THE DOCTRINE OF LIFE (pt. 64)

THE DOCTRINE OF LIFE
for the
NEW JERUSALEM
FROM THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
Emanuel Swedenborg
— Doctrinal Series —
(pt. 64)
MURDERS, ADULTERIES, THEFTS, FALSE WITNESS, TOGETHER WITH ALL CONCUPISCENCE,
FOR THESE THINGS ARE THE EVILS WHICH MUST BE SHUNNED AS SINS.

It is a common principle of every religion that a man ought to examine himself, repent, and desist from sins, and that if he fails to do so he is in a state of damnation.

Teaching the Decalogue is also a common thing throughout the whole Christian world, and by it little children are commonly initiated into the Christian religion, for it is in the hands of all young children. Their parents and teachers tell them that to commit these evils is to sin against God, and in fact while speaking to the children they know nothing different.

We may well wonder that these same persons, and the children too when they become adults, think that they are not under this Law, and that they are not able to do the things that belong to it.

Can there be any other cause for their learning to think in this way, than that they love evils and consequently the false notions that favor them? These therefore are the people who do not make the commandments of the Decalogue a matter of religion. And that these same persons live without religion

(LIFE 64)

THE DOCTRINE OF LIFE (pt. 63)

THE DOCTRINE OF LIFE
for the
NEW JERUSALEM
FROM THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
Emanuel Swedenborg
— Doctrinal Series —
(pt. 63)
MURDERS, ADULTERIES, THEFTS, FALSE WITNESS, TOGETHER WITH ALL CONCUPISCENCE,
FOR THESE THINGS ARE THE EVILS WHICH MUST BE SHUNNED AS SINS.

A religious tenet has prevailed to the effect that no one is able to fulfill the law; the law being not to kill, not to commit adultery, not to steal, and not to bear false witness.

Every civic man and moral man is able to fulfill these commandments of the law by a civic and moral life; but this tenet denies that he can do so by a spiritual life; from which it follows that his not doing these evils is only for the sake of avoiding penalties and losses in this world, and not for the sake of avoiding penalties and losses after he has left it. It is for this reason that a man with whom this tenet has prevailed, thinks these evils allowable in the sight of God, but not so in that of the world.

And in consequence of such thought from this his tenet, the man is in concupiscence for all these evils, and refrains from doing them merely for the world's sake; and therefore after death such a man, although he had not committed murders, adulteries, thefts, and false witness, nevertheless desires to commit them, and does commit them when the external possessed by him in this world is taken away from him. Every concupiscence he has had remains with him after death. It is owing to this that such persons act as one with hell, and cannot but have their lot among those who are there.

Very different is the lot of those who are unwilling to kill, to commit adultery, to steal, and to bear false witness for the reason that to do these things is contrary to God. These persons, after some battling with these evils, do not will them, thus do not desire to commit them: they say in their hearts that they are sins, and in themselves are infernal and devilish. After death, when the external which they had possessed for this world is taken away from them, they act as one with heaven, and as they are in the Lord they come into heaven.

(LIFE 63)

THE DOCTRINE OF LIFE (pt. 62)

THE DOCTRINE OF LIFE
for the
NEW JERUSALEM
FROM THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
Emanuel Swedenborg
— Doctrinal Series —
(pt. 62)
MURDERS, ADULTERIES, THEFTS, FALSE WITNESS, TOGETHER WITH ALL CONCUPISCENCE,
FOR THESE THINGS ARE THE EVILS WHICH MUST BE SHUNNED AS SINS.

It is well known that the Law of Sinai was written on two tables —

• The first table contains all things that belong to God
• The second all that belong to man

That the first table contains all things that belong to God, and the second all that belong to man does not appear in the letter, yet are they all in them, and it is for this reason that they are called the Ten Words, by which are signified all truths in the complex . . . . But in what way all things are in them cannot be set forth in a few words, but may be apprehended . . . . This is why it is said "murders, adulteries, thefts, and false witness of every kind."

(LIFE 62)