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)