The First Things to be Affirmed and Acknowledged

Selection from Arcana Cœlestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

And Rachel said, God hath judged me, and hath also heard my voice, and hath given me a son: therefore called she his name Dan.  Genesis 30:6

Though the name was given to him [Dan] from "judging," it nevertheless involves what is signified by all these words of Rachel: God hath judged me, and also hath heard my voice, that is, the good of life, and the holy of faith, and also in the supreme sense the justice and mercy of the Lord. It is this general principle of the church that is signified by "Dan," and that is represented by the tribe named from Dan. This general principle [the good of life, and the holy of faith] is the first that is to be affirmed or acknowledged, before a man can be regenerated or made a church.

Unless these things are affirmed and acknowledged, the rest of the things both of faith and of life cannot possibly be received, and therefore cannot be affirmed, still less acknowledged.

For he who affirms mere faith with himself, and not the holy of faith, that is, charity (for this is the holy of faith), and does not affirm this by the good of life, that is, by the works of charity, can no longer have a relish for the essence of faith, because he rejects it.

Affirmation together with acknowledgment is the first general principle with the man who is being regenerated, but is the last with him who has been regenerated

and therefore "Dan" is the first with him who is to be regenerated, and "Joseph" is the last; for "Joseph" is the spiritual man himself. But "Joseph" is the first with him who has been regenerated, and "Dan" the last; because the man who is to be regenerated commences from the affirmation that it is so, namely, the holy of faith and the good of life. But the regenerate man, who is spiritual, is in spiritual good itself, and from this he regards such affirmation as last; for with him the holy things of faith and goods of life have been confirmed.

The first boundary, that is, the midst or inmost of the land, was Beersheba, before Jerusalem became so, because Abraham was there, and also Isaac; but the last boundary, or the outermost of the land, was Dan; and hence when all things in one complex were signified, it was said, "from Dan even to Beersheba;" as in the second book of Samuel:

To transfer the kingdom from the house of Saul, and to set up the throne of David over Israel and over Judah, from Dan even to Beersheba (2 Sam. 3:10)  See also 2 Sam. 17:11; 2 Sam. 24:2, 15; 1 Kings 4:25.

By this expression are meant in the historic sense all things of the land of Canaan; but in the internal sense all things of the Lord's kingdom, and also all things of the church.

The reason why, as before said, "Dan" is the first boundary, and also the last, is that the affirmative of truth and good is the first of all things when faith and charity are beginning with man, and the last when man is in charity and thereby in faith. It was from this also that the last lot fell to Dan when the land of Canaan was divided for inheritance (Josh. 19:40, etc.); for the lot was cast before Jehovah (Josh. 18:6); and hence it fell according to the representation of each tribe.

And because the lot did not fall to Dan among the inheritances of the rest of the tribes, but beyond their borders (Judges 18:1), that tribe was omitted by John in the Revelation (Rev. 7:5-8), where the twelve thousand that were sealed are mentioned;

for they who are only in the affirmative of truth and also of good, and go no further, are not in the Lord's kingdom, that is, among the "sealed."

Even the worst men are able to know truths and goods, and also to affirm them; but the quality of the affirmation is known from the life.

(Arcana Cœlestia 3923: 1, 7-9)

Love to the Lord is from the Lord

Selection from Arcana Cœlestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

There are two kinds of good that are distinct from each other, namely, celestial good and spiritual good. Celestial good is that of love to the Lord, spiritual good is that of love toward the neighbor. From the former, or celestial good, comes the latter, or spiritual good; for-

No one can love the Lord unless he also loves his neighbor.

In love to the Lord is love toward the neighbor; for-

Love to the Lord is from the Lord, and thus is from love itself toward the universal human race.

To be in love to the Lord is the same as to be in the Lord; and he who is in the Lord cannot be otherwise than in His love; which is toward the human race and thus toward the neighbor; thus is he in both kinds of good, celestial and spiritual. The former is the veriest good itself; but the latter is its truth, or the truth therefrom; which truth is spiritual good ...

(from Arcana Cœlestia 2227)

Rightly Understanding the Lord's Prayer

Selection from True Christian Religion ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

A Memorable Relation - A Thing Worth Remembering

In Story Form, An Experience in the Spiritual World

Awaking once soon after daybreak, I went out into the garden in front of my house, and saw the sun rising in his glory, and round about him a halo, at first faint, but afterwards more distinct, and beaming like gold, and beneath its border was a rising cloud, which from the sun's rays glowed like a carbuncle. It set me thinking about the fables of the most ancient people which depicted Aurora with wings of silver and countenance of gold.

With my mind immersed in the delights of these meditations, I came into the spirit; and I heard certain spirits conversing, who said, "O that we might be permitted to talk with the innovator who has thrown among the leaders of the church that apple of discord after which so many of the laity have been running, and which they have picked up and held up for us to look at." By that apple they meant the little work, entitled, A Brief Exposition of the Doctrine of the New Church*.  And they said, "It is certainly a schismatical writing, such as no man ever before conceived of." And then I heard one of them exclaim, "Schismatical? It is heretical!" But some of those beside him said, "Hush! Hold your tongue! It is not heretical; he gives an abundance of quotations from the Word; and to these our neophytes, by whom we mean the laity, give heed and assent."

Hearing this I came forward, being in the spirit, and said, "Here I am; what is the matter?"

At once one of them, a German, as I afterwards heard, a native of Saxony, said in an authoritative tone, "How dare you turn upside down the worship established in the Christian world for so many centuries, which teaches that God the Father should be invoked as the Creator of the universe, His Son as the Mediator, and the Holy Spirit as the Operator?  Moreover, you divest the first and the last God of the personality we ascribe to them, although the Lord Himself says, When ye pray, pray thus, Our Father who art in the heavens; hallowed be Thy Name; Thy Kingdom come.  Therefore are we not commanded to invoke God the Father?"

After this there was silence, and all who favored the speaker stood like brave seamen on their warships when they sight the enemy, and stand by to shout, "Now, have at them; victory is sure."

Then I rose to speak; and said, "Who among you is not aware that God came down from heaven and became Man? For we read, -

The Word was with God, and God was the Word, and the Word became flesh."

Then, looking towards the Evangelicals, among whom was that dictator who had just addressed me, I said,-

"Who among you does not know that in Christ, who was born of Mary the Virgin, God is Man and Man is God?"

But at this the assembly made a great noise; therefore I said, "Do you not know this? It is according to the doctrine of your confession which is called the Formula Concordioe, where this is affirmed and fully corroborated."

Then the dictator turned to the assembly and asked if they were aware of this; and they answered, "As to the person of Christ we have given the book very little study, but we have worked hard at the part on Justification by Faith Alone; if, however, it is so written in that book, we acquiesce." Then one of them remembering, said, "That is the way it reads; and it says furthermore that the Human nature of Christ has been exalted to Divine majesty and all its attributes; also that in that nature Christ sits at the right hand of the Father."

Hearing this they were silent; and as it was undisputed I spoke again, and said,-

"This being so, what then is the Father but the Son, and what is the Son but the Father also?"

Yet as this again offended their ears, I continued, "Hear the very words of the Lord and attend to them now, if you never have before; for He said,-

I and My Father are one;' 'I am in the Father and the Father in Me;' 'Father, all Mine are Thine and Thine are Mine;' 'He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father.

What do these things mean, but that the Father is in the Son and the Son in the Father, and that they are one as the soul and body in man are one, and thus that they are one person? And must not this be your belief, if you believe in the Athanasian Creed, where nearly the same things are said? But from the passages quoted take this one saying of the Lord, 'Father, all Mine are Thine, and all Thine are Mine.' What else does this mean than that-

The Divine of the Father belongs to the Human of the Son, and the Human of the Son to the Divine of the Father, consequently that, in Christ, God is Man and Man is God, and thus that they are one as soul and body are one?

Every man may say the same of his own soul and body, namely, All mine are thine, and all thine are mine; thou art in me and I in thee; he that seeth me, seeth thee; we are one in person and in life. This is because the soul is in the man, both in the whole and in every part of him, for the life of the soul is the life of the body, and between the two there is a mutuality.

All this makes clear that the Divine of the Father is the soul of the Son, and the Human of the Son the body of the Father.

From where does the soul of an offspring come unless from its father, and its body unless from its mother? The expression is the Divine of the Father; but the Father Himself is what is meant, since He and His Divine are the same; and this Divine is one and indivisible. That this is true is evident also from the words of the angel Gabriel to Mary,-

The power of the Most High shall overshadow thee, and the Holy Spirit shall come upon thee; and the Holy Thing that shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.

And just above He is called 'the Son of the Most High,' and elsewhere 'the only-begotten Son.' But you, who call Him merely the Son of Mary, destroy the idea of His Divinity; yet it is only the learned among the clergy and the scholars among the laity who destroy this idea, for these, when they raise their thoughts above the sensual things pertaining to their bodies, regard the glory of their reputation; and this not only obscures but extinguishes the light whereby the glory of God enters.

But let us return to the Lord's Prayer, where it says, -

Our Father who art in the heavens; hallowed be Thy Name; Thy kingdom come.

By these words you who are present understand the Father in His Divine alone but I understand the Father in His Human. Moreover, this Human is the name of the Father; for the Lord said, -

Father, glorify Thy name, that is, Thy Human; and when this is done the kingdom of God comes.

And the reason why this Prayer was commanded for the present time is evident, namely, that through His Human an approach may be had to God the Father. The Lord also said, -

No man cometh unto the Father but by Me;

And in the Prophet, -

Unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given, and His name is God, Mighty, Father of Eternity;

And elsewhere, -

Thou, Jehovah, art our Father, our Redeemer, from everlasting is Thy name;

Besides many other places where the Lord our Savior is called Jehovah. This is the true explanation of the words of that Prayer."

When I had said all this, I looked at them and noted the changes in their countenances according to changes in the states of their minds, some favoring me and looking toward me, and some not favoring and turning themselves away. And then on the right I saw a cloud of opal color, and on the left a dusky cloud, and under each the appearance of a shower. That under the dusky cloud was like a rain at the close of autumn, and that under the opal cloud was like the fall of dew in early spring.

Then suddenly I came out of the spirit into the body, and thus returned from the spiritual world into the natural world.

(True Christian Religion 112)

* click A Brief Exposition of the Doctrine of the New Church

When the Divine Appears Obscure

Selection from Arcana Cœlestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

The appearing of the Divine among them was obscured

For this takes place when anyone does not live according to the Divine commandments; because when anyone does live according to them, he lives according to Divine order, inasmuch as the Divine commandments are truths and goods which are in conformity with order; and when anyone lives according to order, he then lives in the Lord, because the Lord is order itself.

From this it follows that he who does not live according to the commandments and laws which are of Divine order, does not live in the Lord, consequently that then the Divine is obscured with him. By living according to order is here meant to be led by the Lord through good, but to live not as yet according to order is to be led through truth; and when man is led through truth, the Lord does not appear to him; and therefore the man then walks in the dark, in which he does not see good. It is different when a man is led through good. He then sees in the light.

And the LORD said unto Moses, How long refuse ye to keep My commandments and My laws?   Exodus 16:28

That this signifies on account of their not acting according to Divine order.... That it may be known what it is to act according to Divine order, and what not to act according to it, something further shall be said.

Everything that is done according to Divine order is inwardly open even to the Lord, and thus has heaven in it; but everything that is not done according to Divine order is inwardly closed, and thus has not heaven in it.

Therefore Divine order is for the Lord to flow in through the interiors of man into his exteriors, thus through the will of man into his action.

This takes place when the man is in good, that is, when he is in the affection of doing good for the sake of good, and not for the sake of himself.

When a man does good for the sake of himself, and not for the sake of good, his interiors are closed, and he cannot be led of the Lord by means of heaven, but he is led by himself.

The love determines by whom he is led, for everyone is led by his love.

He who loves himself more than his neighbor, leads himself; but he who loves good is led by good, consequently by the Lord from whom is good.

From all this it can be seen what the difference is between living according to order, and not living according to it.

How a man must live for it to be according to order, the Word teaches, and the doctrine of faith from the Word.

He who does not look beyond external things cannot possibly apprehend this; for he knows not what that which is internal is, scarcely that there is anything internal, and still less that this internal can be opened, and that when it is opened, heaven is therein. The intelligent of the world are especially in this ignorance, and those of them who hold that there is something internal, nevertheless have no idea, or a fatuous idea, about it. Hence it is that they believe but little, and moreover apply their knowledges to confirm that all things are of nature.

(Arcana Cœlestia 8512, 8513)

How The Lord Appears To Us

Selection from Arcana Cœlestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father in law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb. And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt.   Exodus 3:1-3

In a flame of fire out of the midst of the bramble. That this signifies love Divine in the truth of memory-knowledge, is evident from the signification of a "flame of fire," as being love Divine (of which below); and from the signification of a "bramble," as being the truth of memory-knowledge. That a "bramble" denotes the truth of memory-knowledge, is because all small shrubs of every kind signify memory-knowledges, but the greater shrubs signify real knowledges and perceptions. As a "bramble" produces flowers and berries, it signifies the truth of memory-knowledge.

The truth of memory-knowledge of the church is nothing else than the Word in the sense of the letter, and also every representative and significative of the church which existed among the descendants of Jacob.

In their external form these truths are called truths of memory-knowledge, but in the internal form they are spiritual truths. But as truths in the internal form, that is, in their spiritual form, could not appear to the posterity of Jacob, because they were in mere externals, and were quite unwilling to learn anything internal, therefore the Lord appeared in the bramble-

For when the Lord appears, He appears according to the quality of the man, because a man receives the Divine no otherwise than according to his own quality.

Therefore when the Lord appeared on Mount Sinai, He appeared to the people as fire burning even to the heart of heaven, and as darkness, clouds, and thick darkness (Deut. 4:11; 5:22-25 also Exod. 19:18). He would have appeared altogether otherwise if the people who were looking on beneath the mountain had not been of such a quality; and because that people was in mere externals, therefore when Moses entered unto the Lord on Mount Sinai, it is said that he "entered into a cloud" (Exod. 24:2, 18; 34:5). That a "cloud" denotes the external of the Word, see the preface to the eighteenth chapter of Genesis, and n. 4060, 4391, 5922, 6343; consequently also it was representative of the church as looked at in its outward form.

That the Lord appears to everyone according to his quality, is evident from the fact that the Lord appears to those who are in the inmost or third heaven as a sun, from which proceeds ineffable light, because those who are there are in the good of love to the Lord; and that He appears to those who are in the middle or second heaven as a moon, because those who are there are more remotely and obscurely in love to the Lord, being in love toward the neighbor; but in the lowest or first heaven, the Lord does not appear as a sun nor yet as a moon, but only as a light which far surpasses the light of the world. And as the Lord appears to everyone according to his quality, therefore also He cannot appear to those who are in hell except as a dusky cloud and thick darkness; for as soon as the light of heaven which is from the Lord sinks down into any hell, shades and darkness are produced there. From all this it can now be seen that the Lord appears to everyone according to his quality, because according to his reception; and as the descendants of Jacob were in externals only, therefore the Lord appeared unto Moses in the bramble, and also in a cloud, when he entered in unto the Lord upon Mount Sinai.

That "flame" denotes love Divine is because love in its first origin is nothing else than fire and flame from the Lord as a sun. It is the fire or flame of this sun which gives the being of life to every man; and it is the vital fire itself which fills the interiors of man with heat, as can be seen from love, for in proportion as love increases with man, he grows warm, and in proportion as love decreases, he grows cold.

In Luke:

The rich man said to Abraham, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame   (Luke 16:24)

They who do not know that the fire of life in man is from a different origin than is elementary fire cannot possibly know otherwise than that by the "fire of hell" is meant such fire as is in the world; when yet in the Word no such fire is meant, but the fire which is of love, thus which is of man's life, proceeding from the Lord as a sun; which fire, when it enters into those who are in things contrary is turned into the fire of cupidities, which, as before said, are those of revenge, hatred, and cruelty, springing forth from the love of self and of the world. This is the fire which torments those who are in the hells, for when the rein is given to their cupidities, they rush one upon another, and torture one another in direful and unspeakable ways, because everyone desires to be preeminent, and by secret or open artifices to take from another what belongs to him. This being the case on both sides, deadly hatreds come forth from it, and from these the perpetration of savage deeds, especially by means of magical arts and also by means of phantasies, which arts are innumerable and are quite unknown in the world.

They who do not believe in spiritual things, especially the worshipers of nature, can never be brought to believe that the heat in living beings, which makes the internal life itself, is from any other origin than the heat of this world; for they cannot know, still less acknowledge, that there is a heavenly fire proceeding from the Lord as a sun, and that this fire is pure love. Consequently they cannot know innumerable things that exist in the Word, where no other fire is meant; neither can they know innumerable things in man, who is an organ receptive of this fire.

(Arcana Cœlestia 6832:1-3;9, 10)

Revelation Through Prayer

Selection from Arcana Cœlestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

Prayer, regarded in itself, is speech with God, and some internal view at the time of the matters of the prayer, to which there answers something like an influx into the perception or thought of the mind, so that there is a certain opening of the man's interiors toward God; but this with a difference according to the man's state, and according to the essence of the subject of the prayer.

If the man prays from love and faith, and for only heavenly and spiritual things, there then comes forth in the prayer something like a revelation (which is manifested in the affection of him that prays) as to hope, consolation, or a certain inward joy. It is from this that to "pray" signifies in the internal sense to be revealed.

Still more is this the case here, where praying is predicated of a prophet, by whom is meant the Lord, whose prayer was nothing else than internal speech with the Divine, and at the same time revelation. That there was revelation is evident in Luke:

It came to pass when Jesus was baptized, and prayed, that the heaven was opened  (Luke 3:21).

In the same:

It came to pass that He took Peter, James, and John, and went up into the mountain to pray; and as He prayed, the fashion of His countenance was altered, and His raiment became white and glistening  (Luke 9:28-29).

In John:

When He prayed, saying, Father glorify Thy name, then came there a voice from heaven: I have both glorified, and will glorify again  (John 12:27-28);

where it is plain that the Lord's "praying" was speech with the Divine, and revelation at the same time.

(Arcana Cœlestia 2535)

The Nature of Revelation

Selection from Arcana Cœlestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

By "revelation" is meant enlightenment when the Word is read, and perception then -

For they who are in good and long for truth are taught in this way from the Word

but they who are not in good cannot be taught from the Word, but can only be confirmed in such things as they have been instructed in from infancy, whether true or false.

The reason why those who are in good have revelation, and those who are in evil have no revelation, is that -

in the internal sense each and all things in the Word treat of the Lord and of His kingdom,

and the angels who are with man perceive the Word according to the internal sense. This is communicated to the man who is in good, and reads the Word, and from affection longs for truth, and consequently has enlightenment and perception. For with those who are in good and from this in the affection of truth, the intellectual part of the mind is open into heaven, and their soul, that is, their internal man, is in fellowship with angels; but it is otherwise with those who are not in good, thus who do not from the affection of good long for truth; to these heaven is closed.

But what is the nature of the revelation with those who are in good and from this in the affection of truth, cannot be described. It is not manifest, neither is it altogether hidden; but it is -

a certain consent and favoring from within that a thing is true, and a non-favoring if it is not true.

When there is a favoring, the mind is at rest and is serene, and in this state there is the acknowledgment which is of faith. The cause of its being so is from the influx of heaven from the Lord; for through heaven from the Lord there is light, that surrounds and enlightens the intellect, which is the eye of the internal sight. The things which are then seen in that light are truths, -

for this very light is the Divine truth which proceeds from the Lord. ...

(Arcana Cœlestia 8694:2, 3)