Obstructing the Influx of Heavenly Love

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

All the external rites of the church were signs of the covenant and were to be sacredly observed because internal things were signified by them . . . The internal things are what belong to the covenant because they are effective of conjunction, and the external things are not so except by means of the internal ones. The external things were merely signs of the covenant, or tokens of the conjunction, by means of which they might call to mind the internal things and thereby be conjoined by means of these.  

All the internal things that belong to the covenant, or that are effective of conjunction, relate to love and charity, and proceed from love and charity; for on these two things, namely, loving God more than one's self, and loving the neighbor as one's self, "hang all the law and the prophets," that is, the universal doctrine of faith - 

Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying,  Master, which is the great commandment in the law?  Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.  This is the first and great commandment.  And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.   On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. (Matt. 22:34-39; Mark 12:28-35).

There are two so-called loves and their cupidities that obstruct the influx of heavenly love from the Lord; for when these loves reign in the interior and in the external man, and take possession thereof, they either reject or suffocate, and also pervert and contaminate, the inflowing heavenly love; for they are utterly contrary to heavenly love.

But insofar as these loves are removed, so far the heavenly love flowing in from the Lord begins to appear, nay, to give light in the interior man; and so far he begins to see that he is in evil and falsity; next that he is actually in uncleanness and filthiness; and finally that this has been his Own. They who are becoming regenerate are those with whom these loves are being removed.

Observation of this removal is possible also with the unregenerate, for when the cupidities of these loves are quiescent in them, as sometimes occurs when they are in holy meditation, or when the cupidities are lulled, as happens when they are in misfortunes, in sicknesses, and diseases, and especially at the moment of death, then, because bodily and worldly things are lulled and as it were dead, they observe something of heavenly light and the consequent comfort. But with these persons there is not removal of the cupidities in question, but only a lulling of them, for when they return into their former state, they at once relapse into the same cupidities. 

With the evil also, bodily and worldly things can be lulled, and they can then be as it were uplifted into a kind of heavenliness, as sometimes takes place with souls in the other life, especially those newly arrived, who intensely desire to see the glory of the Lord, because they had heard so much about heaven while they lived in the world. The external things above referred to are then lulled in them, and in this way they are carried into the first heaven and enjoy their desire. But they cannot remain long, because there is only a quiescence of the bodily and worldly things, and not a removal of them, as with the angels. Be it known that heavenly love is continually inflowing into man from the Lord, and that nothing else obstructs and impedes it, and causes its reception by the man impossible, except the cupidities of those loves and the falsities derived from them.

(from Arcana Coelestia 2037-2041)

Repentance

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

He who wishes to be saved must confess his sins and do repentance.

To confess sins is to become thoroughly acquainted with evils, to see them in oneself, to acknowledge them, to regard oneself as guilty, and to condemn oneself on account of them. When this is done before God, it is to confess sins.

To do repentance is after one has thus confessed his sins and from a humble heart has made supplication for their forgiveness, to desist from them and to lead a new life according to the commands of faith.

He who merely acknowledges that he is a sinner like all others, and who regards himself as guilty of all evils, and does not examine himself - that is, see his sins - does indeed make confession, but not the confession of repentance, for he lives afterward as he had done before.

He who leads a life of faith does repentance daily; for he reflects upon the evils that are in him, acknowledges them, guards himself against them, and supplicates the Lord for aid. For from himself man is continually falling, but is continually being raised up by the Lord. He falls from himself when he thinks what is evil with desire; and he is raised up by the Lord when he resists evil, and consequently does not do it. Such is the state with all who are in good; but they who are in evil are continually falling, and also are continually being uplifted by the Lord; but this to prevent them from falling into the most grievous hell of all, whither from themselves they incline with all their might: thus in truth uplifting them into a milder hell.

The repentance that is done in a state of freedom avails; but that which is done in a state of compulsion avails not. A state of compulsion is a state of sickness, a state of dejection of mind from misfortune, a state of imminent death; in a word, every state of fear which takes away the use of sound reason. When an evil man who in a state of compulsion promises repentance and also does what is good, comes into a state of freedom, he returns into his former life of evil. The case is otherwise with a good man, such states being to him states of temptation in which he conquers.

Repentance of the mouth and not of the life is not repentance. Sins are not forgiven through repentance of the mouth, but through repentance of the life. Sins are continually being forgiven man by the Lord, for He is mercy itself; but sins adhere to the man, however much he may suppose that they have been forgiven, nor are they removed from him except through a life according to the commands of faith. So far as he lives according to these commands, so far his sins are removed; and so far as they are removed, so far they have been forgiven. For by the Lord man is withheld from evil, and is held in good; and he is so far able to be withheld from evil in the other life, as in the life of the body he has resisted evil; and he is so far able to be held in good then, as in the life of the body he has done what is good from affection. This shows what the forgiveness of sins is, and whence it is. He who believes that sins are forgiven in any other way, is much mistaken.

After a man has examined himself, and has acknowledged his sins, and has done repentance, he must remain constant in good up to the end of life. If however he afterward falls back into his former life of evil, and embraces it, he commits profanation, for he then conjoins evil with good, and consequently his latter state becomes worse than his former one, according to the Lord's words:

When the unclean spirit goeth out of a man he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, but findeth none; then he saith, I will return into my house whence I came out; and when he is come, and findeth it empty, and swept, and garnished for him, then goeth he, and joineth to himself seven other spirits worse than himself, and having entered in they dwell there; and the last things of the man become worse than the first (Matt. 12:43-45).

(Arcana Coelestia 8387-8394)

After The Resurrection They Are Not Given In Marriage

Selection from Conjugial Love ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

In the Gospels are found these words:

Certain of the Sadducees who deny the resurrection, asked Jesus, saying, Master, Moses wrote, If any man's brother die, having a wife, and he be childless, his brother shall take his wife and raise up seed unto his brother. There were seven brethren, one after the other of whom took the wife; but they died childless. At last the woman died also.

Therefore, in the resurrection, whose wife of them shall she be? But Jesus, answering, said unto them, The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage; but they which shall be accounted worthy to attain to another age, and the resurrection from the dead, shall neither marry nor be given in marriage; neither can they die any more; for they are like unto angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection. But that the dead rise again, even Moses showed at the bush, when he called the Lord, the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. For He is not the God of the dead, but of the living; for all live unto Him. (Luke 20:27-38; Matt. 22:23-32; Mark 12:18-27.)

There are two things which the Lord taught by these words:

First, that man rises again after death; and second, that in heaven they are not given in marriage. That man rises again after death, He taught by saying, that God is not the God of the dead but of the living, and that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are living. He also taught the same in the parable of the rich man in hell and Lazarus in heaven (Luke 16:22-31).

The second point, that in heaven they are not given in marriage, He taught by the statement, that those who are accounted worthy to attain to another age neither marry nor are given in marriage. That here no other nuptials are meant than spiritual nuptials is very evident from the words which immediately follow: that they cannot die any more because they are like unto angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection. By spiritual nuptials is meant conjunction with the Lord. This is effected on earth, and when effected on earth, it is effected in heaven also. Therefore, in the heavens they are not again married and given in marriage. This is also meant by the words, The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage, but they which are accounted worthy to attain to another age, neither marry nor are given in marriage. They are also called by the Lord sons of the nuptials (Matt. 9:15; Mark 2:19); and, in the present passage, angels, sons of God, and sons of the resurrection.

That marrying means being conjoined with the Lord, and that entering into marriage means being received into heaven by the Lord, is clear from the following passages: The kingdom of the heavens is like unto a man, a king, who made a wedding for his son, and sent forth servants and invited to the wedding. (Matt. 22:1-14.)

The kingdom of heaven is like unto ten virgins, who went forth to meet the bridegroom; of whom five, being prepared, went in to the wedding (Matt. 25:1-seq.).

From verse 13 in that chapter, where it is said, Watch, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh, it is evident that by the bridegroom, the Lord meant himself. Also from the Apocalypse:

The time of the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. Blessed are they that are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb. 19:7, 9.

(Conjugial Love 41)