. . . Until They Exist In Works

Selection from True Christian Religion ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

CHARITY AND FAITH ARE ONLY MENTAL AND PERISHABLE THINGS
—UNLESS—
THEY ARE DETERMINED TO WORKS AND COEXIST IN THEM WHEN POSSIBLE.

Has not a man a head and a body which are joined together by a neck? And in the head is there not a mind that wills and thinks, and in the body is there not power that performs and executes? Therefore if man merely wills well, or thinks from charity, and does not do good and thus perform uses, is he not like a head only, and thus like a mind only, which apart from a body cannot continue to exist? From this is not anyone able to see that charity and faith are not charity and faith so long as they are merely in the head and its mind but not in the body? For they are then like birds flying in the air without any resting-place on the earth, or like birds ready to lay, but having no nests, in which case they would drop their eggs in the air or upon the branch of some tree, and the eggs would fall to the ground and be destroyed. There can be nothing in the mind that does not have some correspondent in the body, and its correspondent may be called its embodiment. So when charity and faith occupy the mind only, they have no embodiment in the man, and may be likened to those aerial beings called specters, like Fame, as painted by the ancients with a laurel about her head and a horn in her hand. Being such specters, and still being able to think, they must needs be disturbed by fantasies, which are caused by reasonings from various kinds of sophistry*, almost as reeds in marshes are shaken by the wind, while beneath them shells lie at the bottom and frogs croak on the surface. Who cannot see that such things come to pass when men merely know from the Word some things about charity and faith, but do not practice them? Moreover, the Lord says:

Everyone who heareth My words and doeth them I will liken to a prudent man who built his house upon a rock, and everyone who heareth My words and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man who built his house upon the sand, or upon the ground without a foundation (Matt. 7:24, 26; Luke 6:47-49).

Charity and faith with their factitious ideas when not put in practice may be compared to butterflies in the air, which a sparrow darts upon and devours as soon as he sees them. The Lord also says:

The sower went forth to sow; and some fell upon the hard way, and the birds came and devoured them up (Matt. 13:3, 4).

That charity and faith do not profit a man so long as they remain only in one part of his body, that is, in his head, and are not fixed in works, is evident from a thousand passages in the Word, of which I will here adduce only these:

Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire (Matt. 7:19-21).

He that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the Word and attendeth, who also beareth fruit and bringeth forth. And when Jesus had said these things, He cried, saying, Who hath ears to hear, let him hear (Matt. 13:3-9, 23, 43).

Jesus said, My mother and My brethren are these who hear the Word of God and do it (Luke 8:21).

Now we know that God heareth not sinners but if any man be a worshiper of God, and doeth His will, him He heareth (John 9:31).

If ye know these things, blessed are ye if ye do them (John 13:17).

He that hath My commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me, and I will love him and will manifest Myself to him; and will come unto him and make My abode with him (John 14:15-21, 23).

Herein is My Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit (John 15:8, 16).

For not the hearers of the law shall be justified by God, but the doers of the law (Rom. 2:13; James 1:22).

In the day of wrath and of righteous judgment God will render to every man according to his deeds (Rom. 2:5, 6).

For we must all be made manifest before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body according to what he hath done, whether good or bad (2 Cor. 5:10).

For the Son of Man shall come in the glory of His Father, and then He shall render unto everyone according to his deeds (Matt. 16:27).

I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from henceforth; Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors; and their works do follow with them (Apoc. 14:13).

A Book was opened, which is the Book of life and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the Book; every man according to his works (Apoc. 20:12, 13).

Behold I come quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give every man according to his work (Apoc. 22:12).

Jehovah, whose eyes are open upon all the ways of the sons of men, to give to everyone according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his works (Jer. 22:19).

I will punish him according to his ways, and will recompense him for his works (Hos. 4:9).

According to our ways, and according to our works Jehovah does with us (Zech. 1:6).

So also in many other passages. From this it can be seen that charity and faith are not charity and faith until they exist in works, and that while they exist only in the expanse above works, that is, in the mind, they are like appearances of a tabernacle or temple in the air, which are nothing but a mirage, and vanish of themselves; or they are like pictures drawn on paper which moths consume; or they are like an abode on a housetop where there is no sleeping-place, instead of in the house. All this shows that charity and faith are perishable things so long as they are merely mental or unless they are determined to works and coexist in them when possible.

(True Christian Religion 375-376)

* sophistry - a deliberately invalid argument displaying ingenuity in reasoning in the hope of deceiving someone.

A Covenant and A Testimony

Selection from True Christian Religion ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

It is known that the Law promulgated from Mount Sinai was written upon two tables, one of which related to God and the other to men; that in the hands of Moses they were one table, the writing on the right side of which related to God, and that on the left to men; and that when so presented to the eyes of men the writing on both sides was seen at the same time, thus one side was in view of the other, like Jehovah talking to Moses and Moses to Jehovah, face to face, as it is written. This was done in order that the tables so united might represent the conjunction of God with men, and the reciprocal conjunction of men with God; and this is why the written law was called a Covenant and a Testimony, "covenant" signifying conjunction, and "testimony" life according to the compact.

These two tables so united exhibit the conjunction of love to God with love towards the neighbor. The first table includes all things pertaining to love to God, which are, primarily, that man should acknowledge the one God, the Divinity of His Human, and the holiness of the Word, and that God is to be worshiped through the holy things that proceed from Him. ... The second table includes all things pertaining to love towards the neighbor, its first five commandments all things pertaining to action, which are called works, and the last two all things pertaining to the will, thus to charity in its origin; for in these it is said, "Thou shalt not covet," and when man does not covet what belongs to his neighbor, he wishes well to him. That the ten commandments of the Decalogue contain all things pertaining to love to God and all things pertaining to love towards the neighbor - there is a conjunction of the two tables in those who are in charity.

It is different with those who merely worship God, and do not at the same time do good works from charity. These are like those who violate covenants. It is different again with those who divide God into three and worship each one separately; and still different with those who do not approach God in His Human; these are such

As enter not by the door, but climb up some other way (John 10:1, 9).

It is also different with those who from confirmation deny the Lord's Divinity. With all of these there is no conjunction with God, and therefore no salvation; and their charity is nothing but spurious charity, and this does not effect conjunction by the face, but by the side or back.

How conjunction is effected shall be told in a few words. —

With every man God flows into man's knowledge of Him with acknowledgment of Him, and at the same time flows in with His love towards men. The man who receives in the former way only, and not in the latter, receives that influx in the understanding and not in the will, and remains in knowledge of God without an interior acknowledgment of God; and his state is like that of a garden in winter. But the man who receives in both ways, receives the influx in the will and from that in the understanding, thus in the whole mind, and he has an interior acknowledgment of God which vivifies in him the knowledges of God; and his state is like that of a garden in spring.

Conjunction is effected by charity, because God loves every man, and as He cannot do good to man immediately, but only mediately through men, He inspires men with His own love, as He inspires parents with love for their children; and the man who receives that love has conjunction with God, and from God's love loves his neighbor; and in him God's love is within man's love towards the neighbor, and produces in him the will and the ability.

Moreover, as man does nothing that is good unless it appears to him that the ability, the will, and the doing are from himself, this appearance is granted him; and when he does good from freedom as if of himself, it is imputed to him, and is accepted as the reciprocation by which conjunction is effected. This is like active and passive, and that cooperation of the passive which is effected from the active in the passive. It is also like will in doing, and like thought in words, the soul operating from the inmost into both. It is also like effort in motion; and like the prolific in seed, which from the interior operates in the juices through which the tree grows even to fruit, and through fruit produces new seed. It is also like light in precious stones which is reflected according to the texture of the parts, producing various colors, belonging apparently to the stones, but in fact to the light.

This makes clear the origin and the nature of the conjunction of love to God and love towards the neighbor, as being the influx of God's love for men, the reception of which by man and his cooperation therewith being love towards the neighbor. In a word, conjunction is effected in accordance with this saying of the Lord:

At that day ye shall know that I am in My Father, and ye in Me, and I in you (John 14:20).

Also according to this,

He that hath My commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me, and I will love him, and will manifest Myself unto him; and We will make abode with him (John 14:21-23).

All of the Lord's commandments have relation to love towards the neighbor, and in a word they are not doing evil to the neighbor, but doing good to him. That those who do this love God and God loves them, is in accordance with these words of the Lord. Because such is the conjunction of these two loves, John says:

He that keepeth the commandments of Jesus Christ abideth in Him and He in him. If a man say, I love God, but hateth his brother, he is a liar; for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? And this commandment have we from Him, That he who loveth God should love his brother also (1 John 3:24; 4:20, 21)

(True Christian Religion 456-458)

The Happiness of Eternal Life

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

And Zilpah Leah's handmaid bare a second son to Jacob. And Leah said, In my blessedness; for the daughters will call me blessed; and she called his name Asher. Genesis 30:12-13

From And Leah said, In my blessedness; for the daughters will call me blessed: —

That this signifies in the supreme sense eternity; in the internal sense, the happiness of eternal life; and in the external sense, the delight of the affections, is evident from the signification of "blessedness," and from the signification of "the daughters will call me blessed."

That "blessedness" in the supreme sense is eternity, cannot be seen except from the correspondence with the things in man; for things that are Divine, or that are infinite, are not apprehended except from finite things of which man can form some idea. Without an idea derived from finite things, and especially an idea from the things of space and time, man can comprehend nothing of Divine things, and still less of the Infinite. Without an idea of space and time man cannot have any thought at all; for in respect to his body he is in time, and thus in respect to his thoughts which are from the external senses; whereas the angels, not being in time and space, have ideas of state, and therefore spaces and times in the Word signify states.

There are two states, namely, a state that corresponds to space and a state that corresponds to time. The state that corresponds to space is state as to being; and the state that corresponds to time is state as to coming forth. For there are two things that make man, namely, being and coming forth.

Man's being is nothing else than a recipient of the eternal which proceeds from the Lord; for men, spirits, and angels are nothing but recipients, or forms recipient, of life from the Lord. The reception of life is that of which coming forth is predicated. Man believes that he is, and this of himself; when yet it is not true that he is of himself; but that as before said, he comes forth. Being is solely in the Lord, and is called "Jehovah." From being, which is Jehovah, are all things which appear to be [sicut sint]. But the Lord's being, or Jehovah, can never be communicated to anyone; but solely to the Lord's Human. This was made the Divine being, that is, Jehovah.

Coming forth also is predicated of the Lord; but only when He was in the world, where He put on the Divine.* But since He has become the Divine being, coming forth can no longer be predicated of Him, except as a something that proceeds from Him. That which proceeds from Him is that which appears as the coming forth in Him; yet it is not in Him, but is from Him, and causes men, spirits, and angels to come forth; that is, to live. In man, spirit, and angel, coming forth is living; and his living is eternal happiness. The happiness of eternal life is that to which in the supreme sense eternity, which is from the Lord's Divine being, corresponds. That the happiness of eternal life is that which is signified by "blessedness" in the internal sense, and by the delight of the affections in the external sense, is manifest without explication.

But that which is here signified is - the delight of the affections of truth and good that corresponds to the happiness of eternal life.

All affections have their delights; but such as are the affections, such are the delights. The affections of evil and falsity also have their delights; and before a man begins to be regenerated, and to receive from the Lord the affections of truth and good, these delights appear to be the only ones; so much so that men believe that no other delights exist; and consequently that if they were deprived of these, they would utterly perish. But they who receive from the Lord the delights of the affections of truth and good, gradually see and perceive the nature of the delights of their former life, which they had believed to be the only delights - that they are relatively vile, and indeed filthy. And the further a man advances into the delight of the affections of truth and good, the more does he begin to regard the delights of evil and falsity as vile; and at last to hold them in aversion.

I have sometimes spoken with those in the other life who had been in the delights of evil and falsity; and I have been permitted to tell them that they have no life until they are deprived of their delights. But they said (as say such persons in the world) that if they should be deprived of them, nothing of life would be left them. But I was permitted to reply that life then first begins, together with such happiness as there is in heaven, which in comparison with that of their former delights is unutterable. But this they could not apprehend, because what is unknown is believed to be nothing.

It is the same with all in the world who are in the love of self and of the world, and therefore in no charity. They know the delight of these loves, but not the delight of charity. Thus they are altogether ignorant of what charity is, and still more that there is any delight in charity; when yet the delight of charity is that which fills the universal heaven, and constitutes the blessedness and happiness there; and if you will to believe it, it constitutes the intelligence and wisdom also, together with their delights; for into the delights of charity the Lord inflows with the light of truth and the flame of good, and with the derivative intelligence and wisdom. But falsities and evils reject, suffocate, and pervert these delights, and hence come folly and insanity. From all this it is evident what is the nature and quality of the delight of the affections, and that it corresponds to the happiness of eternal life.

The man of this age believes that if at the hour of death he merely has the confidence of faith, he can get into heaven no matter in what affection he may have lived during the whole course of his life. I have sometimes spoken with those who have so lived, and have so believed. When they come into the other life, they at first have no other idea than that they may enter into heaven, without any regard to their past life, in which they had put on the delight of the affection of evil and falsity from the loves of self and of the world, which had been their ends. I have been permitted to tell them that everyone can be admitted into heaven, because heaven is denied by the Lord to no one; but whether they can live there they can know when admitted. Some who firmly believed that they could, have also been admitted. But as the life there is that of love to the Lord and of love toward the neighbor, which constitutes all the sphere and happiness of the life there, on coming into it they began to be distressed, not being able to breathe in such a sphere, and they then began to perceive the filthiness of their affections, thus to feel infernal torment. In consequence of this they cast themselves headlong down, saying that they desired to be far away, and marveling that that was heaven which to them was hell. This shows what is the nature of the one delight, and what is that of the other; and that they who are in the delight of the affections of evil and falsity can by no means be among those who are in the delight of the affection of good and truth; and that these delights are opposite to each other, as are heaven and hell.

Furthermore, as regards the happiness of eternal life: during his life in the world the man who is in the affection of good and truth cannot perceive it, but a certain delight in its stead. The reason of this is that while in the body he is in worldly cares and consequent anxieties that prevent the happiness of eternal life (which is deep within him) from then being manifested in any other way. For when this happiness inflows from within into the cares and anxieties that are with the man outwardly, it sinks down among the cares and anxieties there, and becomes a kind of obscure delight; but still it is a delight within which there is blessedness, and within this happiness. Such is the happiness of being content in God. But when a man is divested of his body, and at the same time of these worldly cares and anxieties, the happiness which had lain hidden in obscurity within his interior man comes forth and reveals itself.

As affection is so often spoken of, let us state what is meant by affection. —

Affection is nothing else than love, but is what is continuous of it. For from love a man is affected either with evil and falsity, or with good and truth. As this love is present and is within all things in general and particular that belong to him, it is not perceived as love, but is varied according to its matter in hand, and according to the man's states and their changes; and this continually in everything that he wills, thinks, and does. It is this continuous of love that is called affection; and it is this continuous that reigns in a man's life and makes all his delight, and consequently his very life; for man's life is nothing else than the delight of his affection; and thus is nothing else than the affection of his love. Love is man's willing, and derivatively is his thinking, and thereby his acting.

(from Arcana Coelestia 3938)

* Editor: In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.) John 7:37-39