The Five Precepts Doctrinal of the Faith and Charity of the New Church

From Conjugial Love ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

The doctrinal ideas of the Church which is meant by the 'New Jerusalem' are as follows:

(1) There is one God, in whom is the Divine Trinity, and He is the Lord Jesus Christ.

(2) Saving faith is to believe in Him.

(3) Evils are to be shunned as sins, because they are of the devil and from the devil.

(4) Goods are to be done, because they are of God and from God.

(5) They are to be done by a man as of himself; yet he must believe that they are from the Lord with him and through him.

(Conjugial Love 82)

Uses - Simultaneously, One Within the Other

Excerpt from a Memorable Relation ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

... the beginning and growth of wisdom ... various observations respecting its progress ... as that wisdom with the angels has no limit or end, but grows and increases to eternity

The Seat of Wisdom is in Use

"Man as first created was imbued with wisdom and its love, not for his own sake, but that he might communicate it from himself to others. Therefore it is written in the wisdom of the wise that no one is wise or lives for himself alone, but for others also; whence comes society, which otherwise could not exist. Living for others is being useful. Uses are the bonds of society; these bonds are as many as there are good uses, and in number uses are infinite.

• (1) There are spiritual uses, which pertain to love of God and love to the neighbor

• (2) There are moral and civil uses, which pertain to love of the society and community in which a man lives, and of the companions and citizens with whom he lives

• (3) There are natural uses, which pertain to the love of the world and its necessities

• (4) There are bodily uses, which pertain to the love of self-preservation for the sake of higher uses.

All these uses are inscribed on man, and follow in order one after another, and when they exist simultaneously one is within the other. Those who are in the first mentioned uses, which are spiritual, are also in those that follow, and such are wise; but those who are not in the first, but are in the second and from these in the subsequent ones, are not so wise, but only seem to be so because of their outward morality and right civil life. Those who are not in the first and second, but are in the third and fourth, are anything but wise, for they are satans, loving the world only, and loving themselves because of the world. Those who are only in the fourth class of uses are the least wise of all, for they are devils, since they live for themselves alone, or if for others, it is solely on account of themselves.

Furthermore, every love has its own delight, for thereby love lives; and the delight of the love of uses is a heavenly delight, which enters the subsequent delights in order, and according to their order of succession exalts them and renders them eternal."

(True Christian Religion 746)

The Lord's New Church in the Heavens and in the Earth

Selection from Apocalypse Revealed ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

A woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet (Revelation 12:1) signifies the Lord's New Church in the heavens, which is the New Heaven, and the Lord's New Church about to be upon earth, which is the New Jerusalem. That the Lord's New Church is signified by this "woman," is evident from the particulars in this chapter understood in the spiritual sense; that by "a woman," in other parts of the Word also, the church is signified, may be seen (n. 434); and the church is signified, because the church is called the Bride and Wife of the Lord.

The reason why she was seen "clothed with the sun," is because the church is in love to the Lord, for it acknowledges Him and does His commandments, and this is to love Him (John 14:21-24).

That "the sun" signifies love (see n. 53). The reason why "the moon" was seen under the woman's feet is because the church on earth, which is not yet conjoined with the church in the heavens, is meant. By "the moon" is signified intelligence in the natural man, and faith (n. 423); and by being seen "under the feet," is signified that it is about to be upon earth; otherwise by "feet" is signified the church itself when it is conjoined.

It is to be known, that there is a church in the heavens as well as on earth, for there also is the Word; there are temples also, and preachings in them, and there are ministerial and priestly offices. For all angels there were men, and their departure out of the world was only a continuation of their life; therefore they are also perfected in love and wisdom, everyone according to the degree of the affection of truth and good which he took with him out of the world.

The church among them is here meant by "the woman clothed with the sun," who had upon her head a crown of twelve stars;" but because the church in the heavens cannot subsist, except there be also a church on earth, which is in concordant love and wisdom, and as this was about to be, therefore "the moon was seen under the feet of the woman," which here specifically signifies faith, by which, such as it is at this day, there is no conjunction.

The reason why the church cannot subsist in the heavens unless there is a church on earth in conjunction with it, is because heaven where angels are, and the church where men are, act as one, like the internal and the external with man; and the internal with man cannot subsist with its state, unless an external be conjoined with it; for an internal without an external is like a house without a foundation, or like seed upon the ground and not in the ground, thus like anything without a root; in a word, like a cause without an effect in which it may exist. From these things, it may be seen how absolutely necessary it is that there should be a church somewhere in the world, where the Word is, and where by it the Lord is known.

(Apocalypse Revealed 533)