The Faculty Gained in the World for Receiving

From Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

Everyone, whether damned or saved, has a certain measure which is capable of being filled. The evil, or they who are damned, have a certain measure of evil and falsity; and the good, or they who are saved, have a certain measure of good and truth. In the other life this measure is filled with everyone; but some have a greater measure, some a less. This measure is acquired in the world by means of the affections which are of the love. The more anyone has loved evil and the derivative falsity, the greater is the measure he has gained for himself; and the more anyone has loved good and the derivative truth, the greater is his measure. The limits and degrees of the extensions of this measure are clearly seen in the other life, and cannot there be surmounted, but they can be filled, and also actually are filled, namely, with goods and truths in the case of those who have been in the affection of good and truth, and with evils and falsities in the case of those who have been in the affection of evil and falsity. Hence it is evident that this measure is the faculty gained in the world for receiving either evil and falsity, or good and truth.

... It is described by the Lord in the parables of the talents in Matthew 25:14-30, and of the pounds in Luke 19:12-27, and finally in these words:

To everyone that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance, but from him that hath not, even that which he hath shall be taken away from him (Matt. 25:29).

He said unto them that stood by, Take away from him the pound, and give it to him who hath the ten pounds: they said to him, Lord, he hath ten pounds. I say to you, that unto everyone that hath shall be given; but from him that hath not even that which he hath shall be taken from him (Luke 19:24-26).

That everyone's measure is filled, the Lord also teaches in another place in Luke:

Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over, shall they give into your bosom (Luke 6:38).

(Arcana Coelestia 7984:3,4)

Things that Go Forth Therefrom Into the Mouth and Out of the Mouth

From  Apocalypse Explained ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

Not that which entereth into the mouth maketh the man unclean, but that which cometh out of the mouth, this maketh the man unclean. Whatsoever goeth into the mouth passeth into the belly, and is cast out into the draught. But the things that proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart. Out of the heart go forth evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false testimonies, blasphemies (Matthew 15:11, 17-19).

"That which entereth into the mouth" means in the literal sense food of every kind, which, after its use in the body, goes out through the belly into the draught; but in the spiritual sense, "that which entereth into the mouth" signifies all things that enter into the thought from the memory, and also from the world, and these also correspond to food; while the things that enter into the thought, and not also into the will, do not render a man unclean; for the memory, and thought therefrom, are to man only as a way of entrance to him, since the will is the man himself. The things that merely enter the thought and go no further are cast out as it were through the belly into the draught, "the belly" signifying from correspondence the world of spirits, from which thoughts flow in with man, and the "draught" signifying hell.

It must be known that man cannot be purified from evils and the consequent falsities, unless the unclean things that are in him come forth as far as into the thought, and are there seen, recognized, discerned, and put away. This makes evident that "that which entereth into the mouth" signifies in the spiritual sense what enters into the thought from the memory and from the world; while "that which cometh out of the mouth" signifies in the spiritual sense thought from the will or from love; for the "heart," from which thought goes forth into the mouth and from the mouth, signifies man's will and love; and as the love and will constitute the whole man, for the man is such as his love is, so the things that go forth therefrom into the mouth and out of the mouth are what make the man unclean. That these are evils of every kind is evident from the things enumerated. Such is the meaning of these words of the Lord in the heavens.

(Apocalypse Explained 580:2,3)

When the Sense of the Letter of the Word is delightful, but the Internal Sense Undelightful

From  Apocalypse Explained ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

And the voice which I heard from heaven again spake with me, and said, Go, take the little book that is open in the hand of the angel that standeth upon the sea and upon the earth. And I went unto the angel, saying unto him, Give me the little book. And he said unto me, Take and eat it up; and it shall make bitter thy belly, but in thy mouth it shall be sweet as honey. And I took the little book out of the hand of the angel and ate it up; and it was in my mouth like honey, sweet. And when I had eaten it my belly was made bitter.  (Revelation 10:8-10)

When the sense of the letter of the Word is delightful,
but the internal sense, in which are the truths themselves, it was undelightful.

It is to be known that the understanding of the Word perishes in the church by degrees, as the man of the church from internal becomes external; and from internal he becomes external as he falls away from charity, consequently as he falls away from the life of faith.

When the man of the church is such he may, indeed, take delight in reading the Word, but yet he takes no delight in the truth itself, which belongs to the interior sense of the Word; for it is the life itself of faith, which is charity, that produces the affection of interior truth and makes it delightful. Therefore the Word as to the sense of the letter may be loved, but for the reason that it can be drawn over to confirm the falsities arising from the love of self and of the world, for such is the Word in the letter.

From this it comes that in the end of the church there is scarcely any understanding of truth. Truths from the Word are indeed then spoken with the mouth, but yet there is no idea of truth. It has been granted me to test whether this is so in the case of many in the spiritual world, and it was found that although, so far as they had spoken from the Word they had spoken truths, yet they had no understanding of them; thus they were like empty vessels and like tinkling bells, speaking only from such things as they drew forth from the memory, and not at all from any perception of the understanding. When man is such he cannot inwardly possess anything celestial or spiritual, but only what is natural, from the body and the world, and when this is separated from what is celestial and spiritual it is infernal. From this it can be seen what is meant ... by the little book given to John to eat being in his mouth sweet as honey, but that his belly was made bitter from.

(Apocalypse Explained 614:2)

What Is Meant By Affection

From Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

Affection is nothing else than love, but is what is continuous of it. For from love a man is affected either with evil and falsity, or with good and truth. As this love is present and is within all things in general and particular that belong to him, it is not perceived as love, but is varied according to its matter in hand, and according to the man's states and their changes; and this continually in everything that he wills, thinks, and does. It is this continuous of love that is called affection; and it is this continuous that reigns in a man's life and makes all his delight, and consequently his very life; for man's life is nothing else than the delight of his affection; and thus is nothing else than the affection of his love. Love is man's willing, and derivatively is his thinking, and thereby his acting.

(Arcana Coelestia 3938:8)

Forms of Charity

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

They who are in mutual love in heaven are continually advancing to the springtime of their youth, and to a more and more gladsome and happy spring the more thousands of years they live, and this with continual increase to eternity, according to the advance and degree of mutual love, charity, and faith. Those of the female sex who have died in old age and enfeebled with years, and who have lived in faith in the Lord, in charity toward the neighbor, and in happy conjugial love with their husbands, after a succession of years come more and more into the bloom of youth and early womanhood, and into a beauty that surpasses all idea of beauty such as is ever perceptible to the natural sight; for it is goodness and charity forming and presenting their own likeness, and causing the delight and beauty of charity to shine forth from every least feature of the countenance, so that they are the very forms of charity: some have beheld them and been amazed.

The form of charity, as is seen to the life in the other world, is such that it is charity itself that portrays and is portrayed, and this in such a manner that the whole angel, and especially the face, is as it were charity, the charity both plainly appearing to the view and being perceived by the mind. When this form is beheld, it is unutterable beauty that affects with charity the very inmost life of the beholder's mind. Through the beauty of this form the truths of faith are presented to view in an image, and are even perceived from it.

Such forms, or such beauties, do those become in the other life who have lived in faith in the Lord, that is, in the faith of charity. All the angels are such forms, with countless variety, and of such is heaven.

(Arcana Coelestia 553)

Taking Away From the Lord What Is His

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

And he believed in Jehovah, and He imputed it to him for righteousness. (Genesis 15:6)

That this signifies that herein the Lord first became righteousness, may also be seen from the connection of things in the internal sense, in which the Lord is treated of. That the Lord alone became righteousness for the whole human race, may be seen from the fact that He alone fought from Divine love, namely, from love toward the whole human race, whose salvation was what in His combats He solely desired and burned for. In regard to His Human Essence the Lord was not born righteousness, but became righteousness through combats of temptations and victories, and this from His own power. As often as He fought and overcame, this was imputed to Him for righteousness, that is, it was added to the righteousness that He was becoming, as a continual increase, until He became pure righteousness.

A man who is born of a human father, or of the seed of a human father, when fighting from himself cannot fight from any other love than the love of self and of the world, thus not from heavenly love, but from infernal love, for such is the character of his Own [self-hood] from his father, in addition to the Own [self-hood] acquired by his own conduct. Therefore he who supposes that he fights from himself against the devil is hugely mistaken. In like manner he who desires to make himself righteous by his own powers - that is, to believe that the goods of charity and the truths of faith are from himself, consequently that he merits heaven by them - acts and thinks against the good and truth of faith; for it is a truth of faith, that is, it is the truth itself, that the Lord fights. And therefore because he then acts and thinks against the truth of faith, he takes away from the Lord what is His, and makes what is the Lord's to be his own, or what is the same, he puts himself in the Lord's place, and thereby puts that which is infernal in himself. Hence it is that such men desire to become great, or the greatest, in heaven; and hence it is that they falsely believe that the Lord fought against the hells in order that He might be the greatest. What is man's own [self-hood] is attended with such phantasies,, which appear as if they were truths, but are just the reverse.

That the Lord came into the world in order to become righteousness, and that He alone is righteousness, was also foretold by the prophets; and therefore this could have been known before His coming; and also that He could not become righteousness except through temptations, and victories over all evils and all the hells.

As in Jeremiah:
In His days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell in confidence, and this is His name whereby they shall call Him, Jehovah our righteousness (Jer. 23:6).

In the same:
In those days and in that time will I cause an Offshoot of righteousness to grow onto David, and He shall do judgment and righteousness in the land. In those days shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell in confidence; and this is what they shall call Him, Jehovah our righteousness (Jer. 33:15-16).

In Isaiah:
He saw, and there was no man; and He wondered that there was none to intercede; and His arm brought salvation unto Him, and His righteousness it upheld Him. And He put on righteousness as a coat of mail, and a helmet of salvation upon His head (Isa. 59:16-17; see especially Isa. 63:3, 5).

"His arm" means His own power. Because the Lord alone is righteousness, the "habitation of righteousness" also is mentioned in Jeremiah 31:23; 50:7.

(Arcana Coelestia 1813)

No Heaven in Hell, and No Hell in Heaven

The perception of opposites is different from the perception of relatives; for opposites are things without, and are opposed to things within.

An opposite has its beginning where one thing wholly ceases to be anything, and another then arises with an effort to act against the former, as when a wheel acts against another wheel, or a current against another current.  But relatives pertain to the arrangement of many and various parts in an order that is concordant and harmonious, like precious stones of various colors in the stomacher of a queen, or like flowers of different colors arranged in a garland to give pleasure to the sight. Therefore in both of these opposites there are relatives, that is, in what is good as well as in what is evil, in what is true as well as in what is false, thus both in heaven and in hell, all the relatives in hell being the opposites of the relatives in heaven.

Since, then, from the order in which He is, God perceives and sees and is cognizant of all things relative in heaven, and thereby perceives, sees, and is cognizant of all the opposite relatives in hell . . . it is clear that God is omniscient in hell as well as in heaven, and in like manner with men in the world; thus that He perceives, sees, and is cognizant of their evils and falsities from the good and truth in which He Himself is, and which in their essence are Himself; for we read:

If I ascend up into heaven, Thou art there; if I make my bed in hell, behold Thou art there (Ps. 139:8);

and again:

Though they dig into hell, thence shall My hand take them (Amos 9:2)

(True Christian Religion 62).

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Now as evil and good are two opposites, precisely like hell and heaven, or like the devil and the Lord, it follows that if man shuns an evil as sin, he comes into the good that is an opposite to the evil. The good opposite to the evil which is meant by murder, is the good of love towards the neighbour.

Since this good and that evil are opposites, it follows that the latter is removed by the former. Two opposites cannot exist together, as heaven and hell cannot exist together. If they were together there would exist that lukewarm state concerning which it is written in the Revelation:

I know . . . that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.
So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth. Rev. iii 15, 16.

(Life 70, 71)