April 20, 2019

THE LORD (pt. 1)

The New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine
Emanuel Swedenborg
Doctrinal Series
THE LORD
(pt. 1)


There is One God, who is the Creator and Conservator of the universe; thus who is the God of heaven and the God of the earth.
(The New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine 280)

April 19, 2019

PROVIDENCE (pt. 6)

The New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine
Emanuel Swedenborg
Doctrinal Series
PROVIDENCE
(pt. 6)


To be led to felicities in the world by arts, appears to man as if it were from his own prudence, but still the Divine providence continually accompanies by permitting and continually leading away from evil.

But to be led to felicities in heaven is known and perceived to be not from man's own prudence, because it is from the Lord, and is effected of His Divine providence by disposing and continually leading to good.

That this is so, man cannot comprehend from the light of nature, for from that light he does not know the laws of Divine order.

It is to be known that there is providence, and there is foresight; good is what is provided by the Lord, but evil is what is foreseen by the Lord. The one must accompany the other, for what comes from man is nothing but evil, but what comes from the Lord is nothing but good.
(The New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine 273-275)

April 18, 2019

PROVIDENCE (pt. 5)

The New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine
Emanuel Swedenborg
Doctrinal Series
PROVIDENCE
(pt. 5)


The reason why the evil succeed in evils according to their arts is, because it is according to Divine order that everyone should act what he acts from reason, and also from freedom; wherefore, unless man were left to act from freedom according to his reason, and thus unless the arts which are thence derived were to succeed, man could by no means be disposed to receive eternal life, for this is insinuated when man is in freedom, and his reason is enlightened. For -
• no one can be compelled to good because nothing that is compelled inheres with him, for it is not his own:
• that becomes a man's own, which is done from freedom according to his reason
• that is done from freedom which is done from the will or love,
• the will or love is the man himself.
If a man were compelled to that which he does not will, his mind would continually incline to that which he wills; and besides, everyone strives after what is forbidden, and this from a latent cause, because he strives for freedom. Whence it is evident that unless man were kept in freedom, good could not be provided for him.

To leave man from his own freedom also to think, to will, and, so far as the laws do not restrain him, to do evil, is called permitting.
(The New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine 271-272)

April 17, 2019

PROVIDENCE (pt. 4)

The New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine
Emanuel Swedenborg
Doctrinal Series
PROVIDENCE
(pt. 4)


Everyone who rightly considers, may know that eminence and opulence in the world are not real divine blessings, notwithstanding man, from his pleasure in them, calls them so; for they pass away, and also seduce many, and turn them away from heaven; but that eternal life, and its happiness, are real blessings, which are from the Divine: this the Lord also teaches in Luke:
Make to yourselves a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where the thief approacheth not, neither the moth corrupteth; for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also (Luke 12:33, 34).
(The New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine 270)

April 16, 2019

PROVIDENCE (pt. 3)

The New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine
Emanuel Swedenborg
Doctrinal Series
PROVIDENCE
(pt. 3)


They who think from worldly things concerning the Divine Providence, conclude from them that it is only universal, and that the particulars appertain to man. But they do not know the arcana of heaven, for they form their conclusions only from the loves of self and of the world, and their pleasures; wherefore, when they see the evil exalted to honors, and acquire wealth more than the good, and also succeed in evils according to their arts, they, say in their heart, that it would not be so if the Divine Providence were in each and all things; but they do not consider that the Divine Providence does not regard that which soon passes away, and ends with the life of man in the world, but that it regards that which remains to eternity, thus which has no end.
What has no end, that is; but what has an end, that respectively is not.
Let him who can, think whether a hundred thousand years are anything compared to eternity, and he will perceive that they are not; what then are some years of life in the world?
(The New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine 269)

April 15, 2019

PROVIDENCE (pt. 2)

The New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine
Emanuel Swedenborg
Doctrinal Series
PROVIDENCE
(pt. 2)


The Divine Providence of the Lord extends to the most minute things of a man's life; for there is only one fountain of life, which is the Lord, from whom we are, we live, and we act.
(The New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine 268)

April 14, 2019

PROVIDENCE (pt. 1)

The New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine
Emanuel Swedenborg
Doctrinal Series
PROVIDENCE
(pt. 1)


The government of the Lord in the heavens and in the earths is called Providence; and because all the good of love and all the truth of faith, from which is salvation, are from Him, and nothing at all from man, it is evident therefrom that the Divine Providence of the Lord is in each and all the things which conduce to the salvation of the human race. This the Lord thus teaches in John:
I am the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6)
and in another place:
As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it shall abide in the vine, so neither can ye, unless ye shall abide in Me; without Me ye cannot do anything. (John 15:4, 5)
(The New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine 267)