Adulteration and Profanation of the Word

Selection from Apocalypse Explained ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
Adulteration and Profanation of The Word — From which comes Every Good and Truth of the Church

The Babylonians have subjected the truths of the Word and the holy things of the church to their judgment, jurisdiction, and dominion.  They persuade the people that the Word is understood by them alone and not by any who have not been inaugurated into the ministry; and by this means they subject all things of the Word and thus all things of the church to their dominion.

Moreover, the Word is such in the sense of its letter that it may be drawn aside to confirm any heresy whatever; for the sense of the letter consists of appearances of truth, which hold enclosed in them the genuine truths of heaven, which are called spiritual truths. Unless these truths are revealed and laid bare, that is, unless they are taught in the doctrines of the church, the appearances they present may be drawn over and perverted to favor any falsity whatever, and even to favor evil.

For the genuine truths of the Word are like a man, and the appearances of truth, of which the sense of the letter consists, are like his garments, from which alone no judgment can be formed respecting who the man is or what he is. 

If a man were judged from his garments alone, a king might be called a servant, and a servant a king, and a good man might be called an evil man, and an evil man a good man; and so on.

So those who arrogate to themselves dominion over all things of the church and heaven can apply the sense in its letter a thousand ways to favor their dominion. And this is an easy task, because all things of the church, which are called holy, they place above the human understanding, and when this is assented to and no genuine truth is taught, infernal falsities may be called truths, and devilish evils may be called goods; and the simple may even be persuaded that the edicts of the Pope are just as holy as the commandments of the Word, and even more holy; and yet these are from heaven, while those edicts are for the most part from hell.

For every edict respecting government, faith, and worship in the church, that has for an end dominion in the world, however it may appear in the external form, and may sound as if from the Word, is from hell; while every commandment from the Word, because it has for its end the salvation of souls by the Lord, is from heaven. 

From all this it can be seen that "sitting upon many waters," when predicated of Babylon as a harlot, signifies having dominion over all things of the Word, and thus over the holy things of the church.

(from Apocalypse Explained 1033)

Equilibrium ~ Freedom To Be Led By The Lord

Selection from Apocalypse Explained ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

As the heavens are divided into two kingdoms, namely, into a celestial kingdom and a spiritual kingdom, so are the hells divided into two dominions opposite to those kingdoms. The dominion opposite to the celestial kingdom is called devilish, and the dominion opposite to the spiritual kingdom is called infernal. These dominions are distinguished in the Word by the names Devil and Satan.

There are two dominions in the hells, because the heavens and the hells are opposite to each other; and opposite must fully correspond to opposite that there may be equilibrium. For the existence and subsistence of all things, both in the natural world and in the spiritual world, depend upon an exact equilibrium between two activities that are opposite; and when these act against each other manifestly, they act by forces, but when not manifestly they act by endeavors [conatus].

By means of equilibriums all things in both worlds are preserved - without this all things would perish. 

In the spiritual world the equilibrium is between good from heaven and evil from hell; and thus between truth from heaven and falsity from hell. For the Lord continually arranges that all kinds and species of good and truth in the heavens shall have opposite to them in the hells evils and falsities of kinds that correspond by opposition; thus goods and truths from a celestial origin have for their opposites evils and falsities that are called devilish; and in like manner goods and truths from a spiritual origin have for their opposites evils and falsities that are called infernal.

The cause of these equilibriums is to be found in the fact that the Divine goods and the Divine truths that the angels in the heavens receive from the Lord, the spirits in the hells turn into evils and falsities. All angels, spirits, and men are kept by the Lord in equilibrium between good and evil, and thus between truth and falsity, in order that they may be in freedom; and thus may be led from evil to good and from falsity to truth easily and as if by themselves, although in fact, they are led by the Lord. For the same reason they are led in freedom from good to evil, and from truth to falsity, and this, too, as if by themselves, although the leading is from hell.

(Apocalypse Explained 1043)

Mystery, Babylon the GreatThe Mother of the Whoredomsand Abominations of the Earth

Selection from Apocalypse Explained ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

Religious persuasion of those in whom
all the good and truth of the church has been adulterated and profaned.

Babylon is called "the great harlot" and "the mother of the whoredoms and abominations of the earth," because a love of having dominion over all things of the world, and still further, over all things of heaven and the church, and finally over the Lord Himself, cannot do otherwise than wholly change Divine truths into falsities and Divine goods into evils, thus the church into a religious persuasion in which all its good and truth is adulterated and profaned. For by that love a man wholly turns himself away from the Lord, and turns only towards self; and thus he can no longer be led by the Lord, but is led by what is his own [proprium].

To be led by what is his own is to be led by hell. 

Man is either led from heaven or he is led from hell; he cannot be led by both at the same time. He is led from heaven when he is led by the Lord, and from hell when he is led by self. For man was so created as to be capable of being raised above what is his own [proprium] and of thinking in that elevated state. He is raised above what is his own [proprium] and thinks in that elevated state when he is raised up by the Lord. This is effected when he acknowledges the Lord and His Divine power over heaven and earth, and by that confession and faith of the heart, he has conjunction with the Lord. When conjunction is effected, the interiors, which belong to his mind, that is, to his understanding and will are held by the Lord under his view. This is effected by an elevation above what is his own [proprium]. When man thinks in that elevated state he thinks truth from the Lord and does good from Him.

The opposite comes to pass when a man strives to gain dominion over the world, over heaven, and over the Lord; for he then immerses the interiors of his mind which belong to his thought and will in what is his own [proprium]. When a man is immersed in what is his own, he thinks and wills from hell. Consequently, he thinks and wills falsities and evils, for the reason that what is man's own [proprium] is nothing but evil, for it is his inherited evil itself. Such then are the Babylonians; and therefore they have adulterated and profaned all the goods and truths of the church; and this is why Babylon is called a "harlot," and "the mother of the whoredoms and abominations of the earth."

(from Apocalypse Explained 1032)

How to know if led by heaven or hell

Selection from Apocalypse Explained ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

Man is from birth in the midst of infernal societies, and extends himself into them precisely as he extends the evil affections of his will.

All evil affections of the will are from the loves of self and the world and for the reason that those loves turn all things of the mind downwards and outwards, that is, towards hell, which is beneath and outside of themselves, thus turning them away from the Lord, and away from heaven.

Moreover, the interiors of all things of the human mind, and with them the interiors of all things of the spirit, are capable of being turned either downwards or upwards.

They are turned downwards when man loves himself above all things

They are turned upwards when he loves the Lord above all things. 

This is an actual turning. Man from himself turns them downwards, while the Lord from Himself turns them upwards. The ruling love is what turns. Thoughts do not turn the interiors of the mind except so far as they are derived from the will. That all this is true man does not know; and yet he ought to know it in order that he may understand how he is led out of hell and led into heaven by the Lord.

(Apocalypse Explained 1163:2)

Those in The Spiritual Affection of The Knowledges of Truth and Good

Selection from Apocalypse Explained ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

Heaven with man is implanted by means of the knowledges of truth and good from the Word. He who believes that heaven is implanted by other means is much deceived; for man is born merely natural, with the faculty of becoming spiritual, and he becomes spiritual by means of truths from the Word and a life according to them. Who can ever become spiritual unless he has some knowledge of the Lord, of heaven, of the life after death, of faith, and of love, and of the other things that are means of salvation? If man had no knowledge of these things he would remain natural; and a merely natural man can have nothing in common with the angels of heaven, who are spiritual.

Man has two minds, one exterior, the other interior. The exterior mind is called the natural mind, but the interior is called the spiritual mind. The former or natural mind is opened by means of the knowledges of the things that are in the world; but the latter or spiritual mind by means of the knowledges of the things that are in heaven, which the Word teaches, and the church from the Word; by means of these man becomes spiritual when he knows them and lives according to them.

This is meant by the Lord's words in John:

Except a man has been born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God (John 3:5).

"Water" signifies the truths of faith, and "spirit" a life according to them.

Most people at this day believe that they are to come into heaven solely by virtue of holy worship in temples and by adorations and prayers, but such of them, as do not care for the knowledges of truth and good from the Word, and who fail to imbue with these the life, as well as the memory, remain natural as before, and do not become spiritual - for their holy worship, adorations, and prayers, do not proceed from any spiritual origin, since their spiritual mind has not been opened by the knowledges of spiritual things and a life according to them, but is empty.

Worship that proceeds from what is empty is merely natural gesture, with nothing spiritual in it. If such persons are insincere and unjust in respect to moral and civil life, their holy worship, adorations, and prayers have within them what repels heaven from them, instead of opening heaven to them as they believe - for their holy worship is like a vessel containing things putrid and filthy, which are oozing forth, or like a splendid garment investing a body covered with ulcers. I have seen many thousands of such cast into hell.

But wholly different are holy worship, adorations, and prayers with those who are in the knowledges of truth and good and in a life according to them; with such these acts are pleasing to the Lord, for they are the effects wrought by their spirit in the body, or the effects of their faith and love, thus they are not merely natural gestures, but spiritual acts.

From this it can be seen that the knowledges of truth and good from the Word, and a life according to them, alone make man spiritual; and that in him who is thereby made spiritual, angelic wisdom from the Lord can be implanted together with eternal happiness. Angels derive happiness from no other source than from wisdom.

(from Apocalypse Explained 126)

Freedom Following The Lord's Presence

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

The presence of the Lord involves freedom, the one following the other. The more present the Lord, the more free the man, that is, the more a man is in the love of good and truth, the more freely he acts. Such is the influx of the Lord through the angels.

But on the other hand, the influx of hell through evil spirits is forcible, and impetuous, striving to dominate; for such spirits breathe nothing but the utter subjugation of the man, so that he may be nothing, and that they may be everything.  When they are everything, the man is one of them, and scarcely even that, for in their eyes he is a mere nobody. Therefore when the Lord is liberating the man from their dominion and from their yoke there arises a combat. But when the man has been liberated, that is, regenerated, he, through the ministry of angels, is led by the Lord so gently that there is nothing whatever of yoke or of dominion, for he is led by means of his delights and his happinesses, and is loved and esteemed. This is what the Lord teaches in Matthew:

My yoke is easy, and My burden is light (Matt. 11:30)

The reverse of a man's state when under the yoke of evil spirits, who, as just said, account the man as nothing, and, if they were able, would torment him every moment.

(from Arcana Coelestia 905)

The Lord Speaking to Man

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

The Lord speaks with every man — for whatever a man wills and thinks that is good and true, is from the Lord. 

There are with every man at least two evil spirits and two angels. The evil spirits excite his evils, and the angels inspire things that are good and true. Every good and true thing inspired by the angels is of the Lord; thus the Lord is continually speaking with man, but quite differently with one man than with another. With those who suffer themselves to be led away by evil spirits, the Lord speaks as if absent, or from afar, so that it can scarcely be said that He is speaking, but with those who are being led by the Lord, He speaks as more nearly present; which may be sufficiently evident from the fact that no one can ever think anything good and true except from the Lord.

The presence of the Lord is predicated according to the state of love toward the neighbor and of faith in which the man is. 

In love toward the neighbor the Lord is present, because He is in all good but not so much in faith, so-called, without love. Faith without love and charity is a separated or disjoined thing.

Wherever there is conjunction there must be a conjoining medium, which is nothing else than love and charity, as must be evident to all from the fact that the Lord is merciful to everyone and loves everyone and wills to make everyone happy to eternity. 

He, therefore, who is not in such love that he is merciful to others, loves them, and wills to make them happy, cannot be conjoined with the Lord because he is unlike Him and not at all in His image.

To look to the Lord by faith, as they say, and at the same time to hate the neighbor, is not only to stand afar off but is also to have the abyss of hell between themselves and the Lord, into which they would fall if they should approach nearer - for hatred to the neighbor is that infernal abyss which is between.

The presence of the Lord is first possible with a man when he loves the neighbor. The Lord is in love; and so far as a man is in love, so far the Lord is present; and so far as the Lord is present, so far He speaks with the man.

Man knows no otherwise than that he thinks from himself, whereas he has not a single idea, nor even the least bit of an idea from himself, but he has what is evil and false through evil spirits from hell, and what is good and true through angels from the Lord. Such is the influx with man, from which is his life and the interaction of his soul with the body.

(Arcana Coelestia 904)