The Lord's Divine Providence With The Evil

Selection from Divine Providence ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

The evil are continually leading themselves into evils, but the Lord is continually leading them away from evils.

What the Lord's Divine providence is with the good is more easily comprehended than what it is with the evil; but as the latter is now treated of it shall be told in the following order:

(1) In every evil there are things innumerable.
(2) An evil man from himself continually leads himself more deeply into his evils.
(3) The Divine providence with the evil is a continual permission of evil, to the end that there may be a continual withdrawal from it.
(4) The withdrawal from evil is effected by the Lord in a thousand ways, and even in most secret ways.

Therefore that the Divine providence with the evil may be more clearly seen and thus comprehended the points that have been stated above shall be explained in the order of their presentation.

First: In every evil there are things innumerable. In man's sight every evil appears as one simple thing, - hatred and revenge, theft and fraud, adultery and whoredom, pride and haughtiness, and other evils, so appear, - and it is not known that in every evil there are things innumerable, more than there are fibers and vessels in a man's body. For an evil man is hell in the least form; and hell consists of myriads of myriads, and every one there is in form like a man, though monstrous, in which all the fibers and vessels are inverted. The spirit is itself an evil, appearing to itself as a one; but as many as are the innumerable things in a spirit so many are the lusts of that evil; for every man is his own evil or his own good from the head to the sole of the foot. Since, then, an evil man is such, it is evident that he is one evil composed of innumerable different ones, each of which is a distinct evil; and these are called lusts of evil. From all this it follows that all these, in the order in which they are, must be restored and turned about by the Lord that man may be reformed; and that this can be done only by the Lord's Divine providence, step by step, from the earliest period of man's life to the last.

Every lust of evil in hell, when it is represented, appears like some noxious animal, as a dragon, or a basilisk, or a viper, or a horned owl, or a screech-owl, and so on; the lusts of evil in an evil man have a like appearance when he is looked at by angels. All these forms of lusts must be changed, one by one; the man himself who appears in respect to his spirit as a monster man or as a devil, must be so changed as to be like a beautiful angel; and every evil lust must be so changed as to appear like a lamb or a sheep, or like a pigeon or turtle-dove, which is the way in which the good affections of the angels appear in heaven when they are represented; and to change a dragon into a lamb, a basilisk into a sheep, or an owl into a pigeon, can only be done gradually by eradicating evil from its seed and implanting good seed in place of it. This can only be done comparatively as in the grafting of trees, the roots and some of the trunk of which remain, and yet the ingrafted branch turns the sap drawn up through the old root into a sap that makes good fruit. The branch to be engrafted can be taken from no other source than the Lord, who is the Tree of Life. This is in accordance with the Lord's words —

I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.  (John 15: 1-7).

Secondly: An evil man from himself continually leads himself more deeply into his evils. The expression, from himself, is used because all evil is from man, for man turns good that is from the Lord into evil. The essential cause of the evil man's leading himself more deeply into evil is that as he wills and does evil, he advances more and more interiorly, and also more and more deeply, into infernal societies, and in consequence the delight of evil grows; and this so occupies his thoughts that at length nothing is sweeter to his sense. And he who has advanced more interiorly and deeply into infernal societies becomes as if he were bound with cords; although so long as he lives in the world he does not feel the cords, they are as if made of soft wool or smooth threads of silk, which he loves because they titillate. But after death these cords from being soft become hard, and instead of titillating they become galling.

That the delight of evil is augmented is known from thefts, robberies, depredations, revenge, tyranny, money-getting, and other evils. Who does not feel the exaltation of delight in these things in the measure of his success and unrestrained indulgence? It is known that a thief feels such delight in thefts that he is unable to refrain, and what is wonderful, that he has more love for one coin that is stolen than for ten received as a gift. The same would be true of adultery, if it had not been provided that this evil decreases in potency in the measure of the abuse; although with many a delight in thinking and talking about it remains, and if nothing more there is still the lust of touch.

But it is not known that this increase of delight comes of man's advancing into infernal societies more and more interiorly and more and more deeply, as from will and at the same time from thought he commits the evils. So long as the evils are in thought alone, and not in the will, man is not in an infernal society with the evil, but he enters it as soon as the evils are also in the will. If he then also thinks that the evil is contrary to the precepts of the Decalogue, and considers these precepts as Divine, he commits the evil of set purpose, and thereby plunges to a depth from which he can be led out only by actual repentance.

It must be understood that in respect to his spirit, every man is in the spiritual world, in some society there - an evil man in an infernal society, and a good man in a heavenly society, and sometimes when in deep meditation he also appears there; also that as the sound of the voice with the spoken words spreads itself all about in the air of the natural world, so affection with thought spreads itself into societies in the spiritual world; and this is a correspondence, for affection corresponds to sound and thought to speech.

Thirdly: The Divine providence with the evil is a continual permission of evil, to the end that there may be a continual withdrawal from it. The Divine providence with evil men is a continual permission, because nothing but evil can go forth from their life; for man whether he be in good or in evil, cannot be in both at the same time, nor alternately unless he is lukewarm; and it is not the Lord but man that introduces evil of life into the will and through the will into the thought. This is what is called permission.

Since, then, all things that an evil man wills and thinks are of permission, it may be asked what the Divine providence therein is which is said to be in the least particulars in every man, whether evil or good. But it consists in this, that it continually permits for the sake of the end, and permits such things as pertain to the end and nothing else; and the evils that go forth from permission, it continually surveys, separates, and purifies, sending away things discordant and discharging them by unknown ways. These processes take place especially in man's interior will, and from this in his interior thought. The Divine providence is also unceasing in keeping watch that what must be sent away and discharged be not received again by the will, since all things that are received by the will are appropriated to man, while whatever is received by the thought and not by the will is separated and banished. Such is the Lord's continual providence with the evil, which is, as has been said, a continual permission, to the end that there may be an unceasing withdrawal.

Of all this man knows scarcely anything, because he has no perception of it. The primary reason that he has no perception of it is that these evils are the evils pertaining to the lusts of his life's love; and these evils are not felt as evils but as delights to which no one gives attention. Who attends to the delights of his love? His thought floats on in them like a boat borne by the current of a river, and there is a perception as it were of a fragrant atmosphere which is inhaled with a full breath. Only in his external thought can he feel something of them, and even there he gives no attention to them unless he knows well that they are evils. But of this more in what follows.

Fourthly: The withdrawal from evil is effected by the Lord in a thousand ways, and even in most secret ways. Only some of these have been disclosed to me, and none but the most general, which are these:

The delights of lusts of which man has no knowledge are emitted in companies or in bundles into the interior thoughts that belong to man's spirit, and therefrom into his exterior thoughts, in which they appear under a kind of feeling of satisfaction or pleasure or longing; and there they are mingled with his natural and sensual delights. There, too, are the means of separation and purification, and also the ways of withdrawal and discharge. The means are chiefly the delights of meditation, of thought, and of reflection for the sake of certain ends which are uses, the ends, which are uses, are as many as are the particulars and least particulars of one's business and office. Or again, they are as many as the delights of reflection, to the end that he may appear like a civil and moral man and also like a spiritual man; besides the undelightful things that insert themselves. These delights, because they belong to one's love in the external man, are the means of separation, purification, excretion, and withdrawal of the delights of the lusts of evil belonging to the internal man.

Take, for example, an unjust judge who regards gains or friendship as ends or as uses of his office; inwardly he is continually in these things, but outwardly he aims to act like a skilled lawyer and a just man. He is constantly in the delight of meditation, thought, reflection, and purpose, that he may so bend, turn, adapt, and adjust the right that there may still appear to be a conformity with the laws and a semblance of justice, not knowing that his internal delight consists of cunning, frauds, deceits, clandestine thefts, and many other things, and that this delight, made up of so many delights of the lusts of evil, rules in all things and each thing of his external thought, wherein are the delights of appearing to be just and sincere. The internal delights are let down into these external delights, and they are mixed together like various kinds of food in the stomach; and there they are separated, purified, and conducted away; nevertheless, this is done only with the more grievous delights of the lusts of evil.

For with an evil man no separation, purification, and withdrawal is possible except of the more grievous evils from the less grievous; while with a good man there can be not only a separation, purification, and withdrawal of the more grievous evils, but also of the less grievous, and this is done by means of the delights of affections for what is good and true and for what is just and sincere, into which he comes so far as he regards evils as sins and in consequence shuns them and turns away from them, and still more if he fights against them. Such are the means by which the Lord purifies all who are saved. These, He also purifies by external means, which have respect to fame and honor, and sometimes to wealth; nevertheless there are implanted in these by the Lord the delights of affections for good and truth, by which they are so regulated and fitted as to become delights of love of the neighbor.

If one could see the delights of the lusts of evil together in some form, or if he could clearly perceive them by any sense, he would see and perceive them to be too numerous to be defined; for all hell is nothing but a form of all the lusts of evil, and there no lust of evil is exactly like another or the same as another, neither can there be to eternity. And of these numberless lusts man knows scarcely anything, still less how they are connected. Nevertheless, the Lord through His Divine providence continually permits them to come forth, to the end that they may be taken away, which is done in every order and series. An evil man is a hell in the least form, as a good man is a heaven in the least form.

That this withdrawal from evils is effected by the Lord in a thousand ways, even the most secret ways, one can best see and be convinced of by comparison with the secret operations of the soul in the body. Those that man has knowledge of are the following: The food that he is about to eat he looks at, perceives the odor of, hungers for, tastes, chews with his teeth, rolls to the oesophagus with his tongue, and thus into the stomach. But the soul's secret workings, of which man knows nothing because he has no sensation of them, are these: That the stomach rolls about the food received, opens and separates it by means of solvents, that is, digests it, and offers fitting portions of it to the little mouths there opening and to the veins that drink them in, sends some to the blood, some to the lymphatic vessels, some to the lacteal vessels of the mesentery, and some it sends away down the intestines; and finally the chyle, conveyed through the thoracic duct from its receptacle in the mesentery, is carried into the vena cava, and so into the heart, and from the heart into the lungs, from them through the left ventricle of the heart into the aorta, and from this by its branches into the viscera of the whole body and also to the kidneys; and in every one of these organs a separation of the blood, a purification and a withdrawal of heterogeneous substances is effected; not to speak of how the heart presents its blood, when defecated in the lungs, to the brain, which is done through the arteries called carotids, and how the brain returns the blood vivified to the vena cava (just above where the thoracic duct brings in the chyle), and so back again to the heart.

These and innumerable others are the secret operations of the soul in the body. These operations are not felt by man, and he who is not versed in the science of anatomy knows nothing about them. And yet similar things take place in the interiors of man's mind; for nothing can take place in the body except from the mind; for man's mind is his spirit, and his spirit is equally a man, with the difference only that whatever is done in the body is done naturally, and whatever is done in the mind is done spiritually; the similitude is complete.

From all this it is evident that the Divine providence works in every man in a thousand ways, even to the most secret, and that its unceasing end is to purify him, because its end is to save him; and that nothing is incumbent on man except to remove evils in the external man. All the rest the Lord provides if He is appealed to.

(from Divine Providence 295-296)

Why Wars are Permitted

Selection from Divine Providence ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

The worshiper of himself and of nature confirms himself against Divine providence when he reflects that wars are permitted, and the consequent slaughter of so many men, and the plundering of their wealth.

It is not from the Divine providence that wars exist, for they are connected with murders, plunderings, violence, cruelties, and other terrible evils, which are directly opposed to Christian charity; and yet they must needs be permitted, because, since the time of the most ancient people, meant by Adam and his wife, the life's love of man has become such that it wills to rule over others, and finally over all, also to possess the wealth of the world, and finally all wealth. These two loves cannot be kept bound, for it is according to the Divine providence that every one be allowed to act from freedom in accordance with reason; furthermore, without permissions man cannot be led from evil by the Lord, and thus be reformed and saved. For unless evils were permitted to break out man would not see them, and therefore would not acknowledge them, and thus could not be led to resist them. For this reason evils cannot be prevented by any providence; for if they were they would remain shut in, and like the diseases called cancer and gangrene would spread about and consume all that is vital in man.

For man from birth is like a little hell, between which and heaven there is perpetual discordance. No man can be withdrawn from his hell by the Lord unless he sees that he is in hell and wishes to be led out; and this cannot be done without permissions, the causes of which are laws of the Divine providence. For this reason there are wars, lesser and greater, the lesser between the possessors of estates and their neighbors, and the greater between the rulers of kingdoms and their neighbors. Between the lesser and greater there is no difference, except that the lesser are kept within bounds by the laws of the nation, and the greater by the laws of nations; also that while both the lesser and greater wish to transgress their laws, the lesser cannot, and the greater can, although not beyond its abilities.

There are many other reasons stored up in the treasury of Divine wisdom why the Lord does not check the greater wars, with their kings and commanders, connected as they are with murders, depredations, violence, and cruelties, neither in their beginning nor in their progress, but only at the close, when the power of one or the other has become so reduced that he is in danger of destruction. Some of these reasons have been revealed to me, and among them is this:

that all wars, however much they may belong to civil affairs, represent in heaven the states of the church, and are correspondences.

Such were all the wars described in the Word, and such also are all wars at this day. The wars described in the Word are those that the children of Israel waged with various nations, as the Amorites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Philistines, the Syrians, the Egyptians, the Chaldeans, and the Assyrians; and when the children of Israel, who represented the church, departed from their commandments and statutes and fell into the evils signified by those nations, they were punished by some nation, because each nation with which the children of Israel waged war signified some particular kind of evil. For example, when they profaned the holy things of the church by foul idolatries they were punished by the Assyrians and Chaldeans, because "Assyria" and "Chaldea" signify the profanation of what is holy.

Like things are represented by the wars of the present day, wherever they occur —

for all things that take place in the natural world correspond to spiritual things in the spiritual world, and every thing spiritual has relation to the church.

It is not known in this world what kingdoms in Christendom answer to the Moabites and Ammonites, what to the Syrians and Philistines, or what to the Chaldeans and Assyrians, and the others with whom the children of Israel waged war; and yet there are those that do answer to them. Moreover, what the quality of the church upon earth is and what the evils are into which it falls, and for which it is punished by wars, cannot be seen at all in the natural world, because in this world externals only are evident, and these do not constitute the church; but this is seen in the spiritual world, where internals are manifest, in which the church itself is, and there all are conjoined in accordance with their various states. The conflicts of these in the spiritual world correspond to wars which are governed by the Lord on both sides correspondentially, in accordance with His Divine providence.

That in this world wars are governed by Divine providence the spiritual man acknowledges, but the natural man does not, except when a festival is appointed on account of a victory that he may return thanks on his knees to God that He has given the victory, also by a few words before going into battle. But when he returns into himself he ascribes the victory either to the prudence of the general or to some measure or occurrence in the midst of the battle, which they had not thought of, from which nevertheless came the victory.

That the Divine providence that is called fortune is in the least particulars of even trivial things; and if in these you acknowledge the Divine providence you must certainly acknowledge it in the affairs of war. Also the successes and favorable occurrences of war are called in common language the fortune of war; and this is Divine providence, especially in the plans and preparations of the general, even although he then and afterwards may ascribe it all to his own prudence. And let him do this if he will, for he is in full liberty to think in favor of the Divine providence or against it, and even in favor of God and against Him; but let him know that no part whatever of the plan or preparation is from himself; it all flows in either from heaven or from hell,-from hell by permission, from heaven by providence.

(from Divine Providence 251)

The "Good of Life" from Doctrinal Things

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

And he (Isaac) called his name Jacob. (Genesis 25:26)

The quality that is represented by Jacob is the doctrine of truth of the natural, as may be seen from the representation of Esau, as being the good of life of the truth of the natural, and from many places in the Word, where he is named.

There are two things which constitute the natural, as there are two that constitute the rational, nay, that constitute the whole man, one of which is of life, and the other of doctrine. That which is of life belongs to the will, while that which is of doctrine belongs to the understanding. The former is called good, and the latter truth. This good is that which is represented by Esau, and the truth by Jacob; or what is the same, the good of life of the truth of the natural is that which is represented by Esau, and the doctrine of truth of the natural is that which is represented by Jacob. Whether you say the good of life of the truth of the natural and the doctrine of truth of the natural, or those who are in these things, it is the same; for the good of life and the doctrine of truth cannot exist apart from their subject. If they have no subject they are a kind of abstract affair which nevertheless has regard to the man in whom this may be.

(from Arcana Coelestia 3305)

And the boys grew up: and Esau was a man skillful in hunting, a man of the field. (Genesis 25:27)

The boys grew up. That this signifies the first state, namely, of the conjunction of good and truth, is evident from the signification of "growing up," when predicated of good and truth in respect to origin and progress, as being the first state of the latter, namely, of progress, concerning which hereafter; and from the signification of the "boys," as being good and truth; for good is represented by the "boy Esau," and truth by the "boy Jacob," as before shown. The case with good and truth is the same as with offspring, in that they are conceived, are in the womb, are born, grow up, and also advance in age even to the last. That they are conceived, are in the womb, and are born, pertains to the state of origin; but that they grow up, and advance in age even to the last, pertains to the state of progress.

The state of progress advances in succession from the birth, and is a state of the conjunction of good and truth. The first of this state is that which is here signified by "growing up." This state commences immediately after birth, and is continued even to the last of life; and with those who are in good, after the life of the body to eternity. The angels are thus being continually perfected.

(from Arcana Coelestia 3308)

And Esau was a man skillful [sciens] in hunting. That this signifies the good of life from truths sensuous and of memory-knowledge, is evident from the representation of Esau, as being the good of life and from the signification of a "man skillful in hunting," as being those who are in the affection of truth. For a "man skillful" is predicated of the affection of truth, or of those who are in the affection of truth; whereas "hunting" signifies the truths themselves, but truths which are of the natural man from which are goods. And as the truths of the natural man are those which are called memory-knowledges and these are chiefly of two kinds or degrees, namely, sensuous truths, and truths in the form of memory-knowledge, both are here signified by "hunting."

Sensuous truths are those in which children are, and truths in the form of memory-knowledge are those in which the same children are as they grow up. For no one can be in truths of memory-knowledge unless he is first in sensuous truths, inasmuch as the ideas of the former are procured from the latter; and from these may afterwards be learned and comprehended truths still more interior, which are called doctrinal truths, and which are signified by a "man of the field".

That by "hunting" are signified truths sensuous and of memory-knowledge, in which are instructed and by which are affected those who are in the good of life, is because "hunting," in a wide sense, means the things taken by hunting - such as rams, kids, she-goats, and the like; and which are spiritual goods; and also because the arms used in hunting, which were quivers, bows, and darts, signify the doctrinal things of truth. That such are the things which are signified by "hunting," is evident from what is said to Esau by his father Isaac in a subsequent chapter:

Take I pray thy weapons, thy quiver and thy bow, and go out to the field, and hunt me a hunting, and make me savory meat, such as I have loved (Gen. 27:3-4)

and to Jacob, who is there taken for Esau, in the same chapter:

Bring to me that I may eat of my son's hunting, that my soul may bless thee (Gen. 27:25)

from which it is evident what is signified by "hunting."

(from Arcana Coelestia 3309)

That "a man of the field" signifies the good of life from doctrinal things, is evident from the signification of "field." In the Word frequent mention is made of "earth" or "land," of "ground," and of "field." By "earth" or "land," when used in a good sense, is signified the Lord's kingdom in the heavens and on earth, thus the church, which is His kingdom on earth. The like is signified by "ground," but in a more restricted sense. The same is signified also by "field," but in a sense still more restricted.

As the church is not the church from doctrinal things except insofar as these have respect to the good of life as their end; or what is the same, unless these doctrinal things are conjoined with the good of life, therefore by "field" is principally signified the good of life; and in order that this may be of the church, there must be doctrinal things from the Word which have been implanted in this good. Without doctrinal things there is indeed good of life, but not as yet the good of the church, thus not as yet good truly spiritual, except only in the capacity of becoming so; as is the case with the good of life among the Gentiles who have not the Word, and therefore are ignorant of the Lord.

That a "field" is the good of life in which are to be implanted the things which are of faith, that is, spiritual truths which are of the church, is very evident from the Lord's parable in Matthew:

The sower went forth to sow, and as he sowed, some fell upon the hard way, and the birds came and devoured them; and others fell upon stony places where they had not much earth, and straightway they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth; and when the sun was risen, they were scorched, and because they had no root, they withered away; and others fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them; but others fell upon the good ground and yielded fruit, some a hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold: he that hath an ear to hear, let him hear (Matt. 13:3-9; Mark 4:3-9; Luke 8:5-8).

Here four kinds of earth or ground in a field - that is, in the church - are treated of. That the "seed" is the Word of the Lord, thus truth, which is said to be of faith, and that the "good ground" is the good which is of charity, is evident, for it is the good in man that receives the Word; the "hard way" is falsity; a "stony place" is truth that has no root in good; "thorns" are evils.

As regards the good of life from doctrinal things, which is signified by "a man of the field," the case is this:

They who are being regenerated, at first do what is good from doctrinal things, for of themselves they do not know what is good, but learn it from the doctrinal things of love and charity - from these they know who the Lord is; who is the neighbor; what love is, and what charity; thus what good is. When they are in this state, they are in the affection of truth, and are called "men [viri] of the field;" but afterwards when they have been regenerated, they do not do what is good from doctrinal things, but from love and charity, for they are then in the good itself which they have learned through doctrinal things, and then are called "men [homines] of the field."

The case herein is as with one who by nature inclines to adulteries, thefts, and murders, but who learns from the commandments of the Decalogue that such things are of hell, and so abstains from them. In this state he is affected by the commandments because he is afraid of hell, and from these and likewise from many things in the Word he learns how he ought to direct his life; and in this case when he does what is good, he does it from the commandments. But when he is in good, he begins to be averse to the adulteries, thefts, and murders to which before he had been inclined; and when he is in this state, he no longer does what is good from the commandments, but from good, which then is in him. In the former state he learns good from truth; in the latter state he teaches truth from good.

The same is the case also with spiritual truths, which are called doctrinal things, and are still more interior commandments; for doctrinal things are the interior truths that belong to the natural man. The first truths are of sense, the next are of memory-knowledge, the interior ones are of doctrine. These doctrinal truths are founded upon truths of memory-knowledge, for man can form and retain no idea, notion, or conception of them except from memory-knowledges. But truths of memory-knowledge are founded upon truths of the senses, for without sensuous things no memory-knowledges can be comprehended by man. These truths, namely, those of memory-knowledge and of sense, are what are signified by "a man skillful in hunting;" but doctrinal truths are those which are signified by a "man of the field."

In this way do these truths follow in succession with man; and therefore until he is of adult age, and through truths of sense and of memory-knowledge is in doctrinal truths, no man is able to be regenerated, for he cannot be confirmed in the truths of doctrine, except by means of ideas derived from the things of memory-knowledge and of sense. For nothing is possible in man's thought, even as to the deepest arcanum of faith, that is not attended with a natural and sensuous idea, although the man is for the most part ignorant of the nature of it; but in the other life, if he desires it, it is presented to view before his understanding, and even, if he so wishes, before his sight; for however incredible it may appear, in the other life such things can be presented to the sight.

(from Arcana Coelestia 3310)

Influx Adjusts Itself According To The Efflux*

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

And he (Joseph) commanded the steward of his house, saying, Fill the men's sacks with food, as much as they can carry, and put every man's money in his sack's mouth. And put my cup, the silver cup, in the sack's mouth of the youngest, and his corn money. And he did according to the word that Joseph had spoken.

As soon as the morning was light, the men were sent away, they and their asses. And when they were gone out of the city, and not yet far off, Joseph said unto his steward, Up, follow after the men; and when thou dost overtake them, say unto them, Wherefore have ye rewarded evil for good? Is not this it in which my lord drinketh, and whereby indeed he divineth? ye have done evil in so doing.  And he overtook them, and he spake unto them these same words.

And they said unto him, Wherefore saith my lord these words? God forbid that thy servants should do according to this thing: Behold, the money, which we found in our sacks' mouths, we brought again unto thee out of the land of Canaan: how then should we steal out of thy lord's house silver or gold? With whomsoever of thy servants it be found, both let him die, and we also will be my lord's bondmen.

And he said, Now also let it be according unto your words: he with whom it is found shall be my servant; and ye shall be blameless.

Then they speedily took down every man his sack to the ground, and opened every man his sack. And he searched, and began at the eldest, and left at the youngest: and the cup was found in Benjamin's sack. Then they rent their clothes, and laded every man his ass, and returned to the city.

And Judah and his brethren came to Joseph's house; for he was yet there: and they fell before him on the ground. And Joseph said unto them, What deed is this that ye have done? wot ye not that such a man as I can certainly divine?

And Judah said, What shall we say unto my lord? what shall we speak? or how shall we clear ourselves? God hath found out the iniquity of thy servants: behold, we are my lord's servants, both we, and he also with whom the cup is found.

And he said, God forbid that I should do so: but the man in whose hand the cup is found, he shall be my servant; and as for you, get you up in peace unto your father.

Then Judah came near unto him, and said, Oh my lord, let thy servant, I pray thee, speak a word in my lord's ears, and let not thine anger burn against thy servant: for thou art even as Pharaoh.

My lord asked his servants, saying, Have ye a father, or a brother? And we said unto my lord, We have a father, an old man, and a child of his old age, a little one; and his brother is dead, and he alone is left of his mother, and his father loveth him. And thou saidst unto thy servants, Bring him down unto me, that I may set mine eyes upon him. And we said unto my lord, The lad cannot leave his father: for if he should leave his father, his father would die. And thou saidst unto thy servants, Except your youngest brother come down with you, ye shall see my face no more. And it came to pass when we came up unto thy servant my father, we told him the words of my lord. And our father said, Go again, and buy us a little food. And we said, We cannot go down: if our youngest brother be with us, then will we go down: for we may not see the man's face, except our youngest brother be with us. And thy servant my father said unto us, Ye know that my wife bare me two sons: And the one went out from me, and I said, Surely he is torn in pieces; and I saw him not since:  And if ye take this also from me, and mischief befall him, ye shall bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave. Now therefore when I come to thy servant my father, and the lad be not with us; seeing that his life is bound up in the lad's life; It shall come to pass, when he seeth that the lad is not with us, that he will die: and thy servants shall bring down the gray hairs of thy servant our father with sorrow to the grave. For thy servant became surety for the lad unto my father, saying, If I bring him not unto thee, then I shall bear the blame to my father for ever. Now therefore, I pray thee, let thy servant abide instead of the lad a bondman to my lord; and let the lad go up with his brethren.  For how shall I go up to my father, and the lad be not with me? lest peradventure I see the evil that shall come on my father.  (Genesis 44:1-34)

Surely, tearing he is torn in pieces. That this signifies perception that it has perished by evils and falsities, is evident from the signification of "saying," as being perception; and from the signification of "being torn in pieces," as being to perish by evils and falsities (that is, the internal good which is represented by Joseph). That "to be torn in pieces" has this signification, is because in the spiritual world there is no other tearing in pieces than that of good by evils and falsities. The case herein is like death and what relates to death. In the spiritual sense these do not signify natural death, but spiritual death, which is damnation, for there is no other death in the spiritual world. So likewise "tearing" does not signify in the spiritual sense such tearing as is done by wild beasts, but the tearing to pieces of good by evils and falsities. Moreover the wild beasts which tear, signify in the spiritual sense the evils of cupidities and the derivative falsities, which also are represented by wild beasts in the other life.

The good which continually flows in from the Lord with man, does not perish except by evils and the derivative falsities, and by falsities and the derivative evils. For as soon as this good, continuous through the internal man, comes to the external or natural man, it is met by evil and falsity, by which the good is torn in pieces and extinguished in various ways as by wild beasts. By this the influx of good through the internal man is checked and stayed, and consequently the inner mind, through which is the influx, is closed, and only so much of the spiritual is admitted through it as to enable the natural man to reason and speak, but this only from earthly, bodily, and worldly things, and indeed contrary to good and truth, or in accordance with them from pretense or deceit. 

It is a universal law that influx adjusts itself according to efflux*, and if efflux is checked influx is checked. Through the internal man there is an influx of good and truth from the Lord, and through the external there must be an efflux, namely into the life, that is, in the exercise of charity. When there is this efflux then there is continual influx from heaven, that is, through heaven from the Lord; whereas if there is no efflux, but resistance in the external or natural man (that is, evil and falsity which tear to pieces and extinguish the inflowing good), it follows from the universal law just mentioned that the influx adjusts itself to the efflux, consequently that the influx of good draws back, and thereby the internal through which is the influx is closed; and through this closing there comes stupidity in spiritual things, even until the man who is such neither knows nor is willing to know anything about eternal life, and at last becomes insane, so that he opposes — falsities against truths, calling them truths and the truths falsities, and evils against goods, making them goods and the goods evil. Thus he tears good completely to pieces.

(from Arcana Coelestia 5828)

*efflux - a flowing out which is effected by man's ultimating in deeds and uses the truth and good he has received by revelation.

In What Way Is Charity To Be Practiced?

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

Every man is the neighbor, but not one in like manner as another — he who is in good is more the neighbor than others, thus that it is the good in a man which is to be loved, for when good is loved, the Lord is loved, because it is the Lord from whom is good, who is in good, and who is good itself.

But not only is man in the singular the neighbor, but also man in the plural.

For a society, smaller or greater, is the neighbor; our country is the neighbor; the church is the neighbor; the Lord's kingdom is the neighbor; and so above all is the Lord. All these are the neighbor who is to be benefited from charity. These also are ascending degrees of the neighbor; for a society of many is the neighbor in a higher degree than is an individual man; our country in a higher degree than a society; in a still higher degree the church; and in a still higher degree the Lord's kingdom; but in the highest degree the Lord is the neighbor. These ascending degrees are like the steps of a ladder, at the top of which is the Lord.

A society is more a neighbor than an individual man, because it consists of many. Charity is to be practiced toward it in like manner as toward an individual man, namely, according to the quality of good in it; thus quite differently toward a society of the upright, from the way in which it is to be practiced toward a society of those who are not upright.

Our country is more the neighbor than a society, because it is like a parent; for there the man has been born; it nourishes him, and protects him from harm. Our country is to be benefited from love, according to its necessities, which chiefly regard its sustenance, its civil life, and its spiritual life. He who loves his country, and from good will benefits it, in the other life loves the Lord's kingdom; for there the Lord's kingdom is his country. And he who loves the Lord's kingdom, loves the Lord, because the Lord is the all in all of His kingdom; for what is properly called "the Lord's kingdom" is the good and truth from the Lord in those who are in it.

The church is more the neighbor than our country, because he who has regard for the church, has regard also for the souls and eternal life of the men who are in the country. And the church is cared for when man is led to good, and he who does this from charity, loves the neighbor, for he desires and wills for another, heaven and happiness of life to eternity. Good can be instilled into another by anyone in his country, but not truth, except by those who are teaching ministers; if others do this, heresies arise, and the church is disturbed and rent asunder. Charity is practiced, if through the truth which is of the church, the neighbor is led to good. If in the church anything is called truth which leads away from good, this is not worthy of mention, for it is not truth. Everyone must first obtain for himself truth from the doctrine of the church, and afterward from the Word of the Lord; this must be the truth of his faith.

The Lord's kingdom is the neighbor in a higher degree than the church in which one is born; for the Lord's kingdom consists of all who are in good, both on earth and in the heavens; thus the Lord's kingdom is good with every quality of it in the complex; and when this good is loved, everyone who is in good is loved. Thus the whole, which is all good in the complex, is the neighbor in the first degree, and is that Grand Man which has been treated of at the end of many chapters, which Man is a representative image of the Lord Himself. This Man, that is, the Lord's kingdom, is loved, when from inmost affection those are benefited who are men through that man from the Lord, thus with whom is the Lord's kingdom.

These are the degrees of the neighbor, and according to these degrees charity ascends; but these are degrees in successive order, in which a prior or higher degree is always preferred to a posterior or lower one; and as the Lord is in the highest, and He is to be regarded in every degree as the end to which each tends, therefore He is above all, and is to be loved above all things.

(from Arcana Coelestia 6818-6824)

The First of Religion

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

And a stranger shall not eat. (Exodus 12:43)  That this signifies no appropriation of good with those who do not acknowledge the Lord, is evident from the signification of "a stranger," and "a foreigner," as being those who are outside the church —

Gentiles, who are outside the church, may be in truths, but not in the truths of faith. Their truths, like the precepts of the Decalogue, are that parents are to be honored, that men are not to kill, steal, commit adultery, or covet things that belong to others; also that the Deity is to be worshiped. But the truths of faith are all doctrinal things concerning eternal life, the Lord's kingdom, and the Lord Himself, which cannot be known to the Gentiles because they have not the Word.

These are they who are signified by "sons that are strangers who are not of thy seed," in Genesis 17:12, and yet were to be circumcised, that is purified, together with them. This shows that they can be purified, equally with those within the church; as was represented by their being circumcised. They are purified when they reject filthy loves, and live with one another in charity; for then they live in truths, since all truths are of charity; but in  truths —

No one can be purified from those filthy loves except one who is in truth. From truth he knows [cognoscit] what is pure and what impure, and what is holy and what profane. Before he has learned this, there are no mediums into which and through which the heavenly love continually flowing in from the Lord can operate, as this cannot be received except in truths; and therefore man is reformed and regenerated by means of the knowledges of truth, and this not until he has been imbued with them. Conscience itself is formed by means of the truths of faith; for the conscience with which the regenerate man is gifted is a conscience of what is true and right. (from Arcana Coelestia 2046)

They who live in these truths readily imbibe the truths of faith, if not in the life of the body, yet in the other life, because the truths of faith are the interior truths of charity, and they then love nothing more than to be admitted into the interior truths of charity. The interior truths of charity are those in which the Lord's kingdom consists.

In the other life a memory-knowledge of the knowledges of faith is of no avail, for the worst, nay, the infernals, can be in the memory-knowledge of them, sometimes more than others; but that which avails is a life according to the knowledges, for all knowledges have life as their end. Unless knowledges were learned for the sake of life, they would be of no use except that men might talk about them, and thereby be esteemed learned in the world, be exalted to honors, and gain reputation and wealth. From this it is evident that a life of the knowledges of faith is no other than a life of charity; for the Law and the Prophets, that is, the universal doctrine of faith together with all its knowledges, consists in love to the Lord and in love toward the neighbor; as is manifest to all from the Lord's words in Matthew 22:34-39 and Mark 12:28-35. —

The Greatest Commandment

But when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together. Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

But still doctrinal things, that is, the knowledges of faith, are most necessary for forming the life of charity, which cannot be formed without them. This is the life that saves after death, and by no means any life of faith without it; for without charity there cannot be any life of faith. They who are in the life of love and charity are in the Lord's life, and by no other life can anyone be conjoined with Him. Hence also it is evident that the truths of faith can never be acknowledged as truths, that is, the acknowledgment of them so much talked of is impossible, except outwardly, and by the mouth, unless they are implanted in charity; for inwardly or in the heart they are denied, since, as already said, they all have charity as their end; and if this is not within them they are inwardly rejected. When the exteriors are taken away - as is done in the other life - the interiors are manifest in their true character, in that they are utterly contrary to all the truths of faith. When men have had no life of charity - that is, no mutual love - during their bodily life, it is utterly impossible to receive it in the other life, because they are averse to and hate it, for after death the same life remains with us that we have lived here. When such persons merely approach a society where there is the life of mutual love, they tremble, shudder, and feel torture.

Such persons, although born within the church, are called "sons that are strangers, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh," who are not to be admitted into the sanctuary, that is, into the Lord's kingdom; and who are also meant in Ezekiel:

No son that is a stranger, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter into My sanctuary (Ezek. 44:7, 9).

Again:

To whom art thou thus become like in glory and in greatness among the trees of Eden? and thou shalt be brought down with the trees of Eden into the lower earth, thou shalt lie in the midst of the uncircumcised with them that are slain by the sword (Ezek. 31:18)

where Pharaoh is treated of, by whom are signified memory-knowledges in general; by "the trees of Eden" with which they should go down into the lower earth, are also signified memory-knowledges, but those of the knowledges of faith. All this shows what "the uncircumcised" is in the internal sense, namely, one who is in filthy loves and the life of them. (from Arcana Coelestia 2049)

— and those are said to be outside the church who do not acknowledge the Lord. Among the Israelitish nation those were said to be outside the church who did not acknowledge Jehovah as their God, and did not suffer themselves to be instructed in the rituals of the church. Those who acknowledged, and suffered themselves to be instructed, were called "sojourners," who had the same rights as the natives. And from the signification of "eating," as being the appropriation of good. The reason why there is no appropriation of good with those who do not acknowledge the Lord, is because to acknowledge one's God is the first of religion, and with Christians to acknowledge the Lord is the first of the church; for without acknowledgment there is no communication, consequently no faith, thus no love. Consequently the first of doctrine in the Christian Church is that without the Lord there is no salvation. For whatever a man calls true, and believes, and whatever he calls good, and loves, cannot be called true and good unless it is from the Divine, thus unless it is from the Lord; for it is also known that of himself a man cannot believe and do what is good; but that all truth and all good come from above. Thus it is very plain that those within the Church who do not acknowledge the Lord, cannot have faith, thus neither can they have love to God, nor consequently can they be saved. This was represented among the Israelitish nation by the injunction that they were to acknowledge Jehovah as their God, and their worship would be accepted and called holy, and they would then be sanctified, whatever was their quality as to the interiors; for the representatives were merely external, and with that nation it was sufficient to be in externals. Therefore those of them who did not acknowledge Jehovah, but another God, no matter how they sacrificed and worshiped in like manner as the rest, were nevertheless rejected from the church; as for instance those who worshiped Baal, and other gods. From this can be seen what is the lot of those in the other life who have been born within the church and yet at heart deny the Lord, whatever may be their quality as to moral life. By much experience also it has been given to know that they cannot be saved; which the Lord also teaches openly in John:

He that believeth in the Son hath eternal life, but he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him (John 3:36).

But with regard to the nations outside the church, those who have lived from their religion in some kind of charity toward their neighbor, and in some kind of love to God the Creator of the universe under a human form, are in the other life accepted by the Lord and are saved; for when instructed by angels these acknowledge the Lord, and believe in Him, and love Him.

(from Arcana Coelestia 10112)

The Divine Good of Love from The Lord in Heaven and in the Church

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

Whatever represents the Lord represents Him also in the men of the church and in the angels of heaven, thus it represents heaven and the church, because the men in whom the church is constitute the church in general, and the angels in whom heaven is constitute heaven in general. Nevertheless, regarded in themselves, the men themselves do not constitute the church, but the Lord in them; and so neither do the angels regarded in themselves constitute heaven, but the Lord in them. For the Lord does not dwell in anything of the man's or angel's own but in His own with them. Hence it is that when the church and heaven are spoken of, the Divine of the Lord is meant with those who are there, from which it is plain how it ought to be apprehended that the Lord is the all in all of heaven and the church, and that the Lord Himself is heaven and the church. This is also evident from the doctrine known and received in the Christian world, that all the good of faith and of love is from God, and nothing from man and that whatever is from man as from himself is not good. Hence also it is that no one has merit or righteousness from anything of his own.

These things have been said in order that it may be known what the Lord is in heaven and in the church, thus what heaven and the church are.

What representative of Him is meant by the altar and its anointing —

All things were anointed that were to represent the Lord and the Divine things which are from the Lord, as the altar, the Tent of meeting, the tables which were therein, the lampstand, the ark, Aaron himself, his sons, and their garments, and when these were anointed, they were called holy. Not that the oil induced any holiness, but because they thus represented Divine things from the Lord, which alone are holy. Oil was employed for this use because "oil" signified the good of love, and the Divine good of the Divine love is the Divine Itself, for it is the Being itself of all things; and so in order to represent it, inauguration was effected by means of oil.

The Divine Itself which is the Being of all things was in the Lord alone, for He was conceived of Jehovah; and every man has from his father the being of his life, which is called his soul. From this it is evident that the Divine good of the Divine love was in the Human of the Lord as the soul of a father is in a son.

And as with man nothing lives but his soul, for the body without the soul does not live, and because everything of the body is produced from the soul, thus after its image, in order that the soul may be in a state that is adapted and accommodated to its functions in the ultimates of order, which are in the world, it hence follows that the Being itself in the Human of the Lord was Jehovah, which is the Divine good of the Divine love. And that which is the Being of life makes everything that comes forth from It after Its own likeness, and so the Lord, from the Divine Itself which was in Him, thus which was His, made also His Human the Divine good of the Divine love.

Moreover, it is said in the Athanasian Creed, which contains the faith received throughout the Christian world, "As the body and the soul is one man, so the Divine and the Human in the Lord is one Christ." He therefore who is acquainted with the union of the soul in the body, and the image of the former in the latter, may in some measure know the union of the Divine and the Human in the Lord, and the image of the one in the other, and from this he might know that the Divine which is called the Father, and the Human which is called the Son, were one, and the one in the other, that is, the Father in Him and He in the Father, according to the Lord's words in John 10:30; 14:10, 11.

I and the Father are one. (John 10:30)

Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves. (John 14:10-11)

But as at this day it is not known what the soul is, and scarcely that it is from the father, and that the body is its image, and that the two are one as are the prior and the posterior, or as being and that which comes forth from it, therefore man has separated the Divine from the Human in the Lord, and has distinguished them into two natures, and from this has conceived no other idea of the Human of the Lord than as of the human of a man, when yet the soul of a man is finite from his father, and has evil in it by inheritance. Whereas the soul of the Lord, being from Jehovah, was infinite, and was nothing else than the Divine good of the Divine love, and consequently after glorification His Human was not like the human of a man.

For this reason the Lord took up into heaven all His Human glorified, that is, made Divine from Himself, and left nothing of it in the sepulchre, otherwise than is the case with man. That the Lord glorified His very body even to its ultimates which are the bones and the flesh, the Lord also manifested to His disciples, saying, "Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself. Feel Me and see, for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see Me have" (Luke 24:39); and yet He entered through doors that were shut, and after He had manifested Himself became invisible (John 20:19; Luke 24:31). These things have been said in order that it may be known that the Lord alone as to His Human was the Anointed of Jehovah, not indeed anointed with oil, but with the Divine good itself of the Divine love, which is signified by "oil," and which was represented by anointing.

(from Arcana Coelestia 10125)