The True Bonds of Conscience

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

And if one man's ox hurt another's, that he die; then they shall sell the live ox, and divide the money of it; and the dead ox also they shall divide. (Exodus 21:35)

How the case is with the things contained in this verse in the internal sense can with difficulty be unfolded to the apprehension. They are such as can be comprehended by the angels, and only in some measure by men. For the angels see the arcana of the Word in the light which is from the Lord, in which light innumerable things are presented to view that do not fall into the words of speech, and not even into the ideas of thought, with men so long as they live in the body. The reason is that with men the light of heaven flows into the light of the world, and thus into such things there as either extinguish, or reject, or darken, and thus deaden it. The cares of the world and of the body are such things, especially those which flow from the loves of self and of the world. From this it is that the things which are of angelic wisdom are for the most part unutterable, and also incomprehensible.

Nevertheless man comes into such wisdom after the laying aside of the body, that is, after death; but only the man who has received in the world the life of faith and charity from the Lord; for the capacity of receiving angelic wisdom is in the good of faith and of charity. That the things which the angels see and think in the light of heaven are unutterable, has been given me to know by much experience; for when I have been raised into that light, I have seemed to myself to understand all those things which the angels there spoke; but when I have been let down from thence into the light of the external or natural man, and in this light have desired to recollect the things which I had there heard, I could not express them by words, and not even comprehend them by ideas of thought, except a few, and these few obscurely; from which it is manifest that —

the things which are seen and heard in heaven are such as the eye hath not seen nor the ear heard

Such are the things which lie inmostly hidden in the internal sense of the Word; and it is the same with the things contained in the internal sense in this and the following verses. The things therein contained which can be explained to the apprehension are these.

All truths in man have life from the affections which are of some love.

Truth without life from love is like sound flowing forth from the mouth without an idea, or like the sound of an automaton. Hence it is plain that the life of man's understanding is from the life of his will, consequently that the life of truth is from the life of good; for truth bears relation to the understanding, and good to the will. If therefore there are two truths which do not live from the same general affection, but from diverse affections, they must needs be dissipated, for they are in collision with each other. And when truths are dissipated, their affections also are dissipated; for there is a general affection under which all the truths with a man are associated together. This general affection is good.

This is all that can be told about what is signified in the internal sense by the oxen of two men, one of which strikes the other so that he dies, the living ox then being sold, and the silver divided, and also the dead ox.

Who that is of the church does not know that there are Divine things in each and all things of the Word? But who can see Divine things in these laws about oxen and asses falling into a pit, and about oxen striking with the horn, if they are regarded and explained merely according to the sense of the letter? Nevertheless they are Divine even in the sense of the letter, provided they are regarded and unfolded at the same time in respect to the internal sense; for in this sense each and all things of the Word treat of the Lord, of His Kingdom, and His church, thus of Divine things. For in order that anything may be Divine and holy, it must treat of Divine and holy things. The subject that is treated of effects this. The worldly and public affairs, such as are the judgments, statutes, and laws promulgated by the Lord from Mount Sinai, which are contained in this and in the following chapters of Exodus, are Divine and holy by inspiration; yet inspiration is not dictation, but is influx from the Divine. That which inflows from the Divine passes through heaven, and there is celestial and spiritual; but when it comes into the world it becomes worldly, within which is what is celestial and spiritual. From this it is plain whence and where is the Divine that is in the Word; and what is inspiration.

Or if it be known that the ox was wont to strike with the horn from yesterday the day before yesterday.

That this signifies if it had previously been known that such was its affection, is evident from the signification of "to be known," or "attested," as being that it had passed into the intellectual, for that which has passed there from the will has become known; and from the signification of "that the ox was wont to strike with the horn from yesterday the day before yesterday," as being that such had been the affection heretofore.

... if the ox were wont to strike with his horn from yesterday the day before yesterday. That this signifies if the affection of evil has existed for a long time, is evident from the signification of "an ox wont to strike with the horn," as being the affection of evil; and from the signification of "yesterday the day before yesterday," as being a preceding state and time (n. 6983), thus what has been previously, and for a long time. (Arcana Coelestia 9070)

And his master hath not watched him. That this signifies and if he hath not kept it in bonds, is evident from the signification of "to watch," as being to keep in bonds, namely, the affection of evil in the natural, which otherwise would injure the truth of faith. That it signifies to keep in bonds, is because by "becoming known" is signified to pass into the intellectual, and the intellectual is that which sees evil, and that which is seen can be restrained and kept in bonds; not by the intellectual, but through the intellectual by the Lord. For the Lord flows into those things in man which are known to him, but not into those things which are unknown to him.

By "keeping in bonds" is meant to prevent, and to restrain. In the spiritual sense bonds are nothing else than —

the affections of love, for these are what lead man, and what restrain him.

If the affections of evil lead him, there must be affections of truth from good to restrain him.

Internal bonds in man are affections of truth and of good. These are also called the "bonds of conscience."

But external bonds are the affections of the love of self and of the love of the world, for these lead man in external things. If the latter affections descend from internal bonds, which are affections of truth and of good, they are good, for then the man loves himself and the world not for the sake of self and the world, but for the sake of good uses from himself and the world.

But if the affections of the love of self and of the love of the world do not descend from internal bonds, the affections are evil, and are called "cupidities;" for then the man loves himself for the sake of himself, and the world for the sake of the world.

From all this it can be known what is meant by internal bonds, and by external bonds, of which frequent mention has been made.

But bonds so called are not bonds except relatively to their opposites; for he who does anything from the affection which is of the love of good, acts from freedom; but he who acts from the affection which is of the love of evil seems to himself to act from freedom, but does not act from freedom, because he acts from cupidities that are from hell. He only is free who is in the affection of good, because he is led by the Lord. This the Lord also teaches in John:

If ye abide in My word, ye are truly My disciples; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. Everyone that committeth sin is the servant of sin. If the Son shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed (John 8:31, 32, 34, 36).

That it is freedom to be led by the Lord, and servitude to be led by cupidities which are from hell; for the Lord implants affections for good, and aversion for evil. From this the man has freedom in doing good, and utter servitude in doing evil. He who believes that Christian liberty extends itself further is very greatly in error.

(from Arcana Coelestia 9094 - 9096)

A Garden of Trees Beyond Measure

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field: which indeed is the least of all seeds: but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof. (Matthew 13:31-32)

And the Angel of Jehovah said unto her, In multiplying I will multiply thy seed, and it shall not be numbered for multitude. (Genesis 16:10)

How the case is with man's rational in regard to multiplication and fruitfulness cannot be understood unless we know how the case is with influx, of which it may be said in a general way that in everyone there is an internal man, a rational man which is intermediate, and an external man, as before said. It is the internal man that is his inmost from which he is man, and by which he is distinguished from brute animals, which have not such an inmost; and it is as it were the door or entrance for the Lord, that is, for what is celestial and spiritual from the Lord, into man. What is going on there cannot be comprehended by the man, because it is above all his rational, from which he thinks. That rational which appears as man's own is subject to this inmost, or to this internal man, and into this rational through the internal man there inflow from the Lord the heavenly things of love and of faith, and through this rational they inflow into the memory-knowledges that are in the external man; but the things that inflow are received in accordance with the state of each person.

Now unless the rational submits itself to the Lord's goods and truths, it either suffocates, or rejects, or perverts the things that flow in; and this is still more the case when they flow into the sensuous knowledges of the memory. This is what is meant by seed falling on a highway, or upon a rocky place, or among thorns, as the Lord teaches: —

Behold, a sower went forth to sow; and when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up: some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth: and when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them: but other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold. (Matt. 13:3-8; Mark 4:3-8; Luke 8:5-8).

But when the rational submits itself and believes the Lord, that is, His Word, the rational is then like good ground or earth, into which the seed falls and bears much fruit.

And it shall not be numbered for multitude. That this signifies multiplication beyond measure, is evident without explication. By these words is signified the truth that, from good, will thus grow multitudinously. In the case of the Lord - who in the internal sense is here treated of - these things cannot be fully expressed in words, because in Him all things are Divine and Infinite, and therefore in order that we may form some idea of how the case is with the multiplication of truth from good, we must speak concerning man.

With a man who is in good, that is, in love and charity, the seed that comes from the Lord is made fruitful and multiplied to such an extent that it cannot be numbered for multitude; not so much while he is living in the body, but in the other life to an incredible degree; for so long as a man is living in the body the seed is in corporeal ground, and is there in the midst of jungles and thickets, which are memory-knowledges and pleasures, and also cares and anxieties; but when these are put off, which is done when he passes into the other life, the seed is freed from them and grows, just as the seed of a tree uprising from the ground grows into a sapling, then into a great tree, which is afterwards multiplied into a garden of trees. For all memory-knowledge [scientia], intelligence, and wisdom, together with their delights and happiness, are thus made fruitful and multiplied, and thereby increase to eternity, and this from the smallest seed, as the Lord teaches respecting the grain of mustard seed (Matt. 13:31). This may be seen very clearly from the knowledge, intelligence, and wisdom of the angels, which while they were men had been to them unutterable.

(from Arcana Coelestia 1940.2,3 - 1941)

Becoming Like a Garden of Eden

Selection from Divine Love and Wisdom ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

Love, when purified by wisdom in the understanding, becomes spiritual and celestial. Man is born natural, but in the measure in which his understanding is raised into the light of heaven, and his love conjointly is raised into the heat of heaven, he becomes spiritual and celestial; he then becomes like a garden of Eden, which is at once in vernal light and vernal heat. It is not the understanding that becomes spiritual and celestial, but the love; and when the love has so become, it makes its consort, the understanding, spiritual and celestial.

Love becomes spiritual and celestial by a life according to the truths of wisdom which the understanding teaches and requires. Love imbibes these truths by means of its understanding, and not from itself; for love cannot elevate itself unless it knows truths, and these it can learn only by means of an elevated and enlightened understanding; and then so far as it loves truths in the practice of them so far it is elevated; for to understand is one thing and to will is another; or to say is one thing and to do is another. There are those who understand and talk about the truths of wisdom, yet neither will nor practise them.

When, therefore, love puts in practice the truths of light which it understands and speaks, it is elevated.

This one can see from reason alone; for what kind of a man is he who understands the truths of wisdom and talks about them while he lives contrary to them, that is, while his will and conduct are opposed to them? Love purified by wisdom becomes spiritual and celestial, for the reason that man has three degrees of life, called natural, spiritual, and celestial, and he is capable of elevation from one degree into another. Yet he is not elevated by wisdom alone, but by a life according to wisdom, for a man's life is his love. Consequently, so far as his life is according to wisdom, so far he loves wisdom; and his life is so far according to wisdom as he purifies himself from uncleannesses, which are sins; and so far as he does this does he love wisdom.

The respiration of a merely natural man appears the same as the respiration of a spiritual man

That love purified by the wisdom in the understanding becomes spiritual and celestial cannot be seen so clearly by their correspondence with the heart and lungs, because no one can see the quality of the blood by which the lungs are kept in their state of respiration. The blood may abound in impurities, and yet not be distinguishable from pure blood. Moreover, the respiration of a merely natural man appears the same as the respiration of a spiritual man. But the difference is clearly discerned in heaven, for there every one respires according to the marriage of love and wisdom; therefore as angels are recognized according to that marriage, so are they recognized according to their respiration. For this reason it is that when one who is not in that marriage enters heaven, he is seized with anguish in the breast, and struggles for breath like a man in the agonies of death; such persons, therefore throw themselves headlong from the place, nor do they find rest until they are among those who are in a respiration similar to their own; for then by correspondence they are in similar affection, and therefore in similar thought.

From all this it can be seen that with the spiritual man it is the purer blood, called by some the animal spirit, which is purified; and that it is purified so far as the man is in the marriage of love and wisdom. It is this purer blood which corresponds most nearly to that marriage; and because this blood inflows into the blood of the body, it follows that the latter blood is also purified by means of it. The reverse is true of those in whom love is defiled in the understanding. But, as was said, no one can test this by any experiment on the blood; but he can by observing the affections of love, since these correspond to the blood.

(from Divine Love and Wisdom 422-423)

For Their Works Follow With Them

Selection from Apocalypse Revealed ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

In the day of judgment God will render to every man according to his works (Rom. 2:6).

We must all appear before the tribunal of Christ, that each one may give account of the things which he hath done by the body, whether good or evil (2 Cor. 5:10).

The Son of man will come in the glory of His Father, and then shall He render to everyone according to his works (Matt. 16:27).

They that have done good shall come forth unto the resurrection of life, but they that have done evil unto the resurrection of judgment (John 5:29).

They were judged according to those things which were written in the books, all according to their works (Rev. 20:12-13)

Behold, I come quickly; and My reward is with Me, to give to everyone according to his works (Rev. 22:12).

I will give to everyone of you according to his works (Rev. 2:23).

I know thy works (Rev. 2:1-2, 4, 9, 13, 19, 26; 3:1-3, 7-8, 14-15, 19).

I will recompense them according to their work, and according to the deed of their hands (Jer. 25:14).

Jehovah doeth with us according to our ways and according to our works (Zech. 1:6)

And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them. (Rev.14:13)

For their works follow with them, signifies as they have loved and believed, and thence have done and spoken. By "the works which follow with them" are signified all things which remain with man after death. It is known, that the externals, which appear before men, derive their essence, soul, and life from the internals, which do not appear before men, but which appear before the Lord and the angels; the latter and the former, or the externals and the internals taken together, are works; good works, if the internals are in love and faith, and the externals act and speak from them; but evil works, if the internals are not in love and faith, and the externals act and speak from them. If the externals act and speak as if from love and faith, those works are either hypocritical or meritorious. Ten persons may do works which are similar in externals, but still they are dissimilar, because the internals from which the externals proceed are dissimilar.

Who does not see that there is an internal and an external, and that these two make one? For who does not see that the understanding and will are the internal of man, and speech and action his external? For who can speak and act without the understanding and the will? And since everyone sees this, he may also see that works are external and internal at the same time; and because the external derives its essence, soul, and life from its internal, as was said above, it follows that the external is such as is its internal; consequently, that "the works which follow with them" are according as they have loved and believed, and thence have done and spoken.

• Good works are charity and faith

• The internal of man or the internal man does not consist in understanding without willing, but in willing and thence understanding, consequently that it does not consist in believing without loving, but in loving and thence believing; and that the doing these things is the external of man, or the external man.

From these things it is evident, that by "the works that follow with them" is signified according as they have loved and believed, and thence have done and spoken.

(from Apocalypse Revealed 641)

Acquiring Soundness and Purity of Doctrine

Selection from True Christian Religion ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
THE CHURCH IS FROM THE WORD, AND WITH MAN IT IS SUCH AS HIS UNDERSTANDING OF THE WORD IS.

• The Church is from the Word no one can doubt — since the Word is Divine truth
• The doctrine of the church is from the Word
• By means of the Word there is conjunction with the Lord

But that the understanding of the Word constitutes the church, may be called in question; for there are those who believe themselves to be of the church by virtue of their having the Word and reading it, or hearing preaching from it, and knowing something of the sense of its letter. But how this or that in the Word is to be understood they do not know; and some do not regard it as of much importance. Therefore it shall now be established that it is not the Word that constitutes the church, but the understanding of it, and that the church is such as is the understanding of the Word with those who are in the church.

The church is in accordance with the understanding of the Word because it is in accordance with the truths of faith and the goods of charity, and these two are the universals which not only pervade the whole literal sense of the Word, but are also concealed within it like the precious things in a treasury. The things in the literal sense of the Word are apparent to every man because they present themselves directly to the eye; but the things that lie hidden in the spiritual sense are apparent only to those who love truths because they are truths, and do goods because they are goods. To them the treasure that the literal sense covers and guards lies open. These goods and truths are the essential constituents of the church.

It is known that the church is in accordance with its doctrine, and that doctrine is from the Word; nevertheless it is not doctrine but soundness and purity of doctrine, consequently the understanding of the Word, that establishes the church. Neither is it doctrine, but a faith and life in accordance with doctrine, that establishes and constitutes the special church in the individual man. So too it is not the Word that establishes and constitutes the church in particular in man, but a faith according to the truths, and a life according to the goods, which man derives from the Word, and applies to himself.

The Word is like a mine containing in its depths gold and silver in great abundance, and like a mine which at greater and greater depths conceals stones more and more precious; these mines are opened in the measure of man's understanding of the Word. The Word such as it is in itself, in its bosom, and in its depth, when not understood, would no more form a church in man than mines in Asia would make a European rich; although it would be otherwise if he were one of the owners and workers of the mine. The Word with those who search in it for truths of faith and goods of life, is like the treasuries of the king of Persia, or of the emperor of the Moguls or of China, and men of the church are like officers placed over them, who are permitted to take for their use as much as they please. But those who merely have possession of the Word and read it, but do not try to get from it genuine truths for their faith or genuine goods for their life, are like those who know by hearsay that there are such great treasures there, but do not receive a penny from them. Those who have the Word, but do not gain from it any understanding of genuine truth, or any will for genuine good, are like those who think themselves rich for having money borrowed from others, or like those who hold estates, houses, and merchandise belonging to others. This, as everyone can see, is mere hallucination. They are also like those who go about magnificently clothed, and are driven about in gilded carriages, with attendants behind and beside them, and couriers ahead, and yet none of this is their own property.

Such was the Jewish nation; and therefore, because it had the Word, it was likened by the Lord to a rich man, who was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day, and yet did not gain enough truth and good from the Word to have pity upon poor Lazarus, who lay at his door full of sores. Not only did that nation appropriate no truths from the Word, it drew from it falsities in such abundance, that finally not a single truth could be seen by them; for through falsities truths are not merely covered, they are even obliterated and cast out. For this reason the Jews did not acknowledge the Messiah, although all the prophets had foretold His coming.

(True Christian Religion 243-246)

Heaven and The Church in Man

Selection from Heaven and Hell ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
ANY ONE SOCIETY IS HEAVEN IN LESSER FORM, AND EACH ANGEL IN THE LEAST FORM

Any one Society is heaven in lesser form and each angel is heaven in the least form because it is the good of love and of faith that makes heaven, and this good is in every society of heaven and in every angel of a society. It does not matter that this good everywhere differs and varies. It is still the good of heaven. The difference is only that heaven is of one quality here and another there. So, when one is raised up into some society of heaven he is said to come into heaven, and those who are there are said to be in heaven, each in his own. All who are in the other life know this. Consequently, those who stand outside or below heaven, looking from a distance at companies of angels, say that heaven is in this or that place. It is comparatively like the governors, officials and servants in one palace or court. Although they dwell apart in their own apartments or rooms, one above, another below, still they are in one palace or court, each one in the performance of his own duty in the king's service. This makes evident the meaning of the Lord's words, that -

In His Father's house are many mansions. John 14:2.

also what is meant by -

The dwelling-places of heaven,

and by -

The heaven of heavens, in the Prophets

That any one society is heaven in lesser form might be evident from the fact that there is in every society a heavenly form as there is in the whole heaven. In the whole heaven those who are superior to the rest are in the middle, with the less excellent round about in decreasing order, even to the boundaries. It can be seen also from this that the Lord leads all in the whole heaven as if they were one angel. The same is true of those in any one society. Hence, an entire angelic society sometimes appears as a one in the form of an angel, as I have been enabled by the Lord to see. In fact, when the Lord appears in the midst of angels He does not appear thronged about by many but as one in the angelic form. This is why the Lord is called "an angel" in the Word, and so is an entire society. "Michael," "Gabriel", and "Raphael" are no other than angelic societies so named from their functions.

As an entire society is heaven in lesser form, so an angel is heaven in the least form. For heaven is not outside an angel but is within him. For the interior things that he has in his mind are arranged in the form of heaven, thus for the reception of all things of heaven that are outside him. These also he receives in accordance with the quality of the good which is in him from the Lord. From this he is an angel and also a heaven.

It can in no case be said that heaven is outside anyone; it is within him. For it is in accordance with the heaven that is within him that every angel receives the heaven that is outside him. This makes clear how greatly deceived is he who believes that to come into heaven is simply to be taken up among angels, whatever he may be as to his interior life, thus that heaven is granted to each one by immediate (immediata) mercy, when in fact, unless heaven is within anyone, nothing of the heaven that is outside inflows and is received. There are many spirits who are of this opinion. Because of this belief they were taken up into heaven; but their interior life being contrary to the life in which angels are, they began to be blinded as to their intellectual faculties when they came there, until they became like fools, and they began to be tortured in their voluntary faculties until they behaved like madmen. In a word, those who live wickedly and come into heaven gasp for breath and writhe about just like fish out of water in the air, or like animals in the ether in an air-pump when the air has been exhausted. From this it can be confirmed that heaven is within and not outside anyone.

Because all receive the heaven that is outside them in accordance with the quality of the heaven within them, so in like manner do they receive the Lord since the Divine of the Lord makes heaven. So it comes about that when the Lord shows Himself as present in any society, He appears there in accordance with the quality of good in which the society is, thus not the same in one society as in another. This diversity is not in the Lord, but in the angels who behold Him from their own good, thus in accordance with that good. They are even affected by His appearance in accordance with the quality of their love, those who love Him inmostly being inmostly affected and those who love Him less being less affected; while the evil who are outside heaven are tortured at His presence. When the Lord appears in any society, He appears there as an Angel, but He is distinguished from others by the Divine which shines through.

Unity Comes into Existence from Variety

Again, heaven is where the Lord is acknowledged, believed in and loved. Variety in worship of the Lord resulting from the variety of good in one society and another is not harmful but beneficial, for the perfection of heaven is therefrom. It can scarcely be made clear to the comprehension that the perfection of heaven is the result of variety, without employing terms in common use in the learned world and by them showing how unity, to be perfect, is formed from various parts. Every unity has its existence from diversity, for a unity that is not the result of diversity is not anything; it has no form and therefore no quality. When, on the other hand, a unity comes into existence from various parts, and these various parts are in a perfect form in which each attaches itself in series, like a congenial friend to another, then the quality is perfect. So heaven is a unity resulting from the arrangements of various parts in the most perfect form, for the heavenly form is the most perfect of all forms. That this is the origin of all perfection is evident from all the beauty, pleasantness and delight that affect the senses as well as the mind (animus). For these exist and flow from no other source than the concert and harmony of many concordant and harmonious parts, either co-existing in order or following in order, and not from a unity apart from plurality. From this comes the saying that variety gives delight, and it is known that it is the nature of the variety which determines the delight. From all this it can be seen, as in a mirror, how perfection comes from variety even in heaven. For the things that are in the spiritual world can be seen as in a mirror# from those that come into existence in the natural world.

The Church is The Lord's Heaven on Earth

What has been said of heaven can be said of the Church, for the Church is the Lord's heaven on earth. There are also many Churches, and yet any one of them is called the Church and indeed is a Church, so far as the good of love and of faith rules there. There again, the Lord out of diversity makes a unity, thus, one Church out of many Churches. The same, too, can be said of the man of the Church in particular as is said of the Church in general, namely, that the Church is within a man and not outside him, and that every man in whom the Lord is present in the good of love and of faith is a Church.

Again, the same can be said of a man in whom is the Church as of an angel in whom is heaven, namely, that he is a Church in least form as an angel is heaven in least form, and furthermore, that a man in whom is the Church, equally with an angel, is a heaven. For man has been created that he may come into heaven and become an angel. Consequently, he who has good from the Lord is an angel-man.

It may he mentioned what a man has in common with an angel and what he has in addition to what angels have. A man has this in common with an angel, that his interiors are equally conformed to the image of heaven and that he, too, in so far as he is in the good of love and faith, may become an image of heaven. In addition to what angels have, a man has these things, that his exteriors have been formed according to the image of the world, that so far as he is in good, the world with him is subordinated to heaven and serves heaven, and that then the Lord is present with him in both worlds, just as if he were in his heaven. For the Lord is in His Divine order in both worlds, since God is order.

Lastly, it must he mentioned that he who has heaven in himself, has it not only in the greatest or general things pertaining to him but also in the very least or particular things; and that these least things repeat in an image the greatest. This comes from the fact that everyone is his own love, and is such as is his ruling love. The ruling love inflows into particulars and arranges them, and everywhere induces a likeness of itself. In the heavens, love to the Lord is the ruling love, for there the Lord is loved above all things. Hence, the Lord there is the All-in-all things, flowing into all and each, arranging them, clothing them with a likeness of Himself, and making it to be heaven wherever He is. So it is that an angel is a heaven in the least form, a society in a greater form, and all the societies taken together a heaven in the greatest form. That the Divine of the Lord makes heaven and that He is the All-in-all things.

(Heaven and Hell 51-58)

Justified By The Lord

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
GOOD CANNOT DIE, BECAUSE EVIL CAN BE SEPARATED FROM IT

Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.  On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. (Matthew 22: 36-40)

In regard to justification, the case is not as is commonly supposed, namely, that all evils and sins are wiped away and utterly blotted out when men, as they imagine, believe - even if it were their last and dying hour - however they may have lived in evils and in misdeeds during the entire course of their lives; for I have been fully instructed that not the smallest evil which a man during his bodily life has thought and has carried out into act is wiped away and utterly blotted out; but that it all remains, even to the very least of it.

The truth is that with those who have meditated and practiced acts of hatred, of revenge, of cruelty, and of adultery, and who thereby have lived in no charity, the life thence contracted awaits them after death, nay, so do all things of that life both in general and in particular, which return in succession; and from this comes their torment in hell.

Whatever a man has done in the life of the body successively returns in the other life, and so does all that he has even thought. When his enmities, hatreds, and deceits return, the persons against whom he has indulged hatred and has clandestinely plotted are made present to him, and this in a moment. Such is the case in the other life....

The thoughts a man has harbored against others make their appearance openly, for there is a perception of all thoughts. Hence come lamentable states, for there concealed hatreds break out openly.

With the evil all their evil deeds and thoughts thus return, to the life.

But it is not so with the good. With these all their good states of friendship and love return, attended with the highest delight and happiness.

But with those who have lived in love to the Lord and in charity toward the neighbor, their evils of life also all remain, but they are tempered by the goods which during their life in the world they have received from the Lord by means of a life of charity; and thereby they are uplifted into heaven, nay, are withheld from the evils which they have appertaining to them, so that these do not appear.

They who in the other life doubt their having evils with them, because the evils do not appear, are let into them until they know that the case is really so, and then are again uplifted into heaven. (Arcana Coelestia 823)

This then is what is meant by being justified; for in this way men come to acknowledge not their own righteousness, but that of the Lord.

As to its being said that those are saved who have faith - this is true; but in the Word by "faith" nothing else is meant than love to the Lord and charity toward the neighbor, and thus a life from these loves. The doctrinal things and dogmas of faith are not faith, but belong to faith; for they are one and all for the sake of the end that a man may become such as they teach him to be, as may be clearly seen from the Lord's words that in love to God and love toward the neighbor consist all the law and the prophets, that is, the universal doctrine of faith (Matt. 22:34-39; Mark 12:28-35).

(from Arcana Coelestia 2116)

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And the LORD said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do; seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the LORD, to do justice and judgment; that the LORD may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him. And the LORD said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous; I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; and if not, I will know.... be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? (Genesis 18: 17-21; 25)

To cause the righteous to die with the wicked, that so the righteous be as the wicked. That this signifies that good cannot die, because evil can be separated from it, is evident from the signification of "righteous," as being good, and of "wicked," as being evil. Hence to "cause the righteous to die with the wicked," is to make good die with evil. As this ought not to be done, and causes horror to think of, it is removed in the internal sense, and then there is presented this: that good cannot die, because evil can be separated from it.

How this matter stands, is known to few, if any.

Be it known that all the good a man has thought and done from infancy even to the last of his life, remains; in like manner all the evil, so that not the least of it completely perishes. Both are inscribed on his book of life (that is, on each of his memories), and on his nature (that is, his native disposition and genius). From these he has formed for himself a life, and so to speak a soul, which after death is of a corresponding quality. But goods are never so commingled with evils, nor evils with goods, that they cannot be separated; for if they should be commingled, the man would eternally perish.

In relation to this the Lord exercises His providence, and when a man comes into the other life, if he has lived in the good of love and of charity, the Lord then separates his evils, and by what is good with him elevates him into heaven. But if he has lived in evils, that is, in things contrary to love and charity, the Lord then separates from him what is good, and his evils bring him into hell. Such is the lot of everyone after death; but it is a separation, and in no wise a complete removal.

Moreover, as the will of man, which is the one part of his life, has been utterly destroyed, the Lord separates this destroyed part from the other which is his intellectual part, and in those who are being regenerated, implants in this intellectual part the good of charity, and through this a new will; these are they who have conscience. Thus also, speaking generally, the Lord separates evil from good. These are the arcana which are meant in the internal sense by the statement that good cannot die, because evil can be separated from it.

(from Arcana Coelestia 2256)