ECCLESIASTICAL and CIVIL GOVERNMENT (pt. 11)

The New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine
Emanuel Swedenborg
• Doctrinal Series •
ECCLESIASTICAL and CIVIL GOVERNMENT
(pt. 11)

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The law which is justice ought to be enacted in the realm by persons skilled in the law, wise, and who fear God; then both the king and his subjects ought to live according to it. The king who lives according to the enacted law, and in this precedes his subjects by his example, is truly a king.

A king who has absolute power, who believes that his subjects are such slaves that he has a right to their possessions and lives, and if he exercises it, is not a king, but a tyrant.

There ought to be obedience to the king according to the laws of the realm, nor should he be injured by any means either by deeds or words; for on this the public security depends.

(The New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine 323-325)

ECCLESIASTICAL and CIVIL GOVERNMENT (pt. 10)

The New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine
Emanuel Swedenborg
• Doctrinal Series •
ECCLESIASTICAL and CIVIL GOVERNMENT
(pt. 10)

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Royalty consists in administering according to the laws of the realm and in judging according to them from justice.

The king who regards the laws as above himself is wise, but he who regards himself as above the laws is not wise.

The king who regards the laws as above himself places the royalty in the law, and the law has dominion over him, for he knows that the law is justice, and that all justice which is justice is Divine.

But he who regards himself as above the laws places the royalty in himself, and either believes himself to be the law, or the law, which is justice, to be from himself; hence he arrogates to himself that which is Divine, under which nevertheless he ought to be.

(The New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine 322)

ECCLESIASTICAL and CIVIL GOVERNMENT (pt. 9)

The New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine
Emanuel Swedenborg
• Doctrinal Series •
ECCLESIASTICAL and CIVIL GOVERNMENT
(pt. 9)

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As priests are appointed to administer those things which relate to the Divine law and worship, so kings and magistrates are appointed to administer those things which relate to civil law and judgment.

Because the king alone cannot administer all things, therefore there are governors under him, to each of whom a province is given to administer, which the king cannot and is not able to administer alone. These governors, taken together, constitute the royalty, but the king himself is the chief.

Royalty itself is not in the person, but is adjoined to the person. The king who believes that royalty is in his own person, and the governor who believes that the dignity of the government is in his own person, is not wise.

(The New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine 319-321)