Contrasting an Angel-man and a Devil-man

Selection from Apocalypse Explained ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

In the world there are angel-men and devil-men.
Heaven is constituted of angel-men, and hell of devil-men.

With an angel-man all the degrees of his life are open to the Lord; but with a devil-man only the lowest degree is open, and the higher degrees are closed.

• An angel-man is led by the Lord both from within and from without;
• A devil-man is led by himself from within, and by the Lord from without.

• An angel-man is led by the Lord according to order, from within from order, and from without to order;
• A devil-man is led by the Lord to order from without, but by himself against order from within.

• An angel-man is continually led away from evil by the Lord, and led to good;
• A devil-man also is continually led away from evil by the Lord, but from a more to a less grievous evil, for he cannot be led to good.

• An angel-man is continually led away from hell by the Lord, and is led into heaven more and more interiorly;
• A devil-man is also continually led away from hell, but from a more grievous to a milder hell, for he cannot be led into heaven.

• Because an angel-man is led by the Lord, he is led by civil law, by moral law, and by spiritual law, for the sake of the Divine in them;
• A devil-man is led by the same laws, but for the sake of himself [suum] in them.

• An angel-man from the Lord loves the goods of the church, which are the goods of heaven, because they are goods, also its truths because they are truths; but he loves from self the goods of the body and of the world because they are for use and because they are for pleasure, likewise the truths that belong to the sciences; but although he loves all these in appearance from self, in reality he loves them from the Lord.
• A devil-man also loves from self the goods of the body and of the world, because they are for use and because they are for pleasure, likewise the truths that belong to the sciences; but although he loves all these in appearance from self, in reality he loves them from hell.

• An angel-man is in freedom and in the delight of his heart when he is doing good from good, and when he is not doing evil;
• A devil-man is in freedom and in the delight of his heart when he is doing good from evil, and when he is doing evil.

An angel-man and a devil-man in externals appear alike, but in internals they are wholly unlike; therefore when external things are laid aside by death they are manifestly unlike. The one is taken up into heaven, and the other is taken down into hell.

(from Apocalypse Explained 1145)

Counterfeiting The Spiritual Life

Selection from Apocalypse Explained ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

When the king came in to behold those reclining to eat, he saw there a man that had not on a wedding garment; and he said unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? He was speechless. Then said the king, Bind him hand and foot, and cast him out into outer darkness (Matt. 22:11-13).

A "wedding garment" signifies the intelligence of the spiritual man, which is from the knowledges of truth and good; but "he that had not on a wedding garment" signifies a hypocrite, who by a moral life counterfeits the spiritual life when yet he is merely natural; "to bind him hand and foot" signifies the deprivation of the knowledges from the Word, by which he has put on the likeness of a spiritual man; "to be cast out into outer darkness" signifies among those who are in falsities from evil (for "outer darkness" signifies falsities from evil).

(from Apocalypse Explained 195:11)

A Fight for Regeneration

Selection from Arcana Cœlestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

No man also seweth a piece of new cloth on an old garment: else the new piece that filled it up taketh away from the old, and the rent is made worse. And no man putteth new wine into old bottles: else the new wine doth burst the bottles, and the wine is spilled, and the bottles will be marred: but new wine must be put into new bottles. (Mark 2:21-22)

They who have not been instructed about man's regeneration suppose that a man can be regenerated without temptation; and some that he has been regenerated when he has undergone one temptation. But be it known that without temptation no one is regenerated, and that many temptations follow on, one after another. The reason is that regeneration takes place to the end that the life of the old man may die, and the new heavenly life be insinuated, which shows that there must needs be a fight, for the life of the old man resists, and is not willing to be extinguished, and the life of the new man cannot enter except where the life of the old man has been extinguished. Hence it is evident that there is a fight on both sides, and this fight is a fiery one, because it is for life.

He who thinks from enlightened reason can see and perceive from this that no man can be regenerated without a fight, that is, without spiritual temptation; and also that he is not regenerated by one temptation, but by many. For very many kinds of evil have made the delight of his former life, that is, have made his old life; and it is impossible for all these evils to be suddenly and simultaneously mastered, because they cling to the man very firmly, having been rooted in parents from time immemorial, and consequently are innate in him, besides having been confirmed in him from his infancy through his own actual evils. All these evils are diametrically opposite to the heavenly good that is to be insinuated, and that is to make the new life.

(Arcana Cœlestia 8403:2,3)