{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_14026/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_14026","id":"gutenberg_14026","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/14026","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Philosophy & Ethics","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Spiritual life","Ten commandments","Word of God (Christian theology)"],"text":"SPIRITUAL LIFE AND THE WORD OF GOD\n\nby\n\nEMANUEL SWEDENBORG (1688-1772)\n\nExtracted from the Apocalypse Explained\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nContents\n\nPart First--THE SPIRITUAL LIFE\n\n   I. How Spiritual Life is Acquired\n  II. Goods of Charity\n III. Shunning Evils\n  IV. Cleansing the Inside\n   V. What Religion Consists In\n\nPart Second--THE COMMANDMENTS\n\n   I. The First Commandment\n  II. The Second Commandment\n III. The Third Commandment\n  IV. The Fourth Commandment\n   V. The Fifth Commandment\n  VI. The Sixth Commandment\n VII. The Seventh Commandment\nVIII. The Eighth Commandment\n  IX. The Ninth and Tenth Commandments\n   X. The Commandments in General\n\nPart Third--PROFANATIONS OF GOOD AND TRUTH\n\n   I. Goods and Truths and Their Opposites\n  II. The First Kind of Profanation\n III. The Second Kind of Profanation\n  IV. The Third Kind of Profanation\n   V. The Fourth and Fifth Kinds of Profanation\n\nPart Fourth--THE DIVINE WORD\n\n   I. The Holiness of the Word\n  II. The Lord is the Word\n III. The Lord's Words Spirit and Life\n  IV. Influx and Correspondence\n   V. The Three Senses of the Word\n  VI. Conjunction by the Word\n VII. The Sense of the Letter\n\n\n\n\nPart First--THE SPIRITUAL LIFE\n\nI. How Spiritual Life is Acquired\n\nSpiritual life is acquired solely by a life according to the\ncommandments in the Word.  These commandments are given in summary in\nthe Decalogue, namely, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not\nsteal, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou\nshalt not covet the goods of others.  These commandments are the\ncommandments that are to be done, for when a man does these his works\nare good and his life is spiritual, and for the reason that so far as a\nman shuns evils and hates them so far he wills and loves goods.\n\nFor there are two opposite spheres that surround man, one from hell, the\nother from heaven; from hell a sphere of evil and falsity therefrom,\nfrom heaven a sphere of good and of truth therefrom; and these spheres\ndo [not immediately] affect the body, but they affect the minds of men,\nfor they are spiritual spheres, and thus are affections that belong to\nthe love.  In the midst of these man is set; therefore so far as he\napproaches the one, so far he withdraws from the other.  This is why so\nfar as a man shuns evils and hates them, so far he wills and loves goods\nand the truths therefrom; for no one can at the same time serve two\nmasters, for he will hate the one and will love the other.  (Matt. vi.\n24).\n\nBut let it be noted, that man must do these commandments from religion,\nbecause they are commanded by the Lord; and if he does this from any\nother consideration whatever, for instance, from regard merely to the\ncivil law or the moral law, he remains natural, and does not become\nspiritual. For when a man acts from religion, he acknowledges in heart\nthat there is a God, a heaven and a hell, and a life after death.  But\nwhen he acts from regard merely to the civil and moral law, he may act\nin the same way, and yet in heart may deny that there is a God, a heaven\nand a hell, and a life after death.  And if he shuns evils and does\ngoods, it is merely in the external form, and not in the internal; thus\nwhile he is outwardly in respect to the life of the body like a\nChristian, inwardly in respect to the life of his spirit he is like a\ndevil.  All this makes clear that a man can become spiritual, or receive\nspiritual life, in no other way than by a life according to religion\nfrom the Lord.\n\nI have had proof that this is true from angels of the third or inmost\nheaven, who are in the greatest wisdom and happiness.  When asked how\nthey had become such angels, they said it was because during their life\nin the world they had regarded filthy thoughts as abominable, and these\nhad been to them adulteries; and had regarded in like manner frauds and\nunlawful gains, which had been to them thefts; also hatreds and\nrevenges, which had been to them murder; also lies and blasphemies,\nwhich had been to them false testimonies; and so with other things.\nWhen asked again whether they had done good works, they said they loved\nchastity, in which they were because they had regarded adulteries as\nabominable; that they loved sincerity and justice, in which they were\nbecause they had regarded frauds and unlawful gains as abominable; that\nthey loved the neighbor because they had regarded hatreds and revenges\nas abominable; that they loved truth because they had regarded lies and\nblasphemies as abominable, and so on; and that they perceived that when\nthese evils have been put away, and they acted from chastity, sincerity,\njustice, charity and truth, it was not done from themselves, but from\nthe Lord, and thus that all things whatsoever that they had done from\nthese were good works, although they had done them as if from\nthemselves; and that it was on this account that they had been raised up\nby the Lord after death into the third heaven.  Thus it was made clear\nhow spiritual life, which is the life of the angels of heaven, is\nacquired.\n\nIt shall now be told how that life is destroyed by the faith of the\npresent day.  The faith of this day is that it must be believed that God\nthe Father sent His Son, who suffered the cross for our sins, and took\naway the curse of the law by fulfilling it; and that this faith apart\nfrom good works will save everyone, even in the last hour of death.  By\nthis faith instilled from childhood and afterward confirmed by\npreachings, it has come to pass that no one shuns evils from religion,\nbut only from civil and moral law; thus not because they are sins but\nbecause they are damaging.\n\nConsider, when a man thinks that the Lord suffered for our sins, that He\ntook away the curse of the law, and that merely to believe these things,\nor to have faith in them without good works saves, whether this is not\nto regard as of little worth the commandments of the Decalogue, all the\nlife of religion as prescribed in the Word, and furthermore all the\ntruths that inculcate charity.  Separate these, therefore, and take them\naway from man, and is there any religion left in him?  For religion does\nnot consist in merely thinking this or that, but in willing and doing\nthat which is thought; and there is no religion when willing and doing\nare separated from thinking.  From this it follows that the faith of\nthis day destroys spiritual life, which is the life of the angels of\nheaven, and is the Christian life itself.\n\nConsider further, why the ten commandments of the Decalogue were\npromulgated from Mount Sinai in so miraculous a way; why they were\nengraved on two tables of stone, and why these were placed in the ark,\nover which was placed the mercy-seat with cherubs, and the place where\nthose commandments were was called the Holy of holies, within which\nAaron was permitted to enter only once a year, and this with sacrifices\nand incense; and if he had entered without these, he would have fallen\ndead; also why so many miracles were afterward performed by means of\nthat ark. Have not all throughout the whole globe a knowledge of like\ncommandments?  Do not their civil laws prescribe the same? Who does not\nknow from merely natural lumen, that for the sake of order in every\nkingdom, adultery, theft, murder, false witness, and other things in the\nDecalogue are forbidden?  Why then must those same precepts have been\npromulgated by so many miracles, and regarded as so holy? Can there be\nany other reason than that everyone might do them from religion, and\nthus from God, and not merely from civil and moral law, and thus from\nself and for the sake of the world?  Such was the reason for their\npromulgation from Mount Sinai and their holiness; for to do these\ncommandments from religion purifies the internal man, opens heaven,\nadmits the Lord, and makes man as to his spirit an angel of heaven.  And\nthis is why the nations outside the church who do these commandments\nfrom religion are all saved, but not anyone who does them merely from\ncivil and moral law.\n\nInquire now whether the faith of this day, which is, that the Lord\nsuffered for our sins, that he took away the curse of the law by\nfulfilling it, and that man is justified and saved by this faith apart\nfrom good works, does not cancel all these commandments.  Look about and\ndiscover how many there are at this day in the Christian world who do\nnot live according to this faith.  I know that they will answer that\nthey are weak and imperfect men, born in sins, and the like.  But who is\nnot able to think from religion?  This the Lord gives to everyone; and\nin him who thinks these things from religion the Lord works all things\nso far as he thinks.  And be it known that he who thinks of these things\nfrom religion believes that there is a God, a heaven, a hell, and a life\nafter death; but he who does not think of these things from religion\ndoes not, I affirm, believe them.  (A.E., n. 902.)\n\nII. Goods of Charity\n\nWhat is meant by goods of charity or good works is at this day unknown\nto most in the Christian world, because of the prevalence of the\nreligion of faith alone, which is a faith separated from goods of\ncharity.  For if only faith contributes to salvation, and goods of\ncharity contribute nothing, the idea that these goods may be left undone\nhas place in the mind.  But some who believe that good works should be\ndone do not know what is meant by good works, thinking that good works\nare merely giving to the poor and doing good to the needy and to widows\nand orphans, since such things are mentioned and seemingly commanded in\nthe Word.  Some think that if good works must be done for the sake of\neternal life they must give to the poor all they possess, as was done in\nthe primitive church, and as the Lord commanded the rich man to sell all\nthat he had and give to the poor, and take up the cross and follow Him\n(Matt. xix. 21).  (A.E., n. 932.)\n\nIt has just been said that at this day it is scarcely known what is\nmeant by charity, and thus by good works, unless it be giving to the\npoor, enriching the needy, doing good to widows and orphans, and\ncontributing to the building of churches and hospitals and lodging\nhouses; and yet whether such works are done by man and for the sake of\nreward is not known; for if they are done by man they are not good, and\nif for the sake of reward they are not meritorious; and such works do\nnot open heaven, and thus are not acknowledged as goods in heaven.  In\nheaven no works are regarded as good except such as are done by the Lord\nin man, and yet the works that are done by the Lord in man appear in\noutward form like those done by the man himself and cannot be\ndistinguished even by the man who does them.  For the works done by the\nLord in man are done by man as if by himself; and unless they are done\nas if by himself they do not conjoin man to the Lord, thus they do not\nreform him. (A.E., n. 933.)\n\nBut for works to be done by the Lord, and not by man, two things are\nnecessary: first, there must be an acknowledgment of the Lord's Divine,\nalso that He is the God of heaven and earth even in respect to the\nHuman, also that every good that is good is from Him; and secondly, it\nis necessary that man live according to the commandments of the\nDecalogue, by abstaining from those evils that are there forbidden, that\nis, from worshipping other gods, from profaning the name of God, from\nthefts, from adulteries, from murders, from false witness, from coveting\nthe possessions and property of others.  These two things are requisite\nthat the works done by man may be good.  The reason is that every good\ncomes from the Lord alone, and the Lord cannot enter into man and lead\nhim so long as these evils are not set aside as sins; for they are\ninfernal, and in fact are hell with man, and unless hell is set aside\nthe Lord cannot enter and open heaven.  This is what is meant by the\nLord's words to the rich man:\n\nWho asked Him about eternal life, and said that he had kept the\ncommandments of the Decalogue from his youth; whom the Lord is said to\nhave loved, and to have taught that one thing was lacking to him, that\nhe should sell all that he had and take up the cross (Matt. xix. 16-22;\nMark x. 17-22; Luke xviii. 18-23).\n\n\"To sell all that he had\" signifies that he should relinquish the things\nof his religion, which were traditions, for he was a Jew, and also\nshould relinquish the things that were his own, which were loving self\nand the world more than God, and thus leading himself; and \"to follow\nthe Lord\" signifies to acknowledge Him only and to be led by Him;\ntherefore the Lord also said, \"Why callest thou Me good?  There is none\ngood but God only.\"  \"To take up his cross\" signifies to fight against\nevils and falsities, which are from what is one's own (proprium).\n(A.E., n. 934.)\n\nIII. Shunning Evils\n\nIn the previous chapter two things are said to be necessary that works\nmay be good, namely, that the Divine of the Lord be acknowledged, and\nthat the evils forbidden in the Decalogue be shunned as sins.  The evils\nenumerated in the Decalogue include all the evils that can ever exist;\ntherefore the Decalogue is called the ten commandments, because \"ten\"\nsignifies all.\n\nThe first commandment, \"Thou shalt not worship other gods,\" includes not\nloving self and the world; for he that loves self and the world above\nall things worships other gods; for everyone's god is that which he\nloves above all things.\n\nThe second commandment, \"Thou shalt not profane the name of God,\"\nincludes not to despise the Word and doctrine from the Word, and thus\nthe church, and not to reject these from the heart, for these are God's\n\"name.\"\n\nThe fifth commandment, \"Thou shalt not steal,\" included the shunning of\nfrauds and unlawful gains, for these also are thefts.\n\nThe sixth commandment, \"Thou shalt not commit adultery,\" includes having\ndelight in adulteries and having no delight in marriages, and in\nparticular cherishing filthy thoughts respecting such things as pertain\nto marriage, for these are adulteries.\n\nThe seventh commandment, \"Thou shalt not kill,\" includes not hating the\nneighbor nor loving revenge; for hatred and revenge breathe murder.\n\nThe eighth commandment, \"Thou shalt not bear false witness,\" includes\nnot to lie and blaspheme; for lies and blasphemies are false\ntestimonies.\n\nThe ninth commandment, \"Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house,\"\nincludes not wishing to possess or to divert to oneself the goods of\nothers against their will.\n\nThe tenth commandment, \"Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, his\nman-servants,\" and so on, includes not wishing to rule over others and\nto subject them to oneself, for the things here enumerated mean the\nthings that are man's own.  Anyone can see that these eight commandments\nrelate to evils that must be shunned, and not to goods that must be\ndone.  (A.E., n. 935.)\n\nBut many, I know, think in their heart that no one can of himself shun\nthese evils enumerated in the Decalogue, because man is born in sins and\nhas therefore no power of himself to shun them.  But let such know that\nanyone who thinks in his heart that there is a God, that the Lord is the\nGod of heaven and earth, that the Word is from Him, and is therefore\nholy, that there is a heaven and a hell, and that there is a life after\ndeath, has the ability to shun these evils.  But he who despises these\ntruths and casts them out of his mind, and still more he who denies\nthem, is not able.  For how can one who never thinks about God think\nthat anything is a sin against God?  And how can one who never thinks\nabout heaven, hell, and the life after death, shun evils as sins?  Such\na man does not know what sin is.\n\nMan is placed in the middle between heaven and hell.  Out of heaven\ngoods unceasingly flow in, and out of hell evils unceasingly flow in;\nand as man is between he has freedom to think what is good or to think\nwhat is evil.  This freedom the Lord never takes away from anyone, for\nit belongs to his life, and is the means of his reformation.  So far,\ntherefore, as man from this freedom has the thought and desire to shun\nevils because they are sins, and prays to the Lord for help, so far does\nthe Lord take them away and give man the ability to refrain from them as\nif of himself, and then to shun them.\n\nEveryone is able from natural freedom to shun these same evils because\nof their being contrary to human laws.  This every citizen of a kingdom\ndoes who fears the penalties of the civil law, or the loss of life,\nreputation, honor, wealth, and thus of office, gain, and pleasures; even\nan evil man does this.  And the life of such a man appears exactly the\nsame in external form as the life of one who shuns these evils because\nthey are contrary to the Divine laws; but in internal form it is wholly\nunlike it.  The one acts from natural freedom only, which is from man;\nthe other acts from spiritual freedom, which is from the Lord; both\nacting from freedom.  When a man is able to shun these same evils from\nnatural freedom, why is he not able to shun them from spiritual freedom,\nin which he is constantly held by the Lord, provided he thinks to will\nthis because there is a heaven, a hell, a life after death, punishment\nand reward, and prays to the Lord for help?\n\nLet it be noted, that every man when he is beginning the spiritual life\nbecause he wishes to be saved, fears sins on account of the punishments\nof hell, but afterward on account of the sin itself, because it is in\nitself abominable, and finally on account of the truth and good that he\nloves, thus for the Lord's sake.  For so far as anyone loves truth and\ngood, thus the Lord, he so far turns away from what is contrary to\nthese, which is evil.  All this makes clear that he that believes in the\nLord shuns evils as sins; and conversely, he that shuns evils as sins\nbelieves; consequently to shun evils as sins is the sign of faith.\n(A.E., n. 936.)\n\nBut as all the evils into which man is born derive their roots from a\nlove of ruling over others and from a love of possessing the goods of\nothers, and all the delights of man's own life flow forth from these two\nloves, and all evils are from them, so the loves and delights of these\nevils belong to man's own life.  And since evils belong to the life of\nman, it follows that man from himself can be no means refrain from them,\nfor this would be from his own life to refrain from his own life.  An\nability to refrain from them of the Lord is therefore provided, and that\nhe may have this ability the freedom to think that which he wills and to\npray to the Lord for help is granted him.  He has this freedom because\nhe is in the middle between heaven and hell, consequently between good\nand evil.  And being in the middle he is in equilibrium; and he who is\nin equilibrium is able easily and as of his own accord to turn himself\nthe one way or the other; and the more so because the Lord continually\nresists evils and repels them, and raises man up and draws him to\nHimself.  And yet there is combat, because the evils which belong to\nman's life are stirred up by the evils that unceasingly rise up from\nhell; and then man must fight against them, and, indeed, as if of\nhimself.  If he does not fight as if of himself the evils are not set\naside.  (A.E., n. 938.)\n\nIV. Cleansing the Inside\n\nIt is acknowledged that man's interior must be purified before the good\nthat he does is good; for the Lord says,\n\n\"Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first the inside of the cup and of the\nplatter, that the outside may be clean also\" (Matt. xxiii. 26).\n\nMan's interior is purified only as he refrains from evils, in accordance\nwith the commandments of the Decalogue.  So long as man does not refrain\nfrom these evils and does not shun and turn away from them as sins, they\nconstitute his interior, and are like an interposed veil or covering,\nand in heaven this appears like an eclipse by which the sun is obscured\nand light is intercepted; also like a fountain of pitch or of black\nwater, from which nothing emanates but what is impure.  That which\nemanates therefrom and that appears before the world as good is not\ngood, because it is defiled by evils from within, for it is Pharisaic\nand hypocritical good.  This good is good from man and is meritorious\ngood.  It is otherwise when evils have been removed by a life according\nto the commandments of the Decalogue.\n\nNow since evils must be removed before goods can become good the Ten\nCommandments were the first of the Word, being promulgated from Mount\nSinai before the Word was written by Moses and the prophets.  And these\ndo not set forth goods that must be done, but evils that must be\nshunned.  For the same reason these commandments are the first things to\nbe taught in the churches; for they are taught to boys and girls in\norder that man may begin his Christian life with them, and by no means\nforget them as he grows up; although he does so.  The same is meant by\nthese words in Isaiah:\n\n\"What is the multitude of sacrifices\" to Me?  Your meat offering, your\nincense, \"your new moons, and your appointed feasts, My soul hateth. . .\nAnd when you multiply prayer I will not hear. . . Wash you, make you\nclean; put away the evil of your doings from before Mine eyes; cease to\ndo evil . . . . Then though your sins were as scarlet they shall be\nwhite as snow; though they were red as purple they shall be as wool\"\n(i. 11-19).\n\n\"Sacrifices,\" \"meat offerings,\" \"incense,\" \"new moons,\" and \"feasts,\"\nalso \"prayer,\" mean all things of worship.  That these are wholly evil\nand even abominable unless the interior is purified from evils is meant\nby \"Wash you, make you clean, put away the evil of your doings, and\ncease to do evil.\"  That afterward they are all goods is meant by words\nthat follow.  (A.E., n. 939.)\n\nWhen man's interior is purified from evils by his refraining from them\nand shunning them because they are sins, the internal which is above it,\nand which is called the spiritual internal, is opened.  This\ncommunicates with heaven; consequently man is then admitted into heaven\nand is conjoined to the Lord.\n\nThere are two internals in man, one beneath and the other above.  While\nman lives in the world he is in the internal which is beneath and from\nwhich he thinks, for it is natural.  This may be called for the sake of\ndistinction the interior.  But the internal that is above is that into\nwhich man comes after death when he enters heaven.  All angels of heaven\nare in this internal, for it is spiritual.  This internal is opened to\nthe man who shuns evils as sins; but it is kept closed to the man who\ndoes not shun evils as sins.\n\nThis internal is kept closed to the man who does not shun evils as sins,\nbecause the interior, that is, the natural internal, until man has been\npurified from sins, is hell; and so long as there is hell there heaven\ncannot be opened; but as soon as hell has been set aside it is opened.\nBut let it be noted that in the measure in which the spiritual internal\nand heaven are opened to man, the natural internal is purified from the\nhell that is there.  This is not done at once, but successively by\ndegrees.  All this makes clear that man from himself is hell, and that\nman is made a heaven by the Lord, consequently that he is snatched out\nof hell by the Lord, and raised up into heaven to the Lord, not without\nmeans but through means; and these means are the commandments just\nmentioned, by which the Lord leads him who wishes to be led.  (A.E., n.\n940.)\n\nWhen the spiritual internal is opened, and through it communication with\nheaven and conjunction with the Lord are granted, enlightenment takes\nplace with man.  He is enlightened especially when he reads the Word,\nbecause the Lord is in the Word, and the Word is Divine truth, and\nDivine truth is light to angels.  Man is enlightened in the rational,\nfor this directly underlies the spiritual internal, and receives light\nfrom heaven and transfers it into the natural when it is purified from\nevils, filling it with the knowledges of truth and good, and adapting to\nthem the knowledges (scientiae) that are from world, for the sake of\nproof and agreement.  Thus man has a rational, and thus he has an\nunderstanding.  He who believes that man has a rational and an\nunderstanding before his natural has been purified from evils is\ndeceived, for the understanding is seeing truths of the church from the\nlight of heaven; and the light of heaven does not flow into those not\npurified. And as the understanding is perfected, the falsities of\nreligion and of ignorance and all fallacies are dispersed. (A.E., n.\n941.)\n\nWhen a man has been admitted by the opening of his internal into heaven,\nand receives light therefrom, the same affections that angels of heaven\nhave, with their pleasures and delights, are communicated to him.  The\nfirst affection then granted is an affection for truth; the second is an\naffection for good; and the third is an affection for bringing forth\nfruits.  For when a man has been admitted into heaven and into its light\nand heat he is like a tree growing from its seed.  His first budding\nforth is from enlightenment; his blossoming before the fruit is from an\naffection for truth; the putting forth of fruit that follows is from an\naffection for good; the multiplication of itself again into trees is\nfrom an affection for producing fruit. The heat of heaven, which is\nlove, and the light of heaven, which is the understanding of truth from\nthat love, bring forth in subjects of life things like those that the\nheat of the world and its light bring forth in subjects not of life.\nThat like things are brought forth is from correspondence. But in both\ncases the production is effected in springtime; and springtime in man is\nwhen he enters heaven, which is effected when his spiritual internal is\nopened; before that it is the time of winter to him.  (A.E., n. 942.)\n\nMan has affection for truth when he loves truth and turns away from\nfalsity.  He has an affection for good when he loves good uses and turns\naway from evil uses.  He has an affection for bringing forth fruit when\nhe loves to do goods and to be serviceable.  All heavenly joy is in\nthese affections and from them, and this joy cannot be described by\ncomparisons, for it is supereminent and eternal. (A.E., n. 943.)\n\nInto this state the man comes who shuns evils because they are sins, and\nlooks to the Lord; and so far as he comes into this state he turns away\nfrom and hates evils as sins, and acknowledges in heart and worships the\nLord only, and His Divine in the Human.  This is a summary.  (A.E., n.\n944.)\n\nWhen a man is in that state he is raised up from what is his own\n(proprium); for a man is in what is his own (proprium) when he is only\nin the natural external, but he is raised up from what is his own\n(proprium) when he is in the spiritual internal.  This raising up from\nwhat is his own man perceives only by this, that he does not think\nevils, and that he turns away from thinking them, and takes delight in\ntruths and in good uses.  And yet if such a man advances further into\nthat state he perceives influx by a kind of thought; but he is not\nwithheld from thinking and willing as if from himself, for this the Lord\nwills for the sake of reformation.  Nevertheless, man should acknowledge\nthat nothing of good or of truth therefrom is from himself, but all is\nfrom the Lord.  (A.E., n. 945.)\n\nIt follows from this that when man shuns and turns away from evils as\nsins and is raised up into heaven by the Lord, he is not longer in what\nis his own (proprium), but in the Lord, and thus he thinks and wills\ngoods.  Again, since man acts as he thinks and wills, for every act of\nman goes forth from the thought of his will, it follows that when he\nshuns and turns away from evils he does goods from the Lord and not from\nself; and this is why shunning evils is doing goods.  The goods that a\nman does in this way are what are meant by good works; and good works in\ntheir whole complex are what are meant by charity.  Man cannot be\nreformed unless he thinks, wills, and does as if from himself, since\nthat which is done as if by the man himself is conjoined to him and\nremains with him, while that which is not done as if by the man himself,\nnot being received in any life of sense, flows through like ether; and\nthis is why the Lord wills that man should not only shun and turn away\nfrom evils as if of himself, but should also think, will, and do as if\nof himself, and yet acknowledge in heart that all these things are from\nthe Lord.  This he must acknowledge because it is the truth.  (A.E., n.\n946.)\n\nV. What Religion Consists In\n\nReligion with man consists in a life according to the Divine\ncommandments, which are contained in a summary in the Decalogue.  He\nthat does not live according to these can have no religion, since he\ndoes not fear God, still less does he love God; nor does he fear man,\nstill less does he love him.  Can one who steals, commits adultery,\nkills, bears false witness fear God or man?  Nevertheless everyone is\nable to live according to these commandments; and he who is wise does so\nlive as a civil man, as a moral man, and as a natural man.  And yet he\nwho does not live according to them as a spiritual man cannot be saved;\nsince to live according to them as a spiritual man means to live so for\nthe sake of the Divine that is in them, while to live according to them\nas a civil man means for the sake of justice and to escape punishments\nin the world; and to live according to them as a moral man means for the\nsake of honesty, and to escape the loss of reputation and honor; while\nto live according to them as a natural man means for the sake of what is\nhuman, and to escape the repute of having an unsound mind.\n\nAll laws, civil, moral, and natural, prescribe that one must not steal,\nmust not commit adultery, must not kill, must not bear false witness;\nand yet a man is saved not by shunning these evils from these laws\nalone, but by shunning them also from spiritual law, thus shunning them\nas sins. For with such a man there is religion, and a belief that there\nis a God, a heaven and a hell, and a life after death; with such a man\nthere is a civil life, a moral life, and a natural life; a civil life\nbecause there is justice, a moral life because there is honesty, and a\nnatural life because there is manhood.\n\nBut he who does not live according to these commandments as a spiritual\nman is neither a civil man, nor a moral man, nor a natural man; for he\nis destitute of justice, of honesty, and even of manhood, since the\nDivine is not in these.  For there can be nothing good in and from\nitself, but only from God; so there can be nothing just, nothing truly\nhonest or truly human in itself and from itself, but only from God, and\nonly when the Divine is in it.  Consider whether anyone who has hell in\nhim, or who is a devil, can do what is just from justice or for the sake\nof justice; in like manner what is honest, or what is truly human.  The\ntruly human is what is from order and according to order, and what is\nfrom sound reason; and God is order, and sound reason is from God.  In a\nword, he who does not shun evils as sins is not a man.  Everyone who\nmakes these commandments to belong to his religion becomes a citizen and\nan inhabitant of heaven; but he who does not make them to belong to his\nreligion, although in externals he may live according to them from\nnatural, moral, and civil law, becomes a citizen and an inhabitant of\nthe world, but not of heaven.\n\nMost nations possess a knowledge of these commandments, and make them\nthe commandments of their religion, and live according to them because\nGod so wills and has commanded; and through this they have communication\nwith heaven and conjunction with God, consequently they are saved.  But\nmost in the Christian world at this day do not make them the\ncommandments of their religion, but only of their civil and moral life;\nand they do this that they may not appear in external form to act\nfraudulently and make unlawful gains, commit adulteries, manifestly\npursue others from deadly hatred and revenge, and bear false witness,\nand do not refrain from these things because they are sins and against\nGod, but because they have fears for their life, their reputation, their\noffice, their business, their possessions, their honor and gain, and\ntheir pleasure; consequently if they were not restrained by these bonds\nthey would do these things.  Because, therefore, such form for\nthemselves no communication with heaven or conjunction with the Lord,\nbut only with the world and with self, they cannot be saved.\n\nConsider is respect to yourself, when these external bonds have been\ntaken away, as is done with every man after death, if there are no\ninternal bonds, which are from fear and love of God, thus from religion,\nto restrain and hold you back, whether you would not rush like a devil\ninto thefts, adulteries, murders, false witnesses, and lusts of every\nkind, from a love of these and a delight in them.  That this is the case\nI have both seen and heard.  (A.E., n. 948.)\n\nSo far as evils are set aside as sins so far goods flow in, and so far\ndoes man afterward do goods, not from self, but from the Lord.\n\nAs, first, so far as one does not worship other gods, and thus does not\nlove self and the world above all things, so far acknowledgment of God\nflows in from the Lord, and then he worships God, not from self but from\nthe Lord.\n\nSecondly, so far as one does not profane the name of God, that is, so\nfar as he shuns the lusts arising from the loves of self and of the\nworld, so far he loves the holy things of the Word and of the church;\nfor these are the name of God, and are profaned by the lusts arising\nfrom the loves of self and of the world.\n\nThirdly, so far as one shuns thefts, and thus shuns frauds and unlawful\ngains, so far sincerity and justice enter, and he loves what is sincere\nand just from sincerity and justice, and thus does what is sincere and\njust not from self but from the Lord.\n\nFourthly, so far as one shuns adulteries and thus shuns unchaste and\nfilthy thoughts, so far marriage love enters, which is the inmost love\nof heaven, and in which chastity itself has its seat.\n\nFifthly, so far as one shuns murders, and thus shuns deadly hatreds and\nrevenges that breathe murder, so far the Lord enters with mercy and\nlove.\n\nSixthly, so far as one shuns false testimonies, and thus shuns lies and\nblasphemies, so far truth from the Lord enters.\n\nSeventhly, so far as one shuns a covetousness for the house of others,\nand thus shuns the love and consequent lusts for possessing the goods of\nothers, so far charity toward the neighbor enters from the Lord.\n\nEighthly, so far as one shuns a covetousness for the wives of others,\ntheir servants, etc., and thus shuns the love and consequent lusts of\nruling over others (for the things enumerated in this commandment are\nwhat belong to man), so far love to the Lord enters.\n\nThese eight commandments include the evils that must be shunned, but the\ntwo others, namely, the third and fourth, include certain things that\nmust be done, namely, that the Sabbath must be kept holy, and that\nparents must be honored. But how these two commandments should be\nunderstood, not by men of the Jewish church but by men of the Christian\nchurch, will be told elsewhere.  (A.E., n. 949).\n\n\n\n\nPart Second--THE COMMANDMENTS\n\nI. The First Commandment\n\n\"Thou shalt not make to thee other gods\" includes not loving self and\nthe world above all things; for that which one loves above all things is\nhis god.  There are two directly opposite loves, love of self and love\nto God, also love of the world and love of heaven.  He who loves himself\nloves his own (proprium); and as a man's own (proprium) is nothing but\nevil he also loves evil in its whole complex; and he who loves evil\nhates good, and thus hates God.  He who loves himself above all things\nsinks his affections and thoughts in the body, and thus in his own\n(proprium), and from this he cannot be raised up by the Lord; and when\none is sunk in the body and in his own (proprium) he is in corporeal\nideas and in pleasures that pertain solely to the body, and thus in\nthick darkness in respect to higher things; while he who is raised up by\nthe Lord is in light.  He who is not in the light of heaven but in thick\ndarkness, since he sees nothing of God, denies God and acknowledges as\ngod either nature or some man, or some idol, and even aspires to be\nhimself worshipped as a god.  From this it follows that he who loves\nself above all things worships other gods.\n\nThe same is true, but in a less degree, of one who loves the world; for\nthere cannot be so great a love of the world as of one's own (proprium);\ntherefore the world is loved because of one's own and for the sake of\none's own, because it is serviceable to it.  Love of self means\nespecially the love of ruling over others from a mere delight in ruling\nand for the sake of eminence, and not from a delight in uses and for the\nsake of public good; while love of the world means especially a love of\npossessing goods in the world from a mere delight in possession and for\nthe sake of riches, and not from a delight in uses from these and for\nthe sake of the consequent good.  These loves are both of them without\nlimit, and rush on, so far as scope is given, to infinity. (A.E., n.\n950.)\n\nIt is not believed in the world that the love of ruling from a mere\ndelight in ruling, and the love of possessing goods from a mere delight\nin possession, and not from delight in uses, conceal in themselves all\nevils, and also a contempt for and rejection of all things pertaining to\nheaven and the church; and for the reason that man is stirred up by the\nlove of self and love of the world to right doing in respect to the\nchurch, to the country, to society, and to the neighbor, by making good\ndeeds honorable and looking for reward.  Therefore this love is called\nby many the fire of life, and the incitement to great things.\n\nBut it is to be noted that so far as these two loves give uses the first\nplace and self the second they are good, while so far as they give self\nthe first place and uses the second they are evil, since man then does\nall things for the sake of self and consequently from self, and thus in\nevery least thing he does there is self and what is his own (proprium),\nwhich regarded in itself is nothing but evil. But to give uses the first\nplace and self the second is to do good for the sake of the church, the\ncountry, society, and the neighbor; and the goods that man does to these\nfor the sake of these are not from man but from the Lord.  The\ndifference between these two is like the difference between heaven and\nhell.  Man does not know that there is such a difference, because from\nbirth and thus from nature he is in these loves, and because the delight\nof these loves continually flatters and pleases him.\n\nBut let him consider that a love of ruling from delight in ruling, and\nnot from a delight in uses, is wholly devilish; and such a man may be\ncalled an atheist; for so far as he is in that love he does not in his\nheart believe in the existence of God, and to the same extent he derides\nin his heart all things of the church, and he even hates and pursues\nwith hatred all who acknowledge God, and especially those who\nacknowledge the Lord.  The very delight of the life of such is to do\nevil and to commit wicked and infamous deeds of every kind.  In a word,\nthey are very devils.\n\nThis a man does not know so long as he lives in the world: but he will\nknow that it is so when he comes into the spiritual world, as he does\nimmediately after death.  Hell is full of such, where instead of having\ndominion they are in servitude.\n\nMoreover, when they are looked at in the light of heaven they appear\ninverted, with the head downward and the feet upward, since they gave\nrule the first place and uses the second; and that which is in the first\nplace is the head, and that which is in the second is the feet; and that\nwhich is the head is loved, but that which is the feet is despised.\n(A.E., n. 951.)\n\nHe who supposes that he acknowledges and believes that there is a God\nbefore he abstains from the evils forbidden in the Decalogue, especially\nfrom the love of ruling from a delight in ruling, and from the love of\npossessing the goods of the world from a delight in possession, and not\nfrom delight in uses, is mistaken.  Let a man confirm himself as fully\nas he can, from the Word, from preachings, from books, and from the\nlight of reason, that there is a God, and thus be persuaded that he\nbelieves, yet he does not believe unless the evils that spring from love\nof self and of the world have been removed.  The reason is that evils\nand their delights block up the way, and shut out and repel goods and\ntheir delights from heaven, and prevent their establishment. And until\nheaven is established there is only a faith of the lips, which in itself\nis no faith, and there is no faith of the heart, which is real faith.  A\nfaith of the lips is faith in externals, a faith of the heart is faith\nin internals; and if the internals are crowded with evils of every kind,\nwhen the externals are taken away (as they are with every man after\ndeath), man rejects from them even the faith that there is a God.\n(A.E., n. 952.)\n\nSo far as a man resists his own two loves, which are the love of ruling\nfrom the mere delight in rule and the love of possessing the goods of\nthe world from the mere delight in possession, thus so far as he shuns\nas sins the evils forbidden in the Decalogue, so far there flows in\nthrough heaven from the Lord, that there is a God, who is the Creator\nand Preserver of the universe, and even that God is one.  This then\nflows in for the reason that when evils have been removed heaven is\nopened, and when heaven is opened man no longer thinks from self but\nfrom the Lord through heaven; and that there is a God and that God is\none is the universal principle in heaven which comprises all things.\nThat from influx alone man knows and as it were sees that God is one, is\nevident from the common confession of all nations, and from a repugnance\nto think that there are many gods.\n\nMan's interior thought, which is the thought of his spirit, is either\nfrom hell or from heaven; it is from hell before evils have been\nremoved, but from heaven when they have been removed.  When this thought\nis from hell man sees no otherwise than that nature is god, and that the\ninmost of nature is what is called the Divine.  When such a man after\ndeath becomes a spirit he calls anyone a god who is especially powerful;\nand also himself strives for power that he may be called a god.  All the\nevil have such madness lurking inwardly in their spirit.  But when a man\nthinks from heaven, as he does when evils have been removed, he sees\nfrom the light in heaven that there is a God and that He is one.  Seeing\nfrom light out of heaven is what is meant by influx.  (A.E., n. 954.)\n\nWhen a man shuns and turns away from evils because they are sins he not\nonly sees from the light of heaven that there is a God and the God is\none, but also that God is a Man.  For he wishes to see his God, and he\nis incapable of seeing Him otherwise than as a Man.  Thus did the\nancients before Abraham and after him see God; thus do the nations in\nlands outside the church see God from an interior perception, especially\nthose who are interiorly wise although not from knowledges; thus do all\nlittle children and youths and simple well-disposed adults see God; and\nthus do the inhabitants of all earths see God; for they declare that\nwhat is invisible, since it does not come into the thought, does not\ncome into faith.  The reason of this is that the man who shuns and turns\naway from evils as sins thinks from heaven; and the whole heaven, and\neveryone there, has no other idea of God than that He is a Man; nor can\nhe have any other idea, since the whole heaven is a man in the largest\nform, and the Divine that goes forth from the Lord is what makes heaven;\nconsequently to think otherwise of God than according to that Divine\nform, which is the human form, is impossible to angles, since angelic\nthoughts pervade heaven.\n\n(That the whole heaven in the complex answers to a single man may be\nseen in the work on Heaven and Hell, n. 51-86; and that the angels think\naccording to the form of heaven, n. 200-212.)\n\nThis idea of God flows in from heaven into all in the world, and has its\nseat in their spirit; but it seems to be rooted out in those in the\nchurch who are in intelligence from what is their own (proprium), indeed\nso rooted out as to be no longer a possible idea; and this for the\nreason that they think of God from space.  But when these become spirits\nthey think otherwise, as has been made evident to me by much experience.\nFor in the spiritual world an indeterminate idea of God is no idea of\nHim; consequently the idea there is determined to someone who has his\nseat either on high or elsewhere, and who gives answers.\n\nFrom a general influx which is from the spiritual world men have\nreceived ideas of God as a Man variously according to the state of\nperception; and for this reason the triune God is with us called\nPersons; and in paintings in churches God the Father is represented as a\nman, the Ancient of Days. It is also from a general influx that men,\nboth living and dead, who are called saints, are adored as gods by the\ncommon people in Christian Gentilism, and their sculptured images are\nesteemed.  The same is true of many nations elsewhere, of the ancient\npeoples in Greece, in Rome, and in Asia, who had many gods, all of whom\nwere regarded by them as men.  This has been said to make known that\nthere is an intuition, namely, in man's spirit, to see God as a man.\nThat is called an intuition which is from general influx. (A.E., n.\n955.)\n\nAs man from a general influx out of heaven sees in his spirit that God\nis a Man, it follows that those who are of the church where the Word is,\nif they shun and turn away from evils as sins, see, from the light of\nheaven in which they then are, the Divine in the Lord's Human, and the\ntrine in Him, and Himself to be the God of heaven and earth.  But those\nwho by intelligence from what is their own (proprium) have destroyed in\nthemselves the idea of God as a Man are unable to see this; neither do\nthey see from the trinity that is in their thought that God is one; they\ncall Him one with the lips only.  But those who have not been purified\nfrom evils, and therefore are not in the light of heaven, do not in\ntheir spirit see the Lord to be the God of heaven and earth; but in\nplace of the Lord some other being is acknowledged; by some of these\nsomeone whom they believe to be God the Father; by others someone whom\nthey call God because he is especially powerful; by others some devil\nwhom they fear because he can bring evil upon them; by others Nature, as\nin the world; and by others no God at all.  It is said in their spirit,\nbecause they are such after death when they become spirits; therefore\nwhat lay concealed in their spirit in the world then becomes manifest.\nBut all who are in heaven acknowledge the Lord only, since the whole\nheaven is from the Divine that goes forth from Him, and answers to Him\nas a Man; and for this reason no one can enter heaven unless he is in\nthe Lord, for he enters into the Lord when he enters into heaven.  If\nothers enter they lose their mind and fall backward.  (A.E., n. 956.)\n\nThe idea of God is the chief of all ideas; for such as this idea is such\nis man's communication with heaven and his conjunction with the Lord,\nand such is his enlightenment, his affection for truth and good, his\nperception, intelligence, and wisdom; for these are not from man but\nfrom the Lord according to conjunction with Him.  The idea of God is the\nidea of the Lord and His Divine, for no other is God of heaven and God\nof earth, as He Himself teaches in Matthew:\n\n\"Authority has been given unto Me in heaven and on earth\" (xxviii. 18).\n\nBut the idea of the Lord is more or less full and more or less clear; it\nis full in the inmost heaven, less full in the middle, and still less\nfull in the outmost heaven; therefore those who are in the inmost heaven\nare in wisdom, those who are in the middle in intelligence, and those\nwho are in the outmost in knowledge.  The idea is clear in the angels\nwho are at the center of the societies of heaven; and less clear in\nthose who are round about, according to the degrees of distance from the\ncenter.\n\nAll in the heavens have places allotted them according to the fullness\nand clearness of their idea of the Lord, and they are in correspondent\nwisdom and in correspondent felicity.  All those who have no idea of the\nLord as Divine, like the Socinians and Arians, are under the heavens,\nand are unhappy.  Those who have a twofold idea, namely, of an invisible\nGod and of a visible God in a human form, also have their place under\nthe heavens, and are not received until they acknowledge one God, and\nHim visible.  Some in the place of a visible God see as it were\nsomething aerial, and this because God is called a spirit.  If this idea\nis not changed in them into the idea of a Man, thus of the Lord, they\nare not accepted.  But those who have an idea of God as the inmost of\nnature are rejected, because they cannot help falling into the idea of\nnature as being God. All nations that have believed in one God, and have\nhad an idea of Him as a Man, are received by the Lord.  From all this it\ncan be seen who those are that worship God Himself and who those are\nthat worship other gods, thus who live according to the first\ncommandment of the Decalogue and who do not.  (A.E., n. 957.)\n\nII. The Second Commandment\n\nThe second commandment is, \"Thou shalt not profane the name of God.\"\n\nIn the first place, what is meant by \"the name of God\" shall be told,\nand afterward what is meant by \"profaning\" it.  \"The name of God\" means\nevery quality by which God is worshipped.  For God is in His own\nquality, and is His own quality.  His essence is Divine love, and His\nquality is Divine truth therefrom united with Divine good; thus with us\non earth it is the Word; consequently it is said in John:\n\n\"The Word was with God, and the Word was God\" (i. 1).\n\nSo, too, it is the doctrine of genuine truth and good from the Word; for\nworship is according to that.\n\nNow as His quality is manifold, for it comprises all things that are\nfrom Him, so He has many names; and each name involves and expresses His\nquality in general and in particular.  He is called \"Jehovah,\" \"Jehovah\nof Hosts,\" \"Lord,\" \"Lord Jehovah,\" \"God,\" \"Messiah (or Christ),\"\n\"Jesus,\" \"Saviour,\" \"Redeemer,\" \"Creator,\" \"Former,\" \"Maker,\" \"King,\"\nand \"the Holy One of Israel,\" \"the Rock\" and \"the Stone of Israel,\"\n\"Shiloh,\" \"Almighty,\" \"David,\" \"Prophet,\" \"Son of God,\" and \"Son of\nMan,\" and so on.  All these names are names of the one God, who is the\nLord; and yet where they occur in the Word they signify some universal\nDivine attribute or quality distinct from other Divine attributes or\nqualities.  So, too, where He is called \"Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,\"\nthree are not meant, but one God; that is, there are not three Divines,\nbut one; and this trine which is one is the Lord.\n\nSince each name signifies some distinct attribute or quality, \"to\nprofane the name of God\" does not mean to profane His name itself but\nHis quality.  \"Name\" signifies quality for the reason that in heaven\neveryone is named according to his quality; and the quality of God or\nthe Lord is everything that is from Him by which He is worshipped. For\nthis reason, since no Divine quality of the Lord is acknowledged in hell\nthe Lord cannot be named there; and in the spiritual world His names\ncannot be uttered by anyone except so far as His Divine is acknowledged;\nfor there all speak from the heart, thus from love and consequent\nacknowledgment.  (A.E., n. 959.)\n\nSince \"the name of God\" means that which is from God and which is God,\nand this is called Divine truth, and with us the Word, this must not be\nprofaned, because it is in itself Divine and most holy; and it is\nprofaned when its holiness is denied, which is done when it is despised,\nrejected, and treated contemptuously.  When this is done heaven is\nclosed and man is left to hell.  For as the Word is the only medium of\nconjunction of heaven with the church, so when the Word is cast out of\nthe heart that conjunction is dissolved; and because man is then left to\nhell he no longer acknowledges any truth of the church.\n\nThere are two things by which heaven is closed to the men of the church.\nOne is a denial of the Lord's Divine, and the other is a denial of the\nholiness of the Word; and for this reason, that the Lord's Divine is the\nall of heaven; and Divine truth, which is the Word in the spiritual\nsense, is what makes heaven; which makes clear that he who denies the\none or the other denies that which is the all of heaven and from which\nheaven is and exists, and thus deprives himself of communication and\nconsequent conjunction with heaven.  To profane the Word is the same as\n\"blaspheming the Holy Spirit,\" which is not forgiven to anyone,\nconsequently it is said in this commandment that he who profanes the\nname of God shall not be left unpunished.  (A.E., n. 960.)\n\nAs Divine truth or the Word is meant by \"the name of God,\" and the\nprofanation of it means a denial of its holiness, and thus contempt,\nrejection, and blasphemy, it follows that the name of God is interiorly\nprofaned by a life contrary to the commandments of the Decalogue.  For\nthere can be a profanation that is inner and not outer, and there can be\na profanation that is inner and at the same time outer, and there can be\nalso a kind of profanation that is outer and not at the same time inner.\nInner profanation is wrought by the life, outer by the speech.  Inner\nprofanation, which is wrought by the life, becomes outer also, or of the\nspeech, after death.  For then everyone thinks and wills, and so far as\nit can be permitted, speaks and acts, according to his life; thus not as\nhe did in the world.  In the world man is wont [accustomed], for the\nworld's sake and to gain reputation, to speak and act otherwise than as\nhe thinks and wills from his life.  This is why it has been said that\nthere can be a profanation that is inner and not at the same time outer.\nThat there can be also a kind of profanation that is outer and not at\nthe same time inner is possible from the style of the Word, which is not\nat all the style of the world, and for this reason it may be to some\nextent despised from an ignorance of its interior sanctity. (A.E., n.\n962.)\n\nHe who abstains from profaning the name of God, that is, the holiness of\nthe Word, by contempt, rejection, or any blasphemy, has religion; and\nsuch as his abstinence is such is his religion.  For no one has religion\nexcept from revelation, and with us revelation is the Word.  Abstinence\nfrom profaning the holiness of the Word must be from the heart, and not\nmerely from the mouth.  Those who abstain from the heart live from\nreligion; but those who abstain merely from the mouth do not live from\nreligion, for they abstain either for the sake of self or for the sake\nof the world, in that the Word can be made to serve them as a means of\nacquiring honor and gain; or they abstain from some fear. But of these\nmany are hypocrites who have no religion. (A.E., n. 963.)\n\nIII. The Third Commandment\n\nThe third commandment is, to keep the Sabbath holy.\n\nThe third and fourth commandments of the Decalogue contain things that\nmust be done, namely, that the Sabbath must be kept holy, and that\nparents must be honored.  The other commandments contain things that are\nnot to be done, namely, that other gods must not be worshipped; that the\nname of God must not be profaned; that one must not steal, must not\ncommit adultery, must not bear false witness, must not covet the goods\nof others.  These two commandments are commandments to be done because\nthe sanctification of the rest of the commandments depends upon these,\nfor the \"Sabbath\" signifies the union in the Lord of the Divine itself\nand the Divine Human, also His conjunction with heaven and the church,\nand thus the marriage of good and truth in the man who is being\nregenerated.  This being the signification of the Sabbath, it was the\nchief representative of all things of worship in the Israelitish Church,\nas is evident in Jeremiah (xvii. 20-27), and elsewhere.  It was the\nchief representative of all things of worship, because the first thing\nin all things of worship is the acknowledgment of the Divine in the\nLord's Human, for without that acknowledgment man can believe and do\nonly from self, and to believe from self is to believe falsities, and to\ndo from self is to do evils, as is also evident from the Lord's words in\nJohn:\n\nTo those asking, \"What shall we do that we might work the works of God?\"\nJesus said, \"This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom God\nhath sent\" (vi. 28, 29).\n\nAnd in the same,\n\n\"He that abideth in Me and I in him, the same beareth much fruit; for\napart from Me ye can do nothing\" (xv. 5).\n\nThat the Sabbath represented that union and the holy acknowledgment of\nit, has been fully shown in the Arcana Coelestia, namely, that the\n\"Sabbath\" signified in the highest sense the union of the Divine itself\nand the Divine Human in the Lord, in the internal sense the conjunction\nof the Lord's Human with heaven and with the church, in general the\nconjunction of good and truth, thus the heavenly marriage (n. 8495,\n10356, 10730).  Therefore the rest on the Sabbath day signified the\nstate of that union, because the Lord then has rest; also through that\nunion there is peace and salvation in the heavens and on the earth.  In\na relative sense it signified the conjunction of man with the Lord,\nbecause man then has peace and salvation (n. 8494, 8510, 10360, 10367,\n10370, 10374, 10668, 10730).  The six days preceding the Sabbath\nsignified the labors and combats that precede union and conjunction (n.\n8510, 8888, 9431, 10360, 10667).  The man who is being regenerated is in\ntwo states, the first when he is in truths and by means of truths is\nbeing led to good and into good, the other when he is in good.  When man\nis in the first state he is in combats or temptations; but when he is in\nthe second state he is in the tranquillity of peace.  The former state\nis signified by the six days of labor that precede the Sabbath; and the\nlatter state is signified by the rest on the Sabbath day (n. 9274, 9431,\n10360).  The Lord also was in two states: the first when He was Divine\ntruth and from it fought against the hells and subjugated them, the\nother when He was made Divine good by union with the very Divine in\nHimself. The former state was signified in the highest sense by the six\ndays of labor, and the latter by the Sabbath (n. 10360). Because such\nthings were represented by the Sabbath, it was the chief representative\nof worship, and the holiest of all (n. 10357, 10372).  \"To do work on\nthe Sabbath day\" signified to be led not by the Lord but by self, thus\nto be disjoined (n. 7893, 8495, 10360, 10362, 10365).  The Sabbath day\nis not now representative, but is a day of instruction (n. 10360 at the\nend).  (A.E., n. 965.)\n\nIV. The Fourth Commandment\n\nThe fourth commandment of the Decalogue is that parents must be honored.\n\nThis commandment was given because honor to parents represented and thus\nsignified love to the Lord and love toward the church, for \"father\" in\nthe heavenly sense, that is, the Heavenly Father, is the Lord; and\n\"mother\" in the heavenly sense, that is, the heavenly mother, is the\nchurch; \"honor\" signifies good of love; and \"length of days,\" which such\nwill have, signifies the happiness of eternal life.  So is this\ncommandment understood in heaven, where no father but the Lord is known,\nand no mother but the kingdom of the Lord, which is also the church.\nFor the Lord gives life from Himself, and through the church He gives\nnourishment. That in the heavenly sense no father in the world can be\nmeant, and indeed, when man is in a heavenly idea, can be mentioned, the\nLord teaches in Matthew:\n\n\"Call no man your father on earth; for one is your Father who is in the\nheavens\" (xxiii. 9).\n\nThat \"Father\" signifies the Lord in relation to Divine good may be seen\nin the Apocalypse Explained (n. 32, 200, 254, 297).  That \"mother\"\nsignifies the Lord's kingdom, the church, and Divine truth, may be seen\nin the Arcana Coelestia (n. 289, 2691, 2717, 3703, 5581, 8897); that\n\"length of days\" signifies the happiness of eternal life (n. 8898); and\nthe \"honor\" signifies good of love (n. 8897), and Apocalypse Explained\n(n. 228, 345).  All this makes clear that the third and fourth\ncommandments involve arcana relating to the Lord, namely, acknowledgment\nand confession of His Divine, and worship of Him from good of love.\n(A.E., n. 966.)\n\nV. The Fifth Commandment\n\nThe fifth commandment is, \"Thou shalt not steal.\"  By \"thefts\" both open\nthefts and those not open are meant, such as unlawful usury and gains,\nwhich are effected by fraud and craft under various pretenses to make\nthem appear lawful, or so done clandestinely as not to appear at all.\nSuch gains are commonly made by higher and lower managers of the goods\nof others, by merchants, also by judges who sell judgments and thus make\njustice purchasable.  These and many other things are thefts that must\nbe abstained from and shunned, and finally renounced as sins against\nGod, because they are against the Divine laws that are in the Word and\nagainst this law, which is one among the fundamental laws of all\nreligions in the whole globe.  For these ten commandments are\nuniversals, given to the end that in living from these a man may live\nfrom religion, since by a life from religion man is conjoined with\nheaven, while a life according to these from obedience to civil and\nmoral law conjoins man with the world and not with heaven, and to be\nconjoined with the world and not with heaven is to conjoined with hell.\n(A.E., n. 967.)\n\nMan is so created as to be an image of heaven and an image of the world,\nfor he is a microcosm.  He is born of his parents an image of the world,\nand he is born again to be an image of heaven.  To be born again is to\nbe regenerated; and man is regenerated by the Lord by means of truths\nfrom the Word and a life according to them.  Man is an image of the\nworld in respect to his natural mind, and he is an image of heaven in\nrespect to his spiritual mind.  The natural mind, which is the world, is\nbeneath; and the spiritual mind, which is heaven, is above.  The natural\nmind is full of all kinds of evil, such as thefts, adulteries, murders,\nfalse witnesses, covetousnesses, and even blasphemies and profanations\nrespecting God.  These evils and many others have their seat in that\nmind, for the loves of them are there, and thus the delights of\nthinking, willing, and doing them.\n\nThese things are inborn in that mind from parents, for man is born and\ngrows up into the things that are in that mind, and is restrained only\nby the bonds of civil law and by the bonds of moral life from doing\nthem, and from thus manifesting the tendencies of his depraved will.\nWho cannot see that the Lord cannot flow in out of heaven into man and\nteach him and lead him until these evils have been removed? For they\nobstruct, repel, pervert, and suffocate the truths and goods of heaven,\nwhich present themselves from above, press down, and strive to flow in.\nFor evils are infernal and goods are heavenly, and everything infernal\nburns with hatred against everything heavenly.\n\nThis makes clear that before the Lord can flow in with heaven out of\nheaven and form man to the image of heaven, those evils that lie heaped\nup in the natural mind must needs be removed.  Moreover, as the removal\nof evils must come first before man can be taught and led by the Lord,\nthe reason is evident why in eight commandments of the Decalogue the\nevil works that must not be done are recounted, but not the good works\nthat must be done.  Good does not exist together with evil, nor does it\nexist until evils have been removed; for until then there is no way\npossible from heaven into man.  Man is like a dark sea, the waters of\nwhich must be removed on either side before the Lord in a cloud and in\nfire can give a passage to the sons of Israel.  The \"dark sea\" signifies\nhell, \"Pharaoh with the Egyptians\" the natural man, and \"the sons of\nIsrael\" the spiritual man. (A.E., n. 969.)\n\nCommunication with heaven is not possible until the evils and the\nfalsities therefrom with which the natural mind is stopped up have been\nremoved; for these are like black clouds between the sun and the eye, or\nlike a wall between the light of heaven and the lumen of a candle in a\nchamber. For so long as a man is in the lumen of the natural man only he\nis like one shut up in a chamber where he sees by a candle.  But as soon\nas the natural man has been purified from evils and falsities therefrom\nhe is as if he saw through windows in the wall the things of heaven from\nthe light of heaven.  For as soon as evils have been removed, the higher\nmind, which is called the spiritual mind, is opened, and this, viewed in\nitself, is a type or image of heaven.  Through this mind the Lord flows\nin and enables man to see from the light of heaven, and through this He\nalso reforms and at length regenerates the natural man, and implants in\nit truths in the place of falsities and goods in the place of evils.\nThis the Lord does through spiritual love, which is a love for truth and\ngood.  Man is then placed in the midst between two loves, between the\nlove of evil and the love of good; and when the love of evil recedes the\nlove of good takes its place.  The love of evil recedes solely through a\nlife according to the commandments of the Decalogue, that is, through\nrefraining from evils there enumerated because they are sins, and\nfinally shunning them as infernal.\n\nIn a word, so long as man does not refrain from evils because they are\nsins the spiritual mind is shut; but as soon as he refrains from evils\nbecause they are sins the spiritual mind is opened, and with that mind\nheaven also. And when heaven is opened man comes into another light in\nrespect to all things of the church, heaven, and eternal life; although\nso long as man lives in this world the difference between this and the\nformer light is scarcely noticeable, and for the reason that in the\nworld man thinks naturally even about spiritual things, and until he\npasses from the natural into the spiritual world spiritual things are\nenclosed in natural ideas; but in the spiritual world spiritual things\nare disclosed, perceived, and made evident. (A.E., n. 970.)\n\nSo far as man refrains from evils and shuns and turns away from them as\nsins, good flows in from the Lord.  The good that flows in is an\naffection for knowing and understanding truths, and an affection for\nwilling and doing goods.  But man cannot refrain from evils by shunning\nand turning away from them of himself, for he himself is in evils from\nhis birth, and thus from nature; and evils cannot of themselves shun\nevils, for this would be like a man's shunning his own nature, which is\nimpossible; consequently it must be the Lord, who is Divine good and\nDivine truth, who causes man to shun them.\n\nNevertheless, man ought to shun evils as if of himself, for what a man\ndoes as if of himself becomes his and is appropriated to him as his own;\nwhile what he does not as if of himself in no wise becomes his or is\nappropriated to him. What comes from the Lord to man must be received by\nman; and it cannot be received unless he is conscious of it that is, as\nif of himself.  This reciprocation is a necessity to reformation.\n\nThis is why the ten commandments were given, and why it is commanded in\nthem that man shall not worship other gods, shall not profane the name\nof God, shall not steal, shall not commit adultery, shall not kill,\nshall not covet the house, wife, or servants of another, thus that man\nshall refrain from doing these things by thinking, when the love of evil\nallures and incites, that they must not be done because they are sins\nagainst God, and in themselves are infernal.  So far, therefore, as a\nman shuns these evils so far the love of truth and good enters from the\nLord; and this love causes man to shun these evils, and at length to\nturn away from them as sins.  And as the love of truth and good puts\nthese evils to flight it follows that man shuns them not from himself\nbut from the Lord, since the love of truth and good is from the Lord.\nIf a man shuns evils merely from a fear of hell they are withdrawn; but\ngoods do not take their place; for as soon as the fear departs the evils\nreturn.\n\nTo man alone is it granted to think as if of himself about good and\nevil, that is, that good must be loved and done because it is Divine and\nremains to eternity, and that evil must be hated and not done because it\nis devilish and remains to eternity.  To think thus is not granted to\nany beast.  A beast can do good and shun evil, yet not of itself, but\neither from instinct or habit or fear, and never from the thought that\nsuch a thing is a good or an evil, thus not of itself.  Consequently,\none who would have it believed that man shuns evils or does goods not as\nif of himself but from an imperceptible influx, or from the imputation\nof the Lord's merit, would also have it believed that man lives like a\nbeast, without thought of, or perception of, or affection for, truth and\ngood.\n\nThat this is so has been made clear to me from manifold experience in\nthe spiritual world.  Every man after death is there prepared either for\nheaven or for hell.  From the man who is prepared for heaven evils are\nremoved, and from the man who is prepared for hell goods are removed;\nand all such removals are effected as if by them.  Likewise those who do\nevils are driven by punishments to reject them as if of themselves; but\nif they do not reject them as if of themselves the punishments are of no\navail.  By this it was made clear that those who hang down their hands,\nwaiting for influx or for the imputation of the Lord's merit, continue\nin the state of their evil and hang down their hands forever.\n\nTo shun evils as sins is to shun the infernal societies that are in\nthem, and man cannot shun these unless he repels them and turns away\nfrom them; and a man cannot turn away from them with repulsion unless he\nloves good and from that love does not will evil.  For a man must either\nwill evil or will good; and so far as he wills good he does not will\nevil; and it is granted him to will good when he makes the commandments\nof the Decalogue to be of his religion, and lives according to them.\n\nSince man must refrain from evils as sins as if of himself, these ten\ncommandments were inscribed by the Lord on two tables, and these were\ncalled a covenant; and this covenant was entered into in the same way as\nit is usual to enter into covenants between two, that is, one proposes\nand the other accepts, and the one who accepts consents.  If he does not\nconsent the covenant is not established.  To consent to this covenant is\nto think, will, and do as if of oneself.  Man's thinking to shun evil\nand to do good as if of himself is done not by man, but by the Lord.\n\nThis is done by the Lord for the sake of reciprocation and consequent\nconjunction; for the Lord's Divine love is such that it wills that what\nis its own shall be man's, and as these things cannot be man's, because\nthey are Divine, it makes them to be as if they were man's.  In this way\nreciprocal conjunction is effected, that is, that man is in the Lord and\nthe Lord in man, according to the words of the Lord Himself in John\n(xiv. 20); for this would not be possible if there were not in the\nconjunction something belonging as it were to man.  What man does as if\nof himself he does as if of his will, of his affection, of his freedom,\nconsequently of his life.  Unless these were present on man's part as if\nthey were his there could be no receptivity, because nothing reactive,\nthus no covenant and no conjunction; in fact, no ground whatever for the\nimputation that man had done evil or good or had believed truth or\nfalsity, thus that there is from merit a hell for anyone because of evil\nworks, or from grace a heaven for anyone because of good works.  (A.E.,\nn. 971.)\n\nHe who refrains from thefts, understood in a broad sense, and even shuns\nthem from any other cause than religion and for the sake of eternal\nlife, is not cleansed of them; for only by such refraining is heaven\nopened.  For it is through heaven that the Lord removes evils in man, as\nthrough heaven He removes the hells.  For example, there are higher and\nlower managers of property, merchants, judges, officers of every kind,\nand workmen, who refrain from thefts, that is, from unlawful modes of\ngain and usury, and who shun these, but only to secure reputation and\nthus honor and gain, and because of civil and moral laws, in a word,\nfrom some natural love or natural fear, thus from merely external\nconstraints, and not from religion; but the interiors of such are full\nof thefts and robberies, and these burst forth when external constraints\nare removed from them, as takes place with everyone after death.  Their\nsincerity and rectitude is nothing but a mask, a disguise, and a deceit.\n(A.E., n. 972.)\n\nSo far then as the various kinds and species of theft are removed, and\nthe more they are removed, the kinds and species of goods to which they\nby opposition correspond enter and occupy their place; and these have\nreference in general to what is sincere, right and just.  For when a man\nshuns and turns away from unlawful gains through fraud and craft he so\nfar wills what is sincere, right, and just, and at length begins to love\nwhat is sincere because it is sincere, what is right because it is\nright, and what is just because it is just.  He begins to love these\nthings because they are from the Lord, and the love of the Lord is in\nthem. For to love the Lord is not to love the person, but to love the\nthings that go forth from the Lord, for these are the Lord in man; thus\nit is to love sincerity itself, right itself, and justice itself.  And\nas these are the Lord, so far as a man loves these, and thus acts from\nthem, so far he acts from the Lord and so far the Lord removes\ninsincerity and injustice in respect to the very intentions and\nvolitions in which they have their roots, and always with less\nresistance and struggle, and therefore with less effort than in the\nfirst attempts.  Thus it is that man thinks from conscience and acts\nfrom integrity,--not the man of himself but as if of himself; for he\nthen acknowledges from faith and also from perception that it seems as\nif he thought and did these things from himself, and yet he does them\nnot from himself but from the Lord.  (A.E., n. 973.)\n\nWhen a man begins to shun and turn away from evils because they are sins\nall things that he does are good, and may be called good works; with a\ndifference according to the excellence of the use.  For what a man does\nbefore he shuns and turns away from evils as sins are works done by the\nman himself; and as the man's own (proprium), which is nothing but evil,\nis in these, and they are done for the sake of the world, so they are\nevil works.  But the works that a man does after he shuns and turns away\nfrom evils as sins are works from the Lord, and because the Lord is in\nthese and heaven with Him they are good works.\n\nThe difference between works done by man and works done by the Lord in\nman is not apparent to man's vision, but is clearly evident to the\nvision of angels.  Works done by man are like sepulchers outwardly\nwhitened, which within are full of dead men's bones.  They are like\nplatters and cups outwardly clean, but containing unclean things of\nevery kind.  They are like fruits inwardly rotten, but with the outer\nskin still shining; or like nuts and almonds eaten by worms within,\nwhile the shell remains untouched; or like a foul harlot with a fair\nface.  Such are the good works done by man himself, since however good\nthey appear on the outside, within they are full of impurities of every\nkind; for their interiors are infernal, while their exteriors appear\nheavenly.\n\nBut as soon as man shuns and turns away from evils as sins his works\nare good not only outwardly but inwardly also; and the more interior\nthey are the more they are good, for the more interior they are the\nnearer they are to the Lord. Then they are like fruits that have a\nfine-flavored pulp, in the center of which are depositories with many\nseeds, from which new trees, even to whole gardens, may be produced;\nbut everything and all things in his natural man are like eggs from\nwhich swarms of flying creatures may be produced, and gradually fill a\ngreat part of heaven.  In a word, when man shuns and turns away from\nevils as sins the works that he does are living works, while those that\nhe did before were dead works; for what is from the Lord is living but\nwhat is from man is dead.  (A.E., n. 974.)\n\nIt has been said that so far as a man shuns and turns away from evils as\nsins he does goods, and that the goods that he does are such good works\nas are described in the Word, for the reason that they are done in the\nLord; also that these works are good so far as man turns away from the\nevils opposed to them, because so far they are done by the Lord and not\nby man.  Nevertheless, works are more or less good according to the\nexcellence of the use; for works must be uses.  The best are those that\nare done for the sake of uses to the church.  Next in point of goodness\ncome those that are done as uses to one's country; and so on, the uses\ndetermining the goodness of the works.\n\nThe goodness of works increases in man according to the fullness of\ntruths from affection for which they are done; since the man who turns\naway from evils as sins wishes to know truths because truths teach uses\nand the quality of their good.  This is why good loves truth and truth\nloves good, and they wish to be conjoined.  So far, therefore, as such a\nman learns truths from an affection for them so far he does goods more\nwisely and more fully, more wisely because he knows how to distinguish\nuses and to do them with judgment and justice, and more fully because\nall truths are present in the performance of uses, and form the\nspiritual sphere that the affection for them produces. (A.E., n. 975.)\n\nTake judges for an example: All who make justice venal [purchasable] by\nloving the office of judging for the sake of gain from judgments, and\nnot for the sake of uses to their country, are thieves, and their\njudgments are thefts. It is the same if judgments are given according to\nfriendship or favor, for friendships and favors are also profits and\ngains.  When these are the end and judgments are the means, all things\nthat are done are evil, and are what are meant in the Word by \"evil\nworks\" and \"not doing judgment and justice, perverting the right of the\npoor, of the needy, of the fatherless, of the widow, and of the\ninnocent.\"  And when such do justice, and yet regard profit as the end\nwhile they do a good work, to them it is not good; for justice, which is\nDivine, is to them a means, and such gain is the end; and that which is\nmade the end is everything, while that which is made the means is\nnothing except so far as it is serviceable to the end. Consequently,\nafter death such judges continued to love what is unjust as well as what\nis just, and are condemned to hell as thieves.  I say this from what I\nhave seen.  These are such as do not abstain from evils because they are\nsins, but only because they fear punishments of the civil law and the\nloss of reputation, honor, and office, and thus of gain.\n\nIt is otherwise with judges who abstain from evils as sins and shun them\nbecause they are contrary to the Divine laws, and thus contrary to God.\nSuch make justice their end, and they venerate, cherish, and love it as\nDivine.  In justice they see God, as it were, because everything just,\nlike everything good and true, is from God.  They always join justice\nwith equity and equity with justice, knowing that justice must be of\nequity in order to be justice, and that equity must be of justice in\norder to be equity, the same as truth is of good and good is of truth.\n\nAs such make justice their end, their giving judgments is doing good\nworks; yet these works, which are judgments, are to them more or less\ngood as there is in their judgments more or less of regard for\nfriendship, favor, or gain; also as there is more or less in them of a\nlove of what is just for the sake of the public good, which is that\njustice may prevail among their fellow citizens, and that those who live\naccording to the laws may have security.  Such judges have eternal life\nin a degree that accords with their works; for they are judged as they\nthemselves have judged. (A.E., n. 976.)\n\nTake as an example managers of the goods of others, higher or lower.  If\nthese secretly by arts or under some pretext by fraud deprive their\nkings, their country, or their masters of their goods, they have no\nreligion and thus no conscience, for they hold the Divine law respecting\ntheft in contempt and make it of no account.  And although they frequent\nchurches, devoutly listen to preachings, observe the sacrament of the\nSupper, pray morning and evening, and talk piously from the Word, yet\nnothing from heaven flows in and is present in their worship, piety, or\ndiscourse, since their interiors are full of theft, plundering, robbery,\nand injustice; and so long as these are within, the way into them from\nheaven is closed; consequently all the works they do are evil works.\n\nBut the managers of property who shun unlawful gains and fraudulent\nprofits because they are contrary to the Divine law respecting theft,\nhave religion, and thus also conscience; and all the works they do are\ngood, for they act from sincerity for the sake of sincerity, and from\njustice for the sake of justice, and furthermore are content with their\nown, and are cheerful in mind and glad in heart whenever it happens that\nthey have refrained from fraud; and after death they are welcomed by the\nangels and received by them as brothers, and are presented with good\nthings even to abundance.  But the opposite is true of evil managers;\nthese after death are cast out of societies, and afterward seek wages\nand finally are sent into the caverns of robbers to labor there.  (A.E.,\nn. 977.)\n\nTake merchants as an example: All their works are evil works so long as\nthey do not regard as sins, and thus shun as sins, unlawful gains and\nwrongful usury, also fraud and craft; for such works cannot be done from\nthe Lord, but must be done from man himself.  And the more expert they\nare in skillfully and artfully contriving devices from within for\noverreaching their companions the more evil are their works. And the\nmore expert they are in bringing such devices into effect under the\npretense of sincerity, justice, and piety, the more evil still are their\nworks.  The more delight a merchant feels in such things the more do his\nworks have their origin in hell.\n\nBut if he acts sincerely and justly in order to acquire reputation, and\nwealth through reputation, even so as to seem to act from a love of\nsincerity and justice, and yet does not act sincerely and justly from\naffection for the Divine law or from obedience to it, he is still\ninwardly insincere and unjust, and his works are thefts, for through a\npretense of sincerity and justice he seeks to steal.\n\nThat this is so becomes evident after death, when man acts from his\ninner will and love, and not from the outer; for then he thinks about\nand devises nothing but sharp practices and robberies, and withdraws\nhimself from those who are sincere, and betakes himself either to\nforests or deserts, where he devotes himself to stratagems.  In a word,\nall such become robbers.\n\nBut it is otherwise with merchants who shun as sins thefts of every\nkind, especially the more interior and hidden, which are effected by\ncraft and deceit.  All the works of such are good, because they are from\nthe Lord; for the influx from heaven, that is, through heaven from the\nLord, for accomplishing such works is not intercepted by the evils just\nmentioned.  To such riches do no harm, because to them riches are means\nfor uses.  Their tradings are the uses by which they serve their country\nand their fellow citizens; and through their riches they are in a\ncondition to perform those uses to which affection for good leads them.\n(A.E., n. 978.)\n\nFrom what has been said above, what is meant in the Word by good works\ncan now be seen, namely, that they are all works done by man when evils\nhave been set aside as sins. For the works done after this are done by\nman only as if by him; for they are done by the Lord; and all works done\nby the Lord are good, and are called goods of life, goods of charity,\nand good works; as for instance, all judgments of a judge who has\njustice as his end, all who venerates and loves it as Divine, and who\ndetests as infamous decisions made for the sake of rewards or\nfriendship, or from favor. Thus he consults the good of his country by\ncausing justice and judgment to reign therein as in heaven; and thus he\nconsults the peace of every innocent citizen and protects him from the\nviolence of evildoers.  All these are good works.  So all services of\nmanagers and dealings of merchants are good works when they shun\nunlawful gains as sins against the Divine laws.  When a man shuns evils\nas sins he daily learns what a good work is, and an affection for doing\ngood grows in him, and an affection for knowing truths for the sake of\ngood; for so far as he knows truths he can perform works more fully and\nmore wisely, and thus his works become more truly good.  Refrain,\ntherefore, from asking in thyself, \"What are the good works that I must\ndo, or what good must I do to receive eternal life?\"  Only refrain from\nevils as sins and look to the Lord, and the Lord will teach and lead\nyou.  (A.E., n. 979.)\n\nVI. The Sixth Commandment\n\nThus far five commandments of the Decalogue have been explained.  Now\nfollows the explanation of the sixth commandment, \"Thou shalt not commit\nadultery.\"\n\nWho at this day can believe that the delight of adultery is hell in man,\nand that the delight of marriage is heaven in him, consequently so far\nas he is in the one delight he is not in the other, since so far as man\nis in hell he is not in heaven?  Who at this day can believe that the\nlove of adultery is the fundamental love of all hellish and devilish\nloves, and that the chaste love of marriage is the fundamental love of\nall heavenly and Divine loves; consequently so far as a man is in the\nlove of adultery he is in every evil love, if not in act yet in\nendeavor; and on the other hand, so far as he is in the chaste love of\nmarriage he is in every good love, if not in act yet in endeavor?  Who\nat this day can believe that he who is in the love of adultery believes\nnothing of the Word, thus nothing of the church, and even in his heart\ndenies God; and on the other hand, that he who is in the chaste love of\nmarriage is in charity and in faith, and in love to God; also that the\nchastity of marriage makes one with religion, and the lasciviousness of\nadultery makes one with naturalism?\n\nAll this is at this day unknown because the church is at its end, and is\ndevastated in respect to truth and in respect to good; and when the\nchurch is such, the man of the church, by influx from hell, comes into\nthe persuasion that adulteries are not detestable things and\nabominations, and thus comes into the belief that marriages and\nadulteries do not differ in their essence, but only as a matter of\norder, and yet the difference between them is like the difference\nbetween heaven and hell.  That such is the difference between them will\nbe seen in what follows.  This, then, is why in the Word in its\nspiritual sense heaven and the church are meant by nuptials and\nmarriages, and hell and rejection of all things of the church are meant\nin the Word in its spiritual sense by adulteries and whoredoms. (A.E.,\nn. 981.)\n\nSince adultery is hell in man and marriage is heaven in him, it follows\nthat so far as a man loves adultery he removes himself from heaven;\nconsequently adulteries close heaven and open hell, and this they do so\nfar as they are believed to be allowable and are perceived to be more\ndelightful than marriages.  The man, therefore, who confirms himself in\nadulteries and commits them from the favor and consent of his will, and\nturns away from marriage, closes heaven to himself, until finally he\nceases to believe anything of the church or of the Word, and becomes a\nwholly sensual man, and after death an infernal spirit; for, as has been\nsaid above, adultery is hell, and thus an adulterer is a form of hell.\nAnd since adultery is hell it follows that unless a man abstains from\nadulteries and shuns them and turns away from them as infernal he shuts\nup heaven to himself, and does not receive the least influx therefrom.\nAfterward he reasons that marriages and adulteries are alike, but that\nmarriages must be maintained in kingdoms for the sake of order and the\ntraining of offspring; also that adulteries are not criminal, since\nchildren are equally born from them; and they are not harmful to women,\nsince they can endure them, and by them the procreation of the human\nrace is promoted.  He does not know that these and other like reasonings\nin favor of adulteries ascend from the Stygian [extremely dark] waters\nof hell, and that the lustful and bestial nature of man which inheres in\nhim from birth attracts them and sucks them in with delight, as a swine\ndoes excrement.  That such reasonings, which at this day possess the\nminds of most men in the Christian world, are diabolical, will be seen.\n(A.E., n. 982.)\n\nThat marriage is heaven and that adultery is hell cannot be better seen\nthan from considering their origin.  The origin of true marriage love is\nthe Lord's love for the church; and this is why the Lord is called in\nthe Word a \"Bridegroom\" and a \"Husband,\" and the church a \"bride\" and a\n\"wife.\"  It is from this marriage that the church is a church in general\nand in particular.  The church in particular is a man in whom the church\nis.  From this it is clear that the Lord's conjunction with a man of the\nchurch is the very origin of true marriage love; and how that\nconjunction can be the origin shall be told.\n\nThe Lord's conjunction with a man of the church is a conjunction of good\nand truth; good is from the Lord, and truth is a man, and from this is\nthe conjunction that is called the heavenly marriage, and from that\nmarriage true marriage love exists between the married pair that are in\nsuch conjunction with the Lord.\n\nFrom this it is now evident that true marriage love is from the Lord\nalone, and exists in those who are in the conjunction of good and truth\nfrom the Lord.  As this conjunction is reciprocal it is said by the Lord\nthat\n\n   They are in Him, and He in them (John xiv. 20).\n\nThis conjunction or this marriage was thus established from creation.\nThe man was created to be an understanding of truth, and the woman to be\nan affection for good; and thus the man to be a truth, and the woman to\nbe a good.  When understanding of truth which is in the man makes one\nwith the affection for good which is in the woman, there is a\nconjunction of the two minds into one.  This conjunction is the\nspiritual marriage from which marriage love descends. For when two minds\nare so conjoined as to be one mind there is love between them; and when\nthis love, which is the love of spiritual marriage, descends into the\nbody it becomes the love of natural marriage.  That this is so anyone\ncan clearly perceive if he will.  A married pair who interiorly or in\nrespect to their minds love each other mutually and reciprocally also\nlove each other mutually and reciprocally in respect to their bodies.\nIt is well known that all love descends into the body from an affection\nof the mind, and that apart from such an origin no love exists.\n\nSince then the origin of marriage love is the marriage of good and\ntruth, which marriage in its essence is heaven, it is clear that the\norigin of the love of adultery is a marriage of evil and falsity, which\nin its essence is hell. Heaven is a marriage because all who are in the\nheavens are in a marriage of good and truth; and hell is adultery\nbecause all who are in the hells are in a marriage of evil and falsity.\nFrom this it follows that marriage and adultery are as opposite as\nheaven and hell are. (A.E., n. 983.)\n\nMan was so created as to be spiritual and celestial love, and thus an\nimage and likeness of God.  Spiritual love, which is a love for truth,\nis an image of God; and celestial love, which is a love for good, is a\nlikeness of God.  All angels in the third heaven are likenesses of God;\nand all angels in the second heaven are images of God.  Man can become\nthe love which is an image or likeness of God only by a marriage of good\nand truth; for good and truth inmostly love one another, and ardently\nlong to be united that they may be one; and for the reason that Divine\ngood and Divine truth go forth from the Lord united, therefore they must\nbe united in an angel of heaven and in a man of the church.\n\nThis union is by no means possible except by a marriage of two minds\ninto one, since, as has been said before, man was created to be an\nunderstanding of truth, and thus a truth, and woman was created to be an\naffection for good, and thus a good; therefore in them a conjunction of\ngood and truth is possible.  For marriage love which descends from that\nconjunction is the veriest medium by which man (homo) becomes the love\nthat is an image or likeness of God.  For the married pair who are in\nconjugal love from the Lord love one another mutually and reciprocally\nfrom the heart, thus from inmosts; and therefore although apparently two\nthey are actually one, two in respect to their bodies, but one in\nrespect to life.\n\nThis may be compared to the eyes, which are two as organs but one in\nrespect to the sight; also to the ears, which are two as organs but one\nin respect to hearing; so, too, the arms and the feet are two as members\nbut one in respect to use, the arms one in respect to action, and the\nfeet one in respect to walking.  So with the other pairs with man.  All\nthese have reference to good and truth, the organ or member on the right\nto good, and that on the left to truth.  It is the same with a husband\nand wife between whom there is a true marriage love; they are two in\nrespect to their bodies but one in respect to life; consequently in\nheaven the married pair are not called two angels but one.  All this\nmakes clear that through marriage man becomes a form of love, and thus a\nform of heaven, which is an image and likeness of God.\n\nMan is born into a love of evil and falsity, which love is the love of\nadultery; and this love cannot be turned about and changed into\nspiritual love, which is an image of God, and still less into celestial\nlove, which is a likeness of God, except by a marriage of good and truth\nfrom the Lord, and not fully except by a marriage of two minds and two\nbodies.  From this it is clear why marriages are heavenly and adulteries\ninfernal; for marriage is an image of heaven, and true marriage love is\nan image of the Lord, while adultery is an image of hell, and love of\nadultery is an image of the devil.  Moreover, marriage love appears in\nthe spiritual world in form like an angel, and love of adultery in form\nlike a devil.  Reader, treasure this up within you, and after death,\nwhen you are living as a spirit-man, inquire whether this is true, and\nyou will see. (A.E., n. 984.)\n\nHow profane and thus how much to be detested adulteries are can be seen\nfrom the holiness of marriages.  All things in the human body, from the\nhead to the sole of the feet, both interior and exterior, correspond to\nthe heavens, and in consequence man is a heaven in its least form, and\nalso angels and spirits are in form perfectly human, for they are forms\nof heaven.  All the members devoted to generation in both sexes,\nespecially the womb, correspond to societies of the third or inmost\nheaven, and for the reason that true marriage love is derived from the\nLord's love for the church, and from the love of good and truth which is\nthe love of the angels of the third heaven; therefore marriage love,\nwhich descends therefrom as the love of that heaven, is innocence, which\nis the very being (esse) of every good in the heavens.  And for this\nreason embryos in the womb are in a state of peace, and when they have\nbeen born as infants are in a state of innocence; so, too, is the mother\nin relation to them.\n\nAs this is the correspondence of the genital organs in the two sexes, it\nis evident that by creation they are holy, and therefore they are\ndevoted solely to chaste and pure marriage love, and are not to be\nprofaned by the unchaste and impure love of adultery, by which man\nconverts the heaven in himself into hell; for as the love of marriage\ncorresponds to the love of the highest heaven, which is love to the Lord\nfrom the Lord, so the love of adultery corresponds to the love of the\nlowest hell.\n\nThe love of marriage is so holy and heavenly because it has its\nbeginning in the inmosts of man from the Lord Himself, and it descends\naccording to order to the outmosts of the body, and thus fills the whole\nman with heavenly love and brings him into a form of the Divine love,\nwhich is the form of heaven, and is an image of the Lord.  But the love\nof adultery has its beginning in the outmosts of man from an impure\nlascivious fire there, and thus, contrary to order, penetrates toward\nthe interiors, always into the things that are man's own, which are\nnothing but evil, and brings these into a form of hell, which is an\nimage of the devil. Therefore a man who loves adultery and turns away\nfrom marriage is in form a devil.\n\nAs the organs of generation in the two sexes correspond to the societies\nof the third heaven, and the love of a married pair corresponds to the\nlove of good and truth, so those organs and that love correspond to the\nWord.  The reason is that the Word is Divine truth united to Divine good\ngoing forth from the Lord; and this is why the Lord is called \"the\nWord,\" also why in every particular of the Word there is a marriage of\ngood and truth, or a heavenly marriage.  That there is such a\ncorrespondence is a mystery not yet known in the world, but it has been\nmade evident and proved to me by much experience.\n\nFrom this also it is clear how holy and heavenly marriages are in\nthemselves, and how profane and diabolical adulteries are.  And for this\nreason adulterers make no account of Divine truths and thus of the Word,\nand if they were to speak from the heart they would even blaspheme the\nholy things that are in the Word.  This they do when they have become\nspirits after death, for every spirit is compelled to speak from the\nheart, that his interior thoughts may be revealed.  (A.E., n. 985.)\n\nAs all the delights that man has in the natural world are turned into\ncorrespondent delights in the spiritual world, so are the delights of\nthe love of marriage and the delights of the love of adultery.  The love\nof marriage is represented in the spiritual world as a virgin, whose\nbeauty is such as to inspire the beholder with the charms of life; while\nthe love of adultery is represented in the spiritual world by an old\nwoman, whose deformity is such as to inspire in the beholder a coldness\nand death to every charm of life. Therefore in the heavens the angels\nare beautiful according to the quality of marriage love in them, and in\nthe hells the spirits are deformed according to the quality of the love\nof adultery in them.  In a word, the angels of heaven have life in their\nfaces, in the movements of the body, and in their speech, in the measure\nof their marriage love, while the spirits of hell have death in their\nfaces in the measure of their love of adultery.\n\nIn the spiritual world the delights of marriage love are represented to\nthe sense by odors from fruits and flowers of various kinds, while the\ndelights of the love of adultery are there represented to the sense by\nthe stenches from excrements and putridities of various kinds.\nMoreover, the delights of the love of adultery are actually turned into\nsuch things, since all things pertaining to adultery are spiritual\nfilth.  Therefore from the brothels in the hells stenches pour forth\nthat excite vomiting.  (A.E., n. 986.)\n\nHow holy in themselves, that is, from creation, marriages are can be\nseen from the fact that they are the nurseries of the human race; and as\nthe angelic heaven is from the human race they are also the nurseries of\nheaven; consequently by marriages not only the earths but also the\nheavens are filled with inhabitants; and as the end of the entire\ncreation is the human race, and thus heaven, where the Divine itself may\ndwell as in its own and as it were in itself, and as the procreation of\nmankind according to Divine order is accomplished through marriages, it\nis clear how holy marriages are in themselves, that is, from creation,\nand thus how holy they should be esteemed.  It is true that the earth\nmight be filled with inhabitants by fornications and adulteries as well\nas by marriages, but not heaven; and for the reason that hell is from\nadulteries but heaven from marriages.\n\nHell is from adulteries because adultery is from the marriage of evil\nand falsity, from which hell in the whole complex is called adultery;\nwhile heaven is from marriages because marriage is from the marriage of\ngood and truth, from which heaven in its whole complex is called a\nmarriage. That is called adultery where its love, which is called a love\nof adultery, reigns, whether it be within wedlock or apart from it, and\nthat is called marriage where its love, which is called marriage love,\nreigns.\n\nWhen procreations of the human race are effected by marriages in which\nthe holy love of good and truth from the Lord reigns, then it is on\nearth as it is in the heavens, and the Lord's kingdom on earth\ncorresponds to the Lord's kingdom in the heavens.  For the heavens\nconsist of societies arranged according to all the varieties of\ncelestial and spiritual affections, from which arrangement the form of\nheaven springs, and this pre-eminently surpasses all other forms in the\nuniverse.  There would be a like form on the earth if the procreations\nthere were effected by marriages in which a true marriage love reigned;\nfor then, however many families might descend in succession from one\nhead of a family, there would spring forth as many images of the\nsocieties of heaven in a like variety.\n\nFamilies would then be like fruit-bearing trees of various kinds,\nforming as many different gardens, each containing its own kind of\nfruit, and these gardens taken together would present the form of a\nheavenly paradise.  This is said in the way of comparison, because\n\"trees\" signify men of the church, \"gardens\" intelligence, \"fruits\"\ngoods of life, and \"paradise\" heaven.  I have been told from heaven that\nwith the most ancient people, from whom the first church on this globe\nwas established, which was called by ancient writers the golden age,\nthere was such a correspondence between families on the earth and\nsocieties in the heavens, because love to the Lord, mutual love,\ninnocence, peace, wisdom, and chastity in marriages then prevailed; and\nit was also told me from heaven that they were then inwardly horrified\nat adulteries, as at the abominable things in hell. (A.E., n. 987.)\n\nThat heaven is from marriages and hell from adulteries has been shown\nabove.  What this means shall now be told.  The hereditary evils into\nwhich man is born are not from Adam's having eaten of the tree of\nknowledge, but from the adulteration of good and the falsification of\ntruth by parents, thus from the marriage of evil and falsity, from which\na love of adultery springs.  The ruling love of parents by means of a\ngerm from it passes over into the offspring and is transcribed upon it\nand becomes its nature. If the love of the parents is a love of adultery\nit is also a love of evil for falsity and of falsity for evil.  From\nthis source man has all evil, and from evil he has hell. All this makes\nclear that it is from adulteries that man has hell, until he is reformed\nby the Lord by means of truths and a life according to them.  And no one\ncan be reformed unless he shuns adulteries as infernal and loves\nmarriages as heavenly.  In this and in no other way is hereditary evil\nbroken and rendered milder in the offspring.\n\nIt is to be noted, however, that while from adulterous parents man is\nborn a hell, he is not born for hell but for heaven.  For the Lord\nprovides that no one shall be condemned to hell on account of hereditary\nevils, but only on account of the evils that the man has actually made\nhis own by his life, as can be seen from the lot of infants after death,\nall of whom are adopted by the Lord, educated under His auspices in\nheaven, and saved.  This makes clear that every man, although from the\nevils with which he is born he is a hell, is born not for hell but for\nheaven.\n\nIt is the same with every man born from adultery if he does not himself\nbecome an adulterer.  Becoming an adulterer means living in the marriage\nof evil and falsity by thinking evils and falsities from a delight in\nthem and by doing them from a love for them.  Every man who does this\nbecomes an adulterer.  Moreover, it is from Divine justice that no one\nsuffers punishments on account of the evils of his parents, but only on\naccount of his own; therefore the Lord provides that hereditary evils\nshall not return after death, but only one's own evils, and it is only\nfor those that return that a man is then punished.  (A.E., n. 989.)\n\nIt has been said that the difference between a love of marriage and a\nlove of adultery is like that between heaven and hell.  There is a like\ndifference between the delights of these loves; for delights derive\ntheir all from the loves from which they spring.  The delights of the\nlove of adultery derive what they are from the delights of doing evil\nuses, thus of evil-doing; and the delights of the love of marriage from\nthe delights of doing good uses, thus of well-doing.  Therefore such as\nthe delight of the evil is in doing evil such is the delight of their\nlove of adultery; because a love of adultery descends therefrom.  That\nit descends from that scarcely anyone can believe; and yet such is its\norigin.  From this it is evident that the delight of adultery ascends\nfrom the lowest hell.  But the delight of the love of marriage, since it\nis from the love of the conjunction of good and truth and from the love\nof doing good, is a heavenly delight; and it comes down from the inmost\nor third heaven, where love to the Lord from the Lord reigns.\n\nFrom this it can be seen that the difference between these two delights\nis like that between heaven and hell.  And yet, for a wonder, it is\nbelieved that the delight of marriage and the delight of adultery are\nsimilar; nevertheless the difference between them is such as has now\nbeen described. But the difference can be discerned and felt only by one\nwho is in the delight of marriage love.  One who is in that delight\nplainly feels that in the delight of marriage there is nothing impure or\nunchaste, thus nothing lascivious; and that in the delight of adultery\nthere is nothing but what is impure, unchaste, and lascivious.  He feels\nthat unchastity comes up from beneath, and that chastity comes down from\nabove.  But one who is in the delight of adultery is incapable of\nfeeling this, because he feels what is infernal as his heavenly.\n\nFrom all this it follows that the love of marriage, even in its outmost\nact, is purity itself and chastity itself; and that the love of adultery\nin its acts is impurity itself and unchastity itself.  Since the\ndelights of these two loves are alike in outward appearance, although\ninwardly they are wholly unlike, because opposites, the Lord provides\nthat the delights of adultery shall not ascend into heaven and that the\ndelight of marriage shall not descend into hell; and yet that there\nshall be some correspondence of heaven with prolification in adulteries,\nthough none with the delight itself in them.  (A.E., n. 990.)\n\nIt has been said that marriage love, which is natural, descends from the\nlove of good and truth, which is spiritual; this spiritual therefore is\nin the natural love of marriage as a cause is in its effect.  So from\nthe marriage of good and truth there comes forth a love of bearing\nfruit, that is, good through truth and truth from the good; and from\nthat love a love of producing offspring descends, and in that love there\nis every delight and pleasure.\n\nOn the contrary, love of adultery, which is natural, springs from a love\nof evil and falsity, which is spiritual; consequently this spiritual is\nin the natural love of adultery as a cause is in its effect.  So from\nthe marriage of evil and falsity by love there comes forth a love of\nbearing fruit, namely, evil through falsity and falsity from evil; and\nfrom that love a love of producing offspring in adulteries descends, and\nin that love there is every delight and pleasure.\n\nThere is every delight and pleasure in the love of producing offspring,\nbecause all that is delightful, pleasurable, blessed, and happy, in the\nwhole heaven and in the whole world, has been from creation brought\ntogether into the effort and thus into the act of bringing forth uses;\nand these joys increase in an ascending degree to eternity, according to\nthe goodness and excellence of the uses.  This make evident why the\npleasure of producing offspring, which surpasses every other pleasure,\nis so great.  It surpasses every other because its use, which is the\nprocreation of the human race, and thus of heaven, surpasses all other\nuses.\n\nFrom this, too, comes the pleasure and delight of adultery; but as\nprolification by adulteries corresponds to the bringing forth of evil\nthrough falsity and of falsity from evil, that pleasure or delight\ndecreases and becomes vile by degrees until it is changed at last into\naversion and disgust.  Because, as has been said above, the delight of\nthe love of marriage is a heavenly delight, so the delight of adultery\nis an infernal delight, so the delight of adultery is from a certain\nimpure fire, which as long as it lasts, counterfeits the delight of the\nlove of good, but in itself it is the delight of the love of evil, which\nis in its essence the delight of hatred against good and truth. And\nbecause this is its origin there is not love between an adulterer and an\nadulteress except such as the love of hatred is, which is such that they\ncan be in conjunction in externals but not in internals.  For in the\nexternals there is something fiery, but in the internals there is\ncoldness; therefore after a short time the fire is extinguished and\ncoldness succeeds, either with impotence or a turning away as from\nsomething filthy.\n\nIt has been granted me to see that love in its essence, and it was such\nthat within it was deadly hatred, while without it appeared like a fire\nfrom burning dung and putrid and stinking matters.  And as that fire\nwith its delight burnt out, so by degrees the life of mutual discourse\nand intercourse expired, and hatred came forth, manifested first as\ncontempt, afterward as aversion, then as rejection, and finally as abuse\nand contention.  And what was wonderful, although they hated each other\nthey could from time to time come together and for the time feel the\ndelight of hatred as the delight of love; but this came from a hankering\nof the flesh.\n\nWhat the delight of hatred and thus of doing evil is with those who are\nin hell can neither be described nor believed. To do evil is the joy of\ntheir heart, and this they call their heaven.  Their delight in doing\nevil derives its all from hatred and vengeance against good and truth;\nwhen, therefore, they are moved by a deadly and devilish hatred they\nrage against heaven, especially against those who are from heaven and\nwho worship the Lord; for they violently burn to slaughter them, and\nbecause they cannot destroy their bodies they desire to destroy their\nsouls.  It is, therefore, the delight of hatred which, becoming a fire\nin the extremes and being injected into the lusting flesh, becomes for\nthe moment the delight of adultery,--the soul in which the hatred lies\nconcealed then withdrawing itself.  It is for this reason that hell is\ncalled adultery, and also that adulterers are desperately unmerciful,\nsavage, and cruel.  This, then, is the infernal marriage. (A.E., n.\n991.)\n\nIt has been said that the love of adultery is a fire enkindled from\nimpurities that soon burns out and is turned into cold, and into an\naversion corresponding to hatred. But the reverse is true of the love of\nmarriage.  This is a fire enkindled from a love of good and truth and\nfrom a delight in well-doing, thus from love to the Lord and from love\ntoward the neighbor.  This fire, which from its origin is heavenly, is\nfull of innumerable delights, as many, in fact, as are the delights and\nblessednesses of heaven.  It has been told me that the charms and\npleasantnesses of that love, which are manifested from time to time, are\nso many and such that they cannot be numbered or described. Moreover,\nthey are multiplied with continued increase to eternity.  These delights\nhave their origin in the fact that the married pair wish to be united\ninto one in respect to their minds, and into such a union heaven\nbreathes from the marriage of good and truth from the Lord in heaven.\n(A.E., n. 992.)\n\nThat true marriage love contains in itself ineffable delights that can\nneither be numbered nor described can be seen from the fact that this is\nthe fundamental love of all celestial and spiritual loves, since through\nthat love man becomes love; for from it each of the married pair loves\nthe other as good loves truth and truth loves good, thus\nrepresentatively as the Lord loves heaven and the church. Such a love\ncan come forth only through a marriage in which the man is truth and the\nwife is good.  When a man through marriage has become such a love he is\nalso in love to the Lord and in love toward the neighbor, and thus in a\nlove for all good and in a love for all truth.  For from man as a love\nloves of every kind must proceed; therefore marriage love is the\nfundamental love of all the loves of heaven. And as it is the\nfundamental love of all the loves of heaven it is also the foundation of\nall the delights and joys of heaven, since every delight and joy is of\nlove.  From this it follows that heavenly joys, in their order and in\ntheir degrees, have their origins and their causes in marriage love.\n\nFrom the felicities of marriages a conclusion may be drawn respecting\nthe infelicities of adulteries, namely, that the love of adultery is the\nfundamental love of all infernal loves, which are in themselves not\nloves, but hatreds, consequently from the love of adultery hatreds of\nevery kind gush forth, both against God and against the neighbor, and in\ngeneral against every good and truth of heaven and the church; therefore\nto it all infelicities belong, for, as has been said before, from\nadulteries man becomes a form of hell, and from the love of adulteries\nhe becomes an image of the devil.  That from the marriages in which\nthere is true marriage love all delights and felicities increase even\ntill they become the delights and felicities of the inmost heaven, and\nthat all that is undelightful and unhappy in the marriages in which love\nof adultery reigns increases in direfulness even to the lowest hell, can\nbe seen in the work on Heaven and Hell (n. 386).  (A.E., n. 993.)\n\nTrue marriage love is from the Lord alone.  It is from the Lord alone\nbecause it descends from the Lord's love for heaven and the church, and\nthus from the love of good and truth; for good is from the Lord, and\ntruth is in heaven and the church; and from this it follows that true\nmarriage love in its first essence is love to the Lord.  And from this\nit is that no one can be in true marriage love and in its\npleasantnesses, delights, blessings, and joys, unless he acknowledges\nthe Lord alone, that is, that the trinity is in Him.  One who approaches\nthe Father as a person by Himself, or the Holy Spirit as a person by\nHimself, and not these as in the Lord, can have no marriage love.\n\nThe genuine conjugal principle is given especially in the third heaven,\nbecause the angels there are in love to the Lord and acknowledge Him\nalone as God, and do His commandments.  To them doing the commandments\nis loving the Lord.  To them the Lord's commandments are the truths in\nwhich they receive Him.  There is conjunction of the Lord with them, and\nof them with the Lord; for they are in the Lord because they are in\ngood, and the Lord is in them because they are in truths.  This is the\nheavenly marriage, from which true marriage love descends.  (A.E., n.\n995.)\n\nAs true marriage love in its first essence is love to the Lord from the\nLord it is also innocence.  Innocence is loving the Lord as one's Father\nby doing His commandments and wishing to be led by Him and not by\noneself, thus like a little child.  As that love is innocence, it is the\nvery being (esse) of all good; and therefore man has so much of heaven\nin himself, or he is so much in heaven, as he is in marriage love,\nbecause he is so far in innocence.  It is because true marriage love is\ninnocence that the playfulness between a married pair is like the play\nof little children; and this is so in the measure in which they love\neach other, as is evident in the case of all in the first days after the\nnuptials, when their love emulates true marriage love.  The innocence of\nmarriage love is meant in the Word by the \"nakedness\" at which Adam and\nhis wife blushed not; and for the reason that there is nothing of\nlasciviousness, and thus nothing of shame, between a married pair, any\nmore than between little children when they are naked together. (A.E.,\nn. 996.)\n\nSince marriage love in its first essence is love to the Lord from the\nLord, and thus is innocence, marriage love is also peace, such as angels\nin the heavens have.  For as innocence is the very being (esse) of all\ngood, so peace is the very being (esse) of all delight from good,\nconsequently is the very being (esse) of all joy between the married\npair.  As, then, all joy is of love, and marriage love is the\nfundamental love of all the loves of heaven, so peace itself has its\nseat chiefly in marriage love.  Peace is bliss of heart and soul arising\nfrom the conjunction of the Lord with heaven and the church, as well as\nfrom conjunction of good and truth, when all conflict and combat of evil\nand falsity with good and truth has ceased.  And as marriage love\ndescends from such conjunction so all the delight of that love descends\nand derives its essence from heavenly peace.  Moreover, this peace\nshines forth in the heavens as heavenly bliss from the faces of a\nmarried pair who are in that love, and who mutually regard each other\nfrom that love.  But such heavenly bliss, which inmostly affects the\ndelights of loves, and is called peace, can be granted only to those who\ncan be joined together inmostly, that is, as to their very hearts.\n(A.E., n. 997.)\n\nMan has such and so much of intelligence and wisdom as he has of\nmarriage love.  The reason is that marriage love descends from the love\nof good and truth as an effect does from its cause, or as the natural\nfrom its spiritual; and from the marriage of good and truth the angels\nof the three heavens have all their intelligence and wisdom; for\nintelligence and wisdom are nothing else than the reception of light and\nheat from the Lord as a sun, that is, the reception of Divine truth\njoined to Divine good, and of Divine good joined to Divine truth; thus\nit is a marriage of good and truth from the Lord.\n\nThat it is such has been made clearly evident by angels in the heavens.\nWhen these are separated from their consorts they are indeed in\nintelligence, but not in wisdom; but when they are with their consorts\nthey are also in wisdom; and what seemed wonderful, as they turn the\nface to their consort they are to the same extent in a state of wisdom;\nfor the conjunction of truth and good is effected in the spiritual world\nby looking; and the wife there is good and the husband truth; therefore\nas truth turns itself to good so truth becomes living.  By intelligence\nand wisdom ingenuity in reasoning about truths and goods is not meant,\nbut a capacity to see and understand truths and goods, and this capacity\nman has from the Lord.  (A.E., n. 998.)\n\nTrue marriage love is a source of power and protection against the\nhells, as it is against the evils and falsities that ascend from the\nhells, and for the reason that through marriage love man has conjunction\nwith the Lord, and the Lord alone has power over all the hells; also\nbecause through marriage love man has heaven and the church;\nconsequently as the Lord unceasingly protects heaven and the church from\nthe evils and falsities that rise up from the hells, so He protects all\nwho are in true marriage love, because such and no others have heaven\nand the church.  For heaven and the church are a marriage of good and\ntruth, from which is marriage love, as has been said above.  And this is\nwhy through marriage love man has peace, which is inmost joy of heart\nfrom a complete safety from the hells and a protection from infestations\nof the evil and falsity therefrom.  (A.E., n. 999.)\n\nThose who are in true marriage love, when after death they become\nangels, return to their early manhood and to youth, the males, however\nspent with age, becoming young men, and the wives, however spent with\nage, becoming maidens.  Each of the married pair returns to the flower\nand joy of the age when marriage love begins to exalt the life with new\ndelights, and to inspire playfulness for the sake of prolification.  The\nman who while he lived in the world had shunned adulteries as sins, and\nwho has been inaugurated by the Lord into marriage love, comes into this\nstate first outwardly and afterward more and more interiorly to\neternity.\n\nAs such continue to grow young more interiorly it follows that true\nmarriage love continually increases and enters into its charms and\nsatisfactions, which have been provided for it from the creation of the\nworld, and which are the charms and satisfactions of the inmost heaven,\narising from the love of the Lord for heaven and the church, and thus\nfrom the love of good for truth and truth for good, which loves are the\nsource of every joy in the heavens.  Man thus grows young in heaven\nbecause he then enters into the marriage of good and truth; and in good\nthere is the conatus [instinct] to love truth continually, and in truth\nthere is the conatus [instinct] to love good continually; and then the\nwife is good in form and the husband is truth in form. From that conatus\n[instinct] man puts off all the austerity, sadness, and dryness of old\nage, and puts on the liveliness, gladness, and freshness of youth, from\nwhich the conatus [instinct] becomes living and a joy.\n\nI have been told from heaven that such then have the life of love, which\ncannot otherwise be described than as the life of joy itself.  That the\nman who lives in true marriage love in the world comes after death into\nthe heavenly marriage, which is the marriage of good and truth springing\nfrom the marriage of the Lord with the church, is clearly evident from\nthis, that from the marriages in the heavens, although the married pair\nhave consociations there like those on the earth, children are not\nborn, but instead of children goods and truths, and thus wisdom, as has\nbeen said above.  And this is why births, nativities, and generations\nmean in the Word, in its spiritual sense, spiritual births, nativities,\nand generations, and sons and daughters mean the truths and goods\nof the church, and other like things are meant by daughters-in-law,\nmothers-in-law, and fathers-in-law.  This also makes clear that\nmarriages on the earth correspond to marriages in the heavens; and that\nafter death man comes into the correspondence, that is, comes from\nnatural bodily marriage into spiritual heavenly marriage, which is\nheaven itself and the joy of heaven. (A.E., n. 1000.)\n\nFrom marriage love angels have all their beauty; thus each angel has\nbeauty in the measure of that love.  For all angels are forms of their\naffections, for the reason that it is not permitted in heaven to\ncounterfeit with the face things that do not belong to one's affection;\nconsequently their faces are types of their minds.  When, therefore,\nthey have marriage love, and love of wisdom, these loves in them give\nform to their faces, and show themselves like vital fires in their eyes;\nto which innocence and peace add themselves, which complete their\nbeauty.  Such are the forms of the inmost angelic heaven; and they are\ntruly human forms.  (A.E., n. 1001.)\n\nFrom what has been thus far presented what the good is that results from\nchastity in marriage can be inferred, consequently what the good works\nof chastity are that a man does who shuns adulteries as sins against\nGod.  The good works of chastity concern either the married pair\nthemselves, or their offspring and posterity, or the heavenly societies.\n\nThe good works of chastity that concern the married pair themselves are\nspiritual and celestial loves, intelligence and wisdom, innocence and\npeace, power and protection against the hells and against the evils and\nthe falsities therefrom, and manifold joys and felicities to eternity.\nThose who live in chaste marriages, as before described, have all these.\n\nThe good works of chastity that concern the offspring and posterity are\nthat so many and so great evils do not become innate in families.  For\nthe ruling love of parents is transmitted to the offspring and sometimes\nto remote posterity, and becomes their hereditary nature.  This is\nbroken and softened in parents who shun adulteries as infernal and love\nmarriages as heavenly.  The good works of chastity that concern the\nheavenly societies are that chaste marriages are the charms of heaven,\nthat they are its nurseries, and that they are its supports.  They\nsupply charms to heaven by communications; they are nurseries to heaven\nby producing offspring; and they are supports to heaven by their power\nagainst the hells; for at the presence of conjugal love devilish spirits\nbecome furious, insane, and mentally impotent, and cast themselves into\nthe deep. (A.E., n. 1002.)\n\nFrom the goods enumerated and described that result from chaste\nmarriages it may be concluded what the evils are that result from\nadulteries; for such evils are the opposites of such goods; that is, in\nplace of the spiritual and celestial loves that those have who live in\nchaste marriages, there are the infernal and devilish loves that those\nhave who are in adulteries.  So in place of the intelligence and wisdom\nthat those have who live chastely in marriages there are the insanities\nand follies that those have who are in adulteries; in place of the\ninnocence and peace that those have who live in chaste marriages there\nare the deceit and no peace that those have who are in adulteries; in\nplace of the power and protection against the hells that those have who\nlive chastely in marriages there are the very Asmodean demons and the\nhells that those have who live in adulteries; in place of the beauty\nthat those have who live chastely in marriages there is the deformity\nthat those have who live in adulteries, which is monstrous according to\nwhat they are. Their final lot is that from the extreme impotence to\nwhich they are at length reduced they become emptied of all the fire and\nlight of life, and dwell alone in deserts as images of the slothfulness\nand weariness of their own life. (A.E., n. 1003.)\n\nTrue marriage love is impossible except between two, like the Lord's\nlove toward heaven, which is one from Him and in Him, or toward the\nchurch, which like heaven is one from Him and in Him.  All who are in\nthe heavens and who are in the church must be one through mutual love\nfrom love to the Lord.  An angel in heaven or a man in the church who\ndoes not thus make one with the rest is not of heaven or of the church.\nMoreover, in the whole heaven and in the whole world there are two\nthings to which all things have reference; these two are called good and\ntruth, from which, when joined into one, all things in heaven and in the\nworld have had existence and subsistence.  When these are one, good is\nin truth and truth is in good, and truth is of good and good is of\ntruth; thus one recognizes the other as its mutual and reciprocal, or as\nan agent recognizes its reagent, each in its turn.\n\nThis universal marriage is the source of marriage love between husband\nand wife.  The husband has been so created as to be the understanding of\ntruth, and the wife so created as to be the will of good, and thus the\nhusband to be a truth and the wife a good, as well as that both may be\ntruth and good in form, which form is man, and an image of God.\n\nSince, then, for truth to come to be of good and good to be of truth\nmutually and reciprocally has its origin in creation, so it is\nimpossible for one truth to be united to two diverse goods, or the\nreverse; neither is it possible for one understanding to be united to\ntwo diverse wills or the reverse; neither for one person who is\nspiritual to be united to two diverse churches; neither in like manner\nfor one man (vir) to be inmostly united to two women.  Inmost union is\nlike that of soul and heart; the soul of the wife is the husband, and\nthe heart of the husband is the wife. The husband communicates and\nconjoins his soul to the wife by actual love; it is in his seed; and the\nwife receives it in her heart, and from this the two become one, and\nthen each and all things in the body of the one look to their mutual in\nthe body of the other.  This is genuine marriage, which is possible only\nbetween two.  For it is by creation that all things of the husband, both\nof his mind and of his body, have their mutual in the mind and in the\nbody of the wife; and thus the most particular things look mutually to\neach other and will to be united.  From this looking and conatus\n[instinct] marriage love springs.\n\nAll things in the body, which are called members, viscera, and organs,\nare nothing but natural corporeal forms corresponding to the spiritual\nform of the mind; from this each and all things of the body so\ncorrespond to each and all things of the mind that whatever the mind\nwills and thinks the body at its command instantly brings forth into\nact.  When, therefore, two minds act as one their two bodies are\npotentially so united that they are no more two but one flesh.  To will\nto become one flesh is marriage love; and such as the willing is, such\nis that love.\n\nIt is allowed to confirm this by a wonderful thing in the heavens.\nThere are married pairs there in such marriage love that the two can be\none flesh, and are one whenever they wish, and they then appear as one\nman.  I have seen and talked with such; and they said that they have one\nlife, and are like the life of good in truth and the life of truth in\ngood, and are like the pairs in man, that is, like the two hemispheres\nof the brain enclosed in one membrane, the two ventricles of the heart\nwithin a common covering, likewise the two lobes of the lungs; these,\nalthough they are two, yet are one in regard to life and the activities\nof life, which are uses.  They said that their life so conjoined is full\nof heaven, and is the very life of heaven with its infinite beatitudes,\nfor the reason that heaven that heaven also is such from the marriage of\nthe Lord with it, for all the angels of heaven are in the Lord and the\nLord in them.\n\nFurthermore, they said that it is impossible for them to think from any\nintention about an additional wife or woman, because this would be\nturning heaven into hell, consequently if an angel merely thinks of such\na thing he falls from heaven.  They added that natural spirits do not\nbelieve such conjunctions as theirs to be possible, for the reason that\nwith those who are merely natural there is no marriage from a spiritual\norigin, which is of good and truth, but only a marriage from a natural\norigin; therefore there is no union of minds, but only a union of bodies\nfrom a lascivious disposition in the flesh; and this lust is from a\nuniversal law impressed upon and thus implanted in everything animate\nand inanimate from creation.  The law is that everything in which there\nis force wills to produce its like and to multiply its kind to infinity\nand to eternity. As the posterity of Jacob, who were called the sons of\nIsrael, were merely natural men, and thus their marriages were not\nspiritual but carnal, so they were permitted on account of the hardness\nof their hearts to take more wives than one. (A.E., n. 1004.)\n\nBut it is to be noted that adulteries are more and less infernal and\nabominable.  The adulteries that spring from more grievous evils and\ntheir falsities are more grievous, and those from the milder evils and\ntheir falsities are milder; for adulteries correspond to adulterations\nof good and consequent falsifications of truth; adulterations of good\nare in themselves evils, and falsifications of truth are in themselves\nfalsities.  According to correspondences with these the hells are\narranged into genera and species. (A.E., n. 1006.)\n\nIn brief, from every conjunction of evil and falsity in the spiritual\nworld a sphere of adultery flows forth, but only from those who are in\nfalsities in regard to doctrine and in evils in regard to life; not from\nthose who are in falsities in regard to doctrine but are in goods in\nregard to life, for in such there is no conjunction of evil and falsity,\nbut only in the former.  That sphere flows forth particularly from\npriests who have taught falsely and lived wickedly; for these have\nadulterated and falsified the Word. Although such were not adulterers in\nthe world, adultery is excited by them; but it is an adultery called\nsacerdotal [priestly] adultery, which is distinguishable from other\nadulteries.  All this makes clear that the origin of adulteries is the\nlove and consequent conjunction of evil and falsity.  (A.E., n. 1007.)\n\nAdulteries are less abhorrent to Christians than to the heathen, and\neven to some barbarous nations, for the reason that at present in the\nChristian world there is no marriage of good and truth, but a marriage\nor evil and falsity.  For the religion and doctrine of faith separated\nfrom good works is a religion and doctrine of truth separated from good;\nand truth separated from good is not truth, but inwardly regarded is\nfalsity; and good separated from truth is not good, but inwardly\nregarded is evil.  Consequently in the Christian religion there is\ndoctrine of falsity and evil, from which origin a desire and inclination\nfor adultery from hell flow in; and this is why adulteries are believed\nin the Christian world to be allowable, and are practiced without shame.\nFor, as has been said above, the conjunction of evil and falsity is\nspiritual adultery, from which according to correspondence natural\nadultery springs.  For this reason \"adulteries\" and \"whoredoms\" signify\nin the Word adulterations of good and falsifications of truth; and for\nthis reason Babylon is called in the Apocalypse a \"harlot,\" and\nJerusalem is so called in the Word of the Old Testament; and the Jewish\nnation was called by the Lord \"an adulterous nation,\" and \"from their\nfather the devil.\" (A.E., n. 1008.)\n\nHe that abstains from adulteries from any other motive than because they\nare sins and are against God is still an adulterer; as for instance when\nanyone abstains from them from fear of the civil law and its penalties,\nfrom fear of the loss of reputation and thus of honor, from fear of\nresulting diseases, from fear of upbraidings at home from his wife and\nconsequent intranquility of life, from fear of chastisement by the\nservants of the injured husband, from poverty, or from avarice; from\ninfirmity arising from abuse or from age or impotence or disease; in\nfact, when one abstains because of any natural or moral law, and does\nnot at the same time abstain because of the Divine law, he is interiorly\nunchaste and an adulterer, since he none the less believes that\nadulteries are not sins, and therefore declares them lawful in his\nspirit, and thus commits them in spirit, although not in the body;\nconsequently after death when he becomes a spirit he speaks openly in\nfavor of them, and commits them without shame.\n\nIt has been granted me in the spiritual world to see maidens who\nregarded whoredoms as wicked because they are contrary to the Divine\nlaw, and also maidens who did not regard them as wicked and yet\nabstained from them because the resulting bad name would turn away\nsuitors.  These latter I saw encompassed with a dusky cloud in their\ndescent to those below, while the former I saw encompassed with a\nshining light in their ascent to those above. (A.E., n. 1009.)\n\nVII. The Seventh Commandment\n\nIn what now follows something shall be said about the seventh\ncommandment, which is, \"Thou shalt not kill.\"  In all the commandments\nof the Decalogue, as in all things of the Word, two internal senses are\ninvolved (besides the highest which is a third), one that is next to the\nletter and is called the spiritual moral sense, another that is more\nremote and is called the spiritual celestial sense.\n\nThe nearest sense of this commandment, \"Thou shalt not kill,\" which is\nthe spiritual moral sense, is that one must not hate his brother or\nneighbor, and thus not defame or slander him; for thus he would injure\nor kill his reputation and honor, which is the source of his life among\nhis brethren, which is called his civil life, and afterward he would\nlive in society as one dead, for he would be numbered among the vile and\nwicked, with whom no one would associate. When this is done from enmity,\nfrom hatred, or from revenge, it is murder.\n\nMorever, by many in the world this life is counted and esteemed in equal\nmeasure with the life of the body.  And before the angels in the heavens\nhe that destroys this life is held to be as guilty as if he had\ndestroyed the bodily life of his brother.  For enmity, hatred, and\nrevenge breathe murder and will it; but they are restrained and curbed\nby fear of the law, of resistance and of loss of reputation.  And yet\nthese three are endeavors toward murder; and every endeavor is an act,\nfor it goes forth into act when fear is removed.  This is what the Lord\nteaches in Matthew:\n\n\"Ye have heard that it was said to them of old, Thou shalt not kill; and\nwhosoever shall kill shall be liable to the judgment.  But I say unto\nyou, that whosoever is angry with his brother without cause shall be\nliable to the judgment; whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall\nbe liable to the council; but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be\nliable to the hell of fire.\" (v. 21-26)\n\nBut the more remote sense of this commandment, Thou shalt not kill,\nwhich is called the celestial spiritual sense, is that one shall not\ntake away from man the faith and love of God, and thus his spiritual\nlife.  This is murder itself, because from this life man is a man, the\nlife of the body serving this life as the instrumental cause serves its\nprincipal cause.  Moreover, from this spiritual murder moral murder is\nderived; consequently he who is in the one is also in the other; for he\nwho wills to take away a man's spiritual life is in hatred against him\nif he cannot take it away, for he hates the faith and love in him, and\nthus the man himself.  These three, namely, spiritual murder, which\npertains to faith and love, moral murder, which pertains to reputation\nand honor, and natural murder, which pertains to the body, follow in a\nseries one from the other, like cause and effect.  (A.E., n. 1012.)\n\nAs all who are in hell are in hatred against the Lord, and thus in\nhatred against heaven, for they are against goods and truths, so hell is\nthe essential murderer or the source of essential murder.  It is the\nsource of essential murder because man is man from the Lord through the\nreception of good and truth; consequently destruction of good and truth\nis destruction of the human itself, thus the killing of man.\n\nThat those who are in hell are such has not yet been known in the world,\nbecause in those who belong to hell and therefore after death come into\nhell no hatred against good and truth, or against heaven, or still less\nagainst the Lord, is evident.  For everyone while he lives in the world\nis in externals; and these externals are taught and trained from infancy\nto counterfeit such things as are honest and decorous, right and\nequitable, and good and true. Nevertheless, hatred lies concealed in\ntheir spirit, and this in equal degree with the evil of their life.  And\nas hatred is in the spirit it breaks forth when the externals are laid\naside, as is the case after death.\n\nThis infernal hatred against all who are in good is deadly hatred\nbecause it is hatred against the Lord.  This can be seen particularly in\ntheir delight in doing evil, which is such as to exceed in degree every\nother delight, for it is a fire that burns with a lust for destroying\nsouls.  Moreover, it has been ascertained that this delight is not from\nhatred against those whom they attempt to destroy, but from hatred\nagainst the Lord Himself.  And since man is a man from the Lord, and the\nhuman which is from the Lord is good and truth, and since those who are\nin hell are, from hatred against the Lord, eager to kill the human,\nwhich is good and truth, it follows that hell is the source of murder\nitself. (A.E., n. 1013.)\n\nFrom what has been said above it can be seen that all who are in evils\nin respect to life, and in the falsities therefrom, are murderers; for\nthey are enemies and haters of good and truth, since evil hates good and\nfalsity hates truth.  The evil man does not know he is in such hatred\nuntil he becomes a spirit; then hatred is the very delight of his life.\nConsequently from hell, where all the evil are, there constantly\nbreathes forth a delight in doing evil from hatred; while from heaven,\nwhere all the good are, there constantly breathes forth a delight in\ndoing good from love.  Therefore two opposite spheres meet each other in\nthe middle region between heaven and hell, and engage in reciprocal\ncombat.  While man lives in the world he is in this middle region.  If\nhe is then in evil and in falsities therefrom he passes over to the side\nof hell, and thus comes into a delight in doing evil from hatred.  But\nif he is in good and in truths therefrom, he passes over to the side of\nheaven, and thus comes into a delight in doing good from love.\n\nThe delight in doing evil from hatred, which breathes forth from hell,\nis a delight in killing.  But as they cannot kill the body they wish to\nkill the spirit; and to kill the spirit is to take away spiritual life,\nwhich is the life of heaven.  This makes clear that the commandment,\n\"Thou shalt not kill,\" involves also thou shalt not hate thy neighbor,\nalso thou shalt not hate the good of the church and its truth; for if\none hates good and truth he hates the neighbor; and to hate is to wish\nto kill.  This is why the devil, by whom hell in the whole complex is\nmeant, is called by the Lord,\n\n\"A murderer from the beginning\" (John viii, 44).\n\nSince hatred, which is a desire to kill, is the opposite of love to the\nLord and also of love toward the neighbor, and since these loves are\nwhat make heaven in man, it is evident that hatred, being thus opposite,\nis what makes hell in him.  Nor is infernal fire anything else than\nhatred; and in consequence the hells appear to be in a fire with a dusky\nglow according to the quality and quantity of the hatred, and in a fire\nwith a dusky flame according to the quantity and quality of the revenge\nfrom hatred.\n\nSince hatred and love are direct opposites, and since hatred in\nconsequence constitutes hell in man, just as love constitutes heaven in\nhim, so the Lord teaches,\n\n\"If thou shalt offer thy gift upon the altar, and shalt there remember\nthat thy brother hath aught against thee, leave there thy gift before\nthe altar, and go; first be reconciled to they brother, and then coming\noffer thy gift. Be well disposed toward thine adversary whiles thou art\nin the way with him; lest haply the adversary deliver thee to the judge,\nand the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison.\nVerily, I say unto thee, Thou shalt not come out thence till thou hast\npaid the uttermost farthing\" (Matt. v. 23-26).\n\nTo be delivered to the judge, and by the judge to the officer, and by\nhim to be cast into prison, depicts the state of the man who is in\nhatred after death from his having been in hatred against his brother in\nthe world, \"prison\" meaning hell, and \"paying the uttermost farthing\"\nsignifying the punishment that is called the fire everlasting.  (A.E.,\nn. 1015.)\n\nSince hatred is infernal fire it is clear that it must be put away\nbefore love, which is heavenly fire, can flow in, and by light from\nitself give life to man; and this infernal fire can in no wise be put\naway unless man knows whence hatred is and what it is, and afterward\nturns away from it and shuns it.  There is in every man by inheritance a\nhatred against the neighbor; for every man is born into a love of self\nand of the world, and in consequence conceives hatred, and from it is\ninflamed against all who do not make one with him and favor his love,\nespecially against those who oppose his lusts.  For no one can love\nhimself above all things and love the Lord at the same time; neither can\nanyone love the world above all things and love the neighbor at the same\ntime; since no one can serve two masters at the same time without\ndespising and hating the one while he honors and loves the other.\nHatred is especially in those who are in a love of ruling over all; with\nothers it is unfriendliness.\n\nIt shall be told what hatred is.  Hatred has in itself a fire which is\nan endeavor to kill man.  That fire is manifested in anger.  There is a\nseeming hatred and consequent anger in the good against evil; but this\nis not hatred, but an aversion to evil; neither is it anger, but a zeal\nfor good in which heavenly fire inwardly lies concealed.  For the good\nturn away from what is evil, and are seemingly angry at the neighbor, in\norder that they may remove the evil; and thus they have regard to the\nneighbor's good.  (A.E., n. 1016.)\n\nWhen a man abstains from hatred and turns away from it and shuns it as\ndevilish, love, charity, mercy, clemency flow in through heaven from the\nLord, and then for the first time the works that he does are works of\nlove and charity; while the works he had done before, however good might\nbe their appearance in the external form, were all works of love of self\nand of the world, in which hatred lurked whenever they were not\nrewarded.  So long as hatred is not put away so long man is merely\nnatural; and the merely natural man remains in all his inherited evil,\nnor can he become spiritual until hatred, with its root, which is love\nof ruling over all, is put away; for the fire of heaven, which is\nspiritual love, cannot flow in so long as the fire of hell, which is\nhatred, stands in the way and shuts it out.  (A.E., n. 1017.)\n\nVIII.  The Eighth Commandment\n\nThe eighth commandment of the Decalogue, \"Thou shalt not bear false\nwitness,\" shall now be explained.  \"To bear false witness\" signifies in\nthe sense nearest to the letter to lie about the neighbor by accusing\nhim falsely. But in the internal sense it signifies to call what is just\nunjust, and what is unjust just, and to confirm this by means of\nfalsities; while in the inmost sense it signifies to falsity the truth\nand good of the Word, and on the other hand to prove a falsity of\ndoctrine to be true by confirming it by means of fallacies, appearances,\nfabrications, knowledges falsely applied, sophistries, and the like.\nThe confirmations themselves and the consequent persuasions are false\nwitnesses, for they are false attestations.\n\nFrom this it can be seen that what is here meant is not only false\nwitness before a judge, but even a judge himself who in perverting right\nmakes what is just unjust, and what is unjust just, for he as well as\nthe witness himself acts the part of a false witness.  The same is true\nof every man who makes what is straight to appear crooked, and what is\ncrooked to appear straight; likewise any ecclesiastical leader who\nfalsifies the truth of the Word and perverts its good.  In a word, every\nfalsification of truth, spiritual, moral, and civil, which is done from\nan evil heart, is false witness.  (A.E., n. 1019.)\n\nWhen a man abstains from false testimonies understood in a moral and\nspiritual sense, and shuns and turns away from them as sins, a love of\ntruth and a love of justice flow in from the Lord through heaven.  And\nwhen, in consequence, the man loves truth and loves justice he loves the\nLord, for the Lord is truth itself and justice itself.  And when a man\nloves truth and justice it may be said that truth and justice love him,\nbecause the Lord loves him; and as a consequence his utterances become\nutterances of truth, and his works become works of justice.  (A.E., n.\n1020.)\n\nIX: The Ninth and Tenth Commandments\n\nThe ninth commandment, \"Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house,\" is\nnow to be treated of.  There are two loves from which all lusts spring\nand flow forth perpetually like streams from their fountains.  These\nloves are called love of the world and love of self.  Lust is a love\ncontinually desiring, for what a man loves, that he continually longs\nfor.  But lusts belong to the love of evil, while desires and affections\nbelong to the love of good.  Now because love of the world and love of\nself are the fountains of all lusts, and all evil lusts are forbidden in\nthese last two commandments, it follows that the ninth commandment\nforbids the lusts that flow from love of the world, and the tenth\ncommandment the lusts that flow from love of self.  \"Not to covet a\nneighbor's house\" means not to covet his goods, which in general are\npossessions of wealth, and not to appropriate them to oneself by evil\narts. This lust belongs to love of the world.  (A.E., n. 1021.)\n\nThe tenth commandment is \"Thou shalt not covet (or try to get possession\nof) thy neighbor's wife, his man-servant, or his maid-servant, his ox,\nor his ass.\"  These are lusts after what is man's own, because the wife,\nman-servant, maid-servant, ox, and ass, are within his home, and the\nthings within a man's home mean in the spiritual internal sense the\nthings that are his own, that is, the wife means affection for spiritual\ntruth and good, \"man-servant and maid-servant,\" affection for rational\ntruth and good serving the spiritual, and \"ox and ass\" affection for\nnatural good and truth.  These signify in the Word such affections; but\nbecause coveting and trying to get possession of these affections means\nto wish and eagerly desire to subject a man to one's own authority or\nbidding, it follows that lusting after these affections means the lusts\nof the love of self, that is, of the love of ruling, for thus does one\nmake the things belonging to a companion to be his own.\n\nFrom this it can now be seen that the lust of the ninth commandment is a\nlust of the love of the world, and that the lusts of the tenth\ncommandment are lusts of the love of self.  For, as has been said\nbefore, all lusts are of love, for it is love that covets; and as there\nare two evil loves to which all lusts have reference, namely, love of\nthe world and love of self, it follows that the lust of the ninth\ncommandments has reference to love of the world, and the lust of this\ncommandment to love of self, especially to the love of ruling.  (A.E.,\nn. 1022.)\n\nX. The Commandments in General\n\nThe commandments of the Decalogue are called the ten words or ten\ncommandments, because \"ten\" signifies all; consequently the ten words\nmean all things of the Word, and thus all things of the church in brief.\nAll things of the Word and all things of the church in brief are meant,\nbecause there are in each commandment three interior senses, each sense\nfor its own heaven, for there are three heavens. The first sense is the\nspiritual moral sense; this is for the first or outmost heaven; the\nsecond sense is the celestial spiritual sense, which is for the second\nor middle heaven; and the third sense is the Divine celestial, which is\nfor the third or inmost heaven.  There are thus three internal senses in\nevery least particular of the Word.  For from the Lord, who is in things\nhighest, the Word has been sent down in succession through the three\nheavens even to the earth, and thus has been accommodated to each\nheaven; and therefore the Word is in each heaven and I may say in each\nangel in its own sense, and is read by them daily; and there are\npreachings from it, as on the earth.\n\nFor the Word is Divine truth itself, thus Divine wisdom, going forth\nfrom the Lord as a sun, and appearing in the heavens as light.  Divine\ntruth is the Divine that is called the Holy Spirit, for it not only goes\nforth from the Lord but it also enlightens man and teaches him, as is\nsaid of the Holy Spirit.  As the Word in its descent from the Lord has\nbeen adapted to the three heavens, and the three heavens are joined\ntogether as inmosts are with outmosts through intermediates, so, too,\nare the three senses of the Word; which shows that the Word is given\nthat by it there may be a conjunction of the heavens with each other,\nand a conjunction of the heavens with the human race, for whom the sense\nof the letter is given, which is merely natural and thus the basis of\nthe other three senses.  That the ten commandments of the Decalogue are\nall things of the Word in brief can be seen only from the three senses\nof those commandments, which are as above stated.  (A.E., n. 1024).\n\nWhat these three senses in the commandments of the Decalogue are can be\nseen from the following summary explanation.  The first commandment,\n\"Thou shalt not worship other gods beside Me,\" involves in the spiritual\nmoral sense that nothing else nor anyone else is to be worshipped as\nDivine; nothing else, that is, Nature, by attributing to it something\nDivine of itself; nor anyone else, that is, any vicar of the Lord or any\nsaint.  In the celestial spiritual sense it involves that one God only\nis to be acknowledged, and not several according to their qualities, as\nthe ancients did, and as some heathens do at this day, or according to\ntheir works, as Christians do at this day, who make out one God because\nof creation, another because of redemption, and another because of\nenlightenment.\n\nThis commandment in the Divine celestial sense involves that the Lord\nalone is to be acknowledged and whorshipped, and a trinity in Him,\nnamely, the Divine itself from eternity, which is meant by the Father,\nthe Divine Human born in time, which is meant by the Son of God, and the\nDivine that goes forth from both, which is meant by the Holy Spirit.\nThese are the three senses of the first commandment in their order.\nFrom this commandment viewed in its threefold sense it is clear that it\ncontains and includes in brief all things that concern the essence of\nthe Divine.\n\nThe second commandment, \"Thou shalt not profane the name of God,\"\ncontains and includes in its three senses all things that concern the\nquality of the Divine, since \"the name of God\" signifies His quality,\nwhich in its first sense is the Word, doctrine from the Word, and\nworship of the lips and of the life from doctrine; in its second sense\nit means the Lord's kingdom on the earth and the Lord's kingdom in the\nheavens; and in its third sense it means the Lord's Divine Human, for\nthis is the quality of the Divine itself.\n\nIn the other commandments there are likewise three internal senses for\nthe three heavens; but these, the Lord willing, will be considered\nelsewhere.  (A.E., n. 1025.)\n\nAs the Divine truth united to Divine good goes forth from the Lord as a\nsun, and by this heaven and the world were made (John i. 1, 3, 10), it\nfollows that it is from this that all things in heaven and in the world\nhave reference to good and to truth and to their conjunction in bringing\nforth something.  These ten commandments contain all things of Divine\ngood and all things of Divine truth, and there is also in them a\nconjunction of these.  But this conjunction is hidden; for it is like\nthe conjunction of love to the Lord and love toward the neighbor, Divine\ngood belonging to love to the Lord, and Divine truth to love toward the\nneighbor; for when a man lives according to Divine truth, that is, loves\nhis neighbor, the Lord flows in with Divine good and conjoins Himself.\nFor this reason there were two tables on which these ten commandments\nwere written, and they were called a covenant, which signifies\nconjunction; and afterward they were placed in the ark, not one beside\nthe other, but one above the other, for a testimony of the conjunction\nbetween the Lord and man.  Upon one table the commandments of love to\nthe Lord were written, and upon the other table the commandments of love\ntoward the neighbor. The commandments of love to the Lord are the first\nthree, and the commandments of love toward the neighbor are the last\nsix; and the fourth commandment, which is \"Honor thy father and thy\nmother,\" is the mediating commandment, for in it \"father\" means the\nFather in the heavens, and \"mother\" means the church, which is the\nneighbor.  (A.E., n. 1026.)\n\nSomething shall now be said about how conjunction is effected by means\nof the commandments of the Decalogue.  Man does not conjoin himself to\nthe Lord, but the Lord alone conjoins man to Himself, and this He does\nby man's knowing, understanding, willing, and doing these commandments;\nand when man does them there is conjunction, but if he does not do them\nhe ceases to will them, and when he ceases to will them he ceases also\nto understand and know them.  For what does willing amount to if man\nwhen he is able does not do? Is it not a figment of reason?  From this\nit follows that conjunction is effected when a man does the commandments\nof the Decalogue.\n\nBut it has been said that man does not conjoin himself to the Lord, but\nthat the Lord alone conjoins man to Himself, and that conjunction is\neffected by doing; and from this it follows that it is the Lord in man\nthat does these commandments.  But anyone can see that a covenant cannot\nbe entered into and conjunction be effected by it unless there is some\nreturn on man's part, not only in consent but also in acceptance.  To\nthis end the Lord has imparted to man a freedom to will and act as if of\nhimself, and such a freedom that man does not know otherwise, when he is\nthinking about truth and doing good, than that the freedom is in himself\nand thus from himself.  There is this return on man's part in order that\nconjunction may be effected.  But as this freedom is from the Lord, and\ncontinually from Him, man must by all means acknowledge that thinking\nabout and understanding truth and willing and doing good are not from\nhimself, but are from the Lord.\n\nConsequently when man through the last six commandments conjoins himself\nto the Lord as if of himself, the Lord then conjoins Himself to man\nthrough the first three commandments, which are that man must\nacknowledge God, must believe in the Lord, and must keep His name holy.\nThese man does not believe, however much he may think that he does,\nunless the evils forbidden in the other table, that is, in the last six\ncommandments, he abstains from as sins.  These are the things pertaining\nto the covenant on the part of the Lord and on the part of man, through\nwhich there is reciprocal conjunction, which is that man may be in the\nLord and the Lord in man (John xiv. 20).  (A.E., n. 1027.)\n\nIt is said by some that he who sins against one commandment of the\nDecalogue sins also against the rest, thus that he who is guilty of one\nis guilty of all.  It shall be told how far this is in harmony with the\ntruth. When a man transgresses one commandment, assuring himself that it\nis not a sin, thus offending without fear of God, because he has thus\nrejected the fear of God he does not fear to transgress the rest of the\ncommandments, although he may not do this in act.\n\nFor example, when one does not regard as sins frauds and illicit gains,\nwhich in themselves are thefts, neither does he regard as a sin adultery\nwith the wife of another, hating a man even to murder, lying about him,\ncoveting his house and other things belonging to him; for when he\nrejects from his heart in any one commandment the fear of God he denies\nthat anything is a sin; consequently he is in communion with those who\nin like manner transgress the other commandments. He is like an infernal\nspirit who is in a hell of thieves; and although he is not an adulterer,\nnor a murderer, nor a false witness, yet he is in communion with such,\nand can be persuaded by them to believe that such things are not evils,\nand can be led to do them.  For he who becomes an infernal spirit\nthrough the transgression of one commandment, no longer believes it to\nbe a sin to do anything against God or anything against the neighbor.\n\nBut the opposite is true of those who abstain from the evil forbidden in\none commandment, and who shun and afterward turn away from it as a sin\nagainst God.  Because such fear of God, they come into communion with\nangels of heaven, and are led by the Lord to abstain from the evils\nforbidden in the other commandments and to shun them, and finally to\nturn away from them as sins; and if perchance they have sinned against\nthem, yet they repent and thus by degrees are withdrawn from them.\n(A.E., n. 1028.)\n\n\n\n\nPart Third--PROFANATIONS OF GOOD AND TRUTH\n\nI. Goods and Truths and Their Opposites\n\nThe Divine good that goes forth from the Lord is united with His Divine\ntruth, as heat from the sun is with light in the time of spring.  But\nangels, who are recipients of the Divine good and Divine truth going\nforth from the Lord, are distinguished as celestial and spiritual.\nThose who receive more of the Lord's Divine good than of His Divine\ntruth are called celestial angels; because these constitute the kingdom\nof the Lord that is called the celestial kingdom. But the angels who\nreceive more of the Lord's Divine truth than of his Divine good are\ncalled spiritual angels, because of these the Lord's spiritual kingdom\nconsists.  This makes clear that goods and truths have a twofold origin,\nnamely, a celestial origin and a spiritual origin.  Those goods and\ntruths that are from a celestial origin are the goods and truths of love\nto the Lord; while those goods and truths that are from a spiritual\norigin are the goods and truths of love toward the neighbor.  The\ndifference is like that between higher and lower, or between inner and\nouter; thus like that between things that are in a higher or inner\ndegree, and those that are in a lower or outer degree; and what this\ndifference is can be seen from what has been said in the work on Heaven\nand Hell about the three degrees of the heavens, and thus of the angels\nand their intelligence and wisdom (H.H., n. 33, 34, 38, 39, 208, 209,\n211, 435). (A.E., n. 1042.)\n\nAs the heavens are divided into two kingdoms, namely, into a celestial\nkingdom and a spiritual kingdom, so are the hells divided into two\ndomains opposite to those kingdoms. The domain opposite to the celestial\nkingdom is called devilish, and the domain opposite to the spiritual\nkingdom is called infernal.  These domains are distinguished in the Word\nby the names Devil and Satan.  There are two domains in the hells,\nbecause the heavens and the hells are opposite to each other; and\nopposite must fully correspond to opposite that there may be\nequilibrium.  For the springing forth and permanence of all things, both\nin the natural world and in the spiritual world, depend upon an exact\nequilibrium between two activities that are opposite; and when these act\nagainst each other manifestly, they act by forces, but when not\nmanifestly they act by endeavors (canatus).  By means of equilibriums\nall things in both worlds are preserved; without this all things would\nperish.  In the spiritual world the equilibrium is between good from\nheaven and evil from hell; and thus between truth from heaven and\nfalsity from hell.  For the Lord arranges unceasingly that all kinds and\nspecies of good and truth in the heavens shall have opposite to them in\nthe hells evils and falsities of kinds that correspond by opposition;\nthus goods and truths from a celestial origin have for their opposites\nevils and falsities that are called devilish; and in like manner goods\nand truths from a spiritual origin have for their opposites evils and\nfalsities that are called infernal.  The cause of these equilibriums is\nto be found in the fact that the same Divine goods and Divine truths\nthat the angels in the heavens receive from the Lord, the spirits in the\nhells turn into evils and falsities.  All angels, spirits, and men are\nkept by the Lord in equilibrium between good and evil, and thus between\ntruth and falsity, in order that they may be in freedom; and thus may be\nled from evil to good and from falsity to truth easily and as if by\nthemselves, although in fact they are led by the Lord.  For the same\nreason they are led in freedom from good to evil, and from truth to\nfalsity, and this, too, as if by themselves, although the leading is\nfrom hell.  (A.E., n. 1043.)\n\nII. The First Kind of Profanation\n\nProfanations are of many kinds.  The most grievous kind is when one\nacknowledges and lives according to the truths and goods of the Word, of\nthe church, and of worship, and afterward denies them and lives contrary\nto them, or even lives contrary to them and does not deny them.  Such\nprofanation effects a conjunction and coherence of good with falsity,\nand of truth with evil, and from this it comes to pass that man is at\nthe same time in heaven and in hell; consequently, when heaven wills to\nhave its own, and hell wills to have its own, and yet they cohere, they\nare both swept away, and thus the proper human life perishes, and the\nman becomes like a brute animal, continually delirious, and carried\nhither and thither by fantasy like a dragon in the air, and in his\nfantasy shreds and specks appear like giants and crowds, and a little\nplatter like the universe; and so on.\n\nAs such have no longer any human life they are not called spirits, but\nsomething profane, nor are they called he or she, but it; and when they\nare seen in the light of heaven they appear like dried skeletons.  But\nthis kind of profanation is rare, since the Lord provides against a\nman's entering into a belief in truth and a life of good unless he can\nbe kept in them continually even to the end of his life. (A.E., n.\n1047.)\n\nIt has been said that the most grievous kind of profanation is when the\ntruths of the Word are acknowledged in faith and confirmed in the life,\nand man afterward recedes from faith and lives wickedly, or if he does\nnot recede from faith he nevertheless lives wickedly.  But one who is in\nfaith and in a life according to it from childhood to youth, and\nafterward in adult age recedes from faith and from a life of faith, does\nnot profane, for the reason that the faith of childhood is a faith of\nthe memory, and is the master's faith in the child; while the faith of\nadult age is a faith of the understanding, and thus a man's own faith.\nThis faith a man can profane if he recedes from it and lives contrary to\nit, but not the former.  For nothing enters the life of a man and\naffects it except what comes into the understanding and from that into\nthe will; and a man does not think from his own understanding and act\nfrom his own will until he arrives at adult age.  Before that he has\nthought merely from knowledge and acted merely from obedience; and this\ndoes not make a part of his life, and therefore cannot be profaned.\n\nIn a word, whatever a man thinks, speaks, and does, from the\nunderstanding with the will favoring it, this belongs to his life or\ncomes to be of his life; and if this is holy it is profaned by his\nreceding.  But the profanations of this kind are more or less grievous\naccording to the quality of the truth and the consequent faith, and\naccording to the quality of the good and the consequent life, and\naccording to the quality of the withdrawal from these; and therefore\nthere are many specific differences in this profanation. (A.E., n.\n1049.)\n\nWhy the state of profaners after death is so horrible shall be\ndisclosed.  Man has two minds, a natural and a spiritual.  The natural\nmind is opened to him by knowledges (scientiae et cognitiones) of truth\nand good, and the spiritual mind is opened by a life according to these;\nand this is effected in those who know, acknowledge, and believe the\ntruths of the Word and live according to them.  In others that mind is\nnot opened.  When the spiritual mind has been opened, the light of\nheaven, which is Divine truth, flows through it into the natural mind,\nand there arranges truths in a corresponding order.  Therefore when a\nman passes over into a contrary state, and either in faith or life\ndenies the truths of the Word that he has previously acknowledged, the\nthings that are in the natural mind no longer correspond with those that\nare in the spiritual mind; consequently heaven with its light flows in\nthrough the spiritual mind into non-corresponding things, or into things\nopposite to those that correspond in the natural man; and from this a\nfantasy arises that is so direful that they seem to themselves to fly in\nthe air like dragons, while shreds and specks appear to them like giants\nand crowds, and a little ball like the whole globe, and other like\nthings. The reason of this is that they have heaven in the spiritual\nmind and hell in the natural mind, and when heaven, which is in the\nspiritual mind, acts into hell, which is in the natural mind, such\nthings appear.  And as this destroys all things pertaining to the\nunderstanding, and the will with the understanding, the man comes to be\nno longer a man.  And this is why a profaner is no longer called a man,\nnor he or she, but it, for he is a brute. (A.E., n. 1050.)\n\nThis kind of profanation exists especially in those who acknowledge the\nLord and His Divine, and the Word and its holiness; and for the reason\nthat the Lord alone by means of truths from the Word opens heaven to the\nman who lives according to those truths; and unless heaven is opened\nsuch profanation is not possible.  And this shows why the Gentiles, who\nare ignorant of the Lord and know nothing about the Word, cannot bring\nupon themselves such profanation; neither can the Jews, for they deny\nthe Lord from their infancy, and heaven is not opened to them by means\nof the Word; neither can the impious who have been such from childhood;\nfor, as has been said, those only profane who believe rightly and live\nrightly, and afterward believe wrongly and live wrongly.  Besides this\nkind of profanation there are other kinds that shall be treated of.\n(A.E., n. 1051.)\n\nIII. The Second Kind of Profanation\n\nThere is another kind of profanation of holy things that those come into\nwho have supremacy as their end, and regard the holy things of the Word,\nof the church, and of worship, as means.  The Divine order is that\nheaven and the church, and consequently the holy things of these, be the\nend, and supremacy the means for promoting that end.  For when holy\nthings are the end and supremacy the means, the Lord is worshipped and\nadored; but when supremacy is the end and holy things the means, man\ninstead of the Lord is worshipped and adored.  For the means look to the\nend as servants look to their master, and the end looks to the means as\na master looks to his servants; consequently as a master esteems and\nloves his servants according to the compliance they render to his will,\nso a man who has supremacy as his end esteems and loves the holy things\nof the Word, of the church, and of worship, according to the compliance\nthey render to his end, which is supremacy.  And on the other hand, as a\nlord despises and dismisses servants and takes others in their place\nwhen they are not subservient to his will, so a man who has supremacy as\nhis end despises and rejects the holy things of the church, and takes\nother things in their place when they are not subservient to his end,\nwhich is supremacy.\n\nFrom this it is clear that in those who have supremacy as their end,\nholy things are of no account except so far as they are subservient to\nthe end, and also that they are not holy, but are profane when they are\nsubservient to this end; and for the reason that the end, when it is\nsupremacy, is the man himself, and as this end is love of self it is the\nman's own (proprium); and man's own when viewed in itself is nothing but\nevil, and indeed is profane, and the end joins to itself the means that\nthey may be as one.  In this kind of profanation are all those who are\nin sacred ministries, and who are seeking by means of the holy things of\nthe church to gain honor and glory, and these and not use, which is the\nsalvation of souls, are what give them joy of heart. (A.E., n. 1053.)\n\nThose who are in this kind of profanation cannot do otherwise than\nadulterate the goods of the Word and falsify its truths, and thus\npervert the holy things of the church; for these are not in accord with\nthe end, which is the supremacy of man over them, for they are Divine\nthings that cannot be mere servants; therefore from necessity, that the\nmeans may be in accord with the end, goods are turned into evils, truths\ninto falsities, and thus holy things into things profane, and this in an\nincreasing degree as the supremacy, which is the end, is increased.\n\nThat this is so can be clearly seen from the Babylon of the present day,\nto which the holy things of the Word, of the church and of worship, are\nmeans, and supremacy is the end.  So far as they have magnified\nsupremacy they have minimized the holiness of the Word, and have\nactually exalted above it the holiness of the Pope's decrees; they have\nclaimed to themselves power over heaven, and even over the Lord Himself,\nand they have instituted the idolatrous worship of men, both living and\ndead, and this until there is nothing left of Divine good and Divine\ntruth.\n\nThat the holy things of the Word, of the church, and of worship, have\nbeen so changed is of the Lord's Divine providence; not of His\nprovidence that this should be done, but of His providence that when men\nwish to rule and do rule by means of the holy Divine things, they should\nchoose falsity in place of truth and evil in place of good, for\notherwise they would defile holy things, and render them abominable\nbefore angels; but when holy things no longer exist this cannot be done.\nTake as an example what has been done with the Holy Supper instituted by\nthe Lord: they have separated the bread and the wine, giving the bread\nto the people and drinking the wine themselves.  For \"bread\" signifies\ngood of love to the Lord, and \"wine\" the truth of faith in Him; and good\nseparated from truth is not good, nor is truth separated from good\ntruth, for truth is truth from good, and good is good in truth.  And so\nin other things. (A.E., n. 1054.)\n\nThose who are in the love of self, and from that in the love of ruling,\nand who covet, acquire, and afterward exercise supremacy by means of the\nholy things of the Word, of the church, and of worship, are those who\nprofane.  For the delight of the love of ruling for self's sake, that\nis, for the sake of eminence, and consequent homage and a kind of\nworship of self, is an infernal delight.  Moreover, this prevails in\nhell, for in hell everyone wills to be the greatest, while in heaven\neveryone wills to be the least; and to rule over holy things from an\ninfernal delight is to profane them.\n\nBut this second kind of profanation of the holy things of the church is\nnot like the former kind of the profanation of them.  Those fall into\nthe former kind in whom a communication with heaven has been effected by\nthe opening of their spiritual mind; while this second kind of\nprofanation those fall into in whom the spiritual mind has not been\nopened, or communication with heaven effected through it.  For so long\nas the delight of the love of ruling resides in man, that mind cannot be\nopened, and communication with heaven is not possible to him.\n\nMoreover, the lot of these profaners after death differs from the lot of\nthe former.  The former, as has been said, are in an unceasing delirium\nof fantasy; but these hate the Lord, hate heaven, hate the Word, hate\nthe church, and hate all its holy things; and they come into such hatred\nbecause their dominion is taken away from them, and thus their state is\nchanged into its opposite.  They appear like something fiery, and their\nhell appears like a conflagration; for infernal fire is nothing else\nthan a lust for ruling from love of self.  These are among the worst,\nand are called devils, while the others are called satans. (A.E., n.\n1055.)\n\nThe love of ruling by the holy things of the church as means wholly\nshuts up the interiors of the human mind from the inmosts toward the\noutmosts, according to the kind and strength of that love.  But to make\nclear that they are shut up, something shall first be said about the\ninteriors belonging to the human mind.  Man has a spiritual mind, a\nrational mind, a natural mind, and a sensual mind.  By means of the\nspiritual mind man is in heaven and is a heaven in its least form.  By\nmeans of the natural mind he is in the world and is a world in its least\nform.  Heaven in man communicates with the world in him by means of the\nrational mind, and with the body by means of the sensual mind.  The\nsensual mind is the first to be opened in man after his birth; after\nthat the natural mind, and as he seeks to become intelligent the\nrational mind, and as he seeks to become wise the spiritual mind.  And\nat length, as man becomes wise the spiritual mind becomes to him as the\nhead, and the natural mind as the body, and the rational mind serves as\na neck to join this to the head, and then the sensual mind becomes like\nthe sole of the foot.\n\nIn little children the Lord so arranges all these minds by means of the\ninflow of innocence from heaven that they can be opened.  But with those\nwho begin from childhood to be inflamed with the lust of ruling through\nthe holy things of the church as means, the spiritual mind is wholly\nshut; so, too, is the rational mind, and finally the natural mind, even\nto the sensual mind, or as it is said in heaven, even to the nose.  And\nthus men become merely sensual, and are the most stupid of all in things\nspiritual and thus in things rational, and the most crafty of all in\nworldly and thus in civil matters.  That they are so stupid in spiritual\nthings they do not themselves know, because in heart they do not believe\nthese things, and because they believe craft to be prudence and cunning\nto be wisdom.  And yet all of this kind differ according to the kind and\nstrength of their lust for ruling and for exercising rule, also\naccording to the kind and strength of the persuasion that they are holy,\nand according to the kind of good and truth from the Word that they\nprofane.  (A.E., n. 1056.)\n\nProfaners of this kind are stupid and foolish in spiritual things, but\nare crafty and keen in worldly things, because they make one with the\ndevils in hell, and because, as has been said above, they are merely\nsensual, and are therefore in what is their own (proprium), which draws\nits delight of life from the unclean effluvia that exhale from waste\nmatters in the body, and that are emitted from dunghills; and these\ncause a swelling of their breasts when their pride is active and the\ntitillation of these cause delight.  That such is the source of their\ndelight is made evident by their delights after death when they are\nliving as spirits; for then more than the sweetest odors do they love\nthe rank stenches arising from the gases of the belly and from\nouthouses, which to their smell are more fragrant than thyme.  The\napproach and touch of these close up the interiors of their mind, and\nopen the exteriors pertaining to the body, from which come their\nquickness in worldly things and their dullness in spiritual things.\n\nIn a word, the love of ruling by means of the holy things of the church\ncorresponds to filth, and its delight to a stench indescribable by\nwords, and at which angels shudder. Such is the exhalation from their\nhells when they are opened; but they are kept closed because of the\noppression and occasional swooning which they produce. (A.E., n. 1057.)\n\nIV. The Third Kind of Profanation\n\nIn the third kind of profanation are those who with devout gestures and\npious utterance worship Divine things, and yet in heart and spirit deny\nthem; thus who venerate the holy things of the Word and of the church\nand of worship outwardly or before the world, and yet at home or in\nsecret deride them.  When those of this class are in a holy external,\nand are teaching in a church or conversing with the common people, they\ndo not know otherwise than that what they are saying is so; but as soon\nas they return into themselves their thought is reversed.  Because these\nare such they can counterfeit angels of light, although they are angels\nof darkness.\n\nFrom this it is clear that this kind of profanation is a hypocritical\nkind.  They are not unlike images made of filth and gilded, or like\nfruits rotten within but with a beautiful skin, or like nuts eaten by\nworms within but with a whole shell.  From all this it is evident that\ntheir internal is diabolical, and therefore that their holy external is\nprofane.\n\nSuch are some of the rulers in the Babylon of the present day, and many\nof a certain society in Babylon, as those of them know who claim to\nthemselves dominion over the souls of men and over heaven.  For to\nbelieve as they do, that power has been given them to save and to admit\ninto heaven, is the very opposite of acknowledging in heart that there\nis a God, and for the reason that man, in order to be saved and admitted\ninto heaven, must look to the Lord and pray to Him. But a man who\nbelieves that such power has been given him looks to himself, and\nbelieves the things that are the Lord's to be in himself; and to believe\nthis, and at the same time to believe that there is a God or that God is\nin him, is impossible.  For a man to believe that God is in him when he\nthinks himself to be above the holy things of the church, and heaven to\nbe in his power, is like ascribing that belief to Lucifer, who burns\nwith the fire of ruling over all things.  If such a man thinks that God\nis in him he cannot think this otherwise than from himself; and thinking\nfrom himself that God is in him is thinking not that God is in him, but\nthat he himself is God, as is said of Lucifer in Isaiah (xiv. 13, 14),\nby whom is there meant Babylon, as is evident from the fourth and\ntwenty-second verses of the same chapter.\n\nMoreover, such a man of himself, when power is given him, shows forth\nwhat he is of himself, and this by degrees according to his elevation.\nFrom this it is clear that such are atheists, some avowedly, some\nclandestinely, and some ignorantly.  And as they regard dominion as an\nend, and the holy things of heaven and the church as means, they\ncounterfeit angels of light in face, gesture, and speech, and thus\nprofane holy things.  (A.E., n. 1058.)\n\nThose who are in this kind of profanation, which is hypocritical, differ\nin this respect, that there are those who have less ability and those\nwho have more ability to conceal the interiors of their mind, that they\nmay not be disclosed, and to shape the exteriors, which pertain to face\nand mouth, into an expression of sanctity.  When such after death become\nspirits they appear encompassed with a cloud, in the midst of which is\nsomething black, like an Egyptian mummy.  But as they are raised up as\nit were into the light of heaven, that bright cloud changes to a\ndiabolical duskiness, not from any shining through it, but from a\nbreathing through it, and the consequent disclosing.  In hell,\ntherefore, these are black devils.  The differences in this kind of\nprofanation are known from the blackness, as being more or less\nhorrifying.  (A.E., n. 1059.)\n\nV. The Fourth and Fifth Kinds of Profanation\n\nA fourth kind of profanation is to live a life of piety, by frequenting\nchurches, listening devoutly to preachings, observing the sacrament of\nthe Supper, and the other appointed forms of worship, reading the Word\nat home, and sometimes books of devotion, and habitually praying morning\nand evening, and yet making the precepts of life that are in the Word,\nparticularly in the Decalogue, of no account, by acting dishonestly and\nunjustly in business and in judgments for the sake of gain or influenced\nby friendship; committing whoredom and adultery when lust inflames and\nurges; burning with hate and revenge against those who do not favor\ntheir gain or honor; lying, and speaking evil of the good, and good of\nthe evil, and so on.  When a man is in these evils, and has not been\npurified from them by turning away from them and hating them, and still\nworships God devoutly, as has been said above, then he profanes; for he\nmingles his internals which are impure with externals that are pious,\nand these he defiles.\n\nFor there can be nothing external that does not proceed and have\nexistence from internals.  The actions and speech of man are his\nexternals, and thoughts and volitions are his internals.  Man can speak\nonly from thought, and can act only from volition.  When the life of the\nthoughts and of the will is infected with craft, cunning, and violence,\nit must needs be that these, as interior evils of the life, will flow\ninto the speech and actions pertaining to worship and piety, and defile\nthem as filth defiles waters.\n\nThis worship is what is meant by \"Gog and Magog\" (Apoc. xx. 8), and is\nthus described in Isaiah:\n\n\"What is the multitude of sacrifices unto Me, meat offerings, incense,\nsabbaths, new moons, appointed feasts, and prayers, when your hands are\nfull of bloods?  Wash you, make you clean, put away the wickedness of\nyour doings . . . ; cease to do evil\"  (i.  11-19).\n\nThis kind of profanation is not hypocritical like the former, because\nthe man who is in it believes that he will be saved by external worship\nseparate from internal, and does not know that the worship by which he\ncan be saved is external worship from internal.  (A.E., n. 1061.)\n\nThose who give themselves up wholly to a life of piety, who walk\ncontinually in pious meditations, who pray frequently upon their knees,\nand talk about salvation, faith, and love at all times and in all\nplaces, and yet do not shun frauds, adulteries, hatreds, blasphemies,\nand the like, as sins against God, nor fight against them, such are the\nkind that are more fully profaners; for by the impurities of their minds\nthey defile the piety of their lips, especially when they renounce the\nworld and lead solitary lives.  Of this kind there are some who are\nstill more profaners; these are like those just described, but by\nreasonings and by the Word falsely interpreted they defend their vices\nas adulteries and lusts that belong to their nature, and thus to their\nenjoyment.  Such first regard themselves as free from danger, afterward\nas blameless, and at length as holy; and thus under the veil of sanctity\nthey cast themselves into uncleannesses with which both themselves and\ntheir garments are polluted. (A.E., n. 1062.)\n\nTo this class of profaners those especially belong who read the Word and\nknow about the Lord; because from the Lord through the Word are all\nthings holy that can be profaned; things not from that source cannot be\nprofaned.  That is said to be profane that is the opposite of what is\nholy, and that offers violence to what is holy and destroys it.  From\nthis it follows that those who do not read the Word and do not approach\nthe Lord, as is the case with the Papists, still less those who know\nnothing about the Lord and the Word, like the Gentiles, do not belong to\nthis class of profaners.\n\nThose who belong to this class of profaners appear after death at first\nwith a face of human color, around which float many wandering stars; and\nthose of them that had been leaders sometimes appear shining about the\nlips.  But as they are brought into the light of heaven, the stars and\nthe shining of the lips vanish, and the color of the face is changed to\nblack, and likewise their garments.  But the blackness of these\nprofaners tends to blue, as the blackness of the other kind of profaners\ntends to red, for the reason that the latter profane the goods of the\nWord and of the church, while the others profane the truths of the Word\nand of the church.  For red derives from the sun its signification of\ngood, while blue derives from the sky its signification of truth.\n(A.E., n. 1063.)\n\nThe fifth kind of profanation is not like the others that have been\ntreated of, for it consists in jesting from the Word and about the Word.\nFor those who make jokes from the Word do not regard it as holy, and\nthose who joke about it hold it in no esteem.  And yet the Word is the\nvery Divine truth of the Lord with men, and the Lord is present in the\nWord, and heaven also; for every particular of the Word communicates\nwith heaven, and through heaven with the Lord; therefore to jest from\nthe Word or about the Word is to bespatter the holy things of heaven\nwith the dust of the earth.  (A.E., n. 1064.)\n\n\n\n\nPart Fourth--THE DIVINE WORD\n\nI. The Holiness of the Word\n\nIt was said of old that the Word is from God, Divinely inspired, and\nthus holy; and yet it has not been known heretofore where in the Word\nthe Divine is.  For the Word appears in the letter like a common writing\nin a foreign style, and a style not so sublime or so lucid as appears in\nthe writings of the present ages.  For this reason a man who worships\nnature more than God, or in place of God, and thus thinks from himself\nand what is his own (proprium), and not from the Lord out of heaven, can\neasily fall into error respecting the Word, and into contempt for it,\nsaying in his heart when he reads it, What is this, or what is that?  Is\nthis Divine?  Can God who has infinite wisdom speak in this manner?\nWhere is its holiness, and from what source, unless from the religion\nwhose ministers it serves? and other like things.  But that it may be\nknown that the Word is Divine, not only in every meaning but also in\nevery expression, its internal sense, which is spiritual, and which is\nin its external sense, which is natural, as a soul in its body, has now\nbeen revealed.  This sense can bear witness to the Divinity and\nconsequent holiness of the Word; and can convince even the natural man\nthat the Word is Divine if he is willing to be convinced.  (A.E., n.\n1065.)\n\nIn brief, the Word is Divine truth itself, which gives wisdom to angels\nand enlightens men.  As Divine truth goes forth from the Lord, and as\nwhat goes forth is Himself out of Himself, the same as light and heat go\nforth from the sun and are the sun, that is, are of the sun out of it,\nand as the Word is Divine truth, it is therefore the Lord, as it is\ncalled in John (i. 1-3, 14).  In as much as Divine truth, which is the\nWord, in its descent into the world from the Lord, has passed through\nthe three heavens, it has become accommodated to each heaven, and lastly\nto men also in the world.  This is why there are in the Word four\nsenses, one outside of the other from the highest heaven down to the\nworld, or one within the other from the world up to the highest heaven.\nThese four senses are called the celestial, the spiritual, the natural\nfrom the celestial and spiritual, and the merely natural.  This last is\nfor the world, the next for the lowest heaven, the spiritual for the\nsecond heaven, and the celestial for the third.  These four senses\ndiffer so greatly from one another that when one is exhibited beside the\nother no connection can be recognized; and yet they make one when one\nfollows the other; for one follows from the other as an effect from a\ncause, or as what is posterior from what is prior; consequently as an\neffect represents its cause and corresponds to its cause, so the\nposterior sense corresponds to the prior; and thus it is that all four\nsenses make one through correspondences.\n\nFrom all this these truths follow.  The outmost sense of the Word, which\nis the sense of the letter, and the fourth in order, contains in itself\nthe three interior senses, which are for the three heavens.  These three\nsenses are unfolded and exhibited in the heavens when a man on the earth\nis reverently reading the Word.  Therefore the sense of the letter of\nthe Word is that from which and through which there is communication\nwith the heavens, also from which and through which man has conjunction\nwith the heavens.  The sense of the letter of the Word is the basis of\nDivine truth in the heavens, and without such a basis Divine truth would\nbe like a house without a foundation; and without such a basis the\nwisdom of the angels would be like a house in the air.  It is the sense\nof the letter of the Word in which the power of Divine truth consists.\nIt is the sense of the letter of the Word through which man is\nenlightened by the Lord, and through which he receives answers when he\nwishes to be enlightened.  It is the sense of the letter of the Word by\nwhich everything of doctrine on the earth must be established.  In the\nsense of the letter of the Word is Divine truth in its fullness.  In the\nsense of the letter of the Word Divine truth is in its holiness. (A.E.,\nn. 1066.)\n\nThat the Word is Divine truth itself, which gives wisdom to angels and\nenlightens men, can be perceived or seen only by a man enlightened.  For\nto a worldly man, whose mind has not been raised above the sensual\nsphere, the Word in the sense of the letter appears so simple that\nscarcely anything could be more simple; and yet Divine truth, such as it\nis in the heavens and from which angels have their wisdom, lies\nconcealed in it as in its sanctuary.  For the Word in the letter is like\nthe adytum [sanctum] in the midst of a temple covered with a veil,\nwithin which lie deposited mysteries of heavenly wisdom such as no ear\nhath heard.  For in the Word and in every particular of it there is a\nspiritual sense, and in that sense a Divine celestial sense, which\nregarded in itself is Divine truth itself, which is in the heavens and\nwhich gives wisdom to angels and enlightenment to men.\n\nThe Divine truth that is in the heavens is light going forth from the\nLord as a Sun, which is Divine love.  And as the Divine truth that goes\nforth from the Lord is the light of heaven, so it is the Divine wisdom.\nIt is this that illuminates both the minds and the eyes of angels, and\nit is this also that enlightens the minds of men, but not their eyes,\nand that enables them to understand truth and also to perceive good when\nman reads the Word from the Lord and not from self; for he is then a\nparticipator with angels, and has an inward perception like the\nspiritual perception of angels; and that spiritual perception which the\nangel-man has flows into his natural perception which is his own while\nin the world and enlightens it.  Consequently the man who reads the Word\nfrom an affection for truth has enlightenment through heaven from the\nLord.  (A.E., n. 1067.)\n\nII. The Lord is the Word\n\nSince the Word is Divine truth, and this goes forth from the Lord's\nDivine Esse (being), as light from the sun, it follows that the Lord is\nthe Word because He is Divine truth.  The Lord is the Word, because He\nis Divine truth, and this goes forth His Divine Esse (being), which is\nDivine love, because the Divine love was in Him when in the world as a\nsoul is in its body; and as Divine truth goes forth from Divine love as\nlight goes forth from the sun, as has been said, so the Lord's Human in\nthe world was Divine truth going forth from the Divine love that was in\nHim.  That the Divine itself, which is called \"Jehovah\" and the\n\"Father,\" and which is the Divine love, was in the Lord from conception,\nis evident in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. In Matthew from these\nwords:\n\nWhen Mary the mother of Jesus had been betrothed to Joseph, \"before they\ncame together she was found with child of the Holy Spirit.\"  And the\nangle said to Joseph in a dream, \"Fear not to take unto thee Mary thy\nwife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit\" . . .\nThis came to pass that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the\nLord by the prophet: . . . \"Behold a virgin shall be with child, and\nshall bring forth a son.\"  And Joseph \"knew her not until she had\nbrought forth her firstborn son; and he called His name Jesus\" (i.\n18-25).\n\nAnd in Luke from these words:\n\nThe angel said to Mary, \"Behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and\nbring forth a son, and shalt call His name Jesus; He shall be great, and\nshall be called the Son of the Most High.\" . . . Then Mary said unto the\nangel, \"How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?\"  The angel answered\nher, \"The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most\nHigh shall overshadow thee; wherefore also the Holy Thing that shall be\nborn of thee shall be called the Son of God\" (i. 30-35).\n\nIt was because He was conceived of Jehovah that He is so frequently\ncalled in the Word \"the Son of God,\" and Jehovah is called His \"Father.\"\nJehovah in respect to His Esse (being) is Divine love, and in respect to\nHis Existere (outgo) He is Divine good united to Divine truth.\n\nFrom this it can be seen what is meant by:\n\nThe Word that was with God and that was God, and also was the light that\nenlighteneth every man (John i. 1-10), namely, that it was Divine truth\ngoing forth from the Lord, thus the Lord in respect to His Existere\n(outgo).  That the Lord in respect to His Existere was Divine truth, and\nthat this was His Divine Human, because this came forth from His Divine\nEsse as a body from its soul, these words in John clearly certify:\n\nThe Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory\nas of the only begotten of the Father (i. 14).\n\n\"The Word\" is the Divine truth, which also is \"glory\"; \"flesh\" means the\nDivine Human; \"the only begotten of the Father\" means the springing\nforth or going forth from the Divine Esse in Him.  (A.E., n. 1069.)\n\nBut as the world does not know how the words in John (i. 1, 2, 14) that\nthe Lord is the Word, are to be understood, this shall be further\nexplained.  It is known in the church that God is good itself and truth\nitself, and thus that all the good that an angel has and that a man has\nis from God, and likewise all truth.  Now since the Lord is God He is\nalso Divine good and Divine truth; and this is what is meant by \"the\nWord, that was with God, and was God,\" and also was \"the light that\nenlighteneth every man,\" and that also \"became flesh,\" that is, Man in\nthe world.\n\nThat when the Lord was in the world He was the Divine truth, which is\nthe Word, He Himself teaches in many passages where He calls Himself\n\"the Light,\" also where He calls Himself \"the Way, the Truth, and the\nLife\"; and where He says that \"the Spirit of truth\" goes forth from Him.\n\"The Spirit of truth\" is the Divine truth.  When the Lord was\ntransfigured He represented the Word, \"His face that shone as the sun\"\nrepresented its Divine good; and His garments, which were \"bright as the\nlight\" and \"white as snow,\" represented its Divine truth.  \"Moses and\nElijah,\" who then talked with the Lord, also signified the Word, \"Moses\"\nthe historical Word and \"Elijah\" the prophetic Word. Moreover, all\nthings of the Lord's passion represented the kind of violence that the\nJewish nation offered to the Word. Again, the Lord from Divine truth,\nwhich He is, is called \"God,\" \"King,\" and \"Angel,\" and is meant by \"the\nrock in Horeb,\" and \"the rock\" where Peter is spoken of.  All this makes\nclear that the Lord is the Word, because He is Divine truth.  The Word\nin the letter, which is with us, is the Divine truths in outmosts.\n(A.E., n. 1070.)\n\nAs it cannot but transcend the comprehension that the Lord in relation\nto His Human in the world was the Word, that is, Divine truth; according\nto these words in John,\n\n\"And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory,\nthe glory as of the only begotten of the Father\" (i. 14), it shall be\nexplained, as far as possible, to the comprehension.  It can be said of\nevery regenerate man that he is his own truth and his own good, since\nthe thought which belongs to his understanding is from truths, and the\naffection which belongs to his will is from goods. Whether you say,\ntherefore, that a man is his own understanding and his own will, or that\na man is his own truth and his own good, it amounts to the same thing.\nThe body is mere obedience; for it speaks that which man thinks from the\nunderstanding, and does that which he wills from affection. Thus these\nthings and the body mutually correspond and make one, like an effect and\nits effecting cause; and these taken together constitute the human.\n\nAs it can be said of the regenerate man that he is his own truth and his\nown good, so it can be said of the Lord as Man, that He is truth itself\nor Divine truth, and good itself or Divine good.  All this makes evident\nthe truth that the Lord in relation to His Human in the world was Divine\ntruth, that is the Word; and that everything that He then said was\nDivine truth, which is the Word; and that since the time when he went to\nthe Father, that is, became one with the Father, the Divine truth going\nforth from Him is the Spirit of truth, which goes out and goes forth\nfrom Him, and at the same time from the Father in Him. (A.E., n. 1071.)\n\nIII. The Lord's Words Spirit and Life\n\nThat the Word is holy and Divine from inmosts to outermosts is not\nevident to the man who leads himself, but is evident to the man whom the\nLord leads.  For the man who leads himself sees only the external of the\nWord, and forms his opinion of it from its style; but the man whom the\nLord leads forms his opinion of the external of the Word from the\nholiness that is in it.\n\nThe Word is like a garden, that may be called a heavenly paradise, in\nwhich are delicacies and charms of every kind, delicacies from the\nfruits, and charms from the flowers; and in the middle of it trees of\nlife, and near them fountains of living water, and round about trees of\nthe forest, and near them rivers.  The man who leads himself forms his\nopinion of that paradise, which is the Word, from its circumference,\nwhere the trees of the forest are; but the man whom the Lord leads forms\nhis opinion of it from the middle of it, where the trees of life are.\nThe man whom the Lord leads is actually in the middle of it, and looks\nto the Lord; but the man who leads himself actually sits down at the\ncircumference, and looks away from it to the world.\n\nAgain, the Word is like fruit within which there is a nutritious pulp,\nand in the middle of it seed vessels, in which inmostly is a living germ\nthat germinates in good soil.  Again, the Word is also like a most\nbeautiful infant, about which, except the face, there are wrappings upon\nwrappings; the infant itself is in the inmost heaven, the wrappings are\nin the lower heavens, and the general covering of the wrappings is on\nthe earth.  As the Word is such it is holy and Divine from inmosts to\noutermosts. (A.E., n. 1072.)\n\nThe Word is such because in its origin it is the Divine itself that goes\nforth from the Lord, and is called Divine truth; and when this descended\nto men in the world it passed through the heavens in their order\naccording to their degrees, which are three; and in each heaven it was\nrecorded in accommodation to the wisdom and intelligence of the angels\nthere.  Finally it was brought down from the Lord through the heavens to\nmen, and there it was recorded and made known in adaptation to man's\nunderstanding and apprehension.  This, therefore, is the sense of its\nletter, and in this lies Divine truth such as it is in the three\nheavens, stored up in distinct order.\n\nFrom this it is clear that the entire wisdom of the angels in the three\nheavens has been imparted by the Lord to our Word, and in its inmost\nthere is the wisdom of the angels of the third heaven, which is\nincomprehensible and ineffable to man, because full of mysteries and\ntreasures of Divine verities.  These lie stored up in each particular\nand in all the particulars of our Word.  And as Divine truth is the Lord\nin the heavens, so the Lord Himself is present, and may be said to dwell\nin all the particulars and each particular of His Word, as He does in\nHis heavens; and in the same way as He has said of the ark of the\ncovenant, in which were deposited only the Ten Commandments written on\nthe two tables, the first-fruits of the Word, for He said that He would\nspeak there with Moses and Aaron, that He would be present there, that\nHe would dwell there, and that it was His holy of holies, and His\ndwelling place as in heaven. (A.E., n., 1073.)\n\nAs the Divine truth, in passing from the Lord Himself through the three\nheavens down to men in the world, is recorded and becomes the Word in\neach heaven, so the Word is a bond of union of the heavens with each\nother, and a bond of union of the heavens with the church in the world.\nFor the Word is the same everywhere, differing only in perfection of\nglory and wisdom according to the degrees in which the heavens are;\nconsequently the holy Divine from the Lord flows in through the heavens\ninto the man in the world who acknowledges the Lord's Divine and the\nholiness of the Word whenever he reads the Word; and so far as such a\nman loves wisdom he can be instructed and can imbibe wisdom from the\nWord as from the Lord Himself, or from heaven itself, and can thus be\nnourished with the food with which the angels themselves are nourished,\nand in which there is life; according to these words of the Lord:\n\n\"The words that I speak unto you are spirit and are life\" (John vi. 63).\n\"The water that I will give you shall become . . . a fountain of water\nspringing up unto eternal life\" (John iv. 14). \"Man doth not live by\nbread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God\"\n(Matt. iv. 4). \"Work . . . for the meat that abideth unto eternal life,\nwhich the Son of man shall give unto you\" (John vi. 27).\n\nSuch is the Word.  (A.E., n. 1074.)\n\nIt has been said that the Divine truth goes forth from the Lord, and\nthat the Word is from that, and that through the Word angels and men\nhave wisdom.  But so long as it is unknown how Divine truth goes forth\nfrom the Lord, this may be said but it cannot be understood.  Divine\ntruth, which is the same as Divine wisdom, goes forth from the Lord as\nlight and heat do from the sun.  The Lord is Divine love itself, and\nlove appears in the heavens from correspondence as fire, and the Lord's\nDivine love as a sun, glowing and resplendent like the sun of the world.\nFrom that sun, which is high above the heavens where the angels are, and\nwhich is Divine love, heat and light go forth; the heat therefrom is\nDivine good, and the light therefrom is Divine truth.  The heat is\nDivine good, because all heat of life going forth from love is felt as\ngood, for it is spiritual heat; and the light is Divine truth because\nall light going forth from love is felt as truth, for it is spiritual\nlight; consequently it is from that light that the understanding sees\ntruths, and it is from that heat that the will is sensible of goods; and\nthis is why in the Word love is meant by heavenly fire and wisdom by\nheavenly light.\n\nIt is the same with a man and with an angel.  Every angel and man is his\nown love, and a sphere flowing out from his love encompasses every man\nand angel.  That sphere consists of the good of his love and of the\ntruth of his love, for love gives forth both, as fire gives forth both\nheat and light; from the will of a man or angel it gives forth good, and\nfrom his understanding it gives forth truth.  This sphere, when the man\nor angel is good, has an extension into the heavens in every direction\naccording to the character and amount of the love, and into the hells in\nevery direction when the man or angel is evil.  But the sphere of the\nlove of a man or an angel has a finite extension into a few societies\nonly of heaven or hell, while the sphere of the Lord's love, being\nDivine, has an infinite extension, and creates the heavens themselves.\n(A.E., n. 1076.)\n\nThe Word of the Lord is wonderful in this respect, that in every\nparticular of it there is a reciprocal union of good and truth, which\ntestifies that the Word is the Divine that goes forth from the Lord,\nwhich is Divine good and Divine truth reciprocally united; and also\ntestifies that in the Word there is a marriage of the Lord with heaven\nand the church, which also is reciprocal.  There is a marriage of good\nand truth, also of truth and good, in every particular of the Word, in\norder that it may be a source of wisdom to angels and of intelligence to\nmen, for from good alone no wisdom or intelligence is born, neither from\ntruth alone, but from their marriage when the love is reciprocal.  This\nreciprocal love the Lord sets forth in John:\n\n\"He that eateth My flesh and drinketh My blood abideth in Me and I in\nhim\" (vi. 56).\n\nIn the same,\n\n\"In that day ye shall know, that . . . ye are in Me and I in you.  He\nthat hath My commandments and doeth them, he it is that loveth Me; . . .\nand I will love him\" (xiv. 20, 21).\n\nThe reciprocality is that such are in the Lord and the Lord is in them,\nalso that whoever loves the Lord, the Lord also will love him.  \"To have\nHis commandments\" is to be in truths, and \"to do them\" is to be in good.\n\nReciprocality is also described by the Lord in His union with the\nFather, in these words,\n\n\"Philip, . . . How sayest thou, Show us the Father? Believest thou not\nthat I am in the Father and the Father in Me?  . . . Believe Me, that I\nam in the Father and the Father in Me\" (John xiv. 9-11).\n\nFrom this reciprocal union of the Divine and the Human in the Lord the\nreciprocal union of Divine good and Divine truth goes forth; and this\ngoes forth from the Lord's Divine love; and the same is true of the\nLord's reciprocal union with heaven and the church, and in general the\nreciprocal union of good and truth in an angel of heaven and in a man of\nthe church.  And as good is of charity and truth is of faith, and as\ncharity and faith make the church, it follows that the church is in a\nman when there is a reciprocal union of charity and faith in him.\nAgain, as good is of the will and truth is of the understanding, and as\nthe will and understanding make man, it follows that a man is a man\naccording to the union of the will and all things belonging to it with\nthe understanding and all things belonging to it, and this reciprocally.\nThis union is what is called marriage, which from creation is in every\nparticular of heaven and in every particular of the world; and from this\nis the production and the generation of all things.  That in every\nparticular of the Word there is such a marriage that good loves truth\nand truth loves good, thus mutually and in turn, is disclosed in the\nspiritual sense of the Word; and it is from this marriage that good and\ntruth are one and not two, and are one when good is of truth and truth\nis of good.  (A.E., n. 1077).\n\nThe Word in the sense of the letter appears very simple, and yet there\nis stored up in it the wisdom of the three heavens, for each least\nparticular of it contains interior and more interior senses; an interior\nsense such as exists in the first heaven, a still more interior sense\nsuch as exists in the second heaven, and an inmost sense such as exists\nin the third heaven.  These senses are in the sense of the letter, one\nwithin the other, and are evolved therefrom one after the other, each\nfrom its own heaven, when the Word is read by a man who is led by the\nLord. These interior senses differ in a degree of light and wisdom\naccording to the heavens, and yet they make one by influx, and thus by\ncorrespondences.  How they thus make one shall be told in what follows.\nAll this makes clear how the Word was inspired by the Divine, and that\nit was written from an inspiration to which nothing else in the world\ncan in anywise be compared.  The mysteries of wisdom of the three\nheavens contained in it are the mystical things of which many have\nspoken.  (A.E., n. 1079.)\n\nIV. Influx and Correspondence\n\nIt has been said that there is a Word in each heaven and that these\nWords are in our Word in their order, and that they thus make one by\ninflux and consequent correspondences. Here, therefore, it shall be told\nwhat correspondence is and what influx is; otherwise what the Word is\ninwardly in its bosom, thus in respect to its life from the Lord, which\nis its soul, cannot be understood.\n\nBut what correspondence is and what influx is shall be illustrated by\nexamples.  The changes of the face that are called expressions\ncorrespond to the affections of the mind; consequently the face changes\nin respect to its expressions just as the affections of the mind change\nin respect to their states.  These changes in the face are\ncorrespondences, as consequently the face itself is; and the action of\nthe mind into it, that the correspondences may be exhibited, is called\ninflux.  The sight of man's thought, which is called the understanding,\ncorresponds to the sight of his eyes; and consequently the quality of\nthe thought from the understanding is made evident by the light and\nflame of the eyes.  The sight of the eye is a correspondence, as\nconsequently the eye itself is; the action of the understanding into the\neye, by which the correspondence is exhibited, is influx.  Active\nthought, which belongs to the understanding, corresponding to speech,\nwhich belongs to the mouth.  The speech is a correspondence, likewise\nthe mouth and everything belonging to it, and the action of thought into\nspeech and into the organs of speech is influx.  The perception of the\nmind corresponds to the smell of the nostrils.  The smell and the\nnostrils are correspondences, and the action is influx.  For this reason\na man who has interior perception is said to have a keen nose, and\nperceiving a thing is called scenting it out. Hearkening, which means\nobedience, corresponds to the hearing of the ears; consequently both the\nhearing and the ears are correspondences, and the action of obedience\ninto the hearing, that a man may raise his ears and attend, is influx;\ntherefore hearkening and hearing are both significative, hearkening and\ngiving ear to anyone meaning to obey, and hearkening and hearing anyone\nmeaning to hear with the ears.  The action of the body corresponds to\nthe will, the action of the heart corresponds to the life of the love,\nthe action of the lungs, which is called respiration, corresponds to the\nlife of the faith, and the whole body in respect to all its members,\nviscera, and organs, corresponds to the soul in respect to all the\nfunctions and powers of its life.\n\nFrom these few examples it can be seen what correspondence is and what\ninflux is; and that when the spiritual, which belongs to the life of\nman's understanding and will, flows into the acts which belong to his\nbody, it exhibits itself in a natural effigy, and there is\ncorrespondence; also that thus the spiritual and the natural act as one\nby correspondences, like interior and exterior, or like prior and\nposterior, or like the effecting cause and the effect, or like the\nprincipal cause which belongs to man's thought and will, and the\ninstrumental cause which belongs to his speech and action.  There is\nsuch a correspondence of natural things and spiritual not only in each\nand every thing of man, but also in each every thing of the world; and\nthe correspondences are produced by an influx of the spiritual world and\nall things of it into the natural world and all things of it.  From all\nthis it can be seen in some measure how our Word, as to the sense of the\nletter, which is natural, makes one by influx and correspondences with\nthe Words in the heavens, the senses of which are spiritual. (A.E., n.\n1080.)\n\nWhat the Word is in respect to influx and correspondences can now be\nshown.  It is said in John:\n\n\"He hath blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, lest they should\nsee with their eyes and understand with their heart, and should turn\nthemselves and I should heal them\" (xii. 40).\n\nThe \"eyes\" that are blinded signify the understanding of truth and\nbelief in it; the \"heart\" that is hardened signifies the will and love\nof good; and \"to be healed\" signifies to be reformed.  They were not\npermitted \"to turn themselves and be healed\" lest they should commit\nprofanation; for a wicked man who is healed and who returns to his evil\nand falsity commits profanation; and so it would have been with the\nJewish nation.  In Matthew:\n\n\"Blessed are your eyes, for they see; and your ears, for they hear\"\n(xiii. 16).\n\nHere, too, the \"eyes\" signify the understanding of truth and belief in\nit; so \"to see\" signifies to understand and believe, and the \"ears\"\nsignify obedience, thus a life according to the truths of faith, and \"to\nhear\" signifies to obey and live.  For one is blessed not because he\nsees and hears, but because he understands, believes, obeys, and lives.\nIn the same,\n\n\"The lamp of the body is the eye; if the eye be sound the whole body is\nlight, if the eye be evil the whole body is darkened.  If, therefore,\nthe light . . . be darkness, how great is the darkness\" (vi. 22, 23).\n\nHere, again, the \"eye\" signifies the understanding of truth and belief\nin it, which is called a lamp from the light of truth that man has from\nunderstanding and belief.  And because a man becomes wise from\nunderstanding and believing in truth, it is said \"if the eye be sound\nthe whole body is light.\"  The \"body\" means the man, and \"to be light\"\nmeans to be wise.  But it is the reverse with the \"evil eye,\" that is,\nunderstanding and believing in falsity.  \"Darkness\" means falsities, \"if\nthe light be darkness\" signifies if the truth be false or falsified, and\nbecause truth falsified is worse than any other falsity, it is said, \"If\nthe light be darkness, how great is the darkness.\"\n\nThese few examples make clear what correspondence is and what influx is,\nnamely, that the eye is a correspondence of the understanding and faith,\nthe heart a correspondence of the will and love, the ears a\ncorrespondence of obedience, the lamp and light correspondences of\ntruth, and darkness a correspondence of falsity, and so on; and as the\none is spiritual and the other is natural, and the spiritual acts into\nthe natural and forms it to a likeness of itself that it may appear\nbefore the eyes or before the world, so that action is influx.  Such is\nthe Word in each and every particular.  (A.E., n. 1081.)\n\nThe spiritual by influx presents what is correspondent to itself in the\nnatural, in order that the end may become a cause, and the cause become\nan effect, and thus the end through the cause may present itself in the\neffect as visible and sensible.  This trine, namely, end, cause, and\neffect, exists from creation in every heaven.  The end is good of love,\nthe cause is truth from that good, and the effect is use.  The producing\nforce is love, and the product therefrom is of love from good by means\nof truth.  The final products, which are in our world, are various, as\nnumerous as the objects are in its three kingdoms of nature, animal,\nvegetable, and mineral.  All products are correspondences. As this\ntrine, namely, end, cause, and effect, exists in each heaven, there must\nbe in each heaven products that are correspondences, and that are like\nin form and aspect the objects in the three kingdoms of our earth; from\nwhich it is clear that each heaven is like our earth in outward\nappearance, differing only in excellence and beauty according to\ndegrees.  Now in order that the Word may be full, that is, may consist\nof effects in which are a cause and an end, or may consist of uses in\nwhich truth is the cause and good is the end and love is the producing\nforce, it must needs consist of correspondences; and from this it\nfollows that the Word in each heaven is like the Word in our world,\ndiffering only in excellence and beauty according to degrees.  What this\ndifference is shall be told elsewhere. (A.E., n. 1082.)\n\nV. The Three Senses in the Word\n\nAs there is a trine, one within another, in every last particular of the\nWord, and this trine is like that of effect, cause, and end, it follows\nthat there are three senses in the Word, one within another, namely, a\nnatural, a spiritual, and a celestial; a natural for the world, a\nspiritual for the heavens of the Lord's spiritual kingdom, and a\ncelestial for the heavens of His celestial kingdom. (That the entire\nheavens are divided into two kingdoms, the spiritual and the celestial,\nmay be seen in Heaven and Hell, n. 20-28.)  Now as there is one sense\nwithin another, a first which is the sense of the letter for the natural\nworld, a second which is the internal sense for the spiritual kingdom,\nand a third which is the inmost for the celestial kingdom, it follows\nthat a natural man draws from it his sense, a spiritual angel his sense,\nand a celestial angel his sense, thus everyone what is analogous to and\nin agreement with his own essence and nature.  This takes place whenever\na man who is led by the Lord is reading the Word.\n\nBut let this be illustrated by examples.  When this commandment of the\nDecalogue is read, \"Thou shalt honor thy father and thy mother,\" a man\nin the world understands by \"father and mother\" a father and mother on\nthe earth, and also all who are or may be in the place of father or\nmother; and by \"honoring\" he understands to hold such in honor.  But an\nangel of the spiritual kingdom understands by \"father\" the Divine good,\nand by \"mother\" the Divine truth, and by \"honoring\" loving; while an\nangel of the celestial kingdom understands by \"father\" the Lord, and by\n\"mother\" heaven and the church, and by \"honoring\" doing.\n\nWhen the fifth commandment of the Decalogue, \"Thou shalt not steal,\" is\nread, by \"stealing\" a man understands stealing, defrauding, and taking\naway under any pretense his neighbor's goods.  But an angel of the\nspiritual kingdom by \"stealing\" understands depriving another of his\ntruths and goods by means of falsities and evils, while an angel of the\ncelestial kingdom by \"not to steal\" understands not to attribute to\nhimself the things that are the Lord's, as the good of love and the\ntruth of faith; for thereby good becomes not good, and truth not truth,\nbecause they are from men.\n\nWhen the sixth commandment, \"Thou shalt not commit adultery,\" is read, a\nman by \"committing adultery\" understands committing adultery and\nwhoredom, also thinking filthy thoughts, speaking lasciviously, and\ndoing obscene things.  But an angel of the spiritual kingdom by\n\"committing adultery\" understands falsifying the truths of the Word and\nadulterating its goods; while an angel of the celestial kingdom by\n\"committing adultery\" understands blaspheming against the Lord, heaven,\nand the church.\n\nWhen the seventh commandment, \"Thou shalt not kill,\" is read, by\n\"killing\" a man understands hating and desiring revenge, even to murder.\nBut an angel of the spiritual kingdom by \"killing\" understands the\nkilling of a man's soul by stumbling blocks to the life and by\nreasonings, whereby a man is led into spiritual death, while an angel of\nthe celestial kingdom by \"killing\" understands seducing a man into\nbelieving that there is no God and no heaven and no hell, for thus man's\neternal life is destroyed.\n\nWhen the eighth commandment, \"Thou shalt not bear false witness,\" is\nread, a man by \"false witness\" understands lying and defamation.  But an\nangel of the spiritual kingdom by \"false witness\" understands asserting,\nproving, and persuading that falsity is truth and evil is good, or on\nthe other hand that truth is falsity and good is evil, while an angel of\nthe celestial kingdom by \"false witness\" understands every falsity\nagainst the Lord, and against heaven in favor of hell.\n\nAll this makes clear how a man draws and calls forth from the Word in\nthe letter a natural sense, a spiritual angel a spiritual sense, and a\ncelestial angel a celestial sense, much as the wood of a tree draws its\nsap, the leaf its sap, and the fruit its sap, from the same soil.  And\nwhat is wonderful, this is done instantly, without the angel's knowing\nwhat the man thinks, or the man what the angel thinks, and yet their\nthoughts are one by correspondences, as end, cause, and effect are one.\nMoreover, ends are actually in the celestial kingdom, causes in the\nspiritual kingdom, causes in the spiritual kingdom, and effects in the\nnatural world.  (A.E., n. 1083.)\n\nVI. Conjunction by the Word\n\nSince it is from creation that end, cause, and effect shall together\nmake one, so it is from creation that the heavens shall make one with\nthe church on the earth, but by means of the Word, when it is read by\nman from a love of truth and good.  For the Word was given by the Lord\nto this end, that there might be a perpetual conjunction of the angels\nof heaven with men on the earth, and a perpetual communication according\nto conjunction.  Without this medium there would be no conjunction or\ncommunication with heaven on this earth.  The conjunction and\ncommunication are instantaneous, and for the reason that all things of\nthe Word in the sense of the letter are as effects, in which the cause\nand the end exist together, and the effects, which are in the Word, are\ncalled uses, their cause truths, and their ends goods; and the Divine\nlove, which is the Lord, unites these three together in the man who is\nin an affection for uses from the Word.\n\nHow a man draws and calls forth from the Word in the letter the natural\nsense, a spiritual angel the spiritual sense, and a celestial angel the\ncelestial sense, and this instantly, from which there is a communication\nand a conjunction, shall be illustrated by comparisons; first by\nsomething in the animal kingdom, afterward by something in the vegetable\nkingdom, and finally by something in the mineral kingdom.\n\nFrom the Animal Kingdom:--From the food, when it has been changed into\nchyle, the vessels draw and call forth their blood, the fibers of the\nnerves their fluid, and the substances that are the origins of fibers\ntheir spirit, which is called the animal spirit; and this is done\nthrough the vital heat, which in its essence is love.  The vessels, the\nfibers, and the substances which are their origins, are distinct from\neach other, and yet they act as one throughout the body, and they act\ntogether and on the instant.\n\nFrom the Vegetable Kingdom:--The tree, with its trunk and branches,\nleaves and fruits, stands upon its root, and from the soil where its\nroot is draws and calls forth its sap, a coarser sap for the trunk and\nbranches, a purer for the leaves, and a still purer and also nobler for\nthe fruits and for the seeds in them; and this is done by means of heat\nfrom the sun.  Here the branches, leaves, and fruit are distinct, and\nyet they extract together and instantly and from the same soil foods of\nsuch different purity and nobleness.\n\nFrom the Mineral Kingdom:--In the bosom of the earth in certain places\nthere are minerals impregnated with gold, silver, copper, and iron.\nFrom vapors stored up in the earth the gold attracts its element, silver\nits element, copper and iron theirs, distinctly, together, and on the\ninstant, and this by means of some power of unknown heat.\n\nAs it is allowable to illustrate spiritual things by means of\ncomparisons drawn from natural things, these will serve to illustrate\nhow interior things, which are spiritual and celestial, and by which a\nman of the church has communication and conjunction with the heavens,\ncan be drawn and called forth and extracted and eliminated from the Word\nin its outmosts, that is, the sense of the letter. Comparisons can be\nmade with these, because all things in the three kingdoms of nature,\nanimal, vegetable, and mineral, correspond to the spiritual things that\nare in the three heavens, as the food of the body with which a\ncomparison has been made, corresponds to the food of the soul, which is\nknowledge, intelligence, and wisdom; a tree, with which also a\ncomparison has been made, corresponds to man, the tree to man himself,\nthe wood to his good, the leaves to his truths, and the fruits to his\nuses; so, too, gold, silver, copper, and iron, correspond to goods and\ntruths, gold to celestial good, silver to spiritual truth, copper to\nnatural good, and iron to natural truth. Moreover, these things have\nthese significations in the Word.  And what is wonderful, the purer are\ncontained in the grosser and are drawn from them, as the animal spirit\nand the nerve fluid are contained in blood from which the original\nsubstances and nerve fibers draw and extract their distinct portions.\nSo, again, fruits and leaves draw theirs from the gross fluid that is\nbrought up from the soil by the wood and its bark, and so on.  Thus\ncomparatively, as has been said, the purer senses of the Word are drawn\nand called forth from the sense of the letter.  (A.E., n. 1084.)\n\nVII. The Sense of the Letter\n\nAs there are three senses in the Word, a natural, a spiritual, and a\ncelestial, and as its natural sense, which is the sense of the letter,\nis a containment of the two senses, the spiritual and celestial, it\nfollows that the sense of the letter of the Word is the basis of those\nsenses.  And as the angels of the three heavens receive their wisdom\nfrom the Lord through the Word that they have, and as their Words make\none with our Word by correspondences, it also follows that the sense of\nthe letter of our Word is the basis, support, and foundation of the\nwisdom of the angels of heaven.  For the heavens rest upon the human\nrace as a house rests upon its foundation; so the wisdom of the angels\nof heaven rests in like manner upon the knowledge, intelligence, and\nwisdom of men from the sense of the letter of the Word; for, as has been\nsaid above, communication and conjunction with the heavens are effected\nthrough the sense of the letter of the Word.  For this reason, as a\nresult of the Lord's Divine providence, there has been no mutilation of\nthe sense of the letter of the Word from its first revelation, not even\nin a word or letter in the original text; for each word, and in some\nmeasure each letter, is a support.\n\nFrom all this it is clear what a profanation it is to falsify the truths\nand adulterate the goods of the Word, and how infernal it is to deny or\nto weaken its holiness.  As soon as that is done, for that man of the\nchurch heaven is closed.  The blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, which\ncannot be forgiven, is the blasphemy of the Word by those who deny its\nholiness.  Since the Word is the basis of the heavens, and since the\nWord was wholly falsified and adulterated by the Jewish nation by\ntraditions and adaptation of the sense of the letter to favor their evil\nloves, lest the heavens should be endangered and the wisdom of the\nangels there should become foolishness it pleased the Lord to come down\nfrom heaven and to put on the Human and to become the Word (as is\nevident from John i. 14), and thus to restore the state of heaven.\n(A.E., n. 1085.)\n\nThere is a successive order and there is a simultaneous order. In\nsuccessive order things pure and perfect appear above, and those less\npure and perfect appear below.  The three heavens are in successive\norder, one above another; and in the higher heavens all things are pure\nand perfect, while in the lower they are less pure and perfect.\nSimultaneous order exists in lower things, and fully in the lowest; for\nhigher things let themselves down and place themselves in the order that\nis called simultaneous, in which the pure and perfect things, which were\nthe higher, are in the middle or center, and the less pure and perfect,\nwhich were the lower, are in the circumferences.  Therefore all things\nthat have come forth in successive order are together in outmosts in\ntheir order.\n\nAs all higher things place themselves in what is lowest in simultaneous\norder, it follows that in the outmosts of the Word, which constitute the\nsense of its letter, are all things of Divine truth and of Divine good,\neven from their firsts.  And as all things of Divine truth and Divine\ngood are together in their outmost, which is the sense of the letter of\nthe Word, there evidently is the power of Divine truth, yea, the\nomnipotence of the Lord in saving man.  For when the Lord operates He\noperates not from first things through mediates into outmosts, but from\nfirst things through outmosts and thus into mediates.  This is why the\nLord is called in the Word the First and the Last; and this is why the\nLord assumed the Human, which in the world was Divine truth or the Word,\nand glorified it even to outmosts, which are the bones and flesh, in\norder that He might operate from first things through outmosts, and not\nas before from man, but from Himself.\n\nThis power in outmosts was represented by the hair with the Nazirites,\nas with Samson, for the hair with the Nazirites, as with Samson, for the\nhair corresponds to the outmosts of Divine truth.  And for this reason,\nto produce baldness was regarded in ancient times as disgraceful.\n\nThe boys who called Elisha \"bald head\" were torn in pieces by bears,\nbecause Elisha and Elijah represented the Word; and the Word without the\nsense of the letter, which is like a head without hair, is destitute of\nall power, and thus is no longer the Word.  \"Bears\" signify those that\nhave strength from the outmost of truth.\n\nThe power of the Word in the sense of the letter is the power to open\nheaven, whereby communication and conjunction are effected, and also the\npower to fight against falsities and evils, thus against the hells.  A\nman who is in genuine truths from the sense of the letter of the Word\ncan disperse and scatter the whole diabolical crew and their devices in\nwhich they place their power, which are innumerable, and this in a\nmoment, merely by careful thought and an effort of the will.  In brief,\nin the spiritual world nothing can resist genuine truths confirmed by\nthe sense of the letter of the Word (A.E., n. 1086.)\n\nNow since all interior things, that is, the spiritual and celestial\nthings that are in the Words of the three heavens, are together in the\noutmost sense of the Word, which is called the sense of the letter (for\nin its inmosts there are the things that are in the Word that the angels\nof the third heaven have, and in its middle parts the things that are in\nthe Words belonging to the angels of the lower heavens, and these are\nencompassed by such things as exist in the nature of our world and are\nincluded in these), so the sense of the letter of our Word is from all\nthese.  From this it can be seen that Divine truth is in its fullness in\nthe sense of the letter of our Word.  That is said to be full which\ncontains in itself all things prior, even from the first, or all things\nhigher even from the highest; the last is what includes these.  The\nfullness of the Word is like a general vessel of marble, in which are\ncountless lesser vessels of crystal, and in these still more numerous\nvessels of precious stones, in and about which are the most delightful\nthings of heaven which are for those who perform noble uses according to\nthe Word.\n\nThat the Word is such is not evident to man while he is in the world;\nbut it is evident to him when he becomes an angel.  Because the Word is\nsuch in outmosts it follows that it is not the Word until it is in that\noutmost, that is, until it is in the sense of the letter.  The Word not\nin that outmost would be like a temple in the air and not on the earth,\nor like a man having flesh but without bones.\n\nAs Divine truth is in its fullness and also in its power in its outmost,\nfor when it is in that it is in all things at once, so the Lord never\nworks except from first things through outmosts, and thus in fullness.\nFor He reforms and regenerates man only through truths in outmosts,\nwhich are natural.  And this is why a man remains after his departure\nout of the world to eternity such as he has been in the world.  For the\nsame reason heaven and hell are from the human race, and angels are not\ncreated immediately such; for in the world a man is in his fullness,\nconsequently he can there be conceived and born, and afterward be imbued\nwith knowledge, intelligence, and wisdom, and become an angel. To create\nangels in any other way is impossible.\n\nBecause the Lord works all things from things first through outmosts,\nand is in His power and in His fullness in outmosts, so it pleased the\nLord to take upon Him the Human and to become Divine truth, that is, the\nWord, and thus from Himself to reduce to order all things of heaven and\nall things of hell, that is, to execute a last judgment. This the Lord\ncould accomplish from the Divine in Himself, which was in things first,\nthrough His Human which was in outmosts, and not, as before, from His\npresence or abode in the men of the church; for these had wholly\nforsaken the truths and goods of the Word, in which the Lord had\npreviously had His dwelling-place with men.  This was the chief reason\nfor the Lord's coming into the world, also for making His Human Divine;\nfor He thus put Himself into possession of a power to hold all things of\nheaven and all things of hell in order for ever.  This is meant by\n\n   \"Sitting at the right hand of God\" (Mark xvi. 19).\n\n\"The right hand of God\" means Divine omnipotence, and \"to sit at the\nright hand of God\" means to be in that omnipotence through the Human.\nThat the Lord ascended into heaven with His Human glorified even to\noutmosts He testifies in Luke:\n\nJesus said to the disciples, \"See My hands and My feet, that it is I\nMyself; handle Me and see, for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye\nbehold Me having\" (xxiv. 39).\n\nThis the Lord said just after His resurrection.  \"Flesh and bones\" are\nthe outmosts of the human body, on which its strength depends.  (A.E.,\nn. 1087.)\n\nDivine truth is what is called holy, but only when it is in its outmost,\nand its outmost is the Word in the sense of the letter; therefore the\nDivine truth there is holy, and may be called a holy place, and for the\nreason that that sense contains and encloses all the holy things of\nheaven and the church.  The appearance is that Divine truths in the\nheavens, which are called spiritual and celestial, are more holy than\nthe Divine truths in the sense of the letter of the Word, which are\nnatural; but the Divine truths in the heavens, which are called\nspiritual and celestial, are comparatively like the lungs and heart in\nman, which form the chest only when they are encompassed by ribs, and\nenclosed in the pleura and diaphragm; for without these integuments, and\neven unless connected with them by bonds, they could not perform their\nvital functions.  The spiritual things of the Word are like the\nbreathing of the lungs, its celestial things are like the systole and\ndiastole of the heart, and its natural things are like the pleura, the\ndiaphragm, and the ribs, with the moving fibers attached, by which the\nmotions are made reciprocal.\n\nAgain, the spiritual and celestial things of the Word are comparatively\nlike the holy things of the tabernacle, which consisted of the table\nupon which was the shew bread, the golden altar upon which was the\nincense, the perfumes and the censor, also the lampstand with the lamps,\nand still further within, the cherubim, the mercy seat, and the ark. All\nthese were the holy things of the Jewish and Israelitish church;\nnevertheless they could not be called holy and a sanctuary until they\nhad been covered by curtains and veils, for without those coverings they\nwould have stood under the naked sky, exposed to showers and storms, to\nthe birds of heaven and the wild beasts of the earth, and also to\nrobbers that would violate, plunder, and scatter them.  So would it be\nwith the Divine truths in the heavens, which are called spiritual and\ncelestial, unless they were enclosed in natural truths, like the truths\nof the sense of the letter of the Word.\n\nNatural truths, which are the truths of the sense of the letter of the\nWord, are not the very truths of heaven, but are appearances of them;\nand appearances of truth encompass, enclose and contain the truths of\nheaven, which are genuine truths, and cause them to be in connection and\norder and to act together, like the cardiac and pulmonary organs with\ntheir coverings and ribs, as has been said above; and when these truths\nare held in connection and in order they are holy, and not till then.\nThis the sense of the letter of our Word does by means of the\nappearances of truth of which its outmost consists; and this is why that\nsense is the holy Divine itself and a sanctuary.\n\nBut he is greatly mistaken who separates appearances of truth from\ngenuine truths and calls these appearances holy by themselves and of\nthemselves, and not the sense of the letter holy by these and from\nthese, and together with these.  He separates these who sees only the\nsense of the letter and does not explore its meaning, as those do who do\nnot read the Word from doctrine.  The \"cherubim\" mean in the Word guard\nand protection that the holy things of heaven be not violated, and that\nthe Lord be approached only through love; consequently these signify the\nsense of the letter of the Word, because that is what guards and\nprotects.  It guards and protects in this manner that man can think and\nspeak according to appearances of truth so long as he is well-disposed,\nsimple, and as it were a child; but he must take heed not to so confirm\nappearances as to destroy the genuine truths in the heavens.  (A.E., n.\n1088.)\n\nIt is an invariable truth that no one can understand the Word without\ndoctrine; for he may be led away into any errors to which he may be\ninclined from some love, or to which he may be drawn from some\nprinciple, whereby his mind becomes unsettled and uncertain, and at\nlength as it were destitute of truth.  But he who reads the Word from\ndoctrine sees all things that confirm it, and many things that are\nhidden from the eyes of others, and does not permit himself to be drawn\naway into strange things; and thus his mind becomes so settled as to see\nwith certainty.\n\nAgain, unless the Word is read from doctrine it may be drawn away to\nconfirm heresies, for the reason that the sense of its letter consists\nof mere correspondences, and these are in great part appearances of\ntruth, and in part genuine truths, and unless there be doctrine for a\nlamp these cannot be seen and cannot be distinguished from each other.\n\nAnd yet only from the Word can doctrine be acquired, and it can be\nacquired only by those who are in enlightenment from the Lord.  Those\nare in enlightenment who love truths because they are truths and make\nthem to be of their life. Moreover, all things of doctrine must be\nconfirmed by the sense of the letter of the Word, because Divine truth\nis in its fullness and in its power in that sense, and through it man is\nin conjunction with the Lord and in consociation with the angels.  In\nbrief, he who loves truth because it is truth can inquire of the Lord,\nas it were, in doubtful matters of faith, and can receive answers from\nHim, but nowhere except in the Word for the reason that the Lord is the\nWord.  (A.E., n. 1089.)","title":"Spiritual Life and the Word of God","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":45007}