THE DOCTRINE OF LIFE (pt. 55)

THE DOCTRINE OF LIFE
for the
NEW JERUSALEM
FROM THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
Emanuel Swedenborg
— Doctrinal Series —
(pt. 55)
THE DECALOGUE TEACHES WHAT EVILS ARE SINS.

. . . these laws were the first-fruits of the Word, and therefore the first-fruits of the church that was to be again set up by the Lord with the Israelitish nation, and as they were in a brief summary a complex of all those things of religion by means of which there is conjunction of the Lord with man and of man with the Lord, they were so holy that nothing is more so.

That they were most holy is evident from the fact that —
• Jehovah Himself (that is, the Lord) came down upon Mount Sinai in fire, and with angels, and promulgated them from it by a living voice, and that the people had prepared themselves for three days to see and to hear;
• that the mountain was fenced about lest anyone should go near it and should die; that neither were the priests nor the elders to draw near, but Moses only;
• that those laws were written by the finger of God on two tables of stone;
• that when Moses brought the tables down from the mountain the second time, his face shone;
• that the tables were afterwards laid away in the ark, and the ark in the inmost of the tabernacle, and upon it was placed the mercy-seat, and upon this cherubs of gold;
• that this was the most holy thing of their church, being called the holy of holies;
• that outside the veil that hung before it there were placed things that represented holy things of heaven and the church, namely, the lampstand with its seven golden lamps, the golden altar of incense, and the table overlaid with gold on which were the loaves of faces, and surrounded with curtains of fine linen, bright-crimson, and scarlet.

The holiness of this whole tabernacle had no other source than the Law that was in the ark.

On account of this holiness of the tabernacle from the Law in the ark, the whole people of Israel, by command, encamped around it in the order of their tribes, and marched in order after it, and there was then a cloud over it by day, and a fire by night.

On account of the holiness of that Law, and the presence of the Lord in it, the Lord spoke with Moses above the mercy-seat between the cherubs, and the ark was called "Jehovah there." Aaron also was not allowed to enter within the veil except with sacrifices and incense.

Because that Law was the very holiness of the church, the ark was brought by David into Zion; and later it was kept in the midst of the temple at Jerusalem, and constituted its shrine.

On account of the Lord's presence in that Law and around it, miracles were wrought by the ark in which was that Law:
• the waters of Jordan were cleft asunder, and so long as the ark was resting in the midst of it, the people passed over on dry ground;
• when the ark was carried round the walls of Jericho they fell;
• Dagon the god of the Philistines fell down before it, and afterwards lay on the threshold of the temple without his head;
• the Bethshemites were smitten to the number of many thousands not to mention other miracles. These were all performed solely by the Lord's presence in His Ten Words, which are the commandments of the decalogue.

(LIFE 55)

THE DOCTRINE OF LIFE (pt. 53-54)

THE DOCTRINE OF LIFE
for the
NEW JERUSALEM
FROM THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
Emanuel Swedenborg
— Doctrinal Series —
(pt. 53-54)
THE DECALOGUE TEACHES WHAT EVILS ARE SINS.

What nation in the wide world is not aware that it is evil to steal, to commit adultery, to kill, and to bear false witness? If men were not aware of this, and if they did not by laws guard against the commission of these evils, it would be all over with them;

for without such laws the community, the commonwealth, and the kingdom would perish. 

Who can imagine that the Israelitish nation was so much more senseless than other nations as not to know that these were evils? One might therefore wonder why these laws, known as they are the world over, were promulgated from Mount Sinai by Jehovah Himself with so great a miracle. But listen:

They were promulgated with so great a miracle in order that men may know that these laws are not only civic and moral laws, but are also spiritual laws; and that to act contrary to them is not only to do evil to a fellow-citizen and to the community, but is also to sin against God. 

For this reason those laws, through promulgation from Mount Sinai by Jehovah, were made laws of religion; for it is evident that whatever Jehovah God commands, He commands in order that it may be of religion, and that it is to be done for His sake, and for the sake of the man that he may be saved.

As these laws were the first-fruits of the Word, and therefore the first-fruits of the church that was to be again set up by the Lord with the Israelitish nation, and as they were in a brief summary a complex of all those things of religion by means of which there is conjunction of the Lord with man and of man with the Lord, they were so holy that nothing is more so.

(LIFE 53-54)

THE DOCTRINE OF LIFE (pt. 51-52)

THE DOCTRINE OF LIFE
for the
NEW JERUSALEM
FROM THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
Emanuel Swedenborg
— Doctrinal Series —
(pt. 51-52)
IN PROPORTION AS ANYONE SHUNS EVILS AS SINS, IN THE SAME PROPORTION HE HAS FAITH, AND IS SPIRITUAL.

All the foregoing is confirmed by the following passages in the Word:

A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil, for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh (Luke 6:45; Matt. 12:35).

The "heart" in the Word means man's will, and as man thinks and speaks from this, it is said: "Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh."

Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth the man; but that which goeth out of the heart, this defileth the man (Matt. 15:11, 18).

The "heart" here too means the will. Jesus said of the woman who anointed His feet with ointment:

Her sins are forgiven for she loved much; thy faith hath saved thee (Luke 7:47, 50);

from which it is evident that when sins have been remitted or forgiven, thus when they exist no longer, faith saves. That those are called "sons of God" and "born of God" who are not in the Own of their will, and consequently are not in the Own of their understanding; that is to say, who are not in evil and from this in falsity; and that these are they who believe in the Lord, He Himself teaches in John 1:12, 13:

But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

From these premises there follows this conclusion: - That no man has in him a grain of truth more than he has of good; thus that he has not a grain of faith more than he has of life. In the understanding indeed there may exist the thought that such or such a thing is true, but not the acknowledgment which is faith, unless there is consent thereto in the will. Thus do faith and life keep step as they walk.

From all this it is now evident that in proportion as anyone shuns evils as sins, in the same proportion he has faith and is spiritual.

(LIFE 51-52)

THE DOCTRINE OF LIFE (pt. 50)

THE DOCTRINE OF LIFE
for the
NEW JERUSALEM
FROM THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
Emanuel Swedenborg
— Doctrinal Series —
(pt. 50)
IN PROPORTION AS ANYONE SHUNS EVILS AS SINS, IN THE SAME PROPORTION HE HAS FAITH, AND IS SPIRITUAL.

Spiritual faith exists with those who do not commit sins, for those who do not commit sins do things that are good, not from themselves but from the Lord (see above, n. 18-21), and through faith become spiritual. Faith with these is the truth. This the Lord teaches in John:

This is the judgment, that the light is come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light, because their works were evil. For everyone that doeth evil hateth the light, and cometh not to the light, lest his works should be reproved. But he that doeth the truth cometh to the light, that his works may be made manifest, that they have been wrought in God (John 3:19-21).

(LIFE 50)

THE DOCTRINE OF LIFE (pt. 49)

THE DOCTRINE OF LIFE
for the
NEW JERUSALEM
FROM THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
Emanuel Swedenborg
— Doctrinal Series —
(pt. 49)
IN PROPORTION AS ANYONE SHUNS EVILS AS SINS, IN THE SAME PROPORTION HE HAS FAITH, AND IS SPIRITUAL.

. . .those who are in evils have no faith, no matter how much they may suppose themselves to have it, has been shown in the spiritual world in the case of persons of this character. They were brought into a heavenly society, which caused the spiritual sphere of faith as existing with the angels to enter into the interiors of their faith, and the result was that the angels perceived that those persons possessed only what is natural or external of faith, and not what is spiritual or internal of it, and therefore those persons themselves confessed that they had nothing whatever of faith, and that in the world they had persuaded themselves that to believe or have faith consists in thinking a thing to be true, no matter what the ground for so thinking.

Very different was perceived to be the faith of those who had not been in evil.

(LIFE 49)

THE DOCTRINE OF LIFE (pt. 48)

THE DOCTRINE OF LIFE
for the
NEW JERUSALEM
FROM THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
Emanuel Swedenborg
— Doctrinal Series —
(pt. 48)
IN PROPORTION AS ANYONE SHUNS EVILS AS SINS, IN THE SAME PROPORTION HE HAS FAITH, AND IS SPIRITUAL.

. . . thought of the understanding derives its coming into manifest being [trahit suum existere] from the love of the will, which is the inmost being [qui est esse] of the thought in the understanding, as has been said above (n. 43). For whatever anyone wills from love, he wills to do, he wills to think, he wills to understand, and he wills to speak; or, what is the same, whatever anyone loves from the will, he loves to do, he loves to think, he loves to understand, and he loves to speak.

To this is also to be added, that when a man shuns what is evil as a sin, he is in the Lord, as shown above, and the Lord then works everything. And therefore to those who asked Him what they should do that they might work the works of God, He said:

This is the work of God, that ye believe in Him whom He hath sent (John 6:28-29).

To "believe in the Lord" is not only to think that He is, but also to do His words, as He teaches elsewhere.

(LIFE 48)

THE DOCTRINE OF LIFE (pt. 47)

THE DOCTRINE OF LIFE
for the
NEW JERUSALEM
FROM THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
Emanuel Swedenborg
— Doctrinal Series —
(pt. 47)
IN PROPORTION AS ANYONE SHUNS EVILS AS SINS, IN THE SAME PROPORTION HE HAS FAITH, AND IS SPIRITUAL.

There are many things that appear to be mere matters of faith, such as that there is a God; that the Lord, who is God, is the Redeemer and Saviour; that there is a heaven and a hell; that there is a life after death; and many other things of which it is not said that they are to be done, but that they are to be believed.

These things of faith also are dead with a man who is in evil, but are living with a man who is in good. The reason is that a man who is in good not only acts aright from the will but also thinks aright from the understanding, and this not only before the world but also before himself when he is alone. Not so a man who is in evil.

(LIFE 47)