Moved from the Understanding to Living

Selections from The Heavenly Doctrines ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

It is better not to know and apprehend the truths of faith, than to know and apprehend them and yet live a life of evil.

NO ONE CAN HAVE CELESTIAL GOOD UNLESS HE ACKNOWLEDGES THE LORD

• Two affections, namely, of good and of truth
• The affection of good, constitutes the Celestial Church — "daughter of Zion
• The affection of truth, constitutes the Spiritual Church — "daughter of Jerusalem."

Blessed are your eyes, for they see; and your ears, for they hear. Verily I say unto you, that many prophets and righteous men have desired to see the things which ye see, but did not see them (Matt. 13:16-17; John 12:40)

They were not blessed because they saw the Lord, and saw His miracles, but because they believed; as may be seen from these words in John:

I said unto you, that ye also have seen Me, and believe not. This is the will of Him that sent Me, that everyone who seeth the Son, and believeth on Him, should have eternal life. Not that anyone hath seen the Father, save He that is with the Father, He hath seen the Father. Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on Me hath eternal life (John 6:36, 40, 46-47)

"Seeing and not Believing" denotes knowing the truths of faith and not receiving them; "seeing and believing" denotes knowing and receiving them; "no one having seen the Father save He that is with the Father" denotes that Divine good cannot be acknowledged except by means of Divine truth.

FAITH IS THE EYE OF LOVE

The Spirit of Truth whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him; I will not leave you orphans; I come unto you. Yet a little while, and the world seeth Me no more; but ye see Me; because I live ye shall live also (John 14:17-19)

Where "seeing" signifies having faith, for the Lord is seen only by faith, because faith is the eye of love, the Lord being seen by love through faith, and love being the life of faith; wherefore it is said, "Ye see Me; because I live, ye shall live also."

FAITH FROM THE LORD vs FAITH FROM SELF

"Seeing," in the internal sense, signifies faith from the Lord, for there is no other faith which is faith than that which comes from the Lord. This also enables man to "see," that is, to believe; but faith from self, or from what is man's own, is not faith, for it causes him to see falsities as truths, and truths as falsities; and if he sees truths as truths, still he does not see, because he does not believe, for he sees himself in them, and not the Lord.

(portions from Arcana Coelestia 2362; 3863; )

~~~

CAN A MAN BE SAVED UNLESS HE BE FIRST REFORMED?

Man is born into the love of self and of the world; and as these loves do not bear within themselves any love to God and towards the neighbour, except for the sake of self, he is born also into evils of every kind. Is there any love or mercy in these loves? Does he regard it of any moment to defraud another, to defame him, to hate him even to death, to commit adultery with his wife, to act cruelly to him when moved by revenge, while he cherishes in his mind (animus) the desire to be supreme over all, thus regarding others compared with himself as insignificant and worthless?

In order that such a man may be saved must he not first be led away from these evils, and so be reformed?

This can only be effected in accordance with several laws, which are laws of the Divine Providence. These laws are for the most part unknown; and yet they are laws of the Divine Wisdom and at the same time of the Divine Love; and the Lord cannot act contrary to them, for to do so would be to destroy man, not to save him.

There is no immediate influx from heaven, but only mediate influx through the Word, doctrine and preaching.  The Word to be Divine could only have been written throughout wholly by correspondences.

THE ESSENTIALS THINGS OF THE CHURCH

When the Church itself has assumed as its essentials things which belong to the understanding only, that is, to doctrine, and not things which belong to the will, that is, to the life; and when those things which belong to the life are not made essentials of the Church, then man from his understanding is in complete darkness and wanders about like a blind man, everywhere running up against things and falling into pits. For the will must see in the understanding, and not the understanding in the will; or what is the same, the life and its love must lead the understanding to think, speak and act, and not the reverse. If the reverse were the case the understanding, from an evil, indeed a diabolical love, might seize upon whatever presents itself through the senses and insist upon the will doing it.

Yet it has been provided that everyone, no matter in what heresy he may be with respect to his understanding, may still be reformed and saved, if only he shuns evils as sins and does not confirm heretical falsities in himself. For by shunning evils as sins, the will is reformed, and through the will, the understanding, which then first emerges out of darkness into light.

There are three essentials of the Church:

• An acknowledgment of the Divinity of the Lord
• An acknowledgment of the holiness of the Word
• The life that is called charity.

According to the life which is charity is every man's faith; from the Word he has a rational perception of what the life should be; and from the Lord he has reformation and salvation. Had these three been held as essentials of the Church intellectual dissensions would not have divided but would have merely varied it, as light varies colors in beautiful objects, and as the various emblems of royalty constitute the beauty of a kingly crown.

(from Divine Providence 259)

From Spiritual to Celestial

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host [the army] of them. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.   (Genesis 2:1-3)

• Man is now rendered so far spiritual as to have become the "sixth day"
• "heaven" is his internal man, and "earth" his external
• "the army of them" are love, faith, and the knowledges thereof, which were previously signified by the great luminaries and the stars

That the internal man is called "heaven" and the external "earth" is evident from the passages of the Word from Isaiah:

I will make a man more rare than solid gold, even a man than the precious gold of Ophir; therefore I will smite the heavens with terror, and the earth shall be shaken out of its place (Isa. 13:12-13).

Thou forgettest Jehovah thy Maker, that stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundations of the earth; but I will put My words in thy mouth, and I will hide thee in the shadow of My hand, that I may stretch out the heaven, and lay the foundation of the earth (Isa. 51:13, 16).

From these words it is evident that both "heaven" and "earth" are predicated of Man; for although they refer primarily to the Most Ancient Church, yet the interiors of the Word are of such a nature that whatever is said of the church may also be said of every individual member of it, who, unless he were a church, could not possibly be a part of the church, just as he who is not a temple of the Lord cannot be what is signified by the temple, namely, the church and heaven. It is for this reason that the Most Ancient Church is called "Man" in the singular number.

WHEN THE CELESTIAL PRINCIPLE, AND NOT THE SPIRITUAL, BEGINS TO BE THE PRINCIPAL

The "heavens and the earth and all the army of them" are said to be "finished" when man has become the "sixth day" for then faith and love make a one. When they do this, love, and not faith, or in other words the celestial principle, and not the spiritual, begins to be the principal, and this is to be a celestial man.

GOD BLESSED THE SEVENTH DAY, AND HALLOWED IT

God blessed the seventh day, and hallowed it; because that in it He rested from all His work which God in making created.

The celestial man is the "seventh day" which, as the Lord has worked during the six days, is called "His work;" and as all combat then ceases, the Lord is said to "rest from all His work."

THE SABBATH

On this account the seventh day was sanctified, and called the Sabbath, from a Hebrew word meaning "rest." And thus was Man created, formed, and made.

That the celestial man is the "seventh day" and that the seventh day was therefore hallowed, and called the Sabbath, are arcana which have not hitherto been discovered. For none have been acquainted with the nature of the celestial man, and few with that of the spiritual man, whom in consequence of this ignorance they have made to be the same as the celestial man, notwithstanding the great difference that exists between them.

As regards the seventh day, and as regards the celestial man being the "seventh day" or "Sabbath" this is evident from the fact that the Lord Himself is the Sabbath; and therefore He says:

The Son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath (Mark 2:27)

which words imply that the Lord is Man himself, and the Sabbath itself. His kingdom in the heavens and on the earth is called, from Him, a Sabbath, or eternal peace and rest.

THE MOST ANCIENT CHURCH WAS THE SABBATH OF THE LORD

The Most Ancient Church, which is here treated of, was the Sabbath of the Lord above all that succeeded it.

Every subsequent inmost church of the Lord is also a Sabbath; and so is every regenerate person when he becomes celestial, because he is a likeness of the Lord.

The six days of combat or labor precede.

These things were represented in the Jewish church by the days of labor, and by the seventh day, which was the Sabbath; for in that church there was nothing instituted which was not representative of the Lord and of His kingdom. The like was also represented by the ark when it went forward, and when it rested, for by its journeyings in the wilderness were represented combats and temptations, and by its rest a state of peace; and therefore, when it set forward, Moses said:

Rise up, Jehovah, and let Thine enemies be scattered, and let them that hate Thee flee before Thy faces. And when it rested, he said, Return, Jehovah, unto the ten thousands of the thousands of Israel (Num. 10:35-36).

It is there said of the ark that it went from the Mount of Jehovah "to search out a rest for them" (Num. 10:33).

The rest of the celestial man is described by the Sabbath in Isaiah:

If thou bring back thy foot from the Sabbath, so that thou doest not thy desire in the day of My holiness, and callest the things of the Sabbath delights to the holy of Jehovah, honorable; and shalt honor it, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own desire, nor speaking a word; then shalt thou be delightful to Jehovah, and I will cause thee to be borne over the lofty things of the earth, and will feed thee with the heritage of Jacob (Isa. 58:13-14).

Such is the quality of the celestial man that he acts not according to his own desire, but according to the good pleasure of the Lord, which is his "desire." Thus he enjoys internal peace and happiness — here expressed by "being uplifted over the lofty things of the earth" — and at the same time external tranquility and delight, which is signified by "being fed with the heritage of Jacob."

When the spiritual man, who has become the "sixth day" is beginning to be celestial, which state is here first treated of, it is the "eve of the Sabbath" represented in the Jewish Church by the keeping holy of the Sabbath from the evening. The celestial man is the "morning" to be spoken of presently.

COMBAT CEASES WHEN HE BECOMES CELESTIAL

Another reason why the celestial man is the "Sabbath" or "rest" is that combat ceases when he becomes celestial. The evil spirits retire, and good ones approach, as well as celestial angels; and when these are present, evil spirits cannot possibly remain, but flee far away. And since it was not the man himself who carried on the combat, but the Lord alone for the man, it is said that the Lord "rested."

WHEN THE SPIRITUAL MAN BECOMES CELESTIAL

When the spiritual man becomes celestial, he is called the "work of God" because the Lord alone has fought for him, and has created, formed, and made him; and therefore it is here said, "God finished His work on the seventh day;" and twice, that "He rested from all His work."

By the Prophets man is repeatedly called the "work of the hands and of the fingers of Jehovah;" as in Isaiah, speaking of the regenerate man:

Thus hath said Jehovah the Holy One of Israel, and his Former, Seek ye signs of Me, signs concerning My sons, and concerning the work of My hands command ye Me. I have made the earth, and created man upon it; I, even My hands have stretched out the heavens, and all their army have I commanded. For thus hath said Jehovah that createth the heavens, God Himself that formeth the earth and maketh it; He establisheth it, He created it not a void, He formed it to be inhabited; I am Jehovah and there is no God else besides Me (Isa. 45:11-12, 18, 21).

THE WORK OF THE LORD ALONE

Hence it is evident that the new creation, or regeneration, is the work of the Lord alone. The expressions to "create" to "form" and to "make" are employed quite distinctively, both in the above passage — "creating the heavens, forming the earth, and making it" — and in other places in the same Prophet, as:

Everyone that is called by My name, I have created him for My glory, I have formed him, yea, I have made him (Isa. 43:7),

and also Genesis chapters one and two: "He rested from all His work which God in making created."

In the internal sense this usage always conveys a distinct idea; and the case is the same where the Lord is called "Creator" "Former" or "Maker."

(from Arcana Coelestia 83 - 88)

The Creation of a Church

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

• The celestial man is delighted with celestial things alone, which being in agreement with his life are called celestial food.

• The spiritual man is delighted with spiritual things, and as these are in agreement with his life they are called spiritual food.

• The natural man in like manner is delighted with natural things, which, being of his life, are called food, and consist chiefly of memory-knowledges.

~~~

• All things relating to the knowledges of faith are called spiritual.

• All things that are of love to the Lord and our neighbor are called celestial.

The spiritual belong to man's understanding; the celestial to his will.

~~~

THE WORK OF THE FINGERS OF GOD

The times and states of man's regeneration in general and in particular are divided into six, and are called the days of his creation; for, by degrees, from being not a man at all, he becomes at first something of one, and so by little and little attains to the sixth day, in which he becomes an image of God.

Meanwhile the Lord continually fights for him against evils and falsities, and by combats confirms him in truth and good. The time of combat is the time of the Lord's working; and therefore in the Prophets the regenerate man is called the work of the fingers of God.

Nor does He rest —

until love acts as principal

then the combat ceases.

When the work has so far advanced that faith is conjoined with love, it is called "very good;" because the Lord then actuates him, as His likeness. At the end of the sixth day the evil spirits depart, and good spirits take their place, and the man is introduced into heaven, or into the celestial paradise. (from Arcana Coelestia 62 -63)

FROM BEING A DEAD MAN, HE BECOME SPIRITUAL, THEN FROM SPIRITUAL, HE BECOMES CELESTIAL

• Genesis chapter one addresses the spiritual man — who was formed out of a dead man.
• Genesis chapter two addresses the celestial man — the seventh day, on which the Lord rests.

~~~

THE NATURE OF THE CELESTIAL MAN — THE SPIRITUAL MAN — THE DEAD MAN

First,
•  A dead man acknowledges nothing to be true and good but what belongs to the body and the world, and this he adores.
• A spiritual man acknowledges spiritual and celestial truth and good; but he does so from a principle of faith, which is likewise the ground of his actions, and not so much from love.
• A celestial man believes and perceives spiritual and celestial truth and good, acknowledging no other faith than that which is from love, from which also he acts.

Secondly:
• The ends which influence a dead man regard only corporeal and worldly life, nor does he know what eternal life is, or what the Lord is; or should he know, he does not believe.
• The ends which influence a spiritual man regard eternal life, and thereby the Lord.
• The ends which influence a celestial man regard the Lord, and thereby His kingdom and eternal life.

Thirdly:
• A dead man, when in combat almost always yields, and when not in combat, evils and falsities have dominion over him, and he is a slave. His bonds are external, such as the fear of the law, of the loss of life, of wealth, of gain, and of the reputation which he values for their sake.
• The spiritual man is in combat, but is always victorious; the bonds by which he is restrained are internal, and are called the bonds of conscience.
• The celestial man is not in combat, and when assaulted by evils and falsities, he despises them, and is therefore called a conqueror. He is apparently restrained by no bonds, but is free. His bonds, which are not apparent, are perceptions of good and truth.  (from Arcana Coelestia 81)

Food, in the Time of Reformation

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

And God said, Behold, I give you every herb bearing seed which is upon the faces of all the earth; and every tree in which is fruit; the tree yielding seed, to you it shall be for food.      (Genesis 1:29)

• The celestial man is delighted with celestial things alone, which being in agreement with his life are called celestial food.

• The spiritual man is delighted with spiritual things, and as these are in agreement with his life they are called spiritual food.

• The natural man in like manner is delighted with natural things, which, being of his life, are called food, and consist chiefly of memory-knowledges.

~~~

The "herb bearing seed" is every truth which regards use; the "tree in which is fruit" is the good of faith; "fruit" is what the Lord gives to the celestial man, but "seed producing fruit" is what He gives to the spiritual man; and therefore it is said, the "tree yielding seed, to you it shall be for food." That celestial food is called fruit from a tree, is evident from the following chapter, (Genesis chp. 2), where the celestial man is treated of. In confirmation of this we will here cite only these words of the Lord from Ezekiel:

By the river, upon the bank thereof, on this side and on that side, there cometh up every tree of food, whose leaf shall not fade, neither shall the fruit thereof be consumed; it is born again in its month; because these its waters issue out of the sanctuary; and the fruit thereof shall be for food, and the leaf thereof for medicine (Ezek. 47:12).

"Waters issuing out of the sanctuary" signify the life and mercy of the Lord, who is the "sanctuary." "Fruit" is wisdom, which shall be food for them; the "leaf" is intelligence which shall be for their use, and this use is called "medicine." But that spiritual food is called "herb" appears from David:

My shepherd, I shall not want; Thou makest me to lie down in pastures of herb (Ps. 23:1-2).

~~~

And to every wild animal of the earth, and to every fowl of the heavens, and to everything that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is a living soul, I give every green herb for food; and it was so.      (Genesis 1:30)

The natural meat of the same man is here described. His natural is signified by the "wild animal of the earth" and by the "fowl of the heavens" to which there are given for food the vegetable and the green of the herb. Both his natural and his spiritual food are thus described in David:

Jehovah causeth the grass to grow for the beast, and herb for the service of man, that he may bring forth bread out of the earth (Ps. 104:14),

where the term "beast" is used to express both the wild animal of the earth and the fowl of the heavens which are mentioned in verses 11 and 12 of the same Psalm.

The reason why the "vegetable and the green of the herb" only are here described as food for the natural man, is this. In the course of regeneration, when man is being made spiritual, he is continually engaged in combat, on which account the church of the Lord is called "militant;" for before regeneration cupidities have the dominion, because the whole man is composed of mere cupidities and the falsities thence derived. During regeneration these cupidities and falsities cannot be instantaneously abolished, for this would be to destroy the whole man, such being the only life which he has acquired, and therefore evil spirits are suffered to continue with him for a long time, that they may excite his cupidities, and that these may thus be loosened, in innumerable ways, even to such a degree that they can be inclined by the Lord to good, and the man be thus reformed.

In the time of combat, the evil spirits, who bear the utmost hatred against all that is good and true, that is, against whatever is of love and faith toward the Lord — which things alone are good and true, because they have eternal life in them — leave the man nothing else for food but what is compared to the vegetable and the green of the herb; nevertheless the Lord gives him also a food which is compared to the herb bearing seed, and to the tree in which is fruit, which are states of tranquillity and peace, with their joys and delights; and this food the Lord gives the man at intervals.

Unless the Lord defended man every moment, yea, even the smallest part of every moment, he would instantly perish, in consequence of the indescribably intense and mortal hatred which prevails in the world of spirits against the things relating to love and faith toward the Lord.

The certainty of this fact I can affirm, having been now for some years (notwithstanding my remaining in the body) associated with spirits in the other life, even with the worst of them, and I have sometimes been surrounded by thousands, to whom it was permitted to spit forth their venom, and infest me by all possible methods, yet without their being able to hurt a single hair of my head, so secure was I under the Lord's protection. From so many years' experience I have been thoroughly instructed concerning the world of spirits and its nature, as well as concerning the combat which those being regenerated must needs endure, in order to attain the happiness of eternal life. But as no one can be so well instructed in such subjects by a general description as to believe them with an undoubting faith.

~~~

And God saw everything that He had made, and behold it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.      (Genesis 1:31)

This state is called "very good" the former ones being merely called "good;" because now the things which are of faith make a one with those which are of love, and thus a marriage is effected between spiritual things and celestial things.

All things relating to the knowledges of faith are called spiritual, and all that are of love to the Lord and our neighbor are called celestial; the former belong to man's understanding, and the latter to his will.

(from Arcana Coelestia 56 - 61)

Food for the Celestial, Spiritual, & Natural Man

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

• The celestial man is delighted with celestial things alone, which being in agreement with his life are called celestial food.

• The spiritual man is delighted with spiritual things, and as these are in agreement with his life they are called spiritual food.

• The natural man in like manner is delighted with natural things, which, being of his life, are called food, and consist chiefly of memory-knowledges.

~~~

As regards the food of the man who is to be regenerated, the case is this:

         Before a man can be regenerated he needs to be furnished with all things that may serve as means — with the goods and delights of the affections as means for the will; and with truths from the Word of the Lord, and also with confirmatory things from other sources, as means for the understanding. Until a man is furnished with such things, he cannot be regenerated; these being for food. This is the reason why man is not regenerated until he comes to adult age. But each man has his peculiar and as it were his own food, which is provided for him by the Lord before he is regenerated.

         Goods and delights constitute man's life; and not so much truths, for truths receive their life from goods and delights.

         From infancy to old age nothing of knowledge or of reason is ever insinuated except by means of what is good and delightful, and such things are called "food" because the soul lives and derives its sustenance from them; and they are food, for without them a man's soul cannot possibly live, as anyone may know if he will but pay attention to the matter.

THE THINGS THAT ARE IN MAN'S MEMORY

         Both goods and truths should be gathered in man before he is regenerated; for without goods and truths gathered together, through which as means the Lord may operate, a man can never be regenerated.

         That goods and truths are the genuine foods of man must be evident to everyone, for he who is destitute of them has no life, but is dead.

         When a man is spiritually dead the foods with which his soul is fed are delights from evils and pleasantnesses from falsities — which are foods of death — and are also those which come from bodily, worldly, and natural things, which also have nothing of life in them.

GIVE US OUR DAILY BREAD

         Moreover, such a man does not know what spiritual and celestial food is, insomuch that whenever "food" or "bread" is mentioned in the Word he supposes the food of the body to be meant; as in the Lord's prayer, the words "Give us our daily bread" he supposes to mean only sustenance for the body; and those who extend their ideas further say it includes also other necessaries of the body, such as clothing, property, and the like. They even sharply deny that any other food is meant; when yet they see plainly that the words preceding and following involve only celestial and spiritual things, and that the Lord's kingdom is spoken of; and besides, they might know that the Word of the Lord is celestial and spiritual.

         From this and other similar examples it must be sufficiently evident how corporeal is man at the present day; and that, like the Jews, he is disposed to take everything that is said in the Word in the most gross and material sense. The Lord Himself clearly teaches what is meant in His Word by "food" and "bread."

Concerning "food" He thus speaks in John:

Jesus said, Labor not for the meat [or food] which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto eternal life, which the Son of man shall give unto you (John 6:27).

And concerning "bread" He says, in the same chapter:

Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead. This is the Bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof and not die. I am the living Bread which came down from heaven; if any man eat of this Bread he shall live eternally (John 6:49-51, 58).

But at the present day there are men like those who heard these words and said: "This is a hard saying; who can hear it?" and who "went back and walked no more with Him" (John 4:60, 66), to whom the Lord said: "The words that I speak unto you they are spirit and they are life" (John 4:63).

And so with respect to "water" which signifies the spiritual things of faith, and concerning which the Lord thus speaks in John:

Jesus said, Everyone that drinketh of this water shall thirst again; but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall become in him a fountain of water springing up unto eternal life (John 4:13-14).

But at the present day there are those who are like the woman with whom the Lord spoke at the well, and who answered, "Lord, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw" (John 4:15).

That in the Word "food" means no other than spiritual and celestial food, which is faith in the Lord, and love, is evident from many passages in the Word, as in Jeremiah:

The enemy hath spread out his hand upon all the desirable things of Jerusalem; for she hath seen that the nations are entered into her sanctuary, concerning whom Thou didst command that they should not enter into Thy congregation. All the people groan, they seek bread; they have given their desirable things for food to refresh the soul (Lam. 1:10-11).

No other than spiritual bread and food are here meant, for the subject is the sanctuary.

Again:

I have cried out for my lovers, they have deceived me; my priests and mine elders in the city expired, for they sought food for themselves, to refresh their soul (Lam. 1:19),

with the same meaning.

In David:

These wait all upon Thee, that Thou mayest give them their food in its season; Thou givest them, they gather; Thou openest thine hand, they are satisfied with good (Ps. 104:27, 28).

Here likewise spiritual and celestial food is meant.

In Isaiah:

Ho, everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters; and he that hath no silver; come ye, buy and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without silver, and without price (Isa. 55:1),

where "wine" and "milk" denote spiritual and celestial drink.

Again:

A virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and thou shalt call His name Immanuel; butter and honey shall He eat, that He may know to refuse the evil and choose the good; and it shall come to pass that for the abundance of milk that they shall give they shall eat butter; for butter and honey shall everyone eat that is left in the midst of the land (Isa. 7:14-15, 22).

Here to "eat honey and butter" is to appropriate what is celestial-spiritual; "they that are left" denote remains, concerning whom also in Malachi:

Bring ye all the tithes into the treasure house, that there may be food in My house (Mal. 3:10).

"Tithes" denote remains.

The nature of celestial and spiritual food can best be known in the other life.

The life of angels and spirits is not sustained by any such food as there is in this world, but by "every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord" as the Lord teaches in Matthew 4:4.

Reception and affection are according to the form of the recipient.

         The truth is that the Lord alone is the life of all, and that from Him come all things both in general and in particular that angels and spirits think, say, and do, and also what evil spirits think, say, and do. The reason why these latter say and do evil things is that they so receive and pervert all the goods and truths that are of the Lord. Reception and affection are according to the form of the recipient.

         This may be compared to the various objects that receive the light of the sun, some of which turn the light received into unpleasing and disagreeable colors, while others turn it into pleasing and beautiful colors, according to the form, determination, and disposition of their parts.

         The whole heaven and the entire world of spirits thus live by everything that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord, and from this each individual has his life; and not only the whole heaven and the world of spirits, but also the whole human race.

         I know that these things will not be believed, nevertheless from the continuous experience of years I can assert that they are most true. Evil spirits in the world of spirits are not willing to believe that this is so; and therefore it has often been demonstrated to them - to the life - even until they have acknowledged with indignation that it is true. If angels, spirits, and men were deprived of this food they would expire in a moment.

(portions from Arcana Coelestia 56; 671 - 681)

How the Human Race Continues to Exist

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

THROUGH THE CHURCH
THOSE ARE SAVED
WHO ARE OUT OF THE CHURCH

THE SALVATION OF ALL WHO ARE IN GOOD

No others are in the faith of charity than those within the church, for the faith of charity is — truth of doctrine adjoined to good of life.

There is no faith except where there is charity, it is charity itself which is meant in the internal sense by "seed."

SEED — THE FAITH OF CHARITY

It is evident that not only the man who is within the church is meant, but also the man who is without the church, thus the whole human race. Wherever there is charity, even among nations most remote from the church, there is "seed" — for heavenly seed is charity.  No man can do anything of good from himself, but all good is from the Lord.  The good which the Gentiles do is also from the Lord.

And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: and I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.   (Genesis 3:14, 15)

That the "seed of God" is faith.  By faith there, and elsewhere, is meant the charity from which is faith; for there is no other faith that is faith, than the faith of charity.   (from Arcana Coelestia 1025)

The case is this: The Lord's kingdom on earth consists of all those who are in good, who though scattered over the whole earth, are still one, and as members constitute one body.  Such is the Lord's kingdom in the heavens, where the whole heaven represents one man, which is therefore also called the Grand Man, and what is wonderful and hitherto unknown, all parts of the human body correspond to societies in heaven.

THE SOCIETIES WHICH CONSTITUTE HEAVEN

 

There are three heavens: the First is the abode of good spirits, the Second of angelic spirits, and the Third of angels. And one heaven is more interior and pure than another, so that they are most distinct. Each heaven, the first, the second, and the third, is distinguished into innumerable societies; and each society consists of many individuals, who by their harmony and unanimity constitute as it were one person; and all the societies together are as one man. The societies are distinct from one another according to the differences of mutual love, and of faith in the Lord. These differences are so innumerable that not even the most universal genera of them can be computed; and there is not the least of difference that is not disposed in most perfect order, so as to conspire most harmoniously to a common unity, and the common unity to unanimity of individuals, and thereby to the happiness of all from each, and of each from all. Each angel and each society is therefore an image of the universal heaven, and is as it were a little heaven.   (Arcana Coelestia 684)

And therefore it is sometimes said that some societies belong to the province of the head, some to the province of the eye, others to that of the chest, and so on, which correspondence will of the Lord's Divine mercy be spoken of by itself.

WITHOUT A CHURCH SOMEWHERE ON THE EARTH
THE HUMAN RACE COULD NOT SUBSIST

The case is the same with the Lord's church on earth, where the church is like the heart and lungs; while those outside the church answer to the parts of the body which are supported and live from the heart and lungs. Hence it is manifest that without a church somewhere on the earth the human race could not subsist, as the body could not without the heart and lungs.

From this cause it is that whenever any church is consummated, that is, becomes no church because there is no longer any charity, a new one is of the Lord's providence always raised up; as when the Most Ancient Church called "Man" perished, a new one was created by the Lord, which was called "Noah," and was the Ancient Church that was after the flood; and when this degenerated and became none, the Jewish and Israelitish representative Church was instituted; and when this became altogether extinct, the Lord then came into the world, and set up again a new one; and this for the purpose that there might be conjunction of heaven with the human race through the church.

(from Arcana Coelestia 2853)

The 'Miraculous' Change

Selections from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.  (Genesis 1:26, 27)

In the Most Ancient Church, with the members of which the Lord conversed face to face — the Lord appeared as a Man... On this account they called no one "man" but the Lord Himself, and the things which were of Him; neither did they call themselves "men" but only those things in themselves — as all the good of love and all the truth of faith — which they perceived they had from the Lord. These they said were "of man" because they were of the Lord.

(from Arcana Coelestia 49)

Male and female created He them. What is meant by "male and female" in the internal sense, was well known to the Most Ancient Church, but when the interior sense of the Word was lost among their posterity, this arcanum also perished.

Their marriages were their chief sources of happiness and delight, and whatever admitted of the comparison they likened to marriage, in order that in this way they might perceive its felicity. Being also internal men, they were delighted only with internal things. External things they merely saw with the eyes, but thought of what was represented. So that outward things were nothing to them, save as these could in some measure be the means of causing them to turn their thoughts to internal things, and from these to celestial things, and so to the Lord who was their all, and consequently to the heavenly marriage, from which they perceived the happiness of their marriages to come. The understanding in the spiritual man they therefore called male, and the will female, and when these acted as a one they called it a marriage.

(from Arcana Coelestia 54)

• The state of the Most Ancient Church was such that they had from the Lord a perception of good and the derivative truth.

• The state of the Ancient Church, or "Noah" became such that they had a conscience of good and truth.

Such as is the difference between having perception and having conscience, such was the difference of state of the Most Ancient and the Ancient Churches.

• Perception is not conscience: the celestial have perception; the spiritual have conscience.

The Most Ancient Church was celestial — The Ancient was spiritual.

With the celestial man, who possesses perception from the Lord; for in him particulars and singulars of particulars can be insinuated.

For example:

True marriage is that of one man with one wife; and that such marriage is representative of the heavenly marriage, and therefore heavenly happiness can be in it, but never in a marriage of one man with a plurality of wives.

The spiritual man, who knows this from the Word of the Lord, acquiesces in it, and hence admits as a matter of conscience — that marriage with more wives than one is a sin; but he knows no more.

The celestial man however perceives thousands of things which confirm this general, so that marriage with more wives than one excites his abhorrence.

As the spiritual man knows generals only, and has his conscience formed from these, and as the generals of the Word have been accommodated to the fallacies of the senses, it is evident that innumerable falsities, which cannot be dispersed, will adjoin and insinuate themselves into them. (from Arcana Coelestia 865)

The Most Ancient Church had immediate revelation from the Lord by consort with spirits and angels, as also by visions and dreams; whereby it was given them to have a general knowledge of what was good and true; and after they had acquired a general knowledge, these general leading principles, as we may call them, were confirmed by things innumerable, by means of perceptions; and these innumerable things were the particulars or individual things of the general principles to which they related. Thus were the general leading principles corroborated day by day; whatever was not in agreement with the general principles they perceived not to be so; and whatever was in agreement with them they perceived to be so. Such also is the state of the celestial angels.

The general principles of the Most Ancient Church were heavenly and eternal truths — as that the Lord governs the universe, that all good and truth is from the Lord, that all life is from the Lord, that man's Own is nothing but evil, and in itself is dead; with many others of similar character. And they received from the Lord a perception of countless things that confirmed and supported these truths. With them love was the principal of faith. By love it was given them of the Lord to perceive whatever was of faith, and hence with them faith was love, as was said before.

But the Ancient Church became entirely different.  (Arcana Coelestia 597)

~~~

And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth. ... And God spake unto Noah, and to his sons with him, saying, And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you; and with every living creature that is with you, of the fowl, of the cattle, and of every beast of the earth with you; from all that go out of the ark, to every beast of the earth.  (Genesis 9:1;8,9)

And I, behold, I establish My covenant. That this signifies the presence of the Lord in charity, is evident from the signification of "covenant" — a "covenant" signifies regeneration, and indeed the conjunction of the Lord with the regenerate man by love; and that the heavenly marriage is that veriest covenant itself, and consequently so is the heavenly marriage with every regenerate man.

With the man of the Most Ancient Church the heavenly marriage was in the Own of his will part, but with the man of the Ancient Church the heavenly marriage was effected in the Own of his intellectual part. For when man's will part had become wholly corrupt, the Lord miraculously separated the Own of his intellectual part from that corrupt Own of his will part, and in the Own of his intellectual part He formed a new will, which is conscience, and into the conscience insinuated charity, and into the charity innocence, and thus conjoined Himself with man, or what is the same, made a covenant with him. So far as the Own of man's will part can be separated from this Own of the intellectual part, the Lord can be present with him, or conjoin Himself, or enter into a covenant with him. Temptations and the like means of regeneration cause the Own of man's will part to be quiescent, to become as nothing, and as it were to die. So far as this is done the Lord through conscience implanted in the Own of man's intellectual part can work in charity. And this is what is here called a "covenant."

(Arcana Coelestia 1023)