Author: Emanuel Swedenborg
Date: 2025-09-01T23:00:00+00:00
Keywords: Christianity
Description: Description The True Christian Religion is a book by Emanuel Swedenborg, first published in 1771. In this work Swedenborg sets out a systematic theology intended as a practical and spiritual summary of his earlier revelations: it treats the nature of God and Christ, the authority and inner meaning of Scripture, the Ten Commandments, faith and charity, free will, repentance, baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Written as a comprehensive guide for readers of his day, it is both apologetic — answering contemporary Lutheran objections — and prophetic, presenting the idea of a renewed or “New Church” fo
Publisher: Global Grey ebooks

The True Christian Religion
by Emanuel Swedenborg

First published in 1771

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Contents

Introduction

I. God The Creator

II. The Lord The Redeemer

III. The Holy Spirit And The Divine Operation

IV. The Sacred Scripture Or Word Of The Lord

V. The Catechism Or Decalogue Explained In Its External And Its Internal Sense

VI. Faith

VII. Charity, Or Love To The Neighbor, And Good Works

VIII. Freedom Of Choice

IX. Repentance

X. Reformation And Regeneration

XI. Imputation

XII. Baptism

XIII. The Holy Supper

XIV. The Consummation Of The Age, The Coming Of The Lord, And The New Heaven And New Church

Introduction

THE FAITH OF THE NEW HEAVEN AND OF THE NEW CHURCH This faith is first set forth in a universal and in a particular form, that it may serve as a preface set before the work that follows, also as a gate giving entrance to a temple, and as a summary, containing in their own mode the particulars that succeed. It is called the faith of the New Heaven and of the New Church because heaven which is the abode of angels, and the church which is made up of men, act as a one, like the internal and the external man; consequently the man of the church who is in the good of love from the truths of faith and in the truths of faith from the good of love, is, in respect to the interiors of his mind, an angel of heaven; and being such he after death enters heaven and there enjoys happiness in proportion to the state of conjunction of his love and faith. Let it be known that in the New Heaven, which the Lord is now establishing, this faith is its preface, gate, and summary.

2.

THE FAITH OF THE NEW HEAVEN AND OF THE NEW CHURCH IN ITS UNIVERSAL FORM is as follows: The Lord from eternity, who is Jehovah, came into the world to subjugate the hells and to glorify His Human; and without this no mortal could have been saved; and those are saved who believe in Him. [2] This is called the faith in its universal form, because this is the universal principle of faith; and the universal principle of faith must be in each thing and in all things of it. It is a universal principle of faith that God is one in essence and in person, in whom is a Divine trinity, and that He is the Lord God the Savior Jesus Christ. It is a universal principle of faith that no mortal could have been saved unless the Lord had come into the world. It is a universal principle of faith that He came into the world to remove hell from man, and that He did remove it by means of contests with it and victories over it, and thereby He subdued it and reduced it to order and made it obedient to Himself. It is a universal principle of faith that He came into the world to glorify His Human which He took on in the world, that is, to unite it with the Divine from which [are all things], and thereby He eternally holds hell in order and under obedience to Himself. As this could be accomplished only by means of temptations admitted into His Human, even to the last of them, which was the passion of the cross, He endured even that. These are the universal principles of faith relating to the Lord. [3] The universal principle of faith on man’s part is that he should believe in the Lord; for by believing in Him there is conjunction with Him and thereby salvation. To believe in the Lord is to have confidence that He saves; and as only those who live rightly can have this confidence, this, too, is meant by believing in Him And this the Lord teaches in John: This is the Father’s will, that everyone that believeth in the Son may have eternal life (John 6:40); and again: He that believeth in the Son hath eternal life; but he that believeth not in the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him (John 3:36).

3.

THE FAITH OF THE NEW HEAVEN AND OF THE NEW CHURCH IN A PARTICULAR FORM is as follows: Jehovah God is love itself and wisdom itself, or is good itself and truth itself; and in respect to Divine truth, which is the Word, and which was God with God, He came down and took on the Human for the purpose of reducing to order all things that were in heaven, and all things in hell, and all things in the church; because at that time the power of hell prevailed over the power of heaven, and upon the earth the power of evil over the power of good, and in consequence a total damnation stood threatening at the door. This impending damnation Jehovah God removed by means of His Human, which was Divine truth, and thus He redeemed angels and men, and thereupon He united, in His Human, Divine truth with Divine good or Divine wisdom with Divine love; and so, with and in His glorified Human, He returned into His Divine in which He was from eternity. All this is meant by these words in John: The Word was with God, and God was the Word. And the Word became flesh (1:1, 14); and in the same: I came out from the Father and am come into the world; again I leave the world and go unto the Father (16:28); and also by these words: We know that the Son of God is come, and has given us understanding that we may know the True; and we are in the True, in His Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and life eternal (1 John 5:20). From these words it is clear that without the Lord’s coming into the world no one could have been saved. It is the same today; and therefore without the Lord’s coming again into the world in Divine truth, which is the Word, no one can be saved. [2] THE PARTICULARS OF FAITH ON MAN’S PART are: (1) God is one, in whom is a Divine trinity, and the Lord God the Savior Jesus Christ is that one. (2) Saving faith is to believe in Him. (3) Evils should not be done, because they are of the devil and from the devil. (4) Goods should be done, because they are of God and from God. (5) These should be done by man as if by himself; but it should be believed that they are done by the Lord in man and through man. The first two are matters of faith, the next two of charity, and the fifth of the conjunction of charity and faith, thus of the conjunction of the Lord and man.

I. God The Creator

Since the Lord’s time the Christian Church has passed through the several stages from infancy to extreme old age. Its infancy was in the lifetime of the apostles, when they preached throughout the world repentance and faith in the Lord God the Savior. That this is what they preached is evident from these words in the Acts of the Apostles: Paul testified, both to the Jews and to the Greeks, repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 20:21). It is a noteworthy fact that some months ago the Lord called together His twelve disciples, now angels, and sent them forth throughout the spiritual world, with the command to preach the gospel there anew, since the church that was established by the Lord through them has at this day become so far consummated that scarcely a remnant of it survives; and this has come to pass, because the Divine trinity has been divided into three persons, each one of whom is God and Lord. [2] Because of this a sort of frenzy has invaded not only all theology, but also the church that from the Lord’s name is called- Christian. It is called a frenzy because men’s minds have been made so demented by it as not to know whether there is one God or three. On the lips there is one God; but in the thought of the mind there are three; consequently the mind and lips, that is, the thought and speech, are at variance; and the result of this variance is that there is no God at all. The naturalism that prevails at this day is from no other source. Consider, if you will, with the lips speaking of one and the mind thinking of three, whether one of these statements does not, when they meet within, cancel the other. Consequently when a man thinks about God, if he thinks at all it is nothing more than thought from the mere name God, unaccompanied by any sense of the meaning of the name that involves any knowledge of God. [3] The idea of God, with all conception of Him, having been thus rent asunder, it is my purpose to treat, in their order, of God the Creator, of the Lord the Redeemer, and of the Holy Spirit the Operator, and lastly of the Divine trinity, to the end that what has been rent asunder may be again made whole; which is done when the reason of man is convinced by the Word and by light therefrom that there is a Divine trinity, and that the trinity is in the Lord God the Savior Jesus Christ, like the soul, the body, and what goes forth from these, in man; and that thus this article in the Athanasian Creed is true: In Christ God and man, or the Divine and the Human, are not two, but are in one person; and as the rational soul and the flesh are one man, so God and man are one Christ.

5.

THE UNITY OF GOD. As the acknowledgment of God from a knowledge of God is the very essence and soul of the entire contents of theology, it is necessary that the unity of God should be the first thing treated of. This shall be set forth in order in the following sections: (1) The entire Holy Scripture, and the doctrines therefrom of the churches in the Christian world, teach that God is one. (2) There is a universal influx [from God] into the souls of men of the truth that there is a God, and that He is one. (3) For this reason there is in all the world no nation possessing religion and sound reason that does not acknowledge a God, and that God is one. (4) Respecting what the one God is, nations and peoples have differed and still differ, from many causes. (5) Human reason can, if it will, perceive and be convinced, from many things in the world, that there is a God, and that He is one. (6) If God were not one, the universe could not have been created and preserved. (7) Whoever does not acknowledge a God is excommunicated from the church and condemned. (8) With the man who acknowledges several Gods instead of one, there is no coherence in the things relating to the church. These propositions shall be unfolded one by one.

6.

(1) The entire Holy Scripture, and all the doctrines therefrom of the churches in the Christian world, teach that there is a God and that He is one. The entire Holy Scripture teaches that there is a God, because in its inmosts it is nothing but God, that is, it is nothing but the Divine that goes forth from God; for it was dictated by God; and from God nothing can go forth except what is God and is called Divine. This the Holy Scripture is in its inmosts. But in its derivatives, which are below and from these inmosts, the Holy Scripture is adapted to the perception of angels and men. The Divine is likewise in these derivatives, but in another form, in which it is called the celestial, spiritual, and natural Divine. These are simply the draperies of God; for God Himself, such as He is in the inmosts of the Word, cannot be seen by any creature. For He said to Moses, when Moses prayed that he might see the glory of Jehovah, that no one can see God and live. This is equally true of the inmosts of the Word, where God is in His very Being and Essence. [2] Nevertheless, the Divine, which forms the inmost and is draped by things adapted to the perceptions of angels and men, beams forth like light through crystalline forms, although variously in accordance with the state of mind that man has formed for himself; either from God or from himself. Before everyone who has formed the state of his mind from God the Holy Scripture stands like a mirror wherein he sees God; but everyone in his own way. This mirror is made up of those truths that man learns from the Word, and that he appropriates by living in accordance with them. From all this it is evident, in the first place, that the Holy Scripture is the fullness of God. [3] That the Holy Scripture teaches not only that there is a God, but also that God is one, can be seen from the truths which, as before stated, compose that mirror, in that they form a coherent whole and make it impossible for man to think of God except as one. In consequence of this, every person whose reason is imbued with any sanctity from the Word knows, as if from himself, that God is one, and feels it to be a sort of insanity to say that there are more. The angels are unable to open their lips to utter the word “gods,” for the heavenly aura in which they live resists it. That God is one the Holy Scripture teaches, not only thus universally, as has been said, but also in many particular passages, as in the following: Hear, O Israel, Jehovah our God is one Jehovah (Deut. 6:4; also Mark 12:29). Surely God is in thee, and beside Me there is no god (Isa. 45:14). Am not I Jehovah? and there is no god besides me? (Isa. 45:21). I am Jehovah thy God and thou shalt acknowledge no god beside Me (Hosea 13:4). Thus saith Jehovah, the king of Israel, I am the First and the Last, and beside Me there is no god (Isa. 44:6). In that day Jehovah shall be king over all the earth; in that day Jehovah shall be one and His name one (Zech. 14:9).

7.

It is known that the doctrines of the churches in the Christian world teach that God is one. This they teach because all their doctrines are from the Word, and so far as one God is acknowledged both with the lips and the heart these doctrines are consistent. To those who confess one God with the lips only, but in heart accept three, as is true of many at this day in Christendom, God is nothing but a word on the lips; and all their theology is a mere idol of gold enclosed in a shrine, the key to which the priests alone hold; and when such read the Word they perceive no light in it or from it, not even that God is one. To such the Word appears blurred with blots, and in regard to the unity of God entirely covered with them. It is these who are described by the Lord in Matthew: In hearing ye shall hear and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see and not discern. Their eyes they have closed, lest haply they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart, and should turn themselves and I should heal them (Matt. 13:14, 15). All these are like men shunning the light, and entering chambers without windows, and groping about the walls, searching for food or money, and at length acquiring a vision like that of birds of the night, seeing in darkness. They are like a woman having several husbands, who is not a wife but a lascivious courtesan; or they are like a virgin who accepts rings from several suitors, and after the nuptials bestows her favors not upon one only, but also upon the others.

8.

(2) There is a universal influx from God into the souls of men of the truth that there is a God, and that He is one. That there is an influx from God into man is evident from the universal confession that all good that is in itself good, and that exists in man and is done by him, is from God; in like manner every thing of charity and every thing of faith; for we read: A man can take nothing except it be given him from heaven (John 3:27); and Jesus said: Without Me ye are unable to do anything (John 15:5); that is, anything that pertains to charity and faith. This influx is into the souls of men because the soul is the inmost and highest part of man, and the influx from God enters into that, and descends therefrom into the things that are below, and vivifies them in accordance with reception. The truths that are to constitute belief flow in, it is true, through the hearing, and are thus implanted in the mind, that is, below the soul. But by means of such truths man is simply made ready to receive the influx from God through the soul; and such as this preparation is, such is the reception, and such the transformation of natural faith into spiritual faith. [2] There is such an influx from God into the souls of men of the truth that God is one, because everything Divine, regarded most generally as well as most particularly, is God. And as the entire Divine coheres as one, it cannot fail to inspire in man the idea of one God; and this idea is strengthened daily as man is elevated by God into the light of heaven. For the angels in their light cannot force themselves to utter the word “gods.” Even their speech closes at the end of every sentence in a oneness of cadence; and there is no other cause of this than the influx into their souls of the truth that God is one. [3] In spite of this influx into the souls of men of the truth that God is one, there are many who think that the Divinity of God is divided into several possessing the same essence; and the reason of this is that when the influx descends it falls into forms not correspondent, and influx is varied by the form that receives it, as takes place in all the subjects of the three kingdoms of nature. It is the same God who vivifies man and who vivifies every beast; but the recipient form is what causes the beast to be a beast and man to be a man. The same is true of man when he induces on his mind the form of a beast. There is the same influx from the sun into every kind of tree, but the influx differs in accordance with the form of each; that which flows into the vine is the same as that which flows into the thorn; but if a thorn were to be engrafted upon a vine the influx would be inverted and go forth in accordance with the form of the thorn. [4] The same is true of the subjects of the mineral kingdom; the same light flows into limestone and into the diamond; but in the diamond it is transmitted, while in the limestone it is quenched. In human minds these differences are in accordance with the forms of the mind, which become inwardly spiritual in accordance with faith in God, together with life from God, such forms being made translucent and angelic by a faith in one God, and on the contrary, made dark and bestial by a faith in more than one God, which differs but little from a faith in no God.

9.

(3) For this reason, there is in all the world no nation possessing religion and sound reason that does not acknowledge a God, and that God is one. As a consequence of the Divine influx into the souls of men, treated of just above, there is in every man an internal dictate that there is a God and that He is one. And yet there are some who deny God, and some who acknowledge nature as god, and some who acknowledge more gods than one, and some who worship images as gods; which is possible because such have blocked up the interiors of their reason or understanding with worldly and corporeal things. thereby obliterating their first or childhood idea respecting God, and at the same time rejecting religion from their breasts and casting it behind their backs. Christians acknowledge one God; but in what manner is evident from their established creed, which is as follows: The Catholic faith is this: That we worship one God in trinity, and trinity in unity. There are three Divine persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and yet there are not three Gods, but there is one God. There is one person of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Spirit, and their divinity is one, their glory equal, and their majesty coeternal. Thus the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God. But like as we are compelled by Christian verity to confess each person singly to be God and Lord, so we are forbidden by the Catholic religion to say there be three Gods or three Lords. Such is the Christian faith respecting the unity of God. But that the trinity of God and the unity of God in that creed are inconsistent with each other will be shown in the chapter on the Divine trinity. [2] The other nations in the world possessing a religion and sound reason agree in acknowledging that God is one; all the Mohammedans in their empires; the Africans in many kingdoms of that continent; the Asiatics in their many kingdoms; and finally the Jews to this day. Of the most ancient people in the golden age, such as had any religion worshiped one God, whom they called Jehovah. The same is true of the ancient people in the succeeding age, until monarchical governments were established, when worldly and afterwards corporeal loves began to close up the higher regions of the understanding, which previously had been open, and had been like temples and sacred recesses for the worship of one God. In order to reopen these and thus restore the worship of one God, the Lord God instituted a church among the posterity of Jacob, and made this the first of all the commandments of their religion: Thou shalt have no other gods before Me (Exod. 20:3). [3] Moreover, the name Jehovah, which He at this time restored, signifies the supreme and only Being, the Source of everything that is or exists in the universe. Jove, a name derived possibly from Jehovah, was worshiped as a supreme god by the ancient heathen; and many other gods who composed his court they also clothed with divinity; while in the following age wise men, like Plato and Aristotle, confessed that these were not gods, but were so many properties, qualities, and attributes of the one God, being called gods because there was something Divine in each of them.

10.

All sound reason, even when it is not religious, sees that every composite thing would of itself fall to pieces unless it depended upon some one thing; as in the case of man, composed of so many members, viscera, and organs of sensation and motion, unless they all depended on one soul; or the body itself, unless it depended on one heart. The same is true of a kingdom unless it depends on one king; a household, unless on one master; and every office, of which there are many kinds in every kingdom, unless on one officer. What would an army avail against the enemy unless it had a leader having supreme power, and officers subordinate to him, each of them having his proper command over the soldiers? So would it be with the church if it did not acknowledge one God, or with the angelic heaven, which is like a head to the church on earth, in both of which the Lord is the very soul. This is why heaven and the church are called His body; and when these do not acknowledge one God they are like a dead body, which being useless is carried away and buried.

11.

(4) Respecting what the one God is, nations and peoples have differed and still differ, from many causes. The first cause is that knowledge and consequent acknowledgment of God are not possible without revelation; nor are a knowledge of the Lord, and a consequent acknowledgment that “in Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily” possible except from the Word, which is the crown of revelations; for it is by the revelation given to man that he is able to approach God and to receive influx, and thereby from being natural to become spiritual. The primeval revelation extended throughout the world; but it was perverted by the natural man in many ways, which was the origin of religious disputes, dissensions, heresies, and schisms. The second cause is that the natural man is not capable of any perception of God, but only of the world and adapting this to himself. Consequently it is among the canons of the Christian Church that the natural man is opposed to the spiritual, and that they contend against each other. This explains why those who have learned from the Word or other revelation that there is a God have differed and still differ respecting the nature and the unity of God. [2] For this reason those whose mental sight depended on the bodily senses, but who nevertheless had a desire to see God, formed for themselves images of gold, silver, stone, and wood, under which as visible objects they might worship God; while others who discarded idols from their religion found for themselves representations of God in the sun and moon, in the stars, and in various objects on the earth. But those who thought themselves wiser than the common people, and yet remained natural, from the immensity and omnipresence of God in creating the world acknowledged nature as God, some of them nature in its inmosts, some in its outmosts; while others, that they might separate God from nature, conceived an idea of something most universal, which they called the Being of the universe [Ens universi]; and because such have no further knowledge of God this Being becomes to them mere rational abstraction [ens rationis] which has no meaning. [3] Everyone can see that a man’s knowledge of God is his mirror of God, and that those who know nothing about God do not see God in a mirror with its face toward them, but in a mirror with its back toward them; and as this is covered with quicksilver, or some dark paste, it does not reflect the image but extinguishes it. Faith in God enters into man through a prior way, which is from the soul into the higher parts of the understanding; while knowledges about God enter through a posterior way, because they are drawn from the revealed Word by the understanding, through the bodily senses; and these inflowings meet midway in the understanding; and there natural faith, which is merely persuasion, becomes spiritual, which is real acknowledgment. Thus the human understanding is like a refining vessel, in which this transmutation is effected.

12.

(5) Human reason can, if it will, perceive and be convinced, from many things in the world, that there is a God, and that He is one. This truth may be confirmed by innumerable things in the visible world; for the universe is like a stage, upon which evidences that there is a God and that He is one are continually exhibited. To illustrate this I will cite this Memorable Relation from the spiritual world: Once while I was talking with angels, certain spirits that had recently arrived from the natural world were present. Seeing them, I bade them welcome, and told them many things they had not known before about the spiritual world. After this I asked them what knowledge about God and about nature they had brought with them from the world. “This,” they said, “that nature is the operative power in all things that are done in the created universe; and that God, after creation, endowed nature with and impressed upon it that capability and power; and that God merely sustains and preserves that power lest it perish; consequently, all things that spring forth or are produced and reproduced upon the earth are now ascribed to nature.” But I replied that in nothing is nature of itself the operative power, but God through nature. And when they asked for proof I said, “Those who believe the Divine operation to be in every least thing of nature find in very many things they see in the world much more evidence in favor of a God than in favor of nature. [2] For those who find evidences in favor of the Divine operation in every least thing of nature observe attentively the wonderful things that are seen in the production of plants and of animals. In the Production of Plants, they observe that from a little seed sown in the ground there goes forth a root, and from the root a stem, and successively branches, buds, leaves, flowers, and fruits, even to new seeds, just as if the seed knew the order of succession or development by which to renew itself. What rational person can imagine that the sun, which is pure fire, knows this, or that it can impart to its heat and light the power to produce such effects and to have such uses in view? Any man whose reason looks upward, when he sees these things and properly considers them, must needs conclude that they are from one whose wisdom is infinite, that is, from God. In this conclusion those who recognize a Divine operation in all the particulars of nature confirm themselves when they observe these things. On the other hand, those who do not recognize such an operation in nature behold these things with the eyes of their reason in the back of the head, and not in the front. These are such as derive all the ideas of their thought from the bodily senses, and confirm the fallacies of the senses, saying, ‘Do you not see the sun accomplishing all these things by means of its heat and light? Is that which you do not see of any account?’ [3] Those who confirm themselves in favor of the Divine carefully observe the wonderful things they see in the Production of Animals; as in regard to eggs (speaking first of these), the chick in its seminal state lies concealed in them With every thing requisite for its formation, and also for its entire development after it is hatched until it becomes a bird in the form of the parent. Moreover, to any mind that thinks deeply, things which excite wonder are presented whenever winged creatures in general are observed; as that both the smallest and largest of them, both the invisible and the visible, that is, both minute insects and great birds and beasts, possess organs of sense, namely, sight, smell, taste, and touch; also organs of motion, which are muscles, for they fly and walk; also viscera connected with the heart and lungs which are moved by the brains. All these things are seen also by those who ascribe everything to nature; but such merely notice their existence, and claim that they are products of nature. This they claim because they have turned away their minds from all thoughts of the Divine; and those who have done this, when they behold the wonderful things in nature, are unable to think about them rationally, still less spiritually; but they think sensually and materially; thus they think in nature from nature, and not above nature; and such differ from beasts only in being endowed with rationality, that is, only in an ability to understand if they wish to. [4] Those who have turned themselves away from all thought of a Divine, and have thereby become corporeal-sensual, never consider that the sight of the eye is so gross and material that it sees many small insects as a single obscure object; and yet each one of these is organized for sensation and motion, and is consequently endowed with fibers and vessels, with a minute heart and pulmonic tubes, with minute viscera and with brains; and these are composed of nature’s purest elements, these textures corresponding to life in its lowest degree whereby their least parts are severally actuated. Considering the grossness of our bodily vision, to which many such insects, with the innumerable parts in each, appear as a single minute indistinct object, while yet it is from this vision that sensual men think and draw conclusions, it is evident how gross their minds must be, and in what darkness they must be respecting spiritual things. [5] “Any man is able, if he will, to find evidences in favor of a Divine in the visible things of nature; and this he does whenever he thinks of God and of His omnipotence in the creation of the universe, and of His omnipresence in the preservation of it; as, for instance, when he sees that among the birds of heaven each species knows its own food and where to find it, recognizes its companions by sight and sound, and among other species knows which are friends and which enemies; that they know how to mate, to form marriages, construct their nests skillfully, place their eggs in them and hatch them, also the period of incubation; and when the young have been hatched they love them most tenderly, shelter them beneath their wings, feed and nourish them, and this until they are able to provide for themselves and to perform like offices. If anyone is willing to think about a Divine influx through the spiritual world into the natural he can see it in these creatures; and can also, if he will, say from his heart that the sun through its heat and light cannot be the source of such knowledge, for the sun from which nature has its rise and essence is pure fire, and consequently its effluent heat and light must be utterly dead; and thus he may reach the conclusion that these knowledges are from a Divine influx through the spiritual world into the outmosts of nature. [6] “Anyone can find evidences in favor of a Divine in the visible things of nature when he observes those worms which are moved by the joy of a peculiar love to aspire after a change of their earthly state into one somewhat analogous to a heavenly state. For this purpose they crawl into suitable places, enclose themselves in a covering, and thus place themselves in a womb from which to be born again; and there they become chrysalids, aureliae, nymphs, and finally butterflies; and having undergone this transformation and been decked with beautiful wings according to their species, they fly forth into the air as into their heaven, and there disport themselves merrily, marrying, laying eggs, and providing for themselves a posterity, meanwhile nourishing themselves with sweet and pleasant food from flowers. Who that sees evidences in favor of a Divine in the visible things of nature can help seeing in these as worms an image of man’s earthly state, and in these as butterflies an image of his heavenly state? Those who have confirmed themselves in favor of nature behold the same things, but having rejected man’s heavenly state from their thought they call them mere operations of nature. [7] “Anyone can find evidences in favor of a Divine in the visible things in nature when he gives thought to what is known of bees, their knowing how to collect wax from roses and blossoms, to suck out honey, to build cells like little houses, to arrange them like a city, with streets for going in and out; their smelling from a distance the flowers and herbs from which they collect wax for their houses and honey for food, being loaded with which they fly back straight to their hive. Thus they provide themselves with food for the coming winter as if they foresaw it. They also appoint a mistress over themselves as queen, and through her they propagate a posterity; and for her they build a sort of palace above themselves, and place guards around it. When the time for propagation arrives, accompanied by her guards, which are called drones, she goes from cell to cell, and lays her eggs, which her retinue seal up lest they be injured by the air. Thus a new generation is born; and when this generation has reached the proper age to be able to repeat the process it is expelled from the hive, and the new swarm, after gathering into a body to prevent separation, flies forth to find itself a home. About the time of autumn, as the drones have added nothing to the supply of wax or honey, they are led out and deprived of their wings to prevent their returning and consuming the food on which they had spent no labor. From this and other facts it can be seen that on account of the use they perform for the human race these insects receive by influx from the spiritual world a form of government similar to that which is formed among men on the earth, and even among the angels in the heavens. [8] What man of sound reason does not see that the natural world cannot be the source of all this? What has the sun, from which nature springs, in common with a government which so vies with and closely resembles heavenly government? From these and like facts exhibited among animals, one who acknowledges and worships nature confirms himself in favor of nature; while he who acknowledges and worships God confirms himself from the same facts in favor of God; for the spiritual man sees in them spiritual things, and the natural man sees in them natural things, thus each in accord with his character. For my own part, such things have been to me evidences that from God there is an influx of the spiritual world into the natural. Consider, moreover, whether you are able to think analytically of any form of government, of any civil law, or any moral virtue, or any spiritual truth, except on the supposition that there is an inflow of the Divine from its own wisdom through the spiritual world. As to myself, I am not able to do so, and never have been. I have now for twenty-six years continually observed that influx perceptibly and sensibly; I therefore speak from what I know. [9] “Can nature pursue use as an end, and arrange uses in order and in forms? Only a wise being is able to do this; and God alone, whose wisdom is infinite, is able so to order and form the universe. Who else can foresee and provide food and clothing for man-food from the products of the field, from the fruits of the earth, and from animals; and clothing from the same sources? It is among these marvelous facts that those petty worms called silkworms clothe with silk and magnificently adorn both women and men, from queens and kings even to maidservants and menservants; and that a petty insect like the bee supplies the wax for the tapers that make temples and palaces brilliant. All these and more are conclusive proofs that God from Himself through the spiritual world operates all things that take place in nature. [10] “To all this let me add the fact that I have seen in the spiritual world those who from things visible in the natural world had confirmed themselves in favor of nature until they had become atheists; and that in spiritual light the understanding of such appeared to be open below, but closed above, for the reason that in their thought they had looked down toward the earth, and not up toward heaven. Above their sensual faculties, which form the lowest part of the understanding, a kind of covering flashing with infernal fire was seen, in some cases like soot, and in others livid like a corpse. Let everyone therefore beware of these confirmations in favor of nature; and let him confirm himself in favor of God; there is no lack of means. “

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(6) If God were not one, the universe could not have been created and preserved. The unity of God may be inferred from the creation of the universe, because the universe is a work coherent as a unit from things first to things last, and dependent upon one God as a body upon its soul. The universe was so created that God might be omnipresent, and hold each and all of its parts under His direction, and keep its parts together as one body perpetually, which is to preserve it. Moreover, because of this Jehovah God declares: That He is the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End, the Alpha and Omega (Isa. 44:6; Rev. 1:8, 17). And elsewhere: That He maketh all things, spreadeth forth the heavens above, and stretcheth forth the earth by Himself (Isa. 44:24). This vast system which is called the universe is a work coherent as a unit from things first to things last, because in creating it God had a single end in view, which was an angelic heaven from the human race; and all things of which the world consists are means to that end; since he who seeks an end seeks also the means. [2] Consequently, whoever regards the world as a work containing means to that end is able to look upon the created universe as a work coherent as a unit, and to see that the world is a complex of uses, existing in a successive order, looking to the human race (from which is the angelic heaven) as its end. The Divine love can be intent upon no other end than the eternal blessedness of men, having its source in the Divine; and its Divine wisdom can bring forth nothing but uses that are means to that end. Surveying the world from this most general idea, every wise man can comprehend that the Creator of the universe is a One, and that His essence is love and wisdom; consequently there can not be in it the smallest particular in which there does not lie hidden some use, more or less remote, for man-food from the fruits of the earth and from animals, and clothing from the same sources. [3] How wonderful it is that the insignificant silkworm should clothe with silk and magnificently adorn both women and men, from queens and kings to maidservants and menservants; and that a petty insect like the bee should supply wax for the tapers which make temples and palaces brilliant. Those who study in minute detail a few things in the world, and not all things in their most general relations, including ends, mediate cases, and effects, and who, furthermore, do not deduce creation from Divine love through the Divine wisdom, are unable to see that the universe is the workmanship of one God, and that He dwells in every particular use because He dwells in the end. For in every case one who is in an end must be in the means also, since the end is inmostly in all the means, actuating and directing them. [4] Those who do not regard the universe as the workmanship of God and the dwelling-place of His love and wisdom, but as the workmanship of nature and the dwelling-place of the sun’s heat and light, close the higher regions of their mind against God, and open its lower regions for the devil, and consequently put off their human nature and put on a bestial nature, and not only think themselves to be like the beasts but actually become so. For they become foxes in cunning, wolves in fierceness, panthers in treachery, tigers in cruelty, and crocodiles, serpents, owls, and other birds of night, in the several characteristics of these. Moreover, in the spiritual world those who are such do at a distance actually appear like these wild beasts. Thus does their love of evil portray itself.

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(7) Whoever does not acknowledge a God is excommunicated from the church and condemned. Whoever does not acknowledge a God is excommunicated from the church, because God is the all of the church; and Divine things which are called theological are what constitute the church; consequently a denial of God is a denial of all things pertaining to the church; and this denial is what excommunicates the man; thus he is excommunicated not by God, but by himself. And he stands condemned because he who is excommunicated from the church is also excommunicated from heaven; since the church on earth and the angelic heaven make one, like the internal and the external or the spiritual and the natural in man; and man was so created by God that in respect to his internal he might be in the spiritual world and in respect to his external in the natural world; consequently he was created a native of both worlds, in order that the spiritual which belongs to heaven might be implanted in the natural, which belongs to the world, just as seed is planted in the ground; and that man might thus become fixed and endure to eternity. [2] The man who has excommunicated himself from the church and thus from heaven by a denial of God has closed up in himself his internal man in respect to his will and its genial love; for man’s will is the receptacle of his love, and becomes its dwelling-place. But he cannot close up his internal man in respect to its understanding, for if he could and did he would be man no longer. Nevertheless, his will’s love infatuates with falsities the higher faculties of the understanding; and in consequence the understanding becomes closed to the truths pertaining to faith and the goods pertaining to charity; thus more and more against God, and also against the spiritual things of the church. Thus man is shut out from communion with the angels of heaven, and when so shut out he enters into communion with the satans of hell, and thinks as they think; and all satans deny God, and think foolishly about God and the spiritual things of the church; and in the same way does the man think who is conjoined with them. [3] When such a man is in his spirit, as he is when left privately to himself, he suffers his thoughts to be led by the delights of evil and falsity which he has conceived and brought forth in himself; and he then thinks that God has no existence, but is merely a word uttered from the pulpit to hold the common people in obedience to the laws of justice, which are, the laws of society. He also thinks the Word, from which ministers proclaim a God, to be a mass of missionary tales, which have been made holy by authority, and the Decalogue or catechism to be merely a little book to be thrown aside when it has been well worn by the hands of little boys, since it teaches that parents ought to be honored, forbids murder, adultery, theft, and false witness; and who does not learn the same things from civil law? He thinks of the church as an assembly of simple, credulous, and weak-minded people, who see what they see not. He thinks of man, and of himself as a man, as being like a beast, and of life after death as of the life of a beast after death. [4] Thus does his internal man think, however differently his external man may speak. For, as just said, every man has an internal and an external; and it is the internal that makes the man, that is, the spirit, which is what lives after death; while the external, in which by a semblance of morality he plays the hypocrite, is laid in the grave; and on account of his denial of God the man then stands condemned. In respect to his spirit every man is associated in the spiritual world with his like, and becomes as one of them. It has frequently been granted me to see there in societies the spirits of men still living, some in angelic and some in infernal societies, and also to converse with them for days; and I have wondered how the man himself while still living in the body could be wholly ignorant of this. Thus was it made clear that he who denies God is even now among the damned, and that after death he is gathered to his own.

15.

(8) With men who acknowledge several Gods instead of one there is no coherence in the things relating to the church. He who in his belief acknowledges and in his heart worships one God is both in the communion of the saints on earth and in the communion of the angels in heaven. These are called “communions,” and are communions, because such are in the one God and the one God is in them. Moreover, they are in conjunction with the entire angelic heaven, and, I might venture to say, with all and each of its inhabitants, for they are all like the children and descendants of one father, whose dispositions, manners, and features are similar, whereby they recognize each other. The angelic heaven is harmoniously arranged in societies in accordance with all the varieties of the love of good, and these varieties center in one universal love, which is love to God; from which love all are born who in belief acknowledge and in heart worship the one God, who is both the Creator of the universe and the Redeemer and Regenerator. [2] But it is a wholly different matter with those who approach and worship several gods instead of one, and with those who talk of one and think of three, as do those in the church at this day who divide God into three persons, and declare that each person by himself is God, and attribute to each one special qualities or properties that do not belong to the others. From this arises a disintegration not only of the unity of God but of theology itself, and still further of human thought, to which theology belongs. And what can follow from this but perplexity and incoherency in things of the church? That such is the state of the church at this day will be shown in the Appendix to this work. The truth is that the division of God, or of the Divine essence, into three persons, each one of whom by Himself or singly is God, induces a denial of God. It is as if a man should enter a temple to worship, and see painted on a tablet over the altar one God as the Ancient of days, another as the great High Priest, and the third as a flying Aeolus, with the inscription: “These three are one God;” or like seeing there the unity and trinity depicted as a man with three heads on one body, of three bodies under one head, which would be monstrosities. If anyone should enter heaven with such an idea he would certainly be cast out headlong, even if he should declare that the head or heads mean the essence, and the body or bodies its different properties.

16.

To this I will add the following Memorable Relation: I saw some who had recently come from the natural world into the spiritual world talking together about three Divine persons from eternity. They were dignitaries of the church, and one of them was a bishop. They came up to me; and after some talk about the spiritual world, respecting which they had before known nothing, I said, “I heard you speaking of three Divine persons from eternity; I beseech you to disclose to me this great mystery according to the conception you had formed of it in the natural world from which you have lately come.” Then the bishop, looking at me, said, “I see that you are a layman, therefore I will set forth my ideas on this great mystery, and will instruct you. My conception of the matter was, and still is, that God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit sit in the center of heaven upon magnificent and lofty seats or thrones-God the Father on a throne of pure gold, with a scepter in His hand; God the Son at His right hand on a throne of the purest silver, with a crown on His head; and God the Holy Spirit near them, on a throne of dazzling crystal, holding a dove in His hand; and that round about them in triple order are hanging lamps glittering with precious stones; while at a distance from this circle stand innumerable angels, all worshiping and singing praises; and furthermore, that God the Father is continually talking with His Son about those who are to be justified, and they together judge and determine who on earth are worthy to be received by them among the angels, and crowned with eternal life; while God the Holy Spirit, on hearing the names of such, hastens to them throughout the earth, carrying with Him gifts of righteousness as so many tokens of salvation for the justified; and the instant He approaches and breathes upon them He disperses their sins, as a ventilator drives the smoke from a furnace and makes it white. He also takes away the stony hardness of their hearts, and imparts the tenderness of flesh, and at the same time renews their spirits or minds, and regenerates them, giving them infantile faces; and finally He seals them in the forehead with the sign of the cross, and calls them ‘the elect’ and ‘sons of God. ‘“ Having finished this speech the bishop said, “Thus did I in the world elucidate this great mystery; and as most of our order there applauded my utterances, I am persuaded that you also, who are a layman, will assent to them. “ [2] When the bishop had ceased speaking I looked at him, and also at the dignitaries with him, and I noticed that they all gave full assent to what he had said. I therefore began to reply, and said, “I have given close attention to the statement of your belief, and from it I gather that you have conceived and cherish an idea of the triune God that is wholly natural, sensual, and even material, and that there inevitably follows from it the idea of three Gods. Is it not thinking sensually of God the Father to conceive of Him as seated on a throne with a scepter in His hand; and of the Son on His throne with a crown on His head; and of the Holy Spirit on His with a dove in His hand, and as hastening over the world in accordance with what He hears? And as such an idea results from your statements, I cannot assent to them; for from my childhood I have not been able to admit into my mind any other idea than that of one God; and since I have accepted and hold no other idea, all that you have said has no weight with me. I also saw that ‘the throne’ on which Jehovah is said in Scripture to sit means His kingdom, the ‘scepter’ and ‘crown,’ government and dominion; the ‘sitting at the right hand,’ God’s omnipotence through His Humanity; also that by what is attributed to the Holy Spirit the operations of the Divine omnipresence are meant. Assume, sir, if you please, the idea of one God, and rightly dwell upon that in your reasonings, and you will at length clearly apprehend that this is so. [3] Furthermore, you admit that God is one, in that you make the essence of these three persons one and indivisible; while yet you do not allow anyone to say that this one God is one person, but he must say that there are three persons and this you do lest the idea of three Gods, such as you entertain, should be lost; also you ascribe to each person a property different from those of the others. In all this do you not divide your Divine essence? And this being so, how can you say and also think that God is one? I could excuse you if you had said that the Divine is one. How can anyone on hearing that ‘The Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God, and singly each person is God, ‘ possibly think of God as one? Is it not a contradiction, to which assent is utterly impossible? That they cannot be said to be one God, but only to have a like Divinity, may be thus illustrated. A number of men forming one senate, assembly, or council, cannot be called one man; although when each and all have the same opinion they may be said to be one in thought. Neither can three diamonds of the same substance be called one diamond; although they may be called one in substance. Moreover, each diamond would differ from the others in value according to its weight, which would not be true if they were one instead of three. [4] But I perceive the reason why three persons, each one of whom is by Himself singly God, are called by you one God, and why you enjoin upon everyone in the church so to speak, namely, because all sound and enlightened reason in the world acknowledges God to be one, and in consequence you would be covered with shame if you too did not speak in like manner. And yet when you utter the words ‘one God’ while in your thoughts there are three, that shame does not prevent your giving utterance to both of these ideas.” After this conversation the bishop with his clerical companions withdrew, and as he departed he turned and tried to say, “There is one God;” but he could not say it, because this thought restrained his tongue, and with open mouth he gasped out, “Three Gods!” At this strange sight the bystanders laughed derisively and departed.

17.

Afterwards I asked where I could find those of the learned with the keenest minds who stood for a Divine trinity divided into three persons. Three of these presented themselves; and I said to them, “How can you divide the Divine trinity into three persons, and assert that each person, by Himself or singly, is God and Lord? Is not a confession of the mouth that God is one thus made as remote from the thought as the south from the north?” To this they replied, “It is not at all remote, since the three persons possess one essence, and the Divine essence is God. In the world we were guardians of a trinity of persons, and the ward under our charge was our faith; in that faith each Divine person had his office - God the Father to impute and bestow, God the Son to intercede and mediate, and God the Holy Spirit to carry out the work of imputation and mediation.” [2] But I asked, “What do you mean by the ‘Divine essence?’” They said, “We mean omnipotence, omniscience, omnipresence, immensity, eternity, and equality of majesty.” I replied, “If that essence makes one God of several you might add more yet, for example: a fourth, mentioned by Moses, Ezekiel, and Job, under the name of ‘God Schaddai.’ Something of this kind was done in Greece and Italy by the ancients, who ascribed equal attributes and a like essence to their gods, for example, to Saturn, Jove, Neptune, Pluto, Apollo, Juno, Diana, Minerva, and even Mercury and Venus; although they could not say that all these were one God. Moreover, yourselves, who are three persons, and as I apprehend alike in learning and therefore in that respect of a similar essence, are not able to combine yourselves into one learned man.” They laughed at this, and said, “You are joking. With the Divine essence it is different: it is not tripartite, but one; not divisible, but indivisible; partition and division do not apply to it. “ [3] Hearing this I said, “Let us come down to this ground and discuss the matter.” And I asked, “What do you mean by a ‘person?’ and what does the term signify?” They said, “The term ‘person’ signifies that which has no part or quality in another, but subsists by itself. Thus do all the heads of the church define it, and we agree with them.” I said, “Is this the definition of ‘person’?” They replied, “It is.” To this I answered, “There is then no part of the Father in the Son, or of either in the Holy Spirit. From this it follows that each is at His own disposal, and possesses His own rights and powers, and therefore there is nothing that joins them together except the will, which is proper to each, and thus communicable at pleasure. Does not this make the three persons three distinct Gods? Listen again: You have also defined ‘person’ as that which subsists by itself; consequently there are three substances into which you divide the Divine essence; and yet you say that this is incapable of division, since it is one and indivisible. Furthermore, to each substance, that is, to each person, you attribute properties that do not exist in the others, and even cannot be communicated to the others, namely, imputation, mediation, and operation. What can follow from this except that the three ‘persons’ are three Gods?” At these remarks they withdrew, saying, “We will canvass these statements and then answer you.” [4] There was present a wise man who, hearing the arguments, said, “I do not care to view this lofty subject through such fine network; but apart from these subtleties I see clearly that in your thought you have the idea of three Gods; but as you would incur disrepute by publishing this idea openly to all the world (for if you did so you would be called madmen and fools), it is expedient for you, in order to avoid that ignominy, to confess with your lips one God.” But the three, tenacious of their opinions, paid no attention to this; and as they went away they muttered some terms culled from metaphysical lore: from which I saw that metaphysics was their tripod from which they wished to give responses.

18.

THE DIVINE ESSE, WHICH IS JEHOVAH. Let us first consider the Divine Esse, and afterwards the Divine essence. In appearance the two are one and the same; but esse is more universal than essence; for essence implies esse, and is derived from esse. The Esse of God (or the Divine Esse) it is impossible to define, because it transcends every idea of human thought, since this can take in only what is created and finite, and not what is uncreate and infinite, and therefore not the Divine Esse. The Divine Esse is Esse itself, from which all things are, and which must be in all things in order that they may have being. A fuller conception of the Divine Esse may be gained by the following propositions: (1) The one God is called Jehovah from Esse, that is because He alone Is, Was, and Is To Be, and because He is the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End, the Alpha and the Omega. (2) The one God is substance itself and Form itself, and angels and men are substances and forms from Him, and so far as they are in Him and He is in them are images and likenesses of Him. (3) The Divine Esse is at once Esse [Being] in itself and Existere [Manifestation] in itself. (4) It is impossible for the Divine Esse and Existere in itself to produce another Divine which is Esse and Existere in itself; therefore another God of the same Essence is impossible. (5) The doctrine of a plurality of gods, both in past ages and at the present day, sprang solely from a failure to understand the Divine Esse. But these propositions must be elucidated one by one.

19.

(1) The one God is called Jehovah from Esse, that is, because He alone Is, Was, and Is To Be, and because He is the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End, the Alpha and the Omega. It is known that “Jehovah” signifies I Am and To Be [Esse]; and that God has been so called from the most ancient times is clear from the Book of Creation, or Genesis, where in the first chapter He is called “God,” and in the second and subsequent chapters “Jehovah God,” and afterwards, when the children of Abraham through Jacob, during their long sojourn in Egypt, forgot the name of God, it was recalled to their remembrance; of which as follows: Moses said unto God, What is Thy name? God said unto Moses, I am who I Am, thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I Am hath sent Me unto you; and thou shalt say, Jehovah God of your fathers hath sent Me unto you: this is My name to eternity, and this is My memorial from generation to generation (Exod. 3:13-15). Since God alone is the I Am and Esse, or Jehovah, nothing can exist in the created universe that does not derive its esse from Him; but how will be seen below. The words: I am the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End, the Alpha and the Omega (Isa. 44:6: Rev. 1:8, 11; 22:13), have the same meaning, signifying, Who is the Itself and the Only from things first to things last, the source of all things. [2] God is called “the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,” because Alpha is the first letter in the Greek alphabet and Omega the last; and therefore the two signify all things in the complex. This is because each letter in the alphabet in the spiritual world signifies a thing. And as the vowels furnish the tone, they signify something belonging to affection or love. This is the origin both of spiritual or angelic speech and of writing there. But it is an arcanum hitherto unknown; for there is a universal language which is the language of all angels and spirits, and which has nothing in common with any language of men in the world; into this language everyone comes after death, for it is inherent in every man from his creation; consequently in the spiritual world everyone can understand every other. I have frequently been permitted to hear that language; and I have compared it with languages in the world, and have found that in no respect whatever does it agree with any natural language on earth. It differs from them in its initial element, which is that each letter in each word has its special meaning. It is for this reason that God is called Alpha and Omega, which means that He is the Itself and the Only from things first to things last, the source of all things. But regarding this speech and form of writing, which flows from the spiritual thought of the angels, see the work on Conjugial Love (n. 326-329) also in the following pages.

20.

(2) This One God is Substance itself and Form itself and angels and men are substances and forms from Him, and so far as they are in Him and He in them are images and likenesses of Him. As God is Esse He is also Substance; for unless Esse is substance it is a figment of the reason; for substance has subsistent being. Moreover, one who is a substance is also a form; for unless a substance is a form it is a figment of the reason. Wherefore both substance and form may be predicated of God, but in the sense that He is the only, the very, and the primal Substance and Form. That this Form is the verily Human Form, that is, that God is verily Man, infinite in every respect, has been shown in Angelic Wisdom concerning the Divine Love and Divine Wisdom, published at Amsterdam in 1763; where it is also shown that angels and men are substances and forms created and organized for receiving what is Divine flowing into them through heaven. For this reason they are called in the Book of Creation “images and likenesses of God” (Gen. 1:26, 27); and elsewhere “His sons,” and “born of Him.” In the course of this work it will be fully shown that so far as man lives under Divine direction, that is, suffers himself to be led by God, so far he becomes an image of God more and more interiorly. Unless an idea is formed of God as the primal Substance and Form, and of His Form as the verily Human Form, the human mind may easily involve itself in spectral fancies about God Himself, the origin of man, and the creation of the world. It would then have no other conception of God than as the nature of the universe in its first principles, that is, as its expanse, or else as emptiness or nothingness; nor any other conception of man’s origin than as a flowing together of elements into that form by mere chance; nor of the creation of the world than that its substances and forms originated in points, and afterwards in geometrical lines, which are essentially nothing, because nothing can be predicated of them. In such minds everything belonging to the church is like the Styx or like Tartarean darkness.

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(3) The Divine Esse is at once Esse [Being] in itself and Existere [Manifestation] in itself. Jehovah God is Esse in itself, because He is the I Am, the Only, and the First, from eternity to eternity, the source of everything that is, without whom it could not be. In this way and not otherwise He is the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last, the Alpha and Omega. It cannot be said that His Esse is from Itself, because the expression from itself implies something prior, and therefore time; and time is not applicable to the Infinite, which is called infinite from eternity; it also implies another God who is God in Himself, thus it implies God from God, or that God formed Himself; in which case He would neither be uncreate nor infinite, for He would thus have made Himself finite, either from Himself or from another. From the fact that God is Esse in itself it follows that He is Love in itself, Wisdom in itself, and Life in itself, and that He is the Itself, the source of all things, to which each thing must have relation in order to be anything. That God is God because He is Life in itself is evident from the Lord’s words in John (5:26) and in Isaiah: I am Jehovah that maketh all things; that spreadeth forth the heavens alone that stretcheth forth the earth by Myself (44:21) and that He alone is God, and beside Him there is no God (Isa. 45:14, 15, 21, 22; Hos. 13:4). God is not only Esse [Being] in itself, but also Existere [Manifestation] in itself, because Esse without Existere is nothing, equally so Existere unless it is from Esse; therefore where the one is the other must needs be. The same is true of substance and form. Unless a substance is also a form nothing can be predicated of it, and for the reason that having no quality it is in itself nothing. The terms esse and existere are here used, and not essence and existence, because a distinction must be made between esse and essence, and between existere and existence, like that between the prior and the posterior, the prior being more universal than the posterior. To the Divine Esse infinity and eternity are applicable; while to the Divine Essence and Existence, Divine love and wisdom are applicable, and through these two omnipotence and omnipresence, which will be considered in their order.

22.

That God is the Itself, the Only, and the First, which is called Esse and Existere in Itself, the source of all that has being and existence, the natural man is wholly unable to discover by his own reason; for by his own reason the natural man can apprehend only what belongs to nature, since that agrees with the essential nature of his reason, because from his infancy and childhood nothing else had entered into his reason. But because man was so created as to be spiritual as well as natural, since he is to continue to live after death, and then to live among those who are spiritual in their world, God has provided the Word-in which He has revealed not only Himself but also that there is a heaven and a hell, and that in one or the other of these every man is to live to eternity, in accordance both with his life and his faith. Moreover, God has revealed in the Word that He is the I Am or Esse and the Itself and Only, which in itself Is, and thus the First or Beginning, the source of all things. [2] By this revelation the natural man is enabled to raise himself above nature, thus above himself, and to see such things as pertain to God, yet only as if at a distance, although God is nigh to every man, for in His essence He is in man; and being in man He is very nigh to those who love Him; and those love Him who live according to His commandments and believe in Him; these as it were see Him. What is faith but to see spiritually that God is? And what is a life according to His commandments but an acknowledgment in act that from Him are salvation and eternal life? But those whose faith is not spiritual but natural, which is mere knowledge, and whose life is therefore natural, do indeed see God, but from afar off, and this only when they speak of Him. The difference between these two classes is like the difference between those who stand in a clear light and see men near by and touch them, and those who stand in a thick mist in which they are unable to distinguish between men and trees or stones. [3] Or it is like the difference between men on a high mountain on which there is a city, who are going about there having interaction with their fellow townsmen, and men looking down from the top of that mountain who are unable to tell whether the objects they see below are people, beasts, or statues. Or it is like the difference between men standing upon some planet and seeing those about them, and men on another planet looking at these through telescopes, and saying that they see people there, when in fact they see nothing but a most general outline of the land as lunar brightness, and the watery parts as spots. Such is the difference in seeing God and the Divine things in the mind that go forth from Him, between those who are both in faith and in a life of charity, and those who merely know about faith and charity; and such consequently is the difference between natural and spiritual men. But those who deny the Divine holiness of the Word, and yet carry their religion about as in a sack upon the back, do not see God at all, but only utter the word “God,” almost like parrots.

23.

(4) It is impossible for the Divine Esse and Existere in itself to produce another Divine which is Esse and Existere in itself; therefore another God of the same Essence is impossible. It has been shown already that the one God who is the Creator of the universe, is Esse and Existere in itself, that is, God in Himself; and from this it follows that God from God is impossible, because in such a being the verily essential Divine, which is Esse and Existere in itself, is impossible. It is the same whether you say “begotten of God” or “proceeding from God;” it means, in either case, produced by God, and this differs but little from being created. Therefore, to introduce into the church a belief in three Divine persons each of whom singly is God, and of the same essence, one of them born from eternity, and a third proceeding from eternity, is to destroy utterly the idea of God’s unity, and with it every idea of Divinity, and so cause all the spirituality of reason to be driven into exile. Then man is man no longer; but is so wholly natural as to differ from a beast only in the power of speech, and is opposed to all the spiritual things of the church, for these the natural man calls foolishness. This is the source and only source from which have sprung the monstrous heresies concerning God; and thus the division of the Divine trinity into persons has introduced into the church not night alone but death as well. [2] That the identity of three Divine Essences is an offense to reason was made evident to me by angels, who said that they could not even utter the words “three equal divinities” and that if anyone should come into their presence wishing to utter these words he could not but turn himself away; and after uttering them he would become like the trunk of a man, and would be hurled downward; and would afterwards betake himself to those in hell who do not acknowledge any God. The truth is that to implant in the mind of a child or youth the idea of three Divine persons, to which inevitably the idea of three Gods clings, is to deprive it of all spiritual milk, and then of all spiritual food, and finally of all ability to reason spiritually, and to bring spiritual death upon those who confirm themselves in that idea. The difference between those who in faith and heart worship one God as the Creator of the universe, and those who worship Him as both the Redeemer and the Regenerator, is like the difference between the city of Zion in the time of David and the city of Jerusalem in the time of Solomon after the temple had been built; while a church that believes in three persons and in each as a distinct God, is like the city of Zion and Jerusalem after it had been overthrown by Vespasian and the temple burned. Furthermore, the man who worships one God in whom is a Divine trinity, and who is thus one Person, becomes more and more a living and angelic man; while he who confirms himself in a belief in a plurality of Gods from believing in a plurality of persons, gradually becomes like a statue with movable joints, within which Satan stands and speaks through its artificial mouth.

24.

(5) The doctrine of a plurality of gods, both in past ages and at the present day, has sprung solely from a failure to understand the Divine Esse. It has been shown above (n. 8) that the unity of God is inmostly inscribed on the mind of every man, since it lies at the center of all that flows from God into the soul of man; and yet it has not descended therefrom into the human understanding, for the reason that the knowledges by which man must ascend to meet God have been lacking. For everyone must prepare the way for God, that is, must prepare himself for reception; and this is done by means of knowledges. The knowledges that have been lacking, and that enable the understanding to penetrate far enough to see that God is one, and that not more than one Divine Esse is possible, and that from Him is every thing in nature, are as follows:(1) Heretofore no one has known anything about the spiritual world, the abode of spirits and angels, which every man enters after death. (2) It is equally unknown that there is in that world a sun, which is pure love from Jehovah God, who is in the midst of it. (3) That from this sun a heat goes forth, which in its essence is love, and a light which in its essence is wisdom. (4) That in consequence all things in that world are spiritual, and affect the internal man, and constitute his will and understanding. (5) That Jehovah God from His sun has produced not only the spiritual world and all the spiritual things in it, which are innumerable and substantial, but also the natural world and all the natural things in it, which also are innumerable but are material. (6) Hitherto no one has known what the distinction is between the spiritual and the natural, nor even what the spiritual is in its essence. (7) Nor has anyone known that there are three degrees of love and wisdom, in accordance with which the angelic heavens are arranged. (8) Nor that the human mind is divided into that number of degrees, to the end that it may be raised after death into one of the three heavens, which takes place in accordance both with its life and its faith. (9) Finally, that not the least particle of any of these things could have had existence except from a Divine Esse which in itself is the Itself, and thus the First and the Beginning, the source of all things. Hitherto these knowledges have been lacking; and yet these are the means through which a man may rise to a knowledge of the Divine Esse. [2] It is said that the man rises; but the meaning is that he is raised up by God. For in acquiring knowledges for himself man exercises his freedom of choice; but as he acquires for himself knowledges from the Word by means of his understanding he prepares the way by which God comes down and raises him up. The knowledges by means of which the human understanding rises, God holding it in His hand and leading it, may be likened to the steps of the ladder seen by Jacob, which was set upon the earth with the top of it reaching to heaven, by which the angels ascended while Jehovah stood above it (Gen. 28:12, 13). It is wholly different when these knowledges are lacking, or when man despises them. In that case the elevation of the understanding might be likened to a ladder reaching from the ground to the windows in the first story of a magnificent palace which is a dwelling-place of men, and not to the windows of the second story which is a dwelling-place of spirits, and still less to the windows of the third story which is a dwelling-place of angels. The result of this is that man remains in the atmospheres and material things of nature only, and confines his eyes and ears and nostrils to these, and from these he derives no other ideas of heaven and of the Esse and Essence of God than such as pertain to the atmospheres and to matter. Thinking from such ideas man can form no conclusions about God, as to whether He is or is not, or whether He is one or many; still less what He is in respect to His Esse and Essence. This is the origin of the belief in the plurality of gods, both in past ages and at the present day.

25.

To this I will add the following Memorable Relation: On one occasion, awaking from sleep I fell into a profound meditation about God; and looking up I saw above me in heaven an exceedingly bright light of oval form; and as I fixed my gaze upon it the light withdrew to the sides and formed a circle; and then, behold, heaven opened to me, and I saw magnificent scenes, and angels standing in a circle on the southern side of the opening talking together. As I greatly wished to hear what they were saying, I was permitted first to hear the sound of their voices, which was full of heavenly love, and afterwards what they said, which was full of wisdom from that love. They were talking together about the One God, and conjunction with Him, and salvation thereby. They uttered things ineffable, most of which could not possibly be expressed in any natural language. But at different times I had been in company with the angels in heaven itself, and at such times had been in a state like theirs and in a similar language, and consequently I was now able to understand them, and select from what they said some things that can be rationally expressed in the words of natural language. [2] They said that the Divine Esse is One, the Same, the Itself, and Indivisible. This they illustrated by spiritual ideas, saying that the Divine Esse could not separate itself into several, each of them possessing the Divine Esse, and still itself be One, the Same, and Indivisible; since each one from His own Esse would then think from Himself and by Himself separately and even if the Divine Esse could so separate itself, and all should think unanimously, each from the others, there would still be several unanimous Gods, and not one God. For unanimity, which means the agreement of several, each for himself and by himself, is not consistent with the unity, but only with the plurality of God. The angels did not say “of Gods,” because they could not; for such an expression would be strenuously resisted by the light of heaven, which is the source of their thought, and by the aura in which their words are conveyed. They said furthermore, that when they wished to utter the word “Gods,” meaning each one a person by himself, the effort to utter it fell at once into the expression “one God,” and even “one only God.” To this they added that the Divine Esse is Divine Esse in itself, not from itself; because the expression “from itself” implies esse in itself from another and prior Esse; and this implies a God from God, which is impossible. That which is from God is not called God, but is called Divine; for what is a God from God? Thus what is a God born from God from eternity? And is a God going forth from God through a God born from eternity anything else than words in which there is no light from heaven? [3] They said still further, that the Divine Esse, which is in itself God, is the Same; not the Same simply, but infinitely, that is, the Same from eternity to eternity; the Same every where and the Same with everyone and in everyone; and that all variableness and change are in the recipient, caused by the state of the recipient. That the Divine Esse which is God in Himself is the Itself, they illustrated thus: God is the Itself because He is love itself and wisdom itself, that is, He is good itself and truth itself, and therefore life itself. Unless these in God were love and wisdom itself and were good and truth itself and therefore life itself, they would not be anything in heaven and in the world, because there would be nothing in them related to the Itself. Every quality is what it is from the fact that there is an Itself in which it originates, and to which it must be related in order to be what it is. This Itself, which is the Divine Esse, is not in place; but it is present with and in those who are in place in accordance with their reception of it, since place, or progress from place to place, cannot be predicated of love and wisdom nor of good and truth, nor of life therefrom, which are Itself in God, and are even God Himself. On this rests His omnipotence. So the Lord says that He is in the midst of them, and that He is in them and they in Him. [4] But as He can be received by no one as He is in Himself, what He is in His essence is made manifest as a sun above the angelic heavens, and what goes forth from that sun as light is Himself in respect to wisdom, and what goes forth as heat is Himself in respect to love. That sun is not God Himself; but the Divine love and Divine wisdom as they most nearly proceed from Him, all about Him are seen by the angels as a sun. He Himself within the sun is a Man. He is our Lord Jesus Christ, in regard both to the Divine from which [He is] and to the Divine Human, because the Itself which is love itself and wisdom itself was His soul from the Father, that is, the Divine life, or life in itself. It is not thus in any man. In man the soul is not life, but is a recipient of life. This the Lord teaches, saying: I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life (John 14:6). And again: As the Father hath life in Himself, so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself (John 5:26) “life in Himself” meaning God. To this they added, that those who are in any spiritual light are able to perceive from these statements that the Divine Esse, because it is One, the Same, the Itself, and Indivisible, cannot exist in several; and if the opposite is asserted manifest contradictions must result.

26.

When I had heard this the angels perceived in my thought those ideas of God that prevail in the Christian Church respecting a trinity of persons in unity and a unity of persons in a trinity; also respecting a birth of the Son of God from eternity; and they said, “What is your thought? Are you not thinking from natural light, which is not in accord with our spiritual light? Unless, therefore, you dismiss these ideas we must shut up heaven against you and depart.” But I said, “Enter, I pray you, more deeply into my thought, and you will see, perhaps, that there is an agreement between us.” This they did; and they saw that by three persons I understood three Divine attributes going forth, Creation, Redemption, and Regeneration, and that these are attributes of one God; also that by the birth of the Son of God from eternity I understood His birth foreseen from eternity and provided in time; (also that to think of the Son born of God from eternity would, to me, be not above nature and reason but contrary to nature and reason; while to think of the Son born of God in time through the virgin Mary as the only Son of God, and the only-begotten, is very different; and to believe otherwise than this would be a monstrous error. I then told them that the source of my natural thought about a trinity and unity of persons, and the birth of a Son of God from eternity, was the doctrine of faith in the church which has its name from Athanasius. Then the angels said, “Very well,” and asked me to say from them that only those who approach the very God of heaven and earth can enter heaven, because heaven is heaven from that only God, and that this God is Jesus Christ, who is the Lord Jehovah, from eternity the Creator, in time the Redeemer, and to eternity the Regenerator, thus who is at once Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; and this, they said, is the gospel to be preached. After this the heavenly light which had been seen before over the opening returned, and gradually descended and filled the interiors of my mind, and enlightened my ideas on the trinity and unity of God; and the ideas which I had first formed on these subjects, and which had been merely natural, I then saw separated as chaff is separated from wheat by winnowing, and carried away as by a wind to the north of heaven, and scattered

27.

THE INFINITE OF GOD OR HIS IMMENSITY AND ETERNITY There are two properties of the natural world which cause all things of it to be finite; one is space, and the other time. And as the natural world was created by God, and space and time were created together with it and render it finite, it is necessary to treat of the two origins of these properties, namely, Immensity and Eternity; for the immensity of God relates to spaces and His eternity to times; while both immensity and eternity are included in Infinity. But because the infinite transcends the finite, and because a knowledge of the infinite transcends the finite mind, to render it in some measure conceivable it shall be carefully considered in the following order: (1) God is Infinite because He is Being and Existence in Himself, and because all things in the universe have their being and existence from Him. (2) God is Infinite because He was before the world was, thus before spaces and times arose. (3) Since the creation of the world God is in space without space, and in time without time. (4) In relation to spaces Gods Infinity is called Immensity, while in relation to times it is called Eternity; but although they are so related there is nothing of space in His Immensity and nothing of time in His Eternity. (5) The Infinity of God can be seen by enlightened reason in very many things in the world. (6) Every created thing is finite, and the Infinite is in finite things as in its receptacles, and is in men as in its images. These propositions shall be explained one by one.

28.

(1) God is Infinite because He is Being and Existence in Himself, and because all things in the universe have their being and existence from Him. It has been already shown that God is One, that He is the Itself, that He is the primal Esse of all things, and that all things in the universe that have being, existence, and subsistence, are from Him, and consequently that He is infinite. That human reason is able from very many things in the created universe to recognize this will be made clear hereafter. But although the human mind is able from all this to acknowledge that the primal Being or primal Esse is infinite, it is nevertheless unable to comprehend what that Being is, and therefore can only define it as the infinite All and the Self-subsistent, and hence as the very and the only substance; and since nothing can be predicated of substance unless it has form, it is the very and only Form. But what does this mean? It does not make clear what the infinite is; for the human mind itself, even when in the highest degree analytical and exalted, is finite; and its finiteness is inseparable from it; and for this reason the human mind is wholly incapable of seeing the infinity of God as it is in Itself thus of seeing God; although it can from behind see God obscurely, as was said to Moses when he prayed to see God: That he should be placed in a cleft of the rock, and should see His back parts (Exod. 33:20-23); “the back parts of God” meaning what is visible in the world, and especially what is perceptible in the Word. All this shows how vain it is to wish to comprehend what God is in His Esse, or in His substance; and that it is sufficient to acknowledge Him from finite things, that is, from things created, in which He is infinitely. The man who is not content with this may be likened to a fish out of water, or to a bird under an air pump, which, as the air is withdrawn, gasps and finally dies. Or he may be likened to a vessel which, overcome by a storm and failing to obey its helm, is carried upon rocks and quicksands. So it is with those who wish to comprehend from within the infinity of God, and are not content with being able to acknowledge it in its manifest indications from without. It is related of a certain philosopher among the ancients that not being able to see or comprehend the eternity of the world in the light of his own mind he threw himself into the sea. What if he had wished to see or comprehend the infinity of God!

29.

(2) God is Infinite because He was before the world was, thus before spaces and times arose. In the natural world there are spaces and times; but in the spiritual world these exist only apparently, and not actually. Time and space were introduced into these worlds for the purpose of distinguishing one thing from another, the great from the small, the many from the few, thus quantity from quantity, and so quality from quality; also to enable the bodily senses to distinguish between their objects, and the mental senses between theirs, and thereby to be affected, and to think and choose. In the natural world times were established by the rotation of the earth on its axis, and by the progression of these rotations from point to point along the zodiac, these movements being made apparently by the sun, from which the whole terraqueous globe derives its heat and light. From this come the divisions of the day, morning, noon, evening, and night; and the seasons of the year, spring, summer, autumn, and winter-the divisions of the day according to light and darkness, and the seasons of the year according to heat and cold. In the natural world spaces were established by earth’s being formed into a globe, and filled with various kinds of matter; with its parts distinguished one from another, and also extended. But in the spiritual world there are no material spaces with corresponding times; but there are appearances of time and space; and these appearances vary according to differences of state in the minds of the spirits and angels there; thus times and spaces there conform to the affections of their wills, and the consequent thoughts of their understandings. But these appearances are real in that they are constant according to these states. [2] The common opinion about the state of souls after death, and therefore also about angels and spirits, is that they do not occupy any extension, and consequently are not in space and time. Owing to this idea souls after death are said to be in an indefinite somewhere, and spirits and angels are said to be mere puffs of air, which can be thought of only as ether, air, breath, or wind is thought of; when in fact they are substantial men, and like men in the natural world live together in spaces and in times, which, as just said, are determined in accordance with the states of their minds. If it were otherwise, that is, if they were without space and time, that universe into which souls are flowing, and in which angels and spirits dwell, might be passed through the eye of a needle, or be concentrated upon the end of a single hair. This would be possible if there were no substantial extension there; but as there is, angels dwell together as separately and distinctly as men who dwell in material extension, and even more distinctly. Nevertheless, times there are not divided into days, weeks, months, and years, since there the spiritual sun does not appear to rise and set, nor to move from east to west, but remains stationary in the east at a point midway between the zenith and the horizon. There are spaces there, because all things in that world are substantial which in the natural world are material. But this point will be further considered in the section of this chapter where Creation is treated of. [3] From all this it can be comprehended how spaces and times render each thing and all things in both worlds finite; and therefore men are finite not only in body but also in soul, and likewise angels and spirits. The conclusion to be drawn from all this is that God is infinite, that is, not finite; since He Himself, as the Creator, Former, and Maker of the universe, gave finiteness to all things; and this He did by means of His sun, in the midst of which He is, and which is constituted of the Divine essence that goes forth from Him as a sphere. There, and from that, is the first of the finiting process, and its progress reaches even to the outmost things of the world’s nature; consequently in Himself God is infinite because He is uncreated. To man, nevertheless, because he is finite, and thinks from things finite, the infinite seems to be nothing; and therefore he feels that if the finite which adheres to his thought should be taken away, what would be left would amount to nothing. And yet the truth is that God is infinitely all; and man of himself in comparison is nothing.

30.

(3) Since the creation of the world God is in space without space and in time without time. That God, with the Divine that goes forth directly from Him, is not in space, although He is omnipresent, and is present with every man in the world, and with every angel in heaven and every spirit under heaven, is beyond the comprehension of merely natural thought, but may in some measure be comprehended by spiritual thought. It cannot be comprehended by merely natural thought because natural thought has space in it, being formed out of such things as are in this world, in each and all things of which that the eye rests upon, space is involved. Here everything that is great and small, every thing that has length, breadth, and height, in a word every dimension, figure, and form, pertains to space. And yet this can be comprehended in some measure by natural thought, provided something of spiritual light is admitted into it. But first something must be said about spiritual thought. This derives nothing from space, but every thing from state. State is predicated of love, of life, of wisdom, of affections, of joys, and in general, of good and truth. A truly spiritual idea about these things has in it nothing in common with space; it is superior to ideas of space, and looks down upon them as heaven looks down upon the earth. [2] God is present in space without space, and in time without time, because He is always the same, from eternity to eternity; thus He is the same since the world was created as before; and as before creation there were in God and in His sight no spaces and no times, but only since, and as He is always the same, so is He in space without space and in time without time. In consequence of this, nature is separate from Him, and yet He is omnipresent in nature; almost as life is present in every substantial and material part of man, and yet does not mingle itself with it; or it may be compared to light in the eye, or sound in the ear, taste in the tongue, or to the ether that pervades all solid and liquid matters, and holds the terraqueous globe together, and causes motion, and so on. If these agencies were withdrawn these substantialized and materialized forms would instantly collapse or fall asunder. Even the human mind, if God were not everywhere and always present in it, would burst like a bubble in the air, and both brains, in which the mind acts from first principles, would go off into froth, and thus every thing human would become dust of the earth, or an odor floating in the air. [3] As God is in all time without time so in His Word He speaks in the present tense of the past and the future, as in Isaiah: Unto us a Child is born, a Son is given; and His name shall be called Mighty, the Prince of Peace (Isa. 9:6); and in David: I will declare the decree; Jehovah hath said unto Me, Thou art My Son; this day have I begotten Thee (Ps. 2:7). This is said of the Lord who was to come; wherefore it is also said: A thousand years in Thy sight are but as yesterday (Ps. 90:4). That God is everywhere present in the whole world, and yet there is in him nothing proper to the world, that is, nothing pertaining to space and time, can be clearly seen from many passages in the word by those who look with watchful eyes, as from this passage in Jeremiah: Am I a God at hand, and not a God afar off? Can any hide himself in the secret places that I shall not see him? Do I not fill heaven and earth? (Jer. 23:23-24).

31.

(4) In relation to spaces God’s Infinity is called Immensity, while in relation to times it is called Eternity; but although they are so related, there is nothing of space in His Immensity, and nothing of time in His Eternity. In relation to spaces God’s infinity is called immensity, because “immense” is a term applied to what is great and large, and to extension and its spaciousness. But in relation to times God’s infinity is called eternity, because “to eternity” is an expression applied to what is progressive, which is measured by time without limit. For example: Of the terraqueous globe, as such, things pertaining to space are predicated; while of its rotation and progression things pertaining to time are predicated. In fact, the latter are what make times, and the former are what make spaces, and in this way they are presented through the senses to the perception of reflecting minds. But in God, as has just been shown, there is nothing of space and time; nevertheless, the beginnings of these are from God; and from this it follows that by immensity His infinity in relation to space is meant, and by eternity His infinity in relation to times. [2] But to the angels in heaven the immensity of God means His Divinity in respect to His Esse, and His eternity His Divinity in respect to His Existere. Also immensity means His Divinity in respect to love, and eternity His Divinity in respect to wisdom. This is because angels abstract space and time from Divinity, and such conceptions then follow. But as man can think only from ideas drawn from such things as belong to space and time, he is unable to form any conception of God’s immensity antecedent to space, or His eternity antecedent to time; and when he seeks to do this it is as if his mind were falling into a swoon, almost like a shipwrecked man in the water, or like one who is about to be swallowed up in an earthquake; and if one persists in penetrating further into the subject, he may easily fall into a delirium, and from this be led into a denial of God. [3] I was once myself in such a state, thinking about what God was from eternity, what He did before the world was created, whether He deliberated about creation, and thought out the order to be pursued; whether deliberative thought would be possible in a vacuum; with other vain things. But lest I should be driven to madness by much speculations I was raised up by the Lord into the sphere and light in which the interior angels dwell; and when the idea Of space and time in which my thought was dwelling had been somewhat removed, it was given me to comprehend that the eternity of God is not an eternity of time; and as there was no time before the world was created, it is utterly vain to think about God in any such way. Moreover, as the Divine from eternity, that is, abstracted from all time, does not involve days, years, or ages, but to God all these are present, I concluded that God did not create the world in time, but that times were introduced by God with creation. [4] To all this I will add this memorable fact: At one extremity of the spiritual world there are seen two statues in monstrous human form, with open mouths and gaping throats, and those who indulge in useless and senseless thoughts about God from eternity seem to themselves to be swallowed up by these; but they are the hallucinations into which those cast themselves who cherish absurd and improper thoughts about God before the creation of the world.

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(5) The Infinity of God can be seen by enlightened reason in very many things in the world. Some things shall be enumerated in which human reason can see the infinity of God: (1) In the created universe no two things can be found that are identical. That no such identity can be found among things simultaneous has been rationally seen and proved by human learning, although the substantial and material objects of the universe, viewed singly, are infinite in number. And that no two effects can be found that are identical among things successive in the world may be inferred from the earth’s revolution, in that the nutation of its poles forever prevents a return to any former position. This is also clearly evident in human faces, in that throughout the entire world there can be found no one face that is precisely like or the same as another, nor ever can be to eternity. This infinite variety would be impossible except from an infinity in God the Creator. [2] (2) No one person’s disposition is precisely like that of another; from which comes the saying, “Many men, many minds;” and so no one’s mind, that is, his will and understanding, is exactly like or the same as another’s and in consequence the tone of any man’s speech, or the thought in which it originates, or any act in regard either to movement or affection. Is never exactly like another’s; from which infinite variety again can be seen as in a mirror the infinity of God the Creator. [3] (3) In all seed, both of animals and vegetables, there is inherent a certain immensity and eternity-an immensity in its capacity to be multiplied to infinity, and an eternity in the continuance of this multiplication uninterrupted from the creation of the world until now, and its still unceasing continuance. In the animal kingdom take, for example, the fishes of the sea; if these were to multiply according to the abundance of their spawn they would in twenty or thirty years so fill the ocean that it would wholly consist of fishes, and in consequence its water would overflow and destroy all the land. But this does not happen, since God has provided that fish shall be food for each other. It would be the same with the seeds of plants. If as many seeds should be planted as one plant produces each year, in twenty or thirty years the surface not of one earth only, but even of many, would be covered. For there are shrubs, every seed of which produces others by hundreds and thousands. Try to calculate this, reckoning this product of one seed in a series of twenty or thirty terms, and you will see. In all these examples the Divine immensity and eternity become evident in a certain general aspect, an image of which must needs come forth. [4] (4) Enlightened reason can also see God’s infinity in the possible infinite increase of all knowledge, and consequently of everyone’s intelligence and wisdom, both of which are capable of growing as a tree from seed, and as forests and gardens from trees, to which there is no limit. The soil of intelligence and wisdom is the memory of man, his understanding is where they germinate; and his will where they fructify. And these two capacities, understanding and will, are such that they may be cultivated and perfected in this world to the end of life, and afterwards to eternity. [5] (5) The infinity of God the Creator can also be seen in the infinite number of the stars, which are so many suns, and therefore so many systems. That there are other earths in the starry heavens upon which men, beasts, birds, and plants exist is shown in a little work describing things seen [6] (6) The infinity of God has been made still more evident to me both from the angelic heaven and from hell, in that these are ordered and arranged in innumerable societies or congregated bodies in accordance with all the varieties of the love of good or evil, each individual being allotted a place is accordance with his love; for there the whole human race from the creation of the world is gathered together, and to ages of ages will be gathered. And although each one has his own place or abode there, yet all are so joined together that the entire angelic heaven represents one Divine man, and the entire hell one monstrous devil. From these two, with the infinite marvels they contain, both the immensity and the omnipotence of God are clearly presented to view. [7] (7) Who is not able to understand, if he will elevate a little the reasoning faculty of his mind, that an eternal life, which is the lot of every man after death, can be granted only by an eternal God? [8] (8) In addition to all this there is a certain infinity in many things that fall within the range of the natural light and spiritual light in man. It is within the range of his natural light that there are various series in geometry which go on to infinity; that there is a progression to infinity in the three degrees of height, in that the first degree, which is called the natural degree, cannot be perfected and elevated to the perfection of the second, which is called the spiritual degree; nor this to the perfection of the third, which is called the celestial degree. It is the same with end, cause, and effect, in that the effect cannot be so perfected as to become like the cause, nor the cause so perfected as to become like its end. This may be illustrated by the atmospheres, of which there are three degrees. There is a supreme aura, under this the ether, and below this the air; and no quality of the air can be raised up to any quality of the ether, nor any quality of the ether to that of the aura; and yet in each there is an ascent of perfections to infinity. It is within the range of man’s spiritual light that no natural love, which is an animal love, can be raised up to spiritual love, with which from creation man has been endowed. The same is true of the natural intelligence of the animal in relation to the spiritual intelligence of man. But as these things have been hitherto unknown they will be explained elsewhere. From all this it can be seen that the most general contents of the world are constant types of the infinity of God the Creator; but how the particular contents emulate the general, and represent the infinity of God, is an abyss or an ocean which the human mind may sail, as it were, but it must beware of a puff of wind that may arise from the natural man, which striking from aft, where he stands self-confident, may swamp the ship with its masts and sails standing.

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(6) Every created thing is finite; and the Infinite is in finite things as in its receptacles, and is in men as in its images. Every created thing is finite because all things are from Jehovah God through the sun of the spiritual world, which most nearly encompasses Him; and that sun is composed of the substance that has gone forth from Him, the essence of which is love. From the sun, by means of its heat and light, the universe has been created from its firsts to its lasts. But this is not the proper place to set forth in order the process of creation, an outline of which will be given in subsequent pages. All that is important now is to know that one thing was formed from another, and thus degrees were constituted, three in the spiritual world and three corresponding to them in the natural world, and the same number in the passive materials of which the terraqueous globe is composed. The origin and nature of these degrees has been fully explained in the Angelic Wisdom concerning the Divine Love and the Divine Wisdom (published at Amsterdam in 1763), and a small work on The Interaction of the Soul and the Body (published at London in 1769). Through these degrees all things posterior are made receptacles of things prior, and these again of things still prior, and so in succession receptacles of the primitive elements which constitute the sun of the angelic heaven; and thus have things finite been made receptacles of the infinite. This is in agreement with the wisdom of the ancients, according to which each thing and all things are divisible to infinity. It is a common idea that, because the finite cannot grasp the infinite, things finite cannot be receptacles of the infinite; but in what has been set forth in my works respecting creation it has been shown that God first rendered His infinity finite by means of substances emitted from Himself, from which His nearest surrounding sphere, which constitutes the sun of the spiritual world, came into existence; and that then through that sun He perfected the other surrounding spheres, even to the outmost, which consists of passive materials; and in this manner, by means of degrees, He rendered the world more and more finite. This much has been said to satisfy human reason, which never rests until it perceives a cause.

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That the infinite Divine is in men as in its images is evident from the Word, where we read: And God said, Let us make man in Our image, after Our likeness. So God created man into His own image, into the image of God created He him (Gen. 1:26, 27). From this it follows that man is an organic form recipient of God, and is an organic form that is in accordance with the kind of reception. The human mind, which makes man to be man, and in accordance with which man is man, is formed into three regions in accordance with the three degrees; in the first degree, in which also are the angels of the highest heaven, the mind is celestial; in the second degree, in which are the angels of the middle heaven, it is spiritual; and in the third degree, in which are the angels of the lowest heaven, it is natural. [2] The human mind, organized in accordance with these three degrees, is a receptacle of Divine influx; nevertheless, the Divine flows into it no further than man prepares the way or opens the door. If man does this as far as to the highest or celestial degree he becomes truly an image of God, and after death an angel of the highest heaven; but if he prepares the way or opens the door only to the middle or spiritual degree, he becomes an image of God, but not in the same perfection; and after death he becomes an angel of the middle heaven. But if man prepares the way or opens the door only to the lowest or natural degree, in case he acknowledges God and worships Him with actual piety he becomes an image of God in the lowest degree, and after death an angel of the lowest heaven. But if man does not acknowledge God and does not worship Him with actual piety he puts off the image of God and becomes like some animal, except that he enjoys the faculty of understanding, and consequently of speech; and if he then closes up the highest natural degree, which corresponds to the highest celestial, he becomes as to his loves like a beast of the earth; and if he closes up the middle natural degree, which corresponds to the middle spiritual degree, he becomes in his love like a fox, and in his Intellectual Vision like a bird of night; while if he also closes up the lowest natural degree in its relation to his spiritual he becomes in his love like a wild beast, and in his understanding of truth like a fish [3] The Divine life that actuates man by means of the influx from the sun of the angelic heaven may be compared to light from the world’s sun and its influx into a transparent object-the reception of life in the highest degree to the influx of light into a diamond; the reception of life in the second degree to the influx of light into a crystal; and the reception of life in the lowest degree to the influx of light into glass or a transparent membrane; but when this degree in relation to his spiritual is wholly closed up, which is the case when God is denied and Satan is worshiped, the reception of life from God may be compared to the influx of light into the opaque things of the earth, as rotten wood, or marshy ground, or dung, and so on, for the man then becomes a spiritual corpse.

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To this I will add this Memorable Relation: At one time I was in a state of amazement at the vast multitude of men who ascribe creation, and consequently every thing that is under the sun and every thing above the sun, to nature, saying with a hearty acknowledgment, when they see anything, “Is not this from nature?” And when asked why they say it is from nature and not from God, although they often say, in common with others, that God created nature, and might therefore just as well say that what they see is from God as that it is from nature, they answer with an inner tone that is scarcely audible, “What is God but nature?” All such, from this persuasion that nature created the universe, and from this insanity that appears like wisdom, seem to be elated to such a degree that they look down upon all those who acknowledge the creation of the universe by God as ants that creep upon the ground and keep the beaten track, and upon some as butterflies flying in the air; and the opinions of such they call dreams, because they see what they do not see; and they say, “Who has seen God, and who does not see nature?” [2] While I was wondering greatly at the multitude of such, an angel stood at my side and said to me, “What are you meditating about?” I replied, “About the great number of those who believe that nature exists of itself, and is thus the creator of the universe.” And the angel said to me, “All hell consists of such, and those who are there are called satans and devils-satans those who have confirmed themselves in favor of nature, and in consequence have denied God; devils those who have lived wickedly and have thus cast out from their hearts all acknowledgment of God. But I will conduct you to the schools which are in the southwest quarter, where those are who are not yet in hell.” He took me by the hand and led me away; and I saw small houses in which were the schools, and in the midst of them a building which served as headquarters for the rest. This was built of pitch-black stones overlaid with little glass-like plates, sparkling as it were with gold and silver, like what are called selenites, or like mica, with glittering shells here and there interspersed. [3] We approached this building and knocked, and immediately a person opened the door and said, “Welcome.” And he ran to a table and brought four books, and said, “These books are the wisdom that is at this day applauded by many kingdoms; this book or wisdom is applauded by many in France; this by many in Germany; this by some in Holland; this by some in Britain.” He said also, “If you wish to see it I will cause these four books to shine before your eyes.” And he poured forth the glory of his fame round about; and immediately the books beamed as if with light; but this light quickly vanished from our sight. We then asked what he was now writing; and he answered that he was bringing out from his treasures and setting forth matters pertaining to the deepest wisdom, which in general are these: (1) Whether nature is a property of life, or life of nature? (2) Whether the center is from the expanse, or the expanse from the center? (3) Respecting the center of the expanse and of life. [4] After these remarks he seated himself at the table, while we walked about the building, which was spacious. He had a candle on his table, because there was no light of the sun there, but only the nocturnal light of the moon; and what seemed wonderful, the candle seemed to be carried round and round, and to give light; but not having been snuffed it gave but little light. While he wrote we saw images of various forms flying from the table to the walls, which appeared in the nocturnal moonlight there like beautiful eastern birds; but as soon as we opened the door these appeared in the light of day like those birds of night that have membranous wings; for they were resemblances of truth which through confirmations had become fallacies, and had been ingeniously woven by him into a series. [5] After seeing this, we approached the table and asked him what he was then writing about. He said about the first question, Whether nature is a property of life, or life of nature? And he said he could prove both sides of this and make them true; but as there was something lurking within that he feared, he dared only to prove that nature is a property of life, in other words, is from life, and not that life is a property of nature, in other words, is from nature. We asked courteously what it was lurking within that he feared. He replied that he was afraid of being called a naturalist, and thus an atheist, by the clergy, and a man of unsound reason by the laity, since both of these either believe from a blind faith or see only from the views of those who confirm that faith. [6] Then with some heat of zeal for the truth we addressed him, saying, “Friend, you are very much deceived; you have been misled by your wisdom, which is a certain talent for writing, and you have been led by the glory of fame into proving what you do not believe. Do you not know that the human mind is capable of being raised above things sensual, which enter into the thought from the bodily senses; and that when the mind has been thus raised up it sees what is from life as above, and what is from nature as beneath? What is life but love and wisdom? And what is nature but the receptacle of these, by means of which they accomplish their effects or uses? Can life and nature be one except as the principal and the instrumental? Can light be one with the eye, or sound with the ear? Are not the sensations of these derived from life, and their forms from nature? What is the human body but an organ of life? Are not all things and each thing therein organically formed for the production of what the love wills and the understanding thinks? Are not the bodily organs from nature, and love and thought from life? And are not these perfectly distinct from each other? Raise the keenness of your intellect a little higher still, and you will see that to be moved by affection and to think belong to life-the former belonging to love and the latter to wisdom and both love and wisdom belong to life; for, as before said, love and wisdom are life. If you will lift your capacity to understand a little higher, you will see that love and wisdom could have no existence without having somewhere an origin, and that that origin is love itself and wisdom itself, and therefore life itself, and these are God, from whom nature is.” [7] Afterwards we talked with him upon the second point, Whether the center is from the expanse or the expanse from the center? asking why he canvassed this. He answered that he did so in order to form a conclusion about the center and the expanse of nature and of life, and so about the origin of each. And when we asked his opinion, he replied, the same as before, that he could prove either of these, but from fear of loss of reputation he would prove that the expanse is of the center, that is, from the center, “although I know,” he said, “that there must have been something before there was a sun, and this throughout the whole expanse, and that this of itself flowed together into order, thus towards a center.” [8] We then addressed him again with indignant zeal, and said, “Friend, you are insane.” Hearing this he drew his seat from the table, and looked at us timidly, and then gave us his attention, but with laughter. We went on to say, “What can be more insane than to say that the center is from the expanse? By your center we understand the sun, and by your expanse the universe; thus are you not contending that the universe came into existence without the sun? Does not the sun produce nature and all its properties, and do not these depend solely on the light and heat from the sun through the atmospheres? Where, then, could these have been previously? But the origin of these we will discuss hereafter. Are not the atmospheres and all things on the earth like surfaces, of which the sun is the center? What would all these be without the sun? Could they subsist for one moment? What, then, could they have been before the sun was formed? Could they have had any existence? Is not subsistence perpetual existence? As the subsistence, then, of all things of nature is from the sun, it follows that their existence is from the same source. This everyone sees, and from the evidence of his own eyes acknowledges. [9] Does not the posterior have both its existence and its subsistence from the prior? If the surface were the prior and the center the posterior, would not the prior subsist from the posterior, and would not that be contrary to the laws of order? How can the posterior produce the prior, or the exterior the interior, or the grosser the purer? How then can the surface things which constitute the expanse produce the center? Who does not see that this is contrary to the laws of nature? We have presented these evidences from rational analysis to prove that the expanse has its existence from the center, and not the reverse, although everyone who thinks rightly can see this without these evidences. You have said that the expanse of itself flowed together towards the center. Was it by chance that it did this in such a marvelous and amazing order that one thing is for the sake of another, and each and all things for the sake of man and his eternal life? Is nature, from any love through any wisdom, capable of premeditating ends, contemplating causes, and thus providing effects, that such things may exist in their order? Or is nature capable of converting men into angels, of making a heaven of these, and causing those who are there to live forever? Put these things together and reflect, and your idea of nature’s existence from nature will fall to the ground.” [10] After this we asked him what he had thought and what he still thought about the third question, On the center and the expanse of nature and of life; whether he believed the center and the expanse of life to be the same with the center and expanse of nature? He said that he was perplexed; that he had formerly believed life to be an interior activity of nature, and that this was the source of love and wisdom, which essentially constitute man’s life, and that this activity is produced by the sun’s fire, through its heat and light, by means of the atmospheres; but now from what he had heard of the life of men after death he was in doubt; and this doubt carried his mind sometimes upwards and sometimes downwards; and when upwards he acknowledged a center of which he had formerly known nothing; and when downwards he saw the center which he had supposed to be the only one; and he believed life to be from the center of which he had before known nothing, and nature to be from the center which he had formerly supposed to be the only one, each center having an expanse round about it. [11] This, we said, would answer if he would look from the center and expanse of life to the center and expanse of nature, and not the reverse. And we informed him that above the angelic heaven there is a sun which is pure love, in appearance fiery, like the sun of the world; and that from the heat going forth from that sun angels and men have their will and love, and from its light their understanding and wisdom; and whatever is from that sun is called spiritual; while whatever proceeds from the sun of the world is a containant or receptacle of life, and is called natural; thus the expanse pertaining to the center of life is called the spiritual world, having its subsistence from its own sun, while the expanse pertaining to the center of nature is called the natural world, having its subsistence from its sun. Since, then, spaces and times cannot be predicated of love and wisdom, and since states take the place there of spaces and times, it follows that there is no extension in the expanse about the sun of the angelic heaven although this expanse is in the extension of the natural sun, and in the living subjects there in accordance with their reception, while their reception is in accordance with forms and states. [12] Then he asked, “What is the origin of the fire of the sun of the world or of nature?” We answered that it is from the sun of the angelic heaven, which is not fire, but the Divine love that most nearly goes forth from God, who is in the midst of that sun. As he seemed surprised at this we set it forth in this way: “Love in its essence is spiritual fire; and for this reason in the Word, in its spiritual sense, fire signifies love; and it is on this account that priests in churches pray that heavenly fire, by which they mean love, may fill the hearts of men. The fire of the altar and the fire of the candlestick in the tabernacle represented among the Israelites no other than the Divine love. The heat of the blood, or the vital heat of men and of animals in general, is from no other source than the love that constitutes their life. Therefore man is enkindled, grows warm, and is inflamed when his love is exalted to zeal or excited to anger and passion. Since, then, spiritual heat, which is love, produces in men natural heat, even so far as to enkindle and inflame their faces and limbs, it is clear that the fire of the natural sun sprang from no other source than the fire of the spiritual sun which is the Divine love. [13] And since, furthermore, the expanse, as has just been said, originates in the center, and not the reverse, and the center of life, which is the sun of the angelic heaven, is the Divine love most nearly going forth from God, who is in the midst of that sun; and since the expanse of that center, which is called the spiritual world, is from that origin; and since from that spiritual sun the sun of the world sprang, and from it its expanse, which is called the natural world, it is plain that the universe was created by God.” After this we departed; and he accompanied us out of the hall of his school, and talked with us about heaven and hell and the Divine auspices with a new intellectual sagacity.

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THE DIVINE ESSENCE, WHICH IS DIVINE LOVE AND DIVINE WISDOM. A distinction has been made between the Esse of God and the essence of God, because there is a distinction between the infinity of God and the love of God, infinity being applicable to the Esse of God, and love to the essence of God, since the Esse of God, as has just been said, is more universal than His essence; just as the infinity of God is more universal than His love; and for this reason the word infinite is an adjective that is applicable to the essentials and attributes of God, which are all called infinite; as we say of the Divine love that it is infinite, of the Divine wisdom that it is infinite, also of the Divine power; not because of any pre-existence of the Esse of God, but because it enters into the essence as joined to it, cohering with it, determining and forming and also exalting it. But this section of this chapter, like the previous ones, shall be presented under the following divisions: (1) God is Love itself and Wisdom itself, and these two constitute His Essence. (2) God is Good itself and Truth itself, because Good is of Love and Truth is of Wisdom. (3) Love itself and wisdom itself are Life itself, which is Life in itself. (4) Love and Wisdom in God make one. (5) It is the essence of Love to love others outside of one-self, to desire to be one with them, and to render them blessed from oneself. (6) These essentials of the Divine Love were the cause of the universe, and are the cause of its preservation. But of these separately.

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(1) God is Love itself and Wisdom itself, and these two constitute His Essence. In the earliest ages it was seen that love and wisdom are the two essentials to which all the infinite things that are in God and proceed from God have reference; but succeeding ages, as they withdrew their minds from heaven and immersed them in things worldly and corporeal, gradually became unable to see this, for they gradually ceased to know what love is in its essence, and thus what wisdom is in its essence, not knowing that love abstracted from a form is impossible, and that love operates in a form and through a form. Since, then, God is the Itself and the Only, and thus the first substance and form, the essence of which is love and wisdom, and since from Him were made all things that were made, it follows that He created the universe with each thing and all things of it from love by means of wisdom; consequently the Divine love, together with the Divine wisdom, is in each and all created subjects. Love, moreover, is not merely the essence that forms all things, it is also that which unites and conjoins them, and thus, when they are formed, holds them in connection. [2] All this may be illustrated by innumerable things in the world; as by the heat and light from the sun, which are the two essentials and universals by means of which each thing and all things on the earth have their existence and subsistence. Heat and light are there because they correspond to the Divine love and Divine wisdom; for the heat that goes forth from the sun of the spiritual world is in its essence love, and the light from it is in its essence wisdom. This, again, may be illustrated by the two essentials and universals, namely, the will and the understanding, by means of which human minds have their existence and subsistence; for of these two everyone’s mind consists, and they are in, and operate in, each thing and all things of the mind. This is because the will is the receptacle and habitation of love, as the understanding is of wisdom; and for this reason these two correspond to the Divine love and the Divine wisdom in which they originated. The same truth may be illustrated further by the two essentials and universals by means of which the human body has its existence and subsistence, namely, the heart and lungs, or the contraction and dilatation of the heart and the respiration of the lungs. It is known that these two are operative in each and all things in the body; and for the reason that the heart corresponds to love, and the lungs to wisdom; which correspondence is fully demonstrated in the Angelic Wisdom concerning the Divine Love and the Divine Wisdom, published at Amsterdam. [3] That love as a bridegroom and husband produces or begets all forms, yet only by wisdom as a bride and wife, can be proved by things innumerable in both the spiritual world and in the natural world, provided only it is kept in mind that the entire angelic heaven is arranged in its form, and kept in it, from the Divine love through the Divine wisdom. Those who deduce the creation of the world from any other source than the Divine love through the Divine wisdom, not knowing that these two constitute the Divine Essence, descend from reason’s sight to eyesight, and bestow kisses on nature as the creator of the universe; and thereby conceive chimeras and bring forth specters. They devise fallacies, and reason from them; and their conclusions are eggs that contain birds of night. Such should not be called minds, but eyes and ears without understanding, or thoughts without soul. They talk of colors as if these existed without light; of trees as if they existed without seed; and of all things in the world as existing without the sun; for they make derivatives to be first principles and things caused to be causes; thus they turn all things upside down, lull their reason to sleep, and the things they see are dreams.

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(2) God is Good itself and Truth itself, because Good is of Love and Truth is of Wisdom. It is universally known that all things have reference to good and truth; which is proof that all things sprang from love and wisdom; for everything that proceeds from love is called good, for this is what is felt, and the delight by which the love becomes manifest is to everyone good; while every thing that proceeds from wisdom is called truth, since wisdom consists solely of truths, and affects its objects with the pleasantness of light; and this pleasantness, when it is perceived, is truth from good. Love is therefore the complex of all varieties of goodness, and wisdom the complex of all varieties of truth; but both the latter and the former are from God, who is love itself and thus good itself, and is wisdom itself and thus truth itself. It is from this that in the church there are two essentials, called charity and faith; and of these each thing and all things of the church consist, and these must be in each and all things of it; and for the reason that every good of the church pertains to charity, and is called charity; and every truth of the church pertains to faith, and is called faith. It is the delights of love, which are also the delights of charity, that cause what is delightful to be called good; and it is the pleasantness of wisdom, which is also the pleasantness of faith, that causes what is true to be called true; for delights and pleasantnesses are what give life to good and truth; and without life from these, goods and truths are like something inanimate, and are also barren. [2] But the delights of love are of two kinds; so, too, are the pleasantnesses that seem to pertain to wisdom, namely, delights of the love of good and delights of the love of evil, and in consequence, the pleasantnesses of faith in what is true and of faith in what is false. In the subjects in which they exist, both of these kinds of delights, because of the feeling they produce, are called goods, and both of these kinds of pleasantness of faith, because of the perception they cause, are also called good; but as these are in the understanding they are in reality truths. Nevertheless, the two kinds are opposites, the good of one love being good, and the good of the other being evil, and the truth of one faith true, and that of the other false. The love whose delight is essentially good is like the sun’s heat in its work of fructifying, vivifying, and operating upon fertile soil, and useful trees and fields of grain; and where it operates the place becomes like a paradise, a garden of Jehovah, and like the land of Canaan; while the pleasantness of the truth of that love is like the sun’s light in spring, or like light flowing into a crystalline vase containing beautiful flowers, from which, when opened, a delightful odor goes forth. But the delight of the love of evil is like the sun’s heat when it parches and destroys, or when it operates upon barren soil or upon noxious growths, as thorns and brambles; and where it operates the place becomes an Arabian desert where there are water snakes and venomous snakes; and the pleasantness of its falsity is like the sun’s light in winter, or like light flowing into a bottle containing worms swimming in vinegar, and reptiles of offensive smell. [3] It must be understood that every kind of good gives itself form by means of truths, and clothes itself about with truths, and thus distinguishes itself from every other good; also that the various kinds of good belonging to the same family bind themselves into bundles, and swathe these about, and thus distinguish themselves from other families. That they are formed in this way is shown in each and all things in the human body; and as there is an invariable correspondence of all things of the mind with all things of the body the human mind is evidently formed in like ways. And from this it follows that the human mind is organized inwardly of spiritual substances, and outwardly of natural substances, and lastly of material substances. The mind whose love’s delights are good is formed inwardly of such spiritual substances as exist in heaven; while the mind whose love’s delights are evil is formed inwardly of such spiritual substances as exist in hell; and its evils are bound into bundles by falsities, while the goods in the former mind are bound into bundles by truths. Because of such bindings of good and of evil into bundles the Lord says: That the tares must be gathered together into bundles to be burned, as well as all things that offend (Matt. 13:30, 40-41; John 15:6).

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(3) Because God is Love itself and Wisdom itself He is Life itself, which is Life in itself. It is said in John: The Word was with God, and God was the Word. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men (John 1:1, 4). By “God” here the Divine love is meant, and by “the Word” the Divine wisdom; and strictly speaking “life” means the Divine wisdom, and the life strictly is the light that goes forth from the sun of the spiritual world, in the midst of which sun is Jehovah God. As fire forms light so does the Divine love form life. In fire there are two properties, burning and shining; from its burning property heat proceeds, and from its shining property, light. There are two like properties in love, one to which the burning property of fire corresponds, which is a something that inmostly affects the will of man, and another to which the shining property of fire corresponds, which is a something that inmostly affects the understanding of man. This is the source of man’s love and intelligence; for, as repeatedly said before, from the sun of the spiritual world a heat goes forth that in its essence is love, and a light that in its essence is wisdom. These two flow into all things and each thing in the universe, and inmostly affect them, and with men these flow into their will and their understanding, for these two were created to be receptacles of influx-the will a receptacle of love, and the understanding a receptacle of wisdom. Thus it is manifest that the life of man dwells in his understanding, and is such as his wisdom is; and that it is modified by the love of the will.

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We also read in John: As the Father hath life in Himself, so hath He given to the Son also to have life in Himself (5:26), which means that just as the Divine Itself, which was from eternity, has life in itself, so the Human, which He took on in time, has life in itself. Life in itself is the very and only life, from which all angels and men have life. This can be seen by human reason from the light that goes forth from the sun of the natural world, in that this light is not creatable, but that forms for receiving it have been created. For example, the eyes are forms for receiving this light, and light flowing in from the sun is what makes them to see. The same is true of life which (as has been said) is the light that goes forth from the sun of the spiritual world, in that it is not creatable, but flows in unceasingly, and as it illuminates it also vivifies man’s understanding. So in consequence, as sight and life and wisdom are one, wisdom is not creatable, neither is faith, nor truth, nor love, nor charity, nor good; but forms for receiving these have been created; and these forms are human and angelic minds. Therefore let everyone beware of persuading himself that he lives from himself, or that he is wise, believes, loves, perceives truth, and wills and does good, from himself. For so far as anyone is so persuaded he casts his mind down from heaven to earth, and from being spiritual becomes natural, sensual, and corporeal; for he shuts up the higher regions of his mind, and thus makes himself blind in regard to every thing relating to God, heaven, and the church; and then all that he happens to think, reason, and say about these things is done in darkness and consequently in foolishness; while at the same time he adopts a confidence that it all belongs to wisdom. For when the higher regions of the mind, where the true light of life resides, are closed up, the region of the mind below these opens, into which the light of the world only is admitted; and when this light is separated from the light of the higher regions it is a delusive light, in which what is false seems true and what is true seems false, and reasoning from what is false appears to be wisdom, and from what is true to be folly. Then man believes himself to be endowed with the keen vision of an eagle, although he sees what belongs to wisdom no better than a bat sees in the light of day.

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(4) Love and Wisdom in God make one. Every wise man in the church knows that every good of love and charity is from God, also every truth of wisdom and faith; and human reason is able to see this when it knows that the origin 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, that they are from Jehovah God through the sun which is round about Him; for the heat that goes forth from that sun is in its essence love, and the light that goes forth from it is in its essence wisdom. It is therefore as plain as the open day that in that origin love and wisdom are one, consequently are one in God, from whom that sun has its origin. This may be illustrated by the sun of the natural world, which is pure fire, in that from its fire heat goes forth, and from the shining of its fire light goes forth; thus the two in their origin are one. [2] But that these are separated in their going forth becomes evident from their subjects, some of which receive more of heat and others more of light. This is especially true of men in whom the light of life which is intelligence and the heat of life which is love, are separated; and this is done because man needs to be reformed and regenerated, which is impossible unless he is taught by the light of life, which is intelligence, what ought to be willed and loved. It must be understood, however, that God is continually working to conjoin love and wisdom in man; while man, unless he looks to God and believes in him, is continually working to separate them; so far, therefore, as these two, the good of love or charity, and the truth of wisdom or faith, are conjoined in man, so far he becomes an image of God, and is raised up towards and into heaven where angels are; and on the other hand, so far as these two are separated by man he becomes an image of Lucifer and the dragon, and is cast down from heaven to earth, and finally below the earth into hell. From the conjunction of these two, man’s state becomes like that of a tree in spring, when heat and light in equal measure are conjoined, whereby the tree buds, blooms, and bears fruit; but on the other hand, by the separation of these two, man’s state becomes like that of a tree in winter, when the heat withdraws from the light, whereby the tree is stripped and made bare of all its foliage and verdure. [3] When spiritual heat, which is love, separates itself from spiritual light, which is wisdom, or, what is the same thing, when charity separates itself from faith, man becomes like sour or rotting soil in which worms are bred; and if it brings forth plants their leaves become covered with lice, and are eaten up. For the allurements of the love of evil, which in themselves are lusts, break forth, not being subdued and restrained by intelligence, but loved, fostered, and nourished by it. In a word, to separate love and wisdom, or charity and faith, which two things God constantly strives to bring together, is like depriving the face of its ruddiness, which leaves a death-like pallor, or like taking away the whiteness from the ruddiness, which makes the face like a burning torch. It is also like dissolving the marriage bond between two persons, making the wife a harlot and the husband an adulterer. For love or charity is like a husband, and wisdom or faith is like a wife: and when the two are separated, spiritual idolatry and whoredom follow, which are the falsification of truth and the adulteration of good.

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Furthermore, it must be understood that there are three degrees of love and wisdom, and consequently three degrees of life, and that the human mind is formed into regions, as it were, in accordance with these degrees; and that in the highest region life is in its highest degree, in the second region in a less degree, and in the outmost region in the lowest degree. These regions are opened in men successively-the outmost region, where there is life in the lowest degree, from infancy to childhood; and this is done by means of knowledges: the second region, where there is life in a larger degree, from childhood to youth; and this is done by means of thought from knowledges: and the highest region, where there is life in the highest degree, from youth to early manhood and onward; and this is done by means of perceptions of moral and spiritual truths. It must be further understood that it is not in thought that the perfection of life consists, but in the perception of truth from the light of truth. From this it may be inferred what the differences of life are in men; for there are some who the moment they hear a truth perceive that it is true; and these in the spiritual world are represented by eagles. There are others who have no perception of truth, but reach conclusions by means of confirmations from appearances; and these are represented by singing birds. Others believe a thing to be true because it has been asserted by a man of authority; these are represented by magpies. Finally, there are some who have no desire and no ability to perceive what is true, but only what is false, for the reason that they are in a delusive light, in which falsity appears to be true, and what is true seems either like something overhead concealed in a dense cloud, or like a meteor, or like something false. The thoughts of these are represented by birds of night, and their speech by screech owls. Of this class those that have confirmed their falsities cannot bear to hear truths, and the moment any truth strikes the ear they repel it with aversion, as a stomach overcharged with bile from nausea vomits its food.

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(5) It is the essence of Love to love others outside of one self, to desire to be one with them, and to render them blessed from oneself. The essence of God consists of two things, love and wisdom; while the essence of His love consists of three things, namely, to love others outside of Himself, to desire to be one with them, and from Himself to render them blessed. And because love and wisdom in God make one, as has been shown above, the same three things constitute the essence of His wisdom; and love desires these three things, and wisdom brings them forth. [2] The first essential, which is to love others outside of one’s self, is recognized in God’s love for the whole human race; and for its sake God loves all things that He has created because they are means; for when the end is loved the means also are loved. All men and things in the universe are outside of God, because they are finite and God is infinite. The love of God goes forth and extends not only to good men and good things, but also to evil men and evil things; consequently not only to the men and things in heaven but also in hell, thus not only to Michael and Gabriel but also to the devil and satan; for God is everywhere, and is from eternity to eternity the same. He says also: That He makes the sun to rise on the good and on the evil, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust (Matt. 5:45). But the reason why evil men continue to be evil, and evil things continue to be evil, lies in the subjects and objects themselves, in that they do not receive the love of God as it is, and as it is inmostly in them, but as they themselves are; in the same way as thorns and thistles receive the heat of the sun and the rain of heaven. [3] The second essential of the love of God, which is a desire to be one with others, is recognized in His conjunction with the angelic heaven, with the church on earth, with everyone there, and with every thing good and true that enters into and constitutes man and the church. Moreover, love viewed in itself is nothing but an endeavor towards conjunction; therefore that this aim of the essence of love might be realized man was created by God into His own image and likeness, with which a conjunction is possible. That the Divine love continually seeks conjunction is evident from the Lord’s own words: That He wishes them to be one, 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 the love of God, which is to render others blessed from Himself, is recognized in eternal life, which is the endless blessedness, happiness, and felicity that God gives to those who receive into themselves His love. For as God is love itself, so is He blessedness itself; for all love breathes forth delight from itself, and the Divine love breathes forth blessedness itself, happiness, and felicity to eternity. Thus God from Himself renders the angels blessed, and men after death; and this He does by conjunction with them.

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That such is the nature of the Divine love is known from its sphere, which pervades the universe, and affects everyone in accordance with his state. It especially affects parents, and is the source of their tender love for their children (who are outside of themselves), and their desire to be one with them, and to render them blessed from themselves. This sphere of Divine love affects not only the good, but also the evil, and not only men but also birds and beasts of every kind. What else does a mother think about when she has brought forth her child than uniting herself with it, as it were, and providing for its good? What other concern has a bird, when she has hatched her young from the egg, than to cherish them under her wings, and through their little mouths put food into their throats? It is known that even serpents and vipers love their offspring. This universal sphere especially affects those who receive within themselves this love of God, who are such as believe in God and love their neighbor. Charity with such is an image of that love. With those who are not good, friendship simulates that love; for at his table a man gives his friend the better things, kisses him, caresses and holds his hand, and proffers him useful offices. This love is also the sole origin of the sympathies and endeavors after union of those who are homogeneous or similar. This same Divine sphere is also operative in things inanimate, as trees and plants, but by means of the sun of the world, and its heat and light; for its heat enters them from without and unites with them, causing them to germinate, bloom, and bear fruit; and these resemble blessedness in things animate. The sun’s heat does this because it corresponds to spiritual heat, which is love. Representations of the operation of this love are also found in the various subjects of the mineral kingdom. Types of this are presented in the exaltation to use of these, and their consequent preciousness.

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From this description of the essence of the Divine love the essential nature of diabolical love can be seen. This can be seen as being an opposite. Diabolical love is the love of self. That is called love, although viewed in itself it is hatred; for it loves no one outside of itself; neither does it desire to be joined with others in order to benefit them, but only to benefit itself. From its inmost it continuously aspires to rule over all and to possess the goods of all, and finally to be worshiped as God. This is why those who are in hell do not acknowledge God, but acknowledge as gods those who surpass others in power; thus they acknowledge lower and higher, or lesser and greater gods, according to the extent of their power. And as this is what everyone there has at heart, everyone burns with hatred against his own god, and this latter against those who are under his sway, regarding them as vile slaves, to whom he speaks courteously so long as they worship him, but he rages as if with fire against all others, and also inwardly, or in his heart, against his own vassals. For the love of self is the same as that of robbers; who kiss each other so long as they are engaged in robberies, but afterwards burn with a desire to kill each other, in order to take all the plunder. In hell: where it rules, this love causes its lusts to appear at a distance like various kinds of wild beasts, some like foxes and leopards, some like wolves and tigers, and some like crocodiles and poisonous serpents; it causes the deserts, which are places of abode there, to consist of nothing but heaps of stones or bare gravel, with bogs interspersed in which frogs croak; and it causes doleful birds to fly and screech above their huts. Such are “the doleful creatures (ochim),” “the wild beasts of the desert (tziim),” and “the wild beasts of the islands (ijim),” mentioned in the prophetic parts of the Word, where the love of rule from self-love is treated of (Isa. 13:21; Jer. 50:39; Ps. 74:14).

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(6) These essentials of the Divine Love were the cause of the creation of the universe, and are the cause of its preservation. That these three essentials were the cause of creation can be clearly seen by a careful investigation of them. That the first, which is to love others outside of oneself, was a cause, is seen in the universe in that it is outside of God, as the world is outside of the sun, and in that He is thus able to extend His love to it, and exercise His love upon it, and thus rest in it. So we read that after God had created the heavens and the earth He rested, and that this was why the Sabbath day was instituted (Gen. 2:2, 3). That the second essential, which is a desire to be one with others, was also a cause, is seen in the creation of man in the image and likeness of God, which means that man was made a form for receiving love and wisdom from God, thus a being with whom God could unite Himself, and also for man’s sake with each thing and all things in the universe, which are nothing but means; for conjunction with a final cause is also conjunction with mediate causes. That all things were created for the sake of man is plain also from the Book of Creation, or Genesis (1:28-30). That the third essential, which is to render others blessed from oneself, is a cause, is seen in the angelic heaven, which is provided for every man who receives the love of God, and in which the blessedness of all comes from God alone. These three essentials of the love of God are also the cause of the preservation of the universe, since preservation is perpetual creation, as subsistence is perpetual existence; and the Divine love is the same from eternity to eternity, that is, such as it was in creating the world, such it is and continues to be in the world when created.

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From these things when rightly understood it can be seen that the universe is a coherent work from first things to last, because it is a work that includes ends, causes, and effects in an indissoluble connection. And because in every love there is an end, in all wisdom there is a promotion of an end by means of mediate causes, and through these causes effects, which are uses, are attained, it follows that the universe is a work that includes Divine love, Divine wisdom, and uses, and is thus in every respect a word coherent from things first to last. That the universe consists of perpetual uses, brought forth by wisdom but initiated by love, every wise man can observe as in a mirror, as soon as he acquires a general conception of the creation of the universe, and from that observes the particulars; for particulars adapt themselves to their own general, and the general arranges them in a form in which they are in harmony. The truth of this will be illustrated in many ways in what follows.

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To this I will add this Memorable Relation: I was once talking with two angels, one from the eastern and the other from the southern heaven. When they perceived that I was meditating upon the arcana of wisdom respecting love, they said, “Do you know anything about the schools of wisdom in our world?” I answered, “Not yet.” They said that there were many such, and that those who love truths from spiritual affection, or because they are truths, and because by means of them wisdom is acquired, come together at a given signal and discuss and settle those questions that spring from a deeper understanding. They then took me by the hand, saying, “Follow us, and you shall see and hear; the signal has been given for a meeting today.” I was led over a plain to a hill; and behold, at the foot of the hill was an arcade of palms reaching to its very top. This we entered and ascended; and on the top or summit of the hill a grove was seen, and among its trees the raised ground formed a kind of theater, within which was a level spot paved with little stones of various colors. Around this in quadrangular form seats were placed upon which lovers of wisdom were sitting; and in the middle of the theater there was a table, upon which was laid a paper sealed with a seal. [2] Those who were seated invited us to the still vacant seats; but I answered, “I have been brought here by two angels to see and hear, not to sit.” Then the two angels went to the table in the middle of the level spot, and broke the seal of the paper, and read to those seated the arcana of wisdom written on the paper, which they were now to discuss and unfold. These arcana were written by angels of the third heaven, and let down upon the table. There were three: First, What is “the image of God,” and what is “the likeness of God,” into which man was created? Second, Why is man not born into the knowledge proper to any love, when even beasts and birds, both the noble and the ignoble, are born into the knowledges proper to all their loves? Third, What does “the tree of life” and what does “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” signify, and what is signified by “eating” of them? Underneath was written, “Unite the answers to these three in one opinion. Write it on a fresh paper, and place it on this table, and we shall see. If the opinion seems well-balanced and correct, each one of you shall receive the prize for wisdom.” Having read this the two angels withdrew, and were taken up into their heavens. Then those sitting upon the seats began to discuss and unfold the arcana proposed to them, speaking in this order, first those, who sat on the north side, then those on the west, next those on the south, and lastly those on the east. And they took up the first subject of discussion, which was, What is “the image of God” and what is “the likeness of God” into which man was created? In the first place there was read to all of them these words from the Book of Creation God said, Let us make man into Our image, after Our likeness. So God created man into His own image, into the likeness of God made He him (Gen. 1:26, 27). In the day that God created man, into the likeness of God made He him (Gen. 5:1). [3] Those who sat on the north spoke first, saying that an image of God and a likeness of God are the two lives breathed into man by God, which are the life of the will and the life of the understanding; for we read: Jehovah God breathed into the nostrils [of Adam] the breath of lives, and man was made into a living soul (Gen. 2:7). This seems to mean that there was breathed into him the will of good and the perception of truth, thus the soul of lives. And inasmuch as life from God was breathed into him, image and likeness signify integrity in him from love and wisdom, and from righteousness and judgment.” To this those sitting on the west assented, adding, however, that the state of integrity breathed into Adam from God is continually breathed into every man after him; but in man it is as into a receptacle; and man is an image and likeness of God in proportion as he becomes a receptacle. [4] Afterwards the third in order, who were those seated at the south, said, “An image of God and a likeness of God are two distinct things but in man they are united by creation; and we see as if from some interior light that while the image of God may be destroyed by man, the likeness of God cannot. This we see as through a network, in that Adam retained the likeness of God after he had lost the image of God; for after the curse we read: Behold the man has become as one of us, knowing good and evil (Gen. 3:22) and after this he was called a likeness of God, but not an image of God (Gen. 5:1). But let us leave to our companions who sit at the east, and are therefore in superior light, to say what is properly an image of God, and what is properly a likeness of God. “ [5] Then after a period of silence, those seated towards the east arose from their seats and looked up to the Lord, and again took their seats, and said that an image of God is a receptacle of God; and as God is love itself and wisdom itself, an image of God is the reception in that receptacle of love and wisdom from God; while a likeness of God is a perfect likeness and full appearance that love and wisdom are in man, and are therefore entirely his. For man has no other feeling than that he loves from himself and is wise from himself, or that he wills what is good and understands truth from himself; nevertheless, this is not from himself in the least degree, but from God. God alone loves from Himself and is wise from Himself, because He is love itself and wisdom itself. The likeness or appearance that love and wisdom, or good and truth, are in man as his own, is what makes man to be man, and makes him capable of conjunction with God, and thus of living to eternity; from which it follows that man is man from his being able to will what is good and understand truth wholly as if from himself, and yet with the ability to know and believe that he does so from God; for as man knows and believes this, God puts His image in man; but not so if man believes that he does this from himself, and not from God. [6] When this had been said there came upon them a zeal arising from a love for the truth, from which they spoke as follows: “How can man receive anything of love and wisdom, and retain it and reproduce it, unless he feels it to be his own? And how is any conjunction with God by means of love and wisdom possible unless there has been given to man something by which he may reciprocate the conjunction? For without a reciprocal no conjunction is possible. And the reciprocal of conjunction is man’s loving God and doing what is of God as if from himself, and yet believing that it is from God. Moreover, how can man live to eternity unless he is joined to the eternal God? Consequently, how can man be man without that likeness in him?” [7] These remarks were approved by all, and they said, “Let us form a conclusion from all this.” This was done as follows: “Man is a receptacle of God, and a receptacle of God is an image of God; and as God is love itself and wisdom itself, man is a receptacle of these; and the receptacle becomes an image of God in the measure in which it receives. And man is a likeness of God from his feeling that the things that are from God are in him as his own; and yet from that likeness he is only so far an image of God as he acknowledges that love and wisdom, or good and truth, are not his own in him, and are not from him, but are solely in God, and consequently from God.” [8] After this they took up the second subject of discussion, Why is man not born into the knowledge proper to any love, when even beasts and birds, both the noble and the ignoble, are born into the knowledges proper to all their loves? They first confirmed the truth of the proposition by various arguments, as, that man is born into no knowledge, not even into a knowledge of marriage love. They inquired and learned from investigators the fact that an infant from connate knowledge does not even know its mother’s breast, but learns of it from the mother or nurse by being put to the breast; that it merely knows how to suck, and this it has acquired from continual suction in the mother’s womb; that subsequently it does not know how to walk, or to articulate sound into any human word, and not even to express by sounds its love’s affections as beasts do; furthermore, that it does not know what food is suitable for it, as beasts do, but seizes upon whatever comes in its way, clean or unclean, and puts it in its mouth. The investigators said that man without instruction knows nothing whatever of the modes of loving the sex, virgins and youths even knowing nothing about it until they have been taught by others. In a word, man is born a purely corporeal thing, like a worm, and so continues unless he acquires knowledge, understanding, and wisdom from others. [9] After this they confirmed the fact that both noble and ignoble animals, as the beasts of the earth, the birds of heaven, reptiles, fishes, and the smaller creatures called insects, are born into all the knowledges proper to their life’s loves, as into all things pertaining to nutrition, to their habitations, to sexual love and prolification, and all things pertaining to the rearing of their offspring. All this they confirmed by wonderful facts which they recalled to memory from what they had seen, heard, and read in the natural world, where they had formerly lived, and where the animals are real and not representative. When the truth of the proposition had been thus established, they applied their minds to the investigation and discovery of the reasons by means of which this arcanum might be unfolded and made clear. And they all said that these things could spring only from the Divine wisdom, to the end that man might be man, and beast might be beast; and thus man’s imperfection at birth becomes his perfection, and the beast’s perfection at birth is its imperfection. [10] Then those on the north began to express their views; and they said that man is born without knowledges in order that he may be able to receive all knowledges; while if he were born into knowledges he would not be capable of receiving other knowledges beyond those into which he had been born, nor would he be capable of making any knowledge his own. This they illustrated by the comparison that man at birth is like ground in which no seed has been sown, but which nevertheless is capable of receiving all seeds and of causing them to grow and bear fruit; while a beast is like ground already sown, and full of grasses and herbs, which can receive no other seeds than those already sown, or if it did, would choke them. For this reason man is many years in coming to maturity, during which he can be cultivated, like soil, and bring forth, as it were, all kinds of crops, flowers, and trees, while the beast matures in a few years, during which it is capable of improvement only in the things into which it was born. [11] Afterwards those on the west spoke, and said, “Man is not, as a beast is, born a knowledge, but is born a faculty and inclination-a faculty for knowing and an inclination for loving. Moreover, he is born a faculty for loving both what pertains to self and the world and what pertains to God and heaven. Consequently, man at birth is merely an organ, living only an obscure life through the external senses, and with no internal senses, to the end that his life may develop step by step, and he may become first a natural man, then a rational man, and finally a spiritual man; and this he could not become if he were born into knowledges and loves as beasts are. For that development is limited by connate knowledges and affections of love, while mere connate faculties and inclinations do not limit it. This is what gives man the ability to be perfected to eternity in knowledges, intelligence, and wisdom. [12] Those on the south followed, and pronounced their opinion, saying that it is impossible for man to derive any knowledge from himself, and since he has no connate knowledge he can only gain it from others. “And as man can acquire no knowledge from himself, neither can he any love, since where knowledge is not love is not. Knowledge and love are inseparable companions, as inseparable as will and understanding, or as affection and thought, or even as essence and form. Therefore as man acquires knowledge from others, love unites with it as a companion. The most general love that unites itself is the love of knowing, and afterwards the love of understanding and of being wise. No beast has these loves, but man only; and they flow in from God. [13] We agree with our fellow-members on the west that man is not born into any love, and consequently not into any knowledge, but is born merely into an inclination for loving and thus into a faculty for receiving knowledge, not from himself but from others, that is, through others. We say through others, because neither do these receive anything from themselves, but originally from God. We agree also with our fellow-members on the north, that man at his birth is like soil in which no seeds have been planted, but in which all seeds, both noble and ignoble, may be planted. This is why man was called homo [man], from humus [soil], and Adam [Hebrew for man], from adamah, which means soil. To this we add that beasts are born into natural loves, and from these into knowledges corresponding thereto; and yet they have no ability to learn or to think or to understand or to be wise from knowledges; but are impelled to these by their loves, much as the blind are conducted through the streets by dogs (for beasts are blind so far as understanding is concerned; or rather, beasts are like persons walking in sleep, who do whatever they do from blind knowledge, their understanding being asleep).” [14] Finally those on the east spoke and said, “We assent to what our brethren have said, that man derives no knowledge from himself, but only from and through others, in order that he may recognize and acknowledge that all his knowledge, understanding, and wisdom are from God; also that man can in no other way be born and begotten of God, and become His image and likeness. For man becomes an image of God by acknowledging and believing that he has received and continues to receive from God every good of charity and every truth of wisdom and faith, and none whatever from himself; while he is a likeness of God by his feeling these goods and truths to be in himself as if they were from himself. This he feels because he is not born into knowledges but acquires them; and what he requires seems to him to be from himself. Moreover to so feel is bestowed upon man by God in order that he may be a man and not a beast, since it is through man’s willing, thinking, loving, understanding, and being wise as if from himself, that he receives knowledges, and exalts them to intelligence, and, by using them, to wisdom; thus God conjoins man to Himself, and man conjoins himself to God. All this could not be done unless it had been provided by God that man should be born in total ignorance.” [15] After this had been said it was the desire of all that a conclusion be drawn from the points discussed, and this was done as follows: “Man is born into no knowledge that he may be capable of entering into all knowledge and progressing into intelligence, and through this into wisdom; and he is born into no love that he may be capable of entering, into all love by the application of knowledges from intelligence, and into love to God through love of the neighbor, and thus of being conjoined to God, and thereby becoming man and living forever.” [16] After this they took up the paper and read the third subject of discussion, which was, What is signified by “the tree of life,” and by “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil,” and by “eating” of them? They all requested that those in the east should unfold this arcanum, because it was a matter of deeper understanding, and because those from the east were in flaming light, that is, in the wisdom of love, and this wisdom is meant by “the garden of Eden,” in which those two trees were placed. They replied, “We will speak; but as man receives nothing from himself, but everything from God, we will speak from Him, and yet from ourselves as if from ourselves.” And they said, “A tree signifies man, and its fruit the good of life therefore ‘the tree of life’ signifies man living from God; and as love and wisdom, or charity and faith, or good and truth, constitute the life of God in man, ‘the tree of life’ signifies a man who has these within him from God, and in consequence, eternal life. The tree of life of which it shall be given to eat (mentioned in Apoc. 2:7; 22:2, 14) has the same signification. [17] ‘The tree of the knowledge of good and evil’ signifies a man who believes that he lives from himself and not from God; thus that love and wisdom, or charity and faith, that is, good and truth, are not God’s in man, but his own, the reason for this belief being that man thinks and wills and speaks and acts in all likeness and appearance as if from himself; and as man thereby persuades himself that he is himself a god, the serpent said God doth know that in the day ye eat of the fruit of that tree your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as God, knowing good and evil (Gen. 3:5). [18] “‘Eating’ of these trees signifies reception and appropriation, ‘eating of the tree of life’ reception of eternal life, and ‘eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil’ the reception of damnation. ‘The serpent’ means the devil in respect to the love of self and the conceit of one’s own intelligence; this love is the possessor of that tree, and the men who are in the conceit derived from that love are such trees. It is therefore a monstrous error to believe that Adam was wise and did good from himself, and that this was his state of integrity; when in fact Adam was himself cursed on account of that belief; for this is what is meant by his ‘eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil;’ and this was why he then fell from his state of integrity, which had been his possession because of his believing that he was wise and did good from God, and in no respect from himself, which is what is meant by his ‘eating of the tree of life.’ The Lord alone when He was in the world was wise from Himself and did good from Himself, because the Divine Itself was in Him, and was His from His birth; therefore by His own power He became the Redeemer and Savior.” [19] From all this they formed this conclusion: “‘The tree of life, ‘ ‘the tree of the knowledge of good and evil,’ and ‘eating’ therefrom, mean that man’s life is God in him, and when God is in him he has heaven and eternal life; while the death of man is the persuasion and belief that his life is not God, but himself, and this belief leads to hell and eternal death, which is damnation.” [20] After this they looked at the paper left by the angels on the table, and saw written upon it, “Bring these three together in one opinion;” and bringing them together they saw that the three formed one coherent series, and the series or opinion was as follows: “Man was so created as to be capable of receiving love and wisdom from God, and yet in all likeness as if from himself, and this for the sake of reception and conjunction; and this is why man is not born into any love, nor into any knowledge, nor even into any power to love and be wise from himself. Therefore when he attributes every good of love and every truth of faith to God he becomes a living man; but when he attributes them to himself he becomes a dead man.” This they wrote on a fresh paper, and placed it on the table; and behold, immediately angels came in, a bright cloud and carried the paper away to heaven. And when it had been read there, those sitting upon the seats heard from heaven the words, “Well done, well done, well done.” And presently one from heaven was seen flying as it were with what appeared like two wings on his feet and two on his temples, bringing rewards, which were robes, caps, and laurel wreaths. He descended and gave to those sitting at the north robes of an opaline color; to those at the west robes of scarlet; to those at the south caps with borders ornamented with bands of gold and pearls, and with their tops on the left side adorned with diamonds cut in the form of flowers; while to those on the east he gave wreaths of laurel in which were rubies and sapphires. And all, decorated with these rewards, went home from the school of wisdom with joy.

49.

THE OMNIPOTENCE, OMNISCIENCE, AND OMNIPRESENCE OF GOD. We have treated of the Divine love and wisdom, and have shown that these two are the Divine essence. The omnipotence, omniscience, and omnipresence of God will now be considered; because these three proceed from the Divine love and Divine wisdom in much the same way as the power and presence of the sun are present in this world and in each and all things thereof, by means of its heat and light. Moreover, heat from the sun of the spiritual world, in the midst of which is Jehovah God, is in its essence Divine love, and the light from it is in its essence Divine wisdom. Evidently, then, as infinity, immensity, and eternity pertain to the Divine Esse, so omnipotence, omniscience, and omnipresence pertain to the Divine essence. But as these three most general predicates of the Divine essence have hitherto not been understood, because their progression in accordance with their modes, which are the laws of order, has been unknown, they must be elucidated in separate sections, as follows: (1) Omnipotence, Omniscience, and Omnipresence pertain to the Divine wisdom from the Divine love. (2) The Omnipotence, Omniscience, and Omnipresence of God can be clearly understood only when it is known what order is, and when it is known that God is order, and that He introduced order, both into the universe and into each and all things of it, at the time of their creation. (3) God’s Omnipotence in the universe and in each and all things of it, proceeds and operates in accordance with the laws of His order. (4) God is omniscient, that is, He perceives, sees, and knows each thing and all things, even to the most minute, that take place according to order, and from these the things also that take place contrary to order. (5) God is omnipresent from the firsts to the lasts of His order. (6) Man was created a form of Divine order. (7) From the Divine Omnipotence man has power over evil and falsity, and from the Divine Omniscience has wisdom respecting what is good and true, and from the Divine Omnipresence is in God, just to the extent that he lives in accordance with Divine order. But these propositions shall be unfolded one by one.

50.

(1) Omnipotence, Omniscience, and Omnipresence pertain to the Divine wisdom from the Divine love. That omnipotence, omniscience, and omnipresence, pertain to the Divine wisdom from the Divine love, but not to the Divine love through the Divine wisdom, is an arcanum from heaven that has not yet dawned upon the understanding of anyone, because it has not yet been known what love is in its essence, and what wisdom therefrom is in its essence, and still less how one flows into the other; namely, that love, with each and all things of love, flows into wisdom and dwells in it, as a king in his kingdom, or as a master in his house, leaving all the administration of justice to the judgment of wisdom; and as justice pertains to love, and judgment to wisdom, love leaves all the administration of love to its own wisdom. But this arcanum will borrow light from what follows; meanwhile let it serve as a canon. That god is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent through the wisdom of His love is meant by the words in John: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word. All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the world was made by Him. And the Word was made flesh (John 1:1, 3-4, 10, 14); “the Word” here meaning the Divine truth, or, what amounts to the same thing, the Divine wisdom; and for this reason it is called “life” and “light,” “life” and “light” being nothing else than wisdom.

Since in the Word justice [or righteousness] is predicated of love, and judgment of wisdom, I will cite some passages to show that it is by means of these two that God’s government is carried on in the world: Righteousness and judgment are the support of Thy Throne (Ps. 89:14). Let him that glorieth glory in this, that Jehovah doeth judgment and righteousness in the earth (Jer. 9:24). Let Jehovah be exalted, for He hath filled the land [Hebrew, Zion] with judgment and righteousness (Isa. 33:5). Judgment shall flow as water, and righteousness as a mighty stream (Amos 5:24). O Jehovah, Thy righteousness is like the mountains of God Thy judgments are a great deep (Ps. 36:6). Jehovah shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the noonday (Ps. 37:6). Jehovah shall judge thy people with righteousness, and thy poor with judgment (Ps. 72:2). When I shall have learned the judgments of Thy righteousness seven times a day do I praise Thee because of the judgments of Thy righteousness (Ps. 119:7, 164). I will betroth Me unto thee [Hebrew, thee unto Me] in righteousness and in judgment (Hos. 2:19). Zion shall be redeemed in judgment and those that are brought back in righteousness (Isa. 1:27). He shall sit upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to establish it in judgment and in righteousness (Isa. 9:7). I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and He shall reign as King, and shall do judgment and righteousness in the land (Jer. 23:5). Elsewhere it is said that judgment and righteousness ought to be done, as in 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).

52.

(2) The omnipotence, omniscience, and omnipresence of God can be clearly understood only when it is known what order is, and when it is known that God is order, and that He introduced order both into the universe and into each and all things of it at the time of their creation. How many and how great absurdities have crept into the minds of men, and thus into the church, through the heads of reformers, from their not understanding the order in which God created the universe and each and all things in it, will be seen from the mere recital of them in the following pages. But we will now begin an explanation of order with a general definition of it, as follows: Order is the quality of the arrangement, determination, and activity, of the parts, substances, or elements, which constitute a form; from which is its state; and its perfection is produced by wisdom from its love, or its imperfection is the outcome of unsoundness of reason from cupidity. In this definition substance, form, and state are mentioned, and by substance form also is meant, because every substance is a form, and the quality of the form is the state of it, while perfection or imperfection of state is a result of the order. All this must needs be obscure because it is metaphysical; but the obscurity will be dispelled in what follows by the use of examples which will illustrate the subject.

53.

God is order because He is substance itself and form itself. He is substance because all things that subsist have come forth and continue to come forth from Him. He is form because every quality of substances has sprung and continues to spring from Him, quality having no other source than form. As God, then, is the very, the only, and the first substance and form, and at the same time the very and only love and the very and only wisdom, and as wisdom from love is what constitutes form, and its state and quality are in accordance with the order that is in it, it follows that God is order itself; consequently that God from Himself introduced order both into the whole universe and into all things and each thing in it; also that He introduced a most perfect order, because every thing that He created was good, as we read in the Book of Creation. In its proper place it will be shown that evil things sprang up together with hell, thus after creation. But now let us consider things that more readily enter the understanding, more clearly enlighten it, and more gently affect it.

54.

It would require many pages to explain the nature of the order into which the universe was created. A sketch of it will be given in a following section on the Creation [n. 75]. It must be borne in mind that each and all things in the universe, that they might subsist by themselves, were created each into its own order, and in the beginning were so created as to conjoin themselves with the order of the whole universe, to the end that each particular order might have subsistence in the universal, and thus all might make one. But to refer to some examples-Man was created into his own order, and every part of him into its own order; as the head into its order, the body into its order; the heart, lungs, liver, pancreas, and stomach, each into its order; every organ of motion, called a muscle, into its order; and every organ of sense, as the eye, the ear, the tongue, into its order; nor does there exist any least artery or fiber there that has not its own order; and yet these innumerable parts join themselves with the common body, and so insert themselves in it that all together make one. The same is true of other things, the mere mention of which will suffice for illustration. Every beast of the earth, every bird of heaven, every fish of the sea, every reptile, and every worm, even to the moth, has been created into its own order; equally so every forest tree and fruit tree, every shrub and plant; and still further every stone, every mineral, down to every grain of dust, into its order.

55.

Who does not see that there cannot be found an empire, kingdom, dukedom, republic, state, or household, that is not established by laws which constitute its order and thus the form of its government? In each one of them the laws of justice are in the highest place, political laws in the second, and economical laws in the third; or in comparison with a man, the laws of justice constitute the head, political laws the body, and economic laws the garments; and thus these last, like garments, may be changed. But in respect to the order in which the church has been established by God, it is this: That God must be in each thing and all things of it, and the neighbor also towards whom order must be practiced. The laws of that order are as many as the truths in the Word, the laws relating to God constituting its head, the laws relating to the neighbor constituting its body, and ceremonies its garments; for unless there were these last to hold the former together in their order it would be as if the body were naked and exposed to the heat in summer and the cold in winter; or as if the walls and ceilings of a temple were taken away, and its sanctuary and altar and pulpit should thus stand unsheltered and exposed to many kinds of violence.

56.

(3) God’s Omnipotence in the universe, with each and all things of it, proceeds and operates in accordance with the laws of His order. God is omnipotent because He has from Himself all power; while all others have power only from Him. His power and His will are one; and as He wills only what is good He can do nothing but what is good. In the spiritual world no one is able to do anything contrary to his will; and this is derived from God, because His power and will are one. Moreover, God is good itself, therefore in His doing good He is in Himself, and to go out of is impossible. Evidently, then, God’s omnipotence must go forth and operate within the sphere of extension of the good; and this sphere is infinite. For this sphere, [going forth] from the inmost, fills the universe and each and all things in it; and from the inmost rules the things which are without so far as they conjoin themselves with it in accordance with the laws of their own order; and if they do not conjoin themselves with it, it still sustains them, and by every endeavor labors to restore them to an order that is harmonious with the universal order, in which God Himself is in His omnipotence, and in accordance with which He acts. And when this is not accomplished they are cast out from Him; but even then He none the less sustains them from the inmost. From this it is clear that the Divine omnipotence cannot by any means go forth from itself to a contact with any thing evil, or from itself promote any thing evil; for evil turns itself away, and in consequence evil is wholly separated from Him and is cast into hell, between which and heaven, where He is, there is a great gulf. From these few statements it can be seen how deluded those are who think, and still more those who believe, and still more those who teach, that God can damn anyone, curse anyone, send anyone to hell, predestine any soul to eternal death, avenge wrongs, be angry, or punish. He cannot even turn Himself away from man, nor look upon him with a stern countenance. These and like things are contrary to His essence; and what is contrary to His essence is contrary to His very Self.

57.

It is a prevailing opinion at this day that God’s omnipotence is like the absolute power of a king in the world, who can at his pleasure do whatever he will, pardon or condemn whom he will, make the guilty innocent, declare the unfaithful faithful, exalt the unworthy and undeserving above the worthy and deserving, and even take away the property of his subjects under any pretext whatsoever, and condemn them to death, and so on. From this absurd opinion, belief, and doctrine respecting the Divine omnipotence, as many falsities, fallacies, and chimeras have flooded the church as there are changes, distinctions, and generations of faith in it; and the number that may yet flow in may equal the number of urns that might be filled from a great lake, or the number of serpents that might creep from their holes and bask in the sunshine in the desert of Arabia. What need is there except to pronounce these two words, omnipotence and faith, and then circulate among the common people conjectures and fables and nonsense such as will appeal to the bodily senses? For these two words banish reason; and when reason has been banished what better is man’s thought than the reason of the birds that fly over his head? Or what then is the spirituality that man possesses over and above the beasts but like the stench in the dens of beasts, which to them indeed is agreeable, but not to a man unless he is like them? If the Divine omnipotence were so extended as to do evil as well as good, what difference would there be between God and the devil? Would there be any but such as that between two monarchs, one of whom is both a king and a tyrant, while the other is a tyrant whose power is so restrained that he cannot be called a king; or such as that between a shepherd who is allowed to lead the sheep and also to act the wolf, and one who is not? Who cannot see that good and evil are opposites, and that if God from His omnipotence had the power to will both, and from will to do both, He would be able to will and do nothing at all? Thus He would have no power, much less all power. It would be like two wheels acting against each other by turning in opposite directions, by which opposition both wheels would be stopped and be perfectly at rest; or like a vessel in a rushing stream driving it contrary to its course, so that if not held by the anchor it would be carried away and destroyed; or like a man with two opposing wills, one of which must needs be quiescent when the other is acting, for if both should act at the same time delirium or giddiness would invade his mind.

58.

If, in accordance with existing belief, God’s omnipotence were absolute both to do evil and to do good, would it not be possible and even easy for God to elevate all hell to heaven, and to convert the devils and satans into angels, and to cleanse in an instant every impious man on earth from sin; to renew, sanctify, and regenerate him, and from a child of wrath make him a child of grace, that is, to justify him, which would be done by simply ascribing and imputing to him the righteousness of His Son? but God’s omnipotence does not enable Him to do this, for the reason that it would be contrary to the laws of His order in the universe, and at the same time contrary to the laws of order enjoined upon every man, these laws requiring that the conjunction between God and man shall be mutual. This will be made clear in the following pages of this work. From this absurd opinion and belief concerning God’s omnipotence it would follow that God could convert every goat nature among men into a sheep, and at His good pleasure could transfer men from His left hand to His right; that He could at His good pleasure transform the spirits of the dragon into angels of Michael; and that a man with an understanding like that of a mole could be endowed with the vision of an eagle; in a word, that out of a man like an owl He could make a man like a dove. These things God cannot do, for the reason that they are contrary to the laws of His order; and yet He unceasingly wills and endeavors to effect them. If He could have done such things He would not have permitted Adam to listen to the serpent, and to pluck fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and put it to his mouth. If He could have done this He would not have permitted Cain to kill his brother, or David to number the people, or Solomon to build temples for idols, or the kings of Judah and Israel to profane the temple, which they often did. In fact, if He could have done this He would have saved the entire human race, without exception, through the redemption wrought by His Son, and have extirpated all hell. The ancient heathen ascribed omnipotence to their gods and goddesses and this gave rise to their fables, as that Deucalion and Pyrrha threw stones behind them which became men; that Apollo changed Daphne into a laurel; that Diana changed a hunter into a stag; and that another of their gods changed the virgins of Parnassus into magpies. There is at this day a like belief respecting the Divine omnipotence, and it is the source of the many superstitions and consequent heresies that have been introduced into the world in every country where there is any religion.

59.

(4) God is omniscient, that is, He perceives, sees, and knows each thing and all things, even to the most minute, that take place according to order, and from these the things also that take place contrary to order. God is omniscient, that is, perceives, sees, and knows all things, because He is wisdom itself and light itself; and wisdom itself perceives all things, and light itself sees all things. That God is wisdom itself has been shown above; He is light itself because He is the sun of the angelic heaven, which enlightens the understandings of all, both angels and men. For just as the eye is illuminated by the light of the natural sun, so is the understanding illuminated by the light of the spiritual sun nor is it illuminated merely, it is filled with intelligence in accordance with the love of receiving that light, for that light in its essence is wisdom. There fore it is said in David: That God dwells in the light inaccessible (Ps. 104:2 comp. 1 Tim. 6:16); and in the Apocalypse: That in the New Jerusalem they need no candle, for the Lord God giveth them light (22:5); and in John: That the Word, which was with God and was God, is the light that enlighteneth every man that cometh into the world (1:1, 9) the “Word” meaning the Divine wisdom. For this reason, so far as the angels are in wisdom they are in clearness of light, and for the same reason, whenever light is mentioned in the Word it means wisdom.

60.

God perceives, sees, and knows all things, even to the most minute, that take place according to order, because order, from being in the smallest particulars, is universal, for these smallest particulars taken together are called the universal, as the particulars taken together are called the general. The universal, including its smallest particulars, is a work coherent as a unit, to the extent that no one part can be touched and affected without some sense of it overflowing to all the rest. Such being the nature of the order of the universe there is a likeness of it in all created things in the world. But this shall be illustrated by comparisons taken from things visible. In man as a whole there are generals and particulars, the generals including the particulars, with all harmoniously arranged in such connection that each belongs to the other. This is effected by means of a common covering surrounding every member of the body, and insinuating itself into every particular therein, so that they act as one in every function and use. For example, the covering of each muscle enters into the particular motor fibers and clothes them from itself. So the coverings of the liver, the pancreas, and the spleen enter into the interior parts of these organs; and the covering of the lungs, which is called the pleura, enters into their interiors; in like manner the pericardium enters into each and all parts of the heart; and in general the peritoneum enters all parts by anastomoses with the coverings of all the viscera. So again, the meninges of the brain, by threads drawn from them, enter into all the underlying glands, and through these into all the fibers, and through these again into all parts of the body. And it is in this way that the head by means of the brain rules each and all things subject to it. These facts are cited simply that by means of visible things some idea may be formed of how God perceives, sees, and knows all things, even to the most minute, which take place according to order.

61.

That from the things that are according to order God perceives, knows, and sees each and all things even to the most minute that take place contrary to order, is because He does not keep man in evil, but withholds him from evil; thus He does not lead him on, but strives with him. From this perpetual striving, struggling, resistance, repugnance, and reaction of evil and falsity against His good and truth, thus against Himself, God perceives both their quantity and their quality. This follows from God’s omnipresence in all things and in each thing of His order, and also from His perfect knowledge of each thing and all things of it, comparatively as one with an ear for harmony and consonance notices accurately what is inharmonious and dissonant, when it comes in, also the extent and character of the discord; or as one whose feelings are occupied with what is delightful detects the intrusion of what is undelightful; or as one whose eye is occupied with what is beautiful notices it with more precision when anything unshapely is beside it; for which reason it is customary for painters to place an ugly face beside a beautiful one. It is the same with good and truth when evil and falsity are striving against them; since from good and truth evil and falsity are distinctly perceived. For everyone who is in good can perceive evil; and he who is in truth can see falsity. And the reason is that good is in the heat of heaven, and truth is in its light; while evil is in the cold of hell, and falsity in its darkness. This may be illustrated by the fact that the angels of heaven can see whatever is done in hell, and what kind of monsters exist there; while, on the other hand, the spirits of hell can see nothing whatever that is going on in heaven; they can no more see the angels than if they were blind, or were gazing into the empty air or ether. Those whose understandings are in light from wisdom are like men who at midday are standing upon a mountain and seeing clearly all that is below; while those who are in still superior light are comparatively like men who see, through telescopes, outlying and lower objects as if they were near at hand. But those who are in the false light of hell, through the confirmation of falsities, are like men standing upon the same mountain at night with lanterns in their hands, who see only the objects nearest to them, and these with forms indistinct and colors confused. A man who is in some light of truth, although in evil of life, while he finds delight in his love of evil, sees truths at first much as a bat sees linen hanging in a garden, to which it flies as to a place of refuge. Afterwards he becomes like a bird of night, and at length like a screech-owl. Then he becomes like a chimney-sweep sticking fast in the gloom of a chimney, and seeing, when he looks upward, the sky through smoke, and when downward the hearth from which the smoke comes.

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It must be remembered that the perception of opposites is different from the perception of relatives; for opposites are things without, and are opposed to things within. An opposite has its beginning where one thing wholly ceases to be anything, and another then arises with an effort to act against the former, as when a wheel acts against another wheel, or a current against another current. But relatives pertain to the arrangement of many and various parts in an order that is concordant and harmonious, like precious stones of various colors in the stomacher of a queen, or like flowers of different colors arranged in a garland to give pleasure to the sight. Therefore in both of these opposites there are relatives, that is, in what is good as well as in what is evil, in what is true as well as in what is false, thus both in heaven and in hell, all the relatives in hell being the opposites of the relatives in heaven. Since, then, from the order in which He is, God perceives and sees and is cognizant of all things relative in heaven, and thereby perceives, sees, and is cognizant of all the opposite relatives in hell (as follows from what has been said), it is clear that God is omniscient in hell as well as in heaven, and in like manner with men in the world; thus that He perceives, sees, and is cognizant of their evils and falsities from the good and truth in which He Himself is, and which in their essence are Himself; for we read: If I ascend up into heaven, Thou art there; if I make my bed in hell, behold Thou art there (Ps. 139:8); and again: Though they dig into hell, thence shall My hand take them (Amos 9:2).

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(5) God is omnipresent from the firsts to the lasts of His order. God is omnipresent from the firsts to the lasts of His order by means of the heat and light of the spiritual sun, in the midst of which He is. It was by means of that sun that order was produced; and from it He sends forth a heat and a light which pervade the universe from firsts to lasts, and produce the life that is in man and in every animal, and also the vegetative soul that is in every germ upon the earth; and these two flow into each thing and all things, and cause every subject to live and grow according to the order implanted in it by creation. And as God, though not extended, fills every extense in the universe, He is omnipresent. It has been shown elsewhere that God is in all space without space, and in all time without time, and consequently that the universe in its essence and order is the plenitude of God; and this being so, by His omnipresence He perceives all things, by His omniscience He provides all things, and by His omnipotence He effects all things. From this it is clear that omnipresence, omniscience, and omnipotence make one, or that one implies the others; and thus that they cannot be separated.

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The Divine omnipresence may be illustrated by the wonderful way in which angels and spirits become present to each other in the spiritual world. Because there is no space in that world, but only an appearance of space, an angel or spirit may instantly become present with another whenever he comes into a like affection and consequent thought; for it is these two that cause the appearance of space. That such is the nature of presence with all there, has been made evident to me by having seen Africans and Asiatics there near together, although on the earth they are so many miles apart; and that I could even become present with those on the planets of our solar system, and also with those on planets belonging to other systems. Owing to this presence, not in space but in appearance of space, I have spoken with apostles, with departed popes, with emperors and kings, with the modern reformers of the church-Luther, Calvin, Melancthon, -and with others from widely separated countries. Such being the presence of angels and spirits, what limit is there to the Divine presence, which is infinite, in the universe? Angels and spirits are thus present, because every affection of love and every consequent thought of the understanding is in space without space, and in time without time. For anyone can think of a brother, relative, or friend who is in the Indies, and then have him as if present; in like manner he may, by remembrance, be moved by their love. From these facts, as they are known to man, the Divine omnipresence may in some measure be made clear; so, too, from human thought-as when anyone calls to mind what he has seen while traveling in various places, it is just as if he were present in those places again. Even bodily vision emulates this same kind of presence; it notices distance only by means of intermediate things, by which, as it were, the distance is measured. The sun itself would be near the eye, even as if in the eye, if intermediate objects did not reveal the fact of its being so distant. That this is so, optical writers have noted in their writings. This kind of presence pertains both to man’s intellectual sight and to his bodily sight, because what sees is his spirit looking through his eyes; but such is not the case with any animal, because animals have no spiritual sight. All this enables us to see that God is omnipresent from the firsts to the lasts of His order. That He is also omnipresent in hell has been shown in a former section.

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(6) Man was created a form of Divine order. Man was created a form of Divine order because he was created an image and likeness of God; and as God is order itself, he was created an image and likeness of order. There are two things which are the source of order and which give it permanence, namely, the Divine love and the Divine wisdom; and man was created a receptacle of these, and was therefore created also into the order in accordance with which these two act in the universe, and especially in accordance with which they act in the angelic heaven; consequently that the entire heaven is in its largest effigy a form of Divine order, and is in the sight of God like one man. Moreover, there is a plenary correspondence between that heaven and man; for there is not a society in heaven that does not correspond to some one of the members, viscera, or organs in man; and therefore it is there said that such a society is in the province of the liver, or of the pancreas, or of the spleen, or of the stomach, the eye, the ear, or the tongue, and so on. Furthermore, the angels themselves know in what region of any part of man they dwell. That this is so I have been permitted to learn by living experience. I have seen as a single man a society consisting of some thousands of angels; and thus it was made clear that heaven in its complex is an image of God; and an image of God is a form of Divine order.

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It must be understood that all things that proceed from the sun of the spiritual world, in the midst of which is Jehovah God, have relation to man; and therefore whatever things come forth in that world conspire towards the human form, and exhibit that form in their inmosts; thus all objects there that are presented to the sight are representative of man. Animals of all kinds are seen there, and they are likenesses of the affections of love and consequent thoughts of the angels; and the same is true of the trees, flowers, and green fields there; and what affection this or that object represents the angels are permitted to know; and what is wonderful, when their inmost sight is opened, they recognize their own image in them; and this takes place because every man is his own love and his own thought therefrom. And because in every man affections and thoughts therefrom are various and manifold, some of them relating to the affection of one animal and some to that of another, the images of these affections become manifest in this way. But of this more will be seen in the section on Creation [n. 75]. From all this the truth is seen that the end of creation was an angelic heaven from the human race, and consequently man, in whom God can dwell as in His receptacle; and this is the reason why man was created a form of Divine order.

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Previous to creation God was love itself and wisdom itself and the union of these two in the effort to accomplish uses; for love and wisdom apart from use are only fleeting matters of reason, which fly away if not applied to use. The first two separated from the third are like birds flying above a great ocean, which are at length exhausted by flying, and fall down and are drowned. Evidently, therefore, the universe was created by God to give existence to uses; and for this reason the universe may be called a theater of uses. And as man is the chief end of creation, it follows that each and all things were created for the sake of man; and therefore each and all things belonging to order were brought together and concentrated in him, to the end that through him God might accomplish primary uses. Love and wisdom apart from their third, which is use, may be likened to the sun’s heat and light; which, if they did not operate upon men, animals, and vegetables, would be worthless things; but by influx into and operation upon these they become real. For there are three things that follow each other in order, namely, end, cause, and effect; and it is known in the learned world that the end is nothing unless it regards the effecting cause, and that the end and this cause are nothing unless an effect is produced. The end and cause may indeed be contemplated abstractly in the mind, but still only on account of some effect which the end purposes and the cause secures. It is the same with love, wisdom, and use; use is the end which love purposes, and through the cause accomplishes; and when use is accomplished love and wisdom have a real existence; and in the use they make for themselves a habitation and foundation where they rest as in their home. It is the same with the man who has in him the love and wisdom of God when he is performing uses; and to enable him to perform Divine uses he was created an image and likeness of God, that is, a form of Divine order.

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(7) From the Divine Omnipotence man has power over evil and falsity, and from the Divine Omniscience has wisdom respecting what is good and true, and from the Divine Omnipresence is in God, just to the extent that he lives in accordance with Divine order. It is from the Divine omnipotence that man has power over evil and falsity just to the extent that he lives in accordance with Divine order, for the reason that no one but God can resist evils and their falsities. For all evils and their falsities are from hell; and in hell they cohere as a unit, the same as all goods and their truths do in heaven. For, as has been said above, before God all heaven is like a single man; and on the other hand, all hell is like a single gigantic monster; consequently, to act against a single evil and its falsity is to act against that gigantic monster or hell; and this no one is able to do except God, because He is omnipotent. From this it is clear that unless man approaches the omnipotent God he has from himself no more power against evil and its falsity than a fish has against the ocean, than a flea against a whale, or than a grain of dust against a falling mountain; and much less than a locust has against an elephant, or a fly against a camel. Moreover, man has all the less power against evil and its falsity because he is born into evil; and evil cannot act against itself. From all this it follows that unless man lives in accordance with order, that is, unless he acknowledges God and his omnipotence, and the resulting protection against hell, and also on his part fights with evil in himself (for order requires both of these), he cannot but be immersed and overwhelmed in hell, and there be driven about by evils, one after another, as a skiff at sea is driven by the storms.

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From the Divine omniscience man has wisdom respecting what is good and true to the extent that he lives in accordance with the Divine order, because all love of good and all wisdom of truth, or all good of love and all truth of wisdom, are from God. That this is so is in accordance with the confession of all the churches in the Christian world. From this it follows that man cannot be interiorly in any truth of wisdom except from God, since God has omniscience, that is infinite wisdom. The human mind, like the angelic heaven, is divided into three degrees, and may therefore be lifted up into a higher and still higher degree or be let down into a lower and still lower degree; but so far as it is lifted up into the higher degrees it is lifted up into wisdom, because into the light of heaven; and this God only can do. Moreover, so far as the mind is thus lifted up it becomes a man; while so far as it is let down into the lower degrees it enters the delusive light of hell, and is not man but a beast. This is why man stands erect upon his feet and turns his face heavenward, and can raise it to the zenith, while a beast stands upon its feet in a position parallel with the earth, and turns its whole face in that direction; nor can it without difficulty raise its face heavenward. [2] The man who lifts his mind to God and acknowledges that all the truth of wisdom is from God, and at the same time lives in accordance with order, is like one who stands upon a lofty tower and sees beneath him a populous city and all that is being done in its streets. But the man who confirms in himself the belief that all truth of wisdom is from the natural light in himself, that is, is from himself, is like one who remains in a cavern beneath that tower and looks through holes at the same city, seeing nothing but the wall of a single house in that city, and how its bricks are joined. Again, the man who derives wisdom from God is like a bird flying aloft, which looks around upon all things in the gardens, woods, and fields, and flies to those things that are of use to it; while the man who derives such things as pertain to wisdom from himself, with no added belief that they are from God, is like a hornet flying near the ground, which, seeing a dunghill, settles upon it and finds enjoyment in its stench. Every man, so long as he is living in the world, walks midway between heaven and hell, and is thereby in equilibrium, and thus in freedom of choice either to look upwards to God or downwards to hell. If he looks upwards to God he acknowledges that all wisdom is from God, and in spirit he is actually with the angels in heaven; while he who looks downward (as everyone does who is in falsities from evil) is in spirit actually with the devils in hell.

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From the Divine omnipresence man is in God to the extent that he lives in accordance with order, for the reason that God is omnipresent; and where God is in His Divine order, there He is as in Himself, because He is order, as has been shown above. Since, then, man was created a form of Divine order, God is in him-fully in him-to the extent that he is living in accordance with Divine order. Nevertheless, God is in him if he is not living in accordance with Divine order, but only in the highest regions in him, thereby giving him the ability to understand what is true and to will what is good; that is, giving him the faculty of understanding and the inclination to love. But so far as man lives contrary to order he shuts up the lower regions of his mind or spirit, and thus prevents God’s descending and filling these lower regions with His presence; consequently, while God is in him he is not in God. It is a general canon in heaven that God is in every man, the evil and the good alike; but that man is not in God unless he lives in accordance with order; for the Lord says: That it is His will that man should be in Him and He in man (John 15:4). [2] Man is in God by means of a life in accordance with order, because God is omnipresent in the universe and in each and all things of it in their inmosts, for these inmosts are in order. But in those things that are contrary to order (which are solely those that are outside of the inmosts) God is omnipresent by a continual striving with them, and by a continual effort to bring them back to order. Thus it is that so far as man permits himself to be brought back to order, God is omnipresent in the whole of him, and consequently to the same extent God is in him and he is in God. The absence of God from man is no more possible than the absence of the sun from the earth through its heat and light. But earthly objects are affected by the sun’s power only so far as they receive the heat and light that go forth from that sun, as in spring time and summer time. [3] This is applicable to the Divine omnipresence in this way, that so far as man is in order he is in spiritual heat and also in spiritual light; that is, in the good of love and the truth of wisdom. But spiritual heat and light are unlike natural heat and light, in that natural heat recedes from the earth and its objects in winter, and natural light at night; and this takes place because the earth by its diurnal and annual motions produces these periods. But with spiritual heat and light it is not so; since God through His sun is present with both heat and light, and does not undergo changes, as the sun of the world apparently does. Man turns himself away comparatively as the earth turns away from the sun; and when he turns away from the truths of wisdom he is like the earth when turned from its sun at night; and when he turns away from the goods of love he is like the earth when turned from its sun in winter. Such is the correspondence between the effects and uses from the sun of the spiritual world, and the effects and uses from the sun of the natural world.

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To this shall be added three Memorable Relations. First: I once heard beneath me something like the roaring of the sea; and I asked what it was; and one said to me that it was a tumult among those assembled in the lower earth, which is just above hell. And presently the ground that formed a roof over them opened, and behold, birds of night flew forth through the opening in flocks, and spread themselves towards the left; and immediately after them there swarmed forth locusts, which leaped upon the grass and made a desert everywhere; and a little after I heard from those nocturnal birds a succession of screeches, and on one side a confused clamor, as if from specters in the woods. After this I saw beautiful birds from heaven, which spread themselves towards the right. These birds were distinguished by gold-like wings with silvery streaks and specks interspersed; and on the heads of some of them there were crests in the form of crowns. When I saw and wondered at these things there rose up suddenly from the lower earth, where the tumult was, a spirit who could take the form of an angel of light; and he cried out, “Where is he who talks and writes about the order to which the Omnipotent has bound Himself respecting man? This we have been hearing below through the roof.” Once above ground he ran along a paved way and came to me, and instantly feigned himself an angel of heaven, and speaking in a tone not his own, said, “Are you the one who thinks and talks about order? Tell me briefly what order is, and some of the things pertaining to it.” [2] I replied, “I will give you the summaries of order, but not its particulars, because you would not understand them.” And I said, “(1) God is order itself. (2) He created man from order, in order, and into order. (3) He created man’s 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; and this is why man was called by the ancients a little heaven and a little cosmos. (4) Therefore it is a law of order that man from his little heaven or his little spiritual world should govern his little cosmos or little natural world, just as God from His great heaven or spiritual world governs the great cosmos or natural world in each thing and all things of it. (5) It is a resulting law of order that it is needful for man to lead himself into faith by means of truths from the Word, and into charity by means of good works, and so reform and regenerate himself. (6) It is a law of order that man by his own exertion and power should purify himself from sins, and not stand still, believing in his own impotency, and expecting God to wash his sins away in a moment. (7) It is also a law of order that man should love God with his whole soul and with his whole heart, and his neighbor as himself, and should not wait and expect that God will in an instant put these loves into his mind and heart, as bread from a baker may be put into his mouth.” These with other like things. [3] Having heard this, that satan with a soft voice within which there was craft, resumed, “What is that you say? That man must by his own power lead himself into order by keeping these laws of order? Do you not know that man is not under the law, but under grace; that all things are given him freely, and that he can receive only what is given him from heaven; and that in spiritual matters man has no more power to act from himself than the statue of Lot’s wife, or than Dagon, the idol of the Philistines in Ekron; and that it is therefore impossible for man to justify himself; but this must be done by faith and charity?” To this I merely replied, “It is also a law of order that man by his own exertion and power ought to acquire faith by means of truths from the Word, and yet believe that not a grain of truth is from himself, but from God only; moreover, that man by his own exertion and power ought to justify himself, and yet believe that not a single point of justification is from himself, but from God only. Is not man commanded to believe in God, and to love God with all his strength, and his neighbor as himself? Consider and say how this could have been commanded by God if man possessed no power to obey and do it.” [4] When the satan had heard this his countenance, from being bright at first, turned ghastly, and then black, and thus speaking from his own mouth he said, “You have uttered paradoxes on paradoxes;” and then instantly he sank down to his companions and was no more seen. The birds on the left, together with the specters, uttered strange cries and threw themselves into the sea, which is there called Safe; and the locusts leaped in after them; the air was cleansed, and the earth was cleansed of those wild creatures; the tumult below ceased, and all, became tranquil and serene.

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Second Memorable Relation: I once heard a strange murmur at a distance, and following in spirit the direction of the sound I drew nearer. When I came to where it began, behold, it was a crowd of spirits arguing about Imputation and Predestination. They were Dutch and British, with some from other kingdoms intermingled, and these at the end of each argument exclaimed, “Wonderful! wonderful!” The subject discussed was, “Why does not God impute the merit and righteousness of His Son to every man and all men created by Him and subsequently redeemed? Is He not omnipotent? Can He not, if He will, make archangels of Lucifer, the dragon, and all the goats? Is He not omnipotent? Why does He permit the unrighteousness and impiety of the devil to triumph over the righteousness of His Son, and over the piety of those who worship God? To God what could be easier than to deem all worthy of faith, and thus of salvation? What need of more than a little word to do this? And if He does it not, does He not act contrary to His words, which are that He desires the salvation of all and the death of none? Say, then, from whom and in whom is the cause of the damnation of those who are lost?” And then a supralpasarian-predestinarian from the Dutch said, “Does not this belong to the good pleasure of the Almighty? Shall the clay complain to the potter that he has made of it a vessel of dishonor?” And another said, “The salvation of everyone is in His hand as a balance in the hand of a weigher.” [2] There stood at the sides those who were simple in faith and upright in heart, and some with inflamed eyes, some who looked stupefied, some as if drunken, and some as if suffocated, muttering to one another, “What are these ravings to us? These men have been made foolish by their faith, which is, that God the Father imputes the righteousness of His Son to whom He will and when He will, and sends His Holy Spirit to give assurances of that righteousness; and lest any man should claim for himself the least share in the work of his salvation, he must be altogether like a stone in the matter of justification, and like a stock in things spiritual.” And one of these then thrust himself into the crowd, and said in a loud voice, “O madman! you are arguing about goat’s hair. You are wholly ignorant that the omnipotent God is order itself; and that the laws of order are numberless, as many as there are truths in the Word; and that God cannot act contrary to these laws, because to act contrary to them would be to act contrary to Himself, and thus not only contrary to righteousness but contrary to His own omnipotence.” [3] And seeing on his right, at some distance, the semblance of a sheep, a lamb, and a flying dove, on his left the semblance of a goat, a wolf, and a vulture, -he said, “Do you believe that God by His omnipotence can change that goat into the sheep, that wolf into the lamb, or that vulture into the dove, or the reverse? By no means; for it is contrary to the laws of His order, of which, according to His words not a jot can fall to the ground. How then can He impart the righteousness of His Son’s redemption to anyone who resists the laws of His righteousness? How can righteousness itself do what is unrighteous, and predestine anyone to hell, and cast him into a fire, beside which the devil stands with torches in his hand to keep it burning? O madmen! empty in spirit! your faith has led you astray. Is it not in your hands like a snare for catching doves?” Having heard this, a magician made of that faith a kind of snare, and put it upon a tree, saying, “You shall see me catch that dove.” And presently a hawk flew towards it and thrust its neck into the snare and hung there; while the dove, seeing the hawk, flew away. The bystanders were astonished, and exclaimed, “Even this sport is a display of justice.”

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The next day some came to me from this crowd who had believed in predestination and imputation; and they said, “We feel as if we were drunk, not with wine, but from what was said yesterday by that man. He talked about omnipotence and also about order; and he concluded that as omnipotence is Divine so order is Divine, and even that God Himself is order; and he said that there are as many laws of order as there are truths in the Word, which are not only thousands, but myriads of myriads; and that God is tied up to His own laws in the Word, and man to his. What then is the Divine omnipotence, if it is bound by laws? For thus every thing absolute is withdrawn from omnipotence. Thus has not God less power than a worldly king who is a despot, and who can as easily change the laws of justice as he can turn his hands, and can act without restriction, like Octavius Augustus or like Nero? When we had thought about omnipotence being tied up to laws, we felt as if we were drunk, or ready to swoon unless we quickly got some remedy; for in accordance with our faith we have been accustomed to pray to God the Father to have mercy on us for the sake of His Son; and we have believed that He could have mercy on whom He chose, and forgive the sins of anyone He pleased, and could save whom He would; and we dared not take away the least iota from His omnipotence. We therefore regard it as impious to bind God in the chains of some of His own laws, because that would be contradictory to His omnipotence.” [2] Having said this, they looked at me and I at them; and I saw that they were bewildered, and I said, “I will pray to the Lord, and thence bring a remedy lay an inflow of light on this subject; but at present only by examples.” And I said, “The omnipotent God created the world from the order within Him, that is, into the order in which He is, and in accordance with which He rules; and He impressed upon the universe and each and all things of it its own order, upon man his order, upon the beast its order, upon bird and fish and worm, and every tree and even every blade of grass, upon each its own order. But to illustrate by examples, I will mention briefly the following. The laws of order enjoined upon man are, that he should acquire for himself truths from the Word, and reflect upon them naturally, and as far as he can, rationally, and thus acquire for himself a natural faith. The laws of order on the part of God then are, that He will draw near and fill these truths with His Divine light, and thus fill the man’s natural faith (which is mere knowledge and persuasion) with a Divine essence. In this and in no other way can faith become saving. It is the same with charity. But some particulars shall be briefly mentioned. God, in accordance with His laws, is able to remit sins to any man only so far as the man, in accordance with his laws, refrains from them. God able to regenerate a man spiritually only so far as the man, accordance with his laws, regenerates himself naturally. God is in an unceasing endeavor to regenerate man, and thus save him; but this He is unable to accomplish except as man prepares himself as a receptacle, and thus levels the way and opens the door for God. A bridegroom cannot enter the chamber of a virgin till she becomes his bride; for she shuts the door and keeps the key to herself within; but when the virgin has become a bride she gives the key to the bridegroom. [3] God could not by His omnipotence have redeemed men unless He had become Man; neither could He have made His Human Divine unless that Human had first been like the human of a babe, and then like that of a boy; and unless afterwards the Human had formed itself into a receptacle and habitation, into which its Father might enter; which was done by His fulfilling all things in the Word, that is, all the laws of order therein; and so far as He accomplished this He united Himself to the Father, and the Father united Himself to Him. These are a few things, presented for the sake of illustration, to enable you to see that the Divine omnipotence is in order, and that its government, which is called Providence, is in accordance with order, and that it acts continually and to eternity in accordance with the laws of its order; nor can it act against them or change them one iota, because order, with all its laws, is Himself.” [4] When this had been said a brilliant light of golden color flowed in through the roof and formed flying cherubs in the air; and with some of those present a glow therefrom was seen on the temples towards the back part of the head, but not yet on the front part, for they murmured, “We do not yet know what omnipotence is.” And I said, “That will be revealed when what has been already said to you has become somewhat clear.”

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Third Memorable Relation: I saw at a distance a number of persons gathered together with caps on their heads, some with caps bound around with silk - these had belonged to the ecclesiastical order; others had caps with borders ornamented with golden bands - these were civilians; they were all learned and accomplished. I also saw others with turbans; these were not learned. I drew near, and heard them talking together about the Divine power, as being unlimited, and saying that if it were to proceed according to any established laws of order it would not be unlimited, but limited; and would thus be a power, but not omnipotence. “But who does not see,” they said, “that there can be no coercion of law that would compel omnipotence to do thus and so and not otherwise? Certainly, when we think of omnipotence, and at the same time of laws of order in accordance with which it is obliged to proceed, our preconceived ideas of omnipotence fall like a hand when its staff has been broken.” [2] When they saw me near, some of them ran up, and said with some vehemence, “Are you the man who has circumscribed God by laws, as by chains? How insolent! Thus also you have torn to pieces our faith, upon which our salvation is based, in the center of which we place the righteousness of the Redeemer, and over this the omnipotence of God the Father, and add as an appendix the operation of the Holy Spirit, with its efficacy depending upon the absolute impotence of man in things spiritual; so that he only needs to speak of the fullness of justification which is in that faith by virtue of God’s omnipotence. But we have heard that you see in our faith nothing but emptiness, because you see in it nothing of Divine order on the part of man.” Having heard this, I opened my mouth, and speaking with a loud voice, said, “Learn the laws of Divine order, and then lay open that faith and you will see a vast desert, and in it the long and crooked Leviathan, and round about it nets tangled in an inextricable knot. But do as it is said Alexander did when he saw the Gordian knot, that he drew his sword and cut it apart and thus loosed its entanglements, and then dashing it upon the ground trampled its strands under foot.” [3] At these words those assembled bit their tongues, wishing to sharpen them for invectives; but they did not venture, for they saw heaven opened above me, and heard from it a voice saying, “In the first place, control yourselves and listen to what the order is, according to the laws of which the omnipotent God acts.” And [the voice] said, “God, from Himself as order, created the universe in order and for order; and in like manner He created man, in whom He established the laws of His order, by virtue of which laws man was made an image and likeness of God; which laws, in brief, are, that “man should believe in God and love his neighbor, and to the extent that he does these two things from his natural powers he constitutes himself a receptacle of the Divine omnipotence, and God conjoins Himself to man, and man to Himself. Thence man’s belief becomes a living and saving belief, and his doing becomes charity, which is also living and saving. But it must be understood that God is unceasingly present, and continually striving and acting in man, even touching his freedom of will, but in no way violating it. For if God should violate man’s freedom of will man’s dwelling-place in God would be destroyed, and there would remain only God’s dwelling-place in man; which dwelling-place is in all who are on earth and who are in the heavens, and even in those who are in the hells; and this is the source of their power, their will, and their understanding. But there is no reciprocal dwelling-place of man in God except in those who live in accordance with the laws of order set forth in the Word; and such become images and likenesses of God, and to them paradise is given as a possession, and the fruit of the tree of life for food; while the rest gather themselves about the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and there talk with the serpent, and eat; but these afterwards are driven from paradise. Nevertheless, God does not forsake them, but they forsake God.” [4] Those with caps understood all this, and assented to it; but those with turbans denied, saying, “Is not omnipotence thus limited? and a limited omnipotence is a contradiction.” But I answered, “There is no contradiction in acting omnipotently according to the laws of justice with judgment, or according to the laws inscribed on love from wisdom; but there is a contradiction in claiming that God can act in opposition to the laws of His justice and love, which would be to act from what is not judgment or wisdom. Such a contradiction is implied in your faith, which is that from mere grace God can justify an unjust man, and can endow him with all the gifts of salvation and rewards of life. But I will state briefly what God’s omnipotence is. From His omnipotence God created the universe, and at the same time introduced order into each thing and all things in it. From His omnipotence God also preserves the universe, and unceasingly watches over the order of it with its laws; and when anything falls from order He brings it back and makes it whole again. Furthermore, from His omnipotence God instituted the church and revealed the laws of its order in the Word; and when it fell from order He restored it; and when it wholly fell away He Himself came down into the world, and putting on omnipotence by means of the Human then assumed, He re-established it. [5] From His omnipotence and omniscience God searches every man after death, and prepares the righteous, or the sheep, for their places in heaven, and establishes a heaven from them; while He prepares the unrighteous, or the goats, for their places in hell, and establishes a hell from them. Both of these He arranges into societies or congregated bodies in accordance with all the varieties of their love, which in heaven are as many as the stars in the natural firmament; and He joins in one the societies of heaven that they may be as one man before Him. In like manner He brings together the congregated bodies of hell that they may be as one devil; and He separates the latter from the former by a gulf, that hell may not do violence to heaven or heaven torment hell; for those who are in hell are tormented in the degree that heaven flows in. If God from His omnipotence did not do this every instant, a savage nature would enter into men to such an extent that they could no longer be restrained by the laws of any order; and thus the human race would perish. These and other such things would happen unless God were order, and omnipotent in order. “ Having heard this, those who wore caps went away with their caps under their arms, praising God; for in that world the intelligent wear caps. But not so those who wore turbans, for such are bald, and baldness signifies stupidity. The latter went away to the left, and the former to the right.

75.

THE CREATION OF THE UNIVERSE. As the subject of this first chapter is God the Creator, the creation of the universe by Him must also be considered; as in the next chapter on the Lord the Redeemer, redemption will also be treated of. But no one can gain a right idea of the creation of the universe until his understanding is brought into a state of perception by some most general knowledges previously recognized, which are as follows. [2] (1) There are two worlds, a spiritual world where angels and spirits are, and a natural world where men are. (2) In each world there is a sun. The sun of the spiritual world is nothing but love from Jehovah God who is in the midst of it. From that sun heat and light go forth; the heat that goes forth therefrom in its essence is love, and the light that goes forth in its essence is wisdom; and these two affect the will and understanding of man-the heat his will and the light his understanding. But the sun of the natural world is nothing but fire, and therefore its heat is dead, also its light; and these serve as a covering and auxiliary to spiritual heat and light, to enable them to pass over to man. [3] (3) Again, these two which go forth from the sun of the spiritual world, and in consequence all things that have existence in that world by means of them, are substantial, and are called spiritual; while the two like things that go forth from the sun of the natural world, and in consequence all things here that have existence by means of them, are material, and are called natural. [4] (4) In each world there are three degrees, called degrees of height, and in consequence three regions; and in accordance with these the three angelic heavens are arranged, and also in accordance with them human minds are arranged, which thus correspond to those three angelic heavens; and the same is true of every thing else in both worlds. [5] (5) There is a correspondence between those things that are in the spiritual world and those in the natural world. [6] (6) There is an order in which each thing and all things belonging to both worlds were created. [7] (7) It is necessary that an idea of these things should first be gained, for unless this is done the human mind from mere ignorance of these things easily falls into a notion of a creation of the universe by nature; while on mere ecclesiastical authority it asserts that nature was created by God; and yet, because it does not know how creation was effected, as soon as it begins to look interiorly into the matter, it plunges headlong into the naturalism that denies God. But it would be truly the work of a large volume to explain and demonstrate these statements properly one by one; moreover, the matter does not properly enter into the theological system of this book as a theme or argument therefore I will merely relate some memorable occurrences from which an idea of the creation of the universe by God may be conceived, and from such a conception some offspring that will represent it may be born.

76.

First Memorable Relation: One day I was meditating upon the creation of the universe; and this being perceived by the angels above me on the right side, where were some who from time to time meditated and reasoned on this subject, one of them descended and invited me to join them; and coming into the spirit I went with him; and having joined them I was taken to the prince, in whose palace I saw some hundreds assembled, with the prince in the midst. Then one of them said, “We perceived here that you were meditating upon the creation of the universe; and we too have sometimes indulged in like meditation; but we have never been able to reach a conclusion, because there clung to our thoughts the idea of a chaos, as having been the great egg, as it were, out of which each thing and all things in the universe in their order were hatched; whereas we now perceive that so great a universe could not have been so brought forth. Then there also clung to our minds another idea, namely, that all things were created by God out of nothing; but we are now able to see that out of nothing nothing comes. From these two ideas we have never yet been able to extricate our minds, and to see with any degree of clearness how creation was accomplished. Therefore we have called you from the place where you were, that you might set forth your mediation on this subject. “ [2] Having heard this I replied, “I will do so.” And I said, “I have meditated on this subject for a long time, but to no purpose. But since I have been introduced by the Lord into your world I have perceived how idle it would be to try to form a conclusion about the creation of the universe without first knowing that there are two worlds, one in which angels are, and the other in which men are; and that men through death pass from their world to the other. I then also saw that there are two suns, one from which all spiritual things flow, and the other from which all natural things flow; and that the sun from which all spiritual things flow is nothing but love from Jehovah God, who is in its midst, and that the sun from which all natural things flow is nothing but fire. Having learned these facts, at one time when in a state of enlightenment I was permitted to perceive that the universe was created by Jehovah God by means of the sun in the midst of which He is; and as there can be no love apart from wisdom, that the universe was created by Jehovah God from His love by means of His wisdom. The truth of this is evinced by all things and each thing I have seen in the world where you are, and in the-world where I am in the body. [3] It would take too much space to explain how creation progressed from its primordial state; but when I have been in a state of enlightenment I have perceived that by means of the heat and light from the sun of your world spiritual atmospheres, which are in themselves substantial, were created one from another. As there were three of these atmospheres, and consequently three degrees of them, three heavens were made; one for the angels who are in the highest degree of love and wisdom, a second for those who are in the second degree, and a third for those who are in the lowest degree. But as this spiritual universe cannot exist without a natural universe wherein it can work out its effects and uses, so at the same time a sun was created from which all natural things proceed, and through which in like manner, by means of heat and light, three atmospheres were created, encompassing the three former as a shell its kernel, or as bark its wood; and finally by means of these atmospheres the terraqueous globe was created where men, beasts, fishes, trees, shrubs, and herbs were formed of earthly substances, composed of soil, stones, and minerals. [4] This is a very general outline of creation and its progress. It would require many volumes to explain the particular and most particular things of it; yet all things point to the conclusion that God did not create the universe out of nothing, for as you have said, out of nothing nothing comes, but that He created it by means of the sun of the angelic heaven, which is from His very Esse, and is therefore nothing but love joined with wisdom. That the universe, by which is meant both the spiritual world and the natural world, was created from the Divine love by means of the Divine wisdom is attested and proved by each thing and all things in it; and this, if you will consider these things in their order and connection, you will be able to see clearly in the light that illuminates the perceptions of your understanding. But it must be kept in mind that the love and wisdom which make one in God are not love and wisdom in an abstract sense, but are in Him as substance; for God is the Very, the Only, and thus the primal Substance and Essence, which has Being and Subsistence in itself. [5] That it was from the Divine love and the Divine wisdom that each and all things were created is meant by these words in John: The Word was with God, and God was the Word. All things were made by Him, and the world was made by Him (John 1:1, 3, 10), ‘God’ signifying here the Divine love, and the ‘Word’ the truth or Divine wisdom; therefore in the same passage the Word is called ‘Light’, and in relation to God ‘Light’ means the Divine wisdom.” When I had finished and was bidding them adieu, some rays of light from the sun there descended through the angelic heavens into their eyes, and through these into the abodes of their minds; and when thus enlightened they assented to what I had said, and afterwards followed me into the hall; and my former companion took me to the house where he had found me, and from there he reascended to his own society.

77.

Second Memorable Relation: One morning when I awoke from sleep and was meditating in the serene morning light before I was fully awake, I saw through the window something like a flash of lightning, and presently heard something like a crash of thunder. While I wondered where this was from, I heard from heaven that there were some spirits near me disputing sharply about God and nature; and that the flash of light like lightning and the crashing sound like thunder were correspondences and consequent manifestations of the conflict and collision of arguments on the one side in favor of God, and on the other in favor of nature. The origin of this spiritual contest was this: There were certain satans in hell who said to one another, “O that we might be permitted to talk with the angels of heaven! We would completely and fully demonstrate that what they call God, the origin of all things, is nature; therefore that God, unless nature is meant by it, is a mere word.” And as these satans believed this with all their hearts and souls, and wished to talk with the angels of heaven, they were permitted to ascend from the mire and darkness of hell, and converse with two angels then descending from heaven. [2] These were in the world of spirits, which is midway between heaven and hell. The satans seeing the angels there, ran to them quickly, and cried out in a furious voice, “Are you the angels of heaven whom we are permitted to meet in argument about God and nature? You are called wise because you acknowledge God; but O how simple you are! Who has ever seen God? Who understands what God is? Who can comprehend that God rules, or is able to rule, the universe and each and all things in it? Who but the multitude and the rabble profess what they do not see nor understand? What is more obvious than that nature is the all-in-all? Who with his eye has ever seen anything but nature? Who with his ear has ever heard anything but nature? Who with his nostrils has ever smelt anything but nature? Who with his tongue has ever tasted anything but nature? Who by any touch of hand or body has ever felt anything but nature? Are not our bodily senses the witnesses of what is true? From their evidences cannot one swear that a thing is so? Does not the respiration by which our bodies live testify to this? What else do we breathe but nature? Are not our heads and yours in nature? Whence comes the influx into the thoughts of the head if not from nature? If nature were to be taken away could you think any thing?” And much more in the same strain. [3] When the angels had heard this they replied, “You talk in this way because you are merely sensual; for all who are in hell have the ideas of their thoughts immersed in the bodily senses, and are unable to raise their minds above the senses. We therefore excuse you. A life of evil and a consequent belief in what is false have so far closed the interiors of your minds that with you any elevation above sensual things is impossible unless in a state remote from your evils of life and falsities of belief. For although a satan can understand truth when he hears it just as well as an angel, he does not retain it, because evil blots out truth and introduces falsity. But we perceive that you are now in a state remote from evil, and can therefore understand the truth we are presenting; therefore give attention to what we shall say.” And they said, “You were in the natural world; but you died there and are now in the spiritual world. Did you ever till now know anything about a life after death? Have you not heretofore denied it, and made yourselves the equals of beasts? Have you heretofore known anything about heaven and hell, or about the light of this world? Or have you known that you are no longer within the sphere of nature, but are above it? For this world and all things of it are spiritual; and spiritual things are so far above natural things that not the least thing of nature, in which you were, can flow into this world. But because you have believed nature to be a god or a goddess you also believe that the light and heat of this world are the light and heat of the natural world; and yet it is not so at all; for here natural light is darkness and natural heat is cold. Have you known any thing about the sun of this world, from which our light and our heat proceed? Have you known that this sun is nothing but love, while the sun of the natural world is nothing but fire; and that it is the sun of the natural world, which is nothing but fire, from which nature derives its existence and subsistence; while it is the sun of heaven, which is nothing but love, from which life itself, which is love joined with wisdom, has its existence and subsistence, and thus that nature, which you make to be a god or a goddess, is manifestly dead. [4] You, if a guard were given you, could ascend with us into heaven; and if a guard were given us we could descend with you into hell. In heaven you would see things magnificent and splendid; while in hell you see things vile and unclean. The reason of these differences is that all in heaven worship God, and all in hell worship nature; and the magnificent and splendid things in the heavens are correspondences of affections of the love of what is good and true; while the vile and unclean things in the hells are correspondences of affections of the love of what is evil and false. Decide now from all this whether God or nature is the all-in-all.” To this the satans replied, “In the state in which we now are we are able to conclude from what we have heard that there is a God; and yet when the delight of evil fills our minds we see nothing but nature.” [5] I saw the two angels and the satans, and heard what they said, because they were standing not far from me; and behold, I saw around them many who had been celebrated for learning in the natural world; and I wondered why the learned stood sometimes near the angels and sometimes near the satans, and why they favored those near whom they stood; and it was said to me, “Their changes of position are changes in the state of their minds, favoring first one side and then the other; for in faith they are like Vertumni from [Vertumnus, the Etruscan god of change]. And we will tell you a secret: We have looked down upon those celebrated for learning on the earth, and we have found six hundred out of a thousand in favor of nature, and the rest in favor of God; and those in favor of God were so not from any understanding of the matter, but only because they had heard that nature is from God, and had often talked about it; and frequent speaking about a matter from memory and recollection, even when it is not also a matter of thought and understanding, begets a kind of belief.” [6] After this a guard was given to the satans, and they ascended with the two angels into heaven; and they saw things magnificent and splendid; and as they were then in a state of enlightenment from the light of heaven they acknowledged that there is a God, and that nature was created to be subservient to the life that is from God; and that nature in itself is dead, and therefore does nothing of itself, but is acted upon by life. Having seen and perceived all this they descended; and as they descended the love of evil returned and closed their understandings above and opened them below; and then there appeared above them a kind of shadow, flashing with infernal fire. And the moment their feet touched the earth the ground gaped beneath them and they sunk to their own.

78.

Third Memorable Relation The next day an angel came to me from another society and said, “We have heard in our society that on account of your meditations about the creation of the universe you were summoned to a society near ours, and there told things about creation which the society then assented to, and have since remembered with pleasure. I will now show you how all kinds of animals and vegetables were produced by God.” He led me away to a broad green field and said, “Look around.” And I looked around, and saw birds of most beautiful colors, some flying, some perched upon the trees, and some scattered over the field plucking little leaves from roses. Among the birds were doves and swans. After these had disappeared from my sight I saw not far from me flocks of sheep with lambs, and of kids and she-goats; and round about these flocks I saw herds of cattle, young and old, also of camels and mules, and in a kind of grove, deer with high horns, and also unicorns. When I had beheld these things the angel said, “Turn your face towards the east.” And I saw a garden containing fruit trees, as orange trees, lemon trees, olive trees, vines, fig-trees, pomegranates, and also shrubs bearing berries. The angel then said, “Look now towards the south.” And I saw fields of various kinds of grain, as wheat, millet, barley, and beans, and round about them flower beds containing roses of beautifully varied colors; but toward the north I saw thick groves of chestnut trees, palms, lindens, plane trees, and other trees with rich foliage. [2] When I had seen these things the angel said, “All these things that you have seen are correspondences of affections of the love of the angels who are near.” And he told me to what affection each particular thing corresponded; and moreover, that not these only, but also all other things that presented themselves to their sight were correspondences, as houses, the articles of furniture in them, the tables and food, the clothing, and even the gold and silver coins, as also the diamonds and other precious stones with which wives and virgins in the heavens are adorned. “From all these things,” he said, “the character of every person in respect to love and wisdom is perceived by us. The things in our houses that are of use remain there permanently; while to the sight of those who wander from one society to another these things change as their associations change. [3] These things have been shown to enable you to see, in a special example, the entire creation. For God is love itself and wisdom itself; the affections of His love are infinite, and the perceptions of His wisdom are infinite; and of these each thing and all things that appear on earth are correspondences. This is the origin of birds and beasts, forest trees, fruit trees, crops and harvests, herbs and grasses. For God is not extended, and yet He is present throughout all extension, thus throughout the universe from its firsts to its lasts; and He being thus omnipresent, there are these correspondences of the affections of His love and wisdom in the whole natural world; while in our world, which is called the spiritual world, there are like correspondences with those who are receiving affections and perceptions from God. The difference is that in our world such things are created by God from moment to moment in accordance with the affections of the angels. In your world they were created in like manner in the beginning; but it was provided that they should be renewed unceasingly by the propagation of one from another, and creation be thus continued. [4] In our world creation is from moment to moment, and in yours continued by propagation, because the atmospheres and earths of our world are spiritual, and the atmospheres and earths of your world natural; and natural things were created to clothe spiritual things as skin clothes the bodies of men and animals, as outer and inner barks clothe the trunks and branches of trees, the several membranes clothe the brain, tunics the nerves, and the inner coats their fibers, and so on. This is why all things in your world are constant, and are renewed constantly from year to year.” To this the angel added, “Go and tell the inhabitants of your world what you have seen and heard, for hitherto they have been in complete ignorance about the spiritual world; and without some knowledge about it no one can know, nor even guess, that in our world creation is a continuous process, and that it was the same in yours while the universe was being created by God.” [5] After this we talked about various matters; and at length about hell, that no such things are seen there as are seen in heaven, but only their opposites; since the affections of the love of those there, which are lusts of evil, are opposites of the affections of love in which angels of heaven are. Thus with those in hell, and in general in their deserts, there are seen birds of night, such as bats and owls; also wolves, panthers, tigers, and rats and mice; also venomous serpents of every kind, dragons and crocodiles; and (where there is any herbage) brambles, nettles, thorns, and thistles, and some poisonous plants grow: and at times these disappear, and then nothing is seen but heaps of stones, and bogs in which frogs croak. All of these things are correspondences; but as has been said, they are correspondences of the affections of the love of those in hell, which affections are lusts of evil. Notwithstanding these things are not created there by God; nor were they created by Him in the natural world, where like things exist. For all things that God has created and does create were and are good; while such things on the earth sprang up along with hell, and hell originated in men, who by turning away from God became after death satans and devils. But as these terrible things began to be painful to our ears, we turned our thoughts from them and recalled to mind what we had seen in heaven.

79.

Fourth Memorable Relation: Once when I was reflecting upon the creation of the universe, some spirits from the Christian world approached, who had been in their time among the most celebrated philosophers, and had been regarded as wiser than all others; and they said, “We perceive that you are thinking about creation; tell us what your idea is about it.” But I replied, “Tell me your own first.” And one of them said, “It is my opinion that creation is from nature, and thus that nature created itself, and that it has existed from eternity; for there is no vacuum, and there can be none. In fact, what else do we see with our eyes, hear with our ears, smell with our nostrils, and breathe with our breasts, but nature, which being outside of us must be also within us?” [2] Another having heard this, said, “You speak of nature and make her the creator of the universe; but as you do not know how nature operated in producing the universe I will tell you. Nature infolded herself in vortices, which dashed together like clouds, or like houses when overthrown by an earthquake; and by such collision the grosser materials brought themselves together into one mass which formed the land; and the more fluid portions separated themselves from these and brought themselves together into one body which formed the seas; and again the still lighter parts separated themselves from these, forming the ether and air; and finally from the lightest of these the sun was formed. Have you not seen that when oil, water, and the dust of the earth are mixed together they freely separate themselves, and arrange themselves in order one above another?” [3] Then another, hearing this, said, “Both of you are talking from mere fancy. Who does not know that the first origin of all things was chaos, which in magnitude had filled a fourth part of the universe; that at the center of it was fire; round about this ether, and round this matter; that this chaos opened in fissures, through which the fire broke forth, as from Aetna and Vesuvius, and formed the sun; after this the ether issued forth and poured itself about, and formed the atmosphere; and finally the remaining matter solidified into a globe and formed the earth? As to the stars, they are only luminaries in the expanse of the universe, which sprang from the sun and its heat and light; for at first the sun was like a fiery ocean; but, that it might not burn up the earth, it sent off from itself small masses of bright Same, which locating themselves in surrounding space, completed the universe, forming its firmament. “ [4] But there stood one among them who said, “You are mistaken. You seem to yourselves to be wise, and I seem to you to be simple; and yet in my simplicity I have believed and continue to believe that the universe was created by God; and as nature pertains to the universe, that universal nature was then simultaneously created. If nature created herself must she not have existed from eternity? But O what madness!” And then one of the so-called wise men ran up closer and closer to the speaker, and put his left ear near to the speaker’s mouth-for his right ear had been filled with something like cotton-and asked him what he had said; and the statements were repeated. Then he who had come up looked around to see if any priest were present, and seeing one at the side of the speaker he replied, “I also confess that universal nature is from God; but-” Then he went off and whispered to his companions, saying, “I said that because there was a priest near; you and I know that nature is from nature; but as this makes nature to be God, I said that universal nature is from God; but-” [5] The priest hearing their whispers, said, “Your wisdom, which is purely philosophical, has misled you, and has so closed the interiors of your minds that no light can flow into them from God and His heaven and enlighten you; you have extinguished this light.” And he said, “Consider, therefore, he state in which yourselves where your souls, which are immortal originated-whether in nature or whether they also were in included in that great chaos.” Having heard this the former went to his companions and asked them to join him in the solution of this knotty question. And they came to the conclusion that the human soul is nothing but ether, and thought nothing but a modification of ether by the sun’s light, and ether a property of nature. And they said, “Who does not know that we speak by means of the air? And what is thought but speech in a purer air, which is called the ether? Therefore thought and speech make one. Who cannot see this in man during his infancy? He first learns to talk, then he gradually learns to talk with himself-and that is thinking. What, then, is thought but a modification of the ether? And what is the sound of the voice but a modulation of that? From which we conclude that the soul which thinks is a property of nature.” [6] But some of them-not exactly dissenting, but to make the matter clear-said that souls came into existence when the ether separated itself from that great chaos, the ether then dividing itself in the highest region into innumerable individual forms, which pour themselves into men when they begin to think from the purer air; and these are then called souls. Another, having heard this, said, “I admit that there were innumerable individual forms formed out of the ether in the higher region; nevertheless there have been a still greater number of men born since the creation of the world; how then could there have been enough of these ethereal forms? Therefore I have thought to myself, that souls departing from the mouths of men when they die, return to them again after some thousands of years, and enter upon and pass through a life similar to their former life. That many of the wise believe in something like this, and in metempsychosis, is known. “ Other conjectures beside these were broached by the rest; but as they were mer them by. [7] In a short time the priest returned, and then the one who had before spoken about the creation of the universe by God told of their conclusions about the soul; having heard which the priest said to them, “You have spoken precisely as you thought in the world, not knowing that you are not in that world, but in another, which is called the spiritual world. All those who have become corporeal-sensual by confirming themselves in favor of nature are unaware that they are not in the same world in which they were born and brought up. This is because they there had material bodies, while here they have substantial bodies; and a substantial man sees himself and his companions about him precisely as a material man sees himself and his companions; for the substantial is the primitive of the material. And you believe that the same nature exists here, for the reason that you think, see, smell, taste, and talk in the same way as you did in the natural world; when in fact the nature of this world is as different and distinct from the nature of that world as the substantial is from the material, or the spiritual from the natural, or the prior from the posterior. And as the nature of the world where you formerly lived is comparatively dead, so have you, by confirming yourselves in its favor, become as it were dead, that is, in respect to what pertains to God, to heaven, and to the church, and also in this matter which relates to your souls. And yet every man, the bad and the good alike, may in understanding be elevated even into the light in which the angels of heaven are; and then they are able to see that there is a God and a life after death, and that man’s soul is not ethereal, and therefore not of the nature of that world, but is spiritual, and therefore will live to eternity. The understanding may be in such angelic light, provided those natural loves are set aside which are derived from the world, and which favor it and its nature, and which are derived from the body and favor it and what belongs to it.” [8] Then instantly these loves were taken away from them by the Lord, and they were permitted to speak with angels, from whose conversation they in that state perceived that there is a God, and that they were living after death in another world; wherefore they were covered with shame, and exclaimed, “We were mad! we were mad.” But as this was not their own proper state, and as after a few minutes it became tiresome and unpleasant, they turned away from the priest and were unwilling to listen to him any longer; so they returned to their former loves, which were merely natural, worldly, and corporeal, and they went away toward the left, passing from one society to another; and finally they came to a path, where the delights of their own loves breathed upon them, and they said, “Let us go this way;” and they went; and descending, they came at length to those who were in the delights of similar loves; and they went on. And as their delight was a delight in doing evil, and as they did evil to many on the way, they were imprisoned and became demons. And then their delight was changed to undelight, because by punishments and fears of punishment they were curbed and restrained from their former delight which constituted their nature. And they asked those who were in the same prison if they were to live in that way for ever; and some answered, “We have been here for some ages, and are to remain for ages of ages, because the nature that we contracted in the world cannot be changed, nor can it be expelled by punishments; for whenever it is so expelled, after a short lapse of time it returns.”

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Fifth Memorable Relation: Once by permission a satan and a woman with him, ascended from hell, and came to the house where I was. Seeing them I closed the window, but talked with them through it. I asked the satan where he came from; and he said from his own companions. And I asked where the woman came from; and he made the same answer. She was from a crowd of sirens, such as are skilled in assuming by means of fantasies all the modes and forms of beauty and adornment, now putting on the beauty of Venus, and now the chaste features of Parnassian nymphs; and again decking themselves out like queens with crowns and royal robes, and walking majestically leaning on silver canes. Such in the world of spirits are harlots, and study fantasies. Fantasy arises from sensual thought when the ideas springing from any interior thought have been excluded. I asked the satan if she was his wife. He replied, “What is a wife? I do not know and my society does not; she is my harlot.” Then she inspired him with lascivious desire, which sirens can do with great skill; and on receiving it he kissed her, and said, “Ah my Adonis!” [2] But to proceed to serious things. I asked the satan what his occupation was; and he said, “My occupation is the pursuit of learning; do you not see the laurel on my head?” This his Adonis had created by her art, and put on him from behind. And I said, “Since you come from a society where learning prevails, tell me what you and your companions believe in regard to God.” He replied, “To us God is the universe, which we also call nature, and which the more simple of our people call the atmosphere, by which they mean the air, but the wise mean by it the ether. God, heaven, angels and the like, about which many in this world have much to say, are empty terms, and fictions taken from the meteors which here play before the eyes of many people. Are not all things that are visible on the earth created by the sun? At its approach every spring are not winged and creeping insects brought forth; and do not birds, moved by its heat, love each other and propagate their species; and does not the earth when warmed by its heat make seeds to sprout and finally yield fruit as offspring? Is not the universe then a god, and nature a goddess; and does she not, as the spouse of the universe, conceive, bear, bring up, and nourish these offspring?” [3] I asked further what he and his society believed about religion. He replied, “To us, who are more learned than the masses, religion is nothing but a bewitchment of the common people, which encompasses, like an aura, the sensitive and imaginative powers of their minds; and in that aura notions of piety fly about like butterflies in the air; and their faith, which connects these ideas, as it were, in a chain, is like a silkworm in his cocoon, from which he comes forth as king of the butterflies. For the unlearned masses, from a desire to fly, love to imagine things above their bodily senses and their thought therefrom, in this way making wings for themselves, with which they may soar like eagles and cry boastfully to those on the ground, ‘Look at me!’ But we believe what we see, and we love what we touch.” With that he touched his harlot and said, “This is something I believe in because I see and touch it. But we throw that other nonsense out of our windows, and blow it away with a breath of laughter.” [4] I then asked what he and his companions believed about heaven and hell. He replied with a loud laugh, “What is heaven but the ethereal firmament above? And what are its angels but spots wandering about the sun? And what are archangels but comets with long tails, upon which a crowd of them dwell? And what is hell but bogs where, in their imagination, frogs and crocodiles are the devils? Everything beyond these ideas of heaven and hell is mere trumpery brought forth by some prelate for the purpose of winning glory from the ignorant multitude.” All this he said precisely as he had thought upon these subjects in the world, not knowing that he was then living after death, and having forgotten all that he had heard when he first entered the spiritual world. So again he replied to a question about a life after death, that it was a thing of the imagination; and that perchance some effluvium arising from a buried corpse in the shape of a man, or a thing called a ghost, about which some tell stories, had introduced such a notion among men’s fancies. When I heard this I could no longer keep from laughing; and I said, “Satan, you are raving mad. What are you now? Are you not now in the form of a man? Do you not talk, see, hear, walk? Recall to mind that you have lived in another world which you have forgotten, and that you are now living after death, and that you were even now talking just as you formerly did.” And recollection was given him, and he remembered and was ashamed; and he cried out, “I am mad! I saw heaven above, and I heard angels there uttering things ineffable; but that was when I first came here. I will now keep this in mind to tell to my companions from whom I came; and perhaps they too will be ashamed as I am.” And he kept repeating that he would call them madmen; but as he descended forgetfulness expelled remembrance; and when he reached his companions he was as mad as they, and said that what he had heard from me was madness. In this way do satans think and talk after death. Those are called satans who have confirmed in themselves falsities until they believe them; and those are called devils who have confirmed in themselves evils by their life.

II. The Lord The Redeemer

In the preceding chapter God the Creator, together with Creation, has been treated of. This chapter will treat of the Lord the Redeemer, together with Redemption; and the next chapter of the Holy Spirit, together with the Divine Operation. By the Lord the Redeemer we mean Jehovah in the Human; for in what follows it will be shown that Jehovah Himself descended and assumed a Human in order that He might effect redemption. The name Lord is used and not Jehovah, because the Jehovah of the Old Testament is called the Lord in the New, as is shown in the following passages. In Moses: Hear, O Israel, Jehovah our God is one Jehovah; and thou shalt love Jehovah God with all thy heart and with all thy soul (Deut. 6:4, 5); and in Mark: The Lord our God is one Lord; and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul (Mark 12:29, 30). Again, in Isaiah: Prepare ye the way of Jehovah, make level in the wilderness a highway for our God (Isa. 40:3); and in Luke: Thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare His way 1:76); besides other passages. Moreover, the Lord commanded His disciples to call Him Lord, and this is why He was so called by the Apostles in their Epistles, and afterwards by the Apostolic Church, as appears from its creed, which is called the Apostles’ Creed. The reason of this was that the Jews durst not utter the name Jehovah on account of its holiness; also that “Jehovah” means the Divine Esse which was from eternity; and the Human that He assumed in time was not that Esse. What the Divine Esse or Jehovah is, has been shown in the preceding chapter (n. 18-26, 27-35). For this reason, by the Lord, here and in the following pages, Jehovah in His Human is meant. And since a knowledge of the Lord surpasses in excellence all other knowledges in the church, and even in heaven, the subject shall be so arranged in order as to bring this knowledge out into clear light. It will be considered in the following order: (1) Jehovah the Creator of the universe descended and assumed a Human that He might redeem men and save them. (2) He descended as Divine Truth, which is the Word, although He did not separate from it the Divine Good. (3) He assumed the Human in accordance with His Divine Order. (4) The Human whereby He sent Himself into the world is what is called the Son of God. (5) Through the acts of Redemption the Lord made Himself Righteousness. (6) Through the same acts He united Himself to the Father, and the Father united Himself to Him, also in accordance with the Divine Order. (7) Thus God became Man, and Man became God, in one Person. (8) The progress towards union was His state of Exinanation [emptying Himself]; and the union itself is His state of Glorification. (9) Hereafter no one from among Christians enters heaven unless he believes in the Lord God the Savior, and approaches Him alone. But these statements shall be explained separately.

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(1) Jehovah God descended and assumed a Human that He might redeem men and save them. In the Christian churches at this day it is believed that God the Creator of the universe begat a Son from eternity, and that this Son descended and assumed a Human in order to redeem and save men. But this is an error, and of itself falls to the ground as soon as it is considered that God is one, and that it is worse than incredible in the sight of reason to say that the one God begat a Son from eternity, and that God the Father, together with the Son and Holy Spirit, each one of whom singly is God, is one God. This incredible notion is wholly dissipated, like a falling star in midair, when it is shown from the Word that Jehovah God Himself descended and became Man and also Redeemer. [2] The first statement, that it was Jehovah God Himself who descended and became Man, is made clear in the following passages: Behold, a virgin shall conceive and shall bear a Son, who shall be called God-with-us (Isa. 7:14; Matt. 1:22, 23). Unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government shall be upon His shoulder; and His name shall be called Wonderful, God, Mighty, Father of Eternity, the Prince of Peace (Isa. 9:6). It shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for Him that He may deliver us; this is Jehovah; we have waited for Him; let us exult and be glad in His salvation (Isa. 25:9). The voice of one crying in the desert, Prepare ye the way of Jehovah; make level in the wilderness a highway for our God, and all flesh shall see it together (Isa. 40:3, 5). Behold, the Lord Jehovah cometh in strength, and His arm shall rule for Him behold, His reward is with Him. He shall feed His flock like a shepherd (Isa. 40:10, 11). Jehovah said, Sing for joy and be glad, O daughter of Zion; for lo, I come to dwell in the midst of thee. Then many nations shall cleave to Jehovah in that day (Zech. 2:10, 11). I, Jehovah, have called thee in righteousness, and I will give thee for a covenant of the people. I am Jehovah; this is My name; My glory will I not give to another (Isa. 42:6-8). Behold, the days come, that I will raise up unto David a righteous Branch and He shall reign as King, and He shall execute judgment and righteousness in the earth, and this is His name, Jehovah our righteousness (Jer. 23:5, 6; 33:15, 16). See also the places where the Lord’s coming is called “the day of Jehovah” (as in Isa. 13:6, 9, 13, 22; Ezek. 31:15; Joel 1:15; 2:1, 2, 11; 3:1, 14, 18; Amos 5:13, 18, 20; Zeph. 1:7-18; Zech. 14:1, 4-21; and elsewhere). [3] That it was Jehovah Himself who descended and assumed the Human is especially evident in Luke, where it is said: Mary said to the angel, How shall this come to pass, seeing I know not a man? And the angel answered her, The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee; therefore also that holy thing that is born of thee shall be called the Son of God (Luke 1:34, 35). And in Matthew: The angel said to Joseph, the bridegroom of Mary, in a dream, that that which was begotten in her was of the Holy Spirit. And Joseph knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son, and he called His name Jesus (Matt. 1:20, 25). It will be shown in the third chapter of this work that the Divine that goes forth from Jehovah God is what is meant by the Holy Spirit. Who does not know that the offspring has its soul and life from the father, and that the body is from the soul? Can anything, then, be more plainly declared than that the Lord had His soul and life from Jehovah God; and as the Divine cannot be divided, that the very Divine of the Father was His soul and life? This is why the Lord so often called Jehovah God His Father, and why Jehovah God called Him His Son. Can there be anything, then, more absurd than to say that the soul of the Lord was from His mother Mary? as is at this day dreamed by both the Roman Catholics and the Reformed, they not having yet been awakened by the Word.

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That a Son born from eternity descended and assumed the Human is a total error which falls to the ground and is dissipated in the light of those passages in the Word where Jehovah Himself says that He Himself is the Savior and Redeemer, as in the following: Am I not Jehovah, and there is no God else beside Me? A just God and a Savior, there is none beside Me (Isa. 45:21, 22). I am Jehovah; and beside Me there is no Savior (Isa. 43:11). I am Jehovah thy God, and thou shalt acknowledge no God beside Me and there is no Savior beside Me (Hos. 13:4). That all flesh may know that I Jehovah am thy Savior and thy Redeemer (Isa. 49:26; 60:16). As for our Redeemer, Jehovah of Hosts is His name (Isa. 47:4). Their Redeemer is strong; Jehovah of Hosts is His name (Jer. 1:34). O Jehovah, my Rock and my Redeemer (Ps. 19:14). Thus said Jehovah, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, I am Jehovah thy God (Isa. 48:17; 43:14; 49:7). Thus said Jehovah, thy Redeemer, I am Jehovah that maketh all things, even alone by Myself (Isa. 44:24). Thus said Jehovah, the King of Israel, and His Redeemer, Jehovah of Hosts, I am the First and I am the Last; and beside Me there is no God (Isa. 44:6). Thou, O Jehovah, art our Father, our Redeemer; from everlasting is Thy name (Isa. 68:16). With everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, said Jehovah, Thy Redeemer (Isa. 54:8). Thou hast redeemed me, O Jehovah of truth (Ps. 31:5). Let Israel hope in Jehovah; for with Jehovah there is mercy, and with Him is plenteous redemption. And He shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities (Ps. 103:7, 8). Jehovah of Hosts is His name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; the God of the whole earth shall He be called (Isa. 54:5). From these and many other passages it can be seen by every man who has eyes, and a mind that has been opened by means of them, that God, who is one, descended and became Man, in order to effect redemption. Who cannot see this as in the light of morning when he gives any attention to these Divine declarations themselves which have been presented? But those who are in the shades of night, owing to a confirmed belief in the birth of another God from eternity, and in His descent and work of redemption, shut their eyes to these Divine declarations, and in that state study how to apply them to their own falsities and pervert them.

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There are many reasons why God could redeem men, that is, could deliver them from damnation and hell, only by means of an assumed Human; which reasons shall be set forth in the following pages. Redemption consisted in subjugating the hells, restoring the heavens to order, and after this reestablishing the church; and this redemption God with His omnipotence could effect only by means of the Human; as it is only by means of an arm that one can work-in the Word (Isa. 40:10; 53:1) this Human of the Lord is called “the arm of Jehovah”-or as one can attack a fortified town and destroy the temples of idols therein only by means of intervening agencies. That it was by means of His Human that God had omnipotence in this Divine work, is also evident from the Word. For in no other way would it be possible for God who is in the inmost and thus in the purest things, to pass over to outmost things, in which the hells are, and in which the men of that time were; just as the soul can do nothing without a body, or as no one can conquer an enemy without coming in sight of him, or approaching and getting near to him with proper equipments, such as spears, shields, or muskets. It was as impossible for God to effect redemption without the Human as it would be for men to conquer the Indies without transporting soldiers there by means of ships, or as it would be to make trees grow by heat and light if the air through which these pass, or the soil from which the trees spring, had never been created; as impossible, in fact, as to catch fish by spreading nets in the air instead of in the water. For it is impossible for Jehovah, such as He is in Himself, by His omnipotence to get in contact with any devil in hell or any devil upon the earth, and restrain him and his fury and tame his violence, unless He be in things last as He is in things first. Because He is in things last in His Human, He is called in the Word “the First and the Last,” “the Alpha and the Omega,” “the Beginning and the End.”

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(2) Jehovah God descended as Divine Truth, which is the Word, although He did not separate from it the Divine Good. There are two things that constitute the essence of God, the Divine love and the Divine wisdom, or what is the same, Divine good and Divine truth. That these two are the essence of God has been shown above (n. 36-48). Moreover these two are what are meant in the Word by the name “Jehovah God,” “Jehovah” meaning the Divine love or Divine good, and “God” the Divine wisdom or Divine truth; and for this reason these two names are distinguished in the Word in various ways; sometimes the name “Jehovah” alone is used, and sometimes the name “God” alone-the name “Jehovah” when the Divine good is treated of, and the name “God” when the Divine truth is treated of; and the name “Jehovah God” when both are treated of. That Jehovah God descended as the Divine truth, which is the Word, is shown in John as follows: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word. All things were made by Him, and without Him was not any thing made that was made. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among, us (John 1:1, 3, 14). By “the Word” here the Divine truth is meant; because the Word, which is in the church, is Divine truth itself, for it was dictated by Jehovah Himself; and what is dictated by Jehovah is nothing but Divine truth, and can be nothing else. [2] But inasmuch as the Divine truth passed down through the heavens even to the world, it became adapted to angels in heaven and also to men in the world. For this reason there is in the Word a spiritual sense in which the Divine truth is seen in clear light, and a natural sense in which it is seen obscurely. Thus it is the Divine truth in our Word that is here meant in John. This is made still clearer by the fact that the Lord came into the world to fulfill all things of the Word; and this is why it is so often said that this or that was done to Him “that the Scripture might be fulfilled.” Nor is anything but the Divine truth meant by “the Messiah” or “the Christ,” or “the Son of man,” or “the Holy Spirit the Comforter,” which the Lord sent after His departure. In the chapter on the Sacred Scripture it will be shown that in His transfiguration before the three disciples on the mount (Matt. 17; Mark 9; Luke 9), and also before John in the Apocalypse (1:12-16), the Lord represented Himself as that Word. [3] That the Lord in the world was the Divine truth is evident from His own words: I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life (John 14:6); also from these words: We know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding that we may know the True; and we are in the True, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life (1 John 5:20); and still further by His being called “the Light,” as in the following passages: There was the true light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world (John 1:4, 9). Jesus said, Yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light, that darkness overtake you not. While ye have the light believe in the light, that ye may be sons of light (John 12:35, 36, 46). I am the light of the world (John 9:5). Simeon said, For mine eyes have seen Thy salvation, a light for revelation to the Gentiles (Luke 2:30-32). And this is the judgment, that light is come into the world; he that doeth the truth cometh to the light (John 3:19, 21); besides other places. “Light” means the Divine truth.

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Jehovah God came down into the world as Divine truth, in order that He might work redemption; and redemption consisted in subjugating the hells, restoring the heavens to order, and after this establishing a church. This Divine good is inadequate to effect; it can be done only by the Divine truth from the Divine good. The Divine good, viewed in itself, is like the round hilt of a sword, or a blunt piece of wood, or a bow without arrows; while Divine truth from Divine good is like a sharp sword, or wood in the form of a spear, or a bow with its arrows, all which are effective against an enemy. (In the spiritual sense of the Word “swords,” “spears,” and “bows” mean truths combating, as may be seen in the Apocalypse Revealed, n. 52, 299, 436, where this is shown. ) The falsities and evils in which all hell was and always is, could have been assaulted, conquered, and subjugated in no other way than by means of Divine truth from the Word; nor could the new heaven that was then constituted have been built up, formed, and arranged in order by any other means; nor could a new church on the earth have been established by any other means. Moreover all the strength, energy, and power of God belong to Divine truth from the Divine good. This explains why Jehovah God came down as Divine truth, which is the Word. Therefore it is said in David: Gird Thy sword upon Thy thigh, O mighty One, and in Thy majesty mount up; ride upon the Word of truth; Thy right hand shall teach Thee wonderful things. Thine arrows are sharp, Thine enemies shall fall under Thee (Ps. 45:3-5). This is said of the Lord, of His conflicts with the hells, and of His victories over them.

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What good is, apart from truth, and what truth is, apart from good, can be seen clearly in man. All good in man has its seat in his will, and all truth in his understanding; and the will from its good can do nothing whatever except by means of the understanding; it cannot work, it cannot speak, it cannot feel; all of its virtue and power is by means of the understanding, consequently by means of truth; for the understanding is the receptacle and abode of truth. It is with these precisely as with the action of the heart and lungs in the body. Without the respiration of the lungs not a motion or a sensation is produced by the heart; but both motion and sensation are produced from the heart by the respiration of the lungs, as is evident in the swooning of persons who have been suffocated or have fallen into the water, whose respiration ceases, although the systolic activity of the heart still continues. That such persons have neither motion nor sensation is known. It is the same with the embryo in the mother’s womb. This is because the heart corresponds to the will and its various kinds of good, and the lungs to the understanding and its truths. In the spiritual world the power of truth is especially conspicuous. An angel who is in Divine truths from the Lord, although in body as weak as an infant, can nevertheless put to flight a troop of infernal spirits that look like Anakim and Nephilim, that is, like giants, and can pursue them to hell, and thrust them into their caverns there; and when they emerge therefrom they dare not come near the angel. Those who are in Divine truths from the Lord are in that world like lions, although in body they have no more strength than sheep. Men who are in Divine truths from the Lord have a like power against evils and falsities, and consequently against cohorts of devils, who, regarded in their essence, are nothing but evils and falsities. There is such strength in Divine truth because God is good itself and truth itself; and it was by means of Divine truth that He created the universe; and all the laws of order by means of which He preserves the universe are truths. Therefore it is said in John: That all things were made by the Word, and without Him was nothing thing made that was made (1:3, 10). And in David: By the Word of Jehovah were the heavens made; and all the hosts of them by the breath of His mouth (Ps. 33:6).

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That God, although He descended as Divine truth, did not separate therefrom the Divine good, is evident from the conception; of which it is said: That the power of the Most High overshadowed Mary (Luke 1:35), “the power of the Most High” meaning the Divine good. This is evident also from the passages where He says that the Father is in Him and He in the Father, that all things that the Father hath are His, and that the Father and He are one; also from other passages. By “the Father” the Divine good is meant.

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(3) God assumed the Human in accordance with His Divine Order. In the section that treats of the Divine omnipotence and omniscience it has been shown that God introduced order into the universe and into each and all things of it at the time of their creation, and therefore His omnipotence in the universe and in each and all things of it, proceeds and operates in accordance with the laws of His order. (This has already been treated of consecutively, n. 49-74.) Since, then, it was God who descended, and since (as is there shown) He is Order itself, it was necessary, if He was to become man actually, that He should be conceived, carried in the womb, born, educated, acquire knowledges gradually, and thereby be introduced into intelligence and wisdom. In respect to His Human He was, for this reason, an infant like other infants, a boy like other boys, and so on; with the sole difference that this development was accomplished in Him more quickly, more fully, and more perfectly than in others. That this development was in accordance with order is evident from these words in Luke: And the child Jesus grew and waxed strong in spirit. And Jesus advanced in wisdom, and in the stages of life, and in favor with God and man (Luke 2:40, 52). That this was done more quickly, more fully, and more perfectly than with others is evident from what is said of Him in the same Gospel, that When He was twelve years old He sat in the temple in the midst of the doctors and taught them and that all that heard Him were astonished at His understanding and answers (Luke 2:46, 47; and afterwards, 4:16-22, 32). This took place because Divine order requires that man should prepare himself for the reception of God; and in proportion as he prepares himself, God enters into him as into His dwelling-place and home; and this preparation is effected by means of knowledges respecting God and the spiritual things pertaining to the church, and thus by means of intelligence and wisdom. For it is a law of order that in proportion as man approaches and gets near to God (which he must do wholly as if of himself) does God approach and get near to man, and conjoin Himself with man in man’s interiors. It was in accordance with this order that the Lord progressed even to a oneness with His Father, as will be further shown in what follows.

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Those who do not know that the Divine omnipotence proceeds and operates in accordance with order, may hatch from their fancies many things that are opposed to and in conflict with sound reason; as why God did not assume the Human immediately without such stages of development; why He did not create or bring together a body for Himself out of elements drawn from the four quarters of the world, and thus exhibit Himself as the God-Man to the bodily vision of the Jewish people, and even of the whole world; or if He wished to be born, why He did not infuse His entire Divinity into the embryo itself, or into the infant itself; or why He did not, after His birth, at once raise Himself up to the stature of manhood, and speak from Divine wisdom. Those who think of the Divine omnipotence as being apart from order may conceive and bring forth these and like things, and thus fill the church with absurdities and trifles, as has indeed been done; for example, that God could beget a Son from eternity, and then cause a third God to proceed from Himself and the Son; again, that He could be angry at the human race, and devote it to destruction, and be willing to be brought back to mercy by the Son, and this by intercession and through remembrance of His cross; and again, that He could put into man the righteousness of His Son, and insert it in man’s heart, like the “simple substance” of Wolff, which contains, as that author himself says, all things belonging to the merit of the Son, but which cannot be divided, for if it were divided it would become naught; still again, that He is able to remit sins to whomsoever He will, as if by a papal bull, or cleanse the most impious person from his black evils, and thus make a man who is as black as a devil as white as an angel of light, without the man’s moving himself any more than a stone, or while he is standing still like a statue or an idol; with many other insane notions which those who maintain that the Divine power is absolute, with no recognition or acknowledgment of any order therein, may scatter abroad as a fanning machine blows chaff into the air. In spiritual matters, which pertain to heaven and the church, and thus to eternal life, such may wander away from Divine truths like a blind man in the woods, who now falls over stones, now strikes his forehead against a tree, and now entangles his hair in its branches.

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Moreover, the Divine miracles have been wrought in accordance with Divine order, but in accordance with the order of an influx of the spiritual world into the natural world; about which order nothing has been known heretofore, because heretofore no one has known anything about the spiritual world. But what that order is will be made clear at the proper time, when we come to treat of Divine Miracles and Magical Miracles.

92.

(4) The Human whereby God sent Himself into the world is the Son of God. The Lord frequently says that the Father sent Him, and that He was sent by the Father (as in 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 in many other places); and this He says, because “being sent into the world” means to descend and come among men; and this was done by means of a human which He took on through the virgin Mary. Moreover, the Human is actually the Son of God, because it was conceived from Jehovah God as its Father (according to Luke 1:32, 35). He is called “the Son of God,” “the Son of man,” and “the son of Mary;” “the Son of God” meaning Jehovah God in His Human; “the Son of man” the Lord in respect to the Word; while “the son of Mary” means strictly the human He took on. That this is the meaning of “Son of God” and “Son of man” will be shown in what follows. That “the son of Mary” means the mere human is clearly seen in the generation of man, in that the soul is from the father and the body from the mother; for the soul is contained in the semen of the father and is clothed with a body in the mother; or what is the same thing, all the spiritual that man has is from the father and all the material from the mother. In regard to the Lord, the Divine that He had was from Jehovah the Father, and the human from the mother. These two united are the Son of God. This is evident from the account of the Lord’s birth, as given in Luke: The angel Gabriel said to Mary, The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee therefore the Holy thing that shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God (Luke 1:35). The Lord also called Himself “one sent by the Father,” for the reason that sent and angel have the same meaning, angel meaning in the original one sent. For it is said in Isaiah: The angel of the faces of Jehovah delivered them; in His love and in His pity He redeemed them (63:9); and in Malachi: And the Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to His temple, even the Messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in (Mal. 3:1; also elsewhere). That the Divine Trinity-God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit-is in the Lord, and that the Father in Him is the Divine from which, the Son the Divine Human, and the Holy Spirit the Divine going forth, will be seen in the third chapter of this work where the Divine Trinity is treated of.

93.

Since the angel Gabriel said to Mary, “The Holy thing that shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God,” it will be shown by the following passages from the Word that the Lord in respect to His Human is called the Holy One of Israel: I saw in visions and, behold, a Watcher and an Holy One came down from heaven (Dan. 4:13, 23). God cometh from Teman, and 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 said Jehovah, the Redeemer of Israel, His Holy One (Isa. 49:7). I am Jehovah thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Savior (Isa. 43:1, 3). As for our Redeemer, Jehovah of Hosts is His name, the Holy One of Israel (Isa. 47:4). Thus said Jehovah, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel (Isa. 43:14; 48:17). Jehovah of Hosts is His name, and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel (Isa. 54:5). They tempted God and the Holy One of Israel (Ps. 78:41). They have forsaken Jehovah, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel (Isa. 1:4). They said, Cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us. Wherefore thus said the Holy One of Israel (Isa. 30:11, 12). Who say, Let Him hasten His work that we may see; and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw nigh and come (Isa. 5:19). In that day they shall stay upon Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel, in truth (Isa. 10:20). Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion for great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee (Isa. 7:6). The God of Israel said, In that day His eyes shall look to the Holy One of Israel (Isa. 17:6, 7). The poor of men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel (Isa. 29:19; 41:16). The land is full of guilt against the Holy One of Israel (Jer. 51:5). (See also Isa. 55:5; 50:9; and elsewhere.) Thus “the Holy One of Israel” means the Lord in respect to His Divine Human, since the angel said to Mary: The Holy thing that shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God (Luke 1:35). That Jehovah and the holy one of Israel are one, although the names are different, is also made clear by the passages here quoted which state that Jehovah is that holy one of Israel. It is also made evident from numerous passages that the Lord is called the God of Israel (as 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).

94.

In the Christian churches of the present day it is customary to call the Lord our Savior the son of Mary, and rarely the Son of God, except when a Son of God born from eternity is meant. This is because the Roman Catholics have made Mary the mother more holy than all others, and have exalted her as a goddess or queen over all their saints. When, however, the Lord glorified His Human He put off everything belonging to His mother, and put on everything belonging to His Father. This shall be fully shown in subsequent pages of this work. From this saying, so common with all, that the Lord is the son of Mary, many enormities have flowed into the church; especially with those who have not taken into consideration what is said of the Lord in the Word; as that the Father and He are one, that He is in the Father and the Father in Him, that all things of the Father are His, that He called Jehovah His Father, and that Jehovah the Father called Him His Son. These enormities that have flowed into the church as a result of His being called the son of Mary, and not the Son of God, are, that the idea of Divinity in respect to the Lord perishes, and with it all that is said of Him in the Word as the Son of God; also that through this, Judaism, Arianism, Socinianism, Calvinism, as it was at its beginning, gain entrance, and at length Naturalism, and with it the insane notion that He was the son of Mary by Joseph, and that His soul was from the mother; and therefore that He is not the Son of God, al. though He is so called. Let everyone, whether clergyman or layman, question himself whether he has conceived and cherishes any other idea of the Lord as the son of Mary than that He was merely man. Because even in the third century, when Arianism arose, such an idea had begun to prevail among Christians, the Nicene Council, for the purpose of maintaining the Divinity of the Lord, fabricated a Son of God born from eternity. By this fiction the Human of the Lord was then exalted, and with many is still exalted, to Divinity; but it is not so exalted with those who by the hypostatic union understand a union like that between two beings, one of whom is superior and the other inferior. Yet what else results from this than the destruction of the entire Christian church, which was founded solely upon the worship of Jehovah in the Human, consequently upon the God-Man? That no one can see the Father, or can know Him, or come to Him, or believe in Him, except through His Human, the Lord declares in many places. If He is not thus approached all the noble seed of the church is changed into ignoble, the seed of the olive into the seed of the pine, the seed of the orange, lemon, apple, and pear, into the seed of the willow, the elm, the linden, and the oak; the vine into the bulrush of the swamp, wheat and barley into chaff; in fact, all spiritual food becomes like dust on which serpents feed; for the spiritual light in man then becomes natural, and at length sensual-corporeal, which viewed in itself is a delusive light; man then becomes even like a bird that while flying on high, being deprived of its wings, falls to the ground, and walking there sees around it only what lies at its feet; and he then thinks about the spiritual things of the church, which should make for life eternal, no otherwise than as a soothsayer thinks. Such are the results, when man regards the Lord God, the Redeemer and Savior, as a mere son of Mary, that is, as a mere man.

95.

(5) Through the acts of Redemption the Lord made Himself Righteousness. It is said and believed in Christian churches at this day that the Lord alone has merit and righteousness through the obedience which He rendered to God the Father while in the world, and especially through the passion of the cross. But it is asserted that the essential act of redemption was the passion of the cross. This, however, was not an act of redemption, but an act of the glorification of His Human, a subject that will be considered in the succeeding chapter on Redemption. The acts of redemption whereby the Lord made Himself righteousness were as follows: He executed the final judgment, which took place in the spiritual world; at that time He separated the evil from the good and the goats from the sheep; He expelled from heaven those who made one with the beasts of the dragon; He formed out of the worthy a new heaven, and out of the unworthy a hell; in both heaven and hell He gradually restored all things to order; and to crown all, He established a new church. These acts were the acts of redemption whereby the Lord made Himself righteousness. For righteousness is doing all things in accordance with Divine order, and restoring to order whatever has fallen from order; since righteousness is Divine order itself. This is what is meant by these words of the Lord: It becometh Me to fulfill all the righteousness of God (Matt. 3:15); and by these words in the Old Testament: Behold, the days come when I will raise up unto David a righteous Branch and He shall reign as King, and shall execute righteousness in the land. And this is His name, Jehovah our Righteousness (Jer. 23:5, 6; 33:15, 16) I that 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).

96.

But quite otherwise do those who bear rule in the church in our time describe the Lord’s righteousness; they also make their faith a saving faith by the inscription of His righteousness upon man; when the truth is that the Lord’s righteousness, being such in its nature and origin, and being in itself purely Divine, cannot be conjoined to any man, and thus cannot effect salvation any otherwise than as the Divine life can, which is Divine love and Divine wisdom. With these the Lord enters into every man; but unless man is living in accordance with order, that life, although it is in him, contributes nothing whatever to his salvation; it imparts merely an ability to understand truth and do good. To live according to order is to live according to God’s commandments; and when man so lives and so does, he acquires for himself righteousness-not the righteousness of the Lord’s redemption, but the Lord Himself as righteousness. Such are described in these words: Except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees ye shall not enter into the kingdom of the heavens (Matt. 5:19-20). Blessed are they who endure persecution for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of the heavens (Matt. 5:10). At the end of the age the angels shall go forth and separate the wicked from the midst of the righteous (Matt. 13:49); and elsewhere. In the Word by “the righteous” those are meant who have lived in accordance with Divine order, since the Divine order is righteousness. The righteousness itself which the Lord became through the acts of redemption can be ascribed to man, inscribed upon man, adapted and conjoined to man, only as can light to the eye, sound to the ear, will to the muscles in action, thought to the lips in speaking, air to the lungs in breathing, heat to the blood, and so on; and everyone perceives of himself that these flow in and adjoin and conjoin themselves. Righteousness is acquired only so far as man practices righteousness; and this he does so far as he acts towards the neighbor from a love of what is righteous and true; and righteousness has its abode in the good itself or use itself which he performs. For the Lord says that every tree is known by its fruit. Does not everyone know another from his works, if he attends to them with reference to the end and purpose of his will, and the intention and reason from which they are done? To these things all angels direct their attention, as well as all in our own world who are wise. In general, every product and growth from the earth is known by its flower and seed and by its use; every metal by its excellence; every stone by its character; every field, every kind of food, every beast of the earth, and every bird of the air, each by its quality-and why not man? But in the chapter on Faith the source of the quality of man’s works shall be explained.

97.

(6) Through the same acts the Lord united Himself to the Father and the Father united Himself to Him. This union was effected by the acts of redemption, because the Lord performed these acts from His Human, and as He did this, the Divine which is meant by the Father drew nearer, and aided, and cooperated, and finally they so conjoined themselves as to be not two but one; which union is the glorification which will be treated of in what follows.

98.

That the Father and the Son, that is, the Divine and the Human, became united in the Lord like soul and body, is in agreement with the belief of the church at this day and also with the Word; and yet scarcely five in a hundred, or fifty in a thousand, know it. This is because of the doctrine of justification by faith alone, to which most of the clergy who are seeking a reputation for learning with a view to honor or wealth, devote themselves with great zeal, until at present their whole mind has become seized and possessed by that doctrine. And because that doctrine, like the vinous spirit called alcohol, has intoxicated their thoughts, they, like drunken men, have failed to see this most essential truth of the church, that it was Jehovah God who descended and assumed a Human; and yet it is only by means of this union that a conjunction of man with God is possible, and by conjunction, salvation. That salvation depends upon a knowledge and acknowledgment of God, can be seen by anyone who reflects that God is the All in all things of heaven, and therefore the All in all things of the church, consequently the All in all things of theology. But first it shall here be shown that the union of the Father and Son, that is, of the Divine and the Human in the Lord, is like the union of soul and body, and afterwards that this union is reciprocal. A union like that of soul and body is established in the Athanasian Creed, which is accepted in the whole Christian world as the doctrine respecting God. We there read: “Our Lord Jesus Christ is God and Man; and although He is God and Man, yet they are not two, but one Christ. He is one because the Divine took to Itself a Human. He is indeed wholly one, and is one Person; for as soul and body are one man, so is God and Man one Christ.” What they understand by this is, that there is such a union between a Son of God from eternity and a Son born in time; but as God is one and not three, when we understand a union between the one God from eternity and the Son born in time, this doctrine agrees with the Word. In the Word it is said: That He was conceived of Jehovah the Father (Luke 1:34, 35); this was the source of His soul and life; therefore He says: That He and the Father are one (John 10:30); That he that seeth and knoweth Him seeth and knoweth the Father (John 14:9); If ye knew Me ye would know My Father also (John 8:19); He that receiveth Me receiveth Him that sent Me (John 13:20); That He is in the bosom of the Father (John 1:18); That all things whatsoever the Father hath are His (John 16:15); That He is called the Father of Eternity (Isa. 9:6); That therefore He 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 of the Father and Himself is like the union of soul and body. Therefore in the Old Testament also He is frequently called “Jehovah,” “Jehovah of Hosts,” and “Jehovah the Redeemer” (see above, n. 83).

99.

That this union is reciprocal is clearly evident from the following passages in the Word: Philip, believest thou not that I am in the Father and the Father in Me? Believe Me, that I am in the Father and the Father in Me (John 14:10, 11). That ye may know and believe that the Father is in Me and I in the Father (John 10:36, 38). That they all may be one, as Thou, Father, art in Me and I in Thee (John 17:21). Father, all things that are Mine are Thine, and all things that are Thine are Mine (John 17:10). The union is reciprocal, because no union or conjunction between two persons is possible unless each in turn approached the other. In the whole heaven, and in the whole world, and in the entire man, all conjunction has its source in the reciprocal approach of one to another, each then willing in oneness with the other. From this comes homogeneity and sympathy, also unanimity and concord, in every particular of each. In every man there is such a reciprocal conjunction of soul and body; such is the conjunction of the spirit of man with the sensory and motor organs of his body; such is the conjunction of the heart and the lungs; such is the conjunction of the will and the understanding; such is the conjunction in man of all the members and viscera in themselves and with each other; the minds of all who interiorly love each other are so conjoined, for this conjunction is inscribed upon all love and friendship; since love desires to love and be loved. Of all things in the world that are fully conjoined one to the other there is a reciprocal conjunction. There is a like conjunction of the sun’s heat with the heat of wood and mineral, of vital heat with the heat of all the fibers of animate things, of the soil with the root, through the root with the tree, and through the tree with the fruit; a like conjunction of the magnet with iron; and so on. Unless conjunction is effected by the reciprocal and mutual approach of one to another, no internal but only external conjunction is effected, and this in time is dissolved by mutual consent, sometimes even so far that they no longer recognize each other.

100.

Since then, no conjunction that is a conjunction is possible unless it is effected reciprocally and mutually, so the conjunction of the Lord and man is such, as may be clearly seen from these passages: He that eateth My flesh and drinketh My blood dwelleth in Me and I in him (John 6:56). Abide in Me and I in you. He that abideth in Me and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit (John 15:4, 5). If anyone open the door I will come in to him, and will sup with him and he with Me (Apoc. 3:20); and elsewhere. This conjunction is effected by man’s approaching the Lord, and the Lord’s approaching him, for it is a sure and immutable law, that so far as man approaches the Lord so far does the Lord approach man. But more will be seen on this subject in the chapters on Charity and Faith.

(7) Thus God became Man and Man became God in one Person. That Jehovah God became Man, and Man became God in one Person, follows as a conclusion from all the preceding propositions of this chapter, especially from these two: that Jehovah the Creator of the universe descended and assumed a Human that He might redeem and save men (see above, n. 82-84), and that the Lord by the acts of redemption united Himself to the Father, and the Father united Himself to Him, thus reciprocally and mutually (n. 97-100). From that reciprocal union it is very evident that God became Man and Man became God in one Person; and from the union of the two as being a union like that of soul and body, the same conclusion follows. That this is in accordance with the faith of the church at this day, as derived from the Athanasian Creed, may be seen above (n. 98); that it is also in accordance with the faith of the Evangelical churches may be seen in that chief of their orthodox books, called the Formula Concordi where it is firmly established, both from Sacred Scripture and from the Fathers, as also by rational arguments, that the human nature of Christ was exalted to Divine majesty, omnipotence and omnipresence, and that in Christ Man is God, and God is Man (see pp. 607, 765). Moreover, it has been shown in this present chapter that Jehovah God as to His Human is called in the Word “Jehovah,” “Jehovah God,” “Jehovah of Hosts,” and “the God of Israel.” Therefore Paul says: That in Jesus Christ dwelleth all the fullness of Divinity bodily (Col. 2:9); and John: That Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is the true God and eternal life (1 John 5:20). That “the Son of God” means strictly His Human may be seen above (n. 92 and the following numbers). Furthermore, Jehovah God calls both Himself and Him Lord; for we read: The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at My right hand (Ps. 110:1); and in Isaiah: For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; whose name is God, the Father of Eternity (9:6). The Lord as to His Human is also meant by “the Son” in David: I will declare the decree, Jehovah said unto me, Thou art My Son, this day I have begotten Thee. Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and ye perish in the way (Ps. 2:7, 12). Here no Son from eternity is meant, but the Son born in the world; for this is a prophecy about the Lord who was to come; consequently it is called a “decree” which Jehovah declared to David; and in the same Psalm it is said previously: I have anointed my King upon Zion (verse 6); and further on: I will give to Him the nations for an inheritance (verse 8). Therefore “this day” does not mean from eternity, but in time; for with Jehovah the future is present.

102.

It is believed that the Lord as to His Human not only was, but still is, the son of Mary; but in this the Christian world is under a delusion. It is true that He was the son of Mary, but not true that He still is; for by the acts of redemption He put off the human from the mother and put on a Human from the Father; and this is why the Human of the Lord is Divine, and in Him God is Man, and Man is God. That He put off the human from the mother and put on a Human from the Father, which is the Divine Human, is shown by the fact that He Himself never called Mary His mother, as can be seen from the following passages: The mother of Jesus said to Him, They have no wine. Jesus said unto her, Woman, what to Me and to thee? Mine hour is not yet come (John 2:3, 4); and again: When Jesus saw [from the cross] His mother, and the disciple standing by whom He loved, He saith unto His mother, Woman, behold thy son. Then saith He to the disciple, Behold thy mother (John 19:26, 27); and on one occasion He did not acknowledge her: It was told Jesus by some who said, Thy mother and Thy brethren stand without, desiring to see Thee. Jesus answering said, My mother and My brethren are these who hear the Word of God and do it (Luke 8:20, 21; Matt. 12:46-50; Mark 3:31-35). Thus the Lord did not call her mother but “woman,” and gave her to John as a mother. In other places she is called His mother, but not by His own lips. [2] This is further confirmed 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, How does it seem to you about the Christ? Whose son is He? They say unto Him, David’s. He said unto them, How then doth David in spirit call Him his Lord, saying, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I place Thine enemies as the footstool of Thy feet? If then David calls Him Lord, how is He his son? And no man was able to answer Him a word (Matt. 12:41-46; Mark 12:35-37; Luke 20:41-44; Ps. 110:1). [3] To the above I will add this, which is new: Once it was granted me to speak with Mary the mother. On a certain occasion she passed by and appeared in heaven above my head in white raiment like silk; and then pausing a little she said that she had been the mother of the Lord, who was born of her; but that He, having become God, had put off everything human that He had derived from her, and that she therefore worshiped Him as her God, and was unwilling that anyone should acknowledge Him as her son, because in Him all is Divine. From all this there now shines forth this truth, that thus Jehovah is Man as in things first so also in things last according to these passages: I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, He who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty (Rev. 1:8, 11). When John saw the Son of Man in the midst of the seven lamp stands he fell at His feet as dead; but He laid His right hand upon him saying, I am the First and the Last (Apoc. 1:13, 17; 21:6). Behold I come quickly, to give every man according to his word I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last (Apoc. 22:12, 13). and in Isaiah: Thus said Jehovah, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, Jehovah of Hosts, I am the First and the Last (44:6; 48:12).

103.

To this I will add the following arcanum: The soul, which is from the father, is the man himself; while the body, which is from the mother, is not the man in himself, but is from the man; it is simply the soul’s clothing, woven of such things as are from the natural world; while the soul is woven of such things as exist in the spiritual world. After death every man lays aside the natural which he took from the mother, and retains the spiritual which is from the father, together with a kind of border from the purest things of nature about it. With those who enter heaven this border is beneath, and the spiritual above; but with those who enter hell the border is above and the spiritual beneath. In consequence of this an angel-man speaks from heaven, that is, what is good and true; while a devil-man when he speaks from his heart speaks from hell, but when he speaks from his lips he speaks as if from heaven; the latter he does abroad, but the former at home. [2] Since the soul of man is the man himself, and is spiritual in its origin, it is evident why the mind, disposition, nature, inclination, and affection of the father’s love dwell in offspring after offspring, and return and display themselves from generation to generation. Because of this many families and even nations are recognized from their first father. There is a common likeness which shows itself in the face of each descendant; and it is only by means of the spiritual things of the church that this likeness is changed. A common likeness of Jacob and Judah still remains in their posterity, whereby they are distinguished from others, and for the reason that they have adhered firmly to their religion even until now. For in the semen from which every man is conceived there exists a graft or offshoot of the father’s soul in its fullness, within a sort of envelope formed of elements from nature; and by means of this his body is formed in the mother’s womb, which body may become a likeness either of the father or of the mother, the image of the father still remaining within it and constantly striving to put itself forth; consequently if it cannot accomplish this in the first offspring it does in those that follow. [3] A likeness of the father in its fullness exists in the semen for the reason, as has been said, that the soul from its origin is spiritual; and the spiritual has nothing in common with space, and is therefore like itself in little compass as in great. With respect to the Lord: While He was in the world He put off by the acts of redemption everything of the human from the mother, and put on a Human from the Father, which is the Divine Human; and this is why in Him Man is God, and God is Man.

104.

(8) The progress towards union was His state of Exinanition [emptying Himself], and the union itself is His state of Glorification. It is acknowledged in the church that when the Lord was in the world He was in two states, called the state of exinanition and the state of glorification. The prior state, which was the state of exinanition, is described in the Word in many places, especially in the Psalm of David and also in the Prophets, and particularly in Isaiah (chapter 53) where it is said: That He emptied His soul even unto death (Isa. 53:12). This same state was His state of humiliation before the Father; for in it He prayed to the Father; and He says that He does the Father’s will, and ascribes to the Father all that He did and said. That He prayed to the Father is evident from these places: Matt. 26:39, 44; Mark 1:35; 6:46; 14:32-39; Luke 5:16; 6:12; 22:41-44; John 17:9, 15, 20. That He did the Father’s will: John 4:34; 5:30. That He ascribed to the Father all that He did and said: John 8:26-28; 12:49, 50; 14:10. He even cried out upon the cross: My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me? (Matt. 27:46; Mark 15:34.) Moreover, except for this state He could not have been crucified. But the state of glorification is also the state of union. He was in that state when He was transfigured before His three disciples, and also when He wrought miracles, and whenever He said that the Father and He are one, that the Father is in Him and He in the Father, and that all things of the Father are His; and, when the union was complete, that He had “power over all flesh” (John 17:2), and “all power in heaven and on earth” (Matt. 28:18); besides other things.

105.

These two states, of exinanition and of glorification, belonged to the Lord because there is no other possible way of attaining to union, this being in accordance with Divine order, which is immutable. The Divine order is that man should set himself in order for the reception of God and prepare himself to be a receptacle and abode into which God may enter and in which, as in His temple, God may dwell. From himself man must do this, and yet must acknowledge that it is from God. This he must acknowledge because he does not feel the presence and operation of God, although God in closest presence operates all the good of love and all the truth of faith in man. Every man progresses and must progress in accordance with this order, if from being natural he is to become spiritual. In like manner it was necessary for the Lord to progress, in order to make Divine His natural human. This is why He prayed to the Father, did the Father’s will, ascribed to Him all that He did and said, and why He exclaimed upon the cross, “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” For in this state God seems to be absent; but after this state comes another, which is the state of conjunction with God; in which state man acts as before, but now from God; but he does not now need, as before, to ascribe to God every good that he wills and does, and every truth that he thinks and speaks, because this is written upon his heart, and thus is inwardly in all his actions and words. In like manner did the Lord unite Himself to His Father, and the Father to Himself. In a word, He glorified His Human, that is, made it Divine, in the same manner in which He regenerates man, that is, makes him spiritual. That every man who from being natural becomes spiritual passes through two states, entering through the first into the second, and thus from the world into heaven, will be fully shown in the chapters on Free Will, on Charity and Faith, and on Reformation and Regeneration. Here let it be noticed only that in the first state, which is called the state of reformation, man has complete freedom to act according to the rationality of his understanding: and in the second, which is the state of regeneration, he has the same freedom; but he now wills and acts, and thinks and speaks, from a new love and a new intelligence, which are from the Lord. For in the first state the understanding takes the chief part and the will the second; while in the following state the will takes the chief part, and the understanding the second; nevertheless, the understanding now acts from the will, and not the will through the understanding. The conjunction of good and truth, of charity and faith, and of the internal and external, is effected in the same way.

106.

These two states are represented by various things in the universe, and for the reason that they are in accordance with Divine order, and the Divine order fills all things and each thing in the universe, even to the utmost particular. In every man the first state is represented by his state of infancy and childhood until the time of puberty, youth, and early manhood, and this is a state of humiliation before his parents, of obedience, and also of instruction by masters and tutors; while the second state is represented in the state of the same person when he becomes his own master and chooser, or freely exercises his own will and understanding, and has control in his own home. So the first state is represented by that of a prince or king’s son or duke’s son, before he has become a king or a duke; likewise by the state of any citizen before he has assumed the office of magistrate; of any subject before he enters upon the functions of any office; of any student who is being prepared for the ministry, before he becomes a priest; and of the priest before he becomes a pastor; and of the pastor before he becomes a primate; also of any virgin before she becomes a wife, and of any maidservant before she becomes a mistress; and in general, of any clerk before he becomes a merchant, of any soldier before he becomes an officer, and of any servant before he becomes a master. The first is a state of servitude, the second is the exercise of one’s own will and from this of one’s own understanding. Again, these two states are represented by various things in the animal kingdom-the first by beasts and birds while they continue with their parents, following them constantly, and being nourished and guided by them; and the second when they leave the old ones and take care of themselves; likewise by worms-the first state while they crawl and feed upon leaves, and the second when they cast off their coverings and become butterflies. Still again, these two states are represented by the subjects of the vegetable kingdom-the first while the plant is springing up from the seed and is adorned with boughs, twigs, and leaves, the second when it bears fruit and produces new seed. This, too, may be likened to the conjunction of truth and good, since all things belonging to a tree correspond to truths, while the fruits correspond to the various kinds of good. But the man who remains in the first state and does not enter the second, is like a tree that produces leaves only and not fruit, of which it is said in the Word: That it must be rooted up and cast into the fire (Matt. 7:19; 21:19; Luke 3:9; 13:6-9; John 15:5, 6); and he is like a servant that did not wish to be free, concerning whom it was commanded: That he should be brought to the door or to the doorpost, and his ear be pierced with an awl (Exod. 21:6). Servants are those who are not conjoined to the Lord; while the free are those who are conjoined to Him; for the Lord says: If the Son maketh you free, ye shall be free indeed (John 8:36).

107.

(9) Hereafter no one from among Christians enters heaven unless he believes in the Lord God the Savior, and approaches Him alone. We read in Isaiah: Behold I create a new heaven and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered nor come into mind; and behold, I will create Jerusalem a rejoicing and her people a joy (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, made ready as a bride for her husband. And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold I make all things new (Rev. 21:1, 2, 5) and in other places: That no others should enter heaven than those who were written in the Lamb’s book of Life (Rev. 13:8; 17:8, 12; 20:12, 15; 21:27). By the “heaven” here mentioned the heaven visible to our eyes is not meant, but the angelic heaven; by “Jerusalem” no city coming down out of the sky is meant, but a church that is to descend from the Lord out of the angelic heaven, and “the Lamb’s book of Life” means not a book written in heaven, which is to be opened, but the Word, which is from the Lord and which treats of the Lord. In the preceding sections of this chapter it has been proved, authenticated, and established that Jehovah God, who is called the creator and the Father, descended and assumed a Human in order that He might be approached by man and be conjoined to man. For does anyone get near to a man by approaching his soul? Can that be done? It is the man himself who is approached, who is seen face to face, and who is talked with mouth to mouth. It is the same with God the Father and the Son; since God the Father is in the Son as a soul is in its body. [2] That the Lord God the savior is he in whom men ought to believe is evident from the following passages in the Word: For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him may not perish, but may have eternal life (John 3:15, 16). He that believeth in the Son is not judged; but he that believeth not hath been judged already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God (John 3:18). He that believeth in the son hath eternal life; but he that believeth not the son shall not see life, but the anger of God abideth on him (John 3:36). The bread of God is He that cometh down out of heaven, and giveth life unto the world. He that cometh to Me shall not hunger; and he that believeth in Me shall never thirst (John 6:33, 35). This is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who beholdeth the Son and believeth in Him may have eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day (John 6:40). They said to Jesus, What must we do that we may work the works of God? Jesus answered, This is the work of God, that ye believe in Him whom He hath sent (John 6:28, 29). Verily, I say unto you, he that believeth in Me hath everlasting life (John 6:47). Jesus cried saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink. He that believeth in Me out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water (John 7:37, 38). Unless ye believe that I am, ye shall die in your sins (John 8:24). Jesus said, I am the resurrection and the life; he that believeth in Me, though he die, shall live and whosoever liveth and believeth in Me shall never die (John 11:25, 26). Jesus said, I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth in Me may not abide in darkness (John 12:46; 8:12). While ye have the light, believe in the light, that ye may be sons of the light (John 12:36). The Lord also said that the disciples should abide in Him, and He in them (John 14:20; 15:1-5; 17:23); which is done by faith: Paul testified both to the Jews and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 20:21). I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; no man cometh unto the Father but by Me (John 14:6). [3] That whosoever believes in the son believes in the Father, since, as said above the Father is in him as the soul in the body, is evident from the following passages: If ye had known Me ye would have known My Father also (John 8:19; 14:7). He that seeth Me, seeth Him that sent Me (John 12:45). He that receiveth Me, receiveth Him that sent Me (John 13:20). This is because no one can see the Father and live (Exod. 33:20). Therefore the Lord says: No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father He hath manifested him (John 1:18). Not that any man hath seen the Father save He that is with the Father, He hath seen the Father (John 6:46). Ye have neither heard the voice of the Father at any time, nor seen His form (John 5:37). But those who know nothing about the Lord, like most of those in the two divisions of the globe called Asia and Africa, including those in the Indies, provided they believe in one God and live according to the precepts of their religion, are saved by their faith and life; for imputation has reference to those who know, not to those who do not know; as when the blind stumble it is not imputed to them; for the Lord says: If ye were blind ye would not have sin; but now ye say that ye see therefore your sin remaineth (John 9:41).

108.

To confirm this further I will relate what I know, because I have seen it and can therefore testify to it, namely, that the Lord is at this day forming a new angelic heaven, and that it is formed of those who believe in the Lord God the Savior, and who approach Him directly, and that all others are rejected. So hereafter, when anyone from Christendom goes into the spiritual world (as every man does at death) and does not believe in the Lord and approach Him alone, and is then unable to receive this faith, because he has lived wickedly or has confirmed himself in falsities, at his first approach toward heaven he is repelled, and turns his face away from heaven and towards the lower earth, whither he goes, and joins those who are there, who are meant, in Revelation, by “the dragon” and the “false prophet.” Moreover, no man henceforth in Christian lands is listened to unless he believes in the Lord; his prayers become in heaven like ill-scented odors, and like eructations from ulcerated lungs; and even if his appeal is thought to be like the fumes of incense, it ascends towards the angelic heaven only like the smoke of a conflagration which is blown back into his eyes by a downward gust of wind, or it is like the incense from a censer hidden under a monk’s cloak. Such is the case hereafter with all piety that is directed to a divided trinity, not to a united trinity. To show that the Divine trinity is united in the Lord is the chief object of this work. To this I will add the following new information. Some months ago the twelve apostles were called together by the Lord, and were sent forth through the whole spiritual world, as they formerly were through the whole natural world, with the command to preach this gospel; and to each apostle was assigned a particular province; and this command they are executing with great zeal and industry. But on these subjects more will be said in the last chapter of this book, where the Consummation of the Age, the Lord’s Coming and the New Church, are specially treated of.

109.

A COROLLARY. All the churches that existed before the Lord’s coming were representative churches; and only in shadow could Divine truths be seen by them. But after the Lord’s coming into the world a church was established by Him which saw, or rather was able to see, Divine truths in light. The difference is like that between evening and morning; likewise in the Word the state of the church before the Lord’s coming is called evening, and the state after His coming is called morning. Before the Lord came into the world He was present with men of the church, but only mediately, through angels who represented Him; but since His coming He is present with men of the church immediately; and this for the reason that in the world He put on also a Divine Natural in which He is present with men. The glorification of the Lord is the glorification of His Human, which He assumed in the world; and the Lord’s glorified Human is the Divine Natural. The truth of this is evident from the fact that the Lord rose from the tomb with the whole of the body that He had in the world, leaving nothing in the tomb, and therefore took with Him from the tomb the Natural Human itself from the firsts to the lasts of it. So after the resurrection when His disciples thought that what they saw was a ghost, He said to them: See My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself; handle Me and see; for a ghost hath not flesh and bones as ye see Me have (Luke 24:37, 39). This makes it clear that by means of His glorification His natural body was made Divine. Therefore Paul says: That in Christ dwelleth all the fullness of Divinity bodily (Col. 2:9); and John: That Jesus Christ the Son of God is the true God (1 John 5:20). From all this the angels are aware that in the whole spiritual world the Lord alone is complete Man. [2] In the church it is well known that with the Israelitish and Jewish nation all worship was merely external, and shadowed forth an internal worship which the Lord opened up; thus before the Lord’s coming worship consisted in types and figures which represented true worship in its faithful imagery. The Lord Himself was indeed seen by the ancients; for He said to the Jews: Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day; and he saw and was glad. I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am (John 8:56, 58). But as the Lord in those times was merely represented (which was done by means of angels), so all things of the church with them were made representative; but after the Lord had come into the world those representations vanished. The interior reason of this was that in the world the Lord put on also a Divine Natural, and from this not only is the internal spiritual man enlightened, but also the external natural; and unless these two are simultaneously enlightened, man is, as it were, in shadow; but when both are enlightened, he is, as it were, in the light of day. For when the internal man alone is enlightened, and not the external also, or when the external man alone is enlightened and not the internal also, it is as when one sleeps and dreams, and as soon as he wakes remembers his dream, and from it draws various conclusions, but all imaginary. Or he is like one walking in his sleep, and fancying that the objects he sees are seen by daylight. [3] Again, the difference between the state of the church before the Lord’s coming, and after it, is like the difference between reading at night by the light of the moon and stars, and reading by the light of the sun. Evidently, in the former light, which is a purely white light, the eye sees amiss, while in the latter, which is also flame-like, it does not. So we read respecting the Lord: The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spoke to Me, He shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun riseth, a morning without clouds (2 Sam. 23:3, 4); “the God of Israel” and “the Rock of Israel” meaning the Lord. And again: The light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day when Jehovah shall bind up the breach of His people (Isa. 30:26). All this is said of the state of the church after the Lord’s coming. In a word, the state of the church before the Lord’s coming may be compared to an old woman whose face has been painted and who because of the glow of the paint seems to herself to be beautiful; while the state of the church after the Lord’s coming may be likened to a maiden who is beautiful from the native glow of her complexion. Again, the state of the church before the Lord’s coming may be likened to the skin of any fruit (as an orange, an apple, a pear, or a grape) and the taste of the skin; while its state after His coming may be likened to the insides of these fruits and their taste; with other like things; and this for the reason that the Lord having now put on also the Divine natural, enlightens both the internal spiritual man and the external natural man; for when only the internal man is enlightened, and not the external as well, there is shadow; and the same is true when the external man is enlightened and not the internal.

110.

Let these Memorable Relations be added. First: I once saw in the spiritual world an ignis fatuus in the air with a glow about it, falling toward the earth. It was a meteor, such as the common people call a dragon. I noted the place where it fell; but it disappeared in the twilight before sunrise, as every ignis fatuus does. After dawn I went to the place where I had seen it fall in the night, and behold, the ground there was a mixture of sulfur, iron chips, and clay; and suddenly there appeared two tents, one directly over the place, and the other at one side towards the south; and looking upwards I saw a spirit fall like lightning from heaven, and he struck within the tent that stood directly over the place where the meteor fell; I myself being in the other that was near it towards the south, and as I stood in the door I saw the spirit standing in the entrance of the other tent. Therefore I asked him why he had so fallen from heaven; and he answered that he had been cast down as an angel of the dragon by the angels of Michael, because he had said something about the faith in which he had confirmed himself while in the world; among other things, that God the Father and God the Son are not one but two; for at this day in the heavens all believe that these are one, like soul and body; and whatever contradicts this is like a pungent odor in their nostrils, or like an awl boring through their ears, which causes disturbance and pain; therefore anyone so contradicting is ordered to leave; and if he refuses is cast out. [2] Hearing this I said to him, “Why did you not believe as they do?” He replied that after leaving the world no one is able to believe anything different from what he had before impressed upon himself by confirmation; this remains fixed in him, and can not be removed, especially that which he has confirmed in himself respecting God, since in the heavens everyone has his place according to his idea of God. I asked him further, by what means he had confirmed the notion that the Father and Son are two. He said, “By the statements in the Word, that the Son prayed to the Father, both before and during the passion of the cross; also that He humiliated Himself before His Father: how then can they be one, as soul and body are one in man? Who prays as if to another and humiliates himself as if before another, when that other is in fact himself? No one does so, much less the Son of God. Moreover, in my time the entire Christian church divided the Godhead into persons; and each person is one by Himself, and is defined as being what is self-subsistent.” [3] Hearing this I replied, “From what you say I perceive that you do not know at all how God the Father and the Son are one; and not knowing this you have confirmed yourself in the falsities respecting God which the church still holds to. Do you not know that when the Lord was in the world He had a soul like every other man? Whence had He that soul, unless from God the Father? The truth of this is abundantly evident from the word of the Gospels. What then is that which is called the Son but a Human that was conceived from the Divine of the Father and born of the virgin Mary? The mother cannot conceive the soul. This would be totally opposed to the order in accordance with which every man is born. Neither could God the Father impart from Himself a soul and then withdraw from it, as is done by every father in the world, because God is His own Divine essence, and this is one and indivisible; and being indivisible, it is Himself. This is why the Lord declares that the Father and He are one, and that the Father is in Him and He in the Father, and other like things. The framers of the Athanasian creed saw this remotely, and therefore, after dividing God into three persons, they still maintained that in Christ, God and Man, that is, the Divine and the Human, are not two, but are one, like soul and body in man. [4] The Lord’s praying to the Father as to another when He was in the world, and His humiliating Himself before the Father as before another, was in accordance with the order established at creation. That order is immutable, and in accordance therewith must be everyone’s progress towards conjunction with God. That order is, that so far as man conjoins himself to God by a life in accordance with the laws of order, which are God’s commandments, does God conjoin Himself to man, and change man from natural to spiritual. It was in this way that the Lord made Himself one with His Father, and God the Father made Himself one with Him. When the Lord was an infant was He not like any other infant, and when a boy like any other boy? Do we not read that He increased in wisdom and favor, and that afterwards He asked the Father to glorify His name, that is, His Human? To glorify is to make Divine by oneness with Himself. This makes clear why the Lord prayed to His Father whilst in His state of exinanition, which was the state of His progress towards union. [5] This same order is inscribed upon every man by his creation. In the precise degree in which man prepares his understanding by means of truths from the Word does he adapt his understanding to receive faith from God, and precisely as he prepares his will by means of works of charity does he fit his will for the reception of love from God, as when a workman cuts a diamond he fits it to receive and emit the glow of light; and so on. One prepares himself to receive God and to be conjoined with Him by living in accordance with the Divine order; and the laws of order are all the commandments of God. These the Lord fulfilled to every tittle, and so made Himself a receptacle of Divinity in all fullness. Therefore Paul says: That in Jesus Christ dwells all the fullness of Divinity bodily (Col. 2:9). And the Lord Himself says: That all things that the Father hath are His (John 16:15). [6] “Furthermore, it must be borne in mind that in man the Lord alone is active and man of himself is merely passive; and that it is by means of the influx of life from God that man is also active. It is because this influx from God is unceasing that it seems to man as if he were active from himself; and it is because of this appearance that man has free-will; and this is given him that he may prepare himself for receiving the Lord, and thus for conjunction with Him, which would not be possible unless the action were reciprocal; and it becomes reciprocal when man acts from his freedom, and yet from faith ascribes all his activity to the Lord.” [7] After this I asked him whether he, like the others his companions, confessed that God is one. He replied that he did. Then I said, “But I am afraid that the confession of your heart is that there is no God. Does not every word uttered by the mouth go forth from the thought of the mind? Must not, then, the lip-confession of God’s oneness banish from the mind the thought that there are three; and on the other hand, must not this thought of the mind banish from the lips the confession that He is one; and what else can result from this than that there is no God? Is not the whole interval, from the thought to the lips, and back again from the lips to the thought, thus made a vacuum? And what conclusion can the mind then form about God than that nature is God; and about the Lord than that His soul was either from the mother or from Joseph? From these two ideas all the angels of heaven turn away as from things horrible and abominable.” All this having been said, that spirit was sent away into the abyss (spoken of in Rev. 9:2 and following verses), where the angels of the dragon discuss the mysteries of their faith. [8] The next day, when I looked towards the same place, I saw instead of the tents two statues in the likeness of human beings, made of the dust of the earth that was a mixture of sulfur, iron, and clay. One statue seemed to have a scepter in its left hand, a crown on its head, a book in its right hand, and a stomacher with an oblique band tied across, set with precious stones, and behind a robe that spread towards the other statue. But these decorations of the statue were induced upon it by fantasy. A voice from some draconic spirit was then heard proceeding from it, saying, “This statue represents our faith as a queen, and the one behind it represents charity as her maidservant. This latter was made of a similar mixture of dust, and was placed at the extremity of the robe that spread out behind the queen, and it held in its hand a paper, on which was written, “Be careful not to come so near as to touch the robe.” Then a sudden shower fell from heaven and penetrated both statues, which being made of a mixture of sulfur, iron, and clay, began to effervesce, as a mixture of those ingredients does when water is poured upon it; and so burning as it were with inward fire they melted into heaps, which afterwards stood out above the ground there like sepulchral mounds.

111.

Second Memorable Relation: In the natural world man’s speech is twofold, because his thought is twofold, external and internal; for he can speak simultaneously from internal thought and from external thought; and he can speak from external thought and not from internal thought, and even contrary to internal thought; and this is the source of pretenses, flattery, and hypocrisy. But this twofold speech man does not have in the spiritual world; his speech there is single; he speaks as he thinks; or if not, the tone of his voice is grating and hurts the ear. Nevertheless, he can be silent and not divulge the thoughts of his mind. So when a hypocrite gets among wise men he either leaves or betakes himself to a corner of the room and avoids notice and keeps silent. [2] At one time a large number had assembled in the world of spirits, and were talking together about this matter, saying that to be able to speak only as one thinks is a hardship to such as have not thought rightly about God and the Lord whenever they come into association with the good. In the midst of the assembly were the Reformed and some of their clergy, and next to them the Papists with their monks. The clergy and the monks spoke first, saying, “This is not a hardship; what need is there for anyone to speak otherwise than as he thinks? If perchance he does not think rightly, can he not close his lips and keep silent?” And a clergyman said, “Who does not think rightly about God and about the Lord?” But some of the assembly said, “Let us try them.” And they asked those who had confirmed themselves in a trinity of persons in the Godhead to say from their thought one God; and they could not. They twisted and folded their lips in various ways, but were unable to articulate a sound into any words except such as were harmonious with the ideas of their thought, which were of three persons, and consequently of three Gods. [3] Again, those who had confirmed themselves in faith apart from charity were asked to utter the name Jesus; but they could not; although they could all say Christ, and also God the Father. They wondered at this, and inquired the cause; and they found it to be that they had prayed to God the Father for the sake of the Son, but had not prayed to the Savior Himself; and Jesus signifies Savior. [4] Again, from their thought of the Lord’s Human they were asked to say Divine Human; but not one of the clergy there present could do so, though some of the laity could; and therefore this fact was made a subject of serious discussion. First, the following passages from the Gospels were read to them: The Father hath given all things into the hand of the Son (John 3:35); The Father hath given to the Son power over all flesh (John 17:2); All things are delivered unto Me by the Father (Matt. 11:27); All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth (Matt. 28:18); and they were asked to keep in their thought from these passages that Christ, both as to His Divine and as to His Human, is the God of heaven and earth, and then to pronounce the words Divine Human; but still they could not. They said that although from these passages they retained from the understanding some thought about the matter, they still had no acknowledgment of it, and therefore they could not bring it into speech. [5] (ii.) Afterwards there was read to them from Luke (1:32, 34, 35) that the Lord as to His Human was the Son of Jehovah God, and is there called “the God of the Most High,” and in many other places, “the Son of God” and also “the Only begotten;” and they were asked to retain this in their thought, as also that the only-begotten Son of God born in the world could not but be God, as the Father is God, and then to utter the words Divine Human. But they said, “We cannot, because our spiritual thought, that is, our more internal thought, does not admit into the thought which lies nearest to speech any other ideas except those that are in harmony with the internal thought; and from this we perceive that we are not now permitted, as we were in the natural world, to divide our thoughts. [6] (iii.) Therefore, the Lord’s words to Philip were read to them: Philip said, Lord, show us the Father. And the Lord said, He that seeth Me seeth the Father. Believest thou not that I am in the Father and the Father in Me? (John 14:8-11) and also other passages, as: That the Father and He are one (John 10:30) and they were asked to retain this in thought and then to say, Divine Human; but because that thought was not rooted in the acknowledgment that the Lord is God even in respect to the Human, they twisted their lips into folds till they grew angry, desiring to force their mouths to speak the words but they did not succeed; and for the reason that with those who are in the spiritual world the ideas of thought which flow from acknowledgment make one with the words of speech; and where these ideas do not exist words cannot be had; for in speaking, ideas become words. [7] (iv.) Still again, there was read to them the following from the doctrine accepted throughout the Christian world: The Divine and Human in the Lord are not two, but one, even one person, united like soul and body in man. This is from the Athanasian Creed, and has been recognized by the councils; and it was said to them, “From this certainly you can gain an idea grounded in acknowledgment that the Human of the Lord is Divine, since His soul is Divine; for this statement is from the doctrine of your church which you accepted while in the world; moreover, the soul is the very essence of the man, and the body is the form of this essence; and essence and form make one like esse and existere, or like the effecting cause of the effect and the effect itself.” This idea they retained, and from it wished to utter the words Divine Human; but they could not; for their more internal idea of the Human of the Lord banished and erased this new adscititious idea, as they called it. [8] (v.) Once again, this passage from John was read to them: The Word was with God, and God was the Word, and the Word became flesh (1:1, 14). Also this: Jesus Christ is the true God and eternal life (1 John 5:20). Also from Paul: In Jesus Christ dwelleth all the fullness of the Divinity bodily (Col. 2:9); and they were requested to think accordingly, namely, that God who was the Word became Man, that He was the true God, and that in Him dwelt all the fullness of Divinity bodily. This they did, but only in external thought; and therefore, because of the resistance of internal thought, they were unable to pronounce the words Divine Human; and they said frankly, “We can form no idea of a Divine Human, because God is God, and man is man, and God is a Spirit, and we have always thought of spirit as being wind or ether.” [9] (vi.) Finally, it was said to them, You know that the Lord said: Abide in Me, and I in you. He that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same beareth much fruit; for without Me ye can do nothing (John 15:4, 5). And as there were some of the English clergy present, the following from one of their exhortations at the Holy Communion was read to them: “For when we spiritually eat the flesh and drink the blood of Christ, then we dwell in Christ, and Christ in us.” And it was said, “If your thought now is that this is not possible unless the Lord’s Human is Divine, pronounce the words Divine Human from acknowledgment in thought.” But still they could not, so deeply impressed upon them was the idea that the Divine could not be Human, nor the Human be Divine, and that the Lord’s Divine was from the Divine of a Son born from eternity, and His Human like that of any other man. They were asked, “How can you think thus? Can a rational mind ever conceive of a Son born of God from eternity?” [10] (vii.) Then the inquirers turned to the Evangelicals, saying that the Augsburg Confession and Luther taught that the Son of God and the Son of man in Christ is one Person; and that He, even as to His Human nature, is omnipotent and omnipresent, and as to that nature sits at the right hand of God the Father, governs all things in heaven and on earth, fills all things, is present with us, and dwells and operates in us; also that there is no difference of adoration, because the Divinity that is not discerned is worshiped through the nature that is discerned; and that in Christ God is Man, and Man is God. Hearing this they said, “Can this be so?” And they looked around and said presently, “We did not know this before; therefore we are unable to say Divine Human.” And first one and then another said, “We have read this, and we have written it; and yet when we thought about it in our minds it was mere words, of which we had no interior idea.” [11] (viii.) Finally they turned to the Papists and said, “Perhaps you can say Divine Human, since you believe that Christ is wholly present in the bread and wine of your Eucharist, and in every part of them; and you also worship Him as God most holy when you exhibit and carry about the host; also because you call Mary ‘Deipara,’ that is, ‘Mother of God;’ consequently you acknowledge that she gave birth to God, that is, to the Divine Human.” Then they wished to pronounce it, but they could not, because a material idea of Christ’s body and blood then suggested itself, and also a belief that His Human is separable from the Divine, and with the pope is actually so separated, since to him the human power only, and not the Divine, was transferred. Then one of the monks arose and said that he could conceive of a Divine Human with reference to the most holy virgin Mary, and also with reference to the saint of his monastery. And another monk came forward and said, “From an idea of my thought which I now entertain I am able to say Divine Human, but with reference to his holiness the pope rather than in reference to Christ.” But some of the Papists pulled him back, saying, “For shame.” [12] After this heaven was seen open, and tongues like little flames were seen descending and alighting upon some; and they then celebrated the Divine Human of the Lord, saying, “Have done with the idea of three Gods, and believe that in the Lord dwells all the fullness of Divinity bodily, that the Father and He are one, as soul and body are one, and that God is not wind or ether, but a Man, then you will be conjoined with heaven, and from the Lord you will be able to speak the name Jesus, and to say Divine Human.”

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Third Memorable Relation: Awaking once soon after daybreak, I went out into the garden in front of my house, and saw the sun rising in his glory, and round about him a halo, at first faint, but afterwards more distinct, and beaming like gold, and beneath its border was a rising cloud, which from the sun’s rays glowed like a carbuncle. It set me thinking about the fables of the most ancient people which depicted Aurora with wings of silver and countenance of gold. With my mind immersed in the delights of these meditations, I came into the spirit; and I heard certain spirits conversing, who said, “O that we might be permitted to talk with the innovator who has thrown among the leaders of the church that apple of discord after which so many of the laity have been running, and which they have picked up and held up for us to look at.” By that apple they meant the little work, entitled, A Brief Exposition of the Doctrine of the New Church. And they said, “It is certainly a schismatical writing, such as no man ever before conceived of.” And then I heard one of them exclaim, “Schismatical? It is heretical!” But some of those beside him said, “Hush! Hold your tongue! It is not heretical; he gives an abundance of quotations from the Word; and to these our neophytes, by whom we mean the laity, give heed and assent.” [2] Hearing this I came forward, being in the spirit, and said, “Here I am; what is the matter?” At once one of them, a German, as I afterwards heard, a native of Saxony, said in an authoritative tone, “How dare you turn upside down the worship established in the Christian world for so many centuries, which teaches that God the Father should be invoked as the Creator of the universe, His Son as the Mediator, and the Holy Spirit as the Operator? Moreover, you divest the first and the last God of the personality we ascribe to them, although the Lord Himself says, ‘When ye pray, pray thus, Our Father who art in the heavens; hallowed be Thy Name; Thy Kingdom come.’ Therefore are we not commanded to invoke God the Father?” After this there was silence, and all who favored the speaker stood like brave seamen on their warships when they sight the enemy, and stand by to shout, “Now, have at them; victory is sure.” [3] Then I rose to speak; and said, “Who among you is not aware that God came down from heaven and became Man? For we read, ‘The Word was with God, and God was the Word, and the Word became flesh.’” Then, looking towards the Evangelicals, among whom was that dictator who had just addressed me, I said, “Who among you does not know that in Christ, who was born of Mary the Virgin, God is Man and Man is God?” But at this the assembly made a great noise; therefore I said, “Do you not know this? It is according to the doctrine of your confession which is called the Formula Concordioe, where this is affirmed and fully corroborated.” Then the dictator turned to the assembly and asked if they were aware of this; and they answered, “As to the person of Christ we have given the book very little study, but we have worked hard at the part on Justification by Faith Alone; if, however, it is so written in that book, we acquiesce.” Then one of them remembering, said, “That is the way it reads; and it says furthermore that the Human nature of Christ has been exalted to Divine majesty and all its attributes; also that in that nature Christ sits at the right hand of the Father.” [4] Hearing this they were silent; and as it was undisputed I spoke again, and said, “This being so, what then is the Father but the Son, and what is the Son but the Father also?” Yet as this again offended their ears, I continued, “Hear the very words of the Lord and attend to them now, if you never have before; for He said, ‘I and My Father are one;’ ‘I am in the Father and the Father in Me;’ ‘Father, all Mine are Thine and Thine are Mine;’ ‘He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father.’ What do these things mean, but that the Father is in the Son and the Son in the Father, and that they are one as the soul and body in man are one, and thus that they are one person? And must not this be your belief, if you believe in the Athanasian creed, where nearly the same things are said? But from the passages quoted take this one saying of the Lord, ‘Father, all Mine are Thine, and all Thine are Mine.’ What else does this mean than that the Divine of the Father belongs to the Human of the Son, and the Human of the Son to the Divine of the Father, consequently that, in Christ, God is Man and Man is God, and thus that they are one as soul and body are one? [5] Every man may say the same of his own soul and body, namely, ‘All mine are thine, and all thine are mine; thou art in me and I in thee; he that seeth me, seeth thee; we are one in person and in life.’ This is because the soul is in the man, both in the whole and in every part of him, for the life of the soul is the life of the body, and between the two there is a mutuality. All this makes clear that the Divine of the Father is the soul of the Son, and the Human of the Son the body of the Father. From where does the soul of an offspring come unless from its father, and its body unless from its mother? The expression is the Divine of the Father; but the Father Himself is what is meant, since He and His Divine are the same; and this Divine is one and indivisible. That this is true is evident also from the words of the angel Gabriel to Mary, ‘The power of the Most High shall overshadow thee, and the Holy Spirit shall come upon thee; and the Holy Thing that shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.’ And just above He is called ‘the Son of the Most High,’ and elsewhere ‘the only-begotten Son.’ But you, who call Him merely the Son of Mary, destroy the idea of His Divinity; yet it is only the learned among the clergy and the scholars among the laity who destroy this idea, for these, when they raise their thoughts above the sensual things pertaining to their bodies, regard the glory of their reputation; and this not only obscures but extinguishes the light whereby the glory of God enters. [6] But let us return to the Lord’s Prayer, where it says, ‘Our Father who art in the heavens; hallowed be Thy Name; Thy kingdom come.’ By these words you who are present understand the Father in His Divine alone but I understand the Father in His Human. Moreover, this Human is the name of the Father; for the Lord said, ‘Father, glorify Thy name,’ that is, Thy Human; and when this is done the kingdom of God comes. And the reason why this Prayer was commanded for the present time is evident, namely, that through His Human an approach may be had to God the Father. The Lord also said, ‘No man cometh unto the Father but by Me;’ and in the Prophet, ‘Unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given, and His name is God, Mighty, Father of Eternity;’ and elsewhere, ‘Thou, Jehovah, art our Father, our Redeemer, from everlasting is Thy name;’ besides many other places where the Lord our Savior is called Jehovah. This is the true explanation of the words of that Prayer.” [7] When I had said all this, I looked at them and noted the changes in their countenances according to changes in the states of their minds, some favoring me and looking toward me, and some not favoring and turning themselves away. And then on the right I saw a cloud of opal color, and on the left a dusky cloud, and under each the appearance of a shower. That under the dusky cloud was like a rain at the close of autumn, and that under the opal cloud was like the fall of dew in early spring. Then suddenly I came out of the spirit into the body, and thus returned from the spiritual world into the natural world.

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Fourth Memorable Relation: I looked into the world of spirits and saw an army mounted on red and black horses. The riders looked like apes, with face and breast turned toward the horse’s tail, and the hinder part of the head and the back toward the horse’s neck and head, and the bridle-rein thrown over the rider’s neck; and they were shouting at other riders mounted on white horses, and were jerking the reins with both hands, thus pulling back their horses from the battle; and this they did continuously. Then two angels descended from heaven, and approaching me said, “What do you see?” I told about the ludicrous company of horsemen that I saw, and asked what it meant and who they were. The angels answered, “They are from the place called Armageddon (Rev. 16:16), where they have assembled to the number of several thousands, to fight against those who belong to the Lord’s New Church, which is called the New Jerusalem. They were talking there about the church and about religion; and yet there was nothing of the church among them, because they had nothing of spiritual truth, and nothing of religion, because they had no spiritual good. About both of these they were talking with their mouths and lips; but their aim was to acquire dominion by means of them. [2] In their youth they had learned to confirm the doctrine of faith alone, and something about God; and when they had been advanced to higher offices in the church, they held on to these teachings for a time, but having ceased to think any longer about God and heaven, but only about themselves and the world, thus not about eternal blessedness and happiness, but only about temporal eminence and wealth, the doctrinal principles which in youth they had drawn from the interiors of the rational mind, which communicate with heaven and therefore are in the light of heaven, were cast out into the exteriors of the rational mind, which communicate with the world and are therefore in the light of the world; and finally these principles were thrust down into the region of the natural senses; and as a consequence the doctrines of the church became with them a mere matter of words, and no longer of thought from reason, much less of affection from love. And having made themselves such, they grant no admittance to that Divine truth which constitutes the church, nor to that genuine good that constitutes religion. The interiors of their minds have become like bottles filled with a mixture of iron chips and sulfur, upon which, if water is poured, there is first produced heat and then a flame, whereby the bottles are burst. So when they hear anything about the living water, which is the genuine truth of the Word, and it finds entrance through their ears, they become violently heated and inflamed, and reject it as a thing that would burst their heads. [3] These are they that appeared to you like apes riding horses red and black, and facing toward the tail, and the bridle-rein around the rider’s neck. Men that do not love the truth and good of the church derived from the Word never wish to look toward the forward parts of a horse, but only toward his hinder parts. For a horse signifies understanding of the Word-a red horse that understanding when destroyed in respect to good, and a black horse when destroyed in respect to truth. They were shouting for battle against the riders on the white horses, because a white horse signifies understanding of the Word in respect to truth and good. They seemed to pull their horses backward by the neck, because they dreaded the battle, and feared that the truth of the Word might be reaching many and might thus come to light. This is the interpretation.” [4] The angels further said, “We are from a society of heaven which is called Michael, and we were commanded by the Lord to descend to the place Armageddon, from which the horsemen that you saw broke forth. With us in heaven Armageddon signifies a state of mind and a disposition (arising from a love of ruling and being eminent over all others) to fight from truths falsified; and as we perceive in you a desire to learn about this kind of contest, we will relate to you a certain matter. On descending from heaven we came to that place called Armageddon, and there saw several thousands assembled. We did not enter this crowd; but on the southern side of the place there stood several houses where there were lads with their teachers; we entered these, and were kindly received. We were delighted with their company. From the life in their eyes and the eagerness displayed in their talk their faces were beautiful. The life in their eyes came from perceiving what is true, and the eagerness in their talk from the affection for what is good. Because of this we presented them with caps, the borders of which were ornamented with bands of gold lace in which pearls were interwoven, also with garments of white and blue commingled. “We asked them if they had ever looked in upon the so called Armageddon, near by. They said that they had, through a window under the roof, and had seen an assembly there, but the shapes of the people were changeable; sometimes they looked like men of lofty stature, and sometimes like statues and carved idols, with a crowd on bended knees around them. To ourselves as well they appeared under various forms; some like men, others like leopards, and others again like goats, the latter with horns projecting downward, with which they tore up the ground. We interpreted these transformations, and showed what classes they represented, and what things they signified. [5] “But to return:When those assembled there heard of our having entered the houses they said to one another, ‘What are they doing among those lads? Let us send some of us thither and put them out.’ They did send a number, and when these came they said, ‘What took you into these houses? Where do you come from? By authority we order you to leave.’ “But we answered, ‘You cannot give that order by authority. In your own eyes, indeed, you seem like Anakim, and we here like dwarfs; yet here you have no power or authority except by cunning, and that will not prevail. Go, then, and tell your comrades that we are sent here from heaven to find out if you have religion or if you have none; and if none, you will be cast out of this place. Go, then, and put to them this question, which contains the veriest essential of the church and of religion: In the Lord’s Prayer what mean the words ‘Our Father who art in the heavens; hallowed be Thy Name; Thy kingdom come?’ “Hearing this, they said at first, ‘What is all that?’ And then they consented and went away and told their companions what had been said, who replied, ‘What sort of a proposal is that?’ But they guessed what was behind the question, namely, that we wished to know if they thought that these words confirmed what their faith taught about the way to approach God the Father. Therefore they said, ‘The words are clear that we ought to pray to God the Father; and as Christ is our Mediator, that we ought to pray to God the Father for the sake of the Son. ‘ “And at once in their indignation they resolved to come to us and say this to our faces, and they added that they would pull our ears. So they left that place, and went into a grove near the houses where the lads and their teachers were. In the center of this was an elevated spot like a place for games; and joining hands they came there. We were there also, and were waiting for them. The ground was thrown up into little green mounds, as it were, upon which they reclined, saying to one another, ‘We will not stand in their presence; we will sit.’ “Then one of them who could make himself appear like an angel of light, and who had been deputed by the others to speak with us, said, ‘You have proposed that we open our minds as to our understanding of the first words of the Lord’s Prayer. Therefore I say to you that this is our understanding of them, that we ought to pray to the Father; and as Christ is our Mediator, and as it is through His merit that we are saved, that we ought to pray to God the Father from faith in Christ’s merit.’ [6] “But then we said to them, ‘We are from the heavenly society called Michael, and have been sent to see you and inquire whether you who were assembled yonder have any religion or not; for the idea of God enters into everything of religion, and by means of it man is conjoined with God, and by means of conjunction is saved. We in heaven say that Prayer daily in the same way as men do on earth, and in doing so we are not thinking of God the Father, for He is invisible; but we think of Him in His Divine Human, because in that He is visible, and in that He is by you called Christ, but by us is called the Lord; in this way it is that to us the Lord is the Father in the heavens. Moreover, the Lord has taught that He and the Father are one; that the Father is in Him and He in the Father; and that whosoever sees Him sees the Father; and again, that no one comes to the Father except through Him; also that it is the will of the Father that men should believe in the Son, and that whosoever believes not in the Son shall not see life; and even that the wrath of God abides upon him. All this makes it clear that approach to the Father is through the Son and in the Son. And because this is so He has also taught that to Him all power has been given in heaven and on earth. In that Prayer it is said, ‘Hallowed be Thy Name, Thy kingdom come;’ and we have shown from the Word that the Father’s name is the Divine Human of the Lord, and that the kingdom of the Father comes when the Lord is approached directly, and comes not at all when God the Father is approached directly. For this reason, too, the Lord commanded His disciples to preach the kingdom of God; and the kingdom of God is this very thing.’ [7] “Having heard this, our antagonists said, ‘You quote many passages from the Word; and such perhaps we may have read there-we do not remember; therefore open the Word here before us, and read them from it; especially the statement that the Father’s kingdom comes when the Lord’s kingdom comes.’ And they said to the lads, ‘Bring the Word. ‘ And the lads brought it, and we read from it as follows: John preached the gospel of the kingdom, and said, The time is fulfilled, the kingdom of God is at hand (Mark 1:14, 15; Matt. 3:2). Jesus Himself preached the gospel of the kingdom, and that the kingdom of God was at hand (Matt. 4:17, 23; 9:35). Jesus commanded His disciples to preach and declare the gospel of the kingdom of God (Mark 16:15; Luke 8:1; 9:60); as also the seventy whom He sent forth (Luke 10:9, 11). The kingdom of God, of which the good tidings were preached, was the kingdom of the Lord, and thus the kingdom of the Father. This is evident from the following statements: 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 have been delivered unto Me of My Father (Matt. 11:27). All power is given unto Me in heaven and on earth (Matt. 28:18). Also from the following: Jehovah of Hosts is His name, and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; the God of the whole earth shall He be called (Isa. 54:6). I saw, and behold one like unto the Son of man; and there was given Him dominion and glory and a kingdom, and all people and nations shall worship Him; His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away, and His kingdom that which shall not be destroyed (Dan. 7:13, 14). When the seventh angel sounded there came great voices in the heavens, saying, The kingdoms of the world are become our Lord’s and His Christ’s, and He shall reign unto the ages of the ages (Apoc. 11:15; 12:10). [8] “We showed them still further from the Word that the Lord came into the world not only in order that angels and men might be redeemed, but also that through Him and in Him they might be made one with God the Father; for He taught: That those who believe in Him are in Him, and He in them (John 6:56; 14:20; 15:4, 5). “Having heard these things they asked, How then can your Lord be called the Father?’ We replied, ‘Because of what we have just read, and also the following passages: Unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and His name is God, Mighty, Father of Eternity (Isa. 9:6). Thou art our Father; Abraham knoweth us not, and Israel doth not acknowledge us Thou Jehovah art our Father, our Redeemer, from everlasting is Thy name (Isa. 63:16). Did He not say to Philip, who wished to see the Father: Hast thou not known Me, Phillip? He that seeth Me seeth the Father (John 14:9; 12:45). What other Father then is there than He whom Philip’s eyes were seeing?’ “To this we added, ‘It is said in the Christian world that those who are of the church constitute the body of Christ and are in His body; how then can the man of the church approach to God the Father except through Christ, in whose body he resides? Otherwise he must pass entirely out of that body in order to approach the Father.’ In concluding we informed them that at this day the Lord is establishing a New Church, which is meant by the New Jerusalem in the Apocalypse, in which there will be, as in heaven, the worship of the Lord alone, and that thus everything which is contained in the Lord’s Prayer from beginning to end will be fulfilled. “All this we confirmed so copiously from the Word, in the Gospels and Prophets and in the Apocalypse, where from the beginning to the end that church is treated of, that they grew tired of listening. [9] “The Armageddons heard all this with indignation, and wished constantly to interrupt our speaking; and at last they did break in, exclaiming, ‘You have spoken contrary to the doctrine of our church, which teaches that men must approach God the Father directly and must believe in Him; thus have you made yourselves guilty of a violation of our faith. Get you gone, therefore; if not, you will be put out by force.’ And their passions being aroused, from threats they proceeded to the attempt; but by power given us we smote them with blindness, and not seeing us they rushed away and ran about wandering in all directions. Some fell into the abyss spoken of in Revelation (9:2), which is now in the southern quarter toward the east, and is occupied by those who confirm the doctrine of justification by faith alone. Those there who confirm that doctrine by the Word are banished to a desert, where they are driven to the boundary of the Christian realm, and are mingled with the heathen.”

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REDEMPTION It is known in the church that there are two offices belonging to the Lord, that of priest and that of king; but as few know in what each office consists this shall be explained. From His priestly office the Lord is called Jesus, and from his kingly office, Christ; also from His priestly office He is called in the Word, Jehovah and Lord, and from His kingly office He is called God and the Holy One of Israel, as well as King. These two offices are distinguished from each other, like love and wisdom, or what is the same, like good and truth; consequently whatever the Lord did and effected from Divine love or Divine good was done and effected from His priestly office; but whatever He did and effected from Divine wisdom or Divine truth was done and effected from His kingly office. Moreover, in the Word priest and priesthood signify the Divine good; while king and royalty signify the Divine truth, and these two were represented by priests and kings in the Israelitish church. Redemption pertains to both offices; and what part of it to one and what to the other will be disclosed in what follows. And that the particulars of the subject may be clearly seen, the explanation shall be divided into the following heads or sections: (1) Redemption itself was a subjugation of the hells, a restoration of order in the heavens, and by means of these a preparation for a new spiritual church. (2) Without that redemption no man could have been saved, nor could the angels have continued in a state of integrity. (3) In this wise not only men but the angels also were redeemed by the Lord. (4) Redemption was a work purely Divine. (5) This redemption itself could not have been accomplished except by God incarnated. (6) The passion of the cross was the last temptation which the Lord, as the greatest Prophet, endured; also it was a means of glorifying His Human, that is, of uniting it with the Divine of the Father; but it was not redemption. (7) The belief that the passion of the cross was redemption itself is the fundamental error of the church; and this error, together with the error respecting three Divine Persons from eternity, has perverted the whole church to such an extent that nothing spiritual is left in it. These statements shall now be unfolded one by one.

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(1) Redemption itself was a subjugation of the hells, a restoration of order in the heavens, and by means of these a preparation for a new spiritual church. That these three things are redemption I can affirm with all certainty, since at this day also the Lord is effecting a redemption, which began in 1757, together with a final judgment which was then accomplished. This redemption has been going on up to the present time, and for the reason that at this day is the second coming of the Lord, and a new church is now to be established; and this could not be done without a previous subjugation of the hells and a restoration of order in the heavens. And as it has been granted to me to see all this, I am able to describe how the hells were subjugated, and the new heaven established and arranged: but this would require a whole volume. But how the final judgment was accomplished I have made known in a little work published at London in 1758. Redemption was a subjugation of the hells, a restoration of order in the heavens, and the establishment of a new church, because without these no one could have been saved. Moreover, they follow in order; for the hells must be subjugated before a new angelic heaven can be formed; and this must be formed before a new church can be established on earth; because men in the world are so closely connected with angels of heaven and spirits of hell as on both sides to be one with them in the interiors of their minds. But this subject will be explained in the last chapter of this work, where the Consummation of the Age, the Coming of the Lord, and the New Church, will be treated of in detail.

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That when the Lord was in the world He fought against the hells, and conquered and subdued them, and so reduced them to obedience, is evident from many passages in the Word, from which I will present the few which follow. In Isaiah: Who is this that cometh from Edom, His garments sprinkled from Bozrah? this that is glorious in His apparel, walking in the multitude of His strength? I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save. Wherefore art thou red in Thine apparel, and Thy garments like his that treadeth in the wine-vat? I have trodden the wine-press alone; and of the people not a man was with Me therefore have I trodden them in Mine anger, and trampled them in My wrath; therefore their victory is sprinkled upon My garments. For the day of vengeance is in My heart, and the year of My redeemed hath come. Mine arm brought salvation to Me; I have made their victory to go down into the earth. He said, Surely they are My people, children; so He became a Savior for thee Because of His love and His pity He redeemed them (63:1-9). This refers to the Lord’s combat against the hells. The “apparel” in which He was glorious, and which was red, means the Word, to which the Jewish people had done violence; His combat against the hells and His victory over them are described by His “treading the people in His anger, and trampling them in His wrath;” that He fought alone from His own power is described by the words, “of the people not a man was with Me; Mine arm brought salvation to Me; I have made their victory to go down to the earth;” that thereby He wrought salvation and redemption is declared in the words, “So He became a Savior for them; because of His love and His pity He redeemed them.” That this was the reason of His coming is meant by the words, “the day of vengeance is in My heart, and the year of My redeemed hath come.” [2] Again in Isaiah: He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor; therefore His arm brought salvation unto Him, and his righteousness sustained Him. For He put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation upon His head; and He put on the garments of vengeance, and clothed Himself with zeal as with a robe. Then the Redeemer came to Zion (59:16, 17, 20). In Jeremiah: They were dismayed, their mighty ones were beaten down, they fled apace and looked not back. For this is the day of the Lord Jehovih of Hosts, a day of vengeance that He may avenge Him of His adversaries; and the sword shall devour and it shall be satiate (46:5, 10). Both of these passages refer to the Lord’s combat against the hells and His victory over them. In David: Gird the sword upon the thigh, O mighty One. ‘Thine arrows are sharp; the people shall fall under Thee, enemies of the king from the heart; Thy throne is for the age and for eternity; Thou hast loved righteousness, therefore God hath anointed Thee (Ps. 45:3-7); also in many other places. [3] Because the Lord conquered the hells alone, with no help from any angel, He is called: Mighty and a man of war (Isa. 42:13; 9:6) The King of glory, Jehovah the Mighty, Mighty in battle (Ps. 24:8, 10) The Mighty One of Jacob (Ps. 132:2); and in many places “Jehovah of Hosts,” that I, Jehovah of armies; and His coming is called the day of Jehovah, terrible, cruel, the day of indignation, of wrath, of anger, of vengeance, of destruction, of war, of a trumpet, of a noise, of a tumult, and so on. And we read in the Gospels: Now is the judgment of this world; now shall the prince of this world be cast out (John 12:31). The prince of this world hath been judged (John 16:11). Be of good cheer; I have overcome the world (John 16:33). I beheld Satan as lightning falling from heaven (Luke 10:18). “The world,” “the prince of this world,” “satan,” and “the devil,” mean hell. [4] Moreover, in the Apocalypse from beginning to end the present character of the Christian church is set forth, also that the Lord is to come again, and is to subjugate the hells, and form a new angelic heaven, and at last establish a new church on earth. All these things are there predicted, but have not been disclosed until now. This is because the Apocalypse, like all the prophetical parts of the Word, was written in pure correspondences; and unless these had been disclosed by the Lord scarcely anyone would be able to understand rightly a single verse in that book; but now, on account of a new church, all its contents have been laid open in the Apocalypse Revealed (Amsterdam, 1766); and will be seen by those who believe the Word of the Lord in Matt. 24, about the present state of the church, and His coming. But this is as yet only a vacillating belief with those who have impressed on their hearts, so deeply that it cannot be rooted out, the faith of the church at this day in three Divine persons from eternity, and in Christ’s passion as being redemption itself. But such (as has been said in the Memorable Relation above, n. 113) are like bottles filled with iron chips and pulverized sulfur, in which, if water be added, first heat is produced, and then flame, which bursts the bottles. So when these hear anything about the living water, which is genuine truth from the Word, and that truth enters their minds through the eyes or ears, they become violently excited and inflamed, and reject the truth as something that might split their heads.

117.

The subjugation of the hells, the restoration of order in the heavens, and the institution afterwards of a church, is a work that may be illustrated by various similitudes. It may be illustrated by comparison with an army of robbers or rebels who invade a kingdom or a city, and set fire to its dwellings, plunder its inhabitants, divide the spoil among themselves, and then rejoice and exult; while redemption itself may be compared to the lawful king who advances against these rebels with his army, puts some to the sword, and some in prison, recovers the booty, and restores it to his subjects, thereafter establishing order in his kingdom, and rendering it secure against like assaults. It may also be illustrated by comparison with a troop of wild beasts issuing from a forest, attacking flocks and herds and even human beings, so that nobody dares to go outside of the walls of his city to till the ground, and therefore the fields become deserts, and the townsmen are threatened with starvation; while redemption may be compared to the slaughtering and scattering of these wild beasts, and the protection of the fields from any such irruption thereafter. It may be likened also to locusts consuming every green thing of the ground, and to the means to prevent their further progress; and again, to worms in early summer, which strip the trees of their foliage and thus of their fruit, so that they stand bare as in midwinter, and to the extermination of the worms, and the consequent restoration of the garden to its state of bloom and fruitfulness. Thus would it be with the church, if the Lord had not by redemption separated the good from the evil, casting the evil into hell and raising the good to heaven. What would become of an empire or kingdom if by the exercise of justice and judgment the evil were not separated from the good, and the good protected from violence, so that everyone might dwell safely in his own home, or, as is said in the Word, sit in peace under his own vine and fig tree?

118.

(2) Without that redemption no man could have been saved, nor could the angels have continued in a state of integrity. It shall be told first what redemption is. To redeem means to liberate from damnation, to deliver from eternal death, to rescue from hell, and to release from the hand of the devil the captive and the bound. This the Lord did by subjugating the hells and establishing a new heaven. Man could have been saved in no other way, for the reason that the spiritual world and the natural are so closely connected that they cannot by any means be separated. This connection is especially in the interiors of men, which are called their souls and minds, the interiors of the good being connected with the souls and minds of angels, and of the wicked with the souls and minds of infernal spirits. This union is such that if angels and spirits were taken away from man he would drop dead as a log. In like manner angels and spirits could not continue to exist if men were taken away from under them. This makes clear why redemption was effected in the spiritual world, and why it was necessary that heaven and hell should be reduced to order before a church could be established on earth. That this is so is very evident from the Apocalypse, where it is said that after the new heaven had been formed, the New Jerusalem, which is the New Church, descended from it (Rev. 21:1-2).

119.

Unless the Lord had wrought redemption the angels could not have continued to exist in a state of integrity, for the reason that the whole angelic heaven together with the church on earth is in the Lord’s sight like one man, the angelic heaven constituting his internal, and the church his external; or more particularly, the highest heaven constituting his head, the second and lowest heaven his breast and the middle region of his body, and the church on earth his loins and feet, while the Lord Himself is the soul and life of the whole man. Therefore if the Lord had not wrought redemption the whole man would have been destroyed; his feet and loins by the decline of the church on earth, the abdominal region by the decline of the lowest heaven, the thoracic by the decline of the second heaven, and then the head, having no correspondence with the body, would have fallen into a swoon. [2] But this shall be illustrated by similitudes. It may be compared to mortification attacking the feet and gradually ascending, infecting first the loins, the abdominal viscera, and finally the parts near the heart, when, as is well known, the man dies. It may also be compared to diseases of the abdominal viscera; for when these are weakened the heart begins to palpitate and the lungs to gasp heavily, and finally the action of both heart and lungs ceases. It may also be illustrated by comparison with the internal and external man; in that the internal man is well so long as the external obediently discharges its functions; but if the external fails to obey and resists, and still more if it attacks the internal, the latter is at length weakened, and at last is so far carried away by the delights of the external as to favor it and yield to it. Again, it may be illustrated by comparison with a man standing on lofty ground, who sees the country below him flooded and the waters gradually rising; and when they reach his height, he, too, will be engulfed unless saved by some boat washed to him by the waves. Or it is like one’s seeing from a mountain a dense fog rising higher and higher above the earth and hiding the fields and houses and towns; and at last, when the fog gets up to him, he can see nothing, not even where he is. [3] So is it with the angels when the church on earth perishes; for then the lower heavens also pass away; and for the reason that the heavens consist of men from the earth; and when there is no longer any good in the heart or truth from the Word left among men, the heavens are inundated by the rising flood of evils, and are drowned as it were in Stygian waters. Those who are there, however, are somewhere hidden away and preserved by the Lord until the day of final judgment, and are then raised up into a new heaven. Such are meant by those spoken of in the Apocalypse: I saw under the altar the souls of those slain because of the Word of God, and because of the testimony that they held. And they were crying out with a great voice, saying, How long, O Lord, who art holy and true, dost Thou not judge and avenge our blood on those that dwell on the earth? And there was given unto each one of them white robes; and it was said unto them that they should rest yet a little time, until their fellow-servants and their brethren, who were to be killed as they were, should be fulfilled (Rev. 6:9-11).

120.

There are several reasons why without redemption by the Lord iniquity and wickedness would have pervaded all Christendom, both in the natural world and in the spiritual world, one of which is, that every man goes after death into the world of spirits, and there he is wholly the same man as before. On entering that world, no one can be prevented from talking with departed parents, brothers, relatives, and friends. Then every husband first seeks his wife, and every wife her husband, and by these they are introduced into the various companies of those who externally are lamb-like, but internally are like wolves; and by such even those who have lived pious lives are led astray. As a result of this and of nefarious arts unknown in the natural world, that world becomes as full of malicious persons as a green pond is with the spawn of frogs. [2] That such is the result of association with the evil there is made evident by the fact that if one lives for a time with robbers and pirates he finally becomes like them; or if one lives with adulterers and harlots he soon thinks nothing of adultery; or if he mingles with outlaws he soon thinks nothing of doing violence to anyone. For all evils are contagious, and may be compared to a pestilence, which is communicated merely by the breath or the effluvia of the body; also to cancer or gangrene, which spreads and infects first the nearer and then the remoter parts, until the whole body is destroyed. The delights of evil into which every man is born, are the cause. [3] From all this it can be seen that without redemption by the Lord no man could be saved, nor could the angels be continued in a state of integrity. The only refuge from destruction for anyone is the Lord, who says: Abide in Me, and I in you; as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself except it abide in the vine, so neither can ye except ye abide in Me. I am the vine, ye are the branches; he that abideth in Me and I in him, the same beareth much fruit; for apart from Me ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in Me he is cast forth and is withered, and cast into the fire and burned (John 15:4-6).

121.

(3) In this wise not only men, but the angels also, were redeemed by the Lord. This follows from what has been said in the preceding section, that without redemption by the Lord the angels could not have continued to exist. To the reasons above mentioned these may be added: (1) At the time of the Lord’s first coming the hells had increased to such a height as to fill the whole world of spirits, which is intermediate between heaven and hell, and thus had not only thrown into disorder the heaven that is called the lowest, but also had attacked the middle heaven, which they infested in a thousand ways, and which would have gone to destruction if it had not been upheld by the Lord. Such an uprising of the hells is meant by the tower built in the land of Shinar, the head of which was to reach to heaven. But the attempt of its builders was frustrated by the confusion of tongues; and they were dispersed, and the city was called Babel (Gen. 11:1-9). What is there meant by the tower and by the confusion of tongues is explained in the Arcana Coelestia published at London. [2] The hells had increased to such a height because at the time when the Lord came into the world the whole earth had completely alienated itself from God by idolatries and magic; and the church which had existed among the children of Israel and afterwards with the Jews, had been utterly destroyed by the falsification and adulteration of the Word. All these, both Jews and Gentiles, had after death streamed into the world of spirits, where at length their number was so increased and multiplied that they could be driven out only by a descent of God Himself and then only by the strength of His Divine arm. How this was done has been described in the little work on the Last Judgment (London, 1758). This task was accomplished by the Lord when He was in the world. A like work has been done by the Lord at the present time, because, as has been said before, this is the time of His second coming which is foretold through the Apocalypse, and in Matthew (24:3, 30), Mark (13:26), Luke (21:27), Acts (1:11), and elsewhere. The difference is, that at the Lord’s first coming this increase of the hells was the work of idolaters, magicians, and falsifiers of the Word; while at His second coming it was the work of so called Christians, both those who had imbibed naturalism, and those who had falsified the Word by confirmations of their fabulous faith in three Divine persons from eternity, and in the passion of the Lord as itself constituting redemption; for it is these who are meant by “the dragon and his two beasts” (Apoc. 12 and 13). [3] (2) The second reason why the Lord also redeemed angels is, that not only every man but also every angel is withheld from evil and held in good by the Lord; for no one, angel or man, is in good from himself, but all good is from the Lord. Therefore when the footstool of the angels, which they have in the world of spirits, is plucked away, they become like one seated upon a throne when its pedestals are removed. That in God’s sight the angels are not pure is evident from the prophecies and also from Job; and again from the fact that there can be no angel who has not previously been a man. This confirms what has been stated in the Faith of the New Heaven and the New Church in its universal and in its particular form, at the beginning of this work, namely, “The Lord came into the world to remove Hell from man, and He did remove it by means of combats with it and victories over it, thereby subduing it and reducing it to obedience to Himself.” And further, “Jehovah God came down and took upon Him the Human for the purpose of reducing to order all things in heaven and all things in the church; because at that time the power of the devil, that is, of hell, prevailed over the power of heaven, and upon earth the power of evil over that of good and in consequence a total damnation stood threatening at the door. This impending damnation Jehovah God removed by means of His Human, thus redeeming angels and men. From this it is clear that without the Lord’s coming no one could have been saved. It is the same today; and therefore without the Lord’s coming again into the world no one can be saved” (see above, n. 2, 3).

122.

That the Lord has delivered the spiritual world, and through it will deliver the church from universal damnation, may be illustrated by comparison with a king who by victories over his enemy liberates his sons the princes, whom the enemy had captured and imprisoned and bound in fetters, and restores them to his court; also by comparison with a shepherd, who like Samson and David rescues his sheep from the jaws of a lion or bear; or who drives back those beasts when they break forth from the woods into the fields, hunts them back to the farthest boundaries, and at last drives them into swamps or into deserts; and then returns to his sheep, pastures them in safety, and waters them at limpid fountains. It may also be illustrated by comparison with one who sees a serpent coiled up lying in the road and ready to strike the heel of a traveller, and who seizes it by the head, and although it twists about his hand, carries it home, cuts off its head, and throws the body into the fire; also by a bridegroom or husband, who seeing an adulterer attempting violence to his bride or wife, attacks him, and either wounds him in the hand with a sword, or belabors him with blows on legs and loins, or has his servants throw him into the street and pursue him with cudgels to his home; while the rescued one he carries into his own chamber. In the Word, “bride” and “wife” mean the Lord’s church, and “adulterers” those who violate the church, who are such as adulterate His Word. This the Jews did; and this is why the Lord called them “an adulterous generation.”

123.

(4) Redemption was a work purely Divine. He who knows what hell is, and to what a height it had risen and how it had overflowed the whole world of spirits at the time of the Lord’s coming, and with what might the Lord cast it down and scattered it, and afterwards brought into order both hell and heaven, cannot but wonder and declare that all this must have been a purely Divine work. First, as to the nature of hell. It consists of myriads of myriads, since it consists of all those who from the creation of the world have alienated themselves from God by evils of life and falsities of belief. Secondly, as to the height to which hell had risen, and how it had overflowed the entire world of spirits at the time of the Lord’s coming, some explanation has been given in the preceding sections. To what extent this was the case at the time of the Lord’s first coming no one knows, because it was not revealed in the sense of the letter of the Word; but the extent of it at the time of His second coming I have been permitted to see with my own eyes; and from this (which has already been described in a little work on The Last Judgment, published at London in 1758) conclusions may be drawn respecting the former period, as also with what power hell was then cast down and dispersed by the Lord. But there is no need to transcribe here what I witnessed as set forth in that book, because the work is extant, and numerous copies of it are still at the printer’s in London. Anyone reading that book can see clearly this must have been a work of the omnipotent God. [2] Fourthly, How the Lord afterwards reduced all things to order, both in heaven and in hell, I have not yet described, because the restoration of order in the heavens and in the hells has continued since the time of the last judgment until now, and still continues; but after this book has been published, if it seems desirable, this information shall be given to the public. For my own part, with reference to this matter, I have seen daily and still see in it the Lord’s Divine omnipotence as it were face to face. This latter work is properly the work of redemption, while the former is properly that of the last judgment. When these two are viewed separately, many things respecting them, which are concealed under figures and yet described in the prophecies of the Word, can be seen, as soon as by an explanation of the correspondences these things are brought forth into the light of the understanding. [3] Neither of these two Divine operations can be made clear except by comparisons; and then but faintly. This latter work may be compared to a battle against an army composed of all the nations in the whole world, armed with spears, shields, swords, muskets, and cannon, led by skilful and shrewd generals and other officers. This is said because very many in hell excel in arts unknown in our world, and practice them among themselves, studying how to advance against, to ensnare, to besiege, and to assault those who are in heaven. [4] The Lord’s combat against hell may also be compared, though imperfectly, to a conflict with all the wild beasts on the earth and their slaughter and subjugation, until not one of them dares comes forth to attack any man who is in the Lord; so that if the man but shows a threatening countenance his enemy instantly shrinks back as if he felt a vulture on his breast striving to pierce him to the very heart. Moreover, infernal spirits are compared in the Word to wild beasts; and such are meant by the wild beasts with which the Lord was for forty days (Mark 1:13). [5] It may also be compared to resistance against the whole ocean, breaking in with its waves over demolished barriers upon countries and towns; and the Lord’s subjugation of hell is meant by His calming the sea by saying: Peace, be still (Mark 4:38, 39; Matt. 8:26; Luke 8:23, 24) for here, as in many other places, the “sea” signifies hell. [6] By a like Divine power the Lord fights at this day against hell in every man who is being regenerated; for hell attacks all such with diabolical fury, and unless the Lord resisted and tamed that fury man could not but succumb. For hell is like one monstrous man, or like a huge lion, with which indeed it is compared in the Word; therefore unless the Lord kept that lion or monster manacled and fettered, a man from himself must needs, when rescued from one evil, fall into another, and again into others continually.

124.

(5) This redemption itself could not have been accomplished except by God incarnated. It has been shown in the preceding article that redemption was a work purely Divine, consequently that it could have been effected only by the omnipotent God. It could have been effected only by God incarnated, that is, made Man, because Jehovah God, as He is in His infinite essence, cannot come near to hell, much less enter into it; for He is in things purest and first. Therefore if Jehovah as He is in Himself were but to breathe upon those who are in hell He would instantly destroy them; for He said to Moses, when Moses wished to see Him: Thou canst not see My face; for there shall no man see Me and live (Ex. 33:20). As Moses, then, could not see Him, still less could those who are in hell, where all are in things last and grossest, and thus most remote, for they are the lowest natural. For this reason, if Jehovah God had not assumed a Human, and thus clothed Himself with a body that belongs to things lowest, He would have undertaken in vain any redemption. For who can attack an enemy without approaching him, or without being armed for the battle? Or who can disperse and destroy the dragons, hydras, and basilisks in a desert, unless he covers his body with armor and his head with a helmet, and takes a spear in his hand? Or who can capture whales in the sea without a boat and implements adapted to the work? The combat of God Almighty against the hells, upon which He could not have entered unless He had first assumed a Human, may be illustrated by these and like things, though they afford no adequate comparison. [2] But it must be understood that the Lord’s combat against the hells was not an oral combat, like one between reasoners and disputants; such a combat would have no effect whatever there. It was a spiritual combat, which is that of Divine truth from Divine good. This truth was the Lord’s very life, the influx of which through the medium of sight no one in the hells can resist. There is in it such power that the infernal genii flee away at the mere perception of it, cast themselves into the abyss, and creep into caves to hide themselves. This is what is described in Isaiah: They shall enter into the caves of the rocks and into the clefts of the dust for fear of Jehovah when He shall arise to terrify the earth (Isa. 2:19). And in the Apocalypse: All hid themselves in caves and in the rocks of the mountains; and they said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him that sitteth upon the throne, and from the anger of the Lamb (6:15-17). [3] The kind of power which the Lord possessed from Divine good when He executed the last judgment, in 1757, may be seen from the things described in the little work on that judgment; as that He tore up from their places the hills and mountains which the infernals occupied in the world of spirits, dispersed them, and caused some of them to sink. He also deluged their towns and houses and fields with a flood, rooted up their lands from their foundations, and hurled them with their inhabitants into whirlpools, swamps, and marshes; and much more; and all this was done by the Lord alone, by the power of Divine truth from Divine good.

125.

That Jehovah God could have entered upon and have accomplished such a work only by means of His Human may be illustrated by various comparisons; as, that one who is invisible cannot shake hands or converse with another until he becomes visible; thus an angel or spirit could have no interaction with a man, even if standing close to his body and before his face. Neither can anyone’s soul converse with another or act with another except by means of his body. The sun with its light and heat can enter into man, beast, or tree only by first entering the air and operating through it; or can enter into a fish only by means of the water, since it must act through that element in which the subject resides. No one can scale a fish without a knife, or pluck a crow without fingers; or descend to the bottom of a lake without a diving-bell; in a word, anyone thing must be adapted to another before it can communicate with it or operate with it or against it.

126.

(6) The passion of the cross was the last temptation which the Lord, as the greatest Prophet, endured, and was the means whereby His Human was glorified, that is, whereby it was united with the Divine of the Father; but it was not redemption. There are two things for which the Lord came into the world, and by means of which He saved men and angels, namely, redemption and the glorification of His Human. These two are distinct from each other; and yet in reference to salvation they make one. It has been shown in the preceding sections what the work of redemption was, namely, that it was a combat against the hells, a subjugation of the hells, and a restoration of order in the heavens. But glorification is the uniting of the Lord’s Human with the Divine of His Father. This was effected gradually, and was completed through the passion of the cross. For every man on his part ought to draw near to God; and as far as man does draw near, God on His part enters into him. It is the same as with a temple, which first must be built, and this is done by the hands of men; afterwards it must be dedicated; and finally prayer must be made for God to be present and there unite Himself with the church. The union itself was made complete through the passion of the cross, because that was the last temptation endured by the Lord in the world; and it is by means of temptations that conjunction is effected. For in temptations apparently man is left to himself alone, although he is not; for God is then most nearly present in man’s inmosts and sustains him; therefore when man conquers in temptation he is inmostly conjoined with God, as in temptation the Lord was inmostly united to God His Father. That in the passion of the cross the Lord was left to Himself is evident from His exclamation upon the cross: O God, why hast Thou forsaken Me? (Matt. 27:46); as also from these words of the Lord: No man taketh My life from Me, but I lay it down of Myself I had power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment received I from My Father (John 10:18). From all this it can now be seen that it was not in respect to His Divine but in respect to His Human that the Lord suffered; and that thereby an inmost and thus a complete union was effected. This may also be illustrated by the fact that when a man suffers in body his soul does not suffer, but only grieves; and after the victory God takes away this grief and wipes it away as one wipes away tears from the eyes.

127.

These two things, redemption and the passion of the cross, must be seen to be distinct; otherwise the human mind, like a vessel, strikes upon sand-banks or rocks and is lost, with pilot, captain, and crew together; that is, it errs in all things pertaining to salvation by the Lord. For without an idea of these two things as distinct, man is as if in a dream, and sees imaginary things, and from these draws conclusions, supposing them to be real when yet they are fantastic; or he is like one walking in the dark, who takes hold of the leaves of some tree and thinks them to be the hair of a man, and going nearer entangles his own hair in the branches. But although redemption and the passion of the cross are two distinct things, yet in reference to salvation they make one; since it was by union with His Father, which was completed through the passion of the cross, that the Lord became the Redeemer to eternity.

128.

In respect to glorification, which means the uniting of the Lord’s Divine Human with the Divine of the Father, which union was fully completed through the passion of the cross, the Lord Himself thus speaks in the Gospels: When Judas was gone out Jesus said, Now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in Him. If God be glorified in Him God shall also glorify Him in Himself, and shall straightway glorify Him (John 13:31, 32). Here glorification is predicated both of God the Father and of the Son; for it is said, “God is glorified in Him,” and “shall glorify Him in Himself.” Evidently this means being united: Father, the hour is come; glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son also may glorify Thee (John 17:1, 5). This is so said because the uniting was reciprocal, as it was also said that the Father was in Him and He in the Father: Now is My soul troubled. And He said, Father, glorify Thy Name. Then there came a voice out of heaven, I have hath glorified it and will glorify it again (John 12:27, 28). This was said because the uniting was effected gradually: Behooved it not the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory? (Luke 24:26). In the Word, when “glory” is predicated of the Lord it signifies Divine truth united to Divine good. From all this it is clearly evident that the Lord’s Human is Divine.

129.

The Lord was willing to be tempted even to the passion of the cross, because He was the essential Prophet; and the prophets formerly signified the doctrine of the church from the Word, and therefore the state of the church was represented by them in various ways, some of which were unjust, grievous, and abominable, and these representations were enjoined upon them by God. But because the Lord was the Word itself, He, as the essential Prophet, represented in the passion of the cross the Jewish church in its ways of profaning the Word. To this reason another may be added, namely, that thereby He might be acknowledged in the heavens as the Savior of both worlds; for all things pertaining to His passion signified things pertaining to the profanation of the Word; and while men of the church understand these naturally the angels understand them spiritually. That the Lord was the essential Prophet is evident from the following passages: The Lord said, A prophet is not without honor save in his own country and in his own house (Matt 13:57; Mark 6:4; Luke 4:24). Jesus said, It is not meet that a prophet perish out of Jerusalem (Luke 13:33). Fear took hold on all, praising God, and saying that a great prophet is risen up among us (Luke 7:16). They said of Jesus, This is the prophet of Nazareth (Matt. 21:11; John 7:40, 41). That a prophet was to be raised up from the midst of the brethren to whose words they should hearken (Deut. 18:15-16).

130.

That the prophets represented the state of their church respect to doctrine from the Word and life according to it, is evident from the following passages. The prophet Isaiah was commanded, To loose the sackcloth from off his loins, and to put off the shoe from his foot, and to go naked and barefoot three years, for a sign and a wonder (Isa. 20:2-3). The prophet Ezekiel was commanded to represent the state of the church, By preparing stuff for a journey, and by removing to another place in the sight of the children of Israel; and by bringing forth the stuff by day, and going forth at even through a hole in the wall; and by covering his face that he might not see the ground; that he might be for a sign unto the house of Israel, and say, Behold, I am your sign; like as I have done so shall it be done unto you (Ezek. 12:3-7, 11). The prophet Hosea was commanded to represent the state of the church, By taking to himself a harlot for a wife, and he did so, and she bore to him three children, one of whom was called Jezreel, another, Loruhamah (not to be pitied), and the third Lo-ammi (not my people). And again he was commanded to go and love a woman beloved of a friend, and an adulteress, whom he also took to himself (Hos. 1:2-9; 3:2, 3). One prophet was even commanded, To put ashes upon his eyes, and to permit himself to be struck and wounded (1 Kings 20:35, 38). The prophet Ezekiel was commanded to represent the state of the church, By taking a tile and portraying upon it Jerusalem by laying siege and casting a rampart and mound against it; by setting an iron pan between him and the city by lying upon his left side, and upon his right side. Also by taking wheat, barley, beans, miliet, and fitches, and making bread of them; also by making barley cakes to be baked with human excrement (but because he prayed that this might not be he was permitted to use cow’s dung instead). It was said to him, Lie thou also upon thy left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it according to the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon it thou shalt bear their iniquity. For I will give thee the years of their iniquity according to the number of their days, three hundred and ninety days so shalt thou bear the iniquity of the house of Israel. And when thou hast accomplished them thou shalt lie again on thy right side, that thou mayest bear the iniquity of the house of Judah (Ezek. 4:1-15). [2] That the prophet by these means bore the iniquities of the house of Israel and the house of Judah, but did not take them away and thus expiate them, but only represented and pointed them out, is evident from the following: Thus saith Jehovah, The sons of Israel shall eat their bread unclean behold, I will break the staff of bread, that they may want bread and water and be made desolate, a man with his brother, and pine away for their iniquity (Ezek. 4:13, 16, 17). The same is meant in respect to the Lord where it is said: Surely He hath born our griefs and carried our sorrows Jehovah hath laid on Him the iniquities of us all by His knowledge He hath justified many, in that He hath borne their iniquities (Isa. 53:4, 6, 11). This whole chapter treats of the Lord’s passion. [3] That the Lord as the essential Prophet represented the state of the Jewish church with regard to the Word is evident from the particulars of His passion; as that He was betrayed by Judas: was seized and condemned by the chief priests and elders; that they buffeted Him; smote Him on the head with a reed; put a crown of thorns on His head, divided His garments, and cast lots for His vesture; crucified Him; gave Him vinegar to drink and pierced His side; that He was buried; and that He rose again the third day. His betrayal by Judas signified that He was betrayed by the Jewish nation, which then possessed the Word (for Judas represented that nation); His seizure and condemnation by the chief priests and elders signified that this was done by the whole Jewish church; their buffeting Him, spitting in His face, scourging Him, and smiting Him on the head with a reed, signified that they did like things to the Word in respect to its Divine truths; their putting a crown of thorns upon His head signified that they falsified and adulterated those truths; their dividing His garments and casting lots upon His vesture signified that they dispersed all the truths of the Word, but not its spiritual sense, the Lord’s vesture signifying that sense; their crucifying Him signified that they destroyed and profaned the whole Word; their offering Him vinegar to drink signified that the truths they had were wholly falsified, and therefore He did not drink the vinegar; their piercing His side signified that they wholly extinguished everything true and good in the Word; His burial signified the rejection of everything that was left in Him from the mother; His resurrection on the third day signified His glorification, or the union of His Human with the Divine of the Father. Evidently, then, “bearing iniquities” does not mean taking them away, but it means representing the profanation of the truths of the Word.

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This, too, may be illustrated by comparisons; and this shall be done for the sake of the simple-minded, who see better by comparisons than by analytically formed deductions from the Word and from reason. Every citizen or subject is united to his king by obeying his commands and precepts; and more so if he endures hardships for him; and still more if he suffers death for him, as men do in war. In the same way friend is united to friend, son to father, and servant to master, by acting according to their wishes; still more by defending them against enemies; and more yet by fighting for their honor. Is not one united to the maiden whom he is wooing when he fights with those who defame her, and contends even to wounds with his rival? It is according to an inherent law of nature that they are united by such means. The Lord says: I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd layeth down his life for the sheep. Therefore doth My Father love Me (John 10:11- 17).

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(7) The belief that the passion of the cross was redemption itself is the fundamental error of the church; and this error, together with the error respecting three Divine persons from eternity, has perverted the whole church to such an extent that there is nothing spiritual left in it. What at the present day more fills and crams the books of the orthodox, or what is more zealously taught and inculcated in the schools, or what is more frequently preached and proclaimed from the pulpit, than that God the Father, being angry with the human race, not only put it away from Himself, but also included it under a universal damnation, and thus excommunicated it; but being gracious, He persuaded or inspired His Son to descend and take upon Himself this determined damnation, and thus appease the anger of His Father; and that under no other conditions could the Father look with favor upon mankind? And further, that this was actually done by the Son; in that by taking upon Himself the damnation of the human race He suffered Himself to be scourged, to be spit upon, and finally crucified by the Jews as one “accursed of God” (Deut. 21:23); and after this had been done the Father was propitiated, and from love for His Son canceled the damnation, but only on behalf of those for whom the Son might intercede, and that the Son thus became a Mediator perpetually before His Father. [2] The churches of the present day resound with these and like ideas; they are reverberated from the walls like echoes from the forests, and fill the ears of all there. But cannot everyone whose reason has been enlightened and made sane by the Word see that God is mercy itself and pity itself, because He is love itself and good itself, and that these are His essence? It is therefore a contradiction to say that essential mercy or good can look upon man with anger and determine upon his damnation, and continue to be its own Divine Essence. Such things can hardly be ascribed to a good man, but only to a bad man, nor can they be ascribed to an angel of heaven, but only to a spirit of hell. It is therefore horrible to ascribe them to God. [3] But if it is asked why this has been done the answer is, that the passion of the cross has been taken for redemption itself; and from this these ideas have flowed forth, as from one falsity falsities flow forth in a continuous series, or as from a cask of vinegar nothing but vinegar can flow, or from an insane mind nothing but insanity can flow. For from a single conclusion kindred principles flow; these lie hidden in the conclusion, and grow out of it one after another; and from the doctrine that the passion of the cross was redemption there may proceed or be drawn many other things that are scandalous and dishonoring to God, until the saying in Isaiah comes to pass: The priest and the prophet err through strong drink; they stumble in judgment; for all tables are full of the vomit of filthiness (Isa. 28:7-8).

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From this idea of God and redemption all theology from being spiritual has become in the lowest degree natural, and this because merely natural properties have been attributed to God; and yet on the idea of God and the idea of redemption, which makes one with salvation, everything pertaining to the church depends. For this idea is like the head from which all parts of the body proceed; therefore when this is a spiritual idea everything pertaining to the church becomes spiritual, and when it is a natural idea everything pertaining to the church becomes natural; consequently, as the idea of God and redemption has become purely natural, that is, sensual and corporeal, so all things that have been taught and are taught by the heads and members of the church in their dogmatic theology are purely natural. And nothing but falsities can be hatched from this theology, for the reason that the natural man acts constantly against the spiritual, and therefore regards what is spiritual as something spectral, or as an airy phantasm. And in consequence it may be said that owing to this sensual idea of redemption, and thus of God, the ways to heaven, which are the ways to the Lord God the Savior, are beset by thieves and robbers (John 10:1, 8-9); and that the doors of the churches are thrown down, giving entrance to dragons, owls, and the wild beasts of the deserts and the islands, which sing together there in horrible discord. It is known that this idea of redemption and of God pervades the faith of the present day, which is, that men should beseech God the Father to pardon their offenses for the sake of the cross and blood of His Son, and beseech God the Son to pray and intercede for them, and God the Holy Spirit to justify and sanctify them. What is this but praying to three Gods in their order? And wherein does this conception of the Divine government differ from that of an aristocracy or a hierarchy, or such a triumvirate as once existed at Rome, except that instead of a triumvirate it may be called a tripersonate? And then what is easier than for the devil to “divide and rule,” as the saying is, that is, to distract men’s minds, and to excite rebellious movements, now against one God and now against another, as has been done from the time of Arius until now; which is equivalent to hurling from His throne the Lord God the Savior, who has all power in heaven and on earth (Matt. 28:18), and seating upon that throne some of the devil’s own minions and offering worship to him; or because worship is taken from him, taking it away also from the Lord Himself?

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To this shall be added these Memorable Relations. First: I once entered a temple in the world of spirits where many were assembled. Before the sermon began they were discussing with each other the subject of Redemption. The temple was square, with no windows in the walls; but in the center of the roof there was a large opening, through which light from heaven entered, making it lighter than if there had been windows at the sides. And behold, in the midst of their talk about redemption a black cloud floating from the north suddenly covered the opening, causing such darkness that they could not see each other, and could scarcely see their own hands. While they were standing amazed at this, behold, the black cloud parted in the middle, and through the parting angels sent down from heaven appeared, who dispelled the cloud to both sides, and again the temple was filled with light. The angels then sent down one of their number into the temple, who in their name asked the congregation what they were contending about to cause so dense a cloud to overshadow them, take away the light, and bring on darkness. They answered that it was about redemption, as having been wrought by the Son of God through the passion of the cross, whereby He made expiation, and delivered the human race from damnation and eternal death. To this the angel who had been sent down said, “Why through the passion of the cross? Explain why through that.” [2] Then a priest came forward and said, “I will explain in order what we know and believe, which is, That God the Father, being angry with the human race, condemned it, shut it out from His clemency, and declared all men doomed and accursed, and consigned them to hell; and that He wished His Son to take upon Himself that condemnation, and the Son consented, and for that purpose came down and assumed the human, suffered Himself to be crucified, and thus transferred to Himself the condemnation of the human race; for we read, ‘Cursed is everyone that hangeth on the wood of a cross.’ Thus did the Son by interceding and mediating propitiate the Father; and then the Father, moved by love for His Son, and by witnessing His anguish upon the wood of the cross, determined to forgive men; ‘but only those to whom I impute Thy righteousness; these I will change from children of wrath and malediction to children of grace and benediction, and will justify and save them; the rest, as before determined, may remain children of wrath.’ This is our faith, and these things are our righteousness, which God the Father implants in our faith, which alone justifies and saves.” [3] When the angel had heard this he was silent for some time, for he was motionless with amazement; but afterwards he broke silence and said, “Can the Christian world be so insane, and wander away from sound reason into such madnesses, and from such paradoxes draw conclusions about the fundamental dogma of salvation? Who does not see that these things are diametrically opposed to the very Divine essence, that is, to God’s Divine love and Divine wisdom, and at the same time to His omnipotence and omnipresence? No good master could so deal with his manservants and maidservants, nor even a wild beast or a bird of prey with its young. It is horrible. Is it not contrary to God’s Divine essence to annul that call which has been made to the whole human race and to each individual? Is it not contrary to the Divine essence to change the order established from eternity, which is, that every man is to be judged by his life? Is it not contrary to the Divine essence to withdraw its love and mercy from any man, still more from the whole human race? Is it not contrary to the Divine essence that it should be brought back to mercy, and as mercy is the very essence of God, that it should be brought back to its own essence, by witnessing the anguish of the Son? Is it not abominable to imagine that He ever departed from that essence, since that essence is Himself from eternity to eternity? [4] Furthermore, is it not impossible to introduce into such a thing as your faith is, the righteousness of redemption (which in itself belongs to the Divine omnipotence), and to impute and ascribe it to man, and without any further means to declare him righteous, pure, and holy? Is it not impossible to remit sins to anyone, and to renew, regenerate, and save him, by mere imputation, whereby unrighteousness is turned into righteousness, and a curse into a blessing? Would it not be possible in this way to change hell into heaven and heaven into hell, or the dragon into Michael and Michael into the dragon, and so end the war between them? Is anything needed but to withdraw the imputation of your faith from one and bestow it upon the other? Thus would you compel us who are in heaven to live for ever in constant fear. Neither is it in accordance with justice and judgment for one person to take upon himself the guilt of another, and for the guilty thus to be made innocent and have his guilt washed away. Is not this opposed to both Divine and human justice? The Christian world does not yet know that there is an order, still less what that order is, which God introduced into the world simultaneously with the creation of it; and that God cannot act contrary to that order, since He would then be acting contrary to Himself; for God is order itself.” [5] The priest understood what was said by the angel, because the angels who were above let in light from heaven; and presently he sighed and said, “What is to be done? At this day all men so preach and pray and believe. It is in every mouth, ‘Good Father, have mercy upon us; forgive us our sins for the sake of Thy Son’s blood, which He poured out for us upon the cross.’ And to Christ they pray, ‘Lord, intercede for us.’ And to this we priests add, ‘Send us the Holy Spirit.’” The angel then said, “I have observed that from the Word not interiorly understood the priests prepare an eyesalve which they apply to the eyes that are blinded by their faith; or they make from it a sort of plaster which they spread upon the wounds inflicted by their dogmas; and yet they fail to heal those wounds, because they are chronic sores. Therefore go to him who stands yonder,’ pointing his finger towards me, “and he will teach you from the Lord that the passion of the cross was not redemption, but the uniting of the Lord’s Human with the Divine of the Father; while redemption was the subjugation of the hells and the restoration of order in the heavens; and unless this had been done by the Lord when He was in the world there would be no salvation for anyone on the earth or in heaven. He will also teach you the order established from creation, to live according to which is to be saved, those who live according to it being numbered among the redeemed, and called the elect.” When all this had been said, windows were formed in the walls of the temple through which there flowed in an illumination from the four quarters of that world, and cherubs appeared flying in the brightness of the light; and the angel was taken up to his companions above the opening; and we went away delighted.

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Second Memorable Relation: One morning as I awoke from sleep, the sun of the spiritual world appeared to me in its glory; and as far below it as our earth is from its sun I saw the heavens; and presently there were heard from the heavens words ineffable, the sum of which found utterance in this declaration, “There is one God, who is Man; and His abode is in that sun.” This utterance passed down through the middle heavens to the lowest, and from that into the world of spirits where I was; and I perceived that the angels’ idea of the one God, in its descent by degrees, was changed into the idea of three Gods. Observing this I went forward to speak with those whose thought was of three Gods, saying, “What a monstrous idea! Where did you get it?” They replied, “We think of three from our way of conceiving of the Triune God; nevertheless this idea does not fall into our utterance. When we speak we always declare emphatically that God is one. If there is a different idea in our minds, let it be, provided it does not come forth and sever the idea of the unity of God in our speech. Still it does come forth from time to time, because it is within; and if at such times we should speak plainly we should declare that there are three Gods. But we guard against this, lest we should be laughed at by those hearing us.” [2] Then they spoke openly from their thought, saying, “Are there not three Gods, since there are three Divine persons, each of whom is God? We cannot think otherwise when a leader of our church, speaking from his collection of holy dogmas, ascribes to one creation, to another redemption, and to the third sanctification; and when furthermore he ascribes to them certain attributes, to each one His own, which he asserts are incommunicable; and these include not only creation, redemption, and sanctification, but also imputation, mediation, and operation. Is there not, then, one who creates us, and He also imputes; and is there not another who redeems us, and He also mediates; and a third who effects the mediated imputation, and He also sanctifies? 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 the Expiator, Mediator, Propitiator, and Intercessor? And as He was one with the Son of God from eternity, are not the Father and Son two distinct persons? And as these two are in heaven, one sitting at the right hand of the other, must there not be a third person to carry out in the world what is decreed in heaven?” [3] Hearing this I was silent, and thought to myself, O what folly! They have no idea of what is meant in the Word by mediation. And presently, at the Lord’s command, three angels descended from heaven and were associated with me, in order that I might speak from interior perception with those who were in the idea of three Gods, particularly in respect to mediation, intercession, propitiation, and expiation, which they attribute to the second person, that is, the Son, but not until after He had become Man; and He became Man many centuries after creation, and during this time these four means of salvation did not exist, and thus God the Father was not propitiated, no expiation was made for the human race, and no one was sent from heaven to intercede and mediate. [4] Then from an inspiration that came upon me I spoke with them, saying, “Draw near, as many of you as can, and hear what is meant in the Word by mediation, intercession, expiation, and propitiation. These are the four predicates of the grace of the one God in His Human. God the Father can in no way be approached, nor can He approach any man, because He is the Infinite, and is in His own Esse which is Jehovah; and if from His Esse He were to approach man He would consume him as fire consumes wood and reduces it to ashes. This is evident from what He said to Moses when Moses wished to see God: That no man could see Him and live (Ex. 33:20). And the Lord says: That no man hath seen God at any time, except the Son who is in the bosom of the Father (John 1:18; Matt. 11:27). Again: That no one hath either heard the Father’s voice or seen His shape (John 5:37). We read, indeed, that Moses saw Jehovah face to face, and spoke with Him mouth to mouth; but this was done through an angel, as was the case also with Abraham and Gideon. Such, then, being the nature of God the Father in Himself, it pleased Him to assume a Human, and in that to become accessible to men, and thus hear them and speak with them; and that Human is what is called the Son of God; and it is that which mediates, intercedes, propitiates, and expiates. I will therefore explain the signification of these four things which are predicated of the Human of God the Father. [5] Mediation means that this Human is the medium through which man is enabled to approach God the Father, and God the Father to approach man, and to so teach and lead man that he may be saved. Therefore the Son of God, by which is meant the Human of God the Father, is called the Savior, and in the world, Jesus, that is, Salvation. Intercession means unceasing mediation; for love itself, which is the source of mercy, clemency, and grace, unceasingly intercedes, that is, mediates in behalf of those who keep His commandments, whom He loves. Expiation means the removal of the sins into which man would rush if Jehovah unclothed should be approached. Propitiation means the operation of clemency and grace to prevent man’s bringing himself by sin into condemnation; also protection, to prevent him from profaning holiness. This was the signification of the mercy-seat over the ark in the tabernacle. [6] It is known that in the Word God has spoken according to appearances, as that He becomes angry, takes revenge, tempts, punishes, casts into hell, damns, and even does what is evil; when in fact He is angry with no one, neither does He take revenge, tempt, punish, cast into hell, or damn. All these things are as far from God as hell is from heaven, and infinitely farther; consequently they are forms of speech to express the appearance. Expiation, propitiation, intercession, and mediation, are also forms of speech to express the appearance in another sense, since these are to be understood as predications of approach to God and of receiving grace from God through His Human. But these terms not having been understood, men have divided God into three, and upon these three have based the entire doctrine of the church, and have thus falsified the Word. From this has come ‘the abomination of desolation’ foretold by the Lord in Daniel, and again in Matthew 24.” When I had said this the crowd of spirits withdrew from about me, and I noticed that those whose thought was actually of three Gods looked towards hell; while those whose thought was of one God, in whom is a Divine trinity, and that this trinity is in the Lord God the Savior, looked towards heaven; and these beheld the sun of heaven, in which Jehovah in His Human dwells.

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Third Memorable Relation: I saw at a distance five gymnasia, each one surrounded by a light from heaven. A purple light, such as there is in the clouds in the morning before sunrise on earth, surrounded the first; a yellowish light, like that in the east after sunrise, surrounded the second; a bright light, like that of noonday in the world, surrounded the third; and a moderate light, like daylight when it begins to be tempered by the shades of evening, surrounded the fourth. The fifth stood in the actual shade of evening. Gymnasia in the spiritual world are halls where the learned assemble and discuss various arcana that are serviceable to their knowledge, intelligence, and wisdom. Seeing these gymnasia I felt a strong desire to visit one of them, and went in spirit to the one that was surrounded by the moderate light; and entering I saw an assembly of the learned; who were discussing with one another what is involved in the statement that the Lord was taken up to heaven and sits at the right hand of God (Mark 16:19). [2] The greater part of the assembly said that this should be understood in accordance with the very words, that the Son does so sit beside the Father; and it was asked why He did so. Some said that the Son had been placed by the Father at His right hand on account of the redemption He had accomplished; others said that it was from love that He sat there; others that it was in order that He might be the Father’s counselor; and being such, that He might be honored by the angels; others that it was because it had been granted Him by the Father to rule in His stead, for it is written that all power was given to Him in heaven and on earth. But the greater number said that it was in order that He might hear, from the right hand, those for whom He intercedes; for in the church at the present day all approach God the Father, and pray to Him to be merciful for the Son’s sake; and this causes the Father Himself to turn to the Son, that He may receive the Son’s mediation. Some, however, said that it is only the Son of God from eternity who sits at the right hand of the Father, that He may impart His Divinity to the Son of man born in the world. [3] Hearing this, I was greatly astonished that learned men, who had already been living for some time in the spiritual world, should be so ignorant of heavenly things; but I perceived why it was so, namely, that from confidence in their own intelligence they had not suffered themselves to be taught by the wise. But that they might no longer remain ignorant of the meaning of the Son’s sitting at the Father’s right hand I raised my hand, asking them to give ear to a few words that I wished to say on that subject; and as they assented I said, “Do you not know from the Word that the Father and the Son are one, that the Father is in the Son, and the Son in the Father? This the Lord plainly says (in John 10:30, and 14:10, 11). If you do not believe this you divide God into two; and when this is done you are unable to think about God otherwise than naturally, sensually, and even materially; and this has been done in the world since the time of the Council of Nice, which introduced the doctrine of three Divine persons from eternity, and thereby turned the church into a theater furnished with painted hangings, wherein the actors were representing new plays. Who does not know and acknowledge that God is one? If you acknowledge this in heart and spirit, all that you have just said is of itself dissipated, or rebounds into the air like nonsense from the ear of a wise man.” [4] At these remarks many were incensed, and burned to pull my ears and order me to be silent. But the president of the congregation said with indignation,” This discussion is not about the unity and plurality of God, for we believe in both, but about what is involved in the statement that the Son sits at His Father’s right hand; if you know anything about this, speak.” I replied, “I will speak, but I pray you to suppress the noise.” And I said, “‘To sit at the right hand’ does not mean to sit at the right hand, but it means God’s omnipotence through the Human that He assumed in the world. By means of this He is in things last as well as in things first; by means of this He entered and overthrew and subjugated the hells; by means of this He restored order in the heavens; and thus by means of this He redeemed both men and angels, and will continue to redeem for ever. If you consult the Word, and are capable of enlightenment, you will perceive that ‘right hand’ means here omnipotence, as it does in Isaiah: My hand hath founded the earth, and My right hand hath spanned the heavens (47:13). Jehovah hath sworn by His right hand and by the arm of His strength (62:8). Thy right hand doth hold Me up (Ps. 18:35). Look to the Son that Thou madest strong for Thyself; let Thy hand be for the man of the right hand, for the Son of man whom Thou madest strong for Thyself (Ps. 80:15, 17). From this it is plain how the following is to be understood: The saying of Jehovah to my Lord, Sit Thou at My right hand until I make Thine enemies a footstool for Thy feet. Jehovah shall send the staff of Thy strength out of Zion; rule Thou in the midst of Thine enemies (Ps. 110:1, 2). This whole Psalm treats of the Lord’s combat against the hells, and His subjugation of them. As ‘the right hand of God’ signifies omnipotence: The Lord says that He is to sit at the right of power (Matt. 26:63, 64) And at the right hand of the power of God” (Luke 22:69). [5] But at this the assembly became tumultuous, and I said, “Take heed; for a hand may appear from heaven, and when it appears (as it had appeared to me), it strikes the beholder with an incredible terror of its power; and this has been to me a proof that ‘the right hand of God’ signifies omnipotence.” Scarcely had I spoken when beneath heaven an outstretched hand was seen, at the appearance of which such terror seized them that they rushed in crowds toward the doors, and some to the windows to throw themselves out, and some fell down unable to breathe. But I remained unterrified, and went out calmly after them; and when some distance away I turned and saw the building enveloped in a dense cloud, and was told from heaven that this was done because they had spoken from a belief in three Gods, and that the former light would return when those who were more sane should meet there.

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Fourth Memorable Relation: I heard that a synod had been convoked of those celebrated for their writings and learning in respect to the faith of the present day and the justification of the elect thereby. This was in the world of spirits; and it was granted me to be present in spirit; and I saw an assembly of the clergy, both those of like belief and those of differing beliefs. On the right stood those who were called in the world the Apostolic Fathers, who had lived in the centuries preceding the Nicene Council; on the left stood men renowned in the succeeding centuries for their printed or manuscript works. Many of these latter had no beards, and wore curled wigs made of women’s hair; and some of them wore ruffled collars with points; while the former had beards and wore their natural hair. In front of them all stood a man (a judge and a critic of the writings of the present century), with a staff in his hand. He struck the floor and caused silence. He then ascended the upper step of the pulpit and breathed out a sigh, and wished to follow it up by a loud exclamation; but the sighing breath kept back the sound in his throat. [2] At length he spoke and said, “O what an age, my brethren! There has risen up from the herd of the laity one having neither gown, tiara, nor laurel, who has plucked our faith from heaven and hurled it into the Styx. O horrible! And yet that faith alone is our star, shining like Orion in the night, and like Lucifer in the morning. That man, though advanced in years, is wholly blind to the mysteries of our faith, because he has not investigated it and seen in it the righteousness of the Lord our Savior and His mediation and propitiation; and as he has not seen these neither has he seen the wonders of its justification, which are the remission of sins, regeneration, sanctification, and salvation. This man, in place of our faith-which, being a faith in three Divine persons and therefore in the whole Deity, is saving to the utmost has transferred faith to the second person; yet not even to Him, but to His Human which we call Divine because of the incarnation of the Son from eternity; but is there anyone who thinks of it as any thing more than merely human? From this what else can result but a faith from which naturalism flows as from a fountain? And such a faith, not being spiritual, differs but little from faith in a pope or in a saint. You know what Calvin said in his time about worship from that kind of faith. And pray tell me, anyone of you, whence comes faith. Must it not be directly from God to thus have in it all things of salvation?” [3] At this his companions on the left, who had shaven faces, curly wigs, and collars about their necks, clapped their hands and shouted, “You have spoken most wisely. We know that we can take nothing that is not given us from heaven. If this is not faith, let that prophet tell us where faith comes from, and what it is. It cannot be any thing else or from any other source. To set forth any faith that is a faith, other than this, is as impossible as for one to ride on horseback to some constellation in heaven, and to take a star from it and hide it in his pocket and bring it down.” This they said to make their companions laugh at any new belief. [4] Hearing this, the men on the right, who had bearded chins and wore their natural hair, were indignant. And one of them rose up (an old man, although he afterwards looked like a young man, for he was an angel from heaven, where those of all ages become youthful); and he spoke and said, “I have heard what your faith is, which the man in the pulpit has so magnified; but what is such a faith but our Lord’s sepulchre after the resurrection, when it had been closed again by Pilate’s soldiers? I have explored it and have seen nothing in it but the juggler’s rods with which the magicians in Egypt wrought miracles. Indeed, externally your faith in your eyes is like a shrine of molten gold set with precious stones, but when opened it is found empty, except, perhaps, for a little dust in the corners from Papal relics, since that church has the same faith; only with them at the present day it is overlaid with external sanctities. Your faith, if I may indulge in further comparisons, is like a vestal virgin among the ancients who has been buried alive for letting the sacred fire go out. And I can assure you that in my eyes it is like the golden calf around which the children of Israel danced when Moses had gone away, and had ascended Mount Sinai to Jehovah. [5] Be not surprised that I use such comparisons in speaking of your faith; for so we speak of it in heaven. Our faith on the other hand is, was, and for ever will be, a faith in the Lord God the Savior, whose Human is Divine and whose Divine is Human; thus it is adapted to reception, and by it the Divine spiritual is united to the natural of man, and a spiritual faith is formed in the natural, and from the spiritual light in which our faith is the natural becomes as it were transparent. The truths of which our faith consists are as many as the verses in the sacred Volume; thee truths are all like stars, which by their light make the faith manifest and give it form. Man acquires this faith from the Word by means of his natural light, in which light it is knowledge, thought, and persuasion; but the Lord causes it, in those who believe in Him, to become conviction, trust, and confidence; thus faith becomes spiritual-natural, and by means of charity becomes living. With us this faith is like a queen adorned with precious stones, as numerous as those in the wall of the holy Jerusalem (Apoc. 21:17-20). [6] But lest you may look upon what I have said as mere boasting, and worthy of little regard, I will read to you some passages from the Holy Word, from which it will be evident that our faith is not faith in a man, as you suppose, but in the true God, in whom is the entire Divine. John says that: Jesus Christ is the true God, and eternal life (1 John 5:20). Paul says that: In Christ dwelleth all the fullness of the Divinity bodily (Col. 2:9); and in the Acts of the Apostles: That he preached both to Jews and to Greeks repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ (20:21). And the Lord Himself says: That there was given to Him all power in heaven and in earth (Matt. 28:18). These are but a few of such passages.” [7] After this the angel looked at me and said, “You know what those who are called Evangelical believe, or are expected to believe, about the Lord the Savior. Recite some of these things, that we may see whether they are so foolish as to believe that His Human is merely human, or whether they attribute to Him something of the Divine, and how.” And then, in the presence of those assembled, I read the following passages from their standard work called the Formula Concordioe, published at Leipsic 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 so remains for ever (pp. 609, 673, 762). In Christ God is Man, and Man is God (pp. 607, 765). Christ’s Human Nature is exalted to all Divine Majesty; this also from many of the Fathers (pp. 844-852, 860-865, 869-878). As to His Human nature Christ is omnipresent, and fills all things (pp. 768, 783-785). In Christ, as to His Human nature, resides all power in heaven and on earth (pp. 775, 776, 780). As to His Human nature Christ sits at the right hand of the Father (pp. 608, 764). Christ, as to His Human nature, is to be invoked; there proved by quotations from the Scriptures (p. 226). The Augustan Confession especially endorses this doctrine (p. 19). [8] When I had read these passages I turned to the president and said, “I know that all here present are associated with their like in the natural world; tell me, I pray, do you know with whom you are associated?” He answered in a grave tone, “I do; I am associated with a celebrated man, a leader of a host in the army of illustrious men in the church.” As he answered in so grave a tone I said, “Pardon me if I ask whether you know where that celebrated leader lives.” He answered, “I do; he lives not far from the tomb of Luther.” At this I smiled and said, “Why do you mention the tomb? Do you not know that Luther has risen, and has now renounced his erroneous ideas of justification by faith in three Divine persons from eternity, and therefore has been placed among the blessed in the new heaven, and sees and laughs at those who run mad after him?” He replied, “I know, but what is that to me?” I then addressed him in a grave tone like his own, saying, “Inspire your celebrated man with whom you are associated with this, Whether there is not reason to fear that in writing as he did against the worship of our Lord and Savior, he at the same time robbed the Lord of His Divinity, contrary to the orthodoxy of his church, or allowed his pen to plough a furrow in which he thoughtlessly sowed naturalism.” To this he replied, “That I cannot do, because he and I in that matter are almost of one mind; but what I say he does not understand, while all that he says I understand clearly.” This is because the spiritual world enters into the natural and perceives the thoughts of men there, but not the reverse; such is the condition of association of spirits and men. [9] As I had begun to talk with the president I continued, “If I may be permitted I will throw in still another query, Whether you are aware that the orthodoxy of the Evangelicals, in the manual of their church called the Formula Concordioe, teaches that in Christ God is Man, and Man is God, and that His Divine and Human are and will for ever remain one undivided Person? How then could he and how can you defile the worship of the Lord with naturalism?” To this he replied, “I know that, and yet I do not know it.” I therefore continued, “Let me ask him, or you in his place, since he is absent, from whom did the Lord our Savior derive His soul? If you say from the mother, you are irrational; if from Joseph, you profane the Word; if from the Holy Spirit, you say truly, provided that by the Holy Spirit you mean the proceeding and operating Divine, thus that He is the Son of Jehovah God. [10] Again, I ask, What is the hypostatic union? If you reply that it is a union as between two persons, a superior and an inferior, you are irrational; for thus you might make God the Savior two persons, as you make God three; but if you say that it is a personal union like that of soul and body, you say rightly: and this is in harmony with your doctrine, also with that of the Fathers. Consult the Formula Concordioe (pp. 765-768), also the Athanasian creed, where this is said, ‘The correct faith is that we believe and confess that our Lord Jesus Christ is God and Man; who although He be God and Man, yet is not two, but is one Christ, one altogether, not by confusion of substance but by unity of Person; for as the reasonable soul and flesh are one man, so God and Man is one Christ. ‘ [11] I ask still further, What else was the damnable heresy of Arius, on account of whom the Nicene Council was convened by the Emperor Constantine the Great, than his denial of the Divinity of the Lord’s Human? Tell me, moreover, whom you understand by these words in Jeremiah: Behold, the days come that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and He shall reign as King, and this is His name, Jehovah our Righteousness (23:5, 6; 33:15, 16). If you say a Son born from eternity, you are irrational; that 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 say rightly; He through redemption became the righteousness upon which you build your faith. Read also Isaiah 9:6, besides other passages in which it is foretold that Jehovah Himself would come into the world.” At this the president was silent, and turned away. [12] When all this had occurred the president wished to dismiss the synod with a prayer; but just then a man started up from the company on the left, with a turban on his head and a cap over the turban; and he touched his cap with his finger, and said, “I also am associated with a man in your world, who there occupies a position of great honor; this I know because I speak from him as from myself.” I asked where that eminent man lived. He answered, “At Gottenburg; and from him I at one time thought that your new doctrines favored of Mohammedanism.” I saw that on hearing this all those on the right, where the Apostolic Fathers stood, were thunderstruck, and their countenances changed, and I heard such exclamations as these issuing from their minds through their mouths, “O horrible!” “O what an age!” But to calm their just indignation I stretched forth my hand begged a hearing; which being granted I said, “I know that a man of that eminence wrote something of the kind in a letter which was afterwards printed; but if he had then known what blasphemy it was he would certainly have torn the letter to pieces and thrown it into the fire. A slander like that is meant by the Lord’s words to the Jews, when they said that Christ wrought miracles by other than Divine power (Matt. 12:22-32); and in addition to this the Lord there says: He that is not with Me is against Me, and be that gathereth not with Me scattereth abroad” (verse 30). At these words the countenance of the associate spirit fell; but presently he looked up and said, “I have now heard worse things from you than ever.” But I continued, “There are two items in this charge-naturalism and Mohammedanism-Which are wicked lies and crafty inventions; and two deadly stigmas, designed to turn aside the wills of men and to deter them from the holy worship of the Lord.” And I turned to the latter associate spirit and said, “Tell the man at Gottenburg, if you can, to read what is said by the Lord in Apoc. 3:18, and also in 2:16.” [13] At these remarks a tumult arose; but it was quieted by light sent down from heaven, in consequence of which many of those on the left passed over to those on the right, those only remaining who thought superficially, and therefore depended on the word of some master, also those who thought of the Word as merely human. From both of these classes the light went down from heaven appeared to be thrown back, but to fall upon those who had passed over from the left to the right.

III. The Holy Spirit And The Divine Operation

All those of the clerical order who have cherished any right idea of the Lord our Savior, when they enter the spiritual world (which generally takes place on the third day after death), receive instruction at first about the Divine trinity, and particularly about the Holy Spirit, that it is not a God by itself, but that the Divine operation proceeding from the one and omnipresent God is what is meant in the Word by the Holy Spirit. They are thus particularly instructed about this, because very many enthusiasts after death fall into the insane phantasy that they themselves are the Holy Spirit; also because many belonging to the church who had believed while in the world that the Holy Spirit spoke through them, terrify others with the words of the Lord in Matthew (12:31, 32), claiming that to speak against what the Holy Spirit has inspired into them is the unpardonable sin. Those who after instruction relinquish the belief that the Holy Spirit is a God by itself are then taught that the unity of God is not divided into three persons, each one of whom is singly God and Lord, according to the Athanasian creed; but that the Divine trinity is in the Lord the Savior, like the soul, the body, and the proceeding energy in every man. After this they are prepared for receiving the faith of the new heaven; and when so prepared a way is opened for them to a society in heaven where a like faith prevails, and an abode is given them among brethren, with whom they are to live in blessedness to eternity. As God the Creator and the Lord the Redeemer have already been treated of, it is now necessary to treat also of the Holy Spirit; and this subject, like the others, shall be considered under appropriate heads, as follows: (1) The Holy Spirit is the Divine Truth and also the Divine Energy and Operation proceeding from the one God in whom is the Divine Trinity, that is, from the Lord God the Savior. (2) The Divine Energy and Operation, which are meant by the Holy Spirit, are, in general, reformation and regeneration; and in accordance with these, renovation, vivification, sanctification, and justification; and in accordance with these latter, purification from evils and forgiveness of sins, and finally salvation. (3) The Divine Energy and Operation which are meant by the “sending of the Holy Spirit,” are, with the clergy especially, enlightenment and instruction. (4) The Lord makes these energies operative in those who believe in Him. (5) The Lord operates of Himself from the Father, and not the reverse. (6) The spirit of man is his mind and whatever proceeds from it.

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(1) The Holy Spirit is the Divine Truth and also the Divine Energy and Operation proceeding from the one God in whom is the Divine Trinity, that is, from the Lord God the Savior. The Holy Spirit signifies strictly the Divine truth, thus also the Word; and in this sense the Lord Himself is the Holy Spirit. But since in the church at this day the Divine operation, which is actually justification, is what is meant by the Holy Spirit, this is here taken to be the Holy Spirit, and is what is chiefly treated of. This is done for the further reason that the Divine operation is effected by means of the Divine truth which goes forth from the Lord; and that which goes forth is of one and the same essence with Him from whom it goes forth, as the three things, soul, body, and what goes forth from them, together constitute one essence, which in man is purely human, but in the Lord is Divine and Human at the same time; and these after glorification are united as what is prior is with its posterior, or as essence is with its form. Thus the three essentials, called Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, are one in the Lord. [2] That the Lord is the Divine truth itself, or the Divine verity, has been shown above. That the Holy Spirit is the same is manifest from the following passages: There shall go forth a Shoot out of the stock of Jesse; the spirit of Jehovah shall rest upon Him, the spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the spirit of counsel and might; and He shall smite the land with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips shall He slay the wicked; and righteousness shall be the girdle of His loins, and truth the girdle of His thighs (Isa. 11:1, 2, 4, 5). He shall come like a narrow flood; the Spirit of Jehovah shall lift up a standard against him; then a Redeemer shall come to Zion (Isa. 59:19, 20). The spirit of the Lord Jehovih is upon Me; therefore Jehovah hath anointed Me, He hath sent Me to preach good tidings unto the poor (Isa. 61:1; Luke 4:18). This is My covenant; My spirit that is upon thee, and My words shall not depart out of thy mouth from henceforth and for ever (Isa. 59:21). [3] As the Lord is truth itself, all that goes forth 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. This is evident from the following passages: I tell you the truth: It is expedient for you that I go away; for if I go not away the Comforter will not come unto you, but if I go away I will send Him unto you (John 16:7). When He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth for He will not speak from Himself, but whatsoever things He shall hear shall He speak (John 16:13). He shall glorify Me; for He shall take of Mine and shall declare it unto you. All things whatsoever the Father hath are Mine therefore said I that He shall take of Mine and shall declare it unto you (John 16:14, 15). I will ask the Father to give you another Comforter, the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him; but ye know Him, for He abideth with you and shall be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I come to you: and ye shall see Me (John 14:16-19). When the Comforter is come whom I will send unto you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, He shall bear witness of Me (John 15:26). He is called the Holy Spirit (John 14:26). [4] That by “the Comforter” or “the Holy Spirit” the Lord meant Himself, is evident from His words, that the world had not yet known Him: But ye know Him; I will not leave you orphans; I come to you; ye shall see Me (John 14:17-19); and in another passage: Lo I am with you always, even unto the consummation of the age (Matthew 27:20); also from these words, “He shall not speak from Himself,” but “He shall take of Mine.”

140.

Since, then, by the Holy Spirit the Divine truth is meant, and the Divine truth was in the Lord and was the Lord Himself (John 14:6), and since the Holy Spirit could therefore proceed from no other source, it is said: The Holy Spirit was not yet, because Jesus was not yet glorified (John 7:39), and after the glorification: He breathed upon His disciples and said, Receive ye the Holy Spirit (John 20:22). The Lord breathed upon His disciples and said this because “breathing upon, (aspiratio)” was an outward symbol representative of the Divine breathing-into (inspiratio). Breathing-into effects insertion into angelic societies. From all this the understanding can comprehend what was said by the angel Gabriel respecting the conception of the Lord: The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee therefore that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God (Luke 1:35). And again: The angel of the Lord said to Joseph, in a dream, Fear not to take unto thee Mary thy bride; for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And Joseph touched her not until she had brought forth her firstborn Son (Matt. 1:20, 25). Here the “Holy Spirit” means the Divine truth going forth from Jehovah the Father; and this going forth is the power of the Most High which then overshadowed the mother. This, therefore, agrees with what is said in John: The Word was with God, and God was the Word. And the Word became flesh (1:1, 14). That by “the Word” here the Divine truth is meant may be seen above (n. 3) on The Faith of the New Church.

141.

That the Divine trinity is in the Lord has been shown above, and will be shown more fully hereafter when that subject is treated of in detail. Here only some inconsistencies resulting from a division of the trinity into persons will be pointed out. Such a trinity would be like one minister of a church teaching from the pulpit what must be believed and what must be done, with another minister standing by him, whispering in his ear, “You say truly, add something more;” and these saying to a third, standing on the steps of the pulpit, “Go down into the church, open the ears of the people, and pour these things into their hearts, and cause them to be pure, holy, and pledges of righteousness.” Again, a Divine trinity divided into persons, each one of whom singly is God and Lord, is like three suns in a single solar system, one near to another on high, and below these a third, which pours forth its rays upon angels and men, conveying the heat and light of the other two with all power to their minds, hearts, and bodies; enkindling, clarifying, and refining them, as fire does with substances in a retort. Who cannot see that if this were done men would be burned to a cinder? Again, the rule of three Divine persons in heaven would be like the rule of three kings in one kingdom; or of three commanders having equal authority over one army; or rather like the Roman government before the times of the Caesars, which was composed of a consulate, a senate, and a tribunate of the commons, among whom the power was distributed, but with the supreme authority residing in all together. Who does not see the absurdity, folly, and madness of introducing such a form of government into heaven? But this is done when an authority like that of the higher consulate is ascribed to God the Father, an authority like that of the senate to the Son, and an authority like that of the tribunate of the commons to the Holy Spirit. This is done when a function peculiar to Himself is attributed to each; and especially when, in addition to this, their attributes are not communicable.

142.

(2) The Divine Energy and Operation, which are meant by the Holy Spirit, are, in general, reformation and regeneration; and in accordance with these, renovation, vivification, sanctification and justification; and in accordance with these latter, purification from evils, forgiveness of sins, and finally salvation. These in their order are the energies made operative by the Lord in those who believe in Him, and who adjust and dispose themselves for His reception and indwelling; and this is done by means of Divine truth, and with Christians by means of the Word; for the Word is the sole medium through which man draws near to the Lord, and into which the Lord enters. For, as said above, the Lord is Divine truth itself, and whatever goes forth from Him is Divine truth. But Divine truth from good must be understood, which is the same as faith from charity, since faith is nothing but truth, and charity is nothing but goodness. It is by means of Divine truth from good, that is, by means of faith from charity, that man is reformed and regenerated, and also renewed, vivified, sanctified, justified, and according to the progress and growth of these is purified from evils; and purification from evils is remission of sins. But these operations of the Lord cannot now be all explained one by one, because each one calls for its own analysis, confirmed by the Word and rationally illustrated, for which this not the place; therefore the reader is referred to the chapters following in order in this work, which treat of Charity, Faith, Free Will, Repentance, and Reformation and Regeneration. It must be understood that these saving graces are continually made operative by the Lord in every man; since they are the steps to heaven, and the Lord desires the salvation of all. Thus the salvation of all is His end; and he who wills an end wills also the means. The Lord’s coming, redemption, and the passion of the cross were for the sake of man’s salvation (Matt 18:11; Luke 19:10). And as man’s salvation was and eternally is the Lord’s end, it follows that the above mentioned operations are mediate ends, and salvation the final end.

143.

The operation of these energies is the Holy Spirit, which the Lord sends to those who believe in Him and who prepare themselves to receive Him. This is what is meant by the “spirit” in the following passages: I will give you a new heart and a new spirit; and I will put My spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes (Ezek. 36:26, 27; 11:19). Create in us a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation, and let a willing spirit uphold me (Ps. 51:10, 12). Jehovah formeth the spirit of man within him (Zech. 12:1). With my soul have I waited for Thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me have I waited for Thee in the morning (Isa. 26:9). Make you a new heart and a new spirit; why will ye die, O house of Israel? (Ezek. 18:31); and elsewhere. In these passages “a new heart” means a will of good and “a new spirit” an understanding of truth. That the Lord operates these in such as do good and believe the truth, that is, in those who are in the faith of charity, is clearly evident from what is said above-that God gives a soul to those who walk in His statutes; also from the words, “a willing spirit.” And that man must operate on his part is evident from the words, “Make you a new heart and a new spirit; why will ye die O house of Israel?”

144.

We read: That when Jesus was baptized the heavens were opened, and John saw the Holy Spirit descending like a dove (Matt. 3:16; Mark 1:10; Luke 3:21, 22; John 1:32, 33). This took place because baptism signifies regeneration and purification; and a dove has the same signification. Who cannot see that the dove was not the Holy Spirit; and that the Holy Spirit was not the dove? Doves often appear in heaven; and whenever they appear the angels know that they are correspondences of the affections and the consequent thoughts concerning regeneration and purification of some who are near by; therefore as soon as these are approached and are spoken to about some other subject than was in their thoughts when that appearance took place the doves instantly vanish. This is like many things seen by the prophets; as that John saw a lamb standing upon Mount Zion (Apoc. 14:1); and elsewhere. Who does not know that the Lord was not that lamb, and was not in the lamb, but the lamb was a representation of His innocence? This shows clearly the error of those who deduce a trinity of three persons from the dove seen descending upon the Lord when He was baptized, and from the voice heard out of heaven saying, “This is My beloved Son.” That the Lord regenerates man by means of faith and charity is meant by what John the Baptist said: I baptize you with water unto repentance; but He that cometh after me shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire (Matt. 3:11; Mark 1:8; Luke 3:16). “To baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire” means to regenerate by the Divine truth that belongs to faith and the Divine good that belongs to charity. The same is meant by these words of the Lord: Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God (John 3:5). “Water,” here as elsewhere in the Word, signifies truth in the natural or external man; and “spirit” signifies truth from good in the spiritual or internal man.

145.

Since, then, the Lord is Divine truth itself from Divine good, and this is His very essence, and since it is from one’s essence that he does what he does, it is obvious that the Lord wills unceasingly (nor can He will otherwise) to implant truth and good, or faith and charity, in every man. This may be illustrated by many things in the world; as that every man’s volition and thought, and as far as it is allowable his speech and acts, are from his own essence; for example, a faithful man has faithful thoughts and intentions; an honest, upright, pious, and religious man has honest, upright, pious, and religious thoughts and intentions; and conversely, a proud, cunning, wily, and avaricious man has thoughts and intentions that make one with his essence; a fortune-teller desires only to tell fortunes; a fool has no wish but to babble against the things of wisdom; in a word, an angel meditates and strives after nothing but heavenly things, and a devil nothing but infernal things. It is the same with every subject of lower rank in the animal kingdom, as bird, beast, fish, worm, or insect-each is known by its essence or nature; and its instinct is from that nature and in accord therewith. Likewise in the vegetable kingdom, every tree, shrub, and plant is known by its fruit and its seed, in which its essence is innate; nor can anything be produced from it except what is like it and what is its own; yea, every kind of soil and marl, every stone both precious and common, and every mineral and metal, is judged according to its essence.

146.

(3) The Divine Energy and Operation, which are meant by the “sending of the Holy Spirit” are, with the clergy especially, enlightenment and instruction. The operations of the Lord enumerated in the preceding proposition, namely, reformation, regeneration, renewal, vivification, sanctification, justification, purification, the forgiveness of sins, and finally salvation, flow in from the Lord both with the clergy and the laity, and are received by those who are in the Lord, and in whom the Lord is (John 6:56; 14:20; 15:4, 5). But enlightenment and instruction are communicated especially to the clergy, because these belong to their office, and inauguration into the ministry carries these along with it. Moreover, when preaching from zeal they believe themselves to be inspired, like the Lord’s disciples upon whom He breathed, saying: Receive ye the Holy Spirit (John 20:22; see also Mark 13:11). Some affirm even that they have felt the influx. But they should be very careful not to persuade themselves that the zeal by which many are carried away while preaching is the Divine operation in their hearts; for a like and even warmer zeal prevails with enthusiasts, as also with those who are in the utmost falsities of doctrine; and even with those who despise the Word and worship nature instead of God, and fling faith and charity, as it were, into a bag on the back; but when preaching or teaching they hang it before them like a sort of ruminatory stomach, from which they draw out and disgorge such things as they know will serve as food for their hearers. For zeal, in itself considered, is a glow of the natural man. If it has within it a love of truth it is like the sacred fire that descended upon the apostles, as described in the Acts: There appeared unto them tongues parting asunder, like as of fire; and it sat upon each of them; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:3-4). But if within that zeal or glow a love of falsity is concealed, it is like a fire imprisoned in wood, which bursts forth and consumes the house. You who deny the holiness of the Word and the Divinity of the Lord, take, I pray, the bag from your back and open it, as you freely do in your privacy, and you will see. I know that those who are meant by “Lucifer” in Isaiah, who are such as belong to Babylon, when they enter a church, and still more when they ascend the pulpit (especially those who call themselves members of the Society of Jesus), are swept away by a zeal which with many springs from infernal love, and from it declaim more vehemently, and from their breasts draw deeper sighs, than those who are zealous from heavenly love. With the clergy there are two other spiritual operations (as may be seen below, n. 155).

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It is as yet scarcely known in the church that in all of man’s will and thought and his consequent action and speech, there is an internal and an external, and that from infancy man is carefully taught to speak from the external, however the internal may dissent; and that this is the origin of simulation, flattery, and hypocrisy; and thus man becomes double-minded. But he alone is single-minded whose external thinks and speaks and wills and acts from the internal; and such are meant by the “simple [single]” in the Word (as in Luke 8:15; 11:34; and elsewhere). Nevertheless these are wiser than those who are double-minded. The doubleness and tripleness in every created thing is evident in the parts of the human body. Every nerve therein consists of fibers, and every fiber of fibrils; every muscle consists of bundles of fibers, and these of motor fibers; every artery of coats in a triple series. It is the same in the human mind, whose spiritual organization is of like character, because, as said already, it is divided into three distinct regions; of which the highest, which is also the inmost, is called the celestial, the middle is called the spiritual, and the lowest the natural. It is in this lower region that the minds of all men who deny the holiness of the Word and the Divinity of the Lord carry on thought. But because such have learned also from infancy the spiritual things pertaining to the church, and accept these, but place them beneath natural things (that is, scientific, political, and civil-moral matters of various kinds), also because these spiritual things occupy the lowest part of the mind, which is nearest to speech, it comes to pass that when such persons speak in churches and public assemblies they speak from these; and what is wonderful, they are quite unaware at the time that they are not speaking and teaching from a belief in them. But when they are in freedom, as they are in privacy, the door that has closed the internal of their mind is opened, and then at times they laugh at what they had before preached publicly, saying in their hearts that theology is a specious snare for catching doves.

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The internal and external of such men may be likened to poisons coated with sugar; also to those wild gourds which the sons of the prophets collected and put into pottage and ate them, and then cried out, “There is death in the pot” (2 Kings 4:38-41). They may also be compared to the beast coming up out of the sea, which had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon (Rev. 13:11); and afterwards that beast is called “the false prophet.” They are also like robbers in a city where they dwell as citizens, acting morally and talking rationally; but when they return to the forests they are wild beasts. Or they are like pirates, who on the shore are human beings, but at sea are very crocodiles. These when on land or in a city go about like panthers clothed in sheep-fleeces, or like apes in men’s clothing and wearing a mask like the face of a man. They may also be likened to a harlot, who anoints herself with balsam, paints her face with rouge, and clothes herself in white silk interwoven with flowers, but when she returns home denudes herself before her visitors, and infects them with her diseases. That such is the character of those who in heart detract from the holiness of the Word and the Divinity of the Lord it has been granted me to know by years of experience in the spiritual world; for there all at first are kept in their externals, but afterwards their externals are taken away and they are introduced into their internals; and then their comedy is turned into a tragedy.

149.

(4) The Lord makes these energies operative in those who believe in Him. That these energies, which are meant by the sending of the Holy Spirit, are made operative by the Lord in those who believe in Him, that is, that such are reformed, regenerated, renewed, vivified, sanctified, justified, purified from evils, and at length are saved by the Lord, is evident from all those passages in the Word quoted above (n. 107) which prove that those who believe in the Lord have salvation and eternal life; also especially from this: Jesus said, He that believeth on Me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. But this spoke He of the Spirit which they that believed in Him were to receive (John 7:38, 39). And from this: The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy (Apoc. 19:10). “The spirit of prophecy” means truth of doctrine from the Word, “prophecy” signifying doctrine, while “to prophesy” signifies to teach doctrine; and “the testimony of Jesus” means confession from faith in Him. “His testimony” has a similar meaning in the following passage: The angels of Michael overcame the dragon through the blood of the Lamb and through the word of their testimony. And the dragon went away to make war with the rest of her seed who kept the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ (Apoc. 12:11 17).

150.

Those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ will receive these spiritual energies for the reason that He Himself is salvation and eternal life. He is salvation since He is the Savior; and this is the meaning of His name Jesus; He is eternal life since those in whom He is and who are in Him have eternal life therefore He is called “eternal life” (1 John 5:20). Since, then, He is salvation and eternal life, it follows that He is also all that whereby salvation and eternal life are obtained, consequently He is the all of reformation, regeneration, renewal, vivification, sanctification, justification, purification from evils, and finally salvation. These are made operative by the Lord in every man, that is, the Lord strives to impart them; and He does impart them when man adapts and disposes himself for reception. The essential active force by which adaptation and disposition are effected is from the Lord; but unless man receives these operations with a free spirit the Lord cannot go beyond the effort, which, however, unceasingly continues.

Believing in the Lord is not merely acknowledging Him but also doing His commandments; for simply acknowledging Him is solely a matter of thought, arising from somewhat of the understanding; but doing His commandments is also a matter of acknowledgment from the will. Man’s mind consists of understanding and will; and as the understanding deals with thinking and the will with doing, so when man’s acknowledgment is merely from the thought of the understanding he comes to the Lord with only half of his mind; but when there is doing he comes with all of it; and this is to believe. But on the other hand, man is able to divide his heart, and to force the outermost of his nature to soar aloft, the flesh in him meanwhile turning downward; thus he flies like an eagle between heaven and hell. And yet, the man himself does not follow his [upward] look, but the delight of his flesh; and this he does because he is in hell; therefore to hell he flies; and when he has there sacrificed to his voluptuous pleasures and poured out libations to demons, he puts on a countenance of merriment, and his eyes sparkle with fire, and so he feigns himself an angel of light. Such satans do those become after death who acknowledge the Lord but do not keep His commandments.

152.

Under the preceding proposition it has been shown that the salvation and eternal life of men are the first and last end of the Lord; and as the first and last end contain within them the mediate ends, it follows that the above mentioned spiritual energies are together in the Lord, and from the Lord in man, although they come forth successively. For the human mind grows like its body, the latter growing in stature while the former grows in wisdom. So, too, is the mind exalted from one region to another, that is, from the natural to the spiritual, and from the spiritual to the celestial. In this celestial region man is wise, in the spiritual he is intelligent, and in the lowest knowing. But this exaltation of the mind is effected only from time to time, and as man acquires for himself truths and conjoins them with good. It is the same with one who builds a house; he first procures the materials for it, such as bricks, tiles, boards, and beams, and thus lays the foundations, raises the walls, divides off the rooms, furnishes them with doors, puts windows in the walls, and constructs stairs from one story to another. All these things are together in the end, which is the convenient and worthy dwelling he foresees and provides for. It is the same in the building of a church, every thing pertaining to its construction is included in the end, which is the worship of God. So is it with everything else, as with gardens and fields, and also with employments and business, for which the end itself procures for itself the accessories.

153.

(5) The Lord operates of Himself from the Father, and not the reverse. To operate here means the same as sending the Holy Spirit, since the above mentioned operations (which, in general, are reformation, regeneration, renewal, vivification, sanctification, justification, purification from evils, and forgiveness of sins and salvation), which are at this day attributed to the Holy Spirit as a God by Himself, are operations of the Lord. That these are of the Lord from the Father and not the reverse, shall first be proved from the Word, and afterwards illustrated by various things that appeal to the reason. From the Word by the following passages: When the Comforter is come whom I will send unto you from the Father, the Spirit of truth that goes forth from the Father, He shall bear witness of Me (John 15:26). If I go not away the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I go away I will send Him unto you (John 16:7). The Comforter, the Spirit of truth, shall not speak from Himself, but He shall take of Mine and shall declare it unto you. All things whatsoever the Father hath are Mine; therefore said I that He shall take of Mine and shall declare it unto 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 ye the Holy Spirit (John 20:22). Whatsoever ye shall ask in My name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask anything in My name I will do it (John 14:13, 14). [2] From these passages it is very evident that the Lord sends the Holy Spirit, that is, effects those things which at this day are ascribed to the Holy Spirit as a God by Himself; for He says that “He will send the Comforter from the Father,” that “He will send it to them,” that “the Holy Spirit was not yet because Jesus was not yet glorified;” and after the glorification He breathed on the disciples and said, “Receive ye the Holy Spirit;” also that He said, “Whatsoever ye shall ask in My name, that will I do;” and that the Comforter “shall take of Mine what He is to declare.” That the Comforter and the Holy Spirit are the same see John 14:26. That God the Father does not operate these energies of Himself through the Son, but that the Son operates them of Himself from the Father, is evident from the following: No one hath seen God at any time; the only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He hath brought Him forth to view (John 1:18). And elsewhere: Ye have neither heard the Father’s voice at any time nor seen His form (John 5:37). [3] From all this it follows that God the Father operates in and into the Son, but not through the Son; also that the Lord operates of Himself from His Father; for He says: All things of the Father are Mine (John 16:15). The Father hath given all things into the hand of the Son (John 3:35). Again: As the Father hath life in Himself so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself (John 5:26). And again: The words that I speak unto you are spirit and are life (John 6:63). The Lord declares that the Spirit of truth goes forth from the Father (John 15:26), because it goes forth from God the Father into the Son, and out of the Son from the Father. Therefore He also says: In that day ye shall know that the Father is in Me and I am in the Father, and ye in Me and I in you (John 14:11, 20). From these plain declarations of the Lord an error of the Christian world is clearly manifest, namely, that God the Father sends the Holy Spirit to man; also the error of the Greek Church, which is, that God the Father sends the Holy Spirit directly. The truth that the Lord of Himself from God the Father sends the Holy Spirit, and not the reverse, is from heaven. The angels call this an arcanum because it has not before been disclosed to the world.

154.

All this may be made clear by various rational considerations; as for example, it is known that when the Apostles had received from the Lord the gift of the Holy Spirit they preached the gospel through a great part of the world, promulgating it both by speech and by writing; and this they did of themselves from the Lord. For Peter taught and wrote in one manner, James in another, John in another, and Paul in another, each according to his own intelligence. The Lord filled them all with His Spirit; but the measure in which each partook of it was in accordance with the character of his perceptions; and this was made use of in accordance with the character of his ability. The Lord fills all the angels in the heavens, for they are in the Lord and the Lord is in them; and yet each one speaks and acts in accordance with the state of his own mind, some with simplicity and some with wisdom, thus with infinite variety; nevertheless everyone speaks of himself from the Lord. [2] It is the same with every minister of the church, whether he be in truths or in falsities; each one has his own utterance and his own intelligence, and each one speaks from his own mind, that is, from the spirit he possesses. So with all Protestants, whether called Evangelical or Reformed, after they have been instructed in the dogmas taught by Luther, Melancthon, or Calvin. It is not these leaders or their dogmas that speak of themselves through their followers; but their followers speak of themselves from the leaders or the dogmas. Furthermore, each dogma may be explained in a thousand ways, for each is like a cornucopia from which everyone draws what favors and is suited to his genius, and explains it according to his talent. [3] This may be illustrated by the action of the heart in and upon the lungs, and by the reaction of the lungs of themselves from the heart, the two being distinct, and yet reciprocally united. The lungs breathe of themselves from the heart; but the heart does not breathe through the lungs; if this should take place they would both cease to act. It is the same again with the action of the heart in and into the viscera of the whole body. The heart sends out the blood in all directions, and the viscera draw from it each one its portion in accordance with the nature of the use it performs, and in accordance with that use it acts, thus each in its own way. [4] The same truth may be illustrated also by the evil derived from parents, which is called hereditary evil; this acts in and into man; in like manner good from the Lord acts, the good acting above or within, and the evil acting below or without. If the evil acted through man he would neither be capable of reformation nor be culpable; or if the good from the Lord acted through man he would be incapable of reformation; but as both good and evil depend on man’s free choice he becomes guilty when he acts of himself from evil, and is blameless when he acts of himself from good. And since evil is the devil, and good is the Lord, man becomes guilty when he acts from the devil, and is blameless when he acts from the Lord. It is from this free choice, which every man has, that man is capable of reformation. [5] It is the same with the entire internal and the entire external in man. These two are distinct, and yet are reciprocally united. The internal acts in and into the external, but not through it; for the internal meditates a thousand things, and from these the external chooses only such as are suited to its use. For in man’s internal (by which is meant his voluntary and perceptive mind) there are voluminous heaps of ideas, and if these were to flow forth through man’s mouth it would be like a blast from a bellows. As the internal deals with universals it may be compared to an ocean or flower bed or garden, from which the external selects just what is sufficient for its use. Again, the Word of the Lord is like an ocean or a flower bed or a garden, in that when it has place in man’s internal in any degree of fullness it does not act through man, but man speaks and acts of himself from the Word. The same is true of the Lord, because He is the Word, that is, the Divine truth and Divine good that are in it. The Lord acts from Himself or from the Word in and into man, and not through him, since man acts and speaks from the Lord freely when he acts and speaks from the Word. [6] But this may be illustrated more closely by the mutual interaction of the soul and body, which are two distinct things, and yet are reciprocally united. The soul acts in and into the body, not through it; the body acts of itself from the soul. The soul does not act through the body, for the two do not consult and deliberate each with the other, nor does the soul command or ask the body to do this or that, or to speak from its mouth; neither does the body demand or beg the soul to give or supply anything; for every thing that belongs to the soul belongs also to the body, mutually and interchangeably. It is the same with the Divine and the Human of the Lord, for the soul of His Human is the Divine of the Father, and the Human is His body; and the Human does not ask its own Divine to tell it what to say or do. Therefore the Lord says: In that day ye shall ask in My name; and I say not unto you that I will pray the Father for you, for the Father Himself loveth you because ye have loved Me (John 16:26, 27). “In that day” means after His glorification, that is, after His perfect and absolute union with the Father. This arcanum is from the Lord Himself, given for those who will be of His new church.

155.

It has been shown above, under the third proposition, that the Divine energy, meant by the operation of the Holy Spirit, with the clergy especially, is enlightenment and instruction; but in addition to these there are two intermediate operations, which are perception and disposition. Thus there are four things that with the clergy follow in order: Enlightenment, Perception, Disposition, and Instruction. Enlightenment is from the Lord. Perception pertains to man, and is in accordance with the state of mind formed in him by doctrinals. If these doctrinals are true his perception becomes clear from the light that enlightens; but if they are false his perception becomes obscure, although from confirmations it may seem to be clear, this arising from a fatuous light which to the merely natural vision resembles clearness. Disposition is from the affection of the will’s love, and that which disposes is the delight of that love. If it is a delight of the love of evil and of falsity there from, it excites a zeal which is outwardly harsh, rough, burning, and fiery, while inwardly it is anger, ferocity, and unmercifulness. But if it is a delight of the love of good and of truth therefrom it is outwardly mild, smooth, resounding, and glowing, while within it is charity, grace, and mercy. Instruction follows from these as an effect from causes. Thus in each man enlightenment, which is from the Lord, is turned into various kinds of light and heat in accordance with the state of his mind.

156.

(6) The spirit of man is his mind and whatever proceeds from it. In the concrete, man’s spirit means simply his mind; for this it is that lives after death, and it is then called a spirit-if good, an angelic spirit and afterwards an angel, if evil, a satanic spirit and afterwards a satan. The mind of everyone is his internal man, which is actually the man, and resides within the external man which constitutes his body; consequently when the body is cast off, which is effected by its death, the internal is in a complete human form. Therefore they err who believe that man’s mind resides only in the head; it is there in principles only, from which everything that man thinks from his understanding or does from his will first proceeds; but in the body it is in derivatives, which are formed for sensation and action. And because the mind invariably adheres to the bodily structures it imparts to them sensation and motion; and it also inspires them with a perception that the body thinks and acts of itself, although this latter is a fallacy, as every wise man knows. Since, then, the spirit of man thinks from the understanding and acts from the will, and since the body acts not from itself but from the spirit, it follows that the spirit of man means his intelligence and his love’s affection and whatever goes forth and operates from these. That “the spirit of man” signifies such things as pertain to the mind is evident from many passages in the Word. That this is their meaning anyone can see as soon as they are presented. The following are a few passages from among many: Bezaleel was filled with the spirit of wisdom and understanding and knowledge (Exod. 31:3). Nebuchadnezzar said of Daniel that an excellent spirit of knowledge and understanding and wisdom was found in him (Dan. 5:11, 12). Joshua was full of the spirit of wisdom (Deut. 34:9). Make you 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 the contrite 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 the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness (Isa. 61:3). (And elsewhere.) That “the spirit” signifies also such things as pertain to a perverse and wicked mind is evident from the following: He said to the foolish prophets that go away 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 a wanderer in spirit and uttereth falsehood (Micah 2:11). A generation whose spirit is not constant with God (Ps. 78:8). The spirit of whoredoms (Hos. 5:4; 4:12). That every heart may melt, and every spirit faint (Ezek. 21:7). That which ascendeth upon your spirit shall never come to pass (Ezek. 20:32). In whose spirit there is no guile (Ps. 32:2). Pharaoh’s spirit was troubled (Gen. 41:8); So also was Nebuchadnezzar’s (Dan. 2:3). From these and numerous other passages it is clearly evident that the “spirit” signifies the mind of man and such things as pertain thereto.

157.

As man’s spirit means his mind, therefore “being in the spirit” (a phrase sometimes used in the Word) means a state of mind separate from the body; and because in that state the prophets saw such things as exist in the spiritual world it is called “a vision of God.” The prophets were then in a state like that of spirits and angels themselves in that world. In that state man’s spirit like his mind in regard to sight, may be transferred from place to place, the body remaining meanwhile in its own place. This is the state in which I have now been for twenty-six years, with the difference, that I am in the spirit and in the body at the same time, and only at times out of the body. That Ezekiel, Zachariah, Daniel, and John when he wrote the Apocalypse, were in that state is evident from the following passages. Ezekiel says: The spirit lifted me up, and brought me back in vision in the spirit of God into Chaldea, to the captivity. So the vision that I had seen went up from me (Ezek. 11:1, 24). That the spirit lifted him up, and he heard behind him an earthquake (Ezek. 3:12, 14). That the spirit lifted him up between earth and heaven and brought him to Jerusalem, and he saw abominations (Ezek. 8:3 seq.). That he saw four living creatures that were cherubim, and various things with them (Ezek. 1, 10). Also a new earth and a new temple, and an angel measuring them (Ezek. 40, 47). That he was then in vision and in the spirit (Ezek. 40:2; 43:5). [2] It was the same with Zachariah (in whom there was then an angel) when he saw: A man riding among the myrtle trees (Zech. 1:8 seq.); Four horns, and a man with a measuring line in his hand (Zech. 1:18; 2:1, 5 seq.); Joshua the high priest (Zech. 3:1 seq.); The lampstand and two olive trees (Zech. 4:1 seq.); A flying roll and an ephah (Zech. 5:1, 6); Four chariots going out from between two mountains, and horses (Zech 6:1-3). Daniel was in a like state: When he saw the four great beasts coming up from the sea, and many things respecting them (Dan. 7:1-12); When he saw the battles between the ram and the he-goat (Dan. 8:1-12); All of which he saw in vision (Dan. 7:1, 2, 7, 13; 8:2; 10:1, 7, 8); The angel Gabriel appeared to him in vision and talked with him (Dan. 9:21). [3] The same occurred to John when he wrote the Apocalypse; he said: That he was in the spirit on the Lord’s day (1:10); That he was carried away in the spirit into the wilderness (17:3); Upon a high mountain in spirit (21:10); That he saw in vision (9:17); and elsewhere that he saw the things he described; as when he saw the Son of man in the midst of the seven lampstands; the tabernacle, the temple, the ark and the altar, in heaven; a book sealed with seven seals, and horses going out of it; four living creatures around the throne; the twelve thousand elect from each tribe; the Lamb on Mount Zion; the locusts ascending from the abyss; the dragon, and his combat with Michael; the woman bringing forth a male child, and fleeing into the desert on account of the dragon; the two beasts, one ascending out of the sea and the other out of the earth; the woman sitting upon the scarlet beast; the dragon cast into the lake of fire and brimstone; the white horse and the great supper; the holy city Jerusalem descending, the gates, walls, and foundations of which he described; the river of the water of life, and the trees of life bearing fruit every month; and many other things. Peter, James, and John were in a like state when they saw Jesus transfigured, and Paul when he heard from heaven things ineffable.

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COROLLARY. As this chapter treats of the Holy Spirit, it is worthy of special notice that in the Word of the Old Testament the Holy Spirit is nowhere mentioned, and the “Spirit of Holiness” in three places only, once in David (Ps. 51:11); and twice in Isaiah 43:10, 11). But in the Word of the New Testament, both in the Gospels and in the Acts of the Apostles, as also in their Epistles it is mentioned frequently. This is because the Holy Spirit first was, when the Lord had come into the world; for it goes forth out of Him from the Father; for: The Lord alone is Holy (Apoc. 15:4) therefore also the angel Gabriel said to Mary the mother: The holy thing that shall be born of thee (Luke 1:35). It is said: The Holy Spirit was not yet, because Jesus was not yet glorified (John 7:39) although it is previously declared that the Holy Spirit filled Elizabeth (Luke 1:41), and Zacharias (Luke 1:67), as also Simeon (Luke 2:25); this is because the Spirit of Jehovah the Father filled them, which was called the Holy Spirit because of the Lord who was already in the world. This is why nowhere in the Word of the Old Testament is it said that the prophets spoke from the Holy Spirit, but from Jehovah; for everywhere we read, “Jehovah spoke unto me,” “The Word of Jehovah came unto me,” “Jehovah said,” “Thus said Jehovah.” That no one may be in doubt about this I will refer to the passages in Jeremiah alone, 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; ix. 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; 15:1-6, 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; 21:1, 4, 7, 8, 11, 12, 14; 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, 2, 4, 8, 11, 16, 19, 21, 22; 28:2, 12, 14, 16; 29:4, 8, 9, 16, 19-21, 25, 30-32; 30:1-5, 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, 42, 44; 33:1, 2, 4, 10-13, 17, 19, 20, 23, 25; 34:1, 2, 4, 8, 12, 13, 17, 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; 50:1, 4, 10, 18, 20, 21, 30, 31, 33, 35, 40; 51:25, 33, 36, 39, 52, 58. The same expressions occur in all the other prophets, but nowhere is it said that the Holy Spirit spoke to them, or that Jehovah spoke to them through the Holy Spirit.

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To this I will add the following Memorable Relations. First: Once when in company with the angels in heaven, I saw below at some distance a great smoke, and then fire breaking out from it; and I said to the angels talking with me that the smoke seen in the hells, as a few among them knew, arises from falsities confirmed by reasonings, and that the fire is burning anger against those who contradict; and I added, “In this world, as in mine where I live in the body, it is unknown that flame is simply smoke on fire. That such is the fact I have often proved by experiment; for I have seen streaks of smoke rising from wood on the hearth, and when I set fire to them with a brand I have seen them turn to flames, which assumed a shape like that of the smoke; for the separate particles of smoke become little sparks which blaze up together, like gunpowder when it is ignited. So is it with the smoke we see below. This consists of an equal number of falsities; and the fire breaking out like flames is the glow of zeal in behalf of those falsities.” [2] Then the angels said to me, “Let us ask the Lord for leave to go down and draw towards the smoke, that we may perceive what those falsities are that so smoke and blaze with those there.” This was granted; and lo, there appeared round about us a column of light reaching continuously to the place. And then we saw four crowds of spirits, who were strenuously maintaining that it is God the Father who should be approached and worshiped, because He is invisible, and not His Son born in the world, since He is a man and is visible. Looking towards the sides I saw on the left some learned men of the clergy, and behind these the unlearned; and on the right the learned of the laity, and behind these the unlearned; while between us and these there was a yawning gulf which was impassable. [3] But we turned our eyes and ears to the left, where were the learned of the clergy, and behind them the unlearned, and we heard them reasoning about God in this wise, “From the doctrine of our church respecting God which is the same everywhere in Europe, we know that God the Father ought to be approached, because He is invisible, and at the same time God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, who are also invisible, being co-eternal with the Father; also God the Father, being the Creator of the universe, and therefore in the universe, is present wherever we turn our eyes; and whenever we pray to Him He graciously listens, and after accepting the mediation of the Son He sends the Holy Spirit, who implants in our hearts the glory of His Son’s righteousness and bestows blessedness upon us. We who have been made doctors in the church have felt in our breasts, when preaching, the holy operation of that sending, and from the presence of the Spirit in our minds have then breathed forth devotion. We are thus affected because we direct all our senses to the invisible God, who operates not singly upon the sight of our understanding, but universally upon our whole system, mental and corporeal, by the Spirit He sends. Such effects as these would not result from the worship of a visible God, that is, of a God conspicuously before the mind as a man.” [4] When this was said the unlearned of the clergy who stood behind the others applauded, and added, “Whence comes what is holy but from an invisible and imperceptible Divine? At this, the moment it touches the entrance to our ears, our features expand, and we are gladdened as by the sweetness of a fragrant aura, and we smite upon our breasts. But it is otherwise with a visible and perceptible Divine; when this enters our ears it becomes merely natural, and not Divine. For a like reason the Roman Catholics repeat their masses in Latin, and the host (to which they ascribe Divine mystical properties) they bring out from the recesses of the altar and hold up to sight; whereupon the people fall on their knees as before something most mysterious, and take in breaths of holiness.” [5] After this we turned to the right, where the learned of the laity stood, and the unlearned behind them; and from the learned we heard the following: “We know that the wisest of the ancients worshiped an invisible God whom they called Jehovah; but after them in the succeeding ages men made for themselves gods out of deceased rulers, among whom were Saturn, Jupiter, Neptune, Pluto, Apollo, and also Minerva, Diana, Venus, and Themis; and to these they built temples and offered divine worship; and as in time this worship degenerated it gave rise to idolatry, from which at last the whole world became filled with insanity. We therefore agree unanimously with our priests and elders that there were and are three Divine persons from eternity, each one of whom is God; and it is enough for us that they are invisible.” To this the unlearned behind them added, “We agree. Is not God God, and man man? Still we know that if anyone should set before them a God-Man, the common people, who have a sensuous idea about God, would accept it.” [6] When they had said this their eyes were opened and they saw us near them; but being indignant because we had heard them they became silent. But presently the angels, from a power given them, closed the outer or lower things of their thoughts, from which they had been speaking, and opened the inner or higher things, and compelled them to speak from these about God. And speaking thus they said, “What is God? We have neither seen His shape nor heard His voice. What, then, is God but nature in its firsts and lasts. Nature we have seen, for she beams in our eyes; and we have heard her, for she sounds in our ears.” On hearing this we said to them, “Have you ever seen Socinus, who acknowledged God the Father only; or Arius, who denied the Divinity of the Lord our Savior, or have you seen any of their adherents?” To which they answered, “We have not.” We said, “They are in the deep beneath you.” And shortly some of them were summoned from the deep and questioned about God; and they spoke as the others had done; and they added, “What is God? We can make as many gods as we like.” [7] And then we said, “It is useless to talk with you about the Son of God born in the world; yet we will say this much: Lest faith respecting God and faith in God and from God, which in the first two ages, from no one’s having beheld God, had been like a beautifully colored bubble in the air, should for the same reason in the third and following age collapse to nothing, it pleased Jehovah God to descend and assume a Human and thus make Himself visible, and convince men that He is not a mere figment of reason, but the Itself, which was and is and will be, from eternity to eternity; also that God is not a mere word of three letters, but is the All of reality from Alpha to Omega, consequently the life and salvation of all who believe in Him as visible, but not of those who say that they believe in an invisible God. For believing, seeing, and knowing make one. Therefore the Lord said to Philip: That whosoever sees and knows Him sees and knows the Father; and elsewhere: That it is the will of the Father that men should believe in the Son and that whosoever believes in the Son has eternal life, while he who does not believe in the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him (John 3:15-16, 36; 14:6-15). Hearing this many of the four crowds were so enraged that smoke and flame issued from their nostrils; we therefore left them; and the angels, after accompanying me home, ascended to their heaven.

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Second memorable relation: At one time in company with some angels I was walking in the world of spirits (which is intermediate between heaven and hell, and which all men enter first after death, the good being there made ready for heaven and the evil for hell), and I talked with them on various subjects, on this among others: That in the world where I am living in the body there are seen at night innumerable stars, larger and smaller, which are so many suns, only the light of which reaches our solar system; and I added, “When I saw that stars are visible in your world also I supposed them to be as numerous as those in the world where I live.” The angels, delighted with this conversation, said, “Perhaps they are, since every society of heaven, in the sight of those who are under heaven, sometimes shines like a star; and the societies of heaven are numberless, all arranged in order according to the varieties of the affections of the love of good; which affections in God are infinite, and thus from Him are numberless; and as these were all foreseen before creation, I suppose that in accord with their number there have been provided, that is, created, an equal number of stars in the world where the men live who were to be natural-material bodies.” [2] While we were talking together in this way I saw in the north a leveled way, so crowded with spirits that there was scarcely room to step between any two; and I said to the angels that I had already seen this way, with spirits thronging it like an army; and that I had heard that this is the way by which all pass when departing from the natural world. And the way is covered with such a vast number of spirits because many thousands of men die every week, and after death they all pass into this world. The angels added, “This road terminates in the middle of this world where we now are-in the middle because on the sides towards the east there are societies who are in love to God and love towards the neighbor, and to the left towards the west societies of those who are opposed to these loves; while in front towards the south are societies of those who are more intelligent than the others. This is why the newcomers from the natural world move first to this point. When here, they are in the externals in which they had last been in the former world. Afterwards they are gradually let into their internals, and their characters are examined; and after the examination the good are borne to their places in heaven and the evil to theirs in hell.” [3] We stopped at the middle point, at the termination of this way of entrance, and we said, “Let us wait here awhile and talk with some of the newcomers.” And from those approaching we picked out twelve, who having just come from the natural world did not know but that they were in it still. We asked them their views of heaven and hell and the life after death. One replied, “Our sacred order impressed upon me the belief that we are to live after death, and that there is a heaven and a hell; and therefore I have believed that all who live a moral life go to heaven; and as all do live a moral life, that no one goes to hell; and therefore that hell is a fable manufactured by the clergy to frighten men from evil living. What does it matter whether I think about God in this way or that, Thought is only chaff, as it were, or like a bubble on the water that bursts and passes away.” Another near him said, “It is my belief that there is a heaven and a hell; and that God rules heaven, and the devil rules hell; and as they are enemies, and therefore opposed to each other, one calls evil what the other calls good; also that a moral man who is a dissembler, and who can make evil look like good and good like evil, will side with both parties. What, then, does it matter whether I am on the side of one Lord or the other, providing He favors me? Good and evil are equally delightful to men.” [4] A third, standing beside him, said, “Of what consequence is it to me to believe that there is a heaven and a hell? For who has come from either place and told us of them? If every man lives after death, why, out of so vast a multitude, has no one come back and told us?” Next came a fourth, who said, “I will tell you why no one has come back and told. It is because when a man breathes his last and dies, he either becomes a ghost and is dissipated, or is like the breath of the mouth, which is merely wind. How can a being like that come back and talk with anyone?” The fifth took up the matter and said, “Friends, wait till the day of the last judgment; for all will then return into their bodies, and you will see and talk with them, and each one will tell his fate to the other.” [5] A sixth, standing opposite, laughed and said, “How can the spirit, which is wind, return into a body that has been eaten up by worms, and into its skeleton that has been dried up by the sun and has crumbled into dust? Or how is an Egyptian, who has been made a mummy and mixed by a quack with extracts or emulsions into a potion or powder, to come back and tell anything? Therefore, if you have the faith, wait till that last day; but your waiting will be forever, and forever in vain.” After him a seventh said, “If I believed in a heaven and a hell, and therefore in a life after death, I would also believe that birds and beasts live after death likewise. Are not some of these quite as moral and as rational as men? It is denied that beasts live after death, therefore I deny that men do. The reasoning is equally good; one follows from the other. What is man but an animal?” An eighth, standing at his back, came forward and said, “Believe in a heaven if you will, but I do not believe in any hell. Is not God omnipotent and able to save everybody?” [6] Then a ninth, caressing his hand, said, “God is not only omnipotent He is also gracious; and cannot send anyone into eternal fire; and if anyone is there He cannot but take him out and raise him up.” A tenth ran out of his place into the midst and said, “Neither do I believe in a hell. Did not God send His Son, and did He not make expiation for the sins of the whole world and take them away? What can the devil do against that? And as he can do nothing, what then is hell?” An eleventh, who was a priest, took fire at hearing this, and said, “Do you not know that those who have attained to the faith on which Christ’s merit is inscribed are saved, and that those attain to that faith whom God elects. Does not election rest in the will of the Almighty, and in His judgment as to who are worthy of it? Who can prevail against these?” The twelfth, who was a politician, kept silent; but being asked to crown the replies, he said, “From my own thought I will not say anything about heaven and hell and the life after death, since no one knows anything about them; nevertheless you should not blame the priests for preaching them; for in that way the minds of the vulgar are kept bound by an invisible bond to the laws and to their rulers. Does not the public welfare depend upon this?” [7] We were amazed to hear such things as these, and we said to each other, “Although these go by the name of Christians they are neither men nor beasts, but they are men-beasts.” However, to arouse them from their sleep we said, “There is a heaven and a hell and a life after death; of this you will be convinced when we have dispelled your ignorance of the state of life in which you now are. During the first few days after death no one knows but that he is still living in the same world in which he lived before; for the time that has passed is like a Sleep, on being awakened from which he had no other feeling than that he still is where he was before. So is it with you now; and therefore you have been speaking just as you thought the former world.” The angels then dispelled their ignorance; and they saw that they were in another world, and among those with whom they were not acquainted; and they cried out, “O where are we?” We said, “You are no longer in the natural world, but in the spiritual world, and we are angels.” Then, being quite awake, they said, “If you are angels, show us heaven.” We replied, “Wait here a little, and we will return.” And returning after half an hour we found them waiting for us; and we said, “Follow us into heaven.” They did so, and we went up with them, and because we were with them the guards opened the gate and admitted us. And we said to those who receive newcomers at the entrance, “Examine these men.” And they turned them about and saw that the hinder parts of their heads were quite hollow. They then said to them, “Go away from here, for there is in you the delight of the love of doing evil; therefore you are not in conjunction with heaven; for in your heads you have denied God and have despised religion.” And we said to them, “Do not delay, or you will be cast out.” So they hastened down and departed. [8] On the way home we talked about the reason why in the spiritual world the back parts of the head of those who take delight in doing evil are hollow. And I gave as the reason that man has two brains, one behind, called the cerebellum, and one in front called the cerebrum; and the love of the will dwells in the cerebellum, and the thought of the understanding in the cerebrum; and whenever the thought of the understanding does not guide the love of man’s will the inmosts of the cerebellum, which in themselves are heavenly, collapse; hence the hollowness.

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Third Memorable Relation: In the spiritual world I once heard a noise like that of a mill; it was in the northern quarter. At first I wondered what It was: but I called to mind that the meaning of a mill and of grinding is to seek from the Word what is serviceable for doctrine. I therefore went towards the place where the noise was heard, and when I came near it stopped; and I then saw a sort of arched roof above the ground, to which there was an entrance through a cavern; seeing which I descended, and entered. And behold, there was a room in which I saw an old man sitting among books, holding the Word before him and searching out from it what would be serviceable for his doctrine. Pieces of paper were lying around, on which he had written whatever he could use. In an adjoining room were copyists who were collecting the papers and copying what was written on them on a full-sized sheet. I first asked him about the books around him. He said that they all treated of Justifying Faith; those from Sweden and Denmark profoundly; those from Germany more profoundly; those from Britain still more so; and most profoundly of all the ones from Holland. And he added that on several points they differed; but in the article on justification and salvation by faith alone they all agreed. He afterwards said that he was then collecting from the Word this first principle of justifying faith, that God the Father ceased to be gracious towards the human race on account of its iniquities, and it was therefore a Divine necessity for man’s salvation that satisfaction, reconciliation, propitiation, and mediation should be effected by some one who would take upon himself the damnation enjoined by justice; and that this could never have been done except by His only Son; but having once been done there was a way of approach open to God the Father for the Son’s sake; for we pray, “Father, be merciful to us for the sake of Thy Son.” And he said, “I see and have seen, that this is in accordance with all reason and Scripture. By what other way than by faith in the merits of could God the Father be approached?” [2] I listened to this, and was amazed that he should declare it to be in accord with reason and Scripture, when yet it is contrary to both, and this I plainly told him. In the heat of his zeal he then rejoined, “How can you say that?” Therefore I opened my mind to him, saying, “Is it not contrary to reason to think that God the Father failed of grace towards the human race, and rejected and excommunicated it? Is not Divine grace an attribute of the Divine essence? Wherefore failing of grace would be failing of Divine essence; and failing of His Divine essence would be to be no longer God. Is it possible for God to be alienated from Himself? Believe me, as grace on God’s part is infinite, so it is also eternal. On men’s part God’s grace may be lost if man does not accept it [but never on God’s part]. But if grace were to depart from God there would be an end to the whole heaven and the whole human race. Wherefore on God’s part grace endures forever, not only towards angels and men, but even towards the devils in hell. Since this accords with reason, why do you say that the only access to God the Father is through faith in the merits of the Son, when yet there is perpetually an access to Him through grace? [3] But why do you say, access to God the Father for the sake of the Son, instead of through the Son? Is not the Son the Mediator and Savior? Why do you not go to the Mediator and Savior Himself Is He not both God and Man? On earth who goes directly to an emperor, king, or prince? Must there not be some one to procure admission and introduce him? Do you not know that the Lord came into the world that He might introduce men to the Father, and that only through Him is there any access to the Father; while this access is perpetual when you go directly to the Lord Himself, since He is in the Father and the Father in Him? Search now in Scripture, and you will see that this is in accordance with Scripture, while your way to the Father is contrary to Scripture as it is contrary to reason. I tell you, moreover, it is a presumption to climb up thus to God the Father, and not through Him who is in the bosom of the Father, and who alone is present with the Father. Have you not read John 14:6?” Hearing this, the old man became so angry that he sprang from his seat and shouted to his copyists to put me out; and when I had gone out immediately of my own accord, he threw after me out of the door a book that he happened to lay hand upon, and that book was the Word.

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Fourth Memorable Relation: A discussion arose among certain spirits, whether one can see any doctrinal truth of theology in the Word except from the Lord. They all agreed in this, that no one can except from God, because: Man can receive nothing except it be given from heaven (John 3:27). The discussion, therefore, was whether anyone can do this unless he go directly to the Lord. On one side it was declared that the Lord must be approached directly, because He is the Word; and on the other that true doctrine may also be seen when God the Father is approached directly. The discussion therefore first turned to this point: Is it permissible for any Christian to approach God the Father directly, thereby climbing over the Lord; and is not this insolence and audacity unbecoming as well as rash, since the Lord says that: No one comes to the Father except through Him (John 14:6)? But they left this point, and said that man can see true doctrine from the Word by his own natural light. This was rejected. Then they insisted that it could be seen by those who pray to God the Father; and something from the Word was read to them, and upon their knees they prayed God the Father to enlighten them; and they said of what had been read to them from the Word that it contained such and such truth; but it was falsity. This was repeated until it became tiresome; and at last they confessed that it could not be done. But those on the other side who approached the Lord directly saw the truths, and communicated them to the others. [2] When this discussion had been thus ended, certain spirits ascended from the abyss who at first looked like locusts, and afterwards like dwarfs. They were such as in the world had prayed to God the Father, and had confirmed themselves in the doctrine of justification by faith alone. They were the same as those treated of in Revelation (9:1-11). They said that they saw in clear light, and also from the Word that a man is justified by faith alone without the works of the law. They were asked, “By what faith?” They answered, “By faith in God the Father.” But when they had been examined they were told from heaven that they did not know a single doctrinal truth from the Word. They retorted that still they saw their own truths in light. They were told that it was a fatuous light in which they saw them. They asked, “What is a fatuous light?” They were told that a fatuous light is the light of the confirmation of what is false, and that it corresponds to the light in which are owls and bats, to which darkness is light and light darkness. This was confirmed to them by the fact that when they looked up to heaven, the abode of light itself, they saw darkness; and when they looked down to the abyss from which they came they saw light. [3] Nettled by this confirmation they said that light and darkness then are nothing, being a mere state of the eye, according to which light is said to be light and darkness to be darkness. But it was shown that their light was a fatuous light, which is the light of the confirmation of what is false, and that it was nothing but an activity of the mind, arising from the fire of their lusts, not unlike the light with cats, whose eyes at night in cellars, from their burning appetite for mice, look like candles. Enraged at hearing this, they said they were not cats and were not like cats, for they could see if they wished to. But fearing they might be asked why they did not wish to see, they withdrew, and let themselves down to their abyss. Those in that abyss and those like them are called by the angels owls and bats and also locusts. [4] When they had reached their companions in the abyss, and had told them that the angels had said “that we know no doctrinal truth whatever, not a single one; and they called us owls, bats, and locusts,” a tumult arose there. And they said, “Let us pray to God for permission to ascend, and we will show clearly that we have many doctrinal truths, which the archangels themselves will acknowledge.” And because they prayed to God, permission was given them; and as many as three hundred of them ascended. And when they appeared above the ground they said, “In the world we were men of celebrity and renown, because we knew and taught the mysteries of justification by faith alone; and from confirmations we not only saw light, but saw it as a glittering radiance, and we see it so still in our cells; and yet we have heard from our companions who were still with you that that light is not light but darkness, for the reason, as you say, that we have no doctrinal truth from the Word. We know that every truth of the Word shines, and we have believed that our radiance, when we meditated profoundly upon our mysteries, came from that source. We will therefore demonstrate to you that we have truths from the Word in abundance.” And they said, “Have we not this truth, that there is a trinity, consisting of God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and that men ought to believe in the trinity? Have we not this truth, that Christ is our Redeemer and Savior? Have we not this truth, that Christ alone is righteousness, and to Him alone belongs merit, and that any man who wishes to attribute to himself any of Christ’s merit and righteousness is himself unrighteous and impious? Have we not this truth, that no mortal man is able of himself to do any spiritual good, but that from God is all good that is good in itself? Have we not this truth, that there are meritorious good and hypocritical good, and that such goods are evil? Have we not this truth, that good works ought nevertheless to be done? Have we not this truth, that there is such a thing as faith, and that men ought to believe in God, and that everyone has life according as he believes; besides many other truths from the Word? Which of you can deny a single one of these? And yet you declared that in our schools we have no truths at all, not even a single one. Have you not cast these charges against us ungraciously?” [5] But they received this answer, “All these things that you have advanced are in themselves true; but with you they are truths falsified, which are falsities, because they are derived from a false principle. That this is so we will make clear to your sight. Not far from here is a place upon which the light of heaven falls directly, and in the center of it there is a table. Whenever any paper upon which some truth from the Word has been written is placed upon this table, the paper, because of the truth written upon it, shines like a star. Therefore write your truths on a paper, and let the paper be placed on the table, and you will see.” This they did, and gave the paper to a guard, who placed it on the table and said to them, “Stand back and look at the table.” They stood back and looked, and lo, the paper shone like a star. Then the guards said, “You see that the things you have written on the paper are truths; but come nearer and fix your gaze upon it.” They did so, and suddenly the light vanished and the paper became black, as if covered with soot from a furnace. The guard said further, “Touch the paper with your hands, but be careful not to touch the writing.” And when they did so a flame broke out and consumed the paper. When they had seen this they were told, “If you had touched the writing you would have heard an explosion and you would have burned your fingers.” Then those standing behind them said, “You now see that the truths which you abused to confirm the mysteries of your justification are truths in themselves, but that in you they are truths falsified.” Then they looked upward, and heaven appeared to them like blood, and presently like thick darkness; and in the eyes of the angelic spirits they appeared, some like bats, and some like owls, and some like horned owls; and they fled away into their own darkness, which to their eyes shone delusively. [6] The angelic spirits who were present were astonished, for until then they had known nothing of that place or of the table there. And a voice then came to them from the southern quarter, saying, “Come hither, and you will see something still more wonderful.” And they went, and entered a chamber, the walls of which shone like gold, and there also they saw a table on which the Word lay, encircled with precious stones arranged in a heavenly form. And the angel guard said, “When the Word is opened a light of ineffable brightness shines forth from it; and at the came time there is from the precious stones the appearance of a rainbow above and roundabout the Word. When an angel from the third heaven comes hither there appears above and around the Word a rainbow on a red ground; when an angel from the second heaven comes and looks, a rainbow on an azure ground appears; when an angel from the lowest heaven comes and looks, a rainbow on a white ground appears; when any good spirit comes and looks a variegation of light like marble appears.” That this was so was also showed to them visibly. The angel guard said further, “When anyone who has falsified the Word approaches, at first the splendor is dissipated, and then if he comes near and fixes his eyes on the Word, there arises an appearance of blood about it; and he is admonished to withdraw because there is danger.” [7] But a certain person who in the world had been a leading writer on the doctrine of justification by faith alone, came up boldly and said, “When I was in the world I did not falsify the Word. Together with faith I exalted charity and taught that a man in that state of faith in which he practices charity and its works is renewed, regenerated, and sanctified by the Holy Spirit; also that faith does not exist solitary, that is, separated from good works, as there can be no good tree without fruit, no sun without light, no fire without heat. I also rebuked those who said that good works are not necessary; and even obedience to the commandments of the Decalogue is not necessary; and I made repentance of great importance; and thus in wonderful manner applied everything in the Word to the subject of faith; and yet I made it clear and demonstrated that faith alone is saving.” Confident in this assertion that he had not falsified the Word, this man approached the table, and in spite of the warning of the angel he touched the Word; and suddenly out of the Word there went forth fire and smoke, and there was an explosion and a crash which hurled him to a corner of the room, where he lay like one dead for nearly an hour. The angelic spirits were astonished at this; but they were told that although this leader had exalted more than others the goods of charity as proceeding from faith, yet he had meant nothing more than political social works, which are also called moral and civil, and which were to be done for the sake of the world and worldly prosperity, but by no means for the sake of salvation; also that he had assumed some hidden works of the Holy Spirit, of which man knows nothing, but which are generated in the act of faith in a state of faith. [8] The angelic spirits then talked together about the falsification of the Word; and they agreed that falsifying the Word is taking truths therefrom and applying them to confirm falsities; whereby truths from the Word are dragged apart from it and slain; as for example, when any such truths as those quoted above by the spirits from the abyss are applied to the faith of the present day and are explained by that faith, which is impregnated with falsities, as will be shown hereafter; or, again, when one takes from the Word the truth that charity ought to be exercised, and that good ought to be done to the neighbor, and then adds confirmations to show that this ought to be done, but not for the sake of salvation (since no good done by man is good, because meritorious), he drags that truth from the Word apart from the Word, and slays it. For the Lord in His Word enjoins it on every man who wishes to be saved that he must love the neighbor, and from love do good to. So also with other truths.

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THE DIVINE TRINITY. God the Creator, together with creation, has been treated of; also the Lord the Redeemer, together with redemption; and lastly the Holy Spirit, together with the Divine operation. Having thus treated of the Triune God, it is necessary to treat also of the Divine trinity, which is known and yet unknown in the Christian world; for only through this can a right idea of God be acquired; and a right idea of God in the church is like the sanctuary and altar in a temple, or like the crown upon the head and the scepter in the hand of a king on his throne; for on a right idea of God the whole body of theology hangs, like a chain on its first link; and if you will believe it, everyone is allotted his place in the heavens in accordance with his idea of God. For that idea is like a touchstone by which the gold and silver are tested, that is, the quality of good and truth in man. For there can be no saving good in man except from God, nor any truth that does not derive its quality from the bosom of good. But that it may be seen with both eyes what the Divine trinity is, the explanation of it shall be divided into sections as follows: (1) There is a Divine Trinity, which is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. (2) These three, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, are the three essentials of one God, and they make one as soul, body, and operation make one in man. (3) Before the world was created this Trinity was not; but after creation, when God became incarnate, it was provided and brought about; and then in the Lord God the Redeemer and Savior Jesus Christ. (4) In the ideas of thought a Trinity of Divine Persons from eternity, or before the world was created, is a Trinity of Gods; and these ideas cannot be effaced by a lip-confession of one God. (5) A Trinity of Persons was unknown in the Apostolic church, but was hatched by the Nicene Council, and from that was introduced into the Roman Catholic church, and from that again into the churches separated from it. (6) From the Nicene Trinity and the Athanasian Trinity together a faith arose by which the whole Christian church has been perverted. (7) This is the source of that “abomination of desolation, and that tribulation such as has not been nor ever shall be,” which the Lord foretold in Daniel and in the Gospels and in the Apocalypse. (8) So too, unless a new heaven and a new church were established by the Lord there could no flesh be saved. (9) From a Trinity of Persons, each one of whom singly is God, according to the Athanasian Creed, many discordant and heterogeneous ideas respecting God have arisen, which are phantasies and abortions. These propositions shall now be explained one by one.

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(1) There it a Divine Trinity, which is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. That there is a Divine trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is made clearly evident in the Word, as in the following passages: The angel Gabriel said to Mary, The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee therefore that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God (Luke 1:35). Here three are mentioned, the Most High, who is God the Father, the Holy Spirit, and the Son of God: When Jesus was baptized, Lo, the heavens were opened, and John saw the Holy Spirit descending as a dove and coming upon Him and lo, a voice out of heaven saying, This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased (Matt. 3:16, 17; Mark 1:10, 11; John 1:32). And still more plainly in these words of the Lord to His disciples: Go ye and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit (Matt. 28:19); and still again in these words in John: There are three that bear witness in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit (1 John 5:7). Furthermore, the Lord prayed to His Father, and spoke of Him and with Him, and said that He would send the Holy Spirit, and He did send it. Finally the apostles in their Epistles frequently mentioned the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. From all this it is clear that there is a Divine trinity, which is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

165.

But in what manner these passages are to be understood, whether as meaning that these are three Gods, who in essence and consequently in name are one God; or that they are three objects belonging to one subject, that is, merely qualities or attributes of one God which are so named; or in some other way, the reason left to itself is incapable of seeing. What then is to be done? There is no other way than for man to go to the Lord God the Savior, and under His auspices read the Word; for He is the God of the Word; and man will then be enlightened and will see truths which reason also will acknowledge. But on the other hand, if you do not approach the Lord, though you read the Word a thousand times, and see therein the Divine trinity and the unity also, you will never understand otherwise than that there are three Divine persons, each one of whom singly is God, and thus that there are three Gods. But because this is repugnant to the common perception of all men throughout the world, to escape reproaches men have invented the notion that although there are in truth three Gods, it is indispensable to faith that one God only, and not three, be named. Furthermore, lest they should be overwhelmed with censure it was determined that on this point especially the understanding should be imprisoned and held bound under obedience to faith; and that this should evermore be a sacred principle of Christian order in the Christian church [2] Such a paralytic birth resulted from their not reading the Word under the Lord’s auspices; for everyone who does not read the Word under His auspices reads it under the auspices of his own intelligence, which is like an owl in such things as are in spiritual light, as all the essentials of the church are. And when one so reads in the Word what is said of the trinity, and from what he reads thinks that although there are three Gods they are still one, the matter appears to him like a response from a tripod, which, because he does not understand it he rolls about between his teeth; for if he should set it before his eyes it would become a riddle, which the more he tries to solve the more he involves himself in darkness, until finally he begins to think about it without understanding, which is like seeing without an eye. In short, those who read the Word under the auspices of one’s own intelligence, as is done by all who do not acknowledge the Lord as the God of heaven and earth, and therefore approach and worship Him alone, may be likened to children at play, who tie a bandage over their eyes and try to walk in a straight line, and even think that they are going straight ahead, when yet they turn step by step to one side and finally go in the opposite direction, and strike against a stone and fall. [3] Such are also like mariners sailing without a compass, who run their vessel on the rocks and perish. They are also like a man walking over a wide plain in a thick fog, who seeing a scorpion takes it for a bird, and attempting to seize and pick it up with his hand receives a deadly wound. Such again are like a waterfowl or a hawk, which sees above the water a little of the back of a big fish, and darts down and fixes its beak in it, and is drawn under by the fish and drowned. Again they are like one entering a labyrinth without a guide or a cord, and the farther he goes in the more he loses sight of the way out. A man who reads the Word not under the Lord’s auspices but under the auspices of his own intelligence, thinks himself a lynx and better sighted than Argus; and yet he inwardly sees not a shred of truth, but only what is false; and under self-persuasion this falsity seems to him like a polar star towards which he directs all the sails of his thought; and then he no more sees truths than a mole does, or if he sees them he bends them to favor his phantasies, and so perverts and falsifies the holy things of the Word.

166.

(2) These three, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, are the three essentials of the one God, and they make one as soul, body, and operation make one in man. In anyone thing there are both general and particular essentials, and these together make one essence. The general essentials of the one man are his soul, body, and operation. That these constitute one essence can be seen from this-that one is from the other and for the sake of the other in an unbroken series; for man gets his beginning from the soul, which is the very essence of the semen; and the soul not only initiates, but also produces in their order all things that pertain to the body, and afterward all things that proceed from the soul and body together, which are called operations. From this production, therefore, of one from the other, and the consequent ingrafting and conjunction, it can be seen that these three are of one essence, and therefore they are called three essentials.

167.

Everyone acknowledges that these three essentials, namely, soul, body, and operation, both were and are in the Lord God the Savior. That His soul was from Jehovah the Father cannot be denied except by Antichrist; for in the Word of both Testaments He is called the Son of Jehovah, the Son of the Most High God, the Only-begotten; consequently the Divine of the Father, like the soul in man, is His first essential. From this it follows that the Son whom Mary brought forth is the body to that Divine soul; for in the mother’s womb nothing is furnished except the body that has been conceived and derived from the soul; this, therefore, is His second essential. Operations constitute the third essential, since these proceed from soul and body together, and what proceeds is of the same essence as that which produces it. That the three essentials, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, in the Lord are one, like soul, body, and operation in man, is clearly evident from the Lord’s words, that the Father and He are one; that the Father is in Him and He in the Father; and in like manner He and the Holy Spirit, since the Holy Spirit is the Divine that goes forth out of the Lord from the Father, as fully shown above from the Word (n. 153, 154); therefore to show it again would be superfluous, and like loading a table with food after the appetite has been satisfied.

168.

When it is said that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are the three essentials of the one God, like soul, body, and operation in man, it seems to the human mind as if these three essentials are three persons, which is impossible. But when it is understood that the Divine of the Father, which constitutes the soul, and the Divine of the Son, which constitutes the body, and the Divine of the Holy Spirit or the proceeding Divine, which constitutes the operation, are the three essentials of the one God, the statement is comprehensible. For God the Father is His Divine, the Son from the Father is His Divine, and the Holy Spirit from both is His Divine; and as these are one in essence and one in mind they constitute one God. But if these three Divine essentials are called persons, and if to each person is attributed his own property, to the Father imputation, to the Son mediation, and to the Holy Spirit operation, the Divine Essence, which in fact is one and not divisible, becomes divided: and thus none of the three is God in fullness, but each has a sub-triple power; and this a sound understanding must needs reject.

169.

From the trinity in every man, then, who can fail to perceive the trinity in the Lord? In every man there is soul, body, and operation; so also in the Lord, “for in the Lord dwells all the fullness of Divinity bodily,” according to Paul (Col. 2:9); therefore in the Lord the trinity is Divine, but in man it is human. In this mystical notion that there are three Divine persons and yet one God, and that this God, although one, is nevertheless not one person, everyone can see that reason has no part, but has been lulled to sleep, and still it compels the mouth to speak like a parrot. And when reason is put to sleep what is speech from the mouth but dead speech? When the mouth utters that which reason turns away from and dissents from, is not speech foolish? At this day human reason, in respect to the Divine trinity, is bound like a man in prison, manacled and fettered; and it may be compared to a vestal virgin buried alive for permitting the sacred fire to die out; and yet in the minds of men of the church the Divine trinity ought to shine like a lamp, since God in His trinity and in the unity thereof is the All in all the sanctities of heaven and the church. But if the soul is made one God, and the body another, and the operation a third, how does this differ from making three parts, each distinct from the other, out of these three essentials of one man? And what is that but cutting him in pieces and slaying him?

170.

(3) Before the world was created this Trinity was not; but after creation, when God became incarnate, it was provided and brought about, and then in the Lord God the Redeemer and Savior Jesus Christ. In the Christian church at the present day a Divine trinity existing before the creation of the world is acknowledged; that is, that Jehovah God begat a Son from eternity, and that the Holy Spirit then went forth from both, and that each of these three is by Himself or singly God, because each is one person subsisting of Himself. But as this is incomprehensible to all reason it is called a mystery, which can be penetrated only in this way-that these three have one Divine essence, by which is meant eternity, immensity, omnipotence, and thus an equal Divinity, glory, and majesty. But that this trinity is a trinity of three Gods, and therefore in no sense a Divine trinity, will be shown in what follows: while from all that precedes it is evident that the trinity (which is also a trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) which was provided and brought about when God became incarnate, thus after the world was created, is a Divine trinity, because it is a trinity in one God. This divine trinity is in the Lord God the Redeemer and Savior Jesus Christ, because the three essentials of the one God, which constitute one essence, are in Him. That in Him (as Paul says) dwelleth all the fullness of Divinity is evident also from the words of the Lord Himself, that all things of the Father are His, and that the Holy Spirit speaks from Him, and not of itself; and finally, that when He arose He took from the sepulchre His whole human body, both the flesh and the bones (Matt. 28:1-8; Mark 16:5, 6; Luke 24:1-3; John 20:11-15), unlike any other man; of which He bore living witness to His disciples, saying: Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself handle Me and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see Me have (Luke 24:39). From this every man may be convinced, if he will, that the Lord’s humanity is Divine; consequently, that in Him God is Man and Man is God.

171.

The trinity which the present Christian church has embraced and brought into its faith, is that God the Father begat a Son from eternity, and that the Holy Spirit then went forth from both, and that each one of Himself is a God. Human minds can conceive of this trinity only as a triarchy, like the government of three kings in one kingdom, or of three generals over one army, or of three masters in one household, all possessing an equal power. From this what but destruction could ensue? Or if one wishes to figure or shadow forth this triarchy before his mind’s sight, and at the same time the unity of its members, he can present it to contemplation only as a man with three heads on one body, or as three bodies under one head. In such a monstrous image must the trinity appear to those who believe that there are three Divine persons each by Himself God, and who join these into one God, but deny that God, because He is one, is therefore one person. That a Son of God begotten from eternity descended and assumed a Human may be compared to the fables of the ancients, that human souls created at the beginning of the world enter into bodies and become men; also to the absurd notion that the soul of one person passes into another, as many in the Jewish church believed; for example, that the soul of Elijah would pass into the body of John the Baptist, and that David would return into his own or into some other man’s body, and rule over Israel and Judah, because it is said in Ezekiel: I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even My servant David; and he shall be their shepherd and I Jehovah will be to them as God, and David a prince among them (34:23, 24); besides other passages; not knowing that the Lord is there meant by “David.”

172.

(4) In the ideas of thought a Trinity of Divine Persons from eternity, or before the world was created, is a Trinity of Gods; and these ideas cannot be effaced by, a lip-confession of one God. That a trinity of Divine persons from eternity is a trinity of Gods is clearly evident from the following passage in the Athanasian Creed: “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; nevertheless there are not three Gods and Lords, but one God and Lord; for as we are compelled by the Christian verity to confess each person singly to be God and Lord, so are we forbidden by the Catholic religion to say three Gods or three Lords.” This creed is accepted as ecumenical or universal by the whole Christian church, and all that is at this day known and acknowledged respecting God is from it. That no other trinity than a trinity of Gods was understood by the members of the Nicene Council, from which the Athanasian Creed came forth like a posthumous birth, anyone can see who reads it with his eyes open. And not only was the trinity understood by them to be a trinity of Gods, it was so understood by the whole Christian world as well, for the reason that the whole Christian world derives all its knowledge of God from that source, and every man clings to a belief in its words. [2] I appeal to everyone, layman and clergyman, to titled masters and professors, consecrated bishops and arch-bishops, purple-robed cardinals, and even the Roman pontiff himself, whether in the Christian world today the trinity is understood to be anything else than a trinity of Gods; let everyone of them consult with himself and speak from the things that are in his mind; for from the words of this universally accepted doctrine respecting God this is as manifest and clear as water in a crystal goblet, and also that there are three persons, each one of whom is God and Lord; and further that according to Christian verity each person singly ought to be confessed or acknowledged to be God and Lord, but that the Catholic or Christian religion or faith forbids the saying or naming three Gods and Lords; thus verity and religion, or verity and faith, are not one thing but two things, each contrary to the other. But lest all this should be exposed to ridicule before the whole world it was added that there are not three Gods and Lords, but one God and Lord; for who would not laugh at the idea of three Gods? And still does not everyone see the contradiction in this addition? [3] If they had said, indeed, that to the Father belongs the Divine essence, to the Son the Divine essence, and to the Holy Spirit the Divine essence, and yet there are not three Divine essences, but one indivisible essence, that is to say, if by the Father there be understood the Divine from whom [a Quo], by the Son the Divine Human therefrom, and by the Holy Spirit the proceeding Divine, which are the three constituents of the one God, then this mystery would be explicable. Or if we understood by the Divine of the Father what is like the soul in man, and by the Divine Human what is like the body of that soul, and by the Holy Spirit what is like the operation that proceeds from both, then three essences, which belong to one and the same person, and so together constitute one indivisible essence, are understood.

173.

The idea of three Gods cannot be effaced by a lip-confession of one God, for the reason that from childhood this idea has been implanted in the memory, and it is from the things contained in the memory that everyone thinks. The memory in man is like the ruminatory stomach in birds and beasts; into which they thrust the food from which they gradually derive nourishment; and from time to time they draw the food from it and convey it to the true stomach, where it is digested and meted out to the various uses of the body. The human understanding is this latter stomach, as the memory is the former. That the idea of three Divine persons from eternity, which is the same as the idea of three Gods, cannot be effaced by a lip confession of one God, can be seen by anybody from this fact alone, that it has not yet been effaced, and that among the notable there are some who do not wish it to be effaced; for while they insist that the three Divine persons are of one God, they obstinately deny that God, on account of being one, is one person. But what wise man does not think within himself that the term person can not in this case mean person but that it predicates some quality, though what quality is not known? And this not being known, what has been implanted in the memory from childhood remains, as the roots of a tree remain in the ground, and from them, even if the tree be cut down, a shoot will spring forth. [2] But, my friend, not only cut down the tree, but also dig up the root, and then plant in your garden trees bearing good fruit. Thus beware, lest in your mind there should lurk the idea of three Gods, while your mouth utters the words one God, with no idea in them. In that case is not the understanding (which above the memory is thinking of three Gods, and at the same time below the memory is causing the mouth to utter one God), like a player on the stage able to act two roles by running from one side to the other, at one side saying one thing and at the other just the opposite, and by such contradiction playing on the one side the wise man and on the other the fool? What else can result from this but that when the understanding stands in the center and looks both ways it will conclude that neither this nor that amounts to anything, and so, perhaps, that there is neither one God nor three, thus that there is no God? The prevailing naturalism of the day is from no other source. In heaven no one can utter the words, A trinity of persons each one of whom singly is God; for it is resisted by the very aura of heaven, in which the thoughts of those there fly and undulate, as sounds do in our air. Such words can be uttered only by a hypocrite, and the sound of his speech grates in the heavenly aura like the gnashing of teeth, or is like the croak of a raven trying to imitate a bird of song. Moreover, I have heard from heaven that to efface a belief established in the mind by confirmations favoring a trinity of Gods, by means of a lip-confession of one God, is as impossible as it is to draw a tree back through its seed, or a man’s chin through a hair growing out of it.

174.

(5) A Trinity of Persons was unknown in the Apostolic Church, but was hatched by the Nicene Council, and from that was introduced into the Roman Catholic church, and from that again into the churches separated from it. By the Apostolic church is meant the church that existed in various places not only in the time of the apostles, but also in the second and third centuries after. But at length men began to wrench the door of the temple off its hinges, and to break robber-like into its sanctuary. The temple is the church; the door is the Lord God the Redeemer; and the sanctuary His Divinity; for Jesus says: Verily, I say unto you, he that entereth not by the door into the sheep fold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. I am the door; by Me if any man enter in he shall be saved (John 10:1, 9). This crime was committed by Arius and his followers. [2] On this account a council was convoked by Constantine the Great at Nice, a city in Bithynia; and in order to overthrow the pernicious heresy of Arius it was devised, decided upon, and ratified by the members of the council that there were from eternity three Divine persons, a Father, a Son, and a Holy Spirit, to each one of whom belonged personality, existence, and subsistence, by Himself and in Himself; also that the second person, or the Son, came down and took on a Human and wrought redemption; and therefore His Human, by a hypostatic union, possesses Divinity, and through that union He has close relationship with God the Father. From that time heaps of abominable heresies about God and the person of Christ began to spring up from the earth, and Antichrists began to rear their heads and to divide God into three persons, and the Lord the Savior into two, thus destroying the temple set up by the Lord through the apostles, and this until not one stone was left upon another that was not thrown down, according to the Lord’s words (Matt. 24:2), where by “the temple” not only the edifice at Jerusalem is meant but also the church, the consummation or end of which is treated of in the whole chapter. [3] But what else could have been expected from that council, or from those that followed, which in like manner divided the Godhead into three, and placed God in the flesh beneath them on their footstool? For by climbing up some other way they took the Head of the church away from its body; that is, they passed Him by, and mounted beyond to God the Father as to another, with the mere mention on their lips of Christ’s merit, that is, that God on account of it might be merciful, and justification might thus flow into them directly with all that goes with it, namely, remission of sins, renovation, sanctification, regeneration, and salvation, and this without any meditation on man’s part.

175.

That the Apostolic church had not the least knowledge of a trinity of persons, or of three persons from eternity, can be clearly seen from the creed of that church which is called the Apostles’ Creed, in which are these words - “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 “I believe in the Holy Ghost.” Here no mention is made of a Son born from eternity, but only 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 that in Him dwelt all the fulness of the Godhead bodily (Col. 2:9); And that the apostles preached faith in Him (Acts 20:21); And that to Him was given all power in heaven and on earth (Matt. 28:18).

176.

What confidence is to be had in councils when they do not go directly to the God of the church? Is not the church the Lord’s body, and He its head? What is a body without a head? And what sort of a body is that upon which three heads have been put, under the auspices of which men hold consultations and pass decrees? Does not enlightenment (which is spiritual when it is from the Lord alone, who is the God of heaven and the church, and also the God of the Word) then become more and more natural and at length sensual? And then not a single genuine theological truth in its internal form is perceived without being instantly cast out of the thought of the rational understanding, and like chaff from a winnowing machine blown into the air. In this state fallacies steal into the mind instead of truths, and darkness instead of rays of light; and men stand as if in a cave with spectacles on the nose and torch in hand, shutting their eyes to spiritual truths, which are in the light of heaven, and opening them to sensual truths belonging to the fatuous light of the bodily senses. And it is the same afterwards when the Word is read; the mind is then asleep to truths and awake to falsities, and becomes like the beast described as rising up out of the sea: With a mouth like that of a lion, a body like that of a leopard, and feet like those of a bear (Apoc. 13:2). It is said in heaven that when the Nicene Council had finished its work, that had come to pass which the Lord foretold to His disciples: The sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken (Matt. 24:29); and in fact the Apostolic church was like a new star appearing in the starry heaven. But the church after the two Nicene councils became finally like the same star darkened and lost to view, as has sometimes happened, according to the observation of astronomers, in the natural world. We read in the Word that: Jehovah God dwells in light unapproachable (1 Tim. 6:16). Who, then, can approach Him, unless He take up His abode in light that is approachable, that is, unless He come down and assume a Human, and in it become the light of the world (John 1:9; 12:46)? Anyone can see that to get near to Jehovah the Father in His own light is as impossible as to take the wings of the morning and fly on them to the sun, or to feed upon the sun’s rays instead of material food, or as for a bird to fly in the ether, or a stag to run on air.

177.

(6) From the Nicene Trinity and the Athanasian Trinity together a faith arose by which the whole Christian church has been perverted. That both the Nicene and Athanasian trinities are a trinity of Gods can be seen from the creeds above quoted (n. 172). From these the faith of the present church has arisen, which is a faith in God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, in God the Father that He will impute the righteousness of His Son the Savior and ascribe it to man, in God the Son that He will intercede and covenant, and in the Holy Spirit that He will in reality inscribe upon man the Son’s imputed righteousness, and confirm it with a seal, by justifying, sanctifying, and regenerating him. This is the faith of the present day; and it is sufficient evidence that a trinity of Gods is what is acknowledged and worshiped. [2] From the faith of any church flow forth not only all its worship but also all its dogmas; thus it may be said that such as its faith is such is its doctrine. From this it follows that inasmuch as the faith of the present church is a faith in three Gods, it has perverted all things belonging to the church, for faith is the first principle and doctrinals are derivatives; and derivatives derive their essence from the first principle. If anyone will put these doctrinals one by one under examination, as the doctrine of God, of the person of Christ, of charity, repentance, regeneration, freewill, election, and the use of the sacraments, baptism and the Holy Supper, he will see plainly that there is a trinity of Gods within each one; and even if it does not actually appear within each, they all flow from it as from their fountain. But as such an examination cannot here be made (and yet in order that man’s eyes may be opened it is well worth making), an Appendix shall be added to this work in which this will be shown. [3] The faith of the church respecting God is like the soul in the body, and doctrinals are like the members of the body. Or again, faith in God is like a queen, and dogmas like the officers of her court; and as these all hang upon the word of the queen, so do dogmas upon the utterance of faith. Solely from the faith of a church it can be seen how the Word is understood in that church; for a faith inwardly adapts and draws to itself, as if by cords, whatever things it can. If the faith is false it plays the harlot with every truth therein, and perverts and falsifies it, and in the spiritual things makes man insane. But if the faith is true the whole Word sustains it; and the God of the Word, who is the Lord God the Savior, pours light upon it and breathes upon it His Divine assent and makes man wise. [4] It will also be seen in the Appendix that the faith of the present day (which in its inward form is a faith in three Gods, but in its outward form a faith in one God) has quenched the light in the Word and taken away the Lord from the church, and has thus changed its morning into night. This was done by heresies before the council of Nice, and further by heresies arising from that council and after it. But what confidence is to be placed in councils which: Enter not through the door into the sheepfold but climb up some other way (according to the Lord’s words in John 10:1, 9)? Their deliberation is not unlike the walking of a blind man in the daytime or of a man not blind at night, neither of whom sees a ditch until he has tumbled into it. What confidence, for example, can be placed in councils that established the vicarship of the pope, the canonization of the dead, the invocation of the dead as deities, the worship of their images, the granting of indulgences, the division of the Eucharist, and other things? Or what confidence is to be placed in a council that established the unspeakable doctrine of predestination, and hung it up before its church buildings as the palladium of religion? But, my friend, go to the God of the Word, and thus to the Word itself, and so enter through the door into the sheepfold, that is, into the church, and you will be enlightened; and then as from a mountain top you will see for yourself the goings and wanderings, not only of the many but your own also previously in the gloomy forest below.

178.

The faith of every church is like the seed from which all its dogmas spring. It may be compared to the seed of a tree, out of which grows everything belonging to the tree, even to its fruit; and also to the seed of man, from which offspring and families are begotten in successive series. Therefore as soon as its leading tenet, which from its predominance is called saving, is known, the character of a church is known. This may be illustrated by the following example. Suppose the faith to be that nature is the creator of the universe; it will follow from this faith that the universe is called God, that nature is its essence, that the ether is the supreme Deity whom the ancients called Jove, that the air is the goddess they called Juno and made the wife of Jove; that the ocean is a god below these, which after the manner of the ancients may be called Neptune; and as the Divinity of nature reaches to the earth’s very center, there is a god there also, who, as with the ancients, may be called Pluto; that the sun is the court of all the gods, where they meet whenever Jupiter calls a council; moreover, that fire is life from God; and thus the birds fly in God, the beasts walk in God, and the fishes swim in God. It follows also that thoughts are merely modifications of the ether, as the words flowing from them are modulations of air; and that love’s affections are occasional changes of state caused by the influx into them of the sun’s rays; and along with these notions, that the life after death, together with heaven and hell, is a fable concocted by the clergy for the purpose of acquiring honors and wealth, which, although a fable, is useful, and not to be ridiculed openly, since it serves the public interest by keeping simple minds in the bonds of obedience to magistrates; but those that are inveigled by religion are in fact often devoted to abstractions, their thoughts are fantasies, their actions ludicrous, and they themselves drudges of the priests, believing in what they see not, and seeing what transcends the sphere of their minds. The belief that nature is the creator of the universe includes these consequences, and many more like them, and they proceed from that belief when it is laid open. They are presented here to show that within the faith of the present church, which in its internal form is a faith in three Gods and in its external form a faith in one, there are swarms of falsities, and that as many falsities can be drawn out of it as there are little spiders in the egg-sac of a single spider. Who that has a mind truly rational does not see this by light from the Lord; and how can any other mind see it so long as the door to that faith and its offshoots is shut and bolted by the decree that it is unlawful for reason to look into its mysteries?

179.

(7) This is the source of that “abomination of desolation, and that tribulation such as has not been nor ever shall be,” which the Lord foretold in Daniel, and in the Gospels, and in the Apocalypse. In Daniel we read: Upon the bird of abominations shall be desolation even until the consummation and decision, it shall drop upon the devastation (9:27). In the gospel of Matthew the Lord says: Many false prophets shall arise and shall lead many astray. When, therefore, ye shall see the abomination of desolation predicted by Daniel the prophet standing in the holy place, let him that readeth note it well (24:11, 15); and afterwards in the same chapter: Then shall be great tribulation, such as hath not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, nor ever shall be (verse 21). This tribulation and that abomination are treated of in seven chapters of the Apocalypse; they are what are meant: By the black horse, and the pale horse going out of the book, the seal of which the Lamb opened (6:5-8). Also by: The beast coming up out of the abyss which made war upon the two witnesses and killed them (11:7 seq.). Also by: The dragon which stood before the woman about to be delivered, that he might devour her child, and which pursued her into the desert and there from his mouth cast out water as a river that he might drown her (12). Also by: The beasts of the dragon, one from the sea and the other from the earth (13). Again: By the three green spirits like frogs which went forth out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet (16:13). And finally by this: That after the seven angels had poured out the bowls of the wrath of God, in which were the seven last plagues, into the earth, the sea, the fountains and rivers, upon the sun, upon the seat of the beast, upon the Euphrates, and at length into the air, there was a great earthquake, such as was not since there were men upon the earth (16). The “earthquake” means the overturning of the church, which is done by falsities and falsifications of truth, and this is signified also by: The great tribulation, such as hath not been from the beginning of the world (Matt. 24:21). The following words have a like meaning: And the angel thrust in his sickle and gathered the vineyard of the earth, and cast it into the great wine-press of the anger of God; and the wine-press was trodden and there went out blood even unto the bridles of the horses for a thousand and six hundred furlongs (Apoc. 14:19, 20); “blood” signifying truth falsified. Besides other things contained in those seven chapters.

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In the Gospels (Matt. 24; Mark 13; and Luke 21) the successive states of decline and corruption in the Christian church are described; and “the great tribulation such as hath not been since the beginning of the world, nor ever shall be” which is there mentioned means (as in many other places in the Word) the infestation of truth by falsities, even until no truth remains that is not falsified and consummated. This also is meant by “the abomination of desolation” there mentioned; and again by “the desolation upon the bird of abominations” and by “the consummation and decision” in Daniel; and the same thing is described in the Apocalypse in the passages just quoted from that book. This has come to pass because the church, instead of acknowledging the unity of God in trinity and His trinity in unity in one person, has acknowledged these in three persons; and in consequence the church has been based in the mind upon the idea of three Gods, and on the lips upon the confession of one God; and thus men have separated themselves from the Lord, and at length to such an extent that no idea of Divinity in His Human nature is left with them, when in fact He is God the Father in the Human, and therefore He is called: The Father of eternity (Isa. 9:6) And He said to Philip, He that seeth Me seeth the Father (John 14:7, 9).

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But it may be asked, Whence is the very stream of that fountain from which has come forth an abomination of desolation such as is described in Daniel (9:27), and a tribulation such as was not nor shall be (Matt. 24:21)? The answer is, that it comes from that same universal faith of the Christian world, and from its influx, operation, and imputation according to traditions. Wonderful it is that the doctrine of justification by that faith alone (which, however, is no faith but only a chimera) controls every point of doctrine in Christian churches; that is, with the clerical order it rules as almost the sole theological principle. It is what all students of divinity eagerly learn in the schools and drink in and absorb; and afterwards, seemingly inspired by heavenly wisdom, they teach it in the churches and publish it in books; and by it they strive after and acquire a reputation and fame and praise for superior learning; and on account of it, diplomas, degrees, and prizes are bestowed upon them; and all this is done, although by that same faith alone the sun at this day is darkened, the moon is robbed of her light, the stars have fallen from heaven, and the powers of the heavens have been shaken, according to the words of the Lord’s prophecy in Matthew (24:29). It has been proved to me that the doctrine of this faith has today so darkened men’s minds that they are not willing, and therefore as it were not able, to see any Divine truth inwardly, either in the light of the sun or in the light of the moon, but only outwardly on the mere rough surface by the light on a hearth at night; and I am therefore able to declare, that if Divine truths respecting the real conjunction of charity and faith, respecting heaven and hell, the Lord, life after death, and eternal happiness, were sent down from heaven written in letters of silver, those who hold to justification and sanctification by faith alone would not deem them worth reading. But it would be wholly different if a treatise on justification by faith alone were sent up from the hells; this they would receive, and would kiss it and carry it home in their bosoms.

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(8) So, too, unless a new heaven and a new church were established by the Lord there could no flesh be saved. It is said in Matthew: Then shall be great tribulation, such as hath not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days be shortened no flesh would be saved (24:21, 22). This chapter treats of “the consummation of the age,” by which the end of the present church is meant; therefore “to shorten those days” means to bring that church to an end and establish a new one. Who does not know that unless the Lord had come into the world and wrought redemption no flesh could have been saved? To work redemption means to found a new heaven and a new church. That the Lord would again come into the world He foretold in the Gospels, Matt. 24:30, 31; Mark 13:26; Luke 12:40; 21:27; and in the Apocalypse, particularly in the last chapter. That He is also effecting a redemption at this day by founding a new heaven and establishing a new church to the end that man may be saved, has been shown above in the chapter on Redemption. [2] The great mystery that unless a new church is established by the Lord no flesh can he saved, is this: That so long as the dragon with his horde remains in the world of spirits into which he has been cast, no Divine truth united to Divine good can pass through that world to men on earth without being perverted and falsified, or without its perishing. This is what is meant in the Apocalypse by the words: The dragon was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. Woe to those that inhabit the earth and the sea, for the devil has come down unto them having great anger (12:9, 12, 13). But when the dragon had been cast into hell (10:10), John saw a new heaven and a new earth, and he saw the New Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven (21:1, 2); “the dragon” meaning those who are in the faith of the present church. [3] In the spiritual world I have several times talked with those who believe that men are justified by faith alone; and I have told them that their doctrine is both erroneous and absurd, and induces upon men security, blindness, sleep, and in spiritual things a night, and consequently death to the soul; and I have exhorted them to discard it; but I received the answer, “Why discard it? Does not the superiority of the learning of the clergy over that of the laity hang upon that sole doctrine?” I replied, “In that case they do not regard the salvation of souls as any object, but the superiority of their own reputation; and as they have adapted the truths of the Word to their false principles, and have thus adulterated them, they are those angels of the abyss, called Abaddons and Apollyons (Apoc. 9:11), who signify those that destroy the church by a total falsification of the Word.” But they made answer, “What do you mean? By our knowledge of the mysteries of that faith we are oracles, and from it as from a sanctuary we give responses; therefore we are not Apollyons but Apollos.” Indignant at this reply I said, “If you are Apollos you are also leviathans - your leaders the crooked leviathans, and the rest of you the stretched-out leviathans, whom God will visit with His sore and great sword” (Isa. 27:1). But at this they laughed.

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(9) From a Trinity of Persons, each one of whom singly is God, according to the Athanasian creed, many discordant and heterogeneous ideas respecting God have arisen, which are phantasies and abortions. From the doctrine of three Divine persons from eternity, which in itself is the head of all the doctrinals in the Christian churches, there have arisen many ideas of God that are unbecoming and unworthy of the Christian world, which, on the subject of God and His oneness ought to be and might be a light to all peoples and nations in the four quarters of the globe. All who dwell outside the Christian church, both Mohammedans and Jews, and besides these the Gentiles of every cult, are averse to Christianity solely on account of its belief in three Gods. This its propagandists know; and therefore they are very cautious about divulging the doctrine of a trinity of persons as it is taught in the Nicene and Athanasian creeds; for if they did they would be shunned and ridiculed. [2] The absurd, ludicrous, and frivolous ideas that have sprung up out of the doctrine of three Divine persons from eternity, and that still spring up in every man who retains a belief in the words of that doctrine, rising from his ears and eyes into the sight of his thought, are as follows: That God the Father sits on high overhead; the Son at His right hand; and the Holy Spirit before them listening, and forthwith traversing the whole world, dispensing according to their decision the gifts of justification, inscribing them upon men and changing men from children of wrath to children of grace, and from being damned to being elect. I appeal to the learned of the clergy and well-informed of the laity, whether in their minds they cherish any other visual image than this, for this flows of itself from the same doctrine (see Memorable Relation, n. 16). [3] There flows from it also a curiosity for conjecturing what they conversed about before the world was made, whether about making the world, or perchance about those who according to the Supralapsarians were to be predestined and justified, or also about redemption; likewise what they have been conversing about among themselves since the world was created - the Father from His authority and power to impute, the Son from His power to mediate; moreover that imputation, which is election, is from the mercy of the Son who intercedes for all in general and for some individually, and that the Father, being moved by love to the Son and by the agony witnessed in Him when on the cross, has grace for such. But who cannot see that such things are silly conceits about God? And yet in the Christian churches these are the very sanctities, which are to be kissed with the lips, but not looked into by any mental vision because they are above the reason, and if they were lifted out of the memory into the understanding man would become insane. This, however, does not take away the idea of three Gods but induces a stupid faith, because of which a man, when thinking about God, may be likened to a sleep-walker wandering about in the darkness of night, or to one blind from birth wandering in the light of day.

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That a trinity of Gods is fixed in the minds of Christians, although from shame they deny it, is very evident from the ingenuity of many of them in demonstrating by means of various things in plain and solid geometry, in arithmetic, and in physics, and also by foldings of cloth and paper, that the three are one and the one is three. Thus they play with the divine trinity as jugglers play with each other. Their juggling on this subject may be compared to the visions of those suffering from fever, who see one object (whether a man, or a table or a candle) as three, or three as one. It may also be compared to the tricks of those who work soft wax with their fingers and mould it into various shapes, now making it triangular to exhibit the trinity, and again spherical to exhibit the unity, meanwhile asking, “Is not the substance still one and the same?” And yet the Divine trinity is like the one pearl of great value, but when divided into persons it is like that pearl divided into three parts, whereby it is utterly and manifestly ruined.

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To this shall be added the following Memorable Relations. First: In the spiritual world there are climates and zones just as in the natural world. Nothing exists in this world that does not also exist in that; yet in origin they differ. In the natural world climates vary according to the distance of the sun from the equator; in the spiritual world they vary according to the distances of the will’s affections and the consequent thought of the understanding from true love and true faith; for of these latter all things in that world are correspondences. In the frigid zones of the spiritual world things appear similar to those in the frigid zones of the natural world; lands and waters alike are bound in ice with snow upon them. Those come hither and dwell here who in the world had lulled their understanding to sleep by their indolence in thinking of spiritual things, and who were consequently indolent in doing anything useful. Such are called boreal spirits. [2] On one occasion I had a strong desire to see some region of the frigid zone where these boreal spirits dwell. I was therefore conducted in spirit northward to a region where the whole earth appeared to be covered with snow and all the water frozen. It was the Sabbath day; and I saw men, that is, spirits similar in stature to the men of our world, with their heads, owing to the cold, covered with lions’ skins, the mouth of the skin fitted to their own; while before and behind and down to the loins their bodies were clad with leopard skins and their feet with bear skin. I also saw many riding in chariots, and some in chariots carved in the form of a dragon with the horns projecting forward. The chariots were drawn by small horses with their tails clipped, which ran like frightful wild creatures, the driver holding tight the reins and continually speeding and whipping them to a run. At length I saw that the crowds were flocking towards a temple, which was invisible because it was buried in snow; but the caretakers of the temple were shoveling away the snow and digging a path for the coming worshipers, who descended and entered. [3] I was permitted to see the inside of the temple. It was lighted with an abundance of lamps and torches. There was an altar of hewn stone, behind which hung a tablet with the inscription, The Divine Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, who are essentially one God, but personally three. At length a priest who stood at the altar, after kneeling thrice before the tablet, went up into the pulpit with a book in his hand and began a discourse on the Divine trinity. “O how great the mystery,” he exclaimed, “that God in the highest begot a Son from eternity, and through Him sent forth the Holy Spirit, the three conjoining themselves by their essence but dividing themselves by their properties, which are imputation, redemption, and operation! But if we look upon these things from reason our vision grows obscure, and a spot comes before it such as appears before the eye of one who fixes his gaze upon the naked sun. Therefore, my hearers, in this matter let us keep the understanding under obedience to faith.” [4] Again he exclaimed, “O how great a mystery is our holy faith, that God the Father imputes the righteousness of His Son and sends the Holy Spirit, who from that imputed righteousness works out the evidences of justification! These in brief are forgiveness of sins, renovation, regeneration, and salvation, of the influx of action of which a man is no more conscious than the statue of salt into which Lot’s wife was turned; and of the indwelling or the state of which he is no more conscious than a fish in the sea. But, my friends, in this faith there lies a treasure so enclosed and hidden that not a particle of it can be seen; therefore in this matter also let us keep the understanding under obedience to faith.” [5] After some deep sighs he again exclaimed, “O how great is the mystery of election! He becomes one of the elect to whom God imputes that faith, which He imparts, at His good pleasure and out of pure grace, to whomsoever He wills and when He wills, and while it is being poured into him man is like a stock, but when this has been done he becomes like a tree. It is true that there are fruits, that is, good works, hanging upon the tree (which in a representative sense is our faith); but the fruit does not cling to it, and therefore the worth of the tree is not in the fruit. Yet as this sounds heterodox, although it is a mystical verity, let us, my brethren, keep the understanding under obedience to faith in it.” [6] Then again, after a brief pause, standing as if he would produce something further from his memory, he continued, “From the mass of mysteries I will present one more, namely, that in spiritual things man has not a grain of free-will. For the primates and rulers of our order say in their theological canons that in matters pertaining to faith and salvation, which are especially called spiritual, man has no ability to will, think or understand anything, nor even adapt or apply himself to their reception. Therefore of myself I say, that a man is no better able than a parrot or a magpie or a raven to think about these things from reason and talk about them from thought; so that in spiritual things man is in fact an ass, and only in natural things is he a man. But, my friends, lest this should annoy your reason, let us in this as in the others keep the understanding under obedience to faith. For our theology is a bottomless abyss, and if you let your intellectual vision down into it you will be overwhelmed, and will perish as by shipwreck. And yet keep this in mind: we are none the less in the true light of the Gospel, which is shining far above our heads; but sad to say, the hairs of our heads and the bones of our skulls stand in the way and keep the light from penetrating the recesses of our understanding.” [7] Having said this he came down from the pulpit; and when he had offered a prayer at the altar and the service was over I approached some who were talking together, among whom was the priest; and those standing around him said, “We give you everlasting thanks for a discourse so magnificent and so rich in wisdom.” But I said to them, “Did you understand anything?” And they answered, “We took in everything with full ears; but why do you ask whether we understand? Is not the understanding benumbed by such matters?” And to this the priest added, “Forasmuch as you have heard and have not understood you are blessed, for thereby you have salvation.” [8] Afterwards I talked with the priest and asked him whether he had a degree. He answered, “I am a laureled Master.” I then said, “Master, I have heard you preaching mysteries; if you know of the mysteries but know nothing that they contain, you know nothing; for they are like chests locked with triple bolts; and unless you open them and look inside, which must be done by the understanding, you do not know whether the contents are precious or whether they are worthless, or are hurtful. They may contain vipers’ eggs or spiders’ webs, according to the description in Isaiah” (59:5). At this the priest looked at me grimly; and the worshipers withdrew and entered their chariots, drunken with paradoxes, muddled with empty words, and enveloped in darkness respecting all things of faith and the means of salvation.

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Second Memorable Relation: I was engaged in thought about what region of the mind in man is occupied with theological matters. At first I supposed that being spiritual and heavenly they occupy the highest region. For the human mind is divided into three regions, as a house into three stories, or the angelic abodes into three heavens. Then an angel standing near said, “With those who love truth because it is true, theological matters rise even into the highest region of the mind, because in that region is their heaven, and they are in the light in which angels dwell. But moral subjects theoretically examined and perceived have their place in a second region beneath these, because they communicate with things spiritual. Beneath these in a first region political subjects have their place; while scientific matters, which are manifold, and may be referred to genera and species, form a door to these higher matters. Those with whom things spiritual, moral, political, and scientific are thus subordinated, think what they think and do what they do from justice and judgment. This is because the light of truth, which is also the light of heaven, illuminates from the highest region all things that follow, as the light of the sun, passing in turn through the ethers and through the atmospheres, illumines the eyes of men and beasts and fishes. It is different, however, in matters of theology with those who love truth not because it is true, but only for the glory of their reputation. With them theological subjects have their seat in the lowest region along with scientific subjects; with some the former are mingled with the latter; with others the two cannot be so mingled. In the same region but still lower are political subjects, and beneath these again moral subjects, for in such persons the two higher regions are not opened on the right hand; and in consequence they have no interior reason from judgment and no affection for justice, but only a cleverness which enables them to talk on every subject as if from intelligence and to confirm whatever presents itself as if from reason; but the objects of reason which they chiefly love are falsities, because these adhere to the fallacies of the senses. This is why there are so many in the world who no more see truths of doctrine from the Word than those blind can see; and when such hear truths they hold their nostrils, lest the scent of the truths should disturb them and excite nausea; while on the other hand, they open all their senses to falsities and drink them in as whales drink in water.”

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Third Memorable Relation: Once when I was meditating about the dragon and the beast and the false prophet spoken of in the Apocalypse, an angelic spirit appeared to me and asked, “What are you meditating about?” And I said, “About the false prophet.” Then he said, “I will take you to the place where those are who are meant by the false prophet;” and he added that they are the same as are meant in the thirteenth chapter of the Apocalypse by “the beast rising up out of the earth,” which had two horns like a lamb, and which spoke like a dragon. I followed him, and lo, I saw a great crowd, in the midst of which were leaders of the church who taught that nothing saves man but faith in the merit of Christ; and that works are good, but contribute nothing to salvation, and yet should be taught from the Word in order that the laity, especially the simple, may be held more firmly in the bonds of obedience to magistrates, and may be compelled as if from religion, and thus from within, to practice moral charity. [2] Then one of them, seeing me, said, “Would you like to see our temple, in which there is an image representative of our faith?” I approached and looked, and behold the temple was magnificent. In the center of it was an image of a woman clad in scarlet robes, holding in her right hand a golden coin, and in her left a chain of pearls. But both the image and the temple were produced through phantasy; for through phantasies infernal spirits are able to represent magnificent things by closing up the interiors of the mind and opening the exteriors only. When, however, I observed that these things were such juggleries, I prayed to the Lord, and immediately the interiors of my mind were opened, and then in place of a magnificent temple I saw a house full of chinks from top to bottom, tumbling all to pieces; and in place of the woman, I saw hanging within the building a figure with a head like a dragon’s, a body like a leopard’s, its feet like bear’s feet, and its mouth like that of a lion, thus precisely like the beast described as rising up out of the sea (Rev. 13:2); and for a floor there was a bog with a multitude of frogs in it, and I was told that underneath the bog was a large hewn stone, with the Word hidden deep below it. Seeing this I said to the juggler, “Is this your temple?” And he said, “It is.” But suddenly he, too, had his inner sight opened, and from it he saw the same things that I did, and he cried out loudly, “What is this, and whence is it?” And I said, “It is from the light of heaven, which discloses the quality of every outward shape, and thus the quality of your faith separate from spiritual charity.” [3] And presently a wind blew up from the east and swept away the temple and the image and dried up the bog and thus laid bare the stone beneath which the Word was lying. And then a warmth like that of spring breathed upon it from heaven, and behold in the same place a tabernacle simple in outward form appeared. And the angels who were with me said, “Behold the tabernacle of Abraham, as it was when the three angels came to him and foretold the birth of Isaac. To the eye it appears simple, but it becomes more and more magnificent according to the influx of light from heaven.” It was granted them to open the heaven occupied by spiritual angels, who are in wisdom. And at once from the light flowing in from that heaven the tabernacle appeared like a temple similar to that at Jerusalem. And when I looked inside I saw the foundation-stone under which the Word was deposited, set about with precious stones, and from these a kind of effulgence beamed upon the walls, on which were figures of cherubim, and the glow beautifully variegated the walls with colors. [4] While I wondered at these things the angels said, “You shall see something still more wonderful.” And it was granted them to open the third heaven, where celestial angels dwell who are in a state of love; and then because of the flamy light flowing in from that heaven the whole temple vanished, and in its place the Lord alone was seen standing upon the foundation-stone, which was the Word, appearing in the same form in which He appeared to John (Rev. 1). But as the interiors of the angels’ minds were then filled with a holiness which impelled them to fall down upon their faces, the way by which the light came from the third heaven was immediately closed by the Lord, and a way was opened for light from the second heaven, and this caused the temple to assume its former aspect, and also the tabernacle, which was now in the center of the temple. This was an illustration of what is meant in the Apocalypse by these words: Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He shall dwell with them (21:3). And by these words: I saw no temple in the New Jerusalem, for the Lord God the Almighty is the temple thereof, and the Lamb (21:22).

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Fourth Memorable Relation: As I have been permitted by the Lord to behold wonderful things in the heavens and beneath the heavens, it behooves me, as commanded, to relate what has been seen. There was seen a magnificent palace, and in the innermost parts of it a temple, and in the center of the temple a golden table upon which the Word was lying, and two angels stood beside it. Around the table were seats in triple rows. The seats of the first row were covered with cloth of pure silk, purple colored; those of the second row with cloth of sky-blue silk; and those of the third row with white cloth. Beneath the roof, high above the table, a wide canopy was seen ablaze with precious stones, from the glow of which shone a rainbow, such as is seen when the sky is clearing after a shower. Presently a number of the clergy equal to the number of the seats appeared and occupied the seats, all clothed in the garments of the priestly office. At one side was a wardrobe where an angel keeper stood; and within it arranged in beautiful order splendid robes were lying. This was a council called together by the Lord; and I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Deliberate.” But they asked, “On what subject?” It was said, “On the Lord the Savior, and on the Holy Spirit.” But when they began to meditate on these subjects they were not in a state of enlightenment; therefore they prayed, and a light then flowed down from heaven; and first the back part of their heads were lighted up, then their temples and at last their faces. Then they began to deliberate, and first, as bidden, in regard to the Lord the Savior. [2] And the first point proposed and discussed was, Who assumed the Human in the Virgin Mary? And the angel standing beside the table upon which was the Word, read to them the following from Luke: The angel said to Mary, Behold thou shalt conceive in the womb, and bring forth a Son, and shalt call His name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Most High. And Mary said to the angel, How shall this thing be, seeing I know not a man? And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee; therefore that holy thing that is born of thee shall be called the Son of God (1:31, 32, 34, 35). Then he read the following from Matthew: The angel said to Joseph in a dream, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy bride, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And Joseph knew her not until she had brought forth her firstborn son and he called His name Jesus (Matt. 1:20, 25). We also read other passages from the Gospels (as Matt. 3:17; 17:5; John 1:18; 3:16; 20:31); and many others elsewhere, in which the Lord in respect to His Human is called the Son of God, and where from His Human He calls Jehovah His Father. We read also from the Prophets, where it is foretold that Jehovah Himself would come into the world; among them these two passages from Isaiah: It shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for Him that He may deliver us; this is Jehovah; we have waited for Him; let us exult and be glad in His salvation (25:9). The voice of one crying in the desert, Prepare ye the way of Jehovah; make level in the wilderness a highway for our God. For the glory of Jehovah shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together. Behold, the Lord Jehovah cometh in strength, He shall feed His Bock like a shepherd (40:3, 5, 10, 11). [3] And the angel said, “Because Jehovah Himself came into the world and assumed the Human He is called in the Prophets Savior and Redeemer. Then he read to them the following passages: Among Thee alone is God, and there is no God besides. Surely Thou art a hidden God, O God of Israel, the Savior (Isa. 45:14, 15). Am not I Jehovah? And there is no God else beside Me; a just God and a Savior, there is none beside Me (Isa. 45:21, 22). I am Jehovah, and beside Me there is no Savior (Isa. 43:11). I am Jehovah thy God, and thou shalt acknowledge no God beside Me, and there is no Savior beside Me (Hos. 13:4). That all flesh may know that I Jehovah am thy Savior and thy Redeemer (Isa. 49:26; 60:16). As for our Redeemer, Jehovah of Hosts is His name (Isa. 47:4). Their Redeemer is strong, Jehovah of Hosts is His name (Jer. 50:34). O Jehovah, my Rock and my Redeemer (Ps. 19:14). Thus said Jehovah thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, I am Jehovah thy God (Isa. 48:17; 43:14; 49:7; 54:8). Thou, Jehovah, art our Father; our Redeemer from everlasting is Thy name (Isa. 63:16). Thus said Jehovah thy redeemer, I am Jehovah that maketh all things, even alone by Myself (Isa. 44:24). Thus said Jehovah the King of Israel, and His Redeemer Jehovah of hosts, I am the first, and I am the last; and besides Me there is no God (Isa. 44:6). Jehovah of Hosts is his name, and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; the God of the whole earth shall He be called (Isa. 54:5). Behold the days come, when I shall raise up unto David a righteous branch, and He shall reign as king, and this is His name, Jehovah, our Righteousness (Jer. 23:5, 6; 33:15, 16). In that day Jehovah shall be king over all the earth; in that day Jehovah shall be one, and His name one (Zech. 14:9). [4] Strengthened in belief by all these passages, those that sat upon the seats unanimously declared, that Jehovah himself assumed the Human that He might redeem and save men. And thereupon from some Roman Catholics who had hidden themselves behind the altar a voice was heard saying, “How can Jehovah God become a man? Is He not the creator of the universe?” And one of those on the second row of seats turned about and said, “Who then was it?” And he who had been behind the altar and was now standing near it said, “The Son from eternity.” But he received the reply, “Is not the Son from eternity, according to your confession of faith, also the Creator of the universe? Moreover, what is a Son and a God born from eternity? And how can the Divine essence, which is one and indivisible, be separated, and one part of it descend and not the whole at once?” [5] The second subject of discussion about the Lord, was whether the Father and He are thus one as soul and body are one; and they said that this follows, because the soul is from the father. Then one of those who sat on the third row of seats read from what is called the Athanasian Creed as follows, “Although our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is God and man, yet these are not two, but one Christ; yea, one altogether; He is one person; since as the soul and body make one Man, so God and Man is one Christ.” The reader said that this creed, in which these words are found, is accepted throughout the Christian world, even by the Roman Catholics. The others said, “What more is needed? God the Father and He are one as soul and body are one.” And they said, “This being so, we see that the Lord’s Human is Divine because it is the Human of Jehovah; also that it is the Lord as to His Divine human who is to be approached, and that thus and in no other way can the Divine which is called the Father be approached.” [6] This conclusion of theirs the angel confirmed by many passages from the Word, among which were the following: Unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and His name, Wonderful, Counselor, God, Mighty, Father of Eternity, Prince of Peace (Isa. 9:6). Abraham knoweth us not, and Israel doth not acknowledge us; Thou, Jehovah, art our Father, our Redeemer from everlasting is Thy name (Isa. 63:16). And in John: Jesus said, He that believeth in Me believeth in Him that sent Me; and he that seeth Me seeth Him that sent me (John 12:44, 45). Philip said to Jesus, Show us the Father, Jesus saith unto him, he that hath seen Me hath seen the Father; how sayest thou then, Show us the Father? Believest thou not that I am in the Father and the Father in Me? Believe Me that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me (John 14:8-11). Jesus said, I and My Father are one (John 10:30). All things that the Father hath are Mine; and all Mine are the Father’s (John 16:15; 17:10). Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one cometh unto the Father but by Me (John 14:6). To all this the reader added, that things like those here said by the Lord about himself and his Father might also be said by man about himself and his own soul. Having heard this they all with one voice and one heart declared that the Lord’s human is Divine, and that this human must be approached in order to approach the Father, since by means of it Jehovah God sent himself thus accessible. To the ancients in like manner He made Himself visible, and thus accessible in a Human Form; but then through an angel. But as that form was representative of the Lord who was to come, so with the ancients all things pertaining to the church were representative. [7] This was followed by a deliberation about the Holy Spirit. In the first place there was set forth the idea of many respecting God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, namely, that God the Father sits on high with the Son at His right hand, and that the two send forth from themselves the Holy Spirit to enlighten, teach, justify and sanctify mankind. Then a voice from heaven was heard saying, “That idea of thought is to us unbearable. Who does not know that Jehovah God is omnipresent? And whoever knows and acknowledges this must acknowledge that He Himself enlightens, teaches, justifies, and sanctifies; and that there is no mediating God distinct from Him, still less a God distinct from two Gods, as one person from another person. Therefore have done with the former idea, which is foolish, and let this which is the right idea be accepted, and you will see the matter clearly.” [8] Then a voice from the Roman Catholics who were standing near the altar of the temple was heard saying, “What, then, is the Holy Spirit which is mentioned in the Word in the Gospels and in Paul, by which so many learned men of the clergy, especially our own, say they are led? Who at this day in the Christian world denies the Holy Spirit and its operations?” At these words one of those sitting on the second row of seats turned about and said, You say that the Holy Spirit is a person by Himself and a God by Himself; but what is a person going out of and forth from a person but an operation going out and forth? One person cannot go out of or forth from another, but operation can. Or what is a God going out of or proceeding from God, but an outgoing and proceeding Divine? One God cannot go out of or forth from another God, and through still another, but the Divine can go out and forth from one God.” [9] On hearing these words those sitting on the seats unanimously concluded that the Holy Spirit is not a person by itself, nor thus a God by itself, but is the Holy Divine going out of and forth from the one only and omnipresent God, who is the Lord. At this the angels who stood near the golden table upon which was the Word said, “It is well. Nowhere does one read in the Old Covenant that the prophets spoke the Word from the Holy Spirit, but from Jehovah; and in the new Covenant wherever the Holy Spirit is mentioned it means the Divine going forth, which is the Divine enlightening, teaching, vivifying, reforming, and regenerating.” [10] After this another discussion about the Holy Spirit followed on this point, From whom does the Divine that is meant by the Holy Spirit go forth, whether from the Father or from the Lord? While they were discussing this subject a light from heaven beamed upon them by which they saw that the Holy Divine, which is meant by the Holy Spirit, does not go forth out of the Father through the Lord, but out of the Lord from the Father, comparatively as man’s activity goes forth, not from the soul through the body, but out of the body from the soul. The angel who stood near the table confirmed this by the following passages from the Word: He whom God hath sent, speaketh the words of God; for not by measure doth God give the Spirit unto Him. The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into His hand (John 3:34, 35). And there shall go forth a Shoot out of the stock of Jesse, and the Spirit of Jehovah shall rest upon Him, the spirit of wisdom and of understanding; the spirit of counsel and might (Isa. 9:1, 2). That the Spirit of Jehovah was put upon Him and was in Him (Isa. 42:1, 49:19, 20; 51:1; Luke 4:18). When the Holy Spirit is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father (John 15:26). He shall glorify Me, for He shall take of Mine and shall declare it unto you. All things whatsoever the Father hath are Mine therefore said I that He shall take of Mine and shall declare it unto you (John 16:14, 15). If I go away I will send the Comforter unto you (John 16:7). That the Comforter is the Holy Spirit (John 14:26). The Holy Spirit was not yet, because Jesus was not yet glorified (John 8:39). But after the glorification: Jesus breathed upon the disciples, and said unto them, Receive ye the Holy Spirit (John 20:22). And in the Apocalypse: Who shall not glorify Thy name, O Lord? for Thou alone art holy (15:4). [11] As the Holy Spirit means the Lord’s Divine operation from His Divine omnipresence, so when He spoke to His disciples about the Holy Spirit whom He would send from the Father He also said: I will not leave you orphans. I go away and I come unto you. And in that day ye shall know that I am in My Father, and ye in Me, and I in you (John 14:18, 20, 28). And just before He left the world He said: Lo, I am with you all the days, even unto the consummation of the age (Matt. 28:20). Having read these passages to them the angel said, “From these and many other passages from the Word it is clear that the Divine which is called the Holy Spirit goes forth out of the Lord from the Father.” Hereupon those who sat upon the seats said, “This is Divine truth.” [12] Finally the following decree was adopted: “From the deliberation of this council we have clearly seen and therefore acknowledge as holy truth, that in the Lord God the Savior Jesus Christ there is a Divine trinity, namely, the Divine from which (a quo), which is called the Father, the Divine Human which is called the Son, and the Divine going forth which is called the Holy Spirit;” and together they cried out that: “In Christ dwelleth all the fulness of Divinity bodily (Col. 2:9). Thus in the church God is one.” [13] When this conclusion had been reached in that magnificent council the members arose; and an angel keeper came from the wardrobe bringing to each one of those occupying the seats splendid garments interwoven here and there with golden threads; and he said, “Accept these wedding garments.” And they were conducted in glory to the new Christian heaven, with which the Lord’s church on earth, which is the New Jerusalem, will be conjoined.

IV. The Sacred Scripture Or Word Of The Lord

I. THE SACRED SCRIPTURE OR THE WORD IS DIVINE TRUTH ITSELF. It is on everyone’s lips that the Word is from God, is Divinely inspired, and is therefore holy; and yet it has not been known heretofore where in the Word its Divinity resides. For in its letter the Word appears like ordinary writing, foreign in style, neither lofty nor brilliant as the writings of the present time are in appearance. For this reason the man who worships nature instead of God or more than God, and whose thought therefore is from himself and his selfhood and not from the Lord out of heaven, may easily fall into error respecting the Word, and into contempt for it, and when reading it may say to himself, What does this and that mean? Is this Divine? Can God, whose wisdom is infinite speak thus? Wherein and wherefrom is its holiness, except from some religious notion and consequent persuasion?

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But he who so thinks does not consider that Jehovah the Lord, who is the God of heaven and earth, spoke the Word through Moses and the prophets, and therefore it cannot be other than Divine truth, for what Jehovah the Lord Himself speaks must be such. Neither does he consider that the Lord the Savior, who is the same with Jehovah, spoke the Word in the Gospels, much of it by His own mouth, and the rest of it by the breath of His mouth, which is the Holy Spirit, through His twelve disciples; whence it is, as He says, that in His words there is spirit and there is life, and that He is the Light that enlightens, and that He is the Truth; as is evident from the following passages: Jesus said, The words that I speak unto you are spirit and are life (John 6:63). Jesus said to the woman at Jacob’s well, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee Give me to drink, thou wouldst have asked of Him and He would give thee living water. Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst but the water that I shall give him shall become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life (John 4:6, 10, 11, 14); “Jacob’s well” signifying the Word. (As also in Deut. 33:28). Therefore the Lord, because He is the Word, sat there and talked with the woman. “Living water” signifies the truth of the Word: Jesus said, If any man thirst let him come unto Me and drink. He that believeth on Me, as the Scripture saith, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water (John 7:37, 38). Peter said to Jesus, Thou hast the words of eternal life (John 6:68). Jesus said, Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away (Mark 13:31). The Lord’s words are Truth and Life because He is the Truth and the Life, as He teaches in John: I am the Way, the Truth and the Life (14:6); and in the same: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men (1:1, 4). “The Word” means the Lord in respect to Divine truth, in whom alone there is life and there is light. For this reason the Word, which is from the Lord and which is the Lord, is called: The fountain of living waters (Jer. 2:13; 17:13; 31:9) The fountain of salvation (Isa. 12:3) A fountain (Zech. 13:1) And the river of the water of life (Apoc. 22:1); and it is said that: The Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall guide them unto living fountains of waters (Apoc. 7:17) with other things also in passages where the Word is also called “a sanctuary” and “a tabernacle,” wherein the Lord dwells with man.

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Nevertheless, all this does not convince the natural man that the Word is Divine truth itself, in which there is Divine wisdom and Divine life; for he estimates it by its style, in which these are not seen by him. Yet the style of the Word is the Divine style itself, with which no other style can be compared, however sublime and excellent it may seem. The style of the Word is such that there is a holiness in every sentence and in every word, and even in some places in the very letters, and thereby the Word conjoins man with the Lord and opens heaven. There are two things that go forth from the Lord, Divine love and Divine wisdom, or what is the same thing, Divine good and Divine truth. In its essence the Word is both of these; and because, as just said, it conjoins man with the Lord and opens heaven, it fills man with the goods of love and the truths of wisdom-his will with the goods of love and his understanding with the truths of wisdom; thus by means of the Word man has life. But it must be clearly understood that those only have life from the Word who read it for the purpose of drawing from it Divine truths as from their proper fountain, and at the same time for the purpose of applying to the life the truths drawn therefrom; while with those who read the Word solely with a view to gaining worldly honors and riches the opposite effect follows.

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Any man who does not know that there is a certain spiritual sense contained in the Word, like a soul in its body, must needs judge of it from the sense of its letter; when yet this sense is like an envelope enclosing precious things, which are its spiritual sense. Therefore when this internal sense is unknown the Divine holiness of the Word can be estimated only as when a precious stone is estimated from the matrix enclosing it, which often appears like an ordinary stone; or only as when from a casket made of jasper, lapis-lazuli, amianthus, or agate, one estimates the diamonds, rubies, sardonyxes, oriental topazes, and so on, lying in order within it. So long as its contents are unknown it is not strange that the casket is esteemed only according to the value of its material which is visible. The same is true of the Word in respect to the sense of its letter. That men, therefore, may not continue to doubt whether the Word is Divine and most holy, the Lord has revealed to me its internal sense, which in its essence is spiritual, and which is within the external sense, which is natural, as the soul is in the body. That sense is the spirit that gives life to the letter; consequently that sense can bear witness to the Divinity and holiness of the Word, and convince even the natural man, if he is willing to be convinced.

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II. IN THE WORD THERE IS A SPIRITUAL SENSE HITHERTO UNKNOWN. When it is asserted that inasmuch as the Word is Divine it is in its bosom spiritual, who does not acknowledge and assent to the statement? But who has known as yet what the spiritual is, and where in the Word it is stored up? What the spiritual is will be made clear in the Memorable Relation at the end of this chapter; and where it is hidden in the Word shall be shown in what now follows. The Word in its bosom is spiritual, because it descended from Jehovah the Lord, and passed through the angelic heavens; and in its descent the Divine itself, which in itself is ineffable and unperceivable, became adapted to the perception of angels, and finally to the perception of men. From this is the spiritual sense, which is inwardly in the natural, as the soul is in man, as the thought of the understanding is in speech, and as the will’s affection is in action; and if it is permissible to compare it with such things as appear to the eye in the natural world, the spiritual sense is in the natural sense as the whole brain is within its meninges or matres, or as a tree’s branches are within their barks and coats, or as all things needful for the production of a chick are within the shell of the egg, and so on. But that there is such a spiritual sense of the Word in its natural sense no one as yet has divined; and for that reason it is necessary that this arcanum (which in itself stands pre-eminent over all arcana hitherto disclosed) should be made clear to the understanding, as it will be when explained in the following order: (1) What the spiritual sense is. (2) This sense is in each and every part of the Word. (3) It is because of this sense that the Word is Divinely inspired, and holy in every word. (4) Heretofore this sense has been unknown. (5) Henceforth it will be given only to such as are in genuine truths from the Lord. (6) Wonderful things respecting the Word, from its spiritual sense. These propositions will now be unfolded separately.

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(1) What the spiritual sense is. The spiritual sense is not the sense that shines forth from the sense of the letter of the Word when one is studying it and so construing it as to confirm some dogma of the church. That may be called the literal and ecclesiastical sense of the Word. The spiritual sense is not apparent in the sense of the letter; it is interiorly within it as the soul is in the body, as the thought of the understanding is in the eyes, or the love’s affection in the face. It is that sense chiefly that makes the Word spiritual, not only for men but for angels also; and therefore by means of that sense the Word has communication with the heavens. As the Word is inwardly spiritual it was written purely by correspondences; and because it was written by correspondences in its outmost sense it was written in a style like that of the Prophets, the Gospels, and the Apocalypse, which, although commonplace in appearance, still conceals within it Divine wisdom and all angelic wisdom. What correspondence is can be seen in the work on Heaven and Hell, (published in London, 1758), in the chapter on The Correspondence of all things of Heaven with all things in Man (n. 87-102); and on The Correspondence of all things of Heaven with all things on Earth (n. 103-115); and it will be further explained by examples from the Word cited below.

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From the Lord the Divine Celestial, the Divine Spiritual, and the Divine Natural go forth one after the other. Whatever goes forth from the Lord’s Divine love is called the Divine Celestial, everything of which is good; whatever goes forth from His Divine wisdom is called the Divine Spiritual, everything of which is truth; the Divine Natural is from both of these and is their complex in the outmost. The angels of the celestial kingdom, who constitute the third or highest heaven, are in that Divine going forth from the Lord which is called celestial, since they are in good of love from the Lord. The angels of the Lord’s spiritual kingdom, who constitute the second or middle heaven, are in that Divine going forth from the Lord which is called spiritual, since they are in Divine wisdom from the Lord. The angels of the Lord’s natural kingdom, who constitute the first or lowest heaven, are in that Divine going forth from the Lord which is called the Divine natural, and they are in the faith of charity from the Lord. Men of the church are in some one of these kingdoms according to their love, their wisdom, and their faith; and whichever one they are in, that they enter into after death. Such as heaven is such also is the Lord’s Word; in its outmost sense it is natural, in its interior sense spiritual, and in its inmost sense celestial, and in each of these senses it is Divine. Thus is it adapted to the angels of the three heavens, and also to man.

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(2) The spiritual sense is in each and every part of the Word. This can be best seen by example, as in the following. In the Apocalypse John says: I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and He that sat upon him was called faithful and true, and in righteousness He doth judge and make war. And His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on His head are many diadems, having a name written that no man but Himself knoweth. And He was clothed in a garment dyed in blood and His name is called The Word of God. His armies in heaven were following Him upon white horses, and were clothed in fine linen, white and clean. He hath on His garment and on His thigh a name written King of kings and Lord of lords. I saw also an angel standing in the sun, who cried with a loud voice, Come and be gathered together unto the great supper; that ye may eat the flesh of kings and the flesh of commanders of thousands and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of those that sit on them, and the flesh of all, free and bond, small and great (19:11-18). What these words signify no one can see except from the spiritual sense of the Word; and no one can see the spiritual sense except from a knowledge of correspondences for all these words are correspondences, and not one of them is void of meaning. The science of correspondences teaches the significance of “the white horse,” of “Him who sat upon him,” of “His eyes” which were “like a flame of fire,” of “the diadems on His head,” “the garment dyed in blood,” “the white linen” with which those were clothed who belonged to His army in heaven, of “the angel standing in the sun,” of “the great supper” to which the fowls of heaven “came and were gathered together” and of “the flesh of kings and commanders of thousands” and many others whose flesh they were to eat. [2] But what each particular thing signifies in the spiritual sense can be seen explained in the Apocalypse Revealed (n. 820-838) and also in the little work on The White Horse; therefore further explanation of them is unnecessary. It is there shown that it is the Lord as to the Word who is described; and that by “His eyes which were like a flame of fire” the Divine wisdom of His Divine love is meant; and by “the diadems on His head” and “the name which no one but Himself knew” the Divine truths of the Word from Him are meant, and that the nature of the Word in its spiritual sense is seen by none but the Lord and him to whom He reveals it; also by “His garment dyed in blood” the natural sense of the Word is meant, which is the sense of the letter, to which violence has been done. It is very clear that it is the Word that is thus described, for it is said, “His name is called the Word of God.” That it is the Lord who is meant is equally clear, for it is said that the name of the One sitting upon the white horse was, “King of kings and Lord of lords,” the same as in Apoc. 17:14, where it is said, “And the Lamb shall overcome them; for He is Lord of lords and King of kings.” [3] That the spiritual sense of the Word is to be opened at the end of the church is signified not only by what is said of the white horse and Him who sat upon it, but also by the great supper to which the angel standing in the sun invited all [the fowls of heaven] to come, and to eat the flesh of kings, of commanders of thousands, and so forth; by which is signified the appropriation of all goods from the Lord. All these expressions would be empty words, and without life and spirit, if there were no spiritual sense with in them like the soul in the body.

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In the Apocalypse the New Jerusalem is thus described: That in her there was light like unto a stone most precious, as it were a jasper atone shining like crystal. And she had a wall great and high, having twelve gates, and above the gates twelve angels, and the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel written thereon. That the wall was a hundred and forty and four cubits, which was the measure of a man, that is, of an angel. That the building of the wall was of jasper, and its foundations were of every precious stone, jasper, sapphire, chalcedony, emerald, sardonyx, sardius, chrysolite, beryl, topaz, chrysoprase, hyacinth, and amethyst. That the gates were twelve pearls. That the city itself was pure gold like pure glass, and was four square and her length, breadth, and height were equal, twelve thousand furlongs; and so forth (21:11, 12, 16-21). That all this is to be understood spiritually can be seen from what is set forth in the Apocalypse Revealed (n. 880), that “the New Jerusalem” means a new church that is to be established by the Lord. And since “Jerusalem” here signifies the church it follows that everything said of it as a city, of its gates, its wall, the foundations of its wall, and also its dimensions contains a spiritual sense, for whatever relates to the church is spiritual. What these things signify has been shown in the Apocalypse Revealed (n. 896-925); therefore further explanation would be superfluous. It is sufficient to know from this that there is a spiritual sense in every particular of the above description, like the soul in the body, and without that sense nothing relating to the church could be seen in what is there written; as, that the city was of pure gold, its gates of pearls, its wall of jasper, the foundations of the wall of precious stones; that the wall was one hundred and forty-four cubits, which is the measure of a man, that is, of an angel; that the city was twelve thousand furlongs in length, breadth, and height; and so on. But all this is understood by anyone who from a knowledge of correspondences is acquainted with the spiritual sense; as, that the wall and its foundations signify the doctrinals of that church drawn from the sense of the letter of the Word; also that the numbers twelve, one hundred and forty-four, and twelve thousand, signify all things of the church, that is, its truths and goods in one complex.

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Where the Lord talks to His disciples about the end of the age, that is, the last time of the church, He says, at the close of His predictions respecting its successive changes of state: Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun shall be darkened, the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken. And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven; and then shall all the tribes of the earth wail, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He shall send forth the angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from the end of the heavens even to the end thereof (Matt. 24:29-31). When understood spiritually this does not mean that the sun and moon would be darkened, that the stars would fall from heaven, and that the sign of the Lord was to appear in the heavens, and that they were to see Him in the clouds, and also angels with trumpets; but by each particular word here something spiritual pertaining to the church is meant, the state of the church at its end being here treated of. For in the spiritual sense “the sun” that shall be darkened means love to the Lord; “the moon” that shall not give her light means faith in the Lord; “the stars” that shall fall from heaven mean knowledges of what is true and good; “the sign of the Son of man in heaven” means the appearing of Divine truth in the Word from Him; that “the tribes of the earth shall wail” means a failing of all truth pertaining to faith, and of all good pertaining to love; “the coming of the Son of man in the clouds of heaven with power and glory” means the Lord’s presence in the Word and revelation; “the clouds of heaven” signify the sense of the letter of the Word, and “glory” signifies its spiritual sense; “angels with the great sound of a trumpet” mean heaven from whence comes Divine truth; “the gathering together of the elect from the four winds, from the end of the heavens even to the end thereof” means a new heaven and a new church formed of those who have faith in the Lord and who live according to His commandments. That this does not mean the darkening of the sun and moon and the falling of the stars to the earth, is very clear from like statements in the prophets respecting the state of the church, when the Lord was about to come into the world; as in Isaiah: Behold the day of Jehovah shall come, cruel and of the burning of anger. The stars of the heavens and the constellations thereof shall not give their light; the sun shall be darkened in its rising, and the moon shall not make its light to shine. I will visit malice upon the world (13:9-11; 24:21, 23). In Joel: The day of Jehovah cometh, a day of darkness and of thick darkness; the sun and moon shall be blackened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining (2:1, 2, 10; 3:15). In Ezekiel: I will cover the heavens, and make the stars thereof dark; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not make her light to shine. All the luminaries of light will I make dark, and I will set darkness upon the land (32:7, 8). By “the day of Jehovah” the coming of the Lord is meant, which took place when there no longer remained in the church any good of love or truth of faith, or any knowledge of the Lord; therefore it is called “a day of darkness and of thick darkness.”

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That the Lord when in the world spoke by correspondences, that is, when He spoke naturally He also spoke spiritually, can be seen from His parables, in each word of which there is a spiritual meaning. Take for example the parable of the ten virgins. He said: The kingdom of heaven is like ten virgins, who took their lamps and went forth to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were wise, but five were foolish. They that were foolish taking their lamps took no oil; but the wise took oil in their lamps. While the bridegroom tarried they all slumbered and slept. But at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him. Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. But the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil for our lamps are going out. But the wise answered saying Peradventure, there will not be enough for us and you; go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves. But while they went away to buy, the bridegroom came, and they that were ready went in with Him to the wedding, and the door was shut. Afterward came also the other virgins, saying Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not (Matt. 25:1-12). That in all these particulars there is a spiritual sense and therefore a Divine holiness, no one sees except he who knows that the Word has a spiritual sense and who knows what that sense is. In the spiritual sense “the kingdom of the heavens” means heaven and the church; “the bridegroom” means the Lord; “the wedding” means the marriage of the Lord with heaven and the church, through good of love and truth of faith; “the virgins” mean those who constitute the church; “ten” means all; “five” some portion; “lamps” things pertaining to faith; “oil” things pertaining to good of love; “to sleep” and “to arise” means man’s life in the world which is natural, and his life after death which is spiritual; “to buy” means to procure for oneself; “going to those who sell and buying oil” means to procure for oneself good of love from others after death; and because good of love is then no longer to be procured, although they came to the door where the wedding feast was with their lamps and the oil they had bought, still the bridegroom said to them, “I know you not;” this is because man, after his life in the world, remains such as he had lived in the world. From all this it is clear that the Lord spoke solely by correspondences, and this because He spoke from the Divine that was in Him and was His. As “virgins” signify those who constitute the church, so the terms virgin and daughter of Zion, of Jerusalem, of Judah, and of Israel, are frequently used in the prophetic Word. And because “oil” signifies good of love, all the sacred things of the church were anointed with oil. It is the same with the other parables, and with all the words spoken by the Lord. This is why the Lord says that His words are spirit and are life (John 6:63).

200.

(3) It is because of its Spiritual Sense that the Word is Divinely inspired, and holy in every word. In the church it is said that the Word is holy for the reason that Jehovah the Lord spoke it; but inasmuch as its holiness is not apparent in the mere sense of the letter, whoever is once led on that account to doubt its holiness confirms his doubts when he subsequently reads the Word by many things therein; for he says to himself, Can this be holy? Can this be Divine? Lest, therefore, such thoughts should enter the minds of many, and afterwards grow stronger, and in consequence the Word should be rejected as a worthless writing, and by this means the conjunction of the Lord with man be destroyed, it has pleased the Lord to reveal now its spiritual sense, that it may be known where in the Word the Divine holiness lies concealed. But let examples illustrate. The Word treats sometimes of Egypt, sometimes of Assyria, and again of Edom, of Moab, of the sons of Ammon, of the Philistines, of Tyre and Sidon, and of Gog. He who does not know that these names signify things pertaining to heaven and the church may be led into the error that the Word has much to say about peoples and nations and but little about heaven and the church, thus much about worldly things and but little about heavenly things. But when he knows what those nations and their names signify he may be led back from error to the truth. [2] Likewise when he sees that gardens, groves, forests, and their trees, as the olive, the vine, the cedar, the poplar, the oak, are so frequently mentioned in the Word, also the lamb, the sheep, the goat, the calf, the ox; also mountains, hills, and valleys, and their fountains, rivers, and waters, and many other such things, one who knows nothing about the spiritual sense of the Word cannot but believe that these objects alone are meant; for he does not know that “a garden,” “a grove,” and “a forest,” mean wisdom, intelligence and knowledge; that “the olive,” “the vine,” “the cedar,” “the poplar,” and “the oak,” mean the good and truth of the church, celestial, spiritual, rational, natural, and sensual; that “a lamb,” “a sheep,” “a goat,” “a calf,” and “an ox,” mean innocence, charity, and natural affection; and that “mountains,” “hills,” and “valleys,” mean the higher, the lower, and the lowest things of the church. [3] Also be does not know that “Egypt” signifies the scientific, “Assyria” the rational, “Edom” the natural, “Moab” the adulteration of good, “the sons of Ammon” the adulteration of truth, “the Philistines” faith separate from charity, “Tyre and Sidon” knowledges of good and truth, and “Gog” external worship apart from internal. In general “Jacob” means in the Word the natural church, “Israel” the spiritual church, and “Judah” the celestial church. When man knows all this he is able to see that the Word treats of nothing but heavenly things, and that these worldly things are merely the subjects which contain the heavenly. Let this be illustrated by an example from the Word. [4] We read in Isaiah: In that day shall there be a highway out of Egypt to Assyria, that Assyria may come into Egypt and Egypt into Assyria, and the Egyptians may serve with the Assyrians. In that day shall Israel be a third to Egypt and to Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the land; whom Jehovah of Hosts shall bless, saying, Blessed be My people Egypt, and Assyria the work of My hands, and Israel Mine inheritance (19:23-25). In the spiritual sense this means that at the time of the Lord’s coming the scientific, the rational and the spiritual will make one, and that the scientific will then serve the rational, and both the spiritual; for, as said before, “Egypt” signifies the scientific, “Assyria” the rational, and “Israel” the spiritual. “That day” twice mentioned, means the first and the second coming of the Lord.

(4) Heretofore the spiritual sense of the Word has been unknown. That each thing and all things in nature correspond to spiritual things, and in like manner each and all things in the human body, has been shown in the work on Heaven and Hell (n. 87-105). But heretofore it has not been known what correspondence is; yet in most ancient times it was very well known; for to those who then lived, the knowledge of correspondences was the knowledge of knowledges, and was so universal that all their manuscripts and books were written by correspondences. The book of Job, which is a book of the Ancient Church, is full of correspondences. The hieroglyphics of the Egyptians, as well as the fables of most ancient times, were nothing, but correspondences. All the ancient churches were churches representative of spiritual things; their rites and the statutes according to which their worship was established, consisted of pure correspondences; as did all things of the church among the children of Israel. The burnt offerings, the sacrifices, the meat offerings, and the drink offerings, with all their particulars, were correspondences; likewise the tabernacle and all things in it; also their feast, as the feast of unleavened bread, the feast of tabernacles, and the feast of the first-fruits; also the priesthood of Aaron and the Levites, and their garments or holiness. What the spiritual things are to which all these things corresponded has been shown in the Arcana Coelestia, published at London. Furthermore all the statutes and judgments relating to their worship and life were correspondences. Since then, Divine things present themselves in the world in correspondences, the Word was written by pure correspondences; and because the Lord spoke from the Divine He spoke by means of correspondences for whatever is from the Divine falls into such things in nature as correspond to Divine things, and these then store up in their bosom Divine things, which are called celestial and spiritual.

202.

I have been informed that the men of the Most Ancient Church which existed before the flood, were of a genius so celestial that they talked with the angels of heaven, and were able to talk with them by means of correspondences, and in consequence the state of their wisdom was such that whatever they saw on earth, they thought of not only naturally, but at the same time spiritually, thus conjointly with the angels of heaven. Furthermore, I have been informed that Enoch (who is mentioned in Gen. 5:21-24) and those associated with him collected correspondences from the lips of these men, and transmitted this knowledge to their posterity; and that from this it came to pass that in many of the kingdoms of Asia the knowledge of correspondences both existed and was cultivated, especially in the land of Canaan, in Egypt, Assyria, Chaldea, Syria, Arabia, Tyre, Sidon, and Nineveh, and that it was thence carried into Greece; but was there turned into myths, as can be seen from the writings of the ancient Greeks.

203.

To show that a knowledge of correspondences was long preserved among the nations of Asia, although among those called diviners and sages, and by some Magi, I will present one example from 1 Sam. 5 and 6. It is there recorded that the ark containing the two tables on which the Decalogue was written was captured by the Philistines and placed in the temple of Dagon at Ashdod, and that Dagon fell to the ground before it, and afterwards his head and the palms of his hands, severed from his body, lay upon the threshold of the temple; also that on account of the ark the men of Ashdod and Ekron were smitten by thousands with tumors and their land laid waste by mice, and that therefore the Philistines called together their lords and diviners; and to stay this destruction they determined to make five tumors of gold and five golden mice and a new cart, and upon the cart to place the ark, and beside it the golden tumors and mice; and by two cows, which lowed on the way before the cart, to send it back to the children of Israel, by whom the cows and the cart were offered in sacrifice; and thus the God of Israel was propitiated. That all these things studied out by the diviners of the Philistines were correspondences is evident from their signification, which is as follows: “The Philistines” themselves signified those who are in faith separate from charity; “Dagon” represented that religion; “the tumors” with which they were smitten, signified natural loves, which when separated from spiritual love are unclean; “the mice” signified the devastation of the church by falsifications of truth; “the new cart” signified natural doctrine of the church (as doctrine from spiritual truths is signified in the Word by “a chariot”); “the cows” signified good natural affections; “the golden tumors” signified natural loves purified and made good; “the golden mice” signified the vastation of the church removed by means of good (“gold” in the Word signifying good); “the lowing of the cows in the way” signified the difficult conversion of the natural man’s lust of evil to good affections; the offering of the cows together with the cart as a burnt offering, signified that thus the God of Israel was propitiated. All these things which the Philistines did by the advice of their diviners were correspondences from which it is clear that that knowledge was long preserved among the nations.

204.

Because the representative rites of the church, which were correspondences, in the course of time began to be turned into idolatries, and also into magic, that knowledge, by the Lord’s Divine Providence, gradually perished, and with the Israelitish and Jewish nation was totally obliterated. The worship of that nation did indeed consist solely of correspondences, and was therefore representative of heavenly things, but not a single thing did they know the significance of, for they were wholly natural men, and consequently were neither willing nor able to know anything about things spiritual and celestial, nor therefore about correspondences; for correspondences are representations of things spiritual and celestial in things natural.

205.

The idolatries of nations in ancient times originated in a knowledge of correspondences, since all things visible on earth correspond; thus not only trees, but all kind of beasts and birds, also fishes, and all other things. The ancients, who had a knowledge of correspondences, made for themselves images corresponding to heavenly things, and took delight in them because they signified such things as belong to heaven and the church; consequently they placed these images not only in their temples but also in their houses, not for worship but to call to mind the heavenly things they signified. So in Egypt and elsewhere there were images of calves, oxen, and serpents, also of boys, old men, and virgins; because calves and oxen signified the affections and powers of the natural man; serpents the prudence and the cunning of the sensual man; boys innocence and charity; old men wisdom, and virgins affections for truth; and so on. When the knowledge of correspondences had perished, their posterity, because these images and figures had been placed by the ancients in and near their temples, began to worship these as holy, and finally as deities. For the same reason the ancients worshiped in gardens and groves, according to the different kinds of trees in them; also on mountains and hills; for gardens and groves signified wisdom and intelligence, and each tree signified something pertaining thereto; thus the olive signified the good of love; the vine truth from that good; the cedar rational good and truth; a mountain the highest heaven; and a hill the heaven below it. That the knowledge of correspondences remained with many of the people of the East even till the advent of the Lord can be seen also in the coming of the wise men of the East to the Lord when He was born: Therefore a star went before them, and they brought with them gifts, gold, frankincense, and myrrh (Matt. 2:1, 2, 9-11); for “the star” that went before signified knowledge from heaven; “gold” signified celestial good; “frankincense” spiritual good; and “myrrh” natural good; from which three all worship proceeds. Nevertheless, with the Israelitish and Jewish nation there was no knowledge whatever of correspondences, although every thing pertaining to their worship, and all the statutes and judgments given them by Moses, and all things in the Word, were pure correspondences. This was because in heart the Jews were idolaters, and therefore such that they were not even willing to know that anything in their worship signified what is heavenly and spiritual; for they believed that all things of their worship were holy in themselves; and therefore if things heavenly and spiritual had been disclosed to them they would not only have rejected them but also have profaned them. For this reason heaven was so closed to them that they scarcely knew that there was any eternal life. The truth of this is plainly evident from the fact that they did not acknowledge the Lord, although the whole Sacred Scripture prophesied of Him and foretold His coming. They rejected Him solely for the reason that He taught them of a heavenly instead of an earthly kingdom; for they wanted a Messiah who would exalt them above all the nations in the whole world, and not a Messiah who would have regard to their eternal salvation.

206.

After these times the knowledge of correspondences, whereby the spiritual sense of the Word is communicated, was not disclosed, for the reason that the Christians of the primitive church were too simple to have it disclosed to them, and if it had been it would neither have been of any use to them nor would have been understood. After those times darkness settled upon the whole Christian world, first because of the spread of many heresies, and soon after by the deliberations and decrees of the Council of Nice respecting three Divine persons from eternity, and respecting the person of Christ as being the Son of Mary and not the Son of Jehovah God. From this springs the modern belief in justification, which teaches that three Gods are to be approached in their order, on which faith each and all things of the present church depend as the members of the body depend on the head. And because all things of the Word have been applied to confirm that erroneous belief, the spiritual sense could not be disclosed, for if it had been they would have applied that sense also to the same purpose, and thereby have profaned the very holiness of the Word, and thus have completely closed up heaven against themselves, and have separated the Lord from the church.

207.

The knowledge of correspondences, whereby the spiritual sense of the Word is communicated, has been at this day revealed because the Divine truths of the church are now being brought to light, and these are the truths of which the spiritual sense of the Word consists; and when these truths are in man the sense of the letter of the Word cannot be perverted. For the sense of the letter of the Word may be turned in any direction. If it is turned to what is false its internal holiness perishes, and with it its external holiness; but if turned to what is true its holiness remains. But of all this more shall be said in what follows. That the spiritual sense would be opened at this time is meant by John’s seeing heaven opened, and then seeing a white horse; also by his seeing and hearing an angel standing in the sun calling all to the great supper (on which see Rev. 19:11-18). But that this sense would not for a long time be acknowledged is meant by the beast and the kings of the earth being about to make war with Him who sat upon the white horse (Rev. 19:19); also by the dragon’s persecuting the woman who brought forth the man-child, even to the wilderness, where he cast out of his mouth water as a flood, that he might overwhelm her (Rev. 12:13-17).

208.

(5) Henceforth the spiritual sense of the Word will be given only to such as are in genuine truths from the Lord. This is because the spiritual sense can be seen by no one except from the Lord alone, and unless he be in Divine truths from the Lord; for the spiritual sense of the Word treats of the Lord alone and His kingdom; and in that sense are His angels in heaven, for that sense is His Divine truth in heaven. That truth man can do violence to when he possesses a knowledge of correspondences, and by means of it seeks to explore the spiritual sense of the Word from his own intelligence; since by a few correspondences known to him he is able to pervert that sense, and wrest it to confirm even what is false; thus he would do violence to Divine truth, and also to heaven in which that truth resides. Therefore if anyone seeks to open that sense, not from the Lord but from himself, heaven is closed; and when heaven is closed man either sees nothing of truth or is spiritually insane. A further reason is that the Lord teaches everyone by means of the Word, and teaches from those knowledges that a man has, and does not pour in new knowledges directly. Unless, therefore, a man is in Divine truths, or if he is in a few truths only and at the same time in falsities, he may by these falsities falsify the truths, as is done by every heretic in respect to the sense of the letter of the Word. So, in order that no one may enter into the spiritual sense and pervert the genuine truth which belongs to that sense, guards are set by the Lord, which are meant in the Word by “cherubim.”

209.

(6) Wonderful things in regard to the Word arising from its spiritual sense. In the natural world no wonderful things arise from the Word, because the spiritual sense is not there apparent, and such as it is in itself is not inwardly received by man. But in the spiritual world wonderful things from the Word appear, because all there are spiritual beings, and a spiritual man is affected by spiritual things as a natural man is by natural things. The wonderful things arising from the Word in the spiritual world are many, a few of which I will here mention. In the shrines of the temples there the Word itself shines before the eyes of the angels like a great star, sometimes like a sun; and also from the bright radiance round about it there are seen as it were most beautiful rainbows. This happens as soon as the shrine is opened. [2] That each truth and all truths of the Word shine has been made evident to me by the fact that when any least sentence from it is written out upon paper, and this is thrown into the air, the very paper shines in the form in which it has been cut. Thus by means of the Word spirits can produce a variety of shining forms, also the forms of birds and fishes. Again, what is still more wonderful, when anyone rubs his face, his hands, or the clothing he has on, with the open Word, touching them with the writing, the face itself, the hands, and the clothing shine as though he were standing in a star encompassed by its light. This I have seen very often, and wondered at it. Thus it was made clear to me how it was that Moses’ face shone when he brought the tables of the covenant down from Mount Sinai. [3] Besides these there are many other wonderful things there which are from the Word; for instance, if anyone who is in falsities looks towards the Word as it lies in its holy place a darkness comes over his eyes, and in consequence the Word appears to him to be black, and sometimes as if covered with soot; and if he likewise touches the Word an explosion follows with a crash, and he is thrown to a corner of the room, and lies there for a brief hour as if dead. If something from the Word is written on a paper by one who is in falsities, and the paper is thrown up toward heaven, a like explosion follows in the air between his eyes and heaven, and the paper is torn to shreds and vanishes; the same thing happens if the paper is thrown towards an angel standing near. This I have often seen. [4] It has thus been made clear to me that those who are in falsities of doctrine have no communication with heaven through the Word, but their reading of it is dissipated on the way and is lost, like gunpowder wrapped in paper when ignited and thrown into the air. The opposite occurs with those who are in truths of doctrine from the Lord through the Word; their reading of the Word penetrates even into heaven and effects conjunction with the angels there. The angels themselves, when they descend from heaven to discharge any duty below, appear surrounded with little stars, especially about the head; which is a sign that Divine truths from the Word are in them. [5] Furthermore, in the spiritual world things exist similar to those on earth; but there each thing and all things are from a spiritual origin. Thus gold and silver exist there, and all kinds of precious stones, and the spiritual origin of these is the sense of the letter of the Word; and on this account in the Apocalypse the foundations of the wall of the New Jerusalem are described by twelve precious stones. The reason of this is that the foundations of its wall signify the doctrinals of the New Church, which are derived from the sense of the letter of the Word. For the same reason there were twelve precious stones called Urim and Thummim in Aaron’s ephod, by means of which responses were given from heaven. There are many other wonderful things proceeding from the Word that have relation to the power of the truth within it. This power is so great that if described it would surpass all belief; for it is such that it overturns mountains and hills there, and removes them afar off, and hurls them into the sea; and many things besides. In short the power of the Lord proceeding from the Word is infinite.

210.

III. THE SENSE OF THE LETTER OF THE WORD IS THE BASIS, THE CONTAINANT, AND THE SUPPORT OF ITS SPIRITUAL AND CELESTIAL SENSE. In everything Divine there is a first, a middle, and a last, the first passing through the middle to the last, and so existing and subsisting; consequently the last is the basis. Again, the first is in the middle, and through the middle in the last; thus the last is the Containant. And since the last is the Containant and the Basis, it is also the Support. The learned can understand that these three may be called end, cause, and effect; also being [esse], becoming [fieri] and standing forth [existere]; and that the end is being, the cause is becoming, and the effect is standing forth; consequently that in every complete thing there is a trine, which is called the first, the middle, and the last, also end, cause, and effect. When this is understood, it can also be understood that every Divine work is complete and perfect in its last; also that the whole is in the last, because in it prior things are together.

211.

This is why the number three in the Word means in the spiritual sense what is complete and perfect, also the whole together; and this being the signification of that number, it is used in the Word whenever any such thing is designated as in the following instances: That Isaiah went naked and barefoot three years (Isa. 20:3). That Jehovah called Samuel three times, and Samuel three times ran to Eli, and the third time Eli understood (1 Sam. 3:l-8). That Jonathan told David to hide himself in the field three days, and Jonathan afterwards shot three arrows on the side of the stone, and thereupon David bowed himself three times before Jonathan ( 1 Sam. 20:5, 12-42). That Elijah stretched himself upon the widow’s son three times (1 Kings 17:21). That Elijah commanded them to pour water upon the burnt offering three times (1 Kings 18:34). That Jesus said, The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till it was all leavened (Matt. 13:33). That Jesus told Peter that he would deny Him three times (Matt. 26:34). That three times Jesus said to Peter, Lovest thou Me? (John 21:15-17). That Jonah was in the whale’s belly three days and three nights (Jonah 1:17). That Jesus said that He would destroy the temple and would rebuild it in three days (John 2:19; Matt. 26:61). That Jesus prayed in Gethsemane three times (Matt. 26:39-44). That Jesus rose on the third day (Matt. 28:1) besides many other passages where the number three is mentioned; and it is mentioned where a finished and perfect work is treated of, because this is what that number signifies.

212.

There are three heavens a highest, a middle, and a lowest. The highest heaven forms the Lord’s celestial kingdom, the middle His spiritual kingdom, and the lowest heaven His natural kingdom. As there are three heavens so there are three senses of the Word, a celestial, a spiritual, and a natural; and this agrees with what has been said above (n. 210), namely, that the first is in the middle and through the middle in the last, precisely as the end is in the cause and through the cause in the effect. This makes clear the nature of the Word, namely, that in the sense of its letter, which is natural, there is an inner sense which is spiritual, and in this an inmost sense which is celestial; and thus that the outmost sense, which is natural and is called the sense of the letter, is the containant, and thus the basis and support of the two interior senses.

213.

From this it follows that the Word without the sense of its letter would be like a palace without a foundation, and thus like a palace in the air instead of on the earth, which would be only the shadow of a palace that would vanish away; or again, that the Word without the sense of its letter would be like a temple containing many holy things, with a shrine in the center of it, but without roof or wall, which are its containants; and if these were lacking or were taken away, its holy things would be seized upon by thieves, would be desecrated by the beasts of the earth and the birds of heaven, and would thus be dispersed. It would also be like the tabernacle of the sons of Israel in the wilderness (in the inmost part of which was the ark of the covenant, and in the middle the golden candlestick, the golden altar upon which was the incense, and the table with the bread of faces upon it) without its outmosts, which were curtains, veils, and pillars. In fact, the Word without the sense of its letter would be like the human body without its coverings which are called skins, and without its supports which are called bones. With both of these absent all its inner parts would fall asunder. Or again, it would be like the heart and lungs in the thorax without their covering which is called the pleura, and their supports which are called ribs. Or it would be like the brain without its coverings which are called the dura mater and pia mater, and without their common covering, containant, and support, which is called the cranium. So would it be with the Word without the sense of its letter; therefore it is said in Isaiah: That Jehovah creates over all the glory a covering (Isa. 4:5).

214.

IV. IN THE SENSE OF THE LETTER OF THE WORD DIVINE TRUTH IS IN ITS FULNESS, ITS HOLINESS, AND ITS POWER. In the sense of the letter the Word is in its fullness, its holiness, and its power, because the two prior or interior senses, which are called spiritual and celestial, exist simultaneously in the natural sense which is the sense of the letter (as stated above, n. 210, 212). How they exist simultaneously shall be further explained. In heaven and in the world there is successive order and there is simultaneous order. In successive order one thing succeeds and follows another from the highest down to the lowest; but in simultaneous order one thing stands next to another from inmosts even to outermosts. Successive order is like a column arranged in steps from summit to base; while simultaneous order is like a work coherent with the circumferences from the center even to the outmost surface. I will now explain how successive order becomes simultaneous order in the outmost. It is done as follows: the highest things of successive order become the inmost things of simultaneous order; and the lowest things of successive order become the outermost things of simultaneous order; comparatively as a column arranged in steps when it subsides becomes a body coherent in a plane. Thus is the simultaneous formed from the successive, and this in each and all things both of the natural world and of the spiritual world; for there is everywhere a first, a middle, and a last, and the first tends and passes through the middle to its last. But it must be clearly understood that there are degrees of purity in accordance with which both of these orders are determined. [2] Now in respect to the Word: the celestial, the spiritual, and the natural go forth from the Lord in successive order; and in the outmost they exist in simultaneous order; and thus the celestial and spiritual senses of the Word exist simultaneously in its natural sense. When this is comprehended it can be seen how the natural sense of the Word is the containant, the basis, and the support of its spiritual and celestial senses; also how the Divine good and truth are in the sense of the letter of the Word in their fullness, their holiness and their power. From all this it is clear that the Word is the real Word in the sense of the letter, for inwardly in this there is spirit and life. This is what the Lord says: The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life (John 6:63); for the words of the Lord were spoken in the natural sense. The celestial and spiritual senses separated from the natural sense are not the Word; for they are like spirit and life without a body, and are like a palace without a foundation (as said above, n. 213).

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In part the truths of the sense of the letter of the Word are not naked truths, but are appearances of truth, and are like similitudes and comparisons which are taken from such things as exist in nature, and are therefore accommodated and adapted to the capacity of the simple and also of children. But as these are at the same time correspondences, they are receptacles and abodes of genuine truth, and are vessels containing it, as a crystal cup contains noble wine, or a silver dish good food; they are also like garments for clothing the body, as swaddling clothes for an infant, or becoming garments for a maiden; they are also like the knowledges of the natural man, which comprise within them the perceptions and affections of spiritual truth. The naked truths themselves, which are included, contained, clothed, and comprised, are in the spiritual sense of the Word, and the naked goods in its celestial sense. But this shall be illustrated from the Word. [2] Jesus said: Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, for ye cleanse the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first the inside of the cup and of the platter, that the outside may be clean also (Matt. 23:25, 26). Here the Lord spoke by similitudes and comparisons that are also correspondences, using the terms “cup” and “platter,” “cup” not only meaning but also signifying the truth of the Word, for by the “cup” wine is meant, and “wine” signifies truth. But by “platter” food is meant, and food signifies good; therefore “to cleanse the inside of the cup and platter” signifies to purify by means of the Word the interiors of the mind, which pertain to the will and thought. “That the outside may thus be clean” signifies that the exteriors, which are the things done and said, are thus purified; for these derive their essence from the former. [3] Again Jesus said: There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day; and there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, who was laid at his gate, full of sores (Luke 16:19, 20). Here, too, the Lord spoke by similitudes and comparisons that were correspondences and that contained spiritual things. The “rich man” means the Jewish nation, which is called “rich” because it had the Word, which contains spiritual riches; the “purple and fine linen” with which he was clothed, signify the good and truth of the Word, “purple” its good, and “fine linen” its truth; his “faring sumptuously every day” signifies their satisfaction in having the Word and in hearing many things from it in their temples and synagogues; “the beggar Lazarus” means the Gentiles, because they did not have the Word; that these were despised and rejected by the Jews is meant by his being “laid at the rich man’s gate;” and his being “full of sores” signifies that owing to their ignorance of truth the Gentiles were in many falsities. [4] The Gentiles were meant by Lazarus, because the Lord loved the Gentiles. As: He loved the Lazarus who was raised from the dead (John 11:3, 5, 36); and who is called the Lord’s friend (John 11:11); and reclined at the table with the Lord (John 12:2). From the above two passages it is clear that the truths and goods of the sense of the letter of the Word are like vessels, or like clothing for the naked good and truth, both of which lie hidden in the spiritual and celestial senses of the Word. [5] The Word in the sense of the letter being such, it follows that those who are in Divine truths, and in the belief that the Word inwardly in its bosom is the holy Divine and still more those who are in the belief that the Word is such because of its spiritual and celestial senses, when they read the Word in states of enlightenment from the Lord, see Divine truths in natural light. For the light of heaven, in which the spiritual sense is, flows into the natural light in which the sense of the letter of the Word is, and illuminates the intellectual faculty of man which is called his rational, causing it to see and acknowledge Divine truths, both where they stand forth and where they lie hidden. With some these truths flow in at the same time with the light of heaven, sometimes even when they are unconscious of it.

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As the Word in its inmost depths, because of its celestial sense, is like a gentle flame that enkindles, and in its intermediate depths, because of its spiritual sense, is like a light that enlightens, so in its outmost because of its natural sense it is like a transparent object receiving both the flame and the light; and from the flame it is ruddy like purple, and from the light is white like snow. Thus it is comparatively like a ruby and a diamond, like a ruby from celestial flame, and like a diamond from spiritual light. The Word in the sense of the letter being such, in this sense it is meant: (1) By the precious stones of which the foundations of the New Jerusalem consisted. (2) By the Urim and Thummim on Aaron’s ephod. (3) And by the precious stones in the garden of Eden, where the King of Tyre is said to have been. (4) Also by the curtains, veils, and pillars of the tabernacle. (5) Likewise by the externals of the temple at Jerusalem. (6) The Word in its glory was represented in the Lord when He was transfigured. (7) The power of the Word in its outmosts was represented by the Nazarites. (8) The inexpressible power of the Word. These statements shall be illustrated one by one.

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(1) The truths of the sense of the letter of the Word are meant by the precious stones of which the foundations of the New Jerusalem consisted (Rev. 21:17-21). It has been mentioned above (n. 209) that precious stones exist in the spiritual world, as well as in the natural world, and that their spiritual origin is the truths of the sense of the letter of the Word. This seems incredible and yet it is true. And this is why precious stones are so frequently mentioned in the Word; and why in the spiritual sense they mean truths. From this it follows that the “precious stones” of which the foundations of the wall around the city New Jerusalem are said to have been built signify the truths of doctrine of the New Church, because “the New Jerusalem” means the New Church in respect to doctrine from the Word; and therefore its “wall” and foundations” of the wall, can mean nothing else than the external of the Word, which is the sense of the letter; for it is from this sense that doctrine exists, and the church by means of doctrine; while the external of the Word is like a wall with its foundations, which encloses and protects a city. Of the New Jerusalem and its foundations we read in the Apocalypse: An angel measured the wall of the city Jerusalem, an hundred and forty and four cubits, which was the measure of a man, that is, of an angel. And the wall had twelve foundations adorned with every precious stone. The first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third a chalcedony; the fourth, emerald; the fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolite; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, topaz; the tenth, chrysoprasus; the eleventh, jacinth; the twelfth, amethyst (21:14, 17-20). The wall had twelve foundations formed of as many precious stones, because the number “twelve” signified all things of truth from good; so here all things of doctrine. But this and what precedes and follows in this chapter, may be seen explained in detail and confirmed by parallel passages from the prophetic Word, in our Apocalypse Revealed.

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(2) The Goods and Truths of the Word in the sense of its letter are meant by the Urim and Thummim on Aaron’s ephod. The Urim and Thummim were on Aaron’s ephod, whose priesthood represented the Lord in respect to the Divine good and the work of salvation. The garments of the priesthood, or of its holiness, represented the Divine truths from the Lord; the ephod represented Divine truth in its outmost, and thus the Word in the sense of the letter, for that is Divine truth in its outmost. So the twelve precious stones, with the names of the two tribes of Israel, which composed the Urim and Thummim, represented Divine truths from Divine good in their whole complex. Concerning these we read in Moses as follows: They shall make the ephod of gold, of blue, and of purple, of scarlet and fine-twined linen with cunning word. Afterwards thou shalt make a breastplate of judgment according to the work of the ephod and thou shalt fill it with a filling of stones, four rows of stones, a sardius, a topaz, and a carbuncle, the first row; an emerald, a sapphire, and a diamond the second row; a jacinth, an agate, and an amethyst the third row; a beryl, an onyx, and a jasper the fourth row. And the stones shall be according to the names of the sons of Israel like the engravings of a signet, everyone according to his name they shall be for the twelve tribes. And Aaron shall bear it upon the breastplate Of judgment the Urim and the Thummim; and let them be upon Aaron’s heart when he goeth in before Jehovah (Ezek. 28:6, 5-21, 29, 30). What was represented by the garments of Aaron, his ephod, robe, broidered coat, miter, and girdle has been explained in the Arcana Coelestia, published at London, where this chapter is treated of. It is there shown that the ephod represented Divine truth in its outmost; the precious stones in the ephod represented truths translucent from good; the twelve arranged in four rows represented all those truths from first to last; the twelve tribes represented all things pertaining to the church; the breastplate Divine truth from Divine good in the universal sense; the Urim and Thummim the resplendency of Divine truth from Divine good in outmosts; for in angelic language Urim means shining fire, and Thummim means resplendence, and in the Hebrew integrity. It is also there shown that responses were given by variegations of lights and at the same time by tacit perception or by a living voice; besides other things. From all this it can be seen that these stones also signified truths from good in the outmost sense of the Word; and by no other means are responses given from heaven, for in that sense is the Divine going forth in its fullness.

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(3) Like things are meant by, the precious stones in the garden of Eden, where the King of Tyre is said to have been. We read in Ezekiel: King of Tyre Thou sealest up thy measure, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. Thou hast been in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, , the sardius, the topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle and gold (28:12, 13). In the Word “Tyre” signifies the church in respect to knowledges of good and truth; “the king” signifies the truth of the church; “the garden of Eden” signifies wisdom and intelligence from the Word; “precious stones” signify truths translucent because of good, such as are in the sense of the letter of the Word: and this being the signification of these stones, they are called “his covering.” That the sense of the letter is a covering to the Interiors of the Word, may be seen above (n. 213).

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(4) Truths and goods in outmosts, such as are contained in the sense of the letter of the Word, were represented by the curtains, veils, and pillars of the tabernacle. The tabernacle built by Moses in the wilderness represented heaven and the church, and therefore the form of it was shown by Jehovah on Mount Sinai. As a consequence, all things in that tabernacle, namely, the candlestick, the golden altar for incense, and the table on which was the bread of faces, represented and signified the holy things of heaven and the church; the holy of holies, where the ark of the covenant was kept, represented and thus signified the inmost of heaven and the church; the law itself written upon the two tables signified the Word; and the cherubs above the ark signified guards to protect the holy things of the Word from desecration. Since, then, externals derive their essence from internals, and both externals and internals derive their essence from the inmost, which here was the law, so all things belonging to the tabernacle represented and signified the holy things of the Word. From this it follows that the outmost parts of the tabernacle, its curtains, veils, and pillars, which were coverings, containers, and supports, signified the outmost things of the Word, which are the truths and goods of the sense of its letter. Because this was what they signified: All the curtains and veils were of fine-twined linen, and blue and purple and scarlet double-dyed, with cherubs (Exod. 26:1, 31, 36). What was represented and signified by the tabernacle and by all things in it, both in general and in particular, has been explained in Arcana Coelestia, where this chapter is treated of. It is there shown that the curtains and veils represented the externals of heaven and the church, and thus also the externals of the Word and that the “linen” [xylinum seu byssinum] signified truth from a spiritual origin; “blue” truth from a celestial origin; “purple” celestial good; “scarlet double-dyed” spiritual good; and the “cherubs” guards of the interiors of the Word.

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(5) Likewise by the externals of the temple at Jerusalem. This is because heaven and the church were represented by the temple as well as by the tabernacle, the temple representing the heaven in which spiritual angels dwell, and the tabernacle the heaven where celestial angels dwell. Spiritual angels are those who are in wisdom from the Word, celestial angels those who are in love from the Word. That the temple at Jerusalem signified, in the highest sense, the Lord’s Divine Human, He teaches in John: Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. He spoke of the temple of His body (2:19, 21) and where the Lord is meant, the Word also is meant, because He is the Word. As then the interiors of the temple represented the interiors of heaven and the church, thus also of the Word, so its exteriors represented and signified the exteriors of heaven and the church, thus also of the Word, which belong to the sense of its letter. Of the exteriors of the temple we read: That they were built of whole stone [unhewn] and of cedar within; and that all its walls were carved inside with cherubs and palms and open flowers; and the floor was covered with gold (1 Kings 6:7, 29, 30). By all these things the externals of the Word, which are the holy things of the sense of its letter, are signified.

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(6) The Word in its glory was represented in the Lord when He was transfigured. Of the Lord when transfigured before Peter, James, and John we read: That His face shone like the sun, and His garments became as the light, and that Moses and Elias were seen talking with Him; and that a bright cloud overshadowed the disciples, and a voice was heard from the cloud, saying, This is My beloved Son, hear ye Him (Matt. 17:1-5). I have been told that the Lord then represented the Word His “face” which “shone like the sun,” represented the Divine good of His Divine love; His “garments” which “became as the light,” represented the Divine truth of His Divine wisdom; “Moses and Elias” the historic and prophetic Word, “Moses” the Word written through him, and in general the historic Word, and “Elias” the whole prophetic Word; the “bright cloud” which “overshadowed the disciples” represented the Word in the sense of the letter; so from it a voice was heard, saying, “This is my beloved Son, hear ye Him,” for no announcements or responses are ever made from heaven except through outmosts such as are in the sense of the letter of the Word, for they are made by the Lord in fullness.

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(7) The power of the Word in its outmosts was represented by the Nazarites. In the book of Judges we read that Samson was a Nazarite from his mother’s womb, and that his strength lay in his hair; moreover, “Nazarite” and “Nazariteship” mean the hair. That his strength lay in his hair, he himself showed, when he said: There hath not come a razor upon mine head; for I have been a Nazarite from my mother’s womb; if I be shaven, then my strength will go from me, and I shall become weak, and I shall be like any other man (Judges 16:17). No one can know why the Nazariteship, which means the hair, was instituted, and why Samson’s strength lay in his hair, unless he knows what is signified in the Word by the “head.” The “head” signifies the intelligence that men and angels have from the Lord through Divine truth; and therefore the “hair” signifies intelligence from Divine truth in things outmost or last. Because of this signification of the “hair” there was a law for the Nazarites: That they should not shave the hair of their head, because that was the Nazariteship of God upon their head (Num. 6:1-21). therefore it was also a law, That the high priest and his sons should not shave their heals, lest they die, and lest wrath come upon the whole house of Israel (Lev. 10:6). Because the hair, on account of that signification, which is from correspondence, was so holy, the Son of Man, who is the Lord in respect to the Word, is described even as to the hair: That it was white as white wool, as snow (Apoc. 1:14). Likewise as the Ancient of Days (Dan. 7:9). Because the hair signifies truth in outmosts, thus the sense of the letter of the Word, those in the spiritual world who despise the Word become bald; and on the other hand, those who have held the Word in high esteem and have regarded it as holy appear with comely hair. It was because of this correspondence, That forty-two youths were torn to pieces by two she-bears, because they called Elisha bald-head (Kings 2:23, 24); for “Elisha” represented the church in regard to doctrine from the Word, and “she-bears” signify the power of truth in outmosts. The power of Divine truth or of the Word is in the sense of its letter, because there the Word is in its fullness, and because the angels of both of the Lord’s kingdoms and men are together in that sense.

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(8) The inexpressible power of the Word. Hardly anyone at this day knows that there is any power in truths; for truth is supposed to be nothing more than a statement uttered by someone in authority, which ought for that reason to be obeyed; thus truth is supposed to be like a mere breath from the mouth or sound in the ear; and yet truth and good are the principles of all things in both worlds, the spiritual and the natural; also they are the means by which the universe was created, and through which the universe is preserved, and the means as well by which man was created; therefore these two are the all in all things. That the universe was created by Divine truth, is clearly declared in John: In the beginning was the Word, and God was the Word; by It were all things made that were made and by It the world was made (John 1:1, 3, 10). And in David: By the Word of Jehovah were the heavens made (Ps. 33:6). In both of these passages “The Word” means the Divine truth. As the universe was created by this truth, so also was the universe preserved by it; for as subsistence is perpetual existence, so preservation is perpetual creation. [2] It was by means of Divine truth that man was made, because all things in man have relation to understanding and will, the understanding being the receptacle of Divine truth, and the will of Divine good; therefore, the human mind, which consists of those two principles, is nothing but a form of Divine good and Divine truth spiritually and naturally organized. The human brain is that form. And as the whole of man depends upon his mind, so all things of his body are appendages, which are moved by these two principles, and life from them. [3] From all this it can now be seen why God came into the world as the Word, and became Man, namely, that the work of redemption might be accomplished; for God then, by means of His Human, which was Divine truth, put on all power, overthrew the hells (which had grown up even as far as to the heavens where the angels were), and subjugated them, and reduced them to obedience to Himself, and this was done not by a spoken word but by the Divine Word which is Divine truth. Afterward He opened a great gulf between the hells and the heavens, which no one from hell can cross; if anyone attempts it, at the first step he is tortured like a serpent laid on a sheet of hot iron, or on an ant hill. For at the first approach of the odor of Divine truth the devils and satans instantly cast themselves into the abyss and throw themselves into caves and stop them up so closely that not a crevice is visible. This is because the will of such is in evils, and the understanding in falsities, that is, in what is opposite to the Divine good and the Divine truth. And because the whole of man, as just said, consists of these two principles of life, they are thus from head to foot, completely and grievously overpowered in consequence of their sensation of the opposite. [4] From all this it can be seen that the power of Divine truth is inexpressible. And as the Word which the Christian church possesses is the containant of Divine truth in three degrees, that Word is evidently what is meant in John (1:1, 3, 10). That its power is inexpressible I could prove by many evidences of experience in the spiritual world; but as these evidences would surpass belief, or appear incredible, I omit presenting them; but some you will find recorded above (n. 209). The following will serve to keep these truths in remembrance: That a church that is in Divine truths from the Lord has power over the hells, and that the Lord’s words to Peter refer to such a church: Upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it (Matt. 16:18). This the Lord said after Peter had confessed, That He was the Christ, the Son of the living God (Matt. 16:16). “Rock” here means such truth, for everywhere in the Word “rock” means the Lord in respect to Divine truth.

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V. THE DOCTRINE OF THE CHURCH SHOULD BE DRAWN FROM THE SENSE OF THE LETTER OF THE WORD, AND CONFIRMED THEREBY. It was shown in the preceding section that the Word is in its fullness, in its holiness, and in its power in the sense of the letter; and since the Lord is the Word and is “the First and the Last” as He says in the Apocalypse (1:17), it follows that He is fully present in that sense, and that from it He teaches and enlightens man. But this shall be shown in the following order: (1) Without doctrine the Word is not understood. (2) Doctrine should be drawn from the sense of the letter of the Word. (3) But Divine truth, which is of doctrine, can be seen only by those who are in enlightenment from the Lord.

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(1) Without doctrine the Word is not understood. This is because the Word in the sense of the letter consists purely of correspondences, in order that it may at the same time include things spiritual and celestial, and each word may be a container and support of these. For this reason, in the sense of the letter Divine truths are rarely naked truths, but are truths clothed; and these are called appearances of truth, many of which are adapted to the understanding of the simple, who do not raise their thoughts above such things as they see before their eyes; others appear like contradictions, although when the Word is viewed in its spiritual light, there is no contradiction to be found in it; furthermore, in some portions of the prophets there are collections of the names of places and persons from which no sense can be elicited. As the Word is such in the sense of the letter it is clear that it cannot be understood without doctrine. [2] This may be illustrated by examples. It is said, That Jehovah repents (Exod. 32:12, 14; Jonah 3:9, 4:2). It is also said, That Jehovah does not repent (Num. 23:19; 1 Sam. 15:29). Without doctrine these statements cannot be harmonized. It is said, That Jehovah visits the iniquity of the fathers upon the sons unto the third and fourth generation (Num. 14:18). It is also said: That the father shall not be put to death for the son, neither shall the son be put to death for the father; but everyone for his own sin (Deut. 24:16). In the light of doctrine these statements do not conflict, but agree. [3] Jesus said: Ask, and it shall he given you; seek, and ye shall find; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened (Matt. 7:7, 8; 21:21, 22). Without doctrine it might be supposed that everyone is to receive whatever he asks; but from doctrine it is known that when man’s asking is from the Lord whatever he asks is given him; and this the Lord also teaches: If ye abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatsoever ye will, and it shall be done unto you (John 15:7). [4] The Lord says: Blessed are ye poor, for yours is the kingdom of God (Luke 6:20). Without doctrine this might be thought to teach that heaven is for the poor, and not for the rich; but doctrine teaches that the poor in spirit are meant; for the Lord says: Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven (Matt. 5:3). [5] Again, the Lord says: Judge not, that ye be not judged; for with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged (Matt. 7:1, 2; Luke 6:37). Without doctrine one might be led to conclude from this that he ought not to judge a wicked man to be wicked; but according to doctrine, it is lawful to judge, but justly, for the Lord says: Judge righteous judgment (John 7:24). [6] Jesus says: Be not ye called teacher; for one is your Teacher, even Christ. And call no man your father on earth; for one is your Father, which is in the heavens. Neither be ye called masters; for one is your Master, even Christ (Matt. 23:8-10). Without doctrine it would follow from this that no man ought to call another teacher or father or master; but from doctrine it is known that this is permissible in the natural sense, but not in the spiritual sense. [7] Jesus said to His disciples: When the Son of Man shall sit upon the throne of His glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel (Matt. 19:28). From these words one might conclude that the Lord’s disciples are to judge, when in fact they are unable to judge anyone; and so this arcanum will be made clear by the doctrine that the Lord alone, who is omniscient and who knows the hearts of all, is to judge, and is able to judge, and that by His “twelve disciples” is meant the church in respect to all the truths and goods which it has from the Lord through the Word; thus doctrine shows that it is by these truths that everyone is to be judged, according to the Lord’s words in John (3:17, 18; 12:47, 48). There are many other like statements in the Word, which make it evident that without doctrine the Word is not understood.

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By means of doctrine not only is the Word understood, it also shines in the understanding, since it then becomes like a candelabrum with its lamps lighted. Thus man sees in it more things than he saw before, and also understands things he did not understand before; and things obscure and discordant he either passes over without seeing, or he so sees and explains them as to bring them into accord with doctrine. That the Word is looked at from doctrine and is explained according to it, the practice of the Christian world testifies. All the Reformed look at the Word from their own doctrine and explain it accordingly; likewise, the Papists from their doctrine, and even the Jews from theirs; consequently from false doctrines they see falsities and from true doctrine truths. All this makes clear that true doctrine is like a lamp in the dark, or a guidepost by the wayside.

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From all this it can be seen, that those who read the Word without doctrine are in obscurity respecting all truth; and that their minds are wavering and uncertain; prone to error and open to heresies, which they embrace when favor or authority encourages and reputation is not endangered. To such the Word is like a candelabrum without light, and they see many things as if in shade, and in fact see scarcely anything, for doctrine is the only lamp. I have seen such examined by angels, and it was found that they could confirm from the Word anything they wished; and that they did confirm especially whatever belonged to their own love or to the love of those whom they favor. I have also seen them stripped of their garments, which was a sign that they were destitute of truths. In the spiritual world garments are truths.

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(2) Doctrine should be drawn from the sense of the letter of the Word and confirmed by it. This is because in it the Lord is present, and teaches and enlightens; for the Lord never operates except in fullness, and in the sense of the letter the Word is in its fullness, as has been shown above. This is why doctrine should be drawn from the sense of the letter. Moreover, the doctrine of genuine truth may be fully drawn from the sense of the letter of the Word; since the Word in that sense is like a man clothed, with his face bare and his hands bare; and all things pertaining to man’s faith and life and thus his salvation are there naked; while the rest are clothed; but in many places where they are clothed, they show through, as objects are seen by a woman through a thin silk veil before her face. Furthermore, as the truths of the Word are multiplied as it were, by love for them, and by this love are arranged in order, they more and more clearly shine forth and are seen.

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It may be supposed that the doctrine of genuine truth can be acquired by means of the spiritual sense of the Word, which is given through a knowledge of correspondences; but doctrine is not acquired by means of that sense, but only illustrated and corroborated. For (as before said, n. 208) it is possible for a man, by means of some well-known correspondences, to falsify the Word by bringing these together and applying them to confirm what is established in his own mind by some principle already adopted. Moreover, it is by the Lord only that the spiritual sense is communicated to any man; and it is guarded by the Lord as He guards the angelic heaven, for heaven is in that sense.

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(3) Genuine Truth, of which doctrine must consist, can be seen in the sense of the letter of the Word only by those who are in enlightenment from the Lord. Enlightenment is from the Lord alone, and exists in those who love truths because they are truths, and who make truths uses of life. To no others is enlightenment in the Word possible. Enlightenment is from the Lord alone, because the Word is from Him, and consequently He is in it. Enlightenment is given to those who love truths because they are truths, and who make them uses of life, because such are in the Lord, and the Lord is in them; for the Lord is Truth itself (as shown in the chapter that treats of the Lord); and men love the Lord when they live in accordance with His Divine truths, that is, when from those truths they perform uses, as is taught in these words in John: In that day ye shall know that ye are in Me and I in you. He that hath My commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me, and I will love him and will manifest Myself to him and I will come unto him, and make My abode with him (John 14:20, 21, 23). Such as these are in enlightenment when they read the Word; and with such the Word is both luminous and translucent. With such the Word is both luminous and translucent because a spiritual sense and a celestial sense are contained in every particular of the Word, and these senses are in the light of heaven; and thus by means of these and the light of these the Lord inflows into the natural sense of the Word and into the light of that sense in man; and in consequence man acknowledges truth from an interior perception, and then sees it in his thought, and this as often as he is in an affection for truth for the sake of truth. For perception comes from affection, and thought from perception; and thus the acknowledgment, which is called faith, is produced.

232.

The opposite occurs with those who from the doctrine of a false religion read the Word, and still more with those who confirm that doctrine by the Word, doing this with a view to their own glory and worldly possessions. With such the truths of the Word are as if in the dimness of night, and falsities are as if in the light of day. They read truths but see them not; and if they but see the shadow of them, they falsify them. These are they of whom the Lord says, That they have eyes and see not, and ears but do not understand (Matt. 13:14, 15). Consequently their light in respect to spiritual matters, which pertain to the church, is merely natural, and their mental vision like that of one who when he awakens in his bed sees phantoms, or like that of a sleepwalker, who thinks himself to be awake when he is asleep.

233.

It has been granted me to talk with many after their death, who believed that they were to shine like stars in heaven, because, as they claimed, they had regarded the Word as holy, had often read it through, and had gathered from it many things by which they had confirmed the dogmas of their faith, and in consequence had become celebrated as learned men, for which reason they believed that they were to be Michaels and Raphaels. But many of them were examined in respect to the love from which they had studied the Word; and it was found that some of them had studied it from love of self, that they might be worshiped as leaders in the church, and some from love of the world, that they might gain riches; and when these had been examined in respect to their knowledge of the Word, it was found that they had learned from it nothing of genuine truth, but only such truth as may be called truth falsified, which in itself is putrid falsity, for in heaven it has a putrid odor. To these it was said that this was the case with them because self and the world had been their ends when they read the Word, and not the truth of faith and good of life. And when self and the world are ends, the mind in reading the Word sticks fast in self and the world, and in consequence their thought is always from what is their own; and man’s own is in darkness respecting everything that pertains to heaven and the church; and in such a state it is impossible for man to be lifted up by the Lord and raised into the light of heaven, and therefore to receive any influx from the Lord through heaven. I also saw these persons admitted into heaven, and when found to be destitute of the truths they were cast down, and still their pride in their own merit remained with them. It was otherwise with those who had studied the Word from an affection for knowing the truth because it is truth, and because it subserves the uses of life, not only their own but also the uses of the neighbor; these I have seen raised up into heaven, and thus into the light in which Divine truth there is; and I have seen them exalted at the same time into angelic wisdom, and into its happiness in which the angels of heaven are.

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VI. BY MEANS OF THE SENSE OF THE LETTER OF THE WORD THERE IS CONJUNCTION WITH THE LORD AND AFFILIATION WITH THE ANGELS. There is conjunction with the Lord by means of the Word because He is the Word, that is, the essential Divine truth and good therein. This conjunction is effected by means of the sense of the letter, because the Word in that sense is in its fullness, in its holiness, and in its power (as has been shown above in its own section). This conjunction is not apparent to man, but it exists in affection for truth and in the perception of truth. There is affiliation with the angels of heaven by means of the sense of the letter, because within that sense there is a spiritual and a celestial sense; and the angels are in these senses, the angels of the Lord’s spiritual kingdom in the spiritual sense of the Word, and the angels of His celestial kingdom in its celestial sense. These two senses are evolved from the natural sense of the Word when it is read by a man who regards the Word as holy. The evolution is instantaneous; consequently the affiliation is also.

235.

That the spiritual angels are in the spiritual sense of the Word, and the celestial angels in its celestial sense, has been made evident to me by much experience. It has been granted to me to perceive that when I read the Word in the sense of its letter a sharing with the heavens was effected, now with this society there and now with that; and the things that I understood according to the natural sense the spiritual angels understood according to the spiritual sense, and the celestial angels according to the celestial sense, and this instantly. Having perceived this sharing some thousands of times, I have not the least doubt about it remaining. Moreover, there are spirits who are below the heavens, who abuse this sharing by reciting certain passages from the sense of the letter of the Word, and immediately observing and noting the society with which the sharing is effected. This, too, I have often seen and heard. In this way it has been given me to know by a living experience, that the Word in the sense of its letter is the Divine medium of conjunction with the Lord and affiliation with the angels of heaven.

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But how from the natural sense the spiritual angels perceive their sense, and the celestial angels theirs, when man is reading the Word, shall be illustrated by examples. Let four of the commandments of the Decalogue serve as examples. The Fifth Commandment, “Thou shalt not kill” - By this man understands not only killing but also cherishing hatred and longing for revenge even to murder. A spiritual angel understands “killing” to mean acting the devil and murdering a man’s soul; while a celestial angel understands “killing” to mean hating the Lord and the Word. [2] The Sixth Commandment, “Thou shalt not commit adultery”: Man understands “committing adultery” to mean whoredom, obscene actions, lascivious conversation, and filthy thoughts. A spiritual angel understands “committing adultery” to mean adulterating the goods of the Word, and falsifying its truths; while a celestial angel understands “committing adultery” to mean denying the Divine of the Lord and profaning the Word. [3] The Seventh Commandment, “Thou shalt not steal”: Man understands “stealing” to mean stealing, defrauding, and depriving the neighbor of his goods by any pretext. A spiritual angel understands “stealing” to mean depriving others of their truths and goods of faith by means of evils and falsities; while a celestial angel understands “stealing” to mean attributing to oneself what belongs to the Lord, and claiming for oneself the Lord’s righteousness and merit. [4] The Eighth Commandment, “Thou shalt not bear false witness” - Man understands “bearing false witness” to mean lying and defaming anyone; a spiritual angel understands “bearing false witness” to mean saying and persuading that falsity is truth and evil is good, and the converse; while a celestial angel understands “bearing false witness” to mean blaspheming the Lord and the Word. [5] These examples show how what is spiritual and celestial is evolved and drawn forth from the natural sense of the Word, within which they are. And what is wonderful, the angels draw forth what belongs to them without knowing what the man is thinking; and yet the thoughts of angels and men make one by correspondences, like end, cause, and effect. Moreover, ends actually reside in the celestial kingdom, causes in the spiritual kingdom, and effects in the natural kingdom. From this comes the affiliation of men with angels by means of the Word.

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A spiritual angel draws out and calls forth from the sense of the letter of the Word what is spiritual, and a celestial angel what is celestial, because these meanings are in accord with the nature of the angel and are homogeneous therewith. The truth of this can be illustrated by like things in the three kingdoms of nature, the animal, the vegetable, and the mineral. In the Animal Kingdom: From the food, when it has become chyle, the blood-vessels draw out and call forth their blood, the nervous fibers their juice, and the substances which are the origins of fibers, their spirit. In the Vegetable Kingdom: A tree with its trunk, branches, leaves, and fruit stands on its root, and out of the soil by means of its root it draws out and calls forth a grosser juice for the trunk, branches, and leaves, a purer for the pulp of the fruit, and the purest for the seeds within the fruit. In the Mineral Kingdom: In certain places in the bosom of the earth there are veins impregnated with gold, silver, copper, and iron; from the exhalations and effluvia out of the rocks, the gold, the silver, the copper, and the iron draw each its own element, the watery element conveying these round about.

238.

The Word in the letter is like a casket, where precious stones, pearls, and diadems lie in order. The thoughts of a man’s mind, who regards the Word as holy, and who reads it for the sake of the uses of life, may be compared to one holding such a casket in his hand, and throwing it toward heaven; and the casket opening in its ascent, the precious things in it are disclosed to the angels, who are deeply delighted in seeing and examining them. This delight of the angels is communicated to the man, and effects an affiliation and a sharing of perceptions. For the sake of this affiliation with angels, and at the same time conjunction with the Lord, the Holy Supper was instituted, the bread of which in heaven becomes Divine good, and the wine Divine truth, each from the Lord. Such correspondence exists by creation, to the end that the angelic heaven may make one with the church on earth, and in general the spiritual world may make one with the natural world, and the Lord may conjoin Himself with both at once.

239.

The affiliation of man with angels is effected by the natural or literal sense of the Word for the further reason that in every man by creation there are three degrees of life, a celestial, a spiritual, and a natural; but so long as man is in the world he is in the natural degree; yet at the same time he is also in the angelic spiritual degree so far as he is in genuine truths, and he is in the celestial degree so far as he is in a life according to those truths. Nevertheless he does not enter the spiritual and celestial itself until after death, because these two are enclosed and stored up within his natural ideas; so when the natural passes away by death, the spiritual and celestial remain, and from these the ideas of his thoughts then come. All this makes clear that in the Word alone there is spirit and life, as the Lord says: The words that I speak unto you, are spirit and are life (John 6:63); The water that I shall give you shall become a fountain of water springing up unto eternal life (John 4:14); Man liveth not by bread alone but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God (Matt. 4:4); Work for that meat which abideth unto eternal life, which the Son of man shall give unto you (John 6:27).

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VII. THE WORD IS IN ALL THE HEAVENS AND ANGELIC WISDOM IS FROM IT. It has not been known heretofore that the Word exists in the heavens, nor could it be made known so long as it was unknown in the church that angels and spirits are men in face and body wholly like men in our world; and that the things about them are in all respects like those about men, with the sole difference that the angels are spiritual, and that all things about them are from a spiritual origin, while men in the world are natural, and all things about them are from a natural origin. So long as this remained unknown it could not be known that there is a Word also in the heavens, and that it is read by the angels there; and also by the spirits who are below the heavens. But that this might not remain for ever unknown, it has been granted me to associate with angels and spirits, to talk with them, to see the things about them, and afterwards relate many things that I saw and heard, which has been done in a work on Heaven and Hell (London, 1758). It can be seen from that work that angels and spirits are men, and that there are with them in abundance all things that men have with them in the world. (That angels and spirits are men see that work, n. 73-77, and n. 453-456; that the things about them are like the things about men in the world, n. 170-190; moreover, that they have among them Divine worship and preaching in churches, n. 221-227; that they have writings and books, n. 258-264; and the Sacred Scripture or the Word, n. 259.)

241.

In respect to the Word in heaven, it is written in a spiritual style, which is wholly different from the natural style. This spiritual style consists of mere letters, each one of which involves some meaning; and there are lines, turns, and dots over and between the letters, and in them, which heighten the meaning. With the angels of the spiritual kingdom the letters are similar to those used in print in our world; among the angels of the celestial kingdom they are with some like the Arabic letters, and with some like the ancient Hebrew letters, but curved above and below, with marks over, between, and within them; with every particular of these also involving a complete sense. [2] Such being the nature of their writing, with them the names of persons and places in the Word are expressed by signs, whereby the wise are enabled to understand the spiritual and celestial significance of each name, as by “Moses” the Word of God written through him, and in general the historic Word is meant; by “Elias” the prophetic Word; by “Abraham,” “Isaac,” and “Jacob,” the Lord in respect to the celestial Divine, the spiritual Divine, and the natural Divine; by “Aaron” the Lord’s priesthood; by “David” His royalty; by the names of Jacob’s sons, or the twelve tribes of Israel, the various constituents of heaven and the church, and like things by the names of the Lord’s twelve disciples; by “Zion” and “Jerusalem,” the church in respect to doctrine from the Word; by “the land of Canaan,” the church itself; by places and cities there on either side of Jordan, various things pertaining to the church and its doctrine. It is the same with numbers; in the copies of the Word in heaven these are not found; but instead of them the things to which the numbers correspond. From all this it can be seen that the Word in heaven is in its literal sense similar to our Word, and at the same time corresponds to it; and that they are therefore one. [3] It is a wonderful fact that the Word in the heavens is so written that the simple understand it simply, and the wise wisely; for the letters have over them many turns and markings, which, as before said, heighten the meaning; and to these the simple pay no attention and know nothing about them; but the wise give attention to them, each according to his own wisdom, even to the highest. A copy of the Word written by angels who are inspired by the Lord is kept by every larger society in its sacred repository, that the Word may not be changed elsewhere in the least point. The Word in our world is similar to the Word in heaven in this respect, that here, too, the simple understand it simply, and the wise wisely; but this takes place in a different way.

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That the angels gain all their wisdom through the Word they themselves confess; for so far as they are in the understanding of the Word, so far they are in light. The light of heaven is the Divine wisdom, and this to angelic eyes is light. In the sacred repository where a copy of the Word is kept, the light is flame-like and brilliant, surpassing every degree of light in heaven outside of that repository. The wisdom of the celestial angels surpasses the wisdom of the spiritual angels almost as much as the wisdom of the latter surpasses that of men; and this because the celestial angels are in good of love from the Lord, and the spiritual angels are in truths of wisdom from the Lord; and where the good of love is there wisdom abides also; but where truths are, only so much of wisdom abides as there is also good of love. This is the reason why the Word in the Lord’s celestial kingdom is written differently from the Word in His spiritual kingdom; for in the Word of the celestial kingdom goods of love are expressed, and the marks are affections of the love; while in the Word of the spiritual kingdom truths of wisdom are expressed, and the marks are interior perceptions of truth. From all this one may conclude what kind of wisdom lies concealed in the Word which is in the world; for in it all angelic wisdom, which is ineffable, is concealed; and the man, who from the Lord through the Word becomes an angel, enters into that wisdom after death.

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VIII. THE CHURCH IS FROM THE WORD, AND WITH MAN IT IS SUCH AS HIS UNDERSTANDING OF THE WORD IS. That the church is from the Word no one can doubt, since it has been shown above, that the Word is Divine truth (n. 189-192); that the doctrine of the church is from the Word (n. 225-233); and that by means of the Word there is conjunction with the Lord (n. 234-239). But that the understanding of the Word constitutes the church, may be called in question; for there are those who believe themselves to be of the church by virtue of their having the Word and reading it, or hearing preaching from it, and knowing something of the sense of its letter. But how this or that in the Word is to be understood they do not know; and some do not regard it as of much importance. Therefore it shall now be established that it is not the Word that constitutes the church, but the understanding of it, and that the church is such as is the understanding of the Word with those who are in the church.

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The church is in accordance with the understanding of the Word because it is in accordance with the truths of faith and the goods of charity, and these two are the universals which not only pervade the whole literal sense of the Word, but are also concealed within it like the precious things in a treasury. The things in the literal sense of the Word are apparent to every man because they present themselves directly to the eye; but the things that lie hidden in the spiritual sense are apparent only to those who love truths because they are truths, and do goods because they are goods. To them the treasure that the literal sense covers and guards lies open. These goods and truths are the essential constituents of the church.

245.

It is known that the church is in accordance with its doctrine, and that doctrine is from the Word; nevertheless it is not doctrine but soundness and purity of doctrine, consequently the understanding of the Word, that establishes the church. Neither is it doctrine, but a faith and life in accordance with doctrine, that establishes and constitutes the special church in the individual man. So too it is not the Word that establishes and constitutes the church in particular in man, but a faith according to the truths, and a life according to the goods, which man derives from the Word, and applies to himself. The Word is like a mine containing in its depths gold and silver in great abundance, and like a mine which at greater and greater depths conceals stones more and more precious; these mines are opened in the measure of man’s understanding of the Word. The Word such as it is in itself, in its bosom, and in its depth, when not understood, would no more form a church in man than mines in Asia would make a European rich; although it would be otherwise if he were one of the owners and workers of the mine. The Word with those who search in it for truths of faith and goods of life, is like the treasuries of the king of Persia, or of the emperor of the Moguls or of China, and men of the church are like officers placed over them, who are permitted to take for their use as much as they please. But those who merely have possession of the Word and read it, but do not try to get from it genuine truths for their faith or genuine goods for their life, are like those who know by hearsay that there are such great treasures there, but do not receive a penny from them. Those who have the Word, but do not gain from it any understanding of genuine truth, or any will for genuine good, are like those who think themselves rich for having money borrowed from others, or like those who hold estates, houses, and merchandise belonging to others. This, as everyone can see, is mere hallucination. They are also like those who go about magnificently clothed, and are driven about in gilded carriages, with attendants behind and beside them, and couriers ahead, and yet none of this is their own property.

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Such was the Jewish nation; and therefore, because it had the Word, it was likened by the Lord to a rich man, who was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day, and yet did not gain enough truth and good from the Word to have pity upon poor Lazarus, who lay at his door full of sores. Not only did that nation appropriate no truths from the Word, it drew from it falsities in such abundance, that finally not a single truth could be seen by them; for through falsities truths are not merely covered, they are even obliterated and cast out. For this reason the Jews did not acknowledge the Messiah, although all the prophets had foretold His coming.

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In many places in the prophets the church with the Israelitish and Jewish nation is described as wholly destroyed and reduced to nothing by their having falsified the meaning or understanding of the Word; for nothing else destroys a church. The understanding of the Word both true and false is described in the Prophets by “Ephraim,” especially in Hosea; for in the Word “Ephraim” signifies the understanding of the Word in the church. As the understanding of the Word constitutes the church, Ephraim is called: A dear son and a pleasant child (Jer. 31:20); The firstborn (Jer. 31:9); The strength of the head of Jehovah (Ps. 60:7; 108:8); Mighty (Zech. 10:7); Filled with a bow (Zech. 9:13); and the sons of Ephraim are said to be, Armed and shooters with the bow (Ps. 78:9); for a bow signifies doctrine from the Word fighting against falsities. Therefore also, Ephraim was transferred to Israel’s right hand, and blessed; and was accepted in the place of Reuben (Gen. 48:5, 11 seq.); and therefore, Ephraim, with his brother Manasseh, in the blessing of the sons of Israel by Moses, under the name of their father Joseph, was exalted above them all (Deut. 33:13-17). [2] But what the church is when the understanding of the Word is destroyed, is also depicted in the Prophets by “Ephraim,” especially in Hosea, as in the following passages: Israel and Ephraim shall fall; Ephraim shall become a desolation; Ephraim is oppressed and crushed of judgment (Hos. 5:5, 9, 11-14). O Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee? for your mercy is as a morning cloud, and as the early dew it goeth away (Hos. 6:4). They shall not dwell in the land of Jehovah; but Ephraim shall return into Egypt, and shall eat what is unclean in Assyria (Hos. 9:3). “The land of Jehovah” is the church; “Egypt” is the knowing faculty of the natural man; “Assyria” is reasoning therefrom; and these two together falsify the interior understanding of the Word; therefore it is said that “Ephraim shall return to Egypt, and shall eat what is unclean in Assyria.” [3] Ephraim feedeth on wind, and followeth after the east wind; he daily multiplieth lies and destruction; they make a covenant with Assyria and oil is carried into Egypt (Hos. 12:1). “To feed upon the wind,” “to follow after the east wind,” and “to multiply lies and destruction,” is to falsify truths and thus destroy the church. “Ephraim’s whoredom” has a like signification, since “whoredom” signifies falsification of the understanding of the Word, that is, of its genuine truth; as in the following: I have known Ephraim; that he hath surely committed whoredom, and Israel is defiled (Hos. 5:3). I have seen a horrible thing in the house of Israel; there Ephraim hath committed whoredom and Israel hath become defiled (Hos. 6:10). Israel is the church itself, and Ephraim is the understanding of the Word, from which and according to which is the church; therefore it is said “Ephraim hath committed whoredom, and Israel is defiled.” [4] As the church with the Israelitish and Jewish nation became wholly destroyed by falsifications of the Word, it is said of Ephraim: I must give thee up, Ephraim. I must deliver thee, Israel. I must make thee as Admah. I must set thee as Zeboim (Hos. 11:8). Since then the prophet Hosea, from the first chapter to the last, treats of the falsification of the genuine understanding of the Word, and the destruction of the church thereby; and since “whoredom” signifies falsification of truth therein; that prophet was commanded to represent this state of the church by, Taking a harlot to himself for a wife, and begetting children by her (Hos. 1), and again by, Taking a woman who was an adulteress (Hos. 3). These passages are presented in order to show and prove from the Word, that the church is such as is the understanding of the Word in it; excellent and precious if the understanding of it is from genuine truths out of the Word; but destroyed and even filthy if from truths falsified.

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IX. IN EVERY PARTICULAR OF THE WORD THERE IS A MARRIAGE OF THE LORD AND THE CHURCH, AND IN CONSEQUENCE A MARRIAGE OF GOOD AND TRUTH. That in every particular of the Word there is a marriage of the Lord and the church, and in consequence a marriage of good and truth, has not been seen heretofore; nor could it be seen because the spiritual sense of the Word has not been disclosed until now, and through that only can this marriage be seen. For there are two senses in the Word, concealed within the sense of its letter, which are called the spiritual sense and the celestial sense. These interior contents of the Word have relation in the spiritual sense chiefly to the church, and in the celestial sense chiefly to the Lord. Again these contents have relation in the spiritual sense to Divine truth, and in the celestial sense to Divine good. From this there is in the Word such a marriage. But this is manifest only to those who from the spiritual and celestial senses of the Word know the significations of the words and names; for some words and names are predicated of good, and some of truth, and some include both; therefore without a knowledge of their significance, that marriage in the particulars of the Word cannot be seen. This is why this arcanum has not been disclosed until now. Because there is such a marriage in every particular of the Word, there are very often two expressions in it that appear like repetitions of the same thing; and yet they are not repetitions, but one of them has relation to good and the other to truth; and the two taken together constitute their conjunction, and thus one thing. From this also is the Divine holiness of the Word; for in every Divine work there is good conjoined with truth, and truth conjoined with good.

249.

There is said to be a marriage of the Lord and the church, and in consequence of good and truth, in every particular of the Word, because where there is a marriage of the Lord and the church there is also a marriage of good and truth, since the latter is from the former. For when the church, that is, the man of the church, is in truths, the Lord flows into his truths with good, and makes them alive; or what is the same thing, when the man of the church is in the understanding of truth the Lord flows into his understanding through the good of charity, and thus pours life into it. In every man there are two faculties of life called the understanding and will. The understanding is the receptacle of truth and thus of wisdom, and the will is the receptacle of good and thus of charity. That man may be a man of the church these two faculties must make one; and they make one when man forms his understanding out of genuine truths, which in appearance is done as if by himself, and when his will is filled with the good of love, which is done by the Lord. In consequence of this, man has both a life of truth and a life of good, a life of truth in his understanding, and a life of good in his will, and when these are made one they constitute one life and not two. This is the marriage of the Lord and the church, and also the marriage of good and truth in man.

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Readers of the Word who pay attention to it can see that there are dual expressions in the Word that seem like repetitions of the same thing; as for example, brother and companion, poor and needy, waste and wilderness, void and emptiness, foe and enemy, sin and iniquity, anger and wrath, nation and people, joy and gladness, mourning and weeping, justice and judgment, and so on; which expressions seem to be synonymous, and yet they are not; for brother, poor, waste, void, foe, sin, anger, nation, joy, mourning, and justice, are predicated of good, and in the opposite sense of evil; while companion, needy, wilderness, emptiness, enemy, iniquity, wrath, people, gladness, weeping, and judgment, are predicated of truth, and in the opposite sense of falsity. Nevertheless to a reader who is ignorant of this arcanum, poor and needy, waste and wilderness, void and emptiness, and so forth, seem to be one, and yet they are not one, but they become one by conjunction. Many other things in the Word are joined together, as fire and flame, gold and silver, brass and iron, wood and stone, bread and water, bread and wine, purple and fine linen, and so on; because fire, gold, brass, wood, bread, and purple, are predicated of good; while flame, silver, iron, stone, water, wine, and fine linen, are predicated of truth. Likewise it is said that man should love God “with his whole heart, and his whole soul;” also that God will create in man “a new heart and a new spirit;” because “heart” is predicated of good of love, and “soul” and “spirit” of the truths of faith There are also words which, because they involve in their meaning both good and truth, are used alone, no others being joined with them. But these and many other things are manifest only to the angels, and to those who are in the spiritual sense as well as in the natural sense.

It would be tedious to show from the Word that there are such dual expressions in the Word, which seem like repetitions of the same thing, for to do so would fill many pages. But to remove doubt, I will cite some passages where “nation” and “people,” and “joy” and “gladness,” are mentioned together. “Nation” and “people” are mentioned in the following passages: Woe to the sinful nation, to a people laden with iniquity (Isa. 1:4). The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light, thou hast multiplied the nation (Isa. 9:2, 3). O Assyria, the rod of mine anger, I will send him against a hypocritical nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge (Isa. 10:6, 8). It shall come to pass in that day that the nations shall seek the root of Jesse, which standeth for an ensign of the people (Isa. 11:10). Jehovah smiteth the peoples in wrath with a stroke not curable, ruling the nations in anger (Isa. 14:8). In that day shall a present be brought unto Jehovah of Hosts of people scattered and peeled, a nation meted out and trodden under foot (Isa. 18:7). The strong people shall honor Thee, the city of the powerful nations shall fear Thee (Isa. 25:3). Jehovah shall swallow up the covering cast over all peoples and the veil over all nations (Isa. 25:7). Come near, ye nations, and hearken, ye peoples (Isa. 34:1). I have called thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the nations (Isa. 42:6). Let all the nations be gathered together, and let the peoples be assembled (Isa. 43:9). Behold I will lilt up mine hand to the nations, and set up my standard to the peoples (Isa. 49:22). I have given him for a witness to the peoples, a leader and lawgiver to the nation (Isa. 55:4, 5). Behold, a people cometh from the north country, and a great nation from the sides of the earth (Jer. 6:22, 23). I will not cause thee to hear the shame of the nations any more, neither shalt thou bear the reproach of the peoples any more (Ezek. 36:15). All peoples and nations shall worship Him (Dan. 7:14). Let not the nations make a byword of them, and say to the peoples, Where is their God? (Joel 2:17). The remnant of my people shall spoil them, and the residue of my nation shall inherit them (Zeph. 51:9). Many peoples and numerous nations shall come to seek Jehovah in Jerusalem (Zech. 8:22). Mine eyes have seen Thy salvation, which Thou hast prepared before the face of all peoples, a light for revelation to the nations (Luke 2:30-32). Thou hast redeemed us by Thy blood, out of every people and nation (Apoc. 5:9). Thou must prophesy again over peoples and nations (Apoc. 10:11). Thou shalt set Me for the head of the nations, a people whom I have not known shall serve Me (Ps. 18:43). Jehovah bringeth the counsel of the nations to naught; He overthroweth the thoughts of the peoples (Ps. 33:10). Thou makest us a proverb among the nations, a shaking of the head among the peoples (Ps. 44:14). Jehovah shall subdue the peoples under us, and the nations under our feet; God reigneth over the nations the willing ones of the peoples are gathered together (Ps. 47:3, 8, 9). Let the peoples confess Thee, Let the nations sing for joy; for Thou shalt judge the peoples with equity, and lead the nations upon the earth (Ps. 67:2-4). Remember me, O Jehovah, with the favor that Thou bearest unto Thy people that I may rejoice in the gladness of Thy nation (Ps. 105:4, 5); and elsewhere. Nations and peoples are mentioned together, because by nations those are meant who are in good, and in the opposite sense those who are in evil; and by “peoples” those are meant who are in truths, and in the opposite sense those who are in falsities. Therefore those who are of the Lord’s spiritual kingdom are called “peoples,” and those who are of the Lord’s celestial kingdom are called “nations;” for in the spiritual kingdom all are in truths, and in consequent intelligence, while in the celestial kingdom all are in goods, and in consequent wisdom.

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It is the same with many other words; for example where “joy” is mentioned, “gladness” also is mentioned, as in the following passages: Behold, joy and gladness, to slay an ox (Isa. 22:13). They shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away (Isa. 35:10; 51:11). Gladness and joy are cut off from the house of our God (Joel 1:18). The voice of joy and the voice of gladness shall be taken away (Jer. 7:34; 25:10). The fast of the tenth shall be to the house of Judah for joy and gladness (Zech. 8:19). Be glad in Jerusalem, and rejoice in her (Isa. 66:10). Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom (Lam. 4:21). Let the heavens be glad and let the earth rejoice (Ps. 96:11). Make me to hear joy and gladness (Ps. 51:8). Joy and gladness shall be found in Zion, confession, and the voice of melody (Isa. 51:3). There shall be gladness, and many shall rejoice at his birth (Luke 1:14). I will 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). Again there shall be heard in this place, the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride (Jer. 33:10, 11); and elsewhere. Both joy and gladness are mentioned, because joy is predicated of good and gladness of truth, or joy of love and gladness of wisdom; for joy belongs to the heart and gladness to the spirit, or joy to the will and gladness to the understanding. That there is also a marriage of the Lord and the church in these words is evident from the expression: 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); for the Lord is the Bridegroom, and the church is the bride. That the Lord is the Bridegroom may be seen, Matt. 9:15; Mark 2:19, 20; Luke 5:34, 35; that the church is the bride, Rev. 21:2, 9; 22:17. Therefore John the Baptist said of Jesus: He that hath the bride is the Bridegroom (John 3:29).

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Owing to the marriage of Divine good and Divine truth in every particular of the Word, the expression, Jehovah [and] God, Jehovah and the Holy One of Israel very frequently occur as if they were two, when yet they are one: for by “Jehovah” the Lord in respect to the Divine good of the Divine love is meant, while by “God” and the “Holy One of Israel,” the Lord in respect to the Divine truth of the Divine wisdom is meant. That Jehovah and God, and also Jehovah and the Holy One of Israel, are mentioned in many places in the Word, and yet One only is meant, may be seen in the Doctrine respecting the Lord the Redeemer.

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X. HERESIES MAY BE DRAWN FROM THE SENSE OF THE LETTER OF THE WORD BUT TO CONFIRM THEM IS HURTFUL. It has been shown above, that the Word cannot be understood without doctrine, and that doctrine is like a lamp to make genuine truths visible, and this because the Word is written by pure correspondences; consequently, many things in the Word are appearances of truth, and not naked truths; and many are written according to the understanding of the merely natural man, and yet are so written that the simple may understand them simply, the intelligent intelligently, and the wise wisely. Such being the nature of the Word, these appearances of truth, which are truths clothed, may be taken for naked truths; and when confirmed they become fallacies, which in essence are falsities. From this, that appearances of truth have been taken for genuine truths and confirmed, have sprung all the heresies that have existed and still exist in the Christian world. Heresies themselves do not condemn men. Men are condemned by their confirming from the Word, and by means of reasonings from the natural man, the falsities that are in heresy, and by living wickedly. For everyone is born into the religion of his country or parents and is initiated into that religion from infancy, and afterward he holds to it; and because of worldly business, and the weakness of his understanding in the investigation of truths of that kind, he is unable to withdraw himself from its falsities. But what condemns a man is living wickedly and confirming falsities to such an extent as to destroy genuine truths. For he who holds to his religion, who believes in God (or if within the Christian church believes in the Lord), who regards the Word as holy and from a religious motive lives according to the commandments of the Decalogue, does not commit himself to falsities, and therefore when he hears truths, and in his own way has a perception of them, he is able to embrace them, and thereby be delivered from falsities. But it is not so with one who has confirmed the falsities of his religion; since confirmed falsity is permanent and cannot be rooted out. For falsity after confirmation is as if one had sworn to it, especially when it adheres to his love of self or to the pride of his own intelligence.

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I have talked with some in the spiritual world who lived many centuries ago and who had confirmed themselves in the falsities of their religion; and I found that they still continued steadfastly in them. I have also talked with some there who had been of the same religion and had thought in the same way, but had not confirmed in themselves its falsities; and I found that after having been taught by the angels they rejected the falsities and accepted truths; and that such were saved, while the former were not. Everyone is instructed after death by angels, and those are received who see truths and from truths see falsities; but truths are seen only by those who have not confirmed themselves in falsities. Those who have confirmed themselves are unwilling to see truths, or if they see them they turn themselves away and either ridicule or falsify them. The real cause of this is that confirmation enters the will, and the will is the man himself and disposes the understanding at its pleasure. But bare knowledge enters the understanding only, and this has no authority over the will, but is in man only as one who stands in the hall or doorway and is not yet in the house.

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But let this be illustrated by an example: In many places in the Word anger, wrath, and vengeance are attributed to God and He is said to punish, to cast into hell, to tempt, and other like things. He who believes this in simplicity like a child, and in consequence fears God and avoids sinning against Him, is not condemned for that simple belief. But he who so far confirms these things in himself as to believe that anger, wrath, vengeance, and all like things that proceed from evil, are in God, and that God punishes man and casts him into hell from anger, wrath, and vengeance-he is condemned, because he has destroyed the genuine truth, which is, that God is Love itself, Mercy itself, and Good itself, and such a Being cannot be angry, wrathful, or vengeful. These things are attributed to God in the Word, because such is the appearance. These are appearances of truth.

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That many things in the sense of the letter of the Word are appearances of truth, which conceal within them genuine truths, and that it is not hurtful to think in simplicity, and also to speak, according to appearances of truth, and yet it is hurtful to confirm them, since by such confirmation the Divine truth concealed within them is destroyed, may also be illustrated by an example in nature, which is presented because what is natural illustrates and teaches more clearly than what is spiritual. To the eye the sun appears to be borne around the earth daily, and also annually; and in consequence the sun is said to rise and set, causing morning; noon, evening, and night; and also spring, summer, autumn, and winter, and thus days and years. Nevertheless, the sun stands motionless, for it is a fiery ocean, and the earth revolves daily and is carried around it yearly. The man who thinks in simplicity and ignorance that the sun is carried about the earth does not destroy the natural truth, which is that the earth rotates upon its axis and is yearly borne along the ecliptic. But he who confirms this apparent motion of the sun by reasonings from the natural man, and still more he who does so by the Word, because the sun is there said to rise and set, weakens the truth and destroys it, and afterwards is hardly able to see it, even though ocular proof be given him that the whole starry heaven is daily and yearly carried about in appearance in like manner, and yet not a single star is moved from its fixed place relative to another. The apparent truth is that the sun moves, the real truth is that it does not move, and yet everyone speaks according to the apparent truth, saying that the sun rises and sets; and this is permissible, for he cannot do otherwise; but to think according to that apparent truth after confirming it blunts and darkens the rational understanding.

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The essential reason why it is hurtful to confirm the appearances of truth that are in the Word, which thereby become fallacies, and thus the Divine truth concealed within the appearances is destroyed, is that each thing and all things of the sense of the letter of the Word, communicate with heaven. For it has been shown above that within each thing and all things of the sense of the letter there is a spiritual sense, and this sense is opened in passing from man to heaven. All things of the spiritual sense are genuine truths; so when man is in falsities and applies the sense of the letter to those falsities, the falsities enter into that sense, and when they enter truths are dissipated, which is done on the way from man to heaven. This may be compared to a shining bladder filled with gall which is thrown towards another, and which bursts in the air before reaching him, and the gall is scattered about; whereupon the other, when he smells the air infected with the gall, turns away, and shuts his mouth lest it should touch his tongue. Or it may be compared to a leather bottle girt with wicker-work of cedar and containing vinegar full of worms, and the bottle bursts on the way, and its stench is perceived by the other, who is nauseated by it and instantly fans it away that it may not enter his nostrils. It is also like an almond shell, within which instead of an almond is a newly-born snake, and the shell being broken, the little serpent appears to be carried by the wind towards the eyes of another, who obviously would turn away to avoid it. It is the same when the Word is read by a man who is in falsities, and who adapts to his falsities something of the sense of the letter of the Word, in which case it is rejected on the way to heaven, lest any such thing should flow in and infest the angels. For when falsity touches truth, it is like the point of a needle touching the fibril of a nerve or the pupil of the eye; it is known that the fibril instantly coils itself up spirally and withdraws within itself and that the eye at the first touch covers itself with its lids. All this makes clear that truth falsified takes away communication with heaven and closes heaven. This is why it is hurtful to confirm any heretical falsity.

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The Word is like a garden, and may be called a heavenly paradise, in which are delicacies and delights of every kind, delicacies in its fruits and delights in its flowers; and in the middle of the garden are the trees of life, and near them fountains of living waters, with forest trees round about the garden. The man who from doctrine is in Divine truths is in the center where the trees of life are, and is in the actual enjoyment of the delicacies and delights there; while the man who is in truths not from doctrine, but only from the sense of the letter, is in the parts round about, and sees only the forest. But he who is in the doctrine of a false religion, and has confirmed in himself its falsity, is not even in the forest, but is outside of it on a sandy plain, where there is not even grass. That this is the state of such after death, has been shown in the work on Heaven and Hell.

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It must be understood, moreover, that the sense of the letter is a guard for the genuine truths concealed within it, that they may not be injured. It is a guard in this way, that it may be turned hither and thither, and explained according to each one’s understanding of it, and yet without injury or violence to its internal. For no harm is done when one person understands the sense of the letter in one way, and another in another way; but the harm is done when falsities are brought in which are contrary to Divine truths, and this is done only by those who have confirmed themselves in falsities. In this way violence is done to the Word. This is what the sense of the letter guards against, and it does this for those who are in falsities from their religion, but do not confirm these falsities. The sense of the letter of the Word as such a guard is signified in the Word by “cherubs,” and is there described in this way. This guard is signified by the cherubs that were placed at the entrance to the garden of Eden, after Adam and his wife had been expelled from it, about which we read as follows: When Jehovah God had driven man out He made cherubs to dwell at the east of the garden of Eden and the flame of a sword turning every way to keep the way of the tree of life (Gen. 3:23, 24). [2] No one can see what this means, unless he knows what is signified by “cherubs” and by “the garden of Eden,” and by “the tree of life” there, and finally by “the flame of a sword turning every way.” These particulars are explained in the exposition of this chapter in the Arcana Coelestia, published at London, namely, that “cherubs” signify a guard; “the way of the tree of life” signifies entrance to the Lord, which man obtains through the truths of the spiritual sense of the Word; “the flame of a sword turning every way” signifies Divine truth in outmost things, like the Word in the sense of the letter, which sense may be so turned. The same is meant by, The cherubs of gold placed at the two ends of the mercy-seat, which was over the ark in the tabernacle (Exod. 25:18-21), “the ark” signifying the Word, because the Decalogue, which it contained, was the primitive of the Word, and the “cherubs” signifying a guard. Therefore between the cherubs the Lord spoke with Moses (Exod. 25:22; 37:9; Num. 7:89); and he spoke in the natural sense, since the Lord does not speak with man except in fullness, and Divine truth is in its fullness in the sense of the letter (as may be seen above, n. 214-224). Nor is anything else signified, By the cherubs upon the curtains and the veil of the tabernacle (Exod. 26:1, 31); for the curtains and veils of the tabernacle signified the outmost things of heaven and the church, and thus of the Word (as may be seen above, n. 220). So again, By the cherubs carved on the Walls and doors of the temple at Jerusalem (1 Kings 6:29, 32, 35) (see above n. 221). By the cherubs in the new temple (Ezek. 41:18-20). [3] Because “cherubs” signify a guard, that the Lord, heaven, and Divine truth such as it is interiorly in the Word, be not approached immediately, but mediately through outmosts, it is said of the king of Tyre: Thou sealest up thy measure, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty; thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering. Thou cherub, the spreading out of one that protects; I have destroyed thee, O protecting cherub, in the midst of the stones of fire (Ezek. 28:12-14, 16). “Tyre” signifies the church as to knowledges of good and truth and therefore “the king of Tyre” signifies the Word, in which and from which those knowledges are; and here the Word in its outmost is evidently signified, and protection by “the cherub,” for it is said, “Thou sealest up thy measure,” “every precious stone was thy covering,” “thou cherub, the spreading out of one that protects,” also, “O protecting cherub.” The “precious stones” there mentioned mean the things belonging to the sense of the letter (as may be seen above, n. 217, 218). Because “cherubs” signify the Word in outmosts, and also a guard, it is said in David: Jehovah bowed the heavens and came down, and rode upon a cherub (Ps. 18:9, 10). O Shepherd of Israel, thou that sittest upon the cherubs, shine forth (Ps. 80:1). Jehovah sitteth upon the cherubs (Ps. 99:1). “To ride upon cherubs” and “to sit upon them” means upon the outmost sense of the Word. Divine truth in the Word, and what it is, is described by the four animals that were also called cherubs (Ezek. 1, 9, 10); also by the four animals in the midst of the throne and round about the throne (Rev. 4:6 seq.). (See Apocalypse Revealed, published by me at Amsterdam, n. 239, 275, 314).

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XI. THE LORD WHEN IN THE WORLD FULFILLED ALL THINGS OF THE WORD, AND THEREBY BECAME THE WORD, THAT IS A DIVINE TRUTHS EVEN IN THINGS LAST. That the Lord when in the world fulfilled all things of the Word, and thereby became Divine truth, or the Word, even in things last, is meant by these words in John: And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:4). “To become flesh” is to become the Word in things last. What the Lord was as the Word in things last, He showed to His disciples when he was transfigured (Matt. 17:2 seq.; Mark 9:2 seq.; Luke 9:28 seq.), where it is said that Moses and Elias appeared in glory, “Moses” meaning the Word written through him, and in general the historical Word, and “Elias” the prophetical Word. The Lord as the Word in things last was also represented before John in Revelation (1:13-16), where all things in the description of Him signify the outmosts of Divine truth, or of the Word. Before this the Lord was indeed the Word or Divine truth, but in things first, for it is said: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word (John 1:1, 2); but when the Word became flesh, the Lord also became the Word in things last. This is why He is called: The First and the Last (Apoc. 1:8, 11, 17; 49:8; 21:6; 22:13; Isa. 44:6).

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That the Lord fulfilled all things of the Word is evident from the passages where the Law and the Scripture are said to have been fulfilled by Him, and all things finished, as in the following. Jesus said: Think not that I am come to destroy the law and the prophets; I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill (Matt. 5:17, 18). Jesus entered into the synagogue, and stood up to read then was delivered unto Him the book of the prophet Isaiah. And He opened the book, and found the place where it was written: The Spirit of Jehovah is upon Me, because He hath anointed Me; He hath sent Me to preach good tidings to the poor, to heal the broken-hearted, to proclaim release to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. And He closed the book and He said, This day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears (Luke 4:16-21). That the Scripture might be fulfilled, He that eateth bread with Me hath lifted up his heel upon Me (John 13:18). None of them perished but the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled (John 17:12). That the Word might be fulfilled which He spoke, Of them which thou gavest Me I lost not one (John 18:9). Jesus said to Peter: Put up thy sword into its place. How then shall the Scripture be fulfilled, that thus it must be? But all this is come to pass that the Scripture might be fulfilled (Matt. 26:52, 54, 56). The Son of Man goeth as it is written of Him, that the Scriptures might be fulfilled (Mark 14:21, 49). Thus was the Scripture fulfilled, which said, He was numbered with the transgressors (Mark 15:28; Luke 22:37). That the Scripture might be fulfilled, They parted My garments among them, and upon My vesture did they cast lots (John 19:24). After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now finished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled (John 19:28). When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, He said, It is finished [that is, fulfilled]. (John 19:30). These things came to pass that the Scripture might be fulfilled, A bone in Him shall ye not brake. And again another Scripture saith, They shall look on Him whom they pierced (John 19:36, 37). That the whole Word was written concerning Him, and that He came into the world to fulfill it, He also taught His disciples before He went away, in these words: He said to them, O foolish men, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken. Behooved it not the Christ to suffer these things, and to enter into His glory? And beginning from Moses and from all the prophets, He interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself (Luke 24:25-27). Again Jesus said, that all things must needs be fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses, and the Prophets, and the Psalms concerning Me (Luke 26:41, 45). That the Lord when in the world fulfilled all things of the Word, even to the most minute particulars, is plain from His words: Verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass away from the law, till all things be accomplished (Matt. 5:18). From all this it can now be clearly seen that the Lord’s fulfilling all things of the law does not mean that He fulfilled all the commandments of the Decalogue, but all things of the Word. That all things of the Word are meant by the Law can be seen from these passages: Jesus said, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods? (John 10:34). This is written in the Psalms, 82:6. The multitudes answered, We have heard out of the law that the Christ abideth forever (John 12:34). This is written in the Psalms, 89:30, 37; 110:4; Dan. 7:14. That the Word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated Me without a cause (John 15:26). This is written in Psalm 35:19. It is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one tittle of the law to fall (Luke 16:17). By the law in this passage, as frequently elsewhere, the whole Sacred Scripture is meant.

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Few understand how the Lord is the Word; for they think that although the Lord can enlighten and teach men through the Word, He cannot on this account be called the Word. But let it be understood that every man is his own will and his own understanding, each man being thus distinct from every other; and as the will is the receptacle of love, and thus of all the goods of that love, and the understanding is the receptacle of wisdom, and thus of all things of truth belonging to that wisdom, it follows, that each man is his own love and his own wisdom, or what is the same thing, his own good and his own truth. For no other reason is man a man, and nothing else than this in man is man. In respect to the Lord, He is love itself and wisdom itself, thus good itself and truth itself; and this He became by fulfilling all the good and all the truth in the Word. For he who thinks and speaks nothing but truth becomes that truth; and he who wills and does only what is good becomes that good; and as the Lord fulfilled all the Divine truth and Divine good contained in the Word, both in its natural sense and in its spiritual sense, He became good itself and truth itself, that is, the Word.

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XII. BEFORE THE WORD THAT IS NOW IN THE WORLD, THERE WAS A WORD THAT WAS LOST. From what is told in the books of Moses it is manifest that worship by sacrifices was known, and that men prophesied from the mouth of Jehovah before the Word was given to the Israelitish nation through Moses and the prophets. That worship by sacrifices was known is evident from the following: The sons of Israel were commanded to overturn the altars of the nations, to dash in pieces their statues, and to cut down their groves (Exod. 34:13; Deut. 7:5; 12:3). In Shittim Israel began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab; they called the people unto the sacrifices of their gods, and the people did eat (Num. 25:1-3). That Balaam, who was from Syria, made them to build altars, and they sacrificed oxen and sheep (Num. 22:40; 23:1, 2, 14, 29, 30). He also prophesied of the Lord, saying that a Star should come forth out of Jacob, and a Scepter should rise out of Israel (Num. 24:17). He also prophesied from the mouth of Jehovah (Num. 22:13, 18; 23:3, 5, 8, 16, 26; 24:1, 13). All this shows that there existed among the nations a Divine worship, almost like that instituted by Moses in the Israelitish nation. That it also existed before the time of Abraham, is clear from the words in Moses (Deut. 32:7, 8), but conclusively from what is said of Melchizedek, king of Salem: That he brought forth bread and wine, and blessed Abraham, and that Abraham gave him tithes of all (Gen. 14:18-20); also that Melchizedek represented the Lord, for he is called the priest of the Most High God (Gen. 14:18); and it is said of the Lord in David: Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek (Ps. 110:4). It was for this reason that Melchizedek brought forth bread and wine as the most holy things of the church, as they are the holy things in the Holy Supper. These and many other things are clear proofs that before the Israelitish Word there was a Word from which such revelations as these were derived.

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That there was a Word among the ancient people, is evident from Moses, who mentions it and took certain things from it (Num. 21:14, 15, 27-30); its historical parts were called “the Wars of Jehovah,” and its prophetical parts “Enunciations.” From the historical parts of that Word the following is quoted by Moses: Wherefore it is said in the Book of the Wars of Jehovah, Vaheb in Suphah and in the streams of Arnon, and the valley of water-courses that goeth down to the dwelling of Ar, and leaneth upon the border of Moab (Num. 21:14, 15). By the wars of Jehovah in that Word, as in ours, the conflicts of the Lord with the hells, and His victories over them when He was about to come into the world are meant and described. The same conflicts are meant and described in many places in the historical portions of our Word, as in what is said of the wars of Joshua with the nations of the land of Canaan, and the wars of the judges and the kings of Israel. [2] From the prophetical portions of that Word the following passages were taken: Wherefore the Enunciators say, Come ye to Heshbon; let the city of Sihon be built and established; for a fire is gone out of Heshbon, a flame from the city of Sihon; it hath devoured Ar of Moab, and the lords of the high places of Arnon. Woe to thee, Moab thou hast perished, O people of Chemosh; he hath given his sons as fugitives, and his daughters into captivity unto Sihon king of the Amorites. We have destroyed them with weapons; Heshbon is perished even unto Dibon, and we have laid them waste even unto Nophah, which reacheth unto Medeba (Num. 21:27-30). Translators render this “composers of proverbs” [or “they that speak in proverbs”]; but the rendering ought to be “Enunciators,” or “Prophetic Enunciations,” as can be seen from the signification of the word Meschalim in the Hebrew tongue, which means both proverbs and prophetic enunciations (as in Num. 23:7, 18; 24:3, 15), where it is said that Balaam “uttered his enunciation,” which was a prophecy that also referred to the Lord. This enunciation is called Maschal in the singular. Moreover, what Moses quotes therefrom is not a proverb but a prophecy. [3] That this Word was in like manner Divinely inspired is evident from Jeremiah, where almost the same things are said: A fire is gone forth out of Heshbon, and a flame from the midst of Sihon, and hath devoured the comer of Moab, and the crown of the head of the sons of tumult. Woe be unto thee, Moab: the people of Chemosh have perished; for thy sons are taken away captive, and thy daughters into captivity (Jer. 48:45, 46). In addition to all this a prophetic book of the ancient Word, called the Book of Jasher or the book of the Upright, is mentioned by David and Joshua; by David as follows: David lamented over Saul and over Jonathan; and he wrote, To teach the sons of Judah the bow. Behold, it is written in the Book of Jasher (2 Sam. 1:17, 18). And by Joshua: Joshua said Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon, and thou, moon, in the valley of Ajalon. Is not this written in the Book of Jasher? (Josh. 10:12, 13).

266.

From all this it can be seen that there was in the world, especially in Asia, an ancient Word before the Israelitish Word. It will be seen in the third Memorable Relation at the end of this chapter on the Sacred Scripture that this Word is preserved in heaven among the angels who lived in those times; and moreover, that it is still in existence at the present day among the nations of Great Tartary.

267.

XIII. THAT THROUGH THE WORD THERE IS LIGHT ALSO TO THOSE WHO ARE OUTSIDE OF THE CHURCH AND DO NOT POSSESS THE WORD. No conjunction with heaven is possible unless somewhere on the earth there is a church that has the Word, and by means of the Word the Lord is known; for the Lord is the God of heaven and earth, and without Him there is no salvation. That conjunction with the Lord and affiliation with the angels is effected by means of the Word may be seen above (n. 234-239). It is sufficient that there be a church where the Word is; and although it consist of comparatively few, the Lord nevertheless is present by means of it throughout the whole world, since by means of it there is a conjunction of heaven with the human race.

268.

But it shall be told how there is a presence and a conjunction of the Lord and heaven in all the earth by means of the Word. In the Lord’s sight the whole angelic heaven is as a single man; so also is the church on earth. That these actually appear as a man may be seen in the work on Heaven and Hell (n. 59-86). In that man the church where the Word is read, and by means of it the Lord is known, is like the heart and lungs, the Lord’s celestial kingdom like the heart, and His spiritual kingdom like the lungs. As from these two fountains of life in the human body all the remaining members, viscera, and organs, subsist and live, so from the conjunction of the Lord and heaven with the church by means of the Word, do all those subsist and live in all the earth who have a religion, and who worship one God and live well, and are thereby in that man, such having relation to the members and viscera outside of the thorax which contains the heart and lungs. For the Word in the Christian church is life from the Lord through heaven to the rest of the world, just as the life of the members and viscera of the whole body is from the heart and lungs; and there is a like communication; and this is why Christians, among whom the Word is read, constitute the breast of that man. Such are in the center of all, and round about them are the Papists, and around these the Mohammedans who acknowledge the Lord as the greatest prophet and the son of God. After these are the Africans, while the peoples and nations of Asia and the Indies form the outmost boundary.

269.

That this is true of heaven as a whole may be concluded from what is similar in each society of heaven; for each society is a heaven in a less form, and is also like a man (that it is so, may be seen in the work on Heaven and Hell, n. 41-87). In each society of heaven those who are at the center have a like relation to the heart and lungs, and with them there is the greatest light. The light itself with the consequent perception of truth spreads out from that center towards the circumference, in every direction, thus to all who are in the society, and constitutes their spiritual life. It has been shown that when those who were at the center and who constituted the province of the heart and lungs, and with whom there was the most light, were taken away, those who were round about them had their understandings obscured, and had so feeble a perception of truth that they were grieved; but as soon as the others returned light appeared, and their perception of truth was the same as before. This may be compared to the heat and light of the sun of the world, which causes trees and plants to vegetate, even those out of their direct rays or under clouds, provided the sun is above the horizon. So is it with the light and heat of heaven from the Lord as a sun there, that light being in its essence Divine truth, the source of all wisdom and intelligence to angels and men. It is therefore said of the Word: That it was with God, and was God; that it lighteth every man that cometh into the world, and that its light shineth even in darkness (John 1:1, 5, 9). The Word here means the Lord in respect to Divine truth.

270.

From all this it can be seen that the Word which is in the possession of the Protestant and Reformed churches, enlightens by spiritual communication all nations and peoples; also that the Lord provides that there shall always be on earth a church where the Word is read, and thereby the Lord is made known. Therefore when the Papists had almost wholly rejected the Word, by the Lord’s Divine Providence the Reformation took place, whereby the Word was drawn as it were from concealment and brought into use. So when the Word had been wholly falsified and adulterated by the Jewish nation, and, as it were, made of no effect, it , pleased the Lord to descend from heaven, and to come as the Word, and fulfill it, and thereby to restore and reestablish it, and give light once more to the inhabitants of the earth, according to the words of the Lord: The people that sit in darkness saw a great light; and to them that sit in the land and shadow of death, to them did the light spring up (Isa. 9:8; Matt. 4:16).

271.

As it was foretold that again at the end of this church darkness would arise from not recognizing the Lord as the God of heaven and earth, and from the separation of faith from charity, lest in consequence of this the genuine understanding of the Word and with it the church should perish, it has pleased the Lord to reveal at this time the spiritual sense of the Word, and to make manifest that the Word contains in that sense, and from that sense in the natural sense, things innumerable, by means of which the almost extinguished light of truth from the Word may be restored. That the light of truth would be almost extinguished at the end of this church, is foretold in many places in the Apocalypse. This is the meaning also of these words of the Lord: Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken; and then they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with glory and power (Matt. 24:29, 30). By “the sun” here the Lord in respect to love is meant; by “the moon” the Lord in respect to faith; by “the stars” the Lord in respect to knowledges of truth and good; by “the Son of man” the Lord in respect to the Word; by “a cloud” the sense of the letter of the Word; by “glory” the spiritual sense of the Word, and its shining through the sense of the letter, and by “power” its potency.

272.

I have been permitted to learn through much experience, that man has communication with heaven through the Word. While reading the Word from the first chapter of Isaiah to the last of Malachi, and also the Psalms of David, and keeping my thought fixed upon the spiritual sense, a clear perception was given me that each verse communicated with some society of heaven, and thus the whole Word with the entire heaven; which showed clearly, that as the Lord is the Word, heaven is also the Word, since heaven is heaven from the Lord, and the Lord through the Word is the all in all thing of heaven.

273.

XIV. IF THERE WERE NO WORD THERE WOULD BE NO KNOWLEDGE OF GOD, OF HEAVEN AND HELL, OR OF A LIFE AFTER DEATH, STILL LESS OF THE LORD. As there are some who hold, and who have thoroughly convinced themselves, that man may know without the Word of the existence of God, and of heaven and hell, and of other things taught by the Word; such cannot properly be appealed to from the Word, but only from the light of natural reason, since they do not believe in the Word, but only in themselves. Inquire then, from the light of reason, and you will find that there are in man two faculties of life, which are called understanding and will, and that the understanding is subject to the will, but not the will to the understanding; for the understanding merely teaches and points out what ought to be done from the will; and for this reason many who are of an acute genius, and who understand better than others the moral principles of life, still do not live according to them; but if their will favored them it would be otherwise. Inquire further, and you will find that man’s will is his selfhood [proprium] and that this is evil from birth, and that from this comes the falsity in the understanding. When you have found out these things, you will see that man of himself has no wish to understand anything except what is from the selfhood of his will, and if this were his only source of knowledge, he would have no wish from his will’s selfhood to understand anything but what pertains to self and the world; and everything above this would be in thick darkness. For instance, in looking at the sun, moon, and stars, if he should think about their origin, he could not think otherwise than that they exist from themselves. Could he raise his thoughts higher than many of the learned in the world, who while knowing from the Word that all things were created by God, yet acknowledge nature? If these had known nothing from the Word what would they have thought? Do you suppose that the ancient wise men, such as Aristotle, Cicero, Seneca, and others, who wrote about God and the immortality of the soul, obtained this knowledge primarily from their own understanding? No; they obtained it from others by its having been handed down from those who first knew of it from the ancient Word, of which above. Neither do the writers on Natural Theology derive any such knowledge from themselves; they merely confirm by rational deductions what they knew from the church where the Word is, and possibly some among them confirm and yet do not believe.

274.

It has been granted me to see people who were born on islands, and who were rational in civil matters, but knew nothing whatever about God. In the spiritual world these look like sphinxes; but as they were born men, and thus have a capacity to receive spiritual life, they are instructed by angels, and are made alive by knowledge about the Lord as a Man. What man is of himself is made clear from those who are in hell. Among these there are some leaders and learned men who are not willing even to hear about God, and therefore cannot even utter the word God. These I have seen, and I have talked with them. I have also talked with some who burned with anger and fury when they heard anyone speaking about the Lord. Consider then, what kind of man one would be who had never heard anything about God, when such is the character of some who have talked about God, written about God, and preached about God. Such they are from their will, which is evil, and which, as before said, leads the understanding, and takes away any truth there is in it from the Word. If man of himself had been able to know that there is a God and a life after death, why has he not known that man is a man after death? Why does he believe that his soul or spirit is like mere wind or ether, having no eyes to see, no ears to hear, no mouth to speak, until it is joined with and made one with its corpse and skeleton? Given therefore, a doctrine hatched solely from the light of reason, would it not teach that self should be worshiped? This has been done for ages, and is still done now by those who know from the Word that God alone ought to be worshiped. From the selfhood of man no other worship can spring, not even the worship of the sun and moon.

275.

It was not from themselves nor from their own intelligence, but from the ancient Word (see above, n. 264-266), and afterwards from the Israelitish Word, that from the most ancient times religion has existed, and the inhabitants of the earth everywhere have had a knowledge of God, and some knowledge of a life after death. From these two Words religious systems spread into the Indies and their islands; through Egypt and Ethiopia into the kingdoms of Africa; from the maritime parts of Asia into Greece, and from Greece into Italy. But as the Word could be written only by representations, which are such things in the world as correspond to and thus signify heavenly things, the religions of these nations were turned into idolatries, and in Greece into fables; and the Divine attributes and properties were turned into as many gods, over whom one was made supreme, whom they called Jove, possibly from Jehovah. It is known that they had a knowledge of Paradise, of the flood, of the sacred fire, and of the four ages, from the first or golden age, to the last or iron age (as described in Daniel 2:31-35).

276.

Those who believe that a knowledge of God, of heaven and hell, and of the spiritual things pertaining to the church, can be gained from their own intelligence, do not know that a natural man, viewed in himself, is opposed to the spiritual, and therefore desires to extirpate the spiritual things that enter, or to involve them in fallacies, which are like the worms that consume the roots of herbs and grain. Such may be likened to men who dream that they are seated upon eagles and are borne up on high, or are mounted on Pegasus and are flying over Mount Parnassus to Helicon; while actually they are like the Lucifers in hell, who still call themselves there “sons of the morning” (Isa. 14:12). They are also like the men in the valley of the land of Shinar, who attempted to build a tower, the head of which should reach to heaven (Gen. 11:2-4); and like Goliath they trust to themselves, not foreseeing that like him they might be prostrated by a sling-stone buried in the forehead. I will tell what lot awaits such after death. At first they become as if drunk, then like fools, and at last they become stupid and dwell in darkness. Therefore let men beware of such madness.

277.

To this I will add the following Memorable Relation First: One day I was wandering in the spirit through various places in the spiritual world, for the purpose of observing the representations of heavenly things that are there exhibited in many places; and in a certain house where there were angels, I saw large purses containing a great quantity of silver; and as the purses were open, it seemed as if anyone might draw forth the silver there stored, and even purloin it; but near the purses sat two youths who were guards. The place where the purses were stored looked like the manger in a stable. In the next room modest virgins with a chaste wife were seen; and near that room stood two little children, and it was said that they were not to be played with in a childish way, but treated wisely. Afterwards a harlot appeared, and then a horse lying dead. Having seen these things, I was taught that they represented the natural sense of the Word, within which is the spiritual sense. The large purses filled with silver signified knowledges of truth in great abundance; their being open and yet guarded by youths, signified that anyone may obtain knowledges of truth therefrom, and yet care must be taken that the spiritual sense, which contains pure truths, be not violated. The manger like that in a stable signified spiritual nourishment for the understanding, a manger having this significance, because a horse, which eats from it, signifies the understanding. The modest virgins who were seen in the next room signified affections for truth, and the chaste wife, the conjunction of good and truth. The little children signified the innocence of wisdom, for the angels of the highest heaven, who are the wisest of angels, appear at a distance like little children because of their innocence. The harlot with the dead horse, signified the falsification of truth by many at the present day, whereby all understanding of truth perishes; a harlot signifying falsification, and a dead horse no understanding of truth.

278.

Second Memorable Relation: There was once sent down to me from heaven a little paper with Hebrew letters inscribed on it, but written as with the ancients, with whom those letters which at the present are formed in part of straight lines were curved, with little horns turned upward; and the angels who were with me said that they recognized complete meanings in the very letters, perceiving them especially from the curves of the lines and apexes of the letters. They also explained what the letters signified both separately and conjointly, saying that the letter H, which was added to the names of Abram and Sarai, signified the infinite and eternal. They also explained to me the meaning of the Word in Ps. 32:2, from the letters or syllables alone, saying that their meaning in brief is that the Lord is merciful even to those who do evil. They told me that the writings in the third heaven consist of letters bent and variously curved, each one of which contains a certain meaning; and that the vowels there stand for the tone of the voice, which corresponds to affection; also that they are unable in that heaven to pronounce the vowels i and e, but use in their place y and eu; and that the vowels a, o, and u were in use among them, because they have a full sound. They also said that they pronounce none of the consonants roughly, but only softly, and that this is why some Hebrew letters have points within them as a sign that they are to be pronounced softly; adding that the rough sounds of letters are in use in the spiritual heaven, because there the angels are in truths; and truth admits roughness, but the good in which the angels of the Lord’s celestial kingdom or of the third heaven are, does not. They said, moreover, that they have a Word among themselves written with curved letters with little horns and apexes that are significative. This makes clear what these words of the Lord signify: One jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass away from the law, till all things be accomplished (Matt. 5:18) also of these: It is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one tittle of the law to fall (Luke 16:17).

279.

Third Memorable Relation: Seven years ago, when I was collecting what Moses wrote in the twenty-first chapter of Numbers from the two books called The Wars of Jehovah and Enunciations, some angels were present who told me that those books were the ancient Word, the historical parts of which were called the Wars of Jehovah, and the prophetic Enunciations; and they said that this Word is still preserved in heaven, and in use among the ancient people there who had this Word when they were in the world. These ancient people, among whom that Word is still in use in heaven, were in part from the land of Canaan and the neighboring countries, as Syria, Mesopotamia, Arabia, Chaldea, Assyria, Egypt, Sidon, Tyre, and Nineveh; the inhabitants of all of which kingdoms had representative worship and consequently a knowledge of correspondences. The wisdom of that time was from that knowledge, and by it men had interior perception, and communication with the heavens. Those who knew the correspondences of that Word were called wise and intelligent, and afterward diviners and Magi. [2] But because that Word was full of such correspondences as remotely signified things celestial and spiritual, and consequently began to be falsified by many, in course of time by the Lord’s Divine Providence it disappeared, and another Word was given, written by correspondences not so remote, and this through the prophets among the sons of Israel. In this Word many names of the places, both in the land of Canaan and round about in Asia, are retained, all of which signified things and states of the church; but the significations were from the ancient Word. For this reason Abram was commanded to go into that land, and his posterity through Jacob were led into it. [3] Of that ancient Word which existed in Asia before the Israelitish Word, I am permitted to state this new thing, namely, that it is still preserved there among the people who dwell in Great Tartary. In the spiritual world I have talked with spirits and angels from that country, who said that they have a Word, and have had it from ancient times; and that they conduct their Divine worship according to this Word, and that it consists solely of correspondences. They said, that in it also is the Book of Jasher, which is mentioned in Joshua (10:12, 13), and in 2 Samuel (1:17, 18); and that they have also among them the books called the Wars of Jehovah and Enunciations, which are mentioned by Moses (Num. 21:14, 15, and 27-30); and when I read to them the words that Moses had quoted therefrom, they searched to see if they were there, and found them; from which it was evident to me that the ancient Word is still among that people. While talking with them they said that they worshiped Jehovah, some as an invisible God, and some as visible. [4] They also told me that they do not permit foreigners to come among them, except the Chinese, with whom they cultivate peaceful relations, because the Chinese Emperor is from their country; also that the population is so great that they do not believe that any region in the whole world is more populous, which is indeed credible from the wall so many miles in length which the Chinese formerly built as a protection against invasion from these people. I have further heard from the angels, that the first chapters of Genesis which treat of creation, of Adam and Eve, the garden of Eden, their sons and their posterity down to the flood, and of Noah and his sons, are also contained in that Word, and thus were transcribed from it by Moses. The angels and spirits from Great Tartary are seen in the southern quarter on its eastern side, and are separated from others by dwelling in a higher expanse, and by their not permitting anyone to come to them from the Christian world, or, if any ascend, by guarding them to prevent their return. Their possessing a different Word is the cause of this separation.

280.

Fourth Memorable Relation: I once saw at a distance walks between rows of trees, and groups of youths assembled there, forming as many companies discussing matters of wisdom. This was in the spiritual world. I went towards them, and as I drew near I saw one whom the rest venerated as their primate, because he excelled them in wisdom. When he saw me he said, “I wondered when I saw you approaching, that at one time you came in sight and at another you dropped out of sight, or I could see you and then suddenly I could not. You are certainly not in the same state of life as we are.” Smiling at this I said, “I am not a stage-player, nor a Vertumnus, but I am alternately in your light and in your shade; thus here I am both a foreigner and a native.” At this the wise man gazed at me and said, “Your words are strange and marvelous; tell me who you are.” And I said, “I am in the world in which you once were and from which you came, which is called the natural world; and I am also in the world in which you now are, which is called the spiritual world; consequently, I am at the same time in a natural state and in a spiritual state, in a natural state with men on earth, and in a spiritual state with you; and when I am in a natural state I am not seen by you, but when in a spiritual state, I am seen. That I am such is granted me by the Lord. To you who are enlightened it is known that a man of the natural world does not see a man of the spiritual world, nor the reverse; therefore when I had let my spirit down into my body I was not visible to you, but when I raised it out of the body I was visible. This comes from the distinction between the spiritual and the natural.” [2] When he heard the words, “the distinction between the spiritual and the natural,” he said, “What is the distinction? Is it not like that between the purer and the less pure, that is, that the spiritual is simply a purer natural?” I answered, “Such is not the distinction. By no sort of refinement can the natural so approximate the spiritual as to become the spiritual; for the distinction is like that between the prior and the posterior, between which there is no finite ratio. For the prior is in the posterior as a cause in its effect; and the posterior is from the prior as an effect is from its cause. Therefore the one is not visible to the other.” At this the wise man said, “I have meditated on this distinction, but thus far in vain; I wish I could perceive I replied, “You shall both perceive and see the distinction between the spiritual and the natural.” And I then said, “You are in a spiritual state when you are with your associates, but in a natural state when with me; for with your associates you speak in a spiritual language, which is common to every spirit and angel; but with me you speak in my native tongue, for every spirit and angel when speaking to a man uses the man’s own language; thus, French to a Frenchman, Greek to a Greek, Arabic to an Arabian, and so on. [3] If therefore you would know the difference between the spiritual and the natural in regard to language, do this: go to your companions and there say something; retain the words, return with them in your memory, and utter them to me.” This he did, and returned to me with the words in his mouth, and uttered them; and they were words wholly strange and foreign, such as are not found in any language in the natural world. By this experiment several times repeated, it became clearly manifest that all in the spiritual world have a spiritual language that has nothing in common with any natural language, and that every man comes of himself into that language after death. I also found on one occasion that the very sound of spiritual language differs so much from the sound of natural language, that even a loud spiritual sound could not be heard at all by a natural man, nor a natural sound by a spiritual man. [4] After this I asked the spirit and those standing about to go among their companions, and write some sentence upon paper, and then come out to me with the paper and read it. This they did, and returned with the paper in their hands; but when they came to read it, they could not, because the writing consisted solely of some alphabetical letters, with curves over them, each one of which meant something pertaining to the subject. Inasmuch as each letter of the alphabet there stands for some meaning, it is plain why the Lord is called “the Alpha and the Omega.” When they had gone in again and again and had written and returned, they found that the sting involved and comprehended innumerable things which no natural writing could possibly express; and they were told that this is so because the spiritual man’s thoughts are incomprehensible and ineffable to the natural man, and that they can be put into no other writing or language. [5] Then as the bystanders had no wish to understand that spiritual thought so far exceeds natural thought as to be comparatively ineffable, I said to them, “Make an experiment; enter your spiritual society and think of some subject, retain it, and return and express it in my presence.” They entered, thought of a subject, retained it, and came out; and when they tried to give expression to it they could not; for they could find no idea of natural thought adequate to any idea of purely spiritual thought, and thus no words to express it; for the ideas of thought become words in speech. Afterwards they entered again, and returned; and became convinced that spiritual ideas are supernatural, inexpressible, ineffable and incomprehensible to a natural man; and they said that being so supereminent, spiritual ideas or thoughts in comparison with natural are ideas of ideas and thoughts of thoughts, and therefore by them the qualities of qualities and the affections of affections are expressed; consequently that spiritual thoughts are the beginnings and origins of natural thoughts; and from this it is evident that spiritual wisdom is the wisdom of wisdom, and is therefore inexpressible to any wise man in the natural world. [6] Then it was said from the higher heaven that there is a still more interior or higher wisdom which is called celestial, the relation of which to spiritual wisdom is like the relation of this to natural wisdom, and that these inflow in order according to the heavens from the Lord’s Divine wisdom, which is infinite. Thereupon, the man speaking with me said, “This I see, because I perceive it, that one natural idea is the containant of many spiritual ideas; also that one spiritual idea is the containant of many celestial ideas. From this it follows as a consequence, that what is divided does not become more and more simple, but more and more manifold, because it approaches nearer and nearer to the infinite, which contains all things infinitely.” [7] After all this had taken place, I said to the bystanders, “From these three experimental proofs you see what kind of distinction there is between the spiritual and the natural, and also the reason why a natural man is not visible to a spiritual man, or a spiritual man to a natural man, although both are in a complete human form, and from that form it seems to each as though he might see the other. But the interiors Which belong to the mind are what constitute that form; and the minds of spirits and angels are formed out of spiritual things, while the minds of men so long as they live in the world, are formed out of natural things.” After this a voice was heard from the higher heaven, saying to one who stood by, “Come up hither.” He went up, and returned and said that the angels had not before known the differences between the spiritual and the natural, because the means of comparison had not previously been furnished in a man who was in both worlds at once, and without comparison and relation those differences are unknowable. [8] Before we separated we talked again about this matter, and I said, “These distinctions come solely from this, that you in the spiritual world are substantial but not material, and substantial things are the beginnings of material things. What is matter but an aggregation of substances? You therefore are in principles and thus in the least particles, while we are in derivatives and compounds; you are in particulars, while we are in generals; and as generals cannot enter into particulars, so neither can natural things, which are material, enter into spiritual things, which are substantial; just as a ship’s cable cannot enter or be drawn through the eye of a sewing needle, or a nerve cannot be drawn into one of the fibers of which it is composed. This then is why the natural man cannot think the thoughts of the spiritual man, and therefore cannot utter them. So what Paul heard from the third heaven he called ineffable. [9] Add to this, that to think spiritually is to think apart from time and space, while to think naturally is to think in accord with time and space; for to every idea of natural thought there adheres something from time and space; but it is not so with any spiritual idea, and for the reason that the spiritual world is not in space and time, as the natural world is, but is in the appearance of these two. In the same way do the thoughts and perceptions of the two worlds differ. For this reason you are able to think of the essence and omnipotence of God from eternity, that is, to think of God before the creation of the world, because you think of the essence of God apart from time and of His omnipotence apart from space; and thus you can comprehend such things as transcend man’s natural ideas.” [10] I then told them that I had once thought about the essence and omnipresence of God from eternity, that is, about God before the creation of the world; and because I was not then able to separate spaces and times from the ideas of my thought I became anxious, since the idea of nature in place of God pressed in. But it was said to me, “Separate the ideas of space and time and you will see;” and I was permitted to separate them, and I saw; and since then I have been able to think of God from eternity, but by no means of nature from eternity, because God is in all time apart from time, and in all space apart from space; but nature in all time is in time, and in all space is in space; and nature with its time and space must needs have beginning; but not God who is apart from time and space. Therefore nature is not God from eternity, but is from God in time, in connection with its own time and space.

281.

Fifth Memorable Relation: As it has been granted me by the Lord to be in the spiritual world and in the natural world at the same time, and thus to talk with angels the same as with men, and thereby to become acquainted with the states of those who after death pass into that hitherto unknown world (for I have spoken with all of my relatives and friends, and with kings and nobles and with learned men who have met their fate, and this now continually for twenty-seven years), I am able from living experience to describe the states of men after death, what the states are of those who have lived well and of those who have lived wickedly. But here I will only mention some things respecting the state of those who have confirmed themselves in falsities of doctrine from the Word, and especially those who have done this in support of justification by faith alone. The successive states of such are as follows: (i.) After death and when they are reviving in spirit, which usually takes place on the third day after the heart has ceased to beat, they seem to themselves to be in a body so like that which they had in the world that they do not know but that they are still living in the former world, yet not in a material body, but in a body that is substantial and that appears to their senses to be material; but it is not. [2] (ii.) After some days, they see that they are in a world where various societies are formed, which world is called the world of spirits, and is intermediate between heaven and hell. All the societies there, and they are innumerable, are wonderfully arranged in accordance with good and evil natural affections; the societies arranged in accordance with good natural affections communicating with heaven, and those arranged in accordance with evil affections communicating with hell. [3] (iii.) The novitiate spirit or spiritual man is conducted and transferred into various societies, both good and evil, and is examined as to whether he is affected by what is good and true, and how, or by what is evil and false, and how. [4] (iv.) If be is affected by what is good and true, he is led away from evil societies, and is led into good societies, and into different ones until he comes into a society that is in correspondence with his natural affection, and there he enjoys the good that corresponds to that affection, and this until he has put off his natural affection and put on a spiritual affection, and then he is raised into heaven. This takes place with those who in the world had lived a life of charity, and thus a life of faith also, which is believing in the Lord and shunning evils as sins. [5] (v.) But those who have confirmed themselves in falsities by means of reasonings, especially by means of the Word, and so have lived a merely natural and thus an evil life (for evils accompany falsities and adhere to falsities), inasmuch as they are not affected by what is good and true, but by what is evil and false, are led away from good societies and into evil societies and into different ones, until they come into some society corresponding to the lusts of their love. [6] (vi.) But because these in the world had feigned good affections in externals, although in their internals there were only evil affections or lusts, they are kept by turns in their [good] externals. Those who in the world had presided over communities, are appointed over societies here and there in the world of spirits, either over a whole society or a part according to the extent of the offices they had filled in their former life. But as they have no love for what is true or what is just, and cannot be so far enlightened as to know what is true and just, after a few days they are deposed. I have seen such transferred from one society to another, and official authority everywhere given them, but always taken away after a short time. [7] (vii.) After frequent dismissals, some from weariness do not wish, and some from fear of losing their reputation do not dare, to seek office any more; and therefore they withdraw and sit in sadness and afterwards are led away into a desert, where there are huts into which they enter, and there some work is given them to do, and as they do it they receive food. If they do not do it, when they become hungry they receive no food and are thus compelled by necessity. The food there is similar to the food in our world, but is from a spiritual origin, and is given from heaven by the Lord to all according to the uses they perform. To the idle none is given because they are useless. [8] (viii.) After a while they become disgusted with work and leave their huts. If they had been priests they wish to build; and immediately heaps of cut stone, bricks, beams, and boards appear, also piles of reeds and rushes, of clay, lime, and bitumen. When they see these a strong desire to build is kindled in them, and they begin to construct a house, taking now a stone, and then a stick, then a reed and then some mud, and placing one upon the other without order, but to their sight in regular order. But what they build during the day falls down at night; and the next day they gather up the material from the rubbish and build again; and this goes on until they grow tired of building. This takes place from correspondence. The correspondence is that they have heaped up texts from the Word to prove what is false in faith, and their falsities do not otherwise build the church. [9] (ix.) Afterward from weariness they go away and sit solitary and idle; and as no food is given from heaven to the idle, as before said, they begin to grow hungry, and to think of nothing but how to get food and satisfy their hunger. While they are in this state persons come to them from whom they ask alms; but these say, “Why do you sit here idle? Come home with us, and we will give you work to do and will feed you.” Then they rise up gladly and go home with them, and each one is there given his own task, and for doing it he receives food. But since none of those who have confirmed themselves in the falsities of faith are able to do works that have a good use, but are able to do only such works as have an evil use, and are unable to do these faithfully, but only fraudulently and also unwillingly, they abandon their work, caring only to visit, talk, walk about, and sleep. And as they can no longer be induced by their masters to work they are dismissed as useless. [10] (x.) When they have been dismissed their eyes are opened and they see a road leading to a certain cavern. When they come to it a door is opened and they enter and ask if there is food there; and when told that there is they beg permission to remain there, and they are told that they may, and are introduced and the door is closed behind them. The overseer of the cavern then comes and says to them, “You can go out no more; you see your companions; they all labor, and according to their labor food is given them from heaven; I tell you this, that you may know.” Their companions also say to them, “Our overseer knows for what work each one is fitted, and assigns such work to each one daily. The days you do this work, food is given you, and if you do not do it, neither food nor clothing is given. If anyone does harm to another, he is thrown into a corner of the cavern upon a bed made of accursed dust, where he is sorely tortured, and this until the overseer sees in him some sign of repentance, and then he is released and is ordered to do his work.” [11] He is also told that everyone, after his task is done, is permitted to walk about, to talk, and afterward to sleep. And he is conducted further into the cavern where there are harlots, and each one is allowed to select one of these, and to call her his woman; but promiscuous harlotry is forbidden with penalties. Of such caverns, which are nothing but eternal workhouses, hell consists. I was permitted to enter into and see some of them, in order that I might make the facts known. All who were there seemed degraded; not one of them knew who he had been or what his employment had been in the world. But the angel who was with me said to me, “This man was in the world a servant, this a soldier, this a general; this was a priest; this a man of rank, and this a man of wealth, and yet not one of them knows but that they had been, then as now, slaves and boon companions. This is because they had been inwardly alike, although outwardly unlike, and all in the spiritual world are affiliated according to their interiors.” [12] In regard to the hells in general, they consist solely of such caverns and work-houses; but those where satans are differ from those where devils are. Those are called satans who had been in falsities and consequently in evils; and they are called devils who had been in evils and consequently in falsities. Satans in the light of heaven appear livid like corpses, and some black like mummies; but devils in the light of heaven appear dusky and fiery, and some black like soot; while in features and bodily form they are all monstrous. But in their own light, which is like the light of burning charcoal, they do not look like monsters but like men. This is granted to render them capable of association.

V. The Catechism Or Decalogue Explained In Its External And Its Internal Sense

There is not a nation in the whole world which does not know that it is wicked to murder, to commit adultery, to steal, and to bear false witness, and that kingdoms, republics, and every form of organized society, unless these evils were guarded against by laws, would be at an end. Who then can suppose that the Israelitish nation was so stupid beyond all others as not to know that these are evils? Anyone therefore may wonder that laws so universally known in the world should have been promulgated from Mount Sinai by Jehovah Himself in so miraculous a way. But listen: they were promulgated in so miraculous a way to make known that these laws are not only civil and moral laws, but also Divine laws; and that acting contrary to them is not only doing evil to the neighbor, that is, to a fellow citizen and society, but is also sinning against God. Wherefore these laws, by their promulgation by Jehovah from Mount Sinai, were made also laws of religion. Evidently whatever Jehovah commands, He commands in order that it may be a matter of religion, and thus some thing to be done for the sake of salvation. But before these commandments are explained, something must be premised respecting their holiness to make it evident that religion is in them.

283.

IN THE ISRAELITISH CHURCH THE DECALOGUE WAS HOLINESS ITSELF. The commandments of the Decalogue were the first fruits of the Word and therefore the firstfruits of the church about to be established with the Israelitish nation, and as they were in a brief summary the complex of all things of religion, whereby there is a conjunction of God with man and of man with God, they were so holy that nothing could be holier. That they were most holy is clearly manifest from the following facts: That Jehovah Himself, the Lord, descended upon Mount Sinai in fire, accompanied by angels, and promulgated these laws therefrom by a living voice [and that the people were three days preparing themselves to see and hear], and that bounds were set round about the mountain, lest anyone should approach and die; and that neither the priests nor the elders drew near, but Moses only. That these commandments were written by the finger of God on two tables of stone. That when Moses brought those tables down the second time his face shone. That the tables were afterward deposited in the ark, and the ark was placed in the inmost of the tabernacle, and over it was placed the mercy-seat, and over this the golden cherubs; and that this inmost in the tabernacle, where the ark was, was called the holy of holies. That outside the veil, within which was the ark, various things were arranged representing the holy things of heaven and the church, namely, the table overlaid with gold on which was the bread of faces, the golden altar for incense, the golden lampstand with seven lamps, also the curtains round about, made of fine linen, purple and scarlet. The holiness of the whole tabernacle was from no other source than the law which was in the ark. On account of the holiness of the tabernacle from the law in the ark, the whole Israelitish people by command encamped around it in order according to their tribes, and marched in order after it; and there was then a cloud over it by day and a fire by night. On account of the holiness of that law, and the presence of Jehovah therein, Jehovah talked with Moses above the mercy-seat between the cherubs; and the ark was called “Jehovah there.” That Aaron was not permitted to enter within the veil except with sacrifices and incense, lest he die. Also on account of the presence of Jehovah in and about the law, miracles were wrought by means of the ark which contained the law; as that the waters of Jordan were divided, and so long as the ark rested in the midst of the river the people passed over on dry ground; the walls of Jericho fell by the carrying of the ark around them; Dagon the god of the Philistines first fell on his face before it, and afterward lay upon the threshold of the temple with his head and the palms of his hands cut off. Because of the ark the Bethshemites were smitten to the number of several thousands; and Uzzah died because he touched it. The ark was brought by David into Zion with sacrifice and jubilation, and afterwards by Solomon into the temple at Jerusalem, of which it constituted the sanctuary; besides many other things. From all this it is clear that in the Israelitish church the Decalogue was holiness itself.

284.

What has been above presented respecting the promulgation, holiness, and the power of that law, is found in the following passages in the Word: Jehovah descended upon Mount Sinai in fire, and the mount then smoked and trembled, and there were thunderings, lightnings, a thick cloud, and the voice of a trumpet (Ex. 19:16-18; Deut. 4:11; 5:22-26). Before the descent of Jehovah the people prepared and sanctified themselves for three days (Ex. 19:10, 11, 15). Bounds were set round about the mount, that no one might approach or come near its base, lest he die; not even a priest, but Moses only (Ex. 20:12, 13, 20-23 24:1, 2). The law was promulgated from Mount Sinai (Ex. 20:2-17 Deut. 5:6-21). The law was inscribed on two tables of stone, and was written by the finger of God (Ex. 31:18; 32:15, 16; Deut. 9:10). When Moses brought the tables down from the mount a second time, his face shone so that he covered it with a veil while he talked with the people (Ex. 34:29-35). The tables were placed in the ark (Ex. 25:18; 40:20; Deut. 10:5; 1 Kings 8:9). The mercy-seat was put upon the ark, and over it the golden cherubs were placed (Ex. 25:17-21). The ark with its mercy-at and the cherubs was placed in the tabernacle, and was made the first and inmost part of it; the table overlaid with gold, on which the bread of faces was placed, the golden altar for incense, and the lampstand with its golden lamps, made the outer part of the tabernacle, and the ten curtains of fine linen, purple, and scarlet, its outermost (Ex. 25; 26; 40:17-28). The place where the ark was, was called the holy of holies (Ex. 26:33). The whole Israelitish people encamped around the tabernacle in order according to the tribes, and marched in order after it (Num. 2). There was then a cloud over the tabernacle by day and a fire by night (Ex. 40:38; Num. 9:15-23; 14:14; Deut. 1:33). Jehovah spoke with Moses above the ark between the cherubim (Ex. 25:22 Num. 7:89). Because of the law within it it was said of the ark that Jehovah was there; for when the ark moved forward Moses said, Rise up, O Jehovah; and when it rested, Return, O Jehovah (Num. 10:35, 36; 2 Sam. 6:2; Ps 132:7, 8; 2 Chron. 6:41). Because of the holiness, of that law, Aaron was not permitted to enter within the veil, except with sacrifices and incense (Lev. 16:2-14, seq. ). Because of the presence of the Lord’s power in the law which was within the ark, the waters of Jordan were divided; and while the ark rested in the midst of the river, the people passed on dry land (Josh. 3:1-17; 4:5-20). When the ark was carried around them, the walls of Jericho fell (Josh. 6:1-20). Dagon, the god of the Philistines, fell to the ground before the ark, and afterward lay upon the threshold of the temple with his head broken off and the palms of his hands cut off (1 Sam. 5). The Bethshemites on account of the ark were smitten to the number of several thousands (I Sam. 5, 6). Uzzah died because he touched the ark (2 Sam. 6:7). The ark was brought into Zion by David, with sacrifices and jubilation (2 Sam. 6:1-19). It was introduced by Solomon into the temple at Jerusalem, where it constituted the sanctuary (1 Kings 6:19, seq.; 8:3-9).

285.

Because by that law there is a conjunction of the Lord with man and of man with the Lord, it is called “The Covenant” and “The Testimony;” the covenant because it effects conjunction, and the testimony because it confirms the articles of the covenant; for “covenant” signifies in the Word conjunction, and “testimony” the confirmation and witnessing of its articles. For this reason there were two tables, one for God and the other for man. Conjunction is effected by the Lord, but only when man does what is written in his table; for the Lord is continually present and wishes to enter in, but man, by the freedom which he has from the Lord, must open to Him, for the Lord says: Behold I stand at the door and knock; if any man hear My voice and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me (Rev. 3:20). That the tables of stone on which the law was written, were called the tables of the covenant, and because of them the ark was called the ark of the covenant, and the law itself was called the covenant, may be seen in 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 “covenant” signifies conjunction, it is said of the Lord, That He shall be a covenant for the people (Isa. 42:6; 49:8, 9). He is called also 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); and therefore the Word is called the Old and the New Covenant [Testament]; for covenants are made for the sake of love, friendship, affiliation, and conjunction.

286.

Such great holiness and power were in that law, because it was the complex of all things of religion. It was written on two tables, one of which contained in the complex all things that look to God, and the other in the complex all things that look to man. Therefore the commandments of that law are called the “Ten Words” (Ex. 34:28; Deut. 4:13; 10:4). They were so called because “ten” signifies all, and “words” signify truths; for they were more than ten words. That “ten” signifies all things, and that tithes (tenths) were instituted on account of that signification, may be seen in the Apocalypse Revealed (n. 101); and that that law is the complex of all things of religion, will be seen in what follows.

287.

IN THE SENSE OF THE LETTER THE DECALOGUE CONTAINS THE GENERAL PRECEPTS OF DOCTRINE AND LIFE, BUT IN THE SPIRITUAL AND CELESTIAL SENSES IT CONTAINS ALL PRECEPTS UNIVERSALLY. It is known that in the Word the Decalogue is called by way of eminence the Law, because it contains all things of Doctrine and life; for it contains both all things that look to God, and all things that look to man. For this reason the law was written on two tables, one of which treats of God, the other of man. It is also known that all things belonging to doctrine and life have reference to love to God and love towards the neighbor; and all things pertaining to these loves are contained in the Decalogue. That in the whole Word nothing else is taught can be seen from these words of the Lord: Jesus said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God from all thy heart, and in all thy soul, and in all thy mind, and thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang the law and the prophets (Matt. 22:37, 39-40). “The law and the prophets” signify the whole Word. And again: A certain lawyer, tempting Jesus, said, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? And Jesus said unto him, What is written in the law? how readest thou? And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind, and thy neighbor as thyself. And Jesus said, This do, and thou shalt live (Luke 10:25-28). Since then, love to God and love towards the neighbor are the whole of the Word, and the first table of the Decalogue contains in a summary all things pertaining to love to God, and the second table all things pertaining to love to the neighbor, it follows that the Decalogue contains all things of doctrine and life. From these two tables so regarded it is plain that they are connected in such a manner that God from His table looks to man, and man from his table in turn looks to God, thus the looking is reciprocal, that is, it is such that God on His part never ceases to look to man and to make operative such things as relate to man’s salvation; and when man receives and does what is written on his table, a reciprocal conjunction is effected; and then comes to pass what the Lord said to the lawyer, “This do, and thou shalt live.”

288.

In the Word “the law” is frequently mentioned; and what is meant by the law in a strict sense, in a broader sense, and in the broadest sense, shall now be told. In a strict sense the law means the Decalogue; in a broader sense it means the statutes given by Moses to the children of Israel, and in the broadest sense it means the whole Word. That the law in a strict sense means the Decalogue, is well known. That the law in a wider sense means the statutes given by Moses to the children of Israel, is evident from the particular statutes, each of which in Exodus is called a “law;” as also [in Leviticus]: This is the law of the guilt offering (Lev. 7:1). This is the law of the sacrifice of peace offering (Lev. 7:7, 11). This is the law of the meat offering (Lev. 6:14 seq.). This is the law for the burnt offering, for the meat offering, and for the sin offering, and for the guilt offering, and for the consecrations (Lev. 7:37). This is the law of the beast and of the fowl (Lev. 11:46 seq.) This is the law for her that beareth, 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 him that hath an issue (Lev. 15:32). This is the law of jealousy (Num. 5:29, 30). This is the law of the Nazarite (Num. 6:13, 21). This is the law of cleansing (Num. 19:14). The law respecting the red heifer (Num. 19:2). The law for the king (Deut. 17:15-19). Indeed the whole book of Moses is called the law (Deut. 31:9, 11, 12, 26; likewise in the New Testament, as in Luke 2:22; 24:44; John 1:45; 7:22, 23; 8:5; and elsewhere). That Paul, by the works of the law, means these statutes, where he says, That a man is justified by faith apart from the works of the law (Rom. 3:28), is clearly manifest from what there follows, as also from his words to Peter, whom he accuses of Judaizing, when he says three times in one verse, That no man is justified by the works of the law (Gal. 2:14, 16). That the law in the broadest sense means the whole Word, is plain from the following passages: Jesus said, Is it not written in your law, Ye are Gods? (John 10:34). This is written, Ps. 82:6. The multitude answered, We have heard out of the law that Christ abideth forever (John 12:34). This is written Ps. 89:29; 110:4; Dan. 7:14. That the Word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause (John 15:25). This is written, Ps. 35:19. The Pharisees said, Hath any of the rulers believed on Him but the crowd which knoweth not the law? (John 7:48-49). It is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one tittle of the law to fall (Luke 16:17). The law here means the whole Sacred Scripture; also in a thousand places in David.

289.

In the spiritual and celestial senses the Decalogue contains universally all the precepts of doctrine and life, thus all things of faith and charity, because the Word in each and all things of the sense of the letter, or in general and in every part of it, conceals two interior senses, one called the spiritual sense and the other the celestial; also Divine truth in its light and the Divine good in its heat are in these two senses. And because the Word in general and in every part of it is so constituted, the ten commandments of the Decalogue must needs be explained according to these three senses, called the natural, the spiritual, and the celestial. That the Word is such can be seen from what has been shown above (n. 193-208), in the chapter on the Sacred Scripture or the Word.

290.

Unless one knows the nature of the Word, he can have no idea that there is an infinity in every least particular of it, that is, that it contains things innumerable, which not even angels can exhaust. Each thing in it may be likened to a seed that is capable of growing up from the ground to a great tree and producing an abundance of seeds, from which again similar trees may be produced, these together forming a garden, and from the seeds of this other gardens, and so on to infinity. Such is the Word of the Lord in its least particulars, and such especially is the Decalogue; for this, because it teaches love to God and love towards the neighbor, is a brief summary of the whole Word. That such is the nature of the Word, the Lord also teaches by a similitude, thus: The kingdom of God is like unto a grain of mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field; which indeed is less than all seeds; but when it is grown it is greater than the herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of heaven come and lodge in the branches thereof (Matt. 13:31, 32; Mark 4:31, 32; Luke 13:18, 19; compare also Ezek. 17:2-8); That such is the infinity of spiritual seed or of truths in the Word, can be seen from angelic wisdom, which is all from the Word. This increases in the angels to eternity, and the wiser they become, the more clearly do they see that wisdom is without end, and perceive that they are merely in its outer court, and cannot in the smallest particular attain to the Lord’s Divine wisdom, which they call a great deep. Since, then, the Word is from this great deep, because it is from the Lord, it is plain that there is a kind of infinity in every part of it.

291.

THE FIRST COMMANDMENT. THERE SHALL BE [WITH THEE] NO OTHER GOD IN MY PRESENCE These are the words of the first commandment (Exod. 20:3; Deut. 5:7). In the natural sense, which is the sense of the letter, the meaning nearest the letter is that idols must not be worshiped; for there follows, Thou shalt not make unto thee a graven image, nor any likeness that is in the heavens above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the waters under the earth; thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them nor worship them; for I Jehovah thy God am a jealous God (Exod. 20:4-5). In the sense nearest the letter this commandment means that idols must not be worshiped, for the reason that before this time and after it down to the Lord’s coming, idolatrous worship prevailed in a great part of Asia. The cause of this worship was that all churches before the Lord’s coming were representative and typical; and these types and representations were such, that Divine things were set forth under various figures and sculptured forms; and when the meanings of these were lost the common people began to worship them as gods. That the Israelitish nation was also in this worship when in Egypt, is evident from the golden calf which they worshiped in the desert instead of Jehovah; and that afterwards they were not wholly alienated from that worship is evident from many passages both in the historical and in the prophetic Word.

292.

This commandment, “There shall be no other God in My presence” means also in the natural sense, that no man dead or living should be worshiped as a god. This, too, was done in Asia and in various surrounding countries. Many of the gods of the heathen were simply men, as Baal, Ashtaroth, Chemosh, Milcom, Beelzebub; and at Athens and Rome, Saturn, Jupiter, Neptune, Pluto, Apollo, Pallas, and so forth. Some of these were worshiped first as saints, then as divinities and finally as gods. That they also worshiped living men as gods, appears from the edict of Darius the Mede, That for thirty days no man should ask anything from God, but from the king only; otherwise, he should be cast into a den of lions (Dan. 6:8-28).

293.

In the natural sense, which is the sense of the letter, this commandment means also that no one except God, and nothing but what proceeds from God, is to be loved above all things, which also accords with the Lord’s words (Matt. 22:35-37; Luke 10:25-28). For any person or thing that is loved above all things is God and is Divine to the one who so loves. For example, to one who loves himself or the world above all things, himself or the world is his God; and this is why such persons do not in heart acknowledge any God, and in consequence are conjoined with their like in hell, where all who love themselves and the world above all things are gathered.

294.

The spiritual sense of this commandment is, that no other God than the Lord Jesus Christ is to be worshiped, because He is Jehovah, who came into the world and wrought the redemption without which neither any man nor any angel could have been saved. That there is no God beside Him, is evident from the following passages in the Word: It shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for Him that He may deliver us; this is Jehovah; we have waited for Him, we will rejoice and be glad in His salvation (Isa. 25:9). The voice of one that crieth in the desert, Prepare ye the way of Jehovah; make level in the wilderness a highway for our God. For the glory of Jehovah shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together. Behold, the Lord Jehovih cometh in strength; He shall feed His flock like a shepherd (Isa. 40:3, 6, 10, 11). Surely God is in thee there is no God besides. Verily Thou art a God that hidest Thyself, O God of Israel the Savior (Isa. 45:14, 15). Am not I Jehovah? and there is no God else besides Me; a just God and a Savior; there is none besides Me (Isa. 45:21, 22). I am Jehovah; and besides me there is no Savior (Isa. 43:11; Hos. 13:4). That all flesh may know that I Jehovah am thy Savior and thy Redeemer (Isa. 44:26; 45:16). As for our Redeemer, Jehovah of Hosts is His name (Isa. 47:4, Jer 50:34). O Jehovah, my Rock and my Redeemer (Ps. 19:14). Thus saith Jehovah, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, I am Jehovah thy God (Isa. 48:17; 43:14; 49:7; 54:8). Thus said Jehovah, thy Redeemer, I am Jehovah that maketh all things alone by Myself (Isa. 44:24). Thus said Jehovah, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer Jehovah of Hosts; I am the First, and I am the Last, and beside Me there is no God (Isa. 44:6). Jehovah Of Hosts is His name, and the Holy One of Israel is thy Redeemer; the God of the whole earth shall He be called (Isa. 54:6, 8). Though Abraham knoweth us not; and Israel doth not acknowledge us; Thou Jehovah art our Father, our Redeemer; from everlasting is Thy name (Isa. 63:18). Unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, God, Mighty, Father of eternity, Prince of peace (Isa. 9:6). Behold the days come, that I will raise up unto David a righteous Branch, who shall reign a King and this is His name, Jehovah our Righteousness (Jer. 23:5-6; 33:15-16). Philip said to Jesus, Lord, show us the Father. Jesus said unto him, he that seeth Me seeth the Father. Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? (John 14:8-10). In Jesus Christ dwelleth all the fullness of Divinity bodily (Col. 2:9). We are in the True, in Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life. Little children, keep yourselves from idols (1 John 5:20, 21). From these passages it is very evident that the Lord our Savior is Jehovah Himself, who is at once Creator, Redeemer, and Regenerator. This is the spiritual sense of this commandment.

295.

The celestial sense of this commandment is, that Jehovah the Lord is infinite, illimitable, and eternal; that He is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent; that He is the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End, who was, is, and is to be; that He is love itself and wisdom itself, or good itself, and truth itself, consequently life itself; and thus the one only Being from whom all things are.

296.

All who acknowledge and worship any other God than the Lord the Savior, Jesus Christ, who is Jehovah God Himself in human form, sin against this first commandment. Those also sin against it who persuade themselves of the actual existence of three Divine persons from eternity. For as they confirm themselves in that error, they become more and more natural and corporeal, and at length are unable to comprehend interiorly any Divine truth; and if they listen to it and accept it, they still defile it and cover it up with fallacies. They may therefore be compared to those who dwell in the lowest story or the cellar of a house, and in consequence hear nothing of the conversation of those who are in the second and third stories, because the floor above their heads keeps the sound from penetrating to them. [2] The human mind is like a house of three stories, in the lowest of which are those who have confirmed themselves in favor of three Gods from eternity, while in the second and third stories are those who acknowledge and believe in one God under a visible human form, and that the Lord God the Savior is He. As the sensual and corporeal man is merely natural, and viewed in himself is wholly animal, and differs from a brute animal only in being able to talk and reason, so he is like one living in a menagerie, where there are all kinds of wild beasts, and there he now acts the lion, now the bear, now the tiger, the leopard, or the wolf; and he may even act the lamb, but then in heart he laughs. [3] The merely natural man thinks of Divine truths only from the things of the world, and thus from the fallacies of the senses, for he is unable to raise his mind above these. Therefore the doctrine that he believes may be compared to a pottage made of chaff, which he eats as a dainty. Or it is like the bread and cakes that Ezekiel the prophet was commanded to make by mixing wheat, barley, beans, lentils, and fitches, with cow’s or human excrement, thus representing the church as it was with the Israelitish nation (Ezek. 4:9 seq.). So is it with the doctrine of a church that is founded and reared upon a belief in three Divine persons from eternity, each one of whom singly is God. [4] Who would not see the monstrosity of that faith if it were presented as it is in itself in a picture before his eyes? For example, if the three were to stand in order beside each other, the first distinguished by a scepter and crown; the second holding a book, which is the Word, in his right hand, and in his left a golden cross spattered with blood; the third, encircled with wings, standing upon one foot, ready to fly forth and do his work, and above the three the inscription-these three persons, being so many Gods, are one God. What wise man seeing the picture would not say to himself, “Alas, what hallucination!” But he would say otherwise if he were to see a picture of one Divine Person with rays of heavenly light about His Head and with the inscription over it, This is our God, at once Creator, Redeemer, and Regenerator, and therefore the Savior. Would not that wise man kiss this picture, carry it home in his bosom, and by the sight of it gladden his own mind, and the minds of his wife and his children and servants?

297.

THE SECOND COMMANDMENT. THOU SHALT NOT TAKE THE NAME OF JEHOVAH THY GOD IN VAIN; FOR JEHOVAH WILL NOT HOLD HIM GUILTLESS THAT HATH TAKEN HIS NAME IN VAIN. In the natural sense, which is the sense of the letter, to take the name of Jehovah God in vain means the name itself, and its abuse in various kinds of conversation, especially in false speaking or lying, and in useless oaths or oaths to exculpate one’s self in evil intentions (that is, oaths with imprecations), also when employed in juggleries and incantations. But to swear by God and His holiness, by the Word or the Gospel, at coronations, inaugurations into the priesthood, and inductions into offices of trust, is not to take the name of God in vain, unless he who takes the oath afterwards discards his promises as vain. But the name of God, because it is holiness itself, must be used continually in the holy things pertaining to the church, as in prayers, psalms, and all worship, also in preaching, and in writing on ecclesiastical subjects. This is so because God is in all things of religion, and when He is solemnly invoked He is present through His name and hears. In such ways is the name of God hallowed. That the name of Jehovah God is in itself holy is evident from that name, in that the Jews since their earliest age have not dared and do not dare to utter the name Jehovah; and for their sake the writers of the Gospels and the apostles were unwilling to use it, and used the name Lord instead, as is evident from various passages transferred from the Old Testament into the New, where the name Lord is used instead of Jehovah (as in Matt. 22:37; Luke 10:27, compared with Deut. 6:5, and other passages). That the name of Jesus is in like manner holy is known from the saying of the Apostle that at this name every knee is bowed or should be bowed in heaven and on earth; and furthermore from this, that no devil in hell can utter that name. There are many names of God that must not be taken in vain, as Jehovah, Jehovah God, and Jehovah of Hosts; the Holy One of Israel, Jesus and Christ, and the Holy Spirit.

298.

In the spiritual sense, the name of God means everything which the church teaches from the Word, and by which the Lord is invoked and worshiped. All such things in the complex are the name of God. “To take the name of God in vain,” means, therefore, to introduce any of these things into frivolous conversation, into false speaking, lying, imprecations, juggleries or incantations; for this too is reviling and blaspheming God, thus His name. That the Word and whatever the church has from it, and thus all worship, is the name of God, can be seen from the following passages: From the rising of the sun My name shall be invoked (Isa. 41:25; 26:8, 13). From the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same, My name is great among the Gentiles; and in every place incense is offered unto My name. But ye profane My name in that ye say, ‘The table of Jehovah is polluted; and ye snuff at My name, in that ye bring that which is torn, and the lame, and the sick (Mal. 1:11-13).’ All peoples walk each in the name of its God; but we, let us walk in the name of Jehovah our God (Micah 4:5). They were to worship Jehovah in one place where He would place His name (Deut. 12:6, 11, 13, 14, 18; 16:2, 6, 11, 16, 18); that is, where He would establish His worship. Jesus said, Where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them (Matt. 18:20). As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become sons of God, even to them that believe in His name (John 1:12). He that believeth not hath been judged already, because be hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God (John 3:18). Those who believe shall have life in His name (John 20:31). Jesus said, I have manifested Thy name to men and I have made known unto them Thy name (John 17:6, 26). The Lord said, Thou hast a few names in Sardis (Apoc. 3:4); besides many other passages in which, as in the foregoing, the “name of God” means the Divine that goes forth from God, and by which He is worshiped. But the name Jesus Christ means everything of redemption, and everything of His doctrine, and thus everything of salvation, “Jesus” meaning every thing of salvation through redemption, and “Christ” everything of salvation through His doctrine.

299.

In the celestial sense, “to take the name of Gods vain means what the Lord said to the Pharisees: Every sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men, but blasphemy of the Spirit shall not be forgiven (Matt. 12:31, 32), “blasphemy of the Spirit” meaning blasphemy against the Divinity of the Lord’s Human, and against the holiness of the Word. That the Divine Human of the Lord is meant by the name of Jehovah God in the celestial or highest sense, is evident from the following passages: Jesus said, Father, glorify Thy name. And there came a voice out of heaven, saying, I have glorified it, and will glorify it again (John 12:28). Whatsoever ye shall ask in My name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son; if ye shall ask anything in My name, that I will do (John 14:13, 14). In the Lord’s Prayer, Hallowed be Thy name (Matt. 6:9) has the same meaning in the celestial sense. The same is true of “name” (Exod. 23:21; Isa. 63:16). As blasphemy of the Spirit is not forgiven unto men (according to the words in Matt. 12:31, 32), and as this is what is meant by this commandment in the celestial sense, it is added, “for Jehovah will not hold him guiltless who taketh His name in vain.”

300.

That the name of anyone means not his name alone but his every quality, is evident from the use of names in the spiritual world. No man there retains the name he received in baptism, or that of his father or ancestry in the world; but everyone is there named according to his character, and angels are named according to their moral and spiritual life. Such are meant in these words of the Lord: Jesus said, I am the Good Shepherd. The sheep hear His voice, and He calleth His own sheep by name and leadeth them out (John 10:11, 3). Also in these words: Thou hast a few names even in Sardis, that have not defiled their garments. He that overcometh, I will write upon him the name of the city New Jerusalem, and My new name (Apoc. 3:4, 12). Gabriel and Michael are not the names of two persons in heaven, but by those names all in heaven who are in wisdom respecting the Lord, and who worship Him are meant. The names of persons and of places in the Word do not mean persons and places, but the things of the church. Nor in the natural world does a name mean the person’s name only, but his character also, because this adheres to his name; for in common conversation it is customary to say, “This he does for the sake of his name,” or “for the fame of his name,” or “this man has a great name,” meaning that he is celebrated, for such things as are in him, as for talents, erudition, merits, and so on. Who does not know that he who disparages and calumniates anyone in name, also disparages and calumniates the actions of his life? In idea the two are joined together, and the fame of his name is thus destroyed. In like manner one who utters the name of a king, a noble, or any great man, with great disrespect, also casts opprobrium upon his majesty and dignity. So again he who mentions the name of another in a tone of contempt, at the same time belittles the acts of his life. This is true of everyone. According to the laws of all kingdoms it is not lawful to sully and wound with slander anyone’s name, that is, his character and consequent reputation.

THE THIRD COMMANDMENT. REMEMBER THE SABBATH DAY TO KEEP IT HOLY SIX DAYS SHALT THOU LABOR AND DO ALL THY WORK; BUT THE SEVENTH DAY IS THE SABBATH OF JEHOVAH THY GOD. This is the third commandment, as may be seen from Exod. 20:8-10, and Deut. 5:12-14. In the natural sense, which is the sense of the letter, it means that six days are for man and his labors, and the seventh for the Lord and rest for man from the Lord. In the original tongue Sabbath signifies rest. With the children of Israel the Sabbath, because it represented the Lord, was the sanctity of sanctities, the six days representing His labors and conflicts with the hells, and the seventh His victory over them, and consequent rest; and as that day was a representative of the close of the whole of the Lord’s work of redemption, it was holiness itself. But when the Lord came into the world, and in consequence representations of Him ceased, that day became a day of instruction in Divine things, and thus also a day of rest from labors and of meditation on such things as relate to salvation and eternal life, as also a day of love towards the neighbor. That it became a day of instruction in Divine things is evident from this, That on that day the Lord taught in the temple and in synagogues (Mark 6:2; Luke 4:16, 31, 32: 13:10) And that He said to the man who was healed, Take up thy bed and walk and to the Pharisees that it was lawful for His disciples on the Sabbath day to pluck the ears of corn and eat (Matt. 12:1-9; Mark 2:23-28; Luke 6:1-6; John 5:9-19), each of these particulars signifying in the spiritual sense instruction in doctrinals. That that day was made also a day of love towards the neighbor is evident from what the Lord did and taught on that day (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). From all this it is evident why the Lord said, That He is Lord also of the Sabbath (Matt. 12:8; Mark 2:28; Luke 6:5); and because He said this, it follows that that day was a representative of Him.

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In the spiritual sense, this commandment signifies man’s reformation and regeneration by the Lord, “the six days of labor” signifying his warfare against the flesh and its lusts, and at the same time against the evils and falsities that are in him from hell, and “the seventh day” signifying his conjunction with the Lord, and regeneration thereby. That man’s spiritual labor continues as long as that warfare lasts, but when he is regenerated he has rest, will be shown in what is to be said hereafter in the chapter on Reformation and Regeneration, especially under the following sections there: (1) Regeneration is effected in a manner analogous to that in which man is conceived, carried in a womb, born, and educated (2) The first act in the new birth is called reformation, which belongs to the understanding; and the second is called regeneration, which belongs to the will and therefrom to the understanding. (3) The internal man is to be reformed first, and through that the external. (4) Then a conflict arises between the internal and the external man, and the one that conquers rules the other. (5) The regenerate man has a new will, and a new understanding; and so forth. The reformation and regeneration of man are signified by this commandment in the spiritual sense, because they coincide with the labors and combats of the Lord with the hells, and with His victory over them, and the rest that followed. For the Lord reforms and regenerates man and renders him spiritual in the same manner in which He glorified His Human and made it Divine; and this is the meaning of the command to “follow Him.” That the Lord had combats, which are called “labors,” is evident from Isa. 53 and 58; and that like things are called “labors” in reference to men, from Isa. 65:23; Apoc. 51:2, 3.

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In the celestial sense, this commandment means conjunction with the Lord, followed by peace, because of protection from hell. For the Sabbath signifies rest, and in this highest sense, peace; therefore the Lord is called the Prince of Peace, and He also calls Himself “Peace,” as is evident from the following passages: Unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government shall be upon His shoulders; and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, God, Mighty, Father of eternity, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end (Isa. 9:6, 7). Jesus said, Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you (John 14:27). Jesus said, These things have I spoken unto you that in Me ye may have peace (John 16:33). How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; saying, Thy King reigneth (Isa. 52:7). Jehovah will deliver my soul in peace (Ps. 55:18). Jehovah’s work is peace; and the labor of righteousness rest and security forever that My people may abide in a habitation of peace, and in tents of security, in quiet resting-places (Isa. 32:17. 18). Jesus said to the seventy whom He sent forth, Into whatsoever house ye enter, first say, Peace be to this house; and if a son of peace be there, your peace shall rest upon him (Luke 10:6, 8; Matt. 10:12-14). Jehovah will speak peace unto His people. Righteousness and peace have kissed each other (Ps. 85:8, 10). When the Lord Himself appeared to His disciples, He said, Peace be unto you (John 20:19, 21, 28). Moreover, the state of peace into which men are to come from the Lord is treated of in Isa. 65, 66 and elsewhere; and those will come into that state, who are received into the New Church which the Lord is establishing at this day. What peace is in its essence, which is the peace in which the angels of heaven and those who are in the Lord are, may be seen in the work on Heaven and Hell (n. 284-290). From all this it is also evident why the Lord called Himself “Lord of the Sabbath,” that is, of rest and peace.

304.

Heavenly peace, which, in respect to the hells, is that evils and falsities shall not rise up from them and break forth, may be compared in many respects with natural peace; as with peace after war, when everyone is secure from enemies and is safe in his own city and home and living in his own fields and garden. This is as the prophet said when he spoke naturally of heavenly peace: They shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig-tree, and none shall make them afraid (Micah 4:4; Isa. 65:21-23). It may also be compared to recreations of mind and to rest after severe labor, and to the consolation felt by mothers after childbirth, when their parental love (called storge) manifests its delights. It may also be compared with serenity after tempests, black clouds, and thunders; also with spring, after a terrible winter has passed, and with the gladdening influences from the new growths in the fields and the blossoming in the gardens, meadows, and woods; and again with the state of mind experienced by those who, after storms and dangers on the sea, reach a port and set foot on the longed-for land

305.

THE FOURTH COMMANDMENT. HONOR THY FATHER AND THY MOTHER, THAT THY DAYS MAY BE PROLONGED, AND THAT IT MAY BE WELL WITH THEE UPON THE EARTH. So reads this commandment in Exod. 20:12; Deut. 5:16. In the natural sense, which is that of the letter, “to honor thy father and thy mother” means to honor parents, to be obedient to them, to be devoted to them, and to return thanks to them for the benefits they confer, which are that they provide food and clothing for their children, and so introduce them into the world that they may act in it as civil and moral persons; and introduce them also into heaven by means of the precepts of religion, thus providing both for their temporal prosperity and their eternal happiness. All this parents do from a love which they have from the Lord, in whose stead they act. In a relative sense it means that if parents are dead, guardians should be honored by their wards. In a broader sense, to honor the king and magistrates, is meant by this commandment, since these provide for all in general the necessities which parents provide in particular. In the broadest sense this commandment means that men should love their country, since it supports and protects them, therefore it is called fatherland from father. But to country, king, and magistrates honor must be rendered by parents and by them be implanted in their children.

306.

In the spiritual sense, “to honor father and mother” means to reverence and love God and the church. In this sense, God who is the father of all, is meant by “father” and the church by “mother.” In the heavens little children and the angels know no other father and no other mother, since they are there born anew of the Lord through the church. Therefore the Lord says: Call no man your father on the earth; for one is your Father, who is in the heavens (Matt. 23:9). This was said with reference to children and angels in heaven, and not of children and men on earth. The Lord teaches the same thing in the common prayer of the Christian churches, “Our Father who art in the heavens, hallowed be Thy name.” In the spiritual sense, “mother” means the church, because as a mother on earth nourishes her children with natural food; so does the church nourish her children with spiritual food, and this is why the church is frequently called “mother” in the Word, as in Hosea: Plead with your mother; she is not my wife, and I am not her husband (2:2, 6). In Isaiah: Where is the bill of your mother’s divorcement, whom I have put away? (50:1; Ezek. 16:46; 19:10). And in the Gospels: Jesus stretched forth His hand towards Ills disciples, and said, My mother and My brethren are these who hear the Word of God and do it (Matt. 12:48-50; Mark 3:33-36; Luke 8:21; John 19:25-27).

307.

In the celestial sense, “father” means our Lord Jesus Christ, and “mother” the communion of saints, which means the Lord’s church spread throughout the whole world. That the Lord is the Father, is evident from the following passages: Unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given. His name is God, Mighty, Father of eternity, Prince of Peace (Isa. 9:6). Thou art our Father; Abraham knoweth us not and Israel doth not acknowledge us; Thou art our Father, our Redeemer from everlasting is Thy name (Isa. 63:16). Philip said, show us the Father; Jesus saith unto him, He that seeth Me seeth the Father; how sayest thou then, Show us the Father? Believe Me that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me (John 14:8-11; also 12:45). That “mother” in this sense means the Lord’s church, is evident from the following passages: I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband (Apoc. 21:2). The angel said to John, Come hither, I will show thee the bride, the wife of the Lamb; and he showed me the city, the holy Jerusalem (Apoc. 21:9, 10). The time of the marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife hath made herself ready: Blessed are they that have been called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb (Apoc. 19:7, 9). (See also Matt. 9:15; Mark 2:19, 20; Luke 5:34, 36; John 3:29; 19:25-27.) That “the New Jerusalem” means the New Church which the Lord is at this day establishing, may be seen in the Apocalypse Revealed (n. 880, 881); this church, and not the preceding, is the wife and the mother in this sense. The spiritual offspring which are born from this marriage are the goods of charity and the truths of faith; and those who are in these from the Lord, are called “sons of the marriage,” “sons of God,” and “born of God.”

308.

It must he kept in mind that a Divine-heavenly sphere of love continually goes forth from the Lord toward all who embrace the doctrine of His church, who are obedient to Him, as children are to their father and mother in the world, who devote themselves to Him, and who wish to be fed, that is, instructed by Him. From this heavenly sphere a natural sphere arises, which is one of love towards infants and children. This is a most universal sphere, affecting not only men, but also birds and beasts and even serpents; nor animate things only, but also things inanimate. But that the Lord might operate upon these even as upon spiritual things, He created a sun to be in the natural world like a father, the earth being like a mother. For the sun is like a common father and the earth like a common mother from the marriage of which all the vegetation that adorns the surface of the earth is produced. From the influx of that heavenly sphere into the natural world, come the marvelous developments of vegetation from seed to fruit, and again to new seed. It is from this also that many kinds of plants turn, as it were, their faces to the sun during the day, and turn them away when the sun sets. It is from this also that there are flowers that open at the rising of the sun and close at his setting. It is from this also that the song-birds sing sweetly at the early dawn, and likewise after they have been fed by their mother earth. Thus do all these honor their father and mother. They all bear testimony that in the natural world the Lord provides through the sun and the earth all necessities both for animate and inanimate things. Therefore it is said in David: Praise ye Jehovah from the heavens; praise ye Him, sun and moon; praise Him from the earth, ye dragons and all deeps; praise Him, fruitful trees and all cedars; beasts and all cattle; creeping things and flying fowl; kings of the earth and all peoples; young men and maidens (Ps. 148:1-12); and in Job: Ask, I pray, the beasts and they shall teach thee; or the fowls of the air, and they shall tell thee; or the shrub of the earth, and it shall teach thee; and the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee. Who doth not know from all these things that the hand of Jehovah hath wrought this? (Job 12:7-9). “Ask and they will teach,” signifies to observe, study, and judge from these things that the Lord Jehovah created them.

309.

THE FIFTH COMMANDMENT. THOU SHALT NOT KILL. In the natural sense, this commandment “Thou shalt not kill” means not to kill a man, and not to inflict upon him any wound from which he may die, also not to maim his body. It means also not to inflict any deadly harm upon his name and fame, since with many fame and life go hand in hand. In a broader natural sense, murder means enmity, hatred, and revenge, which breathe slaughter; for in them murder lies concealed as fire in wood under ashes. Infernal fire is nothing else; hence the expressions, to be inflamed with hatred, to burn with revenge. These passions are murder in intention, not in act; but if fear of the law or of retaliation and revenge were removed from them, they would break forth into act, especially if there is treachery or ferocity in the intention. That hatred is murder, is evident from these words of the Lord: Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment. But I say unto you, that whosoever is angry with his brother rashly shall be in danger of the judgment. But whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council, and whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of the hell of fire (Matt. 5:21, 22). This is because whatever pertains to the intention pertains also to the will, and so essentially to the deed.

310.

In the spiritual sense, murder means all modes of killing and destroying the souls of men, which modes are various and manifold, as for example, turning men away from God, religion, and Divine worship by insinuating scandalous thoughts against these, or by inducing such persuasions as cause aversion and even abhorrence. Such murderers are all the devils and satans in hell, with whom those in this world who violate and prostitute the sanctities of the church are in conjunction. Those who destroy souls by falsities are meant by the king of the abyss, who is called “Abaddon” or “Apollyon,” that is, the Destroyer (Apoc. 9:11); and in the prophetic Word [those whom they destroy] are meant by “the slain,” as in the following passages: Thus said Jehovah God, Feed the flock of slaughter which their possessors have slain (Zech. 11:4-5, 7). We are killed all the day long; we are counted as a flock for the slaughter (Ps. 44:22, 23). Jacob shall cause them that come to take root. Is he slain according to the slaughter of them that are slain by him? (Isa. 27:6, 7). The thief cometh not but to steal and to kill the sheep; I am come that they may have life and abundance (John 10:10). (Besides elsewhere, as in Isa. 14:21; 26:21; Ezek. 37:9; Jer. 4:31; 12:3; Rev. 9:4, 5; 11:7.) And therefore the devil is called: A murderer from the beginning (John 8:44).

311.

In the celestial sense, to kill means to be rashly angry with the Lord, to hate Him, and to wish to blot out His name. It is said of such that they crucify the Lord, and this they would do, as the Jews did, if He were to come again into the world as before. This is meant by: A Lamb standing as though it had been slain (Rev. 5:6; 13:8). Also by the Lord’s being crucified (Rev. 11:8; Heb. 6:6; Gal. 3:1).

312.

The nature of man’s internal, unless it is reformed by the Lord, has been made evident to me from seeing the devils and satans in hell; for they have it constantly in mind to kill the Lord; and as they cannot do this they are in the endeavor to kill those who are devoted to the Lord; but not being able, as men are in the world, to do this, they make every effort to destroy their souls, that is, to destroy faith and charity in them. With such, essential hatred and revenge appear like lurid and glowing fires-hatred like a lurid fire, and revenge like a glowing fire-yet these are not fires, but appearances. The cruelties of their hearts sometimes appear above them in the air like contests with angels and their slaughter and overthrow. Such direful mockeries arise from their wrath and hatred against heaven. Moreover, at a distance, these same spirits appear like wild beasts of every kind, as tigers, leopards, wolves, foxes, dogs, crocodiles, and all kinds of serpents; and when they see gentle animals in representative forms, they rush upon them in fantasy and strive to tear them in pieces. They came to my sight like dragons standing near women with whom there were little children, whom they were endeavoring, as it were, to devour (according to what is recorded in the twelfth chapter of Revelation); but these were nothing else than representations of hatred against the Lord and His New Church. That men in the world who wish to destroy the Lord’s church are like these spirits is not evident to their companions; and for the reason that their bodies, through which they practice the moralities, absorb and conceal these things. But to the angels, who behold their spirits and not their bodies, they appear in forms like those of the devils above described. Who could have known such things had not the Lord opened the sight of some one, and given him the ability to look into the spiritual world? Otherwise, would not these, together with other most important matters, have lain concealed from man for ever?

313.

THE SIXTH COMMANDMENT. THOU SHALT NOT COMMIT ADULTERY. In the natural sense, this commandment means not only not to commit adultery, but it refers also to willing and doing obscene things and thinking and speaking about lascivious things. That merely to lust is to commit adultery, is evident from the Lord’s words: Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery. But I say to you, that everyone that looketh on another man’s wife to lust after her, hath committed adultery with her already in his heart (Matt. 5:27, 28). The reason of this is that when lust enters the will it becomes, as it were, deed; for allurement enters into the understanding only, but into the will, intention; and the intention of a lust is a deed. But more on this subject may be seen in the work on Marriage Love and Scortatory Love (Amsterdam, 1768), which treats, On the Opposition of Marriage to Scortatory Love (n. 423-443); On Fornication (n. 444-460); On Adulteries and the Different Kinds and Degrees of Adultery (n. 478-499); On the Lust of Defloration (n. 501-505); On the Lust for Variety (n. 506-510); On the Lust of Violation (n. 511, 512); On the Lust of Seducing Innocences (n. 513, 514); On the Imputation of Scortatory Love and of Marriage Love (n. 523-531). All of these things are meant by this commandment in the natural sense.

314.

In the spiritual sense, “to commit adultery” means to adulterate the goods of the Word and to falsify its truths. That “to commit adultery” means this also, has been hitherto unknown, because the spiritual sense of the Word has been hitherto concealed. That such is the meaning in the Word of “to commit adultery,” “to adulterate,” and “to commit whoredom” is evident from the following passages: Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and seek if ye can find a man that executeth judgment, and seeketh the truth. When I had fed them to the full, they committed adultery (Jer. 5:1, 7). In the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen a horrible stubbornness in adulterating and walking in a lie (Jer. 23:14). They have wrought folly in Israel, and have committed whoredom, and have spoken My Word falsely (Jer. 29:23). They committed whoredom, because they have left Jehovah (Hos. 4:10). I will cut off the soul that turneth unto them that have familiar spirits and unto the wizards, to go a whoring after them (Lev. 20:6). A covenant shall not be made with the inhabitants of the land, lest they go a whoring after their gods (Ex. 34:16). Because Babylon adulterates and falsifies the Word more than others, she is called the great harlot, and it is said of her in the Apocalypse: Babylon hath given all nations to drink of the wine of the anger of her fornication (Apoc. 14:8). The angel said, I will show unto thee the judgment of the great harlot; with whom the kings of the earth committed whoredom (Apoc. 17:1, 2). For He hath judged the great harlot that corrupted the earth with her whoredom (Apoc. 19:2). Because the Jewish nation had falsified the Word, it was called by the Lord: An adulterous generation (Matt. 12:39; 16:4; Mark 8:38); And the seed of the adulterer (Isa. 57:3). There are many other passages where “adulteries” and “whoredoms” mean adulterations and falsifications of the Word (as in Jer. 3:6, 8; 13:27; Ezek. 16:15, 16, 26, 28, 29, 32, 33; 23:2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 14, 16, 17; Hos. 5:3; 6:10; Nahum 3:4).

315.

In the celestial sense, “to commit adultery” means to deny the holiness of the Word, and to profane it. This meaning follows from the preceding spiritual meaning, which is to adulterate its goods and to falsify its truths. The holiness of the Word is denied and profaned by those who in heart ridicule all things of the church and of religion, for in the Christian world all things of the church and of religion are from the Word.

316.

There are many causes which make a man to seem chaste, not only to others but also to himself, when, in fact, he is wholly unchaste; since he does not know that when a lust occupies the will it is a deed and cannot be removed except by the Lord after repentance. A man is not made chaste by abstaining from doing, but by abstaining from willing because it is a sin when the doing is possible. Just so far as anyone abstains from adulteries and whoredoms, solely from fear of the civil law and its penalties; from fear of the loss of reputation and thus of honor; from fear of the diseases arising from them; from fear of the wife’s upbraidings at home, and the consequent intranquillity of life; from fear of the vengeance of the husband and relatives, or of being beaten by their servants; or because of avarice, or any infirmity caused by disease or abuse or age or any other cause of impotence; even if he abstains on account of any natural or moral law, and not at the same time on account of spiritual law; he is nevertheless inwardly an adulterer and a fornicator. For he nonetheless believes that adulteries and whoredoms are not sins, and therefore he does not in his spirit make them unlawful before God; and thus in spirit he commits them, even if he does not commit them in the body before the world; and in consequence, when after death he becomes a spirit he speaks openly in favor of them. Furthermore, adulterers may be compared to covenant-breakers who violate compacts; also to the satyrs and priapi of the ancients, who roamed in forests, crying out, “Where are there virgins, betrothed maidens, and wives, to sport with?” Moreover, in the spiritual world adulterers actually appear like satyrs and priapi. They may also be compared to rank he-goats, or to dogs that run about the streets, looking about and smelling for female dogs to satiate their lasciviousness; and so on. When they become husbands their virility may be likened to the blossoming of tulips in spring, which in a month lose their flowers and wither.

317.

THE SEVENTH COMMANDMENT. THOU SHALT NOT STEAL. In the natural sense, this commandment means, according to its letter, not to steal or to rob or to commit piracy in time of peace; and in general, not to take away anyone’s goods secretly or under any pretext. It also extends to all impostures and illegitimate gains, usuries, and exactions; and again to frauds in paying taxes and duties and in discharging debts. Laborers transgress this commandment when they do their work unfaithfully and deceitfully; merchants, when they practice deceit in their merchandise, in weight, in measure, and in their accounts; officers, when they deduct from the soldiers’ wages; judges, when they give judgment for friendship, reward, relationship, or others reasons, preventing law and evidence, and so depriving others of the goods which they rightfully possess.

318.

In the spiritual sense, to steal means to deprive others of the truths of their faith, which is done by means of falsities and heresies. Priests, who minister solely for gain or from a lust for honor, and teach what they see or might see from the Word to be untrue, are spiritual thieves, since they take away from the people the means of salvation, which are the truths of faith. Such are called thieves in the Word, in the following passages: He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. The thief cometh not but to steal, and to kill, and to destroy (John 10:1, 10). Lay not up treasures upon earth, but in heaven, where thieves do not come and steal (Matt. 6:19, 20). If thieves come to thee, if robbers by night, how art thou cut off; will they not steal what is enough for them? (Obad. verse 5). They shall run to and fro in the city; they shall run upon the wall, they shall climb up upon the houses; they shall enter in at the windows like a thief (Joel 2:9). They have committed falsehood, and the thief cometh in, and the troop spreadeth itself without (Hos. 7:1).

319.

In the celestial sense, thieves mean those who take away from the Lord His Divine power; also those who claim for themselves His merit and righteousness. These, even if they adore God, still do not trust in Him but only in themselves, and also do not believe in God, but only in themselves.

320.

Those who teach what is false and heretical and persuade the common people that it is true and orthodox, although they read the Word, and from it may know what is false and what is true, also those who by fallacies confirm falsities of religion and seduce men thereby, may be compared to impostors and their impostures of all kinds; and because such impostures are in the spiritual sense essentially thefts, such persons may be compared to counterfeiters who strike false coins and gild them or give them outwardly the color of gold, and pass them for pure coins; then again to those who know how to cut and polish crystals skillfully and harden them, and who sell them for diamonds; also to men who carry apes or monkeys, clothed like men and with veiled faces on horses or mules through cities, and proclaim that these are noblemen of an ancient stock. They are also like those who put on false faces smeared with paints of various colors, over the living and natural face, concealing its beauty; and they are also like men who exhibit selenite and mica, which shine as if from gold and silver, and try to sell them as coming from veins that are very precious. They may also be likened to those who by theatricals lead men away from true Divine worship, or from churches to playhouses. Those who establish all kinds of falsity, regarding truths as of no moment, and who discharge priestly functions solely for gain and a lust for honor, being thus spiritual thieves, may be likened to those thieves who carry keys wherewith they can open the door of any house; also to leopards and eagles, that with sharp eyes search for the fattest prey.

321.

THE EIGHTH COMMANDMENT. THOU SHALT NOT BEAR FALSE WITNESS AGAINST THY NEIGHBOR. “Bearing false witness against the neighbor,” or testifying falsely, means, in the natural sense nearest to the letter, to act the part of a false witness before a judge, or before others not in a court of justice, against one who is rashly accused of any evil, and to support the accusation by the name of God or anything else that is holy or by one’s personal influence and the strength of his personal reputation. In a wider natural sense this commandment forbids all kinds of lies and hypocrisies in civil life which look to an evil end; also traducing and defaming the neighbor, to the injury of his honor, name, and fame, on which the man’s whole character depends. In the widest natural sense, the commandment forbids plots, cunning devices, and premeditated evils against anyone, which spring from various sources, as enmity, hatred, revenge, envy, emulation, and the like. For these evils conceal within them the bearing of false witness.

322.

In the spiritual sense, “bearing false witness” means to persuade that falsity of belief is true belief and evil of life is good of life, and the reverse, doing this from purpose, not from ignorance; that is, doing this after one has learned what is true and good, not before; for the Lord says: If ye were blind, ye would have no sin; but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth (John 9:41). In the Word this kind of falsehood is called a “lie” and the intent is called “deceit,” as in the following passages: We have made a covenant with death, and with hell we have made vision, for we have made a lie our trust, and in falsehood have we hid ourselves (Isa. 28:15). This is a rebellious people, lying sons, they will not hear the law of Jehovah (Isa. 30:9). From the prophet even unto the priest everyone worketh a lie (Jer. 8:10). The inhabitants speak a lie, their tongue is deceitful in their mouth (Micah 6:12). Thou wilt destroy them that speak a lie; Jehovah abhorreth the man of deceit (Ps. 5:6). They have taught their tongue to speak a lie; their habitation is in the midst of deceit (Jer. 9:5, 6). Because a “lie” means what is false, the Lord says: That when the devil speaketh a lie, he speaketh from his own (John 8:44). (“A lie” signifies what is false, and false speaking, in the following places also: Jer. 23:14, 32; Ezek. 13:6-9; 21:29; Hos. 7:1; 12:1; Nahum 3:1; Ps. 120:2, 3).

323.

In the celestial sense, bearing false witness means blaspheming the Lord and the Word, thus banishing truth itself from the church; for the Lord is the Truth itself, as likewise the Word. On the other hand, to bear witness in this sense, means to speak the truth, and testimony means the truth itself. For this reason the Decalogue is called the “testimony” (Exod. 25:16, 21, 22; 31:7, 18; 32:15, 16; 40:20; Lev. 16:13; Num. 17:4, 7, 10). And because the Lord is the truth itself, He says of Himself, that He bears witness, That the Lord is the very truth (John 14:6; Rev. 3:7, 14); And that He bears witness, and witnesses of Himself (John 3:11; 8:13-19; 15:26; 18:37, 38).

324.

Those who speak falsities from deceit or purposely, uttering them in a tone imitative of spiritual affection (and still more if they mingle with them truths from the Word, which are thus falsified), were by the ancients called sorcerers (on whom see the Apocalypse Revealed, n. 462), also pythons, and serpents of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. These falsifiers, liars, and deceivers may be likened to men who talk to those they hate in a bland and friendly manner, and while talking hold behind them a dagger with which to kill. They may also be likened to those who poison their swords and thus attack their enemies; or to those who mix hemlock with water, or who poison with wine and sweetmeats. They may also be likened to handsome and seductive harlots infected with venereal diseases; to stinging shrubs, which when brought near to the nostrils, hurt the olfactory fibers; to sweetened poisons; and also to ordure, which when dried emits in autumn a fragrant odor. Such are described in the Word by leopards (see the Apocalypse Revealed, n. 572).

325.

THE NINTH AND TENTH COMMANDMENTS. THOU SHALT NOT COVET THY NEIGHBOR’S HOUSE; THOU SHALT NOT COVET THY NEIGHBOR’S WIFE, NOR HIS MANSERVANT NOR HIS MAIDSERVANT, NOR HIS OX, NOR HIS ASS, NOR ANYTHING THAT IS THY NEIGHBOR’S. In the catechisms now in use, this commandment is divided into two, one forming the ninth, which is, “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house;” and the other the tenth, which is, “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor’s.” As these two commandments constitute one thing, and in Exod. 20:17; Deut. 5:21, one verse, I have undertaken to treat of the two together; not wishing them to be joined together as one commandment, but rather that as heretofore they be kept separate as two, since the commandments are called (in the Hebrew) the Ten Words (Ex. 34:28; Deut. 4:13; 10:4).

326.

These two commandments have relation to all the preceding ones, and teach and enjoin not only that evils must not be done, but also that they must not be lusted after, consequently that evils pertain not solely to the external man, but also to the internal; since he who refrains from doing evils and yet lusts to do them, still does them. For the Lord says: If anyone lusts after another’s wife, he has committed adultery with her already in his heart (Matt. 5:27, 28); and the external man becomes internal, or acts as one with the internal, only when lusts have been removed. This also the Lord teaches, saying: Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees; for ye cleanse the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first the inside of the cup and platter, that the outside may be clean also (Matt. 23:25, 26). And the same is taught throughout that chapter. The internals which are Pharisaical, are lusts after the things that are forbidden to be done in the first, second, fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth commandments. It is known that when the Lord was in the world, He taught the internal things of the church, and these internal things are not to lust after evils; and He so taught in order that the internal and external man may make one. This is the being born anew, of which the Lord spoke to Nicodemus in the third chapter of John; and no man can be born anew or be regenerated, and consequently become internal, except from the Lord. That these two commandments may have relation to all the preceding ones, inasmuch as the things forbidden therein are not to be lusted after, the house is first mentioned, after the wife, then the manservant, maidservant, ox, and ass, and lastly, everything that is the neighbor’s. For the house involves all that follows, since it includes the husband, wife, manservant, maidservant, ox and ass. Again, the wife, who is next mentioned, involves all that follows; for she is the mistress as the husband is the master in the house; the manservant and maidservant are beneath these, the ox and the ass beneath the latter, and last of all come all things that are below or without, which means everything that is the neighbor’s. Evidently therefore, in these two commandments all the preceding, both in general and in particular, are regarded, both in a broad and a restricted sense.

327.

In the spiritual sense, these two commandments forbid all lusts that are contrary to the spirit, thus all that are contrary to the spiritual things of the church, which relate chiefly to faith and charity; for unless lusts are subdued, the flesh let loose would rush into every wickedness. For it is known from Paul, That the flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh (Gal. 5:17); and from James: Each man is tempted by his own lust when he is enticed; then the lust, when it hath conceived, beareth sin; and sin, when it is completed, bringeth forth death (James 1:14, 15); again from Peter, That the Lord reserves the unrighteous unto the day of judgment, to be punished; but chiefly them that walk after the flesh in lust (2 Peter 2:9, 10). In short, these two commandments understood in the spirit sense relate to all things that have before been presented in the spiritual sense, that they must not be lusted after; so likewise, to all that has been before presented in the celestial sense; but to repeat all these things is unnecessary.

328.

The lusts of the flesh, the eye, and the other senses, separated from the lusts, that is, from the affections, the desires, and the delights of the spirit, are wholly like the lusts of beasts, and consequently are in themselves beastlike. But the affections of the spirit are such as angels have, and therefore are to be called truly human. For this reason, so far as anyone indulges the lusts of the flesh, he is a beast and a wild beast; but so far as one satisfies the desires of the spirit, he is a man and an angel. The lusts of the flesh may be compared to shriveled and dried up grapes and to wild grapes; but the affections of the spirit to juicy and delicious grapes, and also to the taste of the wine that is pressed from them. The lusts of the flesh may be compared to stables where there are asses, goats, and swine; but the affections of the spirit to stables where there are noble horses, and sheep and lambs; and they differ as an ass and a horse, a goat and a sheep, a lamb and a pig; in general, as dross and gold, as limestone and silver, as coral and rubies, and so on. Lust and the deed are connected like blood and flesh, or like flame and oil; for lust is within the deed, as air from the lungs is in breathing or in speaking, or as wind in the sail when the vessel is in motion, or as water on the wheel that gives motion and action to machinery.

329.

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS OF THE DECALOGUE CONTAIN ALL THINGS THAT BELONG TO LOVE TO GOD, AND ALL THINGS THAT BELONG TO LOVE TOWARD THE NEIGHBOR. In eight of the commandments of the decalogue, the first, second, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, and tenth, there is nothing said of love to God and love toward the neighbor; since it is not said that God should be loved, that His name should be hallowed, that the neighbor should be loved and consequently that he should be dealt with sincerely and uprightly. It is only said, “Thou shalt have no other God before Me;” “Thou shalt not take the name of God in vain;” “Thou shalt not kill;” “Thou shall not commit adultery;” “Thou shalt not steal;” “Thou shalt not bear false witness;” “Thou shalt not covet what belongs to thy neighbor;” that is in general, that evil, either against God or the neighbor, is not to be cherished in will or thought, nor to be done. The reason why such things as relate directly to love and charity are not commanded, but only such things as are opposed to them are forbidden, is that so far as man shuns evils as sins, so far does he will the goods that pertain to love and charity. That the prime thing of love to God and the neighbor is not to do evil, and the second to do good, will be seen in the chapter on Charity. [2] There are two opposite loves, the love of desiring and doing good, and the love of desiring and doing evil; this latter is infernal and the other is heavenly; for all hell is in the love of doing evil, and all heaven in the love of doing good. Since then, man is born into all kinds of evil, and therefore from birth inclines to what pertains to hell, and since he cannot enter heaven unless he is born again or regenerated, it is necessary that evils, which belong to hell, should be removed before he can desire goods, which are heavenly. For no one can be adopted by the Lord until he is separated from the devil. But how evils are removed and man is brought to do good, will be shown in the two chapters, on Repentance, and on Reformation and Regeneration. [3] That evils must be put away, before the good that a man does becomes good in the sight of God, the Lord teaches in Isaiah: Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; [cease to do evil], learn to do well, then though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool (Isaiah. 1:16-18). The following, in Jeremiah, is similar: Stand in the gate of Jehovah’s house, and proclaim there this Word, Thus said Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel, Amend your ways and your doings; trust ye not in lying words, saying, The temple of Jehovah, the temple of Jehovah, the temple of Jehovah, is this [that is, the church]. Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear through falsehood, and then come and stand before Me in this house, which is called by My name, and say, We are delivered, when ye are doing all these abominations? Is this house become a den of robbers? Behold, even I have seen it, saith Jehovah (7:2-4, 9-11). [4] That before washing or purification from evils prayer to God is not heard is also taught in Isaiah: Jehovah saith, Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, they have gone away backward. When ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you; yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear (1:4, 15). That love and charity follow when by shunning evils what is commanded in the Decalogue is done is evident from the Lord’s words in John: Jesus said, He that hath My commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me and he that loveth Me shall be loved of My Father; and I will love him, and will manifest Myself to him: and We will make our abode with him (14:21, 23). By commandments here the commandments of the Decalogue are particularly meant, which are that evils must not be done or lusted after, and that the love of man to God and the love of God toward man then follow as good follows when evil is removed.

330.

It has been said that so far as man shuns what is evil he wills what is good. This is so because evils and goods are opposites; for evils are from hell and goods from heaven; therefore so far as hell, that is, evil, is removed, so far heaven approaches and man looks to good. That this is so is very manifest from the eight commandments of the Decalogue when so viewed; thus, (i.) So far as one refrains from worshiping other gods, so far he worships the true God. (ii) So far as one refrains from taking the name of God in vain, so far he loves what is from God. (iii.) So far as one refrains from the wish to commit murder, or to act from hatred and revenge, so far he wishes well to his neighbor. (iv. ) So far as one refrains from a wish to commit adultery, so far he wishes to live chastely with a wife. (v.) So far as one refrains from a wish to steal, so far he pursues sincerity. (vi.) So far as one refrains from a wish to bear false witness, so far he wishes to think and say what is true. (7 and 8) So far as one refrains from coveting what belongs to the neighbor, so far he wishes the neighbor to enjoy his own. From all this it is evident that the commandments of the Decalogue contain all things of love to God and love towards the neighbor. Therefore Paul says: He that loveth another, hath fulfilled the law. For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is summed up in this saying, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Love worketh no ill to the neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law (Rom. 13:8-10). To this must be added two canons for the service of the New Church: (i.) That no one can of himself shun evils as sins and do good that is good in the sight of God; but that so far as anyone shuns evils as sins, so far he does good, not of himself, but from the Lord. (ii.) That man ought to shun evils as sins and to fight against them as if of himself; but if one shuns evils for any other reason than because they are sins he does not shun them, but only prevents their appearance before the world.

331.

Good and evil cannot exist together, and so far as evil is put away good is regarded and felt as good, for the reason that there exhales from everyone in the spiritual world a sphere of his love which spreads itself round about and affects, and causes sympathies and antipathies. By these spheres the good are separated from the evil. That evil must be put away before good can be recognized, perceived, and loved, may be compared to many things in the natural world; for example: one cannot visit another who keeps a leopard and a panther shut up in his chamber (himself living safely with them because he feeds them), until those wild beasts have been removed. [2] Who that is invited to the table of a king and queen does not before he goes wash his hands and face? Or who enters the bridal chamber with his bride after marriage before he has washed himself wholly, and clothed himself with wedding garments? Who does not purify ores by fire, and separate the dross, before he obtains the pure gold and silver? Who does not separate the tares from the wheat before putting it into his granary? Who does not thresh the bearded chaff from his barley, before he gathers it into his house? [3] Who does not skim off raw meat in cooking before it becomes eatable and placed upon the table? Who does not beat the worms from the leaves of the trees in his garden, lest the leaves be devoured and the fruit thereby destroyed? Who does not dislike dirt in his chambers and halls, and cleanse them, especially when a prince or the espoused daughter of a prince is expected to arrive? Who loves and wishes to marry a maiden who is full of disease, and covered with pimples and blotches, however she may paint her face, dress splendidly, and labor by the charms of her conversation to move him by the enticements of love? [4] Man himself ought to purify himself from evils, and not wait for the Lord to do this without his cooperation. Otherwise he would be like a servant going to his master, with his face and clothes befouled with soot and dung, and saying, “Master, wash me.” Would not his master say to him, “You foolish servant, what are you saying? See, there are water, soap, and a towel; have you not hands of your own and the power to use them? Wash yourself.” So will the Lord God say, “These means of purification are from Me, and your ability to will and do are also from Me; therefore use these My gifts end endowments as your own, and you will be purified;” and so on. That the external man is to be cleansed, but by means of the internal the Lord teaches in the twenty-third chapter of Matthew from beginning to end.

332.

To this shall be added four Memorable Relations. First: I once heard loud shouts, which seemed to gurgle up from the lower regions through waters, one toward the left, crying, “O how just!” another toward the right, “O how learned!” and a third from behind, “O how wise!” And as the thought came to me, whether even in hell there are just, learned and wise persons, I had a desire to see whether there were or not; and it was said to me from heaven, “You shall see and hear.” And having in spirit left the house I saw before me an opening; and approaching it, and looking down, I saw a ladder by which I descended. And when I was below I saw plains covered with shrubbery intermixed with thorns and nettles; and I asked whether this was hell. They said, “This is the lower earth, which is just above hell.” Then following the order of the shouts, I went first toward the cry, “O how just!” and I saw an assembly of those who in the world had been judges, and who had been influenced by friendship and bribes; then toward the second cry, “O how learned!” and I saw an assembly of those who in the world had been reasoners; then toward the third cry, “O how wise!” and I saw an assembly of those who in the world had been conformers. From these latter I turned to the first, where the judges were who had been influenced by friendship and bribes and who were proclaimed just; and I saw at the side as it were an amphitheater built of brick and roofed with black tiles; and I was told that in that was their Tribunal. On the north side there were three entrances to it and on the west three, but none on the south and east, an indication that their decisions were not decisions of justice, but arbitrary. [2] In the center of the amphitheater was a fireplace, into which the servants attending the fire were throwing pitch-pine dipped in sulfur and bitumen, the light from which, flickering upon the plastered walls, presented images of birds of evening and night. But this fire-place, and the flickering of the light from it forming such images were representations of their decisions, that they were able to color the facts in any case, and give them an appearance according to their own prepossessions. [3] Half an hour afterwards I saw old men and young men clad in gowns and cloaks enter, and removing their caps, take seats beside the tables to sit in judgment. And I heard and perceived how skillfully and ingeniously, out of regard for friendship, they turned and twisted their decisions into seeming justice; and this they did to such an extent that they did not see their injustice to be anything but justice, or what is just to be anything but unjust. Such persuasions concerning these matters shone from their faces and were heard in the tones of their voices. There was then granted me enlightenment from heaven, whereby I had a perception of each particular, whether it was in accordance with justice or not; and I saw how industriously they veiled over injustice, and made it look like justice, and selected from the laws that which favored them, to which they bent the matter in question, and by skilful reasonings put all else aside. After their decisions had been given, they were announced without to their clients, friends, and partisans, and these, to return the favor, cried out for a long distance, “O how just! O how just!” [4] After this I talked about these with the angels of heaven, and told them some of the things that I had seen and heard. And the angels said, “Such judges seem to others to be gifted with the keenest intellectual vision, when in fact they do not see the least particle of justice or equity. If you take away their friendship for anyone, they sit in judgment like statues, and merely say, ‘I grant it; I agree to this, or to that.’ This is because all their decisions are prejudiced, and their prejudice with partiality follows the case from beginning to end; consequently they see nothing in it but their friend’s interest; at everything opposed to this, they look askance, viewing it with piratical glances, and if they take it up again they involve it in reasonings as spiders entangle their captives in their webs and devour them. Therefore it is that when they do not follow the thread of their prejudice, they see nothing of what is right. They have been examined as to whether they were able to see, and they were found unable. The inhabitants of your world will be astonished at this fact, but tell them that this is a truth that has been investigated by the angels of heaven. Because they see nothing of justice, we in heaven do not think of them as men, but as monstrous images of men, the heads of which are formed of what pertains to friendship, the breasts of what pertains to injustice, the hands and feet of what pertains to confirmation, and the soles of the feet of what pertains to justice; and if this is unfavorable to their friends, they cast it under foot and trample upon it. [5] But what they are, viewed in themselves, you shall see, for their end is near.” And lo, the ground suddenly gaped, the tables fell one upon another, and the men, together with the whole amphitheater, were swallowed up, cast into caverns, and imprisoned. I was then asked if I wished to see them there; and behold, they appeared with faces like polished steel; their bodies from the neck to the loins looked like sculptured work clothed with leopard skins, and their feet like serpents. And I saw the law books which had lain upon their tables turned into playing-cards; and now instead of acting as judges they were hired to make cinnabar into paint for besmearing the faces of harlots, and turning them into beauties. Having seen all this, I wished to visit the other two assemblies, one composed of mere reasoners and the other of mere confirmers. But I was told to wait a while, and angel companions would be given me from a society most nearly above those spirits, and that through them light would be given me from the Lord, and I would see marvelous things.

333.

Second Memorable Relation: After a while I heard again from the lower earth the exclamations I had heard before, “O how learned! O how learned!” And I looked about to see who were present, and behold the angels were there who occupied the heaven directly above those who cried, “O how learned!” To these I spoke about the shouting, and they said, “Those learned spirits are such as merely reason whether a thing is so or is not, and who rarely think that it is so. Therefore they are like winds that come and go, like bark around hollow trees, and like nutshells without a kernel; or like a rind about fruit without pulp; for their minds are devoid of interior judgment, and are merely united with the bodily senses; unless therefore the senses themselves decide, they are able to form no conclusions. In a word, they are merely sensual, and we call them Reasoners. They are so called because they never come to a conclusion about anything, but take up whatever they hear and dispute as to whether it is so or not, with unceasing contention. They love nothing better than to attack truths, and tear them to pieces by bringing them into disputation. These believe themselves to be more learned than all others in the world.” [2] Having heard this, I asked the angels to conduct me to them; and they led me to a cave, from which steps descended to the lower earth. We went down, following the cry, “O how learned!” And behold, several hundred spirits stood in one place, stamping upon the ground. Wondering at this, I asked why they thus stood and stamped the ground with their feet, adding, that they might make a hole in it with their feet. At this the angels smiled and said, “They appear so to stand still, because their thought on any subject is never that it is so, but only whether it is so or not, and thus it is a matter of dispute; and as they never get beyond this in their thought, they appear as never advancing, but only as treading and wearing on one spot.” The angels also said, “Those who come from the natural world into this and hear that they are in another world form themselves into companies in many places and ask where heaven is, where hell is, and where God is. And when they have been told they begin to reason, dispute, and contend about whether there is a God. This they do, because in the natural world at the present day, there are so many naturalists, who, whenever religion is talked about, bring the subject into dispute, both among themselves and with others; and the discussion of this question rarely terminates in an affirmation of belief that there is a God. Afterwards these persons associate themselves more and more with the wicked, which is done because no one can do any good from the love of good, except from God.” [3] After this I was conducted to that assembly, and behold, there appeared to me men handsomely clothed and with faces not unbecoming; and the angels said, “These so appear in their own light; but if the light of heaven flows in, both their faces and their garments are changed.” And when the light of heaven was admitted, they appeared with dusky faces and clothed in coarse black garments; but this light being withdrawn, they appeared as before. Presently I talked with some of the assembly, and said, “I heard from the throng about you the shout, ‘O how learned!’ It may therefore be permissible to have a conversation with you on matters of the most learned nature.” They replied, “Say what you please; we will give you a satisfactory answer.” And I asked, “What kind of religion is necessary for the salvation of man?” They answered, “We will divide this question into several; and until these are decided we can give no reply. The investigation will proceed as follows: (1) Is religion anything? (2) Is there such a thing as salvation or not? (3) Is one religion more efficacious than another? (4) Is there a heaven and a hell? (5) Is there is an eternal life after death? besides other questions.” I asked about the first question, Is religion anything? and they began to discuss it with a host of arguments. I begged of them to refer it to the assembly. They did; and the general response was, that this proposition required so much investigation that it could not be finished before evening. I asked them whether they could finish it within a year. One of them replied, that it could not be finished in a hundred years. I answered, “Meanwhile you are without religion; and as salvation depends on this, you are without any idea of salvation or any belief in it or hope of it.” He replied, “Must it not first be shown whether there is such a thing as religion, and what it is, and whether it is anything? If it is, it must be also for the wise; if not, it must be for the vulgar only. It is known that religion is called a bond; but for whom is it a bond? If for the vulgar only in reality it is not anything; but if for the wise also, then it is something.” [4] Hearing this, I said, “You are anything but learned, because you are able to think only whether a thing is so or not, and bandy it from one side to the other. How can a man be learned unless he knows something for a certainty and advances in the knowledge of it as a man walks, step by step, thus gradually attaining to wisdom? Otherwise you do not even touch truths with the tip of your finger, but you remove them further and further out of sight. Therefore to reason merely as to whether a thing is so or not, is to reason about the fit of a cap or shoe without ever trying it on. What then comes of this but that you do not know whether anything is a reality, or is only an idea, thus whether there is such a thing as salvation, or eternal life after death, whether one religion is better than another, or whether there is a heaven and a hell? On these subjects you cannot think at all so long as you stick at the first step, and tread the ground there, instead of bringing forward one foot after the other, and going on. Have a care for your selves lest your minds, while standing thus outside the door of judgment, grow hard within and become like pillars of salt.” So saying I withdrew, while they from indignation threw stones after me. They then appeared to me like graven images in which there is nothing of human reason. I asked the angels of the lot of such; and they said that the lowest of them were sent down into the deep, into a desert there, and are compelled to carry packs; and then, as they are unable to evolve anything from reason, they gabble and talk nonsense, and at a distance they appear like asses carrying burdens.

334.

Third Memorable Relation: After this, one of the angels said, “Follow me to the place where they shout, “O how wise!” and you will see monsters of men; you will see faces and bodies that are human, and yet they are not men.” “Are they beasts, then?” I asked. He replied, “They are not beasts, but beastmen; for they are those who are utterly unable to see whether truth is truth or not, and yet can make whatever they wish seem true. With us, such are called Confirmers.” We followed the shouting, and came to the place; and behold, an assembly of men, and around about them a throng, and in the throng some of noble birth, and when these heard them prove whatever they themselves were saying and uphold it with so manifest a concurrence, they turned around and shouted, “O how wise!” [2] But the angel said to me, “Let us not go among them, but call one of the assembly to us.” And we called one out and withdrew with him, and talked over various subjects; and had confirmed them one by one until they seemed to be perfectly true. We asked him whether he could confirm things contrary to each other; and he said he could just as well as the others. He then said openly and from his heart, “What is truth? Is there anything true in the nature of things, other than what man makes true? Say what you please and I will make it true.” I said, “Make this true that faith is the all of the church.” And this he did so dexterously and skillfully that the learned bystanders admired and applauded. I then asked him to make it true that charity is the all of the church; and he did so; and then that charity is no part of the church; and he so clothed and decorated both statements with appearances that the bystanders would look at each other, and say, “Is he not wise?” I then said, “Do you not know that to live well is charity, and to believe well is faith? Does not he who lives well also believe well? Thus does not faith belong to charity and charity to faith? Do you not see that this is true?” He answered, “I will make it true, and I shall see.” This he did and said, “I see it now.” But immediately he made the contrary true, and then he said, “I see that this is true also.” At this we smiled and said, “Are they not contraries? How can two contraries both be true?” Becoming angry at this, he said, “You are wrong; both are true, inasmuch as there is nothing true but what man makes true.” [3] There was one standing near who in the world had been an ambassador of the highest grade. He was astonished at this and said, “I acknowledge that something like this goes on in the world, nevertheless you are insane. Make it true, if you can, that light is darkness, and that darkness is light.” He answered, “I can do that easily. What are light and darkness but states of the eye? Is not light turned to shade when the eye turns from sunlight, as also when a man fixes his eye intently upon the sun? Who does not know that the state of the eye is then changed, and that therefore light appears as shade? And again, when the former state of the eye returns, this shade appears as light. Does not the owl see the darkness of night as the light of day, and the light of day as the darkness of night, and even the sun itself as an opaque and dusky globe? If a man had eyes like an owl’s what would he call light and what darkness? What then is light but a state of the eye? And if light is only a state of the eye, is not light darkness and darkness light? Therefore both statements are true.” [4] But as this confirmation confounded some, I said, “I have noticed that this confirmer does not know that there is a true light and a fatuous light, and that both kinds seem to be light; yet the fatuous light in reality is not light, but compared to true light is darkness. An owl is in fatuous light; for within its eyes there is a passion for tearing birds to pieces and devouring them, and this light causes its eyes to see at night, precisely like those of cats, whose eyes in cellars look like lighted candles. It is the fatuous light arising within their eyes from the passion for tearing mice to pieces and devouring them, which produces this effect. Evidently, therefore, the light of the sun is true light, and the light of greed is fatuous light.” [5] After this, the ambassador asked the confirmer to make it true that a raven is white and not black. He answered, “That also I can easily do.” And he said, “Take a needle or a razor, and open the quills and feathers of a raven; then remove the quills and feathers, and look at the raven’s skin; is it not white? What is the blackness that surrounds it, but a shade, from which we must not judge of the color of the raven? For proof that black is only a shade, consult those skilled in the science of optics, and they will tell you that if you grind a black stone or black glass to fine powder, you will see that the powder is white.” But the ambassador said, “Does not the raven appear to the sight to be black?” The confirmer answered, “Are you, who are a man, willing to consider a subject from appearances? You may indeed say according to the appearance that a raven is black but you cannot think so. As for example you may say according to the appearance, that the sun rises and sets; but as you are a man you cannot think so, because the sun is motionless and the earth moves. It is the same with a raven. The appearance is an appearance. Say what you will, a raven is totally white; it even becomes white when it grows old; this I have seen.” After this the bystanders looked at me; therefore I said, “It is true that the quills and feathers of a raven partake of whiteness inwardly; so does its skin; but this is the case not only with ravens but all the birds in the universe as well; and everyone distinguishes birds by their apparent colors; if this were not done, we might say that every bird is white, which would be absurd and meaningless.” [6] Then the ambassador asked him whether he could make it true that he was himself insane; and he answered, “I can, but I do not wish to do so. Who is not insane?” Finally, they asked him to say from his heart whether he was jesting, or really believed that there is nothing true but what man makes true; and he said, “I swear that I believe it.” Afterwards this universal confirmer was sent to the angels, who examined his character; and after the examination they said that he did not possess a single grain of understanding, because in him everything above the rational was closed, and only that below the rational was open; above the rational there is spiritual light, and below the rational natural light; and this light in man is such that by it he can confirm whatever he pleases. When spiritual light does not flow into natural light, man does not see whether any truth is a truth, nor, therefore, whether any falsehood is a falsehood; these must be seen from spiritual light in natural light, and spiritual light is from the God of heaven, who is the Lord. Therefore this universal confirmer is neither man nor beast, but is a beast-man. [7] I asked the angels about the lot of such, whether they could be with the living, since man has life from spiritual light, and from this comes his understanding. They said that such, when they are alone, are unable to think at all and therefore to speak, but stand dumb like automatons and as it were in a deep sleep; but that they wake up the moment their ears catch anything. They added that those who are inmostly wicked become such; into these spiritual light from above cannot flow, but only something spiritual from the world from which they derive their faculty of confirming. [8] When this had been said I heard a voice from the angels who examined him, saying, “From what you have heard form a universal conclusion.” This was the conclusion: That the ability to confirm whatever one pleases is not an indication of understanding; but the ability to see that truth is truth, and that falsehood is falsehood, and to confirm it is an indication of understanding. After this, I looked toward the assembly where the confirmers were standing with the crowd about them crying, “O how wise!” And lo! a dusky cloud enveloped them, and in the cloud owls and bats were flying. And it was told me, “The owls and bats that are flying in the cloud were correspondences and therefore appearances of their thoughts; because in this world confirmations of falsities to such an extent that they seem to be truths, are represented under the form of birds of night, whose eyes are illumined within by a fatuous light, whereby they see objects in darkness as in light. Such fatuous spiritual light do those have who confirm falsities until they seem like truths, and who afterward believe them to be truths. All such have a sort of backward sight, but no forward sight.”

335.

Fourth Memorable Relation: Once when I awakened from sleep in the morning twilight, I saw as it were specters before my eyes in various shapes; and afterward when it was daylight I saw fatuous lights of different forms; some like sheets of paper filled with writing and folded again and again, so that they looked like falling stars which in their descent vanished in the air; and some like open books, some of which shone like little moons, and some burned like candles; among these were some books that ascended to a great height and there perished, and others that fell down to the earth and there crumbled to dust. From these appearances I conjectured that there were those standing below these meteors who dispute about imaginary matters, which they deem of great importance; for in the spiritual world such phenomena appear in the atmospheres from the reasonings of those standing below. And presently the sight of my spirit was opened, and I saw a number of spirits whose heads were wreathed with leaves of laurel, and their bodies clothed with flowered gowns, which signified that they were spirits who in the natural world had been famed for erudition. As I was in the spirit, I approached and mingled with the assembly. I then heard that they were bitterly and hotly disputing about connate ideas, whether any such were inherent in man from birth, as in beasts. Those who were in the negative turned away from those in the affirmative, and at length they stood apart from each other like the ranks of two armies ready to fight sword in hand; but as they had no swords, they fought with the points of words. [2] But suddenly an angelic spirit stood in their midst, and speaking with a loud voice said, “At a short distance from you I heard that you were engaged in hot dispute about connate ideas, whether they are inherent in men as in beasts; but I tell you, that men have no connate ideas, and that beasts have no ideas at all. You are therefore quarreling about nothing, or as the saying is, about goats’ wool, or the beard of Time.” Hearing this, they were all enraged and shouted, “Put him out; he talks contrary to common sense.” But when they tried to put him out they saw that he was encompassed with heavenly light which they could not break through; for he was an angelic spirit. They therefore drew back and moved a little way from him; and when the light had been indrawn, the angel said to them, “Why are you angry? First listen, and put together the reasons I shall offer, and form a conclusion from them yourselves. I foresee that those among you who excel in judgment will accede, and will calm the tempests that have arisen in your minds.” At these remarks they said, though still in an indignant tone, “Speak then, and we will listen.” [3] So the angel began and said, “You believe that beasts have connate ideas; and this you have inferred from the fact that their actions seem to proceed from thought; and yet they have no thought whatever, and ideas are only predicable of thought. Furthermore, it is a characteristic of thought that those who think act in this or that manner for this or that purpose. Consider therefore, whether the spider which weaves its web with such perfect art thinks in its little head, I will stretch out my threads in this way, and bind them together with cross-threads, so that my web may not be blown asunder by a violent rush of air; at the inner ends of the threads, which shall form the center of the web, I will prepare a seat for myself, where I shall feel whatever touches my web, and run at once to the spot; so that if a fly gets in, he shall be entangled, and I will rush upon him instantly and bind him fast, and he shall serve me for food. Or again, does a bee think in his little head, I will fly abroad; I know where there are fields in bloom; and there I will get wax from the flowers, and will suck honey from them; and with the wax I will build compact rows of little cells in such a way that I and my companions can go in and out easily, as if by streets; then I will store in them abundance of honey, enough even for the coming winter, so that we may not die - and other marvelous things, in which they not only vie with the political and economical prudence of man, but even surpass it (see above, n. 12)? [4] Again, does the hornet think in his little head, I and my companions will build for ourselves a little house of thin paper, the walls of which we will make within like a labyrinth; and in the inmost we will prepare a kind of forum to which there shall be a way of ingress and of egress, contrived with such art that no living creature except those belonging to our own family, shall find the way to the inmost place where we are assembled? Again, does the silkworm, while it is a grub, think in its little head, Now is the time for me to prepare to spin silk, so that when it is spun, I may fly forth, and in the air, into which I could not ascend before, may sport with my equals and provide myself a posterity? Or do other worms so think, when they creep about the walls, and become nymphs, aureliae, chrysalides, and finally butterflies? Has a fly any idea about having congress with another in some one place and not another? [5] It is the same with larger animals as it is with these smaller ones; with birds and feathered creatures of all kinds when they pair, build their nests, lay their eggs therein, sit on them, hatch their young, provide food for them, care for them until they can fly, and then drive them from the nests as if they were not their own offspring; besides many other things. It is the same also with the beasts of the earth, with serpents and with fishes. Who among you cannot see from the above statements that the spontaneous acts of these creatures do not flow from any thought, of which alone ideas can be predicated? The error that beasts have ideas has come from no other source than a persuasion that they think equally with men, and that speech alone makes the difference between them.” [6] After this, the angelic spirit looked around, and as he saw them still hesitating whether or not beasts have thought, he continued his discourse, and said, “I perceive that from those actions of brute animals that are similar to human actions, there still clings to you the fanciful idea that they possess thought. I will tell you, therefore, the source of those actions. Every beast, every bird, every fish, reptile, and insect has its own natural, sensual, and corporeal love, the abode of which is its head and the brains there; through their brains the spiritual world flows into their bodily senses immediately, and through them determines their actions; this is the reason why their bodily senses are much more exquisite than those of men. That influx from the spiritual world is what is called instinct; and it is called instinct because it exists without the mediation of thought. There are also things accessory to instinct that arise from habit. But their love, through which comes from the spiritual world their determination to action, is a love solely for nutrition and propagation, not for any knowledge, intelligence, or wisdom, by means of which the love in men is gradually developed.” [7] That man has no connate ideas, is manifestly evident from the fact that he has no connate thought; and where there is no thought there are no ideas; for they belong mutually to each other. This may be inferred from new-born infants, in that they can do nothing but suck and breathe. Their being able to suck is not from anything connate, but from a continual sucking in the mother’s womb; and they are able to breathe because they are alive, for this is a universal of life. Even their bodily senses are in the utmost obscurity, and from this they gradually work their way out by means of objects; and in like manner their powers of motion by habitual exercise. And as they gradually learn to utter words and pronounce them at first without any idea, there springs up in them some obscure element of fancy; and as this grows clearer an obscure element of imagination is born, and from that, of thought. Along with the forming of this state ideas spring forth, which, as before said, make one with thought; and from no thought, thought is developed by instruction. While, therefore, men have ideas, they are not connate, but are formed, and from them flow their speech and actions. That nothing is connate with man except a capacity to know, to understand, and to be wise, as also an inclination to love not only these things but also the neighbor and God, may be seen in the Memorable Relation above (n. 48), and also in some Memorable Relations further on. After this I looked around and saw Leibnitz and Wolff near at hand, who were attending closely to the reasoning advanced by the angelic spirit. Leibnitz then drew near and expressed his concurrence; but Wolff went away both denying and affirming, for he did not excel in interior judgment as Leibnitz did.

VI. Faith

From the wisdom of the ancients came forth this tenet, that the universe and each and all things therein relate to good and truth; and thus that all things pertaining to the church relate to love or charity and faith, since everything that flows forth from love or charity is called good, and everything that flows forth from faith is called true. Since then charity and faith are distinguishably two, and yet make one in man, that he may be a man of the church, that is, that the church may be in him, it was a matter of controversy and dispute among the ancients, which one of the two should be first, and which therefore is by right to be called the firstborn. Some of them said that truth is first and consequently faith; and some good, and consequently charity. For they saw that immediately after birth man learns to talk and think, and is thereby perfected in understanding, which is done by means of knowledges, and by this means he learns and understands what is true; and afterwards by means of this he learns and understands what is good; consequently, that he first learns what faith is, and afterward what charity is. Those who so comprehended this subject, supposed that the truth of faith was the firstborn, and that good of charity was born afterwards; for which reason they gave to faith the eminence and prerogative of primogeniture. But those who so reasoned overwhelmed their own understandings with such a multitude of arguments in favor of faith, as not to see that faith is not faith unless it is conjoined with charity, and that charity is not charity unless conjoined with faith, and thus that they make one, and if not so conjoined, neither of them is anything in the church. That they do completely make one, will be shown in what follows. [2] But in these prefatory remarks I will show briefly how or in what respect they make one; for this is important as throwing some light on what follows. Faith, by which is also meant truth, is first in time; while charity, by which is also meant good, is first in end; and that which is first in end, is actually first, because it is primary, therefore also it is the firstborn, while that which is first in time, is not actually first, but only apparently so. But to make this understood, it shall be illustrated by comparisons with the building of a temple, and of a house, the laying out of a garden, and the preparation of a field. In the building of a temple, the first thing in time is to lay the foundation, erect the walls and put on the roof; then to put in the altar and rear the pulpit; while the first thing in end is the worship of God therein, for the sake of which the preceding work is done. In the building of a house, the first thing in time is to build its outside parts, and also to furnish it with various articles of necessity; while the first thing in end is a suitable dwelling for the man and the others who are to constitute his household. In the laying out of a garden, the first thing in time is to level the ground, prepare the soil, and plant trees in it and sow in it the seeds of such things as will be of use; while the first thing in end is the use of its products. In the preparation of a field, the first thing in time is to smooth, plough and harrow it, and then to sow it; while the first thing in end is the crop; thus again, use. From these comparisons anyone may conclude what is essentially first. Does not everyone who wishes to build a temple or a house, or to lay out a garden, or cultivate a field, first intend some use? And does he not continually keep this in his mind and meditate upon it while he is procuring the means to it? We therefore conclude that the truth of faith is first in time, but that the good of charity is first in end; and that this latter, because it is primary, is actually the firstborn in the mind. [3] But it is necessary to know what faith is, what charity is, each in its essence; and this cannot be known unless each is divided into separate propositions - faith into its own, and charity into its own. Faith shall therefore be treated under the following heads: 1. Saving faith is faith in the Lord God the Savior, Jesus Christ. 2. The sum of faith is that he who lives well and believes rightly, is saved by the Lord. 3. Man acquires faith by going to the Lord, learning truths from the Word, and living according to them. 4. An abundance of truths cohering as if in a bundle, exalts and perfects faith. 5. Faith without charity is not faith, and charity without faith is not charity, and neither has life except from the Lord. 6. The Lord, charity, and faith make one, like life, will, and understanding in man; and if they are divided, each perishes, like a pearl reduced to powder. 7. The Lord is charity and faith in man, and man is charity and faith in the Lord. 8. Charity and faith are together in good works. 9. There is a true faith, a spurious faith, and a hypocritical faith. 10. In the evil there is no faith. These shall now be explained separately.

337.

I. SAVING FAITH IS FAITH IN THE LORD GOD THE SAVIOR, JESUS CHRIST. Saving faith is faith in God the Savior, because He is God and Man, and He is in the Father and the Father in Him; thus they are one; therefore those who go to Him, at the same time go to the Father also, thus to the one and only God, and there is no saving faith in any other. That men ought to believe or have faith in the Son of God, the Redeemer and Savior, conceived from Jehovah, born of the virgin Mary, and called Jesus Christ, is evident from the commands so frequently repeated by Him and afterwards by His apostles. That faith in Him was commanded by Himself, is clearly evident from the following passages: Jesus said, This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that everyone who beholdeth the Son and believeth in Him, should have eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day (John 6:40). He that believeth in the Son hath eternal life but he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him (John 3:36) That whosoever believeth in the Son should not perish, but have eternal life for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life (John 3:15, 16). Jesus said, I am the Resurrection and the Life; he that believeth in Me shall never die (John 11:25, 26). Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth in Me hath eternal life. I am the bread of life (John 6:47, 48). I am the bread of life; he that cometh to Me shall not hunger, and he that believeth in Me shall never thirst (John 6:35). Jesus cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink; he that believeth in Me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water (John 7:37, 38). They said to Jesus, What must we do, that we may work the works of God? Jesus answered, This is the work of God, that ye believe in Him whom He hath sent (that is, the Father) (John 6:28, 29). While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be sons of light (John 12:36). He that believeth in the Son of God is not judged; but he that believeth not hath been judged already because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God (John 3:18). These things are written that ye may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing ye may have life in His name (John 20:31). Unless ye believe that I am, ye shall die in your sins (John 8:24). Jesus said, When the Comforter, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will convict the world respecting sin, and righteousness, and judgment; respecting sin, because they believe not in Me (John 16:8, 9).

338.

That the faith of the apostles was no other than a faith the Lord Jesus Christ, is evident from many passages in their Epistles, from which I will present only the following: I live; yet no longer I, but Christ liveth in me but what I now live in the flesh, I live in faith which is in the Son of God (Gal. 2:20). Paul testified, Both to Jews and to Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 20:21). He who brought Paul out said, What must I do to be saved? And he said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, thus shalt thou be saved, and thy house (Acts 16:30, 31). He that hath the Son hath the life and he that hath not the Son of God, hath not the life. These things have I written unto you that believe in the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe in the name of the Son of God (1 John 5:12, 13) We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles, yet knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ (Gal. 2:15, 16). Because theirs was a faith in Jesus Christ, and also because faith is also from Him, they called it the faith of Jesus Christ, as in the passage just quoted (Gal. 2:16), and in the following: The righteousness of God, through the faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe that He may justify him who is of the faith of Jesus (Rom. 3:22, 26). Having the righteousness which is from the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith (Phil. 3:9). He that keepeth the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus (Apoc. 14:12). Through the faith which is in Christ Jesus (2 Tim. 3:15). In Jesus Christ is faith working through love (Gal. 5:6). From all this it can be seen what kind of faith is meant by Paul in the saying now so often quoted in the church: Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the works of the law (Rom. 3:28); namely, that it is not a faith in God the Father, but in His Son, still less a faith in three Gods in order, in one from whom, in another for the sake of whom, and in a third through whom [comes salvation]. It is believed in the church, that its tripersonal faith is meant by Paul in that saying, for the reason that the church, during fourteen centuries, or ever since the Nicene Council, has acknowledged no other faith, and consequently has known no other, and has therefore believed this to be the one only faith, and that no other is possible. So wherever the word faith occurs in the New Testament that faith is supposed to be meant, and to it everything there has been applied; therefore the only saving faith, which is a faith in God the Savior, has perished; and in consequence so many fallacies and so many paradoxes adverse to sound reason have crept into the doctrines of the church. For every doctrine of the church that will teach and point out the way to heaven or to salvation depends on faith; and so many fallacies and paradoxes having crept into that faith, as before said, it became necessary to proclaim the dogma, that the understanding must be kept in subjection to faith. But since in that saying of Paul (Rom. 3:28) the term faith does not mean faith in God the Father but faith in His Son; and works of the law do not there mean the works of the law of the Decalogue, but the works of the Mosaic law for the Jews (as is plain from subsequent verses there, and also from like passages in the Epistle to the Galatians, 2:14, 15), that foundation stone of the present faith is gone, and with it falls the temple built upon it, like a house sinking into the earth and leaving only the top of its roof above ground.

339.

Men ought to believe, that is, have faith, in God the Savior Jesus Christ, because that is a faith in a visible God within whom is the invisible; and faith in a visible God, who is at once Man and God, enters into a man; for faith in its essence is spiritual but in its form is natural; consequently with man such a faith becomes spiritual-natural. For anything spiritual, in order to be anything with man, must have a recipient in the natural. The naked spiritual does indeed enter into man, but it is not received; it is like the ether, which flows in and out producing no effect, for to produce an effect there must be perception and consequent reception, both of these in his mind; and no such reception is possible with man except in his natural. But on the other hand merely natural faith, or faith destitute of a spiritual essence, is not faith, but only persuasion or knowledge. In externals persuasion emulates faith; but since there is in its internals no spirituality, neither is there anything saving in it. Such is the faith of all who deny the Divinity of the Lord’s Human; such was the Arian faith, and such also is the Socinian faith, because both reject the Lord’s Divinity. What is faith without an object toward which it is determined? Is it not like gazing into the universe, where the sight falls, as it were, into vacuity and is lost? It is like a bird flying beyond the atmosphere into the ether, where, as in a vacuum, it ceases to breathe. The abiding of this faith in man’s mind may be compared to that of the winds in the wings [halls?] of Aeolus, or of light in a falling star. It rises like a comet with a long tail, and like it passes over and disappears. [2] In a word, faith in an invisible God is actually blind, since the human mind fails to see its God; and the light of that faith, not being a spiritual-natural faith, is a fatuous light; which light is like that of the glow-worm, or like that seen above marshes or sulphurous glebes at night, or like the phosphorescence of rotten wood. From that light nothing comes except what pertains to fantasy, which creates a belief that the apparent is the real, when yet it is not. Faith in an invisible God shines with no other light than this, especially when God is thought to be a Spirit, and spirit is thought to be like ether. What follows but that man regards God as he does the ether? Consequently he seeks God in the universe; and when he does not find Him there, he believes the nature of the universe to be God. This is the origin of the prevailing naturalism of the day. Did not the Lord say, That no one ever heard the Father’s voice or saw His shape? (John 5:37); and also, That no man hath seen God at any time, but that the only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father hath revealed Him (John 1:18). No man hath seen the Father, save He who is with the Father, He hath seen the Father (John 6:46). Also that no one cometh unto the Father, but through Him (John 14:8). Furthermore, That He who sees and knows Him sees and knows the Father (John 14:7-12). [3] But faith in the Lord God the Savior is different; He, being God and Man, can be approached and be seen in thought. Faith in Him is not indeterminate, but has an object from which and to which it proceeds and when once received is permanent, as when anyone has seen an emperor or king, as often as the fact is recalled the image returns. That faith’s sight is like one’s seeing a bright cloud, and in the midst of it an angel who invites the man to him, so that he may be raised up into heaven. Thus does the Lord appear to those who have faith in Him; He draws near to every man so far as man recognizes and acknowledges Him, which he does, so far as he knows and keeps the Lord’s commandments, which are, to shun evils and do good; and at length the Lord comes into man’s house, and together with the Father who is in Him, makes His abode with man, according to these words in John: Jesus said, He that hath My commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me; and he that loveth Me shall be loved of My Father, and I will love him and will manifest Myself to him and We will come unto him and make Our abode with him (14:21, 23). The foregoing was written in the presence of the Lord’s twelve apostles, who were sent to me by the Lord while I was writing it.

340.

II. THE SUM OF FAITH IS THAT HE WHO LIVES WELL AND BELIEVES RIGHTLY IS SAVED BY THE LORD That man was created for eternal life, and that every man may inherit it provided he lives according to the means of salvation prescribed in the Word, is admitted by every Christian, and by every heathen who possesses religion and sound reason. Nevertheless, the means of salvation are manifold, although they each and all have relation to living well and believing rightly, thus to charity and faith, for living well is charity, and believing rightly is faith. These two general means of salvation are not only prescribed in the Word but are imposed as commandments, and as they are commanded, it follows that by means of them man can procure for himself eternal life from the power implanted in him and given to him by God; and so far as man uses that power and at the same time looks to God, so far God makes it effective in converting everything of natural charity into spiritual charity, and everything of natural faith into spiritual faith; thus God makes dead charity and faith to be alive, and the man also. [2] There are two things that must coexist, before man can be said to live well and believe rightly. In the church these two are called the internal and the external man. When the internal man’s will is right and the external acts rightly, the two make one, the external [acting] from the internal and the internal through the external, thus man from God and God through man. But on the other hand, if the internal man’s will is evil and yet the external acts rightly, they both act none the less from hell; for the man’s willing is from hell, and his doing is hypocritical; and in all hypocrisy his willing which is infernal, is interiorly concealed like a snake in the grass or a worm in a flower. [3] The man who knows that there is an internal and an external man, and who also knows what they are, and that the two can act as one actually, and can also act as one apparently; and who knows, moreover, that the internal man lives after death, and the external is buried, possesses in potency the arcana both of heaven and of the world in abundance. And he who conjoins these two men in himself in good becomes happy to eternity; while he who divides them, and still more he who conjoins them in evil, becomes unhappy to eternity.

341.

Under the belief that the man who lives well and believes aright is not saved, and that God is able freely and at pleasure to save and damn whom He will, the man who is lost may justly accuse God of unmercifulness and severity, and even of cruelty, and may even deny that God is God. He may also claim that in His Lord God has spoken unmeaning things, and has commanded things of no importance, or that are trifling. Or again, if the man who lives well and believes aright is not saved, he may also accuse God of violating His covenant, which He made on Mount Sinai and wrote with His finger upon the two tables. That God cannot but save those who live according to His commandments and have faith in Him, is evident from the Lord’s words (in John 14:21-24); and anyone in possession of religion and sound reason can confirm himself in this, when he reflects that God who is unceasingly in man and who gives him life and also the ability to understand and love, must needs love him who lives well and believes aright, and must needs conjoin Himself with him by love. Is not this inscribed by God on every man and every creature? Can a father and mother reject their children, or a bird or beast its young? Not even tigers, panthers, or serpents can do this. For God to do otherwise would be contrary to the order into which He is and according to which He acts, and also contrary to the order into which He created man. Since then, it is impossible for God to damn anyone who lives well and believes aright, so on the other hand it is impossible for Him to save anyone who lives wickedly and therefore believes what is false; this too is also contrary to order, and therefore contrary to God’s omnipotence, which can proceed only in the path of justice; and the laws of justice are truths that cannot be changed. For the Lord says: It is easier for heaven and earth to pass away, than for one tittle of the law to fall (Luke 16:17). This can be seen by anyone who knows anything about the essence of God, and man’s freedom of will. For example, Adam was at liberty to eat of the tree of life, and also of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If he had eaten of the tree or trees of life only, would it have been possible for God to expel him from the garden? I believe that it would not. But after he had eaten of the tree of the knowledge of good and will, would it have been possible for God to retain him in the garden? Again I believe that it would not; likewise that God cannot cast into hell an angel that has been received into heaven, neither introduce into heaven a condemned devil. That neither of these can He do from His Divine omnipotence, may be seen above in the section on the Divine Omnipotence (n. 19-70).

342.

In the preceding section (n. 336-339), it is shown than saving faith is faith in the Lord God the Savior Jesus Christ. But the question arises, What is the first principle of faith in Him? The answer is, The acknowledgement that He is the Son of God. This was the first principle of faith, which the Lord revealed and announced when He came into the world. For unless men had first acknowledged that He was the Son of God, and thus God from God, in vain would He Himself and His Apostles after Him have preached faith in Him. Now as the case is somewhat similar at the present day - but with those who think from their selfhood, that is, solely from the external or natural man, saying to themselves, How could Jehovah God beget a Son, and how can a man be God? - it is necessary to confirm and establish from the Word this first principle of faith. For this reason the following passages are quoted: The angel said to Mary, Thou shalt conceive in thy womb and bring forth a Son, and shalt call His name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Most High. And Mary said unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? And the angel answered, The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee therefore that which is to be born of thee shall be called Holy, the Son of God (Luke 1:31-35.) When Jesus was being baptized, there came a voice out of 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). Again when Jesus was transfigured, there also came a voice out of heaven, saying, This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye Him (Matt. 17:5; Mark 9:7; Luke 9:35). [2] Jesus asked His disciples, saying, Who do men say that I am? Peter answered, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus said, Blessed art thou, Simon son of Jonah. I say unto thee, that upon this rock I will build my church (Matt. 16:13-18). The Lord said that upon this rock, that is, upon the truth and the confession that He is the Son of God, He would build His church; for “rock” signifies truth, and also the Lord in respect to Divine truth. So with those who do not confess this truth that He is the Son of God, the church is not; therefore it is said above, that this is the first principle of faith in Jesus Christ, and thus is faith in its origin. John the Baptist saw and bare witness that this is the Son of God (John 1:34). The disciple Nathanael said to Jesus, Thou art the Son of God; thou art the King of Israel (John 1:49). The twelve disciples said, We have believed that Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God (John 6:69). He is called the only begotten Son of God, and the only begotten from the Father, who is in the bosom of the Father (John 1:14, 18; 3:16). Jesus Himself confessed before the high priest, that He was the Son of God (Matt. 26:63, 64; 27:43; Mark 14:61, 62; Luke 22:70). They that were in the ship came and worshiped Jesus, saying, Of a truth thou art the Son of God (Matt. 14:33). The eunuch who wished to be baptized, said to Philip, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God (Acts 3:37). Paul, when he was converted, preached Christ, that He was the Son of God (Acts 9:20). Jesus said, The hour cometh, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God; and they that hear shall live (John 5:25). He that believeth not hath been judged already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God (John 3:18). These are written that ye may believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God; and that believing ye may have life in His name (John 20:31). These things have I written unto you who believe in the name of the Son of God that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe in the name of the Son of God (1 John 5:13). We know that the Son of God is come, and hath given that we may know Him that is True, and we are in Him that is True, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life (1 John 5:20). Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God abideth in him and he in God (1 John 4:15). (Again elsewhere, as in 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; Apoc. 2:18.) There are also many passages where He is called “Son” by Jehovah, and where He calls Jehovah God His Father, as in this: Whatever the Father doeth, that the Son doeth also; as the Father raiseth up the dead and quickeneth them, even so doth the Son; that all may honor the Son, even as they honor the Father; as the Father hath life in Himself, even so gave He to the Son to have life in Himself (John 5:19-27). So in many other passages. And again in David: I will declare the decree; Jehovah hath said unto Me, Thou art My Son; this day have I begotten Thee. Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and ye perish in the way, for His anger will soon be kindled. Blessed are all they that put their trust in Him (Ps. 2:7, 12). [3] From the foregoing now comes this conclusion, that everyone who wishes to be truly a Christian and to be saved by Christ, ought to believe that Jesus is the Son of the living God. He who does not believe this, but only that He is the Son of Mary, implants in his mind various ideas respecting Him, which are injurious and destructive to that salvation (On which see above, n. 92, 94, 102). Of such it may be said, as of the Jews, That instead of a royal crown, they place upon His head a crown of thorns, and also give Him vinegar to drink, and they cry out, If thou art the Son of God, come down from the cross (Matt. 27:29, 34, 40). Or as the devil, the tempter, said, If thou art the Son of God, command that these stones become bread or, If thou art the Son of God, cast thyself down (Matt. 4:3, 6). Such profane His church and temple, and make it a den of robbers. These are they who make the worship of Him like the worship of Mohammed, and do not distinguish between true Christianity, which is the worship of the Lord, and naturalism. They may be compared to men riding in a carriage or coach over thin ice, and the ice breaks under them, and they sink, and they, with their horses and vehicle, are covered by the icy water. They may also be likened to men who make a little boat of woven reeds and rushes, daubing it with pitch that it may hold together, and in it put out to sea; but there the cohesiveness of the pitch is destroyed, and they are choked by the waters of the sea and swallowed up and are buried in its depths.

343.

III. MAN ACQUIRES FAITH BY GOING TO THE LORD, LEARNING TRUTHS FROM THE WORD, AND LIVING ACCORDING TO THEM. Before proceeding to show how faith originates, namely, by going to the Lord, learning truths from the Word, and living according to them, it is necessary first to set forth the summaries of faith, from which may be gained the general idea that runs through the several parts; for thus what is taught not only in this chapter on Faith, but also in those on Charity, Free Will, Repentance, Reformation, and Regeneration, and on Imputation, will be more clearly comprehended; for faith enters into all parts and each part of a system of theology, as blood flows into the members of the body and vivifies them. What the present church teaches respecting faith is known in the Christian world generally, and particularly in its ecclesiastical class; for the books treating solely of faith and faith alone fill the libraries of the doctors of the church, and almost nothing beyond this is regarded as properly theological at the present day. But before what the present church teaches respecting its faith is taken up, considered and examined (which will be done in an Appendix), the general principles which the New Church teaches respecting its faith shall be presented. They are the following:

344.

The Esse of the Faith of the New Church is: 1. Confidence in the Lord God the Savior Jesus Christ. 2. A trust that he who lives well and believes aright is saved by Him. The Essence of the Faith of the New Church is: Truth from the Word. The Existence of the Faith of the New Church is: l. Spiritual sight. 2. Accordance of Truths. 3. Conviction. 4. Acknowledgment inscribed on the mind. The States of the Faith of the New Church are: l. Infantile faith, adolescent faith, adult faith 2. Faith in genuine truth and faith in appearances of truth. 3. Faith of the memory, faith of reason, faith of light. 4. Natural faith, spiritual faith, celestial faith. 5. Living faith, and faith founded on miracle. 6. Free faith, and forced faith. The Form itself of the Faith of the New Church, in its universal view, and its particular view, may be seen above (n. 2, 3).

345.

As the constituents of spiritual faith have been presented in a summary, so also shall those of merely natural faith, which in itself is a persuasion counterfeiting faith, and a persuasion of what is false, which is called heretical faith. It may be designated as follows: l. Spurious faith, in which falsities are mixed with truths. 2. Meretricious faith from truths falsified, and adulterous faith from goods adulterated. 3. Closed or blind faith, which is a faith in things mystical that are believed, although it is not known whether they are true or false, or whether they are above reason or contrary to it. 4. Wandering faith, which is a faith in several Gods. 5. Purblind faith, which is a faith in some other than the true God, and among Christians in any but the Lord God the Savior. 6. Hypocritical or Pharisaic faith, which is a faith of the lips and not of the heart. 7. Visionary and distorted faith, which is falsity made to appear like truth by ingenious confirmation of it.

346.

It has been said above that faith, as to its existence in man, is spiritual sight. Now as spiritual sight which is the sight of the understanding, and thus of the mind, and natural sight which is the sight of the eye and thus of the body, mutually correspond, every state of faith may be compared with some state of the eye and its sight-a state of faith in what is true with every normal state of eyesight, and a state of faith in what is false with every perverted state Of eyesight. Let us compare then the correspondences of these two kinds of sight, mental and bodily, as to their perverted states. Spurious faith, in which falsities are mixed with truths, may be compared to that disease of the eye and consequently of the sight, called white specks on the cornea, which produces dimness of sight. Meretricious faith which comes from truths falsified, and adulterous faith which is from goods adulterated, may be compared to that disease of the eye and consequently of the sight, called glaucoma, which is a drying up and hardening of the crystalline humor. Closed or blind faith, which is a faith in things mystical that are believed, although it is not known whether they are true or false, or whether they are above reason or contrary to it, may be compared to the disease of the eye called gutta serena or amaurosis, which is a loss of sight while the eye still looks as though it saw perfectly, which arises from an obstruction of the optic nerve. Erratic faith, which is a faith in several Gods, may be compared to the disease of the eye called cataract, which is a loss of vision, arising from a stoppage between the sclerotic coat and the uvea. Purblind faith, which is a faith in any other than the true God, and among Christians in any but the Lord God the Savior, may be compared to the disease of the eye called strabismus. Hypocritical or Pharisiac faith, which is a faith of the lips and not of the heart, maybe compared to atrophy of the eye, and consequent loss of sight. Visionary and distorted faith, which is falsity made to appear like truth by an ingenious confirmation of it, may be compared to the disease of the eye called nyctalopia, which is seeing in darkness from an illusive light.

347.

As to the formation of faith: it is effected by man’s going to the Lord, learning truths from the Word, and living according to them. First: Faith is formed by man’s going to the Lord, because faith that is faith, or that is a saving faith, is from the Lord and in the Lord. That it is from the Lord is evident from His words to His disciples: Abide in Me, and I in you for apart from Me, ye can do nothing (John 15:4, 5). That it is faith in the Lord, is evident from the passages presented in abundance (n. 337, 338), to the effect that men ought to believe in the Son. Since then faith is from the Lord and in the Lord, it may be said that the Lord is faith itself, for its life and essence are in Him, and thus from Him. [2] Secondly: Faith is formed by man’s learning truths from the Word, because faith in its essence is truth; for all things that enter into faith are truths; consequently faith is nothing but a complex of truths shining in the mind of man; for truths teach not only that man ought to believe, but also in whom he ought to believe, and what he ought to believe. Truths ought to be taken from the Word, because all truths that conduce to salvation are in the Word, and there is efficacy in them because they are given by the Lord, and are therefore inscribed on the whole angelic heaven; consequently when man learns truths from the Word, he comes into communion and consociation with angels beyond what he knows. Faith destitute of truths like grain without inner substance, which when ground yields nothing but bran; while faith from truths is like useful grain, which when ground yields flour. In a word, the essentials of faith are truths; and if truths do not reside in and constitute the faith, it is only like the shrill sound of a whistle; but when they do reside in and constitute it, faith is like a voice of glad tidings. [3] Thirdly: Faith is formed by man’s living according to truths, because spiritual life is life according to truths, and truths do not actually live until they are in deeds. Truths abstracted from deeds are merely matters of thought, and unless they become of the will also, are only in the entrance to the man, and thus are not inwardly in him; for the will is the man himself, and the thought is so far the man, in quantity and quality, as it adjoins the will to itself. He who learns truths and does not practice them, is like one who sows seed in a field and does not harrow it in; and consequently the seed becomes swollen by the rain and is spoiled. But he who learns truths and practises them, is like one who sows the seed and covers it, and the rain causes it to grow to a crop and to be of use for food. The Lord says: If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them (John 8:17) And again: He that was sown upon the good ground, this is he that heareth the Word and giveth heed; who also beareth fruit and bringeth forth (Matt. 13:23); also: Everyone that heareth these My words, and doth them, I will liken him unto a prudent man, who built his house upon a rock. And everyone that heareth these My words and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, who built his house upon the sand (Matt. 7:24, 26). All words of the Lord are truths.

348.

From the foregoing it is clear that there are three things by which faith is formed in man; first by going to the Lord; secondly, by learning truths from the Word; and thirdly, by living according to them. Now as these are three things, and one not the same as another, it follows that they can be separated; for a man may go to the Lord, and not know any but historical truths respecting God and the Lord; also a man may know truths from the Word in abundance, and yet not live according to them. But in the man in whom these three things are separated, that is, in whom one is apart from the other, there is no saving faith. Saving faith arises when the three are conjoined, and becomes such as the conjunction is. Where these three things are separated, faith is like a sterile seed, which when dropped in the earth moulders into dust. But where the three are conjoined, faith is like a seed in the ground which grows up to a tree, and the fruit of it is according to their conjunction. Where these three things are separated, faith is like an egg which contains no prolific principle; but where they are conjoined, faith is like an egg that can produce a beautiful bird. The faith of those in whom these three things are separated, may be likened to the eye of a fish or of a crab when cooked; but the faith of those in whom the three are conjoined, may be likened to an eye translucent from the crystalline humor even to and through the uvea of the iris. Separated faith is like a picture drawn in dark colors on a black stone; but conjoined faith is like a picture drawn in beautiful colors on a transparent crystal. The light of a separated faith may be compared to that of a firebrand in the hand of a traveller at night; while the light of a conjoined faith may be compared to that of a blazing torch which when waved about shows plainly each step of the way. Faith without truths is like a vine bearing wild grapes; but faith from truths is like a vine bearing clusters full of noble wine. Faith in the Lord destitute of truths may be compared to a new star appearing in the expanse of heaven, which in time grows dim; but faith in the Lord together with truths may be compared to a fixed star, which remains constant. Truth is the essence of faith; therefore, as the truth is, such is the faith; without truths it is a wandering faith, but with them it is fixed. Moreover, faith from truths shines in heaven like a star.

349.

IV. AN ABUNDANCE OF TRUTHS COHERING, AS IF IN A BUNDLE, EXALTS AND PERFECTS FAITH. From the conception of faith that prevails at the present day it cannot be seen that faith in its compass is a complex of truths, still less that man can contribute anything toward acquiring faith for himself; and yet faith in its essence is truth; for it is truth in its own right, and as truth can be acquired so also can faith. Who cannot go to the Lord if he will? Who cannot collect truths from the Word if he will? And every truth in the Word and from the Word, gives light; and truth in light is faith. The Lord who is Light itself, flows into every man; and in everyone in whom there are truths from the Word, He causes truths to shine and thus to become truths of faith. And this is what the Lord teaches in John: That they should abide in Him, and His words in them (15:7). The Lord’s words are truths. But to make it properly understood that an abundance of truths cohering as if in a bundle exalts and perfects faith, the consideration of the subject shall distributed under the following heads: (1) Truths of faith may be multiplied to infinity. (2) They are disposed into series, thus, as it were, into bundles. (3) According to their abundance and coherence faith is perfected. (4) However numerous truths are and however diverse they appear, they make one from the Lord, who is the Word, the God of heaven and earth, the God of all faith, the God of the vineyard or the church, the God of faith, light itself, the truth, and life eternal.

350.

(1) The Truths of Faith maybe multiplied to Infinity. This is evident from the fact that the wisdom of the angels of heaven increases to eternity. Moreover, the angels say that there is no end to wisdom, as its source is no other than Divine truths analytically distributed into forms by means of light flowing in from the Lord. Such human intelligence as is truly intelligence is from no other source. Divine truth may be multiplied to infinity, because the Lord is Divine truth itself, or truth in its infinity, and He draws all men to Himself; but as angels and men are finite they can follow the current of the attraction only according to their measure, although the force of the attraction persists to infinity. The Lord’s Word is a great deep of truths from which comes all angelic wisdom, although to the man who knows nothing of its spiritual and celestial meanings, it appears like the water in a pitcher. The multiplication of the truths of faith to infinity may be compared to the seed of men, from one of whom may be propagated families to ages of ages. The proliferation of the truths of faith may be compared to the proliferation of seeds in a field or a garden, which may be propagated to myriads of myriads and perpetually. In the Word “seed” means nothing but truth, “field” means doctrine, and “garden” wisdom. The human mind is like soil, in which spiritual and natural truths are implanted like seeds and may be endlessly multiplied. Man derives this from the infinity of God, who is perpetually in man with His heat and light, and the faculty of generating.

(2) The Truths of Faith are disposed into Series, thus, as it were into bundles. This has been hitherto unknown. It is unknown because the spiritual truths of which the whole Word is composed could not be seen, owing to the mystical and enigmatical faith which forms every point of the present theology; consequently they have been buried in the earth like storehouses. To make clear what is meant by series and bundles, it shall be explained. The first chapter of this book, which treats of God the Creator, is divided into a series of sections, the first of which treats of the Unity of God, the second the Being of God or Jehovah, the third the Infinity of God, the fourth the Essence of God (which is Divine love and Divine wisdom) the fifth the Omnipotence of God, and the sixth Creation. The arrangement of each section into its articles constitutes the series, and the contents of these are bound together as if into bundles. These series in general and in particular, thus conjointly and separately, contain truths which, according to their abundance and coherence, exalt and perfect faith [2] He who does not know that the human mind is organized, or that it is a spiritual organism terminating in a natural organism, in which and according to which the mind produces its ideas or thinks, must needs suppose that perceptions, thoughts, and ideas are nothing but radiations and variations of light flowing into the head, and presenting forms which man sees and acknowledges as reasons. But this is foolishness; for everyone knows that the head is full of brains, that the brains are organized, and that in them the mind dwells, and that its ideas are fixed therein, and are permanent so far as they are accepted and confirmed. The question is, therefore, What is the nature of that organization? The answer is, that it is an arrangement of all things in series, as it were in bundles, and that in this way the truths belonging to faith are arranged in the human mind. That it is so, may be illustrated as follows. [3] The brain consists of two substances, one of which is glandular, and is called the cortical and cineritious substance, and the other fibrillous, and is called the medullary substance. The first, or the glandular substance, is arranged into clusters like grapes on a vine; these clustered formations are its series. The second, or the medullary substance, consists of perpetual bundlings of little fibers issuing from the glandules of the former substance; these bundlings are its series. All the nerves that proceed from the brain, and pass down into the body for the performance of various functions, are nothing but groups and bundles of fibers; in a like manner all the muscles, and in general all the viscera and organs of the body. All these are such because they correspond to the series in which the mental organism is arranged. [4] Moreover, in all nature there is nothing that is not formed into series of little bundles; every tree, every bush, shrub and plant, nay, every ear of corn and blade of grass in whole and in part, is so formed. The universal cause is, that such is the confirmation of Divine truths; for we read that all things were created by the Word, that is, by Divine truth, and that the world also was made by it (John 1:1, seq.). From all this it can be seen that unless there were such an arrangement of substances in the human mind, man would possess no ability to reason analytically, which everyone has according to this arrangement, thus according to his supply of truths cohering, as it were, in a bundle; and the arrangement is in accord with his use of reason from freedom.

352.

(3) According to the Abundance and Coherence of Truths Faith is perfected. This follows from the preceding statements, and is evident to everyone who collects reasons, and observes carefully what multiplied series of them effect when they cohere as a unit; for then one series strengthens and confirms another, and together they constitute a form which when put in action is manifested as a single act. Since then faith in its essence is truth, it follows, that according to the abundance and coherence of truths it becomes more and more perfectly spiritual, therefore less and less sensual-natural; for it is raised up into a higher region of the mind, from which it sees beneath it troops of confirmations or itself in the nature of the world. True faith by an abundance of truths cohering as if in a bundle also becomes more lustrous, more perceptible, more evident, and clearer; and, becomes also more capable of conjunction with the goods of charity, consequently more capable of alienation from evils, and gradually more removed from the allurements of the eye and the lusts of the flesh, therefore in itself happier. Especially does it become more powerful against evils and falsities, and thus more and more living and saving.

353.

It has been said above, that in heaven every truth gives forth light, and therefore that faith in its essence is truth giving forth light; consequently the beauty and comeliness of faith caused by that glow, when truths of faith are multiplied, may be compared to various forms, objects, and pictures, formed by different colors harmoniously combined; also to the precious stones of various colors in the breastplate of Aaron, which together were called the Urim and Thummim; in like manner to the precious stones of which the foundations of the wall of the New Jerusalem are to be built (see Apoc. 21). It may also be compared to the precious stones of many colors in a king’s crown. Indeed, precious stones signify truths of faith. It may also be compared to the beauty of the rainbow, of a field of flowers, or of a blooming garden in early spring. The light and glory of faith from an abundance of concordant truths fitly arranged in it, may be compared to the illumination of churches by numerous candelabra, or of houses by chandeliers, or of streets by lamps. The exaltation of faith by an abundance of truths, may be illustrated by comparison with the increase of sound and also of melody, arising from many musical instruments played in concert; and with the increase of fragrance arising from a collection of sweetly-exhaling flowers; and so on. The power of a faith formed from a multiplicity of truths, as opposed to falsities and evils, may be compared to the firmness of a church built of stones properly laid, with columns built into its walls, and under its fretted ceiling; it may also be compared to a battalion formed in square, where the soldiers stand side by side, and thus form and act as one force; it may also be compared to the muscles of which the whole body is interwoven, which although so numerous and so differently located, still in action constitute one power; and so on.

354.

(4) However numerous the truths of faith are, and however diverse they appear, they make one from the Lord, who is the Word, the God of heaven and earth, the God of all flesh, the God of the vineyard or church, the God of faith, light itself, the truth, and life eternal. The truths of faith are various, and to man they seem diverse; some, for example, have relation to God the Creator, others to the Lord the Redeemer, others to the Holy Spirit and the Divine Operation, others to faith and charity, others to freedom of choice, repentance, reformation and regeneration, imputation, and so on; still in the Lord and in man from the Lord they make one, like many branches on one vine (John 15:1, seq.). For the Lord unites scattered and separate truths into one form, as it were, in which they present one aspect and exhibit one action. This may be illustrated by a comparison with the members, viscera and organs in one body; which although various, and in man’s sight diverse, are nevertheless felt by man, who is their general form, to be one, and when he is acting from them all he acts as if from one. It is the same with heaven, which, although divided into innumerable societies, still in the Lord’s sight appears as a one. (That heaven appears as one Man has been shown above.) It is the same again with a kingdom, which although divided into several governments, and also into provinces and cities, still makes one under a king who governs with justice and judgment. So do the truths of faith from which the church is a church make one from the Lord, because the Lord is the Word, the God of heaven and earth, the God of all flesh, the God of the vineyard or church, the God of faith, light itself, the truth, and life eternal. [2] That the Lord is the Word, and therefore all truth of heaven and the church, is evident from John: The Word was with God, and God was the Word, and the Word became flesh (1:1, 14). That the Lord is the God of heaven and earth is evident from Matthew: Jesus said, All power hath been given unto Me in heaven and on earth (28:18). That the Lord is the God of all flesh, can be seen from John The Father gave to the Son power over all flesh (17:2). That the Lord is the God of the vineyard or church, in Isaiah: My well-beloved hath a vineyard (5:1); and in John: I am the Vine, ye are the branches (15:5). That the Lord is the God of faith, Paul teaches: Having the righteousness, which is from the faith of Christ, from the God of faith (Phil. 3:9). That the Lord is light itself, appears from John: There was the true Light, which lighteth every man coming into the world (1:9). And elsewhere: Jesus said, I come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth in Me may not abide in darkness (John 12:46). That the Lord is the truth itself, appears from John: Jesus said, I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life (14:6). That the Lord is life eternal, in John: We know that the Son of God is come that we may know Him that is True, even His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life (1 John 5:20). [3] To this must be added, that owing to his worldly occupations man can acquire for himself only a few of the truths of faith; nevertheless if he goes to the Lord and worships Him alone, he acquires the power to gain a knowledge of all truths. Therefore every true worshiper of God, as soon as he hears any truth of faith which he has not known before, at once sees, acknowledges, and accepts it; and for the reason that the Lord is in him, and he in the Lord; and consequently the light of truth is in him, and he is in the light of truth; for as before said, the Lord is light itself, and truth itself. This may be corroborated by the following experience: A spirit appeared to me, who in the company of some others seemed simple, because he had acknowledged the Lord alone as the God of heaven and earth, and had strengthened this his faith by certain truths from the Word; this spirit was taken up into heaven among the wiser angels; and it was told me that there he was as wise as they; and that altogether as if from himself he spoke truths in great abundance, of which he had before known nothing. [4] In a like state will those be who come into the Lord’s New Church. This is the state that is described in Jeremiah: This shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; after those days I will put my law in their inward parts, and upon their hearts I will write it and they shall teach no more every man his fellow, or every man his brother, saying, Know Jehovah; for they shall all know Me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them (31:33, 34). It is such a state that is described in Isaiah: There shall go forth a Shoot out of the stem of Jesse; truth shall be the girdle of His thighs. There the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid. The suckling shall play on the hole of the adder, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the basilisk’s den; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of Jehovah, as the waters cover the sea. In that day the nations shall seek a Root of Jesse, to it shall the Gentiles seek; and His rest shall be glory (11:1, 5, 6, 8, 10).

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V. FAITH WITHOUT CHARITY IS NOT FAITH, AND CHARITY WITHOUT FAITH IS NOT CHARITY, AND NEITHER HAS LIFE EXCEPT FROM THE LORD. It is very evident from their Epistles that it never entered the mind of any of the apostles that the church of this day would separate faith from charity by teaching that faith alone justifies and saves apart from the works of the law, and that charity therefore cannot be conjoined with faith, since faith is from God, and charity, so far as it is expressed in works, is from man. But this separation and division were introduced into the Christian church when it divided God into three persons, and ascribed to each equal Divinity. But that there is no faith apart from charity, nor any charity apart from faith, and that neither has life except from the Lord, will be made clear in the following chapter. At present, to prepare the way, it shall be shown: (1) That man can acquire for himself faith. (2) And also charity. (3) And also the life of both. (4) And yet that nothing of faith, of charity, or of the life of either, is from man, but from the Lord alone.

356.

(1) Man can acquire for himself faith. This is shown in the sections above (n. 343-348), as follows, that faith in its essence is truth, and that anyone is able to acquire truths from the Word, and that so far as anyone does acquire them for himself, and loves them, he implants in himself the beginnings of faith. To which shall be added, that unless man were able to acquire faith for himself, all that is commanded in the Word respecting faith would be useless. For we there read that it is the will Of the Father that men should believe in the Son, and that whosoever believes in Him has eternal life, and he who does not believe shall not see life. We read also that Jesus was to send the Paraclete, who would convince the world respecting sin because it believed not on Him; besides other statements cited above (n. 337, 335); furthermore, that all the apostles preached faith, a faith in the Lord God the Savior Jesus Christ. What meaning would there be in all this, if a man were to stand with hanging hands like a sculptured statue with movable joints, and await influx, and meanwhile the joints (being able only to adapt themselves to receive faith) were inwardly moved toward something that has no relation to faith? For modern orthodoxy, in that part of the Christian world that is separate from Roman Catholicism, teaches as follows: Man is so utterly corrupt and dead to good that until he is regenerated there does not abide in man’s nature, or continue in it since the fall, even a spark of spiritual strength by which he is capable from or by himself of being prepared for God’s grace, or of apprehending it when offered, or of retaining it; nor is he able for himself, in things spiritual, to understand, believe, embrace, think, will, commence, carry out, act, operate, co-operate, or apply or adapt himself to grace, or do anything toward his own conversion, wholly, or by halves, or in the smallest measure; also that in spiritual things, which regard the salvation of the soul, he is like the statue of salt of Lot’s wife, or like a stock or a stone destitute of life, having no use of eyes, or mouth, or any other sense. Nevertheless he has the power to move from place to place, to direct his external members, to go to public meetings, and to hear the Word and the Gospel. This doctrine is set forth in the book of the Evangelical churches called the Formula Concordance, the Leipsic edition of 1766 (pp. 656, 658; 661-663; 671-673); to which book, consequently to which faith, the priests take oath at their inauguration. The Reformed churches profess a like faith. But who that has reason and religion would not hiss at these things as absurd and ridiculous? Would he not say to himself, If this were so, what would the Word amount to, or religion, or the priesthood, or preaching, but mere emptiness, or sound about nothing? Tell some pagan who has any judgment and whom you wish to convert, that he is such in respect to conversion and faith, and would he not look upon Christianity as one would look upon an empty vessel? For take from man all power of believing as of himself, and what else is he? But this will be placed in clearer light in the chapter on Freedom of Choice.

357.

(2) Man can acquire for himself charity. It is the same here as with faith. For what does the Word teach but faith and charity, since these two are the essentials of salvation? For we read: Thou shalt love the Lord with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and thy neighbor as thyself (Matt. 22:34-39). Jesus said, A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another. From this shall all men know that ye are My disciples, that you love one another (John 13:34, 35 15:9; 16:27). It teaches also that man ought to bear fruit like a good tree; that he who does good shall be rewarded in the resurrection; besides other like things. What would be the use of all this if man were unable of himself to exercise charity, or acquire it for himself in any way? Cannot man give alms, can he not aid the needy, can he not do good in his own house and in his employment? Can he not live according to the commandments of the Decalogue? Has he not a soul from which he can do these things, and a rational mind whereby he can lead himself to act for this or that end? Can he not think that he ought to do these things because they are commanded in the Word, thus by God? No man lacks this power, and for the reason that the Lord gives it to everyone; and He gives it as something that is the man’s own; for who, in exercising charity, knows otherwise than that he does it from himself?

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(3) Man may also acquire for himself the life of faith and charity. Here again it is the same. For man acquires for himself this life when he goes to the Lord who is Life itself; and access to Him is closed to no man, for the Lord continually invites every man to come to Him; for He says: He that cometh to Me shall not hunger, and he that believeth in Me shall never thirst, and him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out (John 6:35, 37). Jesus stood and cried, If any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink (John 7:37). And again: The kingdom of heaven is like unto a man, a king, who made a marriage for his son, and sent his servants to call them that were bidden; and finally, he said, Go ye therefore into the partings of the ways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage (Matt. 22:1-9). Who does not know that the invitation or call is universal, and also the grace of reception? Man obtains life by going to the Lord because the Lord is Life itself, not only the life of faith but also the life of charity. That the Lord is that life, and that man has it from the Lord, is evident from the following passages: 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 raiseth up the dead and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom He will (John 5:21). As the Father hath life in Himself, even so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself (John 5:26). The bread of God is that He cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world (John 6:33). The words that I speak unto you are spirit and are life (John 6:63). Jesus said, He that followeth Me shall have the light of life (John 8:12). I came that they may have life, and may have it abundantly (John 10:10). He that believeth in Me, though he die, yet shall he live (John 11:25). I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life (John 14:6). Because I live, ye shall live also (John 14:19). These are written, that ye may have life in His name (John 20:31). He is eternal life (1 John 5:20). By the life in faith and charity is meant spiritual life, which is given by the Lord to man in his natural life.

359.

(4) Yet nothing of faith or of charity, or of the life of either, is from man, but from the Lord alone. For we read, That a man can receive nothing except it have been given him from heaven (John 3:27). And Jesus said: He that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same beareth much fruit; for apart from Me ye can do nothing (John 15:5). But this is to be understood thus, that man of himself is unable to acquire for himself any but natural faith, which is a persuasion that a thing is so because some man of authority has said so; or any but natural charity, which is an endeavor to gain favor with a view to some recompense. In such faith and charity there is what is man’s own, and as yet no life from the Lord. Nevertheless, by means of such faith and charity man prepares himself to be a receptacle of the Lord; and so far as he prepares himself, the Lord enters, and causes his natural faith to become spiritual, likewise his charity, and thus makes both to be alive; and this is done when man goes to the Lord as the God of heaven and earth. Because man was created an image of God, he was created an abode of God; therefore the Lord says: He that hath My commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me and I will love him, and I will come unto him and make an abode with him (John 14:21, 23). Again: Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hear My voice and open the door, I will come into him, and will sup with him, and he with Me (Apoc. 3:20). From all this comes the conclusion, that as man prepares himself naturally to receive the Lord, so the Lord enters and makes all that is within man inwardly spiritual, and thus alive. But on the other hand, so far as man does not prepare himself he removes the Lord from him and does everything from his own self; and what man himself does from himself has no real life in it. But these points cannot as yet be presented in such a light as to appear at all clearly until Charity and Freedom of Choice have been treated of; but they will be made clear later in the chapter on Reformation and Regeneration.

360.

It has been said above that faith in its beginning in man is natural, and that as man draws near to the Lord it becomes spiritual; so also with charity. But no one has known, as yet, the distinction that exists between natural and spiritual faith and charity. This great arcanum must therefore be disclosed. There are two worlds, a natural and a spiritual; and in each world there is a sun, and from each sun heat and light go forth; but the heat and light from the sun of the spiritual world have life within them; this life is from the Lord who is the midst of that sun; while the heat and light from the sun of the natural world have nothing of life in them; they simply serve the former heat and light as receptacles for the conveying of these to man, as instrumental causes always subserve their principal causes. It must be understood, therefore, that all things spiritual are from the heat and light of the sun of the spiritual world. These are spiritual because they contain in them spirit and life; while all things natural are from the heat and light of the sun of the natural world, which viewed in themselves are without spirit and life. [2] Since then faith is a matter of light, and charity of heat, it is plain that so far as a man is in the heat and light that go forth from the sun of the spiritual world, he is in spiritual faith and charity; while so far as he is in the light and heat that go forth from the sun of the natural world, he is in natural faith and charity. Evidently, therefore, as spiritual light is inwardly in natural light as in its receptacle or casket, and spiritual heat in like manner within natural heat, so also is spiritual faith inwardly in natural faith, and spiritual charity inwardly in natural charity; and this is effected in the degree that man advances from the natural to the spiritual world; and this he does so far as he believes in the Lord who is light itself, the way, the truth, and the life, as He Himself teaches. [3] This being so, it is clear that when man is in spiritual faith, he is also in natural faith. For as just said, spiritual faith is inwardly in natural faith; and as faith is a matter of light, it follows that by that implanting of spiritual faith man’s natural becomes, as it were, transparent, and according to the nature of its conjunction with charity, beautifully colored. This is because charity is ruddy and faith shining white; charity is ruddy from the flame of spiritual fire, and faith shining white from the splendor of the light therefrom. The contrary happens when the spiritual is not inwardly in the natural, but the natural inwardly in the spiritual; which is the case with men who reject faith and charity. With such the internal of their mind, in which they are when left to their own thoughts, is infernal, and they think from hell, although they do not know it; while the external of the mind of such, from which they converse with their companions in the world, is in a manner spiritual, but it is filled full of such unclean things as are in hell; consequently they are in hell, for compared with the former class they are in an inverted state.

361.

When it is thus known that the spiritual is inwardly in the natural in those who are in faith in the Lord, and at the same time in charity toward the neighbor, and consequently the natural in them is transparent, it follows that to the same extent man is wise in spiritual things, and therefrom in natural things; for when he thinks about or hears or reads anything, he sees interiorly within himself whether it is the truth or not. This he perceives from the Lord, from whom spiritual light and heat flow into the higher sphere of his understanding. [2] So far as faith and charity in man become spiritual, he is withdrawn from his own, and ceases to look to himself or to reward or remuneration, and looks solely to the delight in perceiving the truths of faith and doing the good works of love; and so far as this spirituality increases, that delight becomes blessedness. From this is man’s salvation, which is called eternal life. This state of man may be compared with the most beautiful and charming things in the world, and in the Word is compared with them, as for instance, with fruitful trees and the gardens in which they are, with flowery fields, with precious stones, with delicacies, with nuptials and their festivities and rejoicings. [3] But when the reverse is the case, that is to say, when the natural is inwardly in the spiritual, and consequently the man in his internals is a devil, but in his externals is like an angel, he may be compared to a dead man in a coffin of costly and gilded wood; he may also be compared to a skeleton adorned with clothing like a man, and drawn about in a magnificent carriage; or to a corpse in a sepulchre built like the temple of Diana; and his internal may be pictured even as a nest of serpents in a cavern, and his external as butterflies whose wings are tinted with all kinds of colors, but which nevertheless stick foul eggs to the leaves of useful trees, and so destroy the fruit. Or the internal of such may be compared to a hawk, and their external to a dove, and their faith and charity to a hawk pursuing a fleeing dove, which at length he wearies and then darts upon and devours.

362.

VI. THE LORD, CHARITY, AND FAITH, MAKE ONE, LIKE LIFE, WILL, AND UNDERSTANDING IN MAN; AND IF THEY ARE DIVIDED, EACH PERISHES LIKE A PEARL REDUCED TO POWDER. Some things shall first be stated that have been heretofore unknown in the learned world, and consequently among the ecclesiastics, as much so as things buried in the earth, and yet they are treasures of wisdom, and unless they are dug up and given to the public, man will toil in vain to arrive at any correct knowledge of God, faith, charity, and the state of his own life, as to the manner in which he should direct it and prepare it for the state of eternal life. The things heretofore unknown are as follows: That man is a mere organ of life; that life with everything belonging to it flows in from the God of heaven, who is the Lord; that in man there are two faculties of life, which are called the will and understanding, the will the receptacle of love, and the understanding the receptacle of wisdom; so, too, the will is the receptacle of charity, and the understanding the receptacle of faith; [2] that everything that man wills and everything he understands flows into him from without the goods pertaining to love and charity, and the truths pertaining to wisdom and faith, from the Lord, and the opposites of these from hell; that it is provided by the Lord that man should feel in himself as his own whatever flows in from without, and should consequently bring it forth from himself as his own, although nothing of it is his; that nevertheless such things are imputed to him as his on account of his freedom of choice in which are his willing and thinking, and on account of the knowledges of good and truth given him, which enable him to choose freely whatever conduces to his temporal and his eternal life. [3] The man who looks askance at these truths, or with half an eye only, may draw from them many insane conclusions; but he who looks at them with a straight and direct eye may draw from them many wise conclusions. That this and not the other may be done it was necessary to put forth first decisions and tenets respecting God and the Divine Trinity, and afterward to establish others respecting Faith and Charity, Freedom of Choice, and Reformation and Regeneration, as also Imputation; and then as means, Repentance, Baptism, and the Holy Supper.

363.

But in order that the present article on faith (which is, that the Lord, charity, and faith make one, like life, will, and understanding in man, and that if they are divided each perishes like a pearl reduced to powder) may be seen as truth and acknowledged, it is expedient to consider it in the following order: (1) The Lord with all of His Divine love, with all of His Divine wisdom, thus with all of His Divine life, flows into every man. (2) Consequently with the whole essence of faith and charity. (3) These are received by man according to his form. (4) But the man who divides the Lord, charity, and faith, is not a form that receives but a form that destroys them.

364.

(1) The Lord with all of His Divine love, with all of His Divine wisdom, thus with all of His Divine Life, flows into every man. In the Book of Creation we read: That man was created an image of God, and that God breathed into his nostrils the breath of lives (Gen. 1:27; 2:7). This describes man as being not life but only an organ of life. For God could not create another being like Himself; if He could have done so there would be as many gods as there are men. Neither could He create life (just as light cannot be created); but He could create man a form of life, as He created the eye a form of light; neither could or can God divide His essence, for it is one and indivisible. Since, therefore, God alone is life, it follows without question that from His life He gives life to every man, and that man without that life-giving would be in regard to his flesh nothing but a sponge, and in regard to his bones nothing but a skeleton, having no more life in him than a clock, which has its motion from a pendulum together with a weight or spring. This being so it also follows, that God inflows into every man with all of His Divine life, that is with all of His Divine love and Divine wisdom, these two constituting His Divine life (as maybe seen above, n. 39, 49), for the Divine is indivisible. [2] But how God inflows with the whole of His Divine life, may in some measure be perceived in somewhat the same manner as seeing that the sun of the world with its whole essence, which is heat and light, flows into every tree, every shrub and flower, every stone both common and precious; and that the sun does not distribute its heat and light, dispensing a part to this object and a part to that, but each object draws its own portion from the common influx. The same is true of the sun of heaven, from which Divine love goes forth as heat, and Divine wisdom as light. As the heat and light of the sun flow into human bodies, so do these flow into human minds and vivify them according to the nature of their forms, each form taking what is necessary for itself from the common influx. To this the following words of the Lord are applicable: Your Father maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust (Matt. 5:45). [3] Moreover, the Lord is omnipresent; and where He is present, there He is with His whole essence, and it is impossible for Him to withhold some of it and give a part to one and a part to another, but He gives it to all, and to man the ability to take either little or much. He says, moreover, that He makes His abode with those who keep His commandments, also that the faithful are in Him and He in them. In a word, all things are full in God, and from that illness each one takes his portion. The same is true of general things, as the atmospheres and the oceans. The atmosphere is the same in its least part as in its greatest; it does not apportion a part of itself for man’s respiration, another part to the birds to fly in, another to the sails of vessels, and another to the fans of windmills; but each of these takes from the atmosphere in its own portion and applies to itself so much as is sufficient. It is the same again with a storehouse full of grain; from it the possessor daily takes his food; the storehouse does not distribute it.

365.

(2) Consequently the Lord with the whole essence of faith and charity, flows into every man. This follows from the previous proposition, since the life of the Divine wisdom is the essence of faith, and the life of the Divine love is the essence of charity; therefore when the Lord is present with these, which are properly His, namely, the Divine wisdom and Divine love, He is also present with all the truths belonging to faith, and all the goods belonging to charity; for faith includes every truth that a man perceives from the Lord and thinks and speaks; and charity every good by which man is affected from the Lord, and which he consequently wills and does. [2] It has been said above that Divine love, which goes forth from the Lord as a sun, is perceived by the angels as heat, and the Divine wisdom therefrom, as light; and one who does not think beyond the appearance might imagine this heat to be mere heat and this light to be mere light, like the heat and light that go forth from the sun of our world. But the heat and light that go forth from the Lord as a sun, contain in their bosom all the infinities that are in the Lord - the heat all the infinities of His love, and the light all the infinities of His wisdom, thus also to infinity all the good pertaining to charity and all the truth pertaining to faith. This is because that sun is itself everywhere present in its heat and light; it is the circle most closely surrounding the Lord, emanating both from His Divine love and from His Divine wisdom; for, as frequently stated before, the Lord is in the midst of that sun. [3] All this now makes clear that there is nothing to restrict the capacity of man to take from the Lord (since He is omnipresent) all the good belonging to charity and all the truth belonging to faith. That these are in no way restricted is made evident by the love and wisdom that the angels of heaven possess from the Lord, in that these are ineffable, and to a natural man incomprehensible, and are also capable of being increased to eternity. That infinite things are included in the heat and light that go forth from the Lord, although they are perceived simply as heat and light, may be illustrated by various things in the natural world; as for example, the sound of a man’s voice and speech is heard merely as a simple sound; and yet when the angels hear it, they perceive therein all the affections of his love, and what they are and their quality are made manifest. That these things are hidden within the sound of the voice, even man can in some measure perceive from the tone of one who is speaking to him: as whether there is contempt or sarcasm or hatred in it, as also whether there is charity, benevolence, gladness, or other affections in it. Like things are hidden in the beam of the eye, when it looks at another. [4] This may be illustrated also by the fragrances arising from a large garden, or from extended plains covered with flowers. The fragrant odor exhaled therefrom consists of thousands and even myriads of different odors, yet they are perceived as one. The same is true of many other things, which although extrinsically they appear uniform, yet intrinsically they are manifold. Sympathies and antipathies are no other than exhalations of affections from the mind, which attract another according to similitudes, and cause aversion according to dissimilitudes; and these, although innumerable and unperceived by any bodily sense, are nevertheless perceived by the sense of the soul as one, and in the spiritual world all conjunctions and consociations are effected in agreement with them. All this has been set forth to illustrate what has been said above about the spiritual light that goes forth from the Lord, that in it reside all things of wisdom, and therefore all things of faith; and that it is that light whereby the understanding analytically sees and perceives rational things, as the eye sees and perceives natural things symmetrically.

366.

(3) What flows in from the Lord is received by man according to his form. Form means here man’s state in respect both to his love and to his wisdom, consequently in respect both to his affections for the goods of charity and to his perceptions of the truths of faith. That God is one, indivisible, and the same, from eternity to eternity, not the same simply but infinitely the same, and that all variableness is in the subject in which He dwells, has been shown above. That the recipient form or state induces variations, can be seen from the life of infants, children, youths, adults, and aged persons; in each there is the same life, because the same soul, from infancy to old age; but as one’s state is varied according to age and what is suitable thereto, in like manner is life perceived. [2] The life of God in all its fullness is not only in good and pious men, but also in the wicked and impious, likewise both in the angels of heaven and in the spirits of hell. The difference is that the wicked obstruct the way and close the door, lest God should enter the lower regions of their minds; while the good clear the way and open the door, and invite God to enter into the lower regions of their minds as He inhabits the highest regions; and thus they form a state of the will for love and charity to flow into, and a state of the understanding for wisdom and faith to flow into, consequently for the reception of God. But the wicked obstruct that influx by various lusts of the flesh and spiritual defilements, which bestrew the way and clog the passage. Nevertheless, God with all His Divine essence resides in the biggest regions of their minds, and gives to them the capacity to will good and understand truth - a capacity which every man has and which he could by no means possess were there not life from God in his soul. That even the wicked have this capacity it has been granted me to know from much experience. [3] That everyone receives life from God according to his form may be illustrated by comparison with plants of every kind. Every tree, every shrub, every bush and every blade of grass, receives an influx of heat and light according to its form, not only those that have a good use, but those also that have an evil use. The sun with its heat does not change their forms, but the forms change the effects of the sun in themselves. It is the same with the subjects of the mineral kingdom; each one of them, the valuable and the common alike, receives influx according to the form of the contexture of parts composing it, thus one stone differently from another, one mineral differently from another, one metal differently from another. Some of them adorn themselves with most beautiful variegated colors, some transmit the light without variegation, and some blur and suffocate it in themselves. From these few examples it can be seen that as the sun of the world with its heat and light is just as present in one object as in another, while it is their recipient forms that vary its operations, so is the Lord, from the sun of heaven in the midst of which He is, present in all men with His heat which in its essence is love, and with His light which in its essence is wisdom, and that it is the man’s form, which is induced upon him by the states of his life, that varies the Lord’s operations; consequently the cause that man is not born again and saved, is not the Lord, but man himself.

367.

(4) But the man who divides the Lord, charity, and faith, is not a form that receives but a form that destroys them. For he who separates the Lord from charity and faith, separates life from them, and when this is done, charity and faith either cease to exist or are abortions. That the Lord is life itself may be seen above (n. 358). He who acknowledges the Lord and sets charity aside, acknowledges Him with the lips only; his acknowledgment and confession is purely cold; within which there is no faith; for it lacks spiritual essence, since the essence of faith is charity. But he who practises charity and does not acknowledge the Lord as the God of heaven and earth, one with the Father (as He Himself teaches), practises merely natural charity in which there is no eternal life. The man of the church knows that all good that is good in itself is from God, consequently from the Lord, who is “the true God and eternal life” (1 John 5:20); so also with charity, because good and charity are one. [2] Faith separate from charity is not faith, because faith is the light of man’s life and charity is its heat; therefore the separation of charity from faith is like the separation of heat from light; man’s state then becomes like that of the world in winter, when everything on the earth dies. For charity to be charity and faith to be faith they can no more be separated than the will and the understanding; if these are separated the understanding comes to nothing, and presently the will also. It is the same with charity and faith, because charity resides in the will, and faith in the understanding. [3] Separating charity from faith is like separating essence from form. In the learned world it is known that essence without form, or form without essence, is nothing; for essence has no quality except from form, nor is form a subsistent entity except from essence; consequently nothing can be predicated of either separate from the other. Charity is the essence of faith, and faith is the form of charity just as good (as said above) is the essence of truth, and truth is the form of good. [4] As there are these two, namely, good and truth, in each thing and in all things that have essential existence, so there are charity and faith, charity because it belongs to good, and faith because it belongs to truth. This may be illustrated by comparisons with many things in the human body, and with many things on the earth. They maybe fitly compared with the respiration of the lungs and the systolic motion of the heart; since charity can no more be separated from faith than the heart from the lungs; for when the pulsation of the heart ceases, immediately the respiration of the lungs ceases; and when the respiration of the lungs ceases, all senses faint, all the muscles are deprived of motion, and in a short time the heart stops also and the life is wholly gone. This is a proper comparison, because the heart corresponds to the will and thus to charity, and the respiration of the lungs to the understanding, and thus to faith; for (as said above) charity resides in the will, and faith in the understanding; and this is what “heart” and “breath” mean in the Word. [5] Again there is a parallel between the separation of charity and faith and the separation of blood and flesh; for the blood separated from the flesh is gore, and becomes corruption, while the flesh separated from the blood gradually becomes putrid and breeds worms. So too, in the spiritual sense, “blood” signifies the truth of wisdom and faith, and “flesh” the good of love and charity. That this is the significance of “blood” may be seen in the Apocalypse Revealed (n. 379), and of “flesh” (n. 382). [6] For charity and faith to be anything, they can no more be separated than food and water or bread and wine with man; for food or bread taken without water or wine, merely distends the stomach, and like an undigested mass destroys it and becomes like putrid filth. So does water or wine without food or bread distend the stomach, and likewise the vessels and pores, which being thus deprived of nutrition, emaciate the body even to death. This is also a proper comparison, since “food” and “bread” in the spiritual sense signify the good of love and charity, and “water” and “wine” the truth of wisdom and faith, as may be seen in the Apocalypse Revealed (n. 50, 316, 778, 932). [7] Charity conjoined with faith, and faith in its turn with charity, may be likened to the face of a handsome virgin beautiful from the intermingling of red and white. This again is a proper comparison, since love and charity therefrom in the spiritual world are red from the fire of the sun there, while truth and faith therefrom are white from the light of that sun; and therefore charity separate from faith may be likened to a face inflamed with pimples, and faith separate from charity to the pallid face of a corpse. Faith separate from charity may also be likened to a paralysis of one side, which is called hemiplegia, from which, when it increases, the man dies. It may also be compared to St. Vitus’ dance, or to the dance of St. Guy, which is caused by the bite of the tarantula. The rational faculty becomes like a man so bitten; like him it dances furiously and so deems itself alive, when yet it can no more collect various reasons into one, and think about spiritual truths, than one can when asleep in bed oppressed with a nightmare. This will suffice to demonstrate the two points of this chapter: first, That faith without charity is not faith, and that charity without faith is not charity, and that neither has life except from the Lord; secondly, That the Lord, charity, and faith make one, like life, will, and understanding in man; and if they are divided each perishes, like a pearl reduced to powder.

368.

VII. THE LORD IS CHARITY AND FAITH IN MAN, AND MAN IS CHARITY AND FAITH IN THE LORD. That the man of the church is in the Lord and the Lord in him, can be seen from the following passes in the Word: Jesus said, Abide in Me, and I in you; I am the Vine and ye are the branches. He that abideth in Me and I in him, the same beareth much fruit (John 15:4, 5). He that eateth My flesh and drinketh My blood, abideth in Me and I in him (John 6:56). In that day ye shall know that I am in My Father, and ye in Me, and I in you (John 14:20). Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God abideth in him and he in God (1 John 4:15). Yet man himself cannot be in the Lord, but charity and faith that are in him from the Lord, from which two he is essentially man. But in order to make this arcanum somewhat clear to the understanding, it shall be investigated in the following order: (1) It is by conjunction with God that man has salvation and eternal life. (2) Conjunction with God the Father is not possible, but only conjunction with the Lord, and through Him with God the Father. (3) Conjunction with the Lord is reciprocal, that is, the Lord is in man and man in the Lord. (4) This reciprocal conjunction is effected by means of charity and faith. The truth of these propositions will be obvious from the following explanation.

369.

(1) It is by conjunction with God that man has salvation and eternal life. Man was so created as to be capable of conjunction with God; for he was created a native of heaven and also of the world, and so far as he is a native of heaven he is spiritual, while so far as he is a native of the world he is natural; and the spiritual man can think of God and perceive such things as are of God; he can also love God, and be affected by what is from God; from which it follows that he is capable of conjunction with God. That man can think of God and can perceive such things as are of God, is beyond all doubt; for he can think of the unity of God, of the Esse of God, which is Jehovah, of the immensity and eternity of God, of the Divine love and wisdom, which constitute the Essence of God, of God’s omnipotence, omniscience, and omnipresence; of the Lord the Savior His Son, and of redemption and mediation; also of the Holy Spirit, and finally of the Divine trinity; all of which are of God, yea, are God. Moreover, he can think also of the operations of God, which are chiefly faith and charity, and of other things which proceed from these two. [2] That man is capable not only of thinking about God but also of loving Him is evident from the two commandments of God Himself, which read thus: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself (Matt. 22:37-39; Deut. 6:5). That man is able to obey God’s commandments, and that this is loving Him and being loved by Him, is evident from the following: Jesus said, He that hath My commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me; and he that loveth Me shall be loved of My Father, and I will love him and will manifest Myself unto him (John 14:21). [3] Furthermore, what is faith but conjunction with God by means of truths which belong to the understanding, and thence to thought? And what is love but conjunction with God by means of the goods that belong to the will, and thence to affection? God’s conjunction with man is a spiritual conjunction within the natural; and man’s conjunction with God is a natural conjunction from the spiritual. For the sake of this conjunction as an end, man was created a native both of heaven and of the world. As a native of heaven he is spiritual, as a native of the world he is natural. If, therefore, man becomes spiritual-rational and also spiritual-moral, he is conjoined with God, and through that conjunction he has salvation and eternal life. But on the other hand, if man is merely natural-rational and also natural-moral, there is indeed a conjunction of God with man, but not conjunction of man with God. This is the source of spiritual death, which viewed in itself is natural life apart from spiritual life; for the spiritual, in which there is the life of God, is then extinct in man.

370.

(2) Conjunction with God the Father is not possible, but only conjunction with the Lord, and through Him with God the Father. This the Scripture teaches and reason sees. The Scripture teaches that God the Father has never been seen or heard, and cannot be seen or heard; consequently that from Himself, as He is in His own Esse and Essence, He cannot operate at all in man. For the Lord says, That no man hath seen God save He that is with the Father, He hath seen the Father (John 6:46). Neither knoweth anyone the Father save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son willeth to reveal Him (Matt. 11:27). Ye have neither heard the voice of the Father at any time nor seen His Shape (John 5:37). This is because He is in the firsts and the principles of all things, thus pre-eminently above every sphere of the human mind; for He is in the firsts and the principles of all things of wisdom and all things of love, with which man can have no conjunction whatever; consequently if He Himself should draw near to man, or man to Him, man would be consumed and would melt away like wood in the focus of a powerful sun-glass, or rather like an image thrown into the sun itself. Therefore it was said to Moses, who longed to see God, That man could not see Him and live (Ex. 33:20). [2] But that there may be conjunction with God the Father through the Lord, is evident from the passages just quoted, that not the Father, but the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, and who has seen the Father, has brought to view and revealed those things which are of God and from God; and also from the following: In that day ye shall know that I am in My Father, and ye in Me, and I in you (John 14:20). The glory which Thou hast given Me, I have given unto them, that they may be one, even as We are one; I in them, and Thou in Me (John 3:22, 23, 26). Jesus said, I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; no one cometh unto the Father but by Me. And then Philip wished to see the Father, and the Lord said to him, He that seeth Me seeth the Father; and if ye had known Me, ye would know My Father also (John 14:6, 7, 9). Again: He that beholdeth Me, beholdeth Him that sent Me (John 12:45). He also said: That He is the door, and that whosoever enters through Him is saved while he who climbeth up some other way is a thief and a robber (John 10:1-9). He also says, That he who abides not in Him, is cast forth and as a branch is withered, and cast into the fire (John 15:6). [3] This is because the Lord our Savior is Jehovah the Father Himself in human form; for Jehovah descended and became Man that He might be able to draw near to man, and man to Him, and conjunction might thus be effected, and through that conjunction man might have salvation and eternal life. For when God became Man, and thus also became Man-God, being then accommodated to man He could draw near to him and be conjoined with him as God-Man and Man-God. There are three things that follow in order; accommodation, application, and conjunction. There must be accommodation before there is application; and there must be accommodation and application both together before there is conjunction. Accommodation on God’s part was that He became Man; application on God’s part is perpetual so far as man applies himself in return; and so far as this is done, conjunction is effected also. These three follow each other and proceed in their order in each and all things, which become one and coexist.

371.

(3) Conjunction with the Lord is a reciprocal conjunction, that is, that the Lord is in man and man in the Lord. That conjunction is reciprocal, Scripture teaches and reason also sees. As to His conjunction with His Father, the Lord teaches that it is reciprocal, for He says to Philip: Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? Believe Me that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me (John 14:10, 11). That ye may know and believe that the Father is in Me, and I in the Father (John 10:38). Jesus said, Father, the hour is come glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son also may glorify Thee (John 17:1). Father, all things that are Mine are Thine, and Thine are Mine (John 17:10). The same is said by the Lord respecting His conjunction with man, namely, that it is reciprocal; for He says: Abide in Me and I in you; he that abideth in Me and I in him, the same beareth much fruit (John 15:4, 6). He that eateth My flesh and drinketh My blood, abideth in Me and I in him (John 6:66). In that day ye shall know that I am in My Father, and ye in Me, and I in you (John 14:20). He that keepeth the commandments of Christ abideth in Him, and He in him (1 John 3:24; 4:13). Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God abideth in him, and he in God (1 John 4:15). If anyone hear My voice and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me (Apoc. 3:20). [2] From these plain statements it is clear that the conjunction of the Lord and man is reciprocal; and because it is reciprocal it necessarily follows, that man ought to conjoin himself to the Lord, in order that the Lord may conjoin himself to man; and that otherwise conjunction is not effected, but withdrawal and a consequent separation, yet not on the Lord’s part, but on man’s part. In order that such reciprocal conjunction may exist, there is granted to man freedom of choice, giving him the ability to walk in the way to heaven or in the way to hell. From this freedom that is given to man flows his ability to reciprocate, which enables him to conjoin himself with the Lord, and also with the devil. But this liberty, what it is and why it was given to man, will be illustrated hereafter, when Freedom of Choice, Repentance, Reformation and Regeneration, and Imputation are treated of. [3] It is to be lamented that the reciprocal conjunction of the Lord and man, although it stands out so clearly in the Word, is unknown in the Christian church. It is unknown because of certain hypotheses respecting faith and freedom of choice. The hypothesis respecting faith is that it is bestowed upon man without his contributing anything toward the acquisition of it, or adapting and applying himself, any more than a stock, to the reception of it. The hypothesis respecting freedom of choice is that man does not possess a single grain of freedom of choice in spiritual things. But that the reciprocal conjunction of the Lord and man, on which depends the salvation of the human race, may not remain longer unknown, necessity itself enjoins its disclosure, which may be best effected by examples, because they illustrate. [4] There are two kinds of reciprocation by which conjunction is effected: one is alternate and the other mutual. The alternate reciprocation by which conjunction is effected, may be illustrated by the action of the lungs in breathing. Man draws in the air and thereby expands the chest; then he expels the inhaled air and thereby contracts the chest. This inhalation and the consequent expansion is effected by means of the pressure of the air proportionate to its column; while the expulsion and the consequent contraction are effected by means of the ribs by the power of the muscles. Such is the reciprocal conjunction of the air and the lungs, and on it depends the life of all bodily sense and motion, for these swoon when respiration ceases. [5] Reciprocal conjunction, which is effected by alteration, may also be illustrated by the conjunction of the heart with the lungs and of the lungs with the heart. The heart from its right chamber pours the blood into the lungs, and the lungs pour it back again into the left chamber of the heart; thus is that reciprocal conjunction effected on which the life of the whole body is altogether dependent. There is a like conjunction of the blood with the heart, and vice versa. The blood of the whole body flows through the veins into the heart, and from the heart it flows out through the arteries into the whole body; action and reaction effect this conjunction. There is a like action and reaction (by which there is a constant conjunction) between the embryo and the mother’s womb. [6] But there is no such reciprocal conjunction of the Lord and man. That is a mutual conjunction, which is effected not by action and reaction, but by cooperation. For the Lord acts, and from Him man receives action, and operates as if of himself, even by the Lord from himself. This operation of man from the Lord is imputed to him as his own, because he is held constantly by the Lord in freedom of choice. The freedom of choice resulting from this is the ability to will and to think from the Lord, that is, from the Word, and also the ability to will and to think from the devil, that is, contrary to the Lord and the Word. This freedom the Lord gives to man to enable him to conjoin himself reciprocally with the Lord, and by conjunction he gifted with eternal life and blessedness, since this, without reciprocal conjunction, would not be possible. [7] This reciprocal conjunction, which is mutual, may also be illustrated by various things in man and in the world. Such is the conjunction of soul and body in every man; such is the conjunction of will and action, also of thought and speech; such is the mutual conjunction of the two eyes, the two ears, and the two nostrils. That the mutual conjunction of the two eyes is in a manner reciprocal, is evident from the optic nerve, in which fibers from both hemispheres of the cerebrum are folded together, and thus folded together they extend to both eyes. It is the same with the ears and nostrils. [8] There exists a like reciprocal and mutual conjunction between light and the eye, between sound and the ear, odor and the nose, taste and the tongue, touch and the body; for the eye is in the light and the light in the eye, sound is in the ear and the ear in the sound, odor is in the nose and the nose in odor, taste is in the tongue and the tongue in taste, and touch is in the body and the body in touch. This reciprocal conjunction may also be compared to the conjunction of a horse and a carriage, an ox and a plough, a wheel and machinery, a sail and the wind, a musical pipe and the air; in short, such is the reciprocal conjunction of the end and the cause, and such also is that of the cause and the effect. But there is not time to explain all these examples one by one, for it would be a work of many pages.

372.

(4) This reciprocal conjunction of the Lord and man is effected by means of charity and faith. It is known at the present day that the church constitutes the body of Christ, and that everyone in whom the church is, is in some member of that body, according to Paul (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 meant by the Lord’s words in John: Be that eateth My flesh and drinketh My blood abideth in Me and I in him (6:56). By the Lord’s “flesh” and by “bread” the Divine good is meant, and by His “blood” and “wine” Divine truth is meant, as will be seen in the chapter on the Holy Supper. From this it follows, that so far as man is in the goods of charity and the truths of faith, so far he is in the Lord and the Lord in him; for conjunction with the Lord is spiritual conjunction, and spiritual conjunction is effected solely by means of charity and faith. That there is a conjunction of the Lord and the church, and consequently of good and truth, in each and all things of the Word, has been shown in the chapter on the Sacred Scripture (n. 248-253); and since charity is good and faith is truth, there is everywhere in the Word a conjunction of charity and faith. From the foregoing it now follows, that the Lord is charity and faith in man, and that man is charity and faith in the Lord; for the Lord is spiritual charity and faith in man’s natural charity and faith, and man is natural charity and faith from the Lord’s spiritual charity and faith, and these two conjoined produce a spiritual-natural charity and faith.

373.

VIII. CHARITY AND FAITH ARE TOGETHER IN GOOD WORKS. In every work that proceeds from man there is the whole man such as he is in his disposition or essentially. By disposition his love’s affection and thought therefrom is meant; these form his nature, and in general his life. If we look at works in this way, they are like mirrors of man. This may be illustrated by like things in brutes and wild beasts. A brute a brute, and a wild beast is a wild beast, in all their actions. In everything pertaining to it a wolf is a wolf, a tiger is a tiger, a fox is a fox, and a lion is a lion; the same is true of a sheep and a kid. It is the same with a man; but man is such as he is in his internal man. If in this he is like a wolf or a fox, then everything he does is inwardly wolfish and fox-like, and the reverse if he is like a lamb or a kid. But that such is the man everything he does is not evident in his external man, because the external takes on various forms round about the internal; nevertheless in the internal the quality lies inwardly hidden. The Lord says: The good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and the evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil (Luke 6:46). And again: Each tree is known by its own fruit; of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes (Luke 6:44). That in each and all things that go forth from him man is such as he is in his internal man, he makes clear in himself after death to the very life, since he then lives an internal and no longer an external man. It will be shown in the following order how, when the Lord, charity and faith reside in man’s internal, there is good in him and that every work that goes forth from him is good. (1) Charity is willing well and good works are doing well from willing well. (2) Charity and faith are only mental and perishable things unless they are determined to works and coexist in them when possible. (3) Good works are not produced by charity alone, still less by faith alone, but by charity and faith together. But on these points separately.

374.

(1) Charity is willing well and good works are doing well from willing well. Charity and works are distinct from each other like will and action, or like the mind’s affection and the body’s operation; consequently like the internal man and the external; and these two are related to each other like cause and effect, since the causes of all things are formed in the internal man, and from this are all effects produced in the external. Therefore charity, since it belongs to the internal man, is willing well; and works, since they belong to the external man, are doing well from willing well. [2] Nevertheless between the good willing of different persons there is infinite diversity; for while everything that one person does to favor another is believed or appears to flow forth from goodwill or benevolence, yet no one knows whether the good deeds spring from charity or not, still less whether they spring from genuine or from spurious charity. This infinite diversity between the good-will of different persons originates in the end, intention, and consequent purpose; these are inwardly concealed in the will to do good, and from them is derived the quality of everyone’s will. The will also searches the understanding for the means and modes of attaining its ends, which are effects, and in the understanding it comes into the light which enables it to see not only the reasons but also the opportunities for determining itself to action in the proper time and manner, and thus producing its effects, which are works; and at the same time in the understanding it brings itself into the power to act. From this it follows that works belong essentially to the will, formally to the understanding, and actually to the body. Thus does charity descend into good works. [3] This may be illustrated by comparison with a tree. Man himself, in all that belongs to him, is like a tree. In the seed of this tree there are concealed, as it were, the end, intention, and purpose of producing fruit; in these respects the seed corresponds to the will in man, which contains these three things, as stated above. Again, the seed from its interiors shoots up from the earth, clothes itself with branches, branchlets, and leaves, and so provides itself with means to it, end, which is the fruit; in all this the tree corresponds to the understanding in man. Finally, when the time comes and there is opportunity for determination, the tree blossoms and yields fruits, these corresponding to good works in man, in that evidently they are essentially from the seed, formally from the branchlets and leaves, and actually from the wood of the tree. [4] This may also be illustrated by comparison with a temple. Man is a temple of God, according to Paul (1 Cor. 3:16, 17; 2 Cor. 6:16; Eph. 2:21, 22). As a temple of God man’s end, intention, and purpose are salvation and eternal life; in these there is a correspondence with the will, which contains these three things. Afterwards he acquires doctrinals of faith and charity from parents, teachers, and preachers, and when he comes into the exercise of his own judgment, from the Word and doctrinal works, all of which are means to the end; and these there is a correspondence with the understanding. Finally there comes a determination to uses, according to doctrinals as means, and this is effected by bodily acts, which are called good works. Thus the end through mediate causes produces effects, which are essentially of the end, formally of the doctrines of the church, and actually of the uses. Thus does man become a temple of God.

375.

(2) Charity and faith are only mental and perishable things, unless they are determined to works and coexist in them when possible. Has not a man a head and a body which are joined together by a neck? And in the head is there not a mind that wills and thinks, and in the body is there not power that performs and executes? Therefore if man merely wills well, or thinks from charity, and does not do good and thus perform uses, is he not like a head only, and thus like a mind only, which apart from a body cannot continue to exist? From this is not anyone able to see that charity and faith are not charity and faith so long as they are merely in the head and its mind but not in the body? For they are then like birds flying in the air without any resting-place on the earth, or like birds ready to lay, but having no nests, in which case they would drop their eggs in the air or upon the branch of some tree, and the eggs would fall to the ground and be destroyed. There can be nothing in the mind that does not have some correspondent in the body, and its correspondent may be called its embodiment. So when charity and faith occupy the mind only, they have no embodiment in the man, and may be likened to those aerial beings called specters, like Fame as painted by the ancients with a laurel about her head and a horn in her hand. Being such specters, and still being able to think, they must needs be disturbed by fantasies, which are caused by reasonings from various kinds of sophistry, almost as reeds in marshes are shaken by the wind, while beneath them shells lie at the bottom and frogs croak on the surface. Who cannot see that such things come to pass when men merely know from the Word some things about charity and faith, but do not practice them? Moreover, the Lord says: Everyone who heareth My words and doeth them I will liken to a prudent man who built his house upon a rock, and everyone who heareth My words and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man who built his house upon the sand, or upon the ground without a foundation (Matt. 7:24, 26; Luke 6:47-49). Charity and faith with their factitious ideas when not put in practice may be compared to butterflies in the air, which a sparrow darts upon and devours as soon as he sees them. The Lord also says: The sower went forth to sow; and some fell upon the hard way, and the birds came and devoured them up (Matt. 13:3, 4).

376.

That charity and faith do not profit a man so long as they remain only in one part of his body, that is, in his head, and are not fixed in works, is evident from a thousand passages in the Word, of which I will here adduce only these: Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire (Matt. 7:19-21). He that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the Word and attendeth, who also beareth fruit and bringeth forth. And when Jesus had said these things, He cried, saying, Who hath ears to hear, let him hear (Matt. 13:3-9, 23, 43). Jesus said, My mother and My brethren are these who hear the Word of God and do it (Luke 8:21). Now we know that God heareth not sinners but if any man be a worshiper of God, and doeth His will, him He heareth (John 9:31). If ye know these things, blessed are ye if ye do them (John 13:17). He that hath My commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me, and I will love him and will manifest Myself to him; and will come unto him and make My abode with him (John 14:15-21, 23). Herein is My Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit (John 15:8, 16). For not the hearers of the law shall be justified by God, but the doers of the law (Rom. 2:13; James 1:22). In the day of wrath and of righteous judgment God will render to every man according to his deeds (Rom. 2:5, 6). For we must all be made manifest before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body according to what he hath done, whether good or bad (2 Cor. 5:10). For the Son of Man shall come in the glory of His Father, and then He shall render unto everyone according to his deeds (Matt. 16:27). I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from henceforth; Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors; and their works do follow with them (Apoc. 14:13). A Book was opened, which is the Book of life and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the Book; every man according to his works (Apoc. 20:12, 13). Behold I come quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give every man according to his work (Apoc. 22:12). Jehovah, whose eyes are open upon all the ways of the sons of men, to give to everyone according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his works (Jer. 22:19). I will punish him according to his ways, and will recompense him for his works (Hos. 4:9). According to our ways, and according to our works Jehovah does with us (Zech. 1:6). So also in many other passages. From this it can be seen that charity and faith are not charity and faith until they exist in works, and that while they exist only in the expanse above works, that is, in the mind, they are like appearances of a tabernacle or temple in the air, which are nothing but a mirage, and vanish of themselves; or they are like pictures drawn on paper which moths consume; or they are like an abode on a housetop where there is no sleeping-place, instead of in the house. All this shows that charity and faith are perishable things so long as they are merely mental or unless they are determined to works and coexist in them when possible.

377.

(3) Good works are not produced by charity alone, still less by faith alone, but by charity and faith together. This is because charity apart from faith is not charity, and faith apart from charity is not faith (as shown above, n. 356-361). Wherefore charity cannot exist by itself or faith by itself; and it cannot be said that charity in itself produces any good works, or faith in itself. It is the same with these as with the will and understanding. The will by itself can have no existence and can therefore produce nothing; nor can the understanding have any existence by itself of produce anything; but all production is effected by both together, and is effected by the understanding from the will. There is this similarity, because the will is the abode of charity and the understanding is the abode of faith. It is said that still less can faith alone produce good works, because faith is truth, and faith operates to produce truths, and these illuminate charity and its exercises. That truths illuminate, the Lord teaches, saying: He that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his works may be made manifest that they have been wrought in God (John 3:21). Consequently when man does good works in accordance with truths, he does them in light, that is, intelligently and wisely. The conjunction of charity and faith is like the marriage of husband and wife. From the husband as a father and the wife as a mother all natural offspring are born; and in like manner from charity as a father and faith as a mother all spiritual off spring, which are knowledges of good and truth, are born. This makes clear how spiritual families are generated. Moreover in the Word “husband” and “father” signify in the spiritual sense the good of charity, and “wife” and “mother” the truth of faith. This again makes clear that neither charity alone nor faith alone can produce good works, as neither the husband alone nor the wife alone can produce offspring. The truths of faith not only illuminate charity, but also determine its quality, and, still further, nourish it; so that a man having charity but no truths of faith, is like one walking in a garden, at night, who plucks fruit from the trees, not knowing whether in its use it is good or bad fruit. As the truths of faith not only illuminate charity but also determine its quality, as before said, it follows that charity without the truths of faith is like fruit without juice, like a dried-up fig, or like a grape after the wine has been pressed out of it. As truths nourish faith, as has also been said, it follows that if charity is without truths of faith, it receives no nourishment except such as a man gets from eating burnt bread and drinking unclean water from some stagnant pond.

378.

IX. THERE IS A TRUE FAITH, A SPURIOUS FAITH AND A HYPOCRITICAL FAITH. From its cradle the Christian church began to be infested and divided by schisms and heresies, and in the course of time to be torn and mutilated almost like what is said, Of the man who went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and was surrounded by thieves, who stripped him and beat him and then left him half dead (Luke 10:30). From this it has come to pass as it is written of that church in Daniel: At last upon the bird of abominations shall be desolation; and even to the consummation and decision shall it drop upon the devastation (9:27). Also according to these words of the Lord: Then shall the end come, when ye shall see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet (Matt. 24:14, 15). The lot of that church may be compared to that of a vessel laden with precious merchandise, which immediately on leaving port is driven about by storms, and a little after is wrecked and sunk in the sea, with its precious cargo partly destroyed by the waters, and partly torn by fishes. [2] That the Christian church from its infancy has been so vexed and torn is evident from ecclesiastical history, as for example, even in the time of the apostles, by Simon, who was by birth a Samaritan and by profession a magician (see Acts 8:9-20); also by Hymeneus and Philetus (mentioned by Paul in his Second Epistle to Timothy); again by Nicholas, from whom the so-called Nicolaitans took their name (mentioned in Apoc. 2:6, and Acts 6:5); and also by Cerinthus. After the time of the apostles several other sects arose, as the Marcionites, the Noetians, the Valentinians, the Encratites, the Cataphrygians, the Quarto-Decimans, the Alogians, the Catharians, the Origenists or Adamites, the Sabellians, the Samosatenes, the Manichseans, the Meletians, and finally the Arians. After them, whole battalions of heresiarchs invaded the church, as the Donatists, the Photinians, the Acaians or Semiarians, the Eunomians, the Macedonians, the Nestorians, the Predestinarians, the Papists, the Zwinglians, the Anabaptists, the Schwenckfeldians, the Synergists, the Soeinians, the Anti-Trinitarians, the Quakers, the Moravians, and many more. Finally Luther, Melancthon, and Calvin prevailed over all these, and their dogmas have predominated to this day. [3] The causes of so many divisions and separations in the church are chiefly three: First, The Divine trinity has not been understood; Second, There has been no right knowledge of the Lord; Third, The passion of the cross has been taken for redemption itself. So long as these three things, which are the very essentials of faith, and from which the church exists and is called the church, are not understood, it must needs be that all things pertaining to the church will be turned aside out of their true course, and finally into the opposite course, and the church will still believe that it holds to a true faith in God and faith in all the truths relating to God; and in this state they are like persons who cover their eyes with their skirts, and fancy themselves to be walking in a straight line, and yet are departing from it step by step, and at length go in the opposite direction where there is a cavern into which they fall. But the man of the church can be brought back from his wandering into the way of truth, only by learning what true faith is, what spurious faith is, and what hypocritical faith is. Therefore it shall be shown: (1) That true faith is the one only faith, which is a faith in the Lord God the Savior Jesus Christ, and this is held by those who believe Him to be the Son of God, the God of heaven and earth, and one with the Father. (2) Spurious faith is all faith that departs from the true faith, which is the one only faith, and this is the faith that is held by those who climb up some other way, and regard the Lord not as God, but as a mere man. (3) Hypocritical faith is no faith.

379.

(1) True faith is the one only faith, which is a faith in the Lord God the Savior Jesus Christ and this is held by those who believe Him to be the Son of God, the God of heaven and earth, and one with the Father. True faith is the one only faith, because faith is truth, and truth cannot be broken or cut into fragments, with one part tending to the left and another to the right, and the truth of it still remain. In a general sense faith consists of innumerable truths, for it is the complex of them; but these innumerable truths constitute, as it were, a single body, and in that body there are truths that form its members, some forming the members that depend on the chest, as the arms and hands, and others those that depend on the loins, as the legs and feet; while interior truths form the head, and the truths first proceeding from them form the sensories located in the face. Interior truths form the head because interior means the same as higher; for in the spiritual world whatever is interior is also higher. This is true of the three heavens there. Of that body and of all its members, the Lord God the Savior is the soul and life; and this is why the church was called by Paul “the body of Christ,” the men of the church, according to their states of charity and faith, constituting its members. That the true faith is the one only faith, Paul also teaches thus: There is one body and one spirit, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God; and He gave some for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ; till we all come into the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, and into the perfect man, into the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ (Eph. 4:4-13). [2] That the true faith, which is the one only faith, is a faith in the Lord God the Savior Jesus Christ, has been fully shown above (n. 337-339). But those who believe the Lord to be the Son of God also have the true faith, because such believe Him to be God, and unless faith is faith in God it is no faith. That of all the truths that enter into faith and form it, this is the first, is evident from the Lord’s words to Peter: Peter said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God, and Jesus answered, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, and I say also unto thee, upon this rock I will build My church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it (Matt. 16:16-18). By “rock” here and elsewhere in the Word, the Lord in respect to Divine truth is meant, and also Divine truth from the Lord. That this truth is the first truth and is like a diadem on the head and a scepter in the hand of the body of Christ, is evident from the Lord’s saying, that upon that rock He would build His church, and the gates of hell should not prevail against it. That this is the first thing in faith, is also evident from these words in John: Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him and he in God (1 Epistle 4:15). [3] Besides this characteristic of being in the true faith, which is the one only faith, there is another, which is to believe that the Lord is the God of heaven and earth. This follows from the former, that He is the Son of God; also from the following: That in Him dwelleth all the fullness of Divinity (Col. 2:9) That He is the God of heaven and earth (Matt. 28:18); That all that the Father hath is His (John 3:35; 16:15). A third proof that those who believe in the Lord are interiorly in faith in Him, thus in the true faith, which is the one only faith, is their believing the Lord to be one with God the Father. That He is one with God the Father, and that He is the Father Himself in the Human, has been fully shown in the chapter on the Lord and Redemption, and is plainly evident from the words of the Lord Himself: That the Father and He are one (John 10:30) That the Father is in Him and He in the Father (John 10:38; 14:10, 11); That He said to His disciples, that henceforth they had seen and known the Father; and He looked at Philip and said, that he then saw and knew the Father (John 14:7-10). [4] These three are distinguishing evidences that men have faith in the Lord, and thus the true faith, which is the one only faith; for not all who approach the Lord have faith in Him; for true faith is both internal and external; and those who possess these three precious things of faith are in both its internals and its externals so that it is not only a treasure in their hearts, but also a jewel in their mouths. It is otherwise with those who do not acknowledge the Lord as the God of heaven and earth, and as one with the Father. Such look interiorly to other gods also who possess like power, although this power is to be exercised by the Son, either vicariously or as one who on account of redemption is worthy to reign over those whom He has redeemed. But these break the true faith in pieces by dividing the unity of God, and when this is done, there is no longer any faith, but only the ghost of it, which when seen naturally looks like some image of it, but seen spiritually, becomes a chimera. Who can deny that the true faith is faith in one God, who is the God of heaven and earth, consequently, a faith in God the Father in a human form, that is, the Lord? [5] These three marks, testimonies, and indications, that faith in the Lord is faith itself, are like the touch-stones whereby gold and silver are known; or they are like stones or fingerposts by the wayside, pointing the way to the temple where the one and true God is worshiped; or they are like lights on rocks in the sea, whereby those who are sailing at night may know where they are, and to what quarter to direct their ships. The first characteristic of faith, which is that the Lord is the Son of the living God, is like the morning star to all who enter His church.

380.

(2) Spurious faith is all faith that departs from the true faith, which is the one only faith, and this is the faith that is held by those who climb up some other way, and regard the Lord not as God but as a mere man. That spurious faith is all faith that departs from the true faith, which is the one only faith, is self evident; for if the one only faith is the truth, it follows that what departs from it is not truth. Every good and truth of the church is propagated by the marriage of the Lord and the church; thus everything that is essentially charity and that is essentially faith is from that marriage; and on the other hand, whatever of charity and faith is not from that marriage, is not from a legitimate but an illegitimate bed, thus from a polygamic bed or marriage, or from adultery. All faith that acknowledges the Lord but adopts the falsities of heresy is from a polygamic bed, and the faith that acknowledges three Lords of one church is from adultery. For this may be likened to a harlot or a woman married to one man and spending her nights with two others, calling each one her husband while sleeping with him. Therefore such faith is called spurious; and in many places the Lord calls those holding such a faith “adulterers,” and they are also meant by “thieves and robbers” in John: Verily I say unto you, he that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber; I am the door; by Me if any man enter in, he shall be saved (10:1, 9). Entering into the sheepfold is entering into the church, and also into heaven. It is entering also into heaven because heaven and the church make one, and nothing makes heaven except the church that is in it; consequently as the Lord is the bridegroom and husband of the church, so is He also the bridegroom and husband of heaven. [2] It may be inquired into and may be known whether faith is a legitimate or a spurious offspring by the three indications mentioned above, namely, acknowledgment of the Lord as the Son of God, acknowledgment of Him as the God of heaven and earth, and acknowledgment that He is one with the Father. Therefore, so far as any faith departs from these its essentials, it is spurious. Faith is both spurious and adulterous with those who regard the Lord not as God but merely as a man. The truth of this is very evident from the two abominable heresies, Arianism and Socinianism, which have been anathematized in and excommunicated from the Christian church, and this because they deny the Lord’s Divinity, and climb up some other way. But I fear that those abominations lie concealed at this day in the general spirit of the men of the church. It is remarkable that the more anyone deems himself to be superior to others in learning and judgment, the more prone he is to seize upon and appropriate to himself the idea that the Lord is a man and not God, and that because He is a man He cannot be God; and whoever appropriates to himself these ideas, introduces himself into companionship with Arians and Socinians, who in the spiritual world are in hell. [3] Such is the general spirit of the men of the church at the present day, because with every man there is an associate spirit; for without this man would be unable to think analytically, rationally, and spiritually, and thus would not be a man but a brute. Moreover, every man attaches to himself a spirit in harmony with the affection of his own will and consequent perception of his understanding. To the man who introduces himself into good affections by means of truths from the Word and a life according to them, an angel from heaven is adjoined; while he who introduces himself into evil affections by the confirmation of falsities and a wicked life adjoins himself to a spirit from hell, and when this is done the man enters more and more, as it were, into fraternity with satans, and confirms himself more and more in falsities contrary to the truths in the Word, and in Arian and Socinian abominations against the Lord. This is because no satan can bear to hear any truth from the Word or to hear Jesus named; and if they hear these they become like furies, and run about and blaspheme; and then if light from heaven flows in they throw themselves headlong into caverns and into their own thick darkness, in which there is light to them, as there is to owls in the dark, or to cats in cellars watching for mice. Such do all those become after death, who in heart and faith deny the Divinity of the Lord and the holiness of the Word. Their internal man is of this nature, however much the external may play the mimic and feign to be Christian. That this is true I know, because I have seen and heard it. [4] Of all who honor the Lord as the Redeemer and Savior with the mouth and lips only, while in heart and spirit they regard Him as a mere man, it may be said, when they are speaking of these things and teaching them, that their cheeks are like a bag of honey, and their heart like a bag of gall; their words are like cakes of sugar, while their thoughts are like emulsions of aconite; they are also like rolls of pastry containing snakes. If such persons are priests, they are like pirates on the sea who hoist the flag of a peaceful nation, but when a ship sailing near hails them as friends, they raise a piratical flag in place of the other, seize the ship, and carry away those on board into captivity. They are also like serpents of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, that approach like angels of light, carrying in their hands apples from that tree painted with golden colors, as if plucked from the tree of life; and they offer them, saying: God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as God, knowing good and evil (Gen. 3:5). And when these have eaten, they follow the serpent into the lower world, and there they dwell together. Round about that world are the satans who have eaten of the apples of Arius and Socinus. Such as these are meant also by the man, Who came to the marriage without a wedding garment, and was cast into outer darkness (Matt. 22:11-13); “the wedding garment” meaning faith in the Lord as the Son of God, the God of heaven and earth, and one with the Father. Those who honor the Lord with the mouth and lips only, but in heart and spirit regard Him as a mere man, if they declare their thoughts and persuade others, are spiritual murderers, and the worst of them are spiritual cannibals; for a man’s life is from love to the Lord and faith in Him; and if this essential element of faith and love, that the Lord is God-Man and Man-God, is taken away, man’s life becomes death; thus in this way man is killed and devoured as a kid by a wolf.

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(3) Hypocritical faith is no faith. Man becomes a hypocrite when he thinks much about himself and places himself before others, for thereby he directs his mind’s thoughts and affections to his body, immerses them in it, and unites them with its senses. He thus becomes a natural, sensual, and corporeal man, and then his mind cannot be withdrawn from the flesh to which it adheres, and be raised to God, and cannot see anything of God in the light of heaven, that is, anything spiritual. And because he is a carnal man, the spiritual things that enter (that is, through his hearing into his understanding), seem to him only like something spectral, or like down floating in the air, or like flies about the head of a running and sweating horse; therefore in heart he ridicules them. For it is well known that the natural man looks upon what pertains to the spirit, that is, spiritual things, as hallucinations. [2] Among natural men the hypocrite is the lowest natural for he is sensual, since his mind is closely bound to his bodily senses, and therefore he has no love for seeing anything but what his senses suggest; and as the senses are in nature, they compel the mind to think from nature about everything, and so in that way about everything pertaining to faith. If this hypocrite becomes a preacher, he retains in his memory such things as he had heard about faith during his childhood and youth; but as there is nothing spiritual inwardly in these things but only what is natural, when he presents them to a congregation they are nothing but lifeless words. They sound as if they had life because of the delight of the love of self and the world which makes them ring according to the eloquence of the speaker, and soothe the ear almost like the harmony of a song. [3] When a hypocritical preacher returns home after his sermon, he laughs at everything that he has set forth before his congregation about faith or from the Word, and perhaps says to himself, “I have cast my net into the lake and have caught flat-fish and shell-fish,” for such do all who are in true faith appear to his fancy. A hypocrite is like a sculptured image with a double head, one head within the other, the internal head connected with the trunk or body, while the external, which rotates about the internal, is painted on its front side in proper colors like a human face, much like the wooden heads displayed at the shops of hairdressers. He is also like a boat, which the sailor, by proper management of the sail, can direct as he pleases, either with the wind or against it; his trimming his sail is his favoring everyone who contributes to his indulgence in the delights of the flesh and its senses. [4] Hypocritical ministers are finished comedians, mimics, and players, who can personate kings, leaders, primates, and bishops, and as soon as they have doffed their theatrical robes, visit brothels and consort with harlots. They are also like a door hung upon a round hinge that can open either way; their mind is such because it can be opened either hellward or heavenward, and when opened to one it is closed to the other; for, what is wonderful, when they are ministering in holy things and teaching truths from the Word, they do not know otherwise than that they believe in them, for the door is then closed toward hell; but the moment they return home they believe nothing, for the door is then closed toward heaven. [5] Among consummate hypocrites there is an interior enmity against truly spiritual men, for it is like that of satans against the angels of heaven. They are unconscious of this while they are living in the world, but it manifests itself after death, when their external, by means of which they assumed the appearance of spiritual men, is taken away, for it is their internal man that is thus satanic. But I will tell how spiritual hypocrites, who are such as walk In sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves (Matt. 7:15), appear to the angels of heaven. They appear like soothsayers walking on the palms of their hands and praying, while from the heart they are crying with their lips to demons and kissing them, but by clapping their shoes together in the air they make a noise to God. But when they stand on their feet their eyes look like leopards’ eyes, they step like wolves, their mouths are fox-like, their teeth like those of a crocodile, and as to faith they are like vultures.

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X. WITH THE EVIL THERE IS NO FAITH. The evil are all who deny that the world was created by God, and thus deny God, for they are naturalistic atheists. All such are evil because all good, which is not only naturally but also spiritually good, is from God; consequently those who deny God will not and therefore cannot receive good from any other source than what is their own; and what is man’s own is the lust of his flesh; and whatever proceeds from that is spiritually evil, however good it may seem naturally. Such are evil in theory; while those who have no regard for the Divine commandments (which are exhibited in a summary in the Decalogue), and live like outlaws, are practically evil. Such are also deniers of God in heart (although many of them confess Him with their lips), for the reason that God and His commandments make one; and this is why the ten commandments are called, Jehovah there (Num. 10:35, 36; Ps. 132:7, 8). But to make it still clearer that the evil have no faith, let us from the two following propositions draw a conclusion: (1) The evil have no faith, since evil belongs to hell and faith to heaven. (2) All those in Christendom who reject the Lord and the Word have no faith, although they live morally, and even speak, teach, and write rationally about faith. But of these points separately.

383.

(1) The evil have no faith, since evil belongs to hell and faith to heaven. Evil belongs to hell, because all evil is from hell; faith belongs to heaven, because all truth that pertains to faith is from heaven. So long as man is living in the world he is kept and walks midway between heaven and hell, and there he is in spiritual equilibrium, which is his freedom of choice. Hell is under his feet and heaven above his head; and what ever comes up from hell is evil and false, while whatever comes down from heaven is good and true. Because man is midway between these two opposites, and at the same time in spiritual equilibrium, he is able to choose, adopt, and appropriate to himself from freedom either the one or the other. If he chooses evil and falsity he connects himself with hell; if he chooses good and truth he connects himself with heaven. From this it is clear not only that evil belongs to hell and faith to heaven, but also that the two cannot be together in the same subject, that is, the same man. For if they were together, the man would be drawn in different directions, as if two ropes were tied around him and he were drawn upward by one and downward by the other; and so he would become like a thing suspended in the air. Or he would be as one flying like a blackbird, now upward and now downward, in the former case adoring God, in the latter the devil. Anyone sees that this is profanation. That no man can serve two masters, but will rather hate the one and love the other, the Lord teaches in Matt. (6:24). That where evil is there is no faith, may be illustrated by various comparisons, such as the following: Evil is like fire (infernal fire is nothing but love of evil), and it consumes faith like stubble, reducing it and all that pertains to it to ashes. Evil dwells in darkness and faith in light; and evil by means of falsities extinguishes faith, as darkness extinguishes light. Evil is black like ink, while faith is white like snow, and clear like water; and evil blackens faith, as ink does snow or water. Moreover, evil and the truth of faith can be joined together only as what is fetid may be mixed with what is fragrant, or urine with flavorous wine; nor can the two exist together except as a noisome corpse in the same bed with a living man; and they can no more dwell together than a wolf can dwell in a sheepfold, a hawk in a dovecote, or a fox in a henhouse.

384.

(2) Those in Christendom who reject the Lord and the Word have no faith, although they live morally, and even speak, teach, and write rationally about faith. This follows as a conclusion from all that precedes; for it has been shown that the true and only faith is faith in the Lord and from the Lord, and that a faith that is not a faith in and from Him, is not a spiritual but a natural faith, and merely natural faith has not the essence of faith in it. Moreover, faith is from the Word; it is from no other source, since the Word is from the Lord, and consequently the Lord Himself is the Word. Therefore He says, That He is the Word (John 1:1, 2). From this it follows that those who reject the Word, reject the Lord also, for these cohere as one; also that those who reject either of these also reject the church, since the church is from the Lord through the Word; and furthermore, that those who reject the church are outside of heaven, since the church introduces into heaven; and those who are outside of heaven are among the damned, and these have no faith. Those who reject the Lord and the Word have no faith, although they live morally, and even speak, teach, and write rationally about faith, for the reason that such have no moral-spiritual life, but only a natural life, and no rational-spiritual mind, but only a natural mind; and merely natural morality and rationality are in themselves dead; therefore as dead men there is no faith in them. A man who is merely natural and in regard to faith is dead may indeed talk and teach about faith, charity, and God, but not from faith, charity, and God. That those alone have faith who believe in the Lord, and that others have not, is evident from the following passages: He that believeth on the Son is not judged; but he that believeth not hath been judged already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God (John 3:18). He that believeth in the Son hath eternal life but he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the anger of God abideth on him (John 3:36). Jesus said, When the Spirit of truth is come, He will reprove the world of sin, because they believe not on Me (John 16:8, 9); and to the Jews He said: Except ye believe that I am, ye shall die in your sins (John 8:24). Therefore David says: I will declare the decree Jehovah said unto Me, Thou art My Son; this day have I begotten Thee. Kiss the Son, lest He be angry and ye perish in the way. Blessed are all they that put their trust in Him (Ps. 2:7, 12). That in the consummation of the age, which is the last time of the church, there will be no faith, because there will be no faith in the Lord as the Son of God, the God of heaven and earth, and one with the Father, the Lord foretells in thee Gospels, saying, That there shall then be an abomination of desolation, and tribulation such as hath not been nor ever shall be, and that the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven (Matt. 24:15, 21, 29). And in the Apocalypse, That Satan, loosed out of his prison, shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, the number of whom is as the sand of the sea (20:7, 8). And because the Lord foresaw this, He also said: Howbeit, when the Son of man cometh shall He find faith on the earth? (Luke 18:8).

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The following Memorable Relations shall be added. First: An angel once said to me, “If you wish to see clearly what faith is and what charity is, and thus what faith separate from charity is, and what it is when conjoined with charity, I will make it very clear to you.” I answered, “Make it clear.” He said, “Instead of faith and charity, think of light and heat, and you will see clearly. Faith in its essence is the truth of wisdom, and charity in its essence is the affection of love; and in heaven the truth of wisdom is light and the affection of love is heat. The light and heat in which angels live are in essence nothing else. From this you can see clearly what faith is when separated from charity and what faith is when conjoined with charity. Faith separated from charity is like the light of winter, and faith conjoined with charity is like the light of spring. Wintry light, which is light separate from heat, because it is joined with cold, wholly strips the trees of their leaves, kills the grass, hardens the earth, and freezes the waters. But the light of spring, which is light joined with heat, causes the trees to put forth leaves, and then flowers, and finally fruit; it so opens and softens the earth that it may bring forth grasses, herbs, flowers, and it so melts the ice that the waters flow from their fountains. [2] It is precisely the same with faith and charity. Faith when separated from charity makes all things dead, while faith joined with charity makes all things alive. This making alive and making dead can be seen to the life in our spiritual world, because here faith is light and charity is heat. Where faith is joined with charity, there are paradisal gardens, flower-beds, and grass-plots with a native charm according to that conjunction. But where faith is separated from charity, there is not even grass, and where there is any green it is from briers and thorns.” Not far from us at this time were some clergymen, whom the angel called justifiers and sanctifiers of men by faith alone, and also dealers in mysteries. To these we said the same things, and made them so clear that they saw their truth; but when we asked them if it was not so, they turned away and said, “We did not hear you.” We then shouted to them, saying, “Then hear us yet again.” But they put both hands to their ears and called out, “We do not wish to hear you.” [3] After hearing this I talked with the angel about faith alone, saying that it had been granted me to know by living experience that that faith is like the light of winter. And I told him that for several years spirits of various beliefs had passed by me, and that whenever those who separated faith from charity came near me, such a coldness invaded my feet and gradually my loins and finally my chest, that I hardly knew otherwise than that the whole vitality of my body was about to become extinct; and indeed this would have come to pass if the Lord had not driven these spirits away and set me free. To me it seemed wonderful that these spirits, as they acknowledged, had in themselves no sense of coldness; and I therefore likened them to fishes under ice, which have no feeling of cold because their life and their nature therefrom are essentially cold. It then became clear that the cold of these spirits emanated from the fatuous light of their faith, as the fatuous and cold light often seen by travelers arises from marshy and sulphurous places in midwinter after sunset. Such spirits may be compared to the icebergs that are torn from their places in the northern regions, and carried about on the ocean, of which I have heard it said that when they come near a ship, all who are on board begin to shiver with cold. So companies of spirits who are in faith separated from charity may be likened to such icebergs, or, if you please, may be called icebergs. It is well known from the Word that faith apart from charity is dead; but I will explain the cause of its death. Its death is from cold. It dies from cold like a bird in a severe winter. First its sight fails, and at the same time its power to fly; and then its power to breathe; and finally it falls headlong from the tree into the snow and is buried.

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Second Memorable Relation: One morning on awaking from sleep, I saw two angels descending from heaven, one from the southern part of heaven and one from the eastern, both in chariots to which were harnessed white horses. The chariot in which the angel from the southern heaven rode shone like silver; while the chariot in which the angel from the east rode shone like gold; and the reins which they held in their hands gleamed like the flaming light of the dawn. Thus did those two angels appear to me from afar; but when they came near they did not appear in chariots, but in their own angelic form, which is the human form. The one that came from the eastern part of heaven was clad in a resplendent purple garment, and the one from the southern part of heaven in a violet colored garment. When they reached the lower regions beneath the heavens, they ran toward each other as if striving who should be first, and embraced and kissed each other. I heard that these two angels while they lived in the world had been united by an interior friendship, but that now one dwelt in the eastern and the other in the southern heaven. In the eastern heaven are those who are in love from the Lord, but in the southern heaven those who are in wisdom from the Lord. When they had talked awhile about the magnificent things in their heavens, this point arose in their conversation, whether, in its essence, heaven is love or is wisdom. They agreed at once that each belongs to the other, but they questioned which of them was the source. [2] The angel from the heaven of wisdom asked the other, “What is love?” And he replied that love originating in the Lord as a sun is the heat of life of men and angels, and therefore is the esse of their life; and that the derivations of love are called affections, and through them are produced perceptions and thus thoughts; from which it follows that wisdom in its origin is love, consequently that thought in its origin is an affection of that love; and it can be seen from these derivations examined in their order that thought is nothing but a form of affection; and the reason why this is not known is that thoughts are in light, but affections in heat, and therefore men reflect upon thoughts, but not upon affections. That thought is nothing but a form of the affection of one’s love, can be made clear from speech, as being merely a form of sound, and this likeness still further holds good in that the tone of the voice corresponds to affection, and speech to thought; so that it is the affection that gives tone, and the thought that speaks. This will also become obvious if it is asked whether anything of speech remains if tone is taken from it; and so, too, whether anything of thought remains if affection is taken from it. From this it is clear that love is the all of wisdom, consequently that the essence of the heavens is love, and their existence wisdom; or what is the same, that the heavens have their being from the Divine love, and their existence from the Divine love through the Divine wisdom; therefore, as before said, each belongs to the other. [3] There was then with me a newly arrived spirit, who, hearing these remarks, asked whether it was the same with charity and faith, since charity belongs to affection and faith to thought. The angel replied, “It is precisely the same; faith is nothing but the form of charity, just as speech is a form of sound. Moreover, faith is formed from charity, as speech is formed from sound. In heaven we know how it is formed, but there is not time to explain it now.” He added, “By faith I mean spiritual faith, the life and spirit in which are solely from the Lord through charity, for charity is spiritual, and it is through charity that faith becomes spiritual; therefore faith apart from charity is a merely natural faith, and such faith is dead, for it is conjoined with merely natural affection, which is nothing but lust.” [4] The angels spoke of these things spiritually, and spiritual language embraces thousands of things which natural language cannot express, and, what is wonderful, which cannot even fall into the ideas of natural thought. After this conversation the angels departed; and as they withdrew, each to his own heaven, stars appeared about their heads; and when they were some distance from me, they again appeared, as before, to be in chariots.

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Third Memorable Relation: When these two angels were out of sight, I saw a garden on the right, in which there were olive trees, fig trees, laurels, and palms, arranged in order in accord with their correspondences. I looked thitherward, and among the trees I saw angels and spirits walking and talking; and one angelic spirit looked at me. Those are called angelic spirits who are being prepared in the world of spirits for heaven. This spirit came to me from the garden and said, “Come with me into our paradise, you shall hear and see wonderful things.” I went with him and he said to me, “These whom you see,” for there were many others, “are all in the love of truth, and from that in the light of wisdom. And there is a palace here, which we call the Temple of Wisdom; but no one can see it who believes himself to be very wise, still less one who believes that he is wise enough, and less yet one who believes himself to be wise from himself. This is because such are not in a state to receive the light of heaven from a love of genuine wisdom. It is genuine wisdom for a man to see from the light of heaven that what he knows, understands, and is wise in, is so little in comparison with what he does not know and understand, and in which he is not wise, as to be like a drop to the ocean, consequently as almost nothing. Everyone who is in this paradisal garden, and who acknowledges both from perception and from seeing it in himself that his wisdom is relatively so slight, sees that Temple of Wisdom; for it is the inner light in man’s mind that enables him to see it, and not the outer light apart from the inner.” [2] So because I had often thought, and had cause to acknowledge, first from knowledge, then from perception, and finally from inner light, that man has so little wisdom, behold, it was granted me to see that temple. In form it was wonderful. It was elevated high above the ground; it was four-square, with walls of crystal, a gracefully-arched roof of transparent jasper; and a substructure of various precious stones. The steps for ascent into it were of polished alabaster. At the sides of the steps there appeared figures of lions and their whelps. I then asked if it was allowable to enter, and was told that it was. I therefore ascended the steps, and as I entered I saw cherub-like forms flying under the roof, but soon vanishing. The floor on which we walked was of cedar, and the whole temple, from the transparency of the roof and walls, was built to be a form of light. [3] The angelic spirit entered with me, and I told him what I had heard from the two angels about love and wisdom, and about charity and faith The angel said, “Did they not also speak of a third?” “What third?” I asked. He replied, “The good of use. Love and wisdom apart from good of use are not anything; they are merely ideal entities, and they only become real when they exist in use; for love, wisdom, and use are three things that cannot be separated; if separated, neither of them is anything. Apart from wisdom love is nothing; but in wisdom it takes form for something; and that something for which it takes form is use; thus when love, by means of wisdom, is in use, it really is, because it actually exists. These are precisely like end, cause and effect; the end is nothing unless it is in effect through the cause; if either of these three passes away, the whole passes away and becomes as nothing. [4] Also it is the same with charity, faith, and works. Apart from faith charity is nothing, neither is faith anything apart from charity, nor charity and faith anything apart from works; but in works they are something, and such a something as is the use of the works. It is the same with affection, thought, and operation; and the same with will, understanding, and action; for will apart from understanding is like an eye apart from sight, and both apart from action are like the mind apart from the body. That this is so can be clearly seen in this temple, because the light in which we are here is a light that enlightens the mind’s interiors. [5] That there is nothing complete and perfect unless it is a trine, geometry also teaches; for a line is nothing unless it becomes a surface, nor is a surface anything unless it becomes a solid; therefore one must pass into the other in order that they may have existence; and they have coexistence in the third. As it is in this, so it is also in each and all created things; they are terminated in a third. And it is from this that the number three signifies in the Word what is complete and whole. This being so, I could not but wonder that some professed to believe in faith alone, some in charity alone, and some in works alone, when yet one apart from the second, or both together apart from the third, are nothing.” [6] But I then asked, “Cannot a man have charity and faith, and yet not works? Cannot a man have a love for something, and give thought to it, and yet not be in the performance of it?” The angel answered me, “He cannot really, but only ideally; he must be in the endeavor or will to do; and the will or endeavor is the act in essence, because it is a continual effort to act; and when its termination is reached it becomes act in externals. Therefore endeavor and will, as the internal act, are accepted by every wise man, because they are accepted by God, precisely as the external act, provided there is no failure when opportunity offers.”

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Fourth Memorable Relation: I have spoken with some of those who are meant in the Apocalypse by the “dragon,” and one of them said, “Come with me, and I will show you the delights of our eyes and hearts.” And he led me through a gloomy forest and to the top of a hill, from which I could witness the delights of the dragonists, and I saw an amphitheater built in the form of a circus, with seats round about gradually rising from the front, on which the spectators were sitting. Those sitting upon the lowest seats appeared to me at a distance like satyrs and priapi, some having a slight covering over the parts that ought to be concealed, and others wholly naked. On the seats above these sat whoremongers and harlots; such they appeared to me from their gestures. The dragonist then said to me, “Now you shall see our sport.” And I saw, as it were, calves, rams, sheep, kids and lambs let into the arena of the circus; and when these had been let in, a door was opened, and in rushed, as it were, young lions, panthers, tigers, and wolves, which attacked the other animals with fury, tearing them and slaughtering them. After this bloody slaughter, the satyrs sprinkled sand over the place of the slaughter. [2] Then the dragonist said to me, “These are our sports, which delight our minds.” I answered, “Begone, demon! after a while you will see this amphitheater turned into a lake of fire and brimstone.” At this he laughed and went away. Afterward I was thinking to myself why such things are permitted by the Lord; and I received in my heart the answer that they are permitted so long as these spirits are in the world of spirits, but when their stay in that world is ended such theatrical scenes are turned into infernal horrors. [3] All this that had been seen was induced by the dragonist by means of fantasies; thus there had been no calves, rams, sheep, kids, or lambs, but they caused the genuine goods and truths of the church, which they hated, to so appear. The lions, panthers, tigers, and wolves were appearances of the cupidities of those who seemed like satyrs and priapi. Those without a covering about the parts that ought to be concealed, were such as believed that evils do not appear in the sight of God; while those with a covering were such as believed that evils appear but do not damn provided they have faith. The whoremongers and harlots were falsifiers of the truths of the Word, for whoredom signifies the falsification of the truth. In the spiritual world all things appear at a distance in accordance with correspondence, and when they appear in forms they are called representations of spiritual things in objects resembling natural things. [4] After this I saw them going out of the forest, the dragonist in the midst of the satyrs and priapi, and behind them their camp-followers, who were the whoremongers and harlots. The crowd increased on the way, and then I heard what they were saying to one another. They said that they saw a flock of sheep with lambs in a meadow, and that this was a sign that one of the Jerusalemite cities, where charity is the chief thing, was not faraway. And they said, “Let us go and capture that city, and cast out its inhabitants, and plunder their goods.” They approached the city; but there was a wall around it, with angel guards upon the wall. They then said, “Let us take it by stratagem. Let us send someone skilful in wily speaking, who can make black white and white black, and give to everything whatever color he chooses.” And they found one versed in the art of metaphysics, who was able to change ideas of things into ideas of terms, concerning the things themselves under formulas, and thus flying away with them like a hawk with its prey under its wings. He was instructed what to say to the citizens, that they were companions in religion, and that they wished to be admitted. He went to the gate and knocked, and when it was opened he said that he wished to speak with the wisest man of the city. He entered and was conducted to a certain person, whom he addressed as follows: “My brethren are outside the city and beg to be admitted; they are companions with you in religion; with you we make faith and charity the two essentials of religion; the sole difference is that you say that charity is primary and from it comes faith, while we say that faith is primary and from it comes charity. What matters it which is called primary, so long as both are believed in?” [5] The wise man of the city answered, “Let us not talk of this matter alone, but in the presence of others who may be arbiters and judges; otherwise we arrive at no decision.” And at once some were summoned to whom the dragonist said the same things as before. Then the wise citizen answered, “You have said that it is the same whether charity is assumed to be the first principle of the church, or faith, provided it is agreed that the two constitute the church and its religion. But there is a difference like that between the prior and the posterior, between cause and effect, the principal and the instrumental, the essential and the formal. I use these terms, because I notice that you are skilled in the art of metaphysics, an art that we call wily speaking [mussitatio] and some call sorcery. But let us drop the terms. The difference is like that between what is above and what is below; or, if you will believe it, it is even like the difference between the minds of those who dwell in the higher and those who dwell in the lower parts of this world. For what is primary constitutes the head and breast, and what is from that constitutes the feet and their soles. But let us see first whether we agree as to what charity is and what faith is, namely, that charity is an affection of the love of doing good to the neighbor for the sake of God, salvation and eternal life, and that faith is thought derived from trust respecting God, salvation and eternal life.” [6] The emissary replied, “I grant that this is faith, and I also grant that charity is an affection for doing this for God’s sake, because He has commanded it, but not for the sake of salvation and eternal life.” After this agreement and disagreement the wise citizen said, “Is not the affection or the love primary, and is not thought derived therefrom?” But the messenger of the Dragon said, “That I deny.” The other answered, “You cannot deny it. Does not man think from some love? Take away love, and can he think at all? It is precisely the same as taking away sound from speech. If you do that can you speak at all? The sound, moreover, belongs to some affection of the love, while speech belongs to thought, for it is the love that sounds and the thought that speaks. It is also like flame and light. If you take away the flame does not the light perish? It is the same with charity, because charity belongs to love, and with faith, because faith belongs to thought. Can you not thus comprehend that the primary is the all in the secondary, precisely like flame and light? From all this it is clear that if you do not make primary that which is primary, you are not in the other. Consequently, if you put faith, which belongs to the second place, in the first place, you will always appear in heaven like an inverted man with his feet upward and his head downward, or like a gymnast with inverted body walking on the palms of his hands. If such is your appearance in heaven, what kind of works are your good works, which are charity in act, except such as that gymnast might do with his feet, because he can not use his hands? Therefore your charity, being an inverted charity, is natural and not spiritual.” [7] This the emissary understood, for every devil can understand truth when he hears it, but he cannot retain it because affection for evil, which in itself is the lust of the flesh, banishes, when it returns, the thought of truth. Then the wise citizen showed in various ways that faith when accepted as the primary is merely natural, a persuasion destitute of spiritual life, and consequently is not faith. And he added, “I might almost say that in your faith there is no more spirituality than in thought about the kingdom of the Great Mogul, about the diamond-mine there, and the treasury or court of that emperor.” When the dragonist heard this he went away angry and reported to his companions outside of the city; and when they heard that it had been said that charity is an affection of the love of doing good to the neighbor for the sake of salvation and eternal life, they all exclaimed, “It is a lie!” And the dragonist himself said, “Oh how outrageous! Are not all works that pertain to charity, and that are done for the sake of salvation, made worthy of merit?” [8] Then they said to one another, “Let us call together still more of our people, and besiege this city and expel these charities.” But when they tried to do that, lo, there was an appearance of a fire out of heaven which consumed them. But the fire out of heaven was an appearance of their anger and hatred against those who were in the city, because they had cast faith down from the first place to the second, and even to the lowest place, beneath charity, since they had said that such faith is no faith. They appeared to be consumed with fire, because a hell was opened under their feet, and they were swallowed up. Similar things happened in many places at the time of the last judgment, which is also meant by the following in the Apocalypse: The dragon shall go forth to lead astray the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, to gather them together to war. And they went up on the plain of the earth, and encompassed the camp of the saints, and the beloved city but fire came down from God out of heaven and consumed them (Apoc. 20:8, 9).

389.

Fifth Memorable Relation: A paper was once seen let down from heaven into a society in the world of spirits, where there were two prelates of the church with subordinate canons and presbyters. The paper contained an exhortation to them to acknowledge the Lord Jesus Christ as the God of heaven and earth, as He Himself taught (Matt. 28:18), and to withdraw from the doctrine of faith justifying without the works of the law, because it is erroneous. This paper was read and copied by many, and many thought of what was in it and spoke with judgment. But having received it, they said to each other, “Let us hear what the prelates say.” And the prelates were heard; and they objected to it and condemned it. For the prelates of that society were hardened in heart by falsities imbibed in the former world. So after a brief consultation with each other, they sent the paper back to heaven whence it came. When this had been done, after some murmuring, most of the laity withdrew their previous assent, and then the light of their judgment in spiritual things, which had before shone brightly, was suddenly extinguished. After they had been admonished again, but to no purpose, I saw that society sinking down (how deeply I did not see), and thus it was withdrawn from the sight of those who worship the Lord only, and are averse to justification by faith alone. [2] Some days after I saw nearly a hundred ascending from the lower earth, just where that little society had sunk. They drew near to me, and one of them said, “Listen to something wonderful. While we were sinking down the place appeared to us like a swamp, but presently like dry land, and then like a small town in which many had each his own house. When a day had passed, we consulted together as to what ought to be done. Many said that those two prelates of the church ought to be called upon and mildly censured for sending the paper back to the heaven it came from, on account of which this had befallen us. And they chose certain ones who went to the prelates (and the one who talked with me said that he was one of them), and one who surpassed the others in wisdom spoke to the prelates as follows, ‘We have believed that the church and religion were with us more than with others, because we have heard it said that we are especially in the light of the Gospel; but there has been given to some of us enlightenment from heaven, and in the enlightenment a perception that in the Christian world at the present day there is no longer a church, because there is no religion.’ [3] The prelates answered, ‘What are you saying? Is not the church where the Word is, where Christ the Savior is known, and where the sacraments are?’ To this our spokesman replied, ‘These things belong to the church, and in fact constitute the church; but this they do, not outside of man, but within him.’ And he said further, ‘Can the church exist where three Gods are worshiped? Can the church exist where its whole doctrine is founded upon a single saying of Paul falsely understood, and consequently not upon the Word? Can the church exist so long as the Savior of the world, who is the very God of the church, is not approached? Who can deny that religion is to shun evil and do good? Is there any religion where it is taught that faith alone saves, and not charity together with faith? Is there any religion where it is taught that the charity proceeding from man is merely moral and civil charity? Who does not see that in such charity there is no religion? In faith alone is there anything of deeds or works? and yet religion consists in doing. In the whole world can a people be found that excludes all saving virtue from the goods of charity, which are good works, when in fact the whole of religion consists in good, and the whole of the church in doctrine which teaches truths, and by means of truths teaches good? What glory had been ours, if we had accepted those things that the paper let down from heaven carried in its bosom!’ [4] “The prelates then answered, ‘You speak too loftily. Is not faith in act, which is faith fully justified and saving, the church? And is not faith in state, which is faith proceeding and perfecting, religion? Sons, lay hold on this.’ But our wise spokesman said, ‘Listen, fathers! According to your dogma does not man conceive of faith in act as a stock? Can a stock be vivified into a church? Is not faith in state, according to your idea, a continuation and progression of faith in act? And since, according to your dogma, all saving power is in faith, and nothing of it in the good of charity from man, where then is religion?’ “Then the priests answered, ‘Friend, you so speak because you do not know the mysteries of justification by faith alone; and he who does not know these does not know interiorly the way of salvation. Your way is external and the way of the vulgar; go in it if you will, but know that all good is from God, and nothing from man, and thus man of himself has no ability in spiritual things. How then can man of himself do good that is spiritual good?’ [5] At this our spokesman, being very indignant, replied, ‘I know your mysteries of justification better than you do, and I tell you plainly, that I see nothing in them interiorly but specters. Is it not religion to acknowledge God and to shun and hate the devil? Is not God good itself, and the devil evil itself? Is there anyone in the whole world who has any religion who does not know this? Is not doing good because it is of God and from God, - is not this acknowledging God and loving God? And is not ceasing to do evil, because it is of the devil and from the devil, - is not this shunning and hating the devil? Or, what is the same thing, does your faith in act, which you call faith fully justifying and saving, or, what is again the same, your act of justification by faith alone, does this teach the doing of any good that is of and from God, or the shunning of any evil that is of the devil and from the devil? Not in the least; because you maintain that there is nothing of salvation in either. What is your faith in state, which you have called faith proceeding and perfecting, but the same thing as faith in act? And how can this be perfected when you exclude all good done by man as if by himself, saying in your mysteries, How can man be saved by any good done by himself, when salvation is gratuitous? And again you say, Is there any good done by man that is not made a matter of merit, when, in fact, all merit belongs to Christ? Therefore doing good for the sake of salvation is attributing to ourself what belongs to Christ alone, and is thus a desire to justify and save ourself. Again you say, How can any man do good, when the Holy Spirit does all things without any aid from man? What need is there of any accessory good from man, when all good that comes from man in itself is not good? and so on. [6] Are not these your mysteries? But in my eyes they are mere cavils and subtleties invented for the purpose of setting aside good works, which are the goods of charity, so that you may establish your faith alone. And because you do this, in respect to faith, and in general in respect to all spiritual things which pertain to the church and religion; you look upon man as a stock or an inanimate figure, and not as a man created in the image of God, to whom there has been given and is continually given the ability to understand and to will and to believe and to love, to speak, and to act, altogether as if of himself, especially in spiritual things, because from them man is man. If man, in spiritual things, did not think and operate as if of himself, why the Word, why the church and religion, and why worship? You know that doing good to the neighbor and from love is charity. And yet you do not know what charity is, although it is the soul and essence of faith and since charity is that soul and essence, what is faith separated from charity but dead faith? And dead faith is a mere specter. I call it a specter, because James calls faith apart from good works not only dead, but even diabolical.’ [7] Then one of the prelates, when he heard his faith called dead, diabolical, and a specter, became so enraged that he snatched his miter from his head and dashed it upon the table, saying, ‘I will not resume it until I have taken vengeance upon the enemies of the faith of our church;’ and he shook his head, muttering, and saying, ‘That James-that James.’ On the front of his miter was a plate on which were engraved the words, Faith alone justifies. Then suddenly a monster appeared rising up out of the earth, with seven heads, with feet like a bear’s, a body like a leopard’s, and a mouth like a lion’s, precisely like the beast described in the Apocalypse (13:1, 2), of whom an image was made and worshiped (verses 14, 15). This specter took the miter from the table, and stretched it wide at the bottom and placed it on his seven heads, and then the earth gaped beneath his feet and he sank down. Seeing this, the prelate shouted, ‘Violence, violence!’ We then left them; and lo, steps appeared before us, by which we ascended and returned above ground, and in sight of the heaven where we had been before.” All this was told me by the spirit who, with a hundred others, had ascended from the lower earth.

390.

Sixth Memorable Relation: In the northern quarter of the spiritual world I heard, as it were, a noise of waters; and I went toward it; and as I drew near the noise ceased, and I heard a sound like the hum of a multitude. Then there was seen a house full of holes, surrounded by a wall, from which the sound was heard. I went to it, and asked a doorkeeper who was there, “Who are here?” He said, “The wisest of the wise, who together form conclusions about supernatural things.” This he said from his simple faith. I asked whether I could enter. He said, “You can, provided you say nothing; for I have leave to admit gentiles to stand in the doorway with me.” So I entered, and behold, it was an amphitheater, and in the center of it was a pulpit, and a company of so-called wise men discussing the mysteries of their faith. The matter or proposition then under discussion was, Whether or not the good that a man does in a state of justification by faith, or in its progress after the act, is the good of religion. They declared unanimously, that good of religion means good that contributes to salvation. [2] There was a sharp discussion; but those prevailed who said that the good that a man does in the state or progress of faith is only moral good, which is conducive to worldly prosperity, but contributes nothing to salvation; faith only does that. This they confirmed as follows: “How can any voluntary good of man’s be conjoined with what is free; and is not salvation free? How can any good from man be conjoined with the merit of Christ? Is not salvation through this alone? And how can man’s operation be conjoined with the operation of the Holy Spirit? Does not that do all things without the aid of man? And are not these three things alone saving in the act of justification by faith, and do not the same three continue to be alone saving in its state or progress? Therefore, accessory good, which is from man, can by no means be called the good of religion, which, as before said, contributes to salvation; and if anyone does this good for the sake of salvation, since there is then the will of man in it, which cannot but look upon such good as a merit, it ought rather to be called an evil of religion.” [3] Two gentiles were standing beside the doorkeeper in the vestibule, and when they heard all this they said to each other, “These men have no religion. Who does not see that to do good to the neighbor for God’s sake thus with and from God, is what is called religion?” And the other said, “Their faith has infatuated them.” They then asked the doorkeeper who the men were. He answered, “They are wise Christians.” They replied, “You are prating; you are speaking falsely; they are play-actors; they talk like them.” So I went away. It was of the Divine auspices of the Lord that I went to that house, and that they then deliberated on those subjects, and that everything occurred as described.

391.

Seventh Memorable Relation: What desolation of truth there is in the Christian world today, and what theological barrenness, has been brought to my knowledge by conversation with many of the laity and of the clergy in the spiritual world. With the latter there is such spiritual destitution that they hardly know anything except that there is a Trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and that faith alone saves; and of the Lord Christ they know only the historical facts about Him in the Gospels. But all else which the Word of both Testaments teaches respecting Him, 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 on earth, that it is the will of the Father that they should believe in the Son, and that whosoever believes in Him has eternal life, - these and many other things are as unknown to them and as remote as the things that lie at the bottom of the ocean, or even at the center of the earth. And when such things are brought forth from the Word and read, they stand as if they heard and yet did not hear; and these things enter no more deeply into their ears than the whispering of the wind or the beating of a drum. The angels who are sometimes sent by the Lord to visit the Christian societies that are in the world of spirits, and thus beneath heaven, lament exceedingly, saying, that in them there is a dullness and consequent darkness in matters pertaining to salvation, almost equal to that of talking parrots. Even their own learned men say, that in spiritual and Divine things they have no more understanding than statues. [2] An angel once told me that he had talked with two of the clergy, one of whom was in faith separated from charity, and the other in faith not separated. With the former he spoke as follows: “Friend, what are you?” He replied, “I am a Reformed Christian.” “What is your doctrine, and your religion derived from it?” He answered, “Faith.” The angel asked, “What is your faith?” He replied, “My faith is that God the Father sent His Son to take upon Himself the damnation of the Human race, and that we are thereby saved.” The angel then asked, “What more do you know about salvation?” He replied, “Salvation is effected by means of that faith alone.” Again the angel asked, “What do you know about redemption?” He answered, “It was accomplished by the passion of the cross, and Christ’s merit is imputed through that faith.” “What do you know about regeneration?” He replied, “It is effected by means of that faith.” “Tell me what you know about love and charity.” He answered, “They are that faith.” “What do you think of the commandments of the Decalogue and the rest of the Word?” He replied, “They are included in that faith.” Then said the angel, “You, therefore, will do nothing?” He answered, “What am I to do? I have no ability of myself to do good that is good.” The angel said, “Can you have faith of yourself?” He replied, “That I do not inquire into; I must have faith.” Finally the angel said, “Surely you know something more about the state of salvation?” He answered, “What more should I know, when salvation comes through that faith alone?” Then the angel said, “You answer like a man playing but one note on a flute. I hear nothing but faith. If you know about that and nothing else, you know nothing at all. Go and see where your companions are.” He went, and found them in a desert where there was no grass. He asked why this was so, and was told that it was because they possessed nothing of the church. [3] With the one who had faith conjoined with charity, the angel spoke as follows: “Friend, what are you?” He replied, “I am a Reformed Christian.” “What is your doctrine, and your religion derived from it?” He answered, “Faith and charity.” The angel said, “These are two things.” He replied, “They cannot be separated.” The angel asked, “What is faith?” He answered, “To believe what the Word teaches.” “And what is charity?” He replied, “To do what the Word teaches.” He asked, “Have you merely believed what the Word teaches, or have you also done it?” He answered, “I have also done it.” The angel of heaven then looked at him and said, “My friend, come with me and dwell with us.”

VII. Charity, Or Love To The Neighbor, And Good Works

Having treated of faith, charity now follows, because faith and charity are conjoined like truth and good, and these two like light and heat in spring. This is said because spiritual light, which is the light that goes forth from the sun of the spiritual world, is in its essence truth; and consequently in that world wherever truth appears, it shines with a splendor proportionate to its purity; and spiritual heat, which also goes forth from that sun, in its essence is good. This too is said because it is the same with charity and faith as with good and truth; for charity is the complex of all things pertaining to the good that a man does to his neighbor, while faith is the complex of all things pertaining to the truth that a man thinks respecting God and things Divine. [2] As, therefore, the truth of faith is spiritual light, and the good of charity spiritual heat, it follows that it is the same with that light and heat as with the light and heat of the natural world, that is to say, as by the conjunction of the latter all things on earth spring forth, so by the conjunction of the former all things spring forth in the human mind; but with the distinction that on the earth this growth is effected by natural heat and light, but in the human mind it is effected by spiritual heat and light, and this latter being spiritual, is wisdom and intelligence. Moreover, as there is a correspondence between these, the human mind in which charity is conjoined with faith and faith with charity is in the Word likened to a garden, and this is what is meant by the garden of Eden. (This has been fully shown in the Arcana Coelestia, published in London.) [3] Again, having treated of faith, charity must be treated of for the further reason that otherwise what faith is could not be comprehended, since, as stated and shown in the preceding chapter, faith without charity is not faith, nor is charity without faith charity, and neither of them is living except from the Lord (n. 355-361); also that the Lord, charity, and faith make one, like life, will, and understanding, and if they are divided, each perishes, like a pearl reduced to powder (n. 362-367); and finally, that charity and faith are together in good works (n. 373-378).

393.

It is an unchanging truth, that, for man to have spiritual life, and therefore salvation, faith and charity must not be separated. This is self-evident to any man’s understanding, even if it is not enriched with the treasures of learning. When one hears it said, that whoever lives well and believes aright is saved, does he not see this from a kind of interior perception and therefore assent to it with his understanding? And when he hears it said that he who believes aright and does not live well is also saved, does he not reject it from his understanding, as he would a piece of dirt falling into his eye? For from interior perception the thought instantly occurs, How can anyone believe aright when he does not live well? In that case, what is believing but a painted picture of faith, and not its living image? So again, if anyone hears it said, that whoever lives well is saved, although he does not believe, does not the understanding, while reflecting upon this or turning it over and over, see, perceive and think, that this also is not consistent, since right living is from God, because all good that is essentially good is from God? What then is living aright and not believing, but like clay in the hands of a potter, which cannot be formed into a vessel that would be of use in the spiritual kingdom, but only in the natural? Furthermore, cannot anyone see a contradiction in these two statements, namely, that he is saved who believes but does not live well, and that he is saved who lives well but does not believe? Since, then, living well, which pertains to charity, is at this day both understood and not understood - living well naturally being understood, while living well spiritually is not - therefore this subject, because it pertains to charity, shall be treated of, and this shall be done under a series of distinct propositions.

394.

I. THERE ARE THREE UNIVERSAL LOVES-THE LOVE OF HEAVEN, THE LOVE OF THE WORLD, AND THE LOVE OF SELF. These three loves must first be considered for the reason that these three are the universal and fundamental of all loves, and that charity has something in common with each of them. For the love of heaven means both love to the Lord and love towards the neighbor; and as each of these looks to use as its end, the love of heaven may be called the love of uses. The love of the world is not merely a love of wealth and possessions, but is also a love of all that the world affords, and of all that delights the bodily senses, as beauty delights the eye, harmony the ear, fragrance the nostrils, delicacies the tongue, softness the skin; also becoming dress, convenient houses, and society, thus all the enjoyments arising from these and many other objects. The love of self is not merely the love of honor, glory, fame, and eminence, but also the love of meriting and seeking office, and so of ruling over others. Charity has some thing in common with each of these three loves, because viewed in itself charity is the love of uses; for charity wishes to do good to the neighbor, and good and use are the same, and from these loves everyone looks to uses as his end; the love of heaven looking to spiritual uses, the love of the world to natural uses, which may be called civil, and the love of self to corporeal uses, which may also be called domestic uses, that have regard to oneself and one’s own.

395.

That these three loves reside in every man from creation and therefore from birth, and that when rightly subordinated they perfect him, and when not, they pervert him, will be shown in the next article. It may serve for the present merely to state, that these three loves are rightly subordinated when the love of heaven forms the head, the love of the world the breast and abdomen, and the love of self the feet and their soles. As repeatedly stated above, the human mind is divided into three regions. From the highest region man looks to God, from the second or middle region to the world, and from the third or lowest to himself. The mind being such it can be raised and can raise itself upward, because to God and to heaven; it can be extended and can extend itself to the sides in all directions, because into the world and its nature; and it can be let downward and let itself downward, because to earth and to hell. In these respects the bodily vision emulates the mind’s vision; it also can look upward, round about, and downward. [2] The human mind is like a house of three stories which communicate by stairs, in the highest of which angels from heaven dwell, in the middle men in the world, and in the lowest one, genii. The man in whom these three loves are rightly subordinated can ascend and descend in this house at his pleasure; and when he ascends to the highest story, he is in company with angels as an angel; and when he descends from that to the middle story he is in company with men as an angel man; and when from this he descends still further, he is in company with genii as a man of the world, instructing, reproving, and subduing them. [3] In the man in whom these three loves are rightly subordinated, they are also coordinated thus: The highest love, which is the love of heaven, is inwardly in the second, which is the love of the world, and through this in the third or lowest, which is the love of self; and the love that is within directs at its will that which is without. So when the love of heaven is inwardly in the love of the world, and through this in the love of self, man from the God of heaven, performs uses in each. In their operation these three loves are like will, understanding, and action; the will flows into the understanding, and there provides itself with the means whereby it produces action. But on these points more will be seen in the following article, where it will be shown that these three loves, when rightly subordinated, perfect man, but when not rightly subordinated, pervert and invert him.

396.

But in order that what follows in this and the succeeding chapters on Freedom of choice, on Reformation, on Regeneration, and so forth, may be so presented in the light of reason as to be clearly seen, it is necessary to premise something respecting the will and understanding, good and truth, love in general, the love of the world and love of self in particular, the external and internal man, and the merely natural and sensual man. These things must be made clear, that the rational sight of man, in his perception of what follows further on, may not be as it were in a dense fog, and in that state be like one wandering through the streets of a city until he knows not the way home. For what is theology separated from the understanding, or with the understanding not enlightened when the Word is read, but like a lamp in the hand giving no light, such as were those of the five foolish virgins who had no oil? On each of these subjects, then, in their order.

397.

(1) The will and understanding. 1. Man has two faculties which constitute his life; one called the will and the other the understanding. These are distinct from each other, but so created as to be one, and when they are one they are called the mind; consequently these are the human mind, and in them the whole of man’s life resides in its principles, and therefrom in the body. 2. As all things in the universe which are according to order, have relation to good and truth, so all things in man have relation to the will and understanding; since good in man pertains to the will, and truth to the understanding; for these two faculties or these two lives of man are their receptacles and subjects - the will being the receptacle and subject of all things of good, and the understanding the receptacle and subject of all things of truth. Here and nowhere else are the goods and truths in man, and as goods and truths in man are nowhere else, so love and faith are nowhere else, since love belongs to good and good to love, while faith belongs to truth and truth to faith. 3. Again, the will and understanding constitute man’s spirit, for in these his wisdom and intelligence reside, also his love and charity, and in general his life. The body is mere obedience. 4. Nothing is more important than to know how the will and understanding make one mind. They make one mind as good and truth make one; for there is a marriage between the will and the understanding the same as between good and truth. The nature of that marriage will be made clear in what is now to be set forth respecting good and truth, namely, that as good is the very being [esse] of a thing, and truth its manifestation [existere] there from, so is the will in man the very being of his life, while the understanding is its manifestation therefrom; for good, which belongs to the will, takes form in the understanding, and there presents itself to view.

398.

(2) Good and truth. 1. All things in the universe that are in Divine order have relation to good and truth; for nothing can exist in heaven or in the world that does not have relation to these two. This is because both of these, good as well as truth, go forth from God from whom are all things. [2] 2. From this it is clear that it is necessary for man to know what good is and what truth is, how the one has regard to the other and how the one is conjoined with the other; and this is especially necessary for the man of the church, since all things of the church have relation to good and truth, just as all things of heaven do, because the good and truth of heaven are also the good and truth of the church. [3] 3. It is according to Divine order for good and truth to be conjoined and not separated, thus that they be one and not two; for they are conjoined when they go forth from God and are conjoined in heaven, and therefore must be conjoined in the church. The conjunction of good and truth is called in heaven the heavenly marriage, for all who are there are in that marriage. For this reason in the Word heaven is likened to a marriage, and the Lord is called the bridegroom and husband, and heaven, and likewise the church, the bride and wife. Heaven and the church are so called because those who are there receive the Divine good in truths. [4] 4. All the intelligence and wisdom that the angels have is from that marriage, and nothing thereof is from good separated from truth, or from truth separated from good. It is the same with the men of the church. [5] 5. Since the conjunction of good and truth is like a marriage, it is evident that good loves truth, and that truth in turn loves good, and that each desires to be conjoined with the other. The man of the church who has no such love and no such desire is not in the heavenly marriage; therefore the church is not yet in him, since the conjunction of good and truth is what constitutes the church. [6] 6. Goods are manifold. In general there is spiritual good and there is natural good, and also the two conjoined in genuine moral good. As with goods so with truths, since truths are of good and are forms of good. [7] 7. As with good and truth, so is it in an opposite way with evil and falsity; that is, as all things in the universe that are in accordance with Divine order have relation to good and truth, so do all things contrary to Divine order have relation to evil and falsity. Again, as good loves to be conjoined with truth, and truth with good, so does evil love to be conjoined with falsity and falsity with evil. And further, as all intelligence and wisdom is born from the conjunction of good and truth, so is all irrationality and folly born from the conjunction of evil and falsity. The conjunction of evil and falsity viewed interiorly is not marriage but adultery. [8] 8. From the fact that evil and falsity are the opposites of good and truth, it is clear that truth cannot be conjoined with evil, nor good with the falsity of evil. If truth is joined to evil it comes to be no longer truth, but falsity, because it is falsified; and if good is joined to the falsity of evil it comes to be no longer good, but evil, because it is adulterated. But falsity that is not the falsity of evil may be joined to good. [9] 9. No one who is in evil and therefrom in falsity by confirmation and life, can know what good and truth are, for he believes his own evil to be good, and therefore his own falsity to be truth; but everyone who is in good, and therefrom in truth by confirmation and life, can know what evil and falsity are. This is because all good and its truth are in their essence heavenly, while all evil and its falsity are in their essence infernal, and everything heavenly is in light, but everything infernal in darkness.

399.

(3) Love in general. 1. The very life of man is his love, and as his love is such is his life, such even is the whole man; but it is the dominant or ruling love that makes the man. This love has many loves subordinate to it which are derivations from it; and while these are in appearance different loves, yet they are everyone included in the dominant love, and with it form one kingdom. The dominant love is like the king and head of the others; it directs them, and through them as mediate ends it looks to and is intent upon its own end (which is the first and last of all), and this both directly and indirectly. [2] 2. What belongs to the dominant love is what is loved above all things. That which man loves above all things is constantly present in his thought, because it is in his will and constitutes his veriest life. For example, one who loves wealth above all things, whether money or possessions, is constantly studying how to acquire it, is inmostly delighted when he gets it, and inmostly grieved when he loses it. His heart is in it. He who loves himself above all things is mindful of himself in every least thing, thinks about himself, talks about himself, acts in his own behalf, for his life is the life of self [3] 3. What a man loves above all things is his end; that he looks to in all things and in every single thing. In his will it is like the latent current of a river, which draws and bears him away even when he is doing something else, for it is that which influences him. This it is that one man searches out and discovers in another, and thereby either controls him or acts with him [4] 4. Man is wholly such as is that which is dominant in his life. By this he is distinguished from others; according to it his heaven is formed if he is good, and his hell if he is evil; it is his very will, his very own [proprium], and his very nature, for it is the very being [esse] of his life. This cannot be changed after death, for it is the man himself. [5] 5. Everything that gives delight, satisfaction, and happiness to anyone is wholly from his dominant love, and is in accordance with it; for that which he loves man calls delightful because he feels it to be so. What he thinks about and yet does not love, he may also call delightful, but it is not the delight of his life. The delight of a man’s love is to him good, and what is undelightful is to him evil. [6] 6. There are two loves, from which, as from their very fountains, all goods and truths spring; and there are two loves from which all evils and falsities spring. The two loves from which are all goods and truths are love to the Lord and love towards the neighbor, while the two loves from which are all evils and falsities are the love of self and the love of the world. When the two latter loves are dominate they are entirely opposite to the two former. [7] 7. The two loves from which are all goods and truths, which, as has been said, are love to the Lord and love towards the neighbor, constitute heaven in man, for these rule in heaven; and because they constitute heaven in man they also constitute the church in him. The two loves from which are all evils and falsities, which, as has been said, are the love of self and the love of the world, constitute hell in man, for they rule in hell; and consequently they destroy the church in man. [8] 8. The two loves from which are all goods and truths, which, as before said, are the loves of heaven, open and form the internal, spiritual man, because they reside there, but the two loves from which are all evils and falsities, which, as before said, are the loves of hell, when they predominate, close and destroy the internal spiritual man, and render man natural and sensual according to the extent and nature of their dominion over him.

400.

(4) Love of self and love of the world in particular. 1. The love of self is wishing well to oneself only, and not to others except for the sake of self, not even to the church, one’s country, any human society, or to a fellow citizen; it is also doing good to them solely for the sake of one’s own reputation, honor, and glory; and when these are not perceived in the good done to others, saying in one’s heart, “What matters it? Why should I do this? What will I gain by it?”-and so leaving it undone. This makes evident that he who is in the love of self does not love the church, or his country, or society, or his fellow citizen, or anything truly good, but only himself and his own. [2] 2. Man is in the love of self, when he has no regard for the neighbor in what he thinks and does, thus no regard for the public, still less for the Lord, but only for himself and those who belong to him, and therefore does everything for the sake of himself and those who belong to him, or if for the public’s sake, it is for appearance only, or if for the neighbor, it is to obtain his favor. [3] 3. It is said, for the sake of himself and those who belong to him; for he who loves himself loves also those who belong to him, who are especially his children and grandchildren, and in general all who make one with him, whom he calls his own. Loving these is loving himself, for he regards them, as it were, in himself, and himself in them. Among those whom he calls his own are also included all who praise, and honor, and pay court to him. All others he indeed looks upon with his bodily eyes as men, but with the eyes of his spirit he scarcely regards them otherwise than as specters. [4] 4. That man is in the love of self, who despises his neighbor in comparison with himself, and who regards his neighbor as an enemy if he does not favor him and does not venerate and pay court to him. Still more in the love of self is he who for these reasons hates his neighbor and persecutes him; and still more he who on this account burns with revenge against him and desires his destruction. Such at length love to be cruel. [5] 5. The nature of the love of self can be made clear by comparison with heavenly love. Heavenly love is loving uses for the sake of the uses, or goods for the sake of the goods which a man does for the church, his country, human society, and the fellow citizen. But he who loves these for his own sake, loves them only as he loves his household servants, because they serve him. From this it follows that he who is in the love of self, wishes the church, his country, society, and his fellow citizens to serve him, instead of his serving them; he places himself above them, and them beneath himself. [6] 6. Again, so far as anyone is in heavenly love, which is loving uses and goods and having a heartfelt delight in promoting them, so far he is led by the Lord, because that is the love in which the Lord is, and which is from Him. But so far as anyone is in the love of self, so far he is led by himself, and so far is led by what is his own [proprium]; and man’s own is nothing but evil, for it is his inherited evil, which is loving oneself more than God and the world more than heaven. [7] l. Moreover, the love of self is such, that so far as the reins are given to it, that is, so far as external bonds are removed, which are fear of the law and its penalties, of the loss of reputation, honor, wealth, office, or life, so far it rushes on until its desire is not only to rule over the whole world, but also over heaven, and even over God Himself. There is nowhere any limit or end to it. This lurks in everyone who is in the love of self, although it is not apparent before the world, where it is held in check by the reins and bonds just mentioned; and any such man, when the impossible blocks his way, remains quiet until the possible comes about. Because of all this the man who is in such a love is not aware that such an insane and limitless cupidity lurks within him. Nevertheless, that it is so, no one can help seeing in rulers and kings, to whom there are no such reins and bonds and impossibilities, who rush on and subjugate provinces and kingdoms, and so long as they are successful, aspire to unlimited power and glory. And still more is it visible in those who extend their dominion into heaven, and transfer to themselves the whole of the Lord’s Divine power. These continually desire more. [8] 8. There are two kinds of dominion; one of love towards the neighbor, and another of love of self. These two kinds of dominion are opposites. He who exercises dominion from love towards the neighbor, desires the good of all, and loves nothing better than to perform uses, thus to serve others. Serving others is doing good from good will, and performing uses. Such is his love, and the delight of his heart. Moreover, so far as he is elevated to dignities he rejoices in it, not on account of the dignities, but on account of the uses which he can then perform to a greater extent and in a higher degree. Such is dominion in the heavens. But he who exercises dominion from love of self desires the good of none but himself and his own. The uses he performs are for the sake of his own honor and glory, which to him are the only uses. His end in serving others is that he himself may be served and honored, and may rule. He seeks dignities not for the sake of the goods he may do, but in order that he may gain eminence and glory, and may thereby be in his heart’s delight. [9] 9. His love of dominion remains with everyone after his life in the world; but to those who have exercised dominion from love towards the neighbor there is also entrusted dominion in the heavens, and then it is not they who rule, but the uses and goods which they love; and when uses and goods rule, the Lord rules. But those who in the world exercised dominion from self-love, after their life in the world are made to abdicate, and are reduced to servitude. From all this it is known who these are who are in the love of self. It does not matter what they may seem to be externally, whether haughty or humble, since such things reside in the internal man, and, by most men, the internal man is kept hidden, while the external is trained to counterfeit what belongs to the love of the public and the neighbor, thus the contrary of what is within; and this too is done for the sake of self; for they know that loving the public and the neighbor interiorly affects all men, and that they to that extent gain esteem. This love thus affects men because heaven flows into it. [10] 10. The evils that prevail with those who are in love of self are, in general, contempt of others, envy, enmity toward those who do not favor them, from which results hostility, hatred of various kinds, revenge, craft, deceit, unmercifulness, cruelty. And where such evils prevail, there is also a contempt of God, and of Divine things, which are the truths and goods of the church. If they honor these things, it is with the lips only, not with the heart. And because such evils are from love of self, like falsities are also from it; for falsities are from evils. [11] 11. But love of the world is a desire to draw to oneself the wealth of others by any device whatever, to set the heart upon riches, and to permit the world to withdraw and lead one away from spiritual love, which is love towards the neighbor, that is, from heaven. Those are in love of the world who long to draw to themselves the goods of others by various devices, but especially those who wish to do so by craft and deceit, caring nothing for the good of the neighbor. Those who are in that love covet the goods of others, and so far as they do not fear the law and the loss of reputation on account of the gain, they get possession of others’ goods, and even plunder them. [12] 12. But love of the world is not opposed to heavenly love to such a degree as the love of self is, because so great evils are not concealed within it, [13] 13. This love is manifold. There is a love of wealth as a means of being raised to honors; a love of honors and dignities as means of acquiring wealth; a love of wealth for the sake of various uses that afford worldly pleasure; a love of wealth for the mere sake of wealth, such as the avaricious have; and so on. The end for the sake of which wealth is sought is called the use, and it is the end or use from which love draws its quality; for such as the end is for which anything is done, such is the love; all else serves it as means [14] 14. In a word, love of self and love of the world are directly opposite to love to the Lord and love towards the neighbor. Consequently love of self and love of the world, such as have just been described, are infernal loves, and these reign in hell, and also constitute hell in man. But love to the Lord and love towards the neighbor are heavenly loves, and these reign in heaven, and also constitute heaven in man.

(5) The internal and external man. 1. Man was created so as to be at the same time in the spiritual world and in the natural world. The spiritual world is where angels are, and the natural world where men are. And as man was so created, there was given him an internal and an external-an internal whereby he is in the spiritual world, and an external whereby he is in the natural world. His internal is what is called the internal man, and his external the external man. [2] 2. Every man has an internal and an external, but with a difference between the good and the evil. With the good the internal is in heaven and its light, and the external in the world and its light; and this light of the world in them is illumined by the light of heaven, and therefore in them the internal and external act as one, like cause and effect, or like the prior and the posterior. But with the evil the internal is in hell and its light, and this light, in comparison with the light of heaven is thick darkness, although their external may be in a light like that in which the good are; thus there is an inversion. On this account the evil, just like the good, can talk and teach about faith, charity, and God, but not from faith, charity, and God. [3] 3. The internal man is what is called the spiritual man, because it is in the light of heaven, which is a spiritual light; while the external man is called the natural man, because it is in the light of the world, which is a natural light. The man whose internal is in the light of heaven, and his external in the light of the world, is a spiritual man in regard to both, because spiritual light from the interior illumines the natural light, and makes it as its own. But the reverse is true of the evil. [4] 4. The internal spiritual man viewed in himself is an angel of heaven, and while living in the body is in association with angels, although he does not know it; and when released from the body he goes among angels. But with the evil the internal man is a satan, and while living in the body is in association with satans, and when released from the body goes among them. [5] 5. With those who are spiritual men, the interiors of the mind are actually elevated towards heaven, for they look primarily to that; but with those who are merely natural, the interiors of the mind are turned away from heaven and towards the world, because they look primarily to the world. [6] 6. Those who cherish a merely general idea of the internal and external man, believe that it is the internal man that thinks and wills, and the external that speaks and acts, because thinking and willing are internal, while speech and action are external. But let it be understood that when a man thinks and wills rightly respecting the Lord and the things pertaining to the Lord, and respecting the neighbor and what pertains to the neighbor, he thinks and wills from a spiritual internal, because from a belief in truth and a love of good; but when his thought and will respecting these things are evil, his thought and will are from an infernal internal, because from a belief in falsity and a love of evil. In a word, so far as man is in love to the Lord and love towards the neighbor, he is in a spiritual internal, and from that internal thinks and wills and also speaks and acts; while so far as he is in the love of self and the world, he thinks and wills from hell, even when he speaks and acts otherwise. [7] 7. It has been provided and arranged by the Lord, that so far as man thinks and wills from heaven, the spiritual man is opened and formed, the opening being into heaven even to the Lord, while the forming is in conformity to the things of heaven. But on the contrary so far as man thinks and wills, not from heaven but from the world, so far the internal spiritual man is closed, and the external is opened and formed, the opening being into the world, while the forming is in conformity to the things of hell. [8] 8. Those in whom the internal spiritual man is opened into heaven to the Lord are in the light of heaven, and in enlightenment from the Lord, and thereby in intelligence and wisdom; these see truth from the light of truth and perceive good from the love of good. But those in whom the internal spiritual man is closed do not know what the internal man is, neither do they believe in the Word or in a life after death, or in the things pertaining to heaven and the church; and because they are in merely natural light, they believe nature to be from itself and not from God; they see falsity as truth, and have a perception of evil as good. [9] 9. The internal and external here treated are the internal and external of man’s spirit; his body is only an additional external within which the former exist; for the body in no way acts from itself, but acts only from the spirit that is in it. It must be understood that the spirit of man, after its release from the body, thinks and wills and speaks and acts, just as before. Thinking and willing are its internal, while speech and action then constitute its external.

402.

(6) The merely natural and sensual man. As there are few that know who are meant by sensual men, and what their nature is, and yet it is important to know it, therefore they shall be described: 1. He is called a sensual man who judges of all things by the bodily senses, and who believes in nothing except what he can see with his eyes and touch with his hands, calling this something real, and rejecting everything else; consequently, the sensual man is the lowest natural man. [2] 2. The interiors of his mind, which see from the light of heaven, are closed, so that he there sees nothing of the truth that pertains to heaven and the church, since he thinks in outermosts, and not interiorly from any spiritual light. [3] 3. Because he is in gross natural light he is inwardly opposed to the things of heaven and the church, although outwardly he may advocate them with a zeal proportionate to the dominion he may thereby secure. [4] 4. Sensual men reason keenly and ingeniously, because their thought is so near to speech as to be almost in it, and, as it were, on the lips, and because they place all intelligence in speech from memory only. [5] 5. Some of them can confirm whatever they wish, and can confirm falsities dexterously; and after confirming them they believe them to be truths; but their reasoning and confirming are from the fallacies of the senses, which captivate and persuade the common people. [6] 6. Sensual men are more shrewd and crafty than others. [7] 7. The interiors of their minds are loathsome and foul, because through them they communicate with the hells. [8] 8. Those who are in the hells are sensual, and the deeper they are the more sensual. The sphere of infernal itself with the sensual things of man from behind. [9] 9. Sensual men do not see any genuine truth in light, but reason and dispute about everything, as to whether it is so or not; and these disputes when heard at a distance from them are like the gnashings of teeth, which viewed in themselves are the collision of falsities with each other, and also of falsity and truth. This therefore makes plain what is meant in the Word by the “gnashing of teeth,” because reasoning from the fallacies of the senses corresponds to the teeth [10] 10. Accomplished and learned men who have deeply confirmed themselves in falsities, and still more those who have confirmed themselves against the truths of the Word, are more sensual than others, although they do not appear so to the world. Heretical doctrines have been introduced chiefly by such sensual men. [11] 11. The hypocritical, the deceitful, the voluptuous, the adulterous, and the avaricious, are for the most part sensual. [12] 12. Those who reason from sensual things only, and against the genuine truths of the Word and consequently of the church, were called by the ancients serpents of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. [13] As sensual things mean the things presented to the bodily senses and imbibed through those senses, it follows: 13. That by means of sensual things man communicates with the world, and by means of things rational above the sensual he communicates with heaven [14] 14. Things sensual furnish such things from the natural world as are of service to the interiors of the mind in the spiritual world. [15] 15. There are sensual things that minister to the understanding, and these are the various natural studies called physics; and there are sensual things that minister to the will, and these are the delights of the senses and the body. [16] 16. Unless the thought is elevated above natural things man has but little wisdom. The wise man thinks above sensual things; and when thought is elevated above what is sensual it enters into clearer light, and finally into the light of heaven; from this man has perception of truth which is properly intelligence. [17] 17. The elevation of the mind above sensual things, and its withdrawal therefrom, was known to the ancients. [18] 18. When sensual things are in the last place, by means of them a way is opened for the understanding, and truths are disengaged by a kind of extraction; but when sensual things are in the first place they close the way, and man sees truths only as in a mist, or as at night. [19] 19. In a wise man sensual things are in the last place, and are subject to more interior things; but in an unwise man they are in the first place and have dominion. Such as these are they who are properly called sensual. [20] 20. In man there are sensual things that he has in common with beasts, and others not so. To the extent that one thinks above sensual things, he is a man; but no one can think above sensual things and see the truths of the church, unless he acknowledges God and lives according to His commandments; for it is God who elevates and enlightens.

403.

II. THESE THREE LOVES, WHEN RIGHTLY SUBORDINATED, PERFECT MAN, BUT WHEN NOT RIGHTLY SUBORDINATED, THEY PERVERT AND INVERT HIM. Something shall first be said of the subordination of these three universal loves, which are the love of heaven, the love of the world, and the love of self, and then of the influx and insertion of one into the other, and finally of man’s state according to that subordination. These three loves are related to each other like the three regions of the body, the highest of which is the head; the intermediate, the chest and abdomen, while the knees and feet and soles of the feet form the third. When the love of heaven constitutes the head, love of the world the chest and abdomen, and love of self the feet and their soles, man is in a perfect state in accordance with his creation, because the two lower loves then minister to the highest, as the body and all its parts minister to the head. So when the love of heaven constitutes the head, it flows into the love of the world, which is chiefly a love of wealth, and by means of wealth it performs uses; and through this latter love it flows mediately into the love of self, which is chiefly the love of dignities, and by means of these dignities it performs uses. Thus do these three loves, by the influx of one into the other, breathe forth uses. [2] Who does not comprehend, that when a man desires to perform uses from spiritual love, which is from the Lord and is what is meant by the love of heaven, his natural man performs them by means of his wealth and his other goods (the sensual man cooperating in its function), and that it is to his honor to produce them? Who does not also comprehend that all the works that a man does with his body are done according to the state of his mind in the head; and if the mind is in the love of uses, the body by means of its members accomplishes them? And this is so, because the will and the understanding in their principles are in the head, and in their derivatives in the body, as the will is in deeds, and the thought in speech, and comparatively as the prolific principle of the seed is in the whole tree and in every part of it, and through these produces fruit, which is its use. Or it is like fire and light within a crystalline vase which thereby becomes warm and shows the light through it. And again, the spiritual sight of the mind together with the natural sight of the body, in one in whom these three loves are truly and rightly subordinated, because of the light that flows in through heaven from the Lord, may be likened to an African apple, which is transparent to the very center, where there is the repository of the seeds. Something like this is meant by these words of the Lord, The lamp of the body is the eye; if the eye be single (that is, sound), the whole body is full of light (Matt. 6:22; Luke 11:34). [3] No man of sound reason can condemn wealth, for it is in the general body like the blood in a man; nor can he condemn the honors attached to office, for they are the hands of the king and the pillars of society, provided the natural and sensual love of them is subordinated to spiritual love. Moreover, there are administrative offices in heaven and honors attached to them; but those who administer them love nothing better than to perform uses, because they are spiritual.

404.

But when love of the world or of wealth forms the head, that is, when it is the ruling love, man puts on a wholly different state; for then the love of heaven is exiled from the head and betakes itself to the body. The man who is in this state prefers the world to heaven; he worships God indeed, but from merely natural love which places merit in all worship; he also does good to the neighbor, but for the sake of recompense. To such, heavenly things are like clothing, clad in which they appear before the eyes of men to be walking in brightness, but before the eyes of angels they appear indistinct, for when love of the world possesses the internal man, and the love of heaven the external, the former makes all things belonging to the church obscure and hides them as under a veil. But this love is of great variety, worse in the degree that it verges toward avarice, in which the love of heaven grows black; so too if it verges toward pride and eminence over others from love of self. It is different if it verges towards prodigality, and is less hurtful if it has in view as an end the splendors of the world, as palaces, ornaments, magnificent clothing, servants, horses and carriages pompously arrayed, and other like things. The character of every love is determined by the end which it regards and intends. This love may be compared to blackish glass, which smothers the light and variegates it only in dark and evanescent hues. It is also like mists and clouds which take away the rays of the sun. It is also like new, unfermented wine, which tastes sweet but disturbs the stomach. Such a man when viewed from heaven looks like a hunchback, walking with his head down looking at the ground, and when he raises his head towards heaven he strains the muscles, and quickly drops it down again. The ancients in the church called such men Mammons, and the Greeks called them Plutos.

405.

But when love of self or love of ruling constitutes the head, the love of heaven passes down through the body to the feet; and as that love increases, the love of heaven descends through the ankles to the soles, and if it increases still further, it passes to the heels and is trodden upon. There is a love of ruling arising from love of the neighbor, and a love of ruling arising from love of self. Those who are in the love of ruling from love of the neighbor seek dominion to the end that they may perform uses to the public and to individuals; and to such, therefore, dominion is entrusted in the heavens. [2] Emperors, kings, and noblemen, who have been born and brought up to positions of authority, if they humble themselves before God, are sometimes less in that love than those who are of humble origin and who from pride are more eager than others for places of pre-eminence. But to those who are in the love of ruling from love of self, the love of heaven is like a bench on which, to please the people, they place their feet, but which, when the people are out of sight, they toss into a corner or out of doors. This is because they love themselves alone, and consequently immerse their wills and the thoughts of their minds in what is their own [proprium], which viewed in itself is inherited evil, and this evil is diametrically opposed to the love of heaven. [3] The evils of those who are in the love of rule from love of self, are in general as follows: Contempt of others, enmity against those who do not favor them; consequently hostility, hatred, revenge, unmercifulness, ferocity, and cruelty; and where such evils prevail, there is also contempt of God and of Divine things, which are the truths and goods of the church; or if they honor these it is with the lips only, lest they should be denounced by the church authorities and censured by others. [4] But this love is one thing with the clergy and another with the laity. With the clergy it climbs upward, when the reins are given to it, even until they wish to be gods; but with the laity until they wish to be kings; to such an extent do the hallucinations of that love carry their minds away. [5] Since in the perfect man the love of heaven holds the highest place, and forms, as it were, the head of all that follows from it, the love of the world being beneath it like the chest beneath the head, and the love of self beneath this like the feet, it follows, that if love of self were to form the head, the man would be completely inverted. He would then appear to the angels like one lying bent over, with his head to the ground and his back toward heaven; and when worshiping, he would appear to be frolicking on his hands and feet like a panther’s cub. Furthermore, such men would appear under the forms of various beasts with two heads, one head above having the face of a wild animal, and the other below having a human face, which would be constantly thrust forward by the upper one and compelled to kiss the earth. All these are sensual men, and are such as were described above (n. 402).

406.

III. EVERY MAN INDIVIDUALLY IS THE NEIGHBOR WHO IS TO BE LOVED, BUT ACCORDING TO THE QUALITY OF HIS GOOD. Man is born not for the sake of himself but for the sake of others; that is, he is born not to live for himself alone but for others; otherwise there could be no cohesive society, nor any good therein. It is a common saying that every man is a neighbor to himself; but the doctrine of charity teaches how this is to be understood, namely, that everyone should provide for himself the necessaries of life, as food, clothing, a dwelling, and other things which are necessarily required in the social life in which he is, and this not only for himself, but also for his family, nor for the present alone, but also for the future. For unless a man acquires for himself the necessaries of life, he is not in a condition to exercise charity, since he is in want of everything. But how every man ought to be a neighbor to himself may be seen from the following comparison: Every man ought to provide his body with food; this must be first, but the end should be that he may have a sound mind in a sound body; and every man ought to provide his mind with food, namely, with such things as pertain to intelligence and judgment; but the end should be that he may thereby be in a state to serve his fellow-citizens, society, his country, the church, and thus the Lord. He who does this provides well for himself to eternity. From this it is plain what is first in time, and what is first in end, and that the first in end is that to which all things look. It is also like building a house; first the foundation must be laid; but the foundation must be for the house, and the house for a dwellingplace. He who believes himself to be a neighbor to himself in the first place or primarily, is like one who regards the foundation, not the dwelling, as the end; and yet the dwelling is itself the first and the last end, and the house with its foundation is only a means to the end.

407.

What it is to love the neighbor shall be explained. To love the neighbor is not alone to wish well and do good to a relative, a friend, or a good man, but also to a stranger, an enemy, or a bad man. But charity is to be exercised toward the latter in one way and toward the former in another; toward a relative or friend by direct benefits; toward an enemy or a bad man by indirect benefits, which are rendered by exhortation, discipline, punishment, and consequent amendment. This may be illustrated thus: A judge who punishes an evil-doer in accordance with law and justice, loves his neighbor; for so he makes him better, and consults the welfare of the citizens that he may not do them harm. Everyone knows that a father who chastises his children when they do wrong, loves them, and that, on the other hand, he who does not chastise them therefore, loves their evils, and this cannot be called charity. Again, if a man repels an insulting enemy, and in self-defense strikes him or delivers him to the judge in order to prevent injury to himself, and yet with a disposition to be-friend the man, he acts from a charitable spirit. Wars that have as an end the defense of the country and the church, are not contrary to charity. The end in view declares whether it is charity or not.

408.

Since, therefore, charity in its origin is good will, and good will has its seat in the internal man, it is plain that when anyone who has charity resists an enemy, punishes the guilty, and chastises the wicked, he does this by means of the external man; and therefore, after he has done it he returns to the charity that resides in his internal man, and then, so far as he can, and so far as is useful, he wishes him well, and from good will does good to him. Those who have genuine charity have a zeal for what is good, and that zeal may appear in the external man like anger and flaming fire; but its flame dies out and is quieted as soon as his adversary returns to reason. It is different with those who have no charity. Their zeal is anger and hatred; for by these their internal man is heated and set on fire.

409.

Before the Lord came into the world scarcely anyone knew what the internal man is or what charity is, and this is why in so many places He taught brotherly love, that is, charity; and this constitutes the distinction between the Old Testament or Covenant and the New. That good ought to be done from charity to the adversary and the enemy the Lord taught in Matthew: Ye have heard that it hath been said to them of old time, Thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them that hurt you and persecute you; that ye may be sons of your Father who is in the heavens (Matt. 5:43-45). And when Peter asked Him how often he should forgive one sinning against him, whether he should do so until seven times, He replied: I say not unto thee, until seven times, but until seventy times seven (Matt. 18:21, 22). And I have heard from heaven that the Lord forgives to everyone his sins, and never takes vengeance nor even imputes sin, because He is love itself and good itself; nevertheless, sins are not thereby washed away, for this can be done only by repentance. For when He told Peter to forgive until seventy times seven, what will not the Lord do?

410.

Since charity itself has its seat in the internal man, wherein it is willing well, and from that is in the external man, wherein it is well-doing, it follows that the internal man is to be loved, and from that the external; consequently that a man is to be loved according to the quality of the good that is in him. Therefore good itself is essentially the neighbor. This may be illustrated thus: When one selects for himself from among three or four a steward for his house, or a servant, does he not try to find out about his internal man, and choose one who is sincere and faithful, and for that reason love him? In like manner a king or magistrate from three or four persons would select one competent for office, and would refuse the incompetent, whatever his looks, or however favorable his speech and actions. [2] Since, then, every man is the neighbor, and the variety of men is infinite, and everyone is to be loved as a neighbor according to his good, it is plain that there are genera and species and also degrees of love to the neighbor. And because the Lord is to be loved above all things, it follows that the degrees of love towards the neighbor are to be measured by love to the Lord, that is, by how much of the Lord or of what is from the Lord the other possesses in himself; for thus far he possesses good, since all good is from the Lord. [3] But as these degrees are in the internal man, and the internal man rarely manifests itself in the world, it is sufficient that the neighbor be loved according to the degrees that are known. But after death these degrees are clearly perceived; for the affections of the will and the consequent thoughts of the understanding form a spiritual sphere round about those in the spiritual world, which is felt in various ways; while in this world this spiritual sphere is absorbed by the material body, and encloses itself within a natural sphere, which then flows forth from man. That there are degrees of love towards the neighbor, is plain from the Lord’s parable of the Samaritan who showed mercy to the man wounded by thieves, whom the priests and the Levite saw and passed by; and when the Lord asked which of those three seemed to have been the neighbor, He was answered, He who showed mercy (Luke 10:30-37).

411.

It is written, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God above all things, and thy neighbor as thyself (Luke 10:27). To love the neighbor as oneself is, not to hold him in light esteem in comparison with oneself, to deal justly with him, and not to pass evil judgments upon him. The law of charity set forth and given by the Lord is this: All things whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, do ye even so unto them; for this is the law and the prophets (Matt. 7:12; Luke 6:31, 32). So do they love the neighbor who are in the love of heaven; while those who are in the love of the world love the neighbor from the world and for the sake of the world; and those who are in the love of self love the neighbor from self and for the sake of self.

412.

IV. THE COLLECTIVE MAN, THAT IS, A COMMUNITY SMALLER OR GREATER, AND THE COMPOSITE MAN FORMED OF COMMUNITIES, THAT IS, ONE’S COUNTRY, IS THE NEIGHBOR THAT IS TO BE LOVED. Those who do not know what the term neighbor means in its true sense, suppose that it means nothing else than the individual man, and that loving the neighbor means conferring benefits upon him. But the neighbor and love to him have a wider meaning and a higher meaning as individuals are multiplied. Who cannot understand that loving many men in a body is loving the neighbor more than loving one individual of a body? Thus, a community smaller or greater is the neighbor because it is a collective man; and from this it follows that he who loves a community loves those of whom the community consists; therefore he who wills and acts rightly towards a community consults the good of each individual. A community is like a single man; and those who enter into it form as it were one body, and are distinct from each other like the members of one body. When the Lord and the angels from Him look down upon the earth, they see an entire community just like a single man, with a form according to the qualities of those in it. It has been granted me to see a certain community in heaven precisely as a single man, in stature like that of a man in the world. [2] That love towards a community is a fuller love to the neighbor than love towards a separate or individual man, is obvious from this, that dignities are measured out according to the kind of administration over communities, and honors are attached to offices according to the uses they promote. For in the world there are higher and lower offices subordinated according to their more or less universal government over communities; and the king is he whose government is the most universal; and each one has remuneration, glory, and the general love according to the extent of his duties, and the goods of use which he promotes. [3] Nevertheless, the rulers of this age can perform uses and consult the good of society, and not love the neighbor; as those do who perform uses and consult the good of others with reference to the world or to self, or for the sake of appearances, or that they may be thought worthy to be elevated to higher dignities. But although the character of such is not discerned in the world, it is discerned in heaven; and in consequence those who have promoted uses from love to the neighbor, are the ones placed as rulers over heavenly communities, and there enjoy splendor and honor; and yet such do not set their hearts upon these things, but upon uses. But the others, who have performed uses from love of the world and of self, are rejected.

413.

The difference between love to the neighbor and the exercise of it when directed towards man as an individual and towards the collective man or a community, is like that between the duty of a private citizen and the duty of a civil officer or a military officer, or like that between the one who traded with two talents and the one who traded with five (Matt. 25:14-30); or it is like the difference between the value of a shekel and that of a talent, or between the product from a vine and that from a vineyard, or between the product from an olive tree and that from an olive yard, or the product from a tree and that from an orchard. Moreover, love to the neighbor in man ascends more and more interiorly, and as it ascends he loves a community more than an individual, and his country more than a community. Since, then, charity consists in right willing and right doing therefrom, it follows that it ought to be exercised towards a community in much the same way as towards the individual, but in one way towards a community of good men and in another way towards a community of evil men. Towards the latter charity is to be exercised according to natural equity; towards the former according to spiritual equity. But on these two kinds of equity something will appear elsewhere.

414.

One’s country is more a neighbor than a single community, because it consists of many communities, and consequently love towards the country is a broader and higher love. Moreover, loving one’s country is loving the public welfare. One’s country is the neighbor, because it is like a parent; for one is born in it, and it has nourished him and continues to nourish him, and has protected and continues to protect him from injury. Men ought to do good to their country from a love for it, according to its needs, some of which are natural and some spiritual. Natural needs relate to civil life and order, and spiritual needs to spiritual life and order. That one’s country should be loved, not as one loves himself, but more than himself, is a law inscribed on the human heart; from which has come the well-known principle, which every true man endorses, that if the country is threatened with ruin from an enemy or any other source, it is noble to die for it, and glorious for a soldier to shed his blood for it. This is said because so great should be one’s love for it. It should be known that those who love their country and render good service to it from good will, after death love the Lord’s kingdom, for then that is their country; and those who love the Lord’s kingdom love the Lord Himself, because the Lord is the all in all things of His kingdom.

415.

V. THE CHURCH IS THE NEIGHBOR WHO IS TO BE LOVED IN A STILL HIGHER DEGREE, AND THE LORD’S KINGDOM IN THE HIGHEST DEGREE. Since man was born for eternal life, and is introduced into it by the church, the church is to be loved as the neighbor in a higher degree, because it teaches the means which lead to eternal life and introduces man into it, leading to it by the truths of doctrine and introducing into it by goods of life. This does not mean that the priesthood should be loved in a higher degree, and the church because of the priesthood; but it means that the good and truth of the church should be loved, and the priesthood for the sake of these. The priesthood merely serves, and is to be honored so far as it serves. The church is the neighbor that is to be loved in a higher degree, thus even above one’s country, for the reason also, that by his country man is initiated into civil life, but by the church into spiritual life, and by that life man is separated from a merely animal life. Moreover, civil life is a temporary life, which has an end and which is then as if it had not been; while the spiritual life is eternal, having no end; therefore of the latter may be predicated being [esse], but of the former non-being. The distinction is like that between the finite and the infinite, between which there is no ratio; for the eternal is the infinite as to time.

416.

The Lord’s kingdom is the neighbor that is to be loved in the highest degree, because the Lord’s kingdom means the church throughout the world, which is called the communion of saints; also heaven is meant by it; consequently he who loves the Lord’s kingdom loves all in the whole world who acknowledge the Lord and have faith in Him and charity towards the neighbor; and he loves also all in heaven. Those who love the Lord’s kingdom love the Lord above all things, and are consequently in love to God more than others, because the church in the heavens and on earth is the body of the Lord, for those who are in it are in the Lord and the Lord in them. Therefore love towards the Lord’s kingdom is love towards the neighbor in its fullness; for those who love the Lord’s kingdom, not only love the Lord above all things, but also love the neighbor as themselves; for love to the Lord is a universal love, and consequently is in each thing and all things of spiritual life, and in each thing and all things of natural life; for that love has its seat in the highest things in man, and things highest flow into lower things and vivify them, as the will flows into all things of intention and of action therefrom, and the understanding into all things of thought and of speech therefrom. Therefore the Lord says: Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you (Matt. 6:33). That the kingdom of the heavens is the Lord’s kingdom is evident from these words in Daniel: Behold, there was coming with the clouds of heaven one like unto the Son of Man; and there was given Him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom; and all peoples, nations, and languages shall worship Him. His dominion is a dominion of ages, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom that which shall not be destroyed (Dan. 7:13-14).

417.

VI. TO LOVE THE NEIGHBOR, VIEWED IN ITSELF, IS NOT TO LOVE THE PERSON, BUT THE GOOD THAT IS IN THE PERSON. Who does not know that a man is not a man because of his having a human face and a human body, but because of the wisdom of his understanding and the goodness of his will? As the quality of these ascends, he becomes the more a man. At birth man is more a brute than any animal, but he becomes a man through instruction of various kinds, by receiving which his mind is formed, and from his mind and according to it man is a man. There are some beasts whose faces resemble the human face, but these enjoy no faculty of understanding or of doing anything from the understanding; but they act from the instinct which their natural love excites. The difference is that a beast expresses by sounds the affections of its love, while man speaks them as they are formulated in thought; also, a beast with his face downward looks upon the ground, while man with his face raised beholds heaven all about him. From all this it may be inferred that man is a man so far as he speaks from sound reason, and looks forward to his abode in heaven; while so far as he speaks from perverted reason, and looks only to his abode in the world, so far he is not a man. Yet even such are men potentially, though not actually; for every man enjoys the ability to understand truth and to will what is good; but so far as he has no wish to do good or understand truth, he can only counterfeit man in externals and play the ape.

418.

Good is the neighbor, because good belongs to the will, and the will is the being [esse] of man’s life. The truth of the understanding is also the neighbor, but only so far as it proceeds from the good of the will; for the good of the will take form in the understanding, and makes itself visible there is the light of reason. That good is the neighbor is evident from all experience. Who loves a person except from the quality of his will and understanding, that is, from what is good and just in him? For example, who loves a king, a prince, a general, a governor, a consul, any magistrate or judge, except for the judgment from which they act and speak? Who loves a primate, a minister of the church, or a canon, except for his learning, his integrity of life, and his zeal for the salvation of souls? Who loves the general of an army or any officer over him, except for bravery combined with prudence? Who loves a merchant except for his honesty? Who loves a workman or a servant, except for his fidelity? Nay, who loves a tree except for its fruit, the soil except for its fertility, a precious stone except for its value? and so on. And what is remarkable, it is not only the upright man who loves what is good and just in another, the man who is not upright does so also, because with him he is in no fear of losing reputation, honor, or wealth. But the love of good in one who is not upright, is not love of the neighbor; for he loves another interiorly only so far as he is of service to him. But loving what is good in another from the good in oneself is genuine love to the neighbor; for the goods then kiss and mutually unite with each other.

419.

The man who loves good because it is good, and truth because it is truth, loves the neighbor eminently, because he loves the Lord who is good itself and truth itself. There is no love of good and love of truth from good, that is, love to the neighbor, from any other source. Love to the neighbor is thus formed from a heavenly origin. It is the same thing whether you say use or good; therefore performing uses is doing good; and according to the quantity and quality of the use in the good so far in quantity and quality the good is good.

420.

VII. CHARITY AND GOOD WORKS ARE TWO DISTINCT THINGS, LIKE WILLING WELL AND DOING WELL. In every man there is an internal and an external. His internal is what is called the internal man, and his external what is called the external man. But one who does not know what the internal man and the external man are, may suppose that it is the internal man that exercises thought and will, and the external that speaks and acts. These latter belong, indeed, to the external man, and the former to the internal; yet they are not what essentially constitute the external and internal man. In common perception indeed man’s mind is his internal man, but the mind is itself divided into two regions; the one region which is higher and more internal is spiritual; and the other which is lower and more external is natural. The spiritual mind looks mainly to the spiritual world, and has for its objects the things that are there, either such as are in heaven or such as are in hell; for both are in the spiritual world. But the natural mind looks mainly to the natural world, and has for its objects the things that are there, whether good or evil. All of man’s action and speech proceeds from the lower region of the mind directly, and indirectly from its higher region, since the lower region of the mind is nearer to the bodily senses, and the higher region more remote from them. There is this division of the mind in man, because he was so created as to be both spiritual and natural, and thus a man and not a beast. All this makes clear that the man who looks primarily to himself and the world is an external man, because he is natural, not only in body but also in mind; while the man who looks primarily to the things of heaven and the church is an internal man, because he is spiritual both in mind and body. He is spiritual even in body, because his actions and words proceed from the higher mind, which is spiritual, through the lower, which is natural. For it is known that effects proceed from the body, and the causes that produce the effects proceed from the mind; also that the cause is everything in the effect. That the human mind is so divided is clearly evident from the fact that a man can act the part of a dissembler, a flatterer, a hypocrite, or an actor; and that he can assent to what another says and yet laugh at it; doing one from the higher mind and the other from the lower.

421.

From all this it can be seen how it is to be understood that charity and good works are distinct like willing well and doing well; that is to say, formally they are distinct, as the mind, which thinks and wills, is distinct from the body through which the mind speaks and acts; while essentially they are distinct because of the distinction in the mind itself which has an inner region that is spiritual, and an outer that is natural, as said above; so that when works proceed from the spiritual mind, they proceed from its good will, which is charity; but when they proceed from the natural mind, they proceed from a good will that is not charity. For even when it appears in the external form like charity, it is not charity in the internal form. In fact, charity in external form merely presents the show of charity, but does not possess its essence. This may be illustrated by a comparison with seeds in the ground. Each seed produces a plant, whether useful or useless, according to the nature of the seed. So is it with spiritual seed, which is the truth of the church derived from the Word; from this seed doctrine is formed, useful if from genuine truths, useless if from truths falsified. It is the same with charity that springs from good will, whether the good will is for the sake of self and the world or for the sake of the neighbor in a limited or in a broad sense; if for the sake of self and the world, it is spurious charity, but if for the sake of the neighbor, it is genuine charity. But of this more may be seen in the chapter on Faith, especially in the section where it is shown that charity is willing well, and good works are doing well from willing well (n. 374); and that charity and faith are only mental and perishable things unless they are determined to works and coexist in them when possible (n. 375-376).

422.

VIII. CHARITY ITSELF IS ACTING JUSTLY AND FAITHFULLY IN THE OFFICE, BUSINESS, AND EMPLOYMENT IN WHICH A MAN IS ENGAGED, AND WITH THOSE WITH WHOM HE HAS ANY DEALINGS. Charity itself is acting justly and faithfully in the office, business, and employment in which a man is engaged, because all that such a man does is of use to society, and use is good; and good in a sense abstracted from person is the neighbor. (That not a single man only, but also a lesser community, and even a man’s country, is the neighbor, has been shown above.) Take, for example, a king who sets his subjects an example of well-doing, who wishes them to live according to the laws of justice, rewards those who so live, regards everyone according to his merits, protects his subjects against injury and invasion, acts the part of a father to his kingdom, and consults the general prosperity of his people; in his heart there is charity, and his deeds are good works. The priest who teaches truth from the Word, and thereby leads to good of life, and so to heaven, because he consults the good of the souls of those of his church, is eminently in the exercise of charity. The judge who judges according to law and justice, and not for reward, friendship and relationship, consults the good of society and of each individual; of society because it is thereby kept in obedience to law and in the fear of transgressing it; and of the individual because justice thereby triumphs over injustice. The merchant who acts from honesty and not from deceit, consults the good of his neighbor with whom he has business. It is the same with a common or skilled workman, if he does his work rightly and honestly, and not fraudulently and deceitfully. It is the same with all others, as with captains and sailors, with farmers and servants.

423.

This is charity itself, because charity may be defined as doing good to the neighbor daily and continually, not only to the neighbor individually, but also to the neighbor collectively; and this can be done only through what is good and just in the office, business, and employment in which a man is engaged, and with those with whom he has any dealings; for this is one’s daily work, and when he is not doing it it still occupies his mind continually, and he has it in thought and intention. The man who thus practises charity, becomes more and more charity in form; for justice and fidelity form his mind, and the practice of these forms his body; and because of his form he gradually comes to will and think only such things as pertain to charity. Such at length come to be like those of whom it is said in the Word, that they have the law written on their hearts. Nor do they place merit in their works, because they do not think of merit but of duty-that it becomes a citizen so to act. But a man can by no means of himself act from spiritual justice and fidelity; for every man inherits from his parents a disposition to do what is good and just for the sake of himself and the world; but no man inherits a disposition to do it for the sake of what is good and just; consequently, only he who worships the Lord, and acts from Him when acting from himself, attains to spiritual charity, and becomes imbued with it by the practice of it.

424.

There are many who act justly and faithfully in their occupation, and thus promote works of charity, and yet do not possess any charity in themselves. But in these the love of self and the world predominates, and not the love of heaven; or if, perchance, the love of heaven is present, it is beneath the former love, like a servant under his master, a common soldier under his officer, or a doorkeeper standing at the door.

425.

IX. THE BENEFACTIONS OF CHARITY ARE GIVING TO THE POOR AND RELIEVING THE NEEDY, BUT WITH PRUDENCE. We must distinguish between the obligations of charity and its benefactions. By the obligations of charity those exercises of it that proceed directly from charity itself are meant. These, as has just been shown, relate primarily to one’s occupation. But benefactions mean such acts of assistance as are given apart from these obligations. These are called benefactions because doing them is a matter of free choice and pleasure; and when done they are regarded by the recipient simply as benefactions, and are bestowed according to the reasons and intentions that the benefactor has in mind. In common belief charity is nothing else than giving to the poor, relieving the needy, caring for widows and orphans, contributing to the building of hospitals, infirmaries, asylums, orphans’ homes, and especially of churches, and to their decorations and income. But most of these things are not properly matters of charity, but extraneous to it. Those who make charity itself to consist in such benefactions must needs claim merit for these works; and although they may profess with their lips that they do not wish them to be considered meritorious, still a belief in their merit lurks within. This is clearly evident from the conduct of such after death, when they recount their works, and demand salvation as a reward. But the origin of their works and the resulting quality of them is then inquired into, and if it is found that they proceeded from pride or a striving for reputation, or from bare generosity, or friendship, or merely natural inclination, or hypocrisy, from that origin the works are judged, for the quality of the origin is within the works. But genuine charity proceeds from those who are imbued with charity because of the justice and judgment in the works, and they do the works apart from any remuneration as an end, according to the Lord’s words in Luke (14:12-14). They also call such things as are mentioned above, benefactions as well as duties, although they pertain to charity.

426.

It is known that some who perform these benefactions which present to the world an image of charity, entertain the opinion and belief that they have practiced works of charity, and look upon them as many in popedom regard indulgences, as means whereby they are purified from sins, and that they are worthy, as if regenerated, to have heaven bestowed upon them, and yet they do not regard adultery, hatred, revenge, fraud, and in general the lusts of the flesh, in which they indulge at pleasure, as sins. But in that case what are these good works but painted pictures of angels in company with devils, or boxes made of lapis lazuli containing hydras? It is wholly otherwise when these benefactions are done by those who shun the evils above mentioned as hateful to charity. Nevertheless, these benefactions are advantageous in many ways, especially giving to the poor and to beggars; for thereby boys and girls, servants and maids, and in general all simple-minded persons, are initiated into charity, for these are its externals whereby such are trained in the practice of charity, for these are its rudiments, and are then like unripe fruit. But with those who are afterwards perfected in right knowledges respecting charity and faith, these acts become like ripe fruit, and then they look upon those former works, which were done in simplicity of heart, merely as what they owed to others.

427.

At this day these benefactions are believed to be those proper acts of charity that are meant in the Word by good works, because charity is often described in the Word as giving to the poor, helping the needy, and caring for widows and orphans. But hitherto it has not been known that the Word in its letter makes mention only of the outer things of worship, even the outermost things, and that these signify spiritual things, which are internal (as may be seen above, in the chapter on the Sacred Scripture, n. 193-209). From all this it is plain, that by the poor, the needy, the widows and orphans there mentioned, such persons are not meant, but those who are spiritually such. That the “poor” mean those who are without knowledges of truth and good, may be seen in the Apocalypse Revealed (n. 209) and that “widows” mean those who are without truths and yet desire them (n. 764); and so on.

428.

Those who are by nature compassionate, and do not make their natural compassion spiritual by putting it in practice in accordance with genuine charity, believe that charity consists in giving to every poor person, and relieving everyone who is in want, without first inquiring whether the poor or needy person is good or bad; for they say that this is not necessary, since God regards only the aid and alms. But after death these are clearly distinguished and set apart from those who have done the beneficent works of charity from prudence; for those who have done them from that blind idea of charity, then do good to bad and good alike, and with the aid of what is done for them the wicked do evil and thereby injure the good. Such benefactors are partly to blame for the injury done to the good. For doing good to an evil-doer is like giving bread to a devil, which he turns into poison; for in the hands of the devil all bread is poison, or if it is not, he turns it into poison by using good deeds as allurements to evil. It is also like handing to an enemy a sword with which he may kill some one; or like giving the shepherd’s staff to a wolfish man to guide the sheep to pasture, who, after he has obtained it, drives them away from the pasture to a desert, and there slaughters them; or like giving public authority to a robber, who studies and watches for plunder only, according to the richness and abundance of which he dispenses the laws and executes judgments.

429.

X. THERE ARE DUTIES OF CHARITY, SOME PUBLIC, SOME DOMESTIC, AND SOME PRIVATE. The benefactions of charity and the duties of charity are distinct, like the things done from choice and the things done from compulsion. But by the duties of charity official duties in a kingdom or state are not meant, as the duties of a minister to minister, of a judge to judge, and so on, but the duties of everyone whatever his employment may be. Thus these duties are from a different origin, and flow forth from a different will, and are therefore done from charity by those who have charity, and on the other hand from no charity by those who have no charity.

430.

The public duties of charity are especially the payment of tribute and taxes, which ought not to be confounded with official duties. Those who are spiritual pay these with one disposition of heart, and those who are merely natural with another. The spiritual pay them from good will, because they are collected for the preservation of their country, and for its protection and the protection of the church, also for the administration of government by officials and governors, to whom salaries and stipends must be paid from the public treasury. Those, therefore, to whom their country and also the church are the neighbor, pay their taxes willingly and cheerfully, and regard it as iniquitous to deceive or defraud. But those to whom their country and the church are not the neighbor pay them unwillingly and with resistance; and at every opportunity defraud and withhold; for to such their own household and their own flesh are the neighbor.

431.

The domestic duties of charity are those of the husband toward the wife, and of the wife toward the husband, of fathers and mothers toward their children, and of children towards their fathers and mothers, also the duties of masters and mistresses towards servants, male and female, and of the latter towards the former. These duties, because they are the duties of education and management at home, are so numerous that if recounted they would fill a volume. To the discharge of these duties everyone is moved by a love different from that which moves him to discharge the duties of his employment; husbands and wives are moved to their duties towards each other by marriage love and according to it; parents towards their children by the love implanted in everyone, called parental love; and children towards their parents by and according to another love which is closely connected with obedience from a sense of duty. But the duties of masters and mistresses towards their servants, male and female, have their source in the love of governing, and this love is according to the state of each one’s mind. [2] But marriage love and the love of children, with the duties of these loves and the practice of these duties, do not produce love to the neighbor as the practice of the duties in one’s employment does; for the love called parental love exists equally with the bad and the good, and is sometimes stronger with the bad; moreover, it exists in beasts and birds, in which no charity can be formed. It is known that it exists with bears, tigers, and serpents, as much as with sheep and goats, and with owls as much as with doves. [3] As to the duties of parents to children in particular, they are inwardly different with those who are in charity and those who are not, although externally they appear alike. With those who are in charity, that love is conjoined with love towards the neighbor and love to God; for by such children are loved according to their morals, virtues, good will, and qualifications for serving the public. But with those who are not in charity, there is no conjunction of charity with the love called parental love; consequently, many such parents love even wicked, immoral, and crafty children more than the good, moral, and discreet; thus they love those who are useless to the public, more than those who are useful.

432.

The private duties of charity are also numerous, such as the payment of wages to workmen, the payment of interest, the fulfillment of contracts, the guarding of securities, and so on, some of which are duties enforced by statute law, some by common law, and some by moral law. These duties also are discharged by those who are in charity from one state of mind, and by those who are not in charity from another state of mind. Those who are in charity perform them justly and faithfully; for it is a precept of charity that everyone should act justly and faithfully toward all with whom he has any business or dealing (on which above, n. 422-425). But those who are not in charity discharge these same duties very differently.

433.

XI. THE DIVERSIONS OF CHARITY ARE DINNERS, SUPPERS, AND SOCIAL GATHERINGS. It is known that dinners and suppers are everywhere customary, and are given for various purposes, and that with most they are given for the sake of friendship, relationship, enjoyment, gain, and remuneration; also that they are employed for corrupting men and drawing them over to certain parties; and that among the great they are given for the sake of honor, and in kings’ palaces for splendor. But dinners and suppers of charity are given only among those who are in mutual love from similarity of faith. With the Christians of the primitive church dinners and suppers had no other object; they were called Feasts, and were given both in order that they might heartily enjoy themselves, and at the same time be drawn together. In the first state of the establishment of the church suppers signified consociation and conjunction, because evening, when they took place, signified that state. But in the second state, when the church had been established, there were dinners, for morning and day signified that state. At table they conversed on various subjects, both domestic and civil, but especially on such as pertained to the church. And because they were feasts of charity, whatever subject they talked about, charity with its delights and joys was in their speech. The spiritual sphere that prevailed at those feasts was a sphere of love to the Lord and love towards the neighbor, which cheered the mind of everyone, softened the tone of every voice, and from the heart communicated festivity to all the senses. For there emanates from every man a spiritual sphere, which is a sphere of his love’s affection and its thought therefrom, and this interiorly affects his associates, especially at feasts. This sphere emanates both through the face and through the respiration. It is because dinners and suppers, or feasts, signified such association of minds that they are so frequently mentioned in the Word, and nothing else is there meant by them in the spiritual sense; and the same is meant in the highest sense by the paschal supper among the children of Israel, also by their banquet at other festivities, and by their eating together of the sacrifices near the tabernacle. Conjunction itself was then represented by the breaking and distribution of bread, and by drinking from the same cup and handing it to another.

434.

As to social gatherings, they were composed in the primitive church of such as called themselves brethren in Christ; they were therefore assemblies of charity, because there was spiritual brotherhood. They were also a consolation in the adversities of the church, seasons of rejoicing on account of its increase, recreations of mind after study and labor, and at the same time opportunities for conversation on various subjects; and as they flowed from spiritual love as from a fountain, they were rational and moral from a spiritual origin. There are at this day assemblies of friendship, which regard as an end the delights of sociability, the exhilaration of the mind by conversation, the consequent expansion of the feelings and the liberation of imprisoned thoughts, and thus the rekindling of the sensual faculties and the renewal of their state. But as yet there are no gatherings of charity; for the Lord says, In the end of the age (that is, at the end of the church), iniquity will be multiplied and charity will grow cold (Matt. 24:12). This is because the church has not yet acknowledged the Lord God the Savior as the God of heaven and earth, and gone to Him directly, from whom alone genuine charity goes forth and flows in. But social gatherings where friendship emulating charity does not bring minds together, are nothing but pretenses of friendship, deceptive attestations of mutual love, seductive insinuations into favor, and sacrifices offered to the delights of the body, especially the sensual, whereby people are carried away like ships by sails and favoring currents, while sycophants and hypocrites stand in the stem and hold the helm.

435.

XII. THE FIRST THING OF CHARITY IS TO PUT AWAY EVILS; AND THE SECOND IS TO DO GOODS THAT ARE OF USE TO THE NEIGHBOR. In the doctrine of charity this holds the first place, that the first thing of charity is not to do evil to the neighbor; and to do good to him holds the second place. This tenet is like a door to the doctrine of charity. It is admitted that evil is firmly seated in every man’s will from his birth; and as all evil has relation to man both nearly and remotely, and also to society and one’s country, it follows that inherited evil is evil against the neighbor in every degree. A man may see from reason itself, that so far as the evil resident in the will is not put away, the good that he does is impregnated with that evil; for evil is then inside the good, like a kernel in its shell or like marrow in a bone; therefore although the good that is done by such a man appears to be good, still intrinsically it is not good; for it is like a healthy-looking shell containing a worm-eaten kernel, or like a white almond rotten within, with streaks of rottenness extending even to the surface. [2] Willing evil and doing right are two essentially opposite things; for evil belongs to hatred towards the neighbor and good belongs to love towards the neighbor, or evil is the neighbor’s enemy and good is his friend. These two cannot exist in the same mind, that is, evil in the internal man and good in the external; if they do, the good in the external is like a wound superficially healed, within which there is putrid matter. Man is then like a tree with a decayed root, which still produces fruit that outwardly looks like well-flavored and useful fruit, but is inwardly offensive and useless. He is also like rejected scoria, which, being bright on the surface and beautifully colored, may be sold for precious stones; in a word, he is like an owl’s egg, which men are made to believe to be a dove’s egg. [3] Man ought to know that the good that a man does by means of his body proceeds from his spirit, or out of his internal man, the internal man being the spirit which lives after death. Therefore when the man [above described] casts off the body which formed his external man, all there is of him is in evils and takes delight in them, and is averse to good as something inimical to his life. [4] That until evil has been put away man cannot do good that is good in itself the Lord teaches in many places: Men do not gather the grape from thorns or figs from thistles. A corrupt tree cannot bring forth good fruit (Matt. 7:16-18). Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, for ye cleanse the outside of the cup and the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first the inside of the cup and of the platter, that the outside of them may become clean also (Matt. 23:25-26). And in Isaiah: Wash you, put away the evil of your doings, cease to do evil, learn to do well, seek judgment. Then although your sins have been as scarlet, they shall become as white as snow; although they have been red like crimson, they shall be as wool (Isa. 1:16-18).

436.

This may be further illustrated by the following comparisons: One cannot visit another who keeps a leopard and a panther shut up in his chamber (living safely with them himself because he feeds them), until these wild beasts have been removed. Who, when invited to the table of a king and queen, does not, before he goes, wash his hands and face? Who does not purify ores by fire and separate the dross before he obtains pure gold and silver? Who does not separate the tares from the wheat, before putting the wheat into his granary? Who does not prepare raw food by cooking it before it is made eatable and placed upon the table? Who does not beat the worms from the foliage of the trees in his garden, so that the leaves may not be devoured and the fruit thereby destroyed? Who loves and seeks to marry a maiden who is full of disease, and covered with pimples and blotches, however she may paint her face, dress finely, and labor by the charms of her conversation to affect him with the enticements of love? Man himself ought to purify himself from evils [and not wait for the Lord to do this without his cooperation, see n. 331]. Otherwise he would be like a servant, going to his master, with his face and clothes befouled with soot or dung, and saying, “Master, wash me.” Would not his master answer him, “You foolish servant, what are you saying? See, here are water, soap, and a towel; have you not hands of your own and the power to use them? Wash yourself.” And so the Lord God will say, “These means of purification are from Me; and your ability to will and do are also from Me; therefore use these My gifts and endowments as your own, and you will be purified.”

437.

At the present day it is believed that charity is simply doing good, and that then one does not do evil; consequently that the first thing of charity is to do good, and the second not to do evil. But it is wholly the reverse; the first thing of charity is to put away evil, and the second to do good; for it is a universal law in the spiritual world and from that in the natural world also, that so far as one does not will evil he wills good; thus that so far as he turns away from hell from which all evil ascends, so far he turns towards heaven from which all good descends; consequently also, that so far as anyone rejects the devil he is accepted by the Lord. One cannot stand with his head vibrating between the two, and pray to both at once; for of such the Lord says: I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot; would that thou wert cold or hot. So because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spit thee out of My mouth (Apoc. 3:15-16). Who can skirmish with his troop between two armies, favoring both? Who can be evilly disposed towards the neighbor, and at the same time well disposed towards him? Does not evil then lie hidden in the good? Although the evil that so hides itself does not appear in the man’s acts, it manifests itself in many things when they are reflected upon rightly. The Lord says: No servant can serve two masters. . . . Ye cannot serve God and mammon (Luke 16:13).

438.

But no one is able to purify himself from evils by his own power and his own abilities; yet neither can it be done without the power and abilities of man as if these were his own. If these were not as if they were his own, no man would be able to fight against the flesh and its lusts, which everyone is commanded to do; he would not even be able to think of any combat, thus his mind would be opened to evils of every sort, and would be restrained from them as deeds only by the laws of justice established in the world, and their penalties; and thus he would be inwardly like a tiger, a leopard, or a serpent, which never reflect at all upon the cruel delights of their loves. From this it is clear that as man, in contrast with wild beasts, is rational, he ought to resist evils by the power and abilities given him by the Lord, which in every sense appear to him to be his own; and this appearance has been granted by the Lord to every man for the sake of regeneration, imputation, conjunction, and salvation.

439.

XIII. IN THE EXERCISES OF CHARITY MAN DOES NOT PLACE MERIT IN WORKS SO LONG AS HE BELIEVES THAT ALL GOOD IS FROM THE LORD. To ascribe merit to works that are done for the sake of salvation is harmful because evils lie concealed in so doing of which the doer is wholly ignorant. There also lies hid in it a denial of God’s influx and operation in man; also a confidence in one’s own power in matters of salvation; faith in oneself and not in God; self-justification; salvation by one’s own abilities; a reducing of Divine grace and mercy to nought; a rejection of reformation and regeneration by Divine means; especially a limitation of the merit and righteousness of the Lord God the Savior, which such claim for themselves; together with a continual looking for reward, which they regard as the first and last end; a submersion and extinction of love to the Lord and love towards the neighbor; a total ignorance and lack of perception of the delight of heavenly love as being without merit, and a sense only of self-love. For those who put rewards in the first place and salvation in the second, and who value salvation for the sake of the reward, invert order and immerse the interior desires of the mind in what is their own [proprium], and defile them in the body with the evils of the flesh. This is why the good that claims merit appears to the angels as rust, and the good that does not claim merit as purple. That good ought not to be done for the sake of reward, the Lord teaches in Luke: If ye do good to them who do good to you, what thank have ye? But rather love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and then your reward shall be great, and ye shall be sons of the Most High for He is kind unto the unthankful and the evil (Luke 6:33-35). And that man cannot do good that in itself is good, except from the Lord, He teaches in John: Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine, so neither can ye except ye abide in Me; for apart from Me ye can do nothing (15:4, 5). And again, A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven (John 3:27).

440.

But to think about getting into heaven, and that good ought to be done for that reason, is not to regard reward as an end and to ascribe merit to works; for thus do those also think who love the neighbor as themselves and God above all things; so thinking from faith in the Lord’s words, That their reward should be great in the heavens (Matt. 5:11, 12; 6:1; 10:41, 42; Luke 6:23, 35; 14:12-14; John 4:36); That those who have done good shall possess as an inheritance a kingdom prepared from the foundation of the world (Matt. 25:34); That everyone is rewarded according to his works (Matt. 16:27; John 5:29; Rev. 14:13; 20:12, 13; Jer. 25:14; 32:19; Hosea 4:9; Zech. 1:6 and elsewhere). Such do not trust to reward on the ground of their merit, but have faith in the promise from grace. With such the delight of doing good to the neighbor is their reward. This is the delight of the angels in heaven, and it is a spiritual delight which is eternal, and immeasurably exceeds all natural delight. Those who are in this delight are unwilling to hear of merit, for they love to do, and in doing they perceive blessedness. They are sad when it is believed that they work for the sake of recompense. They are like those who do good to friends for the sake of friendship, to brethren for the sake of brotherhood, to wife and children for the sake of wife and children, and to their country for their country’s sake; thus from friendship and love. Those who do acts of kindness also say and give evidence that they are doing this not on their own behalf, but on behalf of the others.

441.

It is wholly different with those who regard reward as the essential end in their works. These are like such as form friendships for the sake of gain, and who make presents, perform services, and profess love seemingly from the heart, but when they fail to obtain what they hoped for, they turn about, renounce their friendship, and devote themselves to the enemies of their former friends and to those who hate them. They are also like nurses who suckle infants merely for wages, and in presence of their parents kiss and fondle them; but as soon as they cease to be fed with delicacies and rewarded just as they wish, they turn against the infants, treat them harshly, beat them, and laugh at their cries. [2] They are also like those whose regard for their country springs from love of self and the world, and who say that they are willing to give their property and their lives for it; and yet, if they do not acquire honors and riches as rewards, they speak ill of their country, and connect themselves with its enemies. They are also like shepherds who care for sheep merely for hire, and if the hire is not given when they wish it, drive the sheep with their crook from the pasture to the desert. Like these again are priests who discharge the duties of their office solely for the sake of the emoluments attached to them, and who, evidently, regard as of little account the salvation of the souls over whom they have been placed as guides. [3] It is the same with magistrates who look only to the dignity of their office and its revenues; and when they do right, it is not for the sake of the public good, but for the sake of the delight in the love of self and the world, which delight they breathe in as the only good. It is the same with all the rest; the end in view carries every point, and the mediate causes pertaining to the function are renounced if they do not promote the end. [4] And the same is true of those who demand reward on the ground of merit in matters of salvation. Such after death confidently demand heaven; but when it has been found that they have no love to God or love towards the neighbor, they are sent back to those who can instruct them concerning charity and faith; and if they repudiate their instructions, they are sent away to their like, among whom are some who are enraged against God because they do not obtain rewards, and who call faith a mere figment of reason. Such are meant in the Word by “hirelings,” who were allotted service of the lowest kind in the outer courts of the temple. At a distance they appear to be splitting wood.

442.

It must be well understood that charity and faith in the Lord are closely conjoined, consequently, such as the faith is such is the charity. That the Lord, charity, and faith make one, like life, will, and understanding [in man], and if they are divided each perishes like a pearl reduced to powder, may be seen above (n. 362-363); and that charity and faith are together in good works (n. 373-377). From this it follows that such as faith is, such is charity, and that such as charity and faith are together, such are works. If then there is a faith that all the good that a man does as if of himself is from the Lord, man is the instrumental cause of that good, and the Lord the principal cause, which two causes appear to man to be one, and yet the principal cause is the all in all of the instrumental cause. From this it follows that when a man believes that all good that is good in itself is from the Lord, he does not ascribe merit to works; and in the degree in which this faith is perfected in man, the fantasy about merit is taken away from him by the Lord. In this state man enters fully into the exercise of charity with no anxiety about merit, and at length perceives the spiritual delight of charity, and then begins to be averse to merit as a something harmful to his life. The sense of merit is easily washed away by the Lord with those who become imbued with charity by acting justly and faithfully in the work, business, or function in which they are engaged, and towards all with whom they have any dealings (see above, n. 422-424). But the sense of merit is removed with difficulty from those who believe that charity is acquired by giving alms and relieving the needy; for when they do these things, in their minds they desire reward, at first openly and then secretly, and draw to themselves merit.

443.

XIV. WHEN MORAL LIFE IS AT THE SAME TIME SPIRITUAL, IT IS CHARITY. Every man is taught by his parents and teachers to live morally, that is, to act the part of a good citizen, to discharge the duties of an honorable life (which relate to the various virtues that are the essentials of an honorable life), and to bring them forth through the formalities of an honorable life, which are called proprieties; and as he advances in years he is taught to add to these what is rational, and thereby to perfect what is moral in his life. For in children, even to early youth, moral life is natural, and becomes afterwards more and more rational. Anyone who reflects well upon it can see that a moral life is the same as a life of charity, and that this is to act rightly towards the neighbor, and to so regulate the life as to preserve it from contamination by evils; this follows from what has been shown above (n. 435-438). And yet, in the first period of life, a moral life is a life of charity in outermosts, that is, it is merely the outer and foremost part of it, not the inner part. [2] For there are four periods of life through which man passes from infancy to old age; the first is when he acts from others according to instructions; the second, when he acts from himself, under the guidance of the understanding; the third, when the will acts upon the understanding, and the understanding regulates the will; and the fourth, when he acts from confirmed principle and deliberate purpose. But these periods of life are the periods of the life of a man’s spirit, not in like manner of his body; for the body can act morally and speak rationally while its spirit is willing and thinking opposite things. That this is the nature of the natural man is obvious in the case of pretenders, flatterers, liars, and hypocrites. These evidently enjoy a double mind, that is, their minds are divided into two discordant minds. It is otherwise with those who will rightly and think rationally, and consequently act rightly and talk rationally. These are meant in the Word by the “simple in spirit;” they are called simple, because they are not double-minded. [3] From all this it can be seen what is meant specifically by the external man; also that, from the morality of the external man, no one can form any conclusion as to the morality of the internal, since this may be turned in an opposite direction, and may hide itself as a tortoise hides its head within its shell, or as a serpent hides its head in its coil. For such a so-called moral man is like a robber in a city and in a forest, acting the part of a moral person in the city, but of a plunderer in the forest. It is wholly otherwise with those who are moral inwardly or in the spirit, which they become through regeneration by the Lord. These are meant by the spiritually-moral.

444.

Moral life, when it is also spiritual, is a life of charity, because the practices of a moral life and of charity are the same; for charity is willing rightly towards the neighbor, and consequently acting rightly towards him; and this is also moral life. The spiritual law is this law of the Lord: All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them; for this is the law and the prophets (Matt. 7:12). This same law is the universal law of moral life. But to recount all the works of charity, and to compare them with the works of moral life, would fill many pages; let the six commandments of the second table of the Decalogue serve for illustration. It is evident to everyone that these are precepts of moral life. That they include everything relating to love to the neighbor, may be seen above (n. 329-331). That charity is the fulfilling of all these precepts, is evident from the following in Paul: Love one another; for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment it is summed up in this word, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Charity worketh no ill to his neighbor; charity is the fulfilling of the law (Rom. 13:8-10). He who thinks from the external man only, cannot but wonder that the seven commandments of the second table were promulgated by Jehovah on Mount Sinai with so great a miracle; when yet these same precepts, in all the kingdoms of the world, consequently also in Egypt whence the children of Israel had lately come, were the precepts of the law of civil justice, for without them no kingdom can continue to exist. But they were promulgated by Jehovah, and were, moreover, written by His finger on tables of stone, in order that they might be not only the precepts of civil society, and therefore of natural-moral life, but also the precepts of heavenly society, and therefore of spiritual-moral life; so that acting contrary to them would be not only acting in opposition to men, but also to God.

445.

Viewing moral life in its essence, it can be seen that it is a life that is in accordance both with human laws and with Divine laws; therefore he who lives in accordance with these two laws as one law is a truly moral man, and his life is charity. Anyone, if he will, can understand from external moral life the nature of charity. Only transfer external moral life, such as prevails in civil communities, over into the internal man, so that in its will and thought there may be a likeness and conformity to the acts in the external, and you will see charity in its true image.

446.

XV. A FRIENDSHIP OF LOVE, CONTRACTED WITH A MAN WITHOUT REGARD TO HIS SPIRITUAL QUALITY, IS DETRIMENTAL AFTER DEATH. A friendship of love means interior friendship, which is such that not only is the man’s external man loved but his internal also, and this without scrutiny into the quality of his internal or spirit, that is, into his mind’s affections, as to whether these spring from love towards the neighbor and love to God, and are thus adapted to association with angels of heaven, or whether they spring from a love opposed to the neighbor and a love opposed to God, and are thus adapted to association with devils. Such friendship is contracted in many instances from various causes and for various purposes. It is distinct from external friendship, which relates only to the person and exists for the sake of various bodily and sensual delights, and for the sake of mutual interaction in various ways. This kind of friendship may be formed with anyone, even with the clown who jokes at the table of a nobleman. This is called friendship simply; but the former is called the friendship of love, because friendship is natural conjunction, while love is spiritual conjunction.

447.

That the friendship of love is detrimental after death, can be seen from the state of heaven, of hell, and of man’s spirit in relation to them. As to the state of heaven, it is divided into innumerable societies according to all the varieties of affections of the love of good; while hell, on the other hand, is divided according to all the varieties of affections of the love of evil; and after death, man, who is then a spirit, is at once adjudged, according to his life in the world, to the society where his ruling love prevails - to some heavenly society, if love to God and love towards the neighbor has formed the head of his loves, and to some infernal society, if love of self and the world has formed the head of his loves. Immediately after his entrance into the spiritual world, which is effected through the death of the material body and its rejection to the sepulchre, man for some time undergoes a preparation for the society to which he has been adjudged, which preparation is effected by the rejection of such loves as are not in accord with his chief love. Thus one is then separated from another, friend from friend, dependent from patron, also parent from children, and brother from brother; and each one of these is connected with those interiorly like himself, with whom he is to live to eternity a life in common with them and yet properly his own. Nevertheless, during the first period of the preparation they all come together, and converse in a friendly way, as in the world. But little by little they are separated, and in ways they are not sensible of.

448.

But those who in the world have contracted with each other friendships of love cannot be separated like others in accordance with order, and adjudged to societies correspondent to their lives; for they are bound together interiorly as to the spirit, nor can they be torn apart, because they are like scions ingrafted into branches; consequently, if one as to his interiors is in heaven, and the other as to his interiors in hell, they stick together much as a sheep tied to a wolf, or a goose to a fox, or a dove to a hawk; and he whose interiors are in hell breathes his infernalism into the other whose interiors are in heaven. For among the things well known in heaven is this, that evils may be breathed into the good, but not goods into the evil; and for this reason that everyone is in evils by birth; and in consequence, the interiors of the good, who are thus joined fast to the evil, are closed, and both are thrust down to hell, where the good spirit suffers severely, but finally, after a lapse of time, he is released, and only then begins his preparation for heaven. It has been granted me to see spirits so bound together, especially brothers and relatives, also patrons and their dependents, and many with flatterers, the two having contrary affections and diverse inclinations. I have seen some who were like kids with leopards, who were kissing each other and swearing to maintain their former friendship; and I then perceived that the good were absorbing the delights of the evil, holding each other by the hand and entering caves where crowds of the evil appeared in their hideous forms, although to themselves, owing to the illusions of phantasy, they seemed lovely. But after a while I heard from the good cries of fear, as if they were in snares, and from the evil rejoicings, like those of enemies over spoils; besides other sad scenes; and I was told that when the good had been released they were prepared for heaven by means of reformation, but not so easily as others.

449.

It is wholly different with those who love the good in another, that is, who love justice, judgment, sincerity, and benevolence arising from charity, and especially with those who love faith in the Lord and love to Him. Because these love the things within man apart from the things without, when they do not discover the same things in the person after death, they at once withdraw from the friendship and are associated by the Lord with those who are in like good. It should be said that no one is able to explore the interiors of the mind of those with whom he associates or deals; and this is not necessary; only let him guard against a friendship of love with anyone. External friendship for the sake of various uses does no harm.

450.

XVI. THERE IS SPURIOUS CHARITY, HYPOCRITICAL CHARITY, AND DEAD CHARITY. There is no genuine, that is, living charity, except that which makes one with faith, and the two look conjointly to the Lord; for these three, the Lord, charity, and faith, are the three essentials of salvation, and when they make one, charity is charity, and faith is faith; and the Lord is in them and they are in the Lord (see above, n. 363-367, and n. 368-372). On the other hand, when these three are not conjoined, charity is either spurious, or hypocritical, or dead. In Christianity since its establishment there have been various heresies, even down to the present day, in each of which these three essentials, God, charity, and faith, have been and still are acknowledged; for apart from these three, there is no religion. As to charity in particular, it may be joined to any heretical belief, as with that of the Socinians, the Enthusiasts, the Jews, and even to the faith of idolaters; and they may all believe it to be charity, since it appears like it in the external form. Nevertheless, the quality of charity is changed in accordance with the faith to which it is joined, as may be seen in the chapter on Faith.

All charity that is not conjoined with faith in one God in whom is a Divine trinity, is spurious like the charity of the present church, the faith of which is a faith in successive order in three persons of the same Divinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; and being a faith in three persons, each one of whom is a self-subsistent God, it is a faith in three Gods. To such a faith charity may be joined (as has been done by its supporters), but never can be conjoined; and the charity that is only joined to faith is merely natural, and not spiritual, and is therefore a spurious charity. The same is true of the charity of many other heresies, as the charity of those who deny a Divine trinity and thus approach God the Father only, or the Holy Spirit only, or both of these apart from God the Savior. To the faith of such, charity cannot be conjoined, or when conjoined or joined to it it is a spurious charity. It is called spurious, because it is like the offspring of an illegitimate bed, or like the son of Hagar born to Abraham, who was cast out of the house (Gen. 21:10). Such charity is like fruit upon a tree where it has not grown, but has been fastened to it with a needle; and it is like a carriage to which horses are fastened only by the reins in the driver’s hands, and when they spring forward, they drag the driver from his seat, and leave the carriage behind.

452.

But hypocritical charity is the charity of those who in their churches and private dwellings humble themselves almost to the floor before God, devoutly pour forth long prayers, put on a holy expression of countenance, kiss images of the cross and the bones of the dead, and kneel beside sepulchres and there with their mouths mutter words of holy veneration for God, and yet in their heart they are thinking of being themselves worshiped and seeking to be adored as divinities. It is such as these whom the Lord describes in the following words: When thou doest alms, sound not a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites, who love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men (Matt. 6:2, 5). Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye shut up the kingdom of heaven before men; for ye enter not in yourselves, neither do ye suffer those to enter who wish to enter. Woe unto you, hypocrites! For ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte and when he is made, ye make him twofold more a son of hell than yourselves. Woe unto you, hypocrites! For ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are filled with extortion and excess (Matt. 23:13, 15, 25). Well hath Isaiah prophesied of you, hypocrites, saying, This people honoreth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me (Mark 7:6). Woe unto you, hypocrites! For ye are as graves which appear not, and the men that walk over them know it not (Luke 11:44). Beside other passages. Such are like flesh without blood, like crows and parrots taught to repeat the words of a psalm, and like birds taught to sing the tune of a sacred hymn; and the sound of their voice is like that of a bird-catcher’s whistle.

453.

But dead charity is the charity of those whose faith is dead; since the charity is such as the faith is. That they make one, has been shown in the chapter on Faith. That the faith of those who are without works is dead, appears from the Epistle of James (2:17, 20). Furthermore, faith is dead in those who do not believe in God; but believe in living and dead men, and who worship images as holy in themselves, as the gentiles formerly did. The offerings of those who are in such a faith, which for the sake of salvation they bestow upon their miracle-working images, as they call them, including these offerings among works of charity, are precisely like the gold and silver that are put in the urns and monuments of the dead; they are even like the meat given to Cerberus, or the fee paid to Charon for ferriage to the Elysian fields. But the charity of those who believe that there is no God, but only nature instead, is neither spurious, hypocritical, nor dead; it is no charity at all, because it is not joined to any faith, and cannot be called charity, since the quality of charity is determined by faith. Such charity, viewed from heaven, is like bread made of ashes, a cake made of fishes’ scales, or fruit made of wax.

454.

XVII. THE FRIENDSHIP OF LOVE AMONG THE EVIL IS INTESTINE HATRED OF EACH OTHER. It has been shown above that every man has an internal and an external, and that his internal is called the internal man and his external the external man. To this may be added, that the internal man is in the spiritual world, and the external in the natural world. Man was so created in order that he might be associated with spirits and angels in their world, and might thereby be able to think analytically, and after death be transferred from his own world to another. By the spiritual world both heaven and hell are meant. As the internal man is in company with spirits and angels in their world, and the external man with men, it is evident that man can be affiliated both with the spirits of hell and with the angels of heaven. By this capacity and power man is distinguished from beasts. Man is essentially [in se] such as he is in his internal man, not such as he is in his external, for the internal man is his spirit, and this acts through the external. The material body with which his spirit is clothed in the natural world, is an accessory for the sake of procreation and for the sake of the formation of the internal man; for the internal man is formed in the natural body as a tree in the soil, or as seed in fruit. More on the internal and external man may be seen above (n. 401).

455.

But what the evil man is as to his internal man, and what the good man is as to his, may be seen from the following brief description of hell and heaven, for the evil man’s internal is conjoined with the devils in hell, and the good man’s with angels in heaven. Hell from its loves is in the delights of all evils, that is, in the delights of hatred, revenge, murder, plunder and theft, of railing and blasphemy, of denial of God and profanation of the Word. Such delights lurk in lusts upon which man does not reflect. These lusts blaze in these delights like lighted torches; and are what is meant in the Word by infernal fire. But the delights of heaven are the delights of love towards the neighbor and of love to God. [2] Inasmuch as the delights of hell are opposite to the delights of heaven, there is between them a great interspace, into which the delights of heaven flow from above, and those of hell from beneath. While man is living in the world he is in the middle of this interspace, in order that he may be in equilibrium, and thus in a state of freedom to turn either to heaven or to hell. This interspace is what is meant by “the great gulf fixed” between those who are in heaven and those who are in hell (Luke 16:26). [3] From this it can be seen what the friendship of love is among the evil, namely, that in their external man it is posturing and mimicry and pretenses of morality, in order that they may spread their nets and discover opportunities for gratifying their loves’ delights, with which their internal man is on fire. Nothing but fear of the law and consequent fears for their reputation and life withholds them and restrains their actions. Consequently their friendship is like a spider in sugar, a viper in bread, a young crocodile in a cake of honey, or a snake in the grass. [4] Such is the friendship of the evil with everyone. But among those confirmed in evil, such as thieves, robbers, and pirates, friendship is intimate so long as they are with one mind bent on acquiring plunder; for they then embrace each other like brothers, enjoy themselves with feasting, singing, and dancing, and conspire to destroy others; yet each one within himself regards his companion as one enemy regards another; this, too, is what a cunning robber sees and fears in his fellow. Evidently, therefore, among such there is no friendship, but intestine hatred. 455a. Any man who has not openly connected himself with evildoers and committed robberies, but has led a civil moral life for the sake of various uses as ends, and yet has not curbed the lust residing in his internal man, may suppose that his friendship is not of such a nature. Nevertheless, from many exemplifications in the spiritual world, it has been granted me to know with certainty that it is such, in different degrees, with all who have rejected faith and despised the holy things of the church, regarding those as nothing to them, but only for the common herd. In some of these the delights of infernal love have lain hidden like fire in smoldering logs covered with bark; in some like coals under ashes; in some like waxen torches that blaze up when fire is applied to them; and in others in other ways. Such is every man who has rejected from his heart the things of religion. The internal man of such is in hell; but being ignorant of this because of their pretended morality in externals so long as they live in the world they acknowledge no one as their neighbor except themselves and their own children; they regard others either with contempt-and then they are like cats lying in wait for birds in their nests-or with hatred, and then they are like wolves when they see dogs that they may devour. These statements are made to show from its opposite what charity is.

456.

XVIII. THE CONJUNCTION OF LOVE TO GOD AND LOVE TOWARDS THE NEIGHBOR It is known that the Law promulgated from Mount Sinai was written upon two tables, one of which related to God and the other to men; that in the hands of Moses they were one table, the writing on the right side of which related to God, and that on the left to men; and that when so presented to the eyes of men the writing on both sides was seen at the same time, thus one side was in view of the other, like Jehovah talking to Moses and Moses to Jehovah, face to face, as it is written. This was done in order that the tables so united might represent the conjunction of God with men, and the reciprocal conjunction of men with God; and this is why the written law was called a Covenant and a Testimony, “covenant” signifying conjunction, and “testimony” life according to the compact. These two tables so united exhibit the conjunction of love to God with love towards the neighbor. The first table includes all things pertaining to love to God, which are, primarily, that man should acknowledge the one God, the Divinity of His Human, and the holiness of the Word, and that God is to be worshiped through the holy things that proceed from Him. That this table includes these things is evident from the explanation, in chapter five, of the commandments of the Decalogue. The second table includes all things pertaining to love towards the neighbor, its first five commandments all things pertaining to action, which are called works, and the last two all things pertaining to the will, thus to charity in its origin; for in these it is said, “Thou shalt not covet,” and when man does not covet what belongs to his neighbor, he wishes well to him. That the ten commandments of the Decalogue contain all things pertaining to love to God and all things pertaining to love towards the neighbor, may be seen above (n. 329-331); where it is also shown that there is a conjunction of the two tables in those who are in charity.

457.

It is different with those who merely worship God, and do not at the same time do good works from charity. These are like those who violate covenants. It is different again with those who divide God into three and worship each one separately; and still different with those who do not approach God in His Human; these are such As enter not by the door, but climb up some other way (John 10:1, 9). It is also different with those who from confirmation deny the Lord’s Divinity. With all of these there is no conjunction with God, and therefore no salvation; and their charity is nothing but spurious charity, and this does not effect conjunction by the face, but by the side or back. [2] How conjunction is effected shall be told in a few words. With every man God flows into man’s knowledge of Him with acknowledgment of Him, and at the same time flows in with His love towards men. The man who receives in the former way only, and not in the latter, receives that influx in the understanding and not in the will, and remains in knowledge of God without an interior acknowledgment of God; and his state is like that of a garden in winter. But the man who receives in both ways, receives the influx in the will and from that in the understanding, thus in the whole mind, and he has an interior acknowledgment of God which vivifies in him the knowledges of God; and his state is like that of a garden in spring. [3] Conjunction is effected by charity, because God loves every man, and as He cannot do good to man immediately, but only mediately through men, He inspires men with His own love, as He inspires parents with love for their children; and the man who receives that love has conjunction with God, and from God’s love loves his neighbor; and in him God’s love is within man’s love towards the neighbor, and produces in him the will and the ability. [4] Moreover, as man does nothing that is good unless it appears to him that the ability, the will, and the doing are from himself, this appearance is granted him; and when he does good from freedom as if of himself, it is imputed to him, and is accepted as the reciprocation by which conjunction is effected. This is like active and passive, and that cooperation of the passive which is effected from the active in the passive. It is also like will in doing, and like thought in words, the soul operating from the inmost into both. It is also like effort in motion; and like the prolific in seed, which from the interior operates in the juices through which the tree grows even to fruit, and through fruit produces new seed. It is also like light in precious stones which is reflected according to the texture of the parts, producing various colors, belonging apparently to the stones, but in fact to the light.

458.

This makes clear the origin and the nature of the conjunction of love to God and love towards the neighbor, as being the influx of God’s love for men, the reception of which by man and his cooperation therewith being love towards the neighbor. In a word, conjunction is effected in accordance with this saying of the Lord: At that day ye shall know that I am in My Father, and ye in Me, and I in you (John 14:20). Also according to this, He that hath My commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me, and I will love him, and will manifest Myself unto him; and We will make abode with him (John 14:21-23). All of the Lord’s commandments have relation to love towards the neighbor, and in a word they are not doing evil to the neighbor, but doing good to him. That those who do this love God and God loves them, is in accordance with these words of the Lord. Because such is the conjunction of these two loves, John says: He that keepeth the commandments of Jesus Christ abideth in Him and He in him. If a man say, I love God, but hateth his brother, he is a liar; for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? And this commandment have we from Him, That he who loveth God should love his brother also (1 John 3:24; 4:20, 21).

459.

To this the following Memorable Relations shall be added. First: I saw at a distance five gymnasia, each encompassed by a different kind of light; the first by a flame colored light, the second by a yellow light, the third by a white light, the fourth by a light intermediate between that of noon and evening, the fifth was hardly visible, standing as if shrouded by the shades of evening. And on the roads I saw some on horseback, some in carriages, some walking, and some running and hurrying towards the first gymnasium, which was enveloped in the flamy light. Seeing this, I was seized and impelled by a strong desire to go there and to hear what was under discussion. Therefore I quickly got ready and joined company with those hastening to the first gymnasium, and entered with them; and behold! there was a large assembly, part of which moved off to the right and part to the left, to seat themselves on benches near the walls. Before me I saw a low pulpit, in which stood one who filled the office of president, having a staff in his hand, a cap on his head, and a robe tinted with the flame-colored light of the gymnasium. [2] When the people had assembled, he spoke aloud and said, “Brethren, you will today discuss the question, What is charity? Each one of you can understand that charity is spiritual in its essence, and natural in its practices.” Immediately one of those on the first bench on the left, on which those who were reputed wise were sitting, arose and beginning to speak, said, “It is my opinion that charity is morality inspired by faith.” This he corroborated thus: “Who does not know that charity follows faith, as a waiting-maid follows her mistress, and that the man who has faith obeys the law, and thus practises charity so spontaneously that he is unaware that it is the law and charity according to which he is living? For if he did this knowingly, and at the same time thought of salvation as his end, he would pollute holy faith with his selfhood [proprium] and thus impair its efficacy. Is not this in accordance with the dogma of our church?” And he looked towards those sitting beside him, among whom were some of the regular clergy, and they nodded assent. [3] “But what,” he said, “is spontaneous charity but morality into which everyone is initiated from infancy, and which is therefore in itself natural, but becomes spiritual when inspired by faith? Who, from the moral life of men, can distinguish whether they have faith or not, for every man lives morally? But God alone, who implants and seals faith, recognizes and distinguishes. I therefore assert that charity is morality inspired by faith; and that such morality, owing to the faith in its bosom, is saving, while all other morality brings no salvation, because it claims merit. Thus all those who mix together charity and faith, that is, all who conjoin them inwardly instead of connecting them outwardly, lose their oil; for to mix and join these together would be like putting into the carriage with a primate the servant who stands behind, or like introducing the porter into the dining-hall, and seating him at the table with a nobleman.” [4] After this another rose up from the first bench on the right, and said, “It is my opinion that charity is piety inspired by commiseration. This opinion I corroborate as follows: That nothing has such effect in propitiating God as piety arising from a humble heart; and piety prays unceasingly for God to bestow faith and charity; and the Lord says: Ask, and it shall be given you (Matt. 7:7);and because both are given, they are both in that piety. I say that charity is piety inspired by commiseration; for all devout piety commiserates, for piety so moves the heart of man that he groans, and what is that but commiseration? This indeed recedes after we have prayed, but it comes back when we pray again; and when it returns there is piety in it, and thus there is piety in charity. Our priests ascribe all things that promote salvation to faith, and nothing to charity. What then remains but piety praying fervently for both? When I have read the Word I have been able to see nothing else than that faith and charity are the two means of salvation. But when I have consulted the ministers of the church I have heard that faith is the only means, and that charity is nothing. And then it has seemed to me that I was on the sea, in a ship that was drifting between two rocks; and when I feared that the ship would be broken to pieces, I betook myself to a boat and sailed away. My boat is piety; and piety, moreover, is profitable for all things.” [5] After him another, from the second bench on the right, arose and said, “It is my opinion that charity is doing good to everyone, virtuous and vicious alike; and this opinion I corroborate as follows: What is charity but goodness of heart? And a good heart wishes good to everyone, to the virtuous and the vicious alike. And the Lord has said, that good ought to be done even to our enemies. Therefore, when you withhold charity from anyone, does not charity on that side become null, and thus like a man who has lost one foot, and goes hopping on the other? A vicious man is a man equally with a virtuous one, and charity regards a man as a man; if he is vicious, what is that to me? It is with charity as with the heat of the sun, which vivifies beasts, both fierce and gentle, wolves as well as sheep, and causes trees to grow, both good and bad, and the thorns as well as the vine.” So saying he took in his hand a fresh grape, and said, “It is with charity as it is with this grape; divide it, and all its contents run out.” He divided it, and out they ran. [6] After this speech another from the second bench on the left, arose and said, “It is my opinion that charity is to serve by every means one’s relatives and friends, which I corroborate thus: Who does not know that charity begins with oneself, since everyone is neighbor to himself? Therefore charity goes forth from oneself through grades of nearness first to brother and sister, and from these to kinsmen and relatives; and thus the progression of charity is self-limited. Those who are beyond its limits are strangers, and strangers are not interiorly recognized, and thus are as aliens to the internal man. But those related by blood and birth are joined together by nature, and friends by custom, which is a second nature, and these become the neighbor in that way. Charity unites also another to itself from within, and so from without, and those not united from within may be called companions merely. Do not all birds recognize their own kindred, not by their plumage but by the sound they make, and when they are near, by the sphere of life exhaled from their bodies? This affection for kindred and consequent conjunction is called in birds instinct; while the same affection in men, when it is for those nearest to them, is truly an instinct of human nature. What except blood causes homogeneity? This a man’s mind, which is also his spirit, feels, and, as it were, smells. In this homogeneity and consequent sympathy the essence of charity consists. But heterogeneity, on the contrary, from which antipathy springs, is, as it were, not blood, and therefore not charity. And as habit is second nature, and this also causes homogeneity, it follows that charity is also doing good to one’s friends. When one comes from the sea into some port and finds that it is a foreign country, the language and customs of whose inhabitants he is unacquainted with, is he not, as it were, out of himself, feeling none of the joy of love toward them? But if he finds himself in his own country with whose language and customs he is familiar, he is, as it were, within himself, and then feels a joy arising from love, which is the joy of charity.” [7] Then from the third bench on the right another arose, and speaking with a loud voice, said: “It is my opinion that charity is giving alms to the poor, and assisting the needy. This surely is charity, for the Divine Word so teaches, the statements of which admit of no contradiction. What is giving to the rich and the possessors of abundance but vain glory, in which there is no charity but only a looking for return? And in this there can be no genuine affection of love towards the neighbor, but only spurious affection, which is effective on earth but not in heaven. Therefore want and poverty ought to be relieved, because into this no idea of recompense enters. In the city where I lived, and where I knew who were virtuous and who were not, I observed that all of the virtuous, when they saw a beggar in the street, would stop and give him alms; while the non-virtuous, seeing a beggar beside them, would pass him by as if blind to his presence and deaf to his voice. And who does not know that the virtuous have charity, and the non-virtuous have not? He who gives to the poor and relieves the needy, is like a shepherd who leads hungry and thirsty sheep to pasture and water; while he who gives only to those who are rich and possess abundance, is like one who devotes himself to the prosperous or presses food and drink upon those who are intoxicated.” [8] After him arose another, from the third bench on the left, and said: “It is my opinion that charity is building hospitals, infirmaries, orphans’ homes, and asylums, and supporting them by contributions. This I corroborate by the fact that such beneficences and aids are public, and are many leagues beyond private benefactions; consequently charity becomes richer and more replete with good, as the good is multiplied by the number aided, and the reward hoped for from the promises of the Word become more abundant, for as one ploughs and sows, so he reaps. Is not this giving to the poor and relieving the needy in an eminent degree? Does not one thereby secure worldly fame and praises in the humble voice of gratitude from those helped? Does not this exalt the heart, and with it the affection that is called charity, even to the highest point? The rich, who do not walk the streets, but ride, cannot notice and hand pennies to those sitting at the sides of the streets by the wall of the houses; but they make their contributions of such a kind as to serve many at once. But lesser persons who walk the streets and have not stores of wealth, may do otherwise.” [9] Hearing this, another from the same bench quickly drowned the voice of the first with his louder voice, saying: “Let not the rich, however, exalt the munificence and excellence of their charity over the pittance that one poor man gives to another; for we know that everyone in what he does acts according to what is suitable to his person, whether he is a king or a magistrate, a commander or an attendant. For charity, viewed in itself, is not estimated by the excellence of the person, and consequently of the gift, but by the amplitude of the affection that prompts it; so that a menial giving one penny may do so from a larger charity than the great man who gives or bequeaths an immense sum. This is in accordance with these words: Jesus saw the rich men casting their gifts into the treasury; He saw also a certain poor widow casting in thither two mites and He said, of a truth I say unto you, that this poor widow hath cast in more than they all (Luke 21:1-3). [10] After these one arose from the fourth bench on the left, and said: “It is my opinion that charity is to endow churches, and to do good to their ministers; which I confirm by this, that he who does so meditates upon what is holy and acts from what is holy in his own mind, and moreover, that this sanctifies his gifts. Charity demands this, because it is in itself holy. Is not all worship in churches holy? For the Lord says, Where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them (Matt. 18:20); and the priests His servants conduct the worship. From this I conclude that the gifts which are bestowed upon ministers and churches are superior to those bestowed upon other persons and for other objects. Moreover, there is given to a minister the power to bless, whereby he also sanctifies those gifts; and after that there is nothing that expands and rejoices the mind more than to look upon one’s gifts as so many holy shrines.” [11] Then one from the fourth bench on the right arose and spoke as follows: “It is my opinion that the old Christian brotherhood is charity. This I confirm by the fact that every church that worships the true God begins in charity the same as the early Christian church did. Because charity unites minds and makes one out of many, the members of that church called themselves brethren-but brethren in Jesus Christ their God. But because they were then surrounded by barbarous nations whom they feared, they established a community of property, which enabled them to enjoy themselves together in harmony, and at the same time conversed together daily at their meetings about the Lord God their Savior Jesus Christ, and at their dinners and suppers about charity; hence their brotherhood. But after those times, when schisms began to spring up, and finally the abominable Arian heresy arose, which with many swept away the idea of the Divinity of the Lord’s Human, charity decayed and their brotherhood was dissolved. It is true that all who worship the Lord in truth and keep His commandments are brethren (Matt. 23:8), but brethren in spirit; and as it is unknown at this day what any man is in spirit, for men to call each other brethren is of no account. A brotherhood of faith alone, and still less a brotherhood of faith in any other God than the Lord God the Savior, is not a brotherhood, because in that faith there is no charity, which is what makes brotherhood. I therefore conclude that the old Christian brotherhood was charity. But that was, and now is not; yet I prophesy that it will return.” When he had said this, a flame-colored light appeared through the eastern window, and tinged his cheeks, at the sight of which the assembly were amazed. [12] Finally one arose from the fifth bench on the left, and asked permission to add his contribution to the remarks of the last speaker. When this had been granted, he said, “It is my opinion that charity is to forgive everyone his trespasses. This opinion I have drawn from the customary saying of those who approach the Holy Supper; for some then say to their friends, ‘Forgive me what I have done amiss;’ thinking that they have thus discharged all the duties of charity. But I have thought in my own mind that this is nothing but a painted picture of charity, not the real form of its essence; for this is said both by those who do not forgive, and by those who make no effort to follow charity; and such are not included in the Prayer which the Lord Himself taught, Father, forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. For trespasses are like ulcers, within which, if they are not opened and healed, diseased matter collects, which infects the neighboring parts, and creeping about like a serpent, turns the blood everywhere into such matter. It is the same with trespasses against the neighbor, which, unless removed by repentance and by a life according to the Lord’s commandments, remain and devour; while those who, without repentance, merely pray to God to forgive their sins, are like the inhabitants of a city, who, being infected with a contagious disease, go to the chief magistrate and say, Sir, heal us; and he would answer, How can I heal you? Go to a physician, find out what medicines you need, get them for yourselves from an apothecary and take them, and your health will be restored. So the Lord will say to those who pray for the forgiveness of their sins without actual repentance. Open the Word, and read what I have spoken in Isaiah: Ah, sinful nation, laden with iniquity. When ye spread forth your hands, I hide Mine eyes from you; yea, when ye make many prayers, I do not hear. Wash you, put away the evil of your doings from before Mine eyes cease to do evil; learn to do well, and then shall your sins be removed and forgiven (Isa. 1:4, 15-18).” [13] When all this had taken place, I raised my hand, and asked them to permit me, although a stranger, to offer my opinion also. The president proposed this, and consent being given, I spoke as follows: “It is my opinion that charity is to act with judgment from a love of justice in every employment and office, but from a love derived from no other source than the Lord God the Savior. All that I have heard from those sitting upon the benches, both on the right and on the left, are eminent examples of charity; but, as the president of this assembly stated, at first, charity in its origin is spiritual, but in its flowing forth is natural; and natural charity, if it is inwardly spiritual, appears to the angels transparent like a diamond; but if not inwardly spiritual, and therefore purely natural, it appears to the angels like a pearl that resembles the eye of a cooked fish. [14] “It is not for me to say, whether the eminent examples of charity which you have presented in order, are inspired by spiritual charity or not; but I can say what the spiritual that ought to be in them, must be, that they may be natural forms of spiritual charity. The spiritual itself of these is this, that they be done with judgment from a love of justice; that is, that in the exercise of charity man should see clearly whether he is acting from justice, and this he sees from judgment. For a man may do evil by deeds of beneficence; and by what appear to be evil deeds he may do good. For example: One who gives to a needy robber the means wherewith to buy a sword, by a beneficent act is doing evil; although the robber in begging the money did not tell what he would do with it. So again, if one rescues a robber from prison and shows him the way to a forest, saying to himself, It is not my fault that he commits robbery; I have given succor to the man. Take as another example, one who feeds an idler, and prevents his being compelled to work, saying to him, Go into a chamber in my house, and lie in bed; why should you weary yourself? Such a one favors idleness. Or again, take one who promotes relatives and friends with dishonest inclinations to offices of honor, wherein they can plot many kinds of mischief. Who cannot see that such works of charity do not proceed from any love of justice combined with judgment? [15] On the other hand, a man may do good through what appear to be evil deeds. Take as an example a judge who acquits an evil-doer because he sheds tears, pours out words of piety, and begs the judge to pardon him because he is his neighbor. But in fact a judge performs a work of charity when he decrees the man’s punishment according to the law; for he thus guards against the man’s doing further evil and being a pest to society, which is the neighbor in a higher degree, and he prevents also the scandal of an unjust judgment. Who does not know also, that it is good for servants to be chastised by their masters, or children by their parents, when they do wrong? The same is true of those in hell, all of whom are in the love of doing evil. They are kept shut up in prisons, and when they do evil are punished, which the Lord permits for the sake of their amendment. This is so because the Lord is justice itself, and does whatever He does from judgment itself. [16] From all this it can be seen clearly, why, as just said, spiritual charity is done with judgment from a love of justice, and yet from a love derived from no other source than the Lord God the Savior. This is because all good of charity is from the Lord; for He says, He that abideth in Me and I in him, the same beareth much fruit; for apart from Me ye can do nothing (John 15:5). Also that He has all power in heaven and on earth (Matt. 28:18); and all love of justice with judgment is from no other source than the God of heaven, who is justice itself, and the source of all man’s judgment (Jer. 23:5; 33:15). [17] From all this we may conclude that all that has been said about charity from the benches on the right and left, namely, That charity is morality inspired by faith; That it is piety inspired by commiseration; That it is doing good alike to the virtuous and the vicious; That it is to serve by every means one’s relatives and friends; That it is giving to the poor and assisting the needy; That it is building infirmaries and supporting them by contributions; That it is endowing churches and doing good to their ministers; That it is the old Christian brotherhood; That it is to forgive everyone his trespasses; all these are eminent examples of charity when they are done with judgment from a love of justice. Otherwise they are not charity, but are merely like brooks separated from their fountains, or like branches torn from their tree; because genuine charity is to believe in the Lord and to act justly and rightly in every employment and office. Therefore he who from the Lord loves justice and practises it with judgment, is charity in its image and likeness.” [18] When this had been said there was silence, such as comes to those who from their internal man, but not as yet in the external, see and acknowledge that something is true. This I perceived from their faces. But I was then suddenly removed out of their sight, returning from the spirit into my material body; for the natural man, because of his being clothed with a material body, is not visible to any spiritual man, that is, to a spirit or angel, nor they to him.

460.

Second Memorable Relation: Once when looking about in the spiritual world I heard something like the gnashing of teeth, also a kind of beating, and mingled with these a grating sound, and I asked what they were. The angels who were with me said: “They are fraternities, which are called by us debating clubs, where they dispute with each other. Their disputations sound at a distance in this way, but near at hand their disputations only are heard.” Drawing near, I saw huts built of reeds plastered together with mud. I wished to look in through a window (not being permitted to enter through the door, because light would then flow in from heaven and produce confusion), but there was no window. But just then a window was made suddenly on the right side, and then I heard them complaining that they were in darkness. Presently a window was made on the left side, that on the right being closed, and then the darkness was gradually dispelled, and they appeared to themselves to be in their proper light. Afterward I was permitted to enter by the door and listen. In the center there was a table, and benches round about; yet to me they all seemed to be standing on the benches and disputing bitterly with each other about faith and charity; one party maintained that faith is the essential of the church, and the other, charity. Those who made faith the essential thing, said: “By faith do we not deal with God, and by charity with man? Therefore is not faith heavenly, and charity earthly? Is it not by means of heavenly things that we are saved, and not by means of earthly things? Again, cannot God bestow faith from heaven, because it is heavenly, and must not man acquire charity for himself, because it is earthly? And what man acquires for himself does not pertain to the church, and thus is not saving. Therefore can anyone be justified before God by the works that are called the works of charity? Believe us, that we are not only justified but also sanctified by faith alone if our faith is not defiled by a sense of merit arising from works of charity;” and so on. [2] But those who made charity the essential of the church sharply refuted these arguments, saying: “Charity is saving, and not faith. Does not God hold all men dear, and desire the good of all? How can God effect this good except through men? Does God merely give us the power to talk to men about matters of faith, and not the power to do for them what charity requires? Do you not see that your saying that charity is earthly is absurd? Charity is heaven, and because you do not do the good of charity, your faith is earthly. How do you receive your faith except like stocks or stones? You say, by hearing the Word. But how can the Word operate merely by being heard, and how upon a stock or a stone? It may be that you are quickened, yourselves being wholly unconscious of it. But what is the quickening, except that you are able to say that faith alone justifies and saves? And what faith is, and what kind of faith is saving, you do not know.” [3] Then one arose who by the angel conversing with me was called a syncretist. He took off his cap and placed it on the table, but hastily put it on his head again, because he was bald. He said: “Listen to me; you are all wrong. It is true that faith is spiritual, and charity is moral, but still they are conjoined; and they are conjoined by means of the Word, and thus by means of the Holy Spirit, and by their effect which may be called obedience, although man has no more part whatever in it because when faith is brought in man knows no more about it than a statue. I have long meditated on these subjects, and I have at length discovered that man may accept from God a faith that is spiritual, but he can no more be moved by God to a charity that is spiritual than a stock.” [4] When this was said those who were in faith alone applauded, but those who were in charity hissed; and these, being indignant, said; “Listen, friend; you do not know that there is spiritual moral life and merely natural moral life-spiritual moral life with those who do good from God and yet as if of themselves, and merely natural moral life with those who do good from hell, and yet as if of themselves.” [5] I said that the disputation sounded like the gnashing of teeth, also like a kind of beating mingled with a grating sound. The disputation that sounded like the gnashing of teeth was from those who made faith the one only essential of the church; the beating was from those who made charity the one only essential; and the mingled grating sound was from the syncretist. The tones of their voices were so heard at a distance, because they had all when in the other world been given to disputation, and had not shunned any evil, and therefore had not done any good that was from a spiritual source. Moreover, they were wholly ignorant that the all of faith is truth and the all of charity is good; that truth without good is not truth in spirit, and that good without truth is not good in spirit; and thus that each constitutes the other.

461.

Third Memorable Relation I was once carried away in spirit to the southern quarter of the spiritual world, and into a certain paradise there; and I saw that this paradise excelled all that I had before surveyed. This was because a garden signifies intelligence, and because all those who are pre-eminent in intelligence are conveyed to the south. The garden of Eden, in which were Adam and his wife, has no other significance; so their expulsion therefrom involved expulsion from intelligence, and thus also from integrity of life. While I was walking in this southern paradise, I noticed certain persons sitting under a laurel eating figs. I turned to them and asked them for some figs, which they gave me; and lo, in my hand the figs became grapes. As I wondered at this, an angelic spirit who stood near me said, “The figs became grapes in your hand because figs by correspondence signify the goods of charity and of faith therefrom in the natural or external man, while grapes signify the goods of charity and of faith therefrom in the spiritual or internal man; and this has happened to you because you love spiritual things; for in our world all things occur and come forth, and are also changed, in accordance with correspondences.” [2] Then suddenly there came upon me a desire to know how man can do good from God, and yet do it altogether as if of himself. I therefore asked those who were eating the figs how they understood the matter. They said that they could understand it only in this way, that God effects this inwardly in man and through man when he is ignorant of it; because if man were conscious of it, and in that state were to do good, he would do only apparent good, which inwardly is evil. “For all that goes forth from man goes forth from his own [proprium], and this is evil from birth; and how can good from God and evil from man be conjoined, and thus conjointly go forth into act? What is man’s own in matters pertaining to salvation constantly breathes forth a sense of merit, and so far as it does this, it detracts from the Lord His own merit; and this is the height of injustice and impiety. In a word, if the good which God works in man, were to inflow into man’s willing and thence into his doing, the good would assuredly be defiled and also profaned, and this God never permits. Man can think, indeed, that the good he does is from God, and can say that it is essentially God’s; but still that it is so we do not comprehend.” [3] Then I opened my mind and said, “You do not comprehend this because you think from appearance, and thought confirmed from appearance is fallacy. To you there is such appearance and consequent fallacy because you believe everything that a man thinks and wills and does and says therefrom, is in himself, and consequently from himself, when in fact there is no part of them in him except the state to receive what inflows. Man is not life in himself, but an organ receptive of life. The Lord is life in Himself, as He says in John: As the Father hath life in Himself, so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself (5:26 besides elsewhere, as in John 11:25; 14:6, 19). [4] “There are two things that constitute life, namely, love and wisdom, or what is the same thing, the good of love and the truth of wisdom. These flow in from God, and are received by man as if they were his; and because they are so felt by man they go forth from man as if they were his. Their being so felt by man is the Lord’s gift, to the end that what flows in may affect man, and so be received and remain. But inasmuch as all evil likewise flows in, not from God but from hell, and is received with delight (because man is such an organ by birth), so good is received from God only in proportion as evil is removed by man as if of himself; and this is done by repentance coupled with faith in the Lord. [5] That love and wisdom, charity and faith, or, more generally speaking, the good of love and charity, and the truth of wisdom and faith, flow in, and that what flows in appears in man to be wholly his own, and thus goes forth from his own, all this can clearly be seen from the sense of sight, of hearing, of smell, of taste, and of touch. All things that are felt in the organs of those senses flow into those organs from without and are felt within them. It is the same in the organs of the internal senses, with the sole difference that spiritual things, which are not manifest, flow into the former. In a word, man is an organ receptive of life from God; consequently, so far as he refrains from evil, he is a recipient of good. “The power to refrain from evil the Lord gives to every man, because He gives him the power to will and to understand; and whatever man does from his will in accord with his understanding, or, what is the same, from freedom of will in accord with reason of the understanding, is permanent. It is by means of this that the Lord brings man into a state of conjunction with Himself, and in that state reforms, regenerates, and saves him. [6] “The life that flows into man is life that goes forth from the Lord, which life is also called the Spirit of God, and in the Word the Holy Spirit, and this life is said to enlighten and vivify man, and even to work in him. But his life is varied and modified according to the organization induced by means of his love. You may also know that all the good of love and charity, and all the truth of wisdom and faith flow in, and are not in man [originally]. This may be known from the fact that he who thinks that there is anything of the kind in man by creation must needs conclude at last that God has infused Himself into man, and thus that men are partly gods; and yet those who so think from faith become devils, and with us smell like corpses. [7] “Furthermore, what is man’s action but the mind acting? For what the mind wills and thinks it does and says by means of its organ the body; so when the mind is led by the Lord, action and speech are also led by Him; and these are by Him when man believes in Him. If this were not so, explain, if you can, why the Lord, in thousands of places in His Word, has commanded man to love his neighbor, to perform the good works of charity, to bear fruit like a tree, and to keep the commandments, and all this that he may be saved. And again, why He has said that man shall be judged according to his deeds or works, those who do good to heaven and life, and those who do evil to hell and death. How could the Lord have said such things, if all that goes forth from man must need be a matter of merit, and therefore evil? Be it known to you, then, that if the mind is charity, the action is charity also; but if the mind is faith alone, which is faith separate from spiritual charity, the action also is that faith.” [8] Hearing this, those sitting under the laurel said, “That you have spoken rightly we comprehend, and yet do not comprehend.” I replied, “You comprehend that I have spoken rightly from the general perception that man has from the influx of light from heaven when he hears any truth; but your failure to comprehend is from the self-perception that man has from the influx of light from the world. In wise men these two kinds of perception, internal and external, or spiritual and natural, make one. You also can make them one if you look to the Lord and put away evils.” Because they understood this, I plucked some twigs from a vine and handed them to them, saying, “Do you believe that this is of me, or of the Lord?” They said that it was from me, but of the Lord. And lo, the twigs put forth grapes in their hands. But as I withdrew I saw under a green olive tree around which a vine had entwined itself, a cedar table on which there was a book. I looked and lo, it was a book written by me, entitled Arcana Coelestia and I said that it was fully shown in that book that man is not life but an organ receptive of life; also that life cannot be created and when so created be in man, any more than light in the eye.

462.

Fourth Memorable Relation: Looking toward the seashore in the spiritual world, I saw a splendid dockyard. I went near and looked into it, and behold, there were large and small vessels, and in them merchandise of every kind, and on benches there were sitting boys and girls distributing the merchandise to all who wanted it. And they said, “We are waiting to see our beautiful tortoises, which will soon rise up out of the sea to us.” And behold, I saw both large and small tortoises, on the shells and scales of which sat young tortoises looking toward the surrounding islands. The paternal tortoises had two heads, a large one covered over with a shell like the shells on their bodies, which gave them a reddish hue, and a small one, such as tortoises have; this they drew back into the forepart of the body, and also, in some unseen way, inserted into the larger head. But I kept my eyes on the large red head; and I saw that it had a face like the face of a man, and it talked with the boys and girls on the seats and licked their hands. Then the boys and girls patted them, and gave them food and dainties, and also costly things, such as silk for clothing, thyine-wood for tables, purple for decorations, and scarlet for coloring. [2] Seeing these things, I wished to know what they represented, as I knew that all things that appear in the spiritual world are correspondences, and represent the spiritual things pertaining to affection and to thought therefrom. They then spoke to me from heaven and said, “You yourself know what the dockyard represents, and the ships, and the boys and girls that are on them; but you do not know what the tortoises signify.” And they said, “The tortoises represent such of the clergy there as altogether separate faith from charity and its good works, affirming in themselves, that there is clearly no conjunction of these, but that the Holy Spirit, through man’s faith in God the Father on account of the merit of the Son, enters into man, and purifies his interiors even to his own will; out of which they make a sort of oval plane; and they claim that when the operation of the Holy Spirit comes near this plane, it bends itself around it towards the left and does not touch it at all; so that the inner or higher part of man’s nature is for God, and the outer or lower part for man; consequently nothing that man does, whether good or evil, is apparent to God - not the good, because this is a matter of merit, nor the evil, because it is evil, for if either of these were to appear to God, man would perish because of it. And this being so, man is at liberty to will and think and say and do whatever he pleases, provided he is discreet before the world.” [3] I asked whether they also asserted that man is permitted to think of God as not omnipresent and omniscient. They answered from heaven that this is permitted, for the reason that in a man who has acquired faith, and has been purified and justified thereby, God does not look at anything pertaining to his thought and will, and that he still retains in his inner bosom, or in the higher region of his mind or nature, the faith that he had received in the act of faith, it being sometimes possible for that act to return without man’s being conscious of it. “These are the things represented by the small head, which they draw into the forepart of the body, and insert into the larger head when they are talking with the laity, for with them they do not talk from the small head, but from the large one, which in appearance is provided in front with a human face; and with them they talk from the Word about love, charity, good works, the commandments of the Decalogue, and repentance, selecting from the Word almost everything that is there said on these subjects. But in so doing they insert the small head into the large one, and from this they understand inwardly in themselves that none of these things are to be done for the sake of God and salvation, but only for the sake of public and private good. [4] And inasmuch as they talk about these subjects from the Word, especially about the Gospel, the operation of the Holy Spirit, and salvation, in a pleasing and elegant manner, they seem to their hearers to be handsome men and the wisest in all the world. This is why, as you saw, costly and precious things were given them by the boys and girls who sat upon the benches in the vessels; also why you saw them represented as tortoises. In your world they are but little distinguished from others, except by this, that they imagine themselves the wisest of men, and laugh at others, even at those who entertain a like doctrine of faith but are not in these mysteries. They carry with them on their clothing a certain mark by which they make themselves distinguishable from others.” [5] He who was talking to me said, “I will not tell you what their sentiments are respecting other matters of faith, such as election, freedom of choice, baptism, and the holy supper, which are of such a nature that they do not divulge them; but we in heaven know what they are. But because they are such in the world, and because no one is allowed after death to think one thing and say another, and therefore they can then do no otherwise than speak from the insanities of their thoughts, they are regarded as insane and are expelled from societies, and finally sent down to the bottomless pit spoken of in Revelation (9:2). There they become corporeal spirits, and look like the mummies of the Egyptians. For a callousness has been induced upon the interiors of their minds, owing to the barrier they had interposed when they were in the world. The infernal society composed of them borders upon the infernal society from the Machiavelians, and they pass indiscriminately from one to the other, and call each other fellow-members. But they go back because there is a difference between them, arising from the fact that there has been with them some religious principle respecting the act of justification by faith, while the Machiavelians have no religious principle at all.” [6] After I had seen them expelled from societies and collected together to be cast down, I saw a vessel flying in the air with seven sails, and therein officers and sailors dressed in purple clothing and having splendid laurels on their caps, and shouting, “Lo, we are in heaven; we are purple-robed doctors of the highest degree, since of all the wise men among the clergy in Europe we are the heads.” I wondered what this meant, and was told that they were images of pride and of the visionary thoughts called fantasies, which spring from those who before appeared as tortoises, but these had now been cast out of the societies as insane and gathered into one body and now stood together in one place. I then wished to speak with them, and therefore went to the place where they were standing and saluted them, and said, “Are you those who have separated the internals of men from their externals, and who have separated the operation of the Holy Spirit, as being in faith, from its cooperation with man outside of faith, and thus you have separated God from man? Have you not thus not only removed charity itself and the works of charity from faith, as many others of the learned clergy have done, but also faith itself from man as to its manifestation before God? [7] But I pray you, which do you prefer, that I should speak to you on this matter from reason, or from Holy Scripture?” They said, “Speak first from reason.” And I spoke as follows, “How can the internal man and external man be separated? Who does not see or cannot see from common perception, that all of man’s interiors go forth and are continued into his exteriors, and even into his outermosts, in order to work out their effects and produce their works? Are not internals for the sake of externals, that they may terminate in them and find permanence in them, and so come forth, nearly the same as a column rests upon its base? You can see that unless there were a continuation and thus a conjunction, outermosts would dissolve and pass away like bubbles in the air. Who can deny that the interior operations of God in man are myriads of myriads and of these man knows nothing? And what need is there of his knowing about them, provided he knows about the outermosts, in which, with his thought and will, he is together with God? [8] But this shall be illustrated by an example. Does man understand the interior operations of his speech, as how the lungs draw in the air, and fill the little vessels with it, and the bronchial tubes, and the lobes; how they send out the air into the trachea, and there turn it into sound; how that sound is modified in the glottis with the aid of the larynx; and how the tongue then articulates it, and the lips complete the articulation that it may become speech? Do not all these interior operations, of which man knows nothing, exist for the sake of the outermost, which is that man may have power to speak? Remove or separate one of these internals from its continuity with the outermosts, and could man speak any more than a stock? [9] Take another example. The two hands are the outermosts of man. Do not the interiors, which are continued thither, come from the head through the neck, also through the chest, the shoulders, the arms, and the forearms? And there are the innumerable muscular textures, innumerable battalions of motor fibers, innumerable combinations of nerves and blood-vessels, and the many bony articulations with their ligaments and membranes. What does a man know about these things? And yet the working of his hands is from each and all of them. Suppose that these interior parts were to turn back to the right or left near the elbow, instead of continuing onward, would not the hand drop down from the forearm and rot like something torn away from the body and deprived of life? If you will believe it, it would be with the hand as it would be with the body if the man were beheaded. It would be precisely the same with the human mind and its two lives, the will and the understanding, if the Divine operations, which are those of faith and charity, were to cease half way and not pass by a continuous course even to the man himself. Clearly man would then be not merely a brute, but a rotten stick. All this is in accordance with reason. [10] Furthermore, if you will listen, it is also in accordance with the Sacred Scripture. Does not the Lord say, Abide in Me, and I in you. I am the Vine and ye are the branches. He that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same beareth much fruit (John 15:4, 6). Is not the fruit the good works which the Lord does through man, and man does of himself from the Lord? The Lord also says, That He stands at the door and knocks, and that He comes in to him that opens, and sups with him, and he with Him (Rev. 3:20). Does not the Lord give pounds and talents to man to trade with and profit by, and as man profits by them, does He not give him eternal life? (Matt. 25:14-30; Luke 19:13-26). And again: That He gives wages to every man according to the labor done in His vineyard (Matt. 20:1-16). These are but a few passages. Pages might be filled from the Word on this subject, that man ought to bear fruit like a tree, to do according to the commandments, to love God and the neighbor, and so forth. [11] But I am aware that your self-intelligence is unable to hold to anything such as it is in itself, that is in common with these things from the Word, for although you give utterance to it, your ideas pervert it. And you cannot do otherwise, because you remove from man everything belonging to God as to communication and conjunction. What then remains but to remove all that pertains to worship also?” Afterward these spirits appeared to me in the light of heaven, which discloses and manifests the character of everyone. And they did not then appear as they did before, in a ship in the air, as if in heaven; neither were they clad in purple robes and crowned with laurel, but in a sandy place, in garments of rags, and girt about the loins with network like fishers’ nets, through which their nakedness was visible. And then they were sent down to the society bordering on that of the Machiavellians.

VIII. Freedom Of Choice

I. Before the doctrine of the New Church respecting freedom of choice can be properly set forth, it is necessary to premise what the present church teaches on that subject in its dogmatic books, for unless this is done a man who has sound sense and religion may believe that it is not worth while to write anything new about it. For he would say to himself, “Who does not know that man has freedom of choice in spiritual things? Otherwise, why should priests preach that men should believe in God, should be converted, should live according to the precepts in the Word, should fight against the lusts of the flesh, and should make themselves new creatures?” and so on. Thus he cannot but think within himself that all this would be mere empty words, if there were no freedom of choice in matters of salvation, and that to deny it would be folly, because contrary to common sense. Nevertheless that the present church stands opposed to freedom of choice and banishes it from its temples, may be seen from the following extracts from the book called the Formula Concordiae, which the evangelical churches swear allegiance to. That a like teaching and therefore a like belief respecting freedom of choice prevails with the Reformed, and likewise throughout the entire Christian world, and thus in Germany, Sweden, Denmark, England and Holland, is evident from their dogmatic books. The extracts that follow are taken from the Formula Concordiae, the Leipsic edition of 1756.

464.

(i) “The doctors of the Augsburg Confession assert, that owing to the fall of our first parents, man is so thoroughly corrupt, that in spiritual matters, which have regard to our conversion and salvation, he is by nature blind, and neither understands nor is able to understand the Word of God when preached, but regards it as a foolish thing, and never of himself draws nigh unto God; but is rather an enemy of God, and so remains until by the power of the Holy Spirit, operative through the Word preached and heard, out of pure grace, without any co-operation on his part he is converted, gifted with faith, regenerated and renewed” (page 665). [2] (ii) “We believe that in spiritual and Divine things, the understanding, heart, and will of the man who has not been born again, are wholly unable, by his own natural powers, to understand, believe, embrace, think, will, begin, finish, act, operate or co-operate; but that as to good he is utterly corrupt and dead, so that in his nature since the fall, before his regeneration, there does not remain the least spark of spiritual power by which he can prepare himself for the grace of God, or grasp it when offered, or adapt himself to it, and of himself be capable of receiving it. Neither can he by his own powers contribute in any way to his own conversion, either in the whole or the half or the smallest part, or act, operate, or co-operate from himself, or as if from himself; but he is a servant of sin and a slave to Satan, by whom he is moved. Consequently his natural freedom of choice, by reason of his corrupted powers and his depraved nature, is active and efficient only in those things that are displeasing to God and opposed to Him” (page 656). [3] (iii) “In civil and natural matters man is diligent and intelligent, but in spiritual and Divine matters, which look to the soul’s salvation, he is like a stock or a stone, or like the pillar of salt into which Lot’s wife was turned, which have not the use of eyes or mouth or any of the senses” (page 661). [4] (iv) “Man, however, has the power of locomotion, or of controlling his external members, also the ability to hear the Gospel, and in some measure meditate on it; and yet in his secret thoughts he despises it as a foolish thing, and is unable to believe it; and in this respect he is worse than a stock, unless the Holy Spirit is efficacious in him, enkindling and producing in him faith and other virtues pleasing to God, and also obedience” (page 662). [5] (v) “In one sense it may be said that man is not a stone or a stock. A stone or a stock does not resist, neither does it understand or feel what takes place in itself, as man by his will resists God until he has been converted to God. So it is true that before conversion man is a rational creature, endowed with understanding, get not in Divine things; and with a will, yet not such as wills any saving good. Nevertheless, he is unable to contribute anything to his own salvation, and in this respect is worse than a stock or a stone” (pages 672, 673). [6] (vi) “The whole of conversion is the operation, gift, and work of the Holy Spirit alone, who effects and operates it by his own virtue and power through the Word, in the understanding, heart, and will of man as in a passive subject, where the man does nothing, but is purely passive. Nevertheless, this is not done in the same way as a statue is formed from stone, or a seal is impressed upon wax, since the wax has neither knowledge nor will” (page 681). [7] (vii) “According to the sayings of some of the fathers and later doctors, ‘God draws only the willing;’ therefore in conversion man’s will does something. But this statement is not conformable to sound doctrine, for it confirms a false opinion respecting the powers of human choice in conversion” (page 582). [8] (viii) “In external worldly affairs, which are subject to reason, there is still left to man some share of understanding, ability, and faculty; although these wretched remnants are exceedingly feeble; and moreover, insignificant as they are, they are so poisoned and contaminated by hereditary disease, that in the sight of God they are worthless” (page 641): [9] (ix) “In conversion, whereby from being a child of wrath man becomes a child of grace, he does not co-operate with the Holy Spirit, since his conversion is the work exclusively and wholly of the spirit” (pages 219, 579 and following; 663 and following; Appendix, page 143). “Nevertheless, the man who is born anew through the power of the Holy Spirit may co-operate, although much infirmity accompanies his co-operation; and he works well so far and so long as he is led, ruled, and guided by the Holy Spirit. Nevertheless, he does not cooperate with the Holy Spirit in the same way as two horses together draw a carriage” (page 674). [10] (x) “Original sin is not some wrong that is actually perpetrated, but it is inmostly inherent and fixed in man’s nature, substance and essence. It is the fountain of all actual sins, such as depraved thoughts and conversation, and evil deeds” (page 577). “This hereditary disease, by which man’s whole nature has been corrupted, is a horrible sin, and is indeed the beginning and head of all sins, from which as a source and fountain all transgressions flow forth” (page 640). “By this sin, as if by a spiritual leprosy, even throughout the inmost parts and deepest recesses of the heart, all of man’s nature is in the sight of God wholly infected and corrupted; and on account of this corruption the person of man is by the law of God accused and damned, so that we are by nature children of wrath and bondsmen of death and damnation, unless by the gift of Christ’s merit we are delivered and preserved from these evils” (page 639). “For this reason there is a total want or deprivation of the original righteousness or image of God created in connection with man in Paradise, and this is the source of the impotence, folly, and stupidity which render man utterly incompetent in all Divine and spiritual things. In the place of the lost image of God in man, there is the inmost, vilest, deepest inscrutable, and ineffable corruption of his whole nature and of all his powers (especially of the higher and chief faculties of the soul), in mind, understanding, heart, and will” (page 640).

465.

These are the precepts, dogmas, and canons of the present church respecting man’s freedom of choice in spiritual and in natural things, as also respecting original sin. They are here presented in order that the precepts, dogmas, and canons of the New Church on these subjects may be seen more clearly; for from the two formulas so contrasted the truth appears in the light, just as when an ugly face is placed beside a handsome one in a picture, the two being seen at the same time, the beauty of one and the ugliness of the other are clearly displayed to the eye. The canons of the New Church here follow.

466.

II. THE PLACING OF TWO TREES IN THE GARDEN OF EDEN, ONE OF LIFE, AND THE OTHER OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL, SIGNIFIES THAT FREEDOM OF CHOICE IN THINGS SPIRITUAL HAS BEEN GIVEN TO MAN. It is believed by many that by Adam and Eve in the book of Moses the first created persons are not meant, and in proof of this, arguments respecting Pre-adamites have been brought forward, drawn from the computations and chronologies of some heathen nations, and from the saying of Cain, Adam’s firstborn, to Jehovah: I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer in the earth, so that whosoever findeth me shall slay me. Therefore Jehovah set a sign upon Cain, lest any finding him should slay him (Gen. 4:14, 15). Afterwards Cain went out from the presence of Jehovah, and dwelt in the land of Nod, and builded a city (Gen. 4:16, 17). From this it is claimed that the earth was inhabited before the time of Adam. But that by Adam and his wife the Most Ancient church on this earth is meant has been abundantly shown in the Arcana Coelestia published by me at London; and in that work it is also shown that “the garden of Eden” means the wisdom of the men of that church; “the tree of life,” the Lord in man and man in the Lord; “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil,” man not in the Lord but in what is his own (as he is who believes that he does everything, even good, of himself); and that “eating” from that tree means the appropriation of evil.

467.

“The garden of Eden” in the Word does not mean a garden, but intelligence, nor does “tree” mean any tree, but man. That “the garden of Eden” signifies intelligence and wisdom, can be seen from the following passages: In thy wisdom and thine intelligence thou hast made to thyself wealth (Ezek. 28:4). Also in what follows: Full of wisdom, thou has been in Eden the garden of God, every precious stone was thy covering (Ezek. 28:4, 12, 13). This is said of the prince and king of Tyre, of whom wisdom is predicated, because “Tyre” in the Word signifies the church in respect to knowledges of truth and good through which comes wisdom; “the precious stones” which were his covering, also signify knowledges of truth and good; for the prince and the king of Tyre were not in the garden of Eden. [2] And again in Ezekiel: Asshur a cedar in Lebanon. The cedars in the garden of God have not hidden it. No tree in the garden of God was like unto it in its beauty. All the trees of Eden in the garden of God envied it (Ezek. 31:3, 8, 9). And again: To whom art thou thus become like in glory and in greatness among the trees of Eden? (verse 18). This is said of Assyria, because in the Word it signifies rationality and intelligence therefrom. [3] In Isaiah: Jehovah shall comfort Zion, He will turn her desert into Eden, and her wilderness into the garden of Jehovah (51:3). Here “Zion” means the church, and “Eden” and “the garden of Jehovah” mean wisdom and intelligence. In the Apocalypse: To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God (2:7). In the midst of the street, and on either side of the river, there will be the tree of life (22:2). [4] From these passages it is clear that “the garden of Eden” in which Adam is said to have been placed, means intelligence and wisdom, because like thing are said of Tyre, Assyria, and Zion. Elsewhere in the Word “garden” signifies intelligence (as in Isaiah 58:11; 61:11; Jer. 31:12; Amos 9:14; Num. 24:6). This spiritual meaning of a garden derives its cause from representations in the spiritual world, where paradises are seen wherever the angels are in intelligence and wisdom; the very intelligence and wisdom which they possess from the Lord cause such things to be present about them; and this comes from correspondence, for all things that exist in the spiritual world are correspondences.

468.

That “tree” signifies man, can be seen from the following passages in the Word: And all the trees of the field shall know that I Jehovah humble the high tree, exalt the low tree, dry up the green tree, and make the dry tree to bud (Ezek. 17:24). Blessed is the man whose delight is in the law. He shall be like a tree planted by the streams of waters, that bringeth forth its fruits in its season (Ps. 1:1-3; Jer. 17:3). Praise Jehovah, fruitful trees (Ps. 148:7, 9). The trees of Jehovah are full (Ps. 104:16). The axe is laid unto the root of the tree; every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit shall be hewn down (Matt. 3:10; 7:16-21). Either make the tree good and the fruit good, or else make the tree corrupt [and the fruit corrupt]; for the tree is known by its fruit (Matt. 12:33; Luke 6:43, 44). I will kindle a fire that shall devour every green tree and every dry tree (Ezek. 20:47). Because “tree” signifies man, it was a statute That the fruit of a tree not serviceable for food in the land of Canaan should be as uncircumcised (Lev. 19:23, 24). Because an olive tree signifies a man of the celestial church, it is said: Of the two witnesses who prophesied, that they were two olive trees standing near the God of the whole earth (Apoc. 11:4; also Zech. 4:3, 11, 12). And in David: I am like a green olive tree in the house of God (Ps. 52:3). And in Jeremiah: Jehovah called thy name, a green olive tree, fair and of goodly fruit (Jer. 11:16, 17); besides other passages which are not here presented on account of their great number.

469.

At this day anyone who is inwardly wise is able to see or divine that what is written of Adam and his wife involves spiritual things, which no one has heretofore known, because the spiritual sense of the Word has not been disclosed until now. Who cannot readily see that Jehovah could not have planted two trees in the garden, and one of them for a stumbling-block, except for the sake of some spiritual representation? Again, does it square with Divine justice that because they both ate of that tree they were accursed, and that this curse clings to every man that comes after them, thus that the whole human race was damned for the fault of one man, in which there was no evil arising from lust of the flesh or iniquity of heart? Why did not Jehovah in the first place restrain man from eating of the tree, since He was present and saw the consequences? And why did He not hurl the serpent into Hades before he had persuaded them? But, my friend, God did not do this, because He would thus have deprived man of his freedom of choice, from which man is man, and not a beast. When this is known it is very evident that by these two trees, one of life and the other of death, man’s freedom of choice in spiritual things is represented. Moreover, inherited evil is not from that source, but from parents, by whom an inclination to the evil in which they themselves have been is transmitted to their children. The truth of this is clearly seen by anyone who carefully studies the manners, dispositions, and faces of the children, and even of the households that have descended from one father. Nevertheless, it depends on each one in a family whether he will accede to or withdraw from inherited evil, since everyone is left to his own choice. But the particular significance of the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil has been fully explained in the Memorable Relation recorded above (n. 48), which see.

470.

III. MAN IS NOT LIFE, BUT A RECEPTACLE OF LIFE FROM GOD. It is generally believed that life is in man as his own, thus that he is not only a receptacle of life, but is also life. This general belief is from its so appearing, since man lives; that is, feels, thinks, speaks, and acts, wholly as if from himself. Wherefore the statement that man is a receptacle of life, and not life, must needs seem like something unheard of, or like a paradox, because it is opposed to the appearance, and thus to sensual thought. The cause of the fallacious belief that man is also life itself, consequently that life was created in man and afterward generated by parents, I have adduced from the appearance; but the reason why the fallacy is drawn from the appearance, is that most men at the present day are natural, and but few are spiritual, and the natural man judges from appearances and their fallacies, which are diametrically opposed to the truth that man is not life but only a receptacle of life. [2] That man is not life but a receptacle of life from God can be seen from these evident proofs, that all created things are in themselves finite, and that man, being finite, could have been created only from things finite. Therefore it is said in the book of Creation, that Adam was made from the earth and its dust, from which he was also named, for “Adam” means the earth’s soil; and it is a fact that every man consists only of such things as are in the earth, and from the earth in the atmospheres. Those things that are in the atmospheres from the earth man absorbs by means of his lungs and the pores of his whole body, and the grosser elements he absorbs by means of food composed of earthy substances. [3] But in regard to man’s spirit, that also is created from finite things. What is man’s spirit but a receptacle of the life of the mind? The finite things of which it is composed are spiritual substances, which are in the spiritual world, and are also brought together in our earth and hidden therein. Unless they were therein along with material things no seed could be impregnated from things inmost, and then grow in a wonderful manner undeviatingly from the first shoot even to fruit and to new seed. Neither could any worms be procreated from effluvia from the earth and exhalations from vegetable matters, with which the atmospheres are impregnated. [4] Who can think rationally that the infinite can create anything but finite things, and that man, being finite, is anything but a form which the infinite can vivify from the life in itself? And this is what is meant by these words: Jehovah God formed man, the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of lives (Gen. 2:7). God, because He is infinite, is Life in Himself. This He cannot create and then transfer into man, for that would be to make man God. That this was done was the insane idea of the serpent or the devil, and from him of Adam and Eve; for the serpent said: In the day ye eat of the fruit of this tree your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as God (Gen. 3:5). [5] This dire persuasion, that God transfused and transferred Himself into men, was held by the men of the Most Ancient church at its end, when it was consummated. This I have heard from their own mouths; and on account of that horrible belief that they were consequently gods, they lie deeply hidden in a cavern near to which no one can approach without being seized by an inward dizziness which causes him to fall. That the Most Ancient church is meant and described by Adam and his wife, has been made known in the preceding section.

471.

Who does not see, when he is able to think from reason elevated above the sensual things of the body, that life is not creatable? For what is life but the inmost activity of the love and wisdom that are in God and are God, which life, indeed, may be called the essential living force? He who sees this can also see that this life cannot be transferred into any man, except in connection with love and wisdom. Who denies or can deny that every good of love and every truth of wisdom is solely from God, and that so far as man receives these from God he lives from God, and is said to be born of God, that is, regenerated? On the other hand, so far as one does not receive love and wisdom, or what is the same, charity and faith, he does not receive from God the life that is life in itself, but life from hell, and this is no other than inverted life which is called spiritual death.

472.

From the foregoing it can be perceived and concluded that the following things are not creatable, namely: (1) The infinite is not. (2) Love and wisdom are not. (3) Consequently life is not. (4) Light and heat are not. (5) Even activity itself viewed in itself is not. But organs receptive of these are creatable and have been created. These statements may be illustrated by the following comparisons: Light is not creatable, but its organ, the eye, is; sound, which is an activity of the atmosphere, is not creatable, but its organ, the ear, is; neither is heat, which is the primary active principle, for the reception of which all things in the three kingdoms of nature have been created, and according to this reception are acted upon, but do not act. [2] It is from the order of creation, that wherever there are actives there are also passives, and that these two should join themselves together as a one. If actives were creatable as passives are there would have been no need of the sun, and heat and light from it, but all created things would have permanent existence without these. But if these should be taken away the created universe would lapse into chaos. [3] The sun itself of this world consists of created substances, the activity of which produces fire. These things are presented for the sake of illustration. It would be the same with man, if spiritual light, which in its essence is wisdom, and spiritual heat, which in its essence is love, did not flow into man and were not received by him. The entire man is nothing but a form organized to receive light and heat, both from the natural world and from the spiritual world, for these two worlds correspond to each other. If it were denied that man is a form receptive of love and wisdom from God, influx would also be denied, and thus that all good is from God. Conjunction with God would also be denied, and consequently, that man can be an abode and temple of God would be an expression devoid of meaning.

473.

But man does not know this from any light of reason, for that light is obscured by fallacies that arise from the appearances pertaining to the external bodily senses, and that are believed in. Man has no other feeling than that he lives from his own life, because the instrumental feels the principal to be its own, and is unable therefore to distinguish between the principal and the instrumental, for these two causes act together as one cause, according to a theory known in the learned world. The principal cause is life, and the instrumental cause is man’s mind. The appearance is also that beasts possess life created within them, but this is a similar fallacy; for beasts are organs created to receive light and heat both from the natural world and from the spiritual world. For each species is a form of some natural love, and receives light and heat from the spirit world mediately through heaven and hell; the gentle beasts through heaven, and the fierce through hell. Man alone receives light and heat, that is, wisdom and love, immediately from the Lord. This is the difference.

474.

That the Lord is Life in Himself, thus Life itself, He teaches in John: The Word was with God, and God was the Word; in Him was life, and the life was the light of men (John 1:1, 4). Again: As the Father hath life in Himself, so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself (5:26). And again: I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life (John 14:6). And again: He that followeth Me shall have the light of life (John 8:12).

475.

IV. SO LONG AS MAN LIVES IN THE WORLD, HE IS KEPT MIDWAY BETWEEN HEAVEN AND HELL, AND IS THERE IN SPIRITUAL EQUILIBRIUM, WHICH IS FREEDOM OF CHOICE. In order to know what freedom of choice is and the nature of it, it is necessary to know its origin. Especially from a recognition of its origin it can be known, not only that there is such a thing as freedom of choice, but also what it is. Its origin is in the spiritual world, where man’s mind is kept by the Lord. Man’s mind is his spirit, which lives after death; and his spirit is constantly in company with its like in the spiritual world, and at the same time by means of the material body with which it is enveloped, it is with men in the natural world. Man does not know that in respect to his mind he is in the midst of spirits, for the reason that the spirits with whom he is in company in the spiritual world, think and speak spiritually, while his own spirit thinks and speaks naturally so long as he is in the material body; and the natural man cannot understand or perceive spiritual thought and speech, nor the reverse. This is why spirits cannot be seen. But when the spirit of man is in company with spirits in their world, he is also in spiritual thought and speech with them, because his mind is interiorly spiritual but exteriorly natural; therefore by means of his interiors he communicates with spirits, while by means of his exteriors he communicates with men. By such communication man has a perception of things, and thinks about them analytically. If it were not for such communication, man would have no more thought or other thought than a beast, and if all connection with spirits were taken away from him, he would instantly die. [2] But to make it comprehensible how man can be kept midway between heaven and hell and thereby in spiritual equilibrium from which he has freedom of choice, it shall be briefly explained. The spiritual world consists of heaven and hell; heaven then is overhead, and hell is beneath the feet, not, however, in the center of the globe inhabited by men, but below the lands of the spiritual world, which are also of spiritual origin, and therefore not extended [spatially], but with an appearance of extension. [3] Between heaven and hell there is a great interspace, which to those who are there appears like a complete orb. Into this interspace, evil exhales from hell in all abundance; while from heaven, on the other hand, good flows into it, also in all abundance. It was of this interspace that Abraham said to the rich man in hell: Between us and you there is a great gulf fixed; so that they who would pass from hence to you cannot, neither can they who are there cross over to us (Luke 16:26). Every man, as to his spirit, is in the midst of this interspace, solely for this reason, that he may be in freedom of choice. [4] Because this interspace is so large and because it appears to those who are there like a vast orb, it is called the World of Spirits. Moreover, it is full of spirits, because every man after death first goes there, and is there prepared either for heaven or for hell. There he is among spirits, in company with them, as formerly he was among men in the world. There is no purgatory there; that is a fiction invented by the Roman Catholics. But that world has been treated of particularly in the work on Heaven and Hell (London, 1758, n. 421-535).

476.

Every man from infancy even to old age is changing his locality or situation in that world. When an infant he is kept in the eastern quarter towards the northern part; when a child, as he learns the first lessons of religion, he moves gradually from the north towards the south; when a youth, as he begins to exercise his own thoughts, he is borne southward; and afterwards when he judges for himself and becomes his own master, he is borne into the southern quarter towards the east, according to his growth in such things as have regard interiorly to God and love to the neighbor. But if he inclines to evil and imbibes it, he advances towards the west. For all in the spiritual world have their abodes according to the quarters; in the east are those who are in good from the Lord, because the sun, in the midst of which is the Lord, is in that quarter; in the north are those who are in ignorance; in the south, those who are in intelligence; and in the west, those who are in evil. Man himself is not kept as to his body in that interspace or middle region, but only as to his spirit; and as his spirit changes its state by advancing towards good or towards evil, so is it transferred to localities or situations in this quarter or in that, and comes into association with those who dwell there. But it must be understood that the Lord does not transfer man to this or that place, but man transfers himself in different ways. If he chooses good, he together with the Lord, or rather the Lord together with him, transfers his spirit towards the east. But if man chooses evil, he together with the devil, or rather the devil together with him, transfers his spirit towards the west. It must be noticed that where the term heaven is here used, the Lord also is meant, because the Lord is the all in all things of heaven; and where the term devil is used, hell also is meant, because all who are there are devils.

477.

Man is kept in this great interspace, and midway therein continually, for the sole purpose that he may have freedom of choice in spiritual things, for this is a spiritual equilibrium, because it is an equilibrium between heaven and hell, thus between good and evil. All who are in that great interspace are, as to their interiors, conjoined either with the angels of heaven or with the devils of hell; or at the present day either with the angels of Michael or with the angels of the dragon. After death every man betakes himself to his own in that interspace and associates himself with those who are in a love similar to his own, for love conjoins everyone there with his like, and causes him to breathe out his soul freely, and to continue in his previous state of life. But the externals that do not make one with his internals are then gradually put off, and when this has been done the good man is raised up to heaven, and the evil man betakes himself to hell, each to such as he is at one with as to his ruling love.

478.

This spiritual equilibrium, which is freedom of choice, may be illustrated by various forms of natural equilibrium. It is like the equilibrium of a man bound about his body or at his arms between two men of equal strength, one of whom draws the man between them to the right, and the other to the left, so that the man in the middle can freely turn this way or that as if unrestrained by any force; and if he turns toward the right he draws the man on his left forcibly toward him, even bringing him to the ground. It would be the same with any unresisting person, even if bound between three men on his right, and the same number on his left, of equal power; also if bound between camels or horses. [2] Spiritual equilibrium, which is freedom of choice, may be compared to a balance, in each scale of which equal weights are placed; but if a slight weight is then added to either scale, the tongue of the scale begins to vibrate. It is similar with a pole or large beam balanced on its support. Each and all things within man, as the heart, the lungs, the stomach, the liver, the pancreas, the spleen, the intestines, and the rest, are in such a state of equilibrium; and for this reason each is able to discharge its functions in perfect quiet. It is the same with all the muscles; if they were without such equilibrium all action and reaction would cease, and man would no longer act as a man. Since, then, all things of the body are in such equilibrium, so are all things of the brain, and consequently all things of the mind therein, which relate to the will and understanding. [3] There is a freedom also belonging to beasts, birds, fishes and insects; but these are impelled by their bodily senses, prompted by appetite and pleasure. Man would not be unlike these if his freedom to do were equal to his freedom to think. He, too, would then be impelled by his bodily senses, prompted by lust and pleasure. It is otherwise with one who heartily accepts the spiritual things of the church, and by means of them restrains his freedom of choice. Such a man is led by the Lord away from lusts and evil pleasures and his connate avidity for them, and acquires an affection for what is good, and turns away from evil. He is then transferred by the Lord nearer to the east, and at the same time to the south of the spiritual world, and is introduced into heavenly freedom, which is freedom indeed.

479.

V. IT IS CLEARLY MANIFEST FROM THAT PERMISSION OF EVIL IN WHICH EVERYONE’S INTERNAL MAN IS THAT MAN HAS FREEDOM OF CHOICE IN SPIRITUAL THINGS. That man has freedom of choice in spiritual things must first be confirmed by generals and afterward by particulars which everyone will acknowledge at first hearing. The generals are: (1) That the wisest of mankind, Adam and his wife, suffered themselves to be seduced by a serpent. (2) That their first son Cain slew his brother Abel, and Jehovah God did not hinder them by speaking to them, but only by a curse after the deed. (3) That the Israelitish nation worshiped a golden calf in the desert, and yet Jehovah saw this from Mount Sinai, and did not prevent it. (4) That David numbered the people, and a plague was therefore sent upon them, by which so many thousands of men perished; and that God, not before but after the deed, sent Gad the prophet to David, and denounced punishment upon him. (5) That Solomon was permitted to establish idolatrous forms of worship. (6) And many kings after him were permitted to profane the temple and the holy things of the church, and at length that nation was permitted to crucify the Lord. (7) That Mohammed was permitted to establish a religion in many respects not conformable to Sacred Scripture. (8) That the Christian religion is divided into many sects, and each into heresies. (9) That there are so many impious persons in Christendom, and even a glorying in impieties, as also machinations and wiles even against the pious, righteous, and sincere. (10) That injustice sometimes triumphs over justice in law and business. (11) That even impious persons are exalted to honors, and become leaders in church and state. (12) That wars are permitted, the slaughter of so many men, and the plundering of so many cities, nations, and families; and so on. Can anyone deduce such things from any other source than the possession of freedom of choice by every man? The permission of evil known throughout the world has no other origin. That the laws of permission are also laws of Divine Providence may be seen in the work on The Divine Providence (Amsterdam, 1764, n. 234-274), where the foregoing examples are explained.

480.

The particulars which prove that man has freedom of choice as much in spiritual things as in natural things, are innumerable. Let anyone, if he wishes, give attention to himself, and see whether he cannot, seventy times a day, or three hundred times a week, think of God, the Lord, the Holy Spirit, and Divine things, which are called the spiritual things of the church; and let him see whether in this he feels any compulsion, whether he is moved to think so by any pleasure, or even by any lust, and this whether he has faith or not. Consider also, in whatever state you may be, whether you are able to think about anything without freedom of choice, either in your conversation, or in your prayers to God, or in preaching, or even in listening. Does not freedom of choice carry every point in these actions? And still further, without freedom of choice in every particular, even to the most minute particulars, you could no more breathe than a statue; for respiration follows thought and speech therefrom in every step. I say, no more than a statue, rather no more than a beast, because a beast breathes from a natural freedom of choice, but man from a freedom of choice both in things natural and in things spiritual; for a man is not born like a beast. A beast is born with all the ideas that are attendant upon its natural love in matters pertaining to nutrition and propagation; but a man is born destitute of connate ideas, having only the capacity to know, understand, and become wise, and an inclination to love both himself and the world, and also the neighbor and God. This is why it is said that if freedom of choice were taken from man in all the particulars of his volition and thought, he could no more breathe than a statue, and why it is not said, no more than a beast.

481.

No one denies that man has freedom of choice in natural things. But this a man has from his freedom of choice in spiritual things; for, as has been shown already, the Lord flows into every man from above or within with the Divine good and truth, and thereby breathes into man a life distinct from the life of beasts, and gives him the power and the will to receive the Divine good and Divine truth and to act from these; and this He never takes away from any. From this it follows that it is the unceasing will of the Lord that man should receive truth and do good, and thus become spiritual, and for this he was born; and to become spiritual without freedom of choice in spiritual things is as impossible as it is to thrust a camel through the eye of a sewing needle, or to touch a star in the firmament with the hand. That the ability to understand truth and to will it is given to every man, even to devils, and is never taken away, has been shown me by living experience. On one occasion one of those who were in hell was brought up into the world of spirits, and was there asked by angels from heaven whether he could understand the things they said to him, which were Divine spiritual things; and he said that he could. He was then asked why he did not accept such things; and he replied that he did not wish for them because he did not love them. He was then told that he could wish for them. He was astonished at this, and said that he could not. Therefore the angels breathed into his understanding the glory of reputation with its pleasantness, receiving which he did wish for them and even loved them. But presently he was sent back into his former state, in which he was a plunderer, an adulterer, and a calumniator of his neighbor; and then he no longer understood those things because he did not wish to do so. From this it is clear that man is man by virtue of his freedom of choice in spiritual things, and that without it he would be like a stock, or a stone, or the statue of Lot’s wife.

482.

That man would have no freedom of choice in civil, moral, and natural things, if he had none in spiritual things, is evident from this, that spiritual things, which are called theological, have their seat in the highest region of his mind, like the soul in the body. They have their seat there because there is the door through which the Lord enters into man. Beneath these are things civil, moral, and natural, which in man receive all their life from the spiritual things that have their abode above them. And because life from the highest regions flows in from the Lord, and man’s life is an ability to think and will freely, and to speak and act therefrom, it follows that his freedom of choice in political and natural affairs is from that source and no other. From that spiritual freedom man has a perception of what is good and true, and of what is just and right in civil matters; and this perception is the understanding itself in its essence. [2] Man’s freedom of choice in spiritual things is comparatively like the air in the lungs, which is inhaled, retained, and expelled in accordance with all the changes of his thought; and without that freedom he would be worse than one laboring under a nightmare, angina, or asthma. It is also like the blood in the heart; if this began to fail the heart would first palpitate, and then after a few convulsive movements, would cease to beat altogether. It may also be compared to a body in motion, which keeps moving as long as the effort in it continues; but both motion and effort cease at the same time. So also is it with the freedom of choice which man’s will possesses. Both of these, freedom of choice and the will, may be called the living effort in man, for when volition ceases, action ceases, and when freedom of choice ceases volition ceases. [3] If man were deprived of spiritual freedom, it would be comparatively as if the wheels were taken from machinery, the fans from a windmill, or the sails from a vessel. It would even be as with one who in dying sends forth his last breath; for the life of man’s spirit consists in his freedom of choice in spiritual things. The angels weep when they but hear it said that this freedom of choice is denied by many ministers of the church at this day; and they call this denial madness upon madness.

483.

VI. WITHOUT FREEDOM OF CHOICE IN SPIRITUAL THINGS THE WORD WOULD BE OF NO USE, AND CONSEQUENTLY THE CHURCH WOULD BE NOTHING. It is known throughout the Christian world that in the broadest sense the Word means the law, or the book of the laws, in accordance with which man must live to obtain eternal life. And what is there more frequently taught in it than that man should do good and not evil, and should believe in God and not in idols? And it is full of commands and exhortations to do these things, and of blessings and promises of reward for those who do them, and of curses and threats for those who do not. To what purpose is this, if man has no freedom of choice in spiritual things, that is, in such things as relate to salvation and eternal life? Would it not be void of meaning, and subserve no use? And if man were to cling to the idea that he has no power and no liberty in spiritual things, and thus were to be separated from any power of will in spiritual matters, would the Sacred Scriptures then seem to him to be anything more than a blank sheet without a syllable upon it, or like a sheet upon which a whole inkstand had been emptied, or like mere curves and dots without any letters, therefore like an empty volume? [2] To confirm this from the Word ought not to be necessary, but as the churches of today have poured themselves forth in mental inanities respecting spiritual things, and to confirm these have brought forth passages from the Word which have been falsely interpreted, it may be well to present others which command man to do and to believe. Such are the following: The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof (Matt. 21:43). Bring forth fruits worthy of repentance. And even now the axe is laid unto the root of the tree; every tree therefore which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire (Luke 3:8, 9). Jesus said, Why call ye Me Lord, Lord, and do not the things that I say? Everyone who cometh to Me, and heareth My words, and doeth them, is like a man building a house upon a rock. But he that heareth and doeth not, is like unto a man that built a house upon the ground without a foundation (Luke 6:46-49). Jesus said, My mother and My brethren are those who hear the Word of God and do it (Luke 8:21). We know that God heareth not sinners; but if one worship God, and do His will, him He heareth (John 9:31). If ye know these things, blessed are ye if ye do them (John 13:17). He that hath My commandments and doeth them, he it is that loveth Me; and I will love him (John 14:21). Herein is My Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit (John 15:8). Ye are My friends if ye do whatsoever I command you; I have chosen you, that ye should bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain (John 15:14, 16). Make the tree good, the tree is known by its fruit (Matt. 12:33). Bring forth fruits worthy of repentance (Matt. 3:8). He that is sown upon good ground this is he that heareth the Word, and beareth fruit (Matt. 13:23). He that reapeth receiveth reward, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal (John 4:36). Wash you, make you clean, put away the evil of your doings; learn to do good (Isa. 1:16, 17). The Son of man shall come in the glory of His Father, and then He shall render unto everyone according to his deeds (Matt. 16:27). And shall come forth, they that have done goods, unto the resurrection of life (John 5:29). Their works do follow with them (Apoc. 14:13). Behold, I come quickly; and My reward is with Me, to give to every man according to his work (Apoc. 22:12). Jehovah whose eyes are open to give everyone according to his ways. According to our doings, hath He dealt with us (Jer. 32:19; Zech. 1:6). [3] The Lord teaches the same in His parables, many of which imply that those who do good will be accepted while those who do evil will be rejected, As in the parable of the workmen in the vineyard (Matt. 21:33-44). Of the talents and pounds given to trade with (Matt. 25:14-31; Luke 19:13-25). So also of Faith; Jesus said, Whosoever believeth in Me shall never die, but shall live (John 11:25, 26). This is the will of the Father, that everyone who believeth in the Son may have eternal life (John 6:40). He that believeth on the Son hath eternal life but he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him (John 3:36). For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish, but have eternal life (John 3:16.) And again: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind; and thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets (Matt. 22:37-40). But these are only a very few of such passages in the Word, and they are like a few cups of water from the sea.

484.

Who does not see the emptiness (I do not wish to say the foolishness) of the extracts quoted above (n. 464) from the ecclesiastical work entitled Formula Concordiae, when he has read them, together with some passages quoted here and elsewhere from the Word? Would he not think to himself: If it were as there taught, that man has no freedom of choice in spiritual things, what but an idle word would religion be, which is doing good? And what is the church apart from religion but like a bark about a stick which is fit for nothing but to be burned? And he would think, moreover, If there is no church because no religion, what are heaven and hell but the fables of ministers and rulers of the church to ensnare the people, and elevate themselves to higher honors? And this is the source of that detestable saying on the lips of many: Who can do good, or acquire faith of himself? Consequently they disregard these things, and live like pagans. But my friend, shun evil and do good and believe in the Lord from all your heart and in all your soul, and the Lord will love you, and will give you a love of doing and faith to believe. Then from love you will do good, and from faith, which is trust, you will believe; and if you persevere in so doing, a reciprocal conjunction will be effected, which will be perpetual, and this is salvation itself and eternal life. If man from the powers given him should fail to do good, and from his mind should fail to believe in the Lord, what would he be but a wilderness and a desert, or altogether like dry ground, which does not receive the rain, but throws it off or like a sandy plain where there are sheep without pasture? And he would be like a dried-up fountain, or like stagnant water therein, its course being obstructed; or like an abode where there is neither harvest nor water, where, unless he quickly fled from the place and sought a habitable abode elsewhere, he would perish with hunger and thirst.

485.

VII. WITHOUT FREEDOM OF CHOICE IN SPIRITUAL THINGS, THERE WOULD BE NOTHING IN MAN WHEREBY HE COULD IN TURN CONJOIN HIMSELF WITH THE LORD; CONSEQUENTLY THERE WOULD BE NO IMPUTATION, BUT MERE PREDESTINATION, WHICH IS DETESTABLE. That without freedom of choice in spiritual things there would be neither charity nor faith in any man, still less a conjunction of the two, has been fully shown in the chapter on Faith. From this it follows, that without freedom of choice in spiritual things there would be nothing in man whereby the Lord could conjoin Himself to him, and yet, without reciprocal conjunction, no reformation or regeneration, and thus no salvation is possible. That without a reciprocal conjunction of man with the Lord, and of the Lord with man, there would be no imputation, is an irrefragable consequence. The conclusions that follow from confirming the idea that there is any imputation of good and evil without freedom of choice in spiritual things, are numerous, and in the latter part of this work, where it treats of the heresies, paradoxes, and contradictions flowing from the faith of the present day, which imputes to man the merit and righteousness of the Lord God the Savior, these preposterous conclusions will be exposed.

486.

Predestination is an offspring of the faith of the present church, for it is born from a belief in man’s absolute impotence, with no power of choice in spiritual things; it is born from this doctrine and also from the belief in man’s conversion as being a dead thing, in that he is like a stock, and has therefore no conscious knowledge whether he is a stock vivified by grace or not. For it is said that election is of the mere grace of God, exclusive of all human action, whether it proceed from the powers of nature or of reason, and that it takes place where and when God wills, thus from His good pleasure. The works that follow faith as evidences thereof, resemble, to a reflecting mind, the works of the flesh; and the spirit which produces them does not make evident their origin, but effects them out of grace or good pleasure, like faith itself. [2] From all this it is clear that the dogma of the present church respecting predestination has come forth from this belief like a shoot from its seed; and I may say that it has flowed forth out of it as an almost inevitable consequence. This consequence was first reached by the Predestinarians, then by Gottschalk, afterwards by Calvin and his disciples, and was at length firmly established by the Synod of Dort, and from that was carried forth into the church as the palladium of religion, or rather as the head of Gorgon or Medusa engraved on the shield of Pallas by the Supralapsarians and Infra-Lapsarians. [3] But what more pernicious thing could have been devised, or could anything more cruel be believed of God, than that some of the human race are damned by predestination? For would it not be a cruel creed, that the Lord, who is love itself and mercy itself, should desire a multitude to be born for hell, or that myriads of myriads should be born doomed, that is, devils and satans; also that from His Divine wisdom, which is infinite, He should not have provided and does not provide, that those who live well and acknowledge God should not be cast into eternal fire and torment? He is ever the Lord, the Creator and Savior of all, and He alone leads all, and desires not the death of any. Therefore, what more infamous thing could be believed or thought than that whole nations and peoples should, under His auspices and oversight, be handed over by predestination to the devil as his prey, to satisfy his voracity? But this is an offspring of the faith of the present church; the faith of the New Church abhors it as a monster.

487.

I had thought that such senseless doctrine never could have been sanctioned by any Christian, much less have found utterance and a public promulgation; and yet this was done by many chosen men of the clergy at the Synod of Dort, in Holland, and the creed was afterward elegantly written and given to the public; and because of this and to remove my doubts, some of those who aided in framing the decrees of that synod were sent to me. When they appeared standing near me, I said, “Who from any sound reason can reach the conclusion that predestination is true doctrine? Can it be that any but cruel ideas of God and shameful ideas of religion should flow from it? When anyone has engraved predestination on his heart by means of confirmations must he not think of all that pertains to the church as destitute of meaning, and the same of the Word? And must he not think of God, who has predestined to hell so many myriads of men, as a tyrant?” [2] At these remarks they looked at me with a satanic expression, and said, “We were among those chosen to form the Synod of Dort, and we then confirmed ourselves and have since continued to do so still more in many ideas respecting God, the Word, and religion, which we have not dared to make public; but when we have spoken on these subjects and taught them, we have twisted and woven a web of various colored threads, and over it strewed feathers borrowed from the wings of peacocks.” But because they still wished to do the same, the angels, by power given them by the Lord, closed the externals of their minds and opened the internals, and from these they were compelled to speak. And then they said, “Our faith, which we have formed by conclusions, one following from another, was and still is as follows: [3] (1) “That there is no Word of Jehovah God, but some windy afflatus from the mouths of the prophets. This we have thought, because the Word predestines all to heaven, and teaches that man alone is in fault if he does not walk in the ways that lead thither. (2) That religion exists because it is necessary; but it is like a strong wind bearing a fragrant odor for the vulgar; therefore that it ought to be taught by ministers, both small and great, and from the Word too, because the Word is accepted. This we have thought, because where there is predestination there religion is a nullity. (3) That the civil laws of justice are religion; but predestination is not determined by a life in accord with those laws, but by the pure good pleasure of God, as with a king in whose mere glance there is absolute power. (4) The all that the church teaches ought to be exploded as vanity, and rejected as rubbish, except that there is a God. (5) That spiritual things, which are so cried up, are nothing but ethereal substances beneath the sun, which induce upon man, if they penetrate deeply into him, vertigo and stupor, and make him a detestable monster in the sight of God.” (6) When they were asked about faith (from which they deduced predestination), whether they believed it to be spiritual, they said that it was effected according to predestination, but when it is given men were like stocks. From this they are indeed vivified, but not spiritually. [4] After these horrible sayings they wished to go away; but I said to them, “Wait a little longer, and I will read you something from Isaiah;” and I read the following: Rejoice not, O Philistia, all of thee, because the rod that smiteth thee is broken; for out of the serpent’s root hath gone forth a cockatrice, whose fruit shall be a fiery flying serpent (Isa. 14:29). And this I explained by the spiritual sense, showing that “Philistia” means the church separate from charity; that the “cockatrice” that had gone forth from the serpent’s root means its doctrine of three Gods and of imputative faith applied to each singly; and that its “fruit,” which is a fiery flying serpent, means no imputation of good and evil, but immediate mercy, whether man lives well or ill. [5] Hearing this, they said, “It may be so; but from that volume which you call the Holy Word select something on predestination.” And I opened the book, and in the same Prophet I came upon the following passage, which suited the purpose: They hatched viper’s eggs and wove the spider’s web; he that eateth of their eggs dieth: and when one is crushed it breaketh out into a viper (Isa. 59:5). Hearing this, they could not endure the explanation; but some of those who had been sent to me (there were five) hurried away into a cave, round about which appeared a dusky burning, a sign that they had neither faith nor charity. Evidently, therefore, the decree of that synod respecting predestination is not only an insane but a cruel heresy; and ought, therefore, to be so rooted out from the brain that not a single vestige of it shall be left.

488.

The inhuman belief that God predestinates man to hell, may be likened to the inhumanity of fathers among certain barbarous races, who cast their sucklings and infants into the streets; or to the inhumanity of some warriors who throw their slain into forests to be devoured by wild beasts. It may also be likened to the cruelty of a tyrant, who divides a people he has subdued into classes, giving some of them to the hangman, throwing some into the depths of the sea, and some into the fire. It may also be likened to the fury of some wild beasts, which devour their own young; and also to the madness of dogs that fly at the reflection of themselves in a minor.

489.

VIII. IF THERE WERE NO FREEDOM OF CHOICE IN SPIRITUAL THINGS, GOD WOULD BE THE CAUSE OF EVILS AND THUS THERE WOULD BE NO IMPUTATION. That God is the cause of evil follows from the prevailing belief, which was first hatched by those who held council in the city of Nice. There was concocted and established the still persistent heresy, that there were from eternity three Divine persons, each one a God by Himself. This egg being hatched, the adherents of the belief must needs approach each Person separately as God. They compiled a creed that imputed to men the merit or righteousness of the Lord God the Savior; and that no man might share with the Lord in that merit, they took away from man all freedom of choice in spiritual things, and decreed the utmost impotence as to that faith. And as they deduced everything spiritual pertaining to the church from that faith alone, they asserted a like impotence with reference to everything that the church teaches concerning salvation. Hence sprung, one after another, direful heresies based upon that faith and man’s impotence in spiritual things, and also that most pernicious heresy, predestination, which was treated of in the preceding section; all of which imply that God is the cause of evil, or that He created both good and evil. But, my friend, put faith in no council, but in the Lord’s Word, which is above councils. What have not Roman Catholic councils produced? Or that of Dort, from which came forth that terrible viper, predestination? It may be thought that giving to man freedom of choice in spiritual things was the mediate cause of evil; consequently, that if such freedom of choice had not been given him, he could not have transgressed. But, my friend, pause here, and consider whether any man could have been so created as to be a man without freedom of choice in spiritual things. If deprived of that, he would be no longer a man but only a statue. What is freedom of choice but the power to will and do, and to think and speak to all appearance as if of oneself? Because this power was given to man in order that he might 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; and this signifies that because of the freedom given him, man is able to eat of the fruit of the tree of life or of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

490.

That everything that God created was good, appears from the first chapter of Genesis where it is said (verses 10, 12, 18, 21, 25), “God saw that it was good;” and finally (in verse 31), that “God saw everything that He had made, and behold it was very good;” also from man’s primeval state in paradise. But that evil has its origin in man, is plain from Adam’s state succeeding the fall, or after it, in that he was expelled from paradise. From this it is clear that unless freedom of choice in spiritual things had been given to man, not man, but God would have been the cause of evil, and thus God would have been the creator both of good and of evil. But to think that God created evil is abominable. Because God gave man freedom of choice in spiritual things He did not create evil, neither does He ever inspire any evil into man, for the reason that He is good itself, and in that good is omnipresent, continually urging and importuning to be received; and even when not received, He does not withdraw; for if He were to withdraw, man would instantly die, nay, would lapse into non-entity; for man’s life, and the subsistence of all things of which he consists, are from God. God did not create evil, but evil was introduced by man himself, since man turns the good which is continually flowing in from God into evil, whereby he turns himself away from God and toward himself; and when this is done, delight in good remains, but then becomes delight in evil; for unless a delight seemingly similar remained, man could not continue to live; since delight constitutes the life of his love. Nevertheless these two kinds of delight are diametrically opposite to each other; but man does not know this so long as he lives in the world; but he will know it after death and will have a clear perception of it, for then delight of the love of good is turned into heavenly blessedness, while delight of the love of evil is turned into infernal horror. From the foregoing it is evident that every man was predestined to heaven, and no one to hell; but that man gives himself over to hell by the abuse of his freedom of choice in spiritual things, whereby he embraces such things as exhale from hell. For, as before said, every man is kept midway between heaven and hell, that he may be in a state of equilibrium between good and evil, and consequently in freedom of choice in spiritual things.

491.

That God has implanted freedom not only in man, but also in every beast, and an analogue of it even in things inanimate, enabling each to receive it according to its nature, as He also provides what is good for them all; but that the objects themselves turn the good into evil, may be illustrated by comparisons. The atmosphere gives to every man the ability to breathe, and in like manner to every beast tame or wild, also to every bird, the owl and dove alike; it also gives the ability to fly, and yet it is not the atmosphere that causes its gifts to be received by creatures of contrary genius and nature. The ocean furnishes in itself an abode and also offers nourishment, to every fish; but the ocean does not cause one fish there to devour another; or the crocodile to turn its food into poison with which it kills men. The sun provides heat and light for all things; but objects, such as the various vegetable productions of the earth, receive these diversely, a good tree and a good shrub in one way, and the thorn and thistle in another; or a harmless herb in one way, and a poisonous herb in another. The rain falls from the higher region of the atmosphere upon all parts of the earth; and the earth administers the waters therefrom to every shrub, herb, and grass, and each one of them takes to itself according to its need. This is what is called an analogue of freedom of choice, because they drink in the rain freely through their little mouths, pores, and ducts, which stand open in the warm seasons, the earth merely supplying the fluids and elements, and the plants partaking of them from a certain kind of hunger and thirst. The like is true of men, in that the Lord flows into every man with spiritual heat, which in its essence is good of love, and with spiritual light, which in its essence is the truth of wisdom; but man receives these according to whether he turns towards God or towards self. Therefore the Lord, in teaching about love towards the neighbor, says: That ye may be the children of the Father, who maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust (Matt. 5:45). And elsewhere He says: That He desires the salvation of all.

492.

To the foregoing I add this Memorable Relation: Several times I have heard expressions respecting good of charity made to descend from heaven, which passed through the world of spirits and penetrated into hell, even to its depths; and in their progress these expressions were turned into such as were directly contrary to good of charity, and finally into expressions of hatred of the neighbor; a sign that everything that goes forth from the Lord is good, and that it is turned into evil by the spirits in hell. The same was done with certain truths of faith, which in their progress were turned into the opposite falsities. For it is the recipient form itself that turns whatever enters into it into what is in accord with itself.

493.

IX. EVERYTHING SPIRITUAL OF THE CHURCH THAT ENTERS INTO MAN IN FREEDOM, AND IS RECEIVED WITH FREEDOM, REMAINS; BUT NOT THE REVERSE. That which is received by man with freedom remains in him, because freedom belongs to his will; and because it belongs to his will it also belongs to his love. That the will is the receptacle of love has been shown elsewhere. That everything belonging to love is free, and also is of the will everyone understands when it is said, “This I will, because I love it,” and on the other hand, “Because I love this I will it.” But man’s will is two-fold, interior and exterior, that is, it belongs to the internal and to the external man; therefore a deceiver may act and talk before the world in one way and with his familiar friends in another way. Before the world he acts and talks from the will of his external man, but with his familiar friends from the will of his internal man; but the will here meant is that of the internal man, where his ruling love dwells. From these few remarks it is clear that the interior will is the man himself, for in it is the very being and essence of his life; while the understanding is the form thereof whereby the will renders its love visible. Everything that man loves and wills from love is free; for whatever proceeds from the love of the internal will is his life’s delight; and because this is the being of his life, it is also his very own [proprium]; and this is why that which is received with the freedom of this will, remains, for it adds itself to what is his own. On the contrary, anything that is introduced into man when he is not in freedom is not thus received. But of this in what follows.

494.

But it must be well understood that the spiritual things of the Word and church which man imbibes from love, and which his understanding confirms are what remain in him, but not so things civil and political; because spiritual things ascend into the highest region of the mind, and there take form. This is because the Lord’s entrance into man with Divine truths and goods is there, and that region is like a temple in which He resides. But because things civil and political belong to the world, they occupy the lower regions of the mind, and some of them become there like little buildings around that temple, and some like vestibules through which there is entrance. Another reason why the spiritual things of the church dwell in the highest region of the mind, is that they belong to the soul, and have regard to its eternal life; and the soul is in things highest, and derives its nourishment from no other than spiritual food. This is why the Lord calls Himself “Bread,” for He says: I am the living bread which came down out of heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever (John 6:51). That region is also the seat of man’s love, which is the source of his happiness after death; and there too his freedom of choice in spiritual things chiefly resides, and from this descends all the freedom that man possesses in natural things; and such being the origin of this freedom it enters into all forms of freedom of choice in natural things, and by means of these the ruling love, which occupies the highest region, takes on whatever is conducive to its own ends. The communication between these is like that between a spring and the waters that flow from it, or like the communication between the prolific principle itself of a seed and each and all parts of the tree, especially the fruit, in which it renews itself. But when anyone denies freedom of choice in spiritual things, and thus rejects it, he makes for himself another fountain, and opens a channel from that; and this changes spiritual freedom into merely natural and finally into infernal, freedom. And infernal freedom becomes like the prolific principle of a seed, freely traversing the trunk and branches to the fruit, which owing to its origin is inwardly rotten.

495.

All freedom that is from the Lord is freedom indeed, but that which is from hell, and in man therefrom, is bondage. Yet to one who is in infernal freedom spiritual freedom must needs appear like bondage, because the two are opposite. But all who are in spiritual freedom not only know, but also see, that infernal freedom is bondage; and the angels therefore turn away from that freedom as from a cadaverous stench, while infernal spirits draw it in like an aromatic odor. It is known from the Lord’s Word that worship from freedom is truly worship, and that spontaneity is pleasing to the Lord; therefore it is said in David: I will freely sacrifice unto God (Ps. 54:6). The willing ones of the people are gathered together, even the people of the God of Abraham (Ps. 47:9). Therefore there were free will offerings among the children of Israel; their sacred worship consisted chiefly of sacrifices, and because of God’s pleasure in what is spontaneous, it was commanded: That every man whose heart impelled him, and everyone whose willing spirit moved him, should bring an offering to Jehovah for the work of the tabernacle (Ex. 35:5, 21, 29). And the Lord says: If ye abide in My Word, ye are truly My disciples; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. If therefore the Son shall make you free, ye shall be truly free. But everyone that committeth sin is the servant of sin (John 8:31-36).

496.

That which a man receives with freedom remains, because his will accepts it and appropriates it, and because it enters his love, and the love acknowledges it as its own, and by means of it is formed. This shall be illustrated by comparisons, in which, because they are taken from natural things, heat will be substituted for love. It is well known that by means of heat, and according to the amount of it, the doors are opened in every plant, and as these are opened the plant inwardly returns into the form of its nature, spontaneously partakes of its proper nutriment, retains what is suitable, and grows. It is the same with a beast; all that it selects and eats from the love of nutrition which is called appetite, is added to its body, and thus remains. That which is suitable is continually added to the body, because all its components are perpetually renewed. This is known to be so, although by few. [2] Also with beasts heat opens all parts of the body, and causes their natural love to act freely. This is why in spring and summer they enter and return into the instinct of propagating and rearing their young, which they do from the utmost freedom, because to do so belongs to the ruling love implanted in them by creation for the sake of preserving the universe in the state in which it was created. [3] The freedom of love may be illustrated by this freedom induced by heat, because love produces heat, as is evident from its effects, for man is enkindled, heated, and inflamed as love is exalted to zeal, or to a blaze of anger. The heat of the blood or the vital heat of men, and of animals in general, is from no other source. It is because of this correspondence that it is by heat that the bodily parts are adapted to receive freely those things to which the love aspires. [4] In such equilibrium and consequent freedom are all things that are within man. In such freedom the heart propels its blood upward and downward alike, the mesentery distributes its chyle, the liver does its work for the blood, the kidneys secrete, the glands filter and so on. If this equilibrium were to suffer the member would sicken, and would labor under a paralysis or loss of strength; and herein equilibrium and freedom are one. There is not a substance in the created universe that does not tend to equilibrium, in order that it may be in freedom.

497.

X. MAN’S WILL AND UNDERSTANDING ARE IN THIS FREEDOM OF CHOICE; NEVERTHELESS IN BOTH WORLDS, THE SPIRITUAL AND THE NATURAL, THE DOING OF EVIL IS RESTRAINED BY LAWS; BECAUSE OTHERWISE SOCIETY IN BOTH WORLDS WOULD PERISH. Every man can know that he has freedom of choice in spiritual things merely by observing his own thought. Is not any man able to think in freedom about God, the Trinity, charity and the neighbor, faith and its operation, and about the Word and all its teachings, and, when he has studied theology, about the particulars of these subjects? And who cannot think and even draw conclusions, and teach and write, either for or against these things? If man were deprived of this freedom for a single moment, could he continue to think; would not his tongue be dumb, and his hand powerless? Therefore, my friend, you may if you choose, by merely observing your own thought, reject and detest that absurd and hurtful heresy, which at this day has induced upon Christendom a lethargy respecting the heavenly doctrine of charity and faith, and of salvation thereby, and eternal life. [2] The reasons why this freedom of choice resides in man’s will and understanding are the following: (1) Because these two faculties must first be instructed and reformed, and then by means of these the two faculties of the external man, which cause him to speak and act. (2) Because these two faculties of the internal man constitute his spirit which lives after death, and which is subject only to Divine law, the primary thing of which is, that man should think of the law, should practice and obey it of himself, although from the Lord. [3] (3) Because, as to his spirit, man is midway between heaven and hell, thus between good and evil, and therefore in equilibrium, and in consequence of this he has freedom of choice in spiritual things (on which equilibrium see above, n. 475 seq.). But so long as man lives in the world, he is as to his spirit in equilibrium between heaven and the world, and then he is scarcely aware that so far as he withdraws from heaven and draws nearer to the world, he draws near to hell. He is aware of this and yet not aware, in order that even in this respect he may be in freedom, and may be reformed. [4] (4) Because these two, the will and the understanding, are the two receptacles of the Lord, the will the receptacle of love and charity, the understanding the receptacle of wisdom and faith; and each one of these is made active by the Lord while man is in complete freedom, in order that there may be a mutual and reciprocal conjunction between them, whereby salvation is effected. (5) Because all the judgment that is effected in man after death is in accord with the use he has made of freedom of choice in spiritual things.

498.

The conclusion from all this is that freedom of choice itself in spiritual things resides in the soul of man in all perfection, and from that it flows, like a stream into a fountain, into his mind, into the two parts of it, which are the will and the understanding, and through these into the bodily senses, and into speech and actions. For in man there are three degrees of life, the soul, the mind, and the sentient body; and all that is included in the higher degree is more perfect than that which is in a lower degree. It is this freedom of man, through which, in which, and with which, the Lord is present in him, and unceasingly urgent to be received; but He in no way sets aside or takes away this freedom, since, as said above, whatever man does in spiritual things, that is not done from freedom, does not endure. It may therefore be said that the Lord’s abode in man is this freedom of man which is in his soul. [2] It is evident without explanation that the doing of evil, in both the spiritual and the natural world, is restrained by laws, since otherwise society would everywhere cease to exist. Nevertheless, it must be made clear that without such external bonds, not only would society cease to exist, but the whole human race would perish. For man is enticed by two loves, the love of ruling over all, and the love of possessing the wealth of all. These loves, if uncurbed, rush onward to infinity. The hereditary evils into which man is born have arisen principally from these two loves; nor was the sin of Adam any other than a desire to become as God, which evil the serpent infused into him, as it is written; therefore in the curse pronounced upon him it is said: That the earth should bring forth the thorn and the thistle to him (Gen. 3:5, 18); which means all evil and falsity therefrom. All who are enslaved by these loves, look upon themselves as the one only object, in which and for which all others exist. Such have no pity, no fear of God, no love for the neighbor; consequently they are unmerciful, inhuman and cruel, and are possessed by an infernal lust and greed for robbing and plundering, and by craft and cunning in working out their purposes. Such evils are not innate in the beasts of the earth; these do not slaughter and devour each other, except from the love of satisfying their hunger or defending themselves. Therefore a wicked man, viewed with reference to these loves, is more inhuman, fiercer, and worse than any beast. [3] That man is inwardly such, is manifest in seditious disturbances when the bonds of law are loosed, and also in massacres and pillaging, when the signal is given to soldiers that they are free to satiate their fury upon the conquered or besieged; from which scarcely anyone desists until the drum beats the order to do so. From all this it is clear that if no fear of legal penalties restrained men, not only society, but the whole human race, would be destroyed. But none of these evils can be removed except by the true use of freedom of choice in spiritual things, and this is done by directing the mind to reflection upon the state of life after death.

499.

But this shall be still further illustrated by comparisons, as follows: Without some kind of freedom of choice in all created things, both animate and inanimate, no creation could have taken place; for without freedom of choice in natural things for beasts there would be no choice of food conducive to their nourishment, and no propagation and preservation of offspring; thus, no beasts. If the fishes of the sea and the shellfish at its bottom, had no such freedom, there would be no fish or shellfish. In like manner, unless this freedom were in every insect, there would be no silk-worm yielding silk, no bee furnishing wax and honey, no butterfly sporting with its consort in the air, feeding on the juices of flowers, and representing, after he has shed his exuviae as a worm, the happy state of man in the heavenly realm. [2] Unless there were something analogous to freedom of choice in the earth’s soil, in the seed sown in it, in all parts of the tree that has grown out of it, and in its fruit, and again in the new seed, there would be no plant life. Unless there were something analogous to freedom of choice in every metal, and in every stone both precious and common, there would be no metal or stone, or even a grain of sand; for even this freely absorbs the ether, emits its natural exhalations, throws off its worn-out elements and restores itself with new. From this there is a magnetic sphere about the magnet, an iron sphere about iron, a coppery one about copper, a silver sphere about silver, a golden one about gold, a stony sphere about stone, a nitrous sphere about niter, a sulfur sphere about sulfur, and a different sphere about every particle of dust. From this sphere the inmost of every seed is impregnated, and its prolific principle vegetates; for without such an exhalation from every least particle of the earth’s dust, there would be no beginning of germination and no continuance of it. How could the earth, except by what is exhaled from it, penetrate with dust and water to the inmost center of a grain sown in it, as into a grain of mustard seed, for example: Which is less than all seeds, but when it is grown, it is greater than herbs, and becometh a tree? (Matt. 13:32; Mark. 4:30-32). [3] Since freedom has been thus implanted in all created subjects, in each according to its nature, why should not freedom of choice have been implanted in man according to his nature, that he may become spiritual? This is the reason that free will in spiritual things is given to man, from the womb to the last hour of his life in the world, and afterward to eternity.

500.

XI. IF MEN HAD NOT FREEDOM OF CHOICE IN SPIRITUAL THINGS, ALL THE INHABITANTS OF THE WORLD MIGHT IN ONE DAY BE LED TO BELIEVE IN THE LORD; BUT THIS CANNOT BE DONE, BECAUSE THAT WHICH IS NOT RECEIVED BY MAN WITH FREEDOM OF CHOICE DOES NOT REMAIN. That God could, in one day, if freedom of choice in spiritual things had not been given to man, lead all the inhabitants of the world to believe in Him, follows as a true conclusion from the Divine omnipotence when not rightly understood. Those who do not understand the Divine omnipotence, may suppose either that there is no such thing as order, or that God can act contrary to order as well as according to it; when yet, without order, no creation was possible. The primary thing of order is for man to be an image of God, consequently, that he be continually perfecting in love and wisdom, and thus becoming that image more and more. To this end God is working continually in man; but this would be in vain, for it would be impossible, if man were destitute of freedom of choice in spiritual things, whereby he could turn to God and reciprocally conjoin himself with God. For there is an order from which and according to which the whole universe, with each and all things in it, was created; and because all creation was effected from that order and according to it God is called order itself. Thus it is the same whether we say, acting contrary to order, or acting contrary to God. God Himself, even, cannot act contrary to His own Divine order, since this would be to act contrary to His very Self; and therefore He leads every man according to that order which is Himself, guiding the wandering and the fallen into it, and the resisting toward it. If man could have been created without freedom of choice in spiritual things, what would have been more easy for an omnipotent God than to lead all the inhabitants of the world to believe in the Lord? Could He not have implanted this faith in everyone, both without means and by means, without means by His absolute power and its irresistible operation, which is unceasing in its efforts to save man; or by means, through torments brought upon man’s conscience, or through mortal convulsions of the body and awful threats of death, if he did not receive that faith; or still further, by the opening of hell and the presence of devils therefrom holding frightful torches in their hands, or by calling forth therefrom the dead whom they had known, in the forms of fearful specters? But to all this there is a reply in the words of Abraham to the rich man in hell, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the dead (Luke 16:31).

It is asked at the present day, why miracles do not take place as formerly; for it is believed that if they were to occur, there would come from everyone a hearty acknowledgment. But miracles are not now wrought as formerly because they compel [belief] and take away man’s freedom of choice in spiritual things, and make man natural instead of spiritual. Everyone in the Christian world, since the Lord’s coming, has the ability to become spiritual, and he becomes spiritual solely from the Lord through the Word; but the capacity to become so would perish if man were led to believe through miracles, because, as just said, miracles compel and deprive man of freedom of choice in spiritual things; and everything that is compulsory in such matters betakes itself to the natural man, and closes the door, as it were, to the spiritual man, which is the truly internal man, depriving it of all power to see any truth in clear light, with the result that man then reasons about spiritual things from the natural man alone, which sees everything truly spiritual inversely. [2] But before the Lord’s coming miracles were wrought because the men of the church were then natural men, to whom spiritual things, which belong to an internal church, could not be disclosed; for if these had been disclosed they would have been profaned. Therefore all their worship consisted in rituals which represented and signified the internal things of the church; and they could be led to observe these rituals only by means of miracles; and not even, indeed, by means of miracles, because those representatives had in them a spiritual internal, as is evident from the children of Israel in the desert, who, although they had seen so many miracles in Egypt, and afterward that greatest of miracles upon Mount Sinai, still, after Moses’ absence for a month, danced around a golden calf, and shouted that it had led them out of Egypt. In the land of Canaan they acted in a like manner, although they witnessed the great miracles wrought by Elijah and Elisha, and finally the truly Divine miracles by the Lord. [3] Miracles are not wrought at the present day, especially for the reason that the church has deprived man of all freedom of choice. This it has done by decreeing that man is unable to contribute anything whatever toward the acquisition of faith or toward conversion, or in general toward salvation (see above, n. 464). The man who accepts this belief becomes more and more natural; and the natural man, as said above, looks at everything spiritual inversely, and consequently thinks in opposition to it. In this case the higher region of the man’s mind, where freedom of choice in spiritual things has its primary seat, is thereby closed up, and the spiritual things which miracles seemingly confirm occupy the lower region of the mind, which is merely natural, and the falsities respecting faith, conversion, and salvation, thus remain above this region, and in consequence it comes to pass that satans have their abode above and angels below, like hawks above chickens. Then after a little while the satans break down their bars, and rush forth with fury upon the spiritual things which hold a place below them, not only denying these, but also blaspheming and profaning them; and the result is that the latter state of man becomes worse than the former.

502.

The man who by means of falsities respecting the spiritual things of the church has become natural, must needs think of the Divine omnipotence as superior to order, and thus of a Divine omnipotence without order, in consequence of which he would fall into the following insane thoughts: Why the Lord’s advent into the world, and why was redemption effected in that way, when by His omnipotence God could have accomplished the same thing out of heaven as well as upon the earth? Why might He not by redemption have saved the whole human race without an exception? How is it that the devil has since been able to prevail over the Redeemer in man? Why is there a hell? Could not God have blotted out hell by His omnipotence, and cannot He now do so, or else deliver all men from it, and make them angels of heaven? Why a last judgment? Cannot God transfer all the goats from His left to His right, and make them sheep? Why did He cast down the angels of the dragon and the dragon himself from heaven, instead of changing them into angels of Michael? Why does He not to all of these impart faith and impute His Son’s righteousness, and thus forgive their sins, and justify, and sanctify them? Why does He not cause the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the fishes of the sea to talk, give them intelligence, and introduce them along with men into heaven? Why did He not, or does He not, make the whole world a paradise, with no tree of the knowledge of good and evil and no serpent in it; and where all the hills would flow with generous wine and produce gold and silver naturally, so that all might live therein with jubilee and song, and thus in perpetual festivity and joy, as images of God? Would not such things be worthy of an omnipotent God? Besides other like questions. But, my friend, this is all idle talk. The Divine omnipotence is not without order; God is Himself Order; and all things were created from order, in order, and for order, because they were created from God. There is an order into which man was created, namely, that blessing or curse depends for him upon his freedom of choice in spiritual things; for, as said above, it is impossible to create a man without freedom of choice, nor even a beast, a bird, or a fish. But beasts have only a natural freedom of choice, while man has not only natural freedom of choice but also spiritual freedom of choice.

503.

To the foregoing these Memorable Relations shall be added: First: I heard that an assembly was convoked, which was to deliberate on man’s freedom of choice in spiritual things. This was in the spiritual world. There were present learned men from every quarter, who had thought upon that subject in the world in which they had formerly lived, also many who had been present at the greater and smaller councils both before and after that of Nice. They were assembled in a kind of circular temple like the temple at Rome called the Pantheon, which was formerly consecrated to the worship of all the gods, and afterward dedicated by the Papal chair to the worship of all the holy martyrs. In this temple near the walls were what seemed to be altars, but near them were low benches, and upon these the assembly reclined, resting their elbows on the altars, as upon so many tables. No president was appointed to act as primate among them, but each one, when the desire seized him, rushed forth into their midst, poured out what he had at heart, and delivered his opinion; and what I wondered at, all who were in the assembly were full of proofs of man’s utter impotence in spiritual things, and ridiculed the idea of freedom of choice in such matters. [2] As soon as they had all come together one of them sprang up suddenly into the midst, and with a loud voice harangued them as follows: “Man has no more freedom of choice in spiritual things than Lot’s wife had after she had been turned into a pillar of salt. If man had any more freedom of choice than that, he would surely of himself arrogate to himself the faith of our church, which faith is, that God the Father bestows faith gratuitously to whom He will and when He will, out of His entire freedom and good pleasure. This good pleasure and gratuitousness would be impossible to God, if man from any freedom or good pleasure could arrogate that faith to himself, and thus indeed, our faith, which is like a star shining before us night and day, would be dissipated like a meteor in the air.” [3] After him another sprang up from his bench and said, “Man has no more freedom of choice in spiritual things than a beast, or even a dog; for if he had, he would do good of himself, when yet all good is from God, and man can take to himself nothing that is not given him from heaven.” After him another sprang up from his seat into the middle space and raised his voice, saying, “Man has no more freedom of choice in spiritual things, not even in the discernment of them, than an owl has in the day time, or even a chicken still hidden in the shell; in these things he is as wholly blind as a mole; for if he were lynx-eyed in his clear perception of matters of faith, salvation, and eternal life, he would still believe that he could regenerate and save himself, and would endeavor to do so, and thus would profane his thoughts and deeds by adding merit to merit.” Again another ran out into the middle space and delivered this speech: “The man who imagines himself to be able, since Adam’s fall, to will or understand anything spiritual is insane, and becomes a maniac, since he would then believe himself to be a little god or a kind of deity, possessing a share of the Divine power in his own right. “ [4] After him another rushed panting to the middle space carrying under his arm a book called the Formula Concordiae, by the orthodoxy of which, as he called it, the Evangelicals now swear. This he opened, and from it read the following: “Man is wholly corrupt and dead to good, so that in his nature since the fall, before regeneration, there does not remain or abide even a spark of spiritual power, whereby he is able to be prepared for the grace of God, or to apprehend it when offered, or from and by himself to be deceptive of it, or in spiritual things to understand, believe, embrace, think, will, begin, finish, act, operate, co-operate, or apply or adapt himself to receive grace, or to do anything of himself toward his conversion, either in the half or in the smallest part. And in spiritual things, which regard the salvation of the soul, man is like the pillar of salt into which Lot’s wife was turned, or like a lifeless stock or stone, having no use of eyes, or mouth, or any of the senses. Nevertheless, he has the power of locomotion, or of directing his external members, to attend public meetings, and hear the Word and the Gospel.” this is found in my edition, on pages 656, 658, 661-663, 671-673. After this they all crowded together and together exclaimed, “This is true orthodoxy.” [5] I stood near and listened intently to all that had been said; and my spirit being aroused, I asked with a loud voice, “If you make man in spiritual things a pillar of salt, a beast, blind, and irrational, what is your theology? Is not each and all things of that spiritual?” To this, after a period of silence, they replied: “In our whole theology there is nothing spiritual whatever that the reason comprehends. The only thing spiritual in it is our faith; but that we keep strictly closed up, that no one may look into it; and we have taken care that not a single ray of spirituality shall escape therefrom and appear before the understanding. Moreover, man does not contribute thereto the least particle from any choice of his own. Charity also we have removed from everything spiritual, and have made it merely moral; likewise the Decalogue. Respecting justification, the forgiveness of sins, regeneration, and salvation thereby, we teach nothing spiritual; we say that these are wrought by faith, but how, we are utterly ignorant. In place of repentance, we have put contrition, and lest this should be believed to be spiritual, we have removed it from faith, even as to any least touch. Respecting redemption we have adopted none but purely natural ideas, which are, that God the Father included the whole human race in a sentence of damnation, and that His Son took that damnation upon Him. Self, suffered Himself to be hanged upon a cross, and thus moved His Father to compassion; besides other like ideas, in which you will find nothing spiritual, but only what is natural. “ [6] But at this my former indignation continued, and I said, “If man had no freedom of choice in spiritual things, what would he be but a brute? Is it not by means of that that he is above brute beasts? Without that, what is the church but the black face of a fuller, with a white speck only in his eyes? Without it, what is the Word but an unmeaning volume? What is more frequently declared and commanded therein, than that man should love God and should love the neighbor, and should also believe; and again, that he has life and salvation in the measure of his love and faith? Is there any man who has not the ability to understand and do what is commanded in the Word and in the Decalogue? How could God have given such precepts and commandments to men without an ability to do them? [7] Tell any rustic whose mind has not been blocked up by fallacies in theological matters, that he has no more ability to understand and will in matters of faith and charity, and of salvation therefrom, than a stock or a stone and no ability to adapt or conform himself to them; will he not most heartily laugh at you and say, ‘What can be more irrational? What then have I to do with the priest and his preaching? What is a church more than a stable? And what is worship more than ploughing? What madness to speak so! It is folly upon folly. Who denies that all good is from God? Is it not given to man to do good of himself from God? It is the same with believing.’” Hearing this they all cried out, “We spoke from orthodoxy in an orthodox way; but you from rustic notions in a rustic way.” Then suddenly lightning fell from heaven, and lest it should consume them, they rushed out in troops and fled away, each to his own home.

504.

Second Memorable Relation: I was once in that interior spiritual sight in which the angels of the superior heaven are, but I was then in the world of spirits. And I saw two spirits not far away, standing apart from each other; and I perceived that one of them loved good and truth, and was thereby in conjunction with heaven, while the other loved evil and falsity, and was thereby in conjunction with hell. I approached and called them; and from their tones and their replies, I gathered that one could perceive truths as well as the other, could acknowledge them when perceived, could thus think from the understanding, and direct his intellectual faculties as he pleased, and his voluntary faculties as he wished; consequently that they were in like freedom of choice in rational matters. I observed, moreover, that from that freedom there appeared in their minds a lucidity extending from their first sight, which was that of perception, to their last, which was that of the eye. [2] But when the one who loved evil and falsity was left to his own thought, I noticed that a kind of smoke arose from hell, and extinguished that lucidity which was above the memory, so that there was a thick darkness in him there like that of midnight; and also that the smoke ignited and burned like a flame, which illuminated the region of his mind below the memory, and this caused him to think enormous falsities arising from the evils of the love of self. But when the other, who loved good and truth, was left to himself, I saw, as it were, a gentle flame flowing down from heaven, which illuminated the region of his mind above the memory, and also the region below it even to the eye; also that the light from that flame shone brighter and brighter, in proportion as from the love of good he had a perception and thought of the truth. From seeing this, it was made clear to me that every man, good and evil alike, has spiritual freedom of choice, but that hell sometimes extinguishes it in the wicked, while heaven exalts and enkindles it in the good. [3] Afterward I talked with both of them, first with the one who loved evil and falsity, and when, after a few words about his lot, I mentioned freedom of choice, he fired up, and said, “What madness it is to believe that man has freedom of choice in spiritual things! What man can acquire faith of himself, or do good of himself? Does not the priesthood of today teach from the Word that no man can receive anything unless it be given him from heaven? And the Lord Christ said to His disciples, ‘Apart from Me ye can do nothing.’ To which I will add, that no man can move hand or foot to do any good, or move his tongue to speak any truth from good. Therefore the church by her wise men has concluded that man can no more will, understand or think anything spiritual, or even adapt himself to willing, understanding, or thinking truth, than a statue, a stock or a stone; and therefore it is God who according to His good pleasure inspires faith, to whom alone belongs most free and unlimited power; and this faith, without any labor or power of ours, under the operation of the Holy Spirit, produces all that the unlearned ascribe to man.” [4] I then talked with the other, who loved good and truth; and when, after a few remarks about his lot, I mentioned freedom of choice, he said, “What madness it is to deny man’s freedom of choice in spiritual things! Who is not able to will and do good, and think and speak what is true of himself from the Word, thus from the Lord who is the Word? For He has said, ‘Make the fruit good,’ and ‘Believe in the right,’ and ‘Love one another,’ and ‘Love God,’ and also, ‘Whosoever heareth My precepts and doeth them, loveth Me, and I will love him;’ besides thousands of like sayings throughout the Word. What then is the Word good for, if man has no power to will and think, and from that to do and say what is there commanded? Without that power in man, what would religion in the church be but like a wrecked vessel lying at the bottom of the sea, with the captain standing on the very top of the mast and crying out, ‘I can do nothing;’ while he sees the crew in the small boats with sails spread and sailing away? Was there not given to Adam the freedom to eat of the tree of life, and also of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil? And because from his freedom he ate of this latter tree, smoke from the serpent, that is, from hell, entered his mind, on account of which he was cast out of Paradise and cursed. And still he did not lose his freedom of choice, for we read that the way to the tree of life was guarded by a cherub, and unless this had been done, he might still have wished to eat of it.” [5] At these remarks the other, who loved evil and falsity, said, “What I have heard, I pass by; what I before advance I still adhere to. But who does not know that God alone is alive and thus active, while man is of himself dead and therefore merely passive? How can a being who is in himself dead and merely passive take to himself anything living and active?” To this I replied, “Man is an organ of life, and God alone is life; and God pours His life into the organ and into every least part of it; as the sun pours its heat into a tree and every least part of it. It is also God’s gift that man should feel that life in himself as if it were his own, and it is God’s will that he should so feel it, in order that man as if of himself may live in accordance with the laws of order, which are as numerous as the precepts of the Word, and thus may dispose himself for the reception of God’s love. Nevertheless, God perpetually holds with his finger the perpendicular above the scales, and moderates man’s freedom of choice, but never violates it by compulsion. [6] A tree cannot receive anything that the heat of the sun brings to it through its roots, unless it grows warm and is heated in every least fiber; nor can the elements rise up through its roots, unless every least fiber gives out heat from that which it has received, and thus contributes to the passage of those elements. Man does likewise from the heat of life that he receives from God; but unlike a tree, man feels the heat as his own, and yet it is not his own; and while so far as he believes that it is his and not God’s, he receives the light of life, he does not receive the heat of love from God, but the heat of love from hell; and this being gross obstructs and closes the purer branchlets of the organism, as impure blood clogs the capillary vessels of the body. Thus man from being spiritual makes himself merely natural. [7] Man’s freedom of choice is from this, that any life in himself is felt as his own, and that God leaves him so to feel in order that a conjunction may be effected between them, which is not possible unless it is reciprocal; and it becomes reciprocal when man acts from freedom altogether as if of himself. If God had not left this to man, he would not be man, neither would he have eternal life; for reciprocal conjunction with God is the cause that man is man, and not a beast, and also that he lives after death to eternity. This is the effect of freedom of choice in spiritual things.” [8] After hearing this, the evil spirit removed to a distance, and then I saw upon a certain tree a flying serpent, such as is called a fiery serpent, which held out to somebody fruit from the tree. I then drew near in spirit to the place, and instead of the serpent a monstrous man was seen there, his face so covered with beard that only his nose was visible; and instead of the tree there was a burning stump, near which stood the man whose mind the smoke had formerly entered, and who had afterwards rejected the idea of freedom of choice in spiritual things. And just then a similar smoke came out of the stump, and enveloped them both; and as they were thus taken out of my sight, I went away. But the other spirit, who loved good and truth, and held that man has freedom of choice in spiritual things, accompanied me home.

505.

Third Memorable Relation: I once heard a grating sound like that of two mill-stones grinding on each other; I approached the sound and it ceased. Then I saw a narrow gate leading obliquely downward to a kind of vaulted house, in which were several chambers containing cells, and in each cell sat two persons, who were collecting from the Word proofs of justification by faith alone; one collecting the proofs, and the other writing them down, and this by turns. I approached one cell, which was near the door, and asked, “What are you collecting and writing?” They said, “Concerning the Act of Justification, or Faith in Act, which is faith itself justifying, vivifying and saving, and is the chief doctrine of the church in our part of Christendom. I then said to him, “Tell me some sign of that act, when than faith is brought into the heart and soul of man. “ He replied, “The sign of that act appears at the moment that man is overcome by conviction that he is damned, and when in that state of contrition he thinks of Christ as having taken away the condemnation of the law, and lays hold upon this merit of Christ with confidence, and with it in his thought approaches God the Father and prays. “ [2] Then I said, “Thus is the act accomplished, and that is the moment of its accomplishment. But,” I asked, “How am I to understand what is said of this act, namely, that nothing pertaining to man concurs in it, any more than if he were a stock or a stone; and in respect to the act man is incapable of beginning, willing, understanding, thinking, operating, co- operating, or applying and adapting himself thereto? Tell me how this agrees with your remarks, that the act takes place when man thinks of the claims of the law, of its condemnation having been taken away by Christ, of the trust with which he lays hold on that merit of Christ’s, and with it in his thought, approaches God the Father and prays? Is not all this done by man?” He answered, “It is not done by man actively, but passively.” [3] I answered, “How can any man think, trust and pray passively? Take away from man activity and operation, and do you not also take away receptivity, thus everything, and with everything the act itself? What does your act then become but a purely ideal thing, such as is called an entity of reason? I hope that you do not believe with some, that such an act takes place in the predestined only, who know nothing what ever of the infusion of faith into them. They may throw dice, and in that way determine whether faith has been infused into them or not. Therefore, my friend, believe that man with regard to faith and charity is active of himself from the Lord, and without this activity of man, your act of faith, which you have called the chief doctrine of the church in Christendom, is nothing more than the statue of Lot’s wife composed of mere salt, which tinkles when scratched by a scribe’s pen or fingernail (Luke 17:32). This I have said, because as to that act of faith you make yourselves like statues.” When I said this, he picked up his candlestick, intending to throw it with all his might in my face; but the light going out suddenly, he struck the forehead of his companion, and I went away laughing.

506.

“Fourth Memorable Relation: There appeared in the spiritual world two flocks, one of goats and the other of sheep. I wondered who they were, as I knew that the animals seen in the spiritual world were not animals, but correspondences of the affections, and the thoughts therefrom, of those who are there. I therefore drew nearer, and as I approached, the animal forms vanished, and in place of them men were seen; and it became manifest that those who formed the flock of goats were such as had confirmed themselves in the doctrine of justification by faith alone, while those who made up the flock of sheep were those who believed that charity and faith are one, as good and truth are one. [2] I then spoke with those who appeared as goats, and said, “Why are you thus gathered together?” Most of them were of the clerical order, who gloried in their reputation for learning, because they knew the mysteries of justification by faith alone. They said that they had assembled to hold a council, because they had heard [that some were claiming] that Paul’s saying, That a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law (Rom. 3:28), was not rightly understood, for by faith here [it was claimed] Paul did not mean the faith of the present church, which is a faith in three Divine persons from eternity, but faith in the Lord God the Savior Jesus Christ; also that by “the deeds of the law,” he did not mean the deeds of the law of the Decalogue, but the deeds of the Mosaic law, which were for the Jews; thus that by a wrong interpretation of those few words, two enormous falsities had been established, one, that Paul here meant the faith of the present church, and the other, that he meant the deeds of the law of the Decalogue. It is clearly evident [these claimed] that Paul meant the works of the Mosaic law, which were for the Jews, and not the works of the Decalogue, from what he said to Peter, whom he accused of Judaizing, although he knew That no one is justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ (Gal. 2:14-16); “the faith of Jesus Christ” meaning faith in Him and from Him (as may be seen above, n. 338). And because by “the deeds of the law” Paul meant the deeds of the Mosaic law, he distinguished between the law of faith and the law of works, and between the Jews and the Gentiles, or “circumcision” and “uncircumcision,” “circumcision” signifying Judaism here as everywhere else. Moreover, Paul closes with these words: Do we then make the law of none effect through faith? God forbid; but we establish the law (saying this in connection with the foregoing), (Rom. 3:27-31). Likewise in the preceding chapter: Not the hearers of a law shall be justified before God, but the doers of a law shall be justified (Rom. 2:13); again: God will render to every man according to his deeds (Rom. 2:6); and again: For we must all be made manifest before the judgement-seat of Christ, that everyone may receive the things done through the body, whether it be good or bad (2 Cor. 5:10); besides other passages in his writings. From all this it is clear that Paul rejected faith without works, just as James did (2:17-26). [3] That Paul meant the deeds of the Mosaic law, which were for the Jews, these were still further convinced from the fact that all the statutes written for the Jews in uses are called “the law,” thus, “the deeds of the law,” as can be seen from the following: This is the law of the meal offering (Lev. 6:14, 18 seq.). This is the law for the burnt offering, for the meal offering, and for the sin offering, and for the guilt offering, and for the consecrations (Lev. 7:37). This is the law of the beast and of the fowl (Lev. 11:46 seq.). This is the law for her that beareth 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 him that hath an issue (Lev. 15:32). This is the law of jealousy (Num. 5:29, 30). This is the law of the Nazarite (Num. 6:13, 21). This is the law of cleansing (Num. 19:14). This is the law respecting the red heifer (Num. 19:2). The law for the king (Deut. 17:15-19). Indeed, the whole book of Moses is called “the book of the law,” Deut. 31:9, 11, 12, 26; also in Luke 2:22; 24:44; John 1:45; 7:22, 23; 8:5. [4] To this they have also added, that they saw in Paul that men should live according to the law of the Decalogue, and that the law is fulfilled by charity (Rom. 13:8-11); and that he also says: That these are three, faith, hope, charity, and that the greatest of these is charity (1 Cor. 13:13), not faith therefore. For these reasons they said that they had been assembled. But lest I should disturb them I withdrew; and again they appeared at a distance like goats, and sometimes as if lying down, sometimes as if standing, but they turned away from the flock of sheep. They seemed to be lying down when they were deliberating, and to be standing when they had formed their conclusions. But I kept my sight fixed on their horns; and I wondered that those in their foreheads seemed at one time to reach forward and upward, at another to bend backward towards their backs, and finally to turn entirely back. Just then they turned towards the flock of sheep, but still retained the appearance of goats. I therefore approached them again and asked, “what now?” They said they had decided that faith alone produces the goods of charity, as a tree produces fruit. Then thunder was heard, and lightning was seen overhead; and immediately an angel appeared standing between the two flocks; and he cried out to the flock of sheep, “Do not listen to them; they have not receded from their former faith, which is, that faith alone justifies and saves, and actual charity contributes nothing whatever thereto. Faith is not the tree, but man is the tree. But repent, and look to the Lord, and you will have faith. Before that, faith is not a faith that has anything living in it.” Then the goats, with their horns turned back, wished to approach the sheep. But the angel standing between them separated the sheep into two flocks; and he said to those on the left, “Join the goats; but I tell you that a wolf is coming, that will carry them off, and you along with them. “ [5] But when the two flocks of sheep had been separated, and those on the left had heard the threatening words of the angel, they looked at one another and said, “Let us speak to our former companions.” The left-hand flock then spoke to the right, saying, “Why did you desert our shepherds? Are not faith and charity one, as a tree and its fruit are one? For the tree through its branches is continued into the fruit. Tear from the branch that through which the tree by continuity flows into the fruit, will not the fruit perish, and with it all the seed of any tree to be reproduced from it? Ask our priests if it is not so.” They asked the priests, who looked round upon the rest, and these were winking at them to have them say that they had spoken rightly. And the priests then answered, “You have well said; but as to the continuation of faith into good works, like that of a tree into the fruit, we know many mysteries which must not be made known here. In the chain or thread of faith and charity there are many knots, which we priests only are able to untie. “ [6] Then one of the priests from among the sheep on the right arose and said, “They have told you that this is so, but they tell their own that it is not so, because they think differently.” Therefore they asked, “How then do they think? Do they not think as they teach?” He answered, “No, they think that any good of charity, which is called a good work, that is done by man for the sake of salvation and eternal life, is not good in the least degree, for the reason that it is the man’s wish to save himself by work that he does of himself, appropriating to himself the merit and righteousness of the one Savior; and they claim that it is so with every good work in which man is sensible of his own will. Therefore they assert that there is no conjunction whatever between faith and charity; and that faith is not even retained and preserved by good works.” [7] But those of the left flock said, “You tell lies about them. Do they not openly preach to us charity and the works of charity, which they call works of faith?” He replied, “You do not understand their preaching; only a clergyman who may be present attends to it and understands it. They mean moral charity only, and its civil and political good works, those they call the works of faith, although they are nothing of the kind, for an atheist may do them in the same manner and under the same form. Therefore with one accord they declare that no one is saved by any works, but by faith only. But let this be illustrated by comparisons: An apple tree produces apples; but if a man does good for the sake of salvation, as the tree produces those apples by continuity, then such apples are inwardly rotten and full of worms. They also say that a vine produces grapes; but that if a man were to do spiritual good works as the vine produces grapes, he would produce wild grapes.” [8] Then they asked, “What is the nature of their goods of charity or works, which are the fruits of faith?” He replied, “They regard them, perhaps, as something imperceptible, located somewhere near faith, but having no connection with it, being like the shadow that follows a man when he faces the sun, which shadow he does not notice unless he turns around; or I may say, they are like horses’ tails, which are now cut off in many countries; for the people say, ‘What is the use of them? They are good for nothing; if they remain on, they are quickly befouled.” Hearing this, one from the left flock said, indignantly, “There is certainly some conjunction; otherwise, how can they be called the works of faith? Perhaps the goods of charity are insinuated by God into man’s voluntary works by some influx, as by some affection, aspiration, inspiration, incitement, or excitement of the will by tacit perception in thought and exhortation therefrom, by contrition and thus conscience, and the urging thereof, by obedience to the Decalogue and the Word, such as is rendered by a child or a wise man, or by some other similar means. Otherwise, how can they be called the fruits of faith?” To this the priest replied, “Not so; and if they claim that anything is done by such means, they still in their sermons overload it with words which make out that such works are not from faith. Nevertheless, some teach such works, although as signs of faith, and not as the bonds connecting it with charity. And some have divined a conjunction by means of the Word.” Some then said, “Is not conjunction so effected?” But he replied, “They do not think that; but only that it is effected by the hearing of the Word; for they maintain that everything of man’s rationality and volition in matters of faith is impure and tainted with a sense of merit, since man in spiritual things is no more able to understand, will, operate, or co-operate, than a stock.” [9] But when one of them heard that man is believed to be such in all things pertaining to faith and salvation, he said, “I heard a man say, ‘I have planted a vineyard; now I will drink wine until I am drunk.’ But another asked him, ‘Will you drink the wine from your own cup by your own right hand?’ He answered, ‘No; but from an unseen cup by an unseen hand.’ And the other replied, ‘You will certainly not get drunk.’” Presently the same man said, “I pray you, listen to me; I advise you to drink wine from the Word understood. Do you not know that the Lord is the Word? Is not the Word from the Lord? Is He not in it therefore? Consequently, if you do good from the Word, are you not doing it from the Lord, from His lips and will? And if you then look to the Lord, He Himself will lead and teach you, and you will do that good of yourselves from the Lord. Who that does something at the word and mandate of a king, can say, ‘This I do from my own word or mandate, and from my own will?’” [10] He then turned toward the clergy, and said “Ministers of God, do not mislead the flock.” Hearing these remarks, the greater part of the flock on the left withdrew, and united with the flock on the right. Then some of the clergy said, “We have heard what we never heard before; we are the shepherds; we will not leave the sheep.” And they withdrew also; and they said, “This man spoke a true word. Who that acts from the Word, thus from the Lord, from his lips and will, can say, ‘This I do from myself?’ Who that acts from the word and will of a king can say, ‘This I do from myself?’ Now we behold the Divine Providence, why it is that a conjunction of faith and good works, acknowledged by an ecclesiastical society, has not been found. It could not he found, because it could not exist, for there has been no faith in the Lord, who is the Word, and therefore there has been no faith from the Word.” But the other priests, who belonged to the flock of goats, went away, waving their caps and shouting, “Faith alone! Long live faith alone!”

507.

Fifth Memorable Relation: Once when conversing with the angels, I finally spoke of the lust of evil which is in every man from his birth. One said, “In the world where I am, those who are in lust seem to us angels as if they were infatuated; but to themselves they seem to be consummately wise. Therefore, in order to withdraw them from their infatuation, they are let alternately into it and into the rationality which they possess in externals; but in this latter state although they see, acknowledge, and confess their folly, they long to return from their rational to their foolish state, and they “let themselves down into that state as if they were exchanging what is compulsory and disagreeable for what is free and delightful. Thus it is lust and not intelligence that gives them interior delight. [2] There are three universal loves, of which every man is by creation composed; love of the neighbor, which is also a love of performing uses, which love is spiritual; love of the world, which is also a love of possessing wealth, which love is material; and love of self, which is also a love of ruling over others, which love is corporeal. Man is truly a man, when love of the neighbor, or love of performing uses, constitutes the head; and love of the world, or love of possessing wealth constitutes the chest and abdomen; while love of self or of ruling over others, forms the feet and the soles of the feet. But when love of the world forms the head, man is merely hunchbacked; while if love of self forms the head, he is not like a man standing on his feet, but like one standing on the palms of his hands with his head down and his posteriors in the air. [3] When a love of doing forms the head, and the other two form the body and feet in their order, the man appears in heaven with an angelic face and a beautiful rainbow about his head; but if the love of the world or of wealth forms the head, he appears from heaven with a face pale like that of a corpse, and a yellowish circle about the head; and if love of self, or of ruling over others, forms the head, he appears from heaven with a dusky-glowing face and a white circle about the head.” Thereupon I asked, “What do the circles about the head represent?” They replied, “They represent intelligence; the white circle about the head with the dusky-glowing face represents that the intelligence of that man is in externals or round about him, while in his internals or within him there is folly; and furthermore, such a man is wise when in the body, but foolish when in the spirit; and no man is wise in spirit except from the Lord, and he becomes such when he is born and created anew by the Lord.” [4] After these remarks the earth was opened toward the left, and I saw rising up through the opening a devil with a dusky, glowing face and a white circle about his head; I asked, “Who are you?” He said, “I am Lucifer, the son of the morning; and because I made myself like unto the Most High, I was cast down, as I am described in the fourteenth chapter of Isaiah.” He was not that Lucifer, but he believed that he was. I said, “Since you have been cast down, how can you rise again out of hell?” He replied, “There I am a devil; but here I am an angel of light. Do you not see that my head is girt with a white band? You shall also see, if you wish, that I am moral among the moral, rational among the rational, and even spiritual among those who are spiritual. I have also been able to preach.” I asked, “How did you preach?” He replied, “Against defrauders, adulterers, and all infernal loves; and then being Lucifer, I even called myself the devil, and against myself I accused him; and for so doing I was borne up to heaven with praises. That is why I have been called the son of the morning. And what astonished myself, when I was in the pulpit I had no thought but that I was speaking rightly and truly. But the cause of this was disclosed to me; namely, that I was in externals, and these were then separated from my internals. But although this was disclosed to me, still I could not change, because I had exalted myself above the Most High, and set myself up against Him.” [5] Finally I asked, “How could you talk so, when you yourself are a defrauder and an adulterer?” He replied, “I am one thing when in externals or in the body, and another when in internals or in spirit. In the body I am an angel, but in spirit a devil; for in the body I am in understanding, but in spirit I am in the will; and the understanding carries me upward, while the will carries me downward. While I am in the understanding a white band encompasses my head; but when the understanding gives itself up wholly to the will, and becomes the will’s, which is our final lot, then the band grows black and disappears, and when this takes place, I am no longer able to ascend into this light.” But all at once, as he saw the angels with me, his face grew red and his voice excited, and even the band about his head became black, and he sank down to hell through the opening by which he had arisen. From what they had seen and heard, the bystanders came to this conclusion, that a man’s quality is such as his will is, not such as his understanding is, since the will easily draws the understanding over to its side and enslaves it. [6] I then asked the angels, “Whence have the devils rationality?” And they said, “It is from the glory of the love of self, for the love of self is encompassed with a glory, this glory being the resplendence of its fire, and it exalts the understanding almost into the light of heaven. For the understanding in every man is capable of elevation according to his knowledges; but the will can be elevated only by a life according to the truths of the church and of reason. Hence it is that even atheists, who are in the glory of fame from self-love, and thereby in the pride of self-intelligence, enjoy a loftier rationality than many others; but that is when they are in the thought of the understanding, not in the love of the will, and the love of the will possesses the internal man, but the thought of the understanding the external.” The angel furthermore explained why man is composed of three loves, namely, the love of use, the love of the world, and the love of self; it is in order that man may think from God, yet wholly as if of himself. He said that the highest things of man’s mind were turned upward towards God, the intermediate outward towards the world, and the lowest downward into the body; and because these latter are turned downward, although man thinks from God, he thinks wholly as of himself.

508.

Sixth Memorable Relation: One day there appeared to me a magnificent temple, square in form, the roof of which was crown-shaped, arched above and raised round about; its walls were continuous windows of crystal; its door was of a pearly substance. Within, on the south side, towards the west was a pulpit, on the right-hand side of which lay the open Word enveloped in a sphere of light, the splendor of which surrounded and illuminated the whole pulpit. In the center of the temple was a sanctuary, before which there was a veil, at that time raised, and there a golden cherub stood with a sword turning hither and thither in his hand. [2] While I looked at these things, the significance of each one of them flowed into my meditation: The temple signified the New Church; the door of pearly substance, entrance into it; the windows of crystal, the truths that enlighten it; the pulpit, the priesthood and preaching; the Word lying open upon the pulpit and illuminating the upper part of it, signified the revelation of the internal sense of the Word, which is spiritual; the sanctuary in the center of the temple signified the conjunction of that church with the angelic heaven; the golden cherub therein, the Word in the sense of the letter; the sword waving in his hand signified that this sense can be turned in any direction, provided it is done in adaptation to some truth; the veil before the cherub being raised, signified that the Word is now laid open. [3] Afterward, when I drew nearer, I saw this inscription above the door, Nunc Licet - It is now permitted - which signified that it is now permitted to enter understandingly into the mysteries of faith. From seeing this inscription it came into my thought that it is exceedingly dangerous to enter with the understanding into dogmas of faith that are concocted out of self-intelligence, and therefore out of falsities, and still more so to confirm them from the Word; by this means the understanding is closed above, and gradually below as well, to such a degree that theology is not only despised but also obliterated from the mind, as writing on paper is by worms, or the wool of a garment by moths. Then the understanding abides only in political matters, which have regard to man’s life under the government where he is, and in the civil matters pertaining to his employment, and in the domestic affairs of his own house. And in all these things he constantly kisses nature, and owing to the allurements of her pleasures, loves her as an idolater loves the golden image in his bosom. [4] Since then, the dogmas of the present Christian churches have not been formed from the Word, but from self-intelligence, and therefore from falsities, and also have been confirmed by certain passages from the Word; by the Lord’s Divine Providence the Word among the Roman Catholics has been taken from the laity, and among Protestants has been opened, and yet has been closed by their common declaration that the understanding must be held in obedience to their faith. [5] But in the New Church the contrary is the case; there it is permitted to enter with the understanding and penetrate into all her secrets, and to confirm them by the Word, because her doctrines are continuous truths laid open by the Lord by means of the Word, and confirmations of these truths by rational means cause the understanding to be opened above more and more, and thus to be raised into the light in which the angels of heaven are. That light in its essence is truth, and in that light acknowledgment of the Lord as the God of heaven and earth shines in its glory. This is what is meant by the inscription Nunc Licet over the door of the temple, and also by the veil of the sanctuary before the cherub being raised. For it is a canon of the New Church, that falsities close the understanding, and that truths open it. [6] After this I saw above my head something like an infant, holding in his hand a paper. As he drew near to me, he increased to the stature of a medium-sized man. He was an angel from the third heaven, where all at a distance look like infants. When he came to me, he handed me the paper; but as the writing was in rounded letters, such as they have in that heaven, I returned the paper, and asked him to explain to me the meaning of the words there written, in terms adapted to the ideas of my thought. He replied, “This is what is here written: Enter hereafter into the mysteries of the Word, which has been heretofore shut up; for the particular truths therein are so many mirrors of the Lord.”

IX. Repentance

After treating of Faith, Charity, and Freedom of Choice, next in connection comes Repentance, because without repentance true faith and genuine charity are impossible; and without freedom of choice no man can repent. Repentance is now treated of for the further reason that the subject of Regeneration follows, and no man can be regenerated until the more grievous evils, which render him detestable in the sight of God, are put away, and this is done by means of repentance. What is an unregenerate man but an impenitent one? And is not an impenitent man like one who is in a state of lethargy, who knows nothing of sin, and therefore cherishes it in his bosom, and kisses it every day, as an adulterer kisses a harlot in his bed? But to make clear what repentance is, and what it accomplishes, the treatment of it shall be separated into sections.

510.

I. REPENTANCE IS THE FIRST THING OF THE CHURCH IN MAN. The communion called the church consists of all men in whom the church is, and the church enters into man when he is becoming regenerate, and everyone becomes regenerate by abstaining from the evils of sin, and shunning them as one would an infernal horde with torches in hand, endeavoring to overtake him and throw him upon a burning pile. There are many means by which man, as he progresses in his early years, is prepared for the church and introduced into it; but the means whereby the church is established in man are acts of repentance. Acts of repentance are all such things as cause man not to will and consequently not to commit evils, which are sins against God; for until this takes place man stands outside of regeneration, and if any thought respecting eternal salvation should then creep into his mind, he turns toward it, but immediately turns away from it; for it enters the man no further than into the ideas of his thought, and from that goes forth into the words of his speech, and also, it may be, into some gestures conformable to speech. But when such thought enters the will, it is in the man; for the will is the man himself, because in it his love resides, while thought is outside of the man, except when it proceeds from his will, and then will and thought act as one, and both together constitute the man. From this it follows, that, for repentance to be repentance, and to be effective in man, it must be a repentance of the will and from that of the thought, and not of the thought only; therefore that it should be actual repentance, and not merely verbal. That repentance is the first thing of the church, is very evident from the Word. John the Baptist, who was sent beforehand to prepare men for the church which the Lord was about to establish, when he baptized preached at the same time repentance; and therefore his baptism was called the baptism of repentance, for the reason that baptism signified spiritual washing, which is a cleansing from sin. This John did in Jordan, because Jordan signified introduction into the church, for it was the first boundary of the land of Canaan where the church was. The Lord Himself also preached repentance for the forgiveness of sins, teaching thereby that repentance is the first thing of the church, and that so far as man repents his sins are put away, and so far as they are put away, they are forgiven. And still further, the Lord commanded His twelve apostles, and also the seventy whom He sent forth, to preach repentance. From all this it is clear that the first thing of the church is repentance.

511.

That the church is not in man until the sins in him have been put away, anyone may conclude from reason, and it may be illustrated by the following comparisons: Who can introduce sheep, and kids and lambs into fields or woods where there are all kinds of wild beasts, before he has driven out the beasts? Who can make a garden out of a piece of ground that is overgrown with thorns, briars, and nettles, before he has rooted out those noxious weeds? Who can establish a mode of administering justice according to judicial practices in a city held by hostile forces, and establish citizenship, before he has expelled those forces? It is the same with evils in man. They are like wild beasts, like thorns and briars, and like hostile forces; and the church can no more have a common abode with evils than a man can dwell in a cage where there are tigers and leopards; or sleep in a bed with poisonous herbs strewed upon it and stuffed into the pillows; or sleep at night in a church, beneath the floor of which are sepulchres containing dead bodies. Would not ghosts infest him there like furies?

512.

II. THE CONTRITION, WHICH AT THE PRESENT DAY IS SAID TO PRECEDE FAITH, AND TO BE FOLLOWED BY THE CONSOLATION OF THE GOSPEL, IS NOT REPENTANCE. In the Reformed Christian world a certain kind of anxiety, grief, and terror are spoken of, which they call contrition, which precedes faith in those who are about to be regenerated, and which is followed by the consolation of the Gospel They claim that this contrition in such persons arises from a fear of that just wrath of God and consequent eternal damnation which inheres in every man, owing to the sin of Adam and the resulting proclivity of man to evil; also, that without that contrition, the faith which imputes to man the merit and righteousness of the Lord the Savior, is not bestowed; and that those who have obtained this faith, receive the consolation of the Gospel, which is, that they are justified, that is, renewed, regenerated and sanctified, without any co-operation of their own, and are thus transferred from a state of damnation to one of eternal blessedness, which is life eternal. But respecting this contrition the following questions are to be considered: 1. Is it repentance? 2. Is it of any consequence? 3. Is there such a thing?

513.

Whether contrition is repentance or not, may be inferred from the description of repentance given hereafter, where it is shown that repentance is impossible unless man is aware that not only generally but in every least particular he is a sinner; and this no man can know, unless he examines himself, sees the evils that are in him, and condemns himself on account of them. But the contrition that is declared to be necessary to faith, has nothing in common with all this; for it is merely the thought and the confession therefrom, that man is born into the sin of Adam, and into a proclivity to the evils springing from it; consequently, that the wrath of God is upon him, and therefore a well-deserved damnation, doom, and eternal death. From all this it is plain that contrition is not repentance.

514.

The next point is, since that contrition is not repentance, is it of any consequence? It is said to contribute to faith as an antecedent to its consequent, although it does not enter into faith and conjoin itself with it by mingling therewith. But what is the faith that follows it, but that God the Father imputes the righteousness of His Son, and then declares man, while he is yet unconscious of any sin, to be righteous, renewed, and holy, and thus clothes him in a robe washed and made white in the blood of the Lamb? And when man walks in this robe, what are the evils of his life but like stones of sulfur thrown into the depths of the sea? And what is then the sin of Adam but something covered over, or set aside, or carried away by the imputed righteousness of Christ? When man, because of that faith, walks in the righteousness and at the same time in the innocence of God the Savior, what is the use of that contrition unless to give him the assurance that he is in Abraham’s bosom, and may therefore regard those who have not experienced the contrition that precedes faith as miserable in hell, or as dead, since it is said that those who lack contrition have no living faith? Consequently it may be asserted that when those who have experienced such contrition have sunk or are sinking into damnable evils, they pay no more attention to them, and are no more sensible of them, than pigs lying in muddy gutters of the street are sensible of the stench. Evidently, therefore, such contrition, not being repentance, is of no consequence.

515.

The third point to be considered is, Whether apart from repentance there can be any such contrition? In the spiritual world I asked many who had confirmed in themselves a faith imputative of Christ’s merit, whether they had experienced any contrition; and they replied, “Why contrition, when from childhood we have believed as a certainty that Christ took away all our sins by His passion? Contrition does not square with this belief; for contrition is a man’s casting himself into hell and torturing his conscience, when he knows, nevertheless, that he has been redeemed and thus delivered from hell, and is consequently secure from harm.” To this they added, that this law of contrition is a purely fictitious thing accepted in place of the repentance that is so frequently mentioned and also enjoined in the Word; although with the simple, perhaps, who know but little about the Gospel, there is some emotion of mind when they hear or think about the torments of hell. They also said, that the consolation of the Gospel impressed upon their minds from earliest youth so banished contrition, that in their hearts they laughed at the mere mention of it; and that hell could no more strike them with terror than the fires of Vesuvius or Etna could terrify those who live at Warsaw or Vienna, or than the basilisks and vipers in the deserts of Arabia, or the tigers and lions in the forests of Tartary, could terrify those who live in safety, tranquillity, and quiet in some European city; also that the wrath of God excited no more terror or contrition in them than the wrath of the king of Persia would excite in those who live in Pennsylvania. By all this together with rational inferences from their declarations I was convinced that contrition, unless it is repentance such as is hereinafter described, is nothing but a freak of imagination. The reason why the Reformed adopted contrition in place of repentance, was that they might separate themselves from the Roman Catholics, who insist upon repentance and at the same time upon charity; and when they afterward established the doctrine of justification by faith alone, they alleged as their reason for this change, that by repentance, as by charity, something of the man’s own, which savored of merit, entered into his faith and blackened it.

516.

III. THE MERE LIP-CONFESSION THAT ONE IS A SINNER IS NOT REPENTANCE. On this lip-confession the Reformed who adhere to the Augsburg Confession teach as follows: “No man can ever know his sins; wherefore they cannot be enumerated; moreover, they are interior and hidden, so that a confession of them would be false, uncertain, maimed and mutilated; but he who confesses himself to be nothing but sin, includes all sins, excludes none, and forgets none. Still the enumeration of sins, although not necessary, is not to be done away with, out of regard for tender and timid consciences; but this is only a childish and common form of confession for simpler and ruder people” (Formula Concordiae, pages 327, 331, 380). But by the Reformed, after they had separated from the Roman Catholics, this confession was adopted in place of actual repentance, because it is based upon their imputative faith, which alone apart from charity, and thus apart from repentance also, works the forgiveness of sins and regenerates man; it is based also upon this, which is an inseparable appendix to that faith, that there is no co-operation on man’s part with the Holy Spirit in the act of justification; also upon this, that man has no freedom of choice in spiritual things; and again upon this, that all things depend upon mercy apart from means, and nothing what ever is effected mediately by or through man.

517.

Among the many reasons why the mere lip-confession of being a sinner is not repentance, is this, that everyone, an impious man or even a devil, may make that declaration, and this with external devotion, when he thinks of the torments of hell, either those present or impending. But who does not see that this is not from any internal devotion, consequently that it is imaginary and therefore a matter of the lungs, and not a matter of the will from within, and thus of the heart? For an impious man and a devil still burn inwardly with the lusts of the love of doing evil, by which they are moved like windmills given by strong winds; therefore such a declaration is nothing but a contrivance to cheat God for the sake of deliverance or to deceive the simple. For what is easier than to compel the lips to cry out, and the breath of the mouth to adapt itself thereto, to turn up the eyes and raise the hands? This is the same as what the Lord says in Mark: Well hath Isaiah prophesied of you, hypocrites, This people honoreth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me (7:6); and in Matthew: Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees! for ye cleanse the outside of the cup and the platter, but within they are full with extortion and excess. Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first the inside of the cup and of the platter that the outside may be clean also (23:25, 26; and more in the same chapter).

518.

In a like hypocritical worship are those who have confirmed in themselves the faith of the present church, that the Lord by the passion of the cross took away all the sins of the world, meaning thereby the sins of every man, if only they pray according to the formularies about propitiation and mediation. Some of them can pour forth from the pulpit, with loud voices and apparently burning zeal, many holy utterances about repentance and charity, while they deem both of these useless in respect to salvation; for by repentance they mean no other than lip-confession, and by charity that charity only that pertains to public life; but this they do to please the people. It is such who are meant by these words of the Lord: Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied by Thy name? and in Thy name done many mighty works? But then will I profess unto them, I know you not; depart from Me, ye that work iniquity (Matt. 7:22, 23). In the spiritual world I once heard a man praying after this manner: “I am full of sores, leprous, unclean from my mother’s womb; there is not a sound spot in me from my head to the sole of my foot; I am not worthy to raise my eyes towards God; I am deserving of death and eternal damnation; have mercy upon me for the sake of Thy Son; purify me in His blood; on Thy good pleasure depends the salvation of all; I implore mercy.” Hearing him pray thus, the bystanders asked, “How do you flow that you are such?” He replied, “I know it because I have heard so.” But he was then sent to angelic examiners, before whom he spoke in the same way; and these, after examination, reported that he had spoken the truth about himself, and yet without knowing a single evil in himself, because he had never examined himself, but had believed that after lip-confession evils were no longer evils in the sight of God, both because God turns His eyes away from them, and because He has been propitiated. In consequence of this he had not come to a sense of any evil, although he was a willful adulterer, a thief, a wily detractor, and intensely revengeful; such he was in heart and will, and therefore would be such in word and deed did not the fear of the law and of the loss of reputation restrain him. After he was found to be such, he was judged and sent away to the hypocrites in hell.

519.

The character of such may be illustrated by comparisons. They are like temples where only the spirits of the dragon, and those who are meant by “locusts” in the Apocalypse, are congregated; and they are like the pulpits therein, where the Word is not because it is put beneath the feet. They are like plastered walls with the plaster beautifully colored, but within them when the windows are opened, owls and direful night birds are flying about. They are like whitened sepulchres which contain dead men’s bones. They are like coins made of the dregs of oil or of dried dung covered with gold. They are like the bark and wood fiber covering rotten wood; like the garments of Aaron’s sons about a leprous body; and even like ulcers containing pus covered over with a thin skin, and supposed to be healed. Who does not know that a holy external and a profane internal do not accord? Such also are more afraid than others to examine themselves; therefore they are no more sensible of the viciousness within them, than they are of the pungent and ill-smelling substances in their stomachs and bowels before they are cast out into the draught. But it must be remembered that those here spoken of are not to be confounded with those who do well and believe rightly, nor with those who repent of some sins, and when worshiping, and still more when in spiritual temptation, speak within themselves or pray from a like oral confession; for such a general confession both precedes and follows reformation and regeneration.

520.

IV. MAN IS BORN [WITH AN INCLINATION] TO EVILS OF EVERY KIND; AND UNLESS HE TO SOME EXTENT REMOVES HIS EVILS BY REPENTANCE, HE REMAINS IN THEM; AND HE WHO REMAINS IN EVILS, CANNOT BE SAVED. That every man is born [with an inclination] to evils, so that he is nothing but evil from his mother’s womb, is well known in the church; and it has become known because it has been handed down by the councils and leaders of the churches, that the sin of Adam was transmitted to all his posterity; and that for this sin alone every man after him has been damned along with him; and that it is this sin that is inherent in every man by birth. On this assertion, moreover, other things taught by the churches are based, as that the washing of regeneration, which is called baptism, was instituted by the Lord in order that this sin might be removed; that this was the reason for the Lord’s coming; and that faith in His merit is the means whereby it is removed, besides other doctrines which have been based by the churches upon this assertion. But that there is no inherited evil from that origin can be seen from what has been shown above (n. 466, seq.), that Adam was not the first man, but that the story of Adam and his wife representatively describes the first church on this earth -the garden of Eden its wisdom, the tree of life its looking to the Lord who was to come, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil its looking to self and not to the Lord. That this church is what is representatively described by the first chapters of Genesis has been clearly proven by many parallel passages from the Word in the Arcana Coelestia, published at London. When these things are understood and accepted the opinion heretofore entertained that the evil innate in man from his parents is from that source falls to the ground, for that evil has a different origin. In the chapter on Freedom of Choice it has been fully shown that the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil are in every man, and that they are said to be located in a garden to signify man’s freedom of choice to turn to the Lord or to turn away from Him.

521.

But, my friend, parents are the only source of inherited evil; not the evil itself which a man actually commits, but the inclination thereto. Everyone who combines reason and experience will acknowledge that this is so. Who does not know that children are born with a general resemblance to their parents in features, manners, and disposition, and even grandchildren and great-grandchildren with a resemblance to grandparents and great-grandparents; also that many are able thus to distinguish families from each other, and even nations, as Africans from Europeans, Neapolitans from Germans, Englishmen from Frenchmen, and so on? Who does not recognize a Jew by his face, eyes, speech and gestures? And if you were sensible of the sphere of life flowing out from the native genius of everyone, you would in like manner be convinced of the resemblance of dispositions and minds. [2] From all this it follows, that man is not born into actual evils, but only into an inclination to evils, but with a greater or lesser proclivity towards particular evils; consequently after death man is not judged from any inherited evil, but from the actual evils which he himself has committed. This is also evident from the following statute of the Lord: The father shall not die for the son, and the son shall not die for the father; everyone shall die for his own sin (Deut. 24:16). This was made certain to me in the spiritual world from the state of those who die in infancy; in that they have only an inclination to evils, and thus favor them in will, but do not commit them; for they are educated under the auspices of the Lord and are saved. [3] The aforesaid inclination and proclivity to the evils that are transmitted by parents to children and their posterity, are broken only by the new birth from the Lord, which is called regeneration. Without this, that inclination not only continues uninterrupted, but is also increased by successive parents, and becomes a stronger proclivity to evil, and at length a proclivity to every kind of evil. It is from this that the Jews are still images of their father Judah, who took a Canaanitish woman to wife, and committed adultery with Tamar his daughter-in-law, and thus begat three branches of them. Therefore, this inherited disposition has in process of time so increased in them that they are still unable to embrace the Christian religion with a hearty faith. They are said to be unable to do so, because the interior will of their minds is adverse thereto, and this adverse will is the cause of their inability.

522.

That all evil, unless removed, remains in man, and that man cannot be saved if he remains in his evils, follows of itself. That no evil can be removed except by the Lord, and except in those who believe in Him and love the neighbor, can be clearly seen from what has already been said, especially from the following in the chapter on Faith. The Lord, charity, and faith make one, like life, will, and understanding, and if they are divided, each perishes like a pearl reduced to powder. And from this: The Lord is charity and faith in man, and man is charity and faith in the Lord. But it is asked, How can man enter into this union? The reply is, that he cannot, unless to some extent he removes his evils by repentance. It is said that man must remove them, because this is not done by the Lord directly, apart from man’s co-operation; which is also fully shown in that same chapter, and in that following on Freedom of Choice.

523.

It is asserted that no man can fulfil the law, and the less so, since he who trespasses against one commandment of the Decalogue trespasses against all. But the meaning of this assertion is different from its sound, for it is to be understood thus, that he who purposely or deliberately acts contrary to one commandment, acts contrary to the rest, since to so act from purpose and deliberation is to deny utterly that it is sin, and when it is said to be sin, to reject the statement as of no account; and he who so denies and rejects the idea of sin gives no thought to anything that is called sin. Those who are unwilling to hear anything about repentance come into this fixed attitude of mind; but on the other hand, those who by repentance have removed some evils that are sins, come into a settled purpose to believe in the Lord and love the neighbor. Such are kept by the Lord in the purpose to refrain from other evils; and if therefore from ignorance or some over-powerful lust, they are led to commit sin, it is not imputed to them, because they did not commit it deliberately, and do not confirm it in themselves. This may be confirmed by the following facts: In the spiritual world I have met with many who in the natural world had lived like others, dressing finely, feasting delicately, making money by trading like others, attending theaters, joking about lovers as if from licentiousness, and doing other like things; and yet the angels charged these things upon some as evils of sin, and not upon others, declaring the latter innocent, but the former guilty. Being asked the reason of this, since all had done the same things, they replied, that all are viewed by them from their purpose, intention, and end, and are distinguished accordingly; and therefore they excuse or condemn those whom the end excuses or condemns, since good is the end of all in heaven, and evil the end of all in hell.

524.

But these statements shall be illustrated by comparisons: The sins an impenitent man holds fast to may be compared to various diseases in him, from which, he dies unless remedies are applied and the malignities thereby removed. They may be compared especially to the disease called gangrene, which unless healed in time, spreads, and causes inevitable death; in like manner to boils and abscesses, unless they break out or are opened; for from them empyemata or collections of pus will be diffused into the neighboring parts, from these into adjoining viscera, and finally into the heart, from which comes death. [2] These sins may also be compared to tigers, leopards, lions, wolves, and foxes, which unless kept in dens or bound with chains or ropes, would attack the flocks and herds and kill them as the fox does poultry; also to poisonous serpents, which unless held tight with sticks, or deprived of their teeth, would inflict deadly wounds upon man. A whole flock, if left in fields where there are poisonous herbs, instead of being led by the shepherd to safe pastures; would perish. So the silk-worm would perish, and all silk with it, unless other worms were kept from the leaves of its tree. [3] These sins may also be compared to grain in granaries or barns, which would be rendered musty and rotten and thus useless, if the air were not permitted to pass freely through it, and remove whatever is injurious. If a fire were not quenched at the very outset, it might lay waste a whole city or forest. Thorns, briars, and thistles would take full possession of a garden unless rooted out. Gardeners know that a tree sprung from a bad seed and root conveys its bad sap to the branch of a good tree budded or engrafted upon it, and that the bad sap which comes up is turned into good sap, and produces useful fruit. And the like takes place in man through the removal of evil by means of repentance; for man is thereby engrafted into the Lord as a branch into a vine, and bears good fruit (John 15:4-6).

525.

V. RECOGNITION OF SIN AND THE DISCOVERY OF SOME SIN IN ONESELF, IS THE BEGINNING OF REPENTANCE. No man in the Christian world can be without recognition of sin, for everyone is taught from infancy what evil is, and from childhood what the evil of sin is. All youths learn this from parents and teachers, also from the Decalogue (which is the primary instruction given to all within Christendom), also, in their subsequent progress, from preaching at church and instruction at home, and in fullness from the Word; and furthermore from the civil laws of justice, which teach the same things as are taught in the Decalogue and other parts of the Word. For the evil of sin is no other than evil against the neighbor, and evil against the neighbor is also evil against God, which is sin. But recognition of sin effects nothing until a man examines the actions of his life, and sees whether he has secretly or openly done any such thing. Until then, there is nothing but knowledge, and what the preacher then says is a mere sound going in at the left ear and out at the right, and finally it becomes a mere matter of thought and something devout in the breathing, and with many merely imaginative and chimerical. But it is wholly different if man, according to what he recognizes as sin, examines himself, discovers something in himself, says to himself, “This evil is a sin,” and from fear of eternal punishment abstains from it. Then what has been said in churches in the way of instruction and devotion is first received by both ears, is communicated to the heart, and from a pagan the man becomes a Christian.

526.

Can there be anything better known in the Christian world than that man ought to examine himself? For everywhere in empires and kingdoms, whether in those adhering to the Roman Catholic or to the Evangelical religion, before approaching the holy supper, men are taught and admonished to examine themselves, to recognize and acknowledge their sins, and to live a new and different life. In the English dominions this exhortation is accompanied with fearful threatenings, where, from the address preceding the communion, the following is read and proclaimed by the priest from the altar: “The way and means” to become a worthy partaker of the holy supper, “is first to examine the deeds and conversations of your life by the rule of God’s commandments, and whereinever ye shall perceive yourselves to have offended, either by will, word, or deed, there to bewail your own sinful nature, 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 neighbor, then ye shall reconcile yourselves unto him, 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 does 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 ye of your sin, 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.”

527.

Yet there are some who cannot examine themselves, such as infants, boys and girls before they arrive at the age when they are capable of self-examination, also the simple minded, who are not capable of reflection; and again, all those who have no fear of God, and beside these some who are sick in mind and body; and above all those who are confirmed in the doctrine of justification by faith alone, which imputes Christ’s merit to man, and who have persuaded themselves, that by such examination and repentance something of man would enter, which would destroy faith, and thus would banish and reject salvation from its one only abiding-place. To all such a mere lip-confession is serviceable. That this is not repentance has been shown above in this chapter. [2] But those who know what sin is, and still more those who know many things from the Word and teach them, and yet do not examine themselves, and consequently see no sin in themselves, may be likened to those who scrape up wealth and lay it up in chests and coffers, making no further use of it than to look at it and count it; also to those who gather into their treasuries jewels of gold and silver, or hide them in vaults, for the mere sake of being rich. Such are like the trader who hid his talent in the earth, and like him who hid his pound in a napkin (Matt. 25:25; Luke 19:20). They are also like the hard wayside and the stony places upon which the seed fell (Matt. 13:4, 5). Also like fig trees full of leaves but bearing no fruit (Mark 11:13). They are the hearts of adamant, which do not become hearts of flesh (Zech. 7:12). They are like the partridges which gather and bring not forth; they get riches, but not with judgment; they leave them in the midst of their days, and at their end become fools (Jer. 17:11). They are like the five virgins who had lamps but no oil (Matt. 25:1-12). [3] Those who acquire from the Word much about charity and repentance, and who have abundant knowledge of its teachings, and yet do not live in accordance therewith, may be compared to gluttons, who stuff their food into their mouths in chunks, and swallow it without chewing, so that it remains undigested in the stomach, and when it passes out vitiates the chyle, and brings on lingering diseases, from which they finally die a miserable death. And as such are without spiritual heat, however much light they may possess, they may be called winters, frozen grounds, arctic climates, and even fields of snow and ice.

528.

ACTUAL REPENTANCE IS EXAMINING ONESELF, RECOGNIZING AND ACKNOWLEDGING ONE’S SINS, PRAYING TO THE LORD, AND BEGINNING A NEW LIFE. That man ought by all means to repent, and that his salvation depends thereon, is evident from many passages and plain sayings of the Lord in the Word, from among which the following shall at present be mentioned: John preached the baptism of repentance, and said, Bring forth fruits worthy of repentance (Luke 3:3, 8; Mark 1:4). Jesus began to preach and to say, Repent (Matt. 4:17). And He said, Because the kingdom of God is at hand, Repent ye (Mark 1:14, 15). Again: Except ye repent, ye shall all perish (Luke 13:5). Jesus commanded His disciples, that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name among all nations (Luke 24:47; Mark 6:12). Therefore Peter preached repentance and baptism in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins (Luke 2:38). And he also said: Repent ye and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out (Acts 3:19). Paul preached that they should all everywhere repent (Acts 18:30). Paul also declared in Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the country of Judea, and to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works worthy of repentance (Acts 26:20). Again he testified both to Jews and to Greeks, repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 20:21). The Lord said to the church at Ephesus: I have against thee, that thou hast left thy first charity; repent, but if not I will move thy lampstand out of its place, except thou repent (Rev. 2:4, 5). To the church at Pergamos: I know thy works, repent (Rev. 2:13, 16). To the church at Thyatira: I will cast her into great affliction, except they repent of their works (Rev. 2:19, 22, 23). To the church of the Laodiceans: I know thy works, be zealous, and repent (Rev. 3:15, 19). There is joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth (Luke 15:7). (Beside other passages.) From all this it is clear that men ought by all means to repent; but the quality and mode of their repentance shall be shown in what follows.

529.

Cannot any man understand, from the reason given him, that the mere lip-confession of being a sinner is not repentance, or the recounting of various particulars in regard to it, as the hypocrite did who was mentioned above (n. 518)? For what is easier for a man when he is in trouble and agony, than to utter sighs and groans from his lungs and lips, and also to beat his breast and make himself guilty of all sins, and still not be conscious of any sin in himself? Do the diabolical horde who then occupy his loves, depart along with his sighs? Do they not rather hiss at those things, and remain in him as before, as in their own house? From this it is clear that such repentance is not what is meant in the Word; but repentance from evil works, as is said.

530.

The question therefore is, How ought man to repent? And the reply is, Actually; that is to say, he must examine himself, recognize and acknowledge his sins, pray to the Lord, and begin a new life. That without examination repentance is not possible, has been shown in the preceding section. But of what use is examination except that one may recognize his sins? And why should he recognize his sins, except that he may acknowledge that they are in him? And of what use are these three things, except that man may confess his sins before the Lord, pray for help, and then begin a new life, which is the end sought? This is actual repentance. That man ought so to proceed and do, everyone may know (after he has passed the first period of life, and more and more as he comes under his own control and into the exercise of his own reason) first, from his baptism, the washing of which means regeneration; for in baptism his sponsors have promised for him that he will reject the devil and all his works, and also from the holy supper, for all are forewarned that before they can worthily approach it, they must repent of their sins, turn to God, and enter upon a new life; and still further, from the Decalogue or Catechism which is in the hands of all Christians, where, in six of the commandments nothing is commanded but that they should not do what is evil. And unless evils are removed by repentance, man cannot love his neighbor, still less God; yet on these two commandments hang the law and the prophets, that is, the Word, consequently salvation. If at recurring seasons there is actual repentance, as often, for instance, as a man prepares for the communion of the holy supper, and if he afterward abstains from one or another sin which he then discovers in himself, this is sufficient to initiate him into the actuality [of the repentance], and when he is in that he is on the way to heaven, for he then from being natural begins to be spiritual, and to be born anew from the Lord.

531.

This may be illustrated by the following comparisons. Before repentance man is like a desert where there are terrible wild beasts, dragons, owls of various kinds, vipers and poisonous serpents, and in the thickets are the ochim and the tziim, and there satyrs dance. But when these have been cast out by the industry and labor of man, that desert may be ploughed and made ready for planting, and sown first with oats, beans, and flax, and afterward with barley and wheat. Man before repentance may also be compared to the wickedness that reigns so largely among men where the wicked are not corrected according to law and punished by stripes or death, in which case no city, nor any kingdom even, could continue. Man is like a miniature society; unless he deals with himself in a spiritual manner, as the wicked in society at large are dealt with in a natural manner, after death he will be corrected and punished until he ceases to do evil for fear of the penalty, although he can never be brought to do good from the love of good.

532.

VII. TRUE REPENTANCE IS EXAMINING, NOT ONLY THE ACTIONS OF ONE’S LIFE, BUT ALSO THE INTENTIONS OF ONE’S WILL. True repentance is examining, not only the actions of one’s life, but also the intentions of one’s will, for the reason that the acts are done by the understanding and will; for man speaks from his thought, and acts from his will; therefore speech is the thought speaking, and action is the will acting. And this being the source of words and deeds, it follows indubitably that it is will and thought that sin when the body sins. Man can indeed repent of evils that he has done in body, and still think and will evil; but this is like cutting off the trunk of a bad tree, and leaving its root in the ground, from which the same bad tree grows up again, and spreads forth its branches. But it is different when the root also is torn up; and this is done in man when he examines the intentions of his will, and puts away his evils by repentance. Man examines the intentions of his will when he examines his thoughts, for in these the intentions make themselves manifest; as, for example, when his thought, will, and intention incline to revenge, adultery, theft, false witness, and to lust therefore, also to blasphemy against God and the holy Word and the church, and so on; if he continues to direct his attention to this, and to inquire whether he would actually commit these evils if fear of the law and for his reputation did not hinder; and if after this scrutiny he determines that he will not will to do these things, because they are sins, he truly and interiorly repents; and still more when these evils are delightful to him, and he is free to do them, and yet resists and abstains. He who practices this repeatedly, perceives the delights of evil, when they return, as undelightful, and finally he condemns them to hell. This is what is meant by these words of the Lord: Whoever wisheth to find his soul shall lose it; and whoever would lose his soul for My sake shall find it (Matt. 10:39). He that puts away the evils of his will, by such repentance, is like one who in due time plucks up the tares sown in his field by the devil, so that the seed implanted by the Lord God the Savior finds a clear soil and grows to a harvest (Matt. 13:24-30).

533.

There are two loves which have long been enrooted in the human race, the love of ruling over all, and the love of possessing the goods of all. The former love, if free rein is given to it, rushes on even so far as to wish to be the God of heaven; and the latter, if free rein is given to it, rushes on even so far as to wish to be the God of the world. To these two loves are subordinated all other evil loves, of which there are hosts; but to examine these two is exceedingly difficult, because they reside most deeply within and hide themselves; for they are like vipers concealed in a cloven rock, which retain their poison, so that when one lies down upon the rock they give their deadly stroke, and again withdraw to their hiding-place. They are also like the sirens of the ancients, who allured men by their song, and by that means slew them. These two loves also decorate themselves in splendid attire, as a devil by magical hallucinations does among his own, or among those whom he wishes to delude. [2] But it must be clearly understood that these two loves may bear rule among the humble more than among the great, among the poor more than among the rich, among subjects more than among kings; for the latter classes are born to dominion and wealth, and these they at length come to regard in the same way as any other man, a governor, a director, a sea captain, or even a poor farmer, regards his servants and possessions. It is different, however, with kings who aspire to dominion over the kingdoms of others. [3] The intentions of the will must be examined, because in the will the love resides, for the will is its receptacle, as shown above. From the will every love breathes out its delights into the perceptions and thoughts of the understanding, for these act from the will and not at all from themselves, because they wait on the will and consent to and confirm all that pertains to its love. The will therefore is the very house in which the man dwells, and the understanding is the hall through which he goes out and in. This is why it has been said that the will’s intentions must be examined; and when these have been examined and removed, man is lifted out of the natural will in which both inherited and actual evils have their seat, into the spiritual will through which the Lord reforms and regenerates the natural, and by means of this again, what is sensual and voluntary in the body, thus the whole man.

534.

Those who do not examine themselves, are comparatively like invalids whose blood is vitiated by the closing of the capillary vessels, which causes atrophy, numbness of the limbs, and painful chronic diseases arising from a thickening, tenacity, acridness, and acidity of the humors, and consequently of the blood. But on the other hand, those who examine themselves even as to the intentions of the will, are like those who have been cured of these diseases, and restored to the life they enjoyed in youth. Those who examine themselves properly, are like ships from Ophir laden with gold, silver, and valuables; but before they have examined themselves they are like ships loaded with filth, such as are used to carry off the mud and ordure of the streets. Those who examine themselves interiorly become like mines, all the walls of which are resplendent with ores of precious metals; but before this, they are like marshes with foul exhalations, containing snakes and poisonous serpents with glittering skins and noxious insects with shining wings. Those who do not examine themselves are like the dry bones in the valley; but after they have examined themselves, they are like these same bones when the Lord Jehovah had laid sinews upon them, caused flesh to come upon them, covered them with skin, and put breath in them, and they lived (Ezek. 37:1-14).

535.

VIII. THOSE ALSO REPENT WHO ALTHOUGHT THEY DO NOT EXAMINE THEMSELVES, YET REFRAIN FROM EVILS BECAUSE THEY ARE SINS; AN THOS WHO FROM RELIGION DO THEWOKS OF CHARITY EXERICSE SUCH REPENTANCE. Since actual repentance, which is examining oneself recognizing and acknowledging one’s sins, praying to the Lord and beginning a new life, is in the Reformed Christian world exceedingly difficult for many reasons that will be given in the last section of this chapter, therefore an easier kind of repentance is here presented, which is, that when anyone is giving thought to any evil and intending it, he shall say to himself, “Although I am thinking about this and intending it, I will not do it because it is a sin.” By this means the temptation injected from hell is checked, and its further entrance prevented. It is strange that anyone can find fault with another for his evil intentions, and say, “Do not do that because it is a sin,” and yet find it difficult to say this to himself; but this is because the latter touches the will, but the former only the thought nearest to hearing. Inquiry was made in the spiritual world as to who were capable of this [actual] repentance, and they were found to be as few as doves in a vast desert. Some said that they could repent in the easier way; but were not able to examine themselves and confess their sins before God. All who do good from religion, avoid actual evils, but they very rarely reflect upon the interiors pertaining to the will, for they believe that they are not in evil because they are in good, and even that the good covers the evil. But, my friend, the first thing of charity is to shun evils. This is taught in the Word, the Decalogue, baptism, the holy supper and even by the reason; for how can anyone flee away from evils and banish them without some self-inspection? And how can good become good until it has been interiorly purified? I know that all pious men, and also all men of sound reason, will assent to this when they read it, and will see it as genuine truth; but still, that few will act accordingly.

536.

And yet all who do good from religion, not only Christians, but even pagans, are accepted and after death adopted by the Lord; for the Lord said: I was an hungered, and ye gave Me to eat; I was thirsty and ye gave Me to drink; I was a sojourner, and ye took Me in; naked, and ye clothed Me; I was sick, and ye visited Me I was in prison, and ye came unto Me. And He said, Inasmuch as ye did it unto one of My brethren, even the least, ye did it unto Me. Come, ye blessed, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world (Matt. 25:31 seq.). To this I will add the following, which is new: All those who do good from religion, after death reject the doctrine of the present church respecting three Divine persons from eternity, and also its faith as applied to the three in their order. These turn to the Lord God the Savior, and accept with pleasure what belongs to the New Church. [2] But the rest, who have not exercised charity from religion, have hearts of adamant, that is, hardened hearts. They first approach three Gods, then the Father alone, and finally no God. They look upon the Lord God the Savior as the son of Mary only, born from marriage with Joseph, and not as the Son of God; and then they discard all the goods and truths of the New Church, and straightway connect themselves with the spirits of the dragon, and with them are driven away into deserts or into caverns on the very confines of what is called the Christian world; and after a time, because they are separated from the New Heaven, they rush into crime, and are therefore sent down to hell. [3] Such is the lot of those who do not do works of charity from religion, because of their belief that no one is able to do good of himself, except such as he claims merit for; consequently they disregard such works, and associate themselves with the goats, who are damned and cast into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels, because they have not done what was done by the sheep (Matt. 25:41-46). It is not there said that they did what is evil, but that they did not do what is good; and those who do not do what is good from religion do what is evil, since: No man can serve two masters; for either he hates the one and loves the other, or he holds to the one and despises the other (Matt. 6:24). Jehovah says through Isaiah: Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; learn to do well; then although your sins have been as scarlet, they shall become as white as snow; although they have been red like crimson, they shall be as wool (Isa. 1:16-18). And in Jeremiah: Stand in the gate of Jehovah’s house, and proclaim there this word, Thus said Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel, Amend your ways and your doings, trust ye not in lying words, saying, The temple of Jehovah, The temple of Jehovah, this is the temple of Jehovah (that is, the church). Will ye steal, murder, and swear falsely, and then come and stand before Me in this house, upon which My name is named, and say, We are delivered while we do all these abominations? Is this house become a den of robbers? Behold, even I have seen it, saith Jehovah (Jer. 7:2-4, 9-11).

537.

It must be understood that those who do good from natural goodness only, and not also from religion, are not accepted after death, because there is only natural good in their charity, and not spiritual good also; and it is the spiritual that conjoins the Lord to man, and not the natural apart from the spiritual. Natural goodness belongs to the flesh merely, being acquired by birth from parents; but spiritual goodness belongs to the spirit born anew from the Lord. Those who do the good works of charity from religion, and consequently do not commit evil, before they have accepted the doctrine of the New Church concerning the Lord, may be likened to trees that bear good fruit, although but little, and also to trees that bear excellent small fruit, which are nevertheless cared for in gardens. They may also be likened to olive trees and fig-trees in forests, and again to fragrant herbs and balsamic shrubs on hills. They are like little chapels or houses of God, where pious worship is performed; for they are the sheep on the right hand, and the rams which the goats assault, according to Daniel (8:2-14). In heaven such are clothed in garments of a red color, and when they have been initiated into the goods of the New Church they are clothed with garments of a purple color, which acquire a beautiful golden glow in proportion as they also receive truths.

538.

IX. CONFESSION OUGHT TO BE MADE BEFORE THE LORD GOD THE SAVIOR, FOLLOWED BY SUPPLICATION FOR HELP AND THE POWER TO RESIST EVILS. The Lord God the Savior is to be approached because He is the God of heaven and earth, the Redeemer and Savior, to whom omnipotence, omniscience, omnipresence, mercy itself, and also justice, belong; also because man is His creature and the church is His sheepfold; also because in the New Testament He frequently commands men to approach, worship, and adore Him. That He alone is to be approached He has enjoined in the following words in John: Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that entereth not through the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber; but he that entereth in through the door is the shepherd of the sheep, I am the door, through Me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall find pasture. The thief cometh not but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I came that they may have life, and may have abundance. I am the good shepherd (John 10:1-2, 9-11). That man is not “to climb up some other way” means that he is not to approach God the Father, because He is invisible and therefore inaccessible, and conjunction with Him is impossible; and this is why He Himself came into the world, and made Himself visible and accessible, and conjunction with Him possible; which was done solely that man might be saved. For unless in thought God is approached as a Man, every idea of God perishes; it falls as sight does when directed out upon the universe, that is, into empty nothingness, or into nature, or into what is met within nature. That God Himself, who from eternity is One, came into the world, is clearly evident from the birth of the Lord the Savior, in that He was conceived by the power of the Most High through the Holy Spirit, and from this conception His Human was born of the virgin Mary; from which it follows, that His soul was the Divine Itself that is called the Father (for God is indivisible); and that the Human born therefrom is the Human of God the Father, which is called the Son of God (Luke 1:32, 34, 35). From this again it follows that when the Lord God the Savior is approached, God the Father is approached also; therefore, to Philip asking Him to show them the Father, He replied: He that seeth Me seeth the Father; how sayest thou then, show us the Father? Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? Believe Me, that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me (John 14:6-11). But on these points more may be seen in the chapters on God; the Lord, the Holy Spirit, and the Trinity.

539.

There are two duties incumbent on man, to be done after examination, namely, supplication and confession. The supplication should be that the Lord may be merciful, that He may give power to resist the evils that have been repented of, and that He will provide inclination and affection for doing good, Since apart from the Lord man can do nothing (John 15:5). The confession will be that he sees, recognizes, and acknowledges his evils, and finds himself to be a miserable sinner. There is no need for man to enumerate his sins before the Lord, nor to supplicate forgiveness of them. He need not enumerate them, because he has searched them out and seen them in himself, and consequently they are present to the Lord because they are present to himself. Moreover, the Lord led him to search them out, disclosed them, and inspired grief for them, and together with this an effort to refrain from them and begin a new life. Supplication need not be made to the Lord for forgiveness of sins, for the following reasons: First, because sins are not abolished, but removed; and they are removed so far as man continues to refrain from them and enters upon a new life; for there are innumerable lusts inherent, coiled up as it were, in every evil, and they cannot be put away instantly, but only gradually, as man permits himself to be reformed and regenerated. The second reason is, that as the Lord is mercy itself, He forgives all men their sins, nor does He impute a single sin to anyone, for He says, “They know not what they do.” Nevertheless, the sins are not thereby taken away; for to Peter asking how often he should forgive his brother’s trespasses, whether he should do so seven times, the Lord said: I say not unto thee, until seven times, but until seventy times seven (Matt. 18:21-22). What, then, will not the Lord do? Still it does no harm for one burdened in conscience to enumerate his sins before a minister of the church, in order to lighten his burden and obtain absolution; because he is thereby initiated into a habit of examining himself, and reflecting upon each day’s evils. But this kind of confession is natural, while that described above is spiritual.

To adore as God some vicar on earth, or to invoke as God some saint, has no more weight in heaven than to make supplication to the sun, moon, and stars, or to ask for a response from a diviner and believe what he puts forth, which is idle. It would be also like worshiping a temple, and not worshiping God in the temple; it would be like supplicating a king’s servant carrying the scepter and crown in his hand, for the honors of glory, instead of the king himself; and this would be as useless as trying to kiss the splendor of purple, renown, light, the golden rays of the sun, or a mere name, apart from their subjects. For those who do such things are these words in John: We abide in the truth in Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life. Little children, guard yourselves from idols (1 John 20-21).

561.

X. ACTUAL REPENTANCE IS EASY FOR THOSE WHO HAVE NOW AND THEN PRACTISED IT, BUT IT IS A VERY DIFFICULT TASK FOR THOSE WHO HAVE NOT. Actual repentance is to examine oneself, to recognize one’s sins, to confess them before God, and thus to begin a new life; this is in accord with the previous description of it. To the Reformed Christian world (meaning by this all those who are separate from the church of Rome, and also to those attached to that church who have not practiced actual repentance), this repentance is a very difficult task. This is because some are unwilling and some are afraid to practice it; and continued neglect establishes a habit, induces unwillingness, and at length gains the endorsement of the reasoning intellect, and this with some produces sadness, dread, and terror at the thought of repentance. Actual repentance is so extremely difficult in the Reformed Christian world chiefly because of their belief that repentance and charity contribute nothing to salvation, but faith alone, from the imputation of which forgiveness of sins, justification, renovation, regeneration, sanctification, and eternal salvation follow. Moreover, their dogmatic writers say that man’s cooperation of himself, or as if of himself, is useless, is an obstacle to Christ’s merit, and is repugnant and injurious to it. And this idea is implanted in the minds of the common people, although they are ignorant of the mysteries of that faith, merely by the sayings, that “faith alone saves,” and who can possibly do good of himself?” For this reason: repentance among the Reformed is like a nest of young birds deprived of the parent birds, which have been captured and killed by the fowler. To this another reason may be added, that a so-called Reformed Christian is associated in the spiritual world as to his spirit, only with such as are like himself, who introduce such things into the ideas of his thought, and lead him away from the very first step toward self-inspection and self-examination.

562.

I have asked many of the Reformed in the spiritual world, why they did not practice actual repentance, when it was enjoined upon them both in the Word and at baptism, as also before the holy communion in all their churches. They made various replies. Some said that contrition with a lip-confession that they were sinners, is sufficient; some that such repentance, because it takes place while man is acting from his own will, is not consistent with the generally accepted faith. Others said, “How can anyone examine himself, when he knows that he is nothing but sin? This would be like casting a net into a lake filled from bottom to top with mud containing noxious worms.” Others said, “Who can look into himself so deeply as to see in himself Adam’s sin, from which all his actual evils flow? Are not both kinds of evil washed away by the water of baptism, and removed or covered up by the merit of Christ? What then is repentance but a requirement, which sadly disturbs the conscientious? By the Gospel are we not under grace, and not under the hard law of that repentance?” and so on. Some said, that whenever they undertake to examine themselves, dread and terror fill their minds as if they saw a monster near their bed in the morning twilight. From all this the reasons are made clear why actual repentance in the Reformed Christian world has become rusty, as it were, and is discarded. [2] In the presence of these persons I also asked some who adhered to the Roman Catholic religion about their actual confession to their ministers, whether it was difficult. They replied, that after they had been initiated into it they were not afraid to recount their trespasses to a confessor who was not severe, that they gathered them up with a kind of pleasure, telling the lighter ones cheerfully, and the more serious somewhat timidly; also from habit they freely returned annually to their appointed confession, and, after receiving absolution, to festivity; moreover, that they look upon all who are not willing to disclose the defilements of their hearts, as impure. Hearing this, the Reformed who were present hastened away, some deriding and laughing, some astounded and yet commending. [3] Afterward some drew near who belonged to that same church, but had lived in Protestant countries, who, according to the usage there established, did not make a special confession, as their brethren do elsewhere, but a general confession to one who held the keys for them. These said that they were utterly unable to examine themselves, to trace out and set forth their actual evils and the secrets of their thoughts; and that they felt this to be as repugnant and terrifying as an attempt to cross a ditch to a rampart where an armed soldier stands and cries, “Keep back.” From all this it is now clear that actual repentance is easy to those who at times practice it, but is extremely difficult to those who have not practiced it.

563.

It is known that habit is a second nature, and that therefore what is easy for one is difficult for another; and this is true of self-examination and a confession of what is thereby discovered. What is easier for a hired laborer, a porter, or a farmer, than to work with his hands from morning till evening, while a gentleman or a delicate person could not do the same work for half an hour without fatigue and sweating? It is easy for a footman with a staff and easy boots to pursue his way for miles, while one accustomed to ride can hardly run slowly from one street to another. Every mechanic who is attentive to his task goes through it easily and willingly, and when he leaves it, longs to return; while another, who understands the same trade, but is indolent, can scarcely be driven to work. The same is true of everyone, whatever may be his office or pursuit. To one diligent in piety, what is easier than to pray to God? while to one who is a slave to impiety, what is more difficult, and vice versa? What priest, preaching before a king for the first time, does not feel timid? but after doing it frequently he goes through boldly. What is easier for an angelic man than to raise his eyes to heaven, or for a devilish man than to cast them down toward hell? But if the latter becomes a hypocrite, he too can look up to heaven, but his heart is turned away. Everyone becomes imbued with the end he has in view and the habit arising therefrom.

564.

XI. ONE WHO HAS NEVER REPENTED OR HAS NEVER LOOKED INTO AND SEARCHED HIMSELF, FINALLY CEASES TO KNOW WHAT DAMNING EVIL OR SAVING GOOD IS. As few in the Reformed Christian world practice repentance, this is here added, that he who has not looked into and searched himself, finally ceases to know what damning evil or saving good is, because he has no religion from which to know it; for the evil that a man does not see, recognize, and acknowledge, remains; and whatever remains becomes more and more enrooted, until it obstructs the interiors of the mind, whereby man becomes first natural, then sensual, and finally corporeal, and in such states he knows not any damning evil or saving good. He becomes like a tree growing on a hard rock, which spreads its roots among the crevices and finally withers away from lack of moisture. [2] Every man rightly educated is rational and moral; but there are two ways to rationality, one from the world and the other from heaven. He who has become rational and moral from the world only, and not from heaven, is rational and moral in word and gesture only, but is inwardly a beast, and even a wild beast, because he acts as one with those who are in hell, where all are wild beasts. But he who is rational and moral from heaven also, is truly rational and moral, because he is so at once in spirit, word, and body; the spiritual being within these two latter like a soul actuating the natural, sensual, and corporeal; it also acts as one with those who are in heaven. Therefore there can be a spiritual-rational and moral man, and also a merely natural-rational and moral man. These two are not distinguished from each other in the world, especially if the man has by practice become imbued with hypocrisy; but they are distinguished by the angels in heaven as easily as doves from owls or sheep from tigers. [3] The merely natural man can see good and evil in others, and also rebuke others; but not having looked into and examined himself, he does not see any evil in himself, and if any is discovered by another, he cloaks it by means of his rationality; as a serpent hides his head in the dust, and immerses himself in it, as a hornet buries himself in mud. This is done by the delight of evil, which encompasses him as a fog does a marsh, absorbing and extinguishing the rays of light. Infernal delight is no other. It is exhaled from hell, and flows into every man, into the soles of his feet, his back, and his occiput; and when it is received by the head in the forehead and by the body in the breast, man is made a slave to hell; and for the reason that the human cerebrum is devoted to the understanding and the wisdom it contains, but the cerebellum to the will and its love. This is why there are two brains. But that infernal delight can be corrected, reformed, and inverted solely by the spiritual-rational and moral.

565.

There shall now be given a brief description of the merely natural-rational and moral man, who viewed in himself is sensual, and if he goes on, becomes corporeal or fleshly; but the description shall be sketched in separate statements. The sensual is the outmost of the life of man’s mind, adherent to and coherent with his five bodily senses. He is called a sensual man who judges of everything from the bodily senses, and believes nothing but what he can see with his eyes and touch with his hands, calling that something real, and rejecting everything else. The interiors of his mind, which have their vision from the light of heaven, are closed, so that he sees nothing of the truth that relates to heaven and the church. Such a man thinks in outermosts, and not interiorly from any spiritual light, because he is in gross natural light; therefore he is interiorly opposed to the things that pertain to heaven and the church, although outwardly he can speak in favor of them, even zealously, in proportion to his hope of gaining power and wealth by means of them. Men of learning and erudition, who have confirmed themselves deeply in falsities, and still more those who have confirmed themselves against the truths of the Word, are more sensual than others. [2] Sensual men reason acutely and skillfully, because their thought is so near to speech as to be almost in it, as it were, on the lips; also because they ascribe all intelligence to the speech that is from memory alone. Moreover, they can dexterously confirm falsities, and after confirming them they believe them to be true; but their reasoning and confirmation are from the fallacies of the senses, which captivate and persuade the common people. Sensual men are more cunning and malicious than others. The avaricious, adulterous, and crafty are especially sensual, although to the world they seem talented. The interiors of their minds are vile and filthy; by these they communicate with the hells; in the Word they are called dead. Those who are in the hells are sensual, and more so the more deeply they are in them; and the sphere of infernal spirits conjoins itself from behind with man’s sensual. In the light of heaven their occiput seems hollow. Those who reasoned from sensual things only, were called by the ancients serpents of the tree of knowledge. [3] Sensual things ought to occupy the last place, not the first; and in a wise and intelligent man they do occupy the last place, and are subordinate to things interior; but in a foolish man they occupy the first place, and are predominant. When things sensual occupy the last place, a way is opened by means of them to the understanding, and truths are perfected by the method of extraction. Such sensual things stand most near to the world, and admit what flows to them from the world, and, as it were, sift it. By means of sensual things man communicates with the world, and by means of rational things with heaven. Sensual things supply what is of service to the interiors of the mind. There are sensual things that supply what is serviceable both to the intellectual and to the voluntary part. Unless thought is raised above sensual things man has but little wisdom. When man’s thought is raised above sensual things, he comes into a clearer light, and at length into heavenly light, and then he has a perception of such things as flow down from heaven. The outmost of the understanding is the natural knowing faculty, and the outmost of the will is sensual delight.

566.

As to his natural man, man is like a beast; he acquires the image of a beast by means of life. Consequently in the spiritual world there appear about such a man beasts of all kinds, which are correspondences. For man’s natural, viewed in itself, is purely animal; but because there is a spiritual superadded, he can become a man; and if he does not become a man from the capacity to become so, he can counterfeit one, although he is then only a talking beast; for he talks from the natural-rational, but thinks from spiritual insanity, and he acts from natural morality, but loves from a spiritual satyriasis. His actions, seen by a spiritually rational man, are but little different from the dance of one bitten by a tarantula, or that called St. Vitus’ dance, or the dance of St. Guy. Who does not know that a hypocrite can talk about God, a robber about honesty, an adulterer about chastity, and so on. But unless man had the ability to shut and open the door between his thoughts and his words, and between his intentions and his actions, and unless prudence or cunning were the doorkeeper, he would rush into crimes and cruelties more fiercely than any wild beast. But in every man after death that door is opened; and then what he has been is apparent; but he is kept under restraint by punishments and confinements in hell. Therefore, kind reader, look into yourself, and find out one or another evil that is in you, and from religion dismiss it. If you dismiss evils from any other purpose or end, you do so only that they may not appear before the world.

567.

To all this the following Memorable Relations shall be added. First: I was suddenly seized with a disease almost deadly; my whole head was oppressed; a pestilential smoke was let into it from the Jerusalem which is called: Sodom and Egypt (Rev. 11:8). I was half dead with the fierce pain; I expected my end. In this state I lay in my bed for three days and a half. My spirit was brought into that condition, and from it my body. Then I heard about me the voices of some, who said, “Behold, he who preached repentance for the forgiveness of sins and Christ as alone man, lies dead in the street of our city.” And they asked some of the clergy whether that man was worthy of burial; and they answered, “No; let him lie and be looked at.” And they kept going, and coming, and scoffing. Of a truth this so happened to me while explaining the eleventh chapter of The Apocalypse. Then harsh remarks were heard from the scoffers, especially these “How can man repent without faith? How can the man Christ be adored as God? Since we are saved freely without any merit of our own, what need is there of anything except the faith only that God the Father sent the Son to take away the damnation of the law, to impute to us His merit, and so justify us before Him, absolve us from our sins by the declaration of a priest, and then give us the Holy Spirit to work in us all good? Is this not in accordance with Scripture and also in accordance with reason?” At this the crowd that stood by applauded. [2] I heard this and was unable to reply, because I lay almost dead. But after three days and a half my spirit recovered, and in spirit I went out on the street into the city and said again, “Repent, and believe in Christ, and your sins will be forgiven, and you will be saved; otherwise, you will perish. Did not the Lord Himself preach repentance for the forgiveness of sins, and that they should believe in Him? Did He not command His disciples to preach the same? Does not complete unconcern about life follow the dogma of your faith?” But they said, “What nonsense! Has not the Son made satisfaction? Does not the Father impute this to us? We who believe this He justifies; thus we are led by the spirit of grace. What then is sin in us, and what is death with us? Preacher of sin and repentance, do you understand this gospel?” Then a voice came forth out of heaven, saying, “What is the faith of an impenitent man but a dead faith? The end has come, the end has come upon you, unconcerned, blameless in your own eyes, justified in your own belief, satans.” Then suddenly a chasm was opened in the midst of the city; it widened; house after house fell into it, and they were swallowed up; and straightway water welled up from the wide gulf and overflowed the waste. [3] When they had thus sunk down and been apparently overflowed, I was wishing to know their lot in the abyss, and I was told from heaven, “You shall see and hear.” And then the waters by which they seemed to be overflowed disappeared before my eyes; for waters in the spiritual world are correspondences, and therefore appear about those who are in falsities - I then saw them in the sandy bottom, where heaps of stones were piled, among which they were running about and lamenting that they had been cast out of their great city. They shouted and cried out, “Why has this come upon us? Are we not, by our faith, clean, pure, just, and holy? Are we not, by our faith, cleansed, purified, justified and sanctified?” And others cried out, “Are we not, by our faith, made such that before God the Father we appear, are seen, and are reputed, and before the angels are declared to be clean, pure, just and holy? Have we not been reconciled, propitiated, expiated, and therefore absolved, washed, and cleansed from sin? Has not the condemnation of the law been taken away by Christ? Why, then, have we been cast down into this place as if damned? We heard a bold preacher against sin say in our great city, ‘Believe in Christ, and repent.’ Have we not believed in Christ, since we have believed in His merit? Have we not, repented, since we have confessed that we are sinners? Why then has this befallen us?” [4] Then was heard a voice from one side saying to them, “Do you know of anyone sin in which you are? Have you ever examined yourselves, and consequently shunned any evil as a sin against God? He who does not shun evil is in evil. Is not sin the devil? Therefore you are those of whom the Lord says: Then shall ye begin to say, We have eaten and drunk before Thee, and Thou hast taught in our streets. But He will say, I tell you, I know you not whence ye are; depart from Me, all ye workers of iniquity (Luke 13:26, 27; as also those of whom He speaks, Matt. 7:22, 23). Away, therefore, each to his own place. You see openings in the caverns; enter, and to each one of you will be given his own task to be done, and then food in proportion to your work. If you do not, hunger will soon compel you to go in.” [5] Afterward there came a voice out of heaven to some on the earth who were outside of that great city (who also are spoken of in Rev. 11:13), saying loudly, “Beware, beware of affiliation with such spirits. Can you not understand that the evils which are called sins and iniquities render man unclean and impure? How can man be cleansed and purified from them except by actual repentance, and by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ?” “Actual repentance is to examine oneself, to recognize and acknowledge one’s sins, to hold oneself guilty, to confess sins before the Lord, to pray for help and power to resist them, and thus refrain from them and begin a new life; and all this you must do as if of yourselves. Do so once or twice a year, when you come to the holy communion; and afterward, whenever the sins of which you have found yourselves guilty recur, say to yourselves, ‘We will not do this because it is a sin against God.’ This is actual repentance. [6] Who cannot understand that he who does not examine and see his sins remains in them? For every evil is delightful to a man from his birth; it is delightful to him to take revenge, to commit whoredom, to defraud, to blaspheme, and especially to exercise dominion from self-love; and does not this delight prevent your seeing these sins? And if, perchance, you are told that they are sins, do you not from their delight excuse them, and even prove to yourselves by means of falsities that they are not sins? And, therefore, you remain in them, and afterward commit them more frequently than before, and this even until you do not know what sin is, or indeed whether there is any such thing. With anyone who actually repents it is different. His evils, such as he has recognized and acknowledged, he calls sins, and therefore begins to shun them and turn away from them; and finally to feel their delight to be undelightful. And so far as this is done he sees and loves good, and at length feels the delight of good, which is the delight of the angels of heaven. In a word, so far as anyone puts the devil behind him, he is accepted by the Lord, and is taught, led, withheld from evil, and kept in good by Him; and this is the way, and the only way, from hell to heaven.” [7] It is wonderful that with the Reformed there is a certain enrooted objection, repugnance, and aversion to actual repentance, which is so great as to prevent their compelling themselves to examine themselves, to see their sins, and to confess them before God; it is as if horror seized them when this is proposed. In the spiritual world I have asked very many about this, and they all have declared that it was beyond their power. When they have heard that this is still done by the papists, that is, that they examine themselves, and openly confess their sins to a monk, they have been very much astonished, and especially that the Reformed could not even do this in secret before God, although it is equally enjoined upon them before they come to the holy supper. Some there wished to know why this is so; and they found that such a state of impenitence and such a heart are induced by faith alone. Then it was granted them to see that those Roman Catholics who worship Christ and do not invoke saints are saved. [8] After this, something like thunder was heard, and a voice speaking from heaven, saying, “We are amazed. Say to the assembly of the Reformed, ‘Believe in Christ, repent, and you will be saved. ‘“ This I said, adding also, “Is not baptism a sacrament of repentance, and therefore introduction into the church? What do the sponsors promise for him who is about to be baptized, but that he will renounce the devil and his works? Is not the holy supper a sacrament of repentance, and thus introduction into heaven? Are not communicants told by all means to repent before coming to it? Does not the catechism, the doctrine of the entire Christian church, teach repentance? Is it not there said, in the six commandments of the second table, Thou shalt not do this or that evil, and not, Thou shalt do this or that good? From this you may know that so far as anyone renounces evil and turns away from it, so far he is moved by and loves good, and until then does not know what good is, nor even what evil is.”

568.

Second Memorable Relation: What pious and wise man does not wish to know his life’s lot after death? I will therefore set forth plainly some general truths in order that it may be known. Every man, when, after death, he feels that he is still alive, and that he is in another world, and hears that heaven, where there are eternal joys, is above him, and hell, where there are eternal sorrows, is beneath him, is at first remitted into his externals, in which he was in the former world; and he then believes that he is certainly going to heaven, and talks intelligently and acts prudently. And some then say, “We have lived morally, we have pursued honesty, we have not done evil purposely.” Others say, “We have frequented churches, heard masses, kissed sacred images, and on our knees poured out prayers.” Others again, “We have given to the poor, helped the needy, read pious books, and also the Word,” with other like things. [2] But when they have said these things, angels approach and say, “All that you have mentioned you have done in externals, but you do not yet know what you are in your internals. You are now spirits in a substantial body, and the spirit is your internal man. It is this in you that thinks what it wills and wills what it loves; and that is the delight of its life. Every man from infancy begins life from externals, and learns to act morally and talk intelligently; and when he begins to gain some idea of heaven and its happiness, he begins to pray, to frequent churches, and to observe the solemnities of worship; and yet when evils spring forth from their native fountain, he hides them in his mind’s bosom, and also ingeniously covers them over with reasonings from fallacies to such an extent that he does not even know that evil is evil. And then because the evils are veiled over and covered up as it were with dust, he thinks no more about them, except to guard against their appearing before the world. Thus he endeavors merely to lead a moral life in externals, and thus he becomes a double man, a sheep in externals, and a wolf in internals; and he is like a golden box containing poison, or like a man with a foul breath holding something aromatic in his mouth to prevent those near him from perceiving it; or he is like a mouse’s skin that smells of balsam. [3] You said that you had lived morally, and had followed pious pursuits; but tell me, have you ever examined your internal man and there perceived any lusting after revenge even to murder, after libidinous living even to adultery, after defrauding even to theft, after lying even to false witness? In four of the commandments of the Decalogue it is said, Thou shalt not do these things, and in the two last, Thou shalt not lust after them. Do you believe that in these things your internal man has been like your external? If you do you are perhaps deceived.” [4] To this they replied, “What is the internal man? Is not the internal and the external one and the same? We have heard from our ministers that the internal man is nothing but faith, and that oral piety and a morality of life are the signs of it, because they are its operation.” To this the angels answered, “Saving faith is in the internal man, and charity likewise; and from them come Christian fidelity and morality in the external man. But if the above mentioned lusts remain in the internal man, thus in the will and therefrom in the thought, and if in consequence you love these things interiorly, and yet act and speak otherwise in externals, evil is then with you above good, and good below evil; consequently, however you may talk as if from the understanding, and act from love, evil is within and thus is veiled over; and then you are like cunning apes which perform actions like those of men, but the human heart is wholly lacking. [5] But what your internal man is, of which you know nothing, because you have not examined yourselves and afterwards repented, you will see after a while, when you put off your external man and are let into the internal. When this takes place you will no longer be recognized by your companions, nor even by yourselves. Wicked men, who were moral, I have then seen to be like wild beasts, looking at the neighbor with savage eyes, burning with deadly hatred, and blaspheming God, whom they adored while in the external man.” Hearing this they withdrew; and the angels then said, “You will see your life’s lot after a little; for your external man will soon be taken away from you, and you will enter into the internal, which is now your spirit.”

569.

Third Memorable Relation: Every love in man breathes forth a delight by which it makes itself felt. It is breathed forth first into the spirit and from that into the body; and the delight of one’s love, together with the pleasantness of thought, constitutes his life. This delight and pleasantness are felt by man only obscurely while he lives in the natural body, because that body absorbs and blunts them; but after death, when the material body is laid aside, and the covering or clothing of the spirit thus removed, man has a full sense and perception of these delights of love and pleasantnesses of thought, and, what is wonderful, sometimes even as odors. Because of this, all in the spiritual world are affiliated according to their loves, those in heaven according to theirs, and those in hell according to theirs. [2] The odors into which, in heaven, the delights of loves are turned, are all perceived like the fragrances, sweet smells, pleasant exhalations, and delicious sensations that arise from gardens, flower-beds, fields and forests in the mornings in spring. But the odors into which the delights of the loves of those in hell are turned, are perceived like the pungent, fetid and putrid smells that arise from cesspools, dead bodies, and ponds full of rubbish and ordure; and, what is wonderful, the devils and satans there perceive these smells as balsams, aromatics and frankincense, refreshing their nostrils and hearts. In the natural world it is also given to beasts, birds, and worms to be associated according to odors, but not to men until they have laid aside their bodies as exuviae. [3] On this account heaven is most distinctly arranged in accordance with all the varieties of the love of good, and hell, on the contrary, in accordance with all the varieties of the love of evil. It is owing to this opposition that there is a gulf between heaven and hell which cannot be passed; for those who are in heaven cannot endure any odor from hell, because it excites nausea and vomiting, and threatens them with swooning if they inhale it. The effect is similar upon those who are in hell, if they pass the middle line of that gulf. [4] I once saw a certain devil, who at a distance had the appearance of a leopard (a few days before he had been seen among the angels of the lowest heaven, having the art to make himself an angel of light), who had passed beyond the middle line and was standing between two olive trees, yet did not perceive any odor offensive to his life, for the reason that there were no angels present. But the moment they approached he was seized with convulsions and fell down rigid in all his limbs; and then he appeared like a great serpent drawing himself up in folds, and at length gliding down through the opening, from which he was taken by his companions and carried into a cavern, and there by the rank odor of his own delight he was revived. [5] Again, I once saw a satan punished by his companions. I asked why, and was told that with his nostrils stopped up he had gone near to those who were in the odor of heaven, and had returned and brought that odor with him on his clothing. It has often happened that a putrid odor, like that of corpses, from some open cavern in hell, has painfully touched my nostrils and brought on vomiting. From all this it can be seen why in the Word the sense of smell signifies perception, for it is often said that Jehovah smelled a sweet savor from the burnt-offerings; also that the anointing oil and the incense were made of fragrant substances; and on the other hand the children of Israel were commanded to carry out of their camps what was unclean in them, and to dig down and bury their excrements (Deut. 23:12, 13). This was because the camps of Israel represented heaven, and the desert without the camps represented hell.

570.

Fourth Memorable Relation: I once talked with a novitiate spirit who, when in the world, had meditated much upon heaven and hell. By novitiate spirits are meant men who have recently died, and who are called spirits because they are then spiritual men. As soon as this spirit entered the spiritual world, he began to meditate in the same manner on heaven and hell, and when thinking about heaven seemed to himself to be glad, and when thinking about hell to be sad. As soon as he recognized that he was in the spiritual world he asked where heaven and hell were, what they were, and what was the nature of each. They answered, “Heaven is over your head, and hell beneath your feet; for you are now in the world of spirits, which is intermediate between heaven and hell; but what they are, and what the nature of each is, we cannot describe in few words.” Then, as he ardently wished to know, he threw himself upon his knees and devoutly prayed to God that he might be instructed. And lo, an angel appeared at his right hand and raised him up, and said, “You have prayed to be instructed about heaven and hell; inquire and learn what delight is, and you will know.” As soon as the angel had said this, he was taken up. [2] The novitiate spirit then said to himself, “What does this mean? ‘Inquire and learn what delight is, and you will know what heaven and hell are, and their nature.’” Leaving that place immediately, he wandered around, and asked those he met, “Pray, tell me, if you please, what delight is.” And some said, “What sort of a question is that? Who does not know what delight is? Is it not joy and gladness? Delight is delight. One is the same as the other. We know no difference.” Others said, “Delight is the mind’s laughter; for when the mind laughs the countenance is merry, the speech is jocular, the gestures are playful, and the whole man is in delight.” Others said, “Delight is nothing but feasting and eating rich things, drinking generous wine and getting drunk, and then chatting about various things, especially the sports of Venus and Cupid.” [3] Hearing these remarks, the novitiate spirit being indignant, said to himself, “These answers are boorish, not those of well-bred persons. Such delights are neither heaven nor hell. Would that I could find some wise men.” And he went away from these persons and asked, “Where are the wise men?” He was then seen by an angelic spirit, who said, “I perceive that you have an ardent desire to know what the universal of heaven is, and what the universal of hell is; and as this is delight, I will conduct you to a hill where there is a daily meeting of those who inquire into effects, of those who investigate causes, and of those who search out ends. Those who inquire into effects are there called spirits of knowledge, abstractly, knowledges; those who investigate causes, are called spirits of intelligence, abstractly, intelligences, and those who search out ends, are called spirits of wisdom, abstractly, wisdoms. Directly above these in heaven are angels who from ends see causes, and from causes see effects; from these angels those three companies have enlightenment.” [4] Then taking the novitiate spirit by the hand, he led him to the top of the hill, and to the assembly that was composed of those who search out ends and are called wisdoms. The novitiate spirit said to them, “Pardon my coming up to you; I did so, because from my childhood I have meditated about heaven and hell. I have lately come to this world; and some who were then associated with me said that heaven is here above my head, and hell beneath my feet; but they did not say what either one or the other is or the nature of it; therefore, becoming anxious from constantly thinking about them, I prayed to God; and then an angel came to me and said, ‘Inquire and learn what delight is, and you will know.’ I have inquired, but thus far in vain. I therefore beg that you will teach me, if it please you, what delight is.” [5] To this the wisdoms replied, “Delight is the all of life, to all in heaven, and to all in hell. To those in heaven, it is the delight of good and truth, but to those in hell, it is the delight of evil and falsity; for all delight belongs to love, and love is the being [esse] of man’s life. Therefore, as man is man in accord with what his love is, so is he man in accord with what his delight is. The activity of love is what gives the sense delight; in heaven its activity is with wisdom, and in hell with insanity, but in both cases the activity produces the delight in its subjects. But the heavens and hells are opposite delights; the heavens are in love of good, and the consequent delight of doing good; but the hells are in the love of evil, and in the consequent delight of doing evil. If, therefore, you know what delight is, you know what heaven and hell are, and their nature. [6] “But inquire and learn still further what delight is from those who investigate causes, and are called intelligences. They are off toward the right.” And he left them and drew near to that assembly, and told them the reason of his coming, and begged them to teach him what delight is. And pleased with the question, they said, “It is true that he who knows what delight is knows what heaven and hell are and their nature. The will, from which man is man, is not moved in the slightest degree except by delight; for the will, viewed in itself, is nothing but the affection of some love, thus some delight; for it is some pleasure and consequent satisfaction that causes volition. And since the will moves the understanding to think, not the least thought is possible except from an influent delight of the will. This is so for the reason that the Lord by influx from Himself actuates all things of the soul, and all things of the mind, in angels, spirits, and men, and in these He actuates by an influx of love and wisdom; and this influx is the activity itself from which comes all delight. In its origin this is called bliss, happiness, and felicity, and in its derivation, delight, pleasantness, and pleasure, and in a universal sense, Good. But infernal spirits invert everything in themselves, thus turning good into evil, and truth into falsehood, the delight remaining without interruption; for without permanence of delight they would have no will, no sensation, and thus no life. This makes clear what the delight of hell is, and its nature and source; also what the delight of heaven is, and its nature and source.” [7] Having heard this, he was conducted to the third assembly, where those were who inquire into effects and are called knowledges; and they said, “Descend to the lower earth, and ascend to the higher; you will there perceive and feel the delights of both heaven and hell.” And lo, at that moment the earth opened at a distance, and through the chasm three devils came up, who seemed to be on fire with their love’s delight; and as the angels accompanying the novitiate spirit perceived that these three had come up out of hell providentially, they called out to the devils, “Do not come nearer, but from where you are tell us something about your delights. “ They replied, “Know this, that everyone, whether he is called good or evil, is in his own delight, the so-called good man in his, and the so-called evil man in his.” The angels asked, “What is your delight?” They said that it was delight in whoredom, revenge, fraud, and blasphemy. Again the angels asked, “What is the nature of those delights with you?” They said that they were felt by others like the fetid smells from dung, the putrid smells from dead bodies, and the pungent smells from stagnant urine. The angels then asked, “Are these things delightful to you?” They answered, “Most delightful.” “Then,” said the angels, “you are like the unclean beasts that live in such things.” They replied, “If we are, we are; but such things are grateful to our nostrils.” The angels then asked, “What more?” They answered, “Everyone is allowed to be in his own delight, even the most unclean, as they call it, provided he does not infest good spirits and angels; but as on account of our delight, we cannot help infesting them, we are cast into work-houses where we suffer terribly. The prohibition and withdrawal of our delights there is what is called the torment of hell; it is also interior pain.” The angels asked, “Why did you infest the good?” They answered, “We could not help it; it is as if a fury seized us whenever we see an angel, and feel the Lord’s Divine sphere about him.” To this we said, “Then you also are like wild beasts.” Then, as soon as they saw the novitiate spirit with the angels, fury came upon them, which appeared like the fire of hatred; so to prevent their doing harm they were cast back to hell. After this the angels appeared who from ends saw causes, and through causes effects, and who were in a heaven above those three assemblies; these angels appeared in a shining white light, which rolling down in spiral curves brought with it a circular wreath of flowers, and placed it upon the head of the novitiate spirit. And then a voice issued therefrom, saying to him, “This laurel wreath is given you because you have from childhood meditated upon heaven and hell.”

X. Reformation And Regeneration

After treating of Repentance, Reformation and Regeneration come next in order, because they follow repentance, and by means of it advance step by step. There are two states that man must enter upon and pass through, when from being natural he is becoming spiritual. The first state is called Reformation, and the second Regeneration. In the first man looks from his natural to his spiritual state and longs for that state; in the second state he becomes spiritual-natural. The first state is formed by means of truths, which must be truths of faith, and through these he looks to charity; the second state is formed by means of the goods of charity, and by these he enters into the truths of faith. Or what is the same, the first is a state of thought from the understanding, and the second a state of love from the will. When this latter state begins and is progressing, a change takes place in the mind; the mind undergoes a reversal, the love of the will then flowing into the understanding, acting upon it and leading it to think in accord and agreement with its love; and in consequence so far as the good of love comes to act the first part and the truths of faith the second, man is spiritual and is a new creature; and he then acts from charity and speaks from faith; he feels the good of charity and perceives the truth of faith; and he is then in the Lord, and in peace, and thus regenerate. The man who while in the world has entered upon the first state, after death can be introduced into the second; but he who has not entered into the first state while in the world, cannot after death be introduced into the second, thus cannot be regenerated. These two states may be compared to the progression of light and heat during the days of spring; the first to the dawn or cock-crowing, the second to the morning or sunrise; and the progress of this second state may be compared to the advance of the day to noon, and thus into light and heat. There may also be a comparison with a field of grain, which is at first in the blade, then grows into the ear or head, in which the grain is afterward formed; also with a tree, which first grows out of the ground from a seed, then it becomes a stem from which branches go out, and these are adorned with leaves; at length it blossoms, and from the inmost of the blossoms the fruit begins to form, and this, as it matures, produces new seeds, like a new generation. The first state, which is that of reformation, may also be compared to the state of a silk-worm, when it draws out and evolves from itself filaments of silk, and after finishing its industrious labor, flies forth into the air, nourishing itself, not by leaves as before, but by the juices of flowers.

572.

I. UNLESS A MAN IS BORN AGAIN, AND, AS IT WERE, CREATED ANEW, HE CANNOT ENTER INTO THE KINGDOM OF GOD. That unless a man is born again he cannot enter into the kingdom of God, is the Lord’s doctrine in the following passages from John: Jesus said to Nicodemus, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God; and again, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and of spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God; That which is born of flesh is flesh, and that which is born of spirit is spirit (3:3, 5, 6). “The kingdom of God” means both heaven and the church, for the church is the kingdom of God on earth. So in other places, where the kingdom of God is mentioned (as in Matt. 11:11; 12:25; 21:43; Luke 4:43; 6:20; 8:1, 10; 9:11, 60, 62; 17:21; and elsewhere). “To be born of water and the spirit” signifies to be born by means of truths of faith and a life in accordance with them. That “water” signifies truths, may be seen in the Apocalypse Revealed (n. 50, 614, 615, 685, 632); that “spirit” signifies a life in accordance with Divine truths is clear from the Lord’s Words in John (6:63). “Verily, verily” [or “Amen, amen”], signifies that this is the truth; and the Lord used that expression so frequently because He was the truth itself. He Himself is also called “the Amen” (Apoc. 3:14). In the Word the regenerate are called “Sons of God” and “born of God,” and regeneration is described by “a new heart and a new spirit.”

573.

The expression “born again,” which means, as it were, created anew, is here used because “to be created” signifies to be regenerated. That this is the signification of “to be created” in the Word can be seen from the following passages: Create for me a clean heart, O God; and renew a firm spirit in the midst of me (Ps. 51:10). Thou openest Thy hand, they are satisfied with good; Thou sendest forth Thy spirit, they are created (Ps. 104:28, 30). A people that shall be created shall praise Jah (Ps. 102:18). Behold I will create Jerusalem a rejoicing (Isa. 65:18). Thus hath said Jehovah, Thy Creator, O Jacob, and thy Former, O Israel, I have redeemed thee. Everyone that is called by My name, into My glory have I created him (Isa. 43:1, 7). That they may see, know, consider and understand, that the Holy One of Israel hath created it (Isa. 41:20). (And elsewhere. ) Also where the Lord is called Creator, Former and Maker. This makes clear what is meant by these words of the Lord to His disciples: Going into all the world, preach ye the gospel to every creature (Mark 16:15); “creatures” meaning all who are capable of regeneration. (So also in Apoc. 3:14; 2 Cor. 5:16, 17. )

574.

All reason shows that man must be regenerated, for he is born into evils of every kind derived from his parents; and these evils have their seat in his natural man, which of itself is diametrically opposed to the spiritual man. Nevertheless man is born for heaven; although he does not enter heaven unless he becomes spiritual, and he can become spiritual only by means of regeneration. From this it follows of necessity that the natural man with its lusts must be subdued, subjugated, and inverted, and that otherwise man cannot approach a single step toward heaven, but sinks deeper and deeper into hell. Who cannot see this, if he believes that he has been born into evils of every kind and acknowledges the existence and contrariety of good and evil, and believes in a life after death, a hell and a heaven, and that evil is what constitutes hell and good is what constitutes heaven? Viewed in himself the natural man in no way differs in his nature from the nature of beasts. Like them he is wild; but it is as to his will that he is such; in understanding he differs from beasts, in that the understanding can be elevated above the lusts of the will, and not only see but also moderate them; and for this reason man is able to think from understanding, and speak from thought, which beasts cannot do. What man is by birth, and what he would be if not regenerated, can be seen from fierce animals of every kind; that be would be a tiger, a panther, a leopard, a wild hog, a scorpion, a tarantula, a viper, a crocodile, and so on; consequently if he were not transformed by regeneration into a sheep, what would he be but a devil among devils in hell? And in that state, if not restrained by civil laws, would not men from innate ferocity, rush upon one another and slaughter each other, and plunder each other even of the last scrap of clothing? How many are there of the human race who are not born satyrs and priapi or four-footed lizards; and who among these, if not regenerated, does not become an ape? External morality is required, for the sake of covering up their internals; and it does that.

575.

What man is when not regenerated can be still further made clear by the following comparisons and similitudes from Isaiah: The pelican and the porcupine shall possess it, and the owl and the raven shall dwell in it; and he shall stretch out over it the line of emptiness, and the plummet of devastation. And thorns shall come up upon her altars, the thistle and bramble in her fortresses; and she shall become a habitation of dragons, and a court for the daughters of the owl; the Tziim shall meet with the Ijim, and the satyr shall meet his fellow; the night monster shall rest there. There shall the merula make her nest, and gather and hatch under her shadow; there shall the vultures also be gathered, everyone with her mate (Isa. 34:11-15).

576.

II. THE NEW BIRTH OR CREATION IS EFFECTED BY THE LORD ALONE THROUGH CHARITY AND FAITH AS THE TWO MEANS, MAN CO-OPERATING. That regeneration is effected by the Lord through charity and faith, follows from what was set forth in the chapters on Charity and Faith, especially from this, That the Lord, Charity and Faith make one, like Life, Will and Understanding in man, and if they are divided, each of them perishes like a pearl reduced to powder. These two, charity and faith, are called the means, because they are what conjoin man with the Lord, causing charity to be charity, and faith to be faith; and this conjunction cannot be effected unless man has part in his regeneration; and this is why it is said, man co-operating. In the preceding chapters man’s co-operation with the Lord has been several times treated of; but as the human mind is such as to be incapable of perceiving otherwise than that man effects this by his own power, the subject shall be illustrated again. In all motion, and consequently in all action, there is an active and a passive; that is to say, the active acts, and the passive acts from the active, so that from both one action arises; comparatively as a mill is moved by its wheel, a carriage by its horse, as motion is from effect, an effect from its cause, a dead force from a living force, and in general, as the instrument is moved by the principal. Everyone knows that these two together produce one action. As to charity and faith, the Lord acts and man acts from the Lord, for the Lord’s active is in man’s passive; therefore the power to act aright is from the Lord, and the will to act therefrom is as if it were man’s, because he has the freedom of choice, whereby he is able to act as one with the Lord and thus conjoin himself with Him, or to act from the power of hell which is an extraneous power, and thus to separate himself from the Lord. It is man’s action in harmony with the Lord’s action that is here meant by co-operation. To give a clearer perception of this, it shall be still further illustrated by comparisons which follow.

577.

From the foregoing it also follows, that the Lord is unceasingly in the act of regenerating man, because He is unceasingly in the act of saving him, and no one can be saved unless he is regenerated, according to the Lord’s own words in John: Except a man be born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God (John 3:5-6). Regeneration, therefore, is the means of salvation, while charity and faith are the means of regeneration. To say that regeneration follows the faith of the present church, which leaves out man’s co-operation, is vanity of vanities. [2] The action and cooperation here described may be seen in everything that is in any state of activity and mobility. Such is the action and cooperation of the heart and of every artery thereof; the heart acts, and the arteries by their sheaths or coats cooperate; hence circulation. It is the same with the lungs. The air acts by its incumbent weight according to the height of the atmosphere, and at first the ribs cooperate with the lungs, and immediately after the lungs with the ribs; from which there is respiration in every membrane of the body. Thus the meninges of the brain, the pleura, the peritoneum, the diaphragm and the other parts which cover the viscera and enter into their composition, act and are acted upon, and thus they cooperate; for they are elastic; and from this is their existence and subsistence. It is the same in every fiber and nerve, and in every muscle, and even in every cartilage; in everyone of these, as is known, there is action and cooperation. [3] There is such a cooperation also in every sense; for the sensories of the body, like the motor organs, consist of fibers, membranes, and muscles; but to describe the co-operative action of each, is needless; for it is known that light acts upon the eye, sound upon the ear, odor upon the nostrils, and taste upon the tongue, and that the organs adapt themselves thereto; from which there is sensation. Who cannot see from all this, that unless there were such action and cooperation with the influent life in the spiritual organism of the brain, will and thought could not exist? For life from the Lord flows into that organism, and because of this cooperation, man has a perception of what he thinks, and in like manner of what is there considered, concluded upon, and defined into act. If life were to act merely, and man were not to co-operate as if of himself, he could no more think than a stock, or than a temple while the minister is preaching in it. The temple may indeed, owing to the reverberation of the sound from its doors, have a sense, as it were, of the echo, but not of the discourse. So would man be, did he not co-operate with the Lord in respect to charity and faith.

578.

What man would be if he did not cooperate with the Lord, may also be illustrated by comparisons: When he had a perception and sense of anything spiritual pertaining to heaven and the church, it would be as if something distasteful or discordant flowed in, like an offensive smell entering the nose, a discordant sound the ear, a monstrous sight the eye, or a foul taste affecting the tongue. If a delight of charity or a pleasure of belief were to flow into the spiritual organism of the mind of those whose delight is in evil and falsity, if such delight and pleasure were thrust upon them, they would be in anguish and torture, and finally would fall into a swoon. Because that organism consists of perpetual helices, in such a case it would coil itself up in spirals, and writhe like a serpent on an ant-hill. The truth of this has been proved to me by much experience in the spiritual world.

579.

III. SINCE ALL HAVE BEEN REDEEMED, ALL MAY BE REGENERATED EACH ACCORDING TO HIS STATE. That this may be understood, something must be premised respecting redemption. The Lord came into the world chiefly for these two purposes, to remove hell from angel and from man, and to glorify His Human. For before the Lord’s coming hell had grown up so far as even to infest the angels of heaven, and also, by interposing itself between heaven and the world, to intercept the Lord’s communication with men on earth, so that no Divine truth and good could pass from the Lord to men. Consequently a total damnation threatened the whole human race, and the angels of heaven could not have long continued to exist in their integrity. [2] And thus, in order that hell might be cleared away, and this impending damnation be thereby removed, the Lord came into the world, and dislodged hell, subjugated it, and thus opened heaven; so that He could henceforth be present with men on earth, and save those who live according to His commandments, and consequently could regenerate and save them, for those who are regenerated are saved. This is how it is to be understood, that, since all have been redeemed they may be regenerated, and because regeneration and salvation make one, all may be saved. So the teaching of the church, that without the Lord’s coming no man could have been saved, is to be understood in this way, that without the Lord’s coming no one could have been regenerated. [3] In respect to the other purpose for which the Lord came into the world, namely, to glorify His Human, this was because He thereby became the Redeemer, Regenerator and Savior forever. For it is not to be believed that by redemption once wrought in the world, all men had been thereby redeemed, but that the Lord is perpetually redeeming those who believe in Him and who obey His words. But on these points more may be seen in the chapter on Redemption.

580.

Every man may be regenerated, each according to his state; for the simple and the learned are regenerated differently; as are those engaged in different pursuits, and those who fill different offices; those who search into the external things of the Word, and those who search into its internals; those who are principled in natural good from their parents, and those who are in evil; those who from their infancy have entered into the vanities of the world, and those who sooner or later have withdrawn from them; in a word, those who constitute the Lord’s external church are regenerated differently from those who constitute His internal church, and this variety, like that of men’s features and dispositions, is infinite; and yet everyone, according to his state, may be regenerated and saved. [2] The truth of this can be seen in the heavens, to which all the regenerate go, in that there are three heavens, a highest, a middle, and a lowest; and those who by regeneration acquire love to the Lord enter the highest heaven, those who acquire love to the neighbor, enter the middle heaven, and those who merely practice external charity, but at the same time acknowledge the Lord as God the Redeemer and Savior, enter the lowest heaven. All these are saved but in different ways. [3] All may be regenerated and thus saved, because the Lord with His Divine good and truth is present with every man; this is the source of everyone’s life and his ability to understand and will, together with freedom of choice in spiritual things; in no man are these lacking. And the means to these are also given, for Christians in the Word, and for Gentiles in their religions, which teach that there is a God, and which furnish precepts respecting good and evil. From all this it follows that everyone may be saved; consequently that it is not the Lord’s fault if man is not saved, but man’s, because he does not co-operate.

581.

That redemption and the passion of the cross are two distinct things and by no means to be confounded, and that by means of both the Lord took to Himself the power to regenerate and save men, has been shown in the chapter on Redemption. From the accepted faith of the church of today respecting the passion of the cross, as being redemption itself, have sprung throngs of horrible falsities respecting God, faith, charity and other things that in a continuous chain depends on these three; as, respecting God, that He had determined upon the damnation of the human race, and that He was willing to be brought back to mercy by the imposition of that damnation upon His Son, or by the Son’s taking it upon Himself, and that only those were saved who by foreknowledge or predestination have Christ’s merit bestowed upon them. From this fallacy another belonging to that faith has been hatched, namely, that those upon whom that faith has been bestowed, are at the same time regenerated without any cooperation on their part; and even that they have thus been absolved from the condemnation of the law, and are no longer under the law, but under grace, and this although the Lord has said, That He did not take away one tittle of the law (Matt. 5:18, 19; Luke 16:17), and also commanded His disciples: To preach repentance for the remission of sins (Luke 24:47; Mark 6:12). He also said: The kingdom of God is at hand; repent ye, and believe in the gospel (Mark 1:15); “the gospel” meaning that they can be regenerated and thus saved, which they could not have been unless the Lord had wrought redemption, that is, had deprived hell of its power by combats against it and victories over it, and unless He had glorified His Human, that is, had made it Divine.

582.

Think rationally and say what the entire human race would be if the faith of the present church were to continue; this faith being that men are redeemed by the passion of the cross alone, and that those upon whom that merit of the Lord has been bestowed are not under the condemnation of the law; and again, that this faith (whether or not it is in him man not knowing at all), remits sins and regenerates, and that man’s co-operation in the act thereof, that is, when it is being given and entering, would defile it, and at the same time deprive him of salvation, since he would thereby commingle his own merit with that of Christ. Think rationally, I say, and tell me whether the whole Word would not be thus rejected, where regeneration by means of the spiritual washing away of evils, and by the exercise of charity is especially taught. What would the Decalogue, the starting point of reformation, then be, more than the paper that is sold in small shops and used to wrap up spices? What would religion then be, but a kind of lamentation that one is a sinner, and supplication to God the Father to be merciful on account of the passion of His Son, thus a matter of the mouth and lungs only, and not of anything done from the heart? What would redemption then be but a papal indulgence; or what more than a monk’s flagellation of himself for the sake of the whole assembly, as is sometimes done? If faith alone regenerated man, repentance and charity doing nothing, what would the internal man (which is the man’s spirit that lives after death), be like, but a burnt city, the ruins of which form the external man; or a field or plain laid waste by caterpillars and locusts? Such a man appears to the angels altogether like one who cherishes a serpent in his bosom, and tries to conceal it under his garments; or like one sleeping like a lamb with a wolf; or like one sleeping under beautiful bed-clothing in a night-gown made of spider’s webs. Or seeing that all are arranged in heaven according to the different degrees of their regeneration, and all in hell according to the different degrees in which they have rejected it, what would the life after death be but a life of the flesh, and so like that of a fish or a crab?

583.

IV. REGENERATION IS EFFECTED IN A MANNER ANALOGOUS TO THAT IN WHICH MAN IS CONCEIVED, CARRIED IN THE WOMB, BORN AND EDUCATED. In man there is a perpetual correspondence between what takes place naturally and what takes place spiritually, or between what takes place in his body and what takes place in his spirit. This is because man as to his soul is born spiritual, and is clothed with what is natural, which forms his material body. Therefore when this body is laid aside, his soul, clothed with a spiritual body, enters a world where all things are spiritual, and is there affiliated with its like. Since then, the spiritual body must be formed in a material body, and is formed by means of truths and goods which flow in from the Lord through the spiritual world, and are inwardly received by man in such things in him as are from the natural world, which are called civil and moral, the way in which its formation is effected is evident; and since, as before said, there is in man a constant correspondence between what takes place naturally and what takes place spiritually, it follows that this formation is like conception, gestation, birth, and education. It is for this reason that natural births in the Word mean spiritual births, which are births of good and truth; for whatever is mentioned in the sense of the letter of the Word, which is natural, involves and signifies what is spiritual. That in each and all things of the sense of the letter of the Word there is a spiritual sense is fully shown in the chapter on the Sacred Scripture. That the natural births mentioned in the Word involve spiritual births is very obvious from the following passages: We have conceived, we have travailed, we have as it were brought forth; we have not wrought salvation (Isa. 26:18). At the presence of the Lord the earth bringeth forth (Ps. 114:7). Hath the earth travailed for one day? Shall I break forth and not bring forth? Shall I cause to bring forth, and shut up? (Isa. 66:7-10). Sin shall travail, and No shall be rent asunder (Ezek. 30:16). The sorrows of a travailing woman shall come upon Ephraim; he is a son not wise, because he doth not stay his time in the womb of sons (Hos. 13:12, 13). (So also in many other places. ) As natural generations in the Word signify spiritual generations, and these are from the Lord, He is called the Maker and the former from the womb, as appears from the following: Jehovah thy Maker and thy Former from the womb (Isa. 44:2). Thou art He that took me out of the womb (Ps. 22:9). Upon Thee have I been laid from the womb; Thou art He that took me out of my mother’s bowels (Ps. 71:6). Attend unto me, carried from the womb, borne from the matrix (Isa. 46:3). (Besides other passages.) For this reason the Lord is called, Father (as in Isa. 9:6; 63:16; John 10:30; 14:8, 9). And those who are in goods and truths from Him are called, Sons, and born of God, and brethren to each other (Matt. 23:8, 9). And again the church is called, Mother (Hos. 2:2, 5; Ezek. 16:45).

584.

From all this it is now clear that there is a correspondence between natural generations and spiritual generations; and because of this correspondence it follows that conception, gestation, birth, and education may not only be predicated of the new birth, but that they actually exist. In this chapter on Regeneration the nature of these are being presented to view in their proper order; here let it be said merely that man’s semen is conceived interiorly in the understanding, and is given form in the will; is transferred therefrom to the testicle where it clothes itself with a natural covering, and is thus conducted into the womb and enters the world. Moreover, there is a correspondence of man’s regeneration with all things in the vegetable kingdom; therefore in the Word man is also pictured by a tree, his truth by its seed and his good by its fruit. That an evil tree may be born anew, as it were, and afterward bear good fruit and good seed, is evident from grafting and budding, for although the same sap ascends from the root through the trunk to the graft or bud, it is then changed into good sap and makes the tree good. It is the same in the church with those who are engrafted into the Lord, as He teaches in these words: I am the Vine, ye are the branches; he that abideth in Me and I in him, the same beareth much fruit. If a man abide not in Me, he is cast forth as a branch and is withered; and is cast into the fire (John 15:5-6).

585.

It has been taught by many of the learned that the processes of plant growth, not only of trees but also of all shrubs, correspond to human prolification. I will, therefore, add something on this subject by way of appendix. In trees and in all other subjects of the vegetable kingdom there are not two sexes, a masculine and a feminine, but everything there is masculine; the earth alone or the soil is the common mother, and is thus as it were feminine; for it receives the seeds of all fruits, opens them, carries them as it were in a womb, and then nourishes them and brings them forth, that is, ushers them into the light of day, and afterward clothes and sustains them. [2] When a seed is first opened by the earth it begins with the root, which is a kind of heart; from this it emits and transmits sap like blood, and so forms as it were a body provided with limbs; its body is the trunk itself, while the branches and their branchlets are its limbs. The leaves which it puts forth immediately after its birth serve as lungs; for as the heart without the lungs produces no motion or sensation, and it is by means of these that man is made alive, so the root without leaves does not cause a tree or shrub to vegetate. The blossoms which precede the fruit are means for purifying the sap, the tree’s blood, for separating its grosser from its purer elements, for forming a new little trunk for the influx of these purer elements contained in the bosom of this sap, through which trunk the purified sap may flow in and thus initiate and gradually form the fruit (which may be compared to the testicles), in which the seed is perfected. The vegetative soul which inmostly governs in every particle of sap, or which is its prolific essence, is from no other source than the heat of the spiritual world; and as this heat is from the spiritual sun there, it aspires to nothing but generation, and a continuance of creation thereby; and because it essentially aspires to the generation of man, it induces upon whatever it generates a certain resemblance to man. [3] That no one may be astonished at the statement, that the subjects of the vegetable kingdom are masculine only, and that the earth alone or the soil is like a common mother, or is like the feminine, let it be illustrated by something similar among bees. According to the observation of Swammerdam, reported in his Book of Nature, bees have only one common mother, from which the offspring of the entire hive is produced. As there is but one common mother for these little insects, why not the same for all plants? [4] That the earth is a common mother may also be illustrated spiritually; and is so illustrated by the fact that in the Word “the earth” signifies the church, and the church is a common mother, and is so called in the Word. As to the earth’s signifying the church, consult the Apocalypse Revealed (n. 285, 902), where it is shown. But the earth or the soil can enter into the inmost of a seed even to its prolific principle, calling this forth and giving it circulation, because every least particle of dust or powder exhales from its essence a kind of subtle penetrating effluvium, which is an effect of the active force of the heat from the spiritual world.

586.

That man can only be regenerated gradually, may be illustrated by each and all things that come into existence in the natural world. A tree cannot reach its full growth in a day, but there is first growth from the seed, then from the root, and then from the shoot, which becomes the trunk, and from this go forth branches and leaves, and finally blossoms and fruit. Wheat or barley does not ripen for the harvest in a day; a house is not built in a day, nor does a man acquire his full stature in a day, still less wisdom; a church is not established and perfected in a day, nor is there any progression to an end except from a beginning. Those who have a different conception of regeneration know nothing of charity and faith, nor of the growth of either according to man’s cooperation with the Lord. From all this it is clear that regeneration is effected in a manner analogous to that in which man is conceived, carried in the womb, born and educated.

587.

V. THE FIRST ACT IN THE NEW BIRTH IS CALLED REFORMATION, WHICH PERTAINS TO THE UNDERSTANDING, AND THE SECOND IS CALLED REGENERATION, WHICH PERTAINS TO THE WILL AND THEREFROM TO THE UNDERSTANDING. As reformation and regeneration are treated of here and in what follows, and reformation is ascribed to the understanding and regeneration to the will, it is necessary that the distinctions between the understanding and will should be known, which distinctions are described above (n. 397); therefore it is advisable to read first what is there said, and afterwards this section. It has also been shown there that the evils into which man is born are generated in the will of the natural man, and that the will causes the understanding to favor it by thinking in agreement with it. For this reason, that man may be regenerated, it is necessary that his regeneration be effected by means of the understanding as the mediate cause; and this is done by means of the various kinds of instruction that the understanding receives, first from parents and teachers, afterward by reading the Word, by preaching, books, and conversation. The things which the understanding receives from these sources are called truths; it is the same, therefore, whether reformation is said to be effected by means of the understanding, or by means of the truths which the understanding receives; for truths teach man in whom he ought to believe, and what he ought to believe, also what he ought to do, thus how he ought to will; for whatever one does he does from the will in accordance with his understanding. Since then, man’s will itself is evil by birth and the understanding teaches what good and evil are, and man can will either good or evil, it follows that he must be reformed by means of the understanding; and so long as anyone sees and mentally acknowledges that evil is evil, and good is good, and thinks that the good ought to be chosen, he is in what is called the state of reformation; but when his will leads him to shun evil and do good, the state of regeneration begins.

588.

For the sake of this end there has been given to man the ability to elevate his understanding almost into the light in which the angels of heaven are, that he may see what he must will and must do therefrom, that he may be prosperous in the world for a time and blessed after death to eternity. He becomes prosperous and blessed if he acquires for himself wisdom, and keeps his will in obedience thereto; but he becomes unprosperous and unhappy if he makes his understanding subservient to his will. This is because the will by birth inclines to evils, even to enormities; therefore unless it is held in check by means of the understanding, man left to the freedom of his will would rush into great wickedness, and from the ferine nature inherent in him would plunder and slaughter for his own sake all who did not favor him and indulge his cupidities. Moreover, if man were not able to perfect his understanding separately, and to perfect his will by means of it, he would not be a man, but a beast; for without that separation, and without the ascent of the understanding above the will, he would not be able to think, and from thought to speak, but would be able to express his affections by sounds only; nor would he be able to act from reason, but only from instinct; still less could he recognize what relates to God, and thereby God Himself, and thus be conjoined with Him and live for ever. For man exercises thought and will as if of himself; and this as if of himself, is the reciprocal element in conjunction, for conjunction without reciprocation is impossible, as there can be no conjunction of an active with a passive without adaptation or application. God alone acts; man permits himself to be acted upon, and cooperates to all appearance as if of himself, although interiorly from God. But from a right perception of these things, it can be seen what the love of man’s will is when it is elevated by means of the understanding; also what it is when not elevated; thus what man is.

589.

It must be known that the ability to elevate the understanding even to the intelligence in which the angels of heaven are, is by creation inherent in every man, the wicked as well as the good, and even in every devil in hell, for all who are in hell have been men. This has been frequently shown to me by living experience. But such are not intelligent but insane in spiritual things, because they do not will good but evil, consequently they are averse to knowing and understanding truths, for truths favor good and oppose evil. From all this it is clear that the first step in the new birth is a reception of truths by the understanding, and the second is the will to act in accordance with truths, and finally to practice them. No one, however, can be said to be reformed by mere knowledges of truth; for man is able to acquire these and to talk about, teach, and preach them through his ability to elevate his understanding, above the love of his will. But he is a reformed man who has an affection for truth for the sake of truth; for this affection conjoins itself with the will, and if it goes on it conjoins the will to the understanding, and then regeneration begins. But how regeneration afterward advances and is perfected, will be told in what follows.

590.

But the nature of the man whose understanding has been elevated, but not the will’s love by means of it, shall be illustrated by comparisons. He is like an eagle flying on high, but as soon as he sees food below, as hens, young swans, or even young lambs, he darts down in a moment and devours them. He is also like an adulterer who hides a harlot in a room below, and in turn ascends to the highest story of his house, and there in the presence of his wife talks wisely with visitors about chastity, and again steals away from the company and satiates his lust with the harlot below. He is also like marsh flies that fly in a body over the head of a running horse, but when the horse stops settle down and immerse themselves in their marsh. Such is the man who is elevated as to the understanding, while the will’s love remains down at the foot, immersed in the uncleannesses of nature and the libidinous propensities of the senses. But because such men shine as if with wisdom in the understanding, while the will is in opposition to wisdom, they may also be likened to serpents with shining skins, and to the Spanish flies that glisten as if made of gold, or to the ignis fatuus in marshes, or to shining rotten wood and phosphorescent substances. There are among them some who can counterfeit angels of light, both among men in the world and after death among the angels of heaven; but these, after a brief examination, are deprived of their clothing, and cast down naked. This cannot be done in the world, because there the spirit of such is not open, but is covered over by a mask like that used by actors in theaters. In countenance and with the lips they are able to counterfeit angels of light, which is both an effect and a proof of their ability to elevate the understanding, as has been said, above the love of the will almost to angelic wisdom. Since then, man’s internal and external can run thus counter to each other, and since the body is cast aside while the spirit remains, a dark spirit may evidently dwell behind a bright face, and a fiery one behind a bland mouth. Therefore, my friend, form your opinion of a man not from his mouth but from his heart, that is, not from his words but from his deeds; for the Lord says: Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. By their fruits ye shall know them (Matt. 7:15-16).

591.

THE INTERNAL MAN MUST FIRST BE REFORMED, AND BY MEANS OF IT THE EXTERNAL; AND THUS IS MAN REGENERATED. That the internal man must first be regenerated, and by means of it the external, is generally conceded in the church at the present day; but “internal man” suggests nothing to the thought but faith, which faith is that God the Father imputes to men the merit and righteousness of His Son, and sends the Holy Spirit. It is believed that this faith constitutes the internal man, and that from the internal the external flows forth, which is the moral natural man, this being an appendage to the former, comparatively like the tail of a horse or cow, or like the tail of a peacock or bird of paradise which extends to the feet without being connected with them; for it is said that while charity follows that faith, the faith perishes if charity from man’s will comes in. But this being the only internal man recognized in the church at the present day, there is no internal man, for no one knows whether such a faith has been bestowed upon him or not; moreover, as has been shown above, it is an impossible thing and therefore purely imaginary. From this it follows, that at the present day, among those who are confirmed in that faith there is no other internal man than that natural man which from birth overflows in evils of every kind. To this it may be added, that regeneration and sanctification are said to follow that faith of themselves, and that man’s co-operation, which is the only means by which regeneration is effected, must be excluded. Therefore it is that no knowledge of regeneration in the present church is possible, when yet the Lord says that he who is not regenerated cannot see the kingdom of God.

592.

But the internal and external man of the New Church are wholly different. The internal man pertains to the will, from which man thinks when left to himself, as when he is at home; but the external man is his actions and words, such as come forth from the internal when man is with others, thus when abroad. Consequently, the internal man is both charity, because this pertains to the will, and faith, which pertains to thought. Before regeneration these two constitute the natural man, which is thus divided into an internal and an external. This is shown in the fact that it is not permissible for man to act and speak in company or abroad as when alone or at home. The cause of this division is, that civil laws prescribe punishments for those who act wickedly, and rewards for those who act rightly, consequently men compel themselves to separate the external from the internal man; for no one wishes to be punished, and everyone wishes to be rewarded, which is done by riches and honors; and man attains to neither of these unless he lives according to those laws. It results from this that morality and benevolence exist in externals even with those who have none internally. And from the same source is all hypocrisy, flattery, and simulation.

593.

As to the division of the natural man into two forms, it is an actual division both of will and of thought therein; for every action of man goes forth from his will, and every word from his thought; consequently another will is formed by man beneath the first, and likewise another thought; but the two still constitute the natural man. This will which is being formed by the man, may be called a bodily will, because it impels the body to make a show of moral activities, and that thought may be called pulmonary thought, because it impels the tongue and lips to utter such things as belong to the understanding. This outer thought and will taken together may be likened to the inner bark that adheres to the outer bark of a tree, or to the membrane that adheres to the shell of an egg. Within these is the internal natural man, who, if evil, may be likened to a tree the wood of which is rotten, but about which the aforesaid outer and inner barks seem sound; as also to a rotten egg in a white shell. But something shall also be said about what the internal natural man is by birth. Its will inclines to evils of every kind and the thought therefrom is inclined to falsities of every kind. This then is the internal man that is to be regenerated, for unless it is regenerated it is nothing but hatred against everything that belongs to charity, and consequent rage against all things belonging to faith. From this it follows that this natural internal man must first be regenerated, and by means of it the external; for this is according to order; while to regenerate the internal by means of the external would be contrary to order; for the internal is like a soul in the external, not only in general but also in every particular, consequently it is in every least word one speaks; it is present in these beyond what man knows. Because of this the angels, from a single action of a man, can perceive what his will is, and from a single word what his thought is, whether infernal or heavenly. Thus they know the entire man; from the tone of his voice they have a perception of his thought’s affection, and from the gesture or the form of his action they have a perception of his will’s love. And this they have, however he may simulate a Christian or a moral citizen.

594.

Man’s regeneration is described in Ezekiel by the “dry bones” which were clothed with sinews, then with flesh and skin, and at last had spirit breathed into them, whereby they lived again (37:1-14). That regeneration was represented by those things, is evident from what is there said: These bones are the whole house of Israel (Ezek. 37:11). A comparison is also there made with graves, for it is written, That Jehovah would open their graves, and cause the bones to come up out of their graves, and put spirit in them, and bring them together into the land of Israel (Ezek. 37:12-14). “The land of Israel” there and elsewhere means the church. Regeneration was here represented by bones and graves, because the unregenerate man is called dead, and the regenerate alive; for in the latter there is spiritual life, but in the former spiritual death.

595.

In every created thing in the world, whether living or dead, there is an internal and an external; one never exists without the other, as there is no effect without a cause; and every created thing is esteemed according to its internal goodness, or is deemed base if internally malignant, as external goodness is when within it there is internal malignity. Every wise man in the world and every angel in heaven so judges. But the nature of the unregenerate man and of the regenerate, may be illustrated by comparisons. The unregenerate man who simulates a moral citizen or a Christian, may be likened to a corpse wrapped in aromatics, which nevertheless exhales a putrid odor that infects the aromatics, insinuates itself into the nostrils, and injures the brain. He may also be likened to a mummy, gilded or placed in a silver coffin, upon looking beneath the covering of which a hideously black body comes to view. [2] Again, he may be likened to bones or skeletons in a sepulchre that is adorned with lapis lazuli and other gems; also to the rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen, but whose internal was nevertheless infernal (Luke 16:19). Still again he may be likened to sweet-tasting poison, to a poison hemlock in flower, to fruit with a bright skin, but inwardly worm-eaten, and also to an ulcer covered first with a plaster and then with a thin skin, but with nothing within but foul matter. In the world only those who have no internal goodness, and who therefore judge by the appearance, can estimate the internal by the external; but in heaven it is otherwise. For when the body which is moveable about the spirit and easily directed from evil to good, is separated by death, the internal remains, for this constitutes the man’s spirit; and then at a distance he looks like a serpent that has shed his skin, or like rotten wood stripped of its bark or covering in which it looked so well. [3] But with the regenerate man it is different. His internal is good, and his external resembles the external of the other. And yet his external differs from that of the unregenerate as heaven differs from hell, since the soul of good is in it, and it matters not to him whether he is a great man, who dwells in a palace, and goes surrounded by attendants, or lives in a cottage and is waited upon by a boy; or even whether he is a primate clad in a purple robe and wearing the cap of his rank, or the shepherd of a few sheep in a wood, clothed in a loose rustic frock and wearing a little cap on his head. [4] Gold is still gold, whether it flashes before the fire or has its surface blackened by the smoke; whether it is melted into a beautiful form like that of an infant, or into an ugly one like that of a mouse. Mice made of gold and placed beside the ark, were acceptable and pleasing (1 Sam. 6:3-5); for gold signifies internal good. Diamonds and rubies obtained from whatever matrix, lime or clay, are in like manner esteemed according to their internal goodness, the same as those in the necklace of a queen; and so on. From all this it is clear that the external is estimated from the internal, and not the reverse.

596.

VII. WHEN THIS TAKES PLACE A CONFLICT ARISES BETWEEN THE INTERNAL AND THE EXTERNAL MAN, AND THEN THE ONE THAT CONQUERS RULES OVER THE OTHER. A conflict then arises because the internal man is reformed by means of truths; and from truths he sees what is evil and false, which evil and falsity are still in the external or natural man; consequently disagreement first springs up between the new will, which is above, and the old will, which is below; and as the disagreement is between the two wills, it is also between their delights; for the flesh, it is well known, is opposed to the spirit and the spirit to the flesh, and the flesh with its lusts must be subdued before the spirit can act and man become new. After this disagreement of the two wills a conflict arises; and this is called spiritual temptation. This temptation or conflict does not take place between goods and evils, but between the truths of good and the falsities of evil. For good cannot fight from itself but fights by means of truths; nor can evil fight from itself but by means of its falsities; just as the will cannot fight from itself but by means of the understanding where its truths reside. [2] Man is not sensible of that conflict except as in himself, and as remorse of conscience; and yet it is the Lord and the devil (that is, hell) that are fighting in man, and they are fighting for dominion over him, or to determine who shall possess him. The devil or hell attacks man and calls out his evils, while the Lord protects him and calls out his goods. Although that conflict takes place in the spiritual world, still it takes place in man between the truths of good and the falsities of evil that are in him; therefore man must fight wholly as if of himself, for he has the freedom of choice to act for the Lord, and also to act for the devil; he is for the Lord, if he abides in truths from good, and for the devil, if he abides in falsities from evil. From this it follows that whichever conquers, the internal man or the external, that one rules over the other; precisely like two hostile powers contending as to which shall be master of the other’s kingdom-the conqueror takes possession of the kingdom, and places all in it under obedience to himself. In this case, therefore, if the internal man conquers, he obtains dominion and subjugates all the evils of the external man, and regeneration then goes on; but if the external man conquers, he obtains the dominion, and dissipates all the goods of the internal man, and regeneration perishes.

597.

While it is known at the present day, that there are temptations, hardly anyone knows whence and what they are and what good they effect. Whence and what they are has just been explained, also the good they effect, which is, that when the internal man conquers, the external is subjugated, and as this is subjugated lusts are dispersed, and affections for good and truth are implanted in their place, and are so arranged that the goods and truths which a man wills and thinks he may also do, and may speak them from the heart; and furthermore that by victory over the external man man becomes spiritual, and is then affiliated by the Lord with the angels of heaven, who are all spiritual. Heretofore temptations have not been understood, and scarcely anyone has known whence and what they are and the good they effect, because heretofore the church has not been in truths. No man is in truths unless he approaches the Lord directly, rejects the former faith and accepts the new. And this is why no one has been admitted into any spiritual temptation during the centuries that have passed since the Nicene Council introduced a belief in three Gods; for if anyone had been, he would have succumbed immediately, and thus would have precipitated himself more deeply into hell. The contrition which is said to precede the present faith is not temptation. I have questioned very many about it, and they have declared that it is nothing but a word, except perhaps with the simple there might be some timorous thoughts about hell-fire.

598.

When man has passed through temptations he is as to his internal man in heaven, while by means of the external man he is in the world; thus by means of temptations there is a conjunction of heaven and the world effected in man; and then the Lord in him rules his world from heaven according to order. The contrary takes place if man remains natural; he is then eager to rule heaven from the world. Such does everyone become who is in the love of ruling from the love of self. If interiorly examined, such a man believes in himself only and not in God; and after death he believes him to be God who can exercise dominion over others. Such madness prevails in hell, and it even proceeds to such a length that some call themselves God the Father, some God the Son, some God the Holy Spirit, and among the Jews some call themselves the Messiah. This shows clearly what man becomes after death if the natural man is not regenerated, and therefore to what length his fantasies would carry him if a New Church, in which genuine truths are taught, had not been established by the Lord. This is what is meant by these words of the Lord: In the consummation of the age [that is, at the end of the present church], there shall be such affliction as hath not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, nor ever shall be; and except those days be shortened, no flesh would be saved (Matt. 24:21, 22).

599.

In the conflicts or temptations of men the Lord works a particular redemption; as He wrought a total redemption when in the world. By conflicts and temptations in the world the Lord glorified His Human, that is, made it Divine; in like manner now with man individually, when he is in temptations, the Lord fights for him, conquers the evil spirits who are infesting him, and after temptation glorifies him, that is, renders him spiritual. After His universal redemption the Lord reduced to order all things in heaven and in hell; with man after temptation He does in like manner, that is, He reduces to order all the things of heaven and the world that are in him. After redemption the Lord established a new church; in like manner He also establishes what pertains to the church in man, and makes him to be a church in particular. After redemption the Lord bestowed peace upon those who believed on Him, for He said: Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you; not as the world giveth, give I unto you (John 14:27). Likewise He gives to man after temptation a sense of peace, that is, gladness of mind and consolation. From all this it is clear that the Lord is the Redeemer forever.

600.

A regenerated internal man without a regenerated external also, may be likened to a bird flying in the air with no resting place on dry land except in a marsh, where it is attacked by serpents and frogs, so that it flies away and dies. It may be likened also to a swan swimming in mid-ocean, which cannot reach the shore and make her nest, so that the eggs she lays sink in the water, where they are eaten by fishes. It may be likened also to a soldier on a wall which is pulled down under him, so that he falls headlong and dies amid the ruins. Again it may be likened to a beautiful tree transplanted into filthy soil where troops of worms eat up its roots, so that it withers and dies. It may also be likened to a house without a foundation, or to a column without a pedestal. Such is the internal man when it alone is reformed and not the external also; for it then has no means of determining itself to doing good.

VIII. THE REGENERATED MAN HAS A NEW WILL AND A NEW UNDERSTANDING. The church of today knows both from the Word and from reason that a regenerated man is a renewed or new man. From the Word, by the following passages: Make you a new heart and a new spirit; for why will ye die, O house of Israel? (Ezek. 18:31). I will give you a new heart and a new spirit in the midst of you; and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and will give you a heart of flesh; and I will put My spirit within you (Ezek. 36:26, 27). Henceforth know we no man after the flesh, therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature (2 Cor. 5:16, 17). In these passages “a new heart” means a new will, and “a new spirit” means a new understanding; for “heart” in the Word signifies the will, and “spirit,” when connected with heart, signifies the understanding. The church also knows from reason that the regenerated man has a new will and a new understanding, since these two faculties constitute man, and they are what are regenerated. Therefore every man is such as he is with respect to these two faculties, that is, he is evil whose will is evil, and still more so he whose understanding favors the evil; while the reverse is true of the good. Religion alone renews and regenerates man. Religion occupies the highest seat in the human mind, and sees beneath it the civil matters pertaining to the world; it also ascends by means of them, as the pure sap ascends through a tree to its very top, and from that height it surveys what is natural, as from a tower or mountain one surveys the plains below.

602.

But it must be understood that while man may rise as to his understanding almost into the light in which the angels of heaven are, unless he rises also as to his will, he is still the old and not a new man. But it has been shown already how the understanding elevates the will more and more to the same height with itself. For this reason regeneration is predicated primarily of the will, and secondarily of the understanding. For the understanding in man is like light in the world, and the will is like the heat there; and it is known that light without heat does not vivify or cause vegetation, but light joined with heat. Moreover, as to the lower region of the mind, the understanding is actually in the light of the world, while as to the higher region it is in the light of heaven; consequently if the will is not raised from the lower region into the higher, and there conjoined with the understanding, it remains in the world; and then the understanding flies upward and downward, but returns every night to the will below and sleeps there; and they unite like a man and a harlot, and beget two-headed offspring. From all this it is clear that unless a man has a new will and a new understanding, he is not regenerated.

603.

The human mind is divided into three regions, the lowest is called the natural, the middle the spiritual, and the highest the celestial. By regeneration man is raised from the lowest region, which is the natural, into the higher, which is the spiritual, and through this into the celestial. That there are these three regions belonging to the mind will be shown in the following section. This is why the unregenerate man is called natural, and the regenerate man spiritual. This makes clear that the mind of the regenerate man is raised into the spiritual region, and there sees from the higher what takes place in the lower or natural mind. That there is a lower and a higher region in the human mind, everyone can see and recognize by a slight attention to his own thoughts; for what he thinks, he sees; and therefore he says that he has thought or thinks this and that, which would be impossible unless there were an interior thought that is called perception, which looks down into the lower which is called thought. When a judge has heard or read over a long series of arguments presented by an advocate, he collects them all into one view in the higher region of his mind, thus forming them into one general idea; and from that he then looks down into the lower region, which is that of natural thought, and there arranges the arguments in order, and accordance with the higher, presents his opinion and pronounces judgment. Who does not know that a man may form more thoughts and conclusions in a moment or two, than he can express by means of his lower thoughts in half an hour? All this has been presented to make known that the human mind is divided into lower and higher regions.

604.

As to the new will: it is above the old one in the spiritual region, and the new understanding likewise, this with that and that with this. In that region they are conjoined and conjointly look down upon the old or natural will and understanding, and so arrange all things therein as to moderate them. Who cannot see that if there were but one region in the human mind, and if both evils and goods and truths and falsities were there brought together and mixed together, there would be a conflict such as would arise if wolves and lambs, tigers and calves, hawks and doves, were brought together into one enclosure? What would result but a cruel slaughter, the savage beasts tearing in pieces the tame ones? This is why it has been provided that goods with their truths should be collected together in the higher region, so that they may subsist in safety, and resist assault, and also by constraints and other means may subjugate and afterward disperse evils with their falsities. This, then, is the same as was said in the preceding section, that in the regenerated man the Lord through heaven rules what pertains to the world. And the higher or spiritual region of the human mind is a heaven in miniature, while the lower or natural region is a world in miniature, and for this reason man was called by the ancients a microcosm [a little world], and he may also be called a microuranos [a little heaven].

605.

That the regenerate man, that is, one who is renewed in will and understanding, is in the heat of heaven, that is, in its love, and at the same time in the light of heaven, that is, in its wisdom; and on the other hand, that the unregenerate man is in the heat of hell, that is, in its love, and at the same time in its darkness, that is, in its insanities, is at this day known and yet unknown. This is because the church of today makes regeneration an appendage to its faith, and into faith reason must not be admitted, consequently it must be admitted into nothing pertaining to its appendage, which, as before said, includes renovation and regeneration. These, together with that faith itself, are to those of the present church like a house, the doors and windows of which are closed, so that it is not known what is in it, whether it is empty or is full of genii from hell, or of angels from heaven. It may be added, that this confusion has been brought about by a fallacy which has arisen from the fact that a man may by his understanding ascend almost into the light of heaven, and consequently can from intelligence think and speak of spiritual things, whatever his will’s love may be. Ignorance of this truth has also caused ignorance of all that concerns regeneration and renovation of character.

606.

From all this it may be concluded that an unregenerate man is like one who sees phantoms at night, and believes them to be men; and afterwards, when he is being regenerated, he is like the same man seeing in the early dawn that the things he saw at night are delusions, and still later, when he is regenerated and is in the light of day, seeing them to be the offspring of delirium. An unregenerate man is like one dreaming, and a regenerate man like one awake; and in the Word natural life is likened to sleep, and spiritual life to a state of wakefulness. The unregenerate man is meant by the foolish virgins who had lamps but no oil, and the regenerate man by the wise virgins who had both lamps and oil, “lamps” meaning such things as pertain to the understanding, and “oil” such things as pertain to love. The regenerate are like the lamps of the lampstand in the tabernacle; they are like the bread of faces there with the frankincense upon it; and they are those who shall “shine as the brightness of the firmament, and as the stars for ever and ever” (as said in Dan. 12:3). The unregenerate man is like one who is in the garden of Eden, and who eats from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and is therefore banished from the garden; he is indeed that very tree. But the regenerate man is like one who is in that garden and eats of the tree of life. That it is given to such to eat of it, is obvious from the following in Revelation: To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God (Rev. 2:7), “the garden of Eden” meaning intelligence in spiritual things, arising from love of truth (see Apocalypse Revealed, n. 90). In a word, the unregenerate man is a “son of the evil one,” and the regenerate a “son of the kingdom” (Matt. 13:38); “the son of the evil one” there meaning a child of the devil, and “the son of the kingdom” a child of the Lord.

607.

IX. A REGENERATE MAN IS IN COMMUNION WITH ANGELS OF HEAVEN AND AN UNREGENERATE ONE IN COMMUNION WITH SPIRITS OF HELL. Every man is in communion, that is, in affiliation either with angels of heaven or with spirits of hell, because he is born to become spiritual, and this would be impossible unless he were born to be in some conjunction with those who are spiritual. It has been shown in the work on Heaven and Hell that as to his mind man is in both worlds, the natural and the spiritual. But neither man nor angel nor spirit knows of this conjunction, for the reason that man while he lives in the world is in a natural state, while angels and spirits are in a spiritual state; and because of the distinction between the natural and the spiritual, one is not visible to the other. The nature of this distinction has been described in the work on Conjugal Love in the Memorable Relation there recorded (n. 326-329). From that it is clear that their conjunction is not one of thoughts but of affections, and scarcely anyone reflects upon his affections, because they are not in the light in which the understanding is, and therefore its thought is; but only in the heat in which the will is and therefore the affection of its love is. The conjunction between men and angels and spirits by means of the affections of love is so close that if it were severed and they were thereby separated, men would instantly fall into a swoon, and if the relation were not restored, and their conjunction renewed, men would die. [2] It has been said that man becomes spiritual by regeneration, but this does not mean that he becomes spiritual as an angel is in himself, but that he becomes spiritual natural, that is to say, that the spiritual is inwardly in his natural, just as thought is in speech, or as will is in action, for when one ceases the other ceases. In like manner man’s spirit is in every least thing that takes place in the body, and it is that which impels the natural to do whatever it does. The natural viewed in itself is passive or is a dead force, but the spiritual is active or is a living force; the passive or a dead force cannot act from itself, but must be impelled by the active, or by a living force. [3] As man lives continually in communion with the inhabitants of the spiritual world, he is also, when he leaves the natural world, introduced immediately among such as are like those with whom he had been associated in the world. Therefore it is that after death everyone seems to himself to be still living in the world, for he then comes into the company of those who are like him as to their will’s affections, and whom he then acknowledges, as kinsmen and relations acknowledge their own in the world; and this is what is meant where it is said in the Word of those who die, that they are brought together and gathered to their own. From all this it can now be seen that a regenerate man is in communion with the angels of heaven, and an unregenerate man with the spirits of hell.

608.

It must be known that there are three heavens, and these distinct from each other according to the three degrees of love and wisdom, and that man is in communion with the angels of those three heavens in the measure of his regeneration; and this being so, that the human mind is divided into three degrees or regions in accord with the heavens. But on these three heavens and their division in accordance with the three degrees of love and wisdom, see the work on Heaven and Hell (n. 29 seq.); and also the pamphlet on Interaction between the Soul and the Body, (n. 16, 17). Here it will be sufficient merely to illustrate, by a simile, the nature of the three degrees in accordance with which the heavens are divided. They are like the head, body, and feet in man; the highest heaven constituting the head, the middle the body, and the lowest the feet; for the whole heaven is before the Lord like one man. The truth of this has been disclosed to me by actual observation, for it has been granted me to see wholly as one man a single society of heaven, which consisted of thousands. Why then should not the whole heaven so appear to the Lord? Respecting this living experience, see the work on Heaven and Hell (n. 59 seq.). This makes clear what is meant by this, which is well known in the Christian world, that the church constitutes the body of Christ, and that Christ is the life of that body. And this also is thus made clear, namely, that the Lord is the all in all things of heaven, since He is the life of that body. Likewise, the Lord is the church with those who acknowledge Him alone as the God of heaven and earth, and believe in Him. That He is the God of heaven and earth, He Himself teaches in Matthew (28:18); and that men ought to believe in Him, in John (3:15, 16, 36; 6:40; 11:25, 26).

609.

The three degrees in which the heavens are, and consequently, in which the human mind is, may also be illustrated in some measure by comparisons with material things in the world. In their relative nobility these three degrees are like gold, silver, and brass, to which metals they are likened in the statue of Nebuchadnezzar (Dan. 2:31-35). These three degrees are also distinct from each other, like the ruby, sapphire, and agate in respect to purity and goodness; also like the olive tree, the vine, and the fig-tree; and so on. Moreover, in the Word, “gold,” “ruby,” and “oil” signify celestial good, which is the good of the highest heaven; “silver,” “sapphire,” and “a vine” signify spiritual good, which is that of the middle heaven; while “brass,” “agate,” and “a fig-tree” signify natural good, which is that of the lowest heaven. That there are three degrees, a celestial, a spiritual, and a natural, has been stated above.

610.

To the foregoing this shall be added, that man’s regeneration is not effected in a moment, but gradually, from the beginning to the end of his life in the world, and is afterward continued and perfected. And because man is reformed by conflicts with the victories over the evils of his flesh, the Son of man says to each one of the seven churches, that he will give gifts to him that overcometh; as to the church of Ephesus: To him that overcometh I give to eat of the tree of life (Rev. 2:7); to the church of Smyrna: He that overcometh shall not be hurt in the second death (Rev. 2:11); to the church in Pergamos: To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna (Rev. 2:17); to the church in Thyatira: He that overcometh, to him will I give power over the nations (Rev. 2:26); to the church in Sardis: He that overcometh shall be clothed in white garments (Rev. 3:5); to the church in Philadelphia: He that overcometh I will make him a pillar in the temple of God (Rev. 3:12); and to the church of the Laodiceans: He that overcometh I will give to him to sit with Me in My throne (Rev. 3:21). Finally it may be added that so far as man is regenerated, or so far as regeneration is perfected in him, so far he attributes nothing of good and truth, that is, of charity and faith, to him self, but to the Lord only; for the truths which he gradually acquires teach this clearly.

611.

X. SO FAR AS MAN IS REGENERATED SINS ARE REMOVED, AND THIS REMOVAL IS THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS. So far as man is regenerated sins are removed, because regeneration is the restraining of the flesh that it may not rule, and the subjugating of the old man with its lusts, that it may not rise up and destroy the intellectual faculty, for that would render man incapable of reformation, reformation being impossible unless man’s spirit, which is above the flesh, is instructed and perfected. Who, if he still retains a sound understanding, can fail to see from all this that such a work cannot be effected in a moment but only gradually, just as man is conceived, carried in the womb, born, and educated, according to what has been shown above? For those things which pertain to the flesh or the old man are inherent in man from his birth, and build the first habitation of his mind, in which lusts have their abode like wild beasts in their caves, dwelling first in the outer courts, then by turns entering into the underground rooms, as it were, of the house, and finally ascending by steps and forming for themselves chambers. This takes place gradually, as an infant grows, becomes a boy, afterwards a youth, and then begins to think from his own understanding, and to act from his own will. Who cannot see that this house in the mind thus far built in which lusts dance with joined hands, like the ochim, tziim and satyrs, cannot be destroyed in a moment and a new house built in its place? Must not those lusts with clasped hands and so sporting themselves be first removed, and new desires, which belong to good and truth, be introduced in the place of the cupidities which belong to evil and falsity? That these things cannot be done in a moment every wise man sees from this alone, that every evil is composed of innumerable lusts, and is like a fruit which beneath the surface is full of worms with white bodies and black heads; also, that evils are numerous and joined together like the progeny of a spider when first hatched; wherefore unless one evil is brought out after another, and this until their connection is broken up, man cannot be made new. These things have been cited to make clear that so far as anyone is regenerated sins are removed.

612.

Man inclines by birth to evils of every kind and from that inclination lusts after them, and so far as he is in freedom he also does them; for by birth he lusts after dominion over others, and to possess the goods of others, which two lusts cut asunder love to the neighbor, and then man hates everyone who opposes him, and from hatred breathes revenge which inwardly cherishes murder. For the same reason he thinks nothing of adulteries, nothing of such robbery as secret theft, nothing of blasphemies, which include false witness; and he who thinks nothing of these things, is in heart an atheist. Such is man by birth; from which it is clear that he is from birth a hell in miniature. Inasmuch then, as man, in respect to the interiors of his mind, is born spiritual, as beasts are not, and consequently is born for heaven, and yet, as has been said, his natural or external man is a miniature hell, it follows that a heaven cannot be implanted in this hell, unless the hell is removed.

613.

He who knows the relation between heaven and hell, and how the one is removed from the other, can know how man is regenerated, and also what the regenerate man is. That this may be understood it shall be made known briefly that the faces of all who are in heaven look toward the Lord, while all who are in hell turn their faces from the Lord; therefore when hell is looked at from heaven, only the occiput and back appear; and those there even appear inverted, like the antipodes, feet upward and heads down, and this although they walk upon their feet and turn their faces around; for it is the contrary direction of their minds’ interiors that produces this appearance. These remarkable facts I report from my own observation. They made clear to me how regeneration is effected, namely, just as hell is removed and thus separated from heaven. For, as stated above, as to his first nature which he has by birth, man is a hell in miniature, and as to the other nature which he acquires by the second birth, he is a heaven in miniature. And from this it follows that the evils in man are removed and separated in the same manner as heaven and hell in their large form are separated, and that evils, as they are removed, turn themselves away from the Lord, and gradually invert themselves, and that this takes place in the degree that heaven is implanted, that is, that man is made new. To this may be added, for the sake of illustration, that every evil in man is in conjunction with those in hell who are in like evil, and on the other hand that every good in man is in conjunction with those in heaven who are in like good.

614.

From what has been presented it can be seen that the forgiveness of sins is not their being rooted out and washed away, but their removal, and thus their separation; also that every evil that a man has actually appropriated to himself remains. And since the forgiveness of sins is their removal and separation, it follows that man is withheld from evil by the Lord and kept in good, and this is what is given to man by regeneration. I once heard a certain person in the lowest heaven saying that he was exempt from sins, because they had been washed away, adding, “by the blood of Christ.” But because he was in heaven, and was in that error from ignorance, he was let into his own peculiar sins, and as they returned he acknowledged them; thereby acquiring a new belief, namely, that every man, as well as every angel, is withheld from evil and kept in good by the Lord. [2] This shows plainly what the forgiveness of sins is, that it is not instantaneous, but follows regeneration according to the progress thereof. The removal of sins which is called the forgiveness of them, may be likened to the casting forth of the filth from the camps of the children of Israel into the desert which was round about them; for their camps represented heaven, and the desert hell. It may also be likened to the removal of the nations from the children of Israel, in the land of Canaan, and of the Jebusites from Jerusalem; these were not cast out, but separated. It may also be likened to what occurred to Dagon the god of the Philistines, in that when the ark was brought in he first lay upon his face on the ground, and afterward, with his head and hands cut off, upon the threshold; thus he was not cast out, but removed. [3] It may also be likened to the demons sent by the Lord into the swine that afterward plunged into the sea; “the sea” there and elsewhere in the Word, signifying hell. It may also be likened to the throng that followed the dragon, which, on being separated from heaven, first invaded the earth, and was afterward cast down into hell. It may also be likened to a forest where there are wild beasts of many kinds which when the forest is cut down flee to the neighboring thickets, and then the ground in the midst being leveled it becomes by cultivation a field.

615.

XI. WITHOUT FREEDOM OF CHOICE IN SPIRITUAL THINGS REGENERATION IS IMPOSSIBLE. Who, except a stupid person, cannot see that without freedom of choice in spiritual things man cannot be regenerated? Can he without this approach the Lord, acknowledge Him as the Redeemer and Savior and the God of heaven and earth, as He himself teaches (Matt. 28:18)? Without that freedom of choice who can believe in the Lord, that is, from faith look to Him and worship Him, and adapt himself to receiving the means and benefits of salvation from Him, and from Him cooperate in the reception of them? Who without freedom of choice can do any good to the neighbor, can practice charity, or take into his thought and will other things pertaining to faith and charity, bring them forth, and put them into acts? Otherwise, what is regeneration but a mere word dropped from the lips of the Lord (John 3), which either remains in the ear, or having dropped upon the lips from the thought nearest to speech, becomes merely an articulated sound of twelve letters, which sound cannot by any meaning be raised into any higher region of the mind, but falls upon the air and is dissipated?

616.

Tell me, if you can, whether a blinder stupidity respecting regeneration is possible than that which prevails with those who have confirmed themselves in the faith of the present day, which is, that faith is infused into man while he is like a stock or a stone, and that when it has been infused, it is followed by justification, which is forgiveness of sins, and regeneration, and other gifts besides; and also that man’s effort must be wholly excluded, that it may not do violence to the merit of Christ. In order that this dogma might be still more firmly established, they have deprived man of all freedom of choice in spiritual things, by asserting his complete impotence therein. It is, then, as if God alone were to operate on His part, and no power were given to man to operate on his part, and thus conjoin himself with God. In that case what is man in respect to regeneration, but like one bound hand and foot, like the prisoners on ships called galley-slaves? And like these, if he were to free himself from those manacles and fetters, he would be punished or condemned to death, that is, if, from freedom of choice he were to do good to the neighbor, and of himself were to believe in God for the sake of salvation. If a man were confirmed in such opinions, and yet had a pious desire for heaven, what would he be like but a specter standing and speculating as to whether that faith with its benefits has been infused into him; or if not, whether it will be infused, therefore whether God the Father has taken pity on him, or whether His Son has interceded for him, or whether the Holy Spirit is inoperative because employed elsewhere? And yet, because of his complete ignorance of the matter, he might go away and console himself by saying, “Perhaps that grace is in the morality of my life, which I have and which I retain as formerly, and in me therefore it may be holy, while in those who have not attained to that faith it is profane. Therefore, in order that this holiness may remain in my morality, I will be careful hereafter not to exercise either charity or faith of myself;” with much more. Such a specter, or if you prefer, such a statue of salt, does everyone become who thinks of regeneration separated from freedom of choice in spiritual things.

617.

The man who believes that regeneration is possible without freedom of choice in spiritual things, thus without co-operation, becomes as frigid as a stone in regard to all the truths of the church; or if he is warm, since his warmth arises from lusts, he is like a burning brand in a fire-place, that blazes from the combustible elements in it. He becomes comparatively like a palace sinking into the ground even to its roof, and becoming flooded with muddy water; after which he dwells upon the bare roof, making a hut there for himself of marsh rushes, and at length the roof sinks also, and he is drowned. He is also like a ship laden with all kinds of precious merchandise taken from the Word as a treasury, but gnawed by mice and moth-eaten, or thrown by the sailors into the sea, so that the merchants are defrauded of their goods. Those who are learned or rich in the mysteries of that faith, are like the venders in little shops who sell idols, fruit, wax-flowers, shells, snakes in bottles, and such like things. Those who, because of the lack of spiritual power adapted and given to man by the Lord, have no wish to look upward, are actually like beasts whose heads look downward, and which care for nothing but to graze in the forests; and if they enter an orchard, they eat up the foliage of the trees like worms, or if they see the fruit with their eyes, or still more if they feel it with their hands, they fill it with worms; and finally they become like scaly serpents, their fallacies sounding and glittering like serpents’ scales; and so on.

618.

XII. REGENERATION IS IMPOSSIBLE WITHOUT TRUTHS, BY WHICH FAITH IS FORMED AND WITH WHICH CHARITY CONJOINS ITSELF. There are three means whereby man is regenerated, the Lord, faith, and charity. These three would lie hidden like the most costly jewels buried in the earth, if Divine truths from the Word did not reveal them. They would indeed be hidden from those who deny man’s cooperation even if they were to read the Word a hundred or a thousand times, although they there stand forth in clear light. As concerns the Lord, who that is confirmed in the prevailing faith sees there with open eyes the declarations that He and the Father are one, that He is the God of heaven and earth, that it is the will of the Father that men should believe in the Son, with innumerable other statements of the same kind respecting the Lord in both Testaments? They do not see because they are not in truths, and consequently not in the light in which subjects of this kind can be seen; and if light were given, falsities would extinguish it, and these truths would then escape their attention like something wholly erased, or like underground drains which are trodden upon and passed over. These things are said that it may be known that without truths this first thing in regeneration cannot be seen. [2] As to faith, neither is that possible without truths; because faith and truth make one thing; for the good of faith is like a soul, truths constituting its body. To say therefore that a man believes or has faith, when he is ignorant of all of its truths, is like taking the soul out of the body, and talking with it when thus invisible. Moreover, all the truths that make up the body of faith emit light and enlighten, and render the features of faith visible. It is the same with charity; this emits heat with which the light of truth conjoins itself, as heat does with light in the world in the time of spring, from the conjunction of which the animals and vegetables of the earth return to their prolifications. [3] It is the same with spiritual heat and light; these in like manner conjoin themselves in man when he is in the truths of faith and at the same time in the goods of charity. For as said above in the chapter on Faith, from each particular truth of faith there flows forth a light that enlightens, and from each particular good of charity a heat that enkindles. It is also there said that spiritual light in its essence is intelligence, and spiritual heat in its essence is love; and that the Lord alone conjoins these two in man when He regenerates him. For the Lord said: The words that I speak unto you are spirit, and are life (John 6:63). Believe in the light, that ye may be sons of light. I am come a light into the world (John 12:36, 46). The Lord is the Sun in the spiritual world; this is the source of all spiritual light and heat; that light enlightens, and that heat enkindles; and by the conjunction of the two the Lord vivifies and regenerates man.

619.

From all this it can be seen, that without truths there is no knowledge of the Lord; also that without truths there is no faith, and thus no charity; consequently that without truths there is no theology, and where this is not, there is no church. Such is the condition today of that body of people who call themselves Christians, and who say they are in the light of the Gospel, and yet are in the veriest darkness; for with them truths lie hidden beneath falsities, like gold, silver, and precious stones buried among the bones in the valley of Hinnom. That it is so, I was enabled to see clearly from the spheres in the spiritual world that flow forth from the Christendom of today and propagate themselves. [2] One sphere is that respecting the Lord; this breathes and pours itself forth from the southern quarter, where the learned clergy and erudite laity reside. Wherever this sphere goes it insinuates itself into the ideas, and with many takes away faith in the Divinity of the Lord’s Human, with many weakens it, with many makes it seem foolish; and this because it brings in with it the faith in three Gods, and thus produces confusion. [3] Another sphere that takes away faith is like a black cloud in winter, which brings on darkness, turns rain into snow, strips bare the trees, freezes the waters, and takes away all pasture from the sheep. This sphere in conjunction with the former insinuates a kind of lethargy respecting one God, regeneration, and the means of salvation. [4] A third sphere relates to the conjunction of faith and charity; this is so strong as to be irresistible, but at the present day it is abominable; it is like a pestilence that infects everyone on whom it breathes, and tears asunder every tie between those two means of salvation, established as such from the creation of the world, and restored anew by the Lord. This sphere invades even the men in the natural world, and extinguishes the marriage torches between truths and goods. I have felt this sphere, and at such times, when I thought of the conjunction of faith and charity, it interposed itself between them and violently endeavored to separate them. [5] The angels complain of these spheres, and pray to the Lord for their dissipation, but they received the answer that they cannot be dissipated so long as the dragon is on the earth, because it is from the draconic spirits; for it is said of the dragon that he was cast down unto the earth, and then follows: Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and woe to those that inhabit the earth! (Apoc. 12:12.) [6] These three spheres are like tempest-driven atmospheres coming forth from the breathing-holes of the dragons, which, being spiritual, invade the mind and control it. The spheres of spiritual truth there are as yet few, only in the new heaven, and also with those beneath heaven, who are separated from the draconic spirits. This is why those truths are so little recognized by men in the world to-day, just as ships in the Eastern ocean are invisible to captains and shipmasters who are sailing in the Western ocean.

620.

That regeneration is impossible without the truths by which faith is formed, may be illustrated by the following comparisons. It is as impossible as a human mind without understanding; for the understanding is formed by means of truths, and therefore teaches what ought to be believed and what ought to be done, what regeneration is, and how it is effected. Regeneration without truths is as impossible as the vivification of animals or the growth of trees without light from the sun; for if the sun did not give light at the same time that it gives heat, it would become “like sackcloth of hair” (as described in the Apocalypse 6:12), and “black” (Joel 2:10, 31), and thus mere darkness would be upon the earth (Joel 3:15). It would be the same with man without truths, which send out light from themselves; for the sun from which the light of truths flows forth is the Lord in the spiritual world. If spiritual light did not flow therefrom into human minds, the church would be in mere darkness, or in shadow from a perpetual eclipse. Regeneration, which is effected by means of faith and charity, without truths that teach and lead, would be like navigation on the great ocean without a rudder, or without a mariner’s compass and charts. It would also be like riding in a dark forest at night. The mind’s internal sight with those who are not in truths but in falsities, which they believe to be truths, may be likened to the sight of those whose optic nerves are obstructed, the eye still appearing sound and capable of sight, although it sees nothing; which kind of blindness is called by physicians amaurosis and gutta serena; for in such the rational or intellectual faculty is obstructed above and open below only, owing to which rational light becomes like the light of the eye, and consequently all their opinions are imagination only and are fashioned from mere fallacies. And in such case men would stand like astrologers in the market-places with long telescopes, uttering unmeaning prophecies. Such would all students of theology become, unless genuine truths were disclosed by the Lord from the Word.

621.

To this the following Memorable Relations shall be added. First: I saw an assembly of spirits, all on their knees praying to God to send angels to them, with whom they might speak face to face, and to whom they might open the thoughts of their hearts. And when they rose up, there appeared three angels in white standing in their presence. And the angels said “The Lord Jesus Christ has heard your prayers, and has therefore sent us to you; open to us the thoughts of your hearts.” [2] And the spirits replied, “Our priests have told us that in theological matters it is not the understanding but faith that avails, and that an intellectual faith does not profit in such matters, because it springs from and savors of man, and is not from God. We are Englishmen, and we have heard many things from our sacred ministry which we believed; but when we have spoken with others who also called themselves reformed, and with some who called themselves Roman Catholics, and again with those of various sects, they all seemed learned, and yet in many things they did not agree with one another; although they all said, ‘Believe us,’ and some said, ‘We are ministers of God, and we know.’ But as we know that Divine truths, which are called truths of faith and are the truths of the church, are no one’s by birthright alone, or by inheritance, but are from God out of heaven; and as they point the way to heaven and enter the life together with the goods of charity, and thus lead to eternal life; we have become anxious, and on our knees have prayed to God.” [3] Then the angels answered, “Read the Word and believe in the Lord, and you will see the truths which must be the truths of your faith and of your life. All in the Christian world draw their doctrinals from the Word as the one only fountain.” But two of the assembly said, “We have read, but have not understood.” The angels replied, “You have not approached the Lord, who is the Word, and also have first confirmed yourselves in falsities.” The angels said further, “What is faith without light; and what is thinking without understanding? It is not human. Ravens and magpies can also learn to talk without understanding. We can assure you that every man whose soul desires it, is able to see the truths of the Word in clear light. There is no animal that does not know its life’s food when it sees it; and man is a rational and spiritual animal; he sees the food of his life, not his body’s but his soul’s food, which is the truth of faith, provided he hungers for it and seeks it from the Lord. [4] Moreover, the substance of anything that is not received in the understanding, does not remain in the memory, but only the verbal statement of it. So when we looked down from heaven into the world, we have not seen anything, but have only heard sounds, and for the most part discordant ones. But we will enumerate some things which the learned of the clergy have separated from the understanding, not knowing that there are two ways to the understanding, one from the world and the other from heaven, and that when the Lord is enlightening the understanding He withdraws it from the world. But if the understanding is closed in regard to religion, the way to it from heaven is closed; and then man sees no more in the Word than a blind man. We have seen many such fall into pits out of which they did not rise. [5] Let this be made clear by examples. Can you not understand what charity is and what faith is, that charity is doing rightly with the neighbor, and faith is thinking rightly respecting God and the essentials of the church; and consequently that he who does rightly and thinks aright, that is, lives well and believes aright, is saved?” To this the spirits answered that they understood. [6] The angels said further, “Man must repent of his sins in order to be saved, and unless he repents he remains in the sins into which he was born; and repentance consists in man’s ceasing to will evils because they are contrary to God, searching himself once or twice a year, seeing his evils, confessing them before the Lord, praying for help, refraining from evils, and beginning a new life; and so far as he does this, and believes in the Lord, his sins are forgiven.” Then some of those from the assembly said, “That we understand, and consequently what the forgiveness of sins is.” [7] Then they asked the angels to give them still further information, and first of all about God, the immortality of the soul, regeneration, and baptism. To this the angels replied: “We shall not say anything but what you will understand; otherwise our words would fall like rain upon the sand, and upon the seeds therein which wither and die, however they may be watered from heaven.” And about God they said, “All who enter heaven are allotted a place there, and thus eternal joy according to their idea of God, because this idea universally reigns in everything pertaining to worship. The idea of God as a Spirit, when spirit is supposed to be something like ether or wind, is an idea without meaning; but the idea of God as a Man is the right idea; for God is Divine love and Divine wisdom, together with every quality thereof, and the subject of these is not ether or wind, but Man. In heaven the idea of God is that He is the Lord the Savior; He is the God of heaven and earth, as He Himself has taught. Let your idea of God be like ours, and we shall be associated together.” When this had been said, their faces beamed. [8] Of the immortality of the soul they said, “Man lives forever, because he is capable of conjunction with God through love and faith; every man is capable of this. That this capability is what constitutes the immortality of the soul you can understand if you think a little more deeply about the matter.” [9] Of regeneration they said, “Who does not see that every man has the freedom to think about God, or not to think about Him, provided he has been taught that there is a God? Thus every man has freedom in spiritual things as well as in civil and natural things. The Lord gives this to all unceasingly; therefore it is man’s fault if he does not think. It is because of this ability that man is man; while it is because of the absence of it that a beast is a beast. Man consequently has the ability to reform and regenerate himself as if from himself, provided he acknowledges in his heart that it is from the Lord. Everyone who repents and believes in the Lord is being reformed and regenerated. Man does both as if from himself; but the as if from himself is from the Lord. It is true that man cannot contribute anything to this work from himself, not an iota; nevertheless, you were not created statues but men, in order that you may do this from the Lord as if from yourselves. This one and only reciprocation of love and faith, is what the Lord above all things wishes man to make to Him. In a word, act from yourselves, and believe that it is from the Lord; this is acting as if from yourselves.” [10] Then they asked whether this acting as if from himself was implanted in man from creation. An angel replied, “It was not, because to act from himself belongs to God alone, but He gives it unceasingly, that is, joins it [to man] unceasingly; and then so far as man does good and believes truth as if from himself, he is an angel of heaven; while so far as he does evil and therefrom believes falsity, which he also does as if from himself, he is a spirit of hell. You may wonder that he does this also as if from himself, nevertheless you can see that it is so, when you pray to be guarded from the devil lest he seduce you, and enter into you as he did into Judas, and fill you with all iniquity, and destroy you soul and body. But a man becomes guilty when he believes that he acts from himself, whether in doing good or evil, and not when he believes that he acts as if from himself; for when he believes that the good is from himself, he claims as his own what belongs to God, and when he believes the evil to be from himself he attributes to himself what belongs to the devil.” [11] Respecting baptism they said, that baptism is spiritual washing, which is reformation and regeneration; that a child is reformed and regenerated when, having become an adult, he does the things that his sponsors promised for him, namely, these two, repents, and believes in God. For they promise first that he will renounce the devil and all his works, and secondly, that he will believe in God. All infants in heaven are initiated into these two duties; but to them the devil is hell and God is the Lord. Moreover, baptism is a sign to the angels that a man belongs to the church.” Hearing this, those of the assembly said, “We understand that.” [12] Then a voice was heard from the side, crying out, “We do not understand,” and another, “We do not wish to understand.” Inquiry was made from whom those voices came, and it was found that they came from those who had confirmed themselves in falsities of faith, and who wished to be believed as oracles, and so to be worshiped. The angels said, “Do not be surprised; there are many such at this day; to us from heaven they appear like sculptured images made with such skill that they can move the lips and make sounds like those of the vocal organs, but do not know whether the breath which the sound comes from is from hell or from heaven, because they do not know whether it is false or true. They reason and reason, and they confirm and confirm, and yet do not see whether anything is so or not. But know this, that human ingenuity can confirm whatever it will, even until it seems to be actually true; therefore heretics can do so, and impious persons; and atheists are more able to prove that there is no God, but nature only.” [13] After this the assembly of the English, inflamed with a desire to be wise, said to the angels, “They say so many different things about the holy supper, tell us what the truth is about it.” The angels replied, “The truth is, that the man who looks to the Lord and repents, is by that most holy ordinance conjoined with the Lord and introduced into heaven.” Those of the assembly said, “That is a mystery.” The angels replied, “It is a mystery, and yet such as may be understood. The bread and wine do not effect this; from these there is nothing holy; but material bread and spiritual bread, as also material wine and spiritual wine correspond to each other mutually, spiritual bread being the holy principle of love, and spiritual wine the holy principle of faith, both from the Lord, and both being the Lord. From this comes the conjunction of the Lord with man and of man with the Lord, not with the bread and wine, but with the love and faith of the man who has repented; and conjunction with the Lord is also introduction into heaven.” And after the angels had taught them something about correspondence, those of the assembly said, “Now for the first time we can understand this also.” And when they had said this, behold, a flame with light descended from heaven and affiliated them with the angels, and they loved each other mutually.

622.

Second Memorable Relation: All who have been prepared for heaven (which is done in the world of spirits, which is intermediate between heaven and hell), when the time is completed wish for heaven with great longing; and soon their eyes are opened and they see a path leading to some society in heaven; they take this path and ascend, and in the ascent there is a gate and a keeper there. He opens the gate, and they enter in through it. Then an examiner meets them, who tells them from the president to enter still further and to look about and see whether there are houses anywhere which they recognize as their own, for there is a new house for every novitiate angel. If they find one they so report and remain there. But if they do not find one they return and say that they have not seen any. And then an examination is made by a certain wise one there whether the light that is in them harmonizes with that in the society, and especially whether the heat does; for the light of heaven in its essence is Divine truth, and the heat of heaven in its essence is good, both going forth from the Lord there as a sun. If there is in them a light and a heat different from the light and heat of that society, that is, a different kind of good and truth, they are not received. Therefore they leave that place, and through ways opened between the societies in heaven they pass on; and this they do until they find a society perfectly harmonious with their affections, and this becomes their abode forever. For they are then among their own, just as if among relatives and friends whom they love from the heart, because they are in like affections; and there they are in their life’s happiness, and in the joy of their whole bosom from peace of mind, for in the light and heat of heaven there is ineffable delight, which is shared. Thus it happens with those who are becoming angels. [2] And yet those who are in evils and falsities may ascend to heaven by permission; but when they enter they begin to catch their breath and to breathe with difficulty; and presently their sight grows dim, their understanding is darkened, they cease to think, a kind of oblivion hovers before their eyes, and so they stand like stocks. Then the heart begins to throb, the chest to be oppressed, the mind is seized with anguish, and their distress increases more and more; and in this state they writhe like serpents brought near a fire, so that they roll themselves away, and by a steep descent which then appears, they cast themselves down, and do not rest until they are in hell among their like, where they can draw breath and where their hearts beat freely. After this they hate heaven, reject truth, and in heart blaspheme the Lord, believing that their pains and torments in heaven were from Him. [3] From these few things it can be seen what the lot is of those who have no regard for the truths of faith, which nevertheless constitute the light in which the angels of heaven are, and who have no regard for the goods of love and charity, which nevertheless constitute the heat of life in which the angels of heaven are; and it will also be seen therefrom, how greatly those err who believe that anyone may enjoy heavenly happiness if only he is admitted into heaven. For it is the belief of the present day, that to be received into heaven is a matter of mercy only and that a man’s reception into heaven is like entering a house in the world where there is a wedding, and being admitted at once into its joys and festivities. But let it be understood that in the spiritual world there is a sharing of the love’s affections and the thoughts arising from them, since man is then a spirit, and the life of the spirit is the love’s affection and its thought; also that homogeneous affection conjoins while heterogeneous affection separates, and both to a devil in heaven and to an angel in hell heterogeneity is torture; and for this reason they are separated in strict accordance with the diversities, varieties, and differences of the affections pertaining to the love.

623.

Third Memorable Relation: I was once permitted to see three hundred of the clergy and laity together, all learned and erudite in that they knew how to confirm faith alone even to justification thereby, and some still further. And because they were in the belief that heaven is a mere matter of admission from grace, they were given leave to ascend into a heavenly society, which however was not among the higher ones. And when they ascended they appeared at a distance like calves. When they entered heaven they were received by the angels civilly, but while they were talking a trembling seized them, afterward a horror, and finally torture like that of death; then they cast themselves down headlong, and in their fall they appeared like dead horses. In their ascent they had appeared like calves, because a vigorous natural affection for seeing and knowing appears, on account of its correspondence, like a calf; but in their fall they appeared like dead horses because the understanding of truth appears, on account of its correspondence, like a horse, and a lack of understanding of truth pertaining to the church appears like a dead horse. [2] There were boys below who saw them descending, and in their descent looking like dead horses; and they then turned their faces away and asked their teacher who was with them, “What monstrosity is this? We saw men, and now, instead of them we see dead horses; and not being able to look at them we turned away our faces. O Teacher, let us not stay in this place, let us go away.” And they went away. Then the teacher taught them on the way the meaning of a dead horse, saying, “A horse signifies the understanding of truth from the Word. This is the signification of all the horses you have seen; for when a man goes along meditating upon the Word, his meditation appears at a distance like a horse, noble and lively in proportion as he meditates spiritually, but on the other hand poor and lifeless as he meditates materially.” [3] Then the boys asked, “What is meditating spiritually and materially upon the Word?” The teacher answered, “I will illustrate it by examples. When reading the Word in a reverent way, who does not think within himself about God, the neighbor and heaven? He who thinks of God from person only and not from essence thinks materially; and he who thinks of the neighbor from his outward form only, and not from quality, thinks materially; and he who thinks of heaven from place merely, and not from love and wisdom, from which heaven is heaven, also thinks materially.” [4] But the boys said, “We have thought of God from person, of the neighbor from form, that he is a man, and of heaven from place, that it is above us. Have we then when reading the Word appeared to anyone like dead horses?” The teacher said, “No; you are still boys, and cannot think otherwise; but I have perceived in you an affection for knowing and understanding, and this being spiritual you have thought spiritually; for there is some spiritual thought latent within your material thought, although you are not aware of it. But I will return to what I said before, that he who thinks materially while reading the Word or meditating upon it, appears at a distance like a dead horse, while he who thinks spiritually appears like a living horse, and that he thinks materially of God who thinks of Him from person only and not from essence. For there are many attributes of the Divine Essence, as omnipotence, omniscience, omnipresence, eternity, love, wisdom, mercy, grace, and others; and there are attributes that go forth from the Divine Essence, namely, creation, preservation, redemption and salvation, enlightenment and instruction. Everyone who thinks of God from person makes three Gods, saying that the Creator and Preserver is one God, the Redeemer and Savior another, and the Enlightener and Instructor a third; while everyone who thinks of God from essence makes one God, saying, ‘God created us, the same God redeemed and saves us, and He also enlightens and instructs.’ This is why those Who think of the trinity of God from person, thus materially, must needs, out of the ideas of their thought which is material, make three Gods out of one. Nevertheless, in opposition to their thought, they are compelled to say that there is a union of these three by means of the essence, because they have also thought of God from essence, although, as it were, through a lattice. [5] “Therefore, my scholars, think of God from essence, and from essence of person. For to think of essence from person is to think of essence also materially; while to think from essence of person is to think of person also spiritually. Because the ancient heathen thought materially of God and therefore of the attributes of God, they not only made three gods but more, even as many as a hundred; for out of every attribute they made a god. You must understand that the material does not enter into the spiritual, but the spiritual enters into the material. It is the same with thought respecting the neighbor from the outward form and not from his quality; as also with thought about heaven from place, and not from love and wisdom, from which heaven exists. It is the same with each and all things in the Word; therefore he who cherishes a material idea of God, as also of the neighbor and heaven, can understand nothing in the Word; it is to him a dead letter, and when reading it or meditating upon it he appears at a distance like a dead horse. [6] Those whom you saw descending from heaven, having become before your eyes like dead horses, were such as have closed up the rational sight in respect to the theological or spiritual matters of the church both in themselves and in others by their peculiar dogma that the understanding must be kept in obedience to their faith; not reflecting that an understanding closed up by religion is as blind as a mole, with nothing in it but thick darkness. And such darkness, in rejecting from itself all spiritual light, shuts out the influx of that light, from the Lord and heaven, and places before it a bar in the corporeal-sensual far beneath the rational in matters of faith, that is, it places it near the nose, and fixes it in its cartilage, so that afterward what is spiritual cannot even be smelled. Because of this some have become of such a nature that when they perceive the odor from spiritual things they fall into a swoon. By odor I mean perception. These are they who make God three. They say, indeed, that from essence God is one; and yet, when they pray according to their belief, which is, that God the Father will have mercy for the Son’s sake and that He will send the Holy Spirit, they clearly make three Gods; and they cannot do otherwise; for they pray to one to be merciful for the sake of a second and to send a third.” Then their teacher taught them concerning the Lord that He is the one God, in whom is the Divine Trinity.

624.

Fourth Memorable Relation: Awaking from sleep at midnight, I saw at some height toward the east an angel holding in his right hand a paper which appeared of lustrous brightness in the sun’s light, and in the center of it there was a writing in golden letters; and I saw written: The Marriage of Good and Truth. From the writing flashed a splendor which spread into a wide circle round about the paper; so that the circle or border appeared like the dawn of day in spring. After this I saw the angel with the paper in his hand descending, and as he descended the paper appeared less and less bright, and the inscription, which was The Marriage of Good and Truth, was changed from a golden to a silver color, then to a copper color, then to an iron color, and finally to the color of copper and iron rust. At last the angel seemed to enter a dark mist and to pass through it to the earth; and there the paper, although still retained in his hand, was not visible. This was in the world of spirits where all men first assemble after death. [2] The angel then spoke to me, saying: “Ask those who are coming here whether they see me or see anything in my hand.” A multitude came, one body from the east, one from the south, one from the west, and one from the north; and I asked those coming from the east and south, who were such as, while in the world, had been devoted to learning, whether they saw anyone there with me, or anything in his hand. They all said that they saw nothing whatever. Then I asked those who came from the west and north, who were such as in the world had believed in the sayings of the learned; these said that they too did not see anything; although the last of them, who in the world had been in simple faith from charity or in some truth from good, said, after the former had gone away, that they saw a man with a paper, a man in graceful clothing, and a paper upon which letters were written; and when they brought their eyes close to it, they said that the inscription was, The Marriage of Good and Truth. [3] These also spoke to the angel, and asked him to tell them what it was. And the angel said, “All things in the whole heaven, and all things in the whole world, are by creation nothing but a marriage of good and truth, since each and all things, both the living and animate, and the lifeless and inanimate, are created from a marriage of good and truth and into that marriage. Nothing created into truth alone or into good alone is possible; either of these alone is nothing; but by means of that marriage the two exist and become a something, in quality in accord with the marriage. In the Lord God the Creator there is Divine good and Divine truth in their very substance. Divine good is the being [esse] of His substance, and Divine truth is the outgo [existere] of His substance, and they are also in their very oneness, for in Him they make one infinitely. As these two are one in God the Creator Himself, they are also one in each and all things created by Him; and by means of this the Creator is conjoined in an eternal covenant like that of marriage with all things created from Himself.” [4] The angel said further, that the Sacred Scripture, which was dictated by the Lord, is in the whole and in every part a marriage of good and truth (see above, 248-253); and because the church, which is formed by truths of doctrine, and religion, which is formed by goods of life according to truths of doctrine, are, with Christians, solely from the Sacred Scripture, it is evident that the church also, in general and in particular, is a marriage of good and truth. And what has been said of the marriage of good and truth can be said also of The Marriage of Charity and Faith, since good belongs to charity, and truth to faith. When this had been said the angel raised himself up from the earth, and passing through the mist, he ascended into heaven; and then the paper, according as he ascended, shone as before; and lo, that circle which before appeared like the day-dawn, settled down and dispelled the mist which had brought darkness upon the earth, and it became sunny.

625.

Fifth Memorable Relation: Once when I was meditating about the Lord’s second coming, there suddenly appeared a flash of light which forcibly struck my eyes; and I therefore looked up, and lo, the whole heaven above me appeared luminous, and there from the east to the west in a continuous strain a Glorification was heard; and an angel stood near who said, “That is a glorification of the Lord on account of His coming. It comes from the angels of the eastern and western heavens.” From the southern and northern heavens only a gentle murmur was heard. And because all this was heard by the angel, he first said to me that these glorifications and celebrations of the Lord are made from the Word. Presently he said, “Now they are glorifying and celebrating the Lord especially by these words, which are spoken in the prophecy of Daniel: Thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, but they shall not cohere. But in those days the God of the heavens shall make a kingdom to arise which shall not perish for ages it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, but itself shall stand for ages (2:43, 44). [2] After this I heard the sound of singing, and more deeply in the east I saw a flashing of light more brilliant than the former; and I asked the angel what the glorification there was. He said it was in these words in Daniel: I saw in the night visions, and behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and there was given Him dominion, and a kingdom; and all people and nations shall worship Him; His dominion is the dominion of an age, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom that which shall not be destroyed (Dan. 7:13, 14). Beside this they were celebrating the Lord from these words in the Apocalypse: To Jesus Christ be the glory and the might; behold, He cometh with clouds. He is the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the Fist and the last, Who is, Who was, and Who is to come, the Almighty; I John heard this from the Son of man out of the midst of the seven candlesticks (Rev. 1:5-13; 22:8, 13; also Matt. 24:30, 32). [3] I looked again into the eastern heaven, and it lighted up from the right side, the illumination extended to the southern expanse, and I heard a sweet sound, and asked the angel what it was pertaining to the Lord that they were glorifying there; and he said that it was in these words in the Apocalypse: I saw a new heaven and a new earth, and I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of the heaven saying, Behold the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them. And an angel spoke with me, saying, Come, and I will show thee the bride, the wife of the Lamb. And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the city, the holy Jerusalem (Rev. 21:1, 3, 9, 10). I Jesus am the bright and morning star; and the Spirit and the bride say, Come, and He said I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come Lord Jesus (Rev. 22:16, 17, 20). [4] After this and more, a general glorification from the east to the west of heaven, and also from south to north was heard; and I asked the angel, “What now?” He said, “The following from the prophets”: All flesh shall know that I Jehovah am thy Savior and thy Redeemer (Isa. 49:26). Thus said Jehovah the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, Jehovah of Hosts, I am the First and the Last, and beside Me there is no God (Isa. 44:6). It shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for Him that He may deliver us; this is Jehovah; we have waited for Him, (Isa. 25:9). The voice of one crying in the desert, Prepare ye the way of Jehovah. Behold, the Lord Jehovih cometh in strength; He shall feed His flock like a shepherd (Isa. 40:3, 5, 10, 11). Unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and His name shall be Wonderful, Counselor, God, Mighty, Father of eternity, Prince of peace (Isa. 9:6). Behold the days will come when I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and He shall reign King and this is His name, Jehovah our righteousness (Jer. 23:5, 6; 33:15, 16). Jehovah of Hosts is His name, and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel, the God of the whole earth shall He be called (Isa. 54:5). In that day Jehovah shall be king over all the earth; in that day Jehovah shall be one and His name one (Zech. 14:9). Hearing and understanding these things my heart greatly rejoiced, and I went home joyfully, and here I returned from the spiritual to the bodily state, in which I wrote out all this that I had seen and heard.

XI. Imputation

I. IMPUTATION AND THE FAITH OF THE PRESENT CHURCH (WHICH IS HELD TO BE THE SOLE GROUND OF JUSTIFICATION), MAKE ONE. The faith of the present church, which is held to be the sole ground of justification, is imputation; that is, in the present church, faith and imputation make one, because each belongs to the other, or each mutually and interchangeably enters into the other and causes it to be. For if faith is mentioned and imputation is not added faith is mere sound; and if imputation is mentioned and faith is not added imputation is mere sound; but when the two are mentioned together, the result is something articulate, and yet without meaning; and in order that the understanding may have a perception of some thing, a third must necessarily be added, namely, Christ’s merit. These form a statement that a man can utter with some reason. For it is the faith of the present church that God the Father imputes His Son’s righteousness, and sends the Holy Spirit to work out its effects.

627.

In the present church, then, these three, faith, imputation, and Christ’s merit, are one, and they may be called a triune; for if one of these three were taken away, the present theology would be reduced to nothing, since it depends on these three perceived as one, as a long chain on a fixed hook. So if either faith, or imputation, or Christ’s merit were taken away, all the things said about justification, the forgiveness of sins, vivification, renewal, regeneration, sanctification, and about the gospel, freedom of choice, charity, and good works, and even life eternal, would become like desolate towns or like a temple in ruins, and faith itself, which stands at the head of all, would come to nothing, and thus the entire church would be a desert and a desolation. All this makes clear upon what a pillar the house of God at this day is made to rest: and if that pillar were torn down the house would be overthrown, like that in which the lords of the Philistines and people to the number of three thousand were amusing themselves, when Samson pulled down both of its pillars at once, and all within it were slain or died (Judges 16:29). This is said because it has been shown in what precedes, and will be shown still further in an appendix, that this faith is not Christian, because it is at variance with the Word, and that the imputation which it teaches is absurd, since Christ’s merit cannot be imputed.

628.

II. THE IMPUTATION THAT BELONGS TO THE FAITH OF THE PRESENT DAY IS A DOUBLE IMPUTATION. AN IMPUTATION OF CHRIST’S MERIT AND AN IMPUTATION OF SALVATION THEREBY. Throughout the whole Christian church it is taught that justification and salvation thereby are effected by God the Father through the imputation of the merit of Christ His Son; that imputation takes place by grace when and where God wills, thus arbitrarily; and that those to whom Christ’s merit is imputed are adopted into the number of children of God. And because the leaders of the church have not advanced a foot beyond that imputation or raised their minds above it, because of the established dogmas of God’s arbitrary election, they have fallen into enormous and fanatical errors, and at length into that detestable error respecting predestination, and still further into the abominable error, that God pays no attention to the deeds of a man’s life but only to the faith inscribed upon the interiors of his mind. Unless, therefore, the error respecting imputation is abolished, atheism will invade all Christendom; and then will reign over them. The king of the abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon and in Greek Apollyon (Rev. 9:11), “Abaddon” and “Apollyon” signifying the destroyer of the church by falsities, and “the abyss” the abode of those falsities (see the Apocalypse Revealed n. 421, 440, 442). From this it is clear that that falsity and the resultant falsities exist in an extended series, over which that destroyer reigns; for, as said above, the entire system of the present theology is dependent on this imputation, as a long chain on a fixed hook, and as man with all his members is dependent on the head. And because this imputation reigns everywhere, it is like what Isaiah says: The Lord will cut off from Israel head, and tail; the honorable, he is the head; and the teacher of lies, he is the tail (9:14, 15).

629.

As just said, the imputation of the prevailing faith is a double imputation; but it is double in the sense that God exercises His mercy toward some, and not toward all, or that a parent exercises his love toward one or two of his children, and not toward all, or that the Divine law and its command apply to a few and not to all. One kind of doubleness, therefore, is far-reaching and undivided, the other is restricted and divided; this latter is doubleness, but the former is miry. For it is taught that the imputation of Christ’s merit is from an arbitrary election, and that to those so elected there is an imputation of salvation, thus that some are adopted and the rest rejected; which would be as if God lifted some up into Abraham’s bosom, and gave some over as morsels to the devil; and yet the truth is that the Lord rejects no man, and gives no man over to the devil, but this is done by the man himself.

630.

It may be added that the present day doctrine of imputation deprives man of all power arising from any freedom of choice in spiritual things, and does not even leave him enough to enable him to brush fire from his clothing and keep his body from harm, or to extinguish his blazing home with water and rescue his family; and yet the Word from beginning to end teaches that everyone must shun evils, because they are of the devil and from the devil, and must do good because it is of God and from God, and that he must do this of himself, the Lord working in him. Put the present doctrine of imputation condemns the power to do this as deadly to faith and consequently to salvation, lest something belonging to man might enter into the imputation, and thus into the merit of Christ; from the establishment of which doctrine has issued this satanic principle that man is absolutely impotent in spiritual matters; which is like saying, Walk, although you have no feet, not even one; Wash, though both your hands are cut off; or, Do good, but keep asleep; or, Feed yourself, even without a tongue. It is also like giving man a will that is not a will; in which case can he not say, “I have no more power than the pillar of salt into which Lot’s wife was turned, or than Dagon the god of the Philistines had when the ark of God was taken into his house; I am afraid that my head like his might be torn off, and the palms of my hands thrown upon the threshold (1 Sam. 5:4); nor have I any more power than Beelzebub the god of Ekron who, as his name signifies, can only drive away flies?” That such impotence in spiritual things is believed in at the present day may be seen above (n. 464) from the extracts respecting freedom of choice.

631.

As to the first part of the doubleness of that imputation respecting man’s salvation, namely, the arbitrary imputation of Christ’s merit, and the imputation of salvation thereby, the dogmatists differ; some teaching that this imputation is absolute, from free power, and takes place with those whose external or internal form is well pleasing to God; others, that imputation takes place from foreknowledge, with those into whom grace is infused, and to whom this faith can be applied. Nevertheless, these two opinions aim at one mark, or are like two eyes that have one stone for their object, or two ears that have as their object one song. At first glance they seem to depart from each other, but in the end they unite and agree. For since man’s complete impotence in things spiritual is taught by both, and everything belonging to man is excluded from faith, it follows that this grace which is receptive of faith, whether infused arbitrarily or from foreknowledge is the same as election; for if that which is called prevenient grace were universal, man’s application of it from some power of his own would come in, and this is of course rejected as leprous. Consequently a man no more knows whether from grace that faith has been given him or not, than a stock or a stone, which is what he was when it was infused; for there is no possible sign to attest it when charity, piety, the pursuit of a new life, and the free ability to do either good or evil, are denied to man. The signs attesting that faith which are put forth are all ludicrous, closely resembling the auguries of the ancients from the flights of birds, the prognostications of astrologers by the stars, or of players by dice. Such things, and others still more ludicrous, are consequences of the doctrine of the Lord’s imputed righteousness, which together with faith (which is called that righteousness), is communicated to the elect.

632.

III. THE FAITH IMPUTATIVE OF THE MERIT AND RIGHTEOUSNESS OF CHRIST THE REDEEMER, FIRST AROSE FROM THE DECREES OF THE COUNCIL OF NICE RESPECTING THREE DIVINE PERSONS FROM ETERNITY, WHICH FAITH HAS BEEN ACCEPTED BY THE WHOLE CHRISTIAN WORLD FROM THAT TIME TO THE PRESENT. As to the Nicene Council itself, it was convoked by the emperor Constantine the Great by the advice of Alexander, bishop of Alexandria, and was composed of all the bishops in Asia, Africa, and Europe, and was held in his palace at Nice, a city of Bithynia. Its object was to refute and condemn, from the sacred writings, the heresy of Arius, a presbyter of Alexandria, who denied the Divinity of Jesus Christ. This took place in the year of our Lord 325. The members of that council decided that there were from eternity three Divine persons - Father, Son and Holy Spirit - as appears especially from the two creeds called the Nicene and Athanasian. In the Nicene creed we read: I believe in one God the Father, Almighty, 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 from God, consubstantial with the Father, who descended from the heavens and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit from the virgin Mary; and in the Holy Spirit, Lord and Vivifier, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, and who together with the Father and the Son is adored and glorified. In the Athanasian creed is the following: The Catholic faith is this, that we worship one God in a Trinity, and the Trinity in unity, neither confounding the Persons nor separating the substance. But as we are compelled by the Christian verity to confess each Person singly to be God and Lord, so are we forbidden by the Catholic religion to say three Gods or three Lords. That is, it is permitted men to confess, but not to say, three Gods and Lords. They may not say so because religion forbids it, but may confess it because the truth so dictates. This Athanasian creed was written out by one or more of those who were present, immediately after the holding of the Nicene Council, and was accepted as ecumenical or Catholic. This shows clearly that it was then decided that three Divine persons from eternity ought to be acknowledged, and that although each Person singly was by Himself God, still they ought not to be called three Gods and Lords, but one.

633.

That a belief in three Divine persons has been accepted since that time, and has also been confirmed and preached by all bishops, hierarchs, church rulers, and presbyters up to the present time, is known in the Christian world; and because a mental persuasion of the existence of three Gods has emanated therefrom, men have been unable to devise any other faith than one that could be applied to these three in their order; namely, this, that God the Father must be approached and be implored to impute His Son’s righteousness, or to be merciful on account of His Son’s passion on the cross, and to send the Holy Spirit to work out the mediate and final effects of salvation. [2] This faith is the offspring born from those two creeds; but when its swaddling clothes are stripped off, there comes to view not one but three, at first joined together, as it were, in an embrace, but afterward separated, for it is declared that their essence unites them, but their properties - which are creation, redemption, and operation (that is, imputation, imputed righteousness and the making it effectual) separate them. And for this reason, although out of three Gods they have made one, yet they have not made one Person out of three, from a fear that the idea of three Gods might be obliterated; for then, as stated in the creed, each Person singly can still be believed to be God; while if the three Persons were in consequence to become one, the whole house, built upon these three as its columns, would tumble into a heap. [3] That council introduced the doctrine of three Divine persons from eternity because they had not properly searched the Word, and could therefore find no other defense against the Arians. Afterwards they combined those three Persons, each one of whom is God by Himself, into one God, from a fear of being accused of a belief in three Gods and reproached for it by every reasonable religious person on the three continents. They taught a belief that applied to the three Gods in their order, because no other faith could issue from that principle; to which is to be added, that if one of the three were passed by, the third would not be sent, and thus every operation of Divine grace would be fruitless.

634.

But the truth must be told. When a belief in three Gods was introduced into Christian churches, which was done at the time of the Nicene Council, they banished every good of charity and every truth of faith, because these two are wholly inconsistent with a mental worship of three Gods and a simultaneous oral worship of one God; for the mind then denies what the mouth utters, and the mouth denies what the mind thinks; and the result is that there is neither a belief in three Gods nor a belief in one God. From this it is clear that since that time the Christian temple has not only cracked open but has fallen to ruins; and since that time the mouth of the abyss, from which ascends a smoke like that of a great furnace, has been opened, the sun and air have been darkened, and locusts have gone out therefrom upon the earth (Rev. 9:2, 3). (See the explanation of these things in the Apocalypse Revealed.) And from that time also has the desolation foretold by Daniel commenced and increased (Matt. 24:15), and to that faith and the imputation thereof the eagles have gathered together (Matt. 24:28, “eagles” there meaning the lynx-eyed leaders of the church). It may be said that a council in which so many bishops and learned men sat together, established this faith by a unanimous vote; but what confidence can be placed in councils, when Roman Catholic councils have also by a unanimous vote established the vicarship of the pope, the invocation of saints, the worship of images and bones, the division of the holy eucharist, purgatory, indulgences, and the like? And what confidence can be placed in councils when the council of Dort has also by a unanimous vote established a detestable predestination, and set it forth as the palladium of religion? But, my reader, believe not in councils, but in the Holy Word; and go to the Lord, and you will be enlightened; for He is the Word, that is, the Divine Truth in the Word.

635.

Finally, this following arcanum shall be disclosed. In seven chapters of the Apocalypse the consummation of the present church is described in much the same way as the devastation of Egypt is described; for the two are pictured by like plagues, each one of which spiritually signifies some falsity, which extends the devastation of it even to destruction; and for this reason the present church, which is at this day destroyed, is called “Egypt,” spiritually understood, (Apoc. 11:8). The plagues of Egypt were as follows: The waters were turned into blood, so that every fish died, and the river stank (Ex. 7). A like statement is made in the Apocalypse (8:8; 16:3); “blood” signifying Divine truth falsified, (see Apocalypse Revealed, n. 379, 404, 681, 687, 688); and the “fishes” which then died signifying the truths in the natural man, in like manner dead (n. 290, 405). Frogs were brought upon the land of Egypt (Ex. 8). Something is also said of frogs in the Apocalypse 16:13); “frogs” signifying reasonings from a lust for falsifying truths (see Apocalypse Revealed, n. 702). In Egypt noisome sores were brought upon both man and beast (Ex. 9). (The same in the Apocalypse 16:2); “sores” signifying interior evils and falsities destructive of good and truth in the church (see Apocalypse Revealed, n. 678). In Egypt there was hail mingled with fire (Ex. 9). (The same in the Apocalypse, 8:7; 16:21); “hail” signifying infernal falsity (see Apocalypse Revealed, n. 399, 714): Locusts were sent upon East (Ex. 10). (The same in the Apocalypse, 9:1-11); “locusts” signifying falsities in outermosts, (see Apocalypse Revealed n. 424, 430). Great darkness was brought upon Egypt (Ex. 10). (The same in the Apocalypse, 8:12); “darkness” signifying falsities arising either from ignorance, or from falsities of religion, or from evils of life; (see Apocalypse Revealed, n. 110, 413, 695). Finally, the Egyptians perished in the Red Sea (Ex. 14). (But in the Apocalypse the dragon and the false prophet were cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, 19:20; 20:10); both “the Red Sea” and that “lake” signifying hell. Respecting Egypt and respecting the church, whose consummation and end are described in the Apocalypse, like statements are made, because “Egypt” means a church that was in its beginning pre-eminent; and for this reason, before this church had been devastated, Egypt is compared to the garden of Eden, and the garden of Jehovah, (Gen. 13:10; Ezek. 31:8); and is also called “the corner-stone of the tribes,” “the son of the wise, and of the kings of old,” (Isa. 19:11, 13). More respecting Egypt in its primeval state and in its devastated state may be seen in the Apocalypse Revealed (n. 503).

636.

IV. THE FAITH IMPUTATIVE OF CHRIST’S MERIT WAS UNKNOWN IN THE PRECEDING APOSTOLIC CHURCH, AND IS NOWHERE TAUGHT IN THE WORD. The church that preceded the Nicene Council is called the Apostolic church. It was evidently a widespread church, extending over the three parts of the globe, Asia, Africa and Europe, for the Emperor Constantine the Great was a Christian, and also a zealot in religion, and his dominion extended not only over many kingdoms of Europe that were afterward separated, but also over the neighboring countries outside of Europe. So as just said, he assembled the bishops from Asia, Africa and Europe, in his palace at Nice, a city of Bithynia, in order that he might banish from his empire the scandalous dogmas of Arius. This was done by the Lord’s Divine Providence, because when the Divinity of the Lord is denied the Christian church dies, and becomes like a sepulchre adorned with the epitaph, Hic jacet. The church that existed before this time was called Apostolic; its distinguished writers were called the Fathers, and all true Christians held the relation of brethren. This church did not acknowledge three Divine persons, nor therefore a Son of God born from eternity, but only a Son of God born in time, as is evident from the creed, which by their church was called the Apostles’ Creed, where the following words occur: “I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth; and in Jesus Christ His only Son our Lord, who was conceived of the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary; I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Catholic church, the communion of the saints.” From this it is clear that they acknowledged no other Son of God than the one conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary, and by no means a Son of God born from eternity. This creed, like the two others, has been acknowledged as truly Catholic by the entire Christian church up to the present day.

637.

That in that primitive time all in the then Christian world acknowledged that the Lord Jesus Christ is God, to whom was given “all power in heaven and on earth,” and “power over all flesh,” according to His own express words (Matt. 28:18; John 17:2), and that they believed in Him, according to His command given from God the Father (John 3:15, 16, 36; 6:40; 11:25, 26), is also clearly evident from the convoking of all the bishops by the Emperor Constantine the Great, in order that they might from the sacred writings refute and condemn Arius and his followers, who denied the Divinity of the Lord the Savior born of the virgin Mary. This indeed they did, but in trying to escape the wolf they came upon the lion, or, according to the proverb, wishing to avoid Charybdis they ran upon Scylla; which they did by inventing a Son of God from eternity, who descended and assumed a Human, believing that they had thus vindicated and reestablished the Lord’s Divinity, not knowing that God Himself the Creator of the universe descended in order to become a Redeemer, and thus a Creator anew, according to the following plain declarations in the Old Testament: Isa. 25:9; 40:3, 5, 10, 11; 43:14; 44:6, 24; 47:4; 48:17; 49:7, 26; 60:16; 63:16; Jer. 1. 34; Hos. 13:4; Ps. 19:14; to which add John 1:14; 19:15.

638.

That Apostolic church, since it worshiped the Lord God Jesus Christ, and at the same time God the Father in Him, may be likened to the garden of God, and Arius who then arose, to the serpent sent from hell, and the Nicene Council to Adam’s wife, who offered the fruit to her husband and persuaded him to eat of it, after doing which they appeared to themselves to be naked, and covered their nakedness with fig-leaves. Their “nakedness” means their former innocence, and “fig-leaves” the truths of the natural man which were gradually falsified. That primitive church may also be likened to the dawn and morning and from that the day advanced to the tenth hour, and then a dense cloud intervened, under which the day advanced to evening, and afterward to night, in which the moon arose for some, by the dim light of which they saw something from the Word, while others went on so far into the nocturnal darkness that they saw no Divinity in the Lord’s Humanity, although Paul says that, In Jesus Christ dwells all the fullness of Divinity bodily (Col. 2:9; and John, that, The Son of God sent into the world is the true God and eternal life (1 John 5:20, 21). The primitive or Apostolic church never could have divined that a church was to follow which would worship several Gods in heart, and one with the lips; which would separate charity from faith, and the forgiveness of sins from repentance and the pursuit of a new life; which would introduce the doctrine of man’s utter impotence in spiritual things; and least of all, that an Arius would lift up his head, and when he was dead would rise again, and secretly rule even to the end.

639.

That no faith imputative of Christ’s merit is taught in the Word, is very clear from the fact that this faith was unknown in the church until after the Nicene Council had introduced the doctrine of three Divine persons from eternity. And when this faith had been introduced and had pervaded the whole Christian world, every other faith was cast into the dark, so that whoever since that time reads the Word, and there sees anything about faith and imputation and the merit of Christ, naturally falls into that which he has believed to be the one only thing; like one who sees what is written on one page and there stops, not turning the leaf and seeing what is on the other page; or like one who persuades himself that a certain thing is true (although it is false), and confirms that only, and thereafter sees falsity as truth and truth as falsity, and sets his teeth and hisses at everyone opposing it, saying, “You have no intelligence.” Thus the man’s whole mind is in it, covered over with a callousness which rejects as heterodox everything that does not agree with his so-called orthodoxy; for his memory is like a tablet upon which is written this single ruling tenet in theology; and when anything else enters there is no place where it may be inserted, and he therefore casts it out as the mouth casts out froth. For example, if you say to a confirmed naturalist who believes that nature created herself, or that God came forth after nature, or that nature and God are one, that the very reverse is the truth, would he not look upon you as one deluded by the fables of the priest, or as a simpleton, or a dullard, or as demented? So it is with all things that are fixed in the mind by persuasion and confirmation; which finally appear like pictured tapestry fastened with many nails to a wall built of old stones.

640.

V. IMPUTATION OF CHRIST’S MERIT AND RIGHTEOUSNESS IS IMPOSSIBLE. In order to know that an imputation of the merit and righteousness of Jesus Christ is impossible, what His merit and righteousness are must be known. The merit of the Lord our Savior is redemption, the nature of which may be seen above in its proper chapter (n. 114-133), where it is described as the subjugation of the hells, the orderly arrangement of the heavens, and the subsequent establishment of a church, and thus as being a work purely Divine. It is also there shown that the Lord by means of redemption took to Himself the power to regenerate and save those who believe on Him and do His commandments; also that without this redemption no flesh could have been saved. As redemption therefore was a work purely Divine, and a work of the Lord alone, and constitutes His merit, it follows that His merit can no more be applied, ascribed, or imputed to any man than the creation and preservation of the universe. Moreover, redemption was, as it were, a new creation of the angelic heaven, and likewise of the church. [2] That the present church attributes that merit of the Lord the Redeemer to those who by grace attain to that faith, is evident from their dogmas, among which this is the chief. For it is affirmed by the hierarchs of that church and by their subordinates, both in the Roman Catholic and in the Reformed churches, that by the imputation of Christ’s merit those who have attained to faith are not only reputed righteous and holy, but also are so; and that their sins are not sins in God’s sight because they are forgiven, and they themselves are justified, that is, reconciled, renewed, regenerated, sanctified, and enrolled in heaven. That the entire Christian church today teaches these same dogmas is very evident from the Council of Trent, from the Augustan or Augsburg Confessions, and from the appended and accepted commentaries. [3] From the things said above when applied to that faith, what follows but that the possession of that faith is that merit and that righteousness of the Lord, consequently that its possessor is Christ in another person? For it is affirmed that Christ Himself is righteousness, and that that faith is righteousness, and that imputation (meaning thereby ascription and application), causes men not only to be reputed righteous and holy, but to be so in reality. To imputation, application, and ascription, add transcription only, and you will be a vicarious pope.

641.

Because, then, the Lord’s merit and righteousness are purely Divine, and things purely Divine are such that if they were to be applied and ascribed to man he would instantly die and like a stick of wood thrown into the naked sun, would be so completely consumed that scarcely a particle of his ashes would be left; the Lord approaches angels and men with His Divine by means of light tempered and accommodated to the capacity and quality of each one, thus by means of what is brought down to man’s level and adapted; and in the same way by means of heat. [2] In the spiritual world there is a sun, in the midst of which is the Lord; from that sun the Lord flows in by means of light and heat into the whole spiritual world, and into all who are there. All the light and all the heat of that world are from this source. From that sun the Lord also flows with the same light and the same heat into the souls and minds of men. That heat in its essence is the Lord’s Divine love, and that light in its essence is His Divine wisdom. The Lord adapts that light and that heat to the capacity and quality of the recipient angel and man, doing this by means of the spiritual auras or atmospheres that convey and transfer them. The Divine Itself which immediately encompasses the Lord, constitutes that sun. That sun is far off from the angels, as the sun of the natural world is from men, in order that it may not come into naked and thus untempered contact with them; since otherwise they would be consumed like a stick of wood thrown into the naked sun, as said above. [3] All this makes clear that the Lord’s merit and righteousness, being purely Divine, can in no possible way be transferred by imputation into any angel or man; and if even the least drop thereof, not so tempered as above stated, were to touch them, they would instantly writhe as if struggling with death, with feet contorted and eyes staring, and would become lifeless. In the Israelitish church this was known by their being taught that no man could see God and live. [4] The sun of the spiritual world, such as it was after Jehovah God had assumed the Human, and had added thereto redemption and a new righteousness, is described in these words in Isaiah: The light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day when Jehovah shall bind up the breach of His people (Isa. 30:26). This chapter from beginning to end treats of the Lord’s coming. What would take place if the Lord were to come down and draw near to any wicked person, is also described in the following words in the Apocalypse: They hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, and said to the mountains and rocks, Hide us from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne, and from the anger of the Lamb (Rev. 6:15, 16). It is said, “the anger of the Lamb” because their terror and torment when the Lord draws near appear to them like wrath. [5] This may be still more evidently inferred from the fact, that if any impious person is admitted into heaven, where charity and faith in the Lord reign, darkness invades his eyes, giddiness and madness invade his mind, pain and torment his body, and he becomes like one dead. What then, if the Lord Himself, with His Divine merit, which is redemption, and His Divine righteousness, were to enter into man? The apostle John himself could not endure the presence of the Lord, for we read: That when he saw the Son of man in the midst of the seven lampstands, he fell at His feet as one dead (Apoc. 1:17).

642.

In the decrees of the Councils and in the articles of the Confessions to which the Reformed make oath, it is declared that God justifies the wicked man by means of the merit of Christ infused into him, when, in fact, not even the good of any angel can be communicated to a wicked person, still less conjoined to him, without being thrown back and rebounding like an elastic ball thrown against a wall, or swallowed up like a diamond sunk in a marsh; and indeed, if anything truly good was thrust upon him, it would be like a pearl fastened to a swine’s snout. For who does not know that clemency cannot be introduced into unmercifulness, innocence into vindictiveness, love into hatred, or concord into discord, which would be like mixing together heaven and hell? The man who has not been born again, is in the spirit like a panther or an owl, and may be likened to a thorn or a nettle; while the man who has been born again is like a sheep or a dove, and may be likened to an olive tree or a vine. Reflect, I pray you, if you will, how a human panther can be converted into a human sheep, or an owl into a dove, or a thorn tree into an olive tree, or a nettle into a vine, by any imputation, ascription, or application of the Divine righteousness, which would rather damn than justify him. Before such a conversion could take place, must not the ferine nature of the panther and owl, or the noxious qualities of the thorn and nettle first be taken away, and what is truly human and harmless be implanted in their place? How this is effected the Lord also teaches in John (15:1-7).

643.

VI. THERE IS AN IMPUTATION, BUT IT IS AN IMPUTATION OF GOOD AND EVIL, AND AT THE SAME TIME OF FAITH. From numerous passages in the Word, which in part have been already quoted, it is evident that there is an imputation of good and evil, which is the imputation meant in the word where it is mentioned. But that everyone may feel certain that there is no other imputation, some passages from the Word shall be offered also, as follows: The Son of man shall come, and then He shall render unto everyone according to his deeds (Matt. 16:27). They shall come forth, they that have done goods into the resurrection of life, and they that have done evils unto the resurrection of judgment (John 5:29). The book was opened, which is the book of life, and all were judged according to their works (Apoc. 20:12, 13). Behold, I come quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every man according to his work (Apoc. 22:12). I will punish him according to his ways, and will recompense him for his works (Hos. 4:9; Zech. 1:6; Jer. 25:14; 32:19). In the day of His wrath and righteous judgment, God will render to every man according to his works (Rom. 2:5, 6). We must all be made manifest before the judgment-seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done through the body, according to what he hath done, whether good or evil (2 Cor. 5:10). [2] In the beginning of the church there was no other law of imputation, nor will there be any other at its end. That there was no other at the beginning of the church, is evident from Adam and his wife, in that they were condemned because they did evil in eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Gen. 2, 3); and that there will be no other at the end of the church, is evident from these words of the Lord: When the Son of man shall come in His glory, then shall He sit on the throne of His glory; and He shall say to the sheep on His right hand, Come ye blessed, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was a hungered and ye gave Me to eat I was thirsty and ye gave Me to drink I was a sojourner and ye took Me in; I was naked and ye clothed Me; I was sick and ye visited Me I was in prison and ye came unto Me. But to the goats on His left, because they had not done good, He said, Depart from Me, ye cursed, into eternal fire, prepared for the devil and his angels (Matt. 25:31-41). From these passages anyone with his eyes open can see that there is an imputation of good and evil. [3] There is also an imputation of faith, because charity which pertains to good, and faith which pertains to truth, reside together in good works; and that otherwise works are not good, may be seen above (n. 373-377). Therefore James says: Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he offered up his son upon the altar? Seest thou not how faith co-operated with his works, and by works faith was recognized as perfect? And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness (2:21-23).

644.

The rulers of the Christian churches and in consequence their subordinates, have understood by imputation in the Word the imputation of faith upon which were inscribed the righteousness and merit of Christ, which were thus ascribed to man, for the reason that for fourteen centuries, that is, since the time of the Nicene Council, they have not wished to know about any other faith. Therefore such faith alone is fixed in their memories and consequently in their minds, like a thing organized, which from that time has furnished a light like that which comes from a fire at night-time, from which light that faith has appeared like true theology itself, on which all other things hang in a linked series, and these would fall asunder if that head or pillar were removed. If therefore they were to think when they read the Word, of any other than this imputative faith, that light, together with their entire theology, would be extinguished, and a darkness would arise which would cause the whole Christian church to vanish. Therefore it is left to them, Like a stump of roots in the earth, the tree being cut down and destroyed, until the seven times shall be accomplished (Dan. 4:23). Who among the confirmed leaders of the present church does not, when that faith is attacked, close his ears as if with cotton against hearing anything opposed to it? But, my reader, open your ears, and read the Word, and you will have a clear perception of a faith and an imputation other than those which you have heretofore believed in.

645.

It is wonderful, that although the Word from beginning to end is full of testimonies and proofs that everyone’s own good and evil is imputed to him, the dogmatists of the Christian religion have, nevertheless, so closed their ears as if with wax, and besmeared their eyes as if with salve, that they have neither heard nor seen, nor do they hear or see any other imputation than that of their own faith mentioned above. And yet that faith may be justly compared to the disease of the eye called gutta serena, (and in fact deserves to be so named), which disease is an absolute blindness of the eye, arising from an obstruction of the optic nerve, although the eye appears to retain its sight perfectly. In like manner those who adhere to that faith walk as if with open eyes, and seem to others to see all things, when yet they see nothing; for when that faith enters man, since he is then like a stock, he knows nothing about it, not even knowing whether that faith is in him, or whether there is anything in it. Afterwards with eyes apparently clear they behold that faith in the pains of travail and giving birth to those noble offsprings of justification, namely, forgiveness of sins, vivification, renewal, regeneration, and sanctification, and yet they have not seen and cannot see any sign of anyone of them.

646.

That good, which is charity, and evil, which is iniquity, are imputed after death, has been proven to me by all my experience relating to the lot of those who pass from this to the other world. Everyone, after he has waited there for some days, is examined to ascertain his character, that is, what he was in respect to religion in the former world. When this has been done, the examiners report the result to heaven, and the man is then transferred to his like, that is, to his own. Thus is imputation effected. That to all in heaven there is an imputation of good, and to all in hell an imputation of evil, was made clear to me from the arrangement of both by the Lord. The entire heaven is arranged in societies according to all the varieties of the love of good, and the entire hell according to all the varieties of the love of evil. The church on earth is arranged by the Lord in like manner, for it corresponds to heaven. Its religion is its good. Moreover, ask anyone you please who is endowed with religion and also with reason, belonging either to this quarter of the globe or one of the others, who he believes will go to heaven, and who to hell; and they will answer unanimously that those who do good will go to heaven, and those who do evil to hell. Again, does not everyone know that every true man loves a man, an assembly of many men, a state, or a kingdom, because of their goodness; and not only men, but even beasts and inanimate things, such as houses, possessions, fields, gardens, trees, forests, lands, and finally metals and stones, because of their goodness and use? Goodness and use are one. Why then should not the Lord love man and the church because of their goodness?

647.

VII. THE FAITH AND IMPUTATION OF THE NEW CHURCH CAN BY NO MEANS EXIST TOGETHER WITH THE FAITH AND IMPUTATION OF THE FORMER CHURCH; AND IF THEY ARE TOGETHER, SUCH A COLLISION AND CONFLICT RESULT THAT EVERYTHING PERTAINING TO THE CHURCH IN MAN PERISHES. The faith and imputation of the New Church cannot exist together with the faith and imputation of the former or still-existing church because they do not agree in one-third part, not even in one-tenth part; for the faith of the former church teaches that three Divine persons have existed from eternity, each one of whom is singly or by Himself God, also three Creators. But the faith of the New Church is that there has been but one Divine Person, thus one God, from eternity, and that beside Him there is no God. Thus the faith of the former church has taught a Divine Trinity divided into three Persons, while the faith of the New Church teaches a Divine Trinity united in one Person. [2] The faith of the former church has been a faith in a God invisible, inaccessible, and incapable of conjunction with man; and its idea of God has been like its idea of spirit, which is like that of ether or air. But the faith of the New Church is a faith in a God who is visible, accessible, and capable of conjunction with man, in whom, like the soul in the body, is God invisible, inaccessible, and incapable of conjunction; and its idea of this God is that He is a Man, because the one God who was from eternity became Man in time. [3] The faith of the former church attributes all power to the invisible God, and takes it from the visible; for it teaches that God the Father imputes faith, and through it bestows eternal life, and that the visible God merely intercedes; while they both give (or according to the Greek church, God the Father gives) to the Holy Spirit, who is by Himself the third God in order, all power to work out the effects of that faith. But the faith of the New Church attributes to the visible God, in whom is the invisible, the omnipotence to impute and also to work out the effects of salvation. [4] The faith of the former church is primarily a faith in God the Creator, and not at the same time a faith in Him as Redeemer and Savior; while the faith of the New Church is a faith in one God, who is at once Creator, Redeemer and Savior. [5] The faith of the former church is that repentance, forgiveness of sins, renewal, regeneration, sanctification and salvation follow of themselves faith given and imputed, with nothing pertaining to man mingled or joined with these. But the faith of the New Church teaches that man co-operates in repentance, reformation and regeneration, and thus in the forgiveness of sins. [6] The faith of the former church teaches the Imputation of Christ’s merit, which imputation is embraced in the faith bestowed; while the faith of the New Church teaches the imputation of good and evil, and also of faith, and that this imputation is in accordance with Sacred Scripture, while the other is contrary to it. [7] The former church teaches that faith, which includes the merit of Christ, is given when man is like a stock or a stone; and it also teaches man’s utter impotence in spiritual things; but the New Church teaches a wholly different faith, which is not a faith in the merit of Christ, but in Jesus Christ Himself, God, Redeemer and Savior, and a freedom of choice that both fits man to receive and also to co-operate. [8] The former church adds charity to its faith as an appendage, but not as anything saving, and thus it constitutes its religion; but the New Church conjoins faith in the Lord and charity toward the neighbor as two inseparable things, and thus constitutes its religion There are also many other differences.

648.

From this brief review of the points of discordance or disagreement between them, it is clear that the faith and imputation of the New Church can by no means exist together with the faith and imputation of the former or still existing church; and with such a discord and disagreement between the faith and imputation of the two churches, they are totally heterogeneous; and consequently if they were to exist together in man’s mind, such a collision and conflict would result that everything pertaining to the church would perish, and in spiritual things man would fall into a delirium or into a swoon, so that he would not know what the church is, or whether there is a church; neither would he know anything about God, faith, or charity. [2] Because the faith of the former church excludes all light derived from reason, it may be likened to an owl, while the faith of the New Church may be likened to a dove, which flies by day and sees by the light of heaven; and their coming together in one mind would be like the meeting of an owl and dove in one nest, where the owl would lay her eggs and the dove hers, and after incubation the young birds would be hatched, and the owl would then tear the young of the dove to pieces and give them for food to her own young, being a voracious bird. [3] As the faith of the former church is described in the Apocalypse (chap. 12) by a dragon, and that of the New Church by a woman encompassed by the sun, upon whose head was a crown of twelve stars, it may be inferred from the comparison what the state of a man’s mind would be if the two were to be together in the same abode; namely, the dragon would stand near to the woman when she was about to bring forth, with the intention of devouring her offspring, and when she had fled in to the desert would follow her, and cast out water like a flu after her, that she might be swallowed up.

649.

The result would be the same should anyone embrace the faith of the New Church while retaining the faith of the former church respecting the imputation of the Lord’s merit and righteousness; since from this doctrine as a root all the dogmas of the former church have sprung up as offshoots; and in that case it would be like man’s extricating himself from five of the dragon’s horns and becoming entangled in the other five; or like one’s escaping from a wolf and falling upon a tiger; or like one’s getting out of a dry ditch and falling into one with water in it, where he would be drowned. For in that case the man would easily return to all things of his former faith, and what these are has been shown above; and he would then acquire the damnable idea that he might impute and attach to himself the essentially Divine things that belong to the Lord, which are redemption and righteousness, and which may be adored but not so appropriated; for if a man were to impute and attach these to himself he would be consumed like one thrown into the naked sun, from the light and heat of which, nevertheless, he has bodily vision and life. That the Lord’s merit is redemption, and that His redemption and His righteousness are the two Divine things that cannot be conjoined to man has been shown above. Let everyone take heed, therefore, not to transcribe the imputation of the former church upon that of the new, from which would spring baneful results, which would be obstacles to his salvation.

650.

VIII. THE LORD IMPUTES GOOD TO EVERY MAN, BUT HELL IMPUTES EVIL TO EVERY MAN. That the Lord imputes to man good and not evil, while the devil (meaning hell), imputes evil and not good to him, is a new thing in the church; and it is new for the reason that in the Word it is frequently said that God is angry, takes vengeance, hates, damns, punishes, casts into hell, and tempts, all of which pertain to evil, and therefore are evils. But it has been shown in the chapter on the Sacred Scriptures that the sense of the letter of the Word is composed of such things as are called appearances and correspondences, in order that there may be a conjunction of the external church with its internals, thus of the world with heaven. It is also there shown that when such things in the Word are read these very appearances of truth, while they are passing from man to heaven, are changed into genuine truths, which are that the Lord is never angry, never takes vengeance, never hates, damns, punishes, casts into hell, or tempts, consequently does evil to man. This transmutation and changing in the spiritual world I have frequently observed.

All reason agrees that the Lord cannot do evil to any man, consequently that He cannot impute evil to man; for He is Love itself and Mercy itself, thus Good itself; and these belong to His Divine Essence; therefore to attribute evil or anything belonging to evil to the Lord, would be inconsistent with His Divine Essence, and thus, a contradiction; and would be as abominable as joining together the Lord and the devil, or heaven and hell, when nevertheless, Between them there is a great gulf fixed, so that they who would pass hence may not be able, and that none may cross over from thence to this side (Luke 16:26). Even an angel of heaven can do no evil to anyone, because the essence of good from the Lord is in him; and on the other hand, an infernal spirit can do nothing but evil to another, because the nature of evil from the devil is in him. The essence or nature which anyone makes his own in the world cannot be changed after death. Consider, I pray you, what sort of a being the Lord would be, if He were to look upon the wicked from anger, and upon the good from mercy (the evil numbering myriads of myriads and the good likewise), and were to save the good from grace, and damn the evil from a feeling of revenge, and were to look upon the two with so different an eye - gentle or stern, mild or severe. In that case, what would the Lord God be? Who that has been taught by preaching in churches does not know that all good that is in itself good is from God, and on the other hand, that all evil that is in itself evil is from the devil? If any man, therefore, were to receive both good and evil, - good from the Lord and evil from the devil - both of them in the will, would he not become neither cold nor hot, but lukewarm, and therefore be spewed out, according to the Lord’s words in the Apocalypse (3:15, 16)?

652.

That the Lord imputes good to every man and evil to none, consequently that He does not condemn anyone to hell, but so far as man follows raises all to heaven, is evident from His words: Jesus said, When I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all men unto Myself (John 12:32). God sent not His Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He that believeth on Him is not judged but he that believeth not hath been judged already (John 3:17, 18). If any man hear My words and yet hath not believed, I judge him not; for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. He that rejecteth Me and receiveth not My words, hath one that judgeth him; the Word that I have spoken shall judge him in the last day (John 12:47, 48). Jesus said, I judge no man (John 8:15). “Judgment” here and elsewhere in the Word means judgment to hell, which is condemnation; but of salvation judgment is not predicated, but resurrection to life (John 5:24, 29; 3:18). [2] “The Word” which is to judge means the truth; and the truth is that all evil is from hell, and thus that they are one. So when a wicked man is raised up by the Lord toward heaven, his evil draws him down; and because he loves evil, he himself freely follows it. It is also a truth in the Word that good is heaven; so when a good man is raised by the Lord toward heaven, he ascends as it were freely, and is introduced. Such are said, To be written in the book of life (Dan. 12:1; Rev. 13:8; 20:12, 15; 17:8; 21:26). [3] There is actually a sphere proceeding continually from the Lord and filling the entire spiritual and natural worlds which raises all towards heaven. It is like a strong current in the ocean which unobservedly draws a vessel. All who believe in the Lord and live according to His precepts enter that sphere or current and are elevated; while those who do not believe, are unwilling to enter, but withdraw themselves to the sides, and are there carried away by a current the sets toward hell.

653.

Everyone knows that a lamb can only act like a lamb, and a sheep only like a sheep; while on the other hand a wolf can act only like a wolf, and a tiger like a tiger. If these beasts were put together, would not the wolf devour the lamb, and the tiger the sheep? Consequently there are shepherds to guard them. Everyone knows that a spring of sweet water cannot from its vein bring forth bitter waters, and that a good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, that a vine cannot prick like a thorn, a lily sting like a nettle, or a hyacinth wound like a thistle; or the reverse. These evil plants, therefore, are rooted out of fields, vineyards, and gardens, gathered into bundles, and thrown into the fire. So it is with the wicked pouring into the spiritual world, according to the Lord’s words (Matt. 13:30; John 15:6). The Lord also said to the Jews, Ye offspring of vipers, how can ye being evil speak good things? A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things; and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things (Matt. 12:34-35).

654.

IX. FAITH, WITH THAT TO WHICH IT IS CONJOINED, IS WHAT DETERMINES THE VERDICT; IF A TRUE FAITH IS CONJOINED TO GOOD, THE VERDICT IS FOR ETERNAL LIFE; BUT IF FAITH IS CONJOINED TO EVIL, THE VERDICT IS FOR ETERNAL DEATH. The works of charity done by a Christian and those done by a heathen appear in outward form to be alike, for one like the other practises the good deeds of civility and morality toward his fellow, which in part resemble the deeds of love to the neighbor. Both, even, may give to the poor, aid the needy and attend preaching in churches, and yet who can thereby determine whether or not these external good deeds are alike in their internal form, that is, whether these natural good deeds are also spiritual? This can be concluded only from the faith; for the faith is what determines their quality, since faith causes God to be in them and conjoins them with itself in the internal man; and thus natural good works become interiorly spiritual. That this is so may be seen more fully from the subjects treated of in the chapter on Faith, where the following points are made clear: Faith is not living faith until it is conjoined with charity. Charity becomes spiritual from faith, and faith from charity. Faith apart from charity, since it is not spiritual, is not faith; charity, apart from faith since it is not living, is not charity. Faith and charity apply and conjoin themselves to each other mutually and interchangeably. The Lord, charity, and faith make one, like life, will, and understanding, but when separated they all perish like a pearl reduced to powder.

655.

From what has been presented it can be seen that faith in the one and true God causes good to be good in internal form also; and on the other hand, that faith in a false God causes good to be good in outward form only, which is not good in itself. Such was formerly the faith of the heathen in Jove, Juno, and Apollo; of the Philistines in Dagon, of others in Baal and Baalpeor, of Balaam the Magician in his god, and of the Egyptians in several gods. It is wholly different with faith in the Lord, who is the true God and eternal life (according to 1 John 5:20), and in whom dwelleth all the fullness of Divinity bodily (according to Paul in Col. 2:9). What is faith in God but a looking to Him, and His consequent presence, and at the same time confidence that He gives aid? And what is true faith but this and also a confidence that all good is from Him, and that He causes His good to become saving? So when this faith conjoins itself with good the verdict is for eternal life; but when it does not conjoin itself with good it is wholly different; and still more so when it conjoins itself with evil.

656.

What the conjunction of charity and faith is in those who believe in three Gods, and yet say that they believe in one, has been shown above; namely, that charity is conjoined with faith in the external natural man only. This is because the mind is then in the idea of three Gods, while the lips confess one; so that if the mind at that moment were to pour itself forth into oral confession, it would prevent the utterance of one God, and would open the lips and proclaim its three Gods.

657.

That evil and a faith in the one and true God cannot exist together, anyone can see from reason; for evil is opposed to God, and faith is for Him; and evil pertains to the will, and faith to the thought, and the will flows into the understanding and causes it to think, and not the reverse, the understanding merely teaching what is to be willed and done. Consequently the good that an evil man does is in itself evil; it is like a polished bone with a rotten marrow; it is like a player on the stage impersonating a great man; it is like the painted face of a worn-out harlot; it is like a butterfly with silver wings, flying about and depositing its eggs on the leaves of a good tree, whereby all its fruit is destroyed; it is like a fragrant smoke from a poisonous herb; it is even like a moral robber or a pious cheat; and in consequence his good, which in itself is evil, is in the inner room, while his faith, walking about and reasoning in the vestibule, is a mere chimera, specter, and bubble. From all this it is clear that faith determines the verdict in accordance with the good or the evil that is conjoined with it.

658.

X. THOUGHT IS NOT IMPUTED TO ANYONE, BUT WILL ONLY. Every educated man knows that the mind has two faculties or parts, the will and the understanding; but few know how to distinguish them aright, to examine their properties separately, and again unite them. Those who are unable to do this can form for themselves only the most obscure idea respecting the mind; therefore unless the properties of each are first separately described, this statement that thought is not imputed to anyone, but will only, cannot be understood. In brief, the properties of the two are as follows: 1. Love itself and the things pertaining to it reside in the will, and knowledge, intelligence and wisdom in the understanding; and these the will inspires with its love, and secures their favor and agreement; and the result is, that such as the love is, and the consequent intelligence, such is the man. [2] 2. From this it also follows that all good as well as all evil belongs to the will; for whatever proceeds from the love is called good, even if it be evil, this being the result of delight, which constitutes the life of the love, the will, through its delight entering the understanding and producing consent. [3] 3. Consequently the will is the being or essence of man’s life, while the understanding is the outgo or existence therefrom. And as an essence is nothing except it is in some form, so the will is nothing unless it is in the understanding; wherefore the will takes form in the understanding, and thus comes to light. [4] 4. Love in the will is the end, and in the understanding seeks and finds the causes whereby it advances into effect. And because the end is the purpose, and this is what the man intends, purpose also belongs to the will and through the intention enters the understanding and impels it to consider and evolve the means, and to conclude upon such things as tend to effects. [5] 5. Everything that is man’s very own is in the will, and is evil from the first birth, but it becomes good by means of the second birth. The first birth is from parents, but the second from the Lord. [6] 6. From these few statements it can be seen that the property of the will and the property of the understanding are different; and that from creation these are conjoined like being and existence; consequently that man is man primarily from the will, and secondarily from the understanding. This is why thought is not imputed to man, but will, and consequently good and evil, because these, as before said, reside in the will and from that in the thought of the understanding.

659.

No evil that a man thinks is imputed to him, because he was so created as to be able to understand and thus think either good or evil - good from the Lord and evil from hell - for he is between these two, and from his freedom of choice in spiritual things has the ability to choose either one or the other. This freedom of choice has been treated of in its own chapter. And because man has the ability to choose from freedom he can will or not will, and what he wills is received by the will and appropriated, while what he does not will is not received and thus is not appropriated. All the evils to which man inclines by birth are inscribed upon the will of his natural man; and so far as the man draws upon these evils they flow into his thoughts; in like manner goods with truths flow from above the Lord into the thoughts and there they are balanced like weights in the scales of a balance. If the man then adopts the evils, they are received by the old will and added to those in it; but if he adopts goods with truths, the Lord forms a new will and a new understanding above the old, and there by means of truths He gradually implants new goods, and by means of these subjugates the evils that are below and removes them, and arranges all things in order. From this also it is clear that thought is the seat of purification and excretion of the evils resident in man from his parents; consequently if the evils that a man thinks were to be imputed to him, reformation and regeneration would be impossible.

660.

As good belongs to the will and truth to the understanding, and many things in the world correspond to good, such as fruit and use, while imputation itself corresponds to the estimate and price it follows that what has here been said of imputation may find its counterpart in all created things; for as before shown in various places, all things in the universe have relation to good and truth, and on the contrary to evil and falsity. A comparison may therefore be made with the church, in that its value is estimated by its charity and faith, and not by its rituals, which are adjoined to it. A comparison may also be made with the ministry of the church, in that they are valued according to their will and love, together with their understanding in spiritual things and not according to their affability and mode of dress. [2] A comparison may also be made with worship and the temple in which it is performed; worship itself takes place in the will, and in the understanding as in its temple; and the temple is called holy not from itself, but from the Divine that is there taught. Again a comparison may be made with a government where good reigns and truth along with it. Such a government is beloved, but not one where truth reigns without good. Who judges of a king by his attendants, horses, and carriages, and not by the royalty which is recognized in him? Royalty is a matter of love and prudence in governing. In a triumph who does not consider the victor, and because of him the pomp, not the pomp and because of that the victor, thus the formal because of the essential, and not the reverse? The will is the essential and thought is the formal; and no one can impute to the formal anything but what it derives from the essential; thus the imputation is to the essential, not to the formal.

661.

To this I will add two Memorable Relations. First: In the higher northern quarter near to the east in the spiritual world, there are places of instruction for boys, and for youths, and for men, and also for old men. All who die infants are sent to these places and educated in heaven; likewise all who are newcomers from the world and who wish to know about heaven and hell. This place is near the east, in order that all may be instructed by influx from the Lord; for the Lord is the east, because He is in the sun there, and the sun is pure love from Him; consequently the heat from that sun in its essence is love, and the light from it in its essence is wisdom; and these are inspired by the Lord from that sun into those who are instructed according to their ability to receive, and their ability to receive is according to their love of being wise. When their times of instruction are over, those who have become intelligent are sent away, and these are called disciples of the Lord. First, they are sent away to the west, and those who do not stay there go to the south, and some through the south to the east, and thus they are introduced into the societies where their abodes are to be. [2] Once, when meditating upon heaven and hell, I began to wish for a universal knowledge of the state of each, knowing that one who knows universals is afterwards able to comprehend the particulars, because the latter are included in the former as parts in the whole. With this desire I looked toward that tract in the northern quarter near the east where the places of instruction were, and by a way then opened to me I went there, and entered into a college where there were young men. I went to the head teachers who were instructing them, and asked them whether they knew the universals relating to heaven and hell. They said, “We have some little knowledge of them; but if we look toward the east to the Lord, we shall be enlightened and shall know.” [3] This they did, and then said, “The universals respecting hell are three, but they are diametrically opposite to the universals relating to heaven. The universals relating to hell are these three loves, the love of ruling from love of self; the love of possessing the goods of others from love of the world; and scortatory love. The universals relating to heaven opposed to these are the three loves, love of ruling from love of use; love of possessing the goods of the world from the love of being useful by means of them; and true marriage love.” When this had been said, after wishing them peace, I went away and returned home. And when I reached home, it was said to me out of heaven, “Examine those three universals that prevail above and below, and afterward we shall see them on your hand.” They said “on your hand” because anything that a man examines with his understanding appears to the angels as if written on the hands; and this is why it is said in the Apocalypse that they received a mark on the forehead and on the hand (13:16; 14:9; 20:4). [4] After this I examined the first universal love of hell, which was the love of ruling from love of self, and then the universal love of heaven corresponding thereto, which was the love of ruling from the love of uses; for I was not permitted to examine one love apart from the other because the understanding has no perception of one apart from the other, for they are opposites. In order therefore, that a perception of both may be obtained, they must be contrasted one with the other; as a beautiful and well-formed face is brought out more clearly by placing an ugly and deformed face beside it. While I was studying the love of ruling from love of self a perception was given me that this love is in the highest degree infernal, and therefore prevails with those who are in the deepest hell; and that the love of ruling from the love of uses is in the highest degree heavenly, and therefore prevails with those who are in the highest heaven. [5] The love of ruling from the love of self is in the highest degree infernal, because ruling from love of self is ruling from what is one’s own [proprium], and what is one’s own is by birth evil itself, and evil itself is diametrically opposite to the Lord; consequently the more men enter into that evil the more they deny God and the holy things of the church, and worship self and nature. Let those, I pray, who are in that evil, examine themselves, and they will see. Moreover, this love is such that so far as loose rein is given it, which is done when no impossibility is in the way, it rushes on from step to step, and even to the most extreme; neither does it stop there, but if no further step is possible it grieves and groans. [6] With politicians this love so exalts itself that they wish to be kings and emperors, and if possible to rule over all things in the world, and to be called kings of kings and emperors of emperors; while among ecclesiastics the same love so exalts itself that they even wish to be gods, and so far as possible to rule over all the things of heaven and to be called gods. That neither of these in heart acknowledge any God, will be seen in what follows. But on the other hand those who wish to rule from the love of uses, have no wish to rule from themselves but only from the Lord, since the love of uses is from the Lord and is the Lord Himself. Such regard dignities only as means of performing uses; which they place far above dignities, while the others place dignities far above uses. [7] While I was meditating upon these things it was said to me through an angel from the Lord, “Now you shall see, and it shall be proved to you by sight what that infernal love is.” Then the earth suddenly opened on the left, and I saw a devil coming up out of hell having on his head a square cap pressed down over his forehead even to the eyes, a face covered with pustules like those of a burning fever, his eyes fierce, and his breast swollen out into great prominence; from his mouth he belched smoke as from a furnace; his loins were actually on fire; instead of feet he had ankle bones without flesh; and from his body there exhaled a foul smelling and unclean heat. At the sight of him I was terrified, and cried out, “Do not come here; tell me where you are from.” He answered hoarsely: “I am from the lower regions, where I live in a society of two hundred, which is preeminent over all other societies. All of us there are emperors of emperors, kings of kings, dukes of dukes, and princes of princes; there is no one there who is merely an emperor, or merely a king, duke, or prince; we there sit on thrones of thrones, and send forth mandates therefrom to all the world and beyond.” I then said to him, “Do you not see that from your hallucination about preeminence you have become insane?” He answered, “How can you talk so, since we both actually appear to ourselves to be such, and also are acknowledged to be such by our companions?” [8] On hearing this, I did not care to say again, “You are insane,” because he was so from hallucination. It was given me to know that this devil when he lived in the world, was merely the steward of a certain house; and that then he was so elated in spirit, that in comparison with himself he despised the whole human race, and cherished the hallucination that he was nobler than a king or even an emperor. Owing to this pride he had denied God, and regarded all the sacred things of the church as of no moment to him, but as something for stupid common people. At length I asked him, “How long will you two hundred thus glory among yourselves?” He said, “Forever; but those among us who torture others for denying our preeminence, sink down; for we are allowed to glory, but not to inflict evil upon anyone.” Again I asked, “Do you know the lot of those who sink down?” He said that they sink down into a certain prison, where they are called viler than the vile or the vilest, and are compelled to labor. I then said to him, “Take care then, lest you sink down also.” [9] After this the earth again opened, but at the right, and I saw another devil rising out, upon whose head was a kind of miter bound around as it were with the coils of a snake, with its head standing out from the top. His face was leprous from the forehead to the chin, as were both of his hands also; his loins were bare and as black as soot, while through the blackness a fire like that of a hearth gleamed duskily; his ankles were like two vipers. When the former devil saw this one he threw himself upon his knees and worshiped him. I asked him why he did so. He said, “He is the God of heaven and earth; He is omnipotent.” I then asked the other, “What do you say to that?” He replied, “What shall I say? I have all power over heaven and hell; the fate of all souls is in my hand.” I asked further, “How can this one who is an emperor of emperors so humble himself, and how can you receive his worship?” He answered, “He is still my servant; what is an emperor in the sight of God? The thunderbolt of excommunication is in my right hand.” [10] I then said to him, “How can you rave so? In the world you were merely an ecclesiastic; and because you labored under the hallucination that you had the keys, and therefore the power to bind and to loose, you have worked up your spirit to such a height of madness that you now believe that you are God Himself.” Being angry at this, be swore that he was God, and that the Lord had no power in heaven “because,” he said, “He has transferred it all to us. We need but to command, and heaven and hell reverently obey; if we send anyone to hell the devils at once receive him, as the angels do anyone we send to heaven.” I asked him further, “How many are there in your society?” He said, “Three hundred; and all of us there are gods, but I am the God of gods.” [11] After this the earth opened beneath the feet of them both, and they sank down deep into their hells; and I was permitted to see that beneath their hells were workhouses, into which those fell who did violence to others. For his own hallucination remains with everyone in hell, and also his glorying therein, but he is not permitted to do evil to another. Such are those in hell, because man is then in his spirit, and when the spirit has been separated from the body it enters into a state of full liberty to act according to its affections and the thoughts therefrom. [12] After this I was permitted to look into the hells of those spirits; and the hell where the emperors of emperors and kings of kings were, was full of all uncleanness, and they appeared like wild beasts of various kinds with fierce eyes. I looked also into the other hell, where the gods and the God of gods were; and in this the terrible birds of night, called the ochim and ijim appeared, flying around them. Thus did the images of their hallucination appear to me. From all this it was clear what the political love of self is and what the ecclesiastical love of self is, that the latter makes men wish to be gods and the former to be emperors; and this they wish for and strive after, so far as loose rein is given to those loves. [13] After these sad and horrible sights, I looked around and saw two angels not far from me, conversing. One was clad in a woolen robe gleaming with a purple glow, with a tunic under it of shining linen; the other in like garments of a scarlet color, with a miter, on the right side of which some sparkling stones were set. I went to them, and with a salutation of peace, reverently asked, “Why are you here below?” They replied, “We have been sent down here from heaven by the Lord’s command to speak with you about the happy lot of those who desire to rule from the love of uses. We are worshipers of the Lord; I am the prince of a society, the other is its high priest.” And the prince said that he was the servant of his society, because he served it by performing uses; while the other said that he was a minister of the church there, because he served them by ministering sacred things for the use of their souls; and that they were both in unceasing joy from the eternal happiness that was in them from the Lord; also that all things in that society were resplendent and magnificent - resplendent with gold and precious stones, and magnificent with palaces and gardens. “This,” he said, “is because our love of ruling is not from love of self, but from the love of uses; and as the love of uses is from the Lord, all good uses in the heavens are resplendent and refulgent; and because in our society we are all in that love, the atmosphere there appears golden on account of the light it derives from the flame of the sun, which flame corresponds to that love.” [14] At these words a like sphere appeared to me surrounding them, and a sense of something aromatic came from it, as I also told them, and I begged them to add something more to what they had said about the love of use. And they continued, “The dignities which we enjoy we indeed sought, but for the sole end of being more fully able to perform uses and to extend them more widely. Moreover, we are surrounded by honor, and we accept it not on our own account, but for the good of the society. For our brethren and companions there, who are of the common people, hardly know otherwise than that the honors of our rank reside in us, and thus that the uses we perform are from us. But we feel otherwise; we feel that the honors of our rank are outside of ourselves, and that they are like the garments with which we are clothed; while the uses we perform are from a love of uses that is within us from the Lord, and this love acquires its blessedness from a sharing with others by means of uses. And we know by experience that so far as we perform uses from a love of uses, that love increases, and with it the wisdom by which the sharing is effected; but so far as we retain the uses in ourselves, and do not share them, the blessedness perishes; and then use becomes like food retained in the stomach and not diffused throughout the body to nourish it and its various parts, but remains undigested and causes nausea. In a word all heaven is nothing but a containant of uses from things first to things last. What is use but the actual love of the neighbor? And what keeps the heavens together but this love?” Having heard this, I asked, “How can anyone know whether he performs uses from love of self or from a love of uses? Every man, both good and bad, performs uses and performs them from some love. Suppose a society in the world consisting of devils only, and another consisting of angels only; and I am of the opinion that the devils in their society, moved by the fire of love of self and the splendor of their own glory, would perform as many uses as the angels in theirs. Who then can know from what love or from what origin uses proceed?” To this the two angels replied, “Devils perform uses for the sake of themselves and their reputation, in order that they may be exalted to honors, or acquire wealth; but angels perform uses not for such reasons, but for the sake of the uses from love of uses. Man is unable to distinguish these two kinds of uses, but the Lord does. All who believe in the Lord and shun evils as sins, perform uses from the Lord; but all who do not believe in the Lord and do not shun evils as sins, perform uses from, themselves and for their own sake. This is the distinction between the uses performed by devils and those performed by angels.” When this had been said the two angels went away; and at a distance they appeared to be carried in a chariot of fire like Elijah and taken up to their heaven.

662.

Second Memorable Relation: After some length of time I entered a certain grove, and there walked about, meditating upon those who are in the lust and the consequent hallucination of possessing the things of the world; and then I saw at some distance from me two angels conversing together, and by turns looking at me. I therefore drew nearer; and they spoke to me as I approached, and said, “We have an inner perception that you are meditating upon what we are talking about; or that we are talking about what you are meditating upon, which arises from a reciprocal sharing of affections.” So when I asked what they were talking about, they said, “About hallucination, lust, and intelligence; and just now about those who take delight in seeing and imagining themselves in possession of all things of the world.” [2] I then asked them to express their mind on these three things, lust, hallucination, and intelligence. And beginning their discourse, they said, “By birth everyone is interiorly in lust, and by education exteriorly in intelligence; but interiorly or as to his spirit no one is in intelligence, still less in wisdom, except from the Lord. For everyone is withheld from the lust of evil, and kept in intelligence in proportion as he looks to the Lord and at the same time is conjoined with Him. Without this, man is nothing but lust; and yet in externals, or as to the body, he is in intelligence from education. For man lusts for honors and wealth, or eminence and opulence, and these two he does not obtain unless he appears to be moral and spiritual, thus intelligent and wise; and so from his infancy he learns to assume such an appearance. This is why he inverts his spirit as soon as he goes among men or into society, turning it away from lust, and speaking and acting according to what is becoming and honest, which he has been learning from infancy and has laid up in his bodily memory; and he is especially on his guard that nothing of the madness of lust in which his spirit is should show itself. [3] “This is why every man who is not interiorly led by the Lord, is a pretender, a sycophant, a hypocrite, and thus a man in appearance, and yet not a man; of whom it may be said that his shell or body is sane, but his kernel or the spirit is insane; also that his external is human but his internal beast like. The sight of such is with the occiput up and the forehead down; that is, they walk with their heads hanging down and with their faces turned toward the earth as if overcome with heaviness. When they put off the body and become spirits and thus are set free, they become the very madnesses of their lust; for those who are in the love of self lust to rule over the universe, and even to extend its limits in order to enlarge their dominion; they nowhere recognize an end. Those who are in love of the world lust to possess everything pertaining to it, and are grieved and envious over any treasures that are kept from them in the possession of others. That such therefore may not become mere lusts, and thus not men, they are permitted in the spiritual world to think from a fear of the loss of reputation, and thus of honor and wealth, as also from a fear of the law and its penalties; and they are also permitted to employ their minds in some pursuit or work, whereby they are kept in externals, and thus in a state of intelligence, however delirious and irrational they may be interiorly.” [4] I then asked whether all who are in lust are also in its hallucination. They answered that those who think interiorly in themselves, and indulge their imaginations excessively by talking to themselves are in the hallucination of their lust. “For such,” they said, “almost separate the spirit from its connection with the body, and flood their understandings with visions, and foolishly delight themselves with the seeming possession of all things. Into such a delirium is the man let after death who has abstracted his spirit from his body, and has not been willing to withdraw from the delight of his delirium by giving some thought from religion to evils and falsities, or at least giving some thought to the unbridled love of self as being destructive of love to the Lord, and to the unbridled love of the world as being destructive of love to the neighbor.” [5] After this the two angels and myself also were seized with a desire to see those who from love of the world are in this visionary or fantastic lust of possessing the wealth of all, and we perceived that we were inspired with this desire in order that we might come to know about it. The places of abode of such were under the ground on which we stood, but above hell; we therefore looked at one another and said, “Let us go.” And an opening appeared with a ladder in it, by which we descended. We were told that they must be approached from the east that we might not enter into the mist of their hallucinations, and our understandings, together with our sight, be bedimmed. And lo, there appeared a house built of reeds, and therefore full of crevices, standing in a mist, which like smoke constantly poured out through the chinks in three of the walls. We entered, and there appeared fifty here and fifty there sitting on benches, who were turned away from the east and south, and were looking toward the west and north. Before each one was a table, and on the tables were full purses, and around the purses an abundance of gold coin. [6] We asked, “Is that the wealth of all in the world?” They said, “Not of all in the world, but of all in a kingdom.” Their speech had a hissing sound, and they themselves seemed to have full round faces, with a ruddy glow like a cockle shell; the pupil of the eye flashed, as if in a field of green, which, arose from the light of hallucination. We stood in their midst and said, “You believe that you possess all the wealth of a kingdom?” They replied, “We do possess it.” “Which of you?” we then asked. They replied, “Everyone of us.” We asked, “How everyone? There are many of you.” They answered, “We each of us know that ‘all his is mine;’ yet no one is allowed to think, still less to say, ‘My things are not yours,’ but we are permitted both to think and say, ‘Your things are mine.’” The coin on the tables appeared even to us as if made of pure gold; but when we let in light from the east, they were little granules of gold, which by their general and united hallucination they had so magnified.” They said that everyone who came in was obliged to bring with him a little gold, which they cut in pieces, and these again into granules, and by the force of unanimous hallucination they enlarged these into coin of greater dimensions. [7] We then said, “Were you not born rational men? How has this visionary infatuation come upon you?” They said, “We know that it is an imaginary vanity, but because it delights the interiors of our minds, we enter this place, and enjoy ourselves with the seeming possession of all things. But we stay here only a few hours, after which we go out, and whenever we do so a sound state of mind returns; and yet our visionary enjoyment comes upon us again at times and causes us to reenter and go out again by turns; and thus we are alternately sane and insane. Moreover, we know that a hard lot awaits those who craftily deprive others of their goods.” We asked, “What lot?” They replied, “They are swallowed up, and are thrust naked into some infernal prison, where they are kept at work for clothing and food and afterward for a few bits of money which they collect, and in which they place the joy of their hearts; but if they do evil to their companions, they must pay over a part of their little coins as a fine.”

663.

Third Memorable Relation: I was once in the midst of angels and heard their conversation. It was about intelligence and wisdom, to the effect that man has no other feeling or perception than that these are in himself, and therefore that whatever he wills and thinks is from himself, and yet no least part of these is from man, except the ability to receive them. Among other things that they said was this, that the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the garden of Eden, signified the belief that intelligence and wisdom are from man; and that the tree of life signified that intelligence and wisdom are from God; and because Adam by the persuasion of the serpent ate of the former tree, believing that thus he had become or would become as God, he was driven out of the garden and condemned. [2] While the angels were engaged in this conversation, there came two priests and also a man who in the world had been a royal ambassador, and I told them what I had heard about intelligence and wisdom from the angels; hearing which the three began to dispute about these, and also about prudence, whether they were from God or from man. The dispute was warm. The three believed alike that they were from man, because this is the testimony of sensation itself and of perception therefrom; but the priests, who at the time were influenced by theological zeal, insisted that nothing of intelligence or wisdom, and therefore nothing of prudence, is from man, and this they confirmed by the following passages from the Word: A man can take nothing, except it be given him from heaven (John 3:27). Also by this: Jesus said to His disciples, Without Me ye are unable to do anything (John 15:5). [3] Then, because the angels perceived that although the priests talked so, they still in heart believed the same as the royal ambassador, they said to them, “Lay aside your garments, and put on the garments of ministers of state, and believe that you are such.” They did so; and then they thought from their interior selves, and spoke according to the opinions which they inwardly cherished, which were, that all intelligence and wisdom dwell in man and are his; and they said, “Who has ever felt the influx of these from God?” And they looked at one another, and were convinced. It is peculiar to the spiritual world that a spirit thinks himself to be such as his dress is. This is because in that world the understanding clothes everyone. [4] At that moment a tree appeared near them, and it was said to them, “That is the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; be careful not to eat of it.” Nevertheless, infatuated by their own intelligence, they burned with the lust to eat of it, and said to one another, “Why not? Is it not good fruit?” And they drew near and ate of it. When the royal ambassador observed this he joined them, and they became hearty friends; and holding each other by the hand they together went the way of their own intelligence which tended towards hell. But I saw them brought back therefrom, because they were not yet prepared.

664.

Fourth Memorable Relation: Once I looked toward the right in the spiritual world, and observed some of the elect conversing together. I approached them and said, “I saw you at a distance, and there was round about you a sphere of heavenly light, whereby I knew that you belonged to those who in the Word are called ‘the elect;’ therefore I drew near that I might hear what heavenly subject you were talking about.” They replied, “Why do you call us the elect?” I answered, “Because in the world, where I am in the body, they have no other idea than that ‘the elect’ in the Word means those who are elected and predestined to heaven by God either before or after they are born, and that to such alone faith is given as a token of their election, and that the rest are held as reprobates, and are left to themselves, to go to hell whichever way they please. And yet I know that no election takes place before birth, nor after birth, but that all are elected and predestined to heaven, because all are called; also that after their death the Lord elects those who have lived well and believed aright; and this takes place after they have been examined. That this is so it has been granted me to learn by much observation. And because I saw that your heads were encircled by a sphere of heavenly light, I had a perception that you belonged to the elect who are preparing for heaven.” To this they replied, “You are telling things never before heard. Who does not know that there is no man born who is not called to heaven, and that from them after death those are elected who have believed in the Lord and have lived according to His commandments; and that to acknowledge any other election is to accuse the Lord Himself not only of being impotent to save, but also of injustice?”

665.

After this there was heard a voice out of heaven from the angels who were immediately above us, saying, “Come up hither, and we will question one of you (who is yet in the body in the natural world) what is there known about Conscience.” And we went up; and when we had entered, some wise men came to meet us, and asked me, “What is known in your world about conscience?” I replied, “If you please, let us descend and call together both from the laity and clergy, a number of those who are esteemed wise; and we will stand directly beneath you and will question them; and thus with your own ears you will hear what they will answer.” This was done; and one of the elect took a trumpet and sounded it toward the south, north, east, and west; and then after a brief hour so many were present as almost to fill the space of a square furlong. But the angels above arranged them all in four assemblies, one consisting of statesmen, another of scholars, a third of physicians, and a fourth of clergy men. When thus arranged, we said to them, “Pardon us for calling you together; we have done so because the angels who are directly above us are eager to know what you thought, while in the world in which you formerly were, about conscience, and thus what you still think about it, since you still retain your former ideas on such subjects; for it has been reported to the angels that in your world a knowledge of conscience is among the lost knowledges.” [2] After this we began, and turning first to the assembly composed of statesmen, we asked them to tell us from their hearts, if they were willing, what they had thought, and therefore what they still thought, about conscience. To this they replied one after another; and the sum of their replies was that they knew only that conscience is secum scire [a knowing within one’s self], thus conscire [a being conscious] of what one has intended, thought, done, and said. But we said, “We do not ask about the etymology of the word conscience, but about conscience.” And they answered, “What is conscience but pain arising from anxiety about the loss of honor or wealth, and the loss of reputation on this account? But this pain is dispelled by feasts and cups of generous wine, as also by conversation about the sports of Venus and her boy.” [3] To this we replied, “You are jesting; tell us, if you please, whether any of you have felt any anxiety arising from any other source.” They answered, “What other source? Is not the whole world like a stage on which every man acts his part, as the player does on his stage? We cajole and circumvent people, each by his own lust, some by jests, some by flattery, some by cunning, some by pretended friendship, some by feigned sincerity, and some by various political arts and allurements. From this we feel no mental pain, but on the contrary, cheerfulness and gladness, which we quietly but fully exhale from an expanded breast. We have heard indeed from some of our class, that an anxiety and a sense of constriction, as it were, of the heart and breast has sometimes come over them causing a sort of contraction of the mind; but when they asked the apothecaries about it, they were informed that their trouble came from a hypochondriacal humor arising from undigested substances in the stomach, or from a disordered state of the spleen; and we have heard that some of these were restored to their former cheerfulness by medicines.” [4] After hearing this, we turned to the assembly composed of scholars, among whom there were also some skilful naturalists, and addressing them, we said, “You who have studied the sciences, and therefore are supposed to be oracles of wisdom: tell us, if you please, what conscience is.” They answered, “What kind of a question for consideration is that? We have heard, indeed, that with some there is a sadness, gloom, and anxiety, which infest not only the gastric regions of the body, but also the abodes of the mind; for we believe that the two brains are those abodes, and because they consist of containing fibers, that there is some acrid humor, which irritates, gnaws, and corrodes the fibers, and thus compresses the sphere of the mind’s thoughts, so that it cannot flow forth into any of the enjoyments arising from variety. This causes a man to fix his attention upon one thing only, and this destroys the tension and elasticity of these fibers, so that they become numb and rigid. All this gives rise to an irregular motion of the animal spirits, which by physicians is called ataxy, and also a defective performance of their functions, which is called lipothymia. In a word, the mind is then situated as if it were beset by hostile forces, nor can it turn itself in any direction any more than a wheel fastened with nails, or a ship stuck fast in quicksands. Such oppression of mind and consequently of the chest, afflicts those whose ruling love suffers loss; for if this love is assaulted, the fibers of the brain contract, and this contraction prevents the mind from going out freely and partaking of the various forms of enjoyment. Hallucinations of various kinds, madness, and delirium, attack such persons during these crises, each according to his temperament, and some are affected with a brain sickness in religious matters, which they call remorse of conscience.” [5] After this we turned to the third assembly, which was composed of physicians, among whom were also some surgeons and apothecaries. And we said to them, “Perhaps you know what conscience is. Is it a grievous pain that seizes both the head and the parenchyma of the heart, and from these the subjacent regions, the epigastric and hypogastric? Or is it something else?” They replied, “Conscience is nothing but such a pain; we understand its origin better than others; for there are related diseases that affect the organic parts of the body and of the head, and consequently the mind, since this has its seat in the organs of the brain like a spider in the midst of the threads of its web, by means of which it runs out and about in a like manner. These diseases we call organic, and such of them as return at intervals we call chronic. But the pain which has been described to us by the sick as a pain of conscience, is nothing but hypochondria, which primarily affects the spleen, and secondarily the pancreas and mesentery, depriving them of their normal functions; hence arise stomachic diseases, from which comes deterioration of juices; for there takes place a compression about the orifice of the stomach, which is called cardialgia; from these diseases arise humors impregnated with black, yellow, or green bile, by which the smallest blood-vessels, which are called the capillaries, are obstructed; and this is the cause of cachexy, atrophy, and symphysia, also bastard pneumonia arising from sluggish pituitous matter, and ichorous and corroding lymph throughout the entire mass of the blood. Like consequences arise when pus makes its way into the blood and its serum from the breaking of pustules, boils, and swellings in the body. This blood, as it ascends through the carotids to the head, frets, corrodes and eats into the medullary and cortical substances, and the meninges of the brain, and thus excites the pains that are called pains of conscience.” [6] Hearing this we said to them, “You talk the language of Hippocrates and Galen; these things are Greek to us; we do not understand them. We did not ask you about these diseases, but about conscience, which pertains only to the mind.” They said, “The diseases of the mind and those of the head are the same, and the latter ascend from the body; for there is a connection like the two stories of one house, between which is a stairway by which one can ascend or descend. We know therefore that the state of the mind depends inseparably on the state of the body; but we have cured these heavinesses of the head or headaches (which we take it are what you mean by troubles of conscience), some by plasters and blisters, some by infusions and emulsions, and some by stimulants and anodynes.” [7] When therefore we had heard more of this kind, we turned away from them and toward the clergy, saying, “You know what conscience is; tell us therefore and instruct those present.” They replied, “What conscience is we know and we do not know. We have believed it to be the contrition that precedes election, that is, the moment when man is gifted with faith, through which he obtains a new heart and a new spirit, and is regenerated. But we have perceived that this contrition happens to but few; only with some is there a fear and consequent anxiety about hell-fire, while scarcely anyone is troubled about his sins and the consequent just anger of God. But we confessors have cured such by the gospel that Christ took away damnation by the passion of the cross and thus extinguished hell-fire and opened heaven to those who are blessed with the faith on which is inscribed the imputation of the merit of the Son of God. Moreover, there are conscientious persons of different religions, both true and fanatical, who make to themselves scruples about matters of salvation, both in things essential and in things formal, and even in what is indifferent. Therefore, as we have said before, we know that there is such a thing as conscience, but what and of what nature true conscience is, which must by all means be spiritual, we know not.”

666.

All these declarations made by the four assemblies were heard by the angels who were above us, and they said to each other, “We see that there is no one in Christendom who knows what conscience is; we will therefore send down from us one who will instruct them.” And immediately there stood in their midst an angel in white clothing, around whose head appeared a bright band in which there were little stars. This angel addressing the four assemblies said, “We have heard in heaven that you have presented in succession your opinions about conscience, and that you have all regarded it as some mental pain which infests the head with heaviness, and from that the body, or infests the body and from that the head. But conscience viewed in itself is not a pain, but a spiritual desire to act in accordance with whatever pertains to religion and faith. Hence it is that those who feel delight in conscience are in the tranquillity of peace and interior blessedness when they are acting in accordance with their conscience, and in a kind of perturbation when they are acting contrary to it. But the mental pain which you have believed to be conscience, is not conscience but temptation, which is a conflict of the spirit with the flesh; and this conflict, when it is spiritual, has its origin in conscience; but if it is natural merely, it has its origin in those diseases which the physicians have just recounted.” [2] “But what conscience is may be illustrated by examples; A priest who has a spiritual desire to teach truths in order that his flock may be saved, has conscience; but he who has any other end in view, does not have conscience. A judge who regards justice exclusively, and executes it with judgment, has conscience; but a judge who looks primarily to reward, friendship, or favor, has not conscience. Again, a man who has in his possession the property of another, the other not knowing it, and who is thus able without fear of the law or loss of honor and reputation, to keep it as his own, and yet, because it is not his, restores it to the other, has conscience, since he does what is just for the sake of what is just. So again, one who can obtain an office but who knows that another who is also seeking it would be more useful to society, and yields the place to him for the sake of the good of society, has a good conscience. So in other things. [3] All who have conscience say whatever they say from the heart, and do whatever they do from the heart; for not having a divided mind they speak and act according to what they understand and believe to be true and good. From all this it follows that a more perfect conscience may exist with those who have more of the truths of faith than others, and who have a clearer perception than others, than is possible with those who are less enlightened and whose perception is obscure. A true conscience is the seat of man’s spiritual life itself, for there his faith is conjoined with charity; therefore when such act from conscience they act from their spiritual life, but when they act contrary to conscience they act contrary to that life. Moreover, does not everyone know from common speech what conscience is? When it is said of anyone: ‘He has conscience,’ does not that also mean that he is a just man? But on the other hand, when it is said of anyone, ‘He has no conscience’ does it not mean that he is also unjust?” [4] When the angel had said this he was immediately taken up into heaven; and the four assemblies came together as one; but when they had conversed together some time about the remarks of the angel, behold, they were again divided into four assemblies, but different from the former. One contained those who comprehended the words of the angels and assented to them; a second those who did not comprehend but still favored them; a third those who did not wish to comprehend them, saying, “What have we to do with conscience?” and a fourth those who laughed at what was said, saying, “What is conscience but a breath of wind?” And I saw the four bodies separating from one another, the two former passing to the right and the two latter to the left, these going downward, but the others upward.

XII. Baptism

I. WITHOUT A KNOWLEDGE OF THE SPIRITUAL SENSE OF THE WORD, NO ONE CAN KNOW WHAT THE TWO SACRAMENTS, BAPTISM AND THE HOLY SUPPER, INVOLVE AND EFFECT. That there is a spiritual sense in each thing and everything of the Word, and that this sense hitherto has been unknown, but has now been disclosed for the sake of the New Church which is to be established by the Lord, has been shown in the chapter on the Sacred Scripture. The nature of that sense can be seen both in that chapter and in the chapter on the Decalogue, which is explained according to that sense. If that sense were not disclosed who could think of the two sacraments, baptism and the holy supper, except in accordance with the natural sense, that is, the sense of the letter? And in that case he would say or murmur to himself, “Is baptism anything but pouring water upon a child’s head, and what has that to do with salvation? And is the holy supper anything but a partaking of bread and wine, and does it contribute anything to salvation? Moreover, where is the holiness in them, except from their having been commanded by the ecclesiastical order and accepted as holy and Divine?” And yet in themselves they are mere ceremonies, which, the churches assert, become sacraments when to these elements the Word of God is added. I appeal to the laity, and also to the clergy, whether in spirit and heart they have had any other conception of these two sacraments, and whether they have not cherished them as Divine from a variety of causes and reasons, and yet these two sacraments, viewed in the spiritual sense, are the holiest things of worship, as will appear hereafter when their uses come to be treated of. But it is impossible for the uses of these two sacraments to enter the mind of anyone, unless those uses are disclosed and set forth by the spiritual sense; therefore it follows that without that sense no one can know that the sacraments are anything more than ceremonies, which are holy because instituted by commandment.

668.

That baptism was commanded is made clearly evident by John’s baptizing in Jordan, to which Jerusalem and all Judea went out (Matt. 3:5, 6; Mark 1:4, 5); also by this, that the Lord our Savior Himself was baptized by John (Matt. 3:13-17); and finally that He commanded His disciples to baptize all nations (Matt. 28:19). Who that wishes to see it, does not see that there is something Divine in that institution, which has hitherto been concealed, because the spiritual sense of the Word has not before been revealed? And this sense is now revealed, because the Christian church, such as it is in itself, is just now in its very beginning. The former church was Christian in name only, not in fact and essence.

669.

The two sacraments, baptism and the holy supper, are in the Christian church like two gems in the scepter of a king; but if their uses are unknown are merely like two figures of ebony on a staff. These two sacraments in the Christian church may also be likened to two rubies or carbuncles on the robe of an emperor, but if their uses are unknown they are like two carnelians or crystals on a cloak. Without a revelation by means of the spiritual sense of the uses of these two sacraments, there would be nothing but scattered conjectures about them, like the conjectures of those who practice divination by the stars, or even of those who in old times drew auguries from entrails or the flight of birds. The uses of these two sacraments may be likened to a temple, which by reason of its antiquity has sunk into the ground, and lies buried in the surrounding rubbish even to the roof, over which old and young walk and ride in carriages or on horses, not knowing that such a temple is hidden beneath their feet, in which are altars of gold, walls inlaid with silver, and decorations of precious stones. And these treasures can be dug up and brought to light only by means of the spiritual sense, which is now disclosed for the New Church, for its use in the worship of the Lord. Again, these sacraments may be likened to a double temple, one below, the other above. In the lower one the gospel of the Lord’s new coming and of regeneration and consequent salvation by Him is preached; and from this temple, near the altar, there is a way of ascent to the higher temple, where the holy supper is celebrated; and from it is the passage into heaven, where those ascending are received by the Lord. Again, they may be likened to a tabernacle, in which after entering there are seen the table on which the bread of faces is arranged in its order, also the golden altar for incense, and between these the candlestick with its lighted lamps, by which all these things are made visible; and at length, for those who suffer themselves to be illuminated, the veil is opened to the holy of holies, where, instead of the ark, which formerly contained the Decalogue, the Word is placed, over which is the mercy seat with the golden cherubs. These things are representations of the two sacraments and their uses.

670.

II. THE WASHING THAT IS CALLED BAPTISM MEANS SPIRITUAL WASHING, WHICH IS PURIFICATION FROM EVILS AND FALSITIES, AND THUS REGENERATION. That washings were commanded the children of Israel is known from the statutes enacted by Moses, That Aaron should wash himself before putting on the robes of his ministry (Lev. 16:4, 24); And before coming near to the altar to minister (Exod. 30:18-21; 40:30-32); Also the Levites (Num. 8:6, 7) And likewise others who had become unclean through sins; and are said to be sanctified by washings (Exod. 29:1, 4; 40:12; Lev. 8:6). Therefore in order that they might wash themselves, the molten sea, and many baths were placed near the temple (1 Kings 7:23-39); They even washed vessels and utensils, such as tables, seats, beds, plates, and cups (Lev. 11:32; 14:8-9; 15:5-12; 17:15, 16; Matt. 23:25-26). But washings and many like things were enjoined upon and commanded the children of Israel, because the church instituted among them was a representative church, and this was such as to prefigure the Christian church that was to come. Therefore when the Lord came into the world, He annuled representatives, which were all external, and instituted a church all things of which were to be internal; thus the Lord banished figures, and revealed the veritable forms, as one withdraws a veil or opens a dock and causes interiors not only to be seen, but also to be approached. Of all these representatives the Lord retained but two, which should include in one complex all things pertaining to the internal church. These two are baptism in the place of washings, and the holy supper in the place of the lamb which was sacrificed each day, and in greater fullness at the feast of the passover.

671.

That the above mentioned washings figured and shadowed forth, that is, represented spiritual washings, which are purifications from evils and falsities, is clearly evident from the following passages: When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have washed away its blood; in the spirit of judgment and in the spirit of cleansing (Isa. 4:4). Though thou shalt wash thee with lye, and take thee much soap, thine iniquity shall still retain its spots (Jer. 2:22; Job. 9:30, 31). Wash me from mine iniquity, and I shall be whiter than snow (Ps. 51:2, 3). Wash thine heart from wickedness, O Jerusalem, that thou mayest be saved (Jer. 4:14). Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before Mine eyes; cease to do evil (Isa. 1:16). That the washing of man’s spirit was meant by the washing of his body, and that the internals of the church were represented by externals, such as were in the Israelitish church, is very plain from these words of the Lord: The Pharisees and Scribes seeing that some of His disciples ate bread with unwashed hands, found fault; for the Pharisees, and all the Jews, except they wash their hands to the fist, eat not; and many other things there be, which they have received to hold, as the washing of cups and pots, brazen vessels, and couches. To them and to the multitude the Lord said: Hear Me all of you, and understand; there is nothing from without a man that entering into him can make him unclean but the things that come out of him, make him unclean (Mark. 7:1-4, 14, 15; Matt. 15:2, 11, 17-20). And elsewhere: Woe unto you. Scribes and Pharisees! for ye cleanse the outside of the cup and the platter but within they are full from extortion and excess. Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first the inside of the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also (Matt. 23:25, 26). From this it is evident that the washing called baptism means spiritual washing, which is purification from evils and falsities.

672.

What man of sound reason cannot see that the washing of the face, hands, and feet, or of all the limbs, and even the whole body in a bath, does nothing more than wash away the dirt, that men may appear clean in the human form before men? And who cannot understand that no washing enters into man’s spirit and renders that equally clean? For any thief, plunderer or robber may wash himself until he shines; but is the disposition to steal, plunder, and rob thereby washed away? Does not the internal flow into the external and work out the effects of its will and understanding, but not the external into the internal? For this latter is contrary to nature, because it is contrary to order; but the former is according to nature, because it is according to order.

673.

From all this it follows that neither washings nor baptisms, unless man’s internal is purified from evils and falsities, has any more efficacy than the washing of cups and platters by the Jews, or (as follows in that same passage) than the whitening of sepulchres, which appear beautiful without, but within are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness (Matt. 23:25-28); and this is further evident from the fact that the hells are full of satans who were once men, baptized as well as unbaptized. But what baptism does accomplish will appear in what follows. So without its uses and fruits, baptism contributes no more to salvation than the triple miter on the pope’s head or the sign of the cross on his shoes contributes to his pontifical supereminence; no more than the purple robe on a cardinal contributes to his dignity, or the pallium of a bishop to the proper discharge of his ministerial duties; no more than the throne, crown, scepter, and royal robe of a king to his regal power, or the silken cap on the head of a laureled doctor to his intelligence; or than the standards carried before troops of cavalry to their bravery in war; and it may even be said, that a man is no more purified by baptism than a sheep or a lamb is by being washed before shearing, for the natural man separate from the spiritual is a mere animal, and indeed, as before shown, is more of a wild beast than a wild beast of the forest, so that were you to be washed with the water of rain or dew, or of most excellent fountains, or, as the prophets say, if you were to be cleansed daily with niter, hyssop, or soap, you can be purified from your iniquities only by means of regeneration. These means have been treated of in the chapters on Repentance, and on Reformation and Regeneration.

674.

III. BECAUSE CIRCUMCISION OF THE FORESKIN REPRESENTED CIRCUMCISION OF THE HEART, IN THE PLACE OF CIRCUMCISION BAPTISM WAS INSTITUTED, IN ORDER THAT AN INTERNAL CHURCH MIGHT SUCCEED THE EXTERNAL, WHICH IN EACH AND ALL THINGS PREFIGURED THE INTERNAL CHURCH. It is well known in the Christian world that there is an internal and an external man, and that the external is the same as the natural man, and the internal the same as the spiritual man, because man’s spirit is in it; also, since the church consists of men that there is an internal church and an external church. And when churches are viewed in the order of their succession from ancient times to the present, it will be seen that the former churches were external, that is, that their worship consisted of externals which represented the internals of the Christian church which was founded by the Lord when He was in the world, and which is now for the first time being built up by Him. That which primarily distinguished the Israelitish church from the other churches in Asia, and afterward from the Christian church, was circumcision. And because, as before said, all things of the Israelitish church, being external, prefigured all things in the Christian church, which are internal, so the especial sign of that church was interiorly like the sign of the Christian church; circumcision signifying the rejection of the lusts of the flesh, and thus purification from evils, and baptism having the same signification; from which it is clear that baptism was commanded in the place of circumcision, in order that the Christian church might not only be distinguished from the Jewish, but also might thus be more clearly recognized as an internal church; which is clearly seen from the uses of baptism, of which presently.

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That circumcision was instituted as a sign that the men of the Israelitish church were of the posterity of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, appears from the following: God said unto Abraham, This is the covenant with Me, which ye shall keep between Me and you and thy seed after thee. Every child male among you shall be circumcised. And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin that it may be a token of the covenant betwixt Me and you (Gen. 17:9-11). This covenant, or its token, was afterward confirmed by Moses (Lev. 12:1-3). And as that church was distinguished from others by this sign, so before the sons of Israel had passed over Job they were commanded to be circumcised again (Josh. 5); and for the reason that the land of Canaan represented the church, and the river Jordan introduction into it. And furthermore, in order that they might remember that token even in the land of Canaan itself, it was commanded them: When ye shall come into the land, and shall have planted all manner of trees for food, then ye shall count the fruits thereof as their uncircumcision; three years shall they be as uncircumcised unto you, and not be eaten (Lev. 19:23). [2] That circumcision represented and therefore signified the rejection of the lusts of the flesh, and thus purification from evils, the same as baptism, is evident from the passages in the Word where they are told to circumcise their hearts, as in the following: Moses said, Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and harden not your neck (Deut. 10:16). And Jehovah thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, that thou mayest love Jehovah thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live (Deut. 30:6). And in Jeremiah: Circumcise yourselves to Jehovah, to take away the foreskins of your heart, ye men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, lest my anger go forth like fire, because of the evil of your doings (4:4). And in Paul: For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but faith working through love and a new creature (Gal. 5:6; 6:15). [3] From all this it is now clear that baptism was instituted in place of circumcision, because the circumcision of the flesh represented circumcision of the heart, which also signifies purification from evils, for all kinds of evil arise from the heart, and “the foreskin” signifies its filthy loves. Because circumcision and baptism have a like signification, it is said in Jeremiah: Circumcise yourselves to Jehovah, to take away the foreskins of your heart (4:4); and a little after: Wash thine heart from wickedness, O Jerusalem, that thou may be saved (verse 14). What circumcision is, and the washing of the heart, the Lord teaches in Matthew (15:18, 19).

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There were many among the sons of Israel who believed that they were elected in preference to all others, because of their having been circumcised, and many among the Jews at this day who so believe, and many among Christians have the same belief because of their having been baptized; and yet both circumcision and baptism were given solely as a sign and memorial that the recipients thereof were to be purified from evils, and thus become elect. What is an external in man without an internal but like a temple without worship, which is of no use except perhaps as a stable? And, further, what is an external without an internal but like a field full of reeds and rushes without grain, or like a vineyard consisting merely of vines and leaves without grapes, or like the fig-tree without fruit, which the Lord cursed (Matt. 21:19), or like the lamps without oil in the hands of the foolish virgins (Matt. 25:3)? Or even what is it but like a dwelling-place in a tomb, where there are dead bodies under foot, bones around the walls, and specters of the night flitting beneath the roof, or like a carriage drawn by leopards, with a wolf for a driver and a fool for its occupant? For the external man is not a man, but only the figure of a man; the internal, which is to be wise from God, is what constitutes man. So is it with one circumcised and baptized, unless he circumcises or washes his head.

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IV. THE FIRST USE OF BAPTISM IS INTRODUCTION INTO THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH, AND AT THE SAME TIME INSERTION AMONG CHRISTIANS IN THE SPIRITUAL WORLD. That baptism is introduction into the Christian church is evident from many considerations, such as the following: (i.) Baptism was instituted in the place of circumcision; and as circumcision was a sign that those circumcised were of the Israelitish church, so is baptism a sign that those baptized are of the Christian church, as shown in the preceding section; and a sign is nothing more than a means of recognition, just as swaddling clothes of different colors are put on the children of two mothers, to distinguish them and prevent their being changed. (ii.) [2] That it is merely a sign of introduction into the church, is made clear by the baptizing of infants, who are wholly destitute of reason and are no more able to receive anything pertaining to faith than the young branches of a tree. (iii. ) [3] Not only are infants baptized but all foreign proselytes who are converted to the Christian religion, both the young and the old, and this before they have been instructed, solely because they confess a wish to embrace Christianity, into which they are introduced by baptism, this same having been done by the apostles, according to the Lord’s command, That the disciples should make disciples of all nations, and baptize them (Matt. 28:19). (iv.) [4] Again: John baptized in Jordan all who came to him from Judea and Jerusalem (Matt. 3:5, 6; Mark 1:5). He baptized in Jordan for the reason that entrance into the land of Canaan was through that river, and “the land of Canaan” signified the church, because the church was there; and so “the Jordan” signified introduction into the church That “the land of Canaan” signified the church, and “the Jordan” introduction into it, may be seen in the Apocalypse Revealed (n. 285). [5] All this, however, is what takes place on earth. But in the heavens infants are introduced by baptism into the Christian heaven, and angels are there assigned them by the Lord, to take care of them. Therefore as soon as infants are baptized, angels are appointed over them, by whom they are kept in a state to receive faith in the Lord; but as they grow up, and begin to exercise self-control and be governed by their own reason, these guardian angels leave them, and they draw into association with themselves such spirits as make one with their life and faith. From all this it is clear that baptism is insertion among Christians in the spiritual world also.

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The reason why not only infants but all others, are by baptism inserted among Christians in the spiritual world, is, that it is by their religions that peoples and nations in that world are distinguished from each other. The Christians are in the middle, the Mohammedans are round about them, after them come idolaters of various kinds, and the Jews are at the sides. Moreover, all who are of the same religion are arranged in societies in heaven in accordance with their affections of love to God and love toward the neighbor, and in hell in assemblies in accordance with affections that are the opposites of those two loves, that is, in accordance with the lusts of evil. In the spiritual world, by which both heaven and hell are meant, all things both as a whole and in every part, or in general and in every particular, are most distinctly arranged; upon this distinct arrangement there the preservation of the whole universe depends; and such distinguishing is impossible, unless everyone after he is born can be recognized by some sign showing to what religious body he belongs. For without the Christian sign, which is baptism, some Mohammedan or some idolatrous spirit might attach himself to newly-born Christian children, or even to youths, and breathe into them an inclination towards his religion, and thus distract their minds and alienate them from Christianity, which would be a distortion and destruction of spiritual order.

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Everyone who traces effects back to their causes may know that the consistence of all things depends on order; and that there are many kinds of order, general and particular; and that there is one order which is the most universal of all, and on which depends the general and particular kinds in connected series; also that this most universal order enters into all the others as the essence itself into its forms, and that thus and not otherwise do they make one. It is this unity that effects the preservation of the whole, which would otherwise fall asunder, and relapse not only into primal chaos, but into nothing. How would it be with man if each thing and all things in his body were not most distinctly arranged and this community of parts made dependent on one heart and one pair of lungs? Otherwise, what would follow but confusion? Could the stomach then perform its functions, the liver and pancreas theirs, the mesentery and mesocolon theirs, the kidneys and intestines theirs? It is because of the order in them and among them, that they each and all appear to man as one. And in the mind or spirit of man if there were no distinct order, and if this community of parts did not depend on the will and understanding, what would there be but a confused and undigested something? Without such an order could a man exercise thought and will any more than his picture on a tablet, or his statue in his house? What would man be without a most perfectly arranged influx from heaven and the reception of it? And what would this influx be without a most universal one on which the government of the whole and of all its parts depends, that is to say, unless it depended on God, and unless all things had their being, and lived and moved in Him and from Him? For the natural man this may be illustrated by innumerable things, such as the following: Without order what would an empire or kingdom be but a gang of robbers, a large body of whom would slay thousands, a few at least slaying these many? What is a city without order, or even a household without order? And what is a kingdom, a city, or a household without someone in each acting the part of head?

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Furthermore, what is order without distinction, and what is distinction without its evidences, and what are evidences without signs by which qualities are recognized? For without an acquaintance with the qualities order is not recognized as order. In empires and kingdoms the signs or marks of distinction are titles of rank, and the administrative rights attached to them; and from this comes subordination, by means of which all are coordinated as it were into a one. In this way the king exercises his royal power, which is distributed among many according to order, and it is from this that the kingdom becomes a kingdom. It is the same in many other matters, as for example in armies. What power would they have if they were not distinctly organized into regiments, these into battalions, and these again into companies, with subordinate officers each, and over all one commander in chief? And what would those arrangements amount to without the signs called standards, which indicate the proper station for each? By such means in battle all act as a one, while without them they would rush upon the enemy merely like a pack of hounds with open mouths, yells, and empty fury; and then, with their courage gone, they would be ingloriously cut in pieces by the enemy formed in well-ordered ranks; for what can those who are divided do against those who are united? Hereby is illustrated this first use of baptism, which is, to serve as a sign in the spiritual world that the one baptized belongs to Christians, for in that world everyone is inserted into societies and congregations according to the quality of the Christianity in him or outside of him.

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V. THE SECOND USE OF BAPTISM IS, THAT THE CHRISTIAN MAY KNOW AND ACKNOWLEDGE THE LORD JESUS CHRIST, THE REDEEMER AND SAVIOR, AND FOLLOW HIM. This second use of baptism, which is to know and acknowledge the Lord, the Redeemer and Savior Jesus Christ, inseparably follows the first, which is introduction into the Christian church and insertion among Christians in the spiritual world. And what is this first use but a mere name unless the second follows? Is it not really like a subject who attaches himself to a king, and yet repudiates the king’s laws or those of the country, and yields allegiance to a foreign king and serves him; or like a servant who binds himself to some master, accepting his livery as a token thereof, and then runs away and serves another master in the livery of the first; or like a standard-bearer who runs away with the standard and cuts it in pieces, throwing the pieces in the air or under the feet of the soldiers to be trodden upon? In a word, to have the name of being a Christian, that is, of belonging to Christ, and yet not acknowledging and following Him, that is, living according to His commandments, is a thing as empty as a shadow, as smoke, or as a blackened picture; for the Lord says: Why call ye Me, Lord, and do not the things that I say? (Luke 6:46, seq.). Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord; and then will I profess unto them, I know you not (Matt. 7:22, 23).

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“The name of the Lord Jesus Christ” means in the Word nothing else than acknowledgment of Him, and a life according to His commandments. The reason why His name has that signification may be seen in the explanation of the second commandment of the Decalogue: Thou shalt not take the name of God in vain (Exod. 20:7). Nothing else is meant by the name of the Lord in the following passages: Jesus said, Ye shall be hated of all nations for My name’s sake (Matt. 10:22; 24:9, 10). Where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them (Matt. 18:20). As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become sons of God, even to them that believe on His name (John 1:12). Many believed in His name (John 2:23). He that believeth not hath been judged already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God (John 3:17, 18). Those who believe shall have life in His name (John 20:31). For My name’s sake thou hast labored, and hast not fainted (Apoc. 2:3). (And elsewhere. ) [2] Who does not see that “the name of the Lord” in these usages does not mean merely His name, but the acknowledgment of Him as being the Redeemer and Savior, together with obedience, and finally faith in Him? For in baptism the child receives the sign of the cross on the forehead and breast which is a sign of initiation into the acknowledgment and worship of the Lord. “Name” also means the quality of anyone; because in the spiritual world everyone is named according to his quality; therefore a man’s taking the name Christian means his quality, - that he has from Christ faith in Christ and charity toward the neighbor. Such is the meaning of “name” in the Apocalypse: The Son of man said, Thou hast a few names even in Sardis who have not defiled their garments and they shall walk with Me in white, for they are worthy (3:4). “Walking with the Son of man in white” signifies following the Lord and living according to the truths of His Word. “Name” has the same meaning in John: Jesus said, The sheep hear His voice, and He calleth His own sheep by name, and leadeth them out; He goeth before them and the sheep follow Him, for they know His voice; and a stranger they do not follow, they know not the voice of strangers (10:3-5). “By name” means by their quality, that they are Christians; and “to follow Him” is to hear His voice, that is, to obey His commandments. All receive this name in baptism, for it is involved in that sign.

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What is a name without the reality but an empty thing, or a sound like the echo given back by the trees of a forest or by vaulted buildings, or like the almost lifeless voice of dreamers, the noise of the wind, of the sea, or of some useless machinery? What but emptiness is the name even of a king, a duke, a consul, a bishop, an abbot, or a monk, without the office attached to the name? So what is the name Christian so long as the man lives like a barbarian, and contrary to the precepts of Christ, but like looking to the sign of Satan instead of the sign of Christ, although in baptism Christ’s name is interwoven in golden threads? What but rebels and regicides are those who having received the sign of Christ, deride His worship, mock at His name, and acknowledge Him not as the Son of God but of Joseph? And what are their words but blasphemies against the Holy Spirit, which cannot be forgiven either in this world or in the next? These like dogs with open jaws bite at the Word, and tear it to pieces with their teeth. With such, as against Christ and the worship of Christ: All tables are full of the vomit of filthiness (Isa. 28:8; Jer. 48:26). And yet the Lord Jesus Christ is, The Son of the Most High (Luke 1:32, 35); The only begotten (John 1:18; 3:16); The true God and eternal life (1 John 5:20); In whom dwelleth all the fullness of Divinity bodily (Col. 2:9); And is not the son of Joseph (Matt. 1:25). (And thousands of other passages.)

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VI. THE THIRD USE OF BAPTISM, WHICH IS THE FINAL USE, IS THAT MAN MAY BE REGENERATED. This is the essential use for the sake of which baptism exists, and thus the final one. This is because the true Christian knows and acknowledges the Lord Jesus Christ the Redeemer, who, as being the Redeemer is also the Regenerator (that redemption and regeneration make one may be seen in the third section of the chapter on Reformation and Regeneration); also because a Christian possesses the Word, in which the means of regeneration are plainly described, those means being faith in the Lord and charity toward the neighbor. This is identical with what is said of the Lord, that, He baptizeth 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, and “fire” the Divine good of love or charity, both proceeding from the Lord. (That “the Holy Spirit” means the Divine truth of faith may be seen in the chapter on the Holy Spirit; and that “fire” means the Divine good of love may be seen in the Apocalypse Revealed, n. 395, 468.) By means of these two, all regeneration is effected by the Lord. The Lord Himself was baptized by John (Matt. 3:13-17; Mark 1:9; Luke 3:21, 22). This He did not only that He might institute baptism for the future, Himself setting the example, but also because He glorified His Human and made it Divine, as He regenerates man and renders him spiritual.

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From what has been said now and heretofore it can be seen that the three uses of baptism cohere as a unit, like first cause, mediate cause, which is the efficient cause, and last cause, which is the effect and the end itself, for the sake of which the former exist; for the first use is that the man may be called a Christian; the second, following from this, is that he may know and acknowledge the Lord the Redeemer, Regenerator and Savior; and the third that be may be regenerated by Him; and when this is done man is redeemed and saved. As these three uses follow in order, and are conjoined in the last, and consequently in the conception of the angels cohere as a unit, so when baptism is performed, read of in the Word, or mentioned, the angels who are present do not understand baptism, but regeneration. Therefore, by these words of the Lord: He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be condemned (Mark 16:16); the angels in heaven understand that he who acknowledges the Lord and is regenerated will be saved. And for this reason baptism is called by the Christian churches on earth the laver of regeneration. Let every Christian know, then, that he who does not believe in the Lord even though he has been baptized, cannot be regenerated. Also that baptism without faith in the Lord has no effect whatever, may be seen above, in the second section of this chapter (n. 673). Every Christian is well aware that baptism involves purification from evils, and thus regeneration, for when he is baptized in infancy, the priest with his finger makes the sign of the cross, as a memorial of the Lord, on his forehead and breast, and afterwards turns to his sponsors and asks whether he renounces the devil and all his works, and accepts the faith; to which the sponsors, in the place of the infant, answer, “Yes.” The renunciation of the devil, that is, of the evils that are from hell, and faith in the Lord, are what effect regeneration.

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It is said in the Word that the Lord God our Redeemer baptizes with the Holy Spirit and with fire, which means that the Lord regenerates man by the Divine truth of faith and the Divine good of love or charity (as may be seen above in the first number of this section). Those who have been regenerated by the Holy Spirit, that is, by the Divine truth of faith, are distinct in the heavens from those who are regenerated by fire, that is, by the Divine good of love. Those who have been regenerated by the Divine truth of faith walk in heaven in raiment of white linen, and are called spiritual angels; but those who have been regenerated by the Divine good of love walk in purple raiment, and are called celestial angels. Those who go clothed in white raiment are meant by the following: They follow the Lamb clothed in fine linen, white and clean (Apoc. 19:14). They shall walk with Me in white (Apoc. 3:4; also 7:14). The angels seen at the Lord’s sepulchre clothed in white and shining garments (Matt 28:3; Luke 24:4). They were of this class, because “fine linen” signifies the righteousness of the saints (Apoc. 19:8, where this is directly stated). That “garments” in the Word signify truths, and “garments of white” and “fine linen” signify Divine truths, may be seen in the Apocalypse Revealed, where this is shown (n. 379). Those who have been regenerated by the Divine good of love are clothed in purple garments, because purple is the color of love, which color it derives from the fire of the sun and its redness. (That this signifies love may be seen in the Apocalypse Revealed, n. 468, 725. ) It was because “garments” signify truths, that he who was found among those called to the wedding not clothed with a wedding garment, was turned out and cast into outer darkness (Matt. 22:11-13).

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Furthermore, baptism as regeneration is represented by many things both in heaven and in the world; in heaven, as just said, by white and purple garments, also by the marriage of the church with the Lord, also by the new heaven and the new earth, and the New Jerusalem descending therefrom, Of which He who sat upon the throne, said: Behold, I make all things new (Apoc. 21:1-5); And by the river of living water proceeding out of the throne of God and the Lamb (Apoc. 22:1, 2); Also by the five prudent virgins who had lamps and oil, and went in with the bridegroom to the marriage feast (Matt. 25:1, 2, 10). One who is baptized, that is regenerated, is meant by, Creature (Mark 16:15; Rom. 8:19-21); and by, A new creature (2 Cor. 5:17; Gal. 6:15); for he is called “a creature” from his being created; and this also signifies to be regenerated (as may be seen in the Apocalypse Revealed, n. 254). [2] In the world regeneration is represented by various things, as by the blossoming of all things on earth in spring, and by the gradual development of the blossoms even to the fruit; also by the growth of every tree, shrub and flower, from the first warm month to the last. It is also represented by the progressive ripening of all kinds of fruit from the earliest germ to the end of the process; then again by morning and evening showers, and by dews, at the coming of which the flowers open, while they close at the approach of the darkness of night; also by the fragrance from gardens and fields; by the rainbow in the cloud (Gen. 9:14-17); by the resplendent colors of the dawn; and in general by the continual renovation of everything in the body by means of the chyle and the animal spirit, and consequently by the blood. The purification of this from exhausted material, and its renovation, and seeming regeneration, are perpetual. [3] If we turn our thoughts to the more insignificant things on earth, an image of regeneration is presented in the wonders transformation of the silk-worm and other worms into nymphs and butterflies, and of still other kinds which after a time are provided with wings; to which may be added still more trifling matters, as the desire of certain birds to plunge themselves into water for the sake of washing and cleansing themselves, after which they return as warblers to their songs. In a word, the whole world from what is first to what is last in it is full of representations and types of regeneration.

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VII. BY THE BAPTISM OF JOHN A WAY WAS PREPARED, THAT JEHOVAH THE LORD MIGHT DESCEND INTO THE WORLD AND ACCOMPLISH REDEMPTION. It is written in Malachi: Behold, I send My messenger, and he shall prepare the way before Me; and the Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to His temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye long for. Who will abide the day of His coming, and who will stand when He shall appear? (Mal. 3:1, 2). And again: Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet, before the great and terrible day of Jehovah comes; lest I come and smite the earth with a curse (Mal. 4:5, 6). And Zacharias the father, prophesying of his son John, says: Thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Most High; for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to make ready His ways (Luke 1:76). And the Lord Himself says of this same John: This is he of whom it is written, Behold, I send My angel before Thy face, who shall prepare Thy way before Thee (Luke 7:27). From all this it is clear that this John was the prophet sent to make ready the way of Jehovah God, who should descend into the world and accomplish redemption; and that he made ready that way by baptism, and by announcing the coming of the Lord; and that without such preparation all on earth would have been smitten with a curse and would have perished.

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The way was prepared by the baptism of John, because by means of that baptism, as shown above, men were introduced into the future church of the Lord, and in heaven were inserted among those who were there looking for and longing for the Messiah; and they were thus guarded by angels, that devils from hell might not break forth and destroy them. Wherefore it is written in. Malachi: Who shall abide the day of His coming? and lest Jehovah come and smite the earth with a curse (Mal. 3:2; 4:6). So also in Isaiah: Behold, the day of Jehovah cometh, cruel and of indignation, and of wrath of anger; I will move heaven and the land shall be shaken out of its place, in the day of the wrath of His anger (Isa. 13:6, 9, 13, 22; 22:5, 12). Again, in Jeremiah: That day is called a day of wasting, of vengeance, and of destruction (Jer. 4:9; 7:32; 46:10, 21; 47:4; 40:8, 26). In Ezekiel: A day of wrath, of cloud and of thick darkness (Ezek. 13:5; 30:2, 3, 9; 34:11, 12; 38:14, 16, 18, 19). Also in Amos: (5:13, 18, 20; 8:3, 9, 13). And in Joel: The day of Jehovah is great and very terrible, and who can abide it? (2:1, 2, 11; 3:2, 4). And in Zephaniah: In that day there shall be the noise of a cry, that the great day of Jehovah is near, that that is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, that in the day of Jehovah’s wrath the whole land shall be devoured, and that He will make a consummation with all them that dwell in the land (Zeph. 1:7-18). (Besides other passages.) From all this it is clear that unless a way had been made ready for Jehovah when He was descending into the world, by means of baptism, the effect of which in heaven was to close up the hells and guard the Jews against total destruction [they would all have perished]. Jehovah also says to Moses: In one moment if I come up into the midst of thee I will consume the people (Ex. 33:5). That it is so is very clear from the words of John to the multitudes going out to him to be baptised: Ye offspring of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? (Matt. 3:7; Luke 3:7). That John when he was baptizing taught Christ and His coming is evident from (Luke 3:16; John 1:25, 26, 31-33; 3:26). All this makes clear how John prepared the way.

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As to the baptism of John; it represented this cleansing of the external man; while the baptism of Christians at the present day represents the cleansing of the internal man, which is regeneration. It is therefore written that John baptized with water, but that the Lord baptized with the Holy Spirit and with fire, and therefore John’s baptism is called the baptism of repentance (Matt. 3:11; Mark 1:4, 5; Luke 3:3, 16; John 1:25, 26, 33; Acts 1:22; 10:37; 18:25). The Jews who were baptized were merely external men, and without faith in Christ the external man cannot become internal. That those who were baptized with the baptism of John, became internal men when they received the faith in Christ, and were then baptized in the name of Jesus, may be seen in Acts (19:3-6).

691.

Moses said to Jehovah: Show me Thy glory. Jehovah said to him, Thou canst not see My faces, for man shall not see Me and live. And Jehovah said, Behold, there is a place where thou shalt stand upon a rock, and I will put thee in a hole of the rock, and will cover thee with My hand until I shall have passed by and when I shall take away My hand thou shalt see My hinder parts; but My faces shall not be seen (Ex. 33:18-23). Man cannot see God and live for the reason that God is love itself, and love itself or Divine love in the spiritual world appears before the angels as a sun, distant from them as the sun of our world is from men. Therefore, if God, who is in the midst of that sun, were to draw near to the angels, they would perish, as men would if the sun of the world were to draw near to them; for the spiritual sun is equally hot. [2] For this reason there are perpetual temperings, which modify and moderate the heat of this love, so that it may not inflow into heaven as it is in itself; for the angels would be thereby consumed. Therefore when the Lord renders Himself more immediately present in heaven, the wicked who are beneath heaven begin to lament, to be tortured, and to lose life, so that they flee into caves and clefts of mountains, crying out: Fall on us, and hide us from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne (Apoc. 6:16; Isa. 2:19, 21). It is not the Lord Himself who descends, but an angel with a sphere of love from the Lord encompassing him. I have several times seen the wicked terrified by that descent, as if they saw death itself before their eyes, some casting themselves deeper and deeper into hell, and some driven to fury. [3] This explains why the children of Israel prepared themselves for three days before the descent of Jehovah the Lord upon Mount Sinai, and the Mount was fenced about, lest anyone should come near it and die (Ex. 19). The same is true of the holiness of Jehovah the Lord in the Decalogue then promulgated, and written by the finger of God on two tables, and afterward deposited in the ark, over which in the tabernacle the mercy-seat was placed, and over this again the cherubs, lest anyone should touch that holiness immediately with hand or eye. Not even Aaron could go near to it, except once a year, and after he had made expiation for himself by sacrifices and incense offerings. [4] For the same reason the people of Ekron and Bethshemesh died to the number of several thousands merely because they looked into the ark (1 Sam. 5:11, 12; 6:19), as did Uzzah also, because he touched it (2 Sam. 6:6, 7). These few instances illustrate with what a curse and destruction the Jews would have been smitten if they had not been prepared by the baptism of John for receiving the Messiah, who was Jehovah God in the human form, and if He had not assumed the Human and thus revealed Himself; also that there was this further preparation that in heaven they were enrolled and numbered with those who in heart were waiting for and longing for the Messiah, for which reason angels were then sent and made guardians over them.

692.

To this I will add the following Memorable Relations. First: When returning home from a school of wisdom (see n. 48), I saw on the way an angel in violet-colored clothing. He came up beside me and said, “I see that you have come from a school of wisdom and are delighted with what you have there heard. And as I perceive that you are not fully in this world, being at the same time in the natural world, and therefore know nothing about our Olympic gymnasia where the old Sophi meet, and where they learn from the newcomers from your world what changes and successions of state wisdom has undergone and is still undergoing, if you wish, I will conduct you to a place where many of the ancient Sophi and their sons, that is, their disciples, dwell.” And he conducted me to the border between the north and east; and when I looked forward into it from an eminence, behold, a city appeared, and at one side of it two hills, the one nearer to the city being the lower. And the angel said to me, “That city is called Athenaeum, the lower hill Parnassium, and the higher Heliconeum. They are so named because in and about the city the old Grecian sages dwell, such as Pythagoras, Socrates, Aristippus, and Xenophon, with their disciples and scholars.” I asked about Plato and Aristotle, and he said that they with their followers inhabit another region, because they taught rational things, which pertain to the understanding, while the others taught morals, which pertain to life. [2] He said that studious persons were frequently sent from the city Athenaeum to the Christian literati, to learn from them what they think at this day about God, the creation of the universe, the immortality of the soul, the state of man relative to that of beasts, and other subjects of interior wisdom. He said also, that a herald had this day proclaimed a meeting, an indication that their messengers had met with newcomers from the earth, from whom they had heard some curious things. And we saw a number of persons going from the city and suburbs, some having laurels on their heads, some holding palms in their hands, some with books under their arms, and some with quills under the hair of the left temple. [3] We mingled with them and ascended the hill in their company; and behold, on the hill was an octagonal palace, which they called the Palladium; and we entered. And behold, there were eight sexagonal recesses there, in each one of which was a library, and also a table at which those crowned with laurel sat; and in the Palladium itself seats cut in stone were seen, upon which the others seated themselves. A door was then opened at the left, through which were ushered two newcomers from the earth; and after salutations, one of those crowned with laurel asked them, “What news from earth?” They said, “The news is that men like beasts, or beasts like men, have been found in a forest, whose faces and bodies showed that they had been born men, and had been left or lost in the forest when two or three years old; and it was claimed that they were unable to give expression by sound to anything of thought, or to learn to articulate any word; nor did they, like beasts, know the food that was suitable for them, but put into their mouths the productions of the forest, whether clean or unclean; and many such things were said of them. From all this some learned men among us have formed suppositions and others conclusions in regard to the state of men as related to that of beasts.” [4] Hearing this, some of the ancient Sophi asked, “What suppositions and conclusions do they draw from these facts?” The two new-comers answered, “Many; but they may be referred to the following: 1. That man by his nature, and also by birth, is more stupid and therefore lower than any beast; and that he becomes such if not instructed. 2. That he could be instructed, because he had learned to make articulate sounds, and consequently to speak; and that he thereby began to express thoughts, and this gradually more and more fully, so that he is now able to frame laws of society, some of which however, are impressed upon beasts from birth 3. That rationality belongs as much to beasts as to men. 4. Therefore, if beasts were able to speak, they would reason as skillfully as men on any subject, a proof of which is, that they think from reason and prudence equally with men. 5. That the understanding is a mere modification of light from the sun, heat co-operating and the ether being the medium; thus it is a mere activity of interior nature; and this can be exalted to such a degree as to appear like wisdom. 6. That it is therefore vain to believe that man lives after death any more than a beast, except, perhaps, that for some days after death, owing to the exhalation of life from the body, he may appear like mist in the form of a ghost, before he is dissipated into nature; almost as a shrub raised from its ashes appears in a resemblance of its own form. 7. Consequently religion, which teaches that there is a life after death, is an invention to hold simple people in bondage by its laws internally, as they are held externally by civil laws.” To this they added that those who are merely ingenious so reasoned, but not the intelligent. The Sophi asked, “What do the intelligent think?” They said, “We have not heard; but that is our opinion.” [5] Hearing this, all those who were seated at the tables exclaimed, “Oh what times they have now on earth! Alas! what changes wisdom has undergone! It is turned into an infatuated ingenuity. The sun has gone down, and is beneath the earth directly opposite to its noonday height. Who might not know from the evidence furnished by those persons lost in the forest and found again, that such is man when not instructed? Is he not what instruction makes him? Is he not born more ignorant than the beasts? Must he not learn to walk and talk? If he were not taught to walk, would he raise himself erect upon his feet? And without learning to talk could he even murmur anything of thought? Is not every man what instruction makes him, unwise from falsities or wise from truths; and is not the one who is unwise from falsities under a complete hallucination that he is wiser than the one who is wise? Are there not infatuated and senseless men, who are no more men than those found in the woods? Are not those who are devoid of memory like them? [6] From all these instances we conclude that a man without instruction is not a man, neither is he a beast, but a form capable of receiving into itself that which makes it a man; thus man is not born a man, but is made a man, furthermore, that man is born such a form as to be an organ receptive of life from God, to the end that he may be a subject into whom God may bring every good, and make him blessed for ever by union with Himself. We perceive from your remarks that wisdom is at this day so far extinguished or infatuated, that men know nothing whatever of the state of their own life relative to that of beasts; and for that reason they are ignorant of the state of man’s life after death; and those who are able to know about this, but do not wish to, and consequently deny it, as many of your Christians do, we may liken to those found in the forest; not that they have become thus stupid from lack of instruction, but they have made themselves thus stupid by the fallacies of the senses, which are the obscuration of truths.” [7] But just then some one standing in the center of the Palladium holding a palm in his hand, said, “Explain, I pray you, this mystery; how man, having been created a form of God, could be changed into the form of the devil. I know that the angels of heaven are forms of God, and the spirits of hell forms of the devil; and the two forms are opposites, the latter being forms of insanity, the former of wisdom. Tell me, therefore, how a man created a form of God, could pass from day into such a night as to be able to deny God and eternal life.” To this the teachers answered in order: First the Pythagoreans, then the disciples of Socrates, and then the others. But there was among them a Platonist, who spoke last, and his opinion prevailed. It was as follows: “The men of the Saturnian or golden age knew and acknowledged that they were forms receptive of life from God, and consequently wisdom was inscribed on their souls and hearts, and thus they saw truth from the light of truth, and through truths had a perception of good from the delight pertaining to the love of good. But as the human race departed in succeeding ages from the acknowledgment that all truth of wisdom, and consequently all good of love in them, flows in continually from God, they ceased to be dwelling places of God; and converse with God and affiliation with angels also ceased. For the interiors of their minds, which had been raised upward by God to God, were then turned from their proper direction to one more and more oblique, outwardly into the world, and thus through the world to God from God; and finally they were turned in the opposite direction, which is downward to self. And as a man who is thus interiorly inverted and turned away cannot look to God, men have separated themselves from God, and have become forms of hell, and thus of the devil. From this it follows, that in the first ages men acknowledged in heart and soul that all good of love, and all truth of wisdom therefrom came to them from God, and also were God’s in them; thus that they were mere receptacles of life from God, and were therefore called images of God, sons of God, and born of God; but in succeeding ages they acknowledged this not with the heart and soul, but with a kind of persuasive faith, then with a historic faith, and finally with the lips only; and acknowledging such a truth with the lips only is not acknowledging it, but in heart is denying it [8] All this shows the kind of wisdom that now prevails on earth among Christians (although they might be inspired by a written revelation from God) for they do not even know the distinction between men and beasts, and in consequence many believe that if man lives after death, beasts must live after death also; or that as beasts do not live after death, therefore man does not. Has not our spiritual light, which illuminates the mental vision, become thick darkness among them, and their natural light, which illuminates the bodily vision only, become splendor?” [9] After this the assembly all turned toward the two visitors and thanked them for their visit and the account they had given; they also begged of them to report what they had heard to their brethren. The visitors answered that they would confirm their brethren in this truth, that so far as they attribute all the good of charity and truth of faith to the Lord, and not to themselves, so far they are men, and become angels of heaven.

693.

Second Memorable Relation: Some weeks after this I heard a voice from heaven saying, “There is again a meeting on Parnassium; come, we will show you the way.” I went; and when I came near, I saw one standing on Heliconeum with a trumpet, with which he proclaimed and appointed the meeting. And I saw persons going up as before from the city Athenaeum and its borders, and in their midst three newcomers from the world. These were from among Christians; one a priest, the second a politician, and the third a philosopher. The others entertained them on the way with varied conversation, especially about some ancient wise men whom they named. The new-comers asked if they should see these, and were told that they would, and might be introduced to them if they wished, as they were affable. They asked about Demosthenes, Diogenes, and Epicurus, and were told, “Demosthenes is not here, but is with Plato; Diogenes with his scholars dwells at the foot of Heliconeum; because he regards worldly things as of no account, and studies heavenly things only; Epicurus dwells on the border toward the west, and does not come among us, because we distinguish between good affections and evil affections, and insist that good affections are one with wisdom, and that evil affections are contrary to wisdom.” [2] When they had ascended the hill Parnassium, some guards there were bringing water from a fountain at the place in crystal cups, and saying, “This is water from the fountain which the ancients in their fables say was broken through by the hoof of the horse Pegasus, and afterward consecrated to the nine Muses.” By the winged horse Pegasus they meant the understanding of truth, through which comes wisdom; by his hoofs they meant the experiences through which comes natural intelligence; and by the nine Muses all kinds of knowledges and facts. These things are now called fables, but they were correspondences, from which the earliest peoples spoke. To the three newcomers their companions said, “Do not be surprised; the guards have been taught to speak in this manner; and drinking water from this fountain means to us being taught about truths, and by means of truths about goods, and thus becoming wise.” [3] They then entered the Palladium, and with them the three new-comers from the world - the priest, the politician, and the philosopher. Then those crowned with laurel who were seated at the tables asked, “What news from earth?” And they answered, “This is news, that a certain man claims to talk with angels, and to have his sight opened into the spiritual world as fully as into the natural world; and from the spiritual world he reports many new things, among which are the following: That man lives a man after death, as he before lived in the world; that he sees, hears, and talks as he did before in the world; that he is clothed and decorated as formerly in the world; that he hungers and thirsts, eats and drinks, enjoys the delights of marriage, and sleeps and wakes, all as he did before in the world; that there are lands and lakes, mountains and hills, plains and valleys, springs and rivers, gardens and groves there; also palaces and houses, cities and villages, as in the natural world; and again that there are writings and books - different kinds of occupation and business, also precious stones, gold and silver, in a word, that each and every thing that exists on the earth is there, although those in the heavens are infinitely more perfect, with this difference only, that all things in the spiritual world have a spiritual origin, and are therefore spiritual; since they are from the sun there which is pure love; while all things in the natural world have a natural origin, and are therefore natural and material, since they are from the sun there which is pure fire; in other words, man after death is perfectly a man, even more perfectly a man than before in the world; for he was then in a material body, while in this world he is in a spiritual body.” [4] When this had been said, the ancient wise men asked what men on earth thought of these things. The three replied; “We ourselves know that they are true, because we are here, and have investigated and examined everything; but how men talk and reason about them on earth we will now tell.” Then the priest said, “Those of our order, when they first heard these things, called them visions, and then fictions; afterwards they said that the man saw specters, and finally they hesitated and said, ‘Believe him if ye will; we have always taught that man will not exist after death in a body, until the day of the last judgment.” It was then asked, “Are there not some intelligent persons among them, who are able to declare to them and convince them of the truth that man lives a man after death?” [5] The priest answered, “There are some who declare it, but they fail to convince. Those who declare it say that it is contrary to sound reason to believe that a man does not live a man until the day of the last judgment, and that meanwhile he is a soul without a body. What is the soul, and where, is it meanwhile? Is it a breath, or something like wind, floating in the air, or an entity hidden in the center of the earth? Where is its abode? Are the souls of Adam and Eve and all who have lived since during six thousand years or sixty centuries, still flying about the universe, or are they kept shut up in the center of the earth awaiting the last judgment? What could be more painful and wretched than such a waiting? Might not their lot be compared to that of men bound in chains and fetters in prisons? If such were the lot of man after death, would it not be better to be born an ass than a man? Moreover, is it not contrary to reason to believe that the soul can be reclothed with its body? Is not the body eaten up by worms, mice, and fishes? Can such a new body be put on a skeleton that has been burnt up by the sun, or reduced to dust? How can those cadaverous and putrid things be collected and united again to their souls? But when they listen to such arguments they make no rational reply, but adhere to their faith, saying, ‘We make reason obedient to faith.’ As to the gathering of all from the graves at the day of the last judgment, they say, ‘That is the word of omnipotence.’ And when they mention omnipotence and faith, reason is exiled, and I may say that sound reason is annihilated, as it were, or with some is like a specter; and they can even say to sound reason, ‘Thou art mad.’” [6] Having heard this, the wise men of Greece said, “Are not such paradoxes dissipated of themselves as contradictions? And yet today in the world not even sound reason can dissipate them. Can anything more paradoxical be believed than what is asserted of the last judgment, that the universe will then perish, and the stars of heaven fall to the earth, which is smaller than the stars; and that the bodies of men, either corpses or mummies, eaten by others or become dust; will be re-united with their souls? When we were in the world we believed in the immortality of the souls of men from the inductions furnished us by reason; we also designated places for the blessed, which we called the Elysian Fields; and we believed them to be human in form or kind but subtle, because spiritual.” [7] When all this had been said, they turned to the second newcomer, who in the world had been a politician. He confessed that he had not believed in a life after death, and that he had regarded the new reports he had heard about it as fictions and inventions. “Meditating upon that life” he said, “I asked how souls could be bodies. Does not the whole of a man lie dead in the grave? Is not the eye there? How then can he see? Is the ear not there? How can he hear? Where is the mouth for him to talk with? If any sort of man were to live after death must it not be something like a specter? And how can a specter eat and drink and enjoy the delights of marriage? Where do its clothing, house, food, and other things come from? Moreover, specters, which are airy images, seem to be, and yet are not. These and like thoughts I had in the world about the life of men after death. But now, when I have seen everything and touched everything with my hands, I am convinced by the very senses that I am a man as in the world, even so that I am not aware that I live otherwise than as I formerly lived, with the difference that my reason is now more sound. I have often been ashamed of my former thoughts.” [8] The philosopher spoke in a like manner of himself, with this difference, however, that the new things he had heard respecting a life after death, he classed among the opinions and hypotheses which he had collected from both ancients and moderns. The Sophi were astounded when they heard these things; and those belonging to the Socratic school said that they perceived by this news from earth that the interiors of men’s minds were gradually closing up, and that belief in falsity is now shining in the world like truth, and infatuated ingenuity like wisdom, and that the light of wisdom had lowered itself since their times from the interiors of the brain to the mouth beneath the nose, where it appeared to the eye like a brightness of the lips, and consequently the mouth’s utterances appear like wisdom. One of the tyros after hearing this said, “How stupid are the minds of those who now dwell on earth! Would that the disciples of Heraclitus who laugh at all things, and of Democritus who weep at all things, were here, and we should hear both great laughter and great weeping.” After the business of the meeting was finished, they gave to the three newcomers from the earth badges of their authority which were plates of copper on which some hieroglyphics were written. With these they departed.

694.

Third Memorable Relation: Sometime afterward I looked toward the city Athenaeum, spoken of in the foregoing Memorable Relation, and I heard a strange noise coming from it. There was in it something of laughter, in this something of indignation, and in this still something of sadness; and yet the noise was not discordant but harmonious, because the sounds were not simultaneous, but were one within the other. In the spiritual world the variety and commingling of affections is distinctly perceived in the tone of the voice. At a distance I asked, “What is the matter?” They answered, “A messenger has arrived from the place where newcomers from the Christian world first appear, saying that he has heard from three persons there that in the world from which they had come, they in common with others there had believed that after death the blessed and happy would have rest from all kinds of labor; and because administrations, and official and manual employments are labors, there would be rest from these. And as these three have now been brought here by our messenger, and stand waiting at the door, a clamor has arisen; and after consultation it has been decided that they should not be introduced into the Palladium on Parnassium as the former new-comers had been, but into the great auditorium there, that they may tell their news from the Christian world; and some have been sent to introduce them formally.” As I was in the spirit, and as with spirits distances are according to the state of their affections, and as I then had an affection for seeing and hearing the newcomers, I seemed to myself to be there present, and I saw them introduced and heard them speak. [2] In the auditorium the older or wiser sat at the sides, and the others in the center, and in front of these was a raised floor. The three new-corners with the messenger were conducted hither, through the middle of the auditorium, by the younger ones in formal attendance; and when silence had been obtained they were introduced by one of the elders, and asked, “What news from earth?” They replied, “There is much news; but pray tell us to what subject your inquiry refers.” The elder replied, “What news from earth respecting our world and heaven?” They answered, “When we first arrived in this world, we heard that both here and in heaven there are governments, ministerial offices, occupations, business, all kinds of studies, and wonderful works; although our belief had been that after our removal or transfer from the natural world into this spiritual world, we should enter into eternal rest from labors. But what are occupations but labors?” [3] To this the elder replied, “By eternal rest from labor did you understand eternal idleness, wherein you would constantly sit and lie, inhaling delights with the breast, and drinking in joys with the mouth?” The three newcomers smiled pleasantly at this and said, “We did entertain some such opinion.” They were then asked, “What has joy, delight, and consequent happiness in common with idleness? By idleness the mind is not expanded but dissipated; that is, man is deadened by it, not vivified. Picture to yourselves a man sitting in utter idleness, his hands hanging down, his eyes cast down or withdrawn, and at the same time surrounded by an aura of delight; would not a lethargy seize upon both his head and body, the vital expansion of his face give way, and with relaxed fibers would he not nod and nod, until he fell to the ground? What keeps the whole bodily system expanded and tense, but the tension of the mind? And whence comes the mind’s tension but from administrative duties and works, when they are performed from delight? I will therefore tell you this news from heaven, that there are governments here, ministerial duties, judicial tribunals, greater and less, as also mechanical and other employments.” [4] When the three newcomers heard that there were greater and lesser judicial tribunals in heaven they said, “Why so? Are not all who are in heaven inspired and led by God, and do they not therefore know what is just and right? What need then of judges?” The elder replied, “In this world we are taught and learn what is good and true, also what is just and equitable, the same as in the natural world, and these things we learn not immediately from God, but mediately through others; and every angel, like every man, thinks what is true and does what is good as if of himself, this being not pure but mixed, according to the state of the angel. Moreover, among angels some are simple and some wise, and the wise must judge of what is just, while the simple from their simplicity and ignorance are in doubt about it of depart from it. [5] But as you are yet new in this world, follow me, if you would like to do so, into our city, and we will show you everything.” And they left the auditorium, others of the elders also accompanying them; and first entered a large library, which was divided into smaller libraries, each devoted to a different branch of knowledge. The three new-comers, seeing so many books, were amazed, and said, “Are there books in this world also?” Where do the parchment, paper, pens and ink come from?” The elders replied, “We perceive that in the former world you believed this world to be empty because it is spiritual; and this you believed because you cherished an idea of the spiritual as something abstract from the material; and what is abstract from the material seemed to you like nothing, thus like a vacuum; and yet here is an abundance of all things. All things here are substantial, not material, and material things have their origin in the substantial. We who are here are spiritual men, because we are substantial and not material. For this reason all things that exist in the natural world exist here in their perfection, even books and writings and many other things.” When the three newcomers heard the word substantial, they recognized the truth of the matter, both from seeing the written books and from hearing that matter originates in substance. To convince them still further, they were taken to the abodes of the writers who transcribed the writings of the wise men of the city; and they examined the writings and wondered at their neatness and elegance. [6] After this they were conducted to the museums, gymnasia, colleges, and places where they held their literary games, some called the games of the Heliconides, some of the Parnassides, some of the Athenaeides, and some of the Virgins of the fountain. They said that the latter were so named because virgins signify affections for knowledges, according to which affections everyone has intelligence. The so-called games were spiritual exercises and trials of skill. After this they were conducted about the city to the rulers, administrators, and their officers, and by these latter to the wonderful works which their workmen execute in a spiritual manner. [7] When these things had been seen, the elder again spoke to them about the eternal rest from labor, into which the blessed and happy enter after death. He said, “Eternal rest is not idleness, for idleness produces a languid, torpid, stupid, and sleepy state of the mind, and therefrom of the whole body; and this is not life but death, still less is it the eternal life which the angels of heaven live. Eternal rest is therefore a rest that dispels that state and causes man to live; thus it is nothing else than what elevates the mind; and is some pursuit or work by which the mind is aroused, enlivened, and delighted; and this is accomplished in the measure of the use from which, and for which the mind labors. Because of this the whole heaven is regarded by the Lord as a containant of uses, and every angel is an angel in the measure of his use. Delight in use bears him on as a favoring current does a ship, causing him to be in eternal peace and in the rest of peace. This is what is meant by eternal rest from labor. That an angel is alive in the measure of the application of his mind to use is very manifest from this, that everyone has conjugial love with its vigor, potency, and delights, according to his application to the genuine use in which he is engaged.” When the three newcomers had been convinced that eternal rest is not idleness, but the delight arising from some useful work, some virgins came and presented them with needlework and embroidery made with their own hands; and as the newcomers were departing, the virgins sang an ode in which they expressed in angelic melody the affection for useful labor and its charms.

695.

Fourth Memorable Relation: At the present day most of those who believe in a life after death, also believe that in heaven their thoughts will be nothing but devotions, and their words nothing but prayers; and that all these, together with the expressions of the face and the actions of the body, will be nothing but glorification of God, thus their houses will be houses of worship or sacred chapels, and they themselves will all be priests of God. But I can affirm that the holy things of the church do not occupy the minds or homes of men there any more than in the world where God is worshiped, although worship there is purer and more interior; while the various matters pertaining to civil prudence and to rational learning are to be found there in their excellence. [2] One day I was taken up to heaven, and was conducted to a certain society there, where the Sophi were who in ancient times excelled in learning because of their deep reflection and meditation upon such subjects as were both rational and useful, and who were now in heaven, because they had believed in God and now believed in the Lord, and loved their neighbor as themselves. Afterwards I was introduced into an assembly of these, and was there asked where I came from; and I explained to them that in body I was in the natural world, but in spirit in their world. Hearing this, those angels were delighted, and asked, “In the world where you are in body what do they know and understand about influx?” When I had recalled to mind what I had gathered on that subject from the discourses and writings of celebrated men, I replied, that as yet they knew nothing about any influx from the spiritual world into the natural, but only of the influx of nature into her subjects, as of the sun’s heat and light into living bodies, and also into trees and shrubs, which are all thereby made to live; and, on the other hand, of the influx of cold into the same objects, whereby they are deprived of life; and furthermore, of influx of light into the eye, from which comes sight, of sound into the ear, from which comes hearing, of odor into the nostrils, from which comes smell; and so on. [3] As to anything beyond this, the learned of this age reason diversely about the influx of the soul into the body and of the body into the soul, and about this they are divided into three parties, one holding that there is an influx of the soul into the body, which they call occasional influx, because of its occurring whenever anything strikes the bodily senses; another, that there is an influx of the body into the soul, which they call physical influx, because the objects fall upon the bodily senses, and therefrom upon the soul; the third, that there is a simultaneous and instantaneous influx into the body and soul together, which they call pre-established harmony. Nevertheless, each one thinks that the kind of influx he advocates takes place within nature. Some believe the soul to be a particle or drop of ether, some that it is a little ball or spark of light, and others that it is some entity that hides itself in the brain. But this or that which they think the soul to be, while they indeed call it spiritual, yet by spiritual they mean nothing more than a purer natural; for they know nothing about the spiritual world, or its influx into the natural; and therefore they remain within the sphere of nature. In this sphere they go up and down, and lift themselves up into it like eagles in the air; and those who thus abide in nature are like the inhabitants of some island in the sea who are unaware that there is any land beyond their own, or are like fishes in a stream which do not know that there is air above their waters. When therefore they hear any mention made of a world distinct from their own, where angels and spirits dwell, and are told that all influx into men is from that world, as well as the interior influx into trees, they stand amazed as if they were listening to some visionary reports of ghosts, or to the nonsense of astrologers. [4] In the world where I am when in the body, with the exception of the philosophers, our people do not think about or mention any influx but that of wine into cups, of food and drink into the stomach, of taste into the tongue, and also, perhaps, of the influx of the air into the lungs, and so on; and if they hear anything said about an influx of the spiritual world into the natural, they say, “Let it flow in if it will; what advantage or use is there in knowing it?” And they go away; and if they afterwards speak about what they have heard respecting that influx, they play with it as some play with pebbles between their fingers. [5] Afterwards I talked with these angels about the wonderful effects that spring from the influx of the spiritual world into the natural, such as the turning of grubs into butterflies, and the wonders relating to bees and drones, and silk-worms, and also spiders; and I said that the inhabitants of the earth attribute these things to the light and heat of the sun; thus to nature; and, what I have often wondered at, they confirm themselves by means of these in favor of nature, and by these confirmations bring sleep and death upon their minds, and become atheists. I then related some wonderful things about plants, as that they all progress in proper order from seed to new seed again, just as if the earth knew how to conform and adapt its elements to the prolific principle of the seed, and from this to bring forth the germ, to expand the germ into a stem, from this to send forth branches and clothe them with leaves, then to embellish them with flowers to form the interiors of the flowers to form the rudiments of the fruit and bring it forth, and through the fruit, in order that it may be born again, to produce seed like offspring. But because these things from being seen continually and from their yearly recurrence, have become familiar, usual, and common, men do not regard them as anything wonderful, but as mere effects of nature; and they so think solely for the reason that they do not know that there is any spiritual world, and that it operates from within and actuates each and all things that come forth and take form in the world of nature and on the natural earth, operating as the human mind operates upon the senses and motions of the body; and that the particular things in nature are like tunics, sheaths, and clothing which engirdle spiritual things, and proximately produce effects correspondent to the end designed by God the Creator.

696.

Fifth Memorable Relation: I once prayed to the Lord for permission to talk with the disciples of Aristotle, also with the disciples of Descartes and Leibnitz, in order that I might learn their views of the Interaction between the Soul and the Body. When I had ceased praying, nine men approached, three of them disciples of Aristotle, three of Descartes, and three of Leibnitz; and they stood round about me, - the adorers of Aristotle on my left, at my right the followers of Descartes, and behind me the adherents of Leibnitz. Far away and widely separated from each other there seemed to be three men crowned with laurel, and by a perception flowing in from heaven, I recognized them as those great leaders or teachers themselves; while behind Leibnitz a man stood holding on to the skirt of his garment, who was said to be Wolf. [2] When these nine men saw each other they at first saluted and spoke to each other in gentle tones. But just then a spirit with a torch in his right hand rose up from the lower regions, and waved the torch before their faces; and thereupon the three parties became enemies, and looked at each other with fierce countenances; for the lust of altercation and dispute seized them. The Aristotelians, who were also schoolmen, began by saying, “Who does not see that objects flow in through the senses into the soul, as one passes through a door into a chamber, and that the soul thinks in accordance with that influx? When the lover sees the beautiful virgin or bride does not his eye sparkle and hear the love of her to his soul? When a miser sees bags of money, is there not a burning for them in all his senses and from these is not this order transferred to his soul, exciting the desire to possess them? When a vain man hears another praising him, does he not prick up his ears, and do not these transmit the praises to his soul? Are not the senses of the body like entrance-halls, through which alone there is ingress to the soul? From these facts and innumerable others like them, who can draw any other conclusion than that influx is from nature, or is physical?” [3] To these remarks the followers of Descartes, holding their fingers to their foreheads a while and then withdrawing them, replied by saying, “Alas you speak from appearances; do you not know that it is not the eye but the soul that loved the virgin or bride; and likewise that the senses of the body do not desire the money in the bags from themselves, but from the soul; and again, not otherwise do the ears drink in the praise of flatterers? Is not perception the cause of sensation? And perception belongs to the soul, not to the organ. Tell us, if you can, what is it but the thought that causes the tongue and lips to speak? And what is it but the will that causes the hand to work? Yet thought and will belong to the soul. So what is it but the soul that causes the eye to see, the ear to hear, and the other organs to feel, to attend to objects and turn toward them? From these facts and innumerable others like them anyone who is wise above the sensual things of the body concludes that influx is not from the body into the soul, but from the soul into the body; this we call occasional and also spiritual influx.” [4] On hearing this the three men who stood behind the former triads and who were adherents of Leibnitz, raised their voice and said, “We have heard the arguments of both sides and have compared them, and have perceived that in many respects the last arguments are the stronger, while in many other respects the first are the stronger. Therefore, with your permission we will settle the dispute.” When asked how they would do this, they said, “There is no influx of the soul into the body, not of the body into the soul, but there is a unanimous and instantaneous operation of the two together, which a celebrated author has designated by the beautiful term, preestablished harmony.” [5] After all this the spirit again appeared with the torch in his hand, but this time in his left hand, and he waved the torch at the backs of their heads, whereby the ideas of all of them became confused, and they cried out, “Neither our souls nor our bodies know what side we should take; therefore let us decide the dispute by lot; we will adopt whichever comes out first.” And they took three pieces of paper, on one of which they wrote the words, Physical influx; on the second, Spiritual Influx; and on the third, Preestablished Harmony. They put the three papers in a cap, and chose one of their number to draw. He put his hand into the cap and drew out the paper on which was written, Spiritual Influx. When they saw this and read it, they all said, - some speaking in a clear and flowing and some in a faint and restrained tone, “We adopt that, because it came out first.” But then an angel suddenly stood near and said, “Do not think that the paper that was for Spiritual Influx came out by chance; it came providentially; for you, with your confused ideas do not see its truth; but the truth offered itself to the hand of him who drew the lot, in order that you might adopt it.”

697.

Sixth Memorable Relation: I once saw not far from me a meteoric display. I saw a cloud divided into little clouds, some of which were blue, and some dark; and I saw them dashing against each other as it were, with rays of light glittering in streaks across them; which at one time appeared sharp like pointed swords, and again blunt like broken swords, now the streaks would shoot out at each other, and again they withdrew into themselves, exactly like combatants. In this way those differently colored clouds seemed to be fighting with each other, but it was only play. As this display did not seem to be far from me, I raised my eyes and looked at it carefully, and beheld boys, young men, and old men entering into a house built of marble on a foundation of porphyry. The phenomenon was over this house. I then spoke to one of those who were entering, and asked him what was there. He replied, “It is a gymnasium, where youths are initiated into various matters pertaining to wisdom.” [2] Hearing this, I entered with them. I was in the spirit, that is, in a state like that of the inhabitants of the spiritual world, who are called angels and spirits. And behold, in the gymnasium opposite the entrance was a desk, in the center were benches, round about the sides were seats, and over the entrance was an orchestra. The desk was for the youths who were to give answers to the problem to be proposed on that occasion; the benches were for the auditors, the seats at the sides for those who had answered wisely on former occasions, and the orchestra for older men, who were to be arbiters and judges. In the center of the orchestra was a pulpit, where a wise man, whom they called the head teacher was sitting, who proposed the problems to which the youths gave answer from the desk. When they had assembled, the man arose in the pulpit and said, “Now please to answer this problem, and solve it if you can, What is the soul, and what is its nature?” [3] All were amazed when they heard this, and murmured at it; and some of those seated on the benches exclaimed, “What man, even from the Saturnian age to our own, has been able by any rational thought to see and fully comprehend what the soul is, still less what the nature of it is? Is not this question above the sphere of the understanding of all men?” But to this those in the orchestra replied, “The question is not above the understanding, but in and before it; only answer it.” And the youths who had been chosen for that day arose and went up to the desk and answered the problem. There were five of these who had been examined by the elders and found endowed with much sagacity, and who were then sitting on sofas near the desk, and who afterward went up to the desk in the order in which they sat. Each one as he went up put on a silk tunic of an opalic color, and over it a gown of fine wool inwoven with flowers, and also a cap, on the top of which was a rosette encircled by small sapphires. [4] I saw the first one go up so clothed, and he said, “What the soul is and what its nature is, has not been revealed to any man since the day of creation; it is hidden in the treasure house of God alone. But this much has been disclosed, that the soul has her seat in man like a queen; but where her court is, learned masters have but guessed; some, that it is in the small tubercle between the cerebrum and the cerebellum, which is called the pineal gland; in this they have fixed the seat of the soul because the whole man is governed from those two brains, and that tubercle regulates them; therefore, this, which regulates the brain at will, also regulates the entire man from head to foot. And this,” he continued, “seemed therefore to be the truth or the probability to many in the world; but after their time it was rejected as a mere invention.” [5] When he had so spoken he put off the gown, tunic, and cap, and the second of those chosen put them on and entered the desk. His statement respecting the soul was that throughout all heaven and all the world it is not known what the soul is, or what its nature is. “This much,” he said, “is known, that there is a soul and that it is in man, but where it is, is a matter of conjecture. This is certain, that it is in the head, for there the understanding thinks, and there the will intends, and in the fore-part of the head, that is, in the face, are man’s five sensories; and the only source of life to all these is the soul which has its seat within the head. But where its court there is, I dare not say. Sometimes I agree with those who have assigned it a seat in the three ventricles of the brain, sometimes with those who assign it a seat in the corpora striata, sometimes with those who locate it in the medullary substance of both brains, or again with those who say it resides in the cortical substance, or with those who say it is in the dura mater; for evidences have not been lacking in favor of each of these locations; in favor of the three ventricles on the ground that these are the receptacles of the animal spirits and the different kinds of lymph belonging to the brain; in favor of the corpora striata on the ground that they form the marrow through which the nerves go forth, and through which both brains are continued into the spinal column, and from this column and this substances the fibers emanate from which the whole body is woven; in favor of the medullary substance of both brains on the ground that this substance is a collection and mass of all the fibers that go to form the rudiments of the entire man; in favor of the cortical substance on the ground that first and last ends reside there, and therefore the beginning of all fibers, and thus of all sense and motions; in favor of the dura mater, on the ground that it is the common covering of both brains, and extends itself therefrom, by a kind of continuity, over the heart and over the viscera of the body. As for myself, I do not decide in favor of one more than another. Do you decide, I beg of you, and choose which you prefer.” [6] When he had said this he came down from the desk and handed the tunic, gown, and cap to the third, who stepped up to the desk and spoke as follows, “What has a youth like me to do with so sublime a problem? I appeal to the learned men sitting here beside me, I appeal to you wise men in the orchestra; I appeal even to the angels of the highest heaven, whether anyone from his own rational light can acquire for himself any idea respecting the soul. But respecting its seat in man, I can like others form conjectures; and my conjecture is that it has its seat in the heart, and therefrom in the blood. And this is my conjecture, because the heart by its blood rules both the body and the head; for it sends forth the great vessel called the aorta throughout the whole body, and the vessels called the carotid arteries into all parts of the head. Therefore it is universally agreed that the soul, from the heart through the blood, sustains, nourishes, and vivifies the whole organic system of both the body and the head. It adds credence to this assertion, that soul and heart are so frequently mentioned in Sacred Scripture, as, That thou shalt love God with the whole soul and the whole heart, and that 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 is also openly stated that the blood is the soul of the flesh (Lev. 17:11, 14).” Some when they heard these remarks, cried out, “Learned, Learned!” These were of the canonical order. [7] Then the fourth, having put on the vestments of the preceding speaker, stepped to the desk and said, “I too suspect that there is no man of so acute and cultivated a genius as to be able to see clearly what the soul is, and what its nature is; and I am therefore of the opinion that the acuteness of anyone who wished to pry into this subject will be exhausted without result. Nevertheless, from my boyhood I have held steadfastly to the belief of the ancients, that man’s soul resides in the whole of him and in every part of this whole, and thus both in the head and each part of it, and in the body and each part of it; and that it is a useless invention of the moderns to assign it a seat, in anyone place, and not everywhere. Moreover, the soul is a spiritual substance, of which neither extension nor place can be predicated, but only habitation and impletion. Furthermore, does not everyone mean the life, when he says the soul? Does not the life reside in the whole and in every part?” Many of the audience favored these remarks. [8] After him the fifth arose and having put on the same vestments, he spoke from the desk as follows, “I will not stop to inquire where the soul is, whether in some part of the body or everywhere in the whole; but from my own store and larder I will open my mind respecting what the soul is and what is its nature. No one thinks of the soul except as a pure something which may be likened to ether or air or wind, in which there is a vital element arising from rationality, which man possesses in higher degree than the beasts. This opinion I have based upon the fact that when a man dies he is said to breath out his soul or give up the ghost, and therefore the soul as it lives after death is believed to be such a breath having in it a cogitative life that is called the soul. What else can the soul be? But as I have heard some of those in the orchestra saying that the problem respecting the soul, what it is, and the nature of it, is not above the understanding, but in it and before it, I ask and pray that they themselves will open to us this eternal mystery.” [9] The elders in the orchestra then looked at the head teacher who had proposed that problem, and he understood by their nods that they wished him to descend and instruct them. And he at once descended from the pulpit, crossed the auditorium, and went into the desk; and there stretching forth his hand he said, “Listen, I pray. Who does not believe that the soul is man’s inmost and finest essence? Yet what is an essence without a form but a mere figment of the reason? The soul is therefore a form, but what kind of a form shall be explained. It is the form of all things of love and all things of wisdom; all things of love are called affections, and all things of wisdom are called perceptions. These perceptions from their affections and with them constitute one form in which are innumerable things in such an order, series, and coherence and that they may be called a unit; and they may be called a unit because if it is to be such nothing can be taken from it or added to it. What is the human soul but such a form? Are not all things of love and all things of wisdom the essentials of that form? And in man these are in the soul, and from the soul in the head and body. [10] You are called spirits and angels; and in the world you believed spirits and angels to be like wind or ether, and thus to be minds or dispositions; but now you see clearly that you are truly, really, and actually men, who in the world thought and lived in a material body; and you knew that it was not the material body that lives and thinks, but the spiritual substance in that body; and this you called the soul, although of its form you had no knowledge, and yet you have now seen it and still see it. All of you are souls, respecting the immortality of which you have heard, thought, spoken, and written so much; and being forms of love and wisdom from God, you can never die. Thus the soul is a human form, from which not an iota can be taken away, and to which not an iota can be added; and it is the inmost form of all the forms of the entire body. And as exterior forms receive both essence and form from the inmost form, so you, as you appear to yourselves and to us, are souls. In a word the soul is the man Himself, because it is the inmost man; and therefore its form is fully and completely the human form. Yet it is not life, but the nearest receptacle of life from God, and thus God’s dwelling-place.” [11] Many applauded these remarks: but some said, “We will think about it.” I then went home. And behold, in the place of the former meteoric display there appeared over the gymnasium a bright cloud, without any contending streaks or rays. This cloud penetrated the roof and brightened the walls; and I heard that they saw writings, among other things this: And Jehovah God formed man, and breathed into man’s nostrils the breath of lives; and man became a living soul (Gen. 2:7).

XIII. The Holy Supper

I. WITHOUT SOME KNOWLEDGE OF THE CORRESPONDENCES OF NATURAL WITH SPIRITUAL THINGS, IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO KNOW WHAT THE USES AND BENEFITS OF THE HOLY SUPPER ARE. This has been partially explained in the chapter on Baptism, where it was shown that without a knowledge of the spiritual sense of the Word it cannot be known what the two sacraments, baptism and the holy supper, involve and effect (see n. 667-669). It is now said, without some knowledge of the correspondences of natural with spiritual things, which is the same thing, since by means of correspondences the natural sense of the Word is changed into a spiritual sense in heaven; and because of this these two senses are mutually correspondent; therefore he who has a knowledge of correspondences is able to understand the spiritual sense. But what correspondences are, and the nature of them, can be seen in the chapter on the Sacred Scripture from beginning to end; also in the explanation of the Decalogue from the first to the last commandment, and particularly in the Apocalypse Revealed.

699.

What true Christian does not acknowledge that these two sacraments are holy, and in Christendom are even the most holy things of worship? But who knows wherein their holiness resides, or whence it is? In the institution of the holy supper all that is known from the natural sense is that the flesh of Christ is given to eat, and His blood to drink, and that the bread and wine stand for these. From this who can think otherwise than that it is holy merely because it is commanded by the Lord? Therefore the most sagacious men in the church have taught that the element becomes a sacrament when the Word is added to it [in the service]. But as such a source of holiness does not satisfy the understanding, and there is no evidence of it in the element or symbols, but is only a matter of memory, so the sacrament is observed by some from a confidence that by means of it their sins are forgiven, by others because they believe it sanctifies, by others because it strengthens their faith, and thus promotes salvation; while those who think lightly of it, come to it simply because they have been accustomed to do so from childhood; and others neglect it because they see no reason in it. But the impious turn away from it, saying to themselves, “What is it but a ceremony stamped with holiness by the clergy? For what is there in it but bread and wine? And what is it but a fiction that the body of Christ which hung upon the cross, and His blood which was then poured out, are distributed to the communicants along with the bread and wine?” And so on.

700.

Such ideas respecting this most holy sacrament are at this day cherished throughout all Christendom, solely because they are in accord with the sense of the letter of the Word; while the spiritual sense in which alone the use and benefit of the holy supper are seen in their truth, has been hitherto hidden, not having been disclosed until the present time. The reason why this sense is now for the first time disclosed, is that heretofore Christianity has existed only in name, excepting some shadow of it in a few individuals; for heretofore men have not directly approached and worshiped the Savior Himself as the one only God in whom is the Divine Trinity, but only mediately, and this is not approaching and worshiping but merely venerating Him as the cause of man’s salvation, not regarding Him, however, as the essential cause, but as the mediate cause which is beneath and exterior to the essential cause. But now, because real Christianity is beginning to dawn, and a New Church meant by the New Jerusalem in the Apocalypse, is now being established by the Lord, wherein God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are acknowledged as one, because in one Person, it has pleased the Lord to reveal the spiritual sense of the Word, to enable this church to enter into the real use and benefit of these sacraments, baptism and the holy supper; and this is done when men, with the eyes of the spirit, that is, with the understanding see the holiness that is concealed within them, and apply it to themselves by the means which the Lord has taught in His Word.

Without the opened spiritual sense of the Word, or what is the same, without a revelation of the correspondence of natural with spiritual things, the holiness of the sacrament here treated of can no more be interiorly recognized than the existence of a treasure hidden in a field. Such a field is no more highly valued than any common field; but when it is discovered that there is a treasure in it, the field is valued at a great price, and the purchaser enriches himself from it; still more must it be so when it is known to contain a treasure more precious than all gold. [2] Without the spiritual sense this sacrament is like a closed house full of jewels and treasures that is passed by like any other house on the street, except that the gaze of those passing is attracted to it, to view it and praise it and estimate its value, because the clergy have built its walls of marble and covered its roof with plates of gold. It is otherwise when the house has been opened, and everyone is given leave to enter, and from it the custodian supplies to some a loan, and to others presents a gift, to each according to his rank. It is said, a gift from it, because the valuables there are inexhaustible, and are continually supplied. This is true of the Word with its spiritual contents, and the sacraments with their celestial contents. [3] The sacrament here treated of, without a revelation of its holiness, which lies concealed within it, appears like the sand of a river containing scarcely visible grains of gold in great abundance; but when its holiness has been revealed, it is like the gold collected from the sand, melted into a mass, and wrought into beautiful forms. This sacrament, when its holiness has not been disclosed and seen, is like a box or casket made of beech or poplar, containing diamonds, rubies, and many other precious stones, arranged in order in compartments. Who does not value such a box or casket, when he knows that such things are concealed within it, and still more when they are seen and are offered for free distribution? This sacrament, when its correspondences with heaven are not revealed, and the heavenly things to which it corresponds are not seen, is like an angel appearing in the world in common clothing, who is honored only according to his clothing; but it is wholly different when he is known to be an angel, and what is angelic is heard from his lips, and marvelous things are seen in his deeds. [4] The difference between a holiness that is merely declared to belong to anything and a holiness that is seen, may be illustrated by an instance which was seen and heard in the spiritual world. An epistle written by Paul while he dwelt in the world, but not published, was read, no one knowing that it was by Paul. The hearers at first thought little of it; but when it was discovered to be one of Paul’s epistles, it was received with joy, and each and everything in it was adored. This makes clear how the mere attribution of holiness to the Word and the sacraments, when made by the higher orders of the clergy, does indeed give them a stamp of holiness; but it is quite different when the holiness itself is disclosed, and presented visibly to the eye, which is done by a revelation of the spiritual sense. When this is done the external holiness becomes internal, and the attribution of holiness becomes an acknowledgment of it. It is the same with the holiness of the sacrament of the Lord’s supper.

702.

II. WITH A KNOWLEDGE OF CORRESPONDENCES WHAT IS MEANT BY THE LORD’S FLESH AND BLOOD CAN BE KNOWN, ALSO THAT BREAD AND WINE HAVE A LIKE MEANING, NAMELY, THAT THE LORD’S FLESH AND THE BREAD MEAN THE DIVINE GOOD OF HIS LOVE, ALSO ALL GOOD OF CHARITY: AND THE LORD’S BLOOD AND THE WINE MEAN THE DIVINE TRUTH OF HIS WISDOM, ALSO ALL TRUTH OF FAITH; AND EATING MEANS APPROPRIATION. As the spiritual sense of the Word has at this day been disclosed, and together with it correspondences (because they mediate between the two senses) I will merely present some passages from the Word, from which it can be clearly seen what is meant by the flesh and the blood, as also by the bread and the wine in the holy supper. But before this the institution itself of this sacrament by the Lord, and His doctrine concerning His flesh and blood, and the bread and the wine, shall be set forth.

703.

The Institution of the Supper by the Lord: Jesus kept the passover with His disciples; and when evening had come He sat down with them. And as they were eating, Jesus took bread and blessed, and brake, and gave to His disciples, and said, Take, eat, this is My body. And He took the cup and gave thanks, and gave to them, saying, Drink of it, all of you; this is My blood of the new covenant, which is poured out for many (Matt. 26:26-28; Mark 14:22-24; Luke 22:19-20). The Lord’s Doctrine respecting His Flesh and Blood, and the Bread and Wine: Work not for the meat that perisheth, but for that meat which abideth unto eternal life, which the Son of man shall give unto you. Verily, verily, I say unto you, it was not Moses that gave you the bread out of heaven, but My Father giveth you the true bread out of heaven; for the bread of God is He that cometh down out of heaven, and giveth life unto the world. I am the bread of life; he that cometh to Me shall not hunger, and he that believeth in Me shall never thirst. I am the bread which came down out of heaven. Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth in Me hath eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness and they died. This is the bread which cometh down out of heaven, that one may eat thereof and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if any man eat of this bread he shall live forever; and the bread that I will give is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood, ye have no life in you. He that eateth My flesh and drinketh My blood hath eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day; for My flesh is truly meat, and My blood is truly drink. He that eateth My flesh and drinketh My blood abideth in Me and I in him (John 6:27-56).

704.

Anyone enlightened from heaven can perceive in himself that flesh and blood in the above passages do not mean flesh and blood, but that in the natural sense they both mean the passion of the cross, which they were to remember. Therefore, when the Lord instituted this supper of the last Jewish and the first Christian passover, He said: This do in remembrance of Me (Luke 22:19; 1 Cor. 11:24, 25). It may likewise be seen that the bread and wine do not mean bread and wine, but in the natural sense they have the same meaning as flesh and blood, that is to say, the passion of His cross, for it is written: Jesus brake the bread and gave to the disciples, and said, This is My body. And He took the cup and gave to them, saying, This is My blood (Matt. 26:26-28; Mark 14:22-24; Luke 22:19-20). Therefore also the passion of the cross is called a cup (Matt. 26:39, 42, 44; Mark 14:36; John 18:11).

705.

That these four, flesh, blood, bread, and wine, mean the spiritual and celestial things that correspond to them, can be seen from the passages in the Word where they are mentioned. That “flesh” means in the Word what is spiritual and celestial can be seen from the following passages: Come and be gathered together unto the supper of the great God that ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of commanders of thousands, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great (Apoc. 19:17, 18). And in Ezekiel: Gather yourselves from every side to My sacrifice that I do sacrifice for you, a great sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel, that ye may eat flesh and drink blood. Ye shall eat the flesh of the strong, and drink the blood of the princes of the earth; and ye shall eat fat to satiety, and drink blood even to drunkenness, of My sacrifice; and ye shall be satisfied at my table with horse and with chariot, with the mighty man, and with every man of war; and I will set My glory among the heathen (39:17-21). Who does not see that in these passages “flesh” and “blood” do not mean flesh and blood, but the spiritual and celestial things which correspond to them? Otherwise, what would these statements be; that they should eat the flesh of kings, commanders of thousands, mighty men, and horses, and of those that sat on them, and that they should be satisfied at the table with horses, chariots, mighty men and all men of war, and that they should drink the blood of the princes of the earth, and should drink blood even to drunkenness, but unmeaning and strange expressions? That these words are applied to the holy supper of the Lord is very clear, for the supper of the great God is mentioned, and also the great sacrifice. As all spiritual and celestial things have relation solely 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 to the Divine good of love and the Divine truth of wisdom. “Flesh” also means spiritual good in the following passage in Ezekiel: I will give them one heart, and I will give a new spirit in the midst of you; and I will take away the heart of stone out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh (11:19; 26:26). In the Word “heart” signifies love; therefore “a heart of flesh” signifies a love of good. That “flesh and blood” mean good and truth, both spiritual, is still further evident from the signification of “bread and wine” in what now follows; for the Lord says that His flesh is bread, and that His blood is the wine that was drunk from the cup.

706.

The Lord’s “blood” means His Divine truth and the truth of the Word, because His “flesh,” spiritually understood, means the Divine good of love, and in Him these two are united. It is known that the Lord is the Word, and there are two things to which everything in the Word has relation, Divine good and Divine truth, if therefore, instead of “the Lord” we say “the Word,” it is clear that these two are meant by His flesh and blood. That “blood” means the Lord’s Divine truth or the truth of the Word is evident from many passages, as, for example, where blood is called “the blood of the covenant,” “covenant” meaning conjunction, which is effected by the Lord by means of His Divine truth; as in Zechariah: By the blood of thy covenant I will send forth the bound out of the pit (9:11). And in Moses: When Moses had read the book of the law in the ears of the people, he sprinkled half of the blood upon the people and said, Behold the blood of the covenant, which Jehovah hath concluded with you upon all these words (Ex. 24:3-8). And Jesus took the cup and gave to them, saying, This is My blood of the new covenant (Matt. 26:27, 28; Mark 14:24; Luke 22:20). [2] By the blood of the new covenant or testament nothing is meant but the Word, (which is called the covenant or testament, old and new), thus Divine truth in the Word. As this is the significance of “blood,” the Lord gave His disciples the wine, saying, “This is My blood,” “wine” signifying Divine truth, and therefore wine is called: The blood of grapes (Gen. 49:11 Deut. 32:14). This is still further evident from the Lord’s words: Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood, ye have no life in you; for My flesh is truly meat, and My blood is truly drink. He that eateth My flesh and drinketh My blood abideth in Me and I in him (John 6:53-58). That “blood” here means the Divine truth of the Word, is very manifest for it is said, that he who drinks it hath life in himself, and abideth in the Lord and the Lord in him; that this is effected by Divine truth and a life according to it, and that the holy supper confirms it, may be known in the church. [3] As “blood” signifies the Lord’s Divine truth, which is also the Divine truth of the Word, (and this is the real covenant or testament, old and new), therefore among the children of Israel blood was the holiest representative of their church, wherein each thing and all things were correspondences of natural with spiritual things. For example. They were to take of the paschal blood and put it on the two side posts and on the upper door-posts of the houses, lest the plague should come upon them (Ex. 12:7, 13, 22). And the blood of the burnt-offering was to be sprinkled upon the altar on the bottom of it, on Aaron and his sons, and on their garments (Ex. 29:12, 16, 20, 21; Lev. 1:6, 11, 16; 3:2, 8, 19; 4:26, 30, 34; 8:16, 24; 17:8; Num. 18:17; Deut. 12:27). Also on the veil over the ark, on the mercy-seat there, and on the horns of the altar of incense (Lev. 4:8, 7, 17, 18; 16:12-15). in the Apocalypse the blood of the Lamb has a similar significance: These have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb (7:14). Also in this passage: There was war in heaven; Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and they overcame him through the blood of the Lamb and through the word of their testimony (12:7, 11). [4] For it cannot be imagined that Michael and his angels overcame the dragon by any other means than the Lord’s Divine truth in the Word, for the angels of heaven cannot think of any kind of blood, nor do they think of the Lord’s passion, but only of Divine truth and of the Lord’s resurrection. So when man thinks of the Lord’s blood, the angels have a perception of the Divine truth of His Word; and when men think of the Lord’s passion, they have a perception of His glorification, and then of His resurrection only. This I have been permitted to learn from much experience. [5] That “blood” signifies Divine truth is clear also from the following passages in David: God shall save the souls of the needy, and precious shall their blood be in His eyes; and they shall live, and He will give them of the gold of Sheba (Ps. 72:13-16); “blood precious in the eyes of God” meaning the Divine truth in them; and “the gold of Sheba” wisdom therefrom. And in Ezekiel: Gather yourselves to the great sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel that ye may eat flesh and drink blood; ye shall drink the blood of the princes of the earth, and ye shall drink blood even to drunkenness, and I will set My glory among the heathen (39:17-21). This treats of the church which the Lord was about to establish among the nations. That “blood” here cannot mean blood, but the truth from the Word which they had may be seen just above.

707.

That “blood” and “flesh” have a like meaning is very clear from the Lord’s words: Jesus took bread and brake, and gave saying, This is My body (Matt. 26:20; Mark 14:22; Luke 22:19). And again: The bread that I will give is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world (John 6:51). And He also says: That He is the bread of life, and that if any man eat of this bread he shall live forever (John 6:48, 61, 68). It is this bread also that is meant by the sacrifices that are called bread in the following passages: The priest shall burn it upon the altar; it is the bread of the offering made by fire unto Jehovah (Lev. 3:11, 16). The sons of Aaron shall be holy unto their God, and not profane the name of their God, for the offerings of Jehovah made by fire, the bread of their God, they do offer. Thou shalt sanctify him, for he offereth the bread of thy God. No man of the seed of Aaron in which there shall have been a blemish, shall come nigh to offer the bread of his God (Lev. 21:6, 8, 17, 21). Command the children of Israel, and say unto them, My offering and My bread for sacrifices made by fire, for an odor of rest, shall ye observe to offer unto Me in their due season (Num. 28:2). He that hath touched an unclean thing shall not eat of the holy things, unless he bathe his flesh in water; afterward he shalt eat of the holy things, because this is his bread (Lev. 22:6, 7). To eat of the holy things was to eat of the flesh of the sacrifices, which is here called “bread,” as well as in Malachi (1:7). The “meal-offerings” used in the sacrifices, which were of fine wheaten flour, and were therefore bread, had the same signification (Lev. 2:1-11; 6:14-21; 7:9-13, and elsewhere); also the bread on the table in the tabernacle, which was called “the bread of faces” or “shew-bread” (of which in Ex. 25:30; 40:23; Lev. 24:59). That “bread” in the Word means heavenly bread, not natural bread, is evident from the following passages: Man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of Jehovah doth man live (Deut. 8:3). I will send a famine into the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but for hearing the words of Jehovah (Amos 8:11). Moreover, “bread” means all food (Lev. 24:59; Ex. 25:30; 40:23; Num. 4:7; 1 Kings 7:48). That it also means spiritual food is plain from these words of the Lord: Work not for the meat that perisheth, but for that meat which abideth unto eternal life, which the Son of man shall give unto you (John 6:27).

708.

That “wine” and “blood” have a like meaning is very evident from the Lord’s words: Jesus took the cup, saying, This is My blood (Matt 26; Mark 14, Luke 22). Also from the following: He washeth His garment in wine, and His covering in the blood of grapes (Gen. 49:11). This refers to the Lord. Jehovah of Hosts shall make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wine on the lees [or sweet wine] (Isa. 25:6). This refers to the sacrament of the holy supper to be instituted by the Lord. In the same: Ho, everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no silver come, buy and eat; yea, come, buy wine without silver (55:1). “The fruit of the vine” which they were to drink new in the kingdom of heaven (Matt. 26:29; Mark 14:25; Luke 22:17, 18), means no other than the truth of the New Church and of heaven. For this reason the church in many places in the Word is called a vineyard (as in Isa. 5:1-4; Matt. 20:1-13); and the Lord calls Himself “the true vine,” and men who are engrafted into Him, “the branches” (John 15:1, 6); as also in other passages.

709.

From all this it can now be seen what is meant in a threefold sense, natural, spiritual, and celestial, by the Lord’s flesh and blood, also by bread and wine. Every man in Christendom imbued with religion may know, and if he does not know may learn, that there is natural nourishment and spiritual nourishment, and that natural nourishment is for the body, and spiritual nourishment is for the soul; for Jehovah the Lord says in Moses: Man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of Jehovah doth man live (Deut. 8:3). And as the body dies and the soul lives after death, it follows that spiritual nourishment is for eternal salvation. Who cannot see from this that these two kinds of nourishment ought by no means to be confounded, and that if anyone does confound them, he must needs adopt natural and sensual ideas, which are material, corporeal, and carnal, respecting the Lord’s flesh and blood, and the bread and wine, which ideas suffocate spiritual ideas respecting this most holy sacrament? But if anyone is so simple as to be unable to think from his understanding of anything except what he sees with the eye, I advise him, when he takes the bread and wine and hears them called the Lord’s flesh and blood, to think within himself of the holy supper as the holiest thing of worship, and to call to mind Christ’s passion, and His love for man’s salvation; for He says: This do in remembrance of Me (Luke 22:19). Also, The Son of man came to give His life a ransom for many (Matt 20:28; Mark 10:45). I lay down My life for the sheep (John 10:15, 17; 15:13).

710.

This too may be illustrated by comparisons. Who does not remember and love the man who, from the zeal of love for his country, fights with her enemies even unto death, that he may thereby deliver her from the yoke of servitude? And who does not remember and love the man who, when he sees his fellow-citizens in extreme want, with death from grievous famine staring them in the face, out of pity brings forth all his gold and silver from his house and distributes it freely? And who does not remember and love the man who, out of love and friendship, takes the only lamb he possesses, kills it, and sets it before his guests? And so on.

711.

III. WHEN ALL THIS IS UNDERSTOOD ANYONE CAN COMPREHEND THAT THE HOLY SUPPER CONTAINS ALL THINGS OF THE CHURCH AND ALL THINGS OF HEAVEN BOTH IN GENERAL AND IN PARTICULAR. It has been shown in the preceding section that the Lord Himself is in the holy supper, and that flesh and blood are the Lord in respect to the Divine good of love, and blood and wine are the Lord in respect to the Divine truth of wisdom. Therefore the holy supper involves three things, namely, the Lord, His Divine good, and His Divine truth. Since, therefore, the holy supper includes and contains these three, it follows that it also includes and contains the universals of heaven and the church. And as all particulars depend on universals as contents on their containants, it also follows that the holy supper includes and contains all the particulars of heaven and the church. From all this it is clear, for the first time, that as the Lord’s flesh and blood, and in like manner the bread and wine, mean Divine good and Divine truth, both from the Lord and both being the Lord, so the holy supper contains all things of heaven and the church, both in general and in particular.

712.

It is also known that there are three essentials of the church, God, charity, and faith, and that all things in the church have relation to these three as their universals. These are identical with the three named above, since in the holy supper God is the Lord, charity is the Divine good, and faith the Divine truth. What is charity but the good that man does from the Lord? And what is faith but the truth that man believes from the Lord? And this is why there are three things in man in respect to his internal, namely, soul, or mind, will, and understanding. These three are the receptacles of the three universals; the soul itself, or the mind, is the receptacle of the Lord, for it lives therefrom; the will is the receptacle of love or good; and the understanding is the receptacle of wisdom or truth. Thus each thing and all things in the soul or mind, not only have relation to the three universals of heaven and the church, but they go forth from them. Mention anything that goes forth from man that does not contain mind, will, and understanding. If anyone of these were taken away, would man be anything more than any inanimate thing? Likewise there are in man’s external three things, to which each thing and all things have relation, and upon which they depend, namely, the body, the heart, and the lungs. And these three things of the body correspond to the three of the mind, the heart corresponding to the will, and the lungs or respiration to the understanding. That there is such a correspondence has been fully shown in former treatises. Thus then have each and all things in man been so formed, both universally and particularly, as to be receptacles of the three universals of heaven and the church. This is because man was created an image and likeness of God, and he was so created in order that he might be in the Lord and the Lord in him.

713.

On the other hand there are three universals opposite to these, namely, the devil, evil, and falsity. The devil (which means hell) is directly opposite to the Lord, evil is directly opposite to good, and falsity to truth. These three make one, for where the devil is there also are evil and falsity therefrom. These three also contain both universally and particularly all things of hell as well as all things of the world which are contrary to heaven and the church. As these are opposites they are therefore entirely separate, and yet are retained in connection by a wonderful subordination of all hell to heaven, of evil to good, and of falsity to truth, which subordination is treated of in the work on Heaven and Hell.

714.

That particulars may be retained in their order and connection, it is necessary that there should be universals from which they spring and in which they rest; and it is also necessary that particulars should in a certain image answer to their universals, otherwise the whole would perish together with its parts. This relation has caused all things in the universe to be preserved in their integrity, from the first day of creation until now, and to still continue. That all things in the universe have relation to good and truth is well known. This is because all things were created by God from the Divine good of love by means of the Divine truth of wisdom. Take anything you please, an animal, a shrub, or a stone, and you will find these three most universal principles inscribed upon them in a kind of relationship.

715.

As the Divine good and the Divine truth are the most universal of all things of heaven and the church, so Melchizedek, who represented the Lord, brought forth bread and wine to Abram, and blessed him. Respecting Melchizedek, it is written: Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought forth for Abram bread and wine; and he was the priest of God Most High. And he blessed him (Gen. 14:18, 19). That Melchizedek represented the Lord, is evident from these words in David: Thou art a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek (Ps. 110:4). That this was said of the Lord may be seen in Heb. 5:5-10; 6:20; 7:1, 10-11, 15, 17, 21. He brought forth bread and wine, because those two include all things pertaining to heaven and the church, thus all things of blessing, the same as the bread and the wine in the holy supper.

716.

IV. IN THE HOLY SUPPER THE LORD IS WHOLLY PRESENT WITH THE WHOLE OF HIS REDEMPTION. It is evident from the Lord’s very words that He is wholly present in the holy supper, in respect both to His glorified Human and the Divine from which the Human proceeded. That His Human is present in the holy supper is clear from the following: Jesus took bread and brake, and gave to the disciples and said, This is My body; and He took the cup and gave them, saying, This is My blood (Matt. 26:26-28; Mark 14:22-24; Luke 22:19, 20). And in John: I am the bread of life; if anyone eat of this bread, he shall live forever; and the bread that I will give is My flesh. Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that eateth My flesh and drinketh My blood hath eternal life, and abideth in Me and I in him (John 6:51, 56). From these words it is plainly evident that the Lord in respect to His glorified Human is in the holy supper. That He is also wholly present in it in respect to His Divine from which the Human proceeded, is evident from the statement, That He is the bread that cometh down out of heaven (John 6:61). He came down out of heaven with the Divine, for it is written: The Word was with God, and God was the Word; all things were made by Him and the Word was made flesh (John 1:1, 3, 14). And further, That He and the Father are one (John 10:30). That all things belonging to the Father are His (John 3:35; 16:16). That He is in the Father and the Father in Him (John 14:10, 11); (and so forth). Moreover, His Divine can no more be separated from His Human than the soul can be separated from the body; so when it is said that the Lord in respect to His Human is wholly present in the holy supper, it follows that His Divine from which was the Human is there along with it. Since then, His “flesh” signifies the Divine good of His love, and His “blood” the Divine truth of His wisdom, it is clear that the whole of the Lord is omnipresent in the holy supper in respect both to His Divine and to His glorified Human; consequently that the holy supper is a spiritual eating.

717.

That the whole of the Lord’s redemption is in the holy supper follows from what has already been said, since where the Lord is wholly present there also is His whole redemption; for it is in respect to His Human that He is the Redeemer, and thus also redemption itself. Where He is wholly present no part of redemption can be absent, consequently all who approach the holy communion worthily become His redeemed. And as redemption means deliverance from hell, conjunction with the Lord, and salvation (respecting which see further on in this chapter, and more fully in the chapter on Redemption), so these fruits are ascribed to man, not to the extent that the Lord wills (for from His Divine love He wishes to ascribe all things to man), but to the extent that man receives; and he that receives is redeemed in the degree in which he receives. From all this it is clear that to those who come worthily, the effects and fruits of the Lord’s redemption are attained.

718.

In every man of sound mind there is an ability to receive wisdom from the Lord, that is, to multiply to eternity the truths from which wisdom exists; also an ability to receive love, that is, to bring forth to eternity the goods from which love exists. This perpetual bringing forth of good and of love therefrom, and perpetual multiplication of truth and of wisdom therefrom, is granted to the angels, and also to men who are becoming angels; and as the Lord is love itself and wisdom itself, it follows that man has the ability to conjoin himself to the Lord and the Lord to himself forever. Nevertheless, as man is finite, the Divine Itself of the Lord cannot be conjoined, but only adjoined to man, as, for the sake of illustration, the light of the sun cannot be conjoined to the eye, or the sound of the air to the ear, but only adjoined to them, thus imparting the ability to see and hear. For man is not life in himself, as the Lord is even in regard to His Human (John 5:26); but is only a receptacle of life; and it is life itself that is adjoined to man, but not conjoined. This has been added in order that it may be rationally understood how the Lord and His redemption are wholly present in the holy supper.

719.

V. THE LORD IS PRESENT AND OPENS HEAVEN TO THOSE WHO APPROACH THE HOLY SUPPER WORTHILY, AND IS ALSO PRESENT WITH THOSE WHO APPROACH UNWORTHILY, BUT TO THEM HE DOES NOT OPEN HEAVEN; CONSEQUENTLY, AS BAPTISM IS INTRODUCTION INTO THE CHURCH SO IS THE HOLY SUPPER INTRODUCTION INTO HEAVEN. The two following sections explain who those are that come to the holy supper worthily, and also who those are that approach it unworthily; for the one point being established, the other is known from being the opposite. With both the worthy and the unworthy the Lord is present, because He is omnipresent both in heaven and in hell, and also in the world, consequently with the evil as well as with the good. But with the good, that is, with the regenerate, He is present both universally and individually; for the Lord is in them and they are in Him, and where He is there is heaven. Moreover, heaven constitutes the body of the Lord; consequently to be in His body is also to be in heaven. [2] But the Lord’s presence with those who come to the holy supper unworthily is His universal and not His individual presence, or what is the same, His external and not also His internal presence. His universal or external presence is what causes a man to live as a man, to enjoy the ability to know, to understand, and to speak rationally from the understanding; for man is born for heaven, and is therefore not merely natural, like a beast, but also spiritual. He also enjoys the ability to will and to do the things that from his understanding he is able to know about, to understand, and thereby rationally speak about. But if the will rejects the truly rational things of the understanding, which are also intrinsically spiritual, the man becomes external. [3] Consequently with those who only understand what is true, and good, the Lord’s presence is universal or external, while with those who also will and do what is true and good, the Lord’s presence is both universal and individual, or both internal and external. Those who merely understand and talk about what is true and good are like the foolish virgins who had lamps but no oil; while those who not only understand and talk about what is true and good, but also will and do it, are the wise virgins who were admitted to the wedding while the former stood at the door and knocked, but were not admitted (Matt. 25:1-12). From all this it can be seen that the Lord is present and opens heaven to those who come to the holy supper worthily; and that He is also present with those who come to it unworthily, but to them He does not open heaven.

720.

Nevertheless it is not to be supposed that the Lord closes heaven to those who come unworthily, this He does to no man, even to the end of his life in the world, but man closes heaven to himself, and this he does by the rejection of faith and by evil of life. And yet man is held constantly in a state of possible repentance and conversion, for the Lord is constantly present and urging to be received; for He says: I stand at the door and knock; if any man hear My voice and open, I will come in and will sup with him and he with Me (Rev. 3:20). Therefore the fault is in the man himself, who does not open the door. It is otherwise after death; then heaven is shut and cannot be opened to those who have continued even to the end of life to come to the holy supper unworthily; for the interiors of their minds are then fixed and determined.

721.

That baptism is introduction into the church has been shown in the chapter on Baptism; that the holy supper is introduction into heaven is clear from what has been said above when it is perceived. These two sacraments, baptism and the holy supper, are like two gates to eternal life. By baptism, which is the first gate, every Christian is let into and introduced into what the church teaches from the Word respecting the other life, all of which teaching forms the means whereby man can be prepared for and led to heaven. The second gate is the holy supper, by which every man who allows himself to be prepared and led by the Lord is admitted into and introduced into heaven. There are no other universal gates. These two sacraments may be likened to what occurs with a prince who is born heir to a kingdom, in that he is first introduced into a knowledge of the business of government, and in the second place is crowned and governs. They may be likened also to a son born to a great inheritance, in that he first learns and is imbued with such things as pertain to the proper management of possessions and riches, and secondly takes possession and control; also to the building of a house and dwelling in it; also to the course of a man’s instruction from childhood until the period when he becomes independent and exercises his own judgment, and his subsequent rational and spiritual life. One period must needs precede, that the second may be attained; for without the former the latter is impossible. These illustrations make clear that baptism and the holy supper are like two gates through which man is introduced to eternal life; and that beyond the first gate there is a plain which he must pass over; and that the second is the goal where lies the prize to which he has directed his course. For the palm is not bestowed until after the struggle, nor the reward until the contest is decided.

722.

VI. THOSE COME TO THE HOLY SUPPER WORTHILY WHO HAVE FAITH IN THE LORD AND CHARITY TOWARD THE NEIGHBOR, THAT IS, WHO ARE REGENERATE. That God, charity, and faith are the three universals of the church, because they are the universal means of salvation, is known, acknowledged, and perceived by every Christian who studies the Word. That God must be acknowledged in order that one may have religion, or that anything of the church may be in him, is declared by reason itself when there is anything spiritual in it; consequently, if one comes to the holy supper without acknowledging God, he profanes it; for he sees the bread and wine with the eye and tastes them with the tongue, while the thought of the mind is, “What is this but a useless ceremony, and how do this bread and wine differ from that on my own table? Nevertheless I partake of them, lest I be charged by the priesthood, and so also by the common people, with the infamy of being an atheist.” [2] That after the acknowledgment of God, charity is the second means which enables one to come to the holy supper worthily is evident both from the Word and from the exhortations read before approaching the communion in the whole Christian world It is evident from the Word in this: That the first command or precept is to love God above all things, and the neighbor as oneself (Matt. 22:34-39; Luke 10:25-28). Again in Paul: That there are three things that contribute to salvation, and the greatest of these is charity (1 Cor. 13:13). Also from these passages: We know that God heareth not sinners; but if any man is a worshiper of God and doeth His will, him He heareth (John 9:31). Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire (Matt. 7:19, 20; Luke 3:8, 9). [3] It appears also from the exhortations read throughout the whole Christian world before coming to the holy supper. Everywhere men are thus earnestly admonished to be in charity by reconciliation and repentance. From these I will only quote the following passage from the exhortation read to communicants in England: “The way and means” to be worthy partakers 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 neighbors, 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 who 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 ye 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 iniquities, and bring you to destruction both of body and soul.” [4] Faith in the Lord is the third means of worthily enjoying the holy supper, because charity and faith make one, like heat and light in spring, from which two conjoined every tree is born anew; so from spiritual heat, which is charity, and from spiritual light, which is the truth of faith, every man has life. That faith in the Lord effects this is evident from the following passages: he that believeth in Me shall never die, but shall live (John 11:26, 26). This is the will of the Father that everyone that believeth on the Son shall have eternal life (John 6:40). God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him should have eternal life (John 3:15, 16). He that believeth on the Son hath eternal life but he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him (John 3:36). We are in the truth, in the Son of God, Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life (1 John 5:20).

723.

That man is regenerated by these three, the Lord, charity, and faith, acting as one, and that no one can enter heaven unless he is becoming regenerate, has been shown in the chapter on Reformation and Regeneration. So the Lord can open heaven to none but the regenerate, and after the natural death introduction into heaven is given to none else. By the regenerate, who come to the holy supper worthily, those are meant who are in these three essentials of the church and heaven interiorly, not those who are so only exteriorly, for such confess the Lord not with the soul but with the tongue only, and practice charity toward the neighbor not with the heart but with the body only. Such are all who are “workers of iniquity,” according to these words of the Lord: Then shall ye begin to say, Lord, we have eaten and drunk before Thee. But I will say to you, I know you not whence ye are; depart from Me, all ye workers of iniquity (Luke 13:26-27).

724.

These statements, like the former, may be illustrated by various things that are in accord with them, and also by some that correspond, as the following: No one is admitted to the table of an emperor or king except those who are high in office and rank; and even these, before they attend, clothe themselves in becoming garments, and put on their insignia, that they may come acceptably and receive favor. Why not the same with the table of the Lord, who is the Lord of lords and King of kings (Apoc. 17:14) to which table all are called and invited? But only those who are spiritually worthy and are clothed in honorable apparel are admitted, after arising from the table, into the palaces of heaven, and into the joys there, and honored as princes because they are sons of the Great King, and afterward sit down daily with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Matt. 8:11), by whom is meant the Lord in respect to the Divine celestial, the Divine spiritual, and the Divine natural. These things may also be likened to weddings on earth, to which only the relatives, connections, and friends of the bridegroom and bride are invited; and if anyone else comes, he may be admitted, but as he has no place at the table, he withdraws. So is it with those who are called to the marriage of the Lord as the Bridegroom with the church as the bride, with whom those are kindred, relatives, and friends, whose common origin comes through regeneration by the Lord. And again, who in the world is initiated into another’s friendship, unless he is at heart sincerely faithful and does what the other wishes? Such only does a man number among his friends and trust with his property.

725.

VII. THOSE WHO COME TO THE HOLY SUPPER WORTHILY ARE IN THE LORD AND THE LORD IS IN THEM; CONSEQUENTLY CONJUNCTION WITH THE LORD IS EFFECTED BY THE HOLY SUPPER. In several chapters above it has been shown that those come to the holy supper worthily who have faith in the Lord and charity toward the neighbor; and that the presence of the Lord is effected by the truths of faith, and conjunction with Him by the goods of charity together with faith; and from this it follows that those who worthily come to the holy supper are conjoined with the Lord, and those who are conjoined with Him are in Him and He in them. That this takes place with those who come worthily, the Lord Himself declares in John as follows: He that eateth My flesh and drinketh My blood abideth in Me and I in him (John 6:56). That this is conjunction with Him, He also teaches elsewhere in John: Abide in Me and I in you, He that abideth in Me and I in him, the same beareth much fruit (John 15:4-5; Rev. 3:20). What is conjunction with the Lord but being among those who are in His body? And those constitute His body who believe in Him and do His will. His will is the exercise of charity in accordance with the truths of faith.

726.

Eternal life and salvation are impossible without conjunction with the Lord, for the reason that He is both of these. That He is eternal life is clearly evident from certain passages in the Word, as from the following in John: Jesus Christ is the true God and eternal life (1 John 5:20). He is also salvation, because this and eternal life are one. His name Jesus signifies salvation, and therefore He is called the Savior throughout the Christian world. And yet only those come to the holy supper worthily who are interiorly conjoined with the Lord, and those are interiorly conjoined with Him who are regenerated. Who the regenerated are has been shown in the chapter on Reformation and Regeneration. Again there are many who confess the Lord, and who do good to the neighbor; but unless this is done from love to the neighbor and from faith in the Lord, they are not regenerated, for such do good to the neighbor solely for reasons that look to the world and themselves, and not to the neighbor as the neighbor. The works of such are merely natural, and do not have concealed within them anything spiritual; for they confess the Lord with the mouth and lips only, from which their heart is far away. True love to the neighbor, and true faith, are from the Lord alone, and both are given to man when he from his freedom of choice does good to the neighbor naturally, and believes truths rationally, and looks to the Lord, doing these three things because they are commanded in the Word. The Lord then implants charity and faith in the midst of him, and makes both of these spiritual. Thus the Lord conjoins Himself to man, and man conjoins himself to the Lord, for no conjunction is possible unless it is effected reciprocally. But all this has been fully set forth in the chapters on Charity, Faith, Freedom of Choice, and Regeneration.

727.

It is well known that in the world conjunctions and affiliations are brought about by invitations to the table and by feasts, for the host thereby designs something that contributes to some end that looks to harmony or friendship; much more so the invitations that have spiritual objects in view. Feasts in the ancient churches and also in the primitive Christian church were feasts of charity, at which they strengthened each other to abide in the worship of the Lord with sincere hearts. When the children of Israel ate together of the sacrifices near the tabernacle, it signified nothing else than unanimity in the worship of Jehovah; therefore the flesh that they ate, being a part of the sacrifice, was called holy (Jer. 11:15; Hag. 2:12, and frequently elsewhere). Why not, then, the bread and wine and the paschal flesh at the supper of the Lord, who offered Himself a sacrifice for the sins of all the world? world? [2] And again, conjunction with the Lord by means of the holy supper may be illustrated by the conjunction of several families descendants of one father; from whom blood relations descend and in their order kindred and connections, all deriving something from the first stock. But it is not flesh and blood they thus acquire, but something from the flesh and blood, that is, the soul and an inclination therefrom to like things, whereby they are conjoined. Also the conjunction itself is apparent in a general way in the features and in the manners, and they are therefore called one flesh (as in Gen. 29:14; 37:27; 2 Sam. 5:1; 19:12-13, and elsewhere). [3] It is the same in respect to conjunction with the Lord who is the Father of all the faithful and blessed. Conjunction with Him is effected by means of love and faith, whereby two are said to be one flesh. Therefore the Lord said: He that eateth My flesh and drinketh My blood abideth in Me and I in him (John 6:56). Who does not see that the bread and wine do not effect this, but the good of love, which is meant by the bread, and the truth of faith, which is meant by the wine, and which are the Lord’s own, and which go forth and are communicated from Him alone? Moreover, all conjunction is effected by love, and love is not love without trust. Let those who believe that the bread is flesh, and the wine blood, and who cannot raise their thought above this belief, remain in it, yet not without this truth, that that which is most holy in it, and which effects conjunction with the Lord, is what is attributed and appropriated to man as his own, though it remains unceasingly the Lord’s.

728.

VIII. TO THOSE WHO COME TO THE HOLY SUPPER WORTHILY IS LIKE A SIGNATURE AND SEAL THAT THEY ARE THE SONS OF GOD. The reason why the holy supper is to those who come to it worthily like a signature and seal that they are the sons of God, is that as before said, the Lord is then present, and admits into heaven those who are born of Him, that is, the regenerate. The holy supper effects this, because the Lord is then present even as to His Human (for it has been shown above that in the holy supper the Lord is wholly present, and with His whole redemption); for of the bread He said, “This is my body; and of the wine, “This is My blood.” Consequently He then admits them into His Body; and the church and heaven constitute His Body. When man is becoming regenerate, the Lord is indeed present, and through His Divine operation prepares man for heaven; but that man may actually enter he must present himself to the Lord; and as the Lord actually presents Himself to man, man must actually receive Him, not, however, as He hung upon the cross, but as He is in His glorified Human, in which He is present, the body of which is the Divine good and the blood of which is the Divine truth. These are given to man, and by means of them man is regenerated, and he is in the Lord and the Lord in him; and for the reason shown above, that the eating which is manifested in the holy supper is a spiritual eating. From all this rightly understood it is clear that the holy supper is like a signature and seal that those who come to it worthily are sons of God.

729.

But those who die in infancy or childhood, not reaching the age at which they can come worthily to the holy supper, are introduced into heaven by the Lord through baptism; for baptism (as has been shown in the chapter on Baptism), is introduction into the Christian church, and also insertion among Christians in the spiritual world; and there the church and heaven are one; therefore to those who are there, introduction into the church is also introduction into heaven; and as they are there educated under the auspices of the Lord, they become more and more regenerate, and become His children; for they know no other Father. But children and youths born outside of the Christian church are introduced when they have received faith in the Lord, into the heaven assigned to their religion by other means than baptism; and are not mingled with those who are in the Christian heaven. For there is not a nation in all the world that may not be saved if it acknowledges God and lives well; for they have all been redeemed by the Lord, and man is by birth spiritual, whereby he has an ability to receive the gift of redemption. Those who receive the Lord, that is, have faith in Him, and do not lead an evil life, are called: Sons of God, and born of God (John 1:12-13; 11:52); Also children of the kingdom (Matt. 13:38); And again heirs (Matt. 19:29; 25:34); The Lord’s disciples are also called sons (John 13:33); And so are all angels (Job 1:6; 2:1).

730.

It is with the holy supper as with a covenant, which, after the articles of agreement are settled, is drawn up and finally executed with a seal. That the Lord’s blood is a covenant, He Himself teaches; for when He took the cup and gave it, He said: Drink of it, all of you; for this is My blood of the new testament (Matt. 26:27, 28; Mark 14:24; Luke 22:20). “The new testament” means the new covenant; therefore the Word written by the prophets before the Lord’s coming is called the Old Testament or Covenant, while that written after His coming by the evangelists and apostles is called the New Testament or Covenant. That “blood” as well as the wine of the holy supper means the Divine truth of the Word can be seen above (n. 706, 708), and the Word is the covenant itself which the Lord made with man and man with the Lord; for the Lord descended as the Word, that is, as Divine truth; and as this is His blood, so in the Israelitish church, which was representative of the Christian church, blood is called, The blood of the covenant (Exod. 24:7-8; Zech. 9:11); And the Lord a covenant of the people (Isa. 42:6; 49:8; Jer. 31:31-34; Ps. 111:9). Moreover, it is in accordance with order in the world that there should be by all means a signature, in order that there may be some certitude, and that it should follow after deliberate action. What is a commission or a will without the signature? What is a legal decision without a decree signed to ratify the decision? What is a high office in a kingdom without a commission? What is promotion to any office if it is not confirmed? What is the possession of a house without purchase or agreement with the owner? What is progression to an end, or running to a goal, and thus for a reward, if there is no end or goal where the reward is to be gained; or if the judge has not in some manner made the wager sure? But these last have been added merely for the sake of illustration, that even the simple may see that the holy supper is like a signature, a seal, a badge, or a proof of appointment even to the angels, that those who come to it worthily are sons of God; and it is also like a key to the house in heaven where they are to dwell forever.

731.

I once saw an angel flying beneath the eastern heaven, holding a trumpet in his hand and at his lips, and blowing it toward the north, toward the west, and toward the south. He was clad in a robe that floated behind him as he flew, and he was engirdled with a belt that blazed and shone, as it were, with carbuncles and sapphires. He flew downward, and alighted gently on the ground near where I stood. As he touched the ground, he walked hither and thither erect upon his feet, and when he saw me directed his steps toward me. I was in the spirit, and in that state was standing on a hill in the southern quarter. As he came near I spoke to him, saying, “What now? I heard the sound of your trumpet, and saw you descend through the air.” The angel replied: “I am sent to convoke from among those dwelling in this world who are from the kingdoms of the Christian world, such men as are most celebrated for learning, of the finest genius, and most noted for wisdom, that they may come together on this hill where you are now standing, and freely express their minds as to what they thought and understood and what wisdom they had when in the world, respecting Heavenly Joy and Eternal Happiness. [2] I have been sent on this mission because some newcomers from the world having been admitted into our heavenly society which is in the east, have told us that not one single person in the whole Christian world knows what heavenly joy and eternal happiness are, and thus what heaven is. At this my brethren and companions were much astonished, and said to me, ‘Go down, make proclamation, and call together the wisest men in the world of spirits, where all mortals are first assembled after their departure from the natural world, in order that we may know with certainty from the mouths of many, whether it is true that such darkness or dense ignorance prevails among Christians respecting the future life.” The angel then said, “Wait a little, and you will see troops of the wise ones flocking hither; the Lord will prepare a house for them to meet in.” [3] I waited; and behold, after half an hour saw two companies coming from the north, two from the west, and two from the south; and as they arrived they were led by the angel who had the trumpet to the house prepared for them, and there occupied the places assigned them according to their quarters. There were six companies or troops, and there was a seventh from the east which was not visible to the others because of its superior light. When they had assembled, the angel explained the reason of their convocation, and asked the companies to set forth in succession their wisdom respecting Heavenly Joy and Eternal Happiness. Each company then formed a circle, all turning their faces inward, that they might recall the subject from ideas acquired in the former world and then carefully consider it, and after consideration and consultation express their views.

732.

After consultation the first company, which was from the north, said, “Heavenly joy and eternal happiness are one with the very life of heaven; therefore one who enters heaven enters as to his life into its festivities, precisely as anyone going to a wedding enters into its festivities. Do we not see that heaven is above us, thus in place? Are there not enjoyments upon enjoyments and pleasures upon pleasures there, and there only? When man is admitted into heaven he is admitted into these pleasures as to every perception of his mind and every sensation of his body, out of the plenitude of the joys of that place. Therefore heavenly happiness, which is also eternal happiness, is simply admission into heaven, which admission is of Divine grace.” [2] When this had been said, the company from the north from its wisdom expressed the following opinion: “Heavenly joy and eternal happiness are no other than most cheerful companionship with angels and the sweetest conversations with them, whereby the countenance is continually expanded with gladness and the faces of all the company are kept sweetly smiling with compliments and pleasantries. What are heavenly joys but variations of such things to eternity?” [3] The third company, which was the first company of the wise men from the western quarter, from the thoughts of their affections delivered the following opinion: “What are heavenly joy and eternal happiness but feastings with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, on whose tables there will be delicate and costly food, with generous and noble wines; and after the feasts sports and dances of virgins and young men to the music of symphonies and flutes, interspersed with singing of the sweetest songs? And in the evenings there will be dramatic exhibitions, and after these feasting again, and so on daily forever.” [4] After that the fourth company, which was the second from the western quarter, declared their opinion, saying, “We have entertained several ideas about heavenly joy and eternal happiness; and we have examined various kinds of joy, comparing them with one another, and we have reached the conclusion that heavenly joys are paradisal joys. What is heaven but a paradise, extending from the east to the west and from the south to the north, and containing fruit trees and delightful flowers, in the midst of which is the magnificent tree of life, and around these the blessed will sit eating delicious fruit and adorned with wreaths of flowers of the sweetest odors, which, breathed upon by perpetual spring, are created and recreated daily with infinite variety? And the minds of these, being continually renewed by this perpetual growth and bloom, and also by the ever-vernal temperature, cannot but inhale and exhale new joys each day, and be restored thereby to the flower of their youth, and through this to the primitive state into which Adam and his wife were created, and so be readmitted into their paradise, transferred from earth to heaven.” [5] The fifth company, which was the first of the gifted ones from the southern quarter, spoke as follows: “Heavenly joys and eternal happiness are nothing but supreme dominion, boundless wealth, and thereby more than royal magnificence and transcendent splendor. That such are the joys of heaven and their unceasing fruition, which is eternal happiness; we saw clearly from the state of those in the former world who possessed them, and also from the teaching that the blessed in heaven are to reign with the Lord, and are to be kings and princes, because they are the sons of Him who is King of kings and Lord of lords, and that they are to sit on thrones, and angels are to minister unto them. The magnificence of heaven we clearly saw from this, that the New Jerusalem, whereby the glory of heaven is depicted, is to have gates, each of which will be one pearl, and streets of pure gold, and a wall with foundations of precious stones; consequently that everyone who is received into heaven has a palace of his own glittering with gold and precious stones, and a dominion that will be transmitted in order from one to another. And as we knew that joys and happiness are inherent in such things, and that God’s promises cannot fail, we have been unable to attribute the most happy state of heavenly life to any other source.” [6] Then the sixth company, which was the second from the southern quarter, raised their voice and said, “The joy of heaven and its eternal happiness is no other than the perpetual glorification of God, a never-ceasing festival and most blissful worship with songs and jubilees, thus a constant uplifting of the heart to God, with full trust that He accepts those prayers and praises because of His Divine munificence in bestowing such blessedness.” Some of the company added that this glorification would take place with splendid illuminations, most fragrant incense, and processions of great pomp, the chief priest going before with a great trumpet, the primates and other orders greater and less following him, and after these, men with palms and women with golden images in their hands.

733.

The seventh company, which was invisible to the others because of its superior light, was from the eastern quarter of heaven. They were angels of the same society as that to which the angel who had the trumpet belonged. When these heard in heaven that not a single person in the Christian world knew what the joy of heaven and eternal happiness are, they said to each other, “Surely this cannot be true; there cannot be such thick darkness and such mental stupor among Christians; let us go down ourselves also, and hear whether it is true; if it is, it is certainly a wonder.” Then these angels said to the angel with the trumpet, “We know that every man who has desired heaven, and has thought at all definitely about the joys there, is introduced after death into these imagined joys; and after such have experienced the nature of these joys and found them to be according to the empty fancies of the mind and their wild imaginings, they are led out of them and instructed. This takes place with most of those in the world of spirits who in the former life had meditated about heaven, and had formed such conclusions about its joys as to desire them.” On hearing this the angel with the trumpet said to the six companies called together from the wise of the Christian world, “Follow me, and I will introduce you into your joys, and thus into heaven.”

734.

So saying, the angel led the way; and the first company that followed him was of those who had persuaded themselves that heavenly joys were merely most cheerful companionship and most agreeable conversations. These were introduced by the angel to an assembly in the northern quarter, who in the former world had thought the joys of heaven to be of that character. There was a spacious house there in which they were assembled. In the house there were more than fifty rooms, distinguished by the different kinds of conversation. In some of the rooms they talked about what they had seen and heard in the marketplace and on the streets; in some they made amorous remarks about the fair sex, adding occasional jests until every face in the company expanded with merry laughter. In other rooms they talked about the news concerning courts, ministers, the state of politics, and the various things that had emanated from secret councils, mingled with arguments and conjectures about events. In other rooms they talked about business; in others about literary matters; in others about matters pertaining to civil prudence and moral life; and in others again about ecclesiastical affairs, the sects; and so on. I was permitted to look into that house, and I saw men running from room to room, seeking companionship in their preferences and thus in their joy; and of such companionship I saw three kinds. Some were very eager to talk, some anxious to ask questions, and some greedy to hear. [2] There were four doors to the house, one toward each quarter; and I noticed that many separated themselves from the companies and were in haste to go out. I followed some to the eastern door, and saw them sitting near it with sad faces. I approached them and asked why they were sitting there so sad; and they replied, “The doors of this house are kept closed against those who wish to go out; and it is now the third day since we entered; and the life of our desire has been exhausted in company and conversation, and we have become so wearied by unceasing talk that we can hardly bear to hear the murmur of the sound of it. And so out of weariness we came to this door and knocked, but we were told that the doors of this house are not opened to let people out, but only to let them in, and that we must stay and enjoy the delights of heaven; and from this we have come to the conclusion that we are to remain here forever; and therefore sadness has seized our minds, and now our breasts begin to feel oppressed, and anxiety is coming upon us.” [3] The angel then addressed them and said, “This state is the death of those joys of yours which you believed to be the only heavenly joys, when in fact they are only accessories of heavenly joys.” They asked the angel, “What, then is heavenly joy?” The angel answered briefly, “It is delight in doing something useful both for oneself and for others. Delight in use derives its essence from love and its existence from wisdom. Delight in use arising from love through wisdom is the soul and life of all heavenly joys. In the heavens there are the most gladsome companionships, which exhilarate the minds of the angels, cheer their spirits, delight their breasts, and refresh their bodies; but these they enjoy after they have performed their uses in their offices and employments, from which come the soul and life in all their pleasures and enjoyments; but if that soul or life is taken away the accessory joys gradually cease to be joys, becoming first indistinct, then as it were worthless, and at length distasteful and distressing.” When this had been said, the door was opened, and those sitting near it sprang out; and they fled to their homes, each to his duty and work, and were revived.

735.

After this the angel addressed those who had adopted the idea that the joys of heaven and eternal happiness are feastings with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, followed by games and spectacles, and then feasting again, and so on to eternity. And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will introduce you into the felicities of your joys.” And he led them through a meadow to a plain staked out, and on it tables were placed, fifteen on each side. They asked why there were so many tables; the angel replied, “The first table is Abraham’s, the second Isaac’s, the third Jacob’s and near them in order are the tables of the twelve apostles; on the other side is the same number of tables for their wives; the three first being for Sarah, Abraham’s wife, Rebecca, Isaac’s wife, and Leah and Rachel, Jacob’s wives; the twelve remaining tables are for the wives of the twelve apostles.” [2] After a little delay, all the tables were seen to be loaded with dishes, and the spaces between decorated with little pyramids of sweetmeats. The guests stood around the tables waiting to see those who were to preside. These, after a little waiting, appeared, entering in order of procession from Abraham to the last of the apostles; and each going at once to his own table, took his place upon a couch at the head of it. Then they said to those standing around, “Sit you down with us.” And the men sat down with those fathers, and the women with their wives, and ate and drank in gladness and with reverence. After the meal the fathers went out; and then sports were introduced, dances by maidens and young men, and afterward spectacles; and when these were ended the guests were again invited to the feasting, but with the understanding that on the first day they should eat with Abraham, on the second with Isaac, on the third with Jacob, on the fourth with Peter, on the fifth with James, on the sixth with John, on the seventh with Paul, and with all the rest in order until the fifteenth day, when they were to renew the feasting again in the same order; changing seats; and so on to eternity. [3] After this the angel called together the men of his company and said to them, “All those whom you see at the tables had the same imaginary thought about the joys of heaven and its eternal happiness that you had; and these feasting scenes were instituted and permitted by the Lord in order that they might see the vanity of their ideas and be led away from them. Those chief men whom you saw at the head of the tables merely impersonated old men; most of them are rustics with beards, and puffed up by some little wealth, upon whom has been induced the fantasy that they actually were those ancient fathers. But follow me to the ways of exit from this camp.” [4] They followed him; and they saw fifty here and fifty there who had loaded their stomachs with food until they were nauseated, and longed to return to the familiar scenes of their own homes, some to their offices, some to their business, and some to their trades. But many were detained by the keepers of the grove, and were asked how many days they had feasted, and whether they had yet eaten at the tables with Peter and Paul, and were told that it would be shameful for them to go away before doing so, because it would be unbecoming. But most of them answered, “We are surfeited with our joys, the food has become insipid to us, our taste has dried up, our stomachs loathe these things, we cannot bear these drinks, we have spent several days and nights in this luxury, and we earnestly beg to be let out.” And being let out, with panting breath and hurried steps they fled home. [5] Then the angel called the men of his company, and on the way taught them about heaven, as follows: “In heaven, just as in the world, there are food and drink, feasts and convivial parties, on the tables of the great are the choicest foods, rarities, and delicacies, whereby their spirits are exhilarated and refreshed; there are also plays and exhibitions, and instrumental and vocal music; and all in the highest perfection. Moreover, such things are joys to those in heaven, but not happiness; happiness must be in the joys, and thus from them. It is happiness in the joys that causes them to be joys, enriches them, and so sustains them as to prevent their becoming paltry and wearisome; and this happiness every man has from use in his employment. [6] “In the affection of every angel’s will there is a kind of hidden current that draws his mind to the doing of something, wherein the mind finds tranquillity and satisfaction; and this satisfaction and tranquillity produce a state of mind receptive of the love of use from the Lord; and from the reception of this love comes heavenly happiness, which is the life of those joys that have been enumerated. Heavenly food in its essence is no other than love, wisdom, and use together; that is, use from love through wisdom; and because of this to everyone in heaven food for the body is given according to the use he performs, most excellent food to those who are eminently useful; food of medium quality but of exquisite taste to those whose use is of the middle grade; inferior food to those who perform low uses; but none to the indolent.”

736.

The angel then called to him that company of so-called wise men who had placed heavenly joys and eternal happiness therefrom in the possession of supreme dominion and boundless wealth, and in more than royal magnificence and transcendent splendor, because it is said in the Word that the righteous should be kings and princes, and should reign with Christ forever, and be ministered unto by the angels; and so on. To these the angel said, “Follow me, and I will introduce you into your joys.” And he led them into a portico constructed of columns and pyramids. In front of it was a low porch which formed the entrance to the portico; and through this he led them; and behold, twenty persons were seen there, and were waiting. And presently there came one who impersonated an angel, and said to them, “The way to heaven is through this portico; wait here a while and prepare yourselves, for the older among you are to be kings, and the younger princes.” [2] When he had said this a throne was seen near each column, and on it a robe of silk, and on the robe a scepter and crown; and near each pyramid a seat appeared raised three cubits from the ground; on each seat was a chain made of small links of gold, and scarfs of an order of knights fastened together at the ends with diamond rings. It was then proclaimed, “Go now and robe yourselves, take your seats, and wait.” And instantly the older men ran to the thrones, and the younger to the seats, and robed themselves and sat down. Then a kind of mist appeared coming up from the lower regions, and as this drew near, the faces of those occupying the thrones and seats began to swell and their hearts to heave, and they were filled with the confidence that they were now kings and princes. That mist was the aura of hallucination by which they were inspired. And presently some youths flew to them as if from heaven, and stood two behind each throne, and one behind each seat, to serve them. Proclamation was then made in turn by a herald, “Ye kings and princes, wait yet a little while, your palaces in heaven are now being made ready; the courtiers will come soon with their lifeguards and lead you to them.” They waited and waited until their spirits panted and grew weary with desire. [3] After three hours the heaven above their heads was opened and angels looked down, and pitying them, said, “Why do you sit there so foolishly, acting like players? They have played tricks upon you and have changed you from men to images, because you have fixed it in your hearts that you were to reign with Christ like kings and princes, and that angels would then minister unto you. Have you forgotten the words of the Lord, that he who would be great in heaven must become a servant? Learn, then, that being kings and princes and reigning with Christ, means being wise and performing uses; for the kingdom of Christ, which is heaven, is a kingdom of uses, because the Lord loves all, and therefore wills good to all, and good is use. And as the Lord does what is good or useful mediately through angels, and in the world through men, so to those who faithfully perform uses, He gives the love of use and its reward, which is internal blessedness, and this is eternal happiness. [4] In the heavens as on earth there are supreme dominions, and boundless wealth; for there are governments there, and forms of government, and therefore greater and lesser powers and dignities; and those who occupy the highest positions have palaces and courts, which surpass those of emperors and kings on earth in magnificence and splendor; and they are surrounded with honor and glory because of the number of courtiers, ministers, and attendants, and their splendid vestments. But those who are thus exalted are chosen from among those whose hearts are in the public welfare, while their bodily senses only are appealed to by the grandeur of magnificence for the fostering of obedience. And as it is a matter of public welfare that everyone should be of some use in society as in the common body, and as all use is from the Lord, and is effected through angels and men as if it were done by them, it is clear that this is reigning with the Lord.” When this had been heard from heaven, those who had impersonated the kings and princes descended from the thrones and seats and threw away their scepters, crowns, and robes; and the mist in which was the aura of hallucination departed from them, and a bright cloud overshadowed them, in which there was an aura of wisdom, and sanity was thereby restored to their minds.

737.

After this the angel returned to the house where the wise from the Christian world had assembled, and called to him those who had persuaded themselves that the joys of heaven and eternal happiness were paradisal delights. To them he said, “Follow me, and I will conduct you into paradise, your heaven, so that you may enter into the beatitudes of your eternal happiness.” And he led them through a lofty gate formed by the interwoven branches and shoots of noble trees; and when they had passed through this he led them about by winding paths from one quarter to another. The place was actually a paradise which is at the first entrance to heaven, and into which are admitted those who had believed when in the world that all heaven is a paradise, because heaven is called paradise, and who had impressed upon themselves the idea that after death there is complete rest from labor, and that this rest is nothing else than breathing the very soul of delights, walking upon roses, being gladdened by the finest juice of the grape, and banqueting; and that this life is to be found only in a heavenly paradise. [2] As they followed the angel they saw a great multitude of men both old and young, and of boys, women and girls, sitting in groups of three and groups of ten on flower-beds, weaving wreaths with which they decorated the heads of the old men and the arms of the young men, and bands of which they fastened across the breasts of the boys; others were pressing juice from grapes, cherries, and mulberries, into cups, and drinking it sociably; others were inhaling the fragrance exhaled and diffused from flowers, fruit, and odoriferous leaves; others were singing sweet songs which soothed the ears of the listeners; others sat at fountains, turning the water of the gushing streams into different shapes; some were walking about, talking and jesting; some entered into little garden-houses to recline on couches; and many other paradisal forms of pleasure they saw. [3] When they had seen these things, the angel led his companions here and there through winding ways, and at last to some persons seated on a most beautiful flower-bed surrounded by orange, olive, and citron trees. These sat swaying themselves to and fro, wailing and weeping, their faces resting on their hands. The angel’s companions addressed them asking why they sat thus. They answered, “It is now seven days since we came into this paradise. When we came in, our minds seemed to be exalted to heaven and to be admitted into the innermost satisfactions of its joys; but after three days those satisfactions began to diminish, to fade from our minds, to become imperceptible, and so to fail altogether. And when our imaginary joys had thus ceased, we feared the loss of all the delights of our life, and began to doubt whether there is any such thing as eternal happiness. After this we wandered through paths and plots in search of the gate by which we entered; but we simply walked about and about, making inquiries of those we met. Some of them said that the gate could not be found, because this paradisal garden is a vast labyrinth of such a nature that anyone wishing to go out only entered more deeply in, adding, ‘Therefore you will have to remain here to eternity; you are now in the midst of the paradise where is the center of all its delights!’” To the companions of the angels they said further, “We have already been sitting here a day and a half; and as we are now hopeless of finding our way out, we sat down here on this flower-bed, and are looking about us at the abundance of olives, grapes, oranges, and citrons. But the more we look about the more does our sight become weary of seeing, our smell of smelling, and our taste of tasting. This is the cause of the sadness in which you find us and of our wailing and weeping.” [4] When they had heard this, the angel of the company said to them, “This paradisal labyrinth is really an entrance to heaven. I know the way out, and will lead you to it.” At these words those who were seated arose and embraced the angel, and joining his company went with him. And the angel taught them on the way what heavenly joy and its eternal happiness are, that they are not external paradisal delights unless there is in them internal paradisal delights. “External paradisal delights,” he said, “are delights of the bodily senses only, while internal paradisal delights are delights of the soul’s affections; unless these are in the former there is no heavenly life in them, because there is no soul in them; and any delight apart from its correspondent soul gradually languishes, becomes torpid, and wearies the mind more than labor. There are paradisal gardens everywhere in heaven, and from them the angels derive their joys; and so far as the soul’s delight is in them, so far those joys are joys to them.” [5] Hearing this they all asked, “What is the soul’s delight, and what is its origin?” The angel replied, “The soul’s delight comes from love and wisdom from the Lord; and because love is the efficient, and becomes efficient by means of wisdom, so the abode of both is in the effect and the effect is use. This delight flows from the Lord into the soul, and descends through the higher and lower regions of the mind into all the bodily senses, and finds its fullness in them. Joy thereby becomes joy, and it becomes eternal from the Eternal in whom it originates. You have been viewing paradisal scenes, and I declare to you that there is not one thing there, not even a little leaf, that does not come from the marriage of love and wisdom in use. Therefore if man is in this marriage he is in a heavenly paradise, and thus in heaven.”

738.

After this the angelic leader returned to the hall, to those who had firmly persuaded themselves that heavenly joy and eternal happiness are a perpetual glorification of God and an endless festival; and this, because they had believed when in the world that after death they would see God, and because the life of heaven on account of the worship of God there, is called a perpetual sabbath. To these the angel said, “Follow me, and I will introduce you into your joy.” And he led them into a small city. In the center of it there was a temple, and all the houses were called sacred chapels. In this city they saw a gathering of people from every quarter of the surrounding country, and among them a number of priests who received the visitors, saluted them, and taking them by the hand led them to the gates of the temple, and then to some chapels round about the temple, and initiated them into the endless worship of God; saying, “This city is the vestibule of heaven, and the temple of this city is the entrance to a grand and spacious temple in heaven, where God is glorified by angels with praises and prayers forever. It is ordered both here and there that newcomers shall first enter the temple and remain there three days and three nights, and after this initiation shall enter into the houses of this city (which are so many chapels consecrated by us), and shall go from chapel to chapel, and in communion with those assembled there shall pray, and shout, and repeat what has been preached. Be very careful to think of nothing by yourselves and to speak of nothing with your companions, except what is holy, and pious, and religious.” [2] After this the angel led his company into the temple, which was full, and was crowded with many who had enjoyed great dignity in the world, and also with many common people. At the gates of the temple guards were placed to prevent anyone from going out until he had been there three days. And the angel said, “This is the second day since these people came in; watch them, and you will see how they glorify God.” And looking at them they saw most of them asleep, and those who were awake continually yawning; and some of them, in consequence of the continued elevation of their thoughts to God without any return whatever to the body, seemed like faces separated from their bodies (for so they appeared to themselves, and therefore to others); and the eyes of some looked wild from their being continually turned upward. In a word, the breasts of all were oppressed, and their spirits were weary with the tediousness; and they turned away from the pulpit and cried out, “Our ears are stunned, stop your preaching; we no longer hear a word; the very sound begins to be more than we can bear.” And then they rose up and rushed in a mass to the gates, broke them open, overpowered the guards and drove them away. [3] Seeing this the priests followed, keeping close to them, teaching and teaching, praying and sighing, and saying, “Celebrate the festival, glorify God, sanctify yourselves; in this vestibule of heaven we will inaugurate you into an eternal glorification of God in the grand and spacious temple that is in heaven, and thus lead you into the enjoyment of eternal happiness.” But the crowd did not understand these words, and scarcely heard them because of the dullness of their minds from a two days’ suspension and detention from domestic and outdoor affairs. But when they attempted to tear themselves away from the priests, the priests caught them by the arms, and also by their clothing, urging them to the chapels to hear their sermons; but in vain. They cried out, “Let us go; we feel as if we should faint.” [4] At these words four men in white garments and with miters appeared. One of them when in the world had been an archbishop, and the other three had been bishops; they had now become angels. These called the priests together, and addressing them, said, “We saw you from heaven with these sheep, and saw how you are feeding them. You are feeding them even to madness. You do not know what glorifying God means. It means to bring forth the fruits of love, that is, to discharge faithfully, sincerely, and diligently the work of one’s calling; for this is from love to God and love to the neighbor, and is the bond of society and the good of society. It is in this way that God is glorified, and then by worship at stated times. Have you not read these words of the Lord? Herein is My Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; and ye shall become My disciples (John 15:8). [5] You priests may be in the glorifying of God by means of worship, because it is your office, and from it you have honor, glory, and remuneration; but you could no more continue in it than these people if honor, glory, and remuneration were not connected with your office.” So saying the bishops ordered the guards at the gate to let all pass out and to admit all, “for,” they said, “there are a great many who can conceive of no other heavenly joy than the unceasing worship of God, because they have been wholly ignorant of what the heavenly state is.”

739.

After this the angel returned with his companions to the place of meeting, from which the different companies of wise men had not yet departed, and there he called to him those who believed that heavenly joy and eternal happiness are merely admittance into heaven, and that this admittance is from Divine grace, and that those admitted are at once gifted with joy, like those in the world who are permitted to enter royal palaces on days of festivity, or are invited to weddings. To these the angel said, “Wait here a while, and I will sound my trumpet, and those who are celebrated for wisdom in the spiritual affairs of the church will come hither.” After a few hours there came nine men, each decorated with a laurel wreath as a token of his reputation. These were led by the angel in to the place of meeting where all those called together before were waiting, and in their presence the angel addressed the nine wearing the wreaths, saying, “I know that you, because of your wish and in accordance with your ideas, have been permitted to ascend to heaven, and that you have returned to this lower or sub-celestial earth with a full knowledge of the state of heaven; tell us therefore how heaven appeared to you.” [2] They replied in order. The first said, “My idea of heaven, from earliest boyhood even until the end of my life in the world, was, that it was a place of all kinds of blessedness, satisfaction, delight, gratification, and pleasure; and that if I were to be admitted there I should be surrounded by an aura of such felicities, and should inhale them with full breast, like a bridegroom when he celebrates his marriage and enters the marriage-chamber with his bride. With this idea I ascended to heaven; I passed the first guards, and also the second; but when I came to the third, the officer of the guards addressed me and said, ‘Who are you, friend?’ I answered, ‘Is not this heaven? I came here prompted by my own earnest desire; admit me, I entreat you.’ And he admitted me. And I saw some angels in white garments, who walked around me, and looked at me, and murmured, ‘Here is a new guest, not clothed in the garments of heaven.’ I heard the remark, and thought, ‘This seems to me like what the Lord said of the man who came to the wedding not having a wedding-garment;’ and I said, ‘Give me such garments of heaven.’ But they only laughed. And then one came running from the court with the command, ‘Strip him naked, cast him out, and throw his clothes after him.’ And so I was cast out.” [3] The second in order then said, “I also believed as he did, that if I were only admitted into heaven, which was above my head, joys would flow around me, and I should breathe them forever. I also obtained my wish. But when the angels saw me they fled, and said to one another, ‘What portent is this? How did that bird of night get here?’ And I actually felt myself to be changed from being a man, although I was not changed. This effect was produced by my inhaling the heavenly atmosphere. And presently one ran from the court with the command that two servants should lead me out, and conduct me back by the way I came, right to my own house. And when I was at home, I again appeared to myself and others as a man.” [4] The third said, “My constant idea of heaven was derived from place, not from love; and therefore when I entered this world I longed intensely to get into heaven, and seeing some ascending, I followed, and was admitted, though only a few steps. But when I wished to gladden my mind with an idea of the joys and blessedness there, owing to the light of heaven (which was white like snow, and the essence of which is said to be wisdom), a stupor seized my mind, and from it a thick darkness came upon my eyes, and I began to be insane; and presently, owing to the heat of heaven (which corresponded to the brightness of that light, and the essence of which is said to be love), my heart palpitated, anxiety took possession of me, I was tortured with interior pain, and threw myself down at full length upon the ground. And while I was lying there, an attendant came from the court with the command for them to carry me away carefully into my own light and heat, and as soon as I came into these my spirit and heart were restored to me.” [5] The fourth said, “My idea of heaven also was derived from place, not from love, and as soon as I entered the spiritual world I asked some wise men whether it was allowable to ascend to heaven. They told me that everyone is permitted, but he should beware lest he be cast down again. I laughed at this, and went up, believing like the others that all in the whole world are capable of receiving the joys of heaven in their fullness. But verily, as soon as I entered I became almost dead; and from the pain and consequent torture in my head and body, I threw myself upon the ground, writhed like a serpent near a fire, crawled to the brink, and thus cast myself down. Afterwards I was taken up by some who stood below, and carried to an inn, where my health was restored.” [6] The remaining five also gave wonderful accounts of their ascents to heaven, comparing the changes of their states of life to that of fishes when taken out of water into the air, and of birds when taken up into the ether, and they said, that after those hard experiences they no longer had any desire for heaven; but only for a life in company with their like, wherever they might be; and that they knew that in the world of spirits where we then were, all are first prepared, the good for heaven and the evil for hell; and when prepared, they see ways opened for them to societies of those like themselves, with whom they are to remain forever; also that they then enter these ways with delight, because they are the ways of their love. When those of the first assembly had heard these statements, they all confessed that they, too, had entertained no other idea of heaven than as a place where with full mouth they might forever drink in the joys flowing around them. [7] The angel with the trumpet then said to them, “You now see that the joys of heaven and eternal happiness are not a matter of place, but of the state of man’s life, and the state of heavenly life is from love and wisdom; and as use is the containant of these two, the state of heavenly life is from the conjunction of these in use. It is the same if we say instead, charity, faith, and good works, since charity is love, faith is truth from which comes wisdom, and good works are uses. Furthermore, there are places in our spiritual world as in the natural world, otherwise there would be no habitations or distinct dwellings; and yet place here is not place, but an appearance of place in accordance with the state of love and wisdom, or charity and faith. [8] Everyone who becomes an angel carries his heaven within him, because he carries within him the love that belongs to his heaven; for man by creation is a lesser likeness, image, and type of the great heaven; and the human form is nothing else; so that everyone enters that heavenly society whose form he is as an individual likeness; consequently when he enters into that society he enters a form correspondent to his own, thus he enters the society as if entering into himself from himself, and as if from the society into the society in himself, and partakes of its life as his own, and of his own life as its life. Every society is like a common body, the angels therein are the like parts of which the general exists. From this it now follows that those who are in evils and in consequent falsities, have formed in themselves a likeness of hell, and this is what suffers torture in heaven from the influx and vehemence of the activity of opposite against opposite; for infernal love is the opposite of heavenly love, and the delights of the two loves come into collision like hostile forces, and destroy each other when they meet.”

740.

After all these things had taken place a voice was heard from heaven, saying to the angel with the trumpet; “Choose ten men from all those assembled, and introduce them to us; we have heard from the Lord that He will so prepare them that the heat and light, of love and wisdom, of our heaven may be borne by them without harm for three days.” Ten men were then chosen and followed the angel. And they went up a steep path to a certain hill, and from this to a mountain on which was the heaven of those angels, which had before appeared to them at a distance like an expanse in the clouds. The gates were opened for them, and when they had passed the third the introducing angel ran to the prince of that society or heaven, and announced their arrival. And the prince said in reply, “Take some of my attendants, and carry back word to them that I am pleased that they have come, and introduce them into my ante-court, and give to each his own room and bed-chamber. Take also some of my courtiers and some servants to wait upon them, and render them any service they may desire.” This was done. When they had been admitted by the angel, they asked whether they might be permitted to go and see the prince. The angel replied, “It is now morning, and he cannot be seen before noon; all are still engaged in their own duties and labors. But you are invited to dinner; and then you will sit at the table with our prince; and in the meantime I will conduct you into his palace where you will see magnificent and splendid things.” [2] When he had led them to the palace they first viewed it from without. It was spacious, built of porphyry, with a foundation of jasper. Before the doors were six tall columns of lapis lazuli. The roof was made of plates of gold, the high windows were of the clearest crystal, and their frames of gold. They were then led into the interior of the palace, and conducted from room to room; and they saw ornaments of indescribable beauty, and on the ceilings decorations of inimitable carvings. Placed against the walls they saw tables of silver fused with gold, on which were various useful articles made of precious stones and of whole gems in heavenly forms. And more things they saw, which no eye on earth had ever seen, and therefore no one had been able to believe that such things exist in heaven. [3] While they were standing amazed at the sight of such magnificence the angel said, “Do not be astonished; these things that you see are not the work or fabrication of any angelic hand, but were made by the Architect of the universe and bestowed as a gift on our prince, so that architectural art is here in its perfection, and from it come all the rules of art in the world.” The angel said further, “You may suppose, perhaps, that such things fascinate our eyes and so far infatuate them that we believe these things to be the joys of our heaven; but they are merely accessory to the joys of our hearts, our hearts not being in them; and so far therefore as we contemplate them as accessory, and as the workmanship of God, we contemplate in them the Divine omnipotence and kindness.”

741.

After this the angel said to them, “It is not yet noon; come with me into the garden of our prince which adjoins this palace.” They went; and at the entrance the angel said, “Behold the most magnificent garden in this heavenly society.” But they replied, “What do you say? There is no garden here; we see only one tree, with what seems like fruits of gold on its branches and top, and like leaves of silver, with their edges adorned with emeralds; and under the tree we see little children with their nurses.” To this the angel with inspired voice replied, “This tree is in the midst of the garden, and is called by us the tree of our heaven, and by some the tree of life. But go on and draw nearer, and your eyes will be opened, and you will see the garden.” This they did; and their eyes were opened, and they saw trees heavily laden with delicious fruit, about which vines entwined their tendrils, and their tops were bent down with fruit toward the tree of life in the center. [2] These trees were planted in a continuous row, which went out and on in endless circles or curves like those of a perpetual spiral; it was a perfect spiral formed by trees, wherein one species followed another in unbroken order according to the excellence of their fruit. There was quite a space between the beginning of the spiral and the tree in the center, and this space gleamed with a radiance that made the trees of the spiral beam with an unbroken and unceasing splendor from the first to the last. The first trees were the noblest of all, luxuriant with the rarest fruit; these were called trees of paradise, never having been seen in any country of the natural world, because they do not and cannot exist there. These were followed by olive trees, then those that yielded wine, then fragrant trees, and finally trees useful to workmen for the wood. Here and there in this coil of trees or spiral there were seats formed of branches of the trees behind drawn forward and interlaced and enriched and adorned with their fruits. In that perpetual circle of trees were passages opening to flower-plots, and from these to lawns, divided off into squares and beds. [3] The companions of the angel, on seeing these things, ex-claimed, “Behold heaven in form! Wherever we turn our eyes something heavenly and paradisal meets them, which is ineffable.” The angel was delighted with these exclamations, and said, “All our heavenly gardens are representative forms or types of heavenly beatitudes in their origin, and because your minds were exalted by the influx of these beatitudes, you exclaimed, ‘Behold heaven in form!’ But those who do not receive that influx look upon these paradisal objects only as upon a mere forest. All who are in a love of use receive the influx; but those who are in the love of glory not from use do not receive it.” Afterwards he explained and taught what was represented and signified by each thing in the garden.

742.

While they were thus engaged, there came a messenger from the prince, who invited them to eat bread with him; and at the same time two court attendants brought garments of white linen, and said, “Put these on; for no one is admitted to the prince’s table unless he is clothed in the garments of heaven.” They put on the garments and accompanied their angel; and they were conducted into a corridor, a promenade of the palace, where they waited for the prince; and there they were brought by the angel into companionship with great men and governors, who also were waiting for the prince. And behold, after half an hour the doors were opened, and through a wider one on the west they saw him enter in the order and pomp of a procession. Before him came his privy counselors, after these his chamberlains, and after these again the chief officers of his court. In the midst of the latter was the prince, behind him courtiers of various rank, and last of all the lifeguards. In all they numbered one hundred and twenty. [2] The angel standing before the ten new-comers, who from their dress were seen to be visitors, approached the prince with them and reverently presented them; and the prince without stopping in the procession, said to them, “Come and take bread with me.” They followed him into the dining-hall, where they saw a table magnificently prepared. In the center of it was a high pyramid of gold, having on its shelves in triple order a hundred dishes containing sweet cakes, solidified musts of wines, and other delicacies made of bread and wine. Through the middle of the pyramid there welled up, as it were, a fountain bubbling over with nectareous wine, a stream of which spread itself from the top of the pyramid and filled the cups. At the side of this high pyramid were various heavenly projections of gold, on which were dishes and plates loaded with every kind of food. These heavenly projections on which the plates and dishes rested, were forms of art derived from wisdom, which could not be executed in the world by any art, or described in any language. The dishes and plates were of silver, engraved around with forms resembling those on their supports; the cups were of transparent gems. Thus was the table furnished.

743.

The dress of the prince and his ministers was as follows: The prince was clad in a long robe of a purple color, decorated with silver stars of needlework; under the robe was a tunic of bright violet-colored silk; this was open at the breast where the front part of a belt was visible, bearing the badge of his society. The badge was an eagle on the top of a tree, brooding her young; it was of burnished gold surrounded by diamonds. The privy counselors were clad somewhat in the same way, but without the badge; instead of which they had carved sapphires suspended from their necks by golden chains. The courtiers wore gowns of a brown color, in which were interwoven flowers encircling young eagles; the tunics under these were of opaline silk, as were their breeches and stockings. Such was their clothing.

744.

The privy counselors, the chamberlains, and the governors, stood around the table; and at the command of the prince they folded their hands, and all together in a low tone gave thanks to the Lord; and then, at a nod from the prince, took their places on the cushioned seats at the table. And the prince said to the visitors, “Sit you down with me also; there are your seats.” And they sat down. The courtiers before sent by the prince to wait upon them, stood behind them. The prince then said to them, “Take each one of you a plate from its place, and then a dish from the pyramid.” They did so; and behold, there instantly appeared fresh plates and dishes in place of those taken away. Their cups were filled with wine from the fountain springing from the great pyramid; and they ate together. [2] When they were moderately satisfied, the prince addressed the ten guests, saying, “I have heard that you were assembled on the earth that is beneath this heaven to disclose your thoughts respecting the joys of heaven and eternal happiness therefrom; and that you advanced different opinions, each according to the delights of his bodily senses. But what are the delights of the bodily senses apart from the delights of the soul? It is the soul that imparts delight to these. The delights of the soul are in themselves imperceptible beatitudes; but they become more and more perceptible as they descend into the thoughts of the mind, and from these into the sensations of the body. In the thoughts of the mind they are perceptible as joys, in the sensations of the body as delights, and in the body itself as pleasures. From all these together comes eternal happiness; while from the latter alone the happiness is not eternal but temporary, and comes to an end and passes away, and sometimes becomes unhappiness. You have now seen that all your joys are also joys of heaven, and more excellent than you could ever have conceived; and yet our minds are not interiorly affected by them. [3] There are three things that flow in as one from the Lord into our souls; these three as one, that is, this trine, are love, wisdom, and use; but love and wisdom alone have only an ideal existence, because they exist only in the affection and thought of the mind; while in use they have a real existence, because then they exist also in bodily act and operation, and where they exist really, there they have permanent existence. But as love and wisdom have their existence and permanence in use, it is use that affects us; and use is the faithful, sincere, and diligent discharge of the duties of one’s employment. “The love of use and the consequent pursuit of use prevents the mind from becoming dissipated, and from wandering about and drinking in all the cupidities that flow in with their allurements through the senses from the body and the world, and that scatter to the four winds the truths of religion and morality together with their goods. But the application of the mind to use holds and binds these together, and disposes the mind into a form receptive of wisdom from these truths, and at the same time expels to the circumference the illusions and mockeries both of falsities and vanities. But on these subjects you will hear more from the wise men of our society, whom I will send to you this afternoon.” So saying the prince arose, and with him his guests; he said grace, and then commanded the angelic guide of the strangers to conduct them back to their apartments, and to show them all the honors of courtesy; also to invite courteous and affable men to entertain them with conversation on the various joys of that society.

745.

When they had returned to their apartments this was done. Men invited from the city came to entertain them with conversation on the various joys of the society; and after the usual greetings they conversed with them agreeably, as they walked. But their angelic guide said, “These ten men have been invited into this heaven to behold its joys, and thereby to acquire a new idea of eternal happiness. Recount to them, therefore, some of its joys which affect the bodily senses; afterwards some wise men are to come who will mention some of the things that render those joys satisfactory and delightful.” Hearing this, the men invited from the city mentioned the following: (1) There are days of festivity appointed here by the prince, to relieve the mind of the fatigue which the passion of emulation may have brought upon some. On these days there are musical and vocal concerts in the public squares, and outside of the city there are games and shows; music stands are also raised in the public squares, surrounded by lattice-work of interwoven vines, from which hang clusters of grapes; while within this lattice-work, on three rows of seats, one above another, sit musicians with stringed and wind instruments, high-toned and low-toned, some powerful and some sweet; and at the sides are singers of both sexes, delighting the citizens with the sweetest jubilees and songs, choruses and solos, varied in character at intervals. On these days of festivity all this is continued from morning until noon, and then again until evening. [2] (2) Moreover, every morning there are heard from the houses about the squares the sweetest songs of girls and maidens, with which the whole city resounds. Each morning some one affection of spiritual love is sung, that is, is expressed by modifications or modulations of the voice in singing, and that affection is perceptible in the singing as if it were the affection itself. It flows into the souls of the hearers, and stirs them to a correspondence with it. Such is heavenly singing. The singers say that the sound of their song inspires and animates them from within, as it were, and exalts them with joy in the measure of its reception by their hearers. When the singing ceases, the windows of the houses on the squares are closed, and also those of the houses on the streets, and the doors also, and then the whole city is silent; there is no noise anywhere, and no wandering idlers are seen; all thus prepared then enter upon the duties of their employments. [3] (3) At noon the doors are opened, and in the afternoon in some places the windows also, and the boys and girls are seen playing in the streets, their nurses and teachers sitting in the porches of the houses keeping watch over them. [4] (4) In the outskirts of the city, there are various games of boys and young men; there are foot-races and games of ball, and what is called tennis, with the balls struck back and forth; there are public contests among the boys to determine who is the quicker and who the slower in speaking, acting, and understanding; and to the quicker some laurel leaves are given as a reward, with many other methods of calling out the latent abilities of the boys. [5] (5) And again, outside the city there are theatrical exhibitions, where players represent the various proprieties and virtues of moral life; with players among them of lower parts for the sake of what is relative.” One of the ten asked, “Why for the sake of what is relative?” They replied, “No virtue with its proprieties and graces can be presented in a living way except by an exhibition of what is relative from its greatest to its least phases. These players represent the least phases even till they become none. But it is provided by law that nothing opposite, which is called improper and unbecoming, shall be exhibited, except figuratively and as it were remotely. It is so provided, because nothing that is proper and good in any virtue can pass by successive steps to what is improper and evil, but only to its least phase until it perishes; and when it perishes the opposite begins. Therefore, heaven, where all things are proper and good, has nothing in common with hell, where all things are improper and evil.”

746.

While they were speaking a servant ran to them and announced the arrival of eight wise men, who had been sent by the prince’s command, and who wished to enter; hearing which the angel went out, received, and conducted them in. And the wise men, as soon as the usual and proper forms of introduction were over, first spoke with them about the beginning and growth of wisdom, mingling with their conversation various observations respecting its progress, as that wisdom with the angels has no limit or end, but grows and increases to eternity. Hearing this the angel who had charge of the strangers said to the wise men, “Our prince spoke at table with these men about the seat of wisdom as being in use; will you too, if you please, talk with them upon the same subject.” And they said, “Man as first created was imbued with wisdom and its love, not for his own sake, but that he might communicate it from himself to others. Therefore it is written in the wisdom of the wise that no one is wise or lives for himself alone, but for others also; whence comes society, which otherwise could not exist. Living for others is being useful. Uses are the bonds of society; these bonds are as many as there are good uses, and in number uses are infinite. There are spiritual uses, which pertain to love of God and love to the neighbor; there are moral and civil uses, which pertain to love of the society and community in which a man lives, and of the companions and citizens with whom he lives. There are natural uses, which pertain to the love of the world and its necessities; and there are bodily uses, which pertain to the love of self-preservation for the sake of higher uses. [2] All these uses are inscribed on man, and follow in order one after another, and when they exist simultaneously one is within the other. Those who are in the first mentioned uses, which are spiritual, are also in those that follow, and such are wise; but those who are not in the first, but are in the second and from these in the subsequent ones, are not so wise, but only seem to be so because of their outward morality and right civil life. Those who are not in the first and second, but are in the third and fourth, are anything but wise, for they are satans, loving the world only, and loving themselves because of the world. Those who are only in the fourth class of uses are the least wise of all, for they are devils, since they live for themselves alone, or if for others, it is solely on account of themselves. [3] Furthermore, every love has its own delight, for thereby love lives; and the delight of the love of uses is a heavenly delight, which enters the subsequent delights in order, and according to their order of succession exalts them and renders them eternal.” They then enumerated some heavenly delights that proceed from the love of use, saying, that there were myriads of myriads of them, and that those who entered heaven entered into them. Afterwards they spent the day with them, until evening, in wise conversations about the love of use. [4] About evening-time there came a footman clothed in linen to the ten visitors who accompanied the angel, and invited them to a wedding to be celebrated the next day. The visitors were much pleased that they were also to see a wedding in heaven. After this they were conducted to a certain privy counselor, and supped with him; and after supper they returned and separated from one another, each going to his own chamber, where they slept until morning. When they awoke they heard the singing of the girls and maidens from the houses round about the square, as spoken of above. It was the affection of conjugial love that they were singing; and being deeply stirred and affected by its sweetness, they perceived a blessed charm pervading their joys by which they were exalted and renewed. When it was time the angel said, “Make yourselves ready; put on the garments of heaven which our prince has sent to you.” And they put them on; and behold, the garments shone as if with a flaming light. And they asked the angel, “Whence is this?” He replied, “It is because you are going to a wedding; with us our garments then shine and become wedding garments.”

747.

After this the angel led them to the house of the wedding, and the porter opened the doors; and as soon as they had crossed the threshold they were received and saluted by an angel sent from the bridegroom, and conducted in and taken to seats set apart for them. Presently they were invited into the ante-room of the bridal chamber, in the center of which they saw a table, whereon was placed a magnificent candlestick with seven golden branches and bowls; on the walls hung lamps of silver, the burning of which gave the atmosphere a golden appearance. On each side of the candlestick they saw a table on which loaves of bread were set in triple order; and in the four corners of the room were tables upon which were crystal goblets. [2] While they were examining these things, behold a door was opened from a room next to the bridal chamber, and they saw six virgins coming out followed by the bridegroom and bride holding each other by the hand, and leading each other to their seat which had been placed directly opposite the candlestick. On this they seated themselves, the bridegroom on the left and the bride on his right, and the six virgins standing at the side of the seat near the bride. The bridegroom was dressed in a robe of glowing purple and a coat of shining white linen, with an ephod on which was a golden plate set around with diamonds; and on the plate was engraved a young eagle, the nuptial emblem of that heavenly society. The head of the bridegroom was covered with a miter. The bride was dressed in a scarlet cloak, and under it an embroidered garment, reaching from the neck to the feet; around her waist was a golden belt and on her head a crown of gold set with rubies. [3] While they thus sat together, the bridegroom turned to the bride and placed on her finger a golden ring, and drew forth bracelets and a necklace of pearls, fastening the bracelets on her wrists and the necklace about her neck, and saying, “Accept these pledges”; and as she accepted them, he kissed her and said, “Now you are mine,” and called her his wife. When this had been done the guests cried out, “Blessings on you;” each one first saying this separately, and then all together; and one sent to represent the prince also said it; and at that moment the ante-chamber was filled with an aromatic smoke, which was a sign of blessing from heaven. Then the attendants took loaves from the two tables near the candlestick, and cups now filled with wine from the tables in the corners, and gave to each guest his loaf and his cup; and they ate and drank. After this the husband and his wife arose, the six virgins following them to the threshold with the now lighted silver lamps in their hands; and the married pair entered the bridal chamber, and the door was closed.

748.

The angel guide then told the guests about his ten companions, saying that he had introduced them by command, had shown them the magnificence of the prince’s palace, and the wonderful things it contained, that they had dined with the prince; and afterward conversed with the wise men of the society. And he asked, “Will you permit them to have a little talk with you also?” And they approached and began the conversation. A wise one from among those at the wedding said, “Do you understand the significance of what you have seen?” They replied, “Somewhat” And then they asked him why the bridegroom, now the husband, was so clothed; and he answered, “The bridegroom, now the husband, represented the Lord; and the bride, now his wife, represented the church; because marriages in heaven represent the marriage of the Lord with the church. This is why the bridegroom had a miter on his head, and was dressed in a robe, coat, and ephod, like Aaron; and the bride, now the wife, had a crown on her head, and was dressed in a cloak like a queen; but tomorrow they will be clothed differently, because this representation only lasts during today.” [2] Again they asked, “As he represented the Lord, and she the church, why did she sit at his right?” The wise one replied, “Because there are two things that constitute the marriage of the Lord and the church, love and wisdom, and the Lord is love and the church is wisdom; and wisdom is at the right of love because the man of the church is wise as if of himself, and as he becomes wise, he receives love from the Lord. Furthermore, the right hand signifies power, and love has power through wisdom. But as before said, after marriage the representation is changed, the husband then representing wisdom, and the wife the love of his wisdom. This, however, is not the prior love, but a secondary love, which the wife has from the Lord through the wisdom of the husband. Love of the Lord, which is the prior love, is in the husband the love of being wise; therefore after marriage the two, husband and wife together, represent the church.” [3] Again they asked, “Why did not you men stand beside the bridegroom, now the husband, while the six virgins stood beside the bride, now the wife?” The wise one replied, “Because today we ourselves are counted among the virgins, and the number six signifies all, and what is complete.” But they said, “What does that mean?” He replied, “Virgins signify the church, and the church is of both sexes; therefore in relation to the church we, too, are virgins; as is evident from the following in the Apocalypse: These are they that were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they that follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth (Rev. 14:4). And because ‘virgins’ signify the church, the Lord compared the church, To ten virgins invited to a wedding (Matt. 25:1-13); and because Israel, Zion, and Jerusalem, signify the church, the virgin and daughter of Israel, Zion and Jerusalem, are so frequently mentioned in the Word. And again, the Lord describes His marriage with the church in these words in David: On thy right hand doth stand the queen in the best gold of Ophir; her clothing is inwrought with gold; she shall be led unto the king in broidered work; the virgins that follow her, her companions, shall enter into the king’s palace (Ps. 45:9-15).” [4] Finally they asked, “Is it not proper that some priest should be present and minister in these matters?” The wise one answered, “This is proper on earth, but not in the heavens because of the representation of the Lord Himself and the church. On earth this is not known. Nevertheless, with us a priest ministers at betrothals, and hears, receives, confirms, and consecrates the consent. Consent is the essential of marriage, and the things that follow are its formalities.”

749.

After this the angel guide went to the six virgins and told them also about his companions, and besought them to honor the visitors with their company. And they approached them; but when they came near they suddenly turned back and entered the woman’s apartment where their virgin friends were. Seeing this, the angel guide followed them and asked why they turned back so suddenly without speaking to the visitors; and they replied, “We could not go near them.” He asked why; and they said, “We do not know; but we perceived something that repelled and drove us back; we beg pardon.” The angel turned to his companions and told them the reply, adding, “I suspect that your love of the sex is not chaste; in heaven we love virgins for their beauty and the elegance of their manners; and we love them intensely but chastely.” His companions laughed at this, and said, “Your suspicion is correct; who can see such beauties near and not feel some desire?”

750.

After this social festivity all the wedding guests departed and also the ten men in company with their angel. It was late in the evening, and they went to bed. At dawn they heard it proclaimed, “Today is the Sabbath.” They arose and asked the angel what it meant. He replied, “It is a summons to the worship of God which returns at stated times and is proclaimed by the priests; it is conducted in our temples, and continues about two hours; come with me, therefore, if you like, and I will introduce you.” They made themselves ready and accompanied the angel, and entered the temple. And behold, it was a large temple capable of seating about three thousand persons, semi-circular in form, with benches or seats extending entirely around, following the shape of the temple. The pulpit was in front of the seats, back a little from the center; the door was on the left behind the pulpit. The ten visitors entered with their angel guide, and he assigned them their seat, saying, “Everyone who enters the temple knows his place, he knows it from something within; and he can sit nowhere else; if he sits elsewhere, he hears nothing and perceives nothing; and moreover he disturbs the order, and when the order is disturbed the priest is not inspired.”

When all had assembled, the priest ascended the pulpit and preached a sermon full of the spirit of wisdom. It was a sermon about the holiness of the Sacred Scripture, and about the conjunction of the Lord thereby with both the spiritual world and the natural world. In the state of enlightenment in which he was, he fully proved that that Holy Book was dictated by the Lord Jehovah, and that therefore He is in it, even so that He is the wisdom in it; but the wisdom which is Himself in the Word lies concealed under the sense of the letter, and is disclosed to those only who are both in the truths of doctrine and in goods of life; and who are thus in the Lord and the Lord in them. To the sermon he added an earnest prayer, and descended from the pulpit. As the audience was leaving, the angel asked the priest to speak some words of peace to his ten companions; so he went to them, and they talked together for half an hour. He spoke of the Divine trinity as being in Jesus Christ in whom dwelleth all the fullness of Divinity bodily, according to the saying of the Apostle Paul; and he afterward spoke of the union of charity and faith, but he said the union of charity and truth because faith is truth.

752.

After expressing their thanks, they went home. And the angel said to them, “This is the third day since you came up to this heavenly society, and you were prepared by the Lord to remain here three days; so the time has come for us to part; you will therefore put off the clothes sent you by the prince, and put on your own.” And as soon as they had put on their own clothes they were inspired with a desire to depart; so they departed and descended, the angel accompanying them all the way to the place of the assembly; and there they gave thanks to the Lord for having vouchsafed to bless them with knowledge and consequent intelligence respecting heavenly joys and eternal happiness.

XIV. The Consummation Of The Age, The Coming Of The Lord, And The New Heaven And New Church

I. THE CONSUMMATION OF THE AGE IS THE LAST TIME OF THE CHURCH OR ITS END. There have been several churches on this earth, and in the course of time they have all been consummated, and after their consummation new churches have arisen, and so on to the present time. The consummation of the church takes place when there is no Divine truth left except what has been falsified or set aside; and when there is no genuine truth no genuine good is possible, since every quality of good is formed by means of truths; for good is the essence of truth, and truth is the form of good, and without form there can be no quality. Good and truth can no more be separated than will and understanding, or what is the same thing, than love’s affection and the thought therefrom. Consequently when truth is consummated in a church, good is also consummated there; and when this takes place, the church comes to an end, that is, is consummated.

754.

The church is consummated by various means, especially by such things as cause falsity to appear to be truth; and when falsity appears to be truth, good that is essentially good, such as is called spiritual good, is no longer possible. The good that is then believed to be good is merely natural good, such as is brought forth by a moral life. The chief cause of the consummation of truth and of good along with it, is the two natural loves that are diametrically opposed to the two spiritual loves, and that are called love of self and love of the world. Love of self when it is predominant is the opposite of love to God, and love of the world when it is predominant is the opposite of love to the neighbor. Love of self is a wishing well to oneself alone, and not to any other except for the sake of self; and the same is true of love of the world; and these loves when they are fostered spread like gangrene through the body, gradually destroying every part of it. That such love has invaded the churches is manifest from Babylon and the way it is described (Gen. 11:1-9; Isa. 13; 14; 47; Jer. 50; Dan. 2:31-47; 3:1-7 seq.; 5; 6:8-28; 7:1-14; and Rev. 17 and 18 from beginning to end of both). Babylon has finally exalted itself to such a degree as not only to transfer the Lord’s Divine power to itself, but also to strive with the utmost energy to grasp all the riches of the world. That like loves would break forth from many of the leaders of the churches outside the pale of Babylon, if their power were not restricted and thus curbed, may be deduced from certain signs and appearances not altogether without meaning. What then follows but that such a man will regard himself as God and the world as heaven, and will pervert all the truth of the church? For it is impossible for the merely natural man to recognize and acknowledge real truth, which is truth in itself, nor can such truth be given him by God, because it falls into what is inverse to it and becomes falsity. Besides these two loves there are still other causes of the consummation of truth and good, and consequently of the church; but those causes are secondary and subordinate to these two.

755.

That the consummation of the age is the last time of the church, can be seen from those passages in the Word where it is spoken of, as in the following: A consummation and decision I have heard from Jehovah upon the whole land (Isa. 28:22). A consummation is determined, righteousness has overflowed, for the Lord Jehovah of Hosts is making a consummation and a decision in the whole land (Isa. 10:22, 23). The whole land shall be devoured in the fire of Jehovah’s jealousy for He shall make a speedy consummation of all them that dwell in the land (Zeph. 1:18). In these passages “the land” signifies the church, because the land of Canaan is meant, where the church was. That “the land” signifies the church may be seen proven by many passages from the Word in the Apocalypse Revealed (n. 285, 902). At last upon the bird of abominations shall be desolation, and even to the consummation and decision shall it drop upon the devastation (Dan. 9:27). That these words were spoken by Daniel respecting the end of the present Christian church may be seen in Matt. 24:15: The whole earth shall be a waste, yet will I not make a consummation (Jer. 4:27). The iniquity of the Amorites is not yet consummated (Gen. 15:16). Jehovah said, I will go down and see whether they have made a consummation according to the cry that is come unto Me (Gen. 18:21). This was said of Sodom. The last period of the present Christian church is also meant by the Lord by the consummation of the age in the following passages: The disciples asked Jesus, What shall be the sign of Thy coming, and of the consummation of the age? (Matt. 24:3). In the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, to burn them; but gather the wheat into My barn. So shall it be in the consummation of the age (Matt. 13:30, 39, 40). In the consummation of the age the angels shall go forth and separate the wicked from the midst of the righteous (Matt. 13:49). Jesus said to His disciples, lo, I am with you always, even unto the consummation of the age (Matt. 28:20). It must be known that the meaning of “devastation,” “desolation,” and “decision” is similar to the meaning of “consummation;” but “desolation” signifies the consummation of truth, “devastation” the consummation of good, and “decision” the full consummation of both; also that “the fullness of time” in which the Lord came and is to come into the world means consummation.

756.

The consummation of the age can be illustrated by various things in the natural world, for here each and all things on the earth grow old and decay, but by alternate changes which are called the circles of things. Times in general and in particular pass through these circles. In general, the year passes from spring to summer, through this to autumn, then ends in winter, and from this returns to spring; this is the circle of heat. In particular, the day passes from morning to noon, through this to evening, and ends in night, and from this returns again to morning; this is the circle of light. Again, every man runs through the circle of nature, beginning life in infancy, advancing therefrom to youth and manhood, from this to old age, and dies. So likewise every bird of the air and every beast of the earth. Also, every tree begins with a germ, goes on to its full stature, and gradually declines until it falls. The same is true of every bush and every shrub, and even of every leaf and flower, also of the soil itself, which in time becomes barren; and of all still water which gradually becomes foul. All these are alternative consummations, which are natural and temporal, and yet periodical; because when one has passed from its origin to its end, another like it arises; thus everything is born and dies and is born again, in order that creation may be continued. This is like what takes place in the church because man is a church and in general constitutes the church, and one generation follows another with a constant variation of disposition; and iniquity once enrooted, that is, an inclination to it, is transmitted to posterity, and is extirpated by regeneration only, which is wrought by the Lord alone.

757.

II. THE PRESENT IS THE LAST TIME OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH, WHICH WAS FORETOLD AND DESCRIBED BY THE LORD IN THE GOSPELS AND IN THE APOCALYPSE. It has been shown in the preceding article that the consummation of the age signifies the last time of the church, and this makes clear what is meant by “the consummation of the age” of which the Lord speaks in the Gospels (Matt. 24; Mark 13; Luke 21). For it is written: As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples drew near unto Him privately, saying, What shall be the sign of Thy coming and of the consummation of the age? (Matt. 24:3). Then the Lord began and foretold and described this consummation, what it was to be step by step, until His coming; and that He was then to come in the clouds of heaven with power and glory, and was to gather His elect (verses 30, 31), and other events which in no wise took place at the destruction of Jerusalem. These things the Lord there described in prophetic discourse, in which every single word has weight. What these particular things involve has been explained in the Arcana Celestia (n. 3353-3356, 3486-3489, 3650-3655, 3751-3757, 3897-3901, 4056-4060, 4229-4231, 4332-4335, 4422-4424).

758.

That all these things which the Lord spoke about with His disciples were said of the last time of the Christian church, is very evident from the Apocalypse, where there are like predictions respecting the consummation of the age and the coming of the Lord, all of which are explained in detail in the Apocalypse Revealed, published in 1766. Because, then, what the Lord said in the presence of His disciples respecting the consummation of the age and His coming, coincides with what was afterward revealed by John in the Apocalypse respecting the same subjects, it is clearly evident that He meant no other consummation than that of the present Christian church. Moreover, there is a further prophecy in Daniel respecting the end of this church; therefore the Lord says: When ye shall see the abomination of desolation, predicted by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place, let him that readeth note it well (Matt. 24:15; Dan. 9:27). There are like things in the other prophets. That such an abomination of desolation exists today in the Christian church will be made still more clear in an Appendix, in which it will be seen that there is not a single genuine truth remaining in the church, and also that unless a new church shall be raised up in the place of the present one, “no flesh can be saved,” according to the Lord’s words in Matthew (24:22). That the Christian church, as it is today, is consummated and devastated to such an extent, those on the earth who have confirmed themselves in its falsity are unable to see, for the reason that the confirmation of falsity is the denial of truth; and this imposes a veil as it were upon the understanding, whereby it is protected from the entrance of anything that might pull up the ropes and stakes, by which its system, like a strong tent, has been built and shaped. To this may be added that the natural rational faculty is able to confirm whatever it pleases, thus falsity and truth equally; and when confirmed, they both appear in a similar light, and it is not known whether the light is illusive like that in a dream, or true like that of day. But the spiritual rational faculty, which those possess who look to the Lord, and from Him are in the love of truth, is wholly different.

759.

For this reason every church made up of those who see by confirmations seems to itself to be the only church that is in the light, and all others which dissent from it appear to be in darkness. For those who see by confirmations are not unlike owls, which see light in the obscurity of night, and in the daytime see the sun and its rays as thick darkness. Such has been and such is every church that is in falsities, when it has become fixed in falsities by leaders who seem to themselves, to be lynx-eyed, and who have made for themselves a morning light out of their own intelligence and evening light out of the Word. Did not the Jewish church when it was wholly devastated (which it was when our Lord came into the world), loudly declare through its scribes and those skilled in the law, that because it had the Word it alone was in heavenly light, and yet they crucified the Messiah or the Christ who was the Word itself and the All in all things of it? What is the cry of that church which is meant by “Babylon” in the Prophets and in the Apocalypse, but that she is the queen, and mother of all churches, and that those which withdraw from her are spurious offspring that must be excommunicated? And this, even when she has thrust the Lord the Savior from the throne and altar and placed herself thereon. [2] Does not every church, even the most heretical, when once accepted, fill country and city with the cry that it alone is orthodox and ecumenical, and that it possesses the gospel which the angel flying in the midst of heaven announced (Apoc. 14:6)? And who does not hear the crowd echoing that it is so? Did not the whole Synod of Dort look upon predestination as a star coming down above their heads out of heaven, and did they not kiss that dogma as the Philistines kissed the image of Dagon in the temple of Ebenezer at Ashdod, and as the Greeks kissed the Palladium in the temple of Minerva? For they called that dogma the palladium of religion; and they did not know that a falling star is a meteor formed of illusive light, and when such light falls upon the brain it enables it to confirm every falsity (which is done by fallacies), until it is believed to be the true light, and is decreed to be a fixed star, and is finally sworn to be the star of stars. [3] Who speaks with fuller persuasion of the certitude of his delusion than the atheistic naturalist? Does he not laugh with the fullest assurance at the Divine things of God, the heavenly things of heaven, and the spiritual things of the church? Does not every lunatic believe his foolishness to be wisdom, and wisdom to be foolishness? Who by the sight of the eye can distinguish the illusive light of rotten wood from the light of the moon? Does not anyone who is averse to balsamic odors, as those who are affected with uterine diseases, repel those odors from the nostrils and choose ill-smelling odors in preference? And so on. All these things have been presented for the sake of illustration, to make clear that by natural light alone, or until truth from heaven beams forth in its own light, the fact that the church is consummated, that is, that it is in mere falsities, cannot be recognized. For falsity does not see truth, but truth sees falsity; and every man is such that he can see and comprehend truth when he hears it; but a man confirmed in falsities cannot so introduce truth into his understanding that it will remain, since it finds no place there; and if it happens to enter, the assembled horde of falsities casts it out as heterogeneous.

760.

III. THIS LAST TIME OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH IS THE VERY NIGHT IN WHICH FORMER CHURCHES HAVE COME TO AN END. That there have been in general four churches on this earth since its creation, one after the other, can be seen from both the historic and the prophetic Word, especially in Daniel, where these four churches are pictured by the statue which Nebuchadnezzar saw in his dream (chap. 2), and afterward by the four beasts coming up out of the sea (chap. 7). The first, which should be called the Most Ancient church, existed before the flood; and its consummation or destruction is pictured by the flood. The second, which should be called the Ancient church, existed in Asia, and a part of it in Africa; it was consummated and destroyed by idolatries. The third church was the Israelitish, which began with the promulgation of the Decalogue upon Mount Sinai, was continued by means of the Word written by Moses and the prophets, and was consummated or brought to an end by the profanation of the Word; which profanation was complete at the time of the Lord’s coming into the world; and in consequence they crucified Him who was the Word. The fourth is the Christian church, which was established by the Lord through the evangelists and apostles. Of this church there have been two epochs, one extending from the Lord’s time to the Council of Nice, and the other from that Council to the present day; but in its progress it has been divided into three - the Greek, the Roman Catholic, and the Reformed. All these, however, are called Christian churches. Furthermore, within each of these general churches there have been a number of particular churches; and these, in spite of their secession, have retained the general name, as heresies in the Christian church.

761.

That the last time of the Christian church was the very night in which the former churches came to an end, can be seen from the Lord’s prediction respecting it in the Gospels and in Daniel; in the Gospels from the following: That they would see the abomination of desolation, and there would be great tribulation, such as had not been from the beginning of the world until then, nor ever would be; and except those days should be shortened no flesh would be saved; and finally the sun shall be darkened, the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven (Matt. 24:15, 21, 22, 29). That time is also called night elsewhere in the Gospels, as in Luke: In that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken and the other left (17:34). And in John: I must work the works of Him that sent Me, the night cometh when no man can work (9:4). [2] As at midnight all light departs, and the Lord is the true light (John 1:4-9; 8:12; 12:35, 36, 46), so when the Lord ascended to heaven He said to His disciples: Lo, I am with you always, even unto the consummation of the age (Matt. 27:20); and then it is that He departs from them to a new church. That this last time of the church is the very night in which the former churches have come to an end can be seen also from the following passages in Daniel: At last upon the bird of abomination shall be desolation and even to the consummation and decision shall it drop upon the devastation (9:27). That this is a prediction respecting the end of the Christian church is clearly evident from the Lord’s words in Matthew (24:15); as also from what is said in Daniel respecting the fourth kingdom, or the fourth church, represented by Nebuchadnezzar’s statue: Whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of man; but they shall not cohere one with the other even as iron doth not mingle with clay (Dan. 2:43), “the seed of man” meaning the truth of the Word. [3] And again, from what is said respecting the fourth church represented by the fourth beast coming up out of the sea: I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible; it shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces (Dan. 7:7, 23). This means that all the truth of the church will be consummated, and then it will be night, because the truth of the church is light. Respecting this church there are many other like predictions in the Apocalypse, especially in the sixteenth chapter which treats of the vials full of the wrath of God poured out upon the earth, these vials signifying the falsities that would then inundate and destroy the church. So likewise in many places in the Prophets, as in the following: Shall not the day of Jehovah be darkness and not light? even thick darkness and no brightness? (Amos 5:18, 20; Zeph. 1:15). Again: In that day Jehovah shall look down upon the land, and behold darkness, and the light is darkened in the ruins thereof (Isa. 5:30; 8:22), “the day of Jehovah” meaning the day of the Lord’s coming.

762.

That four churches have existed on this earth since the creation of the world is in accordance with Divine order, which requires that there be a beginning and then its end before a new beginning starts in. Therefore every day begins with morning, progresses, ends in night, and then begins anew; also every year begins with spring, progresses through summer to autumn, closes in winter, and then begins again; and in order that these changes may take place the sun rises in the east progresses therefrom through the south to the west, and finishes its course in the north, after which it rises again. It is the same with churches; the first, which was the Most Ancient, was like morning, spring, and the east; the second or Ancient church was like day, summer, and the south; the third was like evening, autumn, and the west; and the fourth like night, winter and the north. From these orderly progressions the wise men of ancient times inferred four ages of the world, the first of which they called the golden age, the second the silver age, the third the copper age, and the fourth the iron age, by which metals, moreover, these churches are represented in Nebuchadnezzar’s statue. And again, in the Lord’s sight the church is seen as a single man, and this larger man must pass through his stages of life like an individual, that is to say, from infancy to youth, from this to manhood, and finally to old age; and then, when he dies, he will rise again. The Lord says: Except a grain of wheat fall into the earth and die, it abideth [alone]; but if it die, it beareth much fruit (John 12:24).

763.

It is according to order that a first should go forth to its last both in general and in particular, in order that variety may exist in all things, and through varieties every quality; for quality is perfected by means of differences relating to what is more or less opposite. Who cannot see that truth takes on its quality through the existence of falsity, and good likewise through the existence of evil, as light takes on its quality through the existence of darkness, and heat through the existence of cold? What would color be if there were no black and nothing but white? If it were otherwise the quality of intermediate colors could not but be imperfect. What is sensation apart from relation; and what is relation except to things opposite? Is not the sight of the eye obscured by looking at white only, and quickened by a color that inwardly derives something from black, such, for example, as green? Is not the sense of bearing dulled by the continued strain of one tone upon its organs, and stimulated by a modulation that is varied by relative sounds? What is the beautiful without relation to the unbeautiful? So in some pictures in order to present vividly the beauty of a virgin, an ugly face is placed beside the handsome one. What are joy and happiness without relation to what is joyless and unhappy? Will not one become insane by dwelling upon one idea only, uninterrupted by a variety that tends to things opposite? It is the same with the spiritual things of the church, the opposites of which have relation to evil and falsity, which, nevertheless, are not from the Lord, but from man who has freedom of choice which he can turn either to a good use or an evil use; comparatively as it is with darkness and cold, which are not from the sun but are from the earth, which by its revolutions in turn withdraws from the sun and returns to it; and without its turning from and to the sun there would be neither day nor year, consequently no person and no thing on the earth. I have heard that churches which are in different goods and truths, provided their goods relate to love to the Lord, and their truths to faith in Him, are like so many gems in a king’s crown.

764.

IV. THIS NIGHT IS FOLLOWED BY A MORNING WHICH IS THE COMING OF THE LORD. As the successive 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 divisions of the day, morning, noon, evening, and night; and as the present church in Christendom is the night, it follows that the morning, that is, the beginning of a new church, is now at hand. That the successive states of the church are described in the Word by the four states of the light of day, can be seen from the following passages: Unto evening and morning two thousand and three hundred; then the holy one shall be justified. The vision of the evening and the morning is truth (Dan. 8:14, 26). Crying to me from Seir, Watchman, what of the night? The watchman said, The morning cometh and also the night (Isa. 21:11-12). The end is come; the morning is come upon thee, O inhabitant of the land; behold the day cometh; the morning is gone forth (Ezek. 7:6-7, 10). Jehovah in the morning shall bring His judgment to light; nor shall He fail (Zeph. 3:5). God is in the midst of her; God shall help her at the return of the morning (Ps. 46:5). I have waited for Jehovah; my soul looketh for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning, I say, more than watchmen for the morning; for with Him is plenteous redemption, and He will redeem Israel (Ps. 130:5-8). [2] In these passages “evening” and “night” mean the last time of the church, and “morning” the first. The Lord Himself is also called the morning in the following passages: The God of Israel said, The Rock of Israel spoke to Me. He shall be as the light of the morning, a morning without clouds (2 Sam. 23:3-4). I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning Star (Rev. 22:16). From the womb of the morning Thou hast the dew of Thy youth (Ps. 110:3). These passages refer to the Lord. Because the Lord is the morning, He arose from the sepulchre early in the morning, being about to begin a new church (Mark 16:2, 9). [3] That it is the Lord’s coming that is to be waited for can be clearly seen from His prediction respecting it in Matthew: As Jesus was sitting upon the Mount of Olives the disciples drew near unto Him privately, saying, Tell us, what shall be the sign of Thy coming, and of the consummation of the age? (Matt. 24:3). After the tribulation of those days the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken; and then shall appear the sign of the Son of man; and they shall 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 shall also the coming of the Son of man be. Therefore be ye also ready; for in an hour that ye think not, shall the Son of man come (Matt. 24:37, 39, 44, 46). In Luke: When the Son of man cometh, shall He find faith on the earth? (Luke 18:8). In John: Jesus said of John, If I will that he tarry till I come (John 21:22-23). [4] In the Acts of the Apostles: When they saw Jesus taken up into heaven, two men stood by them in white apparel, who said, Jesus, who is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have see Him go into heaven (Acts 1:9-11). In the Apocalypse: The Lord God of the holy prophets sent His angel to show unto His servants the things which must shortly be done. Behold I come quickly; blessed is he that keepeth the words of the prophecy of this book. Behold I come quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to his work (Rev. 22:6-7, 12). And again: I Jesus have sent Mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, the bright and morning Star. And the Spirit and the bride say, Come; and he that heareth, let him say, Come; and he that is athirst, let him come; and he that wisheth, let him take the water of life freely (Rev. 22:16-17). He that testifieth these things saith, Yea, I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come Lord Jesus. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen (Rev. 22:20-21).

766.

The Lord is present with every man, urging and pressing to be received; and His first coming, which is called the dawn, is when man receives Him, which he does when he acknowledges Him as his God, Creator, Redeemer, and Savior. From this time man’s understanding begins to be enlightened in spiritual things, and to advance into a more and more interior wisdom; and as he receives this wisdom from the Lord, he advances through morning into day, and this day lasts with him into old age, even to death; and after death he passes into heaven to the Lord Himself; and there, although he died an old man, he is restored to the morning of his life, and the rudiments of the wisdom implanted in him in the natural world grow to eternity.

767.

The man who has faith in the Lord and charity toward the neighbor is a church in particular; and the church in general is composed of such. It is wonderful that every angel, in whatever direction he turns his body and face, sees the Lord in front of him; the Lord being the sun of the angelic heaven; and this appears before their eyes when they are engaged in spiritual meditation. The same is true, in respect to the sight of his spirit, of any man in the world in whom the church is; but because this sight is veiled over by the natural sight, to which the other senses add their allurements, and because the objects of these senses are such things as pertain to the body and the world, this state of the man’s spirit is unknown. This seeing the Lord in front, however one may turn, originates in this, that all truth (which is the source of wisdom and faith), and all good (through which love and charity exist), are from the Lord, and are the Lord’s in man; consequently every truth of wisdom is like a mirror in which the Lord is seen, and every good of love is an image of the Lord. This is the cause of this wonderful appearance. [2] But an evil spirit constantly turns away from the Lord, and looks continually to his own love, and this he does in whatever direction he turns his body and face. The cause of this is the same, but reversed; for every evil is an image, in a sort of form, of a man’s ruling love, and falsity therefrom presents that image as in a mirror. [3] That some such thing is also implanted in nature may be inferred from certain plants, in their striving to rise above the herbage that surrounds them, to look at the sun; and again from the fact that some of them turn towards the sun from his rising to the end of the day that they may ripen under his auspices. Nor do I doubt that there is a like endeavor and effort in all the twigs and branches of every tree; but not being elastic enough to bend and turn, the act is checked. Moreover, it is clear to anyone investigating the matter, that all the whirlpools either of inland or ocean waters spontaneously follow in their motion the general course of the sun. [4] Why, then, should not man, who was created in the image of God, so turn, unless by means of his gift of freedom of choice he turns that endeavor and effort, implanted in him by the Creator, in another direction? This may also be likened to a bride’s constantly keeping before the sight of her spirit something of the image of her betrothed, and seeing him in his gifts as in mirrors, longing for his coming, and when he comes receiving him with the joy in which her bosom’s love finds its delight.

768.

V. THE LORD’S COMING IS NOT HIS COMING TO DESTROY THE VISIBLE HEAVEN AND THE HABITABLE EARTH, AND TO CREATE A NEW HEAVEN AND A NEW EARTH, AS MANY, FROM NOT UNDERSTANDING THE SPIRITUAL SENSE OF THE WORD, HAVE HITHERTO SUPPOSED. The prevailing opinion in the churches at the present day is, that when the Lord shall come for the last judgment, He will appear in the clouds of heaven with angels and the sound of trumpets; will gather together all who still dwell on the earth, together with all who have died; will separate the wicked from the good, as a shepherd separates the goats from the sheep; will then cast the wicked or the goats into hell, and will raise the good or the sheep into heaven; and at the same time will create a new visible heaven and a new habitable earth, and will send down upon that earth the city called the New Jerusalem, built according to the description of it in the Apocalypse (chap. 21), that is, of jasper and gold, and the foundations of its wall of every precious stone, while its height, breadth, and length will be equal, each twelve thousand furlongs; also that into that city will be gathered all the elect, both those who are still alive and those who have died since the beginning of the world; that these will then return into their bodies, and in that magnificent city, as their heaven, will enjoy eternal blessedness. This is the prevailing opinion in the Christian churches of today respecting the Lord’s coming and the last judgment.

769.

In respect to the state of souls after death, the belief universally and in each instance is that human souls after death are airy things (some cherishing the idea that they are like a puff of wind), and being such, they are reserved until the day of the last judgment either in the center of the earth, where their abode is, or in the limbus of the fathers. But on these points they differ, some holding that souls are ethereal or aerial forms and thus are like phantoms and specters, some of them dwelling in the air, some in the forests, some in the waters; others holding that the souls of the dead are transferred to the planets or to the stars, and have habitations given to them there; and some believe that after a thousand years they will return into their bodies; but the majority believe that they are reserved for the time when the entire firmament together with the terraqueous globe will be destroyed, which will be done by fire breaking forth from the center of the earth or hurled down like universal lightning from heaven; that then the graves will be opened, and the reserved souls will be clothed again with their bodies, and transported to that holy city, Jerusalem, and so will dwell together on another earth in lustrous bodies, some lower down in that city, some higher up; for the height of it, like its breadth and length, will be twelve thousand furlongs (Apoc. 21:16).

770.

When a clergyman or a layman is asked whether he firmly believes all these things, as that the antediluvians together with Adam and Eve, and the postdiluvians together with Noah and his sons, and Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, together with all the prophets and apostles, as well as the souls of all other men, are still reserved in the bowels of the earth or are flying about in the ether or air; as also whether he believes that souls will be re-clothed with their bodies or be reunited with them, when yet these dead bodies have been eaten up by worms and mice and fishes, and Egyptian bodies as mummies have been eaten up by men, and others are mere skeletons dried up in the sun and crumbled to dust; also whether he believes that the stars of heaven will then fall upon the earth, which, however, is smaller than a single one of them; and whether these things are not absurdities which reason itself dissipates, as it does anything contradictory; to these things some will make no reply; some will say, “These things are matters of faith, to which we keep the understanding in obedience;” some that not only these but many other matters that are above reason belong to the Divine omnipotence. And when they mention faith and omnipotence, reason is exiled, and sound reason either disappears and becomes as nothing, or becomes as a specter, and is called insane. They add, “Are not these things in accordance with the Word? Must not everyone think and speak from that?”

771.

It has been shown in the chapter on the Sacred Scripture that the Word in the letter was written by appearances and correspondences, consequently in all its particulars there is a spiritual sense, and in that sense the truth is in its own light while the sense of the letter is in shade. In order therefore that the man of the New Church may not wander about, like the man of the old, in the shade that obscures the sense of the letter of the Word, especially in respect to heaven and hell and man’s life after death, and here in respect to the Lord’s coming, it has pleased the Lord to open the sight of my spirit, and thus introduce me into the spiritual world, and permit me not only to talk with spirits and angels, relatives and friends, and even with kings and princes who have finished their course in the natural world, but also to see the wonders of heaven and the miseries of hell, and thus to learn that man does not abide in some indefinite place in the earth, nor fly about blind and dumb in the air or in vacancy, but lives as a man in a substantial body in a much more perfect state (if he is among the blessed), than that in which he formerly lived when in the material body. In order therefore, that man from ignorance may not immerse himself still more deeply in this opinion respecting the destruction of the visible heaven and habitable earth, and in respect also to the spiritual world (because of which ignorance naturalism together with atheism, which among the learned has begun to take root in the interior rational mind, is spreading more widely, like mortification in the flesh, even extending to the external mind from which man speaks), I have been commanded by the Lord to make known various things that I have seen and heard respecting Heaven and Hell and respecting the Last judgment, and also to explain the Apocalypse, which treats of the Lord’s coming the former heaven, the new heaven, and the holy Jerusalem. From these, when they have been read and understood, anyone can see what is meant by the Lord’s coming, the new heaven, and the New Jerusalem.

772.

VI. THIS COMING OF THE LORD WHICH IS HIS SECOND COMING, IS TAKING PLACE IN ORDER THAT THE EVIL MAY BE SEPARATED FROM THE GOOD, AND THAT THOSE WHO HAVE BELIEVED AND DO BELIEVE IN HIM, MAY BE SAVED, AND THAT FROM THEM A NEW ANGELIC HEAVEN AND A NEW CHURCH ON EARTH MAY BE FORMED; AND WITHOUT THIS, NO FLESH COULD BE SAVED (Matt. 24:22). That this second coming of the Lord does not take place for the purpose of destroying the visible heaven and habitable earth, has been shown in the preceding section. That it is not for the purpose of destroying anything, but to build up, consequently not to condemn but to save those who since His first coming have believed in Him and also those who may hereafter believe in Him, is evident from these words of the Lord: God sent not His Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world through Him might be saved; he that believeth on Him is not judged, but he that believeth not hath been judged already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God (John 3:17, 18). And elsewhere: If any man hear My words and believe not, I judge him not; for I came not to judge the world but to save the world: He that despiseth Me and receiveth not My words, hath one that judgeth him; the Word that I have spoken shall judge him in the last day (John 12:47-48). That the last judgment took place in the spiritual world in the year 1757 has been shown in the little work on The Last Judgment (London, 1758); and further in a Continuation on the Last Judgment, (Amsterdam, 1763). To all this I can testify, because I saw it with my own eyes in a state of full wakefulness.

773.

The Lord’s coming is for the purpose of forming a new heaven of those who have believed in Him, and for the purpose of establishing a new church of those who shall hereafter believe in Him, inasmuch as these two are the ends for which He came. The very end for which the universe was created was no other than the formation from men of an angelic heaven, where all who believe in God shall live forever in eternal blessedness; for the Divine love which is in God and essentially is God, can intend nothing else, and the Divine wisdom which is also in God and is God, can effect nothing else. As the end for which the universe was created was an angelic heaven from the human race, and at the same time a church on earth (for man enters heaven through the church); and as the salvation of men (which is to be effected in men who are to be born in the world), is thus the continuation of creation, so throughout the Word the term “to create,” which is frequently used, means to form for heaven, as in the following passages: Create for me a clean heart, O God, and renew a firm spirit in the midst of me (Ps. 51:10). Thou openest Thine hand, they are satisfied with good; Thou sendest forth Thy Spirit, they are created (Ps. 104:28, 30). A people that shall be created shall praise Jah (Ps. 102:18). Thus hath said Jehovah thy Creator, O Jacob, and thy Former, O Israel; I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name, thou art Mine. Everyone that is called by My name into My glory have I created him (Isa. 43:1, 7). In the day that thou wast created they were prepared. Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee (Ezek. 28:13, 15). This is said of the king of Tyre: That they may see, know, consider and understand that the hand of Jehovah hath done it, and the Holy One of Israel hath created it (Isa. 41:20). From all this the meaning of the term “to create” in the following passages can be seen: Jehovah creating the heavens, spreading forth the earth, giving breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk in it (Isa. 42:5; 45:12, 18). Behold I create a new heaven and a new earth; be ye glad forever in that which I create; for behold I create Jerusalem a rejoicing (Isa. 65:17, 18).

774.

The Lord’s presence is unceasing with every man, both the evil and the good, for without His presence no man lives; but His Coming is only to those who receive Him, who are such as believe on Him and keep His commandments. The Lord’s unceasing presence causes man to become rational, and gives him the ability to become spiritual. This is effected by the light that goes forth from the Lord as the sun in the spiritual world, and that man receives in his understanding; that light is truth, and by means of it man has rationality. But the Lord’s coming is to him who joins heat with that light, that is, love with truth; for the heat that goes forth from that same sun is love to God and love toward the neighbor. The mere presence of the Lord, and the consequent enlightenment of the understanding, may be likened to presence of solar light in the world; unless this light is joined with heat all things on earth become desolate. But the coming of the Lord may be likened to the coming of heat, which takes place in spring; because heat then joins itself with light, the earth is softened, and seeds sprout and bring forth fruit. Such is the parallelism between the spiritual things which are the environment of man’s spirit, and the natural things which are the environment of his body.

775.

The same is true of the man of the church in the composite or collective sense as of the individual or single man. Man in the collective or composite sense is the church among many, while the individual or single man is the church in anyone of those many. It is according to Divine order that there should be what is general and what is particular, and that both should be together in every single thing, and that otherwise particulars cannot have existence and permanence; just as there are no particulars within man without generals by which they are surrounded. The particulars in man are the viscera and their parts, and the generals are the coverings which surround not only the whole man, but also everyone of the viscera, and every single part thereof. The same is true of every beast, bird, and worm; also every tree, shrub, and seed; nor can a tone be produced by a stringed instrument or the breath, unless there is a most general from which each least particular of the modulation derives its general, in order to exist. The same is true of every bodily sense, as sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch; and also of all the internal senses, which belong to the mind. All this has been said by way of illustration, to make clear that in the church also there is what is general and what is particular, also what is most general; and that this is why there have been four preceding churches in order, from which progression what is most general in the church has arisen, and in succession the general and the particular of each church. In man also there are two most general things from which all the generals and the several particulars derive their existence. In his body these two most general things are the heart and lungs; in his spirit they are the will and understanding. On these four depend all things pertaining to his life, both in general and in particular, all of which without them would fall asunder and die. And so would it be with the whole angelic heaven, and with the whole human race, and even with the whole created universe, if they did not all in general, and each in particular depend on God, on His love and His wisdom.

776.

VII. THIS SECOND COMING OF THE LORD IS NOT A COMING IN PERSON, BUT IN THE WORD, WHICH IS FROM HIM, AND IS HIMSELF. It is written in many places that the Lord will come in the clouds of heaven (as in Matt. 17:5; 24:30; 26:64; Mark 14:62; Luke 9:34, 35; 21:27; Rev. 1:7; 14:14; Dan. 7:13). And as no one has hitherto known what is meant by “the clouds of heaven,” it has been believed that the Lord would appear in them in Person. Heretofore it has not been known that “the clouds of heaven” mean the Word in the sense of the letter, and that the “glory and power” in which He is then to come (Matt. 24:30), mean the spiritual sense of the Word, because no one as yet has had the least conjecture that there is a spiritual sense in the Word, such as this sense is in itself. But as the Lord has now opened to me the spiritual sense of the Word, and has granted me to be associated with angels and spirits in their world as one of them, it is disclosed that “a cloud of heaven” means the Word in the natural sense, and “glory” the Word in the spiritual sense, and “power” the Lord’s power through the Word. That such is the signification of “the clouds of heaven” may be seen from the following passages in the Word: There is none like unto the God of Jeshurun who rideth in the heaven, and in magnificence upon the clouds (Deut. 33:26-27). Sing unto God, praise His name; extol Him that rideth upon the clouds (Ps. 68:4). Jehovah rideth upon a light cloud (Isa. 19:1). [2] “To ride” signifies to instruct in Divine truths from the Word, for “a horse” signifies understanding of the Word (see Apocalypse Revealed, n. 298). Who does not see that God does not ride upon the clouds? Again: God rode upon cherubs. He made His pavilion thick clouds of the heavens (Ps. 18:10, 11). “Cherubs” also signify the Word (see Apocalypse Revealed, n. 239, 672). Jehovah bindeth up the waters in His clouds; Him spreadeth His cloud over His throne (Job 26:8, 9). Give ye strength unto God; His strength is in the clouds (Ps. 68:34). Jehovah will create over every dwelling of Mount Zion a cloud by day; for over all the glory shall be a covering (Isa. 4:5). The Word in the sense of the letter was also represented by the cloud in which Jehovah descended upon Mount Sinai, when He promulgated the law; the principles of the law that were then promulgated were the first fruits of the Word. [3] As further proof, the following may also be added: In the spiritual world as well as in the natural world there are clouds, but from a different origin. In the spiritual world there are sometimes bright clouds over the angelic heavens, but dusky cloud over the hells. The bright clouds over the angelic heaven signify obscurity there arising from the literal sense of the Word; but when these clouds are dispersed, it signifies that they are in the clear light of the Word from the spiritual sense; while the dusky clouds over the hells signify the falsification and profanation of the Word. This signification of “clouds” in the spiritual world has its origin in the fact that the light which there goes forth from the Lord as a sun, signifies Divine truth; for which reason He is called “the Light” (John 1:9; 12:35). And for the same reason the Word itself there which is kept in the sacred recesses of the temples, appears surrounded by a clear white light, and its obscurity is induced by clouds.

777.

That the Lord is the Word can be clearly seen from the following in John: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word. And the Word was made flesh (John 1:1, 14). “The Word” means here Divine truth because Divine truth among Christians is from no other source than the Word, which is the fountain from which all churches bearing the name of Christ draw living waters in their fullness; and yet a church accepting the Word in its natural sense is, as it were, in a cloud, but one accepting it in its spiritual and celestial senses is in glory and power. That there are three senses in the Word, a natural, a spiritual, and a celestial, one within the other, has been shown in the chapter on the Sacred Scripture, and in the chapter on the Decalogue or Catechism. From all this it is clear that “the Word” in John means Divine truth. John also bears testimony to this in his first Epistle: We know that the Son of God hath come, and hath given us an understanding that we may know Him that is true, and we are in Him that is true, even in His Son Jesus Christ (5:20). This is why the Lord so frequently said, “Verily I say unto you,” verily [amen] in the Hebrew language meaning truth (That He is “the Amen” see Apoc. 3:14, and “the Truth” John 14:6.) Moreover, when the learned men of the present day are asked what they understand by “the Word” in John (1:1), they say that it means the Word in its preeminence; yet what is the Word in its preeminence but Divine truth? From all this it is evident that the Lord is now to appear in the Word. He is not to appear in Person, because since He ascended into heaven He is in His glorified Human, and in this He cannot appear to any man unless the eyes of his spirit are first opened; and this cannot be done in anyone who is in evils and consequent falsities, thus not in any of the goats whom He sets on His left hand. Therefore when He showed Himself to His disciples, He first opened their eyes, for it is written: And their eyes were opened, and they knew Him and He vanished out of their sight (Luke 24:31). The same took place with the women who were at the sepulchre after the resurrection, and in consequence they also saw angels sitting in the sepulchre and talking with them, and angels cannot be seen with the material eye. Neither did the apostles before the resurrection see the Lord in His glorified Human with their bodily eyes, but in spirit, which seems, after one is awakened from it, like the state of sleep. This is evident from the Lord’s transfiguration before Peter, James, and John, for it is said, That they were heavy with sleep (Luke 9:32). It is idle therefore, to believe that the Lord will appear in the clouds of heaven in Person; but He is to appear in the Word, which is from Him and therefore is Himself.

778.

Every man is his own love and his own intelligence, and whatever proceeds from him derives its essence from those two essentials or properties of his life. Therefore the angels, from a brief interaction with a man, recognize what he is essentially; they know his love from the tone of his voice, and his intelligence from his speech. This is because there are two universals of life belonging to every man, the will and the understanding. The will is the receptacle and abode of his love, and the understanding the receptacle and abode of his intelligence. Therefore all things whatever, whether action or speech, that proceed from man, constitute the man and are the man himself. In like manner, but in a preeminent degree the Lord is Divine love and Divine wisdom, or what is the same thing, Divine good and Divine truth; for His will is of the Divine love and the Divine love is of His will, while His understanding is of the Divine wisdom and the Divine wisdom is of His understanding; the Human form is their containant. From this some idea may be formed of how the Lord is the Word. But on the contrary, he who is antagonistic to the Word, that is, to the Divine truth therein, consequently, to the Lord and His church, is his own evil and his own falsity, both in reference to his mind and in reference to the effects thereof, relating to actions and words, which proceed from the body.

779.

VIII. THIS SECOND COMING OF THE LORD IS EFFECTED BY MEANS OF A MAN TO WHOM THE LORD HAS MANIFESTED HIMSELF IN PERSON, AND WHOM HE HAS FILLED WITH HIS SPIRIT, THAT HE MAY TEACH THE DOCTRINES OF THE NEW CHURCH FROM THE LORD BY MEANS OF THE WORD. Since the Lord cannot manifest Himself in Person, as shown just above, and nevertheless has foretold that He was to come and establish a new church, which is the New Jerusalem, it follows that He will do this by means of a man, who is able not only to receive these doctrines in his understanding but also to publish them by the press. That the Lord manifested Himself before me, His servant, and sent me to this office, that He afterward opened the eyes of my spirit and thus introduced me into the spiritual world and granted me to see the heavens and the hells, and to talk with angels and spirits, and this now continuously for several years, I affirm in truth; as also that from the first day of that call I have not received anything whatever pertaining to the doctrines of that church from any angel, but from the Lord alone while I have read the Word.

780.

In order that the Lord might be continuously present with me He has unfolded to me the spiritual sense of His Word, wherein is Divine truth in its very light, and it is in this light that He is continually present. For His presence in the Word is by means of the spiritual sense and in so other way; through the light of this sense He passes into the obscurity of the literal sense, which is like what takes place when the light of the sun in day-time is passing through an interposing cloud. That the sense of the letter of the Word is like a cloud, and the spiritual sense is the glory, the Lord Himself being the sun from which the light comes, and that thus the Lord is the Word, has been shown above. That “the glory” in which He is to come (Matt. 24:30), signifies Divine truth in its light, in which light the spiritual sense of the Word is, can be clearly seen from the following passages: The voice of one crying in the desert, prepare ye the way of Jehovah; the glory of Jehovah shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it (Isa. 40:3, 5). Shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of Jehovah is risen upon thee (Isa. 40:1 to the end). I will give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles, and My glory will I not give to another (Isa. 42:6, 8; 48:11). Thy light shall break forth as the morning; the glory of Jehovah shall gather thee up (Isa. 48:8). All the earth shall be filled with the glory of Jehovah (Num. 14:21; Isa. 6:1-3; 46:18). In the beginning was the Word; in Him was life, and the life was the light of men. That was the true Light. And the Word was made flesh, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father (John 1:1, 4, 9, 14). The heavens declare the glory of God (Ps. 19:1). The glory of God will lighten the Holy Jerusalem, and the Lamb is the light thereof, and the nations that are saved shall walk in the light of it (Apoc. 21:23, 24). Besides in many other places. “Glory” signifies Divine truth its fullness, because all that is magnificent in heaven is from the light that goes forth from the Lord, and the light going forth from Him as the sun there, is in its essence Divine truth.

781.

IX. THIS IS WHAT IS MEANT IN THE APOCALYPSE BY “THE NEW HEAVEN AND THE NEW EARTH,” AND “THE NEW JERUSALEM” DESCENDING THEREFROM. We read in the Apocalypse: I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away. And I John saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband (Rev. 21:1-2). Something like this is also written in Isaiah: Behold, I create a new heaven and a new earth; be ye glad and rejoice forever; and behold, I will create Jerusalem a rejoicing and her people a joy (Rev. 65:17-18). It has been made known previously in this chapter that the Lord is at this day forming a new heaven from such Christians as acknowledged in the world, or after their departure from the world were able to acknowledge, that He is the God of heaven and earth, according to His words in Matthew (28:18).

782.

By the New Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven (Rev. 21), a new church is meant for the reason that Jerusalem was the metropolis in the land of Canaan, and the temple and altar were there, and the sacrifices were offered there, thus the Divine worship itself, to which every male of the whole land was commanded to go three times a year, was celebrated there; and also for the reason that the Lord was in Jerusalem, and taught in its temple, and afterward glorified His Human there. This is why “Jerusalem” signifies the church. That “Jerusalem” means the church can be clearly seen from the prophecies in the Old Testament respecting the new church to be established by the Lord, in that it is there called “Jerusalem.” [2] Those passages only shall be here cited from which anyone endowed with interior reason can see that “Jerusalem” there means the church. These are the following: Behold, I create a new heaven and a new earth, and the former shall not be remembered. Behold, I will create Jerusalem a rejoicing and her people a gladness; that I may rejoice over Jerusalem and be glad over My people. Then the wolf and the lamb shall feed together; they shall not do evil in the whole mountain of My holiness (Isa. 65:17-19, 25). For Zion’s sake will I not be silent, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and her salvation as a lamp burneth. Then the nations shall see thy righteousness, and all kings thy glory, and thou shalt be called by a new name which the mouth of Jehovah shall utter. And thou shalt also be a crown of beauty in the hand of Jehovah, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God. Jehovah delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married. Behold, thy salvation cometh; behold, His reward is with Him; and they shall call them the people of holiness, the redeemed of Jehovah; and thou shalt be called a city sought out, not forsaken (Isa. 62:1-4, 11-12). [3] Awake, awake; put on thy strength, O Zion; put on the garments of thy beauty, O Jerusalem, the holy city; for henceforth there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean. Shake thyself from the dust; arise, sit down, O Jerusalem. My people shall know My name in that day, for I am He that doth speak; behold, it is I. Jehovah hath comforted His people; He hath redeemed Jerusalem (Isa. 52:1, 2, 6, 9). Sing for joy, O daughter of Zion; be glad with all the heart, O daughter of Jerusalem; the king of Israel is in the midst of thee; thou shall not fear evil any more; He will rejoice over thee with joy; He will rest in thy love; He will joy over thee with singing; I will make you a name and a praise among all people of the earth (Zeph. 3:14-17, 20). Thus said Jehovah thy Redeemer, saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be inhabited (Isa. 44:24, 26). Thus saith Jehovah: I will return unto Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem; whence Jerusalem shall be called a city of truth, and the mountain of Jehovah of Hosts the holy mountain (Zech. 8:3, 20-23). Then shall ye know that I am Jehovah your God dwelling in Zion, the mountain of holiness, and Jerusalem shall be holiness; and it shall come to pass in that day, that the mountains shall drop down new wine, and the hills shall flow with milk. And Jerusalem shall abide to generation and generation (Joel 3:17-21). [4] In that day shall the shoot of Jehovah be for beauty and glory, and it shall come to pass, that he that is left in Zion and he that remaineth in Jerusalem, shall be called holy everyone that is written unto life in Jerusalem (Isa. 4:2, 3). In the end of days it shall be that the mountain of the house of Jehovah shall be established as the head of the mountains; for out of Zion shall go forth doctrine, and the Word of Jehovah from Jerusalem (Micah 4:1, 2, 8). At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of Jehovah and all nations shall be gathered unto it, because of the name of Jehovah at Jerusalem; neither shall they walk any more after the stubbornness of their evil heart (Jer. 3:17). Look upon Zion, the city of our set feast; let thine eye see Jerusalem a quiet habitation, a tabernacle that shall not be taken down; the stakes thereof shall never be removed; and the cords thereof shall not be broken (Isa. 33:20). (So also elsewhere, as in 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] That “Jerusalem” means here a church about to be established by the Lord, and not the Jerusalem inhabited by the Jews, is evident from the particulars of its description in the passages quoted; as that Jehovah God was to create a new heaven and a new earth, and after that Jerusalem; and that she should be a crown of glory and a royal diadem; that she should be called holiness, a city of truth, the throne of Jehovah, a quiet habitation, a tabernacle that should not be taken down; that there the wolf and the lamb are to feed together; that the mountains there will drop down new wine, and the hills flow with milk, and Jerusalem shall abide to generation and generation, with many other things. It is also said of the people there that they are holy, that they are all written unto life, and shall be called the redeemed of Jehovah. All these passages, moreover, treat of the Lord’s coming, especially of His second coming, when Jerusalem is to be such as is there described; for until then she was not married, that is, made the bride and wife of the Lamb, as the New Jerusalem is said to be in the Apocalypse. [6] The former church (that is, the existing church), is meant by “Jerusalem” in Daniel, and its beginning is there described as follows: Know and perceive, that from the going forth of the Word, even to the restoration and building of Jerusalem, even to the Messiah the prince shall be seven weeks. After the threescore and two weeks it shall be restored and built with street and moat, but in straitness of times (Dan. 9:25). But its end is there described by the following: At last upon the bird of abominations shall be desolation; and even to the consummation and decision shall it drop upon the devastation (Dan. 9:27). This last passage is referred to by the Lord’s words in Matthew: When ye shall see the abomination of desolation predicted by Daniel the prophet standing in the holy place let him that readeth note it well (Matt. 24:15). That “Jerusalem” in the foregoing passages does not mean the Jerusalem inhabited by the Jews can be seen from those passages in the Word where the latter is said to be utterly lost, and destined to be destroyed (as in Jer. 5:1; 6:6, 7; 7:17-34; 8:6-22; 9:10-22; 13:9, 10, 14; 14:16; Lam. 1:8, 9, 17; Ezek. 4; 5:9-17; 12:8, 19; 15:6-8; 16; 23; Matt. 23:37, 38; Luke 19:41-44; 21:20- 22; 23:28-30; besides many other passages); as also from the passages where it is called “Sodom” (Isa. 3:9; Jer. 23:14; Ezek. 16:46, 48; and elsewhere).

783.

That the church is the Lord’s, and that from the spiritual marriage, which is that of good and truth, the Lord is called the Bridegroom and Husband, and the church the bride and wife, is well known to Christians from the Word, especially from the following. John said of the Lord: He that hath the bride is the bridegroom, but the friend of the bridegroom, who standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth because of the bridegroom’s voice (John 3:29). Jesus said, The children of the bridechamber cannot mourn so long as the bridegroom is with them (Matt. 9:15; Mark 2:19-20; Luke 5:34-35). I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband (Rev. 21:2). The angel said to John: Come, I will show thee the bride, the wife of the Lamb, and from a mountain he showed him the holy city Jerusalem (Rev. 21:9-10). The time of the marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife hath made herself ready. Blessed are they that have been called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb (Rev. 19:7, 9). I am the root and the offspring of David, the bright and morning Star. And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And he that is athirst, let him come, and he that willeth, let him take the water of life freely (Rev. 22:16-17).

784.

It is in accordance with Divine order that a new heaven should be formed before a new church is established on earth, for the church is both internal and external, and the internal church makes one with the church in heaven, thus with heaven itself; and what is internal must be formed before its external, what is external being formed afterwards by means of its internal. This is well known in the world among the clergy. Just so far as this new heaven, which constitutes the internal of the church with man, increases, does the New Jerusalem, that is, the New Church, descend from it; consequently this cannot take place in a moment, but it takes place to the extent that the falsities of the former church are set aside. For where falsities have already been implanted what is new cannot enter until the falsities have been rooted out, and this will take place with the clergy, and so with the laity; for the Lord said: No one puts new wine into old wineskins, else the skins burst and the wine is spilled, but they put new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved (Matt. 9:17; Mark 2:22; Luke 5:37-38). That these things take place only at the consummation of the age, by which is meant the end of the church, can be seen from these words of the Lord: Jesus said, The kingdom of the heavens is like unto a man who sowed good seed in his field; but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went away; but when the blade sprang up, then appeared the tares also. The servants came and said, Wilt thou that we go and gather them up? But he said, Nay; lest haply while ye gather up the tares, ye root up the wheat with them; let both grow together until the harvest; and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Collect first the tares and bind them in bundles to burn; but gather the wheat into my barn. The harvest is the consummation of the age; as the tares are gathered and burned with fire, so shall it be in the consummation of the age (Matt. 13:24-30, 39-40). “Wheat” means here the truths and goods of the new church, and “tares” the falsities and evils of the former church. In the first section of this chapter it can be seen that “the consummation of the age” means the end of the church.

785.

That there is in everything an internal and an external, and that the external depends on the internal as the body does on its soul, every single thing in the world shows when it is properly examined. In man this is manifest. As his entire body is from his mind, so in each thing that proceeds from man there is an internal and an external; in his every action there is the mind’s will, and in his every word the mind’s understanding, so also in his every sensation. In every bird and beast, and even in every insect and worm, there is an internal and an external; and again in every tree, plant, and germ, and even in every stone and every particle of soil. A few facts relating to the silk-worm, the bee, and dust, will suffice to make this clear. The internal of the silk-worm is that whereby its external is moved to weave its cocoon, and afterward to fly forth as a butterfly. The internal of the bee is that whereby its external is moved to suck honey from flowers, and to build its cells in wonderful forms. The internal of a particle of soil whereby its external is moved, is its endeavor to fecundate seed; it exhales from its little bosom something which introduces itself into the inmosts of the seed, and produces this effect; and this internal follows the growth of the seed even to new seed. The same takes place in things of an opposite character, in which there is also an internal and an external; as in the spider, whose internal, whereby its external is moved, is the ability and consequent inclination to construct an ingenious web, at the center of which it lies in wait for the flies that fly into it, which it eats. It is the same with every noxious worm, every serpent, and every beast of the forest; as also with every impious, cunning, and treacherous man.

786.

X. THIS NEW CHURCH IS THE CROWN OF ALL THE CHURCHES THAT HAVE HITHERTO EXISTED ON THE EARTH. It has been shown above that there have been, in general, from the beginning, four churches on this earth, one before the flood, the second after it, the third the Israelitish church, and the fourth that which is called the Christian church; and as all churches depend on a knowledge and acknowledgment of one God, with whom the man of the church can be conjoined, and as none of these four churches has possessed that truth, it follows that a church must follow these four which will know and acknowledge one God. The sole end of God’s Divine love, when He created the world, was to conjoin man to Himself and Himself to man that He might thus dwell with man. This truth the former churches did not possess, the Most Ancient church, which preceded the flood, worshiping an invisible God with whom no conjunction is possible; the Ancient church which followed the flood, did likewise; the Israelitish church worshiped Jehovah, who in Himself is an invisible God (Exod. 33:18-23), but under a human form, which Jehovah God put on by means of an angel, in which He was seen by Moses, Abraham, Sarah, Hagar, Gideon, Joshua, and sometimes by the prophets. This human form was a representative of the Lord who was to come, and because this was representative so each thing and all things in their church were made representative. It is a well known fact that the sacrifices and everything else pertaining to their worship represented the Lord who was to come, and that when He came they were abrogated. The fourth, which is called the Christian church, did indeed with the lips acknowledge one God, but in three Persons, each One of whom was singly or by Himself God; thus it acknowledged a divided Trinity, but not a Trinity united in one Person; and from this an idea of three Gods adhered to their minds, although the expression “one God” was on their lips. Moreover, the teachers of the church from that doctrine of theirs which they concocted after the Nicene Council, teach that men ought to believe in God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, all of them invisible, because existent in a similar Divine essence before the world was (although, as said above, with an invisible God no conjunction is possible), for they still do not know that the one God who is invisible came into the world and assumed a Human, not only that He might redeem men, but also that He might become visible, that thereby conjunction with man might become possible. For we read: The Word was with God, and God was the Word. And the Word was made flesh (John 1:1, 14). And in Isaiah: Unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given, and His name, God, Mighty, Father of Eternity (9:6). It is also frequently declared in the Prophets that Jehovah Himself would come into the world, and would be a Redeemer, which He also became in the Human which He assumed.

787.

This New Church is the crown of all the churches that have hitherto existed on the earth, because it is to worship one visible God in whom is the invisible like the soul in the body. Thus, and not otherwise, is a conjunction of God with man possible because man is natural, and therefore thinks naturally, and conjunction must exist in his thought, and thus in his love’s affection, and this is the case when he thinks of God as a Man. Conjunction with an invisible God is like a conjunction of the eye’s vision with the expanse of the universe, the limits of which are invisible; it is also like vision in mid-ocean, which reaches out into the air and upon the sea, and is lost. Conjunction with a visible God, on the other hand, is like beholding a man in the air or on the sea spreading forth his hands and inviting to his arms. For all conjunction of God with man must be also a reciprocal conjunction of man with God; and no such reciprocation is possible except with a visible God. That before the assumption of the Human, God was not visible, the Lord Himself also teaches in John: Ye have neither heard the voice of the Father at any time, nor seen His form (5:37). And in Moses: That no one can see God and live (Ex. 33:20). But that He is visible through His Humanity is stated in John: No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He hath manifested Him (1:18). And in the same: Jesus said I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; no one cometh unto the Father but by Me. He that knoweth Me, knoweth the Father, and he that seeth Me seeth the Father (14:6, 7, 9). That there is a conjunction with the invisible God through the visible, that is, through the Lord, He teaches in the following passages: Jesus said, Abide in Me, and I in you; he that abideth in Me and I in him, the same beareth much fruit (John 15:4, 5). In that day ye shall know that I am in the Father, and ye in Me and I in you (John 14:20). The glory which thou hast given Me I have given them, that they may be one, even as we are one; I in them and Thou in Me: that the love wherewith Thou hast loved Me may be in them, and I in them (John 17:21-23, 26; also 6:56). It is also taught that He and the Father are one, and that in order to have eternal life man must believe in Him. That salvation depends on conjunction with God has been frequently shown above.

788.

That this church is to follow those that have existed since the beginning of the world, and that it is to endure for ages of ages, and is thus to be the crown of all the churches that have preceded, was foretold by Daniel; first, when he narrated and explained to Nebuchadnezzar his dream of the four kingdoms (which mean the four churches that were represented by the statue that he saw), saying: In the days of those kings the God of the heavens shall make a kingdom to arise which shall not perish for ages, and it shall consume all those kingdoms; but itself shall stand for ages (Dan. 2:44). And this, he said, should be done, By a stone becoming a great rock and filling all the earth (verse 35); “rock” in the Word meaning the Lord in respect to Divine truth. The same prophet also says elsewhere: I saw in the night visions, and behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven and there was given Him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom; and all peoples, nations, and languages shall worship Him; His dominion is the dominion of an age, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom that which shall not be destroyed (7:13, 14). And this he said after he saw the four great beasts coming up out of the sea (verse 3), which beasts also represented the four prior churches. That all this was prophesied by Daniel respecting the present time, can be seen from his words in 12:4, as also, from the words of the Lord in Matt. 24:15, 30. Like things are said in the Apocalypse: The seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of the world are become our Lord’s and His Christ’s; and He shall reign unto the ages of the ages (11:15).

789.

Furthermore, the other prophets have made many predictions respecting this church, what its character would be, a few of which shall be cited: In Zechariah: It shall be one day that shall be known to Jehovah, not day nor night, for about the time of evening it shall be light. In that day living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; and Jehovah shall be king over all the earth; in that day shall there be one Jehovah and His name one (14:7-9) In Joel: And it shall come to pass in that day that the mountains shall drop down new wine, and the hills shall flow with milk; and Jerusalem shall abide to generation and generation (3:17-21). In Jeremiah: At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of Jehovah; and all the nations shall be gathered unto it, because of the name of Jehovah at Jerusalem; neither shall they walk any more after the stubbornness of their evil heart (3:17; Apoc. 21:24, 26). In Isaiah: Thine eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation, a tabernacle that shall not be taken down; the stakes thereof shall never be removed, and the cords thereof shall not be broken (33:20). [2] In these passages “Jerusalem” means the new and holy Jerusalem described in the Apocalypse (chap. 21), by which the New Church is meant. Again in Isaiah: There shall go forth a Shoot out of the stem of Jesse and righteousness shall be the girdle of His loins, and truth the girdle of His thigh. Therefore the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard with the kid, and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the basilisk’s den. They shall not do evil nor corrupt themselves in all the mountain of My holiness; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of Jehovah. In that day it shall come to pass that the nations shall seek the Root of Jesse which standeth for an ensign of the people; and His rest shall be glory (11:5-10). That such things have not yet taken place in the churches, least of all in the last, is well known. In Jeremiah: Behold the days come, in which I will make a new covenant; and this shall be the covenant, I will put My law in their inward parts, and upon their hearts will I write it, and I will be their God, and they shall be My people; and they shall all know Me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them (Jer. 31:31-34; Rev. 21:3). [3] That this state of things has not existed in the churches heretofore is also known. This was because men did not approach the visible God whom all shall know, because He is the Word or law which He will put in their inward parts and write upon their hearts. Again in Isaiah: For Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth; and thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of Jehovah shall declare; and thou shalt be a crown of beauty and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God. Jehovah shall delight in thee, and thy land shall be married. Behold, thy salvation cometh; behold, his reward is with Him. And they shall call them, the people of holiness, the redeemed of Jehovah, and thou shalt be called, a city sought out and not forsaken (Isa. 62:1-4, 11-12).

790.

What this church is to be is fully described in the Apocalypse, where the end of the former church and the beginning of the new are treated of. This New Church is described by the New Jerusalem, by its magnificence, and by its being the future bride and wife of the Lamb (19:7; 21:2, 9). Besides these I will cite only the following quotation from the Apocalypse: When the New Jerusalem was seen descending from heaven it was said: Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He shall dwell with them, and they shall be His peoples, Himself shall be with them, their God. And the nations that are saved shall walk in the light of it; and there shall be no night there. I Jesus have sent Mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning Star. And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And he that heareth, let him say, Come. And he that is athirst, let them come. And he that wisheth, let him take the water of life freely. Even so, come, Lord Jesus. Amen (Rev. 21:3, 24-25; 22:16-17, 20).

791.

NOTE. - After this work was finished the Lord called together His twelve disciples who followed Him in the world; and the next day He sent them all forth throughout the whole spiritual world to preach the Gospel that THE LORD GOD JESUS CHRIST reigns, whose kingdom shall be for ages and ages, according to the prediction in Daniel (7:13, 14), and in Revelation (11:15). Also that blessed are those that come to the marriage supper of the Lamb (Rev. 19:9). This took place on the nineteenth day of June, 1770. This is what is meant by these words of the Lord: He shall send His angels and they shall gather together His elect, from the end of the heavens to the end thereof (Matt. 24:31).

792.

SUPPLEMENT. THE SPIRITUAL WORLD. The spiritual world has been treated of in detail in the work entitled Heaven and Hell, in which many things relating to that world are described; and as every man enters that world after death, man’s state there is also described. Who does not know, or may not know, that man lives after death, because he is born a man and is created an image of God, and also because the Lord teaches it in His Word? But what his life is to be, has been hitherto unknown. It has been believed, that he would then be a soul, and of soul there has been no other idea than that of ether or air, thus that it is a mere breath, such as man breathes out from his mouth when he dies, in which, however, his vitality resides. It is also regarded as destitute of any sight like that of the eye, and of any hearing like that of the ear, and of any speech like that of the mouth. And yet, man after death is as much a man as he was before, so much so as to be unaware that he is not still in the former world; for he has sight, hearing, and speech as in the former world; he walks, runs, and sits, as in the former world; he lies down, sleeps, and awakes, as in the former world; he eats and drinks as in the former world; he enjoys marriage delight as in the former world; in a word, he is a man in each and every respect. From all this it is clear that death is not the extinction but the continuation of life, and is merely a transition.

793.

That man is as much a man after death as before, although he is not then visible to the eyes of the material body, can be seen from the appearance of the angels to Abraham, Hagar, Gideon, Daniel, and some of the prophets, also in the Lord’s sepulchre, and frequently afterwards to John as related in the Apocalypse; but especially from the Lord Himself, who showed by touch and by eating that He was a Man, and yet became invisible to the eyes of His disciples. Who can be so foolish as not to acknowledge that although He was invisible He was just as much a Man? His disciples saw Him because the eyes of their spirits were then opened; and when these are opened, the things of the spiritual world appear as clearly as those of the natural world. The difference between man in the natural world and man in the spiritual world is, that man in the spiritual world is clothed with a substantial body, but man in the natural world with a material body, within which is his substantial body; and the substantial man sees the substantial man just as clearly as the material man sees the material. But the substantial man cannot see the material man, nor the material man the substantial, because of the difference between what is material and what is substantial, the nature of which difference can be defined, but not in few words.

794.

From what I have seen during so many years, I can relate the following: In the spiritual world there are lands just as in the natural world, and there are plains and valleys, mountains and hills, also springs and rivers; there are parks, gardens, groves, and forests; there are cities, with palaces and houses in them; there are writings and books; there are occupations and business; there are gold, silver, and precious stones; in a word, there are all things and each thing there that are in the natural world; although the things in heaven are immeasurably more perfect. But there is this difference, that all things seen in the spiritual world are instantaneously created by the Lord, as the houses, parks, food, and the rest; and that they are created in correspondence with the interiors of angels and spirits, which are their affections and the thoughts therefrom; while all things seen in the natural world spring up and grow from seed.

795.

This being the case, and also because I have talked there daily with the nations and peoples of this world, both with those who are in Europe, and also, with those who are in Asia and Africa, thus with those of different religions, I will add as a supplement to this work a brief description of the state of some of these peoples. It must be borne in mind that in the spiritual world the state of every nation and people in general, and also of individuals, is in accordance with their acknowledgment and worship of God; and that all who in heart acknowledge God, and from this time on, all who acknowledge the Lord Jesus Christ as God, Redeemer, and Savior, are in heaven, while those who do not acknowledge Him are beneath heaven; where they are taught, and those who accept what they are taught, are raised up into heaven, but those who do not are cast down to hell; and to this class belong those who, like the Socinians, have approached God the Father only, or who like the Arians have denied the Divinity of the Lord’s Human. For the Lord said: I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; no man cometh unto the Father but through Me. (John 14:6). And to Philip who wished to see the Father; He said: He that hath seen and known Me, hath seen and known the Father (John 14:6 seq.).

796.

LUTHER, MELANCTHON, AND CALVIN IN THE SPIRITUAL WORLD. Having frequently talked with these three leaders, reformers of the Christian church, I have thus learned what the state of their life has been from its beginning in that world up to the present time. As for Luther, from the time that he entered the spiritual world he was a most vehement propagator and defender of his dogmas, and his zeal for them grew as the number of those from the earth who agreed with him and favored him increased. A house was given him there like the one he had at Eisleben while he lived in the body. In the center of this house he erected a sort of throne, somewhat elevated, where he sat; and through the open door he admitted hearers, and arranged them in classes, admitting to the class nearest to himself those who were the more favorable to him, and placing behind them those less favorable, and then he made set speeches to them, occasionally permitting questions in order that he might from some point resume the thread of his discourse. [2] In consequence of this general approval he at length acquired a power of persuasion which is so efficacious in the spiritual world that no one is able to resist it or speak against what is said. But as this was a kind of incantation used by the ancients, he was strictly forbidden to speak any more from that power of persuasion; and thereafter he taught, as he had done before, from the memory and understanding together. This power of persuasion, which is a kind of incantation, flows from the love of self; and on this account it finally becomes of such a nature that when anyone contradicts, not only is the subject in question attacked, but also, the person himself. [3] Such was the state of Luther’s life up to the time of the last judgement, which took place in the spiritual world in the year 1757. But a year after that, he was removed from his first house to another, and at the same time underwent a change of state. And then, having heard that I, while still in the natural world, could speak with those in the spiritual world, he among others came to me; and after some questions and answers, he saw that there is at this day an end of the former church and the beginning of a new church, respecting which Daniel prophesied, and which was predicted by the Lord Himself in the Gospels. He also saw that it is this new church that is meant by the New Jerusalem in the Apocalypse, and by “the eternal gospel” which the angel flying in the midst of heaven proclaimed unto them that dwell upon the earth (Rev. 14:6). At this he became very angry and railed. But as he observed the increase of the new heaven (which was formed and is still forming of those who acknowledge the Lord alone as the God of heaven and earth, according to His word in Matthew (28:18), and also that the number of his own congregations was daily diminishing, he ceased his railing, and then came nearer to me, and began to talk with me more familiarly. And when he had been convinced that he had got his chief dogma of justification by faith alone from his own intelligence and not from the Word, he suffered himself to be instructed respecting the Lord, charity, true faith, freedom of choice, and also respecting redemption, and this solely from the Word. [4] And finally when he had been convinced, he began to favor those truths out of which the New Church is built up, and finally to confirm himself in them more and more. At this time he was with me daily; and then, as often as he brought those truths together, he began to laugh at his former dogmas as things diametrically opposed to the Word; and I heard him say, “Do not wonder at my seizing upon justification by faith alone, excluding charity from its spiritual essence, and thus taking away from men all freedom of choice in things spiritual, and affirming other things that depend on faith alone once accepted, as links on a chain, since my object was to break away from the Roman Catholics, and this object I could compass and attain in no other way. I therefore do not wonder at my own errors, but I do wonder that one crazy man could make so many others crazy; so that they failed to see what is said in the Sacred Scriptures on the other side, although it is very manifest;” and as he said this he looked askance at certain dogmatic writers, men of celebrity in his time, faithful followers of his doctrine. [5] I was told by the examining angels that the reason why this leader was more nearly in a state of conversion than many others who had confirmed themselves in the doctrine of justification by faith alone, was that in his childhood, before he entered upon the Reformation, he had been imbued with the dogma of the preeminence of charity; and for this reason his teaching respecting charity was so excellent, both in his writings and in his preaching; and as a consequence, justifying faith with him was merely implanted in his external-natural man, and had not taken root in his internal-spiritual man. It is otherwise with those who in their childhood confirm themselves against the spirituality of charity; and this comes of itself when justification by faith alone is established by confirmations. I have talked with the prince of Saxony, with whom Luther had been associated in the world, and he told me that he had often reproved Luther, especially for separating charity from faith and declaring faith to be saving and charity not saving, when not only does Sacred Scripture join together these two universal means of salvation, but Paul even sets charity before faith, when he says, That there are three, faith, hope, charity, and that the greater of these is charity (1 Cor. 13:13). But he said that Luther as often replied that he could not do otherwise, because of the Roman Catholics. This prince is among the blessed.

797.

As to the lot of Melancthon when he first entered the spiritual world, and what it was afterward, I have been permitted to learn many things not only from angels but also from himself, for I have talked with him repeatedly, yet not so often nor so intimately as with Luther. The reason why I have not talked with him so often or so intimately is that he could not approach me as Luther did, because he had given his attention so fully to justification by faith alone, and not to charity; and I was surrounded by angelic spirits who were in charity, and who were a hindrance to his approaching me. [2] I have heard that when he first entered the spiritual world, a house was prepared for him like that in which he had dwelt in the world. This is done for most of the newcomers there, and for this reason they do not know but that they are still in the natural world, and the time that has passed since their death seems to them merely as a sleep. Also everything in his room was like what he formerly had; a similar table, a similar desk with compartments, and a similar library; so that as soon as he came there, as if he had just awakened from a sleep, he seated himself at the table and continued his writing, and that, too, on the subject of justification by faith alone, and so, on for several days, writing nothing whatever about charity. The angels perceiving this, asked him through messengers why he did not write about charity also. He replied that there is nothing of the church in charity, for if charity were to be received as in any way an essential attribute of the church, man would ascribe to himself the merit of justification and consequently of salvation, and thus he would rob faith of its spiritual essence. [3] When the angels who were over his head perceived this, and when the angels who were associated with him when he was outside of his house heard it (for angels are associated with every newcomer at the beginning), they all withdrew. A few weeks after this occurred, the things that he used in his room began to be obscured and at length to disappear, until at last there was nothing left there but the table, paper, and ink stand; and, moreover, the walls of his room seemed to be plastered with lime, and the floor to be covered with a yellowish, brick-like material, and he himself to be in coarser clothing. Wondering at this, he asked of those about him why it was so, and was told that it was because he had separated charity from the church, which was, nevertheless, its heart. But as he repeatedly contradicted this, and went on writing about faith as the one only essential of the church and the means of salvation, and separated charity more and more, he suddenly seemed to himself to be under ground in a sort of workhouse, where there were others like him. And when he wished to go out he was detained, and it was announced to him that no other lot awaits those who thrust charity and good works outside of the doors of the church. But as he had been one of the Reformers of the church, he was released by the Lord’s command, and sent back to his former room, where there was nothing but the table, paper, and ink stand. Nevertheless, because of his confirmed ideas, he continued to besmear the paper with the same error, so that he could not be kept from being alternately sent down to his captive fellows and sent back again. When sent back, he appeared in a garment made of a hairy skin, because faith without charity is cold. [4] He himself told me that there was another room adjoining his own in the rear, in which there were three tables, at which sat men like himself, who had likewise exiled charity, and that sometimes a fourth table appeared there, on which were seen monstrous things in various forms, but they were not frightened thereby from their work. He said that he conferred with these, and was confirmed by them daily. Nevertheless, after a time, he was smitten with fear, and began to write something about charity; but what he wrote on the paper one day he did not see the next day, for this is what happens to everyone there when he commits anything to paper from the external man only, and not also from the internal, thus from compulsion and not from freedom. The writing is obliterated of itself. [5] But after the beginning of the establishment of the new heaven by the Lord, he began to think from the light from that heaven that he might possibly be in error; and in consequence, because of anxiety about his lot, he felt impressed upon him some interior ideas respecting charity. In this state he consulted the Word, and then his eyes were opened, and he saw that it was filled throughout with love to God and love towards the neighbor, so that it was, as the Lord says, that on these two commandments hang the law and the prophets, that is, the whole Word. From this time he was interiorly conveyed into the southern quarter towards the west, and thus to another house, and there he talked with me, saying that his writings on charity did not then vanish as formerly, but appeared obscurely the next day. [6] One thing I wondered at, that when he walked, his steps had a clanking sound, like those of a man walking with iron heels on a stone pavement. To this must be added, that when any novitiate from the world entered his room to talk with him or see him, he would summon a spirit from among those given to magic, who by fantasy could call up various beautiful shapes, and who then adorned his chamber with ornaments and flowered tapestry, and also with the appearance of a library in the center. But as soon as the visitors were gone those shapes vanished, and the former plastering and emptiness returned. But this was when he was in his former state.

798.

About Calvin I have heard the following: I. When he first entered the spiritual world he fully believed that he was still in the world where he was born; and although he was told by the angels associated with him in the beginning that he was then in their world, and not in his former one, he said, “I have the same body, the same hands, and like senses.” But he was taught by the angels that he was then in a substantial body, and that formerly he had been not only in that same body, but also in a material body which invested the substantial; and that the material body had been cast off, while the substantial body, from which a man is a man, still remained. This he at first understood; but the next day he returned to his former belief, that he was still in the world where he was born. This was because he was a sensual man and had no other belief than what he could draw from the objects of the bodily senses; and from this it came about that he drew all the dogmas of his faith as conclusions from his own intelligence and not from the Word. His quoting the Word was in order to win the assent of the common people. [2] II. After this first period, having left the angels, he wandered about inquiring for those who from ancient times believed in Predestination; and he was told that they had been removed from that place and shut up and covered over, and that there was no way open to them except rearward under the earth; but that the disciples of Gotschalk still went about freely, and sometimes assembled in a place called, in spiritual language, Pyris. And as he earnestly desired their company, he was led to an assembly where some of them were standing; and when he came among them he was in his heart’s delight, and bound himself to them by interior friendship. [3] III. But when the followers of Gotschalk had been led away to their brethren in the cavern, Calvin became weary, and therefore sought here and there for an asylum, and was finally received into a certain society made up wholly of the simple-minded, some of whom were also religious; and when he saw that they knew nothing and could understand nothing about predestination, he betook himself to one corner of the society, and there hid himself for a long time, not opening his mouth on any church matter. This was provided in order that he might withdraw from his error respecting predestination, and that the ranks of those, who, after the Synod of Dort adhered to that detestable heresy might be filled up; all of whom were gradually sent away to their fellows in the cavern. [4] IV. At length when the modern Predestinarian inquired where Calvin was, he was found after a search for him, on the confines of a certain society consisting solely of the simple-minded. He was therefore called away from there and conducted to a certain governor who was filled with similar dregs; and who therefore took him into his house and guarded him, and this until the new heaven began to be established by the Lord; and then, as the governor, his guardian, was cast out together with his troop, Calvin betook himself to a certain house of ill-repute, and remained there for some time. [5] V. As he then enjoyed the liberty of wandering about, and also of coming near to the place where I was stopping, I was permitted to talk with him, in the first place about the new heaven which is at this day being formed of those who acknowledge the Lord alone as the God of heaven and earth, according to His own words in Matthew (28:18). I told him that such believe, That He and the Father are one (John, 10:30); And that He is in the Father and the Father in Him, and that whosoever sees and knows Him, sees and knows the Father (John 14:6-11); thus that there is one God only in the church as in heaven. [6] At first, when I said this, as usual he was silent; but half an hour he broke the silence and said, “Was not Christ a man, the son of Mary, who was married to Joseph? How can a man be adored as God?” I answered, “Is not Jesus Christ our Redeemer and Savior both God and Man?” He replied, “He is both God and Man; nevertheless the Divinity is the Father’s and not His.” I asked, “Where then is Christ?” He answered, “In the lowest parts of heaven;” and he gave as proof of this His humiliation before the Father, and His suffering Himself to be crucified. To this he added some witty remarks about the worship of Christ, which then invaded his memory from the world, which was, in brief, that the worship of Christ was nothing but idolatry. He wanted to add things unfit to be spoken about that worship; but the angels who were with me shut his lips. [7] But from a zeal to convert him I said, that the Lord our Savior is not only both God and Man, but in Him God is Man and Man is God. And this I confirmed by Paul’s saying, That in Him dwelleth all the fullness of Divinity bodily (1 Col. 2:8); and by John’s: That He is the true God and eternal life (1 Epistle, 5:20); as also from the words of the Lord Himself: That it is the Father’s will that all who believe on the Son shall have eternal life, and that he who believes not shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him (John 3:36; 4:40); and finally by the declaration of faith called Athanasian, which declares that in Christ God and Man are not two but one, and are in one Person like the soul and body in man. [8] When he heard this, he replied, “What are all those things you have presented from the Word but empty sounds? Is not the Word the book of all heresies, and thus like the weathercocks on house-tops and ships’ masts, which turn every way according to the wind? It is Predestination alone that determines all things pertaining to religion; this is their habitation or their tent of meeting, wherein faith, through which justification and salvation are effected, is the shrine and sanctuary. Has any man freedom of choice in spiritual things? Is not everything of salvation a free gift? Any argument therefore against these principles, and so against predestination, I listen to and value as much as I do eructations from the stomach or the rumbling of the bowels. And this being so, I have thought to myself that any church where anything else is taught, even from the Word, together with the crowd there assembled, is like a pen of beasts containing both sheep and wolves, but with the wolves muzzled by the laws of civil justice, lest they should attack the sheep (the sheep meaning the predestined), also that the praying and preaching there are like so much hiccoughing. But I will give you my confession of faith; it is this: There is a God, and He is omnipotent; and there is no salvation for any except those who are elected and predestined by God the Father; and everyone else is condemned to his lot, that is, to his fate.” [9] Hearing this I answered with much warmth, “What you say is horrible. Begone, wicked spirit! Being in the spiritual world do you not know that there is a heaven and a hell, and that predestination implies that some have been designated for heaven and some for hell? Can you then form to yourself any other idea of God than as being a tyrant who admits his favorites into his city, and sends the rest to the rack? Shame on you.” [10] I then read to him what is written in the dogmatic book of the Evangelical Protestants, called Formula Concordiae relating to the erroneous doctrine of the Calvinists in regard to the worship of the Lord and predestination. Their doctrine of the worship of the Lord is thus defined: It is damnable idolatry, if the confidence and faith of the heart are placed in Christ, not only according to His Divine but also according to His Human nature, and the honor of worship is directed to both. And predestination is thus defined: Christ did not die for all men, but only for the elect. God has created the greater part of men for eternal damnation, and does note that the greater part should be converted and live. The elect and born again cannot lose faith and the Holy Spirit, although they should commit all kinds of great sins and crimes. But those who are not elected are necessarily damned, nor can they attain to salvation even if they were to be baptized a thousand times, were to partake of the sacrament daily, and moreover were to lead as holy and blameless a life as it is ever possible to live (Leipsic edition of 1756, pp. 837, 838). When I had read this, I asked him whether this, which was written in that book was from his doctrine or not. He said that it was, but that he did not remember whether or not those very words had flowed from his pen, although they might have from his lips. [11] All the servants of the Lord, when they heard this, withdrew from him, and he betook himself hastily to a way that led to a cave, which was occupied by those who had confirmed in themselves the execrable dogma of predestination. I afterward talked with some of those imprisoned in that cave, and asked about their lot. They said that they were compelled to labor for food, that they were all enemies of each other, that each sought an occasion to do evil to the other, and this they did whenever they found the slightest opportunity, and that this was the delight of their lives. (More about predestination and the predestinarians may be seen above, n. 485-488.)

799.

I have also talked with many others, both with followers of these three men and with their opponents; and respecting all of them I was enabled to conclude that all such among them as have lived a life of charity, and still more those who have loved truth because it is truth, suffer themselves to be instructed in the spiritual world, and then accept the doctrines of the New Church; while on the other hand those who have confirmed themselves in falsities of religion, and also those who have lived an evil life, do not suffer themselves to be instructed; and that these turn away step by step from the new heaven, and associate themselves with their like who are in hell, where they confirm themselves more and more against the worship of the Lord, and set themselves against it even to such an extent that they cannot bear to hear the name Jesus. But it is the reverse in heaven, where all with one accord acknowledge the Lord as the God of heaven.

800.

THE DUTCH IN THE SPIRITUAL WORLD. In the work on Heaven and Hell it is related that the Christians among whom the Word is read among them and there is a knowledge and acknowledgment of the Lord the Redeemer and Savior are in the center of the nations and peoples of the entire spiritual world, because with them there is the greatest spiritual light; and from them as a center light goes forth in all directions to the very boundaries, according to what is shown in the chapter on the Sacred Scripture (n. 267-272). In this Christian center those of the Reformed churches are allotted places according to their reception of spiritual light from the Lord; and because the Dutch have that light more deeply and fully joined in with their natural light than others, and in consequence are more receptive of rational considerations, they are granted dwelling places in that Christian center in the east and south - in the east, because of their capacity to receive spiritual heat, and in the south, because of their capacity to receive spiritual light. In the work on Heaven and Hell (n. 141-153) it is shown that the quarters in the spiritual world are not like those in the natural world; and that the dwelling-places according to the different quarters there are dwelling-places in accord with their reception of faith and love, those who excel in love being in the east and those who excel in intelligence in the south.

And the reason why the Dutch occupy those quarters of the Christian center is that business is their final love, and money a mediate love subservient thereto; and such a love is spiritual. But where money is the final love and business a mediate love subservient thereto, as with the Jews, that love is natural and springs from avarice. The love of business,- when final, is spiritual, because of its use, in that it subserves the common good to which indeed the man’s own good is closely conjoined and appears to him to be of more importance than the common good, because he thinks from his natural man. Nevertheless, when business is an end, the love of it is also the end, and in heaven everyone is regarded in accordance with his final love; for the final love may be likened to the ruler of a kingdom or the master of a house, and the other loves to their subjects or servants. Moreover, the final love has its seat in the highest or inmost parts of the mind, while the mediate loves are below it or outside of it, and subservient to its every nod. The Dutch are in that spiritual love more than any others. But the Jews are in that love inverted; consequently their love of business is purely natural, containing within it nothing of the common good, but solely their own good.

802.

The Dutch cling more firmly than others to the principles of their religion, nor are they to be moved from them. Even when they are convinced that this or that does not agree with their belief, they refuse to admit it, and turn away and remain unmoved. Thus they separate themselves from any interior intuition of truth, keeping their reason closely under obedience. Such being their character, when, after death, they enter the spiritual world they are prepared in a peculiar manner to receive the spiritual things of heaven, which are Divine truths. They are not taught truths, because they do not receive; but the nature of heaven is described to them, and after that they are permitted to ascend thither and see it; and whatever is then in harmony with their genius is infused into them, and being sent down in this state they return to their companions with a full desire for heaven. [2] If they do not then receive the truth that God is one in Person and in Essence, and that the Lord the Redeemer and Savior is this God, and that in Him is the Divine trinity, also this truth, that faith and charity in knowledge and in speech, apart from a life of faith and charity, are of no effect, and that the Lord bestows these when man after self-examination repents; - if when they are taught these truths they still turn away from them, and still think of God as existent in three Persons, and of religion as a fact merely, they are brought into a miserable condition, and their business is taken away from them, even until they find themselves reduced to extremities. They are then conducted to those who, because they are in Divine truths, abound in all things, and among whom business flourishes; and there the thought is insinuated into them from heaven, “Why is it that these people are so prosperous?” At the same time they are led to reflect upon the faith and life of such, in that they are averse to evils as sins; and having thought carefully about the matter they perceive a harmony with their own thought and reflection. This is repeated at intervals. At length, they are brought to think that if they are freed from their misery they must believe in a like manner; and then, as they accept that belief and live that life of charity, riches and a happy life are given to them. [3] In this manner those who have to some extent lived a life of charity in the world, are of themselves reformed and prepared for heaven. Afterwards they come to excel in constancy to the extent that they might be called constances; and they do not permit themselves to be led away by any reasoning or fallacy or obscurity induced by sophistry, or by any mere confirmations arising from any absurd points of view; for they become more clear-sighted than before.

803.

The teachers who instruct in their lyceums study the mysteries of the prevailing faith very intently, especially those who are there called Cocceians; and because the dogma of predestination springs inevitably from those mysteries, and, moreover, has been established by the Synod of Dort, it also is sown and planted there, as seed from the fruit of any tree is planted in a field. Because of this the laity talk much among themselves about predestination; but in different ways; some grasping it with both their hands, some with one only, laughing at it, and some hurl it from them as a snaky lizard; for they know nothing of the mysteries of the faith from which that viper was hatched. These mysteries they are ignorant of, because they are intent upon their business; and while these mysteries do indeed touch their understanding, they do not penetrate it. Therefore the dogma of predestination among the laity, and even among the clergy, is like an image in the human form placed on a rock in the sea, with a large shell glittering like gold in its hand, at the sight of which some captains sailing past lower their sails as a mark of honor and reverence; some merely wink at it and salute it; while some hiss at it as at something ludicrous. It is also an unknown bird from India placed on a high tower, which some swear is a turtledove, some guess is a cock, and others loudly affirm that it, is certainly an owl.

804.

The Dutch are easily distinguished from others in the spiritual world, because they appear in garments like those they wear in the natural world, with the difference that those who have received faith and spiritual life are more elegantly clad. They appear in like garments because they hold steadfastly to the principles of their religion, and in accordance with those principles all in the spiritual world are clad; and therefore those there who are in Divine truths have white garments and garments of fine linen.

805.

The cities in which the Dutch dwell are guarded in a peculiar manner. All the streets are roofed and have gates in them, in order that no one may see into them from the rocks and hills round about. This arises from their innate prudence in not disclosing their counsels or divulging their intentions; for in the spiritual world such things are drawn out by investigation. When anyone comes with the intention of examining into their state, he is led, when he withdraws, to the closed gates of the streets, and then led back and led to other gates until he becomes greatly annoyed, and then he is let out. This is to prevent his return. Wives who desire to rule over their husbands dwell at one side of the city and meet their husbands only when they are invited, and that is done in a civil manner. The husbands then take them to houses where marriage partners live who do not exercise authority one over the other, and show them how beautiful and clean the houses of such are, and how happy their lives, and that all this comes from mutual and marriage love. Those wives who give attention to these things and are influenced by them leave off exercising authority and live with their husbands; and they then have dwellings given them nearer to the center of the city, and are called angels. This is because true marriage love is heavenly love which is without dominion.

806.

THE ENGLISH IN THE SPIRITUAL WORLD. There are two states of thought in man, an external and an internal; in the external state he is in the natural world, in the internal in the spiritual world. In the good these states make one, but not in the evil. Man’s internal nature is rarely manifest in the world, because from infancy he has learned to be moral and rational, and loves to appear such. But in the spiritual world it is clearly manifest what his nature is, for man is then a spirit, and a spirit is the internal man. And since it has been granted me to be in that world, and there to see the internal nature of men from different kingdoms of the world, I feel it necessary, because of its importance, to make this known.

807.

As to the English nation, the better ones among them are at the center of all Christians, because they have an interior intellectual light; a light that is not manifest to anyone in the natural world, but it is clearly manifest in the spiritual world. This light they acquire from their freedom of speech and of the press, and consequent freedom of thought. With others, who have not such freedom, that light is suppressed because it has no outlet. It is true that such light is not active of itself, but it is rendered active by others, especially by men of repute and authority. As soon as anything is said by them, the light shines forth. For this reason governors are appointed over the English in the spiritual world, and priests are given them who are men of celebrity and of eminent ability, whose judgment they accept because of this inherent quality.

808.

They possess also a similarity of disposition, which leads them to become closely attached to friends who are of their own nation, but rarely to others; they also aid each other; they love sincerity; they are lovers of their country and are zealous for her glory. They look upon foreigners as one, from the roof of his own palace, might look with a spy-glass at persons dwelling outside of a city, or wandering about there. The political affairs of their kingdom occupy their minds and possess their hearts, sometimes so far as to withdraw their minds from studies of loftier inquiry, by which a higher intelligence is acquired. It is true that these studies are eagerly pursued in youth by those who give attention to them in the schools; but they pass away as transient things. Nevertheless their rationality is quickened by these studies, and sparkles with a light by which they form beautiful images, as a glass prism turned toward the sun forms a rainbow, and paints it in glowing colors on a plane surface fixed to receive it.

809.

There are two large cities like London, to which most of the English go after death. I was permitted to see one of these and to walk through it. Where in London the merchants meet, which is called the Exchange, there in that city is the center where its governors reside. Above that center is the east, below it is the west; on the right is the south, and on the left the north. In the eastern quarter those dwell who have lived a life of charity in a greater degree than others; here are magnificent palaces. In the southern quarter the wise dwell, and among them there is much splendor. In the northern quarter those dwell who more than others have loved freedom of speech and the press. In the western quarter those dwell who deal in justification by faith alone. On the right in this latter quarter there is an entrance to the city and also an exit therefrom; and those who live wickedly are here put out of the city. The preachers who live in the western quarter and teach the doctrine of faith alone, do not dare to enter the city by the large streets, but only through the narrow alleys, because none but those who believe in charity are tolerated in the city proper. I have heard them complaining of the preachers from the west, that they composed their sermons with so much art and eloquence, secretly weaving into them the doctrine of justification by faith, that they did not know whether good ought to be done or not. They preach that faith inwardly is a good, and this good they distinguish from the good of charity, which they call good that claims a merit, and therefore not acceptable to God. But when those who dwell in the eastern and southern quarters of the city hear such sermons they leave the churches, and the preachers are afterward deprived of the priestly office.

810.

I afterward heard many reasons why those preachers were deprived of their office. I was told that the chief reason is, that they did not prepare their sermons from the Word and thus from the Spirit of God, but from their own rational light, and thus from their own spirit. They begin, indeed, as a prelude, with a text from the Word; but this they merely touch with their lips, and then abandon as tasteless, immediately selecting something savory from their own intelligence, which they roll about in their mouths and turn over upon their tongues as something delicious. Such is their teaching. It was said that as a consequence there was no more spirituality in their sermons than in the songs of birds, and that they were merely allegorical adornments, like wigs beautifully curled and powdered on bald heads. The mysteries of their discourses on justification by faith alone were likened to the quails brought up from the sea and strewn about the camps of the children of Israel (Num. 11), because of which several thousand persons died; while the theology of charity and faith together were likened to the manna from heaven. I once heard their preachers talking together about faith alone; and I saw a kind of image formed by them, which represented their faith alone. In their light, which was the light of hallucination, this appeared like a great giant; but when light from heaven was let in upon it, it appeared like a monster above and a serpent below. Seeing this, they withdrew, and the bystanders threw the image into a pond.

811.

The other great city, also called London, is not in the Christian center, but at some distance to the north. Into it those pass after death who are interiorly wicked. In the center of it there is an open communication with hell, by which they are at times swallowed up.

812.

From those in the spiritual world who were from England it was seen that they have two kinds of theology, one derived from their doctrine of faith, and the other from their doctrine of charity; the former is held by those who are initiated into the priesthood, and the latter by the laity, especially those who dwell in Scotland and on its borders. With these latter the believers in faith alone are afraid to engage in argument, because they combat them both from the Word and from reason. This doctrine of charity is set forth in the exhortation read in the churches on the Sabbath day to those who approach the sacrament of the holy supper. In that exhortation it is openly declared that if they are not in charity and do not shun evils as sins, they cast themselves into eternal damnation; and if in such a state they approach the holy communion, the devil will enter into them as he did into Judas.

813.

THE GERMANS IN THE SPIRITUAL WORLD. It is known that the natives of a kingdom that is divided into several provinces are not alike in genius, but differ from each other in particular ways as the inhabitants of the earth’s different climates do in general ways, and yet that a common genius prevails among those who are under one king, and therefore under one code of laws. As to Germany it is more divided into separate states than the surrounding kingdoms. It is an empire, with all the states under its general supervision, while the prince of each state enjoys despotic power in his own realm; for there are greater and lesser dukedoms there, and each duke is like a monarch in his own kingdom. Furthermore, religion is there divided; in some dukedoms are the so-called Evangelicals, in some the Reformed, and in some the Papists. With such diversity of both government and religion, the dispositions, inclinations, and lives of the Germans are more difficult to describe from those seen in the spiritual world than those of the nations and peoples of other parts. And yet, as a common genius reigns everywhere among peoples of the same language, this may be in some measure seen and described from ideas collected together.

814.

As the Germans are under a despotic government in each particular dukedom, they have no such freedom of speech and of the press as the Hollanders and the British have, and when that freedom is restrained, freedom of thought, that is, the freedom to investigate matters to the furthest extent, is also kept in restraint. For this restraint is like a high wall about the basin of a fountain, which causes the water within to rise even to the orifice of the inflowing stream, so that the stream can no longer leap forth. Thought is like the inflowing stream, and speech therefrom is like the basin. In a word, influx adapts itself to efflux, and in like manner the understanding from above adapts itself to its measure of freedom to speak and publish its thoughts. For this reason that noble nation is little devoted to matters of judgment, but rather to matters of memory. This is why they are especially given to historical writings, and in their books trust to men of reputation and learning among them, quoting opinions of such abundantly, and subscribing to some one of them. In the spiritual world this state of theirs is represented by a man carrying books under his arm, and when anyone disputes about any matter of judgment, he says, “I will give you an answer,” and immediately draws a book from under his arm and reads from it.

815.

From this state of theirs many things proceed, and among them this, that they keep the spiritual things of the church inscribed upon the memory, and seldom elevate them into the higher understanding, but admit them only into the lower, from which they reason about them, which is doing wholly differently from free nations. Such nations, as regards the spiritual things of the church called theological, are like eagles which rise to whatever height they please; while nations that are not free are like swans in a river. Again, free nations are like the larger deer with lofty horns, that roam the fields, groves, and forests at perfect liberty; while nations that are not free are like the deer kept in parks to please a prince. And still again, free peoples are like the winged horse which the ancients called Pegasus, that flew not only over the seas, but over the so called Parnassian hills, and also over the hills of the Muses beneath them; while a people not freed are like noble horses handsomely caparisoned in kings’ stables. There are like differences in their judgments regarding the mysterious matters of theology. The clergy of the Germans, while they are students, write out from the mouths of their teachers in the colleges certain dicta, and these they guard as the authoritative utterances of erudition; and when they are inaugurated into the priesthood, or made lecturers in the schools, they, for the most part, draw their official utterances in the desk or in the pulpit from those dicta. Such of their priests as do not teach in accordance with orthodoxy usually preach about the Holy Spirit and its wonderful workings and excitations of holiness in men’s hearts. But those who teach about faith according to the orthodoxy of the present day, appear to the angels as if decorated with wreaths of oak leaves; while those who teach from the Word about charity and its works appear to the angels to be adorned with wreaths of odoriferous leaves of laurel. Those there who are called Evangelical, in their disputes with the Reformed about truths, appear to be rending their garments, because garments signify truths.

816.

I asked where the people of Hamburg were to be found in the spiritual world, and was told that they are nowhere now gathered together in one society, still less in any civil community, but are scattered about and intermingled with the Germans in the various quarters. And when the reason was asked it was said that it arose from their continual mental introspections and wanderings, as it were, outside of their own city, and very little within it; for such as the state of man’s mind is in the natural world, such it is in the spiritual world; for man’s mind is his spirit, or the posthumous man that lives after his departure from the material body.

817.

THE PAPISTS IN THE SPIRITUAL WORLD. The Papists in the spiritual world appear round about and beneath the Protestants, and separated from them by inter-spaces which they are forbidden to pass, although the monks by clandestine arts secure for themselves a way through, and also send out emissaries by hidden paths to make converts; but they are traced out, and after being punished, are either sent back to their companions or cast down.

818.

Since the last judgment, which took place in the spiritual world in the year 1757, the state of all, and consequently the state of the Papists, is so changed that they are not permitted, as formerly, to congregate in bodies; but for every love, either good or evil, ways are appointed, which those who come from the world immediately enter, and pass to societies correspondent to their loves. Thus the wicked are borne to societies that are in hell, and the good to societies in heaven; and in this way their forming for themselves artificial heavens, as they previously did, is guarded against. Such societies are very numerous in the world of spirits, which is intermediate between heaven and hell, for they are as many as the genera and species of affections pertaining to the love of good and the love of evil; and in the meantime, before their members are raised up into heaven or cast down to hell, they are in spiritual conjunction with the men of the world, because men also are intermediate between heaven and hell.

819.

The Papists have a sort of place of council in the southern quarter toward the east, where their leaders assemble and deliberate about various matters pertaining to their religion, especially about how to keep the common people in blind obedience and how to enlarge their own dominion. But no one who had been a pope in the world is admitted to this assembly, because a semblance of Divine authority is fixed in the minds of such, on account of their having arrogated to themselves the Lord’s power in the world. Neither are any cardinals permitted to enter that council, because of their sense of pre-eminence. Nevertheless these latter assemble together in a spacious room beneath the others, but after staying there a few days are taken away, I was not permitted to know where. There is also another place of meeting in the southern quarter towards the west, where the business is to introduce the credulous common people into heaven. There they arrange round about themselves several societies which provide for various external delights; in some there are dances, in some musical concerts, in some processions, in some theaters and scenic amusements; in some there are persons who by hallucination produce various forms of magnificence; in some there is merely clownish acting and jesting; in some again there is friendly conversation, here about religious matters, there about civil affairs, and elsewhere they even talk lasciviously; and so on. Into some of these societies they introduce the credulous, each one according to the kind of pleasure he prefers, and this they call heaven. But when they have been there a day or two they all become weary and go away, because those delights are external and not internal. In this way also many are led away from the folly of their belief about the power to admit into heaven. As to the particulars of their worship, it is nearly the same as their worship in the world, consisting in like manner of masses which are conducted in a language not common to spirits but composed of high-sounding words which inspire external sanctity and trembling, but which the hearers do not at all understand.

820.

All who go from the earth to the spiritual world are kept at first in the confession of faith and religion of their own country; and as this is true of the Papists, they always have a representative of a pope placed over them, whom they worship with ceremonies like those they observed in the world. It rarely happens that anyone who has been a pope in the world is placed over them after his demise; but one who filled the pontifical chair thirty or forty years ago was placed over them because he had cherished in his heart a clearer idea of the holiness of the Word than was generally held, also that the Lord ought to be worshiped. I was permitted to talk with him, and he said that he worshiped the Lord alone, because He is God, and has all power in heaven and on earth, according to His words (Matt. 28:18). He said that the invocation of saints is an absurdity; he said also that he had intended when in the world to re-establish such a church, but was unable to do so, for reasons which he stated. When the great northern city which contained both Papists and Reformers, was destroyed on the day of the last judgment, I saw him carried out on a litter and transferred to a place of safety. On the borders of the large society in which he exercises pontifical authority schools are established, where those go who are undecided about religion; and there they find converted monks who teach them about God the Savior Christ, and also about the holiness of the Word, leaving it to their own judgment whether they will turn their minds away from the methods of sanctification maintained in the Roman Catholic church. Those who receive instruction are introduced into a large society composed of those who have withdrawn from the worship of the pope and the saints; and when they enter that society they are like men who have been aroused from sleep and are fully awake, or like those who have come from the inclemency of winter into the sweetness of early spring, or like sailors who have just come to port, and are then invited by those there to feasts, and noble wine in crystal goblets is given them to drink. And angels, I have heard, sent down from heaven to the host a plate containing manna, in form and taste like that which fell upon the camps of the children of Israel in the desert, and this plate is carried around to all the company, and everyone is permitted to taste of its contents.

821.

All those of the Catholic religion who in the former world had thought more of God than of the papacy, and from a simple heart had done works of charity, when they find themselves living after death, and have been taught that the Lord Himself, the Savior of the world, reigns there, are easily led away from the superstitions of that religion. To them the transition from popery to Christianity is as easy as to pass through an open door into a temple, or to pass the guards in the entrance hall and enter a palace when the king so commands, or to raise the face and look up to heaven when voices are heard therefrom. But on the other hand, to lead away from the superstitions of that religion those who during the course of their life in the world have rarely if ever thought of God, and who have entered that worship merely for its festivities, is as difficult as to enter a temple through closed doors, or to pass through the guards in the entrance hall into the palace when the king forbids, or for a snake in the grass to raise its eyes to heaven. It is wonderful that not one of those who pass into the spiritual world from that Catholic religion see there the heaven where the angels dwell. That religion is like a dark cloud above them which terminates the vision. But as soon as any convert comes among those who have been converted heaven is opened, and sometimes they behold the angels there in white garments; and when they have passed the period of preparation they are taken up to the angels.

822.

THE POPISH SAINTS IN THE SPIRITUAL WORLD. It is well known that man has in him from his parents inherent or inherited evil, but few know where that evil dwells in its fullness. It dwells in the love of possessing the goods of all others, and in the love of exercising dominion; for this latter love is such that, so far as the reins are given to it, it rushes forth until it is aflame with the lust of exercising dominion over all, and finally seeks to be invoked and worshiped as God. This love is the serpent that deceived Eve and Adam, for it said to the woman, God doth know that in the day ye eat of the fruit of that tree your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods (Gen. 3:4-5). So far therefore, as man rushes into this love without restraint, he turns away from God and turns to himself, and becomes a worshiper of himself; and then he can call upon God from love of self with fervent lips, but with a heart cold from contempt of God. And then also the Divine things of the church may serve him as means, but dominion being his end, his heart is in the means only so far as they subserve that end. Such a man, if exalted to the highest honors, seems to himself like Atlas carrying the terraqueous globe on his shoulders, or like Phoebus with his horses bearing the sun around the earth.

823.

Because of man’s being such by inheritance, all those who have been made saints by papal bulls are removed from the sight of others in the spiritual world and kept out of sight; and are deprived of all interaction with their worshipers, lest that worst root of evils should be quickened in them, and they should be carried away into fantastic delusions such as prevail with demons. Into such delusions do those come who, while living in the world, earnestly seek to become saints after death, that they may be invoked.

824.

Many from the papal jurisdiction, especially the monks, when they enter the spiritual world, search for the saints, especially the saint of their order, and are astonished that they do not find them. But they are afterward taught that these saints are intermingled either with those who are in heaven or with those who are in the lower earth and that they know nothing in either place about their being invoked and worshiped; and that those who do know of it and wish to be invoked, fall into delusions and talk like fools. The worship of saints is such an abomination in heaven that when it is merely heard of it excites horror, because so far as worship is yielded to any man, so far it is denied to the Lord; for in that case the Lord alone cannot be worshiped; and when the Lord is not alone worshiped, a separation occurs which destroys communion with Him and the happiness of life that flows from it. That I might learn the character of the Popish saints and make it known, as many as a hundred of them who knew that they had been made saints were brought forth from the lower earth. They came up behind me. Only a few of them were in front of me, with one of whom I spoke. They said he was Xavier. While he was talking to me he was like a fool; and yet he was able to declare that in his own place, where he was shut up with others, he was not a fool, but became such as often as he thought himself a saint and wished to be invoked. I heard a murmur of the same thing from those who were behind. With the so-called saints in heaven it is different; they know nothing at all of what is done on earth, and they are not permitted to talk with any of the Papists who are in that superstition, that no idea of that thing may enter into them.

825.

From this state of the saints anyone may conclude that the invocation of saints is a mere mockery; and I can affirm, moreover, that they no more hear the invocations addressed to them on earth than do their images by the wayside, or the walls of the church, or the birds building nests in its towers. It is said by those who serve them in the world, that the saints reign in heaven in company with the Lord Jesus Christ; but this is a fiction and fabrication; for they no more reign with the Lord than a groom does with his king, or a porter with a nobleman, or a footman with a primate. For John the Baptist said of the Lord, That he was not worthy to unloose the latchet of His shoes (Mark 1:7; John 1:27). What then can be said of such?

826.

To the Parisians, who form a society in the spiritual world, there sometimes appears a woman of the usual height in shining raiment and with a face that seems holy, and she calls herself Genevieve. But when some of them begin to worship her, her face and also her clothing instantly change, and she becomes like an ordinary woman; and she rebukes them for wanting to worship a woman who among her companions is no more esteemed than a servant maid, and is surprised that the men of the world are duped by such nonsense.

827.

To this I will add this most notable fact: Mary the Mother of the Lord once passed by and appeared overhead in white raiment. Then pausing a little she said that she had been the mother of the Lord, and that He was indeed born of her; but that when He became God, He put off everything of the human He had derived from her, and that therefore she now worships Him as her God, and is unwilling that anyone should acknowledge Him to be her son, since in Him everything is Divine.

828.

THE MOHAMMEDANS IN THE SPIRITUAL WORLD. The Mohammedans in the spiritual world appear behind the Papists in the west, and form as it were a border around them. They appear next behind the Christians because they acknowledge our Lord to be the greatest prophet, the wisest of all men, who was sent into the world to teach men, and also that He is the Son of God. In that world everyone dwells at such a distance from the central region, where the Christians are, as accords with their confession of the Lord and of one God; for that confession is what conjoins minds with heaven, and determines distance from the east, above which quarter is the Lord.

829.

Because religion has its seat in the highest things in man, and the lower things in him have life and light from the highest, and because Mohammed is always associated with religion in the minds of Mohammedans, some Mohammed is always kept before their sight; and in order that they may turn their faces toward the east, over which is the Lord, he is placed beneath the Christian center. This is not the Mohammed who wrote the Koran, but another person who fills his office; nor is it always the same person; but he is changed. Formerly it was a man from Saxony who had been taken prisoner by the Algerines, and had become a Mohammedan; and having once been a Christian he was sometimes moved to speak to them about the Lord, saying that He was not Joseph’s son but the Son of God Himself. Other Mohammedans afterward succeeded this one. In the place where that representative Mohammedan has his station; there appears a fire like a small torch to distinguish him; but that fire is invisible to all but Mohammedans.

830.

The Mohammed who wrote the Koran is not seen at the present day. I was told that in former times he presided over them; but because he desired to rule as God over all things pertaining to their religion he was ejected from his seat, which he had beneath the Papists, and was sent down to the right side near the south. A certain society of Mohammedans was once incited by some malicious spirits to acknowledge Mohammed as God. To quiet this disturbance, Mohammed was brought up from the lower earth and shown to them; and at that time I also saw him. He looked like those corporeal spirits who have no interior perception, with a face inclined to black. I heard him utter these words, “I am your Mohammed;” and immediately he seemed to sink down.

831.

The Mohammedans are hostile to the Christians mainly because of the Christian belief in three Divine persons and the consequent worship of three Gods, and as many Creators; and still more hostile to the Roman Catholics, because of their bending the knee before images; and for this reason they call them idolaters; and the former they call fanatics, declaring that they make God a three-headed being, also that they say one and mutter three, and consequently divide up omnipotence, and from one and of one make three; therefore they are like fauns with three horns, one for each God, and at the same time three for one; and so they pray, so they sing, and so they harangue from their pulpits.

832.

The Mohammedans, like all nations who acknowledge one God, love justice and do good from religion, have their own heaven, but it is outside of the Christian heaven. The Mohammedan heaven, however, is divided into two. In the lower they live uprightly with several wives; but only those who give up their concubines and acknowledge the Lord our Savior, and also His dominion over heaven and hell, are raised up from this into their higher heaven. I have heard that it is impossible for them to conceive of God the Father and our Lord as one, but that it is possible for them to believe that the Lord rules over the heavens and the hells because He is the Son of God the Father. It is because of their holding this belief that it is granted them by the Lord to ascend into the higher heaven.

833.

That the Mohammedan religion is received by more nations than the Christian religion, may be a stumbling-block to those who meditate upon the Divine Providence and believe at the same time that only those who are born Christians can be saved. But the Mohammedan religion is not a stumbling-block to those who believe that all things are of the Divine Providence. Such inquire how this is, and they find out. It is this, that the Mohammedan religion acknowledges the Lord as the greatest prophet, the wisest of men, and also the Son of God. But as they have made the Koran the only book of their religion, and as in consequence the Mohammed who wrote it resides in their thoughts, and upon him they bestow some worship, they think but little about our Lord. To make it clearly known that this religion was raised up by the Divine Providence of the Lord to blot out the idolatry of many nations, it shall be set forth somewhat in order; but first, as to the origin of all idolatries. [2] Previous to that religion idolatrous worship was spread over very many kingdoms of the world. This was so because the churches that existed before the Lord’s coming were all representative churches. Such was the Israelitish church. The tabernacle there, the garments of Aaron, the sacrifices, all things belonging to the temple at Jerusalem, and even the statutes, were representative. And among the ancients there was a knowledge of correspondences (which is also the knowledge of representatives), the very knowledge of knowledges. It was cultivated especially in Egypt, and from it came their hieroglyphics. From that knowledge the signification of all kinds of animals and all kinds of trees was known, also of mountains, hills, rivers, and springs, and of the sun, moon, and stars. Through that knowledge they also had a knowledge of spiritual things, because these representations had their origin in the things they represented, which were such as pertain to spiritual wisdom among the angels in heaven. [3] And as all their worship was representative, consisting of mere correspondences, so they worshiped on mountains and hills, as also in groves and gardens, and sanctified fountains, and moreover made sculptured horses, oxen, calves, and lambs, and also birds, fishes, and serpents, and placed them near their temples and in the courts thereof, and likewise in their houses, arranging them in an order that was in accord with the spiritual things of the church to which they corresponded or which they represented and therefore signified. After a time, when the knowledge of correspondences had been forgotten, their posterity began to worship the sculptured images themselves as in themselves holy, not being aware that the ancients, their forefathers, saw nothing holy in them, but only that they represented, in accordance with their correspondences, what is holy. [4] Such was the origin of the idolatries that had filled so many kingdoms of the world. To uproot these idolatries, by the Lord’s Divine Providence it came to pass that a new religion adapted to the genius of the Orientals was introduced, in which there was something from the Word of both Testaments, and which taught that the Lord came into the world, and that He was the greatest prophet, the wisest of men, and the Son of God. This was effected through Mohammed, from whom that religion was named. From all this it is clear that this religion was raised up by the Divine Providence of the Lord, and as before said, was adapted to the genius of the Orientals, in order that it might blot out the idolatries of so many nations and give them some knowledge of the Lord previous to their entering the spiritual world, which they do after death. And this religion would not have been received by so many kingdoms, and could not have uprooted their idolatries, if it had not been made conformable to the ideas of their thought, and especially if polygamy had not been permitted, for the reason that the Orientals without that permission would have been inflamed with filthy adulteries more than the Europeans, and would have perished.

834.

It was once granted me to perceive the nature of the heat of their polygamic love. I had a talk with one who had occupied the place of Mohammed, and after some conversation with him at a distance this substitute sent to me an ebony spoon and some other things, which were proofs that they came from him; and at the same time there were opened from various places outlets for the heat of their polygamic love. From some of these this was felt to be like the heat in bathing rooms after bathing, from some like the heat in kitchens where meats are boiling, from some like the heat in eating-houses where strong-smelling food is exposed for sale, from some like the heat in apothecaries’ cellars, where emulsions and such things are prepared, from some like the heat in stews and brothels, and from others like the heat in stores where skins, leather, and shoes are sold. There was also something rank, harsh, and burning in the heat, arising from jealousy. But the heat in the Christian heavens, when the delight of their love is perceived as an odor, is fragrant like the odor in gardens, vineyards, and rose-gardens, in some places like that where spices are sold, and in others like that of wine-presses and wine-cellars. That the delights from loves in the spiritual world are frequently perceived as odors has been shown throughout my Memorable Relations which follow the chapters.

835.

THE AFRICANS IN THE SPIRITUAL WORLD; ALSO SOMETHING IN REGARD TO THE GENTILES. The Gentiles who have known nothing about the Lord are seen in the spiritual world round about those who have known Him; yet so arranged that the outmost border is formed exclusively of those who are thorough idolaters, and who in the former world worshiped the sun and moon. But those who acknowledge one God, and who accept such precepts as the Decalogue contains as the precepts of the religion and consequently of their life, communicate more directly with the Christians at the center; for in this case the communication is not intercepted by the Mohammedans and Papists. The Gentiles are also distinguished according to their genius and their capacity to receive light through the heavens from the Lord; for there are among them some who are interior and some who are exterior, which difference comes partly from climate, partly from the stock from which they have sprung, partly from education, and partly from religion. The Africans are more interior than the others.

836.

All who acknowledge and worship one God, the Creator of the universe, cherish an idea of God as being a Man; they say that no one can have any other idea of Him. When they hear that many cherish the idea that God is like ether or a cloud, they ask where such people are; and when told that they are among the Christians they deny that it is possible. But they are told that they get this idea from God’s being called in the Word a Spirit, and of spirit they have no other idea than that it is an ethereal substance, or some kind of a cloud, not knowing that every spirit and every angel is a man. When a further inquiry is made to ascertain whether their spiritual idea is similar to their natural idea, it is found to be different with those who interiorly acknowledge the Lord as the God of heaven and earth. I heard a certain elder saying that no man could conceive of a Divine Human; and I saw him taken among different Gentile peoples, to the more and more interior of them, also to their heavens, and finally to the Christian heaven, and their interior perception of God was everywhere communicated to him; and he observed that they had no other idea of God than that of a Divine Man, and that by no other God could man, who is an image and likeness of God, have been created.

837.

As the Africans surpass all other Gentiles in interior judgment, I have had conversation with them on matters of more profound inquiry, and latterly about God, and the Lord the Redeemer, and about the inner and outer man. And as they were delighted with this conversation, I will state some of the things relating to these three subjects which they perceived from interior sight. Of God they said, that He certainly did descend and present Himself to be seen by men, inasmuch as He is their Creator, Protector and Guide, and the human race is His; also that He sees, surveys and provides each and all things that are in the heavens and on earth, regarding their good as if it were in Himself, and Himself as in them; and this, because He is the sun of the angelic heaven, which is to be seen as high above the spiritual world as the sun of the earth is above the natural world, and as He is that sun, He sees, surveys, and provides each thing and all things that are beneath Him. And as it is His Divine Love that appears as a sun, it follows that He provides both for the greatest and for the least such things as pertain to their life, and for men such things as pertain to love and wisdom, whatever pertains to love by means of the heat of that sun, and whatever pertains to wisdom by means of its light. If, therefore, you form to yourselves an idea of God as the sun of the universe, you will certainly from that idea see and acknowledge His omnipresence, omniscience, and omnipotence.

838.

I had a further talk with them about the Lord the Savior. It was said that God in His essence is Divine love, and that Divine love is like the purest fire; and as love viewed in itself seeks no other end than to become one with him whom it loves, so the Divine love seeks no other end than to unite itself to man and man to itself, even until It is in him and he in It. And since the Divine love is like the purest fire, it is evident that God, being such a fire, could not in the least degree be in man and cause man to be in Him, for He would thus reduce the entire man to a most subtle vapor. But inasmuch as God from His very essence burned with a love to unite Himself with man, to do this He must needs veil Himself with a body adapted to reception and conjunction. For this reason He came down and took on a Human in accordance with the order established by Him from the creation of the world; which order was, that by means of a power generated from Himself a Human should be conceived, carried in the womb, and born, and then increase in wisdom and love, and thereby draw near to a union with its Divine origin; thus God became Man and Man became God. That this is true the Scripture respecting Him (which exists among Christians and is called the Word), clearly teaches and testifies; and God Himself, who in His Human is called Jesus Christ, declares that the Father is in Him and He in the Father, and that whosoever sees Him sees the Father; besides other things to the same purport. That God, whose love is like the purest fire, could unite Himself to man and man to Himself in no other way reason also can see. Is it possible for the sun’s fire as it is in itself to touch man, still less to enter into him, unless it veils its rays with atmospheres, and thus by a tempered heat presents itself in an adapted form? Is it possible for the pure ether to envelop man, still less enter his bronchial tube, unless it is made dense with air, and thus adapted? A fish is not able even to draw breath in the air, but only in an element adapted to its life; nor indeed is a king on earth able to administer each and all the affairs of his kingdom in his own person or directly, but only by means of higher and lower officers, who together constitute his royal body. Nor can a man’s soul render itself visible to another, enter into companionship with him, and communicate proofs of his love, except by means of a body. How then can God do so except through a Human of His own? The Africans when they heard these things had a clearer perception of them than others, because they are more interiorly rational; and each one favored them in accordance with his perception.

839.

Finally we talked about the interior and exterior man. It was said that men who perceive things interiorly are in the light of truth, which is the light of heaven, while those who perceive things exteriorly are in no light of truth, because they are in the light of the world only; thus interior men are in intelligence and wisdom, but exterior men are in insanity and in distorted vision (n. 345); that interior men are spiritual because they think from the spirit exalted above the body, and therefore see truths in light; while exterior men are sensual-natural because they think from the fallacies of the bodily senses; therefore they see truths as in a thick cloud, and when they reflect upon them in themselves they see fallacies as truths; that internal men are like those standing on a mountain in the midst of a plain, or on a tower in a city, or on a lighthouse at sea; while external men are like those standing in a valley at the foot of a mountain, in a vault beneath a tower, or in a boat at the foot of a lighthouse, seeing only what lies nearest to them. Moreover, internal men are like those who live in the second or third story of a house or palace, the walls of which are a continuous window of clear glass, who look round about upon the city in its whole extent and recognize every cottage in it; while external men are like those who live in the lowest story, the windows of which are made of pasted pieces of paper, who cannot see even a single street outside of the house, but only what is within it, and not even that, except by the light of a candle or of the fire. And again, internal men are like eagles soaring aloft and seeing all things spread out beneath them; while external men, on the other hand, are like cocks standing on a post and crowing aloud before the hens that are walking on the ground. Furthermore, internal men perceive that what they know compared with what they do not know is like water in a pitcher as compared to that in a lake; while external men have no other thought than they know everything. The Africans were delighted with these remarks, because from the interior vision in which they excel they recognized that it was so.

840.

Because the Africans are such, a revelation has been made among them at the present time, which is spreading round about from the region where it began, but has not yet reached the coasts. They keep aloof from European strangers who believe that man is saved by faith alone, and thus by mere thought and word, and not by will and deed also; saying that he is no man who has any worship and fails to live according to his religion, for then he must needs become stupid and wicked, because he then receives nothing from heaven. They also call crafty wickedness stupidity, because there is no life in it, but death only. I have several times talked with Augustine, who was bishop of Hippo in Africa, in the third century. He said that he is there at this time, inspiring them with the worship of the Lord, and that there is hope that this new gospel will be extended into the surrounding regions. I have heard the angels rejoicing over that revelation, because through it there is being opened to them a communication with the human rational, hitherto closed up by the universal dogma that the understanding must be kept in obedience to the faith of the ministers of the church.

841.

THE JEWS IN THE SPIRITUAL WORLD. Previous to the last judgment, which took place in the year 1757, the Jews appeared in a valley in the spiritual world at the left side of the Christian center. Afterwards they were transferred to the north, and interaction with Christians, except with those wandering outside of the cities, was forbidden them. In this quarter there are two large cities to which the Jews were taken after death, and both of these, previous to the judgment, they called Jerusalem, but after it by another name; because since the judgment “Jerusalem” means a church with reference to doctrine wherein the Lord alone is worshiped. In their cities converted Jews are placed over them who warned them not to speak contemptuously of Christ, and who punish those that persist in doing so. The streets of their cities are filled with mud ankle-deep; and the houses are full of filth, from which they smell so abominably that they cannot be approached. I afterward noticed that others of that nation obtained a place of abode in the southern quarter; and when I asked who they were I was told that they were those who made light of the worship of the rest, and who questioned in their minds whether the Messiah would come, and who had also thought rationally about various matters in the world, and had lived accordingly. Those called Portuguese Jews constitute the greater part of this class.

842.

Sometimes an angel with a staff in his hand is seen by the Jews, above, at a middle altitude, who gives them to believe that he is Moses. He exhorts them to refrain from their senseless expectation even there of a Messiah, since Christ is the Messiah, who rules them and all men; telling them that he knows this and also knew of Him when he was in the world. When they have heard this they go away. The greater part of them forget it, but a few remember it, and these are sent to synagogues composed of converted Jews, and are instructed; and when they have been instructed, new clothes in place of their tattered ones are given them, also a copy of the Word neatly written, and a not unhandsome dwelling in the city. But those who do not receive are cast down, many of them into forests and deserts, where they practice robbery among each other.

843.

In that world as in the former the Jews traffic in various articles, especially in precious stones, which they obtain for themselves by unknown ways from heaven, where there are precious stones in abundance. They traffic in precious stones because they read the Word in the original tongue, and hold the sense of its letter to be holy, precious stones corresponding to that sense. That the spiritual origin of precious stones is the sense of the letter of the Word, and that from this arises their correspondence, may be seen above in the chapter on the Sacred Scripture (n. 217, 218). Moreover, the Jews are able to imitate these stones artificially, and to produce the illusion that they are genuine; but those who do so are heavily fined by their governors.

844.

The Jews more than others are unaware that they are the spiritual world, believing that they are still in the natural world. This is because they are wholly external men and give no interior thought to any religious subject. Consequently, they continue to talk about the Messiah as before, some saying that He is to come with David, and glittering with diadems will go before them and lead them into the land of Canaan; and on the way will dry up the rivers they are to cross by raising His staff, and that Christians (whom among themselves they also call Gentiles) will then take hold of the skirts of their garments, suppliantly beseeching permission to go with them; that they will accept the rich according to the amount of their wealth, and that these also shall serve them. In this belief they confirm themselves by what is written in Zechariah (8:23); and in Isaiah (66:20); also by what is said of David, that he is to come and be their king and shepherd (Jer. 30:9; Ezek. 34:23-25; 37:23-26). They are utterly unwilling to hear that by “David” our Lord Jesus Christ is there meant and by “the Jews” those who will belong to His church.

845.

When they are asked whether they firmly believe that they will all get to the land of Canaan, they say that all will then go there, and that the Jews who are dead will then rise again, and from their sepulchres will enter that land. To the reply that they cannot possibly come out of the sepulchres, because they are already living after death they say that they will then descend and enter their bodies, and so live again. When told that the land cannot hold them all, they reply that it will then be enlarged. When told that the kingdom of the Messiah, because He is the Son of God, will not be on earth but in heaven, they reply that the land of Canaan will then be heaven. When told that they do not know where Bethlehem Ephratah is, where the Messiah is to be born, according to the prediction in Micah (5:2), and in the Psalms (132:6), they reply that the mother of the Messiah will nevertheless there give birth to Him; and some say that wherever she brings forth there is Bethlehem. When they are asked how the Messiah can dwell with such wicked people, and it is proved by many passages in Jeremiah, and especially by the sons of Moses (Deut. 32), that they are the worst of men, they reply that among the Jews there are both good and bad, and that the bad are there meant. When they are told that they sprang from a Canaanitish woman, and from Judah’s whoredom with his daughter-in-law (Gen. 38), they answer that that was not whoredom. But when to this it is replied that still Judah commanded her to be brought forth and burnt for whoredom, they go away to consult about it, and after consultation say that Judah only acted the part of a brother-in-law, a duty which neither his second son, Onan, nor his third son, Selah, fulfilled. And to this they add that very many of them are of the tribe of Levi, who held the priestly office, and that it is enough that they are all from the loins of Abraham. When they are told that within the Word there is a spiritual sense wherein Christ or the Messiah is fully treated of, they reply that this is not true; and some of them say that within the Word, or in its depths, there is nothing but gold; and other such statements they make.

846.

I was once taken up as to my spirit into the angelic heaven and into a society there; and some of the wise ones there came to me and asked, “What news from the earth?” I answered, “The news is that the Lord has revealed mysteries, which in excellence surpass all the mysteries revealed from the beginning of the church even to the present time.” They asked “What are they?” I replied, “They are the following: (i.) That in each thing and in all things in the Word there is a Spiritual Sense corresponding to the natural sense; that by means of that sense the Word conjoins the men of the church with the Lord, and also associates them with angels; and that the holiness of the Word resides in that sense. [2] (ii.) The Correspondences of which the spiritual sense consists are disclosed.” The angels asked, “Did not the inhabitants of the earth know about correspondences before this?” I answered, “Nothing whatever; these have been hidden now for thousands of years, that is, since the time of Job; but among those who lived at that time and before it, the knowledge of correspondences was the knowledge of knowledges, from which they had wisdom, because thereby they had knowledge of the spiritual things pertaining to heaven and the church. But because that knowledge was changed into idolatrous ideas, it became, by the Lord’s Divine Providence, so obliterated and lost that not the least sign of it remained visible. Nevertheless it is now disclosed by the Lord, in order that a conjunction of the men of the church with the Lord and their affiliation with the angels, may be effected, and this is done by means of the Word, wherein each thing and all things are correspondences.” The angels rejoiced exceedingly that it had pleased the Lord to reveal this great mystery, so deeply hidden for thousands of years; and they said that this was done in order that the Christian church, which is founded on the Word, and which is now at its end, may again revive and draw breath through heaven from the Lord. They asked whether the signification of baptism and of the holy supper, about which such different opinions have heretofore been held, is now disclosed by means of that knowledge. I replied that it was. [3] (iii.) I said further that the Lord had at this time made a revelation respecting the life of men after death. The angels said, “What about the life after death? Does not everyone know that man lives after death?” I replied, “They know it and they do not know it. They say that man does not live after death, but only his soul, and that this lives as a spirit; and the idea they have of spirit is that it is like wind or ether; and they say that man does not live as a man until after the day of the last judgment, when the corporeal elements which he had left in the world, although eaten up by worms, mice, and fishes, would be collected together again, and again formed into a body, and that in this way men will rise again.” The angels said, “How is this? Does not everyone know that man lives a man after death, with the sole difference that he then lives a substantial man, not a material man, as before, and that the substantial man sees the substantial man, in the same way as the material man sees the material, and that men know no difference except that they are in a more perfect state.” [4] (iv.) The angels asked, “What do they know about our world, and about heaven and hell?” I answered, “They have known nothing; but at this day the nature of the world in which angels and spirits live, that is, the nature of heaven and of hell, has been disclosed by the Lord; also that angels and spirits are in conjunction with men, besides many wonderful things respecting them.” The angels rejoiced that it had pleased the Lord to disclose such things, so that man might no longer from ignorance be in doubt respecting his immortality. [5] (v.) I said further, “It has been revealed by the Lord at this time that there is in your world a sun different from that of our world; that the sun of your world is pure love, and the sun of our world pure fire; consequently all that goes forth from your sun, because it is pure love, partakes of life, while all that goes forth from our sun, because it is pure fire, partakes not at all of life; also that this is the nature of the difference between the spiritual and the natural, which difference, hitherto unknown, has also been disclosed. And all this has made clear the source of the light that enlightens the human understanding with wisdom, and of the heat which enkindles the human will with love. [6] (vi.) And still further, it has been disclosed that there are three degrees of life, and consequently three heavens; that the mind of man is divided into those degrees, and that man therefore corresponds to the three heavens.” The angels asked, “Did not men know this before?” I answered that they knew about the degrees existing between more and less, but nothing about the degrees between the prior and the posterior. [7] (vii.) The angels asked whether anything further had been revealed. I said that many other things had; in respect to the Last Judgment; the Lord, as being the God of heaven and earth; God, as being one both in Person and in Essence in whom is a Divine Trinity, and as being the Lord; a New Church to be established by Him; the Doctrine of that church; and the Holiness of the Sacred Scripture; that the Apocalypse had been unfolded; an account had been given of the Inhabitants of the Planets; also an account of the Earths in the Universe; with many other memorable and wonderful matters from the spiritual world, whereby much more pertaining to wisdom had been divulged from heaven.

847.

After this I again talked with the angels, and told them that another matter still had been revealed in the world by the Lord. They asked what. I said, “Respecting love truly conjugial and its spiritual delights.” The angels said, “Who does not know that the delights of conjugial love surpass those of all other loves? And who cannot see that into some one love all kinds of blessedness, happiness, and delight that it is possible for the Lord to bestow may be gathered together, and that the recipient love of these is true conjugial love, since that love corresponds to the love of the Lord and the church, and is capable of receiving and perceiving a full sense of these joys?” I replied, that men are ignorant of this, because they have not approached the Lord, and so have not shunned the lusts of the flesh, and therefore could not be regenerated; and love truly conjugial is from the Lord alone, and is given to those who are regenerated by Him; and these are they who are received into the Lord’s New Church, which is meant in the Apocalypse by “the New Jerusalem.” And to this I added that I doubted whether those in the world at this day are willing to believe that this love is in itself spiritual, and therefore from religion, since they cherish a merely corporeal idea of it; and therefore are willing to believe that since it is in accord with religion, it is spiritual with the spiritual, natural with the natural, and merely carnal with adulterers.

848.

The angels were exceedingly delighted with both of these conversations, but perceiving a sadness in me, they asked, “Why are you sad?” I said, “Because these mysteries that are now revealed by the Lord, although they surpass in excellence and dignity all the knowledge hitherto divulged, are nevertheless regarded on the earth as of no value.” At this the angels were astonished, and besought the Lord to permit them to look down upon the world; and they looked down, and behold, mere darkness was there. And they were told to write these mysteries on paper and the paper would be let down to the earth, and they would see a strange sight. This was done, and behold, the paper on which these mysteries were written being let down from heaven, in its progress while it was still in the spiritual world shone like a star, but when it reached the natural world its light waned, and as it fell was darkened. And when it was let down by the angels into assemblies of learned and accomplished clergy and laymen a murmur of many voices was heard, in which were the words, “What is this? Is it anything? What matters it whether we know these things or not? Are they not mere progeny of the brain?” And the appearance was that some of them took the paper and folded it up and rolled and unrolled it with their fingers, and that others tore it to pieces and wished to trample it under foot. But they were withheld by the Lord from such an outrage, and the angels were directed to withdraw the paper and guard it. And because the angels were thereby saddened, and thought “How long shall this be?” it was said: For a time, and times, and half a time (Apoc. 12:14).

849.

After this I heard a hostile murmur from the lower regions, and with it these words, “Work miracles and we will believe.” I answered, “Are not these things miracles?” They replied, “They are not.” I asked, “What then, are miracles?” They said, “Show and reveal future events, and we will have faith.” But I said, “Such things are not granted by the Lord, because so far as a man knows what is to come his reason and understanding, with his prudence and wisdom sink into inertness and become torpid and collapse.” Again I asked, “What other miracles shall I work.” Then arose the cry, “Such as Moses wrought in Egypt.” And I replied, “Perhaps you would harden your hearts thereat, like Pharaoh and the Egyptians.” The answer was “No.” Again I said, “Assure me that you will not dance about a golden calf and worship it, as the posterity of Jacob did a single month after they had seen all Mount Sinai burning, and had heard Jehovah Himself speaking out of the fire, thus after the greatest of all miracles. (“A golden calf” means in the spiritual sense the pleasures of the flesh.) An answer came from the lower regions, “We will not be like the posterity of Jacob.” At that moment I heard it said to them from heaven, “If you believe not Moses and the Prophets, that is, the Word of the Lord, you will not believe on account of miracles, any more than the posterity of Jacob did in the desert, or any more than they believed when with their own eyes they saw the miracles wrought by the Lord Himself when He was in the world.”

850.

After this I saw some persons ascending from the lower regions, from which these things had been heard; and addressing me in a grave tone, they said, “How is it that your Lord revealed the mysteries that you have just enumerated in a long series, to you who are a layman, and not to some one of the clergy?” To this I replied, “Such was the good pleasure of the Lord, who prepared me for this office from my early youth. Nevertheless, I will ask you a question in return; Why did the Lord, when in the world, choose fishermen for His disciples, instead of some of the lawyers, scribes, priests, or rabbis? Discuss this question among yourselves, draw your conclusions from judgment, and you will discover the reason.” When they heard this, a murmur arose among them, and then they became silent.

I foresee that many who read the Memorable Relations annexed to the chapters in this work will believe them to be inventions of the imagination. But I affirm in truth that they are not inventions, but were truly seen and heard; not seen and heard in any sleeping state of mind, but in a state of full wakefulness. For it has pleased the Lord to manifest Himself to me, and to send me to teach those things which will belong to His New Church, which is meant by “the New Jerusalem” in the Apocalypse. For this purpose He has opened the interiors of my mind or spirit, whereby I have been permitted to be in the spiritual world with angels, and at the same time in the natural world with men, and this now during twenty-seven years. Who in the Christian world could have known anything about Heaven and Hell, had it not pleased the Lord to open the sight of someone’s spirit, and show and teach him? That such things as are described in the Memorable Relations do appear in the heavens is made clear by the like things seen and described by John in the Apocalypse, also in the Word of the Old Testament by the prophets. [2] In the Apocalypse are the following: John saw the Son of man in the midst of the seven candlesticks; he saw in heaven the tabernacle, the temple, the ark, and the altar; he saw a book sealed with seven seals; he saw this opened, and horses going out of it; he saw four animals round about the throne; twelve thousand chosen out of each tribe; locusts ascending from the abyss a woman bringing forth a male child, and fleeing into the desert on account of the dragon; two beasts, one going up out of the sea and the other out of the earth; an angel flying in the midst of heaven having an eternal Gospel; a sea of glass mingled with fire; seven angels having the seven last plagues; bowls poured out by them on the earth, the sea, the rivers, the sun, the throne of the beast, the Euphrates, and the air; a woman sitting on a scarlet beast; the dragon cast into a lake of fire and brimstone; a white horse; a great supper; a new heaven and a new earth; the holy Jerusalem coming down out of heaven, the gates, walls, and foundations of which he describes; also the river of the water of life, and trees of life bearing fruit every month; with many other things, all of which were seen by John, and seen when as to his spirit he was in the spiritual world and in heaven. Add what was seen by the apostles after the Lord’s resurrection, and later by Peter (Acts 11), and what was seen and heard by Paul; and still further what was seen by the prophets in the Old Testament, as by Ezekiel, That he saw four living creatures, which were cherubs (Ezek. 1 and 10). A new temple and a new earth, and an angel measuring them (40-48). He was carried away to Jerusalem and saw the abominations there, and also into Chaldea (8 and 11). [3] With Zechariah like things occurred: He saw a man riding among myrtle trees (Zech. 1:8-11). He saw four horns; and afterward a man with a measuring line in his hand (1 and 2). He saw a flying roll and an ephah (5:1, 6). He saw four chariots between two mountains, and horses (6:1-8). Likewise with Daniel: He saw four beasts coming up out of the sea (Dan. 7:1-8). He saw the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven, whose dominion shall not pass away, and whose kingdom shall not be destroyed (7:13, 14). He saw the battles between the ram and the he-goat (8:1-27). He saw the angel Gabriel, and he talked with him (9). The servant of Elisha saw chariots and horses of fire round about Elisha, and saw them when his eyes were opened (2 Kings 6:17). From these and many other passages in the Word it is evident that those things which exist in the spiritual world have appeared to many, both before and since the Lord’s coming. What marvel, then, that they should be seen now also, when a New Church is commencing, or when the New Jerusalem is descending from heaven? A THEOREM PROPOSED BY A CERTAIN DUKE, AN ELECTOR IN GERMANY, WHO ALSO ENJOYED THE HIGHEST ECCLESIASTICAL DIGNITY. I once saw in the spiritual world a certain duke, an elector in Germany, who also enjoyed the highest ecclesiastical dignity, and near him two bishops and two ministers, and from a distance I heard their conversation. The electoral duke asked the four bystanders whether they knew what constitutes the head of religion in Christendom. The bishops replied, “The head of religion in Christendom is faith alone justifying and saving.” Again he asked, “Do you know what lies concealed within that faith? Open it, look into it, and tell me.” They replied, “That there was nothing concealed within it but the merit and righteousness of the Lord the Savior.” To this the electoral duke answered, “Is there not concealed in it, then, the Lord the Savior in His Human, in which He is called Jesus Christ, because He alone in His Human is Righteousness?” To this they replied, “That certainly and inseparably follows.” The electoral duke persisted, saying, “Open that faith, look into it further, examine it well, and see whether there is not something else in it.” And the ministers said, “The grace of God the Father is also concealed in it.” To this the electoral duke answered, “Obtain a right conception and perception of the subject, and you will see that it is the Son’s grace with the Father, for the Son begs and intercedes. Therefore I say to you, since you confess, revere, and kiss that faith alone of yours, you ought by all means to confess, revere, and kiss the Lord the Savior in His Human alone; for, as just said, He in His Human was and is Righteousness. That in this Human He is also Jehovah and God I saw in the Sacred Writings from the following passages: Behold, the days will come, when I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and He shall reign as a King and prosper; and this is His name whereby He shall be called, Jehovah our Righteousness (Jer. 23:5, 6; 33:15, 16). In Paul: In Jesus Christ dwelleth all the fullness of Deity bodily (Col. 2:9). And in John: Jesus Christ is the true God and eternal life (1 Epistle 5:20). Wherefore He is also called: The God of faith (Phil. 3:9). INDEX TO THE MEMORABLE RELATIONS [This is the Author’s Index. The figures refer to the numbered paragraphs] I. I heard certain new-comers in the spiritual world talking together about three Divine persons from eternity; and then a certain one who in the world had been a primate opened the ideas of his thought respecting that mystery, saying that it had been and still was his opinion that the three sit upon high thrones in heaven, God the Father upon a throne of the finest gold, with a scepter in His hand; God the Son at His right hand, upon a throne of the purest silver with a crown on His head; and God the Holy Spirit upon a throne of shining crystal, holding in His hand a dove, in the form of which He appeared when Christ was baptized, with lamps hanging around about them in triple order, glittering with precious stones; while at a distance innumerable angels were standing in a circle, worshiping and singing praises. He also spoke of the Holy Spirit, how He introduces faith, purifies and justifies. He said that many of his order favored his ideas, and he trusted that I also as a layman gave them credit. But as an opportunity to speak was then given me, I said that from my childhood I have cherished the idea that God is one. I therefore explained to him what the trinity involves, and what is signified by throne, scepter, and crown, where these in the Word are ascribed with God. To this I added that all who believe in three Divine persons from eternity must necessarily believe in three Gods; and, furthermore, that the Divine essence cannot be divided (n. 16). II. A discourse of the angels about God,-that His Divine is the Divine Being (Esse) in itself, and not from itself; and that it is One, the Same, the Itself, and Indivisible; also that God is not in place, but is present with those who are in place; and that His Divine love appears to the angels as a sun, the heat from it being in its essence love, and the light therefrom in its essence wisdom (n. 25). That the proceeding Divine attributes which are creation, redemption, and regeneration, are attributes of one God, and not of three (n. 26). III. Perceiving that avast multitude of men are in the persuasion that all things belong to nature, and consequently that nature is the creator of the universe, in a certain gymnasium where there were persons of this kind I spoke with a certain gifted man respecting these three things: (1) Whether nature is a property of life, or life of nature; (2) Whether the center is from the expanse, or the expanse is from the center; (3) Respecting the center and the expanse of nature and of life; that the center of nature is the sun of the natural world, and the expanse itself of that center is its world; and that the center of life is the sun of the spiritual world, and the expanse itself of that center is its world. These propositions were discussed on both sides, and lastly it was shown what the truth is (n. 35) 5) IV. I was conducted to a kind of theater of wisdom where angelic spirits from the four quarters were assembled with an injunction from heaven to discuss three arcana: (1) What is the image of God, and what is the likeness of God. (2) Why is not man born into the knowledge proper to any love, when even the beasts and the birds are born into the knowledge proper to all their loves. (3) What do the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil signify. And further, they were to unite the answers to these three in one opinion, and refer this to the angels of heaven; this was done, the opinion was referred, and was accepted by the angels (n. 48). V. From evil spirits who were just above hell a sound was heard like the roaring of the sea; which was from a tumult that arose among them from their hearing it said above them that the Almighty God had bound Himself to order. A certain one ascending therefrom, addressed me sharply on the matter, saying that as God is omnipotent He is not bound to any order. And on being questioned about order, I said: (1) God is Order itself. (2) He created man from order, in order, and for order. (3) He created man’s rational mind in accordance with the order of the spiritual world, and his body in accordance with the order of the natural world. (4) Therefore it is a law of order that man from his little spiritual world or little heaven should govern his little cosmos or little natural world, just as God from His great heaven or spiritual world governs His great cosmos or natural world. (5) Many other laws of order flow forth from these, some of which are recited. What afterward befell those spirits is described (n. 71). VI. Concerning the reasoning between certain Dutch and British in the spiritual world on the subject of imputation and predestination; on the one side, why God, since He is omnipotent, does not impute the righteousness of His Son to every man, and thus make them redeemed, for being omnipotent, He is able to make all the satans of hell angels of heaven; and even, if it be His good pleasure, He can make Lucifer, the dragon, and all the goats, to be archangels; and what is needed for this but a little word? On the other side, that God is Order itself, and that He can do nothing contrary to the laws of His order; because to act contrary to them would be to act contrary to Himself. Also much beside, about which they contended on this subject (n. 72). VII. I afterward spoke with others who had believed in predestination, deducing it from God’s absolute power or omnipotence; saying that otherwise God would have less power than a king in the world who is a despot, and who can as easily change the laws of justice as he can turn his hands, and can act without restriction, like Octavius Augustus and also like Nero. To which it was answered, that God created the world and each and all things thereof, from Himself as Order, and thus impressed order upon them; also that the laws of His order are just as many as are the truths in the Word. Some of the laws of order were then recited, - what they are, and the nature of them, on God’s part, and also on man’s part. These cannot be changed, because God is Order itself: and man was created an image of His order (n. 73). VIII. I spoke with clergymen and laymen who had gathered together, concerning the Divine omnipotence; and they said that omnipotence is unlimited, and that limited omnipotence is a contradiction. To this it was answered, that there is no contradiction in acting omnipotently according to laws of justice with judgment. It is said in David that “Justice and judgment are the support of God’s throne” (Ps. 89:14); and that there is no contradiction in acting omnipotently according to the laws of love and wisdom; but there is a contradiction in God’s being able to act contrary to the laws of justice and love; which would be to act from what is not judgment and wisdom; and such contradiction is implied in the faith of the church of the present day, which is that God is able to make an unjust man just, and endow the impious with all the gifts of salvation and the rewards of life. With much more concerning this faith and concerning omnipotence (n. 74). IX. When I was once meditating upon the creation of the universe by God, I was led in the spirit to certain wise ones who at first complained of the ideas they had acquired in the world which related to the creation of the universe out of chaos, and creation out of nothing; because these ideas obscure meditation upon the creation of the universe by God, and degrade and pervert it. Therefore when asked for my opinion, I replied that it is idle to try to form any but a speculative conclusion about the creation of the universe, unless it is known that there are two worlds, the spiritual and the natural, and that in each of these is a sun; and that the sun of the spiritual world, in the midst of which is God, is nothing but love, and that from it are all spiritual things, which in themselves are substantial; while the sun of the natural world is nothing but fire, and from it are all natural things, which in themselves are material. From these knowledges it can be concluded in regard to the creation of the universe, that it is from God, and how. This was also slightly traced out (n. 76). X. Some satans of hell desired to talk with the angels of heaven, for the purpose of convincing them that all things are from nature, and that God is a mere word unless nature is meant. They were permitted to ascend. Then certain angels descended from heaven into the world of spirits to hear them. When the satans saw the angels they ran up to them furiously and said, “You are called angels because you believe that there is a God, and that nature is relatively nothing; this you believe although it is contrary to every sense; for which of your five senses has a sensation of anything but nature?” After these and many other bitter words, the angels called to the remembrance of the satans that they were then living after death, although formerly they had not even believed that they would so live; and then they caused them to see the beautiful and splendid things of heaven, and told them that these were there because all there believe in God; and afterward they caused them to see the vile and filthy things of hell, and told them that these were there because those there believe in nature. From seeing these things the satans were at first convinced that there is a God and that He created nature; but as they descended, the love of evil returned and closed their understanding from above; and when this was closed they believed as before, that all things are of nature, and nothing of God (n. 77). XI. A type of the creation of the universe was shown me in a living way, by angels. I was conducted into heaven; and it was granted me to see there all things of the animal kingdom, of the vegetable kingdom, and of the mineral kingdom, which were in every respect like the objects of those three kingdoms in the natural world. And then they said, All these things in heaven are created in a moment by God, and they continue to exist as long as the angels are interiorly as to their thought in a state of love and faith; and this instantaneous creation furnishes a clear proof of the creation of similar things, and even a similar creation, in the natural world, with the sole difference that natural things invest spiritual things, and that this clothing was provided by God for the sake of generations one from another, by which creation is perpetuated. Consequently, the creation of the universe was effected in a way similar to that in which it is effected every moment in heaven. Nevertheless, all the noxious and hideous things in the three kingdoms of nature (which are enumerated), were not created by God, but sprang up along with hell (n. 78). XII. In a conversation relating to the creation of the universe, with some who when in the world had been celebrated for learning, these spoke from the same ideas that they had formerly entertained. One of them said that nature created itself; another, that nature gathered its elements into vortices, and that by the collision of these the earth was formed; and a third that the origin of all things was chaos which in extent had equalled a great part of the universe; and that first there burst forth therefrom the purest elements, of which the sun and stars were formed; and afterwards those less pure, of which the atmospheres were formed; and at last the grosser matters, of which the terraqueous globe was formed. To the question, “What was the origin of human souls?” they answered, that the ether gathered itself into little individual globules, and that these infuse themselves into those who are about to be born, and make their souls; and that after death these globules fly away to their former company in the ether, and afterward return into others according to the doctrine of metempsychosis of the ancients. After this a certain priest, by solid arguments in favor of the creation of the universe by God showed all the things which they had said to be an absurd medley, and put them to shame. But still they held to their former delusions (n. 79). XIII. A conversation with a certain satan about God, and the angelic heaven, and religion; who, not knowing that he was not still in the former world, declared that God is the universe, and that the angelic heaven is the atmospheric firmament, and that religion is nothing but a bewitchment of the common people, besides other follies. But when it was brought to his remembrance that he was then living after death, and that he formerly did not believe in that life, for the moment he confessed that he was insane; but as soon as he turned and went away he was as insane as before (n. 80). XIV. I saw by night an ignis fatuus, often called a dragon, falling toward the earth. I noticed the place where it fell; the ground there was sulphurous, mixed with iron dust. And looking there in the morning, I saw two tents; and just then a spirit fell from heaven. I went to him and asked why he had fallen down from heaven. He replied that he was cast down by the angels of Michael, for saying that God the Father and His Son are two, and not one. He also said that the whole angelic heaven believes that God the Father and His Son are one, as soul and body are one, and that they prove this by many things from the Word and still further from the reason, that the soul of a son is from the father only, and that this is a likeness of the father and from it the likeness is in the body. And he added that he indeed had confessed in heaven, as before on earth, that God is one; but because the confession of the mouth and the thought of the mind disagreed in regard to this, they said in heaven that he did not believe in any God, because the confession and the thought dissipate each other; and he said that this was the cause of his being cast down. Returning the next day to the same place, instead of the two tents I saw two statues composed of the same sort of dust, which was a mixture of sulphur and iron. One of these represented the faith and the other the charity of the church of the present day, both beautifully clothed; but the garments were induced by fantasies. And because they were made of dust, when the rain descended from heaven both of them began to effervesce and burn (n. 110). XV. In the spiritual world it is unlawful to say anything except what one thinks; if he does, the hypocrisy is distinctly manifest to the ear. In hell, therefore, no one can utter the name Jesus, because Jesus signifies salvation. In this way an experiment was made to ascertain how many in the Christian world at this day believe that Christ even as to His Human is God. Therefore, when many of the clergy and laity were assembled, it was proposed that they say “Divine Human;” but there were scarcely any who were able to draw forth from the thought these two words at once, and so to utter them. It was proved in their presence by many things out of the Word, that the Lord even as to His Human is God as by the following: (Matt. 28:18; John 1:1, 2, 14; 17:2; Col. 2:9; 1 John 5:20; and in other places also); still they were not able to utter the words Divine Human,- and, what seemed surprising, neither were the Evangelicals able to do this, although their orthodoxy teaches that in Christ God is Man and Man is God; and still more, neither could the monks, although they most devoutly adore the Body of Christ in the Eucharist. From all this it was ascertained that Christians at the present day for the most part are interiorly either Arians or Socinians; and that these, if they adore Christ as God, are hypocrites (n. 111). XVI. An altercation about a little book entitled, A Brief Exposition of the Doctrine of the New Church, published by me at Amsterdam; and especially about this doctrine in it, that not God the Father, but the Lord God the Redeemer is to be approached and worshiped. It was argued that on the other hand it is said in the Lord’s Prayer, “Our Father, Who art in the heavens, hallowed be Thy name: Thy kingdom come,” And that consequently it is God the Father who is to be approached. I was summoned to end this strife; and I then showed that God the Father cannot be approached in His Divine, but only in His Human; and as the Divine and Human in Him are one Person, that the Lord is that Father. This also was proved by the Word; both by the Word of the Old Testament, where the Son of God is called Father of Eternity, and in many places called Jehovah the Redeemer, Jehovah our Righteousness, and the God of Israel, and from many passages in the Word of the New Testament; consequently when the Lord the Redeemer is approached, the Father is approached; and then His name is hallowed, and His kingdom comes. With much beside (n. 112). XVII. I saw an army on red and black horses, with the faces of all the riders turned to the horses’ tails, and with the hinder part of the head turned towards the horses’ heads; they were crying out for battle against those who were riding on white horses. This ludicrous army was from the place called Armageddon (Apoc. 16:16), and consisted of those who in youth had become imbued with the dogmas relating to justification by faith alone, but who afterwards, when they had been promoted to prominent offices, had rejected all things pertaining to faith and religion from the internals of their minds to the externals of their bodies, where at last they disappeared. A description of those who were seen in Armageddon; and it was heard that they wished to meet and contend with the angels of Michael; which was permitted, although at some distance from that place. The contention was about the meaning of these words in the Lord’s Prayer; “Our Father, Who art in the heavens, hallowed be Thy name; Thy kingdom come.” It was then said by the angels of Michael that the Lord the Redeemer and Saviour is Father to all in the heavens; since He taught, that the Father and He are one; that the Father is in Him, and He in the Father; and that he that sees Him sees the Father: that all things of the Father are in Him; also that it is the will of the Father that men should believe in the Son, and that those who believe not the Son shall not see life, but that the wrath of God will abide on them; also, that He has all power in heaven and on earth; and that He has power over all flesh; and moreover, that no one has seen or can see God the Father, except the Son only who is in the bosom of the Father; and more besides. After this combat, some of the vanquished Armageddons were cast into the abyss mentioned in Apoc. 9, and some of them were banished into a desert (n. 113). XVIII. I was in a temple in which there were no windows, but a large opening in the roof, and those assembled there were conferring about Redemption, saying unanimously that redemption was wrought by the passion of the cross. But while they were engaged in that conversation, a black cloud covered the opening in the roof, and because of this it became dark in the temple; but a little after that cloud was dispelled by angels descending from heaven, who then sent down one of their number into the temple to instruct them about redemption. He said that the passion of the cross was not redemption, but redemption was the subjugation of the hells, the restoration of order in the heavens, and thus the restitution of all things which were in disorder both in the spiritual world and in the natural world, and that without it no flesh could have been saved. And of the passion of the cross he said, that by it was completed the inmost union with the Father; and that when it is taken for redemption many things unworthy of God, and even unfit to be spoken, follow as consequences; as that He passed sentence of damnation upon the whole human race, and that the Son took that damnation upon Himself, and that thus He propitiated the Father, and by intercession brought Him back to His Divine essence, which is love and mercy; besides many other things, which it is scandalous to attribute to God (n. 134). XIX. The sun of the spiritual world was seen, wherein is Jehovah God in His Human. Presently there was heard from heaven, that God is One. But when this descended into the world of spirits it was changed according to the forms of the minds there, and finally into the expression three Gods. This was confirmed by one there by this reasoning: that there is one who created all things, another who redeemed all, and a third who operates all things; also that there is one who imputes, another who mediates, and a third who inscribes, and thus implants faith in man, by which He justifies him. But because the belief in three Gods had perverted the whole Christian church, from a perception granted me I disclosed to them what, with the one God, is meant by mediation, intercession, propitiation, and expiation; namely, that these four are attributes of the Human of Jehovah God; that because Jehovah God without the Human cannot approach man, nor be approached by man, mediation means that the Human is the intermediary; that intercession means that it mediates perpetually; that propitiation means that an approach is mercifully opened for every man to God; and that expiation means that this is also for sinners; and all these through the Human (n. 135). XX. I entered a gymnasium, where they were discussing what is meant where it is said of the Son of God, that He sits at the right hand of the Father. Concerning this there were various opinions; yet it was the opinion of all that the Son actually sits thus; but they were discussing why it was so. Some supposed that it was done on account of redemption; some that it was from love; some, that He might be a counselor; some, that He might have honor from the angels; some, because it was given Him to reign instead of the Father; some, that His right ear may hear those for whom He intercedes. They further discussed whether it was the Son of God from eternity who sits thus, or the Son of God born in the world. Having heard these things, I raised my hand, requesting that I might be permitted to say something, and to tell what is meant by sitting at the right hand of God. I said that it is the omnipotence of God, by means of the Human which He assumed that is meant; for by means of this He wrought redemption, that is, subjugated the hells, created a new angelic heaven, and established a new church. That this is meant by sitting at the right hand, I proved from the Word, in which “the right hand” signifies power; and afterwards it was confirmed from heaven, by the appearance of a right hand over them, from the power of which and the terror therefrom they all became almost lifeless (n. 136). XXI. I was conducted in the spiritual world to a certain synod at which were assembled celebrated persons who lived before the Nicene council, and who were called Apostolic Fathers; also men renowned in the ages after that council; and I saw that some of the latter appeared with beardless chins, and in curled wigs of women’s hair; but all the former with bearded chin, and in natural hair. In front of them stood a man, a judge and critic of the writings of the present century, who began by a kind of lamentation, saying, “A man from the laity has risen up, who has dragged down our faith out of its sanctuary, which yet is a star shining day and night before us; but this is done because that man is blind to the mysteries of that faith, and does not see in it the righteousness of Christ, and thus not the wonders of its justification; and yet that faith is a faith in three Divine persons, and thus in the whole Deity; and because He has transferred his faith to the second Person, and not even to Him, but to His Human, it cannot be otherwise than that naturalism should flow from it.” Those who lived after the Nicene council favored his speech, saying, that it is impossible that there should be any other faith, or from any other source. But the Apostolic Fathers, who had lived before that age, being indignant, related many things which are said in heaven respecting the Nicene and Athanasian faith, which may be seen [in the text]. But because the president of the council was affiliated in spirit with that writer in Leipsic, I addressed him, and showed from the Word that Christ, even as to the Human, is God; and also from the dogmatic book of the Evangelicals called Formula Concordiae, “That in Christ God is Man, and Man God;” as also that the Augsburg Confession especially approves of the worship of Christ; besides other things; at which he was silent, and turned away. Afterwards I spoke with a certain spirit who was affiliated with an eminent man in Gottenburg, who defiled the worship of the Lord with a still greater reproach. But at length both of these slanders were declared to be lies craftily invented to turn away men’s wills and deter them from the holy worship of the Lord (n. 137). XXII. There appeared a smoke ascending from the lower earth, and it was said that smokes are nothing else than falsities collected together. And then certain angels were seized with a desire to ascertain what the falsities were that thus smoked; and they descended, and found four crowds of spirits, two of which were of the learned and unlearned of the clergy, and two of the learned and unlearned of the laity, who were all proving to each other that an invisible God is to be worshiped, and that the worshipers then secure holiness and a hearing. It is otherwise when a visible God is worshiped. Holiness and a hearing from an invisible God they proved by various things; for which reason they acknowledge three Gods from eternity, who are invisible. But it was shown that the worship of an invisible God, and still more of three invisible ones, is no worship. To confirm this, Socinus and Arius with some of their followers, all of whom had worshiped an invisible Divinity, were brought forth from below; and when these spoke from the natural or external mind, they said that there is a God, although He is invisible; but when their external mind was closed, and the internal mind was opened, and from that mind they were compelled to avow their belief respecting God, they said, “What is God? We have neither seen His shape, nor heard His voice. What then is God, but a figment of reason or nature?” But they were taught that it had pleased God to descend and assume the Human, that they might see His shape and hear His voice. But this was said to them in vain (n. 159). XXIII. First concerning the stars in the natural world; that perhaps they were of the same number as the angelic societies in heaven, since every society there sometimes shines like a star. Afterwards, I spoke with the angels about a certain way that appears crowded with innumerable spirits, that it is the way by which all who depart out of the natural world pass into the spiritual world. I went in company with angels towards that way, and we called from that way twelve men, and asked them what they believed about heaven and hell and a life after death. And because they were recently from the world, and did not know but what they were still in the natural world, they answered from the idea which they brought with them The First. That all who live a moral life go to heaven; and as all do live a moral life no one goes to hell. The Second, That God rules heaven, and the devil rules hell; and because they are opposite, one calls good what the other calls evil; and that the man who is a dissembler, because he sides with both, can live equally under the dominion of the one and of the other. The Third, That there is no heaven, and no hell. “Who has come thence and told us?” The Fourth, That no one is able to come back and tell, because man, when he dies, is either a ghost or a wind. The Fifth, That we must wait till the day of the last judgment, and then it will be told, and you will know all about it. But when he said this he laughed in his heart. The Sixth, “How can the soul of man, which is only a wind, re-enter its body that has been eaten up by worms, or be clothed with a skeleton that has either been dried up or has crumbled into dust? “The Seventh, That men can no more live after death than beasts and birds, are not these equally rational? The Eighth, “I believe that there is a heaven, but I do not believe that there is a hell, because God is omnipotent, and is able to save all. “The Ninth, That God, because He is gracious, cannot send any one into eternal fire. The Tenth, That no one can go to hell, because God sent His Son, who has made expiation for all, and taken away the sins of all. What can the devil do against that? The Eleventh, who was a priest, That those only are saved, who have attained to faith, and that election is according to the will of the Almighty. The Twelfth, who was a politician, “I do not say anything about heaven and hell; but let the priests preach about them, that the minds of the common people may be kept bound by an invisible bond to the laws and rulers.” On hearing these things the angels were astonished; but they waked up the twelve by teaching them that they were already living after death; and they conducted them into heaven, but they did not stay there long, because. it was found that they were merely natural, and that from this the hinder part of their heads was hollow; concerning which hollowness and the cause of it, something is lastly said (n. 160). XXIV. There was heard a noise like that of a mill, and following the noise I saw a house full of chinks, to which there was an entrance opening under ground, and in it a man collecting from the Word and books many things concerning justification by faith alone; and at his side copyists were writing his collections upon paper; and when asked what he was now collecting, he said, “This, that God the Father ceased to be gracious towards the human race, and that He therefore sent the Son to make expiation and propitiation. “To which I answered, that it is contrary to Scripture and contrary to reason, that God could fail of grace, for this would be also failing of His essence, and thus He would not be God. And when I demonstrated this even to conviction, he grew warm, and ordered his copyists to cast me out. But when I had gone out of my own accord, he threw after me a book that he happened to lay hand upon; and that book was the Word (n. 161). XXV. There was a discussion among spirits whether one can see any genuine truth in the Word unless he goes immediately to the Lord who is the Word itself. But as some objected to this an experiment was made; and therein those who went to God the Father, did not see any truth; but all who went to the Lord saw. During this discussion some spirits ascended from the abyss (see Apoc. 9), where they discuss the mysteries of justification by faith alone, saying that they go to God the Father and see their mysteries in clear light. But it was answered that they see them in fatuous light, and that they have not even a single truth; at which, being nettled, they brought forth from the Word many things which were true; but they were told that while these were true in themselves, they were falsified in them. That this was so, was proved by their being led into a house where there was a table upon which light from heaven flowed directly; and they were told to write those truths which they had brought forth from the Word upon paper, and lay it upon that table; and when this was done, the paper on which the truths had been written shone like a star; but when they came up and fixed their gaze upon it, the paper appeared blackened as if by soot. Afterwards they were led to another similar table, upon which lay the Word encircled with a rainbow; and when a certain champion of the doctrine of faith alone touched this with his hand there was an explosion as if from a gun, and he was cast into a corner of the room, and lay as (lead for half an hour. From all this they were convinced that all the truths that they had from the Word were true in themselves but falsified in them (n. 162). XXVI. There are climates in the spiritual world, as in the natural world; thus also there are northern zones where are snow and ice. On one occasion, being brought thither in spirit, I entered a temple then covered over with snow, illuminated within by lamps, and behind the altar there was seen a tablet, upon which was written this, The Divine Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, who are essentially one, but personally three. And I heard a priest preaching about four mysteries of faith respecting which the understanding is to be kept under obedience to faith, which may be seen [in the text]. After the discourse, the hearers thanked the priest for his sermon so rich in wisdom. But when I asked them whether they understood anything, they answered, “We took in everything with full ears; why do you ask whether we understood? Is not the understanding benumbed by such matters?” To this the priest who was present added, “Forasmuch as you have heard and have not understood, you are blessed, for thereby you have salvation.” And other things (n. 185). XXVII. The human mind is divided into three regions, like the heaven in which angels dwell; and in those who love truths because they are truths theological matters have their seat in the highest region of the mind; and under these, in the middle region, moral subjects, and beneath these in the lowest region, political subjects; and the various sciences constitute the door. But theological matters with those who do not love truths have their seat in the lowest region, and mingle themselves there with what is man’s own, and thus with the fallacies of the senses; and for this reason some cannot perceive theological principles at all (n. 186). XXVIII. I was brought to a place where those were who are meant by “the false prophet” in the Apocalypse; and I was invited by those there to see their temple. I followed and saw it, and in it the image of a woman clad in a scarlet robe, holding in her right hand a golden coin, and in her left a chain of pearls; but these appearances were produced through fantasy. But when the interiors of my mind were opened by the Lord, instead of the temple there was seen a house full of chinks; and instead of the woman there was seen a beast, such as is described in the Apocalypse (13:2); and under the floor there was a bog, in which lay the Word, deeply concealed. But presently, an east wind springing up, the temple was carried away, and the bog was dried up, and the Word lay exposed; and then, by the light from heaven, there appeared there a tabernacle like that of Abraham when the three angels came slid foretold to him the birth of Isaac; and afterwards, light being sent forth from the second heaven, instead of the tabernacle there appeared a temple similar to that of Jerusalem; and after this a light shone upon it from the third heaven, and then the temple disappeared, and the Lord alone was seen standing upon the foundation stone where the Word was. But because an overpowering sanctity then filled their minds this light was withdrawn, and in place of it light from the second heaven was let in, which caused the previous view of the temple to return, and also that of the tabernacle within it (n. 187). XXIX. There was seen a magnificent palace, in which there was a temple, and in this seats were placed in triple order. In it there was a council convoked by the Lord, in which they were to deliberate concerning the Lord the Saviour, and concerning the Holy Spirit. When as many of the clergy were present as there were seats, they began the council. And because they were to consult in regard to the Lord, the first proposition was, Who assumed the Human in the virgin Mary? And then the angel standing beside the table read before them what the angel Gabriel said to Mary, “The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee; and the holy thing that shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God” (Luke 1:35; and also from Matt. 1:20, 25); and many other things from the Prophets, that Jehovah Himself was to come into the world, and that Jehovah Himself is called Saviour, Redeemer and Righteousness; from which it was concluded that Jehovah Himself assumed the Human. Another deliberation concerning the Lord, was, Whether the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ are not thus one, as soul and body are one; and this was proved by many passages in the Word, and also from the creed of the present church; from which it was concluded that the soul of the Lord is from God the Father, and consequently that His Human is Divine; and that the Human is to be approached that the Father may be approached, since by means of it Jehovah God sent Himself into the world and made Himself seen before the eyes of men, and thus accessible. This was followed by a third deliberation concerning the Holy Spirit; and then first the idea respecting three Divine persons from eternity was discarded, and it was proved from the Word that the Holy Divine, which is called the Holy Spirit, goes forth out of the Lord from the Father. At length, from the deliberations of this council, this conclusion was reached: That in the Lord the Saviour there is a Divine Trinity, namely, the Divine from which (a quo) which is called the Father the Divine Human which is called the Son, and the Divine going forth which is called the Holy Spirit; and that therefore in the church God is one. When the council was ended, splendid garments were given to those who sat in it and they were conducted to the new heaven (n. 188). XXX. I saw in a certain stable large purses, in which there was silver in great abundance, and near them young men as guards; in the next room, modest virgins with a chaste wife; and also in another room, two little children; and at last a harlot and dead horses. And afterwards I was taught what each of those things signified; and that by them was represented and described the Word as it is in itself and as it is at this day (n. 277). XXXI. Writing was seen, such as there is in the highest or third heaven, which consisted of inflected letters with little curves turning upwards; and it was said that the Hebrew letters in the most ancient time were somewhat like these when they were more curved than they are at this day, and that the letter h, which was added to the names of Abram and Sarai, signifies the infinite and the eternal. They explained before me the sense of some words in Psalm 32:2, from the letters or syllables alone there, which is, that the Lord is merciful even to those who do evil (n. 278). XXXII. Before the Israelitish Word there was a Word, the prophetical books of which were called Enunciations, and the historical, the Wars of Jehovah; and besides these, also one called the book of Jasher; which three are mentioned in our Word; and this ancient Word was in the land of Canaan, Syria, Mesopotamia, Arabia, Assyria, Chaldea, Egypt, Tyre, Sidon, and Nineveh; but because it was full of such correspondences as remotely signify celestial and spiritual things, which gave occasion for idolatries, this Word, through Divine Providence, disappeared. I have heard that Moses transcribed from this Word the things which he related concerning the Creation, Adam and Eve, the Flood, and Noah and his three sons, but no further. And I was told in the spiritual world by the angels from Great Tartary that this same, Word is still preserved among that people, and that they draw from it the precepts of their faith and life (n. 279). XXXIII. On account of the distinction between spiritual and natural, or what is the same, between the substantial and the material, those who are in the spiritual world cannot be seen by those who are in the natural world, nor conversely; thus spirits and angels cannot be seen by men, nor men by spirits and angels. From this is the fact that spirits and angels have altogether a different language, different writing, and also different thought from what men have. That this is so, was made evident by living experience, which was done by their going in turn to their associates, and returning to me, and thus comparing. In this way it was discovered, that there is not even one word of spiritual language that is like any word of natural language; and that their writing consists of syllables, each of which involves a meaning pertaining to the subject; and that the ideas of their thought do not fall into the ideas of natural thought. The cause of these differences is, that spirits and angels are in principles, but men in derivatives; or that the former are in prior things which as causes are the origin of posterior things, and that men are in posterior things from those that are prior. It was said that there is a like difference between the languages, writings, and thoughts, of the angels of the third heaven and those of the angels of the second (n. 280). XXXIV. On the state of men after death, in general, and the state of those who have confirmed themselves in falsities, in particular. In regard to all of these the following things were observed: (1) For the most part men are commonly resuscitated the third day after death, and then they do not know but that they are still living in the former world. (2) All go to the world which is intermediate between heaven and hell, which is called the world of spirits. (3) There they are transferred into various societies, and thus their characters are ascertained. (4) There the good and faithful are prepared for heaven, and the evil and unfaithful for hell. (5) After the preparation, which continues for some years, a way is opened for the good to some society in heaven where they are to live forever, but a way for the evil into hell; besides many more things. Afterwards the nature of hell is described; and it is stated that those there who are in falsities from confirmation are called satans and those who are in evils of life are called devils (n. 281). XXXV. From the lower earth, which is next above hell, I heard shouts, “0 how just! 0 how learned! 0 how wise!” and because I wondered how there could be any just, learned, and wise persons in hell, I descended, and first went to the place where they were crying, “0 how just!” and I saw there, as it were, a tribunal, and in it unjust judges who could skillfully pervert the laws, and turn judgments to the favor of any one whatever; and that thus their judgments were purely arbitrary judgments; and when the sentences were carried out to the clients, they cried out for a long distance, “O how just.” Concerning these the angels afterwards said, that such are unable to see any least particle of what is just. After a while these judges were cast into hell, and their books were turned into playing-cards, and instead of judging, they were assigned to the task of preparing paint, with which they daubed the faces of harlots, and thus turned them into beauties (n. 332). XXXVI. Afterwards I went to the place where they were crying out, “0 how learned” and I saw a company of those who were reasoning whether a thing is so or not, but not thinking that it is so; and therefore they stopped at the first step concerning any subject whatever; thus they merely touched it from without and did not enter into it; so they also argue concerning God, whether there is a God. That I might know for certain whether their character was such I put to them the question, What kind of religion is necessary for the salvation of man? They answered, “It must be considered (1) Whether religion is anything. (2) Whether one religion is more efficacious than another. (3) Whether there is any eternal life, and thus whether there is any salvation. (4) Is there a heaven and a hell?” And then they began to discuss the first, Whether religion is anything. And they said that this required so much investigation that it could not be finished in the space of a year; and one among them said, that it could not be finished in a hundred years; to which I replied that in the meantime they would be without religion. But still they discussed this first point so skillfully that the company standing by cried, “0 how learned!” I was told by the angels, that such appear like graven images; and that afterwards they are sent out into deserts, where among themselves they gabble and talk nothing but nonsense (n. 333). XXXVII. I went on further to the third company, where I heard the cry, “0 how wise!” and I found assembled there those who are unable to see whether truth is truth or not, and yet are able to make whatever they wish seem true, and are therefore called Confirmers. That they were such, I also saw from various answers to propositions as that they could make it true that faith is the all of the church, and afterwards that charity is the all of the church, and also that faith and charity together are the all of the church; and because they confirmed whichever of these they liked, and adorned them with appearances so that they shone like truths, therefore the by-standers cried, “0 how wise!” Afterwards some ludicrous things, also, were proposed to them, that they might make them true; for they say that there is nothing true, except what man makes true. The ludicrous things were these: that light is darkness, and darkness light; and also that a crow is white, and not black; which two they made to appear as wholly true. The arguments for these may be seen in the text. I was told by the angels that such do not possess a single grain of understanding, since all that is above the rational with them is closed, while all below the rational is open; and by this man can confirm whatever he pleases, but cannot see any truth to be truth therefore, this does not belong to a man of understanding, but it does belong to him to be able to see that truth is truth and that falsity is falsity, and to confirm it (n. 334). XXXVIII. I spoke with spirits who, in the natural world, had been famed for erudition, who were disputing among themselves about connate ideas, whether men have any, as beasts have; and then a certain angelic spirit thrust himself in and said, “You are disputing about goat’s wool. Men have no connate ideas, neither have beasts. “At which words all were enraged. But afterwards, opportunity to speak being given, he spoke first concerning beasts, saying, “They have no connate ideas; for the reason that they do not think, but only act from instinct, which they have from their natural love, which makes in them something analogous to a will, and this flows immediately into the senses of their body and excites that which agrees with and favors the love; and yet ideas are predicable only of thought. “That beasts have sensation only and not thought, he confirmed by various things, especially by the wonderful things which are known respecting spiders, bees, and silk-worms, saying, “Does a spider think in its little head, when it forms its web, that the web is to be so woven for the rake of such or such uses? Does a bee think in its little head, ‘From these flowers I will suck honey, and from these I will gather wax, out of which I will build compact rows of little cells, and in these I will put honey in abundance that it may be sufficient also for the winter?’ besides other things. Does the silkworm think in its little head, ‘Now I will betake myself to spinning silk, and when I have spun it I will fly forth and sport with my companions, and provide for myself posterity?’ besides like things with beasts and birds.” Concerning men he said, that every mother and nurse, and the father also, know that new-born infants have no connate ideas, and that they have no ideas at all until they have learned to think, and that then ideas arise and are produced according to every kind of thought which they have imbibed by instruction; and that this is so because man has nothing born in him except a capacity to know, to understand and to be wise, and an inclination to love not only himself and the world, but also the neighbor and God. These things Leibnitz and Wolfe heard at a distance; and Leibnitz favored, but Wolfe did not (n. 335). XXXIX. Once a certain angelic spirit illustrated what faith and charity are, and what their conjunction effects. He illustrated it by comparison with light and heat, which meet together in a third; because the light in heaven in its essence is the truth of faith, and the heat there in its essence is the good of charity; therefore as light without heat, such as there is in winter-time in the world, strips the trees of leaves and fruits, so is faith separated from charity; and as light conjoined to heat, such as there is in spring-time, vivifies all things, so is faith conjoined with charity (n. 385). XL. Two angels descended, one from the eastern heaven where love prevails, and the other from the southern heaven, where wisdom prevails, and spoke concerning the essence of the heavens, whether it is love or wisdom; and they agreed that it is love and wisdom therefrom; consequently, that the heavens were created by God, from love by means of wisdom (n. 386). XLI. After that, I entered a garden, where I was led around by a certain spirit, and at length to a palace which was called the Temple of Wisdom. This was four-square, the walls of crystal, the roof of jasper, the substructure of various precious stones. And he said that no one can enter it who does not believe that what he knows, understands, and is wise in, compared with what he does not know and understand and is not wise in, is relatively so little that it is scarcely anything. And because I believed this, it was granted me to enter; and it was seen that the whole of it was built to be a form of light. In that temple I related what I had lately heard from the two angels about love and wisdom; and they asked, “Did they not also speak of a third, which is use?” And they said that love and wisdom apart from use are merely ideal entities, but that in use they become real, and that it is the same with charity, faith, and good works (n. 387). XLII. One of the spirits of the dragon invited me to see the delights of his love; and he led me to something like an amphitheater, upon the seats of which sat satyrs and harlot, And then he said, “Now you shall see our sport.” And he opened a door, and let in, as it were, calves, rams, kids, and lambs; and presently through another door he let in lions, panthers, tigers, and wolves, which rushed upon the flock, tearing them and slaughtering them. But all these things which were seen were induced by means of fantasies. Having seen this I said to the dragonist, “After a while you will see this theater turned into a lake of fire and brimstone “The sport being finished, the dragonist went out, attended by his satyrs and harlots, and saw a flock of sheep; from which he inferred that one of the Jerusalemite cities was near by; on seeing which, he was seized with the desire to take it and cast out the inhabitants; but because it was surrounded by a wall, he planned to take it by stratagem. And then he sent one skilled in incantation, who being admitted spoke craftily with the citizens about faith and charity; especially as to which of them is the primary, and whether charity contributes anything to salvation. But the dragonist, enraged at the answer, went out and gathered together many of his crew, and began to besiege the city; but when he was endeavoring to reach and invade it, fire out of heaven consumed them according to what is foretold in the Apocalypse (20:8, 9) (n. 388). XLIII. A paper was once sent down from heaven, in which there was an exhortation to acknowledge the Lord the Savior as the God of heaven and earth, according to His words (Matt. 28:18). But two bishops who were there were consulted as to what should be done. They said that the paper should be sent back to heaven from which it came. When this was done that society sank down, but not very deep. The next day some ascended therefrom and told what lot they had met with there; also that they went to the bishops there and reproved them for their advice, and that they had talked much about the state of the church at this day, and had censured the doctrine of the bishops regarding the Trinity, of justifying faith, of charity, and other things which pertained to their orthodoxy, and asked them to discard those doctrines because they were contrary to the Word; but to no purpose. And because they called their faith dead and diabolical, according to James in his Epistle, one of the bishops took off the miter from his head, and laid it down upon the table, saying that he would not resume it until the scoffing of his faith had been avenged. But then a monster appeared coming up from below, like the beast described in the Apocalypse (13:1, 2), which took up the miter and carried it away (n. 389). XLIV. I went to a certain house where those assembled were arguing one with another, whether the good which a man does in the state of justification by faith is the good of religion or not. There was an agreement that by the good of religion the good which contributes to salvation is meant. But the opinion of those prevailed who said that no good that is done by man contributes anything to salvation; since no voluntary good of man can be conjoined with what is free, because salvation is bestowed freely neither can any good from man be conjoined with the merit of Christ, by which alone is salvation possible; neither can the operation of man be conjoined with the operation of the Holy Spirit, that does all things without the aid of man. From which it was concluded that good works, even in the state of justification by faith, contribute nothing to salvation; but faith only. On hearing these things, two gentiles who stood at the door said to each other, “These men have no religion. Who does not know that to do good to the neighbor for God’s sake, thus from God and with God, is religion?” (n. 390). XLV. I heard the angels lamenting that there is such spiritual destitution at this day in the church that they know nothing else than that there are three Divine persons from eternity, and that faith alone saves; and about the Lord they know only the historical facts; and that they are profoundly ignorant of the things that are taught in the Word respecting the Lord, His oneness with the Father, His Divinity and power. And they said that a certain angel had been sent down by them to discover whether there was such destitution at this day among Christians; and that he asked a certain one what his religion was. He answered, that it was faith. Then he asked him about redemption, regeneration, and salvation. He answered that they were all matters of faith; and also in regard to charity that it is in faith; also, whether any one can do good from himself. Afterwards the angel said to him, “You have answered like a man playing but one note on a flute; I hear only faith; but if you know nothing else but that, you know nothing.” Then he led him to his companions in a desert, where there was not even grass. Besides more (n. 391). XLVI. I saw five gymnasia encompassed by different kinds of light, and with many others I entered into the first, which was seen in flame-colored light. Many were assembled there, and the president proposed that they should declare their opinions respecting charity; and when they had begun, the first said that in his opinion charity is morality inspired by faith. The second, that it is pity inspired by commiseration. The third that it is doing good to everyone, both virtuous and vicious alike. The fourth, that it is to serve by every means one’s relatives and friends. The fifth, that it is giving alms to the poor and assisting the needy. The sixth, that it is building hospitals, infirmaries, and orphans’ homes. The seventh, that it is to endow temples and to do good to their ministers. The eighth, that it is the old Christian brotherhood. The ninth, that it is to forgive every one his trespasses. Each of them fully confirmed his opinion; which confirmations cannot be recited because they are many; they may therefore be seen in the Memorable Relation itself. After this there was given me an opportunity to express my opinion; and I said that charity is to act with judgment from a love justice, in every employment and office but from a love derived from no other source than the Lord the Savior; and after this had been demonstrated, I added that all those things which had been said before respecting charity by the nine celebrated men were eminent examples of charity when done with judgment from justice; and because justice and judgment are from no other source than the Lord the Savior, they are to be done by man from Him. This was approved by most of them in their internal man, but not as yet in the external (n. 459). XLVII. At a distance there was heard something like the gnashing of teeth, and mingled with this a kind of beating; and I went toward the sounds, and saw a small house built of reeds plastered together; and instead of the gnashing of teeth and the sound of knocking, I heard within, in the little house, disputes about faith and charity which of them is the essential of the church. And those who were for faith brought forward their arguments, saying that faith is spiritual because it is from God, but charity natural because it is from man. On the other hand, those who were for charity said that charity is spiritual and faith is natural unless it is conjoined to charity. To these things a certain syncretist wishing to settle the dispute added to this the proof that faith is spiritual and charity only natural. But it was said that moral life is of two kinds, spiritual and natural, and that in the man who lives from the Lord it is spiritual-moral but in the man who does not live from the Lord it is natural-moral, such as exists with the evil and sometimes with the spirits in hell (n. 460). XLVIII. In spirit I was brought into a certain garden in the southern quarter, and saw certain persons sitting there under a laurel, eating figs. I asked them how they understood that man can do good from God, and yet do it altogether as if from himself. And they answered that God works good inwardly in man; but if man does it from his own will and from his own understanding, he defiles it so that it is no longer good. But to this I said that man is only an organ of life; and that if he believes in the Lord he does good of himself from the Lord; but if he does not believe in the Lord, and still more, if he does not believe in any God, he does good of himself from hell; and further, that the Lord has given to man freedom of choice in acting from the one or from the other. That the Lord has given this freedom was proved from the Word, in that He commanded man to love God and the neighbor, to perform the good works of charity as a tree produces fruit, and to keep God’s commandments that he may be saved, and that everyone will be judged according to his deeds; and that these things would not have been commanded if man could not do good of himself from the Lord. When this had been said, I gave them twigs from a vine, and the twigs in their hands put forth grapes. And more beside (n. 461). XLIX. I saw a splendid dock-yard, and in it vessels large and small, and on benches there were boys and girls, who were waiting for tortoises to rise up out of the sea; and when they emerged, I saw that they had two heads; one, which at pleasure they drew back into the shell of the body, and another which appeared in form like a man, and from this they spoke with the boys and girls: and these caressed them, because of their elegant discourse and also gave them presents. When these things had been seen an angel explained what they signified; namely, that there are men in the world, and as many spirits from the world after death, who say that in those who have acquired faith God does not look at anything that they think and do, but only looks at the faith which He has stored up in the interiors of their minds; and that these same persons bring forth before the congregations in temples, holy things from the Word just as others do, but this they do from the greater head which appears as a man, into which they then insert the little one, or draw it into the body. The same persons afterwards were seen in the air in a vessel flying with seven sails, and those in it were decorated with laurels and purple garments, and they cried out that they were the chief of the wise of all the clergy. But the things seen were images of pride flowing from the ideas of the minds of such. And when they were upon the earth I spoke with them, first from reason and afterwards from the Sacred Scripture; and by many means I proved that their doctrine was unsound, and, being contrary to the Sacred Scripture, was from hell; but the arguments by which I proved this were too extended to be set forth here, but may be seen in the Relation itself. Afterwards they were seen in a sandy place, in garments of rags, and girt about the loins with network like fishers’ nets, through which their nakedness was visible; and at last they were sent down into a society bordering on that of the Machiavelians (n. 462). L. An assembly was called together which sat in a circular temple, in which at the sides there were altars, and near these the members of the assembly sat; but there was no president; therefore each one of himself rushed forth into the midst and spoke out the feelings of his mind. A discussion began about Freedom of Choice in spiritual things. The first speaker, rushing forth, cried out that man has no more freedom of choice in those things than Lot’s wife when turned into a statue of salt; the second, that he has no more than a beast or a dog; the third, that he has no more than a mole, or than a bird of night in the day-time; the fourth, that if man had freedom of choice in spiritual things he would become a maniac and believe himself to be as a God who can regenerate and save himself. The sixth read from a book of the Evangelical, called Formula Concordiae that man has no more freedom of choice in spiritual things than a stock or a stone, and that he has no ability whatever to understand think, or will in respect to these things, or even to adapt and accommodate himself to receive what is spiritual; besides other things (of which above, n. 464). When this had been said, and there was also given me an opportunity of speaking, I said, “What else is man, without freedom of choice in spiritual things, than a brute? And without it, of what use is anything theological?” But to this they replied, “Read our theology, and you will not find therein anything spiritual; you will find this so concealed within that not even a shadow of it appears. Therefore, read what our theology teaches respecting justification, that is, the remission of sins, regeneration, sanctification and salvation; you will not see there anything spiritual, because spiritual things flow in through faith, without any consciousness on man’s part. It has also removed charity far from what is spiritual, and repentance also from contact with it. And besides, as to redemption, it attributes to God purely natural human properties, as that He included the human race under a universal damnation; that the Son took that damnation upon Himself, and thus propitiated the Father; and what else are intercession and mediation with the Father? From all this it is clear that in all our theology there is nothing spiritual, and not even what is rational, but merely what is natural below them.” But then suddenly a thunderbolt was heard from heaven, and the assembly, seized with terror, rushed forth, and each fled to his own home (n. 503). LI. I talked with two spirits, one of whom loved good and truth, and the other evil and falsity; and I found that both enjoyed the same ability to think rationally. But when the one who loved evil and falsity was left to himself, I saw a kind of smoke that arose from hell and extinguished the lucidity which was above his memory; but when the one who loved good and truth was left to himself, I saw, as it were, a gentle flame descending from heaven and illuminating the region of his mind above the memory, and from that the things below it. Afterwards I spoke with the one who loved evil and falsity respecting freedom of choice in spiritual things; and at the mere mention of it he fired up and cried out that no one can move his foot or hand to do any spiritual good, or his tongue and lips to speak any spiritual truth, and thus that he cannot even adapt and accommodate himself to receive any such thing. He said, “Is not man in such things dead, and merely passive? How can what is dead or merely passive do good and speak truth of itself? Does not our church so speak?” But the other, who loved good and truth spoke thus respecting freedom of choice in spiritual things: “Without it what would the whole Word be, or what the church, what religion, what the worship of God, thus what the ministry? And from the light of my understanding, I know that man without that spiritual freedom would not be man but a beast; for man is man and not a beast because of that freedom; and moreover, man without freedom of choice in spiritual things would have no life after death, thus no eternal life, because no conjunction with God; therefore, to deny this is the part of those who are insane in spiritual things.” Afterwards there was seen an appearance of a fiery serpent upon a tree, which handed fruit therefrom to him who denied freedom of choice in spiritual things; and when this had been eaten a smoke appeared ascending from hell, which extinguished the light in the higher part of his rational mind (n. 504). LII. There was heard a grating sound like that of two mill-stones grinding on each other; and I went up to where the sound began and saw a house in which were many little cells, and in these the learned of this age were sitting and confirming justification by faith alone; and going up to one, I asked what he was now studying. He answered, “Concerning the Act of Justification which is the head of all things of doctrine in our orthodoxy.” And I asked whether he knew any sign by which to tell when justifying faith enters, and when it has entered. And he said, that this is done passively, and not actively. To which I replied, “If you take away what is active in it, you also take away receptivity; and thus that act would be a purely ideal thing, such as is called a figment of reason, thus nothing more than the state of Lot’s wife, composed of mere salt which tinkles when scratched by a scribe’s pen or fingernail.” The man growing warm picked up a candlestick, to throw it at me; but the light going out suddenly he threw it at his companion (n. 505). LIII. There appeared two flocks, one of goats and the other of sheep; but when they were viewed closely, in place of goats and sheep men were seen; and it was perceived that the flock of goats consisted of those who make faith alone saving, and the flock of sheep of those who make charity and faith together saving. To the inquiry why they were there, those who were seen as goats said that they were sitting as a council because it had been disclosed to them that the saying of Paul, “That man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law (Rom. 3:28)” is not rightly understood; because by “faith” here is not meant the faith of this day, but faith in the Lord the Savior; and by “the deeds of the law” are not meant the deeds of the law of the Decalogue, but the deeds of the Mosaic law which were rituals; which also was shown. And they said that they had concluded that faith produces good works as a tree produces fruit. This teaching was favored by those who constituted the flock of sheep. Then an angel, standing between the two flocks, cried out to the flock of sheep, “Do not listen, for they have not receded from their former faith.” And he divided the flock of sheep into two, and said to those on the left, “Join yourselves to the goats; but I tell you that a wolf is coming which will carry them off and you with them.” Then it was asked how they understood that faith produces good works as a tree produces fruit; and it was found that their perception concerning the conjunction of faith and charity was altogether different from that comparison, and thus that it was a fallacious mode of speaking. When these things were understood, the flocks of sheep reunited themselves into one as before, to which some of the goats joined themselves, confessing that charity is the essence of faith, and that thus faith separate from charity is only natural, but conjoined to it it becomes spiritual (n. 506). LIV. A discourse with angels concerning the three loves, which are universal, and therefore with every man; which are, Love of the neighbor, or the Love of uses, which in itself is spiritual; the Love of the world, or the Love of possessing wealth, which in itself is material: and the Love of self, or the Love of ruling over others, which in itself is corporeal; and that when these three loves are rightly subordinated in man, he is truly man; and that they are rightly subordinated when love of the neighbor forms the head, love of the world the body, and love of self the feet; it is altogether otherwise when they become fixed in man in a contrary order. And it was shown what man is when the love of the world forms the head, and what he is when love of self; that then he is an inverted man; and in respect to the interiors of his mind is a wild beast, and in respect to his exteriors and the body is an actor. After this there was seen a certain devil ascending from below, having a dusky face with a white circle around the head; and he said that he was Lucifer, although he was not; and that in his internals, he was a devil, but in his externals an angel of light; and he declared when in externals he was moral among the moral, rational among the rational, and even spiritual among the spiritual; and that when he was in the world he had preached; and that then he accursed evil doers of every kind, and this is why he was called “Son of the morning;” and, what he himself wondered at, when he was in the pulpit he had no other idea than that it was as he spoke; but otherwise when he was out of the temple. This he said because in the temple he was in his externals and then in the understanding only, but out of the temple in his internals and then in the will; and thus he was raised into heaven by his understanding while his will drew him down into hell; but that the will prevails over the understanding, because it disposes the understanding according to its beck and nod. After this the devil who pretended to be Lucifer fell down into hell (n. 607). LV. There was seen a round temple, the roof of which was crown-shaped, its walls continuous windows of crystal, its door of a pearly substance. In it there was a pulpit, on which was the Word enveloped in a sphere of light. In the center of the temple was a sanctuary, before which was a veil, at that time raised, where stood a cherub waving a sword in his hand. When this had been seen it was explained to me what each particular signified; which may be seen. Above the gate there was this inscription, Now it is permitted; which signified, that now it is permitted to enter understandingly into the mysteries of faith; and it was given me to perceive that it exceedingly dangerous to enter with the understanding into dogmas of faith which are from self intelligence and thus in falsities, and still more to confirm these from the Word; therefore, by the Divine Providence the Word had been taken away from the Roman Catholics, and with Protestants it had been closed by their dogma that the understanding is to be kept under obedience to their faith. But because the dogmas of the New Church are all from the Word, it is permitted to enter into these with the understanding, because they are continuous truths from the Word, and also shine before the understanding. This was what is meant by the writing above the gate, Now it is permitted, and by the veil of the sanctuary being raised, within which the cherub stood. After this there was brought to me a paper from an infant who was an angel in the third heaven, on which was written, Enter hereafter into the mysteries of the Word which has been heretofore shut up; for the particular truths therein are so many mirrors of the Lord (n. 508). LVI. I was seized with a grievous disease, from the smoke that came in from the Jerusalem which is called Sodom and Egypt (Apoc. 11:8); and I was seen by those Who were in that city as dead; and they said one to another that I was not worthy of burial, just as it is said concerning the two witnesses in the same chapter in the Apocalypse; and meanwhile I heard blasphemies in abundance from the citizens on account of my having preached repentance, and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. But as a judgment came upon them, I saw that the whole city fell down and was overflowed with waters; and afterwards that they were running about among the heaps of stones, and lamenting on account of their lot; when their belief was that, by the faith of their church they were born again and were thus righteous. But it was said to them that they were anything else than such, since they had never performed any actual repentance; and were therefore unaware of any damnable evil in themselves. Afterwards it was said to them from heaven, that faith in the Lord and repentance are the two means of regeneration and salvation; and that this is very well known from the Word, and still further, from the Decalogue, baptism, and the holy supper; concerning which see the Relation (n. 567). LVII. All who after death come into the spiritual world at first are kept in the externals in which they were in the natural world; and because most men who are in externals live morally, frequent churches and pray to God, they believe that they will certainly come into heaven. But they are taught that every man after death gradually puts off the external man, and the internal man is opened, and then the man is known, as he is in himself, since man is man from his will and understanding, and not merely from action and speech: and from this it is that man can in externals appear like a sheep, although in internals he is like a wolf, and that he is such in his internal man unless he examines the evils of his will and of his intention therefrom, and repents of them; with more besides (n. 568). LVIII. Every love breathes forth delight. In the natural world the delights from love, are but little felt, but in the spiritual world they are clearly felt; and there they are sometimes turned into odors; and the nature of the delights is then perceived and what love they are from; and the delights from the love of good, such as are in the heavens, are perceived as fragrance in gardens and flower-beds; and on the other hand, the delights from the love of evil, such as are in hell, are perceived as the pungent and fetid smells from stagnant waters and from cesspools; and because they are so opposite, the devils are tortured when they are sensible of any sweet odor from heaven, and on the other hand, the angels are tortured when they are sensible of any ill-smelling odors from hell. That it is so, was confirmed by two examples. This is why the oil of anointing was prepared from fragrant things, and why it is said of Jehovah that He smelled a sweet savor from the burnt-offerings; and on the other hand, why it was commanded the sons of Israel that they should carry unclean things out of their camps, and that they should bury their excrements; for their camps represented heaven, and the desert outside of the camps represented hell (n. 569). LIX. A certain novitiate spirit, who in the world meditated much upon heaven and hell, desired to know the nature of each; and it was said to him from heaven, “Inquire what delight is, and you will know.” Therefore going away he inquired; but among spirits merely natural he inquired in vain. But he was led to three companies in succession; to one where they searched out ends and were therefore called wisdoms; to another where they investigated causes, and were therefore called intelligences; and to a third where they inquired into effects, and were therefore called knowledges: and by all these he was taught that every angel, spirit, and man has life from the delight of his love; and that the will and thought cannot move a step except from a delight in some love; and this is to everyone that which is called good; and still further that the delight of heaven is a delight in doing good, and the delight of hell a delight in doing evil. That he might be further taught, a devil providentially ascended, and there before him described the delights of hell, that they were the delights of revenge, fornication, plunder and blasphemy; and these when perceived there as odors are perceived as balsams and therefore he called them the delights of their nostrils (n. 670). LX. A company of spirits was seen praying to God that He would send angels to teach them about various things pertaining to faith, inasmuch as in most things they were in doubt, because churches so differ one from another, and all their ministers say “Believe us; we are the ministers of God, and we know.” And angels appeared, whom they questioned in regard to charity and faith, repentance, regeneration, God, the immortality of the soul, and baptism and the holy supper; about each of which the angels gave such answers as fell into their understanding; saying further that whatever does not fall into the understanding is like what is sown in the sand which, however it may be watered by the rain, still withers away; and the understanding when closed against religion, no longer sees anything in the Word from the light therein from the Lord; and even if the Word is read he becomes more and more blind in the things of faith and salvation (n. 621). LXI. How man, when prepared for heaven, enters it; namely, that after preparation he sees a path that leads to the society in heaven in which he is to live to eternity; and near the society there is a gate which is opened; and when he has entered an examination is made whether he has in him the same light and the same heat, that is, the same good and truth as are in the angels of that society. When this is determined he goes about and inquires where his house is; for there is for each novitiate angel a new house. When this is found he is received and numbered as one among them. But those who have not in them the light and heat, that is, the good and truth of heaven, have this hard lot, that when they enter they are miserably tortured, and because of the torture cast themselves down headlong. This happens to them because of the sphere of the light and heat of heaven, in the opposite of which they are; and afterwards they no longer desire heaven, but are affiliated with their like in hell. From this it is clear that it is idle to believe that gaining heaven is merely an admission from favor, and that those who are admitted enter into the fruition of the joys there, like those in the world who are admitted into a house where there is a wedding (n. 622). LXII. Many who believe that heaven is a mere matter of admission from grace, and after admission there is eternal joy, were permitted to ascend into heaven; but because they could not endure the light and heat, that is, the faith and love there, they cast themselves down headlong; and they appeared to those who stood below like dead horses. Among those who stood below and who thus saw them, were boys with their master; and he taught them what their appearing like dead horses signified, and who those are who so appear at a distance, saying that they are those who when they read the Word think materially and not spiritually about God, the neighbor, and heaven; and that those think materially about God who think about essence from person, and in regard to the neighbor about his quality from the face and speech, and in regard to heaven about the state of love there from place; but those think spiritually who think of God from essence, and from essence of person; of the neighbor from his quality; and from quality of his face and speech; and of heaven from the state of love there and of place from that. And afterwards he taught them that a horse signifies understanding of the Word; and because the Word with those who think spiritually when they read it is a living letter, so such appear at a distance as living horses; and on the other hand, because the Word with those who think materially when they read it is a dead letter, so those at a distance appear as dead horses (n. 623). LXIII. An angel was seen descending from heaven into that world with a paper in his hand, upon which was written the marriage of good and truth and it was seen that in heaven the paper shone, but in its descent gradually less and less, until neither the paper nor the angel was seen, except before some unlearned ones who were simple-hearted. To these the angel explained what the marriage of good and truth involves, namely, that all and each of the things in the whole heaven and in the whole world contain the two together, because in the Lord God the Creator good and truth make one; and therefore nothing is anywhere possible which by itself is good, nor anything which by itself is true; consequently in each and everything there is a marriage of good and truth, and in the church a marriage of charity and faith, since charity pertains to good and faith to truth (n. 624). LXIV. When I was in profound thought about the second coming of the Lord, I saw heaven from the east to the west luminous, and heard a glorification and celebration of the Lord by the angels, but from the Word, both the prophetic Word of the Old Testament and the Apostolic Word of the New Testament. The passages themselves by which the glorifications were made may be seen in the Relation (n. 625). LXV. In the north-eastern quarter there, are Places of instruction, and those who interiorly receive instruction there are called disciples of the Lord. Once when in the spirit, I asked the teachers there whether they knew the universals of heaven and the universals of hell; and they answered that the universals of heaven are three loves, the love of uses, the love of possessing the goods of the world from the love of performing uses, and true marriage love; and that the universals of hell are three loves opposite to those three, namely, the love of ruling from the love of self, the love of possessing the goods of others from the love of the world, and scortatory love. It is described afterwards what the first infernal love is, which is the love of ruling from the love of self; that it is such with the laity that, when loose rein is given to it, they wish to rule over all things of the world, and with the clergy, that they wish to rule over all things of heaven. That such a hallucination possesses those who are in that love was proved by the like in hell, where such are together in a certain valley, who find enjoyment for their minds in the hallucinations that they are emperors of emperors, or kings of kings; and elsewhere that they are gods; and it was seen that at the sight of these latter, the former, whose minds were so elated, fell upon their knees and worshiped. Afterwards I spoke with two, one of whom was the prince of a certain society in heaven, and the other was the high-priest there; who said that with those in that society there are magnificent and splendid things, because their love is not from the love of self, but from the love of uses; and that they are surrounded by honors and that they accept them not for the sake of themselves, but for the sake of the good of obedience. I then asked them, “How can anyone know whether he does uses from the love of self or the world, or from love of uses since uses are performed from all these loves? Let it be supposed that there is a society consisting of satans only and a society consisting of angels only, and I can imagine that the satans, from the love of self and the world, would perform as many uses in their society as the angels would in theirs. Who, then, can know from which love the uses are?” To this the prince and priest replied that satans perform uses for the sake of reputation, that they may be raised to honors and acquire wealth, but angels perform uses for the sake of uses. And the latter are distinguished from the former especially by this, that all who believe in the Lord and shun evils as sins perform uses from the Lord, and thus from the love of uses; but all who do not believe in the Lord and do not shun evils as sins perform uses from themselves and for the sake of themselves, thus from the love of self or the world (n. 661). LXVI. I entered a certain grove and saw two angels talking with each other. I drew near them and they were speaking of the lust of possessing all things of the world, and it was said that many who in actions appear moral and in conversation rational are in the madness of that lust, and that that lust is turned into hallucinations with those who let their minds dwell in ideas concerning it. And because everyone in the spiritual world is permitted to delight himself in his hallucination, provided he does no evil to another there are even congregations of such in the lower earth; and as it was known where they were, we descended and went to them; and we saw that they were sitting at tables, upon which there was an abundance of gold coin, and they said that this was the wealth of all in the kingdom; but it was only a vision of the imagination which is called a hallucination, whereby such an appearance was created. But when they were told that they were insane, they turned away from the tables and confessed that it was so; but because they were exceedingly delighted by the vision, they could not help returning again and again, and indulging the allurements of their senses. To this they added, that if anyone deprives another of his goods, or otherwise harms him, he falls down into a kind of prison under them, and is kept there at work for food, clothing, and some little pieces of money; and if they also do evil there, they are deprived of these and punished (n. 662). LXVII. A dispute was heard between an ambassador of a kingdom and two priests, whether intelligence and wisdom, and thus also prudence, are from God or from man. The ambassador insisted that these are from man, but the priests that they are from God; nevertheless it was perceived by certain angels that the priests inwardly in themselves believed the same as the ambassador, namely, that intelligence and wisdom, and prudence therefrom, are from man. That this, therefore, might be made clear, the ambassador was requested to lay aside the garments of his office, and to put on the garments of the sacerdotal ministry, and when this was done the ambassador began to prove by many things that all intelligence and also prudence are from God. And afterwards the priests also were asked to lay aside their garments, and to put on the garments of ministers of state; and when this was done the priests spoke from their interior selves, saying that all intelligence and prudence are from man. They so spoke because a spirit thinks himself to be such as his dress is. After this the three became hearty friends; and as they conversed together they went the way that tended downwards; but afterwards I saw them brought back (n. 663). LXVIII. First those are treated of who in the Word are called the elect, and it is known that they are such as are found after death to have lived a life of charity and faith, and who are separated from those who have not lived that life; thus the elect mean those who are then elected and prepared for heaven. Therefore to believe that only some, before their birth or after it, are elected and predestined to heaven, and not all, since all are called, would be to accuse God of impotence and also of injustice (n. 664). LXIX. It was said in heaven, by a certain new-comer that no one in the Christian world knows what conscience is; and because the angels did not believe this, they said to a certain spirit that he might call together with a trumpet the intelligent, and ask them whether they know what conscience is. And it was so done; and they came, and among them there were statesmen, scholars, physicians, and priests. First, the statesmen were asked what conscience is. They answered that it is a pain arising from fear anticipated or actual, of the loss of honor or wealth; or from a hypochondriacal humor arising from undigested substances in the stomach; and more besides. Afterwards, they asked the scholars what they knew about conscience. They answered that it is a sadness and anxiety infesting the body and from that the head, or the head and from that the body, from various causes, especially from applying the mind to one thing only, which is done especially when the reigning love suffers; giving rise sometimes to hallucinations and deliriums, and with some to a kind of brain sickness in religious matters, which is called remorse of conscience. Next the physicians were asked what conscience is. And they said that it is only a pain arising from various diseases, which they enumerated in abundance; also that they had cured many by means of drugs. The diseases from which the pains called those of conscience spring may be seen enumerated in the Relation. Finally the priests were asked what conscience is. They said that it was the same with the contrition that precedes faith, and that they had cured it by the gospel; moreover, that there are conscientious persons of every religion, true as well as fanatical, who make to themselves scruples about matters of salvation, also about indifferent matters. The angel from hearing these things perceived it to be true that no one knew what conscience is; therefore they sent down one from themselves to teach. He standing in the midst said that conscience is not a pain, as they had all imagined, but is a life according to religion; and that that life is especially in those who are in the faith of charity; and that those who have conscience speak from the heart what they speak, and do from the heart what they do. This he illustrated by examples. So, when it is said of anyone that he has a conscience, it is meant that he is upright; and conversely. When all this had been said, those who had been called together divided themselves into four bodies; those who understood and favored the words of the angel passed over into one; those who did not understand but still favored, into another; those who had no wish to understand, saying to each other, “What have we to do with conscience?” passed over into a third; and those who scoffed, saying, “What is conscience but a breath of wind?” passed over into the fourth. After this the two latter bodies were seen to go aside to the left, and the two former to the right (n. 665). LXX. I was led to a place where the ancient Sophi dwelt who had been in Greece, which place they called Parnassium; and I was told that at times they send out some to fetch new-comers from the world that they may inquire about wisdom, how it is at this day on earth. Then two Christians were found and brought, who were presently asked, “What news from earth?” And they answered that this was new there; that they had found human beings in the woods, perhaps left there in early childhood; and that they appeared from the face to be men, and yet they were not men; and that from this it was concluded in the world that man is no more than a beast, except that he can articulate sound, and thus speak; and that a beast could in like manner become wise if endowed with the ability to make articulate sounds; besides more. The Sophi from hearing these things drew many conclusions respecting wisdom, what changes it had undergone since their times; especially from this, that they do not now know the distinction between the state of man and that of a beast, nor even that man is born merely the form of a man, and becomes man by instructions and such a man as the kinds of instruction he receives; that he becomes wise from truths, unwise from falsities, and inwardly a wild beast from evils; and that he is born merely a capacity to know. understand, and become wise, in order that he might be a subject into which God might inspire wisdom, from the first degree of it to the highest. They said further that they understood from the new-comers that wisdom which in their time was in its rise, is at this day setting. Afterwards they instructed the new-comers how it is that man, created a form of God, could be turned into the form of the devil. But concerning all this the Relation may be seen (n. 692). LXXI. There was again a meeting appointed in the place where the ancient Sophi were, since they had heard from those sent out by them that they had found three new-comers from the earth, one a priest, another a politician, and a third a philosopher; these were brought and were presently asked, “What news from earth?” And they replied, “This is new; we have heard that a certain man says that he speaks with angels and spirits; and he relates many things concerning their state and among them that man lives a man after death as much as before, with this difference only, that he is then clothed with a spiritual body, but before with a material body.” On hearing which they asked the priest what he had thought about those things on earth. He replied that because he had believed that man was not to live again as a man before the day of the last judgment, he with the rest of his order were of the opinion that the things the man told were visions, and afterwards fictions, and that at last he was in doubt. Then he was asked whether the inhabitants of the earth could not see from reason that man lives a man after death, and thus dissipate the paradoxical notions concerning the state of souls in the mean time, which are, that souls meanwhile are flying about like winds in the universe, continually awaiting the last judgment that they may be combined with their bodies; which lot would be worse than the lot of any beast. To this the priest replied that they talk, but they do not convince; and that they ascribe the combining or re-uniting of souls with their bodies and skeletons in the sepulchre to the omnipotence of God; and when they name omnipotence and also faith, all reason is exiled. Afterwards the politician being questioned concerning the things heard, replied that in the world he could not believe that man would live after death, since all of man lies dead in the grave, and thus he thought that that man saw specters and believed them to be angels and spirits but that now for the first time he was convinced, by his very senses, that he lives a man as before, and that he was therefore ashamed of his former thoughts. The philosopher related nearly the same things concerning himself, and concerning others of his school; saying, moreover, that he referred those things which he had heard respecting the things seen and heard by that man, to a place among the opinions and hypotheses which he had collected from the ancients and moderns. On hearing these things the Sophi were astonished, especially that Christians, who are in light above others from revelation, should be in such thick darkness respecting their life after death; when yet they and the wise men of their time knew about and believed in that life; saying further that they had noticed that the light of wisdom had lowered itself since that age from the interior of the brain even to the mouth under the nose, where it appears as a brightness of the lip, and in consequence the speech of the mouth appears like wisdom. To this one of the tyros added, “How stupid are the minds of those who now dwell on the earth! Would that the disciples of Heraclitus who laughed at everything and the disciples of Democritus who wept at everything were here, and we should hear both great laughter and great weeping.” After this there were given to the new-comers plates of copper on which hieroglyphics were engraved and they departed (n. 693). LXXII. New-comers from the world were found, and were brought to the city under Parnassium, and were asked, “What news from earth?” And they answered that in the world they had believed that after death there would be rest from all kinds of labor, and yet they had heard, when they were coming hither, that there are here administrations, offices and employments, as in the former world, and thus that there is not rest. To this the wise ones there replied, “Thus you believed that now you are to live in mere idleness, and yet idleness produces a languid, torpid, stupid and sleepy state of the mind, and from that of the whole body, and this is death and not life.” And then they were led about in the city, and to the administrators and workmen; on seeing which, they wondered that there should be such things, since they had believed that there would be some empty place in which souls were to live until the new heaven and new earth came into existence. They were also taught that all the things that here appear before the eyes are substantial and are called spiritual; and that all things in their former world are material and are called natural; and that there is this difference because they are from different origins; namely, that all things in this world exist and subsist from a sun which is pure love, and all things in that world exist from a sun which is pure fire. They were also taught that in this world there are not only administrations, but also pursuits of every kind, and also writings and books. The new-comers were delighted with what they were taught, and when they were going away, some virgins came with pieces of needle-work and embroidery made with their own hands, and gave these to them; and they sung before them an ode in which they expressed in angelic melody the affection for useful labor and its charms (n. 694). LXXIIII. I was introduced into an assembly where some of the ancient philosophers were present, and was asked what they knew in my world about influx. To which I answered, that the only influx they knew about was that of the light and heat of their sun into the things which are of nature, both into animate and into inanimate things; and that they knew nothing about the influx of the spiritual world into the natural world, although from that influx are all the wonderful things which are beheld both in the animal kingdom there, and in the vegetable kingdom (these were in part recounted). And because they are ignorant of this influx, they confirm themselves in favor of nature, and become naturalists, and at length atheists (n. 695). LXXIV. I spoke with the followers of Aristotle, Descartes, and Leibnitz, concerning physical influx, occasional influx, and pre-established harmony, and heard how each confirmed his hypothesis; but as they were able to look into that subject only with an understanding subordinated to confirmations, and not superior to them, they ended the dispute by lot, which came out in favor of spiritual influx, which to some extent coincides with occasional influx (n. 696). LXXV. I was taken into a certain gymnasium in which the young were initiated into various things pertaining to wisdom, and this was done by the discussion of some subject which was there proposed by the president; and the subject then under discussion was, What is the soul, and what is its nature? There was a desk into which those who were to answer ascended. And presently one ascended, who said that no one since the creation of the world had been able to find out what the soul is and what its nature is; but since it was known that there is a soul in man, man had sought to know where it is. There was one who held that it has its seat in man in a certain little gland which is called the pineal gland, which is situated between the two brains in the head; and that at first he had believed this; but as it was rejected by many, he afterwards receded from this view. After this the second ascended, and said that he believed the seat of the soul to be in the head, because the understanding is there; but as he was unable to conjecture where in the head it resided, he acceded now to the opinion of those who said that its seat is in the three ventricles of the brain; now to the opinion of those who said that it is in the striated bodies there; now to the opinion of those who said that it is in the medullary or the cortical substance, and now to the opinion of those who said that it is in the dura mater; adding that he would leave it to everyone to think what he liked. The third ascending said that the seat of the soul is in the heart and thence in the blood; and this he confirmed from the Word where it is said, heart and soul. The fourth next ascending said that from his childhood he had believed with the ancients that the soul is not in one part but in the whole, because it is a spiritual substance, of which place cannot be predicated, but impletion; and further, as soul and life mean the same thing, the life is in the whole. The fifth ascending said that he believed the soul to be something pure, like ether or air, and that he believed this because it is supposed that the soul would be such after it had been separated from the body. But the wise ones in the orchestra, perceiving that none of them knew what the soul is, requested the president, who had proposed the problem, to descend and teach. He therefore descending, said, “The soul is the very essence of man; and because an essence without a form is not anything, the soul is the form of man’s forms; and this form is the truly human form, in which wisdom with its perceptions and love with its affections universally reside; and as you believed in the world that you would be souls after death, you are now yourselves the souls;” besides more. And this was confirmed by this declaration in the Book of Creation, “Jehovah God breathed into the nostrils of Adam the soul if lives, and man became a living soul” (Gen. 2:7) (n. 697). LXXVI. There was seen an angel with a trumpet, with which he called together those celebrated for erudition among Christians, that they might tell what they had believed in the world concerning the joys of heaven and eternal happiness. This was done because it had been said in heaven that no one in the Christian world knew anything about them. And after about an hour there were seen six companies coming from the learned Christians, who were asked what they had known about the joys of heaven and eternal happiness. The first company said that they had believed them to be merely an admission into heaven, and then into its festive joys, as one is admitted into a house where there is a wedding and into its festivities. The second company said that they had believed them to be most cheerful companionship and the sweetest conversations with angels. The third company said that they had believed them to be feastings with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The fourth company said that they had believed them to be paradisal delights. The fifth company, that there would be supreme dominion, boundless wealth, and more than royal magnificence. The sixth company, that there would be a glorification of God and a festival enduring to eternity. Therefore that these learned ones might know whether those things which they had believed to be the joys of heaven were so, it was granted them to enter into those their joys, each company by itself, that they might learn by living experience whether those joys were imaginary or real. This takes place with most of those who come from the natural world into the spiritual (n. 731- 733). And then presently the company that had thought the joys of heaven to be most cheerful companionship and sweetest conversations with angels, were let into the joys of their imagination; but because they were external joys and not internal, after some days they were affected with weariness and departed (n. 734). Afterwards those who had believed that the joys of heaven are feasts with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, were let into like things; but because they perceived that such joys were only external and not internal, they became weary and went away (n. 735). The same was done with those who had believed that the joys of heaven and eternal happiness consist in supreme dominion, boundless riches, and more than royal magnificence (n. 736). Also with those who had believed that heavenly joys, and consequently eternal happiness, are paradisal delights (n. 737). Afterwards with those who had believed that heavenly joys and eternal happiness are a perpetual glorification of God, and a festival enduring for ever. These were finally taught what is meant in the Word by the glorification of God (n. 738). Finally, the same was done with those who had believed that they would enter into heavenly joys and eternal happiness if only they were admitted into heaven; and that they would then have joys like the joys of those who enter into the house of a wedding, and join in the festivities there. But when they were shown by living experience that there are no joys in heaven except for those who have lived the life of heaven, that is, a life of charity and faith, but instead, heaven is a torture to those who have led an opposite life, they withdrew and affiliated themselves with their like (n. 739). Because the angels perceived that as yet no one in the natural world knows what the joys of heaven are, and thus what eternal happiness is, the angel with the trumpet was told to choose ten from those who had been called together, and introduce them into a society of heaven, that they might see with their eyes and perceive with their minds what heaven is and what the joys there are; and so it was done. And when they had been admitted, it was granted them first to see the magnificent palace of the prince there (n. 740). Then the paradise near it (n. 741). Afterwards, the prince himself and his great men in splendid garments (n. 742). Then, being invited to the table of the prince, they saw such an entertainment as no eye had ever seen oil earth; and at the table they heard the prince give instruction respecting heavenly joys and eternal happiness, that they consist essentially in internal blessedness, and from this in external enjoyments; and that internal blessedness derives its essence from an affection for use (n. 743, 744). After dinner, by command of the prince some wise men of the society were sent for, who taught them fully about the nature and source of internal blessedness, which is eternal happiness; and that this causes external enjoyments to be joys; besides more concerning all these things (n. 745 746). After this they were permitted to see a wedding in that heaven, (of which n. 747-749). And finally, to hear preaching (n. 750, 751). When they had seen and heard all this, full of knowledge concerning heaven and joyful in heart they descended (n. 752). LXXVII. Revelation is here treated of. It has pleased the Lord to manifest Himself to me, and to open the interiors of my mind and to enable me thereby to see the things which are in heaven and hell and thus He has disclosed mysteries which in excellence and dignity surpass all mysteries hitherto disclosed. They are as follows. (i.) That, in each thing and all things of the Word there is a Spiritual Sense, which does not appear in the sense of the letter; and that consequently the Word was written by means of the correspondences of spiritual things with natural. (ii.) The Correspondences themselves, what they are has been explained. (iii.) There has also been a revelation concerning the Life of men after Death. (iv.) Also respecting Heaven and Hell, what the one is and what the other is; also respecting Baptism and the Holy Supper. (v.) Respecting the Sun in the spiritual world, that it is pure love from the Lord who is in the midst of it, the light proceeding from which is wisdom, and the heat proceeding from which is love; thus that faith and charity are from it; and that all things that go forth from it are spiritual and thus alive; also that the sun of the natural world is pure fire, and therefore all things that are from the sun are natural, and thus dead. (vi.) That there are three Degrees hitherto unknown. (vii.) And furthermore, matters have been revealed relating to the Last Judgment; the Lord the Savior as the God of Heaven and Earth; the New Church and its Doctrine; the Inhabitants of the Planets, and the Earths in the Universe (n. 846). (viii.) Also respecting Conjugial Love; that with the spiritual it is spiritual with the natural it is natural, and with adulterers it is carnal (n. 847). (ix.) The angels discerned by inquiry that although these mysteries are more excellent than any mysteries hitherto disclosed, still at this day they are regarded by many as of no account (n. 848). (x.) A murmur was heard from some in the lower earth that they would not believe those things unless Miracles were done; but the answer was made that they would no more believe through miracles than did Pharaoh and the Egyptians; or no more than the posterity of Jacob when they danced about the golden calf in the desert; or no more than the Jews when they saw the miracles done by the Lord Himself (n. 849). (xi.) Finally, why the Lord revealed these mysteries to me, and not rather to some one of the ecclesiastical order (n. 850). The things contained in the Memorable Relations which follow the chapters are true; and like things were seen and heard by the prophets before the coming of the Lord, and like things by the apostles after His coming, as by Peter, Paul, and especially by John in the Apocalypse; which things are set forth (n. 851).

THE END

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