Foresight and Providence

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

As regards foresight and providence in general, it is foresight relatively to man, and providence relatively to the Lord. The Lord foresaw from eternity what the human race would be, and what would be the quality of each member of it, and that evil would continually increase, until at last man of himself would rush headlong into hell. On this account the Lord has not only provided means by which man may be turned from hell and led to heaven, but also from providence He continually turns and leads him. The Lord also foresaw that it would be impossible for any good to be rooted in man except in his freedom, for whatever is not rooted in freedom is dissipated on the first approach of evil and temptation. This the Lord foresaw, and also that man of himself, or from his freedom, would incline toward the deepest hell; and therefore the Lord provides that if a man should not suffer himself to be led in freedom to heaven, he may still be bent toward a milder hell; but that if he should suffer himself to be led in freedom to good, he may be led to heaven. This shows what foresight means, and what providence, and that what is foreseen is thus provided.

And from this we can see how greatly the man errs who believes that the Lord has not foreseen, and does not see, the veriest singulars appertaining to man, and that in these He does not foresee and lead; when the truth is that the Lord's foresight and providence are in the very minutest of these veriest singulars connected with man, in things so very minute that it is impossible by any thought to comprehend as much as one out of a hundred millions of them; for every smallest moment of man's life involves a series of consequences extending to eternity, each moment being as a new beginning to those which follow; and so with all and each of the moments of his life, both of his understanding and of his will. And as the Lord foresaw from eternity what would be man's quality, and what it would be to eternity, it is evident that His providence is in the veriest singulars, and as before said governs and bends the man to such a quality; and this by a continual moderating of his freedom.

(from Arcana Coelestia 3854)

Man Is His Love

Selection from Divine Love and Wisdom ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
LOVE IS THE LIFE OF MAN

Man knows that there is such a thing as love, but he does not know what love is. He knows that there is such a thing as love from common speech, as when it is said, he loves me, a king loves his subjects, and subjects love their king, a husband loves his wife, a mother her children, and conversely; also, this or that one loves his country, his fellow citizens, his neighbor; and likewise of things abstracted from person, as when it is said, one loves this or that thing. But although the word love is so universally used, hardly anybody knows what love is. And because one is unable, when he reflects upon it, to form to himself any idea of thought about it, he says either that it is not anything, or that it is merely something flowing in from sight, hearing, touch, or interaction with others, and thus affecting him.

He is wholly unaware that love is his very life; not only the general life of his whole body, and the general life of all his thoughts, but also the life of all their particulars.

This a man of discernment can perceive when it is said: If you remove the affection which is from love, can you think anything, or do anything? Do not thought, speech, and action, grow cold in the measure in which the affection which is from love grows cold? And do they not grow warm in the measure in which this affection grows warm? But this a man of discernment perceives simply by observing that such is the case, and not from any knowledge that love is the life of man.

What the life of man is, no one knows unless he knows that it is love. If this is not known, one person may believe that man's life is nothing but perceiving with the senses and acting, and another that it is merely thinking; and yet thought is the first effect of life, and sensation and action are the second effect of life. Thought is here said to be the first effect of life, yet there is thought which is interior and more interior, also exterior and more exterior. What is actually the first effect of life is inmost thought, which is the perception of ends. ...

Some idea of love, as being the life of man, may be had from the sun's heat in the world. This heat is well known to be the common life, as it were, of all the vegetations of the earth. For by virtue of heat, coming forth in springtime, plants of every kind rise from the ground, deck themselves with leaves, then with blossoms, and finally with fruits, and thus, in a sense, live. But when, in the time of autumn and winter, heat withdraws, the plants are stripped of these signs of their life, and they wither. So it is with love in man; for heat and love mutually correspond. Therefore love also is warm.

(Divine Love and Wisdom 1-3)

~~~

The will corresponds to the heart. This can not be seen so clearly taken by itself as when the will is considered in its effects. Taken by itself it can be seen by this, that all affections, which are of love, induce changes in the heart's pulsations, as is evident from the pulse of the arteries, which act synchronously with the heart. The heart's changes and pulsations in accordance with the love's affections are innumerable. Those felt by the finger are only that the beats are slow or quick, high or low, weak or strong, regular or irregular, and so on; thus that there is a difference in joy and in sorrow, in tranquillity of mind and in wrath, in fearlessness and in fear, in hot diseases and in cold, and so on.

Because the two motions of the heart, systolic and diastolic, change and vary in this manner according to the affections of each one's love, many of the ancient and after them some modern writers have assigned the affections to the heart, and have made the heart their dwelling-place. From this have come into common language such expressions as a stout heart, a timid heart, a joyful heart, a sad heart, a soft heart, a hard heart, a great heart, a weak heart, a whole heart, a broken heart, a heart of flesh, a heart of stone; likewise being gross, or soft, or tender in heart; giving the heart to a thing, giving a single heart, giving a new heart, laying up in the heart, receiving in the heart, not reaching the heart, hardening one's heart, a friend at heart; also the terms concord, discord, folly [vecordia], and other similar terms expressive of love and its affections. There are like expressions in the Word, because the Word was written by correspondences. Whether you say love or will it is the same, because the will is the receptacle of love.

It is known that there is vital heat in man and in every living creature; but its origin is not known. Every one speaks of it from conjecture, consequently such as have known nothing of the correspondence of natural things with spiritual have ascribed its origin, some to the sun's heat, some to the activity of the parts, some to life itself; but as they have not known what life is, they have been content with the mere phrase. But any one who knows that there is a correspondence of love and its affections with the heart and its derivations may know that the origin of vital heat is love

For love goes forth as heat from the spiritual sun where the Lord is, and moreover is felt as heat by the angels. This spiritual heat which in its essence is love, is what inflows by correspondence into the heart and its blood, and imparts heat to it, and at the same time vivifies it.

That a man grows hot, and, as it were, is fired, according to his love and the degree of it, and grows torpid and cold according to its decrease, is known, for it is felt and seen; it is felt by the heat throughout the body, and seen by the flushing of the face; and on the other hand, extinction of love is felt by coldness in the body, and is seen by paleness in the face.

Because love is the life of man, the heart is the first and the last of his life; and because love is the life of man, and the soul maintains its life in the body by means of the blood, in the Word blood is called the soul (Gen. 9:4; Levit. 17:14).

The redness, also, of the blood is from the correspondence of the heart and the blood with love and its affection; for in the spiritual world there are all kinds of colors, of which red and white are the fundamental, the rest deriving their varieties from these and from their opposites, which are a dusky fire color and black. Red there corresponds to love, and white to wisdom. Red corresponds to love because it originates in the fire of the spiritual sun, and white corresponds to wisdom because it originates in the light of that sun. And because there is a correspondence of love with the heart, the blood must needs be red, and reveal its origin. For this reason in the heavens where love to the Lord reigns the light is flame-colored, and the angels there are clothed in purple garments; and in the heavens where wisdom reigns the light is white, and the angels there are clothed in white linen garments.

The heavens are divided into two kingdoms, one called celestial, the other spiritual; in the celestial kingdom love to the Lord reigns, and in the spiritual kingdom wisdom from that love. The kingdom where love reigns is called heaven's cardiac kingdom, the one where wisdom reigns is called its pulmonic kingdom. Be it known, that the whole angelic heaven in its aggregate represents a single man, and before the Lord appears as a single man; consequently its heart makes one kingdom and its lungs another. For there is a general cardiac and pulmonic movement throughout heaven, and a particular movement therefrom in each angel.

The general cardiac and pulmonic movement is from the Lord alone, because love and wisdom are from Him alone. For these two movements are in the sun where the Lord is and which is from the Lord, and from that in the angelic heavens and in the universe. Banish spaces and think of omnipresence, and you will be convinced that it is so. That the heavens are divided into two kingdoms, celestial and spiritual, see the work on Heaven and Hell (n. 20-28); and that the whole angelic heaven in the aggregate represents a single man (n. 59-67).

(Divine Love and Wisdom 378-381)

~~~

Love or the will is man's very life. This follows from the correspondence of the heart with the will (considered above). For as the heart acts in the body, so does the will act in the mind; and as all things of the body depend for existence and motion upon the heart, so do all things of the mind depend for existence and life upon the will. It is said, upon the will, but this means upon the love, because the will is the receptacle of love, and love is life itself (see above), and love, which is life itself, is from the Lord alone. By the heart and its extension into the body through the arteries and veins it can be seen that love or the will is the life of man, for the reason that things that correspond to each other act in a like manner, except that one is natural and the other spiritual.

How the heart acts in the body is evident from anatomy, which shows that wherever the heart acts by means of the vessels put forth from it, everything is alive or subservient to life; but where the heart by means of its vessels does not act, everything is lifeless. Moreover, the heart is the first and last thing to act in the body. That it is the first is evident from the fetus, and that it is the last is evident from the dying, and that it may act without the cooperation of the lungs is evident from cases of suffocation and swooning; from which it can be seen that the life of the mind depends solely upon the will, in the same way as the substitute life of the body depends on the heart alone; and that the will lives when thought ceases, in the same way as the heart lives when breathing ceases. This also is evident from the fetus, from the dying, and from cases of suffocation and swooning. From which it follows that love or the will is man's very life.

(Divine Love and Wisdom 399)

When Mere Persuasion Becomes Spiritual

Selection from True Christian Religion ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

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.

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.

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.

(True Christian Religion 11)

From the School of Wisdom

Selection from Conjugial Love ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
Memorable Relation

I once conversed with two angels, one from the eastern heaven, the other from the southern heaven. When they perceived that I was meditating on the arcana of wisdom concerning conjugial love, they said, "Do you know anything about the SCHOOLS OF WISDOM in our world?" When I answered, "Not as yet," they said: "There are many. Those who love truths from spiritual affection, that is, who love truths because they are truths and because they are the means to wisdom, come together at a given signal to discuss matters requiring a deeper understanding, and to form conclusions." They then took me by the hand, saying, "Follow us and you shall see and hear. Today the signal has been given for a meeting."

I was led across a plain to a hill; and lo, at the foot of the hill an avenue of palm trees stretching all the way to the summit. We entered it and ascended; and on the top or crown of the hill was seen a grove, the trees of which, growing on an elevated piece of ground, formed a kind of theatre. Within this theatre was a level space paved with small stones of various colors, around which, arranged in the form of a square, were chairs of state on which sat the lovers of wisdom. In the center of the theatre was a table whereon lay a paper sealed with a seal.

The men who were sitting on the chairs invited us to seats still vacant; but I answered them, "I have been led hither by two angels to see and hear, not to sit down." The two angels then went to the table in the center of the level area, and in the presence of those who were seated they broke the seal of the paper and read the arcana of wisdom inscribed thereon which they were now to discuss and unfold. They had been written and let down upon the table by angels of the third heaven. There were three arcana:

• FIRST, What is the image of God and what the likeness of God into which man was created?

• SECOND, Why is man not born into the science of any love, when yet beasts and birds, the noble as well as the ignoble, are born into the sciences of all their loves?

• THIRD, What is signified by the tree of life, what by the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and what by the eating of them?

Underneath was written: "Combine these three into one statement, write it on a fresh sheet of paper, and place the paper on the table and we shall see. If the statement appears well balanced and just, there shall be given to each of you a reward of wisdom." After reading this, the two angels withdrew and were taken up into their heavens.

Those who were sitting on the chairs then began to discuss and unfold the arcana proposed to them. They spoke in order, first those who sat at the north, then those at the west, after them those at the south, and finally those at the east. They took up the first subject of discussion, namely, WHAT IS THE IMAGE OF GOD AND WHAT THE LIKENESS OF GOD INTO WHICH MAN WAS CREATED? To begin with, the following from the Book of Genesis was then read out in the presence of all:

God said, Let us make man in OUR IMAGE, after OUR LIKENESS. And God created man in HIS OWN IMAGE, in the IMAGE OF GOD created he him. Gen. 1:26, 27.

In the day that God created man, in the LIKENESS OF GOD made he him. 5:1.

Those who sat at the north spoke first, saying, "The image of God and the likeness of God are the two lives breathed into man by God, being the life of his will and the life of his understanding; for we read that Jehovah God breathed into the nostrils of Adam the breath of lives; and man became a living soul (Gen. 2:7). Into his nostrils means into the perception that within him was the will of good and the understanding of truth and thus the breath of lives; and because life was breathed into him by God, the image and likeness of God signify the integrity that was in him from wisdom and love, and from righteousness and judgment."

Those who sat at the west favored these views, but they added the following, "This state of integrity breathed into Adam by God is being continually breathed into every man after him; but it is in man as a receptacle, and man is an image and likeness of God according as he is a receptacle."

The third in order, being those who sat at the south, then said: "The image of God and the likeness of God are two distinct things, but in man they are united from creation; and we see, as from interior light, that the image of God may be destroyed by man but not the likeness of God. This is seen as through a lattice, from the fact that Adam retained the likeness of God after he had lost the image of God; for after the curse it is said:

Behold the man is as one of us, knowing good and evil. Gen. 3:22.

and later he is called the likeness of God and is not called the image of God (Gen. 5:1). But let us leave it to our associates who sit at the east, and thus are in superior light, to say what the image of God properly is, and what the likeness of God."

Then, after a period of silence, those sitting at the east rose from their seats and looked up to the Lord. Resuming their seats, they then said: "An image of God is a receptacle of God; and because God is Love itself and Wisdom itself, the image of God in man is the receptacle in him of love and wisdom from God. But the likeness of God is the perfect likeness and full appearance as though the love and wisdom were in the man and so were his own; for man feels no other than that he loves from himself and is wise from himself, or that it is from himself that he wills good and understands truth, when yet it is not in the least from himself but from God. God alone loves from Himself and is wise from Himself because God is Love itself and Wisdom itself. The likeness or appearance that love and wisdom or good and truth are in man as his own, makes man a man and able to be conjoined to God and so to live to eternity. Hence it follows that man is man from the fact that he can will good and understand truth altogether as if from himself, and yet can know and believe that it is from God; for, according as man knows and believes this, God puts His image in him; not so if he believed that it is from himself and not from God."

Having said this, a zeal from the love of truth came over them, and from this they spoke as follows: "How can man receive anything of love and wisdom and retain and reproduce it, unless he feel it as his own? And how can there be conjunction with God through love and wisdom unless there be given man some reciprocal of conjunction? Without a reciprocal, there can be no conjunction; and the reciprocal of conjunction is this: Man loves God, and is wise in the things which are of God, as if from himself, and yet believes that it is from God. Moreover, how can man live to eternity unless he is conjoined with the eternal God? Consequently, how can man be man without this likeness of God within him?"

On hearing these words, all expressed their approval. They then said: "Let the conclusion from this discussion be 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, it is of these that man is a receptacle; and the receptacle becomes an image of God according as it receives. Man is a likeness of God from the fact that he feels in himself that the things which are from God are in him as his own; but from this likeness he is an image of God only so far as he acknowledges that the love and wisdom or the good and truth in him are not his own and thus are not from himself, but are solely in God and thus from God."

After this they took up the second subject of discussion: WHY IS MAN NOT BORN INTO THE SCIENCE OF ANY LOVE, WHEN YET BEASTS AND BIRDS, BOTH THE NOBLE AND THE IGNOBLE, ARE BORN INTO THE SCIENCES OF ALL THEIR LOVES? First they confirmed the truth of the proposition by various considerations, as, with respect to man, that he is born into no knowledge, not even into the knowledge of conjugial love. And making inquiry, they heard from investigators that an infant cannot apply itself to the mother's breast from any connate knowledge but must be applied to it by the mother or nurse; that it knows only how to suck, and that it has acquired this from continual suction in the womb; that later, it does not know how to walk; nor how to articulate sound into any human word, nay, nor even how to express by sound the affections of its love, as do beasts; and further, that it does not know any food suitable to itself as do all beasts, but seizes upon whatever is before it, clean or unclean, and puts it into its mouth. The investigators said, that without instruction man does not know even the distinction of sex, and knows absolutely nothing of the modes of loving the sex; and that even maidens and young men, though educated in various sciences, are ignorant of these modes unless they have learned them from others. In a word, that man is born corporeal like a worm, and remains corporeal unless he learns from others how to know, to understand, and to become wise.

They then confirmed the statement that beasts, noble and ignoble, such as animals of the earth, birds of the air, reptiles, fishes, grubs which are called insects, are born into all the sciences of their life's loves, thus into all that pertain to nourishment, into all that pertain to habitation, into all that pertain to love of the sex and procreation, and into all that pertain to the rearing of their young. This they confirmed by the marvels which they recalled to memory from what they had seen, heard, and read in the natural world—so they called our world in which they had formerly lived—where the beasts are not representative but real.

The truth of the proposition being thus established, they then directed their minds to investigate and discover the ends and causes whereby they might unfold and disclose this arcanum. They all said that such things must needs come from Divine Wisdom, to the end that man may be man and beast beast; thus that man's imperfection at birth becomes his perfection, and the beast's perfection at birth is its imperfection.

Then first, those on the NORTH began to express their mind. They said: "Man is born without knowledges that he may be able to receive knowledges. Were he born into knowledges, he could receive none but those into which he was born, and then he could not himself appropriate any." This they illustrated by the following comparison: "A man just born is like ground wherein no seeds have been planted but which yet can receive all kinds of seed and bring them forth and make them fruitful; but a beast is like ground already sown, and which, being filled with grasses and herbs, will not receive other seeds than those which have been sown; and if it did, it would choke them. Hence it is that man's growth to maturity extends through many years, and during these years he can be cultivated like ground and can bring forth, as it were, grains and flowers and trees of every kind; while a beast's growth extends through but few years, and during these years no other knowledge can be cultivated than that which was connate."

Those at the WEST spoke next. They said: "Man is not born with knowledge like a beast, but is born an ability and an inclination—an ability to learn and an inclination to love. And he is born an ability, not merely to learn but also to understand and be wise. He is also born a most perfect inclination to love, not only things which are of self and the world, but also those which are of God and of heaven. Consequently, from his parents man is born an organ which at first lives in the external senses alone and in none that are internal; and this, that he may successively become a man, first natural, then rational, and finally spiritual. This he would not become were he born into knowledges and loves like the beasts; for connate knowledges and affections limit that progress, but connate ability and inclination limit nothing. Therefore man can be perfected in science, intelligence, and wisdom to eternity."

Those on the SOUTH then took up the subject and expressed their opinion, saying: "Man cannot possibly acquire any knowledge from himself but must acquire it from others; and being unable to acquire any knowledge from himself, he is also unable to acquire any love, for where there is no knowledge, there is no love. Knowledge and love are inseparable companions and can no more be separated than can will and understanding or affection and thought, yea, no more than essence and form. Therefore, as man acquires knowledge from others, love adjoins itself thereto as its companion. The universal love which adjoins itself is the love of knowing, of understanding, and of being wise. This love, man alone has, and no beast; and it flows in from God.

We agree with our companions on the west, that man is not born into any love and thence not into any knowledge, but that he is born only into an inclination to love and thence into an ability to receive knowledge, not from himself but from others, that is, through others. It is said through others because neither have they received any knowledge from themselves but from God. We agree also with our companions on the north, that when first born, man is like ground wherein no seeds have been planted but in which may be planted all kinds of seed, noble as well as ignoble. To this we add, that beasts are born into natural loves and thence into the sciences corresponding thereto. Yet, from these sciences, they do not learn anything, do not think, understand and become wise, but by their means they are carried along by their loves, almost like blind men led through the streets by dogs. As to understanding, they are blind, or rather are like somnambulists who, with their understanding asleep, do what they do from blind science."

Lastly spoke those on the EAST. They said: "We assent to what our brothers have said, that man knows nothing from himself but from others and through others, and this to the end that he may learn and acknowledge that all that he knows, understands, and is wise in, is from God; also that in no other way can man be conceived, born, and brought forth by the Lord and become His image and likeness. For he becomes an image of the Lord by acknowledging and believing that he has received and does receive every good of love and charity, and every truth of wisdom and faith from the Lord, and not the least thing thereof from himself; and he becomes a likeness of the Lord by sensating them in himself as if they were from himself. He has this sensation because he is not born into knowledges but receives them, and what he receives appears to him as if it were from himself. Moreover, it is granted man by the Lord so to sensate, in order that he may be a man and not a beast; for it is by the fact that he wills, thinks, loves, knows, understands, and is wise, as if from himself, that man receives knowledges and exalts them into intelligence and by their uses into wisdom. In this way the Lord conjoins man to Himself and man conjoins himself to the Lord. All this would not be possible had it not been provided by the Lord that man should be born in total ignorance."

After this speech, it was the desire of all that some conclusion be formed from the discussion, and the following was formed:

"Man is born into no knowledge, that he may come into all knowledge and may advance into intelligence and by means of intelligence into wisdom. And he is born into no love, that by applications of knowledges from intelligence, he may come into all love, and by love towards the neighbor, into love to the Lord, and so may be conjoined to the Lord, and by this conjunction become a man and live to eternity."

They then took the paper and read the third subject of discussion, which was, WHAT IS SIGNIFIED BY THE TREE OF LIFE, WHAT BY THE TREE OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL, AND WHAT BY THE EATING OF THEM? Because this was an arcanum requiring a more profound understanding, they all requested that those who were at the east would unfold it; for those who are at the east are in flamy light, that is, in the wisdom of love, which wisdom is meant by the garden in Eden wherein those two trees were placed. The men at the east then answered, "We will speak; but because man cannot acquire anything whatever from himself but receives all from the Lord, we will speak from Him, but still from ourselves as if of ourselves."

They then said: "A tree signifies man, and its fruit signifies the good of life. By the tree of life, therefore, is meant man living from God, or God living in man. And because love and wisdom, and charity and faith, or good and truth, make the life of God in man, it is these that are signified by the tree of life, and from them man has life eternal. The like is signified by the tree of life in the Apocalypse of which it will be granted man to eat (Rev. 2:7; 22:2, 14).

By the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is signified the man who believes that he lives from himself and not from God; thus that love and wisdom, charity and faith, or good and truth, are his own in man and not God's, believing this because he thinks and wills, and speaks and acts, in all likeness and appearance as if from himself. And because from this belief he persuades himself that God has implanted in him, that is, has infused into him, His own Divine, therefore the serpent said:

God doth know that in the day that 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

By eating of those trees is signified reception and appropriation—by eating of the tree of life, the reception of life eternal, and by eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the reception of damnation. Therefore both Adam and his wife were accursed together with the serpent. By the serpent is meant the devil, as to the love of self and the pride of self-intelligence. This love is the possessor of that tree; and men who are in pride from this love are such trees. They, therefore, are in enormous error who believe that Adam was wise and did good from himself, and that this was his state of integrity, when yet Adam was himself accursed on account of that very belief, this being what is signified by his eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Therefore, he then fell from the state of integrity in which he had been by virtue of believing that he was wise and did good from God and not at all from himself, this being meant by eating of the tree of life. The Lord alone, when He was in the world, was wise of Himself and did good from Himself, because the Divine itself was in Him and was His from birth. Therefore He became the Redeemer and Savior by His own power."

From this and the preceding discussions, they then formed the following conclusion: "By the tree of life, and by the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and by eating from them, is signified that for man life is God in him, and he then has heaven and eternal life; but that death for man is the persuasion and belief that life in man is not God but is himself; whence he has hell and eternal death, which is damnation!"

After this, they looked at the paper left on the table by the angels and saw written at the bottom, "COMBINE YOUR THREE CONCLUSIONS INTO A SINGLE STATEMENT." They then put the three together and saw that they were in one coherent series, and that this series or statement was as follows:

"Man was created to receive love and wisdom from God, and yet in all likeness as if it were from himself, and this for the sake of reception and conjunction. For this reason he is not born into any love or into any knowledge or even into any power of loving or of being wise from himself. Therefore, if he ascribes all the good of love and all the truth of wisdom to God, he becomes a living man; but if he ascribes them to himself, he becomes a dead man."

These words they wrote upon a fresh sheet of paper which they placed upon the table. And lo, suddenly angels were present in a bright white light, and they carried the paper to heaven. After it had been read there, those who were sitting on the seats heard thence the words, thrice repeated, "Well said." And immediately an angel therefrom was seen as though flying. He had two wings about his feet, and two about his temples, and in his hand he held the awards, which consisted of robes, caps, and wreaths of laurel. After alighting, he gave to those sitting at the north, robes of the color of opal; to those at the west, robes of scarlet; to those at the south, hats, the brims of which were adorned with fillets of gold and pearls, and the risings at the left side with diamonds cut in the form of flowers; and to those at the east, wreaths of laurel in which were rubies and sapphires. Adorned with these awards, they all went home from the sport of wisdom; and when they would show themselves to their wives, the latter came out to meet them, they also being distinguished with adornments given them from heaven, whereat the men wondered.

(Conjugial Love 132-136)

Citizen in Both Worlds

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

With the man of the church there must be the life of piety, and there must be the life of charity: they must be joined together. The life of piety without the life of charity is profitable for nothing; but the former together with the latter is profitable for all things.

The life of piety is to think piously and to speak piously, to devote oneself much to prayers, to behave humbly at such times, to frequent places of worship, and while there to listen devoutly to the preachings, to engage in the sacrament of the Supper frequently every year, and in like manner in all other things of worship, according to the ordinances of the church.

The life of charity is to wish well and to do well to the neighbor, to act from what is just and fair, and from what is good and true, in every work, in like manner in everything we do; in a word, the life of charity consists in performing uses.

The veriest worship of the Lord consists in the life of charity, but not in the life of piety without this. The life of piety without the life of charity is to wish to have regard for oneself alone, not for the neighbor; but the life of piety with the life of charity is to wish to have regard for oneself for the sake of the neighbor. The former life is from love toward self, but the latter is from love toward the neighbor.

That to do what is good is to worship the Lord, is evident from the Lord's words in Matthew:

Everyone who heareth My words, and doeth them, I will compare to a prudent man; but everyone that heareth My words, and doeth them not, shall be compared to a foolish man (7:24, 26).

Moreover a man is such as is the life of his charity; but not such as is the life of his piety without this. Consequently, the life of charity remains with the man to eternity; but not the life of piety, except insofar as the latter is in agreement with the former. That the life of charity remains with the man to eternity, is also evident from the Lord's words in these passages:

The Son of man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels; and then He will render to everyone according to his deeds (Matt. 16:27).

They shall go forth; they who have done goods, into the resurrection of life; but they who have done evils, into the resurrection of judgment (John 5:29)

When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: And before him shall be gathered all nations:  and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.

Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, 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. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat:  I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink:  I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not. Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?  Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.  And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal. (Matt. 25:31-46).

By the life through which the Lord is chiefly worshiped, is meant a life according to His injunctions in the Word, for by these man is acquainted with what faith is and what charity is: this life is the Christian life, and is called spiritual life. But a life according to the laws of what is just and honorable, without that life, is a civil and a moral life: this life makes a man to be a citizen of the world; but the other to be a citizen of heaven.

(Arcana Coelestia 8252-8257)

How Man is Brought to True Wisdom

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

Few, if any, know how man is brought to true wisdom. Intelligence is not wisdom, but leads to wisdom; for to understand what is true and good is not to be true and good, but to be wise is to be so. Wisdom is predicated only of the life - that the man is such. A man is introduced to wisdom or to life by means of knowing [scire et nosse], that is, by means of knowledges [scientiae et cognitiones]. In every man there are two parts, the will and the understanding; the will is the primary part, the understanding is the secondary one. Man's life after death is according to his will part, not according to his intellectual part. The will is being formed in man by the Lord from infancy to childhood, which is effected by means of the innocence that is insinuated, and by means of charity toward parents, nurses, and little children of a like age; and by means of many other things that man knows nothing of, and which are celestial. Unless these celestial things were first insinuated into a man while an infant and a child, he could by no means become a man. Thus is formed the first plane.

But as a man is not a man unless he is endowed also with understanding, will alone does not make the man, but understanding together with will; and understanding cannot be acquired except by means of knowledges [scientiae et cognitiones] and therefore he must, from his childhood, be gradually imbued with these. Thus is formed the second plane. When the intellectual part has been instructed in knowledges [scientiae et cognitiones], especially in the knowledges of truth and good, then first can the man be regenerated; and, when he is being regenerated, truths and goods are implanted by the Lord by means of knowledges in the celestial things with which he had been endowed by the Lord from infancy, so that his intellectual things make a one with his celestial things; and when the Lord has thus conjoined these, the man is endowed with charity, from which he begins to act, this charity being of conscience. In this way he for the first time receives new life, and this by degrees. The light of this life is called wisdom, which then takes the first place, and is set over the intelligence. Thus is formed the third plane. When a man has become like this during his bodily life, he is then in the other life being continually perfected. These considerations show what is the light of intelligence, and what the light of wisdom.

(from Arcana Coelestia 1555)

What Wisdom is in Its Origin, Progress and Its Full State

Selection from Conjugial Love ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
WHAT WISDOM IS — IT MAKES ONE WITH THE CHURCH

With man there is knowledge, intelligence, and wisdom.

• Knowledge pertains to cognitions

• Intelligence to reason

• Wisdom to life.

Considered in its fullness, wisdom pertains simultaneously to cognitions, reason, and life. Cognitions precede, reason is formed by means of them, and wisdom by means of both—and this when a man lives rationally according to the truths which are his cognitions. Wisdom, therefore, pertains to reason and at the same time to life. It is becoming wisdom when it is the wisdom of reason and thence of life; and it is wisdom when it has become the wisdom of life and thence of reason.

The most ancient people in this world recognized no other wisdom than wisdom of life. This was the wisdom of those who of old were called SOPHI. The ancients who succeeded the most ancient recognized the wisdom of reason as wisdom, and they were called PHILOSOPHERS. But at this day many call even knowledge wisdom; for learned doctors are called wise, and also the erudite and mere knowers. Thus has wisdom fallen from its mountain peak to its valley.

Something shall also be said as to what wisdom is in its origin and progress, and thence in its full state.

• With man, things which pertain to the Church and are called spiritual, reside in his inmosts.

• Those which pertain to the commonwealth and are called civil, occupy a place below them.

• Those which pertain to knowledge, experience, and skill, and are called natural, make the seat on which they rest.

That those which pertain to the Church and are called spiritual, have their abode in man's inmosts is because they conjoin themselves with heaven, and through heaven with the Lord; for with man, it is these alone that enter in from the Lord through heaven. That those which pertain to the commonwealth and are called civil, occupy a place below the spiritual, is because they conjoin themselves with the world; for they are things of the world, being the statutes, laws, and regulations which bind men, to the end that from them may be formed a stable and well-knit society and state. That those which pertain to knowledge, experience, and skill, and are called natural, make their seat, is because they closely conjoin themselves with the five senses of the body, and these are the ultimates on which interior things belonging to the mind, and inmost things belonging to the soul, are seated, as it were.

Now because those which pertain to the Church and are called spiritual reside in inmosts, and those which reside in inmosts make the head, while those which follow under them and are called civil make the body, and ultimate things which are called natural make the feet, it is evident, that when these three follow in their order, man is a perfect man; for then they flow in, in the same way that the things of the head flow into the body and through the body into the feet. So spiritual things flow into civil things and through these into natural. Now because spiritual things are in the light of heaven, it is evident that by their light they enlighten the things which follow in order, and by their heat which is love they animate them; and that when this is the case, the man has wisdom.

Since wisdom pertains to life and thence to reason, as said above, the question arises, What is wisdom of life? In a comprehensive summary it is this:

To shun evils because they are hurtful to the soul, hurtful to the commonwealth, and hurtful to the body; and to do goods because they are beneficial to the soul, the commonwealth and the body. This is the wisdom that is meant by the wisdom with which conjugial love binds itself; for it binds itself by shunning the evil of adultery as the pest of the soul, the commonwealth, and the body. And since this wisdom springs from the spiritual things which pertain to the Church, it follows that conjugial love is according to the state of the Church with man because according to the state of wisdom. By this, the same thing is meant as that which has been frequently said in the preceding pages, namely, that so far as a man becomes spiritual, so far he is in love truly conjugial, it being by means of the spiritual things of the Church that man becomes spiritual.

~~~

THE WISDOM WITH WHICH CONJUGIAL LOVE CONJOINS ITSELF

Wisdom with men is twofold, rational and moral, their rational wisdom belonging to the understanding alone, and their moral wisdom to the understanding and at the same time to the life. This can be concluded and seen from mere intuition and exploration. But that it may be known what is meant by the rational wisdom of men, and what by their moral wisdom, some specimens thereof shall be enumerated.

The things pertaining to their rational wisdom are designated by various names, being called in general, knowledge, intelligence, and wisdom, and in particular, rationality, judgment, genius, learning, sagacity. Knowledge, however, is manifold, there being knowledges peculiar to each individual in his particular office; knowledges peculiar to the clergy, peculiar to government officials and their subordinates, peculiar to judges, peculiar to physicians and chemists, peculiar to soldiers and sailors, peculiar to mechanics and workmen, peculiar to farmers, and so on. To rational wisdom pertain also all the knowledges into which young men are initiated in schools, whereby they are later initiated into intelligence. These also are called by various names, such as philosophy, physics, geometry, mechanics, chemistry, astronomy, jurisprudence, politics, ethics, history, etc., and by them, as by gateways, there is entrance into the rational things from which rational wisdom is formed.

The things with man which pertain to moral wisdom are all the moral virtues which have regard to life and enter into it; also all the spiritual virtues which flow from love to God and love towards the neighbor, and which together flow into the moral virtues. The virtues which pertain to the moral wisdom of men are likewise of various names and are called temperance, sobriety, probity, benevolence, friendship, modesty, sincerity, readiness to serve, courtesy; also assiduity, industry, alertness, alacrity, munificence, liberality, generosity, earnestness, intrepidity, prudence, besides many other virtues. The spiritual virtues with men are love of religion, charity, truth, faith, conscience, innocence, and many others. These and the former virtues may in general be referred to love and zeal for religion, for the public good, for country, for fellow- citizens, for parents, for the married partner, and for the children. In all these virtues, justice and judgment are dominant, justice pertaining to moral wisdom and judgment to rational wisdom.

That the conjunction of the wife with the rational wisdom of the man is from within, is because this wisdom is proper to the understanding of men and climbs into a light in which women are not. This is the reason why women do not speak from it, and when in the company of men where such matters are discussed, they are silent and simply listen. That nevertheless these rational things are with wives from within, is manifest from their listening, in that they inwardly recognize and favor what they hear and have heard from their husbands.

That the conjunction of the wife with the moral wisdom of the men is from without, is because the virtues of that wisdom are for the most part akin to the like virtues with women and partake of the intellectual will of the man, with which the will of the wife unites itself and makes a marriage. And because the wife knows these virtues in a man better than the man knows them in himself, it is said that the wife's conjunction with them is from without.

(from Conjugial Love 130: 163-165)

A Civil and Moral Life — A Receptacle of Spiritual Life

Selection from Divine Providence ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

Everything that a man has adopted by persuasion and confirmation remains in him as his own.

Many believe that no truth can be seen by man except when it has been confirmed; but this is a falsity.

• In the civil and economical affairs of a kingdom or republic what is useful and good can be seen only by a knowledge of many statutes and ordinances there.

• In judicial matters only by a knowledge of the laws.

• In the things of nature, like physics, chemistry, anatomy, mechanics, and so on, only when man has been well instructed in the sciences.

But —

• In things purely rational, moral, and spiritual — truths are seen from the light of truth itself, provided man has from a right education become somewhat rational, moral, and spiritual.

This is because every man, in respect to his spirit, which is that which thinks, is in the spiritual world, and is one among those who are there; and consequently is in spiritual light, which enlightens the interiors of his understanding, and as it were dictates. For spiritual light in its essence is the Divine truth of the Lord's Divine wisdom. From this it is that man can think analytically, can form conclusions about what is just and right in judicial affairs, can see what is honorable in moral life and good in spiritual life, and many other truths, which are sunk in darkness only by confirmed falsities. These are seen by man comparatively almost as he sees another's disposition from his face, and perceives his affections from the tone of his voice, with no other knowledge than what is inherent in every one. Why should not man see in some measure [from influx] the interiors of his life, which are spiritual and moral, when there is no animal that does not know [from influx] its own necessities, which are natural? A bird knows how to build its nest, lay its eggs, hatch its young, and distinguish its food, besides other wonderful things which are called instincts.

~~~

Sound reason declares that all men were predestined to heaven, and no one to hell; for all are born men, and in consequence the image of God is in them.

The image of God in them IS the ability to understand truth and to do good. The ability to understand truth is from the Divine wisdom, and the ability to do good is from the Divine love. This ability is the image of God, which remains in every sane man, and is not eradicated. From this comes his ability to become a civil and moral man — and the civil and moral man can also become spiritual, for the civil and moral is a receptacle of the spiritual. He is called a civil man who knows the laws of the kingdom wherein he is a citizen and lives according to them; and he is called a moral man who makes these laws his morals and his virtues, and from reason lives them.

It shall now be told how a civil and moral life is a receptacle of spiritual life: Live these laws, not only as civil and moral laws, but also as Divine laws, and you will be a spiritual man. Scarcely a nation exists so barbarous as not to have prohibited by laws murder, adultery with the wife of another, theft, false-witness, and injury to what is another's. The civil and moral man observes these laws, that he may be, or may seem to be, a good citizen, but if he does not also regard these laws as Divine he is merely a civil and moral natural man; while if he does also regard them as Divine he becomes a civil and moral spiritual man. The difference is that the latter is both a good citizen of the earthly kingdom and a good citizen of the heavenly kingdom; while the former is a good citizen of the earthly kingdom only, and not of the heavenly kingdom. The difference is seen in the goods they do —

• the goods done by civil and moral natural men are not in themselves good, for the man and the world are in them.

• the goods done by civil and moral spiritual men are good in themselves, because the Lord and heaven are in them.

From all this it can be seen that as every man was born that he might become a civil and moral natural man, so, too, he was born that he might become a civil and moral spiritual man; and this is done simply by his acknowledging God and not doing evil because it is against God, but doing good because it is accordant with God, whereby a spirit enters into his civil and moral activities, and they live; otherwise there is no spirit in them, and therefore they are not living. And this is why the natural man, however civilly and morally he may act, is called dead; but the spiritual man is called living.

It is of the Lord's Divine providence that every nation has some religion; and the primary thing in every religion is to acknowledge that there is a God, otherwise it is not called a religion. Every nation that lives according to its religion, that is, that refrains from doing evil because it is contrary to its god, receives something of the spiritual in its natural. When one hears some Gentile say that he is unwilling to do this or that evil because it is contrary to his god, does he not say to himself, Is not this man saved? it seems as if it could not be otherwise. Sound reason declares this to him. On the other hand, when he hears a Christian say, I make no account of this or that evil; why is it said to be contrary to God? does he not say to himself, Is this man saved? it seems impossible. Sound reason declares this also.

If such an one says, I was born a Christian, I have been baptized, I have known about the Lord, I have read the Word, I have attended the sacrament of the Supper - does this amount to anything if he does not regard murders, or the revenge that breathes them, adulteries, secret thefts, false testimony or lies, and various kinds of violence, as sins? Does such a man think about God or any eternal life? Does he believe that there is any God or any eternal life? Does not sound reason declare that such a person cannot be saved?

All this has been said respecting a Christian, because a Gentile thinks about God from religion in his life more than a Christian does.

(from Divine Providence 317; 322)

The Resplendent Light Of Heaven

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

That spirits and angels possess every sense, except taste, far more exquisitely and perfectly than man ever does, has been made manifest to me in many ways. They not only see one another and converse together - the angels with the greatest happiness from mutual love - but in that world there is more to see than men could believe to be possible; the world of spirits and the heavens are full of representatives such as were seen by the prophets, and of so wonderful a nature that if a person's sight were but opened so that for a few hours he might behold them, he would be astounded. The light in heaven is such as to incredibly surpass even the midday light of our solar world. They however have no light from this world, because they are above or within the sphere of this light, but their light is from the Lord, who to them is a Sun. Even the midday light of this world is dense darkness to the angels, and when they have an opportunity to see it, it is as if they were looking at mere darkness, as I have been given to know by experience. This shows what a difference there is between the light of heaven and the light of this world.
 ... ...
An intense flaming irradiation unexpectedly poured down before my eyes, dazzling them greatly - not merely the light of the eye, but the interior sight also. Presently there appeared a sort of obscurity, like a thick cloud, in which there was as it were something earthy. While I wondered at this it was given me to know that such is the light with the angels in heaven in comparison with that in the world of spirits; and that although the spirits live in light, yet still there is such a difference — as does the light, so also do the intelligence and the wisdom of the angels surpass those of spirits; and not their intelligence and wisdom only, but also all things that belong to these, such as their speech, thought, joys, and felicities — for these correspond to the light. This evidenced to me how great and of what nature are the perfections of angels as compared with men, who are in greater obscurity even than spirits. ...
The reason for the difference in the light is that all good spirits who are in the first heaven, and all angelic spirits who are in the second, and all angels who are in the third, are distinguished in general into the celestial and the spiritual; the celestial being those who are in the love of good, and the spiritual those who are in the love of truth.

HOW GREAT LIGHT THOSE ARE IN WHO ARE WITHDRAWN FROM MATERIAL IDEAS, INTO THOSE WHICH ARE SPIRITUAL

... ...
It is perfectly well known in heaven, but not so well in the world of spirits, whence comes the light that is so great, namely, from the Lord; and it is a remarkable fact that the Lord appears in the third heaven to the celestial angels as a Sun, and to the spiritual angels as a Moon. The very origin of the light is this and this alone. But the angels have light in proportion to what is celestial and spiritual with them, and the quality of this determines the quality of their light. Thus the Lord's celestial and spiritual manifests itself before their external sight by means of light.

That this is so the Word has shown to all; as when the Lord was made manifest to Peter, James, and John; for His face then shone as the sun, and His garments became as the light (Matt. 17:2). He so appeared to them simply because their interior sight was opened. The same is confirmed also in the Prophets; as in Isaiah, where the Lord's kingdom in the heavens is treated of:

• 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 (Isa. 30:26).

And in John, where also the Lord's kingdom, which is called the New Jerusalem, is spoken of:

• The city hath no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it; for the glory of God doth lighten it, and the Lamb is the lamp thereof (Rev. 21:23).

And again:

• There shall be no night there, and they have no need of a lamp, neither light of the sun, for the Lord God giveth them light (Rev. 22:5).

Besides that when the Lord appeared to Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and the seventy elders,

• they saw the God of Israel, under whose feet was as it were a work of sapphire stone, and as it were the substance of heaven in clearness (Exod. 24:10).

As the Lord's celestial and spiritual appear before the external sight of the angels as a Sun and a Moon, therefore "the sun" in the Word signifies what is celestial, and "the moon" what is spiritual.

That I might be confirmed in the truth that the Lord appears to the celestial angels as a Sun, and to the spiritual angels as a Moon, my interior sight was of the Lord's Divine mercy so far opened that I plainly saw the Moon shining, which was encompassed by a number of smaller moons, the light of which was almost solar, according to the words in Isaiah:

• The light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun (Isa. 30:26).

But it was not granted me to see the Sun. The Moon appeared in front, to the right.

Wonderful things appear in heaven from the Lord's light, things so beyond number that they could never be told. They are continual representatives of the Lord and of His kingdom, such as are mentioned in the Prophets, and by John in Revelation; besides other significatives. With the bodily eyes no man can possibly see them, but the moment the interior sight or that of the spirit is opened by the Lord, such things become visible. The visions of the prophets were nothing else than openings of their interior sight; as when John saw the golden lampstands (Rev. 1:12-13); and the Holy City as pure gold, with its luminary like to a stone most precious (Rev. 21:2, 10-11); besides many things mentioned in the Prophets; from which it may be known, not only that the angels live in the brightest light, but also that there are countless things there which surpass belief.

Before my sight was opened, the idea I cherished concerning the countless things that appear in the other life differed but little from that of others, that is to say, that in the other life there could be no light, and such things as exist from light, together with the things of sense; a notion derived from the phantasy entertained by the learned respecting the immateriality which they predicate so strongly of spirits and of all things pertaining to their life; from which no other conception could be had, than that, because it was immaterial, it was either so obscure that no idea of it could be grasped, or that it was nothing; for the immateriality involves such things. And yet the fact is just the reverse; for unless spirits were organized, and unless angels were organized substances, they could neither speak, nor see, nor think.

That by the aid of the light from a celestial and spiritual origin from the Lord, there are in the other life presented before the sight of spirits and angels most wonderful objects, such as paradises, cities, palaces, dwellings, the most beautiful atmospheres, and others besides.

(excerpts from Arcana Coelestia 1521-1534)

Actual Repentance

Selection from True Christian Religion ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

A MEMORABLE RELATION

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.

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.

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?"

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."

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.

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."

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.

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."

(True Christian Religion 567)

Respecting Divine Love

Selection from Apocalypse Explained ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

The Divine love and the Divine wisdom, from which is the life of all things, and of which the Divine attributes (infinity, eternity, providence, omnipotence, omnipresence, and omniscience) are predicated —

Respecting the Divine love:

• In the world it is but little comprehended what love is, and yet it is man's very life.

• The Lord alone is love itself, because life itself, while men and angels are only recipients.

• Life, which is love, is not given except in a form, and that form is a form of uses in the whole complex.

• Such a form is man, individually and collectively, and in such a form is heaven, and also the world.

• There are genera and species of uses, and varieties of species to infinity; also there are degrees of uses.

• There are as many affections as there are uses, and consequently there are genera and species of affections, and differences of species to infinity; and there are degrees of affections.

• Every affection of use in itself is a man, according to its quality and quantity.

• Each use draws its life from the common good, and flows in from it, and gives the necessary, useful, and delightful things of life.

• So far as man is in the love of uses so far is he in the Lord, so far he loves the Lord and the neighbor, and so far is he a man.

• The active force of uses according to their connection in their order produce vital heat, which is perceived in man as love.

• This is made evident by the fact that man wills this thing or that, or this or that is good or not good to him, and finally by his delight.

• All things in man are formed and grow and are held in connection by the Lord by means of love and its heat.

• Man does not know what affection is, and still less that there are as many various affections as there are men born into the world, and will be born to eternity, thus that they are infinite.

• Man does not know otherwise than that he is thought, and yet he is affection.

• Neither does he know that he has eternal life according to his affection of use.

(from Apocalypse Explained 1229)