Selection from Divine Providence ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
THE EXTERNAL MAN
MUST BE REFORMED BY MEANS OF
THE INTERNAL
AND NOT THE REVERSE
Woe unto you, hypocrites; for ye cleanse the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full from extortion and excess. Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first the inside of the cup and of the platter, that the outside of them may become clean also (Matthew 23:25, 26).That reason declares this has been abundantly shown in the work on The Divine Love and the Divine Wisdom. For what the Lord teaches He gives man ability to perceive rationally, and this in two ways,
His seeing it in himself is in his internal man.
His understanding it by means of reasons is in the external man.
Does not every one see it in himself when he hears that the internal man must be cleansed first, and the external by means of it? But one who does not receive a general idea of this subject by influx from heaven may be misled when he consults the external of his thought; from that alone no one sees otherwise than that the external works of charity and piety, apart from internal works, are what save. So in other things; as that sight and hearing flow into thought, and that smell and taste flow into perception, thus the external into the internal, when, nevertheless, the contrary is true. The appearance that things seen and heard flow into the thought is a fallacy — for it is the understanding that sees in the eye and hears in the ear, and not the reverse. So in everything else.
HOW THE INTERNAL MAN IS REFORMED, AND THE EXTERNAL BY MEANS OF IT
The internal man is NOT reformed merely by knowing, understanding, and being wise, consequently NOT by thought alone; but by willing that which knowledge, understanding, and wisdom teach. When a man from his knowledge, understanding, and wisdom sees that there is a heaven and a hell, and that all evil is from hell, and all good is from heaven, if he ceases to will evil because it is from hell, and wills good because it is from heaven, he is in the first stage of reformation, and is at the threshold from hell into heaven. When he goes further and wills to refrain from evils he is in the second stage of reformation, and is outside of hell, but not yet in heaven; he sees heaven above him. Man must have such an internal in order to be reformed; and yet he is not reformed unless the external is reformed as well as the internal. The external is reformed by means of the internal when the external refrains from the evils that the internal does not will because they are infernal, and still more when the external for this reason shuns evils and fights against them. Thus willing is the internal and doing is the external; for unless one does that which he wills, there is within a failure to will, and finally the willing ceases.
From these few statements it can be seen how the external man is reformed by means of the internal. This is what is meant by the Lord's words to Peter:—
Jesus said, If I wash thee not thou hast no part with Me. Peter said unto Him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head. Jesus said unto him, He that hath bathed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit (John 13:8-10).
Since man has an internal and an external, and both must be reformed that the man may be reformed, and since no one can be reformed unless he examines himself, sees and acknowledges his evils, and afterwards refrains from them, it follows that not only the external but also the internal must be examined. If the external alone is examined, a man sees only what he has actually done, as that he has not committed murder, adultery, or theft, has not borne false witness; and so on. Thus he examines the evils of his body, and not the evils of his spirit. Nevertheless, one cannot be reformed unless the evils of the spirit are examined, for after death man lives as a spirit, and all the evils that are in the spirit remain. The spirit is examined only by man's attending to his thoughts, especially his purposes, for purposes are thoughts from the will; that is where evils are in their origin and in their root, that is, in their lusts and in their enjoyments; and unless these are seen and acknowledged the man is still in evils, although in externals he has not committed them. That to think from purpose is to will and to do is clear from the Lord's words:—
Everyone that looketh on another's woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart (Matthew 5:28).Such is the examination of the internal man, whereby the external man is essentially examined. I have often wondered, that although it is known by the whole Christian world that evils must be shunned as sins, and that otherwise they are not remitted, and unless they are remitted there is no salvation, yet this is known by scarcely one among thousands. Inquiry was made about this in the spiritual world, and it was found to be so. This is known by everyone in the Christian world from the exhortations read before those who come to the Holy Supper, for it is openly declared in these; nevertheless when they are asked whether they know this, they answer that they do not, and that they have never known it. This is because they have not thought about it, and because most of them have thought only of faith, and of salvation by it alone. I have also wondered that faith alone so closes the eyes that when those who have confirmed themselves in it are reading the Word they see nothing that is there said about love, charity, and works. It is as if they had daubed faith over all things of the Word, as one might so smear a manuscript with red lead that nothing underneath it would appear. Or if anything does appear, it is absorbed by faith and is said to be faith.
(from Divine Providence 150 - 153)