When the 'Two' Constitute 'One'

Selection from Arcana Cœlestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

Doctrine concerning good is the doctrine of charity, and doctrine concerning truth is the doctrine of faith.

In general, there is only one doctrine, namely, the doctrine of charity, for all things of faith look to charity. Between charity and faith there is no other difference than that between willing what is good and thinking what is good (for he who wills what is good also thinks what is good), thus than that between the will and the understanding. They who reflect, know that the will is one thing and the understanding another. This is also known in the learned world, and it plainly appears with those who will evil and yet from thought speak well; from all which it is evident to everyone that the will is one thing, and the understanding another; and thus that the human mind is distinguished into two parts, which do not make a one. Yet man was so created that these two parts should constitute one mind; nor should there be any other distinction (to speak by comparison) than such as there is between a flame and the light from it (love to the Lord and charity toward the neighbor being like the flame, and all perception and thought being like the light from it); thus love and charity should be the all of the perception and thought, that is should be in each and all things of them. Perception or thought concerning the quality of love and charity is that which is called faith.

But as the human race began to will what is evil, to hate the neighbor, and to exercise revenges and cruelties, insomuch that that part of the mind which is called the will was altogether destroyed, men began to make a distinction between charity and faith, and to refer to faith all the doctrinal matters that were of their religion, and call them by the single term faith; and at length they went so far as to say that they could be saved by faith alone — by which they meant their doctrinal things — provided they merely believed these, no matter how they might live. Thus was charity separated from faith, which is then nothing else whatever (to speak by comparison) than a kind of light without flame, such as is wont to be the light of the sun in time of winter, which is cold and icy, insomuch that the vegetation of the earth grows torpid and dies; whereas faith from charity is like the light in the time of spring and summer, by which all things germinate and bloom.

(Arcana Cœlestia 2231:2, 3)

No One Saved By Divine Mercy Apart From Means

Selection from Heaven and Hell ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

Those that have not been instructed about heaven and the way to heaven, and about the life of heaven in man, suppose that being received into heaven is a mere matter of mercy, and is granted to those that have faith, and for whom the Lord intercedes; thus that it is an admission from mere favor; consequently that all men without exception might be saved if the Lord so pleased, and some even believe that all in hell might be so saved.

But those who so think know nothing about man, that he is just such as his life is, and that his life is such as his love is, both in respect to the interiors pertaining to his will and understanding and in respect to the exteriors pertaining to his body.  Also that his bodily form is merely the external form in which the interiors exhibit themselves in effect.  Consequently that -

One's love is the whole man.

Nor do they know that the body lives not from itself, but from its spirit, and that a man's spirit is his essential affection, and his spiritual body is nothing else than his affection in human form, and in such a form it appears after death. So long as man remains ignorant of all this he may be induced to believe that salvation involves nothing but the Divine good pleasure, which is called mercy and grace.

But first let us consider what the Divine mercy is.

The divine mercy is pure mercy towards the whole human race, to save it; and it is also unceasing towards every man, and is never withdrawn from any one; so that everyone is saved who can be saved.

And yet no one can be saved except by Divine means, which means the Lord reveals in the Word.

The Divine means are what are called Divine truths, which teach how man must live in order to be saved. By these truths the Lord leads man to heaven, and by them He implants in man the life of heaven. This the Lord does for all.

But the life of heaven can be implanted in no one unless he abstains from evil, for evil obstructs.

So far, therefore, as man abstains from evil he is led by the Lord out of pure mercy by His Divine means, and this from infancy to the end of his life in the world and afterwards to eternity. This is what is meant by the Divine mercy. And from this it is evident that the mercy of the Lord is pure mercy, but not apart from means, that is, it does not look to saving all out of mere good pleasure, however they may have lived.

The Lord never does anything contrary to order, because He Himself is Order.

The Divine truth that goes forth from the Lord is what constitutes order; and Divine truths are the laws of order.

It is in accord with these laws that the Lord leads man.

Consequently to save man by mercy apart from means would be contrary to Divine order, and what is contrary to Divine order is contrary to the Divine. Divine order is heaven in man, and man has perverted this in himself by a life contrary to the laws of order, which are Divine truths. Into this order man is brought back by the Lord out of pure mercy by means of the laws of order; and so far as he is brought back into this order he receives heaven in himself; and he that receives heaven in himself enters heaven. This again makes evident that the Lord's Divine mercy is pure mercy, and not mercy apart from means.

(Heaven and Hell 521 - 523)

What Renders Man Blessed and Happy to Eternity

Selection from Arcana Cœlestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

Faith and charity flow in from the Lord with man. These things are "a blessing" in the internal sense, for they are what render man blessed and happy to eternity.

During man's life in the world, the things which he calls blessings are those which render him blessed and happy in time, such as riches and honors. But the things which are meant in the internal sense of the Word are not temporal things, but eternal things, compared with which temporal things are of no account.

For there is no ratio between what is temporal and what is eternal, not even if the time be extended to thousands or myriads of years, for these have an end, but that which is eternal has no end.

Wherefore that which is eternal is, for that which is without end is, because it has [Esse] being from the Divine, which is infinite, and the infinite as to time is the eternal. But that which is temporal relatively is not, because when it is ended it is no more. Hence also it is plain that "blessing" in the spiritual sense is that which has within it [Esse] being from the Divine, thus the things of eternal life, consequently those which are of charity and faith.

That worldly blessing is nothing in comparison with heavenly blessing, which is eternal, the Lord thus teaches in Matthew:

What is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his soul? (Matt. 16:26).

But the man who is in worldly and earthly things does not apprehend this saying, for worldly and earthly things suffocate it, and cause him not even to believe that there is an eternal life. And yet I can asseverate that as soon as a man dies he is in the other life, and lives as a spirit among spirits, and that he then appears to himself and to others in that life in all respects like a man in the world, endowed with every sense internal and external (n. 1881); consequently that the death of the body is only the casting off of such things as had served for use and service in the world; and moreover that death itself is a continuation of life, but in another world, which is invisible to the eyes of the earthly body, yet is there seen in a light exceeding a thousand times the midday light of the world.

... Wherefore let him who wishes to be eternally happy know and believe that he will live after death. Let him think of this and keep it in mind, for it is the truth.

Let him also know and believe that the Word is the only doctrine which teaches how a man must live in the world in order to be happy to eternity.

(Arcana Cœlestia 8939)