THE DOCTRINE OF LIFE (pt. 69)

THE DOCTRINE OF LIFE
for the
NEW JERUSALEM
FROM THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
Emanuel Swedenborg
— Doctrinal Series —
(pt. 69)
IN PROPORTION AS ANYONE
SHUNS MURDERS OF EVERY KIND AS SINS
IN THE SAME PROPORTION
HE HAS LOVE TOWARD THE NEIGHBOR.

As the kinds of murder mentioned [in the preceeding article] lie inwardly hidden in man from his birth, and at the same time thefts of every kind, and false witness of every kind, together with the concupiscences for them (of which we shall speak farther on), it is evident that unless the Lord provided means of reformation, a man must perish everlastingly.

The means of reformation provided by the Lord are as follows:
• That man is born into total ignorance;
• That when newly born he is kept in a state of external innocence;
• A little after in a state of external charity;
• Later in a state of external friendship;
• BUT in proportion as he comes into the exercise of thought from his own understanding, he is kept in a certain freedom of acting according to reason. This is the state that has been described above—

So long as a man is in this world, he is midway between hell and heaven: hell is below him, and heaven is above him, and he is kept in freedom to turn himself to either the one or the other; if he turns to hell he turns away from heaven; if he turns to heaven he turns away from hell. Or what is the same, so long as a man is in this world he stands midway between the Lord and the devil, and is kept in freedom to turn himself to either the one or the other; if he turns to the devil he turns away from the Lord; if he turns to the Lord he turns away from the devil. Or what is again the same, so long as a man is in this world he is midway between evil and good, and is kept in freedom to turn himself to either the one or the other; if he turns to evil he turns away from good; if he turns to good he turns away from evil. (n. 19)

We have said that a man is kept in freedom to turn himself one way or the other. It is not from himself that every man has this freedom, but he has it from the Lord, and this is why he is said to be kept in it. . . . That every man is kept in freedom, and that from no one is it taken away. . . . It is plainly evident from all this that in proportion as a man shuns evils, in the same proportion is he with the Lord and in the Lord; and that in proportion as he is in the Lord, in the same proportion he does goods, not from self but from Him. From this results the general law: IN PROPORTION AS ANY ONE SHUNS EVILS, IN THE SAME PROPORTION HE DOES GOODS. (n. 20-22.)

(LIFE 69)