Not Changed by Lip-confession

Selection from True Christian Religion ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

In the ideas of thought a Trinity of Divine Persons from eternity, or before the world was created, is a Trinity of Gods; and these ideas cannot be effaced by, a lip-confession of one God. That a trinity of Divine persons from eternity is a trinity of Gods is clearly evident from the following passage in the Athanasian Creed:

"There is one person of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Spirit; the Father is God and Lord; the Son is God and Lord; and the Holy Spirit is God and Lord; nevertheless there are not three Gods and Lords, but one God and Lord; for as we are compelled by the Christian verity to confess each person singly to be God and Lord, so are we forbidden by the Catholic religion to say three Gods or three Lords."

This creed is accepted as ecumenical or universal by the whole Christian church, and all that is at this day known and acknowledged respecting God is from it. That no other trinity than a trinity of Gods was understood by the members of the Nicene Council, from which the Athanasian Creed came forth like a posthumous birth, anyone can see who reads it with his eyes open. And not only was the trinity understood by them to be a trinity of Gods, it was so understood by the whole Christian world as well, for the reason that the whole Christian world derives all its knowledge of God from that source, and every man clings to a belief in its words.

I appeal to everyone, layman and clergyman, to titled masters and professors, consecrated bishops and arch-bishops, purple-robed cardinals, and even the Roman pontiff himself, whether in the Christian world today the trinity is understood to be anything else than a trinity of Gods; let everyone of them consult with himself and speak from the things that are in his mind; for from the words of this universally accepted doctrine respecting God this is as manifest and clear as water in a crystal goblet, and also that there are three persons, each one of whom is God and Lord; and further that according to Christian verity each person singly ought to be confessed or acknowledged to be God and Lord, but that the Catholic or Christian religion or faith forbids the saying or naming three Gods and Lords; thus verity and religion, or verity and faith, are not one thing but two things, each contrary to the other. But lest all this should be exposed to ridicule before the whole world it was added that there are not three Gods and Lords, but one God and Lord; for who would not laugh at the idea of three Gods? And still does not everyone see the contradiction in this addition?

If they had said, indeed, that to the Father belongs the Divine essence, to the Son the Divine essence, and to the Holy Spirit the Divine essence, and yet there are not three Divine essences, but one indivisible essence, that is to say, if by the Father there be understood the Divine from whom [a Quo], by the Son the Divine Human therefrom, and by the Holy Spirit the proceeding Divine, which are the three constituents of the one God, then this mystery would be explicable. Or if we understood by the Divine of the Father what is like the soul in man, and by the Divine Human what is like the body of that soul, and by the Holy Spirit what is like the operation that proceeds from both, then three essences, which belong to one and the same person, and so together constitute one indivisible essence, are understood.

The idea of three Gods cannot be effaced by a lip-confession of one God, for the reason that from childhood this idea has been implanted in the memory, and it is from the things contained in the memory that everyone thinks. The memory in man is like the ruminatory stomach in birds and beasts; into which they thrust the food from which they gradually derive nourishment; and from time to time they draw the food from it and convey it to the true stomach, where it is digested and meted out to the various uses of the body. The human understanding is this latter stomach, as the memory is the former. That the idea of three Divine persons from eternity, which is the same as the idea of three Gods, cannot be effaced by a lip confession of one God, can be seen by anybody from this fact alone, that it has not yet been effaced, and that among the notable there are some who do not wish it to be effaced; for while they insist that the three Divine persons are of one God, they obstinately deny that God, on account of being one, is one person. But what wise man does not think within himself that the term person can not in this case mean person but that it predicates some quality, though what quality is not known? And this not being known, what has been implanted in the memory from childhood remains, as the roots of a tree remain in the ground, and from them, even if the tree be cut down, a shoot will spring forth.

But, my friend, not only cut down the tree, but also dig up the root, and then plant in your garden trees bearing good fruit. Thus beware, lest in your mind there should lurk the idea of three Gods, while your mouth utters the words one God, with no idea in them. In that case is not the understanding (which above the memory is thinking of three Gods, and at the same time below the memory is causing the mouth to utter one God), like a player on the stage able to act two roles by running from one side to the other, at one side saying one thing and at the other just the opposite, and by such contradiction playing on the one side the wise man and on the other the fool? What else can result from this but that when the understanding stands in the center and looks both ways it will conclude that neither this nor that amounts to anything, and so, perhaps, that there is neither one God nor three, thus that there is no God? The prevailing naturalism of the day is from no other source. In heaven no one can utter the words, A trinity of persons each one of whom singly is God; for it is resisted by the very aura of heaven, in which the thoughts of those there fly and undulate, as sounds do in our air. Such words can be uttered only by a hypocrite, and the sound of his speech grates in the heavenly aura like the gnashing of teeth, or is like the croak of a raven trying to imitate a bird of song. Moreover, I have heard from heaven that to efface a belief established in the mind by confirmations favoring a trinity of Gods, by means of a lip-confession of one God, is as impossible as it is to draw a tree back through its seed, or a man's chin through a hair growing out of it.

(True Christian Religion 172-173)

Seeing a 'Visible God'

Selection from True Christian Religion ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

THIS NEW CHURCH IS THE CROWN OF ALL THE CHURCHES
THAT HAVE HITHERTO EXISTED ON THE EARTH.

There have been, in general, from the beginning, four churches on this earth, one before the flood, the second after it, the third the Israelitish Church, and the fourth that which is called the Christian Church; and as ALL CHURCHES DEPEND ON A KNOWLEDGE AND ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF ONE GOD, WITH WHOM THE MAN OF THE CHURCH CAN BE CONJOINED, and as none of these four churches has possessed that truth, it follows that a church must follow these four which will know and acknowledge ONE God.

The sole end of God's Divine love, when He created the world, was to conjoin man to Himself and Himself to man that He might thus dwell with man.

This truth the former churches did not possess, the Most Ancient Church, which preceded the flood, worshiping an invisible God with whom no conjunction is possible; the Ancient Church which followed the flood, did likewise; the Israelitish Church worshiped Jehovah, who in Himself is an invisible God (Exod. 33:18-23), but under a human form, which Jehovah God put on by means of an angel, in which He was seen by Moses, Abraham, Sarah, Hagar, Gideon, Joshua, and sometimes by the prophets. This human form was a representative of the Lord who was to come, and because this was representative so each thing and all things in their church were made representative. It is a well known fact that the sacrifices and everything else pertaining to their worship represented the Lord who was to come, and that when He came they were abrogated. The fourth, which is called the Christian Church, did indeed with the lips acknowledge one God, but in three Persons, each One of whom was singly or by Himself God; thus it acknowledged a divided Trinity, but not a Trinity united in one Person; and from this an idea of three Gods adhered to their minds, although the expression "one God" was on their lips. Moreover, the teachers of the church from that doctrine of theirs which they concocted after the Nicene Council, teach that men ought to believe in God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, all of them invisible, because existent in a similar Divine essence before the world was (although, as said above, with an invisible God no conjunction is possible), for they still do not know that the one God who is invisible came into the world and assumed a Human, not only that He might redeem men, but also that He might become visible, that thereby conjunction with man might become possible.

For we read:

The Word was with God, and God was the Word. And the Word was made flesh (John 1:1, 14).

And in Isaiah:

Unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given, and His name, God, Mighty, Father of Eternity (9:6).

It is also frequently declared in the Prophets that Jehovah Himself would come into the world, and would be a Redeemer, which He also became in the Human which He assumed.

This New Church is The Crown of All the Churches that have hitherto existed on the earth, because it is to worship ONE visible God in whom is the invisible like the soul in the body. Thus, and not otherwise, is a conjunction of God with man possible because man is natural, and therefore thinks naturally, and conjunction must exist in his thought, and thus in his love's affection, and this is the case when he thinks of God as a Man.

Conjunction with an invisible God is like a conjunction of the eye's vision with the expanse of the universe, the limits of which are invisible; it is also like vision in mid-ocean, which reaches out into the air and upon the sea, and is lost.

Conjunction with a visible God, on the other hand, is like beholding a man in the air or on the sea spreading forth his hands and inviting to his arms.

For all conjunction of God with man must be also a reciprocal conjunction of man with God; and no such reciprocation is possible except with a visible God.

That before the assumption of the Human, God was not visible, the Lord Himself also teaches in John:

Ye have neither heard the voice of the Father at any time, nor seen His form (5:37).

And in Moses:

That no one can see God and live (Ex. 33:20).

But that He is visible through His Humanity is stated in John:

No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He hath manifested Him (1:18).

And in the same:

Jesus said I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; no one cometh unto the Father but by Me. He that knoweth Me, knoweth the Father, and he that seeth Me seeth the Father (14:6, 7, 9).

That there is a conjunction with the invisible God through the visible, that is, through the Lord, He teaches in the following passages:

Jesus said, Abide in Me, and I in you; he that abideth in Me and I in him, the same beareth much fruit (John 15:4, 5).

In that day ye shall know that I am in the Father, and ye in Me and I in you (John 14:20).

The glory which thou hast given Me I have given them, that they may be one, even as we are one; I in them and Thou in Me: that the love wherewith Thou hast loved Me may be in them, and I in them (John 17:21-23, 26; also 6:56).

It is also taught that He and the Father are one, and that in order to have eternal life man must believe in Him. That salvation depends on conjunction with God has been frequently shown above.

That this church is to follow those that have existed since the beginning of the world, and that it is to endure for ages of ages, and is thus to be the crown of all the churches that have preceded, was foretold by Daniel; first, when he narrated and explained to Nebuchadnezzar his dream of the four kingdoms (which mean the four churches that were represented by the statue that he saw), saying:

In the days of those kings the God of the heavens shall make a kingdom to arise which shall not perish for ages, and it shall consume all those kingdoms; but itself shall stand for ages (Dan. 2:44).

And this, he said, should be done, By a stone becoming a great rock and filling all the earth (verse 35); "rock" in the Word meaning the Lord in respect to Divine truth. The same prophet also says elsewhere:

I saw in the night visions, and behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven and there was given Him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom; and all peoples, nations, and languages shall worship Him; His dominion is the dominion of an age, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom that which shall not be destroyed (7:13, 14).

And this he said after he saw the four great beasts coming up out of the sea (verse 3), which beasts also represented the four prior churches. That all this was prophesied by Daniel respecting the present time, can be seen from his words in 12:4, as also, from the words of the Lord in Matt. 24:15, 30.

Like things are said in the Apocalypse:

The seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of the world are become our Lord's and His Christ's; and He shall reign unto the ages of the ages (11:15).

Furthermore, the other prophets have made many predictions respecting this church, what its character would be, a few of which shall be cited:

In Zechariah:

It shall be one day that shall be known to Jehovah, not day nor night, for about the time of evening it shall be light. In that day living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; and Jehovah shall be king over all the earth; in that day shall there be one Jehovah and His name one (14:7-9)

In Joel:

And it shall come to pass in that day that the mountains shall drop down new wine, and the hills shall flow with milk; and Jerusalem shall abide to generation and generation (3:17-21).

In Jeremiah:

At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of Jehovah; and all the nations shall be gathered unto it, because of the name of Jehovah at Jerusalem; neither shall they walk any more after the stubbornness of their evil heart (3:17; Apoc. 21:24, 26).

In Isaiah:

Thine eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation, a tabernacle that shall not be taken down; the stakes thereof shall never be removed, and the cords thereof shall not be broken (33:20).

In these passages "Jerusalem" means the new and holy Jerusalem described in the Apocalypse (chap. 21), by which the New Church is meant.

Again in Isaiah:

There shall go forth a Shoot out of the stem of Jesse and righteousness shall be the girdle of His loins, and truth the girdle of His thigh. Therefore the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard with the kid, and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the basilisk's den. They shall not do evil nor corrupt themselves in all the mountain of My holiness; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of Jehovah. In that day it shall come to pass that the nations shall seek the Root of Jesse which standeth for an ensign of the people; and His rest shall be glory (11:5-10).

That such things have not yet taken place in the churches, least of all in the last, is well known.

In Jeremiah:

Behold the days come, in which I will make a new covenant; and this shall be the covenant, I will put My law in their inward parts, and upon their hearts will I write it, and I will be their God, and they shall be My people; and they shall all know Me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them (Jer. 31:31-34; Rev. 21:3).

That this state of things has not existed in the churches heretofore is also known. This was because men did not approach the visible God whom all shall know, because He is the Word or law which He will put in their inward parts and write upon their hearts.

Again in Isaiah:

For Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth; and thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of Jehovah shall declare; and thou shalt be a crown of beauty and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God. Jehovah shall delight in thee, and thy land shall be married. Behold, thy salvation cometh; behold, his reward is with Him. And they shall call them, the people of holiness, the redeemed of Jehovah, and thou shalt be called, a city sought out and not forsaken (Isa. 62:1-4, 11-12).

What this church is to be is fully described in the Apocalypse, where the end of the former church and the beginning of the new are treated of This New Church is described by the New Jerusalem, by its magnificence, and by its being the future bride and wife of the Lamb (19:7; 21:2, 9). Besides these I will cite only the following quotation from the Apocalypse: When the New Jerusalem was seen descending from heaven it was said:

Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He shall dwell with them, and they shall be His peoples, Himself shall be with them, their God. And the nations that are saved shall walk in the light of it; and there shall be no night there. I Jesus have sent Mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning Star. And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And he that heareth, let him say, Come. And he that is athirst, let them come. And he that wisheth, let him take the water of life freely. Even so, come, Lord Jesus. Amen (Rev. 21:3, 24-25; 22:16-17, 20).

NOTE. - After this work [Universal Theology of the New Church -True Christian Religion] was finished the Lord called together His twelve disciples who followed Him in the world; and the next day He sent them all forth throughout the whole spiritual world to preach the Gospel that THE LORD GOD JESUS CHRIST reigns, whose kingdom shall be for ages and ages, according to the prediction in Daniel (7:13, 14), and in Revelation (11:15).  Also that blessed are those that come to the marriage supper of the Lamb (Rev. 19:9). This took place on the nineteenth day of June, 1770. This is what is meant by these words of the Lord:

He shall send His angels and they shall gather together His elect, from the end of the heavens to the end thereof (Matt. 24:31).

(True Christian Religion 786 - 791)

Freedom of Choice to Become Spiritual

Selection from True Christian Religion ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

Man's will and understanding are in this freedom of choice; nevertheless in both worlds — the spiritual and the natural — the doing of evil is restrained by laws; because otherwise society in both worlds would perish.

Every man can know that he has freedom of choice in spiritual things merely by observing his own thought. Is not any man able to think in freedom about God, the Trinity, charity and the neighbor, faith and its operation, and about the Word and all its teachings, and, when he has studied theology, about the particulars of these subjects? And who cannot think and even draw conclusions, and teach and write, either for or against these things? If man were deprived of this freedom for a single moment, could he continue to think; would not his tongue be dumb, and his hand powerless? Therefore, my friend, you may if you choose, by merely observing your own thought, reject and detest that absurd and hurtful heresy, which at this day has induced upon Christendom a lethargy respecting the heavenly doctrine of charity and faith, and of salvation thereby, and eternal life.

The reasons why this freedom of choice resides in man's will and understanding are the following:

(1) Because these two faculties must first be instructed and reformed, and then by means of these, the two faculties of the external man, which cause him to speak and act.

(2) Because these two faculties of the internal man constitute his spirit which lives after death, and which is subject only to Divine law, the primary thing of which is, that man should think of the law, should practice and obey it of himself, although from the Lord.

(3) Because, as to his spirit, man is midway between heaven and hell, thus between good and evil, and therefore in equilibrium, and in consequence of this he has freedom of choice in spiritual things. But so long as man lives in the world, he is as to his spirit in equilibrium between heaven and the world, and then he is scarcely aware that so far as he withdraws from heaven and draws nearer to the world, he draws near to hell. He is aware of this and yet not aware, in order that even in this respect he may be in freedom, and may be reformed.

(4) Because these two - the will and the understanding - are the two receptacles of the Lord, the will the receptacle of love and charity, the understanding the receptacle of wisdom and faith, and each one of these is made active by the Lord while man is in complete freedom, in order that there may be a mutual and reciprocal conjunction between them, whereby salvation is effected.

(5) Because all the judgment that is effected in man after death is in accord with the use he has made of freedom of choice in spiritual things.

The conclusion from all this is that freedom of choice itself in spiritual things resides in the soul of man in all perfection, and from that it flows, like a stream into a fountain, into his mind - into the two parts of it, which are the will and the understanding - and through these into the bodily senses, and into speech and actions; for in man there are three degrees of life, the soul, the mind, and the sentient body.  All that is included in the higher degree is more perfect than that which is in a lower degree. It is this freedom of man, through which, in which, and with which, the Lord is present in him, and UNCEASINGLY URGENT TO BE RECEIVED, but He in no way sets aside or takes away this freedom, since, as said above, whatever man does in spiritual things, that is not done from freedom, does not endure. It may therefore be said that the Lord's abode in man is this freedom of man which is in his soul.

It is evident without explanation that the doing of evil, in both the spiritual and the natural world, is restrained by laws, since otherwise society would everywhere cease to exist. Nevertheless, it must be made clear that without such external bonds, not only would society cease to exist, but the whole human race would perish. For man is enticed by two loves - the love of ruling over all, and the love of possessing the wealth of all. These loves, if uncurbed, rush onward to infinity. The hereditary evils into which man is born have arisen principally from these two loves; nor was the sin of Adam any other than a desire to become as God, which evil the serpent infused into him, as it is written; therefore in the curse pronounced upon him it is said:

That the earth should bring forth the thorn and the thistle to him (Gen. 3:5, 18)

which means all evil and falsity therefrom. All who are enslaved by these loves, look upon themselves as the one only object, in which and for which all others exist. Such have no pity, no fear of God, no love for the neighbor; consequently they are unmerciful, inhuman and cruel, and are possessed by an infernal lust and greed for robbing and plundering, and by craft and cunning in working out their purposes. Such evils are not innate in the beasts of the earth; these do not slaughter and devour each other, except from the love of satisfying their hunger or defending themselves. Therefore a wicked man, viewed with reference to these loves, is more inhuman, fiercer, and worse than any beast.

That man is inwardly such, is manifest in seditious disturbances when the bonds of law are loosed, and also in massacres and pillaging, when the signal is given to soldiers that they are free to satiate their fury upon the conquered or besieged; from which scarcely anyone desists until the drum beats the order to do so. From all this it is clear that if no fear of legal penalties restrained men, not only society, but the whole human race, would be destroyed. But none of these evils can be removed except by the true use of freedom of choice in spiritual things, and this is done by directing the mind to reflection upon the state of life after death.

But this shall be still further illustrated by comparisons, as follows: Without some kind of freedom of choice in all created things, both animate and inanimate, no creation could have taken place; for without freedom of choice in natural things for beasts there would be no choice of food conducive to their nourishment, and no propagation and preservation of offspring; thus, no beasts. If the fishes of the sea and the shellfish at its bottom, had no such freedom, there would be no fish or shellfish. In like manner, unless this freedom were in every insect, there would be no silk-worm yielding silk, no bee furnishing wax and honey, no butterfly sporting with its consort in the air, feeding on the juices of flowers, and representing, after he has shed his exuviae as a worm, the happy state of man in the heavenly realm.

Unless there were something analogous to freedom of choice in the earth's soil, in the seed sown in it, in all parts of the tree that has grown out of it, and in its fruit, and again in the new seed, there would be no plant life. Unless there were something analogous to freedom of choice in every metal, and in every stone both precious and common, there would be no metal or stone, or even a grain of sand; for even this freely absorbs the ether, emits its natural exhalations, throws off its worn-out elements and restores itself with new. From this there is a magnetic sphere about the magnet, an iron sphere about iron, a coppery one about copper, a silver sphere about silver, a golden one about gold, a stony sphere about stone, a nitrous sphere about niter, a sulfur sphere about sulfur, and a different sphere about every particle of dust. From this sphere the inmost of every seed is impregnated, and its prolific principle vegetates; for without such an exhalation from every least particle of the earth's dust, there would be no beginning of germination and no continuance of it. How could the earth, except by what is exhaled from it, penetrate with dust and water to the inmost center of a grain sown in it, as into a grain of mustard seed, for example:

Which is less than all seeds, but when it is grown, it is greater than herbs, and becometh a tree? (Matt. 13:32; Mark. 4:30-32).

Since freedom has been thus implanted in all created subjects, in each according to its nature, why should not freedom of choice have been implanted in man according to his nature, that he may become spiritual? This is the reason that free will in spiritual things is given to man, from the womb to the last hour of his life in the world, and afterward to eternity.

(True Christian Religion 497-499)

Faith, which is of Love and Charity

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
— Love, and the faith derived from it are the internal of the church —

No other faith is meant as being the internal of the church than that which is of love or charity, that is, which is from love or charity.

Faith, in a general sense, is all the doctrinal teaching of the church. But doctrine [doctrinale] separated from love or charity, by no means makes the internal of the church, for doctrine is only knowledge which is of the memory, and this exists also with the worst men, and even with infernals. But the doctrine that is from charity, or that is of charity, does make the internal of the church, for this is of the life. The life itself is the internal of all worship; and so is all doctrine that flows from the life of charity. That it is this faith which is the internal of the church, may be seen from this consideration alone, that he who has the life of charity is acquainted with all things of faith. If you will, just examine all doctrinal things, and see what and of what quality they are; do they not all pertain to charity, and consequently to the faith that is from charity?

Take only the Precepts of the Decalogue —

The first of these is to worship the Lord God. He who has the life of love or of charity worships the Lord God, because this is his life.

Another precept is to keep the Sabbath. He who is in the life of love, or in charity, keeps the Sabbath holy, for nothing is more sweet to him than to worship the Lord, and to glorify Him every day.

The precept, "Thou shalt not kill," is altogether of charity. He who loves his neighbor as himself, shudders at doing anything that injures him, still more at killing him.

So too the precept, "Thou shalt not steal;" for he who has the life of charity would rather give of his own to his neighbor, than take anything away from him.

And so with the precept, "Thou shalt not commit adultery;" he who is in the life of charity the rather guards his neighbor's wife, lest anyone should offer her such injury, and regards adultery as a crime against conscience, and such as destroys conjugial love and its duties.

To covet the things that are the neighbor's is also contrary to those who are in the life of charity; for it is of charity to desire good to others from one's self and one's own; such therefore by no means covet the things which are another's.

These are the precepts of the Decalogue which are more external doctrinal things of faith; and these are not only known in the memory by him who is in charity and its life, but are in his heart; and he has them inscribed upon himself, because they are in his charity, and thus in his very life; besides other things of a dogmatic nature which he in like manner knows from charity alone - for he lives according to a conscience of what is right. The right and the truth which he cannot thus understand and explore, he believes simply or from simplicity of heart to be so because the Lord has said so; and he who so believes does not do wrong, even though what he thus accepts is not true in itself, but apparent truth.

As for example, if anyone believes that the Lord is angry, punishes, tempts, and the like. Or if he holds that the bread and wine in the Holy Supper are significative, or that the flesh and blood are present in some way in which they explain it-it is of no consequence whether they say the one thing or the other, although there are few who think about this matter, or even if they do think about it, provided this is done from a simple heart, because they have been so instructed, and nevertheless live in charity: these, when they hear that the bread and wine in the internal sense signify the Lord's love toward the whole human race, and the things which are of this love, and man's reciprocal love to the Lord and the neighbor, they forthwith believe, and rejoice that it is so.

Not so they who are in doctrinal things and not in charity; these contend about everything, and condemn all whoever they may be that do not say (they call it "believe") as they do.

From all this everyone can see that love to the Lord and charity toward the neighbor are the internal of the church.

(from Arcana Coelestia 1798)

What Charity is in The Heavens

Selection from Divine Love and Wisdom ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

In heaven all who perform uses from affection for use — because of the communion in which they live — are wiser and happier than others; and with them performing uses is acting sincerely, uprightly, justly, and faithfully in the work proper to the calling of each. This they call charity.

Observances pertaining to worship they call signs of charity, and other things they call obligations and favors, saying that when one performs the duties of his calling sincerely, uprightly, justly, and faithfully, the good of the community is maintained and perpetuated, and that this is to "be in the Lord," because all that flows in from the Lord is use, and it flows in from the parts into the community, and flows out from the community to the parts. The parts there are angels, and the community is a society of them.

(Divine Love and Wisdom 431)

How the Lord Performs Uses in Man

Selection from Divine Wisdom ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
— How the Lord performs uses with man —

It is known that man from himself can do nothing good that is good in itself, but he can do this from the Lord, consequently he can perform no use that in itself is use, for use is good. From this it follows that the Lord does every use that is good by means of man. It has been shown elsewhere that the Lord wills that man should do good as if from himself; but how man is to do good as if from himself is also taught by the truths of the Word, and as this is taught by truths it is clear that truths are matters of knowledge and thought, and that goods are matters of willing and doing; thus that truths become goods through willing and doing; for what a man wills and does he calls good, and what a man knows and thinks he calls truth; so in the deed, thus in good, there is willing and thinking and knowing. Consequently the complex of these in the ultimate is good; and this has in itself an external form from truths in the thought and an internal form from the love of the will. But how the Lord performs uses in man which are goods has been told and shown in the explanation of the laws of His Divine providence.

Both of these are taught by truths — spiritual, moral, and civil.

First, it shall be shown what spiritual truths, moral truths, and civil truths are

Secondly, what a spiritual man is, also a moral and a civil man

Thirdly, that the spiritual is in the moral and the civil

Fourthly, that if these are separated there is no conjunction with the Lord

(1) What spiritual truths, moral truths, and civil truths are. Spiritual truths are those that the Word teaches respecting God: — that He is the one Creator of the universe; that He is infinite, eternal, omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, provident; that the Lord as to the Human is His Son; that God the Creator and the Lord are one; that He is the Redeemer, the Reformer, the Regenerator and Savior; that He is the Lord of heaven and earth; that He is the Divine love and Divine wisdom; that He is good itself and truth itself; that He is life itself; that everything of love, of charity, and of good, also everything of wisdom, of faith, and of truth, is from Him, and nothing of these is from man; therefore that no man has merit because of any love, charity, or good, or because of any wisdom, faith, or truth; consequently that He alone is to be adored; so again, that the Word is the holy Divine; that there is a life after death; that there is a heaven and a hell; a heaven for those who live rightly, and a hell for those who live wrongly; also many things pertaining to doctrine from the Word, as respecting Baptism and the Holy Supper. These and like things are properly spiritual truths. But moral truths are those that the Word teaches respecting the life of man with his neighbor, which life is called charity. The goods of this life, which are uses, have relation, in brief, to justice and equity, to sincerity and uprightness, to chastity, to temperance, to truth, to prudence, and to benevolence. To the truths of moral life belong also the opposites which destroy charity, and which have relation, in brief, to injustice and inequity, to insincerity and fraud, to lasciviousness, to intemperance, to lying, to cunning, to enmity, to hatred and revenge, and to ill-will. These latter are called truths of moral life, because all things that a man thinks be true, whether evil or good, he classes among truths; for that this thing is evil or that thing is good he speaks of as a truth. These are moral truths; but civil truths are the civil laws of kingdoms and states, which have relation, in brief, to many phases of justice that are observed, and on the contrary to the various kinds of violence that exist in act.

(2) The spiritual man is also a moral and a civil man. It is believed by many that the spiritual are those who know the spiritual truths enumerated above, and especially those who talk about them, and still more those who perceive them with some understanding. But such are not spiritual, for this is merely knowing, and thinking and speaking from knowledge, and perceiving from a gift of understanding that every man has, and these things alone do not make a man spiritual. There is lacking from these love from the Lord; and love from the Lord is the love of uses which is called charity. In charity the Lord conjoins Himself to man and makes him spiritual, for man then performs uses from the Lord and not from himself. This the Lord teaches in many places in the Word, and thus in John:

Abide in Me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself except it abide in the vine, so neither 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 beareth much fruit; for apart from Me ye cannot do anything (15:4, 6).

"Fruits" are uses or goods of charity; and goods of charity are nothing else than moral goods. This makes clear that a spiritual man is also a moral man. A moral man is also a civil man, because civil laws are uses themselves in act, which are called practices, works, and deeds.

Take for example the fifth commandment of the Decalogue, "Thou shalt not steal." The spiritual meaning in this commandment is that a man must not take anything from the Lord and attribute it to himself and call it his, also must not take away from any one the truths of his faith by means of falsities. The moral meaning in this commandment is that man must not deal insincerely, unjustly, and fraudulently with his neighbor, or cunningly take away his wealth. The civil meaning in the commandment is that a man must not steal. Who cannot see that the man who is led by the Lord, and who is thereby a spiritual man, is also a moral and a civil man?

Again, take the seventh commandment, "Thou shalt not kill." The spiritual meaning in this commandment is, that man must not deny God, thus the Lord; for to deny Him is to kill and crucify Him with oneself; also he must not destroy spiritual life in another, for thus he kills his soul. The moral meaning in the commandment is that man must not hate his neighbor, or desire to have revenge, since hatred and revenge have murder in them. The civil meaning in the commandment is that another's body must not be killed. From this also it is clear that a spiritual man, who is one that is led by the Lord, is also a moral and a civil man. This is not true of one who is led by himself, of whom something shall be said presently.

(3). The spiritual is in the moral and the civil. This follows from what has been said above that the Lord conjoins Himself with man in the love of uses, or in charity towards the neighbor. The spiritual is from conjunction with the Lord; the moral is from charity, and the civil is from the practice of charity. The spiritual must be in man that he may be saved; and this is from the Lord, not above or outside of man but within him; it cannot be in man's knowledge alone or from that in his thought and speech, it must be in his life, and his life is willing and doing; consequently when knowing and thinking are also willing and doing the spiritual is in the moral and in the civil. If it be asked, "How can I will and do?" the answer is, Fight against evils, which are from hell, and you will both will and do, not from yourself but from the Lord, for when evils are put away the Lord does all things.

(4). If these are separated there is no conjunction with the Lord. This can be seen from reason and from experience.

From reason: If a man had such a memory and such an understanding as to be able to know and perceive all the truths of heaven and of the church, but was unwilling to do any of them, is it not said of him that he is an intelligent man but an evil man, yea all the more he should be punished? From this it follows that he who separates the spiritual from the moral and the civil is not a spiritual man or a moral man or a civil man.

From, experience: There are such persons in the world, and I have talked with them after death, and have learned that they knew all things of the Word and many truths therefrom, and believed that on this account they would shine as stars in heaven; but when their life was examined it was found to be merely corporeal and worldly, and from the evils and propensities they had thought and purposed in themselves they were merely infernal. For this reason all the things they had known from the Word were taken away from them, and they became each his own will, and were cast into hell to their like, where they talked insanely according to their thoughts in the world, and acted basely according to their loves in the world.

(from Divine Wisdom 11: 12,13)

What Was Added?

Selection from Apocalypse Explained ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
— God Without a Trine is Not Possible —

There is in the Lord a trine, the Divine itself that is called the Father, the Divine Human that is called the Son, and the Divine proceeding that is called the Holy Spirit, can be seen from the Word, from the Divine essence, and from heaven.

• From the Word: Where the Lord Himself teaches that the Father and He are one, and that the Holy Spirit proceeds from Him and from the Father; also where the Lord teaches that the Father is in Him and He in the Father, and that the Spirit of Truth, which is the Holy Spirit, does not speak from Himself but from the Lord; and again, from passages in the Old Word where the Lord is called "Jehovah," "Son of God," and "the Holy One of Israel."
  
  
• From the Divine Essence: That one Divine by itself is not possible, but there must be a trine. This trine is being [esse], manifesting [existere], and proceeding [procedere], for being must necessarily be manifested, and when it is manifested it must proceed that it may produce. And this trine is one in essence and one in Person, and is God. This may be illustrated by a comparison. An angel of heaven is trinal and thus one; the being [esse] of an angel is what is called his soul, his manifesting [existere] is what is called his body, and the proceeding [procedere] from both is what is called the sphere of his life, without which an angel has neither existence nor being. By this trine an angel is an image of God, and is called a "son of God," and also an "heir," and even a "god;" nevertheless, an angel is not life from himself, but is a recipient of life; God alone is life from Himself.
  
  
• From Heaven: The Divine trine, which is one in essence and in Person, is such in heaven. The Divine called the Father, and the Divine Human called the Son, appear in heaven before the angels as a sun, and the Divine that proceeds therefrom appears as light united to heat; the light is Divine truth, and the heat is Divine good. Thus the Divine called the Father is the Divine being [esse], the Divine Human called the Son is the Divine manifesting [existere] from that being [esse], and the Divine called the Holy Spirit is the Divine proceeding [procedere] from the Divine manifesting [existere] and from the Divine being [esse]. This trine is the Lord in heaven; His Divine love is what appears there as a sun.

It has been said that one Divine by itself is not possible, but that there must be a trine, and that this trine is one God in essence and in Person. It may now be asked, What trine God had before the Lord took on the Human and made it Divine in the world? God was then likewise Man, and had the Divine, the Divine Human, and the Divine proceeding, that is, the Divine being [esse], the Divine manifesting [existere], and the Divine proceeding [procedere], for as has been said, God without a trine is not possible. But the Divine Human was not then Divine even to ultimates. Ultimates are meant by "flesh and bones," and even these were made Divine by the Lord when He was in the world. This was what was added, and this is the Divine Human that God now has. This, too, may be illustrated by this comparison. Every angel is a man, having a soul, having a body, and having a proceeding; and yet this does not make him a complete man, for he does not have flesh and bones as a man in the world has.

That the Lord made His Human Divine even to its ultimates, which are called "flesh and bones," He made clear to the disciples, who when they saw Him believed that they saw a spirit, saying:

See 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).

From this it follows that now God is Man more than an angel is. Comparison has been made with an angel and with a man; yet it must be understood that God has life in Himself, while an angel does not have life in himself, for he is a recipient of life. That the Lord as to both the Divine and the Divine Human, is life in Himself He teaches in John:

As the Father hath life in Himself so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself (John 5:26).

Here by "Father" the Lord means the Divine in Himself; for He says elsewhere that the Father is in Him, and that the Father and He are one.

(from Apocalypse Explained 1111, 1112)