THE DOCTRINE OF LIFE (pt. 70-71)

THE DOCTRINE OF LIFE
for the
NEW JERUSALEM
FROM THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
Emanuel Swedenborg
— Doctrinal Series —
(pt. 70-71)
IN PROPORTION AS ANYONE
SHUNS MURDERS OF EVERY KIND AS SINS
IN THE SAME PROPORTION
HE HAS LOVE TOWARD THE NEIGHBOR.

As evil and good are two opposite things, precisely as are hell and heaven, or as are the devil and the Lord, it follows that if a man shuns evil as sin, he comes into the good that is opposite to the evil. The good opposite to the evil that is meant by "murder," is the good of love toward the neighbor.

As this good and that evil are opposites, it follows that the latter is removed by means of the former. Two opposites cannot be together, even as heaven and hell cannot; if they were together there would be lukewarmness, of which it is said in Revelation:

I know that thou art neither cold nor hot; I would thou wert cold or hot; but because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of My mouth (3:15, 16).

(LIFE 70-71)

THE DOCTRINE OF LIFE (pt. 69)

THE DOCTRINE OF LIFE
for the
NEW JERUSALEM
FROM THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
Emanuel Swedenborg
— Doctrinal Series —
(pt. 69)
IN PROPORTION AS ANYONE
SHUNS MURDERS OF EVERY KIND AS SINS
IN THE SAME PROPORTION
HE HAS LOVE TOWARD THE NEIGHBOR.

As the kinds of murder mentioned [in the preceeding article] lie inwardly hidden in man from his birth, and at the same time thefts of every kind, and false witness of every kind, together with the concupiscences for them (of which we shall speak farther on), it is evident that unless the Lord provided means of reformation, a man must perish everlastingly.

The means of reformation provided by the Lord are as follows:
• That man is born into total ignorance;
• That when newly born he is kept in a state of external innocence;
• A little after in a state of external charity;
• Later in a state of external friendship;
• BUT in proportion as he comes into the exercise of thought from his own understanding, he is kept in a certain freedom of acting according to reason. This is the state that has been described above—

So long as a man is in this world, he is midway between hell and heaven: hell is below him, and heaven is above him, and he is kept in freedom to turn himself to either the one or the other; if he turns to hell he turns away from heaven; if he turns to heaven he turns away from hell. Or what is the same, so long as a man is in this world he stands midway between the Lord and the devil, and is kept in freedom to turn himself to either the one or the other; if he turns to the devil he turns away from the Lord; if he turns to the Lord he turns away from the devil. Or what is again the same, so long as a man is in this world he is midway between evil and good, and is kept in freedom to turn himself to either the one or the other; if he turns to evil he turns away from good; if he turns to good he turns away from evil. (n. 19)

We have said that a man is kept in freedom to turn himself one way or the other. It is not from himself that every man has this freedom, but he has it from the Lord, and this is why he is said to be kept in it. . . . That every man is kept in freedom, and that from no one is it taken away. . . . It is plainly evident from all this that in proportion as a man shuns evils, in the same proportion is he with the Lord and in the Lord; and that in proportion as he is in the Lord, in the same proportion he does goods, not from self but from Him. From this results the general law: IN PROPORTION AS ANY ONE SHUNS EVILS, IN THE SAME PROPORTION HE DOES GOODS. (n. 20-22.)

(LIFE 69)

THE DOCTRINE OF LIFE (pt. 67-68)

THE DOCTRINE OF LIFE
for the
NEW JERUSALEM
FROM THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
Emanuel Swedenborg
— Doctrinal Series —
(pt. 67-68)
IN PROPORTION AS ANYONE SHUNS MURDERS OF EVERY KIND AS SINS
IN THE SAME PROPORTION HE HAS LOVE TOWARD THE NEIGHBOR.

"Murders of every kind" include enmity, hatred, and revenge of every kind, which breathe murder, for murder lies hidden in them, like fire in wood underneath the ashes.

• Infernal fire is nothing else, and this is the origin of the expressions to "kindle with hatred," and to "burn with revenge." All these are "murders" in the natural sense.

• But in the spiritual sense "murders" mean all methods of killing and destroying the souls of men, which methods are varied and many.

• And in the highest sense "murder" means to hate the Lord.

These three kinds of "murder" form a one, and cleave together, for he who wills the murder of a man's body in this world, after death wills the murder of his soul, and wills the murder of the Lord, for he burns with anger against Him, and desires to blot out His name.

These kinds of murder lie inwardly hidden in man from his birth, but from early childhood he learns to veil them over with the civic and moral behavior that he is bound to show toward men in the world, and in proportion as he loves honors or gains, he guards against their appearance.

This forms his external, while his internal is these kinds of murder. Such is man in himself.

Now as when he dies he lays aside that external together with his body, and retains the internal, it is evident what a devil he would be unless he were reformed.

(LIFE 67-68)

THE DOCTRINE OF LIFE (pt. 66)

THE DOCTRINE OF LIFE
for the
NEW JERUSALEM
FROM THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
Emanuel Swedenborg
— Doctrinal Series —
(pt. 66)
MURDERS, ADULTERIES, THEFTS, FALSE WITNESS, TOGETHER WITH ALL CONCUPISCENCE,
FOR THESE THINGS ARE THE EVILS WHICH MUST BE SHUNNED AS SINS.

We read in Mark:

That a certain rich man came to Jesus, and asked Him what he should do to inherit eternal life, and that Jesus said to him, Thou knowest the commandments: Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not be a false witness, Thou shalt not defraud, Honor thy father and mother. And he answering said, All these things have I kept from my youth. And Jesus looked upon him and loved him, yet said unto him, One thing thou lackest; go, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor; so shalt thou have treasure in the heavens; and come, take up the cross and follow Me (Mark 10:17-22).

It is said that Jesus "loved him." This was because the man said that he had kept those commandments from his youth. But because he lacked three things, which were—
• that he had not removed his heart from riches
• had not fought against concupiscences
• had not yet acknowledged the Lord to be God
the Lord said that he should "sell all that he had," by which is meant that he should remove his heart from riches; that he should "take up the cross," by which is meant that he should fight against concupiscences; and that he should "follow Him," by which is meant that he should acknowledge the Lord to be God. The Lord spoke these things as He spoke all things by correspondences.  For no one is able to shun evils as sins unless he acknowledges the Lord and goes to Him, and unless he fights against evils and so removes concupiscences. But more about these matters in the chapter on combats against evils.

(LIFE 66)

THE DOCTRINE OF LIFE (pt. 65)

THE DOCTRINE OF LIFE
for the
NEW JERUSALEM
FROM THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
Emanuel Swedenborg
— Doctrinal Series —
(pt. 65)
MURDERS, ADULTERIES, THEFTS, FALSE WITNESS, TOGETHER WITH ALL CONCUPISCENCE,
FOR THESE THINGS ARE THE EVILS WHICH MUST BE SHUNNED AS SINS.

All nations in the wide world who have religion possess precepts like those in the Decalogue, and all who from religion live them are saved, and all who do not live them from religion are damned.

When those who live them from religion are instructed after death by the angels, they receive truths, and acknowledge the Lord; the reason of which is that they shun evils as sins, and are consequently in good, and good loves truth, and from the desire of this love, receives it (as has been shown above, n. 32-41). This is meant by the words of the Lord to the Jews:

The kingdom of God shall be taken away from you, and shall be given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof (Matt. 21:43).

And also by these:
When therefore the Lord of the vineyard shall come, He will destroy those evil men, and will let out his vineyard to other husbandmen, who shall render him the fruits in their season (Matt. 21:40-41).

And by these:
I say unto you that many shall come from the east and the west, and from the north and the south, and shall sit down in the kingdom of God, but the sons of the kingdom shall be cast forth into the outer darkness (Matt. 8:11-12; Luke 13:29).

(LIFE 65)

THE DOCTRINE OF LIFE (pt. 64)

THE DOCTRINE OF LIFE
for the
NEW JERUSALEM
FROM THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
Emanuel Swedenborg
— Doctrinal Series —
(pt. 64)
MURDERS, ADULTERIES, THEFTS, FALSE WITNESS, TOGETHER WITH ALL CONCUPISCENCE,
FOR THESE THINGS ARE THE EVILS WHICH MUST BE SHUNNED AS SINS.

It is a common principle of every religion that a man ought to examine himself, repent, and desist from sins, and that if he fails to do so he is in a state of damnation.

Teaching the Decalogue is also a common thing throughout the whole Christian world, and by it little children are commonly initiated into the Christian religion, for it is in the hands of all young children. Their parents and teachers tell them that to commit these evils is to sin against God, and in fact while speaking to the children they know nothing different.

We may well wonder that these same persons, and the children too when they become adults, think that they are not under this Law, and that they are not able to do the things that belong to it.

Can there be any other cause for their learning to think in this way, than that they love evils and consequently the false notions that favor them? These therefore are the people who do not make the commandments of the Decalogue a matter of religion. And that these same persons live without religion

(LIFE 64)

THE DOCTRINE OF LIFE (pt. 63)

THE DOCTRINE OF LIFE
for the
NEW JERUSALEM
FROM THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
Emanuel Swedenborg
— Doctrinal Series —
(pt. 63)
MURDERS, ADULTERIES, THEFTS, FALSE WITNESS, TOGETHER WITH ALL CONCUPISCENCE,
FOR THESE THINGS ARE THE EVILS WHICH MUST BE SHUNNED AS SINS.

A religious tenet has prevailed to the effect that no one is able to fulfill the law; the law being not to kill, not to commit adultery, not to steal, and not to bear false witness.

Every civic man and moral man is able to fulfill these commandments of the law by a civic and moral life; but this tenet denies that he can do so by a spiritual life; from which it follows that his not doing these evils is only for the sake of avoiding penalties and losses in this world, and not for the sake of avoiding penalties and losses after he has left it. It is for this reason that a man with whom this tenet has prevailed, thinks these evils allowable in the sight of God, but not so in that of the world.

And in consequence of such thought from this his tenet, the man is in concupiscence for all these evils, and refrains from doing them merely for the world's sake; and therefore after death such a man, although he had not committed murders, adulteries, thefts, and false witness, nevertheless desires to commit them, and does commit them when the external possessed by him in this world is taken away from him. Every concupiscence he has had remains with him after death. It is owing to this that such persons act as one with hell, and cannot but have their lot among those who are there.

Very different is the lot of those who are unwilling to kill, to commit adultery, to steal, and to bear false witness for the reason that to do these things is contrary to God. These persons, after some battling with these evils, do not will them, thus do not desire to commit them: they say in their hearts that they are sins, and in themselves are infernal and devilish. After death, when the external which they had possessed for this world is taken away from them, they act as one with heaven, and as they are in the Lord they come into heaven.

(LIFE 63)