A Corrupted Church

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

A church is said to be corrupted when it acknowledges the Word and has a certain worship like that of a true church, but yet separates faith from charity, thus from its essential and from its life, whereby faith becomes a kind of dead affair; the result of which necessarily is that the church is corrupted. What the men of the church then become, is evident from the consideration that they can have no conscience; for conscience that is really conscience cannot possibly exist except from charity.

Charity is what makes conscience, that is, the Lord through charity.

What else is conscience than not to do evil to anyone in anyway; that is, to do well to all in every way? Thus conscience belongs to charity, and never to faith separated from charity. If such persons have any conscience, it is a false conscience; and because they are without conscience, they rush into all wickedness, so far as outward bonds are relaxed. They do not even know what charity is, except that it is a word significant of something. And as they are without charity, they do not know what faith is. When questioned, they can only answer that it is a kind of thinking; some, that it is confidence; others, that it is the knowledges of faith; a few, that it is life according to these knowledges, and scarcely any that it is a life of charity or of mutual love. And if this is said to them, and opportunity is given them for reflection, they answer only that all love begins from self, and that he is worse than a heathen who does not take care of himself and his own family. They therefore study nothing but themselves and the world. Hence it comes to pass that they live in their Own [self-hood].

(Arcana Coelestia 1076)

The Cause of the Fall of Every Church

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

A desire to investigate the mysteries of faith by means of the things of sense and of the memory, was not only the cause of the fall of the posterity of the Most Ancient Church, ... but it is also the cause of the fall of every church; for hence come not only falsities, but also evils of life.

The worldly and corporeal man says in his heart, If I am not instructed concerning the faith, and everything relating to it, by means of the things of sense, so that I may see, or by means of those of the memory [scientifica], so that I may understand, I will not believe; and he confirms himself in this by the consideration that natural things cannot be contrary to spiritual.

Thus he is desirous of being instructed from things of sense in what is celestial and Divine, which is as impossible as it is for a camel to go through the eye of a needle; for the more he desires to grow wise by such means, the more he blinds himself, till at length he believes nothing, not even that there is anything spiritual, or that there is eternal life.

This comes from the principle which he assumes. And this is to "eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil" of which the more anyone eats, the more dead he becomes.

But he who would be wise from the Lord, and not from the world, says in his heart that the Lord must be believed, that is, the things which the Lord has spoken in the Word, because they are truths; and according to this principle he regulates his thoughts. He confirms himself by things of reason, of knowledge, of the senses, and of nature [per rationalia, scientifica, sensualia et naturalia], and those which are not confirmatory he casts aside.

Everyone may know that man is governed by the principles he assumes, be they ever so false, and that all his knowledge and reasoning favor his principles; for innumerable considerations tending to support them present themselves to his mind, and thus he is confirmed in what is false. He therefore who assumes as a principle that nothing is to be believed until it is seen and understood, can never believe, because spiritual and celestial things cannot be seen with the eyes, or conceived by the imagination.

But the true order is for man to be wise from the Lord, that is, from His Word, and then all things follow, and he is enlightened even in matters of reason and of memory-knowledge [in rationalibus et scientificis]. For it is by no means forbidden to learn the sciences, since they are useful to his life and delightful; nor is he who is in faith prohibited from thinking and speaking as do the learned of the world; but it must be from this principle — to believe the Word of the Lord, and, so far as possible, confirm spiritual and celestial truths by natural truths, in terms familiar to the learned world. Thus his starting-point must be the Lord, and not himself; for the former is life, but the latter is death.

He who desires to be wise from the world, has for his "garden" the things of sense and of memory-knowledge [sensualia et scientifica]; the love of self and the love of the world are his "Eden"; his "east" is the west, or himself; his "river Euphrates" is all his memory-knowledge [scientificum], which is condemned; his "second river" where is "Assyria" is infatuated reasoning productive of falsities; his "third river" where is "Ethiopia" is the principles of evil and falsity thence derived, which are the knowledges of his faith; his "fourth river" is the wisdom thence derived, which in the Word is called "magic." And therefore "Egypt" - which signifies memory-knowledge [scientia] - after the knowledge became magical, signifies such a man, because, as may be seen from the Word, he desires to be wise from self. Of such it is written in Ezekiel:

Thus hath said the Lord Jehovih, Behold, I am against thee, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great whale that lieth in the midst of his rivers, who hath said, My river is mine own, and I have made it for myself. And the land of Egypt shall be for a solitude, and a waste, and they shall know that I am Jehovah, because he hath said, The river is mine, and I have made it (Ezek. 29:3, 9)

Such men are also called "trees of Eden in hell" in the same Prophet, where also Pharaoh, or the Egyptian, is treated of in these words:

When I shall have made him descend into hell with them that descend into the pit; to whom art thou thus made like in glory and in greatness among the trees of Eden? yet shalt thou be made to descend with the trees of Eden into the lower earth, in the midst of the uncircumcised, with them that be slain by the sword. This is Pharaoh and all his crew (Ezek. 31:16, 18),

where the "trees of Eden" denote knowledges [scientifica et cognitiones] from the Word, which they thus profane by reasonings.

(Arcana Coelestia 127-130)

The Essence of Charity

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

Then shall the king say to them on His right hand, Come, ye blessed of My Father, possess the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry, and ye gave Me to eat; I was thirsty, and ye gave Me drink; I was a stranger, and ye gathered Me; naked, and ye clothed Me; I was sick, and ye visited Me; I was in prison, and ye came unto Me (Matt. 25:34-36).

What these words involve in the internal sense will appear from what follows. Be it known in the first place that the works here enumerated are the very works of charity in their order. This no one can see who is not acquainted with the internal sense of the Word, that is, who does not know what is meant by giving the hungry to eat, giving the thirsty to drink, gathering the stranger, clothing the naked, visiting the sick, and coming unto those who are in prison.

He who thinks of these acts from the sense of the letter only, infers that they mean good works in the external form, and that there is nothing secret in them beyond this; and yet there is something secret in each of them, which is Divine, because from the Lord.

But the secret is not at this day understood, because at this day there are no doctrinals of charity; forever since men have separated charity from faith, these doctrinals have perished, and in place of them the doctrinals of faith have been invented and received, which do not at all teach what charity is and what the neighbor.

The doctrinals existing among the ancients taught all the genera and all the species of charity, and also who the neighbor is toward whom charity is to be exercised, and how one is the neighbor in a different degree and in a different respect from another, and consequently how the exercise of charity varies in its application toward different persons. They also grouped the neighbor together into classes, and assigned them names, calling some the poor, needy, miserable, afflicted; some the blind, lame, halt, and also fatherless and widows; and others the hungry, thirsty, strangers, naked, sick, bound, and so on; thus knowing what duty they owed toward one and toward another. But as before said these doctrinals perished, and with them the understanding of the Word, insomuch that no one at this day knows otherwise than that by the "poor," the "widows," and the "fatherless," in the Word, none other are meant than they who are so called; in like manner here by the "hungry," the "thirsty," the "strangers," the "naked," the "sick," and those who are "in prison;" when yet by these charity is described such as it is in its essence, and the exercise of it such as it must be in its life.

The essence of charity toward the neighbor is the affection of good and truth, and the acknowledgment of self as being evil and false; yea, the neighbor is good and truth itself, and to be affected by these is to have charity.

The opposite to the neighbor is evil and falsity, which are held in aversion by one who has charity.

He therefore who has charity toward the neighbor is affected by good and truth, because they are from the Lord, and holds in aversion what is evil and what is false because these are from self; and when he does this, he is in humiliation from self-acknowledgment, and when he is in humiliation, he is in a state of reception of good and truth from the Lord.

These are the characteristics of charity which in the internal sense are involved in these words of the Lord: "I was hungry, and ye gave Me to eat; I was thirsty, and ye gave Me drink; I was a stranger, and ye gathered Me; naked, and ye clothed Me; I was sick, and ye visited Me; I was in prison, and ye came unto Me." That these words involve such things, no one can know except from the internal sense. The ancients, who had the doctrinals of charity, knew these things; but at this day they appear so remote that everyone will wonder at its being said that these things are within.

Moreover, the angels who are with man perceive these words no otherwise, for by the "hungry" they perceive those who from affection desire good; by the "thirsty," those who from affection desire truth; by a "stranger," those who are willing to be instructed; by the "naked," those who acknowledge that there is nothing of good and of truth in themselves; by the "sick," those who acknowledge that in themselves there is nothing but evil; and by the "bound," or those who are "in prison," those who acknowledge that in themselves there is nothing but falsity. If these things are reduced into one meaning, they signify what has been stated just above.

From all this it is evident that there were Divine things within everything the Lord said, although to those who are in merely worldly things, and especially to those who are in bodily things, His words appear to be such as any man might say. Nay, they who are in bodily things will say of these and all other words of the Lord, that they have not so much grace, and therefore not so much weight, as the discourse and preaching of those of the present age who speak with eloquence and learning; when yet their discourse and preaching are like the husk and chaff in comparison with the kernel and grain.
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The reason why the Lord says these things of Himself is that He is in those who are such, and therefore He also says:

Verily I say unto you, Insofar as ye have done it to one of the least of these My brethren, ye have done it to Me (Matt. 25:40).

(Arcana Coelestia 4954-4959)

Doing Good to Others for No Selfish End

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

In heaven no one is commanded or ordered; but thought is communicated, and the other acts willingly in accordance therewith. Communication of thought together with a desire which wills that something be done, is influx, and on the part of the recipient is perception, and therefore by "commanding" is signified also perception.

Moreover in heaven they not only think, but also talk together, but about things of wisdom; yet in their conversation there is nothing of command from one to another, for no one desires to be master and thereby to look upon another as a servant; but everyone desires to minister to and serve the others. From this it is plain what form of government there is in the heavens, which is described by the Lord in Matthew:

It shall not be so among you; but whosoever would become great among you should be your minister, and whosoever would be first should be your servant (Matt. 20:26, 27);

and again:

He that is greatest among you shall be your minister. Whosoever shall exalt himself shall be humbled, and whosoever shall humble himself shall be exalted (Matt. 23:11, 12).

He does this who loves his neighbor from the heart, or who feels delight and blessedness in doing good to others for no selfish end; that is, who has charity toward the neighbor.

(from Arcana Coelestia 5732)

The Very Being of Life

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

Of nothing can Am or Is be predicated except of Love. From this Love - because in Love, or of Love itself - is the very Being [Esse] of all life, that is, Life itself. And because Jehovah alone is Being of life, or Life itself, as He alone is Love, each and all things have thence their being and their life; nor can anyone be and live of himself except Jehovah alone, that is, the Lord alone; and as no one can be and live of himself except the Lord alone. It is a fallacy of sense that men seem to themselves to live of themselves.

The angels plainly perceive that they do not live of themselves, but from the Lord, since they live in the very Being of the Lord's life, because in His love. But yet to them above all others there is given the appearance as of living from themselves, together with ineffable happiness. This therefore is to live in the Lord, which is never possible unless we live in His love, that is, in charity toward the neighbor.

(Arcana Cœlestia 1735)

All Flows in From the Lord

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
The Lord is Good itself and Truth itself; and is hence their fountain.

He who lives in good, and believes that the Lord governs the universe, and that all the good which is of love and charity, and all the truth which is of faith, are from the Lord alone; nay, that life is from Him, and thus that from Him we live, move, and have our being, is in such a state that he can be gifted with heavenly freedom, and together with it with peace; for he then trusts solely in the Lord and has no care for other things, and is certain that all things are tending to his good, his blessedness, and his happiness to eternity. But he who believes that he governs himself is continually disquieted, being borne along into cupidities, and into solicitude respecting future things, and thus into manifold anxieties; and because he so believes, the cupidities of evil and the persuasions of falsity also adhere to him.

(Arcana Coelestia 2892)

Three Loves Considered

Selection from True Christian Religion ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

These three loves must first be considered for the reason that these three are the universal and fundamental of all loves, and that charity has something in common with each of them.

• For the love of heaven means both love to the Lord and love towards the neighbor; and as each of these looks to use as its end, the love of heaven may be called the love of uses.

• The love of the world is not merely a love of wealth and possessions, but is also a love of all that the world affords, and of all that delights the bodily senses, as beauty delights the eye, harmony the ear, fragrance the nostrils, delicacies the tongue, softness the skin; also becoming dress, convenient houses, and society, thus all the enjoyments arising from these and many other objects.

• The love of self is not merely the love of honor, glory, fame, and eminence, but also the love of meriting and seeking office, and so of ruling over others.

Charity has something in common with each of these three loves, because viewed in itself charity is the love of uses; for charity wishes to do good to the neighbor, and good and use are the same, and from these loves everyone looks to uses as his end;

• the love of heaven looking to spiritual uses,
• the love of the world to natural uses, which may be called civil,
• the love of self to corporeal uses, which may also be called domestic uses, that have regard to oneself and one's own.

That these three loves reside in every man from creation and therefore from birth, and that when rightly subordinated they perfect him, and when not, they pervert him ...

These three loves are rightly subordinated when the love of heaven forms the head, the love of the world the breast and abdomen, and the love of self the feet and their soles.

The human mind is divided into three regions. From the highest region man looks to God, from the second or middle region to the world, and from the third or lowest to himself. The mind being such it can be raised and can raise itself upward, because to God and to heaven; it can be extended and can extend itself to the sides in all directions, because into the world and its nature; and it can be let downward and let itself downward, because to earth and to hell. In these respects the bodily vision emulates the mind's vision; it also can look upward, round about, and downward.

The human mind is like a house of three stories which communicate by stairs, in the highest of which angels from heaven dwell, in the middle men in the world, and in the lowest one, genii. The man in whom these three loves are rightly subordinated can ascend and descend in this house at his pleasure; and when he ascends to the highest story, he is in company with angels as an angel; and when he descends from that to the middle story he is in company with men as an angel man; and when from this he descends still further, he is in company with genii as a man of the world, instructing, reproving, and subduing them.

In the man in whom these three loves are rightly subordinated, they are also coordinated thus:
The highest love, which is the love of heaven, is inwardly in the second, which is the love of the world, and through this in the third or lowest, which is the love of self; and the love that is within directs at its will that which is without.

So when the love of heaven is inwardly in the love of the world, and through this in the love of self, man from the God of heaven, performs uses in each. In their operation these three loves are like will, understanding, and action; the will flows into the understanding, and there provides itself with the means whereby it produces action.

(from True Christian Religion 394-395)