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diff --git a/15768.txt b/15768.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4ced91c --- /dev/null +++ b/15768.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2555 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Gist of Swedenborg, by Emanuel +Swedenborg, Edited by Julian K. Smyth and William F. Wunsch + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: The Gist of Swedenborg + + +Author: Emanuel Swedenborg + +Editor: Julian K. Smyth and William F. Wunsch + +Release Date: May 5, 2005 [eBook #15768] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GIST OF SWEDENBORG*** + + +E-text prepared by Marilynda Fraser-Cunliffe, Diane Monico, and the +Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + +THE GIST OF SWEDENBORG + +Compiled by + +JULIAN K. SMYTH and WILLIAM F. WUNSCH + +This Book Is Published by the Trustees of the Iungerich Publication Fund +Swedenborg Foundation, Inc. +New York + +1920 + + + + + + + +FOREWORD + + +The reason for a compilation such as is here presented should be +obvious. Swedenborg's theological writings comprise some thirty or +more substantial volumes, the result of the most concentrated labor +extending over a period of twenty-seven years. To study these writings +in their whole extent, to see them in their minute unfoldment out of +the Word of God, is a work of years. It is doubtful if there is a +phase of man's religious experience for which an interpretation is not +here to be found. Notwithstanding this immense sweep of doctrine there +are certain vital, fundamental truths on which it all rests:--the +Christ-God, Man a spiritual being, the warfare of Regeneration, +Marriage, the Sacred Scriptures, the Life of Charity and Faith, the +Divine Providence, Death and the Future Life, the Church. We have +endeavored to press within the small compass of this book passages +which give the gist of Swedenborg's teachings on these subjects. + +The compilers would gladly have made room for the interpretative and +philosophical teachings which contribute so much to the content and +form of Swedenborg's theology; but they have confined their effort to +setting forth briefly and clearly the positive spiritual teachings, +where these seemed most packed with religious meaning and moment. + +The translation of the passages here brought together has been +carefully revised. + +JULIAN K. SMYTH. + + + + +BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE + + +Emanuel Swedenborg was born at Stockholm, January 29, 1688. + +A devout home (the father was a Lutheran clergyman, and afterwards +Bishop of Skara) stimulated in the boy the nature which was to become +so active in his culminating life-work. A university education at +Upsala, however, and studies for five years in England, France, +Holland and Germany, brought other interests into play first. The +earliest of these were mathematics and astronomy, in the pursuit of +which he met Flamsteed and Halley. His gift for the detection and +practical employment of general laws soon carried him much farther +afield in the sciences. Metallurgy, geology, a varied field of +invention, chemistry, as well as his duties as an Assessor on the +Board of Mines and of a legislator in the Diet, all engaged him, with +an immediate outcome in his work, and often with results in +contributions to human knowledge which are gaining recognition only +now. The _Principia_ and two companion volumes, dedicated to his +patron, the Duke of Brunswick, crowned his versatile productions in +the physical sciences. Academies of science, at home and abroad, were +electing him to membership. + +Conspicuous in Swedenborg's thought all along was the premise that +there is a God and the presupposition of that whole element in life +which we call the spiritual. As he pushed his studies into the fields +of physiology and psychology, this premised realm of the spirit became +the express goal of his researches. Some of his most valuable and most +startling discoveries came in these fields. Outstanding are a work on +_The Brain_ and two on the _Animal Kingdom_ (kingdom of the _anima_, +or soul). As his gaze sought the soul, however, in the light in which +he had more and more successfully beheld all his subjects for +fifty-five years, she eluded direct knowledge. He was increasingly +baffled, until a new light broke in on him. Then he was borne along, +in a profound humiliation of his intellectual ambitions, by another +way. For when the new light steadied, he had undergone a personal +religious experience, the rich journals of which he himself never +published. But what was of public concern, his consciousness was +opened into the world of the spirit, so that he could observe its +facts and laws as, for so long, he had observed those of the material +world, and in its own world could receive a revelation of the +doctrines of man's spiritual life. + +It was now, for the first time, too, that he gave a deep consideration +to the condition of the Christian Church, revealed in otherworld +judgment to be one of spiritual devastation and impotency. To serve in +the revelation of "doctrine for a New Church" became his Divinely +appointed work. He forwent his reputation as a man of science, gave up +his assessorship, cleared his desk of everything but the Scriptures. +He beheld in the Word of God a spiritual meaning, as he did a +spiritual world in the world of phenomena. In revealing both of these +the Lord, he said, made His Second Coming. For the rest of his long +life Swedenborg gave himself with unremitting labor but with a saving +calm to this commanding cause, publishing his great Latin volumes of +Scripture interpretation and of theological teaching at Amsterdam or +London, at first anonymously, and distributing them to clergy and +universities. The titles of his principal theological works appear in +the following compilation from them. Upon his death-bed this herald of +a new day for Christianity solemnly affirmed the reality of his +experience and the reception by him of his teaching from the Lord. + +Swedenborg died in London, March 29, 1772. In 1908 his remains were +removed from the Swedish Church in that city to the cathedral at +Upsala, where they lie in a monument erected to his memory by the +Swedish Parliament. + +WILLIAM F. WUNSCH. + + + _Documents Concerning the Life and Character of Swedenborg_ + (3 vols.) 1875-1877, R.L. Tafel, is the main collection of + biographical material; _The Life and Mission of Emanuel + Swedenborg_, 1883, Benjamin Worcester, and _Emanuel + Swedenborg, His Life, Teachings and Influence_, 1907, George + Trobridge, are two of the better known biographies. + + + + +THE GIST OF SWEDENBORG + + + "At this day nothing but the self-evidenced reason of love + will re-establish the Church."--_Canons_, Prologue. + + + + +GOD THE LORD + + + "Believe in God: believe also in Me." + + _John_, XIV, 1 + + "My Lord, and my God!" + + _John_, XX, 28 + + +ONE AND INFINITE + +God is One, and Infinite. The true quality of the Infinite does not +appear; for the human mind, however highly analytical and exalted, is +itself finite, and the finiteness in it cannot be laid aside. It is +not fitted, therefore, to see the Infinity of God, and thus God, as He +is in Himself, but can see God from behind in shadow; as it is said of +Moses, when he asked to see God, that he was placed in a cleft of the +rock, and saw His hinder side. It is enough to acknowledge God from +things finite, that is, created, in which He is infinitely. + +--_True Christian Religion, n._ 28 + + +"INTO HIS MARVELLOUS LIGHT" + +We read in the Word that Jehovah God dwells in light inaccessible. +Who, then, could approach Him, unless He had come to dwell in +accessible light, that is, unless He had descended and assumed a +Humanity and in it had become the Light of the world? Who cannot see +that to approach Jehovah the Father in His light is as impossible as +to take the wings of the morning and to fly with them to the sun? + +--_True Christian Religion, n._ 176 + + +THE CHRIST-GOD + +We ought to have faith in God the Saviour, Jesus Christ, because that +is faith in the visible God in Whom is the Invisible; and faith in the +visible God, Who is at once Man and God, enters into man. For while +faith is spiritual in essence it is natural in form, for everything +spiritual, in order to be anything with a man, is received by him in +what is natural. + +--_True Christian Religion, n._ 339 + +Man's conjunction with the Lord is not with His supreme Divine Being +itself, but with His Divine Humanity, and by this with the supreme +Divine Being; for man can have no idea whatever of the supreme Divine +Being of the Lord, utterly transcending his thought as it does; but of +His Divine Human Being he can have an idea. Hence the Gospel according +to John says that no one has at any time seen God except the +only-begotten Son, and that there is no approach to the Father save by +Him. For the same reason He is called a Mediator. + +--_Arcana Coelestia, n._ 4211 + + +GOD-MAN + +In the Lord, God and Man are not two but one Person, yea, altogether +one, as soul and body are. This is plain in many of the Lord's own +utterances; as that the Father and He are one; that all things of the +Father are His, and all His the Father's; that He is in the Father, +and the Father in Him; that all things are given into His hand; that +He has all power; that whosoever believes in Him has eternal life; +that He is God of heaven and earth. + +--_Doctrine Concerning the Lord, n._ 60 + +There is one God, and the Lord is He, His Divinity and Humanity being +one Person. + +--_Divine Providence, n._ 122 + +They who think of the Lord's Humanity, and not at the same time of His +Divinity, by no means allow the expression "Divine Humanity"; for they +think of the Humanity by itself and of the Divinity by itself, which +is like thinking of man apart from his soul or life, which, however, +is no conception of man, still less of the Lord. + +--_Apocalypse Explained, n._ 26 + + +WHY HE CAME + +The Lord from eternity, Who is Jehovah, came into the world to subdue +the hells and to glorify His Humanity. Without Him no mortal could +have been saved; and they are saved who believe in Him. + +--_True Christian Religion, n._ 2 + +The Lord came into the world to save the human race which would +otherwise have perished in eternal death. This salvation the Lord +effected by subjugating the hells, which infested every man coming +into the world and going out of the world, and by glorifying His +Humanity; for so He can hold the hells subdued to eternity. The +subjugation of the hells, and the glorification at the same time of +His Humanity, were effected by temptations let into the Humanity He +had from the mother, and by unbroken victories. His passion on the +cross was the last temptation and complete victory. + +--_Heavenly Doctrine, n._ 293 + + +HOW HE CAME + +Because, from His essence, God burned with the love of uniting Himself +to man, it was necessary that He should cover Himself around with a +body adapted to reception and conjunction. He therefore descended and +assumed a human nature in pursuance of the order established by Him +from the creation of the world. That is, He was to be conceived by a +power produced from Himself; He was to be carried in the womb; He was +to be born, and then to grow in wisdom and in love, and so was to +approach to union with His Divine origin. Thus God became Man, and Man +God. + +--_True Christian Religion, n._ 838 + + +THE LIFE ON EARTH + +The Lord had at first a human nature from the mother, of which He +gradually divested Himself while He was in the world. Accordingly He +kept experiencing two states: a state of humiliation or privation, as +long and as far as He was conscious in the human nature from the +mother; and a state of glorification or union with the Divine, as long +and as far as He was conscious in the Humanity received from the +Father. In the state of humiliation He prayed to the Father as to One +other than Himself; but in the state of glorification He spoke with +the Father as with Himself. In this state He said that the Father was +in Him, and He in the Father, and that the Father and He were one. + +The Lord consecutively put off the human nature assumed from the +mother, and put on a Humanity from the Divine in Himself, which is the +Divine Humanity and the Son of God. + +--_Doctrine Concerning the Lord, nn._ 29, 35 + + +THE LOVE OF HIS LIFE + +When the Lord was in the world, His life was altogether the life of a +love for the whole human race, which He burned to save forever. That +life was of the intensest love by which He united Himself to the +Divine and the Divine to Himself. For being itself, or Jehovah, is +pure mercy from love for the whole human race; and that life was one +of sheer love, as it can never be with any man. + +--_Arcana Coelestia, n._ 2253 + + +"COME UNTO ME" + +Do you, my friend, flee evil, and do good, and believe in the Lord +with your whole heart and with your whole soul, and the Lord will love +you, and give you love for doing, and faith for believing. Then will +you do good from love, and from a faith which is confidence will you +believe. If you persevere in this, a reciprocal conjunction will take +place, and one that is perpetual, indeed is salvation itself, and +everlasting life. + +--_True, Christian Religion, n._ 484 + + +THE TRINITY; THE FULNESS OF HIS BEING + +They who are truly men of the Church, that is, who are in love to the +Lord and in charity toward the neighbor, know and acknowledge a Trine. +Still, they humble themselves before the Lord, and adore Him alone, +inasmuch as they know that there is no approach to the Divine Itself, +called the Father, but by the Son; and that all that is holy, and of +the Holy Spirit, proceeds from Him. When they are in this idea, they +adore no other than Him, by Whom and from Whom are all things; +consequently they adore One. + +--_Arcana Coelestia, n._ 2329 + +God is one in essence and in person. This God is the Lord. The +Divinity itself, which is called Jehovah "the Father," is the Lord +from eternity. The Divine Humanity is "the Son" begotten from His +Divine from eternity, and born in the world. The proceeding Divinity +is "the Holy Spirit." + +--_Divine Providence, n._ 157 + + + + +MAN + + + "Lord, what is man that Thou art mindful of him; + And the son of man that Thou visitest him?" + + _Psalm_, VIII, 4 + + +GOD'S UNRELAXED EFFORT + +The object of creation was an angelic heaven from the human race; in +other words, mankind, in whom God might be able to dwell as in His +residence. For this reason man was created a form of Divine order. God +is in him, and as far as he lives according to Divine order, fully so; +but if he does not live according to Divine order, still God is in +him, but in his highest parts, endowing him with the ability to +understand truth and to will what is good. But as far as man lives +contrary to order, so far he shuts up the lower parts of his mind or +spirit, and prevents God from descending and filling them with His +presence. Then God is in him, but he is not in God. + +--_True Christian Religion, nn._ 66, 70 + + +AN INSTRUMENT OF LIFE + +Man is an instrument of life, and God alone is life. God pours His +life into His instrument and every part of him, as the sun pours its +heat into a tree and every part of it. God also gives man to feel this +life in himself as his own. God wills that he should do so, that man +may live as of himself according to the laws of order, which are as +many as there are precepts in the Word, and may dispose himself to +receive the love of God. But still God perpetually holds with His +finger the perpendicular above the scales, and regulates, but never +violates by compulsion, man's free decision. Man's free will is from +this: that he feels life in himself as his, and God leaves him so to +feel, that reciprocal conjunction may take place between Him and man. + +--_True Christian Religion, n._ 504 + + +"ABIDE IN ME" + +Man is so created that he can be more and more closely united to the +Lord. He is so united not by knowledge alone, nor by intelligence +alone, nor even by wisdom alone, but by a life in accordance with +these. The more closely he is united to the Lord, the wiser and +happier he becomes, the more distinctly he seems to himself to be his +own, and the more clearly he perceives that he is the Lord's. + +--_Divine Providence, nn._ 32 _et al._ + + +TWO MINDS: TWO WORLDS + +Man is so created as to live simultaneously in the natural world and +in the spiritual world. Thus he has an internal and an external nature +or mind; by the former living in the spiritual world, by the latter in +the natural world. + +--_Heavenly Doctrine_, n. 36 + + +INALIENABLE POWERS + +There are in man from the Lord two capacities by which the human being +is distinguished from the beasts. One capacity is the ability to +understand what is true and what is good. It is called rationality, +and is a capacity of his understanding. The other capacity is the +ability to do the true and the good. It is called freedom, and is a +power of the will. By virtue of his rationality, man can think what he +pleases, as well against God as with Him, and with his neighbor or +against his neighbor. He can also will and do what he thinks; and when +he sees evil and fears punishment, by virtue of freedom he can refrain +from doing. By these two capacities man is man and is distinguished +from the beasts. Man has these twin powers from the Lord, and they are +from Him every moment; nor are they ever taken away, for if they were, +man's humanity would perish. The Lord is in these two powers with +every man, with the evil as well as the good. They are His +abiding-place in the race. Thence it is that every human being, evil +as well as good, lives to eternity. + +--_Divine Love and Wisdom, n._ 240 + + +THE DRAG OF HEREDITY + +Man inclines to the nature he derives hereditarily, and lapses into +it. Thus he strengthens any evil in it, and also adds others of +himself. These evils are quite opposed to the spiritual life. They +destroy it. Unless, therefore, a man receives new life from the Lord, +which is spiritual life, he is condemned; for he wills nothing else +and thinks nothing else than concerns him and the world. + +--_Heavenly Doctrine, n._ 176 + + +LOVES OF SELF AND THE WORLD + +The reason why the love of self and the love of the world are infernal +loves, and yet man has been able to come into them, and thus to ruin +will and understanding in him, is as follows: By creation the love of +self and the love of the world are heavenly loves; for they are loves +of the natural man serving his spiritual loves, as a foundation does a +house. From the love of self and the world, a man wishes well by his +body, desires food, clothing and habitation, takes thought for his +household, seeks occupation to be useful, wishes also for obedience's +sake to be honored according to the dignity of the thing he does, and +to be delighted and recreated by the pleasures of the world;--yet all +this for the sake of the end, which must be use. By this a man is in +position to serve the Lord and to serve the neighbor. But when there +is no love of serving the Lord and the neighbor, but only a love of +serving oneself at the world's hands, then from being heavenly that +love becomes infernal, for it causes a man to sink mind and character +in his _proprium_, or what is his own, which in itself is the whole of +evil. + +--_Divine Love and Wisdom, n._ 396 + + +THE NEED FOR SELF-ACTION + +No one can cleanse himself of evils by his own power and abilities; +but neither can this be done without the power and abilities of the +man, used as his own. If this strength were not to all appearance his +own, no one would be able to fight against the flesh and its lusts, +which, nevertheless, is enjoined upon all men. He would not think of +combat. Because man is a rational being, he must resist evils from the +power and the abilities given him by the Lord, which appear to him as +his own; an appearance that is granted for the sake of regeneration, +imputation, conjunction, and salvation. + +--_True Christian Religion, n._ 438 + + + + +THE WARFARE OF REGENERATION + + + "Blessed be the Lord my strength, + Who teacheth my hands to war, + And my fingers to fight: + My goodness, and my fortress; + My high tower and my deliverer; + My shield, and He in whom I trust; + Who subdueth my people under me." + + --_Psalm,_ CXLIV, 1, 2 + + +"TO HIM THAT OVERCOMETH" + +Because man is reformed by conflicts with the evils of his flesh and +by victories over them, the Son of Man says to each of the seven +Churches, that He will give gifts "to him that overcometh." + +--_True Christian Religion, n._ 610 + +Without moral struggle no one is regenerated, and many spiritual +wrestlings succeed one after another. For, inasmuch as regeneration +has for its end that the life of the old man may die and the new and +heavenly life be implanted, there will unfailingly be combat. The life +of the old man resists and is unwilling to be extinguished, and the +life of the new man cannot enter, except where the life of the old has +been extinguished. From this it is plain that there is combat, and +ardent combat, because for life. + +--_Arcana Coelestia, n._ 8403 + + +REPENTANCE AND THE REMISSION OF SINS + +He who would be saved, must confess his sins, and do repentance. _To +confess sins_ is to know evils, to see them in oneself, to acknowledge +them, to make oneself guilty and condemn oneself on account of them. +Done before God, this is to confess sins. _To do repentance_ is to +desist from sins after one has thus confessed them and from a humble +heart has besought forgiveness, and then to live a new life according +to the precepts of charity and faith. + +He who merely acknowledges generally that he is a sinner, making +himself guilty of all evils, without examining himself,--that is, +without seeing his sins,--makes a confession but not the confession of +repentance. Inasmuch as he does not know his evils, he lives as +before. + +One who lives the life of charity and faith does repentance daily. He +reflects upon the evils in him, acknowledges them, guards against +them, and beseeches the Lord for help. For of oneself one continually +lapses toward evil; but he is continually raised up by the Lord and +led to good. + +Repentance of the mouth and not of the life is not repentance. Nor are +sins pardoned on repentance of the mouth, but on repentance of the +life. Sins are constantly pardoned man by the Lord, for He is mercy +itself; but still they adhere to man, however he supposes they have +been remitted. Nor are they removed from him save by a life according +to the precepts of true faith. So far as he lives according to these +precepts, sins are removed; and so far as they are removed, so far +they are remitted. + +--_Heavenly Doctrine, nn._ 159-165 + + +TEMPTATION AND PRAYER + +When a man shuns evils as sins, he flees them because they are +contrary to the Lord and to His Divine laws; and then he prays to the +Lord for help and for power to resist them--a power which is never +denied when it is asked. By these two means a man is cleansed of +evils. He cannot be cleansed of evils if he only looks to the Lord and +prays; for then, after he has prayed, he believes that he is quite +without sins, or that they have been forgiven, by which he understands +that they are taken away. But then he still remains in them; and to +remain in them is to increase them. Nor are evils removed only by +shunning them; for then the man looks to himself, and thereby +strengthens the origin of evil, which was that he turned himself back +from the Lord and turned to himself. + +--_The Doctrine Concerning Charity, n._ 146 + + +THE GREAT ARENA + +In temptations the hells fight against man, and the Lord for him. To +every falsity which the hells inject, there is an answer from the +Divine. The falsities inflow into the outward man, the answer into the +inward man, coming to perception scarcely otherwise than as hope, and +the resulting consolation, in which, however, there is a multitude of +things of which the man is unaware. + +--_Arcana Coelestia, n._ 8159 + +In temptations a man is left, to all appearance, to himself alone; yet +he has not been left alone, for God is then most present in his inmost +being, and upholds him. When anyone overcomes in temptation, +therefore, he enters into closer union with God. + +--_True Christian Religion, n._ 126 + + +"BY LITTLE AND LITTLE" + +When man is being regenerated, he is not regenerated speedily but +slowly. The reason is that all things which he has thought, purposed +and done since infancy, have added themselves to his life and have +come to constitute it. They have also formed such a connection among +themselves that no one thing can be removed unless all are at the same +time. Regeneration, or the implantation of the life of heaven in man, +begins in his infancy, and continues to the last of his life in the +world, and is perfected to eternity. + +--_Arcana Coelestia, n._ 9334 + + +A NEW MAN + +When a man is regenerated, he becomes altogether another, and a new, +man. While his appearance and his speech are the same, yet his mind is +not; for his mind is then open toward heaven, and there dwell in it +love for the Lord, and charity toward the neighbor, together with +faith. It is the mind which makes another and a new man. The change of +state cannot be perceived in man's body, but in his spirit. When it +[the body] is put off then his spirit appears, and in altogether +another form, too, when he has been regenerated; for it has then a +form of love and charity with inexpressible beauty, in the place of +the earlier form, which was one of hatred and cruelty with a deformity +also inexpressible. + +--_Arcana Coelestia, n._ 3212 + + +CHILDHOOD + + "It is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one + of these little ones should perish." + + --_Matthew_, XVIII, 14 + +Never could a man live,--certainly not as a human being,--unless he +had in himself something vital, that is, some innocence, neighborly +love, and mercy. This a man receives from the Lord in infancy and +childhood. What he receives then is treasured up in him, and is called +in the Word the _remnant_ or _remains_, which are of the Lord alone +with him, and they make it possible for him truly to be a man on +reaching adult age. These states are the elements of his regeneration, +and he is led into them; for the Lord works by means of them. These +_remains_ are also called "the living soul" in all flesh. + +--_Arcana Coelestia, n._ 1050 + +All states of innocence from infancy on, of love toward parents, +brothers, teachers and friends; of charity to the neighbor, and also +of mercy to the poor and needy; all states of goodness and truth, with +their goods and truths, impressed on; the memory, are preserved in man +by the Lord, and are stored up unconsciously to himself in his +internal man, and are carefully kept from evils and falsities. They +are all so preserved by the Lord that not the smallest of them is +lost. Every state from infancy even to extreme old age not only +_remains_ in another life, but also returns. Returning, these states +are such as they were during a man's abode in the world. Not only the +goods and truths, stored up in the memory, remain and return, but +likewise all the states of innocence and charity; and when states of +evil and the false, or of wickedness and phantasy recur, these latter +states are attempered by the former through the Divine operation of +the Lord. + +--_Arcana Coelestia, n._ 561 + + +PRAYER + + "O Thou who hearest prayer; + Unto Thee shall all flesh come." + + --_Psalm_, LXV, 2 + +Prayer, in itself considered, is speech with God. There is then some +inward view of the objects of the prayer, and answering to that +something like an influx into the perception or thought. Thus there is +a kind of opening of the man's interiors toward God, with a difference +according to the man's state and according to the nature of the object +of the prayer. If one prays out of love and faith and only about and +for things heavenly and spiritual, then there appears in the prayer +something like revelation, which shows itself in the affection of the +suppliant, in hope, solace, or an inner gladness. + +--_Arcana Coelestia, n._ 2535 + + +THE SERVICE OF WORSHIP + + "I will come into Thy house in the multitude of Thy mercy; + In Thy fear will I worship toward Thy holy temple." + + --_Psalm_, V, 7 + +One should not omit the practice of external worship. Things inward +are excited by external worship; and outward things are kept in +holiness by external worship, so that things inward can flow in. +Moreover, a man is imbued in this way with knowledge, and prepared to +receive celestial things, so as to be endowed with states of holiness, +though he is unaware of it. These states of holiness the Lord +preserves to him for the use of eternal life; for in the other life +all one's states of life recur. + +--_Arcana Coelestia, n._ 1618 + + +THE SACRAMENTS + +Baptism and the Holy Supper are the holiest acts of worship. Baptism +and the Holy Supper are as it were two gates, through which a man is +introduced into eternal life. After the first gate there is a plain, +which he must traverse; and the second is the goal where the prize is, +to which he directed his course; for the palm is not given until after +the contest, nor the reward until after the combat. + +--_True Christian Religion, nn._ 667, 721 + + +I. BAPTISM + +Baptism was instituted for a sign that a man is of the Church and for +a memorial that he is to be regenerated. For the washing of baptism is +no other than spiritual washing, which is regeneration. All +regeneration is effected by the Lord through truths of faith and a +life according to them. Baptism, therefore, testifies that a man is of +the Church and that he can be regenerated; for it is in the Church +that the Lord is acknowledged, Who regenerates man, and there the Word +is, where are truths of faith, by which is regeneration. + +--_Heavenly Doctrine, nn._ 202, 203 + +The sign of the cross which a child receives on the forehead and +breast at baptism is a sign of inauguration into the acknowledgment +and worship of the Lord. + +--_True Christian Religion, n._ 682 + + +II. THE HOLY SUPPER + +The Holy Supper was instituted that by means of it there might be +conjunction of the Church with heaven, and thus with the Lord. When +one takes the bread, which is the Body, one is conjoined with the Lord +by the good of love to Him, from Him; and when one takes the wine, +which is the Blood, one is conjoined to the Lord by the good of faith +in Him, from Him. + +--_Heavenly Doctrine, nn._ 210, 213 + +In the Holy Supper the Lord is fully present, both as to His glorified +Humanity, and as to the Divine. And because He is fully present, +therefore the whole of His redemption is; for where the Lord the +Redeemer is, there redemption is. Therefore all who observe the Holy +Communion worthily, become His redeemed, and receives the fruits of +redemption, namely, liberation from hell, union with the Lord, and +salvation. + +--_True Christian Religion, nn._ 716, 717 + + +THE RESPONSIBLE LIFE IN THE WORLD + + "Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me." + + --_Matthew_, XI, 29 + +There are those who believe that it is difficult to live the life +which leads to heaven, which is called the spiritual life, because +they have heard that one must renounce the world, must divest himself +of the lusts called the lusts of the body and the flesh, and must live +spiritually. They take this to mean that they must cast away worldly +things, which are especially riches and honors; that they must go +continually in pious meditation on God, salvation, and eternal life; +and must spend their life in prayers and in reading the Word and pious +books. But those who renounce the world and live in the spirit in this +manner acquire a melancholy life, unreceptive of heavenly joy. To +receive the life of heaven a man must by all means live in the world +and engage in its duties and affairs and by a moral and civil life +receive the spiritual life. + +That it is not so difficult to live the life of heaven, as some +believe, may be seen from this: when a matter presents itself to a man +which he knows to be dishonest and unjust, but to which he inclines, +it is only necessary for him to think that it ought not to be done +because it is opposed to the Divine precepts. If a man accustoms +himself to think so, and from so doing establishes a habit of so +thinking, he is gradually conjoined to heaven. So far as he is +conjoined to heaven the higher regions of his mind are opened; and so +far as these are opened he sees whatever is dishonest and unjust; and +so far as he sees these evils they can be dispersed--for no evil can +be dispersed until it is seen. + +--_Heaven and Hell, nn._ 528, 533 + + +THE DECALOGUE + + "Come, let us join ourselves to the Lord in a perpetual + covenant that shall not be forgotten." + + --_Jeremiah_, L, 5 + +The conjunction of God with man, and of man with God, is taught in the +two Tables which were written with the finger of God, called the +Tables of the Covenant. These Tables obtain with all nations who have +a religion. From the first Table they know that God is to be +acknowledged, hallowed and worshipped. From the second Table they know +that a man is not to steal, either openly or by trickery, nor to +commit adultery, nor to kill, whether by blow or by hatred, nor to +bear false witness in a court of justice, or before the world, and +further that he ought not to will those evils. From this Table a man +knows the evils which he must shun, and in the measure that he knows +them and shuns them, God conjoins him to Himself, and in turn from His +Table gives man to acknowledge, hallow and worship Him. So, also, He +gives him not to meditate evils, and, in so far as he does not will +them, to know truths freely. + +--_Apocalypse Explained, n._ 1179 + +As one views the two tables, it is plain that they are so conjoined +that God from His table looks to man, and that in turn man from his +table looks to God. Thus the regard is reciprocal. God for His part +never ceases to regard man, and to put in operation such things as +are for his salvation; and if man receives and does the things in his +table, reciprocal conjunction is effected, and the Lord's words to the +lawyer will have come to pass, "This do, and thou shalt live." + +--_True Christian Religion, n._ 287 + + + + +MARRIAGE + + + "Jesus said: 'Have ye not read that He who made them at the + beginning made them male and female, and said, For this + cause shall a man leave father and mother and shall cleave + to his wife; and they twain shall be one flesh. Wherefore + they are no more twain but one flesh. What, therefore, God + hath joined together, let not man put asunder.'" + + --_Matthew_, XIX, 4, 5 + + +A PRICELESS JEWEL + +The conjugial inclination of one man to one wife is the jewel of human +life and the depository of the Christian religion. + +--_Conjugial Love, n._ 457 + + +THE PROGRESSIVE CHASTITY OF MARRIAGE + +The love in marriage is from its origin and correspondence heavenly, +spiritual, holy, pure and clean above every other love which the +angels of heaven or men of the Church have from the Lord. It is such +from its origin, which is the marriage of good and truth; also from +its correspondence with the marriage of the Lord and the Church. If it +be received from its Author, Who is the Lord, sanctity from Him +follows, which continually cleanses and purifies it. Then, if there be +in man's will a longing for it and an effort toward it, this love +becomes continually cleaner and purer. All who are in such love shun +extra-conjugial loves (which are conjunctions with others than their +own conjugial partner) as they would shun the loss of the soul and the +lakes of hell; and in the measure that married partners shun such +conjunctions, even in respect of libidinous desires of the will and +any intentions from them, so far love truly conjugial is purified with +them, and becomes successively spiritual. + +--_Conjugial Love, nn._ 64, 71 + + +THE HEIGHT OF SERVICE + +Conjugial love is the love at the foundation of all good loves, and is +inscribed on all the least life of the human being. Its delights +therefore surpass the delights of all other loves, and it also gives +delight to other loves, in the measure of its presence and union with +them. Into it all delights from first to last are collected, on +account of the superior excellence of its use, which is the +propagation of the human race, and from it of an angelic heaven. As +this service was the supreme end of creation, all the beatitudes, +satisfaction, delights, pleasantnesses and pleasures, which the Lord +the Creator could possibly confer upon man, are gathered into this +love. + +--_Conjugial Love, n._ 68 + + +ITS WHOLE ESTATE + +The states of conjugial love are Innocence, Peace, Tranquillity, +Inmost Friendship, full Confidence, and mutual desire of mind and +heart to do each other every good. From all of these come blessedness, +satisfaction, agreeableness and pleasure; and as the eternal fruition +of them, heavenly happiness. These states can be realized only in the +marriage of one man with one wife. + +--_Conjugial Love, nn._ 180, 181 + + + + +THE SACRED SCRIPTURES + + + "They testify of Me." + + --_John_, V, 39 + + +GOD'S WORD + +In its inmosts the Sacred Scripture is no other than God, that is, the +Divine which proceeds from God.... In its derivatives it is +accommodated to the perception of angels and men. In these it is +Divine likewise, but in another form, in which this Divine is called +"Celestial," "Spiritual," and "Natural." These are no other than +coverings of God. Still the Divine, which is inmost, and is covered +with such things as are accommodated to the perceptions of angels and +men, shines forth like light through crystalline forms, but variously, +according to the state of mind which a man has formed for himself, +either from God or from self. In the sight of the man who has formed +the state of his mind from God, the Sacred Scripture is like a mirror +in which he sees God, each in his own way. The truths which he learns +from the Word and which become a part of him by a life according to +them, compose that mirror. The Sacred Scripture is the fulness of God. + +--_True Christian Religion, n._ 6 + + +IN ITS BOSOM SPIRITUAL + +The Word in its bosom is spiritual. Descending from Jehovah the Lord, +and passing through the angelic heavens, the Divine (in itself +ineffable and imperceptible) became level with the perception of +angels and finally the perception of man. Hence the Word has a +spiritual sense, which is within the natural, just as the soul is in +the body, or as thought is in speech, or volition in action. + +--_True Christian Religion, n._ 193 + + +THE LETTER OF THE WORD + +The truths of the sense of the letter of the Word are in part +appearances of truth, and are taken from things in nature, and thus +accommodated and adapted to the grasp of the simple and also of little +children. But being correspondences, they are receptacles and abodes +of genuine truth; and are like enclosing and containing vessels. The +naked truths themselves, which are enclosed and contained, are in the +Word's spiritual sense; and the naked goods in its celestial sense. + +The doctrine of genuine truth can also be drawn in full from the +literal sense of the Word; for the Word in this sense is like a man +clothed, whose face and hands are bare. All that concerns man's life, +and so his salvation, is bare; the rest is clothed. + +--_Doctrine Concerning the Sacred Scripture, nn._ 40, 55 + + +ITS LANGUAGE + +The whole natural world corresponds to the spiritual world; not only +generally, but in detail. Whatever comes forth in the natural world +from the spiritual, is therefore called correspondent. The world of +nature comes forth and subsists from the spiritual world, just as an +effect does from its efficient cause. + +--_Heaven and Hell, n._ 89 + +What is Divine presents itself in the world in what corresponds. The +Word is therefore written wholly in correspondence. Therefore the +Lord, too, speaking as He did from the Divine, spoke in +correspondence. + +--_True Christian Religion, n._ 201 + +"And behold a ladder set on the earth, and its head reaching to +heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it. +And behold Jehovah standing above it." The ladder set between earth +and heaven, or between the lowest and the highest, signifies +communication. In the original tongue the term ladder is derived from +an expression which signifies a path or way, and a path or way is +predicated of truth. By a ladder, therefore, one extremity of which is +set on the earth, while the other reaches to heaven, is signified the +communication of truth which is in the lowest place with truth which +is in the highest, indeed with inmost good and truth, such as are in +heaven, and from which heaven itself is an ascent as it were from what +is lowest, and afterward when the order is inverted, a descent, and is +the order of man's regeneration. The arcanum which lies concealed in +the internal sense of these words is, that all goods and truths +descend from the Lord, and ascend to Him, for man is so created that +the Divine things of the Lord may descend through him even to the +ultimates of nature, and from the ultimates of nature may ascend to +Him; so that man might be a medium uniting the Divine with the world +of nature, and uniting the world of nature with the Divine, that thus, +through man, as through the uniting medium, the very ultimate of +nature might live from the Divine, which would be the case had man +lived according to Divine order. + +--_Arcana Coelestia, nn._ 3699-3702 + + +ITS FUNCTION + +Divine truth, in passing from the Lord through the three heavens to +men in the world, is written and made the Word in each heaven. The +Word, therefore, is the union of the heavens with one another, and of +the heavens with the Church in the world. Hence there flows in from +the Lord through the heavens a holy Divine with the man who +acknowledges the Divine in the Lord and the holy in the Word, while he +reads it. Such a man can be instructed and can draw wisdom from the +Word as from the Lord Himself or from heaven itself, in the measure +that he loves it, and thus can be nourished with the same food with +which the angels themselves are fed, and in which there is life, +according to these words of the Lord: + + "The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they + are life." + + "The water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of + water springing up into everlasting life." + + "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word which + proceedeth out of the mouth of God." + +--_Apocalypse Explained, n._ 1074 + + +HOW TO USE IT + +They who, in reading the Word, look to the Lord, by acknowledging that +all truth and all good are from Him, and nothing from themselves,--they +are enlightened, and see truth and perceive what is good from the Word. +That enlightenment is from the light of heaven. + +--_Arcana Coelestia, n._ 9405 + + +ITS DISSEMINATION OF LIGHT + +There cannot be any conjunction with heaven unless somewhere upon the +earth there is a Church where the Word is and by it the Lord is known. +It is sufficient that there be a Church where the Word is, even +though it should consist of few relatively. The Lord is present by it, +nevertheless, in the whole world. The light is greatest where those +are who have the Word. Thence it extends itself as from a centre out +to the last periphery. Thence comes the enlightenment of nations and +peoples outside the Church, too, by the Word. + +--_Doctrine concerning the Sacred Scripture, nn._ 104, 106 + + +A CANON ON A NEW PRINCIPLE + +The books of the Word are all those which have an internal sense. In +the Old Testament they are the five books of Moses, the book of +Joshua, the book of Judges, the two books of Samuel, the two books of +Kings, the Psalms of David, the Prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, +Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, +Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zecharaiah, Malachi; and in +the New Testament the four Evangelists, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John; and +the Apocalypse. + +--_Arcana Coelestia, n._ 10,325 + + + + +THE LIFE OF CHARITY AND FAITH + + + "He hath showed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the + Lord require of thee, but to do justly and to love mercy, + and to walk humbly with thy God." + + --_Micah,_ VI, 8 + + +THE LAW OF CHARITY + +Not to do evil to the neighbor is the first thing of charity, and to +do good to him fills the second place.... That a man cannot do good +which in itself is good before evil has been removed, the Lord teaches +in many places: "Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? +Neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit"--_Matt._ XVI, 18. + +So in Isaiah: "Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your +doings from before Mine eyes; cease to do evil; learn to do well" (I, +16,17). + +--_True Christian Religion, n._ 445 + + +GOOD IN ITS WHOLENESS + +Before repentance good is not done from the Lord, but from the man. It +has not, therefore, the essence of good within it, however it appears +like good outwardly. Good after repentance is another thing +altogether. It is a whole good, unobstructed from the Lord Himself. It +is lovely; it is innocent; it is agreeable, and heavenly. The Lord is +in it, and heaven. Good itself is in it. It is alive, fashioned of +truths. Whatever is thus from good, in good, and toward good, is +nothing less than a use to the neighbor, and hence it is a serving. +It puts away self and what is one's own, and thus evil, with every +breath. Its form is like the form of a charming and beautifully +colored flower, shining in the rays of the sun. + +--_The Doctrine of Charity, n._ 150 + + +THE MAN OF CHARITY + +Every man who looks to the Lord and shuns evils as sins, if he +sincerely, justly and faithfully performs the work which belongs to +his office and employment, becomes an embodiment of charity. + +--_The Doctrine of Charity_, VII + +In common belief charity is nothing else than giving to the poor, +succoring the needy, caring for widows and orphans, contributing to +the building of hospitals, infirmaries, asylums, orphanages, and +especially churches, and to their decoration and income. But most of +these things are not the proper activities of charity, but extraneous +to it. A distinction is to be made between the duties of charity, and +its benefactions. By the duties of charity those exercises of it are +meant, which proceed directly from charity itself. These have to do +primarily with one's occupation. By the benefactions those aids are +meant which are given outside of, and over and above the duties. + +--_True Christian Religion, n._ 425 + + +THE ACTIVITY OF CHARITY + +Charity is an inward affection, moving man to do what is good, and +this without recompense. So to act is his life's delight. + +The life of charity is to will well and to do well by the neighbor; in +all work, and in every employment, acting out of regard to what is +just and equitable, good and true. In a word, the life of charity +consists in the performance of uses. + +--_Heavenly Doctrine, nn._ 106, 124 + + +FAITH THE PARTNER OF CHARITY + +Neither charity alone nor faith alone can produce good works, any more +than a husband alone or a wife alone can have offspring. The truths of +faith not only illuminate charity, but qualify it, too; and, moreover, +they nourish it. A man, then, who has charity and not truths of faith, +is like one walking in a garden in the night-time, snatching fruit +from the trees without knowing whether it is of a good or evil use. + +--_True Christian Religion, n. 377_ + + +THE PATRIOTISM OF CHARITY + +One's country is the neighbor more than a society, for it consists of +many societies, and consequently the love of it is a more extended and +a higher love. Besides, to love one's country is to love the public +welfare. A man's country is the neighbor because it is like a parent; +for there he was born; it has nourished and still nourishes him; it +has protected him from harm, and still protects him. From love for it +he ought to do good to his country according to its needs, some of +which are natural, and others spiritual. The country ought to be +loved, not as a man loves himself, but more than himself. This is a +law inscribed on the human heart. And from the law has issued the +proposition, which has the assent of every true man, that if ruin +threatens the country from an enemy or other source, it is illustrious +to die for it, and glorious for a soldier to shed his blood for it. +This is a common saying, because so much should one's country be +loved. Those who love their country, and from good will do good to it, +after death love the Lord's kingdom, for this is their country there; +and they who love the Lord's kingdom, love the Lord, for He is the All +in all of His Kingdom. + +--_True Christian Religion, n._ 414 + + +FAITH AND DOUBT + +There are those who are in doubt before they deny, and there are those +who are in doubt before they affirm. Those in doubt before they deny, +are men who incline to a life of evil. When that life sways them, they +deny things spiritual and celestial to the extent that they think of +them. But those in doubt before they affirm, are men who incline to a +life of good. When they suffer themselves to be turned to this life by +the Lord, they then affirm things spiritual and celestial to the +extent that they think of them. + +--_Arcana Coelestia, n._ 2568 + + +THE FAITH OF THE FAITHFUL + +It is one thing to know truths, another to acknowledge them, and yet +another to have faith in them. Only the faithful can have faith. + +--_Arcana Coelestia, n._ 896 + +The only faith that endures with man springs from heavenly love. Those +without love have knowledge merely, or persuasion. Just to believe in +truth and in the Word is not faith. Faith is to love truth, and to +will and do it from inward affection for it. + +--_Heaven and Hell, n._ 482 + +If a man thinks to himself or says to another, "Who can have that +inward acknowledgment of truth which is faith? I cannot," I will tell +him how he may: "Shun evils as sins, and go to the Lord, and you will +have as much as you desire." + +--_Doctrine Concerning Faith, n._ 12 + + +NEIGHBORS + +Not only is the individual man the neighbor, but the collective man, +too. A society, smaller or larger, is the neighbor; the Church is; the +Kingdom of the Lord is; and above all the Lord Himself. These are the +neighbor, to whom good is to be done from love. These are also the +ascending degrees of the neighbor; for a society consisting of many is +the neighbor in a higher degree than is the individual; one's country +in a still higher degree; the Church in a still higher degree than +one's country; in a degree higher still the Kingdom of the Lord; and +in the highest degree the Lord Himself. These degrees of ascent are +like the steps in a ladder, at the top of which is the Lord. + +--_Heavenly Doctrine, n._ 91 + + +DIVERSIONS + +There is an affection in every employment, which puts the mind upon +the stretch and keeps it intent upon its work or study. If it is not +relaxed, this becomes heavy, and its desire meaningless; as salt, when +it loses its saltness, no longer stimulates, and as the bow on the +stretch, unless it is unbent, loses the force it gets from its +elasticity. Continuously intent upon its work, the mind wants rest; +and dropping to the physical life, it seeks pleasures there that +answer to its activities. As is the mind in them, such are the +pleasures, pure or impure, spiritual or natural, heavenly or infernal. +If it is the affection of charity which is in them, all diversions +will recreate it--shows, games, instrumental and vocal music, the +beauties of field and garden, social intercourse generally. There +remains deep in them, being gradually renewed as it rests, the love of +work and service. The longing to resume this work breaks in upon the +diversions and puts an end to them. For the Lord flows into the +diversions from heaven, and renews the man; and He gives the man an +interior sense of pleasure in them, too, of which those know nothing +who are not in the affection of charity. + +--_Doctrine of Charity, nn._ 127, 128, 130 + + + + +THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE + + + "He leadeth me." + + --_Psalm_, XXIII, 2 + + +THE DIVINE PURPOSE + +The Divine Providence has for an end a heaven which shall consist of +men who have become angels or who are becoming angels, to whom the +Lord can impart from Himself all the blessedness and felicity of love +and wisdom. + +--_Divine Providence, n._ 27 + + +THE LAWFUL ORDER OF PROVIDENCE + +In all that proceeds from the Lord the Divine Providence is first. +Indeed, we may say that the Lord _is_ Providence, as we say that God +is Order; for the Divine Providence is Divine Order with regard above +all to the salvation of man. As order is impossible without laws, it +follows that as God is order so is He the Law of His order. And as the +Lord is His Providence, He is also the Law of His Providence. The Lord +cannot act contrary to the laws of His Providence, for to act contrary +to them would be to act contrary to Himself. + +--_Divine Providence, n._ 331 + + +A WORLD-WIDE LEADING + +The Lord provides that there shall be religion everywhere, and in each +religion the two essentials of salvation, which are, to acknowledge +God, and not to do evil because it is contrary to God. It is provided +furthermore that all who have lived well and acknowledge God should be +instructed by angels after death. Then, they who, in the world, were +in the two essentials of religion, accept the truths of the Church, +such as they are in the Word, and acknowledge the Lord as the God of +heaven and the Church. It has also been provided by the Lord that all +who die infants shall be saved, wherever they may have been born. + +--_Divine Providence, n._ 328 + + +THE DIVINE PERSEVERANCE + +The Divine Providence differs from all other leading and guidance in +this, that it continually regards what is eternal, and continually +leads to salvation, and this through various states, now glad, now +sad,--states which a man cannot understand at all, and yet they all +conduce to his life to eternity. + +--_Arcana Coelestia, n._ 8560 + + +IN THE STREAM OF PROVIDENCE + +The Divine Providence is universal, that is, in the leasts of all +things. They who are in the stream of Providence are borne along +continually to happiness, whatsoever the appearance of the means may +be. They are in the stream of Providence, who put their trust in the +Divine, and ascribe all things to Him. They are not in the stream of +Providence who trust themselves alone and ascribe all things to +themselves. As far as one is in the stream of Providence, so far one +is in a state of peace. Such alone know and believe that the Divine +Providence of the Lord is in each and all things, yea, in the leasts +of all things. + +--_Arcana Coelestia, n._ 8478 + + +CARE FOR THE MORROW + +It is not contrary to order to look out for one's self and one's +dependents. Those have "care for the morrow" who are not content with +their lot, who do not trust in the Divine but themselves, and who +regard only worldly and earthly things and not heavenly. With such +there prevails universally a solicitude about things future, a desire +to possess everything, and to rule over all. They grieve if they do +not get what they desire, and suffer torment when they lose what they +have. Then they grow angry with the Divine, rejecting it together +with everything of faith, and cursing themselves. Altogether +different is it with those who trust in the Divine. Though they have +care for the morrow, yet they have it not; for they do not think of +the morrow with solicitude, still less with anxiety. Whether they get +what they wish or not, they are composed, not lamenting over losses, +but being content with their lot. If they become rich, they do not set +their hearts upon riches. If they are exalted to honors, they do not +look upon themselves as worthier than others. If they become poor, +they are not cast down. If their condition be mean, they are not +dejected. They know that with those who put their trust in the Divine, +all things work toward a happy state to eternity. + +--_Arcana Coelestia, n._ 8478 + + +THE SUFFERANCE OF EVIL + +The chief aim and effort of the Lord's Divine Providence is that a man +shall be in what is good and in what is true at the same time; for +thereby man is man, since he is then an image of the Lord. But +because, in his life in the world, he can be in what is good and in +what is false at the same time, and also in what is evil and what is +true at the same time, nay, even in evil and at the same time in good, +and thus be a double man, as it were, and because this division +destroys God's image and so destroys the man, therefore the Lord's +Divine Providence in all its workings seeks to prevent this division. +Furthermore, because it is better for man to be in what is evil and in +the same time in what is false than to be in good and at the same time +in evil, therefore the Lord permits it; not as one willing it, but as +one unable to prevent it consistently with the end, which is +salvation. + +--_Divine Providence, n._ 16 + + + + +DEATH AND THE RESURRECTION + + + "I laid me down and slept: + I awaked: for the Lord sustained me." + + --_Psalm,_ III, 5 + + + "Now that the dead are raised, even Moses showed at the + bush, when he called the Lord the God of Abraham, and the + God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob: for He is not a God of + the dead, but of the living; for to Him all are living." + + --_Luke_, XX, 37, 38 + + +IMMORTAL BY ENDOWMENT + +Man has been so created that as to his inward being he cannot die; for +he can believe in God, and also love God, and thus be united to God in +faith and love; and to be united to God is to live to eternity. + +--_Heavenly Doctrine, n._ 223 + + +FROM WORLD TO WORLD + +When the body is no longer able to perform its functions in the +natural world, a man is said to die. Still the man does not die; he is +only separated from the bodily part which was of use to him in the +world. The man himself lives. He lives, because he is man by virtue, +not of the body, but of the spirit; for it is the spirit in man which +thinks; and thought together with affection makes the man. It is +plain, then, that when a man dies, he only passes from one world into +the other.... The spirit of man after separation remains awhile in the +body, but not after the motion of the heart has entirely ceased. This +takes place with a variation according to the diseased condition of +which the man dies. As soon as the motion ceases, the man is +resuscitated. This is done by the Lord alone. + +--_Heaven and Hell, nn._ 445, 447 + + +UNHURT BY DEATH + +When a man passes from the natural world into the spiritual, he takes +with him everything that belongs to him as a man except his earthly +body. (This he leaves when he dies, nor does he ever resume it.[A]) He +is in a body as he was in the natural world; and to all appearance +there is no difference. But his body is spiritual, and is therefore +separated or purified from things terrestrial. And when what is +spiritual touches and sees what is spiritual, it is just the same as +when what is natural touches and sees what is natural.... A human +spirit also enjoys every sense, external and internal, which he +enjoyed in the world. He sees as before, hears and speaks as before, +smells and tastes as before, and feels when he is touched. He also +longs, desires, craves, thinks, reflects, is stirred, loves, wills, as +he did previously.... In a word, when a man passes from the one life +into the other, or from the one world into the other, it is as though +he had passed from one place to another; and he carries with him all +that he possesses in himself as a man. It cannot, then, be said, that +after death a man has lost anything that really belonged to him. He +carries his natural memory with him, too; for he retains all things +whatsoever which he has heard, seen, read, learned and thought in the +world, from earliest infancy even to the last of life. + +--_Heaven and Hell, n._ 461 + +[Footnote A: Heavenly Doctrine, n. 225.] + + +THE WORLD OF SPIRITS + +Every man at death comes first into the world of spirits, which is +midway between heaven and hell; and there he passes through his own +states, and is prepared either for heaven or for hell according to his +life.... It is to be observed that the world of spirits is one thing, +and the spiritual world another. The spiritual world embraces the +world of spirits and heaven and hell. + +--_Divine Love and Wisdom, n._ 140 + + +THE WAY OF ONE'S OWN LOVE + +After death every one goes the way of his love--he who is in a good +love, to heaven, and he who is in a wicked love, to hell. Nor does he +rest until he is in that society where his ruling love is. What is +wonderful, every one knows the way. + +Every one's state after death is spiritual, which is such that he +cannot be anywhere but in the delight of his own love, which he has +acquired for himself by his life in the natural world. From this it +appears plainly that no one can be let into the delight of heaven who +is in the delight of hell.... This may be still more certainly +concluded from the fact that no one is forbidden after death to ascend +to heaven. The way is shown him, opportunity is given him, and he is +let in. But when one who is in the delight of evil comes into heaven, +and breathes in its delight, he begins to be oppressed, and racked at +heart, and to feel in a swoon, in which he writhes like a snake put +near a fire; and with his face turned away from heaven and toward +hell, he flees headlong, nor does he rest until he is in the society +of his own love. + +--_Divine Providence, nn._ 319, 338 + +It is an abiding truth that every man rises again after death into +another life, and presents himself for judgment. This judgment, +however, is circumstanced as follows: As soon as his bodily parts grow +cold, which takes place after a few days, he is raised by the Lord at +the hands of celestial angels who first are with him. If he is such +that he cannot be with them, he is received by spiritual angels, and +in turn afterwards by good spirits. For all who come into the other +life, whoever they may be, are grateful and welcome new-comers. But as +every one's desires follow him, he who has led a bad life cannot +remain long with angels or good spirits, but in turn separates himself +from them, until at length he comes to spirits of a life conforming +with the life he had in the world. Then it seems to him as if he were +back in the life of the body; his present life being, in fact, a +continuation of his past life. With this life his judgment commences. +They who have led a bad life in process of time descend into hell; +they who have led a good life, are by degrees raised by the Lord into +heaven. + +--_Arcana Coelestia, n._ 2119 + + + + +THE FIRST THREE STATES AFTER DEATH + + + "He that is unjust, let him be unjust still; and he that is + filthy, let him be filthy still; and he that is righteous, + let him be righteous still; and he that is holy, let him be + holy still." + + --_Rev_., XXII, 11 + + +CONTINUATION OF THE OUTWARD LIFE + +There are three states through which a man passes after death, before +he enters either heaven or hell. The first state is that of his +outward nature and life; the second, that of his inward nature and +life; and the third, one of preparation. A man passes through these +states in the world of spirits. + +The first state of a man after death is like his state in the world, +because he is then similarly in things outward. His appearance is +similar, and so are his speech, his mental habit, and his moral and +civil life. As a result he does not know but that he is still in the +world, unless he pays attention to things that meet his eye, and to +what the angels told him at his resuscitation, that now he is a +spirit. Thus one life is carried on into the other, and death is only +the transition. + +--_Heaven and Hell, nn._ 491, 493 + + +REVELATION OF THE INNER LIFE + +After the first state is past, which is the state of the outward +nature and life, a spirit is admitted into the state of his inward +will and thought, in which, on being left to himself to think freely +and unchecked, he had been in the world. He slips unawares into this +state, just as he did in the world. When he is in this state, he is in +himself, and in his very life; for to think freely from the affection +properly one's own, is the very life of man, and is the man. + +When a spirit is in the state of his inward nature and life, it +appears plainly what manner of man he was in the world; for then he +acts from his very self. A man who was inwardly in good in the world, +then acts rationally and wisely--more wisely, in fact, than he did in +the world; for he has been loosed from connection with the body, and +so with worldly things, which caused obscurity and, as it were, +interposed a cloud. But a man who was in evil in the world, then acts +foolishly and insanely--more insanely, in fact, than he did in the +world, for now he is in freedom and not coerced. For when he lived in +the world, he was sane in his outward life, for so he assumed the +appearance of a rational man. When, therefore, his outward life is +laid off, his insanities reveal themselves. + +--_Heaven and Hell, nn._ 502, 505 + + +INSTRUCTED FOR HEAVEN + +The third state of a man after death is a state of instruction. This +is a state in the experience of those who enter heaven and become +angels. + +Instruction in heaven differs from instruction on earth, in that +knowledge is not committed to memory, but to life; for the memory of +spirits is in their life, inasmuch as they receive and become imbued +with everything that agrees with their life, and they do not receive, +still less do they become imbued with, anything that disagrees with +it; for spirits are affections, and are in a human form like their +affections. Being such, they have inspired in them continually an +affection for truth for the sake of the uses of life; for the Lord +provides that every one may love the uses which suit his genius, a +love that is exalted, too, by the hope of becoming an angel.... With +every one, therefore, the affection of truth is united to the +affection of use, so fully that they act as one. Thereby truth is +planted in service, so much so that the truths which angelic spirits +learn, are truths of use. Thus are they instructed and prepared for +heaven. + +--_Heaven and Hell, nn._ 512, 517 + + + + +HEAVEN + + + "Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may + have right to the tree of life; and may enter in through the + gates into the city." + + --_Rev_., XXII, 14 + + + "Thou wilt show me the path of life; In Thy presence is + fulness of joy; At Thy right hand there are pleasures + forevermore." + + --_Psalm_, XVI, 11 + + +"THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS WITHIN YOU" + +Heaven is in a man; and they who have heaven within themselves, come +into heaven. Heaven in a man is to acknowledge the Divine, and to be +led by the Divine. + +Every angel receives the heaven which is around him according to the +heaven which is within him. Unless heaven is within a man, none of the +heaven around him flows in and is received. + +Love to the Lord is the love regnant in the heavens; for there the +Lord is loved above all things. Thus the Lord is All in all there. He +flows into all the angels, and into each of them. He disposes them; He +induces a likeness of Himself on them, and causes Heaven to be where +He is. Hence an angel is heaven in the least form; a society is heaven +in a greater form; and all the societies together are heaven in the +greatest form. + +--_Heaven and Hell, nn._ 319, 54, 58 + + +AN ACTUAL WORLD + +In general, what appears in heaven, appears the same as it does in our +material world of three kingdoms. Things appear before the eyes of +angels just as objects of the three kingdoms do before the eyes of +men in the world. Still there is this difference: the things which +appear in heaven, have a spiritual origin, and those which appear in +our world a material origin. Objects of a spiritual origin affect the +senses of angels because these senses are spiritual, as those of a +material origin affect the senses of men, inasmuch as their senses are +material. Heavenly objects are said to have a spiritual origin, +because they exist from the Divine which proceeds from the Lord as a +Sun; and the Divine that proceeds from the Lord as a Sun is spiritual. +For there the Sun is not fire, but Divine Love, appearing before the +eyes of the angels as the sun of the world does before the eyes of +men; and whatever proceeds from the Divine Love is Divine and is +spiritual. Of this origin are all things which exist in the heavens, +and they appear in forms like those in our world. It is due to the +order of creation that they appear in such forms. According to that +order, things which are of love and wisdom with the angels, on +descending into the lower sphere in which angels are in respect of +their bodies and of their sensation, present themselves in such forms +and under such types. These are correspondences. + +--_Apocalypse Explained, n._ 926 + + +A WORLD OF ACTION + +All heaven's delights are united to uses and inhere in them, because +uses are the goods of love and charity, in which the angels are. The +angels find all their happiness in use, from use, and according to +use. There is the highest freedom in this because it proceeds from +interior affection, and is conjoined with ineffable delight. Uses +exist in the heavens in all variety and diversity. Never is the use of +one angel quite the same as that of another; nor the delight. What is +more, the delights of any one person's use are countless. These +countless and various delights are nevertheless united in an order so +that they mutually regard one another, as do the uses of every member, +organ and inner part of the body. They are even more like the uses of +each vessel and fibre in every member, organ and vital part; each and +all of which are so related that they regard each of its own good in +the other, and thus in all, and all in each. As a result of this +general and several regard they act as one. + +--_Heaven and Hell, nn._ 402, 403, 404, 405 + + +OUR CHILDREN IN HEAVEN + +Every little child, wheresoever born, whether within the Church or out +of it, whether of pious parents or of impious, is received by the Lord +at death; is educated in heaven; is taught and imbued with affections +of good and by these with knowledges of truth; and then, as he is +perfected in intelligence and wisdom, is introduced into heaven and +becomes an angel. + +When children die, they are still children in the other life. They +have the same infantile mind, the same innocence in ignorance, and the +same tenderness in all things. They have only the rudimentary capacity +of becoming angels; for children are not yet angels, but are to become +angels. The state of children in the other life far surpasses that of +children in the world; for they are not clothed with an earthly body, +but with a body like that of the angels. The earthly body is in itself +heavy, and does not receive its first sensations and impulses from the +interior or spiritual world, but from the exterior or natural world. +In this world, therefore, infants must learn to walk, to control the +body's motions, and to talk. Even their senses, like sight and +hearing, must be developed by use. It is quite otherwise with children +in the other life. Being spirits, they act at once in expression of +their inner being, walking without practice, and also talking, but at +first from general affections not yet distinguished into ideas of +thought. They are quickly initiated into these, too, however; and this +for the reason that outer and inner are homogeneous with them. + +The Lord flows into the ideas of children chiefly from their inmost +soul, for nothing has closed their ideas, as with adults. No false +principles have closed them to the understanding of truth, nor any +evil life to the reception of good, nor to becoming wise. + +--_Heaven and Hell, nn._ 416, 330, 331, 836 + + +TOWARD THE MORNING OF LIFE + +The Lord is present with every human being, urgent and instant to be +received; and when a man receives Him, as he does when he acknowledges +Him as his God, Creator, Redeemer and Saviour, then is His first +Coming, which is called the dawn. From this time the man begins to be +enlightened, as to understanding in things spiritual, and to advance +into a more and more interior wisdom. As he receives this wisdom from +the Lord, so he advances through morning into day, and this day lasts +with him into old age, even to death; and after death he passes into +heaven to the Lord Himself, and there, though he died an old man, he +is restored to the morning of his life, and to eternity he develops +the beginnings of the wisdom that was implanted in the natural world. + +--_True Christian Religion, n._ 766 + +The people of heaven are continually advancing towards the spring-time +of life; and the more thousands of years they live, the more +delightful and happy is the spring to which they attain. Women who +have died old and worn out with age, and have lived in faith in the +Lord and in charity to the neighbor, come, with the succession of +years, more and more into the flower of youth and early womanhood, and +into a beauty exceeding every idea of beauty ever formed through the +sight. In a word, to grow old in heaven is to grow young. + +--_Heaven and Hell, n._ 414 + + + + +HELL + + + "If I make my bed in hell; behold, Thou art there." + + --_Psalm_, CXXXIX, 8 + + +EVIL IS HELL + +Evil with man is hell with him; for it is the same thing whether we +say evil or hell. And as a man is the cause of his own evil, therefore +he, and not the Lord, also leads himself into hell. So far is the Lord +from leading man into hell, that He delivers him from it as far as a +man does not will and love to be in his own evil. + +All a man's will and love remains with him after death. He who wills +and loves evil in the world, wills and loves the same evil in the +other life; and then he no longer suffers himself to be withdrawn from +it. This is the reason that a man who is in evil is bound fast to hell +and is actually there, too, in spirit, and after death he desires +nothing more than to be where his evil is. After death, therefore, a +man casts himself into hell, and not the Lord. + +--_Heaven and Hell, n._ 547 + + +EVIL AND PUNISHMENT + +All evil bears its punishment with it. Evil spirits are punished +because the fear of punishment is the one means of subduing evils in +this state. Exhortation no longer avails, nor instruction, nor fear of +the law nor fear for one's reputation; for now the spirit acts from a +nature which cannot be coerced or broken except by punishment. + +--_Heaven and Hell, n._ 509 + +It is a law in the other life that no one shall become worse than he +had been in the world. + +--_Arcana Coelestia, n._ 6559 + + +GOD WILLS THE DAMNATION OF NONE + +If men could be saved by immediate mercy, all would be saved, even +those in hell; and indeed there would be no hell, because the Lord is +mercy itself and good itself. Therefore it is contrary to His Divine +Nature to say that He can save all immediately, and does not save +them. We know from the Word that the Lord wills the salvation of all +and the damnation of none. + +--_Heaven and Hell, n._ 524 + + +MASTER PASSIONS OF HELL + +Love of self and love of the world rule in the hells and also +constitute them. Love to the Lord and love toward the neighbor rule in +the heavens and also constitute them. These loves are diametrically +opposite. Love of self consists in wishing well to oneself alone, and +not to others except for the sake of oneself, not even to the Church, +to one's country, or to any human society; also in doing good to them, +but for the sake of one's reputation, honor and glory. Unless he sees +these in the services he renders them, he says in his heart, "Of what +use is it? Why should I do it? Of what advantage will it be to me?", +and he leaves it undone. His delight is only that of self-love. And +because the delight which springs from his love makes the life of a +man, therefore his life is the life of self; and the life of self is +life from man's _proprium_; and the _proprium_ of man, viewed in +itself, is nothing but evil. Love of self is of such a quality, too, +that, as far as the reins are given it, it rushes on until at length +it desires to rule not only over the whole earth, but over the whole +heaven, too, and over the Divine Himself. + +--_Heaven and Hell, nn._ 554, 556, 559 + + +"OUR NAME IS LEGION" + +Men have believed hitherto that there is some one devil who is over +the hells, and that he was created an angel of light; but that after +he turned rebel, he was cast down with his crew into hell. Men have +had this belief because the Devil is named in the Word, and Satan, and +also Lucifer, and in these passages the Word has been understood +according to the sense of the letter, when yet hell is meant in them +by the Devil and Satan.... That there is no single Devil to whom the +hells are subject, is also evident from this fact, that all who are in +the hells, like all who are in the heavens, are from the human race; +and that from the beginning of the creation to this time they amount +to myriads of myriads, every one of whom is a devil of a sort +according with his opposition to the Divine in the world. + +--_Heaven and Hell, n._ 544 + + + + +COMMUNICATION WITH THE SPIRITUAL WORLD + + + "Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the + ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in + the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of + the Lord; and in His law doth he meditate day and night." + + --_Psalm_, I, 1, 2 + + +ONE'S SPIRITUAL COMPANY + +The mind of a man is his spirit which lives after death; and a man's +spirit is constantly in company with spirits like himself in the +spiritual world. Man does not know that in respect to his mind he is +in the midst of spirits because the spirits with whom he is in company +in that world, think and speak spiritually. The spirit of man, +however, while in the material body, thinks and speaks naturally; and +spiritual thought and speech cannot be understood, nor perceived, by +the natural human being; nor the reverse. Hence, too, it is that +spirits cannot be seen. Yet when a man's spirit is in society with +spirits in their world, then he is in spiritual thought and speech +with them, too, because his inner mind is spiritual, but the outer +natural; wherefore by his inner nature he communicates with them, and +by his outer being with men. By this communication a man perceives and +thinks analytically. If there were no such communication, man would no +more think than a beast, nor any differently from a beast. Indeed, +were all commerce with spirits cut off, a man would instantly die. + +--_True Christian Religion, n._ 475 + + +"MINISTERS OF HIS, THAT DO HIS PLEASURE" + +Man is quite ignorant that he is governed by the Lord through angels +and spirits, and that there are at least two spirits with a man and +two angels. Through the spirits a communication of the man with the +world of spirits is effected; and through the angels, with heaven. As +long as a man is not regenerated, he is governed quite otherwise than +when he is regenerated. While unregenerated, there are evil spirits +with him, who dominate him so fully that the angels, though present, +can scarcely do more than guide him, so that he shall not hurl himself +into the lowest evil, and bend him to some good--to some good by means +of his own desires, indeed, and to some truth through even fallacies +of sense. Then, through the spirits who are with him, he has +communication with the world of spirits, but not so much with heaven, +for the evil spirits rule with him, and the angels only avert their +rule. When, however, a man is regenerated, then the angels rule and +inspire in him all good and truth, and a horror and dread of evil and +falsity. The angels lead the man indeed, but serve only as ministers, +for it is the Lord alone, Who, by angels and spirits, governs man. + +--_Arcana Coelestia, n._ 50 + +It is an office of the angels to inspire charity and faith in a man, +to observe the direction his enjoyments take, and to restrain and +bend them to good, as far as they can in man's free choice. They are +forbidden to act violently, and so to break a man's cupidities and +principles; but are bidden to act gently. It is also an office of +theirs to govern evil spirits who are from hell. When evil spirits +infuse evils and what is false, the angels instill what is true and +good, by which they at least temper an evil. Infernal spirits are +continually assaulting, and angels constantly giving protection. +Especially do the angels call forth goods and truths which are with a +man, and oppose them to the evils and falsities which the evil spirits +excite. Hence a man is in the midst, nor does he apperceive the evil +or the good; and being in the midst, is free to turn himself to the +one or to the other. By such means angels from the Lord lead and +protect a man, and this every moment, and every moment of a moment. +For, should the angels intermit their care a single instant, man would +be plunged into evil from which he could never afterward be led forth. +These offices the angels do from a love which they have from the Lord; +for they know nothing pleasanter and happier than to remove evils from +a man, and to lead him to heaven. That this is their joy, see _Luke_, +XV, 7. Scarcely any man believes that the Lord has such a care for +man, and this continually, from the first thread of his life to the +last, and on to eternity. + +--_Arcana Coelestia, n._ 5992 + + +WHOLESOME AND UNWHOLESOME COMMUNICATION + +Many believe that a man can be taught by the Lord through spirits who +speak with him. They who believe so, and will this communication, do +not know, however, that it is attended with danger to their souls. +While a man is living in the world, he is in the midst of spirits as +to his spirit; nevertheless spirits do not know they are with man, nor +a man that he is with spirits. But as soon as spirits begin to speak +with a man, they come out of their spiritual state into the man's +natural state; and then they know that they are with man, and they +unite themselves to the thoughts of his affection, and they speak with +him from those thoughts. Thence it is that the spirit speaking is in +the same principles as the man, whether these be true or false. These +he stirs up, and through his affection, united to the man's, strongly +confirms them. All this shows the danger in which a man is who speaks +with spirits, or who manifestly perceives their operation. Of the +nature of his affection, good or bad, a man is ignorant, also with +what others he is associated. If his is a pride of self-intelligence, +the spirit favors every thought from that source. Likewise there is +the favoring of principles which are inflamed from the fire which +those have who are not in truths from any genuine affection for them. +Whenever from a like affection a spirit favors a man's thoughts or +principles, then the former leads the latter, as the blind lead the +blind, until both fall into the ditch. + +It is otherwise with those whom the Lord leads. He leads those who +love and will truths from Him. Such are enlightened when they read the +Word, for there the Lord is, and He speaks with every one according to +the latter's apprehension. When these hear speech from spirits, as +they do sometimes, they are not taught, but are led, and this so +prudently that the man is still left to himself. For every man is led +through the affections by the Lord, and he thinks from these freely as +if of himself. Were it otherwise, a man could not be reformed, nor +could he be enlightened. + +--_Apocalypse Explained, nn._ 1182, 1183 + + +AN UNBROKEN ASSOCIATION + +Married partners, who have lived in truly conjugial love, are not +separated in the death of one of them. For the spirit of the deceased +partner lives continually with the spirit of the other, not yet +deceased, and this even to the death of the other, when they meet +again and reunite, and love each other more tenderly than before; for +now they are in the spiritual world. + +--_Conjugial Love, n._ 321 + + + + +THE CHURCH + + + "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will + dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God + Himself shall be with them, and be their God." + + --_Rev_., XXI, 3 + + +THE CHURCH IN GOD'S SIGHT + +The Church is in man, and not outside of him; and the Church at large +consists of the men who have the Church in them.--The Church consists +of those who from the heart acknowledge the Divine of the Lord, who +learn truths from Him by the Word, and do them.--Every one who lives +in the good of charity and of faith is a Church and a Kingdom of the +Lord.--The Church in general is constituted of those who are severally +Churches, however remote they are from one another.--The Church of the +Lord is scattered throughout the whole world. + +--_Heaven and Hell, n._ 57 +--_Apocalypse Explained, n._ 388 +--_Arcana Coelestia_, n. 6637; ib., n. 9256 + + +A SUCCESSION OF CHURCHES + +There have been four Churches on this earth since the day of creation; +a first, to be called the Adamic, a second, to be called the Noachic; +a third, the Israelitish; and a fourth, the Christian. After these +four Churches, a new one will arise, which is to be truly Christian, +foretold in _Daniel_ and in the _Apocalypse_, and by the Lord Himself +in the Evangelists, and looked for by the Apostles. + +--_Coronis_, Summary, I, VIII + + +EARLY CHRISTIANITY AND ITS DECLINE + +When a Church is raised up by the Lord, it is in the beginning +blameless; and one then loves the other as his brother, as we know of +the primitive Church after the Lord's advent. At that time, all the +sons of the Church lived together like brothers, and also called one +another brother, and mutually loved each other. But in the course of +time charity diminished, and vanished; and as it vanished, evils +succeeded; and together with evils falsities insinuated themselves. +Hence came schisms and heresies, which would never come to be, were +charity regnant and alive. + +--_Arcana Coelestia, n._ 1834 + + +THE LORD'S SECOND COMING: WHEN? HOW? + +Now is the Lord's Second Coming, and a New Church is to be instituted. +The Second Coming of the Lord is not a coming in Person, but in the +Word, which is from Him, and is Himself. We read in many places that +the Lord will come in the clouds of heaven. The "clouds of heaven" +mean the Word in its natural sense, and "glory" the Word in its +spiritual sense, and "power" the Lord's power by means of the Word. So +the Lord is now to appear in the Word. He is not to appear in Person +because, since His ascension into heaven, He is in the Glorified +Humanity, in which He cannot appear to any man, unless He opens the +eyes of his spirit first, and this cannot be done with any one who is +in evils and thence in falsities. It is vain, therefore, to believe +that the Lord will appear in a cloud of heaven in Person; but He will +appear in the Word, which is from Him, and so is Himself. + +--_True Christian Religion, nn._ 115, 776, 777 + +What occurred at the end of the Jewish Church has occurred similarly +now; for at the end of that Church, which was when the Lord came into +the world, the Word was interiorly opened. Interior Divine truths were +revealed by the Lord, which were to serve the New Church to be +established by Him, and did serve it, too. To-day, again, for similar +reasons, the Word has been interiorly opened, and divine truths still +more interior have been revealed, which are to serve a New Church, +which will be called the New Jerusalem. + +--_Apocalypse Explained, n._ 948 + + +A NEW CHURCH + +It was foretold in the _Apocalypse_ (XXI, XXII) that at the end of the +former Church a New Church was to be instituted, in which this would +be the chief teaching: that God is One in Person as well as in +Essence, in Whom is the Trinity, and that that God is the Lord. This +Church is what is there meant by the New Jerusalem, into which only he +can enter who acknowledges the Lord alone as God of Heaven and earth. + +--_Divine Providence, n._ 263 + +The descent of the New Jerusalem cannot take place in a moment, but +becomes a fact as the falsities of the former Church are removed. For +what is new cannot enter where falsities have previously been +engendered, unless these are eradicated; which will take place with +the clergy, and so with the laity. + +--_True Christian Religion, n._ 784 + + +THE ULTIMATE GOAL + +Were it received as a principle, that love to the Lord and charity to +the neighbor are what the whole Law hangs on and are what all the +Prophets speak of, and thus are the essentials of all doctrine and +worship, then the mind would be enlightened in innumerable things in +the Word, which otherwise lie hidden in the obscurity of a false +principle. In fact, heresies would be scattered then, and out of many +one Church would come to be, however the doctrines flowing therefrom +or leading thereto, and the rituals, might differ. Were the case so, +all men would be governed as a single human being by the Lord; for all +would be as members and organs of one body, which, dissimilar in form +and function though they are, still have relation to one heart only, +whereon they each and all depend. Then, in whatever doctrine or +outward worship one might be, he would say of another, "This man is my +brother. I see that he worships the Lord, and that he is a good man." + +--_Arcana Coelestia, n._ 2385 + + + + +MEMORABLE SAYINGS + + +MEMORABLE SAYINGS + +All religion has relation to life; and the life of religion is to do +good. + +Love in act is work and deed. + +Heaven is a kingdom of uses. + +No one who believes in God and lives well is condemned. + +Shunning evils as sins is the mark of faith. + +To resist one evil is to resist many; for every evil is united with +countless evils. + +If you wish to be led by the Divine Providence, employ prudence as a +servant and attendant who faithfully dispenses his Lord's goods. + +Where men know doctrine and think according to it, there the Church +_may be_; but where men act according to doctrine, there alone the +Church _is_. + +It is not the desire of an intelligent man to be able to confirm +whatever he pleases; but to be able to see truth as truth, and falsity +as falsity, and to confirm his insight, is the way of an intelligent +man. + +To reason only whether a thing is so or not, is like reasoning about +the fit of a cap or a shoe without ever putting it on. + +It is the essence of God's love to love others outside Himself, to +desire to be one with them, and from Himself to render them blessed. + +The absence of God from man is no more possible than the absence of +the sun from the earth through its heat and light. + +Truths perish with those who do not desire good. + +Peace has in it confidence in the Lord--that He governs all things, +and provides all things, and leads to a good end. + +The Lord powerfully influences the humble. + +Innocence is willingness to be led by the Lord. + +One's distance from heaven is in proportion to the measure of one's +self-love. + +Peace in the heavens is like spring in the world, gladdening all +things. + +No two things mutually love each other more than do truth and good. + +Love consists in desiring to give our own to another and in feeling as +our own his delight. + +A wicked man may shun evils as _hurtful_; none but a Christian can +shun them as _sins_. + +If a man studies the neighbor and the Lord more than himself, he is in +a state of regeneration. + +The Lord acts mediately through heaven, not because he needs the aid +of the angels, but that they may have functions and offices, life and +happiness. + +Good is like a little flame which gives light, and causes man to see, +perceive and believe. + +Evil itself is disunion. + +To serve the Lord is to be free. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GIST OF SWEDENBORG*** + + +******* This file should be named 15768.txt or 15768.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/5/7/6/15768 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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