a person does not accept of his own free will does not last. 500-502
– Miracles do not happen at the present day, because they take away free will in spiritual matters and compel. 501
CHAPTER NINE
REPENTANCE
I Repentance is the first stage in the development of the church in a person. 510, 511
II Contrition, which is said at the present time to precede faith and to be followed by the consolation of the Gospel, is not repentance. 512-515
III A mere verbal confession that one is a sinner is not repentance. 516-519
IV Man is born with a tendency to every kind of evil, and if he does not partially remove evils by repentance, he remains subject to them, and if so cannot be saved. 520-524
– What is meant by keeping the law. 523, 524
V Recognition of sin and a person’s self-examination are the beginnings of repentance. 525-527
VI Real repentance is examining oneself, recognising and acknowledging one’s sins, appealing to the Lord and beginning a new life. 528-531
VII True repentance means not only examining what one does in one’s life, but also what one intends in one’s will to do. 532-534
VIII Those too repent who do not examine themselves, but still refrain from evil actions because they are sins. This kind of repentance is practised by those who perform charitable deeds for religious reasons. 535-537
IX Confession ought to be made before the Lord God the Saviour, and then prayer should be offered for help and the power to resist evils. 538-560
X Real repentance is easy for those who have repented a number of times, but highly distasteful to those who have not. 561-563
XI A person who has never repented, or looked into himself and examined himself, ends up not knowing what is the evil which damns him and what the good which saves him. 564-566
CHAPTER TEN
REFORMATION AND REGENERATION
I Unless a person is born again and as it were created anew, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 572-575
II A new birth or creation can only be brought about by the Lord through charity and faith as the two means with the person’s co-operation. 576-578
III Since all have been redeemed, everyone can be regenerated, in each case depending on the person’s state. 579-582
IV The process of regeneration is on the model of a person’s conception, gestation in the womb, birth and upbringing. 583-586
– Some facts about the male and female sexes in the vegetable kingdom. 585
V The first stage of re-birth is called reformation, a process affecting the under-standing; the second stage is called regeneration, a process affecting the will and thus the understanding. 587-590
VI The internal man must be reformed first, and the external by means of the internal; that is how a person is regenerated. 591-595
VII When this happens, a struggle ensues between the internal and the external man, and the victor then controls the other. 596-600
VIII When a person is regenerated, he acquires a new will and a new under-standing. 601-606
IX A person who is regenerated is in touch with the angels of heaven, one who is not with the spirits of hell. 607-610
X In so far as a person is regenerated, so far are his sins removed; this removal is the forgiveness of sins. 611-614
XI Regeneration is impossible without free will in spiritual matters. 615-617
XII Regeneration is impossible without truths through which faith may be formed, and with which charity may link itself. 618-620
CHAPTER ELEVEN
IMPUTATION
I The faith of the present-day church, which is held to be the sole requirement for justification, is one with imputation. 626, 627
II Imputation as part of present-day faith is a double concept. There is imputation of Christ’s merit and imputation of salvation as a result. 628-631
III The idea of faith imputing the merit and righteousness of Christ the Redeemer sprang first from the decrees of the Council of Nicaea concerning three Divine Persons from eternity; and this faith has been accepted by the whole Christian world from that time to the present. 632-635
IV Faith which imputes Christ’s merit was unknown to the earlier, Apostolic
church, and is nowhere to be understood in the Word. 636-639
V It is impossible for Christ’s merit and righteousness to be imputed. 640-642
VI There is imputation but it is of good and evil. 643-646
VII The faith and concept of imputation in the new church cannot by any means be combined with the faith and concept of imputation current in the former church. If they are combined, there is such a clash and conflict that a person loses all trace of anything to do with the church. 647-649
VIII The Lord imputes good to everyone and hell imputes evil to everyone. 650-653
IX It is what faith combines with which is the deciding factor. If true faith combines with good, that is a decision for everlasting life; but if faith combines with evil, that is a decision for everlasting death. 654-657
X One’s thoughts are not imputed to anyone, only one’s will. 658-660
CHAPTER TWELVE
BAPTISM
I Without knowledge of the spiritual sense of the Word no one can know what is involved in and effected by the two sacraments, baptism and the Holy Supper. 667-669
II The washing called baptism means spiritual washing, which is purification from evils and falsities, and so regeneration. 670-673
III Baptism was instituted to take the place of circumcision, because the circumcision of the foreskin was a representation of the circumcision of the heart. The purpose of baptism was so that the internal church should take the place of the external, which in every detail prefigured the internal church. 674-676
IV The first purpose of baptism is to be introduced to the Christian church, and at the same time brought into the company of Christians in the spiritual world. 677-680
V The second purpose of baptism is so that a Christian may get to know and acknowledge the Lord Jesus Christ, the Redeemer and Saviour, and follow Him. 681-683
VI The third purpose of baptism, which is its end in view, is a person’s regeneration. 684-687
VII By John’s baptism the way was prepared for Jehovah God to come down into the world and carry out redemption. 688-691
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
THE HOLY SUPPER
I No one who does not know about the way natural things correspond with spiritual ones can know the benefits conferred by the Holy Supper. 698-701
II A knowledge of correspondences allows us to know what is meant by the Lord’s flesh and blood, much the same as by bread and wine. This is that the Lord’s flesh and the bread mean the Divine good of His love and also all the good of charity; and the Lord’s blood and the wine mean the Divine truth of His wisdom and also all the truth of faith. Eating means making one’s own. 702-710
– Demonstration from the Word of the meaning of flesh. 704, 705
– Demonstration from the Word of the meaning of blood. 706
– Demonstration from the Word of the meaning of bread. 707
– Demonstration from the Word of the meaning of wine. 708
III By understanding this it is possible to grasp the fact that the Holy Supper contains everything to do with the church and heaven, both at the universal and at the particular level. 711-715
IV The Lord is wholly present in the Holy Supper, and so is the whole of redemption. 716-718
V The Lord is present and opens heaven to those who worthily approach the Holy Supper. He is also present with those who approach it unworthily, but He does not open heaven to them. Consequently just as baptism is being introduced to the church, so the Holy Supper is being introduced to heaven. 719-721
VI The people who worthily approach the Holy Supper are those who have faith in the Lord and charity towards the neighbour, so those who have been regenerated. 722-724
VII Those who worthily approach the Holy Supper are in the Lord and the Lord is in them. Thus it is through the Holy Supper that they are linked with the Lord. 725-727
VIII The Holy Supper for those who approach it worthily is a kind of guarantee and seal put on their adoption as sons of God. 728-730
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
THE ENDING OF THE AGE, THE LORD’S COMING, AND THE NEW HEAVEN AND THE NEW CHURCH
I The ending of the age is the final period or end of the church. 753-756
II The present time is the final period of the Christian church foretold and described by the Lord in the Gospels and Revelation. 757-759
III This final period of the Christian church is absolute night, in which previous churches ended 760-763
IV This night is followed by morning, and morning is the Lord’s coming. 764-767
V The Lord’s coming does not mean His coming to destroy the sky we see and the earth where we live, and to create a new heaven and a new earth, as many people up to now have imagined through not understanding the spiritual sense of the Word. 768-771
VI This, which is the Lord’s second coming, is taking place in order that the wicked should be separated from the good, and those should be saved who believe in Him and have done so; and so that a new heaven of angels and a new church on earth should be formed from them. Without this no flesh could be saved (Matt. 2 22). 772-775
VII This, the Lord’s second coming, is not in person, but in the word, which is from Him and which He is. 776-778
VIII This, the Lord’s second coming, is taking place by means of a man, to whom He has shown Himself in person, and whom He has filled with His spirit, so that he may teach the doctrines of the new church which come from the Lord through the Word. 779, 780
IX This is the meaning of the new heaven and the New Jerusalem in Revelation, chapter 21. 781-785
X This new church is the crown of all the churches which have up to now existed upon earth. 786-791
SUPPLEMENT
I The nature of the spiritual world. 792-795
II Luther in the spiritual world. 796
III Melanchthon in the spiritual world. 797
IV Calvin in the spiritual world. 798, 799
V The Dutch in the spiritual world. 800-805
VI The British in the spiritual world. 806-812
VII The Germans in the spiritual world. 813-816
VIII The Roman Catholics in the spiritual world. 817-821
IX The saints of the Roman Catholics in the spiritual world. 822-827
X The Mohammedans in the spiritual world. 828-834
XI The Africans in the spiritual world; also something about other nations. 835-840
XII The Jews in the spiritual world. 841-845
A statement of faith, set out in both universal and particular terms, is placed at the beginning to serve as a preface to the book which follows, to be like a doorway leading into a church, and a summary presenting in a short compass what follows at more length. It is called the faith of the new heaven and the new church, because heaven, where the angels are, and the church among men form a single unit, just as the internal and external sides of the personality make up a single individual. This is why a member of the church who possesses the good of love which arises from the truths of faith, and possesses the truths of faith which arise from the good of love, is, so far as the interiors of his mind are concerned, an angel of heaven. Therefore too after dying he comes into heaven, and there enjoys happiness depending upon how far the good and truth are linked. It should be known that in the new heaven, which is at the present time being established by the Lord, this statement of faith serves as its preface, doorway and summary.
The Lord from eternity, who is Jehovah, came into the world to subdue the hells and to glorify His Human. Without this no mortal could have been saved, and those are saved who believe in Him.
[2] The expression ‘in universal terms’ is used because this is a universal point of faith, and a universal point of faith must be contained in all its particulars. It is a universal point of faith that God is one in essence and in person, in whom is the Divine Trinity, and that He is the Lord God the Saviour Jesus Christ. It is a universal point of faith that no mortal could have been saved, if the Lord had not come into the world. It is a universal point of faith that He came into the world to take hell away from men, and He did this by fighting against hell and winning victories over it. In this way He subdued it and reduced it to order, and made it subject to His command. It is a universal point of faith that He came into the world to glorify the Human which He assumed in the world, that is, to unite it with the originating Divinity. By this means He keeps hell for ever in order and subject to His command. Since this could only be achieved by means of temptations experienced in His Human, even to the most extreme, His passion on the cross, He underwent this. These are the universal matters of faith concerning the Lord.
[3] It is a universal point of faith on the part of man to believe in the Lord; for this belief links him to the Lord, and this is the way to salvation. Believing in Him means having confidence that He is the Saviour; and since only those who lead good lives can have such confidence, this too is meant by believing in Him. The Lord says this in John’s gospel:
This is the will of the Father, that everyone who believes in the Son should have everlasting life. John 6:40.
and elsewhere:
He who believes in the Son has everlasting life. He who does not believe in the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God rests upon him. John 3:36.
* This passage is repeated with minor changes from FAITH 34, AR 67, BE 116.
Jehovah God is Love itself and Wisdom itself, or Good itself and Truth itself. He came down in the form of Divine Truth, which is the Word and which was God with God, and took upon Himself human form, so as to reduce to order everything in heaven, in hell and in the church. For at that time the power of hell was stronger than the power of heaven, and on earth the power of evil was stronger than the power of good, so that utter damnation stood threatening at the gates. This impending damnation was removed by Jehovah God by means of His Human, which was Divine Truth, and thus angels and men were redeemed. Afterwards He united in His Human Divine Truth with Divine Good, or Divine Wisdom with Divine Love, and so returned into the Divinity which was His from eternity, together with and in His glorified Human. This is the meaning of the passage in John:
The Word was with God and the Word was God; and the Word was made flesh. John 1:1, 14.
In the same gospel:
I came out of the Father and I came into the world; I leave the world again, and go to the Father. John 16:28.
Further in the following passage:
We know that the Son of God came and gave us understanding, so that we might know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son, Jesus Christ. He is the true God and everlasting life. 1 John 5:20.
These passages show that without the Lord’s coming into the world no one could have been saved. The situation to-day is similar. So unless the Lord comes into the world again in the form of Divine Truth, that is, the Word, no more can anyone now be saved.
[2] The particular details of faith on man’s part are:
1 God is one, in whom is the Divine Trinity, and He is the Lord God the Saviour Jesus Christ.
2 Faith leading to salvation is believing in Him.
3 Evil actions must not be done because they are the work of the devil and come from him.
4 Good actions must be done because they are the work of God and come from Him.
5 A person must perform these actions as if they were his own, but he must believe they come from the Lord working in him and through him.
The first two points deal with faith, the second two with charity; and the fifth deals with the joining of charity with faith and thus of the Lord with men.
GOD THE CREATOR
The Christian church has from the Lord’s time passed through all the stages of life, from infancy to extreme old age. Its infancy was during the lifetime of the Apostles, who preached all over the world repentance and belief in the Lord God the Saviour. It is clear that these were their two main points from a passage in the Acts of the Apostles:
Paul proclaimed both to Jews and Greeks repentance towards God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. Acts 20:21.
It is a notable fact that several months ago the Lord called together his twelve disciples who are now angels, and sent them out throughout the spiritual world with orders to preach the Gospel there anew, since the church the Lord established through their ministry is to-day so close to its end that hardly any remains survive. This has come about because the Divine Trinity has been divided into three persons, each of whom is God and Lord.
[2] As a result the whole of theology, and so the church which is named Christian after the Lord, has been pervaded by a kind of insanity. I say ‘insanity’ because it has driven people’s minds to such a pitch of delirium that they do not know whether there is one God or three. One is what they say, three is what they think. So there is a conflict between the mind and the lips, the thought and its expression, and this conflict ends by their thinking that there is no God. This alone is the source of the nature-worship prevalent to-day. Pray consider whether, when the lips speak of one God and the mind thinks of three, each idea does not annihilate the other when they clash midway. Thus if anyone thinks of God at all, he does so as hardly anything but a bare title, with no feeling of knowing Him.
[3] Since the idea of God and all knowledge of Him has been so fragmented, I propose to discuss in turn God the Creator, the Lord the Redeemer, the Holy Spirit the Active Force, and finally the Divine Trinity, so that what has been broken into fragments may be put together again. This happens when a person’s reason is convinced from the Word and the enlightenment it gives that there is a Divine Trinity, and that this is in the Lord God the Saviour Jesus Christ, just as the soul, the body and the activity coming from them form a trinity in man. This article in the Athanasian creed is therefore valid:
In Christ, God and Man, or the Divine and the Human, are not two, but in one person; as the rational soul and the flesh are one man, so too God and Man are one Christ.
Since the acknowledgment of God which comes from knowing Him is the very essence and soul of every dogma in all theology, I must begin by speaking of the oneness of God. This will be demonstrated in the following series of propositions.
(i) The whole of the Sacred Scripture and all doctrines extracted from it by churches throughout Christendom teach that there is one God.
(ii) There is a general feeling [emanating from God and]* flowing into men’s souls that there is a God, and that He is one.
(iii) That is why there is no nation throughout the World possessed of religion and sound reason which does not acknowledge God and the fact that He is one.
(iv) There are many reasons why nations and peoples have formed varying ideas of the nature of that one God, and continue to do so.
(v) There are many things in the world which can lead the human reason, if it wishes, to grasp and deduce that there is a God and that He is one.
(vi) If there had not been one God, the universe could not have been created and kept in existence.
(vii) Any person who does not acknowledge God is excommunicated from the church and damned.
(viii) The church cannot hold together at all in the case of a person who acknowledges not one God, but several.
These propositions will be expounded one by one.
*The words in brackets are supplied from the repetition of this proposition in 8.
The reason why the whole of the Sacred Scripture teaches the existence of God is that its inmost meaning is concerned with nothing but God, that is, the Divine proceeding from God. For Scripture was dictated by God, and nothing can proceed from God except what He Himself is, and this we call the Divine. This resides in the inmost meaning of Scripture. However, in its lower forms which are derived from the Divine, the Holy Scripture is adapted to the grasp of angels and men. In these forms it is likewise Divine, but in a different guise; in this case the Divine is called Celestial, Spiritual and Natural. These are merely the veils of God, since God Himself, as He exists in the inmost meaning of the Word, cannot be looked on by any created being. For when Moses begged to see the glory of Jehovah, God told him that no one can see God and live. It is the same with the inmost meaning of the Word, in which God is in His Being and Essence.
[2] Still the Divine, which is inmostly contained in it and is protected by such veils as adapt it to the grasp of angels and men, shines out like light passing through crystalline structures, but the light appears to differ according to the state of mind which a person has acquired from God or from himself. For everyone who has acquired his state of mind from God, the Sacred Scripture is like a mirror, in which he sees God, everyone in his own fashion. This mirror is composed of the truths which he learns from the Word and absorbs by living his life in accordance with them. A first conclusion from this is that the Sacred Scripture is the fulness of God.
[3] This teaches not only the existence of God, but also that He is one. This is evident from the fact that the truths, which, as I have said, compose that mirror, are held together in a single bond and prevent a person from thinking about God except as one. That is why every person, whose reason has absorbed some holiness from the Word, knows, as if of himself, that God is one, and regards talking about several gods as a kind of madness. Angels cannot open their mouths to say ‘Gods’, because the aura of heaven in which they live offers resistance. The Sacred Scripture teaches that God is one not only universally, as I asserted, but in many particular passages, such as the following.
Hear, O Israel, Jehovah our God is one Jehovah. Deut. 6:4; similarly Mark 12:29.
Surely God is among you, and there is no God beside Me. Isa. 45:14, 15. Am I not Jehovah, and there is no other God beside me? Isa. 45:21.
I am Jehovah your God, and you are not to acknowledge any God beside Me. Hosea 13:4.
Thus spoke Jehovah, the King of Israel, I am the First and the Last, and there is no God beside Me. Isa. 44:6. On that day Jehovah will be King over all the earth; on that day Jehovah will be one, and His name one. Zech. 14:9.
Hearing you will hear and not understand, and seeing you will see and not discern. They have closed their eyes, so that they should not risk seeing with their eyes, and hearing with their ears, and understanding in their hearts, and so that they should not turn again and let me heal them. Matt. 13:14, 15.
All of these people are like those who run away from daylight, and shut themselves in windowless rooms, where they grope around the walls searching for food and money. Finally they are granted a power of sight like that of owls, so that they can see in the dark. They resemble a woman with several husbands, no true wife, but a wanton prostitute. They are like a girl who accepts rings from several suitors, and after she is married hires herself out for the night not just to one, but to the rest as well.
God influences man, as is evident from what everyone admits, that God is the source of every good thing which is good in itself and is present in man and done by him. The same is true of the whole of charity and the whole of faith. For we read:
A man cannot take anything unless it is given him from heaven. John 3:27.
and Jesus said:
Without me you can do nothing. John 15:5.
That is to say, nothing of charity and nothing of faith, The reason there is this inflow into the souls of men is that the soul is man’s inmost and highest part; the Divine influence enters there and from there descends to the lower parts, giving them life so far as it is accepted. Admittedly the truths destined to create faith are received through the hearing and are thus implanted in the mind, that is, at a lower level than the soul. But these truths only create the conditions which allow a man to be acted upon by God through his soul. The extent to which truths are accepted depends upon this conditioning, and his natural faith is in proportion transformed into a spiritual faith.
[2] The reason why there is a feeling that God is one emanating from God and entering men’s souls is that everything Divine, both understood universally and in particular, is God; and because everything Divine holds together as a single unit, it must inevitably inspire a person with the idea of one God. This feeling is strengthened day by day, as a person is lifted by God into the light of heaven. For angels, in the light they enjoy, cannot force themselves to say ‘Gods’. For this reason too when they are speaking the end of every sentence finishes on a single note. This is entirely due to this feeling that God is one entering their Souls.
[3] Although all human beings have this idea of God being one entering their souls, still many of them think that His Divinity is divided into several of the same essence. This is because the inflowing idea as it descends slips into forms which do not match it, and the form itself imposes a variation, just as happens in everything which belongs to the three kingdoms of the natural world. It is the same God who gives life to every animal as to man; but it is the receiving form which determines that an animal is an animal, and a man a man. The same thing can happen to a man, when he gives his mind the form of an animal. Every tree receives the same radiation from the sun, but its results vary depending upon the form of each tree. The radiation falling on a vine is the same as that on a thorn-tree; but if the thorn is grafted on to the vine, the radiation is upset and produces effects dictated by the thorn.
[4] The same happens in the mineral kingdom. The light striking a piece of limestone is the same as that striking a diamond; but in one case it shines through, and in the other it is blacked out. Human minds undergo variation depending on their forms, and these are inwardly spiritual in proportion to their faith in God, and at the same time the amount of life they receive from God. Faith in one God makes them transparent and angelic; but instead they become opaque and bestial as the result of faith in several gods, which is hardly to be distinguished from faith in no God.
The consequence of the Divine influence operating on the souls of men as described above is that every man has an inward voice telling him that there is a God, and that He is one. None the less there are those who deny the existence of God, those who recognise nature as a god, and those who worship several gods and also statues as gods. The reason is that these have choked the interiors of their reason or understanding with worldly and bodily thoughts, thus blotting out their original or child-like idea of God, and at the same time throwing religion away over their shoulders. The confession of the creed shows plainly that Christians acknowledge one God, but it also shows how they see Him. It runs:
The catholic faith is that we reverence one God in the Trinity and the Trinity in unity. There are three Divine persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and yet there are not three gods, but one God. There is one person of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Spirit. They have one Divinity, equal glory and co-eternal majesty. So the Father is God, the Son is God and the Holy Spirit is God. But as Christian verity compels us to confess each person severally to be God and Lord, so does the catholic religion forbid us to speak of three Gods and three Lords.
Such is the Christian faith on the oneness of God; but it will be seen in the chapter on the Divine Trinity [163-188] that there is a conflict in that confession between the ideas of a Trinity and the oneness of God.
[2] The rest of the nations in the world, who are possessed of religion and sound reason, insist that God is one: all the Mohammedans in their empires, the Africans in many kingdoms of their continent, and the peoples of Asia in several of theirs, not to mention the present-day Jews. The most ancient people of the Golden Age, those who had any religion, worshipped one God whom they named Jehovah. So did the ancients of the following age, before the establishment of empires under a sole monarch. For at this time worldly, and finally bodily, loves began to close up the higher regions of the understanding, which had previously been open; then they had been like temples and shrines for the worship of one God. But the Lord God, in order to re-open them and thus restore the worship of one God, founded a church among the descendants of Jacob, and set at the head of all the commandments of their religion this:
There is to be no other God before my face. Exod. 20:3
[3] Jehovah too, the new name which He gave Himself for them, means the supreme and single Entity from which everything comes which is and comes into being anywhere in the universe. The early gentiles acknowledged as their supreme God Jupiter,* perhaps so called from Jehovah; and they endowed with divinity many of the other members of his court. But the philosophers of the following age, such as Plato and Aristotle, admitted that these were not gods, but so many properties, qualities and attributes of the one God, which were called gods on account of the divinity immanent in each of them.
* or Jove
The first reason is that knowledge about God, and consequently acknowledgment of God, is impossible without revelation, and that knowledge about the Lord and consequently the acknowledgment that ‘in Him all the fulness of the Godhead dwells bodily’ can only come from the Word, which is the crown of revelations. Because revelation has been granted, a person is able to go to meet God and be acted upon by Him, and so from being natural become spiritual. The revelation of early ages spread throughout the world, and was perverted by natural men in many ways. This is the origin of the divisions, dissensions, heresies and schisms which have affected religions.
The second reason is that a natural man cannot form and apply to himself any perception of God, but only of the world. This is why it is one of the principles of the Christian Church that the natural man is opposed to the spiritual and they fight each other. This too is why those who have learned the existence of God from the Word [or] another revelation have differed and still do concerning the nature of God and His oneness.
[2] For this reason those whose mental vision has been dependent upon the bodily senses, and have none the less wished to see God, have made for themselves images of gold, silver, stone and wood, so that in these forms as visible objects they could worship God. This is why also others whose religion led them to reject such images, made themselves images of God out of the sun, the moon and the stars and various terrestrial objects. But those who thought their intelligence above the common herd, yet remained natural men, were led by the immensity of God and His omnipresence in creating the world to acknowledge nature as God, in some cases in its inmost, in others in its outermost forms. Some, in order to maintain a distinction between God and nature, thought up some extremely universal principle, which they called ‘the Being of the Universe’; and because they know nothing more about God, this Being becomes for them a mere concept, which is meaningless.
[3] Is there anyone who cannot grasp that things known about God are mirrors held up to God? Those who know nothing of God see Him not in a mirror held up to their eyes, but in a mirror turned back to front, which is covered with quicksilver or a black composition that does not reflect an image but blots it out. Belief in God comes into man by the front door, that is, from the soul into the higher regions of the understanding. But knowledge about God comes in by the back door, because it is absorbed by the understanding from the revelation of the Word by means of the bodily senses. The two paths leading in meet in the midst of the understanding; there, natural belief, which is merely a strongly held opinion, becomes spiritual, that is to say, a real acknowledgment. So the human understanding is like an exchange where currencies are changed.
This truth can be supported by countless things in the visible world; for the universe is like a theatre, upon the stage of which demonstrations of the existence of God and His oneness are continually being presented. To illustrate this I shall relate this account from my experiences in the spiritual world.
Once when I was talking with angels, some newcomers from the natural world arrived. On seeing them I made them welcome, and told them many facts they did not know about the spiritual world. After this conversation I asked them what learning about God and nature they brought with them from the world.
‘We have been taught,’ they said, ‘that nature performs all the operations which take place in the whole of creation. After the act of creation God assigned to nature and stamped upon her this ability and power; God only supports and preserves everything from being destroyed. Consequently everything on earth which comes into existence, is born or re-born, is to-day put down to nature.’
I replied that nature of herself performs no operation; but it is God who does this by means of nature. Since they demanded a proof, I said:* ‘Those who believe in the working of God in the details of Nature can find many sights in the world in favour of their belief in God, many more than in favour of nature. [2] Those who favour the working of God in the details of nature pay attention to the amazing sights to be seen in the reproduction of both plants and animals. In the case of plants, a tiny seed cast into the ground produces a root, by means of the root a stem, and so in order branches, twigs, leaves, flowers and fruit, until the result is fresh seeds, just as if the seed knew the pattern of successive stages or processes which lead to its renewal. Can any rational person think that the sun, which is nothing but fire, has this knowledge, or that it can instruct its heat and light to produce such effects, and that it can act purposefully? A person whose reasoning faculty is uplifted, on seeing and duly considering these facts, is inevitably led to think that they come from Him who possesses infinite wisdom, that is, from God. Those who acknowledge the working of God in the details of nature are further confirmed in their view on seeing these things; those on the other hand who do not make this acknowledgment see them not with the eyes of reason set in the face, but with eyes in the back of the head; these are the people who get all the ideas in their heads from the bodily senses and support their fallacious beliefs by saying ‘Surely you see it is the sun which produces all these results by its heat and light. Something you cannot see cannot be anything.’
[3] ‘Those seeking support for a Divine origin pay attention to the amazing sights to be seen in animal reproduction. First of all I may mention eggs, which contain the chick hidden in its seed together with everything needed for its development, and its whole future growth after hatching until it becomes a bird resembling its mother. Further if we consider flying creatures in general, the mind which thinks profoundly boggles at the astonishing facts about them; that the smallest as well as the largest, the invisible as well as the visible, that is, tiny insects as well as birds and large animals, possess sensory organs of sight, smell, taste and touch; also motor organs or muscles which allow them to fly and walk; also viscera attached to a heart and lungs, all controlled by brains. Those who attribute everything to nature admittedly see these things, but they think of them merely as facts and call them the products of nature. They say this because they have turned their minds away from thinking about the Divine. This turning away from the Divine prevents them from thinking rationally, much less spiritually, about the amazing sights they see in nature. Their thoughts are limited to the senses and matter, so that they think in nature from nature, rather than above her. Their only difference from animals is that they enjoy the faculty of rationality, that is, they can understand if they wish.
[4] ‘Those who have turned away from thoughts of the Divine, which makes them dependent upon the bodily senses, do not realise that the sight of the eye is so coarse and gross that it sees a group of tiny insects as a dark mass. Yet every one of these is endowed with the powers of sensation and movement, that is to say, it is provided with fibres and vessels, a tiny heart, breathing pores, viscera and brain. These are constructed of the simplest natural substances, and their systems answer to the vital principle in its lowest degree, for even the tiniest organs are individually activated by it. Since the sight of the eye is so gross that a number of creatures, each with its countless parts, look like a small dark mass, and yet those who rely on their senses found their thought and judgment on those visual powers, it is obvious how blunted their minds are and thus how blind they are on spiritual matters.
[5] ‘Anyone can, if he wishes, find support for the Divine idea in the sights of nature, and also further if he thinks about God and His omnipotence in the creation of the universe and His omnipresence in preserving it. As when he considers the birds of the air, each species of which knows its proper food and where to find it; it recognises its kind by sight and sound; it knows which birds are its friends and which its enemies; they know how to nestle under their plumage, they form pairs, cleverly construct nests, lay eggs in them and sit on them; they know how long to sit, and in due season hatch their chicks, whom they love dearly, protecting them under their wings, providing food and nourishing them, and continuing until they can look after themselves and perform the same service. Anyone who is willing to think how the Divine influences the natural world by means of the spiritual can see this in these facts. He can even, if he wishes, say in his heart, ‘Such knowledge cannot be acquired from the sun’s heat and light, for the sun which is the origin and essence of nature is nothing but fire. Consequently the radiation of its heat and light is totally devoid of life.’ This may lead them to deduce that such things are the effect of Divine influence working on the lowest forms of nature by means of the spiritual world.
[6] ‘Anyone can find support for the Divine idea from the sights of nature, when he looks at grubs. The pleasure of a certain love makes them seek and aspire to change their earthly condition into one analogous to the heavenly condition. Therefore they creep into suitable places, surround themselves with a cocoon and so put themselves into a womb that they may be born again. There they become chrysallises, pupae, nymphs, and finally butterflies. And when they have undergone their metamorphosis and have put on the lovely wings typical of their species, they fly up into the air as into their private heaven, play happily together, mate, lay eggs and see to the continuation of their race. Then they feed on lovely, sweet food provided by flowers. Can anyone, who finds support for the Divine idea in the sights of nature, fail to see a picture of man’s earthly state in their life as grubs and his heavenly state when they become butterflies? But those who support the idea of nature admittedly see these facts, but because they have mentally rejected the idea of man’s heavenly state, they call these nothing but the workings of nature.
[7] ‘Anyone can find support for the Divine idea from the sights of nature when he pays attention to the facts known about bees. They know how to collect wax and suck up honey from roses and other flowers, how to construct cells as their tiny homes and arrange them so as to resemble a city with streets by which to come in and go out. They smell out from a distance the flowers and plants from which they collect wax for building and honey to eat. When they are loaded with these they know their bearings to fly home to their hive, and thus provide themselves with food for the coming winter, as if they could foresee it. They set a mistress or queen over them; she is the mother of their offspring. They build a sort of court above their own quarters for the queen surrounded by her courtiers. When the time comes for her to give birth, she goes around accompanied by her courtiers, called drones, from one cell to the next and lays her eggs which the attendant crowd seal in to protect them from the air. These produce their new stock. Later on when this grows up sufficiently to behave in the same way, it is expelled from the hive; the swarm first of all gathers into a cloud to keep together in formation, and then flies off to find themselves a home. Towards autumn the drones, because they have brought home no wax or honey, are taken out and stripped of their wings, so that they cannot come back and consume the food to which they have done nothing to contribute; and much more might be said. From all this it can be clearly seen that for the sake of the service they perform to human beings the Divine influence coming through the spiritual world has given them an organisation similar to that of men on earth, or indeed of angels in the heavens.
[8] ‘Is there anyone of unimpaired reason who does not see that such effects are not produced in them by the natural world? What has the sun, the origin of nature, in common with an organisation which rivals and mirrors the organisation of the heavens? These and similar facts concerning the lower animals confirm in his belief the man who makes a profession of and worships nature. But the man who professes belief in and worships God uses the same facts to reinforce his belief in God; for the spiritual man sees in them spiritual facts, while the natural man sees natural ones, in other words, each sees what he is. For my part, such facts have been evidence to me of the influence of the spiritual world coming from God on the natural. Consider too whether you could think analytically about any type of organisation, or any civil law, or any moral virtue, or any spiritual truth, if the Divine influence did not make itself felt as a result of its wisdom by means of the spiritual world. I for my part have never been able to do so, nor can I now. I have consciously perceived that influence and felt it through the senses continuously for the last twenty-six years. So I make this statement as a witness.
[9] ‘Can nature have as its aim the fulfilment of a purpose, and arrange these purposes into organised structures? Only a wise being can do this; and no one could so order and structure the universe except God, whose wisdom is infinite. Who else can foresee and provide what men need to eat and clothe themselves: the crops of the field, the fruits of the earth and animals for food, and clothing from the same sources? One of the astonishing things in this is that those insignificant insects called silk-worms dress both women and men in silk and adorn them magnificently, from queens and kings down to maids and servants; and that those insignificant insects called bees supply wax to illuminate splendidly churches and halls. These and many more are the outstanding proofs that God of Himself performs all the workings of nature by means of the spiritual world.
[10] ‘To this I must add that I have seen in the spiritual world those who found confirmation of their naturalistic view in the sights of the world, to such an extent that they became atheists. Seen in spiritual light, their understandings seemed to be open underneath, but closed on top, because their thoughts had been turned downwards to earth, and not up to heaven. Above their sensual area, which is the lowest level of the understanding, there appeared a sort of covering flashing with hellish fire, in some cases black as soot, in others livid like a corpse. Therefore let everyone take care not to confirm his belief in nature, but seek rather proofs of God; there is no lack of material.’
* The following passage is adapted from DLW 351-357, CL 416-421.
The reason the oneness of God can be deduced from the creation of the universe is that the universe is a single system coherently organised from beginning to end, and dependent upon God as the body is on the soul. The universe was so created that God could be omnipresent, and keep all its particulars under His guidance, and keep it perpetually together as a unit, and so preserve it. This too is why Jehovah God says that He is the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End, Alpha and Omega (Isa. 44:6; Rev. 1:8, 17) and elsewhere that He does everything, spreads out the heavens, and stretches out the earth, of Himself (Isa. 44:24). This mighty system which is called the universe is a single unit coherently organised from beginning to end, because God had one end in view in creating it, to create from the human race a heaven of angels. The means to this end are all the things of which the world is composed; for he who wills the end, wills also the means.
[2] The man therefore who contemplates the world as a piece of work containing the means to that end can contemplate the created universe as a single coherent unit, and he can see that the world is an assemblage of services structured for the benefit of the human race, to form a heaven of angels. The Divine Love cannot have any other end in view than from His Divine to make human beings eternally blessed; and His Divine Wisdom cannot produce anything but services designed to fulfil that end. By considering the world from this universal point of view every wise man can grasp that the Creator of the universe is one, and that His essence is Love and Wisdom. Consequently there is no detail in it which does not conceal services either nearly or distantly designed to benefit human beings. Their food is provided by the fruits of the earth and also by animals, their clothing from the same sources.
[3] One of the astonishing things is that those insignificant insects called
silk-worms dress both women and men in silk and adorn them magnificently, from queens and kings down to maids and servants; and those insignificant insects, the bees, supply wax to illuminate splendidly churches and halls. Those who consider one by one facts about the world instead of the whole assemblage of ends, causal means and effects, and those who do not attribute creation to Divine Love acting by means of Divine Wisdom, cannot see that the universe is the handiwork of one God, and that He dwells in each service because He is in the end. For everyone who is involved in an end is also involved in the means, for the end which activates and controls the means is buried deep within all the means.
[4] Those who regard the universe not as the handiwork of God, nor as the dwelling-place of His Love and Wisdom, but as the handiwork of nature and the dwelling-place of the sun’s heat and light, shut off the higher regions of their mind from God, and expose the lower regions to the devil. As a result they exchange their human nature for that of a wild beast, indeed they not only think themselves to be no better than animals, but actually become animals. They become foxes in cunning, wolves in ferocity, leopards in guile, tigers in savagery, crocodiles, snakes, screech owls and other night-birds, each with its own nature. People like this in the spiritual world actually look from a distance like those wild beasts, for this is how their love of evil shows itself.
The reason why a person who does not acknowledge God is excommunicated from the church is that God is everything to the church and the Divine truths, which we call theology, are what make it a church. Consequently to deny God is to deny everything to do with the church; and it is this very denial which excommunicates a person, so that it is not God but the person who excommunicates himself. The reason why he is damned is that by being excommunicated from the church he is also excommunicated from heaven. For the church on earth and the heaven of angels act as one, like the internal and the external, or the spiritual and the natural in the case of a person. Man was created by God so as to have his internal in the spiritual world and his external in the natural world. Thus he was created a denizen of either world in order that the spiritual, which is heavenly, should be planted in the natural, which is worldly, just as a seed is planted in the ground, and he might thus become steadfast and enduring to eternity.
[2] A person who by denying God has excommunicated himself from the church, and thus from heaven, has shut off his internal man in respect of the will, and so in respect of the love which gives him pleasure. For a person’s will is the receiver of his love and becomes its dwelling-place. But he cannot shut off his internal man in respect of the understanding, for if he could do this he would cease to be a human being. But the love in his will makes the higher regions of the understanding foolish with false notions, so that the understanding becomes as it were shut off from the truths which have to do with belief and the kinds of good which have to do with charity; thus he becomes more and more opposed to God and at the same time the spiritual side of the church. Thus he is cut off from communion with the angels of heaven, and by this exclusion he brings himself into communion with the satans of hell, and thinks exactly like them. All satans deny God and have foolish ideas about the spiritual side of the church, and a person who is linked with them does likewise.
[3] When this person is under the guidance of his spirit, which is when he is left to himself at home, he allows his thoughts to be guided by the pleasures of evil and falsity which he has conceived and brought to birth in himself. He then thinks that God does not exist, or that He is a mere word resounding from pulpits, to oblige the common people to obey the laws of the land, on which the community depends. He also thinks that the Word, which makes ministers keep harping on God, is a collection of visions or a mere compilation, the holiness of which has been established by authority. He regards the Ten Commandments or the catechism as a book, which when it has been worn out through handling by children, can be thrown away. For it laid down that parents are to be honoured, one is not to kill or go whoring, not to steal or bear false witness; and does not everyone know these same rules from the code of civil law? He thinks of the church as a mere congregation of the simple, the gullible and the weak-minded, who fancy they see what they do not. He regards human beings, and he includes himself among them, as animals; and his life after death as no different from that of an animal after death.
[4] This is how his internal man thinks, however differently the external man speaks. As said before, every man has an internal and an external: the internal, which is called the spirit, is what makes him human, and this lives on after death, while the external, which allows him to play the hypocrite by a show of morality, is buried. Then he is damned, because he denied God. Everyone is in his spirit associated with people like himself in the spiritual world, and is so to speak one with them. I have often been allowed to see the spirits of people still alive, some of them in communities of angels there, and others in communities of hell. I have been allowed to talk with them for days, and I was astonished to find that the person, who was still alive in the body, knew nothing at all of it. This experience made it clear that those who deny God are already among the damned, and after death are gathered to their own kind.
The man who acknowledges in his belief one God and worships Him in his heart is in the communion of saints on earth, and of angels in the heavens. These are called communions, and they really are, because they are in the one God, and the one God is in them. The same people are also linked with the whole of the heaven of angels, and, I dare assert, with each and every one there. For they are all like sons and descendants of a single father, whose minds, manners and faces are similar, so that they can recognise one another. The heaven of angels is organised into communities in accordance with the varieties of the love for good, but all these varieties aim at a single most general love, that is, love to God. From this love are descended all who acknowledge in their belief, and worship in their heart, one God the Creator of the universe, and at the same time the Redeemer and the Regenerator.
[2] But far different is the case of those who approach and adore not one God, but several; or if it happens that they worship one God with their lips but three in their thinking, as those do in the church to-day who divide God into three persons, and declare each person by himself to be God, and attribute to each person different, qualities or peculiarities not shared with another. This produces an actual division not only in the oneness of God, but also in their theology, and likewise human minds that are devoted to it. What can be the result but a tangle of incoherent ideas about church matters? It will be proved in an Appendix to this book that this is the state of the church to-day. The truth is that to divide God or the Divine Essence into three persons, each of which severally or by itself is God, is tantamount to denying God. It is as if someone goes into a church to worship, and sees represented in a painting over the altar one God as the Ancient of Days, another as High Priest, and a third flying like Aeolus, and a label underneath saying ‘These three are one God.’ Or perhaps it is as if he were to see the Oneness and the Trinity represented as a man with three heads on one body or with three bodies topped by a single head; that is a monstrous idea, and if anyone were to enter heaven with that in his mind, he would certainly be flung out head first, even if he said that the head or heads stand for the essence, and the body or bodies separate properties.
I saw some newcomers to the spiritual world from the natural world talking among themselves about the three Persons of the Divinity from eternity. They were in holy orders and one of them was a bishop.
They came up to me, and after we had talked for a while about the spiritual world, about which they had previously known nothing, I said: ‘I heard you talking about the three Persons of the Divinity from eternity. Would you please reveal to me this great mystery in accordance with the views which you formed in the natural world from which you have just come?’
Then the bishop looked at me and said: ‘I see that you are a layman, so I will reveal the views I hold about this great mystery and instruct you. My views were, and still are, that God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit sit in the midst of heaven on magnificent, high seats or thrones; God the Father on a throne of pure gold, with a sceptre in His hand; God the Son on His right hand on a throne of the finest silver, with a crown on His head; and God the Holy Spirit next to them on a throne of glistening crystal, holding a dove in His hand. Around them are three glittering rows of hanging lamps made of precious stones; and at a distance from this ring stand countless angels all worshipping and glorifying God. In addition, God the Father discusses constantly with His Son the souls who are to be justified; they decide between them and decree who on earth are worthy to be received among the angels and crowned with everlasting life. As soon as God the Holy Spirit hears the names they give, He flies through the world to them, bringing with Him the gifts of righteousness, a token of salvation for each person who is to be justified. Immediately on His arrival He breathes on them and blows away their sins, like a man with a fan who clears the smoke from a furnace, and whitewashes it. He removes too the stony hardness of their hearts and imparts the softness of flesh; and at the same time He renews their spirits or minds, brings them to a new birth, and gives them babyish faces. Finally He marks their foreheads with the sign of the cross, and calls them the Chosen and the Sons of God.’ At the conclusion of this lecture the bishop said to me: ‘That is how I unravelled that great mystery in the world; and because many of my clergy there applauded my speech, I am sure that you too, being a layman, will be persuaded by it.’
[2] On the conclusion of this speech by the bishop, I looked hard at him and the clergy with him, and noted that they were all fully in favour of his views. So I embarked upon a reply, and said: ‘I have weighed up your profession of belief, and have inferred from it that you have formed and hold an entirely natural and sensual, I might say, material idea about the Triune God. This must inevitably lead to the idea of three Gods. Is it not thinking according to the senses to imagine God the Father seated upon a throne with a sceptre in His hand? Or about the Son on His throne with a crown on His head? Or the Holy Spirit on His with a dove in His hand, and flying throughout the world to carry out His orders? Since that is the sort of idea that emerges, I cannot accept the truth of your words. From my earliest years I have not been able to admit into my mind any idea of God except as One; and since this has been what I have admitted and is what I still hold, everything you have said makes no impression on me. In due course I saw that by the ‘throne’ on which the Scriptures say that Jehovah sits is meant His kingdom, by ‘sceptre’ and ‘crown’ His rule and dominion, by ‘sitting at the right hand’ the omnipotence of God exercised by means of His humanity; and by what is said of the Holy Spirit the workings of the Divine Omnipresence. Please take up, my lord, the idea of One God and give it reasonable consideration, and you will at length clearly grasp that this is so.
[3] ‘You certainly say that God is one, and this is because you make the three Persons share one, undivided essence. Yet you do not allow anyone to say that the one God is one Person, but insist that there are three Persons, a belief necessary to preserve an idea of three Gods such as you have. You also attribute to each Person a character differing from the others’; do you not by this divide that Divine essence of yours? In these circumstances how can you say and at the same time think that God is one? I would forgive you if you said that there is one Divine. How can anyone who is told that ‘the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God, and that each person by Himself is God’ possibly think that God is one? Surely this is a contradiction which cannot be believed. This illustration will show that one cannot speak of one God but only a like Divinity: one cannot call a group of people, who make up a single senate, assembly or council, one man, but so long as they all individually hold the same opinion, they can be said to have one view. Nor can three diamonds of a single composition be called one diamond, only one in respect of their composition; and each diamond differs from another in value according to its weight. This would be impossible if they were one, and not three.
[4] ‘However, I perceive that you call the three Divine Persons, each of whom is by Himself or singly God, one God, and have commanded every member of the church to speak in these terms, because enlightened and sound reason throughout the world acknowledges that God is one. You would therefore blush with shame, if you too did not speak in these terms. Yet all the time that you are uttering the words ‘One God’, although you are thinking of three, still that shame does not trap the two words in your mouth, but you say it aloud.’
After these speeches the bishop and his clergy withdrew, and as he went he turned round and wanted to shout ‘There is one God’; but he could not, because his thought hampered his tongue; and then, forcing his lips apart, he gasped ‘Three Gods’. The bystanders on seeing this monstrous happening burst into laughter and went away.
To this they replied: ‘It is not removed at all, because the three Persons have one essence, and the Divine Essence is God. In the world we were guardians of the Trinity of Persons, and the ward whom we protected was our faith, according to which each Divine Person has been given His own role to play. The role of God the Father is to impute and grant, of God the Son to intercede and mediate, and of God the Holy Spirit to carry out the services of imputation and mediation.’
[2] ‘What,’ I asked, ‘do you understand by the Divine Essence?’ ‘We understand,’ they said, ‘omnipotence, omniscience, omnipresence, immensity, eternity, and equality of majesty.’
To which I replied: ‘If that essence can make a number of gods into one, you could add more still, as for example a fourth, who is mentioned by Moses, Ezekiel and Job under the title of God Shaddai. The ancients in Greece and Italy did the same, assigning similar attributes and a like essence to their gods, Saturn, Jupiter, Neptune, Pluto, Apollo, Juno, Diana, Minerva, even Mercury and Venus. Yet they were unable to say that all those were one God. The three of you, as I can tell, are equally learned and share the same essence in that respect, but you cannot combine yourselves into a single scholar.’
They laughed at this, and said: ‘You are joking. It is different with the
Divine Essence, which is one and not divided into three, so it is individual and undivided; it cannot admit partition and division.’
[3] To this I answered: ‘Let us go down into this arena and do combat.’ I asked: ‘What do you understand by ‘Person’? What does this word mean?’
‘The word Person,’ they said, ‘does not mean any part or quality in another, but what exists in its own right; that is how all the Fathers of the church define Person, and we follow them.’
‘Is this,’ I said, ‘the definition of Person?’
‘Yes,’ they answered.
To this I retorted: ‘Then there is no part of the Father in the Son, nor of either in the Holy Spirit. From this it follows that each has His own judgment, rights and powers, and there is nothing to link them except the will, which is peculiar to each individual, and so can be communicated if desired. Then are not the three Persons three separate gods? Listen to this: you have defined Person as that which exists in its own right; consequently you are saying that there are three substances, into which you split the Divine Essence. Yet this, as you too say, cannot be split, since it is one and undivided. Moreover you attribute to each substance, that is, each Person, properties distinct from another’s, and which cannot be shared with another, namely, imputation, mediation and working. What can result from this but that the three Persons are three gods?’
At this they withdrew saying: ‘We will discuss these points and reply when we have discussed them.’
[4] A wise man was standing near, who on hearing these things said: ‘I do not wish to subject a matter of such supreme importance to such subtle refinements, but these subtleties apart I can see perfectly clearly that your thought contains the idea of three gods. But since you are ashamed to say this publicly before the whole world – for if you did, you would be called crazy and fools – you find it expedient to have the profession of one God on your lips in order to avoid disgrace.’
At this, however, the three still clung to their opinion and paid no attention, and as they went away they were muttering some terms borrowed from metaphysics; this told me that that was the oracle whose responses they wished to give.
The Divine Being (Esse) will be discussed first, then the Divine Essence. It looks as if these two are one and the same, but in fact Being (Esse) is more universal than Essence, since Essence presupposes Being, and comes into existence from Being. The Being of God, or the Divine Being, is indescribable, since it transcends all ideas of human thought. This cannot grasp anything except what is created and finite. What is uncreated and infinite, such as the Divine Being, is incomprehensible. The Divine Being is Being Itself, the source of all things and which must be in all things for them to exist. Some further conception of the Divine Being can be gained from the following propositions: viz.
(i) The one God is named Jehovah from His Being, that is, from the fact that He alone is, was and will be, and because He is the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End, Alpha and Omega.
(ii) The one God is substance itself and form itself, and angels and men are substances and forms derived from Him; to the extent that they are in Him and He in them, so far are they images and likenesses of Him.
(iii) The Divine Being is Being in itself, and at the same time Coming-into-Being in itself.
(iv) The Divine Being and Coming-into-Being in itself cannot give rise to another Divine which is Being and Coming-into Being in itself. Consequently another God of the same essence is impossible.
(v) The plurality of gods in ancient times, as well as to-day, was entirely the result of a failure to understand the Divine Being.
These propositions must be elucidated one by one.
It is well known that Jehovah means ‘I am’ and ‘Being’. It is clear from the Book of Creation, called Genesis, that God was so called from most ancient times; for there He is called God in the first chapter, but in the second and subsequent ones Jehovah God. Later on when the descendants of Abraham, starting with Jacob, forgot the name of God owing to their long stay in Egypt, it was recalled to their memory. About this we read:
Moses said to God, What is your name? God said, I am who I am; thus
shall you say to the Children of Israel, I am has sent me to you; and you shall say, Jehovah the God of your fathers has sent me to you. This is my name for ever, and this is my memorial from generation to generation. Exod. 3:[13,] 14, 15.
Since God alone is I am or Being, that is, Jehovah, therefore there cannot be anything in the created universe which does not owe its being to Him; how this happens will be seen below. The same is meant also by these words:
I am the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End, Alpha and Omega. Isa. 44:6; Rev. 1:8, 11; 22:13.
This means that He is the one single source from beginning to end, from which everything comes.
[2] God is called Alpha and Omega*, the Beginning and the End, because alpha is the first and omega the last letter in the Greek alphabet, and they thus mean everything taken together. The reason is that every letter of the alphabet in the spiritual world stands for some thing. Vowels, which allow words to be pronounced, stand for something to do with affection or love. This is the origin of the speech of spirits or angels, and also of their writing-systems. But this is a mystery not previously known: there is a universal language used by all angels and spirits, which has nothing in common with any human language in the world. Everyone comes into possession of this language after death, for it is inborn in everyone from his creation. Therefore everyone throughout the spiritual world can understand everyone else. I have often been permitted to hear that language, and I have compared it with languages in the world, and found that it does not agree in the slightest detail with any natural language on earth. It differs from them in its basic principle, which is that each letter of every word stands for some thing. That can now be seen to be the reason why God is called Alpha and Omega, the one single source from beginning to end, from which everything comes. On this language and its writing-system, which is derived from the spiritual thought of angels, see CONJUGIAL LOVE (326-329), and also further in this book [280, 365.3, 386].
* This passage is repeated with minor changes from AR 29.2.
Since God is Being, He is also substance, for unless being is substance, it is an imaginary entity, for substance is a subsisting entity. One who is substance must also be form, for substance without form is an imaginary entity. Both can therefore be predicated of God, but on condition that He is the sole, very and prime substance and form. It was proved in THE WISDOM OF THE ANGELS ON THE DIVINE LOVE AND THE DIVINE WISDOM (published at Amsterdam in 1763) that this form is the very form of man, that is, God is very man, and all of his attributes are infinite; and likewise that angels and men are substances and forms created and ordered so as to receive the Divine influences reaching them through heaven. In the Book of Creation they are therefore called images and likenesses of God (Gen. 1:26, 27); elsewhere they are called His sons and begotten of Him. It will be proved at length in the course of this book that in so far as a man lives under Divine guidance, that is, allows himself to be led by God, so far does he become, more and more inwardly, an image of God.
[2] If the minds of men did not form the idea that God is prime substance and form, and that His form is the very form of man, they would easily fall into fantastic, ghost-like, ideas about God Himself, the origin of man and the creation of the world. They could not avoid thinking of God as the primeval nature of the universe, and consequently as its expanse, or as it were a void or nothingness. They would think of the origin of man as if it were a fortuitous concourse of atoms to make, such a form; of the creation of the world as owing its substances and forms to geometric points and lines, which since they lack attributes are in themselves non-existent. In the case of such people everything relating to the church is like the river Styx or the thick darkness of Tartarus.
Jehovah God is Being in itself, because He is I am, the very, sole and prime source, from eternity to eternity, of everything in existence, which allows it to exist. In this and no other sense He is the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last, Alpha and Omega. One cannot say that His Being is from itself, because ‘out of itself’ presupposes what is earlier and thus time; but time is inconsistent with the Infinite, which is said to be ‘from eternity’. It also presupposes another God, who is God in Himself, and thus God originating from God; in other words, that God formed Himself, so that He could not be uncreated or infinite, because in this case He would have distinguished Himself either from Himself or from another.
It follows from the fact that God is Being in itself that He is Love in itself, Wisdom in itself and Life in itself, and that it is He who is the source of everything, who is the point of reference of everything, if it is to exist. it is clear from the Lord’s words in John (5:26) that God is Life in itself and thus God; and in Isaiah:
I, Jehovah, make all things, I alone spread out the heavens and stretch out the earth by Myself. Isa. 44:24.
and that He is the only God and there is no God beside Him (Isa. 45:14, 15, 21, 22; Hosea 13:4).
[2] The reason why God is not only Being in itself, but also Coming-into-Being in itself is that unless Being comes into being it does not exist; and likewise Coming-into-Being can only arise from Being. Therefore the one supposes the other. In the same way form cannot exist without substance; nothing can be predicated of substance unless it has form, and what is devoid of qualities is in itself nothing. The terms Being (Esse) and Coming-into-Being (Existere) are used here, not Essence and Existence, because a distinction should be made between Being and Essence, and therefore between Coming-into-Being and Existence, similar to that between prior and posterior, and what is prior is more universal than what is posterior. Infinity and eternity are applicable to the Divine Being, but the Divine Love and the Divine Wisdom and through them both omnipotence and omnipresence are applicable to the Divine Essence and Existence. These subjects will be discussed in their proper place.
[2] This revelation has made it possible for the natural man to rise above nature, and thus above himself, and see the things which are God’s. Yet he can only do this as it were from a distance, although God is present near at hand with every person, for God is in him with His essence. For this reason He is near at hand to those who love Him, and those who love Him are those who live according to His commandments and believe in Him; these people as it were see Him. What is faith but one’s spirit seeing that it is so? And what is it to live according to His commandments but to acknowledge Him in practice as the source of salvation and everlasting life? But those whose faith is not spiritual, but natural, (that is, a faith which is mere knowledge) and who therefore live in the same way, they can certainly see God, but do so from a distance, and only when they speak about Him. The difference between the two groups is like that between those who stand in broad daylight, seeing and touching people near them, and those who stand in a thick fog, which prevents them from seeing whether they are people, trees or rocks; [3] or those who live in a city on a high mountain and go about hither and thither and talk with their fellow citizens, and those who look down from that mountain and cannot tell whether what they see are human beings, animals or statues. Rather it is the difference between those who stand upon some planet and see their fellows there, and those who are on a different planet and look with telescopes in their hands towards the first, saying that they see human beings there, when in fact they can only make out land surfaces generally like the bright areas of the moon, and seas as dark patches. Such is the distinction between those who believe and at the same time live a life of charity, seeing in their minds God and what is Divine proceeding from Him, and those who merely have knowledge about these subjects; thus the distinction is as between natural and spiritual men. Those, however, who deny the Divine holiness of the Word, and still carry around the trappings of religion as it were in a sack thrown over the shoulder, fail to see God and merely repeat the word ‘God’, almost exactly like parrots.
It has so far been shown that the one God, the Creator of the universe, is Being and Coming-into-Being in itself, thus God in Himself. It follows from this that a God derived from God is impossible, because the very Essential of the Divine, which is Being and Coming-into-Being in itself, cannot exist in that other God. It makes no difference whether you say ‘begotten by God’, or ‘proceeding from God’; both imply being produced by God, and there is little difference between this and being created. Therefore the introduction into the church of the belief that there are three Divine persons, each of whom is severally God and of the same essence, and one born from eternity, and a third proceeding from eternity, has the effect of utterly destroying the idea of the oneness of God, and with this all comprehension of Divinity, thus causing the whole of the spiritual side of the reason to be banished. This makes a human being no longer human, but totally and in all respects natural, in other words no different from an animal but for the power of speech; and it makes him an opponent of all the spiritual values of the church, since the natural man calls these mere ravings. This is the only source of such gross heresies about God as have flooded the world. On account of this the division of the Divine Trinity into persons has plunged the church not merely into darkness but into death.
[2] The idea of three Divine Essences which are the same is an offence to reason, as was made clear to me by angels who said that they cannot so much as utter the words ‘three equal Divinities’; and if anyone came to them and wanted to say this he could not help turning his back on them; after saying it he would become like a human trunk and be cast down, subsequently going off to join those in hell who acknowledge no God. The truth is that to put in the mind of a small child or boy the idea of three Divine persons, which inevitably carries with it the idea of three gods, is to take away all spiritual suckling, and then all spiritual nourishment, and finally all spiritual rationality, and to bring about the spiritual death of those who become convinced of it. The distinction is this: those who in faith and in their hearts worship one God, the Creator of the universe, who is at the same time the Redeemer and Regenerator, are like the city of Zion in the time of David and the city of Jerusalem in Solomon’s time, after the building of the Temple; but the church that believes in three persons, and in each as an individual God, is like the city of Zion and Jerusalem when they had been destroyed by Vespasian, and the Temple there had been burnt down. To go further, a person who worships one God in whom is the Divine Trinity and so is a single Person, becomes more and more alive and an angelic person; but one who lets a plurality of persons convince him of a plurality of gods becomes by degrees like a puppet with movable limbs, with Satan standing inside and talking through his jointed mouth.
It was shown above (8) that the oneness of God is inwardly impressed upon the mind of every person, since this idea forms the core of all the influences from God which affect the soul of man. But the reason why it has failed to come down into men’s understanding is the lack of the pieces of knowledge which a person should have to enable him to climb up to meet God. For everyone needs to prepare the way for God, that is, to prepare himself to receive God, and pieces of knowledge are the means to this end. The following are the missing pieces of knowledge which prevent the understanding from penetrating to the point at which it can see that God is one and there can only be a single Divine Being, who is the source of all natural phenomena. (1) The fact that no one up to now has known anything about the spiritual world, the home of spirits and angels, and the place where every person comes after death. (2) Equally, that the spiritual world possesses a sun, which is pure love from Jehovah God, who is in its midst. (3) That from that sun radiate heat, which is in essence love, and light, which is in essence wisdom. (4) That as a result everything in that world is spiritual, working on the internal man and making up his will and understanding. (5) That Jehovah God has given rise by this sun of His not only to the spiritual world and all the innumerable spiritual and substantial things in it, but also to the natural world with all the innumerable natural things in it, which are composed of matter. (6) That up to now no one has known the difference between the spiritual and the natural, nor what the spiritual is in essence. (7) Nor that there are three degrees of love and wisdom, which form the basis of the arrangement of the heavens of angels. (8) That the human mind is divided into the same number of degrees, to enable it after death to be lifted into one of the three heavens, depending upon the way a person has lived and at the same time what he has believed. (9) And finally that not a jot of all this could have come into being except from the Divine Being which is God in itself, and thus the first principle and beginning from which everything comes. These pieces of knowledge have up to now been missing, yet it is through them that a person must climb up and get to know the Divine Being.
[2] We say that a person climbs up, but it must be understood that it is God who lifts him up. A person has a free choice in acquiring knowledge; and he seems to get this for himself from the Word by means of the understanding, and thus smooths the path for God to come down and lift him up. The pieces of knowledge which enable the human understanding to climb, while God holds it in His hand and guides it, can be compared to the steps of the ladder seen by Jacob, which was set up on earth so that its top reached heaven and angels climbed up by means of it, and Jehovah stood above it (Gen. 28:12, 13).
It is quite different when those pieces of knowledge are lacking, or a person treats them with contempt. Then the lifting of the understanding can be compared to a ladder erected from the ground to a first floor window of a magnificent palace, where men live, but not to the second floor windows where the spirits are, much less to the third floor windows where the angels are. The result is that such a person cannot escape from the atmospheres and material objects of the natural world, which occupy his eyes, ears and nose. From these he cannot help acquiring atmospheric and material ideas about heaven and the Being and Essence of God. Thought along these lines does not allow a person to make up his mind at all about God, whether He exists or not, or whether there is one God or several; much less, what His Being and Essence are like. It was this which led to the plurality of gods in ancient times, and still does to-day.
Once on waking from sleep I fell into a profound meditation about God; and when I looked up, I saw in the sky above me a brilliant, oval-shaped light. When I fixed my gaze upon that light, it moved to either side and occupied the surrounding area. Then suddenly heaven lay open before me, and I saw wonderful sights, and angels standing in a ring on the south of the opening, talking among themselves. Because I was fired with a desire to hear what they were saying, I was first permitted to hear the sound of their voices, which was full of heavenly love, and later their speech, which was full of the wisdom which comes from that love.
They were talking among themselves about the one God, being linked with Him and salvation by this means. What they said was beyond words to express; most of it could not be put into the words of any natural language. But because on a number of occasions I had been in company with angels in heaven itself, and then, being in a like state, I could speak similarly with them, I was now able to understand them, and pick up a few points in their conversation which can be rationally expressed in the words of natural language.
[2] They were saying that the Divine Being is one, the same, the very self and indivisible. They illustrated this by spiritual ideas, saying that the Divine Being cannot be reduced to several, each of which is the Divine Being, and still remain one, the same, the very self and indivisible. For each would think from His own Being from Himself, and in each case through Himself; if He then thought from the others and through them in agreement, then there would be several gods of like mind, and not one God. For unanimity, being a consensus of several with each one agreeing of himself and through himself, is not consonant with the oneness of God, but with a plurality. They did not say ‘of gods’, because they were unable to, since the light of heaven which governed their thought, and the aura which carried their speech, offered resistance.
They said too that when they wanted to say the word ‘Gods’, and each as a Person by Himself, as soon as they attempted to say this it was instantly replaced by one, or rather the sole, God. They added that the Divine Being is the Divine Being in itself, not from itself, because from itself supposes Being in itself arising from another prior one. Thus it supposes a God arising from God, which is impossible. Anything arising from God is not called God, but Divine. For what is God arising from God, or God born of God from eternity, and what is God arising from God proceeding by means of God born from eternity but mere words totally devoid of heavenly light?
[3] They went on to say that the Divine Being, which is in itself God, is the same; not the same in a simple way, but infinitely the same, that is, the same from eternity to eternity. He is the same everywhere, the same with each person and in each person; but all the changes and differences occur in the person who receives Him, and it is his state which causes this.
To demonstrate that the Divine Being, which is God in itself, is very self they said: ‘God is very Self, because He is love itself and wisdom itself, that is, because He is good itself and truth itself, and thus life itself. If these things were not the very Self in God, they would be as nothing in heaven and the world, because none of them would be related to the very Self. Every quality gets its quality from the fact that it is the self which is its source, and must be related to it to have that quality. This very Self, which is the Divine Being, is not in any place, but with and in those people who are located in accordance with their ability to receive it, since neither place nor movement from one place to another can be attributed to love and wisdom, or good and truth, and life from them, which constitute the very Self in God, or rather are God Himself. Hence God is omnipresent. That is why the Lord says that He is in the midst of them, and that He is in them and they in Him.
[4] ‘Because God cannot be received by anyone such as He is in Himself, He appears as He is in essence, as the Sun above the heavens of the angels; the radiation emitted by Him as light is Himself as regards wisdom, and as heat is Himself as regards love. That Sun is not God Himself, but the Divine Love and the Divine Wisdom coming forth most nearly from Him, all around Him, and these appear to the angels as the Sun. He Himself is in the Sun as a Man; He is our Lord Jesus Christ, both as regards the Divine origin and the Divine Human; since the very Self, which is Love itself and Wisdom itself, was His soul from the Father, and so Divine Life, which is Life in itself. This is different in the case of any person; in him his soul is not Life, but a receiver of life. The Lord teaches us this too, when He said:
I am the Way, Truth and Life. John 14:6.
and elsewhere:
Even as the Father has life in Himself, so too did He grant the Son to have life in Himself. John 5:26.
Life in Himself is God.’
They added that those who are at all spiritually enlightened can perceive from these statements that the Divine Being cannot exist in several, because it is one, the same, the very self and thus indivisible. If anyone were to say that this plurality was possible, there would be obvious contradictions in the qualities predicated.
*This is repeated from AR 961.
But I replied: ‘Please penetrate further into my thinking, and you may find there agreement.’ They did so, and saw that by three Persons I understood the three attributes which proceed from God, Creation, Redemption and Regeneration, and that these are the attributes of the one God: that by the birth of the Son of God from eternity I understood His birth foreseen from eternity, and provided for in time; to think that there is any Son of God born from eternity is not superior, but contrary to the natural and rational faculties, but rather the Son born of God by the Virgin Mary in time is the single and only-begotten Son of God; to believe otherwise is a huge mistake. [2] I then told them that my natural thought about the Persons of the Trinity and their Oneness, as well as about the birth of the Son of God from eternity, was taken from the Church’s doctrine of faith, which bears the name of Athanasius.
‘Good,’ said the angels, and asked me to say at their dictation that if anyone does not approach the God of heaven and earth Himself, he cannot enter heaven, because it is that one God who makes heaven to be heaven, and that same God is Jesus Christ, who is Jehovah the Lord, the Creator from eternity, the Redeemer in time, and the Regenerator for eternity to come. Thus He is at once Father, Son and Holy Spirit; this is the Gospel to be preached.
After this the heavenly light which I had seen before returned to above the opening, and by stages came down from there filling the interiors of my mind and illuminating my ideas about the Trinity and the Oneness of God. Then I saw that the ideas I had originally formed on these subjects, which were purely natural, were separated, as chaff is separated from the wheat by the movement of a winnowing fan, and carried away as by a wind to the north of heaven, until they were lost to view.
There are two properties peculiar to the natural world which make everything in it finite. One is space, the other time. Because that world was created by God, and spatial distances and periods of time were created along with it and serve to define it, their two starting-points, immensity and eternity, need to be discussed. For the immensity of God relates to space, and His eternity to time, while His infinity embraces both immensity and eternity. But since infinity transcends the finite, and it is beyond the finite mind to grasp it, to permit some sort of perception of it, the following series of propositions will be discussed:
(i) God is infinite, because He is and comes into being in Himself, and everything in the universe is and comes into being from Him.
(ii) God is infinite, because He existed before the world did, and thus before space and time came into existence.
(iii) Since the making of the world God is non-spatially in space and non-temporally in time.
(iv) The infinity [of God] as predicated of space is called immensity, and as predicated of time is called eternity. Despite these predications His immensity is totally devoid of space and His eternity is totally devoid of time.
(v) There is much in the world which can enable enlightened reason to see the infinity of God the Creator.
(vi) Every created object is finite, and the infinite is contained in finite objects as in receivers, and in human beings as images of it. These propositions will be explained one by one.
It has so far been shown that God is one and is the very and first Being of everything, and that all things which are, come into being and subsist in the universe, are from Him. It follows from this that He is infinite. In the following pages it will be proved that human reason can see the truth of that from very many things in the created universe. But although these things can lead the human mind to acknowledge that the prime Entity (Ens) or first Being (Esse) is infinite, it still cannot know its nature; and therefore cannot define it except as the total infinite, subsisting in itself and thus the very and sole substance; and since nothing can be predicated of substance without form, that it is the very and sole form. Yet where does this get us? This still does not show what the infinite is like. For the human mind, for all its loftiness and superb analytical power, is finite, and there is no way of rendering it anything but finite. Therefore it is incapable of seeing the infinity of God as it is in itself, and so seeing God; but it can see God in shadow from behind, as Moses was told when he begged to see God: he was placed in a cleft in the rock and saw His back parts (Exod. 33:20-23). The ‘back parts of God’ mean what is visible in the world, and in particular what can be perceived in the Word.
[2] This will prove that it is futile to want to know God as He is in His Being or in His Substance; but it is enough to acknowledge Him by finite things, that is, His creation, in which He dwells infinitely. A person who seeks to go further can be likened to a fish out of water, or a bird put into a vacuum chamber, which, as the air is pumped out, chokes and eventually dies.
He may also be likened to a ship overwhelmed by a storm and no longer answering the helm, which is driven upon rocks or sandbanks. This is what happens to those who want to know the infinity of God from within, and are not content to acknowledge it by its plain indications from without. The story is told of a certain philosopher among the ancients, who threw himself into the sea because his mental enlightenment did not enable him to see or comprehend the eternity of the cosmos; what would he have done, if it had been the infinity of God he wished to see?
The natural world contains time and space, but the spiritual world does not really, though it appears to do so. The reason why time and space were introduced into the cosmos was to distinguish one thing from another, the great from the small, much from little; thus to distinguish one quantity from another and by that means one quality from another; and so that by them the bodily senses could distinguish its objects, and the mental senses its objects, and thus feel emotion, think and exercise choice. Time came into the natural world by the rotation of the earth on its axis, and the travelling of these rotations from point to point along the zodiac. The sun appears to be responsible for these variations, since it is the source of heat and light throughout the whole surface of the globe. This causes the times of day, morning, noon, evening and night, as well as the seasons of the year, spring, summer, autumn and winter. The times of day cause variation between light and darkness, the seasons of the year between heat and cold. Space was introduced into the natural world by the earth being rolled into a ball and filled with matter, the parts of which are mutually distinct and have extension. The spiritual world does not possess material space and time corresponding to it. But there appear to be space and time there, the appearances answering to the differences of state affecting the minds of spirits and angels there. Time and space there are therefore determined by the affections of their wills and the thoughts of their understandings; but these appearances are real in the sense that they are consistently dependent upon their states.
[2] The general opinion about the condition of souls after death, and hence of angels and spirits, is that they are not in any place and therefore not in space and time. This idea leads to the saying that souls after death are in Pu or Where*, that spirits and angels are breaths of wind, not to be thought of as different from the ether, the air, breath or wind. The truth is that they are persons possessing substance, and among themselves they lead lives like those of people in the natural world on the basis of space and time, which as I have said are controlled by their mental states. If it were not so, that is to say, in the absence of space and time, that universe in which souls arrive and where angels and spirits live, could be pulled through the eye of a needle or be compressed to fit on one end of a hair. This would be possible if there were not an extent of substance there. But since there is, angels live in separate groups apart from one another, more distant in fact than people on earth who have material space between them. But periods of time there are not divided into days, weeks, months and years, because the sun there does not appear to rise and set, nor to travel across the sky, but remains motionless in the east halfway between the zenith and the horizon. They have space because everything which in the natural world is material is in that world substantial. But I shall have more to say on this topic in the part of this chapter devoted to Creation [75-80].
[3] The foregoing account should enable it to be grasped that everything in either world is bounded by space and time, and human beings are therefore not only in body but also in soul finite; and so equally are angels and spirits. From all of these facts the conclusion can be drawn that God is infinite, that is, not bounded. For He as the Creator, Former and Maker of the universe bounded all things, and this He did by means of His Sun, in the midst of which He resides, consisting of the Divine Essence, which issues from Him like a sphere. Therein and thence is the beginning of bounding; but in its progress it extends to the ultimate forms of Nature. It follows that He in Himself is infinite, because He is not created. The infinite, however, appears to man as non-existent, because man is bounded and thinks by means of bounded ideas. Therefore if the bounding which is inseparable from his thought were removed, he would perceive the residue as nonexistent. The truth, however, is that God is infinitely all, and man comparatively is of himself nothing.
*Pu is the Greek word for ‘Where?’, which is at once explained by the Latin translation.
The idea that God and the Divine which proceeds directly from Him is not in space, although He is omnipresent, present with every person in the world, every angel in heaven and every spirit beneath heaven, cannot be grasped by purely natural thinking, but can be to some extent by spiritual thinking. Purely natural thinking cannot grasp it because space is contained in it, since it is formed by the objects in the world around us; and in each and every object visible to the eyes there is space. It is space which makes anything big or small as well as long, broad and high. In short, every measurement, shape and form there depends upon space. Still one can to some extent grasp this idea by natural thinking, so long as one admits some spiritual light into it. But first I must say something about the idea of spiritual thinking. This is in no way dependent upon space, but gains its whole quality from state. State is what can be attributed to love, life, wisdom, affections, joys, and in general to good and truth. Any really spiritual concept of these has nothing in common with space, it is on a higher plane and looks down on spatial ideas as beneath itself, just as heaven looks down on earth.
[2] The fact that God is non-spatially present in space and non-temporally in time explains why God is ever the same from eternity to eternity, and so the same since the creation of the world as before it; and why before the creation of the world space and time did not exist in God or in His presence, but they did after this event. Therefore because He is the same, His presence in space is non-spatial and in time is non-temporal. Hence it follows that Nature is separate from Him, yet He is omnipresent in it. It is much the same as life being present in every substance and all the matter that make up a person, yet it is not mixed up with them. It might be compared with light in the eye, sound in the ear, taste in the tongue, or the ether in land and sea, which holds together and permits the rotation of the globe with the land and seas on its surface, and so on. If these agents were removed, the things constructed of substance and matter would at once collapse and fall apart. Indeed, the human mind, if God were not present in it at every place and every time, would burst like a bubble; and each of the two brains, which serve as the originating sources of action, would turn to foam, so that everything distinctive of humanity would become dust and a smell dispersed in the atmosphere.
[3] It is because God is non-temporally in all time that in His Word the present tense is used in speaking of the past and the future, as in Isaiah:
A child is born for us, a Son is given, whose name is Hero, the Prince of peace. Isa. 9:6.
In the Psalms of David:
I will bring news of a decree, said Jehovah to me, you are my son, today have I begotten you. Ps. 2:7.
This refers to the Lord who was to come; and therefore the same author says:
A thousand years in your eyes are as yesterday. Ps. 90:4.
Those who can see and are alive to it can grasp from numerous other passages in the Word that God is everywhere present throughout the world, yet nothing that belongs to the world, that is, nothing spatial or temporal, is present in Him; as from this passage in Jeremiah:
Am I a God near at hand, and not a God at a distance? Can a man lurk in a hiding-place so that I cannot see him? Do I not fill heaven and earth? Jer. 23:23, 24.
The reason why the infinity of God predicated of space is called immensity, is that the term ‘immense’ is used of what is great and large, and also what is extensive and in this respect spacious. But the reason why the infinity of God predicated of time is called eternity is that ‘for eternity’ is used of progressive stages, which are measured by time, without end. For example: the globe with its land and sea surfaces is in itself what enables objects to be regarded as spatial; and its rotation and motion in orbit is what enables them to be regarded as temporal. These movements create periods of time and the surface of the globe creates distances, and they are so perceived through the senses in the minds of those that reflect on them. But as shown above, there is no space or time in God, yet space and time begin from Him. Hence it follows that immensity means His infinity predicated of space, and eternity His infinity predicated of time.
[2] The angels in heaven understand by the immensity of God the Divinity as to Its Being (Esse), and by His eternity the Divinity as to Its Coming-into-Being (Existere); also by immensity they understand the Divinity as to Love and by eternity the Divinity as to Wisdom. This is because the angels banish space and time from their ideas of the Divinity, and this is the result. But because human beings are incapable of thinking except by means of ideas formed from spatial and temporal concepts, they cannot form any idea of the immensity of God before space existed or His eternity before time existed. In fact, when the human mind wishes to form such an idea, it is as if it lapsed into unconsciousness, almost like a shipwrecked mariner who has fallen into the water, or someone swallowed up by the earth in an earthquake. Indeed, if the mind persists in the attempt to penetrate these mysteries, it can easily become deranged, and thus be led to deny the existence of God.
[3] I too was once in a state like this, when I was thinking what God did from eternity, or before the world was made: did He deliberate about creation and work out the order to be followed? was deliberative thought possible in a total vacuum? and other useless speculations. But to prevent me becoming deranged by such speculations, I was lifted up by the Lord into the sphere and light enjoyed by the interior angels; and when the idea of space and time which had previously restricted my thinking was there to a small extent removed, I was allowed to grasp that the eternity of God is not an eternity of time, and that because time did not exist before the creation of the world it was quite useless to engage in such speculations about God. But because the Divine from eternity, and so regarded as separate from all time, does not involve the existence of days, years and centuries, but these are to God a single instant, I concluded that the world was not created by God in time, but that time was introduced by God together with creation.
[4] I will add this account of an experience.
At one end of the spiritual world are to be seen two statues of a monstrous human shape with open mouths and gaping jaws. Those who have useless and mad thoughts about God from eternity imagine themselves being swallowed by these statues. But this is mere imagination into which those plunge who have absurd and improper thoughts about God before the creation of the world.
I shall list some of the things which enable the human reason to see the infinity of God.
(1) The whole of creation does not contain two things which are identical. Scholars have seen and confirmed by their reason that such identity does not exist among things simultaneously present, although there is no limit to the number of substances and forms of matter regarded individually. The rotation of the earth can prove that two identical effects cannot be produced in the world at successive times, because the eccentricity of the poles ensures that the same situation never recurs. The same is obvious from a consideration of people’s faces; throughout the world there is no single face entirely similar and identical with another, nor can there be to eternity. This infinite variety could only arise from the infinity of God the Creator.
[2] (2) It is impossible for one person’s opinion to be completely like another’s, which is why there is a proverb ‘many men, many minds.’ Similarly it is impossible for one person’s mind, that is, his will and understanding, to be completely like and identical with another’s. Consequently neither can one person’s speech, both in sound and in the thought it expresses, nor one person’s actions, either in gesture or the affection that motivates them, be exactly equal to another’s. This infinite variety is a kind of mirror showing the infinity of God the Creator.
[3] (3) There is a sort of immensity and eternity inherent in the seed of every animal or vegetable: immensity in that it is capable of infinite multiplication; and eternity, in that the process of multiplication has continued without interruption from the creation of the world down to the present day, and will continue perpetually. In the animal kingdom, take the fish of the sea: if they multiplied in accordance with the quantity of their seed, they would within twenty or thirty years* fill the oceans, so that they consisted of nothing but fish, and their waters would flood and destroy all the land. But to prevent this, God has provided that some fish should be food for others. It would be the same with the seeds of plants. If as many as each plant produces annually were to grow into new plants, within twenty or thirty years they would cover the surface not just of one earth, but many. For there are shrubs, every seed of which produces a hundred or a thousand plants each. Try multiplying these figures by themselves to the power of twenty or thirty, and you will see. From both these examples one can grasp a sort of outline of the immensity and eternity of God, which must inevitably produce their like.
[4] (4) An enlightened reason can also grasp something of the infinity of God from the absence of limits to the growth of any science, and so to the growth of an individual’s intelligence and wisdom, each of which is capable of growth as a tree grows from seed, and woods and gardens from trees, for here there is no limit. The human memory is the soil in which they are planted, the understanding the medium in which they shoot, the will that in which they bear fruit. These two faculties, the understanding and the will, are such that they are capable of being cultivated and perfected throughout life in this world and afterwards to eternity.
[5] (5) The infinity of God the Creator can also be seen from the infinite number of the stars, each of which are suns, each having its own planetary system. The existence of planets among the stars of the sky, inhabited by human beings, animals, birds and plants, has been demonstrated in a small book of descriptions of things seen.**
[6] (6) An even plainer proof of the infinity of God was afforded me by the heaven of the angels and also by hell; both of these are organised and mutually arranged into countless communities or groups depending upon all the varieties of love of good and evil in them. Every person is allocated his place according to the nature of his love. For here are gathered together all the members of the human race from the creation of the world; and here they will be gathered for ever and ever. Yet although each person has his own place or residence, all there are so linked that the whole of the heaven of the angels is a representation of one Divine Man, and the whole of hell is a representation of one monstrous devil. These two together with the countless wonders they contain provide a clear illustration of the immensity as well as the omnipotence of God.
[7] (7) Again, is there anyone who cannot understand, with only a slight rise in the level of his powers of reasoning, that everlasting life, which everyone has after death, is only possible as the gift of an everlasting God?
[8] (8) In addition to these matters there is a kind of infinity in many things which fall within the reach of a person’s natural or spiritual enlightenment. On the natural level, there are various geometrical series which progress to infinity. There is progress to infinity in the three degrees of height: the first degree, called the natural, cannot be perfected and raised to the perfection of the second degree, called the spiritual; nor can this be raised to the perfection of the third, which is called the celestial. There is a similar relationship between end, cause, and effect; no effect can be so perfected as to become as it were its own cause, nor any cause so as to become as it were its own end. This can be illustrated by the atmospheres, of which there are three degrees. The highest is the aura, beneath this there is the ether, and air below this; nor can any quality of the air be raised to any quality of the ether, nor this to any quality of the aura; and yet in each one the raising of perfections is possible to infinity. On the spiritual level, natural love, which is experienced by animals, cannot be raised to the level of spiritual love, which is implanted in human beings from their creation. It is the same with the natural intelligence of animals compared with the spiritual intelligence of human beings. But since these matters are so far not generally known, they will be explained elsewhere.
[9] These examples will establish that universals in the world are permanent models of the infinity of God the Creator. If, however, we ask how the separate instances reflect the universals, that is an abyss, an ocean on which the human mind can as it were set sail; but beware of the storm which arises from the natural man, a storm which can sink the ship, mast, sails and all, stern first, where the natural man stands in all his self-confidence.
*The first edition has 50, clearly an error for 30 as below.
**THE EARTHS IN THE UNIVERSE.
Every created object is finite, because it is from Jehovah God that all things exist by means of the sun of the spiritual world, which most nearly surrounds Him; and that sun is composed of a substance which has emanated from Him, the essence of which is love. From that sun by means of its heat and light the universe, from first to last, was created; but this is not the place to expound the order of creation. A sketch of this will be given later. Here it is only important to know that one was formed from another, and that thus the three degrees were established: three in the spiritual world, and three corresponding to these in the natural world, and three more in the inert substances of which the terrestrial globe is composed. The origin and nature of those degrees have been fully expounded in my ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING THE DIVINE LOVE AND THE DIVINE WISDOM (Amsterdam, 1763) and the booklet ON THE RELATIONSHIP OF THE SOUL AND THE BODY (London, 1769). It was these degrees which made all subsequent things receivers of earlier ones, and these of yet earlier ones, and so eventually a receiver of the primordial substances which compose the sun of the heaven of angels; thus they are finite receivers of the infinite. This too is in agreement with the wisdom of the ancients, who held that everything is infinitely divisible. It is generally thought that because the finite cannot contain the infinite, finite things cannot be receivers of the infinite. But it has been established by what I have written about creation in my books that God first limited His infinity by means of substances emanating from Him, and this was the origin of the circuit most nearly surrounding Him which constitutes the sun of the spiritual world, and that by means of that sun He made the remaining circuits down to the last, which is composed of inert matter; and thus by degrees He made the world more and more limited. These remarks are made so as to satisfy the human reason, which is not happy unless it sees the cause.
At length God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; so God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him. Gen. 1:26, 27
From this it follows that a human being is an organ capable of receiving God, and that its capability as an organ depends upon its capacity to receive. The human mind, which determines that a human being is human and how far he is so, is organised into three zones in accordance with the three degrees. In the first degree is the celestial zone, in which are the angels of the highest heaven; in the second degree is the spiritual zone in which are the angels of the middle heaven; and in the third degree is the natural zone in which are the angels of the lowest heaven.
[2] The human mind, organised as it is according to those three degrees, is a means of receiving Divine influence, but the Divine influence does not penetrate further than the extent to which a person clears the way or opens the door. If he does so up to the highest or celestial degree, then a person truly becomes an image of God, and after his death an angel of the highest heaven. But if he clears the way or opens the door only to the middle or spiritual degree, then although he becomes an image of God it is not to such a pitch of perfection, and after his death he becomes an angel of the middle heaven. But if he clears the way or opens the door only to the lowest or natural degree, then if he acknowledges God and worships Him with true piety, he becomes an image of God in the lowest degree, and after his death becomes an angel of the lowest heaven.
[3] If, however, he does not acknowledge God and worship Him with true piety, he puts off the image of God and becomes like an animal, apart from possessing the faculty of understanding and therefore of speech. If he then shuts off the highest natural degree, which corresponds to the highest celestial, he becomes so far as love is concerned like an animal. If he shuts off the middle natural degree, which corresponds to the middle spiritual, he becomes so far as love is concerned like a fox, and as far as the sight of the understanding is concerned like a nocturnal bird. But if he also shuts off the spiritual part of the lowest natural degree, he becomes so far as love is concerned like a savage beast, and as far as his understanding of truth is concerned like a fish.
[4] Divine Life, which by radiation from the sun of the heaven of angels makes human beings act, can be compared with the light from the sun of this world and its radiation affecting a diaphanous object. The way life is received in the highest degree is like light striking a diamond; in the second degree like light striking a crystal, and in the lowest degree like light striking glass or a transparent membrane. But if the spiritual part of this degree is totally shut off, which happens when the existence of God is denied and Satan is worshipped, the way life from God is received is like light falling upon dark objects on earth, such as rotten wood or a lump of mud or dung, and so on. For then a person becomes a spiritual corpse.
Once I was amazed at the huge number of people who regard nature as the source of creation, and therefore of everything beneath or above the sun. When they see anything they say, and they give it heartfelt acknowledgment, ‘Surely this is due to nature’; and when they are asked why, they say that this is due to nature rather than to God, when they still sometimes follow the usual view that God created nature, so that they could just as well say that what they see is due to God rather than to nature, they reply muttering almost inaudibly to themselves, ‘What is God but nature?’ This false belief that nature created the universe, a piece of madness they take for wisdom, makes them so puffed up that they look on all who acknowledge that God created the universe as ants, creeping along the ground, treading a worn path; and some as butterflies flying around in the air. They call their dogmas dreams, because they see things the others cannot, and they say: ‘Who has ever seen God? We can all see nature.’
[2] While I was wondering at the immense number of such people, an angel came and stood beside me, saying ‘What are you thinking about?’
I replied, ‘How many people there are who believe that nature produces itself and is therefore the creator of the universe.’
‘The whole of hell,’ the angel told me, ‘is composed of such people; there they are called satans and devils. Those who have formed a firm belief in nature and consequently denied the existence of God are satans; those who have spent their lives in crimes and thus banished from their hearts any acknowledgment of God are devils. But I will take you to the schools in the south-western quarter where such people who are not yet in hell live.’
So he took me by the hand and guided me. I saw some cottages containing schools and one building in their midst which seemed to be their headquarters. It was built of pitch-black stones coated with glassy plates giving the appearance of glittering gold and silver, rather like the stones called selenites or mica. Here and there were interspersed shining shells.
[3] We went up to this building and knocked. Someone quickly opened the door and made us welcome. He hurried to a table and brought us four books, saying: ‘These books contain the wisdom which the majority of kingdoms approve to-day. This book contains the wisdom favoured by many in France, this by many in Germany, this by some in Holland, and this by some in Britain.’ He went on: ‘If you like to watch, I will make these four books shine before your eyes.’ Then he poured forth and enveloped the books in the glory of his own reputation, so that at once the books shone as it were with light. But this light immediately vanished from our sight.
We asked him then what he was now writing. He replied that at present he was bringing out of his stores and displaying the very kernel of wisdom. This could by summarised as: (1) Whether nature is due to life, or life to nature; (2) whether a centre is due to an expanse, or an expanse to a centre; (3) about the centre and expanse of nature and life.
[4] So saying he sat down again at the table, while we strolled around his spacious school. He had a candle on the table, because there was no sunlight there, but only moonlight. What surprised me was that the candle seemed to roam about and cast its light; but because the wick was not trimmed it gave little light. While he was writing, we saw images of different shapes flying up from the table on to the walls. In that night-time moonlight they looked like beautiful birds from India. But as soon as we opened the door, in the sunlight of daytime they looked like nocturnal birds with net-like wings. They were apparent truths turned into fallacies by adducing proofs which he had ingeniously linked into coherent series.
[5] After seeing this we approached the table and asked him what he was now writing.
‘My first proposition:’ he said, ‘whether nature is due to life or life to nature.’ He remarked that on this point he could prove either proposition and make it appear true. But because of some lurking fear which was not explicit, he dare only prove that nature is due to life, that is to say, comes from life, and not the reverse, that life is due to, that is, comes from nature.
We asked politely what was the lurking fear he could not make explicit.
He replied that it was the fear of being called by the clergy a nature-worshipper and so an atheist, and by the laity a person of unsound mind, because both parties are either believers from blind faith or people who see that it is so by studying supporting arguments.
[6] Then our zealous indignation for the truth got the better of us and we addressed him thus: ‘My friend, you are quite wrong. Your wisdom, which is no more than an ingenuity of style, has led you astray, and your desire for reputation has induced you to prove what you do not believe. Do you not know that the human mind is capable of being raised above the objects of the senses, that is to say, the thoughts engendered by the bodily senses; and when it is so raised it can see the products of life at a higher level and the products of nature below? What is life but love and wisdom? And what is nature but a receiver of love and wisdom, a means to bring about their effects or purposes? Can these be one, except as principal and instrumental? Light surely cannot be one with the eye, nor sound with the ear. What is the cause of these senses if not life, and what is the cause of their shapes if not nature? What is the human body but an organ for receiving life? Are not all its parts organically constructed to produce what love wills and the understanding thinks? Surely the body’s organs spring from nature, but love and thought spring from life. Are these not quite distinct from each other? Raise the view of your mind a little higher, and you will see that emotion and thought are due to life; that emotion is due to love and thought to wisdom, and both of them are due to life, for, as has been said before, love and wisdom constitute life. If you raise your intellectual faculty a little higher still, you will see that love and wisdom could not exist unless somewhere they had a source, and that this source is Love Itself and Wisdom Itself, therefore Life Itself. These are God, who is the source of nature.’
[7] Afterwards we talked with him about his second proposition, whether the centre is due to the expanse, or the expanse to the centre. We asked his reasons for discussing this subject. He replied that it was in order to enable him to reach a conclusion about the centre and expanse of nature and life, which one was the source of the other. When we asked his opinion, he made the same reply as before, that he could prove either proposition, but for fear of losing his reputation he proved that the expanse was due to, that is to say, was the source of the centre. ‘All the same,’ he said, ‘I know that something existed before there was a sun, and this was distributed throughout the expanse, and this of itself reduced itself to order, so creating a centre.’
[8] The zeal of our indignation made us address him again, saying: ‘My friend, you are mad.’ On hearing this he drew his chair back from the table and looked fearfully at us, but then listened with a smile on his face. ‘What could be more crazy, ‘we went on, ‘than to say the centre is due to the expanse? We take your centre to mean the sun, and your expanse to be the universe; so you hold that the universe came into existence without the sun, do you? Surely the sun produces nature and all its properties, which are solely dependent upon the light and heat radiated by the sun and propagated through atmospheres? Where could these have been before there was a sun? We will explain their origin later on in the discussion. Are not the atmospheres, and everything on earth, like surfaces, the centre of which is the sun? What would become of them all without the sun? Could they last a single instant? And what of them all before there was a sun? Could they have come into existence? Is not subsistence continuous coming into existence? Since therefore the subsistence of everything in nature depends upon the sun, so must their coming into existence. Everyone can see this and acknowledge it from personal experience.
[9] Does not what is later in order subsist, just as it comes into existence, from what is earlier? If the surface were earlier and the centre later, should we not have what is earlier subsisting from what is later – something which is contrary to the laws of order? How can the later produce the earlier, or the more outward the more inward, or the grosser the purer? How then could the surfaces making up an expanse produce a centre? Anyone can see that this is contrary to the laws of nature. We have drawn these proofs from rational analysis to show that the expanse is produced by the centre, and not the reverse, although everyone who thinks correctly can see this for himself without these proofs. You said that the expanse of its own accord came together to form a centre. Did this happen by chance, that everything fell into such a wonderful and amazing order, so that one thing should be on account of the next, and every single thing on account of human beings and their everlasting life? Can nature inspired by some love and working through some wisdom have ends in view, foresee causes and so provide effects to bring such things about in due order? Can nature turn human beings into angels, build a heaven of them, and make its inhabitants live for ever? Accept these propositions and think them over; your idea of nature begetting nature will collapse.’
[10] After this we asked him what he had thought, and still did, about his third proposition, about the centre and expanse of nature and life. Did he believe that the centre and expanse of life were the same as the centre and expanse of nature?
He said that here he hesitated. He had previously believed that the inward activity of nature was life and that love and wisdom, which are the essential components of human life, come from this source. It is produced by the heat and light coming from the fire of the sun and transmitted through atmospheres. But now as the result of what he had heard about people living after death he was in doubt, a doubt which alternately lifted up and depressed his mind. When it was lifted up, he acknowledged a centre which had previously been quite unknown to him; when it was depressed he saw a centre which he thought to be the only one. Life was from the centre previously unknown to him, and nature from the centre he thought to be the only one, each centre being surrounded by an expanse.
[11] We said we approved of that, so long as he was willing to view the centre and expanse of nature from the centre and expanse of life, and not the reverse. We taught him that above the heaven of the angels there is a Sun which is pure love; it appears fiery, like the sun in the world, and the heat radiated from it is the source of will and love among angels and human beings; the light radiating from it produces their understanding and wisdom. Everything from this source is called spiritual; but the radiation from the sun of the natural world is a container or receiver of life; this is what we call natural. The expanse proper to the centre of life is called the spiritual world, and the expanse proper to the centre of nature is called the natural world, which owes its subsistence to its own sun. Now because space and time cannot be predicated of love and wisdom, but there are states instead, it follows that the expanse surrounding the sun of the heaven of angels is not a spatial extension, though it is present in the extension to which the natural sun belongs, and with the living things there, depending upon their ability to receive them, and this is determined by their forms and states.
[12] But then he asked, ‘What is the origin of fire in the sun of the world, the natural sun?’
We replied that it was from the sun of the heaven of angels, which is not fire, but the Divine Love most nearly radiating from God, who is in its midst. Since he found this surprising, we gave this explanation: ‘Love in its essence is spiritual fire; that is why “fire” in the spiritual sense of the Word stands for love. That is why priests in church pray that heavenly fire may fill their hearts, meaning love. The fire on the altar and the fire of the lampstand in the Tabernacle of the Israelites was nothing but a representation of Divine Love. The heat of the blood, or the vital heat of human beings, and of animals in general, comes from no other source than the love which makes up their life. That is why people become warm, grow hot and burst into flame, when their love is raised to zeal, or is aroused to anger and rage. Therefore the fact that spiritual heat, being love, produces natural heat in human beings, to such an extent as to fire and inflame their faces and bodies, can serve as a proof that the fire of the natural sun arose from no other source than the fire of the spiritual sun, which is Divine love.
[13] Now because the expanse arises from the centre, and not the reverse, as we said before, and the centre of life, which is the sun of the heaven of angels, is the Divine Love most nearly radiating from God, who is in the midst of that sun; and because this is the origin of the expanse deriving from that centre, which is called the spiritual world; and because that sun brought into being the sun of the world, and also the expanse which is called the natural world, it is plain that the universe was created by God.’
After this we went away, and he accompanied us out of the courtyard of his school, speaking with us about heaven and hell, and about Divine guidance, showing new powers of sagacity.
*This is repeated from CL 380.
We made a distinction between the Being (Esse) and Essence of God, because there is a distinction between God’s Infinity and His Love, and the term infinity is applicable to God’s Being and the term Love to His Essence. As stated above, God’s Being is more universal than His Essence; and in the same way His Infinity is more universal than His Love. For this reason ‘infinite’ is the adjective appropriate to the essentials and attributes of God; all of these are called infinite, thus the Divine Love is infinite, the Divine Wisdom is infinite, and so is the Divine Power. It is not that God’s Being existed before His Essence, but it enters into His Essence as an adjunct which is inseparable, directing, forming and at the same time raising it to a higher plane. This section of the chapter will be discussed under separate headings as before.
(i) God is Love itself and Wisdom itself, these two making up His Essence.
(ii) God is Good itself and Truth itself, because Good refers to Love and Truth to Wisdom.
(iii) Love itself and Wisdom itself constitute Life itself, or Life in itself.
(iv) Love and Wisdom are one in God.
(v) The essence of love is loving others than oneself, wishing to be one with them and devoting oneself to their happiness.
(vi) These properties of the Divine Love were the reason the universe was created, and are the reason it is preserved in existence.
These headings must now be discussed one by one.
Our earliest ancestors realised that love and wisdom are the two essentials to which are to be ascribed all the infinite qualities which are in God or emanate from Him. But succeeding ages gradually lost this vision, as they allowed their minds to sink down from heaven and plunge into worldly and bodily affairs. They began to be unaware of what love is in its essence, and so what wisdom is in its essence, for they did not know that love cannot exist in the abstract without form, but works in and through a form. Now since God is the very, sole and prime substance and form, the essence of which is love and wisdom, and since it was from Him that all things came that were made, it follows that He created the universe in all its parts out of love by means of wisdom, and thus the Divine Love together with the Divine Wisdom is present in every single created object. Love too is not only the Essence which forms everything, but it also unites and joins them, so keeping together what has been formed.
[2] Countless things in the world can serve to illustrate this. For instance, the sun’s heat and light, which are the two essentials and universals which enable every single thing on earth to come into and continue in existence. They are there because they correspond to the Divine Love and the Divine Wisdom; for the heat radiated by the sun of the spiritual world is in its essence love, and the light from this source is in its essence wisdom. Another illustration might be the two essentials and universals which enable human minds to come into and continue in existence, namely, will and understanding. Every mind is composed of these two faculties, and the same two are present and function in every one of its acts. The reason is that the will is a receiver and seat of love, and the understanding likewise of wisdom. Therefore these two faculties correspond to the Divine Love and the Divine Wisdom, from which they originally came. Yet another illustration is the two essentials and universals which enable human bodies to come into and continue in existence, namely, the heart and the lungs, or the systolic and diastolic motion of the heart and the breathing of the lungs. It is well known that these two function in every part of the body; the reason is that the heart corresponds to love and the lungs to wisdom. This correspondence was fully proved in my book ANGELIC WISDOM ABOUT THE DIVINE LOVE AND THE DIVINE WISDOM published in Amsterdam.
[3] Countless examples in both the spiritual and the natural worlds can be adduced to prove that love like a bridegroom or husband produces or begets all forms, but by means of wisdom as bride or wife. Only one can be mentioned here: the whole heaven of the angels is arranged into its form and preserved in it by the Divine Love acting by means of the Divine Wisdom. Those who infer that the world was created from any other source, and are unaware that the Divine Love and the Divine Wisdom make up the Divine Essence, sink from the vision of reason to the vision of the eye. They embrace nature as the creative force of the universe, thus conceiving chimeras and giving birth to ghosts. Their thoughts are fallacies, from which they reason and draw conclusions like* eggs containing night birds. Such minds do not deserve that name; they are mere eyes and ears devoid of understanding, or thoughts devoid of soul. They talk of colours as if they could come into existence without light, about trees as if they could grow without seed, about everything on earth as if it could come into existence without sunlight. What they are doing is to confuse derived things with the principles from which they are derived, and caused things with causes. This stands everything on its head, and they lull their wakeful reason to sleep, until they are dreaming.
*The Latin of this sentence is peculiar, and ‘like’ has been supplied; but perhaps there is a more serious omission here.
Everyone knows that everything has reference to good and truth, an indication that everything owed its origin to love and wisdom. For everything which comes from love is called good, for so it is felt, and the pleasure by which love shows itself is each person’s good. Everything which comes from wisdom is called truth, for wisdom is composed of nothing but truths and bathes its objects in beautiful light; this beauty when so perceived is the truth arising from good. Love therefore is a compound of all kinds of goodness, and wisdom a compound of all kinds of truth. But both of these are from God, who is Love itself and thus Good itself, and Wisdom itself and thus Truth itself. This is why the church has two essentials, called charity and faith, which make up its whole structure and are present in every part of it. The reason is that all the kinds of good belonging to the church are part of and are called charity, and all its truths are part of and are called faith. The delights of love, which are also the delights of charity, are responsible for the delights being called goods; and the beauties of wisdom, which are also the beauties of faith, are responsible for truths being called truths. It is the delights and beauties which give them life; unless they have life from this source, the different kinds of good and truth are so to speak lifeless and barren.
[2] But the delights of love are of two kinds, and so are the beauties which look as if they belonged to wisdom. There are the delights of the love of good and those of the love of evil, and so too there are the beauties of faith in truth and those of faith in falsity. Both those kinds of delight of love are called good by the people who possess them, because this is how they are felt; and both those kinds of faith are also called good, since this is how they are perceived. But because they are in the understanding they are actually truths. All the same they are opposites, and the good of one love is good, that of the other is evil; and the truth of one faith is truth, that of the other is falsity. The love whose delight is in essence good resembles the heat of the sun, which gives life and fruitfulness as it works upon a fertile soil, useful trees and crops. Where its power is felt, a paradise is created, a garden of Jehovah, a sort of land of Canaan. The beauty of its truth resembles the sun’s light in springtime, or light striking a crystal vessel full of lovely flowers, and giving out fragrance when it is opened. But the delight of the love of evil is like the heat of the sun parching and withering as it works on barren soil, and harmful trees, such as thorns and briars. Where its power is felt, an Arabian desert is created, full of poisonous snakes and fiery serpents; and the beauty of falsity is like the sun’s light in winter, or light striking a leather bottle, full of worms swimming in vinegar, and foul-smelling creeping things.
[3] It ought to be known that every good is formed by truths, and clothes itself by their means, so as to be distinct from any other good. Moreover, the goods of one family group themselves in bundles, and give these a covering, to make them distinct from others. It is evident from all the parts of the human body that its structures are so organised. The reason the same thing happens in the human mind is that everything in the mind perpetually corresponds to the details of the body. Consequently the human mind is organised inwardly out of spiritual substances, externally out of natural substances and finally out of matter. The mind, whose delights of love are good, is inwardly built up of the kind of spiritual substances which are to be found in heaven. But the mind whose delights are evil is built up inwardly of the kind of spiritual substances which are to be found in hell. The evils of one are gathered into bundles by falsities, the kinds of good of the other by means of truths. Since kinds of good and evil are made up into such bundles, the Lord says that the tares are to be collected into bundles for burning, and so are the things which give offence (Matt. 13:30, 40, 41; John 15:6).
We read in John:
The Word was with God, and the Word was God; in Him was Life, and the Life was the light of men. John 1:14.
‘God’ means there the Divine Love, and ‘the Word’ means the Divine Wisdom; and the Divine Wisdom is truly life, and life is truly the light radiated by the sun of the spiritual world, in the midst of which is Jehovah God. The Divine Love gives shape to life, just as fire shapes light. Fire possesses two properties: that of burning and that of shining. Its burning radiates heat, its shining light. In the same way love has two properties: the one to which the burning of fire corresponds is something which acts intimately upon a person’s will; the other, to which the shining corresponds, is something which acts intimately upon a person’s understanding. This is the source of human love and intelligence. For as I have said several times before, the sun of the spiritual world radiates heat which in its essence is love, and light which in its essence is wisdom. These two forms of radiation impinge on every single thing in the universe and affect them intimately. In the case of people they affect their will and their understanding, which were created to receive this radiation, the will to receive love and the understanding to receive wisdom. Hence it is clear that a person’s life resides in his understanding and is in accordance with his wisdom, and that the love of the will modifies it.
* This does not exactly repeat the heading given in 36.
As the Father has life in Himself, so did He grant the Son to have life in Himself. John 5:26.
This means that just as the Divine itself, which existed from eternity, has life in itself, so has the Human which it assumed in time. Life in itself is the very, sole life which enables angels and men to live. Human reason can grasp this by considering the light radiated by the sun of the natural world. This light is not capable of being created, but the forms which receive it are created; the eyes are designed to receive light, and it is the light radiated by the sun which enables them to see. It is the same with life, which, as said before, is light radiated by the sun of the spiritual world; this is not capable of being created, but by its continuous radiation as it were lights up and gives life to men’s understanding. It follows that since light, life and wisdom are one, wisdom too cannot be created; and the same is true of faith, truth, love, charity and good. It is the forms which receive them which are created, namely, the minds of men and angels.
[2] Let everyone therefore beware of convincing himself that he owes his life to himself, or his intelligence, belief, love, perception of truth or his willing and doing good. In so far as he convinces himself of these ideas, so far does he cast down his mind earthwards from heaven, and from being spiritual becomes natural, influenced by the senses and the body. For he thus shuts off the higher regions of his mind, so that he becomes blinded to everything which relates to God, heaven and the church. Everything he may then think, reason and say is mere foolishness, because he is in darkness; yet at the same time he becomes confident that these are the products of wisdom. For when the higher regions of the mind, the abode of the true light of life, are shut off, the region of the mind below these, which is illuminated only by the faint glimmer of the world, is opened up. This glimmer, unsupported by the light of the higher regions, is a misleading illumination, in which falsities look like truths, and truths like falsities; reasoning from falsities looks like wisdom, and from truths like madness. Then a person believes himself to have the keenness of sight of an eagle, though he can see no more of wisdom than a bat in daytime.
Every wise man who belongs to the church knows that all the good of love and charity come from God, and likewise all the truth of wisdom and faith. Human reason can see that this is so, so long as it knows that the source of love and wisdom is the sun of the spiritual world, in the midst of which is Jehovah God, or, what is the same thing, they come from Jehovah God through the sun which surrounds Him. For the heat radiated by that sun is in its essence love, and the light from it is in its essence wisdom. So it is as plain as daylight that in their source love and wisdom are one; consequently in God too, since He is the source of that sun. The sun of the natural world can serve to demonstrate this: it is pure fire, its fiery property producing heat and the brilliance of its fire producing light; so these two are one at their source.
[2] But in their radiation heat and light become separated, as is shown by the things on which they act, some of which receive more heat and some more light. This is particularly true of people, for in this case the light of life, which is intelligence, is separated from the heat of life, which is love. This is because a person needs to be reformed and regenerated, which is impossible unless the light of life, which is intelligence, shows what ought to be willed and loved. It should, however, be known that God is constantly working to link love with wisdom in a person, though he, unless he looks to God and believes in Him, is constantly working to separate them. Therefore in so far as these two, the good of love or charity and the truth of wisdom or faith, are linked in a person, so far does he become an image of God, and is raised towards and into the heaven where angels live. In the contrary case, in so far as these two are separated in a person, so far does he become an image of Lucifer and the Dragon, and is cast down from heaven to earth, and then into hell beneath the earth. The result of these two being linked is that a person’s state becomes like that of a tree in springtime, when heat is evenly combined with light, which produces budding, flowering and fruiting. In the contrary case, when these are separated, his state is like that of a tree in winter, when light loses its heat, and the tree is laid bare and stripped of all its leaves and greenery.
[3] When spiritual heat, which is love, is separated from spiritual light, which is wisdom, or, in other words, charity is separated from faith, a person becomes like rank or rotting soil, in which maggots thrive; and if it produces shrubs, their leaves are full of grubs which eat them up. For the enticements of the love of evil, which are in themselves longings, burst forth, untamed and unrestrained by intelligence, but rather fostered, pampered and nourished by it. In short, the separation of love and wisdom, or charity and faith, the two things God constantly strives to link, is, to use a comparison, like depriving a face of redness, so producing a pallor as of death; or taking the whiteness away from redness, which makes the face like a blazing torch. It is also like destroying the bond of marriage between a couple, so that the wife becomes a prostitute and the husband an adulterer. For love or charity resembles a husband, wisdom or faith a wife. Their separation brings about spiritual prostitution and fornication, which are the falsification of truth and the adulteration of good.
[2] It should further be known that perfection of life consists not in thought but in perceiving truth in the light of truth. From this one can deduce how different people’s lives are. There are those who at once
on hearing a truth perceive that it is true; these are represented in the spiritual world by eagles. There are those who do not perceive a truth, but deduce it as the result of arguments based upon appearances; these are represented by song-birds. There are those who believe a truth at the behest of an authoritative speaker; these are represented by magpies. There are also those who do not wish to and those who cannot perceive a truth, but only falsity. The reason is that they live in a deceptive light, and this makes a falsity look like truth, and a truth either as something overhead wrapped in thick cloud, or as a meteor, or even as falsity. Their thinking is represented by little owls and their speaking by screech-owls. Those of them who have convinced themselves of their false beliefs cannot bear to hear truths, and as soon as any truth knocks at the door of their ears, they turn away and reject it, very much as a stomach crammed with bilious matter is nauseated by food and vomits it up.
There are two things which make up the essence of God – love and wisdom; but there are three which make up the essence of His love – loving others than oneself, wishing to be one with them, and devoting oneself to their happiness. The same three make up the essence of His wisdom, because, as I have shown above, love and wisdom are one in God. It is love which wills these things, wisdom that puts them into effect.
[2] The first essential, loving others than oneself, is to be recognised in God’s love towards the whole human race. On this account God loves everything He has created, because they are the means to an end, and if you love the end, you must love the means. Everyone and everything in the universe are other than God, because they are finite and God is infinite. God’s love goes out and extends not only to good people and things, but also to evil people and things; consequently, not only to people and things in heaven, but also to people and things in hell, not only to Michael and Gabriel, but also to the Devil and Satan. For God is everywhere and from eternity to eternity the same. He says too that He makes His sun rise upon the good and the evil, and sends rain upon the righteous and the unrighteous (Matt. 5:45). But it is the fault of evil people and things that they are evil, because they do not receive God’s love as it is, and as it most inwardly is, but as they are. It is the same as a thorn or a nettle receiving the heat of the sun or the rain.
[3] The second essential of God’s love, wishing to be one with others, is to be recognised also in His linking Himself to the heaven of angels, the church on earth, to everyone in it, and to every good and truth which compose and make up men and the church. Love regarded in itself is nothing but a striving to be linked. Therefore to realise this essential of love God created man in His image and likeness, so that he could be linked with this. It is clear from the Lord’s words that the Divine Love has linking as its constant aim, when He says that He wishes to be one with them, He in them and they in Him, and that the love of God might be in them (John 17:21-23, 26).
[4] The third essential of God’s love, to devote Himself to the happiness of others, is to be recognised in everlasting life, which is blessedness, bliss and happiness without end, which He gives to those who receive His love into themselves. For God, just as He is Love itself, is also blessedness itself. For every love breathes out an aura of joy from itself, and the Divine Love breathes out the very height of blessedness, bliss and happiness for ever; so God makes the angels and men after death happy from Himself, which He does by being linked with them.
[2] Even friendship among those who are not good apes that love. At his table a person gives his friend the best portion, embraces him, touches him and holds his hand, and promises to put himself at his friend’s service. The feeling of liking and the striving of those who are alike and of the same type to be together come from the same origin. That same Divine sphere also works on inanimate things, as on trees and plants, but it does this through the sun of the world, and its heat and light. The heat penetrates them from without, links itself to them, and makes them bud, flower and fruit, which answers to happiness in an animal. This is the result of that heat, because it corresponds to spiritual heat, which is love. There are even representations of the working of this love in various things in the mineral kingdom; specimens of this are to be seen in the exaltation* of minerals into useful forms and the formation of gems.
*Exaltation: a term of early chemistry for the transformation of elements into different forms, e.g. the formation of diamonds from carbon.
[2] This love is the reason why its desires in hell, where it is sovereign, look at a distance like various kinds of wild beasts; some like foxes and leopards, some like wolves and tigers, some like crocodiles and poisonous snakes. The deserts where they live consist of nothing but piles of stones or bare gravel, interspersed with marshes full of croaking frogs. Mournful birds swoop over their huts wailing. These are the ochim, tziim and iyim mentioned in the prophetic books of the Word which describe the love of domination arising from self-love (Isa. 13:21; Jer. 50:39; Ps. 74:14).
A thorough scrutiny and examination of these three essentials of the Divine Love can lead us to see that they were the reason for creation. That the first, loving others than itself, was a cause is clear from the universe being other than God, as the world is other than the sun, and something to which His love could extend and on which it could be exercised and so come to rest. We read too that, after God had created heaven and the earth, He rested, and this was the origin of the Sabbath (Gen. 2:2, 3).
[2] The second essential, wishing to be one with them, was also a cause as is clear from the creation of man in the image and likeness of God. By this is meant that man was made as a form to receive love and wisdom from God, that is, to be someone with whom God could unite Himself, and on his account with every single thing in the universe, since these are nothing but means to the end. For being linked to a final cause involves also being linked to mediate causes. It is clear from the Book of Creation or Genesis (1:28-30) that all things were created on account of man.
[3] The third essential, devoting oneself to their happiness, was also a cause, as is clear from the heaven of angels, which has been provided for every human being who receives the love of God; all there are made happy by God alone. These three essentials of God’s love are also the reason why the universe is preserved, because preservation is perpetual creation, just as remaining in existence is a perpetual coming into existence; and the Divine Love is from eternity to eternity the same. So as it was in the creation of the world, such too it remains in the created world.
Once I had a talk with two angels, one from the eastern and one from the southern heaven. When they perceived that I was pondering the mysteries of wisdom on the subject of love, they said: ‘Don’t you know anything about the contests of wisdom in our world?’ ‘Not yet,’ I replied.
‘There are many of them,’ they said, adding that those who love truths with a spiritual affection, that is, love them because they are truths and are the way to wisdom, meet when the signal is given, to discuss matters requiring profound understanding and form conclusions about them.
They then took me by the hand saying, ‘Come with us, and you will see and hear. The signal has been given for a meeting to-day.’
I was taken across a plain to a hill, at the foot of which there was an avenue of palm trees extending all the way to the top. We went into it and climbed the hill. On the top or summit of the hill we saw a wood, among the trees of which a rise in the ground formed a sort of theatre. Inside this was a flat space paved with pebbles of different colours, and around this were ranged seats in a square; these were occupied by the lovers of wisdom. In the middle of the theatre was a table, and a document secured with a seal lay on it.
[2] Those who were sitting on the seats invited us to occupy some which were still vacant, but I replied: ‘I have been brought here by two angels to see and listen, not to take part in the session.’
Then the two angels went up to the table in the middle of the arena and broke the seal on the document; they then read out to the meeting the mysteries of wisdom written in the document, which they were to discuss and expound. It had been written by angels of the third heaven, and sent down to lie on the table. There were three mysteries: the first, ‘What is the image of God and the likeness of God in which man was created?’, the second, ‘Why is man born without knowledge of what he should love, yet animals and birds, the highest as well as the lowest, are born knowing all their loves require?’; the third, ‘What is the meaning of “the tree of life”, “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil”, and “eating of them”?’
Underneath was written: ‘Link these three subjects into a single statement of opinion, and write it on a fresh sheet of paper; then replace it on this table, and we shall look at it. If the opinion appears well-balanced and fair, each of you will be awarded a prize for wisdom.’ After reading this out the two angels went away and rose up into their own heavens.
Then those taking part in the session began to discuss and expound the mysteries set before them. They spoke in turn, beginning with those who sat on the north side, then those who sat on the west, then the south and finally the east. They took up the first subject for discussion, which was: ‘What is the image of God and what is the likeness of God in which man was created?’ First of all the following passages were read aloud from the Book of Creation:
God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and God created man in His own image, to be an image** of God He made him. Gen. 1:26, 27.
On the day when God created man, He made him in the likeness of God. Gen. 5:1.
[3] Those who sat on the north side were the first to speak. They said that the image and the likeness of God are the two lives breathed into man by God, the life of the will and the life of the understanding. ‘For we read,’ they said,
Jehovah God breathed into Adam’s nostrils the breath of lives***, and man became a living soul. Gen. 2:7.
This seems to mean that the will to do good and the perception of truth was breathed into him, which could be called the breath of lives. And because life was breathed into him by God, image and likeness mean his uprightness arising from love and wisdom, and from righteousness and the powers of judgment present in him.’
Those who sat on the west side supported this view, with, however, this addition, that the state of uprightness breathed into Adam by God, is constantly breathed into every person after Adam; but it is present in man as it were in a receiver, and a person is an image and likeness of God in accordance with his effectiveness as a receiver.
[4] Then the third group, who sat on the south side, said: ‘The image of God and the likeness of God are two separate things, but in man they are combined from his creation. Some kind of inward illumination shows us that the image of God can be destroyed by man, but not His likeness. This is visible as it were through a screen from the fact that
Adam retained the likeness of God, after he had lost the image of God. For we read after his cursing:
See, man is as one of us, knowing good and evil. Gen. 3:22.
and afterwards he is called a likeness of God, but not an image of God (Gen. 5:1). But we would leave our colleagues on the east, who are therefore in better illumination, to say what the image of God and the likeness of God properly are.’
[5] Then, when there was silence, those who sat on the east side rose from their seats and looked up to the Lord. Then they sat down again and said that an image of God was a receiver of God, and since God is Love itself and Wisdom itself, the image of God is the receiving of love and wisdom from God in the man; but the likeness of God was the perfect likeness and complete appearance of love and wisdom being present in man and of belonging to him. ‘For man does not know but that he loves and is wise of himself, or that he wills good and understands truth of himself. In fact not a whit is of himself, but from God. It is only God who loves of Himself and is wise of Himself, because God is Love itself and Wisdom itself. The likeness or appearance that love and wisdom, or good and truth, are present in man as if they belonged to him is what makes a man human, and thus able to be linked to God and so to live for ever. The consequence of this is that man’s humanity is the result of his ability to will good and understand truth exactly as if he did so of himself, while at the same time knowing and believing that he does so from God. For to the extent that he knows and believes this, God places His image in man; it would be otherwise if he believed it was of himself and not from God.’
[6] After saying this, their love of truth made zeal overcome them and this led them to say: ‘How can a person receive any love and wisdom, keep it and reproduce it, unless he feels that it is his own? And how can he be linked with God by love and wisdom, unless he is granted some reciprocal function to permit linking? No linking is possible without reciprocation, and the reciprocal function is man’s loving God and doing His will, as if he acted of himself, yet believing that these things come from God. Again, how can a man live for ever, unless he is linked to the everlasting God? So how can a person be human, without that likeness in him?’
[7] All applauded this speech and asked for a conclusion to be drawn from what had been said. The following statement was adopted: ‘Man is a receiver of God, and a receiver of God is an image of God. Because God is Love itself and Wisdom itself, man is a receiver of both of these. The receiver becomes an image of God to the extent that he receives them. Man is a likeness of God by virtue of the fact that he feels in himself that what he receives from God is his as if it belonged to him. But still that likeness makes him an image of God to the extent that he acknowledges that the love and wisdom, or good and truth, in him are not his, and do not come from him, but are present only in God and therefore come from Him.
[8] They then took up the next subject for discussion, ‘Why is man born without knowledge of what he should love, yet animals and birds, the highest as well as the lowest, are born knowing all their loves require?’
First they established the truth of the proposition by various observations. For instance that man is born without any knowledge, not even knowing about conjugial love.**** They made enquiry and heard from researchers that a baby does not even know its mother’s breast from birth, but learns about it by having it repeatedly offered by its mother or nurse; it only knows how to suck, and that is because it has learnt this by continually sucking in its mother’s womb. Later on, it does not know how to walk, or to adapt the sounds it makes to form any human word, not even how to express its emotions by sounds as animals do. Moreover, it does not know what food is suitable for it, as animals do, but grabs anything it finds, whether clean or dirty, and puts it in its mouth. The researchers reported that without instruction man knows nothing of the manner of sexual intercourse, and not even young men and women know about this without being told by others. In short, a man is born a mere bodily being like a worm, and bodily he remains unless he learns from others to know, understand and be wise.
[9] They then established that both the higher and lower animals, such as land animals, the birds of the air, reptiles, fish and insects, are born knowing all their loves require in order to live; for instance, everything they need to know about feeding, about where to live, how to copulate and produce young, and about how to bring up their young. They established these facts by remarkable observations which they recalled to mind from what they had seen, heard and read during their previous life in the natural world, where the animals that exist are not representative but real. When they had fully approved the truth of the proposition, they turned their minds to seeking and finding the reasons which would allow them to explain and elucidate this mystery. They all asserted that it must inevitably be due to the Divine Wisdom, that a man is a man and an animal an animal, and thus the imperfection in the birth of man becomes his perfection, and the perfection in the birth of an animal is its imperfection.
[10] The northerners then began to state their opinion. They said that man is born without knowledge, so that he can receive all kinds of knowledge. But if he acquired these by birth, he could never receive any others than those he acquired by birth, and then neither could he make any his own. They illustrated this by a simile. Man at birth is like soil in which no seeds have been planted, but which can receive every kind of seed, grow them and bring them to fruiting. But an animal is like soil which has already been sown, filled with grass and plants, and unable to receive any seeds other than those implanted. If others were sown, it would choke them. That is the reason why it takes man many years to grow up, a period long enough to allow him to be cultivated like the soil, and to bring forth, so to speak, all kinds of crops, flowers and trees. An animal, however, takes only a few years, because it does not need time to be cultivated to produce anything but what it possesses from birth.
[11] The westerners spoke next. They said that man has by birth, not knowledge like an animal, but ability and inclination, the ability to know and the inclination to love. He has by birth not only the ability [to know, but also to understand and to be wise. Also he is born with the most perfect inclination not only]***** to love what is his own and worldly, but also what is God’s and heavenly. As a result man is born an organ which lives with difficulty and dimly by its external senses, and he has by birth no internal senses, so that he may by stages acquire life and become first a natural man, then a rational and finally a spiritual man. This would not happen, if he were endowed by birth with knowledge and loves, like animals. For inborn knowledge and affections of love limit that progress, but mere abilities and inclinations can be inborn without limiting it. Consequently man is capable of becoming more perfect in knowledge, intelligence and wisdom for ever.
[12] The Southerners followed on with their statement. They said that it is impossible for man to acquire any knowledge from himself, but he must do so from others, since he has no inborn knowledge. ‘Since he cannot acquire any knowledge from himself, neither can he acquire any love, since where there is no knowledge, there is no love. Knowledge and love are inseparable companions, and can no more be divided than will and understanding, or affection and thought, indeed no more than essence and form. Therefore as a person acquires knowledge from others, so love attaches itself to him as his companion. The universal love which attaches itself is the love of knowing, and later on the loves of understanding and being wise. Only man has these loves, animals have none; they flow in from God.
[13] ‘We agree with our colleagues on the west that man has by birth no love and consequently no knowledge, but only the inclination to love, and consequently the ability to receive knowledge, not from himself, but from others, that is, by way of others. We say “by way of others”, because neither have they received anything from themselves, but in origin all knowledge is from God. We also agree with our colleagues on the north that man immediately at birth is like soil in which no seeds have been planted, but where fine as well as worthless seeds can be planted. That is why man (homo) is so called from soil (humus), and is called Adam from adama, which means soil.****** We would add that animals have by birth natural loves, and consequently the kinds of knowledge that correspond to them, yet this knowledge does not enable them to know, think, understand and be wise, but they are guided to this knowledge by their loves, almost like blind people being guided through the streets by dogs. As far as their understanding is concerned, they are blind, or rather, like sleepwalkers who do what they do by blind knowledge while the understanding is asleep.’
[14] The last to speak were the easterners. ‘We are in agreement,’ they said, ‘with what our brothers have said, that man knows nothing from himself, but only from others and by way of others, so that he may recognise and acknowledge that all he knows, understands and is wise about he owes to God. Man could not in any other way be born and be created by God, and become His image and likeness. For he becomes an image of God by his acknowledgment and belief that he has received and continues to receive all the good of love and charity and all the truth of wisdom and faith from God, and not a whit from himself. He is a likeness of God by his feeling these things in himself as if from himself. He has this feeling because he has no knowledge from birth, but receives different kinds of knowledge, and it seems to him as if he received them from himself. Man is permitted by God to have this feeling so that he should be a man and not an animal, since by willing, thinking, loving, knowing, understanding and being wise as if from himself he receives different kinds of knowledge and sublimates them into intelligence, and by using them into wisdom. Thus God links man to Himself, and man links himself to God.
These things could not happen if God had not provided that man was born in a state of complete ignorance.’
[15] After this statement there was a general move to draw a conclusion from the matters discussed, and the following was adopted. ‘Man is born without any knowledge so that he can acquire knowledge of all kinds and advance to intelligence and through this to wisdom. He is born without any loves so that he can acquire all kinds of loves, by putting to use his knowledge derived from his intelligence, and acquire love to God by means of love towards the neighbour. Thus he may be linked with God and so become fully man and live forever.’
[16] Then they took up the document again and read out the third subject for discussion. This was: ‘What is the meaning of “the tree of life”, “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil”, and “eating of them”?’ They all begged those on the east to expound this mystery, since it required a more profound understanding, and those who are from the east enjoy a flame-like light, that is, the wisdom of love. This wisdom is what is meant by “the Garden of Eden”, in which those two trees were placed.
‘We will tell you.’ they replied, ‘but since man gets nothing from himself, but from God, we shall draw our statement from God, but still speak as if it were we ourselves who were speaking. “A tree,’ they went on to say, “Means man, and its fruit the good of life. So “the tree of life” means a man who has life from God. And since love and wisdom, charity and faith, or good and truth make up life from God in man, “the tree of life” means the man who has these qualities from God, and thus everlasting life. “The tree of life” from which people will be given to eat (Rev. 2:7; 22:2, 14) has a similar meaning.
[17] “The tree of the knowledge of good and evil” means a man who believes that he has life from himself, and not from God; and so, that love and wisdom, charity and faith, that is, good and truth in him are his and not God’s. He believes this because in what he thinks and wills, says and does, he seems and appears to behave exactly as if he did so of himself. So since he goes so far as to persuade himself that he is God, the serpent said:
God knows that on the day you eat of the fruit of that tree your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. Gen. 3:5.
[18] “Eating” from those trees means receiving and making one’s own. “Eating of the tree of life” means receiving everlasting life; “eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” means receiving damnation. “The serpent” means the devil, a personification of self-love and pride in one’s own intelligence. Self-love is the owner of that tree, and people who are proud of that love are those trees. It is therefore a huge error if people believe that Adam was wise and did good of himself, and this was his uncorrupted state, when in fact Adam himself was cursed for holding that belief. For this is the meaning of “eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil”. He therefore fell from his uncorrupted state, which he had by virtue of his belief that he was wise and did good entirely from God and in no respect of himself; for this is what “eating of the tree of life” means. Only the Lord, during His life on earth, had wisdom from Himself and did good of Himself, because the Divine itself was in Him and was His from birth. Therefore by His own power He became the Redeemer and Saviour.’
[19] From both these points they reached the following conclusion: “The tree of life” and “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” and “eating of them” mean that life for a person is having God in him, and then he enjoys heaven and everlasting life; and that it is death for a person to be persuaded and believe that life for a man is not God but himself, for thus he finds hell and everlasting death, in other words, damnation.’
[20] Then they looked at the document the angels had left on the table and read the words written at the bottom: ‘Link these subjects into a single opinion.’ Then they brought the three subjects together and saw that they hung together in a single series. This series or opinion was as follows: ‘Man has been created so that he may receive love and wisdom from God, yet it appears exactly as if he did so from himself, which is to allow him to receive them and so be linked; therefore man is born without any love or any knowledge, without even the ability to love and be wise of himself; therefore if he attributes all the good of love and all the truth of wisdom to God he becomes a living man, but if he attributes them to himself he becomes a dead man.’
They wrote these words on a fresh sheet of paper and laid it on the table. Suddenly the angels appeared in a shining cloud and carried the document off to heaven. When it had been read there, those who sat on the seats heard the words, Well done, well done, well done. At once there appeared one as it were flying; he had two wings at his feet and two more at his temples. He brought as prizes gowns, hats and laurel-wreaths. He came down and gave those who sat on the north gowns of iridescent colour; to those on the west gowns of scarlet; to those on the south hats decorated at the rim with bands of gold and pearls, and on the raised left side with diamonds cut into the shape of flowers. To those on the east he gave laurel-wreaths decorated with rubies and sapphires. All who had taken part in the contest of wisdom went cheerfully home resplendent in their prizes.
* This is repeated from CL 132-136.
** The Latin has ‘likeness’, but the author’s copy has this corrected to ‘image’ in keeping with the Hebrew, cf. CL 132.
*** The Latin follows the Hebrew in using the plural ‘lives’ here.
**** Or marriage love.
***** These words are missing in the original, but are supplied from CL 133 where this account was first printed.
****** This Latin etymology is supported by expert opinion; the Hebrew word for ‘soil’ or ‘ground’ is adama.
I have dealt with the Divine Love and the Divine Wisdom and shown that these two make up the Divine Essence. I now proceed to the omnipotence, omniscience and omnipresence of God, because these three emanate from the Divine Love and the Divine Wisdom, much as the power and presence of the sun are felt in every single part of this world by means of its heat and light. The heat from the sun of the spiritual world, in the midst of which is Jehovah God, is in its essence Divine Love, and its light is in its essence Divine Wisdom. Hence it is plain that just as infinity, immensity and eternity are properties of the Divine Being (Esse), so omnipotence, omniscience and omnipresence are properties of the Divine Essence. However, these three properties of the Divine Essence have up to now not been understood, through ignorance of the ways in which they proceed, that is, the laws of order. They need therefore to have light shed upon them by the following series of propositions.
(i) Omnipotence, omniscience and omnipresence are properties of the Divine Wisdom resulting from the Divine Love.
(ii) The omnipotence, omniscience and omnipresence of God cannot be recognised except through a knowledge of order, and these facts about order: that God is order, and that He introduced order into the universe and all its parts simultaneously with its creation.
(iii) God’s omnipotence proceeds and works in the universe and all its parts in accordance with the laws of His order.
(iv) God is omniscient, that is, He perceives, sees and knows down to the tiniest detail everything that happens according to order; and from these things also what happens contrary to order.
(v) God is present everywhere from first to last in His order.
(vi) Man was created to be a form for Divine Order.
(vii) Man has from Divine Omnipotence power against evil and falsity, and from Divine Omniscience wisdom about good and truth, and from Divine Omnipresence is in God, to the extent that he lives in accordance with the Divine order.
These propositions must now be discussed one by one.
That omnipotence, omniscience and omnipresence are qualities of the Divine Wisdom as the result of the Divine Love, and not of the Divine Love by means of the Divine Wisdom, is a secret from heaven which up to now has not dawned on anyone’s understanding, because no one so far has known what love is in its essence and what the wisdom derived from it is in its, not to mention the influence of one upon the other. What happens is that love with all its particulars flows into wisdom and there lives like a king in his realm or a master in his house, leaving all the administration of justice to its judgment. Since righteousness is an attribute of love and judgment an attribute of wisdom, love leaves all control to its wisdom. The following pages will shed more light on this secret, for the moment this statement may serve as a rule. The fact that God’s omnipotence, omniscience and omnipresence arise through the wisdom of His love is what is meant by the following passage from John:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things were made through Him, and without Him was nothing made which was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men; and the world was made through Him; and the Word was made flesh. John 1:1, 3, 4, 10, 14.
‘Word’ here means Divine Truth, or, what comes to the same thing, the Divine Wisdom. That is why it is also called life and light; for these are nothing but wisdom.
Jehovah, righteousness and judgment are the foundation of your throne. Ps. 89:14.
Let him who boasts boast of this, that Jehovah executes judgment and righteousness upon the earth. Jer. 9:24.
Let Jehovah be exalted, because He has filled Zion* with judgment and righteousness. Isa. 33:5.
Let judgment flow like water, and righteousness like a mighty torrent. Amos 5:24.
Jehovah, your righteousness is like the mountains of God, your judgments a mighty abyss. Ps. 36:6.
Jehovah will make his** righteousness shine as the light, and his*** judgment like noonday. Ps. 37:6.
Jehovah will judge his’ people in righteousness and his’ suffering ones in judgment. Ps. 72:2.
When I have learnt the judgments of your righteousness, seven times a day I praise you for the judgments of your righteousness. Ps. 119:7, 164.
I will betroth myself to you**** in righteousness and judgment. Hosea 2:19. Zion shall be redeemed in righteousness, and her converts in judgment. Isa. 1:27.
He shall sit upon the throne of David, and reign over his kingdom, to establish it in judgment and righteousness. Isa. 9:7.
I will raise up for David a righteous shoot, who shall reign as king and execute judgment and righteousness upon the earth. Jer. 23:5; 33:15.
Elsewhere it is said that righteousness and judgment ought to be done: as Isa. 1:21; 5:16; 58:2; Jer. 4:2; 22:3, 13, 15; Ezek. 18:5; 33:14, 16, 19; Amos 6:12; Micah 7:9; Deut. 33:21; John 16:8, 10, 11.
*The Latin text has ‘the earth’, but this is changed in the author’s copy in keeping with the Hebrew.
** The author’s own copy has this changed to ‘your’ in keeping with the Hebrew; cf. AC 1458.
*** The author’s own copy has this changed to ‘your’ in keeping with the Hebrew.
**** At AC 9182.6 this passage is translated ‘I will betroth you to myself’ in keeping with the Hebrew.
To grasp the number and nature of the absurdities which have crept into human minds and thus into the church through the heads of its founders as the result of their failure to understand the order with which God on its creation endowed the universe and everyone of its parts, it will not be necessary to do more than to list them in the following pages. But first of all I shall here set forth a general definition of what I mean by order, namely: order is the quality of arrangement, direction and activation of the parts, substances and entities composing a form; this is the origin of its state, and perfection of state is the product of wisdom from its love, and its imperfection is hammered out by insanity of reason from lust. This definition uses the terms substance, form and state; and by substance I understand at the same time form, because all substance is a form, and the quality of a form is its state; the perfection or imperfection of its state is the result of order. These, being metaphysical terms, must inevitably be very obscure; but in the following pages this obscurity will be dispelled by the application of illustrative examples.
Man is endowed by creation with his own order, and so is each and every part of him; the head has its order, the body its, the heart, the lungs, the liver, the pancreas, the stomach each its own; likewise every organ of movement called a muscle, and every organ of sense, as the eye, the ear or the tongue. To be sure, there is not a single little blood-vessel or minor fibre in the body which has not its own proper order. Yet all these countless parts are joined to the body as a whole and are so linked into it as to make one together with them. The same is true of all other things, which it will be enough to list as an illustration. Every land animal, every bird of the air, every fish of the sea, every creeping thing, even every worm down to a grub has by creation its own order. Equally every tree, bush, shrub and vegetable has its; and so moreover has every stone, every mineral, right down to each single particle of dust.
God is omnipotent, because He can do everything of Himself, and all others derive their power to act from Him. Being able and willing are for Him one, and since He does not will anything but good, He cannot therefore do anything but good. In the spiritual world no one can act contrary to his own will; this restriction is due to God, for in Him the ability to act and the will to do so are one. Moreover, God is Good itself, so that when He does good He acts within Himself, and He cannot step out of Himself. From this it is plain that His omnipotence progresses and works within the sphere of action of good, and this is infinite. For this sphere proceeding from the inmost pervades the universe and everything it contains, and from the inmost it controls what is outside itself, in so far as this is linked to it by its inherent order. Even if not so linked, it none the less sustains it, and assists every effort made to bring it back into a state consonant with universal order, in which God Himself resides with His omnipotence, and in accordance with which He acts. Failing this, it is cast outside Him, yet none the less even there He sustains it from the inmost.
[2] From these facts it can be established that the Divine omnipotence can in no wise depart from itself so as to make contact with any evil, nor promote it from itself, for evil turns itself away. This is how it comes about that evil is totally separated from God and cast into hell; and between hell and heaven, where He is, yawns a gaping chasm. These few considerations can reveal the madness of those who think, even more believe, more still teach, that God can damn anyone, curse him, cast him into hell, predestine his soul to eternal death, avenge injuries, be angry or punish anyone. He is not even able to turn His face away from a person and frown upon him. These and any actions of this kind would be contrary to His essence, and what is contrary to that is contrary to Himself.
[2] If the Divine omnipotence extended as much to doing evil as to doing good, what would be the distinction between God and the devil? It would surely be like that between two rulers, one of whom is both king and tyrant, the other a tyrant whose power is limited, so he cannot properly be called a king. Or between a shepherd who is allowed to keep leopards as well as sheep, and one who is not allowed to do this. Anyone can know that good and evil are opposites, and that if God by His omnipotence could will both at once and by willing them do them, He could in fact do nothing. This so far from being omnipotence would be a negation of His power. It would be like two wheels turning in opposite directions; the effect would be to stop both wheels and produce a stationary state. Or like a ship sailing against a strong current, which without an anchor to hold it would be
swept away and wrecked. Or like a person with two inconsistent wills, so that when one is active the other must necessarily be inactive; if both were to act at the same time, his mind would be a prey to delirium and dizziness.
It would be the result of that absurd opinion and belief about God’s omnipotence, that God could change any person from a goat to a sheep, and at His pleasure transfer him from His left side to His right; at His pleasure He could transform the spirits of the dragon into the angels of Michael; He could endow a person whose understanding resembled a mole’s with the eagle’s keen vision, in short to make a person a dove instead of a horned owl. All these things God cannot do, because they would be contrary to the laws of His order; yet all the time He wills them and endeavours to effect them. If He could do such things, He would not have allowed Adam to listen to the serpent, and pluck the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and put it in his mouth. He would not, if He could do this, have allowed Cain to kill his brother, David to number the people, Solomon to build shrines for idols, and the kings of Judah and Israel to profane the Temple, as they did so many times. Rather, if God could do this, by the redemption effected by His Son He would have saved the whole human race with no exceptions and wiped out all hell. The ancient gentiles attributed omnipotence of this sort to their gods and goddesses; this is the source of their myths, as that of Deucalion and Pyrrha, who threw stones behind their backs to make men; of Apollo turning Daphne into a laurel-bush; of Diana turning a huntsman into a stag*, of another of their deities turning the maidens of Parnassus into magpies. The current belief about the Divine omnipotence is similar, and that is the source from which so many fanatical and heretical ideas have spread to every region of the world where there is any religion.
* The Latin has ‘hind’, but this differs from ‘stag’ by only one letter.
The reason God is omniscient, that is, perceives, sees and knows everything is because He is Wisdom itself and Light itself, and Wisdom itself perceives everything and Light itself sees everything. It was shown above that God is Wisdom itself. He is Light itself because He is the sun of the heaven of angels, which sheds light on the understanding of every angel and every person. For as the eye sees by the light of the natural sun, so the understanding sees by the light of the spiritual sun. It not only sees by that light, but is also filled with intelligence the more it loves to receive that light, since this light is in its essence wisdom. Thus we read in the Psalms of David that God dwells in inaccessible light [Ps. 104:2; cf. 1 Tim. 6:16]; and in Revelation that in the New Jerusalem they have no need of a lamp, because the Lord God sheds light on them [21:23]; and in John that the Word, which was with God, and was God, is the light, which enlightens every man that comes into the world [John 1:1, 9]. By the Word is meant the Divine Wisdom. This is why the angels enjoy a brighter light, the greater their wisdom; and why in the Word, every time light is mentioned, wisdom is meant.
Throughout the human body there are general and particular parts, the general serving to wrap up the particular, and fitting together so snugly that each belongs to the other. This effect is the result of each member in the body having a general sheath, which is so intimately connected with each part that for the purpose of any function or use they act as one. [2] For example, the sheath of any muscle is connected to each of the motor fibres, and forms itself into a coating for them. Similarly the sheath of the liver, pancreas and spleen is connected to the separate parts within them, and the sheath of the lungs, called the pleura, is connected to its inner parts. So too the pericardium is connected to all parts of the heart, and on the general level the peritoneum by means of ligaments is linked with the sheaths of all the viscera. Likewise the membranes of the brain by means of processes drawn out from themselves are connected to all the underlying nodes, and by them to all the fibres, and by them to every part of the body’ That is why the head by the action of the two parts of the brain controls all the parts subject to it. These facts are only presented so that from observable objects some idea can be formed how God perceives, sees and knows everything which happens in accordance with order down to the tiniest detail.
[2] Those whose understandings are illuminated by wisdom resemble people standing on a mountain at mid-day and seeing clearly everything below them. If they enjoy even higher illumination, they can be compared to people who look through telescopes and see things around and below them as if near at hand. But those who by convincing themselves of false ideas have only the deceptive light of hell are like people standing on the same mountain at nighttime with lanterns in their hands, unable to see anything but the nearest objects, and unable to distinguish their shapes or their colours property. A person who has a little of the light of truth, but lives a wicked life, sees truth to begin with, when he is taking pleasure in his love of evil, rather as a bat sees washing hanging up in a garden, which it flies up to as if it were its roost. Later he becomes like a little owl and finally a horned owl. He then becomes like a chimney-sweep clinging to a dark corner of the chimney; when he lifts up his gaze he sees the sky obscured by smoke, and when he looks down he sees the hearth from which the smoke rises.
If I go up into the heavens, there you are; if I cast myself down in hell, behold, you are there. Ps. 139:8.
and elsewhere:
If they dig down into hell, from there my hand will rescue them. Amos 9:2, 3.
It is the heat and light of the sun of the spiritual world, in the midst of which God is, which makes Him present everywhere from first to last in His order. By means of this sun order came into existence, and from it He sends forth heat and light, which penetrate the universe from first to last and produce the life possessed by every human being and animal, and also the vegetative soul which every plant on earth has. Its heat and light act upon every single thing and cause each to live and grow in accordance with the order imposed on them from creation. Since God has no extent, yet fills all the space in the universe, He is omnipresent. It has been shown elsewhere [30] that God is non-spatially in all space and non-temporally in all time, as a result of which the universe is in respect of its essence and its order the fulness of God. This being so, God by His omnipresence perceives everything, by His omniscience provides everything, and by His omnipotence performs everything. This makes it plain that omnipresence, omniscience and omnipotence make one, in other words, one supposes the other and thus they cannot be divided.
[2] The reason angels and spirits have such powers of being present is that every affection of love and so every thought of the understanding is non-spatially in space and non-temporally in time. Anyone can think about a brother, relation or friend who is in the Indies and feel as if he were present with him. Likewise he can by calling them to mind feel the emotion of love for them. These matters which lie within the range of human experience can afford some sort of illustration of the Divine omnipresence. So too can human thoughts which allow us, by recalling to our memory what we saw in various places on a journey, to feel as if we were actually present in them. Even bodily sight imitates this kind of presence, taking no note of distance except by means of intervening objects, which provide a scale for measurement. The sun itself would appear close to the eye, if not actually within the eye, if there were nothing in between to show how distant it is, an observation made by writers on optics in their treatises. The sight of the understanding as well as that of the body allows a person to have this feeling of presence, because his spirit sees through his eyes. But no animal has this, because animals do not have any spiritual sight. All these facts serve to establish that God is present everywhere from first to last in His order. The previous section showed that He is present also everywhere in hell.
Man was created to be a form for Divine order, because he was created as an image and likeness of God; so since God is order itself, he was created as an image and likeness of order. The two factors which brought order into existence and preserve it in existence are the Divine Love and the Divine Wisdom; and man was created to be a receiver of these. Consequently he was by creation endowed with the order according to which the Divine Love and the Divine Wisdom act in the universe, and principally that according to which they act in the heaven of angels, so that this whole heaven is a form of Divine order on the largest scale, and in the sight of God it appears like one man. There is too a full correspondence between that heaven and man. For there is no community in heaven which does not correspond to some member, internal part or organ in the human body. So it is said in heaven that a certain community is in the province of the liver, or the pancreas, or the spleen, or the stomach, or the eye, or the ear, or the tongue, and so on. The angels themselves know under what part of the human body they come. The truth of this I was allowed to know by direct experience. I saw a community composed of some thousands of angels as one person. This showed plainly that heaven taken together is an image of God, and the image of God is a form of the Divine order.
[2] End, cause and effect are a trio with a fixed sequence. Educated people know that an end is nothing if it is not accompanied by an efficient cause, and the end and this cause are nothing, if there is no effect. One can form abstract speculations about ends and causes, but they must aim at some effect, which the end has in view and the cause brings about. It is the same with love, wisdom and service: service is the aim love has in view and brings about by means of a cause. When the service is effected, love and wisdom come into real existence, and make their residence and seat in that service, and come to rest there as if in their home. It is similar with a person, in whom are the love and wisdom of God, when he performs services; and it was so that he should perform services for God, that he was created to be an image and likeness [of God]*, that is, a form for the Divine order.
*These words are added in the margin in the author’s own copy.
The reason man has from Divine Omnipotence power against evils and falsities to the extent that he lives in accordance with the Divine order is that no one, except God alone, can resist evils and the falsities they produce. For all evils and their falsities come from hell, and there they hold together as a unit, exactly as all kinds of good and so truths do in heaven. As I said before, in the sight of God the whole of heaven is like one man, and in the opposite case hell is like one monstrous giant. Thus acting against one evil and its falsity is like taking on that monstrous giant or all hell. No one can do this except God, because He is omnipotent.
[2] It is plain from this that unless a person approaches almighty God, he can do no more against evil and so falsity than a fish against the ocean, a flea against a whale, or a speck of dust against an avalanche – much less than a locust against an elephant, or a fly against a camel. Moreover, a person has so much less power against evil and so falsity because he was born into evil, and evil cannot act against itself. The consequence of this is that unless a person lives in accordance with order, that is, unless he acknowledges God, His omnipotence and the protection this gives him against hell, and unless he on his part also fights with the evil in himself, for both of these are part of order, he must inevitably be plunged into and drowned in hell, and there buffeted by evils, one after the other, like a rowing-boat by squalls at sea.
[2] A person who lifts up his mind towards God, and acknowledges that all the truth of wisdom comes from Him, and at the same time lives in accordance with order, resembles someone standing on a lofty tower watching a densely populated city below him and seeing what goes on in its streets. But a person who convinces himself that all the truth of wisdom comes from his own natural enlightenment, that is, from himself, resembles someone living in a cellar under that tower, watching the same city through narrow holes; he can see no more than the wall of one house in the city, and study how the bricks in it hold together. Again, a person who draws wisdom from God is like a bird flying high, spying out everything in the gardens, woods and villages round about, and flying towards things that can be of service. But a person who derives what belongs to wisdom from himself, without believing that this still comes from God, is like a hornet flying close to the ground, and, when it sees a dunghill, flying up to it and taking pleasure in its stench.
[3] Every person, as long as he lives in the world, treads a path mid-way between heaven and hell; and he is in equilibrium, that is, he has free will to look up to God or down to hell. If he looks up to God, he acknowledges that all wisdom comes from God, and his spirit is really present among the angels in heaven. The person who looks down, as everyone does whose evil puts him under the power of falsities, is in his spirit really among the devils in hell.
[2] The reason why a person is in God if he lives in accordance with order is that God is omnipresent in the universe, and in every part of it, in the inmost of each, since these are in order. But in parts which are contrary to order, which are only those outside the inmost, God is omnipresent by a continual struggle with them as He strives continually to bring them into order. For this reason in so far as a person allows himself to be brought into order, so far is God omnipresent in his whole being, and consequently so far is God in him and he in God. The absence of God from man is no more possible than the absence of the sun, by way of its heat and light, from the earth. But objects on earth are only affected by its influence to the extent that they receive the heat and light radiated by the sun, which happens in spring and summer.
[3] This comparison can be applied to the omnipresence of God. A person is so far in spiritual heat and at the same time spiritual light, that is, in possession of the good of love and the truths of wisdom, as he is subject to order. But spiritual heat and light differ from natural heat and light. In wintertime natural heat is lost by the earth and things on it, and natural light is lost at nighttime, because the earth by its rotation and orbit around the sun causes the seasons and times of day. This does not happen with spiritual heat and light, for God is present supplying both by means of His sun, and this does not change as the natural sun appears to do. It is the person himself who turns away as the earth turns away from the sun, and when he turns away from the truths of wisdom, he can be compared to the earth turning away from the sun during the night; when he turns away from the kinds of good of love he is like the earth turning away from the sun during the winter. Such is the correspondence between the effects and services performed by the sun of the spiritual world and those performed by the sun of the natural world.
Once I heard beneath me a roaring as of the sea, and asked what it was. Someone told me that it was a disturbance among the spirits gathered on the lower earth, which lies closest above hell. In a little while the ground which formed a roof over them split open, and through the gap birds of the night came pouring forth in hordes and spreading out to the left. They were immediately followed by a wave of locusts, which leapt upon the grass covering the ground, and turned it all into a desert. A little later I began to hear by turns a kind of wailing coming from those birds of the night, and to the side an inarticulate cry as if from ghosts in the woods. Later still I saw beautiful birds coming from heaven and spreading out towards the right. These birds were marked with what looked like wings of gold broken up by stripes and spots of silver; some had on their heads crown-shaped crests.
While I was gazing in wonder at all this, there suddenly emerged from the lower earth, where the disturbance was, a spirit who could take upon himself the appearance of an angel of light. ‘Where is the man,’ he shouted, ‘who talks and writes about an order, to which almighty God has restricted Himself in His dealings with man? News of this has penetrated the roof and reached us down below.’
When he came to the ground level, he hurried along a paved road; and eventually he came up to me and at once pretended to be an angel from heaven. Then, speaking in an assumed tone of voice, ‘Are you,’ he said, ‘the man who thinks and speaks about order? Give me a brief account of order and some examples of it.’
[2] ‘I will give you,’ I replied, ‘a summary, but not the details, because these would be beyond your grasp.’ I told him: (i) God is Order itself. (ii) He created man from order according to order and to be subject to order. (iii) He created his rational mind in accordance with the order of the whole spiritual world and his body in accordance with the order of the whole natural world, which is why the ancients called man a micro-heaven and a microcosm. (iv) It is therefore a law of order that man from his micro-heaven or little spiritual world should control his microcosm or little natural world, just as God from His macro-heaven or spiritual world controls the macrocosm or natural world in all its parts. (v) A consequential law of order is therefore that a person ought to enter into faith by means of truths from the Word, and into charity by means of good deeds, and so reform and regenerate himself. (vi) It is a law of order that a person should by his own efforts and ability cleanse himself from sins, and not stand idly confident of his inability to act, waiting for God to wipe away his sins in an instant. (vii) It is also a law of order that a person should love God with all his soul and all his heart, and his neighbour as himself, and not hang back waiting for God instantaneously to place either love in his mind and heart, like bread from the baker’s in the mouth. I told him much more besides.
[3] When he heard this, the Satan replied in a polite tone which concealed his deceit: ‘What is this you say? That a person by his own ability should enter into order by obeying its laws? Don’t you know that man is not subject to the law, but to grace; and that everything is given freely and a person can take nothing for himself unless it is given him from heaven? Don’t you know that in spiritual matters he can no more act of himself than Lot’s wife when she was turned into a pillar, or Dagon, the idol worshipped by the Philistines in Ekron? So it is impossible for a person to justify himself, since this must be accomplished by means of faith and charity.’
To this I made only this reply: ‘It is a law of order too that a person should by his efforts and ability acquire for himself faith by means of truths from the Word, while believing that not a grain of faith comes from himself, but from God; and that a person should by his efforts and ability aim to justify himself, but he is to believe that not a jot of justification comes from himself, but from God. Is it not commanded that a man should believe in God, and love God with all his strength, and his neighbour as himself? Reflect and tell me how God could have given these commandments, if man had not the ability to obey and perform them.’
[4] On hearing this the Satan’s face underwent a change; from being white it first turned a lurid colour, and then pitch black. He spoke with his black mouth and said: ‘All you have said is paradoxes to counter paradoxes.’ Then at once he sank down to his own kind and vanished. The birds on the left together with the ghosts made an unusual noise, and threw themselves into the sea, which is there called the Sea of Suph*, and the locusts came hopping after them. Both air and land were thus cleared of those animals, the disturbance down below ceased, and all became peaceful and calm.
*The Hebrew name for the Red Sea.
Once I heard an unusual murmuring at a distance, and in the spirit I followed the track of the sound until I came near. When I reached its source, I found a group of spirits arguing about imputation and predestination. They were Dutch and British, with a few from other
countries among them, and at the end of each argument these shouted: ‘Wonderful, wonderful!’
The subject under discussion was: ‘Why does God not impute the merit and righteousness of His Son to every single person He has created and subsequently redeemed? Is He not omnipotent? Can He not, if He wishes, make Lucifer, the Dragon and all the goats into angels? Is He not omnipotent? Why does He allow the unrighteousness and impiety of the devil to triumph over the righteousness of His Son and the piety of those who worship God? What is easier for God than to judge all worthy of faith and so of salvation? What does it take but one little word? And if not, is He not acting contrary to His own words, that He desires salvation for all and death for none? Tell us then whence it is that those who perish are damned, and what is the reason for it.’
Then a certain believer in predestination, a supralapsarian* from Holland, said: ‘Surely this is at the pleasure of the Almighty. Shall the clay blame the potter, because he made a chamber-pot of it?’ Another said: ‘The salvation of every man is in His hand, like the scales in the hands of someone weighing.’
[2] At the sides of the group there stood a number of people of simple faith and upright heart, some with reddened eyes, some as if drugged, some as if drunk, and some as if choked, muttering to one another: ‘What have we to do with this nonsense? They have been driven crazy by their faith, which is that God the Father imputes the righteousness of His Son to whomsoever He wishes, when He wishes, and sends the Holy Spirit to effect the rewards of that righteousness; and so that a person should not claim for himself a grain of merit in attending to his own salvation, he must be as inert as a stone in the matter of justification, and like a block of wood in spiritual matters.’
Then one of these people thrust himself into the group and said in a loud voice: ‘You madmen, what you are arguing about is goat’s wool.** You obviously do not know that almighty God is order itself, and that there are myriads of laws of order, as many in fact as there are truths in the Word, and God cannot act contrary to them, because if He did so, He would be acting against Himself, and so not only contrary to righteousness but contrary to His own omnipotence.’
[3] On the right he saw at a distance what looked like a sheep and a lamb, and a dove in flight, and on the left what looked like a goat, a wolf and a vulture. ‘Do you believe,’ he said, ‘that God by His omnipotence could turn that goat into a sheep, or that wolf into a lamb, or that vulture into a dove, or the reverse? Far from it; that is contrary to the laws of His order, of which not so much as a tittle can fall to the ground, as His words tell us. How then can He impart the righteousness of His Son’s redemption to anyone who resists it, contrary to the laws of His righteousness? How can Righteousness itself do unrighteousness, and predestine anyone to hell and cast him into the fire, beside which the devil stands torch in hand making it blaze? You madmen, devoid of spirit, your faith has led you astray. Is it not in your hands like a snare for catching doves?’
On hearing this a magician made as it were a snare out of that faith and hung it in a tree, saying? ‘Watch me catch that dove.’ Very soon the hawk flew up and put its neck in the snare and hung there, while the dove on seeing the hawk flew past. The by-standers exclaimed in wonder, ‘This trick is a reward of righteousness.’
* Supralapsarian: a person who believes the Fall of Adam was predestined.
** Proverbial for what does not exist.
[2] At the conclusion of this speech we looked at each other, and I saw that they were perplexed. ‘I will pray to the Lord,’ I said, ‘and bring you help from Him by shedding some light on the subject, but for now only by way of examples.’
‘Almighty God,’ I said, ‘created the world out of order in Himself, that is to say, to be subject to the order in which He is present, and in accordance with which He controls it; and He has endowed the universe and every one of its parts with its own order. So man has his order, animals theirs, birds and fishes theirs, worms theirs; every tree, the very grass has its own order. To provide illustrative examples let me briefly suggest the following. The laws of order assigned to man are that he should acquire for himself truths from the Word, and think about them in a natural way, and, so far as he is able, rationally, thus equipping himself with a natural faith. The laws of order on God’s side then are that He approaches the man, fills the truths with His Divine light, and so fills man’s natural faith, which is merely factual knowledge and strongly held opinion, with the Divine essence. Thus, and only thus, does it become a saving faith.
‘It is similar with charity; but let me briefly give some examples. God’s laws prevent Him from forgiving anyone’s sins, except to the extent that the person in accordance with his laws refrains from committing them. God cannot spiritually regenerate a person, except in so far as the person in accordance with his laws regenerates himself naturally. God is constantly striving to regenerate and so save people, but He cannot achieve this unless the person prepares himself to receive God, and so smooths the way and opens the door to Him. A bridegroom cannot enter the bedroom of a young woman who has not pledged herself to him; she locks the door and keeps the key herself inside. But when she takes the vows of marriage, she gives the bridegroom the key.
[3] ‘God could not by His omnipotence have redeemed mankind, except by becoming a man. Nor could He have made His Human Divine, if His Human had not first been like that of a baby, then that of a child, and then formed itself into a container and dwelling into which His Father could enter. He did this by fulfilling everything in the Word, that is to say, all the laws of order it contains; and the more perfectly He did this, the more closely He united Himself with the Father and the Father united Himself with Him. These are merely a few illustrations which are offered, so that you can see that Divine omnipotence is subject to order; and His rule, which is called providence, is in accordance with order. It acts continually and for ever in accordance with the laws of His order; it cannot act contrary to them, nor can it change a tittle of them, because God is order together with all its laws.’
[4] At this speech a brilliance of golden light flooded in through the roof, and turned into cherubs flying through the air. A ruddy glow from them lit up the temples of some people, coming from the back of the head, but not at this stage from the forehead, for they were murmuring: ‘We still do not know what omnipotence is.’ ‘That will be revealed,’ I said, ‘once what has been said so far has shed on your minds a little illumination.’
*The name of the first of the Roman Emperors before he took the title Augustus.
I saw in the distance a number of people assembled with hats on their heads. Some had silk bands on their hats, to show they were clergymen; others, who were laymen, had the brims of their hats decorated with golden bands. All of them were educated and learned people. I also saw some people wearing caps*, and they were uneducated.
On approaching I heard them talking among themselves about unlimited Divine power, saying that if it operated according to some laws of order which had been passed, it would not be unlimited, but limited, and so power, but not omnipotence. ‘But anyone can see,’ they said, ‘that no kind of compulsion could force omnipotence to act in one way and not another. To be sure, when we think about omnipotence and at the same time about laws of order which it is compelled to observe, our preconceived** notions about omnipotence collapse, like arms leaning on a broken stick.’
[2] Seeing me standing nearby some of them hastened up and said with some vehemence: ‘Are you the man who has encumbered God with laws like fetters? What a presumptuous thing to do! By doing this you have shattered our faith, which is the basis of our salvation, in the midst of which we set the righteousness of the Redeemer, above it the omnipotence of God the Father, and we attach as an appendage the working of the Holy Spirit, which is effective while man is totally impotent in spiritual matters; all man needs to do is to proclaim the completeness of justification, which by Divine omnipotence is present in that faith. But I have been told that you see an empty void in that faith, because it contains nothing of Divine order on man’s part.’
On hearing this I broke silence and said in a loud voice: ‘Learn the laws of Divine order, and then open up your faith; you will see a vast desert and in it the long, sinuous Leviathan*** surrounded by nets so knotted that they could never be disentangled. But do what we read Alexander did on seeing the Gordian knot; he drew his sword and cut it in two, so severing its contortions, threw it on the ground and trampled its strands under his heel.’
[3] This speech made the assembly bite their tongues, for they wanted to sharpen them to make a cutting reply; but they did not dare, because they saw heaven lying open above me, and heard a voice from there: ‘Restrain yourselves and listen first to what order is, the laws of which Almighty God follows in His actions. God’, the voice said****, ‘created the universe from Himself in His capacity as Order, by order and to be subject to order. Likewise He created man, in whom He established the laws of his own order to make him an image and likeness of God. These are briefly, that he should believe in God and love the neighbour; so far as he applies his natural powers to performing those two actions, so far does he make himself a receiver of Divine omnipotence, and so far does God link Himself to him, and him to God. His faith thus becomes a living and saving faith, and his actions become charity, which also is living and saving. But it should be known that God is constantly present, continually striving and acting on the person, and touching his free will but never forcing it. For if God were to force a person’s free will, his dwelling in God would be destroyed, and he would be left only with God’s dwelling in him. This is something which all enjoy on earth as much as in heaven, and so do those in hell. For this is the source of their ability, will and understanding. The reciprocal dwelling of a person in God only occurs with those who live in accordance with the laws of order enacted in the Word; and these people become images and likenesses of Him, paradise is given them to possess, and the fruit of the tree of life to eat. The rest gather around the tree of knowledge of good and evil, talk with the serpent there, and eat of its fruit. But after this they are banished from paradise. Yet God does not abandon them; it is they who abandon God.’
[4] The people who wore hats understood and approved of this. But those who wore caps objected, saying: ‘By this surely omnipotence is limited, and limited omnipotence is a contradiction in terms.’
‘It is no contradiction,’ I replied, ‘to act omnipotently in accordance with the laws of righteousness with judgment, or according to the laws engraved upon love by wisdom. But it is a contradiction to say that God can act contrary to the laws of His own righteousness and love, for that would be to lack judgment and wisdom. It is that sort of contradiction your faith involves, if you believe that God can simply by grace justify the unrighteous, and mark him out by all the gifts of salvation and rewards of life. But I will tell you in a few words what God’s omnipotence is. God by His omnipotence created the universe, and at the same time implanted order in every part of it. God also by His omnipotence preserves the universe and maintains order there with its laws for ever, and when anything slips out of order, brings it back and restores it. Moreover, God by His omnipotence established the church and in the Word revealed the laws of its order; and when it fell away from order, He restored it, and when its fall was complete, came down Himself into the world, and by assuming human form put on omnipotence and re-established it.
[5] ‘God by His omnipotence and also omniscience examines everyone after death, and prepares the righteous or sheep for their places in heaven, to build up heaven from them; and prepares the unrighteous or goats for their places in hell, and builds up hell from them. Both heaven and hell He arranges into communities and assemblies in accordance with all the varieties in their love; there are as many of these in heaven as there are stars in the sky we see in the world. He links the communities in heaven into a unit, so that in His sight they are like one person, and likewise the assemblies in hell, so that they are like one devil. He separates one party from the other by an abyss, so that hell can offer no violence to heaven, nor can heaven torment hell. For those who are in hell suffer torment to the extent that they feel the influence of heaven. If God from His omnipotence were not doing all this at every moment, such savagery would overcome human beings that they could no longer be restrained by any laws of order, and thus the human race would be destroyed. These and similar things would happen, if God were not order, and omnipotent in order.’
On hearing this those who wore hats went away with their hats under their arms, praising God. (For in that world intelligent people wear hats.) But those who wore caps did not, because they are bald; and baldness is a sign of stupidity. These went off to the left, the others to the right.
* The Latin word tiara usually indicates some sort of oriental headdress; the distinction here intended may be the absence of brims.
** The Latin has praeceptae meaning ‘commanded’, but praeconceptae ‘preconceived’ is probably intended.
*** This is the version Swedenborg follows of Isa. 27:1 (e.g. at AC 7293.3).
**** The Latin has ‘it said’ (i.e. the voice), but in view of the rest of this section dixit is probably a misprint for dixi ‘I said’.
Since the subject of this first chapter is God the Creator, it needs also to deal with His creation of the universe, just as the following chapter on the Lord the Redeemer needs also to deal with redemption. But no one can form a correct idea of the creation of the universe, unless some universal ideas are first suggested to bring the understanding into a perceptive state; these will be the following.
(i) There are two worlds, a spiritual world containing angels and spirits, and a natural world containing human beings.
[2] (ii) Each of these worlds has a sun. The sun of the spiritual world is pure love from Jehovah God, who is in its midst. From this sun emanate heat and light, the heat from it being in its essence love, and the light from it being in its essence wisdom. These two forces operate on the will and understanding of man, the heat on his will, and the light on his understanding. But the sun of the natural world is pure fire, so that the heat from it is lifeless, and so is its light. These serve as clothing and support to enable the spiritual heat and light to be transmitted to human beings.
[3] (iii) Those two forces emanating from the sun of the spiritual world, and consequently everything produced by them there, are substantial* and are termed spiritual. The two similar forces emanating from the sun of the natural world, and consequently everything produced by them here, are material and are termed natural.
[4] (iv) In each world there are three degrees, termed degrees of altitude, and consequently three regions. The three heavens of the angels are arranged in this pattern, and so are human minds, which thus correspond to those three heavens of the angels. There is a like correspondence between all other things there and here.
[5] (v) There is a correspondence between things in the spiritual world and those in the natural world.
[6] (vi) There is an order to conform with which everything in each world was created.
[7] (vii) Some idea of these matters must first be grasped, for, if not, the human mind, such is its utter ignorance of these matters, can easily fall into thinking of the creation of the universe as the work of nature, merely relying on ecclesiastical authority to declare that nature was created by God. But through ignorance of how this was done, the mind upon a thoroughgoing investigation of the subject may slip headlong into a nature-worship that denies the existence of God. However, since to expound and prove these propositions one by one would require a large volume, and this is moreover not a chief part or subject of the theological system to which this book is devoted, I should like simply to present a few accounts of experiences, which will allow some idea of God’s creation of the universe to be conceived, so that some offspring bearing its representation may be born of that conception.
* I.e. made of substance, the underlying essence of matter.
One day I had been meditating on the creation of the universe. This was noticed by the angels above me to the right, where there were some who had several times meditated and reasoned about the same matter; so one of them came down and invited me to join them. I passed into the spirit and accompanied him; on my arrival I was brought to the prince, in whose hall I saw as many as a hundred assembled with the prince in their midst.
Then one of them said: ‘We noticed here that you have meditated about the creation of the universe, a subject which has several times occupied our thoughts. But we were unable to reach a conclusion because our thinking clung to the idea of chaos being like a great egg, from which everything in the universe in its due order was hatched. Yet now we perceive that such a vast universe could not have been hatched like this. Another idea which stuck in our minds was that everything was created by God from nothing; yet now we perceive that nothing comes from nothing. Our minds have not yet been able to disentangle themselves from these two ideas and shed a little light on how creation happened. For this reason we have summoned you from the place where you were, to expound your thinking on the subject.’
[2] ‘I will indeed,’ I replied on hearing this. ‘I meditated on this,’ I said, ‘for a long time but to no purpose. But later, when I was admitted by the Lord into your world, I perceived that it was futile to form any conclusions about the creation of the universe, unless it were first known that there were two worlds, one occupied by angels and the other by men; and that men after death pass from their world into the other. Then I also saw that there are two suns, one from which pour forth all spiritual things, and one from which pour forth all natural things; and that the sun from which all spiritual things pour forth is pure love from Jehovah God, who is in its midst, while the sun from which all natural things pour forth is pure fire. When I had grasped these facts, once when I was in a state of enlightenment, I was granted the perception that the universe was created by Jehovah God by means of the sun in the midst of which He is; and because love cannot exist except together with wisdom, that the universe was created by Jehovah God from His love by means of His wisdom. I have been convinced of the truth of this by everything I have seen in the world where you are, and in the world where I am at present in the body.
[3] ‘It would be too tedious to explain how creation progressed from its first beginning. But while I was in a state of enlightenment I perceived that by means of the light and heat from the sun of your world, one after another spiritual atmospheres were created, which are in themselves substantial. Because there are three of them, and they therefore have three degrees, three heavens were made, one for angels in the highest degree of love and wisdom, one for angels in the second degree, and a third for angels in the lowest degree. But because this spiritual universe could not come into being without a natural universe, in which the spiritual one might produce its effects and perform its services, at the same time the sun which is the source of all natural things was created; and through this in the same way, by means of light and heat, three atmospheres were created to surround the first three, like a shell round a kernel or bark round wood; and it was finally through these that the globe with its lands and seas was created from the earth consisting of soil, stones and minerals, to be the home of men, animals, fish, trees, shrubs and plants.
[4] ‘This is an extremely general outline of how creation took place and progressed. It would take a series of books to explain all the particular details; but all lead to this conclusion, that God did not create the universe from nothing, since, as you said, nothing comes of nothing, but through the sun of the heaven of angels, which is from His Being (Esse) and so is pure love together with wisdom. Every single detail of the universe, by which I mean both the spiritual and natural worlds, bears witness and proclaims that the universe was created from the Divine love by the Divine wisdom. This you can clearly see, if you consider these facts in due order and in their connexions, by the light which illuminates the perceptions of your understanding. But it should be kept in mind that the love and wisdom, which in God make one, are not love and wisdom in the abstract, but are in Him as substance. For God is the very, sole and consequently prime substance and essence, which is and continues in existence in itself.
[5] All things being created from the Divine love and the Divine wisdom is what is meant by this passage in John:
The Word was with God, and the Word was God; all things were made through Him; and the world was made through Him. John 1:1, 3, 10.
God there means the Divine love, and the Word the Divine truth, or the Divine wisdom. That is why the Word is there called the light; light, when referring to God, means the Divine wisdom.’
At the end of this speech when I was saying good-bye, gleams of light from the sun there came gliding down through the heavens of the angels and entered their eyes, and through them the dwellings of their minds. Under this enlightenment they applauded my speech, and then escorted me into the courtyard; and my earlier companion took me to the house where I was living, and from there went back up to his own community.
One morning on waking from sleep, I was meditating in the light of a fine dawn before being fully awake, when I saw through the window what looked like a flash of lightning, and soon afterwards heard what sounded like a peal of thunder. I wondered where it had come from, but I was told from heaven that there were some people near me who were engaged in a furious dispute about God and nature, and the flash of light like lightning and the roaring in the air like thunder were correspondences, which presented the appearance of a battle and clash of arguments, with one side speaking in favour of God, the other of nature.
This spiritual battle had started like this. There were some satans in hell who said to one another: ‘If only we were allowed to talk to the angels in heaven, we should prove to them fully and completely that what they call God, the source of everything, is nature, and God is no more than an expression, unless by it we mean nature.’ Since those satans deeply and whole-heartedly believed that, and were so keen to talk with the angels in heaven, they were permitted to climb out of the mud and darkness of hell, and talk with two angels who came down from heaven. They met in the world of spirits, which lies midway between heaven and hell.
[2] The satans on seeing the angels rushed up to them and shouted in a furious tone: ‘Are you the angels from heaven with whom we can meet to debate God and nature? You call yourselves wise because you acknowledge God, but oh how simple you are! Who has ever seen God? Who understands what God is? Who can comprehend the idea that God rules, and can control the universe and all its parts? Does anyone but the common people and the crowd acknowledge what they cannot see and understand? What is more obvious than that nature is all in all? What else can the eye see but nature? What has the ear ever heard but nature? What else has the nose smelt? What else has the tongue tasted? What else has anyone felt by the touch of his hand or body? Are not the bodily senses our factual witnesses? On their evidence anyone can swear that a thing is so. Is not breathing, which keeps our bodies alive, evidence? What do we breathe but nature? Are not our heads, and yours, in nature? and from where do our thoughts come into our heads but from nature? Take away nature and you cannot think at all.’ Much more was said of the same sort.
[3] On hearing this the angels replied: ‘You talk like that because you are wholly under the influence of the senses. All in hell have their mental ideas so sunk in the bodily senses that they cannot lift their minds above that level. So we forgive you. A life of evil leading to a belief in falsity has so shut off the interiors of your minds that it is impossible for them to be lifted above the sensual level, except in a state where you are distant from the evils of your lives and your false beliefs. For a Satan can understand truth just as well as an angel when he hears it, but he does not retain it, because evil obliterates truth and substitutes falsity. But we observe that you are now in that distanced state, so that you can understand the truth we are telling you. So pay attention to what we are about to say.
‘You lived,’ they said, ‘in the natural world and there you died, and you are now in the spiritual world. Did you know anything before about life after death? Surely you denied its existence and put yourselves on a level with animals. Did you know anything before about heaven and hell, or about light and heat in this world? Or the fact that you are no longer within nature, but above it? For this world and everything in it is spiritual, and the spiritual is so far above the natural that nature, in which you lived, cannot exert the slightest influence on this world. But you, because you believed that nature was a god or goddess, still believe that the light and heat of this world are identical with the light and heat of the natural world; they are not in the slightest, for natural light is here darkness, and natural heat here is cold. Did you know anything about the sun of this world, the source of our light and heat? Did you know that this sun is pure love, and the sun of the natural world is pure fire? That the sun of the world, which is pure fire, is the source from which nature came into and continues in being? And that the sun of heaven, which is pure love, is the source from which life itself, which is love together with wisdom, comes into and continues in being? So nature, which you make into a god or a goddess, is completely lifeless?
[4] ‘You can, if given protection, come up with us to heaven; and we can, if given protection, go down with you into hell. In heaven you will see magnificent and splendid sights, in hell foul and filthy ones. The reason for the difference is that in heaven all worship God, in hell all worship nature. Those magnificent and splendid sights in the heavens are the correspondences of the affections of the love of good and truth; but the foul and filthy sights in hell are correspondences of the affections of the love of evil and falsity. From both these facts you can form a conclusion whether God or nature is all in all.’
To this the satans replied: ‘In our present state we can draw the conclusion from what we have heard that there is a God. But when the delight of evil takes hold of our minds, then we can see nothing but nature.’
[5] The two angels and the satans were standing not far from me, so that I saw and heard them. Around them suddenly I saw a large number of people who had been distinguished by their learning in the natural world. I was surprised to see these learned men standing at one moment next to the angels, at another next to the satans, and applauding the party they stood next to. I was told that their changes of position were changes in their mental states, as they favoured one side or the other; for in their belief they were as inconstant as weathercocks*. ‘And we will tell you a secret,’ they went on. ‘We looked down to earth to see those distinguished for their learning and we found six hundred out of a thousand on the side of nature, and the rest on the side of God. And those who were on God’s side, because they spoke not from the understanding but only repeating what they had been told, kept saying that nature came from God. Keeping on saying a thing from memory or recall, while not at the same time prompted by thought and intelligence, produces the outward look of faith.’
[6] After this the satans were given protection and went up with the two angels into heaven, and saw magnificent and splendid sights. Then being enlightened by the light of heaven they there acknowledged that there is a God, and that nature was created to minister to life, which comes from God; that nature is in itself lifeless and so does nothing of itself, but is acted upon by life. When they had seen these sights and experienced these perceptions, they went down; and as they came down, their love of evil returned and shut off their understanding above, and opened it underneath. Then there appeared above it what looked like a small cloud flashing with hellish fire. The moment their feet touched the earth, the ground yawned open beneath them, and they fell back down to their own kind.
*Latin vertumnus, the name of a god of change, but here apparently used for figures which are constantly changing.
The next day an angel came to me from another community in heaven and said, ‘We have heard in our community that because of your thoughts about the creation of the universe you were sent for to a community near ours; and there you gave a lecture on creation, which they applauded and have since taken great pleasure in. Now I am going to show you how animals and plants of every kind were produced by God.’
So he took me into a broad, green plain and said, ‘Look around you.’ I did so and saw birds of the most beautiful colours, some in flight, some sitting on trees and some on the level plucking petals from roses. Among the birds there were also doves and swans. When these had vanished from my sight, I saw not far away flocks of sheep with their lambs, of goats both male and female, and around these flocks I saw herds of cattle with their calves, as well as of camels and mules. In a wood I saw stags* with lofty antlers, as well as unicorns.
When I had seen these, the angel said, ‘Turn to face east.’ There I saw a garden full of fruit trees, oranges, citrons, olives, vines, figs, pomegranates and bushes that produce edible berries.
Then he said, ‘Now look to the south.’ There I saw crops of various kinds of grain, wheat, millet, barley and beans. Around them were flowerbeds full of roses of beautifully variegated colours. To the north there were woods full of chestnuts, palms, limes, planes and other leafy trees.
[2] When I had seen these, the angel said, ‘All the things you have seen are correspondences of the affections of the love on the part of the angels in the neighbourhood;’ and he** told me to which affections each corresponded. ‘Moreover,’ he went on, ‘not only those but all the other sights that present themselves to our eyes are correspondences; for instance, houses, the furniture in them, tables and food, clothes, even gold and silver coins, the diamonds and other precious stones which wives and girls in the heavens wear for their adornment. From all these things we can tell what each person is like in respect of love and wisdom. The contents of our houses, which serve a purpose, remain there constantly; but in the case of those who wander from one community to another, such things change depending upon the company the people are in.
[3] ‘These things have been shown to you so that you can see creation on the scale of the universe reflected in these particular models. For God is love itself and wisdom itself, and His love contains infinite affections, and His wisdom infinite perceptions; all the things to be seen upon earth are correspondences of these affections and perceptions. This is the origin of birds and animals, trees and shrubs, crops and grain, plants and grasses. For God has no extension, but is everywhere in space; so He fills the universe from first to last. Because He is omnipresent, there are such correspondences of the affections of His love and wisdom throughout the natural world. But in our world, which is called the spiritual world, similar correspondences present themselves to those who receive affections and perceptions from God. The difference is that in our world such things are created by God in an instant in accordance with the affections of the angels. But in your world, although their creation is in principle similar, provision has been made for them to be constantly renewed from generation to generation, so that creation is continuous.
[4] ‘The reason why in our world creation is instantaneous, but in your world continued a generation at a time, is that the atmospheres and soils of our world are spiritual, while those of your world are natural. Natural objects have been created to serve as clothing for spiritual ones, just as layers of skin clothe the bodies of men and animals, bark and bast clothe the trunks and branches of trees, the pia mater and dura mater and other membranes clothe the brain, sheathes the nerves, the neurilemata their fibres, and so on. That is why everything in your world remains constant, and is regularly repeated year by year.’
‘Report,’ he added, ‘what you have seen and heard to the inhabitants of your world, seeing that up to now they have been in total ignorance of the spiritual world, and without knowing about it no one can know, nor even guess, that in our world creation is continuous, and was similar in your world too when God created the universe.’
After this our talk turned to various subjects, and at length to hell, where none of the sort of things that exist in heaven are to be seen, but only their opposites, since the affections of the love of its inhabitants, which are longings for evil, are the opposite of the affections of love on the part of the angels in heaven. In company with those in hell, and in general in their deserts, there are to be seen birds of the night, such as bats, tawny and horned owls, as well as wolves, leopards, tigers, rats and mice; also poisonous snakes of every kind, dragons and crocodiles. Where there is a grassy stretch, there is an undergrowth of brambles, nettles, thorns and thistles, and some poisonous plants, which come up and disappear by turns. Then there are to be seen only heaps of stones and marshes full of croaking frogs. All of these things too are correspondences, but as was said before, correspondences of the affections of their love, which are longings for evil. Yet such things are not created there by God, nor were they in the natural world, where similar things come into existence. For all things that God created and creates were and are good. But such things arose on earth together with hell, which was composed of human beings who, by turning away from God, became after death devils and satans. But because these frightful subjects began to distress our ears, we turned our thoughts away from them and recalled instead what we had seen in the heavens.
* The Latin has ‘hinds’.
** The Latin has ‘they’.
Once when I was thinking about the creation of the universe, some people from the Christian part of the world approached me, who in their time had been among the most famous philosophers and had a reputation for surpassing wisdom. ‘We notice,’ they said, ‘that you are thinking about creation; tell us what is your opinion on that subject.’
‘Tell me first,’ I replied, ‘what is yours.’ ‘My opinion,’ said one of them, ‘is that creation is the work of nature, and that nature therefore created itself, having existed from eternity. A vacuum does not and cannot exist. Yet what is it that we see with our eyes, hear with our ears, smell with our noses and breathe with our lungs, if not nature? Because nature is outside us, it is also within us.’
[2] Another person who heard this said: ‘You speak of nature and regard it as the creator of the universe, but you do not know how nature made the universe; so I will tell you. It twisted itself into vortices which clashed together as clouds do, or like houses collapsing in an earthquake.’ He explained that this collision caused the denser material to come together to form the earth; the more fluid parts separated out and came together to form the seas; and the lighter parts also separated out to form the ether and the air, the lightest of all formed the sun. ‘Have you not seen how when oil, water and dust are mixed together, they spontaneously separate out and arrange themselves in order one above the other?’
[3] Then another listener said: ‘What you say is mere imagination. Everyone knows that the first source of all things was chaos, which in size filled a quarter of the universe. In its midst was fire, with ether around that, and matter around the ether. This chaos split open and the fire burst forth through the cracks, as it does from Etna or Vesuvius, to form the sun. Next the ether expanded and spread around, to form an atmosphere. Finally the remaining matter condensed into a ball, to form the earth. As for the stars, they are merely lights in the expanse of the universe, which arose from the sun and its fire and light. For the sun was at first like an ocean of fire, which to avoid setting fire to the earth threw off from itself shining sparks; these took up their positions in the surroundings and so completed the universe by forming the sky.’
[4] But there was one of the by-standers who said: ‘You are wrong. You think yourselves wise, and I seem to you simple. Yet in my simplicity I have believed, and still do, that the universe was created by God; and because nature is part of the universe, He created it at the same time as the whole of nature. If nature had created itself, would it not have existed from eternity? That is a fine piece of nonsense.’
Then one of the so-called wise men rushed up nearer and nearer to the speaker, and put his left ear to the other’s mouth – his right ear was blocked with what looked like cotton-wool – and asked what he had said. He repeated the same statement, whereupon the man who had come up looked around him to see if any priest was present; he caught sight of one beside the speaker, and then twisted around saying: ‘I too admit that the whole of nature comes from God, but -.’ And he went off, whispering to his companions and saying: ‘I said that because there was a priest present. You and I know that nature comes from nature, and because nature is therefore God, I said that the whole of nature comes from God, but – .’
[5] But the priest, hearing what they were whispering, said: ‘Your wisdom is nothing but philosophy, which has led you astray and shut off the interiors of your minds so completely that no light from God and His heaven can penetrate and bring you enlightenment. You have put the light out. Consider therefore,’ he went on, ‘and decide among yourselves what is the origin of your souls, which are immortal. Do they come from nature, or were they at the same time in that mighty chaos?’
On hearing this the first man went off to his colleagues, to ask their help in solving this knotty problem. They came to the conclusion that the human soul is nothing but ether, and thought is merely a modification of the ether caused by sunlight; and ether is a part of nature. ‘Surely everyone knows,’ they said, ‘that we talk by means of the air? And what is thought but speech in a purer sort of air, which is called ether? That is why thought and speech act as one. Anyone can observe this in children; a child first learns to talk, and then afterwards to talk to himself, and that is thinking. What then can thought be but a modification of the ether? Or what is the sound of speech but a modulation of it? From these considerations we deduce that the thinking soul is part of nature.’
[6] But some of them, while not disagreeing, cast light on the state of the question by saying that souls arose when the ether formed itself into a ball out of that mighty chaos, and then in the highest region divided itself into innumerable individual forms. These are infused into people, when they begin to think by that purer sort of air, and they are then called souls.
Another on hearing this said: ‘I admit that the individual forms made from the ether in its highest region may have been innumerable, but still the number of human beings born from the creation of the world has exceeded the number of forms, so how could those ethereal forms be enough? This has led me to think that the souls which issue from people’s mouths when they die return to the same people again after some thousands of years, so that they embark on and complete a life, similar to their previous one. It is well known that many wise men believe in the transmigration of souls and similar ideas.’ In addition to these there were other guesses flung around, which I pass over as being crazy.
[7] After a short while the priest returned, and the one who had previously spoken about the creation of the universe by God told him their decisions concerning the soul. On hearing these the priest told them: ‘You have spoken exactly as you thought in the world, unaware that you are not any longer in that world but another, which is called the spiritual world. All those who, by convincing themselves of the nature theory, have become immersed in the bodily senses, are not aware that they are no longer in the same world as that in which they were born and brought up. The reason is that there they had a material body, but here a substantial body; and a substantial person sees himself and his companions around him exactly as a material person sees himself and his companions around him, for the substantial is the starting-point of the material. Because you think, see, smell, taste, and speak just as you did in the natural world, you believe that nature here is the same. Yet the nature of this world is as different and remote from that of the former world as the substantial is from the material, or the spiritual from the natural, or what is prior from what is posterior. Because the nature of the world in which you previously lived is comparatively speaking lifeless, so by convincing yourselves of your belief in nature you too have become virtually dead as regards matters which relate to God, heaven and the church, as well as what concerns your souls. Still every person, bad as well as good, can have his understanding raised into the light enjoyed by the angels in heaven; and then he can see that God exists, that there is a life after death, that the human soul is not ethereal and thus of the nature of the material world, but spiritual, and so destined to live for ever. The understanding can enjoy that angelic light, so long as the natural loves are banished which came from the world, favouring it and its nature, and from the body, favouring it and the self*.
[8] At once those loves were banished by the Lord, and they were permitted to talk with angels. From their conversation in that state they perceived the existence of God and that after dying they were living in another world. This made them blush with shame and cry: ‘We were mad, we were mad!’ But since this state was not their own and after a few minutes became tiresome and unwelcome, they turned their backs on the priest and were unwilling to go on listening to him. Thus they reverted to their former loves, which were entirely natural, worldly and bodily. They went off to the left, from one community to another, and eventually reached a road where they caught a whiff of the delights of their own loves, and said: ‘Let us take this road.’ So they went along it, going down until they came to people who delighted in similar loves, and further still. Since their delight consisted in doing evil, and they harmed many on the way, they were thrown into prison and became demons. Then their delight was turned into misery, because they were restrained and prevented from enjoying what had previously delighted them, the behaviour which had formed their nature, by punishment and the fear of punishment.
They asked their companions in that prison whether they were to live like that for ever. Some of those there replied: ‘We have been here for several centuries, and we are to remain for ever and ever, because the nature we acquired in the world cannot be changed or driven out by punishment. When it is driven out by this, it still comes back after a short interval.’
* Latin proprium, the term often used for the unregenerate self.
Once a satan was given leave to come up from hell together with a woman, and he approached the house where I was. On seeing them I shut the window, but carried on a conversation with them through it. I asked the Satan where he came from, and he said from the company of his own people.
I asked where the woman came from, and he made the same reply. She belonged to the crew of sirens. Their skill is by fantasy to put on every appearance of beauty and every adornment of dress. At one time they assume the beauty of Venus, at another the charm of countenance of a Muse, at another they deck themselves like queens in crowns and robes, and pace in regal fashion leaning on silver staves. Such women in the spiritual world are prostitutes and specialise in fantasy. They induce fantasies by thinking sensually, which blocks any ideas from a more inward mode of thinking.
I asked the Satan if she was his wife. ‘What is a wife?’ he replied. ‘This is a term unknown to me and my community; she is my woman.’ Then she roused her man’s lewdness, a thing these sirens are skilled in doing. On feeling this he kissed her, saying, ‘Oh my Adonis!’
[2] But to more serious matters. I asked the Satan what was his calling. ‘My calling,’ he said, ‘is learning; don’t you see the laurel wreath on my head? ‘This his Adonis had conjured up by her magic arts and put on his head from behind.
‘Since you come from a community,’ I said, ‘where there are schools of learning, tell me what you and your companions believe about God.’ ‘God,’ he replied, ‘is for us the universe, which we also call nature. Simple folk in our country call it the atmosphere, by which they mean the air; but the intelligent mean the atmosphere which is also the ether. God, heaven, angels and the like, the subject of many tales in this world, are idle words and fictions inspired by meteors, which many people here have seen flash before their eyes. Is not everything to be seen upon earth the creation of the sun? Every time it approaches in springtime are not insects born, with and without wings? Does not its heat make birds love each other and reproduce? And does not the earth, warmed by its heat, cause seed to sprout and produce fruits as its offspring? Does this not mean that the universe is God, and nature a goddess, and she as the wife of the universe conceives, bears, rears and nurtures these things?’
[3] I went on to ask what he and his community believed about religion. ‘We who are educated above the ordinary level,’ he replied, ‘look on religion as nothing but a toy for the common people. The sensory and imaginative areas of their minds are surrounded with a sort of aura, in which religious ideas flit about like butterflies in the air. Their faith, which links these ideas into a sort of chain, resembles a silk-worm in its cocoon, from which the king of butterflies flutters forth. For the uneducated masses love images which rise above the bodily senses and the thoughts they engender, because they have a longing to fly. So they make themselves wings, so that they can soar like eagles and show off in front of the earth-bound, saying, ‘Look at me!’ We, however, believe what we see and love what we touch.’ At this he touched his woman, saying, ‘This I believe, because I see and touch it. But we throw all that sort of rubbish out of our windows of mica, and waft it away on a gale of laughter.’
[4] Then I asked his opinion and that of his companions on heaven and hell. He laughed and said: ‘What is heaven but the ethereal firmament on high? What are angels but spots wandering round the sun? What are archangels but comets with their long tails, on which their company lives? What is hell but marshland full of frogs and crocodiles, which their imagination turns into devils? Everything but these ideas of heaven and hell is mere nonsense, thought up by some church dignitary to seek fame among an ignorant populace.’
He said all this exactly as he had thought in the world, unaware that he was living after death, and forgetful of everything he had been told when he first entered the world of spirits. Therefore even when asked about life after death, he replied that it was a figment of the imagination, but there might perhaps be some effluvium given off by the corpse in the grave in shape resembling a person, or something like the ghosts which some tell tales about, and this had led people to fantasise on the subject.
[5] On hearing this I could no longer stop myself bursting out laughing. ‘Satan,’ I said, ‘you really are mad. What are you now? Are you not in shape like a person? Don’t you talk, see, hear and walk? Remember that you lived in another world, which you have forgotten, and now you are alive after death, yet have been speaking exactly as you did before you died.’
He was given back his memory, and on remembering he was ashamed and cried: ‘I am mad. I have seen heaven up above, and heard angels there speak things beyond description. But this was when I was a recent arrival. Now I shall remember this to tell the companions I left behind, and then perhaps they will be ashamed too.’ He had it on the tip of his tongue to call them mad, but as he went down forgetfulness blotted out his memory, so that on arrival he was as mad as they were, and called what I had told him madness.
Such is the state of thought and conversation among satans after death. The name of satans is given to those who have convinced themselves of falsities until they completely believe them, and the name of devils to those who have fostered evils in their characters by living a wicked life.
THE LORD THE REDEEMER
The previous chapter dealt with God the Creator, and at the same time with creation; this chapter will deal with the Lord the Redeemer, and at the same time with redemption. The following chapter will deal with the Holy Spirit, and at the same time with the way God works. By the Lord the Redeemer we understand Jehovah in the Human; for the following pages will prove that Jehovah Himself came down and assumed human form in order to effect redemption. We say ‘the Lord’ and not ‘Jehovah’ because the Jehovah of the Old Testament is called the Lord in the New Testament, as can be established from the following passages; we read in Moses:
Hear, O Israel, Jehovah our* God is one Jehovah; you shall love Jehovah God with your whole heart and your whole soul. Deut. 6:4, 5.
but in Mark:
The Lord our God is one Lord; you shall love the Lord your God with your whole heart and your whole soul. Mark 12:29, 30.
Also in Isaiah:
Prepare the way for Jehovah, make smooth in the desert a path for our God. Isa. 40:3.
but in Luke:
You shall go before the face of the Lord to prepare the way for Him. Luke 1:76.
and in other passages. The Lord too ordered His disciples to call Him Lord, and He was therefore so called by the Apostles in their Epistles, and later by the Apostolic Church. This is plain from its creed, the so-called Apostles’ Creed. The reason was that the Jews did not dare to name Jehovah on account of His holiness, and because ‘Jehovah’ means the Divine Being (Esse), which existed from eternity, while the Human, which He took upon Himself in time, was not that Being. I showed in the previous chapter (18-26, 27-35) what the Divine Being or Jehovah is. For this reason, here and in what follows by the Lord we understand Jehovah in His Human.
[2] Now since knowledge of the Lord surpasses in excellence all other kinds of knowledge known to the church, or even in heaven, I shall adopt an ordered arrangement to bring that knowledge to light, as follows:
(i) Jehovah, the Creator of the Universe, came down and took upon Himself human form, in order to redeem and save mankind.
(ii) He came down as the Divine Truth, which is the Word, yet He did not separate the Divine Good from it.
(iii) He took upon Himself human form in accordance with His Divine order.
(iv) The Human by which He brought Himself into the world is what is called the Son of God.
(v) The Lord by acts of redemption made Himself righteousness.
(vi) By the same acts He united Himself with the Father, and the Father with Him. This too was in accordance with Divine order.
(vii) Thus God became man, and man God, in one person.
(viii) His progress towards union was His state of exinanition**, and the union itself is His state of glorification.
(ix) From this time on no one from Christian countries can come into heaven, unless he believes in the Lord God the Saviour, and approaches Him alone.
These propositions will be explained one by one.
* So changed in the author’s own copy from ‘your’.
** Or being emptied; see 104.
Christian churches to-day believe that God the Creator of the universe fathered a Son from eternity, who came down and took upon Himself human form to redeem and save mankind. But this is an error and collapses of its own accord, so long as the mind concentrates on the oneness of God, and the reason looks upon as fiction or worse the idea that the one God fathered a Son from eternity, and also that God the Father together with the Son and the Holy Spirit, each of whom is severally God, is one God. This fiction is utterly exploded, like a meteorite in the atmosphere, when it is shown from the Word that it was Jehovah God Himself who came down and became man and also was the Redeemer.
[2] The first point, that it was Jehovah God Himself who came down and became man, is established by these passages:
Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, who shall be called God with us. Isa. 7:14; Matt. 1:23.
A boy is born for us, a son is given to us, on whose shoulder the dominion shall be; and his name shall be called Wonderful, God, Hero, the everlasting Father, the Prince of peace. Isa. 9:6, 7.
On that day it will be said, Behold, He is our God, whom we have awaited to free us. He is Jehovah, whom we have awaited. Let us exult and rejoice in His salvation. Isa. 25:9.
The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare the way for Jehovah, make smooth in the desert a path for our God; and all flesh shall see it together. Isa. 40:3, 5.
Behold, the Lord Jehovih comes in strength, and His arm shall bear dominion for Him. Behold, His recompense comes with Him; He will tend His flock like a shepherd. Isa. 40:10, 11.
Jehovah said, Shout for joy and rejoice, daughter of Zion; behold, I come to dwell in your midst; then shall many nations cleave to Jehovah on that day. Zech. 2:10, 11.
I Jehovah have called you in righteousness, and I will give you to be a covenant with the people. I am Jehovah, this is my name; my glory I shall not give to another. Isa. 42:1, 6-8.
Behold, the days will come when I will raise up for David a righteous shoot, who will reign as king and do judgment and righteousness upon earth; and this is His name, Jehovah our righteousness. Jer. 23:5, 6; 33:15, 16.
There are also the passages where the Lord’s coming is called ‘the day of Jehovah’, as Isa. 13:6, 9, 13, 22; Ezek. 31:15; Joel 1:15; 2:1, 2, 11, 29, 31; 3:1, 14, 18; Amos 5:13, 18, 20; Zeph. 1:7-18; Zech. 14:1, 4-21; and elsewhere.
[3] It is openly stated in Luke that Jehovah Himself came down and took upon Himself human form.
Mary said to the angel, How shall this happen, since I have no knowledge of a man? The angel answered her, The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you, so that the holy thing that is born of you will be called the Son of God. Luke 1:34, 35.
And in Matthew the angel said in a dream to Joseph, who was betrothed to Mary, that that which was born of her was of the Holy Spirit; and Joseph did not know her until she had borne a son, and he called His name Jesus. Matt. 1:20, 25. The Holy Spirit means the Divine which proceeds from Jehovah God, as will be seen in Chapter 3 of this book. Everyone knows that a child gets its soul and life from the father, its body from the mother.* So how could it be more openly stated that the Lord’s soul and life were from Jehovah God, and because the Divine cannot be divided, that the Father’s Divine itself was His soul and life? That is why the Lord so many times called Jehovah God His Father, and Jehovah God called Him His Son. Can anything more ridiculous be said than the idea that our Lord’s soul was from His mother Mary? Yet such is the dream of both Roman Catholics and Protestants to-day, and they have not woken up to what is said in the Word.
* Reading ex matre ‘from the mother’ for ex anima ‘from the soul’, apparently a repetition from the preceding clause, cf. 92:1; 103:1.
Am I not Jehovah, and there is no God beside Me? There is no righteous God and Saviour beside Me. Isa. 45:21, 22.
I am Jehovah, and there is no Saviour beside Me. Isa. 43:11.
I am Jehovah your God, and you are not to acknowledge any God beside Me, and there is no Saviour beside Me. Hosea 13:4.
That all flesh may know that I am Jehovah your Saviour and your Redeemer. Isa. 49:26; 60:16.
As for our Redeemer, Jehovah Zebaoth is His name. Isa. 47:4.
Their Redeemer, the mighty Jehovah Zebaoth is His name. Jer. 50:34.
Jehovah, my rock and my Redeemer. Ps. 19:14.
Thus spoke Jehovah, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, I am Jehovah your God. Isa. 48:17; 43:14; 49:7.
Thus spoke Jehovah, your Redeemer; I am Jehovah who makes all things, and I alone by Myself. Isa. 44:24.
Thus spoke Jehovah, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, Jehovah Zebaoth; I am the First and the Last, and there is no God beside me. Isa. 44:6.
You are Jehovah our Father, our Redeemer from of old is your name. Isa. 63:16.
I will take pity with eternal mercy, thus spoke your Redeemer Jehovah. Isa. 54:8. You had redeemed me, Jehovah of truth. Ps. 31:5.
Let Israel hope in Jehovah, for there is mercy with Jehovah, with Him is very much redemption. He shall redeem Israel from all his sins. Ps. 130:7, 8.
Jehovah Zebaoth* is His name, and your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel; He shall be called the God of all the earth. Isa. 54:5.
From these and very many more passages anyone who has eyes, and a mind opened by using his eyes, can see that God, who is one, came down and was made man in order to effect redemption. Can anyone fail to see this as clear as in morning light, so long as he pays attention to those very sayings of God which have been quoted? Those, however, who are plunged in the shades of night as the result of convincing themselves that a second God was born from eternity, and that it was He who came down and redeemed us, close their eyes to those Divine sayings, and ponder with their eyes shut how to pervert them and make them square with their false ideas.
*Corrected in the author’s copy from ‘Jehovah God’ in keeping with the Hebrew; cf. 93.
There are two factors which make up the essence of God, the Divine Love and the Divine Wisdom, or, what is the same thing, the Divine Good and the Divine Truth. This dual essence of God was proved above (36-48). The same pair is meant in the Word by Jehovah God; Jehovah means the Divine Love or the Divine Good, God the Divine Wisdom or the Divine Truth. Hence these terms are distinguished in various ways in the Word; at one point only Jehovah is named, at another only God. Where the subject is the Divine Good, the name Jehovah is used, where it is the Divine Truth, God; and where both are meant, He is called Jehovah God. It is evident from John that Jehovah God came down as the Divine Truth, which is the Word:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God; all things were made through Him, and without Him was nothing made that was made. And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. John 1:1, 3, 14.
The reason why the Word there means the Divine Truth is that the Word possessed by the church is Divine Truth itself, for it was dictated by Jehovah Himself, and what Jehovah dictates is pure Divine Truth and could not be anything else.
[2] But because the Word passed through the heavens in its descent to the world, it was made suitable for angels in heaven, and for men in the world. So the Word contains a spiritual sense, in which the Divine Truth is illuminated, and a natural sense, in which the Divine Truth is in shadow. So what is meant in John is the Divine Truth in this Word. This is also plain from the Lord’s coming into the world to fulfil everything in the Word. This is why we read so many times that this or that happened to Him ‘that the scripture might be fulfilled.’ Nothing but the Divine Truth too is meant by ‘the Messiah’ or ‘Christ’, or by ‘the Son of Man’, or by ‘the Holy Spirit the Comforter’, which the Lord sent after He left the world. In His transfiguration before the three disciples on the mountain (Matt. chapter 17, Mark chapter 9 and Luke chapter 9), and before John in Revelation (1:12-16), He represented Himself as that Word, as will be seen in the chapter on the Holy Scripture [222].
[3] It is plain from the Lord’s words that in the world He was the Divine Truth:
I am the way, truth and life. John 14:6.
and:
We know that the Son of God came and gave us understanding so that we might know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true in His Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God, and everlasting life. 1 John 5:20.
This is also shown by His being called ‘light’, as in these passages, among others:
He was the true light which illuminates every man coming into the world. John 1:4, 9.
Jesus said, For a short while yet the light is with you. Walk so long as you have the light, so that the darkness may not overtake you. So long as you have the light, believe in the light, so that you may be sons of light. John 12:35, 36, 46.
I am the light of the world. John 9:5.
Simeon said, My eyes have seen your salvation, a light to be a revelation to the nations. Luke 2:30-32.
This is the judgment, that the light came into the world; he who does the truth, comes to the light. John 3:19-21.
Light means the Divine Truth.
Gird your sword upon your thigh, o mighty one, and go up in your splendour, ride upon the word of truth; your right hand shall teach you wondrous things; sharp are your arrows, your enemies shall fall beneath you. Ps. 45:3-5.
This passage describes the Lord, His combats with the hells and His victories over them.
[2] The power of truth is very clearly to be seen in the spiritual world. An angel who possesses Divine truths from the Lord, even if physically as weak as a child, can still put to rout a crowd of spirits from hell, though they look like the Anakim and Nephilim, that is, like giants, and pursue them down to hell and force them into its caverns; and when they emerge from these they do not dare to approach the angel. Those who possess Divine truths from the Lord behave in that world like lions, though they have no more strength in their bodies than sheep. Likewise, human beings who possess Divine truths from the Lord have power against evils and falsities, and so they have against serried ranks of devils, who regarded as they are in essence are simply evils and falsities. The reason there is such strength in the Divine Truth is that God is Good itself and Truth itself, and He created the universe by means of the Divine Truth; and all the laws of order by which He preserves the universe are instances of truth. This is why it is said in John that ‘all things were made through the Word, and without Him was nothing made that was made’ (John 1:3, 10); and in the Psalms of David:
Through the Word of Jehovah the heavens were made, and through the breath of His mouth the whole company of the heavens. Ps. 33:6.
It was shown in the section on the Divine omnipotence and omniscience that together with creation God introduced order both into the universe and into all its parts, and that God’s omnipotence therefore functions and works in the universe and all its parts in accordance with the laws of its order; these points were discussed in their proper sequence above (49-74). Now since God came down, and He is order, as was proved in that section, He had, so as to become really man, to be conceived, be carried in the womb, be born, be brought up and learn items of knowledge one by one, and by their means be brought into a state of intelligence and wisdom. Therefore in His Human He was a child like any other child, a boy like any other boy, and so on, the only difference being that He achieved that progress more quickly, fully and perfectly than others. It is evident from this passage in Luke that He advanced thus in accordance with order:
The boy Jesus grew and was strengthened in spirit; and He advanced in wisdom, years and favour with God and men. Luke 2:40, 52.
It is plain that He did this more quickly, fully and perfectly than others from the description the same Evangelist gives of Him, as for instance that, when He was a boy of twelve, He sat and taught in the Temple in the midst of the teachers, and all who heard Him were astonished at His intelligence and His answers (Luke 2:46, 47 and later 4:16-22, 32). This was done because Divine order prescribes that a person should prepare himself to receive God; and as he prepares himself, so God enters into him as into His dwelling and home. That preparation is accomplished by acquiring knowledge about God and the spiritual matters which concern the church, thus by means of intelligence and wisdom. For it is a law of order that in so far as a person approaches and comes near to God, which he should do entirely as if of himself, so far does God approach and come near to him, and link Himself to the person in his midst. It will be shown in the following pages that the Lord advanced in accordance with this order until He reached union with His Father.
* Christian Wolff (1679-1754), a follower of Leibnitz.
The Lord said on many occasions that the Father sent Him and that He was sent by the Father; e.g. Matt. 10:40; 15:24; John 3:17, 34; 5:23, 24, 36-38; 6:29, 39, 40, 44, 57; 7:16, 18, 28, 29; 8:16, 18, 29, 42; 9:4; and very many other passages. He said this because by ‘being sent into the world’ is meant coming down and mixing with human beings; this He did by means of the Human, which He took upon Himself by means of the Virgin Mary. The Human too is really the Son of God, because it was conceived of Jehovah God as the Father (as is stated by Luke 1:32, 35). The Human is called the Son of God, the Son of Man and the Son of Mary; by the Son of the God is meant Jehovah God in His Human, by the Son of Man the Lord as to the Word, and by the Son of Mary the actual human which He took upon Himself. It will be proved in the following pages that these are the meanings of the Son of God and the Son of Man; that the Son of Mary means His purely human nature is evident from the reproduction of human beings, where the soul comes from the father and the body from the mother. The father’s semen contains the soul, and this is clothed with a body in the mother’s womb. To put it another way, everything spiritual a person has is from his father, everything material from his mother.
[2] In the case of the Lord, what was Divine in Him was from His Father Jehovah, and His human was from His mother; the union of these two is the Son of God. This is clearly proved from the account of the Lord’s birth, of which we read in Luke:
The angel Gabriel said to Mary, The Holy Spirit shall come upon you, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow you; therefore the holy thing that shall be born of you shall be called the Son of God. Luke 1:35.
The Lord also described Himself as ‘sent by the Father’ because ‘sent’ has a similar meaning to ‘angel’, for angel in the language of the original means one who is sent. For it is said in Isaiah:
The angel of Jehovah’s faces* has set them free, on account of His love and mercy He has redeemed them. Isa. 63:9.
And in Malachi:
Suddenly the Lord whom you seek shall come to his temple, and also the messenger of the covenant, whom you long for. Mal. 3:1.
There are other similar passages elsewhere. It will be seen in Chapter 3 of this book that the Divine Trinity, God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, is in the Lord, and that the Father in Him is the originating Divine, the Son the Divine Human and the Holy Spirit the emanating Divine.
* The Latin here follows the Hebrew in using the plural.
I was seeing in visions; and behold, a watcher, a Holy One, coming down from heaven. Dan. 4:13, 23.
God shall come from Teman, the Holy One from Mount Paran. Hab. 3:3.
I am Jehovah the Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your Holy One. Isa. 43:14, 15.
Thus spoke Jehovah, the Redeemer of Israel, his Holy One. Isa. 49:7.
I am Jehovah your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Saviour. Isa. 43:1, 3.
As for our Redeemer, Jehovah Zebaoth is His name, the Holy One of Israel. Isa. 47:4.
Jehovah your Redeemer said, the Holy One of Israel. Isa. 43:14; 48:17.
Jehovah Zebaoth is His name, and your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel. Isa. 54:5.
They tested God and the Holy One of Israel. Ps. 78:41.
They have abandoned Jehovah, and provoked the Holy One of Israel. Isa. 1:4.
They said, Make the Holy One of Israel depart from our faces; therefore thus spoke the Holy One of Israel. Isa. 30:11, 12.
Who say, Let Him hasten His work that we may see it, and let the purpose of the Holy One of Israel come near and be present. Isa. 5:19.
On that day they shall lean upon Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. Isa. 10:20.
Cry out and triumph, inhabitant of Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel. Isa. 12:6.
The word of the God of Israel, On that day his eyes shall look towards the Holy One of Israel. Isa. 17:6, 7.
The needy among men shall exult in the Holy One of Israel. Isa. 29:19; 41:16.
The earth is full of guilt against the Holy One of Israel. Jer. 51:5.
See also Isa. 55:5; 60:9 and elsewhere.
[2] By ‘the Holy One of Israel’ is meant the Lord as to His Divine Human, for the angel said to Mary:
The holy thing that shall be born of you shall be called the Son of God. Luke 1:35.
Although Jehovah and the Holy One of Israel are mentioned separately, it is clear that they are one and the same, as is shown also by the passages quoted here, which prove that the Holy One of Israel is Jehovah. There are numerous passages to show that the Lord is called the God of Israel: for example, Isa. 17:6; 21:10, 17; 24:15; 29:23; Jer. 7:3; 9:15; 11:3; 13:12; 16:9; 19:3, 15; 23:2; 24:5; 25:15, 27; 29:4, 8, 21, 25; 30:2; 31:23; 32:14, 15, 36; 33:4; 34:2, 13; 35:13, 17, 18, 19; 37:7; 38:17; 39:16; 42:9, 15, 18; 43:10; 44:2, 7, 11, 25; 48:1; 50:18; 51:33; Ezek. 8:4; 9:3; 10:19, 20; 11:22; 43:2; 44:2; Zeph. 2:9; Ps. 41:13; 59:5; 68:8.
[2] Since an idea of this sort had already become prevalent among Christians in the fourth century with the rise of the Arian heresy, the Council of Nicaea, in order to claim divinity for the Lord, invented the dogma of the Son of God born from eternity. This invention at the time raised the Lord’s Human to the Divine level, and this still has the same effect for many to-day. It did not, however, have this result for those who understand by hypostatic union a union between two, one of whom is above and the other below. What else can result from such a belief but the destruction of the whole Christian church, the sole foundation of which is the worship of Jehovah in the Human, that is to say, it is based on God-Man? The Lord states in many passages that no one can see the Father, nor know Him, nor come to Him, nor believe in Him, except through His Human. If this is not so, all the noble seed of the church is turned into worthless seed, the seed of the olive into the seed of the pine, the seed of the orange, citron, apple and pear into the seed of the willow, elm, lime and holm-oak, the vine into a marsh reed, wheat and barley into chaff. All spiritual food in fact becomes like the dust that snakes eat. In the case of man, spiritual light becomes first natural, and finally sensual and bodily, a light which regarded in itself is delusive. A person then in fact becomes like a bird which has its wings clipped while flying high, and falls to the ground; once on the ground it can only walk and see around it what lies before its feet. Then a person’s thoughts about the spiritual side of the church, all the things that favour everlasting life, resemble the ravings of a clown. All this is the result of a person regarding the Lord God, the Redeemer and Saviour, as only the Son of Mary, that is, nothing but a man.
The Christian churches to-day say and believe that merit and righteousness belong to the Lord alone through the obedience He showed to God the Father, while He was in the world, in particular by His passion on the cross. But they have assumed that suffering the cross was itself the act of redemption; yet that was not it, but the act of glorifying His Human, a subject which will be discussed in the following section on redemption. The acts of redemption by which the Lord made Himself righteousness were His carrying out of the last judgment, which took place in the spiritual world. He then separated the wicked from the good and the goats from the sheep, expelling from heaven those who made common cause with the beasts of the dragon. From the worthy He founded a new heaven, from the unworthy a new hell; and by stages He brought everything everywhere back into order, and in addition He established a new church. These were the acts of redemption by which the Lord made Himself righteousness; for righteousness consists in doing everything in accordance with Divine order, and restoring everything which had slipped out of order. Divine order itself is righteousness. This is the meaning of these words of the Lord:
It is appropriate for me to fulfil all the righteousness of God. Matt. 3:15.
Also these passages in the Old Testament:
Behold, the days will come when I will raise up for David a righteous shoot, who will reign as king and do righteousness upon the earth; and this is his name, Jehovah our righteousness. Jer. 23:5, 6; 33:15, 16.
I speak in righteousness, mighty to save. Isa. 63:1.
He shall sit upon the throne of David to establish it in judgment and righteousness. Isa. 9:7.
Zion shall be redeemed in righteousness. Isa. 1:27.
Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of the heavens. Matt. 5:20.
Blessed are those who undergo persecution for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of the heavens. Matt. 5:10.
At the completion of the age angels will go forth and separate the wicked from out of the midst of the righteous. Matt. 13:49.
The righteous in the Word mean those who have lived in accordance with Divine order, since Divine order is righteousness.
[2] Righteousness itself, which by His redeeming acts the Lord became, cannot be ascribed to, impressed on, fitted on or linked with a person, otherwise than light to the eye, sound to the ear, will to the muscles of one who acts, thought to the lips of the speaker, air to the breathing lungs, heat to the blood, and so on. Anyone can see for himself that these things have an effect and are accessory without being linked to the organ. But righteousness is acquired the more a person applies it, and he applies righteousness, the more the love of what is right and true inspires his dealings with his neighbour. Righteousness dwells in the actual good, or the actual service, which he performs. For the Lord says that every tree is recognised by its fruit. We recognise another person by his actions, if we pay attention to the end and purpose of what he wills, and the intention or cause behind his actions. This is what all the angels observe, and so do all the wise people in our world. In general, every plant and shoot the earth puts forth is recognised by its flower and seed, and the service which its seed performs; likewise every metal by its worth, every stone by its quality, every piece of ground by its, every food by its, every land animal and every bird of the air by its. Why not man too? The quality and origins of a person’s actions will be disclosed in the chapter on faith [336-391].
The reason why the union took place through redeeming acts was that the Lord performed them by His Human; and as He did so, the Divine meant by the Father came closer, helped and worked with Him, until eventually they so joined themselves that they were not two but one. This union is glorification, which will be described in the following pages.
[2] Here I shall first prove that the union of the Father and the Son, that is, the Divine and the Human in the Lord, is like the union of soul and body; and, secondly, that this is a reciprocal union. The concept of a union as of the soul and the body has been established in the Athanasian Creed, which is accepted throughout the Christian world as the doctrine concerning God. In it we read as follows:
Our Lord Jesus Christ is God and Man; and although He is God and Man, they are not two, but one Christ. He is one, because the Divine took to itself a human. Indeed He is altogether one and is one Person, for as the soul and the body are one man, so God and Man are one Christ.
This is understood to mean that this is a union between the Son of God from eternity and the Son born in time; but because God is one and not three, so long as that union is understood to be with the one God from eternity, the doctrine agrees with the Word. There we read that He was conceived of Jehovah the Father (Luke 1:34, 35); and that was the source of His soul and life. This is why He says that He and the Father are one (John 10:30); that he who sees and knows Him sees and knows the Father (John 14:9); ‘if you knew Me, you would also know My Father’ (John 8:19); ‘he who receives Me, receives Him who sent Me’ (John 13:20); that He is in the Father’s bosom (John 1:18); that all things whatsoever the Father has are His (John 16:15); that He is called the everlasting Father (Isa. 9:6); that He thus has power over all flesh (John 17:2), and all power in heaven and on earth (Matt. 28:18). From these and many other passages in the Word it can be clearly seen that the union between the Father and the Son is like that between the soul and the body. For this reason too He is often called in the Old Testament Jehovah, Jehovah Zebaoth, and Jehovah the Redeemer (see 83 above).
Philip, do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? Believe me, I am in the Father and the Father is in me. John 14:10, 11
That you may know and believe, that the Father is in me and I in the Father. John 10:36, 38,
That all may be one, as you, Father, are in me, and I in you. John 17:21.
Father, all that is mine is yours, and all that is yours is mine. John 17:10.
The union is reciprocal, because no union or link is possible between two people unless each approaches the other. Every link throughout heaven, throughout the world and in the whole human personality, is entirely due to the reciprocal approach of each to the other, leading to a mutual identity of will. This produces similarity and sympathy, unanimity and agreement in every detail on each side.
[2] Such is the reciprocal link between soul and body in each individual; such is the link between a person’s spirit and the sensory and motor organs of his body; such is the link between the heart and the lungs; such is the link between the will and the understanding; such is the link between all the members and viscera of the human body in themselves and with each other; such is the link between the minds of all who love each other deeply, for it is engraved upon every form of love and friendship, since love wants to love and be loved. There is a reciprocal link between all the things in the world which are indissolubly joined. There is a similar link between the heat of the sun and the heat of wood or stone, between the vital heat and the heat of all the fibres of living creatures. There is a similar link between the ground* and the root, and through the root with the tree, and through the tree with the fruit; there is a similar link between the magnet and the iron, and so on. If the link were not produced by a reciprocal and mutual approach of one to the other, it would be merely an outward and not an inward linking; and this in time falls apart of itself, sometimes so that the partners no longer recognise each other.
* The Latin has, apparently in error, ‘the tree’.
He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. John 6:56.
Remain in me, and I in you. He who remains in me and I in him bears much fruit. John 15:4, 5.
If anyone opens the door, I will come into him and dine with him, and he with me. Rev. 3:20.
This link is produced by a person approaching the Lord and the Lord approaching him. For it is a fixed and immutable law that the Lord approaches a person to the extent that he approaches the Lord. This subject will be discussed further in the chapters on charity and faith.
[2] Moreover it has been proved in the present chapter that Jehovah God in respect of His Human is called in the Word Jehovah, Jehovah God, Jehovah Zebaoth*, as well as the God of Israel. Therefore Paul says that in Jesus Christ all the fulness of the Godhead dwells bodily (Col. 2:9); and John says that Jesus Christ the Son of God is the true God and everlasting life (1 John 5:20). The Son of God in its true sense means His Human (see 92ff above). Moreover Jehovah God calls both Himself and His Son Lord, for we read:
The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand. Ps. 110:1.
and in Isaiah:
A child is born for us, a son is given to us, whose name is God, the everlasting Father. Isa. 9:6, 7.
Son also means the Lord in respect of His Human in the Psalms of David:
I will bring news of a decree, said Jehovah. You are my son, to-day have I begotten you. Kiss the son, so that he may not be angry and so that you do not perish on the way. Ps. 2:7, 12.
This does not mean a Son from eternity, but the Son born in the world, for it is a prophecy of the Lord’s coming. This is why it is called a decree, news of which Jehovah gave to David. Earlier in that Psalm it says:
I have anointed my King over Zion. Ps. 2:6.
and later:
I will give him the nations for an inheritance. Ps. 2:8.
This proves that ‘to-day’ does not mean from eternity, but in time, for with Jehovah the future is present.
* Or ‘the Lord of Hosts’.
Jesus’ mother said to Him, They have no wine. Jesus said to her, What have I to do with you, woman? My hour has not yet come. John 2:3, 4.
and elsewhere:
Jesus from the cross saw His mother and the disciple whom He loved standing next to her. He says to His mother, Woman, behold your son; then He says to the disciple, Behold your mother. John 19:26, 27.
and on one occasion He did not acknowledge her:
People reported to Jesus, saying, Your mother and your brothers are standing outside and want to see you. In answer Jesus said, My mother and my brothers are those who hear the Word of God and do it. Luke 8:20, 21; Matt. 12:46-50; Mark 3:31-35.
So the Lord did not call her mother, but woman, and He gave her to be a mother to John. In other passages she is called His mother, but never by the Lord himself.
[2] This is also proved by the fact that He did not acknowledge Himself to be the Son of David, for we read in the Gospels:
Jesus asked the Pharisees, saying, What is your opinion of the Christ? Whose son is he? They say to Him, David’s. He said to them, How then does David call him in spirit his Lord, saying, The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies the footstool for your feet? If then David calls Him Lord, how is He his son? And no one could say a word in reply to Him. Matt. 22:41-46; Mark 12:35-37; Luke 20:41-44; Ps. 110:1.
[3] Here I shall add something new.
I was once allowed to speak with Mary the mother of Jesus. She happened to be passing, and appeared in heaven above my head, dressed in white garments that looked like silk. Then she paused for a moment to say that she had been the Lord’s mother, and He was born to her, but became God putting off everything human He had from her, and she therefore worships Him as her God, and she did not want anyone to acknowledge Him as her Son, because all the Divine is in Him.
The truth now shines out from these statements, that Jehovah is thus man in first things as in last, as it is written:
I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, He who is, who was and who is to come, the Almighty. Rev. 1:8, 11.
John, on seeing the Son of Man in the midst of the seven lampstands, fell at His feet as if dead. But He laid His right hand upon him, saying, I am the first and the last. Rev. 1:13, 17; 21:6.
Behold, I come quickly, to give to each according to his deeds. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. Rev. 22:12, 13.
Also in Isaiah:
Thus spoke Jehovah, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, Jehovah Zebaoth, I am the first and the last. Isa. 44:6; 48:12.
[2] Since a person’s soul is his very self, and by its origin the soul is spiritual, it is clear why the father’s mind, attitude, character, inclination and affection of love live on in one descendant after another, and show up from one generation to the next. That is why many families, even whole nations, are recognisable likenesses of their ancestor; there is a shared type which shows up in the faces of each of his descendants, and this is only changed by the spirituality of the church. The type shared by Jacob and Judah still lives on in their descendants, allowing them to be distinguished from others, because down to the present day they have kept strictly to their religion. For in the seed from which each individual is conceived there is a shoot or cutting of the father’s soul in all its completeness, wrapped in a covering of natural elements. These control the formation of the body in the mother’s womb, where it may take on a resemblance to the father or the mother, though the father’s type remains in it and constantly strives to come out. So if it is unable to do so in the first generation, it achieves this in subsequent ones.
[3] The reason why the father’s type in all its completeness is in the seed is that, as already said, the soul is in origin spiritual, and the spiritual has nothing in common with space, so it can be reproduced in a small compass just as well as on a large scale. As for the Lord, when He was in the world, He put off by redeeming acts all the human He had from His mother, and put on the Human from the Father, that is, the Divine Human. That is why it is that in Him man is God and God is man.
It is well known in the church that when the Lord was in the world He underwent two states, which are known as exinanition and glorification. The earlier state, that of exinanition, is described in many passages of the Word, especially in the Psalms of David, and also in the Prophets, in detail in Isaiah chapter 53, where we read that He emptied His soul to the point of death (Isa. 53:12). This same state is that of His humility before the Father, for in that state He prayed to the Father, and says that He is doing the Father’s will, and He ascribes all that He did and said to the Father. His praying to the Father is evident from these passages: Matt. 26:39, 42*; Mark 1:35; 6:46; 14:32-39; Luke 5:16; 6:12; 22:41-44; John 17:9, 15, 20. His doing the Father’s will: John 4.34; 5:30. His ascribing to the Father all that He did and said: John 8:26-28; 12:49, 50; 14:10. Indeed, He cried out on the cross: ‘My God, my God, why are you abandoning me?’ (Matt. 27:46; Mark 15:34). Moreover, if He had not been in this state, He could not have been crucified.
The state of glorification is the state of being united. He was in this state when He was transfigured before His three disciples, and when He performed the miracles, and each time He said that the Father and He were one, that the Father was in Him and He in the Father, and that all things of the Father’s were His. After their complete union He said that He had power over all flesh (John 17:2); and all power in heaven and upon earth (Matt. 28:18), and much besides.
* The reference given in the Latin text (Matt. 17:43) is wrong, but how it should be corrected is not certain.
The first state then is represented by the state of a prince, a king’s or duke’s son, before he becomes king or duke. Likewise by the state of any citizen, before he becomes a magistrate; or of any subject before he becomes an official; or of any student who is being trained for the ministry before he becomes a priest, and then his state before he becomes a pastor, and then before he becomes a bishop; or of any young woman before she becomes a wife, or of any serving girl before she becomes mistress of a household. Generally speaking, it is the state of any apprentice before he becomes a merchant, any soldier before he becomes an officer, any servant before he becomes head of a household. The first state of these people is that of being a servant, the second that of following one’s own will, and so one’s own understanding.
[2] There are also various representations of these two states in the animal kingdom. The first is represented by animals and birds so long as they are tended by their parents, follow them constantly, and are fed and guided by them; the second when they leave their parents and look after themselves. Likewise with caterpillars, the first state is when they crawl and feed on leaves, the second when they slough their cases and become butterflies. There are also representations of these two states in things of the vegetable kingdom: the first when a plant springs up from seed, and decks itself out with branches, boughs and leaves; the second when it bears fruit, and produces a fresh crop of seed. This can be compared to the link between truth and good, because everything about a tree corresponds to truths, its fruits to kinds of good. A person who stops at the first state without entering upon the second is like a tree which produces only leaves and no fruit; of such a tree it is said in the Word that it is to be rooted out and cast into the fire (Matt. [17:19;] 21:19; Luke 3:9; 13:6-9; John 15:5, 6). Or he is like the slave who does not wish to be free, of whom it was commanded that he should be brought to the door or door-post, and have his ear pierced with an awl (Exod. 21:6). Those who have no link with the Lord are slaves, but those who have are free; for the Lord says:
If the Son makes you free, you are truly free. John 8:36.
We read in Isaiah:
Behold, I create a new heaven and a new earth, and the former ones shall not be remembered, neither shall they rise above the heart, and behold, I shall make Jerusalem an exultation, and its people happiness. Isa. 65:17, 18.
and in Revelation:
I saw a new heaven and a new earth, and I saw the holy Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride for her husband; and He that sat on the throne said, Behold, I shall make all things new. Rev. 21:1, 2, 5.
We read in many places that only those who are written down in the Book of Life of the Lamb will enter heaven (Rev. 13:8; 17:8; 20:12, 15; 21:27). Heaven there does not mean the heaven we see with our eyes, but the heaven of the angels; Jerusalem is no city coming out of the sky, but a church which will come down from the Lord out of the other heaven; and the Book of Life of the Lamb does not mean some book written in heaven which is to be opened, but the Word, which is from the Lord and about Him. In the preceding sections of this chapter the doctrine that Jehovah God, who is called the Creator and Father, came down and took upon Himself human form, in order that He could be approached and be joined, has been confirmed, proved and established. Does anyone on approaching a person address himself to his soul? How could one do so? Rather he addresses himself to the person whom he sees before him, and speaks to him directly face to face. The case is similar with God the Father and God the Son, since God the Father is in the Son, as the soul is in the body.
[2] The following passages in the Word establish that one must believe in the Lord God the Saviour:
God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, so that everyone who believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3:15, 16.
He who believes in the Son is not judged, but he who does not believe has already been judged, because he has not believed in the name of the only-begotten Son of God. John 3:18.
He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; but he who does not believe in the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God will rest upon him. John 3:36.
The bread of God is that which comes from heaven, and gives life to the world; he who comes to me shall not be hungry, and he who believes in me shall never be thirsty. John 6:33, 35.
This is the will of Him who sent me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him should have everlasting life, and I should raise him up on the last day. John 6:40.
They said to Jesus, What shall we do to perform God’s work? Jesus answered, This is God’s work, to believe in Him whom the Father has sent. John 6:28, 29.
In truth, I say to you, he who believes in me has everlasting life. John 6:47.
Jesus cried out saying, If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. If anyone believes in me, streams of living water will flow from his belly. John 7:37, 38.
If you have not believed that I am, you will die in your sins. John 8:24.
Jesus said, I am the resurrection and life; he who believes in me, though he die, shall live; but everyone who lives and believes in me shall not ever die. John 11:25, 26.
Jesus said, I have come as a light into the world, so that everyone who believes in me should not remain in darkness. John 12:46; 8:12.
So long as you have the light, believe in the light, so that you may be sons of light. John 12:36.
We read that they will abide in the Lord and the Lord in them (John 14:20; 15:1-5; 17:23), which they can do through faith.
Paul preached both to Jews and to gentiles repentance towards God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. Acts 20:21.
I am the way, truth and life; no one comes to the Father except through me. John 14:6.
[3] The following passages prove that he who believes in the Son believes in the Father, since, as said before, the Father is in Him, just as the soul is in the body:
If you knew me, you would also know my Father. John 8:19; 14:7.
He who sees me sees Him who sent me. John 12:45.
He who receives me receives Him who sent me. John 13:20.
The reason is that no one can see the Father and live (Exod. 33:20). For this reason the Lord says:
No one has ever seen God; His only-begotten Son who is in the Father’s revealed Him. John 1:18.
No one has seen the Father, except Him who is with the Father; He has seen the Father. John 6:46.
You have never heard the Father’s voice, nor have you seen His appearance. John 5:37.
But those who do not know anything about the Lord, like those in two of the three continents, Asia and Africa, not to mention the Indies, if they believe in one God, and live in accordance with the commandments of their own religion, are saved by their faith and their life. Sin is imputed to those who know, not to those who are ignorant, just as blind people who knock into things are not blamed. For the Lord says:
If you were blind, you would not have any sin; but now you say that you can see, therefore your sin remains. John 9:41.
At this point I will add a piece of news. A few months ago the twelve apostles were called together by the Lord and sent out into the whole spiritual world, as they were once into the natural world, with instructions to preach this gospel. Each apostle had his own zone assigned to him. They are now following out their instructions with all eagerness and dedication. But a more detailed account of these events will be given in the last chapter of this book, which will deal with the ending of the age, the Lord’s coming and the new church.
All churches which existed before the Lord’s coming were representative, unable to see Divine truths except in shadow. But since the Lord’s coming into the world, a church has been founded by Him which has seen, or rather has been able to see, Divine truths in broad daylight. It is the same difference as between evening and morning. In fact the state of the church before the Lord’s coming is called in the Word evening; and its state after His coming is called morning. Before He came into the world, the Lord was certainly present with the people of the church, but through the mediation of angels as His representatives; however, since His coming He is present with the people of the church without any intermediary. For in the world He put on the Divine Natural too, in which He is present with human beings. The Lord’s glorification is the glorification of His Human, which He took upon Himself in the world; and the glorified Human of the Lord is the Divine Natural. The truth of this is clear from the fact that the Lord rose from the tomb with His whole body which He had in the world, and left nothing of it behind there. It follows that He took with Him from there the Human Natural itself from first to last. That is why He said to His disciples after the resurrection, when they thought they saw a spirit:
Look at my hands and my feet to confirm that it is I; touch me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones, as you see me have. Luke 24:37, 39.
It is plain from this that His natural body was made Divine by glorification. Paul therefore says that in Christ all the fulness of the Godhead dwells bodily (Col. 2:9); and John says that the Son of God Jesus Christ is the true God (1 John 5:20). By this the angels know that the Lord alone in all the spiritual world is fully man.
[2] It is well known in the church that all worship among the Israelite and Jewish nation was only external, and it was only a sketch of the internal worship which the Lord revealed. Thus worship before the Lord’s coming consisted of symbols and figures, which stood as a fair model of true worship. Among the ancients the Lord Himself was actually seen, for He said to the Jews:
Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day, and see it he did and was glad. I say to you, before Abraham was, I was. John 8:56, 58.
But because at that time the Lord was only represented, which was done by means of angels, everything in the Jewish church was made representative. But after His coming into the world, those representations vanished. The inward cause of this was that the Lord in the world put on the Divine Natural too, and by means of this He enlightens not only the internal, spiritual man, but also the external, natural man. Unless these two are simultaneously enlightened, a person is, so to speak, in shadow; but when both are simultaneously enlightened, he is, so to speak, in daylight. For when only the internal man is enlightened, and not the external at the same time, or when only the external man is enlightened, and not the internal at the same time, it is like someone asleep and dreaming, and then when he wakes remembering his dream, which leads him to various quite imaginary conclusions. It is also like someone walking in his sleep, when he thinks he sees what he sees in broad daylight.
[3] The difference between the state of the church before and after the Lord’s coming can also be compared to a person who reads a book at night by the light of the moon and stars, and one who does so in sunlight. It is crystal clear that in the former light, which is only white, the eye strays; but it does not in the latter light, which is flamelike. Therefore we read of the Lord:
The God of Israel spoke, the Rock of Israel talked to me. He is like the light of morning, when the sun rises, a morning without clouds. 2 Sam. 23:3, 4.
The God of Israel and the Rock of Israel mean the Lord. Elsewhere:
The light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be sevenfold, like the light of seven days, on the day when Jehovah binds up His people’s broken limb. Isa. 30:26.
This is a description of the state of the church after the Lord’s coming. In short, the state of the church before the Lord’s coming can be compared to an old woman, whose face is made up and who thinks the rouge makes her look lovely. But the state of the church after the Lord’s coming can be compared to a young woman whose natural high colour makes her beautiful. Again, the state of the church before the Lord’s coming can be compared to the rind of a fruit, such as an orange, apple, pear, or grape, and its taste; but its state after His coming to the interior of those fruits and their taste; and many other similes. This is all because the Lord, after putting on the Divine Natural too, enlightens the internal, spiritual man and the external, natural man at the same time. For when only the internal man is enlightened, and not the external at the same time, there is shadow; and likewise when only the external is enlightened, and not the internal at the same time.
In the spiritual world I once saw a shooting star, which fell to earth surrounded by a streak of light. It was a meteor of the sort popularly known as a dragon. I noted the place where it fell; but it disappeared in the twilight as the day began to break, as always happens with shooting stars.
After daybreak I approached the spot where I had seen it fall during the night; I found the ground there composed of a mixture of sulphur, iron filings and clay. Then there suddenly appeared two tents, one directly over the spot, the other a little to the south of it. Then when I looked up, I saw a spirit falling from heaven like a thunderbolt; he landed in the tent which stood directly over the spot where the meteor had fallen; and I was in the other tent which stood beside it to the south. I stood at the entrance to the tent and saw the spirit also standing in the entrance to his tent.
So I asked him why he had thus fallen from heaven. He replied that he had been thrown down as an angel of the dragon by the angels of Michael, ‘because,’ he said, ‘I had expressed some of my convictions about faith, which I had formed in the world. One of these was the idea that God the Father and God the Son are two and not one; for everyone in the heavens now believes that They are one as soul and body are one. Any expression contrary to that belief is like a tickling in their nostrils, or an awl piercing their ears, which causes them mental disturbance and pain. For this reason, anyone who contradicts them is ordered to leave, and if he shilly-shallies, he is thrown out.’
[2] On hearing this I said to him, ‘Why did you not believe as they did?’ He replied that after leaving the world no one can believe anything but what he had proved to himself and so imprinted on his mind. This remains rooted in it so that it cannot be torn out, and this is especially the case with convictions about God, since it is his idea of God which determines everyone’s place in the heavens.
I went on to ask what proofs he had found that the Father and the Son were two. ‘The passages in the Word,’ he said, ‘which state that the Son prayed to the Father, not only before the crucifixion, but actually during it; and that He humbled Himself before the Father. How then could they be one, as the soul and the body are one in man? Who prays as if to another, or humbles himself as if before another, if he is himself that other? No man behaves like that, far less the Son of God. Moreover, the whole Christian church in my time divided the Divinity into Persons, and each Person is one by itself, and is defined as that which remains in existence by its own right.’
[3] On hearing him say this I replied: ‘I have grasped from what you say that you are utterly ignorant how God the Father and God the Son are one; and since you do not know how this is, you have accepted the false notions about God still prevalent in the church. Do you not know that, when the Lord was in the world, He had a soul like any other person? Where could He have got it from, unless from God the Father? There are plenty of plain statements that this is so in the writings of the Evangelists. What then is it that is called the Son, but the Human which was conceived of the Father’s Divine and born of the Virgin Mary? A mother cannot conceive a soul; that would be totally repugnant to the order which controls human reproduction. Nor can God the Father implant the soul from Himself, and then retire, as every father in the world does, since God is His own Divine Essence, and this is one and indivisible; and being indivisible, it must be God Himself. This is why the Lord says that the Father and He are one, that the Father is in Him and He is in the Father, and many more similar statements. This too was seen, at a distance, by those who framed the Athanasian Creed; so after splitting God into three Persons, they still declare that in Christ God and man, that is, the Divine and the Human, are not two, but one, as the soul and the body in man are one.
[4] ‘The Lord in the world prayed to the Father as if to another, and humbled Himself before the Father as if before another, because this was to conform with the order established from creation; for this is the immutable order which controls everyone’s progress towards being linked with God. This order lays down that as a person links himself to God, which he does by living according to the rules of order or God’s commandments, so God links Himself to him, and makes him spiritual instead of natural. In the same way the Lord united Himself with His Father, and God the Father united Himself with the Lord. Was the Lord not a child like any other, a boy like any other boy? Do we not read that He advanced in wisdom and grace, and later, that He besought the Father to glorify His name, that is, His Human? To glorify is to make Divine by union with Himself. This shows plainly why the Lord in His state of exinanition, which was His state while advancing towards union, prayed to the Father.
[5] ‘That same order was imprinted on every person from creation,
namely the rule that as a person prepares his understanding by means of truths from the Word, so does he make it suitable for the reception of faith from God; and as he prepares his will by means of charitable actions, so he renders it capable of receiving love from God. For as a craftsman cuts a diamond, so he gives it the faculty of receiving and emitting a brilliant light; and so forth. To prepare oneself to receive and be linked to God is to live in accordance with Divine order, and the laws of order are all the commandments of God. The Lord fulfilled these down to the last comma, and so made Himself a receiver of the Divinity in all its fulness. Therefore Paul says that in Jesus Christ all the fulness of the Godhead dwells bodily, and the Lord says that all things of the Father’s are His.
[6] ‘It is further to be held that the Lord alone is active in a person, and the person by himself is only passive, but he is moved to activity by the inflow of life from the Lord. This perpetual inflow from the Lord makes it appear to a person that he acts of himself. Because this is so, he also has free will, and this is given to him in order to prepare himself to receive and be linked to the Lord, a state which would be impossible if the linking were not reciprocal. This is accomplished when a person acts of his own free will, yet is led by faith to attribute all activity to the Lord.’
[7] After this I asked whether, like the rest of his companions, he admitted that God is one. He replied that he did. Then I said: ‘I am afraid that in your heart you may believe that there is no God. Surely everything one says with the lips arises from thought in the mind? Therefore a verbal admission that there is one God must inevitably eliminate the idea of three Gods from the mind; and contrariwise, such a thought in the mind must inevitably eliminate the verbal admission that there is one God. So what can be the result, except a belief that there is no God? Surely this will turn into a vacuum all the intervening stages between the thought and the lips, and in the reverse direction between the lips and the thought? So what other conclusion about God can the mind reach, but that nature is God? Or about the Lord, but that His soul was from His mother or from Joseph? All the angels of heaven recoil from these two ideas as horrible and abominable.’
After this the spirit was banished into the abyss described in Revelation (9:2ff) where the angels of the dragon discuss the secrets of their faith.
[8] The next day, when I looked towards the same spot, I saw in place of the tents two statues in human shape, made of dust from the soil, which was a mixture of sulphur, iron and clay. One statue appeared to hold a sceptre in its left hand, it had a crown on its head, and a book in its right hand; its bodice was girded diagonally with a sash decorated with precious stones, and its robe streamed out behind towards the other statue. But these were appearances given to that statue by imagination. Then a voice was heard from one of the followers of the dragon: ‘This statue represents our faith as a queen, and the other one behind it is charity represented as her handmaid.’ This statue was made out of a similar mixture of powders; it was placed right at the end of the robe streaming out behind the queen, and it held in its hand a placard on which was written: ‘Beware of coming too close and touching the robe.’ Then a sudden shower fell from heaven, which drenched both the statues, and since they were made of a mixture of sulphur, iron and clay, they began to bubble, as a mixture of those substances will when water is poured on*. So they caught fire from internal combustion, fell apart and were reduced to heaps, which afterwards stuck up above ground like mounds in a graveyard.
*Sulphur here means a combustible material of a sulphurous nature.
In the natural world people’s speech is twofold, because so is their thought, for it may be external or internal. For one can speak as a result of internal thought and at the same time of external thought, or simply as the result of external thought without the internal, or even contrary to it. This is the origin of pretence, insincerity and hypocrisy. But in the spiritual world people do not have twofold speech but only one way of speaking; they speak as they think, otherwise the sound of their voices is harsh and hurts the ears. One can, however, still keep quiet and not reveal the thoughts arising in the mind. Consequently a hypocrite on coming into the company of wise people either goes away, or hurries into a corner of the room, makes himself inconspicuous and sits in silence.
[2] There was once a large assembly in the world of spirits to discuss this subject. They said that being unable to speak except as one thought was hard for those who did not have right ideas about God and the Lord, when they mixed with good people. The middle of the assembly consisted of people from the Reformed Churches, many of them clergy, and next to them were the Roman Catholics and their monks. To begin with, both parties said that this was not hard. ‘What need is there,’ they said, ‘to speak otherwise than one thinks? And if perhaps anyone does not think aright, can he not keep his mouth shut and be silent?’
A clergyman said: ‘Is there anyone who does not think aright about God and the Lord?’
But some people in the assembly said: ‘Let us put them to the test.’ So they told those who have a firm conviction about God as a Trinity of Persons to think about and say ‘One God’. They could not do so; they twisted and screwed up their mouths into all kinds of shapes, but were unable to utter any words except those which agreed with their thoughts, and these were about three Persons, so consequently three Gods.
[3] They went on to tell those who had convinced themselves of the doctrine of faith separated from charity to name ‘Jesus’. They could not do so, though they were able to say ‘Christ’, and also ‘God the Father’. This surprised them and they asked why. The reason they discovered to be the fact that they had prayed to God the Father for the sake of His Son, and not to the Saviour Himself; and ‘Jesus’ means Saviour.
[4] Then they were told to think about the Lord’s Human and say ‘the Divine Human’. None of the clergy present was able to do so; but some of the laymen could. So they made this the subject of a profound debate. Then (i) the following passages from the Gospels were read to them:
The Father gave all things into the hand of the Son. John 3:35.
The Father gave the Son power over all flesh. John 17:2.
All things were handed to me by the Father. Matt. 11:27.
All power has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Matt. 28:18.
‘Now keep in mind,’ they were told, ‘that Christ both in His Divine and in His Human is the God of heaven and earth, and while doing so say the Divine Human.’ But they were still unable to do so; and they said that although they could retain some thoughts coming from their understanding of the subject, still they could not acknowledge this at all, and that was the reason for their failure.
[5] (ii) Then the passages from Luke (1:32, 34, 35) were read to them, which prove that the Lord in His Human was the Son of Jehovah God, and that He is there called ‘the Son of the Most High’, and in many other passages ‘the Son of God’, as well as ‘the Only-begotten’. They begged them to keep this in mind, and also that the only-begotten Son of God who was born in the world must inevitably be God, just as His Father is God, and then to say ‘the Divine Human.’ But they said: ‘We cannot, because our spiritual, that is, interior thought does not permit any but similar ideas to enter the thought which is nearest to speech.’ As a result they said they perceived that now they were not allowed to divide their thoughts, as they had in the natural world.
[6] (iii) Next, these words of the Lord to Philip were read to them:
Philip said, Lord, show us the Father; and the Lord said, He who sees me sees the Father; do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father in me? John 14:8-11.
Also other passages stating that the Father and He are one (e.g. John 10:30). They were told to keep these in mind, and so to say ‘the Divine Human.’ But because their thought was not rooted in the acknowledgment of the Lord as God in His Human too, they screwed up their mouths until they became indignant, wanting to force their mouths to utter the words, but being unable to do so. The reason was that the ideas one thinks of, which are derived from acknowledgment, are identical with the words of language, when one is in the spiritual world. In the absence of those ideas, the words will not come, for speaking is putting ideas into words.
[7] (iv) Then the following passage was read to them from the doctrine received throughout the Christian world:
The Divine and the Human in the Lord are not two, but one, in fact one Person, united like soul and body in man.
This is from the Athanasian Creed, and has been accepted by the Councils. Then they were told: ‘This at least will give you some idea and enable you to acknowledge that the Lord’s Human is Divine, because His soul is Divine. This is the doctrine of your church, and you acknowledged it in the world. Moreover, the soul is the very essence of a person, and the body is the form, and essence and form make one, like being and coming-into-being, or like the efficient cause which produces the effect and the effect itself.’ They held this idea in mind, and tried by means of it to say ‘the Divine Human’, but still they could not. For the idea deep within their minds about the Lord’s Human banished and drove out this new supplementary idea, as they called it.
[8] (v) After this the following passage from John was read to them:
The Word was with God, and the Word was God; and the Word was made flesh. John 1:1, 14.
and also this:
Jesus Christ is the true God and everlasting life. 1 John 5:20.
and from Paul:
In Christ Jesus all the fulness of the Godhead dwells bodily. Col. 2:9.
2:9.
They were told to think along these lines: that God who was the Word became man; that He was the true God; and that all the fulness of the Godhead dwelt in Him bodily. They did so, but only in their external thought; for the resistance of their internal thought prevented them from saying the words ‘the Divine Human.’ They said frankly that they could not have any idea of a Divine Human, ‘because God is God, and man is man; and God is a spirit, and we have never understood spirit as anything but wind or ether.’
[9] (vi) Finally they were told: ‘You know that the Lord said:
Remain in me and I in you; he who remains in me, and I in him, bears much fruit, because without me you can do nothing. John 15:4, 5.
Because some of the English clergy were present, a passage was read to them from one of the prayers used in the Holy Communion:
For, when we spiritually eat the flesh of Christ and drink the blood, then we dwell in Christ, and Christ in Us.**
Now consider that this would be impossible, if the Lord’s Human were not Divine, and then say ‘the Divine Human’, acknowledging this in your thought. But they were still unable to do so, because the idea was so deeply stamped on their minds that what is Divine could not be human, and what is human could not be Divine; and that the Lord’s Divine was from the Divine of the Son born from eternity, while His Human was like that of any other man. They were told: ‘How can you think this? Can the rational mind ever conceive of a Son born of God from eternity?’
[10] (vii) Then they turned to the Evangelical party and said that the Confession of Augsburg and Luther taught that the Son of God and the Son of Man were one Person in Christ, and that even in His human nature He was omnipotent and omnipresent; and this enabled Him to sit at the right hand of God the Father, and control all things in the heavens and upon earth, to fulfil all prophecies, be with us, and dwell and work in us; that there was no distinction in worship, because through the visible nature the invisible Godhead is worshipped; and that in Christ God is man and man is God. On hearing this they replied: ‘Is that so?’ They looked around and after a while said: ‘We did not know this before; that is why we cannot say ‘the Divine Human.’ One or two said: ‘We read that and wrote it, but when we pondered it in our hearts, they were only words, of which we had no inward notion.’
[11] (viii) Lastly they turned to the Roman Catholics and said: ‘Perhaps you can name the Divine Human, because you believe that in your Eucharist Christ is wholly present in the bread and wine, and in every part of them. Moreover you worship Him, when you display and carry around the Host, as the Most Holy God. You also call Mary the mother of God. Consequently you acknowledge that she gave birth to God, that is, the Divine Human.’ Then they tried to say the words, but because there then slipped in a material idea of the body and blood of Christ, and also a belief that His Human could be separated from the Divine, and in fact is so separated in the Pope, to whom only His human and not His Divine power was transferred, they could not pronounce them. Then a monk got up and said that he could think of the Divine Human in the case of the most holy Virgin Mary, or the patron saint of his monastery. Another monk came up who said: ‘The idea which I now cherish in my mind enables me to say the Divine Human of his Holiness the Pope, rather than of Christ.’ But then some of the Catholics pulled him back saying: ‘You should be ashamed of yourself.’
[12] After this heaven appeared to open, and tongues like small flames were seen coming down and lighting on certain people. These then praised the Divine Human of the Lord, saying: ‘Banish the idea of three Gods, and believe that in the Lord all the fulness of the Godhead dwells bodily, and that the Father and He are one, just as soul and body are one, and that God is not wind or ether, but is man. Then you will be linked with heaven, and the Lord will enable you to name Jesus and to say “the Divine Human.”‘
* This section is repeated with minor changes from AR 294.
** These words are quoted in English in the original.
I once woke up around dawn and went out into the garden in front of my house. I watched the sun rising in its splendour, and around it I saw a halo, first of all narrow and later projecting further, shining as if made of gold, and under its lower edge a cloud coming up, which glittered with the sun’s fire like a ruby. This then led me to think about how the earliest people had legends which described the Dawn as having wings made of silver feathers and carrying gold in her mouth.
While my mind was taking pleasure in these thoughts, I passed into the spirit, and heard some people talking to one another. ‘I wish,’ they were saying, ‘we could talk with that original thinker who has thrown the apple of Strife among the leaders of the church; many laymen have run after it, picked it up and held it before our eyes.’ They meant by that apple my little book entitled: A BRIEF EXPOSITION OF THE DOCTRINE OF THE NEW CHURCH. ‘It is a new doctrine never before thought up, designed to divide the church,’ they said. I heard one of them cry out: ‘Divisive indeed, it is heretical!’ But some of the bystanders answered: ‘Be quiet, hold your tongue; it is not heretical. It quotes a large number of sayings from the Word which those who live with us – we mean laymen – pay attention to and support.’
[2] On hearing this, since I was in the spirit, I went up to them and said: Here I am. What is the trouble?’
At once one of them, a German as I learned later, a native of Saxony, said in an authoritative tone of voice: ‘How have you the nerve to upset the mode of worship established for so many centuries throughout the Christian world, namely, the invocation of God the Father as the Creator of the universe, and of His Son as Mediator, and of the Holy Spirit as Worker? You are banishing the first and the last God from our Trinity of Persons, although the Lord Himself says: “When you pray, pray like this: Our Father, who art in the heavens, hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come.” Is this not an instruction to us to invoke God the Father?’
This speech produced silence, and all his supporters took up their stand like the brave fighters on warships when the enemy fleet comes into view, ready to shout: ‘Now let us fight, victory is surely ours.’
[3] So I began my speech by saying: ‘You all know that God came down from heaven and became man, because we read: “The Word was with God and the Word was God, and the Word was made flesh.” You know all of you,’ and here I looked hard at the Evangelical party, to which the spokesman who had addressed me belonged, ‘that in Christ who was born of the Virgin Mary God is man, and man is God.’ There was an uproar from the assembly at this, so I said: ‘Do you not know this? It is in accordance with the doctrine of your sect called the Formula of Concord; it states this and adds many proofs in support of it.’
Then the spokesman turned to the assembly and asked whether they knew this. They replied: ‘We paid too little attention to what that book says about the Person of Christ; but we worked hard at the section on justification by faith alone. Still, if that is what it says, we are content.’ Then one who could remember it said: ‘Yes, it does say that; and it adds further that Christ’s human nature was raised to Divine majesty and all its attributes, and also that Christ is seated in Divine majesty at the right hand of His Father.’
[4] When they heard this, they fell silent. So having got them to agree to this, I said: ‘If this is so, is not the Father then the Son, and the Son also the Father?’ But since this again offended their ears, I went on: ‘Listen to the Lord’s actual words, and if you paid no heed to them before, do so now. He said: “The Father and I are one; the Father is in me and I in the Father; Father, all things of mine are yours, and all of yours are mine; He who sees me sees the Father.” How can you understand these sayings, except as meaning that the Father is in the Son and the Son in the Father, and that they are one like soul and body in man, so they are one Person? You will find that this is part of your faith too, if you believe the Athanasian Creed, which says something very much like this. But take from what I have quoted just this one utterance of the Lord: “Father, all things of mine are yours, and all of yours are mine.” What does this mean, if not that the Father’s Divine belongs to the Son’s Human, and the Son’s Human to the Father’s Divine? Consequently in Christ God is man and man is God, and thus they make one as soul and body make one.
[5] Everyone can say the same things about his soul and body. Each person can say: all things of yours are mine, and all of mine are yours; you are in me and I in you; he who sees me sees you, we are one in person and have one life. The reason is that the soul pervades the whole and every part of the person, for the life of the soul is the life of the body, and is possessed by them in common. It is plain from this that the Father’s Divine is the Son’s soul, and the Son’s Human is the Father’s body. Where can a son’s soul come from, if not from his father, and where can his body come from, if not from his mother? When we say the Father’s Divine we mean the Father Himself, since He and His Divine are the same; this is also one and indivisible. The truth of this is established by the words with which the angel Gabriel addressed Mary: “The power of the Most High will overshadow you, and the Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the holy thing that shall be born of you shall be called the Son of God.” Shortly before He is called “the Son of the Most High,” and elsewhere “the only-begotten Son.” You, however, who call Him only the Son of Mary, destroy the idea of His divinity; but the only ones who do this are some of the learned clergy and well-educated laymen, who, when they lift their thoughts above the level of the bodily senses, have in view the enhancement of their reputations. This not only casts a shadow, but actually puts out the light, through which the glory of God comes in.
[6] ‘But let us go back to the Lord’s Prayer, which says: “Our Father, who art in the heavens, hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come.” Those of you who are present here understand by these words the Father in His Divine alone; but I understand Him in His Human, and this too is the Father’s name. For the Lord said: “Father, glorify your name,” that is, your Human. When this happens, the kingdom of God comes. The instruction to use this prayer has been given us for the present time, that is, so that God the Father may be approached through His Human. The Lord also said: “No one comes to the Father except through Me,” and the prophet said: “A child is born for us, a Son is given to us, whose name is God, Hero, the everlasting Father”; and elsewhere: “You, Jehovah, are our Father, your name is our Redeemer from of old.” There are thousands of other passages where the Lord our Saviour is called Jehovah. This is the true explanation of those words in the Lord’s Prayer.’
[7] On finishing this speech I looked at them and noticed that their faces had changed in accordance with the change in their mental state. Some of them supported me and were watching me; some did not, and they turned their faces away. Then I saw on the right a pearly-coloured cloud, and on the left a murky cloud, from both of which rain was falling. The rain from the dark cloud was like a shower in late autumn, that from the other like dew in early springtime. Then suddenly I passed from the spirit into the body, and so returned from the spiritual world into the natural one.
I looked out into the world of spirits and saw an army mounted on chestnut and black horses. Those who sat upon them looked like monkeys, their faces and chests turned towards the hind quarters and tails of the horses, the backs of their heads and bodies towards the horses’ necks and heads; the reins hung loosely about the necks of the riders. They raised a shout against those who rode on white horses, and pulled on the reins with both hands to keep their horses away from the battle, and they kept on doing this.
Then two angels came down from heaven, and on approaching me said: ‘What do you see?’ I described this ridiculous cavalry and asked: ‘What is this, and who are they?’
The angels replied: ‘They come from the place called Armageddon (Rev. 16:16), where some thousands have gathered to do battle with the members of the Lord’s new church, which is called the New Jerusalem. They were talking there about the church and religion; yet there was not a trace of the church in them, because they were without any spiritual truth, or any trace of religion, because they were without any spiritual good. There was much talk there on their lips about both subjects, but their motive was to exercise power by their means.
[2] ‘As young men they had learned to believe in faith alone, and they knew a little about God. After being promoted to the higher offices of the church, they retained their beliefs for a while. But since they then began to think no more about God and heaven, and only about themselves and the world, and so abandoned blessedness and everlasting happiness for temporal distinction and wealth, they pushed the doctrines they had learned in youth out of the interiors of the rational mind, which are in contact with heaven and so illuminated by its light, and banished them to the exteriors of the rational mind, which are in contact with the world and are illuminated only by its faint beams. They ended by relegating those doctrines to the level of the natural senses. This made them treat the doctrines of the church merely as formulas to be repeated, and no longer thought about rationally, much less affectionately loved. By making themselves like this, they do not receive the Divine truth which the church provides, nor any real good which comes from religion. To use a simile, the interiors of their minds have become like leather bags filled with a mixture of iron filings and powdered sulphur; if then water is poured in, there is first heat generated, and then flame, which makes the bags burst. In like manner, when these people hear anything about living water, which is the real truth of the Word, and it penetrates through their ears, they become furiously heated and angry, and reject it as something which would burst their heads.
[3] ‘These are the people who appeared to you like monkeys riding back to front on chestnut and black horses with the reins about their necks. This is because those who do not love the truth and good which the church has from the Word, are unwilling to look towards the front of a horse, but only its hinder parts. For ‘horse’ means the understanding of the Word, ‘a chestnut horse’ understanding of the Word bereft of good, ‘a black horse’ understanding of the Word bereft of truth. The reason why they yelled to do battle against the riders on white horses is that ‘a white horse’ means the understanding of the truth and good of the Word. They seemed to be holding their horses back by the neck because they were frightened of fighting, for fear the truth of the Word might reach many people and so come to light. That is the interpretation.’
[4] The angels went on to say: ‘We are from the community in heaven named Michael, and we have been ordered by the Lord to go down to the place called Armageddon, from which the cavalry you saw had broken out. Armageddon for us in heaven means the state of wishing to fight with falsified truths, which arises from the love of controlling and surpassing all others. Since we perceive you have a desire to learn about that battle, we will tell you something about it. After coming down from heaven we approached the place called Armageddon and saw several thousands of people gathered there. However, we did not go into that assembly, but there were some houses on the south side where there were boys with their teachers; we went into these, where we were made welcome, and we enjoyed their company. They were all good-looking because of the liveliness of their eyes and the animation of their conversation. The liveliness in their eyes came from their perception of truth, the animation of their conversation from their affection for good. Because of this we presented them with hats, the brims of which were ornamented with bands of gold thread intertwined with pearls, and also with clothes of a white and dark blue pattern.
‘We asked them whether they had looked towards the neighbouring place called Armageddon. They said they had done so through the window they had under the roof of their house. They said they had seen a great gathering of people there, who took on varying appearances. At one time they resembled tall** men, at another no longer people at all, but they looked like images and carved statues, and around them was a crowd kneeling. These too seemed to us to have varying appearances,- some looked like human beings, some like leopards, some like goats, and these had downward-pointing horns, which they used to dig up the ground. We were able to interpret their transformations, and know whom they represented and what they meant.
[5] ‘But to return to the story; when the people assembled heard that we had gone into those houses, they said to one another: “What are they doing, going to see those boys? Let us send some of our number to turn them out.” They did so, and when they came they said to us: “Why have you gone into those houses? Where do you come from? We have authority to tell you to go away.”
‘But we replied: “You have no authority to tell us that. In your own eyes you may be like the Anakim, and the people here like dwarfs, but still you have no power or right here, except through trickery, and that will not work. So go back and report to your people, that we have been sent here from heaven to investigate whether there is any religion among you or not; if not, you will be thrown out of the place you occupy. So set before them the following question, which touches the very essence of the church and religion, what is the meaning of these words from the Lord’s Prayer: Our Father, who art in the heavens, hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come.”
‘Their first reaction on hearing this was indignation, but then they agreed to put the question. So they went away and told their people what had happened, and they replied: “What does this question mean and what sort of a question is it?” But they understood the concealed point, that the questioners wished to know whether these words favoured the way their faith approaches God the Father. So they said: “These words clearly mean that we should pray to God the Father, and because Christ is our mediator, that we should pray to God the Father for the sake of His Son.”
‘Then in their indignation they resolved to approach us and to assert this face to face, saying too that they would tweak our ears. They actually left the place where they were, and went into the park adjacent to the houses where the boys were with their teachers. In the middle of the park there was a raised platform like an arena, and holding one another’s hands they went into the arena where we stood waiting for them. There were small mounds of earth there covered with turf, and they sat on these, saying to one another: “In such company we will not remain standing, but sit down.”
‘Then one of them who had the trick of making himself look like an angel of light, and who had been appointed by the rest to act as their spokesman, said: “You have asked us to reveal our opinion on how we should understand the first words of the Lord’s Prayer. So I beg to inform you that we understand them like this: we should pray to God the Father; and because Christ is our mediator, and our salvation depends upon His merit, we should pray to God the Father trusting in Christ’s merit.”
[6] ‘Then we told them: “We are from the community in heaven known as Michael. We have been sent to visit you, and enquire whether you who are gathered here have any religion or not. For the idea of God enters into every part of religion, and it is this which establishes a link with God, and that link is the means of salvation. We in heaven recite that prayer every day, just as people on earth do; but then we do not think of God the Father, since He is invisible, but we think of Him in His Divine Human, since in this He is visible. In this you call Him Christ, we call Him the Lord; thus the Lord is our Father in the heavens. The Lord too taught that He and the Father are one, that the Father is in Him and He is in the Father; that he who sees Him, sees the Father; and that no one comes to the Father except through Him. He also taught that it is the Father’s will that people should believe in the Son; that he who does not believe in the Son will not see life; rather the wrath of God remains upon him. From these passages it is clear that the Father is to be approached through the Son and in Him. For that reason too He also taught that all power in heaven and on earth was given to Him. The Prayer says, “Hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come,” and we have proved from the Word that the Father’s name is His Divine Human, and that the Father’s kingdom comes when the Lord is directly approached, and not at all when God the Father is directly approached. So too the Lord told His disciples to preach the kingdom of God, and this is what is meant by the kingdom of God.”
[7] ‘On hearing this our opponents said: “You quote many passages from the Word. We may have read such things there, but we do not remember them. So open the Word in our presence, and read us those passages from it, especially the ones which say that the Father’s kingdom comes when the Lord’s kingdom does.” Then they told the boys to fetch the Word, and when they did so, we read to them from it the following passages:
John*** preaching the Gospel of the kingdom said, The time has come, the kingdom of God is at hand. Mark 1:14, 15; Matt. 3:2.
Jesus Himself preached the Gospel of the kingdom, and said that the kingdom of God was at hand. Matt. 4:17, 23; 9:35.
Jesus ordered His disciples to preach and proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God (Mark 16:15; Luke 8:1; 9:60); likewise the seventy whom He sent out (Luke 10:9, 11.)
And many passages besides, such as Matt. 11:5; 16:27, 28; Mark 8:35; 9:1, 47; 10:29, 30; 11:10; Luke 1:19; 2:10, 11; 4:43; 7:22; 17:20, 21;**** 21:31; 22:18. The kingdom of God, the good news of which they were to proclaim, was the Lord’s kingdom, and so the Father’s kingdom. This is plain from the following passages: The Father gave all things into the Son’s hand (John 3:35); The Father gave the Son power over all flesh (John 17:2).
All things are handed over to me by the Father. Matt. 11:27.
All power has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Matt. 28: 18.
Further from the following:
Jehovah Zebaoth is His name and the Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, He shall be called the God of the whole earth. Isa. 54:5.
I saw and behold, one like the Son of Man, to whom was given dominion, glory and the kingdom; and all peoples and nations shall worship Him. His dominion is a dominion for ever, which will not pass away, and His kingdom one which will not perish. Dan. 7:13, 14.
When the seventh angel sounded, mighty voices were heard in the heavens saying, The kingdoms of the world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and His Christ; and He shall reign for ever and ever. Rev. 11:15; 12:10.
[8] ‘In addition we instructed them from the Word that the Lord came into the world not only to redeem angels and men, but also so that they might be united with God the Father through Him and in Him. For He taught that He is in those who believe in Him and they are in Him (John 6:56; 14:20; 15:4, 5). On hearing this they asked: “How then can your Lord be called Father”? We said: “It follows from the passages we have read, and also from these:
A child is born for us, a son is given to us, whose name is God, Hero, the everlasting Father. Isa. 9:6.
You are our Father, Abraham does not recognise us, neither does Israel acknowledge us; You, Jehovah, are our Father, our Redeemer from of old is your name. Isa. 63:16.
Did He not say to Philip, when he wanted to see the Father.
Philip, do you not know me? He who sees me sees the Father. John 14:9; 12:45.
What other Father then is there, than the one whom Philip saw with his own eyes?”
‘To this we added the following. “It is said throughout the Christian world that the members of the church constitute the body of Christ, and that they are in His body. How then can any person in the church approach God the Father, except through Him in whose body he is? Otherwise he would inevitably leave the body to approach Him.” Finally we informed them that at the present time a new church is being established by the Lord, which is meant by the New Jerusalem in Revelation. In this church worship will be directed to the Lord alone, as it is in heaven, and thus all will be accomplished which the Lord’s Prayer contains from beginning to end.
‘We proved everything from the Gospels and the Prophets in the Word, and from Revelation, which deals from beginning to end with that church, and went on at such length that they became tired of listening.
[9] ‘The Armageddon party listened with indignation, and wanted repeatedly to interrupt our speech. Eventually they broke in and cried: “You have spoken against the doctrine of our church, which states that God the Father is to be approached directly, and is to be believed in. You have thus become guilty of violating our faith. So begone from here, or you will be thrown out.” Their tempers were so roused they passed from threats to attempted action. But then by the powers we had been given we struck them blind, so that, being unable to see us, they broke out and ran blindly in all directions. Some fell into the abyss described in Revelation (9:2), which is now in the southern quarter towards the east; this is where those are to be found who are convinced that justification is effected by faith alone. Those there who prove that doctrine by quoting the Word are cast out into a desert, where they are driven to the edge of the Christian world and mix with the pagans.’
* The first part of this section is repeated from AR 839.
** The Latin has ‘leading men’ (proceres), but the following reference to giants (Anakim) shows that this must be a misprint for ‘tall men’ (proceros).
*** Apparently a slip for ‘Jesus’; John is mentioned earlier in the verse.
**** This reference was inserted in the author’s copy.
It is well known in the church that the Lord has two functions, the priestly and the kingly; but since few are aware of what distinguishes either of them, this needs to be stated. The Lord in His priestly function is called Jesus, in His kingly function Christ; and in the Word He is also called in His priestly function Jehovah and Lord, and in His kingly function God and the Holy One of Israel, as well as King. The distinction between them is like that between love and wisdom, or, what is the same, between good and truth. Therefore whatever the Lord did or performed from Divine love or Divine good, He did in His priestly function; whatever He did from Divine wisdom or Divine truth, in His kingly function. In the Word too priest and priesthood mean Divine good, king and royalty Divine truth, and this same pair were represented by priests and kings in the Israelite church. Redemption concerns both functions, but in what respects it concerns one or the other will be revealed in what follows. For the sake of clarity of detail the discussion will be divided into separate topics or sections, as follows:
(i) The real redemption was the conquest of the hells and the ordering of the heavens, and preparation by this means for a new spiritual church.
(ii) But for that redemption no person could have been saved, nor could the angels have remained unharmed.
(iii) The Lord thus redeemed not only men, but also angels.
(iv) Redemption was an entirely Divine deed.
(v) This redemption could only be effected by an incarnate God.
(vi) The passion on the cross was the last temptation which the Lord underwent as the greatest Prophet; this was the means by which He glorified His Human, that is, united it with His Father’s Divine; so this was not in itself the redemption.
(vii) It is a fundamental error on the part of the church to believe that the passion on the cross was the real act of redemption. That error, together with the erroneous belief in three Divine Persons existing from eternity, has so perverted the whole church that there is no remainder of spirituality left in it.
These points will be discussed one by one.
I can assert with complete certainty that these three events constitute redemption, since the Lord is to-day too carrying on the process of redemption, which began with the accomplishment of the Last Judgment in 1757. This redemptive process has continued from that time down to the present. The reason is that to-day the Second Coming of the Lord is taking place, and a new church is to be established, something which could not happen unless the conquest of the hells and the ordering of the heavens had taken place first. Since I have been permitted to witness all that has happened, I am able to describe how the hells were conquered and how a new heaven has been founded and arranged, but it would take a whole book to do so. However, I did reveal how the Last Judgment was carried out, in a small book published in London in 1758.*
[2] Redemption consisted in the conquest of the hells, the ordering of the heavens and the establishment of a new church, because without them no one could have been saved. This is their proper order: the hells had first to be conquered, before a new heaven of angels could be formed, and this had to be formed before a new church could be established on earth. For people in the world are so linked with the angels in heaven and the spirits in hell, that in the interiors of their minds they are identified with one party or the other. This subject will be discussed in detail in the last chapter of this book, dealing with the Ending of the Age, the Lord’s Coming and the New Church.
* Entitled THE LAST JUDGMENT.
Who is this coming from Edom, with stained clothes from Bozrah? A fine figure he is in his clothing, striding out in the excess of his strength. It is I who speak in righteousness, I who am mighty to save. Why are your clothes ruddy, like the clothing of one who treads the wine-vat? I have trodden the wine-vat alone, and of the people there was not a man with me. Therefore I trod them down in my anger, and I trampled them in my wrath. Hence their victory is sprinkled over my clothing. For the day of vengeance is in my heart, and the year of my redeemed has come. My arm was my salvation, I brought their victory down to the ground. He said, Behold, they are my people, my sons. Therefore he became a saviour for them. For his love and tenderness he redeemed them. Isa. 63:1-9.
This is a description of the Lord’s battle against the hells. The clothing which is ruddy and in which He is a fine figure, means the Word, to which the Jewish people offered violence. The actual battle with the hells and His victory over them is described by His treading them down in His anger and trampling them in His wrath. His fighting alone and by His own power is described by the words ‘of the people there was not a man with me, my arm was my salvation, I brought their victory down to the ground.’ His saving and redeeming is described thus: ‘Therefore he became a saviour for them, for his love and tenderness he redeemed them.’ This was the reason for His coming, as is meant by ‘the day of vengeance is in my heart, and the year of my redeemed has come.’
[2] In another passage of Isaiah:
He saw that there was no one, and was amazed that there was none to intercede, Therefore his arm was his salvation and righteousness raised him up. So he put on righteousness as a breast-plate, and the helmet of salvation on his head, and he put on the clothing of vengeance, and covered himself with jealous anger like a cloak. Then the Redeemer came to Zion. Isa. 59:16, 17, 20.
In Jeremiah:
They were broken, their brave men were bruised. They fled away and did not look back. That is the day of the Lord Jehovih Zebaoth, a day of revenge, that He may take vengeance on his enemies; let the sword devour and be sated. Jer. 46:5, 10.
Both of these passages describe the Lord’s battle against the hells and His victory over them. In the Psalms of David:
Gird your sword on your thigh, o mighty one. Sharp are your arrows, the peoples will fall before you, the enemies of the king will lose heart. Your throne is for ever, eternal; you loved righteousness, therefore has God anointed You. Ps. 45:3-7.
There are many other passages besides.
[3] Since the Lord conquered the hells alone with no help from any angel, He is therefore called ‘Hero and Man of War’ (Isa. 42:13; 9:6), ‘the King of glory, Jehovah the strong, the hero of war’ (Ps. 24:8, 10), the strong one of Jacob (Ps. 132:2) and in many places ‘Jehovah Zebaoth’, that is, ‘Jehovah of hosts.’ His coming is called ‘the day of Jehovah, terrible, cruel, the day of indignation, of anger, of wrath, of vengeance, of ruin, of war, of the trumpet, of sounding off, of uproar, etc.’ In the Gospels we read:
Now is the judgment of the world; the prince of this world shall be cast out. John 12:31.
The prince of this world has been judged. John 16:11.
Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world, John 16:33.
I saw Satan falling from heaven like a thunderbolt. Luke 10:18
The world, the prince of the world, Satan and the devil all mean hell.
[4] Apart from these passages, the whole of Revelation from beginning to end describes the present state of the Christian church, and prophesies the Lord’s second coming, His conquest of the hells, the creation of a new heaven of angels and then the establishment of a new church on earth. All these things were there foretold, but they have not been revealed before the present time. The reason is that Revelation, like all the prophetical parts of the Word, was written purely in correspondences, and if these had not been revealed by the Lord, hardly anyone could have correctly understood a single verse. Now for the sake of the new church all its contents have been revealed in my book THE APOCALYPSE REVEALED (published at Amsterdam, 1766). Those will see this who believe the Lord’s words in Matthew, chapter 24, about the state of the church to-day and about His coming. But this is only a flickering faith so far with those who have, so deeply that it cannot be extirpated, imprinted on their hearts the faith of the present-day church about a Trinity of Divine Persons from eternity, and about Christ’s passion as being the real act of redemption. But these people are (as was said above in the experience related in 113) like leather skins filled with iron filings and powdered sulphur; if water is poured in, heat is first produced, then flame which makes the skins burst. It is the same with those who hear something about living water, which is the genuine truth of the Word, and this enters through their eyes or ears; they become hot and inflamed with anger, and they reject it as something which would burst their heads.
It must first be stated what redemption is. To redeem means to free from damnation, to reclaim from everlasting death, to snatch from hell, and to release the captives and those in bondage from the hands of the devil. The Lord performed this by conquering the hells and founding a new heaven. The reason why people could not by any other means be saved was that the spiritual world is so closely integrated with the natural world that they are inseparable. This principally affects people’s interiors, what is called their souls and minds; those of the good are linked with the souls and minds of angels, those of the wicked with the souls and minds of the spirits of hell. Their union is such that if a person were deprived of them, he would fall lifeless, like a block of wood. Likewise neither could angels and spirits remain in existence, if human beings were taken away from them. This will make it plain why redemption took place in the spiritual world, and why heaven and hell had to be brought into order before a church could be established upon earth. This is clearly stated in Revelation, where it is said that after the creation of a new heaven, the New Jerusalem, which is the new church, came down from that heaven (Rev. 21:1, 2).
[2] This can be illustrated by similes. It is as when mortification of the flesh attacks the feet, and this necrosis progressively climbs up, infecting first the loins, then the abdominal viscera, and finally the region of the heart. As everyone knows, this causes death. Another illustration is when the viscera beneath the diaphragm are diseased, and their failure produces palpitation of the heart, difficulty in respiration, and eventually the heart and lungs fail too. There is another possible simile with the internal and external man; the internal flourishes so long as the external obediently discharges its functions; but if the external man disobeys and resists, and even more if it attacks the internal, then the internal eventually is undermined, and at length is carried away by the pleasures of the external, until it takes its part and agrees with it. Another possible simile is with a man standing on top of a mountain, watching a flood cover the land below him, as the water rises stage by stage; and when it reaches the level at which he stands, he too is submerged, unless a boat comes for him across the waves to allow him to escape. Likewise if anyone standing on a mountain sees a dense fog rising higher and higher above the ground, hiding fields, villages and towns; and then when the fog reaches his level, he can see nothing, not even where he is.
[3] The lot of the angels is like this when the church on earth fails, for then the lower heavens too fade out. The reason is that the heavens are composed of human beings from the earth; and when there is no longer any good left in their hearts nor any truth from the Word, the heavens are flooded by the rising tide of evil and drowned by it as if by the waters of the Styx. However, they are taken to safety elsewhere by the Lord, and kept until the day of the Last judgment, when they are raised to a new heaven. It is these who are meant in this passage of Revelation:
I saw underneath the altar the souls of those put to death on account of God’s Word and the witness they bore. And they shouted in a loud voice, saying, How long, Lord, you who are holy and true, before you give judgment and take vengeance for our blood from the inhabitants of the earth? And each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to rest yet a little while, until the numbers should be made up of their fellow servants and brothers, who were to be put to death as they were. Rev. 6:9-11.
[2] The effect of keeping bad company there can be rendered plain to view by considering these parallels. If a person spends his time with thieves or pirates, he ends up by becoming like them; if he lives with adulterers and whores, he ends up by thinking adultery of no consequence. Again if he mixes with terrorists, he ends up by thinking nothing of using violence on anyone. All evils are contagious, and can be likened to a plague which infects people simply by their being exposed to the victims’ breath; or to a cancer or gangrene which spreads, and makes first the surrounding parts, and then those further and further away, rot, until the whole body is destroyed. It is the pleasures of evil, to which everyone is prone from birth, that cause this.
[3] Now these facts will establish that but for the redemption effected by the Lord no one could be saved, nor could the angels remain unharmed The sole refuge to avoid destruction is to betake oneself to the Lord, for He says:
Remain in me, and I in you. Just as the branch can bear no fruit by itself, but only if it remains part of the vine, so neither can you, unless you remain in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who remains in me and I in him bears much fruit, because without me you can do nothing. Unless a person abides in me, he is cast out and withers, and is thrown into the fire and burnt. John 15:4-6.
This follows from the statement in the previous section that without the Lord’s redemption neither could the angels have continued to exist. To the reasons given above the following may be added.
(1) At the time of the Lord’s first coming the hells had grown to such a height that they filled the whole world of spirits, which lies midway between heaven and hell. Thus the hells had not only thrown into confusion what is called the lowest heaven, but they had even attacked the middle heaven, which was being plagued in a thousand different ways, and but for the Lord’s protection would have been destroyed. Such an assault by the hells is what is meant by the tower built in the land of Shinar, the top of which reached to heaven. This attempt was stopped by the confusion of tongues, and its builders were scattered; the city was called Babel (Gen. 11:1-9) The meaning of the tower there and the confusion of tongues has been explained in ARCANA CAELESTIA, published in London.*
[2] The reason why the hells had grown to such a height was that at the time when the Lord came into the world, the whole globe had utterly alienated itself from God by the worship of idols and the practice of magic; and the church established among the Children of Israel, and at a later period among the Jews, had been totally destroyed by falsifying and adulterating the Word. All of both these parties came after death into the world of spirits, where they ended by so growing and multiplying that they could not be dislodged from there except by God Himself coming down, and then using the strength of His Divine arm. A description of how this took place was given in the short book THE LAST JUDGMENT published in London in 1758. This event was accomplished by the Lord during His time on earth. A similar act has been performed by the Lord at the present time, since, as stated above, now is His second coming, foretold throughout Revelation, in Matthew (24:3, 30), in Mark (13:26), in Luke (21:27), in the Acts of the Apostles (1:11) and elsewhere. The difference is that at His first coming the growth of the hells was due to worshippers of idols, sorcerers and falsifiers of the Word, but at His second coming it was due to the so-called Christians, both those who had been tainted with nature-worship and those who had falsified the Word by convincing themselves of their fictitious faith in three Divine Persons from eternity, and the Lord’s passion as being the real act of redemption. These are the people meant by ‘the dragon and his two beasts’ in Revelation (chapters 12 and 13).
[3] (2) The second reason why the Lord redeemed the angels too is that not only every man, but also every angel, is held back from evil by the Lord and kept in a state of good. For no one, whether angel or man, is of himself in a state of good, but all good is from the Lord. Thus when the angels’ footstool, which they have in the world of spirits, was snatched away, they suffered the same as someone sitting on a chair when the platform it stands on is removed. The angels are not pure in the sight of God, as is shown by the prophetical parts of the Word, and also from job, as well as from the fact that there is no angel who was not previously a man. These statements confirm what was said in the statement of faith of the new heaven and the new church set out both in universal and particular terms placed at the beginning of this book:
The Lord came into the world to take hell away from men, and He did this by fighting against hell and winning victories over it. In this way He subdued it and made it subject to His command.
Also the following passage:
Jehovah God came down and took upon Himself human form so as to reduce to order everything in heaven, [in hell] and in the church. For at that time the power of the devil, that is, of hell, was stronger than the power of heaven, and on earth the power of evil was stronger than the power of good, so that utter damnation stood threateningly at the gates. This impending damnation was removed by Jehovah God by means of His Human, and thus He redeemed angels and men.
These passages show that without the Lord’s coming no one could have been saved. The situation to-day is similar. So unless the Lord comes into the world again, no more can anyone be saved (see above 2, 3).
* Volume 1 (1749), 1283-1328.
If anyone knows the nature of hell, and how high it rose to flood the whole of the world of spirits at the time of the Lord’s coming, as well as the power the Lord used to cast it down and scatter it, and afterwards to reduce it, together with heaven, to order, it must make him cry out in wonder that that deed was entirely Divine. First, the nature of hell: it consists of myriads of myriads of spirits, since it contains all those who from the creation of the world have estranged themselves from God by wicked lives and false beliefs. Secondly, the height to which hell rose to flood the whole of the world of spirits at the time of the Lord’s coming has been described to some extent in the preceding paragraphs. No one has had knowledge of the situation at the time of the first coming, because it was not revealed in the literal sense of the Word; but I have been permitted to see with my own eyes the situation at the time of His second coming, and this allows some conclusions to be drawn about the earlier event. A description is contained in my short book THE LAST JUDGMENT, published in London in 1758; and, thirdly, this also shows the power the Lord used to cast down and scatter that hell. But it is superfluous to repeat here the eye-witness descriptions given there, since the book is available, and there is still a large stock of copies at the printer’s in London. Anyone who reads that can see clearly that it was the work of almighty God.
[2] Fourthly, I have not yet written a description of how the Lord reduced to order everything both in heaven and in hell, because the ordering of the heavens and the hells has continued from the time of the Last Judgment until the present day, and is still going on. But after the publication of this book, I shall publish this too, if there is a demand. For my part in this affair, I have seen day by day, and continue to see, the Lord’s Divine omnipotence, as it were face to face. This last action is really concerned with redemption, the earlier one is really part of the Last Judgment. Those who are prepared to look for this distinction can see that much which is concealed under metaphors in the prophetical parts of the Word is none the less a description of it, when the understanding is enlightened by the explanation of the correspondences.
[3] Both of these Divine actions can only be illustrated by. comparisons, and then only to a limited extent. A possible comparison might be with a battle against the armies of all the nations of the whole world equipped with spears, shields, swords, muskets and cannon, and led by skilled and cunning generals and officers. I say this because many in hell possess skills unknown in our world, and devote themselves to practising how they can attack, ambush, besiege and engage those who are from heaven.
[4] The Lord’s battle against hell can also be compared, though very imperfectly, with a battle against the wild beasts of the whole earth, in which they are killed or subdued, until not a single one dares to venture out and attack anyone under the Lord’s protection. If any of them shows a threatening face, it retires at once, as if it felt a vulture battening upon its breast in the attempt to break through to its heart. The Word too describes the spirits in hell as wild beasts, and this is also the meaning of the wild beasts among which the Lord spent forty days (Mark 1:13).
[5] It can also be compared with stemming the whole ocean, when it bursts the dykes and breaks into fields and towns with its waves. The subduing of hell by the Lord is also meant by His calming the sea, when He said ‘Hush, be still’ (Mark 4:38, 39; Matt. 8:26; Luke 8:23, 24). The sea there, as in many other passages, means hell.
[6] The Lord employs similar Divine power to-day to fight against hell in every person who is undergoing re-birth. For all these people are attacked by hell with devilish fury, and unless the Lord resisted and subdued hell, they would inevitably be overcome. For hell is like a single monstrous person, or a huge lion, another comparison found in the Word. So unless the Lord kept that lion or monster fettered hand and foot, that person would inevitably in trying to escape one evil fall into many others, one after another, of his own accord.
The previous section showed that redemption was an entirely Divine deed, and consequently it could only have been accomplished by almighty God. The reason why it had to be by means of His incarnation, that is, by making Himself man, is that Jehovah God, as He is in His infinite essence, cannot approach hell, much less enter it, since He exists at the purest and first level. Therefore if Jehovah God, being in essence of that nature, were so much as to breathe upon those in hell, He would destroy them in an instant. For He said to Moses, when he desired to see God:
You cannot see my face, for no man shall see me and live. Exod. 33:20.
Since then Moses could not, far less can those in hell, where all are at the lowest, grossest and therefore most distant level, since they are the lowest of natural men. Therefore if Jehovah God had not taken upon Himself human form, and thus clothed Himself with a body at the lowest level, it would have been vain for Him to attempt any kind of redemption. For how can anyone attack an enemy, unless he comes to grips and equips himself with weapons to fight with? How can anyone drive off and destroy snakes, hydras and basilisks in some desert, unless he protects his body with armour and his head with a helmet, and takes a spear in his hand? Or how can anyone catch whales at sea, without a ship and equipment designed for the purpose? These and similar images are not so much a comparison as an illustration of almighty God’s battle with the hells, which He could not have started without first taking human form.
[2] But it needs to be known that the Lord’s battle with the hells was not a battle of words, like people arguing a point or disputing in a court of law. That sort of battle is quite ineffectual here. It was a spiritual battle, Divine Truth fighting with the strength of Divine Good, that is, the very life force of the Lord. No one in the hells can stand its effects when made visible. Its power is such that at a mere glance the spirits of hell take to their heels, hurl themselves into the depths and force themselves underground to hide from it. This is the same as is described by Isaiah:
They shall go into caverns in the rocks and into cracks in the dust, for fear of Jehovah, when He arises to terrify the earth. Isa. 2:19.
and in Revelation:
All shall hide themselves in caves in the rocks and in rocky mountains; and they shall say to the mountains and the rocks, Fall upon us and hide us from the face of Him that sits upon the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb. Rev. 6:15-17.
[3] What the Lord’s strength that He has from Divine good was like when He was effecting the Last judgment in 1757 can be proved by the descriptions given of that event in my small book on the subject.* For example, it tore from their places hills and mountains in the world of spirits, which spirits from hell had seized, transferred them to different locations and made some sink into the ground; it flooded towns, villages and their surrounding land, completely upheaved their fields and cast them together with their inhabitants into chasms, lakes and marshes, and much besides. All this was accomplished by the Lord alone by the power of Divine truth coming from Divine good.
* See 123.1.
* The Latin has ‘with a knife’, but it is corrected in the author’s copy.
The Lord had two purposes in coming into the world, redemption and the glorification of His Human; and by these He saved both men and angels. These two purposes are quite distinct, but still they are combined in effecting salvation. The nature of redemption was shown in the preceding paragraphs to be a battle against the hells, their subjugation and afterwards the ordering of the heavens. Glorification, however, is the uniting of the Lord’s Human with His Father’s Divine. This took place by stages and was completed by His passion on the cross. For every person ought for his own part to approach God, and the more nearly he does so, the more closely does God on His side enter into him. It is similar to the building of a church: its construction by human hands must come first, and then afterwards it must be consecrated, and finally prayers must be said for God to be present and unite Himself with its congregation. The reason why the actual union was fully achieved by the passion on the cross is that it was the last temptation which the Lord underwent in the world; and temptations create a link. In temptation it looks as if a person is left to himself, but he is not, since God is then most closely present in his inmost, and secretly gives him support. When therefore anyone is victorious over temptation, he is most inwardly linked with God, and in this case the Lord was most inwardly united with God His Father.
[2] The Lord’s being left to Himself, when He suffered on the cross, is evident from His cry then:
O God, why have you abandoned me? [Matt. 27:46]
as well as from these words of the Lord:
No one takes my life from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have the power to lay it down, and I have the power to take it back; this charge I received from my Father. John 10:18.
These passages then can prove that the Lord did not suffer in His Divine, but in His Human, and then a most inward and complete union took place. An illustration of this might be the fact that while a person is suffering physical pain, his soul feels nothing but is merely distressed. But when the victory is won, God takes away that distress, wiping it away as one does tears from the eyes.
After Judas had gone out, Jesus said, Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him. If God is glorified in Him, God will also glorify Him in Himself, and will glorify Him at once. John 13:31, 32.
Here the glorification is described both of God the Father and of the Son, for it says, ‘God is glorified in Him, and will glorify Him in Himself.’ It is plain that this means union.
Father, the time has come, glorify your Son, so that your Son too may glorify you. John 17:1, 5.
It is put thus because the union was reciprocal and, as is said, the Father was in Him and He in the Father.
Now my soul is vexed; and He said, Father, glorify your name. And a voice came out of heaven, I have glorified it, and I will do so again. John 12:27, 28.
This is said because the uniting took place by stages.
Did not Christ have to suffer this and enter upon His glory? Luke 24:26.
Glory in the Word referring to the Lord means the Divine truth united to Divine good. These passages show clearly that the Lord’s Human is Divine.
The Lord said, Nowhere is a prophet less honoured than in his native country and in his own home. Matt. 13:57; Mark 6:4; Luke 4:24. Jesus said, It is not fitting for a prophet to die outside Jerusalem. Luke 13:33.
Fear seized them all, and they praised God, saying that a great prophet had been raised up among them. Luke 7:16.
They called Jesus ‘The Prophet from Nazareth.’ Matt. 21:11; John 7:40, 41. It was said that a prophet should be raised up from among the brothers, whose words they were to obey. Deut. 18:15-19.
The prophet Ezekiel was commanded, in order to represent the state of the church, to take a brick and to draw a picture of Jerusalem on it; to lay siege to it, and make a rampart and a mound to attack it; to place an iron griddle between himself and the city; and to lie on his left side and on his right side. Also to take wheat, barley, lentils, millet and spelt, and to make bread from them; also to make a cake of barley mixed with human dung; and because he begged off this, he was allowed to make it with cow-dung. It was said to him:
Lie on your left side, and put the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it; for the number of days that you lie on that side, you shall carry their iniquity. For I will make you carry the iniquity of the house of Israel for a number of days equal to the years of their iniquity, namely, three hundred and ninety days. When you have completed this period, you are to lie a second time on your right side, to carry the iniquity of the house of Judah. Ezek. 4:1-15.
[2] It is clear from what follows this passage that the prophet by these actions carried the iniquities of the house of Israel and the house of Judah, and did not remove and so expiate them, but merely represented and demonstrated them:
Thus said Jehovah, the Children of Israel shall eat their bread unclean. Behold, I break the staff of bread, so that they may lack bread and water, and they shall be desolate, a man and his brother, and they shall waste away because of their iniquity. Ezek. 4:13, 16, 17.
The meaning is similar where it is said of the Lord:
He bore our sicknesses, He carried our pains. Jehovah made the iniquities of us all to fall upon Him. By His knowledge He made many righteous, in that He carried their iniquities Isa. 53:4, 6, 11.
The whole of this chapter deals with the Lord’s passion.
[3] The details of the Lord’s passion show clearly that as the Prophet He represented the state of the Jewish church with regard to the Word. For example, His betrayal by Judas; His arrest and conviction by the chief priests and the elders; His being beaten; His head being struck with a reed; His crowning with a crown of thorns; the dividing of His garments, and the casting of lots for His tunic; His crucifixion; His being given vinegar to drink; His side being pierced; His burial and resurrection on the third day.
His betrayal by Judas meant that He was betrayed by the Jewish nation, which possessed the Word, since Judas represented that nation. His arrest and conviction by the chief priests and elders meant that the whole of that church so behaved. His being beaten, being spat upon in the face, being flogged and having His head struck with a reed meant their similar treatment of the Word as regards the Divine truths it contains. The crowning with thorn meant that they falsified and adulterated these truths. The dividing of His garments and throwing lots for His tunic meant that they threw to the winds all the truths of the Word, but not its spiritual sense, which is what the tunic meant. The crucifixion meant that they destroyed and profaned the whole Word. Their giving Him vinegar to drink meant that they offered only falsified truths, which is why He did not drink it. The piercing of His side meant that they utterly extinguished all the truth and all the good of the Word. His burial meant the rejection of all He had left from His mother. His resurrection on the third day meant His glorification, or the union of His Human with the Father’s Divine. From this it is now plain that ‘carrying iniquities’ does not mean removing them, but representing the profaning of truths in the Word.
I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep, for which reason the Father loves me. John 10:11, 17.
Is there any subject which does more to fill and pack the books of orthodox theology to-day, or any that is taught and driven home more zealously in colleges, and is more often preached and ranted about in pulpits, than the belief that God the Father in His anger with the human race not only drove it away from Him, but actually placed it under the ban of universal damnation, thus excommunicating it; but because He is gracious, He persuaded or impelled His own Son to come down and take upon Himself the sentence of damnation, so as to appease His Father’s anger; and it is only in this way that He is able to look upon man with any favour? They add that this too was accomplished by means of the Son, for instance, in order to take upon Himself the damnation of the human race, by allowing Himself to be flogged by the Jews, have His face spat upon, and then be crucified as accursed in the sight of God (Deut. 21:23). The Father was propitiated when this had been done, and through His love for His Son revoked the damnation, but only for those for whom the Son interceded, so that He became in perpetuity a Mediator with His Father.
[2] These and similar phrases ring through our churches to-day, re-echoing from the walls like the echoes in woodlands and filling the ears of all listeners. But is there anyone, whose reasoning faculty is enlightened and made whole by the reading of the Word, who cannot see that God* is mercy and clemency itself, since He is love itself and good itself, and these qualities are His essence? And that it is therefore a contradiction to say that mercy itself or good itself could look upon man in anger, and pass sentence of damnation on him, and still remain what He is in His Divine essence? Such actions can hardly be attributed to an upright person, but rather to a wicked one; nor to an angel of heaven, but rather to a spirit from hell. So it is an unspeakable crime to attribute such acts to God.
[3] But if one enquires the reason, it is this: people have taken the passion on the cross to be the real act of redemption. From that source these errors have flowed, just as one mistake produces a whole series, or as a jar of vinegar can only yield vinegar, or a disordered mind nothing but madness. The one deduction leads to other theories of the same type, for they lie hidden in the deduction, and come forth one after another. From the belief that the passion on the cross was the redeeming act, yet more scandalous and ignoble ideas about God can emerge and be extracted, until, as Isaiah says:
The priest and the prophet go astray through strong drink. They stumble in judgment, all the tables are covered with vomit brought up. Isa. 28:7, 8.
* The Latin text here inserts qui ‘who’, apparently in error.
[2] It is well known that this idea about redemption and God has been foisted into present-day faith. This prescribes that one should pray to God the Father to forgive sins on account of the crucifixion and the shedding of His Son’s blood, and to God the Son to pray and intercede for one, and to God the Holy Spirit to make one righteous and sanctified. What else is this but praying to three Gods, one after the other? How then can one think of the rule of God except in terms of aristocratic or hierarchical rule, or as it were a triumvirate such as there once was at Rome, only that instead of a triumvirate it should be called a triumpersonate?** What then is easier for the devil than, as the saying goes, to divide and rule – that is to destroy unanimity and stir up rebellious movements, at one time against one God, at others against another, as has actually happened from the time of Arius*** down to the present? And thus to dethrone the Lord God the Saviour, who has all power in heaven and on earth (Matt. 28:18), and enthrone instead one of one’s own supporters and give him worship, or, because it is taken away from him, to take away worship from the Lord Himself.
* Hebrew words perhaps meaning ‘howling creatures,’ used, e.g., in Isa. 34:14, Jer. 50:9, understood by the author as birds (CL 264.4).
** On two occasions in the first century BC Rome was governed by a triumvirate or committee of three; Swedenborg here invents the word ‘triumpersonate’ on the model of triumvirate.
*** i.e. the early fourth century.
Once in the world of spirits I went into a church where there was a large congregation, and before the sermon they had a discussion on the subject of redemption. The church was square in plan without any windows in the walls, but with a large opening in the middle of the roof, allowing light from heaven to stream in, making the interior brighter than windows at the sides could have done.
While they were talking about redemption, a black cloud suddenly blew up from the north and covered the opening. This caused such thick darkness that people could not see one another, and hardly their hands in front of their faces. While they were standing struck dumb by this, the black cloud was split down the middle, and through the gap angels were seen, sent down from heaven to dispel the cloud in either direction, so that the church was filled with light again. The angels then sent down one of their number into the church to ask the congregation in their name the subject of their dispute, which had caused so dark a cloud to come over, block out the light, and spread darkness. They replied that they were talking about redemption, how this was effected by the passion of the Son of God on the cross, by which means He made expiation and rescued the human race from damnation and everlasting death.
To this the angel who has been sent down replied: ‘Why do you say “by the passion on the cross”? Explain why you say it was by that means.’
[2] Then a priest came forward and said: ‘I will give an orderly exposition of our knowledge and belief. These are that God the Father in His anger against the human race damned it and shut it out from the sphere of His clemency, declaring all its members condemned and accursed, and consigning them to hell. He was willing for His Son to take that sentence on Himself; the Son consented, and therefore came down, took human form, and allowed Himself to be crucified. He thus transferred to Himself the damnation of the human race; for we read “Cursed is everyone who hangs upon the wood of the cross.” The Son thus by His intercession and mediation appeased the Father; and then the Father out of His love for the Son, and as the result of witnessing His suffering on the cross, was moved to pity, and decreed that He would forgive men, “but only those to whom I impute your righteousness. These I will turn from sons of wrath and cursing into sons of grace and blessing, and I will make them righteous and save them. Let the rest remain as previously decreed, sons of wrath.” Such is our faith, and these things are what is meant by the righteousness which God the Father introduces into our faith, so that by itself it makes us righteous and saves us.’
[3] On hearing this the angel kept silent for some time, he was so astonished. But eventually he broke silence and spoke as follows: ‘Can the Christian world have become so mad, and have abandoned sound reason for such ravings, as to deduce the fundamental dogma of salvation from those paradoxes? Is there anyone who cannot see that this is diametrically opposed to the Divine essence itself, that is, to God’s Divine love and His Divine wisdom, and at the same time to His omnipotence and omnipresence? No decent master would treat his servants and maids like this; not even a wild beast would so treat its pups or young. It is unspeakable. Is it not contrary to His Divine essence to revoke the invitation given to every single member of the human race? Is it not contrary to the Divine essence to change the laws of order established from eternity, which prescribe that each person should be judged by the life he leads? Is it not contrary to the Divine essence to withdraw love and pity from any person, and more so from the whole of the human race? Is it not contrary to the Divine essence to be brought back to pitying by witnessing the Son’s suffering, and since it is the very essence of God to pity, to be brought back to His own essence? It is utter wickedness to think that He could ever depart from it, for He is His essence from eternity to eternity.
[4] ‘Is it not impossible to implant in anything, such as your faith, the righteousness of redemption, which in itself is a part of God’s omnipotence, and impute or assign it to a person, and without any other means to pronounce him righteous, pure and holy? Is it not impossible to forgive anyone his sins, or to make anyone new, regenerated and saved, simply by imputing righteousness to him, which would be turning unrighteousness into righteousness, and cursing into blessing? Could one thus turn hell into heaven, and heaven into hell, or the dragon into Michael, and Michael into the dragon, and so put a stop to the battle between them? What would it take but to withdraw the imputation of your faith from one person and give it to another? In that case we in heaven would go in fear for ever. Nor is it consistent with righteousness and judgment for one person to take another’s crime upon himself, so that the guilty should be held innocent, and the crime thus be purged. Is this not contrary to both Divine righteousness and human justice? The Christian world is still ignorant of the existence, even more so of the nature, of the laws of order that God introduced at the creation of the world; and that God cannot act contrary to order because that would be acting against Himself. For God is order itself.’
[5] The priest understood what the angel had said, because the angels up above poured down light from heaven. Then he gave a groan and said: ‘What are we to do? Everyone nowadays preaches and prays and believes this. Everyone is saying “Gracious Father, have mercy upon us and forgive us our sins for the sake of your Son’s blood, which He shed for us upon the cross.” Then they pray to Christ: “Lord, intercede for us”; and we priests add, “Send us the Holy Spirit.”‘
Then the angel said: ‘I have noticed that priests make ointments from a superficial understanding of the Word, which they smear on the eyes of those who have been blinded by their faith; or make up a poultice from the same source, which they place upon the wounds inflicted by their dogmas, but without healing them, since they have become chronic. So go to the man who is standing over there – and he pointed to me – he will teach you from the Lord that the passion on the cross was not the act of redemption, but the uniting of the Lord’s Human with the Father’s Divine. Redemption was the conquest of the hells and the ordering of the heavens; and had the Lord not performed these acts when He was in the world, no one on earth, nor anyone in the heavens, could have been saved. He will go on to teach you the laws of order, which were imposed from the time of creation, by which people must live to be saved. Those who live by them are counted among the redeemed and called the chosen.’
After this speech windows appeared in the sides of the church, brightness flooded in from all four quarters, and cherubs were seen flying in a radiance of light. Then the angel was lifted up through the opening in the roof to rejoin his companions, and we went away in a cheerful frame of mind.
On waking up one morning I saw the sun of the spiritual world shining brightly, and below it I saw the heavens at a great distance, as remote as the earth is from its sun. From these heavens inarticulate sounds were audible, which joined to form an intelligible utterance: ‘God is one, He is man and His dwelling is in that sun.’ This utterance passed down through the middle heavens to the lowest, and from there into the world of spirits, where I was; and I noticed that the angels’ idea of one God as it gradually descended was turned into the idea of three Gods. This observation induced me to start a conversation with those who thought of three Gods. ‘What a monstrous idea!’ I said, ‘Where did you get it?’
‘We think of three,’ they replied, ‘because this is how we grasp the idea of a Triune God, but still we do not allow it to pass our lips. In speaking we always say out loud that God is one. If we have a different idea in our minds, so be it, so long as it does not spill over and shatter the oneness of God when we speak. Even so, from time to time it does spill over, because it is within our minds, and at such times, if we were to speak out, we should say that there were three Gods. We take care to avoid this, so as not to become a laughing stock to our hearers.’
[2] Then they began openly to speak as they thought. ‘Surely there are three Gods,’ they said, ‘since there are three Divine Persons, each of whom is God. We cannot think differently when the leader of our church quotes a whole bookcase full of his holy dogmas, ascribing to one creation, to a second redemption, to a third sanctifying; even more so when he attributes to each of them His own characteristic, which he says cannot be shared; and these are not merely creation, redemption and sanctifying, but also imputation, mediation and performance. Is there not then one God who created us and also imputes righteousness to us? Another who redeemed us, and also acts as mediator? And a third who puts into effect the imputation which is achieved through mediation, and also sanctifies us? Is there anyone who does not know that the Son of God was sent into the world by God the Father to redeem the human race, and thus become an expiator, mediator, propitiator and intercessor? And since He is identical with the Son of God from eternity, are there not two quite distinct Persons? And since these two Persons are in heaven, one sitting at the right hand of the other, must there not be a third Person, who puts into effect in the world the decrees issued in heaven?’
[3] On hearing this I said nothing, but thought to myself: ‘What idiocy! They do not have the slightest idea of what is meant by mediation in the Word.’
Then at the Lord’s command three angels came down from heaven and joined me, so that I could employ inward perception in speaking with those who thought of three Gods. I was especially enabled to speak about mediation, intercession, propitiation and expiation, the functions they attribute to the second Person, the Son, but only after He had become man; and His incarnation took place many centuries after creation, so that during this period these four means to salvation did not yet exist. So then God the Father was not propitiated, no expiation had been made for the human race, nor had anyone been sent from heaven to intercede and mediate.
[4] Then I spoke with them by means of the inspiration I had received. ‘Gather round,’ I said, ‘as many of you as can, and listen to what is meant in the Word by mediation, intercession, expiation and propitiation. These are the four things predicated of the grace of the one God in His Human. God the Father could under no circumstances be approached, nor can He approach any person, because he is infinite and in His Being (esse), which is Jehovah. If He approached anyone in that form, He would destroy him, as fire does wood, reducing it to ashes. This is plain from His reply when Moses desired to see Him: that no one can see Him and live (Exod. 33:20). The Lord too said that no one has ever seen God, except the Son who is in the Father’s bosom (John 1:18; Matt. 11:27); and again, that no one has heard the Father’s voice or seen His appearance (John 5:37). We do read that Moses saw Jehovah face to face, and spoke personally with Him; but this was done through an angel, and the same happened in the cases of Abraham and Gideon. Now because such is God the Father in Himself, He was pleased to take upon Himself human form, and in this to allow people to approach Him, so as to hear them and speak with them. It is this Human which is called the Son of God, and this it is which mediates, intercedes, propitiates and makes expiation. I shall tell you therefore what is the meaning of those four actions attributed to the Human of God the Father.
[5] ‘Mediation means that the Human is the intermediary by means of which a person can approach God the Father, and God the Father can approach him, and so teach and guide him to salvation. This is why the Son of God, meaning the Human of God the Father, is called the Saviour, and on earth Jesus, which means salvation. Intercession means continual mediation; for love itself, to which mercy, clemency and grace belong, continually intercedes, that is, acts as intermediary for those who obey His commandments, and whom He loves. Expiation means the removal of the sins into which everyone would rush, if he were to approach Jehovah without mediation. Propitiation means the working of clemency and grace, to prevent anyone consigning himself to damnation through sins; likewise, protection against profaning what is holy. This was the meaning of the Mercy Seat above the Ark in the Tabernacle.*
[6] ‘It is well known that in the Word God spoke in terms of appearances. For instance, He is said to be angry, take vengeance, tempt, punish, cast into hell, damn, in fact to do evil. Yet the truth is that He is angry with no one, never takes vengeance, tempts, punishes, casts anyone into hell or damns him. Such actions are as remote from God as hell is from heaven, or rather infinitely more so. This is why they are expressions of appearances. In another sense, expiation, propitiation, intercession and mediation are also expressions of appearances, meaning the characteristics of approach to God and of grace coming from God by means of His Human. Failure to understand these things has led people to divide God into three, and base all the church’s doctrine upon these three, thus falsifying the Word. This is the origin of the “abomination of desolation” which was predicted by the Lord in the book of Daniel, and further mentioned in Matthew, chapter 24.’
At the end of this speech the group of spirits around me broke up, and I noticed that those who were really thinking of three Gods were looking towards hell, and those who were thinking of one God, in whom is the Divine Trinity, which is in the Lord God the Saviour, were looking towards heaven. To this party there appeared the sun of heaven, in which is Jehovah in His Human.
* Exod. 25:17-22.
I saw in the distance five colleges, each of which was surrounded by radiance from heaven. The first college was surrounded by a purple light, such as is seen in the clouds on earth before the sun rises in the morning. The second was surrounded by a yellowish light, like that of the dawn after sunrise. The third was surrounded by a brilliant light, like that of mid-day on earth. The fourth was surrounded by a moderate light, like that of the afternoon when the shades of evening begin to fall. The fifth actually stood in the shades of evening-time. Colleges in the world of spirits are meeting places where scholars gather to discuss various mysteries, which are of use in their progress towards knowledge, intelligence and wisdom.
On seeing them I felt a desire to visit one of them, so being in the spirit I went to that which had the moderate light. I went in and saw a gathering of scholars debating the question, what is meant by what is said of the Lord, that He was lifted up into heaven and sits at the right hand of God (Mark 16:19).
[2] Most of the gathering said that they understood the words perfectly literally, to mean that the Son sat next to the Father. But they disputed why He did so. Some said that the Son has been placed by the Father on His right on account of the redemption which He accomplished. Some said that it was out of love that He was given that seat. Some said it was so that He should be His counsellor, because He is such as to be honoured by the angels. And some said because the Father had given Him power to reign in His stead, for we read that to Him is given all power in heaven and on earth. But a large number asserted it was to hear those on the right for whom He intercedes. For all in the church to-day approach God the Father and pray to Him to have mercy for the sake of the Son; this, they said, makes the Father turn to Him to hear His mediation. But some held that only the Son of God from eternity sits at the Father’s right to share His divinity with the Son of Man who was born in the world.
[3] On hearing this I was very surprised that learned men, although they had spent some time in the spiritual world, were still so ignorant of heavenly matters. But I could detect the reason, that they had such confidence in their own intelligence that they had not allowed themselves to learn from wise men. But to prevent them remaining any longer in ignorance about the Son’s sitting on the right hand of the Father I raised my hand, and asked them to listen to a few words which I wanted to say on the subject. As they agreed to this, I said: ‘Do you not know that the Word says that the Father and the Son are one, and that the Father is in the Son, and the Son in the Father? The Lord says so quite openly (John 10:30; 14:10, 11). If you do not believe this, you are dividing God into two; and this will inevitably make you think of God in a natural manner, or in the manner of the bodily senses, or even in material terms. This too has happened in the world since the time of the Council of Nicaea, which introduced the concept of three Divine Persons from eternity, and so turned the church into a theatre hung with curtains to act as scenery, in front of which actors played new scenes. Is there anyone who does not know and acknowledge that God is one? If you acknowledge this in your hearts and spirits, all your debate collapses of its own accord, and rebounds into the air, like nonsense from the wise man’s ear.’
[4] This speech made many of them very angry with me, and they wanted to tweak my ears and make me be silent. But the chairman of the meeting said indignantly: ‘We are not talking about the oneness and plurality of God, because we believe in both. The question is, what is implied by the Son sitting at His Father’s right hand; if you know anything about this subject, speak.’
‘I will,’ I replied, ‘but please put a stop to the uproar. Sitting at the right hand does not here mean sitting on the right, but it means God’s omnipotence by means of the Human which He took upon Himself in the world. This allows Him to operate at the last as well as at the first level. This enabled Him to enter, overthrow and conquer the hells, as well as to impose order on the heavens. It was by this that He redeemed men and angels, and He continues to do so for ever. If you consult the Word, and are of such a nature that you can receive illumination, you will see that “the right hand” here means omnipotence, as it does in [Isaiah and], the Psalms of David:
My hand has laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand has measured out the heavens. Isa. 48:13.
Jehovah* has sworn by His right hand, and by the arm of His strength. Isa. 62:8. Your right hand upholds me. Ps. 18:35.
Pay heed to the Son, whom you have made strong for you, your hand for the man at your right, for the Son of Man whom you made strong for you. Ps. 80:15, 17.
This shows how the following passage should be understood:
The saying of Jehovah to my Lord, Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a foot-stool for your feet. Jehovah will send from Zion a sceptre to show your strength, rule in the midst of your enemies. Ps. 110:1, 2.
The whole of that Psalm describes the Lord’s battle with the hells and their conquest. Since “the right hand of God” means omnipotence, therefore the Lord says that He will sit “on the right hand of power” (Matt. 26:63, 64); and “on the right hand of the power of God” (Luke 22:69).’
[5] At this point I was interrupted by an uproar in the assembly; but I said: ‘Take care! There may perhaps appear from heaven a hand, such as appeared to me. If it does, it strikes unbelievable fear of its power into you. This proved to me that “the right hand of God” means omnipotence.’
Hardly had I said this, when a hand was seen stretched out beneath heaven. Its appearance struck such terror into them that they rushed pell-mell to the doors; some rushed to the windows to throw themselves out, some were unable to breathe and fainted. However, I was not terrified, so I stayed behind, and then walked slowly after them. When I looked back from a distance, I saw that the college was surrounded by a dark cloud; and I was told from heaven that this was because they had spoken from their belief in three Gods, and that its earlier light would return, when more sensible people gathered there.
* Corrected in the author’s copy from ‘God’ in keeping with the Hebrew.
I was told that a council had been summoned, made up of people famous for their books and learning, to discuss the present state of faith, and how the chosen are made righteous by it. This took place in the world of spirits, and I was allowed to be present at it in the spirit. I saw a gathering of clergy, composed of both those who agreed and those who disagreed with this. On the right stood those who in the world were called the Apostolic Fathers, and lived in the period before the Council of Nicaea*. On the left stood men who since that time had been famous for their books, either, printed or copied in manuscript by apprentices. Many of these were clean-shaven and wore wigs made of curly women’s hair; some of them had rolled collars, some winged collars. The other party, however, had beards and their own hair.
In front of the two parties stood a man who was a judge and reviewer of worldly writings. He rapped for silence on the ground with a staff he held in his hand. Then he went up the steps to his chair of office, and uttered a groan; he intended to follow it with a loud cry, but the groan choked his breath back in his throat.
[2] At length he was able to speak as follows: ‘Brothers, what an age is this we live in! A person has arisen from the throng of laymen, one without the cap and gown of learning nor honoured with academic laurels, and has dislodged our faith from its place in heaven, and hurled it into the river Styx. What a dreadful crime! Yet that faith alone is our guiding star, shining like Orion by night, and like the Morning Star at dawn. For all his years that man is totally blind to the mysteries of our faith, because he has not opened it up to see in it the righteousness of our Lord and Saviour, and His mediation and propitiation; and not seeing these, he has failed too to see the wonders of how He makes us righteous, the remission of sins, regeneration, sanctifying and salvation. This man has taken away our faith with its outstanding saving power, because it is directed to three Divine Persons, and so to God in His totality, and concentrated it upon the Second Person – and not even all of that, but upon His Human. We do of course call this Divine as the result of the incarnation of the Son from eternity, but no one thinks of it as anything but purely human. And what then can come from this but a faith which is a plentiful source of nature-worship? That sort of faith, lacking spirituality, is little different from faith in the Vicar of Christ, or in a Saint. You know what Calvin in his time said about worship founded on that sort of faith. Will one of you please tell me, what is the source of faith? Surely it comes directly from God, in whom lies everything needed for our salvation?’
[3] At this his companions on the left, the party without beards, who wore curly wigs and a rolled collar about their necks, clapped their hands and shouted: ‘Most wisely spoken! We know that we cannot receive anything which is not given to us from heaven. Let that prophet tell us the source of faith, and what else faith is. It is impossible for it to be other or of other origin. It is as impossible to present any other faith, which truly is a faith, as it is to ride to some constellation in the sky, catch a star, and bring it back stored in one’s coat pocket.’ This speech was designed to make his companions laugh at any new sort of faith whatever.
[4] On hearing this the party on the right, who wore beards and had their own hair, became angry. One of them got up, an old man, though afterwards he appeared young, because he was an angel from heaven, where people of any age grow young again. He spoke and said: ‘I have heard what sort of faith you have, the faith that was so highly praised by the man who holds the chair of office. But what is that faith but our Lord’s tomb after the resurrection, when it was sealed again by Pilate’s troops? I opened it up and I could see nothing in it but some conjurers’ wands, which the wise men of Egypt used to perform their miracles. Rather, your faith is outwardly in your eyes like a bookcase of solid gold, set with precious stones, which when opened is empty, except perhaps for a little dust from the relics of Roman Catholics in its corners. For they have the same faith as you, only it is nowadays wrapped up in outward displays of holiness. To go on with comparisons, it is like the Vestal Virgin of antiquity, who allowed the sacred fire to go out, and was buried alive. I can assure you that in my eyes your faith is like the golden calf around which the Children of Israel danced, when Moses had gone away to climb Mount Sinai to Jehovah.
[5] ‘You need not be surprised at my using such comparisons to speak of your faith, because that is how we speak of it in heaven. On the other hand, our faith is, has been, and ever will be in the Lord God the Saviour, whose Human is Divine and whose Divine is Human. This makes it easy for us to accept, as uniting the Divine spiritual to the natural of men. So it becomes a spiritual faith at the natural level, and this makes the natural as it were translucent, as the result of the spiritual light which illuminates our faith. The truths of which it is made up are as numerous as the verses in Holy Writ; all its truths are like stars, which by their light show it forth and give it form. A person acquires faith from the Word by means of his own natural powers of enlightenment, which are based upon knowledge, thought and false belief. But with those who believe in the Lord, He turns these into conviction, trust and confidence. This makes the natural faith spiritual, and charity gives it life. This faith appears to us like a queen decked out with as many jewels as the wall of the Holy Jerusalem (Revelation 21:17-20).
[6] ‘But to prevent you believing that my words are mere exaggeration and consequently not to be taken seriously, I will read you some passages from the Holy Word, which will show plainly that our faith is not in a man, as you think, but in the true God, in whom is all that is Divine. John says:
Jesus Christ is the true God and everlasting life. 1 John 5:20.
Paul says:
In Christ all the fulness of the Godhead dwells bodily. Col. 2:9.
In the Acts of the Apostles:
Paul preached both to Jews and Greeks repentance toward God, and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. Acts 20:21.
The Lord Himself said that to Him was given “all power in heaven and upon earth” (Matt. 28:18). These are but a few quotations.’
[7] After this the angel looked at me and said: ‘You know what those who call themselves Evangelical believe, or should believe, about the Lord the Saviour. Recite some of their tenets, so that we can know whether they are so foolish as to believe that His Human is purely human, or whether they attribute any Divinity to it, and, if so, how.’
Then in front of the whole assembly I read out the following statements from the handbook of orthodoxy called ‘The Formula of Concord,’ published in Leipzig in 1756:
In Christ the Divine and the Human natures are so united as to make one Person. (pp. 606 762). Christ is truly God and Man in one undivided Person, and remains so for ever. (pp. 609 673, 762). In Christ God is Man and Man is God. (pp. 607, 765).
Christ’s human nature was raised to fully Divine majesty; this is also said by many of the Fathers. (pp. 844-852, 860-865, 869-878).
Christ as to His human nature is omnipresent and fills all space. (pp. 768, 783-5.)
Christ as to His human nature has all power in heaven and on earth. (pp. 775, 776, 780).
Christ as to His human nature sits at the right hand of the Father. (pp. 608, 764).
Christ as to His human nature is to be invoked; this is proved by quotations from Scripture (p. 226).
The ‘Confession of Augsburg’ gives the highest degree of approval to that mode of worship (p. 19).
[8] After reading these statements I turned to the man in the chair of office and said: ‘I know that everyone here is paired with someone like him in the natural world; please tell me whether you know who your colleague is.’
He answered in a solemn tone: ‘Yes. I am paired with a famous man** who is a leader of the noble troops of the church militant.’
Since he spoke in such a solemn tone, I said: ‘Forgive my asking, but do you know where this famous leader lives?’
‘Yes,’ he said, ‘not far from Luther’s tomb.’
I smiled at this and said: ‘Why do you say “his tomb”? Do you not know that Luther has risen again, and has now renounced his erroneous doctrines about justification by faith in three Divine Persons from eternity, and has therefore been transferred to live with the blessed of the new heaven, where he sees and laughs at those who follow him in this madness?’
‘I know this,’ he replied, ‘but how does it concern me?’
So then I addressed him in equally solemn tones: ‘Put the idea,’ I said, ‘into the mind of your famous man who is paired with you, that I am afraid that contrary to the orthodoxy of his own church, he then for the moment took His divinity away from the Lord, or allowed his pen to plough a furrow, in which he unwittingly planted the seeds of nature-worship, when he wrote an attack on the worship of the Lord our Saviour.’
To this he answered: ‘I cannot do this, because he and I are of almost one mind on this subject; but he does not understand what I say, while I have a clear understanding of everything he says.’ This was because the spiritual world enters into the natural world and perceives the thoughts of people there, but not the reverse. This is the nature of the association between spirits and men.
[9] Since I had now begun a dialogue with the holder of the chair, I said: ‘If I may, I should like to put in another question or two. Do you not know that Evangelical orthodoxy, as stated in their church’s handbook called ‘The Formula of Concord’, teaches that in Christ God is Man and Man is God, and that His Divine and His Human are in one undivided Person, and so remain for ever? How then could he, and how can you, defile the worship of the Lord with nature-worship?’
To this he answered: ‘This I know, and yet I do not know.’
So I went on and said: ‘I put the question to him, absent as he is, or to you in his place, what was the source of the soul of the Lord our Saviour? If you answer that it was from His mother, you are mad; if that it was from Joseph, you are doing violence to the Word; but if that it was from the Holy Spirit, you are right, so long as by the Holy Spirit you understand the Divine coming forth and working, so that He is the Son of Jehovah God.
[10] ‘I ask you again, what is the meaning of hypostatic union? If you answer that it is like a union between two, one of whom is above and the other below, you are mad, for in this way you could have made God the Saviour into two, just as you make God into three. But if you say that it is a union in one person, as between the soul and the body, you are right. This too is in accordance with your doctrine and that of the Fathers: see The Formula of Concord, pp. 765-768. See also the Athanasian Creed, which contains these words:
The correct belief is that we should believe and confess that our Lord Jesus Christ is God and Man; and though He is God and Man, there are not two, but there is one Christ. He is in every way one, not by confusion of substance, but by unity of Person. For just as the reasoning soul and the flesh make one man, so God and Man make one Christ.
[11] I ask yet further, what else was the abominable heresy of Arius, which led to the calling of the Council of Nicaea by the Emperor Constantine the Great, but a denial of the divinity of the Lord’s Human? Tell me further, whom you understand by these words in Jeremiah:
Behold, the days will come, when I shall raise up for David a righteous shoot, who will reign as King, and this will be his name, Jehovah our righteousness. Jer. 23:5, 6; 33:15, 16.
If you say the Son from eternity, you are mad; He was not the Redeemer. But if you say the Son born in time, who was the only-begotten Son of God (John 1:18; 3:16), you are right. He by His redeeming act became righteousness, on which you base your faith. Read too Isaiah 9:6 and other passages, which predict that Jehovah Himself was to come into the world.’
The holder of the chair kept silence at this and turned away his face.
[12] When this was over, the presiding officer intended to close the meeting with prayer, but from the party on the left there suddenly sprang out a man, who had a cap on his head and a hat on top of it. He put his finger to his hat and said: ‘I too am paired with a man in your world, who occupies a high position there.*** I know this because I can speak his mind like my own.’
‘Where,’ I asked, ‘does this eminent person live?’
‘At Goteborg,’ he replied. ‘I have on occasion gathered from his thoughts that your new doctrine smacks of Mohammedanism.’
At this I saw all the party on the right, where the Apostolic Fathers were standing, amazed and crestfallen, and heard exclamations rising from their minds to their lips: ‘What an abominable thing! What an age we live in!’
To allay their righteous anger I held up my hand and requested to be heard. When permission was given, I said: ‘I know that a man of the eminence you describe has written something of the sort in a letter, which was subsequently printed. But if he had then known what a grave slander it is, he would surely have torn it in pieces, and consigned it to the flames. That is the same sort of insult as was meant by the Lord’s words to the Jews, when they said that Christ performed His miracles by some other power than God’s (Matt. 12:22-32). In addition, the Lord also says there:
Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me, scatters. Matt. 12:30.
When I said this, his colleague lowered his gaze, but after a little raised it again to say: ‘I have never heard you speak so harshly.’
‘The reason,’ I replied, ‘is the two dogmas of nature-worship and Mohammedanism, which are criminal lies cunningly invented, and two lethal blows designed to lead men’s wills astray and repel them from the holy worship of the Lord.’ I then turned to the second colleague and said: ‘Tell the man in Goteborg if you can, to read the Lord’s words in Revelation 3:18, and also the passage at 2:16 of that book.’
[13] When I said that, uproar broke out; but it was quelled by a light which shone down from heaven. This induced many of the party on the left to cross over to those on the right. But those remained on the left whose thoughts were entirely vacuous, and who therefore hang on the lips of any teacher, as well as those who think of the Lord as wholly human. The light streaming down from heaven seemed to be reflected off both these last two groups, but to flow into those who crossed over from left to right.
* AD 325.
** The reference is to Dr Ernesti (1707-1781), who lived at Eisleben in Germany. He published a violent attack on Swedenborg, who replied briefly, referring to this passage. See ‘Small Theological Works and Letters,’ ed. Elliot, p. 197.
*** This may refer to Dr O. A. Ekebom, Dean of Goteborg in Sweden in 1761.
THE HOLY SPIRIT AND THE WAY GOD WORKS
On entering the spiritual world, which generally happens on the third day after death, all ordained priests, who have had a fairly correct idea of the Lord our Saviour, are first taught about the Divine Trinity; and in particular that the Holy Spirit is not God in His own right, but when mentioned in the Word means the Divine activity which proceeds from the one omnipresent God. The reason why they particularly need to be taught about the Holy Spirit is that most of those who claim inspiration fall after death into the crazy fancy that they are themselves the Holy Spirit. Another reason is that many in the church, who while in the world believed that the Holy Spirit spoke through them, frighten other people by quoting the Lord’s saying in Matthew, that speaking against what they say by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit is an unforgivable sin (Matt. 12:31, 32). Those who after receiving instruction abandon their belief that the Holy Spirit is God in His own right, are then told about the oneness of God, that He is not divided into three Persons, each of which is individually God and Lord, as the Athanasian Creed asserts, but that the Divine Trinity is contained in the Lord the Saviour, just as soul, body and the power they exert are in any human being. They are then prepared to receive the faith of the new heaven, and when this preparation is complete, the way is opened for them to reach a community in heaven which has a similar faith, and they are given a place to live with their companions, with whom they are destined to live in a blessed state to eternity.
Now having dealt with God the Creator and the Lord the Redeemer, I must deal with the Holy Spirit. This subject, like the previous ones, needs to be split up into a series of propositions, as follows:
(i) The Holy Spirit is Divine Truth, and also the Divine power and activity which proceeds from the one God, in whom is the Divine Trinity, and so from the Lord God the Saviour.
(ii) The Divine power and activity meant by the Holy Spirit are, generally speaking, reformation and regeneration, which lead to renewal, quickening, sanctification and justification; and these lead to purification from evils and the forgiveness of sins, and ultimately to salvation.
(iii) The Divine power and activity meant by the sending of the Holy Spirit, with the clergy takes the particular form of enlightenment and instruction.
(iv) The Lord confers these benefits on those who believe in Him.
(v) The Lord works of Himself from the Father, and not the reverse.
(vi) A person’s spirit is his mind, and whatever comes from it.
The Holy Spirit means properly the Divine Truth, so also the Word; and in this sense the Lord is Himself also the Holy Spirit. But the present-day church uses the term ‘Holy Spirit’ to describe the way God works, that is, the actual process of making a person righteous, so this is the meaning given here to the Holy Spirit, and this will be the principal subject discussed. Another reason is that the activity of God takes place by means of the Divine Truth which proceeds from the Lord; and that which proceeds is of one and the same essence as He from whom it proceeds. This is like the trio of soul, body and what proceeds making up a single essence, which in the case of a human being is purely human, but in the case of the Lord is Divine and human at the same time, these essences after His glorification being united as what is prior is with what follows from it, or like essence and the appropriate form. So the three essentials called the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are one in the Lord.
[2] I showed before that the Lord is the Divine Truth itself or Divine Verity. The following passages will prove that the Holy Spirit is Divine Truth.
A shoot will come forth from the stock of Jesse. The spirit of Jehovah will rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and intelligence, the spirit of counsel and power. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked. Righteousness will be the belt around his loins, and truth the belt around his thighs. Isa. 11:1, 2, 4, 5.
He shall come like a narrow stream, the spirit of Jehovah shall advance his standard against him, then shall the Redeemer come from Zion. Isa. 59:19, 20.
The spirit of the Lord Jehovih is upon me. Jehovah has anointed me. He has sent me to preach the gospel to the poor. Isa. 61:1; Luke 4:18.
This is my covenant. My spirit which is upon you and my words shall not depart from your mouth from now on for ever. Isa. 59:21.
[3] Since the Lord is Truth itself, then everything that proceeds from Him is truth, and this is what is meant by the Comforter, who is also called the Spirit of Truth and the Holy Spirit. The following passages will prove this:
I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I should go away. For if I were not to go away, the Comforter will not come to you. But if I go away, I will send him to you. John 16:7.
When the Spirit of Truth comes, he will lead you to all truth. He will not speak of himself, but will say whatever he has heard. John 16:13.
He will glorify me, because he will take from what is mine and communicate it to you. All things that the Father has are mine. This is why I have said that he will take from what is mine and communicate it to you. John 16:14, 15.
I will ask the Father to give you another Comforter, the Spirit of truth, which the world cannot receive, because it neither sees nor knows him. But you know him, because he remains with you and will be in you. I shall not leave you bereft, I am coming to you and you will see me. John 14:16-19.
When the Comforter comes whom I shall send you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, he will bear witness about me. John 15:26.
He is called the Holy Spirit. John 14:26.
[4] The Lord meant Himself by ‘the Comforter’ or ‘the Holy Spirit’, as is clear from His own saying about the world not yet knowing him, ‘But you know Him’; ‘I will not leave you bereft, I am coming to you’; ‘You will see Me’; and elsewhere ‘Behold I am with you every day until the ending of the age’ (Matt. 28:20). This is further shown by the expression ‘He will not speak of Himself, but that which He receives from me.’
The Holy Spirit was not yet, because Jesus was not yet glorified. John 7:39.
and after His glorification:
He breathed on His disciples and said, Receive the Holy Spirit. John 20:22.
The reason why the Lord breathed on the disciples and said this was that breathing on was the external sign standing for inspiration by God; and inspiration means being brought into contact with communities of angels. This will allow the understanding to grasp what the angel Gabriel said about the Lord’s conception:
The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; so that the holy thing that is born of you will be called the Son of God. Luke 1:35.
Also:
The angel of the Lord said to Joseph in a dream, Do not be afraid to take Mary as your betrothed, for what is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit; and Joseph did not touch her until she had given birth to her first-born son. Matt. 1:20, 25.
The Holy Spirit stands there for the Divine truth proceeding from Jehovah the Father; it was this that came forth which was ‘the power of the Most High’ which overshadowed His mother. So this statement tallies with what John says:
The Word was with God, and the Word was God; and the Word was made flesh. John 1:1, 14.
For a demonstration that the Word there means the Divine truth see the Faith of the New Church (3 above).
A Divine Trinity divided into persons, each of which is by Himself God and Lord, is like having three suns in one world, one up high next to the second, and a third down below bathing angels and men with its radiation, and transmitting the heat and light of the other two in all their power to their minds, hearts and bodies, sharpening them like fire in a retort clarifying and sublimating matter. Anyone can see that, if this happened, man would be burnt to a cinder.
The rule of three Divine persons in heaven again would be like having three kings ruling in one kingdom; or having three generals of equal rank controlling one army; or better, like the Roman government before imperial times, when they had a consul, the senate and a tribune of the people, with power so divided between them that supreme authority was in the hands of all at once. Anyone can see that it is absurd, ridiculous and crazy to introduce that sort of government into heaven. Yet this is what those do who attribute the power of the supreme consul to God the Father, the power of the senate to the Son, and the power of the tribune of the people to the Holy Spirit. This is what happens if each is assigned his own peculiar office, and even more so if it is also asserted that these peculiar characteristics cannot be shared.
This is the series of virtues which the Lord produces in those who believe in Him, adapting and making themselves suitable for Him to be received and dwell in them. This is done by means of the Divine truth, and in the case of Christians by the Word; for this is the one and only means which allows a person to approach the Lord, and allows the Lord to come in to him. For, as stated before, the Lord is Divine truth itself, and so is whatever proceeds from Him. But it must be understood as Divine truth acting from good, which is the same as faith inspired by charity; for faith is nothing but truth, and charity is nothing but good. It is by means of Divine truth acting from good, in other words by means of faith inspired by charity that a person’s reformation and regeneration is effected, and by this means too he is renewed, quickened and made holy and righteous. As all these processes advance and increase, he is cleansed from evils, and this cleansing is what is meant by the forgiveness of sins.
All of these processes effected by the Lord cannot here be discussed one by one, because each demands its own particular analysis, which must be proved from the Word and have light shed on it by the faculty of reason, and this is not the place for it. The reader is therefore referred to the following chapters of this book, which will deal in turn with charity, faith, free will, repentance, reformation and regeneration. It should be known that the Lord continually effects these means of salvation in the case of each individual, for they are steps to heaven, and the Lord desires the salvation of everyone. Thus the salvation of everyone is the end the Lord has in view, and to will the end is to will the means. His coming, redeeming and passion on the cross were all for the sake of man’s salvation (Matt. 18:11; Luke 19:10). So because man’s salvation was and ever will be His end, it follows that the various activities listed above are the mediate ends, and salvation is the ultimate end.
I will give you a new heart and a new spirit, I will put my spirit within you, and make you walk according to my statutes*. Ezek. 36:26, 27; 11:19.
Create a clean heart in us, o God, and make new a steadfast spirit within me. Bring back to me the joy of your salvation, and let the Spirit which acts of its own accord uphold me. Ps. 51:10, 12.
Jehovah forms the spirit of man within him. Zech. 12:1.
With my soul I have waited for you by night, and with my spirit within me I have waited for you in the morning. Isa. 26:9
Make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. Why will you die, o house of Israel? Ezek. 18:31.
In these passages a new heart means the will to do good, and a new spirit the understanding of truth. It is clear from what it says there that the Lord effects these things with those who do good and believe the truth, that is, those who have the faith of charity, when it says that God gives breath to those that walk according to His statutes*, and that it is called ‘the Spirit which acts of its own accord.’ It is clear that man must take action on his own side from the words, ‘Make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. Why will you die, o house of Israel?’
* The Latin has ‘in the way of salvation’, but this is corrected in the author’s copy.
[2] Is there anyone who does not know that the Lord was not the Lamb, nor in it, but that the Lamb was a representation of His innocence? This makes clear as daylight the error of those who deduce the three persons of the Trinity from the dove seen over the Lord at His baptism, and the voice then heard from heaven saying, ‘This is my beloved Son.’ The way the Lord brings about a person’s regeneration by faith and charity is meant by what John the Baptist said:
I baptise you with water for repentance, but he who will come after me will baptise with the Holy Spirit and with fire. Matt. 3:11; Mark 1:8; Luke 3:16.
To baptise with the Holy Spirit and with fire is to regenerate by means of the Divine truth of faith and by means of the Divine good of charity. The following words of the Lord have a similar meaning:
Unless a person has been born by water and the spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God. John 3:5.
Water here as elsewhere in the Word means truth in the natural or external man; spirit means truth arising from good in the spiritual or internal man.
[2] It is much the same with all the creatures of lower rank in the animal kingdom, for instance, birds, beasts, fish, flying and earth-bound insects. Each of these can be recognised by its essential nature, and each has instincts which are derived from and in accordance with its nature. Likewise in the vegetable kingdom, every tree, every shrub and every vegetable can be recognised by its fruit and seed, in which its essential nature is innate. Nor can they produce anything but what is their own and like them. Indeed it is its essential nature which allows us to judge every kind of soil or clay, every stone, precious as well as ordinary, every mineral and metal.
The activities of the Lord listed in the preceding section, reformation, regeneration, renewal, quickening, sanctification, justification, cleansing, the forgiveness of sins and finally salvation, are sent by the Lord to affect the clergy as well as laymen, and they are received by those who are in the Lord and have the Lord in them (John 6:56; 14:20; 15:4, 5). The reason why enlightenment and instruction are especially given to the clergy is that these things are a part of their duties, and that ordination into the ministry carries these with it. The clergy also believe that, when zeal leads them to preach, they are inspired like the Lord’s disciples, on whom He breathed and said:
Receive the Holy Spirit. John 20:22; see also Mark 13:11.
Some even assert that they have felt it flowing into them. But they should take extreme care not to be convinced that the zeal, by which many are carried away while preaching, is God working in their hearts. For similar or even more ardent zeal is felt by fanatics and also by those who hold the falsest doctrines, even by those who care not a whit for the Word, but worship nature as god, and pack faith and charity away in the knapsack on their backs. When they are preaching and teaching they hang it round their necks like a sort of second stomach, from which they bring up and regurgitate such things as they know will appeal to their listeners’ appetites.
Zeal considered in itself is an outburst of heat in the natural man. If it has the love of truth in it, then it is like the holy fire which affected the Apostles, as we read in Acts:
There appeared divided among them tongues as it were of fire, which settled upon each of them; and they were thus all filled with the Holy Spirit. Acts 2:3, 4.
But if that zeal or outburst of heat has the love of falsity lurking within it, then it is like fire smouldering in a log, which bursts out and sets fire to the house. Do you, reader, if you deny the holiness of the Word and the divinity of the Lord, please take your knapsack off your back and open it, which you are free to do at home, and then you will see. I know that those from Babel, who are meant by Lucifer in Isaiah, on entering a church, and even more when climbing into a pulpit, especially those who call themselves members of the Society of Jesus, are carried away by a zeal which in many cases comes from a hellish love; and this makes them cry out more violently and heave deeper sighs from their chests, than those whose zeal comes from heavenly love. There are two more ways in which the spirit works upon the clergy, which will be mentioned later (155).
[2] They can also be likened to a prostitute who steeps herself in perfume, makes up her face with rouge, and dresses in white silk with a floral pattern; but when she returns home, she strips in front of a lascivious audience** and infects them with her contagion. Years of experience in the spiritual world have taught me that those who in their hearts deny the holiness of the Word or the divinity of the Lord are like this; for in that world all are at first kept in their external forms, but later on they are exposed in their internal forms, and then the comedy turns into tragedy.
*The Latin has ‘from the sea’, but this is not in this passage, but Rev. 13:1
**Latin luperci, the name of the ancient Roman worshippers of a fertility god.
The Lord confers these benefits, which are meant by the sending of the Holy Spirit, on those who believe in Him. That is to say, He reforms them, regenerates them, renews, quickens, justifies and cleanses them from evils, and so eventually saves them. This is proved by all the passages in the Word which attribute salvation and everlasting life to those who believe in the Lord, and which were quoted before (107). In addition there is this:
Jesus said, If anyone believes in me, as the Scripture says, streams of living water will flow from his belly; He said this about the spirit, which those who believe in Him are to receive. John 7:38, 39.
Also this:
The witness of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. Rev. 19:10.
The spirit of prophecy means the truth of doctrine drawn from the Word. Prophecy always means doctrine, and to prophesy means to teach it; the witness of Jesus means confessing one’s faith in Him. His witness has a similar meaning in this passage:
Michael’s angels defeated the dragon by the blood of the Lamb, and the word of their* witness. And the dragon departed, to make war on the remainder of His seed, who kept the commandments of God, and bear witness to Jesus Christ. Rev. 12:11, 17.
* ‘His’ in the Latin, but corrected in the author’s copy.
Working here means much the same as sending the Holy Spirit, since the activities listed above, which are in general reformation, regeneration, renewal, quickening, sanctification, justification, [cleansing] from evils, forgiveness of sins [and salvation], are the Lord’s doing, though at the present time they are attributed to the Holy Spirit as an independent God. These things are performed by the Lord from the Father, and not the reverse, as will first be proved from the Word and then illustrated by many reasoned arguments. The following passages from the Word will serve:
When the Comforter comes whom I shall send from the Father, the Spirit of truth who comes forth from the Father, he will bear witness about me. John 15:26.
If I do not go away, the Comforter will not come to you; but if I go away, I will send him to you. John 16:7.
The Comforter, the Spirit of truth, will not speak of himself, but he will receive of mine and tell it to you. Everything that the Father has is mine; it is for this reason that I said that he would receive of mine and tell it to you. John 16:13-15.
The Holy Spirit was not yet, because Jesus was not yet glorified. John 7:39.
Jesus breathed on the disciples and said, Receive the Holy Spirit. John 20:22.
Whatever you ask in my name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son; if you ask anything in my name, I shall do it. John 14:13, 14.
[2] These passages show clearly that it is the Lord who sends the Holy Spirit, that is to say, performs the works which at the present day are attributed to the Holy Spirit as an independent God. For He said that He would send him from the Father; that He would send him to you; that the Holy Spirit was not yet, because Jesus was not yet glorified; that after He was glorified He breathed on the disciples and said, Receive the Holy Spirit; He also said, Whatever you ask in my name, I will do, and also that the Comforter will receive of mine what he is to tell. The Comforter is identical with the Holy Spirit; see John 14:26. The following passages show that God the Father does not confer these benefits of Himself acting through the Son, but the Son does so of Himself from the Father:
No one has ever seen God; the only-begotten Son, who is in the Father’s bosom, He has revealed Him. John 1:18.
Elsewhere:
You have never heard the Father’s voice, nor have you seen His appearance. John 5:37.
[3] So it follows from these passages that God the Father works in the Son and upon the Son, not through the Son; but the Lord works of Himself
from His Father, for He says:
All things of the Father’s are mine. John 16:15. The Father has given all things into the hand of the Son. John 3:35.
Also:
As the Father has life in Himself, so did He grant the Son to have life in Himself. John 5:26.
The words which I speak are spirit and life. John 6:63.
The Lord says that the Spirit of truth comes forth from the Father (John 15:26), because it comes forth from the Father into the Son, and out of the Son from the Father. For this reason too He says:
On that day you will know that the Father is in me, and I am in the Father, and you are in me and I am in you. John 14:11, 20.
These plain sayings of the Lord’s show up the manifest error of the Christian world, that it is God the Father who sends the Holy Spirit to men, as well as the error of the Greek church, that God the Father sends Him without any mediation. This teaching, that the Lord of Himself sends the Holy Spirit from God the Father, and not the reverse, has come to me from heaven; the angels call it a secret, because it has not previously been revealed in the world.
[2] It is the same with every minister of the church, the one who preaches truths as much as the one who preaches falsities; each has his own mouth and his own intelligence, and each speaks as he is guided by his own mind, that is, the spirit which he possesses. All Protestants, whether they go by the name of Evangelical or Reformed, once they have been taught the dogmas handed down from Luther, Melanchthon or Calvin, do not have these three or their dogmas speaking of themselves through their mouths, but they themselves speak of themselves from the leaders. Moreover, each separate dogma can be expounded in a thousand ways, for each is like a cornucopia, from which each preacher chooses what suits and matches his own character, and expounds it according to the talents he possesses.
[3] This can be illustrated by the action of the heart in and on the lungs, and by the spontaneous reaction of the lungs from the heart. These are two distinct actions, but still reciprocally connected. The lungs breathe spontaneously from the heart, but the heart does not breathe by means of the lungs. If this happened, both of them would cease working. It is the same with the heart’s action in and on the viscera throughout the body. The heart circulates blood to all parts, but the viscera draw on this blood, each part taking its proper ration to enable it to perform its proper use, and acting in accordance with this, but in different ways.
[4] A further illustration of the same point is this. The evil which comes from one’s parents, what is called hereditary evil, works in and on a person; and likewise the good which comes from the Lord, but this is above or within, the evil is below and outside. If the evil worked by means of the person, he could not be reformed, nor would he be liable to blame; and likewise if the good coming from the Lord worked by means of the person, he could not be reformed in that case either. But because either action depends upon a person’s free choice, he incurs guilt when he acts of himself from evil, and remains innocent when he acts of himself from good. Now since evil is the devil and good is the Lord, he incurs guilt if he acts from the devil, and is innocent if he acts from the Lord. It is that free choice, which is open to every individual, that makes it possible for a person to be reformed.
[5] It is the same with everything internal and external in a person’s character; internal and external are two different things, but still joined in a reciprocal bond. The internal acts in and on the external, not by means of it. For the internal has thousands of plans, from which the external selects only those which can be of use. In a person’s internal, by which is meant the voluntary and perceptive mind, there is a vast heap of ideas, which if they escaped through a person’s mouth would be like wind from a bellows. Since the internal is concerned with universals, it can be compared with an ocean, a flower-bed or a garden, from which the external helps itself to sufficient for its purposes. The Lord’s Word is like an ocean, a flower-bed and a garden. When the Word is present in considerable fulness in a person’s internal, then he speaks and acts of himself from the Word, but the Word does not act by his means. It is the same with the Lord, since He is the Word, that is, the Divine truth and Divine good it contains. The Lord of Himself or from the Word acts in and on people, but not by their means, since everyone freely acts and speaks from the Lord when he does so from the Word.
[6] A closer parallel to this might be the mutual relationship between the soul and the body, which are two separate things, but linked in a reciprocal bond. The soul acts in and on the body, but not by means of the body; and the body acts of itself from the soul. The soul does not act by means of the body, because they do not consult and deliberate together; nor does the soul order or beg the body to do this or that, or to speak by its own mouth. Nor does the body demand or request the soul to give it or supply something, for everything of the soul’s belongs to the body, and vice versa. It is the same with the Lord’s Divine and His Human; for the Divine of the Father is the soul of His Human, and the Human is His body. The Human does not ask its Divine what it is to say or do. Therefore, the Lord says:
On that day you will ask in my name; and I do not tell you that I shall ask the Father for you, for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved me. John 16:26, 27.
‘On that day’ means after His glorification, that is, after His union with the Father was accomplished and completed. This is a secret revealed by the Lord Himself for the benefit of those who are going to belong to His new church.
[2] Disposition, however, is the result of an affection of love on the part of the will. It is the pleasure given by this love which so disposes the mind. If this pleasure comes from the love of evil and of falsity arising from evil, it arouses enthusiasm, which outwardly appears rough, hairy, burning and spitting fire, and inwardly is anger, rage and cruelty. But if it is the pleasure which comes from the love of good and truth arising from good, the enthusiasm appears outwardly smooth, hairless, thundering and flaming, and inwardly is charity, grace and mercy. The process of being instructed follows as the result of the other processes which cause it. Thus enlightenment coming from the Lord is turned into light and heat of various kinds, differing in each person’s case in accordance with his mental state.
A person’s spirit, regarded as an object, is nothing but his mind. It is this which lives on after death, and it is then called a spirit; if he is good, an angelic spirit and later an angel, if wicked, a satanic spirit and afterwards a Satan. Everyone’s mind is his internal man, which is the real person and resides within the external man composed of his body. So when the body is cast off as the result of death, the internal man has a fully human form. Those, then, are in error who believe that a person’s mind resides only in his head. There it is only in its beginnings, from which first emerge everything a person’s understanding allows him to think and his will induces him to do. But in the body the mind is present in derivatives from those beginnings, and these have been so constructed as to permit sensation and action. Since it is inwardly attached to the bodily structures, it imparts to them sensation and movement, together with a feeling that the body thinks and acts of itself. Yet every intelligent person knows that this is a fallacy. Now since a person’s spirit is allowed by his understanding to think and is induced by his will to act, and the body does not do so of itself but from the spirit, it follows that a person’s spirit means his intelligence and the affection of his love, and everything which comes from it and acts.
[2] There are numerous passages in the Word to prove that a person’s spirit means such things as are to do with the mind; their mere quotation will show anyone that this is so. The following are a few among many:
Bezaleel was filled with the spirit of wisdom, intelligence and knowledge. Exod. 31:3.
Nebuchadnezzar said of Daniel that an outstanding spirit of knowledge, intelligence and wisdom was in him. Dan. 5:12, 14.
Joshua was filled with the spirit of wisdom. Deut. 34:9.
Make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. Ezek. 18:31.
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for of such is the kingdom of the heavens. Matt. 5:3.
I dwell in a broken and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble. Isa. 57:15.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit. Ps. 51:17.
I will give a cloak of praise in place of a depressed spirit. Isa. 61:3.
Spirit also stands for the products of a wrong and unjust mind, as these passages prove:
He said to the foolish prophets, who run after their own spirit. Ezek. 13:3.
Conceive chaff, bring forth stubble; as to your spirit, fire shall devour you. Isa. 33:11.
A man who is in spirit a vagabond and utters a lie. Micah 2:11.
A generation whose spirit is not steadfast with God. Ps. 78:8.
A spirit of whoring. Hosea 4:12; 5:4.
That every heart may melt and every spirit be depressed. Ezek. 21:7.
That which rises upon your spirit shall never be. Ezek. 20:32.
Provided there is no deceit in his spirit. Ps. 32:2.
The spirit of Pharaoh was troubled. Gen. 41:8.
Likewise that of Nebuchadnezzar. Dan. 2:3.
These and very many other passages plainly establish that spirit means a person’s mind and what is to do with it.
Ezekiel says: ‘A spirit lifted me up, and brought me back to Chaldaea to the captives in a vision, in the spirit of God; so the vision which I had seen went up from me’ (Ezek. 11:1, 24). A spirit lifted him up and he heard behind him an earthquake (Ezek. 3:12, 14). A spirit lifted him up between earth and heaven, and carried him off to Jerusalem, and he saw abominations (Ezek. 8:3ff). He saw four creatures, which were Cherubim, and various sights with them (Ezek. chapters 1 and 10); also a new earth and a new temple, and an angel measuring them (Ezek. chapters 40-48). He was then in receipt of a vision and in the spirit (Ezek. 40:2; 13:5).
[2] Similar things happened to Zechariah, when he was with an angel and saw a man riding a horse among myrtles (Zech. 1:8ff); four horns [1:18] and a man with a measuring line in his hand (Zech. 2:1, 5ff); Joshua the high priest (Zech. 3:1ff); four chariots coming out between two mountains, and their horses (Zech. 6:1ff). Daniel was in the same state when he saw four beasts coming up out of the sea and various other details about them (Dan. 7:1ff); the fights between a ram and a he-goat (Dan: 8:1ff). He saw these things in a vision (Dan. 7:1, 2, 7, 13; 8:2; 10:1, 7, 8); the angel Gabriel appeared to him in a vision and spoke with him (Dan. 9:21).
[3] It was the same with John when he wrote Revelation. He says that he was in the spirit on the Lord’s day (Rev. 1:10); that he was carried in the spirit into the desert (Rev. 17:3); onto a high mountain in the spirit (Rev. 21:10); that he saw [horses] in a vision (Rev. 9:17). Elsewhere he says that he saw what he described, as for instance the Son of Man in the midst of the seven lampstands; a tabernacle, a temple, an ark and an altar in heaven; a book sealed with seven seals, and horses that came out of it; four creatures around the throne; twelve thousand chosen from each tribe; then the Lamb upon Mount Zion; locusts coming up from the abyss; the dragon and his battle with Michael; a woman bearing a son, and fleeing into the desert because of the dragon; two beasts, one coming up from the sea, the other from the earth; a woman sitting on a scarlet beast; the dragon cast out into a lake of fire and brimstone; a white horse and a great banquet; the Holy City of Jerusalem coming down, with a description of its gates, wall and the foundations of the wall; a river of living water, and trees of life which bear fruit in every month; and much else besides. Peter, James and John were in a similar state when they saw Jesus transfigured; and so was Paul when he heard from heaven things past telling.
Since this chapter has dealt with the Holy Spirit, it is of importance to note that the Holy Spirit is nowhere named in the Old Testament Word, but only ‘the Spirit of holiness’ in three passages, one in the Psalms of David (Ps. 51:11), and two in Isaiah (63:10, 11). But there are frequent references in the New Testament Word, as much in the Gospels as in the Acts of the Apostles and in their Epistles. The reason is that the Holy Spirit first existed when the Lord came into the world, for it came out of Him from the Father; for ‘the Lord alone is holy’ (Rev. 15:4). For this reason too the angel Gabriel speaking to Mary the mother of Jesus said ‘the holy thing which will be born of you’ (Luke 1:35). The reason why we read ‘The Holy Spirit was not yet, because Jesus was not yet glorified’ (John 7:39), although it was said earlier that the Holy Spirit filled Elizabeth (Luke 1:41) and Zechariah (Luke 1:67), as well as Simeon (Luke 2:25), was that it was the spirit of Jehovah the Father which filled them; and it was called the Holy Spirit because the Lord was already at that time in the world.
This is why nowhere in the Old Testament Word does it say that the Prophets spoke from the Holy Spirit, but from Jehovah. For everywhere we read ‘Jehovah spoke to me’, ‘The Word from Jehovah came to me’, ‘Jehovah said’, ‘The saying of Jehovah.’
To remove all possibility of doubt I propose to quote the passages solely in Jeremiah where these expressions occur: 1:4, 7, 11-14, 19; 2:1-5, 9, 19, 22, 29, 31; 3:1, 6, 10, 12, 14, 16; 4:1, 3, 9, 17, 27; 5:11, 14, 18, 22, 29; 6:6, 9, 12, 15, 16, 21, 22; 7:1, 3, 11, 13, 19-21; 8:1, 3, 12, 13; 9:3, 7, 9, 13, 15, 17, 22, 24, 25; 10:1, 2, 18; 11:1,[3,]6, 9, 11, 17, 18, 21, 22; 12:14, 17; 13:1, 6, 9, 11-15, 25; 14:1, 10, 14, 15; 15:1-3, 6, 11, 19, 20; 16:1, 3, 5, 9, 14, 16; 17:5, 19-21, 24; 18:1, 5, 6, 11, 13; 19:1, 3, 6, 12, 15; 20:4; 21:14, 7, 8, 11, 121, 141; 22:2, 5, 6, 11,[16,]18, 24, 29, 30; 23:2, 5, 7, 12, 15, 24, 29, 31, 38; 24:3, 5, 8; 25:1, 3, 7-9, 15, 27-29, 32; 26:1, 2, 18; 27:1, 24, 8, 11, 16, 19, 21, 22; 28:2, 12, 14, 16; 29:4, 8, 9, 16, 19-21, 25, 30-32; 30:15, 8, 10-12, 17, 18; 31:1, 2, 7, 10, 15-17, 23, 27, 28, 31-38; 32:1, 6, 14, 15, 25, 26, 28, 30, 36, 421, 441; 33:1, 2, 4, 10-13, 17, 19, 20, 23, 25; 34:1, 2, 4, 8, 12, 13, 22; 35:1, 13, 17-19; 36:1, 6, 27, 29, 30; 37:6, 7, 9; 38:2, 3, 17; 39:15-18; 40:1; 42:7, 9, 15, 18, 19; 43:8, 10; 44:1, 2, 7, 11, 24-26, 30; 45:2, 5; 46:1, 23, 25, 28; 47:1; 48:1, 8, 12, 30, 35, 38, 40, 43, 44, 47; 49:2, 5-7, 12, 13, 16, 18, 26, 28, 30, 32, 35, 37-39; 50:114, 10, 18, 20, 21, 30, 31, 33, 35, 40; 51:25, 33, 36, 39, 52, 58. These are solely from Jeremiah. There are similar expressions in all the other Prophets, but it is never said that the Holy Spirit spoke, nor that Jehovah spoke to them by means of the Holy Spirit.
Once when I was in company with angels in heaven, I saw far below a huge cloud of smoke with fire bursting out of it from time to time. I remarked to the angels who were talking with me, that few people here know that the sight of smoke in the hells arises from arguments in favour of falsities, and that fire is an outburst of anger against those who contradict them. I added that this is as little known in that world, as it is in the world where I live in the body, that flame is nothing but ignited smoke. I have often observed this, when, seeing smoke rising from wood on a hearth on earth, I have applied a lighted taper to it and seen the smoke turn into flame; and the flames copied the shape of the smoke, for each particle of smoke becomes a spark, and they join to make a blaze, just as also happens with gunpowder. ‘It is the same with the smoke we can see down here below. It is composed of so many falsities, and the fire bursting out as flames is the outburst of zeal in their favour.’
[2] Then the angels said to me: ‘Let us beg the Lord to allow us to go down and come near, so as to find out what falsities they have that produce so much smoke and fire.’
Permission was granted, and at once a beam of light surrounded us and brought us down without a break to that place. There we saw four groups of spirits who were arguing vigorously that God the Father, because He is invisible, should be approached and worshipped, and not His Son who was born in this world, because He was a man and visible. On looking to either side I saw on the left the learned clergy, and behind them the unlearned clergy; and on the right the educated laymen, and behind them the uneducated. But between us and them yawned an unbridgeable gap.
[3] We turned our eyes and ears towards the left, where the clergy were with the learned ones in front and the unlearned behind, and heard them arguing about God in these terms. ‘We know from the teaching of our church, which on the subject of God is one and the same throughout Europe, that one should approach God the Father, being invisible, and at the same time God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, who are also invisible, being co-eternal with the Father. Since God the Father is the creator of the universe, and consequently in the universe, He is present wherever we turn our gaze. When we pray to Him, He is graciously pleased to accept our prayers, and when the Son has mediated for us, He sends the Holy Spirit to put in our hearts the glory of His Son’s righteousness and to make us blessed. We, who have been made doctors of the church, felt, when we preached, the holy working of the Spirit’s mission in our breasts, and we breathed the devotion aroused by His presence in our minds. We feel these emotions because we direct all our senses towards the invisible God who works not in a single way on the sight of our understanding, but universally throughout our mental and bodily systems by means of His emissary, the Spirit. Such effects could not be produced by the worship of a visible God, or one apprehensible mentally as a man.’
[4] This speech was greeted with applause from the unlearned clergy, who stood behind them. ‘What is the source,’ they added, ‘of holiness, if it is not from an invisible and imperceptible Divine? As soon as this idea crosses the threshold of our hearing, our faces break into smiles and we are cheered as by the soothing breath of an incense-laden breeze, and we also beat our breasts. It is quite different if we think of a visible and perceptible Divine; if this idea penetrates our ears, it is reduced to something purely natural and no longer Divine. It is for a similar reason that the Roman Catholics conduct their masses in the Latin language, and take the Host, the alleged subject of Divine mysteries, from repositories on the altar and display it. At this moment the people fall on their knees as if before the profoundest mystery and reverently hold their breath.’
[5] After this we turned to the right, where the educated, and behind them the uneducated, laymen stood. I heard the educated speak as follows: ‘We know that the wisest of the ancients worshipped an invisible God whom they called Jehovah, but in the period which followed this they made themselves gods out of dead rulers, including Saturn, Jupiter, Neptune, Pluto, Apollo as well as Minerva, Diana, Venus, and Themis, building temples to them and giving them Divine worship. This worship in the course of time led to idolatry, a madness which finally pervaded the whole world. We are therefore unanimous in assenting to the opinion of our priests and elders, that there were and are three Divine Persons from eternity, each of whom is God. It is enough for us that they are invisible.’
The uneducated behind them added: ‘We agree. Surely God is God and man is man? But we know that if anyone proposed God-man, the common people, whose idea of God is only derived from the senses, will accept it.’
[6] At the end of this speech their eyes were opened and they saw us standing near them. Then they became angry that we had heard them and refused to say another word. But the angels used the power they had been given to shut off the exterior or lower levels of their thought, and open the interior or higher levels; so they compelled them to speak about God in this state. Then they said: ‘What is God? We have not seen His appearance, nor have we heard His voice. God then must be merely nature in its first and last manifestations. Nature we have seen, because it is clear before our eyes, and nature we have heard, for its sounds are ever in our ears.’
On hearing this we said to them: ‘Have you ever seen Socinus, who would acknowledge only God the Father? Or Arius, who denied the divinity of our Lord and Saviour? Or any of their followers?’ ‘No,’ they replied. ‘They are,’ we said, ‘in the depths below you.’ Then some people were sent for from that place and questioned about God. They spoke in much the same way as the others had done, adding: ‘What is God? We can make as many gods as we wish.’
[7] ‘It is useless,’ we said then, ‘to talk to you about the Son of God born in the world, but this at least we shall say. To prevent faith about God, in Him and from Him, from becoming, merely because no one has seen Him, like a water-bubble floating in the air, full of beautiful colours in the first and second moments of its existence, but in the third and thereafter collapsing into nothing, it has pleased Jehovah God to come down and take upon Himself human form, thus putting Himself on view, and proving that God is no entity conceived by the faculty of reason, but That which was, is and shall be, from eternity to eternity. God is no three-letter* word, but the whole of reality from alpha to omega. Consequently He is life and salvation to all who believe in Him as a visible God, not to those who say that they believe in an invisible God. For believing, seeing and recognising make up a single act, which is why the Lord said to Philip:
He who sees and knows me sees and knows the Father.
and elsewhere that it is the Father’s will that they should believe in the Son, and he who believes in the Son has everlasting life, but he who does not believe in the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God will rest upon him. (Both this and the previous passage are in John 3:15, 16, 36; 14:6-15.)’ On hearing this many of the four groups became so furious that smoke and fire came out of their nostrils. So we went away, and after escorting me home the angels went up to their own heaven.
* This is a puzzling expression, since God in Latin is Deus; but as the conversation took place in the spiritual world, it may refer to a word in the spiritual language.
I was once walking in the company of angels in the world of spirits. This lies half-way between heaven and hell, and it is where everyone comes first after death; here the good are prepared for heaven, the wicked for hell. I discussed a number of topics with the angels, one of which was that in the world where I am bodily there are to be seen at night-time countless stars of various sizes, and each of these is a sun, emitting only light to the solar system; ‘and on seeing,’ I said, ‘that stars are to be seen in your world too, I hazarded the guess that they are as numerous as in the world where I am.’
The angels were delighted at this remark, and said that they might well be as numerous, since each community in heaven appears at times to those who are beneath shining like a star. The communities of heaven are countless, all arranged as their affections for the love of good vary; these affections are in God infinite, and under His influence therefore countless. Since these were foreseen before creation, I imagine that to agree with that number the same number of stars was provided or created in the world where human beings were to live in natural, material bodies.
[2] While we were talking like this, I saw in the north a paved road, so crowded with spirits there was hardly room to set foot between two of them. I told the angels that I had seen this road previously, with spirits passing along it in as close order as squadrons of troops; and that I had been told that this is the road along which all pass when they leave the natural world. The reason why it is crowded with such numbers of spirits is that tens of thousands of people die every week, and all after death pass into this world.
The angels went on to say: ‘The road ends in the middle of this world, where we now are. The reason why it ends in the middle is that on the eastern side are the communities dedicated to love to God and towards the neighbour; on the left, towards the west, are the communities composed of those who oppose these loves. In front, to the south, are communities composed of those who are above average intelligence. That is why recent arrivals from the natural world come here first. When here they are at first outwardly exactly as they had been most recently in their previous world; but later on they are step by step brought into their inward state, and submitted to examination of their nature. After this the good are transferred to their places in heaven, the wicked to theirs in hell.’
[3] We halted at the centre, where the access road ended, and said: ‘Let us wait here a little while and talk with some of the newcomers.’ We selected a dozen of those arriving; and since they had all just come from the natural world, they did not know that they were not still there. We asked them their opinions about heaven and hell and life after death.
One of them replied as follows: ‘Our priestly order has taught me to believe that we shall live after death, and that there are such places as heaven and hell. Consequently I have always believed that those who lead decent lives go to heaven; and since everyone lives a decent life, no one goes to hell. So hell is just a story made up by the clergy to keep people from leading wicked lives. What difference does it make whether I hold one opinion or another about God? Thought is only like froth or a bubble on the surface of water, which bursts and disappears.’
A second next to him said: ‘My belief is that heaven and hell exist, and that God rules heaven and the devil rules hell. Since they are enemies and thus take opposite views, one calls evil what the other calls good. Decent people are hypocrites who can make evil appear good and good evil, so they stand on either side. What difference does it make then whether I am with one lord or the other, so long as he supports me? People take just as much pleasure in evil as in good.’
[4] A third, next to the second, said: ‘How does it concern me whether I believe in heaven and hell, since no one has ever come back from there to tell me? If everyone lived on after death, surely one out of all that vast number would have come back and told us?’
The next, the fourth, said: ‘I will tell you why no one has come back and told us. It is because when a person has breathed out his soul and died, then he either becomes a ghost which is quickly dissolved, or he is like the breath from the mouth, which is just air. How can anyone like that come back or talk to anyone?’
The fifth took up the tale: ‘My friends,’ he said, ‘wait until the day of the Last judgment, for then all will return to their bodies, and you will see them and talk with them, and then each will be able to tell the others what happened to him.’
[5] The sixth, who stood opposite, said with a smile: ‘How can a spirit which is just air return to a body which has been eaten by worms, or to a skeleton burnt up by the sun and reduced to dust? And how can an Egyptian, who has been mummified, and then mixed by a druggist into his extracts, emulsions, potions and pills, come back and tell anything? So if that is your belief, go on waiting for that last day, but you will wait for ever and ever in vain.’
Then the seventh said: ‘If I believed in heaven and hell and so in life after death, I should believe that birds and animals would live on too; some of them are as decent and rational as human beings. But they say that animals have no life after death, so I say that people do not either. The cases are identical, one follows from the other. What is man but an animal?’
The eighth, who was standing behind him, came forward and said: ‘Believe in heaven if you like, but I do not believe in hell. God is omnipotent, isn’t He, and can save everyone?’
[6] Then the ninth shook his hand and said: ‘God is not only omnipotent, but also gracious. He could not send anyone to everlasting fire; and if there is anyone there, He would take him out and raise him up.’
The tenth left his place and hurried to the middle saying: ‘Neither do I believe in hell. Did not God send His Son, and did not He make expiation and take away the sins of the whole world? What power then has the devil against that? And if he has none, what then becomes of hell?’
The eleventh, who was a priest, was angry to hear this and said: ‘Don’t you know that those who have acquired faith, on which Christ’s merit is imprinted, are saved, and that those whom God chooses acquire that faith? So the choice is at the discretion of the Almighty, and it depends upon His judgment who are worthy. Can anyone dispute this?’
The twelfth, who was a politician, kept silence. But when asked to sum up the replies, he said: ‘I shall not offer any profound statements about heaven, hell and life after death, because there is no one who knows anything about them. But still you should not abuse the priests, but allow them to go on preaching about them. For in this way the minds of the common people are kept by an invisible bond subject to the laws and their rulers. And is this not the key to the preservation of Society?’
[7] We were astonished to hear such sentiments and said to one another: ‘Although these people call themselves Christians, they are neither human beings nor animals, but human animals., However, to rouse them from their sleep we said: ‘Heaven and hell do exist, and there is a life after death. You will be convinced of this when we dispel your ignorance about your present state. For everyone for some days after death is totally unaware that he is no longer living in the same world as formerly. The time that has passed is like a sleep, and when anyone wakes from it, he feels he is exactly where he was. It is the same with you at present, and this is why you spoke exactly as you thought in the previous world.’
Then the angels dispelled their ignorance, so that they saw they were in another world and among people they did not know. ‘Oh, where are we?’ they cried. ‘You are no longer,’ we said, ‘in the natural world, but in the spiritual world and we are angels.’
Then, when they had woken up, they said: ‘If you are angels, show us where heaven is.’ ‘Stay here a little while,’ we replied, ‘and we will come back.’ After half an hour we returned and found them waiting for us, so we said: ‘Follow us and we will take you to heaven.’ They did so, and we went up with them, and since we were with them the guards opened the gate and let us in. We told those who received the newcomers on the threshold to examine them. So they turned them around, and saw that the backs of their heads were largely hollowed out. Then they said: ‘Begone from here, for you find pleasure in the love of evil-doing, so you can have no link with heaven. In your hearts you have denied the existence of God and have despised religion.’ ‘Don’t delay,’ we told them, ‘otherwise you will be thrown out.’ So they hastened back down and were gone.
[8] On the way home we talked about the reason why those in this world who take pleasure in evil-doing have the backs of their heads hollowed out. I stated the reason, that human beings have two brains, one in the back of the head, which is called the cerebellum, the other in the front of the head, which is called the cerebrum. The cerebellum is the seat of loving on the part of the will, the cerebrum that of thinking on the part of the understanding. When the thought of the understanding does not guide the love of the will, the inmost regions of that person’s cerebellum, which are in themselves heavenly, collapse; this causes the hollowing out.
Once in the spiritual world I heard a noise like a mill; it was in the northern region. To begin with I wondered what it was, but then I remembered that a mill and milling mean seeking support for doctrine from the Word. So I approached the place where I had heard the noise, and when I came close the noise disappeared. Then I saw a covered area above ground, the approach to which was through a cave. On seeing this I went down and went inside.
There was a room there in which I saw an old man sitting among his books, holding a copy of the Word in front of him and looking out passages in it in support of his doctrine. Slips of paper were lying around, on which he had copied out supporting passages. In the next room were scribes, who were collecting the slips and writing out what was on them on clean sheets of paper. I asked first about the books he had around him.
He said that they were all on the subject of justifying faith. ‘Those from Sweden and Denmark are profound, more profound those from Germany, still more profound those from Britain, and the most profound are those from Holland.’ He added that they differed in various respects, but all agreed on the subject of justification and salvation by faith alone. He went on to say that he was now gathering support from the Word for the first tenet of justifying faith, that God the Father withdrew His favour from the human race on account of its wrong-doing, and God therefore needed in order to save men to receive satisfaction, be reconciled, propitiated and have as mediator someone who would take upon himself the righteous condemnation; and there was no way this could be done except through His only Son. When this had been done, the way was opened up to God the Father for His sake, for we say: ‘Father, have mercy on us for the sake of the Son.’ ‘I see,’ he said, ‘and have long done so, that this is in accordance with all sound reason and Scripture. How else could anyone approach God the Father, except through faith in the merit of the Son?’
[2] On hearing this I was amazed that he asserted it to be in accordance with sound reason and Scripture, when in fact it is contrary to both, as I told him plainly. This provoked an outburst of zeal and he retorted: ‘How can you talk like that?’
So I stated my opinion and said: ‘Is it not contrary to sound reason to think that God the Father withdrew His favour from the human race, reproved it and cut off communication with it? Surely Divine favour is an attribute of the Divine Essence? So withdrawing His favour would be withdrawing His Divine Essence, and that would mean ceasing to be God. Surely God cannot become estranged from Himself? Believe me, favour on God’s part is both infinite and eternal. God’s favour can be lost on man’s part, if he fails to accept it, [but never on God’s part].** If the favour shown by God were taken away, it would be the end of the whole of heaven and the whole human race. Therefore favour on God’s part is shown permanently and for ever, not only to angels and men, but even to the devils in hell. Since this is in accordance with sound reason, why do you say that the sole approach to God the Father is through faith in the Son’s merit, when in fact God’s favour ensures that the approach is perpetually open?
[3] ‘But why do you talk about approaching God the Father for the sake of the Son, rather than through the Son? Is not the Son the mediator and saviour? Why do you not approach the mediator and saviour Himself? Is He not God and Man? On earth does anyone approach directly any emperor, king or prince? Surely he finds a chamberlain to introduce him? Do you not know that the Lord came into the world so that He should introduce us to the Father, and that it is impossible to approach Him except through the Lord? This approach is perpetually open when you directly approach the Lord Himself, because He is in the Father and the Father is in Him. Now consult Scripture and you will see that this is in accordance with it, and that your approach to the Father is contrary to it, just as it is contrary to sound reason. I tell you too, it is presumptuous to go up to God the Father, except through Him who is in the Father’s bosom, and who alone is with Him. Have you not read John 14:6?’
On hearing this the old man was so enraged he jumped up from his chair and shouted to his scribes to throw me out; and when I had immediately of my own accord gone out, he threw after me out of the door the book which he happened to be holding in his hand. The book was the Word.
* This section is repeated from AR 484.1-3.
** These words are inserted from the earlier use of the passage in AR 484.
A dispute arose among some spirits, whether anyone can see any truth on a matter of theological dogma in the Word, unless he is led to it by the Lord. They all agreed that no one can do this except by Divine guidance, because
A man cannot take anything unless it is given him from heaven. John 3:27.
So the argument was about whether anyone can do this, if he does not directly approach the Lord.
One party asserted that the Lord should be directly approached, because He is the Word. The other party held that the truth of doctrine is also seen when God the Father is directly approached. So the dispute centred on this preliminary point, whether any Christian is allowed to approach God the Father directly, and thus go over the Lord’s head; and whether this is not improper and rash boldness and insolence. For the Lord says that no one comes to the Father except through Him (John 14:6). But they left this point aside and said that man can see the truth of doctrine from the Word by his own natural enlightenment; but this view was rejected. So they insisted that it can be seen by those who pray to God the Father. A passage from the Word was read to them, and then they went down on their knees and prayed God the Father to enlighten them. About the passage read to them from the Word they said that certain things were true, when in fact they were untrue. This happened so many times they became tired of it, and at last admitted that they were unable to tell. However, the other party who directly approached the Lord were able to see the truth, and they told the others.
[2] When this dispute had been decided, some people came up out of the abyss, who looked at first like locusts, but later on like tiny people. They were those who in the world had prayed to God the Father, and convinced themselves of the doctrine of justification by faith alone. They were the same people as are described in Revelation (9:1-11). They said that they could see in a clear light the doctrine that man is justified by faith alone without the actions prescribed by the Law, and that they could prove this from the Word. They were asked what faith this was, and they answered: ‘Faith in God the Father.’ But when they had been examined, they were told from heaven that they did not know a single truth of teaching from the Word. They retorted that they could still see their truths bathed in light.
Then they were told that they saw them by a deceptive light. ‘What,’ they asked, ‘is this deceptive light?’ They were told that deceptive light is that which comes from proving what is not true; it corresponds to the light enjoyed by owls and bats, who look upon darkness as light and light as darkness. This was proved to them by the fact that when they looked up to heaven, the source of true light, they saw only darkness, and when they looked down to the abyss from which they had come they saw light.
[3] This proof made them angry, and they said it showed that light and darkness have no real existence, but it is merely the condition of the eye that causes us to call light light and darkness darkness. However, it was shown that their light was the deceptive light which comes from proving what is not true; and that their light was only an activity of their minds arising from the fire of longings, of the same sort as the light enjoyed by cats, whose burning appetite for mice makes their eyes shine by night in cellars like candles.
On hearing this they said angrily that they were not cats or like them, since they could see if they wished. But then they went away, because they were afraid of being asked why they did not wish to see, and plunged into their abyss. The people there and those like them are also called by the angels owls and bats, as well as locusts.
[4] When they met their companions in the abyss and related that the angels had told them that ‘we do not know any truth of teaching, not a single one,’ and called them owls, bats and locusts, there was a riot. ‘Let us pray God,’ they said, ‘to allow us to go up and we will give a clear demonstration that we possess many truths of teaching, which the archangels themselves will acknowledge.’ Since they prayed to God, permission was granted, and they went up, to the number of three hundred.
When they appeared above ground, they said: ‘In the world we were well-known and famous, because we knew and taught the secrets of justification by faith alone; and our proofs of this not only allowed us to see the light, but also to see it as a glittering sunbeam, and now we see it in the same way in our cells. Yet we have heard from our companions who visited you that this light is not light, but darkness, because you allege we have no truth of teaching from the Word. We know that every truth in the Word shines, and we have believed that that was what produced the glittering effect when we meditated profoundly on these secrets of ours. We shall therefore demonstrate that we have a vast supply of truths from the Word.’
‘Do we not,’ they said, ‘possess this truth, that there is a Trinity, God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and that we ought to believe in the Trinity? Do we not possess this truth, that Christ is our redeemer and saviour? Do we not possess this truth, that Christ alone is righteousness, and He alone has merit, and it is wrong and impious if anyone wishes to attribute to himself any of Christ’s merit and righteousness? Do we not possess this truth, that no mortal can do of his own accord any spiritual good, and that all good which is good in itself is from God? Do we not possess this truth, that there exist meritorious good and hypocritical good, and that these forms of good are evil? Do we not possess this truth, that none the less good deeds should be done? Do we not possess this truth, that there exists faith, that one ought to believe in God, and that everyone has life in accordance with his belief? We have many truths besides from the Word. Can any of you deny a single one of them? Yet you said that we in our debates do not possess any truth, not a single one. Are you not unjustified in casting such reproaches at us?’
[5] But they received the reply: ‘All the statements you quoted are in themselves true, but you have falsified them; by deriving them from a false principle you make them false. We shall give you a visual demonstration that this is so. Not far from here there is a place where the light pours down directly from heaven; in the middle there is a table, and when a piece of paper is placed on it which has a truth from the Word written on it, the paper is caused by the truth written on it to shine like a star. So write your truth on a piece of paper, put it on the table, and you will see.’
They did so and gave it to the custodian, who put it on the table and said to them: ‘Go to a distance and watch the table.’ They went away and watched, and suddenly the paper shone like a star. Then the custodian said: ‘You see that what you wrote on the paper are truths; but come closer and fix your gaze on the paper.’ They did so, and suddenly the light went out, and the paper became black as if it had been covered with soot from a chimney. ‘Touch the paper with your hands,’ the custodian went on, ‘but be careful not to touch the writing.’ On their doing so, the paper burst into flame and was burnt up. When they saw this, they were told: ‘If you had touched the writing, you would have heard an explosion and would have burnt your fingers.’
Then they were told by those who were standing behind: ‘You have seen now that the truths which you have misused to prove your secrets about justification are in themselves truths, but in your hands they have became falsified.’ Then they looked up, and heaven appeared to them like blood, and later on like total darkness. In the eyes of the angelic spirits these people appeared some like bats, some like owls, some like horned owls. So they fled away to their regions of darkness, which in their eyes shone with a deceptive light.
[6] The angelic spirits present were surprised because previously they had known nothing of that place and the table it contained. Then a voice came to them from the southern quarter which said: ‘Come this way and you will see something even more wonderful.’ So they went and entered a room, the walls of which shone as if made of gold, and there too they saw a table on which was laid a copy of the Word, surrounded by precious stones in a heavenly pattern. The custodian angel said: ‘When the Word is opened, a light shines out from it of indescribable brightness, and at the same time the precious stones give a rainbow effect above and around the Word. When an angel from the third heaven comes near, the rainbow appears above and around the Word on a red background; when an angel comes from the second heaven and looks at it, the rainbow appears on a blue background; when an angel from the lowest heaven comes and looks, the rainbow appears on a white background. When a good spirit comes and looks, there is a variegated effect of light like marble.’ They were given a visual demonstration of these effects. The custodian went on to say: ‘If anyone approaches who has falsified the Word, first of all the radiance disappears; and if he comes close and fixes his gaze on the Word, the surroundings change to the colour of blood. Then he is warned to go away, as it is dangerous.’
[7] However, a certain person who in the world had been a leading writer on the doctrine of justification by faith alone, came boldly up saying, ‘When I was in the world, I did not falsify the Word. Together with faith I also upheld charity, and I taught that a person in a state of faith, in which he acts charitably and does what charity requires, is renewed, regenerated and sanctified by the Holy Spirit. I also taught that there is no such thing as solitary faith, that is, separated from good deeds, just as there is no good tree without fruit, no sun without light, and no fire without heat. I also criticised those who claimed that good deeds were not necessary. Moreover I paid great attention to the Ten Commandments and to repentance, and so made a remarkable application of everything in the Word to my tenets about faith, which still I showed and proved to be the means of salvation.’
Thus confident of his claim not to have falsified the Word he approached the table, and despite the angel’s warning touched the Word. There was a sudden burst of fire and smoke from the Word, and a loud explosion was heard which threw him into a corner of the room, where he lay for some time as if dead. The angelic spirits were surprised at this, but they were told that this leader had gone farther than the rest in praising the good deeds of charity as the product of faith; but still he had not put into this category any but political deeds, what are also called moral and civic duties, which need to be performed for the world’s sake and one’s prosperity there, and have very little to do with salvation. He had also imagined the existence of invisible activity by the Holy Spirit, quite unknown to the person concerned, which is engendered in his faith when he is in that state.
[8] The angelic spirits held a discussion about the falsification of the Word, and agreed that falsifying the Word consists in taking truths from it and using them to prove untrue propositions; this is done by taking truths from the Word out of context and murdering them. For instance, this happens if one uses all the truths mentioned above by the people from the abyss to support the present-day faith, and if one explains them in the light of that faith. It will be shown later that that faith is impregnated with false ideas. Or again, if anyone takes from the Word this truth, that one should show charity, and do good to one’s neighbour; if anyone then uses it to prove that these things should be done, but not in order to be saved, since all the good a person does is not really good, because it is a way of seeking merit, that man is dragging that truth from the Word out of context and butchering it. For the Lord in His Word lays the duty on everyone who wants to be saved of loving his neighbour and doing good to him from love. It is the same with the other truths.
* This section is repeated with minor changes from AR 566.
I have discussed God the Creator, and at the same time the creation, and then the Lord the Redeemer, and at the same time the process of redemption; and now finally the Holy Spirit, and at the same time how God works. So having discussed God the Three-in-one, I must now also discuss the Divine Trinity, a subject familiar to Christian people, yet actually one they know nothing about. For this is the only way of acquiring a correct idea of God; and a correct idea of God is to the congregation like the sanctuary and altar in a church, or like a crown on the head and a sceptre in the hand of a king, as he sits upon his throne. From this hangs the whole body of theology, like a chain from its anchor-point. If you are prepared to believe me, the idea everyone has of God determines his place in the heavens. It is like the touchstone used to test gold and silver, that is to say, it tests the nature of the good and truth a person has. For he cannot have any good which leads to salvation except from God, nor any truth which does not get its quality from the good deep within it. But to reveal the nature of the Divine Trinity so that it can be seen by both eyes, the discussion must be split up into propositions, as follows.
(i) There is a Divine Trinity consisting of Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
(ii) Those three, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, are the three essentials of a single God, which make one as soul, body and activity do with a person.
(iii) This Trinity did not exist before the creation of the world, but it was provided and made after the creation of the world, when God became incarnate, and then it was in the Lord God, the Redeemer and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
(iv) A Trinity of Divine persons from eternity, or existing before the creation of the world, implies thinking about a Trinity of Gods; and this thought cannot be banished by a verbal confession of belief in one God.
(v) The Trinity of persons was unknown to the Apostolic church, but was the invention of the Council of Nicaea, leading to its introduction into the Roman Catholic church, and thus to the churches which split from it.
(vi) The Trinity as defined by the Council of Nicaea and by Athanasius caused a faith to arise which has perverted the whole Christian church.
(vii) This is the source of the abomination of desolation and the affliction such as never has been nor shall be, both of which the Lord predicted in Daniel, the Gospels and Revelation.
(viii) Further, unless a new heaven and a new church are founded by the Lord, no flesh can be saved.
(ix) From a Trinity of persons, each of which individually is God, as asserted by the Athanasian Creed, many absurd ideas of various kinds have arisen about God, which are mere fancies and abortions.
These propositions will now be explained one by one.
The existence of a Divine Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, is plainly demonstrated by the Word, especially the following passages:
The angel Gabriel said to Mary, The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you, so that the holy thing that is born of you will be called the Son of God. Luke 1:35.
Here all three are named: the Most High, who is God the Father, the Holy Spirit, and the Son of God.
When Jesus was baptised, behold, the heavens were opened, and John saw the Spirit of God* coming down like a dove, and alighting upon Him; and a voice from heaven saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Matt. 3:16, 17; Mark 1:10, 11; John 1:32.
It is even clearer in the words which the Lord used to the disciples:
Go and make all nations disciples, baptising them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Matt. 28: 19.
Moreover in this passage of John:
Three there are that bear witness in heaven, the Father, the Word and the Holy Spirit. 1 John 5:7.
In addition there is the fact that the Lord prayed to His Father, and spoke about Him and with Him, saying that He would send the Holy Spirit, and this too He did. Moreover, the Apostles frequently named in their Epistles the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. These passages show plainly that there is a Divine Trinity consisting of Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
* The Latin has ‘the Holy Spirit’, but this is corrected in the author’s copy.
[2] That is the kind of paralysed offspring which is produced by not reading the Word under the Lord’s guidance. Everyone who does not read the Word under His guidance must do so under the guidance of his own intelligence; and this is as blind as an owl in matters illuminated by spiritual light, as are all the essential doctrines of the church. When such a person reads about the Trinity in the Word and is led by this to think that although there are three Gods they are none the less one, he finds this as enigmatic as a reply from the Delphic oracle*. Since he does not understand it, he rolls it round his teeth, for if he put it before his eyes, it would be a riddle, which becomes the more obscure the more he strives to solve it, until finally he begins to think about it without using his understanding, which is like seeing without using one’s eyes. In brief, reading the Word under the guidance of one’s own intelligence, as all do who fail to acknowledge the Lord as the God of heaven and earth and do not approach Him and worship Him alone, can be compared to children who in play tie a bandage over their eyes, and then try to walk in a straight line; they even think they are walking straight when step by step they turn to one side and end up walking in the opposite direction, so that they trip over a stone and fall down.
[3] They are also like ships’ captains who sail without a compass, run their ship on rocks, and so are drowned. Or they are like a man who walking through a broad plain in a thick fog sees a scorpion and thinks it is a bird; he goes to grasp it and pick it up, and then gets a fatal sting. He is also like a sea-bird or a kite, which spots a small patch on the back of a large fish breaking the surface of the water, dives on it and jabs its beak into it, but is pulled under by the fish and drowns. He is also like a man who goes into a maze without a guide or a thread to pay out, and the farther he goes in, the more he loses track of the way out. A person who reads the Word under the guidance of his own intelligence instead of the Lord’s thinks he is gifted with the vision of Lynceus**, and has more eyes than Argus*** when in fact he cannot inwardly discern the smallest truth, but only falsity. But having persuaded himself that this is the truth, he shapes the course of all his thinking by reference to this apparent cynosure. Yet then he is as blind to truth as a mole, and what he does see, he bends to suit his fancy, so perverting and falsifying the holiness of the Word.
* Literally, ‘from the tripod’, the source of oracles given at Delphi.
** A man in Greek myth famous for keenness of sight.
*** The hundred-eyed monster of Greek myth.
Each object has general essentials and particular essentials; and the two together make up a single essence. A person’s general essentials are his soul, body and activity. These make up a single essence, as can be seen from the fact that one arises from the next, and exists on account of the next, in an unbroken chain. Every person starts from the soul, which is the true essence of the seed. This not only initiates but also produces one after the other the bodily structures; and later on it initiates the products of the soul and the body working together, what are called its activities. Since then one is produced by the next and by its being implanted and attached, it is plain that these three belong to a single essence. This is why they are called the three essentials.
* This curious word means strictly the first stomach of a ruminant animal.
* i.e. the cube root.
* The Vestals were Roman priestesses, whose duty was to maintain a sacred fire.
The Christian church to-day recognises a Divine Trinity existing before the creation of the world, stating that Jehovah God fathered a Son from eternity, and the Holy Spirit issued from both of them; and each of the three is by Himself or singly God, because each is one person, who exists of Himself. Since this lies beyond the grasp of reason, it is called a mystery, which is only accessible by the belief that the three share a single Divine essence; by this is meant eternity, immensity, omnipotence and so equal Divinity, glory and majesty. But it will be proved in what follows that this is a trinity of three Gods, and thus no Divine Trinity. Yet it is obvious from everything said before that the Trinity, also of Father, Son and Holy Spirit, which was provided and made after God’s incarnation, so after the creation of the world, is the Divine Trinity, because it consists of one God.
[2] The reason why this Divine Trinity is in the Lord God, the Redeemer and Saviour, Jesus Christ, is that the three essentials of one God, which compose a single essence, are in Him. All the fulness of the Godhead is in Him, as Paul says, and this is clear from the words of the Lord Himself, that all things of the Father’s are His, and the Holy Spirit does not speak of Himself but from Him; moreover, when He rose from the dead, He took from the tomb His whole human body, flesh as well as bones (Matt. 28:1-8; Mark 16:5, 6; Luke 24:1-3; John 20:11-15), a thing no other person can do. He gave the disciples a living proof of this when He said:
Look at my hands and my feet, as proof that it is I myself; touch me and look, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones, as you see me have. Luke 24:39.
This can convince anyone, who is willing to believe, that the Lord’s Human is Divine, and thus in Him God is man and man God.
[2] The idea that a Son of God fathered from eternity came down and took upon Himself human form can be compared with the myths of the ancients, that human souls were created from the beginning of the world, and they enter into bodies and become men and women. It is also like the absurd idea that the soul of one person passes into another, as many of the Jewish religion have believed; for instance, that the soul of Elijah came back in the body of John the Baptist, and that David will return to his own or someone else’s body, and reign over Israel and Judah, because Ezekiel says:
I will raise up over them a shepherd who shall feed them, my servant David. He shall be their shepherd, and I Jehovah will be their God, and David shall be prince in their midst. Ezek. 34:23, 24.
There are other such passages. But they do not know that David here means the Lord.
It is perfectly plain from the following passage in the Athanasian Creed that a Trinity of Divine persons from eternity is a Trinity of Gods:
There is one person of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Spirit. The Father is God and Lord, the Son is God and Lord, and the Holy Spirit is God and Lord; yet there are not three Gods and Lords, but one God and Lord, because just as we are forced by Christian verity to confess each person singly to be God and Lord, so we are forbidden by the catholic religion to speak of three Gods or three Lords.
This creed has been accepted by the whole Christian church as worldwide and universal, and it is the source of all current knowledge and acknowledgment of God. Anyone who reads it merely with his eyes open can see that the members of the Council of Nicaea, which gave birth as it were posthumously to the so-called Athanasian Creed, understood the Trinity as a Trinity of Gods. It follows that not only did they understand the Trinity as a Trinity of Gods, but that no other idea of the Trinity is current in the Christian world, because this creed is the source from which all gain their knowledge of God, and everyone subscribes to the belief indicated by its wording.
[2] If anyone doubts that the current belief of the Christian world is in a Trinity of Gods, let me appeal to any witness, lay as well as clerical, to the masters and doctors of universities as well as consecrated bishops and archbishops, and to cardinals in their purple, indeed to the Roman Pontiff himself. Let each consider the matter and then pronounce as the ideas in his mind dictate. Is it not as clear and transparent as water in a crystal goblet, if we follow the words of this universally accepted doctrine about God? For instance, it states that there are three persons, and each of these is God and Lord; and that in accordance with Christian verity they ought to confess or acknowledge each person singly as God and Lord, but the catholic or Christian religion or faith prohibits speaking of or naming three Gods and Lords. So verity and religion, or verity and faith, are not one, but two mutually opposed things. The additional clause, that there are not three Gods and Lords, but one God and Lord, has been inserted to prevent its authors being exposed to ridicule before the whole world, for anyone would laugh at the idea of three Gods. Can anyone fail to see the contradiction in this addition?
[3] If, however, they had said that the Father had a Divine essence, the Son had a Divine essence and the Holy Spirit had a Divine essence, but there were not three Divine essences, but a single and indivisible one, then this mystery might have been capable of explanation, to be precise, by understanding the Father as the originating Divine, the Son as the Divine Human from that origin, and the Holy Spirit as the Divine which proceeds from them, since these three belong to a single God. Or again, if we understand by the Father’s Divine something resembling the soul in man, by the Divine Human something resembling the body belonging to that soul, and by the Holy Spirit something resembling the activity which comes from both, then the three essences become intelligible as belonging to one and the same person, and so making up a single, indivisible essence.
[2] Do not, my friend, just cut down the tree, but dig up the root, and then plant your garden with trees that bear good fruit. Take care therefore that your mind is not beset by the idea of three Gods, while your mouth, being totally devoid of ideas, rings with the sound of ‘one God.’ If so, then the understanding up above the memory thinking of three Gods, and the understanding underneath the memory which enables the mouth to say the words ‘one God’, are, taken together, like a clown on the stage, who can play two parts scuttling from one side to the other, saying one thing on one side and the opposite on the other, so that he has a quarrel with himself, calling himself wise on one side and crazy on the other. The result of this must surely be that, when he stands in the middle and looks in either direction, he thinks neither to be of any consequence, and so perhaps that, since there is neither one God nor three Gods, there cannot be a God at all. The nature-worship so prevalent to-day comes from no other source.
[3] No one in heaven can utter the words ‘A Trinity of persons, each of whom singly is God.’ For the very aura of heaven, the medium through which the waves of their thoughts are transmitted, as sounds are through air, offers strong resistance. The only person who can do this in heaven is a hypocrite; but the sound of his voice grates in the aura of heaven like teeth grinding together, or screeches like a crow trying to sing like a song-bird. I have also been told from heaven that it is as impossible to banish a belief in a Trinity of Gods, once it is implanted in the mind by finding proofs of it, by merely making oral confession of one God, as it is to pass a tree through its own seed, or a man’s chin through a hair of his beard.
The Apostolic church means not only the church which existed in various places in the time of the Apostles, but also in the following two or three centuries. But eventually they began to tear the door of the temple off its hinges, and like thieves to break into its sanctuary. The temple means the church, its door the Lord God the Redeemer, and the sanctuary His Divinity. For Jesus says:
Truly I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up another way, is a thief and a robber. I am the door; if anyone enters by me, he will be saved. [John 10:1, 9.]
[2] This crime was committed by Arius and his followers. Consequently a Council was summoned by Constantine the Great to meet at Nicaea, a city of Bithynia*; and its members, in order to expel the damaging heresy of Arius, invented, concluded and laid down the doctrine that the three Divine persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, existed from eternity, each of whom had a personality, and came into and continued in existence by Himself and in Himself. They also held that the second person, the Son, came down and took upon Himself human form and carried out the redemption, and by this means His Human has divinity by hypostatic union, so that by this union He has close kinship with God the Father. This was the beginning from which there spread over the earth heaps of unspeakable heresies about God and the person of Christ. Antichrist then began to rear his head, and split God into three, and the Lord the Saviour into two, thus destroying the Temple the Lord had built by means of His Apostles; this went so far that every stone was pried loose, until not one was left upon another, as predicted by His words (Matt. 24:2). Here ‘Temple’ does not mean just the Temple in Jerusalem, but also the church; and the whole of that chapter deals with its consummation or end.
[3] But could anything else have been expected of that Council, or those which followed it, seeing that they likewise divided the Divinity into three parts, and put the incarnate God on their footstool beneath them? For they cut off the church’s head from its body by climbing up another way, that is, by by-passing the Lord and crossing over to God the Father, as if He were another God, simply keeping on their tongues the phrase ‘Christ’s merit,’ so that He should pity them for its sake. Thus, they thought, justification would flow directly into them, together with all that accompanies it, forgiveness of sins, renewal, sanctification, regeneration and salvation, and all this without any intervention on the person’s part.
* The ancient name for the north-western province of Asia Minor.
I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord; who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary; and in the Holy Spirit.
There is no mention there of any Son from eternity, but of a Son conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. For they knew from the Apostles that Jesus Christ was the true God (1 John 5:20); and in Him all the fulness of the Godhead dwells bodily (Col. 2:9); and the Apostles preached belief in Him (Acts 20:21); and He had all power in heaven and on earth (Matt. 28:18).
[2] It is said in heaven that when the Council of Nicaea finished its work, there took place simultaneously the things the Lord foretold to the disciples:
The sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Matt. 24:29.
In fact the Apostolic church was like a new star appearing in the starry sky; but the church after the two Nicene Councils became like the same star later dimming and vanishing, an event recorded a number of times in the natural world according to astronomical observations. We read in the Word that ‘Jehovah God dwells in inaccessible light’ [1 Tim. 6:16]. So who could approach Him, did He not dwell in accessible light, that is, had He not come down, taken upon Himself human form, and in this become the Light of the World (John 1:9; 12:46)? Can anyone fail to see that approaching God the Father in His light is as impossible as taking the wings of the morning and using them to fly to the sun? Or living on sunlight rather than material food? Or for a bird to fly in the ether, or a stag to run through the air?
It was shown above (172) from the Creeds that both the Nicene and the Athanasian definitions of the Trinity were of a Trinity of Gods.
This was the source of the faith of the present-day church, in God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. It is in God the Father, so that He may impute the righteousness of His Son the Saviour and ascribe it to man; in God the Son, so that He may intercede and add His authority; in the Holy Spirit, so that He may realise the imputed righteousness of the Son by inscribing it, and when it is established sealing it, making man justified, sanctified and regenerated. This is the present-day faith, which by itself is evidence enough that it is a Trinity of Gods which is acknowledged and worshipped.
[2] The faith of any church is not only the source from which its worship flows, but all its theology. Hence it can be said that such as its faith is, such is its doctrine. It follows from this that the present faith, being faith in three Gods, has subverted everything in the church; for faith is the principle, and matters of doctrine are derivatives, and derivatives get their essence from their principle. If anyone puts to the test any points of doctrine, such as their belief about God, the person of Christ, charity, repentance, regeneration, free will, election, the use of the sacraments of baptism and the Holy Supper, he will see plainly that they each contain the idea of a Trinity of Gods. And even if this does not in fact appear to be contained in them, it is still the source from which they gush forth. Since such a testing cannot be undertaken here, useful though it would be to open people’s eyes, I shall add an Appendix to this book, in which this will be proved.
[3] A church’s belief about God is like the soul in relation to the body; and its doctrines are like the members of the body. Again, faith in God is like a queen, and its dogmas are like the officials of her court. just as they hang upon the queen’s lips, so the dogmas depend upon the statement of faith. At least one can see from that faith how the Word is understood in that church; for faith grapples and hauls in to itself as it were by ropes whatever it can. If it is a false faith, it commits adultery with every truth in it, leading it astray and falsifying it, so that people become of unsound mind in spiritual matters. If, however, it is a true faith, then it enjoys the favour of the whole Word, and the God of the Word, who is the Lord God the Saviour, pours in light, and breathes His Divine assent upon it, so that people become wise.
[4] It will also be seen in the Appendix that the present-day faith, which in inward form is faith in three Gods, though the outward form speaks of one God, has put out the light in the Word, and banished the Lord from the church, thus chasing its morning headlong into night. This is what was done by the heretics before the Council of Nicaea, and then by the heretics in it and after it. But what reliance can be placed on Councils which do not enter the sheep-fold through the door, but climb up another way, as the Lord said in John 10:1, 9? Their debates are not far different from a blind man walking about by day, or a man with sight walking by night, neither of whom see the pitfall before falling into it. For example, what reliance can be placed in Councils which have established the position of the Pope as God’s vicar, the canonisation of the dead, their invocation as if they were divine powers, the veneration of their images, the authority to grant indulgences, and the division of the Eucharist, not to mention many more things? What reliance can be placed in the Council which established the unspeakable heresy of predestination, and hung this out as an ensign in front of the churches of their sect? Rather, my friend, approach the God of the Word, and so the Word, and enter by this gate into the sheep-fold, that is, into the church, and you will be given enlightenment. Then you will see, as if you stood on a mountain, not only the way most people have gone, but also your own previous steps and wanderings in the dark wood lying below the mountain.
Suppose the faith is that nature is the creator of the universe. it follows from this that the universe is what is called God, and that nature is its essence; that the ether is the supreme God, whom the ancients called Jupiter, and the air is a goddess, whom the ancients called Juno, and made Jupiter’s wife; that the ocean is a god of lower rank, who following the ancients can be called Neptune; and because the divinity of nature reaches right to the centre of the earth, that there is a god there too, who following the ancients can be called Pluto; that the sun is the meeting-house of all the gods, where they assemble when Jupiter summons a council; moreover, fire is life from God, and thus birds fly in a god, animals walk in a god, and fishes swim in a god; [2] further, thoughts are mere modifications of the ether, just as the speech which expresses thoughts is a modulation of the air; and the affections of love are changes of state occasioned by the radiation of sunlight impinging on them. This also involves the idea that life after death, together with heaven and hell, is a tale devised by the clergy in pursuit of honours and profit, but it is none the less a useful tale, not to be made fun of in public, because it serves the civic need to keep the minds of ordinary people rigidly obedient to the magistrates. Yet those who are hooked on religion are out of touch with reality, their thoughts are wild imagination, their behaviour ridiculous, and they are lackeys of the priests, believing what they cannot see and seeing things far beyond the reach of their minds. All these consequences, and many more of the same sort, are contained in that faith that nature is the creator of the universe, and emerge from it when it is laid open. This demonstration has been given so that people may know that the faith of the present-day church which is inwardly in three Gods, though outwardly in one, contains battalions of falsities. From this can be extracted as many falsities as there are tiny spiders in one ball produced by a female spider. Is there anyone, whose mind has become truly rational under the enlightenment the Lord gives, who does not see this? But how can anyone else see it, when the door leading to that faith and its offshoots is barred by the rule that it is unlawful for the reason to enquire into its mysteries?
Finally upon the bird of abominations desolation, to the point of ending and cutting off, shall be poured drop by drop upon devastation. Dan. 9:27.
In Matthew’s gospel the Lord says:
Then many false prophets shall arise and lead many astray. When therefore you see the abomination of desolation predicted by the prophet Daniel standing in the holy place, let him who reads take due notice. Matt. 24:[11,] 15.
Later in the same chapter:
Then there shall be great affliction, such as never was from the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will be. Matt. 24:21.
This affliction and the abomination are dealt with in seven chapters of Revelation. These are what is meant by the black horse and the pale horse which came out of the book, when the Lamb opened its seals (Rev. 6:5-8); and by the beast coming up out of the abyss, which made war on the two witnesses, and killed them (11:7ff.); as by the dragon which stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, to devour her child, and pursued her into the desert, and there ejected water from its mouth like a river, to drown her (chapter 12); also by the beasts of the dragon, one from the sea, the other from the land (chapter 13); also by the three spirits like frogs, who came out of the mouth of the dragon and the mouth of the beast and the mouth of the false prophet (16:13); moreover by the fact that after the seven angels had poured out the bowls of the wrath of God, in which were the seven last plagues, upon the earth, the sea, the springs and streams, the sun, the throne of the beast, the Euphrates and finally the air, a great earthquake took place such as had never occurred since the creation of man (chapter 16). The earthquake means the overthrow of the church, the result of falsities and falsifications of truth, much as is meant by the great affliction such as never has been since the beginning of the world (Matt. 24:21). The following passage has a similar meaning:
The angel put in his sickle and reaped the grape-harvest of the earth, and threw it into the great winepress of the wrath of God; and the winepress was trodden, and blood came out up to the bridles of the horses at a distance of one thousand six hundred stades*. Rev. 14:19, 20.
Blood means falsified truth. There are many more such passages in those seven chapters.
*The stade was an ancient measure of length, roughly 170 metres; the distance is approximately 170 miles.
We read in Matthew:
Then there shall be great affliction, such as never was from the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will be. Indeed, unless those days were cut short, no flesh would be saved. Matt. 24:21, 22.
That chapter deals with the completion of the age, by which is meant the end of the present-day church. Therefore ‘cutting short those days’ means bringing it to an end and setting up a new one. Is there anyone who does not know that if the Lord had not come into the world and carried out the redemption, no flesh could have been saved? Carrying out redemption means founding a new heaven and a new church. The Lord predicted in the Gospels that He would come into the world again (Matt. 24:30, 31; Mark 13:26; Luke 12:40; 21:27), and also in Revelation, especially in the last chapter. I have shown above in the section on Redemption [114-137], that the Lord is carrying out redemption to-day too, founding a new heaven and starting a new church, for the sake of man’s salvation.
[2] The great secret about no flesh being able to be saved, if the Lord had not started a new church, is this. So long as the dragon with his crew stays in the world of spirits, into which he was thrown, no Divine truth united with Divine good can get through to people on earth without being perverted and falsified or being destroyed. This is what is meant by this passage in Revelation:
The dragon was cast down to earth, and his angels were cast down with him. Woe to those that live on the earth and the sea, because the devil has come down to them having great wrath. Rev. 12:9, 12, 13.
But after the dragon was cast into hell (20:10), then John saw a new heaven and a new earth, and the New Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven (21:1, 2). The dragon means those who hold the faith of the present-day church.
[3] I have several times in the spiritual world talked with those who believe that man is justified by faith alone, and I have told them that their doctrine is wrong and also absurd; it induces carelessness, blindness, sleep and darkness in spiritual matters, leading to the death of the soul. I have pleaded with them to abandon it. But I got the answer: ‘Abandon it? Surely this is the one thing upon which the superiority of the clergy’s learning over that of laymen depends.’ I replied that in that case the salvation of souls was no part of their purpose, but only the superiority of their reputations. Because they had used the truths of the Word to support their false principles, thus adulterating them, they were angels of the abyss, those called Abaddons and Apollyons* (Rev. 9: 11), by whom are meant those who destroy the church by totally falsifying the Word. ‘What do you mean?’ they replied; ‘our knowledge makes us oracles of the mysteries of that faith, and we give its replies as if from a shrine. So we are not Apollyons, but Apollos.’ This made me cross and I said: ‘If you are Apollos, you are also leviathans, your first rank twisted leviathans, the second elongated leviathans, whom God will visit with His hard and mighty sword (Isa. 27: 1). But at this they laughed.
* Hebrew and Greek words for ‘destroyer’.
The doctrine of three Divine persons from eternity, which is in itself the chief of all the doctrines held by the Christian churches, has given rise to many unbecoming ideas about God, unworthy of the Christian world, which, however, can and ought to be a light to all peoples and races in all four quarters of the globe concerning God and His oneness. All who live outside the Christian church, Mohammedans as well as Jews, and the heathen besides of whatever religion, reject Christianity solely on account of its belief in three Gods. Missionaries are well aware of this; so they take the greatest care not to speak openly of the Trinity of persons as described in the Nicene and Athanasian Creeds, since then their converts would run away and make fun of them.
[2] The absurd, ridiculous and frivolous ideas which have arisen from the doctrine of three divine persons from eternity, and which still arise in the mind of anyone who sticks to believing the wording of that doctrine, rising from the ears and eyes to the level of mental contemplation, are these. God the Father sits overhead on high, with the Son at His right hand and the Holy Spirit in front of them listening, and rushing off on the instant through the world to hand out the gifts of justification according to the decision taken, inscribing these gifts and making their recipients sons of grace instead of sons of wrath, and elect instead of damned. I challenge the learned among the clergy and educated laymen to say whether they have in their minds any other picture than this imaginary one. For this springs to mind of its own accord from the doctrine itself; see the experience described in 16 above.
[3] Another thing that springs to mind is a curiosity to guess what they talked to each other about before the creation of the world. Did they talk about creating the world, about who were predestined to be saved and justified, as the Supralapsarians believe, and also about redemption? Likewise, what do they talk to each other about since the creation of the world, the Father with His authority and power to impute, the Son with His power to mediate; that imputation, which is election, is dependent upon the mercy of the Son who intercedes for all, and individually for some; and these receive grace from the Father, who is moved by love for His Son and by seeing His suffering on the cross. Can anyone fail to see that such ideas of God are the ravings of a deranged mind? Yet in Christian churches those are the holy things to be kissed with the lips, not inspected by any mental vision, because they are above the level of reason; if anyone were to lift them above the memory level to that of the understanding, they would drive him mad. But still this does not banish the idea of three Gods, but induces a foolish faith, which makes people think about God like someone dreaming in his sleep, walking in pitch darkness at night, or like a person blind from birth walking in daylight.
* The Latin word for ‘pearl’ is here unio, which also means ‘union’.
The spiritual world contains climatic zones similar to those in the natural world. There is nothing in this world which does not have its counterpart in the other, but their origins are different. In the natural world the varying seasons depend upon how far the sun is from the equator; in the spiritual world they depend upon how remote the affections of the will, and so the thoughts of the understanding, are from true love and true faith. Everything there corresponds to these two.
The cold zones of the spiritual world look much like the cold zones in the natural world. There are stretches of frozen land to be seen there, frozen lakes and a covering of snow. The people who come and live there are those who in the world had put their understanding to sleep through being too lazy to think about spiritual matters, and at the same time too lazy to do anything useful. These are called boreal* spirits.
[2] I once had a wish to see a district in the cold zone, where these boreal spirits live. So I was taken in the spirit northwards, to an area where all the ground was snow-covered and all the water frozen over. It was Sunday, and I saw the people, or spirits, of the same physique as people on earth; but on account of the cold they had lions’ skins on their heads, with the face fitting over their faces; their bodies both front and back down to the loins were covered with leopards’ skins, their legs and feet with bears’ skins. I also saw many of them riding in carriages; some of them were in carriages carved to resemble dragons with their horns projecting forwards. These carriages were pulled by small horses with docked tails. They ran like terrifying wild beasts, and the driver holding the reins in his hands constantly drove them on and yelled at them to run. Eventually I saw that the crowds were converging on a church, which was so deep in snow it was invisible. But the guardians of the church were clearing away the snow and digging out a way in for the worshippers as they arrived. They got out of their carriages and entered the church.
[3] I was also allowed to see the inside of the church. It was plentifully lit with lamps and lanterns. The altar was of ashlar, and behind it was hung up a board, on which was written: ‘The Divine Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, who are in essence one God, but three in person.’
At length the priest who was standing by the altar, after three genuflexions towards the board behind it, climbed into the pulpit holding a book in his hand, and began to preach about the Divine Trinity. ‘How great a mystery it is,’ he cried, ‘that God in the highest fathered a Son from eternity, and through Him produced the Holy Spirit, the three of whom linked themselves by essence, but divided themselves by properties, that is, imputation, redemption and activity! But if we consider these things by the use of reason, our sight grows dim and a blot obscures our vision, such as affects anyone who gazes directly at the sun. Therefore, my listeners, in this respect let us keep the understanding subject to the dictates of faith.’
[4] After this he gave another cry and said: ‘How great a mystery is our holy faith! This tells us that God the Father imputes the righteousness of the Son, and sends the Holy Spirit to effect by that imputation the rewards of justification. These are briefly the forgiveness of sins, renewal, regeneration and salvation. A person knows no more about the influence and action of the Holy Spirit than the pillar of salt into which Lot’s wife was turned. Nor is he any more aware of His presence and state within him than a fish is in the sea. But, my friends, within our faith lies hidden a treasure, so hedged about and concealed that not a scrap of it is to be seen. Therefore in respect to this too let us keep the understanding subject to the dictates of faith.’
[5] He heaved a few sighs, and then cried out again, saying: ‘How great a mystery is election! Anyone becomes one of the elect to whom God imputes the faith which of His free choice and purely of His grace He pours into any He wishes, whenever He wishes. When he receives the infusion the person is like a bare tree-trunk, but afterwards he becomes like a tree. But although the fruits, which are good deeds, hang from that tree, which may be taken to represent our faith, still they do not form part of it, so that the tree’s value does not depend upon its fruit. However, since this, for all it is a mystic truth, has a heterodox ring to it, let us, my brethren, keep the understanding subject to the dictates of this faith.’
[6] After an interval, during which he stood as if trying to recall something from his memory, he went on to say: ‘From the heap of mysteries I will extract just one more. This is that a person in spiritual matters has not a grain of free will. The leaders and champions of our rule say in their theological canons that in matters which concern faith and salvation, what are especially called spiritual matters, a person cannot will, think or understand anything, nor even prepare and devote himself to acquiring these things. So I hold for my part that a person cannot for his part on these subjects think rationally, or speak thoughtfully otherwise than a parrot, magpie or crow. So in spiritual matters he is truly a donkey, and only human in natural matters. But in this, my colleagues, as in other respects, to prevent the understanding attacking your reason, let us keep it subject to the dictates of faith. Our theology is a bottomless pit, and if you plunge your intellectual gaze into it, you will sink and perish in the wreck. But please listen to this: we are none the less enlightened by the Gospel, which shines out high above our heads; yet how painfully would it hurt, did not our hair and the bones of our skull keep it out and prevent it from penetrating into the chamber of our understanding.’
[7] At the end of this speech he came down from the pulpit, said a few prayers at the altar, and brought the service to an end. Then I went up to a group of people, including the priest, who were talking together. The people around said to the priest: ‘You have our undying thanks for such a magnificent sermon, so full of wisdom.’ Then I said to them: ‘Surely you did not understand anything of it?’ ‘We strained our ears to catch every word,’ they answered. ‘But why do you ask whether we understood it? Are not such things likely to amaze the understanding?’ The priest on hearing this added: ‘Because you have heard and have not understood, you are blessed, for that is the source of your salvation.’
[8] Subsequently I talked with the priest and asked him if he had a degree; he replied that he held a master’s degree. Then I said: ‘Master, I have listened to you preaching of mysteries. If you know of them, but nothing of what they contain, you know nothing. For they are merely like bookcases locked with three bolts; and unless you open them and look inside, which will require the use of the understanding, you do not know whether the contents are valuable, worthless or dangerous. They may be snakes’ eggs and spiders’ webs, as described in Isaiah (59:5).’
When I said this, the priest gave me a black look, and the worshippers went off and got into their carriages, drunk with paradoxes, stupefied with inanities and plunged in thick darkness as regards everything conducive to faith and instrumental for salvation.
* Or ‘of the north wind’.
Once I turned over in my mind the question in what part of the human mind theology is stored. I thought at first that since theology is spiritual and celestial, it must be at the highest level; for the human mind is divided into three levels, like a house with three storeys, or like the dwellings of the angels in three heavens.
Then an angel visited me and said: ‘With those who love truth because it is truth, theology reaches the highest level, since that is where their heaven is, and they enjoy the same light as angels. Ethics, however, considered and perceived theoretically are located at the second level, because they communicate with spiritual matters; political affairs lie beneath these at the first level. Facts, however, which are of many kinds and can be classified into genera and species, constitute the door to the higher regions. Those in whom spiritual, ethical, political and factual matters are subordinated to one another in this way have their thoughts and actions controlled by righteousness and judgment. The reason is that the light of truth, which is also the light of heaven, shines down from the highest level on those beneath, just as sunlight passing through the ethers, and so eventually the air, gives light to enable men, animals and fish to see.
[2] ‘The case is different, however, with theology in those who do not love truth because it is truth, but only because it enhances their own reputation. With these people theology resides at the lowest level, where factual knowledge is stored; in some cases it becomes mixed with these, in others they cannot mix. Political matters lie beneath these at the same level, and ethics beneath these, since in these cases the two higher levels are not open on the right-hand side. These people therefore do not have any power of inward judgment, nor any affection for righteousness, but only ingenuity. This allows them to talk on any subject as if they were intelligent, and to adduce what appear to be rational proofs of any proposition which comes up. But the objects of their reason, which are what they chiefly love, are false, because they are inseparable from the fallacies of the senses. This explains why there are so many people in the world who can no more see the truths of doctrine to be drawn from the Word, than those born blind; and when they hear them, they hold their noses to prevent their smell from assailing them and causing nausea. But when faced with falsities, they open every sense-organ and suck them in as whales do water.’
Once when I was meditating on the dragon, the beast and the false prophet described in Revelation, an angelic spirit appeared to me and asked: ‘What are you meditating about?’ ‘The false prophet,’ I told him. Then he said: ‘I will take you to a place where those live who are meant by the false prophet.’ He told me that the same people are meant in chapter 13 of Revelation by the beast from the land, which had two horns like a lamb’s, and spoke like a dragon.
I followed him, and came upon a crowd surrounding some leading ecclesiastics, who taught that nothing but faith in Christ’s merit confers salvation on people, and that deeds are good but do not contribute to their salvation. None the less, they said, these should be taught in accordance with the Word, so that laymen, particularly the simple, should be kept more rigorously subject to the dictates of magistrates, and thus be impelled, as if by religion and thus inwardly, to exercise ethical charity.
[2] Then one of them saw me and said: ‘Would you like to see our shrine, which contains a statue representing our faith?’
I went along and looked; and there was a magnificent shrine, and inside it a statue of a woman wearing a scarlet dress, holding a gold coin in her right hand and a pearl necklace in her left. But both the statue and the shrine were imaginary, for the spirits in hell can by their imagination produce magnificent representations, by closing the interiors of the mind, and opening only its exteriors. When I realised that all this was mere conjuring, I prayed to the Lord, and the interiors of my mind were suddenly opened. Then in place of that magnificent shrine I saw a ruinous building with cracks in the walls from ceiling to floor; and in place of the woman I saw hanging in that building an image with a head like a dragon’s, a body like a leopard’s, feet like a bear’s and a mouth like a lion’s, exactly as the beast from the sea is described in Revelation 13:2. Instead of the floor there was a marsh teeming with frogs. I was told that beneath the marsh there was a great squared stone, beneath which lay the Word, deeply hidden away.
[3] On seeing this I asked the conjurer: ‘Is this your shrine?’ He said it was. But then suddenly his interior sight was opened, which made him see what I saw. At this sight he shouted very loudly: ‘What is this? Where has it come from?’ I told him that it was the result of light from heaven, which reveals the true nature of every form, and consequently the true nature of his faith separated from spiritual charity.
Immediately the east wind sprang up and blew away the shrine with its statue. It also dried up the marsh, thus laying bare the stone beneath which the Word lay. After this a warm wind, as in springtime, blew from heaven, and then in the same place was to be seen a tent, of simple external construction. The angels with me said: ‘This is what Abraham’s tent was like, when the three angels came to him and told him that Isaac was to be born. This may appear to view as simple, but it becomes more and more magnificent as light flows in from heaven.’
They were allowed to open the heaven where the spiritual angels are, who possess wisdom, and the light which poured in from there made that tent look like a temple such as that in Jerusalem. When I looked inside, I saw the stone base under which the Word was stored inlaid all around with precious stones. A sort of radiance was projected from these on to the walls, which were decorated with carved cherubs; and these the radiance beautifully picked out in various colours.
[4] When I admired this, the angels said: ‘Now you will see something even more wonderful.’ They were allowed to open the third heaven, where the celestial angels are who possess love. Then the flame-coloured light flooding in made that whole temple vanish, and in its place was to be seen the Lord alone, standing upon the stone base which was the Word, in appearance as He was seen by John (Rev. chapter 1). But because a feeling of holiness then filled the interiors of the angels’ minds, causing them to long to fall on their faces, the path of light from the third heaven was suddenly blocked by the Lord, and the path for light from the second heaven was opened up, thus restoring the previous appearance of the temple, and also of the tent, but this was inside the temple. These sights provided an illustration of what is meant by the verse in Revelation:
Here is the tabernacle of God with men, and He will dwell with them. Rev, 21:3.
and also this:
I saw no temple in the New Jerusalem, for the Lord God almighty and the Lamb are its temple. Rev. 21:22.
* This section is repeated from AR 926.
Since I have been allowed by the Lord to see the wonders in the heavens and in the regions below the heavens, my instructions impose on me the duty of relating what I have seen.
I saw a magnificent palace, and at its heart a church. In the middle of this was a table made of gold, on which was the Word, with two angels standing by it. Seats were arranged around it in three rows. The seats of the first row were covered in silk cloth of purple colour, those of the second row in silk cloth of blue colour, those of the third row in white cloth. Beneath the roof, high above the table, was to be seen a curtain drawn across, glittering with precious stones, from which shone a radiance resembling the rainbow to be seen when the sky clears after rain. Then suddenly there appeared clergy to the same number as the seats, all dressed in their priestly vestments. At one side was a strong-box guarded by an angel, in which lay splendid vestments arranged in beautiful order.
[2] It was a council summoned by the Lord; and I heard a voice from heaven saying: ‘Debate.’ ‘But on what subject?’ they said. They were told to debate about the Lord the Saviour and the Holy Spirit. When they began to think about these subjects, they had no enlightenment; so they prayed for it, and then light poured down from heaven, which first of all lit up the backs of their heads, then their temples, and finally their faces. Then they began, speaking first as instructed about the Lord the Saviour.
The first question proposed for discussion was: who was it that took upon himself human form in the Virgin Mary? The angel who stood by the table holding the Word read to them this passage from Luke:
The angel said to Mary, Behold, you will conceive in your womb, and will give birth to a son; and you are to call his name Jesus. He will be mighty, and will be called the Son of the Most High. And Mary said to the angel, How will this be, seeing I have no knowledge of a man? And the angel answered and said, The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; hence what is born of you will be holy, and will be called the Son of god. Luke 1:31, 32, 34, 35.
He also read this passage in Matthew:
The angel said to Joseph in a dream, Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your betrothed, for what is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And Joseph did not know her, until she had given birth to her first-born son; and he called his name Jesus. Matt. 1:20, 25.
In addition he read many passages from the Gospels (such as Matt. 3:17; 17:5; John 1:18; 3: 16; 20:31), and many other passages where the Lord in His Human is called the Son of God, and where He from His Human calls Jehovah His Father, for instance, the passages in the Prophets which predict the coming of Jehovah Himself into the world. Among these were the following two from Isaiah:
On that day it will be said, Behold, He is our God, whom we have awaited to free us. He is Jehovah, whom we have awaited, let us exult and rejoice in His salvation. Isa. 25:9.
The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare the way of Jehovah, make smooth in the desert a path for our God. For the glory of Jehovah will be revealed, and all flesh will see it together. Behold, the Lord Jehovih comes in might, like a shepherd will He feed His flock. Isa. 40:3, 5, 10, 11.
[3] The angel said: ‘Since Jehovah Himself came into the world and took upon Himself human form, [and by this means saved and redeemed man]** therefore in the Prophets He is called the Saviour and the Redeemer.’ Then he read to them the following passages:
Only among you is God, and there is no God besides. You surely are the hidden God, the God of Israel, the Saviour. Isa. 45:14, 15.
Am I not Jehovah, and there is no God besides me, there is no righteous God and Saviour beside me. Isa. 45:21, 22.
I am Jehovah, and there is no Saviour beside me. Isa. 43:11.
I am Jehovah your God; and you are not to acknowledge any God beside me, and there is no Saviour beside me. Hosea 13:4.
That all flesh may know that I am Jehovah your Saviour and your Redeemer. Isa. 49:26; 60:16.
As for our Redeemer, Jehovah Zebaoth is His name. Isa. 47:4.
Their Redeemer, the mighty Jehovah Zebaoth is His name. Jer. 50:34.
Jehovah, my rock and my Redeemer. Ps. 19:14.
Thus spoke Jehovah your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, I am Jehovah your God. Isa. 48:17; 43:3***; 49:7; 54:8.
You are Jehovah our Father, our Redeemer from eternity is your name. Isa. 63:16.
Thus spoke Jehovah your Redeemer, I am Jehovah the maker of everything, and I alone by myself. Isa. 44:24.
Thus spoke Jehovah, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, Jehovah Zebaoth; I am the first and the last and there is no God beside me. Isa. 44:6.
Jehovah Zebaoth is His name, and your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel; He will be called God of all the earth. Isa. 54:5.
Behold, the days will come, when I shall raise up for David a righteous shoot, who will reign as King; and this is His name, Jehovah our righteousness. Jer. 23:5, 6; 33:15, 16,
On that day Jehovah will be King over all the earth; on that day Jehovah will be one, and His name one. Zech. 14:9.
[4] Both sets of passages were accepted as proofs by those who sat on the seats, and they said with one accord that Jehovah Himself took upon Himself human form to redeem and save mankind. But then a voice spoke up from the Roman Catholics, who had hidden behind the altar, saying: ‘How can Jehovah God become man? Is He not the Creator of the universe?’ One of those sitting in the second row of, seats turned round and said: ‘Who did then?’ The one who had been behind the altar stood up near it and replied: ‘The Son from eternity.’ But he received the reply: ‘Is not the Son from eternity according to your creed also the Creator of the universe? And what is the Son but God born from eternity? How can the Divine essence, which is one and indivisible, be separated so that one part of it came down, and not the whole at once?’
[5] The second debate about the Lord was whether the Father and He are one, just as the soul and the body are one. They said that this followed because the soul is from the father. Then one of those sitting in the third row read the following words from the Creed known as Athanasian:
Although our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is God and man, still there are not two, but one Christ; indeed He is utterly one. He is one person. For as the soul and body make up one man, so God and man is one Christ.
The reader said that the Creed containing these words is accepted throughout the Christian world, including the Roman Catholics.
‘What need,’ they said, ‘is there to go on? God the Father and the Lord are one, just as soul and body are one. Since this is so, we see that the Lord’s Human is Divine, because it is the Human of Jehovah; and the Lord is to be approached in His Divine Human, because this is the only possible way to approach the Divine called the Father.’
[6] This conclusion of theirs was confirmed by the angel citing many passages from the Word, including:
A child is born for us, a son is given to us, whose name is Wonderful, Counsellor, God, Hero, the everlasting Father, the Prince of peace. Isa. 9:6.
Also:
Abraham does not know us, and Israel does not acknowledge us. You, Jehovah, are our Father, our Redeemer from eternity is your name. Isa. 63:16.
In John:
Jesus said, He who believes in me believes in Him who sent me, and he who sees me sees Him who sent me. John 12:44, 45.
Philip said to Jesus, Show us the Father. Jesus said to him, He who has seen me has seen the Father. Why then do you say, Show us the Father? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? Believe me, I am in the Father and the Father is in me. John 14:8-11. Jesus said, I and the Father are one. John 10:30.
Also:
All things which the Father has are mine, and all of mine are the Father’s. John 16:15; 17:10.
Finally:
Jesus said, I am the way, truth and life; no one comes to the Father except through me. John 14:6.
The reader went on to say that similar statements to those made here by the Lord about Himself and His Father can also be made by a man about himself and his soul. On hearing this all declared with one heart and voice that the Lord’s Human is Divine, and this must be approached in order to approach the Father, because by means of the Human Jehovah God brought Himself into the world and made Himself visible to human eyes, and thus accessible. Likewise He made Himself visible and accessible to the ancients in human form, but at that time by means of an angel. But because this form represented the Lord who was to come, among the ancients everything that concerned the church was representative.
[7] This was followed by a debate about the Holy Spirit. To begin it the popular idea about God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit was presented, namely, that God the Father sits on high, the Son at His right hand, and they send out from themselves the Holy Spirit, to enlighten, teach, justify and sanctify men. But a voice was then heard from heaven, saying. ‘We find this mode of thought intolerable. Surely everyone knows that Jehovah God is omnipresent. A person who knows and acknowledges this will also acknowledge that it is He who enlightens, teaches, justifies and sanctifies, and that there is no mediating God separate from Himself, much less from two other Gods, as one person is separate from another. You must therefore rid yourselves of the first idea, seeing it is meaningless, and accept this, which is correct, and then you will see this plainly.’
[8] But at this point a voice was heard from the Roman Catholics who were standing near the altar of the church, saying: ‘What then is the Holy Spirit who is mentioned in the Word, in the Gospels and Paul, and by which so many of the learned clergy, especially ours, allege they are guided? Is there any Christian to-day who denies the existence of the Holy Spirit and His activity?’ On hearing this one of those sitting in the second row turned round and said: ‘You claim that the Holy Spirit is a person by Himself and God by Himself. But what is the meaning of a person going forth and proceeding from a person, if it is not the activity which goes forth and proceeds? One person cannot go forth and proceed from another, but his activity can. What is meant by God going forth and proceeding from God, if not the Divine which goes forth and proceeds? One God cannot go forth and proceed from another by means of a third; but the Divine can from a single God.’
[9] On hearing this the assembly in session reached the unanimous conclusion that the Holy Spirit is not a person by Himself, so not God by Himself either, but the Holy Divine which goes forth and proceeds from the one omnipresent God, who is the Lord. The angels who were standing by the golden table on which the Word was placed said to this: ‘Good. Nowhere in the Old Testament do we read that the prophets spoke the Word from the Holy Spirit, but from Jehovah; and where the Holy Spirit is mentioned in the New Testament, the Divine which proceeds is meant. This is the Divine which enlightens, teaches, quickens, reforms and regenerates.’
[10] This was followed by another debate about the Holy Spirit: from whom does the Divine meant by the Holy Spirit proceed, from the Father, or from the Lord? While they were discussing this, a light shone on them from heaven which allowed them to see that the Holy Divine, meant by the Holy Spirit, does not proceed from the Father by means of the Lord, but from the Lord acted upon by the Father; as for comparison in man, his activity does not proceed from the soul by means of the body, but from the body acted upon by the soul.
This was confirmed by the angel standing at the table by these passages in the Word:
He whom the Father has sent speaks the words of God; not by measure does God give him the Spirit. The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into his hand. John 3:34, 35.
A shoot will come forth from the stock of Jesse; the Spirit of Jehovah will rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and intelligence, the spirit of counsel and power. Isa. 11:1, 2.
The Spirit of Jehovah was put upon him, and was in him. Isa. 42:1; 59:19, 20; 61:1; Luke 4:18.
When the Holy Spirit comes, whom I shall send you from the Father, John 35:26.
He will glorify me, because He will take from what is mine and communicate it to you. All things that the Father has are mine. That is why I have said that He will take from what is mine and communicate it to you. John 16:14, 15.
If I go away, I will send the Comforter to you. John 16:7.
The Comforter is the Holy Spirit. John 14:26.
The Holy Spirit was not yet, because Jesus was not yet glorified. John 7:39.
But after His glorification:
Jesus breathed upon the disciples and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit. John 20:22.
And in Revelation:
Who will not glorify your name, Lord, since you alone are holy? Rev. 15:4.
[11] Since the Holy Spirit means the Lord’s Divine activity from His Divine omnipresence, so when He spoke to the disciples about the Holy Spirit, which He was to send from the Father, He also said:
I will not leave you bereft; I go away and come to you; and on that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I in you. John 14:18, 20, 28.
Shortly before He left the world, He said:
Behold, I am with you always up to the ending of the age. Matt. 28:20.
After reading these passages to them the angel said: ‘It is plain from these and many other passages in the Word that the Divine called the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Lord acted upon by the Father.’ Those in session replied: ‘This is Divine truth.’
[12] Finally the following resolution was passed: ‘We have seen clearly from the deliberations in this council, and thus acknowledge as a holy truth, that in the Lord God the Saviour Jesus Christ there is a Divine Trinity, consisting of the originating Divine called the Father, the Human Divine called the Son, and the Divine which proceeds called the Holy Spirit.’ And they cried out together that in Christ all the fulness of the Godhead dwells bodily (Col. 2:9). ‘Thus there is one God in the church.’
[13] When this magnificent council had reached these conclusions, its members rose; and the angel in charge came and brought from the strong-box for each of those who had taken part in the session splendid garments with here and there gold threads interwoven, and said: ‘Accept these wedding garments.’ Then they were taken in glory to the new Christian heaven, with which the Lord’s church on earth, the New Jerusalem, is to be linked.
* This section is repeated from AR 962.
** Restored from the parallel passage in AR 962.
*** The original has 43:24.
THE SACRED SCRIPTURE OR THE WORD OF THE LORD*
I
The sacred scripture, that is the Word, is Divine truth itself.
Everyone professes the Word to be from God, divinely inspired and therefore holy, but up to the present no one has known where in it the Divine is. For taken literally the Word looks like any ordinary book, written in a strange style, neither high-flown nor brilliant as many secular books appear to be. This is why if a person worships nature as God or in preference to God, so that his thought comes from himself and his own personality (proprium) rather than from heaven inspired by the Lord, he can easily fall into error about the Word and come to despise it. Thus he may say to himself when he reads it: ‘What does this or that mean? Can this be divine? Can God, whose wisdom is infinite, talk like this? Where is there anything holy in it, and where does this holiness come from, except from religious belief and the conviction it carries?’
* The whole of this chapter is closely modelled on THE DOCTRINE OF THE SACRED SCRIPTURE, published in Amsterdam in 1763.
Jesus said, The words which I speak to you are spirit and life. John 6:63. Jesus said to the woman at Jacob’s well, if you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, Give me a drink, you would ask him, and he would give you living water. He who drinks of the water which I shall give, will never thirst, but the water which I shall give will become a well of water springing up in him to give everlasting life. John 4:6, 10, 14.
‘Jacob’s well’ means the Word, as it also does in Deut. 33:28. That is why the Lord, being the Word, sat down there, and talked with the woman. ‘Living water’ means the truth of the Word.
Jesus said, If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me, and drink. If anyone believes in me, as the scripture says, streams of living water will flow from his belly. John 7:37, 38.
Peter said to Jesus, You have the words of everlasting life. John 6:68. Jesus said, Heaven and earth will pass away; my words will not pass away. Mark 13:31.
The reason why the Lord’s words are truth and life is that He is truth and life, as He teaches in John:
I am the way, truth and life. John 14:6.
In the same Gospel:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. John 1:1-4.
The Word means the Lord in respect of Divine truth, in which alone there is life and light. That is why the Word, which is from the Lord and is the Lord, is called ‘a spring of living waters’ (Jer. 2:13; 17:13; 31:9), ‘a spring of deliverance’ (Isa. 12:3), ‘a spring’ (Zech. 13:1) and ‘a river of the water of life’ (Rev. 22:1); and it is said that ‘the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, [and bring them] to living springs of water’ (Rev. 7:17). There are other passages too where the Word is called a ‘sanctuary’ and ‘tabernacle*’ in which the Lord dwells with man.
* Or: tent.
The Word contains a spiritual sense unknown up to the present.
Is there anyone who does not acknowledge and assent to the proposition that the Word, being Divine, is in its inmost spiritual? But who up to now has known what spiritual means, and where it is hidden in the Word? It will be shown in an experience recounted at the end of this chapter [280] what spiritual means; where it lies hidden in the Word will be revealed in the following paragraphs.
The reason why the Word is spiritual in its inmost is that it has come down from the Lord Jehovah and has passed through the heavens of the angels; and the actual divinity, which in itself is beyond expression and perception, has become as it came down adapted so as to permit angels, and finally men, to grasp it. Thus there is a spiritual sense, which is inside the natural sense like the soul in a person, or like the thinking of the understanding in speech, and the affection of the will in actions. If we may compare it with the kinds of things to be seen in the natural world, the spiritual sense is within the natural sense like the whole brain inside its membranes or integuments; or like the shoots of a tree within its bark and bast, or, rather, like everything needed to produce a chick inside the eggshell, and so on. But no one up to the present has guessed that the natural sense of the Word contains a spiritual sense of this kind. It is therefore necessary to make plain to the view of the understanding this secret, which is in itself far superior to all secrets disclosed so far. This can be achieved by expounding the matter in the following sequence:
(i) What the spiritual sense is.
(ii) This sense is present in every part and detail of the Word.
(iii) It is this which makes the Word divinely inspired and holy in every word.
(iv) This sense has up to the present been unknown.
(v) It will in future only be granted to those who are in possession of genuine truths from the Lord.
(vi) Remarkable effects produced by the Word from its spiritual sense.
These I shall now discuss one by one.
The spiritual sense is not the one which transparently underlies the literal sense of the Word, when it is scrutinised and expounded to support some dogma of the church; such a sense can be called the literal sense of the Word as understood by the church. But the spiritual sense is not to be seen in the literal sense; it lies within it, like the soul in the body, or as what is thought by the understanding shows in the eyes, or as the affection of love shows in the face. This sense is the principal reason why the Word is spiritual, not only for human beings, but also for the angels. This is why this sense enables the Word to act as a channel of communication with the heavens. Since the Word is inwardly spiritual, it was composed simply by the use of correspondences; anything written by using correspondences emerges in its outermost sense as resembling the style used by the Prophets, the Gospels and Revelation. For all that it seems ordinary, it still has stored within it Divine wisdom and all the wisdom of the angels. The nature of correspondence may be seen from My HEAVEN AND HELL (published in London in 1758), where there is a section (87-102) on the correspondence of everything in heaven with everything in man, and another on the correspondence of everything in heaven with everything on earth (103-115); and it will be further demonstrated by the examples from the Word, which I shall quote below.
This can be seen by examples, such as the following. John says in Revelation:
I saw heaven open, and there was a white horse; and he who sat on it was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and fights. And his eyes were a flame of fire; and on his head were many diadems. He had a name written, which no one but he knows. And he was clothed in a garment dyed in blood; and his name is called The Word of God. His armies in heaven followed him on white horses, clothed in white, clean linen. He has written on his garment and on his thigh his name: King of kings and Lord of lords. I saw further an angel standing in the sun, who cried in a loud voice, Come and gather for the great feast, to eat the flesh of kings and the flesh of captains and the flesh of strong men, and the flesh of horses and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all free men and slaves, both small and great. Rev. 19:11-18.
No one can see what all this means except from the spiritual sense of the Word; and no one can see this except by knowing the correspondences. For every word corresponds to something and not one is without meaning. A knowledge of correspondences shows the meaning of ‘a white horse’, ‘him who sat on it’, ‘eyes like a flame of fire’, the ‘diadems’ on his head, ‘the garment dyed in blood’, ‘the white linen’ worn by His army in heaven, ‘the angel standing in the sun’, ‘the great feast’ to which they were to come and gather, as well as ‘the flesh of kings and captains’ and many more, which they were to eat.
[2] The meaning in the spiritual sense of all these details has been expounded in My APOCALYPSE REVEALED (820-838), and my short work THE WHITE HORSE, so it would be superfluous to expound them further. It was shown there that this is a description of the Lord as the Word. His eyes like a flame of fire mean the Divine wisdom of His Divine love. The diadems on His head and the name which no one but He knows mean the Divine truths in the Word which come from Him, and that no one sees what the Word is like in its spiritual sense except the Lord and those to whom He reveals it. A garment dyed in blood means the natural sense of the Word, that is, the literal sense, to which violence was done. It is quite plain that it is the Word which is so described, for it says ‘His name is called The Word of God.’ It is also quite plain that it is the Lord who is meant, for it says that the name of him who sat on the white horse was ‘King of kings and Lord of lords’, much as in Revelation 17:14, where it says: ‘And the Lamb shall overcome them, because He is Lord of lords and King of kings’.
[3] The spiritual sense of the Word being laid bare at the end of the church is what is meant not only by what is said about the white horse and him who sat on it, but also by the great feast, to which the angel standing in the sun invited all to come, and to eat the flesh of kings and captains, etc.; this means making one’s own all the kinds of good given by the Lord. All the expressions used there would be meaningless, devoid of life and spirit, if they did not inwardly contain a spiritual sense, just as the body contains a soul.
All this must be understood spiritually, as is evident from the fact that the New Jerusalem means the new church which is to be founded by the Lord, as shown in APOCALYPSE REVEALED (880). Since Jerusalem there means the church, it follows that everything which is said of that city, its gates, its wall, their foundations, and its measurements contain a spiritual sense, because anything that relates to the church is spiritual. Their meaning was demonstrated in APOCALYPSE REVEALED (896-925), so it is unnecessary to pursue this demonstration here. It is enough to know from this that the details of the description contain a spiritual sense, as the body does a soul. Without that sense nothing of what is written there could be understood as referring to the church; for instance, that the city was of pure gold, its gates were of pearls, its wall of jasper, the foundations of the wall of precious stones, the wall measured one hundred and forty-four cubits, which is the measure of a man, that is, an angel; and the city was twelve thousand stades in length, width and height, and so forth. Anyone who knows the spiritual sense from a knowledge of correspondences can understand these statements; as for instance, the wall and its foundations mean the doctrines of that church derived from the literal sense of the Word; and the numbers twelve, one hundred and forty-four, and twelve thousand mean everything belonging to it, truths as well as various kinds of good, all taken together.
* See note on 179; i.e. about 1350 miles.
Immediately after the affliction of those days the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then will the sign of the Son of Man appear in the sky, and all the tribes of the earth will wail; and they will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He will send forth angels with a loud blast of the trumpet, and they will gather His chosen from the four winds from one end of the heavens to the other. Matt. 24:29-31.
In the spiritual sense this does not mean that the sun and the moon will be darkened, stars will fall from the sky, and the Lord’s sign will appear in the skies, and that they will see Him in the clouds accompanied by angels with trumpets. All the expressions here have spiritual meanings referring to the church; and they describe its state at its end. In the spiritual sense the sun, which will be darkened, means love to the Lord. The moon, which will not give its light, means faith in Him. The stars which will fall from the sky, mean items of knowledge concerning truth and good. The sign of the Son of Man in the sky means the Divine truth given by Him in the Word being made visible. The tribes of the earth, who will wail, means the failure of all truth to do with faith and of all good to do with love. The coming of the Son of Man in the clouds of heaven with power and glory means the Lord’s presence and His revelation in the Word. The clouds of heaven mean the literal sense of the Word, the glory the spiritual sense of the Word. The angels with the loud blast of the trumpet mean heaven from which Divine truth comes. Gathering the chosen from the four winds from one end of the heavens to the other means the new heaven and the new church, composed of those who have faith in the Lord and live in accordance with His commandments. It is quite plain that the darkening of the sun and the moon is not meant, nor the falling of stars to earth, because of the Prophets, where similar statements are made about the state of the church at the time the Lord was to come into the world. For instance, in Isaiah:
Behold the fierce day of Jehovah will come and the blaze of His anger. The stars of the skies and their constellations will not shine with their light, the sun will be darkened in its rising, and the moon will not cause its light (lumen) to shine, I shall visit upon the world its wickedness. Isa. [13:9-11;] 24: 21, 23.
In Joel:
The day of Jehovah is coming, a day of darkness and murk. The sun and the moon will be turned black, and the stars will abate their shining. Joel 2:1, 2, 10; 3:15.
In Ezekiel:
I shall cover the heavens and make the stars black. I shall cover the sun with a cloud and the moon will not cause it light to shine. I shall darken all the luminaries that give light, and make darkness upon the earth. Ezek. 32:7, 8.
The day of Jehovah means the Lord’s coming, which took place when there was no more good of love and truth of faith left in the church, nor any knowledge of the Lord. That is why it is called a day of darkness and murk.
The kingdom of the heavens is like ten virgins, who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were wise, but five were foolish. The foolish ones, when they took their lamps, failed to take oil, but the wise ones took oil in their lamps. But when the bridegroom was late, they all became drowsy and went to sleep. However, in the middle of the night a cry went up, Look, the bridegroom is coming, go out to meet him. Then all those virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. But the foolish ones said to the wise ones, Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out. The wise ones, however, replied and said, Perhaps there may not be enough for us and for you; go rather to the sellers and buy some for yourselves. While they were away buying it, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut. At length the other virgins came too, and said, Lord, Lord, open the door to us. But he replied and said, In truth I tell you, I do not know you. Matt. 25:1-12.
No one who does not know that there is a spiritual sense, and what sort of sense it is, can see that each of these details contains a spiritual sense, and therefore a Divine holiness. In the spiritual sense the kingdom of the heavens means heaven and the church, the bridegroom means the Lord, the wedding the Lord’s marriage with heaven and the church by means of the good of love and the truth of faith. The virgins mean those who belong to the church, ten means all, five a part. The lamps mean things to do with faith, oil things to do with the good of love. Sleeping and waking mean a person’s life in the world, which is natural, and his life after death, which is spiritual. Buying means acquiring, going to the sellers and buying oil means acquiring the good of love from others after death. Because it cannot then any longer be acquired, although they came with their lamps and the oil they had bought to the door where the wedding was, still the bridegroom told them, I do not know you. This is because after his life in the world a person remains such as his life in the world made him. It is plain from this that the Lord spoke purely in correspondences, and this was because He spoke from the Divine which was in Him and was His. It is because virgins stand for those who belong to the church that we find so often in the prophetic parts of the Word mention of the virgin and daughter of Zion, of Jerusalem, of Judah, or of Israel, and it was because oil stands for the good of love, that all the holy things of that church were anointed with oil. It is the same in the rest of the parables and in every expression which the Lord used; thus it is that the Lord says that His words are spirit and life (John 6:63).
People in the church say that the Word is holy, and that this is because the Lord Jehovah spoke it. But because its holiness is not apparent in the literal sense by itself, if anyone for this reason once begins to doubt its holiness, he finds, when he subsequently reads the Word, much there to support his belief; for he says to himself: ‘Surely this cannot be holy? Surely this is not Divine.’ Therefore, to prevent this way of thinking from affecting a large number of people and then becoming prevalent, so that the Word would be rejected as a worthless book and the link it makes between such a person and the Lord would be broken, it is the Lord’s good pleasure now to reveal its spiritual sense, in order that it may be known where the Divine holiness is hidden within it. Let us take examples to illustrate this.
At various places in the Word there is talk of Egypt, Assyria, Edom, Moab, the Children of Ammon, the Philistines, Tyre and Sidon, and Gog. Anyone who does not know that their names stand for matters that relate to heaven and the church, may be led into the erroneous belief that the Word has much to say about peoples and nations, and only a little about heaven and the church, much, that is, on worldly subjects and little on heavenly ones. But when he knows what is meant by these peoples or their names, he can be rescued from his error and brought back to the true belief.
[2] It is similar when one sees in the Word so many mentions of a garden, a grove, a wood, or the trees in them, such as the olive, the vine, the cedar, the poplar or the oak; or so many mentions of the lamb, the sheep, the goat, the calf or the ox; or of mountains, hills, valleys and the springs, rivers and waters in them, or many other similar things. Anyone who knows nothing of the spiritual sense of the Word cannot help thinking that it is merely these things which are intended. For he is unaware that garden, grove and wood mean wisdom, intelligence and knowledge, or that olive, vine, cedar, poplar and oak mean the good and truth of the church in their celestial, spiritual, rational, natural and sensual forms. Nor does he know that lamb, sheep, goat, calf and ox mean innocence, charity and natural affection; or that mountains, hills and valleys mean the highest, lower and lowest elements in the church. [3] Nor does he know that Egypt means factual knowledge, Assyria the faculty of reason, Edom the natural level, Moab the adulteration of good, the Children of Ammon the adulteration of truth, the Philistines faith without charity, Tyre and Sidon the knowledge of good and of truth, Gog external worship without any internal. In general, Jacob in the Word means the natural church, Israel the spiritual church, Judah the celestial church. When one knows all these meanings, it is possible to reflect that the Word speaks only of heavenly matters, and those worldly matters are merely the underlying supports for the others. Let us take an example from the Word to illustrate this point too.
[4] We read in Isaiah:
On that day there shall be a highway from Egypt to Assyria, so that Assyria may come to Egypt and Egypt to Assyria, and the Egyptians may serve with Assyria. On that day Israel shall be a third with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth; and Jehovah Zebaoth shall bless them, saying, Blessed is Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel my inheritance. Isa. 19:23-25.
In the spiritual sense this passage means that at the time of the Lord’s coming factual knowledge, the faculty of reason and the spiritual will make one; and factual knowledge will then serve the faculty of reason and both of these will serve the spiritual. For, as said before, Egypt means factual knowledge, Assyria the faculty of reason and Israel the spiritual. The twice repeated mention of the day refers to the Lord’s first and second comings.
I showed in my book HEAVEN AND HELL (87-105), that every single thing to be found in nature corresponds to something spiritual, and likewise every single part of the human body. But up to the present it has remained unknown what correspondence is. Yet in the most ancient times it was very well known; for those who lived at that period regarded the knowledge of correspondences as the outstanding science, and it was so universally known that all their documents and books were written by means of correspondences. The book of Job, which is a book of the Ancient Church, is full of correspondences The hieroglyphic writings of the Egyptians, as well as the myths of the most ancient peoples, were nothing else. All the ancient churches served to represent spiritual ideas; their rites and the rules which governed the establishment of their modes of worship were made up of nothing but correspondences. The same is true of all the details of the church among the Children of Israel. Their burnt offerings, sacrifices, sacrificial cakes and libations in all their particulars had meaning as correspondences; likewise the tabernacle and all its contents, as well as their festivals, such as the feast of unleavened bread, the feast of tabernacles and the feast of first-fruits, and also the priesthood of Aaron and the Levites, together with their holy vestments. I have shown in ARCANA CAELESTIA (published in London) what were the spiritual ideas to which all these things correspond. In addition to these, all the laws and judgments governing their worship and way of life had meaning as correspondences. Now since Divine ideas are presented in the world as correspondences, this and no other is the way the Word was written. Therefore the Lord, since He spoke from the Divine, spoke in correspondences. For whatever is Divine descends at the natural level into the kind of things which correspond to Divine ones, and then contain in their inmost the Divine things called celestial and spiritual.
[2] It is clear from their meaning that all these details were thought up by the Philistines’ soothsayers as correspondences. The meanings are as follows. The Philistines themselves mean those whose faith is separated from charity; Dagon symbolised their religion. The haemorrhoids with which they were smitten meant natural loves, which, when separated from spiritual love, are unclean. The rats meant the wasting of the church by falsifying truth. The new wagon meant the natural teaching of the church, for a vehicle in the Word means teaching derived from spiritual truths. The cows meant natural good affections. The haemorrhoids made of gold meant natural loves which have been purified and made good. The rats made of gold meant the wasting of the church being removed by good, since gold in the Word means good. The lowing of the cows on the way meant the difficult transformation of the evil longings of the natural man into good affections. The cows together with the wagon being sacrificed as a burnt-offering meant that the God of Israel was by this propitiated. All these things which the Philistines did on the advice of their soothsayers were correspondences; and this shows plainly that the science of correspondences was long preserved among the gentiles.
* ‘Priests’ in most versions of the Bible.
[2] The fact that the science of correspondences was preserved among a number of eastern peoples right down to the Lord’s coming can be established by the wise men from the east, who came to visit the Lord at the time of His birth; therefore the star went before them, and they brought gifts with them, gold, frankincense and myrrh (Matt. 2:1, 2, 9-11). The star which went before them meant knowledge learned from heaven, gold celestial good, frankincense spiritual good, and myrrh natural good; it is these three kinds of good which are the source of all worship. Nonetheless correspondences were totally unknown to the Israelite and Jewish people, even though all the details of their worship, all their laws and judgments given them by Moses, and everything in the Word were nothing but correspondences. The reason was that they were at heart idolatrous, and therefore of such a character that they did not even want to know that anything in their worship had a celestial or spiritual meaning, since they believed that these things were all in themselves holy. If therefore the celestial and spiritual meanings had been revealed to them, they would not only have rejected them, but also profaned them. On account of this heaven was so closed to them that they scarcely knew that there was an everlasting life. The truth of this is perfectly plain from the fact that they failed to acknowledge the Lord, even though the whole of Sacred Scripture was a prophecy about Him and foretold His coming. The only reason why they rejected Him was that He taught them about a kingdom in heaven, not one on earth. For they wanted a Messiah who would make them superior to all peoples throughout the world, not one who would provide for their eternal salvation.
The opening out of the spiritual sense at the present time is meant by John’s vision of heaven being opened and of a white horse, and also by his seeing and hearing an angel standing in the sun, inviting all to a great feast, as described in Revelation (19:11-18). The fact that for a long time it would not be recognised is meant by the beast and the kings of the earth, who were going to make war on the rider of the white horse (Rev. 19:19); and also by the dragon’s pursuit into the desert of the woman who had borne a son, and there emitting water from its mouth like a river, to drown her (Rev. ’12:13-17).
The reason is that no one can see the spiritual sense, except only if it is granted him by the Lord, and if he is in possession of Divine truths given by the Lord. For the spiritual sense of the Word is solely concerned with the Lord and His kingdom. That is the sense known to His angels in heaven, since it contains His Divine truth. A person who knows the science of correspondences, and wants to use his own intelligence to explore the spiritual sense of the Word, can do violence to this Divine truth. For a knowledge of a few correspondences will enable him to corrupt that sense, and even misapply it to proving false propositions. This would be to do violence to Divine truth, and thus to heaven where that truth resides. Therefore if anyone wishes to lay bare that sense, relying on himself instead of on the Lord, heaven is closed to him, and this results in his being unable to see any truth at all, or becoming spiritually deranged.
Another reason is that the Lord teaches every person by means of the Word, and uses in teaching the knowledge he already has, rather than directly implanting new knowledge. Therefore, if a person is not in possession of Divine truths, or only a few truths accompanied by false notions, he can use these to falsify the truths. This too is what all heretics do with the literal sense of the Word. So to prevent anyone coming into possession of the spiritual sense and perverting genuine truth, the Lord has established guards, who are meant by the cherubim in the Word.
In the natural world the Word does not produce any remarkable effects, because the spiritual sense is not evident there, and is not inwardly accepted by a person in its real form. In the spiritual world, however, remarkable effects can be seen produced by the Word, because all the people there are spiritual, and spiritual things affect people just as natural things do natural people. There are many remarkable effects produced by the Word in the spiritual world, a few of which I shall describe here.
The Word itself kept in the sanctuaries of churches there is seen by the angels shining like a great star, at times resembling the sun, and the most beautiful rainbows are to be seen produced by its radiance. This happens as soon as the sanctuary is opened.
[2] I was able to establish that every single truth in the Word shines from the fact that, if a verse from the Word is written out on a piece of paper and the paper is tossed into the air, the paper itself shines, outlining the shape into which it has been cut. Spirits are therefore able to use the Word to make various shining shapes, including birds and fishes. Something even more remarkable is that when anyone rubs his face, his hands or the clothes he is wearing with the open Word, putting the writing against them, his face, hands and clothes shine, as if he were standing in a star with its light streaming round him. I have often seen this happen to my astonishment. This showed me how it was that Moses’ face shone when he carried down the tablets of the covenant from Mount Sinai.
[3] Apart from these there are many more remarkable effects in the spiritual world produced by the Word. For instance, if someone who is full of false notions looks towards the Word as it lies in its holy place, thick darkness descends upon his eyes making the Word look black to him, at times as if coated in soot. If the same person touches the Word, there is a loud explosion and he is hurled into the corner of the room, where he lies for some time as if dead. If anyone full of false notions copies out anything from the Word on a piece of paper, and then tosses the paper up towards heaven, then there is a similar explosion in the air between his eye and heaven, and the paper is shredded and disappears. The result is the same, if the paper is thrown towards the angel* who stands near by. I have seen this happen many times.
[4] This has made it plain to me that there can be no communication with heaven by means of the Word for those who have false notions about doctrine; their reading falls apart on the way up and vanishes, like gunpowder wrapped in a screw of paper, set alight and tossed into the air. The opposite is the case with those who have true ideas about doctrine, learned from the Lord by means of the Word; when they read the Word it reaches all the way to heaven and makes a link with angels there. The angels themselves, when they come down from heaven to perform a duty below, appear to be surrounded by small stars, especially round their heads; this is a sign that they possess Divine truths from the Word.
[5] Moreover, the spiritual world contains similar things to those on earth, but every one of them has a spiritual origin. So there are gold and silver there too, and precious stones of all kinds. The spiritual origin of these is the literal sense of the Word. That is why in Revelation the foundations of the wall of the New Jerusalem are described as of twelve precious stones. The reason is that the foundations of its wall mean the teachings of the new church derived from the literal sense of the Word. That too is why the ephod of Aaron contained twelve precious stones called Urim and Thummim, and replies were given from heaven by means of them.
In addition, there are still more remarkable effects produced by the Word, relating to the power of truth there, which is so immense that no one would believe a description. Its power there is enough to overturn mountains and hills, carry them to a distance, throw them into the sea, and other things. In short, the Lord’s power derived from the Word is boundless.
* An emendation for ‘corner’ (reading angelum for angulum); cf. 164.6-7.
The literal sense of the Word is the basis, container and support of its spiritual and celestial senses.
Everything Divine contains a first, middle and last; the first passes through the middle to the last, and so it comes into and remains in existence; the last is consequently its basis. The first is also present in the middle term, and through this in the last. So the last is a container; and because it is a container and basis, it is also a support. An educated reader will grasp that those three terms can be named end, cause and effect; and also being, becoming and coming-into-being; the end is being, the cause is becoming and the effect is coming-into-being. Consequently everything contains a triad, called first, middle and last, or end, cause and effect. When this is grasped, it will also be grasped that every Divine work is complete and perfect in its last, and that the last contains everything, because the prior terms are simultaneously present in it.
The Divine truth in the literal sense of the Word is in its fulness, holiness and power.
The Word in its literal sense is in its fulness, holiness and power, because the two prior or interior senses, called the spiritual and celestial senses, are simultaneously present in the natural or literal sense, as stated above (210, 212). But it needs to be explained further in what way they are simultaneously present. In heaven and in the world there exist two kinds of order, successive and simultaneous order. In the case of successive order one comes after and follows the other from highest to lowest; in simultaneous order, however, one is alongside the other from inmost to outermost. Successive order is like a column which spreads out in steps from top to bottom; but simultaneous order is like an object made up of cohering rings from centre to outermost surface.
[2] It must now be explained how at the lowest level successive order becomes simultaneous. It is like this. The highest levels of a successive order become the inmost parts of a simultaneous order, and the lowest levels of a successive order become the outermost parts of a simultaneous order. This can be illustrated by a stepped column subsiding to become a coherent object in a single plane. So the simultaneous is formed from the successive, and this operates in every single thing in the natural world, and in every single thing in the spiritual world. For everywhere there is a first, middle and last, and the first reaches out through the middle and advances towards its last. But it needs to be clearly understood that it is degrees of purity which determine the development of either order.
[3] Now if we apply this to the Word, the celestial, spiritual and natural proceed from the Lord in successive order, and are in simultaneous order at the last level. So that is how the celestial and spiritual senses of the Word are simultaneously present in its natural sense. Once this has been grasped, it can be seen how the natural sense of the Word is the container, basis and support of its spiritual and celestial senses, as well as how Divine good and Divine truth are present in the literal sense of the Word in their fulness, holiness and power. From this it can be established that the Word in its literal sense is the real Word, for it contains in itself spirit and life. This is what the Lord said:
The words which I speak to you are spirit and life. John 6:63.
For the Lord uttered His words in their natural sense. The celestial and spiritual senses without the natural sense are not the Word, for that would be like spirit and life without a body; and they are (as said before in 213) like a palace which has no foundations.
[2] Jesus said:
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, because you clean the outside of the cup and dish, but the insides are full of robbery and intemperence. You blind Pharisee, clean first the inside of the cup and dish, so that the outside too may be clean. Matt. 23:25, 26.
In saying this the Lord spoke in similes and comparisons which are at the same time correspondences. When He said ‘the cup and dish’, cup not only means but stands for the truth of the Word, since cup implies wine and wine stands for truth. Dish, however, implies food, and food stands for good. Therefore cleaning the inside of the cup and dish means purifying the interior parts of the mind, the seats of will and thought, by means of the Word. ‘So that the outside may be clean’ means that in this way the exterior things too, what we do and say, are purified, for their essence is drawn from the interior.
[3] Again Jesus said:
There was a certain rich man who dressed in purple and fine linen, and feasted magnificently every day; and there was a poor man named Lazarus, who lay in his entrance porch full of sores. Luke 16:19, 20.
Here too the Lord spoke in similes and comparisons which were correspondences and had a spiritual content. The rich man means the Jewish nation, which is called rich, because it possessed the Word containing spiritual riches. The purple and fine linen which he wore mean the good and truth of the Word, purple its good and fine linen its truth. Feasting magnificently every day means taking pleasure in having the Word, and hearing many things from it in their temples and synagogues. The poor man Lazarus means the gentiles who did not possess the Word. The contempt and rejection they suffered at the hands of the Jews are meant by Lazarus lying in the entrance porch of the rich man. Full of sores means that the gentiles were plagued by many false notions due to their ignorance of truth.
[4] The reason the gentiles were meant by Lazarus was that the gentiles were loved by the Lord, just as Lazarus, who was revived after being dead, was loved by the Lord (John 11:3, 5, 36). He is also called the Lord’s friend (John 11: 11), and he reclined at table with the Lord (John 12:2). These two passages show plainly that the truths and kinds of good in the literal sense of the Word are like vessels and garments serving to clothe bare good and truth, which both lie hidden in the spiritual and celestial senses of the Word.
The Word being like this in the literal sense, it follows that those who possess Divine truths, and believe that the Word inwardly in its depths is something holy and Divine, and more so those who believe that the Word is like this because of its spiritual and celestial senses, these people, when they read the Word and receive enlightenment from the Lord, see Divine truths by natural light. For the light of heaven, which illuminates the spiritual sense of the Word, exerts an influence on the natural light which illuminates its literal sense, and enlightens man’s intellectual, also called rational, faculty, enabling it to see and recognise Divine truths, whether plain to view or hidden. The light of heaven has this effect upon people, sometimes even without their knowing it.
(i) The precious stones forming the foundations of the New Jerusalem.
(ii) The Urim and Thummim on Aaron’s ephod.
(iii) The precious stones in the garden of Eden, in which the King of Tyre is said to have been.
(iv) The curtains, veils and posts of the Tabernacle.
(v) Likewise, the external features of the Temple at Jerusalem.
(vi) The Word in its glory was represented in the Lord at His transfiguration.
(vii) The power of the Word at its outermost level was represented by the Nazirites.
(viii) The Word’s power is beyond description.
These points must now be illustrated one by one.
I mentioned above (209) that in the spiritual world precious stones are to be found just as in the natural one, and that they have a spiritual origin from the truths in the literal sense of the Word. Incredible as it may seem, this is in fact the truth. This is the reason why, every time there is a reference in the Word to precious stones, they mean in the spiritual sense truths, It follows from this that the precious stones, of which the foundations of the wall surrounding the city of the New Jerusalem are said to have been built, mean the truths of doctrine in the new church. For the New Jerusalem means the new church in respect of the doctrine it derives from the Word. Therefore its wall and the foundations of the wall must mean the external of the Word. This is its literal sense as the source of its doctrine, and by means of its doctrine the church. This sense is like a wall with its foundations, surrounding a city and making it secure.
[2] The description in Revelation of the New Jerusalem and its foundations is this:
The angel measured the wall of the city of Jerusalem as one hundred and forty-four cubits, which is the measure of a man, that is, an angel. The wall had twelve foundations, decorated with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald, the fifth sardonyx, the sixth sardius, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh turquoise, the twelfth amethyst. Rev. 21:15-20.
The reason why the wall had twelve foundations, made of the same number of precious stones, is that the number twelve means the whole of truth derived from good, so here the whole of doctrine. These matters, together with the preceding and following parts of that chapter, can be found expounded in detail, with confirmations drawn from parallel passages in the Prophets, in my book APOCALYPSE REVEALED.
The Urim and Thummim were mounted on Aaron’s ephod, and his priesthood represented the Lord in respect of Divine good and the effecting of salvation. The garments of priesthood or of holiness represented Divine truths coming from the Lord. The ephod represented Divine truth in its outermost form, that is, the Word in its literal sense, for this is Divine truth in its outermost form. Thus the twelve precious stones called Urim and Thummim, which bore the names of the twelve tribes of Israel, represented Divine truths coming from Divine good and all that goes with them. We read about these in the writings of Moses:
They are to make the ephod of [gold]*, violet and purple, with doubledyed scarlet and lawn interwoven. (Later) you are to make the breastpiece of judgment, of similar workmanship to the ephod, and you are to fill it with settings for stones. There are to be four rows of stones: ruby, topaz and emerald in the first row; chrysoprase, sapphire and diamond in the second row; turquoise, agate and amethyst in the third row; aquamarine, sardius and jasper in the fourth row. These stones are to answer to the names of the sons of Israel. The inscriptions as on a seal are to have each the name of one of the twelve tribes. And Aaron is to wear upon the breast-plate of judgment the Urim and Thummim; and let them be upon Aaron’s heart, when he comes into the presence of Jehovah. Exod. 28:6, 15-21, 29, 30.
[2] The representations of Aaron’s garments, his ephod, mantle, tunic, turban., and sash, have been explained in ARCANA CAELESTIA (published in London) in the commentary on this chapter. It was there shown that the ephod represented Divine truth in its outermost form; the precious stones the truths made pellucid by good; the twelve set out in four rows represented the whole from first to last; the twelve tribes the whole of the church. The breast-plate represented Divine truth coming from Divine good in the universal sense; the Urim and Thummim the splendour of Divine truth coming from Divine good in its outermost form. Urim is shining fire and Thummim splendour in the language of the angels, or wholeness in Hebrew. Again, replies were given by changes in the quality of light, accompanied by an unspoken perception, or by direct speech, and there is much besides. These explanations establish that these stones stood for truths coming from good in the outermost sense of the Word. For this is the only source by which replies are given from heaven, because that sense contains the Divine which proceeds in all its fulness.
* Apparently omitted by accident.
King of Tyre, you who set the seal upon your measured space, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, God’s garden; every kind of precious stone was your covering, ruby, topaz and diamond, chrysolite, sardonyx and jasper, sapphire, chrysoprase and emerald, and gold. Ezek. 28:12, 13.
Tyre in the Word means the church in respect of its knowledge of good and truth; king means the church’s truth, the garden of Eden wisdom and intelligence derived from the Word. Precious stones mean truths with light shining through them from good, of the sort found in the literal sense of the Word. It is because these were the meanings of those stones that they are called his covering. The literal sense is a covering for the interiors of the Word; see above (213).
The tabernacle constructed by Moses in the desert was a representation of heaven and the church. That is why its description was revealed by Jehovah on Mount Sinai. Thus all its contents, the lampstand, the golden altar for incense and the table holding the bread of the Presence, represented and stood for the holy things of heaven and the church. The holy of holies, where the Ark of the Covenant stood, represented and so stood for the inmost of heaven and the church. The Law itself inscribed upon two tables stood for the Word, and the cherubim above it meant protection to prevent the holiness of the Word being violated.
Now since externals derive their essence from internals, and both of these derive theirs from the inmost, which in this case was the Law, therefore all the details of the tabernacle represented and stood for the holy things of the Word. Hence it follows that the outermost parts of the tabernacle, the curtains, veils and posts which covered, contained and supported it, meant the outermost form of the Word, which is the truths and forms of good contained in its literal sense. It was because that was their meaning that all the curtains and veils were made of lawn interwoven and violet and purple, and double-dyed red, with cherubim (Exod. 26:1, 31, 36). I explained in ARCANA CAELESTIA in the commentary on that chapter of Exodus the general and the specific representations and meanings of the tabernacle and all its contents. It was there shown that the curtains and veils represented the externals of heaven and the church, so also those of the Word; and that lawn or fine linen meant truth of spiritual origin, violet truth of celestial origin, purple celestial good, double-dyed red spiritual good, and the cherubim the protection of the interiors of the Word.
This was because the Temple, exactly like the Tabernacle, represented heaven and the church; but the Temple represented the heaven of the spiritual angels, the Tabernacle that of the celestial angels. Spiritual angels are those who possess wisdom from the Word, celestial angels are those who possess love from the Word. The Lord Himself teaches us in John that the Temple at Jerusalem means in the highest sense the Lord’s Divine Human:
Break up this Temple, and in three days I will raise it again. He was speaking about the temple of His body. John 2:19, 21.
When the Lord is meant, so too is the Word, for He is the Word. Now since the interior parts of the Temple represented the interiors of heaven and the church, and so those of the Word, therefore its external parts also represented and stood for the exteriors of heaven and the church, and so those of the Word, that is, its literal sense. We read of the exterior of the Temple that it was built of whole, undressed stones, and inside of cedar-wood; all its walls were carved inside with cherubim, palms and open flowers, and the floor was overlaid with gold (1 Kings 6:7, 29, 30). All these things too stand for the externals of the Word, which are the holy things in its literal sense.
We read about the Lord’s transfiguration in the presence of Peter, James and John that His face shone like the sun, His clothes became like light, and Moses and Elijah were seen speaking with Him; a shining cloud overshadowed the disciples, and a voice was heard from the cloud saying, This is my beloved Son, listen to Him (Matt. 17:1-5).
I have been taught that the Lord then represented the Word. His face, which shone like the sun, represented the Divine good of His Divine love; His clothes, which became like light, the Divine truth of His Divine wisdom. Moses and Elijah represented the historical and prophetic sections of the Word; Moses the part of the Word written by his instrumentality and the historical parts as a whole, Elijah the whole of the prophetic part of the Word. The shining cloud which overshadowed the disciples represented the Word in its literal sense; that is why a voice was heard from it saying, ‘This is my beloved Son, listen to Him’. For all statements and replies given from heaven are only given through the outermost forms, such as is the literal sense of the Word; they acquire their fulness from the Lord.
We read in the Book of Judges that Samson was a Nazirite from his mother’s womb, and that his strength lay in his hair. A Nazirite and the fact of being one also means having hair. He himself showed that his strength lay in his hair when he said:
A razor has not gone over my head, because I have been a Nazirite from my mother’s womb. If I am shaved, then my strength will depart from me, and I shall become weak and be like any other man. Judg. 16:17.
No one can know why the institution of Naziriteship, standing for hair, took place, or why Samson’s strength came from his hair, unless he knows the meaning of the head in the Word. The head stands for the intelligence angels and men have from the Lord by means of Divine truth. Thus the hair stands for intelligence derived from Divine truth at the outermost or remotest level. It was this meaning of the hair that caused the rule to be made for Nazirites that they should not shave the hair of their heads, for this is the Naziriteship of God upon their heads (Num. 6:1-21). There was also a rule that the highest priest and his sons should not shave their head, lest they die and the whole house of Israel incur anger* (Lev. 10:6).
[2] It was because the hair was sacred on account of its meaning, which is due to its correspondence, that the Son of Man, who is the Lord in respect of the Word, is also described as having hair like wool, white as snow (Rev. 1:14), and likewise the Ancient of Days (Dan. 7:9). Since the hair means truth at the outermost level, or the literal sense of the Word, those who despise the Word become bald in the spiritual world, while on the other hand those who made much of the Word and held it sacred have a good head of hair. It was because of this correspondence that the forty-two children were torn apart by two she-bears, for calling Elisha bald (2 Kings 2:23, 24); for Elisha represented the church as regards its teaching from the Word, and she-bears stand for the power of truth at the outermost level. The power of Divine truth, or the Word, lies in its literal sense, because the Word is there in all its fulness, and this is the sense possessed alike by the angels of each of the Lord’s kingdoms and by men.
*The Latin strictly means ‘be angry’, but this appears to be what is intended.
Hardly anyone at the present time knows that truths possess any power. People think that truth is merely something said by a person in a position of power, which they must therefore do. Thus they regard it as merely the breath issuing from the mouth and a sound heard in the ear. Yet in fact truth and good are the fundamental principles which underlie everything in both worlds, the spiritual and the natural. Hardly anyone knows that they are the means by which the universe was created and is now preserved, and the means by which man was made, so these two are the all in all. It is openly stated in John that the universe was created by means of Divine truth:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God; everything that was made was made by means of it, and the world was made by means of it. John 1:1, 3, 10.
Also in the Psalms of David:
By the word of Jehovah the heavens were made. Ps. 33:6.
In both passages the Word means Divine truth. Since the universe was created by Divine truth, therefore it is also preserved by it, for just as continuing in existence is continuous coming into existence, so preservation is continuous creation.
[2] The reason why man was made by means of Divine truth is that everything in man has reference to the understanding and the will; the understanding is for receiving Divine truth, the will for receiving Divine good. Consequently the human mind, being composed as it is of those two principles, is neither more nor less than a form of Divine truth and Divine good organised in a spiritual and natural pattern. The human brain is such a form; and because the whole of a person depends upon his mind, everything in his body is a dependency, acted upon and endowed with life by those two principles.
[3] These facts can now establish the reason why God came into the world as the Word and became Man. This was for the sake of redemption. For God then by means of the Human, which was Divine truth, clothed Himself in all power, and cast down, conquered and reduced to obedience the hells, which had grown up even to the level of the heavens inhabited by angels. He did this not by word of mouth, but by the Divine Word, which is Divine truth; and afterwards He opened up a great gap between the hells and the heavens, which no one from hell can cross. If anyone tries to do so, at his first step he experiences torments like those of a snake put on a red-hot iron plate or on an ant-hill. For devils and satans at the first whiff of Divine truth cast themselves at once into the depths, rush into caves and block their entrances so carefully that not a chink is left open. The reason is that their wills are subject to evils and their understandings to falsities, and are thus opposed to Divine good and Divine truth; and because, as has been said, the whole man is made up of those two principles of life, they are totally, from head to heel, struck a severe blow as soon as they perceive their opposite.
[4] These facts will be sufficient to prove that the power of Divine truth is beyond description; and since the Word possessed by the Christian church contains Divine truth in its three degrees, it is obvious that this is what is meant in John (1:3, 10). I can produce many proofs from my own experience to prove that the power of the Word is beyond description, but because they pass belief and appear incredible, I forbear to present them; a few details however, you can find related above (209). I shall give from this source this one memorable statement: the church which possesses Divine truths from the Lord is stronger than the hells. It was of this church that the Lord said to Peter:
On this rock shall I build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. Matt. 16:18.
The Lord said this after Peter had made the admission that Christ was the Son of the living God (Matt. 16:16). It is this truth which is meant in that passage by rock; for a rock throughout the Word means the Lord in respect of Divine truth.
The doctrine of the church is to be drawn from the literal sense of the Word and supported by it.
It was shown in the preceding paragraph that the Word is in its fulness in the literal sense and endowed with holiness and power. Since the Lord is the Word and is the First and the Last, as He says in Revelation (1:17), it follows that the Lord is most especially present in that sense and by means of it teaches and enlightens men. But these points must be demonstrated in due order:
This is because the Word in its literal sense is composed of nothing but correspondences, in order that it should simultaneously hold spiritual and celestial meanings; and every single word is a container and support for these. That is why in the literal sense the Divine truths are rarely uncovered, but are clothed. They are then called appearances of truth, and in many cases are made suitable to be understood by the simple, who do not lift their gaze above what is in front of their eyes. Some appear to be contradictions, when in fact there is no contradiction, if the Word is looked at by its own spiritual light. Moreover in some passages of the Prophets there are collections of place-names and personal names, from which no sort of sense can be extracted. Seeing that the Word is like this in its literal sense, it can easily be established that it could not be understood without doctrine.
The Word is not to be understood without doctrine. Doctrine is to be drawn from the literal sense of the Word. But Divine truth, on which doctrine is based, is not visible to any but those who are enlightened by the Lord.
[2] But let us take examples to illustrate this. It is said that Jehovah regrets (Exod. 32:12, 14; Jonah 3:9; 4:2); and also that Jehovah does not regret (Num. 23:19; 1 Sam. 15:29). These statements cannot be reconciled without doctrine. It is said that Jehovah visits the wickedness of the fathers upon the sons, to the third or fourth generation (Num. 14:18); and also that a father shall not die on account of his son, nor a son on account of his father, but each in his own sin (Deut. 24:16). Doctrine can show that these statements do not conflict, but are in harmony.
[3] Jesus says:
Ask and it shall be given you; seek and you shall find. To him that knocks, the door shall be opened. Matt. 7:7, 8; 21:21, 22.
Without doctrine one might believe that each will receive what he asks for; but we know from doctrine that whatever a person asks from the Lord, that is granted. For this too is what the Lord teaches:
If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you will, and it will be done for you. John 15:7.
[4] The Lord says:
Blessed are the poor, for theirs is the kingdom of God. Luke 6:20.
Without doctrine one might think that heaven was for the poor and not the rich; but doctrine instructs us that the poor in spirit are meant, for the Lord says:
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of the heavens. Matt. 5:3.
[5] The Lord says further:
Do not judge, so that you are not judged; with whatever judgment you judge, so will you be judged. Matt. 7:1, 2; Luke 6:37.
Without doctrine anyone could be induced to assert that we must not judge wicked people to be wicked; but doctrine tells us we may judge, so long as we do so justly. For the Lord says:
Give just judgments. John 7:24.
[6] Jesus says:
Do not have yourselves called teacher, for you have one teacher, Christ. Do not call anyone on earth your father, for you have one father in the heavens. And do not have yourselves called master, for you have one master, Christ. Matt. 23:8-10.
Without doctrine this would mean that we are not to call anyone teacher, father or master; but doctrine tells us that we may do so in the natural sense, but not in the spiritual.
[7] Jesus said to the disciples:
When the Son of Man sits on the throne of His glory, you too will sit on twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel. Matt. 19:28.
One might infer from these words that the Lord’s disciples too are to act as judges, though in fact they can judge no one. Doctrine therefore will reveal the mystery by the fact that the Lord alone, who is omniscient, and knows the hearts of all, can and will be judge. His twelve disciples mean the church in respect of all its truths and all its kinds of good, which are given to it by the Lord by means of the Word. Doctrine infers from this that it is the truths and kinds of good which will judge everyone, as the Lord said in John (3:17, 18; 12:47, 48). There are many more passages like this in the Word, which show plainly that the Word cannot be understood without doctrine.
This is because the Lord is present in that sense, and He teaches and enlightens us. For the Lord never performs any act except in fulness, and the Word is in its fulness in the literal sense, as was shown above. This is why doctrine is to be drawn from the literal sense. The doctrine of genuine truth can even fully be drawn from the literal sense of the Word, for the Word in that sense resembles a person wearing clothes, but whose face and hands are bare. Everything needed for a person’s faith and life, and so everything needed for his salvation, is there uncovered, though the remainder is clothed. In many passages where it is clothed it still shows through, like a woman’s features through a thin silk veil over her face. Moreover, since the truths of the Word increase in number as they are loved and this love gives them shape, so they show through and become visible more and more clearly.
Enlightenment comes only from the Lord, and to those who love truths because they are true, and make them their guide to a useful life. No others find enlightenment in the Word. Enlightenment comes only from the Lord, because the Word is from Him and so He is in it. The reason only those are enlightened who love truths because they are true, and make them a guide to a useful life, is that they are in the Lord and the Lord is in them; for the Lord is truth itself, as was shown in the chapter on the Lord. The Lord is loved when one lives in accordance with His Divine truths, and so useful deeds are done by their guidance, as stated in this passage of John:
On that day you will know that you are in me and I in you; he who has my commandments and keeps them loves me, and I shall love him, and I shall show myself to him, and come to him, and make my dwelling with him. John 14:20, 21, 23.
Those are meant who are enlightened when they read the Word, and for whom the Word shines and shows through.
[2] The reason why for them the Word shines and shows through is that the details of the Word contain a spiritual and a celestial sense, and these senses are filled with the light of heaven. Therefore the Lord by means of them and their light floods into the natural sense of the Word and the light this sheds on man. So it is that a person acknowledges truth by an inward perception, and then sees it in his thought processes; this happens whenever he has affection for truth for truth’s sake. The affection leads to perception, the perception to thought, and thus comes the acknowledgment we call faith.
I have also seen these people allowed into heaven; and when it was discovered there that they were devoid of truths, they were thrown out. Yet they still retained their proud conviction that they had deserved admission. Quite different was the treatment of those whose study of the Word had been impelled by a desire to know the truth because it is true and serves to promote a useful life, not only their own, but their neighbour’s too. These I saw lifted up to heaven, to enjoy the light which there surrounds Divine truth, and at the same time they were raised to a state of angelic wisdom and the happiness it brings, which the angels of heaven enjoy.
* This section is repeated with minor changes from AR 255.5, 6.
The literal sense of the Word produces a link with the Lord and association with the angels.
The Word produces a link with the Lord, because He is the Word, that is, Divine truth itself and Divine good itself contained in it. The link is produced by the literal sense, because in that sense the Word is in its fulness, holiness and power, as was shown above in the section on this subject [214-224]. That link is not visible to man, but lies in the affection for truth and the perception of truth. The reason why the literal sense produces association with the angels in heaven is that the spiritual and celestial senses are contained in it, and these are the senses the angels possess; the angels of the Lord’s spiritual kingdom possess the spiritual sense of the Word, those of His celestial kingdom its celestial sense. These two senses are unwound from the Word, when a person who regards it as holy reads it. The unwinding takes place instantly, and so therefore does the association.
[2] The sixth commandment is ‘You are not to commit adultery.’ A man by committing adultery understands promiscuous behaviour, obscene acts, improper suggestions and filthy thoughts. A spiritual angel by committing adultery understands adulterating the good of the Word and falsifying its truths. A celestial angel, however, by committing adultery understands denying the divinity of the Lord and profaning the Word.
[3] The seventh commandment is ‘You are not to steal.’ A man by stealing understands stealing, defrauding and depriving the neighbour of his goods on some pretext. A spiritual angel by stealing understands depriving others of the truths and different kinds of good of his faith by falsities and evils. A celestial angel, however, by stealing understands attributing to oneself what is the Lord’s and claiming for oneself His righteousness and merit.
[4] The eighth commandment is ‘You are not to bear false witness.’ A man by bearing false witness understands telling lies and slandering someone. A [spiritual] angel by bearing false witness understands saying and persuading others that falsity is truth and evil is good, and vice versa. A celestial angel, however, by bearing false witness understands blaspheming against the Lord and the Word.
[5] From these examples it can be seen how the spiritual and celestial contents are unwrapped and drawn out of the natural sense of the Word, which contains them. It is a remarkable fact that the angels draw out their own senses without knowing what the person reading is thinking. Yet the thoughts of angels and men make one by means of correspondences, just as do an end, its cause and its effect. In fact the ends are in the celestial kingdom, the causes in the spiritual kingdom and the effects in the natural kingdom. So it is in this way that human beings are associated with angels by means of the Word.
* These two words are missing in the original edition, but are supplied in the author’s copy.
The words which I speak to you are spirit and life. John 6:63.
The water which I shall give you will become a spring of water rising up to give everlasting life. John 4:14.
Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes forth out of the mouth of God. Matt. 4:4.
Work for the food which lasts to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. John 6:27.
The Word is to be found in all the heavens and is the source of the angels’ wisdom.
It has not previously been known that the Word is to be found in the heavens; nor could it be known so long as the church was unaware that angels and spirits are human beings, in face and body exactly like those in our world, and having surroundings in all respects exactly like those men have. The only difference is that they are spiritual and everything about them comes from a spiritual origin, while people in this world are natural and everything about them comes from a natural origin. So long as this fact remained hidden, no one could know that the Word is also to be found in the heavens and is read by the angels there, as well as by the spirits who are below the heavens. But to ensure that this should not remain a secret for ever, I have been allowed to enjoy the company of angels and spirits, talking with them, seeing their surroundings, and then reporting much of what I have seen and heard. I did this in the book entitled HEAVEN AND HELL (published in London in 1758). From this one can see that angels and spirits are human beings and that everything people in this world have is there in profusion for angels and spirits. It may be seen in that book that angels and spirits are human beings (73-77, 453-460); that they have similar surroundings to those people have in this world (170-190); also that they have Divine worship and sermons in their churches (221-227), also writings and books (258-264), and the Holy Scripture or the Word (259).
[2] Since this is the nature of writing among the angels, the names of persons and places are marked in their copies of the Word, so that the wise may understand the spiritual and celestial meaning of each. For instance, Moses stands for the Word of God written through him, what is generally known as the historical Word; Elijah for the prophetic Word; Abraham, Isaac and Jacob for the Lord as regards the celestial, spiritual or natural Divines. Aaron stands for priesthood, David for kingship, in both cases that of the Lord. The names of the sons of Jacob, that is, of the twelve tribes of Israel, stand for various meanings connected with heaven and the church; and the meaning of the names of the Lord’s twelve disciples is similar. Zion and Jerusalem stand for the church as regards doctrine learned from the Word; the land of Canaan for the church itself; the places and cities in it either side of the Jordan for various meanings associated with the church and its doctrine. It is the same with numbers; these do not even exist in the vocabulary of heaven, but instead there are the subjects to which the numbers correspond. These facts may establish that the Word in heaven is like ours in its literal sense and at the same time corresponds to it, so that they form one.
[3] It is a remarkable fact that the Word in the heavens is so written as to be understood straightforwardly by the simple and in a learned way by the wise. For it contains many curves and marks over the letters which, as said before, heighten the meaning. The simple pay no attention to them and do not recognise them; but the wise notice them and give them meanings dependent upon their degree of wisdom even up to the highest. All the larger communities have a copy of the Word written by angels inspired by the Lord, which is kept stored in their shrine, for fear the Word elsewhere should be changed in even a point. The Word we have in our world resembles that in heaven in as much as the simple understand it straightforwardly and the wise in a learned way; but the way this happens is different.
The church depends on the Word, and what the church is like in the case of each person depends on how he understands the Word.
There can be no doubt that the church depends upon the Word, for it has been shown above that the Word is Divine truth (189-192), that the Word is the source of the church’s doctrine (225-233), and that the Word produces a link with the Lord (234-239). However, it may be questioned whether it is the understanding of the Word which makes the church, since there are those who believe that they belong to the church, because they possess the Word and read it, or hear it preached and know something of its literal sense. But they are unaware how this or that passage in the Word is to be understood, and some of them do not regard this as of much importance. I shall therefore prove here that it is not the Word which makes the church, but how it is understood; and that what the church is like depends on how those who belong to the church understand the Word.
[2] For those who probe the Word to extract from it the truths of faith and the kinds of good which are needed for life, the Word is like treasures owned by the Shah of Persia or the Mogul or Chinese Emperors. People belonging to the church are like their treasurers, who have permission to take out as much as they want for their own purposes. On the other hand those who merely possess the Word and read it, without seeking for genuine truths to establish faith, and genuine kinds of good to guide life, are like those who know from the newspapers that there are vast treasures there, but never get a penny from them. Those who possess the Word without drawing from it any understanding of genuine truth or any will for genuine good, are like those people who think themselves wealthy because they have taken huge loans from others, or large proprietors on the strength of renting other people’s estates, houses and merchandise. Anyone can see that this is imaginary. They are also like people who walk about in magnificent costume, ride in gilded carriages with outriders behind and on either side and runners in front, yet do not actually own any of these things.
[2] What the church, however, is like when its understanding of the Word is destroyed is also described by Ephraim in the prophets, especially in Hosea, as in the following passages:
Israel and Ephraim will fall; Ephraim will become a wilderness. Ephraim is overwhelmed and shaken in judgment. Hosea 5:5, 9, 11-14.
What shall I do to you, Ephraim? For your holiness has departed, like the clouds of dawn and like the dew that falls in the morning. Hosea 6:4.
They will not dwell in the land of Jehovah; Ephraim will return to Egypt, and will eat unclean food in Assyria. Hosea 9:3.
The land of Jehovah is the church; Egypt is the factual knowledge of the natural man; Assyria is reasoning from this. It is these two together which lead to falsification of the Word in respect of its inward understanding. This is why it is said that Ephraim will return to Egypt and eat unclean food in Assyria.
[3] Ephraim pastures the wind and pursues the east wind; every day he increases the lie and devastation; he makes an agreement with Assyria and oil is carried down into Egypt. Hosea 12:1.
Pasturing the wind, pursuing the east wind and increasing the lie and devastation is falsifying truths and so destroying the church. Ephraim’s whoring has a similar meaning, as whoring means the falsification of the understanding of the Word, that is, of its genuine truth, in the following passages:
I know Ephraim, that he has utterly given himself to whoring, and Israel is defiled. Hosea 5:3.
In the house of Israel I have seen a foul thing; there Ephraim went whoring and Israel is defiled. Hosea 6:10.
Israel is the church itself, and Ephraim is the understanding of the Word, the source which determines what sort of church it is. This is why it says that Ephraim went whoring and Israel is defiled.
[4] The church among the Israelite and Jewish people was utterly destroyed by falsifying the Word, so therefore it is said of Ephraim:
I shall give you up, Ephraim, I shall hand you over, Israel, like Admah and I shall make you like Zeboyim. Hosea 11:8.
So because the book of the prophet Hosea from the first chapter to the last is about the falsification of the genuine understanding of the Word and the resultant destruction of the church, and because whoring there means the falsification of truth, that is why the prophet was ordered to represent that state of the church by taking to wife a whore and having sons by her (chapter 1), and again by taking an adulterous woman (chapter 3).
These passages have been quoted to provide knowledge and proof from the Word that what the church is like depends on how the Word is understood in it. It is excellent and valuable, if its understanding is based upon genuine truths from the Word, but ruined and actually foul, if based upon falsified truths.
* Thought by some editors to be an error for Manasseh, but the reference may be to verse 5: ‘Ephraim and Manasseh shall be mine as Reuben and Simeon are.’
The details of the Word all contain a marriage of the Lord and the church, and so a marriage of good and truth.
Up to now it has not been seen that the details of the Word contain a marriage of the Lord and the church, and so a marriage of good and truth. Nor could this be seen, because the spiritual sense of the Word has not before been revealed, and that marriage can only be seen by means of that sense. The Word has two senses hidden in its literal sense; these are called the spiritual and the celestial senses. In the spiritual sense the contents of the Word refer chiefly to the church, and in the celestial sense chiefly to the Lord. Again in the spiritual sense its contents refer to Divine truth, and in the celestial sense to Divine good. Hence there is this marriage in the Word. But this is not apparent except to those who have learned from the spiritual and celestial senses of the Word the meanings of the words and names. For certain words and names are used of good, and certain of truth, and some include both. So without this knowledge it was impossible to see this marriage in the details of the Word. This is the reason this secret was not previously revealed.
It is because this kind of marriage is contained in the details of the Word, that it so often uses two expressions which appear to repeat the same thing. Yet they are not really repetitions, but one refers to good, the other to truth; and the two taken together make this link and so form a single unit. This too is the source of the Divine holiness of the Word; for in every Divine act good is joined with truth and truth with good.
It is because this kind of marriage is contained in the details of the Word, that it so often uses two expressions which appear to repeat the same thing. Yet they are not really repetitions, but one refers to good, the other to truth; and the two taken together make this link and so form a single unit. This too is the source of the Divine holiness of the Word; for in every Divine act good is joined with truth and truth with good.
Many expressions in the Word are coupled, like fire and flame, gold and silver, bronze and iron, wood and stone, bread and wine*, purple and fine linen, etc. Fire, gold, bronze, wood, bread and purple are used in speaking of good; but flame, silver, iron, stone, water, wine and fine linen are used in speaking of truth. Likewise when it is said that one is to love God with all one’s heart and with all one’s soul, or that God would create in a person a new heart and a new spirit. The heart is used in speaking of the good of love, the soul or spirit of the truths of faith. There are also words which are used by themselves without other additions, because they relate to both good and truth, but these and many other things do not become evident except to angels, and to those who, while having the natural sense, are also able to receive the spiritual sense.
* It is possible that the phrase ‘bread and water’ has been omitted here before ‘bread and wine’; cf. AC 9323.1.
Woe to the nation of sinners, a people burdened with iniquity. Isa. 1:4.
The people who walk in darkness have seen a great light; you have increased the nation. Isa. 9:2, 3.
Assyria is the rod of my anger; I shall send him against a nation of hypocrites, against the people of my wrath shall I order him to march. Isa. 10:5, 6.
It will happen on that day, the nations will seek the root of Jesse, who stands as a sign to the peoples. Isa. 11:10.
Jehovah who struck the peoples an incurable blow, mastering the nations with wrath. Isa. 14:6.
On that day there will be brought as a gift to Jehovah Zebaoth a people torn apart and plundered, and a nation measured out and trampled. Isa. 18:7.
A strong people will honour you, the city of powerful nations will fear you. Isa. 25:3.
Jehovah will swallow up the veil over all peoples, the pall over all nations. Isa. 25:7.
Approach, you nations, and listen, you peoples. Isa. 34:1.
I have called you to be a covenant to the people, a light to the nations. Isa. 42:6.
Let all the nations be gathered together, and let the peoples assemble. Isa. 43:9.
Look, I shall raise my hand towards the nations, and my signal towards the peoples. Isa. 49:22.
I made him a witness to the peoples a prince and law-giver to the nations. Isa. 55:4, 5.
Look, a people coming from the land of the north, and a mighty nation from the corners of the earth. Jer. 6:22, 23.
I shall make you not to hear any longer the slander of the nations, and you will no longer bear the reproaches of the peoples. Ezek. 36:15.
All peoples and nations will worship Him. Dan. 7:14.
Lest the nations make a by-word of them, and say among the peoples, Where is their God? Joel 2:17.
The survivors of my people will plunder them, and the remnant of my nation will take their inheritance. Zeph. 2:9.
Many people and numerous nations will come to seek Jehovah in Jerusalem. Zech. 8:22.
My eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared before the face of all peoples, a light to be a revelation to the nations. Luke 2:30-32.
You have redeemed us by your blood from every people and nation. Rev. 5:9.
You must prophesy again over the peoples and nations. Rev. 10:11.
You will set me to be head of the nations; a people whom I knew not shall serve me. Ps. 18:43.
Jehovah makes vain the counsel of the nations, overthrows the thoughts of the peoples. Ps. 33:10.
You make us a proverb among the nations, a wagging of the head among the peoples. Ps. 44:14.
Jehovah will set peoples subject to us, and nations beneath our feet. God reigns over the nations: the willing ones of the peoples are gathered. Ps. 47:3, 8, 9.
The peoples shall confess you, and the nations shall shout for joy; because you will judge the peoples with righteousness and will lead the nations on the earth. Ps. 67:3, 4.
Remember me, Jehovah, in showing favour to your people, that I may rejoice in the joy of your nations. Ps. 106:4, 5.
There are other passages too.
The reason why nations and peoples are mentioned together is that nations means those who are in possession of good, and in the opposite sense, those who are in possession of evil; and peoples means those who are in possession of truths, and in the opposite sense, those who are in possession of falsities. Therefore, those who belong to the Lord’s spiritual kingdom are called peoples, and those who belong to His celestial kingdom are called nations. For all who possess truths and the intelligence they give are in the spiritual kingdom, and all who possess various kinds of good and the wisdom they give are in the celestial kingdom.
* The Latin word here translated ‘nation’ is frequently used in the plural to mean ‘the heathen.’
Look, joy and gladness, the slaughtering of an ox. Isa. 22:13.
Joy and gladness will escort them; sorrow and groaning will flee away. Isa. 35:10; 51:11.
Cut off from the house of our God are gladness and joy. Joel 1:16.
The sound of joy and the sound of gladness shall be banished. Jer. 7:34; 25: 10.
The fast of the tenth [month] will become joy and gladness for the house of Judah. Zech. 8:19.
Be glad in Jerusalem, rejoice in her. Isa. 66:10.
Rejoice and be glad, daughter of Edom. Lam. 4:21.
The heavens will be glad, and the earth will rejoice. Ps. 96:11.*
You** will make me hear joy and gladness. Ps. 51:8.
Joy and gladness will be found in Zion, confession and the sound of song. Isa. 51:3.
There will be gladness, and many will rejoice over his birth. Luke 1:14.
I shall cause to cease the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride. Jer. 7:34; 16:9; 25:10.
There will still be heard in this place the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, and the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride. Jer. 33:10, 11.
There are other passages too.
The reason why both joy and gladness are mentioned is that joy is used referring to good and gladness referring to truth, in other words joy is used of love and gladness of wisdom. For joy is an emotion of the heart, gladness of the spirit, in other words, joy is of the will and gladness of the understanding. It is plain that there is a marriage of the Lord and the church also in these, because it is said:
The voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride. Jer. 7:34; 16:9; 25:10; 33:10, 11.
The Lord is the bridegroom and the church is the bride. For the Lord as bridegroom see Matt. 9:15; Mark 2:19, 20; Luke 5:34, 35; and for the church as bride, Rev. 21:2, 9; 22:17. This is why John the Baptist said of Jesus:
He who has the bride is the bridegroom. John 3:29.
* Reference corrected in the author’s copy from 68.4.
** The Latin has ‘they.’
Heresies can be extracted from the literal sense of the Word, but confirming them leads to damnation.
It was demonstrated above that the Word cannot be understood without doctrine, and that doctrine resembles a lantern which allows genuine truths to be seen; and that this is because the Word is entirely written by means of correspondences [226-228]. That is why many things in it are appearances of truth and not bare truths, and why many things are written to be intelligible to purely natural people, and yet in such a way that the simple can understand it simply, the intelligent intelligently and the wise wisely. Seeing the Word is like this, the appearances of truth, which are truths wrapped up, can be taken for bare truths; and when these are confirmed, they become fallacies, which in themselves are falsities. It is the taking and confirming of appearances of truth for genuine truths which have given rise to all the heresies, which there ever have been and still exist in the Christian part of the world. But what damns people is not the heresies themselves, but drawing on the Word and using reasonings on the part of the natural man to confirm the falsities contained in the heresy, and living a wicked life.
For everyone by birth acquires the religion of his country or his parents. From childhood he is introduced to it and afterwards retains it; nor can he extricate himself from its falsities, both on account of his worldly business and on account of the weakness of the understanding in sighting truths of that description. But living a wicked life, and confirming falsities to the point that genuine truth is destroyed, this is what brings damnation. For the person who stays with his religion, believes in God, and if he is in Christian countries believes in the Lord, regards the Word as holy, and lives conscientiously according to the Ten Commandments – he does not swear allegiance to falsities. So when he hears truths and perceives them in his own fashion, he can embrace them and so be extricated from falsities. But this is not the case with the person who has confirmed the falsities taught by his religion, for falsity once confirmed remains and cannot be rooted out. For when it has been confirmed, falsity is as if one had sworn allegiance to it, especially if it has stuck fast to it self-love or pride in one’s own intelligence.
After death everyone is instructed by angels, and those are accepted who see truths, and falsities in the light of truths. But the only ones to see truths are those who have not convinced themselves of falsities; those who have are unwilling to see truths, and if they do, they turn away, and then either laugh at them or turn them into falsities. The real cause of this is that confirmation enters into the will, and the will is the very essence of the person, and has the understanding at its beck and call. But bare knowledge only enters the understanding, and this has no control over the will; so it is no more inside the person than someone who stands in the forecourt or at the door, and has not yet been admitted to the house.
It appears to the eye that the sun travels round the earth every day and also once every year. Thus we talk of the sun rising and setting; causing morning, noon, evening and night, as well as the seasons, spring, summer, autumn and winter, and thus days and years. Yet the sun stands unmoved, for it is a sea of fire, and it is the earth which rotates every day and travels around its orbit every year. A person, who in simplicity or ignorance thinks that the sun travels round the earth, does not destroy the natural truth, which is that the earth rotates on its axis and every year travels around the ecliptic. But if a person convinces himself of the sun’s apparent motion by the reasonings of the natural mind, and more so if he does so from the Word, because it speaks of the sun rising and setting, he weakens the truth and destroys it; and afterwards he is hardly able to see it, even though he is given a visual demonstration that the whole starry sky rotates similarly every day and every year in appearance, although not a single star changes its fixed position relative to another. The movement of the sun is an apparent truth; its not moving is a genuine truth. Yet everyone speaks according to the apparent truth, saying that the sun rises and sets. This is allowed, because it could not be otherwise. But to think like this from conviction blunts and dulls the rational understanding.
[2] Again it is like an almond in its shell, but instead of an almond there is a newly hatched viper inside; when the shell is broken open, the tiny viper seems to be blown by the wind into another person’s eyes, but he turns away to prevent this happening. This is self-evident. It is similar when the Word is read by a person with false beliefs, who applies some things in its literal sense to confirm his falsities; then the Word is rejected on the way to heaven, to prevent anything of the kind affecting the angels and distressing them. For when falsity comes into contact with truth, it is like the point of a needle touching the fibril of a nerve, or the pupil of the eye. It is well known that the nerve fibril immediately curls up and retreats into itself; and likewise the eye as soon as it is touched covers itself with the eyelids. These comparisons make it plain that the falsification of truth breaks communication with heaven and shuts it off. This is why it is injurious to confirm any heretical falsity.
When Jehovah God had cast out the man, He made cherubim to dwell on the east of the garden of Eden, and the flame of a sword turning this way and that, to guard the way to the tree of life. Gen. 3:23, 24.
[2] No one can know what this means, unless he knows the meaning of cherubim, of the garden of Eden and the tree of life in it; and also of the flame of a sword turning this way and that. These details have been explained in the section dealing with this chapter in ARCANA CAELESTIA, published in London. This shows that cherubim mean protection, the way to the tree of life means the approach to the Lord, which people make by means of the truths of the spiritual sense of the Word; the flame of a sword turning means Divine truth at the outermost level, which resembles the Word in its literal sense, in being capable of being twisted like this. The meaning of the cherubim made of gold placed on the two ends of the mercy-seat, which was above the ark in the tabernacle (Exod. 25:18-21), is similar. The ark meant the Word, because the Ten Commandments contained in it were the rudiments of the Word; the cherubim there meant protection, which is why the Lord spoke with Moses from between them (Exod. 25:22; 37:9; Num. 7:89). He spoke in the natural sense, for He does not speak with man except in fulness, and in the literal sense Divine truth is in its fulness (see 214-224 above). Nor was anything else meant by the cherubim on the hangings of the tabernacle and on the veil (Exod. 26:1, 31). For the hangings and veils of the tabernacle meant the outermost of heaven and the church, and so also of the Word (see 220 above). Likewise the cherubim carved on the walls and the doors of the temple at Jerusalem (1 Kings 6:29, 32, 35; see 221 above); and equally the cherubim in the new temple (Ezek. 41:18-20).
[3] Since cherubim meant protection to prevent the Lord, heaven and Divine truth as it is inwardly in the Word, being directly approached, but only indirectly through the outermost, this is why it is said of the king of Tyre:
You who set the seal on your measured space, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty, you were in Eden the garden. Every kind of precious stone was your covering. You, cherub, were the expanse of the covering. I have destroyed you, cherub who cover, in the midst of the stones of fire. Ezek. 28:12-14, 16.
Tyre means the church as regards its knowledge of truth and good, and so the king of Tyre means the Word, which is the place and source of that knowledge. It is obvious that in this passage the king means the Word at the outermost level, and cherub means protection, for it says ‘You who set the seal on your measured space; every kind of precious stone was your covering; you, cherub, were the expanse of the covering’ as well as ‘cherub who cover’. The precious stones which are also named there mean the contents of the literal sense (see 217, 218 above).
Because cherubim mean the Word at the outermost level and also its protection, it is said in the Psalms of David:
Jehovah tilted the heavens and came down, and rode upon a cherub. Ps. 18:9, 10.
Shepherd of Israel, who sits upon the cherubim, shine forth. Ps. 80:1. Jehovah that sits upon the cherubim. Ps. 99:1.
Riding on the cherubim or sitting on them means the outermost sense of the Word. The Divine truth in the Word and its nature are described by the four creatures, which are also called cherubim (in Ezekiel, chapters 1, 9 and 10); and also by the four creatures in the midst of the throne and beside the throne (Rev. 4:6ff). (See APOCALYPSE REVEALED published by me at Amsterdam, 239, 275, 3-14.)
The Lord when in the world fulfilled everything in the Word, and thus became the Word, that is, Divine truth, even in its outermost form.
The Lord’s fulfilling when in the world everything in the Word, and thus becoming Divine truth, that is, the Word, even in its outermost form, is what is meant by these words in John:
And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14.
Being made flesh is becoming the Word in its outermost form. The Lord showed the disciples, when He was transfigured, what the Word is like in its outermost form (Matt. 17:2ff; Mark 9:2ff; Luke 9:28ff). In these places it is said that Moses and Elijah were seen in glory; Moses means the Word which was written by means of him, and the historical part of the Word in general, Elijah the prophetical part. The Lord as seen by John in Revelation (1:13-16) was also represented as the Word in its outermost form. All the details of His description there mean the outermost form of Divine truth, that is, the Word. The Lord had indeed previously been the Word or Divine truth, but in its first beginnings; for it is said:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. John 1:1, 2.
But when the Word was made flesh, then the Lord became the Word even in its outermost form. That is why He is called ‘the First and the Last’ (Rev. 1:8, 11, 17; 2:8; 21:6; 22:12, 13; Isa. 44:6).
Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law and the Prophets. I have come not to abolish, but to fulfil. Matt. 5:17, 18.
Jesus entered the synagogue, and got up to read. Then there was handed to Him the book of the prophet Isaiah; and He unrolled the book and found the passage where it is written: The spirit of Jehovah is upon me, because He has anointed me; He has sent me to bring good news to the poor, to heal the broken in heart, to bring good news of release to those who are in bonds, and sight to the blind, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. Afterwards He rolled up the book and said, To-day this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing. Luke 4:16-21. That the Scripture should be fulfilled, He who eats bread with me has lifted up his heel upon me. John 13:18.
None of them has perished, but the son of perdition, that the Scripture should be fulfilled. John 17:12.
That the word should be fulfilled which said, Of those you gave me, I have not lost one. John 18:9. Jesus said to Peter, Put your sword away in its place. How then could the Scripture be fulfilled, which says that it must be thus. This was done so that the Scripture might be fulfilled. Matt. 26:52, 54, 56.
The Son of Man goes away, as it is written of Him, so that the Scriptures should be fulfilled. Mark 14:21, 49.
Thus the Scripture was fulfilled which said, He was counted with the irreligious. Mark 15:28; Luke 22:37.
That the Scripture might be fulfilled, they divided my* garments among them, and cast lots for my tunic. John 19:24.
After this Jesus knowing that all things were now completed, that the Scripture should be fulfilled. John 19:28.
When Jesus had received the vinegar, He said, it is completed (that is, fulfilled). John 19:30.
These things were done so that the Scripture might be fulfilled, A bone you shall not break in him; and again another Scripture says, They shall see him whom they pierced. John 19:36, 37.
He also taught His disciples, before He went away, that the whole Word was written about Him, and that He had come into the world to fulfil it, in these words:
He said to them, Foolish people and slow at heart to believe all that the Prophets have said! Surely this is what Christ ought to suffer, and enter into glory? Then beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He explained to them the references to Himself in all the Scriptures. Luke 24:25-27.
Further, Jesus said that all things ought to be fulfilled which are written in the law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms about me (Luke 24:44, 45).
It is plain from the Lord’s words that, while He was in the world, He fulfilled everything in the Word down to the last details:
Amen I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one jot or stroke shall pass away from the Law, until all things are done. Matt. 5:18.
This will now make it possible to see clearly that by the Lord fulfilling everything in the Law is not meant fulfilling all the Ten Commandments, but everything in the Word. These further passages will establish that the Law means everything in the Word:
Jesus said, Is it not written in your law, I said, You are gods. John 10:34.
This is written in Psalm 82:6.
The crowd replied, We have heard from the law that the Christ shall remain for ever. John 12:34.
This is written in Psalm 89:30[, 37]; Psalm 110:4; Daniel 7:14.
That the word should be fulfilled which is written in their Law, They hated me without cause. John 15:25.
This is written in Psalm 35:19.
It is easier for heaven and earth to pass away, than for one dot of the Law to be lost. Luke 16:17.
The Law here, as in many other passages, means the whole of Sacred Scripture.
* A correction of the author’s copy for ‘his.’
Before the time of the Word which we have in the world to-day, there was another Word, now lost.
It can be established from what is recorded in the books of Moses, that before the time of the Word, which was given to the Israelite nation by means of Moses and the Prophets, worship by sacrifices was well known, and that prophecies were given from the mouth of Jehovah. The following passages show that worship by sacrifices was known. It was commanded that the Children of Israel should overturn the altars of the gentiles, break in pieces their statues, and cut down their sacred groves (Exod. 34:13; Deut. 7:5; 12:3.) Israel in Shittim began to wanton with the daughters of Moab; they invited the people to the sacrifices offered to their gods, and the people ate of them (Num. 25:1-3). Balaam, who came from Syria, had altars built and sacrificed cattle and sheep (Num. 22:40; 23:1, 2, 14, 29, 30). He also prophesied about the Lord, saying that a star should arise from Jacob and a sceptre from Israel (Num. 24:17). And he gave prophecies from the mouth of Jehovah (Num. 22:13, 18; 23:3, 5, 8, 16, 26; 24:1, 13). It is plain from these passages that the gentiles had Divine worship almost exactly like that established for the Israelite nation through Moses. Some words in the books of Moses show clearly that it existed even before the time of Abraham (Deut. 32:7, 8); but it is even more obvious from the case of Melchizedek, king of Salem:
He brought out bread and wine, and blessed Abram; and Abram gave him tithes of everything. Gen. 14:18-20.
Melchizedeck represented the Lord, for he is called the priest of God Most High (Gen. 14:18); and it is said of the Lord in the Psalms of David:
You are priest for ever, after the fashion of Melchizedek. Ps. 110:4.
That was why Melchizedek brought out bread and wine, as being the most holy things of the church, just as they are the holy things in the Holy Supper. Apart from these there are extant many indications that there was a Word before the Israelite Word, which was the source of such revelations.
Therefore it is said in the book of the Wars of Jehovah, Vaheb in Suphah and the rivers Arnon, and the water-channel of the river, which went down, where Ar dwelt and rested towards the boundary of Moab. Num. 21:14, 15.
The ‘Wars of Jehovah’ in that Word, as in ours, meant and described the Lord’s battles with the hells and His victories over them, at the time when He was to come into the world. The same battles too are meant and described in many of the historical passages of our Word, as in the wars of Joshua against the nations of the land of Canaan, and in the wars of the Judges and Kings of Israel.
[2] The following passage is taken from the prophetical parts of the ancient Word:
Therefore the authors of Utterances say: Come into Heshbon; the city of Sihon shall be built and strengthened. For fire has gone forth from Heshbon, a flame from the city of Sihon. It has devoured Ar of Moab, those who possess the high places of Arnon. Woe to you, Moab; you are done for, people of Kemosh. He has made his sons fugitives, and his daughters the captives of the Amorite king Sihon. We have despatched them with arrows. Heshbon has perished as far as Dibon, and we have laid waste as far as Nophah, which is as far as Medeba. Num. 21:27-30.
The translators render the phrase ‘the composers of proverbs’, but it ought to be ‘the authors of utterances’ or ‘the prophetic utterances’, as is evident from the meaning of the word moshalim in the Hebrew language, which is not only ‘proverbs’ but also ‘prophetic utterances’ (as at Num. 23:7, 18; 24:3, 15). There it is said that Balaam ‘gave forth’ his utterance; this was a prophecy, also about the Lord. His utterance is called mashal in the singular; moreover, the passages quoted by Moses from this source are not proverbs, but prophecies.
[3] That Word was likewise divinely inspired, as is plain from Jeremiah, where very similar words occur:
Fire has gone forth from Heshbon, and a flame from among Sihon, which has devoured the corner of Moab and the crown of the head of the sons of Shaon. Woe to you, Moab; the people of Kemosh is done for, for your sons are taken by force into captivity, into captivity your daughters. Jer. 48:45, 46.
In addition a prophetical book of the ancient Word, called the book of Jashar, that is, the book of the Upright, is mentioned by David and Joshua. In the case of David:
David made a lament for Saul and for Jonathan; and he wrote on it, For teaching the sons of Judah the bow. Look, it is written in the book of Jashar. 2 Sam. 1:17, 18.
In the case of Joshua:
Joshua said, Be still, sun, in Gibeon, and you, moon, in the valley of Aijalon. Is not this written in the book of Jashar? Josh. 10:12, 13.
The Word also serves to enlighten those who are outside the church and do not possess the Word.
There can be no link with heaven unless somewhere on earth there is a church, which possesses the Word, and so the Lord is known because the Lord is the God of heaven and earth, and without Him salvation is impossible. A link with the Lord is established by means of the Word, and so is association with angels: see 234-239*. It is enough if there is a church which possesses the Word, even though it is composed of relatively few people, The Lord is still present by its means throughout the world, for the Word effects a link between heaven and the human race.
* The Latin text has 240.
* The Latin text has 87.
This can be compared with heat and light coming from the sun of the world, which gives trees and plants the power to grow, even if they are placed to one side and are under a cloud, so long as the sun is above the horizon. The same is true of the light and heat of heaven coming from the Lord as the sun there. This light is in essence Divine truth, the source of all intelligence and wisdom for angels as well as men. This is why it is said of the Word that it was with God and was God, that it enlightens everyone who comes into the world; and that the light also shines in the darkness (John 1:1, 5, 9). The Word there means the Lord in respect of Divine truth.
The people that sat in darkness have seen a great light; for those who sat in the region and shadow of death, upon them a light has dawned. Isa. 9:1 and Matt. 4:16.
Immediately after the affliction of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with glory and power. Matt. 24:29, 30.
The sun there means the Lord in respect of love, the moon the Lord in respect of faith; the stars, the Lord in respect of knowledge of truth and good. The Son of Man means the Lord in respect of the Word, a cloud, the literal sense of the Word, glory, the spiritual sense of the Word, and the way it is visible through its literal sense; powers mean its strength.
If the Word did not exist, no one would know of the existence of God, heaven and hell, and life after death, even less of the Lord.
As for those who decide and have proved to themselves that without the Word a person could know of the existence of God, and also of heaven and hell, as well as all the other things the Word teaches, it is not possible to argue with them from the Word, but only from the natural enlightenment of reason, since they do not believe the Word, but only themselves. Use the enlightenment of reason to enquire into it, and you will find that a person has two life-faculties, called the understanding and the will, and that the understanding is subject to the will, and not the will to the understanding. For the understanding merely shows and indicates what the will decides must be done. That is why many people with keen minds excel others in their grasp of moral issues, yet do not follow these principles in the way they live; it would be otherwise, if these were what they willed. Enquire again and you will find that a person’s will is his self*, and the self is evil from birth, and the source of false ideas in the understanding.
[2] When you have reached these conclusions, you will see that a person left to himself is unwilling to grasp intellectually anything that is not from the self in his will; and that if there were no other source for that knowledge, the self in his will would be unwilling to grasp anything intellectually other than selfish and worldly interests. Anything above this level is shrouded in darkness. For instance, when he looks upon the sun, the moon and the stars, if he happens to think about their origin, he can only suppose that they arose by themselves. Is this thinking any deeper than that of many experts in the world, who despite knowing from the Word that all things were created by God, still attribute their origin to nature? What then would these same people think, if they had learned nothing from the Word? Do you believe that the ancient sages, such as Aristotle, Cicero, Seneca and others, who wrote about God and the immortality of the soul, got this idea first from their own understanding? No, they derived it by borrowing from others, who learned it first from the ancient Word, which I mentioned above. Nor do the writers on natural theology draw any such ideas from themselves; they merely support by rational arguments what they learn from the church, which possesses the Word. There may too be those among them who support these ideas without actually believing them.
* Latin proprium.
* i.e. of the Pacific.
One day I wandered in the spirit around various parts of the spiritual world, with the intention of observing the representations of heavenly things, which are displayed in many places there. In one house occupied by angels I saw great money-bags, in which a large sum of money was stored. Since they were open, it looked as though anyone could help themselves to the money stored there, or even steal it all. But two young men sat next to the money-bags, to guard them. The place where they were put looked like a manger in a stable. In the next room some modest young women were to be seen accompanied by a respectable wife. Near that room stood two children, and I was told not to play with them like children, but to treat them wisely. Afterwards a whore appeared and a horse lying dead.
After seeing these scenes I was instructed that they represented the natural sense of the Word, which contains the spiritual sense. The large bags full of money meant an abundant supply of knowledge of truth. Their being open but guarded by young men meant that anyone can help himself to the knowledge of truth from this source, but precautions are taken to prevent anyone doing violence to the spiritual sense, which contains the bare truths. The manger as in a stable meant spiritual nourishment for the understanding; this is the meaning of a manger because a horse, which eats from it, means the understanding. The modest young women seen in the next room meant the affections for truth, and the respectable wife the joining of good and truth. The children meant the innocence of wisdom, for the angels of the highest heaven, who excel in wisdom, have as the result of their innocence the appearance of children, when seen at a distance. The whore with the dead horse meant the falsification of truth practised by many people at the present time, which destroys all understanding of truth; the whore meant falsification, the dead horse the understanding of truth reduced to zero.
Once a paper was sent down to me from heaven written in Hebrew letters, but in the script used in ancient times; the letters which nowadays have in places straight lines were curved, with flourishes pointing upwards. The angels who were then present with me said that they gathered complete ideas from the letters themselves, knowing them especially from the curves of the lines and the serifs of the letters. They explained what these meant separately and what when combined. They said that H, which was added to the names of Abram and Sarai, meant what is infinite and eternal. They also explained in my presence the meaning of a verse of the Word, Psalm 32:2, simply from the letters or characters; their meaning was in short that the Lord is merciful to those who do wrong.
They told me that writing in the third heaven consists of letters bent into various curves, each of which conveys some meaning. Vowels there stood for the sound which corresponds to an affection. In that heaven they cannot pronounce the vowels i and e, but substitute for them y and eu*, They used the vowels a, o and u, because they give a full sound. They also said that they did not pronounce any consonants harshly, but softly; and this was why certain Hebrew letters have a point inside, as a sign they are pronounced softly. They said that harshness in letters was used in the spiritual heaven, because there they possess truths, and the truth admits harshness, but good does not, and the angels of the Lord’s celestial kingdom, that is, the third heaven, possess good.
They also said that they had among themselves the Word written in curved letters with flourishes and serifs which conveyed a meaning. This made it plain what these words of the Lord mean:
Not a jot nor a stroke shall pass away from the Law, until all things are done. Matt. 5:18.
Also:
It is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one dot of the Law to fall out. Luke 16:17.
*These letters must be understood as having values as in modern Italian, but y means the sound of French u or German u.
Seven years ago, when I was collecting the passages which Moses wrote drawing on the two books called The Wars of Jehovah and The Utterances (Num. chapter 21), some angels were present who told me that those books were the ancient Word; its historical parts are called The Wars of Jehovah, the prophetical parts The Utterances. They said that this Word was still preserved in heaven and was used by the ancients there, whose Word it had been when they were in the world. The ancients, among whom this Word is still in use in heaven, were in part from the land of Canaan and the neighbouring countries, for instance, Syria, Mesopotamia, Arabia, Chaldaea, Assyria, Egypt, Sidon, Tyre and Niniveh. The inhabitants of all these kingdoms had a representative form of worship, and thus a knowledge of correspondences. The wisdom of those times came from that knowledge, which endowed them with inward perception and communication with the heavens. Those who knew the correspondences of that Word were called wise and intelligent, and in later times soothsayers and sorcerers.
[2] But because that Word was full of the sort of correspondences which conveyed celestial and spiritual ideas distantly, so that many people began to falsify it, therefore by the Lord’s Divine providence in course of time it vanished, and another Word was given written by correspondences not so distant; this was done through the prophets among the Children of Israel. This Word retains many place names, not only in the land of Canaan, but also in the adjacent parts of Asia; all of these meant matters concerning the church and its states. But these meanings were taken over from the ancient Word. That was the reason why Abram was ordered to go into that land, and his descendants through Jacob were brought into it.
[3] I am allowed to report this new piece of information about the ancient Word, which was in Asia before the Israelite Word existed. It is still preserved there among the peoples who live in Great Tartary. I have spoken with spirits and angels in the spiritual world who came from there. They said that they possess the Word, and have done so from ancient times; and they conduct their Divine worship in accordance with that Word. It is composed purely of correspondences. They said that it also contains the book of Jashar mentioned in Joshua (10: 12, 13), and in the Second Book of Samuel (1:17, 18); they also have the books called The Wars of Jehovah and The Utterances, which are mentioned by Moses (Num. 21:14, 15 and 27-30). When I read in their presence the words which Moses took from this source, they looked to see whether they were there, and they found them. This made it clear to me that they still have the ancient Word. During our conversation they mentioned that they worship Jehovah, some of them as an invisible God, and some as visible.
[4] They went on to say that they do not allow foreigners to enter their territory, except the Chinese, with whom they have peaceful relations, because the Chinese Emperor comes from there.* They added that they are so populous that they do not believe any region in all the world is more so. This too is plausible when one considers the wall so many miles long, which the Chinese in former times constructed as a defence against invasion by them.
Moreover I was told by angels that the first chapters of Genesis, dealing with creation, Adam and Eve, the Garden of Eden, their sons and descendants down to the flood, as well as Noah and his sons, are also found in that Word, and were copied from it by Moses. Angels and spirits from Great Tartary are to be seen in the southern quarter towards the east. They are separated from others by living on a higher level. They do not allow anyone from Christian countries to visit them, and if any do go up, they put them under guard to prevent them leaving. The reason for this isolation is that they possess a different Word.
* This may refer to the Yuan dynasty (13th-14th centuries) who were of Mongol origin; but perhaps the reference is to the non-Chinese Manchu dynasty who ruled China from 1644.
I once saw a long way off some walks between avenues of trees, and young men gathered together there in large groups; each of these was a meeting where people were discussing matters relating to wisdom. This took place in the spiritual world. I approached, and on coming near saw one whom the others reverenced as their leader, because he surpassed the rest in wisdom.
On seeing me he said: ‘I was surprised when I watched you on your way here and saw you at one time becoming visible to me, at another dropping out of sight; now I saw you, now you vanished. You must surely not be in the same state of life as the people in our country.’
I replied to this with a smile: ‘I am no actor, or Vertumnus*, but I am by turns sometimes in light and sometimes in shade to your eyes. So here I am both a stranger and native.’
At this the wise man gazed at me and said: ‘What you say is unusual and strange. Tell me who you are.’
‘I am,’ I said, ‘in the world where you once were and which you have now left, what is called the natural world. I am also in the world where you now are, what is called the spiritual world. Consequently I am in the natural state and at the same time in the spiritual state, the natural state when with people on earth, the spiritual state when with you. When I am in the natural state, I am invisible to you; when in the spiritual state, I am visible. I have been granted by the Lord the ability to be like this. You as an enlightened man are well aware that a person who belongs to the natural world cannot see one who belongs to the spiritual world, and vice versa. Therefore when I plunge my spirit into the body, you do not see me, but when I release it from the body, you do. This is the result of the distinction between the spiritual and the natural.’
[2] When he heard me mention the distinction between the spiritual and the natural, he said: ‘What distinction is that? Is it not like that between what is purer and less pure? So what is the spiritual but a purer kind of the natural?’
‘It is not that sort of distinction,’ I replied, ‘The natural can never become refined enough to approach the spiritual, so that it becomes spiritual. It is the sort of distinction there is between prior and posterior, which have no finite relationship. For the prior is in the posterior, as the cause is in its effect; and the posterior derives from the prior, as the effect derives from its cause. That is why one is not visible to the Other.’
To this the wise man said: ‘I have pondered this distinction, but up to now in vain. I only wish I could grasp it.’ ‘You will,’ I said, ‘not only grasp the distinction between the spiritual and the natural, you will actually see it.’ Then I went on: ‘You are in the spiritual state among your people here, but in the natural state with me. For you talk with your people in the spiritual language, which is shared by every spirit and angel, but you talk with me in my native language. Every spirit or angel who talks with a man speaks his own language, French with a Frenchman, Greek with a Greek, Arabic with an Arab, and so on.
[3] ‘So in order to be aware of the distinction between the spiritual and the natural as they appear linguistically, do this: go inside to your people, say something there, and memorise the words; then come back keeping them in mind, and pronounce them in my presence.’
He did so and came back to me with those words on his tongue, and uttered them; they were words completely strange and foreign, not to be found in any language of the natural world. Repeating the experiment several times showed clearly that all in the spiritual world have a spiritual language, which has nothing in common with any natural language. Everyone comes of his own accord into possession of that language after his death. I once also discovered by experience that the actual sound of the spiritual language is so different from that of a natural language, that even a loud spiritual sound is inaudible to a natural person, and so is a natural sound to a spiritual person.
[4] Later I asked him and the by-standers to go inside to their own people, and write a sentence on a piece of paper, and then to bring the paper out and read it to me. They did so, and came back with the paper in their hands, but when they went to read it, they could not, since the script was merely composed of some letters of the alphabet with curly lines over them, each one of which conveyed as its meaning a particular matter. Since each letter of the alphabet there conveys a meaning, it is obvious why the Lord is called ‘alpha and omega’. When they again and again went in, wrote and came back, they learned that the script entailed and comprehended countless things which no natural script can ever express. They were told that this is because the thoughts of the spiritual man are incomprehensible and inexpressible to the natural man, and they cannot be transferred to another script and another language.
[5] Then, since the by-standers were unwilling to grasp that spiritual thought is so far beyond natural thought, that it is relatively inexpressible, I said to them: ‘Carry out an experiment. Go inside to your spiritual community, think of an idea, keep it in mind, and come back and expound it in my presence.’
They went inside, thought and, keeping the thought in mind, came out; and when they went to expound what they had thought, they were unable to do so. For they could not find any idea of natural thought capable of matching an idea of purely spiritual thought, so they could not find any words to express it, for the ideas of thought become words in speech. Thereupon they went back inside, came back, and convinced themselves that spiritual ideas were far above natural ones, inexpressible, unutterable and incomprehensible to the natural man. Because the spiritual ideas excelled the natural ones so much, they said that spiritual ideas or thoughts, compared to natural ones, were ideas of ideas, and thoughts of thoughts, and could therefore express qualities of qualities and affections of affections. It followed that spiritual thoughts were the beginnings and origins of natural thoughts. This also showed that spiritual wisdom is the wisdom of wisdom, and so incapable of expression by anyone, however wise, in the natural world.
[6] Then they were told from the higher heaven that there is a still more inward or higher wisdom, called celestial, which stands in the same relationship to spiritual wisdom as this does to natural wisdom. These forms of wisdom flow in regularly, depending upon which heaven is concerned, from the Lord’s Divine wisdom, which is infinite.
At this point the man conversing with me said: ‘I see this, because I have perceived that a single natural idea is a container for many spiritual ideas; and also that a single spiritual idea is a container for many celestial ideas. This leads too to this conclusion, that what is divided becomes not more and more simple, but more and more complex, because it approaches closer and closer to the infinite, in which everything is at infinity.’
[7] At the conclusion of this conversation I said to the by-standers: ‘You see from these three experimental proofs the nature of the distinction between the spiritual and the natural. Likewise, why the natural man is invisible to the spiritual, and the spiritual man to the natural, although either of them has a complete human form. Because of this form it seems to each as if one could see the other. But it is the interiors, which are mental, which constitute that form, and the mind of spirits and angels is composed of spiritual elements, whereas the mind of men, so long as they live in the world, is composed of natural elements.’
After this a voice was heard from the higher heaven saying to one of the by-standers, ‘Come up here.’ He went up, and on his return he said that the angels had not previously known the differences between the spiritual and the natural, because they had never before been given the opportunity of making the comparison with a person who was simultaneously in both worlds; and these differences can only become known by making a comparison and examining the relationship.
[8] Before we parted we had another conversation on this subject, and I said that these distinctions arise solely, ‘because you in the spiritual world are substantial, not material, and substantial things are the starting points of material things. What is matter but a gathering together of substances? So you are at the level of beginnings and therefore singulars, we, however, are at the level of derivatives and compounds. You are at the level of particulars, we, however, at that of general ideas. Just as general ideas cannot enter into particulars, so natural things, which are material, cannot enter into spiritual things, which are substantial. It is just as a ship’s rope cannot enter or be pulled though the eye of a sewing needle, or just as a nerve cannot be introduced into one of the fibres which compose it. This then is the reason why the natural man cannot think the thoughts of the spiritual man, and therefore neither can he express them. So Paul calls what he heard from the third heaven “beyond description.”
[9] ‘A further point is that thinking spiritually means thinking without using time and space; thinking naturally involves time and space. For every idea of natural thought, but not of spiritual thought, has something of time and space clinging to it. This is because the spiritual world is not in space and time, as is the natural world, though it has the appearance of both of them. Thoughts and perceptions also differ in this respect. For this reason you can think of God’s essence and omnipresence from eternity, that is, of God before the creation of the world, because you think about God’s essence with no idea of time, and about His omnipresence with no idea of space. Thus you grasp ideas which are far beyond the natural ideas of men.’
[10] I went on to relate how I had once thought about God’s essence and omnipresence from eternity, that is, about God before the creation of the world, and because I could not yet banish space and time from the ideas I thought about, I became worried, since the idea of nature entered my mind in place of God. But I was told: ‘Banish the ideas of space and time and you will see.’ Then I was granted the power to banish them, and I did see. From that time on I have been able to think about God from eternity, without thinking of nature from eternity, because God is non-temporally in all time and non-spatially in all space, but nature is temporally in all time and spatially in all space. Nature with its time and space must inevitably have a beginning, but not so God, who is not in time and space. Therefore nature is from God, not from eternity, but exists in time together with its properties of time and space.
* A Roman god believed constantly to change shape.
The Lord has permitted me to be simultaneously in the spiritual and the natural worlds, so that I have been able to talk with angels just as I do with men, and thus to discover the states of those who after death arrive in that hitherto unknown world. For I have talked with all my relations and friends, as well as with kings and dukes, not to mention scholars, who have met their fates; I have been doing this now constantly for twenty-seven years. I can therefore describe from direct experience the nature of the states people undergo after death, both those who have lived good as well as those who have lived wicked lives. At this point I shall only relate something about the state of those who have convinced themselves from the Word of false doctrines, in particular those who have favoured the doctrine of justification by faith alone. The stages through which they pass are the following:
(i) When they have died and come alive again in the spirit, an event which commonly takes place on the third day after the heart has ceased to beat, they seem to themselves to have a body exactly like the one they had while living in the former world. This is so much the case that they are quite unaware that they are not still living in the former world, but it is not in a material but a substantial body, which appears to their senses to be material, though it is not.
[2] (ii) After a few days they see that they are in a world where there are various communities established. This is called the world of spirits, and it lies midway between heaven and hell. All the communities there, though countless in number, are arranged in wonderful order, according to whether their natural affections are good or evil. Those communities which are arranged in accordance with good natural affections are in touch with heaven; those arranged in accordance with evil affections are in touch with hell.
[3] (iii) The newly arrived spirit, that is, the spiritual man, is taken and introduced to various communities, good as well as evil, and tested to see whether he responds to various kinds of good and truth, and in what way; or whether he responds to evils and falsities, and in what way.
[4] (iv) If he responds to various kinds of good and truth, he is taken away from evil communities, and brought into good ones. He visits various of these communities until he comes to one which answers to his natural affection. There he enjoys the good corresponding to that affection, and this continues until he puts off his natural affection and puts on a spiritual one, then he is raised to heaven. This is what happens to those who have lived in the world a life of charity, and thus also a life of faith; that is to say, they have believed in the Lord and shunned evils as sins.
[5] (v) Not so those who have used logical arguments and especially the Word in order to convince themselves of false ideas, thus living a purely natural, that is, evil life. For evils are the companions of false ideas and cling closely to them. Since these people do not respond to various kinds of good and truth, but only to evils and falsities, they are taken away from good communities and brought into evil ones. They visit various of these communities until they come to one which answers to the longings of their love.
[6] (vi) But because in the world they have made a show on the surface of good affections, although inwardly all their affections were evil or lustful, they are by turns kept in their outward character. Those who in the world had been in charge of groups, are here and there put in charge of communities in the world of spirits, either in general or in sections depending upon the seniority of the offices they had previously held. But since they have no love for truth or justice, and cannot even be sufficiently enlightened to know what truth and justice are, they are dismissed after a few days. I have seen such people moved from one community to another, and in each given administrative duties, but after a short while each time dismissed.
[7] (vii) After repeated dismissals some of them are too upset to want, and some are too afraid of losing their good name to dare, to take on any more posts. So they withdraw and sit looking sad. Then they are taken away to a wilderness where there are huts; they go into these, and are given some work to do. They receive rations proportionate to the work done; if they do none, they go hungry and get no food, so that their need forces them to work. The kinds of food there are like those in our world, but of spiritual origin. The food is provided for all from heaven by the Lord, in keeping with the useful work performed. The idle, being useless, receive none.
[8] (viii) After some time they get tired of the work, so they leave the huts. If they were formerly priests, they have a desire to build. At once there appear piles of shaped stones, bricks, beams and planks, and heaps of reeds and rushes, clay, lime and tar. On seeing these they are seized with a passionate desire to build. So they begin to make a house, taking up now a stone, now a piece of wood, now a reed and now mud, and placing one on top of the other without any orderly arrangement, though to their eyes it appears well arranged. What they build in the course of the day falls down during the night. The next day they collect the fallen pieces from the rubble, and start building again. This continues repeatedly, until they get tired of building. This is the result of correspondence, because they have heaped up passages from the Word with the intention of proving the false ideas of their faith, and their falsities cannot build any other sort of church.
[9] (ix) When they tire of this, they go away and sit by themselves, doing nothing. Since, as I said, the idle receive no food from heaven, they begin to feel hungry. Then they can think of nothing but how they can get some food and allay their hunger. While they are in this condition, people come to them, from whom they beg alms. But they are told: ‘Why do you sit idle like this? Come home with us and we will give you work to do, and feed you.’ Then they get up cheerfully and go home with them, where each is given work to do and food as a reward for work. But because all who have convinced themselves of false ideas of faith cannot do good and useful work, but only work with wicked purposes, they do not work fairly, but cheat and work only under compulsion. So they abandon their work, and only want to meet others, talk, stroll about and sleep. Since their masters can no longer make them work, they are sent away as useless.
[10] (x) When they are sent away, their eyes are opened so that they see a road leading to a sort of cavern. When they reach it, the door opens, and they go in to see whether there is any food there. On being told that there is, they ask permission to stay there. Permission is given and they are taken in, and the door shuts behind them. Then the overseer of the cavern comes and says to them: ‘You cannot go out again. Look at your companions; they are all working, and in proportion to their work they receive food from heaven. I am telling you this so that you may know how it is.’ Their companions also say: ‘Our overseer knows what work each of us is fitted for, and he gives us a suitable task each day. Every day that you complete your task, you get food. If you do not, you get neither food nor clothing. If anyone hurts another, he is thrown into a corner of the cavern onto a sort of bed of hellish dust, where he undergoes wretched torments. This continues until the overseer sees some sign of repentance from him. Then he is taken out, and told to get on with his work. Each man is also told that, when he has done his work, he may stroll about and chat, and later go to sleep. He is taken still deeper into the cavern, where there are whores; each is allowed to pick one for himself and call her his woman, but promiscuity is forbidden under severe penalties.
[11] Hell is composed of such caverns, which are nothing less than eternal labour-camps. I have been allowed to enter some and look around, so that I could make this known. All the people there seemed to be of low status, nor did any of them know who he had been and what position he had held in the world. But the angel who accompanied me told me that this one had been a servant in the world, this one a soldier, this an officer, this a priest, this of high birth, this a wealthy man. Yet all of them know nothing but that they were servants or people of similar status. This is because they were inwardly alike, despite their outward dissimilarity. It is the inward character which brings people together in the spiritual world.
[12] The hells in general consist of nothing but such caverns and labour-camps, but there is a difference between those containing satans and those containing devils. Satans is the name given to those who are subject to false ideas and to the evils that arise from them; devils is the name given to those who are subject to evils and the false ideas that arise from them. In the light of heaven satans look livid like corpses, some of them dark like mummies. Devils in the light of heaven have a dark, fiery look, some of them pitch black like soot. All of them have monstrous faces and bodies. But in their own light, which resembles that from burning coals, they look not like monsters, but like human beings. This concession is made to them, so that they can associate with one another.
THE CATECHISM OR THE TEN COMMANDMENTS EXPLAINED IN BOTH THE EXTERNAL AND INTERNAL SENSES
There is no nation throughout the world which does not know that it is wrong to commit murder or adultery, steal, and bear false witness. Equally it is known that were there no laws against such wickedness, any kingdom, republic or established society would be at an end. So would anyone suppose that the Israelite nation was so much more stupid than the rest as to be ignorant that these acts were wrong? One might therefore be amazed that these laws, which are universally known on earth, were proclaimed in such a miraculous fashion by Jehovah Himself from Mount Sinai. But pay attention: they were proclaimed in such a miraculous fashion, so that it should be known that those laws were not just civil and moral legislation, but also Divine laws, so that acting against them was not only wronging the neighbour, that is, one’s fellow citizens and society, but also sinning against God. So by being proclaimed by Jehovah from Mount Sinai they became religious laws. It is obvious that any commandment given by Jehovah is intended to be a religious command, something that must be done, if one is to be saved. But before explaining the commandments I must first speak of their holiness, to make it clear that they have a religious content.
The Ten Commandments were the height of holiness for the Israelite church.
The Ten Commandments, being the starting-point of the Word and so of the church which was to be established among the Israelite nation, and being in short compass a summary of the whole of religion, making a link between God and man and man and God, were so holy that nothing holier could exist. Their outstanding holiness is evident from the following points.
The Lord Jehovah Himself came down on Mount Sinai in fire and accompanied by angels, and from there proclaimed them out loud, and the mountain was hedged about to prevent anyone approaching and being killed. Neither the priests nor the elders came near, but only Moses. The Commandments were written on two stone tablets by the finger of God. When Moses brought the tablets down the second time, his face shone. The tablets were afterwards laid up in the Ark, and this was at the centre of the Tabernacle. It was surmounted by the mercy-seat, above which were placed cherubim made of gold. This central area of the Tabernacle, where the Ark was, was called the Holy of Holies. Outside the veil, inside which the Ark was, were placed many objects to represent the holy things of heaven and the church; these were a table overlaid with gold on which the bread of the Presence was put, a golden altar on which to put incense, and a golden lamp-stand with seven lamps; also curtains all round made of fine linen, purple and scarlet. The holiness of the whole of this Tabernacle was entirely due to the law contained in the Ark.
[2] It was on account of the holiness of the Tabernacle as containing the Ark, that the whole people of Israel were commanded to camp around it in the order of their tribes; and that they set out in order after it; and that there was a cloud over it by day and fire by night. It was because of the holiness of the law, and Jehovah’s presence in it, that Jehovah spoke with Moses upon the mercy-seat between the cherubim; and that the Ark was called ‘Jehovah-is-there’; and that Aaron was not allowed to go inside the veil except with sacrifices and incense, on pain of death. It was because of Jehovah’s presence in and around the law, that miracles were done by means of the Ark containing the law. For instance, the waters of Jordan were parted, and the people crossed over on dry land so long as the Ark rested in its midst. Its being carried round the walls of Jericho caused them to fall down. Dagon, the god of the Philistines, first of all fell on his face in the presence of the Ark, and later was found lying with his head cut off together with the palms of his two hands upon the threshold of the shrine. On account of the Ark the men of Bethshemesh were smitten to the number of many thousands. Uzzah was killed by touching the Ark. The Ark was brought into Zion by David with sacrifice and jubilation. Later it was put by Solomon into the Temple at Jerusalem, and he made its inner shrine there. From these and many other details it is plain that the Ten Commandments were the height of holiness for the Israelite church.
* The author’s copy has in the margin: ‘2 Chron. 6:14’ for ‘2 Sam. 6:2’.
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. Rev. 3:20.
The stone tablets on which the law was written are called the tablets of the covenant, and the Ark is called from them the Ark of the covenant; the law itself is called the covenant: see Num. 10:33; Deut. 4:13, 23; 5:2, 3; 9:9; Josh. 3:11; 1 Kings 8:21; Rev. 11:19; and elsewhere.
Since a covenant means being joined, it is said of the Lord that He will be a covenant for the people (Isa. 42:6; 49:8); He is called the messenger of the covenant (Mal. 3:1); and His blood is called the blood of the covenant (Matt. 26:28; Zech. 9:11; Exod. 24:4-10). That is why the Word is called the Old and the New Covenants*, for covenants are made on account of love, friendship, association and linking.
* The author uses the correct Latin translation of the Greek word, which was erroneously translated into Latin in antiquity as testamentum, hence our Testament.
* Or tithes.
It is well known that the Ten Commandments are called in the Word the Law par excellence, because they contain everything concerning doctrine and life, not only everything which concerns God, but also everything which concerns man. That is why the law was written on two tablets, one dealing with God, the other with man. It is also well known that the whole of doctrine and life relate to love to God and love towards the neighbour. The whole of these loves is contained in the Ten Commandments. This is the teaching of the whole Word, as is evident from these words of the Lord:
Jesus said, You are to love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your mind, and your neighbour as yourself. The law and the prophets depend upon these two commandments. Matt. 22:35-37, 40.
The law and the prophets mean the whole Word. And further:
A lawyer testing Jesus said, Master, what must I do to inherit everlasting life? And Jesus said to him, What is written in the law? What is your reading of it? And he in answer said, You are to love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbour as yourself. And Jesus said, Do this, and you will live, Luke 10:25-28.
[2] Now since love to God and love towards the neighbour are the whole of the Word; and since the first tablet of the Ten Commandments contains in summary form the whole of love to God, and the second tablet contains the whole of love towards the neighbour, it follows that they contain the whole of doctrine and life. A look at the two tablets makes it plain that they are so linked that God from His tablet has man in view, and man in his turn from his has God in view. Thus there is a reciprocal viewing, such that on God’s part He never fails to keep man in view and perform the actions needed for his salvation; and if a person accepts and does the things laid down in his tablet, the link becomes reciprocal. Then, as the Lord’s words promised to the lawyer, ‘Do this, and you will live.’
It is well known that the law in the strict sense means the Ten Commandments. The law in a wider sense means the rules given by Moses to the Children of Israel, as is evident from the individual rules in Leviticus each being called a law:
This is the law of the sacrifice. Lev. 7:1.
This is the law of the sacrifice for making one’s peace. Lev. 7:7, 11.
This is the law of the grain-offering. Lev. 6:14ff
This is the law of the burnt-offering, the grain-offering, the sin-sacrifice and the guilt-sacrifice, and the completions. Lev. 7:37.
This is the law of beast and bird. Lev. 11:46, 47.
This is the law of the woman who gives birth to a son or a daughter. Lev. 12:7.
This is the law of leprosy. Lev. 13:59; 14:2, 32, 54, 57
This is the law of the person with a discharge. Lev. 15:32.
This is the law of jealousy. Num. 5:29, 30.
This is the law of the Nazirite. Num. 6:13, 21.
This is the law of cleansing. Num. 19:14.
This is the law concerning the red cow. Num. 19:2.
The law for the king. Deut. 17:15-19.
In fact the whole book of Moses* is called the law (Deut. 31:9, 11, 12, 26; also in the New Testament, as Luke 2:22; 24:44; John 1:45; 7:22, 23; 8:5; and elsewhere).
[2] The context plainly shows that these rules were what Paul meant by ‘the deeds prescribed by the law’, when he says that man is justified by faith without the deeds prescribed by the law (Rom. 3:28). The same is shown by his words to Peter, whom he criticised for behaving like the Jews, when he says three times in one verse that no one is justified by the deeds prescribed by the law (Gal. 2:14, 16).
The law in its widest sense means the whole of the Word, as is plain from these passages:
Jesus said, Is it not written in your law, you are gods? John 10:34.
This is said in Ps. 82:6.
The crowd answered, We have heard from the law that the Christ remains for ever. John 12:34.
This is said in Ps. 89:29; Ps. 110:4; Dan. 7:14.
That the word should be fulfilled which is written in their law, They hated me without cause. John
This is said in Ps. 35:19.
The Pharisees said, Have any of the princes believed in him? But the crowd which does not know the law…. John 7:48, 49.
It is easier for heaven and earth to pass away, than for one dot of the law to fall out. Luke 16:17.
The law in these passages means the whole of Holy Scripture; and there are a thousand further passages in the Psalms of David.
* I.e. the Pentateuch (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy).
The kingdom of God is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his land. This seed is smaller than all other seeds; but when it has grown up, it is larger than any plant, and it becomes a tree, so that the birds of the sky come and nest in its branches. Matt. 13:31, 32; Mark 4:31, 32; Luke 13:18, 19; cf. also Ezek. 17:2-8.
The fact that such an infinity of spiritual seeds or truths lies in the Word, can be established from the wisdom of the angels, the whole of which is derived from the Word, In their case wisdom goes on growing for ever. The wiser they become, the more clearly do they see that wisdom has no end; and they perceive that they are merely at its entrance, and they cannot reach even the minutest part of the Lord’s Divine wisdom. They call this bottomless. Now since this is the source of the Word, coming as it does from the Lord, it is plain that all its details contain a sort of infinity.
There is not to any other God before my face.
These are the words of the first commandment (Exod. 20:3; Deut. 5:7). Their ordinary meaning in the natural or literal sense is that idols are not to be worshipped; for it continues:
You are not to make for yourself a carving or any likeness of anything in the heavens above and on the earth beneath, and in the waters under the earth. You are not to bow down before them or worship them, because I, Jehovah your God, am a jealous God. Exod. 20:4, 5.
The reason why the ordinary meaning of this commandment is that idols are not to be worshipped, is that before this time and afterwards down to the Lord’s coming, much of Asia practised idolatrous worship. The reason was that all the churches before the time of the Lord were representative and symbolic. The symbols and representations were such that ideas about God were presented in the form of various likenesses and carvings; and when their meanings became lost, the common people began to worship these as gods. Even the Israelite nation had this sort of worship when they were in Egypt, as is clear from the golden calf, which they worshipped in the desert instead of Jehovah. It is also clear that later on they were by no means averse to that sort of worship, as many passages in both the historical and prophetic books of the Word show.
On that day it will be said, Behold, He is our God, whom we have awaited to free us. He is Jehovah, whom we have awaited; let us exult and rejoice in His salvation. Isa. 25:9.
The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare the way of Jehovah, make smooth in the desert a path for our God. For the glory of Jehovah will be revealed, and all flesh will see it together. Behold, the Lord Jehovah comes in strength. Like a shepherd will He feed His flock. Isa. 40:3, 5, 10, 11.
Only among you is there God, there is no other God besides; surely, you are a hidden God, O God the Saviour of Israel. Isa. 45:14, 15.
Am I not Jehovah, and there is no other God beside me? There is no* righteous God and Saviour beside me. Isa. 45:21, 22.
I am Jehovah, and there is no Saviour beside me. Isa. 43:11; Hosea 13:4.
That all flesh may know that I am Jehovah your Saviour and your Redeemer. Isa. 49:26; 60:16.
As for our Redeemer, Jehovah Zebaoth is His name. Isa. 47:4; Jer. 50:34.
Jehovah, my rock and my Redeemer. Ps. 19:14.
Thus spoke Jehovah your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, I am Jehovah your God. Isa. 48:17; 43:14; 49:7; 54:8.
Thus spoke Jehovah your Redeemer, I am Jehovah the maker of all things, alone, by myself. Isa. 44:24.
Thus spoke Jehovah, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, Jehovah Zebaoth, I am the first and the last, and there is no God beside me. Isa. 44:6.
Jehovah Zebaoth is His name, and your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; He will be called the God of the whole earth. Isa. 54:5.
Abraham does not know us, Israel does not acknowledge us. You, Jehovah, are our Father, Redeemer from eternity is your name. Isa. 63:16.
A child is born for us, a son is given to us, whose name is Wonderful, Counsellor, God, Hero, the everlasting Father, the Prince of peace. Isa. 9:6.
Behold, the days will come, when I shall raise up for David a righteous shoot, who will reign as king; and this is His name, Jehovah our righteousness. Jer. 23:5, 6; 33:15, 16.
Philip said to Jesus, Show us the Father. Jesus said to him, He who sees me sees the Father. Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in me? John 14:8-10.
In Jesus Christ all the fulness of the Godhead dwells bodily. Col. 2:9.
We are in truth, in Jesus Christ. He is the true God and everlasting life. My sons, beware of idols. 1 John 5:20, 21.
These passages plainly show that the Lord our Saviour is Jehovah Himself, who is at once the Creator, the Redeemer and the Regenerator. This is the spiritual sense of this commandment.
* ‘No’ is added in the margin of the author’s copy.
[2] The human mind resembles a building with three floors; the lowest is occupied by those who have convinced themselves of three Gods from eternity, the second and third floors by those who acknowledge and believe in one God in visible human form, and in Him as the Lord God the Saviour. The person who relies on the senses and is immersed in the body, being purely natural, is, regarded in himself, a mere animal, differing from other animals only in being able to talk and reason. So he is like someone living in a zoo containing wild animals of every sort, and there he sometimes acts the part of a lion, sometimes a bear, sometimes a tiger, leopard or wolf; indeed, he can even act the part of a sheep, but if he does so, he is at heart laughing.
[3] A purely natural person cannot form any concept of Divine truths except from worldly ideas, which are subject to the fallacies of the senses, since he cannot lift his mind above that level. His doctrine of faith then may be compared to a porridge made of bran, which he eats as if it were a delicacy. It is also like the command given to the prophet Ezekiel, to mix together wheat, barley, beans, lentils, and spelt with human or cow-dung, and to make himself bread and cakes, so as to represent the church as it was in the case of the Israelite nation (Ezek. 4:9ff). So it is with the doctrine of a church which is founded and built upon a belief in three Divine persons from eternity, each of whom is separately God.
[4] Could anyone fail to see how monstrous this faith is, if it were presented to the eye in its true colours in a picture? If, for instance, the three persons stood in a row, the first dignified with a crown and sceptre, the second holding in his right hand a book (the Word), and in his left a blood-stained cross made of gold; and the third equipped with wings, and standing on one foot as if about to take off and go into action; and a label written over the picture ‘These three persons or three gods are one God.’ Any wise person seeing this picture would say to himself ‘Oh dear, what a delusion!’ But he would say something very different, if he saw a picture of one Divine person with rays of heavenly light around his head, with the label: ‘This is our God, at once Creator, Redeemer and Regenerator, and so Saviour.’ Would not a wise man kiss such a picture and take it home in his pocket, so that his own mind, and those of his wife, children and household, might take pleasure in looking at it?
You are not to take the name of Jehovah your God in vain, for Jehovah will not hold anyone guiltless, who takes His name in vain.
Taking the name of Jehovah God in vain means in the natural or literal sense the misuse of the name itself in all sorts of conversation, especially false statements or lies, and in swearing without good cause, or in order to avoid being blamed, in evil intentions, which are curses, and in witchcraft and spells. On the other hand, swearing by God and His holiness, the Word and the Gospel, at coronations, ordination into the priesthood, or inauguration into offices of trust, is not taking the name of God in vain, unless the one who takes the oath subsequently rejects his promises as worthless. The name of God, being holiness itself, is to be constantly employed in the sacred business of the church, as in prayers, hymns and all forms of worship, as well as in sermons and writings on religious subjects. This is because God is present in everything to do with religion, and when He is duly invoked, His presence is summoned by His name, and He listens. In these ways the name of God is hallowed.
[2] The sanctity of the name of Jehovah God can be established from the name of Jehovah, which the Jews after their earliest period did not, and still do not, dare to utter; and on their account no more were the Evangelists and Apostles willing to use it. Therefore in place of Jehovah they said ‘the Lord’. This is evident from a number of passages of the Old Testament quoted in the New, where ‘the Lord’ is substituted for Jehovah; e.g. Matt. 22:37; Luke 10:27 compared with Deut. 6:5, and elsewhere. It is well known that the name of Jesus is likewise holy, from the Apostle’s saying that at that name every knee does and should bow in the heavens and on earth; and moreover that it cannot be uttered by any devil in hell. There are many names of God which are not to be taken in vain, such as Jehovah, Jehovah God, Jehovah Zebaoth, the Holy One of Israel, Jesus and Christ, and the Holy Spirit.
From the rising of the sun men shall call upon my name. Isa. 41:25*.
From the rising of the sun to its setting, great is my name among the nations, and in every place incense is offered to my name. You profane my name, when you say, The table of Jehovah is defiled. And you sniff at my name, when you bring as an offering what is mauled, lame and sick. Mal. 1:11-13.
All peoples walk in the name of their God, and we shall walk in the name of Jehovah our God. Micah 4:5.
They shall worship Jehovah in one place, where He will set His name. Deut. 12:5, 11, 13, 14, 18; 16:2, 6, 11, 15, 16.
His name means His worship.
Jesus said, Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in their midst. Matt. 18:20.
As many as received Him, to them He gave the ability to be sons of God, if they believed in His name. John 1:12.
He who does not believe is already judged, since he has not believed in the name of the only-begotten Son of God. John 3:18.
Those who believe will have life in His name. John 20:31.
Jesus said, I showed forth your name to men, and I made known to them your name. John 17:[6,]26.
The Lord said, You have a few names in Sardis. Rev. 3:4.
There are many other passages in which, as in these, the name of God means the Divine which goes forth from God, and through which He is worshipped. The name of Jesus Christ, however, means the whole of redemption, and the whole of His teaching, and so the whole of salvation. Jesus means the whole of salvation by means of redemption; Christ the whole of salvation by means of His teaching.
* The Latin text has Isa. 26:8, 13, a reference perhaps intended to be quoted.
A man shall be forgiven every sin and blasphemy, but blasphemy against the Spirit shall not be forgiven, Matt. 12:31, 32.
Blasphemy against the Spirit means blasphemy against the divinity of the Lord’s Human, and the holiness of the Word. It is evident from the following passages that the Lord’s Divine Human is meant in the celestial or highest sense by ‘the name of Jehovah God’:
Jesus said, Father, glorify your name; and a voice came forth from heaven saying, I have glorified it and I will do so again. John 12:28.
Whatever you ask in my name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in my name, I shall do it. John 14:13, 14.
This too is the meaning in the celestial sense of ‘May your name be hallowed’ in the Lord’s prayer; and likewise of ‘name’ in Exod. 23:21; Isa. 63:16. Since blasphemy against the Spirit is not forgiven anyone (as stated in Matt. 12:31, 32), and this is the meaning in the celestial sense, the phrase is added to the commandment: ‘For Jehovah will not hold anyone guiltless, who takes His name in vain.’
I am the good shepherd. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. John 10:3[, 11]
Likewise by these words:
You* have a few names in Sardis who have not defiled their clothes. As for him who has overcome, I will write upon him the name of the city of the New Jerusalem, and my new name. Rev. 3:4, 12.
Gabriel and Michael are not the names of two people in heaven, but those names mean everyone in heaven who possesses wisdom about the Lord and worships Him. The names of persons and places in the Word too do not mean actual people and places, but matters which concern the church.
[2] Even in the natural world a name does not mean just the name, but at the same time a person’s whole character, since this is inseparable from the name. In ordinary speech we say, ‘He is doing this for the sake of his name’, or ‘for the sake of the reputation of his name’; or ‘this man has a famous name.’ We mean by this that he is famous for qualities he possesses, such as ingenuity, learning, achievements, and so on. Everyone knows that if anyone insults and slanders someone by name, he is also insulting and slandering the way he lives. The ideas are linked, so that the reputation of his name is destroyed. In much the same way, if anyone utters the name of a king, duke or high dignitary in an insulting fashion, he heaps abuse also on their majesty and dignity. Equally, if anyone pronounces a person’s name in a contemptuous tone, he at the same time shows his contempt for the way he lives. It is the same with every person; the laws of all kingdoms forbid a person’s name to be slandered or insulted, because the name is equivalent to his character and reputation.
* The Latin text has ‘I’ for ‘You’.
Remember to keep the Sabbath day holy; for six days you are to labour and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath for Jehovah your God.
For this third commandment, see Exod. 20:8-10; Deut. 5:12, 13. In the natural or literal sense this means that six days are for man and his work, and the seventh is for the Lord, and for Him to give man rest. Sabbath in the language of the original means rest. Among the Children of Israel the Sabbath was the holiest of observances, because it represented the Lord. The six days represented the Lord’s toils and battles against the hells, the seventh His victory over them, and so rest. Since that day represented the completion of the Lord’s whole act of redemption, it was for that reason the height of holiness. When, however, the Lord came into the world, so that representations of Him ceased, that day became a day for instruction in Divine matters, and also a day of rest from work, for meditation about matters conducive to salvation and everlasting life, and a day for love towards the neighbour. Its being a day for instruction in Divine matters is plain from the fact that the Lord taught in the Temple and in synagogues on that day (Mark 6:2; Luke 4:16, 31, 32; 13:10). Also from His saying to the man He had cured, ‘Pick up your bed and walk’, and to the Pharisees, that His disciples might pick ears of grain and eat them on the Sabbath day (Matt. 12:1-9; Mark 2:23-end; Luke 6:1-6; John 5:9-19).
All these details mean in the spiritual sense being instructed on matters of doctrine. The things the Lord did and taught show that that day also became a day for love towards the neighbour (Matt. 12:10-14; Mark 3:1-9; Luke 6:6-12; 13:10-18; 14:1-7; John 5:9-19; 7:22, 23; 9:14, 16). Both of those sets of passages make it plain why the Lord said that He was also Lord of the Sabbath (Matt. 12:8; Mark 2:28; Luke 6:5). It follows from His saying this that that day was to represent Him.
(i) Regeneration is an exact replica of a person’s conception, gestation in the womb, birth and training.
(ii) The first act of a new birth is called the reformation of the understanding, its second act is the regeneration of the will and hence of the understanding.
(iii) The internal man must first be reformed, and the external man by means of the internal.
(iv) At that time a struggle takes place between the internal and external man; the one who wins becomes master over the other.
(v) A person’s regeneration is having a new will and a new understanding, etc.
The reason why this commandment in the spiritual sense means a person’s reformation and regeneration is that it parallels the Lord’s toils and battles with the hells, and His victory over them, followed by rest. For the way in which the Lord glorified His Human and made it Divine is the same as the way in which He reforms man and regenerates him, making him spiritual. This is what is meant by ‘following Him’. It is plain from Isaiah chapters 53 and 63 that the Lord engaged in battles and these are called toils; and similar events with men are called toils (Isa. 65:23; Rev. 2:2, 3).
A child is born for us, a son is given to us, on whose shoulder is the dominion, and his name will be called Wonderful, Counsellor, God, Hero, the everlasting Father, the Prince of peace. Of the extension of his dominion and peace there will be no end. Isa. 9:6, 7.
Jesus said, I leave peace with you, my peace I give to you. John 14:27.
Jesus said, I have said these things so that you may have peace in me. John 16:33.
How pleasant upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news and makes us hear of peace, saying, Your God* reigns. Isa. 52:7.
Jehovah shall redeem my soul in peace. Ps. 55:18.
The work of righteousness** is peace, the toil of righteousness is rest, and safety for ever, so that they may dwell in the dwelling of peace, and in the tents of safety and in tranquil ease. Isa. 32:17, 18.
Jesus said to the seventy whom He sent out, Whatever house you enter, first say, Peace be upon this house***; and if there be a son of peace there, let your peace rest upon him. Luke 10:5, 6; Matt. 10:12-14.
Jehovah will speak peace to His people, righteousness and peace will kiss each other. Ps. 85:8, 10.
When the Lord Himself appeared to the disciples, He said, Peace be with you. John 20:19, 21, 26.
Moreover, Isaiah (chapters 65 and 66 and elsewhere) deals with the state of peace, into which the Lord will bring them. The people who will be brought into this state are those who are received into the new church which is being established by the Lord at the present time. It may be seen in my book HEAVEN AND HELL (284-290) what is the essence of this peace enjoyed by the angels of heaven and those who are in the Lord. This reference also makes it plain why the Lord calls Himself the Lord of the Sabbath, that is, of rest and peace.
* The Latin text has ‘Your King’, but this is corrected in the author’s copy; cf. AC 8331.
** The Latin text has ‘Jehovah’, but this is corrected in the author’s copy; cf. AC 3780, HH 287
*** The Latin text has ‘The peace of the Lord’, but this is corrected in the author’s copy.
They will sit each man under his vine and under his fig-tree, unafraid. Micah 4:4; Isa. 65:21-23.
It can also be compared with mental relaxation and rest after hard work; or with the solace mothers experience after childbirth, when their maternal love* affords its delights. Another comparison might be with fine weather after storms, black clouds and thunder; and with spring at the end of a severe winter, and the flourishing of new crops in the fields, and the gardens, meadows and woods bursting into flower. It can equally be compared with the state of mind of those who after storms and dangers on the sea reach harbour, and set foot on the land they hoped for.
* Or the love called storge.
Honour your father and your mother, so that your days may be long and you may prosper upon earth.
This commandment is found in Exodus 20:12 and Deuteronomy 5:16. Honouring your father and mother means in the natural or literal sense honouring one’s parents, obeying them, being attached to them, and showing gratitude for the kindnesses they do. These include feeding and clothing their children, and bringing them into the world, so that there they may live civilised and respectable lives; also bringing them into heaven by teaching them the rules of religion. In this way they provide for their temporal prosperity as well as their eternal happiness. They do all this because of the love they have from the Lord, in whose place they act. It also means, in appropriate cases, the honouring of guardians by their wards, if the parents are dead.
In a wider sense this commandment means that one should honour one’s king and magistrates, since these provide all with the necessities of life in general, just as parents do in particular cases. In the widest sense the commandment means that one should love one’s country, since it feeds and protects one; hence it is called one’s fatherland. Honour should be shown by parents to both one’s country and its rulers, and they should implant this idea in their children.
Do not call anyone on earth your father, for you have one Father, who is in the heavens. Matt. 23:9.
This is said for the benefit of children and angels in heaven, not for children and people on earth. The Lord teaches the same lesson in the prayer shared by all Christian churches: ‘Our Father in the heavens, may your name be hallowed.’
The reason why mother in the spiritual sense means the church, is that just as a mother on earth feeds her children with natural food, so the church does with spiritual food. This too is why in the Word the church is frequently called mother. For instance, in Hosea:
Strive with your mother; she is not my wife, and I am not her husband. Hosea 2:2, 5.
In Isaiah:
Where is the divorce document of your mother, whom I have sent away? Isa. 50:1; also Ezek. 16:45; 19: 10.
And in the Gospels:
Jesus, stretching out his hand to the disciples, said, My mother and my brothers are those who hear the Word of God, and do it. Matt. 12:49, 50; Mark 3:33-35; Luke 8:21; John 19: 25-27.
A child is born for us, a son is given to us, whose name is God, Hero, the everlasting father, the Prince of peace. Isa. 9:6.
You are our father. Abraham does not know us, and Israel does not acknowledge us. You are our father, our Redeemer from eternity is your name. Isa. 63:16.
Philip said, Show us the Father; Jesus says to him, He who sees me sees the Father. Why then do you say, Show us the Father? Believe me, that I am in the Father, and the Father is in me. John 14:8-11; 12:45.
It is clear from the following passages that mother in this sense means the Lord’s church:
I saw the holy city the New Jerusalem arrayed like a bride adorned for her husband. Rev. 21:2.
The angel said to John, Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb; and he showed me the city, the holy Jerusalem. Rev. 21:9, 10.
The time has come for the wedding of the Lamb, and his wife has made ready; blessed are those who are invited to the wedding-feast of the Lamb. Rev. 19:7, 9. (See further Matt. 9:15; Mark 2:19, 20; Luke 5:34, 35; John 3:29; 19:25-27.)
On the New Jerusalem meaning the new church now being established by the Lord, see APOCALYPSE REVEALED (800, 881). It is this church, not the earlier one, which is wife and mother in this sense. The spiritual offspring born of this marriage are the various kinds of good which constitute charity, and the truths which constitute faith; and those whom the Lord puts in possession of these are called ‘sons of the wedding,’ ‘sons of God,’ and ‘born of God.’
Praise Jehovah from the heavens. Praise Him, sun and moon; praise Him from the earth, whales and deeps. Praise Him, fruit tree and all cedars; wild beast and every animal, reptile and birds with wings; the kings of the earth and all peoples, young men and maidens. Ps. 148:1-12.
And in Job:
Ask, I beg you, the animals, and they will teach you, or the birds of the sky, and they will report to you; or the plant of the earth, and it will instruct you; and the fish of the sea will tell you. Who does not know from all these things that the hand of Jehovah has done this? Job 12:7-9.
‘Ask and they will teach’ means look, pay attention and judge from them that the Lord Jehovih* created them.
* Here possibly a misprint for ‘Jehovah’.
You are not to commit murder.
This commandment, ‘You are not to commit murder’, means in the natural sense that it is forbidden to kill a human being or inflict upon him any wound that might prove fatal; also to mutilate his body. It also means not doing any drastic injury to his name or reputation, since to many people their reputation is as precious as their life. In a wider natural sense murder includes feelings of enmity, hatred and revenge which are murderous in intent. For these have the idea of murder lurking in them, like fire in wood beneath ashes; and the fire of hell is precisely this. This is why we talk of burning with hatred and being hot for vengeance. These are murders in intention, but not in deed. If fear of the law, of retaliation and being punished in the same way were removed, such people would break out into actions, especially if the intention contains an element of deceit or savagery. These words of the Lord prove that hatred is a kind of murder:
You have heard that it was said by the men of old, You are not to commit murder, and anyone who kills will be subject to judgment. But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother unjustifiably will be subject* to the hell of fire. Matt. 5:21, 22.
The reason is that everything intentional is an act of the will, and thus is essentially a deed.
* The quotation is abbreviated at this point, possibly by error.
Jehovah God has said, Feed the sheep to be slain, which their owners slaughtered. Zech. 11:4, 5, 7.
We were slain all day long; we were considered sheep for slaughter. Ps. 44:22.
Jacob will cause those who are to come to take root; has he not been slain even as he slew others? Isa. 27:6, 7.
A thief* does not come except to steal and slaughter sheep; I have come so that they may have life and plenty. John 10:10.
There are further passages of this kind, such as Isa. 14:21; 26:21; Ezek. 37:9**; Jer. 4:31; 12:3; Rev. 9:4, 5; 11:7. This is why the devil is called ‘a murderer from the beginning’ (John 8:44).
* The Latin text has ‘a stranger’, but this is corrected in the author’s copy. The word ‘sheep’ has been added to the quotation.
** This reference appears to be wrong; possibly Ezek. 34:9, 10 is intended.
[2] Moreover the same spirits look from a distance like wild animals of every kind, such as tigers, leopards, wolves, foxes, dogs, crocodiles and snakes of all kinds. When they see peaceful animals, which are representative forms, they imagine they are attacking them and trying to butcher them. They came into my view looking like dragons, standing next to women who had babies, which they were trying to swallow, exactly like what is described in Revelation, chapter 12. These visions are simply representations of their hatred for the Lord and His new church. It is not apparent to their companions that the people in the world who want to destroy the Lord’s church are like this. The reason is that their bodies allow them to behave properly, thus absorbing and hiding these appearances. But in the sight of the angels, who do not look at their bodies but their spirits, they appear in similar shapes to the devils described above. How could anyone know such facts, if the Lord had not opened his sight and given him the ability to gaze into the spiritual world? But for this these facts, along with many others equally memorable, would have remained hidden from human beings for ever.
You are not to commit adultery.
In the natural sense, this commandment forbids not only committing adultery, but also having obscene desires and realising them, and so indulging in lascivious thoughts and talk. It is clear from these words of the Lord that even lusting is committing adultery:
You have heard that it was said by the men of old, You are not to commit adultery. But I say to you, that if anyone looks at another man’s wife so as to lust after her, he has already committed adultery with her in his heart. Matt. 5:27, 28.
The reason is that when lust is in the will, it becomes like a deed; for the enticement only enters the understanding, but the intention enters the will, and a lustful intention is a deed. More on this subject can be found in my book CONJUGIAL LOVE AND SCORTATORY* LOVE, published at Amsterdam in 1768. This contains sections on he opposition of [scortatory and] conjugial love (423-443); fornication (444a-460); types and degrees of adultery (478-499); the lust for deflowering (501-505); the lust for variety (506-510); the lust for rape (5-11, 512); the lust for seducing the innocent (513, 514); the imputation of either love, both scortatory and conjugial (523-531). All these ideas are meant by this commandment in the natural sense.
* A term to describe love which is the opposite of marriage love.
Run up and down the streets of Jerusalem, and seek to find a man who acts righteously and seeks the truth; when I gave them plenty, they went after whores. Jer. 5:1, 7.
Among the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen horrible obstinacy, in committing adultery and going about lying. Jer. 23:14.
They acted foolishly in Israel, they went after whores, and spoke my Word untruthfully. Jer. 29:23.
They went after whores, because they have abandoned Jehovah. Hosea 4:10.
I will cut off the soul which pays attention to soothsayers and fortunetellers, to go whoring after them. Lev. 20:6.
No treaty is to be made with the inhabitants of the land, for fear the people should go whoring after their gods. Exod. 34:15.
Since Babylon stands pre-eminent in adulterating and falsifying the Word, that is why she is called the great prostitute, and the following things are said about her in Revelation:
Babylon has given all nations to drink from the wine of anger of her whoring. Rev. 14:8.
The angel said, I will show you the judgment of the great prostitute, with whom the kings of the earth have gone whoring. Rev. 17:1, 2.
He has judged the great prostitute, who corrupted the earth with her whoring. Rev. 19:2.
It was because the Jewish nation falsified the Word that it was called by the Lord ‘an adulterous generation’ (Matt. 12:39; 16:4; Mark 8:38) and ‘the seed of an adulterer’ (Isa. 57:3). In many other passages too adulteries and whoring are to be understood as meaning adulteration and falsification of the Word: e.g. Jer. 3:6, 8; 13:27; Ezek. 16:15, 16, 26, 28, 29, 32, 33; 23:2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 14, 17; Hosea 5:3; 6:10; Nahum 3:4.
Moreover, adulterers can be compared with the forsworn, who break their promises, or with the satyrs and priapi* of the ancients, who roamed the woods shouting, ‘Where are the girls, the brides and wives for us to have fun with?’ Adulterers actually look like satyrs and priapi in the spiritual world. They can also be likened to stinking he-goats; or to dogs which run about the streets, looking around to sniff out bitches with whom to wanton, and so forth. Their virility, when they become husbands, can be likened to the flowering of tulips in spring-time, which within a month wither and droop.
* Priapus, a Roman god of lechery.
You are not to steal.
In the natural sense this commandment means literally not stealing, engaging in brigandage or piracy in peacetime; and in general not depriving anyone of his goods secretly or on any pretext. It also extends to all imposture and unlawful gain, usury and extortion, as well as fraud in payment of dues and taxes and in repaying debts. Workers who do not work in good faith and without deceit offend against this commandment; so do merchants who cheat over their wares, weights, measures and calculations; so do officers who withhold their troops’ pay; and judges who are influenced in their judgments by friendship, bribery, nepotism or other reasons, so perverting laws or legal processes, and depriving others of the lawful possession of their goods.
He who does not enter into the sheepfold through the gate, but climbs in somewhere else, is a thief and a robber. A thief does not come except to steal, to slaughter and destroy. John 10:1, 10.
Lay up your treasures not upon earth, but in heaven, where thieves do not come and steal. Matt. 6:19, 20.
If thieves come to you, if wreckers come by night, how will you be cut off? Will they not steal enough to satisfy them? Obad. verse 5.
They will run about the city, they will run on the wall, they will climb into houses, they will enter through windows like a thief. Joel 2:9.
They made a lie, and a thief comes, and his troop pours out of doors. Hosea 7:1.
You are not to bear false witness against your neighbour.
Appearing as a false witness against one’s neighbour or giving false evidence means in the strictest natural sense not being a false witness before a judge, or before other people out of court, against someone who is wrongly accused of some crime, and asserting this in God’s name, or swearing by anything else holy, or by oneself, or by such things as affect the reputation of one’s name. In a wider natural sense this commandment forbids all kinds of lying and hypocrisy in public life with evil intent; also, criticising and slandering one’s neighbour so as to undermine his honour, name and reputation, on which the whole of a person’s character depends. In the widest natural sense it includes using trickery, guile and deliberate wrong-dealing against someone for various causes, such as enmity, hatred, revenge, envy, rivalry, etc. These evil actions contain bearing false witness hidden within them.
If you were blind, you would not be committing a sin; but now you say, We see, therefore your sin remains. John 9:41.
This falsity is meant in the Word by ‘lie’ and this intention by ‘deceit’, in these passages:
We have struck an agreement with death, we have made a vision with hell. We have turned a lie into trust, and hidden ourselves behind a falsehood. Isa. 28:15.
A rebellious people are they, lying sons who are unwilling to hear the law of Jehovah. Isa. 30:9.
From prophet to priest, everyone acts a lie. Jer. 8:10.
The inhabitants utter a lie, and as for their tongue, deceit is in their mouth. Micah 6:12.
You will destroy those who utter a lie, Jehovah abominates the man of deceit. Ps. 5:6.
They taught their tongue to utter a lie; their dwelling is in the midst of deceit. Jer. 9:5, 6.
It is because ‘lie’ means falsehood that the Lord says that the devil utters a lie of his own (John 8:44). ‘A lie’ also means falsity and untruth in these places: Jer. 23:14, 32; Ezek. 13:6-9; 21:29; Hosea 7:1; 12:1; Nahum 3:1; Ps. 120:2, 3.
You are not to covet your neighbour’s house, you are not to covet your neighbour’s wife, nor his man-servant nor his maid-servant, nor his ox nor his ass, nor anything that is your neighbour’s.
In the Catechism* in general use today this passage is divided into two commandments. One, the ninth, is ‘You are not to covet your neighbour’s house’; the other, the tenth, is ‘You are not to covet your neighbour’s wife, nor his man-servant nor his maid-servant, nor his ox nor his ass, nor anything that is your neighbour’s.’ Since these two commandments make a single whole and occupy one verse (Exod. 20:17 and Deut. 5:21), I have chosen to treat them together. This, however, is not because I would like to have them coupled to form a single commandment, but I intend them to be divided into two in the usual way, since they are all called together the Ten Words (Exod. 34:28; Deut. 4:13; 10:4).
* As used by the Roman Catholics and Lutherans.
If anyone lusts after another man’s wife, he has already committed adultery with her in his heart. Matt. 5:27, 28.
The external man does not become internal, or act as one with the internal, until lusts have been removed. This too is taught by the Lord, when He says:
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, because you clean the outside of the cup and dish, but the insides are full of robbery and intemperance. You blind Pharisee, clean first the inside of the cup and dish, so that the outside too may be clean. Matt. 23:25, 26.
See in addition the whole of that chapter from beginning to end. The internals which are Pharisaical are longings for the things prohibited by the first, second, fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth commandments.
[2] It is well known that while He was in the world the Lord taught the interior doctrines of the church; and these forbid one to long for evil actions. This He taught, so that the internal and external man should make one. This is being born anew, as the Lord said to Nicodemus (John chapter 3). No one can be born anew or regenerated, and so become an internal man, except by the Lord’s doing. In order to make these two commandments look back to all that go before, forbidding longing for them, the house is named first, then the wife, and then the man-servant, maid-servant, ox and ass, and lastly everything belonging to the neighbour. The house implies all that follows, for it contains husband, wife, man-servant, maid-servant, ox and ass. The wife who is mentioned next implies what follows, since she is the mistress, just as her husband is master in the house. The man-servant and maid-servant are under their control, and the oxen and asses under the control of the servants. Then finally come everything beneath or outside, which is called ‘everything that is your neighbour’s.’ This makes it plain that these two commandments look back to all the preceding ones in general and in particular, both in a broad and a strict sense.
Anyone is tempted by his own longing when he is enticed; then longing conceives and later brings forth sin; and sin, when it is brought to full development, brings forth death. James 1:14, 15.
Also from Peter:
The Lord keeps back the unrighteous to be punished on the day of judgment, especially those who walk after the flesh in longing. 2 Pet. 2:9, 10.
In short, these two commandments as understood in the spiritual sense look to all the things previously mentioned in that sense, which are not to be longed for, and likewise all in the celestial sense. It is superfluous to go over these again.
* The Latin has ‘a lamb and a pig’.
Eight of the Ten Commandments, the first, second, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth contain no mention of love for God and love towards the neighbour. They do not tell us that God is to be loved, nor that God’s name is to be kept holy, nor that the neighbour is to be loved, nor that he should be treated honestly and uprightly; they merely say ‘There is not to be any other God before my face; you are not to take the name of God in vain; you are not to commit murder; you are not to commit adultery; you are not to steal; you are not to bear false witness; you are not to covet what is your neighbour’s.’ In general, they prescribe that evil is not to be willed, thought or done, either against God or against the neighbour. The reason why we are not commanded to do what is directly the work of love and charity, but only to avoid doing their opposites, is that in so far as a person shuns evils as sins, so far does he will the good actions of love and charity. It will be seen in the chapter on charity [Chapter 7] that the first point of love for God and love towards the neighbour is not to do evil, and their second point is to do good.
[2] There are two contradictory loves, the love of willing and doing good, and the love of willing and doing evil. The latter love is the love of hell, the former the love of heaven. The whole of hell possesses the love of doing evil, the whole of heaven possesses the love of doing good. Now since human beings are by birth prone to evils of every kind, and from birth on they tend towards the pursuits of hell, being unable to enter heaven unless they are born again, that is, regenerated, the evils which belong to hell must first be removed, before a person can will the good deeds which belong to heaven. For no one can be adopted by the Lord, until he has parted with the devil. The manner in which evils are removed and a person is brought to do good will be demonstrated in two chapters, those on Repentance [Chapter 9] and Reformation and Regeneration [Chapter 10].
[3] The Lord teaches in Isaiah that evils must first be removed before the good deeds performed by a person become good in the sight of God:
Wash yourselves, purify yourselves, remove the wickedness of your works from before my eyes; [cease to do evil;] learn to do good. Then if your sins were as scarlet, they will become white as snow; if they were red like purple, they will be like wool. Isa. 1:16-18.
There is another passage like this in Jeremiah:
Stand in the gate of Jehovah’s house, and there proclaim this word.
Thus spoke Jehovah Zebaoth, the God of Israel: make your ways good, and your works also. Put not your trust in lying words, saying, This is Jehovah’s temple, this is Jehovah’s temple, this is Jehovah’s temple (that is, His church). Will you, after stealing, murdering and committing adultery and swearing falsely, then come and stand in my presence in this house, upon which my name is written, and say, We were carried away, when you do all these abominations? Has this house become a robbers’ cave? Behold, even I have seen it, this is the word of Jehovah. Jer. 7:2-4, 9-11.
[4] We are also taught in Isaiah that before washing or purification from evils, prayers addressed to God are not heard:
Jehovah says, Woe to the nation that sins, the people weighed down with iniquity. They have banished themselves back again; from which place when you spread out your hands, I hide my eyes from you. Even though you pray time and again, I do not hear. Isa. 1:4, 15.
The person who keeps the Ten Commandments and shuns evils is attended by love and charity; this is proved by the Lord’s words in John:
Jesus said, He who has my commandments and does them, he it is who loves me; and he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I shall love him and show myself to him; and we shall make our dwelling with him. John 14:21, 23.
Commandments there mean especially the Ten Commandments, which state that evil actions are not to be done nor longed for, and that thus a person’s love for God, and God’s love for him, follow, just as good does when evil has been removed.
This proves that the Ten Commandments contain everything to do with love for God and love towards the neighbour. This is why Paul says:
He who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, You are not to commit adultery, you are not to commit murder, you are not to steal, you are not to bear false witness, you are not to covet, and any other commandment there may be, these are all summed up in this phrase, You are to love your neighbour as yourself. Charity does not do evil to the neighbour; therefore charity is the fulfilment of the law. Rom. 13:8-10.
To these must be added two rules intended for the new church: (i) No one can of himself shun evils as sins, and do good actions which are good in God’s sight; but in so far as anyone shuns evils as sins, so far does he do good actions, not of himself, but from the Lord. (ii) A person should shun evils as sins, and fight against them as if of himself. If anyone shuns evils for any other reason than because they are sins, he is not shunning them, but merely ensuring that they are not visible to the eyes of the world.
[2] Is there anyone who on being invited to dine with a king or queen does not wash his face and hands before making his appearance? Is there anyone who on getting married enters the bridal chamber without first taking a bath and dressing in a wedding garment? Is there anyone who does not use fire to purify minerals and separate them from slag, before he obtains pure gold and silver? Is there anyone who does not separate the tares from his wheat crop before storing it in the granary? Or who does not beat the husks* off a crop of barley with threshing tools, before gathering it up and taking it home?
[3] Is there anyone who does not submit raw meat to cooking before it becomes eatable and is served at table? Is there anyone who does not shake the grubs out of the leaves of his garden trees, to prevent the leaves being eaten and the fruit lost? Is there anyone who does not loathe dirt in houses or courtyards, and clean them out, especially when a prince, or a princess coming as a bride, is expected? Does anyone love a girl, and aim to marry her, if she is tainted with malignant diseases or covered in spots or pimples, however much she makes up her face, dresses up in fine clothes, and tries to make herself attractive by paying compliments?
[4] A person ought to purify himself of evils, and not wait for the Lord to do this for him directly, as can be seen by comparison with a servant coming in with his face and clothes filthy with soot and dung and going up to his master and saying: ‘Please wash me, Sir.’ Would not his master say to him: ‘What do you mean, you fool? Here are water, soap and a towel. Haven’t you got hands and the ability to use them? Wash yourself.’ So the Lord God will say: ‘The means of purification I have given you, and your will and ability also are given by me; so use these gifts and talents of mine as if they were yours, and you will be purified,’ and so on. The Lord teaches us that the external man is to be cleansed, but by means of the internal: see Matthew chapter 23 from beginning to end.
* Reading aristas ‘husks’ for Latin cristas ‘crests’.
I once heard some shouting, which welled up from the lower regions as if through water. One shout on the left was ‘How just!’; another on the right ‘How learned!’; and a third behind me ‘How wise!’ This made me wonder whether even in hell there were righteous, learned and wise people; and I had a strong desire to see whether there were such people there. A voice from heaven told me: ‘You will see and hear.’
Then I left home in the spirit and saw in front of me an opening in the ground; on approaching and looking into it I saw steps, so I went down. When I reached the lower level I saw plains covered with bushes mixed with thorns and nettles. I asked whether this was hell. ‘It is the lower earth,’ they said, ‘just above hell.’ Then I went towards each of the shouts in turn, first to that of ‘How just!’ I saw a gathering of those who in the world had been judges influenced by partiality and bribery. Then I went towards the second shout ‘How learned!’ and saw a gathering of those who in the world had been fond of logic; and then to the third shout ‘How wise!’ and saw a gathering of those who in the world had been keen to prove everything.
But I left the others and went back to the first group, the judges influenced by partiality and bribery, those who were being hailed as just. On one side I saw a sort of amphitheatre built of bricks and roofed with black tiles; I was told that it was their court-house. It had three entrances on the north side, and three on the west, but none on the south or east sides; this was an indication that their judgments were not equitable but arbitrary. [2] In the middle of the amphitheatre was to be seen a hearth, on which stokers threw torches dipped in sulphur and full of pitch. Their light projected on to the plastered walls produced pictures of birds of the evening and night. But the hearth and the flickering light projected from it to form these pictures were representations of their judgments, indicating their ability to depict the truth of any question in false colours and make it look favourable to the side they preferred.
[3] Half an hour later I saw some old and young men in robes and gowns filing in; they took off their hats and sat down on chairs at the tables to hold a session. As I listened I realised with what skill and ingenuity they leaned towards the side they favoured, and twisted their judgments to make them appear equitable. Indeed they went so far that they themselves could see injustice as just and justice instead as unjust, It could be seen from their faces and heard in the sound of their voices that they had such delusions. Then I was granted enlightenment from heaven, so that I was able to grasp whether each point was valid or not. I then saw how zealously they wrapped up injustice and gave it the appearance of justice, selecting from the laws the one which suited their case, and using clever arguments to set the rest aside. When judgment had been passed, their sentences were relayed to their clients, friends and supporters outside, and they, to repay the partiality shown to them, went off far down the street crying ‘How just, how just!’
[4] After this I talked about these judges to some angels from heaven, and told them some of what I had seen and heard. The angels said that such judges appear to others to be endowed with the sharpest powers of understanding, when in fact they are unable to see a grain of justice and equity. ‘If you take away their partiality,’ they said, ‘they sit in court like statues, and only say, “I agree, I concur with the judgment of so-and-so or so-and-so.” The reason is that all their judgments are based on prejudice, and prejudice treats the case from beginning to end with partiality. Consequently they can see no other side than their friend’s; if anything comes to oppose it, they avert their eyes and look at it askance. If they do take the opposing point up again, they entangle it in arguments, like a spider’s web wrapped round its prey, and swallow it. So it is that they cannot see any point as valid, unless it fits into the web of their prejudice. They were tested to see whether they could, and were found to be unable. The inhabitants of your world will be astonished that this is so, but you can tell them that this is a true statement which has been checked by angels from heaven. Since they cannot see any justice, we in heaven do not regard them as human beings, but as monstrous effigies of people, their heads made of partiality, their chests of injustice, their hands and feet of proofs and the soles of their feet of justice, so that, if this does not support their friend’s case, they can tread it underfoot and trample on it. [5] What they are really like you are going to see, since their end is at hand.’
Then suddenly the earth split open, tables fell one on another, and together with the whole amphitheatre the people were swallowed up, and thrown into prison in caves. Then I was asked whether I wanted to see them there. They appeared to have faces of polished steel, their bodies from neck to legs like carvings dressed in leopard skins, and feet like snakes. I saw that the law books, which they had had placed on the tables, had turned into playing cards; and now instead of delivering judgments the task assigned to them was to make vermilion into rouge, to daub on the faces of prostitutes and make them look like beauties.
After seeing this I wanted to visit the other two groups, the one which consisted of people fond of nothing but logic, and the other of those who want to prove everything. ‘Wait a bit,’ I was told, ‘and you will be given an escort of angels from the community closest above them. By their help enlightenment will come to you from the Lord, and you will see astonishing sights.’
Some time later I heard again from the lower earth the same cries as before ‘How learned, how learned!’ On looking around to see who was there, I found myself in the presence of angels from the heaven exactly above the people who were shouting ‘How learned!’
When I talked to them about the shouting, they said that these were learned people who only argue whether a thing exists or not, and rarely reach the thought that it is so. ‘They are therefore like winds which blow and pass on, or like bark around trees that have no heartwood, or like almond shells with no kernel, or like the peel around fruits with no flesh inside. For their minds are devoid of interior judgment, and merely coupled to the bodily senses. So if the senses themselves are unable to judge, they can reach no conclusions. In short, they are creatures of their senses, and we call them logicmongers. We call them this because they never reach any conclusions, but they pick up anything they hear and argue whether it exists, continually speaking for and against. Nothing gives them more pleasure than attacking truths and by subjecting them to argument tearing them in pieces. These are the people who consider themselves learned beyond anyone in the world.’
[2] On hearing this I begged the angels to take me down to visit them. So they took me down to a hollow, from which steps led down to the lower earth. We went down and followed the sound of shouting ‘How learned!’ There we found some hundreds of people standing in one place stamping on the ground. I was surprised at this and asked: ‘Why are they standing like that stamping on the ground? They might,’ I added, ‘make a hole in the ground like that.’
The angels smiled at this and said: ‘They seem to stand in one place because they never think about anything being so, but only whether it exists, and this they argue about. When thought makes no further progress, they seem merely to trample and wear out one clod of earth without advancing.’
The angels went on: ‘Those who arrive in this world from the natural one, and are told that they are in a different world, form groups in many places, and try to find out where heaven and hell are, and likewise where God is. But even after being taught this, they still begin reasoning, debating and arguing whether God exists. They do so because at the present time so many people in the natural world are nature-worshippers, and when the talk turns to religion this is the subject they discuss among themselves and with others. This proposition and discussion rarely ends in an affirmation of faith in the existence of God. Afterwards these people associate more and more with the wicked; this happens because no one can do any good from the love of good, except by God’s help.’
[3] After this I was taken to a meeting, and there I saw people with not unpleasing faces and well dressed. ‘They look like this,’ said the angels, ‘in their own light, but if light is shed from heaven, there is a change in their faces, and in their clothes.’ This happened, and their faces turned swarthy and they seemed to be wearing black sackcloth. But when this light was shut off, they returned to their previous appearance.
A little later I spoke with some of the people in the meeting and said: ‘I have heard the crowd around you crying out “How learned!” So I should like, if I may, to enter into conversation with you about matters of the most profound learning.’ ‘Say anything you like,’ they replied, ‘and we will satisfy you.’
‘What sort of religion,’ I asked, ‘will effect people’s salvation?’
‘We shall split up this question,’ they said, ‘into several, and we cannot give a reply until we have settled these. The order of discussion will be: (1) whether religion is of any importance; (2) whether or not there is such a thing as salvation; (3) whether one religion is more efficacious than another; (4) whether heaven and hell exist; (5) whether there is everlasting life after death; and many more questions.’
So I asked about the first question, whether religion is of any importance; and they started discussing it with many arguments. So I asked them to refer it to the meeting, which they did. The agreed reply was that this proposition requires so much investigation that it would not be finished before evening. ‘Could you,’ I asked, ‘finish it within a year?’ One of them said it could not be finished in a hundred years. ‘So,’ I said, ‘in the meantime you have no religion, and since salvation depends upon it, you have no idea of salvation, no belief in it or hope for it.’
‘Wouldn’t you like us,’ he replied, ‘to prove first whether religion exists, what it is, and whether it is of any importance? If it exists, it will be for the wise too; if it does not, it will be only for the common people. It is well known that religion is called a bond; but the question may be asked, “For whom?” If it is only for the common people, it is not really of any importance; but if it is for the wise, then it is.’
[4] On hearing this I said: ‘You are anything but learned, since you can think of nothing but whether it exists, and argue this in either direction. Can anyone be learned, unless he knows something for certain, and advances to that conclusion, just as a person advances step by step, and in due course achieves wisdom? Otherwise you do not so much as touch truths with your finger-tips, but drive them further and further from your sight. Therefore reasoning only whether it exists is like arguing about a hat without wearing it, or about a shoe without putting it on. What can come of this, except ignorance whether anything exists, whether anything is more than an idea, and so whether salvation exists, or everlasting life after death, whether one religion is better than another, or whether heaven and hell exist? You cannot have any thoughts on these subjects, so long as you are bogged down at the first step and pound the sand there, unable to put one foot in front of the other and make progress. Take care that, while your minds stand in the open outside the court, they do not inwardly grow ossified and turn into pillars of Salt.’
With these words I left them, and they were so incensed they threw stones after me. Then they looked to me like carvings, totally devoid of human reason. I asked the angels what was their fate. They said that the worst of them are plunged into the depths, and there they find a desert, where they are forced to carry loads. Since they can then make no reasonable utterance, they chatter and make idle remarks, Seen from a distance there they look like donkeys carrying loads.
After this one of the angels said: ‘Come with me to the place where they are shouting “How wise!” You will see monstrous people there, with the faces and bodies of human beings, though they are not human beings.’
‘Are they animals then?’ I asked.
‘No,’ he replied, ‘they are not animals, but bestial people. They are those who are utterly unable to see whether truth is truth or not, although they can make anything they wish appear to be true. We call such people proof-mongers.’
We followed the noise of shouting and reached its source. There we found a group of men surrounded by a crowd. There were in the crowd some people of noble lineage, who, on hearing that they proved everything they said, and so obviously agreed in supporting each other, turned around and said ‘How wise!’
[2] But the angel said to me, ‘Let us not approach them, but let us call out one from the group.’ We did so, and took him aside; we discussed a variety of subjects, and he proved each point so that it seemed exactly as if it were true. So we asked him whether he could also prove the opposite. He replied he could do so as well as the earlier points. Then he spoke openly and from the heart: ‘What is truth? Is there any truth in the whole of nature other than what someone makes true? Say anything you please, and I will make it true.’
‘Establish then,’ I said, ‘the truth of the following proposition: faith is all the church needs.’ He did so, with such cleverness and skill that the learned men who were present clapped to express their admiration. Next I asked him to establish the truth of the proposition that charity is all the church needs; and this too he did. Then I asked him about the proposition that charity is of no use to the church; and he so dressed up either proposition and adorned them with plausible arguments that the bystanders looked at one another and said: ‘Isn’t he wise?’
‘Don’t you know,’ I said, ‘that living a good life is charity, and having a correct belief is faith? Does not the person who lives a good life also have a correct belief? And consequently faith is a part of charity, and charity a part of faith? Can’t you see that this is true?’
‘I shall establish the truth of it,’ he said, ‘and then I shall see.’ He did so, and then remarked: ‘Now I see.’ But a moment later he established the truth of the opposite, and then he said: ‘I see that this too is true.’ We smiled at this and said: ‘Are they not opposites? How can two opposite propositions both appear to be true?’ He was indignant at this and answered: ‘You are wrong. Both propositions are true, because there is no truth other than what someone establishes as true.’
[3] A man was standing nearby who in the world had been an ambassador of the highest rank. He was astonished at this and said: ‘I admit that something like this goes on in the world, but still you are crazy. Establish, if you can, the truth of the proposition that light is darkness and darkness is light.’
‘Nothing easier,’ he replied. ‘What are light and darkness but conditions of the eye? Is not light changed into shadow, when the eye comes in from sunlight, and also when one stares fixedly at the sun? Everyone knows that then the condition of the eye changes, and light then seems like shadow; and in the opposite case when the eye returns to its normal condition, the shadow seems like light. Does not the owl see the darkness of the night like broad day, and daylight like the darkness of the night? And then it actually sees the sun itself as a dark and dim ball. If a person had the eyes of an owl, which would he call light and which darkness? So what is light but a condition of the eye? And if so, is not light darkness, and darkness light? So just as one proposition is true, so also is the other.’
[4] But seeing that this proof had confused some people I said: ‘I have observed that this proof-monger is unaware of the existence of true light and false light. Both of these forms of light appear to be light; but false light is not really light, but compared with true light is darkness. The owl operates by false light, for its eyes are filled with a desire to pursue and devour birds; this light enables its eyes to see by night, exactly like cats’ eyes, which glitter like candles in cellars. The false light in this case arises from the desire to pursue and devour mice which fills their eyes and has this effect. This makes it plain that the sun’s is the true light, and the light of desire is a false light.’
[5] After this the ambassador asked the proof-monger to establish the truth of the proposition that a raven is white and not black. ‘Another easy task,’ he replied. ‘Take,’ he said, ‘a needle or a razor and open up the feathers and plumage of a raven; or take away the feathers and plumage and look at the bare skin of the raven, is it not white? What is the blackness that surrounds it but a shadow, which must not be used to judge the raven’s colour? Consult the experts on optics, and they will tell you that blackness is merely shadow; or grind a black stone or a piece of black glass into fine powder, and you will see that the powder is white.’
‘But when you look at it,’ said the ambassador, ‘surely the raven appears black?’ But the proof-monger replied: ‘As a human being are you willing to think about anything from appearances? Of course you can speak from appearances of the raven as black, but you cannot really think so. For instance, you can speak from appearances of the sun rising and setting; but as a human being you cannot really think it does, because the sun remains unmoving, and it is the earth which moves. It is the same with the raven; appearances are only appearances. Say whatever you like, the raven is utterly and completely white. It also turns white when it grows old, a fact I have observed.’
At this the bystanders looked at me. So I said that it is true that the feathers and plumage of the raven have inside a whitish tinge, and so does its skin. But this is true not only of ravens, but of all birds throughout the world; and everyone distinguishes birds by their colouring. If not, we should have to say that every bird is white, which is absurd and useless.
[6] Then the ambassador asked whether he could establish the truth of the proposition that he himself was insane. ‘Yes,’ he said, ‘I can, but I don’t want to. Everyone is insane.’
Then they asked him to speak from the heart and say whether he was joking, or whether he really believed that there was no truth but what someone established as true. He replied, ‘I swear I do so believe.’
Afterwards this universal proof-monger was sent to some angels to have his nature examined. After doing this they said that he did not possess a grain of understanding. ‘The reason is,’ they said, ‘that in his case everything above the rational level is shut off, and only what is below this level is open. Spiritual light is above the rational level, and natural light is below it, and it is natural light which enables a person to prove whatever he likes. But if there is no spiritual light flowing into natural light, a person cannot see whether some truth is true, and consequently not whether a falsehood is false either. The ability to see either comes from the presence of spiritual light in the natural light, and spiritual light comes from the God of heaven, who is the Lord. Therefore the universal proof-monger is neither a man nor an animal, but a beast-man.’
[7] I asked the angels about the fate of such people; how could they be in the company of the living, since spiritual light is the source of people’s life; and this is the source of their understanding. They said that as long as such people are alone, they cannot think or talk about anything, but they stand as dumb as machines and as if fast asleep. But they wake up as soon as their ears catch any sound. They added that it is those who are inmostly wicked who become like that. Spiritual light from above cannot flow into them, but only some spirituality through the world; this is what gives them the ability to make up proofs.
[8] When they had said this, I heard one of the angels who had examined him say: ‘Make a general conclusion out of what you have heard.’ My conclusion was this: it is not the mark of an intelligent person to be able to prove anything he likes; but to be able to see that truth is true and falsehood is false, and to prove that, is the mark of an intelligent person.
After this I looked towards the gathering where the proof-mongers stood with the crowd around them shouting ‘How wise!’; and suddenly a dark cloud overshadowed them, with owls and bats flying about in it. I was told: ‘The owls and bats flying about in that cloud are correspondences, so as to display their thoughts. The proving of falsities, so that they seem like truths, is represented in the spiritual world in the form of birds of nocturnal habit, whose eyes are inwardly enlightened by a false light; this enables them to see objects in darkness as if in daylight. Those who prove false propositions until they seem true and are afterwards believed to be true, have a similar, spiritual, false light. They are all able to see behind them, but nothing at all before them.’
I woke from sleep one morning while it was still twilight, and saw as it were apparitions of various sorts before my eyes. Then when it was full morning, I saw mirages of different types. Some were like sheets of paper covered with writing, which were folded over so many times that at last they looked like shooting stars, failing into the air and vanishing. Some looked like open books, some of which glittered like small moons, others burnt like candles. Among them were books which soared aloft, and high in the air disappeared; others fell to the ground and there were reduced to dust. On seeing these things I guessed that beneath these appearances in the air stood people arguing about imaginary matters, which they regarded as of great importance. For in the spiritual world such phenomena in the atmospheres are to be seen arising from the reasoning of those beneath.
A little later the sight of my spirit was opened, and I observed a number of spirits with their heads wreathed in laurel leaves, and their bodies dressed in flowery robes. This was a sign that they were spirits who in the natural world had been famous for their learning. Being in the spirit, I approached and joined the gathering. Then I heard that they were engaged in a bitter and intense debate about connate ideas, that is to say, whether human beings have any ideas directly from birth, as animals do.
Those who denied this were withdrawing from those who asserted it, and finally they stood divided into two parties, like the lines of two armies about to fight with swords. But lacking swords they were fighting with verbal thrusts.
[2] Suddenly an angelic spirit took his stand in their midst, and cried in a loud voice: ‘I have heard from a distance, but not too far from you, that on both sides you are engaged in fierce debate, whether human beings have any connate ideas, as animals do. I tell you that human beings do not have any connate ideas, and that animals do not have any ideas at all. So your quarrel is about nothing, or, as the saying goes, about goats’ wool or the beard of this age*.’
On hearing this they all flew into a rage and yelled: ‘Throw him out, what he says is contrary to common sense.’ But when they attempted to throw him out, they saw that he was surrounded by light from heaven, through which they could not break, for he was an angelic spirit. So they retreated and kept a short distance from him. When the light was re-absorbed, he said to them: ‘Why do you fly into a rage? Listen first and take in the arguments I shall use, and then reach your own conclusion from them, I foresee that those who have good powers of judgment will agree and will calm the storms which have arisen in your minds.’ In reply to this they said, though with indignation in their voices; ‘Speak then, and we will listen.’
[3] Then he began speaking and said: ‘You believe that animals have connate ideas, and you have deduced this from the fact that their actions seem to spring from thought. Yet they do not have the slightest capacity for thought, and it is only resulting from thought that we may speak of ideas. It is the mark of thought that one acts in such and such a way for this or that reason. Consider then whether the spider weaving its so skillfully designed web thinks in its tiny head: “I will stretch threads out in this order, and join them together with cross threads, so that my web will stand up to the air pressure it will encounter. And where the inside ends of the threads meet to make the centre, I will make myself a place to sit, so that I can detect anything falling into the web and run to it. So if a fly flies into it, it will be ensnared, and I shall quickly attack and wrap it up, so that it will be food for me.” Again, does the bee think in its tiny head: “I will fly off. I know where there are meadows in flower, and there I shall suck up wax from some flowers and honey from others; and from the wax I shall build a series of adjoining cells, leaving as it were streets so that I and my companions may freely enter and go out again. Then we shall store large amounts of honey in the cells, to last through the coming winter, so that we do not die.” There are many other wonderful details in which bees not only rival the social and economic provisions of men, but in some actually surpass them. (see above 12[.7]).
[4] ‘Again, does the hornet think in its tiny head: “My companions and I will construct a dwelling of thin paper, with the walls inside curving around to make a labyrinth; and in the middle we shall make a kind of square, equipped with a way in and a way out, but so artfully contrived that no other creature than our own species will find its way to the middle where we hold our meetings.” Or does the silk-worm, while still in the grub stage, think in its tiny head: “Now is the time for me to prepare to spin silk, so that, when it is spun, I can fly out, and in the air, an element previously beyond my reach, play with my mates and provide myself with offspring”? And likewise the other grubs, when they crawl through walls, and turn into nymphs, pupas, chrysallises, and finally butterflies? Does any fly have an idea about meeting another fly in one place and not another?
[5] ‘It is much the same with larger animals as it is with these insects; as for instance birds and winged creatures of every kind, which know when to meet, when to prepare nests, lay eggs in them, sit on them and hatch their young, offer them food, bring them up until they fly away, and afterwards drive them from their nests as if they were not their own offspring, and countless things besides. It is much the same with land animals, snakes and fish. Is there any among you who cannot see from what I have said that their spontaneous actions do not result from any process of thought, the only context in which we can speak of ideas? The erroneous belief that animals have ideas has arisen solely from the false idea that animals think just as much as human beings, and the power of speech is the only difference.’
[6] After this speech the angelic spirit looked around, and since he saw that they were still wavering about whether animals have thought-processes or not, he went on speaking and said: ‘I perceive that the similarity of the actions of animals to those of men has left you still dreaming about their thought-processes. So I will tell you the source of their actions. Every animal, every bird, fish, creeping thing and insect has its own natural, sensual and bodily love; these reside in their heads, and in the brains in them. By this route the spiritual world acts directly upon their bodily senses, and by these it directs their actions. This is why their bodily senses are much more sensitive than those of human beings. This impulse from the spiritual world is what is called instinct, and it is given this name because it arises without the mediation of thought. There are also secondary instincts arising from habit. But their love, by which the impulse from the spiritual world directs their actions, is concerned only with feeding and the propagation of the species, not with any knowledge, intelligence and wisdom, the means by which love develops successively in human beings.
[7] ‘Nor does man have any connate ideas, as can be clearly established from the fact that he has no connate thought-process, and in the absence of thought-processes no idea can exist, for the one is dependent upon the other. This can be deduced from newly born babies, who are unable to do anything but take milk and breathe. Their ability to take milk is not the result of being born with it, but of having continually been sucking in the mother’s womb. Their ability to breathe is the result of being alive, for this is something which is universal among living creatures. Even their bodily senses are extremely feeble; and little by little they work away from this state by contact with objects, likewise they learn by practice to move. Little by little too they as it were learn to make babbling sounds, at first uttered without any idea, but something dim arises in their mental imagery; and as this becomes clearer, a dim kind of imagination arises, and from this the same kind of thought. In proportion to the formation of this state ideas arise, which, as was said before, are inseparable from thought, and thinking develops from nothing by instruction. This is how human beings come to have ideas; they are not connate, but formed, and from them their speech and actions are derived.’
For man having nothing by birth other than a faculty for knowing, understanding and being wise, and an inclination to love not only these faculties but also his neighbour and God, see the experience recorded above (48); and in one of those to follow.
After this I looked round and saw close by Leibnitz and Wolff**, who were listening intently to the arguments put forward by the angelic spirit. Then Leibnitz approached and signified his approval and assent; but Wolff went away both assenting and dissenting, since he lacked the inner powers of judgment which Leibnitz had.
* Proverbial expressions for what does not exist.
** Leibnitz (1646-1716) and Wolff (1679-1754), both famous German philosophers.
FAITH
The wisdom of the ancients was the source of the dogma that the universe and everything in it relate to good and truth; and thus everything to do with the church relates to love or charity and to faith, since everything arising from love or charity is called good, everything arising from faith is called truth. Now because charity and faith are quite clearly separate, but must be combined in anyone who is going to be a member of the church, that is, have the church in him, the ancients disputed and argued about which of the two came first, and so which could properly be called the elder. Some of them said it was truth, and therefore faith; others said it was good, and therefore charity. For they observed that after being born a person at once begins to learn to talk and think; this gradually develops his understanding by the acquisition of knowledge, and he thus learns and understands what truth is; and by these means he later learns and understands what good is. So he grasps first what faith is, and afterwards what charity is. Those who have understood the matter like this have concluded that the truth of faith is the first-born, and the good of charity is born later. For this reason they have assigned to faith the privileged position and right of the first-born. However, these people have so swamped their understanding with a mass of arguments in favour of faith, that they have failed to see that faith is no faith if not combined with charity, and neither is charity charity if not combined with faith, so making up a single whole. If this is not so, then neither has any value to the church. It will be shown in the following pages that they form a complete single whole.
[2] But by way of introduction I shall reveal briefly how or in what way they make up a single whole. This is important as throwing some light on what follows. Faith, which also means truth, is first in time, but charity, which also means good, is first in intention. That which is first in intention is really first, because it is primary and so also the first-born. That which is first in time is not really first, but only seems to be.
To make this comprehensible comparisons will be drawn with the building of a church and a house, the laying-out of a garden and the preparation of a field. The first thing in time in building a church is laying the foundations, building the walls, putting the roof on, and then putting an altar inside and constructing a pulpit; but the first thing in intention is the worship of God in the church, which is the reason why the other things are done. The first thing in time in building a house is making its outer fabric, and equipping it with all the necessities of life; but the first thing in intention is a convenient dwelling for oneself and the others who are to live in the house. The first thing in time in laying out a garden is levelling the ground, preparing the soil, and planting trees and sowing seed to raise useful plants; but the first thing in intention is the profit to be derived from these things. The first thing in time in preparing a field is levelling the ground, ploughing, harrowing, and then sowing; but the first thing in intention is the crop, so also the use it will serve. [3] These comparisons will allow anyone to deduce what is essentially first. Surely everyone who wants to build a church or a house, or to lay out a garden, or till a field, first of all intends its use, and holds this constantly in mind and considers it, while seeking the means to effect it? We deduce then that the truth of faith is first in time, but that the good of charity is first in intention, and since this therefore plays the leading role it is really the first-born in the mind.
But we need to know what both faith and charity are in essence, and this cannot be known unless the subject is divided into propositions, both faith and charity having their own series. Those dealing with faith are as follows:
I Saving faith is in the Lord God the Saviour Jesus Christ.
II Faith in brief is this, that a person who lives a good life and holds a proper belief is saved by the Lord.
III A person acquires faith by approaching the Lord, learning truths from the Word, and living by them.
IV The mass of truths, which cohere as it were in a bundle, raises the level of faith and brings it to perfection.
V Faith without charity is no faith, and charity without faith is no charity, and both are lifeless unless the Lord gives them life.
VI The Lord, charity and faith make one, just as in a person life, will and understanding do; if they are separated, each of them is destroyed, like a pearl collapsing into dust.
VII The Lord is charity and faith in the person, and the person is charity and faith in the Lord.
VIII Charity and faith are present together in good deeds.
IX There is true faith, spurious faith and hypocritical faith.
X The wicked have no faith.
These propositions must now be explained one by one.
Saving faith is in the Lord God the Saviour Jesus Christ.
Saving faith is in God as Saviour, because He is God and man, and He is in the Father and the Father is in Him, so that they are one. Those therefore who approach Him, at the same time approach the Father, that is, the one and only God, and saving faith is in no other. We are to believe or have faith in the Son of God, the Redeemer and Saviour, who was conceived of Jehovah and born of the Virgin Mary,, and was named Jesus Christ. This is evident from His own often-repeated commands, and later from those of the Apostles. The following passages show clearly that He commanded faith in Himself:
Jesus said, This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him should have everlasting life, and I should raise him up on the last day. John 6:40.
He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; but he who does not believe in the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God rests upon him. John 3:36.
So that everyone who believes in the Son may not perish, but have everlasting life. For God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, so that everyone who believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3:15, 16.
Jesus said, I am the resurrection and life. He who believes in Me shall not ever die. John 11:25, 26.
In truth I say to you, he who believes in me has everlasting life. I am the bread of life. John 6:47, 48.
I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will not be hungry, and he who believes in Me will never be thirsty. John 6:35.
Jesus cried out saying, If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. If anyone believes in me, as the Scripture says, streams of living water will flow from his belly. John 7:37, 38.
They said to Jesus, What shall we do to perform God’s work? Jesus answered, This is God’s work, to believe in Him whom the Father has sent. John 6:28, 29.
So long as you have the light, believe in the light, so that you may be sons of light. John 12:36.
He who believes in the Son of God is not judged; but he who does not believe has already been judged, because he has not believed in the name of the only-begotten Son of God. John 3:18.
These things have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Son of God, and so that by believing you may have life in His name. John 20:31.
If you do not believe that I am, you will die in your sins. John 8:24.
Jesus said, When the Comforter, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will try the world concerning sin, righteousness and judgment; concerning sin, for not believing in Me. John 16:8, 9.
It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; but the reason that I now live in the flesh is that I live in faith, which is in the Son of God. Gal. 2:20.
Paul to Jews and Greeks proclaimed repentance before God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. Acts 20:21.
The man who brought Paul outside said, What must I do to be saved? He replied, Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, so shall you be saved and your household. Acts 16:30, 31.
He who possesses the Son has life; he who does not possess the Son of God has no life. I have written this to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have everlasting life and you may believe in the name of the Son of God. 1 John 5:12, 13.
We are by birth Jews, not sinners of gentile origin, but we know that man is not justified by the deeds prescribed by the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ; so we too have believed in Jesus Christ. Gal. 2:15, 16.
Since their faith was in Jesus Christ, and such faith also comes from Him, they called it ‘the faith of Jesus Christ’, as in Gal. 2:16 just quoted, and in the following passages:
The righteousness of God through the faith of Jesus Christ [is manifested] to all and upon all who have believed, with a view to the justification of him who is of the faith of Jesus. Rom. 3:22, 26.
To have the righteousness which comes from the faith of Christ, the righteousness of faith which comes from God. Phil. 3:9.
Those that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus*. Rev. 14:12.
By faith which is in Christ Jesus. 2 Tim. 3:15.
In Jesus Christ is faith working through charity. Gal. 5:6.
[2] These passages may serve to establish what faith was understood by Paul in the saying so often repeated nowadays in the church:
We conclude therefore that man is justified by faith without the deeds prescribed by the law. Rom. 3:28.
This was not faith in God the Father, but in His Son; much less was it in a sequence of three Gods, one from whom, another for whose sake and a third through whom. The church’s belief that his faith in three persons was meant by Paul in that saying is due to the fact that for the last fourteen centuries, that is, from the time of the Council of Nicaea, the church acknowledged no other faith, and so was unaware of the existence of any other, believing it to be the sole and only possible faith. Consequently, wherever the Word of the New Testament mentions faith, this is thought to be the faith intended, and everything said there about it is attributed to this faith. As a result the only saving, faith, that in God the Saviour, has been lost, and so many fallacies too have crept into its teachings, as well as so many paradoxes which are repugnant to sound reason. For any teaching of the church which is intended to teach and point out the way to heaven, that is, to salvation, is dependent upon faith; and because, as I have said, so many fallacies and paradoxes have crept into its teaching, they were obliged to propound the dogma, that the understanding must be kept in obedience to faith. Now since in Paul’s saying (Rom. 3:28) faith does not mean faith in God the Father, but in His Son, and ‘the deeds prescribed by the law’ do not there mean those prescribed by the Ten Commandments, but by the law of Moses given to the Jews (as is evident from the sequel to this passage, and also similar statements in the Epistle to the Galatians 2:14, 15), the foundation stone of modern faith collapses, together with the shrine erected upon it, like a house subsiding into the ground until nothing is left showing but the top of the roof.
* The Latin has ‘of Jesus Christ’, but this is corrected in the author’s copy.
On the other hand a purely natural faith, one, that is, devoid of spiritual essence, is no faith, merely a firm conviction or knowledge. A firm conviction mimics faith externally, but, lacking any inward spirituality, cannot therefore contribute anything to salvation. Such is faith in the case of all who deny the divinity of the Lord’s Human; such too was the faith of the Arians and also the Socinians*, both of whom rejected the Lord’s divinity. What is faith without a goal towards which it is directed? Is it not like a look directed towards the universe, a look which falls as if on empty space and thus comes to naught? It is also like a bird soaring above the atmosphere into the ether, where it dies, as if in a vacuum. The time this faith resides in the human mind can be compared with that of the winds in the halls of Aeolus**, or that of light in a shooting star. It arises like a comet with a long tail, but, like a comet, it passes and disappears.
[2] In brief, faith in an invisible God is in fact blind faith, since the human mind cannot see its God; and the light of this faith, not being spiritual-natural, is a false light. This light resembles that of a glowworm, or the light seen at night on marshes or sulphurous ground, or that from rotting wood. Nothing can come of such light but pure imagination, which make appearances seem real when they are not. Faith in an invisible God sheds only this kind of light; especially so, when one reflects that God is a spirit, and thinks of spirit as the ether. What result can this have except to make a person look on God as he does the ether? So he looks for God in the universe, and not finding Him there, believes that Nature is God. This is the source of the nature-worship which is prevalent at the present time. Did not the Lord say that no one has ever heard the Father’s voice or seen His appearance (John 5:37)? And also that no one has ever seen God, and that the only-begotten Son, who is in the Father’s bosom, has revealed Him (John 1:18)? No one has seen the Father except Him who is with the Father; He has seen the Father (John 6:46). And that no one comes to the Father except through Him (John 14:6). Further we read that a person who sees and knows Him sees and knows the Father (John 14:7ff).
[3] It is, however, different with faith in the Lord God the Saviour. Since He is God and man, and can be approached and seen in the mind’s eye, this faith is not without a goal, but has a goal from which it proceeds and to which it is directed; and once accepted, it remains. It is as when one has seen an emperor or king; whenever one recalls them, their likeness recurs to the mind. The vision that faith gives is like looking at a shining cloud, with an angel in its midst, calling the person to himself so that he can be raised to heaven. That is how the Lord appears to those who have faith in Him, and He comes near to each individual, to the extent that he knows and acknowledges Him. This happens in so far as he knows and does His commandments, that is, to shun evils and do good deeds; and finally He comes to his house and makes His dwelling with him together with the Father, who is in Him, as this passage of John promises:
Jesus said, He who has my commandments and does them, he it is who loves me; and he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I shall love him and show myself to him. And we shall come to him and make our dwelling with him. John 14:21, 23.
This was written in the presence of the Lord’s twelve Apostles, who were sent to me by the Lord while I was writing this.
* Arians were heretics of the early 4th century, Socinians of the 16th century.
** Aeolus in Greek mythology controlled the winds: the Latin reads ‘wings (alis) of Aeolus’, but ‘halls’ (aulis) is clearly intended.
Faith in brief is this, that a person who lives a good life and holds a proper belief is saved by the Lord.
A human being is created for everlasting life, and any person can inherit that life, so long as he lives in accordance with the means of salvation prescribed in the Word; every Christian, as well as every non-Christian who possesses a religion and sound reason, assents to this proposition. There are many means of salvation, but each and every one concerns living a good life and holding a proper belief, that is, charity and faith; for charity is living a good life, faith is holding a proper belief. These two general principles are not merely laid down for human beings in the Word as the means of salvation, but are actually imposed on them as a duty. Because of this it follows that by their means a person can ensure his everlasting life by the power planted in him and conferred by God; and that so far as a person makes use of that power, at the same time looking to God, so far does God strengthen it and turn every part of natural charity into spiritual charity, and every part of natural faith into spiritual faith. Thus God makes dead charity and dead faith come alive, and at the same time He does the same to the person.
[2] There are two things which must be present at once for a person to be termed ‘living a good life and holding a proper belief’: in the church these two are known as the internal man and the external man. When the internal man wills good and the external man acts well, then the two become one, the external impelled by the internal, the internal acting through the external. So too man is impelled by God, and God acts through him. On the other hand, if the internal man wills evil, and yet the external man acts well, then nonetheless each of them acts from hell, because this is the source of his willing, and his acts are hypocritical. Every hypocritical act has its will lurking in it, and this is hellish, like a snake in the grass or a worm in the bud.
[3] If a person not only knows of the existence of the internal and external man, but also knows what they are, that they can really act as one, and also appear to do so, and if he knows too that the internal man lives on after death, while the external is buried, such a person is potentially in possession of the secrets of heaven as well as earth, and in abundance. If anyone links those two men in himself with a view to good, he achieves eternal happiness; but if he separates those two, and more so if he links them with a view to evil, his lot is eternal unhappiness.
[2] Now just as it is impossible for God to damn anyone who lives a good life and holds a proper belief, so in the reverse case it is impossible for God to save anyone who lives a wicked life and as a result holds a false belief. This second proposition is also contrary to order, and therefore contrary to His omnipotence, which can only proceed by way of justice; and the laws of justice are immutable truths. For the Lord says:
It is easier for heaven and earth to pass away, than for one dot of the law to fall out. Luke 16:17.
Anyone who knows anything of the essence of God and of man’s free will can grasp this, For example, Adam was free to eat of the tree of life, and of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If he had only eaten of the tree or trees of life, would it have been possible for God to drive him out of the garden? I hardly think so. But after he had eaten of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, would it have been possible for God to keep him in the garden? Again, I hardly think so. Likewise I hardly think God could cast any angel who had been received into heaven down to hell, nor admit anyone judged a devil into heaven. Neither of these things are possible for God by His own omnipotence, as may be seen in the section on the Divine omnipotence (49-70 above).
The angel said to Mary, You will conceive in your womb and give birth [to a son], and you are to give him the name of Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High. And Mary said to the angel, How shall this be, seeing I have no knowledge of a man? The angel replied, The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you, so that the holy thing that is born of you will be called the Son of God. Luke 1:31, 32, 34, 35.
When Jesus was being baptised, a voice came from heaven, saying, This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased. Matt. 3:16, 17; Mark 1:10, 11; Luke 3:21, 22.
Then when Jesus was transfigured, again a voice came from heaven which said, This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased, listen to him. Matt. 17:5; Mark 9:7; Luke 9:35.
[2] Jesus asked his disciples, Who do men say I am? Peter replied, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus said, Blessed are you, Simon, son of Jonah. I tell you, on this rock I shall build my church. Matt. 16:13, 16-18.
The Lord said that He would build His church on this rock, that is to say, on this truth and admission, that He was the Son of God. For rock means truth, and also the Lord in His capacity as Divine truth. Therefore where anyone fails to admit this truth, that He is the Son of God, the church is not present. That is why it was stated above that this is the leading point of faith in Jesus Christ, and so the true source of faith.
John the Baptist saw and bore witness that He is John 1:34.
Nathanael the disciple said to Jesus, You are the Son of God, you are the King of Israel. John 1:49.
The twelve disciples said, We believe that you are the Christ, the Son of the living God. John 6:69.
He is called the only-begotten Son of God, the only-begotten of the Father, who is in the Father’s bosom. John 1:14, 18; 3:16.
Jesus Himself admitted before the High Priest that He was the Son of God. Matt. 26:63, 64; 27:43; Mark 14:61, 62; Luke 22:70.
Those who were in the boat came and worshipped Jesus, saying, Truly, you are the Son of God. Matt. 14:33.
The eunuch who wished to be baptised said to Philip, I believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Acts 8:37.
Paul after his conversion preached Christ* as being the Son of God. Acts 9:20.
Jesus said, The hour will come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. John 5:25.
He who does not believe has already been judged, because he has not believed in the name of the only-begotten Son of God. John 3:18.
These things have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, so that by believing you may have life in His name. John 20:31.
I have written this to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have everlasting life and you may believe in the name of the Son of God. 1 John 5:13.
We know that the Son of God came and gave [us understanding,] so that we might know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and everlasting life. 1 John 5:20.
If anyone shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God remains in him, and he in God. 1 John 4:15.
Also elsewhere, as Matt. 8:29; 27:40, 43, 54; Mark 1:1; 3:11; 15:39; Luke 8:28; John 9:35; 10:36; 11:4, 27; 19:7; Rom. 1:4; 2 Cor. 1:19; Gal. 2:20; Eph. 4:13; Heb. 4:14; 6:6; 7:3; 10:29; 1 John 3:8; 5:10; Rev. 2:18.
There are also many passages where Jesus is called Son by Jehovah, and He calls Jehovah God His Father, as in this:
Whatever the Father does, this the Son does; as the Father raises up the dead and gives them life, so does the Son; so that all may honour the Son, as they honour the Father. As the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted to the Son to have life in Himself.’ John 5:19-27.
There are very many examples elsewhere; and it is the same in the Psalms of David:
I will bring news of a decree. Jehovah said to me, You are my son, today have I begotten you. Kiss the son, so that he may not be angry and so that you do not perish on the way. For in a short while his wrath will blaze up; blessed are all who trust in him. Ps. 2:7, 12.
[3] These passages now permit the conclusion that everyone who wishes to be a true Christian and to be saved by Christ should believe that Jesus is the Son of the living God. Anyone who does not believe this, but only that He is the son of Mary, is implanting in his mind various ideas about Him which are damning and destructive of his salvation; see above on this (92, 94, 102). Much the same might be said of these people as of the Jews, that in place of a King’s crown they put on His head a crown of thorns; and also that they give Him vinegar to drink and cry, ‘If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross’ [Matt. 27:29, 34, 40]. Or as the devil said tempting Him, ‘If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread’ or ‘If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down’ (Matt. 4:3, 6). These people profane His church and temple, and make it a robbers’ cave. These are those who make His worship like the cult of Mohammed, and do not distinguish between true Christianity, which is the worship of the Lord, and nature-worship. They can be likened to people riding in a carriage or a trap over thin ice, when the ice breaks beneath them and they are drowned, as freezing water closes over them, the horses and the carriage. They can also be likened to those who fashion a boat out of rushes and reeds, and glue it with pitch to make it hold together, and entrust themselves to it on the open sea; but the pitch that holds it together comes unstuck, and they are drowned and swallowed up in sea-water, and find their grave in its depths.
* The Latin has ‘Jesus’, but this is corrected in the author’s copy.
** The quotation is re-arranged in the Latin text; the translation here follows the correction entered in the author’s copy.
A person acquires faith by approaching the Lord, learning truths from the Word, and living by them.
Before starting to show the origin of faith, which is approaching the Lord, learning in addition truths from the Word, and living by them, I must first present a summary of faith, which will allow a general idea to be formed on each detail of faith. For this will make more readily intelligible not only what is said in this chapter about faith, but also what will be said later on about charity, free will, repentance, reformation and regeneration, and imputation. For faith enters into each and every part of a theological system like the blood into the parts of the body, and gives them life. The teaching of the present day church about faith is widely known in the Christian parts of the world, and particularly among the ordained clergy of the church; for the libraries of the theologians of the church are full of books about nothing but faith, and about faith alone. Indeed hardly anything but that is regarded as really theological at the present time. But before the doctrines of the present-day church regarding its faith are taken up, scrutinised and evaluated (which will be the subject of an appendix), I present the general doctrines of the new church on the subject of its faith, as follows.
The essence of the faith of the new church is: Truth from the Word.
The coming into being of the faith of the new church is: (1) Spiritual sight. (2) A harmony of truths. (3) Conviction. (4) Acknowledgment imprinted on the mind.
The states of the faith of the new church are: (1) Infant faith, youthful faith and adult faith. (2) Faith from genuine truth and faith from the appearances of truth. (3) Faith from memory, faith from reason, faith from enlightenment. (4) Natural faith, spiritual faith, celestial faith. (5) Living faith and miraculous faith. (6) Free faith and faith under compulsion.
The real form of the faith of the new church, both in general and in particular, can be seen above (2 and 3 [pp. 1-3]).
Spurious faith, in which falsities are mixed with truths, can be compared with the defect of the eye and sight called white spot on the cornea, which makes the sight dim. Meretricious faith, which arises from falsified truths, and adulterous faith, which arises from different kinds of adulterated good, can be compared with the defect of the eye and sight called glaucoma, which is a drying-up and hardening of the crystalline humour.
[2] Concealed or blind faith, which is faith in mysteries which are believed in, despite ignorance whether they are true or not, or whether they are above the level of reason or contrary to it, can be
compared with the defect of the eye called gutta serena or amaurosis, which is a loss of sight arising from the obstruction of the optic nerve, although the eye appears to be intact and seeing. Erratic faith, which is in a plurality of gods, can be compared with the defect of the eye called cataract, which is loss of sight due to blockage between the sclerotic tunic and the uvea. One-eyed faith, which is in some god other than the true one, and in the case of Christians in a god other than the Lord God the Saviour, can be compared with the defect of the eye called squinting. Hypocritical or Pharisaical faith, which is a faith of the lips, but not the heart, can be compared with atrophy of the eye leading to loss of sight. Imaginary or upside-down faith, which is falsity made by clever proofs to seem like truth, can be compared with the defect of the eye called nyctalopia, which is the ability to see by deceptive light in darkness.
Remain in me, and I in you, because without me you can do nothing. John 15:4, 5.
It is plain that it is faith directed to the Lord from the numerous passages which have been cited (337, 338), stating that one must believe in the Son. Now since faith is from the Lord and directed to the Lord, it can be said that the Lord is faith itself, for its life and essence are in the Lord, and so come from Him.
[2] Secondly: the reason why faith is formed by a person learning truths from the Word is that faith essentially is truth; for all the ingredients of faith are truths. Thus faith is nothing but a collection of truths casting light in a person’s mind. For truths teach not only that one should believe, but in whom one should believe and what one should believe. Truths must be taken from the Word, because it contains all the truths which lead to salvation; and they are effective because they have been given by the Lord, and are as a result imprinted upon the whole heaven of the angels. When therefore a person goes on to learn truths from the Word, he comes into communion and association with angels, without being aware of it. Faith devoid of truths is like seed devoid of kernel, which if milled produces only bran. But faith derived from truths is like good seed, which if milled produces flour. In short, the essentials of faith are truths; if these are not contained in it and compose it, faith is no more than the sound of a whistle; but when truths are contained in and compose faith, then it is the sound of something that brings salvation.
[3] Thirdly: faith is formed by a person living by truths, because spiritual life is living in accordance with truths, and truths do not really come alive until they are realised in deeds. Truths unconnected with deeds belong merely to a person’s thinking; if they are not also accepted by the will, they merely stand at a person’s door and so are not within him. For the will is the person himself, and thought is a person to the extent that it joins the will to itself, and the nature of thought is determined by this joining. A person who learns truths without putting them into practice is like someone scattering seeds over a field and not harrowing it; then the rain makes the seeds swell so that they become empty husks. But a person who learns truths and puts them into practice is like someone who sows seed and ploughs the seed in; then the rain makes the seeds grow into a crop, and they become a useful source of food. The Lord says:
If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them. John 13:17.
and in another passage:
The person who sows on good ground is the one who hears the Word and pays attention to it, so that he brings forth and produces fruit. Matt. 13:23.
Also:
Everyone who hears my words and acts upon them, I will compare to a prudent man, who built his house upon a rock; but everyone who hears my words and does not act upon them will be compared to a foolish man who built his house upon sand. Matt. 7:24, 26.
The Lord’s words are all of them truths.
Where the three are separated, there faith is like infertile seed, which when put in the ground dissolves into dust; but where the three are linked, there faith is like seed in the ground which grows up into a tree, and the fruit of that faith is dependent upon their being linked. Where the three are separated, faith is like an egg lacking any fertility; but where they are linked, faith is like the fertile egg of a beautiful bird.
[2] In the case of those with whom the three are separated, faith can be likened to the eye of a cooked fish or crab; but faith with those who have them linked together can be likened to an eye which is rendered pellucid by the crystalline humour right up to and through the uvea of the pupil. Faith separated is like a painting made with colours of dark tones on a black stone, but faith linked is like a painting done with beautiful colours on a pellucid crystal. The light of separated faith can be compared with that of a fire-brand in the hand of a traveller at night, but the light of linked faith can be compared with the light of a torch, which when shaken lights up the details of the path. Faith without truths is like a vine which bears wild grapes; but faith derived from truths is like a vine which bears clusters of grapes yielding a fine wine. Faith in the Lord devoid of, truths can be compared with a new star appearing in the sky, which grows dim in time, but faith in the Lord accompanied by truths can be compared with a fixed star, which lasts permanently. Truth is the essence of faith, and therefore the nature of truth determines the nature of faith; without truths it is errant, with them it is stable. Faith based on truths also shines in heaven like a star.
The mass of truths, which cohere as it were in a bundle, raises the level of faith and brings it to perfection.
Looking at present-day faith does not permit one to recognise that faith taken all around is a collection of truths. Still less does it suggest that a person can make some contribution to the acquisition of his faith. Yet faith is in essence truth, being truth in its own light, and so just as truth can be acquired, so can faith. Is there anyone who cannot approach the Lord, if he wishes? Or who cannot gather truths from the Word, if he wishes? Every truth in the Word and taken from the Word shines, and truth in light is faith. The Lord, who is light itself, flows into everyone; and if a person possesses truths from the Word, He makes them shine in them, so making them part of faith. This is what the Lord says in John, that they should remain in Him and His words would remain in them (John 15:7). The Lord’s words are truths. But in order to allow the idea to be correctly grasped, that the mass of truths cohering, as it were in a bundle, raises the level of faith and brings it to perfection, the comments on this must be split into the following parts:
(i) The truths of faith are capable of being multiplied to infinity.
(ii) Their arrangement is into groupings, thus, so to speak, into bundles.
(iii) Faith is perfected in proportion to their volume and coherence.
(iv) However numerous the truths are and however varied they appear, they are made one by the Lord, who is the Word, the God of heaven and earth, the God of all flesh, the God of the vineyard or the church, the God of faith, and light itself, truth and everlasting life.
[2] The way the truths of faith multiply to infinity can be compared with human seed, each one of which can propagate families for century after century. The way the truths of faith reproduce can also be compared with the way seeds in fields or gardens reproduce; these can be propagated to make hundreds of millions and for ever. Seed in the Word means simply truth, a field means doctrine, a garden wisdom. The human mind resembles the soil in which spiritual and natural truths are planted like seeds, and they can multiply without limit. People acquire this capacity from the infinity of God, who is perpetually present giving His light and heat, and the capacity to beget.
It needs to be explained what is meant by groupings and bundles. The first chapter of this book, dealing with God the Creator, is divided into grouped topics, the first of which is on the oneness of God; the second is on the being of God, that is, Jehovah; the third on the infinity of God; the fourth on the essence of God, which is Divine love and Divine wisdom; the fifth on the omnipotence of God; and the sixth on creation. The separate points in each make up the grouping; they tie together the contents, as it were into handfuls. These groupings in common and in particular, so both taken all together and individually, contain truths, which in proportion to their volume and coherence raise the level of faith and bring it to perfection.
[2] If anyone is unaware that the human mind is organised, or is a spiritual organism terminating in a natural organism, in which and controlled by which the mind operates on its ideas or thinks, he cannot help holding the opinion that perceptions, thoughts and ideas are merely rays and variations of light falling upon the head and presenting forms which he sees and acknowledges as reasons. But this is nonsense, for everyone knows that the head is filled with brains, the brains are organised, and the mind lives in them, and its ideas are fixed and remain in it as they are received and proved. So the question is, what sort of Organisation is there? The answer is that everything is arranged into groupings, as it were into bundles, and this is how the truths that make up faith are arranged in the human mind. This fact can be illustrated by the following considerations.
[3] The brain consists of two substances, one glandular, called the cortical and grey matter; the other is fibrillary and is called the medullary substance. The first substance, the glandular one, is arranged in clusters like grapes on a vine; these clusters are its groupings. The second substance, called medullary, is composed of continuous bundles of fibres projecting from the glands of the first substance. These bundles are its groupings. All the nerves, which project from those and lead down into the body to perform various functions, are simply handfuls and bundles of fibres; so too are all the muscles, and generally speaking all the viscera and organs of the body. Both classes are of such a nature because they correspond to the groupings in which the mind is organised.
[4] Moreover throughout Nature there is nothing which is not composed of bunches to form groupings. Every tree, every bush, plant and vegetable, indeed every ear of corn or blade of grass is both generally and in detail so constructed. The universal cause of this is that this is the way Divine truths are structured; for we read that all things were created by the Word, that is, by Divine truth, and that the world too was made by the Word (John 1:1ff). These facts can allow us to see that, if the human mind did not contain such an orderly arrangement of substances, human beings would not possess any powers of analytical reasoning. Everyone has such powers in proportion to the orderly arrangement of his mind, and so in proportion to the volume of truths cohering as it were in a bundle; and this arrangement depends upon his free use of his reason.
[2] The light and glorious appearance of faith, which it gets from the volume of truths which form its structure, can be compared with the lighting of churches by a great number of lamp-stands, of houses by lamps and of streets by lanterns. The raising of faith to a higher level by the volume of truths can be illustrated by comparison with the increase in the volume of sound and the accompanying melody produced by playing a number of musical instruments in harmony; and also with the increase in fragrance produced by the grouping together of sweet-smelling flowers, and so on.
The resistance to falsities and evils of a faith formed from a large number of truths can be compared with the strength of a church built of well-fitted masonry, with columns to buttress the walls and support the ceiling. It can also be compared with troops drawn up to make a square formation, standing shoulder to shoulder and thus making up and acting as a single strongpoint. It can also be compared with the muscles which form the structure of the whole body, and, although they are so numerous and widely dispersed, none the less in action exert a single force; and so on and so forth.
This can be illustrated by a comparison with the limbs, viscera and organs in a single body: despite their variety and their apparent difference to our sight, still the person whose whole form they compose is only aware of them as a single unit, and when he uses them all in action, he acts as if with a single unit. It is much the same with heaven: although it is divided into countless communities, yet it looks like one in the sight of the Lord. I showed above that it looks like one person. It is much the same with a kingdom, which although divided into many administrative districts, provinces and towns, still acts as one under the guidance of a king endowed with righteousness and judgment. The reason why, by the Lord’s doing, the truths that make up faith and make the church truly a church behave in the same way, is that the Lord is the Word, the God of heaven and earth, the God of all flesh, the God of the vineyard or the church, the God of faith, and light itself, truth and everlasting life.
[2] It is evident in John’s gospel that the Lord is the Word, and thus all the truth of heaven and the church.
The Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the Word was made flesh. John 1:1, 14.
It is evident in Matthew that the Lord is the God of heaven and earth.
Elsewhere:
Jesus said, All power has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Matt. 28:18.
The Lord is the God of all flesh, in John:
The Father gave the Son power over all flesh. John 17:2.
The Lord is the God of the vineyard or the church, in Isaiah:
My beloved had a vineyard. Isa. 5:1, 2.
In John:
I am the vine and you are the branches. John 15:5.
The Lord is the God of faith, in Paul:
Having righteousness, which is from faith in Christ, from faith in God. Phil. 3:9.
The Lord is light itself, in John:
He was the true light, which enlightens everyone who comes into the world. John 1:9.
Elsewhere:
Jesus said, I have come as a light into the world, so that everyone who believes in me should not remain in darkness. John 12:46.
The Lord is truth itself, in John:
Jesus said, I am the way, truth and life. John 14:6.
The Lord is everlasting life, in John:
We know that the Son of God came, so that we might Know Him who is true, and we are in Him who is true in His son Jesus Christ.* He is the true God and everlasting life. 1 John 5:20.
[3] It needs to be added that worldly affairs prevent people from acquiring more than a few truths to make up faith. Still, if anyone approaches the Lord and worships Him alone, he is enabled to get to know all truths. As soon, therefore, as every true worshipper of the Lord hears some truth of faith previously unknown to him, he immediately sees, acknowledges and accepts it. The reason is that the Lord is in him, and he is in the Lord. Consequently the light of truth is in him, and he is in the light of truth, for, as was said above, the Lord is light itself and truth itself.
The following experience can support this. I saw a spirit who in the company of others appeared simple, because he had acknowledged the Lord alone as God of heaven and earth, and had established his faith by means of a few truths taken from the Word. He was carried up into heaven to join the wiser angels, and I was told that there he was as wise as they were; in fact, he uttered numerous truths, entirely as if of himself, of which he had previously been totally ignorant.
[4] The state of those who are to come into the Lord’s new church will be similar. This is the same state as is described by Jeremiah:
This shall be the covenant which I shall make with the house of Israel after these days. I will set my law in their midst, and I will write it upon their heart. Nor shall they any more teach a man his companion, or a man his brother, saying, get to know Jehovah**; for all shall know Me, from the least to the greatest of them. Jer. 31:33, 34.
That state will also be as described by Isaiah:
A shoot will come forth from the stock of Jesse. Truth will be the belt around his thighs. Then the wolf will stay with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the kid. The sucking child will play on the hole of the viper, and the weaned child will thrust his hand on the den of the basilisk. For the earth will be full of the knowledge of Jehovah, as the waters cover the sea. On that day the nations will seek the root of Jesse, and peace will be his glory. Isa. 11:[1, 5,]6-10.
* The first edition reads strictly ‘. . . came into the world, so that we might know the truth. And we are in the truth in Jesus Christ.’ But the author’s copy has been corrected in keeping with the original Greek.
** Corrected from ‘the Lord’ in the author’s copy.
Faith without charity is no faith, and charity without faith is no charity, and both are lifeless unless the Lord gives them life.
It is perfectly plain from the Epistles written by the Apostles that it never so much as entered the mind of any of them, that the present-day church would have separated faith from charity, alleging that faith alone without the deeds prescribed by the law justifies a person and saves him; and that as a result charity cannot be linked with faith, since faith comes from God, and charity, in so far as it is realised in deeds, comes from man. But this separation and division was introduced into the Christian church at the time when they split the one God into three persons, attributing to each equal divinity. It will be explained in the next section that there is no faith without charity, nor any charity without faith, and both are lifeless unless the Lord gives them life, Here to smooth the path I shall prove that:
(i) A person can acquire faith for himself;
(ii) also charity;
(iii) and a life of faith and charity,
(iv) But still faith, charity or life in either of them is not in the least created by man, but only by the Lord.
Man is utterly corrupt and dead to good, so that after the fall and before regeneration not a spark of spiritual strength has been left or remains in man’s nature, so as to enable him to be prepared for God’s grace, or to grasp it when offered, or to be capable of receiving grace of his own accord or by his own efforts; or in spiritual matters to understand, believe, embrace, think, will, begin, complete, act, work or collaborate, or to devote or fit himself for grace or do anything of himself towards conversion, either wholly or half or to the smallest extent. Man in spiritual matters relating to the salvation of the soul is like Lot’s wife turned into a pillar of salt, or like a lifeless block of wood or stone, unable to use its eyes, its mouth or any senses. Yet man possesses the power of locomotion, that is, of controlling his outward parts, of attending public gatherings, and listening to the Word and the Gospel.
These statements are from the book of the Evangelical Church called ‘The Formula of Concord’ published in Leipzig in 1756 (pp. 656, 658, 661-3, 671-3). When priests are ordained they swear on this book and so swear to uphold this faith. The Reformed Churches have a similar faith. But is there anyone, endowed with reason and a religion, who would not howl down these views as nonsensical and absurd? For he would say to himself, ‘If that were so, what use would the Word be, what use would religion be, or the priesthood, or preaching? Would it be more than an empty noise signifying nothing?’ If you were to say this sort of thing to a heathen with some power of judgment whom you wanted to convert, telling him he was like this as regards conversion and faith, could he fail to look on Christianity otherwise than as an empty vessel? For if you take away from a person any power to believe as of himself, what else could he do? This subject will be set in a clearer light in the chapter on free will.
This is the same as with faith. For what else does the Word teach except faith and charity, the two essentials for salvation? We read:
You are to love the Lord with all your heart and with all your soul, and your neighbour as yourself. Matt. 22:34-39.
And Jesus said, I give you a [new] commandment, to love one another. By this you will be known to be my disciples, by loving one another. John 13:34, 35; similarly 15:9; 16:27.
We also read that man is to bring forth fruit like a good tree; and that those who do good deeds will be rewarded at the resurrection [Luke 14:14]; and many similar statements. What would be the point of them if a person could not display charity of himself, or acquire it for himself in any way? Surely he can give alms, help the needy, and do good deeds in his home or at his work? Surely he can live in accordance with the Ten Commandments? Has he not got a soul to make him act like this, and also a rational mind which can induce him to act for some purpose or other? Surely he can think that he will do* these actions because they are enjoined in the Word, and so by God? There is no one who lacks this ability; and the reason for its not being lacking is that the Lord confers it on everybody, and He confers it as if it were something of the person’s own. For is there anyone who when he does a charitable act is aware of doing it otherwise than of himself?
* Reading facturus for fructurus, which makes no sense.
It is the same with this, for he acquires it when he approaches the Lord, who is life itself. Nor is the approach to Him blocked for anyone, since He constantly invites everyone to come to Him. For He said:
He who comes to me will not be hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty. And I will not cast out anyone who comes to me. John 6:35, 37.
Jesus stood and cried, If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. John 7:37.
Elsewhere:
The kingdom of the heavens is like [a king]*, who held his son’s wedding, and sent his servants to summon the guests. And finally he said, Go to the ends of the streets**, and invite to the wedding anyone you find. Matt. 22:1-9.
Surely no one can help knowing that the invitation or summons is addressed to everyone, and so is the grace shown in receiving them.
The reason why a person is given life by approaching the Lord is that the Lord is life itself, not only the life of faith, but also the life of charity. It is evident from the following passages that the Lord is life, and man’s life comes from the Lord:
In the beginning was the Word. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. John 1:1, 4.
As the Father raises up the dead and makes them live, so the Son makes him whom He wishes live. John 5:21.
As the Father has life in Himself, so did He grant the Son to have life in Himself. John 5:26.
The bread of God it is which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. John 6:33.
The words which I speak to you are spirit and life. John 6:63.
Jesus said, He who follows me will have the light of life. John 8:12.
I have come so that they may have life, and have it in abundance. John 10:10.
He who believes in me, though he die, shall live. John 11:25.
I am the way, truth and life. John 14:6.
Because I live, you too shall live. John 14:19.
These things have been written so that you may have life in His name. John 20:31.
He is everlasting life. 1 John 5:20.
Life in faith and charity means spiritual life, which is given to a person by the Lord during his natural life.
* These words, omitted in the Latin, were added in the author’s copy.
** The Latin has ‘waters’, but this is corrected in the author’s copy.
For we read that man cannot take anything, unless it is given him from heaven (John 3:27). And Jesus said:
He who remains in me, and I in him, brings forth much fruit, because without me you can do nothing. John 15:5.
This, however, must be understood to mean that a person can only acquire by his own efforts natural faith, which is a firm belief that a thing is so because an authoritative person so declared it. He can also acquire only natural charity, which is working in someone’s favour for the sake of some reward. These two contain man’s self, and there is no life as yet from the Lord. Still a person by either of these prepares himself to receive the Lord. In so far as he prepares himself, so far does the Lord come in and make his natural faith spiritual, and likewise his charity, and so make both living. These results follow when a person approaches the Lord as the God of heaven and earth.
Since man was created an image of God, he was created to be a dwelling for God. Therefore the Lord says:
He who has my commandments and does them, he it is who loves me; and I shall love him, and come to him and make my dwelling with him. John 14:21, 23.
Also:
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. Rev. 3:20.
From these statements the conclusion follows, that in so far as a person prepares himself on the natural level to receive the Lord, so does the Lord come in and make everything within him spiritual, so giving everything life. On the other hand, however, in so far as a person does not prepare himself, to that extent he distances the Lord from himself, and does everything of himself; and what a person does of himself has no life in it. But it is impossible to cast much light on this subject until I have discussed charity and free will, and I shall come back to it later in the chapter on reformation and regeneration.
There are two worlds, the natural and the spiritual. Both of them have a sun, and either sun is the source of heat and light. But the heat and light from the sun of the spiritual world have life in them; their life comes from the Lord, who is in the midst of that sun. Heat and light from the sun of the natural world, however, have no life in them, but serve as receivers for the two previous kinds of heat and light (as is commonly the relationship of instrumental causes to leading causes) so as to transmit them to mankind. So it must be known that the heat and light from the sun of the spiritual world are the source of everything spiritual. The heat and light too are spiritual, because they contain spirit and life. But the heat and light from the sun of the natural world are the source of everything natural, and these are, taken by themselves, devoid of spirit and life.
[2] Now since faith is related to light and charity to heat, it is clear that in so far as a person is in the light and heat radiated by the sun of the spiritual world, so far is he in spiritual faith and charity. But in so far as he is in the light and heat radiated by the sun of the natural world, so far is he in natural faith and charity. From these considerations it is evident that just as spiritual light is contained within natural light, as it were in its container or repository, and likewise spiritual heat is contained within natural heat, so too is spiritual faith contained within natural faith, and likewise spiritual charity within natural charity. This happens in step with a person’s progress from the natural to the spiritual world; and this progress is dependent upon belief in the Lord, who is light itself, the way, truth and life, as He Himself teaches us.
[3] This being so, it is clear that when a person is in spiritual faith, he is also then in natural faith; for spiritual faith is, as has been said, contained within natural faith. And since faith relates to light, it follows that by being so inserted one in the other, the person’s natural becomes as it were diaphanous, and that, according to the way it is linked with charity, it acquires beautiful colouring. The reason is that charity shines with a reddish glow, faith with a brilliant white light. It is the flame of spiritual fire which makes charity glow red, and the brilliance of light produced by it which makes faith shine white. The opposite happens if the spiritual is not within the natural, but the natural is within the spiritual, as happens with people who reject faith and charity. In their case the internal of their mind, which controls them when they are left to their own thoughts, is hellish; and they actually derive their thoughts from hell, although they are unaware of this. The external of their mind, however, which controls their conversation with companions in the world, looks as if it were spiritual, but is crammed with the sort of filth found in hell. Consequently these people are actually in hell, being in the opposite state to those described before.
[2] In so far as a person’s faith and charity become spiritual, so far is he withdrawn from the self and does not have in view himself, a reward or recompense, but only the delight of perceiving the truths which make up faith and of performing the good actions which make up love. In so far as that spirituality is increased, so far does that delight become blessedness; this is the source of his salvation, which is what is called everlasting life. The state a person is then in can be compared with the loveliest and most beautiful sights in the world; indeed it is compared with these in the Word. For instance, it is compared with fruit-trees and gardens full of them, with flowery meadows, with precious stones, with delicious food, and with weddings, as well as festivities and celebrations.
[3] In the opposite case, however, that is, when the natural is within the spiritual, and the person is consequently inwardly a devil, though outwardly like an angel, then he can be compared with a dead man in a casket of costly and gilded wood. He can also be compared with a skeleton dressed up in clothes like a person and riding in a splendid carriage; and also with a corpse in a tomb built like the temple of Diana.* In fact his internal state can be represented as like a knot of snakes in a pit, but his external state as like butterflies with wings displaying every sort of colour, but which stick their filthy eggs on the leaves of useful trees, so that their fruit is eaten up. In fact, their internal can be compared with a hawk, and their external with a dove; then the person’s faith and charity are like the hawk flying above a dove which is trying to get away, and at length it tires, whereupon the hawk pounces and devours it.
* A reference to the celebrated temple of Diana or Artemis at Ephesus, one of the wonders of the ancient world.
The Lord, charity and faith make one, just as in a person life, will and understanding do; if they are separated, each of them is destroyed, like a pearl collapsing into dust.
We shall begin by relating some facts which have up to now been unknown to the learned world, and so to the ecclesiastical establishment. They are as unknown as if they had been buried in the earth, although they are treasuries of wisdom, and unless they are dug up and made public, men seek in vain to arrive at a proper knowledge of God, faith, charity, and of the state of their own lives; they do not know how to control it and to prepare for the state of everlasting life. The following facts are unknown. A person is nothing but an organ of life. Life together with all it entails flows in from the God of heaven, who is the Lord. There are two faculties which give men life, called the will and the understanding, the will being a receiver for love, the understanding a receiver for wisdom. The will is also thus a receiver for charity and the understanding a receiver for faith. [2] Everything a person wills and everything he understands flow in from outside; the kinds of good which belong to love and charity, and the truths which belong to wisdom and faith come from the Lord; but on the other hand everything opposed to these comes from hell. It has been arranged by the Lord that what flows in from outside is felt by the person in himself as if it belonged to him, so that he can bring it forth from himself as if it were his own, although nothing of it belongs to him. However, it is reckoned as his on account of the free will enjoyed by his faculties of will and thought, and on account of the knowledge of good and truth granted to him, from which he can freely choose whatever is for the benefit of his temporal or everlasting life.
[3] Anyone looking at these facts crookedly or askance can reach many crazy conclusions from them. Anyone who looks at them straight in the eye can reach many wise conclusions from them. So as to achieve the latter instead of the former result, it has been necessary to state as a premise judgments and dogmas about God and the Divine Trinity, and after this to establish judgments and dogmas about faith, charity, free will, reformation and regeneration, and about imputation, as well as about repentance, baptism, and the Holy Supper, which act as means.
(i) The Lord flows into every human being with all His Divine love, all His Divine wisdom, and so with all His Divine life.
(ii) He does this likewise with the whole essence of faith and charity.
(iii) But how these are received by the person depends upon his form.
(iv) The person, however, who separates the Lord, charity and faith is not a form which can receive them, but rather one which destroys them.
We read in the Book of Creation that man was created an image of God, and God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life (Gen. 1:27; 2:7). This description means that he is an organ of life, not life itself. For God could not have created another like Himself; if He could have done so, there would be as many gods as there are people. Nor could He create life, just as neither can light be created. But He could create man to be a form for life to act on, just as He created the eye to be a form for light to act on. Nor could God, nor can He, divide His essence, since it is one and indivisible. So since God alone is life, it follows indubitably that God uses His own life to give life to every human being. Without that quickening man would be as regards flesh nothing but a sponge, and as regards bones nothing but a skeleton, no more alive than a clock, which is kept running by a pendulum together with a weight or a spring. Since this is so, it also follows that God flows in with every person with all His Divine life, that is, with all His Divine love and Divine wisdom. These two make up His Divine life (see 39, 40 above); for the Divine cannot be divided.
[2] However, the manner in which God flows in with all His Divine life can be grasped as somewhat resembling the way the sun of the world flows in with all its essence, which is heat and light, into every tree, into every shrub and flower, into every stone, ordinary as well as precious, so that each single object draws its ration from this common inflow; but the sun does not split up its light and heat, giving part to this object and part to that. It is much the same with the sun of heaven, which radiates Divine love as heat and Divine wisdom as light. These two flow into human minds, just as the heat and light of the sun of the world flow into human bodies, giving them life depending on the nature of their form; the form of each takes from the common inflow what it needs. The following saying of the Lord can be applied to this:
Your Father makes His sun rise upon the wicked and the good, and sends rain upon the righteous and the unrighteous. Matt. 5:45.
[3] Also, the Lord is omnipresent, and where He is present, there He is with His whole essence. It is impossible for Him to take anything away from that essence, so as to give a part to one and another part to another, but He gives it in its entirety, enabling a person to take a little or much. He says too that He has His dwelling with those who keep His commandments, and that the faithful are in Him and He is in them. In short, everything is full of God, and from that fulness each takes his own share. Everything held in common is like this, for instance, the atmospheres or the oceans. The atmosphere is the same on the smallest as it is on the largest scale. It does not assign a part of itself to a person’s breathing, to a bird’s flying, or to the sails of a ship, or the sails of a wind-mill; but each takes from it its own portion and uses for itself as much as is enough. It is also similar with a granary full of wheat; the owner each day takes from it his own rations, and it is not the granary that distributes them.
This follows from the previous proposition, since the life of Divine wisdom is the essence of faith, and the life of Divine love is the essence of charity. Therefore, when the Lord is present with His own particular attributes, namely Divine wisdom and Divine love, He is also present with all the truths which make up faith and all the kinds of good which make up charity. For faith means every truth which the Lord enables a person to perceive, think and speak, and charity means every kind of good for which the Lord inspires an affection, and which the person consequently wills and does.
[2] I said above that the Divine love which radiates from the Lord as a sun is felt by the angels as heat, and the Divine wisdom from the same source is perceived as light. Anyone who is unable to pass beyond appearances in his thinking might hold the view that that heat is nothing but heat, and that light is nothing but light, such as are the heat and light radiated by the sun of our world. But the heat and light radiated by the Lord as a sun contain within themselves all the infinite possibilities in the Lord, the heat containing all the infinite possibilities of His love, the light all the infinite possibilities of His wisdom. Thus they also contain to an infinite degree all the good which makes up charity and all the truth which makes up faith. The reason is that that very sun is everywhere present in the form of its heat and light; and that sun is a circle most closely surrounding the Lord, and emanating from His Divine love and at the same time from His Divine wisdom. For, as has been said a number of times before, the Lord is in the midst of that sun.
[3] These statements now show plainly that there cannot be anything lacking to prevent a person drawing from the Lord, since He is omnipresent, all the good which makes up charity and all the truth which makes up faith. The fact that nothing of this is lacking is evident from a consideration of the love and wisdom of the angels of heaven; these they have from the Lord, and they are beyond description, passing the comprehension of a natural person, and they are capable of being increased for ever.
The infinite possibilities contained in the heat and light radiated by the Lord, even though they are perceived as simply heat and light, can be illustrated by various phenomena of the natural world. For instance, the sound of a person’s voice and speech is heard as a simple sound, yet the angels on hearing it perceive in it all the affections which make up the person’s love, and they also show which affections and of what kind they are. The fact that these things lie hidden within the sound one can even to some extent grasp from the sound of someone talking: for instance, whether it has in it a ring of contempt, or mockery, or hatred; and equally whether it has a ring of charity, good will, or cheerfulness, or other affections. The look the eye has when gazing at someone has something similar hidden in it.
[4] Another illustration might be the scents of a large garden, or the scents from broad expanses of flowering meadows. The fragrant odour they exhale is composed of thousands and myriads of various scents, yet they are still perceived as one. It is similar with many other things which, uniform as they appear externally, are still inwardly multifarious.
Sympathetic or antipathetic feelings are nothing but affections given off from the mind; they attract another the more strongly the more they resemble his, and repel him the more they differ from his. Although these feelings are countless and not felt by any bodily sense, they are still perceived by the sensory organs of the soul as one; and it is these which determine who are linked together and associated in the spiritual world. I have brought in these comparisons in order to illustrate what was said above about the spiritual light radiated by the Lord containing the whole of wisdom and the whole of faith; and to show that this is the light which allows the understanding to see and submit to analysis rational arguments, just as the eye sees and estimates the proportions of natural objects.
[2] God’s life is present in all its fulness not only with good and religious people, but also with wicked and irreligious people; and in no way differently with the angels of heaven and the spirits of hell. The difference is that the wicked block the path and close the door, to prevent God entering the lower levels of their minds; whereas the good smooth the path and open the door, also inviting God to enter the lower levels of their minds, even as He dwells in the highest levels. By this they adjust the state of the will to receive the inflowing love and charity, and the state of the understanding to receive the inflowing wisdom and faith, in other words, so as to receive God. The wicked, however, block that inflow by various longings of the flesh and spiritual pollutions, which they place in the way and so prevent passage. But all the while God resides in their highest levels with the whole of His Divine essence, and gives them the ability to will good and to understand truth. Every person has this ability, and this could by no means be the case, if life coming from God were not in his soul. I have been enabled to learn by long experience that even the wicked have this ability.
[3] How the life everyone receives from God depends upon his form can be illustrated by comparisons with every kind of plant. Every tree, every bush, every shrub and every grass receives the inflowing heat and light in accordance with its form. So this is true not only of the good and useful plants, but even of those which are harmful. The sun with its heat does not cause changes in their forms, but the forms in themselves modify the effects produced. It is much the same with things in the mineral kingdom. Each one of them, the noble as much as the base, receives into itself the inflow in accordance with the form presented by the structure of its parts. Thus one stone differs in this from another, one mineral from another and one metal from another. Some of them display the most beautiful variations of colour; some transmit the light without variegation; and some break up the light in themselves and absorb it. These few illustrations may serve to establish that, just as the sun of the world is equally present with its heat and light in one object as in another, but the receiving forms produce its varied effects, likewise the Lord is present from the sun of heaven. For He is in its midst with His heat, which is in its essence love, and with His light, which is in its essence wisdom. But it is a person’s form, determined by his states of life, which produces the varied effects; and consequently the Lord is not responsible for a person not being reborn and saved, but it is the person himself who is.
Anyone who separates the Lord from charity and faith takes away life from them; charity and faith without life either are non-existent or are abortions. The Lord is life itself; see on this 358 above. Anyone who acknowledges the Lord and separates charity from Him, only acknowledges Him with the lips. His acknowledgment and confession are merely cold, lacking any faith; for they lack spiritual essence, since charity is the essence of faith. Anyone, however, who does charitable deeds and fails to acknowledge the Lord as being the God of heaven and earth, one with the Father, as He Himself teaches, can perform only deeds of natural charity, which do not contain everlasting life. People in the church know that all good which is essentially good comes from God, consequently from the Lord, who is the true God and everlasting life (1 John 5:20). The same is true of charity, since good and charity are one.
[2] Faith separated from charity is no faith, because faith is the light of a person’s life, and charity is its heat. Therefore, if charity is separated from faith, the result is like separating heat from light. This causes a person’s state to resemble the state of the world in winter, when everything above ground dies off. Charity and faith, if they are to be real charity and real faith, can no more be separated than the will and the understanding; if they are separated, the understanding is reduced to nothing, and the will soon follows. It is the same with charity and faith, because charity dwells in the will, and faith in the understanding.
[3] Separating charity from faith is like separating essence from form. The learned world is well aware that essence without form and form without essence are nothing, since essence cannot have any quality except from its form, nor is form any continuing entity except from its essence. Hence nothing can be predicated of either if they are separated one from the other. Charity is also the essence of faith, and faith is the form of charity, precisely as was said before, that good is the essence of truth and truth is the form of good.
[4] These two, good and truth, are in every single thing which comes into existence in essence. Since therefore charity relates to good, and faith to truth, they can be illustrated by comparisons with many features of the human body, and with many phenomena on earth. An exact comparison is with the respiration of the lungs and the systolic motion of the heart; for charity can no more be separated from faith than the heart can from the lungs. For if the heart-beat ceases, the respiration of the lungs ceases at once; and if the respiration of the lungs ceases, total unconsciousness supervenes, and inability to move any muscle, so that shortly afterwards the heart also stops and all trace of life vanishes. This comparison is exact, because the heart corresponds to the will and thus also to charity, and the respiration of the lungs to the understanding and thus also to faith. For, as stated above, charity dwells in the will and faith in the understanding; this and nothing else is the meaning of ‘heart’ and ‘breath’ in the Word.
[5] The separation of charity and faith also agrees exactly with the separation of blood and flesh. Blood separated from flesh is gore and turns into rotting blood; and flesh separated from blood becomes progressively rotten and breeds worms. ‘Blood’ too in the spiritual sense means the truth of wisdom and faith, and ‘flesh’ means the good of love and of charity. This meaning of blood was demonstrated in my APOCALYPSE REVEALED, 379; and of flesh, 832.
[6] Charity and faith, for one or the other to be anything, can no more be separated than in the human body food and water, or bread and wine. For food or bread taken without water or wine merely distend the stomach and ruin it as undigested lumps, turning into rotting mud. Water or wine without food or bread also distend the stomach, as well as the vessels and passages, which being thus deprived of nutriment cause wasting in the body to the point of death. This comparison too fits, since ‘food’ and ‘bread’ in the spiritual sense mean the good of love and of charity, and ‘water’ and ‘wine’ mean the truth of wisdom and faith (see APOCALYPSE REVEALED 50, 316, 778, 932),
[7] Charity combined with faith and faith combined in return with charity can be likened to the beauty of a girl’s face coming from the mixture of red and white in it. This likeness too is exact, since love and the charity that comes from it in the spiritual world glows red with the fire of the sun there, and truth, and the faith that comes from it, shine white with the light of that sun. Charity separated from faith can therefore be likened to a face inflamed with spots, and faith separated from charity to the colourless face of a corpse. Faith separated from charity can also be likened to a paralysis down one side, known as hemiplegia, which, if it advances, proves fatal. It can also be likened to St Vitus’ or Guy’s dance, which attacks people bitten by a tarantula. The faculty of reason becomes like this, and like the victim dances madly, believing itself then to be alive, yet it is no more able to assemble rational thoughts together and think about spiritual truths, than when someone is lying in bed in the grip of a nightmare. These remarks are enough to demonstrate the two theses of this chapter, first, that faith without charity is no faith and charity without faith is no charity, and both are lifeless unless the Lord gives them life; and secondly, that the Lord, charity and faith make one, just as in a person life, will and understanding do, and if they are separated, each of them is destroyed, like a pearl collapsing into dust.
The Lord is charity and faith in the person, and the person is charity and faith in the Lord.
It is evident from the following passages in the Word that a member of the church is in the Lord, and the Lord is in him:
Jesus said, Remain in me, and I in you. I am the vine and you are the branches. He who remains in me, and I in him, bears much fruit. John 15:4, 5.
He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. John 6:56.
On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. John 14:20.
If anyone shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God remains in him, and he in God. 1 John 4:15.
But the person cannot himself be in the Lord; it is the charity and faith which the Lord grants to be in a person which can, and it is these which make a human being to be essentially human. However, to throw some light upon this secret and allow the understanding to grasp it, we must study it in the following order.
(i) It is being linked with God, which affords a person salvation and everlasting life.
(ii) A link is impossible with God the Father, but it is possible with the Lord, and through Him with God the Father.
(iii) The link with the Lord is reciprocal, so that the Lord is in the person, and he is in the Lord.
(iv) This reciprocal link is created by means of charity and faith.
The truth of these propositions will become plain from the succeeding explanation.
Man was created to be capable of being linked with God. For he was created a native of heaven and also a native of the world. In so far as he is a native of heaven, he is spiritual, but in so far as he is a native of the world, he is natural. A spiritual person can think about God and grasp ideas relating to God; he can also love God, and be attracted by what comes from God. It follows from this that he can be linked with God.
It is beyond the remotest possibility of doubt that a person can think about God, and grasp ideas relating to God. For he can think about the oneness of God, about the being of God, which is Jehovah, the immensity and eternity of God, Divine love and Divine wisdom, which comprise the essence of God, His omnipotence, omniscience and omnipresence; about the Lord the Saviour His Son, and redemption and mediation; also about the Holy Spirit, and finally about the Divine Trinity. All of these are ideas relating to God; in fact, they are God. He can, moreover, think about the activities of God, which are in the first place faith and charity, as well as many other things which come forth from these two.
[2] It is evident that a person can not only think about God, but also love God, from the two commandments of God Himself, which run like this:
You are to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. This is the first and great commandment. The second is similar to it: you are to love your neighbour as yourself. Matt. 22:37-39; Deut. 6:5.
It is evident from the following passage that a person can perform God’s commandments, and that this is loving God:
Jesus said, He who has my commandments and does them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I shall love him and show myself to him. John 14:21.
[3] Furthermore, what is faith but a link with God by means of truths, which belong to the understanding and thus to thought; and what is love but being linked with God by means of various kinds of good, which belong to the will and thus to the affection? God’s link with man is a spiritual link in the natural; and man’s link with God is a natural link derived from the spiritual. It was for the purpose of this linking that man was created a native of heaven and at the same time of the world. As a native of heaven he is spiritual, and as a native of the world he is natural. So if a person becomes spiritually rational and at the same time spiritually moral, he is linked to God, and this link affords him salvation and everlasting life. However, if a person is only naturally rational and also naturally moral, God is certainly linked with him, but he is not linked with God. The result is his spiritual death, which considered in itself is natural life devoid of spiritual life; for the spirituality, in which is God’s life, in his case is extinguished.
This is taught by Scripture and is to be seen by the reason. Scripture teaches that God the Father has never been seen or heard, and cannot be seen or heard either; nor likewise can anything from Him, such as He is in His being and His essence, work upon man. For the Lord says:
No one has seen God, except Him who is with the Father; He has seen the Father. John 6:46.
No one knows the Father, except the Son, and any to whom the Son has wished to reveal Him. Matt. 11:27.
You have never heard the Father’s voice, nor have you seen His appearance. John 5:37.
The reason is that He is in the first principles and beginnings of everything, and so is far and away above any level attainable by the human mind. For He is in the first principles and beginnings of the whole of wisdom and the whole of love, and with these man can have no link. Therefore if He should approach a person, or a person should approach Him, he would be consumed and dissolved, like a piece of wood in the focus of a large burning glass, or rather like an image thrown into the sun itself. That is why Moses was told, when he desired to see God, that man cannot see Him and live (Exod. 33:20).
[2] It is evident from the passages just quoted that a link is possible with God the Father through the Lord. These state that it is not the Father, but the only-begotten Son, who is in the Father’s bosom and has seen the Father, who has expounded and revealed what is of God and from God. Moreover, it is evident from the following.:
On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you are in me and I am in you. John 14:20.
I have given them the glory which you gave me, so that they might be one, as we are one; I in them and you in me. John 17:22, 23, 26.
Jesus said, I am the way, truth and life. No one comes to the Father except through me. And then Philip wished to see the Father, but the Lord answered him, He who sees me sees the Father also, and he who knows me knows the Father also. John 14:6, 7ff.
Elsewhere:
He who sees me sees Him who sent me. John 12:45.
Moreover He says that He is the door, and he who enters by Him is saved, and he who climbs up another way is a thief and a robber (John 10:1, 9). He also says that he who does not remain in Him is cast out of doors, and thrown into the fire like a withered branch (John 15:6).
[3] This is because the Lord our Saviour is Jehovah the Father himself in human form; for Jehovah came down and became man, so that He could approach men and men could approach Him, thus establishing a link, and by the link give men salvation and everlasting life. For when God became man, and so man also became God, then by adapting Himself suitably He could approach men, and be linked with them as God-man and Man-god. There are three stages which follow in sequence: adaptation, application and linking. There must be adaptation before there can be application; and there must be adaptation and application together before linking is possible. Adaptation was achieved by God by becoming man. Application by God is constant, in so far as man in turn applies himself; and as this happens, so linking takes place. These three stages follow and proceed in their proper sequence in all details, which become one and come into existence together.
Scripture teaches, and the reason too can see, that the link is reciprocal. The Lord teaches that His link with the Father is reciprocal, for He says to Philip:
Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? Believe me, I am in the Father, and the Father is in me. John 14:10, 11. So that you may know and believe that the Father is in me and I am in the Father. John 10:38.
Jesus said, Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, so that your Son too may glorify you. John 17:1.
Father, all that is mine is yours, and all that is yours is mine. John 17:10.
The Lord’s description of His link with man is similar, that is, as being reciprocal; for He says:
Remain in me and I in you. He who remains in me, and I in him, bears much fruit. John 15:4, 5.
He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. John 6:56.
On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. John 14:20.
If anyone performs Christ’s commands, he remains in Christ and Christ in him. 1 John 3:24; 4:13.
If anyone shall confess that Jesus* is the Son of God, God remains in him, and he in God. 1 John 4:15.
If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I shall come in to him, and dine with him, and he with me. Rev. 3:20.
[2] These plain statements make it obvious that the link between the Lord and man is reciprocal; and it follows inevitably from this that a person ought to link himself with the Lord, so that the Lord may link Himself with him. It also follows that the consequence would otherwise be not linking, but removal and separation, though this is not on the Lord’s part, but on man’s. In order to make the link reciprocal, man has been given free choice, allowing him to set foot on the road to heaven, or the road to hell. This gift of freedom is the source of man’s ability to reciprocate, so that he can link himself with the Lord or with the devil. But more illustrations will be offered of that freedom, its nature and the reason it has been given to man, in the following chapters dealing with free will, repentance, reformation and regeneration, and imputation.
[3] It is to be deplored that the reciprocal linking of the Lord and man, despite the clarity of its statement in the Word, is still unknown to the Christian church. The reason for this ignorance is the theories held about faith and free will. The theories about faith are that faith is conferred without man contributing anything to its acquisition, or adapting himself to receive it or making any more effort than a block of wood. The theories about free will are that man has not so much as a grain of free will in spiritual matters. But to prevent the reciprocal linking of the Lord and man, on which the salvation of the human race depends, from remaining any longer hidden in ignorance, I am compelled to make it known; and there is no better way of doing this than through illustrative examples.
[4] There are two kinds of reciprocation leading to linking: one is alternate, the other mutual. Alternate reciprocation leading to linking can be illustrated by the breathing of the lungs. A person inhales air, using it to expand the chest, and then expels the inhaled air, so contracting the chest. The act of inhaling and the consequent expansion is effected by means of the force exerted by the atmospheric pressure; but the expulsion of air and consequent contraction is effected by means of the muscular effort operating on the ribs. Such is the reciprocal link between the air and the lungs, and on it depends the functioning of the senses and movement throughout the body; for if respiration ceases, both of these fail.
[5] Reciprocal linking by alternate action can also be illustrated by the heart’s link with the lungs and the lungs’ link with the heart. The heart supplies blood from its right chamber to the lungs, and the lungs return it to the left chamber of the heart. This produces a reciprocal link, and on it the life of the whole body is totally dependent. There is a similar link of the blood with the heart, and of the heart with the blood; the blood from the whole of the body flows through the veins into the heart, and flows out of the heart through the arteries to the whole of the body, so that its action and reaction constitute a link. There is a similar action and reaction, which keeps a link in being, between the embryo and the mother’s womb.
[6] However, the reciprocal link between the Lord and man is not of this sort; it is a mutual link, achieved not by actions and reactions, but by co-operation. For the Lord acts, and the man receives the action from the Lord, and works as if of himself, to be precise, of himself from the Lord. This working on the man’s part coming from the Lord is imputed to him as if it were his, since he is perpetually kept by the Lord in a state of free will. The freedom which he has in consequence is the ability to will and think from the Lord, that is, from the Word, and also the ability to will and think from the devil, that is, contrary to the Lord and the Word. The Lord gives man this freedom so that he can enter into a reciprocal link, and by its means be granted everlasting life and blessedness; for this is unattainable without a reciprocal link.
[7] This kind of mutual reciprocal link too can be illustrated by various features of man and the world. Such is the link between the soul and the body in each individual. Such is the link between the will and action or between the thought and speech. Such is the link between the two eyes, the two ears and the two nostrils. The linking of the two eyes being, in its own fashion, reciprocal, is clear from the optic nerve; in this fibres from either hemisphere of the brain are twined round one another, and thus entwined proceed towards either eye. The case with the ears and nostrils is similar.
[8] There is a similar mutual reciprocal link between light and the eye, sound and the ear, smell and the nose, taste and the tongue, and touch and the body. For the eye is in light and light is in the eye, sound is in the ear and the ear is in sound, smell is in the nose and the nose is in smell, taste is in the tongue and the tongue is in taste, and touch is in the body and the body is in touch. This sort of reciprocal linking can also be compared with that of a horse with a carriage, that of an ox with a plough, that of a wheel with a machine, that of a sail with the wind, that of a flute with the air. To sum up, such is the reciprocal link between end and cause, or between cause and effect. There is, however, no room to explain all these one by one, since it would take a great many pages.
* The Latin has ‘Christ’.
It is known at the present time that the church constitutes the body of Christ, and that each individual, in whom the church is, is in some member of that body, as Paul says (Eph. 1:23; 1 Cor. 12:27; Rom. 12:4, 5). But what is the body of Christ but Divine good and Divine truth? This is what is meant by the Lord’s words in John:
He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. John 6:56.
The Lord’s flesh means Divine good, as bread does too; His blood means Divine truth, as wine does too; for these meanings, see the chapter on the Holy Supper [698-752].
[2] It follows from this that in so far as a person is in possession of the kinds of good which make up charity and the truths which make up faith, so far is he in the Lord and the Lord is in him. For linking with the Lord is spiritual linking, and this takes place solely through charity and faith. It was shown in the chapter on the Sacred Scripture (248-253) that every detail of the Word contains a linking of the Lord and the church, and so of good and truth; and because charity is good and faith is truth, there is at every point in the Word a linking of charity and faith. From these propositions it now follows that the Lord is charity and faith in a person, and a person is charity and faith in the Lord. For the Lord is the spiritual charity and faith in a person’s natural charity and faith, and a person is the natural charity and faith coming from the Lord’s spiritual charity and faith. These when linked constitute spiritual-natural charity and faith.
Charity and faith are present together in good deeds.
In every deed which proceeds from a person his whole nature is fully present, as regards his mind, or essential character. By mind is meant the affection of his love and his thought from this; these form his nature and, in general terms, his life. If we consider deeds in this way, they are so to speak mirrors reflecting the person. This can be illustrated by similar facts about animals and wild beasts: an animal is an animal, and a wild beast is a wild beast, in every one of its acts. A wolf is a wolf in every one of its acts, a tiger is a tiger in every one of its, a fox is a fox in every one of its, and a lion is a lion in every one of its. Likewise a sheep and a kid in all of their acts. The same is true of man, but his nature is such as it is in the internal man. If in this he is like a wolf or a fox, every internal deed of his is wolf-like or fox-like; and on the other hand the same is true if he is like a sheep or a lamb. But the fact that he is like this in every one of his deeds is not plain in his external man, for this can be twisted round the internal, although this character lies concealed within. The Lord says:
The good man brings forth good from the good treasury of his heart, and the wicked man brings forth wickedness from the wicked treasury of his heart. Luke 6:45.
And again:
Every tree is known by its own fruit; they do not gather figs from thorns, nor harvest grapes from the bramble. Luke 6:44.
[2] After death it is vividly shown that such as a person is in his internal man, such he is also in all the details proceeding from him. For then he lives as an internal man, and the external is no more. There is good in a person, and every deed proceeding from him is good, when the Lord, charity and faith dwell in his internal man, as will be shown in the following order.
(i) Charity is having good will, and good deeds are doing good from a good will.
(ii) Charity and faith are merely unstable mental concepts unless, when possible, they are realised in deeds and come into existence together in them.
(iii) Charity alone does not produce good deeds, much less does faith alone, but charity and faith together do.
These propositions will be examined one by one.
Charity and deeds are distinct from each other, just as are the will and the action, and as are the affection on the part of the mind and the functioning of the body. This is the same distinction as between the internal and the external man; these are respectively like cause and effect, since the causes of everything take form in the internal man, and all the effects arise from this source in the external. Therefore charity, being a quality of the internal man, is having a good will; and deeds, which belong to the external man, are doing good from a good will.
[2] Still there is infinite diversity between one person’s good will and another’s. For everything which anyone does to favour another is believed or appears to flow from good will or benevolence, but still it remains unknown whether the good deeds arise from charity, not to mention whether the charity is genuine or spurious. That infinite diversity between one person’s good will and another’s arises from his end in view, intention and so objective. These are hidden within his will to do good, and this is the source of the quality of each person’s will. The will seeks means and ways of achieving its ends, which are the effects, in the understanding; and there it exposes itself to light, in order to see not only the methods, but also the opportunities when and how it can realise itself in actions, and thus produce its effects, which are deeds. At the same time in the understanding the will puts itself in a position to act. From this it follows that deeds in essence belong to the will, in form to the understanding, and in performance to the body. That is how charity comes down to become good deeds.
[3] This can be illustrated by a comparison with a tree. A person in all his particulars can be likened to a tree. In its seed lies hidden as it were an end in view, an intention and objective – to produce fruit. Here the seed corresponds to the will in a person, which, as has been said, contains these three factors. Next the seed is impelled by what it contains to sprout from the earth, and clothe itself with branches, boughs and leaves, thus acquiring for itself the means to its ends, the fruit. Here the tree corresponds to the understanding in a person, Finally when its time has come and it is ready to realise itself, it blossoms and produces fruit. Here the tree corresponds to the person’s good deeds. It is obvious that these are in essence the work of the seed, in form the work of the boughs and leaves, and in performance the work of the wood of the tree.
[4] This can also be illustrated by a comparison with a temple. As Paul says, man is a temple of God (1 Cor. 3:16, 17; 2 Cor. 6:16; Eph. 2:21, 22). A person’s end in view, intention and objective as a temple of God are salvation and everlasting life; here there is a correspondence with the will, to which these three belong. Then he absorbs doctrinal teachings concerning faith and charity from his parents and teachers and from preachers, and when he comes to years of discretion from the Word and religious books, all of which are means to the end. Here the correspondence is with the understanding. Finally the end is realised in the form of uses in accordance with the teachings which serve as means; this happens by bodily actions, which are known as good deeds. So the end produces effects by mediating causes; these effects are in essence the product of the end, in form that of the teachings of the church, and in performance of uses. That is how a person becomes God’s temple.
Does not man possess a head and a body, which are linked by a neck? Does not the head contain a mind which wills and thinks, and the body a potentiality which performs and executes actions? So if a person merely had a good will, or thought from charity without doing good and performing useful deeds as a result of charity, would he not be like an isolated head or mind, which lacking a body could not continue in existence alone? Who from this can fail to see that charity and faith are not charity and faith, so long as they are only in the head and mind, and not in the body? Then they are like birds flying through the air without anywhere to rest upon the ground; and also like birds carrying eggs without nests to lay them in, so that their eggs would be discharged into the air or on a branch of a tree, and so would fall to the ground and be broken.
[2] There is nothing in the mind which does not have a corresponding part in the body, and this corresponding part can be called the embodiment of what is in the mind. Charity and faith therefore, so long as they are in the mind, have no embodiment in the person, and they can then be likened to an airy phantom, what is called a ghost, much as Fame was depicted by the ancients with a laurel wreath around her head and a horn of plenty in her hand. Since they are such ghosts, though still able to think, they cannot help being excited by fantastic ideas, a result also produced by reasoning from various sophistries; very much as reeds in marshes are shaken by the wind, while on the bottom below them lie shells and on the surface frogs croak. Can anyone fail to see that such are the results of merely knowing some things from the Word about charity and faith without practising them? The Lord also says:
Everyone who hears my words and acts upon them, I will compare to a prudent man, who built his house upon a rock; but everyone who hears my words and does not act upon them will be compared to a foolish man, who built his house upon sand or on ground without a foundation. Matt. 7:24, 26; Luke 6:47-49.
Charity and faith together with their invented ideas, when a person does not put them into practice, can also be compared with butterflies on the wing, which a sparrow on seeing swoops on and swallows. The Lord also says:
A sower went out to sow; and some seeds fell on the hard path, and the birds came and ate them up. Matt. 13:3, 4.
Every tree which does not produce good fruit is cut down and cast into the fire. Matt. 7:19-21.
He who sows on good soil is the person who hears the Word and pays attention to it, and bears and produces fruit. When Jesus said this, he cried out saying, He who has ears to hear with, let him hear. Matt. 13:9, 23.
Jesus said, My mother and my brothers are these who hear the Word of God and act upon it. Luke 8:21.
We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone worships God, and does His will, He listens to him. John 9:31.
If you know these things, you are blessed if you act upon them. John 13:17.
He who has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me, and I shall love him, and show myself to him; and I shall come to him and make my dwelling with him. John 14:15-21[, 23].
In this my Father is glorified, in that you bear much fruit. John 1.5:8, 16.
It is not those who hear the law, but those who keep it, who are made righteous by God. Rom. 2:13; James 1:22.
On the day of wrath and righteous judgment, God will render to each in accordance with his deeds. Rom. 2:5, 6.
We must all be put on show before the tribunal of Christ, so that each may be rewarded for our bodily acts, whether good or ill. 2 Cor. 5:10.
The Son of Man is to come in the glory of His Father, and then He will reward each man in accordance with his deeds. Matt. 16:27.
I heard a voice from heaven saying, Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on. So says the Spirit, so that they may rest from their labours; their deeds accompany them. Rev. 14:13.
The book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged according to what was written in the book, everyone according to his deeds. Rev. 20:12, 13.
Behold I come quickly, and my reward is with me, so that I may give to each according to what he has done. Rev. 22:12.
Jehovah, whose eyes are open upon all the behaviour of men, to give to each in accordance with his behaviour, and in accordance with the fruit of his deeds. Jer. 32:19.
I will punish his behaviour, and his deeds I will repay him. Hosea 4:9.
Jehovah deals with us according to our behaviour and according to our deeds. Zech. 1:6.
There are a thousand other such passages.
[2] These prove that charity and faith are not charity and faith until they are realised in deeds, and if they merely exist above the level of deeds in space, or in the mind, they are as it were images of a tent or a temple in the air, which are nothing but atmospheric phenomena which vanish of their own accord; or they resemble paintings on paper which are eaten by bookworms; or they are like dwellings on a roof, lacking a bedroom, and not in the house. These comparisons will enable one to see that charity and faith are unstable, so long as they remain mental concepts, unless, when possible, they are realised in deeds and come into existence jointly in deeds.
This is because charity without faith is not charity, neither is faith without charity faith, as was shown above (355-361). Therefore charity by itself does not exist, neither does faith by itself; hence it cannot be said either that charity produces some good deeds by itself, nor that faith does by itself. This is similar to the case of the will and the understanding. The will does not exist by itself, so neither does it produce anything; nor does the understanding exist by itself, or produce anything. Everything that is produced comes from both acting together, and is the product of the understanding activated by the will. The reason why this is similar is that the will is the dwellingplace of charity, and the understanding is that of faith. Faith alone is said to be much less productive, because faith is truth, and its function is to create truths, and these enlighten charity and its exercise. The Lord teaches about this enlightenment when He said:
He who does the truth comes to the light, so that his deeds may be made apparent, since they are done in God. John 3:21.
When therefore a person does good deeds in accordance with truths, he does them in light, that is to say, intelligently and wisely.
[2] The linking of charity and faith is like a marriage between husband and wife. All natural offspring are born of the husband as father and the wife as mother. Likewise all spiritual offspring are born of charity as father and faith as mother; and these are items of knowledge about good and truth. These enable us to recognise the parentage of spiritual families. In the Word too husband and father mean in the spiritual sense the good of charity, wife and mother mean the truth of faith. From this it is plain too that neither charity alone nor faith alone can produce good deeds, just as neither a husband alone nor a wife alone can produce any offspring. The truths of faith not only throw light on charity, they also give it its quality and, moreover, nourish it. Therefore a person who possesses charity and not the truths of faith is like one walking in a garden by night, and snatching fruit from the trees without knowing whether they are good or bad to use. Since the truths of faith not only throw light on charity, but also give it its quality, as said above, it follows that charity without the truths of faith is like a fruit with no juice in it, such as a dried fig or a grape after the wine has been pressed out of it. Since truths nourish faith, as was also said above, it follows that if charity is deprived of the truths of faith, it gets no more nourishment than a person does from eating toasted bread and drinking dirty water from a pool.
There is true faith, spurious faith and hypocritical faith.
From its cradle the Christian church began to be attacked and split by schisms and heresies, and in course of time to be torn apart and butchered, very much as we read of the man who went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and was surrounded by robbers, who, after stripping and beating him, left him half-dead (Luke 10:30). The result was like the description of that church in Daniel:
Finally upon the bird of abominations desolation, to the point of ending and cutting off, shall be poured drop by drop upon devastation. Dan. 9:27.
and in the Lord’s words:
Then the end shall come, when you will see the abomination of desolation predicted by the prophet Daniel. Matt. 24:14, 15.
Its fate may be compared with a ship laden with a very valuable cargo, which immediately on leaving harbour is struck by storms and soon afterwards is wrecked and sunk at sea, so that its cargo is partly ruined by water and partly consumed by fish.
[2] The Christian church from its infancy was so tossed and shattered, as is evident from ecclesiastical history, for instance even in the time of the Apostles by Simon, who was of the Samaritan nation, and a practicer of sorcery, as related in The Acts of the Apostles (8:9ff). Also by Hymenaeus and Philetus, who are mentioned by Paul in his Epistle to Timothy [2 Tim. 2:17]; as also by Nicolas, who gave his name to the Nicolaitans (mentioned in Rev. 2:6 and Acts 6:5), as well as by Cerinthus. After the time of the Apostles many more heretical sects arose, such as the Marcionites, Noetians, Valentinians, Encratites, Cataphrygians, Quartodecimans, Alogians, Cathars, Origenists or Adamantines, Sabellians, Samosatenes, Manichaeans, Meletians and finally Arians. After their times whole regiments of heretical leaders assailed the church, such as the Donatists, Photinians, Acatians or Semiarians, Eunomians, Macedonians, Nestorians, Predestinarians, Papists, Zwinglians, Anabaptists, Schwenckfeldians, Synergists, Socinians, Antitrinitarians, Quakers, Herrenhuters, and many more besides.* Finally these succumbed to Luther, Melanchthon and Calvin, whose dogmas hold the field today.
There are three principal causes of the divisions and separatist movements in the church; first, the failure to understand the Divine Trinity; second, the lack of any proper knowledge of the Lord; third, the assumption that the passion on the cross was the actual process of redemption. Ignorance on these three matters, which are nonetheless the very essentials of faith, and the faith on which the church is based and the reason it is called a church, inevitably results in everything connected with the church being given a sinister twist and steered away until its course is reversed, while still believing that in these circumstances it has the true faith in God and believes all God’s truths. The case of these people is similar to those who blindfold their eyes and, while fancying they are walking in a straight line, yet step by step deviate from it, until they are facing the opposite direction, where there are pits into which they fall. But a person who belongs to the church can only be led away from his wanderings and into the way of truth by knowing what true faith is, what spurious faith is, and what hypocritical faith is. The following propositions will therefore be proved:
(i) There is only one true faith, and this is in the Lord God the Saviour Jesus Christ, and is possessed by those who believe Him to be the Son of God, the God of heaven and earth, and one with the Father.
(ii) Spurious faith is any faith which departs from the true and only faith, and is possessed by those who climb up another way and look upon the Lord not as God, but merely as a human being.
(iii) Hypocritical faith is no faith at all.
* This list of heretics seems to have been taken from the Concordia Pia, referred to by the author as the ‘Formula of Concord’, published in Leipzig in 1756; cf. 356.2.
Saviour Jesus Christ, and is possessed by those who believe Him to be the Son of God, the God of heaven and earth, and one with the Father.
There is only one true faith, because faith is truth, and truth cannot be shattered and carved up, so that one part verges to the left, and one part to the right, and still remain its own truth. Faith as generally understood is composed of countless truths, for it is a collection of truths. But all these countless truths make up, as it were, a single body, to which the truths as its parts belong. Some make up the parts which are attached to the chest, such as arms and hands, some those which are attached to the hips, as the feet and soles. But the more inward truths make up the head, and those which are most nearly dependent upon them make up the sense organs in the face. The reason the more inward truths make up the head is that when what is more inward is mentioned, what is higher is also understood, for in the spiritual world everything more inward is also higher. So it is with the three heavens there. The soul and life of this body and all its parts is the Lord God the Saviour. This is why Paul calls the church the body of Christ, and people belonging to the church make up its parts depending upon their states of charity and faith. Paul also teaches that there is only one faith in these words:
There is one body and one spirit, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God. He gave the task of ministry for the building of the body of Christ, until we all attain to oneness of faith and knowledge of the Son of God, and the perfect man* measured by the full stature of Christ. Eph. 4:4-6, 12, 13.
It has been shown fully above (337-339) that the one true faith is in the Lord God the Saviour Jesus Christ.
[2] The reason, however, why true faith is in the possession of those who believe the Lord to be the Son of God, is that they also believe that He is God, and faith if not in God is no faith at all. This is the leading tenet of all the truths which enter into faith and form it, as is clear from the Lord’s words to Peter, when he said:
You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. You are blessed, Simon; I tell you, on this rock shall I build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. Matt. 16:16, 17, 18.
Rock here, as in other parts of the Word, means the Lord in respect of Divine truth, and also the Divine truth received from the Lord. This truth is pre-eminent, and is like a crown upon the head and like a sceptre in the hand of the body of Christ, as is clear from the Lord’s saying that on that rock He would build His church and the gates of hell would not prevail against it, The following passage of John also proves that this is the nature of this tenet of faith:
If anyone shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God remains in him, and he in God. 1 John 4:15.
[3] Besides this mark, that they are in possession of the true and only faith, there is another, their belief that the Lord is the God of heaven and earth; this follows from the former point, that He is the Son of God, and from these passages:
In Him is all the fulness of the Godhead. Col. 2:9.
He is the God of heaven and earth. Matt. 28:18.
All things of the Father’s are His. John 3:35; 16:15.
The third indication that those who believe in the Lord are inwardly in possession of faith in Him, and so of the one true faith, is their belief that the Lord is one with God the Father. This fact, that He is one with God the Father and is the Father Himself present in the Human, was fully shown in the chapter on the Lord and Redemption, and is obvious from the sayings of the Lord Himself, that He and the Father are one (John 10:30); that the Father is in Him, and He is in the Father (John 10:38; 14:10, 11); that He said to the disciples that from that time on they had seen and known the Father, and that He looked at Philip and said that he then saw and knew the Father (John 14:7ff).
[4] The reason why these three things are the characteristic evidences of being in possession of faith in the Lord, and so in the one true faith, is that not all those who approach the Lord have faith in Him; for true faith is simultaneously internal and external. Those who possess these three treasures of faith are in possession of both its internals and its externals, so that it forms not only a treasury in their heart, but a jewel in their mouth. The case is different with those who do not acknowledge Him as God of heaven and earth, nor as one with the Father. These people also inwardly regard other gods as possessing similar power, which, however, is to be exercised by the Son, either regarded as a substitute or one who on account of His redeeming act has deserved to reign over those He has redeemed. But these people shatter the true faith by splitting the oneness of God; and when it is shattered it is no longer faith, but only the ghost of faith, which to the natural view may be some sort of image of faith, but to the spiritual view is a chimaera. Can anyone deny that true faith consists in belief in one God, who is the God of heaven and earth, and consequently in God the Father within a human form, that is, the Lord?
[5] Those three marks, witnesses and indicators, that faith in the Lord is faith itself, are like touchstones by which gold and silver are identified; or like stones or sign-posts by the roadside showing the way to a church, where the one, true God is worshipped; or like lighthouses on rocks at sea, which allow sailors to know their position at night, and how to shape their course. The first mark of faith, that the Lord is the Son of the living God, is like the morning star to all who come into His church.
* The Latin text has ‘life’ for ‘man’.
It is self-evident that spurious faith is any faith which departs from the true and only faith; for when one faith is the truth, it follows that anything that departs from it is not the truth. All good and truth in the church spring from the marriage between the Lord and the church. Thus everything which is in essence charity, or which is in essence faith, is the product of that marriage. But anything in charity and faith which is not the product of that marriage is not from a legitimate union but an illegitimate one. Thus it is the product either of a polygamous marriage or union, or of adultery. Any faith is the product of polygamy, if it acknowledges the Lord and espouses the falsities contained in heresies; a faith is the product of adultery, if it acknowledges three Lords in one church. For it is like a woman who is a prostitute, or one married to one man, but hiring herself out for the night to two others, each of whom she calls her husband when she sleeps with him. This is the reason their faiths are called spurious.
The Lord calls these people in many passages ‘adulterers’, and this too is what He means by ‘thieves and robbers’ in John:
Truly I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up another way, is a thief and robber. I am the door; if anyone enters by me, he will be saved. John 10:1, 9.
Entering the sheepfold is entering the church, and also heaven. It entails entering heaven too, because they make one, and it is nothing but the presence of the church in it which makes heaven. Therefore just as the Lord is the bridegroom and husband of the church, so too is He the bridegroom and husband of heaven.
[2] It is possible to investigate and recognise whether a faith is a legitimate offspring or an illegitimate one by using the three indicators described above. These are the acknowledgment of the Lord as the Son of God, the acknowledgment of Him as the God of heaven and earth, and the acknowledgment that He is one with the Father. Therefore in so far as any faith departs from these essentials, so far is it a spurious faith. There is a spurious and adulterous faith with those who look on the Lord not as God, but as merely a man. The truth of this is evident from the two unspeakable heresies, those of the Arians and the Socinians, which were made anathema in the Christian church and excommunicated from it. This was because they deny the divinity of the Lord, and climb up another way. But I am afraid that these abominations lurk hidden in the general attitude of the people in the church to-day. It is an astonishing fact that the more anyone believes himself to excel others in learning and judgment, the more prone he is to seize on and make his own ideas about the Lord being a human being and not God, arguing that because He is a human being He cannot be God. Anyone who makes those ideas his own betakes himself to the company of the Arians and Socinians, who in the spiritual world are in hell.
[3] The reason why this is the general attitude of people in the church today is that every person possesses a companion spirit. Without him the person could not think analytically, rationally and spiritually, so that he would not be a human being, but an animal. And each person attracts a spirit who resembles him in the affection of his will and thus the perception of his understanding. If someone brings himself into good affections by means of truths taken from the Word and by living in accordance with them, the companion assigned him is an angel from heaven. But if someone brings himself into evil affections by proving falsities to himself and living a wicked life, the companion assigned to him is a spirit from hell. Once so assigned, the person enters more and more into a kind of brotherhood with satans, and then strengthens more and more his belief in falsities in opposition to the truths in the Word, and in the abominable Arian and Socinian attacks on the Lord. The reason is that all satans cannot bear to hear any truth from the Word, or even the name of Jesus; if they do hear them, they become like furies, running about blaspheming. Then if light floods in from heaven, they throw themselves headlong into caves and the thick darkness they love; in this they enjoy the kind of light that owls do in the dark, and like that enjoyed by cats hunting mice in cellars. This is the fate after death of all who in their heart and faith deny the divinity of the Lord and the holiness of the Word; and this is the nature of their internal man, however much the external puts on an act and plays the role of a Christian. I know this is the case, because of what I have seen and heard.
[4] All who honour the Lord as Redeemer and Saviour merely with their mouth and lips, while in their heart and spirit they look upon Him as purely a human being, when they utter and teach such ideas have a mouth like a skinful of honey, but a heart like a skinful of gall. Their words are like sugared loaves, but their thoughts are like poisoned draughts of wine, or like curlicues of cake containing flying serpents.* If they are priests, they are like pirates at sea who fly the flag of a country which is not hostile, but when a passing ship approaches them as friends, they hoist the pirate flag instead of the former one, and seize the ship and make prisoners those on board. They are also like the serpents of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, who come up to one in the guise of angels of light, holding in their hand apples from it coloured with golden tints as if they had been plucked from the tree of life, offering them with the words:
God knows that on the day you eat of them, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. Gen. 3:5.
When they have eaten, they follow the serpent down to the underworld and live with him. Around that underworld are the satans who have eaten the apples of Arius and Socinus. It is they too who are meant by the man who went in not wearing a wedding garment, and who was cast into outer darkness (Matt. 22:11-13). The wedding garment is faith in the Lord as the Son of God, the God of heaven and earth, and one with the Father. Those who honour the Lord merely with their mouth and lips, but in their heart and spirit look upon Him purely as a human being, if they reveal their thoughts and persuade others, are spiritual murderers, and the worst of them are spiritual cannibals. A person’s life comes from his love and faith in the Lord; but if this essential of faith and love, the belief that the Lord is God-man and Man-god, is taken away, his life is turned into death. So in this way the person is killed and devoured like a lamb by a wolf.
* This and the previous sentence are given rhetorical point by verbal assonances in Latin, which cannot be reproduced in English.
A person becomes a hypocrite when he thinks a great deal about himself and sets himself above others. For by so doing he directs and concentrates the thoughts and affections of his mind into his body, linking them to his bodily senses. As a result he becomes natural, sensual and corporeal, so that his mind cannot be removed from the flesh to which it clings and be raised to God, nor can it see anything of God’s in the light of heaven, that is, anything spiritual. Because he is a fleshly person, the spiritual ideas that enter his mind, passing by hearing into the understanding, seem to him nothing but ghosts or motes in the air, or rather like flies around the head of a horse sweating as it runs. Consequently in his heart he laughs at them; for it is well known that the natural man regards the things of the spirit, anything, that is, spiritual, as hallucinations.
[2] The hypocrite is the lowest among natural men, since he is sensual; for his mind is tightly tied to his bodily senses, so that he does not like seeing anything but what his senses suggest. Since the senses are in the realm of nature, they compel the mind to think on every subject in natural terms, and this is true also of all matters concerned with faith. If that hypocrite becomes a preacher, he retains in his memory the sort of things that were said about faith when he was a boy or youth. But since they contain inwardly nothing that is spiritual, but only what is wholly natural, when he utters them before an audience, they are nothing but lifeless sounds. The reason they sound as if alive is that this comes from the pleasures of self-love and love of the world. These cause them to ring eloquently and charm the ears, very much as does harmonious singing.
[3] The hypocritical preacher on returning home after his sermon laughs at all he said and expounded from the Word to his audience on the subject of faith; and he may perhaps say to himself: ‘I cast a net into the lake, and caught flat-fish and shell-fish.’ For this is how all those who have true faith look to such people in their delusion. A hypocrite is like a carved image with a double head, one inside the other; the inner head is attached to the trunk or body, the outer one, which can swivel around the inner one, has its face painted with colours resembling the human face, rather like the wooden heads to be seen in the shop-windows of wig-makers. The hypocrite is like a boat which a sailor by trimming the sail can make go at will with the wind or against it. Such is his sailing that the boat is prone to everything which favours the pleasures of the flesh and the senses,
[4] Ministers who are hypocrites are consummate comedians, mimics and actors, who can play the parts of kings, dukes, primates and bishops; and a little later, when they have taken off their costumes, they go to brothels and spend their time with whores. They are also like doors hung on swivelling hinges, so that they can swing to and fro; that is what their mind is like, since it can be opened on the side of hell or on that of heaven. When it is open in one direction, it is closed in the other. For the extraordinary thing is that while they are engaged in their sacred duties and are teaching truths from the Word, they are quite unaware of anything but believing them; for at these times the door is closed to hell. But a little later, on returning home, they believe nothing, because then the door is closed to heaven.
[5] The worst hypocrites have an implacable enmity for truly spiritual people, resembling that satans have for the angels of heaven. They do not feel that this is so, as long as they live in the world, but it shows up after death, when their external, which allowed them to make a pretence of being spiritual people, is taken away, since it is their internal man which is this sort of Satan. But I will explain how the angels of heaven see these spiritual hypocrites, who are those who go around in sheeps’ clothing while inwardly they are ravening wolves (Matt. 7:15). They look like clowns walking on the palms of their hands and praying; they cry from the heart with their mouth to demons and embrace them; but they clap their shoes in the air, and thus make a noise to God. But when they stand on their feet, their eyes have the look of leopards, their gait looks like that of wolves, their mouth like foxes’, their teeth like crocodiles’; and as regards faith they look like vultures.
The wicked have no faith.
All those who deny the creation of the world by God, and so deny God, are wicked, for they are godless nature-worshippers. The reason they are all wicked is that all good, which is not only naturally but also spiritually good, is from God. Those, therefore, who deny God are unwilling and for that reason unable to accept anything good from any source except their own self. A person’s self is the longing of his flesh, and whatever arises from this is spiritually evil, however good it seems naturally. These people are wicked in theory; and the wicked in practice are those who pay no heed to God’s commands, which are summed up in the Ten Commandments, and live outside the law. The reason why they too at heart deny God, although many of them confess God with their lips, is that God and His commands make one. This is why the Ten Commandments are addressed as the presence of Jehovah (Num. 10:35, 36; Ps. 132:7, 8). But to make it plainer that the wicked have no faith, a conclusion will be drawn from two propositions:
(i) The wicked have no faith because evil belongs to hell and faith to heaven.
(ii) All those in the Christian world have no faith who reject the Lord and the Word, although they live moral lives, and talk, teach and write rationally, even about faith.
But these propositions must be examined one by one.
Evil belongs to hell, because that is the source of all evil; faith belongs to heaven, because every truth that makes up faith is from heaven. So long as a person lives in the world, he is held and walks midway between heaven and hell, and is there in spiritual equilibrium, which gives him free will. Hell is beneath his feet, heaven is above his head, and whatever rises from hell is evil and falsity; but whatever comes down from heaven is good and truth. A person, being midway between these two opposites, and at the same time in spiritual equilibrium, can freely choose, adopt and make his own one or other. If he chooses evil and falsity, he links himself with hell; if good and truth, he links himself with heaven. These facts not only make it plain that evil belongs to hell and faith to heaven, but also that those two cannot exist together in one subject or one person. For if they were present together, the person would be pulled apart as if he had two ropes tied round him, one pulling him upwards, the other downwards, so that he would find himself swinging in the air. He would be like a blackbird, flying now up, now down. When he flew up, he would worship God, when he flew down, the devil. Anyone can see that this is irreligious. No one can serve two masters, but must hate the one and love the other, as the Lord teaches in Matthew 6:24.
[2] There are various comparisons which can illustrate the fact that where there is evil there is no faith. For example: evil is like fire (the fire of hell is nothing but the love of evil) and consumes faith like straw, reducing it and everything connected with it to ashes. Evil dwells in thick darkness, faith in light; and evil through falsities extinguishes faith, just as thick darkness does light. Evil is black like ink, faith is white like snow, and clear like water; and evil blackens faith, as ink does snow or water. Again, evil and the truth of faith cannot be linked except as a stench can with a sweet smell, or as urine with a fine wine. They can no more be together than a foul-smelling corpse with a living person in one bed. They can no more dwell together than a wolf in a sheepfold, or a hawk in a dovecote, or a fox in a chicken-run.
This follows as the conclusion to be drawn from all that has been said before. For it was shown that the true and only faith is in the Lord and comes from the Lord, and that faith which is not in Him and from Him is not spiritual, but natural faith; and a purely natural faith does not contain in itself the essence of faith. Moreover, faith is from the Word and from no other source. This is because the Word is from the Lord and so the Lord Himself is in the Word; which is why He says that He is the Word (John 1:1, 2). From this it follows that those who reject the Word also reject the Lord, since they make an indissoluble whole. It also follows that those who reject one or the other of these also reject the church, because the church is from the Lord by means of the Word; and further, that those who reject the church are outside heaven, because the church is the way into heaven, Those who are outside heaven are among the damned, and these have no faith at all.
The reason why those who reject the Lord and the Word have no faith, although they live moral lives and speak, teach and write rationally, even about faith, is that they have no spiritual, but only natural moral life, and no spiritual but only a natural rational mind; and morality and rationality which are wholly natural are in essence dead. So, being dead, these people cannot have any faith. A person who is wholly natural, who is dead so far as faith is concerned, can certainly talk and teach about faith, charity and God, but not under the impulse of faith, charity or God.
[2] The following passages prove that faith is possessed only by those who believe in the Lord, and that the rest have none:
He who believes in the Son is not judged; but he who does not believe has already been judged, because he has not believed in the name of the only-begotten Son of God. John 3:18.
He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; but he who does not believe in the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God rests upon him. John 3:36.
Jesus said, When the Spirit of truth comes, He will try the world concerning sin, for not believing in me. John 16:8, 9.
And addressing the Jews:
If you do not believe that I am, you will die in your sins. John 8:24.
For this reason David says:
I will bring news of a decree, said Jehovah. You are my son, to-day have I begotten you. Kiss the son, so that he may not be angry and so that you do not perish on the way. Blessed are all who trust in him. Ps. 2:7, 12.
The Lord predicts in the Gospels that at the ending of the age there will be no faith, because there will be none in the Lord as the Son of God, God of heaven and earth and one with the Father; the ending of the age means the final period of the church, when He says that the abomination of desolation will come about, and affliction such as has never been nor shall be; and that the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the sky (Matt. 24:15, 21, 29). Also in Revelation, that Satan when released from his imprisonment will go out to lead astray the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, and whose number is like the sand of the sea (Rev. 20:7, 8). Because the Lord foresaw this, He also said:
Yet when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith upon the earth? Luke 18:8.
An angel once said to me: ‘You want to see clearly what faith and charity are, and so what faith is when separated from charity, and what it is when joined to charity; I will give you a visual demonstration.’
‘Please do,’ I replied.
‘Instead of faith and charity,’ he said, ‘think of light and heat, and you will see clearly. Faith in its essence is truth belonging to wisdom, and charity in its essence is affection belonging to love. In heaven truth belonging to wisdom is light, and affection belonging to love is heat. The light and heat the angels enjoy are essentially this and nothing else. From this you can see clearly what faith separated from charity is like, and what faith joined to charity is like. Faith separated from charity is like light in wintertime, and faith joined to charity is like light in springtime. Light in wintertime, being light without heat but combined with cold, completely strips the trees of their leaves, kills off the grass, makes the ground hard and freezes water. But light in springtime, being light combined with heat, makes the trees grow, putting forth first leaves, then flowers, and finally fruits; it opens up and softens the ground, to bring forth grass, plants, flowers and shrubs, and it also melts the ice so that water flows from springs.
[2] ‘It is exactly the same with faith and charity: faith separated from charity makes everything die off, and faith combined with charity makes everything come to life. This coming to life, as well as that dying off, can be seen actually happening in our world, the spiritual one, because here faith is light and charity is heat. For where faith is combined with charity, there are parkland gardens, flower-gardens and shrubberies, the more beautiful, the more closely they are combined. But where faith is separated from charity, not so much as grass grows; and any patch of greenery is produced by thorns and briars.’
Not far off were standing some clergymen, whom the angel called believers in men’s justification and sanctification by faith alone, as well as mystery-mongers. We told them the same and demonstrated it to them so that they could see that it was so. When we asked whether it was not so, they turned their backs and said, ‘We did not hear.’ But we shouted at them and said, ‘So listen to it again.’ However, then they put both hands over their ears and cried: ‘We do not want to hear.’
[3] After hearing this I spoke with the angel about faith on its own and said that I had been allowed to know by personal experience that that sort of faith is like the light of wintertime. I told him how for some years past spirits who had different kinds of faith had passed by me; and whenever those who had separated faith from charity came near, such a chill attacked my feet, and then by degrees my loins and finally my chest, that I hardly knew otherwise than that all the vitality in my body was going to be extinguished. This would actually have happened, if the Lord had not driven those spirits away and freed me.
It seemed to me surprising that those spirits did not in themselves feel any chill, as they admitted. So I compared them to fish under ice, for they too do not feel any chill, since their life and thus their nature is essentially so cold. I perceived then that this chill spread from the deceptive light of their faith, much like that which rises after sunset from marshy and sulphurous ground in midwinter. Travellers in all parts see this deceptive, cold light.
They can be compared with the icebergs which are torn from their places in arctic lands and are carried hither and thither on the ocean. Of these I have heard it said, that on their approach the crews of ships all shiver with cold. Groups of spirits whose faith is separated from charity can therefore be likened to these icebergs, and if you like you can so call them,
It is well known from the Word that faith without charity is dead; but I will say why it dies. It dies of cold, and this kills off faith like a bird in a severe winter. First of all its sight goes, and at the same time its ability to fly; finally its breathing stops, and it falls headlong off the branch into a snowy grave.
One morning on waking from sleep I saw two angels coming down from heaven, one from the south, the other from the east of heaven; they were both in chariots to which were harnessed white horses. The chariot in which the angel from the south of heaven rode shone as if of silver, and that in which the angel from the east of heaven rode shone as if of gold; and the reins they held in their hands shone as if touched by the flame-coloured light of dawn. That was how the two angels looked to me at a distance; but when they came near, they did not appear in a chariot, but in the form of angels, which is the human form. The one coming from the east of heaven wore a shining purple robe; the one from the south of heaven a violet robe. When these angels reached the lower levels beneath the heavens each ran towards the other, as if racing to see who could arrive first, and embraced and kissed each other.
I was told that the two angels had been very close friends during their lives in the world, but one was now in the eastern heaven, the other in the southern one. The eastern heaven is the home of those who have love from the Lord, the southern heaven is that of those who have wisdom from the Lord. After talking for some time about the splendours of their heavens, their talk turned to this topic: whether heaven in its essence is love or whether it is wisdom. They agreed at once that one depends on the other, but they discussed which was the origin of the other.
[2] The angel from the heaven of wisdom asked the other: ‘What is love?’ He replied that love arising from the Lord as a sun is the heat which gives life to angels and men, so it is the Being of their life; and the things derived from love are called affections, and it is these which give rise to perceptions and thus to thoughts. ‘From this flows the consequence that wisdom is by its origin love, consequently thought is by its origin an affection belonging to that love. It can be seen by considering the derivatives in their proper sequence that thought is nothing but the form taken by affection. This fact is unknown because thoughts are exposed to light, but affections to heat, so that people reflect on thoughts, but not on affections. Thought being nothing but the form taken by an affection belonging to some love or other can also be illustrated by speech, since this is nothing but a form of sound; it is also similar in that sound corresponds to affection, and speech to thought, so that affection makes a sound, and thought articulates it into words. This can also be made obvious, if we say: “Take sound away from speech – is there anything left of speech? Likewise take affection away from thought – is there anything left of thought?” It is now plain from this that love is the whole of wisdom, and consequently the essence of the heavens is love, and their coming-into-being is wisdom; or what is the same thing, the heavens are the product of Divine love, and they come into existence from Divine love by means of Divine wisdom. Therefore, as I said before, one depends upon the other.’
[3] At that time I had with me a recently arrived spirit, who on hearing this asked whether it was similar with charity and faith, since charity belongs to affection, and faith to thought.
‘Yes, exactly similar,’ replied the angel. ‘Faith is nothing but the form of charity, just as speech is of sound. Faith is also formed by charity, as speech is by sound. We in heaven know how this forming occurs, but I have not time to explain it here. By faith,’ he added, ‘I mean spiritual faith, in which life and spirit come solely from the Lord by means of charity, for this is spiritual and the means by which faith is acquired. Faith without charity therefore is purely natural faith, and this is lifeless faith; it also links itself with purely natural affection, which is nothing but longing.’
[4] The angels were talking on this subject spiritually, and spiritual speech includes thousands of things beyond the power of natural speech to express, and remarkably enough these things cannot enter into the ideas of natural thought. After talking on both these subjects the angels went away, and as they receded, each towards his own heaven, stars appeared round their heads; and when they were at some distance from me I saw them again in chariots, as before.
When the two angels were out of sight, I saw a garden on the right containing olives, figs laurels and palm-trees, planted in order in accordance with their correspondences. As I looked in that direction I saw angels and spirits walking among the trees in conversation. One of the angelic spirits then looked back and saw me. (Angelic spirits is what those in the world of spirits are called who are being prepared for heaven.) He came out of the garden to me and said: ‘Would you like to come with me into our park? You will hear and see wonders.’
So I went with him, and then he said to me: ‘These whom you see’ (for there were many of them) ‘are all in possession of the love of truth, and thus in the light of wisdom. There is also here a palace, which we call the Temple of Wisdom; but no one can see it who thinks himself very wise, much less one who thinks he is wise enough, even less one who thinks he is wise on his own account. The reason is that these people do not have a love of genuine wisdom to enable them to receive the light of heaven. Genuine wisdom is when a person sees by the light of heaven that what his knowledge, intelligence and wisdom embrace compared with what they do not are as a drop of water is to the ocean, consequently virtually nothing. Everyone in this parkland garden, who by perception and sight acknowledges within himself that his wisdom is comparatively so small, can see the Temple of Wisdom. For it is the internal light in a person’s mind, not the external light without the internal, which allows him to see it.’
[2] Now because I had often thought this, and knowledge, then perception and finally internal light led me to acknowledge that man’s wisdom is so scanty, I was suddenly allowed to see the temple. Its form was remarkable. It stood up high above the ground, four-square, with walls of crystal, a roof of translucent jasper elegantly arched, the substructure of various precious stones. There were steps leading up to it of polished alabaster, and at the sides of the steps figures of lions with cubs. Then I asked whether I might go inside, and I was told I might. So I went up, and when I got inside I saw what looked like cherubs flying beneath the roof, but they quickly vanished. The floor on which I was walking was made of cedar planks, and the whole temple with its translucent roof and walls was built as a form for light to play upon.
[3] The angelic spirit came in with me, and I repeated to him what I had heard from the two angels about love and wisdom, and about charity and faith. Then he said: ‘Did they not also talk about the third?’ ‘What third?’ I said.
‘It is the good of use,’ he replied. ‘Love and wisdom without the good of use are nothing; they are mere mental abstractions, which are only realised, when they are employed in use. Love, wisdom and use make an inseparable group of three. If they are separated, none of them is anything. Love is nothing without wisdom, but in wisdom it is formed to some purpose; and the purpose to which it is formed is use. Therefore when love by means of wisdom is put to use, it actually exists, because it is realised in action. These three are exactly like end, cause and effect; the end is nothing unless by means of the cause it is realised in the effect. Take one of the three away, and the whole falls to pieces and becomes as if it had never been.
[4] ‘It is much the same with charity, faith and deeds. Charity without faith is nothing, nor is faith without charity, nor are charity and faith without deeds; but in deeds they are something, and the nature of that something is determined by the use the deeds serve. It is much the same with affection, thought and performance; and it is much the same with will, understanding and action. For will without understanding is like the eye without the power of sight, and either of them without action is like the mind without the body. The truth of this can be clearly seen in this temple, because the light we enjoy here is the light which enlightens the interiors of the mind.
[5] ‘Geometry too proves that there is nothing complete and perfect unless it is triple. For a line is nothing unless it becomes an area, nor is an area anything unless it becomes a solid. So one must be multiplied by the other for them to come into existence; and they come into existence jointly in the third. Just as in this case, so it is with every single created thing; they reach their end in the third term. This now is why three in the Word means complete and utterly. In view of this I cannot help being surprised at some people professing belief in faith alone, some in charity alone, and some in deeds alone, when in fact one without the other is nothing, and so are one together with another but without the third.’
[6] But then I put the question: ‘Cannot a person have charity and faith and still do no deeds? Could a person not be fond of something and think about it, and yet not do it?’ The angelic spirit* replied to me: ‘This is impossible, except as a mental abstraction; it cannot actually happen. He will still be striving and wanting to do it; and the will or effort is in itself an act, because it is a continuing impulse to action, and it becomes an act when externalised by being directed towards an object. Therefore effort and will, as an internal act, is accepted by every wise man, because it is accepted by God, exactly as if it were an external act, provided there is no failure to act when the opportunity arises.’
* The Latin has here ‘angel’, but cf. AR 875.8.
I talked with some of those who are meant in Revelation by the dragon, and one of them said: ‘Come with me, and I will show you what delights our eyes and hearts.’
So he took me through a dark wood and up a hill, from which I could watch the pleasures of the dragons. I saw an amphitheatre constructed in the shape of a ring surrounded by benches running up in tiers, on which the spectators were sitting. Those sitting on the lowest benches looked to be from a distance like satyrs and priapi*; some had clothing to conceal their private parts, and some without it were totally naked. On the benches above them sat fornicators and prostitutes, as it appeared to me by the gestures they made.
Then the dragon said to me: ‘Now you will see our sport.’ I saw let into the space in the ring what looked like calves, rams, ewes, kids and lambs; and when they were inside, a gate was opened and in rushed what looked like young lions, panthers, tigers and wolves. These furiously attacked the cattle, tore them in pieces and massacred them. After this bloody slaughter the satyrs sprinkled sand over the place where they had been killed.
[2] Then the dragon said to me: ‘These are the sports which delight our minds.’ ‘Away with you, demon,’ I replied, ‘in a short while you will see this amphitheatre turned into a lake of fire and brimstone.’ He laughed at this and went away. But afterwards I began to reflect why such things are permitted by the Lord. I received a reply in my heart, that they are permitted so long as people are in the world of spirits; but once their time in that world is up, such theatrical scenes are turned into the torments of hell.
[3] Everything which I saw had been the product of the dragon’s imagination. So they were not really calves, rams, ewes, kids and lambs, but they made the genuine kinds of good and truth in the church, which they hated, appear in this form. The lions, panthers, tigers and wolves were the forms taken by the desires of the people who looked like satyrs and priapi. The ones with no clothing around their private parts were those who believed that evils were not manifest to God; those who had some clothing were those who believed that evils were manifest, but did not damn a person so long as he had faith. The fornicators and prostitutes were those who falsify the truths of the Word, for fornication means the falsification of truth. In the spiritual world everything at a distance looks like what it corresponds to, and when these take visible form they are called representations of spiritual things in the form of objects resembling those in the natural world.
[4] Later on I saw them emerging from the wood, the dragon in the midst of satyrs and priapi, with servants and camp-followers, who were the fornicators and prostitutes, coming after them. The column they formed grew as they went, and then I heard what they were discussing.
They were saying they had seen in a meadow a flock of sheep with lambs, and this was a sign that close by was one of the Jerusalem cities, where charity is the leading characteristic. ‘Let us go,’ they said, ‘and capture that city, expel the inhabitants and plunder their property.’ So they approached, but there was a wall around it, and angels on the wall to guard it. So then they said: ‘Let us capture it by a trick. Let us send them someone skilled in sophistry, who can make black appear white and white black, and put a colourable gloss on anything.’
So they found someone who was an expert in metaphysics, able to turn real ideas into terminological ones, conceal the facts under forms of words, and so fly off like a hawk with its prey beneath its wings. He was told what to say to the people in the city, that they were co-religionists and should be let in. He went up to the gate and knocked, and when it was opened he said that he wished to speak with the wisest person in the city. He went in and was taken to someone, whom he addressed in these words: ‘My brethren are outside the city, begging to be admitted. They-are your co-religionists, for you and we both make faith and charity the two essentials of religion. The only difference is, that you put charity first and derive faith from it, and we put faith first and derive charity from it. What does it matter which is put first, when we believe in both?’
[5] The wise citizen replied: ‘Let us not discuss this subject by ourselves, but in the presence of a larger audience who can act as umpires and judges. Otherwise we shall not reach a decision.’ So more people were soon summoned, and they were addressed by the dragon’s ambassador in similar words to those he had previously used.
Then the wise citizen made his reply: ‘You have said that it is much the same whether charity or faith is regarded as the leading matter in the church, so long as there is agreement that either of them constitutes the church and its religion. Yet the difference is like that between prior and posterior, cause and effect, principal and instrumental, and essential and formal. I use these terms because I notice that you are an expert on metaphysics, a subject we call mere sophistry, and some people call magic formulas. But let us drop these terms. The difference is like that between what is above and what is beneath. Or rather, if you will believe me, it is the difference between the minds of those in this world who live on the upper level and the minds of those on the lower level. For the leading point constitutes the head and chest, and what is derived from it the feet and the soles of the feet. But first of all let us agree on the definition of charity and faith. Charity is the affection of the love of doing good to the neighbour for the sake of God, salvation and everlasting life; and faith is thinking from a trust in God, salvation and everlasting life.
[6] But the ambassador said: ‘I agree that this is the definition of faith, and I also agree that charity is that affection for the sake of God, because it is for the sake of His commandment, but not for the sake of salvation and eternal life.’ After this partial agreement and partial disagreement, the wise citizen said: ‘Is not affection or liking the leading point, and thought derived from it?’ The dragon’s ambassador said: ‘This I deny.’
But he was answered: ‘You cannot deny it. Surely anyone thinks as the result of some liking. Take away the liking, and can he think at all? It is exactly as if you removed the sound from speech; if you took away the sound, could you say anything? Sound too is the product of the affection of some love or other, and speech is the product of thought, for love makes a sound and thought puts it into words. It is also like a flame and light; if you take away the flame, is not the light extinguished? It is much the same with charity, because this is the product of love, and with faith, because this is the product of thought. Can you not thus grasp that the leading point is all-important for the secondary, exactly as the flame is for the light? It is obvious from this that if you do not put the leading point first, you cannot have the second either. Therefore, if you put faith, which is in the second place, in first place, you cannot fail to appear in heaven as upside down, with your feet uppermost and your head down, or like a clown who walks upside down on the palms of his hands. When you look like this in heaven, what then will your good deeds look like, which are charity in action? They can only be the sort of things the clown does with his feet, since he cannot do them with his hands. That is why your charity is natural rather than spiritual, since it is upside down.’
[7] The ambassador understood this, since every devil can understand truth when he hears it; but he is unable to keep it in his memory, because the affection for evil, which is essentially the longing of the flesh, on its return expels thought of the truth. Afterwards the wise citizen showed at some length what is the nature of faith when. it is taken as the leading point, namely, that it is purely natural, a conviction devoid of any spiritual life, and in consequence no faith at all. ‘And I can almost say that there is no more spirituality in your faith, than there is in thinking about the Mogul empire, the diamond mine in it, and the treasury or court of that emperor.’ On hearing this the dragon’s man went off in anger and reported to his companions outside the city. When they heard it had been said that charity is the affection of the love of doing good to the neighbour for the sake of [God,]** salvation and everlasting life, they all shouted: ‘This is a lie!’, and the dragon himself cried: ‘Ah, what a crime! Surely all charitable deeds if they are done for the sake of salvation, are merit-seeking?’
[8] Then they said to one another: ‘Let us summon still more of our people, and lay siege to this city, and let us expel these paragons of charity.’ But when they attempted this, a sudden flash of fire from heaven consumed them. But the fire from heaven was a manifestation of their anger and hatred directed against the people in the city, since they had cast down faith from first to second place, or rather to the lowest place beneath charity, since they claimed that it was no faith. The reason they appeared to be consumed by fire was that hell opened up beneath their feet, and they were swallowed up. Similar events to this occurred in many places on the day of the Last Judgment; this too is the meaning of the following passage in Revelation:
The dragon will come forth to lead astray the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, to assemble them for war; and they went up on the surface of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints, and the beloved city. But fire came down from God out of heaven and consumed them. Rev. 20:8, 9.
* Priapus, a Roman god of lechery.
** Restored from AR 655.
I once saw a document sent down from heaven to a community in the world of spirits, where there were two leading churchmen together with a retinue of canons and presbyters. The document contained an exhortation to acknowledge the Lord Jesus Christ as God of heaven and earth, as He taught (Matt. 28: 18), and to abandon as erroneous the doctrine that faith justifies without the deeds prescribed by the law. Many people read and copied out that document, and its contents were considered and talked over judiciously by many of them. But after receiving it, they said to one another: ‘Let us hear the opinion of our leaders.’
So they listened to them, but they spoke against it and rejected it. However, the leaders of that community were hard of heart as the result of the falsities they had absorbed in their former world. After a short consultation, therefore, they sent the document back to heaven where it came from. When this was done, after some muttering most of the laymen abandoned their former acceptance, and then the light of their judgment in spiritual matters, which had previously been bright, was suddenly snuffed out. After a second, but vain, warning, I saw that community sinking down, though I could not see how deeply; but it sank out of sight of those who worship the Lord alone, and turn their backs on justification by faith alone.
[2] A few days later I saw perhaps as many as a hundred coming up from the lower earth, to which that small community had sunk; they approached me and one of them said: ‘Listen to this extraordinary occurrence. When we sank down, we saw what looked like a lake, and after a while dry land; then later a small town in which many found a home for themselves. Next day we got together to discuss what we should do. Many people said that the two leaders of the church should be approached and gently reproved for sending the document back to the heaven it came from, since it was because of that this had happened to us. They also chose a few people (and the man talking to me said he had been one of them) who went off to the leaders, where one of their number who was especially wise addressed them as follows: “We believed that we excelled others in possessing the church and religion, because we heard it said that we enjoy the strongest light of the Gospel. But some of us have been granted enlightenment from heaven, and this enlightenment has been accompanied by the perception that at the present time there is no longer a church, because there is no religion, in the Christian world.”
[3] ‘The leaders said: “What is this you are saying? Is not the church where there is the Word, where Christ the Saviour is known, and where there are the sacraments?” Our spokesman replied to this: “They belong to the church, for they make the church; but they make it inside, not outside, a person.” He went on to say: “Can there be a church where three Gods are worshipped? Can there be a church where its whole teaching is based upon a misinterpretation of a single saying of Paul, and thus not upon the Word? Can there be a church, when the Saviour of the world, who is the God of the church Himself, is not approached? Can anyone deny that religion is shunning evil and doing good? Is there any religion [where it is taught] that faith alone saves, and not together with charity? Is there any religion where it is taught that the charity which man exercises is only moral and civil charity? Is there anyone who does not see that that sort of charity contains nothing religious? Does faith alone involve any act or deed, though religion consists in action? Is there a nation anywhere in the whole world which attributes no saving power to the good of charity, which is good deeds? Yet the whole of religion consists in good, and the whole of the church consists in the teaching of truths, and by means of truths the teaching of various kinds of good. How glorious our lot would have been, if we had welcomed the teachings at the heart of the document sent down from heaven!”
[4] ‘Then the leaders said: “Your remarks aim too high. Surely faith in action, which is the faith which fully justifies and saves, is the church? Surely faith at rest, which is the faith that goes forth and accomplishes, is religion? You must grasp this, my children.” But then our wise man said: “Listen, fathers. Surely according to your dogma man resembles a block of wood in conceiving faith in action? Can a block be made alive so as to become a church? Surely faith at rest is according to your notion the continuation and progress of faith in action? And when, as your dogma insists, all saving power resides in faith, and the good of charity on man’s part makes no contribution, where is religion then?” Then the prelates said: “Friend, you talk like this because you do not know the secrets of justification by faith alone; and if one is ignorant of these, one cannot know inwardly the way to salvation. Your way is external and fit only for the common people. Go that way if you like. But you should know that all good is from God, and nothing of it from man, so that in spiritual matters man can achieve nothing by himself. How then can a man by himself do good which is spiritual good?”
[5] ‘To this our spokesman replied with great indignation: “I know more about your secrets of justification than you do, and I tell you frankly that I have seen nothing inwardly in your secrets but phantoms. Surely religion consists in acknowledging [and loving] God, and shunning and hating the devil? Is not God good itself and the devil evil itself? Is there anyone anywhere in the world, who, if he has a religion, does not know this? Is not acknowledging and loving God doing good, because this is God’s and from God; and is not shunning and hating the devil not doing evil, because this is the devil’s and from the devil? Or to put it another way, does your faith in action, which you called the faith that fully justifies and saves, or in other words your act of justification by faith alone, teach you to do any good deed which is God’s and from God, or to shun any evil because it is the devil’s and from the devil? None at all, since you lay down that there is no salvation in either. What is your faith at rest, which you called the faith that goes forth and accomplishes, but the same as faith in action? How can this be perfected, since you exclude all good done by man as if of himself, saying in your secret doctrines: ‘How can anyone be saved by any good done by himself, when salvation is a free gift?’ Or ‘What good can be done by man except with a view to seeking merit, when yet Christ’s merit is all-sufficient? Thus doing good to achieve salvation would be attributing to oneself what belongs to Christ alone, and it would also be wishing to justify and save oneself.’ Or ‘How can anyone do a good deed, when the Holy Spirit performs everything with no help from man? What need then is there for any extra good from man, when all good from man is not in essence good at all?’
[6] There are many other questions; are not these your secrets? But in my eyes they are simply quibbles and tricks invented in order to get rid of good deeds, which are the good deeds of charity, so as to establish firmly your doctrine of faith alone. And because you do so, you consider man as regards faith, and in general as regards all spiritual matters relating to the church and religion as a block of wood, or like a lifeless effigy, not as a human being created in the image of God, who has been given and is continually given the ability to understand and to will, to believe and to love, and to speak and act, exactly as if of himself, especially in spiritual matters, since they are what make a human being human. If a human being were not to think and act in spiritual matters as if of himself, what then would become of the Word? What would then become of the church and religion? And what of worship? You know that doing good to the neighbour as the result of love is charity; but you do not know what charity is. Yet it is the soul and essence of faith. And since charity is both these things, how can faith divorced from charity be anything but dead? Dead faith is nothing but a phantom. I call it a phantom, because James 12:171 calls faith without good deeds not only dead, but even diabolical.”
[7] Then one of the leaders, on hearing his faith called dead, diabolical and a phantom, became so furious that he snatched the mitre off his head and threw it on the table saying: ‘I will not put it on again until I have taken vengeance on the enemies of the faith of our church.’ So he shook his head murmuring ‘That man James! That man James!’ On the front of the mitre was a plate, with the words ‘Faith alone justifies’ engraved on it. Then there suddenly appeared a monster rising out of the ground; it had seven heads, feet like a bear’s, a body like a leopard’s, a mouth like a lion’s, exactly like the beast described in Revelation (13:1, 2), and of which an image was made and honoured (13:14,:15). This phantom took the mitre from the table, pulled its lower edge apart and put it on its seven heads. At this the ground gaped open beneath its feet and it sank down. On seeing this the leader cried: ‘Assault, assault.’ Then we left them, and found steps before our eyes which we went up; so we came back upon the earth and into sight of heaven, where we had been before.’
This was the story told me by the spirit who with a hundred companions had come up from the lower earth.
In the northern region of the spiritual world I heard what sounded like a rushing of waters. So I went towards it, and when I came close the noise stopped, and I heard a hum as if from a large gathering. Then I saw a building full of holes surrounded by a wall, and this was the source of the hum I heard. I went up and there was a door-keeper there; I asked him who were the people there. He said that they were the wisest of the wise, debating supernatural questions. He said this out of his own simple faith.
‘May I go in?’ I asked.
‘Yes,’ he said, ‘so long as you do not say anything. I have permission to admit the gentiles to stand at the door with me.’
So I went in, and found a circle with a platform in the middle, and a group of so-called wise men discussing the mysteries of their faith. At this time the subject or proposition for discussion was whether the good which a person does in the state of justification by faith, or in its progress after the action, is religious good or not. They declared unanimously that by religious good they meant good which contributes to salvation.
[2] The debate was fierce; but the view prevailed of those who said that the good deeds a person does in a state of faith or during its progress are merely morally good, conducing to worldly prosperity, but making no contribution to his salvation. Faith alone could contribute to that. Their proof of this went like this: ‘How can any good dependent upon a person’s will be linked to a free gift? Is not salvation a free gift? How can any good coming from a man be linked with Christ’s merit? Is not this the sole means of salvation? And how can what a man does be linked to what the Holy Spirit does? Does not the Holy Spirit do everything without any help from man? Are not these things the only effective means of salvation in the action of justification by faith, and do not the three of them remain the only means of salvation in the state of faith and its progress? So any extra good performed by man cannot by any means be called religious good, that is, as said before, good that contributes to salvation. But if anyone does this in order to be saved, since a person’s will is involved in it, and this must inevitably look upon it as meritorious, it should rather be called religious evil.’
[3] Two gentiles were standing in the vestibule next to the door-keeper and heard this speech. One said to the other: ‘These people have no religion. Anyone can see that doing good to the neighbour for God’s sake, that is, with God and from God, is what is called religion. “Their faith,’ said the other one, ‘has driven them mad.’ Then they asked the door-keeper who they were. ‘Christian wise men,’ said the doorkeeper. ‘Nonsense,’ they said, ‘you are telling lies. They are playactors, to judge by the way they talk.’
So I went away. My coming to that building and the fact that they were then discussing that subject, and what I have described happening, were all the result of the Lord’s Divine guidance.
I have become aware as the result of conversations in the spiritual world with many laymen and many clergy what desolation of the truth and theological poverty exists in the Christian world at the present time. There is such spiritual famine among the clergy that they hardly know anything beyond the existence of the Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and the fact that faith alone saves. About the Lord Christ they know only the historical facts about Him related in the Gospels. The rest, however, of what either Testament of the Word teaches, as that the Father and He are one, that He is in the Father and the Father in Him, that He has all power in heaven and earth, that it is the Father’s will that men should believe in the Son, and that he who believes in Him has everlasting life, and much else – all this is to them as unknown and remote as what lies on the ocean bed, or rather, what lies at the centre of the earth. When these statements are extracted from the Word and read, they stand as if listening but hear nothing. The words do not penetrate deeper into their ears than the sighing of the wind or the beating of a drum. The angels who from time to time are sent out by the Lord to visit the Christian communities in the world of spirits, that is, below heaven, complain bitterly. They say that such is their stupidity and as a result the darkness under which they labour in matters relating to salvation that it is almost like listening to a talking parrot. Even their learned men say that in spiritual matters and those relating to God they do not understand more than so many statues.
[2] An angel once told me of a conversation he had with two clerics, one whose faith was separated from charity and another whose faith was not so separated. With the one whose faith was separated from charity the conversation ran like this.
‘Friend, what are you?’ ‘I am a Christian of the Reformed church,’ he replied. ‘What is your doctrine and thus your religion?’ ‘Faith,’ he answered. ‘What is your faith?’ said the angel. ‘My faith,’ he replied, ‘is that God the Father sent the Son to take upon Himself the damnation of the human race, and by this means we are saved.’ Then he asked him, ‘What more do you know about salvation?’ He replied that salvation is achieved by that faith alone. Next he said, ‘What do you know about redemption?’ He replied that it was accomplished by the passion on the cross, and that Christ’s merit is imputed by means of that faith. Next, ‘What do you know about regeneration?’ He replied that it is the result of that faith. ‘Say what you know about love and charity.’ He replied that they are the same as that faith. ‘Tell me what you think about the Ten Commandments and the remainder of the Word.’ He replied that they are contained in that faith. Then he said: ‘So you will do nothing?’ ‘What can I do?’ he replied, ‘I cannot of myself do any good which is good.’ ‘Can you,’ he said, ‘have faith of yourself?’ ‘I don’t enquire into that,’ he answered, ‘I shall have faith.’ Finally he said, ‘Do you know anything at all more about salvation?’ ‘What more is there,’ he replied, ‘when salvation comes solely by means of that faith?’ The angel then said, ‘Your answers are like someone playing a single note on the flute; I hear nothing but faith. If you know that and nothing else, you know nothing. Go away and look for your companions.’ So he went away and came upon them in a desert where there was no grass. He asked there why this was, and was told it was because they had no church among them.
[3] The angel’s conversation with the one whose faith was linked with charity went thus. ‘Friend, what are you?’ ‘I am a Christian of the Reformed church,’ he replied. ‘What is your doctrine and so your religion?’ ‘Faith and charity,’ he replied. ‘These,’ said the angel, ‘are two.’ ‘They cannot be separated,’ he replied. ‘What is faith?’ he asked. ‘Believing what the Word teaches,’ he replied. ‘What is charity?’ ‘Doing what the Word teaches.’ ‘Have you only believed these things or have you also done them?’ ‘I have also done them,’ he replied. The angel from heaven looked at him and said, ‘My friend, come with me and live with us.’
CHARITY, OR LOVE TOWARDS THE NEIGHBOUR, AND GOOD DEEDS
After the chapter on faith, there follows one on charity, because faith and charity are linked like truth and good; and these two are linked like light and heat in springtime. This expression is used because spiritual light, the light radiated by the sun of the spiritual world, is in essence truth. Therefore, wherever truth is to be seen in that world, it shines with a radiance in proportion to its purity. Spiritual heat, which is also radiated by that sun, is in essence good. These statements have been made because charity and faith stand in the same relationship to each other as good and truth; and charity is all the good taken together a person does to his neighbour, and faith is all the truth taken together a person thinks about God and the things that are His.
[2] Since then the truth of faith is spiritual light, and the good of charity is spiritual heat, it follows that these two stand in the same relationship as the two things in the natural world which share these names. That is to say, when they are combined everything on earth flourishes, and in the same way when charity and faith are combined everything in the human mind flourishes, the only difference being that on earth the flowering is the result of natural heat and light, while in the human mind it is the result of spiritual heat and light. This flowering, being spiritual, is wisdom and intelligence. There is too a correspondence between the two, and for this reason the human mind, in which charity is linked with faith and faith with charity, is likened in the Word to a garden; and this is the meaning of the Garden of Eden, as was fully shown in ARCANA CAELESTIA (published in London).
[3] Furthermore it should be known that unless a discussion of charity follows that of faith, it is impossible to grasp what faith is, since, as the preceding chapter stated and showed, faith without charity is no faith, and charity without faith is no charity, and it is only the Lord who gives life to them both (355-361). It was also shown that the Lord, charity and faith make one, just as do life, the will and the understanding; and if they are separated, each of them is destroyed like a pearl collapsing into dust (362-367). Moreover charity and faith are together present in good deeds (373ff).
[2] Moreover, can anyone fail to see the contradiction in those two statements: the one, that a person is saved who believes but does not lead a good life, the other that a person is saved who leads a good life but does not believe? Now because at the present time it is known, yet not known, what leading a good life is – it is known what leading a good life is on the natural level, but not what it is on the spiritual level – since this concerns charity, it must be discussed. This will be done by splitting it up into a number of propositions.
* The Latin phrase is literally ‘talents and minas’, the largest units of weight employed in antiquity.
There are three universal loves, the love of heaven, the love of the world, and self-love.
These three loves make the starting point, because they are universal and the foundation of all others, and because charity has something in common with each of them. The love of heaven means love to the Lord, and also love towards the neighbour, and since either of these has some service as its end in view, it may be called the love of service. The love of the world is not only the love of wealth and possessions, but also the love of everything the world supplies for the delight of the bodily senses; for instance the beauty that charms the A eyes, the harmony that charms the ears, the fragrance that charms the nose, the delicacies that charm the tongue, the soothing touches that charm the skin, not to mention fine clothes, comfortable homes, parties, and all the pleasures given by these and many other objects. Self-love is not only the love of honours, glory, fame and eminence, but also the love of winning and angling for offices, and thus dominating others. The reason charity has something in common with each of these three loves is that charity regarded in essence is the love of being of service. Charity wants to do good to the neighbour (and good is the same as being of service); and each of these loves has services as its end in view, the love of heaven spiritual services, the love of the world natural services, which can be termed civic, and self-love bodily services, which can also be termed domestic ones for oneself and one’s own people.
*From this point on the sections are not numbered in the original, but numbers have been supplied to match the practice of the first part of the book.
[2] The human mind is like a house with three floors communicating by staircases. On the top floor live angels from heaven, on the middle floor people in the world, and on the bottom floor genii*. If a person has those three loves properly ordered, he can at will go up or down. When he climbs to the top floor he is with the angels and like one himself; when he comes down from there to the middle floor, there he is with people, like a man-angel; and when he comes even further down, he is with genii like a person in the world, and he instructs, reproves and tames them.
[3] When a person has those three loves properly ordered, they are also arranged among themselves so that the highest love, which is that of heaven, is inside the second, the love of the world, and by means of this in the third or lowest, which is self-love. The love which is inside also has complete control over the one which is outside. So if the love of heaven is inside the love of the world, and is by this means in self-love, then the person is guided by the God of heaven in the services he performs at each level. The three loves function like the will, the understanding and action. The will acts upon the understanding, and there seeks out means for itself which allow it to perform the action. But there will be more to be seen on this subject in the next section, where it will be proved that these three loves if properly ordered increase a person’s perfection, and if not properly ordered, corrupt him and turn him upside down.
* Genii is a name used by Swedenborg for a class of evil spirits.
1. Man possesses two faculties which make up his life, one is called the will, the other the understanding. They are distinct, but so created as to make one, and when they are one they are called the mind. So the human mind consists of them, and there the whole of a person’s life is in its beginnings, and this is the source from which it is present in the body.
2. Just as everything in the universe which is in due order has reference to good and truth, so everything in a person has reference to his will and understanding, for good in a person has to do with his will and truth to his understanding. For these two faculties, his twin lives, act as receivers and subjects upon which good and truth act. The will is the receiver for everything to do with good and the subject on which it acts; and the understanding is the receiver for everything to do with truth and the subject on which it acts. There is nowhere else in a person for the various kinds of good and truth; and since there is nowhere else in a person for them, nor is there therefore for love and faith, seeing that love belongs to good and good to love, and faith belongs to truth and truth to faith.
3. The will and the understanding also make up a person’s spirit. For that is where his wisdom and intelligence reside, as also do his love and charity, and in general it is the seat of his life. The body is merely an obedient servant.
4. There is nothing it is more important to know than how the will and the understanding make up one mind. They do so, just as good and truth make one, for there is a marriage between the will and the understanding similar to that between good and truth, The facts about to be cited concerning good and truth will make clear what sort of a marriage that is; namely, that just as good is the very being (esse) of a thing, and truth is its coming-into-being (existere) as a result, so in a person his will is the very being of his life, and the understanding is the coming-into-being of his life as a result. For good belonging to the will takes on form in the understanding and becomes visible.
* 397-402 are repeated from HD 28-32, 11-19, 54-61, 55-78 and 36-46.
1. Everything in the universe, which is arranged in accordance with God’s order, has reference to good and truth. Nothing exists either in heaven or in the world which does not have reference to those two. The reason is that both, good as well as truth, come from God the source of all things.
[2] 2. This makes it plain that a person needs to know what good and truth are, and how each looks towards the other, and how one is linked to the other; and it is above all needful for a person who belongs to the church to know this. For just as everything in heaven has reference to good and truth, so does everything in the church, because the good and truth of heaven are also the good and truth of the church.
[3] 3. God’s order demands that good and truth should be linked and not separated, so that they make one, not two. For linked they come forth from God, and linked they are in heaven, so linked they must be in the church. The linking of good and truth is called in heaven the heavenly marriage, for all there are in this marriage. This is why heaven in the Word is compared to a marriage, and the Lord is called bridegroom and husband, and heaven is called bride and wife; and the church is described in the same way. The reason why heaven and the church are so called is that those in them receive Divine good in truths.
[4] 4. All the intelligence and wisdom the angels have comes from that marriage, none of it from good separated from truth or truth from good. It is much the same with people who belong to the church.
[5] 5. Since the linking of good and truth resembles a marriage, it is plain that good loves truth and truth in turn loves good, so that each desires to be linked to the other. A person in the church who lacks such a love and desire is not in the heavenly marriage; so the church is not yet really present in him, since it is the linking of good and truth which makes the church.
[6] 6. There are many kinds of good; in general one may speak of spiritual good and natural good, and both of these are linked in true moral good. Such as the kinds of good are, so are those of truth, because truths belong to good and are forms of good.
[7] 7. Evil and falsity are like good and truth, but are their opposites. Thus just as everything in the universe which is in keeping with God’s order has reference to good and truth, so everything which is contrary to God’s order has reference to evil and falsity. Also, just as good loves to be linked with truth, so evil loves to be linked with falsity, and falsity with evil. Or again, just as all intelligence and wisdom is born from the linking of good and truth so all madness and folly is born from the linking of evil and falsity. The linking of evil and falsity viewed inwardly is not a marriage, but adultery.
[8] 8. It is plain from the fact that evil and falsity are the opposites of good and truth, that truth cannot be linked with evil, nor good with the falsity of evil. If, however, truth is linked with evil, it ceases to be truth, because it is falsified; and if good is linked with the falsity of evil, it ceases to be good, because it is adulterated, But the falsity which is not that of evil can be linked with good.
[9] 9. No one who from conviction or manner of living is in a state of evil and the falsity which comes from it can know what good and truth are, since he regards his own evil as good and he believes his falsity which comes from it to be truth. But anyone who is from conviction and manner of living in a state of good and the truth that comes from it, can know what evil and falsity are. The reason is that all good, and all the truth that belongs to it, is in essence heavenly, but all evil, and the falsity that comes from it, is in essence hellish; and everything heavenly is in light, and everything hellish in darkness.
1. A person’s life really is his love, and the nature of his love determines the nature of his life, and in fact the whole person. But it is the dominant or ruling love which makes the person. This love has a number of other loves subordinate to it, which are derivatives of it. These look to be different, but are each of them present in the dominant love, and together with it make up a single kingdom. The dominant love is, so to speak, their king and head; it controls them, and by using them as mediate aims keeps in view and pursues its own aim, which is both the primary and ultimate aim of all, and this both directly and indirectly.
[2] 2. It is characteristic of a dominant love that it is loved above all else. What a person loves above all else is constantly present in his thoughts, because it is in his will, and constitutes the very essence of his life. For instance, anyone who loves wealth above all else, whether it be money or possessions, is continually turning over in his mind how to acquire wealth; he experiences the most intense pleasure on acquiring it, the most intense grief on losing it, for his heart is in it. Anyone who loves himself above all else keeps himself in mind at every moment, thinks of himself, talks about himself, acts to his own advantage, for his life is the life of self.
[3] 3. A person’s aim is what he loves above all else; that is what he keeps in view in every single thing. It is in his will, like an invisible current in a river, deflecting and carrying him away, even when he is doing something else; for that is what animates him. It is the sort of thing one person looks for in another, and seeing it, uses it either to lead him or to act together with him.
[4] 4. A person is exactly like the dominant feature of his life; this is what distinguishes him from others, and this determines his heaven, if he is good, and his hell, if he is wicked. This is his very will, his self (proprium) and his nature, for it is the very being of his life. After death this cannot be changed, because it is the person himself.
[5] 5. Everyone’s sense of pleasure, bliss and happiness comes from his dominant love, and is dependent on this. For a person calls pleasant what he loves, because he feels pleasure in it. Something, however, he thinks about without loving he may also call pleasant, but this is not the pleasure of his life. The pleasure of love is what a person regards as good, and the unpleasant is what he regards as evil.
[6] 6. There are two loves from which all the kinds of good and truth come into being, as from their sources; and there are two loves which are the sources of all evils and falsities. The two loves which are the sources of all the kinds of good and truth are love to the Lord and love towards the neighbour. But the two loves which are the sources of all evils and falsities are self-love and the love of the world. When these two latter loves are dominant, they are the exact opposites of the two former loves.
[7] 7. The two loves, being as has been said love to the Lord and love towards the neighbour, make heaven exist with a person, since they are dominant in heaven. And because they make heaven, they also make the church exist with him. The two loves which are the sources of all evils and falsities, being as has been said self-love and the love of the world, make hell exist with a person, for they are dominant in hell. Consequently they also destroy the church with him.
[8] 8. The two loves which are the sources of all the kinds of good and truth, being as stated the loves of heaven, open up and form the internal spiritual man, because that is where they dwell. But the two loves which are the sources of all evils and falsities, being as stated the loves of hell, when dominant shut off and destroy the internal spiritual man, causing a person to be natural and sensual in proportion to the extent and nature of their dominion.
1. Loving oneself is wishing oneself alone well, and no others except for one’s own sake, so neither the church, nor one’s country, nor any human community or fellow citizen. It also includes for instance doing good to them solely for the sake of one’s own reputation, honour and glory. If someone does not see these advantages in the good deeds he does to them, he says in his heart, ‘What does this matter? Why should I do this, and what do I get out of it?’ So he puts a stop to them. From this it is plain that a person who is in a state of self-love does not love the church, his country or community, nor his fellow citizen, nor anything that is truly good, but only himself and what is his.
[2] 2. A person is in a state of self-love when in his thoughts and deeds he does not pay regard to the neighbour, so not to the public, much less the Lord, but only to himself and his own people; and consequently when he does everything for his own sake or for the sake of his people. If he does something for the sake of the public, it is only for show; and if he does it for his neighbour’s sake, it is to win his favour.
[3] 3. We say for his own sake or for the sake of his people, because the person who loves himself also loves his people. These are in particular his children and grandchildren, and generally speaking all who act as one with him and whom he calls his own. Loving either of these groups is also loving oneself, for he looks on them as, so to speak, in himself, and he sees himself in them. The people he calls his own include also all who praise, honour and respect him. Other people he may regard as human beings with his physical eyes, but with the eyes of his spirit as hardly more than ghosts.
[4] 4. A person is in a state of self-love, when he despises the neighbour compared with himself, when he treats him as an enemy if he does not take his part, revere and respect him. He is even more in a state of self-love if on this account he hates the neighbour and persecutes him; more still, if on this account he burns to get his revenge on him and longs for his ruin. Such people end up by loving cruelty.
[5] 5. A comparison with heavenly love can show what self-love is like. Heavenly love is loving to perform services for their own sake, or the good deeds which a person does for the church, his country, his fellow men and fellow citizens for the sake of the good deeds themselves. On the other hand the person who loves them for his own sake, only loves them as he would servants, because they are of use to him. It follows from this that a person who is in a state of self-love wants the church, his country, the communities he belongs to and fellow citizens to be of use to him, rather than himself to be of use to them; so he sets himself above them and them beneath him.
[6] 6. Further, in so far as anyone has heavenly love, which is loving forms of service and good deeds and being heartily pleased when he performs them, so far is he led by the Lord, because that is the Lord’s love and the love that comes from Him. On the other, in so far as anyone loves himself, so far does he lead himself, and so far is he led by the self (proprium). A person’s self is inevitably evil, for it is his hereditary evil, which is loving oneself more than God, and the world more than heaven.
[7] 7. Another characteristic of self-love is that in so far as its restraints are relaxed, so far, that is, as external bonds are removed – fear of the law and legal penalties, fear of losing one’s reputation, honours, profit, office and life – so far does it rush headlong, until it not only wants to rule over the whole world, but even heaven, in fact, God Himself. Nowhere does it set itself an end or limit. This desire lurks hidden in every person in a state of self-love, even if it is not plain for the world to see, since there the restraints and bonds just mentioned hold him back; and anyone of this character, when confronted with an impossibility, simply stops there until it does become possible. The result of both these facts is that a person who is in that state is unaware that such a crazy, limitless craving lies hidden within him. Yet the truth of this must be apparent to everyone in the case of dictators and kings who meet none of these restraints, bonds or impossibilities. They rush to subdue provinces and kingdoms so far as their success permits and they aspire to unlimited power and glory; even more so, if they extend their dominion to heaven and arrogate to themselves all the Lord’s Divine power. These people continually seek to go further.
[8] 8. There are two types of power, one based on love towards the neighbour, the other on self-love. These two types of power are opposites. A person who wields power as a result of love to the neighbour, wishes the good of all, and likes nothing better than performing uses, or being of service to others. (Being of service to others is doing good to others because one wishes them well, and performing uses.) This is his love, and this is the pleasure of his heart. Also, in so far as he is advanced to high rank, he is pleased, not because of his rank, but because of the uses he is then better able to perform, and in more cases. Such is power in the heavens. On the other hand, the person who wields power as a result of self-love, wishes no one well, only himself and his own people. The services he performs are for his own honour and glory, for these are the only uses he recognises. He is of service to others only for the sake of having services done to him, of being honoured and given power. He seeks high rank not so as to be able to do good, but so as to hold a leading position and be highly honoured, and so fulfil his heart’s pleasure.
[9] 9. The love of power still remains with everyone after his life in the world; but those who wielded power out of love towards the neighbour have power entrusted to them in the heavens too, but then it is not they, but the services and good deeds they love, which wield the power. It is the Lord who wields the power when services and deeds do. Those, however, who wielded power in the world out of self-love, are, after their life in the world is over, deposed and reduced to slavery.
These are the signs by which those who are in a state of self-love can be recognised. It makes no difference what they look like in outward appearance, whether they are proud or submissive. For such things belong in the internal man, and most people hide the internal, and train the external to put on a pretence of love for people and the neighbour, the opposite of what he really feels. They do this for their own sakes, for they know that loving people and the neighbour inwardly disposes all in their favour, so that they are the more esteemed. The reason people are so disposed is the influence heaven exerts on that love.
[10] 10. The evils to be found in those who are in a state of self-love are in general contempt for others, envy, unfriendliness to those who do not take their part, hostility arising from this, various kinds of hatred, vengeful behaviour, trickery, guile, hard-heartedness and cruelty. Where such evils exist, there is also contempt for God and what is God’s, the truths and kinds of good which belong to the church. Any respect they pay to these is mere lip-service and not from the heart. Since evils of this sort arise from this love, there are also similar falsities, because falsities arise from evils.
[11] 11. The love of the world, however, is wanting by any means to divert others’ wealth to oneself, setting one’s heart on riches, and allowing worldly considerations to withdraw and seduce one from spiritual love, which is love towards the neighbour and so of heavenly origin. Those who love the world are those who desire to divert others’ goods to themselves by various means, especially those who do so by guile and trickery, paying no heed to the neighbour’s good. Those in the power of that love long for other people’s goods, and, in so far as they are not afraid of the laws or loss of reputation by seeking gain, they deprive them of their goods, or rather plunder them.
[12] 12. But the love of the world is not so diametrically opposed to heavenly love as is self-love, since there are no such great evils hidden within it.
[13] 13. The love of the world takes many forms. It includes the love of wealth as a means of advancement to honours; the love of honours and distinctions as a means to acquiring wealth; the love of wealth for various purposes which give pleasure in the world; the love of wealth simply for the sake of wealth (that is the love of the miserly), and so on. The purpose for which wealth is desired is called its use; and it is the purpose or use which gives a love its quality, for the quality of love is determined by the purpose for which it is desired – all else serves as its means.
[14] 14. In short, self-love and the love of the world are totally opposed to love to the Lord and love towards the neighbour. Self-love and the love of the world, as described above, are therefore hellish loves; they are dominant in hell, and also cause hell to exist in a person. Love to the Lord, however, and love towards the neighbour are heavenly loves; they are dominant in heaven and also cause heaven to exist in a person.
1. Man has been created so that he should be simultaneously in the spiritual and natural worlds. The spiritual world is the abode of angels, the natural world that of men. Since man has been so created, he has been endowed with an internal and an external, the internal to allow him to be in the spiritual world, the external to allow him to be in the natural one. His internal is what is called the internal man, the external what is called the external man.
[2] 2. Every person has an internal and an external, but there is a difference here between the good and the wicked, The good have their internal in heaven and its light, the external in the world and its light. For the good the light of the world is enhanced by the light of heaven, so that for them the internal and external act as one, like cause and effect, or prior and posterior. But the wicked have their internal in hell and its light, and this light is thick darkness compared to the light of heaven, though their external may enjoy light similar to that enjoyed by the good. So the situation is reversed, and this enables the wicked to talk and teach about faith, charity and God without being motivated by faith, charity and God, as the good are.
[3] 3. It is the internal man who is called spiritual, because he is in the light of heaven, which is spiritual light; it is the external man who is called natural, because he is in the world’s light, which is natural light. If a person has his internal in the light of heaven and his external in the world’s light, he is spiritual in both respects, since spiritual light coming from within enhances the natural light and makes it like its own. The reverse, however, happens in the case of the wicked.
[4] 4. The internal spiritual man regarded in essence is an angel of heaven; and while he lives in the body, he is also in company with angels, although unaware of it, and after the dissolution of the body goes to join them. In the case of the wicked, however, the internal man is a Satan, and while he lives in the body is also in company with satans, and after the dissolution of the body goes to join them.
[5] 5. The interiors of the mind in the case of spiritual people are really lifted towards heaven, for heaven is their primary aim; in the case of the purely natural, the interiors of the mind are turned away from heaven and towards the world, for this is their primary aim.
[6] 6. Those who cherish only a general notion about the internal and external man believe that it is the internal man who thinks and wills, and the external who speaks and acts, since thinking and willing are internal, but speaking and acting are external. But it needs to be known that when what a person thinks or wills concerning the Lord and what is His is good, and when what he thinks and wills concerning the neighbour and what is his is good, then this thinking and willing proceed from a spiritual internal, because they are the result of faith in truth and of love for good. But when his thinking and willing about them is evil, then they proceed from a hellish internal, because they are the result of faith in falsity and of love for evil. In short, in so far as a person feels love for the Lord and love towards the neighbour, to that extent is he in the spiritual internal, and this is the source of his willing and thinking, and also of his speaking and acting. But in so far as a person feels self-love and love for the world, to that extent his thinking and willing come from hell, despite the fact that he speaks and acts differently.
[7] 7. The Lord has provided and ordained that in so far as a person allows heaven to guide his thinking and willing, to that extent his spiritual man is opened up and developed. A path is opened to heaven reaching to the Lord, and his development is to conform with what is heavenly. On the other hand, however, in so far as a person allows not heaven but the world to guide his thinking and willing, to that extent his internal spiritual man is shut off, and the external is opened up and developed. The path is opened to the world, and his development is to conform with what is hellish.
[8] 8. Those who have their internal spiritual man opened up to heaven and to the Lord enjoy the light of heaven and enlightenment from the Lord, so that they possess intelligence and wisdom. They see truth by truth’s light and experience good by their love for good. Those, however, who have their internal spiritual man shut off do not know what the internal man is, nor do they believe in the Word or life after death, or anything to do with heaven and the church. Since they enjoy only natural light, they believe nature is self-created instead of created by God, and they see falsity as truth and experience evil as good.
[9] 9. The internal and external I have been speaking of are the internal and external of a person’s spirit; his body is merely an extra external, within which the others come into existence, for the body does nothing of itself, but as the result of the spirit in it. It needs to be known that after its release from the body a person’s spirit thinks and wills, and speaks and acts, just as before. Thinking and willing is then his internal, speaking and doing his external.
Few know who are meant by the term ‘sensual men’ or what sort of people they are, so, since it is important to know this, they must be described.
1. The term ‘sensual man’ is applied to a person whose every judgment relies upon the bodily senses, and who believes nothing but what he can see with his eyes and touch with his hands, regarding these things as real and rejecting all else. So the sensual man is the lowest level of the natural man.
[2] 2. The interiors of his mind, which would allow him to see by the light of heaven, are shut off, so that he can see there no truth at all that has to do with heaven or the church, since he thinks at the most superficial level with no inward enlightenment from any spiritual light.
[3] 3. Since he enjoys the gross light of nature, he is inwardly opposed to anything to do with heaven or the church, even though outwardly he can speak in their favour, with passion if he seeks power by their means.
[4] 4. Sensual men are sharp and clever in reasoning, because their thought is so close to their speech that it is virtually in it, so to speak, on their lips; and because in speaking they regard all intelligence as based solely upon memory.
[5] 5. Some of them are able to prove anything they wish, and with great skill what is false; and after proving them they believe these ideas are true. But their reasoning and proofs are based upon illusions produced by the senses, and these serve to attract the attention of and persuade ordinary people.
[6] 6. Sensual men surpass others in trickery and malice.
[7] 7. The interiors of their minds are foul and filthy, since through them they are in touch with the hells.
[8] 8. The spirits in the hells are sensual, and the deeper their hell, the more sensual they are. The sphere emanating from spirits in hell links itself to a person’s sensual faculty from behind.
[9] 9. Sensual men cannot see any genuine truth in light, but reason and dispute on all subjects whether it is so. These disputes are heard by others as the sound of gnashing of teeth; this is, on a correct view, the noise of falsities in conflict with one another and the conflict of falsity and truth. Hence it is plain what is meant by ‘gnashing of teeth’ in the Word. This is because reasoning from the illusions produced by the senses corresponds to the teeth.
[10] 10. Educated and learned people who have become deeply convinced of false ideas are more sensual than other people, and even more so, if they oppose the truths of the Word, though they may not appear so to the world’s eyes. Heresies have chiefly sprung from people who were sensual.
[11] 11. Hypocrites, tricksters, pleasure-seekers, adulterers and misers are for the most part sensual.
[12] 12. Those who reasoned solely from sense impressions, and against the genuine truths of the Word, and therefore of the church, were called by the ancients serpents of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Since sense impressions mean things impinging on the bodily senses and apprehended by their means, it follows that:
[13] 13. By sense impressions a person is in touch with the world, and by rational ideas above their level with heaven.
[14] 14. Sense impressions supply such things from the natural world as may be of service to the interiors of the mind in the spiritual world.
[15] 15. There are sense impressions which supply the understanding (these are the various natural phenomena known as physics), and there are sense impressions which supply the will (these are the pleasures of the senses and the body).
[16] 16. If thought is not raised above the level of sense impressions, a person’s wisdom is very restricted; – a wise man thinks on a higher level than sense impressions. When his thought is raised above this level, he comes into brighter illumination, and eventually into the light of heaven. This is how a person perceives truth, which is what intelligence really is.
[17] 17. The ancients were well acquainted with the raising of the mind above sense impressions and its withdrawal from them.
[18] 18. If sense impressions are in the last place, they serve to open the way for the understanding, and truths are refined by the method by which they are extracted. But if sense impressions occupy the first place, they serve to block that way, and a person can only see truths as if in a mist, or as if at night.
[19] 19. Sense impressions occupy the last place in the case of a wise person, and they are subject to more inward things; but in the case of an unwise person they occupy the first place and are dominant. It is these people who are properly called sensual.
[20] 20. Human beings have some sense impressions which are shared with animals, and others which are not. [21] To the extent that a person thinks above the level of sense impressions, he is truly a human being. But no one can think above this level and see the truths of the church, unless he acknowledges God and lives in accordance with His commandments. For it is God who raises the level and enlightens the mind.
When the three loves are duly subordinated, they increase a person’s perfection; but when they are not, they corrupt and turn him upside down.
Something must first be said about how the three universal loves – love of heaven, love of the world and self-love – are subordinated one to another. Then I shall discuss the way one is introduced into another and exerts an effect upon it; and finally how a person’s state depends upon this subordination. The three loves are related like the three regions of the body; the highest is the head, the middle one is the chest and belly, the third the knees, feet and soles of the feet. When the love of heaven makes up the head, the love of the world the chest and belly, and self-love the feet and soles, then a person is in the perfect state for which he was created, since then the two lower loves are at the service of the highest, just as the body and all its parts are at the service of the head. So when the love of heaven makes up the head, this then exerts its influence on the love of the world, which is chiefly the love of wealth, and employs wealth in order to perform services; and through the medium of the love of the world it influences self-love, which is chiefly the love of honours and employs these in order to perform services. Thus the influence each of these loves exerts on another makes all these three loves aim at being of service.
[2] Can anyone fail to understand that when a person wishes to perform services because he is moved by spiritual love – that is, love from the Lord, or what is meant by the love of heaven – it is the natural man who does them by means of his wealth and other possessions, and the sensual man who employs his offices for their production, and this is his honour? Again can anyone fail to understand that all the deeds a person performs with his body are dependent upon the mental state in his head, and if his mind is set on the love of services, the body performs them by means of its limbs? This is because the will and the understanding are present in their origins in the head, but in the derivatives from these in the body, just as the will is present in deeds and thought in the utterances of speech. As a comparison, it is like the fructifying power of the seed present in every single part of a tree, which it employs to serve its purposes, namely to produce its fruits. It is also like fire and light inside a crystal vase, which by their effect becomes warm and shines. So it is with the spiritual vision in the mind and equally the natural vision in the body in the case of a person in whom the three loves are properly and duly subordinated, as the result of the light which flows in from the Lord through heaven; this can be likened to the pomegranate which is translucent to the centre, where the seed-container is. The meaning of these words of the Lord is similar:
The eye is the lamp of the body; if the eye is single (that is, good), the whole body is full of light. Matt. 6:22; Luke 11:34.
[3] No sane person can condemn wealth, for in the body politic it plays the part blood plays in the person; nor can he condemn the honours attached to offices, for officials are the king’s hands and pillars of society, so long as their natural and sensual loves are subordinated to spiritual love. There are administrative offices in heaven too, and these have honours attached to them, but those who discharge these offices have no greater love than the performance of services, because they are spiritual people.
[2] There is, however, a great deal of variation in this love. It is worse the more it tends to avarice; in this case the love of heaven turns black. It is much the same if it tends to pride and ambition to dominate others as the result of self-love. It is different, however, if it tends towards prodigality; this is less harmful, if it aims at worldly splendour, such as palaces, ornaments, fine clothes, servants, horses and carriages for show and such like. The quality of any love is determined by the end which is its aim and purpose.
This love can be likened to a blackened crystal which chokes the light, and does not break it up into colours, except dull and fleeting ones. It is also like mist and clouds, which take away the radiance of the sun. Or it is like new unfermented wine, which, for all its sweet taste is bad for the stomach. Such a person, seen from heaven looks like a hunchback, walking with his head bowed to the ground; and when he lifts it to the sky, he wrenches his muscles, and quickly reverts to his downward gaze. The ancients in the church called such people by the name of Mammon and the Greeks by the name of Pluto.
[2] Emperors, kings and dukes, who were born and brought up to positions of power, if they humble themselves before God, are sometimes less set on the love of power than those of lowly origin, who from pride seek high rank more than others. But those who are set on the love of controlling others as the result of self-love treat the love of heaven like a foot-stool; for the sake of the common people they rest their feet upon it, but, when the common people are not to be seen, throw it into a corner or out of doors. The reason is that they love only themselves, and therefore plunge their wills and the thoughts of their minds in the self (proprium), which regarded in itself is hereditary evil; and this is diametrically opposed to the love of heaven.
[3] The evils which beset those who love to control others as the result of self-love are generally speaking the following: contempt for others, envy, unfriendliness directed against those who do not show them favour, hostility resulting from this, hatred, the taking of revenge, pitilessness, ferocity and cruelty. Where such evils exist, there too are found contempt for God and what is God’s, that is, the various kinds of truth and good which belong to the church. If they respect these, it is only with the lips, to prevent their reputations being attacked by the clergy and abused by everyone else.
[4] But there is a difference in this love between the clergy and laymen. In the case of the clergy, if this love is freed from restraint, it rises so high they want to become gods; but in the case of laymen, they want to become kings. That is the height to which the fantasising caused by that love carries away their minds.
[5] In the case of the perfect person, the love of heaven occupies the highest position and, so to speak, forms the head of all the loves that follow; the love of the world is below it and is, so to speak, the chest beneath the head; and self-love is below this in the position of the feet. This being so, if self-love made up the head, the person would be turned completely upside down. He would then appear to the angels as if lying with his head bowed down to the ground and with his back to the sky. While engaged in worship, he would seem as if dancing on his hands and feet, like a panther cub. Moreover such people might appear in the shape of various animals with two heads, one above with the face of a wild animal, the other below with a human face, constantly pushed down by the upper one and forced to kiss the ground. All these people are sensual men, and such as have been described above in 402.
Every person taken singly is the neighbour who is to be loved, but he should be loved according to the quality of his good.
Man was not born for his own sake, but for the sake of others; that is, so that he should not live for himself alone, but for others. Otherwise no society could hold together, nor could there be any good in it. The common saying goes, that each person is his own neighbour; but the doctrine of charity teaches us how we ought to understand this. It means that each person should procure for himself the necessities of life, such as food, clothing, somewhere to live and many other things demanded by the society in which he lives. These he should procure not only for himself, but for his people; and not only for the present, but also for the future. For unless a person provides himself with the necessities of life, he is not in a position to exercise charity, being in want of everything.
In what way, however, each person ought to be his own neighbour can be seen from this analogy. Everyone ought to provide his body with food; this is the first consideration, but for the purpose of having a healthy mind in a healthy body. Everyone ought also to provide his mind with the food it needs, such things as fall within the domain of intelligence and judgment, but in order that he may as a result be in a position to be of service to his fellow citizen, his community, country, the church and so the Lord. Anyone who does this provides well for himself for ever. This shows plainly what is first in time, and what is first in purpose; and it is this which all else has in view. This is also like someone building a house: first he lays the foundations, but the purpose of the foundations is the building of a house, and the purpose of the house is to be somewhere to live. Anyone who thinks being his own neighbour comes first or takes the leading position is like someone who regards the foundations as the purpose rather than having somewhere to live; when in fact this is the first and last purpose in building, and the house with its foundations is only a means to this end.
* This passage is closely modelled on HD 97, 98.
You have heard that the men of old were told, You are to love your neighbour and hate your enemy. But I tell you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who hurt and persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father in the heavens. Matt. 5:43-45.
And when Peter asked Him how many times he should forgive one who sinned against him, whether it should be as many as seven times, He replied:
Not up to seven times, I tell you, but up to seventy times seven times. Matt. 18:21, 22.
I have been told from heaven that the Lord forgives everyone his sins, and never punishes him for them, or even imputes them to him, because He is love itself and good itself. Nevertheless the sins are not wiped away by this, for it is only by repentance that they can be wiped away. For if he told Peter to forgive up to seventy times seven times, is there anything that the Lord Himself would not do?
[2] Since therefore every person is the neighbour, and people display infinite variety, and each of them is to be loved as the neighbour in accordance with the good in him, it is clear that love towards the neighbour has genera and species, as well as degrees. Now because the Lord is to be loved above all else, it follows that the degrees of that love are to be measured by love to Him; in other words, by how much of the Lord or what is from the Lord he possesses in himself, for this is a measure of how much good he possesses too, because all good comes from the Lord.
[3] But because these degrees exist in the internal man, who is rarely to be discerned in the world, it is sufficient for one to love the neighbour in terms of the degrees one does know. After death these are clearly perceived, for in that world the affections of the will and the resulting thoughts of the understanding create a spiritual sphere around them, which is felt in various ways. But in the world that spiritual sphere is absorbed by the material body and is enveloped in the natural sphere which then emanates from the person. The existence of degrees of love towards the neighbour is proved by the Lord’s parable about the Samaritan, who had pity on the man wounded by robbers, though the priest and the Levite saw him and passed by; and when the Lord asked which of the three would seem to have been the neighbour, he received the reply, ‘The one who had pity’ (Luke 10:30-37).
You are to love the Lord God above all and your neighbour as yourself. Luke 10:27.
Loving the neighbour as oneself means not despising him compared with oneself, dealing justly with him, and not passing wicked judgment upon him. The law of charity promulgated and given by the Lord Himself is this:
Whatever you wish people to do to you, do the same to them; for this is the Law and the Prophets. Matt. 7:12, Luke 6:31, 32.
That is how those who are impelled by the love of heaven love the neighbour; but those who are impelled by the love of the world love the neighbour in worldly fashion and for worldly reasons, and those who are impelled by self-love love the neighbour in selfish fashion and for selfish reasons.
Man collectively, which is one’s community, great or small, and as a group of communities, which is one’s country, is the neighbour who is to be loved.
Those who are ignorant of the true meaning of the term ‘the neighbour’ think that it is an individual, and doing him kindnesses is loving the neighbour. But the neighbour and love for him have a wider range of meaning, rising to a higher level as the number of people increases. Can anyone fail to grasp that loving a number of people in a group is loving the neighbour more than just loving one out of the group? The reason why a community, great or small, is the neighbour is that it consists of a number of people. It follows from this that a person who loves a community loves its members, so that if he wishes well and does good to the community, he takes thought for each of its members. A community resembles an individual, and those who belong to it make up as it were a single body, with mutual differences like those of the parts of the body. The Lord, and by His guidance the angels, on looking down to the earth see a whole community in the form of a single person, whose appearance depends upon what its members are like. I too have been permitted to see a certain community in heaven looking exactly like a person, and of the same size as a person in the world.
[2] Love towards the neighbour takes a fuller form when it is love towards a community than when its object is a separate individual. This is clearly shown by the fact that higher rank is granted to governors depending on the size of the communities in their charge, and they are honoured in proportion to the services they perform. Offices in the world are of higher or lower rank in a hierarchy depending upon whether their control of a community is more or less universal, the king having the most universal control; each person is rewarded, honoured and generally loved in proportion to the importance of his office and the good his service does.
[3] But rulers of the present time can perform useful functions and take thought for their community without loving the neighbour, as in the case of those who are motivated to perform useful functions and take thought for worldly or selfish reasons, so that they may seem good rulers or deserving promotion to higher ranks. But although such rulers are not distinguishable in the world, they are in heaven. Those therefore who have been led by love towards the neighbour to perform useful functions are also made rulers of a community in heaven, and enjoy magnificent surroundings and honours; but they do not set their hearts on these things, but on the services they can perform. The rest, however, who have been led by love of the world or self-love to perform useful functions, are rejected.
* The Gospel has ‘five talents’, but cf. Luke 19:11-27.
** 3000 shekels make one talent.
[2] There is a law engraved on the hearts of men that one’s country should be loved, not as a person loves himself, but more than oneself. This law commands, and this is what every righteous man declares, that if one’s country is threatened with destruction by an enemy or any other danger, it is a noble act to die in its defence, and a soldier should take pride in shedding his blood for it. People say this because one’s country ought to be loved that dearly. It needs to be known that those who love their country and do good to it as the result of their good will, after death love the Lord’s kingdom, since this is then their country; and those who love the Lord’s kingdom love the Lord, because the Lord is all in all to His kingdom.
The neighbour who is to be loved in a higher degree is the church, and in the highest degree the Lord’s kingdom.
Since man is born destined for everlasting life, and it is the church which brings him to this, the church ought to be loved as neighbour in a higher degree. For the church’s teaching is the means leading to and giving entry to everlasting life. It is the truths of its teaching which lead and the good deeds performed which give entry to it. This does not mean that the priesthood is to be loved in a higher degree, and the church because of the priesthood. It is the good and truth of the church which ought to be loved, and the priesthood for their sake. The priesthood only serves as a means, and should be honoured to the extent that it so serves.
[2] Another reason why the church is the neighbour to be loved in a higher degree, and so more than one’s country, is that one’s country introduces one to secular life, but the church introduces one to spiritual life, the life which distinguishes man from living purely as an animal. Moreover, secular life is temporary, having an end, and is then as if it had never been. But spiritual life, having no end, is everlasting, so that the term ‘being’ may be used of it, but ‘not-being’ of the other form of life. The difference is like that between the finite and the infinite, which are incommensurable; for what is everlasting is infinite in respect of time.
[2] Love for the Lord’s kingdom then is love towards the neighbour in the fullest sense. For those who love the Lord’s kingdom not only love the Lord above all else, but also love the neighbour as themselves. Love to the Lord is universal love, thus pervading every detail of spiritual life and also every detail of natural life. For that love dwells at the highest level in a person, and what is highest flows into what is lower, bringing it to life, just as the will does into every intention and thus every action, and as the understanding into every thought and thus every utterance. This is why the Lord says:
Seek first the kingdom of the heavens and its righteousness, then everything will be given to you in addition. Matt. 6:33,
The kingdom of the heavens is the Lord’s kingdom, as is established by this passage in Daniel:
Behold, one like the Son of Man was coming with the clouds of the heavens. And to him was given dominion, glory and the kingdom, and all peoples, nations and tongues will worship him. His dominion will be a dominion for ever, which will not pass away and his kingdom one which will not perish. Dan. 7:13, 14.
The essence of loving the neighbour is not loving a person, but the good in him.
Everyone knows that what makes a human being human is not having a human face and a human body, but the wisdom in his understanding and the goodness in his will. The higher the levels these reach, the more human he is. Man at birth is more of a brute than any animal, but he becomes a human being by receiving instruction, which forms his mind, and as a result of this and in proportion to it he becomes truly human. There are animals with faces which look like human ones, but they enjoy no ability to understand or to do anything as the result of understanding. They act by instinct, which is aroused by their natural love. The difference is that an animal makes noises to express the affections of its love, while a human being submits these to thought and utters them in words. Also an animal faces downwards and looks at the ground, while a human being holds his face up and looks at the sky all around. From this it can be inferred that a human being is human in so far as he speaks with sound reason and keeps in mind his stay in heaven; and he is not human in so far as he speaks contrary to reason and keeps in mind only his stay on earth. Still such people are human beings, not in fact but potentially. For every person enjoys the potentiality of understanding truths and willing good deeds; but to the extent that he does not wish to do good deeds and understand truths, to that extent he can externally pretend to be human and ape human behaviour.
* It would appear that the text is incomplete at this point.
Charity and good deeds are two different things, as are wishing well and doing good.
Everyone has an internal and an external. The internal is what is called the internal man, the external is what is called the external man. Anyone who is unaware of what the internal and external man are, might think that the internal man is the one who thinks and wills, and the external man is the one who speaks and acts. Admittedly speech and action are functions of the external man, and thought and will of the internal man; but they are not essentially what constitute the external and internal man. As commonly understood it is a person’s mind which is the internal man; but the mind itself is divided into two zones, and the one which is higher and interior is spiritual, the other which is lower and exterior is natural. The spiritual mind concentrates on the spiritual world and the objects of its attention are the contents of that world, either the kind of things to be found in heaven, or the kind to be found in hell; both heaven and hell are part of the spiritual world. The natural mind, however, concentrates upon the natural world, and the objects of its attention are the contents of that world, whether good or evil. Every action and utterance by a person comes directly from the lower zone of his mind, and indirectly from the higher zone, since the lower zone of the mind is closer to the bodily senses, and the higher zone is more distant from them. Human beings have this division of the mind, because they were created to be simultaneously spiritual and natural, and thus not animals but human beings.
[2] This shows plainly that a person who looks to the world and himself in the first place is an external man, because he is natural not only in body but also in mind, while a person who looks in the first place to what belongs to heaven and the church is an internal man, because he is spiritual in both mind and body. He is spiritual in body too, because his actions and utterances come from his higher mind, which is spiritual, by way of the lower mind, which is natural. For it is well known that effects come from the body, and the causes which produce them from the mind, and the cause is wholly in the effect. This division of the human mind is obvious from the fact that a person can put on a pretence, or play the part of a toady, hypocrite and actor; he can assent to another’s statements, while yet laughing at them. The laughter comes from his higher mind, the assent from the lower.
This can be illustrated by a comparison with seeds in the earth. Each separate seed grows into a plant, either useful or useless, depending on what the seed is. The same happens with spiritual seed, which is the truth the church learns from the Word. Doctrine is formed from this, useful doctrine if formed from genuine truths, useless if from falsified truths. It is exactly the same with the formation of charity from willing well, depending whether this is for selfish or worldly reasons, or for the sake of the neighbour, whether this is narrowly or broadly interpreted. If it is for selfish or worldly reasons, it is spurious charity, but if for the sake of the neighbour, it is genuine charity. However, more on this subject may be found in the chapter on faith, in particular in the section where it was shown that charity is having a good will, and that good deeds are doing good from having a good will (374); and that charity and faith are merely unstable mental concepts unless, when possible, they are realised in deeds and come into existence together in them (375, 376).
Real charity is dealing fairly and faithfully in whatever position, business or work one is engaged in, and with those with whom one comes into contact.
Real charity is dealing fairly and faithfully in whatever position, business or work one is engaged in, because everything a person so does is of use to the community; and use is good; and good, leaving persons out of account, is the neighbour. (It was shown above that not only the individual but also the community, [great or]* small, and one’s country is the neighbour.) For example, if a king sets his subjects an example by his good deeds, if he desires them to live in accordance with the laws of justice, rewarding those who do so, treating all according to their deserts, if he protects them from injury and invasion, acts as father to his kingdom and in general takes thought for the prosperity of his people, he has charity in his heart and his acts are good deeds. If a priest teaches truths from the Word, and uses them to lead people to live a good life, and so to reach heaven, he is a prime example of the exercise of charity, because he takes thought for the souls of the people in his church. If a judge bases his decisions on justice and the law, and is not influenced by bribes, friendship or nepotism, he takes thought for the community in general and the individual in particular; for the community, because this keeps it obedient to the law and afraid of breaking it; for the individual, by the fact that justice triumphs over injustice. If a business man acts honestly and not fraudulently, he takes thought for the neighbour with whom he has dealings. The same is true of a workman or craftsman, if he does his work properly and honestly, without pretence or deceit. The same is true of other occupations, such as ship-captains and sailors, or farmers and servants.
* For the insertion, cf. 412.1.
* Perhaps ut ‘as’ should be read here for et ‘and’.
The kindnesses of charity are giving to the poor and helping the needy, but with prudence.
A distinction must be drawn between the duties of charity and its kindnesses. By the duties of charity is meant the exercise of charity arising directly from charity itself; as was shown just above, these chiefly have to do with one’s work. But by kindnesses we mean the secondary actions which go beyond the first group. They are called kindnesses, because a person is free to do them as he chooses; and when they are done, they are regarded by the recipient as nothing but kindnesses. They are distributed in accordance with the reasons and intentions the person who does them has in mind. It is generally believed that charity consists only in giving to the poor, helping the needy, taking care of widows and orphans, making donations to the building of hospices and hospitals, hostels, orphanages, and above all churches, and to their decoration and their income. But the majority of these are not the proper work of charity, but are additional to it.
[2] Those who suppose these kindnesses to be real charity cannot help believing their deeds are meritorious; and despite their verbal protestations that they do not want them to be meritorious, they still have lurking in them the belief that they are. This is plain to see after their death. Then they count up their deeds and demand salvation as their reward. But then enquiry is made into the origin and thus the nature of their deeds; and if it is found that they arose either from pride, or seeking a reputation, or from mere generosity, or from friendship, or from purely natural inclination, or from hyprocrisy, then that origin judges them, since the nature of its origin is present in every deed. True charity, however, is the product of those who have employed fairness and careful judgment in their deeds, which they perform without any intention of being rewarded, in accordance with the Lord’s words (Luke 14:12-14). These people also call the sort of actions mentioned above kindnesses, as well as duties, though they are a part of charity.
[2] For in fact those kindnesses are in many ways beneficial, particularly giving to the poor and to beggars. They are a means by which boys and girls, servants and maids, and generally speaking all simple folk are introduced to charity; these are the external acts which lead people to absorb the functions of charity. They are its beginnings, and then like unripe fruit; and in the case of those who are later perfected by acquiring a proper knowledge of charity and faith, they become like ripe fruit. When this happens they look on their previous deeds as performed out of simplicity of heart, and nothing more than duties.
Some charitable duties are public, some domestic and some private.
There is a difference between charitable kindnesses and charitable duties, like that between acts undertaken by free choice and those done of necessity. Still, by charitable duties we do not here mean the duties attached to office in a kingdom or republic, such as that of ministers to administer, of judges to judge, and so on, but the duties of every individual whatever his occupation. They come therefore from a different origin and are the result of a different act of will, so that those who are charitable do them out of charity, and in the opposite case the uncharitable do them out of lack of charity.
[2] But conjugial love, and the love for children, together with their duties and the fulfilment of these duties, do not create love towards the neighbour, as does the fulfilment of the duties of office. For what is called parental affection exists just as much with the wicked as the good, and is sometimes stronger in the case of the wicked; it also exists with animals and birds, which are incapable of the development of charity. It is well known that this exists with bears, tigers and snakes just as much as with sheep and goats, with owls just as much as with doves.
[3] On the particular subject of parents’ duties to their children, there is an intrinsic difference between those of the charitable and the uncharitable, although outwardly they appear similar. In the case of the charitable that love is linked with love towards the neighbour and love to God, for these people love their children for their morals, their virtues, their enthusiasms, and their talents for public service. But in the case of the uncharitable there is no linking of charity with parental affection. Most of these people therefore love their children even if they are wicked, immoral and sly more than if they are good, moral and prudent; in other words, they love those who are no use to the public more than those who are useful.
Charitable recreations are lunches, dinners and parties.
It is well known that lunches and dinners are customary everywhere, and that they are given for various purposes; in many cases for the sake of friendship, on account of relationship or celebrations, to gain an advantage or to reward services. They are also a means of gaining favour corruptly, in the case of important people, to do them honour, in kings’ courts for show. But charitable lunches and dinners are to be found only with those who in mutual love share a like belief. In the earliest Christian church there were lunches and dinners, called feasts, for precisely this reason, set up to give hearty pleasure and at the same time bring people together. Dinners in their times meant social gatherings and getting together at the first stage in the establishment of the church, that being the meaning of the evening, when they took place. Lunches had the same meaning at the second stage when the church was established, since that is the meaning of morning and day.
[2] At table various matters were discussed, both domestic and political, but the chief subject was matters of concern to the church. Because they were charitable feasts, the talk on any subject was full of charity, together with its joys and pleasures. The spiritual sphere dominant at those feasts was that of love to the Lord and love towards the neighbour, which made everyone’s mind cheerful, softened his tone of voice and spread a joyful feeling from the heart to all the senses. Every person has a spiritual sphere radiating from him, which is the product of the affection of his love and so of his thought, and this inwardly affects his companions, especially at feasts. It is radiated both by the face and by the breathing. It is because such associations of minds were meant by lunches, dinners or feasts that they are so often mentioned in the Word; and such too is the meaning of these terms in its spiritual sense. The same is true in the highest sense of the Passover dinner among the Children of Israel, and by banquets at other festivals, as well as by feeding on the products of sacrifice beside the Tabernacle. The act of linking was then represented by breaking and distributing bread, and by drinking out of the same cup and passing it on to the next person.
[2] But charitable parties no longer exist; for the Lord says:
At the completion of the age (that is, the end of the church) injustice will increase greatly and charity will grow cold. Matt. 24:12.
The reason was that the church had ceased to acknowledge the Lord God the Saviour as God of heaven and earth, and approach Him directly, who is the only source and giver of real charity. Parties, however, where there is no friendship with its imitation of charity to link minds together, are nothing but pretences of friendship, specious demonstrations of mutual love, seductive attempts to worm one’s way into favour, and indulgence in bodily pleasures, especially those of the senses. They sweep other people along, like ships with their sails filled and a following sea; and on them stand sycophants and hypocrites on the poop holding the tiller in their hands.
The first thing in charity is to banish evils, the second is to do good deeds which may be of use to the neighbour.
The leading role in the doctrine of charity is played by this statement, that the first thing is not to do evil to the neighbour, the second is to do good to him. This dogma forms as it were a gateway leading to the doctrine of charity, It is well known that from birth everyone has evil lodged in his will; and because every evil is aimed at people both near and far, as well as one’s community and country, it follows that hereditary evil is evil directed against the neighbour of whatever degree. Reason itself can show anyone that in so far as the evil lodged in the will is not removed, so far is the good he does impregnated with that evil. For in that case the evil is inside the good, like a kernel in a nut-shell or marrow in a bone. Although therefore the good done by such a person looks like good, it is not intrinsically good. For it is like a glistening shell within which the kernel is eaten away by maggots; and like a white almond which is rotten inside, so that rotting passages extend to the surface.
[2] Willing evil and doing good are essentially two opposites. For evil is the product of hatred directed against the neighbour, good that of love towards the neighbour; or if you like, evil is the neighbour’s enemy, good is his friend. These two cannot both exist in one mind, that is, the evil in the internal man, the good in the external man; if it does, the good in the external is like a wound treated with palliatives, but containing rotten pus inside it. A person then resembles a tree with a worn-out root, yet producing fruit which outwardly seems to be tasty and fit to use, but inwardly is bitter and useless. Such people are also like dross thrown away, which when superficially polished and given pretty colouring is put up for sale as precious stones. In short, they are like owl’s eggs passed off as those of a dove.
[3] People should know that the good a person does in his body comes from his spirit, that is, the internal man. (The internal man is the spirit which lives on after death.) Consequently when such a person puts off the body, which made up his external man, then he is totally and utterly in the grip of evils, and takes pleasure in them, eschewing good as attacking his life.
[4] The Lord teaches in many passages that a person cannot do good which is essentially good until evil has been removed:
They do not gather the grape from thorns, nor figs from thistles; a rotten tree cannot produce good fruit. Matt. 7:16-18.
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees; you clean the outside of the cup and dish, but the insides are full of robbery and intemperance. You blind Pharisee, clean first the inside of the cup and dish, so that the outside too may be clean. Matt. 23:25, 26.
And in Isaiah:
Wash yourselves, remove the wickedness of your deeds; cease to do evil, learn to do good, seek judgment. Then if your sins were as scarlet, they will become white as snow, if they were red like purple, they shall be like wool. Isa. 1:16-18.
* This passage is largely repeated from 331.
I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were cold or hot. But because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I shall spit you out of my mouth. Rev. 3:15, 16.
Can anyone skirmish with his squadron between two armies and be on both sides at once? Can anyone cherish evil against his neighbour and at the same time good towards him? If he does, the evil conceals itself in the good. Although evil which conceals itself may not be seen in actions, still it shows itself in many things when they are properly considered. The Lord says:
No servant can serve two masters. You cannot serve God and Mammon. Luke 16:13.
In the exercise of charity a person avoids attributing merit to deeds, so long as he believes that all good is from the Lord.
To attribute merit to deeds executed to gain salvation is ruinous; for evils lie hidden in this of which the doer is quite unaware. Among these are denial of God’s influence and working on people, trust in one’s own powers in matters concerning salvation, faith in oneself and not in God, self-justification, salvation by one’s own strength, the cancelling of Divine grace and mercy, the rejection of reformation and regeneration by Divine means; in particular they detract from the merit and righteousness of the Lord God the Saviour, since they claim these for themselves. Moreover they have constantly in view the reward which they regard as their first and last aim; they drown and kill love to the Lord and love towards the neighbour. They are totally ignorant of and unable to feel the pleasure of heavenly love, which is free from all idea of merit; all they feel is self-love. Putting the reward first and salvation second, so that salvation is for the sake of the reward, turns the order upside down; and such people plunge the interior desires of their minds in the self (proprium), and in the body they befoul them with the evils of the flesh. That is why in the sight of the angels good done to gain merit looks like rust, and good not done to gain merit like purple.
[2] The Lord teaches in Luke that good is not to be done to gain merit:
If you do kindnesses to those who do them to you, what credit is that to you? Rather love your enemies, and do kindnesses, and lend without expecting any return. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because He is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Luke 6:33-36.
We learn in John that a person can do no good which is essentially good, except from the Lord:
Remain in me, and I in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it remains part of the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in me, because without me you can do nothing. John 15:4, 5.
And elsewhere:
A man cannot take anything, unless it is given him from heaven. John 3:27.
[2] They are also like those whose patriotism springs from love of self and the world; they say they are willing to give their fortunes and their lives for their country, yet if they do not succeed in getting honours and wealth as a reward, they speak ill of their country and ally themselves to its enemies. They are also like shepherds, who only tend their sheep for pay; and if this is late in being paid, they use their staff to drive the sheep from the pastureland into the desert. They are like priests who perform their duties only for the stipends attached to them; it is plain that they care nothing for the salvation of the souls whose guidance is put in their charge.
[3] It is much the same with people holding magistracies, who only have regard to the rank and income attached to their office; when they do good, it is not for the public good, but for the pleasure that comes of love of self and the world, which is the breath of life to them and the only good they recognise. It is very similar with others of this sort; the aim which motivates them is totally dominant, and the intermediate causes, which belong to their office, are dismissed if they do not assist that aim.
[4] Such is the case with those who demand a reward as earned in matters relating to salvation. After death they with great confidence demand to go to heaven; but when they have been found to possess no love at all to God and none at all towards the neighbour, they are sent to be instructed about charity and faith. If they reject this teaching, they are banished to join people like them, among whom are some who are angry with God, because they have not been rewarded, and call faith an item standing to their credit. These are the people who are meant in the Word by hired labourers; they are assigned to the most menial forms of service in church courtyards. Seen from a distance they appear to be splitting wood.
[2] When a person is in this condition he exercises charity freely with no fear that he is seeking merit, and eventually feels the spiritual joy of charity; and then he begins to loathe merit as injurious to his life. The notion of merit is easily wiped out by the Lord in the case of those who absorb charity by acting fairly and faithfully in their work, business or position and with those with whom they have any dealings (on this see 422-424 above). But the idea of merit is very hard to remove from those who think charity is acquired by alms-giving and helping the needy. For when these people do such things, their minds are at first openly, and later tacitly, wanting to be rewarded, and they seek for merit.
When a moral life is at the same time spiritual, this is charity.
Everyone is taught by his parents and teachers to lead a moral life, that is, to be a good citizen, and act in an honest fashion. Honesty refers to various virtues which are its essentials; and he learns by means of these to give formal expression to honesty and this constitutes its graces. As he advances in age, he learns in addition rational arguments, and so to perfect the morality of his life. Moral life for boys up to the beginning of adolescence is natural, and from then on becomes more and more rational. Careful reflexion can show that a moral life is the same thing as a charitable one; it is dealing well with the neighbour, and controlling one’s life so as to prevent it being contaminated with evils. This follows from the demonstration in 435-438 above. Still, in the first period of one’s life, a moral life is only in its outermost form a charitable one; that is, it affects only its outward form and front, not the inward parts.
[2] From infancy to old age man passes through four stages of life. In the first he acts as he is taught by others. In the second he acts of his own accord, as governed by the understanding. In the third the will acts on the understanding and the understanding modifies the will. In the fourth he follows the course of action he has convinced himself is right and set before himself as his aim. These are stages in the life of a person’s spirit and are not paralleled in his body. The body is capable of acting in moral fashion and talking rationally, while the spirit can will and think the opposite. It is obvious that the natural man is like this from looking at pretenders, toadies, liars and hypocrites, who as is well known have duplicitous minds, that is, their minds are split into two parts which disagree. The case is different with those who will good and think rationally, and as a result do good deeds and talk rationally; they are the people meant by ‘the simple in spirit’ in the Word, being called simple because they are not duplicitous.
[3] These remarks can show plainly the real meaning of the terms ‘external’ and ‘internal man’. No one can draw any conclusions from the morality of the external about that of the internal, since he may be facing the opposite direction, and hiding as a tortoise does its head in its shell, or a snake its in its coils. The so-called moral man of this sort is like a highwayman in town and in the woods; in town he adopts the role of a moral citizen, but in the woods he preys on travellers. It is quite different in the case of those who are inwardly moral, that is, in spirit, the result of being regenerated by the Lord; these are the people meant by ‘the spiritually moral.’
Everything you wish people to do to you, do the same to them; this is the Law and the Prophets. Matt. 7:12.
This same law applies universally to moral life. But it would take a great many pages to list all charitable deeds and compare them with the deeds prescribed by a moral life, so merely six commandments of the second table of the Ten Commandments can serve as an illustration. It is plain to anyone that they are the commandments of moral life; and it may be seen above (329-331) that they also contain everything to do with love towards the neighbour. Charity fulfils all these commandments, as is clear from the following passage of Paul:
Love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, You are not to commit adultery, You are not to commit murder, You are not to steal, You are not to be a false witness,
You are not to covet, and any other commandment there may be, these are all summed up in this phrase: You are to love your neighbour as yourself. Charity does not do evil to the neighbour; it is the fulfilment of the law. Rom. 13:8-10.
[2] If anyone’s thinking comes solely from the external man, he cannot fail to be surprised that the seven commandments of the second table were delivered by Jehovah on Mount Sinai amid such miraculous circumstances, when those same rules were enjoined by the laws of the civil legal system in every kingdom upon earth, including therefore Egypt, which the Children of Israel had just left; for no kingdom can last without them. But the fact that they were delivered by Jehovah, and written by His finger on two stone tables, caused them to be not only the commandments of the civil community, and so of natural moral life, but also the commandments of the heavenly community, and so of spiritual moral life. Thus to break them would not only be acting against one’s fellow men, but also against God.
A bosom friendship* contracted with a person without regard to his spiritual character is harmful after death.
A bosom friendship means one so intimate that it involves loving not only the friend’s external man but also his internal man, and this without enquiry into what sort of a person he is inwardly or in spirit. This means without enquiring whether the affections of his mind derive from love towards the neighbour and love to God, and are thus capable of association with the angels of heaven; or whether they derive from love directed against the neighbour and love directed against God, so being capable of association with devils. Many people enter into such friendships for various reasons and for various purposes. This kind of friendship is to be distinguished from external friendship which is merely personal, and exists for the sake of various pleasures of the body and the senses, and for various kinds of contact. This personal sort of friendship can be contracted with anyone, even with the clown who plays the fool at a duke’s table. This is simply called friendship, the other, bosom friendship; friendship is a link at the natural level, love a link at the spiritual level.
* The Latin phrase means literally ‘a friendship of love’.
[2] I have been permitted to see ties of this sort, especially between brothers and other relations, as well as between lords and their underlings, and of many with toadies, who had opposite affections and different characters. I saw some looking like kids with leopards, and then they embraced each other, swearing to maintain their previous friendship. Then I was aware of the good absorbing the pleasures of the wicked, holding hands, and going together into caves, where crowds of wicked people were to be seen in their hideous forms, though they have the illusion that they seem to themselves attractive. But some time later I heard the good wailing in fear as if they were to be hanged, and the wicked rejoicing as if they had taken booty from an enemy, and other such doleful scenes. I was told that later on the good after being released were prepared for heaven by being reformed, but with more difficulty than others.
Spurious charity, hypocritical charity and dead charity.
True charity which is alive is impossible except when it makes one with faith, and except when both jointly look to the Lord. For these three, the Lord, charity and faith, are the three essentials for salvation, and when they are one, charity is charity, faith is faith and the Lord is in them, and they are in the Lord (see above 363-367 and 368-372). However, where these three are not linked together, charity is either spurious or hypocritical or dead. From the time it was founded Christianity has been beset by various heresies, and these continue also at the present time; and in each one of these the three essentials – God, charity and faith – have been and are acknowledged, since in their absence there can be no religion, As regards charity specifically, it can be attached to any heretical belief, such as that of Socinians, Enthusiasts or Jews, even the belief of idolaters. And all these can believe that it is really charity, since it resembles that in outward form; but it actually changes its nature depending on the belief to which it is attached or linked. For a demonstration of this, see the chapter on faith.
When you give alms, do not have a trumpet sound before you, as hypocrites do in synagogues and in the streets, to get glory from men. And if you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites, who like to pray standing up in synagogues and at street-corners, so that people can see them. Matt. 6:2, 5.
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites, because you shut off the kingdom of the heavens in men’s sight, since you do not go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who want to go in to do so. Woe to you, hypocrites, because you tour sea and dry land to make one proselyte; and when you have got one, you make him twice as much a son of Gehenna as yourselves. Woe to you, you hypocrites, because you clean the outside of the cup and dish, but the insides are full of robbery and intemperance. Matt. 23:13, 15, 25.
Rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you, you hypocrites, saying, This people honours me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. Mark 7:6.
Woe to you, you hypocrites, because you are like hidden tombs, so that people walking over them are unaware. Luke 11:44.
There are other passages too. These people are like flesh without blood, or like ravens and parrots which have been taught to repeat the words from a psalm; and like birds trained to sing the tune of a religious hymn. The sound of their speech is like the sound of a fowler’s lure.
* The three-headed dog of Greek mythology who guarded the gate of the under-world.
** The ferryman of Greek mythology who took souls to the underworld.
Bosom friendship between the wicked is implacable hatred between them.
It was shown above that everyone has an internal and an external, the internal being called his internal man and the external his external man. To this must be added the fact that the internal man exists in the spiritual world and the external in the natural world. The reason why man was so created is so that he can associate with spirits and angels in their world, and as a result think analytically, and after death be transferred from his own world to the other. The spiritual world means both heaven and hell. Since the internal man is together with spirits and angels in their world, and the external man is among living men, it is plain that a person can consort with the spirits in hell or with the angels in heaven. The ability and power to do this distinguish man from animals. It is what a person is like in his internal man, not in his external man, that determines what he is essentially like, because the internal man is his spirit, and acts by means of the external. The material body, with which his spirit is clothed in the natural world, is an extra, needed for procreation and for the formation of the internal man. For this is formed in the natural body, like a tree in the ground, and a seed in the fruit. More facts about the internal and external man can be seen above (401).
[2] Since the pleasures of hell are the opposites of the pleasures of heaven, there is a great gap between them; the pleasures of heaven pour down from above into this gap, those of hell well up into it from below. While a person is alive in the world he is in the middle of the gap, so that he can be in equilibrium, and so free to turn either to heaven or to hell. It is this gap which is meant by the ‘great gulf’ fixed between those in heaven and those in hell (Luke 16:26).
[3] These facts can serve to establish what a bosom friendship is like between the wicked. As regards the external man it is accompanied by gestures and mimicry, and makes a pretence of morality, for the purpose of spreading its nets and looking to see where there is a chance of enjoying the pleasures of its loves, which burn hot in their internal man. It is only fear of the law, and as a result fear for one’s reputation and way of life, which restrains and prevents them from acting thus. So their friendship resembles a spider in the sugar, a viper in the bread, a young crocodile in a honey-cake, and a snake in the grass.
[4] The friendship of the wicked with anyone is like this. But between those who are confirmed villains, as between thieves, highwaymen and pirates, friendship is close, so long as they are in full agreement in gloating over their robberies; then they embrace one another like brothers, entertain one another with feasts, singing and dancing, and conspire to ruin others. In fact each deep within himself looks on his companion as an enemy does an enemy. The cunning robber even sees this in his companion, and is afraid of him. It is plain from this that between such people there is no friendship, but implacable hatred.
455A* Anyone who has not openly sided with wrongdoers and taken to robbery, but who has led a moral life as a good citizen, aiming to be of service in various ways, without, however, restraining the longings which reside in the natural man, might believe that his friendship is not like this. But I have been allowed to know for certain as the result of many instances in the spiritual world that friendship is like this, more or less, with all who have rejected faith and despised the holy things of the church, thinking them of no consequence for themselves, but only for the common people. In the case of some of them the pleasures of hellish love lay hidden like fire in smouldering logs covered with bark; with some like burning coals under ash; with some like wax tapers which burst into flame at the touch of a light; with some in other ways. That is what everyone is like who banishes from his heart everything to do with religion. Their internal man is in hell, and so long as they live in the world – when they are unaware of it on account of the semblance of morality they display in externals – they do not acknowledge as neighbour any but themselves and their children. They treat everyone else either with contempt, when they resemble cats stalking birds in their nests, or with hatred, when they resemble wolves on the watch for dogs to devour. These remarks have been introduced so that it may be known what charity is like by reference to its opposite.
* The original has two paragraphs numbered 455.
The linking of love to God and love towards the neighbour.
It is well known that the law delivered from Mount Sinai was written on two tablets, one of them relating to God, the other to men; and that these were in Moses’ hand a single tablet, with the writing about God on the right side and that about men on the left.* Thus when it was presented to human eyes, the writing on both sides would be seen together; so one part would be visible to the other, like Jehovah talking with Moses, and Moses with Jehovah face to face, as we read. This was done so that the tablets thus joined should represent the linking of God with men, and reciprocally that of men with God. This was the reason why the law so written was called a covenant and a witness; a covenant means linking, and witness means living in accordance with agreements.
[2] These two tablets so joined allow us to see the linking of love to God and love towards the neighbour. The first tablet is concerned with everything to do with love to God, and these occupy the leading position: we should acknowledge one God, the divinity of His Human, and the holiness of the Word, and God is to be worshipped by means of the holy things coming from Him. It is clear that this is the subject of this tablet from the remarks made in Chapter 5 about the Ten Commandments. The second tablet is concerned with everything to do with love towards the neighbour; its first five commandments deal with actions and are called deeds, and the last two with matters of the will, so what is to do with charity in its origin. In these last it says, ‘You are not to covet,’ and when a person does not covet what is his neighbour’s, then he wishes him well. The Ten Commandments contain everything to do with love to God and everything to do with love towards the neighbour; see 329-331 above. It was also shown there that the linking of the two tablets takes place with those who possess charity.
* Since Hebrew writing is from right to left, the right-hand column would be written first.
[2] A few words must be said on how the linking takes place. God flows into what everyone knows about God, bringing about an acknowledgment of God, and at the same time imparting His love for mankind. If a person receives only the first and not the second, the inflow reaches only his understanding, and not his will, and he remains knowing about God without any inward acknowledgment of God, so that his condition resembles that of a garden in wintertime. But if a person receives both the first and the second, the inflow reaches his will and comes from there into his understanding, so occupying his whole mind. Then he makes an inward acknowledgment of God, which brings to life what he knows about God, so that his condition resembles that of a garden in springtime.
[3] The reason why linking is produced by charity is that God loves each and every human being; and because He cannot do good to them directly, but only indirectly by means of other people, He therefore breathes into people His love, just as He breathes into parents love for their children. Anyone who receives that love is linked to God, and the love of God makes him love the neighbour. In him, the love of God is contained within his love towards his neighbour, and it is this which gives him his will and ability to act.
[4] Since no one can do any good deed unless it seems to him as if his ability, will and activity come from himself, this appearance is granted to him; and when he does it freely as if of his own accord, it is imputed to him, and accepted as the reciprocal act which brings about linking. This is like the relationship between active and passive, and the co-operation of the passive being produced in it as the result of the active. Or it is like the will being present in actions, and thought being present in speech, and the soul working at the innermost level on each of these. Or it is like effort in motion; and like the reproductive principle of the seed, which acts from within on the juices, causing the tree to grow until it produces fruit, and by means of the fruit to produce fresh seeds. Or it is like light falling on precious stones, the reflexion of which depends on the texture of the parts it strikes, thus producing various colours, which seem to belong to the gems, when in fact they are properties of the light.
On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I in you. John 14:20.
And as this saying puts it:
He who has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me; and I shall love him, and show myself to him, and I shall make my dwelling with him. John 14:21-23.
All the Lord’s commandments have to do with love towards the neighbour, and they are, in short, not to do evil to him, but to do him good. These people love God and God loves them, as stated by the Lord’s words just quoted. It is because those two loves are so linked that John says:
He who keeps the commandments of Jesus Christ remains in Him, and He in him. If anyone says, ‘I utterly love God,’ but hates his brother, he is a liar. For if someone does not love his brother whom he can see, how can he love God whom he cannot see? We have this commandment from Him, that if anyone loves God, he should also love his brother. 1 John 3:24; 4:20, 21.
I saw at a distance five schools, which were bathed in light of different colours, the first in flame-coloured light, the second in yellow, the third in brilliant white, the fourth in light mid-way between that of midday and that of evening, the fifth hardly visible at all, since it was as if placed in the shades of evening. On the roads I saw some people riding horses, some in carriages, and some on foot. Some of them were running or hurrying, and these were bound for the first school, the one surrounded by flame-coloured light. On seeing them I was seized and driven by a desire to go there and listen to the discussion, So I quickly prepared myself and joined the group which was hurrying to the first school, and I went in together with them. There was a large gathering to be seen there, some moving to the right and some to the left, to sit down on the benches round the walls. In front I saw a low platform, on which stood the person who had the duty of presiding; he had a staff in his hand, a hat on his head, and clothing tinged with the flame-coloured light of the school.
[2] When they were assembled, he raised his voice and said, ‘Brethren, to-day’s subject for discussion is: “What is charity?” Anyone of you may know that charity in its essence is spiritual, and in its exercise natural.’
At once someone on the first bench to the left, where those who had a reputation for wisdom were seated, got up and began to speak as follows. ‘My opinion is that charity is morality with faith breathed into it.’ He supported his opinion like this. ‘Is there anyone who does not know that charity follows faith, as an attendant does her mistress? And that a person, if he has faith, carries out the law, and so charity, so spontaneously that he is unaware that it is the law and charity which he lives by. For if he did know and so acted, thinking at the same time of obtaining salvation on this account, he would sully his holy faith with his self (proprium) and thus maim its efficacy. Surely this is in accordance with the dogma of people in our country?’ Here he looked at those sitting beside him, who included some clergy, and they nodded assent.
[3] ‘Yet what is spontaneous charity but morality, something we are all taught from childhood? This is therefore essentially natural, but it becomes spiritual when faith is breathed into it. Can anyone tell by looking at the morality of their lives whether people have faith or not? Everyone lives a moral life, but only God, who puts in and seals faith, knows and can tell the difference. I hold therefore that charity is morality with faith breathed in, and this morality coming from faith is in its inmost productive of salvation; all other is not productive of salvation, because it aims at merit. So it is a waste of effort to mix charity and faith together, at least if they are linked from within and not attached from without. Mixing and linking them would be like putting the footman who stands at the back into the carriage with the bishop, or like bringing the door-keeper into the dining-room to sit at table with the lord.’
[4] Next someone on the first bench to the right got up and said: ‘My opinion is that charity is piety with pity breathed into it, and I support this view by the consideration that nothing else but piety coming from humility of heart could propitiate God. Piety prays continually that God may grant faith and charity; and the Lord says:
Ask and it shall be granted you. Matt. 7:7.
And since it is granted, both faith and charity are contained in it. I say that charity is piety with pity breathed into it, because all devout piety is pitying. Piety moves a person’s heart to groan, and what is this but pitying? Admittedly this goes once the prayer is said, but it returns when the prayer is repeated, and when it returns piety is in it and so piety is in charity. Our priests ascribe everything conducive to salvation to faith, and nothing to charity; what then remains except piety pityingly praying for both? When I read the Word, I could not help seeing that faith and charity were the two means to salvation; but when I consulted the ministers of the church, I was told that faith was the sole means, and charity was no use. Then it seemed to me as if I was at sea in a ship being tossed about between two reefs; so fearing shipwreck, I climbed into the lifeboat and sailed away. My lifeboat is piety; and what is more, piety is useful for all purposes.’
[5] He was followed by someone from the second bench on the right, who said: ‘My opinion is that charity is doing good both to the upright and to the criminal. I support this view like this. What is charity but goodness of heart? A good heart wishes well to all, upright as well as criminal. The Lord said too that we should do kindnesses to our enemies. If therefore you take your charity away from anyone, does not charity then become to that extent non-existent, and thus you become like a man who has lost one leg and walks by hopping on the other? The criminal is just as much a human being as the upright man; charity looks on everyone as human, so if he is a criminal, what has that to do with me? Charity behaves like the heat of the sun, which gives life to both harmful as well as harmless animals, to wolves as much as to sheep. And it makes bad trees grow just as much as good ones, and thorns as much as vines.’ On saying this he took in his hand a fresh grape, and said: ‘Charity behaves like this grape; cut it open and all that is in it is lost.’ Then he cut it open, and its contents were lost.
[6] After this speech someone else got up from the second bench on the left and said: ‘My opinion is that charity means looking after one’s relatives and friends in every way, and this is how I support it. Is there anyone who does not know that charity begins with oneself? Everyone is one’s own neighbour. Charity therefore advances from itself through degrees of nearness, first to brothers and sisters, from them to nearer and more distant relatives, and so the advance of charity is limited by itself. Those outside the group are strangers, and strangers are not inwardly acknowledged, so they are estranged from the internal man. But blood-relations and other relatives are naturally linked to one; and habit, which is second nature, does the same for friends, so that they become the neighbour. Charity joins another person to oneself from within, and so from without. Those who are not joined from within should merely be termed companions.
‘Surely all birds recognise their kindred, not by their plumage, but by their call; and when they are close, by the vital sphere spreading from their bodies. This affection for their kin which brings them together is called instinct in the case of birds, but the same affection in the case of human beings, when directed towards one’s family and people, is the instinct of truly human nature. What is it that makes us kin but blood? This is what a person’s mind, which is also his spirit, feels and, so to speak, scents. The essence of charity consists in this kindred feeling and the sympathy it induces. On the other hand, however, absence of kinship, which also gives rise to antipathy, is as it were the absence of blood and so of charity. Because habit is second nature, and this too makes a sort of kinship, it follows that charity includes doing good to friends. Does not anyone who has been at sea and puts in to a port and is told that it is a foreign country, where he does not recognise the languages and customs of its inhabitants, find himself as it were out of place and feel no pleasure in love towards them? But if he is told that it is his native land, and recognises the languages and customs of the inhabitants, he feels as it were at home, and then he feels pleasure from love, a pleasure which is also that of charity.’
[7] Next someone on the third bench to the right got up, and speaking in a loud voice said: ‘My opinion is that charity is giving alms to the poor and helping the needy. There is no doubt that this is charity, because this is what the Divine Word teaches, and its dictates admit no rebuttal. Giving to the rich and those with ample resources is nothing but boastful vanity, devoid of charity but motivated by imagining a reward. In this there can be no real affection of love towards the neighbour, but only a spurious affection which is acceptable on earth, but not in the heavens. It is need and want therefore which call for assistance, since here the idea of reward is excluded. In the city where I live, where I know who are upright and who are wicked, I have observed that on seeing a poor man in the street all the upright stop and give him alms; but the wicked, catching sight of the poor man to one side, go past as if blind to the sight of him, and as if deaf to his voice. Does not everyone know that the upright have charity and the wicked do not? A person who gives to the poor and helps the needy is like a shepherd who leads his hungry and thirsty sheep to pasture and to water; but a person who only gives to the rich and affluent is like a person who worships tin gods, and presses food and drink on those who are suffering from overindulgence.’
[8] Next someone got up from the third bench on the left and said: ‘My opinion is that charity is building hospices, hospitals, orphanages and hostels, and supporting them with donations. I support this view by the fact that such acts of kindness and assistance are public, and surpass by miles private acts. Charity as a result becomes richer and more full of goodness, because the good deeds are numerous, and the reward to be hoped for according to the promises contained in the Word becomes larger. For as anyone prepares the ground and sows, so shall he reap. Is not this giving to the poor and helping the needy on a larger scale? Is there anyone who does not by this aim at approval by the world, and at the same time hope for praise and humble, grateful thanks expressed by those who are so supported? Does not this lift up the heart, together with the affection which is called charity, right to its peak? Rich people who do not walk in the streets, but ride, cannot notice the beggars sitting by the walls on either side, and hand out small coins to them; but they make contributions to enterprises which are of advantage to many people at once. Lesser folk, however, who walk in the streets and do not possess such resources, do the other thing.’
[9] On hearing this another on the same bench suddenly shouted him down and said: ‘Still the rich ought not to rate the munificence and excellence of their charity higher than the pittance one poor man gives another. For we know that everyone acts in a manner appropriate to his station, the king to his, the judge to his, the officer to his, the courtier to his. Charity regarded in essence does not depend upon the rank of the person and thus on the gift he can confer, but on the depth of affection which motivates the charitable act. Thus the footman who gives a small coin may bestow his gift in fuller charity than the lord who gives or bequeaths a fortune. This too is in accordance with this passage:
Jesus watched the rich throwing their offerings into the treasury, and saw too a poor widow throwing in two pennies. He said, Truly I tell you that this poor widow has contributed more than all the others. Luke 21:1-3.’
[10] After these someone got up from the fourth bench to the left, and spoke. ‘My opinion,’ he said, ‘is that charity is endowing places of worship, and doing kindnesses to their ministers. I support this view by the fact that a person who does so has a holy purpose in mind and that is what motivates his acts; in addition he sanctifies his gifts. Charity demands this, because it is essentially holy. Is not all worship in churches holy? For the Lord says:
Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there I am in their midst. [Matt. 18:20.]
Priests who are His servants conduct that worship. I deduce from this, that gifts which are given to priests and to churches are superior to those which are handed out to other people and for other purposes. Moreover, a minister has been given the authority to bless, by which he sanctifies the gifts. And afterwards nothing so much broadens and cheers the mind as seeing one’s offerings as so many sanctuaries.’
[11] Then someone got up from the fourth bench to the right and said: ‘My opinion is that charity is the Christian brotherhood of old; and I support that view by the fact that every church which worships the true God begins with charity, as did the Christian church of old. So since charity joins minds, and makes one out of many, they called themselves brethren, in Jesus Christ their God. Since they were then surrounded by barbarous nations who made them afraid, they held their property in common. In this they rejoiced together and with one mind, and at their meetings every day talked about the Lord God their Saviour, Jesus Christ; and at their lunches and dinners they discussed charity, and this was the source of their brotherhood. But after their time, when schisms began to arise, culminating in the heinous Arian heresy, which for many people did away with the idea of the divinity of the Lord’s Human, charity went out of fashion and the brotherhood fell apart. It is true that all who in truth worship the Lord and keep His commandments are brothers (Matt. 23:8), but brothers in spirit. Since at the present time no one is recognisable for what he is in the spirit, there is no need for them to call one another brothers. A brotherhood based on faith alone, much less on faith in any other God than the Lord God the Saviour, is no brotherhood, because charity, which makes it a brotherhood, is lacking in that faith. So I deduce that charity was the Christian brotherhood of old, but this in time past, not now. Yet I prophesy that it will come again.’ When he said this a flame-coloured light showed through an east window, and tinged his cheeks. The gathering was astonished to see this.
[12] Lastly someone got up from the fifth bench on the left and asked permission to add a contribution to what the last speaker had said. When this was granted, he said: ‘My opinion is that charity is forgiving everyone his faults. I got this opinion from the way people are accustomed to speak on going to the Holy Supper; for some then say to their friends, “Forgive me any wrong I have done,” thinking that by this they have fulfilled all the requirements of charity. But I thought to myself that this is merely a painted picture of charity, and not the real form of its essence. For this saying is uttered as much by those who do not forgive as by those who make no effort to acquire charity; and such people are not included among those mentioned in the prayer which the Lord Himself taught: “Father, forgive us our faults, just as we forgive those who wrong us.” For faults are like ulcers, which, if they are not lanced and healed, form a collection of pus; and this infects the adjacent areas, and creeps around like a snake, turning blood everywhere into pus. It is much the same with faults against the neighbour; unless they are removed by repentance and by living in accordance with the Lord’s commandments, they linger and become embedded. Those who without repenting only pray to God to forgive them their sins, are like the citizens of a city smitten with plague, who go to the governor and say, “Sir, heal us.” The governor will tell them, “What do you mean, heal you? Go to the physician and find out the remedies, buy them from the chemist, use them, and you will be cured.” So the Lord will say [to those] who beg for their sins to be forgiven without really repenting, “Open the Word, and read what I said in Isaiah:
Woe to the nation that sins, weighed down with iniquity. When you spread out your hands, I hide my eyes from you; even though you pray time and again, I do not hear. Wash yourselves, put away the wickedness of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good. And then your sins will be taken away and forgiven. Isa. 1:4, 15-18.”‘
[13] When the speeches were over, I held up my hand and asked permission, although I was a stranger, to give my opinion. The presiding officer put this to the meeting, and when it was agreed, I spoke as follows: ‘My opinion is that charity is acting in every deed and employment from a love of justice combined with judgment; but from love that has no other source than the Lord God the Saviour. All that I have heard from those sitting on the benches on the right and the left are well-known examples of charity. But as the presiding officer of this gathering said in his introductory remarks, charity is in its origin spiritual, but in what is derived from this it is natural. Natural charity, if inwardly it is spiritual, appears to the sight of angels transparent, like a diamond. But if inwardly it is not spiritual, but purely natural, it appears to the sight of angels pearly, like the eye of a boiled fish.
[14] ‘It is not for me to say whether the well-known examples of charity, which you have brought forward one after another, are inspired by spiritual charity or not. But I can say what the spirituality in it must be, for them to be natural expressions of spiritual charity. Their spirituality consists in their being done from a love of justice combined with judgment, that is, in a person looking to see, when he does something charitable, whether he acts from justice; and it is judgment which allows him to see this. For a person can do harm by kindnesses, and do good by things that look like doing harm. For example, harm is done by kindnesses if anyone supplies a hard-up highwayman with the money to buy himself a sword, although in asking he will not say this is his intention. Or if anyone helps him break out of prison and shows him the way to the woods, saying to himself, “It is not my fault that he robs travellers; I helped a fellow human being.” To take another example: if someone feeds an idler, and takes care he is not compelled to work, saying, “Come into a room in my house and lie in bed; why tire yourself out?” anyone doing this is fostering idleness, Or again, if anyone promotes relations and friends of bad character to high office, in which they can set on foot many kinds of mischief. Can anyone fail to see that charitable deeds of this sort are not motivated by any love of justice combined with judgment?
[15] ‘On the other hand, a person may do a kindness by acts which look like wrong-doing; for instance, a judge who acquits a wrong-doer because he weeps, utters pious expressions and begs to have his offence overlooked, on the grounds that he is his neighbour. Yet the judge in fact acts charitably, when he imposes the sentence prescribed by law, for by so doing he prevents him from doing further wrong and harming the community, which is the neighbour in a superior degree; and he sees to it that such a judgment is not a cause of scandal. Is anyone unaware that it is for their own good that servants are chastised by their masters, and children by their parents, for doing wrong? It is much the same with those in hell, all of whom love to do wrong, being kept shut up in prison and punished when they act wickedly, a punishment permitted by the Lord to reform them. This happens because the Lord is justice itself, and does whatever He does as the result of judgment itself.
[16] ‘These facts allow us to see clearly why it is that, as I said before, spiritual charity arises from a love of justice combined with judgment, but from love from no other source than the Lord God the Saviour. The reason is that all the good of charity is from the Lord; for He says:
He who remains in me and I in him brings forth much fruit, because without me you can do nothing. John 15:5.
also:
He has all power in heaven and on earth. Matt. 28:18.
All love of justice combined with judgment has no other origin than the God of heaven, who is justice itself, and the source of all human powers of judgment (Jer. 23:5; 33:15).
[17] ‘This leads to the conclusion that everything said about charity from the seats to right or left – that it is morality with faith breathed into it, piety with pity breathed into it, doing good to the upright and to the wicked, looking after one’s relatives and friends in every way, giving to the poor and helping the needy, building hospitals and supporting them with gifts, endowing places of worship and doing kindnesses to their ministers, that it is the Christian brotherhood of old, or forgiving everyone his faults – all of these are splendid examples of charity, when they are done out of a love of justice combined with judgment. Otherwise they are not charity, but only like watercourses cut off from the spring that feeds them, and like branches torn from a tree. True charity consists in believing in the Lord, and acting fairly and righteously in every deed and employment. Anyone therefore who at the Lord’s bidding loves justice and executes it with judgment is an image and likeness of charity.’
[18] This speech was greeted with the sort of silence typically kept by those who are led by the internal man to see and acknowledge that something is so, but do not yet do so in their external man; I could observe this from their faces. But I was then suddenly carried up out of their sight, for from being in the spirit I re-entered my material body. A natural person, being clothed in a material body, is invisible to any spiritual person, that is, any spirit or angel, and so are they to him.
Once when I was looking around the spiritual world I heard a noise like the grinding of teeth, and also a throbbing sound, and mixed with them hoarse cries. I asked what this was. ‘There are colleges,’ said the angels with me, ‘which we call places of entertainment, where they hold disputations. Their debates sound like this if heard from a distance, but from close by they are heard only as disputations.’
On approaching I saw some huts made of plaited reeds stuck together with mud. I wanted to see in through a window, but there was none. I was not allowed to go in through the door, because if I did light would flood in from heaven and cause confusion. Then suddenly a window was made on the right, and then I heard complaints that they were in darkness; but a little later a window was made on the left and that on the right was shut, and then little by little the darkness was dispelled, and they could see one another by their own sort of light. After this I was permitted to go in by the door and listen.
There was a table in the middle with benches round it; but it seemed to me that they were all standing on the benches disputing hotly about faith and charity. One party claimed that faith was the essential of the church, the other that charity was. Those who made faith the essential said: ‘Surely faith guides our dealings with God and charity our dealings with men. Is not faith then heavenly and charity earthly? Surely it is by heavenly things, not earthly ones, that we are saved. Again, surely God can from heaven give us faith, because it is heavenly, while a person can give himself charity, because it is earthly; and what a person gives himself has nothing to do with the church and therefore does not save. Surely like this no one can be justified in the sight of God by so-called charitable deeds. Believe us, it is by faith alone that we are not only justified, but also sanctified, provided that faith is not polluted by the presence of merit-seeking deeds among the charitable ones.’ They added many more arguments.
[2] But those who made charity the essential of the church hotly contested these arguments, claiming that it is charity, not faith, which saves. ‘Surely God holds all men dear and wishes good to all? How can God do this except by means of men? Surely God does not grant only the ability to talk with men about matters that concern faith, without enabling men to do charitable acts? Do you not see how absurd it is of you to talk of charity being earthly? Charity is heavenly, and because you do not do charitable good, your faith is earthly. How do you receive your faith, except like a block of wood or a stone? “By listening to the Word” you will say. But how can the Word act on someone if he merely listens to it? How can it act upon a block of wood or a stone? Perhaps you are quickened without any awareness of it; but what sort of quickening is it, apart from your ability to say that faith alone justifies and saves. But you do not know what faith is, or what sort of faith is saving faith.’
[3] Then someone got up whom the angel talking with me called a syncretist. He took off his wig and put it on the table, but immediately put it back on his head, because he was bald. ‘Listen,’ he said, ‘you are all wrong. The truth is that faith is spiritual and charity is moral, but they are none the less linked. The link is effected by means of the Word, as well as by the Holy Spirit, and by the result produced, which can indeed be called obedience, though man has no part in it; because when faith is introduced, a person knows no more about it than a statue. I have pondered the subject for a long time, and finally reached the solution, that a person can receive from God faith which is spiritual, but he cannot be moved by God to charity which is spiritual, any more than a block of wood can.’
[4] This speech was greeted by applause from those who championed faith alone, but with disapproval from those who championed charity. They said indignantly: ‘Listen, friend, you are unaware that there is moral life which is spiritual, and moral life which is purely natural. Spiritual moral life is found in those who do good coming from God, but still as if of their own accord, purely natural moral life in those who do good coming from hell, and yet still as if of their own accord.’
[5] I said that the dispute sounded like the grinding of teeth, and a throbbing sound, with hoarse cries mixed with them. The dispute which sounded like the grinding of teeth came from those who made faith the sole essential of the church, and the throbbing came from those who made charity the sole essential of the church, the hoarse cries mixed with them came from the syncretist. The reason why they sounded like this at a distance was that they had all in the world engaged in disputes, and had not shunned any evil; consequently they had not done any good of spiritual lineage. They were also totally ignorant of the fact that the whole of faith is truth and the whole of charity is good, and that truth without good is not truth in spirit, and good without truth is not good in spirit, so that one makes the other.
* This passage is repeated from AR 386.
Once when I was in the spirit I travelled deep into the southern region in the spiritual world, and came into a park there; and I saw that this one was better than the others I had so far visited. The reason was that a garden means intelligence; and it is to the south that all are sent who are especially intelligent. It was this that was meant by the Garden of Eden, where Adam lived with his wife; so their being driven out implies that they were deprived of intelligence, and thus also of uprightness of life. As I was walking in this southern park I noticed some people sitting under a laurel-bush eating figs. I went up to them and asked them to give me some figs. They did so, and at once the figs in my hand turned into grapes. I was surprised by this, but an angelic spirit standing next to me said: ‘The figs in your hand turned into grapes, because the meaning of figs by their correspondence is the kinds of good of charity and hence of faith in the natural or external man, and grape means the kinds of good of charity and hence of faith in the spiritual or internal man. As you love what is spiritual, so this happened to you. For in our world everything happens and comes into existence, and also undergoes change, in accordance with correspondences.’
[2] I was at once struck with a keen desire to know how a person can do good coming from God, and yet do it exactly as if of himself. So I asked those who were eating figs how they understood the point. They said that they could only understand this as meaning that God performs this inwardly in a person while he is unaware of it. For if he were conscious of it, and did it in that state, he would do only apparent good, which is inwardly evil. ‘Everything,’ they said, ‘which comes from man comes from his self (proprium), and this is evil from birth. How then can good coming from God and evil coming from man be linked, and so jointly proceed to action? A person’s self in matters of salvation is constantly seeking merit; and in so far as he does so, he takes away from the Lord His merit, which is the height of injustice and impiety. In short, if the good which God performs in a person were to flow into his willing and thence into his doing, that good would be utterly defiled and profaned, something God never permits. A person can of course think that the good he does comes from God, and call it God’s good done by his means; still we do not understand that it is good.’
[3] Then I disclosed what I was thinking and said: ‘You do not understand because your thinking is based upon appearances, and this sort of thinking if supported by argument is fallacy. The appearance and hence the fallacy you are involved in is because you believe that everything a person wills and thinks, and so does and says, is in him and consequently comes from him. Yet in fact nothing of this is in him, except the condition of receiving what flows in. Man is not life in himself, but he is an instrument for receiving life. The Lord is life in Himself, as He also says in John:
As the Father has life in Himself, so He granted to the Son to have life in Himself. John 5:26; and elsewhere, for instance 11:25; 14:6, 19.
[4] ‘There are two things which produce life, love and wisdom, or, what is the same, the good of love and the truth of wisdom. These flow in from God, and are received by a person as if they were his own; and because they are felt like this, they also come from a person as if they were his. The Lord grants that they are felt like this by a person, so that what flows in affects him, and so by being accepted remains with him. But because all evil also flows in, not from God, but from hell, and accepting this gives pleasure, man being by birth such an instrument, for this reason only so much good can be accepted from God as there is evil taken away by the person as if by himself, which is achieved by repentance together with faith in the Lord.
[5] ‘It can be plainly seen from a consideration of sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch that love and wisdom, charity and faith, or to use a more general expression, the good of love and charity, and the truth of wisdom and faith, flow into a person; and that what flows in appears in a person as if it were entirely his own, and it proceeds from him as if it were his own. All the sensations produced in the organs of those senses come from an external source and are felt in the organs concerned. It is the same with the organs of the internal senses, the only difference being that these are affected by spiritual things, which are undetectable, flowing in, whereas the external senses are affected by natural things, which are detectable. In short, man is an instrument for the reception of life from God; it follows that he receives good to the extent that he desists from evil. Everyone is granted by the Lord the potentiality of desisting from evil, because he is granted the power to will and to have understanding; and whatever a person does from his will in accordance with his understanding, or what is the same thing, from his freedom to will in accordance with the power of reason in his understanding, is permanent. By this means the Lord brings a person into a state of being linked with Himself, and in this state He reforms, regenerates and saves him.
[6] ‘The life which flows in is life coming forth from the Lord; this life is also called the Spirit of God, and in the Word the Holy Spirit, and of this it is said that it enlightens and quickens, in fact that it works on him. But this life varies and is modified depending on the organisation brought about by love. You can also know that all the good of love and charity, and all the truth of wisdom and faith flow in and are not actually in the person, if you reflect that when anyone thinks that man has such a capability from creation, he must inevitably think that God poured Himself into man, so that people are partially gods. Yet those who think this as a result of firm belief become devils, and in our world stink like corpses.
[7] ‘Moreover, what is human action but a mind acting? What the mind wills and thinks, it does and speaks by means of its instrument, the body. When therefore the mind is guided by the Lord, so is its action and speech. Action and speech are guided by the Lord, when He is believed in. If this were not so, tell me if you can, why did the Lord in thousands of places in His Word order man to love his neighbour, perform the good deeds of charity, to produce fruit like a tree and keep His commandments, and to do both one and the other in order to be saved? Again, why did He say that a person would be judged according to his deeds or what he had done, those whose deeds were good going to heaven and life, those whose deeds were wicked going to hell and death? How could the Lord have said such things, if everything coming from a person was done to acquire merit and therefore wicked? You ought therefore to know that if the mind is charity, so too is action; but if the mind is faith alone, and this too is faith separated from spiritual charity, action also is that faith.’
[8] On hearing this those who were sitting under the laurel said: ‘We grasp that you have spoken fairly, but still we do not grasp the point.’ ‘You grasp,’ I answered them, ‘that I have spoken fairly by means of the general perception which all people enjoy as the result of the light which flows in from heaven when they hear something true. Your failure to grasp the point is due to your own personal perception, which everyone has as a result of light flowing in from the world. In the case of the wise those two kinds of perception, internal and external, or spiritual and natural, act as one. You too can make them act as one, if you look to the Lord and put away evils.’ Since they understood this, I took some shoots off a vine and held them out to them saying, ‘Do you think this is from me or from the Lord?’ They said it was from the Lord through me; and at once the shoots in their hands put forth grapes.
When I left, I saw a table of cedar-wood, on which was a book, under a flourishing olive-tree with a vine wound about its trunk. When I looked, I saw to my surprise that the book was the one written through me called ARCANA CAELESTIA**. I said that that book contained a full demonstration that man is an instrument for the reception of life, and was not himself life; and that life could not be created and so by being created be in man, any more than light could be created in the eye.
* This passage is based upon AR 875.9-15.
** Or ‘The secrets of heaven’.
In the spiritual world I looked towards the sea-coast and saw a splendid port. On approaching I looked inside and there lay boats both great and small, containing cargoes of every kind; and on their thwarts sat boys and girls who distributed the goods to any that wished. ‘We are waiting,’ they said, ‘for our lovely turtles to appear. They will come out of the sea to us at any moment.’
Then I saw turtles, both small and great, on whose shells and scales sat baby turtles, all looking towards the surrounding islands. The father turtles had two heads, a large one covered with shell like that of their bodies, which gave them a ruddy look; the other a small one of the sort turtles have, which they could draw back into the forepart of their bodies, and could make invisible by inserting it into the larger head. But I kept my gaze on the large, ruddy head, and made out that it had a face like a human being, and was talking with the boys and girls on the thwarts and was licking their hands. The boys and girls fondled them and gave them tit-bits and delicacies, as well as valuable goods such as silk for clothes, citron-wood for tables, purple for ornament and scarlet for dyeing.
[2] On seeing these I wanted to know what they represented, because I know that all sights seen in the spiritual world are correspondences, representing the spiritual effects of affection and the thought it produces. Then I was spoken to from heaven and told: ‘You know yourself what the port and the ships represent, as well as the boys and girls on the thwarts; but you do not know what the turtles are. They represent,’ they said, ‘those of the clergy there who totally separate faith from charity and its good deeds, insisting to themselves that there is obviously no possibility of linking them, but the Holy Spirit by means of faith in God the Father for the sake of the Son’s merit enters into a person and purifies him inwardly even as far as his own will, which they imagine as a sort of oval plane. When the working of the Holy Spirit approaches this plane, it twists aside around its left edge without touching it at all, so that the interior or upper part of the person’s character is for God, and the exterior or lower part is for man. Thus nothing the person does appears in God’s sight, neither good nor bad; the good does not, because this would be to acquire merit, and the bad does not because it is bad. Either of these, if it were presented to God’s sight, would destroy the person, Since this is so, a person may will, think, speak and do whatever he pleases, so long as he takes precautions from a worldly point of view,’
[3] I asked whether they also held that one might think of God as not being omnipresent and omniscient. I was told from heaven that this too is allowed them, because in the case of one who has acquired faith and been purified and justified by it, God pays no attention to any thought or will on his part, but he still retains in the inward recess or higher region of his mind or character the faith which he had received by its activity, and that this activity may from time to time recur without the person’s knowledge. ‘These facts are represented by the small head which they draw back into the forepart of their bodies and also insert into the larger head when talking to laymen. For in speaking to them they do not use the small head, but the large one, the front of which has a kind of human face. Their talk with them is based on the Word, about love, charity, good deeds, the Ten Commandments, repentance; and they quote from the Word almost everything which is said there on these subjects. But then they insert the small head into the large one, which allows them inwardly to understand that these things are not to be done for God’s sake or for salvation, but only for the sake of public or private advantage.
[4] ‘But because they base their remarks on these subjects on the Word, especially in speaking with great charm and elegance of the Gospel, the working of the Holy Spirit and salvation, they seem to their hearers like handsome men endowed with wisdom beyond all others on the globe. This was why you saw them being given delicacies and valuable goods by the boys and girls sitting on the thwarts in the boats. So these are the people you saw represented as turtles. In your world they are hard to tell apart from others, except for the fact that they think they excel all others in wisdom, laughing at others, including those who hold similar views on faith, but are not privy to their secrets. They carry a seal with them in their clothing, by which they can make themselves known to others of their sort.’
[5] The person talking with me said: ‘I shall not tell you their opinions on other matters to do with faith, such as the elect, free will, baptism and the Holy Supper. These are opinions that they do not divulge, though we in heaven know them. However, since this is the sort of people they are in the world, and after death no one is allowed to speak otherwise than he thinks, they are considered insane, because they are then unable to speak except for the mad ideas that fill their thoughts. So they are ejected from their communities, eventually being cast down into the pit of the abyss (mentioned in Rev. 9:2), becoming bodily spirits and looking like Egyptian mummies. A hard skin is drawn over the interiors of their minds, because in the world too they had set up a barrier there. The community they form in hell is adjacent to the one there composed of Machiavellians; they constantly visit one another and call themselves companions. But they leave them on account of their difference, in that they have some religious feeling about the act of justification by faith, while the Machiavellians have none.’
[6] After seeing them expelled from their communities and brought together ready to be cast down, I saw in the air a ship sailing under seven sails, and in it ships’ officers and seamen dressed in purple with magnificent laurels on their hats. ‘Here we are in heaven,’ they shouted, ‘we are purple-clad doctors, adorned with finer laurels than anyone else, because we are the leading wise men of all the clergy in Europe.’ I wondered what this was, and I was told that they were pictures of pride and imaginary thoughts, known as fantasies, arising from those who previously appeared as turtles; now being cast out of their communities as insane, they were gathered into one group and were now standing in one place.
Then wishing to talk with them I approached the place where they were standing and greeted them. ‘Are you,’ I said, ‘the people who separated people’s internals from their externals, and the working of the Holy Spirit as in faith from the Spirit’s co-operation with man outside of faith, thus separating God from man? Did you not by this take away not only charity itself and its deeds from faith, as many other doctors of the clergy do, but also faith itself in so far as it is displayed by man in the sight of God? [7] But would you prefer me to talk to you on this subject by the light of reason, or by drawing upon Holy Scripture?’ ‘Speak first,’ they said, ‘by the light of reason.’
So I spoke and said: ‘How can a person’s internal and external be separated? Can anyone endowed with normal powers of perception fail to see, or fail to be capable of seeing, that all of a person’s interiors extend into and are continued into his exteriors, reaching even to his outermost level so as to bring about their effects and perform what they want to do? Surely the internals exist for the sake of the externals, so that these may be where they end, and they may rest on them, so coming into being, very much as a column stands on its base. You can see that, if they were discontinuous and so not joined, the outermost layers would collapse and burst like a bubble in the air. Can anyone deny that the inward workings of God in a person number billions, all unknown to the person concerned; and what profit is it to know about them, so long as the outermost layers are known, the point at which he is in his thought and will together with God?
[8] ‘Let us take an example to illustrate this. Surely no one is aware of the inward workings of his speech: how the lungs draw in air, which fills the vesicles, bronchi and lobes; how he expels the air into the trachea and there turns it into sound; how the sound is modified in the glottis by the help of the larynx, and how the tongue then articulates it, the lips completing the articulation, so that speech is produced. All those inward workings, of which the person is totally unaware, are for the sake of the end product, the person’s ability to speak. Take away or separate one of those internal processes so that it is no longer continuous with the end product, and a person could no more talk than a block of wood.
[9] ‘Let us take another example. The two hands form the extremities of the human body. But the internal parts which form a continuous link with them run from the head through the neck, then the chest, shoulder-blades, arms and elbows; and there are countless muscular tissues, countless rows of motor fibres, countless bundles of nerves and blood-vessels, and many joints of bones with their ligaments and membranes – is anyone aware of any of this? Yet it takes every single one of them to make the hands function. Suppose the internal parts twisted back to the left or the right around the wrist-joint and did not continue into the hands; would not the hand then fall away from the elbow and rot away like any lifeless part torn off? Or if you prefer the idea, it would be like what happens to the body when a person is beheaded. This is exactly what would happen to the human mind, together with its two kinds of life, the will and the understanding, if the Divine workings which have to do with faith and charity stopped mid-way, and did not extend without a break to man. To be sure, man then would be not merely an animal, but a rotten block of wood. Such conclusions are the product of reason.
[10] ‘Now if you are willing to listen, the same things are in accordance with Holy Scripture. Does not the Lord say:
Remain in me and I in you. I am the vine and you are the branches. If someone remains in me and I in him, he bears much fruit. John 15:4, 5.
Surely the fruits are the good deeds which the Lord does by means of man, and man does of himself under the Lord’s guidance. The Lord also says that He stands at the door and knocks, and He goes in to anyone who opens the door, and dines with him and he with the Lord (Rev. 3:20). Does not the Lord give minas and talents for man to trade with and make a profit, and does He not give everlasting life in accordance with his profit (Matt. 25:14-30; Luke 19:13-26)? Or again, does He not give each man his pay in proportion to the work he does in the Lord’s vineyard (Matt. 20:1-17)? These are but a few examples; pages could be filled with quotations from the Word showing that man should produce fruit like a tree, should act according to the commandments, love God and the neighbour, and much more besides.
[11] ‘But I know that your own intelligence cannot have anything in common, regarded as it is essentially, with these teachings from the Word. Although you talk about them, your ideas pervert them. Nor can you help yourselves, because you take away from man everything that is God’s as regards communication and the linking it produces. What is then left, but merely everything that has to do with public worship?’
Later on these people appeared to me in the light of heaven, which uncovers and makes visible what sort of person each one is. Then they did not appear as before in a ship sailing through the air as if in heaven, nor did the people in it have purple clothing and laurels around their heads. But they were in a sandy place, clothed in rags, with nets like fishermen’s round their lower parts, through which their nakedness was visible. Then they were sent down to join a community which was adjacent to that of the Machiavellians.
* Repeated from AR 463.
FREE WILL
Before preparing to set down the teaching of the new church on free will, I must preface my remarks with an account of the views on this subject expressed by the present-day church in its theological books. But for this anyone of sound reason and religion might think that it is not worth while writing anything new on the subject. He might say to himself: ‘Is there anyone who does not know that man has free will in spiritual matters? What else would be the point of priests preaching that people should believe in God, be converted, live in accordance with the commandments in the Word, fight against the lusts of the flesh, and turn themselves into new creations,’ and much more of the same sort. He cannot therefore help thinking that these expressions would be merely empty verbiage, if there were no element of free will in matters affecting salvation, and it would be madness to deny this, as being contrary to common sense. Yet the present-day church goes in the opposite direction and banishes it from its buildings, as is evident from the book called the Formula of Concord, a book the Evangelicals swear to uphold, as the following extracts will show. The Reformed churches have similar teaching and thus belief about free will, so the situation is similar throughout the Christian world, and consequently in Germany, Sweden, Denmark, England and Holland, as is clear from their theological books. The following passages are transcribed from the Formula of Concord, published at Leipzig in 1756.
[2] (ii) ‘We believe that the understanding, heart and will of a person who has not been born again cannot of his own natural abilities in spiritual and Divine matters understand, believe, embrace, think, will, begin, complete, do, perform or co-operate in anything whatever; but that man is so corrupt and dead to good, that since the fall and before regeneration there remains left over not so much as a spark of spiritual ability, to enable him to prepare himself for God’s grace, or to grasp it when offered, or to fit himself for it or of his own accord to receive it. Nor can he of his own ability contribute to his own conversion either totally or to the extent of a half or even the slightest extent, or act, work or co-operate of his own accord, or as if of his own accord; but man is a slave to sin and in bondage to Satan, by whom he is impelled. Thus by reason of the corruption of his abilities and the depravity of his nature his natural free will is active and effective only in matters which displease and oppose God’ (p. 656).
[3] (iii) ‘In secular and natural matters man is industrious and clever, but in spiritual and Divine matters which concern the salvation of his soul he is like a tree-trunk, a stone or the pillar of salt into which Lot’s wife was turned, unable to use eyes, mouth or any senses’ (p. 661).
[4] (iv) ‘None the less man has the power of movement and is able to control his external parts, to listen to the Gospel, and in some way to meditate on it, but still in his unexpressed thoughts he despises it as a folly, and he is unable to believe it, being in this respect worse than a tree-trunk, unless the Holy Spirit is effective in him, and kindles and produces in him faith, the other virtues pleasing to God and obedience’ (p. 662).
[5] (v) ‘It can in a way be argued that man is not a stone or a tree-trunk: these do not offer resistance, nor do they understand or feel what is done to them, in the way that man by his will resists God, until he has been turned towards God. Yet it is true that before conversion man is a rational creature, endowed with understanding, though not in Divine matters, and with a will, though incapable of willing any good which might lead to his salvation; yet he is unable to make any contribution to his conversion, and in this respect he is worse than a tree-trunk or a stone’ (pp. 672, 673).
[6] (vi) ‘The whole act of conversion is the action, gift and work of the Holy Spirit alone, who by His strength and power brings about and effects this, by means of the Word, in man’s understanding, heart and will, as if in a passive object, where man does nothing but is only worked on. However, this is not like the way a statue is shaped from a block of stone or a seal is imprinted on wax, because the wax has neither knowledge nor will’ (p. 681).
[7] (vii) ‘The writings of certain Fathers and modern scholars have alleged that God draws man but only with his consent, so that man’s will plays some part in his conversion; but these statements are not in accordance with sound discourse, for they support a false view of the powers of human choice in conversion’ (p. 582).
[8] (viii) ‘In outward, worldly matters, which are open to reason, man has left to him a certain amount of understanding, ability and faculties, although these wretched remains are very weak; and these same talents, small as they are, are poisoned and contaminated by inherited disease, so that they are worthless in the sight of God’ (p. 641).
[9] (ix) ‘Man in his conversion, which turns him from a son of wrath into a son of grace, does not co-operate with the Holy Spirit, seeing that man’s conversion is the work of the Holy Spirit alone and unaided’ (pp. 219, 579f, 663ff, Appendix p. 143). ‘However, once he has been born again, man can co-operate by the power of the Holy Spirit, although there is at the same time great weakness in him. He does good deeds to the extent that and so long as the Holy Spirit leads, controls and guides him; but he does not co-operate with the Holy Spirit like two horses together pulling a carriage’ (p. 674).
[10] (x) ‘Original sin is not a crime which is perpetrated in action, but something intimately implanted and inherent in man’s nature, substance and essence, acting as the spring from which well up all sins realised in action, such as wicked thoughts, conversations and evil deeds’ (p. 577). ‘The inherited disease which has corrupted his whole nature is a dreadful sin, and indeed the beginning and chief of all sins, the root and source from which flow forth all transgressions’ (p. 640). ‘By that sin, as it were by spiritual leprosy, completely lodged in even the inmost viscera and the deepest recesses of the heart, man’s nature is in God’s sight totally infected and corrupted; and on account of this corruption man’s person is accused and condemned by God’s law, so that we are by nature sons of wrath, slaves of death and damnation, unless benefiting by Christ’s merit we are freed and saved from these evils’ (p. 639). ‘As a result we suffer a total lack or deprivation of original righteousness or the image of God which was created along with us in Paradise, and this is the source of the powerlessness, ineptitude and stupidity which unfits man for all Divine or spiritual concerns. In place of the lost image of God man suffers an intimate, most evil and deep, inscrutable and unspeakable corruption of his whole nature, and of all his powers, particularly the higher and principal faculties of the soul, in mind, understanding, heart and will’ (p. 640).
The fact that two trees, one of life and one of the knowledge of good and evil, were put in the Garden of Eden, means that man was given free will in spiritual matters.
Many people have believed that by Adam and Eve in the book of Moses are not meant the first human beings to be created, and in support of this view they have employed proofs that there were people before Adam, drawn from computations and chronologies preserved by some peoples. It is also supported by what Cain, Adam’s firstborn, said to Jehovah:
I shall be a wanderer, driven to and fro on the earth, so that anyone meeting me will kill me. For which reason Jehovah set a mark on Cain, that anyone meeting him should not kill him. Gen. 4:14, 15.
And after he went from before the face of Jehovah, he dwelt in the land of Nod, and built a city. Gen. 4:16, 17.
It follows from this that the earth was inhabited before Adam.
I proved at length in the work called ARCANA CAELESTIA, which I published in London, that Adam and his wife mean the most ancient church on this earth. I also proved there that the Garden of Eden means the wisdom of the people in that church, the tree of life means the Lord being in man and man being in the Lord, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil means man not being in the Lord but immersed in his own self (proprium), as is everyone who believes that he does everything, even good, of himself. Eating from this tree means making evil one’s own.
In your intelligence and wisdom you made riches for yourself.* Ezek. 28:4.
and in the continuation of this chapter:
Full of wisdom, you were in Eden, God’s garden; every kind of precious stone was your covering. Ezek. 28:12, 13.
This is said of the prince and king of Tyre, to whom wisdom is attributed, because Tyre in the Word means the church in respect of knowledge of truth and good, which is the means to wisdom. The precious stones which are to be his covering also mean things known about truth and good; for the prince and king of Tyre were not in the Garden of Eden.
[2] In another passage in Ezekiel:
Asshur is a cedar in Lebanon. The cedars have not hidden it in the garden of God. All the trees in the garden of God were not its equal in beauty; all the trees of Eden in the garden of God envied it. Ezek. 31:3, 8, 9.
And further on:
To whom you thus became like in glory and size among the trees of Eden. Ezek. 31:18.
This is said of Asshur, because in the Word Asshur means rationality and intelligence arising from this.
[3] In Isaiah:
Jehovah will comfort Zion, and turn its desert into an Eden and its wilderness into a garden of Jehovah. Isa. 51:3.
Zion there is the church, Eden and the garden of Jehovah are wisdom and intelligence. In Revelation:
To him who overcomes I will grant to eat of the tree of life which is in the midst of the paradise** of God, Rev. 2:7.
In the midst of the street, on either side of the river was the tree of life. Rev. 22:2.
[4] These passages show plainly that the garden in Eden, in which we are told Adam was placed, means intelligence and wisdom, because similar things are said of Tyre, Asshur and Zion. A garden also means intelligence in other passages of the Word, such as Isa. 58:11; 61:11; Jer. 31:12; Amos 9:14; Num. 24:6. This spiritual way of understanding a garden is due to the representations seen in the spiritual world. There parks are to be seen, wherever angels possess intelligence and wisdom; it is the intelligence and wisdom themselves, which they get from the Lord, which produce such appearances around them. This is due to the correspondence, because everything which comes into being in the spiritual world is an example of correspondence.
* The Latin text repeats here the phrase ‘you were in Eden, God’s garden’ from the next quotation.
** The Greek word paradeisos, used here in its Latin form, means properly an enclosed garden or park; the meaning ‘paradise’ arose only later.
All the trees of the countryside shall know that I, Jehovah, will lay low the tall tree, and raise up the low tree; and I will wither the green tree and make the dry tree sprout. Ezek. 17:24.
Blessed is he whose pleasure is in the law; he shall be like a tree planted near streams of water, which shall give fruit at its proper time. Ps. 1:2, 3; Jer. 17:8.
Praise Jehovah, fruit-trees. Ps. 148:9.
Jehovah’s trees are fully watered. Ps. ‘104:16.
The axe lies at the root of the tree; every tree which does not produce good fruit will be cut out. Matt. 3:10; 7:16-21.
Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree rotten [and its fruit rotten]; for by its fruit the tree is known. Matt. 12:33; Luke 6:43, 44.
I shall light a fire which will consume every green tree and every dry tree. Ezek. 20:47.
It was because a tree means man, that it was commanded that the fruit of a tree used for food in the land of Canaan should be accounted uncircumcised (Lev. 19:23, 24). Since an olive-tree means a man of the celestial church, it is said of the two witnesses who were prophesying, that they were two olive-trees standing close by the God of the whole earth (Rev. 11:4; similarly Zech. 4:3, 11, 12). Also, in David’s Psalms:
I am like a flourishing olive-tree in the house of God. Ps. 52[:8].
Also, in Jeremiah:
A flourishing olive-tree with fair fruit has Jehovah called your name. Jer. 11:16, 17.
There are many other passages, too numerous to quote here.
[2] But, my friend, God did not do this, because by doing so He would have taken away man’s free will; and it is this which makes man a man and not an animal. Once this is known, it is perfectly plain that the two trees, one leading to life and the other to death, represent man’s free will in spiritual matters. Moreover, hereditary evil is not from this source, but from the parents, who pass on to their children a tendency to that evil which beset them themselves. The truth of this is clearly to be seen by anyone who studies the behaviour, minds and faces of the children, or even of whole families, descended from one father. Yet it depends upon each member of the family whether he wants to embrace or withdraw from his inheritance, since everyone is left to make his own choice. The particular meaning of the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil may be seen fully expounded in the experience described in 48 above.
Man is not life, but a receiver of life from God.
It is generally believed that the life which a person has is his own, so that he is not merely a receiver of life but also is life. This general belief exists because he appears to live, that is, to feel, think, speak and act exactly as if of himself. The result is that the statement that man is a receiver of life and is not life must inevitably seem an unheard-of idea or a kind of paradox to those whose thought is based on the senses, because it is contrary to appearances. I have traced to appearances the reason for this wrong belief that man is also life, and that consequently life is implanted in man from creation, and propagated subsequently by transfer. But the reason for this mistake based on appearances is that most people at the present time are natural, and only a few are spiritual; and a natural man bases his judgment on appearances and the mistakes these lead to, and these are diametrically opposed to this truth, that man is merely a receiver of life, and is not life.
[2] The fact that man is not life, but a receiver of life from God, is proved by the following clear evidence, that all created things are in essence finite, and man, being finite, could only be created of finite substances. That is why the Book of Creation tells us that Adam was made of earth and its dust, and this is the reason for his name, since Adam means the ground. In fact every person is composed exclusively of substances to be found in the earth or emitted from the earth into the atmosphere. The emanations from the earth in the atmosphere are absorbed by people by means of the lungs and by pores throughout the body; the denser substances are absorbed in the form of food made from the earth’s products.
[3] As for man’s spirit, however, this too was created from finite substances. What is man’s spirit but a receiver of mental life? The finite materials of which it is composed are spiritual substances, to be found in the spiritual world, and also transferred to our earth and there stored up. If they were not present there along with material substances, no seed could at the inmost level have been made fertile, and so grow in a wonderful way without any aberration from its first structure until it produces fruits and new seeds. Nor would any worms be procreated by effluvia from the earth and from gases given off by plants and impregnating the atmosphere.
[4] Can anyone reasonably suppose that the Infinite could create anything other than that which is finite, or that man, being finite, is anything but a form, which the Infinite can bring to life by the life in itself? This is what is meant by the following:
Jehovah God formed man, dust from the earth, and He breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. Gen. 2:7.
God, being infinite, is life in Himself. This cannot be created and copied into man, for this would be making him God. The idea that this happened was the madness of the serpent, or the devil, which he passed on to Eve and Adam, for the serpent said:
On the day when you eat of the fruit of that tree, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God. Gen. 3:5.
[5] This deadly conviction, that God infused and copied Himself into men, was held by the people of the most ancient church in its final period leading up to its termination, as I have heard from their own lips. On account of their horrendous belief that they were thus gods, they lie hidden deep within a cavern, which no one can approach closely without falling victim to an inner vertigo. The previous section made it known that Adam and his wife mean and describe the most ancient church.
[2] A law of creation ensures that active elements are accompanied by passive ones, and that the two are linked to form a single whole. If the active elements could be created, as the passive ones are, would there be any need of the sun and the heat and light it emits? All created things would continue in existence without them, would they not? Yet if heat and light were taken away, the created universe would collapse into chaos.
[3] The very sun of this world consists of created substances, and their activity produces fire. These examples are given as illustrations. It would be much the same with man, if spiritual light, which is in essence wisdom, and spiritual heat, which is in essence love, were not flowing into man and being received by him. The whole man is nothing but a form so organised as to be capable of receiving both of these, emanating from the natural as well as the spiritual world, since they correspond one to the other. A denial that man is a form for the reception of love and wisdom from God would involve denying also that anything flows in, including all good from God, as well as the possibility of being linked with God. So to say that man can be a dwelling-place and temple of God would be utterly meaningless.
The Word was with God and the Word was God. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. John 1:1, 4.
As the Father has life in Himself, so He granted to the Son to have life in Himself. John 5:26.
I am the way, truth and life. John 14:6.
He who follows me will have the light of life. John 8:12.
So long as a person lives in the world, he is kept midway between heaven and hell, and he is there in spiritual equilibrium. This is free will.
In order to know what free will is and what it is like, one needs to know its origin, It is chiefly by knowing its origin that one gets to know not only of its existence, but what it is like. It originates from the spiritual world, where a person’s mind is kept by the Lord. A person’s mind is his spirit, which lives after death; and his spirit is constantly in company with spirits in that world who are like himself, while his spirit is equally by means of the material body surrounding it in company with people in the natural world. The reason for a person’s not knowing that as regards his mind he is surrounded by spirits, is that the spirits, in whose company he is in the spiritual world, think and talk spiritually, while so long as a person is in the material body, his spirit thinks and talks naturally. Spiritual thought and speech cannot be understood or heard by the natural man, and vice versa; this is why spirits cannot be seen either. However, when a person’s spirit associates with spirits in their world, then he joins them in spiritual thought and speech, because his mind is inwardly spiritual, though outwardly natural. Therefore its interior permits him to communicate with those spirits, and its exterior with men. It is this communication which allows a person to perceive things, and to think about them analytically. Without this a man’s thought would not go beyond or differ from an animal’s; and if he were deprived of all contact with spirits, he would instantly die.
[2] But to render comprehensible how a person can be kept midway between heaven and hell, and by that means in spiritual equilibrium, I must explain briefly the origin of his free will. The spiritual world consists of heaven and hell; heaven there is overhead, hell is beneath the feet, yet not in the middle of the globe which men live on, but beneath the lands of the spiritual world. These too are of spiritual origin, and so not in space, though there is an appearance of space.
[3] Between heaven and hell there is a wide gap, which to those in it looks like a whole world. Into this gap there rise from hell exhalations of evil in boundless profusion, and, on the other hand, from heaven there flows in good, also in boundless profusion. This is the gap which Abraham described to the rich man in hell:
Between us and you a great gulf is fixed, to prevent those who want from passing across to you, and those there from passing across to us. Luke 16:26.
Everyone is as regards his spirit in the middle of this gap, for the sole purpose of allowing him to have free will.
[4] Because this gap is so huge and looks to those there like a great world, it is called the world of spirits. It is also full of spirits, for this is where everyone comes first after death, and is there prepared either for heaven or for hell. He is there in company with spirits, as he previously was with people in the world. There is no purgatory there; this is a fable invented by the Roman Catholics. I dealt in detail with that world in my book HEAVEN AND HELL (421-535), published in London in 1758.
[2] The person himself is not kept bodily in this gap or mid-region, but in his spirit; and as this changes its state, approaching good or else evil, the spirit is moved to places or locations in one or the other quarter, and comes into company with those who live there. It must, however, be known that it is not the Lord who moves them hither and thither, but the person moves himself in different ways. If he chooses good, then he together with the Lord, or rather the Lord together with him, moves his spirit eastwards. But if he chooses evil, then he together with the devil, or rather the devil together with him, moves his spirit westwards. It should be noted that where heaven is mentioned in this connection, the Lord is also meant, because the Lord is the all-in-all of heaven; and where the devil is mentioned, hell is meant, since that is where all the devils are.
[2] Spiritual equilibrium, which is free will, can be compared with a balance, in either scale of which are placed equal weights; if then a little is added to the scale on one side, the balancing beam above rocks. It is the same too with a lever, or with a large beam balanced on its fulcrum. Every single part inside the human body, such as the heart, the lungs, the stomach, the liver, the pancreas, the spleen, the intestines, and so on, is in such a state of equilibrium; and this is what allows each of them to perform its functions in the greatest tranquillity. It is the same with all muscles; if there were no such equilibrium in them, all action and reaction would cease, and the person would no longer be able to act as a person. Since then everything in the body is in such a state of equilibrium, and also everything in the brain is in like equilibrium, it follows that everything in the mind is too; and these things relate to the will and the understanding.
[3] Animals, birds, fish and insects also have freedom; but these are impelled by their bodily senses at the promptings of appetite and pleasure. A person would not be very different from them, if he were as free to act as he is free to think; he too would be impelled only by his bodily senses at the promptings of lust and pleasure. The case is different if he drinks in the spiritual teachings of the church and uses them to control his free will. The Lord leads him away from lusts and wicked pleasures and the innate longings he has for these; he strives after good, and turns his back on evil. He is then moved by the Lord nearer to the east and at the same time to the south in the spiritual world, and brought into heavenly freedom, which is true freedom.
* Reading imbecillis ‘weak’ for imbellis ‘unwarlike’.
The fact that evil is permitted, a state enjoyed by everyone’s internal man, makes it obvious that man has free will in spiritual matters.
The assertion that man has free will in spiritual matters must first be supported by general considerations, and after-wards by particular ones, such as anyone will acknowledge on first hearing. The general considerations are these. (1) Adam, the wisest of men, and his wife allowed themselves to be seduced by the serpent. (2) Their first son, Cain, killed his brother Abel, and Jehovah God did not deter them by talking to them, but only by cursing Cain after the event. (3) The Israelite nation in the desert worshipped the golden calf, although Jehovah saw this from Mount Sinai, and did not prevent it. (4) David counted the people and on account of this a plague was sent on them, of which so many thousands died; and it was not before but after this happened that God sent the prophet Gad to him and pronounced his punishment. (5) Solomon was permitted to set up idolatrous cults. (6) Many kings after him were permitted to profane the Temple and the holy things of the church; and finally that nation was permitted to crucify the Lord, (7) Mohammed was permitted to establish a religion which in many respects did not agree with Holy Scripture. (8) The Christian religion was divided into numerous sects, and each of these into heretical movements. (9) In Christendom there are so many ungodly people, and so much boasting about ungodly acts, as well as trickery and deceit, even practised on godly, just and honest people. (10) Injustice sometimes triumphs over justice in lawsuits and business dealings. (11) Even the ungodly are advanced to honours and become leaders in civil and religious life. (12) Wars are permitted, and then so many thousands are killed, and so many cities, nations and families have their goods looted, and suffer much besides. How can anyone explain such things except as the result of the free will enjoyed by every individual? In my book DIVINE PROVIDENCE (printed in Amsterdam in 1764, 234-274) it may be seen that the laws of permission too are laws of Divine providence; there too the facts mentioned above were explained.
[2] I have had personal experiences to show that everyone is given the ability to understand truth and to will it; even devils receive it, and it is never taken away. One of those who were in hell was once brought up into the world of spirits, and was there questioned by angels from heaven, to see whether he could understand what they were saying to him; the subject was spiritual ideas about God. He answered that he did. And when asked why he had not accepted similar ideas, he said that he did not like them and so did not wish to accept them. He was told again that he could have so wished. This surprised him, and he said he could not. The angels therefore filled his understanding with pride in his reputation together with its delights. On feeling this he then so wished and even liked the ideas. But soon afterwards he was brought back to his earlier state, in which he had been a thief and adulterer who cursed his neighbour; then, since he did not wish to do so, he was no longer able to understand those ideas. This shows plainly that it is free will in spiritual matters that makes a man a man; without this he would be like a tree-trunk, a stone, or the pillar Lot’s wife became.
[2] A person’s free will in spiritual matters is, to use a comparison, like the air in the lungs; it is drawn in, held and released as his thoughts constantly change. Without it he would be worse off than if he suffered from a nightmare, angina or asthma. Again it is like the blood in the heart; any failure of the blood would make the heart first palpitate, then after convulsions become totally still. Or it might be like a body in motion, which travels so long as it has any energy, and comes to rest when its energy is exhausted. So too it is with the freedom man’s will enjoys; both of these, freedom of choice and will, can in man be called active energy, for if the will ceases to operate, so does the power to act, and if freedom of choice ceases to operate, so does the will.
[3] If man’s spiritual freedom were taken away from him, it would be, to use a comparison, like taking the wheels away from a machine, the arms that catch the wind from a mill, or the sails from a ship. In fact, it would be like a man parting with his spirit when he dies; for the life of man’s spirit consists in his free will in spiritual matters. The angels groan at the mere mention of the fact that this free will is denied by many ministers of the church at the present time; they call this denial madness on top of madness.
Without free will in spiritual matters the Word would not be of any use, nor in consequence would the church be.
It is well known throughout the Christian world that the Word is, broadly speaking, the Law, that is, a book of laws in accordance with which a person must live, in order to be granted everlasting life. Is there anything it says more often than that man must do good and not evil, and he must believe in God and not in idols? The Word is also full of commands and exhortations to these actions, with blessings and promises of rewards for those who do so, and curses and threats of punishment for those who do not. Unless man had free will in spiritual matters, that is, in matters concerned with salvation and everlasting life, what would all this be but empty words serving no use? And if anyone were to cling to the idea that he lacked any power or freedom in spiritual matters, so that he was without any will-power in these matters, would not Holy Scripture look to him like a blank piece of paper with no letters on it, or like a piece of paper over which a whole pot of ink had been emptied, or just serifs and dots with no letters, that is to say, a book with nothing in it?
[2] There would hardly be any need to prove this from the Word, but since present-day churches have plunged so deeply into mental inanity in spiritual matters, citing certain passages in support which they have wrongly interpreted, I am obliged to quote some passages which tell men how to act and believe. These are:
The kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a nation that produces its fruits. Matt. 21:43.
Produce fruit worthy of repentance; at any moment now the axe is put to the root of the tree. So every tree which does not produce good fruit is cut down and cast into the fire. Luke 3:8, 9.
Jesus said, why do you call me, Lord, Lord, and not do what I say? Everyone who comes to me and listens to what I say and does that is like a man building a house upon rock. But one who listens and does not do it, is like a man building his house on soil with no foundation. Luke 6:46-49.
Jesus said, My mother and my brothers are these who hear the Word of God and act upon it. Luke 8:21.
We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone worships God and does His will, He listens to him. John 9:31.
If you know these things, you are blessed if you act upon them. John 13:17.
He who possesses my commandments and does them is the one who loves me, and I will love him. John 14:21.
In this is my Father glorified, by your bringing forth much fruit. John 15:8.
You are my friends, if you do whatever I bid you. I have chosen you to bear fruit, and for your fruit to keep. John 15:14, 16.
Make the tree good; by its fruit the tree is known. Matt. 12:33.
Produce fruit worthy of repentance. Matt. 3:8.
The one who sowed seed on good land is the one who hears the Word and bears fruit. Matt. 13:23.
He who reaps receives his wage, and gathers the fruit for everlasting life, John 4:36.
Wash yourselves, cleanse yourselves, put away the wickedness of your deeds; learn to do good. Isa. 1:16, 17.
The Son of Man is to come in the glory of His Father, and He will then deal with each according to his deeds. Matt. 16:27.
Those who have done good deeds will go forth to be resurrected to life. John 5:29.
Their deeds accompany them. Rev. 14:13.
Behold, I come soon and my reward is with me, so that I may give to each according to what he has done. Rev. 22:12.
Jehovah, whose eyes are open, to give to each in accordance with his behaviour; He deals with us according to our deeds. Jer. 32:19; Zech. 1:6.
[3] The Lord teaches the same lesson in the parables, many of which imply that those who do good are accepted and those who do evil are rejected: as in the parable of the workers in the vineyard (Matt. 21:33-44), that of the talents and minas, with which they had to trade (Matt. 25:14-30; Luke 19:13-25). Likewise Jesus said about faith:
He who believes in me shall never die, but live. John 11:25, 26.
This is the Father’s will, that everyone who believes in the Son should have everlasting life. John 6:40.
He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; he, however, who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God rests upon him. John 3:36.
God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, so that everyone who believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3:15, 16.
Furthermore:
You are to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. And you are to love the neighbour as yourself. The law and the prophets depend upon these two commandments. Matt. 22:37-40.
These are a minute selection from the Word and like a few pints of water drawn from the sea.
[2] Ah, my friend, shun evil and do good, and believe in the Lord with all your heart and with all your soul, and the Lord will love you, and give you love so that you can act, and faith so that you can believe. Then you will be impelled by love to do good, and by faith, which is trust, to believe. And if you persevere in this, you will be linked with Him and He with you, and this for ever; and this is the essence of salvation and everlasting life. If a person were not to use the strength he has been given to do good, and use his mind to believe in the Lord, what would man be but a wilderness and a desert, and exactly like dried up ground, which does not absorb rain, but makes it bounce off; or like a sandy heath, where sheep can find no pasture. He would also be like a dried up spring; or like the stagnant pool there, when the source is obstructed, or like a dwelling where there is no harvest nor any pool – if he does not flee from such a place at once, and look for a place to live elsewhere, he would die of hunger and thirst.
Without free will in spiritual matters man would have no means of establishing a mutual link with the Lord. The result would be not imputation, but complete predestination, which is a detestable doctrine.
It was fully shown in the chapter on faith that without free will in spiritual matters no one could possibly possess either charity or faith, much less the two linked together. From this it follows that without free will in spiritual matters man would have nothing by which the Lord could link Himself to him; yet without a reciprocal link there could be no reformation or regeneration, and consequently salvation would be impossible. It is an irrefutable consequence that without a reciprocal link of man with the Lord and of the Lord with man there could be no imputation. Many things have followed from the attempt to prove that without free will in spiritual matters there can be no imputation of good and evil. These aberrant doctrines will be discussed in the last part of this book [Chapter 11] dealing with the heresies, paradoxes and contradictions which stem from the present-day belief that the merit and righteousness of the Lord God the Saviour is imputed to man.
[2] These considerations make it plain that the dogma of the present-day church concerning predestination has emerged from this source, like a shoot from a seed. I can assert that it stemmed from that belief as an almost inevitable consequence; an event which first happened with the Predestinarians, starting with Gottschalk*, then with Calvin and his followers, and was finally established firmly by the Synod of Dort**. Afterwards it was imported by the Supralapsarians and Infralapsarians into their church as an ensign of religion, or rather like the head of the Gorgon or Medusa engraved on the shield of Pallas.
[3] But what more hurtful idea could be thought up, or what more cruel belief could anyone hold about God, than that some of the human race are predestined to damnation? It would be cruel to believe that the Lord, who is love itself and mercy itself, could wish a large number of people to be born destined for hell, or that hundreds of millions are born lost souls, that is, born devils and satans; and that the Lord did not of His Divine wisdom, which is infinite, and does not take care that those who live a good life and acknowledge God are not cast into the fire and everlasting torment. In fact, the Lord is the creator and saviour of all; He alone guides all and wishes no one’s death. Could therefore anything more horrifying be believed or thought than that a group of nations and peoples under His control and gaze should be predestined to be handed over as prey to the devil, to fill his maw? Yet this is the offspring of the faith of the present-day church. The faith of the new church recoils from this as a monstrosity.
* A German theologian of the 9th century.
** A conference held at Dordrecht in 1618-19 which condemned the belief of the Arminians, and upheld Calvin’s doctrine of predestination.
When I saw them standing nearby I said: ‘How can anyone who relies upon sound reason come to the conclusion that we are predestined? Surely only cruel ideas about God can flow from this, and criminal ideas about religion? Surely anyone whose support for predestination has engraved it on his heart can only think about everything belonging to the church, and likewise about the Word, as being worthless? Can he think of a God who has predestined so many thousands of people for hell as anything but a tyrant?’
[2] When I said this, they gave me a satanic look and said: ‘We were among the chosen representatives at the Synod of Dort. Then, and still more since, we have convinced ourselves of much about God, the Word and religion, which we have not dared to make public. But when we talked and taught about religion, we wove and knitted a web of threads of various colours, and scattered over it feathers borrowed from peacocks’ wings.’ But since they wanted to do the same on this occasion, angels using the power given them by the Lord shut the externals of their minds and opened the interiors for them, forcing them to speak as these dictated. Then they said: ‘Our faith which we formed by a series of arguments one depending on the next was and is still as follows.
[3] (1) There is no such thing as the Word of Jehovah God, but some airy utterance from the mouth of the prophets. We thought so because the Word predestines all for heaven and holds man to blame only if he does not walk in the ways which lead there.
(2) Religion exists because it is needed; but it is like a gust of wind which carries a fragrant smell to charm the masses. Religion therefore must be taught by ministers, small and great, as being drawn from the Word, because this is accepted. We had this idea because where there is predestination, there religion is nothing.
(3) The laws of civil justice constitute a religion; but predestination is not dependent upon living by them, but on nothing but God’s good pleasure, just as in the case of a monarch with absolute power, it depends solely on the look on his face.
(4) Everything the church teaches, except the existence of God, is to be dismissed as empty verbiage and rejected as rubbish.
(5) The spiritual matters so much talked about are no more than ethereal vapours beneath the sun, and if they penetrate deeply into anyone, they make him become giddy and stupefied, turning him into a detestable monster in the sight of God.’
(6) When they were asked whether they believed the faith from which they deduced predestination was spiritual, they said that faith depended upon predestination, but when it was given they were like blocks of Wood; as a result they were indeed brought to life, but not spiritually.
[4] After delivering these dreadful statements they wanted to go away, but I said to them: ‘Stay a little while and I will read to you from Isaiah.’ What I read was this:
Do not rejoice, all of Philistia, that the rod that smites you is broken, for a basilisk has come forth from the root of the snake, whose fruit is a flying serpent. Isa. 14:29.
I explained this by means of the spiritual sense. Philistia means the church separated from charity. The basilisk which came forth from the root of the snake means its teaching about three Gods, and about its belief in imputation being granted to each person individually. Its fruit which is a flying serpent means there is no imputation of good and evil, but instant mercy, whether a person has lived a good or a wicked life.
[5] On hearing this they said: ‘This may be; but find us something from that book you call the holy Word about predestination.’ I opened the book and came across in the same prophet this passage which fitted:
They laid asp’s eggs and wove spider’s webs. Anyone who eats one of their eggs dies; and when anyone crushes one, a viper is hatched. Isa. 59:5.
On hearing this they could not bear to listen to the explanation, but some of them who had been sent for (there were five of them) cast themselves into a cave, around which appeared a dark fiery glow, a sign that they were without either faith or charity.
This makes it plain that the decree of the Synod about predestination is not only a crazy heresy, but also a cruel heresy. It must therefore be eradicated from the brain, so that not so much as one jot of it is left.
But for free will in spiritual matters God would be responsible for evil, and thus there could be no imputation of charity and faith.*
It follows from the belief held at the present time, a belief which was first hatched by the members of the Council in the city of Nicaea, that God is the cause of evil. That was where the heresy was invented and devised which still persists, that there were three Divine Persons from eternity, and each of them was God in Himself. Once this theory was hatched, its followers had no alternative but to approach each Person singly as God. They put together a belief in the imputation of the Lord God the Saviour’s merit or righteousness, and to prevent anyone intruding on the merit with the Lord , took away from man all free will in spiritual matters, and attributed to him utter impotence as far as faith is concerned. And because they deduced everything spiritual in the church solely from that faith, they claimed like impotence in regard to everything the church teaches about salvation. This was the source from which sprang a succession of dreadful heresies, based upon that faith and belief in man’s impotence in spiritual matters, as well as that most harmful doctrine of predestination discussed in the preceding section. All these beliefs imply that God is the cause of evil, or that God created both good and evil.
But, my friend, do not place your trust in any Council, but in the Word of the Lord, which is superior to Councils. Is there anything the Roman Catholic councils have not hatched, anything the Council of Dort did not hatch, where that dreadful viper, predestination, was brought to light?
[2] It might be thought that giving man free will in spiritual matters was a mediate cause of evil, and consequently, that if he had not been given such free will, man could not have sinned. But, my friend, pause here for a moment and consider whether any man, if he was to be a man, could have been created without free will in spiritual matters; if that were taken from him, he would cease to be a man and be merely a statue. What is free will but the ability to will and do, to think and speak to all appearance as if from oneself? Since man was given this ability so that he could live as a man, two trees were placed in the Garden of Eden, the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. This means that he could use the freedom given him to eat the fruit of the tree of life or the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
* The last four words are added from the Table of Contents.
[2] Evil was not created by God but introduced by man, because man turns the good which continually flows in from God into evil, by turning away from God and turning towards himself. When this happens, the pleasure given by good remains, but it now becomes the pleasure given by evil; for without an apparently similar pleasure being left man would cease to live, since it is pleasure which makes up the vital principle of his love. These two pleasures are still diametrically opposed, though a person is unaware of this so long as he lives in the world. After death, however, he will know this and indeed feel it plainly, for then the pleasure given by the love of good is turned into heavenly blessedness, but the pleasure given by the love of evil into the torments of hell. These arguments prove that everyone is predestined to heaven, and no one to hell; but it is the person who commits himself to hell by misusing his free will in spiritual matters. As a result he embraces the ideas wafted from hell, since, as was said above, everyone is held mid-way between heaven and hell, so that he can be in equilibrium between good and evil, and consequently have free will in spiritual matters.
* Reading secundo for secundum.
[2] Rain from the upper levels of the atmosphere falls to the ground everywhere, and the ground supplies water from this source to every tree, plant and grass, each of which uses the water to serve its own needs. This is what is meant by the faculty analogous to free will: the plants freely suck up the water through their openings, pores and passages, which in warm weather stand open, and the earth merely provides moisture and elements, which the plants take up in a manner reminiscent of thirst and hunger. It is much the same with people. The Lord flows in to provide every person with spiritual heat, which is in essence the good of love, and with spiritual light, which is in essence the truth of wisdom. But the way the person receives these depends upon which way he turns, whether to God or to himself. That is why the Lord says where He teaches us about love towards the neighbour:
So that you may be sons of the Father, who makes the sun rise on the wicked and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. Matt. 5:45.
And in another passage He speaks of Him desiring the salvation of all.
I have on several occasions heard sayings about the good of charity coming down from heaven, passing through the world of spirits, and penetrating right to the depths of hell. As these sayings descended, they were turned into ideas obviously contrary to the good of charity, and finally into ones full of hatred directed against the neighbour. This was an indication that everything coming from the Lord is good, but is turned into evil by the spirits in hell. The same happened with some truths of faith, which in their descent turned into falsities which were the opposite of the truths. It is the receiving form which turns what impinges on it into what agrees with itself.
Anything spiritual to do with the church which enters freely and is freely accepted lasts, anything that does not, does not last.
The reason why anything freely accepted by a person lasts with him is that freedom has to do with his will; and if so, it also has to do with his love. It has been shown elsewhere [397] that the will is a receiver for love. Anyone can understand that all freedom has to do with love, and also with the will, when people say, ‘I want this because I love it’, and conversely, ‘I love this, so I want it.’
But man’s will is twofold; there is an interior and an exterior, or a will belonging to the internal man and one belonging to the external man. A person can therefore be a sycophant, and act and talk in one way in front of the world and in another with his close friends. In front of the world he uses the will of his external man to act and talk, with his close friends that of his internal man. By the will of the internal man is meant where his dominant love is. These brief remarks are enough to establish that the interior will is the real man, since that is where the being and essence of his life resides. The understanding is the form it takes to enable the will to make its love visible. Everything a person loves and wants as a result of his love for it is a free choice; for whatever arises from the love of the interior will is the pleasure of his life. And because the love of the interior will is the being of his life, it is also his self (proprium). This is why what is freely accepted by this will lasts, because it attaches itself to the self. The converse is that if anything is not freely introduced, it is not accepted; but more will be said on this in what follows.
I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live for ever. John 6:51.
This region is also the seat of a person’s love, and this is what makes him blessed after death; there too is the chief residence of his free will in spiritual matters, and from this source comes all the freedom a person has in natural matters. This being its source, it is in communication with all acts of free will in natural matters, and by their means the love that is dominant at the highest level attracts everything which is of use to it. This communication is like that between the force of a spring and the waters that flow from it, or between the reproductive principle of a seed and every part of a tree, especially its fruits, because in them it renews itself. If, however, anyone denies the existence of free will in spiritual matters, and takes it away from them, he makes for himself another spring and opens up a channel to that, changing spiritual freedom into purely natural freedom, and eventually into the freedom of hell. This sort of freedom too resembles the reproductive principle of a seed; it passes freely through the trunk and branches to reach the fruits, which are so teeming with it that they are rotten inside.
I will make a free will offering to God. Ps. 54:6.
and in another place:
The willing ones of the peoples are gathered together, the people of the God of Abraham. Ps. 47:9.
For this reason the Children of Israel had free-will sacrifices. Their chief mode of sacred worship consisted of sacrifices. Because free-will offerings are pleasing to God they were instructed that every man who was impelled by his heart or moved by his own volition should bring a choice offering to Jehovah for the making of the Tabernacle (Exod. 35:5, 21, 29).
And the Lord says:
If you remain faithful to my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will recognise the truth, and the truth makes you free. If therefore the Son makes you free, you will be truly free. But anyone who commits sin is the slave of sin. John 8:31-36.
[2] With animals too heat opens up every part of their bodies and gives free play to their natural love. As a result in spring and summertime they develop or return to their instinctive desire to produce and bring up offspring. They do so in the greatest freedom, because it is the effect of the dominant love implanted in them from creation, in order to maintain the universe in the state in which it was created.
[3] The reason why the freedom of loving can be illustrated by the freedom induced by heat is that love produces heat; this is obvious from its effects, as when a person is fired, grows heated and bursts into flame as his love develops into enthusiasm or into a blaze of anger. This and no other is the source of people’s blood heat or vital heat and that of animals in general. This correspondence is the reason why parts of the body are made suitable through heat to receive freely what love seeks.
[4] All the inward parts of the human body are in this sort of equilibrium and so freedom. In such freedom the heart pumps its blood equally up and down, the mesentery its chyle, the liver produces blood, the kidneys secrete, the glands filter, and so on. If anything should happen to the equilibrium, the organ would become sick and suffer from paralysis or ataxia. In this case equilibrium and freedom are one. There is no substance throughout the created universe that does not tend towards equilibrium to maintain its freedom.
A person’s will and understanding enjoy this free will; but wrong doing in both the spiritual and natural worlds is curbed by laws, since otherwise society in either world would cease to exist.
Simply by observing one’s own thought process it is possible to know that everyone enjoys free will in spiritual matters. Is there anyone who is not free to think about God, the Trinity, charity and the neighbour, faith and how it works, the Word and everything to be learned from it, and after studying theology about its details? Everyone can think, or rather form a conclusion, teach and write either in favour of these things or against them. If a person were deprived for one instant of this freedom, would not his thinking come to a halt, his tongue fall silent, and his hand be paralysed? So, my friend, you can if you like, simply by observing your own thought process, reject and abominate that absurd and damaging heresy, which at the present time has throughout Christendom cast a pall of lethargy over heaven’s teaching about charity and faith, leading to salvation and everlasting life.
[2] The reasons why this free will is located in a person’s will and understanding are as follows:
(1) Those two faculties must first be taught and reformed, and by their means the two faculties of the external man which enable him to speak and act.
(2) Those two faculties of the internal man constitute his spirit, which lives on after death, and is subject only to Divine law; and it is the leading principle of this that a person should have the law in mind, keep it, and obey it of his own accord, yet by the Lord’s guidance.
[3] (3) Man as far as his spirit is concerned is midway between heaven and hell, and so between good and evil, so as to be in equilibrium. This is the source of his free will in spiritual matters; on this equilibrium see 475ff above, But so long as he lives in the world, he is as far as his spirit is concerned in equilibrium between heaven and the world. A person is then almost completely unaware that to the extent that he retreats from heaven and approaches the world, he also approaches hell. He is unaware of this and yet is not unaware, in order that in this respect too he should enjoy freedom and be reformed.
[4] (4) These two faculties, the will and the understanding, are designed to receive the Lord; the will receives love and charity, the understanding wisdom and faith. The Lord performs each of these acts while giving the person full freedom, so that their linking should be mutual and reciprocal, and the means to salvation.
(5) Any judgment to which a person is submitted after death is in accordance with the way he has used his free will in spiritual matters.
[2] It is too obvious to require explanation, that wrongdoing is in both the spiritual and natural worlds curbed by laws, since no society anywhere could otherwise be stable. Yet illustrations are needed to show that without those external constraints not only would society come to an end, but the whole human race would perish too. Man is prey to two loves, that of dominating others and that of possessing everyone’s wealth. These loves, if given free rein, race away without limit. The hereditary evils a person acquires by birth come chiefly from those two loves. Adam’s crime was simply wishing to become like God, an evil ambition the serpent put into his mind, as we are told. So when he was cursed, he was told that the earth should bring forth thorns and thistles for him (Gen. 3:5, 18), meaning all evil and falsity derived from it. All held in thrall by those loves regard themselves alone as the one person in whom and for whom all others exist. They are without pity, fear of God, or love for the neighbour, so that they are unmerciful, savage and cruel, their greed and longing to rob and steal are worthy of hell, and they are cunning and deceitful in carrying out such crimes. Not even the animals of the earth have such innate wickedness, for the only desire which makes them kill and eat other animals is to fill their bellies and to protect themselves. A wicked man, therefore, looked at from the point of view of those loves is more savage, more fierce and worse than any animal.
[3] It becomes clear in riotous crowds, where the restraints of the law are ineffective, that this is what people are like inwardly, as also in cases of massacre and looting, when the signal is given to wreak one’s fury on the defeated or besieged; hardly anyone holds his hand until the drum is heard signalling it to cease. These examples show that if there were no fear of legal penalties to deter people, not only society but the whole human race would be destroyed. The only way to be rid of all these evils is to use one’s free will in spiritual matters correctly, that is, to focus the mind on thoughts of the conditions of life after death.
[2] If there were not something analogous to free will in the soil of the ground, the seed put into it, and all parts of the tree growing from it, as well as in its fruits, and repeated in the new seeds, there could be no plants. If every metal and every stone, precious as well as common, did not have something analogous to free will, neither metal nor stone could exist, not even a grain of sand. For even this freely absorbs the ether, breathing out its own effluvium, ridding itself of what is exhausted and renewing itself with new material. This is the source of the magnetic field around a magnet, the iron sphere of influence around a piece of iron, copper around copper, silver around silver, gold around gold, stone around stone, nitrous around nitre, sulphurous around sulphur, and of various kinds around every particle of dust in the ground. This influence impregnates the inmost part of every seed and makes it fertile and grow. For failing such an effluvium from every grain of dust in the earth, there would be no commencement of germination and so no means of perpetuating itself. How else could the earth penetrate with dust and water the inmost centre of a seed sown, except by means of its exhalations; as for instance a mustard seed,
Which is smaller than all other seeds, but when it has grown is larger than plants and becomes a great tree. Matt. 13:31, 32; Mark 4:30-32.
[3] When then everything created has been endowed with its own kind of freedom, each according to its nature, why should man be denied the free will appropriate to his nature, which is that he should be spiritual? That is why man has been given free will in spiritual matters from the womb to extreme old age in the world, and thereafter for ever.
If people did not have free will in spiritual matters, everyone throughout the world could in the course of a single day have been brought to believe in the Lord. But this would be impossible, because what a person does not accept of his own free will does not last.
The idea that God without giving people free will in spiritual matters could bring everyone throughout the world in the course of a single day to believe in Himself, is a consequence of failing to understand God’s omnipotence. Those who misunderstand God’s omnipotence may think either that there is no such thing as order, or that God can act just as much against order as in accordance with it. Yet in fact without order no creation would have been possible.
The primary end of order is that man should be an image of God; consequently he should become more and more perfect in love and wisdom, and thus more and more an image of God. God is continually working to produce this result in man; but without free will in spiritual matters, which enables a person to turn towards God and link himself in turn with Him, it would be labour in vain, since it would be impossible. For it is order from which and according to which the whole world with every single thing in it was created. Because all creation derives from order and is in accordance with order, God is called order itself. It is therefore the same thing whether you speak of acting contrary to Divine order or acting contrary to God. In fact, God Himself cannot act contrary to His Divine order, if this is really acting contrary to Himself. He therefore guides every person in accordance with Himself as order, and those who have strayed and fallen away He guides to it, and those who resist towards it.
[2] If man could have been created without free will in spiritual matters, what would then have been easier for almighty God than to bring everyone throughout the world to believe in the Lord? Surely He could have implanted this faith in everyone, both directly and indirectly? Directly, through His absolute power and its irresistible working, which never ceases aiming at man’s salvation; or indirectly, through causing him to feel the pangs of conscience, through convulsions of the body producing unconsciousness, and serious threats of death, if he fails to accept. In addition, by opening up hell and displaying devils with terrifying torches in their hands, or by summoning up from hell the dead whom they had known in the form of terrible spectres. The reply to these suggestions is given in Abraham’s words to the rich man in hell:
If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be persuaded if someone rises from the dead. Luke 16:31.
[2] The reason, however, why before the Lord’s coming miracles took place was that at that time the people in the church were natural men, to whom spiritual matters to do with the internal church could not be disclosed. For if they had been, they would have profaned them, All their worship, therefore, was confined to ritual acts, which represented and symbolised the internal matters of the church; and these people could only be induced to carry out the rituals properly by means of miracles. Because these representative acts had a spiritual internal, not even miracles could at times induce them to carry them out, as is plain from the Children of Israel in the desert, who, despite seeing so many miracles in Egypt and then the greatest one on Mount Sinai, still after Moses had been absent for a month danced around the golden calf, crying out that it had brought them out of Egypt. They behaved in much the same way in the land of Canaan despite seeing the outstanding miracles performed by Elijah and Elisha and in due course the truly Divine miracles performed by the Lord.
[3] The main reason why miracles do not happen at the present time is that the church has taken away all free will from people. It has done so by decreeing that man can make no contribution to the reception of faith, nor to his conversion or his salvation as a whole (see above, 464). Anyone who believes this becomes more and more natural; and the natural man, as I said before, looks at everything spiritual back to front, so that in thought he opposes it. The higher region of the human mind, the chief seat of free will in spiritual matters, would then be shut off. Spiritual ideas, which would have received a sort of confirmation by the miracles, would occupy the lower or purely natural region of the mind, while false ideas about faith, conversion and salvation stayed on top. This would make satans live above and angels below, like vultures living over hens. Then a little while later the satans would burst the bolts and rush furiously on the spiritual ideas occupying the lower position, not only denying them, but cursing and profaning them. So the person’s last state would be much worse than his former one,
But, my friend, this is all nonsense. God’s omnipotence is not devoid of order. God Himself is order; and because all things were created from God, they were created from order, in order and with a view to order. The order which man was made to partake in is that his blessing or his cursing should be dependent upon his free will in spiritual matters. For, as I said before, without free will man could not have been created, nor could even animals, birds and fish. But animals enjoy only natural free will; man enjoys natural and spiritual free will as well.
I heard that a meeting had been called to discuss man’s free will in spiritual matters – this was in the spiritual world. There were present from every quarter learned men, who had thought about the subject in the world in which they had previously lived, and many of them had been at councils and synods, both before and after that of Nicaea. They gathered in a sort of circular temple, like the one at Rome known as the Pantheon, which was formerly dedicated to the worship of all the gods, but subsequently consecrated by the papacy to the cult of all the holy martyrs. Around the walls of the temple were what looked like altars; but each had chairs drawn up to it, on which those who had gathered sat, and rested their elbows on the altars as if they were so many tables. No one had been appointed to preside over their meeting, but one by one, as the fancy took them, they broke ranks and coming into the centre gave vent to and made known their opinion. To my surprise, all the members of this assembly were full of arguments in favour of man’s complete lack of power in spiritual matters, and they ridiculed the idea of free will in this respect.
[2] When they were assembled one man suddenly rushed into the centre and cried out in a loud voice: ‘Man has no free will in spiritual matters, any more than Lot’s wife had after she was turned into a pillar of salt. For most certainly, if man had any more freedom, he would of his own accord claim as his own the faith of our church. This is that God the Father in complete freedom and at His good pleasure confers that faith as a free gift on whomever He wishes, whenever He wishes. God would never have this good pleasure nor make this free gift, if by some sort of freedom or good pleasure man could also claim it for himself. For if this happened, our faith, a star which shines before our eyes night and day, would be scattered into the air like a shooting star.’
He was followed by another man who jumped up from his seat and said: ‘Man has no more free will in spiritual matters than an animal, or rather, than a dog, because, if he had, he would do good of his own accord, whereas all good comes from God, and man cannot get anything for himself but what is given to him from heaven.’
[3] He was followed by another who leaped up from his seat and spoke from the centre. He said that man has no more free will in spiritual matters, or even in discerning these, than an owl has in daylight, or rather, than a chick has while it is still hidden in the egg. ‘In such matters he is as blind as a mole; for if he was a veritable Lynceus* to discern what has to do with faith, salvation and everlasting life, he would believe that he could regenerate and save himself, and would actually attempt it, thus profaning his thoughts and deeds with seeking more and more merit.’
Yet another ran out into the centre and delivered this utterance, that anyone of the opinion that he can will or understand anything in spiritual matters since the fall of Adam is raving and becoming deranged, since he would then believe himself to be a tin god or supernatural being, possessing in his own right some portion of God’s power.
[4] He was followed by a man who came panting into the centre, carrying under his arm a book, called the Formula of Concord; the Evangelicals at the present time swear by what he called its orthodoxy. He opened it and read out the following passage:
Man with regard to good is utterly corrupt and dead, so that there has remained and subsists in man’s nature since the fall before regeneration not so much as a spark of spiritual strength, to enable him to be prepared for God’s grace or to seize it when it is offered; or to be capable of receiving that grace of his own accord by his own efforts; or in spiritual matters to understand, believe, endorse, think, will, begin, complete, act, work, co-operate or apply or adapt himself to grace, or to make any contribution, to the extent of a half or even the smallest part, to his conversion. In spiritual matters relating to the salvation of the soul man is like the pillar of salt which was Lot’s wife, resembling a block of wood or stone devoid of life, without the use of the eyes, the mouth or any senses. However he has the power of movement and the control of his external members, so as to attend public gatherings and hear the Word and the Gospel. (pp. 656, 658, 661-663, 671-673 in my edition.)
After this all expressed their agreement, crying out together: ‘This is true orthodoxy.’
[5] I was standing close by and listening intently to all this, and since in my spirit I was incensed I asked in a loud voice: ‘If you make man in spiritual matters a pillar of salt, an animal, blind and mad, what then becomes of your theology? Is not everything in theology a spiritual matter?’
After a period of silence they replied to this: ‘The whole of our theology contains nothing spiritual apprehensible by reason. Our faith is the only item in it which is spiritual. But we have carefully shut up our faith to prevent anyone looking into it, and have taken precautions to ensure that no gleam of spirituality escapes from it so as to become visible to the understanding. Moreover man does not by any choice of his own contribute a whit to it. We have also removed charity from any spiritual idea, making it purely a moral matter, and we have treated the Ten Commandments likewise. Neither do we teach that there is anything spiritual about justification, the forgiveness of sins, regeneration and salvation by this means. We say that faith brings these about, but how we have no idea. In place of repentance we have adopted contrition, but to prevent it being thought to be spiritual we have removed it from all contact with faith. Neither have we adopted any but purely natural ideas about redemption. These are, that God the Father placed the human race under sentence of damnation, His Son took that sentence upon Himself, and allowed Himself to be hung upon the cross, thus compelling His Father to have mercy; and we have many more such ideas, in which you will not be able to detect anything spiritual, but only what is completely natural.’
[6] But, so incensed had I already become, I went on to say: ‘If man had no free will in spiritual matters, what would he be but a beast? Surely this is what gives him his superiority over mere beasts? What would the church be without it, but the blackened face of a wall-eyed fuller? What would the Word be without it, but a blank book? Is there anything the Word says and commands more often than that man is to love God and to love the neighbour, and he is to believe that his salvation and life depend upon how he loves and believes? Is there anyone who is unable to understand and do what is laid down in the Word and in the Ten Commandments? How could God have prescribed and commanded man to do such things, if He had not given him the capability to do them?
[7] Tell any peasant, someone whose mind is not bogged down in fallacies about theology, that in what concerns faith and charity and the salvation they bring he can no more understand and will than a block of wood or a stone, not even being able to devote himself to or fit himself for them, surely he will roar with laughter and say: “How crazy can you get? What need have I then of a priest and his sermons? How is a church then any better than a stable? How then is worshipping any better than ploughing? What madness it is to talk like that, piling folly on folly. Does anyone deny that all good is from God? Surely man is permitted to do good of himself by God’s guidance? And it is much the same with believing.”‘
On hearing this they all cried: ‘We gave an orthodox view based on orthodox principles, you have given a peasant’s view based on peasants’ principles.’ Then suddenly a thunderbolt fell from the sky, and they rushed out in droves for fear it would burn them up, and they all went away, each to his own home.
* In Greek mythology a man famous for his acute vision.
I was once, while in the world of spirits, given the inward spiritual sight enjoyed by the angels of the higher heaven; and I saw two spirits not far from me, though some distance apart. I could tell that one of them loved good and truth, which linked him with heaven, and the other loved evil and falsity, which linked him with hell. I approached and called them to me, and from the sound of their voices and their replies I gathered that they were each equally able to perceive truths, and acknowledge them when perceived, to use their understanding to think about them, and to direct their intellectual processes as they pleased, and the motions of their will as they liked; in other words each enjoyed similar free will on the rational level. Moreover I noticed that as a result of that free will there appeared in their minds a glow which extended from the first vision, that of perception, to the last, that of the eye.
[2] But when the one who loved evil and falsity was left alone to think, I observed something like smoke rising from hell and putting out the glow above the level of the memory, so that he was in thick darkness as of midnight. This smoke caught fire and burned like a flame lighting up the region of his mind below the level of memory; this caused him to think of extraordinary falsities arising from the evils of self-love. When the other, however, the one who loved good and truth, was left alone, I saw a gentle flame flowing down on him from heaven, which lit up the region of his mind above the level of memory, and the region below this as well right down to the level of the eye. The light from this flame shone brighter and brighter as his love for good led him to perceive and think of truth. These sights showed me plainly that everyone, wicked as well as good, enjoys spiritual free will, but that hell sometimes blots it out in the case of the wicked, and heaven enhances it and makes it burn brighter in the case of the good.
[3] After this I talked with each of them, first with the one who loved evil and falsity. I had asked something about his experiences, but he was incensed when I mentioned free will. ‘What madness it is,’ he said, ‘to believe that man has free will in spiritual matters! Can any human being help himself to faith and do good of himself? Does not the priesthood at the present time teach what the Word says, that no one can acquire anything unless it is given him from heaven? The Lord Christ said to His disciples, ‘Without me you can do nothing.’ To this I would add, that no one can move his foot or his hand to do any good action, nor move his tongue to utter any truth derived from good. The church therefore under the guidance of its wise men came to the conclusion that man is unable to will, understand or think about anything spiritual, not even to fit himself to willing, understanding or thinking about it, any more than a statue, a block of wood or a stone; and that therefore God, who alone has the freest and unlimited power, at His good pleasure breathes faith into man, and this, without any action or power on our part, by the working of the Holy Spirit produces all the effects which the uneducated attribute to man.’
[4] Then I talked with the other spirit, the one who loved good and truth, and when I had asked something about his experiences, I mentioned free will. ‘What madness it is,’ he said, ‘to deny that man has free will in spiritual matters! Is there anyone who is unable to will and do good, and to think about and speak truth of himself, which he draws from the Word, and so from the Lord who is the Word? For He said: “Bring forth good fruit” and “Believe in the light”, as well as “Love one another” and “Love God”; or again “He who hears and keeps my commandments loves me, and I will love him”; not to mention thousands of similar things throughout the Word. So what use then would the Word be, if man could will and think nothing, and so do and speak nothing that is prescribed in it? If man did not have that ability, what would religion and the church be but a shipwreck lying at the bottom of the sea, with the ship-master standing on top of the mast, shouting. ‘There’s nothing I can do,’ while he watches the rest of the crew hoist sail in the life-boats and sail away. Was not Adam given freedom to eat from the tree of life and also from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil? And because in his freedom he ate from the latter tree, smoke from the serpent, that is, from hell, entered his mind, and on account of that he was expelled from paradise and cursed. Yet even still he did not lose his free will, for we read that the route to the tree of life was guarded by a cherub, because if that had not been done, he could still have wished to eat from it.’
[5] When he said this, the other spirit who loved evil and falsity said: ‘I reject what I have just heard, and keep in my mind what I suggested myself. Surely everyone knows that it is only God who is alive and so is active, and man is of himself dead, and so is purely passive? How could someone like this, who in himself is dead and purely passive, take to himself what is alive and active?’
My reply to this was: ‘Man is an instrument for life; and God alone is life. God pours His life into the instrument and all its parts, just as the sun pours its heat into a tree and all its parts. God allows man to feel that life in himself as if it were his own; and God wants man to feel this so that man may, as it were of himself, live in accordance with the laws of order, which are as many as there are commandments in the Word; and so that he may put himself into a suitable state of mind to receive the love of God. Still God continually keeps His finger on the pointer of the balance, and controls it, without, however, violating free will by compulsion.
[6] ‘A tree is unable to receive anything that the sun’s heat supplies through its root, unless every single fibre in it is warmed and heated. Nor can elements rise up through the root, unless every single fibre passes on the heat it has received and thus contributes to the transport. Man behaves in like fashion with the vital heat he receives from God, but in distinction from a tree he feels the heat as his own, though it is not his. To the extent that he believes it is his and not God’s, he receives vital light though not the heat of love from God, but the heat of love from hell. Since this is gross, it obstructs and closes the finer ramifications of the instrument, just as impure blood does the capillary vessels of the body. In this way a person turns himself from being spiritual into a purely natural man.
[7] ‘Man’s free will is derived from his feeling the life in him as his own, and God’s leaving him to feel like this so that linking may take place. This linking is impossible unless it is reciprocal, and it becomes so when a person freely acts as if of himself. If God had not left man to do this, man would not be man, nor could he have everlasting life. For it is the reciprocal link with God which makes man a man rather than an animal, and allows him after death to live for ever. This is the result of free will in spiritual matters.’
[8] On hearing this the wicked spirit took himself off to a distance, and I then saw a flying serpent, of the sort called prester*, on a certain tree, offering someone fruit from it. In the spirit I approached the place, and saw there in place of the serpent a monstrous man, whose face was so covered in beard that only his nose stuck out; and instead of the tree there was a lighted fire-brand, near which he stood. The smoke had previously penetrated his mind, and after that he rejected the idea of free will in spiritual matters. Suddenly similar smoke came out of the fire-brand and surrounded both it and the man. Since they were thus lost to view, I went away. But the other spirit, who loved good and truth and insisted that man has free will in spiritual matters, accompanied me home.
* Or ‘fiery serpent’.
I once heard a noise as of two mill-stones grinding together. I approached the sound, and it ceased. I saw a narrow doorway leading downwards and at an angle towards a building with a vaulted roof; it had a number of rooms each divided into small cells. In each of the cells sat two people collecting passages from the Word in support of justification by faith alone; one collected the passages and the other wrote them out, and they took turns to do this.
I went up to one cell which was near the entrance and asked: ‘What are you collecting and writing out?’
‘Passages,’ they said, ‘about the act of justification or faith in action, the faith which is the real one, and justifies, quickens and saves. It is the leading doctrine of the church in our part of Christendom.’
‘Tell me,’ I said to him then, ‘some sign of that act, when that faith is introduced into a person’s heart and soul.’
‘The sign of that act,’ he answered, ‘is at the moment when a person smitten with grief at the thought of being damned, and being in a state of contrition, thinks about Christ taking away the damnation imposed by the law, confidently grasps this merit of His, and keeping this in his thoughts approaches God the Father and prays.’
[2] ‘The act does so take place,’ I said, ‘and there is this moment. But how am I to understand,’ I asked, ‘what is said about this act, that nothing on man’s part assents to it, any more than he would assent if he were a block of wood or a stone? Man, as it is said, with regard to that act can begin nothing, will or understand or think nothing, perform no act or contribute to any joint act, or fit or adjust himself. Tell me how this squares with your assertion that the act arises at the time when a person thinks about the enforcement of the law, about the taking away of his damnation by Christ, about the confidence with which he seizes Christ’s merit, and with these thoughts in mind approaches God the Father and prays. Surely all of these are acts done by the person?’
‘Yes,’ he said, ‘but they are not done by him actively, but passively.’
[3] ‘How,’ I answered, ‘can anyone think, have confidence and pray passively? If you take away his activity and co-operation, do you not also take away his capacity to receive, and so everything is lost together with the act itself? What then does your act become but something purely imaginary, what is called a point of argument? I hope that you do not follow certain people in believing that such an act only takes place with those who are predestined, and know nothing of the faith being poured into them. They could just as well play at dice to determine whether faith was poured into them or not. Therefore, my friend, you should believe that man as regards faith and charity acts of himself under the Lord’s guidance, and without this act on his part this act of faith of yours, which you called the leading doctrine of the church in Christendom, is no more than Lot’s wife turned into a pillar of salt, which rings as pure salt when struck with a scribe’s quill or with his fingernail (Luke 17:32). I have said this because you are making yourselves with regard to this act like such statues.’
When I said this, he took hold of the lamp-stand to hurl it with all the force in his hand in my face. But the lamp suddenly went out and he threw it in his companion’s face, while I went away amused.
* This passage is repeated with slight modifications from AR 484.4-6.
I saw in the spiritual world two flocks, one of goats, the other of sheep. I wondered who they were, since I knew that when animals are seen in the spiritual world, they are not animals, but correspondences of the affections and from these the thoughts of those who are there. So I went nearer, and as I approached, the likenesses of animals disappeared, and I saw human beings in their place. It became clear that those who made up the flock of goats were those who had convinced themselves of the doctrine of justification by faith alone, and those who made up the flock of sheep were those who believed that charity and faith are one, just as good and truth are one.
[2] Then I spoke with those who had appeared like goats and said: ‘Why have you met together?’ Most were clergy who had prided themselves on their reputation for learning, because they knew the secrets of justification by faith alone.
They said that they had met together to hold a council, because they had heard that Paul’s statement that man is justified by faith without the deeds prescribed by the law (Rom. 3:28) had not been properly understood. For by faith there Paul did not mean the faith of the present-day church, in three Divine persons from eternity, but faith in the Lord God, the Saviour Jesus Christ. By the deeds prescribed by the law he did not mean the deeds prescribed by the law of the Ten Commandments, but those prescribed for the Jews by the law of Moses. Thus from those few words people had come to two monstrously false conclusions by incorrect interpretation: that faith meant the faith of the present-day church, and the deeds meant those prescribed by the Ten Commandments. ‘Paul did not mean these,’ they said, ‘but those prescribed by the law of Moses which were intended for the Jews; and this is clearly established from his saying to Peter, whom he criticised for following Jewish practices, although he knew that no one is justified by the deeds prescribed by the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ (Gal. 2:14-16).’ The faith of Jesus Christ is faith in Him and from Him, see above 338. Because by the deeds prescribed by the law Paul understood the deeds prescribed by the law of Moses, he made a distinction between the law of faith and the law of deeds, and between Jews and gentiles, or between circumcision and lack of circumcision. Circumcision means the Jews, as everywhere else. And he ends with these words:
Are we then abolishing the law by faith? By no means, we are reinforcing the law. Rom. 3:27-31.
(He says all this in a single passage.) He also says in the preceding chapter:
It is not those who hear the law who will be justified by God, but those who keep it. Rom. 2:13.
He says elsewhere that God will repay each according to his deeds (Rom. 2:6), and:
We must all be put on show before the tribunal of Christ, so that each may be rewarded for his bodily acts, whether good or ill. 2 Cor. 5:10.
There are many more passages showing that Paul rejected faith without good deeds, just as much as James did (James 2:17-26).
[3] Further evidence that Paul meant the deeds prescribed by the law of Moses for the Jews can be drawn from the fact that all the statutes for the Jews are called in the writings of Moses the law, and so these are the deeds prescribed by the law; e.g.:
This is the law of the grain offering. Lev. 6:14, 18ff.
This is the law of the burnt-offering, the grain-offering, the sin-sacrifice, the guilt-sacrifice and the consecration. Lev. 7:37,
This is the law of beast and bird. Lev. 11:46ff.
This is the law for one who bears a child, a son or a daughter. Lev. 12:7.
This is the law for a leprous disease. Lev. 13:59; 14:2, 32, 54, 57
This is the law of the person with a discharge. Lev. 15:32.
This is the law in cases of jealousy. Num. 5:29, 30.
This is the law for the Nazirite. Num. 6:13, 21.
This is the law of cleansing. Num. 19:14.
This is the law concerning the red cow. Num. 19:2.
The law for the king. Deut. 17:15-19.
In fact, the whole book of Moses is called ‘the Book of the Law’ (Deut. 31:9, 11, 12, 26; also Luke 2:22; 24:44; John 1:45; 7:22, 23; 8:5). They went on to say that they had seen in the writings of Paul that the Law of the Ten Commandments was to be observed in living and to be fulfilled by charity (Rom. 13:8-11). He also says that there are three things, faith, hope and charity, and that the greatest of these is charity (1 Cor. 13:13). So it is clear he did not put faith first. They said that these subjects were what they had been summoned to debate.
[4] However, not to disturb them, I went away; and then again they looked at a distance like goats, sometimes lying down and sometimes standing. But they turned their backs on the flock of sheep. When they were debating, they seemed to be lying down, but standing up when they reached a conclusion. But I kept my gaze fixed on their horns, and was surprised to notice that at one time the horns on their foreheads appeared to point forwards and upwards, at another time curving away towards their backs and eventually pointing completely the other way. Then they suddenly turned to face the flock of sheep, but they still looked like goats. So I went up to them again and asked: ‘What are you doing now?’ They replied that they had reached the conclusion that faith alone produces the good deeds of charity, as a tree produces fruit.
Then a clap of thunder was heard, and a flash of lightning was seen coming from above. Following this an angel appeared, standing between the two flocks, who shouted to the flock of sheep: ‘Do not listen to them. They have not abandoned their former faith, which is that faith alone brings justification and salvation, and the practice of charity plays no part. Neither is faith a tree; it is man who is the tree. Repent and look to the Lord, and you will have faith; before doing that, the faith you have is not a faith with any life in it.’
Then the goats whose horns were curved backwards wanted to join the sheep. But the angel who stood between them divided the sheep into two flocks. He told those on the left: ‘Go and join the goats; but I warn you, the wolf will come and seize them, and you with them.’
[5] After the two flocks of sheep had been separated, and those on the left had heard the angel’s threatening words, they looked at one another and said: ‘Let us talk with our former companions.’ Then the left-hand flock spoke to the right-hand one and said: ‘Why have you abandoned our shepherds**? Are not faith and charity one, as a tree and its fruit are one? The tree extends through its branches into the fruit; if you break a piece off a branch which forms the connection between the tree and its fruit, the fruit will be lost, won’t it, and together with the fruit all the seed which might grow into a new tree? Ask our priests if that isn’t so.’
So they asked the priests, and they looked around at the rest, who were winking at them to get them to say that they had made a good point. After this they replied: ‘You have made a good point, but as regards the extension of faith into good deeds, like that of a tree into its fruit, we know many secrets, but this is not the occasion to divulge them. The chain or thread which links faith and charity has many knots on it, and only we, the priests, are able to undo them.’
[6] Then one of the priests, who belonged to the right-hand flock of sheep, got up and said: ‘Their answer to you was Yes, but to their own party No, for they do not think as they speak.’ ‘How then do they think?’ the others asked; ‘Don’t they think as they teach?’
‘No,’ he replied, ‘they think that every good of charity, what is called a good deed, which a person does for the sake of salvation and everlasting life, is not in the least good, because by doing the deed himself the person wants to save himself, claiming for himself the righteousness and merit of the one Saviour. They think that this is true of every good deed in which a person is aware of his volition. They hold therefore that there is no link at all between faith and charity, not even that faith is retained and preserved by good deeds.’
[7] But those who belonged to the left-hand flock said: ‘You are telling lies to accuse them. Don’t they preach charity and its deeds, what they call the deeds of faith, openly in our hearing?’
‘You do not understand their sermons,’ he replied; only a clergyman who is present can grasp and understand them. What they have in mind is merely moral charity, and its social and political good deeds.
They call these the good deeds of faith, but they are certainly not. For an atheist can do them just as well and in the same guise. They say therefore with one voice that no one is saved by any deeds, but by faith alone. Let us take a comparison to illustrate this. They say that an apple-tree produces apples, but that if a person does good for the sake of salvation, just as the tree by a continuous extension of itself produces apples, then the apples are rotten inside and full of maggots. They say too that a vine produces grapes, but if a person were to do spiritual good deeds as a vine makes grapes, he would make bitter grapes.’
[8] Then they asked: ‘What for them are the good deeds of charity, those that are the fruits of faith?’
He replied that perhaps they lurk out of sight somewhere near faith, but are not attached to it. ‘They are,’ he said, ‘like a person’s shadow, which follows behind him when he is looking towards the sun, and which he cannot see unless he turns around. Or rather I might say that they are like horses’ tails, which in many places are docked nowadays, because people say: “What use are they? They serve no purpose, and if they remain attached to the horse, they easily get dirty.”‘
On hearing this someone in the left-hand flock of sheep became indignant and said: ‘There certainly must be some link, else how could they be called the deeds of faith? Possibly the good deeds of charity are introduced by God into what a person does of his own will by some influence; let us say, by some affection, some afflatus, inspiration, urging and excitation of the will, some silent perception in thought, leading to exhortation, contrition and so to conscience, and thus leading to compulsion, obedience to the Ten Commandments and the Word, either like a child or like a wise man, or by some other means resembling these. How else could they call them the fruits of faith?’
To this the priest replied that they could not. ‘And,’ he said, ‘if they do say that something like this happens, they still stuff their sermons full of words which prove that it is not from faith. There are still others who teach that such things occur but only as signs of faith, not as bonds linking it with charity. There are some, however, who have devised a theory of linking by means of the Word.’
Then they said, ‘Isn’t this how a link is made?’ But he answered, ‘That is not what they think, but they imagine it happens just by listening to the Word. For they claim that man’s whole rational and voluntary faculty is in matters to do with faith impure and merit-seeking, since in spiritual matters a person cannot understand or will anything, work or co-operate, any more than a stick.’
[9] However one, on hearing that man was believed to be like this in all matters to do with faith and salvation, said: ‘I heard someone saying: “I have planted a vineyard. Now I shall drink wine until I am drunk.” But another man asked: “Surely you will drink wine out of your goblet by the use of your right hand?” “No,” he said, “I shall drink out of an invisible goblet by means of an invisible hand.” “Then,” said the other man, “you certainly won’t get drunk.”‘
A little later the same man said: ‘Please listen to me. I tell you, drink the wine which comes from understanding the Word. Don’t you know that the Lord is the Word? Is not the Word from the Lord? Is He not thus in it? If therefore you do good from the Word, are you not doing it from the Lord, in accordance with His words and His will? If you then look to the Lord, He will also guide and teach you, and you will do it of yourselves from the Lord. Can anyone who does something at a king’s behest, in accordance with his words and his instructions, say: “I am doing this in accordance with my own words or instructions, and of my own will.”‘
[10] After this he turned to the clergy and said: ‘You ministers of God, do not lead the flock astray.’ On hearing this the majority of the left-hand flock went away and joined the right-hand flock.
Then some of the clergy began saying: ‘We have heard things we never heard before. But we are shepherds, and we shall not abandon the sheep.’ So they went away with them, saying: ‘This man has uttered a true saying. How can anyone say “I do this of myself” when he does it in accordance with the Word, so at the Lord’s behest, in accordance with His words and His will? Can anyone who does something at a king’s behest, in accordance with his words and his will, say: “I am doing this of myself”? We now see it was by Divine providence that the link between faith and good deeds, which is recognised by the members of the church, was not discovered. It could not be, because it could not exist; for there was no faith in the Lord, who is the Word, and so there was not either any faith coming from the Word.’
But the rest of the priests, who belonged to the flock of goats, went off waving their hats and shouting: ‘Faith alone, faith alone, long live faith alone.’
* This passage is repeated with modifications from AR 417.
** The Latin word means both shepherd and pastor.
I was talking with angels and we came at last to the subject of the lust for evil which every person acquires by birth. ‘In the world where I live,’ said one of them, ‘those who are possessed by lust appear to us angels as fools, but to themselves they seem extremely wise. On this account, in order to drag them out of their folly, they are by turns allowed to lapse into it and are then brought to a rational frame of mind, which in their case is confined to externals. When they are in this state they see, acknowledge and confess that they are crazy. But they still long to exchange their rational state for their crazed one, and they plunge into it as being freedom and pleasure in place of compulsion and unpleasantness. So it is lust that inwardly delights them, not intelligence.
[2] ‘There are three universal loves of which every person is from creation compounded: the love of the neighbour, which is also the love of performing services, and this is a spiritual love; the love of the world, which is also the love of possessing wealth, and this is a material love; and self-love, which is also the love of dominating others, and this is a bodily love. A person is truly human when the love of the neighbour, or the love of performing services, makes up the head, and the love of the world, or of possessing wealth, makes up the chest and belly, and self-love, or the love of dominating, makes up the feet and the soles of the feet. But if the love of the world makes up the head, a person is only human in the way a hunchback is. And if self-love makes up the head, he is not like a person standing on his feet, but like one standing on the palms of his hands with his head down and his haunches in the air.
[3] ‘When the love of performing services makes up the head, and the other two loves duly make up the trunk and feet, the person appears in heaven to have the face of an angel with a lovely rainbow around his head. But if the love of the world or wealth makes up the head, seen from heaven he seems to have a pale face like a corpse with a yellow ring around his head. And if self-love or the love of dominating others makes up the head, seen from heaven he seems to have a face dark with fiery gleams with a white ring around his head.’
This led me to ask: ‘What do the rings around the head represent?’ Intelligence;’ they replied, ‘the white ring around the head of a person with a dark face with fiery gleams represents his intelligence being limited to externals or around him, and his craziness being in his internals or inside him. Also a person of this sort is wise when engaged in the body, but crazy when in the spirit. No one is wise in spirit except by the Lord’s doing; this happens when he is born again and created anew by the Lord.’
[4] After this the ground on the left opened and I saw rising through the opening a devil with a dark face with fiery gleams and a white ring around his head. ‘Who are you?’ I asked. ‘I am Lucifer,’ he said, ‘the son of the dawn. I was cast down for making myself like the Most High, as described in Isaiah, chapter 14.’ He was not actually Lucifer, but he thought he was. ‘Since you have been cast down,’ I said, ‘how can you rise again from hell?’ ‘There,’ he said, ‘I am a devil, but here an angel of light; don’t you see I have a white ring round my head? And you will see, if you wish, that among moral people I am moral, among rational people rational, among spiritual people even spiritual. I was even able to preach.’
‘What did you preach about?’ I asked. ‘Against cheats,’ he said, ‘against adulterers and all the hellish loves. In fact it was then I called myself the devil Lucifer and invoked curses against myself as such, so that I was praised to the skies. That was how I got the name of the son of the dawn. To my own surprise, when I was in the pulpit I could think of nothing but speaking correctly and properly. But the reason was revealed to me, that I was in externals and these were then separated from my internals. Yet despite having this revealed to me, I was still unable to change, because I regarded myself as superior to the Most High, and was proud enough to oppose Him.’
[5] ‘How,’ I asked then, ‘could you have spoken like that when you are yourself a cheat and an adulterer?’ ‘I am different,’ he replied, ‘when I am in externals or the body, from what I am when in internals or the spirit. In the body I am an angel, but in the spirit a devil. For while I am in the body I am in the power of the understanding, but in the spirit I am in the power of the will, and the understanding carries me upwards, while the will carries me down. When I am in the power of the understanding there is a white ring surrounding my head; but when the understanding becomes completely subservient to the will and is its creature, which is our ultimate fate, the ring turns black and fades away. When this happens I can no longer climb up into this light,,
Suddenly, however, catching sight of the angels with me, his face became inflamed and his voice became harsh, and he turned ‘black, including the ring around his head. Then he fell back into hell through the opening by which he had risen. The by-standers drew the conclusion from what they had seen and heard that it is the will and not the understanding which determines a person’s character, since the will has no difficulty in bringing the understanding over to its side and making it subservient.
[6] Then I asked the angels where the devils got their rationality from. ‘It is,’ they said, ‘from the glory of self-love, for self-love is surrounded by glory, since this is the brilliance of its fire, and glory raises the understanding almost into the light of heaven. Everyone’s understanding is capable of being raised in proportion to his knowledge; but the will can only be raised by living in accordance with the truths taught by the church and by reason. That is why even atheists, who out of self-love boast of their reputation, and so pride themselves on their intelligence, enjoy a higher degree of rationality than many others. But this happens when they are deep in intellectual thought, not when they are letting their wills express their love. It is love in the will which takes possession of the internal man, but thought in the understanding which takes possession of the external man.’ The angel went on to tell us the reason why man is a compound of three loves, that of service, that of the world, and self-love. It is so that he may be guided in his thoughts by God, yet think entirely as if of himself. He told us that the highest levels of the human mind are turned upwards to God, the middle levels outwards to the world, the lowest downwards to the body. It is because these are turned downwards that a person thinks as if entirely of his own accord, when in fact his thoughts are controlled by God.
* This section is repeated with modifications from CL 269.
One day a magnificent church building appeared to me; it was square in plan with a roof like a crown, with arches above and a raised parapet running around. Its walls were all windows made of crystal, its door of a pearly substance. Inside on the south side towards the west there was a platform, on which the open Word lay at the right surrounded by a blaze of light, so bright as to spread round and light up the whole platform. In the middle of the church was a shrine with a curtain in front of it; but this was now raised and there stood a golden cherub with a sword which he brandished in all directions in his hand.
[2] When I caught sight of all this, as I meditated, the meaning of each of the details came flooding into my mind. The church meant the new church; the door of a pearly substance, entry into it; the windows of crystal the truths which enlighten it; the platform the priesthood and their preaching; the Word on it, open and lighting up the top of the platform, the revelation of its internal, or spiritual, sense; the shrine in the middle of the church the link of that church with the heaven of angels; the golden cherub there the Word in its literal sense; the sword brandished in his hand meant that this sense can be twisted in different ways, so long as it is made to refer to some truth. The lifting of the curtain in front of the cherub meant that now the Word was laid open.
[3] Later, when I got closer, I saw there was an inscription over the door: NOW IT IS PERMITTED. This meant that now it is permitted to enter with the understanding into the mysteries of faith. Seeing this inscription led me to think that it is extremely dangerous to enter with the understanding into the dogmas of faith which have been put together out of one’s own intelligence and the falsities it produces, and even more so to seek to support them by quoting the Word. This has the effect of shutting off the understanding at the top and little by little also at the bottom, to such an extent that theology is not only disliked but actually wiped out, like the writing on a paper being destroyed by book-worms, or the wool of a piece of cloth by grubs. His understanding then concerns itself only with political affairs which affect his life in the country where he lives, and with civil affairs relating to his official duties, and with domestic affairs of his household; and in all of these he constantly embraces nature, being led by the enticement of its pleasures to love it, as an idolater does the golden image in his lap.
[4] Now since the dogmas of present-day Christian churches are put together not from the Word, but from people’s own intelligence and the false ideas that come from that, and also by means of some ideas supported from the Word, for this reason the Lord’s Divine providence has seen to it that among Roman Catholics the Word has been taken away from laymen, while among Protestants it remains open, though shut off by their frequent saying that the understanding must be kept in obedience to their faith.
[5] But in the new church the opposite happens; here it is permitted with the understanding to approach and penetrate all its secrets, and also to support them from the Word. The reason is that its doctrines are a series of truths revealed by the Lord through the Word; and proving them by rational argument causes the understanding to be opened up above more and more. This lifts it into the light enjoyed by the angels of heaven; and that light is in essence truth, and it makes the acknowledgment of the Lord as the God of heaven and earth shine out in all its glory. This is what the inscription ‘NOW IT IS PERMITTED’ over the door means; and the removal of the curtain of the shrine in front of the cherub has the same meaning. It is a rule in the new church that falsities shut off the understanding, and truths open it up.
[6] After this I saw what looked like a child overhead, holding a paper in his hand. As he approached me, he grew in size until he was a man of average height. He was an angel from the third heaven; all there look at a distance like children. When he reached me, he held the paper out to me. But since it was written in the rounded script customary in that heaven, I gave it back and asked them to expound the meaning of what was written on it in words I could comprehend in my thinking.
‘What is written here,’ he replied, ‘is: FROM NOW ON ENTER INTO THE MYSTERIES OF THE WORD WHICH HAVE SO FAR BEEN HIDDEN: FOR EACH ONE OF ITS TRUTHS IS A MIRROR IN WHICH WE SEE THE LORD.’
REPENTANCE
The chapters on faith, charity and free will naturally lead on to the subject of repentance, since true faith and genuine charity cannot exist without repentance, and no one can repent without free will. Another reason why repentance must come here is that the next chapter deals with regeneration; and no one can be regenerated until the more serious evils, which render a person loathsome before God, have been removed. What is an unregenerate person but one who is impenitent? And what is an impenitent person but one stricken with a kind of lethargy, knowing nothing about sin and therefore embracing it in his bosom, kissing it every day, as an adulterer does the trollop in his bed. To show what repentance is, and what it does, the chapter needs to be split up into sections.
Repentance is the first stage in the development of the church in a person.
The communion known as a church is composed of as many people as have the church in them; and the church enters into a person when he is being regenerated. Everyone is regenerated by abstaining from sinful evils, and shunning them as anyone would on seeing the hordes of hell seeking with torches in their hands to attack him and to throw him upon a pyre. As a person advances into early manhood there are many ways in which he is prepared for the church and brought into it; but it is acts of repentance which really bring this about in him. By acts of repentance are meant all that prevent him from willing and so from doing the evil actions which are sins against God. For until this happens, he stands outside the process of regeneration. If at that time any thought about everlasting salvation occurs to him, he may incline towards it, but very soon he turns his back on it. It does not reach further into him than the ideas he is thinking about, though from these it may emerge as spoken words, possibly also as gestures in keeping with what he says. On the other hand, when it enters the will, it becomes a part of the person, for the will is the real person, because it is where his love resides. Thought lies outside him, unless it comes out of his will. If so, will and thought act as one and together make up the person. The consequence of this is that for repentance to be genuine and effective in a person, it must come from the will, and from thought coming from the will, not from thought alone. In other words, it must be expressed in action, not merely on the lips.
[2] The Word establishes plainly that repentance is the first stage in the development of the church. John the Baptist, who was sent beforehand to prepare people for the church the Lord was to found, preached repentance at the same time as he was baptising. His baptism was therefore called a baptism of repentance, because baptism means spiritual washing, or being cleansed from sins. He did this in the Jordan, because the Jordan meant being brought into the church, since it was the first boundary of the land of Canaan, which was where the church was. The Lord Himself too preached repentance for the forgiveness of sins. By this He taught that repentance is the first stage in the development of the church, and that to the extent that a person repents, his sins are distanced from him; and to the extent they are distanced, they are forgiven. Moreover, the Lord laid upon the twelve Apostles, as well as the seventy He sent out, the duty of preaching repentance. These facts clearly show that repentance is the first stage in the development of the church.
Contrition, which is said at the present time to precede faith and to be followed by the consolation of the Gospel, is not repentance.
The Reformed Christian church has a tradition of a kind of anxiety, grief and dread which they call contrition; in those undergoing regeneration it precedes their acquisition of faith and is followed by the consolation of the Gospel. This contrition, they say, arises in them as a result of fearing the just wrath of God, leading to the everlasting damnation which is inherent in everyone as the result of Adam’s sin and the consequent tendency to evils. Without this contrition, faith which imputes the merit and righteousness of the Lord the Saviour is not bestowed. Those who have acquired this faith receive the consolation of the Gospel, which is that they are justified, that is, made new, regenerated and sanctified without any cooperation on their part. They are thus rescued from damnation and given everlasting blessing, which is everlasting life. But there are three questions about contrition to be discussed: whether it is the same as repentance; whether it is of any importance; and whether there is such a thing.
They said too that the consolation of the Gospel, which was impressed upon them from the time they began to grow up, so far banished contrition that in their hearts they laughed at the mention of it. Hell, they said, could no more strike fear into them than the fire of Vesuvius or Etna can into the inhabitants of Warsaw or Vienna; or any more than the basilisks and poisonous snakes of the Arabian desert, or the tigers and lions in the forests of Tartary, can into those who are living safely, tranquilly and quietly in some European city. The wrath of God had no more frightened them and made them contrite than the wrath of the king of Persia can the people of Pennsylvania. These statements and the arguments drawn from their traditional lore convinced me that contrition, unless it is repentance as shortly to be described, is nothing but a mockery born of the imagination.
Another reason why the Reformed churches adopted contrition in place of repentance was to cut themselves off from the Roman Catholics, who insist on repentance and at the same time on charity. So when the Reformed churches had established the doctrine of justification by faith alone, they claimed the reason was that by repentance, just as by charity, something smacking of merit entered into their faith and sullied it.
A mere verbal confession that one is a sinner is not repentance.
The teaching of the Reformed who subscribe to the Augsburg Confession about this verbal confession is this:
No one can ever know his sins; therefore they cannot be listed, being also inward and hidden, so that a confession would be false, imprecise, faulty and incomplete. If, however, one confesses oneself to be wholly and utterly sinful, one takes in all sins, omits none and forgets none. Yet the listing of sins, although not required, is for the sake of tender and timid consciences not to be abolished; but this is merely a childish and general form of confession for the more simple and untutored people. (Formula of Concord, pp. 327, 331, 380.)
This confession was adopted by the Reformed in place of real repentance after they had parted from the Roman Catholics, because it is based upon their doctrine that faith is imputed, and alone without charity, and thus also without repentance, it brings about the forgiveness of sins and regenerates a person. It is also based upon the fact that it is an inseparable corollary of that faith that in the process of justification man does not co-operate with the Holy Spirit; and that no one has free will in spiritual matters; and again that the whole process is the result of direct mercy and in no respect indirectly by or through the person himself.
Rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites: This people honours me with their lips, but their heart is far away. Mark 7:6.
And in Matthew:
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, because you clean the outside of the cup and dish, but the insides are full of robbery and intemperance. You blind Pharisee, clean first the inside of the cup and dish, so that the outside too may be clean. Matt: 23:25, 26, and much else in that chapter.
[2] Once in the spiritual world I heard someone praying like this: ‘I am full of sores, leprous, foul from my mother’s womb. There is nothing sound in me from my head to the sole of my foot. I am not worthy to lift up my gaze to God. I am guilty of offences deserving death and eternal damnation. Have mercy on me for the sake of your Son; purify me by His blood. The salvation of all is at your good pleasure. I beg for mercy.’
On hearing this the bystanders asked: ‘How do you know you are like that?’ ‘I know,’ he replied, ‘because I have been told so.’ But he was then sent to the examining angels, and said similar things in their presence. After enquiry they reported that he had told the truth about himself, but he was still not aware of even one of his evils, since he had never examined himself. He had believed that after a verbal confession evils were no longer evils in the sight of God, both because God turns His gaze away from them, and because He has been propitiated. For this reason he had not thought better of any evil he had committed, although he was deliberately committing adultery, theft, and deceitful slander and was desperate to take revenge. This was his nature in will and heart; and he would have been shown so by his utterances and deeds, if not restrained by fear of the law and of losing his good name. When it became known what sort of person he was, he was submitted to judgment and sent away to join the hypocrites in hell.
But it should be grasped that those so far discussed are not to be confused with those whose actions and beliefs are good, nor with those who repent of any sins and talk to themselves or pray using the same sort of verbal confession when worshipping, and even more when undergoing spiritual temptation. For that general confession both precedes and follows reformation and regeneration.
Man is born with a tendency to every kind of evil, and if he does not partially remove evils by repentance, he remains subject to them, and if so cannot be saved.
It is well known in the church that man has by birth a tendency to evils, and so from his mother’s womb he is nothing but evil. This fact has become well known because the councils and leaders of the churches have laid it down that Adam’s sin has been transmitted to all his descendants; and that this is the sole reason why every person after Adam has been damned along with him, this being something inherent in everyone from birth. Moreover, much of the church’s teaching is based upon this assertion. For instance, it is taught that the washing of regeneration called baptism was instituted by the Lord to remove this sin; this was the reason for the Lord’s coming; faith in His merit is the means by which it is removed; and there are many more doctrines based by the churches on this assertion.
[2] What has been shown above (in 466ff) is enough to prove that there is no hereditary evil from that source. It was shown that Adam was not the first human being, but Adam and his wife are used as representatives to describe the first church in this world; the Garden of Eden describes its wisdom, the tree of life its looking to the Lord who was to come, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil its looking to itself instead of the Lord. ARCANA CAELESTIA, published in London, proved by many parallel passages in the Word that the first chapters of Genesis are a representative description of this first church. Once this is understood and accepted, the view so far cherished collapses, that evil from this origin is innate in man from his parents, when in fact it has a quite different origin. The tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil exist for everyone, and their being said to be placed in a garden means that he has freedom to choose whether he turns towards the Lord or away from Him. This was fully proved in the chapter on free will [463-508].
[2] It follows from this that what a person has by birth is not real evils, but only a tendency to evils, being more or less prone to particular evils. No one, therefore, after death is judged on his hereditary evil, but the actual evils he has himself committed. This is obvious too from the following rule of the Lord:
The father shall not die on account of the son, and the son shall not die on account of the father; each shall die as the result of his own sin. Deut. 24:16.
This was proved to me in the spiritual world from the case of those who die as children; they merely have a tendency towards evils, that is to say, they want to, but do not do them. For they are brought up under the Lord’s guidance and are saved.
[3] This tendency and proneness to evils just mentioned, which is transmitted from parents to their children and descendants, can only be broken down by a person being born anew by the Lord’s help, a process called regeneration. Without this not only does the tendency remain unbroken, but it is reinforced by a succession of parents, becoming more prone to evils, and eventually to every kind of evil. That is why the Jews are still copies of their ancestor Judah, who married a Canaanite wife, and fathered three lines of descent by adultery with Tamar, his daughter-in-law. This heredity has become so amplified in the course of time that the Jews are unable to embrace the Christian religion and believe it in their hearts. I say they are unable, because the inner will in their minds resists, and it is this will which creates the impossibility.
[2] I can support this statement by the following experiences. In the spiritual world I have met many people whose life in the natural world was no different from others’; they wore fine clothes, dined elegantly, engaged in business deals like other people to make profits, went to the theatre, joked about lovers as if lusting for them, and more of the same sort. Yet the angels held some of them guilty of sinful evils, and others they did not hold guilty of evils, declaring one group innocent, the other guilty. When they were asked why, when both groups had done much the same, they replied that what they looked for in all cases was the aim, intention or end in view, and they distinguished cases on this basis, so that those who were excused or condemned by their end in view, they themselves excused or condemned. All in heaven have good as their end in view, all in hell evil.
[2] I may also compare them with tigers, leopards, lions, wolves and foxes, which, unless kept in cages or secured with chains or ropes, would attack flocks and herds and slaughter them, as a fox does hens. Or with poisonous snakes, which unless pinned down with forks or deprived of their teeth, would inflict fatal injuries on a person. A whole flock of sheep, if left in fields where noxious plants grow, would perish if the shepherd did not lead them away into harmless pastures. The silk-worm, and thus all silk, would perish if other grubs were not shaken out of the leaves of the tree it lives on.
[3] Another comparison might be with grain in barns* or houses, which would turn mouldy and rotten and become unfit for use, if air were not allowed to circulate around and prevent this damage. A fire, if not put out at its outset, might devastate a whole town or a whole forest. A garden would become completely overgrown with caltrops, thistles and briars, if these were not uprooted. Expert gardeners know that if a tree springs from a poor seed or a poor root, it introduces its poor juices into the trunk of a good tree which is grafted or inoculated into it, and the poor juices which rise into it are turned into good juices and produce useful fruit. Much the same happens to a person when evil is removed by means of repentance, for by this a person is grafted onto the Lord like a branch onto a vine, and produces good fruit (John 15:4-6).
* Reading horreis ‘barns’ for hordeis ‘barley’.
Recognition of sin and a person’s self-examination are the beginnings of repentance.
No one in the Christian world can fail to recognise sin. For everyone there from childhood is taught what is evil and from boyhood what is sinful. All youths learn this from their parents and schoolmasters, as well as from the Ten Commandments, the first text put into the hands of everyone in Christian countries. As he grows up, he learns this later on from sermons in church and instruction at home. It is fully taught by the Word, and moreover by civil law and justice, which say the same as the Ten Commandments, and other parts of the Word. Sinful evil is nothing else but evil directed against the neighbour; and is also directed against God, and this is sin.
But the recognition of sin is useless, unless a person examines what he does in his life, and observes whether he did such a thing in secret or openly. For up to this point all that is mere knowledge; and then the arguments of the preacher are merely a noise in the left ear, which goes through to the right ear and so out. Finally it becomes no more than a thought, a piety on the part of the lungs, in many cases mere imagination and a chimera. But it is quite the reverse, if a person, recognising what is a sin, examines himself, finds one in himself and says to himself, ‘This evil is a sin,’ and fearing everlasting punishment abstains from it. Then for the first time the preacher’s teaching and oratory in church is taken in with both ears and reaches the heart, so that he turns from being a pagan into a Christian.
The way and means to become a worthy partaker of the Holy Supper is first to examine your lives and conversations by the rule of God’s commandments, and whereinsoever 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 neighbours, then ye shall reconcile yourselves unto them; being ready to make restitution and satisfaction according to the uttermost of your powers, 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 at 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, a hinderer or slanderer of His Word, an adulterer, or be in malice or envy, or in any other grievous crime, repent you of your sins, or else come not to that holy table; lest, after the taking of that holy sacrament, the devil enter into you, as he entered into Judas, and fill you full of all iniquity, and bring you to destruction both of body and soul.*
* This quotation from The Book of Common Prayer is given in Latin translation in the original
[2] Those who know what sin is, and even more those who know a great deal from the Word, and teach this, but do not examine themselves, so seeing no sin in themselves, can be compared to those who scrape together wealth and store it in cases and chests, making no other use of it except to gloat over and count; or to those who make collections of gold and silver masterpieces for their treasure-houses, and shut them up in cellars, merely in order to be known as wealthy. These are like the merchant who hid his talent underground, and hid his mina* in a napkin (Matt. 25:25; Luke 19:20). They are also like hard paths and rocks on which seed falls (Matt. 13:4, 5); and like fig-trees with luxuriant foliage, but which do not bear fruit (Mark 11:13). Their hearts are adamant and do not turn to flesh (Zech. 7:12). They are like partridges which gather eggs but do not lay them, they amass riches, but unjustly; in the midst of their days they leave them behind, and at the last become fools (Jer. 17:11). They are like the five virgins, who had lamps but no oil (Matt. 25:1-12).
[3] Those who take many sayings about charity and repentance from the Word, and know a great many commandments, yet do not live by them, can be compared with gluttons who cram gobbets of food into their mouths, and swallow them into their stomachs without chewing them. There they languish undigested, and passed on from there they pollute the chyle, bringing about chronic diseases which end up by causing a wretched death, Such people, being devoid of spiritual heat, however much they enjoy light, can be called winters, cold countries, arctic climes, or, rather, snow and ice.
* This mina was one sixtieth of a talent, often translated ‘pound’ in English Bibles.
Real repentance is examining oneself, recognising and acknowledging one’s sins, appealing to the Lord and beginning a new life.
There are in the Word many passages and plain sayings of the Lord which establish that the act of repentance is definitely required, and a person’s salvation depends upon it. The following quotations will serve for the present.
John preached the baptism of repentance and said, Produce fruit worthy of repentance. Luke 3:3, 8; Mark 1:4.
Jesus began to preach and to say, Repent. Matt. 4:17.
And He said, Repent, because the kingdom of God is at hand. Mark 1:14, 15.
Again:
Unless you have repented, you will all perish. Luke 13:5.
Jesus told his disciples that they should in His name preach to all nations repentance and the forgiveness of sins. Luke 24:47; Mark 6:12.
Therefore Peter preached repentance and baptism in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of sins. Acts 2:38. Peter also said:
Repent and be converted, so that your sins may be wiped out for you. Acts 3:19.
Paul preached to all everywhere that they should repent. Acts 17:30.
Paul also announced in Damascus, in Jerusalem, throughout the whole district of Judaea, and to the gentiles, that they should repent, turn towards God and do deeds worthy of repentance. Acts 26:20.
He also preached both to Jews and to Greeks repentance towards God, and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Acts 20:21.
The Lord told the church in Ephesus:
I hold it against you that you have abandoned your first love. Repent; otherwise, I will remove your lampstand from its place, if you have not repented. Rev. 2:2, 4, 5.
He told the church in Pergamum:
I know your deeds. Repent. Rev. 2:13, 16.
He told the church in Thyatira:
I will hand it over to affliction, if it has not repented of its deeds. Rev. 2:19, 22, 23.
He told the church of Laodicaea:
I know your deeds. Be zealous, and repent. Rev. 3:15, 19.
He also said:
There is joy in heaven over one sinner who repents. Luke 15:7.
There is more elsewhere. It is plain from these passages that the act of repentance is definitely required; it will be shown in the following sections what kind of repentance, and how it is to be effected.
This is the way we need to develop and act, as every person may know, once he has left childhood behind, and more and more as he becomes his own master and knows his own mind, if he considers baptism, which is a kind of washing standing for regeneration. For at baptism his godparents promised on his behalf that he would renounce the devil and all his works. The same is true on considering the Holy Supper: all are warned that before they are fit to approach they must repent of their sins, turn towards God, and embark on a new life. The same may be seen on considering the Ten Commandments or the Catechism which all Christians have before them; here six of the Ten Commandments are simply instructions not to do evil deeds, and unless one puts them away by repentance, one cannot love the neighbour, much less love God. Yet on these two commandments the Law and the Prophets, that is, the Word, depend, and consequently so too does one’s salvation. If real repentance is practised from time to time, in fact as often as one prepares oneself to partake of the Holy Supper, and if one thereafter refrains from one or two sins one caught oneself committing, this is enough to start the process of making it real. Anyone at that point is on his way to heaven, for that is when a person begins to become spiritual instead of natural, and to be born anew under the Lord’s guidance.
Another comparison might be made with the wrong-doing which is so plentiful that it dominates human life; if wrong-doers were not chastised according to the law and punished by beatings or execution, no city, and equally no kingdom, could hold together. A person is like a small-scale community; if he were not to deal with himself in a spiritual fashion as wrong-doers are dealt with in a natural fashion in a large community, after death he would be chastised and punished, and this would continue until he desisted from evil for fear of punishment, though he could never be brought to do good for the love of good.
* A fabulous snake believed to cause haemorrhage.
** Hebrew words perhaps meaning ‘howling creatures,’ used, e.g., in Isa. 34:14, Jer. 50:9, understood by the author as birds (CL 264.4).
True repentance means not only examining what one does in one’s life, but also what one intends in one’s will to do.
The reason why true repentance means not only examining what one does in one’s life, but also what one intends in one’s will to do, is that deeds are the product of the understanding and the will. Thought is what makes a person speak and the will is what makes him act, so speech is thought speaking and action is the will acting. Since this is the origin of all speech and action, it follows without a doubt that it is those two which sin when the body does. A person too can repent of the evils he has physically committed, but still think and will evil. This is like cutting down the trunk of a tree that is no good, but leaving its root in the ground; from this the same tree grows up again and spreads itself around. But it is different if the root too is pulled up; and this is what happens in a person when he examines at the same time the intentions present in his will, and rids himself of evils by repentance.
A person can examine what in his will he intends to do by examining his thoughts, for intentions show up in these. He can do so, for instance, if he thinks about, wills and intends revenge, adultery, theft, false witness and longings for these things, as well as blasphemy against God, the holy Word and the church, and so on. In these circumstances, if he concentrates his mind on this and investigates whether he would do these acts if fear of the law or of losing his reputation did not prevent him, if after investigation he thinks that he does not will these acts because they are sins, then he is truly and inwardly penitent. Even more does he do so, when he takes pleasure in those evils and at the same time is free to commit them, but still he desists and abstains. If he does this repeatedly, he finds the pleasures he gets from those evils become with repetition unpleasant to him, and he ends by consigning them to hell. This is what is meant by the Lord’s words:
If anyone wants to find his soul, he will lose it, and if anyone loses his soul for my sake, he will find it. Matt. 10:39.
A person who rids himself of the evils in his will by this kind of repentance is like the man who at the right time uproots from his field the tares sown by the devil, so that the seeds planted by the Lord God the Saviour find the ground unencumbered and grow into a crop (Matt: 13:24-30).
[2] It ought, however, to be appreciated that those two loves can be more dominant in the case of humble than exalted people, more in the case of the needy than the rich, more in the case of subjects than kings. Kings are born to rule and possess treasures, and they end by looking on such things just as anyone else does his servants or possessions, as a magistrate does his, an administrator his, a ship-captain his, even as a poor farmer does his. The case is very different when kings have ambitions to extend their sway over other king’s domains.
[3] The reason why what the will intends has to be examined is that the will is the seat of love, for the will is a receiver of love, as was shown before. From the will the pleasures emanating from every love spread into the perceptions and thoughts of the understanding, for they are incapable of doing anything of their own accord, but are activated by the will. For they take the will’s part, agreeing with and supporting everything to do with its love. So the will is the house in which a person lives, and the understanding is the fore-court through which he goes in and out. That is why it was stated that the intentions of the will must be examined. When they have been examined and banished, a person is lifted up from his natural will, which is beset by evils, inherited and of his own doing, and brought into possession of a spiritual will; and by means of this the Lord reforms and regenerates the natural will, and by means of this the sensory and voluntary parts of the body, and so the whole person.
Those too repent who do not examine themselves, but still refrain from evil actions because they are sins. This kind of repentance is practised by those who perform charitable deeds for religious reasons.
Real repentance, which is examining oneself, recognising and acknowledging one’s sins, praying to the Lord and starting a new life, is very difficult in the part of the world occupied by the Reformed Christian churches, for a number of reasons which will be discussed in the last section of this chapter [564-566]. So I propose to describe an easier kind of repentance. When anyone is turning over in his mind some evil deed, and intending to do it, he should say to himself: ‘I am thinking about this and I intend to do it, but I shall not because it is a sin.’ This has the effect of blunting the thrust of hell’s tempting and preventing it from advancing any further. It is extraordinary how anyone can scold another intending to do evil and say to him: ‘Don’t do that, because it is a sin;’ but he finds it very difficult to say that to himself. The reason is that saying it to oneself involves the will, but saying it to someone else merely comes from a level of thought not far removed from hearing.
[2] In the spiritual world enquiry was made to see who could practise this second form of repentance; and there were as few to be found as there are doves in a broad expanse of desert. Some said that they could do this, but were unable to examine themselves and confess their sins before God. Yet all those who do good for religious reasons avoid committing actual evil, though they very rarely reflect upon interior matters, which are the business of the will, believing that they cannot be doing evil because they are doing good, or rather, that the good actions cover up the evil ones.
But, my friend, the starting-point of charity is to shun evils. This is what is taught by the Word, the Ten Commandments, baptism, the Holy Supper, even by one’s reason. For how can anyone escape evils and get rid of them without some self-inspection? How can good become good, unless it is inwardly made pure? I am well aware that all religious people, as well as those with a sound faculty of reason, will nod in assent when they read this, and see it as a genuine truth – yet still there will be few who actually do it.
I was hungry and you gave me food; I was thirsty and you gave me drink; I was a stranger and [you took me in; I was naked and]* you clothed me; I was sick and you visited me; I was in prison and you came to me. And He said, To the extent that you have done this to one of the least of my brothers, you have done it to me. Come, you blessed ones, and possess as your inheritance the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. Matt. 25:31-41.
I will add here something new: after death all of those who do good for religious reasons reject the teaching of the present-day church about three Divine persons from eternity, as well as their faith directed to each of the three in turn. Instead they turn to the Lord God the Saviour and with pleasure they take in the teachings of the new church.
[2] The remainder, however, who have not practised charity for religious reasons are hearts of adamant, so hard they are. These people start by approaching three Gods, then the Father alone, and end by approaching none. They look upon the Lord God the Saviour as merely the son of Mary born of sleeping with Joseph, not as the Son of God; and then they shake off all the kinds of good and truth the new church possesses, Soon afterwards they join the ranks of the spirits of the dragon, and are driven away with them into desert regions or into caves situated at the outermost limits of the so-called Christian world. After some time, because they are separated from the new heaven, they rush into crimes and are therefore sent down to hell.
[3] Such is the fate of those who have not done charitable deeds for religious reasons, believing that no one can do good of himself without seeking merit. So they leave these deeds undone and join the flock of goats, who are damned and cast into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels, because they have not done as the sheep did (Matt. 25:41ff). They are not said in that passage to have done evil, but not to have done good. Those who do good, but without religious reasons, do evil, for
No one can serve two masters; either he would hate one and love the other, or hold to the first and neglect the second. Matt. 6:24.
The Lord says through Isaiah:
Wash yourselves, cleanse yourselves, remove the wickedness of your deeds from before my eyes. Cease to do evil, learn to do good. Then though your sins were as scarlet, they will become white as snow; though they were red like purple, they will be like wool. Isa. 1:16-18.
He said to Jeremiah:
Stand in the gate of Jehovah’s house, and there proclaim this word. Thus spoke Jehovah Zebaoth, the God of Israel, Make your ways good and your works also. Put not your trust in lying words, saying, This is Jehovah’s Temple, Jehovah’s Temple (that is, the church). Will you after stealing, murdering, and swearing falsely, then come and stand in my presence in this house, on which my name is written, and say, We were carried away, when you do all those abominations? Has this house become a robbers’ cave? Behold, even I have seen it, this is the word of Jehovah. Jer. 7:2-4, 9-11.
* These words are omitted in the Latin, but are found where the same passage is quoted in 643.2.
Confession ought to be made before the Lord God the Saviour, and then prayer should be offered for help and the power to resist evils.
The Lord God the Saviour ought to be approached, because He is the God of heaven and earth, the Redeemer and Saviour, whose attributes are omnipotence, omniscience and omnipresence, mercy itself together with righteousness; also because man is His creation, and the church is His sheep-fold. The New Testament contains in many places His command that man should approach, worship and adore Him. He instructed us to approach Him alone in this passage of John:
In truth I tell you, anyone who does not go into the sheep-fold through the gate, but climbs up another way, is a thief and a robber. But he who goes in through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. I am the gate, anyone who goes in through me will be saved and will find pasture. A thief only comes to steal, slaughter and destroy. I have come so that they may have life and plenty. I am the good shepherd. John 10:1, 2, 9-11.
The reason one ought not to climb up another way is so as not to approach God the Father, as He is invisible, and therefore unapproachable and incapable of being linked to man. That is why He came into the world, and made Himself visible, approachable and capable of being linked to. This was exclusively so that man could be saved. For unless in approaching God we think about Him as a man, all ideas about God are vain; they collapse like the power of sight directed towards the universe, that is, into empty space, or towards nature, or the objects inside nature that stand in the way.
[2] God Himself, who from eternity is one, came into the world, as is perfectly plain from the way the Lord the Saviour was born: He was conceived by the power of the Most High through the Holy Spirit, and as a result His Human was born of the Virgin Mary. From this it follows that His soul was the Divine itself, which is called the Father, since God is indivisible; and that the Human so born is the Human of God the Father, which is called the Son of God (Luke 1:32, 34, 35). Again, it follows from these facts that when the Lord God the Saviour is approached, God the Father is also approached. That is why when Philip begged Him to show him the Father, He replied:
He who sees me, sees the Father. How is it then you say, Show us the Father? Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in me? Believe me, I am in the Father and the Father is in me. John 14:6-11.
More on this subject will be found in the chapters on God, the Lord, the Holy Spirit and the Trinity.
[2] There are two reasons why prayer ought not to be offered before the Lord for the forgiveness of sins. First, because sins are not wiped out, but taken away; and this happens as one subsequently desists from them and embarks on a new life. For there are countless longings attached like a cluster around every evil; these cannot be taken away in an instant, but only one after another, as a person allows himself to be reformed and regenerated. The second reason is that the Lord, being mercy itself, forgives everyone his sins, and does not hold even one of them against a person. For the Lord says, ‘They do not know what they are doing.’ But still this does not mean that the sins are abolished; for when Peter asked how many times he should forgive his brother his offences, whether as many as seven times, the Lord said:
Not up to seven times, I tell you, but up to seventy times seven times. Matt. 18:21, 22.
What then will the Lord not do? Still there is no harm in someone, whose conscience is oppressing him, gaining relief by listing his sins before a priest of the church, so as to receive absolution. This is because by this means he is led into the habit of examining himself and reflecting on the evils he commits day by day. This, however, is a natural confession; the one described above is spiritual.
We remain in the truth in Jesus Christ. He is the true God and everlasting life; my children, beware of idols. 1 John 5:20, 21.
* The numbering of sections in the original goes from 539 to 560 without anything intervening.
Real repentance is easy for those who have repented a number of times, but highly distasteful to those who have not.
Real repentance is examining oneself, recognising one’s sins, making one’s confession before the Lord, and so beginning a new life. This has been described in the foregoing pages. In the part of the world where Reformed Christian churches are established – that means all who have split from the Roman Catholic church, as well as those members of it who have never really repented – both these groups find real repentance highly distasteful. The reason is that some are unwilling and some are afraid to repent, and lack of practice turns into a habit and leads to unwillingness, and eventually to acquiescence as the result of reasoning by the understanding. In some cases it leads to sorrow, fear and terror at the idea of repentance.
[2] The principal reason why real repentance is highly distasteful in the world of the Reformed Christian churches is their belief that repentance and charity contribute nothing to salvation, which is due to faith alone. Faith, they hold, being imputed brings with it the forgiveness of sins, justification, renewal, regeneration, sanctification and everlasting salvation, without a person co-operating of himself or as if of himself. Their theologians call co-operation useless and a hindrance to Christ’s merit, something repugnant and harmful. The common people, though ignorant of the mysteries of that belief, have this idea implanted in them merely by hearing it said, that ‘faith alone saves,’ and ‘no one can do good of himself.’ It is because of this that repentance among the Reformed is like a nest full of chicks abandoned when the birds have been caught and killed by a fowler. An accessory reason is that the so-called ‘reformed’ person associates in his spirit only with those in the spiritual world who are like him. They put ideas like this into his thoughts, and divert him from his course towards introspection and self-examination.
[2] While I was in their presence, I also asked some people who belonged to the Roman Catholic religion whether the confession they make before their priests was distasteful. They replied that once they had been introduced to the practice, they had no fears of reciting their offences in front of a confessor who was not severe. They experienced some degree of pleasure in making a collection of them, and cheerfully recited the more trivial ones, though they had some hesitation in doing the same with the more serious ones. They said that every year they freely returned to keep up the custom, and absolution cheered them up. They regard all as unclean who are unwilling to open up the filth in their hearts. On hearing this the Reformed who were present took themselves off, some smiling and laughing, some astonished, but none the less praising them.
[3] Later I was approached by some who belonged to the Catholic church, but had spent their lives in areas where there were Reformed Christians. It was their regular habit not to make a personal confession as their brothers did elsewhere, but only to make a joint confession before their priest. These people said that they were quite unable to examine and bring to light the evils they actually committed or secretly pondered; they found this as repugnant and terrifying as wanting to cross a ditch to a rampart where an armed soldier stood crying: ‘Keep clear.’ This makes it plain that real repentance is easy for those who have repented a number of times, but highly distasteful to those who have not.
[2] Any artisan who works hard at his job performs it easily and willingly, and when he is away from it is anxious to get back to it; while another who has the same trade, but is lazy, can hardly be at length induced to practise it. It is much the same with anyone who holds any office or is engaged in any study. Is anything easier for the religious zealot than to pray to God, or more difficult for the slave of irreligion, or the reverse of these? Is not any priest who is preaching for the first time before the king afraid? But once he is established as a preacher, he proceeds fearlessly. What is easier for one who is an angel than to lift up his eyes to heaven, or for one who is a devil than to cast them down to hell? But if the second man becomes a hypocrite, he can look up to heaven as well as the first, but keep his heart turned away. The end he has in view and the disposition it engenders permeates every person.
A person who has never repented, or looked into himself and examined himself, ends up not knowing what is the evil that damns him and what the good that saves him,
Since so few people in the world of the Reformed Christians repent, it is necessary to add this point, that anyone who has not looked into or examined himself ends up not knowing what is the evil that damns him and the good that saves him. For he has no religious belief by which he can know this. The evil which a person does not see, recognise and acknowledge, lasts; and what lasts grows deeper and deeper roots until it blocks the interiors of his mind. This makes a person first natural, then sensual and finally bodily. In neither of these last two states does he recognise any damning evil or saving good. He becomes like a tree growing on hard rock, spreading its roots among the cracks in it, which ends up by withering for lack of moisture.
[2] Everyone who has been properly brought up is rational and moral. But there are two routes to rationality, one from the world, the other from heaven. A person who has followed the world’s route to rationality and morality, and not that from heaven too, is only rational and moral in speech and behaviour; inwardly he is an animal, or rather, a wild beast, because he acts as one with the inhabitants of hell, where all are of this nature. However, a person who has also followed heaven’s route to rationality and morality is truly rational and moral, because he is this at the same time in spirit, speech and body. Speech and body have the spiritual like a soul within them, and this activates the natural, sensual and bodily functions. He also acts as one with the inhabitants of heaven. There are therefore people who are rational and moral in a spiritual way, and also people who are rational and moral in a purely natural way. These cannot be told apart in the world, especially if a person is steeped in hypocrisy as the result of practising it. But the angels in heaven can tell them apart as plainly as doves from owls, or as sheep from tigers.
[3] A purely natural person can see evils and good qualities in others, and can also criticise others. But because he has not looked into and examined himself, he sees no evil in himself; and if any evil is uncovered by someone else, he employs his rational faculty to conceal it, like a snake hiding its head and plunging into the dust, or a hornet into dung. This is caused by the joy of evil, and this surrounds him, like mist over a marsh, absorbing and attenuating the rays of light. The joy of hell is nothing but this. From hell it exhales and flows into everyone, but into the soles of the feet, the back and the rear of the head. However, should it be received by the fore part of the head, or by the chest in the body, that person becomes a slave of hell. The reason is that the human cerebrum is assigned to the understanding and to its wisdom, the cerebellum to the will and its love. That is why the brain has two parts. But the only thing which can cure, reform and turn upside down that hellish joy is spiritual rationality and morality.
The sensual is the lowest level of life in the human mind, firmly attached to and bound up with the five bodily senses. The term ‘sensual man’ is applied to a person whose every judgment relies upon the bodily senses, and who believes nothing but what he can see with his eyes and touch with his hands, regarding these things as real and rejecting all else.
The interiors of his mind, which would allow him to see by the light of heaven, are shut off, so that he can see no truth at all that has to do with heaven and the church. Such a person thinks at the most superficial level with no inward enlightenment from any spiritual light, because he experiences the gross light of nature. Consequently he is inwardly opposed to anything to do with heaven or the church, even though outwardly he can speak in their favour, and with passion if he seeks power over others and wealth by their means. Educated and learned people who have become deeply convinced of false ideas are more sensual than others, the more so if they oppose the truths of the Word.
[2] Sensual men are sharp and clever in reasoning, because their thought is so close to their speech that it is virtually in it, being, so to speak, on their lips; and because in speaking they regard all intelligence as based solely on memory. They are clever at proving false ideas, and having done so believe them to be true. But their reasoning and proofs are based upon illusions produced by the senses, and these serve to attract the attention of and persuade ordinary people.
Sensual men surpass others in trickery and malice. Misers, adulterers and tricksters are especially sensual, even though they seem talented to the world’s gaze. The interiors of their minds are foul and filthy, since through them they are in touch with the hells. In the Word they are called dead. The spirits in the hells are sensual, and the deeper their hell, the more sensual they are. The sphere emanating from spirits in hell links itself to a person’s sensual faculty from behind. In the light of heaven the backs of their heads look as if hollowed out. Those whose reasoning has been based solely upon sense impressions were called by the ancients serpents of the tree of knowledge.
[3] Sense impressions should occupy the last place, not the first; in the case of a wise and intelligent person they do come last and are subject to what is more interior. But in the case of an unwise person they occupy the first place and dominate him.
If sense impressions are in the last place, they serve to open the way to the understanding, and truths are refined by the method by which they are extracted. These sense impressions are very close to the world and allow in what comes from the world, and they, so to speak, sift them. Sense impressions put a person in touch with the world, rational notions in touch with heaven. Sense impressions supply such things as may be of service to the interiors of the mind. There are sense impressions which supply the intellectual part and others which supply the voluntary part.
If thought is not raised above the level of sense impressions, a person’s wisdom is very restricted. When a person’s thought is raised above this level, he comes into brighter illumination, and eventually into the light of heaven, so that then he can perceive such ideas as flow down from heaven. The lowest level of the understanding is natural factual knowledge, the lowest level of the will the pleasure of the senses.
* The following sketch repeats much of what was said in 402 above.
[2] Is anyone unaware that a hypocrite can talk about God, a robber about honesty, an adulterer about chastity, and so on? But unless a person had the gift of being able to shut off or open up the door which connects thoughts and utterances, and intentions and actions, and had prudence or cunning there to act as door-keeper, he would rush into crime and cruelty more fiercely than a wild beast. But after death everyone has that passage opened, and then it is clear what sort of person he was. However, he is kept under restraint by punishments and imprisonment in hell. Therefore, kind reader, look into yourself and fish out one or two evils in yourself, and turn away from them for religious reasons. If you do so with any other intention or for any other purpose, your rejection will be simply to hide these evils from the world’s gaze.
* This term is now only applied to a different condition.
I was suddenly struck by a nearly fatal illness. My whole head became heavy. A pestilential fog assailed me from the Jerusalem, the name of which is Sodom and Egypt (Rev. 11:8). I was half-dead with savage pain, and awaited my end. I lay thus in my bed for three and a half days. My spirit underwent these pains, and so consequently did my body. Then I heard voices around me saying: ‘Look, here there lies dead in a street in our city the man who preached repentance for the forgiveness of sins, and Christ the man alone as God.’ They asked some of the clergy whether he deserved burial. They said he did not; ‘let him lie there for people to see.’ They kept going away, coming back and ridiculing me. This truly happened to me, when I was writing the explanation of the eleventh chapter of Revelation.
Then I heard serious charges brought against me by those who ridiculed me, in particular the following. ‘How,’ they said, ‘can one repent without faith? How can Christ the man be reverenced as God? When we are freely given salvation without any merit on our part, what need have we of anything but faith that God the Father sent His Son to take away the condemnation imposed by law, to impute His own merit to us and so to justify us in His sight, to absolve us from our sins by a priest’s proclamation, and then to give us the Holy Spirit, who performs all the good we do? Surely all this is in agreement with Scripture, and also with reason? The crowd standing round applauded this speech.
[2] I heard this, but was unable to reply, because I lay almost dead. But after three and a half days my spirit revived, and I went out from the street in the spirit into the city, and said again: ‘Repent and believe in Christ, and your sins will be forgiven and you will be saved; if not, you will perish. Did not the Lord Himself preach repentance for the forgiveness of sins, and that men should believe in Him? Did He not command His disciples to preach the same? Does not the dogma of your faith lead to total lack of concern for how you live?’
‘What nonsense!’ they said. ‘Did not the Son make satisfaction? And does not the Father impute that? He justifies us who have believed this. Thus we are led by the spirit of grace; what sin is there then in us? What has death to do with us? Do you understand this Gospel, you who proclaim sin and repentance?’
Then a voice came out of heaven, saying: ‘What is the faith of the impenitent but a dead one? The end has come, the end has come upon you who feel secure and blameless in your own eyes, you satans who think yourselves justified by your faith.’ Then suddenly a pit opened up in the middle of the city, gaped wide, and house after house fell into it, and they were swallowed up. A little while later water boiled up out of that broad whirlpool and flooded the devastated city.
[3] When they had been thus seen to be plunged and overwhelmed in a flood, I wanted to know what was their fate in the depths, and I was told from heaven that I should see and hear.
Then before my eyes the waters disappeared which had overwhelmed them, for waters in the spiritual world are correspondences, and therefore appear around those who have false beliefs. Then I saw them on a sandy bottom, where there were heaps of stones, among which they ran about bewailing their expulsion from their great city.
They kept shouting and crying: ‘Why has this happened to us? Are we not through our faith clean, pure, righteous and holy? Have we not been by our faith cleansed, purified, justified and sanctified?’ Others cried: ‘Have we not been made through our faith fit to appear before God the Father, and to be seen, accounted and declared before the angels clean, pure, righteous and holy? Have not reconciliation, propitiation and expiation been accomplished for us, so that we are acquitted, washed and cleansed of sins? Has not Christ taken away our condemnation by the law? Why then have we been cast down here as damned? We heard a daring man denouncing sin in our great city cry “Believe in Christ and repent.” Did we not believe in Christ, when we believed in His merit? Did we not repent, when we confessed ourselves to be sinners? Why then has this happened to us?’
[4] Then a voice was heard close by saying to them: ‘Do you know any sin that is in you? Have you ever examined yourselves, and therefore shunned any evil as a sin against God? Anyone who does not shun it remains in it. Is not sin the devil? You therefore are those of whom the Lord says:
Then you will begin to say, We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets. But he will say, I tell you, I do not know where you are from. Depart from me, all who do iniquity. Luke 13:26, 27; also those described in Matt. 7:22, 23.
Depart, therefore, each of you to his own place. You see the openings leading to caves. Go in there, and there each of you will be given work to do, and you will receive food in proportion to the work you do. Even if you refuse, hunger will none the less force you to go in.’
[5] Afterwards a voice came from heaven to some people on the earth’s surface, who had been outside that great city (and those too are mentioned in Rev. 11:13), saying loudly: ‘Beware! Beware of associating with such people. Can you not understand that it is the evils called sins and iniquities that make a person unclean and impure? How can anyone be cleansed and purified from them, except by real repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ? Real repentance is examining oneself, recognising and acknowledging one’s sins, accusing oneself and confessing them before the Lord, asking for help and power to resist them, and so desisting from them, leading a new life, and doing all this as if of oneself. Do this once or twice a year, when you go to Holy Communion, and thereafter, when the sins you accused yourselves of recur, you should say to yourselves, “We do not want to do those things because they are sins against God.” This is real repentance.
[6] ‘Can anyone fail to understand that a person who does not examine himself and see his sins continues in them? For from birth we find every evil pleasant. It is pleasant to take revenge, commit fornication, cheat, blaspheme, and particularly to control others out of self-love. Does not the pleasure cause them not to be seen as sins? And if perhaps someone says that they are sins, would not the pleasure they give make you excuse them, or even use false arguments to prove that they are not sins? Thus you continue in them and do them afterwards more than before; and this goes on until you do not know what a sin is, or rather, whether there is such a thing as sin. The case is different with anyone who has really repented, He calls his evils, which he has recognised and acknowledged, sins, and therefore begins to shun them and turn away from them; and he ends by feeling the pleasure they give as distasteful. In so far as this happens, he sees and loves what is good, and ends by feeling the pleasure that gives, and this is the pleasure experienced by the angels in heaven. In short, in so far as anyone casts the devil behind his back, he is adopted by the Lord, who teaches and guides him, restrains him from evils and keeps him in good deeds. This and no other is the way from hell to heaven.’
[7] It is extraordinary that the Reformed have some inborn resistance, contrariety and aversion for real repentance. This is so strong that they cannot bring themselves to examine themselves, and to see their sins, and to confess them before God. A kind of horror grips them when they form such an intention. I have questioned very many in the spiritual world on the subject, and they all said that this is beyond their powers. On hearing that the Roman Catholics none the less do this, that is, examine themselves and openly confess their sins before a monk, they were very surprised; and they said too that the Reformed are unable to do this secretly before God, although this duty is imposed equally on them, before coming to the Holy Supper. Some people there enquired why this was, and discovered that it was the dogma of faith alone that had produced such a state of impenitence and made their hearts like this. Then they were allowed to see that those Roman Catholics who worship Christ, and do not invoke the saints, are saved.
[8] After this a clap of thunder was heard and a voice speaking from heaven, saying: ‘We are astonished. Tell the gathering of the Reformed: “Believe in Christ, and repent, and you will be saved”.’ So I told them, and went on: ‘Is not baptism a sacrament of repentance and so an introduction into the church? What else do the godparents promise on behalf of the person to be baptised, but to abjure the devil and his works? Is not the Holy Supper a sacrament of repentance and so an introduction to heaven? Are not communicants told that they must at all costs repent before they present themselves? Is not the Catechism the universal doctrine of the Christian church, and does it not teach repentance? Is it not said there in the six commandments of the second table, “You are not to do this or that evil act,” not “You are to do this or that good act.” From this you may know that in so far as anyone abjures and turns away from evil, so far does he strive after and love good; and that before this he does not know what good is, nor even what evil is.’
* This passage is repeated from AR 531.
Every religious and wise person wants to know what his life will be like after death, so I shall give a general description so that he may know.
Everyone after death, when he becomes aware that he is still alive, but in another world, and he is told that above him is heaven, where there are everlasting joys, and below him is hell, where there are everlasting sorrows, is first brought back into the external state he was in, while he was in his former world. Then he believes that he will certainly reach heaven, and he talks intelligently and behaves prudently. Some say: ‘We have lived a moral life, we have had honourable ambitions, we have not deliberately done evil.’ Others say: ‘We have gone regularly to church, we have attended mass, we have kissed holy statues, we have prayed hard on our knees.’ Some say: ‘We have given to the poor, we have helped the needy, we have read devotional books, as well as the Word.’ And there are many more similar claims.
[2] But when they have made these statements, the angels standing by them say: ‘All the things you have mentioned you did externally; but you still do not know what you are like internally. You are now spirits with a substantial body, and the spirit is your internal man. It is this in you which thinks what it wishes, and wishes what it loves, and this is the pleasure of its life. Everyone from early childhood begins his life on the external level. He learns to behave with morality, to talk intelligently, and once he has formed some idea of heaven and its blessedness, he begins to pray, to go to church and attend regular services. Yet he still treasures up in the depths of his mind the evils which spring in profusion from their native source; he cleverly covers them up too with reasonings based upon fallacies, until he himself does not know that evil is evil. Then as for the evils which are wrapped up and covered, as if by dust, he does not give them another thought, only taking care that they are not exposed to the world’s gaze. So his only concern is with the externals of a moral life, and so he becomes duplicitous, a sheep in externals, a wolf in internals. He becomes like a golden box containing poison; or like a person with bad breath who keeps a pastille in his mouth to prevent by-standers smelling it; or like a mouse’s skin made to smell of balsam.
[3] ‘You said that you lived a moral life and devoted yourselves to religious studies. But my question is, did you ever examine your internal man and become aware of any longings for revenge, even to the point of murder, any longings for indulging your lusts even to the point of adultery, any longings for fraud even to the point of stealing, any longings for lying even to the point of giving false witness? Four of the Ten Commandments contain the injunction, “You are not to,” and the last two “You are not to covet.” Do you really believe that in these matters your internal man resembled your external one? If you do, I think you may be wrong.’
[4] To this they replied, ‘What is the internal man? Is it not one and the same as the external? Our ministers have told us that the internal man is nothing but faith, and reverence in utterance and morality in life is a sign of it, because it shows its working.’
The angels answered: ‘Saving faith is in the internal man, and likewise charity, and this is the source of Christian faithfulness and morality in the external man. But if the longings we mentioned before remain in the internal man, that is, in the will and so in his thinking, and if, therefore, you love those longings inwardly, and yet act and talk differently in externals, then in your case evil is placed above good, and good below evil. However much, therefore, you seem to talk from the understanding, and to act from love, there is evil within and this is wrapped up, as we said. Then you are like cunning chimpanzees, which ape human actions, but their heart is not in them.
[5] ‘You know nothing about your internal man, because you have not examined yourselves, and following that examination repented. You will discover shortly what your internal man is like, when you have the external stripped off and you enter into possession of the internal. When this happens, your companions will no longer recognise you, nor will you recognise yourselves. I have seen wicked people who pretended to be moral looking like wild beasts, glaring truculently at their neighbour, burning with murderous hatred, and cursing God, whom they worshipped in the external man.’
On hearing this they went away; and then the angels told them: ‘You will see what your life will be like after this, for your external man will shortly be taken away and you will enter into possession of the internal, which is now your spirit.’
Every love a person has emits a pleasing sensation which allows it to be felt. It is transmitted immediately into the spirit, from where it passes into the body. The pleasure of a person’s love together with the beauty of his thought makes up his life. These pleasures and beauties are only dimly felt by a person, so long as he lives in this natural body, for this body absorbs and blunts them. But after death, when the material body is taken away, thus removing the covering or clothing of the spirit, then the pleasures of his love and the beauties of his thought are fully felt and perceived. It is remarkable that they are sometimes perceived as smells. This is the reason why the company all in the spiritual world keep depends upon their loves, those in heaven depending on their loves, and those in hell depending on theirs.
[2] All the smells, into which the pleasures of loves are turned in heaven, are experienced as the kind of sweet and fragrant smells, the lovely breaths and delightful sensations, which are experienced in gardens, flower-beds, fields and woods in the morning in springtime. The smells, into which the pleasures of the loves of the inhabitants of hell are turned, are experienced as rank, fetid and rotten stenches, such as arise from latrines, corpses and ponds full of garbage and excrement. It is remarkable that to the devils and satans there these smell like balsam, perfumes and incense, which refresh their nostrils and hearts. In the natural world too animals, birds and insects use smells to select their company, but this is not then allowed to human beings, until they have sloughed off their bodies.
[3] This is why heaven is arranged in the most elaborate order in keeping with all the varieties of love for good, and hell by contraries in keeping with all the varieties of love for evil. It is because of this opposition that there is between heaven and hell a gap that cannot be crossed. For the inhabitants of heaven cannot tolerate any smell from hell, since it causes them nausea and vomiting, and threatens to render them unconscious, if they sniff it. Much the same happens to the inhabitants of hell, if they pass beyond the mid-point of that gap.
[4] I once saw a devil, who looked from a distance like a leopard – I had seen him a few days before among the angels of the lowest heaven, since he knew how to disguise himself as an angel of light. He was crossing the mid-point and standing between two olive-trees without noticing any smell upsetting to his way of life. The reason was that no angels were present. As soon, however, as they came on the scene, he went into convulsions and fell to the ground with all his limbs contracted. He then appeared like a great snake writhing into coils, and finally rolling down through the gap. He was picked up by his companions and carried off to a cave where the foul smell of his own pleasure revived him.
[5] Another time too I saw a Satan punished by his companions. I asked the reason, and was told that he had blocked his nostrils and approached those who smelt of heaven, and on coming back brought that smell with him on his clothes. On a number of occasions it has happened that a stench as of a corpse rising from an open cave of hell has assailed my nostrils and made me feel like vomiting.
These facts can serve to establish why it is that smelling in the Word means perceiving, It is often stated that Jehovah smelt a welcome odour from burnt-offerings; and that the oil for anointing and incense were made from fragrant substances. On the other hand the Children of Israel were ordered to carry what was unclean in their camp outside the camp, and to bury and cover up their excrement (Deut. 23:12, 13). The reason was that the camp of Israel represented heaven, and the desert outside the camp represented hell.
I once talked with a newly arrived spirit, who while in the world had spent much time meditating about heaven and hell. (By newly arrived spirits are meant people who have recently died, who are called spirits because they are then spiritual people.) As soon as he entered the spiritual world, he began in the same way to meditate about heaven and hell; and he felt happy when he thought about heaven, and sad when he thought about hell. On realising that he was in the spiritual world, he immediately asked where heaven and hell were, and what each were, and what they were like.
‘Heaven,’ they replied, ‘is above your head, and hell is below your feet, for you are now in the world of spirits, which is mid-way between heaven and hell. But we cannot describe in a few words what heaven is and what it is like, or what hell is and is like.’
Then, being intensely eager to know he fell on his knees and prayed earnestly to God for instruction. An angel appeared at once on his right, who made him get up and said: ‘You have begged to be instructed about heaven and hell. Ask and learn what pleasure is, and you will know.’ And with these words the angel disappeared.
[2] Then the new spirit said to himself: ‘What is the meaning of this, “Ask and learn what pleasure is, and you will know what heaven and hell are and what they are like”?’ So he left the place where he was and wandered about, addressing those he met and saying: ‘Please be so good as to tell me what pleasure is.’ ‘What sort of a question is this?’ said some. ‘Everyone knows what pleasure is. Isn’t it joy and happiness? Pleasure then is pleasure, and one is like another; we don’t know how to distinguish them.’
Others said that pleasure is mental amusement. ‘When the mind is amused, the face is cheerful, speech is full of jokes, gestures are lighthearted, and the whole person is pleased.’ But some said: ‘Pleasure is simply feasting and eating delicacies, drinking and getting drunk on fine wine, and then having conversations on various topics, especially about the sports of Venus and Cupid.’
[3] On hearing this the new spirit was cross and said to himself: ‘These are the replies of peasants, not educated people. These pleasures are neither heaven nor hell. I wish I could meet some wise men.’ So he left these people and started asking, ‘Where are the wise?’
Then he was seen by an angelic spirit, who said: ‘I perceive that you are fired with the longing to know what is the universal characteristic of heaven and of hell. This is pleasure, so I will take you to a hill, where every day there is an assembly of those who seek out effects, of those who enquire into causes, and of those who examine ends. Those who seek out effects are called scientific spirits, or Sciences personified. Those who enquire into causes are called intelligent spirits, or Intelligences personified. Those who examine ends are called wise spirits or Wisdoms personified. Directly above them in heaven are the angels who see causes from the point of view of ends, and effects from the point of view of causes; these angels are the source of enlightenment for these three gatherings.’
[4] Then he took the new spirit by the hand and brought him onto a hill, where those who examine ends and are called Wisdoms were meeting. ‘Forgive me,’ he said to them, ‘for coming up here to meet you. The reason is that from the time I was a boy I have been meditating about heaven and hell. I have recently arrived in this world, and some of the people I met told me that here heaven is overhead and hell is underfoot; but they did not tell me what each were or what they were like. So thinking constantly about them made me worried, and I prayed to God. Then an angel approached me and said: “Ask and learn what pleasure is, and you will know.” I have been asking, but so far to no purpose. So, please, if you would be so kind, teach me what pleasure is.’
[5] ‘Pleasure,’ replied the Wisdoms, ‘is the whole of life for all in heaven, and the whole of life for all in hell. Those who are in heaven experience the pleasure of good and truth, those in hell the pleasure of evil and falsity. For all pleasure has to do with love, and love is the very being of a person’s life. So just as a person’s humanity depends upon the nature of his love, so it does on the nature of his pleasure. The activity of the love creates the feeling of pleasure. In heaven its activity is accompanied by wisdom, in hell by madness. But each activity induces pleasure in the subjects it operates upon. The heavens and the hells experience opposite pleasures; the heavens experience the love for good and thus the pleasure of doing good, the hells the love for evil and thus the pleasure of doing harm. If therefore you know what pleasure is, you will know what heaven and hell are and what they are like.
[6] ‘But ask and learn about pleasure from those who enquire into causes and are called Intelligences. They are on the right as you leave here.’
So he went away, approached the next gathering and explained why he had come, asking them to instruct him about pleasure. They were delighted to be asked, and said: ‘It is true that, if anyone knows about pleasure, he knows what heaven and hell are and what they are like. The will, which is what makes a person human, does not move an inch, except as the result of pleasure. For the will regarded in itself is nothing but an affection of some love and thus of some pleasure. For there is some delight and thus some choice which inspires the act of willing; and because it is the will that makes the understanding think, not the slightest thinking is possible without pleasure flowing in from the will. The reason for this is that the Lord by the radiation from Himself activates everything in the soul and mind of angels, spirits and men. This activity takes place through the inflow of love and wisdom, and this inflow is the actual activity which is the source of all pleasure. This in its originating phase is called blessedness, bliss and happiness, and in its derived phase, pleasure, loveliness and delight, to use a universal term, good. But the spirits of hell turn everything they have upside down, so changing good into evil, and truth into falsity, though the pleasure remains constant. For without constant pleasure they would have no will, no feeling and so no life. From this it is plain what the pleasure of hell is, what it is like and where it comes from and likewise the pleasure of heaven.’
[7] Having heard this, he was taken to the third gathering where were those who seek out effects and are called Sciences. These said: ‘Go down to the lower earth, and go up to the upper earth; on these you will perceive and feel the pleasures of both heaven and hell.’
Then some way off the ground gaped open and three devils came up through the opening; they had a fiery appearance resulting from the pleasure of their love. The angels who were accompanying the new spirit realised that the three devils had been deliberately brought up from hell and called out to them: ‘Don’t come any closer, but from where you are tell us something about your pleasures.’
‘You may know,’ they replied, ‘that everyone, whether he is said to be good or wicked, experiences his own pleasure, the so-called good man his, and the so-called wicked man his.’
‘What,’ they were asked, ‘is your pleasure?’ They said it was the pleasure of fornicating, taking revenge, cheating and blaspheming. Then they were asked what their pleasures were like. They said that other people felt them as like the rank smell of dung, the stench of corpses and the rottenness of pools of urine. ‘Do you find those things pleasant?’ they were asked. ‘Extremely so,’ they replied. ‘Then,’ they were told, ‘you are like unclean animals that live in such conditions.’ ‘If we are, we are,’ they replied; ‘but these are the kind of things that delight our nostrils.’
‘What more can you tell us?’ they were asked. They said that everyone is allowed to experience his own pleasure, even the filthiest, as others call it, so long as he does not annoy good spirits and angels. ‘But because our pleasure will not let us stop annoying them, we have been thrown into labour-camps where we are harshly treated. It is the prevention and withdrawal of our pleasures there which is called the torments of hell; it is too a kind of inward pain.’
‘Why did you annoy good people?’ they were asked. They said they could not help themselves. ‘There is a kind of frenzy,’ they said, ‘which takes hold of us, when we see an angel and feel the Lord’s Divine sphere surrounding him.’ ‘Then you are really like wild beasts,’ we said on hearing this.
A little later, when they saw the new spirit in the company of angels, a frenzy came over the devils, which seemed like the fire of hatred. So to prevent them doing harm, they were hurled back into hell. After this there appeared the angels who see causes from the point of view of ends and effects from the point of view of causes, and occupy the heaven above those three gatherings. They were seen surrounded by brilliant light, which as it rolled down in spiralling curves brought with it a garland of flowers, and placed it on the new spirit’s head. Then a voice came forth saying: ‘This laurel-wreath is given to you because from the time you were a boy you meditated about heaven and hell.’
REFORMATION AND REGENERATION
After dealing with repentance we come next in order to reformation and regeneration, because these come after repentance and it is by repentance that they advance. There are two states which a person must enter upon and undergo to pass from being natural to being spiritual. The first state is called reformation, the second regeneration. In his first state a person looks from his natural to his spiritual man and desires to be spiritual; in the second state he becomes spiritual-natural. The first state is formed by means of the truths which must become part of faith, and these enable him to look towards charity. The second state is formed by the kinds of good which make up charity, and from them he enters into the truths of faith. To put this in other terms, the first state is one of thought on the part of the understanding, but the second is one of love on the part of the will. When this state begins and develops, a mental change takes place; for there is a turning-point, following which the love of the will flows into the understanding, and drives and guides it to think in harmony and in keeping with its love. In so far therefore as the good of love then plays the leading role, and the truths of faith take second place, to that extent he is a spiritual man and a new creature. Then charity inspires his actions, faith his speech; he feels the good of charity and perceives the truth of faith. Then he is in the Lord and in a state of peace, and so he is regenerated.
[2] Anyone who has begun the first state while in the world can after death be brought into the second. But anyone who has not entered upon the first state while in the world cannot be brought into the second after death, and so cannot be regenerated. These two states can be compared with the advance of light and heat in spring days; the first state can be compared with twilight and cock-crow, the second with morning and dawn; and its development with the day advancing to noon, and so growing in light and heat. It can also be compared with a harvest, which begins with the blade, then grows into awns and ears and finally becomes the wheat in them. Or again with a tree: first it springs from a seed in the ground, then becomes a stalk from which branches come forth; these are decked with leaves, and then it flowers, and the inmost part of the flower is the beginning of the fruit; and as the fruits ripen they produce new seeds as their offspring. The first state, that of reformation, can also be compared with the state of a silk-worm, when it draws silk thread out of itself and wraps itself in it; and after its hard labour is over, it flies out into the air, and feeds, not as formerly on leaves, but on the juices in flowers.
Unless a person is born again and as it were created anew, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
Unless a person is born again he cannot enter the kingdom of God; this is what the Lord teaches in John, where this passage occurs:
Jesus said to Nicodemus, Amen, amen*, I say to you, unless a person is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. And again, Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a person is born of water and the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the spirit is spirit. John 3:3, 5, 6.
The kingdom of God means both heaven and the church, for the kingdom of God on earth is the church. It is the same in other places where the kingdom of God is named; as Matt. 11:11; 12:28; 21:43; Luke 4:43; 6:20; 8:1, 10; 9:11, 60, 62; 17:21, and elsewhere. To be born by water and the spirit means by the truths of faith and by living by them. For water meaning truths, see APOCALYPSE REVEALED 50, 614, 615, 685, 932. Spirit means living by Divine truths, as is plain from the Lord’s words in John (6:63). Amen, amen means that it is the truth; and because the Lord was the truth itself, that is why He said it so often. He is also called the Amen (Rev. 3:14). Those who are regenerated are called in the Word sons of God and born of God; regeneration is described by a new heart and a new spirit.
* Or: verily, verily.
Create for me, God, a clean heart, and make new a steadfast spirit within me. Ps. 51:10.
You open your hand, and they are filled with good; you send forth your spirit, and they are created. Ps. 104:28, 30.
The people who are going to be created will praise Jah. Ps. 102:18.
Behold, I shall create Jerusalem to be a rejoicing. Isa. 65:18.
Thus spoke Jehovah, your Creator, Jacob, who formed you, Israel, I have redeemed you. Everyone who is called after my name, I have created him for my glory. Isa 43:1, 7.
So that they may see, know, attend and understand that the Holy One of Israel created this. Isa. 41:20.
This is also clear where the Lord is called Creator, He who forms and Maker. This makes it plain what is the meaning of the Lord’s charge to His disciples:
Go into the whole world, preach the Gospel to every creature. Mark 16:15.
Creatures means all who can be regenerated; likewise, Rev. 3:14; 2 Cor. 5:16, 17
[2] What man is like by birth, and what he would be like if not regenerated can be seen from wild beasts of all kinds. He would be a tiger, a panther, a leopard, a wild boar, a scorpion, a tarantula, a viper, a crocodile and so on. So unless he were by regeneration transformed into a sheep, what else would he be but a devil among the devils in hell? Were it not for the restraint the laws of the kingdom impose on their innate ferocity, would not one then rush to attack another, so that they would slaughter one another or strip them of everything down to their underpants? How many of the human race are there who were not by birth satyrs and priapi, or four-footed lizards? Everyone of either class, if he is not regenerated, turns into an ape. This is the result of external morality, which is the extra lesson learned in order to cover up one’s internals.
The spoonbill and the vulture shall possess it, and the owl and the raven shall live there, He will stretch across it a measuring-line of emptiness, and plumb-lines of desolation. From there the thorn shall climb up its altars*, the thistle and briar in its fortifications; and it becomes a dwelling of dragons, a courtyard for the daughters of the owl. There shall meet there tziim and iyim, and the satyr shall encounter his partner; indeed lilith shall rest there. There the blackbird shall build its nest, lay eggs, gather food and hatch its young in its shadow. There indeed shall kites, flock, one with his partner.** Isa. 34:11, 13-15.
* Better ‘palaces’; cf. AC 7293.4.
** It is not entirely clear, either in the Latin or the original Hebrew, what all the creatures named are; where the Hebrew word is kept in Latin, it is also kept in English.
A new birth or creation can only be brought about by the Lord through charity and faith as the two means with the person’s co-operation.
It follows from the proofs offered in the chapters on charity and faith that regeneration is brought about by the Lord through charity and faith; in particular, from the statement there that the Lord, charity and faith make one, just as do life, will and understanding; and if they are divided each of them perishes like a pearl collapsing into dust. These two, charity and faith, are called means, because they link a person with the Lord and make charity charity and faith faith. This is only possible if the person plays a part in his regeneration; this is why we say, with the person’s co-operation. In previous sections the co-operation of a person with the Lord has been discussed several times. But because the human mind is so constituted that it cannot help perceiving this action as being effected by the person by his own ability, it needs to be illustrated again.
[2] Every motion, and so every action, contains an active and a passive principle. In other words, the agent acts, and the object acts as a result of the agent. So the two together produce an action. This may be compared to a mill driven by a wheel, a carriage pulled by a horse, a movement responding to an effort, an effect to a cause, inertia to energy, in general, an instrumental part responding to a principal one. Everyone knows that the two together perform a single action. In the case of charity and faith the Lord acts, and the person acts in response to the Lord, for the Lord’s activity is in the person’s passivity. Therefore the ability to act aright is from the Lord, so that the will to act is as if it were the person’s. This is because he enjoys free will, so that he can act together with the Lord, and so link himself to Him, or he can act by the power of hell, which is outside him, and so cut himself off from the Lord. It is the person’s action in harmony with the Lord’s action which is meant here by co-operation. To render this even clearer, further comparisons will be supplied below.
[2] Action and co-operation as here described can be observed in everything which has any activity and power of movement. Such is the action and co-operation of the heart and every one of its arteries. The heart acts and the artery uses its coverings or tunics to co-operate; and this is how the circulation of the blood works. It is much the same with the lungs. The air acts by the atmospheric pressure which depends on altitude, and the ribs first co-operate with the lungs, and then the lungs co-operate with the ribs. This is how every membrane in the body breathes. In the same way the meninges of the brain, the pleura, the peritoneum, the diaphragm and all the other coverings of the viscera and their inward structures act and are acted upon and so co-operate, since they are elastic. This is how they come into existence and continue in existence. It is much the same in every fibre and nerve, and in every muscle, even in every cartilage. It is well known that in each of these there is action and co-operation.
[3] Every sense too affords an example of co-operation, for the sensory organs, like the motor organs, are composed of fibres, membranes and muscles. But it would be a waste of time to describe how each of them co-operates. We know that light acts on the eye, sound on the ear, smell on the nose, and taste on the tongue, and that the organs respond to these things, thus giving rise to sensation. Can anyone fail to perceive from this that if there were no such action and cooperation with inflowing life in the spiritual organism of the brain, thought and will could not come into existence? For life flows into that organism from the Lord, and because it co-operates the perception is possible of what is thought, likewise what is there judged, concluded and given expression in action. If all that happened was that life acted and the person did not co-operate as if of himself, he could no more think than a block of wood, or than the structure of a church can when a minister is preaching. In this case something like an echo may be experienced as the result of the reflexion of sound from the doors, but no speech. That is what a person would be like, if he did not cooperate with the Lord as regards charity and faith.
Since all have been redeemed, everyone can be regenerated, in each case depending on the person’s state.
To make this intelligible, something must first be said about redemption. The Lord had two chief ends in view in coming into the world, to distance hell from angels and men, and to glorify His Human. For before the Lord’s coming, hell had grown so high as to molest the angels of heaven and, by standing between heaven and the world, to cut off communication by the Lord with people on earth. As a result no Divine truth and good could get through from the Lord to men. Consequently complete damnation threatened the whole human race, nor could the angels of heaven either have long survived unharmed.
[2] So the Lord came into the world to move hell further off and so remove that threat of damnation. He moved hell to a distance and brought it under control, thus opening the way to heaven, so that thereafter He could be present with people on earth and save those who lived in accordance with His commandments. Thus He came to regenerate and save them, for those who are regenerated are saved. This is what is meant by saying that since all have been redeemed, everyone can be regenerated, and because regeneration and salvation are one and the same, everyone can be saved. This teaching then of the church, that but for the Lord’s coming no one could be saved, is to be understood as meaning that no one could be regenerated but for the Lord’s coming.
[3] The other purpose for which the Lord came into the world, the glorification of His Human, was because He by this means became the Redeemer, Regenerator and Saviour for ever. For it must not be believed that by the single deed of redemption carried out in the world all thereafter were redeemed, but it should be believed that He unfailingly redeems those who believe in Him and do what He says. More on this subject can be found in the chapter on redemption.
[2] The truth of this can be established from the heavens, to which all who are regenerated come, being three, highest, middle and lowest. Those come to the highest who through regeneration have acquired love to the Lord; to the middle one those who have acquired love towards the neighbour; to the lowest those who only exhibit external charity, and at the same time acknowledge the Lord as God the Redeemer and Saviour. All of these are saved, but in different ways.
[3] The reason why all can be regenerated and so saved is that the Lord is present with His Divine good and truth with every person. This is the source of his life, and of his ability to understand and will, and of the free will he has in spiritual matters; no one is without these. Moreover the means are given. Christians have the means in the Word, non-Christians in any religion at all, if it teaches the existence of God and commandments about good and evil. From this it follows that everyone can be saved. Consequently, if a person is not saved, it is not the Lord who is to blame but the person; and he is to blame for failing to co-operate.
The kingdom of God is at hand, repent and believe the good news. Mark 1:15.
The good news meant is that they could be regenerated and so saved. This could not have happened if the Lord had not carried out the redemption, that is, if He had not taken the power away from hell by struggling against it and defeating it, and if He had not glorified His Human, that is, made it Divine.
[2] Redemption then would be nothing but a papal indulgence, or like the customary practice of flogging a monk on behalf of the whole community. If that faith alone could regenerate a person, and repentance and charity played no part, what would his internal man – the spirit which goes on living after death – be but a burnt-out city, the ruins of which makes up the external man? Or like a field or a plain devastated by caterpillars and locusts? That sort of person appears to angels as if he was warming a viper in his bosom and wrapping his clothes around it to prevent it being seen; or as if someone was sleeping like a sheep with a wolf; or someone lying under a beautiful blanket in a shift woven out of spiders’ webs. Then life after death, when all are assigned their places in heaven depending on how their regeneration differs, or in hell depending on the different ways they have rejected regeneration, would be nothing but the life of the flesh, the sort a fish or a crab enjoys.
The process of regeneration is on the model of a person’s conception, gestation in the womb, birth and upbringing.
The natural and spiritual events in a person’s life, that is, what happens to his body and what to his spirit, are so ordered as permanently to correspond. The reason is that a person is by birth spiritual as regards his soul, and he is clothed with a natural form which is constituted by his material body. When therefore this is laid aside, his soul, clothed in his spiritual body, comes into the world where all things are spiritual, and there associates with people like him. Now the spiritual body has to be formed in the material one, a process accomplished by the inflow of truths and various kinds of good from the Lord through the spiritual world. These are inwardly received by the person in such things belonging to the natural world as are called civil and moral; so it is evident how the process of formation takes place. Because, as already said, there is a permanent correspondence between the natural and spiritual events in a person’s life, it follows that this process must resemble his conception, gestation in the womb, birth and upbringing. That is why natural births in the Word mean spiritual births, that is, the birth of good and truth. For whatever stands in the literal or natural sense of the Word, enfolds and stands for something spiritual. I demonstrated fully in the chapter on the Sacred Scripture that every detail of the literal sense of the Word contains a spiritual sense.
[2] The natural births mentioned in the Word refer to spiritual births, as is evident from the following passages.
We have conceived, we have given birth, we have as it were brought forth [wind], we have not done what is sound. Isa. 26:18.
At the presence of the Lord you give birth*, o earth. Ps. 114:7.
Has the earth given birth in one day? Shall I break and not bring to birth, and cause to give birth but close** up the womb? Isa. 66: 7-10. Sin gives birth and No shall be on the point of being breached. Ezek. 30:16.
The pangs of childbirth shall come upon Ephraim. He is an unwise child, because at the right time he does not stand in the womb of sons. Hosea 13:12, 13.
There are many other similar passages. Since natural births in the Word mean spiritual births, and these are the Lord’s work, He is called He who forms and brings out of the womb. This is clear from these passages among others:
Jehovah your maker and who forms you from the womb. Isa. 44:2.
He who brings me from the womb. Ps. 22:9.
I have been placed upon you from the womb, from my mother’s inmost parts it was you who brought me forth. Ps. 71:6.
Pay attention to me, you who were carried by the belly, borne by the womb. Isa. 46:3.
This is why the Lord is called ‘Father’ (as at Isa. 9:6; 63:16, John 10:30; 14:8, 9), and those who are in possession of good and truth from Him are called ‘sons’, ‘born of God’ and ‘brothers’ among themselves (Matt. 23:8, 9). It is also why the church is called ‘mother’ (Hosea 2:2, 5; Ezek. 16:45).
* Reading parturis for parturit, as elsewhere when this verse is quoted.
** ‘not close’ in the Latin, but corrected in the author’s copy.
There is as well a correspondence between a person’s regeneration and everything in the vegetable kingdom. That is why in the Word too man is described by a tree, his truth by a seed, his good by a fruit. A useless tree can as it were be re-born, and afterwards bear good fruit and good seed, as is clear from the practice of grafting and inoculation. Even though in these cases the same sap rises from the root through the trunk* to the point of the graft or inoculation, it is none the less converted into good sap and produces a good tree. It is much the same in the church with those who are grafted into the Lord, as He teaches in these words:
I am the vine, you are the branches. If someone remains in me and I in him, he bears much fruit. Unless someone remains in me, he is cast out like a branch, and is withered and cast into the fire. John 15: 5, 6.
* Reading stipitem ‘trunk’ for stapidem ‘stirrup’.
[2] When the earth first opens up a seed, she begins with the root, which is like the heart. From the root she sends forth and transmits the sap, like blood, and so produces a body equipped with limbs. The body is the trunk, the limbs its branches and twigs. The leaves, which it produces immediately after birth, take the place of the lungs. For just as the heart cannot without the lungs produce movement and sensation, by which the person comes alive, so the root without the leaves cannot make the tree or plant grow. The flowers which are the forerunners of the fruit are a means of purifying the sap, its blood, and of filtering off the denser from its purer elements, and, as these flow in, of forming in its recesses a new stem through which the purified sap may flow into and so start and by stages form the fruit (which is comparable to the testicle), where the seeds are brought to completion. The vegetable soul, or its reproductive essence, which is inmostly dominant in every particle of sap, comes from no other source than the heat of the spiritual world. Since this comes from the spiritual sun of that world, its one aim is reproduction, and by this means the continuation of creation. And since its essential aim is the reproduction of man, it gives whatever it creates some likeness to man.
[3] There is no reason to be surprised at the statement that the members of the vegetable kingdom are exclusively male, and only the earth or soil is so to speak their common mother, being so to speak a woman. This can be illustrated by a similar fact about bees, which according to Swarmmerdam’s observation in his nature books* have only one common mother, who gives birth to all the offspring in the hive. If these small creatures have only one common mother, why should not the same be true of all plants?
[4] On the spiritual level too it is possible to illustrate how the earth can be a common mother from the fact that earth in the Word means the church, and the church is our common mother and is so called in the Word. On earth meaning the church see APOCALYPSE REVEALED (285, 902), where this is shown. However, the ability of the earth or soil to enter the interior of the seed so as to reach its reproductive principle, and bring it forth and transport it, is due to every tiny particle or piece of dust exhaling from its essence some subtle effluvium which can penetrate the seed. This is brought about as a result of the activity of the heat coming from the spiritual world.
* The writings of the Dutch naturalist J. Swarmmerdam were published by H. Boerhaave in 1737-38 under the title Biblia Naturae or Nature Books.
The first stage of re-birth is called reformation, a process affecting the understanding; the second stage is called regeneration, a process affecting the will and thus the understanding,
Since this and the following sections deal with reformation and regeneration, reformation being attributed to the understanding and regeneration to the will, the distinctions between the understanding and the will must be known, and these were described above (397). The reader is therefore advised to read what is said there first, and afterwards this section. It was also shown there that the evils a person acquires by birth are embedded in the will of the natural man, and that the will influences the understanding to take its part by thinking in harmony with it. It is therefore necessary, in order that a person may be regenerated, for the process to proceed through the understanding as intermediate cause. This happens through the pieces of information which the understanding receives. These are at first received from parents and teachers, later from reading the Word, from sermons, books and conversations. What the understanding receives from these sources are known as truths. So it means the same whether you say that reformation takes place through the understanding or through the truths the understanding receives. For truths teach the person in whom and what he should believe, and what he should do, so what he should will. For anything a person does is the result of the will acting in accordance with the understanding. Since then a person’s will is of itself evil from birth, and because it is the understanding which teaches us what is evil and what is good, and it is possible to will the one and not will the other, it follows that a person must be reformed through the understanding. So long as anyone sees and mentally acknowledges that evil is evil, and good is good, thinking that good ought to be chosen, for so long is his state called reformation. But when his will is to shun evil and do good, that is when his state of regeneration begins.
[2] Moreover, if the understanding could not be perfected separately, and the will by its means, man would not be man, but an animal. But for that separation and but for the understanding’s rise above the will, he could not think, and as a result of thought speak, but only make noises to express his affection. Nor could he act from reason, but only by instinct. Much less could he recognise what things belong to God and so recognise God, so as to be linked with Him and live for ever. A person’s thinking and willing are as if they came from him, and this appearance is the reciprocal part of the linking. For linking is impossible without reciprocity, as is the linking of the active with the passive, if there is no accommodation or application. God alone acts, and man allows himself to be acted on, co-operating to all appearance as if of himself, though inwardly it is by God’s doing. A correct perception of these facts will enable it to be seen what the love of a person’s will is like, if it is raised by means of the understanding, as well as what it is like if not so raised; and so what the person is like.
* This and the following two sections are adapted from ISB 14.3-6.
[2] But because they have this gleam in their understanding which looks like wisdom, though their will is opposed to it, they can be likened to snakes with glistening scales, Spanish flies that glitter as if with gold, or to the will-o’-the-wisp of marshland, rotten wood that shines in the dark, and phosphorescent substances. There are some of them who can imitate angels of light, both among people in the world and after death in the presence of angels of heaven. But after a short period of examination they are stripped of their clothes and cast down naked. Nothing of the sort, however, can happen in the world, because there their spirit is not open to view, but is overlaid with a disguise, like those used by actors on the stage. Their being able to imitate angels of light in countenance and expression is the reason and also a sign, that they can raise their understanding almost to the point of angelic wisdom, rising as I have said above the love of the will. Now since a person’s internal and external can thus go in opposite directions, and since the body is discarded and the spirit remains, it is clear that a murky spirit can live behind a shining face, and a fiery one behind a smooth tongue. Therefore, my friend, you must get to know a person not by his mouth but by his heart, that is, not by his conversation but by what he does. For the Lord says:
Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravening wolves; by their fruits you must know them. Matt. 7:15, 16.
The internal man must be reformed first, and the external by means of the internal; that is how a person is regenerated.
It is commonly said in the church at the present time that the internal man must be reformed first, and the external by means of the internal. But when they say the internal man, they think of nothing but faith, their belief that God the Father imputes the merit and righteousness of His Son, and sends the Holy Spirit. They believe that this faith makes up the internal man, and is the source from which the external man, who is moral at the natural level, flows. They regard the external as an appendage, to use a comparison, like a tail on a horse or an ox, or the tail of a peacock or a bird of paradise, which is a continuation of the soles of its feet except that it is not attached to them. For they say that charity follows that faith, but if charity came in from a person’s will, his faith would perish.
[2] In fact, there is no internal man in the church at the present time, since no other internal man is recognised there. For no one can tell whether he has been granted that faith; and I showed above that this faith is impossible and thus a figment of the imagination. It follows from this that those who at the present time have convinced themselves of this faith have no other internal man than the natural one they acquired by birth, overflowing with evils. A further consequence is that regeneration and sanctification follow that faith automatically, and that a person’s co-operation must be excluded, although it is the only way to regeneration. That is why it is impossible for the present-day church to know about regeneration, although the Lord says that anyone who is not regenerated cannot see the kingdom of God.
[2] However, I must describe what the internal natural man is like from birth. His will is prone to evils of every kind, and so his thinking is prone to falsities too of every kind. This then is the internal man which needs to be regenerated. For unless this is regenerated, there is nothing but hatred for everything to do with charity, and so rage against everything to do with faith. It follows from this that the natural internal man must be regenerated first, and the external by means of the internal, for this is the proper order. To regenerate the internal by means of the external is contrary to proper order, for the internal resembles a soul in the external, not only in general, but also in every detail. Consequently it is contained in each thing a person says without his being aware of it. That is why angels perceive from a single act by a person what his will is like, and from a single utterance what his thought-process is like, whether it is hellish or heavenly. Thus they get to know the whole person. From a sound they can judge the affection of his thinking and from a gesture or type of action the love of his will. These things they perceive, however much he pretends to be a Christian and a respectable citizen.
These bones are the whole house of Israel (verse 11).
There is also a comparison there with graves, for it says that He would open the graves and cause the bones to rise from them, and put spirit in them, and settle them upon the land of Israel (verses 12-14). The land of Israel there and elsewhere means the church. The representation of regeneration was effected by means of bones and graves, because the person who has not been regenerated is called dead, and one who has is called alive. The one contains spiritual life, the other spiritual death.
[2] He can be compared with the bones or skeleton in a tomb decorated with lapis lazuli and other precious stones. He can also be compared to the rich man who wore purple and fine linen, yet inwardly was hellish (Luke 16:19). Further comparisons may be made with sugary poison, with flowering hemlock, with fruits in gleaming shells whose kernels have been eaten up by maggots; and with a sore covered by a plaster and later by smooth skin, but full of nothing but pus. In the world the internal may be judged by the external, but only by those whose internal is not good and who therefore judge by appearances. But the situation in heaven is different; for when death separates the body, which can be twisted round the spirit and bent from evil to good, then the internal is left; for this is what makes up the spirit. Seen at a distance it looks like a snake which has sloughed its skin, or like rotten wood stripped of the bark or surface which made it look bright.
[3] It is different with the regenerated person. His internal is good, while his external resembles the other’s. But his external is as different from the other’s as heaven is from hell, for he has the soul of good in it. And it makes no difference whether he is a nobleman and lives in a palace, attended by hangers-on when he walks abroad, or whether he lives in a hut with only a lad to wait upon him; or in fact whether he is an archbishop with a purple pallium and a two-fold mitre, or whether he is the shepherd who lives in the woods with a few sheep, wears a loose country cloak and covers his head with a hood.
[4] Gold is still gold, whether it gleams in the firelight or is blackened with smoke on the surface; or whether it is cast into a lovely shape, a child’s for instance, or an ugly shape such as a rat’s. Rats made of gold and placed next to the Ark were acceptable and served as expiatory offerings (1 Sam. 6:3-5ff). For gold means internal good. A diamond or a ruby extracted from a matrix of chalk or clay are judged just as valuable for their inward goodness as they are if they are set in a queen’s necklace; and so on. These examples show clearly that the external is judged by the internal, and not the other way round.
Men this happens, a struggle ensues between the internal and the external man, and the victor then controls the other.
The reason why a struggle then ensues is that the internal man is reformed by means of truths, which enable him to see what is evil and false; and these truths are still in his external or natural man. First, therefore, there is dissension between the new will, which is above, and the old will, which is below. Since it is dissension between wills, it is between the pleasures of either, for it is well known that the flesh opposes the spirit, and the spirit the flesh, and the flesh with its lusts must be tamed, before the spirit can act and the person can become a new man. Following this dissension of the wills, a struggle, known as spiritual temptation, takes place. But this temptation or struggle is not between good and evil, but between the truths that accompany good and the falsities that accompany evil. For good is unable to struggle of itself, but does so by means of truths. Nor can evil struggle of itself, but does so by means of its falsities. This is like the will being unable to struggle of itself, but doing so by means of the understanding, which is where its truths are.
[2] A person does not feel this struggle to be anywhere but in himself, and he feels it as the pangs of conscience. Yet it is the Lord and the devil (that is, hell) who struggle in man; their struggle is to gain control of the person, to see which is to possess him. The devil, or hell, attacks the person and calls forth the evil in him, while the Lord protects him and calls forth the good in him. But although that struggle takes place in the spiritual world, at the same time it takes place in the person between the truths that accompany good and the falsities that accompany evil present within him. A person ought therefore to struggle exactly as if of himself, since he has the free will to act on the Lord’s side or on the devil’s. He is on the Lord’s side if he holds to truths from good, on the devil’s if he holds to falsities from evil. The consequence of this is that the victor, whether it is the internal or the external man who wins, controls the other. It is exactly like two enemies engaged in a struggle to determine which is to be master of the other’s kingdom; the winner takes the kingdom and reduces all in it to subservience to him. In this case then, if the internal man wins, he imposes his rule and suppresses all the evils of the external man, thus continuing the process of regeneration. But if the external man wins, he imposes his rule and scatters all the good in the external* man, thus putting an end to regeneration.
* Possibly an error for ‘the internal man.
[2] The reason why up to now little has been known about temptations, hardly anyone knowing their origin and nature and what good they do, is that the church up to now has not been in possession of truths. No one possesses truths, unless he directly approaches the Lord and rejecting his former faith embraces the new one. This is why no one has been exposed to any spiritual temptation in all the centuries since that in which the Council of Nicaea introduced belief in three Gods. For if anyone had been exposed, he would have instantly succumbed, and thus cast himself even deeper into hell. The contrition which is alleged to precede to-day’s faith is not temptation. I have questioned very many people on this subject, and they said it is a word and nothing more, except in the case of the simple, when it may perhaps be some fearful thought about hell-fire.
At the ending of the age (that is, at the end of the present-day church) there shall be affliction such as has never been since the world began, and never shall be. So unless those days were cut short, no flesh would be saved. Matt. 24:21, 22.
I leave peace with you, my peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give it to you. John 14:27.
Likewise He grants to a person after temptation to feel peace, that is, gladness of mind and consolation. These facts show that the Lord is the Redeemer for ever.
When a person is regenerated, he acquires a new will and a new understanding.
The present-day church is aware that, when a person is regenerated, he is renewed or becomes a new person; this is evident both from the Word and from reason. These passages from the Word prove this:
Make yourself a new heart and a new spirit; why will you die, o house of Israel? Ezek. 18:31.
I will give you a new heart and a new spirit in your midst, and I will take away the heart of stone from your flesh; and I will give you a heart of flesh, and I will put my spirit in your midst. Ezek. 36:26, 27.
From now on we know no one according to the flesh; so if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature. 2 Cor. 5:16, 17.
A new heart in these passages means a new will, a new spirit means a new understanding. For heart in the Word stands for the will, and spirit, when linked with the heart, for the understanding.
The argument from reason is: when a person is regenerated he has a new will and a new understanding because these two faculties are what make him a human being, and it is these which are regenerated. Everyone, therefore, is such as he is in these two respects. If his will is evil, he is evil, and the more so if his understanding favours evil; and the reverse is true, if his will is good. It is only religion which renews and regenerates a person. Religion is allotted the highest place in the human mind, and sees below it the social matters which concern the world. Religion too climbs up through these as the pure sap rises in a tree to its top, and from that lofty position it has a view of natural matters, just as someone on a tower or a mountain has a view of the plains beneath.
[2] When a judge has heard or read a long series of cases compiled by an advocate, he groups them together to form a single view in the upper region of his mind, so as to make a universal principle; then he lowers his gaze to the lower region of natural thought, and there arranges his arguments in due order, giving his judgment and sentence in accordance with the upper region of his mind. Is anyone unaware that a person can in one or two moments think about and reach a conclusion on matters which would take him as much as an hour to spell out by means of his lower thought? These instances are quoted to show that the human mind is divided into lower and higher regions.
* Or: heaven in miniature.
[2] The person who is not regenerated is like someone in the Garden of Eden who eats of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and is therefore expelled from the garden; in fact he is that very tree. But a regenerated person is like someone in that garden who eats of the tree of life. These words in Revelation establish that it is permissible to eat of that tree.
To him who overcomes I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God. Rev. 2:7.
The Garden of Eden means intelligence in spiritual matters arising from the love of truth; see APOCALYPSE REVEALED 90. In short, the unregenerate is the ‘son of the evil one’, and the regenerate is the ‘son of the kingdom’ (Matt. 13:38). ‘Son of the evil one’ there is the son of the devil, ‘son of the kingdom’ the son of the Lord,
A person who is regenerate is in touch with the angels of heaven, one who is not with the spirits of hell.
The reason why everyone on earth is in touch, that is, is associated with either the angels of heaven or the spirits of hell, is that he has by birth the ability to become spiritual. This would be impossible unless he were somehow linked with those who are spiritual. I showed in my book HEAVEN AND HELL that as regards his mind a person is in both the natural and spiritual worlds. This link is not known to men on earth, nor is it to angels or spirits because, so long as a person lives in the world, he is in the natural state, while an angel or spirit is in the spiritual state. The difference between the natural and the spiritual prevents the one from being seen by the other. There is a description of the nature of this difference in my book CONJUGIAL LOVE; see the account of an experience related there (326-329)*. From this it is plain that what links them is not thoughts, but affections; and hardly anyone reflects on his affections, because they are not exposed to the light enjoyed by the understanding and consequently its thought-processes, but to the heat enjoyed by the will and consequently the affection of its love. The link between men and angels and spirits brought about by the affections of love is so close that if it were broken and angels and spirits were thus cut off, men would immediately fall unconscious; and if the link were not repaired and re-established, they would die.
[2] When we say that a person by regeneration becomes spiritual, this does not mean that he becomes spiritual in the way an angel is in himself. It means that he becomes spiritual-natural; that is to say, his natural has something spiritual within it. This is like the presence of thought in speech, and of will in action, for if one ceases, so does the other. Likewise a person’s spirit is present in everything that happens in the body, and it is the spirit which impels the natural to do what it does. The natural regarded in itself is passive, a dead force, but the spiritual is active, a living force. What is passive or a dead force cannot act of its own accord, but must be impelled by what is active or a living force.
[3] Since a person lives constantly in touch with the inhabitants of the spiritual world, when he leaves the natural world, he is therefore at once brought into the company of those who resemble the companions he had while he was in the world. That is why everyone after death has the impression that he is still living in the world. For he then comes into the company of those who share similar affections of the will; he recognises such people, in much the same way as relations recognise those who are akin to them in the world. This is what is said in the Word about those who die, that they are collected and gathered to their own people. These considerations can now establish that a regenerate person is in touch with the angels of heaven, an unregenerate one with the spirits of hell.
* See also 280 above.
[2] This too makes it plain how we must understand the fact well known in the Christian world, that the church makes up the Body of Christ, and that Christ is the life of that body. It will also serve as an illustration of the fact that the Lord is the all in all of heaven, since He is the life in that body. Likewise the Lord is the church for those who acknowledge Him alone as the God of heaven and earth and believe in Him. He Himself teaches that He is the God of heaven and earth (Matt. 28:18); and that He is to be believed in (John 3:15, 16, 36; 6:40; 11:25, 26).
* At present published under the English title THE INTERCOURSE [or INTERACTION] OF THE SOUL AND THE BODY.
To him who overcomes I will grant to eat of the tree of life. Rev. 2:7.
To the church of the people of Smyrna:
He who overcomes will not suffer harm in the second death. Rev. 2:11.
To the church in Pergamum:
To him who overcomes I will grant to eat of the hidden manna. Rev. 2:17.
To the church in Thyatira:
To him who overcomes I will grant power over the nations. Rev. 2:26.
To the church in Sardis:
He who overcomes will be clothed in white raiment. Rev. 3:5.
To the church in Philadelphia:
Him who overcomes I will make a column in God’s temple. Rev. 3:12.
To the church of the people of Laodicea:
To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with me on my throne. Rev. 3:21.
One final point: to the extent that a person is regenerated, that is, in so far as his regeneration advances towards perfection, to that extent he ceases to attribute to himself any good or truth, that is, any charity and faith, but attributes these to the Lord. For the truths that he absorbs one after the other plainly teach that lesson.
In so far as a person is regenerated, so far are his sins removed; this removal is the forgiveness of sins.
The reason why so far as a person is regenerated, so far are his sins removed, is that regeneration consists in controlling the flesh so that it does not take control, in taming the former man and his lusts so that he cannot rise again and destroy the faculty of understanding; for if this is destroyed, there is no further possibility of the person being reformed. This reformation cannot occur, unless the person’s spirit, which is above the flesh, is instructed and advanced towards perfection. No one, whose understanding is still unimpaired, can fail to conclude from this that such events cannot take place in an instant, but do so one after another, just as a person is conceived, carried in the womb, born and brought up, in the sequence demonstrated above. The properties belonging to the flesh or the former man are inherent from birth. They build the first home for his mind, the dwelling-place of lusts, which are like wild beasts in their cages. They live at first in the forecourts, and little by little creep into the rooms of that house below ground level, and afterwards climb the stairs and make rooms for themselves. This happens by stages as the child grows, becomes a boy and then a youth; then he begins to use his own understanding to think and his own will to act.
[2] Anyone can see that a house built thus far in the mind, where lusts like ochim, ghoim* and satyrs hold hands to dance, cannot be destroyed in a moment, and a new house built in its place. Of course the lusts holding hands and so disporting themselves must first be banished, and new desires for good and truth be brought in to replace the lusts for evil and falsity. Any wise person can see that such things cannot take place in an instant from the single consideration, that every evil is the product of countless lusts, resembling a fruit that below the surface is full of maggots with black heads and white bodies. Evils too, he will realise, are numerous and closely linked, like the offspring of a spider just hatched from its belly. So unless one evil after another is brought out, and the process continues until the link is broken, a person cannot become new. These considerations have been presented in order to make it known that in so far as anyone is regenerated, so far are his sins removed.
* This word is obscure, but a reference to Isa. 13:22 seems intended; perhaps iyim should be read, as there.
That is what a person is like from birth, and it is plain from this that he is a hell on the smallest scale. Now since a person is born, as far as the interiors of his mind are concerned, to be spiritual, as animals are not, and since he is consequently born to go to heaven, yet his natural or external man is, as I have just said, a hell on the smallest scale, it follows that heaven cannot be planted in hell, but this must be removed.
[2] By this means it was revealed to me how regeneration takes place, exactly as hell is removed and is thus separated from heaven. For, as I said before, a person as regards his first nature, which he has from birth, is a hell on the smallest scale, and as regards his second nature, which he gets from being born again, is a heaven on the smallest scale. It follows from this that the evils in a person are removed and separated just as hell and heaven are on the large scale. As evils are removed they turn away from the Lord, and by stages turn upside down. This happens to the extent that heaven is planted in the person, so that he becomes a new man. For the sake of illustration I shall add that each evil in the person has a link with those in hell who have the same evil, and on the other hand each good in the person has a link with those in heaven who possess similar good.
I once heard someone in the lowest heaven say that he was free from sins because they had been wiped away, ‘by the blood of Christ’ he added. But since he was inside heaven, and made this mistake through ignorance, he was plunged into his own sins, and as they recurred to him, he acknowledged them. This led him to accept a new belief, that everyone, man as well as angel, is held back from evils and kept in good by the Lord.
[2] This makes it plain what the forgiveness of sins is, not an instantaneous event, but the consequence of regeneration, advancing in step with it. The removal of sins, what is called their being forgiven, can be compared with the casting out of filth from the Children of Israel’s camp in the desert, which lay all around them; for their camp represented heaven, the desert hell. It can also be compared with the removal of the nations in the land of Canaan by the Children of Israel, and the removal of the Jebusites from Jerusalem; they were not cast out, but separated. It can also be compared with the fate of Dagon, the god of the Philistines; when the Ark was brought in, it first of all lay face down on the ground, and afterwards lay on the threshold with its head and the palms of its hands cut off; so it was not cast out, but removed.
[3] It can be compared with the demons the Lord sent into the swine, which afterwards drowned themselves in the sea; here and elsewhere in the Word the sea stands for hell. It can also be compared with the dragon’s crowd, which when separated from heaven first invaded the earth, and afterwards was cast down into hell. Another comparison can be made with a wood full of wild beasts of many kinds; if it is cut down, the beasts take refuge in the surrounding thickets, and then when the ground has been levelled, the area contained within it is cultivated to make agricultural land.
Regeneration is impossible without free will in spiritual matters.
Anyone who is not stupid can see that without free will in spiritual matters no one can be regenerated. Without that he could not approach the Lord and acknowledge Him as Redeemer and Saviour, and as the God of heaven and earth, as He Himself teaches (Matt. 28:18). Can anyone without that free will believe, that is, look to and worship Him from faith, devoting himself to receiving from Him the means to and benefits of salvation, and co-operating in receiving them from Him? Can anyone without free will do any good to his neighbour and show charity, not to mention absorbing into thought and will many other features of faith and charity, and drawing upon them to put them into effect? Otherwise regeneration would be nothing but a meaningless expression which dropped from the Lord’s lips (John chapter 3), something which penetrates no further than the ear, or if it falls from the lips as the result of the thought which is closest to speech, is merely an articulate sound composed of eleven letters*. This sound has no meaning by which it can be raised to any higher level in the mind, but it falls upon empty air and is lost.
* The Latin word regeneratio, ‘being born again’ or ‘regeneration’ has eleven letters.
[2] If a person were to convince himself of such beliefs, although he piously hoped to go to heaven, he would be nothing but a ghost, standing waiting to see whether that faith with the benefits it conveys had been poured into him, or if not, whether it was being poured in; and likewise whether God the Father had shown mercy, or whether His Son had interceded, or whether the Holy Spirit was too busy elsewhere to act on him. In the end he would in his total ignorance about this go away and console himself with this reflexion: ‘Perhaps that grace may be present in the moral behaviour I adopt in life and in which I continue as formerly, so that in me it is holy, but in those who have not acquired that faith, unholy. So to ensure that holiness remains in my moral behaviour, I shall take care in future not to exercise faith or charity of my own accord’ – and more of the same sort. Such a ghost, or if you prefer such a pillar of salt, is what everyone becomes who thinks about regeneration unaccompanied by free will in spiritual matters.
* The Latin text here uses the French word for ‘galleys’, galeres.
[2] He is also like a ship laden with precious goods of every kind taken from the treasury of the Word. But these are gnawed by mice and grubs, or thrown overboard by the sailors, so that the merchants are cheated out of their wares. Those who are learned or rich in the mysteries of that faith are like salesmen in shops selling statues of idols, fruit and flowers made of wax, sea-shells, vipers in bottles and such like. Those who, because of the lack of any spiritual power applied and given by the Lord, are unwilling to look up, are in fact like animals which keep their heads down to look, as they seek their food in the woods. If they come into gardens, they are like caterpillars which eat the leaves of trees: and if they catch sight of fruits, and more so if they handle them, they fill them with maggots. Finally they become like scaly snakes, for their fallacies rustle and glitter like the scales of snakes. And so one might continue with comparisons.
Regeneration is impossible without truths through which faith may be formed, and with which charity may link itself.
There are three means by which a person is regenerated: the Lord, faith and charity. These three would lie as deeply hidden as the choicest gems buried underground, if they were not exposed by Divine truths from the Word. In fact they would be hidden from the sight of those who deny man’s co-operation, even if they read the Word a hundred or a thousand times; yet there they stand out in bright light.
As regards the Lord, can anyone who has convinced himself of present-day faith open his eyes to see the following doctrines in it: that the Lord and the Father are one, and that He is the God of heaven and earth, and that it is the Father’s will that people should believe in Him, as well as countless similar statements in both Testaments? The reason is that they are not in possession of truths, and so not in light which could make things of this sort plain to see. Even if they were given light, still their falsities would snuff it out, and then the truths would be passed over like phrases deleted, or like subterranean passages which people walk over and cross. These remarks have been made to make it known that without truths this first step towards regeneration could not be seen.
[2] As regards faith, neither is that possible without truths, for faith and truth make a single entity. Good is like the soul of faith, and truths make up its body. So to talk of believing or having faith without knowing any of its truths is like pulling the soul out of the body and carrying on a conversation with that invisible object. Moreover, all the truths which make up the body of faith emit light, illuminating it and making its face visible. It is much the same with charity. This emits heat, with which the light of truth combines, just as in the world heat is combined with light in springtime, and this combination makes animals and plants on earth resume reproduction. It is much the same with spiritual heat and light. These likewise combine in a person, when he is in possession of the truths of faith and at the same time the kinds of good which make up charity. For, as I said before in the chapter on faith, there flows from each truth an illuminating light, and from each kind of good a heat which sets on fire. Spiritual light is in its essence intelligence, and spiritual heat is in its essence love. It is the Lord alone who combines these two when He regenerates a person. For the Lord said:
The words which I speak are spirit and life. John 6:63.
Believe in the light, so that you may be sons of light. I have come a light to the world. John 12:36, 46.
In the spiritual world the Lord is the sun, the source of all spiritual light and heat. That is the light which illuminates, the heat that sets on fire; and a person is quickened and regenerated by them both being combined.
[2] One of these spheres concerns the Lord. It spreads its influence from the southern quarter, where the learned among the clergy and educated laymen live. Wherever it reaches, it sneaks into people’s ideas, and in many cases carries away their belief in the divinity of the Lord’s Human; in many other cases it weakens it, and in many others turns it to foolishness, The reason is that it introduces at the same time a belief in three Gods, and this produces confusion.
[3] A second sphere which carries away** faith is like a dark cloud in wintertime, which darkens the day, turns rain into snow, lays bare the trees, freezes waters and deprives sheep of all pasture. This sphere combined with the previous one injects a sort of lethargy concerning one God, regeneration and the means of salvation.
[4] A third sphere concerns the linking of faith and charity. It is so strong as to be irresistible. But at the present time it is appalling, and like a plague it infects anyone who catches a breath of it, tearing apart every bond between the two means of salvation established from the creation of the world and made whole by the Lord. This sphere also attacks people in the natural world and quenches the torches*** which celebrate the marriage between truth and good. I have felt this sphere, and then when I thought about the linking of faith and charity, it intervened between them and attempted violently to separate them.
[5] The angels complain about these spheres, and pray the Lord to have them dispersed. But they received the reply that they cannot be dispersed, so long as the dragon is upon the earth, since they proceed from the followers of the dragon. For it is said of the dragon that it was cast out into the earth, and then
For this reason rejoice, heavens, and woe to those that live on the earth. Rev. 12:12.
[6] These three spheres are like atmospheres driven by a gale and coming from the air-holes of dragons; and because they are spiritual, they attack people’s minds and compel them. The spheres concerned with spiritual truths are up to now few there, at any rate in the new heaven and with those below heaven who are separated from the followers of the dragon. This is the reason why those truths are at the present time so hard to see among people in the world, just as ships sailing the eastern ocean are to the ship-masters and navigators sailing the western ocean.
* See Jer. 19.
** The Latin reads affert ‘brings,’ but aufert ‘carries away’ seems to be required.
*** In the ancient world wedding processions were accompanied by torchbearers.
[2] Regeneration, which must take place through faith and charity, without truths to teach and guide would be like sailing on a broad ocean without a tiller, or without a ship’s compass and charts. It would also be like riding a horse in a dark wood by night. The internal vision of the minds of those who possess not truths but falsities, which they believe to be true, can be compared with the sight of people whose optic nerves are blocked; the eye appears to be intact and seeing, while in fact it sees nothing. This is the form of blindness physicians call amaurosis or gutta Serena. Their rational or intellectual faculty is blocked above and only open downwards. As a result the light of reason becomes like the light of the eye, so that all judgments are mere imagination and strung together out of pure fallacies. Then people would stand around like astrologers with long telescopes, standing in public squares issuing empty prophecies. This is what would happen to all students of theology, if the Lord did not open to them genuine truths from the Word.
I saw a gathering of spirits all on their knees praying God to send them angels, with whom they could talk face to face, and open to them the thoughts of their hearts. When they got up, three angels dressed in fine linen were to be seen standing before them. ‘The Lord Jesus Christ,’ they said, ‘has heard your prayers and has therefore sent us to you. Open to us the thoughts of your hearts.’
[2] ‘Our priests have told us,’ they answered, ‘that in theological matters it is not the understanding but faith which is effective; and that faith based on the understanding is no help in such matters, because it derives from and smacks of man, not of God. We are English, and we have heard a lot from our ministers of religion, which we believed. But when we talked with others, who also called themselves Reformed, and with others who called themselves Roman Catholics, and even with members of sects, they all appeared to be learned, yet on many subjects there was not one who agreed with another. All the same, they all said, “Believe us,” and some said, “We are God’s ministers, and we know.” But we know that the Divine truths, which are called the truths of faith and are possessed by the church, do not come to anyone from his native soil or by heredity, but from God out of heaven; and they show the way to heaven, entering a person’s life together with the good of charity, and so leading to everlasting life. So we became worried, and prayed on our knees to God.’
[3] ‘Read the Word,’ the angels said to this, ‘and believe in the Lord, and you will see truths which will be your guides to faith and life. All Christian people draw their doctrines from the Word as being their one and only source.’ But two of the gathering said, ‘We have read it, but not understood it.’
‘You did not approach the Lord,’ replied the angels, ‘and He is the Word. Also you had first convinced yourselves of falsities.’ The angels went on: ‘What is faith without light, and what is thinking without understanding? This is not how human beings act. Ravens and jays can learn to talk without understanding too. We can assure you that every person whose soul so desires can see the truths of the Word in light. There does not exist an animal which does not know the food it needs to live on, when it sees it. Man is a rational and spiritual animal, so he knows the food not so much his body as his soul needs to live on. That is the truth of faith, provided he is hungry for it and begs the Lord for it.
[4] ‘Moreover, anything that the understanding does not take in is not retained by the memory as a fact, but merely as words. So when we looked down on the world from heaven, we could see nothing, but only heard sounds, which were for the most part discordant. But we shall mention some things which the learned among the clergy have banished from the understanding, being unaware that there are two routes to the understanding, one from the world and the other from heaven. The Lord withdraws the understanding from the world, as He enlightens it. But if religion dictates that the understanding is to be shut off, the route to it from heaven is shut off, and then one sees no more in the Word than a blind man. We have seen many such people fall into pits, and be unable to get out of them again.
[5] ‘Let us give some examples to illustrate this. Surely you can understand what charity and faith are – that charity is doing good to the neighbour, and faith is having a correct idea of God and the essential doctrines of the church? And as a result, that a person who does good and has a correct idea, that is to say, who lives a good life and has a correct belief, is saved?’ They said that they understood this.
[6] The angels went on to say that for a person to be saved he must repent of his sins, and unless he does so, he remains in the sins to which he was born. Repentance consists in not willing evils because they are sins against God; and once or twice a year examining oneself, seeing one’s evils and confessing them to the Lord, asking for help, desisting from those evils and starting a new life. So far as a person does this and believes in the Lord, so far are his sins forgiven. ‘We understand this,’ said some of the gathering, ‘and so we know what the forgiveness of sins is.’
[7] Then they asked the angels to tell them more, and this time about God, the immortality of the soul, regeneration and baptism.
‘We shall not say anything,’ the angels replied, ‘which you cannot understand. If we did, our words would be like rain falling on a desert and the seeds it holds, which, despite being watered from heaven, still wither away and die.’
On the subject of God they said: ‘All who come to heaven are allotted their place, and thus have everlasting joy, depending upon the idea they have of God, because it is this idea which is universally dominant in every detail of worship. To think of God as a spirit, if a spirit is believed to be like the ether or the wind, is meaningless. But to think of God as Man is a correct notion, because God is Divine love and Divine wisdom, with all their attributes; and that of which love and wisdom can be predicated is man, not ether or wind. In heaven they think of God as the Lord the Saviour; as He taught us, He is the God of heaven and earth. Make your idea of God like ours, and we shall welcome you into our company.’ When they said this, the faces of the others lit up.
[8] On the immortality of the soul they said: ‘Man lives for ever, because by means of love and faith he can be linked with God. Every single person has this capacity. And if you think a little more deeply about it, you can understand that this capacity constitutes the immortality of the soul,’
[9] On regeneration: ‘Anyone can see that any person is free to think about God or not to think about Him, so long as he has been taught that there is a God. So anyone has just as much freedom in spiritual as in social or natural matters. The Lord continually grants this to all; so a person is to blame, if he fails to think about God. It is this capacity which makes man a man, and its absence makes an animal an animal. Man can therefore reform and regenerate himself as if of himself, so long as he acknowledges in his heart that this comes from the Lord. Everyone who repents and believes in the Lord is reformed and regenerated. A person should do both as if of himself, but this as if of himself comes from the Lord. It is true that a person cannot from himself contribute anything, not in the slightest, to that process. Yet you have not been created statues; you were created human beings, so that you could do it from the Lord as if of yourselves. It is this and this alone which is the reciprocal offering of love and faith, which the Lord expressly wills should be made to Him by man. In short, act from yourselves and believe that it is from the Lord; that is how to act as if of yourselves.’
[10] Then they asked whether acting as if of oneself was implanted in man from creation. The angel replied: ‘It is not implanted, because acting from himself is an attribute only of God. But it is continually given, that is to say, it is continually being applied; and then so far as a person does good and believes truth as if of himself, he is an angel of heaven. But so far as he does evil and thus believes falsity, and this too is as if of himself, so far is he a spirit of hell. You may be surprised that this too is as if of oneself, but still you can see this, when you pray to be protected from the devil seducing you, from him entering into you as he did into Judas, from filling you with every wickedness and destroying you both soul and body. But everyone becomes responsible, if he believes he is acting of himself, whether it is good or evil that he does. But he does not incur guilt, if he believes he is acting as if of himself. For if he believes that he does good of himself, he is claiming for himself what belongs to God; and if he believes that he does evil of himself, he is attributing to himself what belongs to the devil.’
[11] On baptism they said that it was a spiritual washing, and this is reformation and regeneration. ‘A child is reformed and regenerated when on growing up he does what his godparents pledged on his behalf, the two promises of repentance and faith in God. For they first pledge that he will renounce the devil and all his works, and secondly, that he will believe in God. All children in heaven are taught those two promises, but for them the devil is hell and God is the Lord. Moreover, baptism is a sign visible to the angels that a person belongs to the church.’ When they heard this, some in the gathering said: ‘We understand this.’
[12] But at this point a voice was heard from one side shouting: ‘We do not understand;’ and another: ‘We do not want to understand.’ They made enquiry to discover whose voices these were, and discovered that they came from those who had convinced themselves of false beliefs, and wanted to be believed like oracles, so receiving worship.
‘Do not be surprised,’ said the angels, ‘there are many like this at the present time. To us seeing them from heaven they look like carved images so cunningly made that they can move their lips and make noises, like musical instruments. But they are quite unaware whether the breath that makes them sound blows from hell or from heaven, because they do not know whether a thing is false or true. They keep on reasoning and producing proofs, yet cannot see whether anything is so or not. But you should know that the human brain can prove anything it wants, so that it really appears to be so. So this is something heretics or irreligious people can do; in fact atheists can prove that God does not exist, only nature.’
[13] After this the gathering of Englishmen was fired with a desire for wisdom and said to the angels: ‘Such varying ideas are expressed regarding the Holy Supper, tell us what is the truth.’
‘The truth is,’ the angels answered, ‘that a person who looks to the Lord and repents is by that most holy act linked to the Lord and brought into heaven.’
But people in the gathering said: ‘This is a mystery.’ ‘It is a mystery,’ the angels replied, ‘but one that can be understood. The bread and wine do not bring this about; there is nothing holy about them. But material bread and spiritual bread correspond to each other, and so do material wine and spiritual wine. Spiritual bread is the holiness of love, spiritual wine the holiness of faith. Both of these are from the Lord, and both are the Lord. Thus there is a linking of the Lord with man, and of man with the Lord. It is not with the bread and wine, but with the love and faith of the man who has repented. Being linked with the Lord is also being brought into heaven.’
Now that the angels had taught them something about correspondence, some in the gathering said: ‘Now for the first time we can understand this.’ As soon as they said this, a flaming radiance came down from heaven and joined them to the angels’ company, and they loved one another.
* This section is repeated with modifications from AR 224.
All who have been prepared for heaven, a process which takes place in the world of spirits, half-way between heaven and hell, after some time has passed, sigh and long for heaven. Soon their eyes are opened, and they see a road leading towards some community in heaven. So they take this road and climb up; and on the ascent there is a gate with a guard at it. The guard opens the gate and so they go in.
Then an investigator comes to meet them, who gives them a message from the governor to go further in and search to see if anywhere there are houses which they recognise as their own; for there is a new house for every newly-arrived angel. If they find one, they report this and stay in it.
But if they do not find one, they come back and say they have not seen one. Then a wise man there checks to see whether the light that is in them agrees with the light in the community, and what is more important, whether their heat does. For the light of heaven is in its essence Divine truth, and the heat of heaven is in its essence Divine good, both of them proceeding from the Lord as the sun there. If the light and heat in them is different from that in the community, if, that is, the truth and good are different, they are not made welcome. So they go away and travel along roads which open up between communities in heaven; and they continue to travel until they find a community which exactly matches their affections, and there they live for ever. For there they are among their own people, as if among relations and friends, and they love them from the heart because they share the same affection. There they enjoy the whole bliss of their life and the pleasure which fills the whole breast coming from tranquillity of the soul. For the heat and light of heaven contain an inexpressible delight, which is shared. That is the lot of those who become angels.
[2] Those, however, who are subject to evils and falsities may get permission to go up to heaven, but on entering they begin to gasp and breathe with difficulty. Soon their sight becomes dim, their understanding is darkened and thought comes to a stop; it is as if death stared them in the face, and so they stand like blocks of wood. Then their heart begins to pound, their chest feels tight and their mind is desperately worried. Their pain becomes more and more severe, and in this condition they writhe like snakes placed on a hearth. So they roll away from this spot, and cast themselves over a precipice which then appears; and they do not rest until they are in hell with people like themselves, where they can draw breath and where their heart beats freely. After this they hate heaven and reject truth, in their hearts blaspheming against the Lord and believing Him responsible for the pain and torment they experienced in heaven.
[3] These few remarks will enable it to be seen what is the fate of those who treat as of no consequence the truths of faith that none the less constitute the light enjoyed by the angels of heaven, or the kinds of good which make up love and charity, despite the fact that they constitute the vital heat enjoyed by the angels of heaven. It can also be seen from this how erroneous is the view of those who believe that anyone can enjoy the blessedness of heaven, so long as he is allowed in. It is believed at the present time that it is nothing but mercy which secures admission to heaven, and that this is like someone in the world coming into a house where there is a wedding, and so at the same time joining in the joy and happiness there. They ought to know that in the spiritual world the affections of love and the thoughts they produce are shared with others, since a person is then a spirit, and the life of a spirit is the affection of love and the resulting thought. Affection of the same kind establishes a link, affection of different kinds causes separation. It is this difference in affection which causes torment to a devil in heaven, or an angel in hell. For this reason people are properly separated according to the diversities, varieties and differences in the affections which make up their love.
* This and the following section are repeated from AR 611.
I once was allowed to see three hundred clergy together with laymen, all well-educated and learned, because they knew how to prove that faith alone was sufficient for justification, and even* beyond. Since their belief was that heaven was merely a matter of being admitted by grace, they were given permission to go up to one community in heaven, but not one of the higher ones. When they went up, they looked from a distance like calves. On entering heaven they were received politely by the angels; but when they began to talk with them, they were seized with trembling, then terror and finally agony like that of death. Then they cast themselves down headlong, and as they fell they looked like dead horses. The reason why they looked like calves, when they were going up, was that the natural affection for seeing and knowing in joyous play is by correspondence like a calf. When they were falling down they looked like dead horses, because by correspondence the understanding of truth looks like a horse, and the lack of understanding of truth as the church possesses it, like a dead horse.
[2] There were some boys down below, who saw them coming down, and looking like dead horses as they fell. Then they turned their faces away, and said to the master who was with them: ‘What is the meaning of this monstrous thing? We saw people and now they have turned into dead horses. So being unable to look at them we turned our faces away. Let us not stay in this place, sir, but go away.’ So they went away.
Then as they went the master taught them what a dead horse meant. ‘A horse,’ he said, ‘means the understanding of truth drawn from the Word. All the horses you have seen meant that. When someone goes along meditating on something from the Word, his meditation seen from a distance looks like a horse, of good breeding and alive if he meditates spiritually, and by contraries a poor or dead one if he meditates materially.’
[3] Then the boys asked: ‘What is meant by meditating spiritually or materially on something from the Word?’ ‘I will illustrate this,’ replied the master, ‘by examples. Everyone who reverently reads the Word thinks inwardly about God, the neighbour and heaven, doesn’t he? Anyone who thinks about God only as a Person and not as Essence thinks materially; and so does anyone who thinks about the neighbour merely as an external form, without regard to the sort of person he is. If anyone thinks of heaven merely as a place, instead of as love and wisdom, which are what make it heaven, he too is thinking materially.’
[4] But the boys said: ‘We have thought about God as a Person, and about the neighbour as a human form, and about heaven as a place which is up above us. So when we read the Word, did we then look to anyone like dead horses?’
‘No,’ said the master, ‘you are still children, and could not do otherwise. But I have noticed that you have an affection for knowing and understanding; and since this is spiritual, you were also thinking spiritually. For there is some spiritual thought hidden within your material thought, a fact so far unknown to you. But I want to go back to what I said before, that anyone who thinks materially when he reads the Word or meditates on anything from it, looks from a distance like a dead horse; but if he thinks spiritually, like a live one. I said too that anyone who thinks of God only as a Person and not as Essence is thinking materially about God. The Divine Essence has many attributes, such as omnipotence, omniscience, omnipresence, eternity, love, wisdom, mercy, grace and others too. There are also attributes which proceed from the Divine Essence; creation and preservation, redemption and salvation, enlightenment and instruction. Everyone who thinks of God in terms of Person makes three Gods; there is one God, he says, who is the Creator and Preserver, another who is the Redeemer and Saviour, and a third who is the Enlightener and Instructor. But everyone who thinks of God in terms of Essence makes God one; God created us, he says, and He too redeems and saves us, and also enlightens and instructs us. That is the reason why those who think of the Divine Trinity in terms of Person, and so materially, cannot help being led by the ideas in their thought, which is material, to make three Gods out of one. But they are still obliged to say, contrary to their thinking, that the three are united by Essence, because their thought has also led them to perceive God, as it were through a lattice, in terms of Essence.
[5] ‘You, my pupils, should therefore think about God in terms of essence, and from this think about person. Thinking in terms of person about essence means thinking materially about essence too. But thinking about person in terms of essence means thinking spiritually also about person. The pagans of antiquity, since they thought materially about God and so also about His attributes, made not three but as many as a hundred Gods; for they made each separate attribute into a God. You should know that the material cannot enter into the spiritual; but the spiritual can into the material. It is much the same with thinking about the neighbour in terms of external form rather than the sort of person he is. Or again, thinking about heaven in terms of place rather than love and wisdom, which are what heaven is made of. It is much the same with every single thing in the Word. Anyone therefore who cherishes a material idea of God, and also of the neighbour and of heaven, cannot understand anything in the Word, since for him it is a dead letter; and he himself, when he is reading the Word or meditating on anything from it, looks from a distance like a dead horse.
[6] ‘Those whom you saw coming down from heaven and turning before your eyes into dead horses were people who had shut off their rational vision as regards theological matters, or the spiritual concerns of the church, not only for themselves but also for others, by their special dogma that the understanding must be kept subservient to their faith. They never thought that if the understanding is kept shut off by religion, it is as blind as a mole, and full of thick darkness. Darkness of this sort, which reflects all spiritual light, prevents it flowing in from the Lord and out of heaven, and sets in its place a barrier at the level of the bodily senses, far below the rational level, in matters of faith. That is to say, it sets this barrier near the nose, securing it in the cartilage there, so that afterwards it is not even possible to smell what is spiritual. As a result, some people have become so sensitive that on catching a whiff of what is spiritual they fall down in a faint. By smell I mean perception. These are the people who make God into three. They do speak in terms of essence, saying that God is one, but still they are led by their faith to pray that God the Father may have mercy for the sake of the Son and send the Holy Spirit, so that it is clear they are making three Gods. They cannot help themselves, if they pray to one to have mercy for the sake of another, and to send a third.’ Then the master taught them about the Lord being the one God in whom is the Divine Trinity.
* Reading et quidem for et quidam ‘and some of them’.
Awoken from sleep in the middle of the night I saw fairly high up towards the east an angel holding a paper in his right hand. It was brightly lit up by the sun, and in the middle there was writing in golden letters. I saw that the inscription was: The marriage of good and truth. A radiance sparkled from the writing, and spread into a broad ring around the paper. This radiance or halo looked like the dawn in springtime. Afterwards I saw the angel coming down with the paper in his hand, and as he came the paper shone less and less, and the inscription, The marriage of good and truth, changed from gold to silver colour, then to that of copper, later to that of iron and finally to the colour of rust and verdigris. At last the angel appeared to enter a dark cloud, and passing through the cloud appeared on earth. There the paper, though still held in the angel’s hand, was invisible. This happened in the world of spirits, into which everyone comes at first after death.
[2] Then the angel spoke to me. ‘Ask those,’ he said, ‘who are coming here whether they can see me or anything in my hand.’ A great crowd came, one group from the east, one from the south, one from the west and one from the north. I asked those from the east and south, men who in the world had devoted themselves to study, whether they could see anyone here with me, or anything in his hand. They all said that they could see nothing at all. Then I put the question to those who came from the west and north. These were those who in the world had taken on trust what learned people said. They too said they could not see anything. However, the last of this group, those who in the world had had a simple faith based on charity, or in other words possessed some truth from good, said, after the first-comers had gone, that they could see a man with a piece of paper, the man in fine clothing and the paper with letters written on it. When they looked closely, they said they could read, The marriage of good and truth. So they addressed the angel, requesting him to tell them what this meant.
[3] He said that everything in the whole of heaven and everything in the whole of the world is from creation nothing but the marriage of good and truth. This is because every single thing, both those that live and breathe as well as those that do not, comes from the marriage of good and truth and was created for that purpose. Nothing exists created to be truth alone, nor to be good alone. Neither of these is anything taken by itself, but by marriage they come into existence and become such as is the nature of the marriage. In the Lord God the Creator Divine good and Divine truth are present in their very substance. The being of His substance is Divine good, the coming-into-being of this substance is Divine truth, and they are in a state of complete union, for in Him they make up one to an infinite degree. Since these two are one in God the Creator Himself, they are therefore also one in every single thing created by Him. By this too the Creator is linked with all things created by Him in an everlasting covenant as of marriage.
[4] The angel went on to say that the Sacred Scripture, which was dictated by the Lord, is in general and in its parts a marriage of good and truth (see above 248-253). Since the church, being formed by means of the truths of doctrine, and religion, being formed by good deeds in life in accordance with the truths of doctrine, are in the case of Christians solely derived from the Sacred Scripture, it can be established that the church too in general and in its parts is a marriage of good and truth. The same as has been said here about the marriage of good and truth applies also to the marriage of charity and faith, since good relates to charity, truth to faith.
After making this speech the angel left the earth and travelling through the cloud went up into heaven. Then as he went up the paper began to shine as before, changing at each stage of the ascent. Then the ring of radiance which previously looked like the dawn came down and dispersed the cloud which had darkened the earth, and the sun shone.
* This section is repeated with modifications from CL 115.
Once when I was meditating on the Lord’s second coming, there suddenly appeared a beam of light, so powerful as to dazzle my eyes. So I looked up, and saw the whole heaven above me full of light; and from east to west I heard a long series of voices glorifying God. An angel came close and said: ‘This is the glorifying of the Lord on account of His coming, uttered by the angels of the eastern and western heavens.’ Nothing was heard from the southern or northern heavens but a polite murmur.
Since the angel could hear everything, he told me first that this glorifying and praising of the Lord was taken from the Word. Then he said: ‘Now in particular they are glorifying and praising the Lord with the words spoken by the prophet Daniel.
You have seen iron mixed with common clay, but they will not hold together. But in those days the God of the heavens will cause a kingdom to rise which shall not perish for ever. It will shatter and consume all these kingdoms, but will stand itself for ever.’ Dan. 2:43, 44.
[2] After this I heard what sounded like singing, and yet further away to the east I saw a gleam of light more brilliant than before. I asked the angel what was the glorifying taking place there. He said it was what Daniel described:
I was watching in the visions of the night and I saw the Son of Man coming with the clouds of heaven. To him were given dominion and the kingdom and all peoples and nations will worship him. His dominion will be a dominion for ever, which will not pass away, and his kingdom one that will not perish. Dan. 7:13, 14.
Besides this they praise the Lord with these words from Revelation:
To Jesus Christ be glory and strength. Behold, He comes with clouds. He is Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty. I, John, heard this from the Son of Man from the midst of the seven lampstands. Rev. 1:5-13; 22:8, 13,
Also with the words of Matthew 24:30, 31.
[3] I looked again to the east of heaven, and the light was growing from the right; the brightness spread into the expanse of sky to the south, and I heard a sweet sound. I asked the angel what glorifying of the Lord was taking place there. He said it was with these words from Revelation:
I saw a new heaven and a new earth; and I saw the holy city New Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven, prepared like a bride for her husband. And I heard a mighty voice out of heaven saying: Behold the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them. And the angel spoke with me and said: Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb. And he carried me away in the spirit onto a great and high mountain, and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem. Rev. 21:1-3, 9, 10.
Also with these words:
I, Jesus, am the bright star of the morning; and the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And He said, I am coming soon. Amen; even so, come, Lord Jesus. Rev. 22:16, 17, 20.
[4] After this and more I heard a general glorifying from the east of heaven to the west, and also from the south to the north. I asked the angel what this was. He said it was these words from the Prophets:
Let all flesh know that I am Jehovah your Saviour and your Redeemer. Isa. 49:26.
Thus spoke Jehovah, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, Jehovah Zebaoth, I am the first and the last, and there is no God beside me. Isa. 44:6.
On that day it will be said, Behold, this is our God, whom we have awaited to free us. He is Jehovah, whom we have awaited. Isa. 25:9.
The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare the way for Jehovah. Behold, the Lord Jehovih comes in strength. He will feed his flock like a shepherd. Isa. 40:3, 5, 10, 11.
A child is born for us, a son is given to us, whose name is Wonderful, Counsellor, God, Hero, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of peace. Isa. 9:6.
Behold, the days will come when I shall raise up for David a righteous shoot, who will reign as king. And this is his name, Jehovah our righteousness. Jer. 23:5, 6; 33:15, 16.
Jehovah Zebaoth is his name and the Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. He will be called the God of the whole earth. Isa. 54:5.
On that day Jehovah will be king over the whole earth; on that day Jehovah will be one, and His name one. Zech. 14:9.
On hearing and understanding this my heart leaped for joy and I went home rejoicing; and there I came back from the state of the spirit into that of the body, in which state I wrote down these things I had seen and heard.
* This section is repeated with slight modification from CL 81.
IMPUTATION
I
The faith of the present-day church, which is held to be the sole requirement for justification, is one with imputation.
The faith of the present-day church, which is held to be the sole requirement for justification, is one with imputation; in other words, faith and imputation in the present-day church make a single whole. This is because one involves the other, and one enters into the other, and the other into the first, and causes it to exist. For if one talks of faith without adding imputation, faith is simply a meaningless sound; and if one talks of imputation without adding faith, this too is simply a meaningless sound. Even if the two are spoken of linked together, they become an articulated expression, though still devoid of intelligible meaning. For the understanding to grasp any real meaning in it, a third term needs to be added, Christ’s merit. This produces a concept that one can utter with some degree of reasonableness. For it is the faith of the present-day church that God the Father imputes the righteousness of His Son, and sends the Holy Spirit to bring about its effects.
These remarks show plainly what is the column upon which the house of God at the present time is based. If it were pulled away, that house would collapse like the building in which were the rulers of the Philistines and as many as three thousand of the people making merry, when Samson pulled down the two columns at once, and they were killed and met their end (judges 16:29). This can be said because I showed in earlier chapters, and will show in the Appendix, that this faith is not the Christian one, since it is not in keeping with the Word; and that the imputation of that faith is an empty idea, because Christ’s merit cannot be imputed.
Imputation as part of present-day faith is a double concept. There is imputation of Christ’s merit and imputation of salvation as a result.
The whole Christian church holds that justification and consequently salvation are effected by God the Father by imputing the merit of Christ His Son; and this imputation takes place by grace when and where God wishes, and so at His discretion. Those to whom Christ’s merit is imputed are adopted and numbered among the sons of God. Since the leaders of the church have not advanced a step beyond this concept of imputation, or raised their minds above it, their dictum about God’s discretionary choice has led them to fall into the gross errors of extremists, and eventually into the detestable heresy of predestination, as well as the abominable heresy that God pays no heed to what a person does in his life, but only to the faith he has written on the interiors of his mind. Unless therefore this erroneous belief about imputation is done away with, atheism would overrun the whole Christian world, and it would become subject to the reign of ‘the king of the abyss whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek has the name Apollyon’ (Rev. 9:11). Abaddon and Apollyon mean one who destroys the church by means of falsities; the abyss means where those falsities are (see APOCALYPSE REVEALED 421, 440, 442). This makes it plain that it is this false belief and the whole series of falsities that are consequent on it over which the destroyer is to reign. For, as I said before, the whole system of theology at the present time depends upon this concept of imputation, like a long chain hanging from a fixed hook, or like a person with all his parts dependent on the head. Since this concept of imputation is everywhere dominant, it is as Isaiah says:
The Lord will cut off from Israel head and tail; he who is honoured is the head, and the teacher of a lie the tail. Isa. 9:14, 15.
But the present-day concept of imputation rules out the power to act thus as fatal to faith and so to salvation, to avoid anything of one’s own entering into the imputation and so into Christ’s merit. The establishment of this doctrine has led to the spread of the satanic notion that a person is totally impotent in spiritual matters. This is like someone saying ‘Walk’, though you have no feet, not even one; ‘Wash yourself’, though both your hands have been cut off; or ‘Do good, but sleep’; or ‘Feed yourself’ when you have no tongue. It is also like having a will given to one which is no will. Could one not say: ‘I can do no more than Lot’s wife who turned into a pillar of salt, or more than Dagon the god of the Philistines, when the Ark of God was brought into his shrine. I am afraid of having my head broken off like his, and having the palms of my hands thrown out on the threshold (1 Sam. 5:4). Nor can I do more than Baalzebub the god of Ekron*, who to judge by the meaning of his name can do nothing but drive away flies.’ Such is the present belief in man’s impotence in spiritual matters, as may be seen from the quotations on the subject of free will collected in 464 above.
* 2 Kings 1:2; the Hebrew name means ‘the Lord of the flies’.
[2] That is why no one knows whether that faith has been as a result of grace granted to him, any more than a block of wood or a stone, which he resembled when it was poured in. For no sign to witness it is possible, so long as charity, religious feeling, the impulse to start a new life, and the freedom to do good or evil are all denied to man. The alleged signs witnessing the presence of that faith in a person are all ridiculous, no different from the auguries the ancients drew from the flight of birds, or the prognostications of astrologers from the stars, or of gamesters from dice. This is the sort of thing – or even more ridiculous consequences – which follows from belief in the imputation of the Lord’s righteousness, if it is alleged to be introduced into the chosen person along with the faith which is called that righteousness.
The idea of faith imputing the merit and righteousness of Christ the Redeemer sprang first from the decrees of the Council of Nicaea concerning three Divine Persons from eternity; and this faith has been accepted by the whole Christian world from that time to the present.
The actual Council of Nicaea was convened by the Emperor Constantine the Great, on the advice of Alexander, Bishop of Alexandria, consisting of all the Bishops in Asia, Africa and Europe, and held in the Emperor’s palace at Nicaea, a city of Bithynia*. Its object was to disprove and condemn on the authority of Holy Writ the heresy of Arius, a priest of Alexandria, who was denying the divinity of Jesus Christ. This took place in AD 318**. That assembly reached the conclusion that the three Divine Persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, existed from eternity, as can immediately be established by referring to the two Creeds known as the Nicene and the Athanasian. In the Nicene Creed we read:
I believe in one God, the almighty Father, maker of heaven and earth; and in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the only-begotten of the Father, born before all ages, God of God, being of one substance with the Father; who came down from the heavens, and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary; and in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and quickener, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who together with the Father and the Son is worshipped and glorified.
[2] The following words occur in the Athanasian Creed:
It is the catholic faith that we revere one God in the Trinity, and the Trinity in unity, neither confusing the Persons nor separating the substance. But as we are compelled by Christian truth to confess each Person separately to be God and Lord, so we are forbidden by the catholic religion to speak of three Gods or three Lords.
This is tantamount to saying that it is allowable to confess three Gods and Lords, but not to speak of them, since this is forbidden by religion, while truth dictates that there are three. This Athanasian Creed was written immediately after the Council had met at Nicaea by one or more people who had taken part in it. It was also accepted as an oecumenical or catholic document. It is plain from these quotations that it was then decreed that three Divine Persons from eternity were to be acknowledged; and that although each Person separately was by Himself God, yet three Gods and Lords were not to be spoken of, but only one.
* The province of north-western Anatolia, now part of Turkey.
** The Council was summoned in 318, but assembled in 325. The Latin text here has 1318, an obvious misprint.
[2] This faith is the offspring born of those two Creeds. But as its swaddling clothes are unwrapped, what comes into view is not one but three, at first joined as if embracing, but later separated. For they lay down that essence joins them together, but they are separated by their individual functions – creating, redeeming and working; or imputation, imputed righteousness and realisation. This is the reason why, although they made one God out of the three functions, they still did not make one God out of the three Persons, to prevent the idea of three Gods being wiped out. For, as long as the belief persists that each Person singly is God, as the Creed says, then if the three Persons were as a result to become one, the whole edifice founded as it were on three columns would collapse into a pile of ruins.
[3] The reason why the Council introduced the idea of three Divine Persons from eternity was their failure to examine the Word properly, so that they could find from it no other refuge as a defence against the Arians. They then brought the three Persons, each of whom is by Himself God, together to make one God, through fear that every rational and pious person in the three continents would accuse them of believing in three Gods and slander them. They devised the doctrine of faith applied to all three in turn, because this is the inevitable consequence of that premise. A further reason was that if one of the three were overlooked, the third would not be sent, so that the whole working of Divine grace would be nullified.
[2] If anyone says that this was decreed by the unanimous vote of the Council, in which so many bishops and distinguished scholars took part, how can one trust Councils, when Roman-Catholic Councils also unanimously arrived at the conclusions that the Pope is the vicar of Christ, that saints are to be invoked, images and bones venerated, the Holy Eucharist divided, that purgatory and indulgences and more besides exist? How can one trust councils, when that of Dort, also unanimously, voted in favour of predestination, a detestable heresy, and exalted it as the supreme object of religious veneration? Do not, reader, put your trust in Councils, but in the Holy Word. Approach the Lord and you will be enlightened. For He is the Word, that is to say, the very Divine truth in it.
The waters were turned to blood, so that all the fish died and the river stank (Exod. chapter 7; similar language in Rev. 8:8; 16:3). Blood means Divine truth falsified (see APOCALYPSE REVEALED 379, 404, 681, 687, 688). The fish that died mean likewise truths in the natural man (AR 290, 405).
Frogs came forth upon the land of Egypt (Exod. chapter 8). There is also a mention of frogs in Rev. 16:13. Frogs mean reasonings as a result of a longing for the falsification of truth (see AR 702).
In Egypt foul ulcers appeared upon men and beasts (Exod. chapter 9); similar language in Rev. 16:2. Ulcers mean inward evils and falsities which can destroy the good and truth in the church (see AR 678).
In Egypt hail fell mixed with fire (Exod. chapter 9); similar language in Rev. 8:7; 16:21. Hail means hellish falsity (see AR 399, 714).
Locusts were sent upon Egypt (Exod. chapter 10); similar language in Rev. 9:1-11. Locusts mean falsities in outermost things (see AR 424, 430).
Oppressive darkness was brought upon Egypt (Exod. chapter :to); similar language in Rev. 8:12. Darkness means falsities arising from ignorance, or from false ideas of religion, or from evil living (see AR 110, 413, 695).
The Egyptians finally perished in the sea of Suph* (Exod. chapter 14). In Revelation the dragon and the false prophet perished in the lake of fire and brimstone (19:20; 20:10). Both the sea of Suph and that lake have the same meaning, hell.
The reason why similar language is used of Egypt and of the church, the termination and end of which is described in Revelation, is that Egypt stands for the church, which in its beginnings was outstanding. So before its church was devastated, Egypt is equated with the Garden of Eden and the garden of Jehovah (Gen. 13:10; Ezek. 31:8). It is also called ‘the corner-stone of the tribes’, and ‘the sons of wise men and of the kings of ancient time’ (Isa. 19:11, 13). More about Egypt in its earliest state and in its devastation will be found in AR 503.
* Generally taken as ‘the Red Sea’, but the author keeps the Hebrew form.
Faith which imputes Christ’s merit was unknown to the earlier, Apostolic church, and is nowhere to be understood in the Word.
The church which existed before the Council of Nicaea was called the Apostolic church. This was extensive, having been spread to three continents, Asia, Africa and Europe, as is evident from the Emperor Constantine the Great, whose dominion covered not only a number of European kingdoms that subsequently broke away, but also the nearer parts outside Europe, being a Christian and zealous for his religion. He therefore, as said above, summoned the bishops from Asia, Africa and Europe to his palace in the city of Nicaea in Bithynia, in order to expel from his empire the scandalous teachings of Arius. This took place by the Lord’s Divine providence, since if the Lord’s divinity is denied, the Christian church dies off, and becomes like a tomb bearing the inscription: HERE LIES. . .
The church which existed before this time was called Apostolic, and its notable writers were known as the Fathers, and the true Christians beside them as brethren. It is certain from the Creed known after that church as the Apostles’, that it did not acknowledge three Divine Persons and thus not a Son of God from eternity either, but only a Son of God born in time. The Creed says:
I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth; and in Jesus Christ His only Son our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, was born of the Virgin Mary. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Catholic church, the communion of saints.
This makes it plain that they acknowledged no Son of God other than Him who was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary, certainly not a Son of God born from eternity. This Creed, like the two others, has been acknowledged down to the present day by the whole Christian church as a genuine and catholic creed.
* A wrong reference; possibly to be corrected to John 1:15.
The earliest or Apostolic church could never have guessed that a church would follow it which worshipped several Gods at heart and one with its lips; one which would separate charity from faith, and the forgiveness of sins from repentance and a keen desire for a new life; one which would introduce the idea of total impotence in spiritual matters; least of all, that an Arius would raise his head, and after his death rise again to dominate the church secretly until it reached its end.
* In the ancient reckoning the time between sunrise and sunset was divided into twelve hours.
For instance, take a confirmed believer in nature, who thinks either that nature created itself, or that God came into existence after nature, or that nature and God are one and the same thing, and tell him that the exact opposite is the case, and he is bound to regard you as someone deluded by the fables of the clergy, or as simple-minded, or as dense or crazy. The same applies to every idea which has been fixed in the mind by persuasion and proof; and eventually they look like tapestries fixed by many nails to a wall stuck together out of crumbling stones.
It is impossible for Christ’s merit and righteousness to be imputed.
In order to know how impossible it is for the merit and righteousness of Jesus Christ to be imputed, it is necessary to know what His merit and righteousness are, The merit of our Lord the Saviour is redemption; on the nature of this see the relevant chapter above (114-133). It is there described as being the conquest of the hells and the ordering of the heavens, followed by the foundation of a church; and so it was shown that it was an entirely Divine deed. It was also shown there that by redemption the Lord gave Himself the power to regenerate and save people who believe in Him and keep His commandments; without this act of redemption no flesh could have been saved. Since then redemption was an entirely Divine deed, and was the Lord’s alone, this being His merit, it follows that this cannot be applied, attributed or imputed to any human being, any more than the creation and preservation of the universe can. Redemption was also a kind of fresh creation of the heaven of angels, and also of the church.
[2] The present-day church attributes that merit of the Lord the Redeemer to those who acquire faith by grace. This is plain from their dogmas, among which this is the principal. For the hierarchy of that church and their adherents, both in the Roman Catholic as well as in the Reformed churches, hold that through the imputation of Christ’s merit those who have acquired faith are not merely counted righteous and holy, but actually are. They also assert that their sins are not sins in the sight of God, because they are forgiven; and they themselves are justified, that is, reconciled, made new, regenerated, sanctified and enlisted in heaven. This is the teaching of the whole Christian church at the present time, as is evident from the Council of Trent, the Confessions of Augusta and Augsburg*, and from the commentaries quoted and generally accepted.
[3] The inevitable consequence of what was said above, when transferred to that belief, is that the possession of that faith is that merit and righteousness of the Lord, and it follows that its possessor is Christ under another name. For it is said that Christ Himself is righteousness, and that that faith is righteousness, and that imputation (understood as meaning also attribution and application) makes them not only to be counted, but actually to be, righteous and holy. You have only to add transcription to imputation, application and attribution, and you will be a Pope, Christ’s vicar.
* Apparently alternative names for the single document usually called ‘the Confession of Augsburg’.
[2] There is a sun in the spiritual world, and the Lord is in its midst. From that sun He spreads His radiation by means of light and heat throughout the spiritual world, and to everyone there. This is the source of all the light and heat there is in that world. From that sun the Lord also radiates the same light and the same heat into the souls and minds of human beings. The heat in its essence is His Divine love, the light in its essence is His Divine wisdom. This light and heat is modified by the Lord to suit the ability and nature of the angel or man receiving it; this is effected by means of spiritual auras or atmospheres, which carry and transmit them. It is the Divine itself immediately surrounding the Lord which composes that sun. It is distanced from the angels, as the sun of the natural world is from men, in order that it should not come into unprotected and close contact with them. For if it did, they would be consumed, like a block of wood thrown into the unprotected sun, as I have said.
[3] These facts are enough to establish that the Lord’s merit and righteousness, being entirely Divine, could not in any way be, imported by imputation into any angel or man. In fact, if a mere drop of this, unless modified as stated, were to touch them, they would instantly be racked with the torments of the dying, their feet put out of joint and their eyes squinting, until they expired. This was well known in the Israelite church by the saying that no one can see God and live.
[4] The sun of the spiritual world, as it is since Jehovah God took upon Himself human form and added to this redemption and a new righteousness, is described by these words of Isaiah:
The light of the sun will be sevenfold, like the light of seven days, on the day when Jehovah binds up His people’s broken limb. Isa. 30:26.
This chapter from beginning to end deals with the Lord’s coming. There is also a description of what would happen, if the Lord were to come down and come close to any ungodly person, in this passage of Revelation:
They hid themselves in caves and mountain rocks, and kept saying to the mountains and rocks, Hide us from the face of him that sits upon the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb. Rev. 6:15, 16.
The expression ‘the wrath of the Lamb’ is used because at the approach of the Lord this is what that terror and torment seem to them to be like.
[5] Another manifest proof of this can be drawn from the fact that, if any ungodly person were admitted to heaven, where charity and faith in the Lord reign, darkness would fall upon his eyes, dizziness and madness on his mind, pain and torment on his body, and he would become as if lifeless. What then would happen if the Lord Himself, with His Divine merit, which is redemption, and with His Divine righteousness were to enter into a person? Not even the Apostle John could withstand the Lord’s presence, for we read that when he saw the Son of Man in the midst of the seven lampstands, he fell at His feet as if dead (Rev. 1:17).
A person who has not been born again is, as far as his spirit is concerned, like a panther or an owl, and can be likened to a briar or a nettle. But one who is reborn is like a sheep or a dove, and can be likened to an olive tree or a vine. Just consider, if you please, how a panther-man can be turned into a sheep-man, or an owl into a dove, or a briar into an olive tree or a nettle into a vine, by means of any imputation, attribution or application of Divine righteousness. It would be more likely to damn him than to justify him. Surely if anything is to be turned into anything else, the bestiality of the panther and the owl, or the harmfulness of the briar and nettle, must first be removed, and in its stead what is truly human and harmless implanted? How this may be is also taught by the Lord in John (15:1-7).
There is imputation but it is of good and evil, and at the same time of faith.
It is imputation of good and evil which is to be understood where this is mentioned in the Word. This is established by countless passages there, some of which have already been quoted; but to ensure that everyone can be certain that there is no other kind of imputation, I shall cite here some more from the Word.
The Son of Man is to come, and He will then deal with each according to his deeds. Matt. 16:27.
Those who have done good deeds will go forth to be resurrected to life, but those who have done wicked deeds to be resurrected to judgment. John 5:29.
The book was opened, which is the book of life; and all were judged in accordance with their deeds. Rev. 20:12, 13.
Behold, I come quickly, and my reward is with me, so that I may give to each according to what he has done. Rev. 22:12.
I will punish his behaviour, his deeds I will repay him. Hosea 4:9; Zech. 1:6; Jer. 25:14; 32:19.
On the day of wrath and righteous judgment God will render to each in accordance with his deeds. Rom. 2:5, 6.
We must all be put on show before the tribunal of Christ so that each may be rewarded for his bodily acts, whether good or ill. 2 Cor. 5:10.
[2] There was no other rule governing imputation at the beginning of the church, and there will be no other at its end. The beginning is plain from Adam and his wife, who were condemned for doing evil, by eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Genesis, chapters 2 and 3). It is plain from these words spoken by the Lord that it will be no different at the end of the church.
When the Son of Man comes in His* glory, He will sit upon His throne of His glory. And He will say to the sheep on the right, Come, blessed ones, and take possession as an inheritance of the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food; I was thirsty and you gave me drink; I was a stranger and you took me in; I was naked and you clothed me; I was sick and you visited me; I was in prison and you came to me. But He said to the goats on the left because they had not done good deeds, Begone from me, accursed people, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels. Matt. 25:31ff
Anyone who has his eyes open can see from this that good and evil are imputed.
[3] There is also imputation of faith, because charity, which relates to good, and faith, which relates to truth, are together in good deeds. If they are not together, then the deeds are not good, see above 373-377. James therefore says:
Was not Abraham our father justified by his deeds, when he offered his son upon the altar? Do you not see that faith co-operated with deeds, and by its deeds his faith was recognised as perfect? And the scripture was fulfilled which says, Abraham believed God, and this was imputed to him for righteousness. James 2:21-23.
* A correction found in the author’s copy for ‘in the glory of His Father’.
[2] Moreover, ask anyone you like – from this or the other two continents – who is endowed with religious feeling and also with powers of reasoning, who he thinks will go to heaven and who to hell. They will all agree in their answer, that those who do good go to heaven and those who do evil go to hell. Again, who does not know that every truly human being loves a person, a group of many people, a city or a kingdom because of the good in them? In fact the same applies not only to people, but also to animals, and to inanimate objects like houses, possessions, estates, gardens, trees, woods, land, even metals and stones. All these are loved for their goodness and for the purpose they serve; good and purpose are one. Why then, must not the Lord love mankind and the church for the good in them?
The faith and concept of imputation in the new church cannot by any means be combined with the faith and concept of imputation current in the former church. If they are combined, there is such a clash and conflict that a person loses all trace of anything to do with the church.
The faith and concept of imputation in the new church cannot be combined with the faith and concept of imputation current in the former or still existing church, because they do not agree to the extent of one third, in fact, not one tenth. The faith of the former church teaches that three Divine Persons existed from eternity, each of which is singly or by Himself God, and there are also three creators. But the faith of the new church is that there was only one Divine Person, and so only one God, from eternity, and there is no other God beside Him. The faith of the former church therefore has held that the Divine Trinity is divided into three Persons; but the faith of the new church holds that the Divine Trinity is united in one Person.
[2] The faith of the former church was in a God who is invisible, inaccessible and with whom we cannot be linked. Their concept of God was like their concept of a spirit, being like that of the ether or the wind. But the faith of the new church is in a God who is visible, accessible and with whom we can be linked, in whom is the God who is invisible, inaccessible and with whom we cannot be linked, just as the soul is in the body. Their concept of God is as a human being because the one God, who was from eternity, became a human being in time.
[3] The faith of the former church attributes all power to the invisible God, and takes it away from the visible God. For it holds that God the Father imputes faith, and by means of it confers everlasting life; and that the visible God only intercedes, and both give (or according to the Greek church, God the Father gives) to the Holy Spirit, who occupies the third position as God by Himself, all power to carry out the effects of that faith. But the faith of the new church attributes to the visible God, in whom is the invisible God, all power to impute and also to carry out the effects of salvation.
[4] The faith of the former church is primarily in God the Creator, and not at the same time in God as Redeemer and Saviour. But the faith of the new church is in one God, who is at the same time Creator, Redeemer and Saviour.
[5] The faith of the former church is that the gift and imputation of faith is followed automatically by repentance, the forgiveness of sins, renewal, regeneration, sanctification and salvation, without the person taking any part in or being connected with them. But the faith of the new church teaches repentance, reformation and regeneration leading to the forgiveness of sins with the person’s co-operation.
[6] The faith of the former church holds that Christ’s merit is imputed, and the bestowal of faith embraces this imputation. But the faith of the new church teaches that good and evil are imputed, and so is faith, this imputation being in agreement with Holy Scripture, while the other is contrary to it.
[7] The former church holds that faith, in which Christ’s merit is contained, is bestowed, while the person remains like a block of wood or a stone; it also holds that a person is totally powerless in spiritual matters. But the new church teaches a completely different faith, which is not in Christ’s merit, but in Jesus Christ Himself, God, Redeemer and Saviour, holding that a person has free will to devote himself both to receiving faith and to co-operating.
[8] The former church attaches charity as an appendage to its faith, but not that which brings about salvation, and this is the basis of its religion. But the new church links faith in the Lord with charity towards the neighbour, making them inseparable, and thus the basis of its religion. There are many other disagreements besides these.
* This and the following two sections are expanded from BE 102-104.
[2] The faith of the former church, since it shuts out all the light that comes from reason, can be likened to an owl. But the faith of the new church can be likened to a dove, which flies in the daytime and sees by the light of heaven. So bringing them together in one mind would be like bringing an owl and a dove together in one nest, where the owl and the dove would each lay their eggs, and when they had sat on the eggs and hatched the chicks, the owl would tear the dove’s chicks in pieces and feed them to its own chicks; for the owl is a bird of prey.
[3] The faith of the former church is described in Revelation (chapter 12) by the dragon, and the faith of the new church by the woman surrounded by the sun with a crown of twelve stars on her head. This comparison can allow one to conclude what would be the state of a person’s mind, if they were present at one time in one house: the dragon would stand close to the woman, as she was about to give birth, with the intention of devouring her child; and when she flew off into the desert would pursue her, and pour water like a river over her to drown her.
The Lord imputes good to everyone and hell imputes evil to everyone,
It is news to the church that the Lord imputes good and never evil to a person, and that the devil (by which is meant hell) imputes evil and never good to him. The reason this is news is that we read in many passages in the Word that God is angry, takes revenge, hates, condemns, punishes, throws someone into hell, tempts him, all of which are the actions of a wicked person, and so are evils. But, as was shown in the chapter on the Sacred Scripture, the literal sense of the Word was composed out of what are called appearances and correspondences. This was in order to link the externals of the church with its internals, and so to link the world with heaven. The same chapter also showed that when such things are read about in heaven, the appearances of truth in their passage from man to heaven are actually changed into genuine truths. These are that the Lord is never angry, never takes revenge, hates, condemns, punishes, throws anyone into hell, or tempts him; thus He never does evil to anyone. I have often observed this transmutation and change in the spiritual world.
[2] Pray consider this point. What sort of Lord would He be, if He looked in anger on the wicked, but leniently on the good (the wicked number hundreds of millions, and so do the good); and if the Lord were to save one party by His grace and damn the other in revenge, looking on the two groups with such a different gaze, gently and mildly in one case and sternly and unyieldingly in the other? What would this make the Lord God? Everyone who has been taught by sermons in church knows that all good which is essentially good is from God, and on the other hand that all evil which is essentially evil is from the devil. So if a person were to receive both good and evil, good from the Lord, and evil from the devil, in both cases in the will, would he not become neither cold nor hot, but lukewarm, to be spat out, as the Lord’s words have it in Revelation (3:15, 16)?
Jesus said, When I am raised up from the earth, I shall draw all to myself. John 12:32.
God did not send His Son into the world to judge the world, but so that the world should be saved through Him. He who believes in Him is not judged, but he who does not believe is already judged. John 3:17, 18.
If anyone has heard my words, yet has not believed, I do not judge him. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world. He who despises me and does not receive my words has that which judges him. The word which I have spoken will judge him on the last day. John 12:47, 48.
Jesus said, I judge no one. John 8:15.
Judgment here and elsewhere in the Word means being sent by judgment to hell, which is damnation. In speaking of salvation the term judgment is not used, but resurrection to life (John 5:24, 29; 3:18).
[2] The word which will judge means truth; and it is a truth that all evil is from hell, and so evil and hell are one. When therefore the wicked person is raised by the Lord towards heaven, then his evil drags him down, and because he loves evil, he follows of his own accord. It is also a truth contained in the Word that good is heaven. When therefore the good person is raised by the Lord towards heaven, he climbs up as if of his own accord, and is brought inside. These are those who are said to be ‘written in the Book of Life’ (Dan. 12:1; Rev. 13:8; 20:12, 15; 17:8; 21:27).
[3] There is in fact a sphere continuously radiated by the Lord, which raises all to heaven; this fills the whole of both the spiritual and natural worlds. It is like a strong current in the ocean, which invisibly draws a ship along. All who believe in the Lord and live in accordance with His commandments come within that sphere or current, and are raised up. But those who do not believe are unwilling to come within it, but take themselves off to one side or the other, and are there swept away by the stream bound for hell.
You brood of vipers, how can you speak good when you are wicked? The good man puts forth good things from the good treasury of his heart, and the wicked man puts forth evil from his wicked treasury. Matt. 12:34, 35.
654. IX
It is what faith combines with which is the deciding factor. If true faith combines with good, that is a decision for everlasting life; but if faith combines with evil, that is a decision for everlasting death.
Charitable acts performed by a Christian and by a heathen look similar in external form, for one like the other does to his fellow the good actions prescribed by politeness and morality. These are in part similar to the good deeds of love towards the neighbour. Both in fact may give to the poor, help the needy, listen to sermons in churches. But who can judge from that whether those external good actions are similar in internal form, whether, that is, the natural good is also spiritual good? No conclusion about this can be reached except by taking faith into consideration, for it is faith that determines their quality. It is faith that causes God to be in them and links them with itself in the internal man. It is this that makes natural good deeds inwardly spiritual. The truth of this can be seen at more length from the discussions in the chapter on faith, where the following propositions are proved.
Faith is not alive until it is combined with charity. Charity becomes spiritual as the result of faith, and faith becomes spiritual as the result of charity. Faith without charity, not being spiritual, is no faith, and charity without faith, being lifeless, is no charity. Faith and charity attach and link themselves each with the other. The Lord, charity and faith make one, just as life, will and the understanding do; but if they are separated, each of them is destroyed like a pearl collapsing into dust [355-367].
One’s thoughts are not imputed to anyone, only one’s will.
Every educated person knows that the mind contains two parts or faculties, the will and the understanding. But few people know how to make a proper distinction between them, to enumerate their properties individually and then to combine them. Those who are unable to do this inevitably acquire only the dimmest notion about the mind. So unless the properties of each taken by itself are first described, the meaning of this statement, that one’s thoughts are not imputed to anyone, only one’s will, cannot be grasped.
The properties of each are in summary form the following:
1. Love itself, and things to do with love, are lodged in the will; knowledge, intelligence and wisdom are lodged in the understanding. The will breathes its love into these, and brings about their favour and assent. As a result, what one’s love and so one’s intelligence are like determine what one is like oneself.
[2] 2. It follows from this that all good and also all evil belong to the will. For whatever arises from love is called good, even though it might be evil, for this is the result of the pleasure which makes up the will’s life. By means of this pleasure the will enters into the understanding and gains its consent.
[3] 3. The will then is the being (esse) or essence of a person’s life, but the understanding is the coming-into-being (existere) or arising from this. Since an essence has no reality unless it is endowed with a form, so the will has no reality unless it is in the understanding. The will therefore takes a form upon itself in the understanding, so that it may come to light.
[4] 4. The love in the will is the end in view, and in the understanding it seeks and finds causes, through which it may advance to its realisation. Since the end in view is an aim and this is what it seeks, it is also the aim of the will, by means of which it enters into the understanding, and impels it to consider and turn over the means, and to determine upon such means as aim at producing the effect.
[5] 5. All of a person’s self (proprium) is in the will. It is from his first birth evil, and becomes good as the result of his second birth. One’s first birth is from one’s parents, the second from the Lord.
[6] 6. These few remarks will enable it to be seen that the will and the understanding have different properties, which from creation have been linked in the same relation as Being and Coming-into-being. Consequently it is primarily the will that makes a person a human being, only secondarily is it the understanding. Hence it is that one’s will is imputed to one, but not one’s thought; and likewise evil and good, since these, as I have said, are lodged in the will and only from there enter into the thought process of the understanding.
[2] There is also a comparison with worship and with the building in which it is held. Worship itself takes place in the will, and in the understanding which is a kind of church for it; and this is called holy not on its own account, but because of the Divine instruction given there. A comparison is also possible with an empire ruled over by good, together with truth, which is much loved; but not with one where truth rules without good. Does anyone judge a king from his attendants, his horses and carriages, and not from the royalty which they know is in him? Royalty consists in a loving and prudent government. Does anyone watching a victory parade fail to look at the victor and judge the procession from him, not him from the procession? It follows that one judges the formal aspect from the essential, not the reverse. The will is the essential, and thought is the formal. No one can impute to the form anything but what it derives from the essential; so imputation applies to the essential, not the formal.
In the higher northern region of the spiritual world near to the east there are places of instruction for boys. (There are also places for youths, men and old men.) All who died in childhood are sent to these places and are brought up in heaven. Likewise all who are recent arrivals from the world, and want to know about heaven and hell, are sent there. The area is close to the east, so that all may be taught by the inflow from the Lord. For the Lord is the east, being in the sun there, which is undiluted love coming from Him. Hence the heat from that sun is in essence love, and the light from it is in essence wisdom. These are breathed into them by the Lord from that sun; the degree to which this happens is dependent upon their ability to receive it, and this is dependent on their love for being wise. After periods of instruction those who have become intelligent are discharged from there, and these are called the Lord’s disciples. On being discharged they go first to the west, and those who do not remain there proceed to the south, some passing through the south to the east. They are admitted to communities where they will be given a home.
[2] Once when I was reflecting about heaven and hell, I began to wish I had a general knowledge of the state of each. I knew that anyone with a general knowledge can afterwards grasp the particulars, since these are contained in the general view, like parts in the whole. So under the influence of that desire I looked towards that region in the north bordering on the east, where the places of instruction were, and went there by a road which was then opened up for me. I went into one college where there were young men, and approaching the senior teachers who were instructing them, I asked whether they knew any general facts about heaven and hell.
They replied that they only knew a little; ‘but,’ they said, ‘if we look eastwards towards the Lord, we shall be enlightened and then shall know.’
[3] They did so, and said: ‘There are three general facts about hell, but those about hell are diametrically opposed to those about heaven. The general facts about hell are the three loves: the love of controlling as the result of self-love, the love of possessing other people’s goods as a result of love of the world, and scortatory** love. The general facts about heaven are the opposite three loves: the love of controlling as the result of being of service, the love of possessing worldly goods as the result of the love of being of service by their means, and truly conjugial love.’
After this conversation I wished them peace, and leaving them went back home. When I was at home, I was told from heaven: ‘Examine those three general facts above and below, and then we shall see them on your hand.’ They said ‘on your hand’ because everything a person examines with his understanding appears to the angels as if written on his hands. That is why it is said in Revelation that they had a mark on their forehead and on their hand (Rev. 13:16; 14:9; 20:4).
[4] After this I examined the first general love of hell, the love of controlling as the result of self-love, and then the general love of heaven which is its opposite, the love of controlling as the result of the love of being of service. I was not allowed to examine one love without the other, because the understanding does not perceive one love without the other, since they are opposites. So in order to perceive either, they need to be set opposite, each facing the other. For a pretty or beautiful face shines out when confronted by its ugly and deformed opposite. When I discussed the love of controlling as the result of self-love, I was allowed to perceive that this love is hellish above all others, and so is experienced by those who are in the deepest hell; and the love of controlling as the result of the love of being of service is heavenly above all others, and is experienced by those who are in the highest heaven.
[5] The reason why the love of controlling others as the result of self-love is hellish above all others is that controlling as the result of self-love comes from the self (proprium), and a person’s self is from birth sheer evil, and sheer evil is diametrically opposed to the Lord. The more, therefore, these people advance into that evil, the more they deny God and the holy things of the church, worshipping themselves and Nature. I beg those who are possessed by that evil to seek it out in themselves, and then they will see it.
This love is also such that in so far as checks are relaxed, something that happens provided there is no insuperable obstacle, it rushes from one stage to the next until it reaches its acme. Nor does it even stop there, but grieves and groans, if there is no further stage for it to reach.
[6] In the case of politicians this love climbs so high that they want to be kings and emperors, and control, if possible, everything in the world, earning the title of king of kings and emperor of emperors. In the case of clergy the same love rises to the point that they want to be gods and, so far as possible, to control everything in heaven, acquiring the title god of gods***. It will be seen in what follows that both these groups of people do not at heart acknowledge any God. On the other hand, those who want to exercise control from a love of being of service are unwilling to exercise control from themselves, wanting it to be from the Lord, since the love of being of service is from the Lord, and is the Lord Himself. These people look upon high offices as nothing but means to be of service. They regard such services as far superior to high office, but the others regard high office as far superior to services.
[7] When I had reached this point in my reflexion, word was sent to me by the Lord through an angel who said: ‘Now you shall see and receive visual proof of what that hellish love is like.’
The ground suddenly opened on the left, and I saw a devil coming up from hell. On his head he had a square hat pulled down over his forehead to the eyes, a face covered in spots like those of a raging fever, glowering eyes, and a chest swollen up in the shape of a lozenge****. He belched smoke from his mouth like a furnace, his loins were plainly on fire, and in place of feet he had bony ankles devoid of flesh. His body gave off a heat that smelt rotten and filthy. I was terrified by this apparition, and called out: ‘Don’t come closer. Tell me where you are from.’
‘I am from the underworld,’ he replied in a hoarse voice, ‘and I belong with two hundred others to a community which is the most exalted of all. All of us there are emperors of emperors, kings of kings, dukes of dukes, princes of princes. There is no one there who is merely an emperor, king, duke or prince. There we sit on thrones of thrones, from where we despatch our commands through all the world, and beyond.’
‘Don’t you See,’ I said to him, ‘that your imagined pre-eminence has driven you mad?’
‘How can you say such a thing,’ he replied, ‘when this is exactly what we seem to ourselves to be and we are acknowledged by our companions as Such?’
[8] On hearing this I was unwilling to go on telling him he was mad, because his madness was the result of his imagination. I was allowed to know that when that devil lived in the world he had been nothing but the steward of a household. He had then been so haughty in spirit that he despised the whole human race compared with himself, and indulged in the fancy that he was of higher rank than the king or even the emperor. This pride made him deny the existence of God and treat all the holy things of the church as of no value to him, but merely something for the unintelligent populace.
At length I asked him: ‘How long are the two hundred of you there going to go on boasting to one another?’
‘For ever,’ he said. ‘But those of us who torture others for denying our pre-eminence sink down below. For we are allowed to boast, but not to harm anyone.’
‘Do you know,’ I went on to ask, ‘what awaits those who sink down below?’ He said that they sink into a sort of prison, where they are called lower than the low, the lowliest of all, and there they work. Then I told the devil to take care that he too did not sink down.
[9] After this the ground opened again, but this time on the right, and I saw another devil rising up. He had on his head a sort of mitre with coils wrapped round it like a snake’s, but with its peak jutting out. His face was leprous from forehead to chin, and so were both hands. His loins were bare and black as soot with a dull glow of fire as if from a hearth showing through. His ankles were like two vipers.
The first devil on seeing him went down on his knees and worshipped him. I asked him why.
‘He is the God’, he answered, ‘of heaven and earth, and is omnipotent.’
So I asked the other devil: ‘What have you got to say to this?’
‘What can I say?’ he replied. ‘I have all power over heaven and hell; the fate of all souls is in my hand.’
‘How can he,’ I asked again, ‘who is emperor of emperors so humble himself, and how can you accept his worship?’
‘He is none the less my Servant,’ he replied. ‘What is an emperor in the sight of God? I hold in my right hand the thunderbolt of excommunication.’
[10] Then I said to him: ‘How can you be so crazy? In the world you were only an ordinary clergyman; and because you laboured under the delusion that you had the keys, and so the power to bind and to release, you let your spirit be so far carried away that you have now reached such a pitch of madness as to make you believe that you are God Himself.’
He was annoyed at this and swore that he was, and that the Lord had no power in heaven; ‘because,’ he said, ‘He has transferred it all to us. We need only issue orders, and heaven and hell respectfully obey us. If we send anyone to hell, the devils immediately accept him; and so do the angels when we send anyone to heaven.’
‘How many,’ I went on to ask, ‘are there of you in your community?’
‘Three hundred,’ he said, ‘and all of us are gods; but I am the god of gods.’
[11] After this the ground opened beneath the feet of both, and they sank deep down to their own hells. I was allowed to see, and beneath their hells were prison workshops, into which any who harm others can fall. For everyone in hell is allowed to keep his delusion and to boast about it, but not to do anyone else harm. The reason why people there are like this is that a person is then in his spirit, and the spirit, when it has been separated from the body, enjoys complete freedom to act in accordance with its affections and the thoughts they give rise to.
[12] Later I was allowed to look into their hells. The hell, where the emperors of emperors and kings of kings were, was full of all kinds of filth. They themselves looked like various wild beasts with glowering eyes. It was much the same in the other hell, where the gods and the god of gods were. In that hell were to be seen the ill-omened night birds called ochim and iyim***** flying around them. Their delusions produced images like this to my sight.
These experiences made it plain what the self-love of politicians and ecclesiastics is like. The latter want to be gods, the former emperors. In so far as the restraints placed on these loves are relaxed, they want this and strive to achieve this.
[13] After seeing these sad and horrifying sights I looked around and saw two angels standing not far from me in conversation. One was dressed in a woollen robe gleaming with flaming purple with a tunic of glistening linen underneath. The other was similarly dressed in red with a mitre which had a few rubies mounted on the right side. I went up to them and greeted them with the word ‘peace’. I asked respectfully: ‘Why are you down here?’
‘We have travelled down here from heaven,’ they replied, ‘in response to the Lord’s instruction that we were to talk to you about the blessed state of those who want to control others because they love performing services. We are worshippers of the Lord; I am the prince of our community, and the other is the chief priest in it.’
The prince said that he was the servant of his community, since he served it by performing services. The other one said that he was the minister of the church there, since his service to them was the administration of holy rites for the service of their souls. They both enjoyed perpetual joys arising from the everlasting happiness the Lord bestows on them. They said that everything in their community was splendid and magnificent, gleaming with gold and precious stones, and magnificent in its palaces and parks. ‘The reason,’ he said, ‘is that our love of controlling others does not arise from self-love, but from the love of performing services. Since this love comes from the Lord, all good services in heaven sparkle and gleam. And since all in our community share this love, the atmosphere there appears golden as the result of the light it receives from the sun’s flame. It is this flame-coloured sunlight which corresponds to that love.’
[14] When they said this an atmosphere of this kind became visible around them; and I smelt an aroma from it, as I also told them. I begged them to add a little more to what they had said about the love of performing services. So they went on to say: ‘The ranks we enjoy are something we sought, but for no other purpose than to perform services more fully and to spread them over a wider range. We also have honours heaped on us, and we accept them, not for ourselves, but for the good of the community. Our brethren and colleagues who belong to the common people there are hardly aware that the honours of our rank are not in us or that the services we perform do not come from us. But we can tell the difference; we feel that the honours of rank lie outside us, being like clothes in which we dress. But the services we perform come from the love of performing them which is within us coming from the Lord, and this love derives its blessedness by being shared with others by means of services performed. We know by experience that in so far as we perform services as a result of our love for them, so far does that love increase, and wisdom increases with it, as a result of which it is shared. But to the extent that we keep these services to ourselves and do not share them, to that extent our blessedness departs. Then the performing of services becomes like food stored in the stomach instead of being carried around to nourish the body and its parts; but if it remains undigested it causes nausea. In short, the whole of heaven is nothing but a container of services, from first to last. What is a service but the realisation in action of love for the neighbour? And what holds the heavens together but this love?’
[15] On hearing this I asked: ‘How can anyone tell whether he is performing services out of self-love or out of a love of service? Everyone, good as well as wicked, performs services and does so at the bidding of some love. Suppose that in the world there were a community composed of none but devils, and another composed of none but angels. It is my opinion that the devils in their community, fired by self-love and resplendent in their self-esteem, would perform just as many services as the angels in their community. Who then can tell what is the love and the origin from which these services come?’
The two angels replied to this speech thus: ‘Devils perform services for their own sakes and to get a reputation, so as to be promoted to honours, or to make a profit. But angels do not perform services for these reasons, but for the sake of the services and their love of being of service. No man can distinguish between those services, but the Lord can. Everyone who believes in the Lord and shuns evils as sins performs services at the Lord’s bidding. But anyone who does not believe in the Lord, and does not shun evils as sins, performs services for himself and for his own sake. This is the difference between services performed by devils and those performed by angels.’
After saying this the two angels went away; and from a distance they appeared to be travelling in a chariot of fire like Elijah, until they were taken up into their own heaven.
* This passage is repeated from CL 261-266.
** A technical term used to mean the love of adultery not regarded as a sin, the opposite of conjugial or marriage love; see CL 423.
*** The last two words are added from the parallel passage in CL 262.3; cf. 661.12 below.
**** It is impossible to be sure exactly what this phrase means.
***** Hebrew words apparently meaning ‘howling creatures’.
Some time later I went into a park and walked there reflecting on those who have a longing to possess worldly goods and so imagine that they do. Then I saw at some distance from me two angels in conversation, who from time to time looked towards me. So I went nearer, and as I approached they addressed me and said: ‘We have an inward perception that you are reflecting upon what we are talking about, or that we are talking about what you are reflecting on, which is the result of the reciprocal communication of affections.’
So I asked what they were talking about. ‘About imagination,’ they said, ‘longing and intelligence; and now about those who delight in day-dreaming and imagining they possess everything in the world.’
[2] So I asked them to reveal their thoughts on these three topics, longing, imagination and intelligence.
They began their reply by saying that everyone inwardly by birth has longings, but outwardly acquires intelligence by education. No one has intelligence, much less wisdom, inwardly, that is, in respect of his spirit, except from the Lord. ‘For everyone,’ they said, ‘is restrained from longing for evil, and is kept in intelligence in proportion to the extent he looks to the Lord and at the same time is linked with Him. Failing this, a person is nothing but longing; yet in externals, that is, as regards the body, he has intelligence as the result of education. A person longs for honours and riches, or to be eminent and wealthy; and these two goals cannot be achieved unless he appears well-behaved and spiritual, and so intelligent and wise. So from childhood he learns to appear thus. This is why, as soon as he mixes with people or attends a meeting, he reverses his spirit, switching it away from longing, and speaking and acting in accordance with the principles of decency and honour which he learned from childhood and retains in his bodily memory. He also takes the greatest care to see that nothing of the mad longing of his spirit slips out.
[3] Thus everyone, who is not inwardly guided by the Lord, is a pretender, a sycophant and hypocrite, appearing to be a human being without being one. Of him it can be said that his shell or body is wise, his kernel or spirit is mad; that his external is human, his internal that of a wild beast. Such people go about with the back of their heads pointing upwards, and downwards with the front, so that they are weighed down by their burden, with their heads hanging down, their gaze fastened on the ground. When they put off their bodies, becoming spirits and being set free, they turn into what their own mad longings are. For those who are ruled by self-love long to be masters of the universe, or even to extend its limits so as to have wider sway, for they can see no end to it. Those ruled by love of the world long to possess everything in it, and are grieved and envious if anyone has any treasures stored away in secret. So to prevent such people from turning into sheer longings and losing their humanity, they are allowed in the spiritual world to have their thoughts influenced by fear of losing their reputation, and so their honours and profit, as well as by fear of the law and its penalties. They are also allowed to concentrate their mind on some study or task, so that they are kept in externals and so in a state of intelligence, however much inwardly they rave and behave like madmen.’
[4] After this I asked whether all who have this longing also suffer from the delusion that they do possess worldly goods. They replied that the people who suffer from this delusion are those who think inwardly about it and over-indulge their imagination, talking to themselves about it. These people come close to separating their spirit from its link with the body; they swamp the understanding by day-dreaming, and indulge in the empty pleasure of imagining they possess everything. A person is after death the victim of this madness, if he has withdrawn his spirit from the body, and has not been willing to retreat from the delight his madness gives him. He thinks little from a religious point of view about evils and falsities, and hardly anything about unrestrained self-love as being destructive of love to the Lord, and unrestrained love of the world as being destructive of love towards the neighbour.
[5] After this the two angels and I felt a desire to see those who suffer from this imaginary longing, or delusion that they possess the wealth of all as the result of love of the world. We perceived that this desire came upon us in order that we should get to know these people. Their homes were under the ground on which we stood, but above hell. So we looked at one another and said: ‘Let us go.’ We saw an opening and some steps, so we went down them. We were told to approach them from the east, to avoid entering the cloud of their delusion and putting our understandings in shadow, which would at the same time obscure our sight.
Suddenly we caught sight of a building made of reeds, and therefore full of chinks, standing in the cloud, which continually seeped out like smoke from the chinks in three of the walls. We went in and saw fifty on one side and fifty on the other, sitting on benches. They had their backs to the east and south and faced the west and north. Each had a table in front of him with bulging money-bags on it, and around the bags piles of gold coins.
[6] ‘Are those,’ we asked each, ‘the wealth of all in the world?’
‘Not all in the world,’ they said, ‘but all in the kingdom.’ Their speech sounded like a whistle, and they themselves had round faces which had a ruddy look like the shell of a snail. The pupils of their eyes seemed to sparkle against a green background; this was caused by the light of their delusion.
We took up a position in between them and said: ‘Do you believe that you possess all the wealth of the kingdom?’ ‘Yes,’ they replied.
Then we asked: ‘Which one of you possesses this?’ ‘Each of us,’ they said.
‘How can you each possess this?’ we asked. ‘There are many of you.’
‘We each of us,’ they said, ‘know that everything that belongs to another is ours. We are not allowed to think, much less say, “What is mine is not yours,” but we are allowed to think and say, “What is yours is mine.” ‘
Even to our eyes the coins on the tables looked as if made of pure gold. But when we let in light from the east, they turned out to be small particles of gold which they had magnified to such an extent by means of shared joint delusion. They said that anyone who comes in has to bring with him some gold, which they cut up into pieces, and these into small particles, and these they then magnify by concentrating their delusive powers with one intention, to make them look like coins of the larger sort.
[7] Then we said: ‘Were you not born rational human beings? Where have you acquired that foolish fancy?’
‘We know,’ they said, ‘that our vanity is fanciful, but because it pleases the interiors of our minds, we come in here and are delighted by seeming to possess everyone’s wealth. But we do not stay here for more than a few hours, and having spent this time here we go out, and each time sanity returns to our minds. But still the attraction of our day-dreams from time to time comes upon us, and makes us alternate between coming in and going out, so that by turns we are wise and crazy. We know too that a harsh fate awaits those who cunningly filch other people’s property.’
‘What fate is that?’ we asked.
‘They are sucked down,’ they said, land thrown naked into some prison in hell, where they are obliged to work for clothing and for food, and then for a few pennies which they hoard and make their hearts’ desire. But if they do harm to their companions, they have to give up some of their pennies as a fine.’
* This section is repeated from CL 267-268.
I was once in company with angels and listened to their conversation. They were talking about intelligence and wisdom, saying that a person has no other feeling and perception but that intelligence and wisdom are both in him, and so whatever he wills and thinks comes from him. Yet in fact not a scrap of either comes from the person, apart from the ability to receive them. Among the many things they said was this, that the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the Garden of Eden stood for a belief that intelligence and wisdom were from man, and the tree of life stood for a belief that intelligence and wisdom were from God. It was because Adam was persuaded by the serpent to eat from the former tree, believing that he would be or become God, that he was ejected from the garden and damned.
[2] While the angels were discussing this, two priests arrived accompanied by a man who in the world had been a country’s ambassador. I repeated to them what I had heard from the angels about intelligence and wisdom, and on hearing this the three of them began to argue about these two subjects and also about prudence, whether they were from God or from man. It was a fierce argument. All three believed alike that these came from man, because their actual feeling and so their perception supported this view; but the priests, being then under the influence of theological zeal, insisted that no part of intelligence and wisdom, and so of prudence, came from man. They found confirmation of that in these passages of the Word:
A man cannot take anything, unless it is given him from heaven. John 3:27.
Jesus said to the disciples, Without me you can do nothing. John 15:5.
[3] But the angels allowed me to perceive that, however much the priests talked like this, they still at heart held similar beliefs to the ambassador’s. So the angels said to them: ‘Take off your clothes and put on those of ministers of state, and believe that is what you are.’ They did so, and then they thought from their interiors, and in talking used the arguments they inwardly supported; these were that all intelligence and wisdom reside in man and are his. ‘Who,’ they said, ‘has ever felt that these flow in from God?’ They looked at each other and backed each other up.
It is a special feature of the spiritual world that a spirit thinks himself to be what the clothes he wears indicate. The reason is that it is the understanding which clothes each person there.
[4] At that instant a tree was seen near them, and they were told: ‘It is the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; beware of eating from it.’ Yet they were so infatuated with their own intelligence that they had a burning desire to eat from it, and they said to each other: ‘Why shouldn’t we? Isn’t the fruit good?’ So they went up to it and ate the fruit.
When the ambassador noticed this, they got together and became bosom friends. Then together, holding hands, they took the way of their own intelligence, which leads to hell. However I saw them brought back from there, because they were not yet prepared.
* This section is repeated from CL 353-354.
I once looked out into the spiritual world towards the right, and observed some of the elect* talking to one another. I went up to them and said: ‘I saw you from a distance, and you had a sphere of heavenly light around you. I knew from this that you belong to the people who are called in the Word the elect.’ So I came to you to hear what is the heavenly matter you are talking about.’
‘Why,’ they replied, ‘do you call us “the elect”?’
‘Because,’ I answered, ‘in the world, where I am in the body, they know no better than that the elect in the Word means those who, either before they were born or after birth, were chosen by God and predestined for heaven. To them alone is faith given as a token of their election. The remainder are disapproved and left to themselves, to take whatever way they like to hell. Yet I know that no election takes place before birth or after it, but that all are chosen and predestined for heaven, because all are called. After death the Lord chooses those who have lived good lives and held a proper belief, and these only after they have been examined. I have been permitted to know that this is so by much experience. Since I saw that you had a sphere of heavenly light encircling your heads, I perceived that you belong to the elect who are being prepared for heaven.’
‘What you report,’ they replied, ‘is something unheard of. Is there anyone who does not know that there is no person born who is not called to heaven, and that after death those of them are chosen who have believed in the Lord and have lived in accordance with His commandments? To acknowledge any other election would be to accuse the Lord not only of inability to save, but also of injustice.’
* Or ‘the chosen’.
We went up and, after we were admitted, some wise men came to meet us. They asked me what was known about conscience in my world.
‘Please let us go down,’ I replied, ‘and summon a number of both laity and clergy who are believed to be wise. We will stand vertically beneath you and question them, so you will hear with your own ears what answers they give.’
This was done, and one of the elect took a trumpet and sounded it to the south, the north, the east and the west. Then after a little while such a crowd gathered that they nearly filled the space of a furlong. But the angels overhead arranged them all into four groups; one of them consisted of politicians, the second of scholars, the third of medical men, the fourth of clergy.
When they were so arranged, we said to them: ‘Forgive us for summoning you. The reason is that the angels who are exactly above us are most anxious to know what you thought when you were in your previous world about conscience; and so what you still think about it, since you retain your previous ideas on such matters. It has been reported to the angels that knowledge about conscience is one of the subjects the knowledge of which has been lost in the world.’
[2] After this we began by turning first to the group consisting of politicians. We asked them to say, if they would, what they had thought in their hearts and so continued to think about conscience. They replied to this one after the other. The gist of their replies collectively was that all they knew of conscience was that it was knowing in oneself, and so being conscious of what one intended, thought, did and said.
But we told them: We did not ask about the etymology of the word “conscience”, but what conscience is.’
‘What is conscience,’ was their reply, ‘but anxiety arising from fear of future danger to rank or wealth, and to one’s reputation as the result of their loss? That anxiety is dispelled by feasts and a few glasses of fine wine, and by conversations about the sports of Venus and her son*.’
[3] ‘You are joking,’ we said. ‘Please tell us whether any of you has experienced any anxiety from other sources.’
‘Where else could it be from?’ they replied. ‘Isn’t the whole world like a stage on which each plays his own scene, as comic actors do on their stage? We baffle and get the better of anyone who comes along by means of his own longings, some by making fools of them, some by flattery, some by trickery, some by the pretence of friendship, some by a front of sincerity, and some by our skill as politicians in dangling inducements before them. This gives us no mental anxiety, but on the contrary joviality and gladness, which we fill our lungs with and breathe out silently but to the full. We have indeed heard from some of our colleagues that they are from time to time subject to anxiety and distress, as if affecting the heart and chest, thereby occasioning a sort of cramping of the mind. But on consulting the apothecaries about these, they were told that they are caused by a melancholy humour arising from undigested food in the stomach or from a morbid condition of the spleen. But in some of these cases we have heard of them being restored to their previous joviality by the use of medicines.’
[4] After hearing this we turned to the group composed of scholars, which included a number of experts on physics. We addressed them and said: ‘You have studied the sciences and consequently have been thought to be oracles of wisdom; please tell us what conscience is.’
‘What sort of a question is this?’ they replied. ‘We have indeed heard that some people suffer from sadness, grief and anxiety, which affect not only the gastric regions of the body, but also the seat of the mind. For we believe that the two brains are its seat. Since these are composed of adjacent fibres, there is an acrid humour which plucks, bites and gnaws at those fibres, and so contracts the sphere of thoughts in the mind that it is unable to relax to enjoy any of the diversions that come from variety. So it comes about that the person concentrates on only one topic, and this destroys the tensile properties and elasticity of the fibres, thus causing them to become resistant and rigid. This leads to the irregular movement of the animal spirits, known to the medical profession as ataxy, and also to the failure of function which is called loss of consciousness. In short, the mind then lies as if beset by hostile squadrons, and can no more turn one way or the other than a wheel fastened on with nails or a ship stuck fast on a sand-bank. Such distress of mind and consequently constriction of the chest afflicts those whose ruling love suffers loss. If this love is attacked, the fibres of the brain contract, and this contraction prevents the mind from moving freely and seeking its pleasures in various forms. When these people suffer this crisis, each depending upon his temperament, they are subject to delusions of various kinds, dementia and delirium, and some suffer from religious brainstorms, which they call the pangs of conscience.’
[5] After this we turned to the third group composed of medical men, including surgeons and apothecaries. ‘Perhaps you,’ we said, ‘know what conscience is. Is it not a savage pain which grips the head and the substance of the heart, and so the subjacent epigastric and hypogastric regions; or is it something else?’
‘Conscience,’ they replied, ‘is nothing but a pain of that sort. We are better placed than others to know its origins, for there are accidental diseases which attack the organic substances of the body, and of the head too, consequently also the mind, since the mind sits amid the organs of the brain like a spider in the centre of the threads composing its web, and it runs out and back in similar fashion along these. We call these diseases organic, and the ones which recur time and again chronic. But pain of this sort, described to us by invalids as the pain of conscience, is nothing but a hypochondriac disease, which robs primarily the spleen and secondarily the pancreas and the mesentery of their proper functions. From this arise diseases of the stomach, which result in unhealthiness of the humours; for compression occurs around the orifice of the stomach, which is called heartburn. From this arise humours saturated with black, yellow or green bile, which cause blockage of the smallest blood vessels, what are called the capillaries. This leads to cachexy, atrophy and symphysis, as well as false pneumonia due to sluggish catarrh, and ichorous lymph causing corrosion through the whole mass of blood. Similar results ensue from the emission of pus into the blood and its serum as the result of empyemas, abscesses and apostems in the body. When this blood rises through the carotid arteries into the head, it abrades, corrodes and gnaws the medullary, cortical and meningeal substances of the brain, so provoking the pains which are called those of conscience.**
[6] On hearing this we told them: ‘You speak the language of Hippocrates and Galen***. This is Greek to us, we don’t understand. We did not ask about these diseases, but about conscience, a purely mental matter.’
‘The diseases of the mind,’ they said, ‘and those of the head are the same; and those of the head rise up from the body. For they hang together like two floors of one house connected by a staircase permitting one to go up or down. We know therefore that mental states are indissolubly dependent upon the state of the body. But we have cured those heavinesses or headaches, which we grasp are what you mean by conscience, in some cases by plasters or blistering ointments, in some cases by infusions or emulsions, in some cases by herbal remedies and by anodynes.
[7] So when we heard more of the same from them we turned away and addressed the clergy. ‘You,’ we said, ‘know what conscience is. So tell us and instruct the audience.’
‘What conscience is,’ they answered, ‘is something we know and do not know. We have believed that it is contrition, which precedes election, that is, the moment at which a person is endowed with faith, by means of which he gets a new heart and a new spirit and is regenerated. But we have noticed that few people achieve that contrition; in some cases there is only fear and so anxiety about hell-fire, and hardly anyone worries about his sins and the wrath of God he deserves as a result. But we as confessors have cured them by the Gospel, telling them that Christ by suffering crucifixion removed the sentence of damnation, and so put out hell-fire, opening heaven to all blessed with faith, to which the imputation of the merit of the Son of God is attached. In addition there are people with consciences who belong to various religions, true as well as erroneous, who are scrupulous in matters relating to salvation, not only in essentials, but also in matters of form or of no consequence. Thus, as we said before, we know that conscience exists, but what it is and what true conscience, a wholly spiritual matter, is like, we do not know.’
* i.e. Cupid.
** This passage is full of technical jargon in the original Latin.
*** The leading ancient Greek writers on medical subjects.
Then at once an angel appeared standing in their midst, dressed in white clothing, and around his head appeared a shining band containing tiny stars. He addressed the four groups and said: ‘We have heard in heaven that you in turn brought forward your opinions on conscience, and that you all supposed it to be some sort of mental distress, which afflicts the head and thence the body with heaviness, or the body and thence the head. But conscience regarded in itself is not any distress, but is a spiritual willingness to do what religion and faith dictate. Thus it is that those who enjoy a conscience live in tranquil peace and inward blessedness when they act according to conscience, and in some unease when they act against it. The mental distress which you thought was conscience is not that, but is temptation, the conflict between the spirit and the flesh. When temptation is spiritual, it draws support from conscience. But if it is only natural, it owes its origin to the diseases the doctors listed just now.
[2] ‘Examples can be quoted to illustrate what conscience is. A priest, who has a spiritual wish to teach truths in order that his flock may be saved, has a conscience. But if he is motivated by any other cause, he has no conscience. A judge, who has regard for nothing but justice and applies this with judgment, has a conscience. But one whose primary aim is to get a bribe, to help friends or to curry favour has no conscience. Again, if anyone has someone else’s goods in his possession without the other person’s knowledge, so that he can profit from them without fear of legal action or loss of rank or reputation, and gives them back to the other because they are not his own, he has a conscience, because he is acting justly for the sake of justice. So too if anyone can take office, but knows that another candidate is more use to the community, if he yields place to the other for the community’s good, he has a good conscience; and likewise in other matters.
[3] All who have a conscience speak from the heart when they speak, and act from the heart when they act; for they have their minds undivided, speaking and doing according to what they understand and believe truth and good to be. From this it follows that a more perfect conscience is possible for those who excel others in their possession of the truths of faith, and have a clearer perception, than for those who are less enlightened and have only dim perception. It is in true conscience that a person’s actual spiritual life resides, for there his faith is linked to charity. For such people therefore acting according to conscience is acting according to one’s spiritual life, and acting against conscience is for them acting against that life of theirs. Moreover, is there anyone who does not know from common parlance what conscience is? As when we say of someone: “He has a conscience,” do we not mean that he is a just person? And in the opposite case, when we say of someone: “He has no conscience,” do we not mean too that he is unjust?’
[4] When the angel had made this statement, he was suddenly taken up to his own heaven. The four groups came together to make one and then for a while they discussed the angel’s pronouncements. Then they were divided again into four groups, but not the same ones as before. One contained those who grasped what the angel said and agreed with it. The second contained those who were unwilling to grasp it, but were still in favour. The third contained those who did not grasp it and said: ‘What have we to do with conscience?’ The fourth contained those who mocked at it and said: ‘What is conscience but flatulence?’ Then I saw the groups parting from one another, the first two groups going away to the right, and the latter two groups going to the left; these were going down, but the first two were going up.
BAPTISM
I
Without knowledge of the spiritual sense of the Word no-one can know what is involved in and effected by the two sacraments, baptism and the Holy Supper.
I showed in the chapter on the Sacred Scripture [Chapter 4] that every single detail of the Word contained a spiritual sense, a sense that has up to now been unknown, but is now revealed for the sake of the new church which the Lord is to inaugurate. What that sense is like can be seen not only in that chapter, but also in that on the Ten Commandments [Chapter 5], which were explained in accordance with that sense. Had that sense not been revealed, who would think of these two sacraments, baptism and the Holy Supper, except as the natural sense, the literal sense, indicates? So he would say, or mutter to himself: ‘What is baptism but the pouring of water over a child’s head? And what use is that for salvation?’ Or again: ‘What is the Holy Supper but the taking of bread and wine? And what use is that for salvation?’ He might go on: ‘Where is the sanctity in them, apart from the fact that they have been accepted and ordered by the clergy as holy and divine?’ He would say that in themselves they are nothing but ceremonies, which the churches claim become sacraments when the Word of God is added to those elements.
[2] I challenge the laity as well as the clergy to say whether in spirit and at heart they have perceived anything else in these two sacraments, but have worshipped them as divine for various causes and reasons. Yet these two sacraments looked at in the light of the spiritual sense are the holiest part of worship, as will be evident from what follows, where I shall deal with their purposes. But since there is no way that the purposes of these sacraments can occur to anyone’s mind, unless the spiritual meaning uncovers and discloses them, it follows that without that sense no one could know otherwise than that they are ceremonies, which are holy because they were commanded to be instituted.
The purposes of those two sacraments can be compared to a church, which is so old it has sunk into the ground, and now lies surrounded by ruins reaching to its roof, so that young men and old walk upon it, ride in carriages or on horseback across it, with no idea that such a church lies hidden beneath their feet, containing altars of gold, walls covered inside in silver and ornaments made of precious stones; and these cannot be dug up and brought to light, except by means of the spiritual sense, which has at the present time been revealed for the new church, so that it can be used in the worship of the Lord.
[2] Those sacraments can also be compared to a double church, in which there is one below and another above. In the lower one the good news is preached about the Lord’s coming anew, and also about regeneration and so salvation under His guidance. From this church a path around the altar leads up to the upper church, where the Holy Supper is celebrated; and from there a passage exists to heaven, where the Lord receives those who come.
They can also be compared to the Tabernacle, in which on passing through the entrance a table is seen, on which the loaves of the Presence are arranged in order, and also a golden altar for incense, and in the midst a lamp-stand with lamps burning to make all the rest visible. Finally, for those who allow themselves to be enlightened, the veil to the holy of holies is drawn back, where instead of the Ark containing the Ten Commandments the Word is laid up, and set above it the Mercy-seat with cherubs made of gold. These are representations of those two sacraments together with their purposes.
The washing called baptism means spiritual washing, which is purification from evils and falsities, and so regeneration.
Acts of washing were enjoined upon the Children of Israel, as is well known from the statutes laid down by Moses. For instance, that Aaron should wash himself before putting on his garments as minister (Lev. 16:4, 24); and before approaching the altar to minister (Exod. 30:18-21; 40:30-32). The same was enjoined upon the Levites (Num. 8:6, 7); and also others who had become unclean through sins, and they were said to be sanctified by acts of washing (Exod. 29:1, 4; 40:12; Lev. 8:6). Therefore the bronze sea and many basins were placed near the temple, so that they could wash themselves (1 Kings 7:23-39). They were instructed to wash the vessels and utensils, such as tables, benches, beds, plates and cups (Lev. 11:32; 14:8, 9; 15:5-12; 17:15, 16; Matt. 23:25, 26).
[2] But the reason why washing and similar acts were ordered and enjoined upon the Children of Israel was that the church established among them was a representative one, and had the character it did so as to prefigure the Christian church which was to come. When therefore the Lord came into the world, He abolished representative acts, all of which were external, and established a church which was in all respects internal. So the Lord banished the symbols and revealed the actual forms, as when someone lifts a curtain or opens a door, allowing what is inside not only to be seen but also approached. Out of all the previous representative acts the Lord retained only two, to contain everything the internal church has in a single pair; these are baptism to replace the acts of washing and the Holy Supper to replace the lamb which was sacrificed every day, and in full measure on the feast of the Passover.
When the Lord has washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and has washed away the blood in a spirit of judgment and a spirit of purging. Isa. 4:4.
If you wash yourself with soda and use soap repeatedly on yourself, still your iniquity will retain its stains. Jer. 2:22; Job 9:30, 31.
Wash me from my iniquity and I shall be whiter than snow. Ps. 51:2, 7.
Wash your heart free from wickedness, Jerusalem, so that you may be saved. Jer. 4:14.
Wash yourselves, cleanse yourselves, put away the wickedness of your deeds from before my eyes, cease to do evil. Isa. 1:16.
[2] The washing of a person’s spirit is meant by the washing of his body; and the internals of the church were represented by such external rituals as were practised by the Israelite church. This is obvious from the Lord’s words in this passage:
The Pharisees and Scribes, seeing that His disciples ate bread with unwashed hands, found fault. For the Pharisees and all Jews do not eat unless they have washed their hands up to the fist; there are many other things they have accepted as a practice to be kept up, such as the washing of cups and pots, and of bronze vessels, and beds. The Lord said to them and to the crowd, Listen to me all of you and understand. There is nothing outside a person which can make him unclean if it enters into him; but it is what comes out that makes him unclean. Mark 7:1-4, 14, 15; Matt. 15:2, 11, 17-20.
Also elsewhere:
Woe to you, Scribes and Pharisees, because you clean the outside of the cup and dish, but the inside is full of robbery and violence. You blind Pharisee, clean first the inside of the cup and dish, so that the outside too may be clean. Matt. 23:25, 26.
It is plain from these passages that the washing called baptism stands for spiritual washing, which is being purified from evils and falsities.
[2] Every criminal, robber and brigand can wash himself until he shines; but will this do anything to wipe away his crime, robbery and brigandage? To be sure, it is the internal which influences the external and produces the effects of his will and understanding. It is not the external which influences the internal; that is contrary to nature, being contrary to right order. The previous is the natural way, being in accordance with right order.
Baptism was instituted to take the place of circumcision, because the circumcision of the foreskin was a representation of the circumcision of the heart. The purpose of baptism was so that the internal church should take the place of the external, which in every detail prefigured the internal church.
It is well known in the Christian part of the world that there is an internal as well as an external man; that the external is the same as the natural man, and the internal is the same as the spiritual man, for his spirit is in this. Since a church is composed of people, there can be an internal and an external church. If the churches which succeeded one another in due order from ancient times down to the present day are examined, it will be seen that the former churches were external churches, that is, their worship consisted in externals representing the internals of the Christian church, the foundations of which were laid by the Lord when He was in the world, and which is now for the first time being built by Him.
The outstanding characteristics which distinguished the Israelite church from the others in Asia, and later from the Christian, was circumcision. Since everything in the Israelite church, being external, prefigured, as has been said, everything in the Christian church, being internal, therefore the outstanding sign of the former church was inwardly similar to the sign of the Christian church. For circumcision meant the rejection of the lusts of the flesh, and so purification from evils. The meaning of baptism is similar. It is obvious from this that baptism was enjoined in place of circumcision, in order both that the Christian church should be distinguished from the Jewish, and that the internal church should thus be more closely known. This results from the uses of baptism, which will be discussed later.
God said to Abraham, This is the covenant with me which you are to keep between me and you, and your seed after you: every male among you is to be circumcised; and you are to circumcise the flesh of your foreskin, to be a sign of the covenant between me and you. Gen. 17:9-11.
This covenant, or its sign, was later confirmed by Moses (Lev. 12:1-3). Because this church was distinguished from others by that sign, the Children of Israel were ordered to be circumcised again before crossing the Jordan (Joshua, chapter 5). The reason was that the land of Canaan represented the church, and the river Jordan being brought into it. In addition, so that they should remember that sign when actually in the land of Canaan, they received this order:
When you come into the land and plant any kind of tree for food, you are to regard its fruit as uncircumcised*; for three years it is to be uncircumcised for you, it is not to be eaten. Lev. 19:23.
[2] Circumcision represented and so stood for the rejection of the lusts of the flesh, and thus purification from evils, in much the same way as baptism. This is established from the passages in the Word where it is said that they should circumcise their hearts, as the following:
Moses said, Circumcise the foreskin of your heart, and do not be stiffnecked. Deut. 10:16.
Jehovah God will circumcise your heart and your seed’s heart, so that you will love Jehovah your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, so that you may live. Deut. 30:6.
In Jeremiah:
Circumcise yourselves for Jehovah, so that He may take away the foreskins of your hearts, the man of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that my wrath may not go forth like fire on account of the wickedness of your deeds. Jer. 4:4.
In Paul:
In Jesus Christ neither is circumcision of any value, nor is uncircumcision, but faith working through charity, and a new creation. Gal. 5:6; 6:15.
These passages now make it plain that baptism was instituted to take the place of circumcision, because the circumcision of the heart was represented by the circumcision of the flesh; and this too meant purification from evils, for evils of every kind arise from the flesh, and the foreskin means its filthy loves. It is because circumcision and baptismal washing have a similar meaning that it is said in Jeremiah:
Circumcise yourselves for Jehovah, so that He may take away the foreskins of your hearts. Jer. 4:4.
and shortly afterwards:
Wash your heart free from wickedness, Jerusalem, so that you may be saved. Jer. 4:14.
The Lord teaches in Matthew (15:18, 19) what circumcision and the washing of the heart means.
* i.e. forbidden.
The first purpose of baptism is to be introduced to the Christian Church, and at the same time brought into the company of Christians in the spiritual world.
There are many facts that establish that baptism is an introduction to the Christian church, such as the following.
(1) Baptism was instituted to take the place of circumcision, and just as circumcision was a sign of belonging to the Israelite church, so baptism is a sign of belonging to the Christian church, as was shown in the previous section. The sole purpose of the sign is to enable people to be recognised, like ribbons of different colours tied on babies of two mothers, so that they can be told apart and are not mixed up.
[2] (2) It is plainly established that it is only a sign of being introduced to the Christian church from the fact that infants are baptised, who are totally devoid of any powers of reasoning and are not yet any more capable of receiving anything to do with faith than new shoots on a tree.
[3] (3) Not only infants are baptised, but also all proselytes from other races who are converted to Christianity, both young and adult; and this too before they have been instructed, provided only they profess their willingness to embrace Christianity, to which their baptism is an inauguration. This too is what the Apostles did, as the Lord’s words prescribed, to make disciples of all nations and baptise them (Matt. 28:19).
[4] (4) John baptised in the Jordan all that came to him from Judaea and Jerusalem (Matt. 3:6; Mark 1:5). The reason why it was in the Jordan was that this river formed the entrance to the land of Canaan; and the land of Canaan stood for the church, because that was where it was, and the Jordan the way in, see My APOCALYPSE REVEALED 285. But this is what happens on earth.
[5] In the heavens, however, children are by baptism brought into the Christian heaven, and have angels there allotted to them by the Lord to take care of them. So as soon as children are baptised, angels are put in charge of them, who keep them in a state in which they can receive faith in the Lord. But as they grow up and become their own masters and think for themselves, they abandon their angel tutors, and choose for themselves such spirits as are at one with their life and faith. These facts show plainly that baptism is being brought into association with Christians in the spiritual world too.
[2] In the spiritual world, by which we mean both heaven and hell, everything is arranged in the most detailed order both in general and in every part, that is to say, generically and specifically. The preservation of the whole universe depends upon that detailed order there; and that could not be achieved, unless everyone after his birth had some sign to show to which religious assembly he belongs. But for the Christian sign, which is baptism, a Mohammedan spirit, or an idolatrous one, could latch on to new-born Christian children, or older ones too, and breathe into them an inclination for their own religion, and so distract their minds and estrange them from Christianity; and this would be a distortion and destruction of spiritual order.
[2] Without a clearly defined order what would go on in a person’s mind or spirit but confusion and muddle, unless his partnership depended upon the will and the understanding? Without that order would a person have any more ability to think and will than his likeness in a picture, or a sculpture of himself that he has at home? What would become of man without the most highly organised inflow from heaven and the ability to receive it? What would this inflow be without the most universal upon which the control of the whole and all its parts depends? Unless, that is, everything was from God, unless it was in Him and from Him that it had its being, lived and moved? These ideas can be illustrated for the natural man to see by countless things, such as these. What would an empire or a kingdom be without order but a band of robbers, and if a large number of them got together they would kill thousands, and eventually a few of them would kill the majority. What is a city without order, what indeed is a household? And what is a kingdom, a city or a household, unless in each someone has supreme authority?
[2] Much the same happens in very many other cases, for instance in armies. What strength would they have, if they were not grouped in orderly fashion into platoons, and these into companies and these into battalions? And if each group did not have its subordinate officer in charge of it and there was one commander over all? What would be the use of those orderings without signs, what are called colours, to show in what position each is to be? Such means ensure that in battle they all act as one, and without them they would rush on the enemy like packs of dogs with gaping jaws, howling and useless frenzy. Then all without any display of bravery would be cut down by an enemy arranged into proper lines of battle; for what can men divided do against men united? These examples illustrate the first purpose of baptism, which is a sign in the spiritual world that a person belongs to the Christians; and there each is brought into communities and congregations in accordance with the quality of the Christianity in him or outside him.
The second purpose of baptism is so that a Christian may get to know and acknowledge the Lord Jesus Christ, the Redeemer and Saviour, and follow him.
This second purpose of baptism, which is getting to know the Lord, the Redeemer and Saviour Jesus Christ, comes as the inseparable companion of the first, which is being brought into the Christian church and being associated with Christians in the spiritual world. What would that first purpose be, without this second one to follow it, but a mere name? Yet it would be like a subject who swears allegiance to a king, but then rejects the king’s or his country’s laws, and swears allegiance to and serves a barbarian king. Or it would be like a servant who goes into service with a master and takes his clothing to wear as a livery, and then runs away and serves another master while still wearing the livery of his former master. Or he would be like a standard-bearer who goes off with the colours, cuts them in pieces and throws them to the winds or to be trampled under the soldiers’ feet. In short, his name of Christian, that is, of belonging to Christ, without acknowledging Him and following Him, that is, living in accordance with His commandments, is as meaningless as a shadow, smoke or a blacked-out painting. For the Lord says:
Why do you call me Lord, and not do what I tell you? Luke 6:46ff.
Many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord. But then I shall admit to them, I do not know you. Matt. 7:22, 23.
Jesus said, You will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake. Matt. 10:22; 24:9, 10.
Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there I am in their midst. Matt. 18:20.
As many as received Him, to them He gave the ability to be sons of God, if they believed in His name. John 1:12.
Many believed in His name. John 2:23.
He who does not believe is already judged, because he has not believed in the name of the only-begotten Son of God. John 3:18.
Those who believe will have life in His name. John 20:31.
You have laboured for the sake of my name, and have not wearied. Rev. 22:3.
[2] Can anyone fail to see that the Lord’s name in those passages does not mean merely His name, but acknowledging Him as Redeemer and Saviour, and at the same time obeying Him, and finally having faith in Him? For at baptism a child receives the sign of the cross on his forehead and chest, and this is a sign of his initiation into the acknowledgment and worship of the Lord. One’s name also means one’s character; the reason is that in the spiritual world everyone is given a name to match his character. So naming someone a Christian means that his character is such that he has from Christ faith in Christ and charity towards the neighbour. This meaning of the name is to be seen in Revelation:
The Son of Man says, You have a few names in Sardis who have not defiled their clothing; and they will walk with me in white clothing, because they are worthy. Rev. 3:4.
Walking with the Son of Man in white clothing means following the Lord, and living in accordance with the truths of His Word.
[3] Name has a similar meaning in John:
Jesus said, The sheep hear my voice, and I call my own sheep by name, and I lead them out; I walk before them, and the sheep follow me, because they know my voice; but they do not follow a stranger, because they do not know strangers’ voices. John 10:3-5.
‘By name’ means by their character as Christians; ‘following Him’ is hearing His voice, that is, obeying His commandments. All receive this name at baptism, for it is contained in the sign.
[2] What are those who after receiving the seal of Christ then laugh at His worship, snarl at His name, and claim that He is not the Son of God, only the son of Joseph, but rebels and regicides? What are their utterances but blasphemies against the Holy Spirit, blasphemies which cannot be forgiven, neither in this age nor in that to come? These people are like dogs agape to bite the Word and tear it to pieces with their teeth. In their case, confronted with Christ and His worship,
All the tables are full of vomited matter. Isa. 28:8; Jer. 48:26.
Yet the Lord Jesus Christ is the Son of the Most High God (Luke 1:32, 35); the only-begotten (John 1:18, 3:16); the true God and everlasting life (1 John 5:20); in whom all the fulness of the Godhead dwells bodily (Col. 2:9); and He was not the son of Joseph (Matt. 1:25), not to mention thousands of other passages.
* Reading inanis for Latin inanimis ‘lifeless’.
The third purpose of baptism, which is its end in view, is a person’s regeneration.
This is the real purpose behind baptism, and so the end with a view to which it was instituted. The reason is that one who is truly a Christian gets to know and acknowledge the Lord the Redeemer, Jesus Christ; and since He is the Redeemer, He is also the Regenerator. Redemption and regeneration are one; see section III [579-582] in the chapter on reformation and regeneration. Another reason is that a Christian possesses the Word, in which is available a description of the means of regeneration, and these are faith in the Lord and charity towards the neighbour. This is the same as when it is said of the Lord that He will baptise with the Holy Spirit and with fire (Matt. 3:11; Mark 1:8-11; Luke 3:16; John 1:33). The Holy Spirit means the Divine truth of faith, fire the Divine good of love or charity, both of these proceeding from the Lord. For the Holy Spirit meaning the Divine truth of faith, see in the chapter on the Holy Spirit; for fire meaning the Divine good of love, see APOCALYPSE REVEALED 395, 468. These two are the means by which all regeneration is accomplished by the Lord.
The reason why the Lord Himself was baptised by John (Matt. 3:13-17; Mark 1:9; Luke 3:21, 22) was not only to introduce the practice of baptism for the future and to lead the way by His example, but also because He glorified His Human and made this Divine, just as He regenerates a person and makes him spiritual.
He who believes and is baptised will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. Mark 16:16.
are understood by the angels in heaven as meaning that the person who acknowledges the Lord and is regenerated is saved.
[2] This too is the reason why baptism is called by the Christian churches on earth the washing of regeneration. The Christian ought therefore to know that one who does not believe in the Lord cannot be regenerated, despite being baptised. Baptism without faith in the Lord is of no avail; see above in this chapter, 673. Every Christian ought to be fully aware that baptism involves purification from evils and so regeneration, for when he is baptised as an infant, the priest makes the sign of the cross with his finger on his forehead and chest as a token of the Lord, and then turning to the godparents asks whether he renounces the devil and all his works, and whether he accepts the faith. To which the godparents answer in place of the child: ‘Yes, indeed.’ The renouncing of the devil, that is, of the evils which come from hell, and faith in the Lord, bring about regeneration.
They follow the Lamb dressed in white and clean fine linen. Rev. 19:14.
They will walk with me in white. Rev. 3:4; also 7:14.
The angels in the Lord’s tomb were seen in white, shining garments (Matt. 28:3; Luke 24:4). They were of the spiritual type, for fine linen means the righteous acts of the saints (Rev. 19:8, where this is explicitly stated). For clothes in the Word meaning truths, and white clothes and fine linen meaning Divine truths, see APOCALYPSE REVEALED (397), where this was shown.
The reason why those who have also been regenerated by means of the Divine good of love wear purple clothing is that purple is the colour of love, a colour derived from the fire and redness of the sun; fire means love (see AR 468, 725). It is because clothes mean truths that the man among the invited guests who was not wearing a wedding garment was thrown out and cast into outer darkness (Matt. 22:11-13).
Behold, I shall make all things new. Rev. 21:1-5.
It is also meant by the river of water of life* which issues from the throne of God and the Lamb (Rev. 22:1, 2); and also by the five wise virgins who had lamps and oil, and went in with the bridegroom to the wedding (Matt. 25:1, 2, 10). One who is baptised, that is, regenerated, is meant by every creature (Mark 16:15; Rom. 8:19-21) and by a new creature (2 Cor. 5:17; Gal. 6:15); for creature is derived from being created, which also means being regenerated (see APOCALYPSE REVEALED 254).
[2] In the world there are various representations of regeneration, such as the way all the earth’s products flower in springtime, and then stage by stage develop until they bear fruit; and likewise by the way any tree, shrub or flower grows from the first month of warm weather until the last. Another representation is the stages by which all fruits gradually ripen from the first rudiments to the full development. Then again it is represented by early morning and late evening showers, and by dew, which when it falls makes flowers open, and the shades of night make them close again; or again by the fragrant smells from gardens and fields. Another representation is by the rainbow in the cloud (Gen. 9:14-17), as well as by the glorious colours of sunrise. In general it is represented by the way everything in the body is continually renewed by means of the chyle and animal spirit, and so by the blood, which perpetually undergoes purification from exhausted matter, and is so renewed and, so to speak, regenerated.
[3] If we turn our attention to the humblest creatures on earth, there is a wonderful picture of regeneration presented by the way silk-worms and many caterpillars are transformed into nymphs and butterflies, and other insects which as time goes on are adorned with wings. To these examples even more trivial ones can be added, such as the fondness of certain birds for plunging in water in order to wash and cleanse themselves, after which they revert to their role as song-birds. In short, the whole world from first to last is full of representations and models of regeneration.
* Reading vitae for vivae in accordance with the Greek; so also in AR.
By John’s baptism the way was prepared for Jehovah the Lord to come down into the world and carry out redemption.
We read in Malachi:
Look, I am sending my messenger who will prepare the way before me, and suddenly the Lord whom you seek will come to his temple, and the messenger of the covenant whom you desire. Who will endure the day of his coming, and who will stand firm when he appears? Mal. 3:1, 2.
and again:
Look, I shall send you the prophet Elijah before the great and terrible day of Jehovah comes, so that I may not come and strike the land with a curse. Mal. 4:5, 6.
When his father Zechariah prophesied about his son John:
You, my child, will be called the prophet of the Most High, you will go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways. Luke 1:76.
The Lord Himself said about John the Baptist:
He it is of whom it was written, Look, I am sending my messenger before your* face, who will prepare your way in front of you. Luke 7:27.
It is clear from these passages that John was the prophet who was sent to prepare the way for Jehovah God, so that He could come down into the world and carry out redemption. It is also clear that he prepared that way by baptising, and by announcing the Lord’s coming; and that but for that preparation all there would have been struck with a curse and would have perished.
* Latin: ‘my face’, corrected in the Author’s copy.
Look, the cruel day of Jehovah is coming, a day of wrath and an explosion of anger. I shall make the heaven tremble, and the earth will be shaken from its place on the day of the explosion of His anger. Isa. 13:6, 9, 13, 22; 22:5, 12.
Also in Jeremiah that day is called a day of laying waste, of revenge and ruin (Jer. 4:9; 7:32; 46:10, 21; 47:4; 49:8, 26). In Ezekiel it is called a day of wrath, of cloud and thick darkness (Ezek. 13:5; 30:2, 3, 9; 34:11, 12; 38:14, 16, 18, 19). Equally in Amos (5:13, 18, 20; 8:3, 9, 13); in Joel, the great and terrible day of Jehovah, and who will endure it? (Joel 2:1, 2, 11; 3:2, 4). In Zephaniah:
On that day there will be a shout. The great day of Jehovah is at hand, the day of the explosion of His anger is that day, the day of anguish and affliction, the day of laying waste and devastation. On the day of the explosion of Jehovah’s anger the whole earth will be consumed, and He will bring about an ending with all the inhabitants of the earth. Zeph. 1:7-18.
There are other passages too.
[2] From these it is plain that if the way had not been prepared by baptism for Jehovah to come down into the world, the effect of which in the heavens was to shut off the hells and to protect the Jews from total extinction, [all there would have been struck with a curse and would have perished]*. Jehovah also says to Moses:
In a single moment, if I were to go up in your midst, I should consume the people. Exod. 33:5.
The truth of this is clearly to be seen from John’s words to the crowds who came out to be baptised by him:
You brood of vipers, who has warned you to run away from the wrath to come? Matt. 3:7; Luke 3:7.
For John also teaching about Christ and His coming when he baptised, see Luke 3:16; John 1:25, 26, 31-33; 3:26. These passages make it plain how John prepared the way.
* The sentence is incomplete; the words in brackets are restored from 688.
Show me your glory. Jehovah said to him, You cannot see my face, because no one can see me and live. And he said, Here is a place, where you can stand on the rock, and I will put you in a crevice of the rock and put my hand as a covering upon you, until I have passed by; and when I take my hand away, you will see my back parts, but my face will not be seen. Exod. 33:18-23.
The reason why man cannot see God and live is that God is love itself, and love itself or the Divine love in the spiritual world appears to the sight of angels like the sun, as far distant from them as the sun of our world is from men. If therefore God, who is in the midst of that sun, were to come close to angels, they would perish just as men would if the sun of the world came close to them, for it is equally burning.
[2] For this reason there are constant controls which modify and moderate the burning heat of that love, so that its radiation should not reach heaven undiluted, since this would consume the angels. When therefore the Lord makes His presence more immediately felt in heaven, the irreligious beneath heaven begin to complain, suffering torture and fainting, so that they take refuge in caves and fissures in the mountains, crying:
Fall upon us and hide us from the face of Him that sits upon the throne. Rev. 6:16; Isa. 2:19, 21.
It is not the Lord Himself who comes down, but an angel with the sphere of love from the Lord around him. I have on several occasions seen irreligious people terrified by this coming down, as if they had seen death itself before their eyes; some of them hurled themselves deeper and deeper into hell, and some were driven frenzied.
[3] This was the reason why the Children of Israel prepared themselves for three days before Jehovah the Lord came down on Mount Sinai; and why the mountain was fenced about to prevent anyone approaching and being killed (Exod. chapter 19). It was much the same with the holiness of Jehovah the Lord in the Ten Commandments which were then made public, and written by the finger of God on two tables, and then laid up in the Ark. On top of this in the Tabernacle was placed the Mercy-seat, and cherubs on top of this, to prevent anyone directly coming into contact with it by hand or eye, Not even Aaron was able to approach except once a year, after making expiation for himself by sacrifices and censing.
[4] It was for this reason that the men of Ekron and Bethshemesh were killed to the number of several thousand, solely because they had seen the Ark with their own eyes (1 Sam. 5:11, 12; 6:19); and the same happened to Uzzah, because he touched it (2 Sam. 6:6, 7). These few examples illustrate what a curse and slaughter would have struck down the Jews, if they had not been prepared by John’s baptism for the reception of the Messiah, who was Jehovah God in human form; and if He had not assumed the Human and revealed Himself in that form. They were prepared by being enrolled in heaven and counted among those who at heart waited and longed for the Messiah, as the result of which angels were sent to become their protectors.
When I was going home from the school of wisdom, I saw on the way an angel dressed in blue. He came and walked beside me, and said: ‘I see you have come away from the school of wisdom, and that you took great pleasure in what you heard there. But I perceive that you are not fully in our world, because you are at the same time in the natural world, so you do not know about our Olympic contests. At these the wise men of antiquity meet, and learn from newcomers from your world what changes of state and what vicissitudes wisdom has so far undergone and is still undergoing. If you like, I will take you to the place where many of the wise men of antiquity live together with their sons, that is, their disciples.’
So he took me to a place on the border between the north and the east, and when I had a view in that direction from a piece of high ground, I caught sight of a city with two hills at one side, the one nearer the city being the lower of the two. ‘This city,’ he told me, ‘is called Athenaeum, the lower hill is called Parnassium, the higher Heliconeum. They bear these names because in the city and its neighbourhood the wise men of ancient Greece live, men such as Pythagoras, Socrates, Aristippus and Xenophon**, with their disciples and recruits.’
I asked about Plato and Aristotle. He told me that they and their followers were in a different region, because they had taught rational arguments concerned with the understanding, but the people here had taught about moral issues which relate to life.
[2] He said that scholars from the city of Athenaeum were frequently sent on embassies to the educated Christians, to report what are their present thoughts about God, the creation of the universe, the immortality of the soul, the condition of man relative to that of animals and other subjects apposite to interior wisdom. He told me that the crier had announced a meeting for that day, a sign that their emissaries had met some newcomers from the earth and heard some interesting news. We saw a lot of people coming out of the city and its neighbourhood, some of them with laurel-wreaths on their heads, some holding palm-fronds in their hands, some with books under their arms, and some with pens tucked under the hair of the left temple.
[3] We joined them and went up together, and found on the hill an octagonal palace, which they called the Palladium. When we went in we found eight hexagonal recesses, in each of which was a bookcase, as well as a table at which those who wore laurels sat down. In the Palladium itself we saw seats carved out of stone, on which the remainder seated themselves.
Then a door on the left was opened and by it two newcomers from the earth were brought in. When they had been welcomed, one of those wearing laurels asked them, ‘What news is there from earth?’
‘The news,’ they said, ‘is that men have been found in forests resembling animals, or animals resembling men. They recognised from their faces and bodies that they had been born men, but that at the age of two or three they had been lost or abandoned in the forests. They said that these creatures could not voice any of their thoughts, nor learn how to make articulate sounds so as to utter words. Neither did they know what food was fit for them, as animals do, but they put in their mouths what grew in the forest whether clean or dirty; and much more of the same kind. From these facts some of our learned men made many guesses and some made many deductions about the condition of men relative to that of animals.
[4] On hearing this some of the wise men of antiquity asked, ‘What were their guesses and deductions from these facts?’ The newcomers replied that there was a great deal, but it could be reduced to the following:
1. Man by his nature and also from birth is more stupid and so more vile than any animal, and if not taught becomes like one.
2. He can be taught because he has learnt to make articulate sounds, and so to talk; and by this means he has begun to express his thoughts; and by degrees he has done so more and more, until he could put together the laws of living together, many of which, however, have been stamped upon animals from birth.
3. Animals equally with men are capable of reasoning.
4. If therefore animals could talk, they would reason as cleverly on all subjects as men. A proof of this is that they think from reason and prudence just as much as men.
5. The understanding is merely a modification of sunlight with the co-operation of heat by means of the ether, so that it is simply an activity of more inward nature. This activity can be raised to such a height that it looks like wisdom.
6. It is therefore useless to believe that man lives after death any more than an animal does, except that perhaps for a few days after death an exhalation of the life of the body may appear as a cloud in the form of a ghost, before being dispersed into nature. This is very much as when a twig picked out of the ashes of a fire may appear to retain the likeness of its shape.
7. Consequently religion, which teaches that life continues after death, is an invention so that the simple may be kept inwardly obedient by its laws, just as they are kept outwardly obedient by the civil law.
They added that these were the reasonings of those who were only clever, but not intelligent. ‘What do the intelligent think?’ they asked. The reply was that they had not heard, but they were of the opinion that they thought the same.
[5] On hearing this all who were sitting at the tables said: ‘What times they live in on earth now! What sad changes wisdom has undergone! It seems to have turned into foolish cleverness. The sun has set and is beneath the earth, diametrically opposite its noon position. How can anyone fail to know from the evidence of the people abandoned and then found in the forests, that this is what man is like if he receives no instruction? Surely he is what he is taught to be. By birth he is more ignorant than animals. He must then learn to walk and to talk. If he did not learn to walk, would he stand upright on his feet? And if he did not learn to talk, would he be able to utter any of his thoughts? Surely everyone is what he is taught to be, crazy if taught falsities, wise if taught truths? And if he is crazy from being taught falsities does he not imagine himself to be wiser than the man who is wise from being taught truths? Are there not foolish and deranged people who are no more human beings than those who were found in the forests? Are not those who have lost their memory like them?
[6] ‘From both these sets of facts we draw the conclusion that a man is not a man without instruction, and is not an animal either, but he is a form capable of receiving in himself what makes a man human, so that he is not born a man, but becomes one. Man has by birth a form such that he can be an instrument for the reception of life from God, with a view to being a subject into which God can put all good, and by union with Himself make blessed for ever. We perceive from what you say that wisdom at the present time is so far extinct or turned to foolishness, that there is total ignorance about the terms upon which human beings live as compared to those on which animals live. As a result, they do not know either anything about how a person lives after death. But those who are able, but unwilling, to know about this, and so deny its reality, as many of you Christians do, can be likened to the people found in the forests. It is not that they have become so stupid through being deprived of instruction, but they have made themselves stupid by relying on the fallacies of the senses, which are the darkness that conceals truths.’
[7] But then someone standing in the middle of the Palladium and holding a palm-frond in his hand said: ‘Please unravel this mystery. How could man having been created a form of God be changed into the form of a devil? I am well aware that the angels of heaven are forms of God, and the angels of hell are forms of the devil, and that these two are completely opposite forms, one of madness, the other of wisdom. Tell me, then, how could man created as a form of God pass from daylight into such a night as to be able to deny the existence of God and everlasting life?’
The teachers replied one after the other, first the Pythagoreans, then the Socratics, and afterwards the rest. But among them there was a certain follower of Plato, who was the last to speak. His opinion, which was adopted, went like this. The people of the age of Saturn, the golden age, knew and acknowledged that they were forms for the reception of life from God, and consequently they had wisdom written upon their souls and hearts, so that they saw truth by the light of truth, and truths enabled them to perceive good by the pleasure of its love. ‘But,’ he said, ‘as in the following periods the human race retreated from the acknowledgment that all the truths of wisdom and thus all the good of love they had was continually flowing in from God, they ceased to be dwelling-places of God, and then too they stopped talking with God and mixing with angels. For the interiors of their minds were diverted from their previous direction, which was being raised upwards by God towards God, and they were turned further and further aside, outwards to the world, and so directed by God to God by way of the world. Finally they were turned in the opposite direction, which is downwards towards oneself. Because a person who is inwardly turned upside down or away cannot look to God, people separated themselves from God and became forms of hell, and so of the devil.
‘It follows from this that in the earliest ages people acknowledged with heart and soul that all the good of love, and so all the truth of wisdom, came to them from God, and also that this good and truth were God’s in them, so that they were purely receivers of life from God; which is why they were called images of God, sons of God and born of God. But in the following ages people no longer acknowledged this with their heart and soul, but by some incorrect belief, later by historical faith and finally merely professing it with the lips. Acknowledging anything of this kind merely by professing it with the lips is not acknowledging it, and is in fact denying it at heart.
[8] ‘These facts enable us to see what wisdom is like on earth among present-day Christians. They can still be inspired by God as the result of a written revelation, while not being aware of the difference between man and an animal. Thus many people believe that if man lives after death, so too must an animal; or because an animal does not live after death, neither can man. Surely our spiritual light, which enlightens our mental vision, is in their case turned into thick darkness; and their natural light, which only enlightens the bodily vision, has become dazzling light to them?’
[9] After this speech all turned to the two newcomers and thanked them for coming and bringing their report; and they begged them to carry back to their brethren a report of what they had heard. The newcomers replied that they would strengthen their people in their belief in this truth, that in so far as they attribute all the good of charity and all the truth of faith to the Lord and not to themselves, so far are they human beings and so far do they become angels of heaven.
* This passage is repeated from CL 156a-156e (151-154 bis).
** Greek philosophers of the 6th, 5th and 4th centuries BC.
Some weeks later I heard a voice from heaven saying, ‘There is to be another meeting on Parnassium; come and we will show you the way.’ I went and when I came near I saw someone with a trumpet standing on Heliconeum, announcing and summoning a meeting, Then I saw people coming up from the city of Athenaeum and its neighbourhood as before, and among them three newcomers from the world. The three were from the Christians, one a priest, the second a politician, and the third a philosopher. On the way the people entertained them with talk on various subjects, especially about the wise men of antiquity, whom they mentioned by name, The three asked whether they would see them. They were told that they would see them, and if they wished greet them, since they were easy to approach.
They asked about Demosthenes**, Diogenes and Epicurus***. ‘Demosthenes,’ they said ‘is not here but where Plato lives. Diogenes with his school lives under Heliconeum, because he regards worldly matters as of no value and reflects on heavenly matters. Epicurus lives on the western boundary and does not visit us, because we make a distinction between good and evil affections; we hold that good affections go along with wisdom, and evil affections are opposed to wisdom.’
[2] When they had climbed the hill of Parnassium, some guards there brought water from its spring in crystal goblets, saying: ‘This is water from the spring mentioned by the ancient writers of fables as having been broken open by the hoof of the horse Pegasus and later consecrated by the Nine Maidens****. But by the winged horse Pegasus the ancients meant the understanding of truth by which comes wisdom. The hooves of its feet meant the experiences which give rise to natural intelligence; and by the Nine Maidens they meant knowledge and learning of every kind. These stories are nowadays called fables, but were correspondences, a manner of expression the earliest people used.’
‘Don’t be surprised,’ their companions told the three newcomers. ‘The guards are taught to speak like this. We understand by drinking the water from the spring being taught about truths, and by means of truths about different kinds of good, and so to be wise.’
[3] After this they went into the Palladium and with them the three newcomers from the world, the priest, the politician and the philosopher. Then those with laurel wreaths who were sitting at the tables asked: ‘What news is there from earth?’
‘The news,’ they replied, ‘is that a certain person is claiming to talk with angels, and to have his sight opened into the spiritual world just as much as he has it opened into the natural world. He reports a great deal of news from there, including the following. A person, he says, lives as a person after death, just as he previously lived in the world. He sees, hears and talks, just as he did previously in the world. He is dressed and wears adornments just as previously in the world. He feels hunger and thirst, eats and drinks, just as previously in the world. He enjoys the delights of married life, just as previously in the world. He goes to sleep and wakes up, just as previously in the world. That world has lands and lakes, mountains and hills, plains and valleys, springs and rivers, parks and woodland; as well as palaces and houses, towns and villages, just as the natural world. There are writings and books there, there are official duties and business enterprises, precious stones, gold and silver. In short, every single thing that there is on earth is to be found in heaven, and in infinitely greater perfection. The only difference is that everything in the spiritual world is of spiritual origin, and so is spiritual, since it comes from the sun there, which is pure love. Everything in the natural world is of natural origin, and so is natural and material, because it comes from the sun there which is pure fire. In short, a person after death is perfectly human, in fact, a more perfect person than he was previously in the world. For previously in the world he had a material body, but in the spiritual world he has a spiritual body.’
[4] When this was said, the wise men of antiquity asked what the people on earth thought about this. ‘We,’ said the three, ‘know that this is true, because we are here and have looked at and tested everything. But we shall tell you what was said and what reasonings were employed on earth.’
Then the priest said: ‘The clergy like me, when they first heard these things, called them visions, then fictions, and later said that the man had seen ghosts. Finally they were perplexed and said, “Believe it if you like. We have up to now taught that a person will not have a body after death, until the day of the Last Judgment.” ‘
‘Are there not intelligent men,’ they asked, ‘among them, who can prove and convince them of the truth that a person lives on after death?’
[5] The priest said that there were some who proved it but failed to convince. ‘Those who offer proofs,’ he said, ‘assert that it is contrary to sound reason to believe that a person does not go on living as a person before the day of the Last Judgment, and in the meantime is a soul without a body. “What is a soul and where does it live in the meanwhile? Is it more than a breath, a puff of wind flying through the air, or something lodged in the middle of the earth, where its Pu***** is. Do the souls of Adam and Eve, and of all their successors for six thousand years or sixty centuries still flit about the universe, or are they shut up in the bowels of the earth, awaiting the Last Judgment? Is there anything more worrying and pitiable than such a period of waiting? Could not their fate be compared to that of prisoners in jails chained hand and foot? If that is man’s fate after death, would it not be better to have been born a donkey than a man? Surely it is unreasonable to believe that a soul can be clothed again in its body, when the body has been eaten by worms, rats or fish? Or that some new body will be wrapped around a bony skeleton which has been parched by the sun or has collapsed into dust? How can such stinking bits of corpse be gathered together and united with souls?” But when they hear such arguments, they do not offer any reasonable answer, but cling to their faith, saying; “We keep our reason obedient to our faith.” Their reply to the question about all being gathered from the grave on the day of the Last Judgment is: “This is the task of omnipotence,” and when they start talking about omnipotence and faith, reason flies out of the window. I can assure you that then sound reason is treated as nothing, and some regard it as a mirage. They are actually able to tell sound reason that it is crazy.’
[6] On hearing this the wise men of Greece said: ‘Are not these paradoxes refuted by themselves as being contradictory? Yet in the world to-day even sound reason cannot refute them. Can you believe anything more paradoxical than what is said about the Last Judgment, that then the universe will come to an end, and then the stars of the sky will fall upon the earth, although it is not as big as the stars? Or that people’s bodies, what will then be corpses or mummies eaten up by people or reduced to shreds, will be joined to their souls again? When we were in the world, we believed in the immortality of people’s souls because of the deductions which reason offered us. We also allotted a place for the blessed, which we called the Elysian fields, believing them to be likenesses or appearances of human beings, though delicate because they are spiritual.
[7] After these speeches, they turned to the second newcomer, who in the world had been a politician. He admitted that he had not believed in life after death, and had thought that the stories he had heard about it were imagination and fiction. ‘When I thought about it,’ he said, ‘I said: “How can souls be bodies? Everything a person is lies dead in the grave. Has he got an eye there to see with? Has he got an ear there to hear with? How can he have a mouth to talk with? If any part of a person lived after death, could it be anything but a kind of ghost? How can a ghost eat and drink? How can it enjoy the delights of married life? Where does it get clothes, house, food, and so on? Ghosts, which are airy forms, look as if they existed, but they do not.” It was this and such like that I thought when I was in the world about people’s life after death. But now that I have seen everything, and touched everything with my hands, I have been convinced by my very senses that I am a person just as in the world. So much so, that I am unaware that I am not living as I formerly did, but for the fact that now my reason is sounder. I have several times been ashamed of what I thought formerly.’
[8] The philosopher told much the same story about himself. But the difference was that he ascribed all the news he had heard about life after death to opinions and theories which he had learnt from ancient and modern thinkers.
The wise men were astonished to hear this. Those who belonged to the school of Socrates said that this news from earth allowed them to perceive that the interiors of men’s minds had little by little been closed up, so that in the world now belief in falsity shone like truth, and silly cleverness like wisdom. They said that the light of wisdom had since their time lowered itself from the interior of the brain to the mouth beneath the nose, where it looked to the eyes like the gleam of lips, and what the mouth had to say from that source seemed like wisdom.
On hearing this one of the recruits there said: ‘How stupid are the minds of those who dwell on the earth to-day! I wish the disciples of Heraclitus and Democritus******, who laugh at everything or who weep at everything, were here. We should hear a mighty laughter and a mighty weeping.’
When the meeting was over, they gave the three newcomers from earth mementoes of their country; these were copper plates on which some hieroglyphs had been engraved, and these they took away with them.
* This is repeated from CL 182.
** The famous Greek politician and orator of the 4th century BC.
*** Greek philosophers of the late 4th century BC.
**** Otherwise known as the Muses.
***** See note on 29.2. Pu, the Greek word for ‘Where?’ is a term for the place where the souls of the dead are thought to await resurrection.
****** Greek philosophers of the 5th century BC; Democritus was famous for his use of ridicule.
Some while later I looked towards the city of Athenaeum which I mentioned in the preceding account. I heard an unusual shouting coming from it. There was a certain amount of laughter in the shouting, and a certain amount of indignation in the laughter, and a certain amount of sadness in the indignation. Yet this shouting was not for this reason discordant; it was harmonious, because one element was not together with the other, but one was inside the other. In the spiritual world one can distinguish in sounds the mixture of differing affections.
I asked from a distance, ‘What is happening?’ ‘A messenger,’ they said, ‘has come from the place where newcomers from the Christian parts of the world first appear, to say that he had heard from three people there, that in the world they had come from they shared the belief of other people that the blessed and happy would after death have total rest from their labours. Since administrative duties, offices and work are labours, they believed they would have rest from them. The three have now been brought by our emissary, and are standing waiting in front of the gate. So a great shouting has started, and they have deliberated and decided that they should not be brought into the Palladium on Parnassium, as in the previous case, but into the large auditorium, so that they can reveal their news from Christendom. Some people have been despatched to introduce them in due form.’
I was in the spirit, and distances for spirits depend upon the condition of their affections, and I then had a desire to see and hear them, so I found myself in their presence, watching them being brought in and hearing them talking.
[2] The older and wiser people were seated at the sides of the auditorium, and the rest in the middle. There was a raised platform in front of them, and to this the three newcomers together with the messenger were conducted by younger men in a solemn procession through the middle of the auditorium. When silence had been obtained, they were greeted by one of the elders present and asked: ‘What is the news from earth?’
‘There is a lot of news,’ they said, ‘please tell us about what.’
‘What is the news from earth,’ replied the elder, ‘about our world and about heaven?’
They replied that when recently they had arrived in this world they had heard that there and in heaven there are administrative duties, ministries, public offices, businesses, studies of all sciences and wonderful work. Yet they had believed that after their migration or transfer from the natural world to this spiritual one, they would come into everlasting rest from labours, and what were duties but labours?
[3] To this the elder said: ‘Did you understand everlasting rest from labours to mean everlasting leisure, in which you would continually sit or lie, plying your hearts with delights and filling your mouths with joys?’ The three newcomers smiled gently at this, and said they had supposed something of the sort.
‘What have joy,’ they were asked in reply, ‘and delights and so happiness got in common with leisure? The result of leisure is that the mind collapses instead of expanding, or one becomes as dead instead of lively. Imagine someone sitting completely at leisure, with his hands folded, his eyes cast down or withdrawn, and imagine him being at the same time surrounded with an aura of cheerfulness; would not his head and body be gripped by lassitude, the lively expression of his face would collapse, and eventually his every fibre would become so relaxed that he would sway to and fro until he fell to the ground? What is it that keeps the whole system of the body stretched and under tension but the stretching of the mind? And what is it that stretches the mind but administrative duties and tasks, so long as they are enjoyable? So I will tell you some news from heaven: there are there administrative duties, ministries, higher and lower law-courts, as well as crafts and work.’
[4] When the three newcomers heard that in heaven there were higher and lower law-courts, they said: ‘Why is that? Are not all in heaven inspired and led by God, so that they know what is just and right? What need then is there of judges?’
‘In this world,’ replied the elder, ‘we are taught and learn what is good and true, and what is just and fair, in the same way as in the natural world. We do not learn these things directly from God, but indirectly through others. Every angel, just as every man, thinks what is true and does what is good as if of himself, and this, depending upon the angel’s state, is not pure truth and good, but mixed. Among angels too there are simple and wise people, and it will be for the wise to judge, when the simple as the result of their simplicity or their ignorance are in doubt about what is just, or depart from it. [5] But if you, who have still not been long in this world, would be good enough to accompany me to our city, we shall show you everything.’
So they left the auditorium, and some of the elders went with them. They came first to a large library, which was divided into smaller collections of books by subjects. The three newcomers were astonished to see so many books, and said: ‘Are there books in this world too? Where do they get parchment and paper, pens and ink?’
‘We perceive,’ said the elders, ‘that you believed in the previous world that this world is empty, because it is spiritual. The reason for this belief of yours is that you entertained the idea that the spiritual is abstract; and that what is abstract is nothing and so as if empty. Yet here everything is in its fulness. Everything here is substantial, not material; material things owe their origin to what is substantial. We who are present here are spiritual people, because we are substantial, and not material. This is why everything that is in the material world exists here in its perfection; so we have books and writing, and much more.’
When the three newcomers heard the term substantial mentioned, they thought this must be so, both because they saw there were books written and because they heard it said that matter originates from substance. To give them further proof of this, they were taken to the houses of scribes, who were making copies of books written by the city’s wise men. They looked at the writing and were surprised how neat and elegant it was.
[6] After this they were taken to research institutions, high schools and colleges, and to the places where their literary contests took place. Some of these were called contests of the Maidens of Helicon, some those of the Maidens of Parnassus, some those of the Maidens of Athena and some those of the Maidens of the Spring-waters. They said that they were so named because maidens stand for the affections for branches of knowledge, and everyone’s intelligence depends upon his affection for knowledge. The contests so called were spiritual exercises and gymnastics. Later, they were taken around the city to visit controllers, administrators and their officials and these showed them the remarkable work performed by craftsmen in a spiritual manner.
[7] When they had seen this, the elder talked with them again about the everlasting rest from labours the blessed and happy obtain after death. ‘Everlasting rest,’ he said, ‘is not leisure, since that reduces the mind and so the whole body to a state of feebleness, torpidity, stupidness and somnolence. These are not life, but death, much less the everlasting life of the angels in heaven. So everlasting rest is a rest that banishes all those ills and makes people alive. This can only be something that uplifts the mind. So it is some interest or task which excites, enlivens and delights the mind. This depends upon the purpose for which, in which and towards which it aims. This is why the whole of heaven is seen by the Lord as a coherent purpose, and it is the purpose he serves that makes every angel an angel. The pleasure of service carries him along, as a favourable current does a ship, and confers upon him everlasting peace and the rest peace gives. This is what is meant by everlasting rest from labours. The extent to which an angel is alive depends upon his mental commitment arising from service. This is perfectly clear from the fact that the depth of conjugial love anyone enjoys, together with the manliness, potency and delights that accompany it, depend upon his commitment to true service.’
[8] When it had been proved to the three newcomers that everlasting rest is not leisure, but the pleasure of some work that is of service, some girls came with embroidery and sewing, their own handiwork, and presented these to them. Then, as the new spirits took their departure, the girls sang a song expressing in an angelic melody their affection for useful work and its attendant pleasures.
* This is repeated from CL 207.
Most people today who believe in a life after death also believe that in heaven their only thoughts will be devotions, their only utterances prayers, and both of these together with their facial expressions and bodily acts will be nothing but ways of glorifying God. So they imagine that the only homes they will have will be places of worship or consecrated buildings, and so they will all be priests of God. But I can solemnly state that in that life the rites of the church do not take up more of people’s minds or houses than they do where God is worshipped in the world, though in a purer and more inward way. But there are to be found there all kinds of matters requiring secular attention, and all sorts of matters requiring rational learning, and these of the highest degree,
[2] One day I was carried off into heaven and brought to a society, where wise men lived who in ancient times had been distinguished for the learning they had gained from deep study and meditation on matters within the scope of reason, and which at the same time were of service. Now they were in heaven because they had believed in God, and now believed in the Lord, and they had loved the neighbour as themselves. I was subsequently taken to a meeting they held and asked where I came from. I revealed that I was in the body in the natural world, but in the spirit in their spiritual world.
These angels were delighted to hear this and kept asking: ‘In the world where you are in the body what do people know and understand about inflow*?’
After thinking what I could recollect on the subject from conversations and from the writings of famous people, I replied that they are still ignorant of any inflow from the spiritual world into the natural world, though they know of the inflow of nature into objects in nature. For instance, the inflow of heat and light from the sun into living bodies, and also into trees and plants, which causes them to become alive; and in the opposite case the inflow of cold into the same bodies, which causes their death. Moreover they know about the inflow of light into the eyes bringing about sight, the inflow of sound into the ears bringing about hearing, the inflow of smell into the nostrils bringing about smelling, and so on.
[3] Apart from these instances the scholars of the present time reason in different ways about the inflow from the soul into the body, and from the body into the soul. On this subject there are three theories current. One party argues whether there is an inflow from the soul into the body, which they call ‘incidental’** because of the chance incidence of things on the bodily senses. Or they argue whether there is an inflow from the body into the soul, which they term ‘physical’, because objects impinge on the senses and from these on the soul. Or whether there is a simultaneous and instantaneous inflow both into the body and the soul together, to which they apply the term ‘pre-established harmony’. Yet each of these parties thinks that the inflow they believe in exists inside the realm of nature.
Some people believe that the soul is a particle or drop of ether, some that it is a tiny ball or speck of heat and light, some that it is some entity hidden in the brain. But whatever it is they consider the soul to be, they call it spiritual; but by spiritual they mean something purer but natural, since they know nothing of the spiritual world and the inflow from it into the natural world, so that they remain restricted to the natural sphere. Within this they climb up and drop down, and they soar into it like eagles into the air. Those who are limited to nature are like the natives of an island in the sea who are unaware of the existence of any land but theirs; or they are like fish in a river unaware of the existence of air up above their waters. As a result when anyone mentions the existence of a world apart from theirs inhabited by angels and spirits, and describes this as the source of all inflow into human beings, as well as into trees at a more inward level, they stand astonished, as if they had been told of visions of ghosts, or of nonsense from astrologers.
[4] Apart from the philosophers, people nowadays, in the world in which I live in the body, are unable to think and talk about any other sort of inflow than that of wine into glasses, of food and drink into the stomach, of taste into the tongue, and perhaps of the inflow of air into the lungs, and so on. But if these people are told anything about the inflow from the spiritual world into the natural one, they say: ‘Let it flow in, if it does; what pleasure or use is there in knowing this?’ Off they go, and then afterwards on talking about what they are told about inflow, they play about with it, as some people play with pebbles, running them through their fingers.
[5] Afterwards I talked with those angels about the amazing effects caused by the inflow from the spiritual world into the natural one. For instance, we talked about the way caterpillars turn into butterflies, about bees and drones, and the astonishing things the silkworm does, and also spiders; how people on earth attribute all these things to the light and heat of the sun, and so to nature. What has often astonished me is that they use these facts to strengthen their leaning towards nature, and any such strengthening plunges their minds into sleep and oblivion, so that they become atheists.
[6] After this I related the amazing facts about plants, how they all progress from the seed in due sequence until they produce new seeds, exactly as if the earth knew how to provide and adapt its elements to the reproductive principle of the seed; and from this to bring forth a shoot, to broaden this to form a stem, to send forth branches from this, to clothe these with leaves, and later to embellish them with flowers, and beginning from their interiors to produce fruits, and by means of these produce as offspring seeds from which the plant can be born again. But because these things are always to be seen and have become familiar, usual and commonplace by constant repetition, they are not looked on as amazing, but as simply the effects of nature. People hold this view solely because they are ignorant of the existence of a spiritual world, working from within on and actuating every single thing which comes into existence and is formed in the world of nature and upon the natural earth, activating sensation and movement as the human mind does in the body. Nor do they know that every detail of nature is as it were a tunic, sheath or clothing enclosing spiritual things and serving at the lowest level to bring about the effects corresponding to the purpose of God the Creator.
* The Latin influxus is throughout this section translated ‘inflow’, although in some cases other translations would be more natural in English.
** Or ‘occasional’.
I once prayed the Lord to be allowed to talk with the disciples of Aristotle, and at the same time with the disciples of Descartes and those of Leibnitz, in order to learn what opinions they held on the interplay between the soul and the body. My prayer was answered by the appearance of nine men, three Aristotelians, three Cartesians and three Leibnitzians. They stood round me, the admirers of Aristotle on the left, the followers of Descartes on the right, and the supporters of Leibnitz behind me. A long way off, and separated by gaps, were to be seen three men apparently wearing laurel-wreaths; and the perception flowing in from heaven made me aware that these were the actual champions or founders of the schools. Another man stood behind Leibnitz holding on to the sleeve of his robe; I was told that he was Wolff**.
[2] The nine men on seeing one another began with polite greetings and conversation. But soon afterwards a spirit rose up from the underworld carrying a torch in his right hand, which he shook in their faces. This made them three by three to become enemies and they glowered at one another; for they were gripped by a desire to quarrel and dispute.
The Aristotelians, who were also Schoolmen***, began by saying: ‘Anyone can see that objects flow into the soul by means of the senses, like anyone entering a room through the door, and that what the soul thinks depends upon the inflow. When a lover sees a pretty girl or his bride, does not his eye sparkle and transmit love for her to the soul? When the miser sees bags full of money, is not every one of his senses inflamed with longing from them, and as a result he transmits this to the soul, exciting a desire to possess them? When some haughty person hears himself being praised by another, does he not prick up his ears, and they transmit the compliments to the soul? The bodily senses are like fore-courts offering the only way in to the soul. These and countless similar examples must lead one to conclude that the inflow is from nature, in other words, physical.’
[3] On hearing this the Cartesians clapped their fingers to their brows, and now took them away to say: ‘Dear, dear, you are speaking from appearances. Are you not aware that it is not the eye which loves a girl or a bride, but the soul? Likewise, the bodily sense does not desire the money in the bag of itself, but under the control of the soul. Likewise, neither do the ears in any other sense scoop up the compliments paid by toadies. Surely it is perception which produces sensation? And perception is a function of the soul, not of an organ. Tell us, if you can, what it is other than thought which makes the tongue and the lips speak? What is it but the will that makes the hands work? Thought and will are functions of the soul. So what is it but the soul which makes the eye see, the ears hear, and the remaining sense-organs feel, pay attention and notice? These and countless other examples allow everyone, whose wisdom goes beyond bodily sense-impressions, to conclude that there is no inflow from the body into the soul, but from the soul into the body. We call this incidental inflow, or spiritual inflow.’
[4] On hearing this three men, who had been standing behind the previously mentioned groups of three and were supporters of Leibnitz, raised their voices and said: ‘We have listened to the arguments on either side and compared them, and we have noticed that on many points one party prevails and on many others another. So, if we may, we should like to settle the dispute.’
When they were asked how, they said: ‘There is no inflow from the soul into the body nor from the body into the soul, but both activities take place concordantly and instantaneously. This has been elegantly named by a famous writer, who called it pre-established harmony.’
[5] On the conclusion of this debate, the spirit carrying the torch appeared again, but now holding it in his left hand. He shook it towards the backs of their heads, so causing the ideas of all of them to become confused, and they cried out: ‘Our soul does not know, neither does our body, which side to take. So let us draw lots to settle the dispute, and we will support the view represented by the first lot drawn.’
So they took three slips of paper and wrote on one ‘Physical Inflow’, on the second ‘Spiritual Inflow’ and on the third ‘Pre-established Harmony’. They put the three slips into a hat held upside down and selected someone to draw one. He put his hand in and grasped with his hand the one on which was written ‘Spiritual Inflow’. When they saw this and read it out, they all said, some however with a clear and fluent voice, some with a dull and withdrawn voice, ‘Let us support this, since it came out first.’ Then an angel suddenly appeared standing by, who said: ‘Do not believe that the paper favouring Spiritual Inflow came out by chance; it was contrived. For your ideas are so confused that you cannot see its truth, but the truth of itself presented itself to his hand, so that you would support it.’
* This section is repeated from ISB 19.
** Christian Wolff (1679-1754), a follower of Leibnitz.
*** The Medieval scholars who taught logic.
I once saw not far from me an atmospheric phenomenon. I saw a cloud divided into smaller clouds, some of which were blue and others dark; and I saw these as it were colliding with one another. They were striped with glittering rays which crossed them; sometimes the stripes had sharp tips like sword-points, at other times they appeared square-ended like broken off swords. Sometimes the stripes ran out so as to meet, at other times they withdrew into themselves, rather like boxers. So it looked as if these little clouds of varied colours were fighting one another, but they were playing. Since this atmospheric display took place not far from me, I lifted up my eyes and looking hard I saw boys, young men and old men entering a building constructed of marble with also porphyry in its foundations. The phenomenon was over this building. Then I asked one of those who were going in what was happening there. ‘It is a high school,’ he replied, ‘where young men are given an introduction to various forms of wisdom.’
[2] On hearing this I went in with them. I was in the spirit, that is, in much the same state as people in the spiritual world, those who are called spirits and angels. Inside the school there was in front a chair, in the middle were benches, around the sides seats, and a gallery over the entrance. The chair was for the young men who were to take turns to reply to the question set. The benches were for the audience, the seats at the sides for those who had previously given wise answers, and the gallery for the older men who were to be umpires and judges. In the middle of the gallery there was a platform, where a wise man, called the headmaster, was seated. He put the questions, and the young men answered these from the chair.
When all were assembled, the man on the platform got up and said: ‘Please now reply to this question and answer it if you can: what is the soul and what is its nature?’
[3] On hearing this all were astonished and began to murmur; and some of the crowd on the benches cried out: ‘What man is there from the age of Saturn** down to our times who has been able by any effort of rational thought to see and grasp what the soul is, much less what its nature is. Surely this is beyond the capacity of anyone’s understanding?’
But people in the gallery replied to this: ‘This is not beyond the understanding, but within its capacity and purview. just give a reply.’
So the young men got up who had been chosen that day to mount the chair and reply to the questions. There were five of them, who had been examined by the elders and found to be outstandingly clever. They were then sitting on padded seats at the sides of the chair. They then took it in turn, according to the order in which they sat, to climb up to the chair. As each went up, he put on a tunic of opalescent silk and over it a gown of soft wool with flowers woven in it, and a hat on his head with a chaplet of roses surrounded by small sapphires on the crown.
[4] Then I saw the first man so clothed go up and say: ‘What the Soul is and what its nature is has not been revealed to anyone since the first day of creation. It is a secret which God alone keeps in His treasure-houses. But this much has been discovered, that the soul dwells in man like a queen. However the location of its residence has been the subject of conjecture among learned experts. Some have placed it in the small tubercle between the cerebrum and the cerebellum known as the pineal gland. They have guessed that this was the seat of the soul because the whole person is controlled from those two brains, and that tubercle regulates them. So what governs the two brains at its whim, must also govern the whole person from head to heel. This view,’ he said, ‘has been regarded by many in the world as true or very probable, but a later age has rejected it as a mere invention.’
[5] On finishing this speech he took off the gown, tunic and hat, and the second of those chosen put them on and so took the chair. His pronouncement about the soul was that in the whole of heaven and in the whole of the world there is no one who knows what the soul is and what its nature is. ‘This much,’ he said, ‘we know, that the soul exists and is in man; but where it is, is a matter of guesswork. This is certain, that it is in the head, since that is where the understanding thinks and the will forms its resolutions; and it is on the face in front of the head that man’s five sense organs are to be found. What gives all of these life is the soul which resides inside the head; but I would not dare to express an opinion on where in it its residence is. I have agreed with those who have assigned to it a lodging in the three ventricles of the brain; at other times with those who placed it in the corpora striata there, at other times with those who placed it in the medullary substance of either brain, at other times with those who placed it in the cortical substance, at others with those who placed it in the dura mater. For there was no lack of points to be made in favour of each one of these seats.
The point in favour of the three ventricles in the brain was that they are the receptacles of the animal spirits and all the brain’s lymphs. The points in favour of the corpora striata were that these compose the marrow through which the nerves emerge, and by means of which either part of the brain has continuous extensions to the spine; and from one or other of these the fibres emerge which compose the whole structure of the body. The points in favour of the medullary substance of either brain were that it is a gathering and massing together of all the fibres which form the starting point for the development of the whole person. The point in favour of the cortical substance was that here are the first and last ends, and so the beginnings of all fibres, and so of sensation and movement. The point in favour of the dura mater was that it is the shared covering of either brain, from where it stretches in a kind of continuity over the heart and the viscera of the body. For my part, I do not rate one of these theories as superior to another. Will you please, decide and choose which is the best theory.’
[6] After saying this he came down from the chair and passed on the tunic, gown and hat to the third, who went up to the chair and spoke as follows. ‘How can I at my age deal with such a lofty subject? I appeal to the learned people seated at the sides here, I appeal to you wise people in the gallery, in fact I appeal to the angels of the highest heaven: can anyone by the light of his reason form for himself any idea of the soul? As regards its seat in man, I can offer as good a guess as anyone else. My guess is that it is in the heart and consequently in the blood. My reason for this is that the heart by means of the blood from it controls both the body and the head. There is a large blood-vessel called the aorta emerging from it and reaching the whole of the body; and there are blood-vessels called carotid arteries emerging from it and reaching the whole of the head. As a result it is universally agreed that the soul by means of blood from the heart sustains, nourishes and gives life to the whole organic system of both the body and the head. An additional reason for believing this assertion is the fact that Holy Scripture says so many times ‘soul and heart’. For instance, you are to love God ‘with all your soul and with all your heart’; and God creates in man ‘a new soul and a new heart’ (Deut. 6:5; 10:12; 11:13; 26:16; Jer. 32:41; Matt. 22:37; Mark 12:30, 33; Luke 10:27, and elsewhere). It also says explicitly that the blood is the soul of the flesh (Lev. 17:11, 14).’ On hearing this some people raised their voices to cry ‘Very learned!’; they were members of the clergy.
[7] After this the fourth put on the garments worn by the previous speaker, and on taking the chair said: ‘I too suspect that there is no one of such a sharp and subtle mind as to be able to discern what the soul is and what its nature is. I think therefore that anyone who wishes to scrutinise it has his subtlety exhausted by useless exertions. But from childhood up I have persisted in believing the opinion of the ancients, that man’s soul is in the whole of him and in every part of him, and so is as much in his head and each of its parts as in the body and each of its parts. It is a useless invention of modern scholars to locate its seat in some part rather than everywhere. Also the soul is a spiritual substance, to which neither extension nor position can be attributed, but only residing and filling. Again, is there anyone who does not understand life when he mentions the soul, and is not life in the whole and in any part you like to name?’ There were many in the audience who supported this statement.
[8] He was followed by the fifth, who, adorned with the same emblems, pronounced from the chair as follows: ‘I don’t much care to say where the soul is, whether it is in some part or in the whole person. But I will draw on my own resources to disclose my opinion on this question, what the soul is and what its nature is. No one thinks of the soul as anything but something pure, which can be likened to ether or air or wind, the vital principle in which derives from the faculty of reason, which man has to a higher degree than animals. I have based this opinion on the fact that, when a person expires, he is said to breathe out or give up his soul or spirit. As a result too a soul which goes on living after death is believed to be a breath of this kind, containing the life of thought which is called the soul. What else could the soul be? But because I have heard people from the gallery asserting that the question what the soul is and what its nature is, is not beyond the understanding, but within its scope and purview, I beg and beseech you to disclose yourselves this everlasting secret.’
[9] The elders in the gallery here looked at the headmaster, who had set the question. He understood from their nods that they wanted him to go down and tell them the answer. So he at once got down from the platform, and passing through the auditorium took the chair, and holding up his hand said: ‘Please listen to me. Is there anyone who does not believe the soul to be the most intimate and subtle essence of a person? But what is essence without form but a figment of the imagination? The soul then is a form, but what sort of form I will tell you. It is the form of all the parts of love and all the parts of wisdom. All the parts of love are called affections, and all the parts of wisdom are called perceptions. The perceptions as a result of and so together with the affections make up a single form containing countless parts but arranged in such order and so cohering that they can be called a unity; and they can be called a unity, because nothing can be taken away from it or added to it, if it is to be a unity. What is the human soul but such a form? All the parts of love and all the parts of wisdom are the essentials of such a form, and in the case of a person these essentials are in his soul, and from his soul in his head and body.
[10] ‘You are called spirits and angels; and you believed in the world that spirits and angels were like puffs of wind or particles of ether, and so minds of higher or lower degree***. Now you see clearly that you are truly, really and actually people, who in the world lived and thought in a material body; and you knew that it is not the material body that lives and thinks, but the spiritual substance in that body. This you called the soul, whose form you did not know; yet now you have seen it and go on seeing it. You are all souls, about whose immortality you have heard, thought, talked and written so much; and since you are forms of love and wisdom coming from God, you cannot ever die. The soul then is a human form, from which nothing can be taken away, and to which nothing can be added, and it is the inmost form of all the forms throughout the body. Since the forms which are outside receive from the inmost both essence and form, you are therefore souls, just as you appear to be to your sight and to ours. In short, the soul is the real person because it is the inmost person; its form therefore is the human form in full perfection. But it is not life, but is the nearest receiver of life from God, and so God’s dwelling.’
[11] This speech was greeted by many with applause, but there were some who said, ‘We must think about this.’ I then went home, and suddenly there appeared above that high school, in place of the previous atmospheric display, a shining cloud without any stripes or rays fighting one another. This cloud penetrated the roof and coming inside lit up the walls. I was told that they saw things written on them, among which was this:
Jehovah God breathed into man’s nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul. Gen. 2:7.
* This section is repeated from CL 315.
** The ‘golden age’ of antiquity.
*** Latin: mentes et animi.
THE HOLY SUPPER
I
No one who does not know about the way natural things correspond with spiritual ones can know the benefits conferred by the Holy Supper.
A partial explanation of this was given in the chapter on baptism, where it was shown that without a knowledge of the spiritual sense of the Word it is impossible to know what is involved in and effected by the two sacraments, baptism and the Holy Supper (see 667-669). Here we say ‘who does not know about the way natural things correspond with spiritual ones’; this is the same, because the natural sense of the Word is turned into the spiritual one by means of correspondences in heaven. That is why those two senses correspond to each other, so that anyone who knows the correspondences can know the spiritual sense. What correspondences are and what is their nature can be seen in the chapter on the Sacred Scripture from beginning to end,- also in the explanation of the Ten Commandments from the first to the last, and in detail in APOCALYPSE REVEALED.
But because real Christianity is now for the first time arising, the new church meant by the New Jerusalem in Revelation is now being established by the Lord; in this God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are acknowledged as one, because they are in one person. It has therefore pleased the Lord to reveal the spiritual sense of the Word, so that this church may reap the real benefit of the sacraments of baptism and the Holy Supper. This comes about when people see with the eyes of their spirit, that is, with the understanding, the holiness hidden within them, and grasp this holiness for themselves by the means which the Lord taught us to use in His Word.
[2] Without the spiritual sense that sacrament is like a house shut up, but full of valuable objects and treasure-chests, which looks to the passerby like any other in the street. But because the clergy have built its walls of marble and overlaid the roof with gold, it catches the eye of the passer-by who stops to look, admire and set a value on it. The case is quite different when the house is open so that anyone may go inside; and there the guardian gives some people a loan, and some a gift from its wealth, each according to his rank. We can speak of a gift from its wealth, because it has an inexhaustible supply of valuables, and they are continually replaced. This is how it is with the spiritual things in the Word, and with the celestial things contained in the sacraments.
[3] The sacrament under discussion here, if the holiness which lurks within is not revealed, looks like river sand, which contains a great quantity of grains of gold too small to see. But when its holiness is revealed, it is like gold collected and melted down to make an ingot, and then worked into beautiful shapes. If the holiness of this sacrament is not disclosed and seen, it is like a chest or case of beech or poplar wood, in which lie diamonds, rubies and many other precious stones carefully arranged in trays. Anyone would put a high price on that chest or case, if he knew that such things were hidden in it; and even higher when he sees them, and sees them being given away for nothing. Without the revelation of its correspondences with heaven, if, that is, the heavenly things to which it corresponds are not seen that sacrament is like an angel seen in the world in ordinary dress, and treated with only so much respect as his dress warrants. The case is quite different when it is known that he is an angel, and the utterances heard from his mouth are angelic and his deeds are seen to have wonderful results.
[4] The difference between holiness that is only proclaimed and holiness that is seen to be such may be illustrated by this example, which I saw and heard in the spiritual world. A letter was read out which was written by Paul at the time of his travels in the world, but not published so that any knew that it was Paul’s. To begin with the audience thought poorly of it. But when it was disclosed that it was one of the Pauline Epistles, it was received with joy, and every detail in it was revered. This made it plain that merely proclaiming the holiness of the Word and the sacraments, so long as performed by leading churchmen, imprints the mark of holiness. But it is quite different when its holiness is disclosed and displayed to view before one’s eyes; and this is what the revelation of the spiritual sense does. This turns its outward holiness into inward holiness, and when it is proclaimed it is acknowledged. It is much the same with the holiness of the sacrament of the Lord’s supper.
A knowledge of correspondences allows us to know what is meant by the Lord’s flesh and blood, much the same as by bread and wine. This is that the Lord’s flesh and the bread mean the Divine good of His love and also all the good of charity; and the Lord’s blood and the wine mean the Divine truth of His wisdom and also all the truth of faith. Eating means making one’s own.
Since at the present time the spiritual sense of the Word has ‘been disclosed, and together with it the correspondences, since the correspondences are the means it employs, it will only be necessary to quote the passages in the Word which enable it to be clearly seen what is the meaning of flesh and blood, and of bread and wine, in the Holy Supper. But I shall preface these with a description of the institution of that sacrament by the Lord, and also with His teaching about His flesh and blood, and about bread and wine.
Jesus kept the Passover with the disciples, and when it was evening reclined at table with them.
And while they were eating, Jesus taking bread and blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat, this is my body. And taking the cup and giving thanks he gave it to them, saying, Drink of it, all of you. This is my blood, the blood of the new covenant*, which is shed for many. Matt. 26:26-28; Mark 14:22-24; Luke 22:19, 20.
[2] THE LORD’S TEACHING ABOUT HIS FLESH AND BLOOD, AND ABOUT BREAD AND WINE.
Work for food, not that which perishes, but that which lasts to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you. Truly, truly I tell you, it was not Moses that gave you bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For God’s bread is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. I am the bread of life. He who comes to me shall not be hungry, and he who believes in me shall never be thirsty. I am the bread that came down from heaven. Truly, truly I say to you, he who believes in me has everlasting life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate manna in the desert and are dead. This is the bread which comes down from heaven, so that anyone who eats of it may live and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live for ever. The bread which I shall give is my flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world. Truly, truly I tell you: if you do not eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you will not have life in you. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has everlasting life, and I shall bring him back to life on the last day. For my flesh is truly food, and my blood is truly drink. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. John 6:27, 32, 33, 35, 41, 47-51, 53-56.
* Or: testament; see 706:2.
Do this in remembrance of me. Luke 22:19; 1 Cor. 11: 24, 25.
Likewise bread does not mean bread, neither does wine mean wine, but in the natural sense they mean much the same as flesh and blood, that is to say, His passion on the cross. For we read:
Jesus broke bread and gave it to the disciples, and said, This is my body. And taking the cup, he gave it to them, saying, This is my blood. Matt. chapter 26; Mark chapter 14; Luke chapter 22.
He also for this reason called the passion on the cross ‘a cup’ (Matt. [26:39; Mark] 14:36; John 18:11).
* Passover and Easter are both the same word in Latin.
Come and gather for the feast of the great God*, to eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of strong men, and the flesh of horses and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all free men and slaves, both small and great. Rev. 19:17, 18.
And in Ezekiel:
Gather from round about to my sacrifice, the great sacrifice that I am making for you upon the mountains of Israel; that you may eat the flesh and drink the blood. You will eat the flesh of strong men and drink the blood of the princes of the earth. You will eat fat from my sacrifice until you are glutted, and drink blood until you are drunk. And you will be sated at my table with horse and chariot, with the strong man and every man of war. Thus shall I set my glory among the nations. Ezek. 39:17-21.
Anyone can see that in those passages flesh does not mean flesh, neither does blood mean blood, but the spiritual and celestial things corresponding to them. What otherwise would be the meaning – unless they were meaningless and extraordinary expressions – of eating the flesh of kings, captains, strong men, horses and them that sat on them, of being sated at the table with horse, chariot, a strong man and every man of war? Or of drinking the blood of the princes of the earth, and drinking blood until one is drunk? It is perfectly clear that these things are said about the Lord’s Holy Supper, for the feast** of the great God, and also the great sacrifice, are mentioned.
[2] Since all spiritual and celestial things have reference exclusively to good and truth, it follows that flesh means the good of charity and blood the truth of faith; and in the highest sense the Lord in respect of the Divine good of love and in respect of the Divine truth of wisdom. Flesh also means spiritual good in these words of Ezekiel:
I shall give them one heart, and I shall put a new spirit in your midst, and I shall take away the heart of stone, and give them a heart of flesh. Ezek. 11:19; 36:26.
Heart in the Word stands for love, so a heart of flesh stands for the love of good. Moreover, it is more fully established that flesh and blood mean spiritual good and spiritual truth from the meaning of bread and wine in the next section, since the Lord says that His flesh is bread and His blood is wine, which was drunk from a cup.
* This follows the reading of some manuscripts of the Greek; but cf. 196.1, where ‘great’ is applied to the feast.
** Or: supper.
By the blood of your covenant I shall release the captives from the pit. Zech. 9:11.
And in the works of Moses:
After Moses had read the book of the law for the people to hear*, he sprinkled half the blood upon the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant, which Jehovah has made with you upon all these words. Exod. 24:3-8.
Also:
Jesus taking the cup gave it to them, saying, This is my blood, the blood of the new covenant. Matt. 26:27, 28; Mark 14:24; Luke 22:20.
[2] The blood of the new covenant or testament cannot mean anything but the Word, which is called an old and a new covenant or testament, and so the Divine truth it contains. It is because blood has this meaning that the Lord gave them wine, saying, ‘This is my blood’; and wine stands for Divine truth. For this reason it is also called ‘the blood of grapes’ (Gen. 49:11; Deut. 32:14). This is plainer still from the Lord’s words:
Truly, truly, I tell you: if you do not eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you will not have life in you. For my flesh is truly food, and my blood is truly drink. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood, remains in me and I in him. John 6:50-58.
It is perfectly obvious that blood here means the Divine truth of the Word, because it is said that he who drinks it has life in himself, and remains in the Lord, and the Lord remains in him. It ought to be well known in the church that this is the effect of Divine truth and living in accordance with it, and that the Holy Supper strengthens this effect.
[3] It is because blood stands for the Lord’s Divine truth, which is also the Divine truth of the Word, and because this is what the old and new covenants and testaments are, that blood was the holiest representative of the church among the Children of Israel. In that church every detail was a correspondence of something natural with something spiritual. For instance, they were to take some of the blood of the Passover and put it on the door-posts and lintels of their houses, to ensure the plague would not come upon them (Exod. 12:7, 13, 22).
The blood of the burnt offering was to be sprinkled over the altar, right to its foundations, and over Aaron, his sons and their clothes (Exod. 29:12, 16, 20, 21; Lev. 1:5, 11, 15; 3:2, 8, 13; 4:25, 30, 34; 8:15, 24; 17:6; Num. 18:17**; Deut. 12:27). Also over the veil above the Ark, over the mercy-seat there, and over the horns of the incense altar (Lev. 4:6, 7, 17, 18; 16:12-15). The blood of the Lamb stands for something similar in Revelation:
These have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Rev. 7:14.
Also in these words from the same book:
War broke out in heaven, Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and they defeated him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their*** witness. Rev. 12:7, 11.
[4] It is impossible to think that Michael and his angels defeated the dragon by anything but the Lord’s Divine truth in the Word. For angels in heaven cannot think about any blood, nor do they think about the Lord’s passion; but they think of Divine truth and His resurrection. When therefore a person thinks about the Lord’s blood, the angels perceive the Divine truth of His Word. When he thinks about the Lord’s passion, they perceive His glorification, and then only His resurrection. I have been allowed to know by long experience that this is so.
[5] It is also plain from this passage in the Psalms of David that blood stands for Divine truth:
God will save the souls of the needy. Their blood will be precious in His eyes, and they will live and He will give them of the gold of Sheba. Ps. 72:13-16.
Blood being precious in God’s eyes stands for Divine truth being with them; the gold of Sheba is wisdom coming from this. Also in Ezekiel:
Gather for the great sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel, so that you may eat flesh and drink blood; you will drink the blood of the princes of the earth, and you will drink blood until you are drunk. Thus shall I set my glory among the nations. Ezek. 39:17-21.
This deals with the church which the Lord is to found among the gentiles. Blood cannot here mean blood, but the truth from the Word they possess; see just above.
* Literally: in the ears of the people.
** Corrected from (Lev.) 8:1.
*** The Latin has ‘his witness’.
Jesus taking bread broke it and gave it, saying, This is my body. Matt. chapter 26; Mark chapter 14; Luke chapter 22.
Also:
The bread which I shall give is my flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world. John 6:51.
He also says that He is the bread of life, and that he who eats of this bread will live for ever (John 6:48, 51, 58). This too is the bread meant by sacrifices, which are called bread in the following passages:
The priest is to burn it upon the altar, the bread of the fire-offering to Jehovah. Lev. 3:11, 16.
The sons of Aaron are to be holy to their God, and they are not to profane the name of their God, because they present the fire-offerings to Jehovah, the bread of their God. You are to sanctify him, because it is he who presents the bread of your God. A man of the seed of Aaron in whom there is a blemish is not to approach to present the bread of his God. Lev. 21:6, 8, 17, 21.
Command the Children of Israel and say to them, My gift, my bread for the fire-offerings for an odour of rest, you are to take care to present to me in due season. Num. 28:2.
He who has touched an unclean thing is not to eat any of the sanctified things, but is to wash his flesh in water, and afterwards he may eat of the sanctified things, because that is his bread. Lev. 22:6, 7.
Eating of the sanctified things meant the flesh from the sacrifices, and this is here also called bread; see also Mal. 1:7.
[2] The minhah in sacrifices, which were offerings of bread made from fine wheat-flour, had the same meaning (Lev. 2:1-11; 6:14-21; 7:9-13 and elsewhere). The same is true of the loaves placed on the table in the Tabernacle, which were called the bread of faces* or shewbread (on which see Exod. 25:30; 40:23; Lev. 24:5-9). It is not natural bread which is meant by bread, but heavenly bread, as is plain from these quotations:
It is not by bread alone that a person lives, but it is by everything that comes out of Jehovah’s mouth that a person lives. Deut. 8:3.
I shall send hunger upon the land, not hunger for bread, nor thirst for waters, but for hearing the words of Jehovah. Amos 8: 11.
Moreover, bread means every kind of food (Lev. 24:5-9; Exod. 25:30; 40:23; Num. 4:7; 1 Kings 7:48). It also means spiritual food, as is clear from these words of the Lord:
Work for food, not that which perishes, but that which lasts to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you. John 6:27.
* So literally; usually translated ‘bread of the presence.’
Jesus taking the cup, saying, This is my blood. Matt. chapter 26; Mark chapter 14; Luke chapter 22.
Also from these passages:
He washes his clothing in wine, and his covering in the blood of grapes. Gen. 49:11.
This is said of the Lord.
Jehovah Zebaoth will make for all peoples a banquet of fatness, a banquet of lees (that is, of sweet wine)*. Isa. 25:6.
This is about the institution of the sacrament of the Holy Supper by the Lord. Again:
Everyone who is thirsty, go to the waters, and he who has no money, go, buy and eat; and buy wine without money. Isa. 55:1.
The offspring of the vine which they were to drink new in the heavenly kingdom (Matt. 26:29; Mark 14:25; Luke 22:18) means nothing but the truth of the new church and of heaven. This is why in many passages in the Word the church is called a vineyard (for instance, Isa. 5:1, 24; Matt. 20:1-13), and the Lord calls Himself the true vine, and the people who are grafted on to it are called branches (John 15:1, 6, and many other passages).
* These last five words are not part of the quotation, but are added by the author to explain that well-matured wine is meant.
It is not by bread alone that a person lives, but it is by everything that comes out of Jehovah’s mouth that a person lives. Deut. 8:3.
Now since the body dies, and the soul lives after death, it follows that spiritual nourishment must be for everlasting salvation. Can anyone after that fail to see that these two kinds of nourishment must by no means be confused? If anyone does confuse them, he cannot help taking to himself natural and sensual notions about the Lord’s flesh and blood, and about bread and wine; and since these ideas are derived from matter, the body and the flesh, they smother spiritual notions about this most holy sacrament.
[2] But should anyone be so simple-minded as to be unable to think with his understanding about anything other than what he sees with his eyes, I advise him, when he takes the bread and wine, and then hears the Lord’s flesh and blood mentioned, to think to himself about the Holy Supper that it is the holiest act of worship, and to remember Christ’s passion and His love for man’s salvation. For He says:
Do this in remembrance of me. Luke 22:19.
And:
The Son of Man came to give his soul as a ransom for many. Matt. 20:28; Mark 10:45.
I lay down my life for the sheep. John 10: 15, 17; 15:13.
By understanding this it is possible to grasp the fact that the Holy Supper contains everything to do with the church and heaven, both at the universal and at the particular level.
It was shown in the previous section that the Lord Himself is present in the Holy Supper, and that flesh and bread are the Lord in respect of the Divine good of love, and blood and wine are the Lord in respect of the Divine truth of wisdom. There are therefore three items involved in the Holy Supper, the Lord, His Divine good and His Divine truth. So since the Holy Supper includes and contains these three, it follows that it also includes and contains the universals of heaven and the church. Since all particulars depend upon universals, as contents do on their containers, it also follows that the Holy Supper includes and contains all the particulars of heaven and the church. The first fact established by this is that, since the Lord’s flesh and blood, and likewise bread and wine, mean the Divine good and the Divine truth, both coming from the Lord and being the Lord, the Holy Supper contains everything to do with heaven and the church both at the universal and at the particular level.
[2] Likewise there are three things in man as regards his external, to which every single detail refers and on which they are dependent: namely, the body, the heart and the lungs. These three bodily items correspond to the three mental items, [the body to the soul or mind,] the heart to the will, the lungs or breathing to the understanding. The existence of such a correspondence has already been fully demonstrated in this book. Every single detail now in man is so formed both at the universal and at the particular level as to be capable of receiving those three universals of heaven and the church. The reason is that man was created an image and likeness of God, in order therefore that he might be in the Lord, and the Lord might be in him.
Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought out to Abram bread and wine; and he was priest to God most high, and he blessed him. Gen. 14:18, 19.
It is clear that Melchizedek represented the Lord from these words in the Psalms of David:
You are a priest for ever after the fashion of Melchizedek. Ps. 110:4.
On this referring to the Lord see Heb. 5:6, 10; 6:20; 7:1, 10, 11, 15, 17, 21. The reason why he brought out bread and wine was that these two include everything to do with heaven and the church, and so with blessing, in the same way as bread and wine do in the Holy Supper.
The Lord is wholly present in the Holy Supper, and so is the whole of redemption.
The Lord is wholly present in the Holy Supper, both as regards His glorified Human and as regards the Divine from which the Human came; this is obvious from His actual words. These passages prove that His Human is present in the Holy Supper:
Jesus taking bread, broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, This is my body; and taking the cup, he gave it to them, saying, This is my blood. Matt. chapter 26; Mark chapter 14; Luke chapter 22.
Also in John:
I am the bread of life; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live for ever. The bread which I shall give is my flesh. Truly, truly, I tell you, he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him; and he lives for ever. John 6[:51, 56].
These passages establish it as obvious that the Lord is present in the Holy Supper as regards His glorified Human.
[2] The Lord is wholly present in the Holy Supper as regards His Divine, from which the Human came, as is obvious from the following: He is the bread which came down from heaven (John 6[:51]). He came down from heaven together with the Divine, for we read:
The Word was with God, and the Word was God; all things were made by Him; and the Word was made flesh. John 1:1, 3, 14.
Further, the Father and He are one (John 10:30); everything of the Father’s is His (John 3:35; 16:15); He is in the Father and the Father is in Him (John 14:10, 11, etc). Furthermore His Divine could no more be separated from His Human than the soul can be from the body. Therefore, when we say that the Lord is wholly present in the Holy Supper as regards His Human, it follows that His Divine from which the Human came is there together with it. Now since His flesh stands for the Divine good of His love, and His blood stands for the Divine truth of His wisdom, it is plain that the Lord is wholly omnipresent in the Holy Supper both as regards the Divine and as regards His glorified Human. Consequently this is a spiritual eating.
The Lord is present and opens heaven to those who worthily approach the Holy Supper. He is also present to those who approach it unworthily, but He does not open heaven to them. Consequently just as baptism is being introduced to the church, so the Holy Supper is being introduced to heaven.
The two following sections deal with the question of who are worthy to approach the Holy Supper, as well as with those who are unworthy. For a single affirmative statement allows the opposite negative to be known. The Lord is present both with the worthy and the unworthy, because He is omnipresent in heaven and in hell, and also in the world, and so with the wicked as well as with the good. But in the case of the good, that is, the regenerate, He is present both at the universal and the particular level, for the Lord is in them and they are in the Lord, and where the Lord is, there is heaven. Heaven also makes up the Lord’s body, so being in His body implies being at the same time in heaven.
[2] But in the case of those who approach the Holy Supper unworthily the Lord’s presence is universal, but not particular; or to put it another way, His presence is external, but not at the same time internal. His universal or external presence enables a human being to be human, and to be blessed with the capability of knowing, understanding and speaking rationally as the result of understanding. For human beings are destined by birth for heaven, and are therefore spiritual, not, like animals, only natural. They are blessed with the capability of willing and doing what the understanding can know, understand and so talk about rationally. But if the will shies away from the truly rational suggestions of the understanding, which are inwardly spiritual ones, then a person becomes external. In the case of those, therefore, who only understand what is true and good, the Lord’s presence is universal or external. But in the case of those who also will and do what is true and good, the Lord’s presence is both universal and particular, or both internal and external.
[3] Those who only understand and talk about what is true and good can be compared to the foolish virgins, who had lamps but no oil. Those who not only understand and talk about what is true and good, but also will and do them, are the wise virgins who were invited in to the wedding; but the others are those who stood outside knocking, but were not invited in (Matt. 25:1-12). These statements will establish that the Lord is present and opens heaven to those who worthily approach the Holy Supper, and is also present with those who do so unworthily, but in their case He does not open heaven.
I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and dine with him, and he with me. Rev. 3:20.
The blame, therefore, lies with the person himself, if he fails to open the door. After death the situation is different. Then heaven is shut and cannot be opened to those who right to the end of their lives have unworthily approached the Holy Table; for then the interiors of their minds are fixed and consolidated.
These two stages can be compared with the case of a prince who is born to be king; he is first introduced to the knowledge which will enable him to govern; the second stage is his coronation and reign. Another comparison is with a son born to a great inheritance, who first learns and absorbs the sorts of things which are relevant to the proper management of estates and wealth; the second stage is when he comes into possession and administers his inheritance. Another comparison is with building a house and living in it; also with the way a person is brought up from childhood until he comes of an age to make his own decisions and judgments, and with his rational and spiritual life after this. One period must inevitably precede in order to achieve the second, since the second is impossible without the first. These illustrations show that baptism and the Holy Supper are as it were two gates, through which a person is introduced to everlasting life; and after the first gate there is an open space to be covered. The second gate is the goal, where the prize is which he set out to win; for the victory comes only after the encounter, and the prize only after the contest.
The people who worthily approach the Holy Supper are those who have faith in the Lord and charity towards the neighbour, so those who have been regenerated.
God, charity and faith are the three universals of the church, because they are the universal means to salvation. This is known, acknowledged and grasped by any Christian who studies the Word. Reason itself, at least if it contains any spirituality, insists that God must be acknowledged, if a person is to have any religion and any part of the church in him. If therefore anyone approaches the Holy Supper without acknowledging God, he profanes it. His eye sees the bread and wine, he tastes them on his tongue; but his mind is thinking: ‘This is surely a matter of indifference. How are the bread and wine any different from what I have on my table? However, I do this to avoid being blamed by the priesthood, and so by the common people, as being an atheist.’
[2] After the acknowledgment of God the second means which makes one worthy to approach is charity. This fact is established both from the Word and from the exhortations read before people approach throughout the Christian world. We learn from the Word that the leading injunction and commandment is to love God before all else and one’s neighbour as oneself (Matt. 22:35-40; Luke 10:25-28). Also in the epistles of Paul, there are three things which contribute to salvation, and the greatest of these is charity (1 Cor. 13:13). Also:
We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone worships God and does His will, He listens to him. John 9:31.
Everyone who* does not produce good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Matt. 7:19, 20; Luke 3:8, 9.
[3] The exhortations read throughout the Christian world before people approach the Holy Supper show that everywhere they are sternly admonished to be in a state of charity by reconciliation and repentance. I will quote only the following passage from the prayer read to communicants in England:
The way and means to become worthy partakers of the Holy Supper is this. First, to examine one’s life and conversations by the rule of God’s commandments; and whereinsoever one perceives oneself to have offended, either by will, word or deed, there to bewail one’s own sinfulness, and to confess oneself to Almighty God, with full purpose of amendment of life. And if one perceives one’s offences to be such as are not only against God, but also against the neighbour, then one shall reconcile oneself unto him, being ready to make restitution and satisfaction to the uttermost of one’s powers, for all injuries and wrongs done by one to any other; and being likewise ready to forgive others that have offended one, as one would have forgiveness of one’s offences at God’s hand; for otherwise the receiving of the holy Communion cloth nothing else but increase one’s own damnation. Therefore if any of you be a blasphemer of God, an hinderer or slanderer of His Word, [an adulterer,] or be in malice, or envy, or in any other grievous crime, repent you of your sins, or else come not to that holy Supper; lest, after taking of that holy Supper, the devil enter into you, as he entered into Judas, and fill you full of all iniquities, and bring you to destruction both of body and soul.**
[4] The third means to the worthy enjoyment of the Holy Supper is faith in the Lord. This is because charity and faith make one, as heat and light do in springtime, so that their combination makes every tree to be reborn. Likewise it is spiritual heat, which is charity, and spiritual light, which is the truth of faith, which make everyone alive. It is established from the following passages that faith in the Lord has this result:
He who believes in me will never die, but will live. John 11: 25, 26.
This is the will of the Father, that everyone who believes in the Son should have everlasting life. John 6:40.
God so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son, so that everyone who believes in Him should have everlasting life. John 3:15, 16.
He who believes in the Son has everlasting life. But he who does not believe the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God rests upon him. John 3:36.
We are in the truth, in the Son of God, Jesus Christ. He is the true God and everlasting life. 1 John 5:20.
* The original in both Gospels has ‘Every tree which,’ and elsewhere it is so quoted by the author.
** This passage is given in Latin in the original, but is a fairly close translation from the Book of Common Prayer, the language of which is here followed.
Then you will begin to say, Lord, we ate and drank in your presence. But I shall say to you, I do not know where you are from. Depart from me, all you who do iniquity. Luke 13:26, 27.
The same facts can also be compared with a wedding on earth, to which only close relatives, kinsfolk and friends of the bridegroom and bride are invited. If anyone else comes, he is allowed in, but leaves because there is no place for him at the table. It is much the same with those who are summoned to the wedding of the Lord as bridegroom with the church as bride. Among these are the kinsfolk, relatives and friends who belong to the family by being regenerated by the Lord. Moreover, is anyone in the world allowed to become someone’s friend, unless in sincerity of heart he trusts him and does his will? It is this person and no others that one counts among one’s friends and to whom one entrusts one’s property.
Those who worthily approach the Holy Supper are in the Lord and the Lord is in them. Thus it is through the Holy Supper that they are linked with the Lord.
I have shown in several of the preceding chapters that it is those who possess faith in the Lord and charity towards the neighbour that worthily approach the Holy Supper; and that the truths of faith bring about the Lord’s presence, and the good of charity together with faith brings about linking. It follows from this that those who worthily approach the Holy Supper are linked with the Lord; and those who are linked with the Lord are in Him and He is in them. The Lord Himself clearly states that this happens to those who approach worthily in this passage of John:
He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I him. John 6:56.
Elsewhere in the same gospel He teaches us that this is linking with the Lord:
Remain in me, and I too in you. If someone remains in me and I in him, he bears much fruit. John 15:4, 5; and Rev. 3:20.
What does linking with the Lord mean but being among those who are in His body? And His body is made up of those who believe in Him and do His will. His will is the exercise of charity in accordance with the truths of faith.
Jesus Christ is the true God and everlasting life. 1 John 5:20.
He is also salvation, because salvation and everlasting life are one and the same thing. His name Jesus also means salvation, and He is for this reason all over the Christian world given the title of Saviour. Still only those approach the Holy Supper worthily who are inwardly linked with the Lord, and these are those who have been regenerated. Who the regenerated are has been shown in the chapter on reformation and regeneration.
[2] There are many besides who confess the Lord and do good to the neighbour; but they are not regenerated unless they do this out of love towards the neighbour and faith in the Lord. For in doing good to the neighbour they can be motivated solely by reasons which concern the world or themselves, but not the neighbour as such. Their deeds are purely natural, with no spiritual content hidden in them. For such people make a confession of the Lord only with their mouths and lips, while their hearts are far away. Real love towards the neighbour and real faith come only from the Lord; and both are conferred upon a person when he of his own free will does good on the natural level to the neighbour, and believes truths with his reason, and looks to the Lord, doing all these three things because of the commandments in the Word. Then the Lord plants charity and faith in his midst, and makes both of these spiritual. So the Lord links a person to Himself, and the person links himself to the Lord; for linking is impossible if it is not reciprocal. But these propositions have been fully demonstrated in the chapters on charity, faith, free will and regeneration.
[2] In addition, the link established with the Lord through the Holy Supper can be illustrated by the link between families descended from one ancestor. From him are descended blood relations, and in series kinsfolk and relatives. They all derive something from the founder of the line, but it is not so much flesh and blood. It is rather the soul and similar inclinations which they derive from flesh and blood that forms the link. The link is also generally apparent in their faces and their behaviour, so that they are called one flesh (as in Gen. 29:14; 37:27; 2 Sam, 5:1; 19:12, 13, and elsewhere).
[3] It is much the same with linking with the Lord, who is the Father of all the faithful and blessed. Linking with Him takes place by means of love and faith, which together are called one flesh. This is why He said that ‘if someone eats my flesh and drinks my blood, he remains in me and I in him’ (John 6:56). Anyone can see that it is not bread and wine that do this, but the good of love, which is meant by bread, and the truth of faith, which is meant by wine. These are peculiar to the Lord, proceed from and are conferred by Him alone. Every link is forged by love, and love is not love if there is no trust. Those who believe that bread is flesh and wine is blood, being unable to lift their thoughts above this level, may cling to that belief; but in such a way as to believe that it is something very holy which makes a link with the Lord, which is being assigned for a person to make as if his own, although it constantly remains the Lord’s.
The Holy Supper for those who approach it worthily is a kind of guarantee and seal put on their adoption as sons of God.
The reason why the Holy Supper for those who approach it worthily is a kind of guarantee and seal put on their adoption as sons of God is that, as said above, the Lord is then present and introduces into heaven those who are born of Him, that is, who are regenerated. The Holy Supper can effect this because the Lord is then present in His Divine Human too; for it was shown above that in the Holy Supper the Lord is wholly present and so is the whole of His redemption. For He says of the bread ‘This is my body’ and of the wine ‘This is my blood.’ Thus He then admits them into His body; and the church and heaven make up His body.
When a person is being regenerated, the Lord is certainly present, and by means of His Divine action prepares the person for heaven. But in order really to enter heaven, the person must really present himself to the Lord; and because the Lord really presents Himself to the person, the person really receives him, yet not as He was hanging on the cross, but as He is in His glorified Human, in which He is present. Divine good is His body, Divine truth His blood. These are given to the person and are the means of his regeneration, so that he is in the Lord and the Lord is in him. For, as shown above, the eating which occurs in the Holy Supper is a spiritual eating. A correct perception of this establishes that the Holy Supper is a guarantee and seal put upon the adoption as sons of God of those who approach it worthily.
Infants and children, however, who were born outside the Christian church are brought by other means than baptism into the heaven planned for their religion, once they have accepted faith in the Lord; but they are not allowed to mix with those who are in the Christian heaven. For there is no nation in the whole world which cannot be saved, if it acknowledges God and lives a good life. For the Lord has redeemed all of these, and man is by birth spiritual, a fact which gives him the ability to receive the gift of redemption. Those who receive the Lord, that is, who have faith in Him and do not lead wicked lives, are called ‘sons of God’ and ‘born of God’ (John 1:12, 13; 11:52); also ,sons of the kingdom’ (Matt. 13:38), and also ‘heirs’ (Matt. 19:29; 25:34). The Lord’s disciples are also called children (John 13:33) and so are all the angels (Job 1:6; 2:1).
Drink of it, all of you. This is my blood, the blood of the new testament. Matt. 26:27, 28; Mark 14:24; Luke 22:20.
The new testament is the new covenant. This is why the Word written by means of the Prophets before the Lord’s coming is called the Old Testament or covenant, and the Word written after His coming by means of the Evangelists and Apostles is called the New Testament or covenant. Blood, and likewise wine in the Holy Supper, means the Divine truth of the Word; see above in section II, 7, 10 [= 706 708]. The Word too is the actual covenant which the Lord has made with man, and man with the Lord. For the Lord came down as the Word, that is, as Divine truth. It is because this is His blood, that blood in the Israelite church, which represented the Christian church, was called ‘the blood of the covenant’ (Exod. 24:8; Zech. 9: 11) and the Lord was called ‘the Covenant of the people’ (Isa. 42:6; 49:8; Jer. 31:31-34; Ps. 111:9).
[2] It is in keeping with the way things are arranged in the world, that there should be a signing as a guarantee, and this follows discussion of the terms. How can anyone have a commission or a will without a signature? How can one have a judgment without a signed decision to make it effective? How can one reach high office in a kingdom without letters patent? How can one get advancement to any office without written confirmation? How can one own a house without a bill of sale or an agreement with the owner? How can one advance towards an end or chase after a goal and so win a prize, unless there is some end or goal where the prize may be won? Or unless the presiding officer has somehow confirmed his offer? These last examples are only added as an illustration to enable even a simpleminded person to grasp that the Holy Supper is a kind of guarantee, seal, token and evidence of commission, to show, even in the sight of angels, that they are sons of God. It is in addition like a key to a home in heaven, where they may reside for ever.
When he was near, I spoke to him and asked: ‘What is happening now? I heard the sound of your trumpet, and saw you come down through the air.’
‘I have been sent,’ the angel replied, ‘to summon the most famous for their learning, the most perceptive minds and the names most renowned for wisdom, who come from Christian lands and are in this region, to meet together on this hill, where you are now standing, and to speak their minds, stating what, when in the world, they had thought, understood and regarded as wisdom on the subject of heavenly joy and everlasting happiness.
[2] ‘The reason for my mission is that some new arrivals from the world, who have been admitted to our heavenly community in the east, have reported that not a single person in the whole of Christendom knows what heavenly joy and everlasting happiness are, and so what heaven is. My brethren and colleagues were very surprised at this and told me to go down, make proclamation and summon the wisest people in the world of spirits, the place where all mortals are first gathered together on leaving the natural world, so that we can be informed by a number of voices, whether it is true that Christians are in such dense darkness and deep ignorance about the life to come. Wait a little while,’ he said, ‘and you will see the groups of wise men arriving here; the Lord will prepare a hall for their meeting.’
[3] I waited and after half an hour I saw two parties coming from the north, two from the west, and two from the south. The angel with the trumpet took them into the hall which had been prepared, and there they occupied the places assigned to them in accordance with the quarter they came from. There were six groups or parties; there was a seventh from the east, but the light rendered them invisible to the rest. When they were assembled, the angel revealed the reason they had been summoned, and asked the groups in turn to set forth their wisdom on the subject of heavenly joy and everlasting happiness. Then each group formed a circle with faces turned in towards one another, so that they could recall the ideas they had had about it in the previous world, discuss them, and after discussion could report on them.
* The passage 731-752 is repeated from CL 2-25.
[2] When they had made this speech, the second group from the north out of their wisdom made the following prophecy: ‘Heavenly joy and everlasting happiness are simply the most entertaining meetings with angels, and the most charming conversations with them. This keeps their faces constantly wreathed in smiles, and the mouths of the whole assembly laughing sweetly at their soft words and witty speech. What are the joys of heaven but variations on this theme for ever?’
[3] The third group, the first of the wise from the western quarter, from thinking about their affections made this declaration: ‘What are heavenly joy and everlasting happiness but feasting with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob? Their tables will be supplied with rich and dainty dishes, fine wines and noble vintages; and after the banquet there will be games and dances by girls and youths to the music of bands and pipes, with interludes of the sweetest singing of songs. Then finally towards evening there will be theatrical performances, and after this another banquet, and so on every day for ever.’
[4] Following this statement from the fourth group, the second from the west, pronounced its opinion. ‘We have held,’ they said, ‘numerous ideas about heavenly joy and everlasting happiness, and we have looked into various joys and compared one with another; and we have come to the conclusion that the joys of heaven are the joys of a garden. What is heaven but a garden stretching from east to west and from south to north, containing fruit trees and delightful flowers? In the middle will be the magnificent tree of life, around which the blessed will sit, feeding on fruits of exquisite flavour, and decked with garlands of flowers with the sweetest scent. Under the breezes of a perpetual spring these will grow time and again in infinite variety day by day. Their perpetual growth and flowering, as well as the constant spring climate, will inevitably refresh the mind, so as to take in and imbibe new joys day by day, and bring people back to the flower of youth and so to the primeval state, which Adam and his wife were created to enjoy. Thus they will be returned to their garden of Eden, now transferred from earth to heaven.’
[5] The fifth group, which was the first group of clever people from the south, made the following statement: ‘Heavenly joys and everlasting happiness are simply surpassing dominions and the richest treasures, which will confer magnificence beyond the reach of kings, and splendour beyond compare. We have grasped that these must be the joys of heaven and their continued enjoyment, which is everlasting happiness, by considering those in the previous world who attained this state. Moreover, we infer this from the fact that the happy are to reign in heaven with the Lord, and be kings and princes, because they are the sons of Him who is King of kings and Lord of lords; and they will sit upon thrones being waited on by angels. We have grasped the magnificence of heaven from the fact that the New Jerusalem, which is used to describe the glories of heaven, will have each of its gates made out of a single pearl, streets of pure gold, and precious stones for the foundations of its wall. So everyone who is received into heaven will have his mansion gleaming with gold and precious substances, and the rule will pass in turn from one to another. Knowing as we do that in such things joys are inherent and happiness is immanent, and that God’s promises can never be broken, we have been able to conclude that the happiest state of life in heaven is from this source and no other.’
[6] After this the sixth group, which was the second from the south, spoke up and said: ‘The joy of heaven and its everlasting happiness are simply a perpetual glorifying of God, one long festival lasting for ever, and a most blessed act of worship with songs and shouts of triumph. Thus our hearts will be constantly lifted up to God in full confidence that our prayers and praises will be acceptable on account of God’s munificence in blessing us.’ Some of the group added that this glorifying of God will be accompanied by magnificent lamps, the most fragrant incense, and processions of great pomp, with the chief priest leading the way with a great horn, followed by the bishops and dignitaries of higher and lower rank, and finally by the men with palms and the women with images made of gold in their hands.
Then they said to the angel with the trumpet: ‘You know that every person who had longed to go to heaven and had any definite ideas about its joys is after death allowed to experience the joys he imagined; and after they have found out by experience what those joys are like, and realised that they are empty ideas in their minds and ravings of their imaginations, they are taken away from them and taught. This happens to most people in the world of spirits, who in their previous lives had thought deeply about heaven, and come to some conclusion about its joys, so as to desire to experience them.’ On hearing this the angel with the trumpet said to the six groups summoned from the wise of the Christian world: ‘Follow me, and I shall bring you to experience the joys you imagine, and so into heaven.’
I was allowed to look inside that building, and I saw people running from one room to another, looking for gatherings which answered to their affection and thus to their idea of joy. In the gatherings I saw three sorts of people: some who were more or less panting to speak, some who were anxious to ask questions, and some keen on listening.
[2] The building had four doors, one on each side, and I noticed that many people were breaking up the gatherings and hastening to leave. I followed some of them to the east door, and saw some people sitting near it with long faces. So I went up to them and asked why they were sitting looking so sad. ‘The doors of this building,’ they replied, ‘are kept shut against those who want to leave. It is now three days since we came in, and we have spent our time as we wished in meetings and conversations, and we have become so tired of continual talk that we can hardly bear to listen to the mere noise of it. We were so bored we made our way to this door and knocked; but we were told that the doors of this building are open for people to come in, but not to go out. “Stay and enjoy the joys of heaven,” they told us. So we concluded from this reply that we shall have to stay here for ever. As a result our minds have fallen victim to sadness, our chests are beginning now to feel constricted, and we are becoming worried.’
[3] Then the angel addressed them and said: ‘This state is death to your joys, the ones you thought were the only heavenly ones, though they are but concomitant to heavenly joys.’ ‘What then,’ they asked the angel, ‘is heavenly joy?’
The angel replied briefly as follows: ‘It is the pleasure of doing something which is of service to oneself or others. This pleasure derives its essence from love, and its coming-into-being from wisdom. The pleasure of service arising from love by means of wisdom is the soul and life of all heavenly joys. There are in the heavens most entertaining meetings, which cheer the angels’ minds, delight their spirits, gladden their hearts and refresh their bodies. But these take place after they have performed services in their occupations and tasks. This is what gives the soul and life to all their pleasures and amusements. But if you deprive them of that soul or life, the concomitant joys one after another cease to be joys, first becoming matters of indifference, and then worthless, and finally the source of sadness and worry.’
When he had said this, the door was opened and the people sitting near leaped out. They hurried away home, each to his own occupation and his own task, and so were revived.
‘Why are there so many tables?’ they asked. The angel replied that the first table was Abraham’s, the second Isaac’s, the third Jacob’s, and then ranged next to these the tables of the twelve Apostles. On the other side were the same number of tables for their wives, the first three for Sarah, the wife of Abraham, Rebecca, the wife of Isaac, and Leah and Rachel, Jacob’s wives. The other twelve were for the wives of the twelve Apostles.
[2] After a little while all the tables appeared full of dishes of food, and the small spaces between them were decorated with small pyramids of sweets. The diners stood around the tables waiting to see the people who would preside; and after a short interval these were seen entering in procession with Abraham at their head and the rear brought up by the last of the Apostles. Then each went to his own table and sat down on the couch at its head, from where they invited those standing around: ‘Do you too please take your seats with us.’ So the men sat at table with the patriarchs, and the women with their wives, and they ate and drank cheerfully and with reverence. After the lunch the patriarchs went out, and then the games began, dancing by young girls and young men, and then theatrical performances. When these were over, they were invited to feast again, but the rule was that the first day they should dine with Abraham, the second with Isaac, the third with Jacob, the fourth with Peter, the fifth with James, the sixth with John, the seventh with Paul, and so on with the rest up to the fifteenth day, after which they would go through all the feasts again, merely changing places, and so on for ever.
[3] After this the angel called together the men in the group and said to them: ‘All these whom you have seen at table had much the same thoughts as you did when they imagined the joys of heaven and everlasting happiness. In order that they should see for themselves how vain their notions were, these feasts and performances were set up with the Lord’s permission. The leading figures you saw at the head of each table were old men portrayed by actors, many of them countryfolk who had beards, and as the result of some degree of wealth more haughty than the rest; these were made to imagine that they were the ancient patriarchs. But follow me to the exits from this exercise-ground.’
[4] So they followed him and came upon fifty people in one place and fifty more in another, who had stuffed their bellies with food until they felt sick. Then they longed to return to the familiar surroundings of their homes, some to their duties, some to their businesses, and some to their tasks. But many of them were stopped by the guards of the wood, and questioned about the days they had spent feasting, and whether they had yet eaten at the tables with Peter and Paul, telling them that if they left before this, it would make them ashamed to be so impolite. But most of them answered: ‘We have had enough of our joys. The food has become tasteless to us, our taste has become parched, so that our stomachs loathe food and we can no longer bear to swallow it. We have spent a number of long days and nights amid that luxury; we beg you earnestly to let us go.’ When they were allowed out, they hurried off home so fast they were out of breath.
[5] After this the angel called the men of the group together, and as they walked gave them the following information about heaven: ‘In heaven, just as in the world, there is food and drink, and there are banquets and parties. The leading people there have their tables laden with rich feasts, dainties and delicacies, which serve to cheer and refresh their minds. There are also games and theatrical performances; there are also concerts and singing, and all achieve the highest perfection. Such things are a joy to them, but they do not constitute happiness. Happiness has to have joys and therefore comes from joys.
It is the happiness in joys that makes them joys, enriches them, and keeps them from becoming worthless and boring. Everyone gets this happiness by being of service in his occupation.
[6] ‘Every angel has some hidden tendency in the affection of his will, which induces his mind to do something. By this means the mind calms and satisfies itself. This feeling of satisfaction and calm render the state of the mind amenable to receiving from the Lord the love of service. Heavenly happiness is the result of receiving this, and this is what gives life to the joys I mentioned before. Heavenly food is essentially nothing but love, wisdom and service all combined; that is, service performed by means of wisdom out of love. Everyone therefore in heaven gets food for the body depending on the service he performs; it is magnificent for those who perform the highest services, moderate but of exquisite flavour for those whose service is modest, humble for those who perform humble services. But there is none at all for the lazy.’
[2] When he said this, a throne appeared next to each column, and on the throne a robe of silk, and on the robe a sceptre and a crown; and next to each pyramid appeared a chair raised three cubits above the ground, and on the chair a chain with gold links, and sashes of knighthood with diamond-studded globes at their ends. Then the cry went up, ‘Come now and dress yourselves, take your seats and wait.’ At once the elders hurried to the thrones and the younger men to the chairs, put on their robes and sat down. Then what looked like a mist appeared coming up from below; and as a result of breathing this those who sat on the thrones and chairs had their faces begin to swell up, and their chests were puffed up, and they were filled with a confident belief that they were now kings and princes. The mist was the aura of delusion which inspired them. Then suddenly young men flew in as if from heaven and stood, two behind each throne and one behind each chair, to wait on them. Then it was repeatedly proclaimed by a herald: ‘You kings and princes are to wait here a little longer. Your courts are now being made ready in heaven, and your courtiers and attendants will shortly be here to take you to them.’ They kept on waiting and waiting, until their spirits began to gasp and tire through longing.
[3] After three hours heaven was opened above their heads, and the angels looked down and pitied them. ‘Why,’ they said, ‘do you sit like this looking foolish and playing at acting? They have made fools of you and changed you from human beings into dummies, because you believed in your hearts that you would reign with Christ as kings and princes, and that then angels would wait upon you. Have you forgotten the Lord’s words, that he who would be great in heaven must become a servant? You must learn therefore what is meant by kings and princes and by reigning with Christ. This means being wise and performing services. For Christ’s kingdom, which is heaven, is a kingdom of services. For the Lord loves all and so wishes to do good to all, and good is service. Since the Lord does good or performs services indirectly through angels, and in the world through people, He gives those who faithfully perform services a love of service and its reward, which is inward blessedness, and this is everlasting happiness.
[4] ‘There are in the heavens, as on earth, surpassing dominions and the richest treasures. For there are governments and forms of government, and therefore major and minor authorities and ranks. Those who hold the highest offices have palaces and council-chambers, the magnificence and splendour of which surpass those of the palaces and council-chambers of emperors and kings on earth; and the number of their courtiers, ministers and attendants, and the magnificent uniforms they wear, form for them an ambience of honour and glory. But these highest rulers are chosen from those whose heart is in the welfare of society, and only their bodily senses are concerned with the greatness of magnificence, in order to inspire obedience. Since the public weal demands that everyone should serve some purpose in the community as being the common body, and since all service comes from the Lord, and is performed by angels and by men as if of themselves, it is obvious that this is reigning with the Lord.’
On hearing this from heaven the people dressed up as kings and princes came down from their thrones and chairs, and threw away their sceptres, crowns and robes. The mist which brought the aura of delusion went away, and they were covered by a shining cloud containing an aura of wisdom, and this brought sanity back to their minds.
* Supplied from CL 7.1.
[2] Under the angel’s guidance they saw a huge throng of men, both old and young, of boys, of women and girls. There were groups upon groups of three or ten, sitting among the rose-beds weaving garlands to adorn the heads of the old men, the arms of the young men and to wrap around the chests of the boys. Other women were picking fruits from the trees and carrying them in baskets to their companions.* Others were pressing juice into goblets out of grapes, cherries and berries, and drinking it with pleasure. Others were sniffing the fragrance given off and spread around by flowers, fruits and aromatic foliage. Others were singing sweet songs to charm the ears of those present. Others were sitting by springs, and diverting the gushing water to make channels of various shapes. Others were walking about, conversing and joking together. Others were running, playing, dancing, in one place to make patterns, at another in rings.’ Others were going into summer houses to lie down on couches; and there were many other garden delights.
[3] When they had seen this, the angel led his companions through paths that curved hither and thither; and at last they came to a group who were sitting in a most beautiful rose-garden, surrounded by olive, orange and lemon trees. They were swaying to and fro, with their heads in their hands’ grieving and weeping. The angel’s companions addressed them and said: ‘Why are you sitting like that?’ ‘It is seven days now,’ they replied, ‘since we came into this garden. When we came in, our minds seemed to soar to heaven and to be plunged into the inmost bliss of its joys. But after three days the bliss began to wear off, to fade from our minds, becoming impossible to feel and so nothing. When the joys we had imagined died away, we were afraid of losing all the pleasure in our lives; and we started to feel doubtful whether there was such a thing as everlasting happiness. After this we wandered through the paths and beds, looking for the gate by which we had come in. But we wandered round and round in circles, asking anyone we met. Some of these told us that the gate was not to be found, because this paradise of a garden is a vast maze, so arranged that anyone who wants to get out penetrates deeper into it. “So you have no option but to stay here for ever,” they said. “You are in the middle of it, where all its delights are concentrated.”‘
The people they had encountered went on to tell the angel’s companions: ‘We have been sitting here now for a day and a half, and since we have lost all hope of finding the way out, we sat down by this rose-bed. We can see masses of olives, grapes, oranges and citrus-fruit around us, but the more we look at them, the more our eyes get tired of seeing them, our noses of smelling them, our tongues of tasting them. That is why you see us now sad, grieving and weeping.’
[4] On hearing this the angel with the group said to them: ‘This garden-maze is in fact an entrance into heaven. I know the way and will take you out.’ When he said this, those who were sitting down sprang up and embraced the angel, and they followed him together with his group. On the way the angel taught them what heavenly joy and everlasting happiness are. He told them that there is no external delight in gardens unless this is accompanied by internal delight in gardens. The external delights of gardens are only delights of the bodily senses, but internal delights are delights of the affections of the soul. Unless these are within the external ones, there is no heavenly life, because there is no soul in them. Every delight without its corresponding soul becomes feeble and dull by continuance, and wearies the mind more than work. There are paradise-gardens everywhere in the heavens, and the angels find great joy in them, and the more delight of the soul there is in them, the more they feel those joys as joys.,
[5] On hearing this they all asked: ‘What is the delight of the soul, and where does it come from?’ ‘The delight of the soul,’ the angel answered, ‘comes from love and wisdom under the Lord’s guidance. Since love is an effective agent and achieves its effect through wisdom, so both of these are located in the effect, and the effect is service. The Lord pours this delight into the soul, and it passes down through the higher and lower levels of the mind into all the bodily senses, where it reaches its fulfilment. That is what makes joy joy, and it becomes everlasting by the action of Him who is its everlasting source. You have seen the gardens, and I assure you, there is nothing in them, not even so much as a tiny leaf, which is not the product of the marriage of love and wisdom realised in service. So if anyone enjoys this, he is in the heavenly garden, and so in heaven.’
* This sentence is omitted from the Latin here, but is found in the original of this passage in CL 8.2.
‘Follow me,’ the angel told them, ‘and I shall take you where you can experience your idea of joy.’ He took them into a small town, in the middle of which there was a church, and all the houses were called sacred buildings. They saw in the town crowds coming from every corner of the surrounding country, and amongst them a number of priests. These received and greeted the new arrivals, and taking them by the hand brought them to the doors of the church, and from there to some buildings around it, and introduced them to the constant worship of God. They told them that this town was a forecourt leading to heaven, and its church was the entrance to a magnificent, vast church in heaven, where the angels glorify God with prayers and praises for ever. ‘The rules here and also there,’ they said, ‘are that people must first enter the church and spend three days and three nights there. After this initiation they must go into the houses of the town, which are all sacred buildings dedicated by us; and then moving from one to another, they must join the congregations there in prayer, shouts of praise and the repetition of sermons. But above all you must be careful not to think to yourselves or say to companions anything but what is holy, pious and religious.’
[2] After this the angel took his party into the church, which was packed full with many who had held high rank in the world as well as many ordinary people. There were guards at the doors to prevent anyone leaving before spending his three days there. ‘Today,’ said the angel, ‘is the second day since these people came in; look carefully at them, and you will see how they glorify God.’
When they looked, they saw that most were asleep, and those who were awake could not stop yawning. As the result of constantly keeping their thoughts raised to God, and never allowing them to drop back to the body, some appeared to themselves and so also to others as if they were faces shut off from the body. Some were wild-eyed from constantly withdrawing their eyes. In short, all were depressed at heart and weary in spirit from boredom. They turned their backs on the pulpit and shouted: ‘Our ears are stunned, put an end to your sermons; we cannot hear your voice any longer and the sound of it is beginning to become hateful.’ Then they got up, rushed in a body to the doors, broke them open and by pressure on the guards drove them out of the way.
[3] On seeing this the priests followed them and coming close beside them kept teaching them amid prayers and sighs. ‘Keep the festival,’ they said, ‘glorify God, sanctify yourselves. In this forecourt to heaven we shall initiate you into the everlasting glorification of God in the magnificent, vast church which is in heaven, and so you will enjoy everlasting happiness.’ But they were unable to grasp this and hardly heard it, because two days of keeping their thoughts raised and removed from domestic and everyday matters had dulled their minds. But when they tried to snatch themselves away, the priests caught hold of their arms and their clothes too, pressing them to enter the buildings where sermons were being delivered. All to no avail; the people cried, ‘Leave us alone; we feel in our bodies as if we are fainting.’
[4] As soon as this was said, four men were seen, dressed in white robes and mitres. One of them had been an archbishop in the world and the other three had been bishops; all had now become angels. They called the priests together to address them. ‘We have seen you,’ they said, ‘from heaven with this flock of yours, and what sort of pastors you are. You are driving them mad. You do not know what glorifying God means; it means bringing forth the fruits of love, that is, faithfully, honestly and painstakingly doing the work demanded by one’s occupation. For this is a part of loving God and loving the neighbour; it is the bond which holds a community together, and it is the good it performs. By this God is glorified, as well as by worship at fixed times. Have you not read the Lord’s words:
In this is my Father glorified, by your bringing forth much fruit and becoming my disciples. John 15:8.
[5] You priests can devote yourselves to worship and glorification, because this is your duty, and it brings you honour, glory and reward. Still you could no more than they devote yourselves to that glorification, if honour, glory and reward did not attend upon your duty.’
With these words the bishops ordered the guards on the doors to allow everyone to enter or leave. ‘For,’ they said, ‘there is a vast number of people who are unable to imagine any joy in heaven other than constantly worshipping God, because they knew nothing about conditions in heaven.’
[2] They replied in turn. The first said: ‘From earliest childhood until the end of my life in the world my notion of heaven was that it was the place of every kind of blessedness, bliss, delight, beauty and pleasure. I thought that if I were admitted, such an aura of happiness would lap me round that I should drink it in and fill my heart with it, like a bridegroom at a wedding, and when he enters the nuptial chamber with his bride. With this notion I went up to heaven and passed the first set of guards, and also the second. But when I reached the third set of guards, their officer spoke to me. “Who are you, friend?” he said. “Isn’t this heaven?” I answered. “I have come up here to satisfy my earnest desire, so please let me in.” And he did so. There I saw angels in white clothes, and they walked round me and looked at me, and I heard them whispering: “Here is a new arrival who is not wearing the clothes of heaven.” On hearing this I thought: “This sounds to me like the man whom the Lord spoke of as having gone to a wedding without a wedding garment.” So I said: “Give me clothes like yours.” But they only laughed. Then someone hurried up with orders from the court: “Strip him naked, throw him out and throw his clothes after him.” And in that way I was thrown out.’
[3] The second to speak said: ‘My belief was like his, that if I was admitted to heaven, which is above my head, I should be surrounded by joys so that I could breathe them in for ever. I too was granted my wish. But when the angels saw me, they ran away, saying to one another: “What is this monstrous happening? How has a night bird come here?” In fact I felt I was changed from a human being, though no change took place. This was the result of breathing the atmosphere of heaven. Soon someone hurried up with orders from the court, that two servants should take me out and escort me back down the path I had followed up, until I reached home. When I was back at home I seemed to others and to myself like a human being again.’
[4] ‘I,’ said the third, ‘had always had a notion of heaven as a place, not as based on love. So when I came into this world, I had a great longing for heaven; and when I saw people going up, I followed them. I was allowed in, but not for more than a few paces. But when I wanted to cheer myself with my notion of the joys and blessedness there, the light of heaven, which was white as snow, and is said to be in essence wisdom, filled my mind with bewilderment, so that darkness covered my eyes and I began to go mad. Then the heat of heaven, which was as strong as the whiteness of its light, and is said to be in essence love, made my heart pound, filled me with anxiety, and so racked me with internal pain that I threw myself on my back upon the ground. As I lay there, an attendant came from the court with orders that they were to carry me gently down to my own light and heat. On reaching these my spirits recovered and my heart became normal.’
[5] The fourth said that he too had thought of heaven as a place and not as based on love. ‘As soon as I came into the spiritual world,’ he said, ‘I asked the wise men whether one was allowed to go up to heaven. They told me that everyone is allowed, but they must take care they are not thrown out. I laughed at this and went up, believing as did others that all in the whole world could receive the joys there to the full. But in fact when I got inside, I nearly died, and the pain which racked my head and body made me cast myself upon the ground, and I writhed like a snake put close to a fire, creeping towards a precipice, over which I threw myself. Afterwards I was picked up by the bystanders below and carried to an inn, where I returned to normal.’
[6] The other five too had remarkable stories to tell about how they went up to heaven. They compared the changes in their condition of life with those of fish, when they are lifted out of water into the air, or of birds in the upper air. They said that after such rough treatment they had no further desire to go to heaven, but only to live in the company of people similar to themselves, wherever they are. They were aware, they said, that in the world of spirits, where they then were, all are first prepared, the good for heaven, and the wicked for hell. When they have been prepared, they see roads opened up leading to communities of people like themselves, in whose company they will remain for ever. They take these roads with pleasure, because they are the ways their love takes them. All those from the first group assembled, on hearing this, admitted that they too had no other notion of heaven than as a place, where they had only to open their mouths to drink in for ever the joys around them.
[7] After this the angel with the trumpet said to them: ‘You can now see that the joys of heaven and everlasting happiness are not places, but are the conditions of a person’s life. The conditions of life in heaven arise from love and wisdom; and because it is service which holds together love and wisdom, the conditions of life in heaven are due to their combination in service. It is the same if one speaks of charity, faith and good deeds, since charity is love, faith is the truth which leads to wisdom, and good deeds are services. There are, moreover, in our spiritual world places just as there are in the natural world, otherwise we should have nowhere to live or any separate dwellings. But position is there not in space, but is an appearance of space depending on one’s condition with respect to love and wisdom, that is, to charity and faith.
[8] ‘Everyone who becomes an angel carries within himself his own heaven, since he has a love for his own heaven. For man is by creation a small-scale effigy, image and model of the great heaven. The human form is nothing else. Therefore each person comes into the community in heaven of which he is formed as a particular effigy. When therefore he comes into that community, he enters a form corresponding to himself, so passing from himself to himself in it, and from it to it in himself. He absorbs its life as if it were his own, and his own as if it were its. Each community there is as it were something shared, and the angels there are like similar parts combining to create the community. It now follows from this that those who are in the grip of evils and so of falsities have formed in themselves an effigy of hell; and this in heaven is tortured by the inflow and violence of one thing working upon its opposite. For hellish love is the opposite of heavenly love, so that the pleasures of those two loves clash with one another like enemies, and kill each other when they come to grips.’
So ten were chosen, and followed the angel. They went up a hill by a sloping path, and from there on to a mountain, on top of which was the heaven of those angels. Previously seen from a distance it had looked to them like an expanse in the clouds. Gates were opened for them, and when they had passed through the third, the angel conducting them hastened to the prince of that community or heaven, and announced their arrival.
‘Take some of my retinue,’ replied the prince, I and tell our guests that their arrival is welcome to me. Take them into my outer courtyard, and allot each a room with its bedroom. And take some from my court and servants to wait upon them and serve them at their wish.’ This was done as had been ordered.
When they had been brought in by the angel, they asked whether they might visit the prince and see him. ‘It is morning now,’ replied the angel, ‘and you cannot see him before noon. Until then all are occupied with their duties and work. But you have been invited to lunch, and you will then sit at table with our prince. Meanwhile I shall take you into his palace, to see the splendid and magnificent things in it.’
[2] When they were brought to the palace, they first of all viewed it from the outside. It was spacious, built of porphyry with foundations of jasper. In front of the gate were six lofty columns of lapis lazuli, the roof was made of gold plates, there were high windows of the most transparent crystal, and the window-frames too were of gold. After seeing the outside, they were allowed inside the palace, and taken on a tour of the rooms; there they saw ornaments of indescribable beauty, and under the ceilings decorations of unrivalled carving. Near the walls tables were placed made of silver alloyed with gold, on which was a variety of equipment decorated with precious stones, and some items made out of solid gems cut into heavenly shapes. There was more, things no eye on earth has ever seen, so that no one could possibly believe that heaven contained such wonders.
[3] While they were stunned by the magnificence of what they had seen, the angel said: ‘Do not be surprised. These things you see were not made or crafted by the hand of any angel. They are the work of the Craftsman of the universe, given as a present to our prince. This therefore is architecture at its highest, and it is from this that all the rules of architecture in the world derive. You may judge,’ the angel went on, ‘that such things fascinate our eyes and so dazzle them that we think those are the joys of our heaven. But because our hearts are not set on them, they are only extras added to the joys of our hearts. Thus in so far as we look on them as extras, and as God’s handiwork, so far do we see in them the omnipotence and mercy of God.’
‘What do you mean?’ they answered, ‘there is no garden here. We can see only one tree, with what look like golden fruits on its branches and its top, and what look like leaves of silver, their edges decorated with emeralds; and under the tree there are children with their nurses.’
To this the angel replied with deep feeling in his voice: ‘This tree is in the middle of the garden, and we call it the tree of our heaven; some call it the tree of life. But go closer and your eyes will be opened, and you will see the garden.’ They did so, and their eyes were opened, and they saw trees teeming with tasty fruits, with grape-vines trained round them; and their tops with fruit on them nodded towards the tree of life in the middle.
[2] These trees were planted in an unbroken row, extending outward and running in constant circles or rings, like a never-ending spiral. It was a perfect spiral of trees, in which one species followed another arranged in order of the nobility of their fruits. There was a considerable gap between the beginning of the spiral and the tree in the middle, and this gap sparkled with gleams of light, which made the trees of the ring shine with a splendour running in graduated steps from the first to the last. The first trees were the most outstanding of all, luxuriant with the finest fruits; these were called trees of paradise, something never seen before because they do not, nor can they, exist on earth in the natural world. These were followed by trees that yield oil, and these by trees that yield wine. After these came trees with a fragrant scent, and finally trees with wood useful for making things. Here and there in this spiral or ring of trees were seats shaped out of tree-shoots brought and woven together from behind, enriched and embellished with their fruits. There were gates in this unbroken circle of trees, leading to flower gardens, and these leading to lawns, divided by plots and beds.
[3] When the angel’s companions saw these they cried: ‘Here is heaven made visible! Whichever way we turn our gaze, there is an impression made on us of heavenly paradise, beyond description.’ The angel was delighted to hear this, and said: ‘All the gardens in our heaven are visible forms or models representing the varied blessedness of heaven in their origins. It was because the varied blessedness flowing in uplifted your minds that you cried: “Here is heaven made visible!” Those, however, who do not receive that inflow look upon these paradises as no more than woodland. It is all those who have a love for performing services who receive that inflow. Those who do not receive it have a love for glory, which is not for the use it is.’ Afterwards he set forth and instructed them what was the representation and meaning of each detail in that garden.
So they fastened these on with a girdle and followed their angel, who brought them into an open courtyard of the palace, where people could stroll, to wait for the prince. There the angel introduced them to groups of important people and governors, who were also awaiting the prince. After a short time they saw the doors thrown open, and through a rather wider door on the west the prince entered with a dignified procession. He was preceded by his privy councillors, then came his treasury councillors, and after them the leading members of the court. In their midst walked the prince, followed by courtiers of various ranks, and finally the attendants. Altogether they numbered a hundred and twenty.
[2] The angel was standing in front of the ten newcomers, who were dressed to look like residents. He approached the prince with them and respectfully introduced them. The prince without pausing in his progress said to them: ‘Come and eat with me.’
They followed him into the dining-room and saw a table magnificently set out. In the middle was a lofty pyramid of gold, with a hundred dishes ranged in three rows on their stands. On the dishes were sugared cakes and crystallised grape-juice, together with other delicacies made of bread and wine. Through the middle of the pyramid burst a sort of fountain of wine like nectar; the liquid spread out from the top of the pyramid, and filled goblets. By the side of this lofty pyramid were various heavenly designs made of gold, on which were plates and saucers filled with food of every kind. The heavenly designs on which the plates and saucers stood were artistic representations based on wisdom, which no art in the world could create, nor can they be described in worldly language. The plates and saucers were of silver, engraved all round with designs on a plane surface similar to those of their supports. The goblets were made of translucent gems. Such was the setting of the table.
[2] When they were reasonably satisfied, the prince addressed the ten guests, and said: ‘I have heard that on the earth beneath this heaven you were summoned to assemble, to disclose your thoughts about the joys of heaven, and so about everlasting happiness. I heard that you expressed your thoughts in different ways, each depending on the bodily pleasures you appreciate. But what are bodily pleasures without those of the soul? It is the soul which makes them attractive. The pleasures of the soul are in essence imperceptible states of blessedness, which become more and more perceptible as they come down into the thoughts of the mind, and from these into the feelings of the body. In the thoughts of the mind they are felt as kinds of bliss, in the feelings of the body as pleasures, and in the body itself as gratifications. Everlasting happiness is a compound of all these together. But the latter sort produce a happiness which is not everlasting but temporary; it reaches an end and passes away, sometimes turning into unhappiness. You have seen now that all your joys are also among heaven’s joys, and they exceed anything you have ever imagined; none the less they do not exert an inward attraction on our minds.
[3] ‘There are three things which flow from the Lord as one into our souls; these three, felt as one, or a triad, are love, wisdom and service. Love and wisdom, however, do not come into existence except as concepts, because they are confined to the affection and thought which exist in the mind. But they are realised in service, because they come together in the act and work done by the body. Where they are realised in practice, they remain in existence. Since love and wisdom come into and remain in existence in service, it is service we find attractive; and service consists in performing the tasks of one’s calling faithfully, honestly and diligently. The love of service and thus diligence in service concentrates the mind and keeps it from wandering, and absorbing all the longings which pour in from the body and the world through the senses to titillate them, causing the truths of religion and morality with the kinds of good they produce to be scattered to the four winds. But the earnest devotion of the mind to service keeps them together and binds them, disposing the mind so as to receive wisdom coming from those truths. Then it banishes to one side or the other the mockery and folly of falsities and vanities. But you will hear more on this subject from the wise men of our community, whom I will send to you this afternoon.’
With these words the prince rose from the table and his fellow diners with him, wished them peace, and told the angel who was their guide to take them back to their rooms, and offer them all the honours politeness demands. He was also told to call in polite and agreeable men to entertain them by talking about the varied joys of their community.
On hearing this the people sent from the town told them the following: ‘There are here holidays proclaimed by the prince to give mental relaxation from the weariness which some feel as the result of longing not to be outdone. On these days there are concerts of music and singing in the squares, and outside the town sports and theatrical performances. At this time the squares are equipped with galleries surrounded by balustrades of interwoven vines, from which hang bunches of grapes. Amongst these, musicians sit in three tiers with string and wind instruments, some high and some low-pitched, some loud and some gentle-sounding, with at either side singers of either sex. These entertain the citizens with the most delightful hymns and songs, either in choirs or as solos, varying the genre from time to time. On holidays these performances last from morning till noon, and then through the afternoon till evening.
[2] (2) In addition, every morning there are to be heard coming from the houses round the squares the sweetest singing by maidens and girls’, which echoes all through the town. There is one affection of spiritual love which is the subject of a daily song. That is to say, the affection is to be heard in the variations and modulations of the singing voice, and it is felt in the singing as if it were actually present. It flows into the souls of the audience, and rouses them to corresponding feelings. Such is the nature of singing in heaven. These singers say that the sound of their singing as it were inspires them and excites them inwardly, making them pleasurably uplifted, in proportion to the reactions of their listeners. When this is over, the windows and doors of the houses in the squares and streets are shut, and there is silence throughout the town, nor is there noise to be heard anywhere, nor are people to be seen wandering about. All then apply themselves to performing the task of their occupations.
[3] (3) But at noon the doors are opened, and in the afternoon the windows too in some places, so that they can watch the boys and girls playing in the streets under the eyes of their nurses and masters, who sit in the porches of the houses.
[4] (4) At the outermost edges of the town there are fields for various sports for boys and youths. There are races and games played with balls. There are games played with balls bouncing off walls, what is called rackets. There are competitions among the boys to see who is more and who less energetic in speaking, acting and seizing the point. The more energetic get a few laurel leaves as their prize. There are many other sports intended to develop latent skills in the boys.
[5] (5) In addition, there are actors who put on performances in theatres outside the town. These display the various kinds of honourable and virtuous action which take place in civilised society. There are some among them who are actors who show contrasts.’ ‘What do you mean,’ said one of the ten, ‘by showing contrasts?’ ‘No virtue,’ they replied, ‘can be vividly displayed with all its fine and proper sentiments, except by contrasts between degrees of virtue varying from maximum to minimum. These actors portray the minimum of virtues, until they become zero. But there is a firm rule that they are not to show anything of their opposites, what are called dishonourable and improper actions, except figuratively and as it were seen from a long way off. The reason this rule is laid down is that nothing decent and good in any virtue can by successive steps change into what is indecent and evil; but it decreases more and more until it ceases to exist, and at that point the opposite begins. Heaven, therefore, where everything is decent and good, has nothing in common with hell, where everything is indecent and evil.’
When the angel in charge of the group heard this, he said to them: ‘At table our prince talked with them about where wisdom resides and said it was in service. Would you please talk to them about this too?’ ‘At man’s first creation,’ they said, ‘he was endowed with wisdom and the love of wisdom, not for his own sake, but so that he might share it with others. So there is a warning attached to the wisdom of the wise, that no one is to keep his wisdom to himself alone, or live for himself alone, but is to share it at the same time with others. That is the origin of society, which could not otherwise exist. To live for others is to perform services. Services are what hold society together, and there are as many ways of doing this as there are ways of doing good, and services are beyond counting. There are spiritual services, which have to do with love to God and love towards the neighbour. There are moral and political services, which have to do with the love of the community and country in which a person lives, and with his colleagues and fellow-citizens. There are natural services, which have to do with the love of the world and its demands. And there are bodily services, which have to do with looking after oneself, so as to be able to perform higher services.
[2] ‘All these services are imprinted on a person, and they follow in their proper order, one after the other; when they are present together, then one is contained within another. Those who are devoted to the first set of services, the spiritual ones, are also devoted to those that follow, and they are wise. Those, however, who are not devoted to the first set, but still are to the second and following ones, are not so wise, but only appear so as the result of an outward show of morality and civility. Those who are not devoted to the first and second sets, but only the third and fourth, are far from being wise, for they are satans, loving only the world and themselves for the world’s sake. But those who are devoted only to the fourth set are the least wise of all, for they are devils who live exclusively for themselves, and what they do for others is entirely for their own sakes.
[3] ‘Moreover, every love has its own pleasure, for this is what gives it life; and the pleasure of the love of service is a heavenly pleasure which enters into the pleasures that follow in turn, and in accordance with the order in which one follows the other it uplifts them and makes them everlasting.’ After this they listed the heavenly delights arising from the love of service, saying that they were tens of millions, and that those who went to heaven entered into them. So continuing with their wise talk about the love of service they spent the rest of the day with them until evening.
[4] But around evening time a runner dressed in a linen garment came to the ten newcomers with the angel, and invited them to a wedding to be held the next day. The newcomers were extremely pleased to think that they would also see a wedding in heaven. After this they were taken to visit one of the privy council and dined with him. After dinner they came back and dispersed, each going to his bedroom, where they slept until morning.
Then when they woke up they heard the maidens and girls singing from the houses around the square, as was described before. The affection which was the subject of their song was on this occasion that of conjugial love. Its sweetness affected them and moved them deeply. They felt a blessed loveliness growing in their joys, uplifting and renewing them. When it was time, the angel said: ‘Get dressed and put on the clothes of heaven which our prince has sent you.’ They put them on and saw their clothes shining as if with the light of a flame.
‘Why is this?’ they asked the angel. ‘Because,’ he answered, ‘You are going to a wedding; at such times clothes in our community shine and become wedding garments.’
[2] While they were looking at these, the door of the next room was thrown open, and they saw six maidens coming out followed by the bridegroom and the bride. They were holding hands, and they led each other to a seat set near the lamp-stand. They sat down on this, the bridegroom on the left and the bride on his right; and the six maidens took up a position beside the seat near the bride. The bridegroom was dressed in a mantle of gleaming purple and a tunic of shining linen with an ephod, on which was a golden plate set with a surround of diamonds. An egret was engraved upon this plate, the wedding emblem of this community. His head was covered with a mitre. The bride wore a red cloak over an embroidered gown falling from neck to foot, with a golden girdle below the bust; on her head she had a crown of gold set with rubies.
[3] When they had taken their places, the bridegroom turned to the bride and put a gold ring on her finger. Then he took out bracelets and a pearl necklace, and fastening the bracelets above her wrists and the necklace around her neck, he said: ‘Accept these pledges.’ As she accepted them, he kissed her and said: ‘Now you are mine,’ and he called her his wife.
When he did this, all the guests cried: ‘A blessing on you’. Each said this individually, and then they all called it out together. Someone who had been sent by the prince to represent him also called this out; and at that instant the ante-chamber was filled with the fragrant smoke of incense, a sign of blessing from heaven. Then the attendants took the bread from the two tables next to the lamp-stand, and the goblets, which were now full of wine, from the tables in the corners, and gave each guest bread and a goblet; so they ate and drank. After this the husband and his wife rose and were followed by the six maidens with silver lamps in their hands, now lit, as far as the threshold. So the married couple entered the bridal chamber, and the door was shut.
One of the wise men who was at the wedding said: ‘Do you understand the meaning of what you saw?’ They said they understood only a little, and they asked him why the bridegroom, who was now the husband, was dressed in this way. He replied that the bridegroom, who was now the husband, represented the Lord, and the bride, who was now the wife, represented the church, because weddings in heaven represent the marriage of the Lord with the church. ‘That,’ he said, ‘is why he had a mitre on his head, and he was dressed in a mantle, a tunic and an ephod like Aaron. That too is why the bride, now the wife, had a crown on her head and wore a cloak like a queen. Tomorrow they will be dressed differently, because this representative role lasts only for today.’
[2] They asked a second question: ‘Since he represents the Lord and she the church, why did she sit on his right?’ ‘Because,’ said the wise man, ‘there are two things which make the marriage of the Lord and the church, love and wisdom; and the Lord is love and the church is wisdom. Wisdom is at the right hand of love, because a member of the church has wisdom as if from himself, and to the extent that he is wise, he receives love from the Lord. The right hand also stands for power, and love gets its power by means of wisdom. But as I said, after the wedding the representation is changed, for then the husband represents wisdom, and the bride the love for his wisdom. Yet this love is not the primary one, but a secondary love, which the wife gets from the Lord by means of the husband’s wisdom. The love of the Lord, which is the primary love, is a love of being wise in the husband. So after the wedding, the husband and his wife together represent the church.’
[3] They asked another question: ‘Why did you men not stand at the side of the bridegroom, now the husband, as the six maidens stood at the side of the bride, who is now the wife?’ ‘The reason,’ replied the wise man, ‘is that to-day we are counted among the maidens, and the number six stands for all and for what is complete.’ ‘Why is this?’ they said. ‘Maidens stand for the church, which is composed of people of both sexes. We too, therefore, in respect to the church are maidens. This passage in Revelation proves that this is so:
These are they who have not defiled themselves with women, for they are maidens, and they follow the Lamb wherever he goes. Rev. 14:4.
It was because maidens stand for the church that the Lord likened it to the ten maidens or virgins invited to a wedding (Matt. 25:1ff). It is because Israel, Zion and Jerusalem stand for the church that the Word says so many times ‘the virgin or daughter of Israel, Zion and Jerusalem.’ The Lord also describes His marriage with the church in these words from the Psalms of David:
The queen is at your right hand in the finest gold of Ophir, her clothing is woven with gold; in embroidered garments she will be brought to the king, and after her the maidens, her friends, will come into the king’s palace. Ps. 45:9-15.’
[4] Afterwards they said: ‘Surely it is appropriate to have a priest present to conduct a service over them?’ ‘This is appropriate,’ said the wise man, ‘on earth, but not in the heavens, because they represent the Lord Himself and the church. This fact is unknown on earth. Yet with us a priest conducts engagement ceremonies, and hears, receives, confirms and consecrates their consent. Consent is the essential feature of marriage, and the other ceremonies which follow are its formal expression.’
So the angel went back to his companions and told them the answer he had received; and he added: ‘I suspect your attraction to the opposite sex is not chaste. In heaven we love maidens for their beauty and the elegance of their manners; we love them very dearly, but in a chaste manner.’ His companions laughed at this, and said: ‘Your suspicions are well founded. Can anyone see such beauties close at hand without some feeling of desire?’
So they dressed themselves and went with the angel and entered the church. It was, they saw, large enough to hold about three thousand; it was semi-circular, with pews or seats running in an unbroken arc to match the shape of the church. In front of these was a pulpit, a little back from the centre. The door was behind the pulpit on the left. The ten newcomers went in with their angel guide, who assigned places to them where they were to sit, telling them: ‘Everyone who comes into the church knows his own place. He knows this intuitively, and he cannot sit anywhere else. If he does, he cannot hear or perceive anything, and he upsets the arrangement, and if this happens, the priest is not inspired.’
As the congregation was leaving, the angel asked the priest to say a few words of greeting to his ten companions. So he came over to them, and they talked together for half an hour. The priest spoke about the Divine Trinity, saying it was in Jesus Christ, in whom dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily, as the Apostle Paul stated. Afterwards he spoke about the union of charity and faith, but what he said was the union of charity and truth, because faith is truth.
THE ENDING OF THE AGE, THE LORD’S COMING, AND THE NEW HEAVEN AND THE NEW CHURCH
I
The ending of the age is the final period or end of the church.
This earth has seen a number of churches, all of which have in course of time reached their end, and after this new ones have come into existence, and the process has continued up to the present day. A church reaches its end when there is no longer any Divine truth left in it, but only falsified or rejected truth. When there is no real truth, there cannot be any real good, since the whole quality of good is formed by means of truths; for good is the essence of truth, and truth is the form of good, and no quality can exist without form. Good and truth can no more be separated than the will and the understanding, or, what is the same thing, the affection of love and the thought it gives rise to. Consequently, when the truth in a church reaches its end, so does its good. When this happens, then the church is terminated, that is, it reaches its end.
[2] Omens and far from misleading appearances allow us to conclude that outside Babylon similar loves would have broken out from many of the leaders of churches, had not their power been checked and so limited. What else might be expected but that such a person would look upon himself as God, the world as heaven, and pervert all the church’s truth? For real truth, which is inherently true, cannot be known and acknowledged by a purely natural person; nor can God impart it to him, because it turns upside down and becomes falsity. As well as those two loves there are many more causes for truth and good coming to an end, and so causing the end of churches; but these are secondary causes, subordinate to the two mentioned.
I have heard an ending and a cutting off from Jehovah’s part upon the whole earth. Isa. 28:22.
Ending limited, righteousness overwhelmed, for the Lord Jehovih Zebaoth is bringing about ending and cutting off in the whole earth. Isa. 10:22, 23.
In the fire of the zeal of Jehovah the whole earth will be consumed, because He will bring about a speedy ending with all the inhabitants of the earth. Zeph. 1:18.
Earth in these passages means the church, because the land of Canaan is meant, where the church was. The meaning of earth or land being the church can be seen supported by numerous passages from the Word in APOCALYPSE REVEALED (285, 902).
Finally upon the bird of abominations desolation, to the point of ending and cutting off it will be poured upon devastation. Dan. 9:27.
This was said by Daniel about the end of the present Christian church; see Matt. 24:15.
The whole earth will be a wilderness, yet I shall not make an ending. Jer. 4:27.
The first iniquity of the Amorites has not yet come to an end, Gen. 15:16.
Jehovah said, I shall go down and see whether they have made an ending, according to the cry which has reached me. Gen. 18:21.
This relates to Sodom.
[2] The final period of the present Christian church was also what the Lord meant by the ending of the age in the following passages:
The disciples asked Jesus, What is the sign of your coming and of the ending of the age? Matt. 24:3.
At harvest-time I shall tell the reapers, First gather the tares for burning. Gather the wheat into the barns. Thus it will be at the ending of the age. Matt. 13:30, 39, 40.
At the ending of the age the angels will go forth and separate the wicked from out of the midst of the righteous. Matt. 13:49.
Jesus said to the disciples, Look, I am with you until the ending of the age. Matt. 28:20.
It needs to be known that devastation, desolation and cutting off have similar meanings to ending, but desolation means the ending of truth, devastation the ending of good, and cutting off the complete ending of both. The fullness of time, in which the Lord came into the world, and in which He will come again, is also an ending.
The present time is the final period of the Christian church foretold and described by the Lord in the Gospels and Revelation.
The previous section showed that the ending of ‘he age means the final period of the church. From this it is plain what is meant by the ending of the age which the Lord spoke of in the Gospels (Matt. chapter 24; Mark chapter 13; Luke chapter 21). For we read:
When Jesus was seated on the Mount of Olives the disciples came to him privately saying, What is the sign of your coming and the ending of the age? Matt. 24:3.
Then the Lord began to foretell and describe the ending which was to take place by stages up to His coming, and how He would come in the clouds of heaven with power and glory, and gather together His chosen people, and much more besides (verses 30, 31); and none of these things happened when Jerusalem was destroyed. These descriptions were made by the Lord in a prophetic style, in which each and every phrase is a weighty matter. Their meaning has been explained in detail in ARCANA CAELESTIA (3353-3356, 3486-3489, 3650-3655, 3751-3757, 3897-3901, 4056-4060, 4229-4231, 4332-4335, 4422-4424).
When you see the abomination of desolation, foretold by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place (let him who reads take due note) … Matt. 24:15; Dan. 9:27.
There are similar remarks in the other prophets.
[2] Such is the abomination of desolation in the Christian church at the present time, as will be plain from the Appendix, which will show that there is not a single real truth left in the church, and also that unless a new church is raised up to take the place of the present one, no flesh can be saved, as the Lord said in Matthew (24:22). It is impossible for those on earth who have convinced themselves of their false beliefs to see that the Christian church, as it is at the present time, is to such an extent brought to an end and laid waste. The reason is that the strengthening of falsity is the denial of truth. It therefore places as it were a curtain beneath the understanding, and by this means takes care that nothing else creeps in, which might wreck the ropes and stakes which hold up the system of thought he has built and formed like a rigid tent. In addition, the natural faculty of reason can prove whatever it likes, the false as much as the true. Each of these appears when proved in similar light, and there is no way of telling whether it is deceptive light such as one encounters in dreams, or true light like that of day. But it is quite different with the spiritual faculty of reason possessed by those who look to the Lord and under His guidance love truth.
[2] Surely every church, including the utterly heretical, once it has been accepted, fills provinces and towns with the cry that it alone is orthodox and world-wide, and possesses the Gospel which the angel flying in the midst of heaven proclaimed (Rev. 14:6). Does not everyone hear an echo of their voice coming from the common people, agreeing with this statement? Did not the whole Synod of Dort look on predestination as a star falling from heaven upon their heads, and embrace that dogma, as the Philistines embraced the statue of Dagon in the shrine of Eben-Ezer at Ashdod, and as the Greeks embraced the Palladium in the temple of Athena*. For they hailed that dogma as the palladium of their religion, being unaware that a falling star is a meteor with deceptive light; and if this light strikes the brain, it can prove every falsity, using fallacies to do so, until it is taken for the true light and judged to be a fixed star, and finally sworn to be the leading constellation.
[3] Is anyone a more persuasive speaker about the certainty of what he imagines than a godless worshipper of nature? Confronted with all that is Divine in God, all that is heavenly in heaven, and all that is spiritual in the church, he bursts into hearty laughter. Is there any lunatic who does not believe his folly is wisdom and wisdom folly? Can anyone by visual inspection tell apart the deceptive light given off by rotting wood from moonlight? Does not anyone who has an aversion for fragrant substances, a common symptom of women with disease of the womb, thrust these away from the nostrils and prefer foul-smelling ones to them? These instances are mentioned as illustrations to enable it to be known, that natural light by itself will not allow it to be recognised that a church has reached its end, that is to say, has nothing but false doctrines, at least until truth sheds its light from heaven. Falsity cannot see truth, but truth can see falsity; and everyone is so made that he can see and grasp truth on hearing it. But if he has convinced himself of false doctrines, he cannot bring truth into his understanding so as to lodge there, since it finds no room; and if by chance it does get in, the crowd of falsities gathered together there throw it out as not belonging.
* Or: Minerva.
This final period of the Christian church is absolute night, in which the previous churches ended.
Since the creation of this earth there have been, to speak in general terms, four churches, each succeeding the one before. This can be established from the historical as well as the prophetical books of the Word, especially the book of Daniel. Here the four churches are described by the statue Nebuchadnezzar saw in a dream (chapter 2), and later by the four beasts coming up out of the sea (chapter 7). The first church, which may be called the Most Ancient Church, came into existence before the flood, and its ending or departure is described by the flood. The second church, which may be called the Ancient Church, was in Asia and in parts of Africa; this came to an end and perished as the result of idolatrous practices. The third was the Israelite Church, begun by the proclamation of the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai, and continued through the Word written by Moses and the Prophets. This came to an end and terminated as the result of profaning the Word, a process which reached its full development at the time the Lord came into the world. That was why they crucified Him who was the Word. The fourth is the Christian Church founded by the Lord by means of the Evangelists and the Apostles. This has had two phases: one from the Lord’s time down to the Council of Nicaea, the other from that Council down to the present day. But in its development it split into three, the Greek, Roman Catholic and Reformed Churches. Yet all of these have been called Christian churches. Moreover, within each wide division of the church there have been a number of special churches; despite leaving the main stream they have still kept the general name, as heresies in the Christian church.
On that night there will be two in one bed; one will be received, the other left behind. Luke 17:34.
And in John:
I must do the work of Him that sent me. The night will come, when no one will be able to work. John 9:4.
[2] Since all light departs in the middle of the night, and the Lord is the true light (John 1:4ff; 8:12; 12:35, 36, 46), He said to the disciples when He went up into heaven:
I am with you until the ending of the age. Matt. 28:20.
Then He leaves them for the new church. There is further proof in Daniel for this final period of the church being absolute night, in which the previous churches ended, in this passage:
Finally upon the bird of abominations desolation, to the point of ending and cutting off; it shall be poured drop by drop upon devastation. Dan. 9:27.
It is clear from the Lord’s words in Matt. 24:15 that this is a prediction of the end of the Christian church. It is also clear from this passage of Daniel about the fourth kingdom, that is, the fourth church, represented by the statue Nebuchadnezzar saw:
As you saw iron mixed with common clay, so will people intermingle by means of human seed; but they will not hold together, one with another, just as iron does not with clay. Dan. 2:43.
Human seed there is the truth of the Word.
[3] It is also clear from this passage about the fourth church represented by the fourth beast coming up out of the sea:
I saw in visions of the night, and there was the fourth beast, dreadful and frightening; it will devour the whole earth and trample it and crush it. Dan. 7:7, 23.
This means that it would put an end to all the truth of the church. Then it would be night, because the truth of the church is light. There are many similar predictions about this church in Revelation, especially chapter 16, where it speaks of the bowls of God’s wrath being poured out upon the earth. These mean the falsities which will then swamp and destroy the church. There are many similar passages in the Prophets, as for example:
Is not the day of Jehovah darkness and not light, thick darkness and no brilliance? Amos 5:18, 20; Zeph. 1:15.
Also:
On that day Jehovah will look down on the earth, and behold, darkness, and the light will become dim in its ruins. Isa. 5:30; 8:22.
The day of Jehovah is that of the Lord’s coming.
[2] These ordered progressions gave the wise men of antiquity the idea of the four ages of the world. They called the first golden, the second silver, the third copper and the fourth iron. These metals were also used to represent the churches themselves in Nebuchadnezzar’s statue. Moreover, in the Lord’s sight the church looks like one person; and this person on the grand scale will pass through the same stages in his life as one on the small scale, progressing, that is, from childhood to adolescence, from that to young adulthood, and finally to old age; and then after death he will rise again. The Lord says:
Unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it stays as it is; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. John 12:24,
It is much the same with the spiritual things of the church; here the opposites refer to evil and falsity. Yet these do not come from the Lord, but from human beings, who have free will and can apply it to good or to evil purposes. To use a comparison, it is the same as with darkness and cold. These do not come from the sun, but from the earth, which as it revolves successively withdraws from and turns away from the sun. Yet were it not for this turning towards and withdrawal, there would be neither days nor years, and so nothing, indeed, no one, upon earth. I have been told that churches which possess differing kinds of good and truth, so long as the kinds of good they have relate to love to the Lord and the truths they have relate to faith in the Lord, are like so many jewels in a king’s crown.
This night is followed by morning, and morning is the Lord’s coming.
The succeeding states of the church in general and in particular are described in the Word by the four seasons of the year, spring, summer, autumn and winter, and by the four times of day, morning, midday, evening and night. Since the present-day Christian church is in night, it follows that morning is at hand, that is, the first state of a new church. It can be established from the following passages that successive states of the church are described in the Word by the four periods of daylight:
Until the evening and the morning, two thousand three hundred [days], then will the holy place be made holy*. The vision of the evening and the morning is truth. Dan. 8:14, 26.
One is calling to me from Seir, Watchman, what of the night? The watchman says, The morning is coming, and night again. Isa. 21:11, 12.
The end has come, the morning has come upon you, you that dwell in the land. Look, the day has come, the morning has gone forth. Ezek. 7:6, 7, 10.
Jehovah morning by morning will set His judgment in light, nor will He fail. Zeph. 3:5. God is in her midst, God will help her when morning breaks. Ps. 46:5.
I have waited for Jehovah, my soul waits for the Lord more than those that watch for the morning, those that watch for the morning. For with Him is a wealth of redemption, and He will redeem Israel. Ps. 130:5-8.
[2] In these passages evening and night mean the final period of the church, morning its first period. The Lord Himself is also called the morning in the following passages:
The God of Israel spoke, the Rock of Israel talked to me. He is like the light of morning, a morning without clouds. 2 Sam. 23:3, 4.
I am the root and offspring of David, the bright star of morning. Rev. 22:16.
From the womb of the dawn the dew of your youth is on you. Ps. 110:3.
These things are said of the Lord. It was because the Lord is the morning that He also rose from the tomb in the early morning, so as to begin a new church (Mark 16:2, 9).
[3] The Lord’s coming is to be awaited, as is plainly established by His prediction of it in Matthew:
When Jesus was seated on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him, saying, Tell us, what is the sign of your coming and of the ending of the age? Matt. 24:3.
After the affliction of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then will the sign of the Son of Man appear, and they will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and glory. Matt. 24:29, 30; Mark 13:26; Luke 21:27.
As were the days of Noah, so too will be the coming of the Son of Man. Therefore be ready, for at the time you do not expect, the Son of Man will come. Matt. 24:37, 39, 44, 46.
In Luke:
When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith upon the earth? Luke 18:8.
In John:
Jesus said of John, If I want him to stay until I come… John 21:22, 23.
[4] In the Acts of the Apostles:
When they saw Jesus lifted up into heaven, two men stood before them in white clothing, and they said, Jesus who has been lifted up from you into heaven, will come like this, as you have seen him going into heaven. Acts 1:9-11.
In Revelation:
The Lord, the God of the holy prophets, has sent His angel to show His servants what must happen. Behold, I am coming. Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy** of this book. And behold, I am coming, and my reward is with me, so that I may give to each according to what he has done. Rev. 22:6, 7, 12.
Further:
I, Jesus, have sent my angel to bear witness of these things to you in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, the bright star of the morning. The spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him who hears say, Come. And let him who is thirsty come; and let whoever will, take the water of life without payment. Rev:16, 17.
Further:
He who bears witness to these things says, I am coming indeed. Amen, come indeed, Lord Jesus. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. Rev. 22:20, 21.
* Or literally: ‘be justified’.
** For ‘the words of the prophecy’ the Latin has ‘the commands’, but this is corrected in the Author’s copy.
* There is no 765 in the original.
[2] An evil spirit, however, continually turns away from the Lord, and constantly looks towards his own love; and he does this however he turns his body and face. The reason is the same, but in the opposite sense; for every evil takes the form of a kind of image of his ruling love, and the falsity which comes from it presents that image as in a mirror.
[3] Some similar principle must be implanted in nature, as can be deduced from the way some plants spring up amid a thicket of grasses, and strive to overtop them so as to get the sunlight. Some plants turn towards the sun as it travels from east to west during the day, so that they can ripen under its influence. I have no doubt that every shoot and branch of every tree attempts and strives to do likewise; but its action is baulked by its lack of flexibility and ability to turn. Research shows plainly that every whirlpool in water and maelstrom in the ocean automatically rotates in the direction of the sun’s movement.
[4] Why then should a person who has been created to be an image of God not do likewise, if he did not divert in other directions that effort and striving implanted in him by the Creator, by the exercise of the gift of his free will? This too can be compared with a bride who constantly keeps before the sight of her spirit some likeness of her husband, and sees him in his gifts as if in mirrors; and she longs for him to come to her, and is delighted to receive him when he comes, for this makes her heart leap for love in her bosom.
The Lord’s coming does not mean His coming to destroy the sky we see and the earth where we live, and to create a new heaven and a new earth, as many people up to now have imagined through not understanding the spiritual sense of the Word.
The opinion current in the churches of the present day is that when the Lord comes to perform the Last Judgment, He will appear in the clouds of the sky accompanied by angels and a blowing of trumpets; and He will gather together all the inhabitants of the earth, as well as those who have died. Then He will separate the wicked from the good, as a shepherd separates the goats from the sheep; and He will throw the wicked, that is, the goats, into hell, and raise the good, that is, the sheep, into heaven. At the same time He will create a new visible sky and a new habitable earth. He will send down upon this a city, to be called the New Jerusalem, built according to the description in Revelation (chapter 21), of jasper and gold, with the foundations of its wall made of every kind of precious stone; its height, width and length will be equal, each measuring twelve thousand stades. All the elect will be gathered into this city, both those then living and those who have died since the beginning of the world. They will then return to their bodies and experience everlasting joy in that magnificent city, which will be a heaven for them. This is the dominant opinion in the Christian churches at the present time about the Lord’s coming and the Last Judgment.
* Pu is the Greek word for ‘Where?’, which is at once explained by the Latin translation.
** A correction for ‘height’.
* i.e., as medicine.
[2] So to prevent people from plunging yet deeper into erroneous ideas about the destruction of the sky we see and the earth we live on, and consequently about the spiritual world, as the result of ignorance, which leads to worshipping nature and this automatically to atheism – something which at the present time has begun to take root in the inner rational minds of the learned – to prevent then atheism from spreading more widely, like necrosis in the flesh, so as to affect as well the outer mind which controls speech, I have been commanded by the Lord to make known various things which I have seen and heard. These include heaven and hell, the Last Judgment, and the explanation of Revelation, which deals with the Lord’s coming, the former heaven and the new heaven, and the holy Jerusalem. If my books on these subjects are read and understood, anyone can see what is meant there by the Lord’s coming, a new heaven and the New Jerusalem.
This, which is the Lord’s second coming, is taking place in order that the wicked should be separated from the good, and those should be saved who believe in Him and have done so; and so that a new heaven of angels and a new church on earth should be formed from them. Without this no flesh could be saved (Matt. 24:22).
I showed in the preceding section that this, the Lord’s second coming, is not taking place in order to wipe out the sky we see and the earth we live on. In fact it is not so as to destroy anything, but to build something; and so not to condemn, but to save those who from His first coming have believed in Him and who after this will believe in Him. This is established from these of the Lord’s words:
God did not send His Son into the world to judge the world, but so that the world should be saved through Him. He who believes in Him is not judged; but he who does not believe is already judged, because he has not believed in the name of the only-begotten Son of God. John 3:17, 18.
Son of God. John 3:17, 18.
Elsewhere:
If anyone has heard my words, yet has not believed, I do not judge him. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world. He who despises me and does not receive my words, has that which judges him. The word which I have spoken will judge him. John 12:47, 48.
The Last Judgment took place in the spiritual world in 1757, as I revealed in my short book on THE LAST JUDGMENT (published at London in 1758), and further in the CONTINUATION CONCERNING THE LAST JUDGMENT (Amsterdam, 1763). I can bear witness to this, because I saw it with my own eyes while fully awake.
Create for me, God, a clean heart, and make new a steadfast spirit within me. Ps. 51:10.
You open your hand, and they are filled with good; you send forth your spirit, and they are created. Ps. 104:28, 30.
The people who are going to be created will praise Jah. Ps. 102:18.
Thus spoke Jehovah your Creator, Jacob, who formed you, Israel. I have redeemed you, I have called you by your* name, you are mine. Everyone who is called by my name, I have created him to my glory. Isa. 43:1, 7.
They were prepared on the day you were created. You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, until perversity was found in you. Ezek. 28:13, 15.
This is said of the king of Tyre.
So that they may see, know, attend and understand, that the hand of Jehovah has done this, and the Holy One of Israel has created this. Isa. 41:20.
From these passages it can be clear what create means in the following:
Jehovah creating the heavens and spreading out the earth, giving breath to the people upon it, and spirit to those that walk upon it. Isa. 42:5; 45:12, 18.
Behold, I create a new heaven and a new earth. Rejoice for ever, what I am creating. Behold, I shall make Jerusalem an exultation. Isa. 65:17, 18.
* The Latin has ‘my name’, but the verse is quoted elsewhere in this form.
[2] These illustrations have been given to make it known that in the church too there are general and particular levels, as well as the very general ones. It is also intended to show that this is why the four churches have succeeded in order. This succession gave rise to the most general level of the churches as a whole, and one after another the general and particular level of each. In the human body too there are two very general levels which give rise to the existence of all the other general and particular levels. The two most general items in the body are the heart and the lungs, those in the spirit, the will and the understanding. On these two sets of items depend all the details of a person’s life generally and particularly; without them these would fall apart and die off. It would be much the same with the whole heaven of angels and with the whole human race, in fact, with the whole created world, if everything in general, and the details in particular, were not dependent upon God, His love and His wisdom.
This, the Lord’s second coming, is not in person, but in the Word, which is from Him and which He is.
We read in many passages that the Lord will come in the clouds of heaven*; e.g. Matt. 17:5; 24:30; 26:64; Mark 14:62; Luke 9:34, 35; 21:27; Rev. 1:7; 14:14; Dan. 7:13. But no one up to the present has known what the clouds of heaven mean; they have thought that He would appear in them in person. It has so far been unknown that the clouds of heaven mean the Word in its literal sense, and that glory and power, with which He is to come at that time (Matt. 24:30), mean the spiritual sense of the Word. This is because no one has even guessed that there is a spiritual sense in the Word, as there is in essence in this example. Since the Lord has now revealed to me the spiritual sense of the Word, and has allowed me to associate with angels and spirits in their world, as if I were one of them, it has been disclosed that the cloud of heaven means the Word in its natural sense, glory the Word in its spiritual sense, and power means the Lord’s strength through the Word. This meaning of the clouds of heaven can be seen from these passages in the Word:
There is none like the God of Jeshurun, riding on the heaven, and in magnificence upon the clouds. Deut. 33:26, 27.
Sing to God, praise His name, extol Him who rides upon the clouds. Ps. 68:4.
Jehovah riding upon a light cloud. Isa. 19:1.
[2] To ride means to instruct in Divine truths from the Word, for a horse means the understanding of the Word (see APOCALYPSE REVEALED 298). Anyone can see that God does not ride upon the clouds. Further:
God rode upon the cherubim, and made the clouds of the heavens His tent. Ps. 18:10, 11.
Cherubim also mean the Word (see APOCALYPSE REVEALED 239, 672).
Jehovah binds the waters in His clouds, and stretches out His cloud over His throne. Job 26:8, 9.
Give strength to God**, strength upon the clouds. Ps. 68:34,
Jehovah will create*** over every dwelling of Zion a cloud by day; for glory will be a covering over all. Isa. 4:5.
The Word in its literal sense was also represented by the cloud in which Jehovah came down on Mount Sinai, when He proclaimed the Law. The provisions of the Law then proclaimed were the rudiments of the Word.
[3] The following facts may be added in support. The spiritual world has clouds just as the natural world does, but they are of a different origin. In the spiritual world there are sometimes shining clouds over the heavens of the angels, but dark clouds over the hells. Shining clouds over the heavens of the angels betoken obscurity there resulting from the literal sense of the Word; but when those clouds are dispersed, it means that the spiritual sense has brought them its clarity****. Dark clouds over the hells betoken the falsification and profanation of the Word. The reason clouds have such meanings in the spiritual world is because light, which is radiated from the Lord as the sun of that world, stands for Divine truth. This is why He is Himself called light (John 1:9; 12:35). This also is why the Word itself, which is stored in the sanctuaries of church-buildings there, is to be seen with a halo of shining light; when dimmed, this is due to clouds.
* Or: of the sky.
** The Latin has ‘to Jehovah’, corrected in the Author’s copy.
*** The Latin has ‘has created’, corrected in the Author’s copy.
**** The Latin has ‘charity’ for ‘clarity’.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God; and the Word became flesh. John 1:1, 14.
The Word in that passage is Divine truth, because Christians have no other source of Divine truth than the Word. It is the source from which all the churches named after Christ draw an abundance of living waters, and although they are as it were in a cloud containing its natural sense, yet they are in the glory and power which contain its spiritual and celestial senses. The Word contains three senses, the natural, the spiritual and the celestial, one inside the next, as was shown in the chapters on the Sacred Scripture and the Ten Commandments or Catechism [chapters 4 and 5]. From this it is obvious that the Word as used in John means Divine truth. John gives further evidence of this same fact in his First Epistle:
We know that the Son of God came and gave us understanding, so that we might know the truth; and we are in the truth, in his Son Jesus Christ. 1 John 5:20.
That too was why the Lord said so often ‘Amen, I say to you’; Amen in Hebrew means truth. He is Himself the Amen (see Rev. 3:14) and truth (John 14:6).
If you ask the scholars of the present time what they understand by the Word in John 1:1, they say it is ‘the Word in its pre-eminence’; and what else is the Word in its pre-eminence but Divine truth?
[2] From this it is clear that the Lord is even now about to appear in the Word. The reason why He will not appear in person is that after His ascension into heaven He is in His glorified Human; and in this He cannot appear to any person, unless He has first opened the eyes of his spirit. This is impossible with anyone who is in a state of evils and consequent falsities, and so with any of the goats, whom He has placed on the left. Therefore, when He showed Himself to the disciples, He first opened their eyes; for we read:
And their eyes were opened, and they recognised Him; but He became invisible to them. Luke 24:31.
Much the same happened with the women near the tomb after the resurrection. That is why then too they saw angels sitting in the tomb and speaking to them, something no one can see with his material eyes. Neither did the Apostles see the Lord with the eyes of their bodies before His resurrection in His glorified Human; but they saw Him in the spirit, something which seems like seeing in sleep after waking up. This is clear from His transfiguration in front of Peter, James and John, when we read that they were then heavy with sleep (Luke 9:32). It is futile therefore to believe that the Lord will appear in a cloud of heaven in person; but He will appear in the Word, which is from Him and which He is.
[2] In a similar manner, but in a pre-eminent degree, the Lord is Divine love and Divine wisdom; or, what is the same thing, Divine good and Divine truth. For His will belongs to Divine love, and Divine love belongs to His will; and His understanding is Divine wisdom*, and Divine wisdom belongs to His understanding. The human form is their container. These statements will allow one to form some idea of how the Lord is the Word. On the contrary, however, anyone who is against the Word, that is, against the Divine truth in it, and thus against the Lord and His church, is his own evil and his own falsity, both as regards his mind and as regards its effects from the body, effects which relate to actions and utterances.
* The clauses are not strictly parallel as given in the Latin, and it is possible that this should read ‘belongs to Divine wisdom’.
This, the Lord’s second coming, is taking place by means of a man, to whom He has shown Himself in person, and whom He has filled with His spirit, so that he may teach the doctrines of the new church which come from the Lord through the Word.
Since the Lord cannot show Himself in person, as has just been demonstrated, and yet He predicted that He would come and found a new church, which is the New Jerusalem, it follows that He will do this by means of a man, who can not only receive intellectually the doctrines of this church, but also publish them in print. I bear true witness that the Lord has shown Himself in the presence of me, His servant, and sent me to perform this function. After this He opened the sight of my spirit, thus admitting me to the spiritual world, and allowing me to see the heavens and the hells, and also to talk with angels and spirits; and this I have now been doing for many years without a break. Equally I assert that from the first day of my calling I have not received any instruction concerning the doctrines of that church from any angel, but only from the Lord, while I was reading the Word.
The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare the way for Jehovah. The glory of Jehovah will be revealed, and all flesh will see it. Isa. 40:3, 5.
Shine, for your light has come and the glory of Jehovah has risen upon you. Isa. 60:1-end.
I shall make you to be a covenant for the people, a light for the nations; and my glory I shall not give to another. Isa. 42:6, 8; 48:11.
Your light will burst forth like the dawn, the glory of Jehovah will gather you up. Isa. 58:8.
The whole earth will be filled with the glory of Jehovah. Num. 14:21; Isa. 6:1-3; 66:18.
In the beginning was the Word. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. He was the true light. And the Word was made flesh, and we saw His glory, the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father. John 1:1, 4, 9, 14.
The heavens will tell the glory of God. Ps. 19:1.
The Glory of God will give light to the Holy Jerusalem, and the Lamb will be its lantern; and the nations who are saved will walk in its* light. Rev. 21:23, 24.
There are many other similar passages. The reason why glory means Divine truth in its fulness is that everything magnificent in heaven is so because of the light, which is radiated from the Lord. And the light radiating from Him as the sun of heaven is in its essence Divine truth.
* The Latin says ‘in His light’, but the Greek has ‘in its light’ and this version is followed in 790 and at AR 920.
This is the meaning of the new heaven and the new earth, and of the New Jerusalem coming down from there, as described in Revelation.
We read in Revelation:
I saw a new heaven and a new earth, because the former heaven and the former earth had passed away. And I, John, saw the Holy City New Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. Rev. 21:1, 2.
We find something similar written in Isaiah:
Behold, I create a new heaven and a new earth. Rejoice and exult for ever. And behold, I shall make Jerusalem an exultation, and its people happiness. Isa. 65:17, 18.
I revealed above in this chapter that a new heaven is at the present time being formed by the Lord from Christians who have acknowledged in the world, or after leaving the world have been able to acknowledge, that the Lord is the God of heaven and earth, as He said in Matt. 28:18.
[2] It is only necessary to quote the passages themselves, for anyone possessed of inward reason to be able to see, that Jerusalem there means the church. Let the following passages suffice:
Behold, I create a new heaven and a new earth; the former ones will not be remembered. Look, I shall make Jerusalem an exultation, and its people happiness, so that I may exult over Jerusalem and rejoice over my people. Then the wolf and the lamb will feed together. They will do no harm in all the mountain of my holiness. Isa. 65:17-19, 25.
For Zion’s sake I will not be silent, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, until her righteousness goes forth like a beam of light, and her salvation burns like a lamp. Then the nations will see your righteousness, and all kings your glory. And you will be called by a new name, which the mouth of Jehovah will utter, and you will be a crown of beauty [in the hand of Jehovah]** and a diadem of kingship in the hand of your God. Jehovah will be pleased in you, and your land will be married. Behold, your salvation will come, behold, His reward is with Him. And they will call them the people of holiness, the redeemed of Jehovah. And you will be called a city sought after, not abandoned. Isa. 62:1-4, 11, 12.
[3] Awake, awake, Zion, put on your strength. Put on the clothes of your beauty, Jerusalem, city of holiness; for no more will the uncircumcised and the unclean come into you. Shake off the dust, arise and take your seat, Jerusalem. The people will know my name on that day, for I am he that speaks, here I am. Jehovah has comforted his people, he has redeemed Jerusalem. Isa. 52:1, 2, 6, 9.
Shout for joy, daughter of Zion, rejoice with all your heart, daughter of Jerusalem. The king of Israel is in your midst. Fear evil no longer. He will rejoice over you with joy; he will be satisfied in his*** love, he will exult over you with a shout of joy. I will make you a name and the object of praise to all the peoples of the earth. Zeph. 3:14-17, 20.
Thus spoke Jehovah your Redeemer, telling Jerusalem, You will be dwelt in. Isa. 44:24, 26.
Thus spoke Jehovah, I will return to Zion and dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. Therefore Jerusalem will be called the city of truth, and the mountain of Jehovah Zebaoth the mountain of holiness. Zech. 8:3, 20-23.
Then you will know that I am Jehovah your God, who dwell in Zion, the mountain of holiness; and Jerusalem will be holiness. And it will happen on that day that the mountains will drip new wine, and the hills will flow with milk. And Jerusalem will stay fixed from one generation to another. Joel 3:17-21.
[4] On that day the shoot of Jehovah will be an adornment and a glory; and it will come about that the one who is left in Zion, the one who remains in Jerusalem, will be called holy, everyone enrolled with a view to life in Jerusalem. Isa. 4:2, 3.
At the end of days the mountain of Jehovah’s house will be established on the head of mountains; for from Zion will come forth teaching, and the Word of Jehovah from Jerusalem. Micah 4:1, 2, 8.
At that time they will call Jerusalem Jehovah’s throne, and all nations will be gathered to Jerusalem for Jehovah’s name’s sake, and they will no longer follow the prompting of their evil hearts. Jer. 3:17.
Look to Zion, the city of our appointed feast, let you eyes behold Jerusalem, a tranquil dwelling, a tent which will not be blown away. Its pegs will never be removed, and its ropes will not be pulled up. Isa. 33:20.
There are further passages such as Isa. 24:23; 37:32; 66:10-14; Zech. 12:3, 6-10; 14:8,11, 12, 21; Mal. 3:4; Ps. 122:1-7; 137:4-6.
[5] It is obvious from the details of the description of Jerusalem in the passages quoted that it means there the church to be founded by the Lord, and not the Jerusalem where the Jews lived. For instance, it is said Jehovah will create a new heaven and a new earth, and also at that time Jerusalem; that it will be a crown of beauty and a diadem of kingship; that it is to be called holiness and a city of truth, Jehovah’s throne, a tranquil dwelling, a tent which will not be blown away. It is said that the wolf and the lamb will feed together there; that there the mountains will drip new wine, and the hills flow with milk, and it will stay fixed for one generation after another; and much more besides. It is also said of its people that they are holy, everyone enrolled with a view to life, and they are to be called Jehovah’s redeemed. Moreover, all those passages deal with the Lord’s coming, especially His second coming, when there will be a Jerusalem such as is there described; for it has not previously been married, that is, made the bride and wife of the Lamb, as the New Jerusalem is described in Revelation.
[6] The earlier, that is, the present-day church, is meant by Jerusalem in Daniel, and its beginnings are there described as follows:
Know and perceive, from the time the word went forth to restore and build Jerusalem, until the coming of the Messiah, the prince, will be seven weeks. Afterwards for sixty-two weeks the street and the moat will be restored and built, but at a time of distress. Dan. 9:25.
Its end is there described as follows:
At last upon the bird of abominations desolation, and it will drip upon devastation up to the point of ending and cutting off. Dan. 9:27.
It is this last passage which is meant by the Lord’s words in Matthew:
When you see the abomination of desolation, foretold by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place – let him who reads take due note. Matt. 24:15.
It can be established that Jerusalem in the passages quoted above does not mean the Jerusalem inhabited by the Jews, from the passages in the Word which say that it has been utterly lost and is to be destroyed; for instance, Jer. 5:1; 6:6, 7; 7:17ff; 8:6ff; 9:11, 12, 14ff; 13:9,10, 14; :14:16; Lam. 1:8, 9,17; Ezek. 4:1-end; 5:9-end; 12:18, 19; 15:6-8; 16:1-63; 23:1-49; Matt. 23:37, 38; Luke 19:41-44; 21:20-22; 23:28-30; and in many other passages. There are also passages where it is called Sodom: Isa. 3:9; Jer. 23:14; Ezek. 16:46, 48; and elsewhere.
* This section and 783 are repeated from BE 100,101.
** These words are missing from the printed text, but are added in the Author’s copy.
*** The Latin has ‘in your love’, but this is corrected in the Author’s copy.
He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the bridegroom’s friend is he who stands and listens to him, and rejoices in the bridegroom’s voice. John 3:29.
Jesus said, So long as the bridegroom is with them, the sons of the wedding cannot fast. Matt. 9:15; Mark 2:19, 20; Luke 5:34, 35.
I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. Rev. 21:2.
The angel said to John, Come and I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb; and from a mountain he showed him the holy city of Jerusalem. Rev. 21:9, 10.
The time has come for the wedding of the Lamb, and His wife has made ready. Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb. Rev. 19:7, 9.
I am the root and the offspring of David, the bright star of the morning. The spirit and the bride say, Come. Let him who is thirsty come, and let whoever will take the water of life without payment. Rev. 22:16, 17.
No one puts new wine into old leather bottles, without the bottles bursting and the wine being spilled; but they put new wine in new bottles, and both are then kept safe together. Matt. 9:17; Mark 2:22; Luke 5:37, 38.
[2] These events only take place at the ending of the age, which means the end of a church, as is evident from the Lord’s words:
Jesus said, The kingdom of the heavens is like a man sowing good seed in his field; but while people were asleep, his enemy came and sowed tares, and went away. But when the plants sprouted, then the tares appeared too. The servants came along and said to him. Do you want us to go and gather the tares? But he said, No, for fear that in gathering the tares you uproot the wheat together with them. Allow them both to grow together until harvest-time, and when it is time for the harvest I shall tell the reapers, First gather the tares and bind them into bundles to be burnt; but gather the wheat into my barn. The harvest-time is the ending of the age; as the tares are gathered and burnt in the fire, so will it be at the ending of the age. Matt. 13:24-30, 39, 40.
Wheat here means the various kinds of truth and good in the new church, the tares the falsities and evils of the previous church. For the ending of the age meaning the end of a church, see the first section of this chapter.
This new church is the crown of all the churches which have up to now existed upon earth.
It was shown above that from the beginning there have been, generally speaking, four churches on this earth; one before the flood, one after the flood, a third the Israelite, and the fourth that named Christian. Since all churches depend upon the knowledge and acknowledgment of one God, with whom a member of the church can be linked, and since all four churches lacked that truth, it follows that a church will take the place of those four, which will know and acknowledge one God. God’s Divine love had no other end in view in creating the world than the linking of man to Himself and of Himself to man, so that He might dwell with man. The reason why the former churches lacked that truth is that the Most Ancient Church, which existed before the flood, worshipped an invisible God, with whom no linking is possible. The Ancient Church, which existed after the flood, did likewise. The Israelite Church worshipped Jehovah, who is in Himself an invisible God (Exod. 33:18-23), but in human form, which Jehovah God put on by means of an angel; in this He was seen by Moses, Abraham, Sarah, Hagar, Gideon, Joshua and on occasions by the Prophets. This human form was a representation of the Lord who was to come, and because this was representative, each and every detail in their church was made representative. It is well known that the sacrifices and other rites of their worship represented the Lord who was to come, and on His coming they were done away with.
[2] The fourth church, however, that called Christian, certainly acknowledged in speech one God, but in three Persons, each of whom is singly or by Himself God, thus making a divided Trinity, not one united in one Person. Hence the idea of three Gods clung to their minds, although the expression ‘one God’ was upon their lips. Moreover, the doctors of the church by their own peculiar teaching, which they devised after the Council of Nicaea, teach that we should believe in God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, all being invisible, because they came into existence before the world having a similar essence – yet, as said above, linking is not possible with an invisible God; for they did not yet know that the one God, who is invisible, had come into the world, and had taken on human form, not only so as to redeem mankind, but also so as to become visible and thus capable of being linked with mankind. For we read:
The Word was with God, and the Word was God; and the Word was made flesh. John 1:1, 14.
And in Isaiah,
A boy is born for us, a son is given to us, whose name is God, Hero, the Everlasting Father. Isa. 9:6.
Many passages in the Prophets state that Jehovah Himself was to come into the world, to be the Redeemer; and this too He did in the human which He put on.
[2] The Lord too Himself teaches in John that God was not visible before He took on the Human:
You have never heard the Father’s voice, nor have you seen His appearance. John 5:37.
And in the books of Moses it says that no one can see God and live (Exod. 33:22). He shows in John that He can be seen by means of His Human:
No one has ever seen God; His only-begotten Son, who is in the Father’s bosom, He has revealed Him. John 1:18.
In the same book:
Jesus said, I am the way, truth and life. No one comes to the Father except through me. He who knows me, knows the Father, and he who sees me sees the Father. John 14:6, 7, 9.
The Lord teaches that linking takes place with the invisible God by means of Him who is visible, that is, by means of the Lord, in these passages:
Jesus said, Remain in me and I in you. He who remains in me and I in him, he it is who bears much fruit. John 15:4, 5.
On that day you will know that I am in the Father, and you are in me and I in you. John 14:20.
I have given them the glory which you gave me, so that they might be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, so that the love you loved me with might be in them, and I in them. John 17:21-23, 26; also 6:56.
He also teaches that the Father and He are one; and that we should believe in Him to have everlasting life. Salvation is dependent upon linking with God, as has been shown at length above.
In the days of those kings the God of the heavens will cause a kingdom to arise which shall not perish for ever; and it will consume all those kingdoms, but itself will stand for ever. Dan. 2:44.
This was to be brought about by a stone becoming a mighty rock filling the whole earth (Dan. 2:35). Rock in the Word means the Lord in respect of Divine Truth. Elsewhere the same prophet says:
I was watching in the visions of the night, and I saw, one like the Son of Man coming with the clouds of the heavens. And to Him was given dominion, glory and the kingdom, and all peoples, nations and tongues shall worship Him. His dominion will be a dominion for ever, which will not pass away, and His kingdom one that will not perish. Dan. 7:13, 14.
He says this after seeing four great beasts coming up from the sea (7:3); these too represent the four former churches. Daniel prophesied these things about the present time, as is evident from his words at 12:4; as well as from the Lord’s words, Matt. 24:15, 30. Similar things are said in Revelation:
The seventh angel sounded; and loud voices were heard in heaven saying, The kingdoms of the world are made our Lord’s and His Christ’s, and He shall reign for ever and ever. Rev. 11:15.
There shall be one day, which is known to Jehovah, neither day nor night, because around eveningtime there shall be light. On that day living waters shall come forth from Jerusalem; and Jehovah shall become king over the whole earth. On that day Jehovah shall be one, and His name one. Zech. 14:7-9.
In Joel:
It will happen on that day that the mountains will drip new wine, the hills will flow with milk; and Jerusalem will stay fixed from and one generation to another. Joel 3:17-21.
In Jeremiah:
At that time they will call Jerusalem Jehovah’s throne, and all nations will be gathered to Jerusalem for Jehovah’s name’s sake, and they will no longer follow the promptings of their evil hearts. Jer. 3:17; Rev. 21:24, 26.
In Isaiah:
Let your eyes behold Jerusalem, a tranquil dwelling, a tent which will not be blown away. Its pegs will never be removed, and its ropes will not be pulled up. Isa. 33:20.
[2] In these passages Jerusalem means the new Holy Jerusalem described in Revelation (chapter 21); and this means the new church. In Isaiah again:
A shoot will go forth from the trunk of Jesse, and righteousness will be the girdle around his loins, and truth the belt around his thighs. Therefore the wolf will stay with the lamb, and the leopard with the kid, the calf and the young lion and the fatling together, and a small boy will lead them. The heifer and the bear will feed, their offspring will lie down together. The sucking child will play on the hole of the viper, and the weaned child will thrust his hand on the den of the basilisk. They will not do evil nor corrupt themselves in all the mountain of my holiness. For the earth will be full of the knowledge of Jehovah. It will happen on that day, the nations will seek the root of Jesse, which stands as a signal to the peoples, and peace will be his glory. Isa. 11:1, 5-10.
It is well known that such events have not yet happened in the churches, least of all in the last of them. In Jeremiah:
Behold, the days are coming when I will strike a new covenant. This is the covenant: I will set my law in their midst, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will become their God and they shall become my people. All shall know me from the least to the greatest of them. Jer. 31:31-34; Rev. 21:3.
[3] It is also well known that these events did not take place in the previous churches. The reason is that they did not approach the visible God, whom all are to know. It is also because He is the Word, that is, the Law, which He will set in their midst and write upon their hearts. In Isaiah:
For Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, until her righteousness goes forth like a beam of light, and her salvation burns like a lamp. You will be called by a new name, which the mouth of Jehovah will utter. And you will be a crown of beauty and a diadem of kingship in the hand of your God. Jehovah will be pleased in you, and your land will be married. Behold, your salvation is coming, behold, his reward is with him; and they will call them the people of holiness, the redeemed of Jehovah, and you will be called a city sought after and not abandoned. Isa. 62:1-4,11,12.
Behold the tent of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they will be His peoples; He will be their God with them. And the nations which are saved will walk in His light; and there will be no night there. I, Jesus, have sent my angel to you to bear witness of these things in the churches. I am the root and offspring of David, the bright star of the morning. The spirit and the bride say, Come; and let him who hears say, Come. And let him that is thirsty come; and let whoever will take the water of life without payment. Even so come, Lord Jesus. Amen. Rev. 21:3, 24, 25; 22:16, 17, 20.
After the completion of this book, the Lord called together His twelve disciples, who had followed Him in the world; and a day later He sent them all forth throughout the spiritual world to preach the Gospel, that the Lord God Jesus Christ is king, and His kingdom shall be for ever and ever, as foretold by Daniel (7:13, 14) and in Revelation (11:15):
Blessed are they who come to the wedding supper of the Lamb Rev. 19:9.
This happened on the nineteenth of June in the year 1770. This was meant by the Lord’s saying:
He will send his angels, and they will gather together His chosen people from the bounds of the heavens on one side as far as the bounds of the heavens on the other. Matt. 24:31.
I wrote a special book about the spiritual world called HEAVEN AND HELL, containing descriptions of many things in that world. Since every human being after death comes into that world, I also described the condition of people there. Everyone knows, or can know, that a person goes on living after death, because he is born a man, created an image of God, and because the Lord teaches this in His Word. But up to now no one has known what that life is like.
It has been believed that a person would then be a soul; and the idea held about this has been no different from that of ether or air, that is to say, that it is breath like that a person breathes out on dying, but still retaining its vitality, though devoid of the kind of sight the eye has, of the kind of hearing the ear has, or of the kind of speech the mouth has. Yet after death a person is just as much a person, and Indeed so much so that he is unaware that he is no longer in his previous world. He can see, hear and speak, as in his previous world. He can walk, run and sit down, as in his previous world. He can lie down sleep and wake up, as in his previous world. He can eat and drink, as in his previous world. He can enjoy the delights of married life, as in his previous world. In short, he is in every single respect a person. It is obvious from this that death is not an extinction but a continuation of life, and it is merely a passing over.
* This supplement is largely based upon the CONTINUATION ABOUT THE LAST JUDGMENT published in 1763, 32-82.
I am the way, truth and life; no one comes to the Father except through me.
And He said to Philip, who wanted to see the Father:
He who sees and knows me sees and knows the Father. John 14:6ff.
I have held many conversations with these three leaders, who were the reformers of the Christian church, and thus I learned what has been the condition in which they lived from the beginning down to the present day. As for Luther, as soon as he arrived in the spiritual world, he was at once a keen propagator and defender of his dogmas, and as the numbers of his supporters coming from the earth increased, so did his zeal for those dogmas. He was given a house there similar to the one he had lived in while in the bodily life at Eisleben. In the middle of this he set up a slightly raised platform, where he took his seat. The door was open to admit listeners, whom he arranged in rows, the strongest supporters nearest to him, and those less favourable behind him. Then he spoke continuously, from time to time allowing questions, in order to be able to begin again by picking up the thread of the discourse he had just finished.
[2] As a result of this general support he finally adopted a false conviction; this is so potent in the spiritual world that no one can resist it or speak against what it prescribes. But because this was a kind of incantation as used by the ancients, he was forbidden to go on talking seriously on the basis of that conviction, and after that he taught as before from memory and at the same time the use of his understanding. A conviction of this sort which is a kind of incantation wells up from self-love. This ends up by making a person so disposed that, when anyone contradicts him, he not only attacks the subject under debate, but the other person himself.
[3] He lived like this up to the Last judgment, which took place in the spiritual world in 1757. A year later he was moved from his first house to another, at the same time moving into a different state. On hearing that I, although in the natural world, spoke with those who were in the spiritual world, he was one of a number who came to see me. After some questions had been put and answered, he perceived that the present time is the end of the former church and the beginning of the new church foretold by Daniel’s prophecy, and also by the Lord Himself in the Gospels. He also grasped that it is this new church which is meant by the New Jerusalem in Revelation, and by the everlasting gospel which the angel flying in the midst of heaven announced to dwellers upon earth (Rev. 14:6). He became very indignant and abused me; but as he grasped that there was a new heaven, which was and is being made from those who acknowledge the Lord alone as God of heaven and earth, as His words in Matt. 28:18 state, and noticing that the size of his audience grew less day by day, he stopped being abusive, and then came closer to me and began to talk with me in a more intimate fashion. Once he had been convinced that he had drawn his principal dogma about justification by faith alone not from the Word, but from his own intelligence, he allowed himself to be instructed about the Lord, charity, true faith, free will and so on to redemption, all of this from no source but the Word. Finally when he had been convinced, he began to take a favourable view, and more and more to convince himself of the truths on which the new church is being founded.
[4] At this time he was with me daily, and then, whenever he recalled as being those truths, he began to laugh at his previous dogmas, as being something completely opposite to what the Word says. I heard him say: ‘You should not be surprised that I seized upon faith alone as justifying, shut off charity from its spiritual essence and also took away from people all free will in spiritual matters, not to mention other things which hang like hooks from a chain on faith alone, once it is accepted. My aim was to make a split with the Roman Catholics, and there was no other way to achieve and accomplish this aim. I am not surprised therefore that I myself went astray, but I am surprised that one madman could drive so many others mad.’ He glanced round here at some dogmatic writers who had been famous in his time, faithfully following his teaching, for failing to see the contradictions contained in Holy Scripture, evident though they were.
[5] The examining angels told me that this leader was in a better position to be converted than many others who had convinced themselves of justification by faith alone, because in childhood, before he started making the reformation, he had absorbed the dogma of the preeminence of charity. This was why both in his writings and his sermons he gave excellent teaching about charity. It is to be deduced from these facts that his belief in justification was implanted in his external natural man, not rooted in his internal spiritual man. The case is quite different with those who while young convince themselves that there is no spirituality in charity; and this also happens automatically, when justification by faith alone is well grounded upon arguments.
[6] I talked with the prince of Saxony with whom Luther had been in the world. He told me how he had often criticised him, in particular for separating charity from faith, and declaring faith and not charity as the means to salvation, when Holy Scripture not only links them as the two universal means to salvation, but Paul too puts charity above faith, saying that there are three things, faith, hope and charity, and the greatest of these is charity (1 Cor. 13:13). Luther, however, replied every time that he could do no other because of the Roman Catholics. This prince is among the blessed.
[2] I was told that as soon as he entered the spiritual world, he was provided with a house like that in which he had lived in the world. (This also happens to most new arrivals, so that they remain unaware of being no longer in the natural world, and the time which has elapsed since they died seems like no more than a sleep.) Everything in his room too was similar; he had a similar table, a similar writing-desk with compartments and also a bookcase. So as soon as he arrived, as if he had just awoken from sleep, he sat down at the table and went on writing; his subject then was justification by faith alone, and he went on thus for some days, with not a word about charity. When the angels perceived this, they sent to ask him why he did not write about charity too. He replied that the church was in no way dependent upon charity, for if charity were accepted as an essential of the church, man would also attribute to himself the merit of justification and so of salvation, thus depriving faith of its spiritual essence.
[3] When this was perceived by the angels who were overhead, and heard by those who had associated with him when he was out of his house, they went away. (Every newcomer has angels associated with him at first.) Some weeks after this had happened, the objects he was using in the room began to grow dim and finally to fade away, until at length nothing was left there but a table, paper and an ink-pot. Moreover, the walls of his room appeared to be covered with whitewash and the floor was paved with yellow brick; he himself wore coarser clothes. When he was surprised at this and asked around to learn the reason, he received the answer that it was because he had banished charity from the church, when in fact it is its heart. But because he so often spoke against it, continuing to write about faith as the one and only essential of the church and the means of salvation, removing charity further and further away, he suddenly found himself in an underground workroom, full of similar people. When he wanted to leave, he was detained, and warned that this is the fate awaiting those who cast charity and good deeds out of the church doors. Still, since he was one of the reformers of the church, he was taken out on the Lord’s instructions, and sent back to his previous room, where he had nothing but a table, paper and an ink-pot. Yet the ideas he had convinced himself of made him blot the paper with similar errors; so he could not be kept from being alternately sent down to his companions in prison and at other times being released. When released he appeared to be dressed in furs, since faith without charity is cold.
[4] He told me himself that there was another room adjoining his at the back, containing three tables, at which sat three men who, like him, had also driven charity into exile; and there sometimes a fourth table appeared on which various monstrous forms were to be seen, though these did not frighten them away. He said that he talked with these men, and they convinced him more every day. However, after some time he became fearful and started to compose something about charity, but what he wrote on the paper one day he was unable to read the next. For this is what happens to everyone there, if he draws only on the external man for what he puts on paper, and not on the internal at the same time; he writes then from compulsion, not from free choice, and it is blotted out automatically.
[5] After the Lord began the foundation of the new heaven, the light coming from it made him start thinking that he might perhaps be wrong. So, worrying about his fate, he became aware of some interior ideas about charity which had been impressed on him. In that state he consulted the Word, and then his eyes were opened and he saw that it was completely full of love to God and love towards the neighbour, so that it was as the Lord says, on these two commandments depend the law and the prophets, that is to say, the whole Word. From this time on he was moved further in towards the south-west, and so to another house. From there he spoke with me, and said that now his writing about charity does not fade as it did before, but is dimly visible the next day.
[6] I was surprised that when he walks his footsteps ring out rhythmically, like those of people wearing iron-shod boots walking on a stone surface. I must add that when some newcomers from the world entered his room to see him and talk with him, he summoned one of the spirit magicians, who were able by imagination to produce various pleasant appearances. They then furnished his room with ornaments, rose-coloured carpets, and also a kind of bookcase in the middle. However, as soon as they left, these appearances disappeared, and the former whitewash and emptiness came back. But these events happened when he was in his former state.
[2] (2) After this first period he left the angels and wandered about, enquiring where those were who from ancient times believed in predestination. He was told that they were a long way from where he was, hemmed in and covered over, with no means of access except through an underground passage at the back. The disciples of Gottschalk, however, still went about freely, meeting at times in a place called in the spiritual language Pyris. Since he was anxious for their company, he was taken to a group where some of them were standing. On coming among them he felt hearty pleasure and formed an inward friendship with them.
[3] (3) But after the followers of Gottschalk were taken away to join their brethren in the cave, he became bored. So he sought asylum in various places, being at length received in a certain community composed entirely of simple folk, including some in religious orders. When he observed that they neither knew anything nor were able to grasp anything about predestination, he took himself off to a corner of the community, and there for a long time he dropped out of sight and did not utter a word on any matter to do with the church. This was arranged so that he could retreat from his error about predestination, and so that the groups of those who had clung to that detestable heresy after the Synod of Dort should be completed. All of these were one after another banished to join their companions in the cave.
[4] (4) Finally the believers in predestination of the present time sought to find Calvin, and after a search he was discovered on the fringe of a community entirely composed of simple folk. So he was summoned from there and brought to a certain magistrate, who was obsessed by similar rubbish. Accordingly he received him into his house and looked after him, and continued to do so until the new heaven began to be founded by the Lord. Then, since the magistrate who was looking after him together with his hangers-on was thrown out, Calvin took himself off to a brothel, and stayed there for some time.
[5] (5) At that time he enjoyed the freedom to wander about, and also of coming close to the place where I was staying. So I was allowed to talk with him, and I began by speaking of the new heaven which is at the present time being established from those who acknowledge the Lord alone as the God of heaven and earth, as He Himself says in Matthew (28: 18). I told him that these people believe that He and the Father are one (John 10:30), and that He is in the Father and the Father is in Him, and that anyone who sees and gets to know Him sees and gets to know the Father (John 14:6-11). There is thus one God in the church as there is in heaven.
[6] (6) When I said this he at first kept quiet as usual; but after half an hour he broke his silence and said, ‘Was not Christ a man, the son of Mary, Joseph’s wife? How can a man be worshipped as God?’ ‘Is not Jesus Christ,’ I said, ‘our Redeemer and Saviour, God and man?’
To this he answered: ‘He is God and man, yet the divinity is not his but the Father’s.’
‘Where is Christ then?’ I asked. ‘He is at the lowest level of heaven,’ he said, and offered as proof His humiliation before the Father, and His allowing Himself to be crucified. He added some sharp criticisms of Christ’s worship, which at that time crept into his memory from the world. These were in brief that His worship was nothing but idolatry, and he wanted to add some unspeakable remarks about that worship; but the angels with me sealed his lips.
[7] However, I was anxious to convert him, and said that the Lord our Saviour is not only God and man, but also in Him God is man and man is God. I supported this with Paul’s remark that in Him all the fulness of the Godhead dwells bodily (Col. 2:9) and John’s that He is the true God and everlasting life (1 John 5:20). I also quoted the words of the Lord Himself, that it is the Father’s will that everyone who believes in the Son should have everlasting life, and that anyone who does not believe will not see life, but the wrath of God rests upon him (John 3:36; 6:40). Moreover, I said that the Creed called Athanasian lays down that in Christ God and man are not two, but one, and that they are in one person, like soul and body in man.
[8] On hearing this he replied: ‘What are all these passages you have quoted from the Word but empty sayings? Is not the Word the book for all heresies? It is like a weathervane on roofs or on ships, which rotates in different directions depending how the wind blows. Predestination is the only true conclusion to be drawn from all religion. It is the dwelling and meeting-tent for everything to do with religion. Faith, the means to justification and salvation, serves there as shrine and sanctuary. Surely no one has free will in spiritual matters; is not everything to do with salvation a free gift? Arguments against these views and so against predestination are to my ears and perception like belches and belly rumbling. This being so, I have thought to myself that a church building where teaching is given on any matter, including from the Word, and the congregation gathered there, is like a zoo, containing sheep together with wolves. But the wolves have muzzles on them in the form of the code of civil law to stop them from falling upon the sheep (by whom I mean those who are predestined). The eloquent preaching heard there is no more than sobs heaved from the breast. But I will give you my confession of faith; it is this. There is a God, and He is omnipotent. None are saved but those who are chosen and predestined by God the Father. Everyone else has his lot, that is, his fate, assigned to him.’
[9] I was so angry on hearing this that I replied: ‘What you say is wicked; evil spirit, away with you. Being in the spiritual world, do you not know that there is a heaven and a hell, and that predestination implies that some people are assigned to heaven and some to hell? In this way you cannot form any other idea of God than of a tyrant, who admits his supporters into the city and sends the rest to be slaughtered. You should be ashamed of yourself.’
[10] Afterwards I read out in his presence what is said in the Evangelicals’ manual called the Formula of Concord about the erroneous doctrine of the Calvinists, on the subject of the worship of the Lord and predestination. On the worship of the Lord it says:
It is damnable idolatry if trust and heart-felt faith are placed in Christ not only in accordance with His Divine nature, but also in accordance with His human nature, and the honour of worship is directed to both natures.
On predestination it says:
Christ died not for all mankind, but only for the chosen. God created the majority of people for everlasting damnation, and does not wish the majority to be converted and live. The chosen and regenerate cannot lose faith and the Holy Spirit, even if they commit great sins and crimes of every kind. Those, however, who are not chosen are inevitably damned, and cannot attain to salvation, even if they were baptised a thousand times and attended the Eucharist daily, and in addition led the holiest and most blameless life that could ever be. (pp. 837, 838 of the Leipzig edition of 1756).
After reading this I asked him whether what is written in that book was derived from his teaching or not. He replied that it was, but he could not remember whether the actual wording was from his pen, though it certainly came from his mouth.
[11] On hearing this all the servants of the Lord left him, and he hurried off along a road leading to a cave, where those convinced of the vile dogma of predestination live. Later I talked with some of those imprisoned in that cave and asked about their fate. They said that they were compelled to work for a living; they were all on bad terms with one another, and each looked for a pretext to do another harm, and they actually did so if they were given the slightest pretext. This is the pleasure of their life. (See further on predestination and its supporters what I have written above, 485-488).
In my book HEAVEN AND HELL I reported that Christians, who have the Word read to them and who know and acknowledge the Lord, the Redeemer and Saviour, are in the middle of the nations and peoples who make up the whole spiritual world. The reason is that with them the spiritual light is strongest; and it radiates as from a centre towards all the surrounding areas as far as the most distant. How this happens was shown in the chapter on the Sacred Scripture (see 267-272 above). In this Christian centre the members of the Reformed churches are allotted places in accordance with their ability to receive spiritual light from the Lord. Since the Dutch have this light more deeply and fully infused into their natural illumination, so that they are more disposed than others to receive rational ideas, they have been given dwellings in the east and south of that Christian nucleus. It is their capacity for receiving spiritual heat which locates them in the east, their capacity for receiving spiritual light which locates them in the south. Compass-points in the spiritual world are not like those in the natural world, but the location of dwellings depends upon the way faith and love are received, those in the east excelling in love, those in the south excelling in intelligence; see HEAVEN AND HELL (141-153).
[2] If then they do not receive this truth, that God is one in person and in essence, and that He is the Lord the Redeemer and Saviour, and in Him is the Divine Trinity – as well as this, that it is of no avail to know and talk about faith and charity, unless they are expressed in the life we lead, being given to us by the Lord when after self-examination we repent – if they turn their backs on these truths when they are taught them, and continue to think of God as being three persons and of religion as being merely something that exists, they are reduced to poverty and their trade is taken away from them, until they realise they are reduced to extreme straits. Then they are taken to people who, being in possession of Divine truths, have affluent means and a flourishing trade, and there the idea is introduced into their minds from heaven of finding out what is the source of these people’s prosperity. At the same time they are brought to reflect upon these people’s faith and their way of life, noting that they loathe evils as sins. Even so they do not sufficiently enquire and perceive how this agrees with their own thoughts and reflections. These states alternate. Finally they think of their own accord that the way out of their poverty is to adopt similar beliefs, and a similar way of life. Then depending on the extent to which they receive faith and lead a life of charity, they are given wealth and a pleasant life.
[3] In this manner those who have in the world lived a life containing some charity are corrected by themselves and prepared for heaven. Afterwards they become so much more resolute than others that they can be called models of constancy, nor do they allow themselves to be led astray by any reasoning, fallacy, blurring produced by sophistic arguments, or by mere proofs which result from looking at things the wrong way round. For they become more clear-sighted than before.
* The followers of J. Cocceius (or Koch), 1603-1669, a famous Dutch theologian and Hebrew scholar.
** Reading anguem laceratum for anguem lacertum (‘snake lizard’).
[2] Wives who aim to keep their husbands under their control live at one side of the town, and do not meet their husbands except when they are invited, which invitations are civilly given. Then these wives are taken to houses where married couples live without one dominating the other. They are shown how well furnished and smart their houses are, and how pleasant a life they lead, being told that this is the result of the mutual love of a married couple. The women who pay attention to this and are impressed stop trying to dominate, and they live together. Then they are given a dwelling nearer the centre, and are called angels. The reason is that the true love of married couples is a heavenly love, and it is untouched by a desire to dominate.
Human beings have two modes of thinking, external and internal. In the natural world they use the external mode, in the spiritual world the internal. These two modes act as one in the case of the good, but not in the case of the wicked. It is rarely possible in the natural world to see what a person’s interior is like, since he has learned from childhood to behave well and rationally, and he likes to seem to be so. But in the spiritual world everyone’s nature is plain to see, for then he is a spirit, and the spirit is the internal man. Now because I have been allowed to be in that world and see there what internal men from different kingdoms are like, it is my duty, because of its importance, to make this generally known.
* The Latin uses the term equivalent to ‘English’, but it is clear that the Scots are included; see 812.
I once heard their priests talking among themselves about faith alone, and an image they formed, which represented their doctrine of faith alone; the feeble light of their imagination made this appear like a huge giant. But when light from heaven was let in, it appeared in its upper part like a monster, in its lower part like a snake. On seeing this they drew back, and the bystanders threw it into a lake.
It is well known that the inhabitants of any kingdom which is divided into several provinces differ in character, and show as much variation individually as those who live in different parts of the world do on the general scale. None the less there is a character shared by those who are subjects of one king and therefore share a common legal system. Germany is much more divided into a number of regions than the surrounding kingdoms. There is an Empire there under the control of which all come; but there is also a prince in each region who has absolute power in his own territory. For the country is divided into major and minor duchies, and each prince is a sort of monarch in his own region. Moreover, they are divided in religion. Some duchies contain Evangelicals, as they call themselves, some have Reformed churches, some Roman Catholics. Such diversity of control and religion makes it more difficult to describe the Germans’ minds, inclinations and way of life from sights seen in the spiritual world than in the case of nations and peoples elsewhere. But since peoples of the same language everywhere share a single character, it can to some extent be seen and described by pooling their ideas.
The clergy there while under training write down what the teachers in their colleges dictate, and treasure these notes as proofs of their learning. When they are ordained into the priesthood or appointed lecturers in schools, they deliver their prescribed talks, one party from their pulpits, the other from their desks, drawing mainly on the dictation mentioned just before. Those of the priests who depart from orthodoxy in their teaching generally preach about the Holy Spirit and the wonders it works, arousing feelings of holiness in people’s hearts. Those who follow the current orthodoxy in their teaching about faith appear to the angels to be garlanded with wreaths bound with oak-leaves. But those who draw their teachings about charity and the deeds it inspires from the Word appear to the angels to be crowned with wreaths woven from the fragrant leaves of the laurel. The Evangelicals in Germany in their arguments with those of the Reformed churches about truths seem to be tearing their clothes;’ because clothes stand for truths.
* #816a, which appears here in the printed text, has been removed to the end of this work and renumbered #853.
The Roman Catholics are to be seen in the spiritual world surrounding and below the Protestants. They are kept apart by gaps which they are forbidden to cross. None the less monks employ trickery to establish communication, and also despatch emissaries by little-known routes to seduce people. But they are hunted down, and after being punished are either sent back to their own communities, or cast down.
[2] There is another meeting towards the west of the southern region*; its business is to admit the credulous common people into heaven. They arrange a number of communities around them, which engage in various external pleasures. In some there are dances, in others musical ,concerts, in some processions, in others theatres and stage competitions, in some there are people who by illusion produce Various appearances of magnificence, in others they clown and joke. In some they engage in friendly conversation, elsewhere they talk about religious matters, elsewhere about politics, elsewhere even about sex; and so forth. They admit the credulous to one or other of these communities according to what they wish, calling this heaven. But after they have been there for a day or two, they all become bored .and leave, because their pleasures are external and not internal. In this way also many of them are led away from the ridiculous belief in people having the power to admit to heaven. The details of their worship are more or less the same as in the world. It consists likewise-of masses, which are not conducted in the language shared by spirits, but one invented from lofty-sounding words which induce an external feeling of holiness and awe, because they are utterly unintelligible.
* A parallel passage in LJ 66.5 describes this as being ‘in the north of the western region’.
[2] Besides the great community where one plays the part of Pope, there are schools set up, where those go who have doubts about religion. There they find monks who have been converted; they teach them about God the Saviour Christ, and also about the holiness of the ‘Word. The monks leave it to their decision whether to set their minds against the canonisation of saints, which has been introduced into the Roman Catholic Church. Those who accept their teachings are brought into a large community composed of those who have abandoned the cult of the Pope and the saints. On reaching this they are like sleepers awakened, and like people coming from the harshness of winter into the beauties of early spring, and like a sailor reaching harbour. Then they are invited to banquets by the people there, and given fine wine to drink from crystal goblets. I have been told that angels from heaven send down to the host a platter containing manna, looking and tasting like that sent down upon the camp of the Children of Israel in the desert. This platter is passed around to the guests, and each has the chance to taste the manna.
* Perhaps Pope Clement XII (1730-1740).
[2] On the other hand it is as difficult to lead away from the superstitions of that religion those who in the course of their lives in the world have rarely, if ever, thought about God and only been keen on their worship for its festivals, as it is to enter a church through a closed door, or to pass through the attendants in the ante-chambers and enter the court when the king forbids it; or as difficult as it is for a snake in the grass to lift its gaze to the sky. It is a remarkable fact that all of the Catholic religion on arriving in the spiritual world cannot see there the heaven where the angels are. There is a kind of dark cloud over them which blocks their view. However, as soon as someone is converted and joins the converted, heaven is opened, and sometimes they see angels there dressed in white; and when their period of preparation is over, they are taken up to them.
It is well known that a person has inborn or hereditary evil from his parents, but few people know where it resides in its fulness. It resides in the love of possessing the goods of all others, and in the love of dominating. This latter love is so virulent that, to the extent it is given rein, it bursts out so violently as to burn with the desire of lording it over all, and finally of wishing to be invoked and worshipped as God. This love is the serpent which deceived Eve and Adam, for it said to the woman:
God knows that on the day you eat of the fruit of that tree, your eyes will be opened and you will then be like God. Gen. 3:4, 5.
To the extent, then, that a person lets go the reins and plunges into this love, he turns his back on God and turns to himself, becoming a worshipper of himself. Then he can call upon God with his mouth hot as a result of self-love, but cold as a result of his contempt for God. Then too the Divine things of the church can serve him as means to an end, but because his purpose is domination, he does not like the means except to the extent they serve his purposes. If such a person is raised to the highest rank, he imagines himself to be like Atlas carrying the globe with its seas and lands on his shoulders; or like Phoebus carrying the sun around its orbit with his horses.
[2] So that I should know, and so might make it known, what the saints Of the Roman Catholics are like, as many as a hundred, who know of their canonisation, were brought up from the lower earth. They came up behind my back, only a few before my face. I spoke with one of them, who was, I was told, Xavier*. While he was speaking with me he was like an idiot. However, he was able to relate that in his own place where he is shut up with others he was not an idiot, but that he became one as often as he thought about being a saint and wanted to be invoked. I heard the same kind of murmuring from those behind my back. The situation of the so-called saints in heaven is quite different. They know nothing of what happens on earth, nor are they permitted to talk with any of the Roman Catholics who share that superstition, to prevent any such idea entering their minds.
* Canonised in 1622.
The Mohammedans in the spiritual world are to be seen behind the Roman Catholics in the West, and so to speak surrounding them. The reason why they are to be seen close behind the Christians is that they recognise our Lord as a very great prophet, the wisest of all, who was sent into the world to teach mankind, and they also recognise Him as the Son of God. In the spiritual world the distance of everyone’s dwelling from the centre, where the Christians are, depends upon his belief in the Lord and in one God. For that is what links their minds with heaven, and distances them from the east, over which the Lord is.
[2] Before the Mohammedan religion existed, idolatrous worship was spread over very many of the world’s kingdoms. The reason was that all the churches which existed before the Lord’s coming were representative ones. This is what the Israelite church was: its tabernacle, Aaron’s vestments, sacrifices, every detail of the Temple in Jerusalem, as well as its laws, had some representative meaning. Ancient peoples too possessed a knowledge of correspondences, which are also representative, regarding this as the highest form of knowledge; it was particularly developed by the Egyptians and formed the basis of their hieroglyphs. It was this knowledge which enabled them to know the meaning of every kind of animal, every kind of tree, the meanings of mountains, hills, rivers and springs, of the sun, the moon and the stars. This knowledge was the means by which they knew about spiritual matters. For the things they represented, which are the kind of things that make up the spiritual wisdom possessed by angels in heaven, were the origins of these objects.
[3] Now because all their worship was representative, being composed of nothing but correspondences, they practised their worship on mountains and hills, as well as in woods and gardens. For this reason too they regarded springs as sacred, as well as keeping carved images of horses, cattle, calves, lambs, even birds, fishes and snakes. They set these beside their temples and in the forecourts of these and of their houses, arranging them according to the spiritual ideas of the church to which they corresponded, for these are what they represented or meant. In later times when the knowledge of correspondences had been wiped out, their descendants began to worship the actual carvings as being themselves holy, being unaware that their ancestors had seen no holiness in them, merely regarding them as representing holy things in accordance with their correspondences. This was the origin of the idolatries which filled so many of the world’s kingdoms.
[4] In order to root out those idolatries, it happened by the Lord’s Divine Providence that a new religion should be founded adapted to suit the character of oriental peoples. In it there should be something from both the Testaments of the Word, and it should teach that the Lord came into the world, and that He was a very great prophet, the wisest of them all, and the Son of God. This was accomplished through Mohammed, who gave the religion his name. This makes it plain that this religion was developed of the Lord’s Divine Providence, and, as I said, adapted to suit the character of oriental peoples, with the object of wiping out the idolatrous practices of so many nations, and of conveying to them some knowledge about the Lord before they arrived in the spiritual world, as happens after death. It could not have been accepted by so many kingdoms and have rooted out their idolatries, if it had not been in keeping with the ideas they thought about; and in particular, unless polygamy had been permitted, because without that permission oriental peoples would more than Europeans have been fired with lust for foul adulteries, and would have perished.
The other nations who know nothing about the Lord are to be seen in the spiritual world further out than those who do. In fact the people who occupy the outermost fringes are those who were utter idolaters and in the previous world worshipped the sun and moon. Those, however, who acknowledge one God and are scrupulous in observing the kind of precepts that are in the Ten Commandments, and so in living in accordance with them, have closer contact with the Christians in the centre; for by this means contact is not interrupted by the Mohammedans and Roman Catholics. Nations are also kept apart in accordance with their characters and their ability to receive light from the Lord through the heavens. Some of them live further in, some further out; this is due partly to their climate, partly to the stock they belong to, partly to their education and partly to their religion. The Africans are further in than the rest.
About God they said that He had certainly come down and made Himself visible to human beings, because He is their Creator, Protector and Guide, and the human race is His. They said that He sees, examines and supplies every single thing that is in the heavens or on earth; and He regards what is good for them as if in Himself and Himself as in them. The reason is that He is the sun of the heaven of the angels, and is to be seen as high above the spiritual world as the terrestrial sun is above the natural world; and one who is the sun must see, examine and supply every single thing which is below. Because it is His Divine love which appears as the sun, it follows that He supplies to the greatest as to the least the necessities of life, and to human beings the things that concern love and wisdom. Things to do with love are supplied by means of the sun’s heat, those to do with wisdom by means of its light. So if you form for yourself an idea of God as the sun of the universe, you will be sure from that idea to see and acknowledge His omnipresence, omniscience and omnipotence.
[2] Reason too can see that God, whose love is like the purest fire, could in no other way unite Himself with mankind and mankind with Himself. Neither can the fire of the sun, as it is in its essence, touch a person, much less enter into him, if its rays were not veiled in atmospheres, and rendered suitable by the tempering of its heat. Neither can pure ether surround a person, much less penetrate the bronchi of his lungs unless it is surrounded by a dense envelope of air, and thus made suitable. Neither can a fish live in air, but only in the element in which it is equipped to live. No more can a king on earth attend personally or directly to every single detail in the government of his kingdom, but does so by means of his officers of higher and lower rank; these taken together make up his royal body. Neither can a person’s soul display itself to another’s eyes, enter on an association with him, and convey proofs of his love, except by means of his body. How then could God do so, except through a Human, which is His? On hearing these arguments the Africans perceived more than the rest, because they are inwardly rational; and each of them favoured these arguments in proportion to his perception of them.
[2] Further, I said, internal people are like those who live on the second or third floors of a house or a palace, which has an unbroken series of windows made of crystalline glass for walls; they have a full view in all directions and can recognise any building in the city. But external people are like those who live on the ground floor, with windows of sheets of paper pasted together, so they cannot even see any street outside the house, but only what is inside it, and that only by candle or firelight. Internal people are also like eagles soaring aloft, with a wide view of everything beneath them; on the other hand external people are like cocks standing on a pedestal and crowing loudly at the hens walking on the ground. Moreover internal people perceive that what they know compared with what they do not is like the water in a bucket compared with the water in a lake; but external people are quite convinced that they know everything. These remarks delighted the Africans, because their interior vision, in which they are particularly strong, enabled them to acknowledge that this is how it is.
I have had several conversations with Augustine, who in the fourth century was bishop of Hippo in Africa*. He said that he was at the present time there, inspiring them to worship the Lord, and that he hoped to spread this new gospel into the surrounding districts. I heard of the angels’ joy at that revelation, which was opening for them a means of communicating with the human rational faculty, which up to now had been shut up by means of the universal dogma of the clergy that the understanding should be kept subject to faith.
* Augustine (354-430) became bishop of Hippo, a town between Algiers and Tunis in North Africa, towards the end of the fourth century; the author uses the words ‘third century’ here to mean the period between 300 and 400.
Before the Last judgment, which took place in 1757, the Jews were to be seen in a valley to the left of the Christian centre. Following it they were transferred to the north and forbidden to have any contact with Christians, except for wanderers outside the cities. In that quarter there are two large cities to which Jews were taken after death; before the Judgment they were both called Jerusalem, but afterwards they were given another name, since after the Judgment ‘Jerusalem’ meant the church in respect of its teaching in which the Lord alone is worshipped. They have converted Jews set over them in their cities, who warn them not to speak insultingly of Christ, and punish those who still do so. The streets of their cities are full of mud, ankle deep, and their houses are so full of rubbish that they smell too bad for them to be entered. Afterwards I observed that many of that nation had found somewhere to live in the southern quarter. When I asked who they were, I was told it was those who had paid little heed to the worship practised by the rest, and had mental reservations about whether the Messiah would ever come, as well as those who had thought rationally about various subjects in the world and had followed reason in their lives. The greater number of these are the Jews known as Portuguese.
When they are told that their line of descent goes back to a woman of Canaan and to Judah’s whoring with his daughter-in-law (Gen. chapter 38), they reply that it was not whoring. But when it is objected that none the less Judah ordered her to be brought out and burned because she played the whore, they go away to discuss the matter. After discussion they say that it was simply a levirate marriage, which neither his second son Onan nor his third son Shelah had consummated. They add that very many of them are of the tribe of Levi, which held the priesthood. ‘It is enough,’ they say, ‘that we are all from the loins of Abraham.’ When they are told that the Word contains within it a spiritual sense, in which much is said about Christ or the Messiah, they reply that it is not so. But some of them say that within the Word, at its bottom, there is nothing but gold; and other similar things besides.
‘What are these?’ they asked. I said that they are: (1) In every detail the Word contains a spiritual sense corresponding to the natural sense, and by means of that sense the Word forms a link between people in the church and the Lord; it also creates an association with angels, and the holiness of the Word resides in that sense.
[2] (2) The correspondences of which the spiritual sense is composed have been disclosed. ‘Did not the inhabitants of the earth,’ asked the angels, ‘previously know about correspondences?’ I told them that they knew nothing at all and these had been lost to sight for thousands of years, in fact, since the time of Job. The people of that and previous ages regarded a knowledge of correspondences as the supreme science, and it was the source of their wisdom, because it was knowledge of spiritual matters to do with heaven and the church. But because the science turned into an idolatrous one, it was by the Lord’s Divine providence so wiped out and lost that no one could see any trace of it. Now, however, it has been disclosed by the Lord, so that people belonging to the church may be linked with Him and associated with angels. Both of these take place by means of the Word, every detail of which is a correspondence.
The angels were extremely happy that it has pleased the Lord to reveal this great secret, which has lain so deeply hidden for thousands of years. They said that the reason it was done was in order that the Christian church, which is based upon the Word and is now at its end, should be revived and draw breath from the Lord through heaven. They enquired whether by this science it had been disclosed what was the meaning of baptism and the Holy Supper, which up to now have been the subject of so many speculations. I replied that it had.
[3] (3) I went on to say that at the present time the Lord had made a revelation about people’s life after death. ‘What about life after death?’ said the angels. ‘Surely everyone knows that a person lives after death?’
‘They do and they do not,’ I replied. ‘They say that what lives on is not the person, but his soul, and this lives as a spirit. Their notion of a spirit is that it is like the wind or the ether; and they say that the person will only live after Judgment Day. At that time their bodily remains which they left in the world, however eaten away by worms, rats or fish, will be gathered together again and reconstructed to form a body; and this is how people will be brought to life again.’
‘What an idea!’ said the angels. ‘Everyone knows that a person goes on living as a person after death, with the single difference that then he lives as a substantial and not as before as a material person. A substantial person can see another substantial person, just as much as a material person can see another material person. They are unaware of any difference, except that they are in a more perfect state.’
[4] (4) The angels asked, ‘What do they know of our world and about heaven and hell?’ I replied that they know nothing, but that at the present time the Lord had disclosed what the world is like where the angels and spirits live, and so what heaven and hell are like. It had also been revealed that angels and spirits are linked with human beings, and many other surprising facts. The angels were glad that the Lord had been pleased to disclose such matters, so that mankind should no longer be impelled by ignorance to doubt its own immortality.
[5] (5) I went on to speak of another matter revealed by the Lord at the present time. ‘Your world has a different sun from ours. The sun of your world is pure love, the sun of our world is pure fire. Consequently all the radiation from your sun, since it is pure love, has something of life in it; all the radiation from ours, since it is pure fire, has no life in it. This is the origin of the distinction between spiritual and natural, a distinction up to now unknown, which has also been disclosed. From these facts it has become known what is the source of the light which enlightens the human understanding with wisdom, and what is the source of the heat, which fires the human will with love.
[6] (6) ‘In addition it has been disclosed that there are three degrees of life, and that there are consequently three heavens, and a person’s mind is divided into those three degrees. A person as a result corresponds to the three heavens.’ ‘Did they not know this before?’ said the angels. I replied that they knew about degrees between greater and less, but nothing about degrees between prior and posterior.
[7] (7) The angel asked whether there had been more revelations than these. I said there had. These were about the Last judgment, and the Lord as being the God of heaven and earth; that God is one both in person and in essence, and in Him is the Divine Trinity, and He is the Lord. Other revelations were about the new church to be established by the Lord and the teaching of that church; about the holiness of the Sacred Scripture; the Book of Revelation too had been revealed; moreover, about the inhabitants of the planets and the other earths elsewhere in the universe. Further many wonders and accounts of experiences had been reported from the spiritual world, by means of which a great deal of wisdom from heaven had been disclosed.
* This and the following sections are largely repeated from CL 532-535.
I replied that people are unaware of this, because they have not approached the Lord, and therefore have not shunned the longings of the flesh, so as to be able to be regenerated. Truly conjugial love comes solely from the Lord, and is granted to those who are regenerated by Him. These too are those who are received into the Lord’s new church meant in Revelation by ‘the New Jerusalem’. To this I added that I was doubtful whether people in the world today want to believe that that love is in essence spiritual, and thus derived from religion, because of the notion they have of it as merely physical. Accordingly it is religion that makes it spiritual in the case of spiritual people, natural in the case of natural people, and simply carnal in the case of adulterers.
This surprised the angels, and they begged the Lord to allow them to look down into the world. On doing so, they saw nothing but darkness there. Then they were told to write those secrets on a piece of paper, and if the paper were sent down to earth, they would witness a portent. So they did so, and we saw the paper on which the secrets were written sent down from heaven. As it travelled, while it was still in the spiritual world, it shone like a star. But when it fell into the natural world, its light disappeared, growing dimmer as it fell. When it was sent by the angels to gatherings where there were learned and educated members of the clergy and laity, there was heard a murmur from many of them, in which we could distinguish these remarks: ‘What is this? Is it anything important? What difference does it make whether we know these things or not? Surely they are mere fabrications of the brain.’ Then it looked as if some people were picking up the paper, folding and rolling it up and twisting it between their fingers. Others also seemed to be tearing it up and wanting to trample it underfoot. But they were prevented from committing that crime by the Lord, and the angels were ordered to withdraw it and keep it safe. Because the angels were saddened and thought to themselves, ‘How much longer?’ they were told:
Until a time and times and half a time. Rev. 12:14.
Then I asked again, ‘What miracles am I to do?’ Then a shout went up: ‘Do ones like those Moses did in Egypt.’ ‘Perhaps,’ I replied, ‘you might harden your hearts at them, as Pharaoh and the Egyptians did.’ They replied that they would not. So I said again: ‘Promise me that you will not dance around the golden calf and worship it, as Jacob’s descendants did within the space of a month after seeing the whole of Mount Sinai ablaze, and hearing Jehovah Himself speaking out of the fire, so after the greatest of all miracles.’ (The golden calf in the spiritual sense is the pleasure of the flesh.) I received the reply from the underworld: ‘We shall not be like the descendants of Jacob.’
But then I heard this message given them from heaven: ‘If you do not believe Moses and the Prophets, that is, the Word of the Lord, you will no more be made to believe by miracles than were Jacob’s descendants in the desert. Nor will you believe any more than those believed who saw with their own eyes the miracles performed by the Lord Himself, when He was in the world.’
Would anyone in the Christian world have known anything about heaven and hell if it had not been the Lord’s pleasure to open the sight of someone’s spirit, and show and teach him?
[2] It is quite plain that things of the kind described in the accounts of experiences are to be seen in the heavens from the similar things seen and described by John in Revelation, as well as those seen and described by the prophets in the Old Testament Word.
Examples in Revelation are: his seeing the Son of Man in the midst of the seven lampstands; seeing a tabernacle, a temple, an ark and an altar in heaven; the book sealed with seven seals and its opening, and the horses coming out of it; the four creatures around the throne; the twelve thousand chosen from each tribe; the locusts coming up out of the abyss; the woman giving birth to a male child, and fleeing into the desert because of the dragon; the two beasts coming up, one from the’ sea and one from the land; the angel flying in mid-heaven holding the everlasting gospel; the sea of glass mixed with fire; the seven angels having the seven last plagues; the bowls which they poured out on the earth, the sea, the rivers, the sun, the throne of the beast, the Euphrates and the air; the woman seated upon the scarlet beast; the dragon cast out into a lake of fire and brimstone; the white horse; the great dinner; the new heaven and the new earth; the holy Jerusalem coming down from heaven, with the description of its gates, its wall and the foundations of the wall; also the river of the water of life, and the trees of life which bear fruit every month; and many things besides which were all seen by John, while he was in his spirit in the spiritual world and in heaven.
There are also the things seen by the Apostles after the Lord’s resurrection, as well as those seen by Peter (Acts, chapter 11) and seen and heard by Paul. There are too the experiences of the Old Testament prophets. For instance, Ezekiel saw four creatures, which were the Cherubim (chapters 1 and 10); a new temple and a new earth, and an angel measuring them (chapters 40-48); he was carried away to Jerusalem and saw abominations there, and also to Chaldaea (chapters 8 and 11).
[3] Likewise it happened to Zechariah to see a man riding a horse among the myrtles (1:8ff); four horns, and then a man with a measuring line in his hand (chapter 2); a flying scroll and an ephah (5:1, 6); four chariots between the two mountains, and their horses (6:1ff).
Likewise Daniel saw four beasts coming up from the sea (7:1ff); the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven, whose dominion would not pass away and whose kingdom would not perish (7:13, 14); the battles of the ram and the he-goat (8:1ff); he saw the angel Gabriel and talked with him (chapter 9). Likewise Elisha’s lad saw chariots and horses of fire around Elisha, and he saw them when his eyes had been opened (2 Kings 6:17).
From these and many other passages in the Word it is established that the things which come into existence in the spiritual world have been seen by many people before and after the Lord’s coming. What is surprising then if it happens when a new church is beginning, or the New Jerusalem is coming down from heaven?
Once I saw in the spiritual world a certain Duke who was an Elector of Germany, and who also held the highest rank in the church. He had two bishops beside him, and also two ministers. I could hear, though some way off, what they were discussing. The Duke Elector asked the four in attendance whether they knew what constitutes the chief point of religion in Christendom. ‘The chief point of religion in Christendom,’ said the bishops, ‘is faith alone justifying and saving.’ He asked again, ‘Do you know what lies hidden within that faith? Open it up, look inside, and tell me.’ They replied that what lay hidden within it was nothing other than the merit and righteousness of the Lord the Saviour. To this the Duke Elector said, ‘Then does not the Lord the Saviour lie hidden in it in His Human, in which He is called Jesus Christ, because in His Human He alone was righteousness?’ To this they said, ‘Yes, this follows certainly and inevitably.’
The Duke Elector pressed them, saying, ‘Open up that faith and take another look inside; search carefully to see whether there is not something else inside.’ The ministers said, ‘There is also hidden in it the grace of God the Father.’ To this the Duke Elector said, ‘Form a correct idea and perception, and you will see that it is the grace of the Son with the Father, for it is the Son who begs and intercedes. Therefore I tell you, since you confess, reverence and kiss that faith alone of yours, to be sure to confess, reverence and kiss the Lord alone as Saviour in His Human. For, as I said before, He in His Human was and is righteousness. I have seen in Holy Scripture that He in His Human is also Jehovah and God, as in these passages:
Behold, the days will come, when I shall raise up a righteous shoot for David, who will reign as king and prosper. And this is the name by which they will call him, Jehovah our righteousness. Jer. 23:5, 6; 33:15, 16.
In Paul:
In Jesus Christ all the fulness of the Godhead dwells bodily. Col. 2:9.
And in John:
Jesus Christ is the true God, and everlasting life. 1 John 5:20.
That too is why He is called ‘the God of faith’ (Phil. 3:9).
* This section, which has no number in the first edition, was added apparently as an afterthought at the end of the Index of Experiences which follows 851; it is placed here where it seems best to belong. See preface, p. vii. [The translator, Dr. Chadwick, placed it at the end of #816; however to bring it into conformity for searching purposes, it had to be moved to here, where it is found in the original manuscript.]
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