Reformed in States of Rationality and Liberty

Selection from Divine Providence ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

NO ONE IS REFORMED IN STATES THAT DO NOT SPRING FROM RATIONALITY AND LIBERTY

Nothing is appropriated to man except what he does from freedom in accordance with reason. This is because freedom belongs to the will and reason to the understanding; and when man acts from freedom in accordance with reason he acts from the will by means of his understanding; and whatever is done in a conjunction of these two is appropriated. Since, then, it is the Lord's will that man should be reformed and regenerated, that he may have eternal life or the life of heaven, and no one can be reformed and regenerated unless good is so appropriated to his will as to be as if it were his, and truth is so appropriated to his understanding as to be as if it were his, and since nothing can be appropriated to any one except what is done from freedom of the will in accordance with the reason of the understanding, it follows that no one is reformed in states that do not spring from liberty and rationality. These states are many, but in general they may be referred to the following, namely states of fear, of misfortune, of disordered mind, of bodily disease, of ignorance, and of blindness of the understanding. Something shall be said of each state in particular.

NO ONE IS REFORMED IN A STATE OF FEAR

No one is reformed in a state of fear, because fear takes away freedom and reason, or liberty and rationality; for while love opens the interiors of the mind, fear closes them; and when they are closed man thinks but little, and only of what then presents itself to the mind or the senses. Such is the effect of all fears that take possession of the mind.

It has been shown above that man has an internal and an external of thought; fear can in no wise take possession of the internal of thought; this is always in freedom because in its life's love; but it can take possession of the external of thought, and when it does this the internal of thought is closed; and when that is closed man can no longer act from freedom in accordance with his reason, and therefore cannot be reformed.

The fear that takes possession of the external of thought and closes the internal is chiefly a fear of the loss of honor or gain. The internal of thought is not closed by a fear of civil punishments or of external ecclesiastical punishments, because such laws only prescribe penalties for those who speak and act contrary to the civil interests of the kingdom and the spiritual interests of the church, and not for those who merely think in opposition to them.

A fear of infernal punishments may take possession of the external of thought, but only for a few moments or hours or days; it is soon brought back to its freedom from the internal of thought, which belongs strictly to its spirit and its life's love, and is called the thought of the heart.

But a fear of the loss of honor and gain takes possession of the external of man's thought; and when it does this it closes the internal of thought from above against influx from heaven, and makes it impossible for man to be reformed. This is because every man's life's love from his birth is a love of self and the world; and the love of self makes one with the love of honor, and the love of the world makes one with the love of gain. When, therefore, a man has gained honor or wealth, from a fear of losing them he strengthens with himself the means that are serviceable to him for honor and gain, whether civil or ecclesiastical, both of which are means of power. One who has not yet gained honor and wealth does the like if he desires them; but he does it from a fear of the loss of reputation on their account.

It is said that that fear takes possession of the external of thought, and closes the internal from above against the influx from heaven. The internal is said to be closed when it completely makes one with the external, for it is not then in itself but in the external.

But inasmuch as the loves of self and the world are infernal loves, and are the fountain heads of all evils, it is clear what the internal of thought is in itself in those in whom these loves are the loves of the life, or in whom these loves rule, namely, that it is full of the lusts of evils of every kind. This is not known to those who from a fear of the loss of dignity and wealth are strongly persuaded respecting the religion they accept, especially if the religion involves their worship as deities, and also as having supreme power over hell. Such may seem to be in a blaze of zeal for the salvation of souls, and yet this may be from an infernal fire. As such a fear especially takes away rationality itself and liberty itself, which are heavenly in their origin, it is evidently a hindrance to man's ability to be reformed.

NO ONE IS REFORMED IN A STATE OF MISFORTUNE

No one is reformed in a state of misfortune, if he thinks of God and implores His aid only in that state, because that is a compelled state; consequently as soon as he comes into a free state he goes back to his former state, in which he had thought little or nothing about God. It is otherwise with those who in their former free state had feared God. By "fearing God" is meant fearing to offend Him, "offending God" meaning to sin. This fear is not a matter of fear but of love, for when one loves another does he not fear to do him wrong? And does he not fear this the more, the more he loves? Without such a fear love is insipid and superficial, a mere matter of the thought and not at all of the will. By "states of misfortune" are meant states of despair from danger, as in battles, duels, shipwrecks, falls, fires, threatened or unexpected loss of wealth or of office and thus of honors, and other like things To think of God only when in such dangers is not from God but from self. For the mind is then as it were imprisoned in the body; thus not at liberty, and therefore not in rationality; and apart from these no reformation is possible.

NO ONE IS REFORMED IN UNHEALTHY MENTAL STATES

No one is reformed in unhealthy mental states, because these take away rationality, and consequently the freedom to act in accordance with reason. For the mind may be sick and unsound; and while a sound mind is rational a sick mind is not. Such unhealthy mental states are melancholy, a spurious or false conscience, hallucinations of various kinds, grief of mind from misfortunes, and anxieties and mental suffering from a vitiated condition of the body. These are sometimes regarded as temptations, but they are not. For genuine temptations have as their objects things spiritual, and in these the mind is wise; but these states have as their objects natural things, and in these the mind is unhealthy.

NO ONE IS REFORMED IN A STATE OF BODILY DISEASE

No one is reformed in a state of bodily disease, because the reason is not then in a free state; for the state of the mind depends upon the state of the body. When the body is sick the mind is also sick, because of its separation from the world if for no other reason. For when the mind is removed from the world it may think about God, but not from God, for it does not possess freedom of reason. Man has freedom of reason by his being midway between heaven and the world, and by his ability to think from heaven or from the world, also from heaven about the world, or from the world about heaven. So when a man is sick, and is thinking about death and the state of his soul after death, he is not in the world; but in spirit he is withdrawn; and in this state alone no one can be reformed; but if before he fell sick he had been reformed this can then be strengthened.

It is the same with those who give up the world and all business there, and give themselves solely to thoughts about God, heaven, and salvation; but of this more elsewhere. As a consequence, if these persons had not been reformed before their sickness, if they die they afterwards become such as they were before the sickness. It is therefore vain to think that any can repent or receive any faith during sickness, for in such repentance there is nothing of action, and in such faith nothing of charity; thus both belong wholly to the lips and not at all to the heart.

NO ONE IS REFORMED IN A STATE OF IGNORANCE

No one is reformed in a state of ignorance, because all reformation is effected by means of truths and a life according to them; consequently those who are ignorant of truths cannot be reformed; but if they desire truths from an affection for truths, after death in the spiritual world they are reformed.

NO ONE IS REFORMED IN A STATE OF IN A STATE OF BLINDNESS OF THE UNDERSTANDING

Neither can any one be reformed in a state of blindness of the understanding. These, too, are ignorant of truths, and consequently of life; for the understanding must teach truths, and the will must do them; and when the will does what the understanding teaches its life comes into harmony with the truths. But when the understanding is blinded the will also is closed up; and from a freedom that is in accord with its reason it does only the evil that has been confirmed in the understanding, which is falsity. The understanding is blinded not only by ignorance but also by a religion that teaches a blind faith, also by false doctrine. For as truths open the understanding so falsities close it; they close it above but open it below; and an understanding that is opened only below cannot see truths, but can merely confirm whatever it wills, especially falsity. The understanding is also blinded by the lusts of evil. As long as the will is in these it moves the understanding to confirm them; and so far as the lusts of evil are confirmed the will cannot be in affections for good and to see truths from them, and thus be reformed.

When one, for example, is in the lust of adultery, his will, which is in the enjoyment of his love, moves his understanding to confirm it, saying, "What is adultery? Is there anything wicked in it? Is there not a like thing between husband and wife? Cannot offspring be born from adultery as well as from marriage? Cannot a woman admit more than one without harm? What has the spiritual to do with this?" So thinks the understanding that is then the will's harlot, and that has become so stupid from debauchery with the will as to be unable to see that conjugial love is the spiritual heavenly love itself, an image of love of the Lord and of the church, and derived from that love, and thus is in itself holy, is chastity itself, purity, and innocence; also that it makes men to be loves in form, since consorts can love each other mutually from inmosts, and thus form themselves into loves; while adultery destroys this form, and with it the image of the Lord, and, what is horrible, the adulterer mingles his life with the husband's life in his wife, since a man's life is in his seed.

Because this is profane hell is called adultery, and heaven on the other hand is called marriage. Moreover, the love of adultery communicates with the lowest hell, while love truly conjugial communicates with the inmost heaven; and the organs of generation in either sex correspond to societies of the inmost heaven. All this has been presented to make known how blinded the understanding is when the will is in the lust of evil; and that no man can be reformed in a state of blindness of the understanding.

(from Divine Providence 138 - 144)

Compelled Worship and Worship Not Compelled

Selection from Divine Providence ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

NO ONE IS REFORMED BY THREATS AND PUNISHMENTS

No one is reformed by threats and punishments, because they compel.

IT IS OF THE LORD'S DIVINE PROVIDENCE
MAN SHOULD ACT FROM FREEDOM
IN ACCORDANCE WITH REASON

It is admitted that the external cannot compel the internal, but that the internal can compel the external; also that the internal is so averse to compulsion by the external that it turns itself away.

It is also admitted that external enjoyments allure the internal to consent and love; and it may be known that a compelled internal and a free internal are possible. But although all these things are admitted they nevertheless need illustration; for many things when they are heard, being true, are at once perceived to be so, and are therefore assented to; but unless they are also corroborated by reasons they may be disproved by arguments from fallacies, and at last denied. Therefore the things just stated as admitted must be taken up and rationally confirmed.

First: The external cannot compel the internal, but the internal can compel the external. Who can be compelled to believe and to love? One can no more be compelled to believe than to think that a thing is so when he thinks that it is not so; and one can no more be compelled to love than to will what he does not will; for belief belongs to thought, and love belongs to the will. But the internal may be compelled by the external not to speak ill of the laws of the kingdom, the moralities of life, and the sanctities of the church; thus far the internal may be compelled by threats and punishments; and it is so compelled and ought to be. This internal, however, is not the strictly human internal, but is an internal that man has in common with beasts; and beasts can be compelled. The human internal has its seat above this animal internal. It is this human internal that is here meant, and that cannot be compelled.

Secondly: The internal is so averse to compulsion by the external that it turns itself away. This is because the internal wishes to be in freedom, and loves freedom, for freedom belongs to man's love or life, as has been shown above; consequently when freedom feels itself to be compelled it withdraws as it were within itself and turns itself away, and looks upon compulsion as its enemy; for the love that constitutes man's life is irritated, and causes the man to think that in this respect he is not his own, and therefore does not live for himself. Man's internal is such from the law of the Lord's Divine providence that man should act from freedom in accordance with reason.

From this it is clear that to compel men to Divine worship by threats and punishments is pernicious.

But there are some who suffer themselves to be compelled in respect to religion, and some who do not. Of those who suffer themselves to be so compelled there are many within the papal jurisdiction; but this takes place with those in whose worship there is nothing internal, but all is external. Of those who do not suffer themselves to be compelled there are many of the English nation; and as a consequence of this there is in their worship an internal, and what there is in the external is from their internal. In regard to their religion their interiors appear in spiritual light like bright clouds; while the interiors of the former, in respect to religion, appear in the light of heaven like dark clouds. These appearances are presented to sight in the spiritual world, and will be seen by any one who wishes to see them when he comes into that world after death. Furthermore, compelled worship shuts in evils, which evils then lie hidden like fire in wood under ashes, which is continually kindling and spreading till it breaks out in flames; while worship not compelled, but spontaneous, does not shut evils in, and in consequence they are like fires that blaze up quickly and are gone. All this makes clear that the internal is so averse to compulsion that it turns itself away. The internal can compel the external, because the internal is like a master, and the external like a servant.

Thirdly: External enjoyments allure the internal to consent, and also to love. There are two kinds of enjoyments, enjoyments of the understanding and enjoyments of the will; those of the understanding are also enjoyments of wisdom, and those of the will are also enjoyments of love; for wisdom belongs to the understanding, and love to the will. And inasmuch as the enjoyments of the body and its senses, which are external enjoyments, act as one with the internal enjoyments which belong to the understanding and the will, it follows that while the internal is so averse to compulsion by the external as to turn itself away from it, it also looks with such favor on enjoyments in the external as even to turn itself to it; thus on the part of the understanding there is consent, and on the part of the will there is love.

In the spiritual world all children are led by the Lord into angelic wisdom, and through that into heavenly love, by means of things enjoyable and pleasing; first by means of beautiful things in their homes, and by means of pleasing things in gardens; then by means of representatives of spiritual things, which affect the interiors of their minds with pleasure; and finally by means of truths of wisdom, and so by means of goods of love. Thus this is done continuously by means of enjoyments in their order; first by means of the enjoyments of the love of the understanding and of its wisdom; and finally by the enjoyments of the will's love, which becomes their life's love; and to this all other things that have entered by means of enjoyments are held subordinate.

This takes place because everything of the understanding and will must be formed by means of what is external before it is formed by the means of what is internal; since everything of the understanding and will is first formed by means of what enters through the senses of the body, especially through the sight and hearing; and when the first understanding and first will have been formed, the internal of thought looks upon these as the externals of its thought, and either conjoins itself with them or separates itself from them. It conjoins itself with them if they are delightful to it, and it separates itself from them if they are not.

But it must be clearly understood that the internal of the understanding does not conjoin itself with the internal of the will, but that the internal of the will conjoins itself with the internal of the understanding, and makes the conjunction to be reciprocal; but this is done by the internal of the will, and not in the least by the internal of the understanding. This is the reason why man cannot be reformed by means of faith alone, but only by means of the will's love, which makes a faith for itself.

Fourthly: A compelled internal and a free internal are possible. A compelled internal is possible in such as are in external worship only and in no internal worship; for their internal consists in thinking and willing that to which the external is compelled. Such is the state of those who worship men living and dead, and thus worship idols, and whose faith is based on miracles. In such no internal is possible except what is at the same time external.

A compelled internal is also possible in such as are in the internal of worship. It may be an internal compelled by fear or an internal compelled by love.

Those have an internal compelled by fear who are in worship from a fear of the torment of hell and its fire. Such an internal, however, is not the internal of thought before treated of, but is the external of thought, and is here called an internal because it belongs to thought. The internal of thought before treated of cannot be compelled by any fear; but it can be compelled by love and by a fear of losing love. In its true sense the fear of God is nothing else.

To be compelled by love and a fear of losing it is to compel oneself — that compelling oneself is not contrary to liberty and rationality.

COMPELLED WORSHIP AND WORSHIP NOT COMPELLED

All this makes clear what compelled worship is and what worship not compelled is.

Compelled worship is corporeal, lifeless, darkened, and sad; corporeal because it is of the body and not of the mind, lifeless because there is no life in it, darkened because there is no understanding in it, and sad because there is no enjoyment of heaven in it. But worship not compelled, when it is genuine, is spiritual, living, clear, and joyful; spiritual because there is spirit from the Lord in it, living because there is life from the Lord in it, clear because there is wisdom from the Lord in it, and joyful because there is heaven from the Lord in it.

(from Divine Providence 136, 137)

Visions, and Conversation with the Dead

Selection from Divine Providence ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
NO ONE IS REFORMED BY VISIONS OR BY CONVERSATIONS WITH THE DEAD

No one is reformed by visions or by conversations with the dead, because they compel.

IT IS OF THE LORD'S DIVINE PROVIDENCE
MAN SHOULD ACT FROM FREEDOM
IN ACCORDANCE WITH REASON

Visions are of two kinds, Divine and diabolical.

Divine visions are produced by means of representations in heaven

Diabolical visions by means of magic in hell

There are also fantastic visions, which are delusions of an abstracted mind.

Divine visions, which are produced (as has been said) by means of representations in heaven, are such as the prophets had, who were not in the body but in the spirit when they were in these visions; for visions can not appear to any one in the waking states of the body, When, therefore, they appear to the prophets they are said to have been "in the spirit," as is evident from the passages that follow.

Ezekiel says:-

Moreover, the spirit lifted me up, and brought me in the vision of God, in the spirit of God, into Chaldea, to them of the captivity. So the vision that I had seen went up over me (10: 1, 24).

Again —

that the spirit lifted him up between the earth and the heaven, and brought him in the visions of God to Jerusalem (8: 3, seq.).

In like manner —

he was in the vision of God or in the spirit when he saw the four living creatures which were cherubim (1 and 10).

As also —

when he saw the new temple and the new earth, and the angel measuring them (40 - 48).

That he was then in the visions of God he says (40: 2, 26); and in the spirit (43: 5).

In a like state was Zechariah —

When he saw a man riding among the myrtle trees (Zech. 1: 8, seq.)

When he saw four horns (1: 18)

and a man in whose hand was a measuring line (2: 1-3, seq.)

When he saw a lampstand and two olive trees (4: 1, seq.)

When he saw the flying roll and the ephah (5: 1, 6)

When he saw four chariots coming out from between two mountains, and horses (6: 1, seq.).

In a like state was Daniel —

When he saw four beasts coming up from the sea (Dan. 7: 1, seq.)

When he saw the combat between a ram and a he-goat (8: 1, seq.).

That he saw these things in the vision of his spirit is stated (7: 1, 2, 7, 13; 8: 2; 10: 1, 7, 8)

that the angel Gabriel was seen by him in vision (9: 21).

John, also, was in the vision of the spirit when he saw what he described in the Apocalypse: —

As when he saw seven lampstands, and in their midst the Son of man (1: 12-16)

When he saw a throne in heaven, and One sitting upon the throne, and four animals which were cherubim round about it (4)

When he saw the book of life taken by the Lamb (5)

When he saw horses going out from the book (6)

When he saw seven angels with trumpets (8)

When he saw the pit of the abyss opened, and locusts going out of it (9)

When he saw the dragon, and its combat with Michael (12)

When he saw two beasts, one rising up out of the sea and the other out of the earth (13)

When he saw a woman sitting upon a scarlet colored beast (17)

And Babylon destroyed (18)

When he saw a white horse and Him who sat upon it (19)

And when he saw the new heaven and the new earth; and the Holy Jerusalem coming down out of heaven (21)

And when he saw the river of the water of life (22)

That he saw these things in the vision of the spirit is said (1: 10; 4: 2; 5: 1; 6: 1; 21: 1, 2)

Such were the visions that appeared to them from heaven, not before the sight of the body but before the sight of the spirit. Such visions do not take place at the present day; if they did, they would not be understood, because they are produced by means of representations, each one of which is significative of the internal things of the church and the arcana of heaven.

Moreover, it was foretold by Daniel (9:24) that they would cease when the Lord came into the world.

But diabolical visions have sometimes appeared, induced by enthusiastic and visionary spirits, who from the delirium that possessed them called themselves the Holy Spirit. But these spirits have now been gathered up by the Lord and cast into a hell separate from the hells of others.

All this makes clear that by no other visions than those in the Word can one be reformed.

There are also fantastic visions: but these are mere delusions of an abstracted mind.

NO ONE IS REFORMED BY CONVERSATIONS WITH THE DEAD

That no one is reformed by conversations with the dead is evident from the Lord's words respecting the rich man in hell and Lazarus in Abraham's bosom.

for the rich man said: —

I pray thee, father Abraham, that thou wouldst send Lazarus to my father's house, for I have five brethren, that he may testify unto them, lest they also come unto this place of torment. Abraham said unto him, They have Moses and the Prophets, let them hear them. But he said, Nay, father Abraham, but if one come to them from the dead they will repent. He answered him, If they hear not Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be persuaded if one rise from the dead (Luke 16: 27-31).

Conversation with the dead would have the same effect as miracles, namely, man would be persuaded and forced into a state of worship for a short time. But as man is thus deprived of rationality, and at the same time evils are shut in, this spell or internal bond is loosed, and the evils that have been shut in break out, with blasphemy and profanation. But this takes place only when some dogma of religion has been imposed upon the mind by spirits, which is never done by any good spirit, still less by any angel of heaven.

(from Divine Providence 134)

A Faith Induced by Miracles

Selection from Divine Providence ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
NO ONE IS REFORMED BY MIRACLES AND SIGNS

No one is reformed by miracles and signs, because they compel.

It has been shown that man has an internal and an external of thought, and that the Lord flows into man through the internal of thought into its external, and thus teaches and leads him.

IT IS OF THE LORD'S DIVINE PROVIDENCE
MAN SHOULD ACT FROM FREEDOM IN ACCORDANCE WITH REASON

Both of these would perish in man if miracles were wrought and man were thereby driven to believe. That this is true can be seen rationally in this way.

It cannot be denied that miracles induce a belief and powerfully persuade that what is said and taught by him who does the miracles is true, and that this at first so occupies man's external thought as to bind and fascinate it, as it were. But by this, man is deprived of his two faculties called rationality and liberty, and thus of the ability to act from freedom in accordance with reason; and then the Lord can no longer flow in through the internal into the external of his thought, except merely to leave the man to confirm by his rationality what he has been made through the miracle to believe.

The state of man's thought is such as to enable him from the internal of his thought to see any matter in the external of his thought as in a sort of mirror; for, as has been said above, a man is able to see his own thought, which would not be possible except from a more internal thought. And when he thus sees a matter as in a mirror, he can turn it this way and that, and shape it until it appears to him beautiful; and if the matter is a truth it may be likened to a virgin or a youth, beautiful and living. But when one cannot turn it this way and that, and shape it, but can simply believe it from the persuasion induced by the miracle, it may be likened, if it is a truth, to a virgin or a youth carved from stone or wood, in which there is no life. It may also be likened to an object that is constantly before the sight, and being alone seen conceals every thing that is on either side of it and behind it. Or it may be likened to a sound continually in the ear that takes away the perception of harmony from many sounds. Such blindness and deafness are induced on the human mind by miracles. It is the same with every thing confirmed that is not looked into with some rationality before it is confirmed.

From all this it can be seen that a faith induced by miracles is not faith but persuasion — for there is nothing rational in it, still less anything spiritual — for it is only an external without an internal. The same is true of every thing that a man does from such a persuasive faith, whether he acknowledges God, worships Him at home or in churches, or does good deeds.

When a miracle alone leads a man to acknowledgment, worship, and piety, he acts from the natural man and not from the spiritual.

For a miracle imparts faith through an external way and not through an internal way, thus from the world and not from heaven; and the Lord enters into man through no other than an internal way, which is through the Word, and doctrine and preachings from the Word. And as miracles close this way, at this day no miracles are wrought.

That miracles are such can be seen very clearly from the miracles wrought before the people of Judah and Israel. Although these had seen so many miracles in the land of Egypt, and afterwards at the Red Sea, and others in the desert, and especially on Mount Sinai when the law was promulgated, yet only a month afterwards, while Moses tarried on that mountain, they made themselves a golden calf and acknowledged it as Jehovah who led them forth out of the land of Egypt (Exod. 33:4-6). So again, from the miracles afterwards wrought in the land of Canaan; and yet the people relapsed so many times from the prescribed worship. And again, from the miracles that the Lord wrought before them when He was in the world; and yet they crucified Him.

Miracles were wrought among them because the men of Judah and Israel were wholly external men, and were led into the land of Canaan merely that they might represent the church and its internals by means of the externals of worship, a bad man equally with a good man being able to represent; for externals are rituals, and all of their externals were significative of spiritual and celestial things. Aaron even, although he made the golden calf and commanded the worship of it (Exod. 32:2-5, 35), could represent the Lord and His work of salvation. And because they could not be brought by the internals of worship to represent those things they were brought to it and even driven and forced to it by miracles.

They could not be brought to it by the internals of worship because they did not acknowledge the Lord, although the whole Word that was in their possession treats of Him alone; and he that does not acknowledge the Lord is unable to receive any internal of worship. But when the Lord had manifested Himself, and had been received and acknowledged in the churches as the eternal God, miracles ceased.

But the effect of miracles on the good and on the evil is different.

• The good do not desire miracles, but they believe in the miracles recorded in the Word. And when they hear anything about a miracle they give thought to it only as an argument of no great weight that confirms their faith; for they think from the Word, thus from the Lord, and not from the miracle.

• It is not so with the evil. They may be driven and compelled to a belief by miracles, and even to worship and piety, but only for a short time; for their evils are shut in; and the lusts of their evils and the enjoyments therefrom continually act upon their external of worship and piety; and in order to get out of their confinement and break away they reflect upon the miracle, and at length call it a trick or artifice, or a work of nature, and thus go back to their evils. And he who returns to his evils after he has worshiped profanes the goods and truths of worship; and the lot after death of those who commit profanation is the worst of all. Such as these are meant by the Lord's words (Matt. 12:43-45), that their last state becomes worse than the first. Furthermore, if it is needful to work miracles for the sake of those who do not believe from miracles in the Word, they must be wrought for all such continually and visibly. All this makes clear why miracles are not wrought at this day.

(from Divine Providence 130-133)

Acting from Freedom in Accordance with Reason

Selection from Divine Providence ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

MAN SHOULD NOT BE COMPELLED BY EXTERNAL MEANS
TO THINK AND WILL AND THUS TO BELIEVE AND LOVE THE THINGS OF RELIGION
BUT SHOULD GUIDE HIMSELF AND SOMETIMES COMPEL HIMSELF

This law of the Divine providence — man should act from freedom in accordance with reason — he should do this from himself and yet from the Lord, therefore as if from himself.

Everyone admits, moreover, that it is impossible to compel any one to think what he is not willing to think, and to will what his thought forbids him to will, thus to believe what he does not believe, and wholly so what he is unwilling to believe; or to love what he does not love, and wholly so what he is unwilling to love. For a man's spirit or mind has full liberty in thinking, willing, believing, and loving. It has this liberty by influx from the spiritual world, which does not compel (for man's spirit or mind is in that world), and not by influx from the natural world, which is received only when it acts in harmony with spiritual influx.

A man may be forced to say that he thinks and wills and believes and loves the things of religion; but he does not think, will, believe, and love them unless they are matters of affection and consequent reason with him, or come to be so. Also, a man may be compelled to speak in favor of religion and to do what it inculcates; but he cannot be compelled to favor it in his thought from any belief in it, or to favor it in his will from any love for it. Moreover, in kingdoms where justice and judgment are guarded, men are compelled not to speak against religion, and to do nothing in opposition to it, and yet no one can be compelled to favor it in his thought and will. For it is within every one's freedom to think in harmony with hell and to will in favor of hell, and also to favor heaven in thought and will. But the reason teaches what hell is and what heaven is, and what the abiding condition is in the one and in the other; and it is from the reason that the will has its preference and choice.

From all this it can be seen that the external cannot compel the internal. Nevertheless, this is sometimes done; but that it is pernicious.

More to follow.

(from Divine Providence 129)

The Fire of Life

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

That which anyone does from love remains inscribed on his heart, for love is the fire of life, thus is the life of everyone. Consequently such as is the love, such is the life; and such as is the life, thus such as is the love, such is the whole man as to soul and as to body.

As love to the Lord and love toward the neighbor make the life of heaven with man, so when they reign do the love of self and the love of the world make the life of hell with him, for these loves are opposite to the former; and therefore those with whom the loves of self and of the world reign, can receive nothing from heaven; but all that they receive is from hell. For whatever a man thinks, and whatever he wills, or whatever a man believes, and whatever he loves is either from heaven or from hell.

From this it is that those in whom the love of self and the love of the world make the life, desire what is good for themselves alone, and not for others except for the sake of themselves. And as their life is from hell, they despise others in comparison with themselves, they are angry with others if they do not favor them, they hold them in hatred, they burn with revenge against them, and even desire to vent their rage upon them. At last these things become the delights of their life, thus their loves.

These are they who have hell in them, and who after death come into hell, because their life is in agreement with the life of those who are in hell; for all there are of this character; and everyone comes to his own people.

As these persons receive nothing from heaven, in their hearts they deny God and the life after death, and consequently hold in contempt all things of the church. It avails not that they do good to their fellow-citizen, to society, to their country, and to the church; or that they speak well about these; because they do all this for the sake of themselves and the world, in order to save appearances, and to secure reputation, honors, and gains. These are the external bonds by which such persons are brought to do what is good, and are withheld from doing what is evil. As for internal bonds, which are those of conscience, and which dictate that what is evil must not be done because it is sin, and is contrary to the Divine laws, they have none.

And therefore when these persons come into the other life, which takes place immediately after death, and external things are taken away from them, they rush headlong into every wickedness in accordance with their interiors, such as contempt of others in comparison with themselves, enmity, hatred, revenge, rage, cruelty, and also into hypocrisy, fraud, deceit, and many other kinds of wickedness. These are then the delights of their life; and therefore they are separated from the good, and cast into hell.

In the world many such persons are not aware that these thing are the delight of their life, because these things hide themselves in the loves of self and of the world; and at that time such persons call all things goods that favor these loves; and all things that confirm them they call truths. Neither do they know and acknowledge any other goods and truths, because they receive nothing from heaven, which they have closed against themselves.

As love is the fire of life, and everyone's life is in accordance with his love, it may from this be known what heavenly fire is, and what infernal fire.—

Heavenly fire is love to the Lord and love toward the neighbor

Infernal fire is the love of self

and the love of the world, and the consequent concupiscence of all evils, which spring from these loves as from their fountains.

The nature of the life with those who are in hell can be inferred from what it would be among such persons in the world if external bonds were taken away, and there were no internal bonds to restrain them.

The life of man cannot be changed after death. It then remains such as it had been. Nor can the life of hell be transferred into the life of heaven, because they are opposites. From this it is evident that those who come into hell remain there forever; and that those who come into heaven remain there forever.

(Arcana Coelestia 10740 - 10749)

Activity Within a Regenerate Man

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

OBSERVATIONS ON THE STATE OF THE REGENERATE MAN

AND

ON THE INFLUX OF THE INTERNAL MAN INTO THE EXTERNAL

A few words shall be said about what the regenerate man is relatively to the unregenerate man, for in this way both will be apprehended.

• With the regenerate man there is a conscience of what is good and true, and he does good and thinks truth from conscience; the good which he does being the good of charity, and the truth which he thinks being the truth of faith.

• The unregenerate man has no conscience, or if any, it is not a conscience of doing good from charity, and of thinking truth from faith, but is based on some love that regards himself or the world, wherefore it is a spurious or false conscience.

• With the regenerate man there is joy when he acts according to conscience, and anxiety when he is forced to do or think contrary to it

• But it is not so with the unregenerate, for very many such men do not know what conscience is, much less what it is to do anything either according or contrary to it, but only what it is to do the things that favor their loves. This is what gives them joy, and when they do what is contrary to their loves, this is what gives them anxiety.

• With the regenerate man there is a new will and a new understanding, and this new will and new understanding are his conscience, that is, they are in his conscience, and through this the Lord works the good of charity and the truth of faith.

• With an unregenerate man there is not will, but instead of will there is cupidity, and a consequent proneness to every evil; neither is there understanding, but mere reasoning and a consequent falling away to every falsity.

• With the regenerate man there is celestial and spiritual life.

• But with the unregenerate man there is only corporeal and worldly life, and his ability to think and understand what is good and true is from the Lord's life through the remains before spoken of, and it is from this that he has the faculty of reflecting.

• With the regenerate the internal man has the dominion, the external being obedient and submissive.

• But with the unregenerate the external man rules, the internal being quiescent, as if it had no existence.

• The regenerate man knows, or has a capacity of knowing on reflection, what the internal man is, and what the external.

• But of these the unregenerate man is altogether ignorant, nor can he know them even if he reflects, since he is unacquainted with the good and truth of faith originating in charity.

Hence may be seen what is the quality of the regenerate, and what of the unregenerate man, and that they differ from each other like summer and winter, and light and darkness; wherefore the regenerate is a living, but the unregenerate a dead man.

WHAT IS THE INTERNAL MAN — WHAT IS THE EXTERNAL MAN

What the internal man is, and what the external, is at this day known to few, if any. It is generally supposed that they are one and the same, and this chiefly because men believe that they do good, and think truth from what is their own, for it is the nature of man's Own to believe this; whereas the internal man is as distinct from the external as heaven is from earth.

Both the learned and the unlearned, when reflecting on the subject, have no other conception respecting the internal man than its being thought, because it is within; and of the external man that it is the body, with its life of sense and pleasure, because this is without. Thought, however, which is thus ascribed to the internal man, does not belong thereto; for —

• In the internal man, there are nothing but goods and truths which are the Lord's
  

• In the interior man, conscience has been implanted by the Lord
  

And yet the evil, and even the worst of men, have thought, and so have those who are devoid of conscience, which shows that man's thought does not belong to the internal, but to the external man.

• That the body, with its life of sense and pleasure, is not the external man, is evident from the fact that spirits equally possess an external man, although they have no such body as they had during their life in this world.

But what the internal man is, and what the external, no one can possibly know unless he knows that —

• There is in every man a celestial and a spiritual that correspond to the angelic heaven, a rational that corresponds to the heaven of angelic spirits, and an interior sensuous that corresponds to the heaven of spirits.
  

For there are three heavens, and as many in man, which are most perfectly distinct from each other; and hence it is that after death —

• The man who has conscience is first in the heaven of spirits

• Afterwards is elevated by the Lord into the heaven of angelic spirits
  

• Lastly into the angelic heaven

— which could not possibly take place unless there were in him as many heavens, with which and with the state of which he has the capacity of corresponding.

From this I have learned what constitutes the internal, and what the external man.

• The internal man is formed of what is celestial and spiritual
  

• The interior or intermediate man, of what is rational
  

• The external man of what is sensuous, not belonging to the body, but derived from bodily things

— and this is the case not only with man, but also with spirits.

To speak in the language of the learned, these three, the internal, the interior, and the external man, are like end, cause, and effect; and it is well known that there can be no effect without a cause, and no cause without an end.

Effect, cause, and end, are as distinct from each other as are what is exterior, what is interior, and what is inmost.

Strictly speaking, the sensuous man - or he whose thought is grounded in sensuous things - is the external man, and the spiritual and celestial man is the internal man, and the rational man is intermediate between the two, being that by which the communication of the internal and the external man is effected.

I am aware that few will apprehend these statements, because men live in external things, and think from them. Hence it is that some regard themselves as being like the brutes, and believe that on the death of the body they will die altogether, although they then first begin to live.

After death, those who are good —

• At first live a sensuous life in the world or heaven of spirits
  

• Afterwards, an interior sensuous life in the heaven of angelic spirits
  

• Lastly, an inmost sensuous life in the angelic heaven, this angelic life being the life of the internal man, and concerning which scarcely anything can be said that is comprehensible by man.

The regenerate may know that there is such a life by reflecting on the nature of the good and the true, and of spiritual warfare, for it is the life of the Lord in man, since the Lord — through the internal man — works the good of charity and the truth of faith in his external man. What is thence perceived in his thought and affection is a certain general which contains innumerable things that come from the internal man, and which the man cannot possibly perceive until he enters the angelic heaven.

THE NATURE AND QUALITY OF HEAVEN AND OF HEAVENLY JOY

But in order that I might know the nature and quality of heaven and of heavenly joy, for long and often I have been permitted by the Lord to perceive the delights of heavenly joys, so that as I know them from actual experience I can indeed know them, but can by no means describe them. 

However, in order to give some idea of it I may say that heavenly joy is an affection of innumerable delights and joys that form one general simultaneous joy, in which general joy, that is, in which general affection, there are harmonies of innumerable affections that do not come distinctly to perception, but obscurely, because the perception is very general. Yet I was permitted to perceive that there are things innumerable within it, in such order as can never be described, these innumerable things being such as flow from the order of heaven. 

Such order exists in every least thing of the affection, all of which together are presented and perceived as a very general one according to the capacity of him who is the subject of it. 

In a word, in every general joy or affection there are illimitable things ordinated in a most perfect form, and there is nothing that is not alive or that does not affect even the inmost things of our being, for heavenly joys proceed from inmost things. I perceived also that the joy and deliciousness came as if from the heart, and very softly diffused themselves through all the inmost fibers, and so into the congregated fibers, with such an inmost sense of delight that the fiber is as it were nothing but joy and deliciousness, and the whole derivative perceptive and sensitive sphere the same, being alive with happiness. In comparison with these joys, the joy of bodily pleasures is like gross and pungent dust as compared with a pure and gentle breeze. (Arcana Coelestia 545)

The things here said about the internal man, being above the apprehension of very many, are not necessary to salvation. It is sufficient to know that there is an internal and an external man, and to acknowledge and believe that all good and truth are from the Lord.

(Arcana Coelestia 977, 978)

Are "Works" Required?

Selections from Apocalypse Revealed ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

The New Church, which is the New Jerusalem, is formed of those who repent of evil works is also manifest from the Lord's words to the churches:

• To Ephesus; I know thy works; I have against thee, that thou hast left thy first charity. Repent, and do the former works; or else I will remove thy lampstand out of its place, except thou repent (Rev. 2:2, 4-5).

• To the church in Pergamos; I know thy works, repent (Rev. 2:13, 16).

• To the church in Thyatira; I will deliver her into affliction, except they repent of their works, I will give unto everyone of you according to his works (Rev. 2:19, 22-23).

• To the church in Sardis; I have not found thy works perfect before God, repent (Rev. 3:1-3).

• To the church in Laodicea; I know thy works, be zealous, and repent (Rev. 3:15, 19).

(from Apocalypse Revealed 72)

I KNOW THY WORKS — The Lord Sees All the Interiors and Exteriors of Man at Once

I know thy works, signifies that He sees all the interiors and exteriors of man at once.

"Works" are often mentioned in Revelation, but few know what is meant by works. This is known, that ten men can do works which externally appear alike, but which yet are dissimilar with them all; and this because they proceed from different ends and different causes, the end and the cause rendering the works either good or evil; for every work is a work of the mind, therefore, such as is the quality of the mind, such is the work. If the mind is charity, the work becomes charity; but if the mind is not charity, the work does not become charity; still, however, they may both appear alike in externals.

Works appear to men in external form, but to angels in internal form; and to the Lord their quality is apparent from inmost to outmosts. Works in their external form appear like the outside of fruits, but works in their internal form appear like the inside of fruits, where there are innumerable edible parts, and in the midst seeds, in which there are also things innumerable, which are too minute for the keenest eye to discern, yea, which are above the intellectual sphere of man. Such are all works, the internal quality of which the Lord alone sees, and which the angels also perceive from the Lord, when man is doing them.

(from Apocalypse Revealed 76)

The Lord sees all their interiors and exteriors at once — He sees that they are in falsities, and yet as to life in goods, which they believe to be the goods of life, when yet they are not.

(from Apocalypse Revealed 94)

I WILL GIVE UNTO EVERYONE ACCORDING TO HIS WORKS

I will give unto everyone according to his works, signifies that He gives unto everyone according to the charity and its faith which are in his works. That "works" are the containers of charity and faith, and that charity and faith without works are only like airy images, which vanish as soon as they have appeared.

(from Apocalypse Revealed 141)

FOR THEIR WORKS FOLLOW WITH THEM

For their works follow with them, signifies as they have loved and believed, and thence have done and spoken. By "the works which follow with them" are signified all things which remain with man after death. It is known, that the externals, which appear before men, derive their essence, soul, and life from the internals, which do not appear before men, but which appear before the Lord and the angels; the latter and the former, or the externals and the internals taken together, are works; good works, if the internals are in love and faith, and the externals act and speak from them; but evil works, if the internals are not in love and faith, and the externals act and speak from them. If the externals act and speak as if from love and faith, those works are either hypocritical or meritorious. Ten persons may do works which are similar in externals, but still they are dissimilar, because the internals from which the externals proceed are dissimilar.

Who does not see that there is an internal and an external, and that these two make one? For who does not see that the understanding and will are the internal of man, and speech and action his external? For who can speak and act without the understanding and the will? And since everyone sees this, he may also see that works are external and internal at the same time; and because the external derives its essence, soul, and life from its internal, as was said above, it follows that the external is such as is its internal; consequently, that "the works which follow with them" are according as they have loved and believed, and thence have done and spoken. That good works are charity and faith, and that the internal of man or the internal man does not consist in understanding without willing, but in willing and thence understanding, consequently that it does not consist in believing without loving, but in loving and thence believing; and that the doing these things is the external of man, or the external man. From these things it is evident, that by "the works that follow with them" is signified according as they have loved and believed, and thence have done and spoken. The same is signified by "works" in the following passages:

In the day of judgment God will render to every man according to his works (Rom. 2:6).

We must all appear before the tribunal of Christ, that each one may give account of the things which he hath done by the body, whether good or evil (2 Cor. 5:10).

The Son of man will come in the glory of His Father, and then shall He render to everyone according to his works (Matt. 16:27).

They that have done good shall come forth unto the resurrection of life, but they that have done evil unto the resurrection of judgment (John 5:29).

They were judged according to those things which were written in the books, all according to their works (Rev. 20:12-13).

Behold, I come quickly; and My reward is with Me, to give to everyone according to his works (Rev. 22:12).

I will give to everyone of you according to his works (Rev. 2:23).

I know thy works (Rev. 2:1-2, 4, 9, 13, 19, 26; 3:1-3, 7-8, 14-15, 19).

I will recompense them according to their work, and according to the deed of their hands (Jer. 25:14).

Jehovah doeth with us according to our ways and according to our works (Zech. 1:6; and in many other places).

(from Apocalypse Revealed 641)

ALL WERE JUDGED ACCORDING TO THEIR INTERNAL LIFE IN EXTERNALS

The dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works, signifies that all were judged according to their internal life in externals.

By "the dead" are signified all who died from the earth, and were then in the world of spirits. "Out of those things which were written in the books," signifies out of the interiors of everyone's mind then laid open. "According to their works," signifies, according to the internal life of everyone in externals.

WORKS OF THE MIND AND WORKS OF THE BODY

There are works of the mind and works of the body, both of them at once internal and external.

• The works of the mind are intentions and endeavors

• The works of the body are words and actions

Each of these proceed from the internal life of man, which is of his will or love. Whatsoever does not close in works, either internal which relate to the mind, or external which relate to the body, are not in the life of man, for they inflow from the world of spirits but are not received, therefore they are like images that strike the eyes, or as odors that affect the nostrils, from which a man turns away his face.

To which may be added the following from Paul:

In the day of anger and revelation of the just judgment of God; who will render to everyone according to his deeds (Rom. 2:5, 6).

For we must all be manifested before the judgment-seat of Christ, that everyone may receive the things done in the body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or evil (2 Cor. 5:10).

(from Apocalypse Revealed 868)

The Capacity for Receiving Truths

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

Few know what freedom is, and what non-freedom is.

All that which is of any love and its delight appears to be freedom, and that which is contrary to these, non-freedom.

• What is of the love of self and the love of the world, and of their cupidities, appears to man as freedom, but it is infernal freedom
  
  
• What is of love to the Lord and of love toward the neighbor, consequently of the love of good and truth, is freedom itself, and is heavenly freedom.

Infernal spirits do not know that there is any other freedom than that which is of the love of self and the love of the world; that is, of the cupidities (inordinate desire) of commanding, of persecuting and hating all who do not serve them, of tormenting everyone, of destroying the universe if they could for the sake of self; of taking away and claiming to themselves whatever is another's. When they are in these and similar things, they are in their freedom, because they are in their delight. Their life consists in this freedom to such a degree that if it were taken away from them, nothing more of life would remain to them than that of a newborn infant. This was also shown by living experience.

A certain evil spirit was in the persuasion that such things could be taken away from him, and that in this way he could come into heaven; consequently that his life could be miraculously changed into heavenly life; on which account those loves together with their cupidities were taken away from him (which is done in the other life by dissociation), and he then appeared like an infant paddling with his hands, which he could scarcely move; and he was at the same time in such a state as to be less able to think than any infant, and unable to speak anything at all, or to know anything. But he was soon restored to his delight, and thus to his freedom.

From this it is manifest that it is impossible for anyone to come into heaven who has procured a life for himself from the love of self and the world, and consequently who is in the freedom of these loves; for if that life were taken away from such a person, he would not have anything of thought and will remaining.

But heavenly freedom is that which is from the Lord, and in it are all the angels in the heavens. As before said this is the freedom of love to the Lord and mutual love, and thus of the affection of good and truth. The quality of this freedom may be seen from the fact that everyone who is in it communicates his blessedness and happiness to another from inmost affection, and that it is a blessedness and happiness to him that he is able to communicate it. And because the universal heaven is such, it follows that everyone is a center of all forms of blessedness and happiness, and that all these belong at the same time to each angel. The communication itself is effected by the Lord, by wonderful inflowings in an incomprehensible form, which is the form of heaven. This shows what heavenly freedom is, and that it is from the Lord alone.

How far distant heavenly freedom (which is from the affection of good and truth) is from infernal freedom (which is from the affection of evil and falsity), is evident from the fact that when the angels in heaven merely think about such freedom as is from the affection of evil and falsity, or what is the same, from the cupidities of the love of self and the world, they are immediately seized with internal pain; and on the other hand, when evil spirits merely think about the freedom which is from the affection of good and truth, or what is the same, from the desires of mutual love, they at once come into anguish; and what is wonderful, so opposite is the one freedom to the other, that the freedom of the love of self and the world is hell to good spirits; and on the other hand, the freedom of love to the Lord and mutual love is hell to evil spirits. Hence all in the other life are distinct according to their kinds of freedom, or what is the same, according to their loves and affections, consequently according to the delights of their life, which is the same as according to their lives; for lives are nothing else than delights, and these are nothing else than affections which are of the loves.

The good of life, or the affection of good, is insinuated by the Lord by an internal way, without man's knowing anything about it; but the truth of doctrine, or faith, by an external way, into the memory, whence it is called forth by the Lord in His own time and according to His own order, and is conjoined with the affection of good. This is done in man's freedom; for as before said, man's freedom is from affection. Such is the insemination and inrooting of faith. Whatever is done in freedom is conjoined, but that which is done under compulsion is not conjoined; as may be seen from considering that by no possibility can anything be conjoined except that by which we are affected: affection is the very thing that receives; to receive anything contrary to the affection is to receive it contrary to the life. Hence it is manifest that truth of doctrine, or faith, cannot be received except by the affection of it. But such as is the affection, such is the reception. It is only the affection of truth and good that receives the truth of faith; for they agree, and because they agree, they conjoin themselves together. (Arcana Coelestia 2870 - 2874)

TRUTH GRATUITOUSLY BESTOWED

Truth in the abilities means in the capacities for receiving it, thus according to the capacities. But the capacities or abilities for receiving truth are wholly according to good, because the Lord adjoins them to good; for when the Lord flows in with good, He also flows in with capacity. Hence truth received in the abilities means according to goods. That the capacities for receiving truth are according to good is evident from much experience in the other life.

• They who are in good there have the capacity not only for perceiving truth, but also for receiving it, yet according to the amount and quality of the good in which they are.

• But they who are in evil have on the other hand no capacity for receiving truth. This comes from pleasure and consequent desire.

They who are in good have pleasure in perfecting good by means of truth, because good takes its quality from truths; and therefore they desire truths.

But they who are in evil have pleasure in evil, and in confirming it by falsities, and therefore they desire falsities; and because they desire falsities they are averse to truths. For this reason they have no capacity for receiving truths, for they reject or stifle or pervert them as soon as they reach the ear or occur to the thought.

Besides, every man who is of sound mind has a capacity for receiving truths; but they extinguish this capacity who turn to evil, and they exalt it who turn to good. (from Arcana Coelestia 5623)

Those Received in the New Church by the Lord

Selection from Apocalypse Explained ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb. Revelation 14:4

These were bought from among men, firstfruits to God and the Lamb, signifies those received in the New Church by the Lord. This is evident from the signification of "those bought by the Lord," as being those who receive instruction from the Word, especially respecting the Lord, and who live according to it. The same are meant by those called "redeemed by the Lord;" and "the redeemed" are those who have been regenerated by the Lord and these are those who follow the Lord, that is, are led by Him. Also from the signification of "firstfruits of God and the Lamb," as being those who have given themselves to the Lord and have been adopted by Him.

That those who are of the New Church are meant is evident from their being called "firstfruits to God and to the Lamb," since those who are received in that church acknowledge the Lord's Divine Human and live according to His commandments.

No others are received in the New Church which is called "the New Jerusalem," because those who do not believe this and live thus are not in accord with the life of heaven, nor with the light there, nor with the heat there: for the light there is the Divine truth, which is the source of all intelligence and wisdom; and the heat there is the Divine good, which is the source of all love and charity.

All man's affection and thought therefrom not only is within him and constitutes his life but is also outside of him and constitutes the sphere of his life. This is why heaven is divided into societies according to the varieties of the affections and their thoughts; consequently unless the affections and the thoughts therefrom are spiritual, which are formed solely by the acknowledgment of the Lord and a life according to His commandments, they cannot be admitted into any society of heaven, for they are repugnant thereto; and this is why those who do not acknowledge the Lord's Divine Human and do not live according to His commandments in the Word cannot be consociated with the angels of heaven. That this is so has been proved to me by much experience.

There were some who had the same idea of the Lord as of any other man, and had lived in the faith of the present day, which is cogitation (or thought) without any good of life. As these believed that eternal life is merely being admitted into heaven, so according to their wish they were admitted into a certain society; but as soon as the light of heaven struck their eyes, their sight, and at the same time their understanding, began to be wholly darkened, and they began to fall into a stupor and into foolishness; and when the heat of heaven breathed upon them they began to be tormented in a direful manner, and their head and limbs began to writhe like serpents; consequently they cast themselves downwards, swearing that admission to heaven, unless they were in the light and heat of heaven, was hell to them, and that they had not known that everyone has heaven from love and its faith, or from a life according to the Lord's commandments in the Word, and from faith in the Lord, and not at all from faith without the life of faith, which is charity.

WHAT "FIRSTFRUITS" SIGNIFY IN THE WORD

It shall now be told briefly what "firstfruits" signify in the Word. The signification of firstfruits is similar to that of "firstborn;" but "firstborn" is predicated of animals, and "firstfruits" of vegetables; thus —

"the firstborn" are such as are born first

"firstfruits" are from the first products

both of them signify the spiritual good that is first formed, which in itself is truth from good which is from the Lord. This has its origin in the fact that there are two minds in man, a natural mind and a spiritual mind. From the natural mind alone nothing is produced but evil and its falsity; but as soon as the spiritual mind is opened, good and its truth are produced; and that which is first produced is meant by the "firstborn" and the "firstfruits." And as all things that are born and produced from the spiritual mind are from the Lord and not from man, these were sanctified to Jehovah, that is, to the Lord, because they were His, and thus were holy. And as that which is born or produced first signifies all things that follow in their order, as a leader is followed by his people, or a shepherd by his flock, so "the giving of the firstborn and the firstfruits to the Lord" signified that all the rest were also His.

But that this may come yet more clearly into the understanding it is to be known that the merely natural mind is formed to the idea or image of the world, but the spiritual mind to the idea or image of heaven; also that the spiritual mind is not opened to any man, except by the acknowledgment of the Lord's Divine and by a life according to His commandments; and until this mind has been opened no good and no truth therefrom are produced; but as soon as it is opened these are produced, and what is produced is from the Lord. Therefore the first thing that is produced is called holy, and signifies that all things that are afterwards produced are holy. This makes clear that the opening of the womb or matrix signifies the opening of the spiritual mind. This signification of opening the womb or matrix is from correspondence, the womb corresponding to the good of celestial love.

Because this is what is signified by "firstfruits," and because the things pertaining to the harvest, as wheat, barley, and the rest, and also wool, signified the goods and truths of heaven and the church, and the clean and useful beasts had a similar signification, so the firstborn of the latter and the firstfruits of the former were given to the Lord; and as the high priest represented the Lord as to His priestly function, which is the good of love, these things were given to that priest, and thus all things that were products of the corn, wine, and oil were made holy. But respecting these firstfruits see the statutes for the sons of Israel in the law of Moses; as respecting the first of the products of all corn, of oil, of wine, of the fruit of the tree, also of the fleece, likewise of the firstborn of the herd and the flock; and that these were given as holy to Jehovah, and by Jehovah to Aaron, and after him to the high priest (Exod. 22:29; Num. 13:20; 15:17-22; 18:8-20; Deut. 18:4; 26:1 to the end): also concerning the feast of the first fruits of harvest and of the first fruits of bread (Exod. 23:14-16, 19, 26; Lev. 23:9-15, 20-25; Num. 28:26 to the end; and elsewhere).

From all this it can now be seen that "firstfruits to God and to the Lamb" mean those who will be of the New Church which is called "the New Jerusalem," who acknowledge the Lord's Divine Human and live a life of love, that is, a life according to the Lord's commandments in the Word. In such and in no others is the spiritual mind opened; therefore no others are led by the Lord, or "follow Him whithersoever He goeth." That "God and the Lamb" means in Revelation the Lord as to the Divine Itself, and at the same time as to the Divine Human.

(from Apocalypse Explained 865)

Being in an Intermediate State

Selection from Heaven and Hell ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
— WHAT THE WORLD OF SPIRITS —

The world of spirits is an intermediate place between heaven and hell and also an intermediate state of the man after death. That it is an intermediate place, has been clear to me from the fact that the hells are below it and the heavens above. Also it is in an intermediate state, since, so long as man is in it, he is not yet either in heaven or in hell.

The state of heaven with man is the conjunction of good and truth with him.

The state of hell is the conjunction of evil and falsity with him.

Whenever good with a man-spirit has been conjoined to truth he comes into heaven, because that conjunction, as has been said, is heaven with him; but whenever evil with a man-spirit is conjoined to falsity he comes into hell, because that conjunction is hell with him. That conjunction is effected in the world of spirits, since man is then in an intermediate state. It is the same thing whether you say the conjunction of the understanding and the will, or the conjunction of truth and good.

First let something be said about the conjunction of the understanding and the will, and about its being the same thing as the conjunction of good and truth, since that conjunction is effected in the world of spirits.

Man has an understanding and a will

The understanding receives truths and is formed out of them, and the will receives goods and is formed out of them; therefore whatever a man understands and thinks from his understanding he calls true, and whatever a man wills and thinks from his will he calls good. From his understanding man can think and thus perceive both what is true and what is good; and yet he thinks what is true and good from the will only when he wills it and does it. When he wills it and from willing does it, then it is both in his understanding and in his will, consequently in the man. For neither the understanding alone nor the will alone makes the man, but the understanding and will together. Therefore whatever is in both is in the man, and is appropriated to him. That which is in the understanding alone is with man, and yet not in him; it is only a thing of his memory, or a matter of knowledge in his memory about which he can think when in company with others and outside himself, but not in himself, that is, about which he can speak and reason, and can simulate affections and gestures that are in accord with it.

Man capable of being reformed

That a man can think from the understanding and not at the same time from the will is provided in order that man may be capable of being reformed. For man is reformed by means of truths, and truths pertain to the understanding, as has been said. For as to his will man is born into every evil, and therefore from himself wills good to no one but himself; and he who wills good to himself alone delights in the misfortunes which happen to others, especially when they tend to his own advantage; for his wish is to divert to himself the goods of all others, whether honours or riches, and so far as he succeeds in this he inwardly rejoices.

In order that this will may be corrected and reformed

In order that this will may be corrected and reformed, it is granted to a man to be able to understand truths, and to subdue by means of these truths the affections of evil that spring from the will. This is why man can think truths from his understanding, and also speak them and do them. But until man is such that he wills truths and does them from himself, that is, from the heart, he is not able to think truths from his will. When he becomes such whatever things he thinks from his understanding belong to his faith, and whatever things he thinks from his will belong to his love. In consequence, faith and love, like understanding and will, are conjoined with him.

To the extent, therefore, that the truths of the understanding and the goods of the will are conjoined, that is, to the extent that a man wills truths and does them from the will, to that extent he has heaven in himself, since the conjunction of good and truth, as has been said above, is heaven.

And, on the other hand, just to the extent that the falsities of the understanding and the evils of the will are conjoined, man has hell in himself, since the conjunction of falsity and evil is hell. But so long as the truths of the understanding and the goods of the will are not conjoined, man is in an intermediate state.

At the present time nearly every single man is in such a state that he has some knowledge of truths, and from his knowledge and understanding gives some thought to them, and conforms to them either much or little or not at all, or acts contrary to them from a love of evil and consequent false belief.

That man may have either heaven or hell

In order, therefore, that man may have either heaven or hell, he is brought after death at first into the world of spirits, and there a conjoining takes place, of good and truth with those who are to be raised up into heaven, and of evil and falsity with those who are to be cast down into hell. For neither in heaven nor in hell is anyone permitted to have a divided mind, that is, to understand one thing and to will another; but everyone must understand what he wills, and will what he understands. Therefore, in heaven, he who wills good understands truth, while in hell he who wills evil understands falsity. So in the intermediate state, with the good falsities are put away, and truths that agree and harmonize with their good are given them; while with the evil truths are put away, and falsities that agree and harmonize with their evil are given them. From these things it is clear what the world of spirits is.

(from Heaven and Hell 422-425)

The Church, The Lord's Heaven on Earth

Selection from Heaven and Hell ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

What has been said of heaven may be said also of the church, for THE CHURCH IS THE LORD'S HEAVEN ON EARTH.

IF GOOD WERE THE CHARACTERISTIC AND ESSENTIAL OF THE CHURCH, AND NOT TRUTH APART FROM GOOD, THE CHURCH WOULD BE ONE.

FROM GOOD ALL CHURCHES MAKE ONE CHURCH BEFORE THE LORD.

There are also many churches, each one of which is called a church, and so far as the good of love and faith reigns therein is a church. Here, too, the Lord out of various parts forms a unity, that is, one church out of many churches.

And the like may be said of the man of the church in particular that is said of the church in general, namely, that the church is within man and not outside of him; and that every man is a church in whom the Lord is present in the good of love and of faith.

THE CHURCH IS IN MAN, AND NOT OUTSIDE OF HIM, AND THE CHURCH IN GENERAL IS MADE UP OF MEN THAT HAVE THE CHURCH IN THEM.

Again, the same may be said of a man that has the church in him, as of an angel that has heaven in him, namely, that he is a church in the smallest form, as an angel is a heaven in the smallest form; and furthermore that a man that has the church in him, equally with an angel, is a heaven. For man was created that he might come into heaven and become an angel; consequently he that has good from the Lord is a man-angel.

A MAN WHO IS A CHURCH IS A HEAVEN IN THE SMALLEST FORM AFTER THE IMAGE OF THE GREATEST, BECAUSE HIS INTERIORS, WHICH BELONG TO HIS MIND, ARE ARRANGED AFTER THE FORM OF HEAVEN, AND CONSEQUENTLY FOR RECEPTION OF ALL THINGS OF HEAVEN.

THEREFORE MAN WAS CREATED TO HAVE THE WORLD IN HIM SERVE HEAVEN, AND THIS TAKES PLACE WITH THE GOOD; BUT IT IS THE REVERSE WITH THE EVIL, IN WHOM HEAVEN SERVES THE WORLD.

What man has in common with an angel and what he has in contrast with angels may be mentioned. It is granted to man, equally with the angel, to have his interiors conformed to the image of heaven, and to become, so far as he is in the good of love and faith, an image of heaven. But it is granted to man and not to angels to have his exteriors conform to the image of the world; and so far as he is in good to have the world in him subordinated to heaven and made to serve heaven.

THE LORD IS ORDER, SINCE THE DIVINE GOOD AND TRUTH THAT GO FORTH FROM THE LORD MAKE ORDER

DIVINE TRUTHS ARE LAWS OF ORDER.

SO FAR AS A MAN LIVES ACCORDING TO ORDER, THAT IS, SO FAR AS HE LIVES IN GOOD IN ACCORDANCE WITH DIVINE TRUTHS, HE IS A MAN, AND THE CHURCH AND HEAVEN ARE IN HIM.

And then the Lord is present in him both in the world and in heaven just as if he were in his heaven. For the Lord is in His Divine order in both worlds, since God is order.

Finally it should be said that he who has heaven in himself has it not only in the largest or most general things pertaining to him but also in every least or particular thing, and that these least things repeat in an image the greatest. This comes from the fact that everyone is his own love, and is such as his ruling love is. That which reigns flows into the particulars and arranges them, and every where induces a likeness of itself.

THE RULING OR DOMINANT LOVE WITH EVERYONE IS IN EACH THING AND ALL THINGS OF HIS LIFE, THUS IN EACH THING AND ALL THINGS OF HIS THOUGHT AND WILL IN.

MAN IS SUCH AS IS THE RULING QUALITY OF HIS LIFE IN.

WHEN LOVE AND FAITH RULE THEY ARE IN ALL THE PARTICULARS OF MAN'S LIFE, ALTHOUGH HE DOES NOT KNOW IT.

In the heavens love to the Lord is the ruling love, for there the Lord is loved above all things. Hence the Lord there is the All-in-all, flowing into all and each, arranging them, clothing them with a likeness of Himself, and making it to be heaven wherever He is. This is what makes an angel to be a heaven in the smallest form, a society to be a heaven in a larger form, and all the societies taken together a heaven in the largest form. That the Divine of the Lord is what makes heaven, and that He is the All-in-all.

(from Heaven and Hell 57, 58)

What Makes Heaven in Man

Selection from Heaven and Hell ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you. (Luke 17:20-21)

Good and truth are in a perpetual endeavor to be conjoined, and good longs for truth and for conjunction with it. Between good and truth there is a kind of marriage.

The heathen equally with Christians are saved any one can see who knows what it is that makes heaven in man; for heaven is within man, and those that have heaven within them come into heaven. Heaven with man is acknowledging the Divine and being led by the Divine.

The first and chief thing of every religion is to acknowledge the Divine.

A religion that does not acknowledge the Divine is no religion. The precepts of every religion look to worship; thus to the way in which the Divine is to be worshiped that the worship may be acceptable to Him; and when this has been settled in one's mind, that is, so far as one wills this or so far as he loves it, he is led by the Lord. Everyone knows that the heathen as well as Christians live a moral life, and many of them a better life than Christians.

Moral life may be lived either out of regard to the Divine or out of regard to men in the world.

A moral life that is lived out of regard to the Divine is a spiritual life. In outward form the two appear alike, but in inward form they are wholly different; the one saves man, the other does not. For he who lives a moral life out of regard to the Divine is led by the Divine; while he who leads a moral life out of regard to men in the world is led by himself.

But this may be illustrated by an example —

He that refrains from doing evil to his neighbor because it is antagonistic to religion, that is, antagonistic to the Divine, refrains from doing evil from a spiritual motive.

He that refrains from doing evil to another merely from fear of the law, or the loss of reputation, of honor, or gain, that is, from regard to self and the world, refrains from doing evil from a natural motive, and is led by himself.

The life of the latter is natural, that of the former is spiritual.

A man whose moral life is spiritual has heaven within him; but he whose moral life is merely natural does not have heaven within him; and for the reason that heaven flows in from above and opens man's interiors, and through his interiors flows into his exteriors; while the world flows in from beneath and opens the exteriors but not the interiors. For there can be no flowing in from the natural world into the spiritual, but only from the spiritual world into the natural; therefore if heaven is not also received, the interiors remain closed. All this makes clear who those are that receive heaven within them, and who do not.

And yet heaven is not the same in one as in another. It differs in each one in accordance with his affection for good and its truth. Those that are in an affection for good out of regard to the Divine, love Divine truth, since good and truth love each other and desire to be conjoined.

(from Heaven and Hell 319)

Why the Word is Not Understood

Selections from The Heavenly Doctrines~ Emanuel Swedenborg

At this day everything in the understanding and the will is worldly, and they who think about heaven, and desire it, have and are willing to have no other idea of it than a natural and earthly one — where there is such an idea, and such a will, thus such a love — there the arcana of heaven have no place. Very different would it be if the mind were more delighted with heavenly things than with worldly ones, for a man apprehends what delights him; as when he is delighted with the arcana of the civil state in kingdoms, and with those of the moral state with man. By "the moral state" is meant that of the loves and affections, and of the derivative thoughts, the arcana of which a shrewd man easily perceives, because he delights to lead others by them, in order to secure honors, gain, or reputation for the sake of these. (from Arcana Coelestia 9993:3)

DISSENSIONS ARISING IN THE CHURCH WHEN THE UNDERSTANDING OF THE WORD IS DESTROYED

BY GOOD — THE GOOD OF LOVE TO THE LORD AND THE GOOD OF LOVE TOWARDS THE NEIGHBOR ARE MEANT — SINCE ALL GOOD IS OF LOVE.

When these goods do not exist with the man of the church, the Word is not understood; for the conjunction of the Lord and the conjunction of heaven with the man of the church is by means of good; therefore if there is no good with him no illustration can be given; for all illustration when the Word is being read is out of heaven from the Lord; and when there is no illustration the truths that are in the Word are in obscurity, thence dissensions spring up.

That the Word is not understood if man is not in good can also be seen from this, that in the particulars of the Word there is a heavenly marriage, that is, a conjunction of good and truth; therefore if good is not present with man when he is reading the Word, truth does not appear, for truth is seen from good, and good by means of truth.

The state of the case is this: so far as man is in good the Lord flows in and gives the affection of truth, and thus understanding; for the interior human mind is formed entirely in the image of heaven, and the whole heaven is formed according to the affections of good and of truth from good; therefore unless there is good with man, that mind cannot be opened, still less can it be formed for heaven; it is formed by the conjunction of good and truth. From this it can also be seen that unless man is in good, truths have no ground in which to be received, nor any heat by which to grow; for truths with the man who is in good are like seeds in the ground in the time of spring; while truths with the man who is not in good are like seeds in ground bound by frost in the time of winter, when there is no grass, nor flower, nor tree, still less fruit.

In the Word are all truths of heaven and the church, yea, all the secrets of wisdom that the angels of heaven possess — but no one sees these unless he is in the good of love to the Lord and in the good of love towards the neighbor.

Those who are not, see truths here and there, but do not understand them; they have a perception and idea of them wholly different from that which pertains to these same truths in themselves; although, therefore, they see or know truths, still truths are not truths with them, but falsities; for truths are not truths from their sound or utterance, but from an idea and perception of them.

When truths are implanted in good it is different; then truths appear in their own form, for truth is the form of good.

From this it may be concluded what the nature of the understanding of the Word is with those who make faith alone the sole means of salvation, and cast behind the back the good of life, or the good of charity. It has been found that those who have confirmed themselves in this, both in doctrine and life, have not even a single right idea of truth; this, moreover, is why they do not know what good is, what charity and love are, what the neighbor is, what heaven and hell are, that they are to live after death as men, nor, indeed, what regeneration is, what baptism is, and many other things; yea, they are in such blindness respecting God Himself that they worship three in thought, and not one except merely with the mouth, not knowing that the Father of the Lord is the Divine in Him, and that the Holy Spirit is the Divine from Him.

These things are said to make known that there is no understanding of the Word where there is no good.

TO TAKE PEACE FROM THE EARTH

"peace" signifies a peaceful state of the mind [mens] and tranquillity of the disposition [animus] from the conjunction of good and truth; therefore "to take away peace" signifies an unpeaceful and untranquil state from the disjunction of good and truth, which is the cause of internal dissensions; for when good is separated from truth evil takes its place; and evil loves not truth but falsity; because every falsity belongs to evil, as every truth to good; when, therefore, such a person sees a truth in the Word or hears it from another, the evil of his love, and thus of his will, strives against the truth, and then he either rejects or perverts it, or by ideas from the evil so obscures it that at length he sees nothing of truth in the truth, however much it may sound like truth when he utters it. This is the origin of all dissensions, controversies, and heresies in the church. (from Apocalypse Explained 365:2-4)

Communication with Heaven

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

We read in John:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word. The same was in the beginning with God. 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 light appeareth in the darkness, but the darkness comprehended it not.  And the Word was made flesh and dwelt within us; and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth (1:1-5, 14).

Few know what is here meant by the "Word." That it is the Lord, is evident from the several particulars; but the internal sense teaches that it is the Lord as to His Divine Human that is meant by the "Word," for it is said: "the Word was made flesh and dwelt within us, and we beheld His glory." And because the Divine Human is meant by the "Word," all that Truth also is meant which relates to Him, and is from Him, in His kingdom in the heavens, and in His church on the earth. Hence it is said that "in Him was life, and the life was the light of men, and the light appeareth in the darkness." And because Truth is meant by the "Word," all revelation is meant, and thus also the Word itself or Holy Scripture.

As regards the Word specifically, it had existed in all times, but not the Word which we have at this day.

There had been another Word in the Most Ancient Church which was before the flood, and another Word in the Ancient Church which was after the flood; then came the Word written by Moses and the prophets in the Jewish Church; and lastly the Word that was written by the Evangelists in the new church. The reason why there has been a Word at all times, is that by the Word there is communication of heaven with earth; and also because the Word treats of good and truth, from which man is to live happy forever; and on this account in the internal sense it treats of the Lord alone, because all good and truth are from Him.

The Word in the Most Ancient Church which was before the flood was not a written Word, but was revealed to everyone who was of that church. For they were celestial men, and therefore were in the perception of good and truth, as the angels are (with whom moreover they were in company), so that they had the Word written on their hearts. As they were celestial men, and had companionship with angels, all the things which they saw and apprehended by any of the senses were to them representative and significative of the celestial and spiritual things which are in the Lord's kingdom; so that they indeed saw worldly and earthly things with their eyes, or apprehended them by some other sense, but from them and by means of them they thought of celestial and spiritual things. In this way, and in no other, were they able to speak with angels; for the things with the angels are celestial and spiritual things, and when they come down to man they fall into such things as are with him in the world. That each one of the things in the world represents and signifies something in the heavens, has been shown from the first chapter of Genesis up to this point. Thence came the representatives and significatives which, when communication with angels began to cease, were collected by those meant by "Enoch," as was signified by the words (Gen. 5:24) "Enoch walked by himself with God, and was no more, for God took him".

From this source was the Word in the Ancient Church which was after the flood. As the man of this church was spiritual and not celestial, he knew but did not perceive what the representatives and significatives involved; and as they involved Divine things, they came to be in use among those men, and were employed in their Divine worship; and this in order that they might have communication with heaven; for as before said, all things in the world represent and signify such things as are in heaven. They also had a written Word, which consisted of Histories and Prophecies, like the Word of the Old Testament; but in process of time that Word was lost. The Histories were called "Wars of Jehovah," and the Prophecies were called "Enunciations," as is evident in Moses (see Num. 21:14, 27), where they are quoted. Their histories were written in the prophetic style, and were, for the most part, made up histories, like those in the first eleven chapters of Genesis; as is plain from the quotations from them in Moses, where are these words:

Therefore it is said in the Book of the Wars of Jehovah, Vaheb in Suphah, and the rivers of Arnon, and the slope of the rivers that inclineth toward the dwelling of Ar, and leaneth upon the border of Moab (Num. 21:14-15)

Their prophecies were written like the prophecies of the Old Testament, as is likewise plain from the quotations made from them also in Moses, where are these words:

Wherefore the Enunciations (or the Prophetic 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, 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 escapers, and his daughters into captivity, unto Sihon king of the Amorite. And we have shot at them; Heshbon is perished even unto Dibon, and we have laid waste even unto Nophah, which reacheth unto Medeba (Num. 21:27-30).

That these prophecies involve heavenly arcana, as do the prophecies of the Old Testament, is clearly manifest not only from their having been transcribed by Moses and applied to the state of things of which he was then writing, but also from the fact that nearly the same words are found in Jeremiah, inserted in the prophecies of that book; in which it is evident, from what has been said about the internal sense of the Word, that there are as many heavenly arcana as there are words. The words in Jeremiah are:

A fire is gone forth out of Heshbon, and a flame from among Sihon, and hath devoured the corner of Moab, and the crown of the head of the sons of tumult. Woe unto thee, O Moab, the people of Chemosh has perished, for thy sons are taken into captivity, and thy daughters into captivity (Jer. 48:45-46).

From this also it is plain that that Word also had an internal sense.

That with them there were prophecies which in the internal sense treated of the Lord and of His kingdom, may be seen not only from what has been shown, but also from the prophecies of Balaam, who was from Syria, spoken of in Moses (Num. 23:7-10, 18-25; 24:3-10, 15-25), which are expressed in a style similar to the other prophecies of the Word, and plainly foretell the Lord's coming, in these words:

I see Him, but not now; I behold Him, but not nigh; there shall come forth a Star out of Jacob, and a Scepter shall rise out of Israel and shall smite through the corners of Moab, and break down all the sons of Sheth (Num. 24:17).

These prophecies, like the former, are called "Parables" [Enuntiata], for the same word is used (Num. 23:7, 18; 24:3, 15, 20).

A Word afterwards followed in the Jewish Church that in like manner was written by representatives and significatives, so that it might have within it an internal sense understood in heaven, and that thus by the Word there might be communication, and the Lord's kingdom in the heavens be united to the Lord's kingdom on earth. Unless everything in the Word represents, and unless all the words by which everything therein is written, signify the Divine things pertaining to the Lord, thus the celestial and spiritual things belonging to His kingdom, the Word is not Divine; but being so it could not possibly be written in any other style; for by means of this style and not possibly by any other, human things and human words correspond to heavenly things and heavenly ideas, even to the least jot. From this it is that if the Word is read even by a little child, the Divine things therein are perceived by the angels.

In regard to the Word of the New Testament which is in the Evangelists, as the Lord spoke from the Divine itself, the several things spoken by Him were representative and significative of Divine things, thus of the heavenly things of His kingdom and church.

(Arcana Coelestia 2894 - 2900)