The Two Witnesses

From Apocalypse Explained ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

"the two witnesses," which signify the doctrine of the good of love to the Lord and of the good of charity towards the neighbor, which is the doctrine of life, which the doctrine of faith is to serve; and these doctrines will be preached at the time of the end of the church.

... When the end of a church is at hand, then the interior things of the Word, of the church, and of worship, are revealed and taught. This is done that the good may be separated from the evil; there is a separation because the interior things of the Word, of the church, and of worship, which are celestial and spiritual, are received by the good, but are rejected by the evil. Moreover, the interior things of the Word, which are revealed at the end of the church, are serviceable for doctrine and life to the New Church that is also then established. That this is so is evident from this, that when the end of the Jewish Church was at hand the Lord Himself opened and taught the interior things of the Word, and especially revealed those things in the Word that had been foretold of Himself; and when these had been opened and revealed the externals of the church were abrogated, which consisted chiefly of sacrifices and rituals and statutes which shadowed forth the Lord, and represented and thence signified the interior things of the church which He was revealing. That this would be done was predicted in various passages in the prophets.

The like has been done at the present time; for it has now pleased the Lord to reveal many arcana of heaven, especially the internal or spiritual sense of the Word, which has heretofore been wholly unknown, and with that He has taught the genuine truths of doctrine. This revelation is meant by "the coming of the Lord" in Matthew 24:3, 30, 37. A revelation is necessary at the end of the church in order, as has been said, that by means of it the good may become separated from the evil, and a New Church established, and this not only in the natural world where men are, but also in the spiritual world where spirits and angels are; for in both worlds there is a church, and revelation takes place in both, and thereby separation, as also the establishment of a New Church. From this it can be seen that these words signify protection by the Lord that they be not hurt.

As regards the successive states of the churches on our globe, they have evidently been similar to the successive states of a man who is being reformed and regenerated, namely, that to become a spiritual man, he is first conceived, next is born, then grows up, and is afterwards led on further and further into intelligence and wisdom. The church, from the most ancient times to the end of the Jewish Church, progressed like a man who is conceived, born, and grows up, and is then instructed and taught; but the successive states of the church after the end of the Jewish Church, or from the time of the Lord even to the present day, have been like a man increasing in intelligence and wisdom, or becoming regenerate. For this end the interior things of the Word, of the church, and of worship, were revealed by the Lord when He was in the world; and now again, things still more interior are revealed; and in the measure that things interior are revealed can man become wiser; for to become interior is to become wiser, and to become wiser is to become interior.

(Apocalypse Explained 641)

'Spurious' Charity

Selection from True Christian Religion ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

All charity that is not conjoined with faith in one God in whom is a Divine trinity, is spurious like the charity of the present church, the faith of which is a faith in successive order in three persons of the same Divinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; and being a faith in three persons, each one of whom is a self-subsistent God, it is a faith in three Gods. To such a faith charity may be joined (as has been done by its supporters), but never can be conjoined; and the charity that is only joined to faith is merely natural, and not spiritual, and is therefore a charity. The same is true of the charity of many other heresies, as the charity of those who deny a Divine trinity and thus approach God the Father only, or the Holy Spirit only, or both of these apart from God the Savior. To the faith of such, charity cannot be conjoined, or when conjoined or joined to it it is a spurious charity. It is called spurious, because it is like the offspring of an illegitimate bed, or like the son of Hagar born to Abraham, who was cast out of the house (Gen. 21:10). Such charity is like fruit upon a tree where it has not grown, but has been fastened to it with a needle; and it is like a carriage to which horses are fastened only by the reins in the driver's hands, and when they spring forward, they drag the driver from his seat, and leave the carriage behind.

(True Christian Religion 451)

All Conjunction is Wrought by Means of Affection

From Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

... that they might be conjoined (namely, the truths and goods in the natural), is because it involves looking upon, and the affection excited thereby, for in this manner are spiritual things conjoined. Moreover, all the implantation of truth and good, and also all conjunction, is wrought by means of affection. Truths and goods that are learned, but with which the man is not affected, do indeed enter into the memory, but adhere there as lightly as a feather to a wall, which is blown away by the slightest breath of wind.

With the things which enter into the memory the case is this: Those which enter without affection fall into its shade; but those which enter with affection come into its light; and the things that are in light there are seen and appear clearly and vividly whenever a similar subject is called up; but not so those which lie hid round about in the shade. Such is the effect of the affection of love. It may be seen from this that all the implantation of truth, and the conjunction thereof with good, is effected by means of affection; and the greater the affection, the stronger the conjunction. The "ardor of affection" is here inmost affection.

But truths cannot be implanted in good and conjoined with it, except by means of the affections of truth and good, which affections well forth as from their fountains - from charity toward the neighbor, and from love to the Lord. But evils and falsities are implanted and conjoined by means of the affections of evil and falsity, which affections well forth as from their fountains, from the love of self and of the world. This being the case, and as the subject here treated of in the internal sense is the conjunction of good and truth in the natural man...

(Arcana Coelestia 4018)

Attached

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

CONCERNING THE SITUATION OF THE GRAND MAN
AND ALSO CONCERNING PLACE AND DISTANCE IN THE OTHER LIFE

Souls newly arrived from the world, when about to leave the company of the spiritual angels to go among spirits, and so at length to come into the society in which they had been while they lived in the body, are led about by angels to many mansions or abodes, that is, to societies which are distinct and yet conjoined with others; in some of which they are received, while in other cases they are led to still other societies, and this for an indefinite time, until they come to the society in which they had been while they lived in the body; and there they remain. From this moment they experience a new beginning of life. If the man is a dissembler, a hypocrite, or deceitful, who can assume a fictitious state, and a seemingly angelic disposition, he is sometimes received by good spirits; but after a short time he is dissociated, and then wanders about, without the angels, and begs to be received, but is rejected, and sometimes punished, and at last he is carried down among the infernals. Those who are taken up among angels after being vastated, also change their societies, and when they pass from one society to another they are dismissed with courtesy and charity, and this until they come into the angelic society which accords with the distinctive quality or genius of their charity, piety, probity, or sincere courtesy. I in like manner have been led through such "mansions," and those who dwelt there conversed with me, that I might know how the case was in regard to this matter. It was given me at the time to reflect on the changes of place, and to see that they were nothing else than changes of state, my body remaining in the same place.

Among the marvelous things in the other life are, - First, the fact that societies of spirits and angels appear distinct from one another as to situation, although places and distances in that life are nothing else than varieties of state. Second, that the situations and distances are determined by their relation to the human body, so that those who are on the right appear on the right whichever way the body is turned; and the case is the same with those who are on the left and in all other directions. Third, that no spirits or angels are at so great a distance away that they cannot be seen; and yet no more come into view than so many as the Lord permits. Fourth, that spirits of whom others are thinking - for example, such as had been in some manner known to them in the life of the body - when the Lord permits it, are present in a moment, and so closely that they are at the ear, in touch, or else at some distance, greater or less, no matter should they be thousands of miles away, or even among the stars. The reason is that distance of place has no effect in the other life. Fifth, that with the angels there is no idea of time. These things are so in the world of spirits, and are still more completely so in heaven. How much more then must this be the case before the Lord, to whom all both generally and individually cannot but be most present, and under His view and providence. These things seem incredible, but yet they are true.

I was in a society where there was tranquillity, that is, a society of those whose state was tranquil, approximating in a measure to a state of peace, but it was not peace. I spoke there of the state of infants; and also of place, saying that change of place and distance is only an appearance, according to the state of each one, and according to his change of state. When I was translated thither, the spirits around me appeared to be removed, and to be seen below me; and yet I could hear them speaking.

As regards the situation in which spirits are in the world of spirits, and angels in heaven, the case is this. The angels are at the Lord's right hand; on His left are evil spirits; in front are those of a middle kind; at the back are the malignant; above the head are those of a self-exalted spirit who aspire to high things; under the feet are the hells which correspond to those who are on high. Thus all have their situation determined relatively to the Lord; in all directions and at all altitudes, in a horizontal plane and in a vertical one, and in every oblique direction. Their situation is constant, and does not vary to eternity. The heavens there constitute as it were one man, which is therefore called the Grand Man; to which all things that are in man correspond; concerning which correspondence, of the Lord's Divine mercy hereafter. It is from this that there is a like situation of all things around each angel; and with each man to whom heaven is opened by the Lord; for the Lord's presence is attended with this. It would not be so unless the Lord were omnipresent in heaven.

The case is the very same with men, as to their souls, which are constantly bound to some society of spirits and of angels. They too have a situation in the kingdom of the Lord according to the nature of their life, and according to their state. It matters not that they are distant from each other on earth even though it were many thousands of miles - still they can be together in the same society - those who live in charity in an angelic society, and those who live in hatred and such evils in an infernal society. In like manner it matters not that there be many together on earth in one place, for still they are all distinct in accordance with the nature of their life and of their state, and each one may be in a different society. Men who are distant from each other some hundreds or thousands of miles, when they appear to the internal sense may be so near each other that some of them may touch, according to their situation. Thus if there were a number of persons on earth whose spiritual sight was opened, they might be together and converse together, though one was in India and another in Europe, which also has been shown me. Thus are all men on earth, both generally and individually, most closely present to the Lord, and under His view and providence.

(Arcana Coelestia 1273 - 1277)

Rituals which are Nothing More than Mere Matters of Memory-knowledge

From Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

In the Ancient Church all those were called Philistines - who talked much about faith, and declared that salvation is in faith, and yet had no life of faith. Therefore they preeminently were called "the uncircumcised," which means those who are devoid of charity.  That they were called "the uncircumcised" may be seen in 1 Sam. 14:6; 17:26, 36; 31:4; 2 Sam. 1:20, and in other places.

Because they were such, they could not but make the knowledges of faith matters of memory; for the knowledges of spiritual and celestial things and the very mysteries of faith themselves become nothing but matters of memory, when the man who is skilled in them is devoid of charity. The things of the memory are like things dead unless the man is such that from conscience he lives according to them. When he does this, then at the same time as they are things of memory they are also things of life; and only then do they remain with him for his use and salvation after the life of the body.

Knowledges [scientiae et cognitiones] are nothing to a man in the other life, even though he may have known all the arcana that have ever been revealed, unless they have affected his life.

In Joel:
What are ye to Me, O Tyre, and Zidon, and all the borders of Philistia? Will ye render a recompense upon Me? very speedily will I return your recompense upon your own head. Inasmuch as ye have taken My silver and My gold, and have carried into your temples My desirable good things; the sons also of Judah and the sons of Jerusalem have ye sold unto the sons of the Javanites, that ye might cause them to remove far from their border (Joel 3:4-6).

Here it is evident what is meant by the Philistines, and by "all Philistia," or all "the borders" of it. "Silver and gold" here are the spiritual and celestial things of faith; "desirable good things" are the knowledges of them. That they "carried them into their temples," is that they possessed and proclaimed them; and that they "sold the sons of Judah and the sons of Jerusalem," signifies that they had no love and no faith; "Judah" in the Word is the celestial of faith, and "Jerusalem" is the spiritual of faith thence derived, which were "removed far from their borders."

They are not said to have been "begotten" by those who were of Egypt, but to have "gone forth" from them, because they are not such as reason from natural memory-knowledges concerning spiritual and celestial things, and thereby frame doctrinals for themselves-like those treated of before - but they are such as learn the knowledges of faith from others, and know and retain them in the memory, with no other end in view than such as they have in learning other things which they care nothing about except merely to know them, and except for the reason that they may thereby be advanced to honors, or some other such reason. So distinct is this mere memory-knowledge of the knowledges of faith from the memory-knowledge of natural things, that they have scarcely anything in common; and therefore it is said, not that they were "born," but that they "went forth" from them. Such being the character of the "Philistines," they cannot but pervert even the knowledges of faith by reasonings from them, and thence form for themselves false doctrinals; and therefore they are among those who can with difficulty be regenerated and receive charity, both because they are uncircumcised in heart, and because principles of falsity, and consequently the life of their understanding, prevent and oppose.

(Note Genesis 10:13,14; Arcana Coelestia 1197 - 1198)

Spiritual Man and Natural Man Should Make a One

From Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

Every man has an internal and an external; his internal is called the internal man, and his external the external man; but what the internal man is, and what the external, is known to few. The internal man is the same as the spiritual man, and the external is the same as the natural man; the spiritual man is that which understands and is wise from those things which are of the light of heaven, but the natural man from those things which are of the light of the world (concerning which two lights see AC 3138). For in heaven there are nothing but spiritual things, whereas in the world there are nothing but natural things. Man has been so created that in him spiritual things and natural things, that is, his spiritual and natural man, should agree or make a one; but in this case the spiritual man ought to dispose all things in the natural, and the natural ought to obey, as a servant his lord.

But by the fall the natural man began to exalt itself above the spiritual man, and thus inverted Divine order itself; hence the natural man separated itself from the spiritual, and no longer possessed any spiritual things, except such as could enter as through chinks, and confer the capacity of thinking and speaking. But in order that spiritual things might again flow into the natural man, this had to be regenerated by the Lord; that is, truth out of the natural man must be initiated and conjoined with good in the rational; and when this is effected, spiritual things come to the natural man, for then the light of heaven flows in and enlightens the things in the natural man, and causes them to receive light; the goods therein the heat of light, that is, love and charity; and the truth the rays of light, that is, faith; and in this way natural good and natural truth receive spiritual things. In this case natural good is all the delight and pleasure that come from having as an end the being of service to what is spiritual, thus to the neighbor, still more to the public weal, and still more to the Lord's kingdom, and above all to the Lord; and natural truth is all the doctrine and memory-knowledge that has as an end to be wise, that is, the doing of these things.

(AC 3167)

The Initiation and Conjunction of Good and Truth

From Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

... nothing is ever man's, as his, unless it is of his will; what is only of the understanding does not become man's until it becomes of the will also; for what is of the will constitutes the being [esse] of a man's life; but what is of the understanding constitutes the coming forth [existere] of his life thence derived. Consent from the understanding alone is not consent, but all consent is from the will; wherefore unless the truth of faith which is of the understanding is received by the good of love which is of the will, it is not at all truth which is acknowledged, and thus it is not faith. But in order that truth may be received by the good which is of the will, it is necessary that there be a free state. All that is of the will appears free; the very state of willing is liberty; for that which I will, that I choose, that I long for, because I love it and acknowledge it as good. All this shows that truth, which is of faith, never becomes man's as his until it has been received by the will, that is, until it has been initiated and conjoined with the good there; and that this cannot be effected except in a free state.

(Arcana Coelestia 3158)