"Until" It Has Been Implanted In The Will

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

THERE WILL BE INTERNAL GOOD AND TRUTH
IF
THERE BE SPIRITUAL GOOD WHICH IS OF THE CHURCH

And thy servant my father said unto us, Ye know that my wife bare me two sons: And the one went out from me, and I said, Surely he is torn in pieces; and I saw him not since. (Genesis 44:27, 28)

From the representation of Joseph and Benjamin, who are the "two" whom she (Rachel) bare, as being internal good and truth - Joseph internal good, and Benjamin interior truth.

In regard to this, that there will be internal good and truth if there be spiritual good which is of the church, the case is this: —

The spiritual good which Israel represents is the good of truth, that is, truth in the will and in act. This truth, or this good of truth, in man, makes him to be the church. When truth has been implanted in the will (which is perceived by the fact that the man is affected with truth for the sake of the end that he may live according to it), then there is internal good and truth. When man is in this good and truth, then the kingdom of the Lord is in him, and consequently he is the church, and together with others like him makes the church in general.

From this it may be seen that in order that the church may be the church, there must be spiritual good, that is, the good of truth, but by no means truth alone - from which at this day the church is called the church, and one church is distinguished from another. Let everyone think within himself whether truth would be anything unless it had life for the end. What are doctrinal things without this end? and what the precepts of the Decalogue without a life according to them? For if anyone is acquainted with these, and with all their meaning in its fullness, and yet lives contrary to them, of what benefit are they? have they any effect at all? except, with some, damnation? The case is similar with the doctrinals of faith from the Word, which are precepts of Christian life, for they are spiritual laws. Neither do these conduce to anything unless they become of the life. Let a man consider within himself whether there is anything in him that is anything except what enters into his very life; and whether the life of man, which is life, is anywhere else than in his will.

From this then it is that it is said by the Lord in the Old Testament, and confirmed in the New, that all the Law and all the Prophets are founded in love to God, and love to the neighbor, thus in the life itself, but not in faith without life; therefore by no means in faith alone, consequently neither in confidence, for this is impossible without charity. If this appears with the evil in times of danger, or when death is at hand, it is a spurious or false confidence; for not the least of this confidence appears in them in the other life, however much they may have professed it with apparent ardor at the approach of death. That faith, whether you call it confidence or trust, effects nothing with the wicked, the Lord Himself teaches in John:

As many as received, to them gave He the power to be sons of God, to them that believe in His name; who were born, not of bloods, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God (John 1:12, 13).

They who are "born of bloods" are those who do violence to charity, also who profane truth;

They who are "born of the will of the flesh" are those who are in evils from the love of self and of the world;

They who are "born of the will of man" are those who are in persuasions of falsity; for a "man" signifies truth, and in the opposite sense falsity.

They who are "born of God" are those who have been regenerated by the Lord, and thence are in good. These are they who receive the Lord, and these are they who believe in His name, and these are they to whom He gives the power to be sons of God, but not to the others; from which it is very plain what faith alone effects for salvation.

Moreover in order that man may be regenerated and become the church, he must be introduced through truth to good; and he is introduced when truth becomes truth in the will and in act. This truth is good, and is called the good of truth, and produces new truths continually; for then for the first time it makes itself fruitful. The truth which is thence brought forth or made fruitful is what is called internal truth, and the good from which it is, is called internal good; for nothing becomes internal until it has been implanted in the will, because what is of the will is the inmost of man. So long as good and truth are outside of the will, and in the understanding only, they are outside of the man; for the understanding is without, and the will is within.

(from Arcana Coelestia 5826)

When Internals are in Externals

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
EXTERIOR KNOWLEDGES ARE THOSE OF THE RITUAL AND DOCTRINAL THINGS
THAT ARE THE EXTERNALS OF THE CHURCH
INTERIOR KNOWLEDGES ARE THOSE OF THE DOCTRINAL THINGS
THAT ARE THE INTERNALS OF THE CHURCH

In various places in the Word mention is made of the "midst" and of that which is "round about;" as when speaking of the land of Canaan, that was called the "midst" where were Zion and Jerusalem, but the country "round about" was where the surrounding nations were.

By the "land of Canaan" was represented the kingdom of the Lord; its celestial by "Zion," and its spiritual by "Jerusalem," where was the dwelling place of Jehovah or the Lord.

The country "round about," even to the borders, represented the celestial and spiritual things flowing forth in their order and derived therefrom; and in the furthest boundaries the representatives of celestial and spiritual things ceased.

These representatives had their origin from those in the Lord's kingdom in the heavens; there the Lord as a Sun is in the midst; from this is all celestial flame and spiritual light; they who are nearest are in the highest light, but they who are more remote are in less light, and they who are most remote are in the least; and there are the boundaries, and hell begins, which is outside of heaven.

With celestial flame and spiritual light the case is this: The celestial things of innocence and love, and the spiritual things of charity and faith, are in the like ratio as are the heat and light the angels have; for all the heat and light in the heavens are therefrom. It is from this therefore that the "midst" signifies the inmost, and the circumference signifies the outermost, and the things which proceed in order from the inmost to the outermost are in such degrees of innocence, love, and charity as is their distance from the center. And so it is in every heavenly society; they who are in the midst are the best of that kind, and the love and charity of that kind decreases with them according to their remoteness from the center; that is, it decreases with those who are at a distance from the center, in proportion to the distance.

The case is the like with man; his inmost is where the Lord dwells with him, and from this inmost governs the things which are round about. When man suffers the Lord to dispose the things round about to correspondence with the inmost ones, then man is in such a state that he can be received into heaven; and then the inmost, the interior, and the external things act as one; but when man does not suffer the Lord to dispose the things round about to correspondence, then he recedes from heaven in the measure in which he does not suffer it. That the soul of man is in the midst, or in his inmost, and that the body is round about or in the outmosts, is well known; for it is the body that encompasses and invests his soul or his spirit.

With those who are in celestial and spiritual love, good from the Lord flows in through the soul into the body, and thence the body becomes full of light; but with those who are in bodily and worldly love, good from the Lord cannot flow in through the soul into the body, but their interiors are in darkness; whence also the body becomes full of darkness, according to what the Lord teaches in Matthew:

The lamp of the body is the eye; if the eye be single, the whole body is full of light; but if the eye be evil, the whole body is full of darkness. If therefore the light be darkness, how great is the darkness (Matt. 6:22-23);

by the "eye" is signified the intellectual which belongs to the soul.

BUT THE CASE IS WORSE STILL WITH THOSE WHOSE INTERIORS ARE DARKNESS
AND WHOSE EXTERIORS APPEAR AS FULL OF LIGHT.

These are such as outwardly counterfeit angels of light, but are devils inwardly, and they are called "Babel;" and when with such persons the things that are "round about" are destroyed, they are carried headlong into hell. These things were represented by the city Jericho, in that its walls fell and the city was given to the curse when the priests had gone about it seven times, and had sounded the trumpets (Joshua 6:1-17). They are meant also in Jeremiah:

Set yourselves in array against Babel round about, all ye that bend the bow; sound the trumpet against her round about; she hath given her hand; her foundations are fallen; her walls are thrown down (Jer. 50:14-15).

It is now plain what "round about" means. Moreover in the Word mention is sometimes made of that which is "round about" (as Jer. 21:14; 46:14; 49:5; Ezek. 36:3-4, 7; 37:21; Amos 3:11; and elsewhere), and by the things "round about" are signified those which are exterior.

(from Arcana Coelestia 2973)

A Just Idea of Successives

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
THE THINGS THAT PROCEED
FROM DIVINE GOOD
AS FROM A FATHER, AFTER HIM,
AS BEING SUCCESSIVELY, OR IN SUCCESSIVE ORDER

There are three things which succeed one another in heaven, and which, in order that they may be conceived distinctly, are to be called by their names, which are "celestial," "spiritual," and "natural." These three proceed there in order, one from another, and by the influx of one into the next successively they are connected together, and thereby make a one. The Divine of the Lord in the heavens, from the difference of its reception, is called by these names.

IN THE INTERNAL SENSE THINGS COHERE IN AN UNBROKEN SUCCESSION, ALTHOUGH IN THE SENSE OF THE LETTER THE SERIES OF THE THINGS APPEAR TO BE BROKEN ASUNDER

As the successives in heaven are here treated of, it shall be told what is meant by "successive." Most of the learned at this day have no other idea of successives, than as of what is continuous, or as of that which coheres by continuity. As they have this idea of the succession of things, they cannot conceive the nature of the distinction between the exteriors and interiors of man, nor consequently between the body and the spirit of man; and therefore when they think about them from these ideas, they cannot possibly understand that after the dispersion or death of the body, the spirit also is able to live under a human form.

But successives are not connected continuously, but discretely, that is, distinctly according to degrees; for interior things are wholly distinct from exterior, insomuch that exterior things can be separated, and yet the interior things still continue in their life. This is the reason why man can be withdrawn from the body and think in his spirit; or according to the form of speaking used by the ancients, can be withdrawn from sensuous, and raised toward interior things. The ancients also knew that when man is withdrawn from the sensuous things that belong to the body, he is withdrawn or raised into the light of his spirit, thus into the light of heaven. Hence also the learned ancients knew that when the body was dispersed, they would live an interior life which they called their spirit; and as they regarded that life as the very human life itself, they also knew from this that they should live under the human form. Such was the idea which they had of the soul of man; and as that life was akin to life Divine, they hence perceived that their soul was immortal; for they knew that that part of man which was akin to life Divine, and thus conjoined with it, could not possibly die.

But after those ancient times this idea of the soul and of the spirit of man disappeared, by reason, as said above, of the want of a just idea of successives. Hence also it is, that they who think from modern learning do not know that there is what is spiritual, and that this is distinct from what is natural. For they who have an idea of successives as of what is continuous, cannot conceive of the spiritual otherwise than as of a purer natural, when yet they are as distinct from each other as are the prior and the posterior, thus as that which begets and that which is begotten. From this it is that the distinction between the internal or spiritual man, and the external or natural, thus between man's internal thought and will, and his external thought and will, is not apprehended by such learned men. Hence neither can they comprehend anything of faith and love, of heaven and hell, and of the life of man after death.

But they who have a just and distinct idea of successives are able in some degree to comprehend that with a man who is being regenerated the interiors are successively opened, and that as they are opened they are also raised into interior light and life, and nearer to the Divine; and that this opening and consequent elevation is effected by means of truths Divine, which are vessels recipient of the good of love from the Divine. The good of love is that which immediately conjoins man with the Divine, for love is spiritual conjunction. Hence it follows that man can thus be more and more interiorly opened and raised in proportion as he is in the good of love from the Divine; and that conversely there is no opening and consequent elevation with the man who does not receive truths Divine; as is the case if a man is in evil.

(from Arcana Coelestia 10099)