The Laws which are Eternal Truths

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

The souls who come into the other life are all ignorant of the nature of heaven and of heavenly joy. Very many suppose it to be a kind of joy into which any can be admitted no matter how they have lived, even those who have borne hatred against their neighbor and have passed their lives in adulteries, being quite unaware of the fact that heaven is mutual and chaste love, and that heavenly joy is the derivative happiness.

I have sometimes spoken with spirits fresh from the world concerning the state of eternal life, telling them how important it was for them to know who is the Lord of that kingdom, and what is the nature and form of its government, just as those in this world who go into another kingdom are especially interested to know who and of what sort is the king, what is the nature of the government, and many other things that belong to the kingdom. How much more should they be interested in this kingdom, where they are to live forever.

I told them that the Lord alone rules both heaven and the universe, for He who rules the one must rule the other; and that the kingdom in which they were now is the Lord's kingdom - the laws of which are eternal truths - all of which are based on the one great law that men shall love the Lord above all things and their neighbor as themselves, and now, even more than themselves, for if they would be as the angels this is what they must do. To all this they could make no reply, because in their bodily life they had heard something of the kind, but had not believed it. They marveled that there is such love in heaven and that it is possible for anyone to love his neighbor more than himself, seeing that they had heard that they were to love their neighbor as themselves. But they were instructed that in the other life all goods are immeasurably increased, and that the life in the body is such that men can go no further than loving the neighbor as themselves because they are in the things of the body, but that when these are removed, the love becomes purer, and at last angelic, which consists in loving the neighbor more than themselves. The possibility of such love is evident from the conjugial love that exists with some persons, who would suffer death rather than let their married partner be injured; and also from the love of parents for their children, in that a mother will endure starvation rather than see her infant hunger, and this even among birds and animals; and likewise from sincere friendship, in that perils will be undergone for our friends; and even from polite and feigned friendship, that would emulate real friendship in offering the better things to those to whom we wish well, making great professions even when they do not come from the heart. And finally its possibility is evident from the very nature of love, which finds its joy in being of service to others, not for the sake of self but for the love's own sake. But all this could not be comprehended by those who loved themselves more than others, and who in the bodily life had been greedy for gain, and least of all by the avaricious.

(Arcana Coelestia 547 - 548)

The Laws of Order

Selection from True Christian Religion ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

The omnipotent God created the world from the order within Him, that is, into the order in which He is, and in accordance with which He rules; and He impressed upon the universe and each and all things of it its own order, upon man his order, upon the beast its order, upon bird and fish and worm, and every tree and even every blade of grass, upon each its own order.

The laws of order enjoined upon man are, that he should acquire for himself truths from the Word, and reflect upon them naturally, and as far as he can, rationally, and thus acquire for himself a natural faith.

The laws of order on the part of God then are, that He will draw near and fill these truths with His Divine light, and thus fill the man's natural faith (which is mere knowledge and persuasion) with a Divine essence.

In this and in no other way can faith become saving. It is the same with charity. But some particulars shall be briefly mentioned —
• God, in accordance with His laws, is able to remit sins to any man only so far as the man, in accordance with his laws, refrains from them.
• God able to regenerate a man spiritually only so far as the man, accordance with his laws, regenerates himself naturally.

God is in an unceasing endeavor to regenerate man, and thus save him; but this He is unable to accomplish except as man prepares himself as a receptacle, and thus levels the way and opens the door for God.

A bridegroom cannot enter the chamber of a virgin till she becomes his bride; for she shuts the door and keeps the key to herself within; but when the virgin has become a bride she gives the key to the bridegroom.

God could not by His omnipotence have redeemed men unless He had become Man; neither could He have made His Human Divine unless that Human had first been like the human of a babe, and then like that of a boy; and unless afterwards the Human had formed itself into a receptacle and habitation, into which its Father might enter; which was done by His fulfilling all things in the Word, that is, all the laws of order therein; and so far as He accomplished this He united Himself to the Father, and the Father united Himself to Him.

These are a few things, presented for the sake of illustration, to enable you to see that the Divine omnipotence is in order, and that its government, which is called Providence, is in accordance with order, and that it acts continually and to eternity in accordance with the laws of its order; nor can it act against them or change them one iota, because order, with all its laws, is Himself.

(from True Christian Religion 73)

What Order Is — Summaries, But Not Its Particulars

Selection from True Christian Religion ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

(1) God is order itself.

(2) He created man from order, in order, and into order.

(3) He created man's rational mind in accordance with the order of the whole spiritual world, and his body in accordance with the order of the whole natural world; and this is why man was called by the ancients a little heaven and a little cosmos.

(4) Therefore it is a law of order that man from his little heaven or his little spiritual world should govern his little cosmos or little natural world, just as God from His great heaven or spiritual world governs the great cosmos or natural world in each thing and all things of it.

(5) It is a resulting law of order that it is needful for man to lead himself into faith by means of truths from the Word, and into charity by means of good works, and so reform and regenerate himself.

(6) It is a law of order that man by his own exertion and power should purify himself from sins, and not stand still, believing in his own impotency, and expecting God to wash his sins away in a moment.

(7) It is also a law of order that man should love God with his whole soul and with his whole heart, and his neighbor as himself, and should not wait and expect that God will in an instant put these loves into his mind and heart, as bread from a baker may be put into his mouth." These with other like things.

(from True Christian Religion 71)

Goods of Charity Enriched

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

In order that good may become good, there must be truths to qualify it. The reason is that when anyone lives according to truths, the truths themselves then become goods; and therefore such as is the quality of the truth, such becomes the good. This good afterward associates and adjoins to itself no other truths than such as are in accord with its own quality, consequently no other than such as are helpful, thus which are in the neighborhood and in the house.

(from Arcana Coelestia 6916)

Those Who are in Falsity Set Themselves in Opposition to Those who are in Truths

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

In the world, they who are in falsity do not openly oppose themselves to those who are in truth, for external bonds restrain them, which are fears lest they should appear to be against the laws of the realm and of the church, so that they could not seem to be good citizens. In this world, everyone wishes to seem just and true in outward form, and the wicked more so than the well-disposed, in order that they may captivate the minds of others, and deceive for the sake of gain and honors. Nevertheless inwardly they set themselves in opposition, for whenever they hear anyone professing the truths of the church, not from his office but from zeal, they ridicule inwardly, and they would openly deride if external bonds did not then restrain them. When such come into the other life, external bonds no longer restrain them, for these are then taken away from them in order that everyone may appear in his true character — then they openly set themselves in opposition to those who are in truths, and infest them in every possible way. This is then the very delight of their life; and when they are warned not to do such things, because if they do not desist, they will at last be removed altogether and thrust down into hell, still they pay no attention to this, but constantly persist in the infestation as before, so greatly are they in the delight of life from falsity, and this taking such possession of them that they do not admit anything which is of intelligence.

These are the things signified by the words "the king of Egypt will not allow you to go," and which are represented by Pharaoh, in that he so often set himself in opposition.

The removal of such spirits, and the thrusting of them down into hell, is represented by the destruction of Pharaoh and the Egyptians in the sea Suph.

They who are in evil of life, and from this in falsity, are in the light of the world, for this is the light by which intellectual objects are seen; this light, with those who are in falsity from evil, has a ruddy glow, and the more so in proportion as they are more in falsity from evil. The glory of the world, which is from the love of self, kindles this light, and causes its glow; and because this is so, truths appear therein wholly as falsities, and falsities wholly as truths. The reason is:  heavenly light cannot flow into a beam of that light, but becomes thick darkness when with it. Hence it is that such are in a strong persuasion in favor of falsities against truths; because in that light they see them in this way.

But with those who are in truths from good, the light of the world does not glow, but is obscure; while the light of heaven with them is clear and bright, and because this light is so clear, truths appear in it as truths, and falsities as falsities. For when this light falls upon falsities, which in the light of the world separate from the light of heaven appear as truths, it not only obscures but altogether extinguishes them. This light, namely, the light of heaven, becomes successively brighter and brighter with them, and at last so much so that the light of the world cannot be compared to it. From all this appears the reason why they who are in falsities from evil, from so strong a persuasion oppose themselves to those who are in truths.

(from Arcana Coelestia 6907)

The Faith that Belongs to Charity in Form

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

There are two states with the man who is being regenerated and becoming a church; namely, -

• the first when he is led by means of the truths of faith to the good of charity
• the second when he is in the good of charity.

That there are these two states with the man who is being regenerated and becoming a church, has been heretofore unknown, chiefly for the reason that the man of the church has not made any distinction between truth and good, thus not between faith and charity; and also because he has had no distinct perception of the two faculties of man, which are the understanding and the will; and that the understanding sees truths and goods, and the will is affected with them and loves them.

For the same reason he could not know that the first state of the man who is being regenerated is learning truths and seeing them, and that the second state is willing and loving them. The things which a man has learned and seen are not appropriated to him until he wills and loves them; for the will is the man himself, and the understanding is his minister.

If these things had been known, it might have been known and perceived that the man who is being regenerated is endowed by the Lord with both a new understanding and a new will, and that unless he has been endowed with both, he is not a new man - for the understanding is merely the seeing of the things which the man wills and loves, and thus, as before said, is only a minister.

Consequently, the first state of the man who is being regenerated is to be led through truths to good, and the second state is to be led by means of good, and when he is in this latter state, the order has been inverted, and he is then led by the Lord; consequently, he is then in heaven, and hence in the tranquility of peace.
. . .
He who knows nothing about these two states must needs be ignorant of many things contained in the Word; for in the Word, especially the prophetic Word, the two states are distinctly described. Nay, without this knowledge, he cannot apprehend the internal sense of the Word, nor even many things which are in its literal sense, as for example the following which the Lord foretold concerning the last time of the present church, which is there called the "consummation of the age" in these passages:

Then let them that are in Judea flee unto the mountains; let him that is upon the house not go down to take anything out of his house; and let him that is in the field not return back to take his garments (Matt. 24:16-18).

In that day, whosoever shall be upon the house, and his vessels in the house, let him not go down to take them away; and whosoever is in the field let him likewise not return to the things that are behind him. Remember Lot's wife (Luke 17:31, 32).

The second state is here described, and that no one ought to return from that state to the first.

That these states are distinct from each other is also involved in these words in Moses:

When thou makest a new house, thou shalt make a compass to thy roof. Thou shalt not sow thy vineyard nor thy field with mixed seed. Thou shalt not plough with an ox and an ass together. Thou shalt not put on a mixed garment of wool and linen together (Deut. 22:8-11; Lev. 19:19);

by these words is signified that he who is in the state of truth, that is, in the first state, cannot be in the state of good, that is, in the second state, nor the converse. The reason is that the one state is the inverse of the other.

• In the first state the man looks from the world into heaven
• In the second state he looks from heaven into the world

Because in the first state truths enter from the world through the intellect into the will, and there become goods, because of love; but in the second state the goods so formed go forth from heaven through the will into the intellect, and there appear in the form of faith. It is this faith which is saving, because it is from the good of love, that is, through the good of love from the Lord; for this faith belongs to charity in form.

(from Arcana Coelestia 9274)

The Divine in the Heavens is the Divine Human of the Lord

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

No other Divine is acknowledged and worshiped in the heavens than the Divine Human of the Lord; for the Divine which the Lord called His "Father," was the Divine in Him. That in the heavens no other Divine is acknowledged and worshiped than the Lord as to the Divine Human, can be seen from many of the Lord's words in the Evangelists as from these:

All things are delivered unto Me by the Father (Matt. 11:27; Luke 10:22).

The Father hath given all things into the hand of the Son (John 3:34, 35).

The Father hath given to the Son power over all flesh (John 17:2).

Without Me ye can do nothing (John 15:5).

Father, all Mine are Thine, and all Thine are Mine (John 17:10).

All power hath been given unto Me in the heavens and on earth (Matt. 28:18).

Jesus said to Peter, I will give thee the keys of the kingdom of the heavens; and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth, shall be bound in the heavens; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in the heavens (Matt. 16:19).

That this is so is also plain from the fact that no one can be conjoined by faith and love with the Divine Itself without the Divine Human;

for the Divine Itself, which is called the "Father," cannot be thought of, because it is incomprehensible, and what cannot be thought of cannot become a matter of faith, nor therefore an object of love; when yet the chief of all worship is to believe in God, and to love Him above all things.

That the Divine Itself, which is the "Father," is incomprehensible, the Lord also teaches in John:

No man hath ever seen God; the only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He hath set Him forth (John 1:18).

Ye have neither ever heard the voice of the Father, nor seen His shape (John 5:37).

And that the Divine Itself, which is the "Father," is comprehensible in the Lord through His Divine Human, He again teaches in these passages:

He that seeth Me, seeth Him who sent Me (12:45).

If ye have known Me, ye have known My Father also; and henceforth ye have known Him, and have seen Him. He that seeth Me, seeth the Father (John 14:6-11).

All things have been delivered unto Me of My Father; and no one knoweth the Son, save the Father; neither doth anyone know the Father save the Son, and he to whom the Son shall be willing to reveal Him (Matt. 11:27; Luke 10:22).

That it is also said, "no one knoweth the Son but the Father," is because by the "Son" is meant the Divine truth, and by the "Father," the Divine good, both in the Lord; and the one cannot be known except from the other; and therefore the Lord first says that all things have been delivered to Him by the Father, and then that he knoweth Him to whom the Son willeth to reveal Him. From all this it is now evident that the Divine in the heavens is the Divine Human of the Lord.
. . .
... a reciprocal unition of Divine good and Divine truth, thus of the Divine Itself which is called the "Father," and of the Divine truth which is called the "Son."

That the unition was reciprocal is very evident from the words of the Lord in the following passages:

The Father and I are one; though ye believe not Me, believe the works; that ye may know and believe that the Father is in Me, and I in the Father (John 10:30, 38).

Believest thou not that I am in the Father and the Father in Me? Believe Me, that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me (John 14:10-11).

Jesus said, Father, the hour is come; glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son also may glorify Thee. All things that are Mine are Thine, and all Thine are Mine (John 17:1, 10).

Now hath the Son of man been glorified; and God hath been glorified in Him; and God shall glorify Him in Himself (John 13:31-32).

From these passages it can be seen that the Divine good of the Divine love, which is the "Father," was united to the Divine truth, which is the "Son," reciprocally in the Lord; and hence that His Human itself is Divine good. The like is also signified by His "coming forth from the Father, and coming into the world, and going to the Father" (John 16:27-29); and by "all things of the Father being His" (John 16:15); and by "the Father and He being one" (John 10:30).

But these things can be better apprehended from the reciprocal conjunction of good and truth in the man who is being regenerated by the Lord, for as before said the Lord regenerates man as He glorified His Human.

When the Lord is regenerating man, He insinuates the truth which is to be of faith in the man's understanding, and the good which is to be of love in his will, and therein conjoins them; and when they have been conjoined, then the truth which is of faith has its life from the good which is of love, and the good which is of love has the quality of its life from the truth which is of faith. This conjunction is reciprocally accomplished by means of good, and is called the heavenly marriage, and is heaven with man. In this heaven the Lord dwells as in His own, for all the good of love is from Him, and also all the conjunction of truth with good. The Lord cannot dwell in anything of man's own, because it is evil.

This reciprocal conjunction is what is meant by the words of the Lord in John:

In that day ye shall know that I am in My Father, and ye in Me, and I in you (John 14:20).

All thing of Mine are Thine, and Thine are Mine, but I have been glorified in them. That they all may be one, as Thou Father art in Me, and I in them, and that they may be one in us (John 17:10, 21, 22).

Reciprocal conjunction is thus described; but still it is not meant that man conjoins himself with the Lord, but that the Lord conjoins with Himself the man who desists from evils;

for to desist from evils has been left to the man's decision, and when he desists, then is effected the reciprocal conjunction of the truth which is of faith and of the good which is of love from the Lord, and not at all from man; for that from himself man can do nothing of good, and thus can receive nothing of truth in good, has been known in the church;

and this also the Lord confirms in John:

Abide in Me, and I In you. He that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same beareth much fruit; for without Me ye can do nothing (John 15:4, 6).

This reciprocal conjunction can be illustrated from the conjunction of the understanding and will in man; his understanding is formed from truths, and his will from goods; and truths are of faith with him, and goods are of love. Man imbibes truths from hearing, through the sense of hearing; and from reading through the sight; and stores them up in his memory. These truths relate either to the civil state, or to the moral state, and are called memory-knowledges. The love of man which is of his will through the understanding looks into these things in the memory, and from it chooses those which are in agreement with the love; and those which it chooses, it summons to itself, and conjoins with itself, and by means of them strengthens itself from day to day. Truths thus vivified by love make the man's understanding, and the goods themselves which are of the love make his will. The goods of love are also like fires there, and truths in the circumferences round about, vivified by the love, are like the light from this fire. By degrees, as the truths are kindled by this fire, there is kindled in them a desire to conjoin themselves reciprocally. From this comes a reciprocal conjunction, which is permanent.

From all this it is evident that the good of love is really that which conjoins, and not the truth of faith, except insofar as this has the good of love within it. Whether you say love, or good, it is the same, for all good is of love, and that which is of love is called good; and also whether you say love, or the will, it is likewise the same, for that which a man loves he wills.

Be it known that the things which are of the civil or moral state, just now spoken of, conjoin themselves in the external man; but those which are of the spiritual state, before spoken of, conjoin themselves in the internal man, and then through the internal in the external. For the things of the spiritual state, which are truths of faith and goods of love to the Lord, and which look to eternal life, communicate with the heavens, and open the internal man, and they open it insofar and in such a way as the truths of faith are received in the good of love to the Lord and toward the neighbor, from the Lord. From this it is evident that those are only external men who do not at the same time imbue themselves with those things which are of the spiritual state; and that those are merely sensuous men who deny these things, however intelligently they may seem to talk.

(from Arcana Coelestia 10067)