Who Then Can Be Saved?

Portion from Heaven and Hell ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

Anyone who thinks from any enlightened reason can see that no man is born for hell, for the Lord is Love Itself and His Love is to will the salvation of all. Therefore, He has provided a religion for everyone, and by it an acknowledgment of the Divine and an interior life; for to live in accordance with one's religious belief is to live interiorly, since one then looks to the Divine, and so far as he looks to the Divine he does not look to the world but separates himself from the world, that is, from the life of the world, which is exterior life.

(Heaven and Hell 318)

Seeing from the Light of Heaven, or Seeing from Fatuous Light

From Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

All and each of the things the Lord said were representative of Divine things, consequently of the celestial and spiritual things of His kingdom, and thus were adapted to the apprehension of men, and at the same time to the understanding of spirits and angels; wherefore those things which the Lord said, filled and continue to fill the whole heaven. From this it is evident of what use and importance it is to know the internal sense of the Word. Moreover, without this sense anyone can confirm from the Word whatever dogma he pleases; and because such is the appearance of the Word to those who are in evil, they therefore deride it, and are ready to believe anything rather than that it is Divine.

(Arcana 4677:10)

The dispelling and annihilating of the appearances of truth takes place after truth itself has been rejected; for truth itself shines forth of itself in the mind, and however it may be extinguished, still appears, especially in those who are in good. This is also clearly seen by those who have annihilated truth in themselves, wherefore also they endeavor to dispel and to annihilate these appearances.

Take as an example for the sake of illustration - who does not see that to will well and do well is the veriest Christian life?  And if anyone is told that this is charity, he cannot but affirm it; and those who affirm it will even say that they know what this is, because this is of the life.  But as regards thinking this or that to be true, even from confidence (as they are willing to do who are in faith separate), they will say that they do not know what it is, for they have no other perception of it than as of smoke which vanishes.  As faith alone and the confidence from it appear of this character to everyone who thinks seriously about it, especially to the good, therefore such persons labor to dispel and annihilate even these appearances, by thus paring off whatever touches them more nearly, and whatever is round about this Divine truth.  This is signified by stripping Joseph of the tunic that was on him.

The same persons also believe that those are wiser than all others, who having once accepted a dogma, whatever it may be, can confirm it by various things, and by various reasonings make it appear like truth.  But nothing could be less the part of a wise man; it is what everyone can do who possesses any ingenuity, and the evil more skillfully than the upright.  For to do this is not the part of a rational man, inasmuch as a rational man can see, as from above, whether that which is confirmed is true or false; and because he sees this, he regards confirmations of falsity as of no account, and they appear to him as simply ludicrous and empty, no matter how much anyone else believes them to have been taken from the school of wisdom itself.  In a word, nothing is less the part of a wise man, nay, nothing is less rational, than to be able to confirm falsities; for it is the part of a wise man and it is rational, first to see that a thing is true, and then to confirm it.  In fact to see what is true is to see from the light of heaven, which is from the Lord; but to see what is false as true is to see from a fatuous light, which is from hell.

(Arcana Coelestia 4741)

Be Led By Divine Providence and The Lord's Kingdom Increases

From Divine Providence ~  Emanuel Swedenborg

A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return.
13 And he called his ten servants, and delivered them ten pounds, and said unto them, Occupy till I come.
14 But his citizens hated him, and sent a message after him, saying, We will not have this man to reign over us.
15 And it came to pass, that when he was returned, having received the kingdom, then he commanded these servants to be called unto him, to whom he had given the money, that he might know how much every man had gained by trading.
16 Then came the first, saying, Lord, thy pound hath gained ten pounds.
17 And he said unto him, Well, thou good servant: because thou hast been faithful in a very little, have thou authority over ten cities.
18 And the second came, saying, Lord, thy pound hath gained five pounds.
19 And he said likewise to him, Be thou also over five cities.
20 And another came, saying, Lord, behold, here is thy pound, which I have kept laid up in a napkin:
21 For I feared thee, because thou art an austere man: thou takest up that thou layedst not down, and reapest that thou didst not sow.
22 And he saith unto him, Out of thine own mouth will I judge thee, thou wicked servant. Thou knewest that I was an austere man, taking up that I laid not down, and reaping that I did not sow:
23 Wherefore then gavest not thou my money into the bank, that at my coming I might have required mine own with usury?
24 And he said unto them that stood by, Take from him the pound, and give it to him that hath ten pounds.
25 (And they said unto him, Lord, he hath ten pounds.)
26 For I say unto you, That unto every one which hath shall be given; and from him that hath not, even that he hath shall be taken away from him.
27 But those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me.                                           Luke 19:12-27  KJV

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Man would not be man except for the appearance to him that he lives from himself, and therefore thinks and wills and speaks and acts as if from himself.  From this it follows that unless man, as if from his own prudence, directs all things belonging to his employment and life, he cannot be led and directed by the Divine providence; for he would be like one standing with relaxed hands, opened mouth, closed eyes, and breath indrawn, awaiting influx. Thus he would divest himself of humanity, which he has from the perception and sensation that he lives, thinks, wills, speaks, and acts as if from himself; he would also divest himself of his two faculties, liberty and rationality, by which he is distinguished from the beasts. That without this appearance a man would have no capacity to receive and reciprocate, and thus no immortality, has been shown above in the present work, and also in the work on The Divine Love and the Divine Wisdom.

If, therefore, you wish to be led by the Divine providence use prudence as a servant and minister who faithfully dispenses the goods of his master. This prudence is the talent given to the servants to trade with, of which they must render an account (Luke 19:13-28; Matt. 25:14-31).  Prudence itself appears to man to be his own; and he believes it to be his own so long as he keeps shut up within him the deadliest enemy of God and of Divine providence - the love of self.  This has its abode in the interiors of every man from his birth; if you do not recognize it (for it does not wish to be recognized) it dwells securely, and guards the door lest man should open it and the Lord should thereby cast it out.  Man opens this door by shunning evils as sins as if from himself, with the acknowledgment that he does it from the Lord. This is the prudence with which the Divine providence acts as one.

(Divine Providence 210)